Kenya: Yala, our final distribution

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 11

We returned to Yala for our final distribution - 5,000 bedkits in 9 distributions. At each distribution there are a number of speeches by officials related to the school board, local councils, and the clergy with Alan greeting the kids with a speech in Swahili about SCAW.

After the speeches, the children would recite poems or sing songs. In today’s ceremony the students present a play of about 20 minutes dealing with HIV/AIDS. This theme came up at each primary school that we visited, both in the entertainment of the children and in the recipients of the bed kits. A second recurring theme was to attend school daily and remain in school to provide more future opportunities.

Today we pack for our departures tomorrow. We fly out of Kisumu at 8:15 am to Nairobi where we will attend a regular Rotary meeting. After that we start going our separate ways. Edie heads to Tanzania and a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our thoughts will be with her as she makes her ascent. Elisabeth is staying in Africa for several more weeks, continuing on volunteer work with a project with orphans in Uganda.

The other four will leave Kenya Thursday night on an overnight flight to Amsterdam. Theo will remain in Amsterdam for a week before returning to Canada. Don & Chris will return immediately to Ontario with Chris getting ready for some R & R in Florida, while Don will head home to sort out the hundreds of pictures that he has taken on the way. Some may even appear on this blog. Alan flies from Amsterdam to Minneapolis and on to Phoenix, arriving approximately 40 hours after flying out of Kisumu.

Many friendships have been made with the team and with the overseas volunteers. Alan took care of the photos for SCAW, Don the photos (professional quality) and label counting for the team, while Edie, Elisabeth, Chris & Theo had a magic touch in lining the children up for the photos, always with a happy word to each child. While exhausting, it is sad to see the end of the Kenya SCAW Distribution of 2009.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Kisumu Distribution

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 10

Heading to the west coast town of Kisumu, we left the drought stricken regions and passed through many tea plantations, a major export of Kenya. This area does not have the tourists found in some parts of the country as the area does not house the animals that are such a tourist attraction. Being on the edge of Lake Victoria, it is not surprising that this area had both greater humidity and a greater concern over malaria as there are more breeding grounds for the mosquito.

The Kisumu distributions took place in a town, 45 minutes to the north, Yala. On the first day, the majority of the children in this rural school appeared without shoes. Following the distribution, Don, Edie & Theo made a visit to the home of President Obama’s paternal step grandmother where they were able to communicate with her through the use of an interpreter. They described a gracious lady who has become somewhat of a celebrity since her step grandson with whom she has had little contact became President.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Nakuru, AIC Church

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 9

The Nakuru distribution at the AIC church site provides a model for all distributions. At each site we are concerned with the children sitting in the hot equator sun while waiting for the photos. We encourage children to stay in the classrooms or in the shade although that is not always possible. At AIC, tents had been provided by a private organization such that the children were seated in the shade while listening to the traditional African music in the background.

The bed kits were stored in an orderly fashion in the church pews, which facilitated an orderly flow of photos and receipt of bed kits. Following the distribution, the music was turned up and we joined the children in a conga line dance throughout the property. This was an upbeat organized by the local volunteers.

Following the distribution we visited one of the homes that had received a bed kit last year. To get there we had to drive down streets that seemed paved with garbage before we found our destination, two rooms housing 8 people at the end of an alley of similar structures. The bed kit was one of the few possessions for the family and no doubt, the mosquito net was used by more than one child.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Catchup Day

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 8

Sunday – this was our day of rest to catch up on laundry, paperwork and sleep, we thought. We are staying in the Lake Nakuru National Park for this respite and found ourselves on the road a 6:30 am for a safari. It was well worth it as we saw an abundance of wildlife – giraffes, hippos, buffalo, rhinos, warthog, ostrich, waterbuck, gazelle, wildebeest and flamingos (1.3 million in this park) – but no cats. We will try again this evening before dinner as we prepare for tomorrow’s distribution in Nakuru before heading to the west coast town of Kisumu.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Ndabibi Primary School

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 7

Driving an hour in the Naivasha Region over roads made for mountain goats and donkeys we found ourselves at the Ndabibi primary School, sitting in the midst of what appears to be dessert due to the drought that has hit Kenya. Taking photos in the area was a challenge as on our right were brush fires, on our left was cyclones of dust rising hundreds of feet into the sky and above us was the bright sun found on the equator.

The ground was hot and yet over 50% of the children were not wearing any type of foot covering. We did surveys of the parents to determine the most beneficial parts of the bed kit. To our surprise, due to the temperatures in the high 30s, many felt the blanket was the most important item as the temperature drops as much as 20 degrees in the evening.

We had hoped to make a quick exit as we faced a 2 ½ hour drive to our next destination but had to go through the formal thanking ceremony. Two hours later, after several lengthy speeches while the children and the parents sat patiently under the hot equator sun we were free to leave. It was an eventful drive to Nakuru as we saw much wildlife upon the way.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Bedkits in Navaisha

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 6

This was the first SCAW distribution in Navaisha, the leading grower of roses in the world. The distribution was held at the Sher Karaturi flower farm that employs 3500 and has five greenhouses, each stretching for a half a mile.

The children were dressed in their colourful pajamas waiting for our arrival. 350 of the children were orphans and 80% were effected by HIV/AIDS — they or a family member. The incidence of AIDS is high here as it is a migrant population, often away from their families that make up the bulk of the work force.

At the end of the distribution we had a tour of the farm that exports 1.4 million roses each day to the flower auctions in Amsterdam.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: 700 bedkits in Kilimani

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 5

The fourth distribution took place at Kilimani at Winner’s Chapel. We are happy to report that we are all healthy and enjoying our days with the children. It was our largest distribution day with 700 bed kits. With 23 items in each bedkit you can imagine the packing for today’s distribution.

The Winner’s Chapel volunteers were very organized and in good cheer. Throughout the distribution the children were singing.

We were fortunate to depart early enough to reach the Rift Valley in daylight – spectacular and the ladies were delighted to find road side stands to find souvenirs.

Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: 600 bedkits in Thika

From Kenya 2009 Photo Album

Day 4

Buffeted by the swirling red soil that is so characteristic of Africa another 600 children received bedkits in Thika, the largest slum outside of Nairobi.

Field marshalling the entire event was the very enthusiastic and energetic, Eleanor. Her commitment to the most vulnerable children of this country was inspirational to all of us.

This was very evident when we visited the “Action for Children in Conflict” shelter that she operated, a residential group home for children, ten children to each bedroom. Chris distributed t-shirts and soccer balls that had been donated by the Rotary Club of Barrie, Ontario.

Edie Haslauer
for Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: First distribution complete

We received a phone call Monday morning from Chris Pratt of the SCAW 2009 travelling team to let us know that the team arrived safely and finished their first distribution in Kibera, Nairobi and everything went smoothly.

We received the following on Monday evening:

It is early Tuesday morning in Nairobi and I'm listening to the dogs barking, the roosters calling, and the crows cawing.

I was planning to send a blog after our first distribution but in the ninety minutes prior to our dinner I was tied up with other things. I have blogs already on the computer and I am just waiting for a few photos to add to it. That will be a priority after today's distribution.

The first distribution went reasonably well with large numbers of special needs children which provided some challenges in getting the children to sit straight and look forward. That being said, seeing hundreds of children with HIV/AIDS or being orphaned or from single parent homes will make all donors feel that the children are worthy recipients. The team seems to be coming together with everyone participating. There are still difficulties with the time adjustment for some but that should end soon.

All of us appreciate the work that has been done behind the scenes and the opportunity that we have.

Oh, oh. It is starting to pour rain and the distribution starts in two hours. Time for Plan B!!

Alan Ingram
for Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Bedkits in Mukuru

Day 3

After a half hour drive through an extensive slum area (Mukuru) where people lived in abject poverty, arriving at the distribution site was akin to an oasis in the middle of a desert. The distribution was held on the grounds of a vocational school that taught catering, carpentry, sewing, electrical, and computers.

There was an opening ceremony in which the children made a very moving presentation with song and poetry. Our leader Alan surprised us all by addressing the children in Swahili which elicited laughter from all when he mentioned that their teachers were babies when Murray Dryden started Sleeping Children Around the World.

The distribution was well organized by the host committee – 600 bedkits. One of the local volunteers, Kevin Muhinga, whose favourite movie is the "Jamaican Bobsled Team" hopes to compete in the Vancouver Olympics in speed skating although with the lack of ice rinks in Kenya, his main training is with in line skates.

Edie Haslauer
for Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Distribution One

Day 2

Kibera, the largest slum area in Africa with over 1,000,000 residents was our first distribution site. This was one of the suburbs of Nairobi that was greatly affected during the riots following last year’s national elections that caused the delay in the 2008 Kenyan distribution. School attendance figures posted on the walls revealed that the school lost one third of its students during the uprising.

The chosen children for our first distribution of 600 bedkits were a most deserving group – children with AIDS, orphans, special needs children and children from single parent families, often grandmothers. Prominent throughout this primary school, so deeply affected by HIV/AIDS, were posters and paintings suggesting abstinence of sex until marriage and social acceptance of those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. A warm welcome was received by the school staff. They also made a plea that we come back next year.

Six hundred children will sleep better tonite.

Alan Ingram
for Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Kenya: Day 1

After our long flight from Toronto to Nairobi via Amsterdam, the team was up early to plan for our meeting with the Overseas Volunteers at noon. Before attending the meeting we visited the site where the U.S. Embassy had been bombed on August 7, 1998, killing 218 people and causing the relocation of the U.S. Embassy out of the downtown area. This was a moving experience for each of us, so familiar with 9/11 and brought home the need for international understanding and cooperation fostered by so many organizations such as SCAW.

The meeting with the Overseas Volunteers, the Rotary Club of Nairobi, was valuable in renewing the close relationship between SCAW and the Rotarians, a necessary partnership for the successful completion of a bed kit distribution. It was quite evident that countless hours had been spent by these volunteers in finding sites and deserving children, trying to improve the quality and quantity of contents of bedkits and making the Canadian team feel welcome.

We left the meeting with enthusiasm for the future days of meeting with the children.

Alan Ingram
for Team Kenya

Leave your comments here.

Pune: 2009 Photo Album

Leave your comments here.