Mikinduri Children of Hope

Sent Tuesday, March 11th, from Ted Grant and Karen & Greg McKenna, who are doing relief work at a refugee camp in the village of Nakuru, Kenya.

Hello again from Nakuru.

It’s now Tues march 11, I think. Every day seems to run into one another as any of you who have been here would know. Yesterday all of the teams dispersed in different directions. The final plans for building the stoves and the desks were finally put in place. The Mikinduri team decided to purchase some supplies to take to the ref camp we visited 2 days ago. As I think I mentioned, this camp consists of approx 300 people and they literally have nothing. A Better World have purchased a water tank and supplied enough $ to keep it filled for quite a while and the Red Cross comes once a week with food but other than that, it’s just about all the aid they receive. Out of 300 there are probably 80 children. Our visit with them was great, the children just wanted to keep holding our hands and they sang a couple of songs for us. Three of us spent a couple of hours going through the clothes and blankets we brought from PEI to take to this camp. Oh did I mention between the 3 of us travelling here we landed in Nairobi with 13 extra blankets. They just happen to have Air Canada and Kenyan Airways logo. A vision clinic was held again at the camp today and went very well. While the vision clinic was underway the Red Cross were dispersing mattresses. There were so many lined up for this item and only approx 50 to be given. To watch them it seemed so inhuman for them to actually beg for such a necessity.

Today was shopping day at the Wool- Mat, no I didn’t spell this wrong it’s the Wool-Mat. You can buy just about everything there. We purchased a lot of important items for the ref people such as blankets, long bars of soap, basins, towels, fruits, vegetables, flipflops, and even a few bags of suckers for the kids. They don’t have any newborns at this camp so we took some of the many receiving blankets and cut them up to be used as washcloths. We’re getting so inventive eh? Ray Loxdale, the manager with A Better World and his driver Mike, left today to go to various places where they have projects going on. This means Benson our driver is going to be very busy transporting all of us in different directions. Oh! I should mention since Ray is also getting this Blog that we do miss them.

We took a drive to the outskirts of Nakuru 2 days ago to see the burnt out villages. As we were driving through we all felt as if we were driving through ghost towns. You would never know anyone had lived there. The cement structures still had a few walls standing but the rest of the remains were just ashes. As we said in our other messages to home, we have not witnessed any violence but are remaining cautious at all times. We will be looking forward to letting you all know how our second visit goes to the other IDP camp tomorrow. We are all looking very forward to taking these much needed supplies. To those of you, who will be attending the concert tomorrow night in Cornwall we hope you enjoy it. For now all is well here in Nakuru and we hope the same is for you our loved ones and friends. Stay tuned till next Blog, and take care!

Karen,Greg,Ted

Ted Grant has sent photos from the Nakuru refugee camps where he and Karen & Greg McKenna are currently working. Most of the refugees fled their homes after political violence erupted following the presidential elections in December, 2007. Many arrived in the camps with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Ted adds, “Some have taken whetever they could drag in a moments notice. There are some horrific stories… It is impossible to believe how much these people in the camps are suffering“.

You can view all the photos in our photo album. Click on the thumbnails to see larger photos, or use the slide show link.

Sent Saturday, March 8th, from Ted Grant and Karen & Greg McKenna, who are doing relief work at a refugee camp in the village of Nakuru, Kenya.

Latest news from Nakuru.

It is Saturday today and another beautiful day. The nurses from Mikinduri went up to work in the medical clinic at the camp. Ray and his driver Mike took us for a very interesting, emotional day. We visited 3 different orphanages. The first one housed 20 babies ranging from 2 months to 8 months. You can imagine how beautiful these babies were. There were 7 of us holding 2 babies each. In our minds I think we were all wondering how we could get away with taking them home. Each baby had his or her sad story. I think the saddest was a boy named Mosses who is now 7 months old. He was actually left at the bottom of a latrine when someone found him. This type of story was associated with each and every one of them. Our third place we visited was so heart breaking. It is run by a 65 yr old man by the name of Ian. This place houses approx 100 children. He runs this place solely on donations while being one of the few places which takes in handicapped children. There were 12 who are HIV positive and at least 10 severely mentally or physically challenged. The most amazing story is almost unbelievable. There is a girl there aged 9, who had been raised by baboons from infancy to about 6 years old. She was found by some ladies in a wilderness area and 3 different shelters tried to keep her but her animal behaviours were so strong they wouldn’t keep her. Ian took her in and she is making progress but some of her characteristics will probably not change. When she initially came to Ian she actually walked on all 4’s like a baboon. Her hands are still a bit curled and she still eats like a baboon. It took them 2 years to get her to sleep in a bed. When they initially received her at the orphanage all she wanted to do was jump from bed to bed or run around the halls all night. It was one of the most interesting stories we have ever come across.

It was such an emotional, yet satisfying day from the standpoint that we have come to realize these children are the privileged ones with people to take care and love them. The third orphanage we visited was absolutely beautiful. It is owned and ran by a couple from New Zealand. This is the home of approx 130 children from newborn to approx 16. They were all so respectful and we found it amusing that most of them would call Ralph & Mae (Mom & Dad). We attended a church service with them and had a great tour of the area. It’s situated on 50 acres and is so well kept.

Well today is Sunday and again very warm. We all went to the camp. The nurses were able to go directly to work but our vision clinic had a few interruptions. We were not able to conduct our clinic today so a group of us visited yet another IDP camp approx 20 min from Nakuru. There are camps everywhere with the same horrible stories. The violence broke out in their village and their homes burnt. Most of these people escaped with only their lives and the lives of their children. They allowed us to look in their make shift huts which was gut wrenching. They are all sleeping directly on the bare ground which is anything but level, with everything they own piled up in a corner of the hut.

Seeing these sights makes us wonder what right we have to complain about anything.

We met one grandmother who had 10 children of her own. When the violence broke out four of her teen aged sons were killed, her other 6 kids took off in different directions. She has been in the camp now and has been caring for her daughters 5 kids. She has no idea where her daughter is.

We met another young girl (age 10 who is partially mentally handicapped) and her younger sister about 8, who were used by their mother as prostitutes to get money to buy food and soap.

This afternoon there was a pregnant 14yr old girl, who came to use, looking for a face pan and a bar of soap. She was absolutely filthy. Can you imagine being so poor that you have to beg for a cake of soap?

Tomorrow we are going to the dept store to buy Flip flops, cooking oil, soap, etc and we are taking with us suitcases of clothes that we took from home, to the idp camp we visited today. It might give them some encouragement to try to move forward with their wretched lives. We are also investigating if we can help them get resettled in their ancestral lands, now that the violence is hopefully done

I really hope that our Crisis Kenya Fundraising and our concert in Cornwall will be a great success, because there are so many things to do and they all require money. Your continuing generosity is very important to these people. You will never really appreciate what a $100,00 donation would do for anyone of these people.

It is absolutely the right thing to be here, for although we can’t make a big difference we can make a little diff in quite a few lives.

We feel so privileged to be able to represent you here on the ground.

Hope everyone is well at home. Please keep praying, not for our safety, but for the grace to be patient in the face of the ongoing and never ending list of obstacles that face us with every task endeavour to do.

God Bless to all.

Karen, Greg and Ted

Sent Friday, March 7th, from Ted Grant and Karen & Greg McKenna.

Hello from Karen, Greg and Ted

Wow it’s already Friday. Yesterday we all spent the day once again at the camp. With the supplies we brought there were kits made up which is distributed to the tents who needs them the most. The kits consist of wash basin, soap, face cloth, baby outfit, and a few other basic necessities. We see so many babies, a lot of whom are newborn, one really appreciates how much these mothers appreciate these items. There are so many young mothers walking around with their babies strapped to their backs and when they are asked their age it is usually 13-14 yrs old. Every day we are in the camp each of us are approached at one point by people with their own terrible story of why they had to flee to the camp and also asking for help or for information as to where they can get certain items. The effect that this exposure has on each of us is strengthened each time we enter the camp. It is such a strong feeling of helplessness and at the same time a feeling of being very privileged to be able to be here to help even just a few.

The group that we are working with are terrific. Ray from a Better world is very organized .The 2 ladies, Merle and Kim from Alberta are just great and very friendly and the group from Mikinduri are wonderful. They all are working in the medical clinic and doing a great job We also have 2 young fellows from Alberta who had been travelling Egypt and other places and happened to read about “A Better World” being here so, they got their number and came here just to volunteer for a while.

We set up for a vision clinic today for the first time. It was quite a procedure to get permission from the powers at be to do it. We were told by one of the persons in charge who happens to be an half assed optometrist that he will observe for the first to see if he approves and if he didn’t approve he was shutting it down. He liked something about it as he worked for the entire day with us and wants to cooperate with any further clinics. Every day at the camp we see thousands of people young and old line up for hours and hours for simple essentials such as cooking utensils, mattresses, flour, etc. It’s certainly heart wrenching. Ted & Greg spent all day yesterday trying to get prices for bricks for the building of the stoves and lumber for benches to be used in the few tents they have set up as classrooms. They finally got the prices today but hey, TIA (this is Africa).

We are spending long days beginning at 7: 30 for breakfast and getting everyone organized and then off to the camp. Our hotel is very clean and comfortable and for you who care we have toilets, no long drops! Well it’s getting late and we have a big day tomorrow visiting orphanages of children whose parents have been displaced during this uprising. We wanted to let all our friends and loved ones at home know that we are thinking of you as much as you are thinking of us.

There is such a thing as donor fatique, and we have been advised by a few of our supporters that we need to be concerned about the effect that being involved in this project might have on our ability to raise funds for our very important projects in Mikinduri. All I can say, after having been here for only three days, is that I (Ted) have to risk asking for generosity from our supporters. My confidence id buoyed up by exposure to some very pathetic cases. I hope you don’t perceive these examples as being melodramatic, because they are absolute fact and our real life experience everyday here. All I can do is trust in your acceptance and typical generous response to my appeals for your assistance. We met a young mother, age 21, who watched along with her 12 month old baby, as her enemies ( formererally neighbours) chopped off her husbands head with an axe, and threathened to do the same to her. We have a 17 yr old kid( a sweetheart of a kid, who volunteers at our clinics, who had to leave his family behind. He sleeps wherever he can find a safe space. He is the most pleasant, and positive person you would ever want to meet. Yet he is completely submissive to his environment.

There are so many needs here, that it is impossible to verbalize. Please trust me when I say that any assistance you can offer will make a major difference in the lives of these absolutely helpless people. Let me try to put in prospective. There is a camp of literally thousands of tents. Some of these tents literally have their entire belongings piled up under the front flap on their tent. Things like old sofa’s, easy chairs, commodes, basins brooms etc.

Your heart absolutely pours out to them especially when you realize you don’t have the capacity to help them all. Have you ever been thanked very sincerely by someone who has received a simple pair of glasses that cost us a max of 55 cents, as if you have made a significant diff in their lives. It is impossible to explain, so all I ask is for generosity and kindness as though you were here with us.

Please know that we are all safe and in a different sort of way really enjoying our experience. It is an absolute previledge to be here. Saying good-bye for now with our love and thoughts.

God bless to all.
Ted, Greg, Karen

From Ted Grant:

Well, we had an interesting Sunday (Mar 2^nd) getting to Halifax. The snow storm just broke in time for Karen, Greg and I to get to there with not too much time to spare. With the half ton truck loaded to the hilt with 16 bags, 2 wheelchairs and the occasional white out, it was an adventurous trip. The adventure really began when we tried to convince the not so cooperative Air Canada lady to allow an extra 7 bags. A bit in vain as they allowed one extra per person which still left 3 very full overweight bags, which we had no choice but to pay for.

We were picked up at the airport in Nairobi early (6:30) Tuesday morning by our very friendly and familiar driver, Benson. He is great and was very glad to see us. We then went to meet Anne Josiah for a couple of hours, who is the regional director for our partnering organization, Christian Childcare International. At 1:00 we met with the team of volunteers , comprised of four nurses, a teacher, social worker, two pharmacists and a university student, from Mikinduri. They asked us to say hi to you the teams who have travelled to Mikinduri they all send their love. It is great to be able to team up with some people from Mikinduri, for such a great cause. I am so proud of them.

We arrived in Nakuru around 5 pm, after a three hour drive, very jet lagged. After the introduction with Ray Loxdale and the rest of his “A Better World” team members, we ate and gladly went to bed. There are two nurses here from Alberta. One has been here for 3-4 weeks and the other came to Nakuru with us. They are terrific people and we are already getting along quite well working together. It is amazing how organized the camp is considering there is approx 13,000 people. The closest thing I can think of to describe the literally thousands of tents, is to think back to the Boy Scout Jambouree which was held at Rocky Point a few years ago.

A Better World, which is the organization Ray belongs to, has done some incredible work in the past month and a half and has welcomed us wonderfully. Our first visit to the camp was this morning. Wow! What an emotionally overwhelming experience. There is an area which is actually an agrena, which houses aprox 3000 people living in make shift huts with roofs made of feed bags and only very meagre belongings. We spoke with mothers who escaped with literally only the clothes on their backs. It is very difficult to even relate. There are many children everywhere, very dirty and hardly dressed. We were asked by Ray to let the people know that we cared about them, which wasn’t hard for us to do. It is amazing to have a small child take you by the hand and walk along with you quietly. Your hearts just breaks for them and you feel so helpless.

It took us approx 3.5 hrs to tour the complete camp. We met all the organizers and management people from various organizations. I’m telling you, seeing what we saw today certainly tugged at each and every one of our hearts and that is an understatement. After returning to our hotel from the camp, we had a meeting to organize our resourses both human and material. Then before supper we organized the supplies we brought which were very much needed, as they were running low on baby clothing and blankets. They couldn’t believe how much we had collected in such a short time. We just said, hey, that’s PEI.

We have our time organized for tomorrow with everyone having their own jobs to do. It is going to be very hard work along with it being very, very hot and dusty, but that’s why we came. We know that we will be donating the funds to build the desks for the more than 500 students who attend the make shift classrooms that have been set up in tents, as well as organizing and overseeing the young vocational workers who will be building them. As well we will be starting our badly needed vision clinics. On sat, Greg and I will be overseeing the construction of some fuel efficient stoves.

We will try to write a blog every night, but time is at a premium.

In closing all I can truly say is that we see lots of evidence of the tenacity of the human spirit. It is such an honor and privilege to be able to be with these destitute people in their toughest hours.

Last but not least — to put all of you at home at ease — is that the political unrest is almost at a nil. There are no signs of unrest except for the still existing refugee camps. They have security here at our hotel but everything is quite quiet. The same rules are to be followed as they were in Mikinduri such as no walking at night and just be cautious so to all our loved ones at home. Don’t worry! Just miss us.

Better get to bed now.

Ted, Karen and Greg

Jessica McKenna is sending reports on the latest MCoH mission to Mikinduri.

Hello everyone! It is day 9 in Kenya and it is fair to say that it feels like home! The villagers and people could not do anymore to make us feel welcome. Ted, Karen and Marilyn tell us that we are spoiled this year and blessed with a warm shower and toilet. We were on the road all day yesterday starting with touring the dispensary, the sewing center, 3 schools and the wells. It was an experience on a whole different level and the group seemed to enjoy what they saw. We were welcomed with open arms and songs and smiles everywhere we went and have a lot of photos and videos that we are more then excited to share with everyone! The weather is great. Hot during the day and rains like cats and dogs at night…..keeping a lot of us awake! Ha. We are tentatively planning a visit with a CBC African correspondent, David McGuffin, who is interested in doing a story on what we are doing in Mikinduri. He is planning on coming here on Monday and spending a few days with us while we are performing the clinics. If the story does take place, we could have the opportunity to be aired on The National. It is exciting news and we are looking forward to see what is going to take place. We are on the road today, heading to a place called Sweet Waters where we will be experiencing a camp out and safari. We will be busy but it will be a personal enjoyment busy getting prepared for our clinics next week. We miss you all! Hope things are as great at home as they are going here! Take care and talk soon!

Written by Phil Handrahan, a member of the Mikinduri Children of Hope Tour Group, November 2006

Well after a complete review of a frustrating day on Saturday we regrouped and decided to head out early in the morning to the Orphanage where we would do a full day medical / vision clinic. After all many of the locals spent the night there so that they could see us the next day. As we went to the rooftop to check the weather, the “gods” were on our side as the skies were clear and the sun was shining brightly. The spirit within the group remains high and everyone is anxious to get to the clinic and are looking forward to a big day. Jane and Joan will have to remain in Meru as the rain-washed out the roads again. Local travel to On Sunday morning we dispatched a set up crew who arrived at the Orphanage approx 9 am to get things in order. Sure enough many of the locals were there from the day before and the lineup was well underway. We quickly got things in order and we were able to begin our clinics by 10 am. With the exception of a few afternoon showers, we had a hot, sunny day all day long. Order within the orphanage regarding our clinics seemed to run our clinic is “just there”, known as only a short distance. Marilyn is under the weather today and will stay behind.
 
very smooth. All volunteers of the local Community Development Committee were in full force (approx 30 members), many of them actively working with us during the clinic, and a few standing around, watching and trying to ensure that the locals knew it was them individually who was responsible for the good will brought into their community. We still deal with issues of the local CDC members moving their family members and relatives and friends to the head of the line. Mackenna’s brother Sammy drops by and meets the group and is fitted with a pair of glasses. All in all we had a very good day.
 
Father Bernard of the local Catholic Church in Mikinduri has invited us to have dinner at the church this evening to recognize the benefits we have brought to the community. Ted and Silvanos have had to deal with the politics of the invitation throughout the day, as Father Bernard is relatively knew to the town and has not been active in the Community Development Committees. All of the volunteers are invited and welcomed as well and the evening appears to have been very successful. Father Bernard offered use of his Internet access to assist our communication efforts in the future. We hope that it may be further progress for the community as a whole. The message of everyone needing to support one another and work together for the benefit of the needy and disadvantaged in the community is strongly stated and appears to have been accepted. The dinner also proved to be a great opportunity for us to thank and provide a small token of appreciation to the many volunteers who worked with us.
 
Monday morning we are on the go by 6:30 and off to visit with the first family to be sponsored by MCOH. The family was very appreciative of our offering. Back in town, we have breakfast and then begin our meetings with the CDC Health Committee and then a meeting with the overall CDC Committee. The meetings were very productive and a number of issues raised and discussed. Ted advised of new initiatives planned for the near future, family sponsorship, sewing center, solar ovens, and micro-financing. All are receive a very positive response and the CDC members recognize the need for their committees to be more actively involved for these opportunities to succeed. Following the meetings, the CDC members thank us for our efforts and provide us with their tokens of appreciation. Safe to say that all recognized the challenges brought on by the weather however the CDC members congratulated us on our perseverance and determination to hold the clinics and deliver the many items to the schools, widows and orphans. It is very clear that there is a very strong bond between the people of our communities.
 
We’re enroute to Meru to pick up Jane and Joan. We also have a mother with a small child traveling with us so that they can catch the bus to Nairobi to get to the hospital for treatment. Plans are to stop at Castle Lodge for the night before heading onto Nairobi for our flight home. While everyone is leaving Mikinduri with mixed emotions, all of us are looking forward to a hot shower. As stated earlier, the only dry place in Mikinduri was the shower. Those white porcelain fixtures will also be much appreciated again. Until the next time…

Written by Phil Handrahan, a member of the Mikinduri Children of Hope Tour Group, November 2006

Well we arrived in Mikinduri approx 12:30 pm with an optimistic outlook given the good traveling conditions from Meru. As we approached town limits from the mountain surrounding the town, the sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day. We quickly went to the Maternity clinic to coordinate our “give-aways” for the day. Aside from the afternoon clinic we planned to deliver a suitcase of toys and trinkets to the kids when we served the meals at the feeding center. We also prepared a suitcase for our visit to the school in Kigara. All seemed to be a good plan coming together.
 
As we packed the suitcases at the Maternity clinic, the locals appeared at the door and lineups began. All hopeful that they might receive a hat, a pair of glasses or perhaps the doctor might provide some treatment to their concerns. Then mixed messages from the local authorities started coming our way indicating that information on the location of our clinics had been sent out that differed from where we planned be setting up. We decided to continue with the program as we had planned. Minutes before leaving town, word came that the road to Kigara was in bad shape and impassable so plans quickly changed so that we would offer the clinic at the feeding center for the orphans and widows.
 
As we left town, it started to rain. By the time we reached the feeding centre it was a downpour. We walked 300 metres to the feeding center with supplies in tow and as we approached the feeding center we saw hundreds of people waiting for our arrival. Outside the numbers were huge, inside the facility was wall to wall people. We made our way through the crowd and emptied one room to serve as our central operation. Again plans had to quickly change where we decided it was necessary to abandon our clinics and simply look to feed everyone and provide all with a hat.
 
I am picking this up a day later and I will simply say things did not go as planned. Heavy rains ended our session and we decided to try to get back to our hotel approx 5 pm. We got back to the hotel with assistance, soaking wet. Went for a late dinner then surprise…the widows and orphans who were not around for our 7 pm meeting showed up at 9:30 pm. We certainly did not re-schedule. We had a very good meeting with them however all were tired. Hopefully better times tomorrow.