Day 5
Today we returned to the desperate slum area of Mathare, located north of Nairobi.
At the Kiboro Primary School we experienced many heart stopping moments as we photographed and distributed your 800 bedkits to the beautiful children who were brought from many schools in the area.
The SCAW team, accompanied by our local OVO representatives, then walked from the school to the humble home of Boniface, a recipient of a bedkit in 2007. He is a grade seven student who was proud to have us come to meet his mother and sister in the Mathare slums. There, in his 8 X 10 foot tin-walled home without water, he showed us his mattress and mosquito net that are used regularly.
We had to pinch back tears and show Boniface our joy to feel so welcomed in his home.
Day 6
On Saturday, June 21, we were at Grissa Primary School, in the rural town of Thika located one hour north of Nairobi. Slums are in many areas of the country and this industrial town was home to the second biggest slum in Kenya.
Despite a slight mist of rain, 800 bouncing, dancing, smiling, and joyful children from the streets, handicapped homes, and nearby schools totaling 11 different districts arrived all at once for their gift from Canada.
This was a well-organized distribution, where all children were given a hot lunch, with music and activities: just a big party in the school yard. Even the goats showed up nibbling the grass.
What a joy it is to have our team leader, Duncan, playing the cazoo and the rest of us singing "When You’re Happy and You Know It," with 800 children all holding hands in a circle: a true circle of friends of all ages. What a party we had!
Hats off to the volunteer Rotaractors who showed up and led the kids through the process with a smile, holding their hands and hoisting the bag onto the wee childrens heads to be carried off.
During the distribution inside, parents and the curious were held outside the gate. We lined up all the recipients with their bedkits to release them all at once. The line appeared to be the tail of a colourful kite -- oranges, blues, yellow and greens -– a rainbow of love, safely escorted by Security into the slum area where their parents were waiting.
Janice Gillespie
for the 2008 SCAW Kenya team.
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