Little-by-little we are approaching the end of this trip. I cannot believe how rapidly the time is flying by! It seems just as I am hitting my one-month stride here, the number of days until we fly home is ever-decreasing.

I am truly starting to love this country and these people, and as I become more comfortable with basic language skills, customs, and local travel, I  enjoy my time more and more. We have been slightly more autonomous at the clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays (though we are still not super comfortable with diagnosing conditions and prescribing medications, as Teresa, the volunteer Kenyan nurse is able to do). Also, it seems people in the camp are more comfortable with our abilities and approach us with other issues even when the clinic is not open. This is both encouraging and overwhelming as the health needs are great and we lack the resources (financial and otherwise) to help much.

This phenomenon is something I have been thinking on a lot. While I did not come here intending to “change the world” (per se), I did hope to make some significant differences for the community, or at least some individuals. However, I am beginning to realize that simply being here speaks volumes to these people who are incredibly relational, and in their timeless days, always invite us in for Chai. Many, though they still ask for our financial assistance, have said they feel we care for them simply by the act of coming here. Also, I think God may have put me right here not only to love on these people, but to pray, fiercely and specifically.  I have to remember to bring these things to mind and heart daily.

On Tuesday near the end of the day, I saw a woman suffers from epilepsy. As there is a stigma associated with having “fits” here, and because she didn’t know we carry Phenobarbital at our clinic (this is a medication often used to suppress seizure activity), she never came to see us. As a result her seizures became out of control after she ran out of her prescription and last week while seizing, she fell into the jiko (like a small charcoal cook-stove) and now has second degree burns to her left hand. She was brought into the clinic by her sister for a dressing change. Her burns were initially treated at the hospital (how they were able to get there and pay for treatment, I do not know, but people seem to find a way here when the situation calls for it). and though I have only spent one year as a nurse on a Burn unit, there were very poorly treated. What I found when I unwrapped her hand (which was obviously excruciating for her- though I tried to be gentle- as we do not have anything stronger then Tylenol with which to treat pain) were fingertips which looked gangrenous and finger webbing which was granulating (growing new tissue) together. I had to separate her fingers and after dressing the wound, we used some of our money to send her and sister to the hospital. I have since heard she was admitted and her sister has approached us several more times for money to pay portions of the bill.

On Wednesday we went to visit the East African Orhpanage, about a 40 minute drive from the camp by Matatu and Boda-Boda (motorcyles- so fun, but a little sketchy without a helmet). It is a beautiful place filled with healthy and apparently happy kids who number around 180. The place is run by 2 Australians and a bunch of employed locals. Anyways, with help from Mr. John, a very trustworthy community man whom I have employed as a Community Health Worker, and with donor money from back home (Sonja’s parents church) we were able to identify 11 orphans (living with relatives who cannot afford to care for them or meet their needs) and help the orphanage build them beds for the dorms. This coming week we will take the 11 kids to their new home! While this is great news (especially because some of the kids are HIV+ and have not yet started treatment- which the facility will ensure happens pronto!) many of the kids do not know yet that they are going as their guardians prefer not to tell them. Please pray that in the long run this will be something positive, rather than traumatic. This is one of the only ways to ensure safe shelter, regular food (3 meals a day), healthcare, and above all education until the completion of secondary (the orphanage also tries to find university sponsors for the kids!).

We have been following up bi-weekly with a woman who is mama to a sad and beautiful little boy named Victor. Though he is almost 13 months old, he does not walk and weighs less than 10lbs I would gander. We try to bring her Uji (porridge) for Victor though she apparently sells it to buy or make Busa (a maize beer- like Moonshine I guess?). We asked he if she would be willing to have Victor go to the above-mentioned orphanage and she instantly handed him over, which broke out hearts. We were happy she wanted us to take him to a place where he will be fed and cared for, but her haste was alarming. Sadly the shosho (grandma) disagreed and he will staying where he is. Please pray that he will live to see his 2nd birthday- we follow-up often, but have no idea what goes on at home.

On Thursday we went to the clinic, as we have done on our Tuesdays and Thursdays past here, however, there was only one mama with her mtoto (child). After treating her and a few others (people flock to the clinic the moment they see it is open), we began our trek through camp to make home visits to individuals and families who we have identified as vulnerable. We were approached from all sides for finances, all for varying health needs, school fees, or small business projects, and all very deserving, but most of which we could not support as we do not have funds enough for all. It is really discouraging to feel limited in that sense, especially when the requests are so legitimate.

One new project I will be helping with is funding the Mamas of kids with disabilities to take their children- most with Cerebral Palsy- for physical therapy twice per week in town. For ~$18 Ca/week, 3 moms and their 3 children can attend PT- amazing and very necessary for these inspiring smiling women and their kids. I cannot imagine the challenges of caring for a severely disabled child in a developing nation, much less as a displaced person.

Anywho, please, if you remember, pray for “Fun Day” tomorrow. I want to see the kids in camp play as kids, and not carry out violence on one another. I am really excited and hope it will be wonderful!

One week today we will head back to Nairobi and I will connect with World Vision to go visit my sponsor child, Sei, whom I have never met but have been sponsoring for about 7 years. We have written back and forth many times and I think we are both really looking forward to the visit!

On a happy note, we have chai and mandazi (like a deep-fried Chapati) with a beautiful 51 year old mama of 9 (who has a 1 year old). Despite the fact that 6 of them sleep in one single bed in a leaky tent and that they have no money, she did not fail to roll out the red carpet for us, and even served us eggs (quite an honor in terms of food here).  Her ever-positive nature and kindness to us and her family was uplifting and a pleasant end to yesterday.

Missing you all and thinking of friends and family often.

Love,

Ali

The great thing about the Tuy Hoa programme is that there is always something different to do.  We teach a couple of classes at the Fishing Village school and the little school – which is literally a little school for little people (about 15 kids being taught in this small room).

These kids come from low socio economic backgrounds and we are their English teachers!!  Today we did ABC practice then some numbers 1 – 10. We always sing songs – “If you are happy and you know it” etc etc and reada story. I love reading stories to the kids and I am getting better at reading upside down. These kids are super cute too as they are all 4- 6 years old. We give them milk everytime we see them to help them grow and boy do they need it – they are all so tiny even by Vietnamese standards.

If you love kids or even if they freak you out a bit this is just so much fun, I promise you will love all of them after one lesson. They are so excited to see us and be around us.

Heute war ein ziemlich anstrengender und interessanter Tag^^ Ich habe ziemlich viel mit den groesseren Kindern gespielt, und sobald ich jemanden hochgenommen habe, kamen mind. 5 andere und wollten auch..^^ Ueber Mittag haben wir auch viel mit den Mamas und Studenten geredet und interessante Dinge ueber kulturelle Unterschiede etc. erfahren. Julie und ich leihen jetzt am Morgen meisten unser Modem an Liuba (Krankenschwester) und Rosemary (Sekretaerin) aus, damit sie einige Dinge am anderen PC machen koennen. Aber da das Modem so langsam ist, helfe ich ihnen meistens in dem ich meinen kleinen Lapi nehme und ihre Dinge erledige.. Julie hat auch ein Netbook, und alle sind so erstaunt ueber unsere kleinen PC’s..^^
Und wir haben vor die Kuehe vom Heim zu melken.. Das wird spassig^^ Und verschiedene typische Gerichte werden wir auch noch kochen lernen.. Mittwoch ist immer Chapati-Tag, also werden wir naechsten Mittwoch am Morgen frueher aufstehen, damit wir zusehen koennen wie sie gemacht werden..^^ Chapati ist so etwas wie Fajitas oder Omeletten, einfach irgendwie durchsichtiger und wahrscheinlich aus anderem Teig..
Der neue Junge Steve hat sich schon sehr gut eingelebt. Er ist so ein Schnuggi! Und er brabbelt die ganze Zeit was vor sich hin, und ich versteh halt kein Swahili und weiss nicht ob er nonsense redet oder richtige Woerter, nur manchmal versteh ich einzelne Woerter..^^
Wahrscheinlich an diesem Samstag, oder sonst an einem anderen, werden wir die groesseren Kinder mit auf einen Auflug in das Animal Orphanage, in dem wir schon waren, nehmen. Ich hoffe die haben Spass, denn sie kommen ausser fuer die Kirche so gut wie nie hier raus..

I have been pretty lazy with keeping up my journals. I know some volunteers do daily updates but I’m more of a weekly person!

So last week ended up being pretty hetic. The boys orphanage was outstanding! They are so education focused with farming programs, sugar cane juice production, cooking classes, sewing classes, wood working and metal work classes, the produce their own honey and they have an actual school. Its good to see they are empowering these boys with skills for the rest of their lives. Some of the boys go onto university and have really successful careers. Its great! So we realised some progams we can implement there such as the ReAL Boquete recycling program, introducing a music program and helping with their computer lab which is currently collecting dust! The possibilities are exciting and working in collaboration with them will be rewarding I think.

On thursday Kaytee and I went to a meeting with an American expat who helps to run a big mission church up in Volcancito to try to organise some free English classes for anyone who wants them really. Pretty much we decided then and there to start on Monday and we worked through some of the logistics. He seemed really keen to start as it is impossible for local people to learn english because its expensive but they need it for a lot of job opportunities. At night we had the Charity Quiz night where the amazing volunteers raised $140 for Casa Hoga Triska. It was a fun night and the turnout was great!

On friday we headed up to the church at Volcancito and took a look at their facilities which are seemingly endless. They have a medical centre and a dentist that is fully equipped and constantly used by local people. They also have some great classrooms that will be perfect for the english classes. Its all come together so quickly and there seems to be a lot of interest in the classes which is good.

Saturday meant it was time to head out to the Handicap Foundation to spend some time hanging out with some of the most adorable kids. We spent a fair bit of time outside where it was crazy windy so despite the fact I had heaps of sunscreen on, I didn’t realise I was getting burnt. Not the best look later that night! A few of the volunteers and I went down to Las Olas for the weekend. Its a black sand beach on the Pacific about an hour and a half from Boquete. It was an good relaxing weekend where we ate lots of amazing fresh seafood, did yoga and spent a lot of time in the water. Well and truly worth a visit if you make your way over to Panama!

Monday morning meant a lot of prep work for the English program starting that afternoon. It was a busy morning and the first classes went well with a real mix of different levels of English present. Tuesday I devoted the entire day to making the trivia questions for the charity quiz on thursday night and my brain was so full of useless information that my Spanish class was interesting to say the least!

Well it has been a crazy week but I’m looking forward to 15 crazy more!

Habari!

So, the latest update on my Kenya trip is that I decided to send 11 orphaned children to an orphanage with the money that has been raised in Canada for the IDP camp. These children were living with relatives that couldn’t afford them, and in some cases don’t want them. Many of these children had their parents die in the political conflicts in 2007 and quite a few have had their parent’s die recently (in the last year or two) from HIV/AIDS. Only one of the children has confirmed HIV status but a few of them haven’t been tested and it’s quite possible that they are infected.

The orphanage is called “East African Orphanage”, and it is approx one hour from the camp; a half hour from the town of Nakuru just in the opposite direction. We went there today and it is so beautiful! It’s run by an Australian couple and it’s clean, well taken care of, and very organized – this is rare and almost unheard of in Kenya. They have about 180 children right now, ranging from babies to 19 years old. They guarantee that the children will have three meals a day, education up to graduation from high school, a bed of their own, clothes, medical care and the ability to stay clean. That’s really huge compared to what these children have come from, and what they could have expected for their lives.

The orphanage is charging 5,000 kenyan schillings per child, which works out to about $70 US dollars. This cost is for the beds to be built, mattresses to be bought, as well as some clothes for the children. When we were there today my heart felt so happy that we are taking the children there. The children that we met are very happy, well behaved and you can tell that they are given love and affection. It struck me that while we were there many of the children cry because they know that their needs will be met – this is not the case with many/most of the children in camp.

We are busy at the clinic, trying to help decrease the amount of medications that is being dispensed. Yesterday there was a division in the camp. The two groups that comprised the camp (molo and makigani), have decided that they can’t agree on a community building (that a donor wanted to fund) and that has escalated into them not being able to do anything together any more. Yesterday they deconstructed the only two communal buildings in camp. I’ve never seen anything happen so fast, or be so organized in Africa and it made my heart hurt. It also made me really glad that I didn’t fund the chicken project, as it gave me a visual of what could have happened to that.

I feel really frustrated that these people can’t even work together on something simple like community buildings. There was an outside donor who wanted to build a community center (worth 3.5 million schillings, a HUGE amount of money in Kenya) and one of the community spokespersons had the deed to the community land wouldn’t give it over.  Alas. now no one has anything and the community’s are even further set back as they won’t be working together at all any more. I am beginning to understand why things never get done, and never change in Africa. Yesterday I was thinking that there was maybe no point to trying anymore, but seeing the children at the orphanage today made me realize that the point is that there is  hope for a better tomorrow when you look into the eyes of a child and see that people can change and everywhere there is  some good in the world. I think it also made me realize that you can’t come to another country with ideas of how you are going to change things and make it better. Really, we are never going to solve the problems of a country; but, you can change the situation for some people and in the end it’s worth doing.

Kwherini!

I plan to make a PowerPoint presentation upon my return from Ecuador.  It will be comprehensive with lessons learned, trip highlights, and lots of pictures.   It will take some time to prepare, so please be patient.  There are a LOT of pictures and I have to go through all of them first.

Bericht vom Montag, 08.03.2010

Gestern waren Julie und ich in Nairobi und trafen einen taiwanesischen Freund von ihr. Wir sind rein zufaellig auf einen Masai Markt gestossen und haben uns dort umgesehen. Anscheinend ist es dort so ueblich, dass man einen Broker mitnimmt, der Dinge an denen du evtl. interessiert bist in eine Tasche packt und du am Schluss mit diesem den Preis aushandelst. Ich hab ihn extrem runtergemarktet, aber ich glaube ich habe immernoch zu viel gezahlt..^^ Ich bin nicht gut im Markten.. Jedenfalls werd ich naechstes mal sicher auch nicht mehr mit so einem gehen, sondern direkt bei den Verkaeufern verhandeln.. Aber es hat Spass gemacht und ich hab ein paar echt schoene Dinge gekauft.
Danach sind wir in eine Shopping Mall und haben uns ein Modem gekauft, welches sich jetzt jedoch als extrem langsam herausgestellt hat.. Vielleicht kaufen wir noch eins von Safaricom, einem anderen Anbieter.. Der Weg nach Hause war auch extrem abenteuerlich..! Zuerst mussten wir unsere Matatu-Station finden. Als wir dann im Bus waren, fuhr der Fahrer zuerst neben der Strasse und als Hoehepunkt wurden wir von der Polizei angehalten, mehrere Passagiere und der Fahrer mussten aussteigen, die Passagiere wurden in Handschellen gelegt und abgefuehrt und zwei Polizisten stiegen mit uns in den Bus, damit der Fahrer uns restliche Passagiere noch an die gewuenschten Orte fahren kann.. WTF?? Auch hier ist das nicht so ganz normal.. Wie die Leute hier so gerne sagen: In einem Matatu kann alles passieren..xD Mir hats irgendwie Spass gemacht.. War echt interessant^^ Leider weiss ich nicht, wieso diese Leute verhaftet wurden..

Heute war zum ersten Mal laenger als eine halbe Stunde bedeckt.. Es hat immer wieder geregnet und es ist frischer.. Die Kenyaner haben alle Pullover an, aber fuer mich reichts immernoch fuer kurze Hosen und ein Hemd..^^ Jetzt scheint die Sonne jedenfalls wieder ganz froehlich..
Wir haben heute unsere erste Swahili-Lektion gehabt.. Shiko hat uns einige Woerter und auch grundsaetzliche Dinge beigebracht. Morgen wird sie testen, ob wir uns die Woerter gemerkt haben..^^

Bericht vom Freitag, 05.03.2010

Gestern, Donnerstag, sind Julie und ich am Nachmittag auf den Campus einer nahegelegenen Universitaet gegangen. In Kenya muessen Studenten alle 60 Stunden Community Service machen. Wir haben im Happy Life auch einige Studenten, die helfen kommen, und so hat uns einer jener Studenten auf dem Campus rumgefuehrt. War echt cool, vor allem war der Campus so gruen^^

Heute gab es eine kleine Feier zu ehren einer Mitarbeiterin, die gerade erst aufgehoert hat. Das war echt der Hammer, zuerst haben wir alle zusammen gegessen, und danach wurde gesungen und getanzt. Da Happy Life ein christliches Heim ist, haben sie ueber Gott gesungen etc. Es war so richtig afrikanisch, mit einer Vorsaengerin und alle haben nachgesungen..

Morgen haben wir frei, und am Sonntag laeuft hier eh nicht viel, da dann alle in die Kirche gehen. Julie und ich haben vor nach Nairobi in die Stadt zu gehen, um uns ein Modem fuer unsere Laptops zu kaufen. Ach, und eine der Mitarbeiterinnen, Shiko, hat uns versprochen beim Swahili-Lernen zu helfen^^

Hi all,

I literally have mere moments to write this, so I will be uber brief.

The past days have been wonderful as we continue to engage with people in the camp and surrounding communities. I have slowly been building my language skills (though they minimal at best) and am daily learning more about the culture and traditions here.

We just returned from a 3-day safari in Maasai-Mara, which was incredible in every way, but I will save that for later. It was awesome to see more of the Kenyan country-side and to meet many Maasai people. And of course the wild animals were…well, wild and mind-blowing!

As for camp-

Many regional representatives from the government were out last week to meet with inhabitants from the camp regarding food, shelter, land, education, and health-care. In short, many people felt positive at the end of the meeting, however it seems the promised land and building supplies (which the president committed in Oct. to be given within 2 weeks!) are no more available than they were weeks or days ago. The government officials simply asked camp members to continue being patient and that land and houses “will be available soon”. It was discouraging to watch as an ex-pat as we feel these are just more empty promises, however, hopefully things will change soon and the camp leadership will hold the government accountable.

We are definitely into the rainy season, and I know people in the camp spend many nights trying to stay warm and the days drying out their bedding and clothing.  Last week we entertained about 30 kids in the UNICEF tent by the school as the rain came pouring down (even those of you from Vancouver would not believe the rain here!). We attempted to host a seminar for women, however, when none of them arrived we tried to organize an impromptu event for the kids. In trying to teach them safe and appropriate hand-washing, we ended up COVERED in filthy water as the kids thought it would be way more fun to wash the muzungus. Also, the kids quickly become quite aggressive when many of them are in one place together- which was a little overwhelming for us.

As for the women’s seminar, we were really disappointed, but as this is the 4th time Julie has tried to facilitate such an event, we figure we won’t try the same approach again as it does not seem to appeal to the women in the camp. We would like to design something for the camp women as there are many gynecological issues. Also, we have become increasingly aware of the number and nature of sexual assaults occurring in camp. As food is a hot commodity, it seems it is being used to bribe women for sexual acts. Please, please pray, as we don’t really know what else to do besides expose this behavior and offer safe counsel and support.

In regards to the kids, many are not attending school (not even the free ECD school in camp) so they are legitimately bored. As well, many of them were exposed to atrocious violence during the 2007-2008 political clashes. This weekend I am organizing a “Fun Day” for the kids. I really want the kids to play as kids, but I am nervous about how it will go over in light of the behavior. Please pray that it would be a wonderful, injury-free, fight-free day.

As for current projects, we are NOT going to be undertaking the coop project. I apologize to those of you who were stoked to participate. Unfortunately it would not be safe or responsible to carry out such a project without enormous funds and time, as it needs to be seen through to completion and that would take months on African time.

With time and relationships we have become aware that is will not be possible to complete all we had hoped. As this was initially disappointing, we have accepted that the most important thing is that the community feels valued, heard,  and cared for in the projects we do undertake. Additionally, time and the value on time is very different here. I am learning so much from everyone I meet here, and from every experience- I really feel this is the most important thing I can do in my short time here.

We are working on several other projects which still require financial support. These include:

The “Fun-Day” for the kids this weekend

Helping Sonja in placing 12 camp orphans <8 years old in a beautiful and safe orphanage (this guarantees them food, healthcare, and education until they are 18!)

Employing Mr. John, and very knowledgeable and trustworthy man who has been helping us at every turn without ever requesting financial remuneration or support. Anyways, we will be employing him as a community health representative to continue assisting the community members with health issues. As volunteer presence is not continuous here, we feel it is important to identify key community members who show an interest in helping and are trusted and respected within the camp.

There are still many kids not attending school, especially those in secondary. Many are sent home when they cannot pay school fees. We are trying to help pay some of the secondary students school fees so they can at least re- enroll. Education is really the only way out and up for these kids, so we really want to support this.

We are still trying to track down appropriate malarial detection test. We had no luck with the Kenya WHO however,  we will continue to pursue this as it is very much needed in camp as evidenced by the several severe cases we have sent to hospital recently.

I am sorry this message is brief and quite sloppy. The internet and keyboards here are ancient and in very poor shape.

We are hoping to post some pics soon as we were able to locate a USB cable- stay tuned.

Hope all is well at home.

Love,

Ali

Habari!

Things have been busy this last week. Ali and I have definitely gotten more comfortable with our role at camp and we have begun to take over the volunteer duties at the clinic. We spent Tuesday at the clinic helping dispense medication and hopefully we are beginning to cut down on the mass amounts of meds being given out at the clinic – we may have begun to use our discretion on the amounts of meds and we may not be exactly giving the whole amount prescribed when it doesn’t fit the clinical picture…

Wednesday was supposed to be our woman’s seminar and unfortunately it was a dismal failure. No women showed up (we were unsure if it was because of the rain or if this is simply not the information or the format that they want). We did end up with about 25 children though, and decided to improvise and at least teach the children to wash their hands – which also didn’t work. We ended up much more wet than the children, although we weren’t exactly clean after they wiped their dirty wet hands all over us. Some fun was definitely had by the children though!

This past week I have found a project that most of the money that my parent’s have fund raised will be put towards. There are approximately 12 orphans under 8 in the camp that have been given a spot in an orphanage approximately 1 hour from the camp. The orphanage is run by some Australian’s and from what I’ve heard from the other volunteer’s, it’s one of the most beautiful places they’ve seen in Africa. To get the children into the orphanage it costs approx $70 US dollars for a bed, school supplies, clothes, etc. The orphanage guarantee’s that they will keep the children until they are 18 and provide them with schooling, three meals a day, their own bed, clothes and a clean place to live. In comparison to the IDP camp this is a highly desirable life. Originally I thought that I would only sponsor 8-10 children, but then I went around and met the children last week and found out that a couple of them had siblings that could also go, so in the end I decided that I will send them all – I can’t separate siblings. On Wednesday I am going to the orphanage to meet with the coordinator and check out the facility and then hopefully we will be taking the children there next week once the beds are built. More to come on this project.

This last weekend Ali and I spent in Masai Mara on Safari. When planning this trip I had thought about going on Safari but I didn’t really realize that this is an experience that everyone should have at least once in their lifetime. I can’t even begin to describe how incredibly fabulous it was! The scenery at Masai Mara is completely captivating and breathtaking on its own; when combined with the African wildlife it becomes an experience that is hard to surpass. We spent Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday morning in the national park that is approx 1800 square kilometers – it’s so immense! During that time we spotted cheetah’s, lions, elephants, giraffe’s, hippo’s, crocodiles, African buffalo, gazelle’s, many different birds, monkey’s, baboons and a tortoise. It was a bit sad to realize that most tourists only come to see this part of Kenya, the part that most of the locals have and will never see, but I can now understand why people travel to Africa to go on Safari.

We really lucked out with the group of people that we went on Safari with. The other volunteer that came with us is a guy from Vancouver area and he’s an amateur photographer. He brought his SLR camera and got some incredible shots that he promised to share with our little group. The other couple that came were from the USA. The wife is studying African film as the topic for her PhD from Harvard and she was able to tell me all about the places that she’s been in Africa. I’m already starting to plan my next trip to Africa – next time I think it will be centered on western Africa so that I can practice my french and experience the other part of this culturally rich continent!

This morning Ali and I spent learning how to become good Kenyan housewives. We have a new appreciation/love for the modern washing machine and have learned what a work out it is to hand wash all your laundry! It’s a full body work out, from the squatting to scrub to the wringing out of the clothes! It’s no wonder that these women have not problem birthing babies – in comparison with the laundry it must feel like no big deal! I think we’ve decided to make bumper stickers that say “I love my washing machine” just so the whole world begins to understand our new appreciation.