KENYA YOUTH SERVICE TRIP 2007

SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT IN KENYA

AUGUST 1-AUGUST 14, 2007

BY JOAN MWAMLIMA, PROJECT COORDINATOR

Joan Mwamlima runs a nonprofit organization, together with her husband who is originally from Zambia, which is called Banana Leaf Art. They sell banana leaf art made by schoolchildren in Zambia, to raise money for the children to pay their school fees. They are also raising money to build a school in Zambia. As a couple, they feel a calling to serve Africa. They live in Norfolk, Virginia, with their three children: Josh (18), Sara (16), and Imani (11).

I am very grateful for the privilege of leading this service project in Kenya. It was moving to see the five young women on our team, one of whom was my daughter, become loving, expressive, amazing ambassadors for peace. They were positive role models for the Kenyan students, and they helped change some negative concepts about Americans. They were worthy representatives of Women's Federation for World Peace, USA.

I am absolutely convinced that now is the time for American women to work in Africa, just as WFWP Japanese members did back in the 1990s. We have a responsibility not only to send money to alleviate poverty but also to invest our human resources. When we ourselves go to serve in Africa, it benefits the African people and, by doing so, we come closer to the Heart of God, a priceless reward.

PART 1

On Wednesday, August 1, 2007, five young American women and I set off for two weeks in Kenya on WFWP, USA's first Service Learning Project. We traveled in various ways for almost four days to get to the Han Dow Secondary School in Marakusi, in the Lugari district of Kenya. This district is northeast of Nairobi and fairly near the Ugandan border. Han Dow, meaning "One Way," is one of seven schools which WFWP, USA sponsors as part of the "Schools of Africa Project". The young women were Kayo Derflinger from Ohio; Aurora Kamins from California; Athia Shibuya from New York; Kay Peemoeller and Sara Mwamlima, my daughter, from Virginia. They had all worked hard to raise funds and prepare for their first trip to Africa.

Everyone was both excited and tired after 20 plus hours of air travel on Emirates Airlines through scenic Dubai. We arrived in Nairobi on August 2nd at 8 p.m. We were greeted by WFWP representatives and taken straight to Sasamoto Farm, a workshop center, where we stayed the night. Sachiko Lee was there, one of the original WFWP volunteers. She has devoted herself to Kenya since 1994, and she made sure everyone had what they needed. After greetings and dinner, we went gratefully to sleep.

Friday, August 3rd. Our first full day in Kenya began with an orientation, including a presentation about Women's Federation for World Peace, our purpose and goals and also the Schools of Africa Project. Then Margaret, a Kenyan WFWP member, taught us about Kenyan culture and customs. Everyone's favorite presentation was the Swahili language lesson. In the days to come, we had many opportunities to use the phrases we learned. We also invited Ivy Kalama, a young Kenyan woman there, to join us for the service project. She became like a sister to everyone and helped us with our Swahili.

After lunch, our minivan arrived to carry us on to the Han Dow Marakusi Secondary School. Our driver was Joe Mago who, over the next ten days, became our friend, protector and fellow construction worker. He was a gift from God.

We began our journey on the infamous, dusty, pot-holed roads of Kenya which, like other sub-Saharan African countries, does not allocate adequate funds for services such as road repairs and, as we would see later, for education. I couldn't help but wonder about this and I asked various people, "With all the safari vans and rich tourists driving through, why is there not enough tax revenue to allow the government to resurface even one road leading out of Nairobi?". I never got an answer.

We drove over rough roads for five hours to reach Nakuru, Kenya's third largest city, just before dark. That night we stayed at the Merica Hotel, enjoyed a scrumptious buffet, plenty of local Kenyan tea, slept well and prepared for the next day's drive to Marakusi.

Saturday, August 4th. After leaving Nakuru at 7 a.m. and crossing the equator, we arrived around 1 p.m. at the Han Dow Marakusi Secondary School. Finally, after two days on airplanes and two days in a minivan, we arrived at our destination. This journey was not for the weak or fainthearted.

We began with lunch and an Opening Ceremony, one of several ceremonies we were to experience at Han Dow School. Speeches were given by representatives of the different district and education offices, the headmaster of the school, the president of the PTA, and the WFWP Kenyan president, followed by recitations by students. After the speeches, we presented gifts of sports equipment and school supplies, as well as baby blankets for the families made by the WFWP, Virginia chapter.

Kay, Aurora, Kayo, Athia and Sara all picked names from a small group of Kenyan students who were staying on in order to work with us. These Kenyan girls became their partners for the duration of the service project.

After this meeting, the American girls quickly escaped to go sing and dance with their new Kenyan friends while the adults held budget and planning meetings. The supplies were there for the project, and the workmen had already started. Although we were scheduled to begin the service work that day, nothing was organized for us. We socialized and then left the school at 6 p.m. for the one-hour drive to the nearest town, Eldoret, where our hotel was located.

The Hotel Sirikwa was to be our home for the next five days. The fee we had paid included a buffet breakfast of pancakes, eggs, potatoes, beans, cereals and fruits. Dinner, on the other hand, was not included and was very expensive. As it turned out, each day at the school we were fed so much at high tea (4 p.m.) that many of us did not want any dinner.

On Sunday August 5th, we drove from Eldoret back to the school. Mrs. Helen Rotich, the WFWP Kenya president, gave a short reading and spoke about the importance of family values and sexual morality.

After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon visiting homes in the community. First, we visited the farm of Mrs. Violet Ananda, the WFWP chairwoman for the Lugari district, which includes Marakusi. Her home was a working farm with maize, sugar cane fields and many animals: chickens, pigs, turkeys, pigeons, and more. There were so many children around we didn't know which were hers and which belonged to the neighbors. Our WFWP, USA group had a good time playing with the children and animals and chopping down banana trees. We were served tea and chapatti and then left for the Mbosi's house.

Mr. Mbosi is president of the Han Dow School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). His home was smaller and more humble, yet it housed his mother and many other relatives. We walked around his farm and then visited with his family in their living room. We ate more food and drank more tea, so no one wanted dinner that night.

As we drove back to Eldoret on the dirt road through Marakusi, I noticed how different the road was from the first time I had visited Kenya, in the dry season of the year. This time, rain had made the road very muddy and narrow, as the sides were washed away into the gullies and deep ruts were formed in some areas. Just as I feared, we soon got stuck in the mud--while it was getting dark--out in the middle of nowhere. Everyone piled out of the van, including our driver, and we were ankle deep in mud as we tried to free the van by pushing. We were useless. Then, out of nowhere, children began to appear. They gathered and giggled amongst themselves as they watched us.

After the children came adults, either from huts in the distance or just passing by on their way home. The men passing by rushed to help us, and the tension I was feeling over our vulnerable situation soon turned to laughter. Aurora, Sara, Kay, Kayo and Athia, freed from pushing the car, quickly switched over to talking, teasing and taking photos with the children. It took some time to get unstuck, but we ended up having great fun there! What could have been a difficult situation turned into a community event. This was one of several experiences of getting stuck in the mud, and each event turned into a small miracle.

PART TWO

Monday, August 6th, was our first full day of service work. Both the WFWP leader and the headmaster were elsewhere, so the role of organizing fell somewhere between the construction supervisor, myself and the schedule itself. We worked 3 two-hour shifts with breaks in between. It was an easy day of painting.

We stopped at 4 p.m. for tea, and then we visited a local clinic built by the Religious Youth Service (RYS). It has been named the Marakusi Clinic and is partially run by the government. The doctor there was very gracious as he showed us around. The structure itself was very sound, but the rooms were sadly bare of equipment or supplies. Almost no medicine was left in the cabinets, and the two women at the front desk were cutting gauze from long strips to make bandages. We were shocked at the lack of things we take for granted in American clinics.

I asked the WFWP girls if there was something we could do, like maybe using the money from our dinner budget to give to the clinic for medicine. Everyone agreed enthusiastically, so we presented the doctor with a donation and sent him to town on a motorbike to buy medicine.

Kayo also wanted to ride on a motorbike, so we ordered motorbikes for all five girls to ride on. The drive from Han Dow School back to Eldoret consists of 30 minutes on a dirt road and then 30 minutes on paved road. The plan was to ride the motorbikes (which came with drivers) until we reached the paved road, where we would ride in the van. I ordered an extra motorbike for the headmaster and he enthusiastically joined in. As we were leaving, he quietly said to me, "Since you are in the front of the group, I will stay in the rear to make sure everyone stays on track." In that moment, I realized how serious he was about the District Commissioner's direction for him to take care of our security.

Tuesday, August 7th, the second full day of work, was much harder. We began preparation for mixing concrete for the floors. This meant lifting heavy bags of cement and then pushing them in wheelbarrows from the storage place to the classroom area. It also meant carrying large 5-gallon buckets of water many, many times across the long field from the water pump to the classrooms.

It was exhausting. But the girls were very positive about the whole experience. Kayo finally organized everyone into a line, passing buckets from one to the other, up and down the line. The first and second concrete floors were poured and all the painting finished.

Everyone was tired. We stopped at 4 p.m. for tea. I had asked if we could visit one of the neighbors. So far, the houses we had visited were relatively nice, but I wanted the girls to see how most people lived in the rural areas. The cook's helper took us to his home just behind the school.

He lived there with his grandmother and 14 of her grandchildren who had been orphaned by AIDS. What little income he received was all this home had.

The house was small and dark, the conditions beyond humble. The children wore torn clothing but were laughing and playing and so curious about the white people and their cameras. Once again, Kay, Kayo, Athia, Sara and Aurora looked like Princess Dianas, embracing and talking to all the children. This moved the grandmother very much.

Wednesday, August 8th. At first, we sat around talking, playing games and waiting for something to do, but we also helped the supervisor and his workers pour the third and forth concrete floors.

Finally, they put the red concrete finish on. Sara, Ivy and Aurora were sick that morning. They slept and recovered a bit in the afternoon. We finished the work around 4 p.m. and had a brief soccer game with the students.

As dark clouds gathered, we met in the library for our closing meeting. Unfortunately, the rain began to pour, and the pounding noise on the corrugated tin roof was so loud we could barely hear each other. Helen Rotich, the headmaster, and several other people gave speeches. Then Kay, Aurora, Kayo, Athia and Sara each gave gifts to their Kenyan sisters and received beautiful Kenyan necklaces in return.

It was hard to say goodbye. We dashed across the soccer field to our van, waving enthusiastically to the students. The headmaster and several men jumped in the van with us to push us out of the mud if we got stuck. Sure enough, we got stuck. We had to walk in the rain and mud for about a quarter of a mile while they pushed the van through the mud. Once again, our driver, Joe, was able to steer us onward.

We left the Han Dow school with great joy for all our experiences and all that we were able to accomplish, but also with sadness to leave our new friends.

There is so much need at the school: a need for money to finish the new administrative block that sits idly waiting for funds; money to upgrade the school buildings, especially the crowded, dark and unfinished dorms for the boys and girls. The impact of poverty was everywhere, from the clinic with no medicine to the pit latrines with mosquitoes swarming out of them; from halfclothed to grandmothers with 14 grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. These images keep returning to me, and with them the question, "What can we as WFWP really do to make a difference?"

PART THREE

August 9th. We left early for the long, nine-hour drive from Han Dow to the Masai Mara Reserve. The countryside was beautiful, from individual farms to large tea plantations. We stopped for a quick tour through one of the tea processing plants. During the whole drive, I was trying to digest our experience at Han Dow.

Life is very hard in Kenya and other African countries, and it is painful to observe. People have to work so hard for so little. Men and women get up early and work on their farms all day just to eat.

They have no money for the simplest things, like another set of clothes, or sugar, or even transportation. Boys with bicycles, motorbikes, minivans, or any sort of transportation try to offer rides. Everyone tries to sell something, tries to make some money.

Many people sit along the roadside and around the stores. There are so many unemployed men. One teacher said unemployment in Kenya is between 50-70%. I remembered what Jan Egeland, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, once said to partially explain the violence in Darfur: "Too many unemployed men with too many guns." And then I understood why there were all the police checkpoints we went through - even out in the rural areas.

As we approached Masai Mara Reserve, the Kenyan terrain became drier and dustier. Zebras began appearing in the distance, as horses might along a road in the American countryside. By the time we reached our camp, we were well into the Reserve and had seen zebra, giraffe, elephants, and other animals. The camp we booked, Savuka Camp, was located in the southeastern corner of the Reserve. It is inexpensive ($45) and thus it was full of European backpackers and families on a budget. Dinner consisted of simple beans, meat and chapatti. The rooms were a bit dusty and cramped, but the girls, undaunted, huddled under the mosquito nets and chatted until late.

Friday, August 10th. Safari. We left early with a packed lunch for the southwest part of Masai Mara where the hippo pools are located. After popping up the roof of our van, everyone got out their cameras and prepared for the ride. The scenery was gorgeous. Along the way we saw zebras, buffalo, gazelle, giraffe, cheetahs, elephants, and more than enough lions.

The real drama came when six lions took down a giraffe. All the safari vans in the area swarmed to the sight, connected by radio and by some ancient bloodlust. I had never seen anything like this and was fascinated and repulsed at the same time. After many photographs and "ughs" we drove on to the hippo pools. Relaxing along the way, we stopped for a picnic inside the van. When we reached the hippo pools, Joe said it was safe to get out and take pictures, but to stay away from the water's edge: there were big crocodiles in the pools.

Saturday, August 11th. We left early for the long ride back to Nairobi. On our way out of the Reserve, we stopped at a Masai village. I think you have to be in the right mood for this experience. Young Masai warriors dance, and one or two of the men who can speak English lead tours through the village. This village is their home, not some fake tourist village like we have in the U.S.

I had been asking our driver for days questions like, "How do the Masai really feel about these safari vans driving through their property?" or "How do the Masai feel about the rich tourists with all this money while they live in such poverty?" Joe would look at me, deciding how diplomatic he should be, and usually answer with something like, "Life is hard for them."

When we reached Sasamoto Farm, it was time to say goodbye to Joe. It was difficult. He had become part of the family. We promised to see him next time. There was a huge wedding party going on at the farm. Tom Rangala, the caretaker of Sasamoto Farm, and his fiancé were having their civil wedding. We went to join them and meet the family. I was so tired but the girls stayed and danced till late.

Sunday, August 12th. After Sunday Service at a local church, lunch and meetings, we went to the market to shop with several WFWP Japanese members. This was a curio market set up on Sundays in a parking lot in downtown Nairobi. We had such a good time. Helen and the Japanese members helped us to sharpen our bargaining skills, a very important talent.

We went back early (5 p.m.) to Sasamoto Farm because a good-bye barbeque had been organized. We relaxed, socialized and ate a lot.

Monday, August 13th. Our last day in Kenya. We began by visiting the Nyumbani Home, a residence and school for HIV positive children who have been orphaned or abandoned by their family.

Over 100 children are housed and trained at this home started by the Catholic priest Father Angelo D'Agostino. It was a relatively large and well-funded organization compared to what we had seen in Kenya so far. An American nun gave us a tour, several brochures and an invitation to come back and do volunteer work. We met with the director and presented the rest of the blankets made by WFWP, Virginia chapter.

After that we drove to the home of Helen Rotich's daughter for lunch. Her house was humble and it was full of many small children, hers and her neighbors', yet she made a beautiful lunch for us. Then we returned to Sasamoto Farm to pack, write reflections and prepare to go to the airport.

During dinner, everyone gave their testimonies about what they had learned in Kenya. We were happy, grateful, and spoke of different experiences. One thing we all shared was a desire to have spent more time at Han Dow School. I told the young women how proud I was of them because, in spite of the external difficulties, they were always giving love and embracing the students and neighborhood children. They were truly ambassadors for peace and made a positive impression wherever they went.

We flew out of the Nairobi airport at 11:30 p.m., but we all agreed that Kenya would stay with us forever.

Joan and Sara Mwamlima, Kay Peemoeller, Kayo Derflinger, Aurora Kamins, Athia Shibuya