Goats, Shopping, Eating, Dancing, and Underwear Modelling - ooh la la!

Goats, Shopping, Eating, Dancing, and Underwear Modelling - ooh la la!    What a busy weekend!

Our day started with a goat giveaway in Kibera. The event was a great success, with thirty goats going to girls in Faraj’s home community in recognition of his contributions to the work of Tumaini Afrika and his role as a boots-on-the-ground Tumaini member. They were well prepared with ropes to lead the goats away but when four rather sickly ones were discovered, their replacements arrived via motorcycle - no helmets required. 

It was a little crazy and very hot and some of the girls were a bit timid around the goats, but they were all happy to pose for photos and sport their Canada flag pins.

 You might see some men with the goats - hakuna matata - their daughters were in class and joined them at recess. Everyone was so excited, and Faraj was inundated with messages of thanks all day.

We then joined Faraj, his wife, Fatima, his mother, Asha, and two of Faraj’s three children at their home in Kibera. Fatima prepared us a delicious lunch and we had some time to relax before heading out for a frenzy of shopping in the fabric district. 

We found beautiful kitenge and even the elusive PUL for the Superior Shields, but we are still working on sourcing dark shades of flannel for liners. Where there’s a will . . . .

Gabi was on a mission to stock up on girls’ underwear for the kits, and the young woman in the shop was phenomenal. She had other workers running to sister stores and checking the warehouse for supplies. 

In the meantime, Sheree and Lois, our tour facilitator, might accidentally have purchased a few dresses during the chaos. Through all the mayhem, Faraj worked hard to chase us up and down the street to track our whereabouts and only a few times allowed his exasperation to show. He just loves shopping! 😉

After three tries, Gabi was finally shut in to the van and we headed back to Kijiji with a brief stop for ice cream and to put in an order for some wish list items at the Masai market - yet another photo op. 

On Sunday morning, we were excited to return to mass at Resurrection Garden because we’d arranged to meet Sister Jane for a return visit to the Cardinal Maurice Otunga Girls Empowerment Centre. 

The girls, who had led the procession at church with Kenyan dance, entertained us with more dance routines - a few traditional, and a few to show they are truly modern young women. 

Then Gabi entertained - well, technically, she was instructing, but it was definitely entertaining. 

The girls had a great time practising how to fit the feminine hygiene pads and both Sister Jane and Sister Monica joined in the fun, providing lots of encouragement and exemplifying the normalization of menstruation. The students and the nuns were very interested in learning how to sew the shields, as they have a sewing and tailoring class. The show over, we had a tour of the facility, the girls prepared our lunch of lentils, rice, and salad, and we posed for more photos. The students have so much potential and enthusiasm, we’re looking forward to seeing how they use the shield sewing instruction Gabi and Linda are delivering next week. 

It was a weekend of positives to conclude our first full week in Kenya. Stay tuned for more good news in the days to come.

Another Two Amazing Days

The last two days have been amazing. With the help of our supporters at home and our friends and kind advisors here, we are accomplishing great things for our students at Compass.

We spent the entire day in the company of our kids and their educators. Micheline, Principal Brian, and Faraj did a thorough grounds and building walk-through to make a list of needs and next steps. Then, Mich and a group of teachers labelled, stamped and numbered the new curriculum purchases and updated the inventory. We were pleased to see that materials our group purchased on the last several trips have been well used but have remained with the school.   With the new World maps Tumaini bought this week, Mich showed the kids our route to Kenya and invited the kids to explore geographic differences between Kenya and Canada. They also reviewed their maple syrup lesson from the day before and recorded thank you videos for Jessica, the maple candy fairy godmother.

In the meantime, Linda, Gabi, and the grade sixes stitched up a storm in the sewing room. All the sixes have become masters at sewing on buttons, and the entire school can now boast a full complement of fastened shirts and dresses. The sixes have also greatly improved their straight line machine sewing and have moved onto triangles and circles. One young man even challenged himself to repair his trousers while he was still wearing them! With a little improvising, he was able to remove them to fix them properly (and more safely).

Gabi and Linda were thrilled to have Jean, a mother of two students and a fantastic seamstress, join them for a second time. She quickly learned how to sew shields and liners and produced three of each. Her work is an inspiration to the kids and the beginning of community involvement. They are so proud of this new class, they cleaned it up beautifully. 

Three of the group enjoyed a lunch of samosas with the staff and shared in some of the tasty stew of beans, maize, tomatoes, and onions prepared for the kids by cooks Anastasia and Lucy. 

Sheree missed out on the lunch treat because she and Flora, our social worker were walking into Kikuyu with fourteen students ages three to twelve who’d been identified as having possible eye problems. After a half hour walk in the heat on dusty roads, they arrived at the Kikuyu Hospital cafeteria where they had tea, a sausage and mandazi before carrying on to the eye unit where the idiom “Hurry up and wait” may have been invented. 

Fourteen screenings and exams later, we had various prescriptions for many, and an appointment for one for a retinal dye scan to confirm diagnosis of a retinal disorder. And three girls will now be seeing their friends, family, and school work through their new glasses! It was a delight to spend the day with these beautiful, patient kids. The older ones helped and entertained the younger ones, and they sat fairly quietly for hours sharing their thoughts and questions about Canada and life in a distant country. 

After such a busy and rewarding day, the Tumaini travellers took a much-needed break on Friday, visiting Kazuri Beads, Ocean Sole, and Amani Ya Juu. Each of these very successful businesses was founded to teach, support, and encourage women to work together towards self reliance. And the shopping is pretty good, too. Of course, at Amani Ya Juu, we enjoyed lunch with former Saultite, Julia Clark.

We enjoyed the delicious meals in the gardens very much, but not so much that we couldn’t make room for the delicious samosas, bbq chicken and goat, and great company provided by Kamal Said, his wife Margaret, and their grown children Naina and Barkat. Kamal has been a valued mentor to Tumaini since its inception and it was a delight to be welcomed once again to his home. 

Off for a good night’s sleep because tomorrow is goat day!

We Are Into the Thick of it Now!

We are into the thick of it now! 

Because Faraj, our friend, Kenyan Tumaini member and awesome driver, was running a safari, our substitute driver, Edward, was faced with the daunting task of negotiating the road to the Compass School gate. We jolted along through half-metre deep ruts and around unlevelled water main covers; we held our breath thinking for sure the van would roll as Edward maneuvered around obstacles by climbing the hillside. Those “oh sh*t handles” definitely got a workout, but we managed to protect our heads, only to smash them as we stepped though the low gate entrance. 

With the sense knocked out of us, we started our school day. While Micheline and Sheree set off with Head Teacher Brian to the madness of Nairobi’s school supplies district (yes, an entire district) to purchase curriculum guides, storybooks and classroom sundries, Gabi and Linda remained at the school to introduce the new sewing room to the students and some very interested parents. They had great fun learning how to work the treadle machines smoothly and loved creating designs with threadless stitching. The kids quickly mastered sewing on buttons and were able to teach the new skill to their friends. One young man returned to the room with his little brother’s buttonless shirt and sewed on every button ! Linda and Gabi were exhausted but exhilarated. 

Wednesday dawned too early. After a breakfast of chicken gizzards with tomato and onion, samosas, and watermelon, we were off to Compass for a busy half day. While Gabi and Linda instructed the grades five and six girls about menstruation, femine hygiene and how to use Superior Shields, Sheree and teacher Peter kept the boys busy selecting their new underwear (boxers were a hit) then talking about the differences between Canada and Kenya. Of course, the students’ enthusiasm was fuelled by the delicious maple sugar candy handed out by Micheline who visited each class to talk about maple sugar production. Big thanks to Jessica Monk who supplied the treats from Mountain Maple on St. Joe’s Island. 

In the afternoon, we reconnected with the Board and had a very informative meeting where we discussed current school needs and plans for the future. We’re looking forward to celebrating the move to the new site with the Board, students, and teachers next week. 

Tomorrow will be a full day at Compass 😄

Our Hearts Are Full

Yesterday (Sunday), we visited Resurrection Gardens, an oasis of tranquility, where we wandered quiet paths after attending a beautiful mass delivered in both English and Kiswahili. We truly enjoyed the young girls’ choir that sang the responses and played stirring Kenyan rhythms to which we clapped along. 

To our delight we learned that the choir members, who have experienced poverty and often life on the streets, attend a nearby school. We spent time visiting with Sisters Jane and Mary talking about their school program and our distribution of Superior Shields. They were very excited to learn about the kits, and we hope to return to the school on this trip to share information about women’s health and to distribute the much-needed menstrual supplies. 

Today, though, was truly exhilarating! It was our first trip to Compass since the school had been forced to move locations. The classrooms, kitchen, and new washroom facilities were an amazing sight. And the sewing room, a project created and fuelled by the dynamic duo of Linda and Gabi, was beyond all expectation: four treadle machines in great working order, sewing tables, a stock of notions, and great lighting took our breath away. Gabi and Linda cried tears of joy seeing their project come to life. They are so excited to open up the room tomorrow for students, and even some parents, who will learn skills to repair uniforms, sew on buttons, create special projects, and even sew their own Superior Shields!

But that wasn’t the best part. Schools are not buildings; they are the students and the staff who guide and care for them. The teachers and cooks greeted us with hugs and tears, and we spent the morning visiting each of the classrooms from primary to grade six. The children were so eager and excited to see us! They showed us their work, sang songs, shared their hopes and joy in their new school grounds, and four students even played (very well) an impromptu recorder concert - there we were singing “Jingle Bells” in 29-degree heat! 

Of course, we were bombarded with questions about Canada and snow and the kids huddled around as we showed them photos of Saultites digging out of the drifts and videos of some of our own little ones learning how to ski. How do you move in a snowsuit? And is your hair really that colour? Do you have to cut it? There were lots of offers to shake our hands and more than a few sly touches of our strange locks. And the tiny primary students weren’t sure what to make of us. We all had so much fun, it was recess break before we knew it. 

We took tea with the senior class teachers and created a list of needed supplies for each classroom. The dedication of the teachers, often in quite challenging circumstances, was inspiring and their devotion to and care for the students is unquestionable. We left with renewed determination to do everything we could to support them and set off for our first foray into school supply and fabric shopping. 

Our great Monday concluded with a dinner visit with our dear friend Mary Warindi, whose handiwork can be found in many of our homes. 

What a day! The smiles and hugs and laughter you see in the photos simply cannot express the joy everyone felt. We cannot wait to return to Compass School tomorrow.