our weekend in nairobi

Aside from some amazing food - a REAL salad, and some surprisingly tasty ostrich meatballs.. we also got to experience some wildlife last weekend. Though, they were pretty used to human presence, so I'm not sure how wild  it really was. We might have to wait until safari for that.

Firstly, we went to the Nairobi City Park. It was pretty nice, with flowering purple trees, a pond, and a garden with benches. The main reason we went there though.... MONKEYS!!!!

They were tiny, but very grabby! Kyle was opening a bag of peanuts that we bought to feed to them and they stole them right out of his hand! Once we got used to them it was a lot of fun, having them climb on us and feed them from out hands. We fed them so many peanuts. The guy selling the nuts was trying to convince us to buy a Coke to feed to them, but we decided that might be unhealthy for monkeys.

After that we ate downtown at a fish a chips place, that didn't serve any fish - and they also thought it was ridiculous that we would order fish....

Next we headed to the Giraffe sanctuary to feed and look at some Rothschild Giraffes - an endangered species! There are only about 300 of them left I think - but that is up from 120 or so thanks to the rehabilitation efforts of the sanctuary.

It was really cool - we got to see the giraffes in their habitat. Kyle and I even kissed some!! It was pretty cool. Kyle loved it.

On Sunday, we got to visit with Matt and he told us some awesome stories about his climb of Kilimanjaro.It sounded awesome! Some Thompson people should know Matt, but for those of you who don't, He was an exchange student in.. 2003? I think, and it just worked out that he was in Nairobi when we were!  He also got us breakfast, Thanks Matt! It was delicious.

Then, we hopped on a matatu and headed back to Nakuru. It was good to see the kids again.

I'm holding Paris - she is a total sweetheart!

just a quick hello.

Hello friends back home!

We have had some people asking us for more information about the garbage slum where we have been placed, and Pastor Antony has a website - www.garbageslum.org and there is a group on facebook - if you search garbage slum it should be your first link. There are some of the profiles of the children on there, as well as more information about the option to sponsor children for boarding school. Please take time to check it out and read the stories.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words of encouragement during our time away.

-Kyle and Kate

week so far

It has been a busy week.

On Monday, we began "classes" at our make-shift school. Each of the kids got their own notebook to put their name on. They seemed very happy to have something that was theirs.

The children also came up with a name for the school right away ; Gioto Sunrise Academy. I made them a sign the next day. We began with ABC's and some objects that began with each letter.

Tuesday, we did a shapes and colours lesson, but the kids were more interested in crawling all over us. Even so, we were able to see that a few of the kids were learning the lesson. Next, we brought some books out to read with the kids. Kyle read one about science, and I read a fairy tale. The small groups gather around us to listen to the story, but it is hard to pay attention in a classroom with no walls separating the groups, or even walls to isolate them from the distraction of the trucks at the garbage dump.

Our classroom.

Wednesday was Outreach. This is a program that Fadhili runs so that volunteers from some of the other projects in Kenya can see some of the rural area's projects. Most of the volunteers came in from Nairobi based projects. They went to an IDP camp, which is a camp of internally displaced persons. They live in a government camp because the violence that followed the 2007 elections forced them out of their homes. Many of them lost all of their possessions, and their houses were burned. Next, them came to Nakuru, where we are. They came to the garbage slum and we explained the situation here. We took them to see some of the houses that the people make out of garbage, and they had time to meet some of the kids and play. This was a good day for the families and kids because outreach brings flour, cornmeal, and biscuits for the kids.

Outreach

Thursday, was a tough day. Some of the children were fighting with each other. Sometimes we feel like we aren't doing much to help their situation here. The best way to help them is to get them out of the slum. Sending the children to boarding school gives them an education, and allows them to sleep in a bed every night and eat 3 meals a day. The guardians of the children need help too, they need to be able to make money and support themselves. There is a project underway that will hopefully achieve that. Many of the women in the slum make bags out of recycled plastics. Another volunteer is working with Pastor Antony and his wife, Ann to sell the bags in New York. During outreach they were able to sell about a dozen. We hope that this project is successful.


We are off to Nairobi this weekend, for some rest, relaxation, and hopefully to see an old friend. Not that you are old Matt. :) We also will be seeing some wildlife, so come back to check out pictures of that!

peace.

some pictures

The Garbage slum

 

Kyle playing with one of the children at the slum.

Some more of the children.

The water truck came today, so families from the slum brought containers to the pump and got clean drinking water.

The adults mostly took care of handing out the water, but any small hole in the hose was used as a water fountain for the children. They were very happy.

 

Later, In the afternoon, we gave out clothing with the help of Mama Mumbi, she is the leader within the slum. Most of the children in need got at least one item. 

Today was a good day. It was overwhelming, but good. The founder of IVHQ, Daniel Radcliffe came today with the water truck, as well as some of the administrators of Fadhili.. It was Dan's first time seeing the situation at the garbage slum, and he would like to come back in a couple months for a longer stay. Tomorrow we are going to church with Pastor Antony and Monday we will bring some writing lessons (ABC's) to the slum. We hope to be able to give them more scheduled school time to give them some sense of a normal childhood in their lives that are anything but.

-Kyle and Kate

our placement.

Hello everyone,

Since our last post, Kyle and I have moved from Nairobi to Nakuru. We met our host family, Ann and Pastor Antony, and their daughter Joy. There are three other volunteers placed here, and we getting along great. We also managed to get a cell phone (they are really inexpensive here) so we can call our parents every few weeks. Although, they are probably reading this thinking.. "you better call more often than that!" We love you.

Today Kyle and I went to our placement, the Gioto Garbage slum near Nakuru. It is like nothing we have ever seen before. We took a matatu (small 12 seat bus with 20 people crowded into it) to the slum and walked into the most extreme poverty that I have ever seen. As we arrived, a few of the children came out to greet us. They are amazing. Their spirits are high, and we were able to do some colouring and recite some of the names of colours in english. Most of the children only speak a small amount of english. They mostly speak swahili. There is a fenced in small area that we use as a classroom, and some of the boys went to a field to play with the soccer ball we brought.  That was in the morning.

At noon, a garbage truck comes and most of the children and some of the parents to go out to look through the new loads of garbage for food, clothing, and anything they can use. They leave the teaching area at this time, because the garbage trucks only come once a day, so this is their chance for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As well as daily lessons, we are trying to establish a more scheduled kind of school, where the kids can learn writing and reading. It is hard because the land is government owned, so no school can be built there, and they cannot leave the garbage slum which they have made into their home. It is heart breaking.

The other volunteers here have started an initiative to bring the slum a water truck so everyone can have safe drinking water. We are having a truck come tomorrow. Also, the clothing that we brought (thanks Carman MCC!!) will be given out to the children tomorrow. We are doing a few projects to help their situation, but the volunteer's presence here is fairly new, so some of the families do not send their children to our makeshift school. Hopefully they will be able to see the work that we are doing, and start to trust.

Another initiative that the volunteers here have started, along with Pastor Antony, is to sponsor the kids to go to a boarding school. This is the absolute best option for them - and as of now there are about four children sponsored for the coming school-year. Their term starts in January, and Pastor Antony thinks that with more people hearing about the slum and the kids, we will be able to send two more before the school term begins. Sponsoring one of the kids from the garbage slum is about 720/yr.


Other than our totally eye-opening and overwhelming work day, there is not much else to say. The Rift Valley is very beautiful, and hopefully next time I post I will be able to share some photos.

Stay safe,
-Kate