Advertisement
Every single day I am in Kenya is a learning experience. Not only am I learning new things, my ideas and opinions change and grow constantly while I am here. In Limuru, I was helping the center in anyway possible, teaching, playing, building, painting, etc. However, I was faced with many different types of people and situations that made me feel that there isn't much hope beyond a few hearts touched during my time there (and a pretty new school 😊 ). The government is corrupt, most aid workers are corrupt, and even some orphanages are corrupt. The people here have so many different beliefs and explanations for the situations they face it is so difficult to come in and change there mind. You do what you can do to help, but it is going to take a miracle, or at least years and years of dedicated people, to make the necessary changes. The few people I met that were taking action to make that change were incredibly inspiring. However, the countless others I encountered that were not only not helping, but even hurting society, the men that simply sat around, the drunks that harassed us daily, the obnoxious beggars,
would only make me frustrated that I was here helping their country, while they chose the lazy and easy way out. It was hard for me to sympathize when I didn't understand why they weren't trying to do more, why they felt necessary to just beg and harass any mzungu that passed by and in the mean time waste the day away, while the kids of their country desperately need more care and attention. Quite frankly, I was getting a little frustrated dealing with that side of Limuru every day.
Traveling introduced varied groups of people as well as allowed me to see the landscape and natural beauty of East Africa. Coming back to Nairobi to work with a completely diverse group of people, adults living with HIV/aids, only opened my eyes to a whole new world of needs. Being in a city, the slums, as well as dealing with entire families affected with this disease has been a new and utterly different experience to anything I have done this far.
In Kibera we walk around to six different families per day to deliver flour, beans, sugar, and milk. Kibera (if you remember my blog on Kibera) is
unbelievably dirty, smelly, cluttered, etc. Among all of this live many people suffering with aids. Most of the people in Kenya don't understand that having aids is not a death sentence. They believe that getting tested to only find a positive test result, means life is over. They give up on life, may or may not take their medication, eat things that are not nutritious, and some even stop working to sulk in their misery until the disease triumphs and they pass away. Not to mention, the stigma attatched to the disease is an incredible road block for these people as well. Men, children, friends - many still believe it is contagious and will want nothing to do with the person affected. Many family members even abandoned this person, leaving them helpless to fend for themselves as they try to cope, to survive on their own, as they consistently grow weaker. The supplies we give out and the words of encouragement and support we offer is only a small step in the fight against all of the obstacles that belong to HIVaids. The key is education and communication.
The other group of people I am dealing with is a
support group of women, men, and children all living with the effects of aids. All of the adults are affected, but most of the children are orphans or family members dealing with the stigma that is always attached. The majority of the members I have met are women. All of which are full of drive and ambition to make a change for the better and educate people on the facts of HIV. The necessary change is primarily to abolish the stigma and stop the thought that aids is a death sentence. It is a place of hope and support and it is extremely inspiring to see how hard they are working against all the odds. Every day these people struggle to live with their decreasing health as well as deal with all of the other things most Kenyans deal with - lack of jobs, lack of food, problems with family members, sending children to school (at least the women that didn't have their kids abandoned them) and so many others. Yet even with these obsicles, they come together to fight.
One lady in particular, Frida, is in charge of the group. She has so much spunk, motivation, determination, and hope it is hard to do anything but want to jump in to help these people. When you see Frida in action it is tough to focus on anything but her words. You forget she is weak and hunched over, you ignore her voice being hoarse and strained, you don't see her cheekbones sunken in, and you fail to remember that she was throwing up all morning before coming to work. She is well educated and realizes she needs to educate other people for aids patients to have a chance to survive.
After spending these last few weeks with St. Emanuals I feel as if I have truly changed. I have become less jaded about Kenyans and I have become more aware of how such little things from home can make a world of difference to people here. It's interesting how I have changed in such a short time. I know now I am able make a difference and there are things I can and have done that won't go to waste.
A member came into St. Emanuals with a very defeated attitude. David (my host dad and a man behind so many incredible changes here) asked what was wrong and she merely sighed informing us that she has been kicked out of her home due to failure of paying rent and was turned down for an extension. Meanwhile, she has no where to go considering her entire family abandoned her after finding out she was positive. Seeing this lady, looking very frail and weak, I had no other choice but feel very sad for her situation, being obvious she is too sick to do most jobs that are common for people in the city. I just wanted to reach over to her, give her a hug, and pay the rent for her, but I was unaware of the amount and I didn't want to offend the other people in the room. David talked to her for a few minutes and proceeded to give her a thousand shillings. She jumped up with some hidden strength to hug him and started crying. He just saved her an entire month of suffering. An entire month for 1000 shillings. I later paid him back because I really wanted to help her pay rent and he was very grateful saying my money will pay for her next month. I thought about going into Nairobi this week to buy gifts for friends, probably spending about 1000 shillings - I figured this was a little more worthy. 1000 shillings is around 15 dollars. Fifteen dollars to save an entire month of suffering. Can you imagine? Five hundred dollars sends a child to school for an entire year. Three dollars feeds a mouth for an entire week. Can you imagine?
Watching David and working with this support group has definitely given me a more positive outlook on the work I am doing here and how much I can and am actually helping. It is going to be difficult returning home and dealing with such waste of resources and money. I realize it is a completely different world back home, but knowing there are things that can be done to save lives for so little and there are good people over here doing amazing things, such as David, it will be hard justifying spending money on frivolous things. It will be hard to forget these people - which hopefully I won't do - I can't do.
It is so difficult explaining what I have seen, learned, and felt in the last few weeks. David has taught me invaluable things and I have been shown so much more than i am able to relate I have only hit the tip of the iceberg. I don't really know how to express the situations i have been in. The only hope is that when I get home I will continue to educate myself and try to educate others while attempting to never underestimate the power I have - we all have - to make a difference, to touch someone.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.141s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 5; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0849s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
Elaine
non-member comment
We're Proud of You!
Keep up the good work, you're awesome! I'm so glad you put in a break down of the shillings vs. dollars and how much things cost there. It's incredible! However it's disappointing to hear sending your child to school is so much more than living for a year.