 We are the exhibit: Village children watching my parents and I sit inside of a van stuck 2 feet deep in the middle of a swampy field, 3 hours from any help The last week in Kenya was a crazy combination of travel, meeting with my parents, packing, and wrapping up humanitarian projects. Please click "read more" After leaving Emily in Arusha, Tanzania, I flew directly to Nairobi, Kenya, and met my parents at the international terminal. Yes, it was a crazy couple of weeks. Unfortunately, my parents had a rough introduction to Kenya. We had a couple of crazy drivers that resulted in:
Needless to say, my parents received the full transportation experience, and the drivers received a very firm and direct talking to by a mzungu woman who is very protective of her mzungu parents. Fortunately, the rest of their visit was very enjoyable. We spent 3 days on safari in the Maasai Mara, staying at the Mara Serena hotel. (Yes, I chose it because of the name.) The hotel Mara Serena was beautiful! The property has 360 degree sweeping views of the Maasai Mara. Our gorgeous rooms were decorated with local art, consistently hot showers (Yes!), toiletries better than anything I could get my hands on in Kisumu (Woohoo!), and fantastic food that even my dad would eat. (How in the world did they get Emmenthaler cheese and olives out there?) We spent the days out on game rides looking for animals, and our evenings sitting on our balconies, binoculars in hand, watching the giraffes, zebra and gazelle move across the savanna. Because of the time of year, we saw dozens of baby animals, and because of our location, we saw all of the Big 5. The cutest animals we saw would have to be a tie between the lioness family, who had a half dozen cubs trying to keep up with the rest of the pride, and the mother cheetah caring for her ball of fluff baby while hunting rabbits in the savanna. (I've posted pictures of both.) But, the coolest experience, was an experience we almost did not have at all. The only place we were allowed to get out of the van was at the famous Mara River. The Mara River is famous for the annual wildebeest crossing, often seen on nature channels. We walked along the river banks with an armed ranger to view hippopotamus and crocodile. (He has only had to use his rifle twice.) On the way back up the river, a leopard jumped out of the bushes, only 10 feet away from us, and ran off into the field. We were so shocked, we could not speak. It was amazing! After returning to Kisumu, my parents spent a day visiting OGRA Foundation's programs and touring the town. OGRA was very welcoming, and took my parents to visit our clinics, schools and meet different program staff. My mom had an opportunity to teach two sessions of her Infection Control class to healthcare workers who work in OGRA supported clinics. The classes were very successful and engaging, helping staff identify and then resolve issues surrounding infection control in their clinic, coming up with practical methods to reduce the spread of infection. We are now working on developing U.S. partnerships with OGRA. On my last full day in Kisumu, Peter took my mother and me to visit a school that had just started implementing the Health Start program. The number one reason children do not attend school in Kenya is because of illness. Children typically eat one meal a day, do not have access to clean drinking water, are barefoot, cannot afford school uniforms, and cannot afford school supplies. All of these lead to poor school attendance and a poor learning environment: it is difficult to learn if you are hungry, have a stomachache from drinking bad water, or have contracted tuberculosis because you have no shoes to wear when you go use the latrine. Health Start is an OGRA Foundation program, initiated by their UK partners, KOP. The goal of Health Start is to remove health barriers impeding attendance and learning in primary school. Fredah Ajowi, the Senior Project Officer at OGRA Foundation, and I developed the indicators for the program based on both Kenyan Ministry of Education Goals and United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The indicators are tied to practical solutions, that led to the development of activities such as school meals, weekly nutritional supplements, increasing hand washing stations and latrines, and ensuring children have school uniforms and shoes. The strategy includes developing local and sustainable means to maintain this long-term program. Parents, teachers and school staff are required to participate in the design and continued implementation of the program for sustainability and buy-in. Food is either purchased locally or grown on-campus by students and teachers as part of their curriculum. This serves two purposes, a tool to learn sustainable farming techniques and a means to feed school children. The program is designed so that students, teachers and staff wash their hands to reduce the spread of germs, drink clean water, and eat nutritious meals all together. Adults setting the example for children. This is a one year pilot program, held at 3 elementary schools containing more than 3,600 children. In three years, OGRA Foundation will be training, supporting, and mentoring 12 schools. The ultimate goal is a train-the-trainer program, teaching people how to resolve the issues of poverty in their own communities, and then applying lessons learned to other problems. In the beginning, OGRA will have a heavy hand in ensuring that schools have enough food, enough sanitary facilities, and enough uniforms, to positively impact the educational outcomes for primary school children. While they do this, they will be continuously collecting and analysizing data to improve program outcomes, publish the successes and failures of the programs, and advocate for primary school resources from the Government of Kenya, encouraging them to utilize OGRA's model across the country. With time, the earlier primary schools will become self-sufficient and model schools in the Kisumu District. OGRA will take on new schools to support, utilizing the expertise of the pilot schools as mentors. In the end, OGRA will serve as a mentor and information hub, training and mentoring organizations in successfully implementing programs, connecting people and organizations with resources, and ultimately building the capacity of Kisumu, Kenya to care for it's people. We are at the beginning of a virtuous cycle. I could not have asked for a better send off then seeing a project I had helped to develop, implemented and already positively effecting so many children. On my very last day, OGRA Foundation hosted a going away party for me. There was great food, beautiful gifts, and kind words. I was overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness of my OGRA colleagues. I miss my Kenyan brothers and sisters, and cannot wait to see them again. Asante Sana ya OGRA Foundation wa Kenya. |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
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