At the first home we visited, we talked with a friendly 56 year old grandmother named Winnifred. After awhile two little grandchildren showed up. The little boy eventually warmed up and sat on my lap. She talked about her two adult children being without work and helping to care for her grandchildren. Her home was the size of a small shed with a bed behind a "Bart Simpson" sheet hanging as a separation. She had an old television that seemed to be working. and an old couch and chair for sitting on. It seemed somewhat cozy for its size and it appeared she had lived their for years. She spoke English well, and I went through the Evangacube with her and another teacher went through the malaria cube with her. We all enjoyed the friendly visit and the time together.
Next we made our way down more tight passageways to a small alley where I bumped and cut my head on the roof of the house. At first I though I hit the corrugated steel roof, but after the visit, I saw that I had really been poked by a branch that was sticking out and used to hold up the roof. I am glad I had all my shots before heading to Kenya.
I followed Timothy down a small dark hallway and then right into a tiny dark stuffy room. I couldn't see how we could all fit in there and with people behind me pushed my way back out. It was very uncomfortable. Only Timothy and one extra person could really fit in the room that was a little bigger than the size of a closet. I made my way back in when Timothy wanted one of us to present the HIV cube. I sat on a chair facing a twin bed. The size of the room was about big enough for two twin beds with no additional space. A lady and two men. Judith, Sammy, and Samson were sitting on the bed facing me and I went through the causes, misconceptions, and protection needed for HIV with the three people using the cube. The man in the middle was very serious and intense. He was very worried about this information and had a couple of extremely serious questions that Timothy gently answered to relieve his fears. The small house belonged to the woman. She had two children, but I don't know if they lived with her there. The two men each had children of their own. They were all worried because of lack of jobs and they were worried about their children. I was so glad for the opportunity to talk with them and that I didn't stay out of the house due to its tight confining quarters.
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| Timothy |
Besides a visit to a house on our first Saturday in Kenya, this was all the house visits that I did. Other team members visited many houses during our visit. I wish I could have done more, but I was in Kenya primarily for helping with the schools.
I should mention that on my first house visit on Saturday, we met a young Kenyan mother with a few children. She was taking care of a baby during the visit, but one child was hidden behind a sheet partition. The child never came out, and all I was aware of was a shadowy presence. We were told that the child was disabled. In Kenya, particularly in the slums, their is no care or schooling for disabled children. Sometimes they are looked upon as a "curse". Often they are hidden away and rarely see the light of day. If a parent needs to leave they may tie the child to something so he or she can't leave. One of the great parts of our trip is that this may soon change.
Three of the families on our trip have disabled children of their own and two of our teachers work in special education. Lois and Shauna made home visits and gave workshops all week on working with disabled children. They did evaluations and gave information to parents and teachers as to how to work with a disabled child. The response was overwhelming.
Check out this amazing video of Lois and Shauna working with a 16 year old girl named Zipporah. She was in a 2nd grade class, and all of her work in her books was just writing "1" repeatedly. I think she had just moved up to writing "2"s.Watch Zipporah come alive in this video.
Here they work with a boy named Paul. Our whole trip was about bringing Hope to the people of Mathare and I think in the end, these are the children that needed it the most. By the end of the week, Lois and Shauna presented a full day workshop to 25 teachers and the result was amazement and amazing.
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