Maureen's Letter regarding the politcal situation in Kenya affecting our kids and the schools:

KENYA UPDATE Feb 2008

We felt it important to reassure everyone regarding our school and area. There was post election violence in Mombasa and all transportation came to a halt. Car drivers, public transportation etc was being burned, businesses were being looted and people attacked, this was a frightening time for the people there as you can well imagine. A few were killed and many injured in organised protests which became more alarming than the looting. Police opened fire on protestors as they tried to let the country and the world know they felt robbed at the election results. We were there over this time and can honestly feel for the KENYAN people. Whereas we do not have any political views we were very aware that all was not honest and above board. Loving these people as we do we feel for their frustrations and lack of hope of a better country. All these people want is a country where they are free to work without corruption.

The most frightening thing at this time for our villages where we are established is loss of tourism. To understand the culture of the Kenyans when one member of the family has a job he or she takes the responsibility of the extended family helping where and when they can. The hotels lie empty with tourism coming to a complete halt. As you can imagine this has a knock on effect with all the supporting services etc. At the onset of the violence the one supermarket cleared of food overnight and there was very little in the villages. Once the market was re-stocked rationing took place. This is for the rich Kenyans. In the villages food has risen in price and predicted to continue rising dramatically owing to the fighting in the north of the country and lack of transportation from these areas. We have some children who went home with their families to vote and have not yet returned to the coast. They cannot! In an area that struggled to survive previously this means devastation. It is so so sad as after many years working there we were witnessing a country starting to see some major improvements now being set back twenty years.

On every visit to Kenya we come back appreciating our country and what we have here even more. Let me explain. We had a mother come to the school desperate for help for her child who attended kindergarten in Jolaurbi. The little girl was around five and was in the hospital in Mombasa with what was being diagnosed as malaria. The worry and concern was it was suspected this had caused an enlarged heart but the hospital had no x-ray machine to verify this. It would cost around £100 to send the girl to the private hospital to have tests done. We sent the mother away with the money and young Omar (our KG2 teacher)visited on our behalf to ensure all was dealt with. The girl was released a few days later once the results were forwarded to the government hospital with a clean bill of health. It saddens us to tell you she died two weeks later. This child would be alive if she had been of a rich family or if she lived her in the UK. Thank heaven for our national health service with all its shortcomings. It was even sadder for us to find out this is the third child this young mother has lost. Can any of us imagine what this must feel like? I doubt it!

We extended our stay there to help where we could. Thank you to everyone for their generosity in allowing us to help with food parcels. The people do not have the living conditions to store food so we will repeat this exercises in a week or so and continue where and when we can. We also needed to get the orphanage established. Everything was held up owing to the difficulty getting materials to finish furnishing. We moved nine children in. Three of the children were brought to us by an elderly grandmother. Her daughter had died and as the father had died the year before she was left to look after them. An aunt helped where she could but she also struggled. Their living conditions were appalling. At first the boys were frightened and shocked ..a new school…a new house….among strangers…However within a few days we had three happy little ones with full stomachs, loving their association at school with other children and at home among all the other home comforts a television and video courtesy of the Cox family and friends. Owing to the circumstances in the country Omar and his wife Grace have moved in to care for the children. Omar has a tender way of handling the children he teaches and has a great love of children while Grace has immediately risen to the challenge of cooking for a large family. We have also employed Salome to come in on a daily basis and help clean etc. Salome was left a widow last year with six children to care for so again is excited at the prospect of earning money. We have spoken to a doctor who will deal with any medical situations that may arise and all in all we feel we have covered all the options.

We are naming the orphanage Joshua Tree…….we wanted to use the name of Joshua as we have used three of our other grandchildren in the name of Jolaurabi….our youngest grandson is named after my father so we felt it appropriate to use this name. We know of the place Joshua Tree (we’ve been there) and of the famous song but this is not the reason for the inclusion of “tree” in the title. We are adding to the sign “Branching out” and this better explains the use of the name. This is the first such building we have established but the future may dictate more.
I hope I have explained to you the circumstances as we found and left them in Kenya. Our plans for the singing group are forging ahead as are our plans for the future. Someone said to me on the telephone on our return “Do you think people will respond to the group coming owing to the trouble in Kenya?” My reply….MOST CERTAINLY! We have as much confidence in the people who sponsor our children as we do in our own ability to drive this forward. Without loving people who have helped in so many ways nothing would have been achieved. These same people are not going to stop loving the children….judging by the response we have had….quite the opposite ,so we feel the group will be accepted even more.

FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING WHO YOU ARE…FOR CARING ENOUGH TO HELP AND SUPPORT AS YOU DO…IN THIS WORLD OF UNCERTAINTY YOU ARE CERTAINLY THE SHINING LIGHT THAT WILL MAKE THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL TO LIVE IN.

Maureen

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