Over 4 Years and 21,000 Blog Hits Later: Time for Reflection
Children of Nyumbani Village
I began writing this blog in 2009 when I began planning my first trip to Kenya–in some ways it feels like just yesterday, but in many ways it feels like long ago because going to Kenya has become such a big part of my life and the Kenyan people inhabit such a huge place in my heart. The number of days I spend in Kenya each year is not so many; but the number of times I go back there in my mind, the times I feel a deep pang in my heart or a tear in my eye for the ways the experience has moved me, those times are so frequent and far beyond what I ever would have imagined. I cannot look at one of these little smiling faces–the faces of surviving and thriving AIDS orphans–with whom I have talked, played, sang, danced and more–without being moved. It first began about the children, AIDS orphans, of which there are so many in Sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore the title of the blog, zuri watoto wote, all the beautiful children in Swahili, but it has become so much more…… This experience has changed my view of the world, the way I live in it, but most of all it has given me a fuller and more open heart than I had four years ago. It may seem like a strange irony, but everyone else who volunteers, now all of us friends deeply bonded to each other by this common experience, will say the same; we are the ones who have been given an amazing gift.
Kenyan countryside on the way to Nyumbani Village
The Great Rift Valley: Kenya is a beautiful country!
As I look back over these past few years, I cannot believe that I only met Lloydie Zaiser, (who I call my “soul sister” because of our heartfelt bond) of KEST (Kenya Educational and Service Trips) four years ago and that we planned the first trip around our kitchen table as she stopped to talk with us on her way through Maine. A brief stop turned into a many hour conversation packed with moving stories, dinner, and I was ready to pack my bags.
Lloydie and one of the women of Tuko Pamoja
Jen and one of the women of Tuko Pamoja
Since then, under the auspices of KEST with Lloydie and Jen Geiling organizing the details of each volunteer trip so much has evolved and been accomplished. While I have gone on the volunteer trip in the winter, there have also been volunteer trips mostly focused on college and high school students in the summers. In the past four years, far more than a hundred volunteers have gone to work in the programs of Nyumbani–the Children’s home housing 100 AIDS orphans who have HIV, Nyumbani Village where 100 grandparents are raising 1000 children orphaned AIDS, and the Lea Toto clinics of the impoverished communities around Nairobi where families of children with HIV can receive outreach care. Numerous TONS of donations including clothing, medical supplies, office supplies, equipment, scooters, toys, have been brought by the volunteers to the Nyumbani programs (thank you British Airways for those special baggage wavers!)
“Nyumbani” means home
Deb with children at Nyumbani Children’s Home
Nyumbani Village
Karen–one mzungu in a sea of Nyumbani children
The chicken coop that KEST helped to build
Nyumbani Village feet
KEST has done many enrichment programs for the Children of Nyumbani including after-school clubs… the Young Ambassadors Program of Nyumbani Village in partnership with the Children’s Culture Connection and the Environmental Awareness Club. In 2010, the Nyumbani Village Memory Book project began in order to to record the histories of all of the grandparents living in the village and create a book for each home. History of the land, a summary of the village departments, and artwork from the children will also be included in the book which will be completed this year. I am proud and happy to say that I have done several art exchange programs with schools in Maine and those coupled with this blog have been my way and my hope of fostering a connection across distant cultures and introducing the concept of global citizenship, especially to youth here who are far more advantaged in life.
Young Ambassadors
Basket weaving grandmothers of Nyumbani Village
Weaving a beautiful basket
In 2011 KEST also began working with 2 additional communities: First, the Pastoral Care Development Alliance–a collaboration of Maasai communities that have established educational programs and income generating projects to increase development opportunities for their communities and second, Tulitha Kum, a children’s orphanage about four hours north of Nairobi in Nyuhururu, Kenya. which like the Nyumbani Children’s Home, serves HIV+ orphaned children.
PCDA school children
Art exchange at PCDA
Maasai women’s crafts
With the back drop of the Rift Valley
Also in 2011, the seeds were first sown for what would become Tuko Pamoja, a socially conscious LLC collaborating with 6 groups of impoverished Kenyan women artisans to develop a sustainable market for their handmade crafts by introducing their crafts in the U.S. and providing them with the tools and training to become self-sufficient. These women now have a predictable and sustainable income which enables them to feed their children, pay their school fees, and are joined in the spirit of Tuko Pamoja “We are together” in Swahili. We are all joined in that spirit for those of us who work with these women have a deep kinship with them, a bond and affection; they ARE our sisters and living halfway across the world doesn’t seem so far away at all any more. And when we all sing and dance together, especially when we all gather in a big circle, the voices are many, but they seem like one. Tuko Pamoja is in its second year and will have its second Annual Workshop for Women when we are in Kenya. All of the U.S. Board members agreed when we met in September that this workshop was, despite the many memorable and amazing days that we have spent in Kenya, the most magical of all.
Tuko Pamoja group photo in Dandora
Personal well being session of the Women’s Workshop
I could go on about the home visits done in Lea Toto, the work in the sustainability program or in the polytechnic program at Nyumbani Village, or many more things that have been accomplished- they are too many to recount. As for me, some of my most incredible days have been spent at Nyumbani Village assisting Lilian who used to be the sole counselor for the staff, 100 grandparents, 1000 children and surrounding community. Fortunately there is an additional counselor there now, but no psychiatric services in rural Kenya other than what I have been able to offer on my annual trips. I have to say however that Lilian and I as a team have changed some lives–from finding a way to treat a psychotic young man with medication that made him well again to changing the course of a young man’s life who kept running away from the Village. Not all the stories are life changing, but the role of listening, explaining, understanding and educating people about illnesses like autism which have never been explained, offering up knowledge and compassion that they have never received, is beyond words. I will return to the clinic to do this again in January.
Father of one of the teens I treated in the clinic with Lloydie
In Lilian’s Coulseling office at Nyumbani Village
Lilian and me
I have been writing about much of the growth of accomplishment, but not as much about the growth of the heart that comes with this experience. I’m sure that any of my fellow volunteers will agree that Kenya seeps into your pores and takes up residence in your heart. The Kenyan people have a way of communicating that is very genuine–they express affection, gratitude, love in far more open and graceful ways than come easily to those of us who live in this country. They live with so very little, often on the edge of survival, yet are grateful for what they have, effusively grateful for anything given to them, and take nothing for granted. They embrace us with a genuine warmth and expose their hearts in profound ways so that we are often moved to tears, not by the tragedy that exists as there is much of that, but by the ways in which people are willing to share their vulnerability in sadness, joy, gratitude, grief, all of it. And when they are joyous, they don’t hold back, they sing and dance like its heaven on earth!
Justus our good friend, guide, driver, with Kristen
Fun at Kibera Paper
Hear for yourself!
Joyful singing at Kibera paper, an example of everyday experience in Kenya!
If you received this by email, click the link below for the wonderful video of singing and dancing at Kibera Paper:
Tuko Pamoja–The Vision Ahead
The Tuko Pamoja (“We are together” in Swahili) Board descended on Rockville, MD on September 19th for 4 days of a board meeting, retreat, reunion, and time filled with inspiration, brainstorming, synergistic energy, tears and laughter, and even cheering and dancing. When this group of five women get together with all of our passion for Kenya and the women of Tuko Pamoja, our joy of working with them, and ideas start flying fast about future plans, it seems as though the building should rumble or glow a little!
I flew in from Maine to be greeted at the airport by Jen and Karen and amidst all the hugs and excitement of being together again, we hadn’t even moved from the spot where I landed before Karen and I were both in tears overwhelmed with that feeling that we get when we feel the passion of this work together and the emotional connection which brings us back to our sisters across the globe. We had a full few days ahead complete with color coded itinerary and agenda prepared by Jen and Lloydie, and a lot to accomplish ( but also a couple of “field trips” included on the agenda….if we “got all our work done.”)
We met at Lloydie”s house where there’s never a feeling of being too far from Kenya with all of the Kenya decorations, Tuko Pamoja ware, and ever mounting duffels filled with donations for the next trip.
Jen and Karen making what would become 100’s of tags
Snacks and tags for merchandise
Before we got down to the full agenda we had a chance to visit and see that Jen had been working on a new SKU tagging system for the Tuko Pamoja merchandise with which we would all become very familiar. Thanks to Jen we now have a much better system for check out and cataloguing the Kenyan Women’s crafts.
We worked on many different issues during our meeting, but began with a review of the past year. Tuko Pamoja began a little over a year ago as a socially conscious LLC dedicated to collaborating with marginalized Kenyan Women artisans to help them create a sustainable market for the sale of they goods in the U.S. It had been a successful year with increasing the purchase of their goods by 50%, increasing the number of scheduled sales events, selling close to 90% of the inventory, and hosting that amazing 1st Annual Women’s workshop when we were in Kenya last January. Almost every woman artisan at all six sites has been interviewed and photographed to create individual bios of the women. While we want to sell their goods, we also want people to have a chance to know them–they are each amazing women with strength, grace, resilience and talent who all have remarkable life stories. We want people who buy their goods to have a chance to feel the connection with them. Each site has a book of bios of the women artisans and we have these to share with people who attend our sales events. We know from comments like this in the event guest book that sharing the women”s stories, photos, and bios does give people a sense of connection with these women whom we have come to know and love.
Comment written in TP party guest book
A bio and photo for each woman
But now it was time to look ahead, to fine tune some of the business plan, and to rework our plans to more clearly reflect the ultimate goal of having women artisans groups eventually graduate from Tuko Pamoja and become independent. And so we reworked our mission statement:
“To collaborate with marginalized Kenyan women”s artisans groups toward the goal of creating sustainable income and independence.”
We want to convey the concept of developing independence and our ultimate hope that each of these six groups of artisans will, through our collaboration and training, develop the skills and self confidence to become independent, and become alumni and mentors to other groups who enter Tuko Pamoja. So how will this happen? This is what we spent a lot time and energy–and excitement–working on. We will need the collaboration and input of our Kenyan Board members and their diverse talents and a clear vision with milestones and goals to be reached over the next five years. This is what we focused on for our second Annual Women’s Workshop to be held in Kenya on January 25, 2014. We talked about measuring success and how we know if the women are getting what they need to develop independence. This is when is was extremely helpful to have Karen, who is a financial planner and business owner, focusing us on the details of planning. While the planning was detailed beyond what I wish to report here, woven throughout was a great deal of heart, a deep connection to our sisters in Kenya, a passion to be helpful and profound kindred spirit with all of them.
Shared amongst us were many stories and reminiscences of times in Kenya, the times that most deeply touched our hearts and keep us so passionate about this work. There were moments of laughter, and joy and even some of deep sadness when we recalled our most overwhelming times in Kenya when we each felt flooded by the despair of seeing such hardship. We had to stop the planning for a while and simply process these experiences and support each other as we have all been there— overwhelmed for a brief time faced with the enormity of the poverty, disease, hardship, only to find our bearings again—the bearings that lead you to remember that if you look at the whole larger picture you can become immobilized with despair, but if you focus on the people right in front of you, then you can make a difference, you can change someone’s life…… and in the process change your own.
While we don’t know precisely how to measure the success of Tuko Pamoja and are working on that, what we do know is that the number of women’s self-help groups has more than doubled since Tuko Pamoja began working with the self-help groups formed in the Lea Toto clinic of the slums. We know that the grandmothers who weave the baskets at Nyumbani Village are now earning enough income through basket sales to be able to save a little and need bank accounts. And something else which is hard to measure, but undeniably present from working with the women over several yearsbefore Tuko Pamoja, is the look of hope on their faces and the lightening of their spirits. That is something you can just see and feel.
Deb and Lloydie on our “field trip” beside a most appropriate sculpture
Some of our most pleasurable planning time was spent on what special things we can do for the women when we return to Kenya. We decided to come up with a motto to print on a business card for them, something that they can keep close at hand and heart to remind then of Tuko Pamoja and that “we are together” in this venture and remain connected even when we are not there. Our motto became:
Tuko Pamoja
We are strong and beautiful
We are growing and learning
We are together……always
However, before our time together was done, not only was it a motto, but also a cheer and song, also accompanied by Kamba dance moves that we can’t wait to share with the women, especially those limber jointed dancing grannies of Nyumbani Village!
The herd of beaded animals in our inventory
Displaying new items of Tuko Pamoja
Sharing ideas…
and more ideas..
and more.
The Tuko Pamoja Board
In addition to all the planning for Tuko Pamoja, we also reviewed our trip itinerary for travel to Kenya in January. Although Lloydie says that no one is allowed to get exhausted on this trip (hmm, right, Lloydie?) and that the itinerary is less packed, we still have a lot to accomplish. In addition to all of the Tuko Pamoja site visits and the workshops, we will spend time at Nyumbani Village working on multiple other projects and I will spend a good part of my time there consulting with the Village counselors as I have done in the past. We have some wonderful fundraising projects for people to support which I will write about in a future post. As we all were getting into the excitement of the trip, we decided to call our friend Justus, our driver, guide and protector extroadinaire in Kenya. It was so wonderful to hear his voice and laugh, but this is when we first heard of the terrorist attack on the mall as this was unfolding as we were on the phone. Although excited about our trip and feeling exhilarated by being together, this news left us all heavy-hearted and deeply saddened for our friends in Kenya. Since some people have asked me whether this will deter our travel plans, I will answer that question here. We are very cautious about safety when we travel, we don’t go to places like the Westgate mall, we spend most of our time in rural Kenya or in the slum areas and very little time in more populated areas like Nairobi where we just past through. So no, we are not deterred and will be cautious, but remained determined to carry on this work with more passion.
The last event of our time together was a cocktail party to welcome the Executive Director on Nyumbani, Sr. Mary Owens to the Washington D.C. area where the annual fundraising gala would take place the following weekend. It was a nice opportunity to chat with her, hear updates from Nyumbani and update her on the plans for Tuko Pamoja. I have to give an enormous amount of credit to Lloydie and Jen who have worked diligently on Tuko Pamoja event planning, site books, collating interviews and doing much of the stateside leg work of Tuko Pamoja. We all hated to depart the next day, but all felt like we had accomplished a great deal and could feel the mounting excitement of planning for another trip to Kenya in January, a trip filled with many things to accomplish, but most of all with lots of experiences to touch and overflow our hearts as always happens in our time together there.
“Dressed up” for the evening
Tuko Pamoja group photo in Dandora–see you soon!
My words about the women of Kenya after my first trip–I didn’t realize just how true they would really prove to be be ….,
Tribute to the Women of Kenya
Oh women of Kenya,
do you know how beautiful you are?
With your dark eyes holding your
stories of such sorrow and despair
your shining faces still able to smile so lovely
despite hardship beyond imagination
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how strong you are?
To carry your sick children on your backs
for miles through the alleys of Kibera
to raise the children of a nation through
sickness and poverty with such love
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how powerful you are?
You are the true backbone of your country
the bricks and the mortar of your people,
the keepers of the culture and traditions
the past and the future
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how glorious you are?
you dance and sing with a lively spirit
that could fill the heavens
that suspends all time and lifts all hearts
with infectious joy
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how truly amazing you are?
You moved me in a way I could not have imagined
found places in my heart I never knew existed
A piece of me is there in Kenya with you
I am but a deep breath away and in my mind’s eye
I am remembering just how beautiful you are!
Update….and early countdown to Kenya!
Aaah, Kenya!
It has been oh so, very too long since I have posted, but that doesn’t mean that Kenya hasn’t been on my mind and in my heart. Life here gets so busy and I am often buried in the endless administrative tasks of practicing medicine, which I so dislike, such that I can’t find time to do these things that I so like, such as blogging about Kenya, the Children of Nyumbani, the wonderful Kenyan people who we have come to know and love, and the work of the KEST volunteers. As has been true for a number of years now, this summer was marked by a migration of KEST volunteers to Kenya led by our extraordinarily energetic, big-hearted, extremely friendly and loquacious leader Lloydie Zaiser (really, I think everyone in Kenya knows her and probably most of the staff on British Airways…) Lloydie kept me well supplied with updates of the trip from the volunteers keeping me envious of all those who were there, sad to be missing out, but lucky to live the trip vicariously. And she recently posted photos, taken by all travelers, so I just had to blog about some of the summer trip experience and include their photos. I know that it won’t be until Lloydie and I sit down together that I will hear all the stories, the ones that will move me to tears; she has told me that there are many. Of course, there always are…..
Making projects at Nyumbani Children’s Home
More projects
Smiles at Nyumbani Children’s Home
This time the volunteer group included Lloydie’s daughter Meagan, who some of the Nyumbani children were always asking about every time we arrived, and her co-teacher Nancy, as well as Stephanie, Bailey, Sarah, Ashton and Adriana. I wish I could have been there to see the children’s excitement when Meagan arrived! The group spent the first weekend at Nyumbani Children’s Home doing crafts with the younger children and teaching yoga and mindfulness to the older children. Since most of the volunteers were new to the Children’s Home and to Nyumbani, the trip began with a meeting with the Executive Director, Sister Mary, who is quite an amazing person, and who who can always give a very thoughtful overview of the whole organization and the current issues and problems which they are facing in caring for AIDs orphans and HIV+ children. After a busy and, what I am sure was an eye-opening and touching weekend at the Children’s Home, the group was off to Nyumbani Village, quite a change from being outside of Nairobi, but not hot like it is there in January. I was even more envious of the group as I thought of them heading to the Village and knowing that Justus was driving them. He is our most wonderful driver and dear friend, who keeps us safe, has a wonderful broad smile and is aways in a good mood–I don’t know how you can spend all those hours driving in Kenya, in Nairobi traffic, on roads with potholes half the size of your car and always be so happy, I would be scared to death! But he never stops smiling!
Justus and his family–can’t wait to have dinner with all of you in January!
Sho sho gets a new lasso
Village girls and KEST volunteers
The group was quite busy in the Village–but that goes without saying as all KEST trips have a very packed agenda. They worked hard at many of the usual activities such as sorting the 450 lbs of donations which they brought, working in the sustainability program sorting seeds, mulching,etc., interviewing the grandparents for the memory book, facilitating the Young Ambassadors Club and more. An extra special item on the agenda this time, however, was working on the formation of a sister school program between the Hot Courses Primary School in Kenya and the Woods Academy in Bethesda where Megan and Nancy are teachers. In addition, KEST delivered 435 packages to the adolescent girls that were on the top of the priority list. Girls had been missing school due to lack of feminine supplies and they delivered undergarments and a year’s supply of sanitary napkins to each girl in need.
Hot Courses Primary School
Delivering supplies to adolescent girls at Nyumbani Village
In addition to the volunteer activities, they were treated to all of the magic of the Village–the sho sho’s dancing, the children singing and dancing including a special private performance in one of the clusters, Joseph playing his homemade instruments, and the simple beauty of the Kamba culture.
Joseph and his homemade guitar
People are always sad to leave the village; Stephanie and Bailey wrote about it this way: “Today we woke up to the usual crowing of the roosters outside of our windows, but awoke with a bit more hop in our step. Though sad to leave the people in the village, everyone was eager to return to the comforts of showers, toilet seats, and normal beds that awaited us in Karen. By 9 o’clock Justus pulled into the village, on time as always, and we packed the van to the brim with our bags and newly acquired baskets that we purchased from the village grandmothers.”
Always hard to say goodbye…
Lots of baskets!
Lloydie saying goodbye to John, the Village cook and best mandazi maker
Never know what you’ll see leaving on the Village road..
Following the week at Nyumbani Village, the group spent the weekend at The Children’s Home and then the subsequent week at the Lea Toto sites, Kibera paper and at PCDA. They learned about the programs offered at Lea Toto providing outreach support to the families with children with HIV who live in the impoverished communities surrounding Nairobi. This also gave them the opportunity to meet the women crafters of the self-help groups involved with Tuko Pamoja while Lloydie worked on going over and eventually picking up all of the orders for the fall events coming up (November 9th for those of you who live in my area.)
Meeting with the Vision Self Help Group
Lloydie “modeling” the ware
Tuko Pamoja–We are together!
They also went to the Maasai Community, PCDA, where they did some enrichment projects with the children and met with that self-help group and met the women of Kibera paper. Between visiting all these sites, the volunteers were able to participate in all the Nyumbani programs as well as PCDA and Kibera Paper, and the preparation for the ongoing work of selling the crafts of the women in the U.S. and sustaining their market was accomplished.
PCDA children
Summer 2013 KEST volunteers
A tough group…
I will have much more to update about Tuko Pamoja as we move forward with a lot of planning. The U.S. Board is meeting in September…and I’m sure we will end up with even bigger plans once we all start brainstorming together. The summer 2013 KEST group ended their travel with a Safari although Lloydie stayed on in Kenya to finish up Tuko Pamoja business. So I will share a few of their safari photos in closing. Lloydie is promising that the Adults Only trip in January this year will have a little leisure time built-in because we were all so exhausted last year with all that we packed in for Tuko Pamoja and so much more. So we have a two-day safari planned and I’m really excited about that. I did tease her and say that she couldn’t take it out of my sleep allotment because I already use that for blogging! So we have lots to do before we leave:
- Tuko Pamoja U.S. Board meeting/Retreat in September
- Many Tuko Pamoja Fall events
- Planning the Women’s Workshop in Kenya
- Gathering Donations
and exponentially more when we get there….and I can’t wait! We depart in 186 days!
Mother and baby…
So cute!
She’s a beauty!
……because you can’t ever see too many elephants!
Mother and youngster–tall beauties
Beautiful Kenya!
Winding down the trip…with good food, good fun and more!
- Up close and personal….
So I am home now but there is still a lot that I want to share about our trip. We worked very hard on the trip, in fact it became a running joke that the definition of free time was having 3 free hours with only 6 hours of work to do in them! I have to say that we accomplished an enormous amount and it all felt tremendous.We did however save a little time for fun and relaxation at the end. The drive back from Nyumbani Village was very scenic and enjoyable as we were once again able to see beautiful countryside with mountains and terraced gardens or just people carrying on with life in Kenya.
However, the best things that we did on the drive back from Nyumbani Village was to stop at Wamunyu Carvers and the Giraffe Park. We had stopped at the carvers last year and I think it will now become a regular tradition. It is a men’s cooperative of gifted carvers who make many things out of wood and are fascinating to watch since many of the tools they use are larger than the delicate animals they carve….and they all start with a log!
Working on a giraffe
Story of Wamunyu Carvers
Not only do you get a tour and an opportunity to talk to the carvers, but you also get a chance to then shop from the huge store of hand carved wooden goods at far better prices than you will find anywhere else in Kenya. The only problem is deciding what to buy! Wamunyu carvers is not far from Nyumbani Village, but on the other end of the drive in Karen, just outside of Nairobi, is the Giraffe park where they rehabilitate rescued giraffes and are trying to raise more of the endangered Rothchild’s giraffes in captivity. Those are the species that look like they have on white knee socks. Before we could get to the giraffe park we hit the dreaded traffic pile up near Nairobi and it would have taken us about 3 hours to get through the city. So Justus our trusty driver and friend took us on one of his famous short cuts. This was the back way to avoid all the traffic and get what is affectionately known as a free “African Massage.” We had been on bumpy roads before (there are many in Kenya, but none quite like this one with holes capable of swallowing up half a car!) But it truly was a shortcut with a sense of humor and Justus was our hero once again.
The short cut–this wasn’t the worst part, but a part I could hold the camera still enough to shoot
Once we got to the giraffe park the giraffes were being “called” by the park rangers into visit us and so that we could feed them. They weren’t anywhere in sight at first but they gradually made their way toward the gazebo like stand where we were all waiting with a crowd of other people.
You can barely see them here…
and then they got closer
Then closer
Then much closer!
I even got to feed one!
They were not at all shy about getting close; many of us got to feed them and some people even got giraffe kisses! They are quite beautiful animals up close .
Beautiful animals!
This ended our fun on the way home from Nyumbani Village and everyone had first and foremost on their minds getting to the Spurwing guest house for the night where we knew we could take a long-awaited shower and would have something, anything other than Village food, for dinner. Having stayed in a cluster house with no electricity and no running water under hot conditions and having been running around in the red Kenyan soil for the week too, we were all feeling like a shower would be so heavenly. Having stayed at Spurwing in the past and knowing that they are good friends of Lloyd assured us of a great meal as well so we were in high spirits. We all emerged for dinner a little giddy with joy from being clean again. The following day we had on our agenda–packing–our personal things including all the things we had bought for souvenirs and gifts, finishing the distribution of donated items, and packing up the purchased Tuko Pamoja items to fly home with us all in duffels weighing less than but as close to 50 lbs as possible. We had another stop to make at the Children’s Home and I had a meeting with Lilian to debrief her about all the patients I had seen. We were however also scheduled to do something fun and relaxing that day by visiting the Kiambethu tea farm in Limuru, a wonderful place to learn about growing tea, see the gorgeous tea fields, drink tea, and have a delicious lunch of homemade food.
Entrance to the Kiambethu Tea Farm
Tea Fields
Perfectly sectioned tea fields
The garden at the Tea Farm
The house at the tea farm
All of us being entertained by the Colobus monkeys on the roof
A very welcome lunch at the tea farm
Going to the Kiambethu Tea House is a lovely relaxing experience. Fiona, the owner, gives a talk on the history of the farm and the history of tea growing in Kenya which is the largest exporter of tea in the world. Upon first arrival there are tea and biscuits on the veranda to go with her talk about how tea is grown and processed. Then there is a walk through the neighboring deciduous woods followed by juice wine or cocktails before lunch. Lunch is served outside on the lawn and is wonderful and homemade with lots of fresh garden vegetables especially enjoyable for us vegetarian types. And for dessert ice cream made from milk from the cows they refer to as the “ice cream makers”. And the delicious tea that we were served can also be purchased at a steal to take home.
After the tea farm we went back to finish up a few more things as most of us, all but Lloydie and Deb, would be departing that night. I had made arrangements to meet with Lilian at the Children’s Home for debriefing and still had one very important delivery to do there as well. I had to deliver a letter and more importantly hugs to Hannah from her sponsors Emma and Marie back in my home town. And then, of course it was irresistible to visit the other children who we hadn’t seen since last weekend even if we were interrupting their dinner–we just couldn’t help ourselves!
Hannah with a letter and picture from Emma
Kid’s shoes of one household
And so this was our last day in Kenya–a day with a little relaxation and lots of beauty to remind us of all of this country has to offer, a day of some hard goodbyes, yet we’ll be back next year, a day of already reminiscing about this amazing trip and work well done and already planning new things for the next one. I’ll keep blogging about this one for a while since I have a couple thousand photos and parts of the trip I haven’t shared yet. Thank you all to my fellow travelers and volunteers and especially the most incredible Lloydie Zaiser, my soul sister (even if she doesn’t know the definition of free time 🙂
Maize grows everywhere!
Nyumbani Village–always a unique experience
Nyumbani Village Child
We have just returned from Nyumbani Village! The internet connection was so slow there that I didn’t have the opportunity to blog, but as always time spent in the Village was an experience unlike any other. The week was so packed with activity and the group did so many diverse things that I can’t begin to recount all the projects in which everyone was involved.
Let me begin by saying that the ride to and from the Village was mostly through beautiful rural Kenyan countryside marked by a few communities.
Drive to Nyumbani Village
Along the way to Nyumbani Village
It is about a four-hour drive from Nairobi, but much of it is very scenic. The arrival at Nyumbani Village is marked by a unique entrance made out of bricks from the Kenyan soil as is the entire Village.
Entrance to Nyumbani Village
The Village itself is also quite beautiful. It was built on 1000 acres of what was originally arid land and is now the site of 25 clusters–a cluster being four brick houses arranged around a common watering hole with each house being home to one grandparent and 10 AIDS orphans. The Village is designed to preserve the Kamba culture so there are no modern conveniences in the homes–no electricity, no running water; food is prepared over flames outside, water is gathered outside, etc.
Inside Nyumbani Village
Another view of the Village
View through to the Administrative Offices
It’s always exciting to arrive in Nyumbani Village since as soon as we arrive the greetings begin! There are always brightly dressed grandmothers waiting to offer exuberant greetings in Kikambe with the special extra exuberant handshake or to break into spontaneous dance upon first sight. They are an extremely friendly group of women who do not hold back and are extremely agile when it comes to dancing. And once school is out there is a sea of children in mint green uniforms who quickly change into play clothes and snatch you up for playing and photos. these are a few of our neighbors from cluster 8 where we stayed and found out we were there within moments of our arrival.
Deb with the neighbor children
Once we had all barely settled in, basically dropped our things in our lodging (this year living in an actual cluster house as the Village residents do with no inside plumbing, water, or electricity) we were quickly off do other things starting with meeting with the various administrators talking about placements and activities to be done. some of the main activities were time spent in polytechnic doing carpentry, doing ongoing interviews with the grandparents for the memory book project, doing artwork with students for the memory books, working in sustainability and agriculture projects, building chicken coops, carrying on the business of Tuko Pamoja with the Shushus (grandmothers) and for me, doing psychiatric consultations that had been scheduled for me by the Village Counselor Lilian who was actually away during that week in Nairobi. We also interacted and enjoyed spending time with three interns doing long-term projects there and the Princeton fellow who is there for an entire year. In fact, Jill had come to Kenya partly to visit her friend who was at Nyumbani Village doing an internship.
Interns Anna, Becky and Ashton
Lloydie is also working on developing a sister school program with a school in Maryland at which her daughter is a teacher and brought donations of school supplies and soccer balls from there in addition to all the other clothing donations that we brought. Sorting of these and presenting them at a school assembly is always a fun thing to do. It is a great opportunity to see all the children together in the school yard and enjoy them.
Great toothless grins!
Karen in the crowd of Nyumbani children
Love her beautiful big eyes!
Clapping for the sister school
At the assembly
Buddies
I love pictures of feet…or hands
Lloydie and the sports teacher
This child made we wonder what he was thinking….
I spent a lot of time in Lilian’s office during week and have to say that I was much busier than in years past. It seems the word got out o the surrounding community that I was there and expectations were high that I would have answers or solutions for problems in which many cases there were none. on the first day in the clinic I saw 7 new patients all from the community who came in with children from 4 to adulthood who had never acquired any language skills. their difficulties ranged from anoxic brain damage acquired at birth to possible severe hearing impairment to severe autism and a number of them had a history of never having been evaluated before. It was quite incredible and profoundly sad because these parents did not really have an ideas of the problems with which they were dealing, has false information and in some cases false hopes because they had never been told the reality of the situation. Even on the second day that I was there another crowd of community people showed up when I had appoints scheduled for others from within Nyumbani Village and had to turn many away. The bright spot in all of this was the follow-up visit of the young man I had seen last year who had been acutely psychotic and through the round about of many different steps manage do get on medication. He came in with his father who told me his son was a new man and he was right. He had stayed on the medication until just recently and was profoundly different. He had not been back to school because they could not pay the school fees, but so wanted to be there and needed to go back on the medicine because of the return of some subtle symptoms . So we discussed both and I have to say it absolutely warmed my heart to see him doing so incredibly well. I saw him twice more before the week was up and arranged to pay for his school fees and am finishing the arrangements to get his medication. He starts back to school on Monday and is so grateful and so is his Dad. It’s a wonderful feel good story and its hard to say who amongst all of us is happiest! there were many stories that I heard in Lilian’s office and Sarah joined me for several days of that work. they were not all feel good stories, in fact, many were profoundly sad. There were times we just had to finish up with someone and close the door and shed a few tears because people have suffered such hardship; they have just endured so much. There was another young man who had spent 2 years caring for a sibling who was three years younger (when he was 12 and she was 9) before he came to the Village and now he was worried that if he left the Village after only 2 years at the Polytechnic School (the alternative to four years of high school) that he would not be able to support himself. All he wanted was to stay for the 2nd two years of the Polytechnic program so that he could feel secure about his future, but he had no one to sponsor him (pay his school fees). So Sarah, moved by his story, is now his sponsor, and going to tell him she had made these arrangements was another amazing bright moment. I remember being told by one of the administrators at the Lea Toto programs the first time I went to Kenya that you can get overwhelmed if you look at the whole picture and feel like you are not doing enough, but you have to remember that you can help the person that is right there in front of you and that makes a difference. I never forgot that. It was a very busy, sometimes profoundly sad, always moving, but also very rewarding time there in Lilian’s. Sometimes it was acknowledging the all too sad truth, sometimes only words of comfort and solace, sometimes just listening, sometimes trying to make something happen where things seem slow to impossible, and once in a while it was actually changing someone’s life.
In Lilian’s counseling office at Nyumbani Village
One of the other fun things I got to work on, partnered with Deb, with a group of Nyumbani Village students in the art group gathered to make art for the Memory Book. We asked them to focus their art on pictures of life in the Village and they did a great job. The Memory book, when it is finished , will be an amazing piece of history as well as a tribute to all of the grandparents raising AIDS orphans at Nyumbani Village. I haven’t participated in the interviewing since I have been always been busy consulting to Lilian at Nyumbani Village but I have had the pleasure of hearing about many of the interviews. The grandparents at the village are primarily grandmothers, but there are currently 3 grandfathers. they all have incredibly rich and unique histories full of the local culture. AS far as we know, since all (more than 100) haven’t yet been interviewed, the oldest is 104 (and still raising children). One of the most recently interviewed grandfathers participated n the Mau Mau Revolution which is a rich part of Kenyan’s quest for freedom from British rule. One of the eldest grandmothers at 97 once remarked to Deb, in an effort to market her baskets, “How do you expect a 97-year-old blind woman to make a living if you don’t buy her baskets?!” Many of them have rich histories and are rich characters passing down wonderful culture and traditions to the grandchildren.
Working on art for the Memory Books
Jen and two girls from the basketball team
Caroline, the student my family sponsors
As I mentioned previously, there were so many projects and activities in which the group was involved while we were in the Village. Jill did a lot of work with Polytechnic and sustainability. Jen worked with the Young Ambassadors–this is a group of Junior high students learning social responsibility and citizenship. Deb and Karen did a lot of grandparents interviews. We got to cheer at one of the Lawson High School (Nyumbani Village High School) basketball games which was the first place I caught up with Caroline the student I sponsor. We also had a little time to visit the next day before she had to leave to get her birth certificate and other items needed in preparation to take the national exam. The group also spent the better part of the day with the shu shus having a Tuko Pamoja meeting but this was a special one in which they demonstrated to us the technique of making their beautiful baskets. They too were delighted to hear the success of Tuko Pamoja, the fact that we are purchasing way more baskets this year, and that they will receive payment for a purchase twice a year. We also spent time carefully going over the features of the baskets that make them most likely to sell including quality, characteristic and colors and had a very attentive and receptive audience for that.
Nyumbani Village Shu shus
Rolling the sisal on her knee
A row of basket weavers
Looking over Tuko Pamoja materials
Nyumbani Shusus get the Tuko Pamoja certificate
A little spontaneous dancing breaks out….
Thanks to my generous donors, the KEST group was able to participate in building and in significantly contributing funding towards the chicken coop project for Nyumbani Village. The Village has always had some chickens but they fall prey to Mongoose and other animals and have not been plentiful enough or efficiently tended to enough to be a source of eggs. the goal is to have a chicken coop for all one hundred houses so that all the families will have a regular source of eggs to add a regular and nutritious source of protein to their diets. The KEST group helped to build one of the chicken coops. I was too busy in the clinic to take part, but I heard the stories–very hard work in Nyumbani Village, especially in the heat with everything being done and carried by hand. A nice looking product in the end however! I have to say that over all we truly lucked out with the weather this year! it must have been around 105 degrees the first day and we were all melting, but in a very unusual turn of events for this time of year, we have afternoon showers three days in a row that brought some cooler (relatively) air and we were all very grateful!
The chicken coop that KEST helped to build
Our last night in the village was a special treat. Instead of the usual food–ugali (maize porridge) or rice and sukumawiki (stewed kale with a few onions and tomatoes) or kitheri (beans and maize) we had a tasty coconut vegetable curry made by the interns. that was followed by a performance extrodinaire in one of the clusters to watch the children later joined by the grandparents dance traditional dances. that left us awe-struck!! Truly an amazing performance of human endurance flexibility and fast movement that always make me think that the Kamba people must have some extra joints in there somewhere to be able to dance like that, And biggest surprises were the grandfather of 84 years old and the tiny peanut of a six-year-old, his grandson who could dance unbelievably well! It was the perfect ending to our time in the Village!
Waiting for the dancing to start
The cutest little dancing machine!
The Shu shu joins in!
Grandfather and grandson
AND… we all to join in more than once being taken by the hand onto the dance floor by the young dancers, BUT fortunately none of the locals have cameras!
Stay tuned for adventures on the way home from Nyumbani Village–the Wumunu Carvers and the Giraffe park! And thank the heavens we have all had a real bath and oohed and aahed at the feeling of actually being clean from head to toe again– the Nyumbani experience is truly a road to appreciate the small things in life we take for granted like running water and a shower! And we have delighted in being served a delicious meal by Susan and Raphael Maina at the Spurwing House! We have a trip to the tea farm scheduled tomorrow then sadly some of start the journey home tomorrow night……
Resting on a log……being silly!
First Annual Tuko Pamoja Women’s Workshop—Pure Magic!!
Directing the way to the work shop
It would be very difficult to pick a favorite day that I have spent in Kenya, but if forced to choose, yesterday might be the one. We held our first Annual Tuko Pamoja Workshop for Women and it surpassed all of our expectations and imaginations for what it would be! All of us went to bed at night feeling as if we had been part of something truly amazing that day. It was the culmination of dreaming and planning and a whole lot of work on the part of LLoydie and Jen–a synergy of ideas and passion that came together to be a profoundly moving experience for all.
The workshop was well planned in advance and the logistics were all in place at the start of the day. We all began putting up the signs and getting the rooms for the workshops ready first thing in morning. The night before had been the shopping and preparing brigade for gift bags to go home with the Tuko Pamoja participants–each would be receiving a tote bag of maize flour, sugar, cooking oil, tea and powdered milk at the end of the day in addition to a small personal bag of toiletries containing soap, hand lotion and tissues. The attendees for the workshop were to be 3 women from each of the 6 women’s groups with which we work as well as the administrators of the groups if there were separate administrators–i.e. three women from PCDA , three from Kibera paper, three from the Nyumbani Village grandmothers group and three women from each of the three Lea Toto self-help groups and four administrators. The plan was to meet together as a whole group in the morning, to stay in separate groups rotating through four separate workshop session topics with a break for lunch and to meet together again in the afternoon. The women had all been asked to bring a sampling of their crafts to share on a display table with the other groups.
Jen setting up the name tags
Sarah “posing” with the goals and workshop session titles
Lloydie, Jill and Sarah getting ready with their name tags
Pre-briefing for the day and then we were off!
And then the women began to arrive and there was a sense of excitement and energy in the atmosphere. It was so clear that they were so happy to be involved–they were extremely warm in their greetings, many were dressed quite beautifully and they were profuse in their gratitude for being able to participate. When I say warm, I mean these women do not hold back–there was a lot of hugging, occasional spontaneous dancing and many comments that conveyed that they felt so special that this was being given to them. It was just wonderful to witness this from the very start of the day.
And the women began to arrive………
Dressed beautifully….
Deb and Jane look like they chose the same outfit for the workshop…
Once everyone had some a few minutes to enjoy tea and those Kenyan delights, mandazis, each of the U.S. board members teamed up with a group of artisans to facilitate them coming up with a group motto and mission statement and to give them their schedule of workshop sessions for the day. Lloydie made the opening remarks and each of the Board members spoke briefly about what would be the focus of their workshop.
Enjoying tea and mandazis
Motto and mission statement for Kibera Paper
We ran the workshops in four separate rooms. Since Lilian, the Nyumbani Village counselor and Kenyan Board member, and I ran our workshop all day I did not attend the others but I do have pictures to share. I was mostly out of my usual photographer role having entrusted my camera to Sarah out of my need to stay focused on my group. Lilian and I did workshop sessions on personal well-being. This was focused on a self-esteem building exercise, and a guided relaxation exercise. At the end of the first session, Lilian said to me–and I so wish I could convey this with her Kikamba accent– “Oh my God, I did not know we would be making this amazing impact on these women!” What prompted her comment was the combination of their willingness to be so authentic and expressive and their openness to being moved by the positive comments that their fellow group members made about them. They were also really receptive to the relaxation exercise which we worked on with them. In the last group as we finished the relaxation exercise accompanied by soft music, one of the women exclaimed, “Wow!” and another “Oh my God, I was almost asleep!” which really delighted me! Over the course of the day we heard stories of women who had endured great hardship and loss who were so very admired by their friends yet had never really heard these positive things about themselves before who were now hearing them and being very moved by them. It was quite touching to be a part of it.
Great signage thanks to Jill!
Lilian and me and the TP women in the personal well-being session
In addition to our session there were others focused on marketing, product design and quality control and finance. The marketing session was run by Lloydie and Maggie who is the marketing director at Amani Ya Jou. They talked about concepts and ideas to market to increase sales as well as effectively marketing directly to customers by doing some role-playing.
One of the marketing sessions
The product design and quality control session with Deb, Jen and Simon, Director of the Lea Toto Self Help Groups
The finance workshop with Karen, financial planner in New Hampshire and Susan Maina, Kenyan business owner
All the board members report that their workshop sessions went very well and that they accomplished a great deal. the knowledge flowed in both directions learning more about the challenges the women are facing in producing their crafts but also providing them with useful knowledge that will help them address their needs as they try to develop more of a local market, learn to budget and begin to save small amounts of money to put toward their ultimate goals, produce higher quality products with more consistency, introduce new products, and develop an increased sense of pride in accomplishing all of these goals. Our ultimate goal is to work with all of these groups until they become self sustainable and then expand Tuko Pamoja to take on collaboration with additional woman’s artisan groups.
In the middle of the day when we broke for lunch we could tell that things were going extremely well as we could see that all the groups were mingling. We also could tell that lunch was an extremely abundant meal for these women as they ate heartily and commented quite vocally on how much they were enjoying the food we had provided. During the break, women were looking at each others products and talking with each other, sitting with different group members for lunch, some even bought each others products. This just warmed our hearts because this was across tribes and in a situation in which, under other circumstances there might have been some competitive feelings. And it was clear that some of our women are HIV+ and other groups do not have this issue and there was potential for the stigma to be an issue (this is HUGE in Kenya) and none of this was present! These women embraced each other and it was heart warming to watch the heart of Tuko Pamoja (we are together) in action!
Sampling of tems on the display table
Sampling of Kibera Paper cards on the display table
At the end of the day, we all came together as a group once again and talked about how the day had gone, Lloydie explained that this day was the culmination of a dream a long time in the making and that the day was a very meaningful event on so many levels. Several times during the day i heard the same comment form women “I don not want this day to end!” She asked people in the room to give some feedback about what they had learned during the day and many people responded. Some of my favorite comments were:
Jen spoke up and said that she had a new understanding and even greater respect for just how hard some of the women work and how little time they actually have to put into their crafts and that its amazing that they accomplish even making the products that they make.
My absolute favorite comment was from Jackie of the Vision Self Help Group who spoke up by saying “I have learned about something I never knew in my entire life. I have learned about personal well-being, this is something we must do everyday!” Yes!! And for me that’s when the tears started and they didn’t stop for the rest of the program….
Then we began to give out the gifts. Lloydie held up the canvas bags , with the food goods inside, and the room broke into cheers JUST for the bags, and for Deb, that when she was moved to tears. Just for the bags……. without even knowing what was inside they were overcome with gratitude. We introduced the board once again and spoke about how honored we felt to be there with all of them sharing this day.
Lloydie talking about the food bag gifts
The Board feeling the excitement of the day
So we moved on to giving every woman a certificate of attendance, a bag of food items and toiletries with hand shaking and hearty hugs and even spontaneous dancing as we went down the line. Every Kenyan Board member was recognized and every contact person at each site was given special recognition and there was profuse cheering and clapping and an intense spirit of celebration in the air.
Hearty hugs in the line for certificates and gifts
Spontaneous dancing
And more hugs..
Following the certificates and the distribution of gift bags it was time to really close the day so we all held hands in one huge circle and one of the women led us in a tradition prayer in Swahili, Then it was powerfully magical as we sang a song led by first one woman and swayed in the circle as one voice became many and then became a song with many parts in beautiful harmony. And when that was done then Lilian led us in another song that began with one voice, that then became many, and then became a song with many parts all sung in harmony and we swayed together in a circle holding hands, many os us tearful, some of us with tears streaming down our faces as we took in this profoundly magical moment.
And then came the group photo and the goodbyes. And the day ended with a sense that we had truly accomplished something, feeling a little emotionally exhausted but oh so happy that the workshop had exceeded our expectations. And we all agreed that this is why we come here and that its impossible to truly convey what this feels like. And when people say that we are being generous to do this work the part they may not understand is that this the reward, that what you get back is immeasurable. The connection with these women overflows your heart. Karen remarked at dinner last night that she wished that every woman could be a part of an experience like this. We are the lucky ones to share this with these women who have so touched our hearts in ways that simply cannot be put into words.
A special goodbye and photo with Lilian
Tuko Pamoja Women”s Workshop group photo
For the students: Brunswick, Maine students send friendly greetings to Maasai children of Kenya!
Telling the Maasai children about the artwork
Hello artists of Brunwick, Maine! Your artwork and the donated art supplies have traveled a long way to make it all the way past Kiserian, Kenya where the Maasai children live. The children here and the teachers and parents of the community were VERY grateful to receive them! The trip to their community is about an hour’s drive from where we are staying and we traveled through the town of Kiserian and through some beautiful countryside. It was common to see donkeys grazing on the side of the road or to see herds of cows crossing the street and even to have to stop for them as they pay absolutely no attention to the cars sometimes even if they are being herded. Often they are roaming free when not in town. We traveled through the Rift Valley which I wrote about in my last post for you.
Cows crossing!
Our group getting our photo taken in front of the view of the Rift Valley
The Maassai school sign
When we arrived at the school the children were all very excited to see us because they know that we always bring things that will add to their classrooms and do special projects with them. They are very smart children who are hard workers and love to learn but do not have all the books and supplies which children in the U.S. have. They have very few art supplies (maybe a few crayons) and their school has tin walls, a tin roof, windows with no glass, and until recently dirt floors. because of some donations they were recently able to make a cement floor on the school which has made it much better. All children who go to school in Kenya are required to wear school uniforms so you will notice that they are all dressed alike in the photos taken while they are at school. Although much of the time the Maasai rely on milk and meat to eat, when there are enough supplies to make it, the children get porridge made out of corn flour, dried milk, oil and sugar for lunch. When we arrived they had run out of the supplies for making hot lunch so the children were getting any lunch. However, we were able to get them enough supplies to make sure that there would be lunch for them for the next year.
Maasai Children waving as we arrive
Greetings from the Maasai children
The homes that the Maasai children live in are very different from the homes that we live in and they often raise the baby animals of their herds inside while they are young to keep them safe from predators. The Maasai are known for dressing in very bright clothing and wearing traditional tribal beaded jewelry. Even the very young children wear bracelets made out of beads.
Typical boma or Maasai home
Maasai women in their colorful clothes
When I told them about your art, I explained to the children and the parents that it was a way to send friendly greetings from America and that part of my goal in traveling is to teach the children at home about the cultures of other parts of the world and try to connect them to each other I explained that your artwork had many friendly sentiments and that Mrs. McCormack had been talking to you about Kenya and the Maasai people.
Showing the envelopes of art
Sharing the individual pieces of art
With their masks!
On the day before we had made masks with them so they had just been making masks. I shared some of the masks that came in the art work form some of you which made them laugh and clap!
enjoying the masks you sent!
I also explained to them that I would be making copies of the photos that I had taken of them the day before to share with all of you when I return to Brunswick. Since they do not have mirrors or any photos of themselves it was a special treat to take instant Polaroid photos of them and put them on a frame for them to bring home in the same way that you would have your picture taken at school.
Example of the photos taken of the Maasai children
I am hoping that we might be able to continue this exchange back and forth as I go to Kenya each year in the future. Although Many things about your lives are different, there is much more about you and the Maasai children that is the same and it would be a nice opportunity for you to learn more about that. A huge thank you to all the Brunswick, Maine artists and especially to Sharon McCormack for coordinating this with me!!
Maasai children in the classroom (including learning the word for” head” in English!)
Through the Rift Valley to see the Maasai Community
The Maasai Chief, Philip the Director of PCDA and KEST workers pose for a photo in front of the Rift Valley
We have been with the Maasai community of PCDA (Pastoral Care Development Alliance) for the past two days: we have loved and taught their children (and they have taught us), heard of their challenges and tried to help with some of them, sung and dance with beautiful Mommas and bought their goods, “broken bread” together and had a wonderful time of getting to know each other better.
The ride to Kiserian and beyond to their community was rich with culture and beauty as we drove to the opposite side of the Ngong hills (remember in” Out of Africa” Karen Blixen says, “I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills…”) with views of the Rift Valley. We met Philip and his assistant Kristen in Kiserian where we picked them up to drive with us to the community. We had already previously met with Philip one evening a couple of nights earlier to discuss the needs of the community and how best to support them.
Philip, Director of PCDA and his assistant Christine
The drive to PCDA
The Maassai school
When we arrived at the school the children were all outside waiting for us with plenty of excitement and enthusiasm and then swarmed to greet us after we first drove by to use the facilities which were a little more welcoming (remember ALL is relative in Kenya) at the nearby church!
Maasai Children waving as we arrive
Greetings from the Maasai children
Sarah and Jill’s introduction to a pit toilet 🙂
Before we actually got to spend time with the children, we met with the chief and various other leaders of the PCDA community about our plans to offer support and to learn more about some of the challenges that the community is facing. One of their biggest challenges is adequate water since they are pastoralists and rely on having herd animals as a constant source of milk and meat which are their main dietary components. Currently their only reliable source of water is that which is piped into the community from a bore hole owned by a company which charges them by the liter and it is very expensive, The overarching challenge is poverty so having to pay for water is a huge expense. Since KEST has been involved they have been able to make improvements in their school such that they are not far from becoming a government accredited school which will offer them some federal funding and relieve some of the financial burden of running the school. They are very determined to properly educate their children and one very articulate woman got up and spoke about how the key to educating a community is educating a child and that her dream is that someday the Maasai women will achieve the equality that white women have achieved. The traditional Maasai Culture is very patriarchal, but they are working to make some changes such as educating all children, not just boys, and hoping that their children can someday be leaders in the country.
Maasai chief
We did a number of projects with the children that morning: making fans, making masks, and I took a Polaroid photo of each and everyone of them to take home to their Mommas. I had the very helpful assistance of Karen as the camera was clearly not designed to work that hard all at once, but the children were so thrilled and so patient as they waited their turns. We will make additional photos like these to give to the children in Maine who sent their art work over to this community. While we were finishing up their photos, the rest of the children and the KEST workers and staff had a football (soccer match).
One child showing his photo with its “frame”
With their masks!
Maasai children in the classroom
The soccer teams
We joined Philip, the Director, the teachers and staff for lunch under a tree with a wonderful, welcome breeze that offered some relief from the heat. We met a few parents of the children at the school through out the day but also went to the homes of some of the families in the afternoon.
Typical boma or Maasai home
Baby goats are protected from predators inside the boma–I loved petting this one!
Deb with Josephine
Having determined what were the most pressing needs of the community that we could try to address, before we left for the afternoon we made a plan to meet Philip in Kiserian again the next morning to shop for school supplies and the ingredients to make porridge. The children were no longer getting lunch at school because there were no supplies for making it. So we shopped for three months worth of porridge supplies and provided the funding to keep it going for the next year and committed to keep it funded in an ongoing way. We also shopped for all the school supplies needed to keep the school going and thanks to one of my generous donors we were able to order gym/sports uniforms for all of the children (Thank you Marie!). When we brought all of these things back to the school there were great expressions of gratitude from staff to parents and the children who just cheered about the sports uniforms! I also presented the art supplies and from the Brunswick, Maine students, but will write about that in a separate post for them.
Karen and one of the PCDA teachers with a bag of maize for porridge
In the afternoon we met with the self-help group of PCDA, the Maasai women of Tuko Pamoja. We had the usual business meeting with Jane, who is a nurse in the group and one of several who has excellent English, who was able to translate for the other members. We presented them with the Membership certificate, went over the order, and paid them for the completed items. We also did interviews to get their personal stories of their lives. We had time to visit together, shop from the wares and play with a few children who were there.
Presenting the Tuko Pamoja certificate to PCDA
On “onlooker” taking everything in.
I enjoyed the Maasai children–especially sweet little Elizabeth who so wanted me to paint her toenails red too!
Before departing we spent time expressing mutual appreciation and in the welcomed cool breeze in the hot sun we all swayed together as the women sang beautiful traditional Maasai music for us under a clear blue sky.
Maasai women in their colorful clothes
Tuko Pamoja-PCDA Group Photo
We headed back to home base at the Demise Sisters Retreat with a few stops on the agenda–one was a stop to meet the teachers at Philip’s son’s school because now he is in a different school because he has moved into Class 2 (grade 2) and can no longer go the Ororopil Preschool. When we arrived there, much to our surprise and extreme delight, a number of group members recognized this school from the movie, “The First Grader” , which if you haven’t seen I would highly recommend. It is a multi award-winning film which is the true inspiring and touching story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter, Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge, who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.
Since we had all but one seen the film (although Philip did not know of its existence) and were really touched by it we were thrilled to see the school where it was filmed, meet the teachers who had played a part in the film, learn about the filming process, learn how they taught the children not to look at the camera and paid the children for their participation. Sarah was so excited she was in tears as she sat in Maruge’s desk!
Oloserian Academy–site of filming for “the First Grader”
Jill as “Maruge’
Philip and his son
The very cute children of Oloserian Academy
So this was unexpected surprise, one of many that has occurred in our travels full of magical moments. I am finishing up this post at the end of the day of the First Annual Tuko Pamoja Workshop for Women (I am behind on blogging because I have a nasty cold and there is only so much you can fit into a day!) But stay tuned, because THIS day, the workshop, was pure magic!
Sign at the turn before the Oloserian Academy
For the Students: Some Facts to Know about Kenya
Location of Kenya in Africa
So that you will know a little bit more about where we will be traveling to do this volunteer work in Kenya, I decided to post an entry about the country of Kenya and its people. Kenya is located in the Eastern part of Africa and in the part of the continent referred to as Sub Saharan since it is below the Sahara Desert. As you can see, part of the country is on the coast by the Indian Ocean and the country itself lies on the Equator. Although there are rainy and dry seasons, most of the time the temperature in Kenya is similar to warmest part of our summer. Nairobi, the capital city, is the largest city in East Africa and the orphanage where we will volunteering is located just outside of Nairobi in Karen. In the movie “Out of Africa” Karen Blixen moved to Kenya in 1913, to have a coffee plantation and befriend the local Kikuyu tribe; she later became a famous writer including her writing of the book which became the movie by the same title. The town of Karen is named after her.
Kenya has more than 70 different ethnic communities or tribes and 80 different dialects. Although the official language of the country is English, the national language is Swahili. Because there are so many different communities in the country the national motto is “Harambee” which is Swahili for “Let’s all pull together.” It’s likely that you are familiar with some other Swahili words if you have ever seen the Disney movie “The Lion King”. A number of swahili words were used in that movie, like “Simba” meaning “lion”, “Rafiki” meaning “friend”, and “Hakuna matata” which means “no worries.” Children are taught English in school, but most are able to speak Swahili or another tribal language. The most well-known of the Kenyan tribes are the Maasai, a nomadic tribe whose cattle are highly valued. They are striking to see because they are tall, lean and dress in red “shuka” (blankets) with elaborate beads and braided hair. We support a local Maasai community by bringing donations to their school such as supplies for their hot lunch program and school supplies, doing projects with their children, and buying beaded jewelry, belts and other items that are hand-made by the women.
Most of the Kenyan people are poor in comparison to Americans and many Kenyan people are extremely poor and therefore had difficulty having enough food to eat or are not able to stay healthy. The U.S. does try to help countries like Kenya and other poor countries in Africa by sending aid, but it is a small amount in comparison to the amount that is needed to take care of everyone who doesn’t have enough to eat or is sick.
Our earliest ancestors, Homo erectus, which evolved eventually into Homa sapiens, first inhabited the area around Lake Turkana in Kenya where their fossils were first discovered by the Leaky family. You may have heard of a place called the Great Rift Valley, which is over 3000 miles wide and runs through several countries in Africa including Kenya and is the place where the first human skull was found. It is also very beautiful landscape.
Great Rift Valley
Music, with both dancing and singing, are an important part of the Kenyan culture not just for entertainment, but more importantly for ceremony and ritual. Soccer is a national pastime and the most popular sport from children to adults. However, Kenyan’s middle and long distance runners are amongst the best in the world. Most of Kenya’s top long distance runners come from one tribe, the Kalenjin, and they have been responsible for winning many gold medals for Kenya in the last decade.
One of the things that for which Kenya is most famous is its national parks and reserves where wildlife can roam free. It is there where people are able to go on safari (Swahili word for journey) to see the animals in their usual habitat. Some of the animals that one might expect to see include:
The Maasai Mara is a national reserve that is very famous because between July and October each year over two million animals migrate from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the greener pastures of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. The migration has to cross the Mara River in the Maasai Mara where crocodiles will prey on them. This is one of the highlights as the animals try to cross the Mara River alive.
Kenya is a very beautiful country with friendly and welcoming people who are very appreciative of volunteers who come and offer help or donations. To say thank you they often sing and dance and often share generously what they do have to show their appreciation.
Singing, Dancing, and Making It Snow with the Mommas of Kenya
School children at the Kibera Paper location
Wow, we have been incredibly BUSY over the past two days!! I wish that I could blog every day because it seems that each day is so full of moments that are so moving, so profound, so joyful……and there are so many stories to tell. It is in many ways like being in a different world here because the poverty and hardship are so beyond imagination, the impact of AIDS touches everyone here, yet people remain resilient, joyful, and tell their stories with such authenticity from their hearts. We have continued our intensive focus on Tuko Pamoja as that is a very important goal of this trip. Supporting the caregivers of children with HIV or AIDS or the mothers of children living in extreme poverty is the most effective way to support families and communities and is at the heart of the mission of supporting the women artisans of Tuko Pamoja. Before telling you about our recent visits with Tuka Pamoja groups I just want to tell you who the group of travelers is this time. Sarah and Jill are the new travelers–Sarah is a nurse from North Carolina and Jill is an artist and preschool teacher from Arizona. Lloydie is our fearless leader and head honcho of KEST (Kenya Educational and Service Trips) and Jen is the junior head honcho at KEST (sorry I can’t remember your official titles.) Lloydie Jen, Deb, Karen and I are the U.S. Board members of Tuko Pamoja and have all made multiple trips to Kenya with Lloydie leading the pack at 13! Justus is our amazing driver who is always happy (I hear it’s a Kamba tribe trait 🙂 extremely helpful and has nerves of steel to be able to drive in Nairobi where the entire large city seems to have only one traffic light. So you have met the group–on with the experience.
The KEST Group–Deb, Sarah, Jen, LLoydie, Karen, Jill, Me and top center is Justus, our wonderful driver, translater, and friend
Yesterday we went to the final Lea Toto site (Nyumbani outreach clinic for children with HIV living in the slums of Nairobi) supported by Tuka Pamoja in Dandora, called the Vision Self Help Group. This group of women has been together for many years and was the first self-help group that I met. They make jewelry, beaded items and sewn items, all wonderful! Many of them are volunteer community health workers helping other families who have children with HIV and some are themselves HIV+. In fact Sarah, in the elegant peach colored garb above has been living with HIV for over 20 years and nearly died before she knew her HIV status. But now she is a community activitist, AIDS educator, is raising AIDS orphans, and is an empowered woman living positively with HIV. I had the opportunity to interview her and its amazing that she survived. HIV and AIDS are still very much stigmatized here despite the fact that so many people’s lives are touched by them. In Dandora, we also interviewed the women about their lives and had a business meeting about Tuka Pamoja. One of the things we always do is bring fruit and biscuits (cookies) when we come, but this year we also brought scarves for all the women so you may notice them in the pictures, We also presented them their official TP certificate.
Tuko Pamoja certificate for the Vision Self help group
Visit with the Vision Self Help Group of Dandora
One thing that we did a little differently here was to spend more time talking a circle as a larger group and by the time that was done, with the women expressing such gratitude and such heart-felt sentiments, there was not a dry eye, virtually everyone was in tears. Although we don’t see these women often the incredible warmth of the welcome, the sharing of the connection, the way we are brought into their lives and they into ours, the emotional exchange, it all leads to a profound connection. we did life story interviews, shopped from their wares, and it was all too soon time to leave with very hard to say goodbyes.
Group photo with the Vision Self Help Group
Following the time spent in Dandora, we had plans to do some “socially conscious shopping” in two sites where we have developed relationships with the staff and workers over time. The first stop was Amani (meaning peace in Swahili) which is a cooperative of African women refugees who have a very successful business selling many hand sewn items featuring hand died and batiked cloth. In fact, their business is so successful that we asked their marketing director, Maggie, to be a member of the TP Kenyan Board.
Maggie of Amani and Lloydie
We also made a stop at Kazuri Beads, another favorite place. This is another special place that now employs almost 350 people, predominantly women, many of whom are bused in from the slums. They receive excellent pay, have on site medical and day care and are treated very well. They make gorgeous pottery and ceramic beads from clay mined in Kenya. Learning about the process of mining and harvesting the clay, preparing it for shaping, hand shaping it, firing, then glazing and refiring it makes you appreciate the beauty of the beads even more. When we stopped at Kazuri Beads yesterday we were too late to see the workers because our day had gone too long so we could only do some shopping. So had to decide to leave early this morning to make sure that we could go back for the tour and especially to see the workers because we have a tradition of visiting them, getting welcomed in song and dance and handing out a little candy treat–lollipops this time, you may notice the sticks in the photos….
Making Kazuri Beads
Kazuri Bead factory workers enjoying the sweets
Kazuri Beads!!
We had to get an early start today to fit in the trip back to Kazuri Beads because we knew we had another full itinerary. In fact last night I had most of the group in my room helping me prepare for today’s project at Kibera Paper.
Late night project preparation
Today we headed to Kibera paper, the final Tuko Pamoja group from the slum area of Nairobi. This is the group of women who make l hand-made paper from recycled paper obtained from businesses into absolutely beautiful handmade cards which are each a piece of art. When we go to Kibera paper, anyone who hasn’t been there before has the opportunity for hands on instruction in paper making and making the cards. Deb and I have also established a tradition of sharing an art project with the women. So in addition to the Tuko Pamoja business meeting and presentation of the certificate, receiving our order and paying for it, doing the personal interviews, drinking chai and eating homemade mandazis (Kenyan like doughnuts) that one of the women had made for us, sharing in a circle, singing and dancing, we also did paper making and art projects which made for quite a busy time. Kibera paper was the fourth group that was so prepared and had 100% of their order ready for us even though we only expected 50 %. So all the groups are doing so well with getting their orders completed early, introducing new products and being professional in ways that will really make them successful!
Making cards, dancing, singing at Kibera Paper
Cecily and the TP certificate at Kibera Paper
Both Deb and I make handmade cards and decided to make a different kind of card with them. She made very fancy valentines and I decided to teach them a bit about snow by making snowflake cards. Since none of them had ever experienced snow, that was quite a lot of fun! I brought plenty of photos I had taken in the winter in Maine with various quantities of snow, but the big hit was one of my children when they were younger posing with a snowman they had made. The women really got into it once they once they got the technique for cutting a six pointed snowflake and the snowflakes and glitter were flying everywhere because there was a bit of a breeze and the paper was very light. At one point I looked down and there were about a dozen snowflakes on the ground by the table and it made me laugh to think we had made it snow in Kenya today! I love working with these women–they have a lot of spirit! So once again it was a hard goodbye with singing and dancing…..lots of hugs and tears.
Making snowflake cards
Following spending most of the day at Kibera Paper we drove further into Kibera to pay a visit of support the Power Women’s Self Help Group.
Glimpses of Kibera
They are also a Lea Toto founded self-help group, but through some extra support, really hard work and exceptionally good financial decisions they have become self-sustaining and own and operate their own shop to sell their goods. They have also recently expanded to having a hair salon attached to their shop. Their president, Everline, is on the TP Kenyan Board. We sat and talked with them about the history of their group, how they run the business, and let them know that the other self-help groups have similar aspirations and see them as an inspiration.
Everline of the Power Women”s Self Help Group
Power Women’s Hair Salon
It’s very late here in Kenya and its time to get a few hours of sleep before we head out in the morning on a little bit different path. It has been an intense, but very rewarding past few days. We will be headed to the Maasai community of PCDA to do more Tuko Pamoja business, but also to spend some time supporting other projects in that community. You may recall some of the time we spent with the Mommas and the children last year. If not, I will tell you ahead of time, the children are absolutely adorable, enthusiastic, engaging, beautiful little ones! Can’t wait……
Joyful Children’s Faces and Women Who Will Touch Your Heart
One of the Tuko Pamoja women and her children
We have had two busy and incredible days for the second and third days of our journey and an inability to recharge my electronics (mishap with the adapter we ultimately learned tripped the circuit breaker) left me wondering how I could possibly blog about these two days which were both so full of moments that had filled us with ideas and questions, left us speechless at moments, brought us to tears and touched our hearts.
We began yesterday at Nyumbani Children’s Home where the children are AIDS orphans and are HIV+ but get extremely good medical support and are doing very well. We arrived in the morning to many joyful greetings as the older children came out to greet us. There were plenty of hugs and remarks about how much they have grown especially from those of us who only see them once a year. All the children are really polite and respectful, but all have unique personalities and some have quite the enjoyable senses of humor. We were headed off the church , Kenyan style, which is a wonderful experience and tried to describe it to the new travelers, Sarah and Jillian, knowing that you can’t quite fully describe it—it is something you just have to experience. Everyone heads up to mass, even the really young children, dressed in Sunday clothes, and its a joyful migration to behold.
Lloydie with a child from Nyumbani Children’s Home headed to church
Once inside there are MANY children participating in the service–they are the choir, the musicians and drummers, the speakers, the servers, and my personal favorites, the dancers. And they are amazingly good at what they do! The youngest dancer who is getting taught the dances is 3 years old and has tremendous natural rhythm–and I am talking about African dancing and drumming, etc. And any children who aren’t in the front of the choir are singing and dancing–or drumming–at their seats. So this is a joyful, kid-friendly service in which priest talks to thee children, engages them, uses his sense of humor and they listen and participate. And if you are there as a visitor–you better clap, and sing and dance too!! They bless everyone who has a birthday that month and by doing it once a month practically all the children’s cottages have a birthday once a month–which brings a large cake and tub of ice cream. So we had our lunch and were invited to several birthday parties. The younger children are raised in cottages of families of 12 -14 children of mixed sexes with “Moms” who care for them. When they get older they move to the youth hostels which are divided by gender and are a little removed from the younger children.
In afternoon, we delivered bags of sidewalk chalk, temporary tattoos, and bottles of bubbles to each of the cottages. We also added 7 new scooters to the scooter supply. Sunday afternoon is the only concentrated time of free play that the children have so it is a caucophany of scooters going around the circular playground with the older children very lovingly teaching the younger ones the ropes of scootering
Scooters are very important at NCH and build strong legs
Faces of Nyumbani Children’s Home
As has been the tradition in the past when I have been at the Children’s Home, I planned to do face painting once again. I recruited some help from Sarah and Jill who asked me how I would let the children know when and where we would be with the face paint. I reassured them that all we had to do was set up outside somewhere and we would soon have children flocking to us. And so we did, and in no time we were surrounded by faces, and arm and hands…. And so we face painted for what was at least thee hours beside the playground with scootering, squealing children in the background and smiling children right there in front of us. I don’t know how many faces or arms we ended up painting but I know had a ball with all of them!
Just a few of the faces we painted!
We stayed around a little longer after that so that we could go cheer the boys at a football (here it would be soccer) game. Our wonderful driver Justus joined some others in creating a match team for the boys and we had a fun time cheering everyone on. By the time we actually left the Children’s Home it was about an hour and half later than we had planned and everyone was having a hard time saying goodbye even though we are going back next Sunday. We had plans to go out to dinner, one of two times which we will eat out during this trip, and after quickly cleaning up headed out to the restaurant Karen Blixen’s Estate (of Out of Africa fame).
Boys football game
While yesterday was a lot of fun –and definitely some work with painting a lot squirmy children and sorting the locations for numerous of those many duffels, today was definitely more work and business oriented but so very touching in so many ways. Today was purely focused on Tuko Pamoja and going to two sites where we work with women artisans groups in very compromised communities. We spent the morning in Kangami and Dagoretti, both slums of Nairobi, where Nyumbani runs the Lea Toto Programs (Swahili for to “care for a child”) offering outreach care to children who are HIV+.
Pictures on the periphery of Dagoretti
Both of the groups we work with there are self-help groups — groups composed of caregivers for children with HIV–some are mothers or other relatives who may be actually raising the children, some are volunteer community caregivers—all have come together to support each other and to make crafts to earn a living or supplement insufficient income for survival. We met in the morning with the Good Hope self-help group of Kangemi and in the afternoon with the Miracle Caregivers self-help group of Dagoretti. In both cases, the agenda was the same. We wanted to share with them that Tuko Pamoja had a successful year having sold 85% of its inventory, that we had increased our order by 30 % and talked with them about the upcoming workshop. We gave them a lot of positive feedback about how their products were so well received.
Some of the beaded products at Kangemi
We read to them the poem that I had written back in 2010 which was a tribute to Kenyan women and the way that has become tradition to open all Tuka Pamoja sales events and we gave them a certificate for being charter members of the Tuko Pamoja LLC which brought lots of cheering and clapping!
Tribute to the Women of Kenya
Oh women of Kenya,
do you know how beautiful you are?
With your dark eyes holding your
stories of such sorrow and despair
your shining faces still able to smile so lovely
despite hardship beyond imagination
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how strong you are?
To carry your sick children on your backs
for miles through the alleys of Kibera
to raise the children of a nation through
sickness and poverty with such love
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how powerful you are?
You are the true backbone of your country
the bricks and the mortar of your people,
the keepers of the culture and traditions
the past and the future
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how glorious you are?
you dance and sing with a lively spirit
that could fill the heavens
that suspends all time and lifts all hearts
with infectious joy
Oh women of Kenya
do you know how truly amazing you are?
You moved me in a way I could not have imagined
found places in my heart I never knew existed
A piece of me is there in Kenya with you
I am but a deep breath away and in my mind’s eye
I am remembering just how beautiful you are!
LLoydie showing the Tuko Pamoja certificate
Presenting the Tuko Pamoja Certificate
We also told the women that we thought a major key to the success that people felt a connection to their personal stories because we told about the group and at least the story of one woman at each of the sales events. In that regard we talked with them about developing a book with a photo and story of each woman and asked if we could interview all of them so that we could say more about each of them. We also asked to do a video interview of the two women who could speak English most fluently explaining that although we could tell their stories we felt it would be best if people could hear them in their own voices and from their hearts. So I had the honor of doing the video interviews and they were heart wrenching, touching, honest stories of hardship and resiliency that in some cases made me cry with the women, but they were phenomenal and I will never forget them. These women live on the edge all the time. They have to pay rent, school fees, and put food on the table and often there is not enough money to buy food. They are loving mothers who often raising other people’s (i.e. sibling’s who have died of AIDS) children. They have endured their own hardship through many losses to AIDS and other diseases, but are very committed to educating the children and creating better lives for them. They are truly quite amazing. Once you meet them you cannot avoid being touched by them and wanting to help in some way.
Son of one of the Tuka Pumoja women at Kangemi
We have arrived…and had a busy first day!
Our donation duffels gathered at Nairobi airport
Finally in Kenya!! We arrived late last night, close to midnight, after being delayed nearly two hours on the plane in London while snow was falling and the plane was getting deiced and desnowed. We were lucky to be on the early side of that snowstorm as subsequent flights were cancelled and we were so ready to finally be here! We were greeted by the warmest of smiles, hugs and shouts of “Karibu Kenya!” by Justus, our favorite, always good-spirited driver who delighted us by telling us that he would be our driver for the whole trip. We had 34 suitcases and duffels to collect before heading off the Dimesse Sisters, our lodging, where we arrived well after 1AM and got just organized to get to bed.
Jen, Justus, and Lloydie
After breakfast at 8, we reunited with Justus and were off to Nyumbani Children’s Home. We were headed to a meeting with Sister Mary Owens, the Executive Director of all the Nyumbani Programs, but of course met up with other staff and many smiling children and delivered many hugs along the way as we promised that we would be back all day tomorrow to spend time with the children. it is amazing to see ho much they’ve all grown!
“Baby” John who fell asleep in my lap last year
Deb high- fiving with a couple of little cuties
We met with Sister Mary to get an update about all of the Nyumbani Programs, to talk about various projects in which we will be involved, including the status of the chicken coop project and to talk about the plans for Tuka Pamoja while we are here. Tuka Pamoja is the company which we began to support the kenyan women artisans group who come from extreme poverty, the majority of which are connected to Nyumbani by either getting services through the Lea Toto programs catering to children who are HIV+ in the slum areas around Nairobi or by living in Nyumbani Village and being grandparents who are raising AIDS orphans. Sister Mary has been very supportive of Tuko Pamoja and the need to support the caregivers in addition to the children who are the primary recipients of support through Nyumbani. Following a productive conversation and pleasant visit as always with Sister Mary, we were off to get ready for the first annual joint meeting between the U.S. and Kenyan Boards of Tuko Pamoja.
Tuko Pamoja Board Meeting
Since this was the first time all of the U.S and Kenyan board members were together it was quite a thrill to be able to talk about how exciting it is that the first year of TP has exceeded our expectation in sales and enabled us to place an even larger order this year, to be planning a workshop for the women and to think long term about how to involve more women’s groups and to ultimately work towards helping the current women’s groups become self sustaining. There was a lot of excitement and synergy of good ideas in the air. We planned the Workshop for Women for next Saturday by working in pairs of one U.S. Board member paired with a Kenyan Board member of similar skills and I think we have a marvelous workshop planned! I got to spend some time with Lilian, yes, the counselor I usually work with at Nyumbani Village, and we came up with our portion of the workshop through which all the artisans groups will rotate next week—personal well being focused on self esteem, self care and nurturing, stress management, female identity issues, etc. The women will also have a chance to learn about finance and business, product development and marketing and much more. The goal of Tuko Pamoja is to help them have a sustainable income, but it is also to foster resiliency, an investment in the future and hope, a positive identity and pride, and a strong sense of valuing themselves and being valued. Its exciting and an honor to be part of this.
Young Artists Send Greetings from Brunswick, Maine to Kenya!
Really captures the spirit of this project!
Thank you Brunswick school artists!!! I am so excited about this project! Once again working with Sharon McCormack, a wonderful and enthusiastic art teacher in Brunswick Maine, we have organized an exchange of art and culture between local students and Kenyan children. Students from Coffin School and Harriet Beecher Stowe School have sent me many wonderful pieces of beautiful art work and a generous offering of donated art supplies as part of the Art of Giving Project.
Art supplies and envelopes of art work—wait until you see samples of the art
I had so much fun looking at the art work–there are so many pieces that I think I will be able to share them with more than one group of children in Kenya. Here are some samples of the wonderful work:
And look at these wonderful masks!
I wish that I could show all the art work since I had a wonderful time looking at each and every piece. The first stop will be with the Maasai community where I will bring the donated art supplies and many pieces of art. The Maasai children are wonderful enthusiastic learners who are in a new school in a poor community and do not have materials like art supplies. They will be thrilled to get the supplies and delighted to get greetings from the U.S.
Maasai children of Pastoral Care Development Alliance
This is the floor in their new school–it’s a lot different than yours.
And this is a Maasai house–silly me I’m trying to catch a baby goat and not very good at it!
Later I will post some more entries so that you learn more about the Maasai community and the children who live there. I can tell you that without a doubt they will be so excited to get your art, friendly greetings, and the art supplies. The other part of this project will happen when I am there working with the children. The Maasai children love to have their pictures taken and are fascinated to see them on my camera. They don’t ever have any pictures of themselves and they don’t even have mirrors. So I will be bringing a camera that takes small photos that print out instantly so that we can take a picture of every Maasai child and we will make a little frame so that they bring them home. It will be like getting a school picture which everyone is used to getting here at home, but will be very special to these children (and their parents) because they have never gotten them before. My camera also keeps a record of the photos so that when I return Mrs. McCormack and I and anyone else who wishes to volunteer (I already have one parent volunteer–thank you Judy Marblestone) will get together and make a photo of the Maasai children in the same kind of little frame to give to every child who made art work to send over. You will get to see a lot of smiling faces appreciating your friendly greetings! Later I will post about the other community where I will bring some of your art work. I will write some special posts for all of you at Coffin School and Harriet Beecher Stowe School and you will know that they are written for you because the titles will start with “FOR THE STUDENTS” Many thanks again to all especially Mrs. McCormack!
Lynn Ouellette
Watoto Wote Wazuri 
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