Kirsten's Updates about the H.C.C. in Kenya

H.C.C. orphans waving their cards to as a greeting back to Americans!









Kirsten, Miles and Jim give a "thumbs up" for the week with H.C.C.

Sample of the self-portraits

I'm home at last, a bit road weary and sick with a terrible cold, which came on just as I was leaving Kenya, but at least I'm here and in one piece. It was really good to see David's smiling face at 12:30 AM this morning as he greeted me at the airport. There were all sorts of delays and hassles traveling because of the terrorist threats. JFK airport in New York was a mess, but by some sort of miracle I did make all of my connections. My luggage, however, did not make it to New York, so I am still awaiting that. It was really good to sleep in my own bed last night and I'm going to need a couple of days to recoup from the past two weeks of intense work. However, we felt like we accomplished everything we planned to do on this trip and despite the long haul back (about 50 hours if you count the time traveling from Malindi to Nairobi and waiting for our plane in Nairobi) we really felt like it was a worthwhile trip. More photos and updates later when I'm more rested...

Left: Lots of fun with color painting self -portraits!














Left and Below: Distribution of handmade cards from friends in the U.S.A. to orphans at H.C.C. How special each child was made to feel!!


Yesterday we woke up early to torrents of rain. I worried that we would have a soggy disaster with the distribution of the beautiful handmade cards, but I figured it was in the hands of the Divine. I got up very, very early and filled in the messages and names of those children that weren't on our list (about 60 total) and then we packed up and headed up the muddy, difficult rut of a road to the building project. Our tuk-tuk driver, Solomon, has been extremely puncutual, patient and skilled at safely taking us on the most daunting roads around huge washouts and ponds.

We assembled the kids and told them they were going to each receive a card with a letter but they had to be patient since there were so many of them. The headmaster, Mr. Lawerence helped me call out the names. Agnus, a H.C.C. teacher and a Kenyan friend, Sophie, read the cards to each child. When the first child's name was read and she opened her card from Roylene Read, she just was transfixed. She was in awe of the beauty of the card and message...if you can imagine the light of joy on a face that has seen so much sadness suddenly beaming, well, this was her face. And it also became the face of every orphan after her. It was truly a most amazing experience to witness and I have some great photos. Not all of the children were present in the morning because of the rain and the long trek to the building project, so we distributed more in the afternoon and then still more today. These cards weren't carelessly tossed away as the kids played. They were carefully examined, re-examined, and then carried about in shirts or scraps of plastic (to protect them from the rain) and this morning when I saw the kids, there were the cards again, carefully treasured. I have photos of them waving all of their cards back to you.

I can assure you that without exception the children were deeply moved by receiving messages of love, support, encouragement and joy. Those of you who made cards have truly touched lives. The children asked me today if you will come to visit them someday, and I told them it was a long way but God willing, maybe some of you will. Despite the rainy day, there were no soggy or abandoned cards. The orphans waited for a long time quietly, maybe even 2 hours or more (I lost track of time) for their name to be called. Unheard of here, where they usually mob you for everything. Even the littlest tikes seemed to know they needed to be patient and wait to hear their name. Wow, it really couldn't have gone better and there was no greater gift to them than one from the heart of the senders!

Today was the day we painted with watercolor, and what a joy it was. It isn't possible to do this at the project site/school because the floors are uneven and rough and there isn't any furniture, so we went to Zablon's church. It was hot and stuffy, but at least there were small benches. I brought a lot of water with me as there isn't any there, and I brought a huge bag of supplies, which I left with Zablon. I first had about 40 of the oldest children draw self-portraits and then paint with watercolors. Then a second group of about 45 used crayon first and then painted because they were a bit younger and painting is more difficult. All together we had almost 90 children paint today while the rest of the children played with the ever popular Nike soccer balls. We distributed the rest of the new balls today, much to their delight.

They really got into the art project although at first it was a slow start and a little chaotic. Miles, Mr. Lawerence, Agnus and Sophie helped me with this project, which involved the kids sitting on the dirt floor and painting on some narrow and rough benches. We set up a little "gallery" of the finished work and I tried to take a photo of each child with their self-portrait and I also took many photos of the artwork by itself. When I return I will post some of their amazing artwork...colorful, expressive and very interesting. It truly is my deepest joy to be able to see the joy, pride and beauty that is expressed by this sort of experience. Without exception, they really seemed to get how wonderful THEIR artwork was. I had one child who made a sort of Picasso-esque self-portrait, and the others started to make fun of her until I told them (through translation) that there was a famous and rich artist who painted like she does. I think because we've had time with them and I've gotten to know them, that they were able to open up and be even more expressive than last year. Our time together ended with a song, a huge "hello" to Americans, and a prayer. I was moved to tears and I just can't say it was anything but totally amazing to experience to their beautiful little souls reaching out despite how difficult their lives are.

On another front, Jim and I had a long talk with Zablon yesterday and again today about H.C.C. priorities and about finances. It was a difficult conversation but I think Zablon took it pretty well. Zablon is way too stretched both as a person and financially and some things have to change for everyone's benefit, but most espeically for the the children. It seems pretty clear that Zablon has been struggling to make it all hang together and that operational costs are daunting with so many orphans. There were problems with making the expenses for the orphanage this spring. We talked to Zablon about reducing the number of children at the orphanage so that he can take better care of the ones that truly have no one as some clearly have an aunt or uncle or grandmother to help out. It is complicated to discuss such things in Kenya as Kenyan culture isn't like ours at all. Very little is straightforward here. There is a lot of concern about losing face and yet if there is any hint of money, people take advantage of you and have expectations for assistance. Zablon has to constantly deal with these expectations from within the village community he lives in and from as far away (60+ miles) as Mombassa.

Jim talked to the community of church elders about having more families take the orphans in so that there is better care of them on all levels. This next month most of the orphans will be staying with community families so that Zablon can focus on making siginifcant progress on the building project while school is out for a month. The care of the orphans needs to be a community concern. For example, currently the community women share the cooking duties for the orphans, but the overall level of participation of the community hasn't been enough. Zablon will face some difficult challenges with saying no and limiting how many kids the orphanage has, but he was grateful to us for our support and to us for talking with the elders with him. We outlined for him the priorities of the building project as we see them and we told him that he needs to stick to a plan. And, that he must not use money given expressly for the building project to pay for operational expenses. To that end Jim is going to help with operational expenses for the next few months with money he brought from his congregation, so at least for a while that is covered. We did talk about sponsorship for the children, but we need to see some things change before that can be a reality that we are comfortable with. Any thought of chickens or cows or other sustainabilty projects are a long way off right now. The building needs to be completed and Zablon's focus needs to be on that right now. Jim was great about explaining several times to Zablon (who has a language and a cultural barrier) why the finances haven't been working for the H.C.C. and why Zablon must learn to prioritize if the H.C.C. is to survive. I'm sure that Zablon got the message and is going to make some modifications.

Today I gave Zablon the H.C.C. money from my donors from the U.S. and I explained in length what each amount was for. He has 66,000 kshillings for the toilets, 2500 kshillings for mosquito nets (he seemed to think he didn't need many more) and 4000 kshillings to take care of some of the medical needs of some of the children we interviewed and that we felt were vulnerable. There are 70 kshillings to a dollar. This isn't all the money I had, but it is clear that Zablon needs to get the money in portions so that he is able to manage it better. So after the next progress report, I'll send him the balance. Two weeks ago Jim had sent Zablon $2,000 and some of that money went to paying the backwages for the teachers' salaries and some of it is going into the construction of the toilets. The teachers were grateful to get their wages and we really stressed to Zablon that this situation can't be good for the children, the H.C.C. or for him because there has been a high turnover rate among the teachers and they are grossly underpaid (or not paid). I also gave Sophie, who is very honest and responsible, 2500 kshillings to make sure we have photos of the progess of the buildings and regular emails with receipts from Zablon. (Zablon has told me he can't give me progress reports because he doesn't have money for emails.) Sophie has secretarial skills and used to run a computer business and I trust her to make sure that we will hear more regularly how everything is going. She had us to her home last night and she and her family are delightful. We are lucky to have her as part of the team that is concerned about H.C.C.

On a personal note...there is no water in our room, there has been a lot of rain, no dry towels and Miles still has no luggage and yet we have truly had a wonderful, magical time. I think we accomplished all that we hoped to and maybe even more. We are very full of the love of the children and the gratitude of the H.C.C. staff but the ones that feel the most blessed are us. And as a team we have worked very, very well together. We are also ready to go home and tomorrow we head off to Nairobi and then on home for the long, long ride back to a different, and in someways not as real, world.

Blesssings, love and light to all of you who have supported us, who have prayed for us, who have loved us and lit a candle for us. Your actions, however large or small in your mind, have made a difference!

Mama Kirsten (This is what everyone calls me here, and I like the name a lot! My days at the H.C.C. were greeted with "Mama Kirsten! Mama Kirsten! Jambo!" followed by enthusiastic handshakes and shy or not so shy smiles.)

Preachers Zablon (in the suit) and Jim Watson gave sermons about "Faith in Action" (Pastor Collins is interpreting)



Mama Kirsten is dressed as a Swahili woman by the congregation (much to everyone's amusement!)

The really great news is that three of the four luggage pieces came last night (Sunday) and although Miles has nothing to wear, the HCC kids are going to receive their cards and their soccer balls. Today we gave them 4 of the 8 Nike donated balls and they had a blast with the balls all day!! It was a HUGE hit and they played like puppies which is saying a lot, since sometimes they just look sad and hang about the edges of the rooms where we are doing the interviews.

Today we did as many more interviews as we could (I've done 50) but we still didn't interview everyone. We tried to at least get photos of everyone that was present. It rained hard today and some of the kids went back to their residence while we spent all day interviewing at the school/building project. The kids seem to mostly like the attention of the individual interviews (sometimes we did whole families...I did a family of four siblings today and several families of 2 or 3 kids) and they love having their photos taken. We don't ask them hard questions about their mother or father, but we ask about their age, friends, health and interests. Just having anyone ask them something about them as an individual is a big deal, I think. We will give out the cards tomorrow, but we are still struggling with the roster of names and writing a few notes on the cards. The roster seems to be a fluid thing, and although this seems to be a really strange concept to Americans (either you have a kid or you don't it seems to us) the Kenyans see it differently.... Sometimes it seems the kids go off to some relative's home and then they come back to the Happy Children's Centre. We are still sorting out all of that and trying to understand it. Jim plans to have a meeting with the elders of Zablon's church community tomorrow and maybe we'll understand the organization better afterwards.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a huge extravaganza of preaching and feasting. I admit to not being comfortable with either concept, but it is really integral to the culture here when you have guests, to host a huge feast. There were hundreds of people at church (which held comfortably about 40 people) and pastors came from miles around. There were many, many speeches and introductions, all over an absolutely horrid screeching PA system (which I kept praying would break.) The service is a combination of music, group prayer (not silent, but all in various voices and intensity, like a cacophony of prayer which was very powerful) and then the long list of introductions and speeches. The room was very hot and humid and the kids became restless, bored and sleepy as the hours droned on. But it was really a very big honor for us and we were gifted with cloths (kangas and kikoys for me and ties and kikoys for the men) and coconuts. Jim gave a great sermon which was about "faith in action" --a sermon even a Unitarian could get behind. He called upon the other pastors (there were about 25 of them) and the congregation to support Zablon with the Happy Children's Centre and to work to help the widows and orphans of the community.

Our feasting on Sunday was all about meat, which is a scarce and expensive commodity in Kenya. We first had a breakfast of liver and bread, which was actually pretty tasty and a real delicacy. This was just for the three of us, Zablon and Mr. Lawrence, the headmaster, and breakfast was held at the home of a relative of Zablon's wife. The home was pretty nice compared to the mud huts all around us and the kids at that house reminded me of wealthy American teenagers...a bit insolent and indolent, very different from the kids we see at the orphanage. After the day of preaching (I was reminded of a Lyle Lovett song about a preacher who goes on all day and starves his congregation!) we ate stewed goat over rice and then roasted beef. Both were excellent and so far our guts have held up to all of it. The rest of the village got rice and small pieces of goat and I think the party went on for many hours after, but we went home and I was asleep by 7:00 PM, but up again by 5 AM...I'm an early riser here and I like the time before dawn and use it to collect my thoughts, get centered for the day, read and write.


Nike soccer balls score big with the H.C.C. orphans!!

Kirsten interviewing the H.C.C. orphans one by one with teacher Margaret. Some of the H.C.C. orphans I interviewed--Riziki, Samuel and Edison.















Today we focused on more interviews and each of us did about 20. The stories are often similar and sometimes it is hard to know if the teacher is just telling us the same thing each time so that she or he can move through the line of kids faster. It was a long day, but the kids waited very, very patiently for their turn. One boy, Samuel, shyly and sweetly smiled at me all day and was so excited for his turn. I remembered him from last year and told him so, and that seemed to please him a lot. And the teenaged girls giggled at me when I sang and danced with them this afternoon just before leaving. The kids really seem to love having us around.

Tomorrow there will be no interviews because it is a full day at church and Jim will have to give a sermon, which I'm sure will be great. We have to be there early for breakfast and then a full day of celebration. Monday we will resume the interviews and Jim plans to talk further to Zablon about the building project, operational issues and priorities. More work was done on the toilets today, but I guess yesterday the workers saw white people and decided to up their price for doing the job, so they had to be fired. The complications are never ending in this place.

Our luggage is still not here and it has been a very frustrating day trying to track it down. After many, many calls on a cell phone to the 10 phone numbers for Emirates Air we had been given (using up all of the minutes of a phone that is not mine and most of the calls with no answer), we were told at 5:55 this evening that three of the pieces will come tomorrow. But I'm not sure I believe it. Things in Kenya are so very inefficient and non-customer oriented (like giving us the wrong numbers, not answering the phone in the middle of the day, etc.) that it is just completely maddening to my American psyche. Added to that is the fact that the water at our hotel has been out in the shower since we got there and now is out all together so that we can't rinse off this sticky sweat and dust from the day. We kept being told water was coming but then this evening they are trying to fix the pumping system. The electricity went out for a while at the hotel and the breakfast is late, but eventually it comes. We all are tired, hot and dirty, but actually in pretty good humor, all considered. I am really lucky to be with such great teammates...I think they must see me as the resident worry wart. Mostly I am worried about the beautiful cards...Please say some prayers for their safe arrival tomorrow so that we can share them with the children by Monday!









Top: Kirsten and the teenaged girls have some fun with singing! Bottom: Mama Kirsten's morning ritual of tending a few "owies".

Zablon and H.C.C. teaching staff

We finally arrived yesterday in Malindi after many, many, many hours of traveling (about 36 to Nairobi, then overnight in Nairobi and then another several hours to Malindi the next day.) We were tired but happy to be here and anxious to connect with Rev. Zablon and the children. Yesterday we napped a bit in the heat and humidity, then last night after dinner we finally met up on the road with Zablon and his headmaster, Mr. Lawrence and the HCC secretary, Sophie. We talked a long time into the night about Zablon's goals and vision for the HCC and our own plans while we are here. It is really good to finally have a face-to-face conversation and get to know each other better. There have been some very difficult times this past year at the HCC, and clearly all of the challenges of running such a big orphanage weigh heavily on Zablon.

Our luggage went missing in all these travels (five planes) and I am concerned that Emirates Airlines will get us our luggage before the end of our stay here. In my luggage are the cards, the soccer balls from Nike, paint and school materials and medicines for the children. My friends, Jim Watson and Miles Tuttle are wonderful people, very kind and very committed to the Happy Children's Centre and they also lost their luggage. They have nothing to wear other than the clothes they wore on the journey here as all of their clothes are in their checked baggage, but we aren't daunted by this challenge. We have faith the luggage will show up soon and it will all work out.

Today was the first day that we actually spent with the children. We took two tuk-tuks to the building site with Zablon, Mr. Lawrence and Sophie and we were greeted with wonderful enthusiasm and excitement by the children! They have been expecting us anxiously for a couple of days and Zablon said they could hardly sleep because they were wondering when we would come. I brought a small video camera and Miles is our camera man. He filmed the children greeting us, singing for us and joyfully shaking our hands and shouting "Jambo!" They had made a big heart out of bougainvillea flowers and inside were written the words, "We love America! Karibu to Kenya! (Welcome to Kenya)". I was deeply touched by the gesture and the beauty of what they had made. Also were welcome signs saying "We love Mama Kirsten" and "We love Brother Jim".

We spent time with each of the primary classes--there are three levels of kindergarten classes, and also first level (Class 1), second level (Class2) and third level (Class 3) primary school clases. We recorded "class photos" and who the teacher is for each class, as well as who the youngest child and oldest child is for each class. The age spands are huge...15 year olds and 7 year olds in the same class, for example. We then started the hard work of interviewing each of the children with their teacher. Jim, Miles and I all split up and took photos of each child and a case history (as best as we could) on each one. We asked the children about their interests, friends and siblings but asked the hard questions about their family history (when and how their parents died) of the teachers. I also asked the children about their health and asked the teachers about their mental health. It was clearly difficult for my teacher (Margaret) to talk about the sad things in the children's lives, I think. She teaches Class 2 and is a young and lovely woman. The histories were somewhat abbreviated, but at least we have more information for a data base and this is a good start. We interviewed a total of 29 children today, so clearly we have our work cut out for us! There seem to be health issues with most of the children, particularly issues of "malaria" (the label "malaria" is applied to a number of ailments not just to a diagnosed case of malaria) and skin wounds. Many of the children I interviewed have been to the hospital or doctor within the past month. One of the children I interviewed was Cline Thoya, the painter of the "Rainbow House" that so many of you have loved.

The building project itself has a way to go before it can be totally usable. Right now it is being used as classrooms for the three primary school classes and I think some of the kindergarten classes. The baby kindergarten class is being taught at Zablon's church. They are sleeping at their residence home in Malindi, and it is a long walk to their school each day. (It was a long torturous tuk-tuk ride up to the project site today, too!!) The building sits up on a kind of hill made of coral and it is a rough road that brings us there, but the good news is that it is cooler and breezier up on this hill, so it is a nice location in many ways.

The toilets need quite a bit of work to be functional. Workers were there while we visited today, so I was able to have a conversation with them about how much more it would take to complete them. I was told by one construction worker it would cost 350,000 kshillings to complete the toilets, but I haven't confirmed that with Zablon. I think that is about $5,000, which seems like a fortune. Actually, Jim just sent Zablon $2,000, but it isn't clear to me that all of that money will go towards paying for the toilets, although this is a clear priority. Part of the issue with the toilets is that they are digging in coral stone and it is very hard to create the septic system in such stone. Another issue is water, and while there is water available at a neighbor's well, it is brackish and not suitable for drinking. This and other issues make the building project clearly a bigger one than I think I fully grasped last year. The floors still need concrete and right now are rough coral stones, some large, some small. There is no furniture to speak of and the kids are getting injured on the coral stones and the occasional nail or board from trying to play around an active construction site.

I think there is an issue with the daily operational expenses for the orphanage and we began talking with Zablon and the others about their ideas to make the orphanage sustainable. Zablon is clearly aware that relying on foreign help has its pitfalls and wants the HCC to be self-sufficient. Zablon talked about raising chickens, cows and vegetables, but without good water, this may be somewhat difficult. I don't think Zablon realizes that chickens, cows and vegetables can't take brackish water either. So another priority will be getting good water piped in. Jim hopes that our interviews will help start a child sponsorship program through his church which will give the orphanage a revenue stream. The children do need more food, according to Zablon, and sometimes have been eating only one or two meals a day.

Despite all of the above challenges, the children and the staff were extremely hospitable to us and we were served a cocnut milk fish stew and ugali (corn paste-mush that is a staple of the Kenyan diet) lunch. I ate a bit gingerly since I'm not a fan of ugali or fish and I am squeamish about eating out of a bucket that has been who-knows-where. But Jim and Miles ate like they were right in the comfort of their own homes in Colorado, and hopefully made up for my lack of an appetite.

Tomorrow we'll do some more interviews with orphans and hope to cover more children than today, as today we got a late start. On Sunday Jim is supposed to preach and there is to be a big neighborhood party, and people will be coming from as far away as Mombassa! It all seems a bit much for just the three of us, but hospitality is a big part of Kenyan culture. It was a wonderful and special day, and I feel very full...full of the children's affection and full of the total magic of all of this we have been gifted to do. It may not be perfect, but each of us is playing a part to make these children have a home and a future and we have felt a lot of Divine support in this work.


Tuk-tuk driver Solomon got us where we needed to go and was always very punctual!