 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||
Report on our 2019 Project Journey to Kenya — Visit to the CoastOffice of Foerderkreis Kenia Freudenstadt e.V., Germany. Translated version. Original version first published December 1, 2019. Page 5/6. Saturday, February 16, 2019: Malindi — Baharini/Mpeketoni
Waking up way before sunrise, we had a small breakfast only. Our vehicle arrived on time and after loading the baggage we started the "very dusty" journey via Witu to the Catholic sisters in Baharini. On our way we passed numerous checkpoints of the security authorities, which are still necessary following the violent attacks that took place in this part of the country some years ago. After passing the very thorough controls we reached the house of the sisters in Baharini at noon, about one hour later than originally expected, and were warmly received. Staying in Baharini / Mpeketoni After moving into our excellent guest rooms, we had an unexpected welcome cake and lunch in the dining room. Afterwards the sisters' driver started the off-road pickup, and we accompanied the Head Sister to pay a visit to two AIDS orphan families supported by our society in this district. First visit — "Stone crusher" We paid our first visit to a mother we support, known within our society as the "stone crusher". Her eighteen-year-old son was already awaiting us at a road intersection and led us through the rough terrain, partly only on food paths, up to their house. Some of the fellow society members already knew his mother and her family from earlier project visits and so the welcome turned out with warm hugs and a hard-boiled egg to greet us. Twelve year old twins, AIDS orphans she had adopted, and a fourteen year old girl, also adopted, joined us. For many years the mother had manually crushed stones behind her small hut and then sold the rubble to a local construction company. This way she earned some money for herself and her family. While first visiting her many years ago all members of our society were very impressed by her and her performance. Meanwhile, in part by using our annual support, she could equip the huts with a tin roof, and install a solar cell panel on the living hut's roof to get electricity, and she has bought a few goats for milk and meat production. An additional source of income is furnished by the production and sale of soap, and yet another one consists in selling crops and cotton, grown on her fields. Everything was neatly done and clean, and she and the children were very glad about the donations they received, which included the support for their schooling fees, and livelihood as well as a large food package, some school supplies and clothing for everyone. Second visit — visit to a blind person Using the off-road vehicle, we drove over a bumpy path to visit a blind man, his daughter and her family. The father, now seventy-one years old, has been visited by our society several times in the past. Upon having lost his sight after being hit by a blow to his head years ago, his wife left him and his daughter has been caring for him ever since. After her good school exam she didn't opt to continue education in order to support her helpless father. She is now living together with her father, her husband and their daughter. To our joy everything is clean and tidy, contrary to earlier visits. The roof of the living and sleeping hut has recently been covered with sheet metal, and the outer walls had been plastered. Here, too, it was a great pleasure to hand over the annual support. supplemented by a sizeable package of food, some clothes, and school materials. The granddaughter of her father got big eyes when she got a new school bag from us which she immediately presented to everyone. End of day In the evening we drove to the nearby Indian Ocean with its natural dunes. Here we enjoyed a great sunset together with the sisters, all in front of a phantastic scenery. It was already dark when we came back to the sisters' house with numerous impressions of this day. We had again a nice evening including dinner with the Catholic sisters. With story-telling and funny anecdotes a long and exhausting day came to an end. Sonntag, 17.02. BahariniJoint church serviceThis morning we attended service in the nearby church. Some of us, however, had to leave the church prematurely after just one hour for medical reasons, because it got too hot for us under the building's tin roof and the service there always lasts at least two and a half hours. We had to gasp hard and literally ran out of air. Visiting the sisters' compound The sisters' pickup having been severely damaged by colliding with a tree stump the year before, the society had already paid for the vehicle's repair to make it road-safe again, a step necessary for continuing their onsite support and visits to the AIDS orphan families. For accounting purposes of the society's administration, the Head Sister gave us copies of the receipts of the repair. During a guided tour through the sisterhood's compound, the Head Sister showed us several buildings like their residential home, the school and the pupils' accommodation whose roof had become brittle, and partly cracked, over the years after having been heavily irradiated by tropical sunlight. A makeshift arrangement of buckets sitting on the floors to collect water dripping from the ceiling constituted a temporary solution only and we were asked if the society could help out. The estimated repair costs, however, which would have included the installation of durable sheet metal plates, were found to exceed the budget of our society, wherefore we concluded this to be a task of the Sisters' organization. Lunch with supported families In the afternoon we met the AIDS orphan families, most of whom had arrived on foot from the whole region, near the school premises. Sponsored by our society, they received a goat as the main part of a copious lunch that included also rice, corn and vegetables and beverages all need in this hot environment. During this almost happening-like meeting the children sang and danced for us, there were toasts given by some young people, and even the blind man, whom we had visited before, thanked us for our vital support on behalf of those parents present. The Head Sister explained clearly to all present that even in supposedly rich Europe, money doesn't grow on trees but has to be earned hard by the sponsors, and that help is not self-evident at all and cannot be expected. In the evening we invited all sisters to a farewell dinner in a nearby restaurant and happily closed our last day in Baharini. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés / Alle Rechte vorbehalten
» Top
» First Page
Foerderkreis Kenia Freudenstadt e.V., Germany; E-mail of our office: foerderkreis.kenya.freudenstadt@web.de