where the writers are

Kenya

  • Return from East Africa

    October 10, 2009

    • I am now back in circulation and will be adding more things to this site shortly. Being in East Africa and seeing a number of tribes living at subsistence level--and yet in a sense more natural than our own overblown civilization--has given me a lot to think about, and I need to digest it. It certainly has relevance to what I believe about life in general!
  • Pen Pals

    September 27, 2009

    • Evelyn emailed me on Friday, to let me know she received the letters I sent to Celestine and Lawrance. Evelyn told me they were very happy to receive their letters, and that she took photos of each of them holding her/his letter. She will attach the photos to the return letters that each of them writes me.On Friday, a lifelong dream of mine came true. When I was a child myself, I watched the ...
  • Mzungu!

    September 20, 2009

    • (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya on June 29, 2009.) "Mzungu! Mzungu!" the children on the side of the road shouted, as they pointed at us, their eyes full of light. With stray goats and chickens taking over their space on the vast expanse of the dirt, they expressed only joy, beaming the truest smiles I'd ever seen.Evelyn, our friend from the Ray of Hope, clued us in to all the ...
  • Defying the Odds

    September 7, 2009

    • I saw their "homes" - well, not theirs in particular, but those of a few classmates at Ray of Hope, their unaccredited school. All the dwellings I saw in Kawangware look the same to me - corrugated tin, dark inside, highly unstable, and not at all insulated.Without electricity, food, or water at home, I wonder how the children I met this summer subsist. Thankfully, Ray of Hope feeds ...
  • A Nefarious Scheme -- REVEALED!

    August 12, 2009

    • It took a lot of digging, listening to the right wing patriots who have been warning us all along, and very little thought on my part, but I think I’ve finally gotten to the bottom of this vast, worldwide, time travel conspiracy to take away our right to high cost health care and guns.  Some of this might sound a little wacky.  Bear with me.In the year 2023, the Council for Foreign Relations, ...
  • Children of Africa Hope Center

    July 28, 2009

    • (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, June 1, 2009.)We returned to Riruta United Methodist today, which transforms on weekdays to the Children of Africa Hope Center: an unaccredited school and former orphanage that educates and feeds approximately 250 children, who would not otherwise eat or learn. Their admirable vision is to ultimately serve 5,000 children.After spending the morning at the Hope ...
  • Riruta

    July 26, 2009

    • (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, May 31, 2009.)Today, we celebrated at Riruta United Methodist Church, located in Ngong, a neighboring slum to Kawangware. Reverend John and his wife Anne - who is also the Executive Director of the Riruta United Methodist Women Community Based Organization - are on the progressive edge, with their inspirational work championing the rights of LGBTQI people in ...
  • Saying Goodbye

    July 20, 2009

    • (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, May 30, 2009.) Today, we said goodbye to the Learning Centre children and the Ray of Hope staff, but not before taking the children to the Nairobi National Museum in the morning and to a local park in the afternoon.The Nairobi National Museum is beautiful - spacious, with beautifully designed exhibits and a well-told history of Kenya. As we walked into an ...
  • The Power of the Purse

    July 2, 2009

    • (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, May 28, 2009.)This morning, several women who utilize Ray of Hope's feeding program and/or HIV support group sang, danced, and performed theatre for us. Elation abounded during the song, as our Glide team members were each called forth to join hands and dance with various women. Here, I'm not a "white girl" in the sense that I am in my home of San ...
  • Gratitude for the Uninhabitable

    July 2, 2009

    • (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, May 27, 2009.)Today, I ventured into the heart of Kawangware slum, with two of my Glide teammates and one of our Ray of Hope colleagues, Hendricka. Hendricka is the Community Health Worker for the Ray of Hope, and every morning, she does what we spent three hours doing this morning: conducting home visits to the Ray of Hope Medical Clinic patients, to assess ...