HARAMBEE projects have now begun in Zambia. There is a women's co-operative poultry project in Nyimba and a new craft initiative in Petauke. Church groups have formed to help the hundreds of HIV orphans in this small town, and they are desperately looking for ways to care for these children.
I hoped to begin a bead project with them, but there were no beads available in this small town. An e-mailed call for help to Heidi Horan in Texas brought her quick response and directions for making beads from paper and glue. I am flabbergasted at the simplicity and beauty of the beads, and so were the church women. We worked together to make jewelry and a prototype rosary. These things will be sold for a small amount in their "tuck shop." Certainly not the final solution, but a small steady income provides at least a bit of hope and relief. Most of all, they know that they are not forgotten by the rest of the world. Heidi, you are their angel!
In Petauke I stayed in the priests' residence at St. Oscar's Catholic Church. I met many Zambian "bambos" (fathers), all caring and compassionate and striving to help their people. I accompanied them to remote areas where they can travel only once a month to say Mass, and where they are greeted with much celebration and gifts of goats, chickens, and local vegetables. I watched a goat sitting in the back of the truck as we drove the long way back to the rectory, and couldn't bring myself to eat dinner when it appeared, stewed, on the table the next evening. I felt that I'd had a personal relationship with that goat! The dish of fried caterpillars didn't help matters any, and I had to endure the crunching and munching and teasing of the priests as they watched me slowly turn green.
I also have learned to drive a vehicle with the steering on the right side, as we got bogged down a few times and Bambo Richard got out and pushed while I steered through the mud.
I then travelled east to Chipata, near the Malawi border, and was privileged to stay in the bishop's residence. He's a man of the people; the first words out of his mouth were "preferential option for the poor." I like him very much.
I was amazed to find a v-sat dish at the office for peace justice & development in Chipata, and HARAMBEE has purchased a webcam for the site and we will soon begin a pilot telemedicine and distance learning project linking U.S. physicians and educators with cooperating sites in the U.S. (and other interested places). We're being guided in this by Jean Bowyer Brown, a U.K. physician who developed a curriculum for a similar program in Palestine.
After delaying in Zambia a week because of the troubles in Kenya, I finally arrived last Sunday and was whisked off southeast, far from any of the difficulties. This was not so easy, as Mombasa road is a nightmare of construction, mud, and stalled or stuck vehicles. A drive which should have taken 90 minutes took us five hours. At one point we were stopped behind a massive block of about 20 trucks, all pointing in different directions. My escorts Dickson and Leonard got out to join the crowd of other drivers, and I saw about 20 of them shoulder a pickup truck and move it through the jam. I was exhausted and was despairing of ever seeing this journey's end. Then I remembered the emergency first aid kit in my bag: a small bottle of Hennessy's cognac. I reached in, uncorked it, and slid down in the seat, soon feeling no pain.
We spent the next day in Kaluoki, site of a new school built by Patrick O'Sullivan's group (www.buildafricanschools.com) that will be the location of our telemedicine clinic. Once again, I am amazed at the resilience of people here in conditions of duress. There has been severe drought and the crops have failed. Currently mangoes are available and eaten for all daily meals. They will be finished soon and I have no idea how people will manage.
I visited Dr. Newton Oyugi in Mukuru, outside Nairobi, and he has agreed to visit the school next week and travel their regularly to assess medical needs of the children. A book can be written about this (the nearest hospital to Kaluoki is about 40 miles distant).
Then on to Nairobi, only after much informtion exchange and knowledge of places to avoid. I am okay and have encountered no difficulty or danger myself, but the situation is heartbreaking, an unwelcome reminder of how thin is the veneer of civilization and how quickly neighbors, good people, can be incited to mayhem, betrayal, bestiality.
After being assured by our friend Sister Florence that it was very safe to come to Naivasha and Upendo Village, I rode up there on Thursday, accompanied by my friend/bodyguard/ babysitter Leonard Chwenya (whose home was burned down in the trouble here). Florence and everyone in Upendo Village are all right, but there are many, many aftereffects that will never reach the press. So many have been traumatized and many more still don't know the whereabouts of family and friends in western Kenya and Nakuru.
Kisumu, a lovely town on Lake Victoria where I visited last year, has been levelled. Those we've heard from who are safe are locked within compounds.
As often, the guilty don't suffer; the innocents bear the brunt of the burden. Food prices are increasing dramatically, and on top of a drought this year, that means that people really WILL starve to death in the region in the coming months. This is just beyond what we could ever imagine in the U.S.
Florence looks exhausted. I wanted to scoop her up and carry her away someplace where she could find comfort, but she is exactly where she belongs, would never leave, and cares for many.
The goodness and great courage and faith of the majority of Kenyans brings me to my knees. After all, I get to come home in a few days. God only knows what awaits them here in the coming months.
On a better note, Friday I visited one of the HIV+ women who was given naviripene at childbirth, greatly reducing chances of the baby being infected. She is one of the few who did NOT breastfeed--normally unheard of in this country where alternatives are not available. She has a dairy goat from HARAMBEE, and the baby was fed the milk and is thriving and HIV negative at almost a year of age. This would be taken for granted in the U.S., but is a major triumph here. HARAMBEE supporters are part of this story and I know you share this joy and celebration.
It is one small drop in the bucket, but it is a beginning, the first of what I hope will be many such cases.
To be continued later.
Blessings to all of you for your thoughts, emails of support, prayers, and good wishes. People here are heartened and comforted that you remember them and want to help.
