Raising Money for Ron's Education

Below is a short video I put together to sum up my experience in Kenya, particularly in the rural village of Kokech, Nyanza Province. You will see a short clip of an interview I did with a young boy named Ron, the circumstances under which I met him were tragic but he was certainly no tragedy. He was so inspiring and to me he was one of the bright lights in a village with literally no electricity.

My mission is to raise money for Ron's education. Gylian is someone who quickly became a friend of mine while I was in Kenya. She helped me every step of the way and she also happens to be Ron's older cousin who is truly invested in Ron's wellbeing. We are working together to make sure Ron is able to go to secondary school. On average, 4 years of secondary school costs about $1500 in Kenya and so I am trying to raise $3000 to try and cover both the school fees and any additional costs such as books, uniform, and nutrition.

Something worth feeling...

This has been a hectic few months since I have come back from Kenya.  I have had to deal with the reality of life here in the states:  school, work, more work, more work, school, dishes, dogs, bills, school, did I say more work?  I finally had the chance to call Ron today after not speaking to him for 2 months.  He was so excited to talk.  To be honest, I think I was just as eager. And it was so refreshing to hear his voice:  a young boy simply eager to talk to someone about life and hope, and he happened to be on the other side of the world.  As I was just moving past the beginning of my day, he had already eaten dinner and was soon off to bed.  When I asked him what he had for dinner, he told me bread.  I asked him if he had anything else, and he said no, and that meat or poultry was hard to come by for his family.  I have frozen chicken and turkey sausage in my freezer ready for a future dinner, not even tonight's dinner.  I have leftovers from a seafood paella I made two days ago.  Would that be overnight shipping??? It just doesn't seem fair...

He likes the backpack I gave him for school (compared to the paper bag he was putting his books in before) and he also took his final exams for the semester and did very well.  Last I saw, he was in the top 5% of his class. He said he wished we could talk everyday...I would love to talk to him everyday, but I could only offer him once a week.  It seems like such a small thing but it has such a big impact on both of our lives.  For him to know that I am still thinking about him and to have an outlet from the rest of his life AND for me to have someone who keeps everything in perspective. Everyday we bitch and moan about something, at least I do: financial problems, traffic, people, feeling overwhelmed, overworked, under-appreciated, blah, blah, blah...And then there is Ron...a young boy who is so smart, bright, and full of potential who simply needs someone on his side who can see him through a shitty situation.  It's hard to balance the appropriate perspectives.

With his permission I think I might record some of our conversations from now on.  It's pathetic to say, but I miss him.  He etched his way into my heart (not very easy by the way) and now I feel a sense of obligation to him.  I legitimately care about this young boy and his future and I don't want to lose contact with him.  He has now become like my adopted little brother. And luckily he has a wonderful person looking out for him back at home.  Gylian is the young woman I stayed pretty close with in Kenya as she helped me with so many things and she is staying aware of Ron's situation and keeping me informed.  She is going to help me set up a restricted bank account where we will be able to monitor the funds to make sure the money being sent is put towards Ron's tuition and immediate needs. I don't think this would be possible without her.  Thanks Gylian!!!

Well, I know some amazing people who want to contribute to his high school tuition (which he alone cannot pay for) and I am putting together a short clip from an interview I did with him while in Kenya. They are raising the money as part of their Christmas gift giving.  I will keep you posted as to how this goes.  In the meantime a piece of my heart remains in Kenya with Ron while I try to fully function here....

What a disposable camera can reveal...

It's been a while since I posted something, but life has been crazy since I got back.  I got some pics developed from the disposable cameras I gave to kids in the village.  These are only pics from 2 disposable cameras.  Thanks to a donation from Steve Kraft, coolest friend evah!, I was able to provide a bunch of kids with the opportunity to take pictures of their lives.  Little by little, I will post all of their pics, so stay tuned...and yes, you get to see all the pics (head cut off, thumb in the way, whatever they took - it was their first time ever handling a camera on their own!)

I will be sending the students copies of the photos they took!  I know they're gonna be super-excited!

Back home...

I'm back home and soooo happy to be here.  I still haven't processed everything from the trip, but I figure it will all fall into place over the next couple of weeks.  The surveys were more or less a success as we managed to administer them and collect the data.  Now they need to be analyzed and we need to create a response to the data - the most important part of it all.  Okay, so we have all this data.  What now? I think it's more overwhelming to have started something and know the hard work still lies ahead.  I think there will be many challenges to the success of this project with sustainability being at the very forefront.  What types of interventions can we put into place with the least amount of effort that will have some type of impact?  What interventions can the community put in place with the least amount of assistance from us is probably a better way to word it That seems like the first step to take.

Things unrelated to the survey:

Ron - The 14 year old child I met while in the village who became an AIDS orphan right before my very eyes.  We both decided we wanted to stay in contact with one another so I will be calling him and sending him letters once a month to see how he is doing.  I bought him a phone before leaving so I can contact him.   I figured any fundraising I do in the future will involve securing some funds so Ron can afford to get through high school.  We are working on some kind of arrangement so I can make sure he is holding up his end of the bargain and earning the educational support and not just viewing it as though it is a handout of some sort. I just hope his personal situation does not deteriorate as his mother's health is declining (as she is also positive).  Right now he stays with his grandmother so he can be able to finish school (grade 8).

I brought a present home with me...
Well, maybe not a present, but definitely something came back with me to the states.  It presented itself as a fever with intermittent, crippling stomach pains and body aches.  Of course, the symptoms only presented themselves to me when I was several miles up a mountain on the Wapack Trail yesterday.  I feel better this morning, but there is something unnerving about a fever when you have come back from Africa.  All the possibilities - malaria, dengue fever, and the numerous other little buggers start to invade your brain space (both literally and figuratively) and make you wonder: "What the hell is in my body?"  I'm hoping this is just a 2-day thing that will sort itself out sooner than later.

Velcome to ze Nederlandz....

It's about 7am and I arrived in Amsterdam a couple hours ago.  Yesterday I had to kill about 12 hours of layover time in Nairobi before my flight left to arrive here.  And now I only have 5 hours to go before the final flight that will bring me home.  Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited to come home.  I know I haven't been gone for that long, but I miss my life.  I miss all the little things that add up to make it my quirky silly little life: Mike making me laugh, making yummy crazy dinners that always seem to include avocado or guacamole, my dogs, going for runs in the morning, and having my crazy fam over for dinners.

I'm too tired to come up with anything interesting to say although lots of little funny things happened in the past few days.  Maybe once I actually sleep for more than 3 hours, I can form intelligent thoughts again.

There is one funny thing I thought about as I was trying to fall asleep on Wednesday night (my last night in the village).  I remembered the very first night I arrived in the village.  News of a death in the family had also joined along for the ride and people were crying and mourning just as I arrived.  At first, I wasn't sure what to think.  I wondered, "Oh boy, did I take someone's room and now their unhappy about it?  Is someone upset that I'm here?"  I kept pacing back and forth in the dark room trying not to get anxious. And then it clicked..."Ahhh, even better...someone has just passed away and they are receiving the news..." I knew that mourning sound from my mother's Ethiopian culture of mourning when someone dies.  And then I met this young lady who was about my age named Gylian.  She was still a stranger to me at the time, but I could tell her job was to make sure I wasn't alone all the time and I had someone to talk to (if I only knew then how important it would be to have her around to get my work done!)  And then when she asked if she could sleep in the same bed that first night, I thought "you've got to be kidding, right?"  But by the end of the month, it was as though she was my sister or something and we would stay up in bed at night giggling about the funny things that happened that day.  I also learned that she literally acts drunk when she eats chocolate! It was hilarious...

More pictures while I have the chance...

The lovely yet bashful Belinda fetching some water from the well

Momma goat is giving me the goat version for "back off!"

Just a cool perspective...

It was pretty common for random kids such as this cutie and her friend to start following me wherever I went...

"It's a difficult life, but it's your life..."

That was the line a woman working with AMPATH here in El Doret said to a 20 yr old young man.  Both his parents died from HIV when he was just a child and he has been living on his own for over 10 years now with little help from remaining family.  She is the field coordinator for the AMPATH Orphans and Vulnerable Children Program.  Victor, the 20 year old, is literally living in a room the size of a closet and that is all he has. Oh yeah, and he has to take care of his younger brother. He has been receiving nutritional and school fee assistance for some time from AMPATH and now he is trying to get some school fees for college.  He just wants a steady job in an office to make enough money to have a good life.

When I asked him what a "good life" is, he said, "when I am in a position to help others is when my life will be good."  The AMPATH worker, let's call her Jane, was trying to give Victor some tough love.  She has seen it too many times where people become dependent on the assistance they receive and are unable to provide for themselves in the long-term. She told Victor he shouldn't be asking AMPATH how they can help him pay the remaining tuition fees, but what can he do to secure the money himself.  She even insisted that he spend his money more wisely.  He had little to nothing in his room.  A mattress, some newspapers to decorate the wall, and there was a cheeky radio playing some static tunes.  Jane suggested instead of the batteries to play the radio, he should be saving that money for school fees.