D-Day ... departure day !

So ... all packed, prepared (we hope !), well innoculated, ready for the off ...


Goodbye my friends and family; YOU have made this possible with your generous donations towards the project, so for YOU  I will do my very best in Kisumu.  

I'll try and keep in contact ... but it may not be possible; however, I shall be keeping a diary, and can relate the whole story when I get back !  

My love and hugs to you all ...


Erokomano, gi oriti ahinya !  Nyasaye ber !  

Packing ... AGAIN !

A friend suggested I got one of those spring balance things to weigh my bags with, as another friends bathroom scales just wouldn't do the job ... so I went down to town at 8.30 and got one in the hardware shop, for £3 !  

So one bag was over-weight, and the other several kg under ... so MORE repacking !  

Now I just have to run round the house making gestures with the vacuum cleaner, water my plants, and tidy up.   My good next-door neighbour is feeding my cats and generally looking after everything.  She's a gem !

I might even have time to relax with a video this evening ... what shall it be ?   'Out of Africa' is perhaps most suitable !    Though considering where we are going, maybe 'Slum Dog Millionaire' might be a better choice ...

Friends

I've had friends calling me, emailing me, visiting me and chatting on a online forum I belong to ... all day !   I had no idea I was so popular.   But people are so kind, and wish me and the team well.  

One friend sent this, which brought a little tear ...

It's a marvellous thing that you are doing and even if it makes a difference to only one life it will be worth it. It is bound to be hard not only physically but also emotionally, but I'm sure that your strength and faith will carry you through the experience.


I've packed ... (several times !) ... had a hair cut ... done the ironing ... got photos of the family to take with me ... as a friend says, 'only two more sleeps' ... then we set off !

Kenyan national pride

The flag of Kenya is broad stripes of black, red and green, separated by narrow white bands, and with crossed spears and a Maasai shield in the centre.   Its very symbolic of the country and its independence struggle in the 1950's.

Black represents the majority of the people; red, the blood shed in the freedom fight, and also the colour of the soil of Kenya; and green for the fertile land.   White is the colour of peace.  The shield and spears represent Kenyas determination to defend the country against outside aggression or internal turmoil. 

I learned about this when my children where at school there !   We also had to sing the national anthem every week at their school ... standing with our hand on our heart, facing the flag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RRLLaq2VM8&feature=player_embedded

These are the words ...

“Oh God of all creation
Bless this our land and nation
Justice be our shield and defender
May we dwell in unity
Peace and liberty
Plenty be found within our borders."

... or in Swahili ...

“Ee Mungu nguvu yetu
Ilete baraka kwetu
Haki iwe ngao na mlinzi
Natukae na undugu
Amani na uhuru
Raha tupate na ustawi."

If you want to check things while I'm gone ...

This is where to find out what our weather will be like.  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/796



We heard last night that we ARE being met in Nairobi, and that we have a basic house to live in ... no electricity.   Nothing said about if it has a nearby water supply.   We'll soon find out ...

Good job I packed my two little wind-up lights.   Wind-up technology has made such a difference to the third world ... wind-up radios, lights, phone chargers ...   Our group leader is taking two solar lights and a solar shower ... should be useful !

Today I'm off to the dentist, and also to get loads of photos of my family, and also of my 'son' Josephs family, to see if its possible to trace them when I get to Kisumu. 

The anti-malarials I'm now taking don't seem to have any side effects, which is good. 

Nyasaye ber !

Oh and I'm also going to visit a young lady of 17 that an old Kenyan friend of mine, now living in Thailand, is sponsoring.   What a small world we live in !

The project so far

This photo is of the state that we think we will find the carpentry building in when we get there ...

... and this is Paul, a carpenter, who started the project in Kenya.

We have been warned that these projects often change during their building, so we are prepared for that !   It has occured to us that if the building doesn't have doors and windows yet, it might be better for us to get those made and put in place, so that the downstairs can start to be used; the roof and an upstairs could go on in another project later this year.

Its getting nearer !

I've spent a few hours today doing all those little fiddley things which you think are going to take minutes ... but don't !

Like photo-copying my passport and visa and medical/innoculation certificates and CRB certificate and driving licence.

Like making a list of peoples emails and phone numbers.

Like making a new strap for my under clothes money wallet.

Like finalising my will ... well, it struck me as a sensible thing to do.

Like registering with the FCO so they know where we will be ... just in case.

Etc. etc. etc !    It all takes time.


I wasted half an hour looking for my glasses ... I finally found them in the loft !   I'd been up there earlier looking for something to make the wallet strap with ...


I keep checking on the weather for Kisumu ... there seems to have been a few weeks of extra rains after the end of the rainy season, but that now seems to be coming to an end.   Humidity is dropping (right hand column), and the days are getting hotter !

Tomorrow or Saturday I start the anti-malarials ... that'll make it suddenly seem that this IS for REAL !!

A phone call

The daughter of a friend called me today; she had worked in Kisumu a few years ago on a fortnights charity placement via her university.   So I was able to talk to her about her experience.   Its was the street children which affected her too.  She went out several nights to a sort of 'soup' kitchen, which gives food to the children.  She said there were probably none over twelve years old, and all high as kites on glue.  

Such a tragedy; children are the future of any country, and for so many to be living like this, with HIV/AIDS, no education, no families, and living and dying on the streets ... such a tragedy. 

I have struggled and thought about how third world countries could tackle the problems of street children ... and I have found no answer ...

We can but pray ... and is that enough ??

Catching up

Its been nearly a week since I blogged !    I think I upset myself, dreaming about and thinking about the 'feral' children.   But its something that has to be faced, both mentally and in actuality when we get to Kenya.

What's happened this last week ?

Well, I held my 'austerity' lunch for the village elder statesmen/women !   We had spicey parsnip soup, and cock-a-leekie, with delicious home-made bread provided by my #3 daughter ... I have to confess to having a disaster with the bread the night before ... I baked two dozen cannon balls and two large bricks ... the (newly bought) yeast was dead !

We had a final meeting at HQ ... and I received the medical /first aid kit we have to take with us for our own use.   We have enough drugs to start up a small hospital !   Anti-biotics, pills for constipation, pills for diarrhoea, anti-septics, syringes and needles, IV kit, malaria testing kit ... as well as all the usual first aid stuff.    All this I have divided into four so that we can each carry some of it; in the event of a bag being lost, we haven't lost the whole kit.    We have also shared out the carpentry tools I'm taking, and the clothes and bra's !   I hope I don't have to see young D. explaining why he is carrying assorted bra's at the customs ! 

I've now reached virually £2,500 in fund-raising, which is over my target, so thats good ... and I repeat my heart-felt thanks to all my friends here in UK and around the world who have helped in this way.  The dollars, the yen, the baht, the euro ... all have been converted into £££. 

Now I'm trying to decide what books to carry with me to read.   Big decision ... should I take old favourites, or new ? 

Jesus wept; we learn about 'feral' children ...

This is a terrible phrase describing children of which I learned the meaning at our last group session on Sunday.   We met with two of the organisers of HATW, and were discussing street children.  In Kisumu (and I expect other cities all over the world where children live on the streets) there are really two groups of street children.     There are those who come from extremely poor families where the children are encouraged onto the streets to beg ...  yet DO have somewhere to go back to at night, where there is some sort of inadequate family life.

Then there are the 'feral' children.   I could weep at such a word ... yet it describes what these totally homeless, family-less, love-less children are.   And they have to survive however they can; they are effectively the rats of the human population ... they live on the rubbish dumps, in doorways, in drain culverts ... I could weep.   I can't say any more ... its too upsetting to even think of any child, any children having to live like this. 


So the teenagers we will be working with and for whom the workshop will be for, are the first category of street children ... those who DO have some sort of family.    These are the street kids for whom there IS some hope if they can find work to support themselves and their families.  

We are being encouraged to go and meet the children of the night who have no homes, who steal, beg, eat rotting food, sniff glue ... I will find it very hard to do so ... and what can we do for them ?  Nothing ...

One gleam of light is that workers from Pandipieri Mission do go on patrol and bring any girls they find into the mission, to see if they can be helped or put back with support into their families rather than drift into prostitution and pregnancy.   But the hardened glue sniffers, like alcoholics here, have to WANT to change their lives before anything can be done for them.   Many if not all of them are orphans, many are HIV positive.   The mission cannot force them into accepting help; as with alcoholics they have to make the decision and come into the mission themselves. 


Please read more about the mission here ...

http://www.hopeforafricanchildren.org/New/Country%20Programs/kenya_orgs_pandipieri.html

I've got there ! THANK YOU FRIENDS !

Today we have our last general meeting at HQ ... and we have to present our 'papers' (NOT, we are told, to be long or of MA standard !) on a project we researched.  I've done one on Health Care and Services in Kenya.

BUT ... I'm most excited by the fact that I have reached my target sum for fund raising !   £2250 was required ... and I still have some money promised from friends abroad and in this country, and there's the austerity lunch I'm doing on Tuesday.   Any more money that comes in will be put to very good use ... more bricks, some more nails ... it all helps !

I've had money from friends all over the UK, and Australia, Canada, USA, Greece, Singapore, Japan ... friends are so supportive of what I'm doing, and I feel very strongly that their support will be with me as I work at whatever I have to do in Kenya. 

I've also been donated or have found for myself ... carpentry tools (my fathers from the 1920's !); a laptop, which my son is 'cleaning up' and re-installing suitable programmes; numerous bra's of various shapes, colours and sizes ! ... childrens clothes and books, and a few other odds and ends which I can give to people in Kenya.

Its all coming together !    And less than 20 days to D-Day !

Thoughts ...

January 4th (Happy New Year, blog readers !) ... so its 24 days until D-Day ... departure day.


I've been reading some more about Pandipieri on the internet.    If you go to Google maps, and try and find it, you won't ... but if you can locate Kisumu, then Pandipieri which houses 300,000 poor people is the scattering of little spots around the eastern boundary of the city, near the rubbish dumps and sewage works.   The irony of the position of the site of the town isn't lost on me !  Rubbish ... and sewage ...

In 1977 a young Catholic missionary founded the Pandipieri Catholic Centre.   Their core philosophy is based on three principles. First, solutions to existing problems must come from within the community; they should not be imported from outside. Secondly, if you want to be part of a solution, you must be part of the community. And thirdly, resources used must also come from within the community.     Although a community of Christians established the Centre, the beneficiaries of the projects include people of all faiths.


So going as a group of well-meaning Brits, are we going to be able to follow the philosophy of the centre ?    Well, the solution to the problem of street living boys is to start to teach them trades; Paul the carpenter who has begun the project of the workshop comes from the town, so yes, the solution is being generated within the town.  
If we want to be part of the solution ... well, we WILL be living in the town, so we will be part of the community.  
And thirdly ... resources from within ... this is harder; we are supplying the money for this project, as well as some of the work, but the main resources are the African workmen, and they come from within the community.

So yes, we will be fulfilling the centre's philosophy !   I'm wondering if a mere month is enough ... shouldn't we be there for six months ??