i know that it has been a couple of weeks since my last post, and a lot has happened to me since then so brace yourself for a very long/interesting/emotional update!
during the week, i have been spending a lot of time in Kibera, which has been so incredibly wonderful! the families that we go and support are now recognizing me (to the kenyans, all of us muzungus - aka non kenyans - look the same) so it has been wonderful to realize that i am making an impact and they are happy to see me! i have gotten very attached to them all, and it will be heartbreaking to leave them! we have been beginning to train a new volunteer on the program, so that when heather and i leave he will be able to take over. also, i am planning on spending some time out in the rural areas of Kenya before i leave and we needed to have someone who is able to go out and keep providing food for the families we are supporting.
it continues to amaze me how generous that the people who have absolutely nothing are. the men who walk around with us through Kibera and keep us safe (essentially our bodyguards) are the sweetest guys i have ever met!! they live in Kibera (and have lived there for 10yrs) and live off the bare minimum, yet they are constantly asking what heather and i need! for example, they went to visit their families in northern Kenya (an 8 hour bus ride) for the weekend and asked heather and i if they could bring us anything back. we said no thanks, but they came back with pineapples and avocados for us from their family farm. although they didnt pay for them since they got them from the farm, they still could have used them for their own kids, or sold them, but instead insisted on giving them to us! it truly touched my heart that they wanted to be able to give us something when they have so little themselves!
this weekend was another dose of generosity, as well as humbling as i went on the outreach weekend put on by some of the guys who work with IVHQ. basically outreach weekend is two days of a whirlwind of activity! we traveled to three different slums in the area, as well as Hell's Gate national park. and holy cow did i learn and see a lot! (the picture to the left is of Abbie and I at the Great Rift Valley)
we left early on friday morning and first traveled to the KCC slum, so named because of the KCC milk factory that is nearby. this slum has been the site for a project that one volunteer has been working on for the past 2 years. the slum is home to about 6,000 people. of those 6,000 people, about 700 of them are children and of these 700 the school is able to provide education for 145. the kids that are lucky enough to attend the school, are also the ones that are lucky enough to receive food. the school provides porridge in the morning for the kids, as well as a lunch later in the day. without this assistance, most of them would not eat.
the thing that i found very interesting about the people living the in the KCC slum is the clean water situation. the volunteer who has been working there for the last two years was able to arrange for the slum to now have a source of clean water, but the people refuse to use it. the have a river that flows near to the slum that is literally black from pollution and trash, and that is what they drink. to them, the clean water tastes "bad" since they are used to the ridiculously polluted water which is, as a result of the pollution, "softer". because of their refusal to use the clean water, and their continued use of the horribly unsanitary water, the mortality rate for kids under 5 is extremely high. the good news is that marcus has also managed to buy some farmland for these people, so they are now able to support themselves and feed a good portion of the population as they begin to harvest some crops!
(if you are interested in more info on KCC you can check out the blog at: www.kccslumproject.wordpress.com)
after spending some time with the people in the slums, and playing with the children at the school, we moved on to the next stop on our weekend - Hell's Gate.
at Hell's Gate, we rode bikes for 7km to a giant gorge that we were able to hike through for about 2km, and then bike back along the trail. it was a beautiful day, and the bike ride was amazingly gorgeous, definitely worth the pain. to paint the picture for you imagine me on a bike that is ridiculously too small (basically my knees were up to my ears with every peddle of the bike, aka a clown bike) and riding along a road that was all loose gravel - which provided a nice "massage" as the boys so kindly put it. honestly, my butt has yet to recover. but is was definitely worth it! the scenery was amazing, and we got to bike alongside wild animals! at one point i had zebras on my left, and wildebeests on my right! we also biked past pride rock - aka the rock from lion king! it was wonderful to be out in the fresh air, and a nice change of pace from the emotions of the slums.
after we were done biking and hiking at the park, we headed to our hotel for the night where we were able to shower and get the layers of dust off us. it was my first hot shower in Kenya, so that basically made my night!! then we headed out to dinner and after dinner those of us that weren't completely wiped went out for a few drinks and some dancing! it was my first time going out in Kenya, and it was an interesting experience. the club played a nice balance of american music, as well as kenyan music so all of us found something to dance to. those of you that have spent some time out with me in lax know how much i love to request music and be all chummy with the djs - well no worries, i felt the need to do the same here lol. i made sure to request a good balance though, so that the locals wouldnt hate me! :) all in all, it was a good night!
the next morning we woke up early and bagged up a huge amount of food to pass out at the two slums we were going to visit. after an hour of bagging flour and cooking fat, we headed out to go and visit an IDP nearby. IDP stands for internally displaced persons, and most of these people are living at these camps as a result of the post election violence that occurred three years ago. due to the fact that Kenya still has a rich tribal heritage, after the election those tribes that were not happy with the results basically attacked those from different tribes and ran them out of their homes. many of these homes were set on fire, so the people that were forced out were only able to bring with them what they had on their backs. after this occurred the government provided tents for these people as temporary housing that was intended to last for 6 months. it has been three years and the first group of people has just been relocated 2 months ago. of the over 700 people living at the IDP camp that we visited, 28 of them were moved to permanent housing a couple of months ago. the rest of them live in tents in a giant valley. now you may think "hey its africa - its warm, tents wouldnt be so bad". wrong. there are two giant problems with these people living in tents. one - they are living in a giant valley, so when it rains it floods. i asked the women what they do when it floods and they said they gather all the children and sit with them in their laps until the rain goes down. the other major problem is that in the evenings it gets extremely cold here! for those of you that have joined in on the valley camping experiences, imagine living in the valley with the temps being how they have been the majority of the time we have spent there - but instead of toughing it out for a weekend, you have to do that everyday of your life. most of the children there are sick due to a lack of proper warm clothing.
after spending some time talking with the locals and passing out food (we were able to provide enough food for each family for a week), we packed up the van and headed to the last slum for the weekend.
the Gioto garbage slum was our last stop, and by far the WORST poverty i have experienced here in Kenya (which is saying something since i spend everyday in Kibera). the people who live here are literally living in a huge landfill. these are once again people who were dislocated due to post election violence, as well as many other circumstances. i dont know that i will be able to describe what all i saw so that you will be able to understand just how dire this slum is but i will give it a try. (for those of you that know me well, you know how infrequently i shed a tear....well when we arrived i couldnt hold it in. i cried at the site of how these people are living.)
all of these issues regarding access to clean water and food have been a breeding ground for other issues. one major one is prostitution. to make money so that they are able to buy food and water for their families, girls as young as 11yrs old make their way down to the highway every evening and sell themselves for as little as 10Ksh a night. this is, for many of them, the only way they can purchase drinking water or food. this of course leads to many unwanted pregnancies, as well as other diseases, but since they have no other choice or education on the subject, it continues.
at this point many of you may be wondering why 1. the government has not done anything to help these people or 2. why volunteers have not managed to help. the horrible thing is that the Kenyan government knows about these people living in the landfill, and once a year or so they come and shoo them off the land. but, since these people have no where else to go, they wait it out for a few days and once the government officials leave they head right back and start up again.
as far as volunteers go, they have made some immense improvements in the living conditions for these people with the limited resources and options they have. since the land is government land and these people are not allowed to live there, we cannot help them build any sort of permanent structure such as housing, a school, a well, or even a toilet. instead these people live in tents, or whatever they can build from the rubbish. their children do not attend school (except for the lucky few who have been sponsored by volunteers and their families to attend boarding school) they do not have clean water available, except in the form of a huge tank that gets donated once a month from the money we spend to attend outreach weekend, and the go to the bathroom where ever there is a convenient spot - adding to the already immensely unsanitary conditions!!
the major project that a volunteer is working on now is providing training on sewing for the women, and barbering for the men so that they may become self-sustainable with a source of income. his eventual goal is to fund raise enough money for a few plots of land so that these people may have an area that is not only MUCH safer and sanitary to live, but also be able to build themselves a more permanent structure to live in.
i was simply blown away that people can live in this manner, literally eating trash and living without clean water. it was overwhelming!!! it is literally inhumane, and horrifying that these people are forced to live this way. what is even more sad is that most of the locals in the area dont even know that this slum exists. i was absolutely flabbergasted, and i hope that i was able to illustrate this for you all in some way.....
(if you want more info, or are interested in sponsoring a child from the garbage slum you can check out: www.garbageslum.org)
all in all it was a VERY humbling weekend, and made me exceptionally sad, frustrated, and horrified that these kind of living situations exist, as well as grateful for the life i have. i arrived back in Nairobi both physically and emotionally drained. some days the amount of need that i am surrounded by beats me down and i just feel like there is no end to the projects that could be undertaken. i am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity that i have to be here, and i look forward to the projects that i have the opportunity to contribute towards over the next 2 1/2 months!
after an incredibly intense couple of days, i spent sunday going around to a majority of the animal parks in Nairobi with a small group of volunteers and a couple of the wonderful kenyan guys we have had to opportunity to work with through IVHQ. we went to 4 parks, as well as a stop at the maasai market. it was a very fun filled day and i got to touch, hold, and/or kiss many different animals!
our first stop was to the elephant orphanage, where rescued elephants live for up to 10 years before they are reintroduced into the wild. it was a fun stop and i touched a baby elephant (which felt like hairy sandpaper). the orphanage is only open for one hour a day, so it was a quick stop.
next we went to the giraffe center, which i had been to before but was well worth another trip! (i could honestly spend a whole day there feeding the giraffes if i wanted). it was funny watching the other girls freak out when they kissed the giraffes (yes, i did get another smooch or two). after we had all gotten a few pecks and lots of pictures we went to the crocodile center which was WAY cool!!
at the croc center i got to hold a baby croc (wicked cool) as well as some tortoises. i also learned a few interesting facts about crocs: 1. they are the only carnivore that does not have a tongue! and 2. their stomach bile is poisonous to humans! they also had a man-made lake their that we went paddle boating on. it was fun stop and def a place i will suggest to future volunteers to go check out.
after our time at the croc center we went to the monkey park in the city center of Nairobi. this was free and very entertaining! you pay 10Ksh for some peanuts to feed the moneys and they just roam around in this giant park where people are having picnics, and playing on the playground. at first i didnt see any monkeys and i asked Chomlee (one of the kenyans that brought us there) where they were. "dont worry laura, they know muzungus, they will come running." and sure as shit, after about one minute of us standing there about 20 monkeys came running at our group! it was soooo funny! they come right up to you and take the peanuts out of your hand! but you have to be careful, because if they see the whole pack of peanuts they will steal it from you. one of the girls we were with was not careful and the monkey jumped from the ground, onto her chest and stole the pack of peanuts she was holding and ran off. it scared the crap out of her, but made the rest of us laugh! as i was sitting on the ground feeding the monkeys, Chomlee thought he would be funny and hold a peanut above my head (without my being aware) and suddenly i had monkeys on my shoulders trying to get a a hold of the peanut! it freaked me out and first and i screamed (much to Chomlee's amusement) but i managed to have one of the other girls snap a pic before i scared the monkeys off.
it was a VERY full weekend, and last night i slept like a rock for the first time since arriving!! i am sorry that it took me so long to update my blog, but i have had bad luck with getting successful internet connections! i am also not going to be able to put pictures up right now because i have to get some stuff done for my placement this afternoon, but i will try to come and put pictures up from the weekend in the next couple of days!! (believe me i have some good ones!)
sorry if there are lots of typing errors, or something does not make sense! due to the ridiculously slow internet here, it has taken me almost two hours to type this! (about once a paragraph the computer freezes and i have to just sit and wait for it to be ready again) so please comment if their is something that i need to clarify or you want more info on it!
thank you all for your emails and such!!! it honestly means sooooo much when i get to read the updates from all of you!!
miss you!
xoxo
I'm so proud of you, Laura.
ReplyDeletewow, talk about an emotional roller coaster! sounds like you're doing some great things, girlie!
ReplyDeleteyou rock my socks Laura Erdman....keep up the good work and I can't wait to hear more!! <3
ReplyDelete