At Last!

Well, I have been in Kenya for a week and two days by now –yes, I am counting the days, and every day has been so intense so far… Where do I start?? Well, maybe I can tell you where I am right now: I am sitting in a chair in the middle of a green field with my friends around speaking their local language –mama, 8ymasai to ergo kai oi 8eoi trela8hkan? E, kapws etsi moiazei I glwssa tous. It is sunny and bright, I have long trousers on and socks –the temperature is around 22 degrees I reckon. I see green fields everywhere I look and cows and hens scattered around. In a few hours we will go to the main city of the area, Kisii, to collect the modem they sent me from Nairobi so that, hopefully, I can do my work. The internet here is very very slow and I cant do much, so after spending 3 hours yesterday in a cyber-café trying to get connected, we opted for this solution –cross my fingers.. Yesterday morning finally we gave out the clothes, shoes and toys to the children.. and what can I say –this is one of the moments that will stay with me for ever… but let me start from the beginning, no?I arrived at the airport after a very bumpy flight from Dubai and then had to wait for about two hours in line to get my visa sorted out. I was met by Geoffrey –the starting brain behind Teddy’s Centre who helped me carry all my stuff. The first night in Kenya I spent it at his house in the outskirts of Nairobi. The place had only got two rooms with the bare minimums and a latrine in between them. The whole area was dark with no electricity where the neighborhood is employing a Masai man to keep the law and order during the night (the Masai are feared and respected and if they find someone stealing or something similar they are free to beat them to death)! All through the night I had the feeling that something was ‘bothering’ me but it could not have been a mosquito as there was no sound… next morning the girl I was sharing the bed with, Joanna from Uganda, who also came for Teddy’s Centre, told me, in a very relaxed voice that it was probably a cockroach (!) Next day I went round town with them to change my money into Shillings (KS), get a SIM card etc. On my way there, in the local version of a mini-bus, the matatu, or otherwise known as killing-machines by the way they are driven, I saw so much poverty – the smell of burnt plastic is just everywhere and although smoking is banned in public places –even from the streets (!) –akous mama??, you really didn’t need to smoke –air pollution is so high, your lungs are full of it! In the city centre you don’t find ANY rubbish in the streets –there is a fine of 500KS if you are seen throwing something on the ground. And whereas this and the no-smoking might seem like signs of civilization, the air and sound pollution is just unbearable! Every shop owner has a loud speakerphone advertising his merchandise and this together with the cars honking and the hubbub of all the people in the streets is enough to drive you mental!!!! The people all look a bit hostile in Nairobi, and you really really need to be extra careful when outside- twice they opened the outside pocket of my rucksack when it was on my back(they only got my tobacco pouch fortunately –Georgia, paei kai I diki mou I kapno8iki!!!) so since then I carry it in front of me like a kangaroo baby! When inside a taxi, as police are so corrupt (surprise-surprise) you need to wear your seat belt at all times even if seated in the back as they may try to get some money off you with this excuse if they stop the car. Also, you have to keep your bag down, between your legs because if the car is stopped in a jam or at the traffic lights it is not uncommon for people to just reach inside the car and take it! As you can probably understand all this was too much too soon and I wasn’t even sure I will make it through the day –all my senses kept saying GO! Then I met Gigi –thank God for Gigi, a friend from London who’s been in Nairobi for five months accompanying her boyfriend Javier, a friend from long ago, who works for MSF (Medicines Sans Frontiers) in Somalia. And then the picture changed completely –the MSF guesthouse they stay in is in the well-off part of the city, with no traffic jams or loud noises an area with big fenced-up houses and security guards on a 24hr basis, big luscious gardens and helping staff to clean and cook…. What a great contrast! The other thing that was a pleasant surprise was that eagles inhabit the city of Nairobi –you see them flying all around you –but maybe this has something to do with the altitude of the city too -1800m, and this is probably why it is so cold here too. In the night we were putting the heating on –here, at the MSF house, I guess there are no such luxuries everywhere else in the country… The next few days we visited the greatest slums of Nairobi –Korogocho which is based just next to the biggest dump –homateri in greek, I have ever seen. The school were most of the children go to is facing the dump-and of course I don’t need to tell you about hygiene, smell, clean air etc… As there is not much food around many times, especially the children, try scavenging the dump for food. They end up eating rotten meat and getting serious illnesses or even die… While we were in Korogocho it rained. And even this rain held a surprise for me: it wasn’t raining water but mud! The place is so dirty and dusty that even the rain becomes muddy!!! No chance of a clean environment for the inhabitants of the slum –can you understand what I am saying??? Kibera, the biggest slum in all Africa hosts 2 million people. I will try to send you some pics to see but the connection is so slow and I hope I can manage. I saw street kids, as they are called, as young as 5 years old sniffing glue to forget their hunger, I saw water flowing between the houses all dirty and smelly from who knows what, I saw dogs having a better life than humans… and all the people I met were so friendly –smiling and open-hearted because you see the “m’zungus” never come to this place and we were the first ones they saw… The people here are quite proud and not subservient like in Muslim countries –they are not here to serve you or be your friend. This is a tough world and survival is the goal, but once you get close and they realize your intentions they open up a huge smile and welcome you to their homes. We stopped in a bar – o 8eos na to kanei bar, in Kibera and they welcomed us very warmly inside. A Masai man came in to have a drink and he was so happy to see us he started jumping up and down –in their traditional fashion, and soon everyone in the place started dancing and ‘shaking it baby!’ It was so spontaneous, so nice! Sad? Yes, I was very. I realized how much we have and don’t even realize it. Here, even a simple thing like buying a pen, can be unattainable for most –can you imagine????? Violent crime, mugging, stealing and superstition are big in the slums – people here seem to believe that raping an old woman before you commit a crime makes your sin go away, they also believe that to get rid of AIDS the best cure is to sleep with a virgin and they believe disabled children to be a curse so in many cases they keep them locked up depriving them of food and social life… it is really a very cruel life the life in the slums… These superstitions don’t hold any ground in the rural areas –in fact when I told the Kisiians about all the above they were looking at me with bewilderment. Having said that, it was a big surprise for me to see that the people living in the nature knew nothing about the skies –no one could tell me where is the star that point north –or south, as we are in the southern hemisphere, or any of the constellations. They had never heard of ‘green tea’ or of tea-tree oil –here, in one of the biggest tea-producing countries of the world, nor did they know the medicinal properties and uses of the native herbs –even though natural medicines are on the uprise in Kenya too… So, you understand, I had a lot of knowledge to impart with! And what really impressed me was that I was speaking to them, chatting like I would with my friends but my words rang new to them and made a big impression. A couple of them told me that I was a ‘wise person’ (!) and they treat me with respect as if I am really important! They gather round me to listen to what I have to say –can you imagine?! And honestly, I dint tell them something extra-ordinary…but I see how thirsty they are for new ideas, for guidance –they don’t dismiss anything, they are open and they welcome new ideas. The money I managed to collect from all of you was 500 euros!!! Hurray! After seeing all these horrors I wanted to really make sure it is used wisely. We sat down with Geoffrey many times and made alternative plans for what to do. We changed our minds so many times –we could buy solar panels to give the kids electricity, or buy a pair of goats, or chickens for eggs and meat –here by the way they don’t milk the goats, they don’t know what a delicacy goat’s cheese is!!!! Then there were the teachers that hadn’t been paid for months. Difficult choices to make… The first thing we agreed on was to buy them all shoes for the school –heavy duty black shoes -35 pairs of, for all students attending the school. And we did! The story with Teddy’s Centre –for those of you I failed to inform, is this: after the civil unrest and the tribal hatred that followed the 2007 election around 1500 people were killed. Geoffrey, who had a troubled youth as a kid himself, found himself with a small baby-boy in his arms and no one around to care for it. So he decided to adopt little Teddy. But then he realized that there were more children like him and he started gathering as many he could. He brought them to his motherland, Kisii, and converted a house and shop that he owned into an orphanage, and got a lady to take care of them. Soon he realized that he would need to provide education for them. Here in Kenya education is not free. Students have to pay school fees and buy their own books and other necessities. So, he decided to get some teachers too! And then there were all these kids from very poor families who could not afford school fees, so he invited them to come to the school as well. People around him were not helpful at all, most of them discarding Teddy’s Centre as a ..joke! So, he was the only dreamer, all alone trying to make enough money from organizing safaris for tourists to support the kids’ needs. So, you understand there are so many holes to fill, so many things that are important, and although 500 euro can go a long-long way here, it is still not enough to cover everything. On the other hand, knowing me, you probably understand that in my communication with his family and friends here I was trying to convey a message, Go Tse!, about the empowerment of people, about how WE can change our lives, about the whole community coming together and creating a better future for their children and for themselves. I was telling them that they are blessed to live in the place where they are –did you know they don’t even have to water their crops!!! And I was trying to convince them that their future lies here –not in Nairobi as most of the youngsters like to believe. And then one evening they gathered around the fire, I brought my laptop outside and showed them pictures of the slums… One of Geoffrey’s uncles told me the next day that the images were so strong he had trouble sleeping at night. They really had a big impact on him, and many others. By that time we were trying to find a way with Geoffrey to use the remainder of the money to create some sort of sustainability, maybe a steady influx of money to secure that some of the needs of Teddy’s Centre are covered. We came up with the idea of agricultural produce and we wanted to convince two of his uncles to give us a piece of land to cultivate and use the profit generated to pay for food and part of the salaries of the teachers. After showing them the photos of the slums they decided to give us TWO pieces of land!!!! In one there is going to be 8-10,000 cabbages and in the other around 2,000 tomato trees. As people are very poor here you don’t buy vegetables and fruit by the kilo but by the piece –even tomatoes, onions and potatoes! So this way in three months time the first harvest will take place and this will cover food and salaries for the previous three month-period. THANKS EVERYBODY!!!! With what is left of the money we have already bought a big sack of sugar, rice, and cooking oil and seeds, fertilizer and all else needed to start farming, AND in the next couple of days we will get a few hens -for eggs, meat and for making more chicks, and hopefully a couple of goats –for reproduction and meat. So, this is my experience in Kenya till now! I will keep you posted on new developments as they happen –or a bit after they do