Monday we went to Care for Aids, a relatively new organization aimed at meeting the needs of local people who are HIV positive. (http://www.careforaids.org/). They have branches in three villages now. In each village, 2 days each week are dedicated as clinic days where the clients come to a local church for counseling, medical treatment, and fellowship. I love their three-phase approach. Each client begins with about 20 minutes of spiritual counseling where a pastor shares the Word of God with them and talks about what is going on in their lives and offers prayer. Then, they move to the next station where a medical staff person checks on their medicine regime and nutrition. The clients keep a journal listing every meal and times/amounts of medicines taken. The other three days a week, CfA staff members make home visits to fellowship with clients and to check their homes for sanitation. It is an unbelievable program. Yesterday, part of the team went on home visits and said they were amazing. Here, people are shunned for disclosing that they are HIV positive so they are especially honored to have guests in their homes. The team helped peel potatoes and wash clothes.
We also visited the Amani Center - a wonderful program near Nairobi that employs refugee women from all over Africa to make purses, jewelry, clothing, and quilts to export to the US and sell. It was great to hear their stories, tour their factory, and see what they create.
One highlight was passing out pillowcases Sunday night at the Children's Centre. My kids from the Governor's School program this summer made beautiful pillowcases for all of the 41 boarders who live full time at the children's centre. The kids loved them and we took pictures of each child holding his/her pillowcase.
This morning we helped with Pat's Feeding Program. Pat Dixson is a white Kenyan who runs a feeding program for the elderly and people with HIV. When we were here in 2007, she was serving almost 200 families. Now she is up to 300. It is really an unbelievable undertaking. These people walk (many for hours) to receive a handout every two weeks. The handout is small... about 2 pounds of corn, 2 pounds of maize, 2 pounds of ground corn, 1 pound of rice, and 2 pounds of dried beans (along with a little salt, a box of matches, and a stick of vegetable fat). It took us about an hour and a half to pass out all of the food. Then, Pat locked the door and we took the leftovers (a few bags of each) and lined them up on a food sack. She went and counted how many people were waiting in line outside (these are people who are not part of her feeding program but who walked and waited in case there were leftovers) and let more in. Each person received one item. This went on until everything was gone - unfortunately there were still people lined up who didn't receive anything. Pat runs this program for $3000 per month or $10 per family per month. For these people who are in very desperate situations, her program is keeping them alive.
This afternoon, Lauren and I are visiting the IDP (internally displaced persons) Camp about an hour away. When Kenya held a presidential election in December of 2007, a great deal of violence broke out and many people were displaced from their homes. This is one of the camps where they ended up. Our team is planning to return on the 27th to put walls up in about 50 homes. A donor paid to have basic structures (roof and four corner posts) built but they have no walls whatsoever. We can put up the four exterior walls for about $40 per home. They've asked that instead of just paying for it, that we come and work beside them. This is something we're all looking forward to.
Lauren and I leave late tomorrow night for Egypt. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures in the next few days. Love to all!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment