Well well well, where were we... last I updated I was about to head
off for two days of outreach. Here are the details:
When leaving Nairobi on Friday morning I got an amazing view of the Rift
Valley. There were signs boasting, "best third world view." The view
was wonderful. We stopped for pictures and for people to by
gifts/trinkets. Our first stop was the KCC slum school around 10am. KCC
is a large dairy company in Kenya. The slum is set up on their land near
their factory, and thus they could be kicked out at any time. Presently
there are 6000 people living in the slum in shacks that are
constructed from rusty corrugated iron, cardboard boxes, old plastic and
cow dung. The KCC school instructs about 130 children ages 2 1/2- 12
yrs old from the slum. There we played with the children who immediately
attached themselves to us. The children LOVE getting their pictures
taken and then shown the picture on your camera. We did the Hokey Pokey
and played Duck Duck Goose. This gave me the rare opportunity to race a
8 yr old Kenyan! (We tied!) I looked in on the five classrooms there
and watched a 3 yr old vomit (lovely). My favorite part was reading the
children's book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" out loud to the children as their teacher translated. Then
I gave them the book to keep! Next we walked down the street to the KCC
slum. It was.. a slum. the children we saw here do not, and probably
will not, go to school. We were told that a couple of months ago a man
living in the slum found out he was HIV+ and lit himself on fire. Along
with his life, this act burned down 10 homes. I cant imagine...
After we left KCC we stopped in a grocery store for lunch. I ate what
was supposed to be beef pizza... interesting and drank some OJ (since I
haven't been eating that much fruit and I was getting sick). We then went
to Hells Gate National Park. Seven people in the group opted to ride
rented bikes through the park-what an adventure! After the first 3 km we
saw something running towards the road... gazelles! They ran right in
front of us! So cool. Then came the zebras in herds around us! It
drizzled and I began to sing Toto's song "Africa" ( I bless the rain
down in Africa...) while biking. :) After 10 km we met up with the van
and the rest of the volunteers. From there we were to go on a hike, for
what I thought would be a short hike. We started hiking down. Then we
passed a sign, "Danger: Flash Flood Area." It was drizzling with the
prospect of real rain and every Poly Escapes trip leader fiber in my
body was thinking "bad idea!" I expressed my worry to the four Fadhili
guys (our leaders) and they said I had to come since we were not hiking
back that way. I reluctantly followed. I found myself hiking in a canyon
similar to ones n Zion National Park with high walls on either side.
The walls weren't red or quite as tall, but instead a crumbly grey/white
rock. There were some areas that were challenging to get up or down
(for me they were FUN but we were hiking with 4 volunteers over 50-all
doctors from the US and Austrailia). They needed some assistance and I
began to worry. Finally, we got to a tall wall about 18-20 ft high that
we were all expected to climb. It was probably only at 5-8, but with no
ropes, not helmets and no crash pads it was not good. Wilderness first
aid scenario anyone? Myself and others said it was too dangerous. The
Fadhili guys complained and reluctantly turned around. This whole time I
am just WAITING for something bad to happen. And it did. Raj, one of
the doctors, got accidentally pulled down while assisting one of the
other doctors down. He tumbled head over heals in front of me. He cut
his head and scraped his arm, the other doctor had a sore neck. It could
have been much worse. We returned to the van 3 hrs after we had left
and had to bike back. I saw a beautiful giraffe, some worthogs (like
Pumba from Lion King!), and had a scare with a buffalo (apparently they
are dangerous out here!). By the time we got back to the bike rental
shop it was nearly dark. I finished the night with a shower (that
started off warm, but the power shut off half way thru and I had to call
it done in the dark) and half of a beer. I was beat, but still ended
up only getting 6 hrs of sleep due to my new cold and insomnia.
Yesterday. I joined the group at breakfast at 7am and then packed up
food for distribution that day. We cut up and wrapped up 40 kilos of
vegetable oil and 190 kilos of maize flour. At 10:30 we headed to the
IDP camp. These "Internally Displaced People" were killed, raped and
removed from their homes as a result of the 2007 elections. They are
living in tents given to them by the UN. These tents were meant to last 6
months, but they have been there for 3 years. There are few men (many
were killed) and those that remain mine stone illegally on the land that
is not theirs. The women have no work, many walk to the road and work
as prostitutes to give their family some income. If you look around the
camp you can see quite a number of 3 yr old children, products of the
violent rapes in 2007. The older children walk some 5 km to school, but
the younger child up until recently had no where to go. Fadhili
volunteers (like myself) fund raised and built them two school rooms
just two weeks ago.While I was there I got a tour of the tent camp (500
ppl) and helped saw wood for the construction of the tables and benches
to go in the school rooms. I spoke to a women there who has 9 children.
Her husband used to be a business mechanic, now he has nothing. They
have nothing from their past life with them. I spoke with James, from
Fadhili, about the women's program that he runs. He goes and talks to
women and girls about hygiene, the phases of life, menstruation, sex and
HIV. I am VERY interested in this program and plan to spend some my
Saturdays traveling with him and giving talks. From there we drove to
Nakuru to see the Gioto Garbage Slum. This experience was...
unforgettable and overwhelming. I will spend more time later describing
it, but needless to say I relive that I will changing my plans so I can
spend at least a month of my time there profiling and interviewing
children to make them eligible to receive donations to get them out of
there and send them to boarding school. The smell was overwhelming,
there were pigs and dogs right beside people picking for food. Children
everywhere, most without shoes. And they live.. right there. I met a
woman there who has 14 children (the eldest is 14). Before last week she
was living with 5 of them. Three more of them were reconnected with her
last week and she was evicted from her wood shanty that was falling
down. Three years ago this woman became sick (severe arthritis that
keeps her now from walking) and her husband up and left her. He has come
back once, to sleep with her, and left again. Fadhili volunteers and a
local pastor helped move her into another structure for her and her 8
younger children. When they first saw her, her youngest children they were
staving and unconscious. Profiling children like hers could get them out
of that horrible life an give them a shot at a future.
During my darker moments of homesickness over the last 4 days I have
dwelled on the time period: THREE MONTHS. It seemed an eternity. I even
questioned leaving early. But after yesterday and what I saw, it
confirmed that I NEED to stay for the entirety of my trip. For some
reason I thought I would see at least a couple groups of mzungus
(Swahili word for white people) volunteering in some of the slum places
we visited. But that simply wasn't true. There were NO ONE else helping
those places I visited except Fadhili volunteers and a couple local
pastors. So it hit me like a slap in the face, the age old questions "If
not you, who? If not now, when?" I am here NOW and I am able. Let's get
to work...
Cheers from Kenya,
Kris
