Good Bye...

I hardly slept the night before leaving Motherly Care. I spent half of it packing as I wanted all to be ready in the morning. I planned to leave around 2pm and arranged taxi for that time. I wanted to have enough time in the morning to say "good bye" properly to the children and to distribute most of the things I still had in my room for them - I wanted every child to be given sthg as I knew if I just left it like that, most of it would just end up in the store room...


With Isack, Samson, Robert, Hamza & Washira - they stayed with me until the car started to move 

I got up in the morning with a heavy heart. I felt absolutely terrible about what was happening and the pain in my side was back again. I prepared the things I wanted to give out to the kids and went to each class giving every child a present and telling them that I was leaving and wasn't sure when I would be back. It was a very sad time.

Juliet with her friends in Form 2

When I was almost finished (only 1 class remaining), I was asked by the manager of the home to come with him and talk things over. Of course he tried to convince me to stay and denied ever saying anything bad, even though I told him the information I had was coming from very trustworthy people and I had also seen emails that were sent to some of my friends. Still, he was denying it all... The pain was becoming worse and worse and I had to go back to my room and rest. I couldn't even walk properly - 2 girls were helping me to get back to my room...

with Jacintha, Gloria, Sophie and Liz

John also called me to let me know that he was able to come sooner and would be there by 12.30. I had to make sure that I was ready by then and so were the children that he was collecting. When he arrived the founder of the home also arrived and they were discussing what happened but I did not want to take part in it - firstly because I really wasn't feeling well and secondly I knew that she would deny everything, same way the manager did...


Juliet with Catherine & Jacintha

Juliet was running around saying good bye to her friends and boys were coming to see her brother off. All of the 3 children that were coming with me were really liked and popular amongst the Motherly Care children. It was a very sad moment but at least Juliet managed to get some photos with her friends.


Juliet with Jacintha, Gloria, Sophie and Liz

 The children were really sad to see us go and it was breaking my heart to leave them. I can't really put in words how I felt at that time. After short while we set off in the taxi loaded up to the limit... there were 3 children and 3 adults (incl. the driver) and so much luggage that some of it was on the back seat... me and Juliet's brother were sitting at the front while Juliet, Eveline, John and 2 large bags at the bag (Juliet was sitting at Eveline's lap and we were all very squashed... It was travelling in a truly African way!



Juliet with her best friend Jacintha

 We went to another small orphanage where the Director agreed to host us.

I don't know when, if at all, I will be back in Ruai. I sent an email to the MCCH Director letting her know that I have transferred the final amount of the money that was in the UK account and that I am not expecting any more to be paid in.

So this is the end of my experience with Motherly Care. I am still staying in Kenya and will carry on writing about my African adventures in a new blog...

As a final word in this chapter I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all those that supported my efforts in helping the MCCH children and also those that have shown tremendous trust in me when things started to go wrong, especially Vik, Stephen and Janet, Sonja and Fleur and many others. I am very lucky to have so many great friends.


My boys - I really miss them...



Challenging times

When I got back from Mombasa I heard from John (the person that rescued Juliet) that there was a school in Kiambu that was willing to take her on despite her exam results being below the required level as they sympthied with her situation. However, we did not know that school and had to go there to check where exacly it was, what their faclities were like and also the costs involved. So on Monday I travelled with Juliet back to the primary school she attended to collect the leaving certificate and also the original document with the exam results from the children's home she was staying at previously. It was quite a hectic day as we had to get to Thika and back to Ruai before it got dark - it is not safe at all for me to walk around after dark where Motherly Care is located... After some initial challenges we managed to get it all done in good time and on Tuesday I was able to travel to Kiambu with John to visit the school. Again - it was a long journey, across whole of Nairobi (it takes almost 2hrs in traffic to get to town from Ruai and then over an hour from town to Kiambu...). We met with the owner of the school and she was a very nice lady. We also saw all the facilities, classrooms and the dorms. It all seemesd well and I was certain that Juliet would be happy there. The school is situated in a rural area, it is very quiet and lots of green around. I took some photos so Juliet could get an idea of where she would be schooling.

After that I did not manage to do very much as I was getting very stressed over the situation at MCCH. There have been some issues for a while - mainly about money, not getting enough of it more precisely - but I was convinced that it would all get sorted out one way or another and this is why I did not mention it before. I just wanted to concentrate on my time with the children but even that was disrupted because of the money issues. I was feeling worse and worse and had to stay in bed for few days as I could barely walk because of the pain... I was very worried I would end up in the hospital and I really wanted to avoid it.

While I was sick the children were popping in to see me and it was always making me feel better :) But in the end there were told not to come, I dont know why. However, they still kept coming even if it was for a few minutes and I really appreciated it but at the same time i did not want them to get into trouble.

When I finally felt better on Monday I decided to go to town as I had had enough of staying in the room for such long time and needed to get out of there. I went to meet with a friend and we discussed the issues of Motherly Care. I was also told some more things that apparently the management of MCCH was spreading around about me - none of it true! It was then I felt I had no choice but to leave and started to prepare for that. I asked another friend if I could stay with them while I am getting myself organised again and they agreed. I planned to leave on Saturday as on Wednesday I needed to go to court with Juliet and then had some mtgs on Thursday... I was going back to Ruai in a better mood as I knew the problems were coming to an end... However, what I heard when I got back to Motherly Care made me excelerate my plans rapidly. I called my friend and told him I could not stay here until Saturday and I wanted to leave the next day. We agreed it was the best way forward given to what I'd just been told. I dont want to dwell on this whole situation and therefore will not go into details but I am still disturbed by all that happened, I never expected these people to turn on me like that while I was helping them. I packed my bags that night and organised for a taxi to pick me up.

I also agreed with John, who wanted to move the 3 children he rescued from Motherly Care to another place, that I would help him transport the children and their luggage since I was already paying for the car.

Mombasa and North Coast with Juliet

Before I even met Juliet, I heard a lot about her and the story about her difficult childhood. I am not going to go into details as I want to respect Juliet's right to privacy. All I can say at this point that every time I think about what she has been through, it gives me shivers. When I heard the bits and pieces of what happened to her, I already decided that I wanted to look after her myself and do all I can to ensure that from now on she is happy and gets the opportunities she deserves, i.e. secondary education.



Juliet with her sister, a cousin and a friend

I am working closely with the person that rescued Juliet and whose organisation has the custody over her. She is not an orphan - she has both parents but she is what we call in Kenya a "vulnerable child". And because she has a family, even if we are trying to protect her, we need to ensure that she doesn't loose contact with her relatives. This is why I offered to take her to Mombasa at Xmas to visit her mother and the rest of the family.

Juliet was very excited about the trip and we were both really looking forward to spending few weeks together and getting to know each other better (although by the time of the trip we were already good friends :)


Mombasa - Juliet with Fahima

 As I am not a Kenyan, and I am white, I cannot just take a child on a trip. We travelled accompanied by a letter from the organisation that has the custody for Juliet and the morning after we arrived in Mombasa we went straight to the Children's Office to let them know that we were travelling together and what the purpose of the trip was. The DCO (District Children Officer) was very helpful and even agreed to our trip to the north coast - he gave us another letter to confirm that we were allowed to travel together and that I was Juliet's guardian for the duration of the trip. This came very handy the following day when we went to visit Juliet's mother for the second time and the pastor from her church was trying to threaten me with the court, police, etc... All that just because I was white and they thought they would be able to get some money out of me - but it did not work. The time I spent in Kenya made me even tougher than before and now I am more aware of those just trying to use you or guilt-trip you into helping.



Juliet with her cousin and the great-grandfather

We also went to visit Juliet's great-grandfather and the rest of her mother's family. They were all happy to see her and I was happy that they did not try to get money out of me ;) Again - there has been many issues with that family before but I don't want to write too much about it - again as I don't feel it would be fair on Juliet.


Juliet with a double catch on her first try :)

However, when she was rescued, Juliet agreed to produce a documentary about what happened to her - so this will be ready in a couple of months and then I will be able to share more about what happened. Until then I don't feel it would be right for me to write about it.

Juliet made some new friends in Mombasa and it was really great for me to watch how much more relaxed she became.



After Mombasa we travelled to Lamu (I wanted her to enjoy her holiday as much as possible before starting the secondary school at the end of Jan) and although she was sad at first to leave the friends she got in Mombasa, she had great time and actually didn't want to go back to Mombasa until it was time to head back for Nairobi.



We had great time together, spend many hours talking - a lot about what happened to her (and it is a very complicated story) so now I know the whole situation - and just having fun - walking on the beach, visiting friends, going fishing... We even sailed to Kiwayu (another island 7 hrs away by boat from Lamu), this was Juliet's first ever holiday and I wanted her to really enjoy it.



Juliet relaxing in Kiwayu

 Of course, when we arrived in Lamu we also had to report at the Children's Office and present the letter we got in Mombasa. All went well here as well and we were just asked to come in again at the end of our trip so they could give us a letter confirming that we did report to the office so we could show it again in the office in Mombasa.


You can never have enough cake!



Juliet made many friends in Lamu and she soon became known as the "daughter of the muzungu" (daughter of the white person). And we really did become as close as if she were my real daughter. I feel really connected to her and I am convinced that there was a reason why we got to know one another. And this is why I am determined to protect her and to ensure she gets all that she needs.



We were both very sad when it was time to go back to Nairobi. We had to have a stop over in Mombasa again - firstly so Juliet could see her mother again and also so we could visit the Children's Office yet again. Once more all went well and we set off for Nairobi.



Sunset in Kiwayu

While we were at the coast the KCPE exams results (exams at the end of primary school, the results determine which secondary school the child can attend) were announced. It took us quite few days before we finally got Juliet's. It was less than she expected, but given all she had to go through while she was preparing for and sitting those exams I think it is still very good. The headteacher agrees with me. However, the marks she got were not enough to get her into a good secondary school. So 2 days after returning from the coast I was on the road again looking for a good school for Juliet.



Juliet reaching for the sky :D



Catch Up

I have really neglected my blog recently so it is time for a catch up.

December was quite a busy month for me - had to fly to London all of a sudden for 10 days but this enabled me to bring majority of the stuff donated by the Bearwood Primary School pupils (from Wokingham). The children collected lots of school uniforms, stationery and toiletries for MCCH kids - I carried 3 massive suitcases with me back to Nairobi and the kids were thrilled to receive the gifts.


Our primary school kids (up to class 5) in their new uniforms

 

Kids receiving the gifts from UK

Dring December there are many well-wishers coming to visit our children, bringing Xmas gifts. The kids also get to go to few places, i.e. an event organised by the Asian community in Nairobi for 10 children homes - they send buses to pick everyone from wherever they are located and bring them to the event location. The kids have an opportunity to sing and dance in front of the others, are given breakfast and lunch. There are also fun activities for the kids, i.e. horse or camel riding, face painting, bouncy castle, etc... Each child also receives a xmas gift and the orphanage is also given flour, oil, rice etc. Our kids had a lot of fun that day and so did I. The only downside was that my face got terribly burnt that day - I was so busy with the children that I forgot about the sunscreen and didnt realise how strong the sun actually was until it was too late... The following morning I couldn't even open my eyes properly as my face was quite swallen. I had to stay indoors for a few days as even little bit of direct sun was causing a lot of pain for me.

Everyone had their face painted

Some of our kids riding a camel :)



Mercy & Mary (too afraid to ride a horse or a camel ;)



Mary & I with the event organisers receiving gifts for MCCH (including a Xmas tree :)

We also had a visitor from UK - Fleur, who decided to spend her Xmas with our children. The kids were thrilled to have her here. I was also very happy about Fleur's visit as I had to travel to Mombasa over Xmas period - I knew Fleur would do a great job with the kids and from all the stories I heard she did keep them entertained all the time she was there and the kids are really missing her now. THANKS SO MUCH Fleur, you are a star :)

It is easy to see how much kids love Fleur

End of the school year

The Form 4 students finished their exams (the A level equivalent) a couple of weeks ago and now will have to wait until February to find out their results and discover whether their are able to continue their education at a university. In the meantime they have left Motherly Care to stay with their relatives.

I am not sure if I mentioned this before but Motherly Care is not just an orphanage - we help poor families to educate their children - the secondary schools are not free in Kenya and therefore many families cannot afford it.

This week also remaining classes finished the end of year exams and on Thursday was the last day of school. Most of the children with relatives have left and wil return in January when the new school year begins.

This was a very busy week for me - first I had to go to the immigration office and extend my visa... I did not go to plan and as a result I am flying back to London this morning just for a few days so I can return on a new visa... On Tuesday I went with Juliet (the latest arrival at Motherly Care) to St. Teresa's School where one of my friends (and a former streetboy) was holding an event for children showing documentaries about children's rights. Juliet was rescued a couple of months ago and she has been through a lot, there is a documentary being produced based on her story. She now wants to help other children to avoid what happened to her... On Wednesday we went back to St. Teresa's but this time with a group of 19 MCCH children as they were performing during the event - singing, dancing, etc... It was a really good day, the kids really enjoyed themselves but I was exhausted at the end of it... And then on Thursday I had to be back in town with Juliet again as we were going to work on the documentary with the Alessandra, who is putting it all together. It took us over 4 hrs to return back to Ruai and we arrived after it was already dark - sthg that I really try to avoid but this time we had no choice... I did arrange for 2 boys to come and meet us as soon as we got off the matatu though as it would be dangerous for us to walk alone in the dark - it is about 30 min walk, there is no lights on the way and we had no torch... Luckily we arrived home safely.

On Friday I finally managed to meet with Maria - it has been a very long time since I saw as she is always working... We spent quite a few hours talking and catching up on everything. She is going to Switzerland in feb next year to volunteer there (working with old and disabled people) so she was in town sorting out her visa etc...

And now I am at the airport waiting for my flight to London...

The trip

The trip to the coast was really good although it did have some challenges, first one being the severe rains that delayed our arrival in Mombasa by more than 8 hrs... I like travelling on the train but being stuck on it for almost 24hrs and in very hot and humid conditions is not fun even for such train lover as I am...

While at the coast, I visited 2 projects - a children's home in Bamburi and a school in Kilifi. The projects are really well run and I was very impressed by the way they work with and support the communities. It gave me even more ideas of what can be done when there is enough money coming in and good management in place with people devoted to what they are doing, I hope one day Motherly Care can become a great project like this also...

Mombasa was very very hot and so busy and polluted that only thing to differentiate it from Nairobi was the heat and the ocean near by. And the ocean was great - the beach and the water fantastic.

I made new friends and was very happy staying there. However, the trips to town were an experience of its own - the matatu drivers are even more crazy than those in Nairobi, the conductors try to squeeze 20 people in the vehicle designed for only 14... travelling was not a nice experience.

I went to see Fort Jesus and was surprised to find a tribute to Polish soldiers there...

I was originally planning to fly back to Nairobi but to save money I went back on the bus instead... And it was not bad at all - I paid for the luxury coach (which was only £5 more than the normal coach - £15 for the trip) and it had air conditioning, a loo and some snacks during the journey. We arrived back in Nairobi on time which was also great as I wanted to be back before it gets dark...

What like the most about returning back home is the welcome I get from the children.

Sonja & Justin

Last week we hosted Sonja & Justin at Motherly Care - a couple from UK. It was very nice to have visitors here for a week - especially that they are a great couple and they did some great work here. Justin, with a help of local person (whom he named Charlie - as a much easier name to remember than what he was actually called LOL), built a new chicken coop for our chicken project - currently we have 1500 chickens here (they start the slaughtering tonight so the first batch can be sold in the morning...) - this is the initiative to help us get money for the staff salaries as we are still struggling with that). Sonja is a huge animal lover so apart from spending her time with the children she was also helping with the goats and feeding the chickens :)
It was also nice for me to have them here - it was great to have someone to talk to from the same background and culture. Dont get me wrong - I am at least half Kenyan now but it is always nice to have someone who understands your way of thinking :)

I was playing a tour guide on 2 trips to town. Thanks to that I got a chance to finally go and see the elephants :) On the way back to Ruai after the 1st trip, while we waited for the taxi to pick us up, I started talking to two street boys - one was 8 and the other 12 years old. I shared some food with them and they really wanted me to take them to Motherly Care with me (they told me that they live on the streets and sleep under a car...). I really wanted to take them with me but unfortunately it is not just as easy as that. You cannot bring a child from the street and mix in with the children from the orphanage. Luckily, I have recently met someone who is rescuing children from the streets and he promised to help me find them and take them to a rescue centre (they would need to stay there first and then we would find an orphange that could take them in). This makes me feel much better as I was really sad just leaving them there. And it was then when I decided I wanted to learn more about what can be done to help children, especially those ones forced to live on the streets. Hopefully I can succeed in my mission to help as many children as possible.

Tomorrow we are travelling together to Mombasa :) It takes about 14-16 hrs on the train but it is much better than the coach and I actually really like that journey. The train goes through Tsavo National Park and if you wake up early enough you can see a really lovely sunrise - and if you are lucky, the elephants...
Whilst in Mombasa I am going to visit 2 more project and I am hoping to get some tips that we can use at Motherly Care. It will also be a nice mental break as lately I have been quite stressed out. I am really looking forward to it. Although I took the train to Mombasa last year, I didn't actually spend any time there as we travelled on to another place. It will be really nice to explore the city :)
However, before I get there I have to get through all the mud around here - it's been raining since last night and although it stopped for a short while (just enough time for me to dry my washing :), it is now raining again... I really dont like the mud, it is so difficult to walk anywhere... On teh other hand - when it does not rain it is unbelievably dusty! LOL