I am so missing out blogs- I seem to be writing way to much than there is time to type up! But I'll leave the long ones till time permits (yep they do get longer)
29th April
I fear that I have run out of emotive words to use to describe the magnitude of my journey here. Nevertheless I must document the admirable places and people I have met even if the only descriptive words I can conjure up are 'amazing' and 'wonderful'!
A couple of weeks ago we attended a HIV/AIDS support group meeting. And while it was difficult to grasp what was going on as the meeting was held in Kikuyu, it was an enriching experience. Most people know that there is a heavy stigma attached to being a HIV/AIDS carrier. In many places in Africa people see it as a female spread virus and associate it with prostitution. Needless to say many men have disturbing views on ways to eradicate the virus from their bodies.
It was lovely to see that in this poverty stricken village people have the courage to openly admit they are infected and support each other. During the meeting we were able to help count the endless pills the attendees had to take and we were able to talk to a few too. Her name has escaped my memory but the owner of the house(lets call her Margret, there are loads here!) was a really sweet woman. She contracted the virus from her late husband. It was only once he passed away that she decided to get tested, she was then told he had brought the virus home and passed it on to her. One can only imagine where he got it. Margeret had this generous spirit about her that I admired and I can vividly recall her laughing at us while we choked on the smoke they are so used to as she made us tea on the bbq like stove.
I love the community spirit of that and I think that is lost in the UK really. We dont really talk to our neighbors as we should not do we show so much love and support.
This wednesday we did something really fulfilling and touching. In Thigio there are only a handful of relatively wealthy families. One of the volunteers host families are one such wealthy family. They own a private school, Park Hill, which is actually where my host siblings attend school.Sir Stevens (the father) seems to therefore be a very valuable source to the community and he organised a trip for us in his run down school bus to visit a needy family where we worked on rebuilding a woman called Lucy's mud made home.
Lucy is a single mother in her mid to late 40's and her husband abandoned her and her childrens years ago leaving her with no money and their mud home to sustain. Thankfully Sir Stevens allows her h\children to attend Park Hill school for free, despite the fact that it is an hour and a half walk w\away from their home, the children go. SubhannaAllah! And Lucy is known in the area as needy so she does odd labor jobs for money to feed her children.
The structure of the home is mud and planks of wood and we actually helped put another layer of mud on the outside and inside of the house. It is literally just her mud dug up and mixed with water (which I went to fetch with two others, that's another story!). The method of layering is seriously just grabbing handfuls of mud and throwing it at the house! So surreal!
The most rewarding part was hearing of how overwhelmed Lucy was to have us. I was told she was so nervous when she saw us o\unloading the bed and clothes because we were in such numbers. That is a great feeling! It was truly rewarding to see how sir Stevens and the teachers from the school banded together to help her. It was such a great experience, despite the heat!
Finally, yesterday we visited a children Orphange, much like Agape! But alot larger!It was called Karai childrens home. The home sheltered street children and orphaned children. The street children were those indulged in a life of crime driven by poverty.
I met Maggie, an 18 year old young woman who had been at Karai since she was 7 years old. Here and her twin sister have finished high school and hope to go on to university. Their father died and mother abandoned them before dieing. She was so cute and expressed how happy she was to have us there as they don't get to socialize much out of the home. I later discovered it was because the stigma attached to being an orphan or street child deterred people from befriending them. We assured them they have friends in us!
The home houses 160 children and educates them. They do not leave until they are educated and trained enough to become self reliant and it means that some people leave fairly old as they enter primary school as late as 12 years old. The discipline was very impressive as they wake up early daily to clean their beautiful compound and they cook too! Their bunk beds would so put our ones back at our volunteer house to shame! So neat!
It had a real family feel to it and we enjoyed orienteering with them, It was really interesting to observe the impact music had on them in light of the film Agape we watched. The boys had a group - The Obey brothers. They sang us a song and then showed us there Channel U like video! It was cool! They were funded by the German charity that funded the whole home, bless them. A few volunteers also bought some DVDs to support the cause.
Time is wasting so I must round up but everything here is to be cherished! It's all so overwhelming at times. One thing I will take back is that happiness is in the eyes of the beholder. You don't need to be rich to be happy!...
BTW...things in the BB Kenya house are so great!Sometimes I don't want it to end!
Still smiling!
No comments:
Post a Comment