August 2009
July 2, 2009 I left the United States headed toward Kenya, Africa for the very first time. I had been out of the country before, but not to the Motherland. As an African-American, I was excited to see the land of my ancestors. The purpose of my trip was to participate as a volunteer for an organization called Heart for Africa (HFA), which is a is a faith-based not-for-profit 501c3 charity working in Kenya and Swaziland. HFA partners with organizations in Africa to provide self sustainable homes for orphans and vulnerable children through long term programs and short term service trips that deliver quality care, shelter, food, water, clothing, health care, social work, mentoring and education.
Why Kenya?
Well, why not? Kenya is as good a place to start my tour of Africa as any. I had planned to go in 2008, however, family tragedies kept me close to home. Kenya in 2009 was the right place at the right time. The weather was cool (July is their "winter" with temperatures ranging from the low 40's to the mid-to-high 70's during the day). And supposedly there would be a direct flight from Atlanta to Kenya. This, turned out not to be the case (THANKS DELTA AIRLINES), but still, after about 20 hours, 2 planes, and one layover in Dubai, we arrived on an early Saturday morning.
When I Found My Heart
My first day in Kenya was spent getting from the airport to the hotel, getting acquainted with my volunteer team members and then jumping in with both feet for part one of the service project. Most of the team had met in Dubai and had had a chance to talk on the plane ride to Nairobi. But once all together, I found the team of volunteers to be open, warm and encouraging. We were assigned our rooms and then set about putting together care packages for our first stop. We climbed back on the tour bus and headed to a girls rehab center to spend time with 85 little girls between the ages of 9 and 17 years old. What do I mean by "rehab"? I suppose we might call it juvenile detention or something similar. This place is where the Kenyan government sends their female children when they've committed petty crimes or don't have any other place to send them. There's a huge problem with children living on the streets in Kenya. The girls that we visited take classes, get a couple of meals each day and have a place to sleep at night. That's more than the street children have. What these girls don't have are shoes or a change of clothes. They didn't have sanitary napkins or underwear. They didn't have soap to wash themselves or soap to clean their one outfit. They didn't have combs or lotion to put on their skin. I was appalled at their living conditions, however this is just what they are missing physically. Emotionally, they are missing hugs and kisses from loving parents, family and friends. We spent a couple of hours with the girls, getting the tour of the facility and talking and playing. Pauline and Mercy latched onto me and wouldn't let go. We talked and walked, walked and talked the whole time. Pauline asked me if I could get her shoes and soap, these items were a priority for her. Mercy wanted clothes. I asked them about if they knew where their families were? Pauline didn't know where her family was and Mercy's family was dispersed because a fire burned down their home. She didn't know where to find her mother. No one had been to visit the girls in a long, long time. It's very sad to think about this. In the midst of what seems depressing from my perspective, the girls still had hope about their futures. Pauline wants to be an engineer when she gets older and Mercy talked about being a pilot.
In the end, the care packages were passed out to each and every child. These bags were filled with items donated by people all over North America. Some of these very items were brought over in extra suitcases by the volunteers. We left flip-flops and underwear, soap and petroleum jelly, combs and sanitary napkins for every single girl there. They were so very excited! They hugged us and thanked us. And during their excitement, I saw the future generation of Kenyan women, struggling just to survive, just like the adult women of Kenya are doing now. These girls may not get the chance to catch up in school or live a stable life in a home with their families. Instead they will fight daily to find clean water, clothing, a safe place to stay and food to eat. They may be the girls that sell their bodies in order to get enough money to pay for their housing or food, risking their health. From what I saw, in a short amount of time, there was a significant amount of intelligence amongst this group of girls. But their focus isn't on growing up to be healthy addition to their fellow countrymen and women, instead they are growing up scratching and surviving. This is where I found a piece of my heart. With these young girls. Knowing that I couldn't do anymore than we did that day except to pray. I am praying for Pauline and Mercy, praying that they are not just survivors of life, but that they would thrive in this lifetime.
