This is what I am talking about!!
Michael Gracey directed and choreographed the following video that appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show. Whether or not you are a fan of the show, or of the Black Eyed Peas – you need to watch this!
When you realize that you are among a crowd of 20,000 and all are sharing the same moment, the same feeling, at the same time…it is magical. The possibility of a more peaceful world doesn’t seem that far off, doesn’t sound that crazy.
The following video is worth sharing, and worth aspiring to…
BTW:
If I were in the crowd, I would totally be the girl in the blue…
While in Africa this summer, I shot 21 hours of video along the way. Collecting success stories and footage of the work that is being done in Kenya and Uganda. Our annual Founders Dinner was held on October 23, 2009. This is an evening where we invite our Founding Donors to come and see what their donations have been able to do over the last year.
The video is a look at the successes, and the need for additional funding to expand projects – allowing others to have wings and fly on their own.
Your chances of being happy go up by 9% for each friend your surround yourself with, that is also happy.
This is a statistic I saw in the paper today…I am not sure why I repeat these crazy statistical numbers. Except that this particular point rings true – I don’t think we needed to conduct an official research study to conclude this stat, however – happiness is contagious, as is laughter, as is anger and fear. Emotions are alive and hot, in that bubble of energy that we carry through the world with us. The vibe that you put out around you, does affect the people you encounter. Awareness of the verbal, and non-verbal communication we use, as well as the energy we possess – is key in all our interactions.
Today, I sit clutching a thin, dirty, worn scrap of paper…a scrap that a young woman wrote a note to me on, a few months ago in Kenya. It simply says “To my Friend Allison” on the outside of the four folds. On the inside it refers to the time we spent in her home, talking about her struggles, and it asks for a small amount for parafin (oil to burn in a lamp) and soap. The young woman who wrote the message, handed me the piece of paper with tears in her eyes…I feel her presence today.
I spent my Friday evening at an uplifting event where a group of us came together to raise money for the cause of improving lives in Kenya and Uganda. I created a video to let our donors know that they are in fact helping people fly, in Africa. I left the event and went to an impromptu gathering at a friends house that made me feel as though we, here in the US, need wings too. We are all looking for a purpose…searching for meaning. We are looking in corner offices and Gucci handbags – but the purpose is not in the paycheck..or the corporate career. All of the things that we have been told, all of our lives – about what happiness is, are BS. There is a soft voice inside of each one of us - a voice that isn’t often heard…the voice that cannot be heard in the dull roar of a Happy Hour at a Minneapolis Hot Spot…the voice that cannot be found in a neatly rolled spliff, or a bottle of booze…a voice that whispers, but needs to be heard.
I get lost when I start to pay attention to the way things are “supposed to be” – but when I keep my eyes forward, my mind quiet, and my heart open, I feel as though I am going in the right direction. All in good time, I will realize my purpose and I will fulfill my potential. I struggle often to put my purpose and my current work into words…when there is little money being earned – we view the work as less important, as lacking value…when I start to listen to the voices that question my motives and wonder when I am going to focus on something with more earning potential – I get lost.
Those who wander are not always lost…wander, be lost – find your way.
Upon returning to the U.S. I find myself lost in moments, sometimes taken back in them, sometimes in perfect clarity with them. But I have been doing my best to keep to the moment, to not look too far ahead. I have tried at least 12 times to write and reflect in this space, on my re-entry.
Re-entry has made me feel confined by the rules of this society…I want to succeed and I want to play…but at times I cannot imagine my life being about some of the many things I find it being about…
I find myself questioning so many things…
How does someone break away from the confines of the walls and rules of this society…many of us who ponder the meaningful questions in life arrive at this one and get stuck on it.
How did we decide that someone could own a chunk of the world…who ever decided that the grass and the trees were for sale? I have been struggling with this question on my return. Seeing the nomadic Masaai people of Kenya homeless, and then returning to spend time in a sweat lodge on a local reservation is a sad reminder of a very different life…a simpler life. A life that a part of me desires very deeply. A life that is about this moment, it is about enjoying the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees – it isn’t about connections, networking, blackberries and green paper money. Hundreds of years ago people struggled to find food and feed their families in the forest. Today we struggle to find food and feed our families in the crazy corporate jungle. Two different types of stress – the big difference being that the stress on the planet was far less then, than it is now.
Sometimes I feel like the only one who realizes the value of this other life – I must be crazy to think that I would have been happier if I had been born 200 years ago? When things were simpler…although I know that I am here now, in the moment, for a reason. I desire a life where afternoons slip into evenings and the sun shines on me as I do my simple chores of gathering food and preparing a meal. When I am in Africa, I am reminded that yes lives were shorter here years ago…that yes people weren’t as healthy and they didn’t fly and travel so far – but maybe they were happier than we are now…
This “simpler” life still exists in Africa, and I know that I am trying to make things better for them…better how? Better like here? If in the act of helping Africa rise, I must take them down the same road that we are on – a road where convenience and comfort are found at the expense of all other living things on the planet – then I do not see a reason to move forward with my work. Because as I see it, if the whole world becomes a model of this society, if everyone lives the American dream…no one will live for long. All of us placidly living and thinking that all of this is just fine, that the planet can support our carbon footprint and that of millions of others…
I feel as though all of this becomes sort of a example of why balance is important. Traveling from Africa to this country and back again…I am not sure how to balance it out, to make this work there and that work here – it simply doesn’t.
The end of a month in Africa! Wow how time flies here, I can’t believe that the trip is over. We leave in just a few hours at about 11:45pm Nairobi time. Mary Steiner and I are flying through London and then to Minneapolis. Rumor has it there is some sort of a terrorist alert, in London. We were planning to go out into the city tomorrow, because we have an 8 hour lay-over, but we are now thinking it might be too difficult with the security alert at high – we will see.
This is the part of the trip where I start trying to put it all into context: why was I here…what I am taking away…did I do as much as I could to help…how will I do more when I get home…what am I feeling about the poverty now? Those are the hard questions to answer and often are not answered until you have been back at home for some time. This trip being much more administrative than the last exposed me to many things that I was not privileged to see on a volunteer trip.
My last few days have been very busy; we traveled to Uganda for two days of work and meetings. I spent a day with members of the Mari Disabilities group, seeing their homes and getting a glimpse of their lives. I chose to spend the whole day with them to get some good video for our 2010 silent auction. The Mari Group was our designated giving project this last year at the auction and they will be again next year. We are trying to raise funds to build each of them a home outside of the Juba slums, where they live now. So I spent time with Zam-Zam, Christopher, and Goretti on Saturday. I won’t go into each of their stories, they are all compelling and I could write a novel on each based on the few hours I spent – but I will talk a little bit about Goretti.
Goretti was chosen because we had seen her house a few weeks ago and were shocked by the size and condition. She is living in a small home that is actually a woman’s kitchen. Many people have smaller mud homes or lean-to type areas as their kitchens, cooking with three stones and firewood is smoky and it is not generally done in the house, unless there is no other option. Goretti is renting this woman’s kitchen, which is about 4ft by 6ft – at 7,000 Uganda shillings a month (about $3.50 USD). She does odd jobs in town to earn money; she manages to put one small meal out for her 6 children each day. I was there at dinner time; the meal was some ugali and some greens – and not very much of either. She had polio as a child and now walks with a cane, as she doesn’t have the use of one of her legs. Her husband died several years ago, she tells me this was not a significant loss, because he used to beat her regularly. Her small kitchen home is about to collapse, the rains pour in and homes like this have been known to cave and claim the lives of those sleeping inside. She cannot move because she generally can’t even pay the 7,000 rent, she can come up with 1500 to 2000 shillings – that is it. The woman who she rents from sees that she is hard-working and helps her by letting her stay for that small amount. Any other landlord would throw her out on the street.
I could go on and on about the hardships I saw in the few hours I spent with her – but ultimately you cannot imagine the suffering in this woman’s life, you cannot imagine getting up every day to a reality like hers. I cannot imagine how this woman beamed with a smile the entire time I sat with her. I mentioned to her that I could hear her saying that she was suffering and I could see it…but I could also see this light in her eyes and she wore a bright smile on her face. This shining smile, I asked her where she found it, in all of her suffering. She said that she had stayed home all day and she was so excited for her visitor (Me) and that she was this happy just to have me there in her home.
If you have been reading my blog, you may be starting to tire of these stories of people with nothing somehow managing to “afford a smile.” I am really trying to drive the point home though… if they can – you can. People who are coming to Africa on our trips often ask if their money could be better spent on a donation to Give Us Wings, versus a plane ticket. Most Kenyans will tell you that your presence is priceless and that the smiles of the people leave when you leave. So the expense of getting here and bringing hope into these suffering eyes is very possibly one of the biggest gifts you could give. I would encourage anyone who is looking for some greater purpose and meaning in their life to come here and expereince this place and these wonderful people.
I am so excited to get home and see all of your smiling faces…I am hoping you will be able to afford a smile for your friend who has spent the last month in a place where smiles are the only thing that many people can afford. See you all soon, I am home only for a night and then I am leaving for 10K festival to see a few of my favorite bands all in one place. I know I will be tired, but I tend to find some energy when Widespread Panic and Dave Matthews take the stage!
I am going to close this and get ready to board my plane with total and complete gratitude for all that I have and all that lies ahead.
We are in Nairobi…
Returning from the Rift Valley where we spent an evening. We stayed at Grace and Jon’s farm, where the Giraffes come strolling through at sunset to eat from the top of the trees. We saw a couple of the Twiggers (giraffes in Swahili), from a distance as we drove back to their home, from the outlying Masaai Village. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with Grace and John, they are such a warm and inviting couple, and they are in the running for the world’s cutest couple. She is 65 and he is a little older, I could hear them breathing in the night and I kid you not, one would breathe in and the other would breathe out – in perfect harmony! They raised their own children (5 I believe) and then they decided to help other children who had no one. The kids living with them are ranging in age from 6 or 7 to their early twenties, all are in school – most of them have no parents to turn to – Grace and John, and the other kids on the farm have become their family.
That night, leaving the farm house (on my way to the outdoor toliet) I was treated to a star show like nothing I have ever seen! The moon had not risen over the mountains behind their home yet, so the sky was very clear and dark. My breath was taken away…I was walking with Mary A, and we actually both started laughing because we were so happy with the sight before us. I can’t help but make the comparison to one of Jack Johnson’s songs – he talks about “remembering when the stars were still the holes to heaven.” I can imagine all of the people sitting in their dark homes across the valleys and villages of this part of the world. Staring in awe at the amazing sight in the sky, lacking the knowledge to know exactly what these stars are…maybe some do see holes to heaven. Last night, we were talking about night-time being the hardest for people because of the lack of electricity or even oil for their lamps. Most sit in complete darkness once the sun goes down – apart from the natural moon light.
Can you afford a smile?
Talking with Grace was very interesting, she had just been to the U.S. in February. She was our honoree for the Many Strong and Beautiful Women Award this year. She was chosen for her tireless efforts to help so many children in Kenya. She flew in to speak and receive her award. She was recounting some of the thoughts and images that had stuck. Like the machine that separated the snow to make a path for cars and the frozen lakes. She was struck by the “gap” as she called it, between the U.S. and Africa. This is a thought that I have often had myself…the gap in the amount of things that people have. The fact that in the U.S. we have everything we need (for the most part), while in Kenya there are so few who have even close to what they need; in terms of food, water, education, shelter. Grace was surprised by the fact that so many of the people she met were so unhappy – that having all of these things didn’t make people happy. She in fact mentioned the Maasai people that we had spent the afternoon with and said that despite their lack of the most basic things in life – they can still “afford a smile.” The Maasai we work with are experiencing a terrible drought and often have nothing to eat – maybe some unga (maize flour) mixed with water is what sustains them much of the time…yet they afford smiles and songs.
Somehow I think this work, this trip, is all about people hearing these stories. About realizing that you can afford a smile – if someone who woke up in a mud house, and had unga with water for their primary meal today can afford one – you can too. Just please be grateful for all that you have – don’t look at the images on TV or the man down the street who has more and wish you were someone else. Just be happy. I know this is easier said than done, I know it will be hard for me to recall at times, when I return – but I will have these memories to remind me that even on a bad day I can afford a smile.
I am off to Uganda tomorrow morning – to tie up some loose ends. Heading home late Monday evening, getting into Minneapolis on Tuesday night. We fly through London and have a long lay-over where we may go into the city for a bit. I am sending much love and many smiles back to all of you – I will be seeing you soon.
Give Us Wings Coordinator Mary Albright and me drinking from coconuts in Ukunda, Kenya.
It has been too long since my last blog, I am having a hard time deciding where to begin to tell the stories of the last week…
I should start by saying that this is the end of our third week in Africa, one more week to go, I will head home one week from Monday. The end of the third week finds me tired -emotionally and physically, but still ready for the next adventure. I am rejuvenated after a short break today. We spent the last four days near Ukunda, Kenya – which is on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Give Us Wings works with several groups here, totaling about 26 people. There are several students that have been sponsored in their education.
We ended up staying at a nice place right on the beach and today spent some time enjoying the beach and the ocean. I rode a camel named Obama, no joke. He was a very nice, calm camel, I was shocked when he swiftly rose, lifting me high off the round. I am taking a little bit of a sun burn back to Nairobi with me – I think the sun is even more powerful here than in Maui. Other highlights of the time here on the coast include drinking the water out of a coconut fresh off of the tree (Abhdual, our host called it “Coca-Cola), and sucking the sugary juice out of a fresh stalk of sugar cane. The people on the coast were inspirational and energizing, as well.
On Saturday we drove deep into the lush green interior hills of the southern coast, called Shimba Hills. The palm trees and vegetation were thick and green. We were driving about an hour and half down dirt roads to see a small one-room Montessoire school that one of the members of the Ukunda Give Us Wings group has started. There is also a game park in Shimba Hills where tourists pay a price to drive through and try to see elephants. We didn’t o into the park, although I had a hope that we may see elephants along the way… Elizabeth Fay mentioned that the elephants often invade the gardens of nearby farmers in the evening hours. We did not see any elephants, but I truly enjoyed the ride and the school too.
The small “True Value Montessori School” was so cute; Elizabeth Fay had 15 students this year and hopes to have thirty next year. The school was decorated with bright pink flowers and equipped with the Montessori Materials that Elizabeth had made in school. She is a Give Us Wings success story who Mary met in during a health camp 10 years ago in Ukunda. They were asking for someone who could translate for them and no one stepped forward, and no one stepped forward, and finally someone pushed Elizabeth out in front to translate. And so her story begins, her brightness was recognized. She held this dream in her heart, since she was very young that she would have her own school, she loves children. Growing up in Ukunda her mother worked as a waitress and was able to put her through secondary school. Through a small loan she and another woman bought a pot and started a small “Hotel” which is what small restaurants are called. Then they bought two pots, and then they bought plates and cups and so on. She eventually sold her business and decided to go to school to be a Montessori teacher, which Give Us Wings helped fund. Really though, her strength, talent and determination pushed her through many of the challenges she has faced and have made it possible for her to realize her dream.
This time on the coast has left me realizing that all of the stories I have encountered in the last three weeks have left their mark on me. I am carrying some of the weight for each special person that I have met. And I can’t help but make the comparisons and do the math. Talking to a young woman today, a different Elizabeth, who has had a very hard life I was reminded again that it takes so little to make an impact here. She is sharing a one room rental apartment with another woman right now – a friend who is helping her out. She recently left her husband because he was beating her, she left with only her own clothing and her children ( she has two children and her two younger siblings that she now cares for, a total of four). She was happy for the fact that she walked out with her children and her clothing – but she is facing a tough reality now. Rent for a place for her and her children would cost about 1500 shillings, or about $20 USD a month. Elizabeth is working hard now to complete her primary education at the age of 22, she speaks clear English and is obviously very bright. She sat shining before us today explaining that she does wash for 150 shillings and gets enough money to buy some wheat flour and makes porridge. She says that she at least tries to feed the baby, because he cries and they get scared, when he cries.
It is a contradiction in many terms to attempt to relax on the beach with the thoughts of the last few weeks on my mind. Despite this fact, I took a little time to just let my mind wander where it may…and to hop on a camel and take a stroll too.
The salt water lake in Kenya's interior is drying up quickly...
Last week on our way to Nairobi we stopped at Lake Elementita. This is a small community on a salt lake. The community has started a project charging tourists a small fee to drive down to the lake and get a closer look at the thousands of flamingoes on the lake. The money they collect is put into a fund that has built a water tank for them to be able to have access to clean water. Sadly this lake is drying up, as much of the bodies of water on this continent are. Global warming skeptics, need to see this place and believe that the earth is drying up and warming up at a more rapid rate than can be healthy and balanced. Mary had been down to this lake in December and the water has now receeded by about a football field, in only 7 months. We couldn’t get that close to the flamingoes because of the mud and salt left behind from the rapidly evaporating water. The newspaper is filled with stories talking about the rivers drying, causing dams to close. Kenya relies heavily on Hydroelectricity and this is worrying many people that there could be issues with generating power for the country in the future.
Many of you reading this may also carry a bit of the weight in hearing the stories, which I cannot do justice in this short excerpt. I hope that you will find some peace and gratitude for the life that you are leading, appreciate the education that you received and the roof over your head. I realize that times are tough in the U.S. now too. Many people are left making choices in their own lives – things that you cannot afford to do any longer. When you are struggling with tough choices in your own life, please be grateful that your are eliminating things that you want…as long as long as you have what you need.
Free Clinic Day in Nyaoga Village
We have left Nyaoga Village and we are in route to Nairobi – where we will have a few meetings and then head off to the Coast. Our time in Nyaoga felt far too brief…I remember leaving the village last year too, I felt as though there were so many people that I wanted to get to know better, but just ran out of time to do so. This village is so warm and inviting, people stop you to shake your hand at every turn and there are friendly, shy smiles from school children of all ages.
We stayed in the relatively newly constructed staff housing. Kenyan law states that clinics must have staff housing on site, so when the Nyaoga Clinic was built, it was required that we also build staff housing. The staff housing is quite modern and accommodating compared to the home we stayed in last year. There is an indoor latrine, meaning my 3am trips to the bathroom were only a few steps away (in the past, it has been a walk across the yard at Uncle’s house, where the cattle slept and startled you as you hurried to the outdoor facilities). There is also a Gas Stove, and solar electricity – having lights at night in Nyaoga was another positive change.
We held a free clinic day on Friday, to help market the Nyaoga Clinic. I have never been a part of something quite like the free clinic day, we began at 7am and did not stop until 7 pm. The clinic staff had prepared for several days before, everything went smoothly, but there were moments where it seemed as though we would have to send hundreds home. We gave out numbers as people came in and called them off in order. We handed out numbers up over 400, but it was the exception to have only one person on a number – most of the time one number served a family of 5. Once the days patients were totaled up, we found we had served 614 people! I took video and also worked the entry point where we controlled the flow of people into the clinic and took people’s weight and temp.
We rushed any children with a fever of 38 degress celcius or higher directly into the clinic for treatment, a temperature that high in children can lead to convulsions. There were many cases of malaria, where the kids went in with high fevers, very sick and came out looking and feeling better – within an hour. Sadly though, most of these kids would not have been treated, had there not been a free clinic day . Perhaps some of them would have actually died, truly…most of them would not have been there if it were not free. The fee of about 800 Kenyan Shillings ($10.66 USD) to treat malaria is too much for almost everyone in this community to afford.
There were moments in the afternoon, where I looked at the sea of desperate people and felt so helpless, although not as helpless as they must have felt. I felt helpless because I knew that for many of them it was the first and last chance they had at seeing a medical professional for several years. Many came from a great distance and many were very sick. Over half said that they could not afford to go to the clinic, if it were not free. One woman actually died in route to the free clinic. Apparently, she and her family had heard about the free clinic, they lived across Lake Victoria in another village and decided to leave the day before. It had rained on Thursday afternoon and they got blown back against the wind, so they couldn’t make it – determined they tried again the next day, leaving at 5am. Again they were blown back and discouraged, but they pushed on. Somewhere along the way, the woman died, leaving behind her daughter, who we ended up treating when she arrived.
I had a chance to visit with several of the women from the young women’s group – they made dinner for us on Sarah and Skylar’s last day on Saturday. We also went to several of their homes on Sunday. Again I feel very connected to this group, my heart goes out to them – my heart is with them always, they are a big part of the inspiration for my work with Give Us Wings. They were dealt a hand that they would not have chosen, before they were old enough to even know they had a choice. The struggle of completing their primary education, against the will of many in their families, while putting food on the table and doing all of the hard work it takes to earn a small amount of money in their world makes them superheroes in my eyes.
One of the young women, Evalin is going to a University next year – on a government scholarship. She will leave her 4 children in the village with her husband and travel several hours away to go to school. She is a leader for the young women’s group – they look up to her, because she started just where they were but her perseverance has started to pay off. She is very well spoken, she recently completed secondary school and was teaching at a school last year. Earning 4000 Shillings ($53 USD) a month, she pays the school fees for her children, rent and food. She made the choice to put her kids in a private school, when they weren’t learning anything at the public schools. Her children ages 4-10 all speak english at varying levels – her family is very impresive. Although she has a government scholarship – she is looking for some help for a small portion of the tuition that the government won’t pay (about $500 US a year). She is going to be an engineer. In talking with her, I can’t help but feel that she is what this community needs – a success story, an example of someone who did it. Someone who is just like them, who made it through a University, got a great job and then offered her hand to help others in the community. She is lucky to have a husband who is supportive and will care for her children while she is away, this is one thing that make her very different from most of the young women. I took video of her and her family which I will share in hopes that someone may help this remarkable family be the success story that the community of Nyaoga needs right now.
It really hits home in a case like Evalin’s though that she could not do this without some outside support -there is just no way. It will take so little in terms of US dollars to help her finish her degree, but in her world, there is no way she could come by this money, while still supporting her family and finding food to eat. There are no good jobs to be found in this small community, the projects we have completed, and the small shop owners are really the only ones that are making something. Fishing is the main source of income for the families here and Lake Victoria, polluted and over fished is not providing and adequate income for anyone.
Written on July 1, 2009:
Morning:
It is our first day in Nyaoga Kenya; we awoke to the sounds of a one room school being constructed. Workers voices and busy hands started early in the morning, along with the roosters. I am amazed at the progress that has already been made on the building; the construction began a little less than a month ago. We are planning to walk down to the lake today and also visit with the families of the women who passed away earlier this year from cholera. There were three women: Jane, a teacher age 49; Rose, a preschool teacher age 46; and Joyce a young pregnant mother who died along with her unborn baby. These deaths were a great loss to the community, as these women were pillars of strength for the others. Jane and Rose were two of the leaders of the group – the other women looked to them for their courage and ability to articulate their ideas for helping the community.
We have good news for these families today, because of a meeting we had yesterday where we found that the unnecessary death from water is close to being over! We had a meeting with the CEO of the Lake Victoria Water Board in Kisumu. This man is new to his position and is doing great things already. As many know we funded the piping of water from the government/water company piping to Nyaoga. However, a holding tank is needed in Nyaoga in order to have the water flow with out excessive pressure damaging the pipes.
The new CEO agreed to raise a small portion of the $75,000 needed for the holding tank; we still need $30,000 to match a $35,000 matching grant to complete the project.. The government is also updating and repairing the treatment facility that the water flow starts from. They are installing a new rapid sand filter and larger tanks that will increase the amount of water that will be able to reach the outer lying areas. So all of this is good news – once we are able to finish raising the funds it will be only 4-6 months for Nyaoga to see the regular flow of good, clean, disease-free water.
Evening:
It was a hard day; with a happy ending…We did make our way around the village to the homes of two of the three women who have passed on. We shed tears at the graves of both – it was very hard to see the men and children they had left behind, trying to find their way. Imagine the impact of a death on a double income family in the states – now imagine the death of the income generating woman of the household in a place where the daily chores of feeding and bathing yourself, and fetching water take most of the day.
Rose’s husband and daughter are raising the children of one of Rose’s daughters who died several years ago. The two little boys will never know their mother and now will not know the grandmother who loved them so much. Rose’s daughter who is in primary school has had to take over the raising of the children, she told us her studies were going along well in school – but she could not study at home because there was too much to do. I could see the tears in her eyes as she gazed out the front door at the young nephews she is now responsible for. She did not let those tears fall, but I could see that they were stinging her insides and tears again leapt into my eyes.
We spent some time with Moses, the husband of Joyce – the youngest woman to lose her life this year. She left behind three children and took one with her. Moses was a man that stood by Joyce in her education at the young women’s academy; he is an exceptional man in that regard. I could feel his pain, as I thought of seeing her shallow grave each day as he went about his business at home. In Kenya, the family members are buried on site, near their homes. I can’t imagine the hurt in his heart as his dreams of creating a better future for his children were taken with his wife. He said that she was going to complete school and get a good job to help them move forward. They had talked of the organic farming training, he was going to stop fishing and begin that with Joyce.
There was sadness in my heart, especially for the fact that these women died from treatable illnesses. Again I am reminded of the hardships and loss that face the people I meet here. So many loved ones lose their lives much before their time…so many children growing up without parents… so many husbands going on without their wives. To be Kenyan, however seems to mean that you carry your pain mostly on the inside. Members of the community here have come to the aid of the new widowers – they are helping each other cope with the loss.
We spent the early evening in the new Victoria Young Women’s Academy, with the women from the young women’s group. The building has a cement floor laid the walls have been constructed – all that is left is the roof and some finishing. We were told that the building would be complete by the end of August. All of the women are finishing their primary education this year if they pass their exams in November. This group that started out four years ago with only a flicker of a dream in their hearts will realize a dream, this November when they sit in for the KCP exams. The women all told us of their next plan, for all it is Secondary school, where will depend on their KCP exam scores. They will hope to get over 350 out of 500 so they can attend a National School.
This leaves them all to decide who will take their places…who is the next group of hopeful young women that will step into the new one room school to earn their wings? They told us today that they are starting to strengthen their wings; I could see that they were stronger than last summer when I last saw them. They each stood a bit taller and spoke a bit louder as they talked about the future. They agreed that the new school should be the Victoria Women / Michelle Obama Women’s Academy. The women said that this would signify the change in them…as they enter the new school they will also be preparing to graduate and begin a new, saying “Yes We Can.”
We shared the good news that President Obama’s grandmother agreed to attend the dedication of the new school. The group of us met Mama Sarah, Obama’s grandma yesterday in Kogelo, Kenya. We traveled to Kogelo on the way to Nyaoga, unsure if we would meet any of the family or even get close to the house, we thought it was worth a try. We drove up a little late, but Elijah smooth talked the two armed Kenyan Police that spend their days and nights within the compound and we were able to enter the place. There was a simple house on the site; the grave of Barrack’s father was there. We were led to a circle of chairs in front, where Grandma SarahObama came walking out to us. We sat with her for no more than 10 minutes, as we were under strict orders to take no more time than that. She was a very sweet woman – she said it was no trouble that we came in late, as they love visitors. As we talked with her the winds came up and the clouds started to roll over head – the rain was approaching. Mangoes started falling off the tree above us. She was obviously a little scared that one might hit her, she mentioned it a couple of times – that “one of those things is going to hit me in the head.” A few seconds later, one did hit her in the head! Poor lady, we said “Poli-Poli” which means sorry. It was not funny, but it was. She agreed to come to the dedication of the Michele Obama Women’s Academy as she walked away. One might say “Ah, we’ll see,” but one thing I have learned here, is a Kenyan is true to their word – if she said she will come, I believe she will.
We are currently preparing the clinic grounds for a free clinic day on Friday. This will be the first free health camp in this community since 2006, when a group of U.S. nurses and medical persons traveled to the Give Us Wings communities to provide treatment. We anticipate at least 300 people to be on site, we will be conducting a clinic use survey to help us offer even better services to the community.
All is well here – I am missing all of my friends and fmily at home. But the community of Nyaoga, becomes my home away from home. Sending my love to all.
Written on June 30,2009, in route to Nyaoga, Kenya.
“I am going back to Kenya my home in Africa, my home of happiness…”
This is a line from a song that I asked Lawi to sing for all of us this morning. He sang it repeatedly on our trip last summer and it seemed appropriate as we drove away from the Give Us Wings house in Tororo, in route to Nyoaga Kenya.
Sadly I did not have time to blog more in Uganda, there was a flurry of community meetings and meetings with other community people that kept us running and wondering where the day went. Several great moments state out in my mind from the last week.
I am forgetting on which day many things happened, but bare with me as I recount the events…Firstly we met with two small groups, outside of Tororo, Mary calls them Tina’s groups because a woman named Tina used to head them up. They have Ugandan names that I will try to clarify and add to this post later. These small groups have 12 members each, most of them earn a living by selling something down at the “Corner” market. One of the groups had their story noticed by a donor and we went out to talk to them about a 1,000,000 Schilling loan (at an exchange rate of about 2000 USH to one dollar, that is $500 USD). I found this meeting very interesting. It was community organizing at it’s best. Mary got down on the ground with a notebook and pen and helped these women envision what they could actually do with 1,000,000 Schillings. They started out with a big dream, a market kiosk with a small cafe an area to sell fish and an area to sell other groceries. As we started to talk over the cost of each piece of the market the women quickly realized that they would spend the entire million and may not complete this plan still. With their voices leading the idea generation and really just using her skills of helping them clarify their thoughts -Mary helped sketch a plan B and a plan c. In the end, plan C came to life, a plan that would keep them renting space at the corner for now and increasing their stock for each of their businesses.
The women had a loan from Give Us Wings a year or two ago, which they still owed a few schillings on – they could not get the million until they paid back 30,000USH (about $15). They all went out and dug that morning to each earn 2,000 USH. They dug in someone’s garden for about 5 hours for around $1 USD, making it possible to repay their initial loan and receive the million. We returned the next day to cheers and left them with the money, which they were going to put into the bank. It was very interesting for me to see how the process works, how does one help a group see what their potential really is…help them arrive at their own best solution – without giving them the answer – just helping them learn how to make the decision by considering all aspects.
Many times on this trip there has been talk around the business training and business loans that the groups have recieved. It was interesting to hear the groups talking about their new realization that saving some of their profits each day was good for their business and that business money is for business – not for food or school fees. Each of these groups is slowly, slowly moving up on their own.
Traveling into Nygio Ber was again amazing, the women in this area have now been living in their own homes for one year. The village becomes more and more green and lush each time we visit and the homes are still well cared for and actually some have more funriture than they had before. They moved into these homes, after several years of fundraising by Give Us Wings USA and also several years of hard work on their part – helping make bricks and cook food for the workers on site. The women continue to struggle to make a living however. The rains have been a problem in Uganda, namely that there hasn’t been any. For a community of Farmers, like these women this means very little income.
I am seeing many stories of hope from people who only received a small amount of assistance from Give Us Wings. For some, all it takes is one thing – be it business or organic farming training to get them going. They take this new knowledge and they learn to fly…all on their own. Like the nurse we met at Tororo District Hospital – she was a part of Tina’s groups a few years ago. They received the organic farming training. From that she increased her income and was able to make her way through school to be a nurse – now she is making it. She told us that Give Us Wings changed her life and made her who she is today.
