Still the last day

I really have no idea how to describe all the thoughts and feelings that went trough my head today while walking in the Kibera slum, just like Maria said. The surroundings were so different from what we are used to see, the people so truly poor it's hard to imagine in what ways they manage to survive, day by day. While walking down the streets, following Martha, the administrator of Drug Fighters and Counselling for the Young Generation (DFC in short) and looking at the small children, the pineapples covered with flies and the dogs sleeping in the middle of the roads, you started to really appreciate the life you have back home. And in the same time, you started wondering how to help all these people, who seems to be without a future.

The school we were heading for was in the middle of the slum, about a 20 minutes walk from the boarder. It is built of blue iron barracks and plates in two levels, with a different "building" for the staff. There also were iron plates which surrounded the muddy yard. We visited all the classes, from standard 1 to standard 7, and all the children sang a welcoming song to us. They looked happy, even though we knew they had all been rescued from ie sexual abuse, drugs (or parents which had done drugs), child labour etc. It was a mood lifter to see how competent the teachers are and that the children have an opportunity to go to school regarding the circumstances they live in.

After this, the show began. We noticed that this repertoir had been practiced before, even many times. All the teachers were supposed to present themselves and then tell about all the challenges and lacks of educational equipment they struggled with. Afted listening to all seven teachers and the Head Master, two of the students had to enlighten us about the same problems. Yes, we know that there are many challenges in running a school in a slum; yes, we noticed the lack of equipment, desks and such; and yes, we are aware of that they need money. But repeating all this almost ten times, and then handing us all a form that required us to donate 5,000 Ksh (Kenyan Shillings) was a little bit too much. Of course we felt sorry for all their struggling, and reallywanted to help them (as we have wanted to help the other schools we have visited), it still felt that they had run a show for us to make us feel as bad as possible, and then demanded money for it. I reacted on this especially when the administrator Martha wanted us students to share som thoughts with her, and Mikaela said that the pupils in DFC looked happy. Martha didn't even seem to listen to Mikaela's comment, even though the students' happiness should be real close to her heart. But, she may have hoped for a more chocked comment or something of really wanting to help, who knows.

After this visit my vision of the slums is darker, but with more rays of light. The conditions these hundreds of thousands of people have to live in every day are horrible, but still they have been able to arrange education (the founder of DFC is a former slum habitant who used to take children back to her shack when she still lived in the slum area) for abused children. I am very happy for all the children in the Drug Fighter school, that they have been rescued and given a chance for a better life. Even though many of them have to return each day to the past they were rescued from (the school is still working on a "building" for boarding), they are given an opportunity to at some point get out of the slum and start a life in better circumstances.

As I said in one of my contributions before we left to Kenya, you are not able to imagine how other people live and lead their lives befoere actually experiencing them by yourself. Now we have seen a glimpse of the everyday life in the slum, and I think that all of us futher on think a bit about them when complaining of other things that in the end don't matter much. People are living in iron shacks, fearing every night of being robbed or even killed, trying to live a life worthwhile. Does it really matter if you just lost the new mascara you recently bought, or if your new telephone got a little scratch? I think I further on will think of the people I met today, and decide not to care so much of the mascara or the scratch. What about you?

// Crista, both tired of the harshness of this world and of the thought of waking up at 4.40 AM (in about 4,5 hours) to enjoy the traffic jam in Nairobi to get to the airport in time (hope we wont have any problems with our flights this time)

PS. From the slum we went to feed giraffes at this horrible tourist place, where they chased the giraffes to make them come and eat from our hands. Talk about environment change!DS.