I am told that in kenya, there are some government rules about adoption. The way I understand it, one of the parents basically needs to give permission to allow their child to be adopted. In a country with millions of orphans, these guidelines leave a lot to be desired - if I am understanding them correctly.
I am not going to name the children within this blog as a matter of privacy. Since this forum is public, I would not want them at some point in time to google themselves and find stories from their childhood. It just seems disrespectful. However, I will tell you that all of them are well mannered and respectful. They are just like any other kids that fight over a toy that one has and the other doesn't. They play with discarded car tires in the yard and roll them back and forth for hours. An old bike tire makes a great hula hoop. I had a six year old teach me how to hand wash my clothes. Later, she stood in the doorway after I had finished cleaning out a storage room and was mopping the floor and shook her head disapprovingly at me. Once I became willing to listen to her, I found her way was better. Go figure.
This evening I passed out donations to each of the kids that had come from America. I took each child one by one and told them that someone had been thinking of them and had put together a care package just for them. We read letters, and tried on clothes and took pictures. I heard one of the boys say that he wanted to keep the tags that were on his outfit. These children had never had a NEW anything. There is one boy walking around with an Old Navy baseball cap with the tag still on it. Minnie Pearl - eat your heart out!
Because of the way things are here, I made some decisions on the fly. The caretaker of this property lives on the grounds with his two children. They play with FKLA children all the time and are like part of the gang. We borrowed a piece here, a piece there, some coloring books and crayons and put together new outfits for these children as well. It just wouldn't have been fair to do it any other way.
And then the matrons also have children who go without. One of these women is 40 years old, has seven children and is never home. Her mother watches the children while she works here. I can't imagine what it must be like to be away from your kids and watch others be given so much when yours don't receive anything. So- we packed bags for the matrons kids. They got new underwear and clothes and stuffed animals. There are still bags and boxes full of items that we are going to keep and distibute as needed.
Sarah and Brian are trying very hard to make FKLA a community based organization. They have taken our kids and done community service projects with them such as going to visit othe families who are worse off and bringing them food or supplies. I have a feeling that the clothes that are being replaced will find a new home and will be greatly appreciated as well.
When I walk into town, there are kids with piles of wood strapped to their backs. These children have hiked up this hill and gone into the woods to fetch firewood. They sell it for a dollar a bundle.
I spent time organizing all the school supplies that were sent and on friday we had a mini meeting in the office with the teachers. I showed them where the flash cards were and the art supplies and the coloring books. There is so much more organizing to do but the teachers were thrilled with the new supplies and were going to use them that day. Books are a tough subject. They are heavy and so it is difficult to get them here for freight purposes. FKLA has 140 boxes of books in rhode island that we are trying to figure out how to get here. Its expensive. It's a work in progress so we will see.
I have seen people walking around in town with CVS polo shirts on. I couldn't understand how that would be. Well- Goodwill or organizations like that will sell off items that won't work in their markets. Somehow, they find their way to places like Njabini and are for sale in the shops here. This is what poverty is like. Shipping new items in is kind of a double edged sword. First off, if it gets to the designated final destination, that's a bonus. It sounds like when items come through the postal service, its basically public property. If there is something of interest in the package, it can be stolen very easily. That's the first thing. If the package does make it to the correct post office, there will be a tax on the item that the recipient pays. Everyone here has their hand out. The good news is that even if all of this does happen and an item gets to a person in need, there are other people complaining that by sending in product it is taking away manufacturing jobs here. Ha! I am so glad I didn't know all of this when I started this. Ignorance is bliss. It seems that personally delivering items is the best, albeit it very cumbersome, answer.
My battery is going to die!!!
Peace out my friends. Thank you for helping change the world.
Tomorrow I will tell you about the wild west.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
