Dago Donations

At a primary school in Dago Village, in western Kenya area near where Obama has history, I was a welcomed visitor.



Following a speech about the importance of education and hard work (which was mysteriously NOT recorded!), I presented the faculty and students half of the donations my Kamiak High School colleagues and Seattle friends gave me. I saved the other half for Sirua Aulo Academy, which I visited afterward.

(Note particularly minute marker 1:40, after I tell the kids they can each have a new pencil, and near the end when a teacher discovers sticky notes)

Dago welcoming their visitor: Part 1

At the end of my week at Dago Village, my host planned for me to observe the math class again till the end of the geometry lesson, and, at my request, observe Rose Achieng (Jacqueline's younger sister, with apparent developmental disability) in her class. Afterward, during their morning break, they were to gather the students in the center for me to present the donations officially.

Well, as per usual, things started much later than scheduled and it was all very informal. I gave my camera to Edwin to record for me. I told him that the microphone picks up best at 3 feet or so from the speaker and he took it to heart! He walked right up to all the speakers/performers and was almost in-their-face which made them shy away even more hahaha...

Anyway, enjoy! I captioned what I could and apologize for the gaps, probable inaccuracies, and poor color contrast. I've been using Windows Movie Maker to edit and publish these videos, then load them onto Youtube to embed onto this blog in order to save memory and make sharing the videos easier.

Mzungu in the Orphanage!

Saturday, June 28th

At Dago, my hosts suggested I go to the orphanage around 2pm to do something with local kids. As per African Standard Time, they sent me at 4:30pm. When I arrived, there were about 14 children waiting for me.

By 6pm, there were 42 kids... and growing.

Apparently they had heard a mzungu was around and kept trickling in, even as we left the building.

My Dago host, Mr. Odoyo, suggested I make crafts with the kids like the other volunteers have done in the past, but I insisted on using books somehow (even though I had no clear plan except winging it SLP-style!). Mr. Odoyo also said not to go alone to see the kids, because "they are too much to handle without help." Susan came with me, and I'm so glad she did because she helped with translating back and forth between Luo and English whenever we didn't understand each others' accents.

They started off like the kids I came across last year, pushing & shoving, loud & rowdy, and extremely eager to touch/grab any part of the mzungu and her belongings. But after my experience at Kamiak High School, I gained some guts and disciplining strategies (thanks to some great special education teachers there!!). So even as the crowd swelled, I actually had control of the room using my ONE book, which held everyone captivated because... well it's a book. Something new.

(I took this video after I released the book.
They were all fighting over The Three Little Pigs until they noticed I was recording.
This is also a glimpse at how the kids were before I got stern, and before the crowed tripled in size.)

We went through a couple books that night. I kneeled on the table and read a page or two for them at a time, then asked a comprehension question. They were very simple picture books, and my questions were extremely basic (e.g., "What is the boy doing?"). I also found a pack of math flashcards and did that with them as well (I know, once a nerd, always a nerd. Everything's gotta be educational with me! But they apparently enjoyed it!).

The kids initially all raised their hands and shouted "Me! Me! Me! Me!" even though none of them knew the answer or even understood the question. They just wanted the stickers I was giving as rewards. I didn't want to run out of stickers before I got to Sirua Aulo Academy (where I was headed the next day), so I changed the reward to getting their picture taken. At this point, Susan sat behind me and was in control of my camera.

These boys each earned their picture taken several times, and eventually started posing for them in their own ways. So cute.

Afterward, I taught them Simon Says, which took a while with lots of examples and Susan translating for me. But when they cottoned on finally, I let an older student take over and I was able to sit back, enjoy the game, and rest my voice.

<--"Simon says, 'Stick your tongue out!'"

"Simon says, 'Pat your head and rub your tummy!'" -->






By dinner time, we had to stop. Mrs. Odoyo, who entered during the last hour, told the children to sing something for their guest. Here's what they came up with:

And finally, I suggested they gather in front of the orphanage for a group photo. This one is our "silly poses" picture. I love that they always show off their stickers (Thanks again to the MSD SLP who donated them!).

"The Ditch"

Similar to Greg Mortenson building a bridge to overcome his first obstacle into Korphe (See: "Three Cups of Tea"; more info on this blog later), Emmanuel Leina needs to build a bridge.

Badly.

This is the only connection between the main roads and Sirua Aulo Academy.

If it rains during the day, then all bets are off. If it rained overnight, at least he'd have to wait till it dries up a bit before trying to pass it. It is a 45 minute walk between his home and school.

It's hard to appreciate The Ditch from pictures, so I clipped together this 3 minute video for you. Among the many requests for donations I've presented in this blog, this one is just as important. Supply trucks cannot pass through this, so Emmanuel drives everything to the property himself. Right now, there are only temporary structures at the school, but the goal is for permanent buildings to be ready ASAP, including a clinic and library on the property. I will blog more about the property later, but for now suffice it to say there is currently no easily accessible clinic in the area, and no library in the entire Transmara District.

Well, except for the one massive suitcase of books I brought.

---


Again,

Village Volunteers is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.

100% of your contributions will go directly to the project of your choice, and all fees associated with wiring the funds to the villages are absorbed by Village Volunteers.

To donate by check, please make checks payable to Village Volunteers and note the purpose in the memo line ("Emmanuel's Bridge"). Checks should be mailed to:

Village Volunteers
5100 S. Dawson St., Suite 202
Seattle, WA 98118
USA

You can also make a donation online. Village Volunteers uses PayPal to securely process all online donations.

Or, if you would like to wire a donation to Village Volunteers, please email Florinda Peralta at florinda@villagevolunteers.org for our account information.

Mr. Anderson of Kamiak HS: Dago Primary Class 8 Thank You!

On Friday, June 27, my host arranged for me to attend the 8th grade class at Dago Primary School so I can document the use of the particular donations made by one generous teacher in Mukilteo, WA.

At Dago, the math teacher prepared a geometry lesson so the students can use the new compasses, protractors, and graph paper. Calculators were few, so they were given to the staff to use for grading. Class 8 were the recipients of the donations because they are to take a major examination by the end of the school year, which determines their chances of getting into a good secondary school (high school).


After the initial excitement of giving and receiving the items, I took a back seat in the class and quickly recognized the universal experience of student boredom. Notice when the teacher asks the class "Are we together?" or "Sawa sawa?" (which means "Okay?" in Swahili)... the class responds with a very under-enthused "yes."

(I wonder how much you can understand without my captions anyway? The other voices come from behind me, from Class 7. The classes share a roof with a mud wall between which doesn't reach the top, so it all reverberates on the tin.)

If you want to know what he's saying, consult your 8th grade geometry books. :-)

Pamela tells about Susan's background

This is after I revealed to Susan and the family that Susan will be sponsored by an American couple for the rest of her education (she's in 6th grade now). Pamela, who is trilingual in Luo, Swahili, and English, had adopted her earlier on and now is expressing her appreciation and describing how Susan came to her household.

Book Delivery

Emmanuel is passing out board books to the nursery and intro/kindergarten students. It is their first time with such books (even for the teacher!) and... I'm just glad to have been able to record this. They are speaking Swahili, and the very enthusiastic boy on the left is my Brian!

I was aiming to update something to this blog each night since there's so much to share, but I've hit the ground running in Fairbanks and have been constantly busy (not all work though!). I haven't had much time to finish captioning these videos, but you can be sure they will be done and posted. By the end of the year. :-) Just kidding! Maybe over the next couple weeks? By the end of August? We'll see... It's 5 gigs of pictures & videos after all!

Cows and Bulls

At Dago village, they named this calf after me. Meet Linda the Cow. Don't laugh. Anyone else have a treasured animal in a foreign country named after them? So there.



At Oronkai village, Emmanuel has a bull named Balala, after a Kenyan politician. He didn't name it - I think a child of a friend named it.

Fairbanks, AK

Arrived safely, finally, after 20 hours travel from Kenya-London-Seattle, a 3 day ferry ride from Washington, and 13 hour drive north through the Yukon Territory... to start work at my new short-term assignment at a private SLP & OT clinic in Fairbanks. Yes, they had me start the moment I arrived at 11am today, all my belongings still in my car! So again I must apologize for not updating - I've been internet and cell phone deprived for over a month! If you're mildly interested, utterly bored, or dutifully procrastinating, I'll put more details with pictures about my northernly adventures in my private blog.

For now, at least you can enjoy a couple videos. The first is of a typical scene where 23 bodies crammed into Emmanuel's car (which was named after me last year, as you can see pasted on the back window). He doesn't drop them all home, but gives 19 children rides on the way to his own home after Sirua Aulo school lets out, so it saves these kids 30-45 minutes of walking.



This second is another that makes me smile. I am telling 12 year old Susan Adiambo (which means "born in the evening" in the Luo language. They nicknamed me "Akinyi", which means "born early in the morning"), who is an orphan but adopted informally by my host family, that she will get to be sponsored from now on. The thing is, as you watch, you may wonder what the big deal is to sponsor an orphan. Yes, Susan is currently fed and sheltered, and is going to school. But with sponsorship, she can go to a boarding school to get quality education and be able to focus on that as her priority, rather than the constant chores of daily living at the home (I've another video of her showing me around the compound, talking about her life; I still need to caption it though, so again please be patient!). She will also be able to go to secondary school (i.e., high school), which is currently still expensive for families to afford.

Some notes before you watch: Patrick and Edwin are the natural sons of Pamela. They both live in Nairobi now, so you see them in city clothes (I made fun of Edwin that when he put on his sunglasses in that outfit he looks like a 'player'... a term he has never heard and tried to find in the dictionary but couldn't...)



Currently working on captioning the video of Pamela explaining Susan's background. I'll load it in the next post, along with information about other children who need sponsorships-- all children with disabilities.

Kenya 2008

Last year, students from Pirrar Secondary School for Girls in the Transmara District recited this poem for me among many other "dramas" and performances. These girls, whose parents pay high prices for their secondary education (i.e., equivalent to high school) sleep in the room next to the classroom. Their outpouring of enthusiasm for education in the midst of having nothing that we privileged Westerners have (like electricity, clean water, toilets, sealed windows, adequate textbooks, air conditioning) was enough to bring me to tears. They marveled not only at my camera, but also at the scent of my moisturizer, the spiral-binding of my notebook, the color of my US dollar bill, the texture of my chap stick.

I couldn't fathom how spoiled we are. I couldn't take it. I cried that night.

Their school was burned down in the post-election riots that erupted earlier this year.

Not long after my visit to Pirrar, I visited another school called Tororet Primary School which serves over 200 students. Primary education is free (up to 8th grade), but I was not prepared for what I saw. The walls of one building were wooden planks with holes wide enough for children to walk through. They don't have floors -- the dirt becomes a muddy mess when it rains, in which children sludge around barefoot. Their library consists of two walls with practically barren shelves, and the 6 teachers share one desk in their one mud-floored office.

Nevertheless, just because I came to visit -- me, a mzungu (white person) -- the whole school put on a performance [see video below] and gave speeches. For me! I did nothing that day but take pictures to be used in creating awareness and requesting donations when I got back to the States; and I haven't been too successful with that. They asked me to give a speech, and presented me with two hard boiled eggs and a cup of chai. And later, they presented a bracelet handmade by the students using tire rubber and beads 'from the city'. I will cherish that forever.

The students and faculty were inspired by my simple visit. They said (as it was translated to me from a parent's speech in Swahili) whenever a mzungu (aka, white person; to them, Chinese are also white) comes to see them, it is a good omen. We bring good fortune to them.

How does one respond to that? I was floored. I had already brought donations of school supplies to another school (where they also held a ceremony by placing all my things on a table, bringing in a battery-powered megaphone, giving speeches and performances, and sharing a feast of goat meat soup), so I didn't have anything to give to Tororet.


I still don't know how to reciprocate Tororet's generosity. There are too many schools with too much need in this area; the donations I'm collecting this time are going to be split between two other schools/orphanages (Dago Dela Hera and Sirua Aulo Academy). Both these places need the school supplies as much as Tororet. I only wish all the people who have generously contributed items will be able to be there with me to see the faces of these precious children as I open the suitcase and say, "Here. These are for you." I will do my best to take pictures and videos as much as possible so you can see the good you have done for these wonderful children.

Last year, I went to the country without any idea what I would encounter. This time, I enter armed with nullified culture shock and another year's experience as a speech-language pathologist. I've had comparatively extensive contact this time with my village hosts, who have coordinated with me on how to make the best use of my time and specific skills.

Although I am going for exactly 3 weeks between June 19 and July 9, the unfortunate reality is that a whole week is used up just to get to these rural villages and back (2 days flying, 1 day bus ride over mock-roads). I will have 7 days at Dago with my host Patrick (yet to meet), and 8 days at Sirua Aulo with host Emmanuel (same from last year). Both have delineated a rough itinerary for me:

Hello,

Glad to hear your exicited about your final times before you travel.
We cant wait to be part of Dago in 2 weeks.

We have 7 days with you, short but will make the best of it when you come.
The first 2 days you will spend with a mother and her 2 disabled kids.
The 3rd day you spend with a mother a disabled widow woman who has 5
kids, they just lost there house to the wind 3 weeks ago and have
moved in at the grandmothers house.
4th and 5th day, you spend at the childrens center, helping with everything.
6th day, you spend at the disabled school, they attend classes half
day, then later taught practical work, ie farm work and shop keeping.
Last day at the center with the community and leaders.

Hope that works with you.
Any changes will be addressed, your allowed to change schedule, when
your here, coz im sure you can want more time at a certain point.

Cant wait to meet you.

Patrick

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Linda Nashipai,

I hope this message finds you well and ready preparing to come home. I know there tons of questions you may need to ask, but be sure that Lord’s hand is in your trip and all will be well. I intend to pick you up during the early hours of the 29^thJune from Keroka. Thereafter, we head for home. We will have a our first staff session in the afternoon- and I hope it will dwell around handling children with disabilities and empowering children through speech. It can be an hour session or at most 1 and half hour.

On the 30^th June, you will be handling two kids, Leeyio and Brian who have some disabilities in their speech and handling of the 20+ kids in the introductory and nursery class- this will take you 2 days.

2^nd July- class one

3^rd July- class two

4^th July- class three and a staff session in the afternoon.

5^th July- Travel to Nakuru

6^th July- Game viewing

7^th July-Travel to Nairobi.

Each evening, we’ll be going through website content until the day you head back. Kindly bring the school one ball if you still some room in your luggage. Safe Travel.

Blessings and Love,

Emmanuel

I am intimidated at the prospect of being their one resource for the special needs population and the first volunteer back to the area after it was closed off from the threat of violence earlier this year. I am at the same time thrilled out of my mind to return to a place where love, hope, and happiness are at its purest, unencumbered by materialism, gluttony, greed. I'm anxious about my health and safety, as I will be days away from medical help should anything happen. Most of all, I am concerned that I won't be effective/useful enough to them, to be able to do something to help that will last. For these things, I trust in God to carry me through and use me as He sees fit. At the same time, I ask for your prayerful support throughout the journey and thank you in advance for it, so I know you will be with us in spirit.

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[As the camera pans to the right, the adults at the table to my left are the school principal and a parent representative. On my right are the teachers, but I don't pan over to them on this clip. The students are performing a traditional Maasai chant about the moran returning home safely. At the time, many students were out at a district-wide music/dance festival and competition (which I was later able to attend! I might upload a clip of it where they do the same song in full regalia), but the remaining students did a magnificent job, don't you think?!]