Two Extraordinary Days in the Slums of Nairobi
Meet the group: Justice, our driver and Kenyan guide extrordinaire and Lloydie, Deb (center), Kristen (lower right), Walter and Lynne
Now I have the impossible task of trying to put into words the past two days—days in which we have laughed, sang (even in sign language), danced, hugged and been hugged too many times to count, cried for being touched by the stories of tremendous resilience and grace, been humbled by the strength of character and generosity of people and were profusely thanked often by people with whom we felt honored to be able to share some time together. These have been the two days in the slums of Dandora, Kangemi, and Kawangware in the clinics of the Lea Toto programs, the Dandora Program for the Deaf and meeting with the Self Help Groups.
In each of the three sites we visited we talked with various different staff members of the programs—the Directors of the Eastern and Western divisions of the Lea Toto programs, a medical officer, a nurse, counselors, social workers and community health workers. This gave an opportunity for those who haven’t come to lea Toto before to get an overview and for others who have to get a chance to be updated. When a parent or guardian brings a child whom is suspected of being HIV+ to the clinic, they first meet with a counselor and testing is done at the same time along with counseling. If the results are positive the child receives a medical evaluation, nutritional assessment and begins on ARVs. The entire family receives nutritional support for the first year during which time they are expected to save the resources not spent on food to develop some independence from the food support. The caregivers are provided with extensive counseling and the child is given emotional support, support for school fees if needed, etc. Social workers do home visits on a regular basis and community support worker are volunteers who receive extensive and ongoing training and do home visits as well. When we met with community support workers, many of them were former or current clients in the Lea Toto Programs who felt that they were grateful for what they had received that they wanted to give back to others. The dedication of this staff, the workload that they carry is phenomenal and hearing them talk about why they do the work and what it means to them was so inspiring that when it came our time to speak we could hardly talk—Kristen and I were first and we were just passing the tissues back and forth. Paul, the Director at Dandora, and the Director of the western division of the Lea Toto Programs, was a very thoughtful and well spoken man, who told us to remember that every little bit of help matters, no matter how small, and that it can be overwhelming to look at the overall larger picture, but when you help the person who is there in front of you, that help is enormous. He also told us that people often have many needs, but what they need most from you is “heart” and the rest follows. We did do several home visits with the social worker and the community support worker at Kangemi . In fact we found that often the several of the women of the self help groups also worked as community support worker.
Lloydie with Good Hope Self Help Group members
Other members of the Good Hope Self Help Group
We also met with the Self Help Groups to share time with them continuing to build relationships and to shop from their crafts. This included groups at all three sites including the Vision Self Help Group whom I had previously met in Dandora 2 years ago. These are wonderful groups of very lively vibrant women who each have incredible stories to tell. Every story is captivating but I have to say that Sally of the Vision Self Help Group had the most powerful story because she has been HIV+ since 1991 and has a daughter who is HIV+ as well. She has a strong powerful voice and is incredibly articulate about living positively with HIV and a powerful commitment to bringing that message to others. (I made a deal with her that next time I come to Kenya I will do a video interview because she has a voice and a story that really should be heard and can speak for many others).
We also had the mission of meeting with representative Self Help Groups in the three sites where Lloydie explained that it has often felt difficult for volunteers to feel like they are really able to be helpful in the Lea Toto sites and that KEST has taken on a new initiative to support those communities by supporting the Mommas of these groups. She explained the plan to select from their crafts items to be considered for sales in the US and that when she returns in June she will place a larger order for these items and pay fair market value when she gets them in August. Then KEST volunteers will sell them in the US and the additional profit will be brought to them next January and the cycle will repeat and hopefully grow. This plan was met with overwhelming enthusiasm and gratitude.
"Thumbs up!" from the Vision Self Help Group
Meeting with the Vision Self Help Group
Finally we spent the afternoon today meeting with Boniface, who has a “ministry for the deaf”. We met with him and his wife, both of whom are deaf as well as 3 other deaf people with whom he works. Boniface is a sign language teacher and he and the others in the group spoke to us through William, an interpreter. We learned that there are schools for the deaf in Kenya but not a lot of other support and that they really have come together to support each other. Although Boniface and his wife are employed the other are currently without work though have skills. One fact that really struck me was that all five of the deaf people with whom we met (and this is largely true for Kenyans) were born hearing and became deaf as a result of illness in childhood, often common illnesses like mumps or measles for which we get vaccinated in the U.S. I can’t quite describe what it was like to spend time with them—they may not have been able to speak, but they could certainly communicate in a phenomenally moving way that was deeply touching. I had heard through Lloydie that Boniface really needed a digital camera for work with his students and it warmed my heart to be able to give him. They say to us in sign language, taught us to sing by signing…..and more tears. I have a wonderful videotape of this that I hope to be able to upload (after 3 failed attmpts have to try again later–aaah the joys of technology…)
As always, there is so much more I could say, so many more words I could use, but words can’t capture this…..
It’s after midnight here, please pardon my typos, no more energy to proofread and a busy day tomorrow….kwaheri from Kenya!
The Weekend at Nyumbani Children’s Home
We spent our first weekend in Kenya at Nyumbani Children’s Home, the orphanage for children who are HIV+. We began the weekend by meeting with Sister Mary, the Executive Director of Nyumbani , who updated us on the Children’s Home as well as the other Nyumbani Programs, Lea Toto clinics in the impoverished communities around Nairobi and Nyumbani Village in Kitui. We learned that the programs now serve over 4000 children and in the case of Lea Toto, their families are receiving services as well. The children in the Children’s Home continue to thrive although 2 children had developed resistance to antiretroviral medications (ARV’s). In the past these children would have died but she was able to petition to get special permission to purchase the drugs for these children from outside the country as only first and second line drugs are available in Kenya. The major happening in the orphanage now is that there are 14 children looking for acceptance in to high schools. All are tuition based boarding schools in Kenya and acceptance is based solely on standardized test scores. Since some of the children have had periods of being unhealthy or difficult starts they don’t all score very well, so this is a time of high anxiety for them. We also toured the Nyumbani Diagnostic Laboratory which is a new freestanding facility and much larger than the small laboratory which Nyumbani previously had. There they do the most advanced HIV testing in all the country and provide services to a wide range of other organizations and facilities. BTW, Nyumbani was the first site of HIV testing in Kenya and the first AIDS orphanage in Kenya. I could say a lot more but on to the children………
The children greeted us with squeals and smiles and hugs and magnificent welcomes that were so heartwarming!
Lloydie with 2 Nyumbani kids
I have not been here for two years so one thing I really noticed was how some of the children have really grown! There are lots of names and faces to remember so I couldn’t remember them all, but was particularly surprised to see the growth in the little ones—some of whom you will recognize from my blog posts in 2010. I was amazed when one little boy who was in the ST Paul Miki Preschool the last time I was here remembered that I had taken his picture. And there are some new little ones as well.
Dolo, the little charnmer from cottage E
Baby Sharon
Innocent--remember him?!
The older children are genuinely kind and helpful to the younger ones.
Each of the volunteers was assigned a host cottage to spend time with including the children and the cottage mother. This meant hanging out with the children and seeing how the “family” (14 children and 2 Mommas) runs, having lunch with them, spending play time and getting to know them. I was particularly charmed by a spunky pint sized 3 year old, the youngest in my cottage, with a big personality, named Dolo. We will be back next weekend to spend some more time with them. And by popular demand I did another round of face painting which was so much fun! We also went to church with them on Sunday—Kenyan style with joyous drumming, singing, clapping and dancing. We also heard stories from the cottage mothers as well as other staff about some of the newer children and how sick they were when they arrived – some could not walk or talk and now they are racing around on scooters in the playground. You can’t help but think every once in a while that all of these beautiful children who are lively, thriving, very affectionate, little people would have died if it were not for the care they are receiving here. When you stand back and watch all this life around you it can move you to tears.
Lloydie and one of the boys from her cottage
I have some great video–you can get a peek at Dolo’s personality, experience mass at the Children’s Home and more, but I’m having some technical problems posting it. Check back later. Kwaheri marafiki!
One more day, one more post, one more duffel…then we’re off!
We are off to Kenya on Thursday so this will be my last post before I leave home. Tomorrow will be a busy day since I will be working until the afternoon , then finishing up many things to prepare to be away, packing my last duffel and heading out on Thursday morning. I will first fly to D.C. where I will meet up with my fellow travelers and we will all fly together to Kenya. I received a lovely email from Lilian, the counselor at Nyumbani Village, wishing me safe travels and letting me know that she can’t wait to see me. We have also had several e-mails back and forth from the women at Kibera Paper making plans for our time together for a sharing of creative ideas.
More people have come by with donations making the packing a little trickier, but the bounty more plentiful and I’m very grateful to have these to bring with me. The monetary donations have really added up and I am very grateful for those as well since they will help us contribute to the nutritional needs of the Maasai children and to buy mattresses for Nyumbani Village. They are also very light weight and don’t take any packing space and at this point I’m particularly appreciative for that! I really want to thank everyone who has made the effort to donate to this cause– every little bit adds up, every little bit makes a significant difference, everything is received with such grace and gratitude. I wish all of you could have the opportunity to experience what I will when giving to the Kenyan people who I will encounter– it’s quite beyond words.
Finally, I would like to introduce you to another artisan group with whom we will work to discuss fair trade practices for selling their ware in the states. You have, however, actually been introduced previously though not from this perspective. These are the grandmothers or shosho’s (sho sho’s , su su’s, nobody can actually really say how you spell this Kikombe word in English) at Nyumbani Village. This is a very spirited, lively, dancing and singing group of grannies who are prone to grabbing you at any moment and pulling you into an impromptu dance, who have a special 3 part Kikombe hand shake that they teach everyone, and who also greet you with gigantic smiles and Kikombe greetings with the expectation that you somehow know the correct response–if you don’t, they teach you on the spot with great gesticulation and broad smiles and laughter until you get it. They also weave very beautiful baskets out of Sissel and yarn and make it look incredibly easy. They sell these though do not have a well established market and really need to expand that since the baskets are quite beautiful and so well made.
Nyumbani Village Sho Sho's weaving Baskets
The storage room for baskets at Nyumbani Village
As you can see the baskets are as “colorful” as the sho sho’s!
So we leave on Thursday and arrive in Kenya late (midnight) on Friday night. Our first stop after a night’s sleep will be the Nyumbani Children’s Home on Saturday. Imagine being surrounded by excited, squealing children with smiling faces who you know are healthy and thriving, who you know are alive and have a future literally because Nyumbani exists to care for them–it’s a very powerful and a very wonderful feeling. What could be better than that?!
Next time I write…..I’ll be in warm and sunny Kenya.
Preparations, Donations, and Communications……
On the road in Kenya
Well, it’s only 10 days before we leave and the excitement is mounting… and so is the pressure to get everything done before departure. I have to say that it’s hard to concentrate on all that needs to be done here when my thoughts keep drifting to Kenya and the email communications about planning are flying fast and furiously through cyberspace. This post will be a potpourri of things to share that may not seem necessarily that connected, but that is a reflection of my whirling brain……
- Amongst the email communications was one that just came from Jen and the group of KEST travelers who are currently in Nyumbani Village with the “translation” provided by Lloydie:
“it’s HOT, and the water taps keep going out (and the showers at the convent don’t work anymore). Pack lots of sunscreen, bug spray, and baby wipes. Oh, and some locks for the doors – we all have singles in the guest house, and John (the cook) didn’t have enough to go around.”
Translation… “it’s HOT, water is questionable so take a long shower before we leave for the village, we will have drinking water with us, bring the recommended items above , and ESPECIALLY a pad lock just in case it is needed. Plan to leave the lock behind so they will have enough for future visitors. We do not have our lodging assignment yet. It will either be in the convent or the guest house but either way, it seems like there are NO showers… pole sana, TIA… This IS Africa!“ - These e-mails made me smile. You have to have a sense of humor about such things and no where else on earth would I voluntarily put up with HOT and no showers! Aaah life in Nyumbani Village!! There’s nothing like it to make you appreciate the smallest creature comforts like a shower, not to mention cold water to drink, a way to cool off in the heat… And though water may be in short supply I’m sure that there is plenty of ugali that staple food of maize made porridge that sits like a brick in your belly (your favorite, right Lloydie?!) However, there will also be ample Kenyan hospitality seeped in Kikombe culture with singing and dancing and smiling from children and grandmothers alike since the village, with its simple ways, is a very magical place. And at the end of the day, you get to be mesmerized by the most star filled sky you’ll ever see.
Under the tree canopy in Nyumbani Village
Dancers--from children to grandmothers--of Nyumbani Village Photos by Karen Orrick
- One of my donors was also asking about whether or not she could specifically give to the Women 4 Women Initiative, but that is in the early stages of development and not quite ready for specific donations yet. Lloydie’s reply as an alternative was “ I think the best plan is for you to decide which community you want to help… Nyumbani Village for mattresses (they just admitted 36 new orphaned grandchildren and 4 orphaned grandparents in December), or the Maasai for the school food program (porridge every day at school for lunch, for some their only meal)”. Although I am very much aware of the need in Kenya the thought of the school food program providing the Maasai children with their only meal of the day is a very sobering thought. And the fact that 36 new children and 4 new grandparents have been admitted to Nyumbani Village is a reminder of the increasing need and number of AIDs orphans and the elderly who have lost their children upon whom they would have relied to care for them. The village has really grown–the last figure I heard was close to 800 orphans are living there. I’m not sure what the current count is, but I will find out.
Maasai Children
- About donations–these are the things I’m bringing to Kenya to donate guided by a list of needed items and anything that is not monetary has to fit in duffels to go onboard the airplane with me. Somethings like underwaer and socks and medical supplies are always needed. Other things, like matresses, not to be stuffed into duffels, but rather purchased once there, are new on the list. Having reached out to family and friends and done some special purchases of my own, the gathering seems to be going quite nicely. I also had the opportunity to go to the warehouse for Mid Coast Hospital last week where supplies and goods are stored that are no longer being used at the hospital, but are ready for anyone wishing to take them to third world countries. I met a very nice young man there who was traveling to the Dominican and also gathering supplies. As we looked through all the storage areas and came across things that would suit our purposes we both got increasingly excited and started to say “This is just like Christmas!” I gathered gauze and band aids and wound cleaner and ace bandages and slings and …… Now I have to get all the donations in one place–from my office, the car, my son’s car, various places in the house–and pack them in 2 duffels that weigh each less than 50 lbs. A Houdini-like task even without the mattresses–this is the magic that begins before you leave for Kenya–well a piece of it anyway!
Kibera, Lea Toto, and Kibera Paper
Somewhere between a half and a million people live in Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum. No one knows for sure what the population is there, but it is estimated that 20% of Nairobi’s inhabitants live there at a population density of about 750, 000 people per square mile. It is one of the most crowded places on earth. It is hard to describe in words but photos and video give a better sense.
Kibera is the site of great poverty, overcrowding, unsanitary living conditions, and a high crime rate. It is also a location with a very high incidence of HIV/AIDs. This is the reason that The Lea Toto program of Nyumbani began—to provide outreach services and home based care to families with children who have HIV/AIDS. In addition to having a clinic in Kibera Lea Toto now has 8 other satellite clinics in the slum areas surrounding Nairobi. We visited these clinics in Kibera, Kariobongi and Dandora during our last trip to Kenya and will be visiting them again.
This time we will also be paying some special attention to a couple of women’s artisans groups which have developed out of the need for these women of poverty to to have an income to support their families. One of these groups is Kibera paper. We have been working on a plan for our visit to Kibera paper to work with the women there who make the cards from recycled paper. In addition to talking with them about ideas to market and sell more of their cards in the US, since 2 of us make our own cards, we are planning an interactive card making workshop with a sharing of ideas and new media.
Here is an article from CNNWorld about Kibera Paper:
Greeting card project helps slum women
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// // December 22, 2010|From David McKenzie, CNN
In the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, some of the community’s poorest women are taking part in project that is spreading the true meaning of the holiday season. In 2001, an Anglican missionary from Australia started the Kibera Paper Card Project to help disadvantaged women in the sprawling Kibera slum.
The initiative began with a group of six women making greeting cards from recycled paper. Nine years later and it has expanded to employ 26 local women.
“It’s for women who are widowed, some of them are orphaned, some of them are abandoned by their husbands, so they make cards to meet their needs,” said Kibera Paper Card Project coordinator Emma Wathura.
Wathura said the project focuses on helping women because “women are the ones who care for the family.”
Agnes Awour is one of those benefiting from the project. She used to struggle to put food on the table, but joining the group has helped, she said.
“It enables me to buy food and clothes and pay school fees,” she said. “Even my children are happy about it.”
The women involved in the project see the card making process through from beginning to end. They collect scrap paper from Nairobi businesses and soak and dye the paper, turning the waste into pulp and then the pulp into new paper.
The paper is then dried before the women’s creativity transforms what was once rubbish into beautiful greeting cards.
“Yeah there is money,” said Wathura. “For one thing, we don’t spend a lot. Because the recycled paper we are given is free.”
At the Nairobi Christmas Fair, where thousands descend every holiday season, the cards are proving popular.
In a business where message is key, the Kibera Paper Card project offers its customers much more than just a greeting: Shoppers know that by buying these cards, they’re changing lives.
This is a great video that focuses on Kibera and the Kibera Paper Project
The slogan for Kibera Paper has become “Buy a card, change a life.” If you watched the video you know how that is literally true. You can learn more about Kibera paper at www.kiberapaper.com and I’m sure I’ll have lots more to say when I am actually there sharing the experience with these women. This is just one example of a truly hopeful project that has arisen from the slums; there are more, including of course the Lea Toto clinics. Despite the enormity of the horrendous conditions and poverty, there is hope too.
KEST and the Magical Magnetism of Shared Volunteerism
Volunteers from 2010 KEST Adult trip
We are off to Kenya in 19 days! I know that this time will fly by as I try to prepare to leave my office and home and gather up everything I need to be on my way. It’s time to direct some more concentrated attention on donations to be gathered, things needed for projects to be done while there, and eventually the overwhelming task of packing (I hate to pack even on a small scale and this is quite something else!)
I have been thinking about how exciting it is to return to Kenya and Nyumbani having been there before and how I am looking forward to seeing people again. I have just learned from Lloydie that we will have two more travelers, Lynne and Walter, joining our group so its wonderful to have a larger group. I have found myself immersed in thought about how this experience really gives me much more than I give in volunteering, how my endorphin levels soar every time I talk about the trip (I have actually been told that my face lights up) and how for weeks after I returned last time I couldn’t talk about the trip without getting teary or choked up because I was so deeply moved by the whole experience. I recently came across some medical literature about volunteerism and how volunteering actually increases the life span, at least in elders in whom it’s been best studied. But I think it must be true for others too because there is something about giving to others in need that just lifts you up and fills you up, and shifts your perspective to what’s important, like nothing else can. And the relationships that you make with other people when you share that experience of working for a common cause with all the joy, and the heartache too– those are lifelong bonds.
So this brings me to KEST, Kenya Educational and Service Trips (www.K-E-S-T.com). I can’t imagine going to Kenya in any other way than through KEST (and with you, Lloydie). KEST is a small operation started by one woman, Lloydie Zaiser, with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, dedication, and love for the AIDS orphans of Kenya. It is still a tiny operation, yet I just received the annual report tucked in a holiday card (made by the women of Kibera paper of course) and have learned more about how KEST is expanding its mission beyond the Nyumbani Programs to two different sites, launching a number of new programs and increasing the number of volunteer trips to Kenya each year (I scanned the report so I could include it below in this post). This one little organization has done amazing things by bringing to Kenya so many volunteers and hundreds of duffels of donations and finding education sponsors for Nyumbani children and so much more….. I think this has a lot to do with the infectious enthusiasm and love of the mission that Lloydie brings to it as well as the incredible spirit of the Kenyan people that you get to soak up while you are there. But it also reflects the way that the totality of the experience profoundly binds you to each other and to the cause –what I referred to as the magical magnetism of shared volunteerism. Having been on one volunteer trip with KEST, you can’t just do one, you are now a KEST lifer! Your heart will call you back again to the children and the people and the country, to all of it. And if there are moments when you might not listening, you’ll get emails from Lloydie that will give you updates about the children that will pull at your heartstrings, or remind you of the touching moments in Kenya (or tease you about how it will be 8o degrees and sunny there in February when its snowy and cold in Maine.)
Lloydie, Mercy and the shoshos at Nyumbani Village
Lloydie playing finger games with the children at Nyumbani Village
So it gives me peace of mind and a very sweet feeling to look forward to this travel to Kenya and to Nyumbani and all of the other places we will visit and to know that I start out 2012 with all of my own blessings well in perspective and my intentions pointed in a very worthy direction.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Returning to Kenya and Nyumbani!!
Children of Nyumbani Village
My last post was in June 2010–in some ways it seems like a long time ago and in some ways like yesterday. I am excited beyond words and extremely grateful to have the opportunity to return to Kenya again. I knew when I last left in February 2010 that I had been forever changed by the experience there and that my heart would bring me back again. Since leaving Kenya I have kept in contact with Lloydie, our fabulous trip leader, who has brought many other groups of volunteers to Kenya and who has the biggest heart of anyone I know. In fact in the fall of 2010, all five of the travelers in our group reunited in Washington DC at the annual Nyumbani gala and auction. We had the pleasure of escorting Joseph, the sustainability director of Nyumbani Village, who had never before been out of Kenya around Washington DC and, in particular, pointing President Obama’s “house” to him.
Joseph taking in Washington DC
In addition, I have kept in touch with Lilian, the counselor at Nyumbai Village both to get follow up about the young men I evaluated there but also to be a source of support as she has such a huge job being the sole counselor to so many people. There have been the newsletters from Nyumbani, letters from the student we sponsor at Nyumbani Village, many heartfelt email updates and even a visit from Lloydie, and oh so many things beckoning me back. The most powerful, however, are my memories of those moments that moved me to tears, that showed me that although the problems with AIDs, orphans, and profound poverty are so overwhelmingly huge, one person can really make a difference, one deed can really have a powerful impact on someone else’s life.
And so we depart on January 19th. The group that is traveling this time will be four women–Lloydie, Deb, Kristen and me. Although I have not yet met Deb or Kristen, I know by the e-mails and past experience that we will be incredibly bonded by the end of the trip. The itinerary is similar to our last travel to Nyumbani, but with some extras this time. We will be spending much of our time on the weekends at Nyumbani Children’s Home just outside of Nairobi. You may recall that this is where the children are both AIDS orphans and are also HIV+. They are however thriving children who are staying healthy with good medical support and ARV medication.
Nyumbani Children’s Home
Innocent and me after facepainting at the St Paul Miki Preschool, Photo by Karen Orrick
For a week we will be at Nyumbani Village, in rural Kenya about an hour away from Nairobi. The Village is where there are about 700 AIDs orphans living in “families” of 10 being raised by a grandmother or “shosho”. The Village has its own school, medical clinic, counseling center, amazing sustainability program, etc. I will have a chance to work with Lilian again and will get to see Caroline, the student whom we sponsor. The Village is a truly magical place that is ripe with culture and alive with song and dance, smiling and laughter, despite the enormous trauma and losses that brought people there. For a nice up to date glimpse of life at the Children’s Home and the Village you can watch this video A Place Called Home by Shamus Fatzinger. I am very excited to see all those lively little children’s faces again!
Children at Nyumbani Village
We will be spending some time in the outreach clinics of the Lea Toto Programs in the slums around Nairobi. These programs provide services to families with children who are HIV+. We will however have more than one goal in mind in visiting these programs. At a number of sites, the women have developed groups who have learned a craft such as jewelry making. We met one of these groups during our last trip–the Vision Self Help Group in Dandora. I was very touched by having the opportunity to sit with them and hear their personal stories that were so compelling and filled with loss and heartache, yet incredible resilience, devotion to their children and compassion for each other. We will meet with them and other such groups to help them focus on establishing fair trade practices and business plans for selling their wares in the U.S. Another group is the women of Kibera Paper who make beautiful handmade cards, each a work of art, from recycled paper from the slums.
Examples of my favorite Kibera Cards designs
Lloydie has actually set up some time for us to have a workshop with them so that I can bring over some art supplies and work with them on some new ideas. I am very excited about this aspect of the trip which Lloydie has referred to as Women4Women. I was so deeply affected by the women whom we met in Kenya during our last trip and the ways in which they seemed to have such capacity to overcome such hardship that I wrote this poem about them and only recently, when thinking about the possibility of going back, did I revisit it:
These are only some of the highlights of the plans as the itinerary is very full. We are now in the stage of busily gathering donations of all different sorts–from medical supplies, to children socks and underwear, to office supplies, to Pampers and onesies with feet! Each of us needs to fill at least one fifty pound duffel with donations (and given that mattresses are on the list of needs and we’ll shop for more once we get there!) I better get gathering as I have a long way to go………
The one thing that I have a tinge of sadness about is that I will not be traveling with the same group of five this time. We had a very special bond by the end of the trip last time and Kenya just won’t be quite the same without them there. So I’m hoping that Mary, Karen and Tom will follow along with us and get inspired for a reunion trip in Kenya some year soon……
The “Five Travelers” at Lake Nukuru in 2010
The Art Exchange at Jordan Acres School
Well, I am shamefully late at doing this post since the art exchange and show at Jordan Acres took place 2 weeks ago. I have not posted yet partially because I really fell down on my job as photographer that night. But truthfully, the reason for this was that I got so engaged with talking with people that I just put my camera down. I really want to thank Sharon McCormack (whose picture I wish I had taken) once again not only for doing amazing art with the children for me to bring to Kenya, but also for working on such a fun way for us to exchange the art and have a multimedia show that night. In addition to the poster you see in the picture above we had a table with a Maasai blanket and carvings and other such things that could be touched, and all the Kenyan children’s art work, some was displayed and what wasn’t displayed was mounted and placed in a notebook as a permanent collection for the school to keep along with the poster. We also had a slide show accompanied by some great background tribal African music. The man and boy in the picture below spent much of their time watching the slide show and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them since the little boy got newly very excited about each and every safari animal that came on the screen.
I was delighted that many children and parents asked lots of questions and enjoyed looking at the Kenyan students’ art. Some of JA students were thrilled when they recognized their own art in the photos taken in Kenya. I could tell from the questions that the students asked about the Maasai, and the animals, life in Kenya and other topics that they had really learned a lot about Kenya in the course of this project. So the Kenyan students art and the poster of all the smiling faces of Nyumbani have been on display at the school for everyone to see and enjoy since that night. For me it’s a really heartwarming thought to think of JA students smiling back and having an opportunity to browse through all the pieces of art and warm wishes that were sent to them.
Once again, thank you very much (asante sana) to all the JA students and to Sharon McCormack! Maybe we can do this again the next time I go to Kenya……
Kenyan Art Exchange in Brooksville, Maine
Stopping a moment on my "Brooksville tour" with Bec Poole and Maggie
Brooksville scene
Last weekend I headed up the coast to Brooksville, a really lovely small town and home to Brooksville Elementary School where 7th and 8th graders participated in the art exchange with the kids in Kenya from the Nyumbani Children’s Home and Nyumbani Village. It was my opportunity to personally see the display of the children’s art that I had brought back from Kenya on exhibit with some batik work that the Brooksville students had done. The batiks were inspired by African animals and were beautifully hung amongst the Kenyan children’s art.
It was truly a wonderful feeling to see them all hug together (this was a typo that I did find when I proofed the post, but feeling truly touched by seeing the artwork of all children hung together, I decided to leave it). Beside the art from Kenya was a picture of each child who had created the art and Bec Poole, the art teacher, had done a nice job of explaining what the art exchange was all about and what her students had learned from it.
Art from Kenya and artists from Nyumbani Children's Home
Art from Kenya and photos of artists from Nyumbani Village
Though the turn out was small, probably related to school vacation week, I enjoyed presenting a slide show and talking about my trip on Friday evening. Both Bec and I hope that we can find a way to keep this exchange going. I will send photos of the display back to Kenya with Lloydie Zaiser this summer so that the children there can see that their art made it to the US and was proudly displayed! I also enjoyed the opportunity to take in the lovely town of Brooksville on Saturday and just relax in the company of my friend Bec.
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- Art from Kenya and photos of artists from Nyumbani Village
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- Stopping a moment on my “Brooksville tour” with Bec Poole and Maggie
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- Brooksville scene
Update on the Maine Kenyan Student Art Exchange
It’s hard to believe that we have been back from Kenya for a month and a half– in some ways it feels like yesterday, in some ways like years. Fortunately the sharing of stories and photos has created and opportunity to relive the trip again and again. In e-mailing with Lloydie recently I referred to it as “the trip that keeps on giving” because my mind goes back to it so frequently and I have so many ideas about future things that I would like to do.
However, I still have another important piece of unfinished business with this trip– the final piece of the Art Exchange with the students here in Maine. I have been in contact with both the art teachers and each of us have something a little different planned. I was delighted to hear that Sharon McCormack at Jordan Acres had “blog week” for her art students and that they spent time enjoying my blog. I hear they especially enjoyed the Kenyan kids dancing videos.
On Friday April 23rd I am headed up to Brooksville (a little over 2 1/2 hours up the coast) to visit in person. I sent the Kenyan kids art ahead of time and it is currently displayed in the public library along with some additional African themed art that the students did. I hear from Bec that it is a beautiful display! When in Brooksville I will do a public presentatation to students and families about the trip to Kenya and about the AIDS orphans and what we learned about them and their lives. And of course I will also talk about the art exchange. I am planning to bring some “show and tell” items like a Maasai blanket, a basket from the village, etc as well as lots of pictures. Most of all I am really looking forward to meeting the artists!
More about the exchange at Jordan Acres later…….
Video clips:Traditional tribal dance practice at Nyumbani Village
While we visited NyumbaniVillage we had the opportunity to see (and participate in ) a lot of dancing which was traditional for the Kamba tribe. I did not do the best job with my video camera here since I often had left it behind not realizing the frequency that the opportunities would arise for using it and later had some editing snafus and lost some of the footage I would have like to have shared– I often have a strained relationship with technology. We did however have the chance to attend the practice for one of the drama class–really tribal song and dance– at Nyumbani village in which many students were involved. Although it started at the same time as my art project, it was still going strong well beyond the time that finished and I think that the students sang and danced for almost 3 hours in that 85+ degree heat. I am told that they do amazingly well in competitions when they put this altogether with tribal dress and have even made it to the Kenyan national competition in the past. This is just the beginning of their practices which we had great fun watching (www.plopsymd.wordpress.com):
Video snip-its: Song and Dance at Nyumbani’s Children’s Home
In the next few posts I want to share some snip-its of video recordings, all of various song and dance experiences that we had while in Kenya. The recordings were done on a litle Flip Video recorder and my skill level certainly doesn’t match that of a stll camera in my hand. Nonetheless, the recordings capture the spirit of celebration that we had the opportunity to experience in various settings. The first 2 clips are from church, the upbeat and Kenyan style dancing and singing celebration at the Children’s Home. The last clip is a spontaneous burst of singing a favorite song, “Jambo Bwana” in one of the cottages at the Children’s Home.
The Art Exchange: A preview of art and greetings from Kenya to Maine
The real art exchange will be completed when I am able to give the art made by the children at Nyumbani Children’s Home and Nyumbani Village to the students at Jordan Acres and Brooksville Elemenatary Schools, but I wanted to show some examples of the art done by the kids in Kenya to everyone on the blog. Though I have said it before, I need to say again how appreciative all of the kids and everyone else I encountered in Kenya were for the art and the supplies that were sent to them. I want to say thank you to Sharon MCormack and her students at Jordan Acres in Brunswick, Maine and to Bec Poole and her students in Brooksville, Maine. I also want to thank Dick Blick Art Materials ( www.dickblick.com) for donating some of the art supplies that were used and left for the kids in Kenya along with the supplies donated by the 2 schools. It was great fun for the kids in Kenya to use materials that they never had used before to create art and I was thrilled to leave them with supplies that they will continue to use. For the students in Maine, your efforts really inspired a lot of good will.
At the children’s home, I worked with most of the children to create art (all except the very energetic St. Paul Miki Preschool kids whose faces I painted instead of doing an art project). With the first 2 groups which were of mixed ages, I told them that they were free to do whatever kind of art they wanted with all of the materials, but if they wanted a suggestion, I knew that the kids in Maine might be especially interested in learning about them and their lives in Kenya. Below are some of the examples that they created:
The kids at the Children’s home that worked with me in the last group worked on books to send back to the Brooksville Elementary School that were just like the books that had been sent to them. It was perfect that the students in Brooksville had the wonderful idea of sending blank books just like the ones that they had made. I worked with a group of the same age kids at the Children’s Home who seemed excited to have this special project saved for them. They all did a terrific job on the work that they created and stayed beyond the time that we had set up so that they could finish them. They also spent a lot of time looking at the art books about life in Brooksville and I could tell that they were very interested in them. They all got to keep a book from the Brooksville students. Here are a few examples of their work:
I also worked on art projects with the orphans in Nyumbani Village where I hung art from Jordan Acres students in their homes on the Kenyan red stone walls and in the school classrooms where all the students will enjoy them. The group I worked with there were students in the equivalent of junior high school who were in a club that had been developed by a prior volunteer called the “Young Ambassadors.” I worked with Lloydie to tell them about the art from Maine and to ask them to make art for me to bring back that would reflect how what they would like to say about their country as “Young Ambassadors”. I was amazed at the art they did, not only because they were so enthusiastic and diligent, but also because they chose to include a lot of knowledge about their country and had a lot of pride in sharing it. And as the last example shows, they were real embassadors by welcoming people to “Please pay a visit to Kenya!” Here are a couple of their posters:
I look forward to sharing ALL of the art work with the students at both schools and being able to share some more about my experience in Kenya. Thanks to all who participated in this project in Maine and also my fellow travelers, most especially Lloydie for helping me set up and work on the projects in Kenya….and of course to all the Kenyan artists!
Faces and places of Nyumbani Village
Tom and a friend
I took quite a few pictures at Nyumbani Village, but now that I am home, I regret that I didn’t take more of the structure of the village itself so that I would have those to show. I don’t really have pictures of the homes, and the buildings because I was so taken with the people that I didn’t think much about photographing the structures. We were also busy every minute during the day so wandering around to take extra photos wasn’t something that easily fell into place. I so wish I also could have taken a photo of the night sky while I was there; it was the most amazing bright starry sky that I have ever seen. We dragged our chairs outside at night just to sit and look up at it knowing that we would not see the sky look like that again once we returned home.
I do however have many photos of the people and I loved taking their pictures, from young to old. The children were all incredibly adorable and the grandmothers had wonderful weathered faces that you knew each had an amazing story to tell.
Although I could not speak Kamba, except for a couple of greeting that they taught me with great enthusiasm, I could tell from their energy, liveliness, exuberance and quick movement into song and dance (and expectation that we join them) that these grandmothers would have a lot to say If I could speak their language. For now I just have to go with body langauge which said quite a bit about their approach to life.
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- Grandmother and children admiring JA art
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- Grandmothers with JA art
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- Grandmothers on home visit
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- Girls peeking out of the classroom door
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- One of the boys in the school yard
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- Tom and a friend
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- Two boys in the school yard who loved the camera
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- Singing with Lloydie
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- More adorable faces that greeted us when we arrived
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- Gathering with the children at Nyumbani Village
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- Horsing around for the camera
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- Loving the camera
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- Two brothers
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- Tom talking to one of the staff and children
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- Two boys hauling–kids work very hard in the village
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- Kids in the schoolyard
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- Kids in the schoolyard
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- Elizabeth and her World AIDS Day Tee shirt
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- Mercy concentrating with the help of her tongue
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- Mercy “drawing” with her grandmother’s help
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- two grandmothers
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- Weaving–you can tell how fast her hands are moving!
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- Lloydie, Mercy and 3 grandmothers
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- ADmiring JA art
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- Walking under the tree canopy
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- Shem, our wonderful driver, taking a break in the shade
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- Working on art to send to America
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- Just a portion of the baskets woven at the village
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- The preschool class
Faces of Nyumbani Children’s Home
This is a random collection of some of the photos that I took of the children at Nyumbani Chilldren’s Home. Some are quick shots of faces, some are of the St Paul Miki preschool kids on the day Karen and Lloydie did the visor projects and I had the great fun of painting their faces, some are at the birthday celebration in memory of the founder, Father D’Agostino, some are the kids being cared for in respite, a couple are from the football game, some are of the children working on art, a couple are of the children doing one of their favorite things– borrowing visitor’s digital cameras……..
Karen and the "lion"
Mary and Kevin
Tom and a child from the respite program
Hope you enjoy!
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- Tom and a child from the respite program
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- Mary and Kevin
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- Karen and the “lion”
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- Making visors
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- Making visors
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- I love the pink visor, spiderman face and camouflage shirt!
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- Eunice the butterfly
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- Eunice
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- Winnie, always with a sweet smile
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- St Paul Miki kids have a lot of energy!
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- The cutest lion in Kenya!
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- Another painted face–this time camouflage
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- St Paul Miki kids
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- St Paul Miki kids working on their project
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- One of the children in respite
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- Nicholas, another respite child
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- Working on art for Jordan Acres kids
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- AB boys working on books for Brooksville kids
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- Nyumbani kids working on art for Jordan Acres kids
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- Working on art for Brooksville kids
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- At Father D’Agostino birthday celebration
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- At Father D’Ag birthday party
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- Mary and her art
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- Enjoying the digital camera
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- Taking pictures
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- Looking at pictures
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- Smiling for the camera
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- Giving another big smile
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- Mark, hamming it up!
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- A nice smaile
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- Mary and the youngest St Paul Miki kid
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- Karen with the St Paul Miki kids
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- Karen with 3 painted St Paul Miki Kids
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- Karen with my favorite lion
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- The Nyumbani football team before the game
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- The team takes a break
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- Two friends smiling for the camera
Back from safari….. tearful goodbyes soon
Beautiful lion at Maasai Mara
We are just back from safari and I have only a few moments to post before we go over to the Nyumbani Children’s Home to pay a final visit to the medical clinic, offer our final donations and say our goodbyes.
What I can say about the safari is that it was amazing!! We spent 2 days at Maasai Mara and one day at Lake Nakuru. Morning game drives began at 6:30 AM and evening game drives were at 3:30 until 6:30.
We saw so many different animals; we were entertained by the frolics of baboons, awed by the grace of gazelles, inspired by the majesty of lions, a little anxious in the presence of rhinos, and lost in a sea of zebras, cape buffalos, and much much more. At the top of a mountain we were in the middle of a huge herd of elephants and it was magical. Lake Nakuru was covered in beautiful pink flamingos. In many instances we saw baby versions of the animals that were adorable—even the warthogs. In the Maasai Mara even if we hadn’t seen any animals it would have been a photographer’s dream because the scenery was so beautiful!
Baby baboon
We also visited a Maasai village and were warmly greeted with dancing, singing and a tour. That will have to be a separate post as I have a lot to say about the Maasai.
I will post a whole gallery of photos that I can’t wait to share once I get home but I don’t have much time now and it takes so long to upload from here but I wanted to give a preview.
It will be very hard to say our goodbyes today. This has been an experience that has opened our eyes and hearts in so many ways that words cannot begin to describe. We have already begun to talk about our next trip and how knowing the “lay of the land” will allow us to do more useful service projects. I already have some ideas……..
But I’m off to the Children’s Home and will be happy to see the children’s smiling faces again. It will be an afternoon of tearful goodbyes before we board the airplane and I will leave a piece of my heart in Kenya.
LEA TOTO Program: Kibera, Kariabongi and Dandora
Approaching Kibera........
Yesterday we were in Kibera which, located right outside of Nairobi, you may recall is one of the largest slums of the world. Kibera is hard to capture without including pictures, but I didn’t take pictures inside the slum as it did not feel respectful to the people there to have my camera as we walked through this community of horrendous poverty. In one of my earlier posts from the day before we left, I included a YouTube video that gives you much visual material.
We spent the morning getting oriented to the Lea Toto (in Kiswahili, “To raise a child”) Program run by Nyumbani. The program does outreach and home based care in Kibera and 6 other sites in the perimeter of Nairobi and offers HIV testing, counseling, medical care, nutritional support, and educational support and prevention services. We first met with the Director to discuss the mission of the program and then the members of our group either went to the clinic to see patients or went to meet with the counselor to discuss the counseling services and learn more about his role. I did the latter and learned form Daniel, the one counselor to approximately 450 clients who has a dual role in Kibera; he not only counsels, but also does all of the HIV testing. The clinic provides care to children but often the first entry into care is an adult parent who comes in for HIV testing who is then referred for follow up care to another clinic. Children get comprehensive care including ARVs (AIDS medication), treatment for secondary infections, much needed nutritional support and counseling. Nutritional support is extended to the family as is social support and counseling. Food is provided for a year during which time adult caregivers are supported as they begin to save small amounts of money that they would spend on food to put toward developing some kind of self sufficiency (micro credits). I was fascinated by the focus on prevention, social support groups, and the complexities of offering emotional support and once again by the breadth of the life saving work. When Lea Toto first began deaths were not uncommon; now they are rare occurrences.
Kibera is overwhelming. It is a maze of bumpy dirt roads and tiny dirty, muddy alleys strewn with garbage, dirty water and raw sewerage streaming between the alleys where the houses are attached to each other. The stench is strong. People live in tiny, dark, windowless, dirt houses with tin roofs and no ventilation. They have at most 2 rooms as large as an average bathroom in the USA. We did one home visit in Kibera with the community outreach worker and met a woman who takes care of multiple children including her 9 year old daughter with cerebral palsy who needs total care.
We went to 2 other Lea Toto sites today, Kariabongi and Dandora, both on the perimeter of Nairobi. The visit to Kariabongi was quite similar to Kibera in that we walked through a slum very much like Kibera. Here we did four home visits. In each case we were visiting families of HIV+ children who either had HIV+ mothers or were being cared for by a grandmother or adoptive mother. These were some of the most courageous and awe inspiring women given the adversity that they face every day and still manage to keep smiling, and express gratitude, generosity and grace. Each home had an adult caretaker and multiple children, up to 8 living in an extremely tiny space. We heard stories of many women fearful of being unable to pay their rent, often the equivalent of around $15 a month. We saw great poverty, but we also saw loving mothers who were keeping clean homes despite the filth around them and who were warmly welcoming and effusively thankful for our visits. All were caring for multiple children at least one of whom is HIV+. The home visit that affected me the most was going to see a home that had 2 caregivers—one was a grandmother and the other a 16 year old girl with a young child of her own. When we walked in, this young girl had an infant on her lap who appeared the size of a newborn. We learned however that this tiny baby was 3 months old and was an orphan who had been taken in by this 16 year old mother. The infant had been found abandoned on top of a garbage heap. This was the first time that I have faced something since I arrived here that truly overpowered me with sadness. I managed to choke out some kind words to the young mother about her generosity, but that image will never leave me.
We finished our time at Lea Toto on a more upbeat note at Dandora with a group of “Mamas” in the Vision Self Help Group. This is a group that was begun 7 years ago with the inspiration of Sister Little from the Nyumbani Children’s home to help a group of Lea Toto women develop skills and self sufficiency so that they would be able to earn some income to support their families. All of the women have HIV+ children in the Lea Toto program and most are HIV+ themselves. All were brought together to offer support to each other and were trained initially in bead making. They now sell their work and share the income and have tremendous sense of camaraderie. Many have gone on to train others in their skills, to be advocates for HIV awareness, and to become community leaders though all are still raising children of their own and many are also raising orphans. There is one widowed man who has also recently joined the group. The pride, warmth, and mutual respect are palpable when you are with them. They all shared their stories with us and expressed enormous gratitude for the opportunities which they have been given and as always we were welcomed with overflowing enthusiasm. We supported them by shopping heavily from their very fine jewelry, baskets, and other items.
All in all, our time in Lea Toto was eye-opening, heart breaking, gut wrenching, but also awe inspiring and hopeful for much more progress to be made and many more lives to be powerfully impacted in the face of HIV/AIDS.
*****PLEASE CHECK BACK TO MY PREVIOUS POST ON NYUMBANI VILLAGE – PHOTOS ARE NOW POSTED***
For the students: About your art!
Jordan Acres and Brooksville students, I want to tell you about what is happening with your art! I have completed one part of the art exchange. I brought all the prints, the “snake” books, and many of the drawings with me to Nyumbani Village when I was there over the last few days. The orphans there live in tiny, very simple, stone houses in groups of 10 with a grandmother. There houses have plain brick walls and no windows. They were very happy to have your art to hang on their walls.
Shosho looking at JA art hung in Nyumbani village home
I also brought your art to the school in the village and hung it on the walls in the classrooms. They are just starting to have art in school so their teacher was very excited that they will be able to learn from you and very impressed with the work you have done. All the children were very curious and interested in looking at what you sent for them. They did not have any supplies so the teacher and the students were really excited to have all the different kinds of supplies sent by you and donated by Blick Art Supplies. I worked with a group of students to make art work to bring back to you that will tell you about Kenya. They had never worked with paint, pastels, or watercolor pencils before and rarely get to use colored markers so they had a lot of fun and they did a really great job. Everyone told me again and again to thank you and tell you how much it meant to them that you had done this for them and what a special gift it was for them to receive your hand-made art with all the friendly greetings. I will try to insert some photos here later but now working on the computer with really slow internet in Kenya isn’t letting me do that. I’ll also have many awesome pictures to show you when I return.
Nyumbani Village orphans working on artwork to send to Maine
On Saturday I will be sharing the rest of the Jordan Acres artwork with the orphans at the Children’s Home and will be doing art projects with them. I will also share the Brooksville art with the AB group at the Children’s Home. That group is the same age as the Brooksville students and will really appreciate the work that you have done. What’s really great is that you have sent just the right amount of blanks books so that they will be able use them for their project.
I am really looking forward to doing this on Saturday. I’m sure that the kids in the Nyumbani orphanage will be just as grateful as the kids at the village for your art, your willingness to share and your caring. I will tell you more after Saturday and later I will tell you more about what life is like for the kids I have met in Kenya. It’s very different from life for kids in the U.S. and I think you would be really surprised and interested to hear about it.
Nyumbani Village: An oasis of good will and common cause
We returned from Nyumbani Village in Kitui last evening, but fatigue, slow internet access, but mostly time to process the experience so that I could even begin to do it justice, kept me from posting yesterday. I feel as though I should write a book after a three day experience there and even then it would be hard to put into words……
Kitui is almost 4 hours away from Karen and even the ride was interesting as we passed different areas through villages with markets, people herding their cattle on the side of the road, mountains with terraced gardens and saw giraffes and camels as we passed through the bush areas.
Typical roadside image
We were warmly (an understatement as is the case in all of Kenya) welcomed to the village and given an introduction and tour to start. We learned of a community dedicated to caring for about 450 AIDS orphans matched in groups of 10 with grandmothers or “shoshos” (susus? sp) who care for them in very small, simple (2 rooms, no power, very primitive “toilets”) stone houses that have been built from bricks made from the soil right there on the land. The houses are arranged in groups of 4 around a common water area and this is referred to as a cluster. The goal of this arrangement is to preserve the village life of the Kamba tribe as much as possible since most of the people come from this local tribe. All food preparation is done over an open fire outside. Contrary to my prior understanding all of the children are “double AIDS orphans” but most are not infected with the HIV virus. Many, however, were rescued from conditions in which they were not being cared for by any adult and were left to care for themselves in horrendous circumstances.
We learned that in addition to preserving the culture,that the Village is committed to sustainability in a way that is beyond anything I have ever seen (and I have been exposed to communities focused on sustainability before). They are doing organic farming, raising crops for biofuel, raising animals for milking, collecting human waste for fertilizer, (they use urine to kill termite hills and we all “contributed”), etc, etc. Literally nothing is wasted. Water is in very short supply, the rains are unreliable, but they have creatively addressed these problems. The sustainability projects are fascinating and many.
Signs at Nyumbani Village
The children go to school right in the village and are some of the most successful students in Kenya. They go to school at 6:30 AM and study until the teacher arrives at 8, have a full day of school and those who are beyond the equivalent of 5th grade return for preps, a self driven homework session in the evening at 6:30 until 8:30. Their school uniforms (required in all schools in Kenya) are made in their polytechnic program as is every piece of furniture in the village. There is a medical clinic and a counseling service and regular home visits are part of the routine assessment of children and how families (one “grandmother” caring for 10 children) are assessed.
Nyumbani Village orphans in the school yard
There’s so much more to say, but enough of the description… Our first evening, some of us did a home visit with one of the social workers. We received the most incredible welcome, first with 2 shoshos engaging us in dance and song and then the girls of the house were so excited to do a welcome performance for us—this was a traditional tribal dance and song done by 4 girls 6-11 and was wild and beautiful. They did not want us to leave and it was clear that they were all doing well, the house well maintained and there was much love and pride.
The following morning I spent doing home visits with the social worker and brought art from the Jordan Acres students. The grandmothers were so excited, welcoming, grateful…we taped the art on the walls where it adds much color to the sepia colored bricks. After visiting about 12 homes, we brought art to the schools where we showed it to the students and hung it on the walls there. The teachers were equally excited and the students were so curious and interested. Jordan Acres artists, your art now hangs in Kenya where students and others are really appreciating it. They have just begun to incorporate a creative arts program at the school so these and all the supplies were so appreciated.
Shoshos holding prints by Jordan Acres students
In the afternoon, I worked with students who are in the “Young Ambassadors Club” who were thrilled to be making art to go back to the US. They were focused on artistic posters that would tell American students about Kenya and they did a wonderful job. This is only some of the art I will be bringing back. After we finished I had the pleasure of joining a “drama” class in progress—really a high energy singing and dancing extravaganza that I captured on videotape.
On the following day we went to church, Kenyan style, an uplifting musical experience with a young priest, Father Julius, who has a sense of humor and totally engages the children who all leave school to attend in a huge migration of green uniforms from the school yard.
I then had the honor of meeting with Lilian, the counselor for all of Nyumbani Village who briefed me about four adolescent boys whom she wanted me to see. I assumed that she would be with me, but that was only true for the first boy since he didn’t speak English. So I saw him with her and then interviewed three others with my psychiatrist hat on taking into account the context of the culture and circumstances that she had shared with me. I have to say it was an amazing experience as all of these boys were very forthcoming and open with me and had incredible, tragic, heartbreaking, but in many ways resilient stories to tell. While I can’t give the details, one told me he wants to be a lawyer and an advocate as his future goal—I believe he will do that. Lilian and I then talked about interventions and I felt that I had been helpful; Lilian was effusively grateful telling me that I had made a huge difference in the lives of these four boys since they do not have access to psychiatric services and that I “must come back for a few weeks and get right to work.” She will keep me informed of their progress by e-mail and asked me “Did you ever imagine when you were training, that you would be having these clients in Kenya?”
Wandering through the village there were always happy friendly people, delightful children with broad smiles always delivering hugs with great exuberance. And the shoshos….they are hard to describe, they are the most enthusiastic women who break into dance on a moments notice, give you the special forceful but friendly three part Kamba handshake followed one of several greetings in the Kikamba language, and if you don’t have the appropriate response, they just keep laughing and greeting you until you remember which one applies! They are the hardest working women I have ever met raising 10 children in primitive conditions, tending gardens and on the side they all weave beautiful baskets which are sold for miniscule prices to help support their families. We all bought many of these.
Shosho making a basket
Elizabeth, shosho (grandmother) to Mercy, the beautiful child at the start of this post and me holding one of her baskets that I bought.
In fact, the village is filled with the hardest working people I have ever met, staff included. Staff and teachers live in the village and work incredible hours and all are devoted to the children of Nyumbani and take pride in the mission of the Village. The work itself is hard and long and it is also extremely hot, and since we lived in the village while there, I can say that the conditions are hard even with our luxury accommodations (stone toilets with no plumbing but at least we had seats, inside running water). Everything is hand washed for 10 children, all the meals are prepared over the outside fire, and children often wash their own clothes. We saw children of 5 or 6 gathering firewood. Clothing is worn and tattered, does not fit, children are without underwear (we brought lots as a donation) and shoes often don’t fit. Tom brought 20 pairs of running shoes, but those will be “communal shoes” shared for sporting events, no one child can own them. Life is very hard work and resources are scarce. There is, nonetheless, something very magical about the village, its spirit, the culture, the tradition, and the enormous sense of pride and community. I had anticipated I might feel some sadness being exposed to children who were AIDS orphans but, except for the individual interviews I did in the clinic, I felt none of that. I felt moved to tears on many occasions, but it wasn’t sadness, it was the recognition of this oasis of good will and common cause that is saving lives and that people are thriving because of it. They live simply, by our standards they live extremely sparsely, but they really celebrate life. There is much we can learn from the people of Nyumbani Village.
An amazing day….
I might say this again in days to come, but today was an amazing day in so many ways. The day began with Sunday morning mass, but this was church like I have never experienced before and you can’t possibly imagine. I am told that it is always as jubilant, and full of song and dance and spirit as today was, but today was also a special day for reasons I will describe below. The children, complete with drums and traditional African dance and music, filled the room with such beautiful harmonizing voices and rhythmic dance that everyone was clapping and moving in a way that brings me to tears once again as I write this post. From the youngest to the oldest children, all participate–if a child is young, then he or she is held and danced is the arms of an older child. The day was special because it was the birthday celebration in memory of Nyumbani’s founder Father D’Agostino….complete with birthday cake after the mass. There has also been a “summit meeting” here this week of the represnetatives of the Board from different countries who were thanked (as well as acknowledging the visitors form America). Because of this special occasion, the children also prepared entertainment after mass, also truly amazing. I did not take a still picture all day, only video on my flip video as no still pictures could capture the spirit of this.
That was one little video selection of many that I took; it will just give you a sense of one of the performances—I loved these boy dancers, they were such hams! I would love to show more on the blog, especially the beautiful singing and dancing in church, but that one took so long to upload and I can not edit any photos or videos here so I will have to wait until I get home to share more.
In the afternoon, we had the honor of attending another important event at Nyumbani Children’s Home. This was the second time in the history of the home that there was a “handing over ceremony.” This was a ceremony in which a 10 year old child, Diana, who has been at Nyumbani since a very young age and originally arrived seriously ill, was being handed over to her adoptive family, an aunt who had been located and taken her for longer and longer foster visits and was now officially adopting her. It was both a joyous and bittersweet occasion, one of a celebration of success, but also a tearful goodbye as everyone at Nyumbani, especially her cottage “mother” and Cottage C “siblings” were celebrating, but also singing a special goodbye song. It was handled beautifully with words of reassurance of visits and how they are and always will be bonded by great love in their hearts and will therefore always be together as a family “in the heart”
even if not together in person. I felt privileged to be witness to this wonderful expression of the bond between the children and the caregivers at Nyumbani and the mixture celebration and heartache that goes with the ultimate success of nurturing a child to health and then letting her go. The children of Cottage C were spoken to with such kindness and understanding about their feelings and Diana’s good fortune was celebrated amidst tears, song, joy….and more cake!
This was a day full of emotion as I participated, observed, sang, clapped, celebrated, sat with a child on my lap, or with many children clustered near me or holding my hand, many times overwhelmed with tears taking in the many stories and the incredible work of this place called Nyumbani that has truly saved the lives of all of these children that have been singing, dancing and are very much alive all around me.
Tomorrow we head to Nyumbani Village bright and early. That will be a very different experience, as the children there (and in Kibera) live quite differently than those at the Children’s Home. There will be much more to say, but no computer access (or running water or electricity…..) until we return to the Children’s Home on Wednesday. It is late here, almost midnight and time to get packing for our journey tomorrow.
Lynn Ouellette
Watoto Wote Wazuri 
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