Steve on Monday in Kitale

7 am Monday
The house is starting to wake up. I’m in the garden with my coffee. It’s pleasantly cool. It rained yesterday, the chairs on the garden gazebo are tipped up against the table to keep them dry. A dog is sleeping on top of the table. He see’s me and realizes it’s time to get down from his perch.
The birds are chirping and dancing among the dew covered leaves, everything is damp and luscious. It’s very peaceful, but it’s a false peace. In a few minutes the house will be awake and active, and that will only be the beginning. Yesterday the maize was delivered that we will distribute, but is has to be divided into individual bags. That will take most of the day.
There are seven kids staying here at the Transformed International compound. They are here in faith based personal growth internships. They stay for three months and work on different projects within the community. Many of the projects that they take part in are funded by Hope2Kenya. While at the compound they have duties and responsibilities. One of the those responsibilities is to cook. We’ve had two meals prepared by them and both have been delicious. Right now the girls are preparing a hearty breakfast for us…apparently we’ll need the strength today.
Monday – Noon
Wow, we just finished bagging food that will feed about 130 families. Each will get 100lbs of maize and a smaller bag of beans. We had help from the TI group and several local people. The work is extremely difficult, and I don’t think I’ve ever been dirtier. It is however very rewarding.
The TI compound is at once very busy and very peaceful. There’s a group of 40 women in the garden being given classes on elementary business skill, sponsored by Hope2Kenya. This, along with a small amount of money will allow each of them to start their own micro business. They began their lesson today with a prayer and a song. There’s a awful lot here to admire.
We had lunch in the garden with the 40 women that are taking the classes. Lunch was beans, rice and cabbage. It was cooked over open fires in the yard. It was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. The company and surroundings were magical. While we were having lunch one of the TI workers Mark saw a monkey in the trees. He was coaxed down with a banana. I’ve a couple of great pictures. Unfortunately the internet here is too slow to upload anything. I’ll post them later. There a few nice shots.
Monday Dinner
It’s 5:30 here now. We’ll be having dinner soon. I’m sitting in the garden writing this and the smell of dinner from the kitchen is wonderful. Don’t know what we’re having, but it sure smells good.
Tomorrow will be another long day. In the morning we will be giving out the food, and then we have another busy afternoon. Remind me later to write about the amazing amount of organization that has gone into this trip by Sandy. The three weeks here is merely the culmination of a year of organization and fundraising. It’s amazing.
Steve

Day One, Attempt Three

Well let me try again. My first blog disappeared and I had a little mental meltdown so after everyone here consoled me and encouraged me…

I woke up to the strange sound of Kenyan birds and thought “Wow, we’re really here. “ Tonight at dusk writing this to the sound of Kenyan crickets singing, I think about how grateful and lucky I am…for my family, friends and everything I have been fortunate enough to experience.

We started this morning by going to a race sponsored by Sandy. This has given many athletes a chance to enrich their lives and develop as athletes. There were about 36 Kenyan runners. Sandy wore her “In my dreams I’m a Kenyan runner” t-shirt. Three were para-Olympic runners. One was deaf and one was blind. The blind runner had an elastic rope on his wrist pairing him with his team mate. There were also 6 women. To me, they were all winners.

This afternoon we went to visit a very special man, Daniel Juma. His story was inspirational and a tribute to the human spirit. He was afflicted with polio as a child and so, as per the cultural norm, he was hidden from society and denied any outside social activity or education. He tells of an American missionary who took him in gave him a home and an education. I hope she knows how many people’s lives this have benefitted. Daniel Juma is married to a women I was not fortunate enough to meet today. Together, they have 29 children. Seven, I think are biologically theirs and the others were orphans that they have taken in. Daniel is quite entrepreneurial and a very wise man. He has taken something given to him, monetary and otherwise, and he has grown this into so much. He is educating and giving a loving inclusive home to all these children. I imagine if they were to contribute as much to the lives of others as he has…

“To the world you may be only one person, but to one person you may be the world “

Well as someone in my life has encouraged me, I will try to take in and cherish every minute so that I can always remember. I am so blessed.

Xo ada, mom, gramma

our first full day in Kitale Kenya

Well let me try again. My first blog disappeared and I had a little mental meltdown so after everyone here consoled me and encouraged me…

I woke up to the strange sound of Kenyan birds and thought “Wow, we’re really here. “ Tonight at dusk writing this to the sound of Kenyan crickets singing, I think about how grateful and lucky I am…for my family, friends and everything I have been fortunate enough to experience.

We started this morning by going to a race sponsored by Sandy. This has given many athletes a chance to enrich their lives and develop as athletes. There were about 36 Kenyan runners. Sandy wore her “In my dreams I’m a Kenyan runner” t-shirt. Three were para-Olympic runners. One was deaf and one was blind. The blind runner had an elastic rope on his wrist pairing him with his team mate. There were also 6 women. To me, they were all winners.

This afternoon we went to visit a very special man, Daniel Juma. His story was inspirational and a tribute to the human spirit. He was afflicted with polio as a child and so, as per the cultural norm, he was hidden from society and denied any outside social activity or education. He tells of an American missionary who took him in gave him a home and an education. I hope she knows how many people’s lives this have benefitted. Daniel Juma is married to a women I was not fortunate enough to meet today. Together, they have 29 children. Seven, I think are biologically theirs and the others were orphans that they have taken in. Daniel is quite entrepreneurial and a very wise man. He has taken something given to him, monetary and otherwise, and he has grown this into so much. He is educating and giving a loving inclusive home to all these children. I imagine if they were to contribute as much to the lives of others as he has…

“To the world you may be only one person, but to one person you may be the world “

Well as someone in my life has encouraged me, I will try to take in and cherish every minute so that I can always remember. I am so blessed.

Ada

One more sleep

We leave tomorrow. Although we have been organizing for many months it is hard to believe that we are finally going to Kenya. I am not packed yet although I tried and now have to empty my bag and begin again to try and get everything in and not be over the weight limit. I want to take everything I can for the folks in Kenya but I do need some clothes and supplies for myself.

I am grateful for all of the support that we have received for this trip. We have raised enough money to do 4 large food distributions and that will help many Kenyans feel better.
Thanks also for all the prayers and emotional support that the team has received.
Please follow our blog each day so you can keep up with our daily adventures and keep us in your thoughts each day. We will need all the help we can get.

Packing to go

This morning the hope2kenya team, 2011 packed up for our trip to kenya. We are taking 9 bags each weighing 50 lbs. and still couldn't take everything that we wanted.

Steve Dreany, Sandy Foster, Kathy Hallett and Ada Dreany worked all morning sorting, and trying to fit everything in.

Here is just some of the stuff we managed to pack into

our cases. The team is excited about the upcoming trip.

Another day closer

I can't believe how much there is to do before we leave on Thursday. I just brought all the things we need to pack from our storage unit. Running shoes, medical supplies, t-shirts, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soccer balls, pens and pencils, story books for a children's library, children's clothing, knitted dolls and knitted sweater, small quilts and the list goes on. We can each only carry two 50 lb bags and I am hopeful that we can get everything in. If we are overweight then we have to pay extra and we need those funds for food.

My downstairs looks like a store with eveything laid out. Tuesday is packing day so everyone cross your fingers and hope that it all fits in.

I will put up pictures of everything we are taking with us.

I have received many emails from the folks in Kenya. I just received an email from the women's group that we work with in the Maasai Mara. That is one of the areas that has been hard hit by the drought. They have asked us to help feed the women and their neighbours so we have added another food distribution to our list. People have been generous with their donations and I think we will have enough funds to do this extra project. I am reminded of how much we had here at home. As I ate my breakfast this morning I thought of the children around the world who have nothing to eat and it makes my heart sad. Being able to help, even just a small group, is something that Hope2Kenya can do.

Thanks to everyone for all your financial and emotional support.

One week to go

I have been a bit overwhelmed this week since we leave one week from today. I still have lots of things to do and on Tuesday, September 13th the team comes here to pack. I will take some photos and put them up on this site so you can see how much stuff we can get into our luggage. I use the same bags each year and each team member can carry two bags with 50 lbs. in each bag. We also carry back packs that are full as well.

Each team member gets a small amount of space in one of the bags, for their personal stuff. We travel light!!

Because of the famine in parts of Kenya, and the opportunists who purchased corn when they saw their would be a need, we are doing food distributions in four areas. It seems the most important thing this year. We will also be checking in on some of our other projects and painting the new vocational school for our at risk girls program. One of the fun times will be visiting InStep baby home where we can spend the day holding babies. I love this part. They just hang on tight and absorb as much love as we can give each of them.

It will be fun handing out the dolls, sweaters, bubbles, crayons, skipping ropes amongst all the things that people in our area have donated.

Several people have donated funds for school uniforms so 30 kids will now be able to begin school. That is exciting for the children as well as the parents. They want their children to have an education.

I will update again next week after we pack and then a team member will be blogging each day that we are in Kenya.