The end, for now

Today marks my 2 months back in Kenya, and it also is my departure date. More than ever before, I am sad to go, not knowing what the future will bring for me, and not feeling completely finished here. I had a few specific tasks to complete here at Mogra, and I think I completed them decently. But there were other issues that snuck up on me that were too large to tackle in a short time. It is much to my dismay that I wasn’t able to complete them, and now my time is up and I don’t know when I will be back. But God willing, this is not the end of my time with my Mogra family, it is just a hiatus for now.

This week was one of my best weeks here, living and working side by side with Kenyans. I focused a lot on our sponsorship of the students. Most organizations would hire a specific person to control such cases, since we have 1000 students to sponsor, but we don’t have the funds for that, therefore the sponsorship is a bit unorganized. But I was happy to sort out many of the issues this week. It was startling to see the school rooster and realize only 25% of the students are sponsored, and that is the only way the school is funded. AH HA- all these issues I have encountered in the past weeks could be solved if we had more money, and more children sponsored. But HOW? And will it actually help? The questions are always running through my mind! And I am leaving the unanswered.

On Sunday I was hanging out with some of my college students, who have become dear friends. We went to a local futbal field and watched a few matches. As I sat on a rock on the sidelines, watching young boys tirelessly play a good game in the scorching heat, I sat next to 2 small children that I did not know who kept their eyes on the players the entire time, not missing a play. It made me think a lot. I was talking to my friend Peter, who is finishing University this year and hoping to go to Med School in the future, and I couldn’t help but ask him, “am I doing any good by coming here, or am I just doing this because I enjoy it so much?” He replied without hesitation, “Look at that field. 22 players out there, and maybe 3 of them are in school. They can’t afford anything, but they can play the game and that keeps them out of trouble. In Mathare you either play futbal, go to school, or are a thug. It is important you are here because you are allowing kids to go to school.” I can hear him say that and it sounds nice, but I am looking at the slum towering over us: an endless pit of poverty, violence and destruction and I can’t help but question it still. This place needs more than a few more sponsored children and some futballs, what can I really do to make a difference? But Peter told me something that gave me immediate hope. He said 4 years ago he was finished with high school and had no real plans or idea for his life. One day he was planning on meeting a friend, and helping him with some “business” AKA thug work/steeling. On the way he ran into the founder of Change Lives Now (the org I am here with) and they talked. By the end of their conversation they were walking to school to look into sponsoring his University tuition. That single handedly changed his life. He now had a vision and way to accomplish his future dreams and he didn’t need to be thug. 1 down, 200,000 more to go!

That is how the slum will change. By giving hope to those that don’t have it. So no, I won’t be able to take away the poverty that is in Mathare as much as I want to. And NO, I don’t have tons of money to give every student a scholarship, but it has been my absolute pleasure and joy to work towards proving the students with a vision for their future.

The 140 children at the rescue center have been nothing but good to me and they give me a lot of encouragement too. They are the most loving and hardworking children, even though they have nothing. Every conversation I have with them is about how hard they will work in school to have a future, and how thankful they are to God for protecting them until now (when in many cases they were not protected or loved, but they have been able to move on from that). Sometimes I get frustrated with the conditions of the rescue center, but these children are miles ahead of the kids still in the slum and they are thankful. They have a bed to rest their head, electricity to study with, and food 3 times a day. They truly will be the ones that will change the slum, not me! What a relief for me.

It is possible to get out of poverty. I have seen it happen, and met many successful people that grew up in Mathare. But it takes education and a vision. I could go on for hours about the importance of education and how it will change these kids lives ten fold. So I am leaving here today, but I am not leaving this mission or project.

I never intended on using this blog to ask for money, and I don’t even know if anyone other than my lovely mother reads this but… if you are interested in donating more to this project or sponsoring a child I will personally guarantee that the money is used properly and to benefit as many children as possible. Please email me directly or go to ChangeLivesNow.org for more information.
Thank you for all your support and prayers while I was on this journey, I was not alone as you all followed me. I will continue to pray for you all, and please pray for me as I look into what is next in my plans, and most especially for all of the people I encountered in Kenya. They are beautiful and pray for all of you.
I will be posting more pictures soon, so stayed tune! It’s not over for me yet!
Love to you all!

HIV issue

As I come to a close here in Kenya I am still learning new things everyday. I love the fact that each of my days are totally different, it keeps me fresh and excited to continue. Something that has been an overriding theme being here though is HIV. I have seen it impact so many of my students and community members- nearly 50% of them are affected in some way.

HIV is reported to have been first introduced to Kenya in 1985, and from that time most people didn’t know what it was, or the severity of it. All they knew was that people were dying in huge numbers. Until the last 10 years or so HIV was a death sentence. When I talk to Hannah, the beautiful director of Mogra Star, she has shocking accounts of life at that time. She said many people in the community would commit suicide after finding out they have HIV because the community would ostracize you so badly. In Mathare Slum, half of the people living there are HIV +and have been chased from their family homes in the rural areas. Life in the slum is awful, and more expensive than life in rural areas but they cannot stay in the areas because of stigma the family would have with an infected member of the family. Additionally, it is usually the husbands who infect the woman, but it is also the husbands that chase the wives away. Until recently, nobody had proper medication so if they continued living with HIV they had horrible affects of the body including thinning hair and skin and weight loss and uncontrolled bowels. It eventually leads to tuberculosis so that is what victims usually die of.
In today’s society, there has been a huge improvement in the way HIV is controlled. Though there are no drugs to cure the infection, there are drugs that control it and allow the person to function properly. There are many clinics that provide the drugs for free, however they must be taken with substantial food which is where the problems continue. Especially in the slum, it is hard to eat enough food to make the drugs help you, rather than causing additional liver damage and other issues. I mostly dealt with those people, who have access to the drugs but not to food. It is great that our school started a feeding program which allows the children to have a balanced meal, and if the mothers come in and volunteer in the kitchen they can also receive the meal. There is still a lack of hope among the woman though, and they need a lot of support in order to revive their hope and be shown they can be upstanding citizens.

One of my students is a very bright young man and he gives me a lot of hope. He comes from an incredibly needy family- he has a single mom of 6 boys, and she is HIV +, along with the youngest boy. Luckily none of the others were infected. The mother was one of the victims of HIV towards the beginning when nobody knew how to treat it properly. She was in a very poor state, flirting with TB and nobody had hope that she would make it. Mamma Hannah knew what needed to be done though and she would bring her food and help to bathe her, eventually bringing her health back into decent shape. With the increased availability of ARV drugs, over time the mother of 6 was able to increase her health even more to a sustainable level. Today, she is a huge inspiration to woman throughout all of Mathare Slum. She does HIV counseling for woman and, helps to run her own small business and raises 6 boys. She has raised her boys so well, they are good and caring kids and know how to work hard and focus on the important matters. The one I am closest to has high dreams of working hard and getting himself and his family out of Mathare. It is not an ideal place to stay but most people are forced to, but he has enough encouragement that he knows if he works hard they can move out. He has learned a lesson from seeing his mother suffer, and the effects that her decisions made for their family, and he knows he doesn’t want to live that type of life either.

Stories like this give me great hope, but they are fairly rare. I am happy to meet these people and see how well they do, but there are many more that are in desperate situations barely grasping onto life. HIV is a horrible disease and the best prevention is argued about on all fields. However, it cannot be argued that the most effective treatment is the ARV drugs, which require regular food and many people are unable to get that food. That is the sad part, lack of food can kill so many people… oh that’s another whole issue I won’t get started on! Pray for all those suffering, this world is a dark place and we must recognize it in order to alleviate some of it

Rwanda Part 2

So apart from visiting Our Lady of Kibeho, I was very excited to see another African Country, and how it compares to Kenya. It only took me 90 minutes to fly to Rwanda, a much better option than the 27 hour bus ride I was looking into! From the moment I got off the plane I was in awe of the beauty of the country, countryside and cleanliness. It was not like Nairobi at all (note, I have been told from everyone I meet outside of Nairobi that we have the WORST reputation as a country, being dirty, unfriendly, and they call Nairobi- Nairobbery because of all the theft, but I have no idea about all this living here!) But I got to see it a bit clearer being in Kigali, the capitol city of Rwanda. It was so clean, fresh and very safe. There are proper traffic lights, and the drivers follow a specific driving pattern- worlds apart from the crazy Nairobi driving! When I was picked up at the airport I got directly on a moto bike- my first one ever! So I was not only shocked at the beautiful atmosphere but also clinging on to my moto driver for dear life! By the end of the weekend and many moto rides later I was able to relax a bit and enjoy them, a huge thrill in fact.

Apart from venturing to Kibeho I stayed in the capitol city, visiting 2 friends- 1 from high school and 1 from college who are separate volunteers in Rwanda. It was just as nice for me to see them for them to see me, as both of them are at sites alone and have 1-2 year commitments, not even leaving for holidays. I can’t really imagine how difficult that would be to adjust to. I loved hearing about their work, exchanging stories about our time in Africa and laughing at how different life is than at home. We could talk about things only we would understand being in a 3rd world country alone. We ate plenty of pizza, popcorn and wine and overall had a fun ‘mzungu’ time, a brief get away from the daily grind of work. They showed me the 2 main tourist sites- the hotel from Hotel Rwanda and the Genocide Museum from 1994. Other than that, Kigali is pretty small, not like what I am used to in Nairobi at all. They are just now building a skyscraper, not sure what businesses they’ll put in it, but they are hoping to become one of the biggest cities in East Africa.

Being in Rwanda, I learned a lot about how it runs and works. Most everyone has a false perception of the truth that Rwanda is, “the beautiful put together country, with excellent woman’s rights.” There is a ‘big brother’ always watching and listening so I cannot write much here but I would love to tell you more about it once I make it make to the states! Kenya is a horribly corrupt country, but the good thing is, everyone knows it is corrupt so you can’t hide too much. When a country starts hiding the corruption that is a bad sign. I wasn’t allowed to ask any questions about how the govt works in public in Rwanda. And I wasn’t allowed to talk about the genocide of ’94- in fact NOBODY does. That is scary, as humans we have to learn from our past mistakes, talk about it and not go down that same path again. If we don’t talk about, there is a chance it will be repeated. That’s all I’ll say about that.

I had the genocide always on my mind being in Rwanda because I knew every person I passed was affected in some way. It was so recent that if a person was over 20 they very well could have been a brainwashed killer, or suffered in some other horrific way. If they are younger than 20 they are probably suffering without much of their family due to over 1 million being massacred.
When I was in Kibeho I went to a church that hid 40,000 people inside during the genocide. The church looks over where Our Lady of Kibeho was appearing- a football field distance away. With 40,000 people inside, the priest succumbed to the evil and he turned his church over to the rebels. They tore parts of the church apart to get inside and instantly killed all 40,000 people. Right next to Our Lady of Kibeho. The church has been rebuilt, and they painted the new bricks purple in order to show where the rebels tore it apart. As I was walking next to the church looking at it a flock of children came and followed- obviously not used to white people visiting. As my heart was being torn apart looking at the walls and knowing the lives that were taken in this very building, the children were contagiously laughing and playing together next to it. My heart was hurting even more looking at their innocence, they were too young to know the horror that happened here, but one day they would. They could still be kids, and not live with the pain right now, but soon enough they will ask questions, “where is my aunt, brother, grandma etc.” And someone will have to tell them about the genocide. I just hope by that time it isn’t too late.

I feel so blessed to live in America, especially since it has had 200+ years to develop. These poor African countries have just recently gained their independence and they need guidance on how to properly function and overcome the struggles that we have figured out. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough faith in any of our “older and wiser” government structures to do that properly. Afterall, we have corrupt and selfish leaders too. I think that is root to it all, are we in this life for success and money and fame, or are we here to love others… as Jesus loves us? I’m sure it sounds cliché and not realistic, but I would claim it is possible. Deep down we all know money and success will not make us happy, so why do we continue with that goal? Let’s make a more conscious effort to love the people around us more, and fight the lies that tear us apart. You can be the 1 person to change the view of 1 other person. There have been genocides across the whole world and every time we say “never again” but nobody actually does anything. Let’s be serious, it starts with us. Love. Love. Love. This lent, let’s love more, even when it is hard and nobody else is. Love will hold us together

Our Lady of Kibeho

Last weekend I was blessed to be able to venture over to Rwanda for a few days. I visited a friend from high school and a friend from college who are both volunteering over there in separate locations. I learned a lot and experienced a lot by visiting a different African country, and will share more about that later. But the main purpose for my visit was to pilgrimage to see Our Lady of Kibeho, a Catholic shrine. It has been a dream of mine to go, and was a huge blessing to finally make it there!

For those of you who are not Catholic, or familiar with who Our Lady of Kibeho is, let me give you a very brief explanation! In the Catholic Church, we honor Mary, the mother of Jesus as the woman we should all strive to be like. We believe she was born sinless and remained that way until she was taken to heaven, walking next to her son in all his sorrows and pains. She suffered with Jesus throughout his years of public ministry, and on the cross and is the perfect person to intercede for us and show us who Jesus is, after all she was the closest person to him.

In the past hundred of years or so, there have been a few approved ‘apparitions’ across the world where Mary has appeared to normal, every day people and warned them to repent and change their lives, in order to go to heaven and take others with them. One of the apparitions that is least talked about is in Kibeho, Rwanda. Our Lady first appeared to a young girl names Alphonsine, a freshman in high school in 1981 and told her “I would like your friends to have faith, because they do not believe strongly enough.” Only Alphonsine could see or hear Mary, but all the other students could hear her responses in conversation. In 1982, as Alphonsine’s apparitions were continuing regularly Mary began to appear to other girls in the school, even those who were unbelieving and converted them. She always urged the girls to have greater faith and spread it to others, along with repentance of their sins. Mary called herself “The Mother of the Word.” By this time large crowds of people would gather to listen and see what would happen in the apparition. Mary’s main priority is always trying to bring people to her son. These apparitions have continued until today, where some of the girls still receive the visions. In fact, last January I went on a retreat and 1 of the visionaries was there, and she received specific words from both Mary and Jesus to tell us on retreat. Incredible!

One of the key factors that has made these visions credible is the vision that Mary predicted and warned the Rwandans about the genocide that was to happen in 1994. In 1982 Mary warned about the “river of blood, people killing each other, abandoned corpses with no one to bury them…” and it was confirmed in 1994 when the genocide killed nearly 1 million people in just 3 months, neighbors killing neighbors and dumped into the Kagea River, which means river of blood.

In the Catholic Church, a LOT of investigation, and many years of work, is undergone to test the validity of such messages, especially the mental sanity of the visionaries. In some cases, they are deemed invalid and the general public is advised not to visit the sites, but Kibeho has been approved and is encouraged to be visited as a holy site. Unfortunately with it being in Africa it is not very accessible for people to visit. However, I am super blessed to be in Africa, and to have my friends in Rwanda specifically, so I was able to make the pilgrimage to Kibeho and see where Our Lady appears. It was beautiful.

There are many aspects of being in Kibeho that I will have to share with you more personally, but it was a very blessed trip. I stayed with a friend of mine and we started our journey at 6:45 am, and after a motor bike, a bus, and an overstuffed mini van ride we made it to Kibeho at 11:45am, just in time to catch the middle of mass. The ride, though it was long, was BEAUTIFUL through the country side. We were not expecting to go to mass, but there was some event going on, with tons of nuns and priests so we were able to go to mass, and confession-very exciting! The church is a large cathedral that Mary asked to be built in her honor. It took many years for such a small village to raise enough money, but they were finally able to build the church. It is simple and beautifully African. After that we went to the small chapel where Mary first appeared in 1982. It used to be a cafeteria for the school but they have transformed it into a chapel for visitors to pray in. It was also very simple and very African, but sitting in it you could tell it was a holy place. I spent most of my time praying for all of you, giving Mary all the intentions I had, knowing she would keep them close and plead with her Son for the prayers. We did not have as much time as I would have loved, because of the long journey and bus schedules, but I felt so comfortable being there, I know I will be back some day.

There are so many miracles and stories attributed to Our Lady of Kibeho, please look them up, they are wonderful!

I am blessed to have been to 1 other Marian Apparition site, Medjuorie, which is also the home to a war that Mary warned about in Bosnia. Medj is a beautiful place as well, and I found a lot of peace being there, but it is very touristy since they receive so many pilgrims. Being in Kibeho was anything but touristy. We were among 4 white people, and there are 2 gift shops—and you have to find a certain nun to open them! In a way it is shame that more people cannot pilgrimage to Kibeho, but I am so happy it is able to retain its simple African beauty. It takes work and intention to get to Kibeho, as a true pilgrimage should. I am sure I won’t know the many blessings that came from that trip, but it was treat to go and see Our Lady. Be assured of my prayers for each of you there, I hope that Our Lady can reach you and bring you closer to her Son and his love for you.

marriage material?

I have my fair share of marriage proposals over here, but tonight I had the pleasure of explain to a few girls what washing machines are and how they work, and they preceded to tell me I will never find a man to marry!

It all started because I was wearing athletic shorts after a run. I rarely wear shorts around the kids and never in the community because I know it is not modest for woman. But I figured the kids know me by now and it would be ok. Well, apparently not! The high school girls called me over to them and started touching my knees. They said, you know Christie, we Africans could never wear those. Everyone would think we were prostitutes! Ohhh Nooo I am not a prostitute I told them, and of course they just laughed. But then they explained that nobody shows their knees in skirts or trousers in Kenya unless they are prostitutes, which is true as I look around and seeing what woman wear. They said I could never find a husband wearing them…. Which then led into them asking me if I know how to wash my own clothes.

Now I could laugh, because I knew they meant hand wash clothes- (and no I cannot do that nearly as well as they can.) So I started saying oh yes, of course: I pile up my clothes then throw them into the machine with a bit of detergent and wala in a hour they are clean! Thy protested saying that is not washing clothes, so then I explained exactly how the washing machines work, spinning cycles and all! I had successfully distracted them from thinking about marriage, because they did not believe me that clothes actually got clean from machines. I started to explain how nobody hangs clothes to dry either, and there are machines that do that too, but that was out of this world and too much for 1 night. Maybe tomorrow that phenomenon will be tackled.

At this point, the girls were (jokingly) not impressed with me at all, I look like a prostitute and I can’t wash my clothes, what else can’t this crazy mzungu do! So they continue to ask me, what DO you know how to do, wash dishes? Finally, I could say yes to that, BUT also add that we have machines that do that too, so I rarely need to! Shocked again, WHAT do you do then? they asked. I said, I know how to cook and bake. They immediately protested, “that isn’t work, you are expected to do that!
They looked at me in all seriousness and said, we are really sorry but you will never find a man to marry. You need to be able to wash and clean for him, and he would never look for someone wearing shorts. Haha

They really know how to make me feel good about myself! Little do these girls know all the male interest I have had from Kenyans in the last months- granted none of them saw me in shorts, or asked if I knew how to wash clothes- so I guess I’m not in the clear quite yet! I am continuously blown away by how different life is here. As soon as I think I am adjusted to the culture a fast one like this is pulled on me and I turned around again! I’m thinking ill continue to wear my shorts, and show them how non-prostitutes can wear shorts freely… only at the orphanage that is, I don’t want to deal with offending the entire community!

i'm not a business woman!

NEWSFLASH: I am not a business woman! I have never ever ever desired to study business or work in the business world and that was confirmed a thousand times this week.

As I have mentioned, Mogra Star is VERY poor, they are in a deficit every month so they have to be intentional about where they spend their money. For this reason, many common household items are not present here. The biggest problem I immediately saw last year was that they have no shelves in the store room where they keep their food. It is shocking and pretty disgusting actually; the tomatoes, potatoes, onions etc are just placed in piles on the floor. Granted, since they do not have much money there is not an excess of food on the floor, but it is still not sanitary at all. This week I freaked out because I went to grab a tomato and saw a white rat crawling inside the pile. GRROOSSSS
Additionally, they receive clothing donations and they don’t want to give them out to the kids all at once, so they keep the clothes in bags. The bags are not organized at all so if a small child needs pants there is no way to quickly locate them.

So I have been suggesting to them to since September they create an organized store room with shelves, but nothing has been done. First I didn’t think they understood the concept, and then I realized they simply didn’t have the money. This week I hit my limit and I decided it was important enough to spend my own money on, so I found a fundi-carpenter- and I asked him to find the costs for me. We went to the rooms and measured the spaces together and designed the shelves for both clothing and food. This is where everything went bad.

The next day he came with the costs of 4 shelves, 9 ft by 7 ft. appx $250. That was more than I was expecting for simple wood, but do-able. The crazy part was his labor, charging me $200 to build 4 shelves- I call that skin tax, obviously since I am white I can pay him well, right?? I took the quote and said I would call him later, after speaking to a few people to confirm it. Throughout the day I decided to cut back to just 4 shelves and reduce the size a bit, still providing them with enough space for the items. So when we sat down later in the day to discuss everything I asked him how long he expected to take building the shelves. He said 7-9 days, and he wanted to be paid by the day, obviously (oh, and his days might be only 3-4 hours). I looked at him very seriously and said, my sister is a fundi in the US and she could build me these shelves in 1 day, and I would not pay her $200. I will give you 3 days to get the materials and build these shelves. He protested and we finally agreed on 5 days, 5 whole 8 hour working days! But I was only paying him for 4 days, a small fraction of the original cost. At this point he was not happy with me, thinking I was cheating him, but I was even more cross with him because he would not sign a contract of any sort and was just a very unfriendly person. Looking back, I knew from the moment I met him I didn’t like his character and should not have hired him, but can’t change that now!

So day 1, I was gone all day so I called at 1pm so check up on him, but he wasn’t there yet. Great- I was scammed I thought. I come to find out he estimated the timber costs 1/5 of the price, and they didn’t know what materials to buy anymore. So I spent that evening redesigning and calculating costs, refusing to add more money (I was very harsh with him, showing him I was all business, even though I had no idea if I was being fair or not!) Eventually we came up with a plan that I thought was fine and he was to buy the materials the following day.

The next day he made a sturdy, decent shelf, I was surprisingly impressed with his work. However, he brought an assistant that helped him and demanded I pay him- not in our original budget of course. After much debate, I decided I liked the character of his partner and they did good work so I paid him. But I told him I would provide him with 1 of my students to help the following day, for free. Before he left he also casually said he underestimated the amount of wood and needed more money to buy additional wood. I am already upset with this guy, so you can imagine how this was for me. I told him I had no money and he better find a friend or some way of finding the wood because I they better be finished. After discussing how to solve yet another timber shortage problem we decided on building boxes for the food to be stored in (which ended up being great)

So he did surprisingly finish in 4 ½ days (I think he wanted to get away from me asap!) and the work he did was solid, I am impressed with it (but after all, I think any of us could build a few shelves without major issues) and even more happy that we now have proper store rooms. But because of his miscalculations we had EXTRA timber that is now wasted. When I paid him he had the nerve to ask me for a BONUS. A bonus! At this point I had no probem telling him that I think he did good work, but I could not give him a bonus because of all of his miscalculations and his bad attitude with me. I was not too charitable to him, but I was already giving him a generous pay and he was a world class jerk to me in many ways so I said no!

As much as I hated those 4 ½ days dealing with him, I learned a lot about how to be a supervisor of a project and doing business. Not to mention the cultural differences we have in work ethic and pay. I am sure I overpaid him, and he played me hard core, but now I know to use my gut more and only go with a person I can reason with and he will communicate clearly to me. At least we have proper store rooms now and organization is on its way! Sorry I didn’t have pictures of all the completions, but you can see the small before and potential after pictures! It’s been a crazy week, with scarce electricity so I better go now!

The New Hekima Place

I ventured over to the other side of Nairobi to visit the beautiful Hekima Place girls that I have spent the last 3 summers with. When I was there in November they were getting ready to move into their new home(s) which is where I happily found them. It is absolutely wonderful- but way out into the country, with nothing westernized around! Their old home, for the 60 orphan girls, was beautiful with plants and flowers, but it was rented land so now they own their land and homes and that makes up for the lack of trees and greenery.

I had a free ride with Megan over to see them, which would usually take over 2 hours on public transportation, so I was happy to accept the free ride! But I didn’t have time to tell them I was coming, which tuned out to be a fun surprise- considering nobody even knew I was in Kenya! When I got there the girls were all still at school but the moms saw me walking down the road, I could see them walking outside and pointing at me, saying is that her, what is she doing? As I got closer they all ran out to greet me and welcome me to their new home. I felt a little like the prodigal daughter, abandoning them for a new orphanage and then returning! They were so excited to show me around- now they live in 5 cluster homes, with 1 mom in charge of 12 girls in a house.

I barely had time to drop my bag as one by one they took me to their respective houses. They houses are color coded, and have beautiful paintings inside the houses (all your Pittsburgh fans, notice the picture, that is the guest house— a woman from Upper St. Clair donated that house so they decorated it in honor of her ). I was blown away by how beautiful the houses were, and what a cozy home they have become for the girls. It is such a brilliant alternative to the institutionalized living that my kids at Mogra are living in. I love the idea that there is a mom that can give more 1 on 1 attention and the girls live in a family setting to better aid in their development. It is so wonderful! The moms that work in the kitchen have had a burden taken off their plate too—they now have machines that cut the vegetables. This is revolutionary, they used to spend all day cutting the onions, tomatoes, potatoes etc for lunch and dinner, but now it takes 10 minutes. Americans come in and all the sudden tasks are completed efficiently, what do you know!

I was only there for a short 36 hours, but it was so lovely. The guesthouse was packed with volunteers, luckily there was a bed for me. It was seriously paradise, the house has a huge kitchen and living room, hot shower, and in the morning it was quiet- the first time I wasn’t waken up by 50 screaming kids in 1 month! It was refreshing to interact with other American volunteers and share with them about my time at Mogra- which is the opposite of Hekima! Maybe one day Mogra will be like Hekima, we can hope! The volunteers were a little older than me with their moms, so it was great to hear about their experiences in Kenya and their reactions to life here. It always puts life into perspective for me since so many things (like not having a shower!) have become normal for me but are so foreign to the average person.

To my delight, the girls didn’t have school the following day so I actually got to see them and hang out. We went hiking in the nearby Ngong Hills (if you have ever read or see the movie Out of Africa- it takes place there!) and they gave me a private tour of their new school. The school is attached to another children’s home funded by Norwegians, and boy do they have money. The school and orphanage are state of the art, beautiful building structures, desks and classrooms. I loved it- but the girls are still adjusting to the new school, they are starting their 3rd month, but not loving it yet.

We had a really fun day together, lots of singing and dancing and relaxing. As much as I love Mogra and will serve them as long as I can, the Hekima girls were my first Kenyan love, and I feel very much at home when I am with them. They are incredibly joyful girls and have a bright future by living at Hekima. It has been a pleasure for them to invite me into their lives and see them grow up so much in the past 3 years. I am thankful for all that the mums do to love and serve those girls, it is a huge witness to me as I continue to try and help the children here at Mogra. I would love nothing more than to share these children with all of you, so please save your pennies and make a trip out here, it is beautiful!

a fun weekend for the kids!

Last weekend we had a really fun weekend with some of the kids. On Saturday there was a fundraiser at a local international school and all of the proceeds went to Mogra. So we took the choir to the school and they performed beautiful singing and dancing, while there was a carnival type activity happening all around. The kids had a blast performing and seeing all the different people at this international school. It was unlike anything they have really seen before. And when parents found out who the kids were they were so generous to support them. They bought everyone lunch including coke (very exciting!) and gave them tickets to play games. It turned out a win win, because the kids had so much fun playing and people saw them having fun and more people came to play and spend money. They even had a few good laughs watching me and Alix jump rope, I don’t know why they don’t think we know how! It was really fun to be apart of that and see the community respond so well and support Mogra. My biggest complaint is always that the community here does not support their own people who are poor- and granted many of these people were westerners- but some were Kenyans and they were supporting the poor children. It was a nice afternoon.

On Sunday we had a BBQ for our college scholarship students. We were looking forward to this because most of our time with the students is strictly business and giving them policies and regulations, so this was an afternoon for us to have fun and relax together. We ended up grilling hamburgers and corn on the cob, a good old American treat! The kids were great, I don’t think most of them had ever had hamburgers, at one point they asked if the meat was “Ham” so we began calling them beer burgers instead! We also had to show them how to put the meat on the bun, and eat them together, not separate- with all the works of ketchup, mustard, onions and tomatoes! But they loved them in the end. I pounded the meat into paddies with one of the students, while Alix and a couple other students did the grilling. There were certain things that would have been nice but we didn’t think to buy like a flipper and nonstick spray, but it went well.
After we ate, Forrest, the head of Change Lives Now played music on the guitar and we did some dancing. I have gotten used to being the laughing stock of Kenya, and my reputation stood strong while dancing with them. I attempted swing dancing with a few of the students, which is not like anything they know how to do. It was quite the sight, but they had a good time!
The whole day was just a lot of fun, with a lot new experiences for the kids. We are really proud of them, as college students here study and spend way more time at school than any college students in the US. I am excited to see how they do and how they are able to change their lives for the better after this program.

Growing Shamba

This week we started a very exciting project that I previously had zero knowledge about! We began, and will hopefully complete the construction of 2 green houses on the shamba(farm) tomorrow. This has been a long talked about project, but at last an angel was sent to guide and begin it.

For a brief background let me explain once more what the situation here is like. There are 140 children living at the orphanage and 860 additional children at the school that we are trying to feed daily- free of cost to the families. That is 1000 mouths to feed and I am sure you can imagine that is a lot of food and even more money to spend. We started a feeding program back in October that guarantees 1 meal a day at school for all of the children for 2 years. It has totally transformed the school attendance and the quality of learning. But it is limited to 2 years, so in order to look to the future, the reality of a greenhouse started to surface.

This is when Nimrod, our brilliantly smart, motivated, economical and caring angel came into the picture. He cannot be more than 28 years old, and has the most impressive resume including being the head farmer at 2 major farms and a university degree in agriculture. He is the farmer down the road from us so we went last year to see how his greenhouses were constructed and the rest is history! He jumped right on board the Mogra family is volunteering his time to plan our 3 acre farm. He is here everyday, for at least 5 hours making estimates, plans, and now planting in the farm. I could go on for hours about how sweet he is!

But the crazy part that I am learning is how incredible green houses are. Nimrod has it planned so that within 2 months the greenhouses will pay for themselves, which cost about $3,500. The tomato plants he is planting will provide 1000 kgs of tomatoes every week, providing enough for the school, orphanage and even more to sell! Within 1 month, there will be enough onions for an entire year, so the rest is excess to sell. He is planting broccoli and cucumbers to export, and give to the children, along with watermelon, mangos and banana plants. The spinach-like plant that the children eat will never have to be bought again. He is planning for life stock, once we can afford a few cows, goats, fish etc. We already have 40 rabbits, and his plan is by August to have 300 in order to eat them! His plan is incredible, we will be completely sustainable within months, and able to make a living by selling items. It is so exciting to see that the children will be cared for, and they will be helping the process and learning. He is teaching them how to properly farm the plants and watch the growth.

The biggest problem is the water, right now it is so hot and dry here I thought there is no way we could afford to water all the plants. But Nimrod has that figured out! He installed a system to take the water from a nearby river and water the plants… free!

I am not at all an agriculturalist, but it is interesting to see what an art this is, and how much you can actual formulate from seedlings! Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how it turns out by the time I leave!

Toto Emily

This is Emily, our youngest girl at the rescue center. She is just darling, 4 or 5 years old. Like any kid, she will have a beautiful dress on, and within minutes it is destroyed with dust and dirt, but doesn’t take a notice to it. She mostly plays with the small boys, who are very rough and dirty, but there are always laughs and giggles, and Swahili words that I don’t understand! Her English has gotten tremendously better since I got here in September; she is a bright girl, learning quickly. When I see Emily, I see light and love, she is a true joy to have around. Sometime I forget about the environment she is growing up in because she is so happy. It is hard for me to know these kids don’t have mothers and fathers to continuously care for them, but they care for each other very well.

Last week I had the opportunity to be Emily’s mother, and I was not quite ready for the task! She was playing with the other 2 small boys, Karioke and Brian and I am pretty sure one of them pushed her, though they won’t admit to it! And she fell hard, so hard that her front tooth was nearly knocked out. Blood, screaming, crying, pain. Ahhh it was a horrible sight, and I was the only one around to care for her. I ran to pick her up, blood pouring out of her mouth, and took her into the office to clean it up. Flashbacks of my own teeth being pulled out came to mind (thank you mrs march!), and I remembered the pain and agony of that, not an enjoyable time. So I tried to be very gentle with her but she did not want me touching her mouth one bit. Her limited English did not help my cause either. Finally I was able to get a good look at her mouth, and immediately started freaking out, it was a permanent front tooth that was hanging on by the root. That is why she was in so much pain. Getting a bit nauseas myself, not handling the blood and the idea of a permanent tooth falling out, I just rocked her until she stopped crying so I didn’t have to make any major actions. By this time it had caused quite the scene, and the cook was told to come and yank the dangling tooth. As soon as he walked in with a rubber glove Emily was hysterical again. Not giving much thought to it, he pinned her down and jerked the tooth out. Simple and quick. Oh but she was not happy. We gave her a drink of water and a pain killer, but she wouldn’t allow a cotton swab or anything to clean her mouth up.

With the combination of the painkiller, crying and being rocked, she fell right asleep and I took her to bed. At this point we had examined the tooth and decided that it was NOT an adult tooth. PHEW! She was too young and had just lost her other front tooth in a playing accident so this one was bound to come out soon. That was a huge relief for me, I had no idea what to do about a lost adult tooth, but a baby tooth was no problem at all!

Unfortunately, the tooth fairy does not visit Kenya so there was nothing exciting to wake up to the next day. But she was totally fine and proud to show off her new gap to me in the morning! Who would have known what had happened the night before. It was quite the experience for me, I guess for those of you who are teachers you have similar experiences of dealing with such trauma and not always knowing how to handle it.

It’s always an adventure here, living with 140 kids, many issues come up! It is fun for me, but I am definitely still not equipped to be a mother of 140. One more lesson to check off my list!
love to you all!

Poverty & Education

If you have been to Europe in the last 10 years there is something very strange that you will notice. There are no children. This is due to a few cultural reasons that I do not need to rant about now. But it has made me think a lot this week because I have experienced the exact opposite here in Kenya.

There are children, and babies, EVERYWHERE!

It’s beautiful, obviously, because it is life. But unfortunately these young children and babies are not being cared for properly. The reasons for having babies varies, but the overwhelming majority are not able to provide for their children in the poverty stricken areas, that is the biggest poverty.

When I walk through the Mathare Slum in order to get to school I cannot help but notice the huge number of children that are roaming the slum and not in school. So I did a data collection and study in Mathare this week on why children are not in school to try and see what is necessary to get the children to go to school. I studied 2 major neighborhoods, and interviewed children themselves and parents of children who are not in school. The result was an overwhelming answer that I could have guessed: POVERTY.

Well, obviously, poverty does affect every aspect of life. But to be more specific the 2 major reasons that I found children were not in school were,
1. Young girls, as young as 5th grade, become pregnant and they are forced to stay at home and care for their baby. In our school alone, we have 6 girls that are mothers, and were able to come back to school after their baby grew a bit, 5 girls who left school because they couldn’t find anyone to care for their baby, and we have 2 girls that we know of who are pregnant now. This is huge. In the areas that I collected data from I interviewed 5 other young girls, 6th-10th grade who left school after having a baby and have not returned. Now many of them think they are too old to return to the class where they left, and probably will not return.

The 2nd reason is that mothers cannot afford to send their children to school. This results in keeping the children home to run the local business, watch over other children while the mothers go to work, or simply having children roam the street for scraps to sell. This happens way more often than I could get realistic stats for. The teachers in my school said that in the 4th grade and below they know of at least 15 students that this happens to. And they said as the children get older they begin to cover up what they are doing and won’t tell the truth so they have no real idea of knowing how often it happens. But as I walk around the slum, I can tell you it happens VERY often.

I was very frustrated with these results because Kenya has issued FREE government education for all primary students in order to encourage children to go to school. However, it is not really free! The government schools add on small fees, books, uniforms etc that add up to nearly $45 a month for 1 student. This may not seem much for us westerners, but for a family of 6, living on $1 a day, that is unreasonable.

I believe education is absolutely the key for these children to escape poverty. However, when education has not been valued in their families, and poverty is ruling the family, the cycle of uneducated children will continue.

But, with all things, there is hope! I am very excited to report on one of the families I visit. It was a single mother of 3 children, she is HIV +, and I suspect the youngest 2 yr old child is as well. The 2 oldest children, ages 9 and 6 just received a sponsor from the UK in order to attend school for the FIRST time, ever. They were admitted to our school on Friday, in the nursery class (with 3 yr olds) since they have never been exposed to structure, discipline or education. We are hoping they will be bright, quick learners so we can pass them on through the lower grades and hopefully catch up with their proper age mates. I am just excited that we got 2 children off the streets and into the classroom. Hooraayy!

You may only be a drop in the ocean, but without your drop, the ocean would be less. Mother Teresa

22 beautiful years

“22 yrs have gone, 22 beautiful years, completely changed direction in the blink of an eye…and I have no idea what waits for me in this 23rd beautiful year, I don’t know what to expect but I feel like its going to be the best greatest adventure yet.”

Sooo, I feel a bit vain writing about this, but it is my blog, so I guess I can write about what I want! These lyrics are from a songwriter, Kevin Heider (kevinheider.com), who graduated from Franciscan University and I love his music- and he sang about his 23rd birthday, which I happened to experience this weekend in Kenya.

I am sure many of you can relate in saying that birthday’s are just not as exciting as you get older. Alix, the other volunteer with me here just turned 23 this week as well so we could relate very much on this issue. The bells and whistles seem to be gone and it is just another year older, with the expectation that you have your life figured out. And that just doesn’t seem to be the case here! I am a bit in denial that I am 23, that seems so old, especially considering I have no idea what the future holds, and I still live with my parents, oh dear! I have loved this year, being in Kenya, traveling, and seeing friends and family, but supposedly I cannot do this forever. I am applying for different jobs after this Kenya adventure has to come to a close in just a couple short months, but I really don’t have any plans. It’s a crazy place to be, having no idea where I will be or what I will be doing. But everyone goes through it, and I think much of it will depend on my outlook. I am deciding not to have any expectations, to just accept everything that comes as a gift, and be thankful. I have led an incredibly exciting and blessed 22 years and I can only hope that it will continue. If anyone has any other wise words, please share them!

On a more fun note, I did get to celebrate my birthday with the beautiful children of Mogra Star. I bought little biscuits to give to the kids, and they had a fun party of singing and dancing to help me celebrate. Usually they pour water all over the birthday person, and I am thankful I missed that tradition! I love all of their singing and dancing, so it was a blast to do it in celebration of my birthday, and share with them. On Sunday I went to Megan’s house (my wonderful British lady friend, who has 3 kids) and we had a delicious lunch her husband made, topped off with the most delectable chocolate cake, decorated by her own kids! It was so sweet of them to help me celebrate. Her kids made me cards and sang me happy birthday- and of course helped to eat the cake! Then we went to the pool for a bit in the afternoon. Coming from Cleveland, this is definitely the first birthday I have been to the pool and gotten sunburned! I really love going to Megan’s house to be with a family, it is rejuvenating after seeing so much brokenness day after day, so this was perfect. I am thankful for her and all the love she has shown me (and thank you mom, I know you sent her an email… or 2!)

In this 23 year of my life, it is a blessing to be able to look back and see all the people who have given me so much hope, love and life. A big thank you needs to go out to my parents for being so loving and supporting- even when I have no idea what I am doing! And thank you to the rest of you who have and continue to support me, your prayers and love mean the world to me, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. I send all my love across the ocean to you. Peace and love, christie

karibu kenya (welcome back!)

Well, I’m back. And it is great. Kenya, and specifically these kids are apart of me forever I think. I love them a lot and feel very much alive.

It started off interesting trying to check 2 over weight bags, but with a little smile and some guilt conversation about the children in Kenya, the nice Delta lady let me get away with 8 lbs over without paying. Not too mention my 50lbs carry on bag too! Thank you to everyone who gave me donations, there was an overwhelming amount! Both checked bags were packed to the brim with socks, underwear, shoes and school supplies to give these kids. They will be SOOOO excited, I cannot wait! I had an easy 24 hours journeying over here and was picked up by the wonderful British volunteer, Megan, who so dearly takes care of me. It felt like I had never left, we could catch right back up and get started on things. I had a tiny bit of culture shock with the insane driving, but I don’t think I will ever get used to that craziness.

The kids were just wonderful to me, excited to see me again. It gave them a lot of hope too, because I followed through on my word. I told them when I left that I would be back, but I didn’t know when. So the fact that I did indeed come back was huge for them. They are not used to being able to depend on people. They really trust me. One boy, Gabriel is the best, he is a sophomore and has an incredible faith- I think he will be a preacher, even though he wants to be an international businessman. He sat down and wanted to tell me about the past month for him, and how he is overjoyed to see me again because he knows God answers prayers, like bringing me back. He is excited to start off a new year (their school year begins in January and ends in Decemeber), and when I asked him what he looks forward to most in 2011 he said “focusing on my education so I can see you in America in 10 years. He has quite the 10 year plan let me tell you!

I spent most of Saturday afternoon reading story books to the little ones. The boys especially were loving the books. I doubt they could understand the majority of the books, but they loved being able to climb on me and that I would give them attention. It makes me sad to look at each of them knowing they never have or will have anyone to read stories to them before bed, but I guess that is why I am here to love them. If anyone is looking for a mission trip, this is a simple one, loving children!

I am truly humbled knowing that people actually read this blog… I figured I was writing for mom, but apparently others read it too! I hope you will continue to follow me for the next 2 months, I have a feeling there is a lot in store. Please comment and let me know if you have any curiosities or want me to talk about a certain issue/topic. There is a lot so I would love to give you information you want to know about it!

Stay warm, I’ll be thinking of you in my 80* sunny weather (its better than ideal coming from Cleveland!)

Happy New Year Update

Hello Everyone, Happy New Year!! It has been a month, and 2 major holidays since I arrived home from Kenya, what a whirlwind looking back. It has been wonderful being home, I am taking full advantage of all the American treasures (showers, driving cars, eating delicious food, hanging out with family and friends and even some sledding with the crazy cold snow!) My adjustment home was fairly easy, and I think that was due to a couple major reasons.
1. I was ready to come home. As much as I loved it in Kenya, I knew that my time there had been beneficial but I knew I needed to go home and do more research and fundraising in order to move forward in my projects. 2. I am able to see the beauty that I experienced in Kenya, and I am also able to appreciate the convenient accommodations in the US. It is true, there are MANY unnecessary ‘needs’ that we are too attached to in the US, but there are also great living conditions that I don’t think are bad to have. It is our job to find a happy medium between those wants and needs. I have been taking special note to those since I got home. 3. I missed my family and friends!

One aspect that has been forefront in my mind since I got home is definitely the poverty that I encountered, that is what many people want to hear about. As I have talked to people about the incredibly poor conditions that I saw in Kenya it shocks most people, as it should. But I also find myself sharing about the rich faith the same people have, which is just as shocking. Reflecting on the people I met, it is very clear they must have a great faith in order to live, where as we in the US have so many ‘things’ to keep us going we often forget about faith. I wish that everyone could meet these people and put their faith into perspective because we are being robbed of a beautiful thing by being given so many other things. Especially this Christmas season, when we all stress about gifts (some that we don’t even want to give), I wish we could slow down and realize it is NOT about the things we have, but it is all about our faith and trust in God. Take a moment, think about it. What can you do to simplify your life and grow in relationship with God?

Being home, I have spent time doing research on grants and ways to improve the orphanage and school in Kenya, along with fundraising ideas. It has been a huge learning experience for me, as I continue to learn about grants and topics I don’t have much knowledge on. I am always accepting any advice or suggestions, so if you have an expertise advice please send it my way. I am also trying to find businesses that give donations to projects like I am working on, if you think your business or organization would be interested or has grants available to apply for please let me know! I am continually humbled when I have to ask for so much help, and of course always asking for money! Money… a necessary evil!

With the future always hanging over my head, and a popular question by most people (included my mother!) I thought I would take this time to also share with you my immediate plans, and ask you to continue to join me on this adventure. I am blessed to be able to return to Kenya in the middle of January in order to continue the work and projects that were started. I am excited for this opportunity to return now that I am prepared for what I will be doing and a bit more experienced- not to mention I miss those people like crazy!
As was the case when my parents came to visit, I will be taking donations back with me. So if you are in the Cleveland/Pittsburgh area and would like to donate any clothes, socks, shoes or school supplies please let me know or drop them off at our house before January 10th. Nobody seems to like to shop for boys (especially high school aged) as much as girls, so they are always lacking items- underwear and socks esp. Ages 3-21 for boys and girls!

Thank you for your continued generosity and support. You will remain in my prayers, and I ask you for prayers as I continue to serve. Peace and Love
christie