Week 3 - Medical Camp and School

Hi!

Internet is hard to find, which is why it's been awhile since I have posted! No pictures this time, sorry! Everything is good here, I have been running a lot and keeping busy.

This past weekend I was working at a medical camp run by the KCC Slum Project. This is their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/KCC-Slum-Project/146771283768
They are an NGO managed by a young man from New Zealand that works with families, children and women in a slum in Naivasha. It started out with a group of volunteers like me who saw an awful situation and decided to build a school. The school feeds the kids one meal a day and the program runs tons of other outreach programs in the slum.

Last Monday, the slum suffered from a huge fire that affected about 3000 people. It was absolutely devastating to the people living there and the volunteers worked tirelessly to help and feed them. This is a newspaper article detailing the fire: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/318492

Anyways, the medical camp was set up to help these people. 669 people attended the camp over the 2 days where they were provided with family planning support, HIV/AIDS testing, the kids were given multivitamins and de-worming tablets (they take a tablet and a few days later will throw up any worms they have contracted due to contaminated water, etc...), treatments for any illness or minor injury and most importantly everyone was fed! Oh and it was all FREE! I mostly helped wash dishes and cook...it was really hard work but extremely rewarding to feel like I was a part of something that great.

On another note, school is good even though I wish there was more opportunities to teach and do other work. I even offered to help in the kitchen today which I later regretted...they cook over a firewood stove in a little room and the ventilation is terrible. I was in there for 2.5 hours and my eyes were watering for almost the whole time and now my lungs can feel all the smoke! My favorite part of school is when I get to talk to the grade 8's. They can ask me any questions anonymously - I told them to think of me as their big sister. I get lots of questions about Canada and myself, but also questions about drugs, alcohol and relationships. Some of the questions that stand out in my mind are "Does your dad beat you?" and when I said no, the kids were shocked and didn't understand how I could be punished any other way! That's actually another thing about being here, the teachers hit the kids with rulers and chalk brushes until they cry and it's always hard to watch - I always just want to run up and give the kids a hug! Other questions I get are like "I love this girl, what should I do?" and funny things like that.

I'll leave with one last comment. I have been incredibly impressed by the Kenyan people's resilience. Death is far too common here, so people have a very realistic view about it. I have talked to so many people who have lost people close to them and their attitude is always the same...they always say something to the effect of, "we just know how to get through and keep going." One 13 year old girl in particular was telling me how her dad died about a year ago and she said "I get through it because I know God has a plan for me like he does for everyone...I just trust him and move on."

Until next time!

Lisa