Two Orphanages

St Ann’s

Tilesetter working on the
washrooms at St Ann's

Today we visited St. Ann’s orphanage in Nakuru.  A Better World has been helping at this orphanage ever since the post-election troubles in 2007.  At that time, Eric was here.  Nakuru was engulfed in the violence and, as a result, there were many orphaned or abandoned kids.  He was trying to relocate these children to safe places, and subsequently met Irene, who ran a small orphanage in Nakuru.  Despite the good it was doing keeping a number of kids off the street and caring for babies, the orphanage was facing eviction.  They had some land outside of town, but no funds to build.  At that time, an organisation called With My Own Two Hands (http://www.withmyown2hands.org) raised the funds needed to build a facility on the land.  It looks great - a clean, airy building with lots of room.  However, the work is not complete: there is still work to be done here - plumbing fixtures, tiles, a kitchen.  ABW has recently completed the construction of a school on the premises - two early childhood development classrooms and some washrooms.

It was a real joy to listen to the children perform some rehearsed songs for us.  Some of the gals in our group sang and danced with the kids for a good part of the afternoon.  We toured the new school, where some guys were setting tiles in the bathrooms.  The work they were doing needed improvement - the walls and floors weren’t levelled, they were leaving voids under the tile, and the tiles were butted without grout joints.  I spent some time talking to the guys, showing them photos of tile work on my phone, and describing the steps.  Hopefully these guys will take some advice and modify their process.  Really, it will be a lot easier for them, and they’ll provide a much better end product.

 

       

Next, we accompanied the children from the school back to the main residence, where we gave them some toys - dolls, books, soccer balls and footballs, and we watched for a while that jubilant chaos that is only produced by happy children.  Soon, we said goodbye to the kids and headed into town for the night.

A note about these kids: it is hard to visit an orphanage and keep your heart in the same state as when you arrived.  The kids here are each so precious and loving and in need of love.  They have each been through a cataclysm of some sort, whether they remember it or not, and that is always in the back of your head as you interact with them.  And yet, these kids are alive: the amount of joy and contentedness and connection they express to their world would see or raise any kid from anywhere.

2007 Election Troubles

Eric shared with us another story about the horrible period immediately following the 2007 election.  As I’ve said, he was in Nakuru when the violence broke out.  Many people, fleeing their homes, ended up in the stadium here.  Eric had only been planning on staying for a week or so, but when the political situation here went sideways, he decided to stay to help.  He and another ABW partner, Ray, went down to to the stadium to find thousands of people, most of them with nothing, camped out.  They were concerned, in particular, for the many pregnant women, some of them about to give birth.  Over the next few days, driver Charles ran a baby delivery service - transporting women in labour from the stadium to the hospital.  Because Eric had only planned on staying a week, he didn’t have the funds to help with the tragedy here.  The numbers of people taking refuge in the stadium kept growing, and they were in great need of provisions.  Out of desperation, Eric walked into a mattress store, owned by an Indian family.  He told them that he needed mattresses and other provisions, but that he had no money.  So, he asked them point blank for $10,000 in credit.  They agreed without hesitation.  I can’t imagine having someone from another country walking into my store in Red Deer and boldly asking for a float of $10,000.

A pair of BWCs stare menacingly at the boatload of mzungus

B.W.C.’s

On the way to St Ann’s, Eric surprised us with a stop at Lake Naivasha, a known hippopotamus hangout.  We were ushered into small boats and we pushed off into the murky waters.  It was a little intimidating at first, because the lake had risen and flooded the forest, and the surface of the water was hidden by a choking layer of intrusive weeds.  Somewhere down there lurked bloated water cows who have been responsible for more deaths in Africa than lions.  I didn’t want to be killed by a bloated water cow.  Not one bit.

Thankfully, I wasn’t.  

Lake Navaisha

EAMO

The East Africa Mission Orphanage is the most developed, functional facility in ABW’s Kenyan project roster.  It is beautiful here.  The property is a large, well-treed compound with flowers and gardens and large, well-constructed buildings.  After many of the other schools, this place is luxurious.

The boys dorm

There are two hundred orphans housed here.  Ralph and his wife, the Australian couple who started this place, came to Kenya with their children 16 years ago with a humanitarian purpose.  They had been in Kenya for a year or so, and had tried to start a feeding program for street children.  It largely failed - if kids are cared for on the street, then they’ll go to the street.  They decided to foster a child, and ended up with two.  From there, it grew and grew.  Soon, this family had 55 foster children living with them in their house!  Ralph began to look for a larger property.  He found a large house and property for sale that was built by a local politician.  He went to the man with an offer - Ralph proposed that he move in immediately, pay rent for a year, and at the end of the year, he would have the funds to pay for the house.  The politician agreed, and the big group moved onto the new property.  After a year, Ralph didn’t have the money, but the politician was understanding and granted him a six month extension.  After that, Ralph still didn’t have enough money; this time, when the seller came back, he was less understanding - he brought another buyer.  Ralph laid it all on the line: he told the man that he could come back in a week, that God would provide the money, and if He didn’t, then the whole crew would move out and the politician would have the house back.  Amazingly enough, that week a number of donors came through, and $260,000 - the price of the property - was raised.

Eric and Rick survey the work on the new
Kenyan Collicutt Centre

The facility to accommodate 200 orphans and 30 staff is understandably huge.  There is a large, open-air dining hall donated by the Collicutt family.  This is Kenya’s very own Collicutt Centre!!  There is a modern boy’s dorm building built by the Loxdale family that also serves as the chapel.  There is a large garden, school rooms, a nursery, latrines, a playground, and many outbuildings.  The compound is sprawling, but well organised.  The kids were in class when we arrived, and we had a few minutes to explore.  Then we went to church.  It was Saturday, and this is a Seventh Day Adventist orphanage, so we participated in a wonderful service with the kids.  Let me tell you, these kids can sing!  The African call-and-response style, coupled with the extraordinary projection from some little bodies made it an emotional experience.  Singing Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art together with all these children was a highlight of the trip for me.

Some of the boys
at EAMO

Classes in session at EAMO

Afterwards, I hung out with a few of the boys - we toured the grounds, jammed on guitar, and ate lunch together.  These boys are well-behaved, articulate, and they look out for one another.  They ask questions, and engage in conversation.  At one point I had a large crowd around as I showed videos on my phone of my kids skiing; that was a big hit.  All in all, I was sincerely impressed by the children - they were healthy, bright, joyful, and engaged.  I came away feeling hopeful.

Tea Country

As we continued northwest and kept climbing to higher elevations, the air grew cooler, and the landscape changed.  Our stop for the next two nights is the town of Kericho, right in the heart of tea country.  There are tea fields all around us, watered regularly by the plentiful rain, and there are pine forests on the hills.  The land is lush and productive.  In some ways, it reminds me of Vancouver Island.  What a contrast from Lodwar, a few hundred kilometres north.  Over the course of this 300 kilometre stretch of highway, A Better World has built a school every 50 kilometres; each school has been paid for and is being supervised and supported on an ongoing basis by a Central Alberta individual or organisation.  

The tea farms are huge here - mainly owned by multinational corporations like unilever and lipton.  Much of the world’s tea supply comes from these this area.  Unfortunately, the field workers are paid very poorly - about $150 a month, which is not sufficient for much more than the bare basics.  Most of these workers are not educated, and the big corps hope to keep it that way.  An uneducated workforce is an inexpensive workforce.