Yes We Kenya, and Yes We Are-ya!

I can't believe that as I sit here at the Cyber Cafe, 5 of the 6 girls who will be joining me in Kenya have started their journey! Clare, Lauren and Lyndsay arrive at early tomorrow morning and Heather and Nikki arrive tomorrow evening! I've been looking forward to this day since first arriving in Kenya and I am, once again, humbled by the sacrifices that my friends are making in order to be a part of this experience. I know that it will be a tough road for them, having never been to Africa, but, as I've said from day one, this is an experience that they will NOT regret!

Please visit their blogs while they're here, linked from our Yes We Kenya website.

Kibera Medical Camp

Maurice, mentioned in the previous post, arrived on Friday with two volunteers from the US to set up a two day medical camp at the Jamii School in Kibera to serve the community. I had the pleasure of working the first day of the medical camp, and we were joined, also, by a doctor and a nurse from Kenyatta Hospital. It was a long day in Kibera but we were able to see and treat over 100 Kiberan children, many of them under two years old.

The last patient to be seen on Saturday. Waiting patiently!

I had a nice time chatting with Maurice about his organization and his vision for his homeland. I told him about the IDP camps, especially Baruku, and he is trying to organize a visit to give exams to the Dust Babies later in the week. I really hope that this works out, stay tuned to hear more!

More on Jamii

Colorful school walls, painted by former volunteers

The more time I spend at my current project, Jamii Children's Centre in Kibera, the more I'm impressed by the whole thing. First of all, the school in Kibera is part of a much larger project, Jamii International Outreach Ministries. JIOM is headed up by Maurice Kinyanjui and two others who all grew up in Kibera. Maurice, who currently lives in Maryland, has several projects in Kibera, Nakuru and Nyahururu, all dedicated to improving the lives of the needy people of Kenya.

Sukuma wiki shambas out back, grown in sacks to conserve water

The school in Kibera currently has about 67 children (though there were twice as many before the tribal clashes and election violence of 2007/2008) and who attend one of three classes (baby class, nursery and pre-unit). The kids are provided a free lunch with sukuma wiki from their shamba out back and sometimes morning ugi (porridge) as well. After spending so much time at Mary's where far too many children are squeezed into two small classrooms, it's nice to be in a school that has so much room for the kids. Jamii's teachers are energetic, positive and entirely devoted to the well-being of the children at the school. And, best of all, neither the teachers or Monica, the project's director, have asked me for ANYTHING. In Kibera, that's unheard of!

New Beginnings

Meet my new friend, Sharon. I spent most of the morning helping Sharon and her friend Sharon (no, you're not cross-eyed) learn their numbers: moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi! I finally got to meet the wonderful children at Jamii Children's Centre - my new project! What adorable kids and what a well-functioning place! Honestly, it's refreshing after my time at Mary's to just enjoy a project and not feel like things need to be saved or repaired. I look forward to introducing Nikki, Heather and Tami to Jamii, seeing as it will soon be their project, too!

A Tale of Two Camps

Yesterday was a good day. I joined a group of locals from Nairobi - friends of Irene's, including George, my host dad - on a visit to the two IDP Camps that I'd visited previously: Baruku and Pipeline. Our first stop was Baruku, home of the famous Dust Babies. I really don't even have words for the situation there, save the Dust Babies, it's probably the most depressing place I've ever seen. The people there, especially the men, simply sit around and do nothing. There's no energy and, dangerously, no hope. These people have been through so much: being driven from their homes by their neighbors, living as refugees in their own country and, now, needing to restart their lives. As the secretary of the camp explained, most of the men are able to work, they just don't know where to start. There is a partially completed school on the land, but otherwise there's nothing permanent. No structures or farms - just hundreds of battered, worn and weathered white refugee tents. Irene's friends, George, Ruth and Josephine have offered to assist where they can by donating materials for the school's completion, seeds to start farming and other kids of assistance.

Since the meetings that were taking place were all in Kikuyu, I spent most of the visit with the Dust Babies. What amazing children. Despite everything they've gone through, and the fact that they are now living in a depressed and lost community, they maintain a childlike innocence and, somehow, the ability to smile and play and be happy. I'm starting to see that the Dust Babies are the reason I'm back in Kenya. Mary's School and my babies there are all moved on and doing well - as hard as it is to accept, I'm simply not needed there anymore. But the Dust Babies and the people at Baruku, I really feel like I can be used to make a difference in this place. George is extremely excited about my idea of a chicken farm and he is looking into prices and doing some research. He is going to try to go back with me and Irene (and hopefully some friends from Chicago!) next week to assist in getting things started.
I don't know if I'm just desensitized to this kind of poverty or if I'm constantly trying to protect myself, but I haven't really cried about things here since my last trip. But on the ride back to Nairobi, sitting in the back of the van by myself in the dark, I really cried for these kids. Even Irene told me that the first time she saw the kids at Baruku, she came home and just cried. Their situation is so terrible and, at present, their future is so bleak. But I'm hoping, with the help of my friends coming and generous donations from home, to leave something positive in the lives of the people at Baruku.

Our next stop was the Pipeline IDP Camps, just a little further on the Nakuru Highway. It was like night and day. This place is a community. It buzzes with life, people try to keep themselves busy, they've set up streets and shops and farms and seem to have come to terms with the fact that this is their life now. With the help of funding from GVN, homes are being constructed and life is moving forward. The landscape is still filled with the white refugee tents and they certainly have a ways to go, but progress is being made. There is energy at Pipeline, and it's being harnessed and used to the community's advantage.
I spent a while speaking with two volunteers at Pipeline, Stuart and Maria. Stuart will be there for 6 months and seems to be the man with the plan. Maria is half done with her 6 week stay and has started a kindergarten class for the dozen or so kids at Pipeline living with disabilities. There are kids with Cerebral Paulsy, autism, Downes and physical deformities who come with their mothers to a self help group in the mornings. I'd mentioned Peter and "Mary" in a previous post and I'm thrilled to report that the business center has already placed two people in jobs in the community and the residents of Pipeline were queuing for to see the Ministry of Health who was at the camp providing subsidized medical care. A far cry from the residents at Baruku, just down the road.

Kuku for Baruku!

After a lot of thought and talking with volunteers placed at various IDP camps, I've decided to assist the small IDP Camp of Baruku (home of the Dust Babies) by setting up some sort of sustainable project. Food drops are great and helpful, but in a couple of weeks the food is gone and everyone is back to where they started: hungry and discouraged. It's a bit of that "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll never go hungry" kind of mentality. I return to Baruku with Irene and a few others on Wednesday, and I plan on looking into the possibility and costs of setting up either a chicken coup or a small goat farm. That way it will become a project for the community and it will be sustainable and expandable.

Many of you have been so generous in your donations, and it's important to me to use the money in a way that is most meaningful. Since meeting the Dust Babies and seeing their situation, I haven't been able to get them out of my mind and I feel, very strongly, that they are the new babies I've been sent here to assist. I have a little over $1000 in donations at the moment, and am still collecting (donate via Paypal, button on the upper right). Stay tuned to learn about my time in Baruku on Wednesday and what I find out as far as costs and scope.

Africa: TBD

The week before I left Chicago, I had all of the girls who will be joining me in Kenya over for one final meeting. I passed out "Survival Guides" on which I listed a couple of things to remember when traveling in Africa:

1. Be flexible.
2. Don't have expectations.
3. Don't make plans.

Well, the teacher is being schooled (or however you say it). Needless to say that my time in Kenya the second time around has been much different than the first. In short, I'm being constantly reminded of rule #3. Things here never happen as expected, but they all happen for a reason. I mentioned earlier that my hopes and dreams of seeing the kids from two years ago were more or less crushed during my return to Mary's school last week. I've decided to start fresh at a new project in Kibera (Jamii Children Home) but when I went this morning, I learned that the school doesn't reopen until Wednesday. Of course not, for I had planned on it opening today. My first visit to Jamii, though it lacked children, wasn't all bad. It's an extremely well organized project (relatively speaking, of course) and it will be nice to be a part of a project that isn't a fixer-upper. At Mary's we all became so obsessed with what still needed to be done that we felt more like donors than volunteers. But at this project I can actually see myself doing what I came here to do: volunteer with kids of Kibera!

So come the second half of this week, that is where you'll find me. Back where I ought to be.