Lili's Trip Report - Kenya March 15 to April 8 2008
(written 19 April 2008)

This is to let folks know how our trip out to Nairobi and Bumala (Western Kenya) went last month. Mostly it was simply wonderful.

Mercy Children's Centre Kawangware Update

First a quick Mercy Centre update: the Kawangware 'campus' looks the same as ever, no permanent damage from the country's troubles that ended not long before we arrived. If anything the neighborhood was a bit tidier than it had been when we last saw it back in August 2007. There are a couple of 'open spaces' where their once were buildings. We were told these were burnt down in the riots, but the government did an amazing job of cleaning up the mess. I guess people are really trying to move beyond the violence.

So things seem about the same. Well, the baby fruit trees we had planted are all gone, but the shade trees are still growing. A new latrine has been dug because the older one that we had dug was used up. The teachers have an office now as well as the five or six classrooms (taken from one long room) that are kept full of students of the different class levels.

I met with the teachers and then helped a bit with some of the classes a couple of days. The teachers said that things are really tough now (e.g. higher food prices) and so Charles, Pius and I agreed the time has come to give everyone a regular salary, though this will require a significant increase in our budget. We promised to begin providing a regular monthly pay of KSH 3000 from May. This is only $45 but it is nearing a typical base salary for teachers, and with this income the teachers will no longer be considered volunteers. We all agreed that in exchange for receiving a salary they must now make teaching their primary responsibly and that they must focus principally on the educational and development needs of the kids.

NEWS FLASH - several short videos from Bumala are now on You Tube - you can search for them under "mccentre".

This change also means we will also now be in a position to let teachers go if they don't do good work. Sadly, for Kenya, there are plenty of people who would be willing and able to work for this paltry wage. So we are now planning to hire only qualified teachers rather than just accepting volunteer help from our neighbors. Our main mission must continue to be the education of the children and this requires a focus on quality teaching. To that end I even took the teachers out to an appreciation lunch…to sort of launch their professional careers with us.

I brought nearly 50 children's videos (e.g. Disney) to provide a bit of fun for the kids; in the longer term we hope that we can even set up a movie night in the neighborhood (with a projector) as an income generating activity. I also provided some professional computer training to the teachers so that they can now begin to educate the students on computing, as we plan to get more computers into the school. They were very happy to be educated on this exciting new technology.

Feed the Children to Assist MCC Kawangware

Probably the biggest news is that we've had a great development regarding feeding the kids – The organization "Feed the Children" (FTC) has conditionally accepted the Mercy Centre's application and should begin to provide regular breakfasts and lunches in Kawangware soon. We will have to make several physical improvements to the school and ensure secure food storage in order to meet their criteria for assistance. So we are making some quick investments to meet this criteria, including renting an additional secure space which will house the food and serve as a new kitchen. This set of investments will provide a large payoff in terms of improved lunches, breakfasts (which are new) and savings to the budget from reduced food expenditures. FTC will also do things like provide de-worming medicines, so there will be many benefits.

MCC Bumala Update

My daughter, Sadie, and I also went to Bumala to see how things are going at the newly constructed school on our "Bumala Campus". They had finished building the main school building and moved in October 2007, but we hadn't been back to see it until now.

Here's the scoop:

• The campus is really quite beautiful, with lots of baby trees planted and a beginning educational vegetable garden. I bought 5 new pawpaw trees and some bags of seed to add to the mix.
• They had a new water well dug and it is quite good, because it accesses water all year around. But it needs shoring up inside and around the top as well as a water extraction system, I bought two aluminum buckets to help a bit there.
• The school building, with 4 classrooms, is great - cool and breezy and quite pleasant! The mud-wall construction seems to have worked out fine, though it does get cracks and slumps here and there that need regular attention. But Charles and Pius are making sure things are maintained well.
• The kids all look very healthy and happy though many were barefoot – they go through shoes fairly quickly! I bought 186 new pairs of shoes (for both Kawangware and Bumala) so that should help everyone's feet be clad through 2008. A number of kids have skin rashes so we are asking our colleagues Todd Lorentz and Cristelle Audet (One Child's Village) to bring a few medical supplies when they travel to Kenya in June.
• On another front, the use of firewood for cooking seems expensive, unsustainable, and a lot of work for the Matron, so I took two teachers to Nakumat (the big department store in Kisumu) and bought some Chinese made gas cookers that really fit the needs of a large school. They were quite cheap, about KSH 3000 each, so I bought two and the tanks of gas to go with them at 6000/= each (they will be much cheaper to refill than they are the first time you buy). I am frankly very pleased with this appropriate technology shift, and so is the matron who enjoys the lack of smoke.
• Sadie took some great videos of the kids singing and dancing for us – we have put a few of these up on youtube, search on "mccentre".
• Going forward, we are hoping this year to get the Bumala school an electrical hookup and begin construction of more buildings, such as an assembly hall/cafeteria and a guest house (so that all of our friends and supporters can come see MCC for themselves!)
• Finally we are trying to get Sadie's famous musician friend (Eric Wainaina) to perform his new musical on 'our campus'. He has a grant to perform all over Kenya but he hasn't been able to find venues very easily. It is an awesome musical that he may be taking to London soon, but in the meantime he may perform it for our little school and the whole town of Bumala. We are pretty excited about that.

A quick note about Kenya's recovery

I have neglected to mention the bigger political picture that I saw in Kenya. It looked at first like the country has awakened from a bad dream, everyone is trying for business as usual and the Kenyans are ambitious about their work. But when you look into the eyes of some of the more vulnerable people you see a kind of shock that I think would qualify as post traumatic shock syndrome. They've certainly experienced trauma. For example, our driver had to stay at home near his tiny shack in a slum and sleep out side of it so that they would not burn down the house with him inside. Another example is from our old cook who luckily speaks several languages fluently because she answered her door several times to gangs of hoodlums from each different tribe who were on door to door rape and murder campaigns. She was unhurt because she spoke whichever language they spoke to her and assured them that she was of their tribe. But her next door neighbor was slashed to death for being of the wrong tribe. Can you imagine?

Of course the children of Kenya saw all this. It is therefore very important to provide safe havens and teach peace and tolerance. We have talked to the teachers about completely avoiding any violence (including corporal punishment) in the classrooms.

On a happier note the rainy season has been plentiful and that means new life to the Kenyans so hopefully they are putting the trauma behind them.