Untying the Hands

August 7

It is our daughter's 22nd birthday, yet she is 10,000 km away. Happy birthday Elise, we love you inestimably.

But what a day. Our good friends Andrew and Sue Russell are visiting us in Kenya, and one of their missions was to visit their sponsor child in the South-West of the country, on the shores of Lake Victoria.

We drove down the day before, then set out from our motel at 8:45 and visited the offices of Plan International, the organisation through which the sponsorship is organised. Their offices are a two storey building, of conventional Kenyan design with lots of technology and at least ten friendly, dedicated workers.



Plan works through the sponsorship model, and in this district there are 10,007 children that benefit directly or indirectly from their work. We sat with Dennis, Nancy and Tom and they explained that Plan attempts to improve the living standards of people in the local communities. They teach financial planning and the need to save, they encourage farmers to diversify their production, they interact with students in the local schools and teach them about being safe and avoiding strangers. Child abuse is a big problem in the area. Plan has also built school rooms and in-serviced teachers in regards to child protection.

I was blown away with their attitudes - very un-Kenyan. Instead of the traditional "pole pole", their mantras included "giving up is what is not allowed" and "sitting back does not take us anywhere". They are eager to make changes and improve the lives of the people in their community. More Kenyans need to take on this twenty-first century attitude of immediate can-do-ness.
Dennis explained that in Plan's opinion the biggest problem facing Kenyans is that they do not have the knowledge to change. They are as capable as any group of people but have to battle against centuries of unhelpful tradition. He sees Plan's job as "untying their hands", and allowing them to move forward, fully utilising their natural talents. It was a very inspiring and uplifting visit.

After a quick coffee we were driven to the sponsor child's primary school. Asalama the driver plus Dennis and Nancy took us in their land cruiser.  In Kenya, schools love to receive visitors, especially ones from other countries. The head teacher (principal) took us into his office and explained how thankful he was for all the assistance provided by Plan. We met the chairman of the school management committee and then the whole committee! We had arrived in the middle of a management meeting. The principal took us on a tour of the school. Plan has built two rooms, including an ICT room that now contains 6 computers.

We visited the Stage 4 classroom of the sponsor child and Andrew and Sue were excited to meet the boy that they have sponsored for the past 9 years. There were only about twenty students in the class, but perhaps that was because it was the final day of term.  We gave each child a small sweet, took some photos and gave a quick message of encouragement.



Outside we were the guest of honour at a short concert put on by a small group of singers. Around us were all the other students, most interested in these strange white people that had visited their school.



As you may guess, the singers harmonised beautifully and all swayed to the music. They show no stage fright and looked as though they were really enjoying their performance.



Next, we loaded the sponsor child on board and headed for his home. It was a trip of about 10 minutes, along some fairly rough, bumpy tracks.
The parents were very happy to meet us, especially Andrew and Sue. Grandparents, neighbours, siblings, cousins and aunts were all introduced and we were invited into the sitting room. The house was about 3m by 6m, of wattle and daub construction, with a cow dung floor and a corrugated iron roof. Like most Kenyan sitting rooms, it was full of lounges covered with embroidered cloth. On one side of the sitting room was the cooking area, on the other one or two bedrooms.

Through a translator (although the father's English was reasonable) we exchanged greetings and talked about our pleasure at being able to visit. Plan had told us that the family wanted to provide something for us to eat, and out came soft drinks and biscuits. We were very happy about this, considering it to be quick, easy and reasonably western. Andrew presented his sponsor child with a soccer ball and pump.




The boy was quite fazed by the experiences of the day, including being given a seat of honour at his school's assembly. We were unsure whether he really understood the role Andrew and Sue had played in his life. Nevertheless, he was quite prepared to take the football outside and kick it around with Andrew.



I spoke to the sponsor child's father and learned that he was a farmer, growing maize, ground nuts and cassava. He explained that the soil is not good (quite rocky) and so yields are low. He had just finished harvesting his yearly maize crop.
We also took some basic food supplies for the family; sugar, wheat flour, maize flour and fruit juice.

As Andrew was kicking the ball outside, the women brought in another course of food; chicken stew, ugali and skuma (kale cooked with onion and tomato).
Andrew appears in the doorway and says "well, I suppose it is about time we headed off" and then saw the bowls of food on the table. The meal was very enjoyable. In particular, the chicken was surprisingly tender (going on past experiences).

As time came to leave, there were more speeches, translated by Dennis. The family was visibly happy to have been visited by us, and they asked if we would accept a small gift from them. We could not refuse their generosity. Small was definitely an understatement. Out came two bags of maize kernels, two bags of peanuts and two live chickens with their legs tied together. We felt like we should refuse this extravagant gift, but to refuse would have offended. Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were given two live chickens while visiting friends? No, it's not something that Australians consider very often.



The chickens were placed under the back seats of the land cruiser, we said our final good-byes, and headed back into town. As we entered town Nancy said "now we are going to take you out to lunch". Again, we could not protest, but we were all unprepared for another meal. The cafe was quite nice and we ordered chicken and chips or a chicken curry and rice. We have found that chicken is the safest and best prepared meat in Kenya. Although, sometimes the word "barbecued" seems to be confused with "scorched earth policy". Des was keen on trying fresh Nile perch, but on this occasion it was not available.

After a slow tour around town, including the jetty on Lake Victoria we were dropped-off at our motel at about 4 pm. We left the gifted produce (including the chickens) for the Plan workers to distribute to needy families. It was a lovely day, but quite emotionally draining.
Well done Plan International. You are a professional, well-organised charity that is doing very good things in rural Kenya.