We woke up at 8:00 and went downstairs for breakfast. We had chi tea again along with fresh watermelon and the Kenyan form of pancakes with honey. It was all delicious. Peter drove us to Missions of Hope International in Pongani (the headquarters) where we met Keith Ham.
We were given a tour by two of the social workers (Mary and Daniel). We saw the library first. Then we went to a classroom and as soon as we entered the room the whole class greeted us in unison: “Hello, how are you visiter?” Then they sang us a song complete with clapping. We visited the CHE office and social worker’s office. The clinic was super cool and it had a pharmacy. We also saw the classroom where women were learning how to sew.
The bathrooms at the compound were very nice. And there were five floors of classrooms. Then we were taken on a tour of the nearby slum area. We just saw a small slice of it, but it was a bit overwhelming. We began walking down a dirt path/road with metal shacks along both sides. The path wound and branched and had a small stream of waste water. There was quite a bit of trash on the ground. We saw a few flying toilets (people sometimes go to the bathroom in bags and just throw them out onto the ground).
Since I am so tired, I was a bit numb to it all. The tour is kind of a daze. As we walked the little kids ran up to us and said “Howareyou!” as a greeting. I don’t think they really knew what it meant, but it was their hello to us. Some of the kiddos ran up to us and grabbed our hands and walked with us for a bit. We continued walking and stopped at a woman’s home. The two social workers needed to stop for a house call. We went in with them. It was a little bigger than my parent’s closet and housed her and her 10 kids and 4 grandkids. She welcomed us in and we sat and prayed with her. I don’t even know how that many people could fit. Her youngest child was less than a year old.
We left her house and stopped in an open area. I saw “No dumping” painted on a wall next to a huge pile of trash and poop. I found it disturbingly ironic. The open area was pretty big and we could kind of see the river. There was a church and across the river was a hospital. We asked them lots of questions at this point. They told us that women are given free birth control pills at clinics and condoms are handed out to everyone. Many women forget to always take the pills or their husbands tell them to quit. Many men don’t like to use condoms.
I asked about the piles of trash and if there is anything in place or could be in place to remove them. Mary told me that in another part of the slum Missions of Hope helped organize a system for kids to pick up people’s trash for them and dispose of it for a small fee. This is a great way to clean up the area and it gives kids an opportunity to make a little money. I asked how common it was to have older siblings raise younger siblings in the slums (because their parents died and family couldn’t take them in). As it turns out, it’s a fairly common situation.
We walked past a shack where people can buy clean water for a fee. Also there were bathrooms that people could use, but it was also for a small fee. Since many people do not have the money to buy clean water or use a public toilet, they just make do with what they have. CHE is teaching people how to purify their water using evaporation. A bottle is placed in the sun and the water that is evaporating is collected. It is much safer to drink.
We learned that Missions of Hope does a lot for the community through a holistic approach. They provide an education along with breakfast and lunch for the kids at a minimal cost. The schooling is high quality and the teachers are very supportive and caring. There are social workers that keep tabs on every kid and their families. Each social worker has about 200 kids. They go on house calls frequently. Like if a kid misses school, his/her social worker will go to the kid’s house and check up on the situation. We were told that it’s common for parents to not let their children attend school because they need them to watch the younger ones. The social workers said that this is child labor.
We made it back to Keith’s office and we ate lunch and chatted. Maggie came in and had to make a business phone call. While she was talking she weaved together three languages – Swahili, her tribal language, and English. She would be talking and we would just hear chunks of English and then she would switch to something else. The culture here is so laid back and chill. I feel like I don’t really know what to do or where to go, but it all works out. It is very different from home. I didn’t even know what time it was almost all day today, which is very pleasant. Any time I turn around I am amazed at the hospitality here. Peter came to pick us up and took us back to the Kamau’s.
David came to get us for dinner around 7:00. We had cheesy spaghetti noodles with cabbage and a beef stew. It was probably my favorite meal so far. We got to drink some Fanta – the good stuff with real sugar. As we finished David hopped on my lap and we read a book. It had pictures of birds, sea creatures, lizards, insects, snakes, and all sorts of things.
Wallace told us about the growing Muslim faith in Kenya. Here it is attractive to the youth because it is seen as rebellious. They are going against the Christian faith of most of their parents. Muslim missionaries will go to streets and make fun of the Bible and try to show where it contradicts itself. Since I was so tired I slept much better that night.
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