I’m grateful to have arrived home safe & sound from Nairobi. Beyond HARAMBEE's existing Africa programs, there is new & truly desperate need due to the current political conflict in Kenya and we very much appreciate the many good wishes, prayers, and donations from HARAMBEE supporters. I saw firsthand many layers of tragic consequences, & while the politicians are well fed & safe, their children in European schools, the poor bear the brunt of disruptions & violence. People are hungry, displaced, & traumatized. Family members are unaccounted for, prices of food & supplies are sharply rising, people aren't able to get to the clinics for their necessary meds. My dear friend Leonard Chwenya had his house burned to the ground because his landlord belongs to the Kikuyu tribe. They escaped with only their lives--this because they are not Kikuyu. We couldn’t work in Kenya without Leonard, so we’ll help him all we can during this crisis. Sister Florence Muia, whom I visited in Naivasha just before I returned home, has been barricaded with her workers and their families inside the Upendo Village compound while guns, tear gas, machetes, and torches are wielded outside. Peace talks are underway, yet no one knows when things will return to a semblance of normalcy. Lucky me—I got to go home! Trip summary: Inspired by an appeal from a Zambian priest studying in Chicago, I traveled to Zambia to look at a number of sites for new HARAMBEE projects. Fortunately, Zambia is a peaceful country without tribal conflicts. I stayed there an extra week, then flew on to Kenya after reassurances of safety. I was cautious, guarded by Leonard, & encountered no problems. Much good work was begun or continued in both countries. HIGHLIGHTS: fried caterpillars & cooking breakfast for the Bishop. ZAMBIA: 1. women’s nonprofit poultry co-operative. It takes a tough woman to make a tender chicken! 2. beaded jewelry and rosary project to assist HIV orphans at St. Oscar’s church 3. plans for women’s co-operative soap making project (during our next visit) 4. pilot telemedicine and distance learning program via satellite webcam. WE ARE NOW CONNECTED LIVE! 5. bead making & jewelry fundraising program, St. Atanazio school for HIV orphans 6. medical student volunteer placement program, St. Francis’ Teaching Hospital KENYA: (my stay was abbreviated, but much was accomplished and progress tracked) 1. telemedicine project in Kaluoki: Visited the school, met teachers, parents & children. New school (built by www.buildafricanschools.org) is beautiful but insufficient in this poverty-stricken area. Most children do not have shoes; many walk 3 miles to class. This year’s crop has failed due to drought & people are eating only mangoes. Nearest medical facility is 15 miles away (accessed via donkey or bicycle), so care is badly needed. I viewed the room to be used for the clinic & engaged services of Dr. Newton Oyugi in Nairobi to travel twice/month to Kaluoki to assess needs, purchase medicine, & deliver care to students. Will purchase large solar cooker & serve daily porridge to students. 2. solar cookers: Visited the Solar Cookers, Int. store in Nairobi and left a credit balance with them. Because of current difficulties, our work is pending. Arranged with Faustine Odaba, the field training officer, to meet with Sister Florence Muia & arrange training session & delivery of other cookers. Took 2 cookers to Naivasha, ate squash prepared in one (delicious), and demonstrated water pasteurization. 3. dairy goats: Delivered photos and names for new goats at the Naivasha site. Visited clients & saw wonderful effects of the goat milk on general health. One HIV+ mother did not nurse her baby, but fed her goat milk instead. At age one year the baby is HIV negative. This small success is a great triumph, the first of many, I hope. 4. chickens: Have lost count of the numbers, but are doing well. High-quality roosters were purchased to improve breeding. Several women have a thriving small chicken business. 5. beehives: most are doing well. Sampled honey donated to Upendo Village clinic, thick and delicious! 6. craft groups: Work temporarily suspended in Naivasha. Cost of beads is increasing due to difficulties now. Other groups are doing well, but a greater U.S. market & business training are still much needed. On a lighter note, the mobile phone ring tones across Africa are astonishing. The phone of one tiny, shy nun suddenly blasted forth the tune of “What can you do with a drunken sailor?” Three times while riding the bus from Petauke to Chipata, Zambia, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard an explosion, a blasting siren, and an approaching deluge. I was sure we were all soon to meet our Maker, but all were cell phones ringing. Another time, eating dinner, I heard a frog croaking from a man’s pocket. Yup—his cell phone ring tone. In sum: A great many people in Kenya are alive because of your awareness & generosity. This sounds melodramatic, but it is everyday reality in the places I visited. This is life on the edge. For me it has become the center and you have joined me there; I can’t thank you enough for your help. More important, the people of Kenya thank you. They know God understands Swahili, because you are an answer to their prayers. Blessings to you! More— A challenge to economic development is lack of resources: How does a person pull herself up by her bootstraps when she has no boots?! Let me reframe that, because I don't believe in "lack of resources." My mother taught me that sometimes you simply have to look harder to identify and locate them. In Petauke, Zambia, there is a women's church group trying desperately to help 300 children orphaned by HIV. They have a small "tuck shop" but not much of anything to sell. Since every Catholic in the town wants a rosary, and every woman can afford a few kwacha for a bit of jewelry, I thought that making these items to sell in the shop would be profitable for the group. Problem: Petauke is a very small place, and the market has no beads or other craft supplies. Solution: I emailed Heidi Horan, HARAMBEE’s angel in Texas, lamenting. She quickly emailed me directions to make beads from paper. My skepticism quickly turned to awe & amazement as I rolled the beads. I held bead-making sessions with the church women's group, then through eastern Zambia, then in Kenya. The women were as amazed as I had been at the beads. We used fishing line to string them. The women are very innovative & quickly came up with their own designs. One returned the next day with a basketful: she'd enlisted everyone in her family to help, & it looked as if they'd been up all night working on those beads! This is not work. Can there be more fun than a group of women engaged together productively, sharing, eating, talking about home and family?! When we broke for lunch, I received a lesson in the proper use of a hoe. Now that was work! On Sunday the priest announced from the pulpit that the women's group had a fine variety of rosaries and jewelry for sale in the tuck shop. After mass we were swamped with customers and orders. The whole town was talking about "Heidi beads." Aren’t friends wonderful?! Because of her help, another direct hit for African help & self-reliance has been scored. Add a cupful of drops to that bucket. And Heidi will go to heaven with her shoes on….