Nairobi
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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July 4, 2009
- (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, May 29, 2009.)I spent most of today with Baraza - Ray of Hope's Coordinator - and my teammate Robin. We took five million buses and matatus to travel fifty feet ... or so it felt. I didn't mind at all, as I was excited to see the big city of Nairobi, having spent the previous seven days in Kawangware, the slum I've come to love, but not the only part of Nairobi ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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June 28, 2009
- (Originally posted on Karibu Kenya, May 26, 2009.) I spent all day today with the children in the Learning Centre: 59 of them, sharing two classrooms that are both tiny by U.S. standards. The youngest child is five years old; the oldest is 11. All of their heads are shaved, as many of the children come to the Learning Centre with ringworm. The Ray of Hope staff treats them when they come in, ...
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