Next time, Nairobi!

I am lying here on my bunk bed at Shalom House after four very intense days here in Nairobi. I am trying to make up my mind about what I think of what I have seen. So far, I don’t really know to be honest. There is a lot to digest.
I guess what you automatically do when you see things that you cannot relate to is to anyway compare it to what you know. Comparing it to Europe does not make any sense. Comparing it to South Africa where we were only a few months ago or to Indonesia, where I used to live, comes closer, but still does not really hit the mark. Both of these countries are more advanced than Kenya.


The main questions that keep popping up in my mind is: Why? Why is this country burdened with such heavy poverty and so great social problems? I have met so many smart and capable young people the last few days, so many souls hungry to learn and to improve. So why isn’t it happening?


HIV and AIDS is perhaps part of the answer because of the way it rips families and communities apart. Kenya has the same problems with crime, corruption and climate change (there is a severe drought at the moment) that many other developing countries face. But it still does not add up. There is something missing in the equation. This country should be doing better than it is! Why isn’t it?


Tomorrow we are leaving Nairobi again, but only for a while. We will be back in three weeks to continue our work. Hopefully the impressions will have had time to settle by then.

Thorsten


Monday: Stefano explains some of the things we have learned over the past few weeks to the Koinonia management team. Afterward Ruslana went on to explain the framework that we are working with.


We split the Koinonia managers in smaller groups and asked them to fill in the framework for their own social projects or business units. They took to the task with great enthusiasm and quickly learned the concepts. Here Eva is overseeing one of the groups.

Esther, Ann and Helen working on their frameworks. The Kenyan women seem to be very strong and with important roles in both Koinonia and in the Kenyan society in general. Esther is the day-to-day manager of Koinonia. Ann and Helen each run one of the children homes.

Tuesday we went around to visit the social initiatives in Koinonia. Ruslana and Gerald are here getting a tour of the dispensary.

Wednesday we went around to all the so-called IGA’s (Income Generating Activities), which is NGO terminology for ‘business unit’. Here Stefano and Ruslana are learning how Harrison runs the computer school Shalom IT.

Today Thursday we then visited four other organisations to learn how they do the same things that Koinonia does. This gave us a lot of very useful input. Here we are talking to Father Sebastian – an Indian Catholic priest – who has been working in Africa for 20 years and now runs the Bosco Boys home in Nairobi. The place is both a home and a school for 300 boys, who all have been saved from a life on the streets of Nairobi.

Let’s not forget why we are here. This is two of the girls at ‘Shelter Children Rescue Center’, which we also visited today.

And here are a couple of the boys at ‘St. Paul’s Children Home’. The new Karate Kid has been found.

Eva is making new friends in the process.


Lea Toto as part of the Nyumbani program delivers health services such as medication, nutrition and counselling to HIV patients. They have an impressive 5000 patients enrolled in their programs now.

Kenyan’s are not without humour. ‘CAUTION – Driving School - Driver under instruction – In god we trust…….’


Stefano and Gerald battling with the mosquito net. Quite an entertaining event!