Africa Trip
Folks this last weekend I returned from a week and a half in Africa, more specifically the Chibombo District several hours north of Lusaka, Zambia and Ndalani, a rural area about 2 ½ hrs north and west of Nairobi, Kenya. I went with 2 buddies from my church, Mike Coakley and Mark Seymour. Mark is the cofounder of the first work we visited and spent 5 years in Zambia as a child.
The focus of the trip was to visit programs that benefit kids. While in the west kids are automatically expected to get clean water, food, education and safety. In many parts of Africa economic conditions, cultural norms and the helplessness of being a child or a young woman creates the need for support efforts. In both cases that I visited the support came through locals partnering with foreign people to meet the need. In my mind that is much more effective than a full on outside relief program with little local involvement and lacking in cultural sensitivity.
Here is a typical school, the kids are outside sitting on new desks provided by Fountain of Life.
The first visit was Fountain of Life, http://www.fountainoflife-africa.org/ This organization operates in a rural area where maybe half of the kids have a school to go to, Fountain of Life builds schools and then gives the building to the local government for them to operate. The department of education provides teachers and soon enough kids are coming from as far away as 5 miles to become educated.
We visited something around 12 schools over 5 days, some with quality buildings and others with nothing. At one point with the encouragement of local “Head Men” (village leaders) we drove 10 miles down a dirt road and then several miles on a path to a remote area to find about 50 kids in class, half in what looked like a bombed out building and the other half in a nearby hut in a village named Chowe.
When you visit a place like this you can see the difference in the kid’s faces. How can they learn?
These are the village men who insisted we see this ‘school’ in Chowe
Here are the 2 chickens that the Head Men gave us as a thank you. And I got to enjoy a 3 hour car ride with them as they enjoyed their last hours of life.
In the past when Fountain of Life has provided a school building they have found the number of students will increase by as much as a factor of 4. This is because parents don’t see much point in having their kids walk miles to attempt to learn in a place with no roof, windows or floor. I am already working on raising $50,000 to get a school for these kids (let me know if you want to help!). Fountain of Life can build a solid government spec school building, with 3 classrooms, 2 teacher offices and 2 storerooms, about 3,500 sq ft. That’s cheap!
At 2 schools we visited we did a sports day, it was crazy taking 500 kids, playing soccer (pulled a muscle), running races and watching a fun game called net ball. Then we served lunch to them and handed out metals for the winners. It was a fun and the kids had a blast. Check out this video: https://vimeo.com/219122505/bd5b8d18e7
Typically the kids get no midday meal
so this was a real treat
In addition to schools Fountain of Life also is building homes for teachers, pit toilets, boring wells and most recently they built a maternity clinic with 12 beds and a delivery room. Fountain of Life has to really work to balance competing needs with limited resources. Even still the impact of just one school provides for kids and the community in a way that will have positive impact today and for many years to come.
Mid way through our time in Zambia we ventured into a wild life park, we saw animals of all types (short of both man and predators). Lions and Cheetahs were held separately from the rest of the park. Part of the experience was a Cheetah walk. We got to hang around them for about a half hour, it was fantastic.
Fastest mammal on the planet.
After a week in Zambia, my friends Mark and Mike headed back to the states and I broke away and went to Nairobi, Kenya. I visited Mully Children’s Family (MCF) https://mcfus.org/ Dr Charles Mully, himself an orphan, started MCF almost 30 years ago, when he saw the orphaned kids on the streets of Nairobi. Quickly he brought 20 kids into his own house he realized that he would need more space. Today the work has 2 main locations and 6 locations in Kenya. Since 2000 more than 10,000 kids have come to MCF. Currently there are 2500 kids and 1500 employees housed at the 500 and 300 acre main facilities.
‘Daddy’ as Dr Mully is called, says he has the largest family in the world! He has written a half dozen books, received countless awards and serves as a mentor to aid organizations seeking to establish self-sustaining safe communities for children and young women. In October a feature length film on Dr Mully’s life will be released in the US. Here is the trailer https://vimeo.com/218832995
It took 2 full days for me to tour MCF. There are hundreds of cattle, sheep and goats. Maybe 300 acres with row crops like corn, beans, lettuce. 12 acres of greenhouse growing a variety of vegetables, some are exported to Europe. Four hen houses with 5000 fryers and layers. A college, high school, elementary and preschool. Vocational classes on computers, sewing, cosmetology, construction, metal working and agriculture. Five large reservoirs, two water treatment plants and a modern irrigation system. MCF has planted almost 6 million trees, some on their property but mostly in communities where they are encouraging reforestation and respect for the environment. The second day I was there they gave food to 6,000 local families! This is not an amateur operation.
This is Angela, my guide, in one of the green houses. Those are string beans behind her.
This is Dr. Mully, I was blessed to have a couple of hours with him. Amazing person.
This group of women has recently arrived and we starting 2 years of education and training, all at no cost to them.
In the back ground is a new building that will be a dorm for boys and a playground for the kids in the fore ground.
If you are still reading, thanks for indulging me. Suffice it to stay the trip had a powerful impact on me and I think I better understand the challenges for the people of Africa, especially the vulnerable.
You only need to see kids out on the street Nairobi and then kids in an MCF property in Kenya or kids in a school with just the basics or kids in a hovel trying to learn in Zambia to realize that we can help.
We can make a difference and we can be part of a change for Africa that will change the future for generations to come.
