In Kenya at last……..
So we are here at last! We have thus far spent an exciting and busy first day here at Nyumbani Children’s Home. After trying to catch up a little after missing a whole day’s sleep we awoke to the generous hospitality of the our Spurwing hosts, neighbors to the children’s home, and the largest breakfast I have ever seen. The day then began with spending the morning with the preschool kids at the orphanage, the St. Paul Miki School kids. There were 4 adults and 2o children and we were very busy! Although all of these children are HIV+ they are healthy an energetic. While the other adults did a craft project and played on the played on the playground , I did facepainting with all 20 of them. It was a little like working with jumping beans in a bowling alley. They were all adorable and loved having their faces painted!
The "lion"
We had lunch with the adolescent girls in their hostle and after lunch had a tour began a tour of the orphanage. Just prior to embarking on our tour we had the pleasure of meeting a woman who is actually the grandmother or “shosho” of one of the children who was brought to the Children’s Home originally for respite care and on the brink of death. She is now renourished and receiving treatment for HIV and is one of the few children here who has any known family. Her granmother walks for many miles every couple of weeks to visit her and supports herself and many of the other members of her village by selling her jewelry. It was an honor to meet her and to buy some of her jewelry which allowed her to buy transportation home.
Latia's Shosho and Sister Little at Nyumbani
During the tour we heard the story of the founding of the Children’s Home much of which I told in one of my earliest posts. We did get to tour the respite cottage where there were four young children getting respite care. All had come in from the Lea Toto Program in Kibera and are now doing very well after having been extremely malnourished.
One of the children in respite care
We met many of the children who were happy and lively and delighted to have visitors and loved to wlecome us, have their pictures taken, break inti spontaneous singing and dancing and introduce themselves with handshakes and often hugs.
Mark, hamming it up!
Well, it’s time to go sort food. There is so much more I could say but no more time for blogging!
Kwaheri!
AT LAST, we leave today………
So we leave today…….after months of preparation I can hardly believe it! This is my last post from the U.S. until we return. Needless to say I am very excited, hoping I have attended to every detail here, pretty tired from all the preparations, yet still buzzing with excited energy. There are a few questions that people have very frequently asked so I thought I would try to answer them here.
How long does it take to get to Kenya? We are flying from Boston to London and then London to Nairobi. The combined flying time is about 15 hours going over and 16 hours coming back with a 4 hour layover in London. Yes, that is a really long time!
Where will we be in Kenya? We will be in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi and the site of the Nyumbani Children’s Home; in Kitui, a town about 100 miles away from Nairobi and the site of Nyumbani village; and in Kibera, an enormous slum outside of Nairobi and the site of the Lea Toto outreach program If you would like to see what life is like in Kibera, please check out this YouTube video that was done by a volunteer from another program who spent time there and it will give you a sense.
The Masai Mara Game Preserve in southwest Kenya and Lake Nakuru will be the sites of our last 3 days in Kenya when we go on safari. If you would like to have a sense of what the safari will be like I have a found a good video on YouTube that got me pretty excited:
What will we be doing? The answer to this question is partly sprinkled throughout the blog, but I will recap some here. We are visiting all 3 sites of the Nyumbani Programs. We will do volunteer activities that have been organized for us, tour the medical clinic, go on home visits in the outreach program, mentor the counselor as I described in my previous post, do the art exchange project (I can’t wait to share the art from the Maine kids!) and organize art donations and ideas for future projects. Tom will do some running relays and other sporting activities particularly with the teenage boys. We will get more acquainted with the programs so we can learn: how we can raise awareness (and funds) for the program back at home, determine if we can facilitate addressing any of the medical needs, and figure out what comes next for us and our involvement with Nyumbani. And, of course, there is the safari for the last three days which includes a visit to a Masai village. Since I am also a photographer, the entire experience is an amazing photo opportunity and I will be taking a lot of pictures.
Because of the breadth of what I will be exposed to in Kenya, all of which I only know second-hand now, I imagine that it will be an experience filled with awe, sadness, joy, amazement, heartache, and profoundly intense emotion, some of which I will make an attempt to share.
Baadaye marafiki! (See you later my friends!) I will write next from Kenya.
Jordan Acres artists send colorful “Jambo’s” to Kenyan orphans!
"Jambo!" Beautiful prints by JA artists
I received the art work from the Jordan Acres and I looked at it briefly a few days ago when I first got it and was thrilled with what I saw. Today I spent more time looking at every piece and all I can say is “WOW!!” All of you at Jordan Acres did an amazing job on the art work to send to the orphans in Kenya! And all the art work was organized in beautiful little books or packages tied with ribbons.
JA students art work
And what a nice surprise to get a whole box of donated art supplies. I was also touched to find tucked away in the box a group of yarn dolls made by Mia Denison–thanks for making that extra effort, Mia! There are some children who I will be visiting outside of the orphanage who are very poor and I will be very happy to take those with me as a special gift on my visits to see those children.
JA donated supplies and the little yarn dolls
I was also very surprised and impressed to see how many of the artists had learned some Swahili words. I know I had put a few in my earlier post telling you about Africa and Kenya, but there were so many more things that you learned how to say that I ever imagined I would see on your art. Just like the kids in Brooksville who are sending friendly greetings, the JA art is full of these, too.
Wow!
There are so many things I could say about this art work: It’s so colorful, there’s a wonderful mixture of different kinds of art (paintings, drawings, prints), there are books put together in really creative ways and fun ways (examples below). I love the little books that make long colorful snakes and the one that has all the faces with little mouths that open saying “Jambo.” I wish that I could include everyone’s work on the blog, but of course that’s not possible since there are so many different pieces. I have created a little gallery below with some examples from every kind of art and every group of students. I am sure that the children in Kenya will get the message reflected in the student’s art below:
Thank you JA artists and Mrs. McCormack!!
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- “Jambo!” Beautiful prints by JA artists
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- JA students art work
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- JA donated supplies and the little yarn dolls
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- Wow!
Brooksville student artists share Maine life with Nyumbani orphans
Last Friday evening I got to spend time with Bec Poole, my artist friend and also the art teacher at Brooksville Elementary School, and had the pleasure of getting the art projects that the 7th and 8th graders have made for the children of Nyumbani in Kenya. I have to say that I am thrilled with what I received! The art work is a series of fold out books with slip covers, all of which tell the story of the student artist and his or her life in Brooksville. I love that they show snow, lobsters, moose, the seasons and tell a story of living in Maine that will be shared with kids in Kenya who have no experience of these things. I also love that they are rich with friendly and warm greetings and clearly reach across the world with those feelings. An added bonus was the little blank fold out books and covers that were included and that I hopefully will be able to use with the same age kids in Kenya to bring back to Brooksville with greetings in the other direction from across the world.
Thank you to all the artists and to Bec Poole for creating the art and bringing this all together!!
PLEASE CLICK ON EACH PHOTO SO THAT YOU CAN SEE THE DETAILS OF THE ART WORK
Sneak Preview: Thank You Jordan Acres Artists!
"Jambo Jina langu ni Holly. " Hello My name is Holly.
I’m so excited to have received some scanned examples of art that the students at Jordan Acres had made for me to take to Kenya. Mrs McCormack e-mailed me some scans that she had made of a few of their pieces and they are terrific! I will be meeting with her next week to get the actual art work but couldn’t wait to share some of what I have gotten to see already. What is particularly exciting to me is that I can tell that the students have learned something about Kenya and were really speaking to the kids in Kenya when they were creating their work. I loved seeing the Swahili words! I’m really excited to all of the actual pieces next Friday. But here are some examples for everyone to enjoy!
THANK YOU JORDAN ACRES ARTISTS!!
"Twiga's" Giraffes
Beautiful Sunrise
"Jambo!!!" Hello!!!
What a beautiful giraffe!
A new year, a new decade, a not so new idea.
It’s a new year .….and a new decade that has begun, a time for resolutions, recollections, reflections, resolve, or at least hopefully noting something about one’s life and moving into the future. My own personal resolutions which have never really been chosen by me around the coming of the New Year, but rather more created for me by life experience, those of gratitude and giving back, will hopefully be ones I will continue to stay strong and healthy enough to keep for decades to come. I am very excited to be starting this new decade with the trip to Kenya to volunteer in the Nyumbani programs and to begin this relationship with helping the AIDS orphans. It’s less than 4 weeks away and we just got our visas so it’s feeling very real! We are very lucky that we have the means to do this. But we are also lucky to have many people who are supporting us in various ways by donations to the Nyumbani programs, offers to be available to our one son who is at home (the other two kids will be at college), checking in on our house, covering my practice, etc. There is a whole network of support and interest that I never imagined we would have and both Tom and I have continued to remark on this on a regular basis.
In just planning this trip, I have already learned so much. One thing I have learned that there are a lot of kind people who are willing to be generous when the need becomes real. I actually learned this in a very personal and very touching way when I had breast cancer, so what I mean here is different. It’s that if you present a cause, like AIDS orphans , and make it real by talking about real people’s stories, and share your own enthusiasm, you don’t need to even ask people to help, they just offer. And, in the process of joining in helping, people get connected to each other in powerful ways. I have had many enlivened and touching conversations with people wanting to help, to give donations, wanting to know more about AIDS orphans. Bec Poole, the art teacher from Brooksville whose students are participating in the art exchange just wrote to me, “You can’t believe how much you have impacted our school. Everyone is talking about the project. I think the music teacher is going to do her spring concert with a theme on Kenya……… ” Well, I can’t take credit for that, I’ve never been to the school, I simply introduced the idea of the art exchange in a series of e-mail exchanges and sent along a CD about Nyumbani and the AIDS orphans in Kenya to make it real, and then she shared her enthusiam and they ran with it. She also wanted to make sure that I understood how important it was for her students that I figure out another project that they could do to stay involved and give to the kids in the orphanage. That’s an example of what happens and it’s wonderful. I just read an article in a medical journal about how volunteering keeps elderly minds sharp as shown by increased brain activity measured in certain regions on MRI’s, etc. I think people just feel more alive when they are sharing in some common cause and giving of themselves; it seems like giving, and the way it connects you with other people, is just fundamentally good for you, no matter how you measure it, no MRI’s required. This really isn’t a new idea at all, just one that’s easy to lose sight of in this busy day and age, but one that is really worth revisiting.
“The Hats” and other donations…
I haven’t posted for awhile since the busyness of the holidays took my attention and then on Christmas day I was ambushed by our golden retriever’s tail and took a nasty spill that injured me in a way that still keeps me from being able to sit down, which does not lend itself easily to computer work. This, of course, I am sure hoping will heal a lot before 15 hours of flying to Kenya. In the meantime, I have had a number of ideas for posts that I have wanted to write including an update on donations. I received a package from Blick Art Supplies as promised in response to my proposal for a donation for the art exchange project. I was delighted to get more than enough watercolors, paper and markers to complete the project in Kenya. Thank you! I know from communication with the 2 Maine art teachers that additional donations along with some from my own supplies will enable me to leave a stocked art supply closet in the orphanage. In response to inquiries about what I wanted for Christmas, I had discouraged some people from getting me presents, but rather asked that they get donations for Nyumbani. It’s impossible to completely discourage people like mothers and mothers-in-law from buying you Christmas presents, but they also bought items to donate in addition to gifts. There are preschool children at the orphanage who I wanted to include in doing some art but won’t be participarting in the actual art exchange (and with whom I will be doing some facepainting though I hear they move pretty quickly) who now have lots of crayons and colorbooks thanks to my mother. And, thanks to my mother in law, they have new clothing including some hand knit items. Speaking of hand knit items, someone recently said to me that I need to include a photo of all the handknit “chemo” hats that I referred to in an earlier post. I had intended to do that, but it was hard to fit them all in one photograph so instead I have included a video. Thank you to all my knitters: Jean, Lisa, Anne, Laurie, Katie, and more.
It’s exciting to see this accumulating collection of donations and I don’t even have the student art yet, though from what I have heard that will be very special to receive and will definitely be cause to get out the video again.
The Art Exchange: Update and THANK YOU Maine Schools
I have received e-mails from both of the art teachers involved with student art exchange updating me on how the work is coming. Sharon McCormack wrote and told me that the art would be done by the end of the week and that there is a “whole variety of art that is being offered up to you” She described a variety of wonderful projects that the students have worked on and will be finished, organized and packed away for me the end of the week. I won’t do any descriptions until I get to see them myself (like to keep it a surprise) and I will post some examples on the blog. She will be scanning some of the art work to post on her own Jordan acres website and will be sending the files to as well. She added that she was mindful of keeping the projects light so as keep room to also pack some additional supplies such as watercolor pencils and other things that I can bring. I will be happy to bring the art which I can’t wait to see, but also look forward to being able to stock an “art closet” between my donated supplies from Blick Art and the ones that Jordan Acres students have packed for me.
I also heard from Bec Poole at Brookesville Elementary School this week. In addition to describing to me the art her 7th and 8th grade students have been working on, which sounds incredible, she also described the enormous impact that viewing a DVD about Nyumbani , AIDS orphans and the conditions in the Kibera slum has had upon them. She wrote “The whole school is excited about this project”. She also asked that I keep in mind when I am in Kenya what other ways they might be involved in supporting the orphanage because that has become very important to them, with her own comment “Isn’t this exciting!” That it is! If there were anything that I could have hoped for in imagining an art exchange like this, it was that young people here would be affected by this and would develop a connection to what’s happening to kids across the world. I hoped it might happen when I returned with art and photos and video from the orphans in Kenya. I didn’t expect it would happen so soon. What a gift! I will surely find a way to keep this wonderful bond growing.
Thank you Maine students; you have already exceeded my hopes and expectations. I can’t wait to see your art work and especially I can’t wait to share it and the good will that goes with it in Kenya.
Gratitude revisited and passion discovered….a reflection
I haven’t posted for awhile since a bout with some rib pain threw me entirely off course and into a state of true fear about a cancer recurrence. Everything is fine and I only bring that up here because it caused me to reflect on many things including this trip. I realize now that in the midst of all of that worry and more—that this trip still stayed near the forefront of my mind. That in my fear as I worried about many things including the possibility of needing a course of radiation therapy (which I don’t , since I’m fine) that I was counting down how I could potentially finish that in time to still go to Kenya. And now that I’m breathing an indescribably huge sigh of relief and once again trying to get back on track, I have a truly renewed vigor for my perspective of gratitude which I feel every day. This has also made me realize how important this trip has become to me—the real reason for this reflection. I guess adversity, like my recent scare, does teach us, remind us of important things, and give us cause to reflect.
When I first started considering this trip I had a desire to do something for AIDS orphans, which I had had for many years, and I had always dreamed of visiting Africa. At first I thought that, despite this desire, the demands of the work I do at home might keep me from having enough time and energy to go and really devote myself in the way that I thought this trip deserved. Then I began to learn more about AIDS Orphans, I met with Lloydie Zaiser and experienced her infectious enthusiasm for the work at Nyumbani and viewed a powerful video about the experience of AIDS orphans that moved me to tears…. and I was on my way. Since then my awareness of the unimaginable breadth of this problem has grown and my heart has been weighted by the problem at the same time that I have been inspired by people who have devoted their whole lives to this cause. I have had to tell myself that even though the problem is so enormous and that doing anything that I could do seems inconsequential, that just doing something is a start, so as not to be overwhelmed by it. I have also learned more about AIDS, about the politics of prevention and obtaining the best drugs, about African culture, learned a little Swahili and looked at countless moving pictures and read countless stories of children who have been orphaned by AIDS or have HIV/AIDS. Many of the stories are tragic, sad, heroic, triumphant…. All of this has connected me to this country where I’ve never been, to children I have never met, to a culture I have never experienced and a desire has grown into a passion. So for the brief time when I thought that the reality of this trip might be threatened, I realized that I was going to go unless it was impossible, that I had made a commitment and was going, period. So I am reflecting on this now realizing that the process of learning more has truly bred caring more deeply and the secondary goal of wanting to tell others more about the AIDS epidemic and the plight of AIDS orphans has become much more of a determination. It’s a reminder that what you invest in and spend time getting to know better becomes what you care more about. And in this process, Africa no longer seems like some distant faraway place and the largeness of the world has somehow definitely become a little smaller for me.
For the Students: About Africa and Kenya
So that you will know a little bit more about where we will be traveling to do this volunteer work for AIDS orphans, 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. At the end of our trip, we will have the opportunity to visit a Maasai village. The Kikuyu are the largest tribe in Kenya and live in the area around Mount Kenya, the 2nd highest mountain in Africa.
Maasai in a famous leaping ritual
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.
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:
"Punda milia" zebras
"Tembo" elephants
"Simba" lion
"Twiga" giraffes
"Rhino" rhinocerous
The Maasai Mara is a national reserve that we will visit at the end of our trip and will go on safari. Between July and September each year, it is famous for being the site of the Great Wildebeest Migration. This involves about 2 million wildebeest, a half a million zebras , thousands of gazelles who migrate north from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to find new grazing land. They are followed by lions, leopards, hyenas and more, with the challenge being to cross the Mara River at the time of the highest water (full flood). I would love to return to Kenya during this time someday so that I could actually see this amazing spectacle (from an airplane!)
Beautiful Kenya countryside
All of the animal photos, the Maasai photo, and this one are from the KEST website and were taken by other people who went on similar service trips as the one we are taking and who also went on a safari and the end of their trip.
Art, Hats, Shirts and More
When we go to Kenya, we will each be bringing at least one 50 lb suitcase (aka “duffle”) full of donations—we are each allowed to bring two 50 lb suitcases with our airfare , so I suspect that we will be putting plenty of donated items in our other large suitcases as well.
Today I learned that Blick Art Materials (www.dickblick.com) approved my request for donations for the Kenyan Orphan Art Project/Maine Art Exchange! I am very grateful to Jen McCutcheon who presented my proposal and to the company for their generosity and willingness to donate the materials. So, my suitcase will also have art supplies and, of course, the art from the Maine students.
I am delighted to be “paying it forward” with many absolutely beautiful hand knit hats that were made for me when I was having chemotherapy. I almost hate to part with some of them because they are so lovely and were made with such care, but I also hope to never need them again. And in Kenya, despite what would seem like a warm climate to us, hats are worn often during the “colder” days. Since they were made for my small, then hairless head, they are perfect for children and it feels wonderful to pass them on where I know that every single one will be fully appreciated.
Tom has a rather large collection of running T-shirts from running or working at races over the years. He hopes to share these as part of his running project and is working on getting some running shoes as well. He has ideas and room for other things………
We have been thrilled that so many people who have talked with us about this trip have asked about donations. If you would like to donate, there are lists of needed items on the KEST website. There are many of the most basic things that are needed. Some are things that may just be “hanging around” our houses and no longer being used. A few are things that need to purchased, but are relatively inexpensive. The links to the lists are below:
http://www.k-e-s-t.com/pretrip/LT.pdf
http://www.k-e-s-t.com/pretrip/index3.html
Though we would love to fill many, many suitcases, we are somewhat limited with space and will have a challenge if everyone chooses the bulkiest and heaviest items. But…..we’ll figure it out. We won’t turn away any donations.
I will also surely find a way to create some art for sale (maybe cards from scans of the childrens’ artwork, next year’s photo calendar, photographs, not sure yet) ……. with proceeds going to Nyumbani. So there will be an opportunity there as well.
And finally, I wasn’t sure I would say this because it seems uncomfortably awkward to me, but then I thought I should tolerate that because this is about these kids and their tremendous need and not what makes me comfortable. So we are not asking for this as donations are usually brought in material form, but if anyone feels compelled to make a monetary donation to Nyumbani ( www.nyambani.org ) we won’t discourage that….. and it would be very easy to carry.
For The Students: World AIDs Day
Today (December 1st) is World AIDS day which is a day to stop and think about people who have the AIDS disease here and all over the world. AIDS is a disease that is caused by a virus called HIV, like chicken pox or the flu, but there is no vaccination and it is much more serious and eventually deadly if it is not treated. AIDs is passed from person to person by only very special close contact or by a mother who is infected passing it to her baby when she is pregnant or nursing. It can’t be passed by hugging or sneezing or coughing, so it can’t be prevented by good handwashing or the things you think about for not passing illnesses. We do know a lot about how to prevent and treat AIDS with medicines, but the ways of doing this are not available in the poorer parts of the world where most people who get AIDS end up dying. That is why there are so many orphans in Africa that need our help. The symbol for World AIDS day is the red ribbon so you may see them worn today and President Obama will have a huge one hanging on the front of the White House.
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day was first established by the World Health Organization in 1988 and takes place annually on December 1st. I decided at some point that I would post an entry that would be educational about AIDS, especially the impact on children in Sub Saharan Africa and decided posting it today would be particularly fitting. The symbol for World AIDS day is the red ribbon, a large one of which hangs on the White House in Washington today. This day is a time for governments, organizations, and communities to come together and reevaluate and recommit to the needs of people with AIDs worldwide. The United States has a program, PEPFAR, the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief launched in 2003, the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative — a comprehensive approach to combating HIV/AIDS around the world. UNAIDS is a joint United Nations program to address the AIDS epidemic. Despite this and many other programs, the AIDS epidemic has continued to grow and millions have died.
Since the AIDS epidemic first began in 1981, over 25 million people have died of AIDS. Today over 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS and 2/3 of those people live in Sub Saharan Africa. AIDS, a disease that weakens the body’s immune system, is caused by HIV, a virus that can be transmitted sexually, through blood products, in utero and through breast milk. Although there are certain high risk groups, the overwhelming majority of transmission of the virus is through heterosexual contact. There is no cure for AIDS and unlike many other viruses, there is no vaccine for HIV. There is much known about how to prevent and treat AIDS. Averting sexual transmission involves encouraging safer sexual behavior including delayed first sex, partner reduction and condom use. The spread of HIV through drug injections can be slowed by outreach work, needle exchange and drug substitution treatment. Mother-to-child transmission can be almost eliminated through use of medication and avoidance of breastfeeding through the substitution of formula. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVS) for people who have the HIV virus can help them to stay healthy and live productively for many years. However, only a very small minority of people have access to the necessary education, prevention tools and the necessary treatment.
In 2007, 1 in 7 of the 2.9 million people who died of AIDS was a child. About 95% of the 13 million children who have been orphaned because of AIDS live in Africa. By 2010 it is expected that one third of all African children will be orphaned. As you can see, this set of facts of figures is staggering. But the numbers only begin to convey the magnitude of the problem by identifying who has died or is orphaned, without really conveying the scale of the individual suffering of child who has been orphaned because of AIDs.
Prior to becoming orphaned a child has been living with an increasingly ill parent and often has been caring for that parent. They have begun to suffer neglect and had to take over adult responsibilities like caring for siblings and contributing financially to the household. Many have had to drop out of school. They may continue to live with the surviving parent, but often that parent eventually becomes ill and dies as well. At the time of dealing with their grief over losing their parents they are also left without anyone to care for their basic needs and are burdened with the shame of the stigma that comes with having AIDS in the family.
You can see the video update on AIDS by Keven DeCock, The CDC Director for AIDS in Kenya on CNN News here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/25/impact.kevin.decock.cnn
Or learn more about HIV and AIDS in Africa here: http://www.avert.org/aids-hiv-africa.htm
Why the Art Exchange Project?
When we first talked with Lloydie, our trip leader, about volunteering in Kenya, Tom and I both talked with her about what kind of volunteer activities we could do. There were outlined volunteer activities of different kinds on the itinerary, but somehow that didn’t seem personal enough or enough at all (as if anything ever could be enough.) It wasn’t until we had our 1 hour turned into 5 hour magnificent meeting at our home with her that I really “got it” that a big part of the “volunteering” was just being there and giving the children love in all the possible ways that one can do that.
Being and artist and psychiatrist, I thought of doing art with the children because I know that being freely creative is not something that they have the opportunity to do in school and also bcause I know that these children have all been tremendously traumatized. They have witnessed their parents die of AIDS; many have participated in caring for them. Having AIDS in Africa also has a tremendous stigma so many have had that burden to carry as well. They are in the orphanage because they have no adult family members to care for them. Some may have lost siblings. Before coming to the orphanage, some were rescued from horrendous impoverished conditions. Death and loss have been an integral part of their young lives. So as I thought about this trauma, I thought that art could be a free, uninhibited expression for them, without boundaries and which required no words. In that way, I thought it might be good for them.
Pictures drawn by children caring for parents with AIDS, photo used with permission from the Young Carers Project of South Africa http://www.youngcarers.netau.net/
Then I thought more about it, and looked to the example of the other kinds of art exchanges that had been done by the artists in my women’s art group, I thought that this might create an opportunity to fulfill another goal that I have for this trip—educating people here about AIDs orphans and the situation in Africa. We all live such privileged lives by comparison and my hope in sharing this work, the reason for writing this blog, is that others will become more aware of these circumstances. In particular, my hope is that children here might have a heightened awareness of a world that is much less fortunate than their own and an exposure to the concept of being “global citizens.” I began to think about the “art exchange” as a way to accomplish this in the broader sense as well as a way to simply foster a connection between two really different groups of kids who could communicate through art and really appreciate each other in that way. That’s how the art exchange project was conceived. I’m lucky that the two art teachers working with me had only enthusiasm about getting involved, offered to do more than I was asking for with participation, and that they were like minded in seeing this as an opportunity for their students to learn and grow.
Finally, I also feel that whenever I undertake any artistic endeavor that there is a connection to the support, inspiration, and something that is magically indescribable that has grown from my women’s art group. They will know what I mean and I will carry that with me to Kenya for this project. Thank you Jill, Laurie, Jen, Anita, Cheryle, Annie, Katrina, Cynthia, Blair and Bec.
The Maine Kenyan Children’s Art Exchange
I am very grateful to 2 Maine art teachers and their students who will be helping me with a special project while I will be in Kenya. They are Mrs. Sharon McCormack and her students at Jordan Acres Elementary School in Brunswick, Maine http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/jas/Index.html and Ms. Bec Pool and her 7th and 8th grade students and the Brookesville Elementary School http://www.brooksville.u93.k12.me.us/ in Brooksville, Maine. They will be working on art projects and gathering donations for me to bring to Kenya to share with the children at the Nyumbani Childrens Home, where I will in turn work on art projects with the Nyumbani orphans to bring back to Maine to share with the students here. I want the students in Maine to know that the children at the orphange will be extremely grateful and excited know that this artwork has been made especially for them and has come all the way from the other side of the world. They will also be really happy to have a chance to work on art projects because thay do not have any art or music as part of what they do in school. In addition, they do not have any art supplies and art really isn’t a part of their lives in any regular way so this will be a wonderful opportunity for them. For this reason I will bringing all the supplies for the art projects and hopefully stocking their closet with supplies that they will continue to be able to use. Since I am also a photographer, I will have the pleasure of photographing the project as it’s happening in Kenya and will be able to share that with the students here in Maine when I return and as part of this blog. So thank you, thank you Maine teachers and student artists!
I hope that I will be able to blog other things about the trip especially for the Maine students and will begin those blog entries with “FOR THE STUDENTS….” so that you will know that those entries are written especially and appropriately for you. I think that this will be a wonderful learning and sharing experience for everyone involved and that you should feel proud that you are making a difference in the lives of children who are much less fortunate.
Something personal about why I am taking this trip…….
I am writing this entry on Thanksgiving day because, though I had planned to write this, it seems most appropriate to do so today. I have so far assumed that most people reading this blog will know us, but that’s not true since I will have some generous teachers and students from Maine helping me with with the art project that I will explain more about later, and other people have expressed an interest in making donations, so I should make introductions. “We” are Lynn and Tom, both physicians in Maine in entirely different fields of medicine. Tom is in oncology and hospice and palliative medicine and I (Lynn) am a psychiatrist and am also an artist. I feel that I have been waiting to do this kind of volunteer work for a decade, but not until the time was right for our family. We are extremely lucky to have three healthy children and although I had breast cancer almost 2 years ago, I am in remission now (and expected to remain that way), so Tom and I are both healthy too. I have always been aware that we live an extremely fortunate life. For all of the things that we make take issue with about our country, and if you work in health care that often begins a litany of concerns, we are lucky to have been born here in a safe place where for most of us its not a challenge to eat, stay safe and survive every day. This is the reason why I can never get through a single rendition of the Star Spangled Banner without getting choked up, it’s not patriotism, it’s gratitude. Also, the experience of having breast cancer had the impact of further heightening my awareness of just how fortunate I am and reminded me to try not to take for granted the things for which I am grateful. I realize it doesn’t work this way for everyone, but for me, what comes with that sense of gratitude is also a sense of responsibility for giving back. And although I do that here at home in various ways, that hasn’t felt like enough. I have a tremendously soft spot in my heart for children who can not make sense out of a world that doesn’t provide for them, care for them, or mistreats them. Though it isn’t any fairer for adults, they have more capacity to attempt to make sense of misfortune, tragic circumstances or an unfair world; children, like the orphans of AIDS, have no such capacity and that seems even more profoundly sad to me. For the huge number of a whole generation of adults in Africa who have lost their lives to AIDS, the only way to help them now is to care for their children. Because of my own experience with cancer, I can’t imagine that the worry about what their children would experience wasn’t a huge, maybe the worst, part of their suffering. There are so many children, so many AIDS orphans who need help that it is overwhelming. So it’s from this position of feeling very incredibly fortunate for all that I have, that I feel responsible for giving back in a place where the need is the greatest and the giving may be the most challenging. It doesn’t even really feel like a choice…..it feels more like something I need to do. And to volunteer with AIDS orphans feels right for me.
“And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood
and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity another possibility.
And I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular,
and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, tending as all music does, toward silence,
and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth.
When it’s all over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
From “When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver
About Nyumbani
Children at the Nyumbani Children's Home with its founder
The Nyumbani Children’s Home was founded in 1992 by Father D’Agostino, a Jesuit priest and physician, in response to the need of the increasing numbers of abandoned and orphaned HIV+ children. Today the orphanage at Nyumbani, located outside of Nairobi, is home to 110 HIV+ orphans who receive medical care, psychological services, and attend public school until they can become independent adults.
The Kibera slum
Nyumbani launched the Lea Toto Program (Swahili for “to raise a child”) in 1998. It is an outreach progam to HIV+ children providing home based care to them so that they could access medical care, psychological support and even basic needs such as food and safe drinking water. This program provides services to children and their families in the most impoverished areas of Kenya including the Kibera slum outside of Nairobi where over one million people live in an area smaller than the size of New York City. It is the largest slum in Africa and the second largest slum in the world.
Satellite view of Kibera slum
There are many videos like this one posted on u.tube about Kibera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9crGUNUP22I. It’s hard to imagine without seeing some video footage and I imagine it will be overwhelming to be there in person.
Nyumbani Village in Katui
Nyumbani Village was built on 1000 acres of property given to the program by the government. The village was established to address the needs not only of orphans but also of the elderly who in the past have relied on thier children to be available as part of their extended family but have been left without them as the middle generation has succombed to AIDS. At the village, grandmothers, or shoshos, live in cottages with 10 children and create new blended families that foster healing, hope and opportunity while the HIV+ children receive ongoing medical care, psychological support and attend school. The grandmothers also receive support and care in this extended family environment and community setting. In addition the village operates a sustainability program with solar energy, farming, and other resources.
During our trip we will be volunteering at each of the Nyumbani sites.
Planning the trip
- Lloydie and the children from the Nyumbani orphanage
We leave for our trip to Kenya on January 28th and have much to do to get ready. We have been deeply inspired by Lloydie Zaiser who is incredibly devoted and energetic in her dedication to the children of Nyumbani. We are also grateful for all her work in organizing our trip and creating a meaningful itinerary (www.k-e-s-t.com ). Please click on “Nyumbani poem” above to hear the voice of one nyumbani orphan.
We have also been inspired by Stanley Waringo, our Bowdoin college host family student from Kenyan, whom we enjoyed having as part of our family for four years and beyond. Stanley rode the bike treks across the country in support of Nyumbani and first introduced us to the organization.
Lloydie has done an amazing job creating an itinerary which has integrated us into the Nyumbani programs and winds down the emotional intensity (if one could even say use the phrase wind down about any part of this trip) by setting up a safari and a visit to a Massai village on the last few days. Although the volunteer activities are built in and we will travel with a large load of doanted items, my husband and I wanted to each do a special project that would give something to the children that would reflect sharing something personal. Since my husband is a runner he will do a running clinic with the adolscent boys and hand over some of the hundreds of running T shirts that he has collected over the years. Since I am an artist and photographer, I will share an art project and record it photographically with the help of some special and generous participants from Maine……more about that later. Though we are both physicians and will be learning about the medical facilities and I, as a psychiatrist, will spend time with the social worker, our special projects, by design, will not involve medicine…… this time.
All the Beautiful Children
Our reason for making this trip
Watoto Wote wazuri is how you say “all the beautiful children” in Swahili. This photo is from the Nyumbani website, www.nyumbani.org , where you can go to see the programs that Nyumbani has for HIV+ children in Kenya and the sites where we will be volunteering.
There are over 15 million children who live in sub Saharan Africa who have been orphaned because their parents have died of AIDS and over 2 million children have HIV/AIDs. Over one and a half million AIDS orphans live in Kenya. It is estimated that by 2010 one third of all the children in Africa will be orphaned due to the AIDS epidemic.
“You must be the change that you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Ghandi
Lynn Ouellette
Watoto Wote Wazuri 
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