Couple pics

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LEAVING (Las Vegas) NAIROBI

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Here pictured below is my little home away from home in the Village of Kitui. Ignore the dirty laundry drying above my rack. The mosquito net protects me from malaria, but better yet, keeps other creepy crawlers from my blankets. I have a little tupperware thing that holds my cell phone, my glasses, my flashlight at night. I get secured in for the night and have everything I need - everything but a glass of merlot and a slice of pizza! The bed is actually three bunks high but the top bunk is almost against the tin roof and one would roast up there. For now - I have my own room!


Things are set to go at 8:00 a.m. A driver and truck should be here - so this may be the last entry for a while. Yesterday was another great day. We traveled to YaYa to meet with an administrator from VSO (Volunteer Service Overseas). This organization was instrumental in moving the whole area of Youth Polytechnics. They were very helpful in giving us further contacts and written publications. We also met earlier in the day with a man who has done research and development on Micro-credits (giving small loans to businesses and start-ups. All is necessary for the Village on the path to full sustainability. The rest of the day and evening was spent emailing, making contacts, packing. So - until mid December sometime - this is probably adios, ciao, endinosayo, peace-out!

Benard

Benard and some oxen

Monday

I was to be gone for about a week - some R&R here in Karen. Things never play out as you expect in Africa. Like I have written, everything takes longer, goes a different direction, is more complicated than it should be. So, instead of leaving to return to the Village last Friday or Saturday - maybe we will go Monday night or Tuesday morning. One is forced to learn patience here. If you don't - you will drive yourself crazy, being upset, delayed, frustrated that things don't go as you hoped or planned. Whatever I have (had) to do in the Village is now on hold. The classes I was teaching, may or may not be going on for a week, week and a half. People are accustomed to that. Pascal, a young man working here, has been enrolled in a computer class in Nairobi. It is involved - the transport there. It takes forever by Matatu and at rush hour after his work here at the Children's Home. It was postponed a couple of times - each time he would go and no professor. Once he went and sat for an hour with others before getting word that the teacher had something else going. The point is - be flexible. Tomorrow is another day - much like today. TIA. I have gotten far on my book - Dark Star Safari. That is good. I got all my clothes washed, and my sheets to go back to the Village. Nothing ever really seems clean after I wash things there in a bucket, with cold water. So it is a treat to go back with clean stuff, and noodles, peanut butter, cookies! I also printed out some pictures for the boys I tutor. I shouldn't have, since it will cause a stir and a new series of requests next time I come to Nairobi - but - what the heck.

"God, come back - we shall have a goat!"

I like it when thoughts, things, people come together. For about three weeks I have been thinking about my life and my life with God. After all, that is the purpose of this journey, eh? I have been thinking about my need to "get small". I have thought, and even shared it with John, a young volunteer at the Village, that I wanted to "get small" because I believe the only way to see God is to get small. The big, the powerful, the inflated, are not able to see God, because God is not big. Yes, I know God is awesome, so vast, whatever, but the Jesus I know, the God I know is small, quiet, unassuming. In order to see God, I think you have to be small, and go where God lives - among the small. And so there was the reading at mass about Zachias (sp?) - the short one, the small one. It was he whose home Jesus wants to visit, he who Jesus calls down from the tree. And so I try to get small and live among the "little poor ones". I wrote about George, the Kenyan in the Village, who has been so kind to me (to all of us). He calls me on the phone and wonders when I will return, when I will come back to the Village. I change George's words to mine and say "God, God, when will you come to the Village. Get on a plane and come back to the Village God. It is not the same when you are not here. Come back to the Village and we will have a goat, God, God." But I know that God resides there already, waiting for me to return - if I can get small enough to see Him among the small and vulnerable. Ah - - God lives there in them, with them. I can't wait to return.

Sunday Liturgy

<<< style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">looking for good water. Had a great mass today. We prayed for all those who have died and the kids easily voiced the many they knew from the Children's Home who have passed away. We prayed for their parents, grandparents, relatives of staff and volunteers. It was very moving and meaningful to me to be able to add my dad and relatives, John and others to the written list made during the mass.

After mass Sr. Mary talked with me and we ended up going out to lunch. Maria and I talked with her about all of our meetings and experiences and by the time lunch was over, we had two additional meetings set up with key people who can help us work with the issue of sustainability in the Village. It will all work out and what I am learning about governments, NGOs and non-profits is invaluable. More to come! The meetings are tomorrow so we may not go to the Village until Tuesday morning. Traveling Monday night (or any night) would not be ideal.

DST

It was great, as always to get email from my family, Chris, Richard, Mickie and friends back home. Richard is giving a retreat in the states and a Baptist couple flew from Kenya to attend. I am looking forward to meeting them sometime during my stay in Africa. Everyone else is doing well back home, including my mom and the kids. I'll contact them as always today (Sunday afternoon) before football starts.

Things are waking up slowly here in Nairobi. We worked last night and I continue to read each night - which will suprise many know know I don't read much. Today there is mass at the Childrens Home and maybe a trip downtown or to the Masai Market, not far from here in Karen, The kids wake up at 5 minutes til 5AM on school days, a llittle later on the weekends. Morning medications need to be given at 6AM and the kids need to eat something before that. This is followed by chores, sweeping, getting clothes ready for school etc. There will be time to dance and play after the 10:00 mass.

So - back home you all get an extra hour for Daylight Savings Time. I always loved that - maybe not so much in the spring! But it makes you wonder what could be done if we were given only one additional hour to live - who would I call? Who would I email? Who would I hug and tell I love them? It may take over an hour. So - here is my added hour of life (even though we don't add it in Kenya). A time to tell you I love you and am grateful for everything you have been and are to me.

"Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Money"

Spending Saturday night in. I had a great dinner last night - so tonight - read and relax. I am reading Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. It actually feels cold on these nights and early mornings in Nairobi. You need a sweatshirt and sometimes more. Socks do not keep your feet warm and you feel as though you need a blanket wrapped around you. You also have a bit of a chill from the sunburn you received the afternoon before. It's weird. Oh to be Masai with a bright red blanket wrapped around your waist instead of pants. It would make the whole pit latrine issue a lot easier. The pierced ears, stretched out the size of half dollars. They are tall, thin, regal. Today a Masai grandmother visited her grand-daughter at the orphanage. You can't help but look at her, strikingly beautiful with such a look of integrity and the past. I nod at her. She nods, offers her arm for me to grasp, no English, head shaved, bead work adorns her head, ears, wrists. So . .back to the cold in Nairobi. It is amazing the difference three hours can make - the difference between Karen,Nairobi and Kitui Village. There is a world of difference, and not just in the temperatures and rainfall. Here in Karen, the place is more westernized in terms of attitude, dress and lifestyle. It is definitely an orphanage, with all the sadness and "poverty" that the situation brings, but this is a gifted place. It is happy, fun-loving and green! It fits here in Karen, but would be out of place in the District of Kitui. I had been told that Kitui, the Village where I have been working and live, IS AFRICA. The traditions, the climate, the Kamba people, the primitive lifestyle is the Africa of history and culture. I love it so much and am grateful for the experience - no matter the hardship the lifestyle brings.

So maybe I'll return to the Village on Monday, maybe not. TIA. There is more work that can be done here in Nairobi on Monday if we do not get transport out of here. There is work with VSO and with the UN Program for Vocational and Polytechnic Youth Training. There are manuals and books I would like to pick up at the YaYa Center (I know - ya ya). The place is closed on Sunday so Monday would be ideal. We'll see.

I toured a couple of volunteers around the Children's Home today. A Belgian guy, a guy from the Philippines and a Kenyan guy. They had been coming here for some weekends and were always asked to work in the kitchen, removing corn from the cobs! They were interested in a more fulfilling experience so we went around and played with the kids in the cottages and outside. Today was also a day that 7 or 8 members of a flight crew were here from British Airlines. BA has always been connected to the Children's Home and often stop to play with the kids on their layovers.

I walked to Karen, a couple miles maybe. There is a shopping area, coffee shop, restaurant, etc. It was a nice walk but once at the stores, you find it very white and very British - not that there is anything wrong with that! It is just that the whites are so stereotypical. The women all seem to have "look", one similar to one I perceived in the southwest, in New Mexico - streaked sun bleached hair or some gone naturally gray. A ruddy complexion, driving Land Rovers or with a Kenyan driver. Every one seems to have a driver. The men look German and are dressed like they are taking friends on a safari - again, not that there's anything wrong with that! But I am more comfortable being downtown, lost in a sea of black faces, the dole Muzungu. I feel comfortable in the Village with my new friends. Someday, I sort out all these feelings and cultural dreams and desires. There is a longing somewhere deep inside for a cultural background, romanticized I am sure. I still have that desire to be Masai!!Kamba!!Kenyan!! But I remain a white guy from Ohio, not that there's anything wrong with that!

It has been great to be from America - proud of what the US has done with AIDS contributions and funding. It is also been great to rub shoulders with those from Australia, New Guinea, Spain, Ireland, Belgian as well as the guys I've met from Kenya and Rwanda. So very cool!

A Good Day - Friday

I can't say that these days away from the Village have been relaxing but they sure have been productive and interesting. I am learning so much about the government, NGOs, Vocational Training, etc. Friday began with mass at the convent of the Indian Sisters at the Children's Home. At 6:45 a.m. we gathered with about 10 Preschoolers, in a little room in the convent for mass. The kids were great and a terrific way to begin All Souls Day, remembering those who have died from my family as well as my friend John, Ken and all the children in the orphanage who have died. Then Maria and I jumped into a car with Sr. Theresa Little, an Indian Sister who works closely with the women in the Lea Toto Program (See Nyumbani Website for info) and their children. We first went to the garden or "shamba" near Karen. Here they are growing some food for the slum children and some food goes to the orphanage. The garden struggles to cover its costs and is looking to add goats to the already growing population of chickens and rabbits. I made a call back to the Village at Kitui to have them look for two milking goats and four others to begin raising them in the shamba. They are not too expensive and I may use some of the donated money I received to buy them. We shall see.

From the shamba, we drove to the hospital to receive some treatment for Sr. Little. She has leukemia, and for now it is under control. She recently was sent back to India for further tests etc. She looks fine now, just tires sometimes and watches contracting other diseases due to her compromised immune system.

From the hospital we took a trip to Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, second largest in the world next to India, and home of over one million Kenyans. Nothing has changed since my last visit, although the arrangement of Lea Toto clinic and daycare has changed to make more room for the clinic, run by the program. (From a meeting recently at the Children's Home I was told that in the last two weeks, thirteen children have died in the Lea Toto program. Some died from measles, menengitus, or other related diseases to malnutrion. Sr. Little says that the children come into the program so weak and sick. It is difficult for them to recover.) We met some of the staff there and also a "new mama" who was seated outside the clinic waiting to be tested. Sr. asked to go to her house to visit and show Maria and I her living conditions. The woman looked very tired, as did her little boy on her back. She was covered with a skin problem, probably scabies from poor hygiene. She was waiting to be tested for HIV. If she or her child test positive, they will be entered into the program and receive ARVs (AIDS Meds) and the food necessary to allow the drugs to work.

We walked with them into the slums and to her house. It had rained the night before, so everything had extra mud and the usual smell. Her "house" was typical, one small room divided by a sheet for sleeping. There was a small charcoal grill for whatever cooking was done. She said she was lucky. She had two children and her husband was with her. We also visited a neighbor, also in the Lea Toto program. She had 6 children, the youngest has turned negative but the mother remains positive (and will continue) and she showed us the life-saving drugs she was taking. Her 19 year old was also living there with her 16 month old baby. The woman had left her husband and showed us some of the embroidery work she was selling for extra money. We left the houses, returned to the clinic and the car to head out. On the way we were yelled at by an old man calling us "slum tourists". Sister Little was surprised at his yelling, usually the people respect the sisters and the habit.

From Kibera we were dropped off at Kivuli Centre, another Vocational School of sorts. We met John, a new manager who was happy to give us a tour of the facility and show us the products and work being done. Kivuli Centre is the boarding home for 60 young boys who go elsewhere for school each day. It is in the heart of another slum, made up of a large number of Rwandan refugees who fled their homeland because of tribal fighting. They spoke mostly French. (Constantine pictured to the left. Great young man with talent and who spoke only French from Rwanda. These men worked at the Centre, lived in the slums and sold their products to a Fair Trade business. Their work was beautiful and the men were very willing to show us all their work and how it was done. There were products other than woodcarving - batiks, paper-making, as well as dressmaking and furniture making - among other crafts.

There was a music group and dance troupe shooting a music video at the Centre and Maria and I were asked to be a part of it - so we danced with girls in revealing attire and shirtless young men. We made attempts at some African moves and can't wait to see the video which we were assured would be on TV soon. It was a fun experience.

Once our work was completed at the Kivuli Centre, we walked through the slums and searched for a bus or a Matatu to take us to a location in the city that was more familiar. We were quite the site - the only muzungus in the area. In fact, through my travels throughout the day, the only white people were to be found in the nice restaurants and in taxis. No whites on our bus or on our matatus. No whites walking the streets of Nairobi - not even one. What's up with that? Eventually we found a bus and traveled to Ngong Road, a street familiar to us and we regrouped and ate lunch.

From Ngong we took a bus downtown to try to locate the Ministry of Labor and a department which would help us gain information on Vocational Training Centers and the Curriculum for beginning such a school. We searched through a couple large buildings which houses Social Security type offices, met with some men who tried to be helpful but we finally decided we needed to head for the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development. This office was located somewhere in the Industrial Area and Commerce Road. It was "near the Stadium" - wherever that was. We walked and must have asked for directions ten different times. Finally after a long, long walk we found the building and met with Meshack Otiendo Kidenda, the Director of Industrial Training. He was somewhat helpful but directed us to another office, downtown "The Ministry of Youth Affairs." This is a relatively new ministry and the Vocational Centres are under their direction. After walking through a downtown slum and passing over the railroad tracks on a wooden bridge, (another long, long walk) we headed for KenCom, a government building in the heart of Nairobi. It was a difficult entry, having left our passports at home, I wrote down my drivers license as my official ID number as I singed in the government building. We met with Mwangi Kahenu, Deputy Director of Training. He has everything we need - syllabus, curriculum, other materials but they will not be available until January. This whole area of Vocational Education has been reworked and "improved" with help from the United Nations and a couple of other large entities. We hope to be able to offer classes at the Nyumbani Village in woodworking, dressmaking, Agro-Farming and production etc. But we need assistance in setting up the school and curriculum. This is Maria's task, to develop a plan to be evaluated and hopefully implemented at some time. All of our work was simply to gather information and we had much.

From the Ministry of Youth we headed for a bus or Matatu and home to Karen. We left the city at 5:30 - rush hour on a Friday in Nairobi - impossible. We were locked in traffic for over and hour. After reaching Karen, we made the long walk to the Children's Home - while it was getting dark. The volunteers were headed to a nearby British restaurant to say goodbye to one volunteer who was leaving - eventually heading home to the states.

It was a good day - but so long!

Thursday continued

Had a great day so far. Maria and I hopped in a van with a Selesian priest headed to Don Bosco Vocational School. We met with the Director and toured the facility. Basically the school works with boys and girls (men and women ages 18 - 22) They learn vocational skills in a two year program. These skills include carpentry, plumbing, mechanics, tailoring and textiles, electrical, fine arts/signs and others. The school has been in operation for many years and is well-respected. Our hope was to gain ideas of their business plans, curriculum etc. and try to develop our own at the Village in Kitui. That is Maria's hope and responsibility these next months. We also visited the Fair Trade House in Nairobi to try to understand the possibilities of selling products via the Fair Trade Agreements. It was helpful but more meetings and discussions were needed in the future. Again, it was a great time hopping Matatus and learning so much from Maria. She has worked in so many places - Calcutta, Central America, Nepal and is considering the war torn areas of Uganda at some point.

We will probably head for the Village on Monday.