Kristoffer had texted the lady in charge the night before saying we were coming. When we go there, she told us that Friday afternoon she told her head teacher to have everyone pray because they didn’t have any food. She said we were the answer to her prayers. We had come with contributions. There are about 280 kids that sleep there and probably another 100 that go to school there. They are orphaned because their parents have died of AIDS. She told us that she now had children with AIDS and that the government gave them medicine, but no food. In Kenya you can learn to distrust what they say, but we saw her kitchen and there was nothing cooking for those kids. Before we left, she had food (beans and corn meal) being delivered.
This is only one of probably many places like this in Nairobi. It is not the slums, but not far from it. There were kids in class. This woman was so proud of the scores some of the students had with their state exams. One student had an A. She showed Kristoffer the sheet with the grades and was so very happy. These students would probably be able to go on to a college or university.
What we noticed from the last time was that there were a lot more young children. When we got out of the car they were all over Kristoffer who was holding Grace. They had never seen a Mzungu (white) baby. She was a little taken back. We went through a few classes, saw these kids trying to learn (most had on some kind of uniform). Where their classrooms were is the same place where they sleep at night. It was a dirty place and the smell was terrible. It was hard not to cry when you saw these children.
The Government of Kenya is rich and corrupt. Lisa has told us they make more than the US Senators and Congress. They drive around in BMW’s and Mercedez. And you drive around this country and see such poverty – that is criminal!
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