Sunday, November 29, 2009

watu wakenya

stunning
strong
courageous
determined
selfless

this grandmother lost all of her children to HIV/AIDs
and is raising all her grandchildren.
when she should be retired and resting
she is gathering firewood
and hauling water
and changing nappies.

and she is still grateful
and lives with joy

humbling me

everyday grace


i want to begin sharing the stories of my year in kenya that had a profound impact on me.

the people of kenya often saved me from myself.

enjoy the coming blog posts as a celebration of a life changed in kenya.

mine.



Tuesday, November 24, 2009

love them in the moment.

BBC radio became one of my best friends while living in Kenya. I spent my evenings listening to world report and even relied on their reporters to find out what was going on in town during the post election crisis.

here is a story about the street boys (mostly, there are some girls as well) that live on the streets of eldoret, passing their days by sniffing glue and trying to help you park your car for a few shillings. one tried to sell me a cell phone he had just stolen out of a car. they were mostly good kids, but from poor homes, gone to the city to find food or make money and end up hooked on glue.

it is likely that i have encountered the children in these photos. i was at a loss as what to do with the strung out 8 year old boy or the pair of 9 year old girl prostitutes. they told me the rescue centre was horrible, if they were fed, and they could get more food on the street from well wishers. they "work" by helping stop traffic when you want to park your car or they will
"protect" your car in the evenings while you are at the grocery store. their future looks grim - their brains are fried, they miss all their developmental milestones, they don't go to school.

all i could do was try to love them in the moment.

Orphans continue a tough struggle on the streets

By Will Ross
BBC News, Eldoret, Kenya

A report by Save the Children says that four out of five children in orphanages still have a living parent.

Orphanage life means that millions of children are unnecessarily at risk of the widespread dangers of living in institutions, including rape, exploitation, trafficking and beatings.

An orphaned child sniffs glue in the streets of Eldoret, Kenya
Many orphaned children in Kenya prefer life on the streets

In Kenya a combination of a lack of money, physical abuse, the effects of HIV/AIDS and last year's inter-tribal violence are taking their toll.

Many children forced onto the streets are pushed into a life of crime.

'The Barracks'

Just off the main street running through the centre of Eldoret you will find an army of glue-sniffing street kids.

Almost all the children have a small bottle of glue hanging from their mouths and with glazed eyes they appear semi tranquilised.

"It makes me sleepy and I have less stress," says 15-year-old Jimmy, who after years on the streets looks younger than 10.

"I live on the verandas in a box," he tells me.

"Life here is very hard with no food, nowhere to sleep and no-one to care for you," says Evans Kariuki.

"It is not safe. You can die here. People fight. There is a lot of violence. The police come sometimes and take you and beat you."

Broken families

In another part of Eldoret I meet Mary, her husband James and their six-year-old daughter Grace.

Neither of them have regular employment and their single-room home smells of an illegal alcoholic brew - one way of raising a few coins to buy food.

Mother Mary and six-year-old daughter Grace
Mary and her daughter Grace struggle through poverty on a daily basis

They were a family of four, but at the age of seven Juma ran away for a life on the streets.

"I tried to look for him but it was difficult because his friends on the streets kept hiding him," said James.

Mary is sure Grace will not follow in her brother's footsteps.

"I can take care of her because she is a girl," said Mary before adding that Grace had been going to nursery school, but she is now at home because they cannot afford the fees of less than $20 (£12) a term.

New hope

I later meet Juma at a centre for former street children. Now 13, he is getting food and goes to a primary school thanks to ECCO - Ex Street Children Community Organisation.

Many children have been rehabilitated, but problems still remain
Many children have been rehabilitated, but problems still remain

"I ran away because I was beaten at home. Life used to be good at home but whenever I made a mistake my mother beat me. Once my finger was even cut with a knife, "said Juma who now dreams of becoming a pilot.

For the staff at ECCO discipline is a challenge.

"The hardest thing is keeping them in line - asking them to follow rules which they are not used to and most of them have been sniffing glue for years so stopping that is hard," said Mercy Rotich, the programme officer for social work and education at ECCO.

Hard struggle

As I leave the centre there is news of another crisis.

A 13-year-old street boy has been raped and after being discharged from hospital urgently needs a home.

Institutions have sprung up in Eldoret to take in some of the street children but there are many complaints of inhumane treatment and concerns that they do not have the children's interest at heart.

"You talk to a child who has been in a home for a few months and they do not want to go back.

You talk to a child who has been in a home and they do not want to go back
Mercy Rotich

"They tell you about the problems of being beaten or denied food. These homes are getting money but the money is not reaching the beneficiaries," said Mercy Rotich.

"Some of them are not going to school and yet there is money for them to be taken to school. They are not being taken back home yet they have funds to trace these homes."

The government agrees that there are problems with some of the homes and knows some organisations are formed not to help the children but to make money.

"Briefcase NGOs - I know they are there and they are possibly swindling money from the donors and funders and well-wishers. It is now our role to ensure that what is given to the child is not going to the dogs," said Philip Nzenge, the children's officer in charge of the district.

'Damning indictment'

Back at The Barracks several street children told me they had run away from Eldoret Rescue Centre and preferred life on the streets.

The Rescue Centre is a series of metal shacks perched on a hillside on the outskirts of town.

The staff denied that children were beaten but admitted that some of them struggled to cope with order and discipline after a life on the streets.

Although this is a step up from life on the streets, conditions for the 233 children are grim and bunk beds are crammed into the metal shacks.

Staff said there was a plan to build permanent structures.

I found a month-old girl there - born on the streets but perhaps destined to spend her next 18 years in this centre.

It is no wonder then that Save The Children is calling for stricter monitoring of children's institutions.

It also wants funds to be channelled into helping families support their children describing it as outrageous that children are separated from their families when they have parents who, given a bit of help, could look after them.


Sunday, November 15, 2009

body parts

a few of you have asked me what i do in my free time and once in awhile i reply that i am constructing various body parts for an organization i volunteer for.

my emails between myself and people at the organization and another volunteer have become increasingly interesting...

"i'm just about done with the uteruses and i currently have 6 placentas in various stages of construction. how is the new stretchy perineum?"

i volunteer for an organization here in vancouver called Canadian Network for International Surgery. They teach improved surgical and obstetrical skills to African doctors in various countries. to demonstrate the theoretical aspects of emergency or surgical care they need something to practice on. ideally, one can do this before you get to an actual patient.

you can buy medical mannequins that look pretty real but they are quite expensive. so a number of people have designed a low-cost prototype that is currently made in Canada and carried over by a surgeon teaching the course. i volunteered to sew for CNIS without really knowing what it was i would be sewing. it's probably a good thing they don't advertise the specifics on their website. i may have not signed up to design a placenta.

so, here is an example of the medical mannequins that cost $500.

Birthing Simulator

W45025: Birthing Simulator
Click picture to enlarge
$ 525.00
Bookmark and Share
Measurements53x33x43 cm
Weight8,0 kg
Birthing Simulator















and here is our version...


you say,
"but alida,
that is an upside-down cat carrier,
with padded walls...
for a psychotic cat perhaps?"

let me demonstrate how i have constructed and birthed a baby in my living room...

here is the top of the "mothers" abdomen.
what you see is a piece something that is supposed to simulate the skin.
it is actually made from vinyl, foam, and elastic and can be cut to be able
to simulate a c-section.
below is the underside of the piece...


if the baby decides to come out the right way, here she comes...
the front of the "cat carrier" is now a womens perineum.
baby is crowning...


almost there, keep pushing...

congrats, it's a girl, and look there is a healthy placenta!


my homemade placenta on the left and the expensive medical model on the right.
mine is made from stretchy purple material that i found in the bargain bin at a fabric store,
a piece of foam from the inside of a whoopee cushion procured at a dollar store, and
some coloured rope covered with glad "press n seal".
bet the old guy in the white suit never thought that press n seal would every be used to make an umbilical cord.
i must say, it works quite nicely.

i can't forget the uterus! it takes the most time to make...

you can remove the top abdominal piece and expose the inside of the "torso."
you are looking through the top of the cat carrier at the uterus and the bladder.
the uterus is made of red tshirt material and is the shape of a water bottle.
the neck of it is snapped to the "front door" and the baby and uterus fit inside.

someone very clever decided that 1980's shoulder pads would make perfect bladders.
the uterus is also covered in press n seal.
i don't think i will every be able to use that stuff for food now... maybe you won't either. sorry!

so, my weekend productivity will be used to instruct african doctors how to improve their surgical skills. who knew that my sewing skills would be put to such use...
i had once planned to go to design school and wanted to work for the likes of burton designing outerwear.

guess there was a change of plans.
i am now designing innerwear...

now, to clean up the disaster of my apartment for my guests coming tomorrow. not sure they want to sleep with the placentas that are currently strewn on the couch...

so, my friends, that is my body parts project. now you know, and i bet you wished you never asked :-)