Our empowerment with photography project produced a special kind of magic around WWC. Not only the children were included. I roped in the staff, one by one to include them, as they watched what was happening out of the corners of their eyes. Penina, Shiko and Priscilla were more than interested in getting their pictures taken once I showed them the results of the children’s. Intrigued, they followed me to a corner outside the kitchen and openly played with the shuka, after I wrapped them in it, one by one. Penina became completely engaged, as I encouraged her to think about her personal progress in the past three years with WWC. I drew up memories of her time at WWC easily, praising her increased involvement in the organization and in particular, with each child she has counseled. Penina glowed. Priscilla, our cook who is very shy, lit up when I placed the shuka around her head and asked her to do what made her feel most comfortable. “Auntie! What makes you happy!?” Josie bellowed at her, jumping up and down with excitement, next to me. The children basically took over, as I snapped away. David, Mascharia and Mama Wambui - our three staff members who work in the shamba and with the chickens, jumped right in. I had to contain my own emotions as they saw themselves on camera. I got the sense it was the first time for each of them. Sammy, our Askari (watchman) definitely had not seen himself on the camera before. He was fussy about his picture, which made all of us laugh. Each selected the image they liked the most; no one asked me to take more. Their eyes softened and smiled, without me asking. The children, for their part, were cheering them on, laughing and smiling with each other. Clearly, WWC is one big, happy family. While I am under no illusions, our current team works very well together, all of them. All of them under the direct supervision of our youngest staff member, Penina.
My dear friend Anne, who has been teaching beading to the children for 5 years
Penina
Macharia
Mama Wambui
David
Priscilla
Shiko
Sammy
All of the images will go on the wall of the new room, where we added some much needed bookshelves for a growing library:
If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. ~ Albert Einstein
Tony and I visited two rescue centers last week. I had heard about one, not the other. The first was the well known model home, Gethsemane School, in Ngong. Ruth, the Founder and Director, warmly welcomed us, as Tony and I carried the supplies we had purchased, into the home. When visiting another Rescue Center, it is customary to bring supplies with you, no matter how big or small. Anyone who visits a home without something in hand is frowned upon, and in my mind, not welcome. My gut tells me there is bad intent.
Ruth is in her mid 30’s, due to her expectant frame, I’m guessing. The main building is a pristine and permanent structure. As Ruth walked us through the facility, I was visibly impressed. We chatted non stop as we moved through dorm rooms, a conference room and a massive kitchen. Ruth graduated from university at 21 and immediately set out on a project in Nairobi to feed street children. At one event she orchestrated to feed 1,200 children, she met her husband, now a pastor.. Devout Catholics, they began to approach churches and collected funds to purchase the land which Gethsmame is built on. They have the same 44 children they started with in 2001, and additional ones admitted only once since inception. Hence, several of their residents are now in University, which they are sponsoring. All their funds are collected through Catholic Charities International. There is a school on the premises for the children who live at Gethsemame, and 90 others who come daily from the outside. The income from these outside students fully supports the school. “Do you have a shamba?” I asked. No, they do not, but are looking for land to build one. This surprised me. Clearly, funds are pouring into this facility, but something wasn’t sitting right with me. As we walked around the facility, the existing children watched us, careful not to be noticed. I was openly looked at with hostile eyes. Not one child (mostly adolescents and teenagers) smiled at me. I made a small attempt to see if I could engage one of the children doing their laundry. I could not. This is highly unusual, and for me, cause for suspicion. Tony and I said our goodbyes (no thank you for the food) and left.
Tony eyeballed me in the car and asked me what was wrong. “You just showed me the most notorious home in the county, the so called ‘best’. Who calls it the best? Did you notice the children, Tony? No one acknowledged us, no one smiled. No one was happy.” Tony didn’t answer me, because he was contemplating it. He had not noticed. “Now, show me the worst.” “Why, Simmie? You learn from the best.” “I disagree Tony. I learned from the worst. Where were the house mothers and matrons? You heard me ask Ruth and did you hear her response? She said they were ‘out’. This place was beautiful and impressive, but it has no soul. It looked like a prison camp, run by a smiling dictator.”
Seven things every child needs to hear: I love you, I’m proud of you, I’m sorry, I forgive you, I’m listening. This is your responsibility. You have what it takes to succeed. ~ Sherrie Campbell, PhD
We headed to another home in Ngong, I can’t even remember the name of it, because I hope not to see it ever again. It was exactly what I was seeking, however: poorly dressed children who don’t engage, smell of septic, empty store, failed infrastructure, shamba and lots of children running around. Except in this case, the children were not running around. The 30 children greeted us shyly, but smiled as I gave them each a pencil and a balloon. The director, a surly woman in her 50’s named Njoki, looked at me immediately as the mortal enemy. I wasn’t too enamoured with her, either, so I kept my sunglasses on and my mouth shut. Tony was getting it now, as we had a quick tour, I could see it in his eyes. I was making mental notes of all the flaws I was seeking, to later make a point, a large and important one, with Tony. We thanked Njoki and left within 20 minutes.
We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~ Stacia Tauscher
As we drove off, Tony grinned. “I know what you were doing, Simmie” he said. “Do you, Tony? Do you understand why yesterday, when you requested funds for tiling the floors of WWC, I denied your request? We are being held to a higher standard than homes that are more in line with WWC. You know it as well as I do, but you have never admitted this to me. Today, I see it. That place was a disaster and should be shut down. Do you agree?” (He did) ”I counted at least 5 code violations. Yet, the inspection team is requiring WWC to tile the entire property. It is going to have to wait. So is any other frivolous request. You can easily put the inspection team off by telling them there are no funds at this time. All they need to do is look at our shamba, our chickens, 7 full time/2 part time staff members, beautiful and happy children, school records, health records, filing system and say what?”
A child can teach an adult three things… To be happy for no reason. To always be busy with something. And to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires. ~ Paulo Coelho
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
~ Rabindranath Tagore
Lovely Freda
Tony told me we will be needing to purchase the elusive new uniforms form the third trimester of school, coming up in September. “Hapana! Tony, I have been observing the staff carefully for 2 weeks. They are efficient and thorough, and actually have spare time in the afternoons. (I found one sleeping one afternoon) So, let us purchase a sewing machine, hire a seamstress for a few days to teach the sleeping matron how to sew, and she can make the uniforms. The children would love to learn how to sew, too. There are endless projects that could be done with a sewing machine. An electric one. We could purchase the uniform material in bulk in Nairobi, make uniforms for children in the community, and undercut the market price by 100 ksh. What do you think?” “You are thinking like a Kenyan, Simmie. That’s what I think.”
Tony and I met over the kuku (chicken) project yesterday. In a few weeks, Kenyan “winter” will quickly turn to Summer. There is no Spring here. This means the kuku will begin laying more eggs -the finniky birds do not like the cold. The “layers” are projected to increase production by about 10 trays a week. Its the “roasters” I am concerned about, they are literally eating our profits. “Get rid of them, Tony. Save 10 cocks, breed them with the ‘Kenyedge’ (our 100 specialized hens and cocks) so we can avoid buying the next round. How much can we get for 1 cock? “1000ksh now, 2000ksh at Christmas” “Sell them for 1500ksh sasa (now). Tony balked. “I cannot sell them for 1500” he said. I asked “Kwanini??? Have you tried?” Tony said he had, so I barked “Pretend your clients are mzungus! Welcome to my world!” We both cracked up, but we also know the going price for me would be over 3000ksh. Time to turn the tables, Tony. I’m not joking. We have a buyer coming all the way form the Central Province on Saturday to purchase the cocks. My last words on this matter were “Do not settle on anything less than 1350ksh per cock.” Don’t worry, you won’t be here, Simmie, we will get your price.” As always, we walked away from each other laughing.
David loading eggs into the vehicle
On the way to the market - our 5 day haul, 26 trays of eggs!
We had visitors from Canada on Monday, a couple who met ministering together at a place called Mama Tunza’s Home, not far from WWC, a few years ago. Tony and I are very familiar with this home, as it was shut down due to corruption 2 years ago. 45 children were dispersed in an emergency effort, and we took in 5 of them. Milla and Jolene were adopted from WWC recently, but Freda, Vivian and Rophan are (fortunately) still with us. This couple, Kim and Henry (were anxious to see these three girls. They bought along 2 additional pastors and their wives and children. Additionally, Kim and Henry had filled up the back of their car with a bundle of clothing, shoes and 30kg of beans and 30kg of rice. It was an incredibly generous gesture on their behalf, all of us were most grateful. When this group first arrived, I asked them what they would be doing with the children. "We have games and videos planned, its great to get the children to interact with us, a lot of fun." I replied "Wonderful, thank you. One thing however, I have just changed our home policy. We no longer allow any cameras on the premises from the outside." As an aside, I did make this change to our policy last week. I don't know where potential pictures end up once visitors leave; regardless, it is not in our children's best images to have their images displayed across social media by anyone but me. There is a very serious problem in Kenya with something called "Briefcase Homes". These "homes" do not actually exist. Men and women posing as Directors, with poor and oftentimes malicious intentions, show up at meetings with full documentation and certification of non-existent homes, in their briefcases. If one asks to visit these homes, you are given all sorts of excuses that the timing of a visit is not possible until the end of the month. An empty school or home is selected as the designated place to meet, whereby children are collected from villages, brought to these places and visitors take pictures of them. When the visitors leave, the children are sent back home. Henry, Kim and the other guests were very understanding and in agreement with this policy.
Pastor Pete, working on making beaded belts for his sponsors
Always smile back at little children. To ignore them is to destroy their belief that the world is good. ~ Pam Brown
It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.
~ Pablo Picasso
This morning, I called Penina to come to my home. I started by thanking her for the work she is doing, and encouraged her to continue to come to me with all suggestions and ideas she has for WWC. She has single handedly manned the chicken project and is doing a beautiful job - this on top of her multiple responsibilities. Her acute observance of each child is spot on, and very important to me, because we tend to share the same concerns about each child. Nothing serious, simple growing pains, and how to address these one by one. We talked a great deal about her value to the organization, which thrilled her to no end. "I feel appreciated, thank you." I gave her a large, well deserved tip for her efforts, and she became very emotional. We want to keep Penina happy and fully engaged.
This morning I woke up to scratching on the roof of my home, which is always a disturbing sound. Just as I was getting out of bed, a very large salamander (more like a snake) dropped down from the crawl hole and scurried out the door. That was my sign that it is time get every pinhole and crevice caulked before something worse finds it's way inside.
From somewhere over the African continent, I am on my way home. It was a truly wonderful and productive 3 weeks for me, the children and Tony. I am extremely pleased with the way operations are humming along, and particularly happy with every staff member. We have no issues to speak of, which is quite something with a staff of nine who work so closely together, 7 days a week. Familia yenye furaha. One happy family.
I am deeply indebted to my family for enduring such a long absence, and to each of you reading this tonight. It cannot be said enough: This work would not be possible without each of you. It truly does take a village.
Asante sana, thank you
Much love,
Simmie, Tabitha and Josie
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