Crazy Week - Part 3

Our final trip with the Foster Group was in Nairobi. The Foster Group left our home on October 3rd and the TI team traveled to Nairobi on October 5th and spent a few days there. We spent October 6th, our last day with the Foster Group in one of the many Nairobi slums, called Soweto.

Soweto Slums

Soweto is a name that is derived from the place in South Africa. It means “trouble”. Soweto in South Africa is a dangerous, dirty place (from what I’ve been told and read about). So does the curse of the word, the name, follow….who knows?

I’ve blogged about Soweto to you before. It’s a slum in Nairobi that is very much forgotten. It can’t even compare to the commercialism that has followed the largest slum in Africa, which is Kibera (Key-bear-a) and therefore little to no assistance reaches these people.

There is a school in Soweto that TI has a relationship with. We are good friends of the people who run the school, we sponsor a few children at the school and the Foster Group for the past months has provided the food to the students of this school. On most days, it’s the only food these children receive.

The group was shocked by the huge dump site on the outskirt of the slums, where there were dozens of people, children included, rummaging through the garbage for food to eat, and for plastic bottles to take back to recycling companies for money back, even if it was for only a few pennies. As we crossed the river, I could see the curled noses at the sight and stench of the dark grey river filled with garbage and human waste.

We did a tour of the slum, to which became too difficult for some of the group members. The dirty, hungry looking, sick children running around us, wanting to greet us and hold our hands, was overwhelming. Just being there for a half an hour was emotionally draining on some people.

We went to the school that we assist and were greeted with screams of excitement by the children. On mine and Daniel’s last trip there in May with Daniel’s parents, the children sang and danced for us. I had joined them in the dancing and (un)fortunately they remembered that and therefore some of the girls wanted me to stand alongside them again and be a part of the dancing. :-) Thankfully, I was saved from the teachers and they agreed that I didn’t practice the routines so I would be a little lost. “Next time, Mary! You dance with us next time.” That’s what they said. Yep, next time I will!

The students presented some songs and skits for us all. Their faces were painted and they even wore costumes for their performances. The teams got a tour of the school and were introduced to each teacher.

From there, the Foster Group presented to the teachers, books and supplies for the school. There was excitement in their faces; seeing that they have more supplies now to work with, to help better teach their students. It is so evident that these teachers love their job and love their students despite the hardships that they all encounter there on a daily basis.

After a few hours at the school, we headed back to the city, said our goodbyes to the Foster Group and parted ways with them. For me, it was an emotional goodbye. I have made some great friends in Sandy and Cathy and I really miss them.

Walking through Soweto

Doing skits for us

Beautiful kids of Soweto

Holding a doll, tightly...

TI in Nairobi

The TI crew stayed another day in Nairobi. We celebrated my birthday the evening we arrived (October 5th). Thank you to EVERYONE who sent me birthday wishes; I SOOOOOOOO appreciated and loved it. For my birthday, I got from the TI crew, a kick-butt 3-CD changer stereo. It’s pretty amazing.

On October 7th, the TI crew went to Nairobi City Park for some fun with the monkeys. We heard about this park from a few friends of ours and decided to check it out. Oh my, it was so much fun. Get some nuts, fruit and bananas and your guaranteed to have monkeys crawling all over you. And we did. It was so much stinkin’ fun!!!

We chased away the aggressive monkeys that weren’t letting the little ones eat or have fun. We got them to climb up on our shoulders, our heads and wherever else they knew they could get to the food. Some monkeys were a little more timid than others. It was a moment of, “Oh my gosh, I’m in Africa. I have monkeys on my shoulder, on my head.” It helped us release a bit of what we had just been a part of for the past two weeks; it allowed us to have some fun and enjoy the sillier things here…even if it was just for a little while.

Sean and his newfound friend.

Nate and his friend, ED

Me with George

"Give me food!"

Lauren's found love!

"Give me nuts!"

They were seriously fighting over Andrew.

Andrea & Andrew just hanging out with their friends.

Crazy Week - Part 2

As mentioned in my Part 1 blog, we did two food distributions to needy communities in our area. We had one more community a few days after that. This community hit people in more ways than the previous two; it left many of us emotional.

Kolongolo Village

Kolongolo (Colon-go-low) is a community that is deep in the bush. It is a village over an hour away from Kitale, most of it on rough dirt roads. It’s about 2kms from the border of West Pokot (Po-cot), which is considered a fairy violent tribe among other Kenyans. The Pokot people believe that all livestock, especially cattle, belongs to them, therefore other people living in the area of the Pokot, do not own cattle. If they did, the cattle would have been stolen and if people tried to protect their livestock, they would’ve been killed. There are very few people in this community who have livestock and if they did, they have permission by the Pokot to keep their own livestock. How they get the permission and from who, I don’t know.

Kolongolo is a very poor community. HIV/AIDs has swept this area and the high percentage of this place is widows raising their children on their own and grandmothers left to care for the grandchildren. We connected with this community because a Kenyan family that we are close to has their home out there. The mother/wife in this family has been connected to this community for years, has been assisting from their own farm and resources to help these women and children survive.

On September 30th, the Foster Group and TI delivered maize, beans, blankets and school uniforms to 15 families. The welcome was overwhelming. Here were women and children without anything, but together, they presented us with a large bag of corn on the cob and a dozen eggs as a thank you for coming and assisting them. They were giving us food, a gift of thanks. That in itself was completely overwhelming.

We had some of the children present songs to us, then some of the widows and grandmothers. During the time at Kolongolo, we found a few children who were really sick.

There was one boy, Isaiah, who the previous week had hurt himself on a bike. The wound in his ankle area had not been properly taken care of. Lauren R removed the dirty bandage to find it was infected and smelled horribly. The bone was showing; I had never seen a cut that deep, flesh so infected and exposed before. With the little resources that we had available, anti-bacterial wipes, a tank top and a Swiss army knife, she cleaned up the wound, tied it up and we arranged to have the boy taken to the hospital for further examination.

There was a young mother there whose husband had died of AIDs; she did not know if she or her child had contracted the illness from him. We recommended that they be taken to the hospital as well to find out. We gave these families transport money and arranged when we would meet them at the hospital.

We left Kolongolo that day even more so physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted than we did at Maili Saba and Shimo. The Foster Group was deeply touched by this village and prayers have been answered in Kolongolo. We look forward to see what comes about over the next year here.

The Hospital

On October 2nd, Anne (our social worker), Lauren R and I went to Kitale’s district hospital, to meet with the families from Kolongolo that needed medical assistance.

The first was a little girl named Rachel. She hadn’t been feeling well for quite awhile. After testing, it was confirmed that she had Tuberculosis. The doctor and Anne thoroughly explained to Rachel’s grandmother, the importance and necessity of the medication for Rachel. The curing of Tuberculosis is a lengthy process and missing of treatment can lead to starting the treatment all over again.

The second was a sweet little boy named Kevin. He has had this sore in his belly button for awhile that we’ve been treating. From what it looks like and after a bit of research, it’s a common illness where the intestine pushes out the belly button. The doctor looked at it, gave him two injections (arm and bum) of something that I’m not sure of but knew that Kevin didn’t like as he cried for quite awhile, rubbing his arm and bum. He also got medication and will go back for a follow-up in the next little while.

The third case was that of Isaiah’s, the boy with the hole on his ankle. We got to go in to the ‘minor surgery’ room and Lauren and I were quite excited about it, thinking we just might get to see a bit of surgery done. We were sadly mistaken, although I’m sure Isaiah was thankful that there was no surgery. When the doctor removed the bandage that Lauren had done back in Kolongolo, he asked Isaiah’s mother when it had happened, she told him about a week before. The doctor glared at the mother and demanded to know why she didn’t bring him in sooner, to which Anne defended Isaiah’s mother saying she lived deep in the village where there is no medical care or finances. The doctor ignored Anne and attacked the mother again, to which the mother, put her head down in shame and said in Swahili, “I have no money to bring him here.” The doctor shut up.

The cost of transportation to and from the hospital for Isaiah’s mother is about $6. To us, that amount of money is nothing but here in Kenya, to a widow who has no means of income and has mouths to feed, $6 is unimaginable. And then there is the medication and the hospital fees to pay on top of that. Six dollars now turns in to $10 or $15 dollars, more than she could financially handle. So she cleans the wound with soap and dirty water, wraps it with an old dirty rag from somewhere around their home and prays for the best. That’s all she can do.

The doctor took the bandage off, rubbed it with alcohol, to which made Isaiah wince and cry and then covered a bandage in iodine, placed it on the wound, wrapped it up and told them to come back on Saturday and Monday. That was it! We were shocked at that; we could’ve done those ourselves. And so we made sure Isaiah’s mother had money for transport and medical care for those days that she was to return.

The fourth case was the wife whose husband had died of AIDS and her little girl Nancy. We all walked in to the pediatrician’s ward (if that’s what you could call it). We walked in to this large room and it was quite a sight to see. There were over 100 mothers PLUS their children in this semi-large open room. Some of the mothers looked as young as 13-14 years old, holding their children. I stared at them thinking, “These are children themselves, now raising children.”

The room was packed; it had benches lining the walls of the room and a few more in the middle. The only empty spots on the benches remaining were the ones we sat on when we arrived. There were two tables in the room; one in the middle, considered the “reception desk” that had doctors and nurses just hanging out at. They weren’t doing too much from what I could see, except for having a conversation among each other. The other table was to the right, in the corner. There were two doctors and a weigh scale for babies; they were busy working away as baby after baby was laid on the scale, the doctors writing something down, saying something to the mother and then moving on to the next baby.

A nurse came over to us and asked if we could be helped. Anne spoke to the nurse regarding this mother’s situation and the nurse took us to another area of the hospital. Lauren and I could see the nervousness on this mother’s face, knowing the rest of her life and what it may look like was going to be determined today. We went to the area of the hospital for HIV/AIDS counseling, medication, etc. The mother was told that she would be tested and if it was positive, she would immediately be counseled and assisted for the free medication provided by the government (and other countries) to help prolong her life and assist her immune system.

We were not able to stay with her during this time so we all went and had lunch with the other three families that we had assisted at the hospital and then sent them on their way back to Kolongolo.

Lauren and I went back to town to do some other things while we waited for the details of the mother and her little daughter Nancy’s status. We ended up meeting back up with Daniel, Anne, the mother and Nancy in town.

The mother and Nancy were tested positive for HIV. I hugged the mother for as long as I could and as tightly as I could. I kissed Nancy’s face over and over again until I saw that beautiful smile of hers appear. And before my tears could flow, I said goodbye to them and walked over to our taxi, told Lauren the news, both of us put our sunglasses on and started to cry. Two more lives devastated by a disease that I can’t begin to comprehend and despise more than I can ever explain.

And that’s all I can say for now…

Crazy Week - Part 1

Quick note: I’m sorry that this email/blog is almost a month late. One, it was extremely busy few weeks with the team here and two, our internet has been down for over two weeks, which makes it difficult to post pictures. Hopefully, you’ll forgive and enjoy the next few updates…

Crazy Week – Part 1

It’s been a crazy and emotional few weeks for all of us here at the TI compound. We’ve all experienced different types of emotions but for the most part, it’s been emotional. In order not to bore everyone or have a blog that is about 10 pages long (because trust me, with all that’s happened, it very well could be), I’ll break down the past week in to separate blogs.

Maili Saba & Shimo

On Thursday, September 25th, the TI team (staff and interns) as well as the Foster Group (Sandy, Don, Cathy, Carol and Julie), spent the day at the compound packing food for the big distribution that we were going to be having the following day. There were enough bags of maize (corn) and beans to feed 177 families as well as 500 blankets to distribute to each family.

It was a long day and an exhausting one for us as all as we (well lets be honest, it was mostly the guys) carried up to 190lbs bags of maize to package.

Distributing the food for the big day.

On Friday, September 26th, was the big distribution day. We were ready to go and had the three pick up trucks loaded by 9:30am. We drove to our first destination called Maili Saba (my-lee sa-baa). As we approached the road, there lining the path were tons of children with their old grandmothers and children with their widowed mothers. When they saw the trucks and the taxis arrive, they began to sing and dance. It was beautiful and emotional.

The Families

Trucks full of food

We unloaded the trucks and got organized. This food distribution stop was the largest one out of all of them. There were 108 widows and grandmothers that we assisted. We set up the food along one side, calling over 20 families at a time. They would receive their blankets first, some getting more blankets than others depending on the size of the family.

Families lined up for food and blankets.

The line-up of women and children was overwhelming. We did the same community last year when the Foster Group was here but this year was different. There were more children which meant more poverty hitting more families, more children. It was way too difficult.

As each family received their food and blankets, they were then prayed for by our interns. They were welcoming and so incredibly thankful of the prayers.

I had two beautiful little girls, Chebet (my Nandi tribe name) and Nancy, cling to me for most of the time there at Maili Saba. All of us made some new, cute little friends that day.

Chebet & Nancy

Nancy, Me & Chebet

Carrying her blanket home...

After we returned from Maili Saba, we grabbed lunch in town and then headed back to our compound to fill up the pick up truck with maize, beans and blankets for our next food distribution location, Shimo La Tewa (She-mo La Tay-wa). We had done this location last year as well with the Foster Group. It is a slum area, about 5 minutes from our home. It is filled with drunkards, young children, rape victims, widows, grandmothers and prostitutes. It’s an area that is forgotten because it’s in a corner of the town and not as large as the other slum in Kitale.

There is a school that borders the slum and our community, called Shimo La Tewa Primary. This is where we do our distribution. We have a relationship with the Headmaster (principal) there and the school counselor (it’s the school counselor that assists on finding the families for the distribution as she is familiar with the needy in this community). The school counselor, in fact, informed us that this year, four girls in grades seven and eight dropped out of school because they were pregnant. Grade Seven and Eight?!?!?!? Sadness, complete sadness.

When we arrived at the school, there were the women, sitting in wooden school desks in the yard of the school, as students still in class looked out the window, watching the commotion begin. The women started to dance and sing for us. And like at Maila Saba, there were more children and here, the children were dirty, wearing torn clothes that probably hadn’t been washed in weeks. But that didn’t stop us from hugging, chasing, kissing and loving on these children.

Kenyan Child Beauty

He got his lollypop stolen...

In Shimo, we assisted over 50 families with maize, beans, blankets and prayers. At the end of the day, we were all physically, emotional and spiritually exhausted. Some of us came home and cried, cried over the poverty we had just seen, cried over the children that were so dirty, cried over the lack of love or affection these children receive at their homes. We just didn’t understand why people have to live this way. We did a lot of processing, knowing that we still had one more distribution to do in the next few days.

Food for Shimo

Praying for the people of Shimo

That’s for Part 2…

THE TI CREW...

Back row: Sean, Andrea, Andrew, Daniel

Front row: Lauren R, Nate, Lauren S, Ina, Meredith