Crowdfunded projects, COMPLETE!

I’m so happy and proud, that after the success of my crowdfunding campaign, we have been able to help and support so many people and groups by installing 3 water tanks and constructing 2 chicken houses, as well as support the local children’s and rescue centre!

Here are the pictures of the finished projects, after the progress report last week:

1)

Chicken coop for Mzwanenyi Womens Group

2)

Water tank for Lengo Safi Disabled Group

3)

Chicken coop for Gandia Self Help Disabled Group

4)

Water tank for HIV Support Group

5)

Water tank for Joy Self Help Disabled Group

6)

Donating mattresses, sanitary pads and food items to Mwatate Childrens Home and Rescue Centre

 

 

 

 

 

Why are Support Groups Important?

My placement in Kenya has been working with mainly groups of People with disabilities, but as well as other HIV support groups and women groups. Working with this range of people, who are affected by many different issues has really opened my eyes and made me think about the plight of so many around the world.

But there is light for these people and the light shines through in the support, cooperation and love for each other in their groups.

Imagine suffering from HIV and then being a victim of stigma and isolation.

Imagine living with a life limiting disability with no care or support.

Imagine living as an unequal gender within your own family and not being able to express your own rights.

All of these issues are very prevalent in Kenya, and being alone in all of these circumstances makes life even tougher to bear.

However, these groups allow all these people to come together, share in their challenges and difficulties, overcome the problems they face, and make a better life for themselves through things like income generating activities. Together they are able to have the support of one another, they can work together, and create a better life together and create for themselves sustainable livelihoods.

The most heartwarming example of this was through a song that one of the HIV support groups performed for us. Whilst they sang in Swahili, the meaning expressed a great bond and feeling for one another, as they held hands and sang in chorus. It echoed how as individuals facing the problems that came as a result of HIV was extremely difficult, as they felt isolated and began to lose hope. But when they all came together to form the group, they no longer suffered in silence, and regained that love for life.

The importance of family, friends and support groups cannot be understated. And even more so for all the people living in pain or suffering.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” – Helen Keller

 

2 Schools, 2 Very Different Problems

 

On Friday, away from our usual placement work, we visited a school with a lady, Anne, whom we had met 2 weeks prior and had suggested we accompany her to see the state of the school which she trying to help.

When we arrived at Msisinenyi Primary School we saw a small building and adjacent to it another building made out of mud and other recycled old materials. We were greeted by children playing outside and going through scout-like exercises.

The school has kinder garden classes 1 to 3 and primary school from class 1 to 4. However the environment in which they are learning was quite shocking, particularly the class 4 ‘room’.

In the main building there were two classrooms, however within each there were three different learning levels. The rooms were divided into three, where class 1, 2 and 3 would all learn together. The room was partitioned using iron sheets and the students would be taught altogether sharing the same black board, tables and learning environment.

Then there was the class 4 room. The parents of the children had got together to make this area so that their children could progress from class 3, but the state of it was terrible and an imaginable space for pupils to learn in. Despite this, the class 4 students were recently awarded as the best performing class in the district.

Further,  good news is that the school recently got funding from the county government to build three new classrooms, where the children can have a much better learning environment.

Then yesterday we visited another school, however this one suffers from an entirely different problem; WILD ANIMALS.

Imagine waking up every morning and having to go school with the chance a buffalo or an elephant had crossed your path on the walk to school or when you arrived there was the danger of the same wild animals.

To an outsider this might sound like a pretty great experience, but this dangerous problem puts these pupils and staff at risk. Anne once told me a story when a young boy was walking home from school, when he encountered an elephant. The elephant, feeling threatened came towards the boy, and as it charged he threw his bag to distract the elephant and ran behind the elephant and waited behind a bush. He spent the whole night there because of the threat of the wild animal.

The problem also means that the school does not run a normal school day and instead they have to send the children home earlier to reduce the risks.

There is also a watchman who keeps sight of any animals nearby and before the school day he must ring a bell at 6 am to let the nearby homesteads and people know that he is still there and there are no animals. However, if he doesn’t ring the bell then they know there’s trouble.

Visiting these schools highlights some of the problems that are faced by schools and barriers to education for many young children in the area.

 

 

Crowdfunded Projects, Progress Report

It has been two weeks since I successfully managed to achieve my crowdfunding target of £1500, with a big thanks to my Family and Friends who supported this. 

With the money raised I have been able to initiate 5 projects as well as support a local children’s home and rescue centre and distribute sanitary towels at schools in the area.

The two main areas which I have focused on supporting is installing water tanks and providing a means for income generation through poultry keeping projects. The projects will benefit HIV support groups, People living with Disability, and women groups who have a very low income.

Here is a few pictures of the ongoing projects:

Completed water tank; Construction of base and Installation. With the Chair Lady of Joy Disabled Group

Beginning of construction of Poultry House for HIV Support Group which has 30 members; Started 02/08/2016. Contribution by group of hand made bricks, sand and iron sheets.

Beginning the building of base for water tank at Lengo Safi Disabled group.

Construction of Poultry house for Gandia Disabled Group; Started last week. The group themselves contributed bricks (hand made) and sand.

Bill Gates has recently advocated poultry keeping to help those living in poverty, and himself has pledged to donate 100,000 chickens through his foundation, read more about it on his blog: https://goo.gl/sqgCFl

 

HIV Awareness and FUN Day

At our placement with Tesia Isanga we are working to support Orphans with Vulnerable Cases (OVCs), particularly those affected by HIV, and HIV Support Groups. Whilst on this placement, 2 weeks ago me and Geoffrey thought of an idea to organise an event for this audience and the community on topics regarding HIV and Education.

Alongside our placement manager, Gerald, over the last two weeks we have been spent hectically planning and organising the event which we had branded as a Fun Day.

The Fun Day took place yesterday with an audience of nearly 400 people. The day included speeches about HIV awareness, stigma and Education Empowerment. As well as this there was a talent show for the children, a crafts area as well as entertainment through out the day including a traditional Taita dance from the local primary school.

The day was supposed to have started at 9am, with lunch being prepared from 8am, but with Kenyan timing and a few other challenges we finally managed to get underway at 11! Despite this we managed to make this day a HUGE success with the the audience response saying they enjoyed the event and most importantly had FUN.

But the overall purpose and message of the day was to address important issues regarding HIV and Education, and i’m hoping that through this event we have been able to highlight and emphasise some of these things.

I am incredibly proud and happy to have been able to contribute to the organisation of the event, and Gerald has said that he hopes to now make this an annual event!

Traditional Taita Taveta Dance 

Talent Show; Poetry

Talk about HIV

HIV Support group performing a song about how before joining the group they felt lonely and isolated after finding out their HIV status… but together with the group they have been able to get through it and support each other and be optimistic.

 

Eating Competition!

Community Health Volunteers Speaking about Stigma

Crafts in the foreground

Education Empowerment

Myself and my counterpart, Geoffrey, returned to Mwatunge Primary school for another session of Education empowerment, this time to class 7 students (aged around 11/12). During these sessions we aim to motivate and encourage the students to make the most out of their time in education, and how they can better themselves to eventually move up through the education system.

We conduct the sessions starting with a question of; What is Education? So I thought it would be interesting to share some of their answers:

• Key to success
• Knowledge
• Power
• Light of life
• Way to get rid of foolishness
• Skills
• Learning from teachers and surroundings
• Key of life

Then we asked them to tell us the benefits of education:

• To be able to succeed in life
• Shape our lives
• Discipline
• Learn Respect
• Learn about the world
• Better future
• Problem solving
• Remove stupidity
• Employment
• To be better people

Following this we lead the session to try and enforce the importance of education and how they should have a positive/ hardworking attitude. With the overall message being that with hard work, discipline, and attitude, the sky is the limit!

The session lasts up to 1 and a half hours and we have had a great response from the students with the sessions we’ve had, as well as appreciation from the teachers, which has been really encouraging.

 

Education For Girls and Boys

Today was awesome!

Education is without doubt the most important thing a child can be given.

“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela.

So today we had the opportunity to have a session with a class of final year primary school students. The aim was to empower, encourage, and make them realise the importance of education.

The response was great, the children were lively, responsive- even though they didn’t always understand me, and my hope is that from that class of around 50- if at least one child goes on to university or further education then this has been a huge success.

Another important success was being able to facilitate the distribution of 300 reusable sanitary towels. Girls, particularly in rural parts of Kenya, often find that they are forced to leave school or cannot continue on to secondary or further education. As a result this contributes to inequality in society, where women may be viewed as less compared to men- because they face these obstacles to receiving education.

Thanks to another NGO from America, who via Tesia Isanga, we were able to distribute these pieces, meaning the girls can continue going to school and receive the education they deserve.

We hope to continue working with the local primary schools and empower and encourage more children to continue their education!

 

The Impact of HIV/ AIDS

Over the last 2 days myself and my counterpart, Geoffrey, have been working on Tesia Isangas Orphans with Vulnerable Cases program, which has a particular focus on those effected by HIV/AIDS. The program supports children and their care givers who may have lost either parent, or both, as a result of HIV/ AIDS,  by partnering them with Community Health Volunteers who work to ensure that the child receives the support he/ she needs, whether it be in terms of education, health, nutrition or psycho-social help.

During these two days we have visited some of the homes of the OVCs and their carers as well as HIV/AIDS support groups. And so far these have possibly been the most difficult so far in terms of the impacts HIV/ AIDS is having on these young lives.

Here, I want to share 3 of my experiences of visiting these homes and how much the illness has an effect on people, and in particular children.

1. One of the homes we visited was of a widowed lady, whose husband had passed on because of the illness. However she has no income as she does not have the capacity to start any business due to her also suffering from HIV and that the environment she lives in is very dry and so cannot grow anything either. They have one daughter who is currently in secondary school. The lady refuses to openly accept her illness in fear of stigmatization, and therefore does not seek any medical support and take any ARV Drugs to help her. Additionally, to pay for her daughters school fees she has had to sell her land.
2. Another home we visited was of a Grandmother and her daughters. They are caregivers to 13 young children who either attend school or should be in the next few years. The other parents of the children have passed on, again, because of HIV and so the Grandmother, predominantly, takes care of the children. The house they live in consists of two small rooms, both of horrible conditions, where there are 16 people sharing 5 beds. There is also no electricity and just one small hole in one of the walls to act as a window. The conditions they live in, with 13 children, is unimaginable. And they have only a very small source of income.
3. Finally, one of the homes we visited was of a single mother. However, when we arrived at the house we were greeted by the sight of her children, who were cooking for themselves. The oldest of the children cant have been more than 6 or 7 years of age, but there they were making themselves porridge. This was because their mother, who is HIV+, had to go to hospital that morning to get her medication.

It is hard to describe the situation of many people here who are so heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS and, after seeing first hand, that I can only begin to understand and comprehend the enormity of the impact this devastating illness has, especially on children.

Health Awareness Day

Alongside the placement work that we do with our work counterparts, we also are required to organise two Community Action Days (CAD). This is where we invite local community members to attend a themed event, which is intended to help educate and raise awareness for issues we feel, as a team, need addressing.

Today we held our first CAD, with the theme of our event on health after identifying this as a need in the community.

For our CAD, we focused on multiple topics: Maternal Health and Childhood Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyles, Gender Equality and GBV, HIV/AIDs, Mental Health Awareness, Disability Awareness, and Drug and Substance Abuse. We chose these topics as we felt there was a need in the community to address a range of topics, where everyone in the audience may be able to participate and have the opportunity to discuss regarding each issue.

Each member of our team was assigned a topic which they were to research about and set up an informational stall, with activities regarding their topic.

In addition to the stalls, we invited guest speakers to discuss some of the topics with the audience. Speakers included the Public Health Officer for Mwatate, a recovered drug addict and a member of a People With Disabilities Self Help Group.

Knowledge about general health is very limited in Taita Taeta, and most people, especially in poor areas, have little access to the information they need meaning they know very little about common health problems and their causes, are unaware of healthy lifestyle practices and there is stigma relating to some of the health problems.

Since being in Taita Taveta, I have attended two funerals, both of which were for members of the disabled groups I am working with. They also both died of manageable and preventable illnesses, one as a result of high blood pressure. In these cases, there was a lack of knowledge surrounding their health problems and access to a medical professional was also difficult- the main issue being the cost and the lack of support for disabled persons to visit the doctors or hospitals (transport).

Raising awareness of general health issues is one step forward to improving people’s lives of the community, but developing the necessary infrastructure within healthcare , investing in the training of doctors and nurses and providing/ sharing information is the only real way to solve this national and continental issue.

Despite the early start- leaving home at 7 am, the hectic last minute planning and organisation, and a lack of people at the start. We managed to get our shit together, and drum up an audience of over 50 people, who we hope have gained from our CAD.

A massive positive for me at this event, was when a wheel chair bound man came and spoke to me. He described to me his condition and the problems he faced, before he went on tell me he had represented Kenya at the Olympics for wheelchair racing in South Korea and Barcelona! He also spoke about his ambition to do a fundraising event, to go from Taita Taveta to Mombasa!