Kisima Academy-Kitali, Kenya

Kisima Academy is in a farm area outside of Kitali, Kenya which is 350 miles northwest of Nairobi. We made the trip from Nairobi yesterday, stopping to visit two small medical clinics that are supported with US funds (primarily from church ministries).
We are seventeen individuals traveling in three vans. One additional van had already been dispensed from Nairobi with over 24 large suitcases of donated goods.
Before the stop at the second clinic one of the vans coughed to a halt. The driver made some repairs but they proved to be temporary. Thirty minutes later we had more problems and the van was declared unusable.
Those of us in the van had to move, with our luggage, to one of the other vans. The vans are actually safari vehicles and while they will hold nine passengers, they were not designed to hold much luggage. We had already been on the road for over eight hours and the remaining three was spent being very cozy with our fellow passengers and our luggage.
No one complained. This was all part of the experience. After all it is Africa.




After reaching out hotel in Kitali, we toasted our arrival.

Thursday morning, March 22

Kisima Arrival

Looking back to the gates our three vans had just entered, all the children were there to wave us in.






By the time we were out of the vans they were in position to begin their official greeting. They were perfectly choreographed and rehearsed for their singing and dancing.



























It wasn't long before many of us were joining in.


















Following the welcome ceremonies which consisted of singing, dancing and poems, we were given a tour of the property.














The kitchen











The cook.


Some of the children from the nearby village attend school and they are served three meals a day along with the children of the orphanage.






With the cook is Martin Simiyu, founder of Kisima, with his young daughter.




Some of the classrooms.









The dorms where of special interest to me because Jerry, Galen, Joy and I funded their construction through our family foundation.

Here is the boy's dorm.





Both dorms.








Sarah and me in front of the girls' dorm.


























After our tour we unloaded the vans and went to work.


















One group used one of the classrooms to began sorting donated goods.
























Pumping up the soccer balls we brought.











The nursing team set up their clinic in another classroom and immediately started seeing the children.












Cement was ordered from town and work was begun installing the playground equipment.









Even the solar energy company arrived to begin installing solar lighting for the classrooms and dorms.
Up to this point the school has only had power from a small generator that was not adequate for general lighting purposes.
Funds for solar lighting were raised by Denise and the installation was arranged by an individual originally from Kenya who now lives in Virginia but still has family and contacts in Nairobi. Having lights, as one can imagine, is a huge step.








First light bulb.


As the day progressed everyone was engaged in one activity or another. In the next post I shall include pictures of some of them.

Mukuru Slums

March 20, 2012

It is fortunate that Sarah and I had some time to experience the better parts of Nairobi before seeing what we saw today. It was a sight that will be embedded in our memories for a long time, the Mukuru slums.

Lacking running water, proper drainage, power in some parts, the Makuru slum houses fifty to one-hundred thousand people it sits within easy view of downtown. It is one of many slum areas located within the city limits of Nairobi.


This area is not on the usual tourist itinerary. We went so we so we could observe a small school, started by a group from the US, that has been established right in the center of the worst part of the slum in an attempt to educate and shelter some of the children.

Some members of our group are nurses and were coming to set up a small "clinic" for the day to examine and treat the children.



The slum conditions were deplorable but the school provides a haven for those who can come. The children are provided uniforms, a slightly better environment than outside of the school walls and a hot meal, usually beans and corn, every day. Thirty of the children are orphans.






Every country has its slum communities and they are all deplorable but the full impact of their existence isn't fully realized until one actually stands in the midst of it seeing the conditions and the faces of the people, especially the children. It is heartbreaking.



This is the dark side of Nairobi that most visitors never see.

Tomorrow we leave for a nine-hour journey by van to another school set in a considerably more pleasant environment, Kisima Academy. There, each of us will have a role in helping in some capacity for the next six days.



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Nairobi

Nairobi means "cool water" in the language of the Masi tribe. However a visitor today would have serious doubts about that description.

Colonized by the British in the late 1800's and gaining it's independence in 1963, it is now the third largest city on the continent after Cairo and Johannesburg. It is a city of more than 4 million people with paralyzing traffic jams, overloaded unsafe vehicles and not a hint of emissions control.

It is, however, the starting point for many travelers headed to the wildlife parks of East Africa and the beginning our visit to the Kisima Academy.

Sarah and I arrived at 3:00am and were met by not one but two drivers, one sent by the travel company and one by a friend of mine who wasn't sure we had transportation. The men were friends and were standing there chatting when we arrived. They never looked at the name that each was holding.

When I saw my name(s) I thought I was seeing double which might be expected after such a long flight and it WAS 3am! I waved and they both eagerly waved back then looked at each other in great surprise. We all had a good laugh.They were great sports and said we should feel like we were being well cared for.

After a bit of a rest, we met my friend, Phillip (who had sent the extra driver) for lunch. He has been here for almost two months doing work with a couple of schools in an area east of Nairobi.





After lunch, with the aid of our driver, Sarah and I began our shopping mission. But first we wanted to see the Nairobi Natural History Museum. Our driver was very knowledgable and guided us through the museum.




The head of the school wanted some soccer balls for his emerging young team and Gerda, the inspiration behind this trip, needed expandable curtain rods for the curtains she had made for the children's dorms. (She was not going to have the luxury of the extra time in Nairobi)




Naturally, finding soccer balls was no problem but curtain rods were another story and I will not bore you with it. We couldn't find any so we changed our search and set off for bottled water and wine, two staples we knew we would need for this trip.

When that was accomplished we had a great dinner at the restaurant at the Stanley Hotel, Nairobi's first luxury hotel built by the British in 1902.


After dinner it just about,all we could do to stay awake. Next, lights out.



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Edit to previous blog

Here is the photo of our in-flight chef that was supposed to be in the last blog post instead of the repeat photo of Sarah and the bags.



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The trip begins

All participants in this trip, seventeen in all, from five different states, most a friend of a friend, will be bringing donated and or purchased goods for the children of Kisima. Items include medical, dental and school supplies as well as clothing, toys, DVDs,little musical instruments and more.

Sarah flew from Flagstaff to Dulles where we met to start our international flight. She brought her bags of collected items and I brought mine. All total we had four large duffel bags, two wheelie bags and two back packs.



Between us we have almost 200 lbs which does not include our personal luggage.





Our flight on Turkish Airlines was a "trip".
We boarded about 11pm and did the usual boarding dance around everyone vying for overhead space while trying to remove our reading materials and iPads and get the carry on stowed. (which was everything except the four duffel bags).
Once accomplished, we plopped down in our seats only to be jarred to the bone (tail bones especially). We could only speculate that perhaps in an effort to reduce the weight of the plane and thus conserve fuel they removed the stuffing from the seats. It was like sitting on the skeleton of a chair before the padding was added. The cabin blankets that were provided were unusually heavy and quilted. Now we know why--they probably expected us to sit ON them rather than under them.

The hour was late, 11:45 pm so we were looking forward to a decent sleep. The moment we were airborne I pressed the recline button and SWOOSH! I slid almost to the foot rest. Another problem created by inadequate cushioning! I recovered quickly but Sarah thought this was absolutely hilarious. After a good laugh we managed to adjust our seats to accommodate for their deficiencies and settled in.

The rest of the flight was fairly routine until we were greeted for breakfast by our in-flight chef who kept dancing about the cabin wishing everyone a "Good Morning".




After a transfer stop in Istanbul we boarded our flight to Nairobi where we will have an extra day before the rest of the group arrives. Our mission is to see some sights and buy soccer balls and curtain rods.

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Location:Dulles to Nairobi via Istanbul

Kisima Academy, our destination in Kenya

March 16th to Nairobi.

My sister, Sarah and I are on our way.

In 2006 Martin Simiyo responded to the need to care for and educate orphans in rural western Kenya. He moved his family to a small village to build a school and orphanage for children who would otherwise be left to fend for themselves. In 2008 Kisima Academy consisted of there mud classrooms and one simple latrine. The children slept in the classrooms.

Today as a result of tireless efforts of a small group US visitors who were introduced to Martin during a visit to another school in Nairobi, and their expanded circle of friends back home, they stepped up to help Kisima Academy. That's how I became involved. My friend, Denise, from the DC area, approached me on behalf of her friend, Gerda Fink, who made the original trip to Kenya.

The children needed a place to sleep so Denise and Gerda requested a grant from our family foundation. We made the grant with the caveat that they bring other donors to match some of the funds. They did so quickly with donations from Rotary clubs and other sources.


With the help of local villagers, Martin, who is extremely industrious and dedicated, cleared the ground, brought in the clay bricks




and had the buildings complete in a few months.



Boy's and girl's dorms



If the boys are small enough, they sleep two to a mattress.


Since 2008, others have funded classrooms, tilapia ponds, chickens, cows, goats and general support of the children.

They have no electricity and in a conversation over dinner one night, Denise and I thought about small solar garden lights that would be easily portable and would at least light up some areas between the dorms and latrines.

The idea mushroomed and was shared with a gentleman who works at the World Bank and has family ties in Kenya. He took ownership, made phone calls to Nairobi, arranged for an alternative energy company to evaluate the site and make a proposal. As a result of more fund raising in the US from Rotary Clubs and and other sources, commercial panels, batteries and lights are being installed now.

Sarah and I are in route and looking forward to,this experience.







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