Saturday, September 23, 2006
Update from Sophie
I received a very nice email yesterday from Sophie, the woman who has helped us with the HCC accounting, sending receipts, distributing the cards and many other tasks. Sophie has her own business and doesn't work for the Happy Children's Centre or go to Zablon's church, but she cares deeply about the orphans and has been a wonderful advocate for them. She's been out of town for most of September and not able to check on the children for a while. I am particularly heartened to learn that little Neema is improving. Here is an excerpt from her latest email:
Well I arrived this morning and the first thing I thought of doing was
to visit HCC school. I did as I took the umbrellas, that was contributed byMiles,
to the teachers. I found everyone fine and happy. The kids ran for me when they
spotted Tuktuk like they used to do when we arrived atschool. It was such a warm
welcome with lots of excitement; I felt that I had really missed them. It was
break time hence had a chance to chat with them and give them your love. Believe
me they are all missing you dearly. The little Neema is doing fine and no more
scabies and respiratory problems. I took a picture of her but will send it later
when the film will be developed. I also had a chance to take pictures of the
toilets. Itis already roofed and it is a great progress. Will send more pictures
of the construction soon.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Progress Slowly by Slowly
The Happy Children's Centre toilets are still under construction, but progress continues as can be seen in the photos to the right...
The money that I gave to Zablon in August (about $1,070) has been focused for the most part towards completing the toilets, but as you can see the building is still not finished and the toilets are not yet in use. The roof, septic tank, sinks and toilets themselves are still needed before this project is finished. Because the ground beneath the building is coral, the digging of the septic tank is very difficult. Last weekend (Sept. 9th) I sent Zablon the remainder of the money that I had for the building project ($562) with the hope that somehow he can make enough progress on this part of the building to convince the Kenyan Ministry of Education to let the HCC continue in operation. The Ministry of Education is due to visit the building site at the end of September. This will be a watershed moment and Zablon has been working very hard to be ready for them.
In August I asked Zablon to use some of the money that donors had given to help provide medical care for the orphans and to provide more mosquito nets. Zablon has taken several of the children to the medical clinic, including little Neema (who is improving) and he bought mosquito nets for the residence sleeping area (most were purchased last year). Jim's funds helped to pay for the teachers' past salaries and also helped with the building of the toilets. Jim recently sent HCC money to feed the children this month, so at least that part of the operational expenses are covered. I have at least one donor who would like to add supplimental high quality food to the orphans' diet (something that is really needed) but how to proceed with this idea isn't clear yet. We are concerned that the children receive more protien and fruit on a regular basis as most of their meals are ugali and beans.
Sophie has sent us a very careful accounting of the funds from both of our donors' funds. She has also provided the Internet updates and photos (seen above) and she will be checking on the progress of the building and the status of the children next week. She tried to scan and send the receipts that Zablon gave her from all of the materials and work that has been done this past month, but the Internet was too slow, so she is mailing copies to me via the post. I feel confident that both of them are doing everything in their power to try to live up to the agreements we made when we were all together in August. Sophie has been a wonderful help with our communications with Zablon, partially because her English is better, but also because she understands the kind of accountability that we need and can help Zablon provide that. Zablon has juggled many, many challenges, and in truth his talents are best used in other ways.
What is not clear to me is what will happen if the Ministry of Education isn't pleased with the progress of the building. I also haven't heard that Zablon has tried to reduce the numbers of orphans. He said they did not want to go to community families in August, so he was stretched to feed them all. This clearly is going to be a difficult issue since the community has not been able to support all of the orphans adequately but there also seems to be some resistance or reluctance to dispurse the orphans with some family connectin back to their families. I haven't been able to talk to Jim and he may have more information from the elders or Bishop of Zablon's church about how the community plans to proceed with caring for the orphans. Meanwhile, Jim's donors will pay for the food for the orphans for a few more months. We also haven't had a chance to talk about a child sponsorship program.
On my end it has been a challenging month. The cold I had on the way back from Kenya turned nasty and became something much worse. I was sicker than I've been in years and I didn't start feeling like myself again until about 10 days ago. Whatever it was, it was virulent and not easily licked. Then Imani Project informed me that as of the end of 2006 they will no longer host the Happy Children's Centre under their umbrella organization, CIC, and that the HCC needs to find another 501-3C umbrella or create their own 501-3C. What the next steps are haven't been clear to me. In discussing it with some of the donors, it seems it might be best to find another umbrella organization and form a small board. But I haven't really had the time or energy in the 10 days since I was informed of this change to explore the options. So, at this point I am open to suggestions from any of you and I'm also waiting to see what happens with the Kenyan Ministry of Education at the end of the month. The Imani Project has been very gracious to allow the HCC under their umbrella for the past year and now it seems it is time for the HCC to be on its own.
The truth is that the real victims in all of the challenges mentioned above are the HCC AIDS orphans themselves. They are the ones that have no voice and they are the ones at the mercy of lack of funding, stuggles with building projects, uncertain 501-3C status, scant operational revune and community cooperation (or lack there of.) I lie awake at nights thinking of them and think about how their short lives have been such a road of losses. I see their individual faces and their names come to me in the wee hours of the morning as I wake up, and it sometimes is quite overwhelming to know that whatever I do, whatever I might convince others to do--it still might not be enough. They are such beautiful children. Everyone that sees their photos has acknowledged that, and I think their saving grace is their resilence and their beautiful spirits. What carries me away from disparing about their future is that I remember the children's deep joy, their pride and delight as they painted their self-portraits or recieved their cards and I know these experiences lifted them out of their circumstances for a while. Maybe it helped them know how special they are. And I have heard from people who want to reach out to them and care to learn more, which heartens me when I struggle to see which next steps I should take.
The money that I gave to Zablon in August (about $1,070) has been focused for the most part towards completing the toilets, but as you can see the building is still not finished and the toilets are not yet in use. The roof, septic tank, sinks and toilets themselves are still needed before this project is finished. Because the ground beneath the building is coral, the digging of the septic tank is very difficult. Last weekend (Sept. 9th) I sent Zablon the remainder of the money that I had for the building project ($562) with the hope that somehow he can make enough progress on this part of the building to convince the Kenyan Ministry of Education to let the HCC continue in operation. The Ministry of Education is due to visit the building site at the end of September. This will be a watershed moment and Zablon has been working very hard to be ready for them.
In August I asked Zablon to use some of the money that donors had given to help provide medical care for the orphans and to provide more mosquito nets. Zablon has taken several of the children to the medical clinic, including little Neema (who is improving) and he bought mosquito nets for the residence sleeping area (most were purchased last year). Jim's funds helped to pay for the teachers' past salaries and also helped with the building of the toilets. Jim recently sent HCC money to feed the children this month, so at least that part of the operational expenses are covered. I have at least one donor who would like to add supplimental high quality food to the orphans' diet (something that is really needed) but how to proceed with this idea isn't clear yet. We are concerned that the children receive more protien and fruit on a regular basis as most of their meals are ugali and beans.
Sophie has sent us a very careful accounting of the funds from both of our donors' funds. She has also provided the Internet updates and photos (seen above) and she will be checking on the progress of the building and the status of the children next week. She tried to scan and send the receipts that Zablon gave her from all of the materials and work that has been done this past month, but the Internet was too slow, so she is mailing copies to me via the post. I feel confident that both of them are doing everything in their power to try to live up to the agreements we made when we were all together in August. Sophie has been a wonderful help with our communications with Zablon, partially because her English is better, but also because she understands the kind of accountability that we need and can help Zablon provide that. Zablon has juggled many, many challenges, and in truth his talents are best used in other ways.
What is not clear to me is what will happen if the Ministry of Education isn't pleased with the progress of the building. I also haven't heard that Zablon has tried to reduce the numbers of orphans. He said they did not want to go to community families in August, so he was stretched to feed them all. This clearly is going to be a difficult issue since the community has not been able to support all of the orphans adequately but there also seems to be some resistance or reluctance to dispurse the orphans with some family connectin back to their families. I haven't been able to talk to Jim and he may have more information from the elders or Bishop of Zablon's church about how the community plans to proceed with caring for the orphans. Meanwhile, Jim's donors will pay for the food for the orphans for a few more months. We also haven't had a chance to talk about a child sponsorship program.
On my end it has been a challenging month. The cold I had on the way back from Kenya turned nasty and became something much worse. I was sicker than I've been in years and I didn't start feeling like myself again until about 10 days ago. Whatever it was, it was virulent and not easily licked. Then Imani Project informed me that as of the end of 2006 they will no longer host the Happy Children's Centre under their umbrella organization, CIC, and that the HCC needs to find another 501-3C umbrella or create their own 501-3C. What the next steps are haven't been clear to me. In discussing it with some of the donors, it seems it might be best to find another umbrella organization and form a small board. But I haven't really had the time or energy in the 10 days since I was informed of this change to explore the options. So, at this point I am open to suggestions from any of you and I'm also waiting to see what happens with the Kenyan Ministry of Education at the end of the month. The Imani Project has been very gracious to allow the HCC under their umbrella for the past year and now it seems it is time for the HCC to be on its own.
The truth is that the real victims in all of the challenges mentioned above are the HCC AIDS orphans themselves. They are the ones that have no voice and they are the ones at the mercy of lack of funding, stuggles with building projects, uncertain 501-3C status, scant operational revune and community cooperation (or lack there of.) I lie awake at nights thinking of them and think about how their short lives have been such a road of losses. I see their individual faces and their names come to me in the wee hours of the morning as I wake up, and it sometimes is quite overwhelming to know that whatever I do, whatever I might convince others to do--it still might not be enough. They are such beautiful children. Everyone that sees their photos has acknowledged that, and I think their saving grace is their resilence and their beautiful spirits. What carries me away from disparing about their future is that I remember the children's deep joy, their pride and delight as they painted their self-portraits or recieved their cards and I know these experiences lifted them out of their circumstances for a while. Maybe it helped them know how special they are. And I have heard from people who want to reach out to them and care to learn more, which heartens me when I struggle to see which next steps I should take.
