Melting in Mombasa...

Jambo!

Here I am in Mombasa with my friend Pili that arrived 9 days ago. It's so hot here and so humid. I arrived this morning by train after spending three days in the Masai Mara with the lions, zebras, giraffes, etc. I met more mzungus there... I'm used to see just black people around and now, when I see white people, I do exactly the same they do to me, I stare at them.

Before leaving Molo, Pili and I organised a "gincama" with the kids at school (some activities that take place all at the same time played by different groups...). They had so much fun. At the end there was a ceremony were the kids danced and sang for us.

The mzungus I met in the safari were very nice and as some of them are staying in Nakuru, because thy are volunteering too, we exchanged numbers and we'll meet up again.

After the safari we went to Nairobi to take the night traing to Mombasa. There we met three guys from Barcelona and it was nice to spend the whole trip talking in catalan.

Once we arrived to Mombasa we took a taxi that took us to the hostel we booked. The taxi driver told us that this hostel is not very good and that he knows better places. We think that he just wants our money but when I tell him we are from Spain he tells me that a friend of him is from Spain and he has a hotel in Diani. I asked him the name and he tells me Olivier!!! I met Olivier in Ireland before coming to Kenya. He was working in VMware Switzerland I think and he left VMware to come to Kenya. I can't believe it and the taxi driver calls him and it's true!

After checking the hostel we decide to go to Diani then but the owner of the hostel tells us that she is going to charge us one night so we decide to spend the night here and tomorrow the taxi driver will take us to Diani with Olivier.

I got an email from the pharmaceutical company in Barcelona ad they are going to send us the eye medications to Molo for free!!! The courier is paying for the expenses! I can't believe it! I'm so happy.

We have put some stories of the kids on the website. I did the interviews and took the pictures, Daniel did the rest (the hard work obviously). have a look at it! http://www.chazonafrica.org/onTheSTREET.html

Well, I gotta go now.

Tuonane!

Erick

Sasa! It's been a while I wanted to update the blog but I didn't find the time. I've been very busy again and I wanted to finish some stuff I was doing before Pili arrived.

She is here. She arrived last Saturday. I went to Nairobi to pick her up, we spent the night at Elizabeth's place and then on Sunday we went to Molo. She is spending just four days in Molo and then on Friday we go to Masai Mara, lake Nakuru and Mombasa. She'll go back to Spain on the 4th of April and then I'll go to another orphanage in Nakuru for two weeks and after that I'll spend my last two weeks in Molo. I don't even want to think about my last day here... Next week the centre closes for the Easter holidays for a month and the kids in nursery, class 1, class 2 and class 3 won't go back until May (I won't be here), so tomorrow it will be the last day I spend with them at the centre... :'( The upper classes will keep going to the centre so I'll see them. We are having a party tomorrow at the centre because of the launching of the website so Pili and I have organised loads of different games and activities for the kids.

During the last two weeks in Molo I'll go to visit the kids to their houses but, there are so many that I don't think I'll get to see all of them.

But there is one in particular I will go to visit for sure and that is Erick (the one in the picture with me). I have decided that I'm going to sponsor him once I'm back in Spain. I just felt in love with him. He's such a nice kid and he always tries to be near me.

In 2007 when the clashes arrived in Molo, Erick's mother and brothers run away leaving him behind. He was 5 at that time and he had to sleep in the streets and eat whatever he could find. He used to sleep near a church until the Pastor of the church saw him and started feeding him and finally, after a lot of difficulties, he and his wife adopted him. The Pastor also had two kids that became friends with Erick but they struggled a lot economically and Samuel and Lucy decided to take him in the centre even though the whole family is still struggling a lot.

Everyday Erick comes to say hi to me and when I play with the kids he's always there near me and holding my hand. He says thank you to me every time that I help him in class and he's very obedient and polite. He's become very found of me and I'm also very found of him.

With Lucy and Samuel we are trying to organise the sponsoring of a kid and the international donations... Sponsoring a child will be just 15 euros per month and some extra money once a year to buy the uniform of the kid. There is another option of giving a monthly donation of 15 euros a month that will go to the centre for food, text books, etc. And there is also the option of giving a one time donation. We are still organising it but... if you ever thought of sponsoring a child or giving a donation to a NGO... think about us! :)

As you see everything is going well here. Sometimes it's tough but I really enjoy playing with the kids at the centre. Today Pili and I played with bubbles and the kids went crazy.

Lucy's family have accepted me in their tribe, I'm a kikuyu and they gave me a kikuyu name: Njoki. Pili today got hers: Wanjiru.

And that's all for today. I hope there is still people following my blog as I don't see the same amount of posts I had with the first ones...

Well, time to go to sleep here.

Lala salama!
Kwaheri!

I took the kids to the eye clinic in Nakuru

Habari!

Today I took the kids to the eye clinic in Nakuru. When we went to the doctor in Molo he told me to take two of them to the eye clinic. Erick and Joseph. This time I'm also taking Babu (I didn't take him the first time because his eyes look fine but I realized that he struggles a lot to know what's written on the blackboard so I think that he must need glasses.

I'm not worried about Erick, he doesn't look that bad either. He says that his eyes are soar sometimes but not itchy so the doctor in Molo told me to take him to Nakuru too just in case and because he doesn't know what's wrong with him.

We went to Nakuru then and it was a looong and tiring day.

We got to Nakuru around 9:30 am and in the hospital we took a while to find the eye department... We waited there for a while. They made the three kids read those letters on a board that go smaller every line. I realized that the three of them had problems to read the small ones but Joseph couldn't even read the second line...

Then the doctor visited them and he said that Babu and Erick must need glasses but they have to come back next month for the results. When they saw Joseph... they were more worried.

They tried to check his eyes with a machine but they said that the infection he has is so sever that the machine couldn't read them. So he has to use two different kind of drops to clear the infection first and next month we go back with him again. The doctor say he has no trachoma but he has a very bad infection that started with an allergy and if it doesn't get treated he can go blind.

I went to the pharmacy to buy the drops and I understand why his family can't pay the treatment... I paid 850 ksh (8 euros) and that's extremely expensive for a Kenyan! His family can't afford it!

Anyway, we'll go to the doctor next month. Let's see what they say...

We went to have lunch and we went to one of these restaurants that they call "hotel". I ordered chicken for everyone. Lucy told me that those kids very rarely eat chicken. They were very happy, Erick nearly ate the bones! I also bought them ice-cream, they deserved it as they did so well in the doctor!

And that's all. Now we have to wait until next month. It's unbelievable how some things are so expensive here. Robert, Lucy's cousin, just finished his secondary school and he passed his exams with a grade that allows him to go to college or university. He wants to study nursing. Well, the public nursing college in Kenya costs around 60.000 ksh per semestre! (1200 euros per year!!!). He really wants to study this and he is a very good boy but his mother doesn't even know how she's going to pay for it. That's a lot of money! The salaries here are very low. A teacher earns around 4000 ksh a month (40 euros...), how a person with that salary can pay a college or a university!!! As Lucy told me just the wealthy ones can afford it and they are the ones that go to college or university and then you can have a very bright kid that comes from a poor family that really wants to study but he can't because it's impossible for him or his family to pay the fees. It's so unfair!!!

I'm staying this week at Mary's (Lucy's mum). She wanted me to spend one week with her and Elizabeth (Robert's mum). They are so nice. They are feeding me a lot. I tell them that they want to eat me at the end of my three months because I'm actually putting on weight! I eat a lot of potatoes and I'm not used to eat that many potatoes... I hope I will fit in the dress I already have for the wedding I have in May...

Oh, as you saw on the previous blog... the website for the centre is live! It was launched last week and we are all sooooo happy! Daniel (another American volunteer that was here last summer) did a great job. Check it out please: www.chazonafrica.org

There are still few things to work in but it's nearly done! Click on " Volunteer" :)

I'm going to Nairobi on Sunday as my friend Pili is coming!!!! She'll stay 4 days in Molo and then we'll go to explore the country! Then on the 4th I'll go back to work in Molo or maybe I'll go to another orphanage for two weeks in Nakuru and then I'll go back to Molo.

Well, enough for today. Hope you are all fine! Half of my time here is gone... time flies!

Mooore pics! :)

With teacher Duncan at Tayari school

Cooking chapati with Lucy

With Joseph, Ann and Jemima

Inside the cave in Nakuru

At the crater in Nakuru with Susan

Quick and short post...

Please, check this out:

www.chazonafrica.org

Jordi, Marta... do you recognize yourselves in some of the pics???

Daniel, you are the best!!!

:)

And it keeps raining...

Ok, I know that for an African the rain is good and they are happy when it rains but... for a person that has lived for 5 years and a half in a country where it rains everyday (Ireland) I would like to have hot and sunny days...
Lately it's been raining every day here in Molo and it's quite chilly... It specially rains in the evenings then in the mornings it's all muddy and we are also having these blackouts... this is Africa!
I took the kids to the doctor here in Molo. The doctor gave me, again, the same eye-drops but he also saw that there were some severe cases and he told me that I had to take the kids to the eye clinic in Nakuru. I'm going to try to take them next week.
I have also contacted a pharmaceutical company in Barcelona and they are willing to send me some medications for the kids free of charge! But I really need to take Joseph to the doctor. He is not at the centre but his two sisters are. He is my neighbor and I always find him every day waiting for me to arrive home after school so he can play with me. We usually draw together or we make airplanes, ships or hats with papers. He is 7 years old and his eyes look pretty bad... The doctor told me to take him to Nakuru . I hope I can help him, he's such a nice kid... but his family can't afford to take him to the doctor...
We had the match today. Well, actually, the matches... We were 30 for Chazon, 15 boys and 15 girls, and we were supposed to play against Molo Academy but they didn't show up so we play against the other school, Tayari that it was the school that was hosting the games. As I was saying we were 30 for Chazon... ok... so we get to Tayari school and I'm surprised to see that there are more than 2000 pupils in the primary section... Public schools in Kenya are overcrowded. Some of the classes in Tayari school have 90 pupils... I can't imagine how the teachers can mark the exams and homework...
So, we talk to the teachers and they tell us that we have to play netball, volleyball and soccer... when we were just prepared for football... Anyway, we play all the games and we didn't win any. Imagine 2000 kids supporting and cheering their school and for us just 30... But our kids tried and they were not bad. The Tayari teams were much taller than us.
The teachers of Tayari school were very nice though. They encouraged our kids and celebrated the only goal that our boys scored.
We have more games on Friday. There's going to be a team with kids from Tayari and Chazon school and we'll play against other schools.
It has been actually a very good day. I saw some very good players from both schools and it's good that the kids interact in this kind of activities.
So, this is all for today!
Oh, by the way, I know that it's snowing a lot in Barcelona... Hope you are having a happy Christmas in March! :)