Kenya SCOPE - March 2010 Update

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Happy St. Paddy’s Day, dear family and friends.....

This Wednesday marks the third week of our time here in Kenya. Currently we’re in Kisumu, staying with our friends the Schmelzers (Dan and Patty - Dan is a Lutheran pastor, both are ex-Califorians) who run a program for street boys who abundantly number in this semi-”resort” town on the shores of Lake Victoria. As of about 3 weeks ago the police are now rounding up the street kids, jailing them in a detention center, and notifying all kid-focused agencies in town that they have boys. The idea is that some NGO will advocate for each boy, provide him services and get him off the street wherein theft, glue-sniffing, etc. entrenches the kid in a way of life leading nowhere positive. Just as an aside, and of cultural interest, Dan has now also become a major grower of a multi medicinal plant called Moringa which contains all sorts of vitamins, boosters, etc. giving needed supplement to AIDS patients, fortification to diet-deficient folks, and further more it serves as a restorer of good sleep patterns. Don downed a cup last night, and lo, he slept till 5:30 this AM - a miracle, as some of you well know!

And as for our little Mom and Pops world; it continues to expand - but more about that later. Upon arrival we spent some days in Nairobi once again trying to sever the chains which hold our 40’ container of 55,000 books and school supplies. To no avail! And it’s pretty apparent at this point that the Mombasa shipping agent is negligent and has some other agenda at this point, which we’re still not privy to. Don may even fly to Mombasa on Monday to stir the pot; it is most frustrating! But on a positive note, one of the very minor upbeat experiences in Nairobi involved taking some of the WEEP (Women’s Equality and Empowerment Project - an NGO program started by HEART where we stay while in Nairobi) women on a field trip to the AMANI (Swahili=hope) facility - another women’s well organized and developed project founded by an American woman to aid poverty, uneducated ladies wanting to develop skill in sewing. At this point in time there are 2 or 3 outlet stores in the US for the very lovely African cloth items made by these women.

They come to the AMANI center, learn skills, can buy their own machines to work at home, receive medical care at the center, and find support in the group/community experience. I thought the WEEP women would benefit by seeing what’s possible, and also get some ideas about how to expand their own sewing skills. AMANI also has a cafe on site, so the ladies and I lunched in style. They loved it! (You can google AMANI and note how efficiently their “quality control” department operates - always an issue here in the developing world!)....Another item from the Nairobi days was our attendance at the Brydges Children’s Home 3rd graduation ceremony for their teen girls’ skills program, and a view of property purchased to construct a compound housing all phases of their expanding operation giving new hope to orphaned kids. We think the director Rosemary is terrific, and so as a sideline, we always visit and give a little support - sponsor a couple of kids - buy a few needed items, etc. It happened on this visit that Mama P became the graduation speaker, donning cap/gown, the whole banana. What a riot!

And then we took off to western Kenya, to our beloved Kisii - the town with not one memorable restaurant of appeal to the western pallet - but with Kenya’s best, Tusker beer, still at the unbelievable price of 100 Ksh for a large bottle (about $1. 25). There are compensations everywhere! As some of you may recall, we’ve developed 5 libraries in the Kisii area alone, with 5 all set to go, just needing the books still within the infamous captive container, to fill the shelves. Our field coordinator, Evans, has done a great job of directing people in the renovating of classrooms, painting, etc. We visited a couple of these “old” schools, and then met with parents/staff/youth from some of the 15 schools targeted for partnership this year. That number is a very ambitious goal, folks. (And that’s just in the Kisii area!) Sometimes I, the humble, silent wife, think Mr. Howard is nuts, but then remember we must practice what we preach - dream big. The target of 15 is not impossible; the need is incredible, so I guess there’s really no discussion. Amen!

Hopefully, you can access some of photos I’ll attach....While in Kisii we put on a “launching.” Everybody here knows the term. It means the first step in a larger project, but this first step is a big deal. Our launching involved the distribution of “sanitary towels.” Major cultural difference here is lots of people, including men, talk about the girls’ need for sanitary products, how girls stay home from school when they don’t have the resources nor the money, how this hygienic need continues to be one of the top priorities when we ask schools what their needs are. The Rotary/Lyons clubs of Kenya, plus HEART, have a deal whereby they can secure a year’s supply for 300 Ksh (about $3.50/$4), so we’ve supplied the very needy girls at each of our schools with the year’s supply. Our Rotarian friend, KP Doshi, wanted us to “launch” while in Kisii - spread the word, get donors, give out towels, whoop it up. We did! Over 200 people came, 3 schools each got enough for 30 girls, and a bunch of girls who just showed up each received packets. An AIDS soap-making widows’ group provided wild dancing/singing entertainment; the press took footage, and we coordinating committee headed for Tuskerville at the end, and collapsed! You get the drift!

One of the new little Kisii schools is Nyabioto Primary - very poor with 463 kids and 92 of them in Kindergarten. Of this number 98 kids are total orphans, no parents alive! It wrings the heart, you guys. And the school classrooms have nothing but mud floors, one room has a collapsed side wall. Also, when the school was able to build some new latrines (very different from our quaint little “outhouses” of old American farm days), the opening from one of the old latrines was never sealed. Our alarm system rang loud and clear, with a slew of little kids on the premises, and some of them tiny. I hope there’s no follow-up story of some little tyke stuck. (Remember the scene from “Slum Dog Millionaire”?) There are many issues related to school here. At Nyabioto one of the parent volunteer jobs is to “smear” the classroom floors - maybe one or two per week. “Smearing” is the process of combining cow dung and mud into a cement-like paste, then without shoes on, using feet and hands, slurping and spreading the smear all over the floor. This hardens in about 6 hours, and wa-la! a sort of new floor appears, eliminating some of the dust and mud clumps which develop when anywhere from 40 to 60 kids are squished into a small room with wooden benches, 3 to 5 to a bench.

The kids come, they’re enthusiastic, they give it their best shot with their exercise books into which they copy what the teacher says - if they have a pencil! You know what, folks, in the midst of this poverty and struggle there is a charm about the kids, the teachers, and the new very sharp head teacher. This is a memory safely guarded which compels us to rev up, forget any inconveniences, and look forward to the mega book drive we’ll continue when we return to the States April 12. So, all of you out there, if you’re in the Denver area and want to get involved in any way, call Lila Nigh in the Arvada Sunrise Rotary club and she’ll encourage you and set you up. Lila came with us last year and she has intimate knowledge of the scoop. (303-601-3038 or lila@arvada.org). Even if you’re not in the area and want to collect books, help with funds, come with us (wouldn’t that be fun!), contact Lila, or one of us - hey, we love hearing from interested people (donhoward12@gmail.com). If you receive this, you’ll have my contact! And we’re very serious about inviting you to join us. Debbie P had come twice, Molly (who collected 5,000 books at Legacy HS) and her dad Scott are coming, along with another daughter Lindsey and some other folks, to spend time at Miriri school in Kisii. They fell in love with the place during visit #1, want to return and work there for a couple of weeks. There is a sweet magnetic force operating in this African world; come and experience it!

If we wrote about every one of our schools, each with its own little story, this narrative would be voluminous. But there is one mini adventure worth sharing before we close. Last year one of the rotary clubs here recommended a school, Wasamo. We didn’t have a chance to visit last fall, but found out it is located on an island in Lake Victoria - a huge fishing community with 250,000 people and 26 schools. Oh my! So off we ventured at the beginning of this week, literally by land and sea, into the world of foam floor mats, mosquito nets (sorely needed), no electricity, no running water, etc., etc. at the Abasuba Community Peace Museum - dedicated to peace, obviously, but also to preserving the Suba people’s culture and language. It ends up that we’re acquiring another field worker, Jack, “curator” of the museum who choose 5 island schools for our organization SCOPE to partner with, and in which to set up libraries. Oh, and one little orphanage too, the SHALOM orphanage with 130 kids. Maybe too much, you say, but hey, you only live once - right? Anyhow, we traveled by boat to another part of the island, trekked about 2 miles up to Wasamo where the boys’ dance group royally entertained us, and the faculty and parents met with hopes for the future. We try and be as realistic as possible, emphasizing that SCOPE (School Communities Offering Projects that Empower) doesn’t give handouts, will provide training within the partnering agreement that community/school members implement the technologies leaned, then train others. There can be some start-up costs given after the trainers have fulfilled their agreement - good faith effort. Those start-up funds are repaid, then given to another beginning group. That’s it in a nutshell, but you get the drift!

(A day later) Don flew to Mombasa this AM, to work on the container issue, and I visited 2 well respected agencies in Kisumu (sort of a hot bed for NGO headquarters - at least 5 decent restaurants might be a locating factor), and pitched our SCOPE (501c3 aspiring) project, checking if we could “partner,” gain info on how things get done here in Kenya, and glean the thinking about what works best with extreme poverty communities. What we’re finding is that all worthwhile agency roads converge in the same direction - no more handouts, communities take ownership, leadership must emerge, transparency is critical, oversight a must, and start-up funds are small and always repayable! It took us a few years to figure all this out, but it seems we have a pretty solid direction; we’re just small!

Pat returns to Nairobi tomorrow, languishing for Pops to reappear from Mombasa with hopeful news. You know it’s Lent, of course, and I can’t help but think of Pharaoh and his obstinacy in refusing to let the Israelites leave Egypt. I’m looking for frogs, gnats, lizards, toads, etc. But, just in case this isn’t a viable solution, maybe storming the heavens with uninterrupted petitions will do the trick. Whatever you can think of, we’d appreciate the effort.

And so, dear ones, be well. Treasure your lives and live them with gusto. This existence thing is such a gift, an adventure, and a most tremendous obligation. Let’s all give it our best shot and savor every day - a most blessed gift! We’ll write again; thanks for tolerating the length of this......Peace to each of you.......With affection, Don and Pat