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Published: October 13th 2007
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Me & kids
This is after they have received their bags and before we head to the sinks for our first toothbrushing lesson. I've been here for over two weeks now and finally feel like I've gotten into a groove. Of course I'll be leaving next week, but I'm happy to report that life here is a bit easier and more manageable. I want to start by sending out a HUGE thanks to my friends and business associates who donated money for the children at Newland Orphanage. I've received commitments for $1,300 and combined with the money I'm personally donating, this should be enough to buy new bunk beds for the boys dorm rooms. I have some good news about progress at the orphanage in addition to the fundraising. In my last entry I mentioned I was looking to buy toothbrushes and soap dispensers. Well, several previous volunteers had left a stash of toothpaste and toothbrushes that were more than enough for all the children. Another volunteer had small bags made to hold the toothbrushes and even another volunteer provided new children's underwear for us to distribute. Thanks to all the donations, we were able to distribute a bag to each child with their own toothbrush, toothpaste, bar of soap and a new pair of underwear. In the previous two weeks I had been
Brushing teeth
For my initial attempt at giving a hygiene lesson I walked most of the children through the process of brushing their teeth w/their new supplies. spending quite a bit of time painting, however this past week I was focused on preparing the toilets and showers to be used. They needed to have door locks, shower hooks, soap trays and mirrors installed. This would typically be a pretty simple task, but not here! The saying "you get what you pay for" was repeatedly driven home for me in the past week. Given that there is not currently electricity at the orphanage, the use of a power drill was not an option. I tried to find a battery operated drill...but as you might have guessed...I got plenty of blank stares from the hardware store owners. So, I bought several small screw drivers and a hammer to install the new locks. I was impressed at how little I paid for them until I got to the orphanage and within the first hour my hammer not only broke, but the head flew off as I was trying to remove some old locks. Giving up on the hammer related work I moved on to installing my new locks. After the first 6 screws or so my screwdriver tip was disintegrating. Somewhat discouraged, I gave up on my shower work for
Working shower
While the orphanage doesn't have running water, they were able to put a system in place with a large water tank that will allow the children to take showers going forward. This was used for the first time on 10/12/07! :) the day and went back to painting. The next day, determined to get everything finished in time for the toilets/showers to be ready for Friday I spent an entire day around town buying soap trays, a sturdier screw driver and all the necessary screws/plugs etc. I thought I would need. We borrowed a hammer from the hostel and on Wednesday were once again ready to attack the project. Wednesday I was ready and determined to finish what I started. With the help of Bjorn (a Norwegian volunteer) I was able to install the new locks. Given that the doors are wood, the primary challenge had been removing the old nails...but now installing soap trays and mirrors on the masonry/brick walls was going to be another challenge. Hesitant to do unnecessary damage to the walls, the guys didn't want to make holes in the walls without a drill of some sort...so we borrowed a hand drill from some guys working on the new kitchen. Of course, we didn't have a masonry bit so we called a volunteer who was coming out later and asked him to pick one up on his way in. Excited about the arrival of the new bit
dorm room hallway
Some color added to the boys dorm hallway - looking good! and the possesion of a hand drill, we attempted to start drilling the necessary holes. The key word there would be "attempted". The drill couldn't get a tight enough grip on the bit for it to work. The guys gave up and went back to painting. I decided just to dig holes into the wall using my broken screwdriver and my borrowed hammer. This was a slow process, especially with a regular audience of children around. I did manage by the end of the day to install 6 soap trays and 2 mirrors, which equates to 16 holes that were dug into the wall. Granted, only 5 of the 6 trays are still on the wall (practice makes perfect) and the mirrors are rather crooked, but the toilets/showers were ready to be used. Next I'll be searching for putty to fill the holes that were a tad to big. On Friday, 14 of the Hostel Hoff volunteers came out for what was supposed to be a toilet "grand opening", but things were in a bit of disarray when we arrived as they were cleaning the area and so it was entirely too muddy to have games with the kids running
Showing off new skills
Salehe showing us his new toothbrushing skills. in and out. We went into the classrooms and distributed the bags to the children and then took them to the sinks and I watched/assisted them in brushing their teeth while another volunteer would make sure they washed their hands properly. Most of their gums bled when they brushed since many of them have never brushed their teeth before. This drove home the issue of making sure each child only uses his/her own toothbrush. Afterwards, most the kids got showers and were excited to show us that they had put on their new underwear. Some of the money that was donated was requested to be used towards hygiene issues, so I bought the mamas new laundry detergent (they were using bar soap!), lots of toilet bowl cleaner, toilet bowl brushes, soap and other cleaning related items to ensure the staff has what they need to keep the place clean. I'm hopeful one of the new volunteers will maybe take on a bigger role in following through to make sure that there is ongoing hygiene education (maybe print some material in swahili) and ensure the mamas are having the children brush their teeth regularly.So, that is what I have been doing since my last update. I have ventured out with the other volunteers for dinner and a day at a local hotel pool. I've organized a hike on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro for tomorrow and currently have 19 people planning to come along. One of the pros (and occassionally cons) is there are always other people around to do stuff with here. The other people in the hostel are all very nice and it's sort of like a family/house environment. We eat dinner together most nights and then hang out playing cards, watching movies, listening to music, occassionally dance, etc. That being said, I am looking forward to next week when I will have a private room with a hot shower (did I mention we don't have hot water at the hostel??!) for one night before I go on safari with my friend Laurence who is flying in from Delhi. I'll post another update before I leave on safari and will hopefully include more photos of the kids and some pictures from the Kuringe waterfall hike.
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Helen
non-member comment
way to be creative
Way to get the job done! And doesn't it feel so great to make a difference in these kids lives?! Love the pictures and story.