Home Visits

On Wednesdays, the ladies in the RWAMAS group go on home visits to see the group members that aren't able to come to the daily meeting. They allowed us to accompany them and see where some of the group members live and to hear some of their stories.

The first woman we met has 6 children - boys. Her youngest are 7 month old twins. Her oldest child lives with his grandmother now because she lives closer to his school. The rest live in a tiny home. It's one room, about 8x10 feet. After her diagnosis, her husband left her to care for all the children alone. She didn't elaborate on how she was infected, but regardless, being single mother of 6 isn't easy. When she is able, she washes clothes to make some extra money. The thing hat really got to me, though, was that because she can't afford diapers (disposable or quality cloth) after she uses as very thin cloth diaper, she wraps the diaper in plastic shopping bags to prevent leakage. 

Then we walked to meet another woman who has been sick a lot recently. She lives in the tiniest of all the homes we visited. Her house couldn't have been more than 6x8 feet and she lives there with 3 kids. 

We then visited one of the men in the group. There are only currently 2 men in the group. This man, had all girls. They live with their grandmother as it is not common for s father to raise children alone. His wife passed away several years ago. He would love to work, but is unable to find a job. Besides being HIV positive and dealing with the stigma of that diagnosis, he has vitiligo, a skin condition where over time, the body stops producing melatonin and the pigment in the skin slowly disappears. Many people are frightened by his appearance and won't give him work. He often gets called a muzungu, even though he is fully Kenyan.

The final home we visited was the home of one of the women who does come to group pretty often, but she wanted us to meet her family. She lives in a 2 room house with her biological children and all of the orphan children she has taken in over the lady few years, the youngest is 5 months. There are 14 children living in the house with her. It's amazing to me that a woman who doesn't have much to give materially, is willing to live so many children as her own. The whole situation is still sad, though. If she didn't care for the kids, they would either die from being abandoned or have to live in an orphanage, which vary greatly in quality. However, she isn't in any position to fully provide for the physical needs of the children. There really isn't s simple solution to the problem, but I applaud her for trying.

We will visit homes of more of the women in the coming weeks. It is helpful to know where they live and what their stories are so that I can better understand how I can help.

Connection

Part 3/3 why I'm volunteering.

I've already shared with you 2 of the reasons I wanted to volunteer abroad. Here's the third: connection with others, myself, and the earth. 

Myself: I'm enjoying having some uninterrupted time for self-reflection and personal improvement. My life is great, but sometimes little things cloud my ability to see how great it is. I'm getting to read books! 

Earth: Even though I am surrounded by an urban landscape there is absolutely beautiful nature just a stones through away.  Over the weekend, my cousin took me on a very scenic drive through miles and miles of hills and tea and coffee fields. 

Others: Before coming, I was looking forward to connecting to the women I am working with, the other volunteers, the staff at my placement, my host family, my family, locals.... 

I spent this past weekend with my cousin and his wife. I'll post more about my family later! 

I have had a great time working with the students and the women at my placement so far. Today, I felt like I really connected with some of the women. Or, at least I am beginning to understand why I'm here. Two of the women shared some of their personal stories with HIV. It was heart breaking listening to them talk about their struggles and the stigma people who are HIV + in Kenya, especially the women, face. I'm still processing everything they shared with me. It's just so hard to digest. 

Some of the ladies 

The women are wonderfully supportive of each other and have become family to each other. One of the women shared with us how she seriously contemplated suicide when she found out her status. She said it was the women in the group who convinced her that her life was worth living. This woman has now taken in HIV+  orphans and is raising them as her own. 

The women are optimistic that with education, the stigma against people living with HIV will be reduced. There is still a lot of misinformation in the smaller communities surrounding HIV and how it is spread. These women are incredible. 

We are working on partnering with a community health worker to go into area schools to teach about HIV. The women are interested in coming and sharing their stories with the students. 

I'm really looking forward to learning more from the women and being able to share medically accurate information with the young people in the community. 

Saint Frank's

Most of my students. Standing infront of the "chalkboard."

In the mornings, I teach class 5/6 at St. Frank's Educational Complex. My students range in age from 11 to 14. So far my biggest class has been 6 students. They are a fun group of motivated learners - definitely the best kind of students to have. I've been teaching English, but the students really want to learn science. I am planning some fun hands on science experiments... 

The school is unlike any school I have ever seen. The last time I was in Kenya, I was on an educational psychology field study and we visited all kinds of schools. St. Frank's is by far the poorest school I have ever seen.

The unrenovated side of the school

In Kenya, all students pay school fees and wear uniforms. From what I have gathered, recently some schools are doing away with the mandatory fees for primary school. But, the uniforms are non-negotiable and students will get turned away if they can't afford the tuition or the uniforms. Students will wear uniforms until they are literally torn beyond wear. At St. Franks, because it is considered a private school, the uniform is not heavily enforced. So even the poorest children can attend. However, there are major drawbacks to the St. Franks model even though it sounds great at first. Who would want to allow any interested child into a school?! 

Because St. Frank's is not a government school, it cannot receive funding from the government. It also means that they don't get qualified applicants to fill the teaching positions. The students don't
pay any fees or if they do, they pay very minimal fees which also makes it hard to recruit and retain
teachers. There are 2 paid teachers in the school, both of those teachers teach in the baby class/preschool. Francis, the founder and headmaster, then bounces from room to room through out the day to teach the rest of the students. The school relies heavily on volunteers to fill in the gaps in the teaching. Some times they are Kenyan volunteers but most of the volunteer teachers come from abroad and stay for a short time. As you can imagine, all of these things make learning very hard for the students.

Francis's goal is to continue growing the school and to get western sponsors to pay the school fees and provide the uniforms for the students. He would like to help grow the school so that it can become recognized by the government. Past volunteers have been helping with the infrastructure of the school and we (the last 2 volunteers and the current 3) just applied for a grant from IVHQ to build the school a library. Cross your finger for us! 

This is definitely a learning experience for me. I'm trying to make the teaching and learning in my classroom meaningful even if it is only for 6 weeks. More to come. 

My Home Stay

I arrived in Kenya on Saturday. After passing through immigration and customs, I found the driver for International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ)/ Network of Voluntary Services (NVS). There were two other volunteers arriving at the same time, Ina from Norway and Stephanie from the States. Our driver took us to the NVS volunteer house where we stayed for 1 night. 

In the morning we chatted with the other volunteers and had breakfast - tea and toast with butter, jam, and avocado . Because we were such a small orientation group (11), we had orientation in the living room at the house. 

After orientation, we had super yummy lunch and left for our home stays. I am living with Ann and her family - 2 little girls who are three and six and very lively, and Ann's sister. There are 2 other volunteers here with me. Amanda from Canada and Kaite from the States. Kaite has been here since May 15 and Amanda since June 1st. They are also at my placement. I'm glad to have some other volunteers around to show me the ropes.

Our home stay is quite comfortable, with one exception, there is no running water. There is pluming, but nothing comes out. So, we flush the toilet with a bucket of water and we also have to shower with a bucket. There are big containers of water shared with the other apartments. To shower, you have to go outside and fetch water, then boil some of the water in the electric kettle. Then shower by pouring pitchers of water on you... I'll let you know how it goes. The other volunteers suggested that I try to go as long as possible between showers because it it such a process!

Our water. 

Reflections on a Layover

It's such a good feel into know that I am finally going on an international volunteer trip. This is such meshing I've been wanting to do seriously for about 10 years now. 

I first learned about international volunteerism from my mother. She was in the peace corps in the 1970s and tells amazing stories about her experience. I've always been fascinated by courage and spirit of adventure. When she went, there were no cell phones it Internet. She really did jet off on an adventure by herself. She made lasting friendships and I believe that experience really shaped her into the person she is today. 

In high school I continued to play with the idea of volunteering abroad and in college I studied abroad twice - once in Kenya once in London. Studying abroad really solidified my desire to volunteer, but the thought of leaving home for 2 years was scary and my teaching career was just beginning. So I put the idea on the back burner. About a year ago, I decided I was finally ready to take the plunge, I was all set to leave for a year of volunteering as a teacher and then I found this opportunity. Six weeks - perfect. 

Over the years, the discussions about international volunteerism I have has with many people, my family included, are honest. We talk about both the pros and cons and how to be a responsible volunteer. We talk about the politics of being an American abroad. These discussions helped me work through some of my reservations about volunteering abroad when there are so many ways I could help closer to home. But all in all, my whole family has encouraged a supported my desire to travel and volunteer abroad. My friends are behind me. Most importantly, I'm finally ready!