The Next Part of the Journey

Hello everyone! It feels like forever since I wrote anything on here! After my crazy matatu ride I spent two weeks in Nairobi. One week I was with a family that was involved in the Cerebral Palsy Society of Kenya. I visited the clinic that is held three times a week that helps children. It is hard to put into words how hard life is for families struggling with poverty and a child severely affected by CP. For example, there are many mothers in the slums who need to work all day just to get enough food to feed their children each day. If you add to that a child who can’t feed themselves, go to the toilet, or communicate easily- the task of the day is enough to overwhelm you! The clinic provides free therapy for the children, but there is so much more that needs to be done. They are working to create an awareness of the issues surrounding CP and training mothers and families.

If anyone wants to support them financially (which is their biggest need), let me know and I will hook you up with the director.

The second place blew me away! I was so impressed with the Children’s Garden Home, which is on the outskirts of Nairobi. It is a home started by Moses and Silvia. They take children from the slums close to them or whoever else is in need. Right now, there are 350 children under their care- 200 or so of them live there and 150 of them come for the day for school and go home to their guardians. The kids are given opportunity to pursue spiritual dance, cultural dance, music, art, sports, etc. One of the boys is the top guitarist in Kenya. Their office is lined with awards from a variety of venues- artistic, academic, and discipline. But more impressive than that is the heart of Moses and Silvia. As a volunteer, I ate meals with them, their family and some of the staff and I felt so welcome and enjoyed! For once, I didn’t feel like the best thing about me was my money! I really felt like I found a friend who was doing something that I could join in with. It is wonderful.

There are a lot of needs for the CGH. They have 60 boys sleeping in an area a little bigger than my living room. They have started a school that goes from Kindergarten to Grade 10 right now, but will need to expand to Grade 11 and 12 in the next couple years. They don’t have money to pay their staff sufficient wages (from what I understand) so they depend on people who have a heart for the kids, skills to teach and don’t need a lot of money. They have adults being the mom to each room of kids (which is often about 20 kids per room) who are in charge of the laundry and all the other thing that goes with having kids. They have a social worker who is really overworked because she takes the kids to the hospital, to court, to counseling, etc.

It is an amazing challenge to take children who have seen and lived stories that are sometimes too awful to think of and to help rehabilitate them be loving, caring people- but that is what I saw happening and it was beautiful.

Once again, the biggest need right now is money. They can’t take more kids without money to feed the kids that they have. They almost have their water problem fixed- they had a fundraiser on the weekend to raise money for pipes or something. I would love to help find sponsors for the kids, construction projects or for salaries for the staff. So, if anyone wants to donate, let me know and I will try and help facilitate that.
I have figured out that one problem with visiting more than one project is that I can’t help them all as much as I want to. So far, I am really excited about my new place in Molo- I feel like I have a family away from Canada. This morning I was feeling great when I got to church and even greater afterwards. The women were so welcoming and greeted me with the greeting that they use for good friends. This afternoon I went to a shower for a lady who just had a baby and just felt like I was part of it all. It was fantastic.

But this is long enough so I will tell you all about Molo and the Chazon Children’s Center later on.