Jambo from Nairobi!
As I am sitting in the comfort of the Rosa Mystica Spiritual Centre, and beginning to write this 'blog', I struggle for words to describe what we have seen and where we have been today.
This morning we were met by a remarkable young man, Alastair, and his friend, Sande, to head into the slums of Kibera. We decided to go by city bus - not quite as luxurious as those of North Bay or Toronto - but we were very safe and the travel was cheaper by far than taking taxis. As we approached Kibera we could see the changes from the bustling city to estate homes then open areas and then, finally into the roads and narrow paths lined with corrugated tin or mud homes that are Kibera. Words cannot describe the desparate conditions for the people who live there. Kibera is a world unto its own and is a true example of the cycle of slum poverty. People are born, some attend schools, some leave Kibera during the day to work as casual labourers (housework, factories, building) but all return to the same life at night. Wages are so small for these people that the very little they have goes to food and for rent, hence they are never able to earn enough to leave the slum. The people who live in Kibera often came to Nairobi looking for work and finding none began their lives in this area. Many are born, schooled, live and die without ever leaving this area.
The pathways through which we walked were strewn with garbage, human waste, mud and often small running streams of filthy water. Despite all of this, however, we were greeted with smiles from both the children and often the adults (especially the mommas) whom we passed on the way. We went into a mud and tin home of a family where the women(all HIV affected) gather and bead and make purses that we will be bringing back with us to North Bay. As poor as these women are, they gave us each a gift to say thank you for the support and for the visit. A touching gesture indeed!
A high point to our Kibera trek was a visit to an orphanage school that was absolutely remarkable! We approached a wall of tin, ducked under dripping laundry, stepped over mud and all, stepped around a small cooking fire, pushed open a tin gate and stepped into a small yard with brightly painted classrooms and walls and 45 exhuberant children from 3 to 7 all who have been impacted by HIV/Aids. The teachers were excellent and the children very cute and well behaved. Each child received a new outfit, a pencil but the best of all was the little bottle of bubbles that each one got! We caused quite the stir as we sang some of our songs for the children - we are now the 'hope2kenya traveling song troupe' - and did a craft with each one that they can now take and share and play with at home. Of greater importance was the shopping that came after. We bought rice, maize flour, beans, sugar and porridge for the lunches for the children, and new workbooks, markers and other school supplies.
As we walked out of Kibera, we slowly exited the slums and returned past the estate homes and into the bustling city again, which brings me to this moment where I am sitting here in the comfort of the Rosa Mystica Spiritual Retreat Centre, trying to fit the pieces of Kenya together.
For Kenya is a puzzle, but the problem is that none of the pieces fit. Kenya is truly a country where everything seems disconnected - slums within reach of commercial centres, people moving but never seeming to get where they hope or want to go, a police force that in the rural areas stops cars and will not let them pass without taking some money from the drivers, and yet in the city of Nairobi, the police would never dare to do such a thing.
Our journey and our experiences continue but we are all well, safe and feeling pleased with what we are doing and the growth of the initiatives that are supported by Hope2Kenya.
More to come.
Cathy
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