Update on Saturday, Feb. 19
We've been out of touch due to
technical difficulties and a road trip, but we're back! Last week we visited a school called "Little Stars Academy," founded by Mama Benta to educate orphaned and destitute children. She started with 26 kids and only two years later has 272! We had the BEST time with the kids there. Everyone in the kindergarten group exploded from their seats when we came in. They laughed and sang and held our hands. The older students sang for us and one of the boys directed the choir with more panache than we've ever seen. That boys needs to study Music. He's standing to the right of the Music teacher with the white patches on his head. We'd love to get some instruments for this group of stars!
Mama Benta saw at the beginning that the children were unable to learn well because they were malnourished. So she asked Canassist to help her with irrigation of her shamba's (farm's) garden. Now she employs 3 men and is able to grow kale, spinach, potatoes and tomotoes even though there is a severe drought here. She supplements the porridge that is the children's main source of nutrition with these fresh vegetables, which means she spends less on food, so another spin-
off is that she pays all the teachers on time (a rarity in Kenya). This year the school placed first in the district in test results. Isn't that amazing? 
Here's Mama Benta (left) in front of the garden on the day we arrived. She assembled a group of village elders to meet us. One woman (right) demonstrated the hip shimmy to the McGill students.
Feb. 17-18
We were on the road for two days with our friend John Geddes, Director of Canassist African Relief Fund. We drove from our "base camp" in Mbita to a health clinic about 40 minutes away (over BUMPY roads in a car that had been used, we assume, to cart fish--some of which had clearly died in the back!). At the clinic we met with
Karina, a nurse (shown with Virginia), and Justice, the local government administrator. They showed us the water tanks that http://canassistafrica.ca/ had installed as part of a water catchment system for the clinic, explaining what an incredible difference access to water had made to them. The next phase is to install the same system on a new building that the Kenyan government has funded. The little rural clinic sees 2000 people a month, with a high number of them suffering from malaria. They provide community education in HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, and childbirth health-related issues. Now Karina says about 30 babies are born each month in the hospital, but they want to get that number to 100. The death rate for mothers and babies is very high in rural Kenya. These local nurses and community workers are incredible people. (The photos show the old clinic building/water catchment and Karina with Virginia.)
We've been out of touch due to
technical difficulties and a road trip, but we're back! Last week we visited a school called "Little Stars Academy," founded by Mama Benta to educate orphaned and destitute children. She started with 26 kids and only two years later has 272! We had the BEST time with the kids there. Everyone in the kindergarten group exploded from their seats when we came in. They laughed and sang and held our hands. The older students sang for us and one of the boys directed the choir with more panache than we've ever seen. That boys needs to study Music. He's standing to the right of the Music teacher with the white patches on his head. We'd love to get some instruments for this group of stars! 
Mama Benta saw at the beginning that the children were unable to learn well because they were malnourished. So she asked Canassist to help her with irrigation of her shamba's (farm's) garden. Now she employs 3 men and is able to grow kale, spinach, potatoes and tomotoes even though there is a severe drought here. She supplements the porridge that is the children's main source of nutrition with these fresh vegetables, which means she spends less on food, so another spin-
off is that she pays all the teachers on time (a rarity in Kenya). This year the school placed first in the district in test results. Isn't that amazing? 
Here's Mama Benta (left) in front of the garden on the day we arrived. She assembled a group of village elders to meet us. One woman (right) demonstrated the hip shimmy to the McGill students.
Our visit to Kibisom: Community Group for Widows with HIV/AIDS and the little one-room school that they built for orphans and needy children (located at the far end of Rusinga Island)
We arrived in what seems to be the end of the world to find a small building situated in a shady grove of trees. "Welcome, welcome" a group of women repeated as they shook our hands and looked into our faces. Mama Esther, another amazing African woman , like Benta, started this centre and gave us a small look 'round, explaining each service that the centre offers . Women come here to get their
health questions answered, hang out under the shady trees, do some crafts to sell, and watch the kids in the building next door at school.
We arrived in what seems to be the end of the world to find a small building situated in a shady grove of trees. "Welcome, welcome" a group of women repeated as they shook our hands and looked into our faces. Mama Esther, another amazing African woman , like Benta, started this centre and gave us a small look 'round, explaining each service that the centre offers . Women come here to get their
health questions answered, hang out under the shady trees, do some crafts to sell, and watch the kids in the building next door at school.Suzanne and I met these two lovely teachers at the school...beautiful....Lilian is in the photo. They are with the kids all day, teaching their hearts out. Of course the kids were adorable. I brandished a soccer ball and the kids shyly said thank you...so quietly mannered..But two seconds later they were out in the dust shrieking and kicking it around like crazy! We plan to go back to the school next week and watch Lilian and Iscah.. bring some new notebooks for the kids, pencils, chalk and some toys. The ladies seemed excited to have us there..said what fun etc... We are really looking forward to it. We'll do the shopping for the supplies here in Mbita then find a way back out there.... It may be on the back of a motor cycle or on bikes that I've asked Wilfred, my Kenyan waiter boyfriend, to scare up for us. Transportation is the main obstacle here as the dirt roads are sketchy, making 10 kilometers seem like 50.
We are looking forward to sitting with the widows and learning about thier days, finding ways to support Esther once we are back in Kingston, and playing with the kids. Apparently they will take us on a hike up a nearby mountain so we can see all of Ruisinga Island. Yesterday on an evening bird watch we spied a huge monitor lizard so Suzanne is not so keen on hiking....
Feb. 17-18We were on the road for two days with our friend John Geddes, Director of Canassist African Relief Fund. We drove from our "base camp" in Mbita to a health clinic about 40 minutes away (over BUMPY roads in a car that had been used, we assume, to cart fish--some of which had clearly died in the back!). At the clinic we met with
Karina, a nurse (shown with Virginia), and Justice, the local government administrator. They showed us the water tanks that http://canassistafrica.ca/ had installed as part of a water catchment system for the clinic, explaining what an incredible difference access to water had made to them. The next phase is to install the same system on a new building that the Kenyan government has funded. The little rural clinic sees 2000 people a month, with a high number of them suffering from malaria. They provide community education in HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, and childbirth health-related issues. Now Karina says about 30 babies are born each month in the hospital, but they want to get that number to 100. The death rate for mothers and babies is very high in rural Kenya. These local nurses and community workers are incredible people. (The photos show the old clinic building/water catchment and Karina with Virginia.)I think we've used the word "incredible" often, but words can't describe the impact that these amazing community workers have had on us.
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