Orphan Day

September 15, 2012

 

Two nights ago, we were awake during the night because of some critter scratching at the tent.  We thought that it was the mouse from the first day, and I turned on my headlamp and did a search of the inside of the tent when Diane was gone to the bathroom during the night.  Nothing.  Later in the morning, I lifted up the bottom of the tent from where the sound was coming and discovered a little colony of toads and one dart frog living under the tent! I'm sure that was a cool, moist place to be: perfect frog habitat.  I used a stick to shoo eight toads on the journey to another home.

 



Mr. Toad at Toad Hall (Tent)

The whole tent adventure has not been very comforting.  The mouse and toads and the snake in the tent a few days ago set the mood.  Last night Diane did a look around the side of the tent with her headlamp just in time to see the tail of a black snake slither under the tent.  The floor is heavy plastic, so the snake can't come through the floor, but now we have the mental image of stepping on a snake as we walk around.  Kenya is home to the black mamba, which is a highly poisonous snake and extremely dangerous, although this is most likely just a house snake, which is only slightly poisonous.  Very comforting . . . not so much.

Orphan day is one of the fun parts of the Kenya trip.  Through the Imani Project, eighty three children who are orphaned due to their parent(s) dying from AIDS.  These children have sponsors in the US that pay a monthly subsidy to help with food, clothing, medical care, and education expenses.  Every year, the orphans are interviewed and photographed so that the American sponsors get an update on their child.  The sponsors can send a single gallon Ziplock bag of toys, clothes, candy, and so on as gifts for the child.  Orphan Day is the day when all of the children come to the Imani Project office to get their gifts and report back.

In 2010, there was a big crowd of people waiting at the I.P. office in Mashaheni when we arrived, but this year it seemed less crowded, even though there are more orphans now. 

Orphans and caregivers waiting in Mashaheni for orphan day

 While waiting to get set up, we gave a jump rope to the children in the village, and they jumped a little, but quickly decided to turn it into a "high jump" contest.  Some of these children are natural athletes and gymnasts, doing handflips over the rope.

 

Mashaheni children jumping the rope

We set up school desks as stations for an American volunteer and a translator to sit and talk with the orphan and his or her caregiver.  The interview consists of asking the child their village, their birthday (which almost no one knows), and then questions about the interests of the child -- such as what they like to do in their free time, what they like to study in school, about their family -- and what he or she would like to say to the sponsor.  Each child draws a picture for the sponsor, which is stapled to the interview form. 



Interviewing an orphan

 Then the gifts are brought out and presented to the child, with the translator explaining what the objects are.  In some cases, cultural differences make the items difficult to explain - such as mechanical pencils.  A lot of people sent packets of seeds to the families, which was really nice.  In some cases, sponsors bought special gifts for the orphan and family, including ducks, goats.  Two lucky orphans got a bicycle (that cost about $120) and one girl was given a cow (which costs about $500).

Gifts from America

 

After the interview and gifts, it was my turn to take the official photos.  Each child held up a paper with their name on it (for easy identification later), and I would take their picture.  Then, we would take a picture of the child with the caregiver or other family member that came with them.  If there were special gifts, I took a photo of them with the goat or bicycle. 

 Gift of a Bicycle

 

Bicycles cooperate for the pictures really well; they just sit there.  Goats are more difficult, but even a child can keep a strong hold on the rope.  The cow, on the other hand, was considerable trouble.  She was very agitated and wasn't at all impressed by Orphan Day.  A tall, very thin man was tending the cow.  He untied her so we could lead the cow to a convenient spot for a picture, but the cow started to trot down the road, dragging the man behind him.  My translator, Henry, grabbed the rope, and the two of them stopped the cow from running, but she was pacing back and forth.  The orphan girl was nervous about trying to stand near her.  I managed to get a photo when the cow was pacing near the girl.  No animals were harmed in the taking of the photo, but Henry's flip-flop was fatally injured in the process.

Gift of a Cow

The best quote of the day happened when one girl announced that she had a gift for her sponsor and handed a live chicken across the table!  Everyone was shocked, and Marlene responded, "How are we going to get that back to the United States?"

 One orphan gives a chicken as a gift for her sponsor

 

At one point we stopped for a break, and we took the opportunity to walk around the village of Mashaheni.  Mr. Baya, the Imani Project volunteer (see photo in "Cast of Characters") is a school teacher at Mashaheni Primary School.  (We learned this is why he is only volunteer to be called "Mr. Baya" instead of just "Jack").  He gave us a tour of the school, just down the road.  All public school teachers in Kenya are on strike, so the school was empty.  Mashaheni Primary School is very large - 1003 students - with class sizes of about 40.  That is larger than the population of Mashaheni itself.  The school draws students from many surrounding villages.  Instruction in the school is in a mixture of English and Swahili, although everything that we saw on the chalk board or pictures hanging in the classrooms was in English.

 

Mashaheni Primary School

Inside a classroom at Mashaheni Primary School

Posters on the Blackboard

 

Mr Baya at His School

To help with the water needs, two large water tanks have been set up to catch rain water running off of the metal roof of the building.  Villagers can then fill jerry cans with water from the tanks.  Mr. Baya said that it was much easier to have children a drink of water from the tanks than to ask for permission to walk to the river to get a drink during class.

Water from the School Roof

 



Following the orphan activities, the villagers played music and danced.  A group of children performed a song about a chicken and sang several songs in Swahili and recited a story in English. The villagers had several drummers who beat out a beautiful rhythm while people danced.  As before, the villagers pulled the American volunteers into the dancing.  We followed along as best we could, and it was fun to be sharing in the experience.

Drummers in Mashaheni

 

Diane and Cindy join the dancing

 

Earline and Anya stomping

About 10 of the orphans didn't show up to get their things, so we went again to Musifini the next morning to finish giving the gifts.  We also had ten orphans who are not sponsored, so had no gifts or monthly support.  Some people gave us money donations for the trip before we left the US, and we arranged to buy a goat for each of them.  Diane made up a little bag of toys, pencils, and candy that we also gave, so that everyone got a little something.

 

 

 

Unsponsored orphan gets a goat!

 

Unsponsored orphans get their gift bags