Not all poverty is the same

Oh the relief of having internet again! I am so thankful for it… and am really thankful for so much here!
· The deep pink & purple bougainvillea that is blooming everywhere
· The yellow finches that I see every day as I wait for my ride
· My many drivers – I have learned so much about Kenyan life, history, politics, family, wildlife – and more - on our journeys to Dandora & back each day (today’s return home was a new record – almost 2 hours!... lots & lots of traffic)
· Bananas & avocadoes – I can be sure what I eat has not been touched by human hands! And the peels make great “plates” for any other food item I might have – since the insides are also completely clean.
· The warm hospitality of Kenyans - Zaire (the woman with the penthouse view of the entire Dandora dumpsite) has insisted that I stay with her on my next journey to Dandora… and she will likely be in Kisumu at her family’s home when we are there later this month. Frank, Meg, Jeanne, Peggy – we have an invitation to visit!

The trip to Dandora is becoming somewhat routine now … through the embassy area, through downtown Nairobi… and then either the “northern” or the “southern” route on to Dandora, depending on traffic. I now recognize certain petrol stations, the Moi Force Base (I think it’s an air force base), the section with all the goats, the section with all the furniture piled high in front of tiny shacks, the area where big dump trucks line the road waiting for hire for a day’s work, the woodsy area that became a temporary settlement area for people who escaped the deeper sections of the slums during the post-election violence – which is now being used by a French agency to house a “sack garden” program (since there is so little land in the slums, people purchase big sacks filled with dirt & a plant – usually some kind of greens – then just put the sack by their front door)… then, as we get closer to Dandora, the trash in the streets, the herds of pigs that share the walkways with school children & matatu’s, several schools, the small, square water tower, the street lined with shanty shops and so many people just milling around… the red & blue postal service office – then HOPE! In just two short weeks, I am feeling so comfortable with my new friends there… Today I walked alone from the 2nd floor HOPE office , down the stairs, outside & around the corner of the building to HOPE’s big meeting room below and I thought , there is no way I would have done this just a week ago!

Today began with a Care Team members meeting. This group is made up of all volunteers, most HIV+, who have been trained in palliative care for home-bound adults… and have also been trained in providing psychosocial support to the children in these homes. They keep a log of all their visits and work to identify needs within their region of oversight, and then meet once a month for mutual support and problem-solving. It is such a great way to help a community take ownership of both its problems and their solutions.

The director of a local children’s home heard that we were taking names for possible support of new families in the fall (news travels fast in the slum) and personally brought in two families he knew were in great need. I interviewed both & added them to our list. Just to give you a picture of this interview… there were probably ten people in the tiny HOPE office – I was at one plastic table seated with the mother, the children’s home director and another colleague were standing behind her… another volunteer was at the same table filing papers… at the adjacent table (there’s really not room to walk between the two tables) someone is working at the computer with hip hop Swahili music playing way too loud… Makena is behind the computer table talking to another family of 3 or 4 about an issue… it’s near bedlam, noise-wise! Soon after, Velma shoos everyone out and insists we have our morning tea & chapatti’s in quiet.

We spent the afternoon making two home visits to unsupported, but likely eligible families… and I again saw that poverty & destitution have levels. In the first home, we found a mother and her 5 children plus a 13 year old, totally orphaned girl, who the mother had taken into her home. The father of the 5 children was paralyzed in an accident and is no longer able to work – the mother sells vegetables. None of the children (ages 4 to 16) were in school because the mother could not afford school fees… their greatest needs? Food and rent and school fees. This was the better-off family we visited today.

We walked deeper into the slum – same sights (raw sewage in the streets, children playing next to chickens in the mud, countless vendors of unimaginable items…) and arrived at Agnes’s home. Her husband had been a boxer, who sounded as if he was brain-damaged and “went crazy”… he is no longer part of the family. Agnes has 4 children, including a one month old baby she has not yet named. She is HIV+ and will take the baby to a clinic in the next week or so to see if the baby is HIV+ as well – she had no money for medicines - or milk; she is breastfeeding the baby – a means of HIV transmission. Her two older daughters are 14 and 6. The older one seemed listless, quiet, and deeply sad – she passed her 8th grade exams last year, but there was no money for her to begin high school. She has been out of school for a year – and according to the mother, hardly ever leaves the house. We wondered depression? Or some worse trauma? The younger girl was also out of school – but bright and captivating… like a little elf. Then the youngest boy – runny nose, deep cough…. his whole little chest heaved with every breath and you could see his heart beating through his chest – he was very seriously ill. No money for the doctor or for medicine even if she went to the doctor.

We took the mother and the baby back to the HOPE office; because all of HOPE’s medical clinic funding has been used for the year, I gave her 600 KS (less than $10) – to cover both the doctor’s visit and any medicine prescribed. So many of you have reminded me that all any of us can do is to help one child at a time, the one child in front of us. Hopefully this little guy will have more time. Makena was deeply touched by the challenges this family faces on so many fronts. While HOPE’s educational funding has also been exhausted, she has committed to find funding somewhere to allow the older girl back in school – and we referred both girls to the Kids Clubs and the smaller support groups for children with HIV+ parents. Again I thought - I am looking at children who will likely be total orphans within the next few years…. Can school, HOPE, and Kids Club be enough to support them through the rest of their childhoods?