The final countdown

Today is Wednesday, and in three weeks time I will be on my way back home. My trip is quickly drawing to a close and I am struggling to get everything done that I want before I leave.

 This morning, another volunteer, Burnadette, and myself went to visit the World Vision offices in Makuyu. I have been driving past this sign for weeks now and finally decided to check out the office, because I have given to World Vision in the past. I wish I had gone earlier! As it turns out, World Vision left the area last year, but the organization is committed to capacity building and left in place a team to carry on the work done by World Vision. We met with the director and the secretary of a local NGO who work in the offices now. They essentially allocate resources to four major CBOs (community based organizations). CBOs are run by the community and employ locals who volunteer their time. The four CBOs have focus health (mostly HIV), education, water, and food security. When World Vision was here, they sent money to these CBOs and they have done a lot of really great work in the area – the staff told us that World Vision had made an immense impact in the area and would never be forgotten.

 The director and secretary told us that their most pressing need is donations – World Vision, as such a massive organization, had the resources to fund the CBOs effectively, and this small local organization feels frozen by lack of funding. We are going back to the organization on Tuesday morning to see some of the work done by the CBOs in the community, and to brainstorm ways we could help. One idea I have is to speak with Geoffrey about setting up a new volunteer position, where we send WWB volunteers to this NGO (the same way we send volunteers to the clinic or schools…this would be further outreach into the community and could create a potentially beneficial partnership for both WWB and the local organization). They said they need people who have experience in grant writing and people who can do project proposals. I have learned a little about this in my graduate program and I think that I might be able to help, at least a little. We might also be able to figure out a way to fundraise. The problem is that World Vision is a very well-known, transparent organization (and it does not hurt that your donations are tax-deductible). Its easy to donate to them, and its safe because you know your money is being spent well. If we could get volunteers working at this organization, it may promote transparency and we might have the opportunity to get more funding by spreading the word about their needs. In fact, I do not know how I might be able to help this organization, but I am excited to have the opportunity to work with them and I will be excited when I see what kind of work they do. This is the kind of work that I had expected to do when I arrived. I think that it would be great to set up a way for volunteers to come work for this organization.

Anyway, the past week has been flying by since my last post. I am feeling much better now than I did Friday, but still have a terrible cough from the typhoid. Friday afternoon and night I just stayed in bed trying to rest. Typhoid really just feels like a bad cold, and so I am on anit-biotics but I feel fine. As for my salmonella, I do not know if the doctor really diagnosed that correctly because I have not felt nauseas at all.

On Saturday, the orphanage had the sanitary pad program. I do not know if I have written about this before, but basically women and girls from surrounding areas come to visit the orphanage to get sanitary products and hear a lecture on women’s issues. The first time the lecture basically told the women some precautions to take to avoid being the victim of sexual violence, and the speaker also implied that by loving Jesus and being saved, you will be protected – from HIV, rape, etc. This is kind of a typical attitude that God blesses you as he sees fit, and that if something bad happens to you it is God’s will and you should accept it. So to avoid HIV, you would want to be a good Christian, and God will bless you. If you get it anyway, than perhaps someone has cursed you or you were not a good enough person. Its hard to brush this off as ridiculous as it is such a common way of thinking, but in a continent that is being ravaged by HIV, this is absurd. So this month, we had a mzungu doctor (Camille, she is volunteering from the US) speak about the reproductive system, and then she dispelled some of the myths about the morning-after pill and about getting HIV. After the talk, the volunteers convinced Geoffrey to let Camille and a male volunteer, Cory, each give a “sex talk” to the older kids at the orphanage. Since Kenyan schools do not really encourage sex ed, this is a great thing because it allowed the kids to ask questions and learn about the parts of the body and all that. It also gave the volunteers the opportunity to educate them on safety. Premarital sex is kind of generally accepted in Kenya, so it is really important to teach young kids about being safe to protect against HIV and pregnancy – if you simply teach abstinence, it will just not work.

Sunday, I went to Nairobi to watch the World Cup Final, which was fun. I went with Morgan, Laura, Josh and Jan, four volunteers, and we stayed a backpackers on the edge of town. It was really fun to get to watch the game at a place that had both backpackers and locals, and I met this really interesting guy from Kenya who was raised in Canada. He had an interesting perspective on development having lived in both African and Western cultures.

Tuesday, yesterday, I went on field work. We walked really far yesterday, to three different homes – and two of the families were not even there. The charms of this continent, I suppose. Eric makes a point not to tell the families we are coming, because then they will attempt to make chai or lunch for us, and they are already of very limited means. But the downside of this is that they do not know to be present, and so we basically spent an entire day walking to visit only one family. Eric really needs a motorbike so he can get out to the families more efficiently.

 The family we visited was the family of Catherine, one of the kids at WWB. Her father and step-sister and step-brother live in Gathungururu, and her father and sister are HIV positive. They cannot care for her because she is so young (her step-brother is a bit older). The sister, Felister, is sponsored by the orphanage. She is on ARV drugs, which means that her viral load – the amount of the HIV virus in her blood – is already high enough to necessitate her being on drugs. This is pretty bad, considering how young she is – maybe three years old. Felister was sick when we arrived, and considering the family’s poverty she does not get the proper nutrition required by someone living with HIV. Though she is sponsored, she gets the same amount of supplies as all other sponsored children (the orphanage divides the resources equally). They do this to be fair, but she clearly needs more than other children without HIV or living in more well-off homes. I asked Eric if there was a way to give her extra help, and he said that if, when I return, I wanted to privately sponsor her, he would ensure that her family receives money I send.

 Felister’s story is sad but not uncommon, and she is actually better off than most living with HIV because she does receive ARVs and additional support from the orphanage. But it is a terrible story, both for her and for Catherine, who now is alone living in a strange place and will grow up without a family. But Catherine is also very lucky because she is given schooling, clothing, food, medical care, and she has lots of people looking after her.

 Tomorrow I will be going to the Makuyu school to teach. On Friday, I will be finally able to spend the money from donations that I have received (the process of getting it from paypal to my bank account was a little tricky). Eric and I will be going to Thika to purchase soccer balls, office supplies, an apron for Grace, sanitary products, and get some things printed for the microsavings program. As I wrote before, a substantial amount of money will go towards Mwangi's hospital costs. Another volunteer ended up purchasing brand new toothbrushes for all of the kids, so I am asking around to find out what other things are needed at the orphanage. I am so grateful for the donations, and so is the orphanage. Everything I have bought has been so appreciated (when Grace got all the new stuff for her kitchen, she was just beside herself with excitement…and the kids who received sweaters were so extremely grateful).

As my trip draws to a close, I realize more and more how much I do not want to leave Africa and leave the children. Last night, Jane, one of the girls, gave me a note saying how much she loves me and that she wants me to come with her to visit her grandmother. It is so touching and yet so sad at the same time, because it is so unlikely that I will be able to see her again, and if I do it will be at least a year from now (I wonder if she would even remember me?). I am trying to keep as busy as possible to not think too much about it but the idea of leaving Jane, and Diana and Mwangi and Daniel and Julius and all of them behind just breaks my heart.

That is all for today. Thank you to everyone who continues to read and to everyone who has been so supportive. I appreciate it more than you know, to know that there are people back home thinking of me!! In three weeks I will be on the way home and its extremely surprising to see how time has passed.