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

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.)