Last Blog from Tumaini

Well, my time here at Tumaini is coming to an end – and it is bittersweet.  While I am very excited to see my family and friends, in less than a week I have to say goodbye to these amazing people and children who have become my family.  Yesterday during Class 6 English a student ask if it was true I was leaving soon, and I told her I was.  She informed me that America could wait because I needed to stay and finish the term.  I have tried very hard to be the best English teacher possible, but I have never been as proud as I was today when I was walking out of class and said, “Later gators!”  And they replied, “After while crocodile,” with huge grins on their faces!  We have been practicing typical American slang and they are catching on!

This week there is an awesome American named Katie visiting for just a few days before she goes to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.  Today she and I battled the unthinkable- having THE TALK with the older kids.  And let me tell you, it gave me no desire to have my own kids any time soon!  We started with all the kids 11 years and up together and talked to them about HIV and how you can get it.  Katie is a nurse, so she talked and I stood next to her.  Then we split the boys and girls so that we could talk more specifically about what happens to their bodies.  I took the boys thinking they would be much easier.  Your voice changes…you get hair…don’t have sex.  WRONG.  I asked them to please let me know if they had any questions…and boy did they.  I would feel like I was breaking confidentiality with the boys if I told you specifics, but let’s just say we covered everything from if an unborn child can be hurt by intercourse, can a girl contract HIV from having her from having a drink spiked with sperm, to several extremely awkward questions about what can be used as a condom.  I without a doubt had developed a few gray hairs by the end of class.  I have realized a teenage boy is a teenage boy no matter where he lives.  On the positive side many of their questions were so naïve it’s evident they are not actually doing any of these things.  But I feel like it was a successful, educational class with a strong emphasis on abstinence and respecting both yours and others bodies.

On Sundays I usually take a long walk on the back roads, and I never know what I will encounter.  This week I was invited into someone’s home to have a soda and talk.  He said he wanted to build a culinary school in the village and wanted to know if I wanted to help.  I kindly told him I didn’t know how prosperous that would be because most people eat one of 3 things in Western Kenya and right now they didn’t even know how much of that they would get.  On my way back home I saw some of my students gathered around a few tree branches in the road and asked what they were doing.  “Collecting termites,” they replied.  “Why?”  “To eat!”  And then Kevin tossed one in his mouth.  I was extremely disgusted by this and proceeded to ask every Kenyan I know if they ate termites.  The general consensus was yes, mostly when they were kids and that they are tasty.  I learned that you can eat them raw or fry them.  Gross.  But these are the kinds of conversations I am going to miss the most.

When I leave Tumaini I will visit a friend from college who is living in Nairobi for a couple days and then head back to America.  I will write about the last part of my African adventure there!

Lodwar

“Thank you for your generosity.  Tonight there will be smoke coming from every household!”  When Rose told me this was what one of the Turkana tribe members said to her I didn’t understand what it meant.  After spending a little more time with them I realized they were saying every family would be building a fire to cook with that night. This is not a daily guarantee for the people of the Kakwanyang village.

Before the plane touched down in Lodwar you could feel the temperature rising in this desert like region. Rose and I were traveling with her friend, Pastor George who has already done some mission work in this area and had friends who could show us around the different villages.  Driving from the airport (landing strip with a tent) I was already left speechless from the living conditions- or lack thereof.  We drove about 20 kilometers out of the city to visit one of the many communities that has no food and not many options of how to acquire any.  Once outside of the city there were no roads or really any sign of life besides the women walking their goats.  After a few random turns in the sand path we came upon a cluster of grass huts belonging to the community we were going to visit.  We were greeted by a young mother breast feeding an infant followed by several more half-dressed children. Many of these grass homes don’t even have roofs because it keeps them cooler at night.  If by chance it does rain they seek shelter in one with a roof.  They don’t have to worry about their belonging because they don’t have any.

In this particular village there is one primary school.  When Rose inquired more about their educational goals we found out there aren’t many.  For the entire school (1^st through 8^th grade) there are two teachers.  But, they rarely have to worry about teaching because the children only come to school when food can be provided. Due to obvious circumstances, this hasn’t been much recently.  Rose and I had originally planned to supply food in 3 different villages, but the large population of the first one made us realize the supplies were not going to make it anywhere else. These people are helped by larger NGOs, but can only rely on them to bring food every one to three months.  When this runs out the women make a few brooms and baskets (the only items exported from the region)  then travel the entire day to town in hopes of selling a few for 10-50 shillings, equivalent to less than a dollar.  If they are unable to sell their baskets then they are forced to slaughter whatever livestock they have to feed their families. 

There are so many things that need to develop in the Turkana area, with the biggest problem being lack of education.  But how are you supposed to teach starving children?  When young girls are given the opportunity to go to school many of them will drop out between the ages of 12 and 14 because their parents force them to get married so they can receive the dowry.  The only option for dowry is livestock so in famine stricken areas this seems to be well worth trading your daughter for.

What bothers me the most is Northern Kenya did not become this way overnight.  And yes, the drought has increased the starvation severely, but these people were short on food before.  I think this famine might be a blessing in disguise for the long term wellbeing of the Turkana people.  The international attention it has received will hopefully mean some investments will be made in sustainability for the area.  No human being should have to live under these circumstances.  As my eyes are opened to more and more layers of poverty I wonder how there can be such contrast in the world. 

While we do not have the resources for development in the area, Rose is hoping to at least help keep these children from going to bed hungry at night.  If anyone has any questions about how to help with the Lodwar Feeding Project, please, please, contact me.  These people need all the help they can get.

New Adventure!

Eline left yesterday and I have been going around like a lost puppy dog.  It’s really strange to spend all day, every day with someone and then POOF!  She is gone.  Today while I was walking in the village several people stopped me and asked, “Where is the other one?”  So I am now the only volunteer until my last week.  I am certain Eline and I will stay close friends.  Not only do we have future plans for a project at Tumaini, but she has only been back in the Netherlands for a couple of hours and we have already been communicating.

Well, building the cow shed was a success!  Many people have asked me, “Why are you building a shed for the cows?”  And my answer to that is I have absolutely no idea.  When I asked the Kenyans they just looked at me funny and said that was where they will eat and sleep.  So we (well the men) nailed tree limbs to wood post that were cemented into the ground.  Then we made a mixture of mud and water and placed it in between the limbs.  That was it!  Now I understand why so many people here make buildings out of mud.  I actually thought it was fun!

Not only am I becoming Kenyan because I can build a mud hut, but I have also been harvesting maize!  Today I was working so hard getting the kernels off the cob that my thumb started bleeding under the nail and I have blisters!  Although it is not as bad as harvesting the beans, I am still certain I have no future in farming. 

On Monday Rose and I will be going on a new adventure.  While we have been running the feeding program here in our village, Rose has also been doing some research on places in the North that have been facing severe food shortage.  We will continue feeding the neediest here, but many families will have crops harvesting in the next couple months and will be less dependent on us.  So Rose has felt very strongly that God is sending her to a place in the North Western part of Kenya called Lodwar.  It is a very undesirable desert area that is about 70 kilometers from a Somalian and Sudanean refugee camp.  With both Kenyans and refugees in the area they have been hit very hard by the famine.  So I, Rose and a Kenyan pastor (who has been to the area a few times) are going to travel there and visit three different villages.  We will be distributing the basic food needs such as flour, sugar, tea leaves, and cooking oil.  After observing the area and situation we will see if there is a possibility of providing some long term help to stabilize the area.  If anyone has any questions about our work there please contact me!  I will make sure to give an update when we get back.