Monday and we have begun our Organic Bio Intensive farming Workshop with some of our High School students and some local villagers. The organization Organics4Orphans, has as part of its mission statement, the goal of increasing the capacity of communities to care for the orphans in their midst. It makes sense, what with the number of orphans nearing 50 million in Africa, they all can't be cared for in orphanages or childrens homes. Enabling communities to build their own food security allows them to care for more of the hungry within the community.
The methods are quite interesting and provide a high yield in a relatively small patch of ground (100 sq ft) with only manure, compost and mulch used for fertilizers. The goals are primarily food security, nutrition and disease prevention. We will be learning much about the healing capacity of various foods; for example, pumpkin is being used as a dewormer.
This is good to know since Karen noticed yesterday that several of the small children had sores on their heads, faces and necks. One little girl had sores that were more pronounced then the others, they appeared to be open and seeping....... When Karen pointed this out she was told that it was worms and that the girl would be taken to the clinic for treatment. What surprised us was how quickly it seemed to have broken out as we see these children everyday.
I am not sure whether I had mentioned little Ali. Ali is 5 years old and was rescued with his two brothers from near starvation after being abandoned when their mother was hospitalized for critical illness as a result of Aids. When he came here just over a month ago he was little more than a skeleton with a bloated belly. He couldn't walk so he just sat on those little legs not much bigger around than my thumb. Ali has been doing much better and has been walking for about 2 weeks although he is only about the size of an 18 month old. He finally began to smile and interact more with the children in this last week or so and then Karen noticed today that he appeared a little jaundiced. Please pray that Ali is okay. We will get him checked tomorrow but I am worried that his little body would be too weak to fight off anything too serious.....
It rained for about 15 minutes today and I was too far from the house to get soap in time for an impromptu shower. Oh well, on the bright side the system we have set up for collecting rain water seems to be working. It needs a few small adjustments and we will be ready for some serious rain, maybe a couple of hours worth.
I received a visit today from Gilbert, the local military officer in charge of civil security for this region. He just stopped by to introduce himself and to reassure us that it was his job to keep us safe and secure from Al Shaabab and any other security threats. It caught me a little off guard as I never imagined that our small group way out in rural Kenya would be much of a target for a terrorist organization. However Gilbert assured me that we were quite safe and gave me his phone number to call if I had any concerns at any time. It's nice to have friends in high places.
Well that's it for today. God Bless us everyone.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Bedbugs and Cockroaches
It's Sunday night, it's been a busy day. First thing this morning we had the exterminator come so that we could spray for bedbugs and other creepy crawlies at the school and orphanage. We found out yesterday that many of the high school girls were not sleeping well due to a bedbug infestation in the dorm. What a difference to girls in Canada, it went on for quite a while before any of them complained. I expect that it may have spread quicker due to the close quarters that the girls live in. We really need to raise money to build a larger girls dormitory, the bunk beds are stacked so closely together it reminds me of the pictures that I have seen of concentration camps during WWII. When Karen first saw the girls dorm she had commented that it was a good job that many of these girls are small, because a larger person would have difficulty just walking between the bunks.
So church lasted from 10 until 2pm and the fumigation was still in process when church was over. In the end the whole process took until about 4pm but a good thorough job was done. Hopefully no more creepy crawlies. Karen went over to see the bed bugs and commented that they were a little bigger than a flea and lighter in color. Karen was also shocked at the thin little foam mattresses that the girls sleep on, so there's another fundraiser for someone.
There had also been some cockroaches spotted in the Kitchen that serves the school and the childrens home, so it was fumigated as well.
The kitchen needs a couple of thousand dollars to be spent on renovations. Presently the food is cooked in large pot over an open fire, reminding you of something out of a story book. The pot itself must be at least three feet in diameter. This open fire is built inside the building on a dirt floor just inside a large open window. The smoke inside the kitchen is still quite bad even in spite of the large openings in the wall. The kitchen needs a cement floor so that it can be kept clean of food spillage so as not to attract any more creepy crawlies. We begin to install a new floor tomorrow, but we still need a large commercial gas stove(~$1000) plus some shelving, a good cutting board area and a washing up sink. ( Another good project for some one (hint, hint,nudge,nudge))
The rest of the day passed without incident, our instructor from Organics4orphans arrived safely from Uganda tonight as we begin a workshop on bio-intensive farming with some students and local farmers tomorrow. I had better get some sleep............zzzzzzz
So church lasted from 10 until 2pm and the fumigation was still in process when church was over. In the end the whole process took until about 4pm but a good thorough job was done. Hopefully no more creepy crawlies. Karen went over to see the bed bugs and commented that they were a little bigger than a flea and lighter in color. Karen was also shocked at the thin little foam mattresses that the girls sleep on, so there's another fundraiser for someone.
There had also been some cockroaches spotted in the Kitchen that serves the school and the childrens home, so it was fumigated as well.
The kitchen needs a couple of thousand dollars to be spent on renovations. Presently the food is cooked in large pot over an open fire, reminding you of something out of a story book. The pot itself must be at least three feet in diameter. This open fire is built inside the building on a dirt floor just inside a large open window. The smoke inside the kitchen is still quite bad even in spite of the large openings in the wall. The kitchen needs a cement floor so that it can be kept clean of food spillage so as not to attract any more creepy crawlies. We begin to install a new floor tomorrow, but we still need a large commercial gas stove(~$1000) plus some shelving, a good cutting board area and a washing up sink. ( Another good project for some one (hint, hint,nudge,nudge))
The rest of the day passed without incident, our instructor from Organics4orphans arrived safely from Uganda tonight as we begin a workshop on bio-intensive farming with some students and local farmers tomorrow. I had better get some sleep............zzzzzzz
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Do we take notice and step up........or just change the channel?
My apologies for not posting sooner. We have been in Kenya for over two weeks and here at the Heartbeat compound for 12 days. It has been busy and we have had some internet connection issues but really there is no real excuse. Chelsey has faithfully kept her blog updated and I will try to follow her example from here on. ( Incidentally Chelsey's blog can be found at adayinthelifeofchelsey.blogspot.com )
The scenery here is nothing short of spectacular. The village of Bura, here in the Taita/ Tavaeta district of Kenya is surrounded by hills that could more aptly be described as small mountains. We seem to be in the nest of a horseshoe-like formation of hills so that when you stand in an open area and look around there are rocky mountainsides for about 180 degrees.
We are living in a spacious ranch house with a red clay tile roof on a 6.8 acre fruit farm. The fruit trees consist mainly of mangos ( around 140 - 150 trees ) although there are avocadoes, cashew and citrus trees as well. The Orange trees are currently in bloom and their sweet perfume fills the air for 20 feet around them. There seems to be a very large bee ( it looks like a bumble bee on steroids ) that appreciates the fragrant blooms even more than we do.
The house I said was spacious but I don't want you to think luxurious. Spacious meaning the rooms are plenty big, the ceilings are high, however the funishings are spartan at best. The floors are all red sealed concrete, except the kitchen which is tiled, but only about 6' x 10' with a small attached pantry/tool storage room. The kitchen might be called galley style as it also serves as the hallway to the back door as well. It has a sink that drains outside into an open drain, a small combination gas/electric stove and about 6 feet of counter space. It also has a large fireplace containing a charcoal fueled "stove" (sort of an hibachi ) which is preferred by the African women over the gas stove. We do have a small refrigerator but due to the small kitchen it is located in the living-room. So far the kitchen also usually contains three to four local women cooking, cleaning or having tea. ( Tea here is called Chai which is more like a tea latte, which they love to sweeten and is a required part of Kenyan life)
Directly behind the house, about 20 feet away, is a 8 foot high thorny hedge and immediately on the other side of the hedge is the high school and childrens home. So, for 16 hours a day you are serenaded by the daily routines of ~280 young men and women. It begins somewhere after 530 am for most of the children although some are up earlier ( to beat the rush I assume ). The windows of the house are a sort of louvered pane which is wonderful for ventilation but offers no sound barrier whatsoever. The result is that we hear every whisper from the children and I am politely in formed, so do they. lol
We have been very busy since we arrived and so have the children. I am constantly amazed at their industry and organization. Today, for example, was Saturday; The children arose at 6 and did their chores. They then had two hours of classroom instruction. Karen and I took a walk into the village of Bura to buy a few things from the local vendors market. When we returned after lunch we found the entire compound busy with activity. It was like stepping inside of a large grandfather clock and watching each cog and wheel turn with precision. The clotheslines and over 100 yards of hedge were covered with laundry. In the center of the compound under the shade of a large mango tree the teenage girls along with all the small children were washing still more laundry. Beyond them about a half dozen teen boys were busy chopping a large pile of wood for the cooking fire. At the front gate a truck had dumped a large pile of granite, which was being carried across the compound down the path and through the gate to the farm house where another group of boys were mixing cement and preparing a foundation for a new water tank which has just been donated. Another group of boys were diligently pouring the floor to a new six hole pit toilet. ( which is used in the dry season when there is not enough water to flush toilets.) I almost forgot the final group, who were ferrying 20 litre containers of water back and forth from several kms away to be used for the cement and the livestock, in order to preserve the scant water supply presently on the Heartbeat compound.
Any queen ant would have been proud of these young people as they worked so hard and with such organization, it was a marvel. Remember, most of these young people have very little. They keep their entire life's possessions in a box a little larger than a carry on suitcase. They work very hard both in and out of school, in the hope of a brighter future, thankful daily for the little they have. They eat a lot of rice with either lentils or beans, local greens and very little meat except on special occasions. If they survive their battle with sickness and disease, malnutrition and drought, and finish their education, then they can take their place in the world and change the future for others like them.
Presently we are experiencing a severe drought in Kenya. I drink more water every day then I use to bath in. It's time to step up people, these young Kenyans aren't sitting back and doing nothing about their predicament, they don't complain, they just cheerfully push onward.
Kenya like so many other African nations has lost an entire generation due to aids. There are ~40 million people in Kenya and over 30 million of them are under 18 years old. Ten million of those are between 15 and 18. These young people may be the future of Kenya or even Africa, but no matter how hard that they work, they can't do it alone.
We all have a decision to make, do we sit up, take notice and help....... or do we just change the channel?
The scenery here is nothing short of spectacular. The village of Bura, here in the Taita/ Tavaeta district of Kenya is surrounded by hills that could more aptly be described as small mountains. We seem to be in the nest of a horseshoe-like formation of hills so that when you stand in an open area and look around there are rocky mountainsides for about 180 degrees.
We are living in a spacious ranch house with a red clay tile roof on a 6.8 acre fruit farm. The fruit trees consist mainly of mangos ( around 140 - 150 trees ) although there are avocadoes, cashew and citrus trees as well. The Orange trees are currently in bloom and their sweet perfume fills the air for 20 feet around them. There seems to be a very large bee ( it looks like a bumble bee on steroids ) that appreciates the fragrant blooms even more than we do.
The house I said was spacious but I don't want you to think luxurious. Spacious meaning the rooms are plenty big, the ceilings are high, however the funishings are spartan at best. The floors are all red sealed concrete, except the kitchen which is tiled, but only about 6' x 10' with a small attached pantry/tool storage room. The kitchen might be called galley style as it also serves as the hallway to the back door as well. It has a sink that drains outside into an open drain, a small combination gas/electric stove and about 6 feet of counter space. It also has a large fireplace containing a charcoal fueled "stove" (sort of an hibachi ) which is preferred by the African women over the gas stove. We do have a small refrigerator but due to the small kitchen it is located in the living-room. So far the kitchen also usually contains three to four local women cooking, cleaning or having tea. ( Tea here is called Chai which is more like a tea latte, which they love to sweeten and is a required part of Kenyan life)
Directly behind the house, about 20 feet away, is a 8 foot high thorny hedge and immediately on the other side of the hedge is the high school and childrens home. So, for 16 hours a day you are serenaded by the daily routines of ~280 young men and women. It begins somewhere after 530 am for most of the children although some are up earlier ( to beat the rush I assume ). The windows of the house are a sort of louvered pane which is wonderful for ventilation but offers no sound barrier whatsoever. The result is that we hear every whisper from the children and I am politely in formed, so do they. lol
We have been very busy since we arrived and so have the children. I am constantly amazed at their industry and organization. Today, for example, was Saturday; The children arose at 6 and did their chores. They then had two hours of classroom instruction. Karen and I took a walk into the village of Bura to buy a few things from the local vendors market. When we returned after lunch we found the entire compound busy with activity. It was like stepping inside of a large grandfather clock and watching each cog and wheel turn with precision. The clotheslines and over 100 yards of hedge were covered with laundry. In the center of the compound under the shade of a large mango tree the teenage girls along with all the small children were washing still more laundry. Beyond them about a half dozen teen boys were busy chopping a large pile of wood for the cooking fire. At the front gate a truck had dumped a large pile of granite, which was being carried across the compound down the path and through the gate to the farm house where another group of boys were mixing cement and preparing a foundation for a new water tank which has just been donated. Another group of boys were diligently pouring the floor to a new six hole pit toilet. ( which is used in the dry season when there is not enough water to flush toilets.) I almost forgot the final group, who were ferrying 20 litre containers of water back and forth from several kms away to be used for the cement and the livestock, in order to preserve the scant water supply presently on the Heartbeat compound.
Any queen ant would have been proud of these young people as they worked so hard and with such organization, it was a marvel. Remember, most of these young people have very little. They keep their entire life's possessions in a box a little larger than a carry on suitcase. They work very hard both in and out of school, in the hope of a brighter future, thankful daily for the little they have. They eat a lot of rice with either lentils or beans, local greens and very little meat except on special occasions. If they survive their battle with sickness and disease, malnutrition and drought, and finish their education, then they can take their place in the world and change the future for others like them.
Presently we are experiencing a severe drought in Kenya. I drink more water every day then I use to bath in. It's time to step up people, these young Kenyans aren't sitting back and doing nothing about their predicament, they don't complain, they just cheerfully push onward.
Kenya like so many other African nations has lost an entire generation due to aids. There are ~40 million people in Kenya and over 30 million of them are under 18 years old. Ten million of those are between 15 and 18. These young people may be the future of Kenya or even Africa, but no matter how hard that they work, they can't do it alone.
We all have a decision to make, do we sit up, take notice and help....... or do we just change the channel?
Sunday, 9 October 2011
30 hours and we're on the plane.
This experience has already been extraordinary, and we haven't left yet. The support that we have received from so many people and walks of life is actually quite overwhelming.
We have managed to pack our bags and weigh them carefully so as to not encounter unexpected delays or FEES! Our luggage gets checked right through to Nairobi, so we won't have to lug it around behind us for 10 hours in an airport. ( We've done that before) This is an extra blessing for me because with Karens condition I get to handle all of her bags as well as mine. I'm sure to look quite humorous as I navigate the terminal.
Our flights leave from Moncton to Montreal, then to Frankfurt and Zurich before landing in Nairobi a mere 19 hours and 50 minutes later. It is the most efficient itinerary that I have ever flown, so you all pray that everything goes well and stays on schedule. I think that less than 3 hours of that 19:50 hrs is spent in airports, the rest is in the air.
So,... a family dinner with Karens family Monday night and some last minute errands and chores and we are off..........
WE will keep you updated.
-Scott-
We have managed to pack our bags and weigh them carefully so as to not encounter unexpected delays or FEES! Our luggage gets checked right through to Nairobi, so we won't have to lug it around behind us for 10 hours in an airport. ( We've done that before) This is an extra blessing for me because with Karens condition I get to handle all of her bags as well as mine. I'm sure to look quite humorous as I navigate the terminal.
Our flights leave from Moncton to Montreal, then to Frankfurt and Zurich before landing in Nairobi a mere 19 hours and 50 minutes later. It is the most efficient itinerary that I have ever flown, so you all pray that everything goes well and stays on schedule. I think that less than 3 hours of that 19:50 hrs is spent in airports, the rest is in the air.
So,... a family dinner with Karens family Monday night and some last minute errands and chores and we are off..........
WE will keep you updated.
-Scott-
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Only 1 week left.
So here we are,... one week from today we are headed to rural Kenya to live on a fruit farm with 200++ teenagers living next door, each wanting their time with us. I have a feeling family time is going to take on a whole new meaning for us as we become surrogate parents to so many young men and women.
I feel like the list of things that I have to get done before our departure gets longer as the time to accomplish each item gets shorter. Yet, here I am shortly after 7am, Chelsey is heading out the door to school and I'm typing this narrative. So although this entry is short it is a beginning.
Chelsey had to get her last immunizations yesterday and when I arrived at Moncton High, she promptly announced that the staff and and students had raised $1400 toward another water tank. Water tanks are extremely important in rural Kenya, during the rainy season the water is stored to be used in the dry season. This year there is a drought and water is so scarce that the elephants have been causing havoc with locals. In their search for water, the elephants have destroyed the gardens and trees of one of our friends there. In the end the rangers had to shoot and kill it. ( The villagers were glad for the meat though, as Kenyans love meat.)
Well, that is a beginning, stay tuned.
I feel like the list of things that I have to get done before our departure gets longer as the time to accomplish each item gets shorter. Yet, here I am shortly after 7am, Chelsey is heading out the door to school and I'm typing this narrative. So although this entry is short it is a beginning.
Chelsey had to get her last immunizations yesterday and when I arrived at Moncton High, she promptly announced that the staff and and students had raised $1400 toward another water tank. Water tanks are extremely important in rural Kenya, during the rainy season the water is stored to be used in the dry season. This year there is a drought and water is so scarce that the elephants have been causing havoc with locals. In their search for water, the elephants have destroyed the gardens and trees of one of our friends there. In the end the rangers had to shoot and kill it. ( The villagers were glad for the meat though, as Kenyans love meat.)
Well, that is a beginning, stay tuned.
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