Part of my heart is left in Kenya
Updated: Dec 30, 2019
In July, Anson and I spent over half of our 3 week vacation in Nairobi, Kenya and the surrounding areas volunteering through the programs IVHQ (internationally based) and NVS (Kenya based volunteer program). While there, we spent our first two nights at a the Shalom House which was an overflow house for volunteers coming to the area. July is a popular month for volunteers in Kenya, so the main volunteer house was full and the Shalom house was considered a "hotel" used to house additional volunteers when needed. Two days after we arrived, we had volunteer orientation and then were given our placements for our time in Kenya. Initially, we were given an assignment to Gilgil, which was 2 hours north of Nairobi and we were placed there with only one other volunteer. This placement wasn't necessarily based on need, but more so because there were so many volunteers in the area at the time (which is wonderful!) that they were trying to spread everyone out. We talked to one of the program directors about maybe being moved closer to Nairobi since we were not going to be there very long and wanted to be closer to volunteer for outreach programs, etc., and we also wanted the opportunity to make connections with more volunteers. NVS easily accommodated us. They were able to move us to the Agape Hope Orphanage placement in Nairobi.
Typical Day as a Volunteer:
Agape Hope is an orphanage that was started up by a couple, Oliver and Maggie, who hosted us during our stay in Kenya. They welcomed the volunteers that were placed at their orphanage into their home. They had a large house in which 3 rooms were used strictly for volunteers, filled with bunk beds allowing them to fit up to 20 or more people at one time. Our food was provided during our stay (as long as we opted to eat with our host family) and Maggie would have breakfast ready for us every morning and she would cook us dinner every night. Lunch was served at the orphanage after we fed the kiddos, otherwise we were able to walk to a nearby market to get something else if we chose. The volunteers would ride to the orphanage each morning with Oliver and Maggie and were were able to stay as long or as little as we liked. We usually arrived around 9AM each day and then would stay until at least 4, or sometimes as late as 6 if we wanted to play after school sports with the children.
The layout of our day as a volunteer at the orphanage was very flexible. We were able to choose in which ways we wanted to offer our services. Sometimes, teachers would not show up to school and some of the kids would be sitting in class without anyone to teach them. If this was the case, we would pop into a classroom and teach for part of the day. We usually would ask the kids what they wanted us to teach, and more often than not they would respond with what they should have been learning in that class if the teachers had shown up. Otherwise, we would pick a topic that they seemed unfamiliar with and go from there.
If the classrooms were equipped with teachers, we would busy ourselves with other tasks. Beans always needed to be sorted as they would be purchased by the bucket load, but not previously cleaned and sorted from stones, stalks and dirt. Otherwise, we would help do the dishes as there were hundreds of kids going to school here and it was a process to clean the dishes after breakfast and lunch each day. We would also help serve the kids for their mid morning snack break and during lunchtime.
Our time with the kids in Kenya was short, unfortunately, but even so they all left an imprint on our hearts forever. These kids are truly special. I've never met a group of individuals that blew me away like this. They are determined, eager to learn, extremely intelligent, well-mannered, polite and respectful beyond any group of kids I have met of their ages. I cannot stress enough how these children have so little but are grateful for every single thing they are given in life regardless of their situation. Some of the kids do not even know if their parents are out there still alive: a lot of them were abandoned, abused/neglected, and have spent their young life growing up in the orphanage. Despite all of this, they do not pity themselves or look down on their current situation.
Hardships:
Unfortunately, we heard a lot of sad stories during our time in Kenya as well. These stories are ones I chose not to include in previous Facebook or social media posts, because realistically, not everyone wants to see or believe these stories are true. However, I feel it is important to share the reality of other people's situations One of the volunteers was teaching at a school where an 11 year old girls had to bring her daughter to school everyday because she had no help or support. A child having to raise a child, it is unimaginable. Another fellow volunteer was working at a special needs school and there was an ongoing issue how one of the kids wouldn't always show up to school each day. When they asked his mother about his lack of attendance, she stated that he would always leave the house around 6:30AM and wouldn't return until 9PM, but if he wasn't at school, she was unaware of his whereabouts. After some investigation, it was discovered that this boy kept getting countered on his way to school by gang members or other people that would drug and rape him. The thought of this happening to any child is sickening. The thought of it happening to a special needs boy that can't even defend himself or make sense of what is happening is heart breaking.
We also noticed how there is a lot of false hope in this country around various topics. One family sent their child to India because they claimed he had autism and they believed that new studies in India are shown to cure autism. Their child was non-ambulatory and non-verbal, which is not at all a sign of autism. This family spent every last penny they had, borrowed money from their extended family and neighbors, and took out loans to be able to fund this medical experiment of his to India. The parents described how it's a new test where they take bone marrow out of the child's legs and put it in his brain to "connect the missing piece", and then after several months of healing, he will suddenly be "healed." Their son had just returned from this trip and the parents were so hopeful, saying they were waiting for their son to walk and talk again any day now. To watch these people have endless hope, spend all of their money, and for us to know that nothing would come out of this was really hard to swallow.
We were also in Kenya the same time that Barrack Obama was flying into the country to visit his grandmother. It was a really big event and there were signs everywhere welcoming Obama. But the false hope continued. I heard many people exclaim how they were so excited that he was coming because he was going to come lead their nation. One man said,"Obama is coming to fix our country like he fixed America."
Samuel:
At our orphanage, we met a sweet boy named Samuel. Samuel was brought to the orphanage a few months before we got there after he had been sleeping in a jail cell for several weeks since he had no place else to go. His parents disappeared, and no one knew who they were or where they could be found because Samuel was deaf and lacked strong communication skills. He was brought to Agape Hope. While this was a positive first step in the life of Samuel, none of the teachers or students at the orphanage knew how to sign. Samuel knows a decent amount of sign language himself, but it's unclear how he ever learned to do it. Maggie (school leader/our host mother) was telling us how much she loved Samuel but he would have to be moved from the orphanage soon. Any time they went to court with Samuel, he refused to communicate in court and they ultimately could not find an feasible solution for him at the school. There was no opportunity for growth for him at the school because he couldn't sit in any of the classes with the other students to learn, and he could barely find a way to make friends with the other kids due to his inability to communicate. The other kids at the orphanage were very nice to Samuel, but he tended to only bond with them on a very superficial level and instead would wander off to play with the goats, cows or dogs (presumably bonding with them best because they also couldn't communicate). I could tell immediately that Samuel was a very sweet boy, but he was lacking the social life and intellectual stimulation he needs at this point in his life and seemed to be very lonely because of it.
A beautiful thing did happen, however, while we were volunteering at the school. One of our fellow volunteers from Ireland, Jeff, mentioned how he is fluent in sign language and would like to try to speak with the boy. Although the sign that Samuel knew and Jeff's knowledge of Irish-based sign language differed slightly, Jeff was able to communicate with the boy enough to interact and ask questions. Samuel’s eyes lit up. He had the biggest smile on his face and he almost started hyperventilating as this was the first time he was able to truly communicate with anyone in many months, if not longer. This may have been my single most favorite part of the whole trip, because I was able to witness someone truly bring pure, innocent happiness to this child. We spent our next couple days working with Samuel and looking up Youtube videos on how to do basic sign language so that we could communicate with him. He really loved our company and would keep close as we did some work to help the kids out (like sorting beans) and would constantly try to help us in any way possible. I ended up buying a big bag of dog food for the stray dogs that lived at the orphanage. There were two mama dogs that just had a litter of 10 puppies, but they weren't producing enough milk to feed all the pups so I was hoping some dog food would help them along. When we had to leave, I knew I could trust Samuel to feed the dogs for me every day, and we managed to tell him in sign language that we are holding him responsible for taking care of the pups. You could tell he was very honored to be given a task.
Life at the Orphanage:
The children at the orphanage eat the same exact thing every day. Mid morning they are given a strict portion of porridge (a quarter cup for primary school and half a cup for high school), and for lunch they typically have some combination of Ugali (a type of bread made only of flour and hot water), beans, cabbage/kale and/or rice. They do not get treats or dessert and they do not have the luxury of variety in their diets. Yet, I have never once heard these kids complain. One day while we were volunteering at an outside school, we brought the kids some white bread and fruit juice as a little treat. I witnessed one of the kids spill her juice, and another child went up to her and poured half of his juice into hers because he didn't want her not to have any. I witnessed another child eat one slice of her bread and put the other slice in her backpack because she wanted to bring some home to her little brother. These children embody selflessness.
We bought presents (bubbles, balls, sports games, nail polish, etc.) for them as a goodbye gift. Seeing as there were hundreds of kids at the orphanage, we were not able to bring individualized gifts for everyone, but all of these kids looked out for each other and were good about sharing and taking their turn. After I gave the nail polish to some of the girls, they went around painting each others' nails and afterwards brought the nail polish back to me. I told them that was for them to keep. One of the girls said to me, "But we wish to return it to you." I insisted it was a gift for them, and they were beyond grateful and appreciative for the nice gesture and asked me 3 times if I was sure. These kids have so little, but never once expected anything from us. They never asked us for ANYTHING. They were very respectful of our belongings. Sometimes they would be curious about our phones, our sunglasses or my mosquito bracelets and would ask to play with them/try them on, but they would always bring them back in one piece without being asked.
All they ever asked of us was to know about our lives and for us to teach them anything we know. They were a very eager group of kids that were hungry to learn. We would spend an entire hour with them in the classroom, and then after suggesting we take a break as other classes were outside on recess, the kids pleaded that we stay and continue to teach them. If anything, they were constantly teaching us. These kids are so advanced. They are brilliant in math and science. They fluently speak two languages at such a young age. They do not have computers, television and most of them do not even have books, but they listen to their teachers, they absorb information, take diligent notes and they are some of the smartest, most attentive kids I've ever known.
Perspective:
I know we always see things on TV or hear about how kids in third world countries do not have a lot. Most of us can feel sympathetic from a distance and acknowledge that it's a real thing in this world, but it is difficult to fully grasp what it's really like to be in those situations. Realistically, we tend to feel sorry for these children. But I genuinely think that these feelings are wrong. We should not feel sorry for them, but instead, we should be learning from them.
I went in to this volunteer project expecting (embarrassingly so) to meet a bunch of half starved children that would be asking for money, gifts, or anything else I could offer them. I expected to meet a bunch of kids that were behind on their education that probably would not have opportunity or potential in life. I expected to be surrounded by greed and beggars. All of this is the opposite of what I walked in to. These kids taught me the importance of being grateful for every little thing I have. They have taught me how I want to raise my future children some day. They have taught me that there is beauty in simplicity, and that happiness is found in the friends and love of those around us, not in materialistic things. They taught me the importance of looking out for your neighbor, rather than trying to one up them or be better than those around us. They taught me the power of encouragement, and more importantly, the power of love. They taught me that anything I've ever complained about is not worth the despair, because with the life that I have, I have nothing to complain about.
Yes, it is true that they are not as well off as most kids in America or the rest of the world, but I do genuinely believe they are some of the happiest, most genuine and kind-hearted kids I’ve ever met. I went there to teach them, and they taught me. 💜
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If you EVER get the chance to do something like this, I could not encourage you enough to jump at the opportunity. Take your children with you or at least learn everything you can from the experience to be able to pass along to our future generations. I really think it will make the world a better place 💞
Below is a link to the IVHQ website that we used to find this project. They are one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) volunteer programs I was able to find, but they certainly are not the only one out there. I can just personally testify that we had a very positive experience with this organization and will likely be using them again!
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