Lloydie with a "Momma" from the Vision Self Help Group of Dandora

Deb and Josephine of the PCDA women's craft group

Originally it grew out of the idea of wanting to help the mothers of children with HIV who are getting services from the Nyumbani Lea Toto Clinics in the slums……because whenever you help the mothers in a community you help the children, whenever you help the mothers, you are helping everyone. There were already established groups of women, like the Vision Self Help Group of Dandora,  working together to craft products to help finanacially support their families and to emotionally support each other.  They had been selling their crafts, but the market was quite limited. And then the idea grew to helping other women’s groups who have been severely affected by hardship and poverty and also hand creating incredible crafts. Groups like the grandmothers of Nyumbani Village who are raising so many orphans after losing their own children to AIDS and weave beautiful baskets of sissel and yarn; the women of Kibera Paper who hand make greeting cards, each individual works of art from recycled paper;  and the Maasai women of PCDA who doing amazing beadwork. First it was casually called the Women4Women project as it was beginning to take form. Now it has gathered momentum and garnered lots of enthuisiasm as it has gone  from the U.S. to Kenya and come back again and has evolved a new, very appropriate name of “Tuko Pamoja” literally in Swahili, “We are together”,  the spirit of which is that we are working together.

Lloydie recently  announced the Tuko Pamaja project in an e-mail that was sent far and wide to friends of KEST (Kenya Service and Educational Trips) and said the following:

Many former KEST travelers have left Kenya wishing they could be of more assistance to the many women’s groups we meet struggling to feed and educate their children.  KEST has decided to do something to help, hence the Tuko Pamoja initiative… we ARE in this together…

The mission of the Tuko Pamoja initiative is to:

1. Create a sustainable income resource for female-led Kenyan artisan groups by way of providing a US marketplace for their wares

·      Facilitating ownership, independence, empowerment and a shift in thinking from day-to-day to longer term planning

·      Insisting on high quality, useful, and diverse products that are suited to the US market

2. Educate Americans to the needs of these groups and call them to ACTION

·      Organize a way to provide an opportunity for Americans to help the identified Kenyan artisan groups from the States

I am hoping that my family and friends will be interested in supporting this program, and not just by purchasing crafts!  Women from all across the country will have the opportunity to sell these products on behalf of our Kenyan sisters!  This can be done by hosting a party in your home, much like a Tupperware party, or by having a table at a local fair or bazaar.  KEST will provide everything but the customers, your friends!

The womens groups in Kenya groups in Kenya who will be initially supported by the project are the groups whom I previously mentioned. The Pastoral Community Development Alliance woman’s crafts group. You can get a glimpse of thier capacity to do beadwork just by lookint their own necklaces and bracelets!

Massai women of the PCDA craft group

PCDA Woman and crafts

The women of the Vision Self Help Group of Dandora–these women have been together for almost 10 years. They all have HIV and/or have HIV+ children and live in the Dandora slum around Nairobi. They are now skilled artisans who make jewelry and a lot of different items from beads as well as many other beautiful things:

Women of the Vision Self Help Group of Dandora

The Susus or grandmothers from Nyumbani Village who have all lost their own children to AIDs are are all each raising 10 AIDs orphans. Not only can these spirited and rocking grannies dance, but they are the keepers of the Kamba culture for the Village, the ones who make the homes for the children and are skilled basket waevers with many years of experience!

Dancing Susus of Nyumbani Village

Traditional Basket weaving

The women of Kibera Paper all live in Kibera, the largest slum on the periphery of Nairobi. They work at Kibera Paper in order to make an income to support the very basic necessities of life for their families. All of their cards are made from recycled paper and in each one is individually crafted, panted, wired, threaded, designed and signed by hand. Having worked side by side with them I can attest to just how much work goes into each card and to the beauty of each card.

Making Kibera Paper

This is a wonderful video about the making of Kibera Cards, I posted it in a prior post but am putting here because I want people to have another chance to view it in this context:

On March 10th, KEST is hosting a kick-off event to the Tuko Pamoja Project at Lloydie’s House near Washington D.C. It will be an opportunity to introduce the project to as many people in the area who can come, to get feedback on the crafts we hope to promote and to give people an opportunity to “meet” these women through the sharing of our experinces with them. Having spent time with all of these Kenyan women, I personally say that I have tremendous respect and admiration for all of them. They all struggle with tremendous poverty and many have been through unimaginable hardship and loss. They are however some of the most grateful, resilient, and warm women and mothers I ever have met.  I know that I speak for all KEST travelers when I say that spending time with them has created a special place in our hearts for them–we have created with them, sung and danced with them, listened to their stories, drank tea together,  hugged and exchanged heartfelt words and shared tears in saying goodbyes.  We want to share in helping them in their lives, after all “Tuko Pamoja,” we are truly all in this together!

If you missed it before here are the Kibera Paper women singing with us before we had to say goodbye.

Maasai children listening to a story

Although I have been home for almost two weeks now, it still feels as though I just left Kenya. The trip, the countryside, the people, my fellow volunteers have all still been very much on my mind. I have been missing my fellow travelers but have manged to bridge the gap with email conversations, exchanging photos back and forth and making plans for other events (in a post yet to come.) I have been reliving the experience in Kenya through editing hundreds of pictures. Although Kenya and the Kenyan people are very colorful with their bright clothing, the most powerful of the photographs for me are the black and white photos of faces thought so often seem to convey something unsaid. So I will share some of those:

Maasai child in the classroom

Two Maasai girls at school--I wonder what they are thinking?

One of the girls in my cottage at the Children's Home

A man at Nyumbani Village--I met him at the food containers and wished I knew how to speak Kikamba with him.

Two boys at the Children's Home-- I think with new haircuts and very impish grins

A Village child with an amazing face

Two of a group of children who ran up to us in Kibera asking "How are You?" in a chorus

Two Village children on the schoolground

One of the Village children who frequently stopped by our lodging to play

A small sampling of  the many photos which I could share and there is a story to go with each and every one of them

Instead, however, I will tell you a story that doesn’t have a picture to go with it. When I left Kenya to come home I did so with a heavy heart because I wished that I could have stayed longer, there was more to be done and LLoydie, Deb and Kristin were headed off to another community and  another orphanage called Talitha Kum. I had 6000 ksh (Kenyan Shillings) left of my donations (about $75) which had not yet been used. It had been left over after we bought as much of the ingredients for the Maasai school lunch program as we could fit into four grocery carts and I had set it aside for another purpose yet to be determined. So when I left Kenya,  I put it in good hands with Lloydie with the thought that we could perhaps add to the porridge supplies or some other need might present itself. And so it did. When Deb and LLoydie were attending a “prayer group” for members of the community at Talitha Kum, a man, a social worker,  spoke up about how he was praying for help for a child with whom he had been working for a long time. The child was an adolescent boy who had lost both parents to AIDs at a young age and had been living on the streets for eight years. He had managed to develop a relationship with him and the child had been remarkably going to school all those years by begging or stealing the money for school fees and a school uniform. When he took the National Exam, a requirement for all form 8 students (8th graders) to be considered for high school, he scored extremely high. On the basis of that he was accepted into a very fine government high school;  these are the best schools in Kenya to which every student wants to be admitted. But the cost of travel to the school which was such a distance away was too much and he could not attend. The social worker took him and his records to the “Elite School” (I include the name because it’s so cool) which was a more local private school and asked if they could do anything for him. There he was told that if he could come up with the first year of tuition they would accept him and the next three years would be paid for by the school. So the social worker and the boy had raised a lot of money, but it wasn’t enough for him to start school in a few days. Hence the prayer at the meeting, and the connection with the remaining 6000 ksh.  LLoydie and Deb spoke up and offered to pay the remainder with that 6000ksh and 2000 that they each through in and made arrangements to do so at the school.  So this boy is now guaranteed an education, but equally important is that because he will be in boarding school as high schools are in Kenya, this will be the end of eight years of living on the streets for him–he will have a bed, a home, and three meals a day. He must be an incredibly resiliant young man to have survived on the streets while succeeding so well at school.  I think that this was a perfect way to spend the rest of the donations.  It always amazes me how little it takes to impact someone’s life in Kenya, how sometimes the pieces just fall into place. When I was talking to Lloydie today about many ongoing and future plans–and because we were really missing each other, she said we need to visit this boy and the social worker when we go back to Kenya. I think that sounds like a fine idea.

An interesting juxtaposition of names......Rumours cafe next to the Psalm hotel......and Trust is a condem ad.

Being on the road in Kenya lends itself to taking in  a lot of scenery, some very beautiful, some very reflective of the culture, and  some reflective of the different uses of language that is prone to tickle the funnybones of travelers. Whenever we were on the road we always took pictures out the window and enjoyed sightings of the things that were typically Kenyan such as having to stop the car for an ambling cow crossing.

Cows crossing!

People seemed to be walking on the side of the road all the time with heavy things on their heads or babies on the backs and we enjoyed watching them. Sometimes we even saw some unconventional ways of getting around.

Family walking using an umbrella for shade

Standing up on a donkey cart

What we ultimately ended up enjoying the most, or at least in a different way from the beautiful scenery, were the signs or displays on the front of hotels, retaurants and store fronts since these often were quite humorous to the American interpretation. We made a sport out of trying to capture the images from the car. One of my favorites, which I unfortunately failed to capture because I was on the wrong side of the car was a billboard ad for a restaurant which said “Now it’s official! We have the tastiest breasts and thighs.” There were however a lot of others that made us chuckle and a sampling will follow.

No breeze, and more importantly, no ocean anywhere around here

The name says it all

Another name that says it all...

We were puzzled by the Mixer and vibrator sign after an initial laugh, but I've since thought that maybe its a cement mixer and jackhammer??!

A typical hair salon

Not exactly Starbucks, but you only get instant Nescafe for coffee anyway and tea is always made with milk and LOTS of sugar

I included this one for two reasons: Lynne's last name is Israel and I thought my son might like to see an alternative school of engineering

Kenyan's are very spiritual people, generally in a very lovely way, sometimes this gets extended beyond what we Westerners would have anticipated

We couldn't help but wonder how well this name was working for business?!

We liked this one since Lala Salama is goodnight and what we said to each other in the style of "the Waltons" each night.

In case you missed it in the corner of the last picture, this raised our curiosity....

we enjoyed being on the road and taking in the culture and though I’m poking a little fun by posting these, it’s okay because all of us are undeniably in love with Kenya and with the Kenyan people. I will do another post that shows you more of the beauty of the country side, and one with more of the beautiful faces, perhaps a collection of some of our more memorable moments that I haven’t yet shared. Though I’m home now I still have more to share and there’s truly a dual purpose in that: to share the magic of the experince and to not let too much of it slip away as I get pulled into the incredible busyness of my life here. I need to hang onto this incredible experience and all its richness for me as well as sharing it. So stay tuned there is more to come.

Following our departure form Nyumbani Village on Saturday morning we drove back to Nairobi and then to Karen and our lodging at the Dimesse Sisters. We had a very long ride partially because we stooped at a worrdcarvers workshop and store but also becuase we got caught in a lot of traffic around Nairobi and arrived back much later than expected. The drive was yet another reminder of how much we appreciated our driver Justus since none of us would want to brave driving in the crazy Kenyan traffic or on the really bad Kenyan roads with crator size potholes and for which speed limits are determined not by signs but rather by enormous speed bumps. Knowing we were going to arrive late, Lloydie called ahead to let Sister Rhoda, the very hospitable and outgoing nun at Dimesse sisters that we would not make it back for lunch. She offered to leave a snack out for us and when we arrived mid afternoon  there was a table set with a full course meal plus some extras treats. She wanted to be sure we got something to eat because we were “doing such good work.”   You just have to love that Kenyan hospitality! And having just come from the village, this was especially a most delicious meal!

Carving a giraffe

We were headed to Nyumbani Children’s Home in the evening for movie night and had to make yet another trip to the local Nakumat to buy popcorn and such but a priority for everyone before that was to take a real well needed shower .  We all seemed to emerge from our showeres slightly euphoric from the feeling of being squeaky clean again! So well groomed and well fed we set off to buy the movie treats and headed to the Children’s Home. In my cottage they were just finishing up with dinner and had to do the after dinner chores. Everyone pitches in with doing the dishes, sweeping, washing the floor, etc. After that was done they all watched the news, broadcast primarily in Kiswahilie, but the older children translated for me. After that we settled into a viewing of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” as I dispensed cup after cup of cheese curls and juice baxes amidst a chorus of pleases and thank yous. That was my last evening at the Children’s Home.

Cottage E children cleaning up after dinner--everyone helps out

The plan for the next day, my final day in kenya was to do something fun and relaxing and Lloydie had scheduled us to go to a tea farm for a tour and for a lunch. I have to say that the drive there was quite beautiful and one of the most lush views of Kenyan vegetation. The day was beautiful like every other day, but a welcome bit cooler. As we got closer to the tea farms the view got more and more beautiful.

Fields of tea plants

We went to the Kiambethu Tea farm in Limuru which has been in existentence since 1910. The original beuatiful house is still there and has been in the same family for four generations. There is a beautiful garden on the property and a preserved section of the original deciduous forest.

Garden at Kiambethu Tea Farm

We began our tour with Fiona, the owner, showing us the original tea plant, now a non-harvasted tea tree, and then taking us inside for tea and telling us much more about the growing of tea as a criop and how it is processed at the local factory.

Fiona and the original tea plant

We then took a walk through the forest with Kamangi who pointed out much of the indiginous vegetation and its medicinal purposes. We met the geese of the fram and the cows who supply the milk for the delicious homemade ice cream.

Kamangi giving us a tour

Kiambethu cows

Kiambethu geese--they didn't seem that happy to have visitors

The walk was followed by drinks on the veranda and then by a very delicious lunch including fresh salad and vegetables and some of that homemade ice cream amongst other tasty treats for desserts. This was a wonderful thing to do on my final day in Kenya.

The group at the tea farm

Since I would soon be departing when Justus drove us back to our lodging we gave him a special gift for having been such a pleasure to work with and to let him know how much we appreciated him. The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting our 6 duffels of donations plus 4 additional huge duffels that were left by the last group.

Justus gets a thank you gift

Deb sorting donated clothing

I must admit that I got a pass for much of this so I could do some packing of my own, but more importantly so I could blog the rest of the time spent at the village since it had become a way for everyone else to be able to share their experiences too. As my bags were packed, the reality of leaving became all too real and the time was drawing nearer for me to head to the airport. I must admit that it was hard to leave since I knew that everyone else would be staying on for at least another week, but I could not be gone any longer from my practice. And it was, of course, especially hard to say goodbye. Though we talked about reuniting in the fall for the annual Nyumbani fund raising gala in D.C. and at least Deb and Lloydie and I were already talking about returning next January, that only softened the sting a little. We had all had this wonderful experience together, knowing that we were making a difference in people’s lives, loving all these adorable children, building relationships with many people, hearing their stories of hardship and loss, being moved to tears and being inspired by all of them to be better, do better, appreciate more….a bonding experience that will keep us forever connected to each other and to the people of Kenya.

Nyumbani Village-- signs at the crossroads

Kristen and Lloydie taking in the Village

The last few days at the Village were very full with activity and the final evening was a marvelous experience which could not have been a better send off. We did attend a celebration on Wednesday evening which was goodbye party to Soloman who is the laboratory technologist and to Mr. Multhi who is a teacher who has been reassigned by the government. It was quite a good dinner compared to the every meal of rice  or ugali (very thick maize porridge) with sukumawiki (cooked kale and onions) or githuri (beans with onions and maize). We had Kenyan style sangria (assisted in the making by Kristen) and softdrinks that weren’t warm! Afterwards there was a bonfire with toasting the people leaving and singing and going around the circle with each person saying something about themselves: where they are from, what country they would like to visit, their favorite animal, etc. What was most striking was the number of people who stood up and spoke from the heart and also said “I am proud to be a Kenyan.”

The Kest volunteers all continued  with working in various ways in different areas at the Village until Friday when it came time to take a field trip into Kitui to work on spending the rest of the donation money to purchase large numbers of plates, cups, silverware, sheets, etc. All have to be metal (except the sheets, of course) in order to meet the standard of sustainability established by the village. I stayed behind in the village as I had work to do in the counselling department,  but heard that it was quite the shopping trip and that the group was extremely grateful to have our driver Justus who had rejoined us at the Village that morning. Justus is Kambe and speaks the local language, is extremely charming and great nogotiator. Lynne stayed behind to do an interview for the Susu memory book and ended up impromptu running the Young Ambassadors Club since the group didn’t return from shopping until 4 even though they expected to be back by early afternoon. It has been a true spirit and example of “tuko pamoja” (we all work together, we are all in this together)  as we have worked here in the Village.

We have continued to interact with children and grandmothers and to build bonds and relationships that feel like they have been there much longer than they have existed in reality; that seems to be the Kenyan way.

Jefferson, a very nice young man whom I met in the Village

Walter playing with the children--an "action shot since he had just finished tickling that squirming one!

Another soulful face at Nyumbani Village

Brian, a retired Loretto school principal from Ireland volunteering in the Polytechnique School

On our final evening in the Village we were invited to two special events. The first was a dance performance in Cluster One for which there are no words to fully describe. The dance was done by the children with costumes, drums and other instruments and truly BLEW US AWAY!! I have a video which will give you a flavor–the performance was in one of the houses after the sun went down under the only light supply which is one solar powered light so the video is very dark, but please take a look and listen (it gets better after the beginning but I didn’t have a chance to edit…)  These kids were tireless and could be professional. We all thought they must have extra joints with the way they moved!

First, the warm up, which was so good we thought it was the whole dance:

Then the whole performance which made us vicariously exhausted and revenous because they used so much energy!!

After the performance we went to dinner at the Village priest’s house. This was the 2nd time we had a break from sakumawiki and githiri in the village…and we were surprised to find that Lillian was there and had cooked the dinner! Everything was quite delicious and it was a nice opportunity to spend a final night with people we really like and to be more relaxed.

Last dinner in the Village

The following morning Lloydie and I set out early on Saturday morning to meet the high school students as they were arriving at Lawson High School to deliver letters from sponsors and I wanted to have another opportunity to see Caroline, the student that my family sponsors since though I had met her the night before we wanted to meet again and to take some pictures. I regret that so much of the week went by without spending more time with her but I will have to do better next year!

Students arriving at Lawson School on Saturdy Morning

Caroline, the student we sponsor, and me on the school ground

Lloydie and Immaculate to whom she delivered a sponsor letter

After our early visit to the high school we had an early arrival to breakfast since we knew that John, the really friendly cook who just loves Lloydie (and vice versa) was making a special breakfast (vs the usual packaged bread and margarine) of mandazis for our final morning. Mandazis are a really delicious Kenyan treat most similar to an American doughnut but much lighter and not as sweet. We also got to watch him make them and got them as fresh as they could possibly be!

John making delicious mandazis for us!

After breakfast it was time to say all of the final goodbyes– no more avoiding it. Despite the fact that the village is really really hot, the food is mostly repetitive, there is nothing cold to drink, the bathrooms are a real “experience”, staying clean for more than a minute is impossible…..it is really hard to leave. It is a truly magical place with such a unique spirit of working together to save lives and to create a true village that works together to raise children and to care for the elderly, to respect the earth, to respect the culture, and to respect the value of all life. As I have said before, it is impossible to capture in words, you just have to go there and experience it for yourself. It will steal your heart.

Saying goodbye to Susu Mary

Kristin saying goodbye to one of the children

"Goodbye"....no it's not goodbye, it's "see you later", or as everyone in Kenya says, "we are missing you already!"

Kristen playing with Village children outside our lodging in the early evening

We have had a wonderful experience at Nyumbani Village with the children, the staff, the Susu’s; everyone we have come in contact with has been welcoming, grateful, and incredibly warm towards us. There are many complimentary things that we can say about the Kenyan people, but one trait that seems to characterize all of those whom we have met which is especially true in the Village is that they speak in such an unhibited way that is genuinely from the heart. It is very touching  and something that I wish we could see more at home.

Our days have been busy with activities but there has always been a little unstructured time just to walk around the village and take in the beautiful surroundings or chat and play with children who are always out and about in the evening. The younger children are often out gathering firewood and carrying big piles of kindling.

Village boy gathering kindlking

Children picking and offering to share berries

These children love to have their pictures taken. There are many joyous, smiling and laughing faces and a natural tendency to hold hands or put their arms over each other’s shoulders, but there are some soulful faces too that often make me wonder what they are thinking because I know that they have experienced a lot of loss already in their young lives.

They also love to look at their pictures

Kids here love to have their pictures taken!

Children on their way back from the primary school

Children go to school at 7AM and arrive before the teacher to do homework and go home around 5 to eat dinner. All but the younger students go back to school in the evening to have a self quided homework session and the hugh school student go back to school for the same purpose on Saturday. In addition to a lot of school hours they all participate in household chores and wash their own clothes and help take care of the younger children. Sunday is a day off with Church in the morning, but they also have mass once during the week. We attended the mass with the primary school children on Wednesday morning. It begins at 7AM with a massive migration of children in green school uniforms from the school to the church and is quite something to watch!

Village boys in church

I have really valued my time working in the counseling office seeing the clients from adolescents to staff to community members whom Lilian identified as needing further evaluation. People were remarkably open with me, I believe because they trust Lilian, and we were able to work as a team to create some interventions that I think will be very helpful. With Lilian being the only counselor for so many people and there being no other volunteers to assist her and no psychiatric services available I really felt useful as well as feeling the importance of not waiting two years to return again—I think I need to return next year. I have tremendous respect for all that Lilian handles. She is like a mother to every child in the Village and even to some of the adults. She recognizes that these children have all experienced such incredible loss that sometimes they just need to stop by her office to get a hug or to connect briefly. One such child, Mwende, is in this photo with Lilian who told me that she has a special attachment to her. She was working in the social work department when she went on a home rescue to get children to bring them back to the village. Mwende was just a baby and had so many sores all over body that she couldn’t pick up without carefully wrapping her first. Other family members told Lilian to leave her behind because she would only survive for a day or two, but she brought her back to the Villlage and they were able to save her and she is a thriving child now.

Lilian and Mwende

We had many opportunities to take in the Kambe cultures but none were better that those offered by the Susu’s themselves. They are an extremely outgoing group of women who always want to shake your hand or give you a hug as well as a very animated quiz on the appropriate Kikombe greeting—all before they start dancing with you . Most do not speak any English, but mange to communicate okay. All of them weave really beautiful baskets from which we shopped heartily. We had a special treat with them on Wednesday in the form of a special dancing session which was both a performance and a lesson. It was quite amazing to watch them dance since when you see them walking around the village they often look a little slow and as if they are showing their age. Once they start dancing, however, watch out!

Susu's dancing

You will have a much better appreciation for how they move in the video’s below:

After the dancing was done we had gifts for them: sweets, Nyumbani canvass bags, and Washinton D.C. AIDS Walk Tee shirts (KEST had a team in the walk and the AIDS clinic had donated the shirts tio bring to Kenya). All, but especially the shirts were a big hit! lloydie also explained about the Women4Women Initiative and how that will included selling their baskets and they were quite excited about that.

Susu's wearing their AIDS walk shirts

Yes, they ALL really loved their shirts

We also met with the Current Young Ambassadors and ran an activity for them. Our final two days, and especially our final evening in the Village were quite the finale. The internet connection at the Village has been extremely slow and unpredictable making blogging a challenge though it seems only fitting in a way since technology is so foreign there. I am going to save the finale at the Village for the next post since it was especially wonderful and the goodbyes were certainly bittersweet.

The journey here was about four hours through major roads, small towns and then more rural areas. It was interesting sight seeing for beautiful landscape

Scenery on the way To Nyumbany Village in Kitui

and even some animal sitings–zebras, giraffes and more………..

When we first arrived at the Village we met with representatives from the different departments.  First a bit about the Village itself. You may recall that the Village is a place that is pretty independent and the goal is to become fully self sustainable. Here orphans are matched with grandparents in a home–10 children to one grandparent who may have one ior two bilogical grandparents. Homes are very rustic made out of bricks oin the village property from the Kenyan clay. Four home are arranged around a common area to form a cluster housing a total of forty children and 4 grandparents. Currently construction is under way for Cluster 25 and there are 895 children living in the village.

THe Village has a home care program with social workers who also do outreach to the community, a counselling center, a medical clinic which also serves the surrounding community, a primary school, a high school, a church and more. We met with representatives from all of these and then had a tour of the current sustainability projects which are just fascinating and so creative. The major obstacle here is lack of reliable water and there are many ways that they have addressed that including building sand dams to trap the water when there are rains. They have a solar powered drip irrigation for the gardens and have a 10 year plan for planting Melia trees which have a 10 year maturation cycle and can be harvested for sale or building furniture. (see www.Trees4children.org) They are also producing bio-gas from cow manure to power the stove in the kitchen and have just begun an aquaponics program–growing Tilapia in a tank and running the water through several garden beds and recollecting it to both water the beds and filter the water to return it to thr fishtanks clean.

The Village is physically very pretty with overarching trees and sepia colored houses. There are always Susu’s and children bustling around in brightly colored clothing sporting huge smiles and exuberant welcomes and in the case of the Susu’s specila Kikambe handshakes, greetings and dances usually followed by burst of laughter.

Nyumbani Village

There are many opportunities to be of service in the village. There are always more hands needed in the sustainability program and there are several ongoing projects such as the KEST Memory Book being created for the Susus’s. Every grandparent in the village is being interviewed about their life and a book will be created of their history along with the life of their family now. The next step will be incorporating art from the children which is planned for next January—just one of the ways I am being beckoned back to help next year. There is also the Young Ambassadors Program begun by KEST to focus on Leadership, Citizenship and other Values. Since Kristen is a nurse she has been very warmly welcomed into the workings of the medical clinic.

Medical staff at Nyumbani Village-- yeah Kristen!

I have been working with Lillian, the Village psychologist, whom I met 2 years ago, who has had clients lined up for me waiting to see me. These have included people from the community, older adolescents from the Village and even staff from the Village. She refers to them as her “extreme cases” that she feels she needs to ask for assistance. I have felt honored to be entrusted with many incredible and tragic stories but also touched that I can really make a difference here. I have seen one young man a clear psychotic illness who very seriously needs medication treatment and oh, what gyrations we have had to go through to make that happen, but it will happen and that will really change things for him. For the psychiatrists among my readers, one pill of generic Zyprexa costs about 65 cents here! BTW, Lillian’s case load is 895 children, 90+ grandparents, over 100 staff and 70+ members of the community. I am the only volunteer she has—I need some recruits!!!!!

Lillian, the Village psychologist, and me

Lynn and Walter have spent time in sustainability and Walter has been thrilled to spend time at the Lawson High School since he is a private school principal and educator, Deb is continuing her work doing the interviews with the Susus accompanied by the social worker from home care and Lynne has joined her in the process. I have spent much of my time in the counseling office but have done a number of other things too. I made my way over to the food containers for the weekly food distribution and got to mingle with the Susus—something that will always put a smile on your face.

Susu's of Nyumbani Village

Just walking around the village there is much of village life to soak up and savor. The children are adorable. There are no toys here other than the ones they create or happen to find!

A creative toy of a bicycle rim from the Village children. They struck this pose when I asked for a picture.

Nyumbani Village children playing with a big tortoise

On Tuesday evening we did home visits at 2 clusters under the magnificent moonlit and starry sky that is like no other here. The day was very hot but the night had cooled down and there was a nice breeze. We were all gathered as the children from the 4 houses sang and sang and danced and danced for us—this was one of the most magical moment in the village I have ever experienced—one that reaches deep into your bones. I am posted two videos—you will see very little as it was quite hard to record in such low light. So you will only get glimpses here and there, but you will hear everything just as we did—I hope can use your imagination to take you under the beautiful Kenyan sky too.

Deb walking with a child to church

There has been an a feeling of excitement in the air throughout the past week as this has been the week of the summit meeting when all of the International Board Members and the Kenyan Board members meet with the Nyumbani administrators to discuss the Nyumbani programs, the progress, needs, future plans, etc. Today was the final day, so some special events were planned.  I loved watching these children of the Board Members play since as the saying goes children have alot to teach us.

Children of the Nyumbani Board Members in a sweet moment

The Nyumbani children did some extra singing and dancing during the mass as well as entertainment scheduled prior to a lunch in honor of the Board members. The entertainment included the preschoolers form the St. Paul Miki School through the “elementary school” age children.

Following the entertainment there were presentations to all the Form One students who will be leaving for boarding school and many heartfelt words from staff, children and others thanking the Board members for all that they do to keep Nyumbani going. There was, of course, frequent reference to Father D”Agostino who founded Nyumbani and acknowledgement of January as his birthday month. After many rounds of “sharing a few words” it was time for a special lunch. I was delighted to have a child, John, a toddler who had crawled up into my lap and fallen asleep during the presentations.

Sleepy John taking a nap in my lap

The KEST volunteers ate lunch at the tables with our host cottages and promised we would be back next Saturday.

Following the time at the Children’s Home it was time to hit the local Nakumat to stock up on water and a few other things to bring to The Village tomorrow. Also Lloydie, Justun and I, armed with the recipe ingredients for the porridge for the PCDA program set out to buy those ingredients (in great bulk requiring 3 shopping carts) with donation money that I had received earmarked for that purpose. We also pooled our donation money and discovered that we had quite a lot such that Lloydie could not zip it into the folder she usually uses—a very good problem to have!  That will enable us to pay for the mattresses needed for the latest new people at the Village and to buy lots of much needed sheets. We will go shopping once we are in Kitui near the Village. THANK YOU DONORS!!!!!!

Donations for mattresses for the Village!!

We went out to dinner at Karen Blixen’s house this evening—a good meal before we are off to the Village. Tomorrow morning there will be a good long shower too! The days are very full but very wonderful. As I write this post somewhat sleepy eyed at midnight here, I can say that no day yet has gone by yet been without having deeply inspiring and touching moments. Off to the Village tomorrow……………

Maasai woman and her baby

This trip just keeps on being amazing! We have spent much of the last 2 days in a Maasai Village working with the PCDA (Pastoral Community Development Association).  The drive there was quite beautiful as we drove beside the Ngong Hills and down into the Rift Valley. KEST became involved with this program rather serendipitously when Lloydie and Karen who was a fellow KEST volunteer with me in 2010 sat beside Philip the director on a long flight a year or so ago. Maasai communities are struggling to maintain their traditional culture of being semi nomadic despite pressures from the government to be more sedentary and obstacles from the environment such as drought. It is a male dominated culture in which the males are herdsmen and the women build the houses, cook, take care of the children, etc. Houses are made of sticks thatching and mud and cow dung covered walls. All children going to school such as the one that we visited in this village is a relatively modern phenomenon which is not a usual part of all Maasai culture. The goal of KEST’s involvement is to help with the school program development, to support the school lunch program (which may provide the only daily meal for some of the children) and to assist the women in selling their crafts through the Women4Women Initiative.

View of the Great Rift Valley

Friday we were at the school in the Maasai village and focused our time with the children. They were unbelievably cute! This involved singing, reading books, and crafts projects some of which built on previous lessons that they had learned from other KEST volunteers. As my assigned job, I got to rove back and forth between the two classrooms and help the children where help was needed and to take photos (much more fun than work). After the classroom work was done we went outside where the children got temporary tattoos from Kristen and face paint from Deb and me. Since there were so many children we were aiming to just paint one thing on one cheek and did butterflies, flowers and such on the girls and birds, turtles and oops….snakes on the boys. We learned that the snakes were a really bad idea when we discovered them wiping them off because they are quite afraid of snakes—a cultural faux pas which we rectified with “do-over’s”. The children were very enthusiastic learners, very well behaved, and seemed to really enjoy having us around. For those of you who gave me monetary donations, some will go to help with purchasing food to keep the stock of supplies (maize flour, oil, powdered milk and sugar) necessary to make daily porridge for the school lunch program.

Maasai Children in the School yard

Maasai Children at school

Kristen reading an Eric Carle book to the children

Watch and hear the children sing BELOW:

On Saturday we went to the homes of the families and each was assigned to help a Momma with the daily chores (except for Walter who got to sharpen his herding skills!) I went off with Jane and was assisted by Helen a lovely 13 year old who could speak English very well. After going inside the very hot and dark hut we made a fire and made chai from milk, sugar and loose tea. We talked a lot over tea and translations and Jane gave me a Maasai name that I have no idea how to spell and it took me many tries to learn how to say. It sounds like this—Nasorrrwah with the r’s being rolled a bit and it means “one who gives” in Maa (Maasai language) I thought it was rather a sweet name though in the course of my practicing my emphasis was bit off…and so was my pronunciation which had Jane’s nine year old Joy rolling with laughter and together we all had a fun time with it. Helen, who I actually the daughter of Jane’s neighbor loved to take pictures and did quite a good job, she took pictures of me doing the dishes and then she took me outside to see the baby goats,. She said to me “You catch a kid and I will take your photo.”  Well, they are not that easy to catch and they move a lot faster than you might think, so she had to catch one for me (SHE made it look easy).  That was good for quite a few laughs. Finally she did take my picture with the baby goat and the little boy Morris looking on.

The babyy goat and Morris and me

She then took some pictures with Jane and me and her mother with beautiful Maasai jewelry on. When it came time to leave Jane actually gave me a bracelet and a beautiful necklace which I will treasure.

Jane and me

Kristen and Lynne, Mzungu Maasais

In the afternoon we met with the women who do crafts which largely involve some kind of very fine beading. They were seated beside the road under a tree; all dressed in beautiful brightly colored clothing and traditional jewelry with their ware spread out on beautiful cloth. It was like this spectacular patch of bright colors in an otherwise nearly monochromatic sea of muted green.

PCDA Craft Women

Deb and her Maasai Friend

Lloydie explained the Women4Women Initiative with help of Philip as translator. We talked about their crafts and mingled and enjoyed seeing the work that they had done which had many reflections of the culture contained within it. Before our departure they sang us a song….of course. It was a great couple of days of cultural exchange, building relationships, and making a committment to help this struggling community in an ongoing way.

We spent the better part of two days at Kibera Paper. I blogged in an earlier post, before I departed, about how Kibera Paper employs women from the Kibera slum and enables them to earn income to support their families when they would otherwise not be able to afford the basic necessities of life. We had two incredible days working with the women at Kibera Paper, getting to know them, working alongside them , learning their craft, exchanging ideas with the 2 young male artists who create many of the designs and really touching each other’s hearts. The KEST volunteers learned from the women how to make cards from beginning to end—that included “processing” the recycled paper (squishing it by hand in the water) into mush and then making it into sheets.

Learning to make Kibera cards-- Start to finish!

We also painted, beaded and threaded some designs and glued them together, folded and threaded the cards, put the Kibera Paper logo and description on the bag and even signed some of them. Since they were in the process of making more of my favorite mother and baby cards I was especially delighted that we got to participate in the making of those.  We really learned how time consuming and intricate a process it is to make Kibera cards since they are handmade every single step of the way in the finest detail.

Bothe Deb and I worked with the Mommas to help them create cards with a technique that we use. Deb brought a lot of materials to make valentines since we are coming upon that holiday and that is recognized in Kenya.

Deb's valentine project with the Kibera Paper women (even Justice helped out with this)

I really wanted to work with the woman to teach them a technique that they might be able to incorporate into their production and might be both fun by introducing something new, but also sustainable if I brought extra materials. I decided to teach them how to make small block prints with softcut linoleum and lino cutters and how to print them. If they liked the process and the designs, they would then be able to print the same blocks over and over again since I brought a lot of extra ink, printing paper and other materials to keep them going for a quite awhile. Wel, l I have to say that this was very exciting to me. They started out being very hesitant and unsure of themselves and by the end they were so proud of the work they had done that it just warmed my heart to see this unfold. I felt so happy to tell them what a wonderful job they had done and how proud I felt to have taught them. And they were profusely grateful for the lesson and the materials.

Kibera Paper women making block prints

Proud of their work!

Both days we enjoyed chai and biscuits together and shared a genuine exchange of warmth and affection. Lloydie explained the mission of the Women4Women Program and how it would work and its intention to increase their sales in the U.S. We also shopped heartily form their stock of cards which are just beautiful.

When it came time to leave there was a lot of singing and dancing, the most joyous of which you can see in these videos.

There were also blessings in song and words shared in the Kenyan way which is to speak from the heart without being shy in a way that we don’t tend to do in the U.S. and when you experience it in Kenya it is so profoundly touching—well, that is why we always end up in tears. They are not shy about acknowledging that our hearts have been touched by each other and doing it in the loveliest of ways. And Kenyan goodbyes—well everyone gets hugs and you are escorted to your vehicle and hands are held, and more hugs and people are still waving as you drive away……

Since Kibera Cards are made on the property of a church and school where space is rented  to allow for making and storing the cards , there are sometimes school children around as was the case when we were there. Since they were so adorable and I can never pass up an opportunity to photograph a child, I thought I would give you a peek and these children looking especially “smart” (Kenyan term for sharp, stylish) in their red school uniforms.

School children at Kibera Paper

Included in our two packed days were also some other activities, we drove into Kibera and stopped at a storefront that is run by one of the longest established Self Help Groups. They call themselves Power Women. Although not one of the groups for KEST’s Women4Women Initiative we did want to meet with them and to  hear their story since they have a long history of success. And of course we came upon some other children and the usual chorus of children shouting after us “How are you?” which is what they do whenever they see white people (Mzungus) in Kibera.

Power Women in their Kibera store front

Kibera Kids

We also took a trip to Amani ya Juu (Higher Peace in Swahili), a women’s sewing and training program based in Nairobi for marginalized women and women refugees from many African Nations and cultures. The focus is on mentoring women, holistic development, producing quality environmentally friendly goods, peaceful existence and self sustainability. We had a lovely meal there and then browsed and purchased some of their goods.

Amani: the Peace Quilt and The Children's Peace Quilt

Finally, we actually managed to fit something more into these two days—on Thursday evening we took the adolescents who will be going away from the Nyumbani Children’s Home to begin high school Form 1 or fist year of high school)  out for a celebratory evening. In Kenya, after eighth grade children take standardized exams and only are accepted into high school if they pass and get adequate scores. All high schools require tuition and are boarding schools and acceptance is based entirely on test scores. This is all very anxiety provoking. All 14 students from Nyumbani Children’s Home will be going on to high school and will be leaving in the early part of February. We took them to a “nyama choma” (literal translation=grilled meat) and had a meal, hired a DJ for dancing and they had a wonderful evening. We road on the bus with them and KEST volunteers danced under the disco ball with them! I had the pleasure of sitting next to Thomas, a very bright young man who is very articulate and we had some wonderful conversation. Lloydie gave them all a bag of catsup, peanut butter, and hot chocolate—apparently the most missed food items when away at boarding school. Sitting back, looking at all of them having a wonderful time, dancing up a storm, well, it’s something to marvel at considering that many of them were so sick when they arrived at Nyumbani Children’s Home that they weren’t expected to live. Now that truly is something to celebrate!

Nyumbani Children's Home Form One Students "Send Off" Dinner

NCH Form One students and KEST volunteers dance the night away

Next stop PCDA (Pastoral Community Development Alliance) in the Maasai community and some of the most adorable children…stay tuned. LLala Salama! (Goodnight)