New Life Academy - Ruiru - 6.26.08

This morning we got up and took the short trip up the road to a town called Ruiru. The New Life Academy is located there and it is run by a married couple, Peter and Anne. The Academy serves as a school for children aged 3-9. One year ago the Amani Scholars from the Amani Children’s Foundation came to the New Life Academy and drilled a well for water. They are one of the only locations in the community with regular access to sufficient water.

When we arrived at the home we were greeted by the children at the gate. They were on recess. They had prepared verses, songs, and dances to perform for us. Next, the kids challenged us to a relay race…my mom even participated! Before proceeding to class, Jane gave the children some words of wisdom.

Soon thereafter, the kids had to go back to their classes and we all sat down with Peter and Anne for tea and a discussion. Peter told us that he met Clive and Mary Beckenham while in his third year at a divinity school. They’ve been like parents to him since his own passed away.

One question triggered a very intense conversation that described the conditions surrounding the New Life Academy during the recent political conflict. As the other tribes ganged up on the Kikuyus because the candidate from their tribe was the projected winner, they targeted Kikuyu men and male children. Many women and female Kikuyu children were molested. Homes were burned and people were displaced. Kericho was one of the towns that was hit the worst. Some children who survived can remember their fathers and grandfathers being shot, stabbed, or beaten to death by their own neighbors. Children were separated from their parents and neither knew whether the other was alive or dead.

The government descended upon these towns and took victims and potential victims and dumped them by the busload in safer areas of the country like Ruiru. These people didn’t know where they were and had nowhere to go. People were being directed to the New Life Home Academy. One day an elderly woman showed up with five children that she had grabbed as she made her escape. She was of no relation to them and didn’t know any of them. When she arrived a New Life Academy they were all fed and clothed and she began spreading the word around town. Soon the Academy was feeding 80 families a day. Crisis counseling was also provided for the children.

Soon Peter was forced to ask parents to go get food at the Red Cross or one of the other relief sites so that they could continue to feed more children. And feed them they did. Thirty of the students who started as refugees eventually enrolled at the New Life Academy. Five older girls who were rescued now make up the sewing program at the school. They sew all of the uniforms for the children at the Academy and the other New Life Homes. They also make merchandise that they sell. Following the discussion we bought some!

Upon leaving the Academy, the group split up. The young people headed to YaYa to scope out a TV and DVD player for the Nakuru home while the parents went back to Kazuri Beads. We had dinner at a great little Italian restaurant then we headed home for a group meeting.

At the group meeting back at the Ngufami House, Jane instructed me to pair each young person with an older person (mentor) in the group to work on constructive Amani projects when we return to the United States. The catch was that you can’t be with your own parent. My mentor is Millice Ellerbe of Charlotte and Mom’s mentee is Jack Grote of Winston-Salem. We’ve got some ideas cooking and I’m hoping you’ll all be involved!

Kisumu - 6.25.08

Jane briefed us on the things that would be different in Kisumu. It’s a more conservative province than Nairobi and Nakuru. It is expected that the majority of a woman’s body should remain covered at all times, despite the heat. Women are also treated as property here. There is a policy known as “bride inheritance.” When a woman’s husband dies, her late husband’s brother or cousin will inherit her as his wife. She may become his second wife if he is already married. At that time, the arrangement is consummated and everything that the woman has to her named is transferred over to new husband. She has no rights, no property, no nothing. Rape is also a high risk in Kisumu. Female Genital Mutilation is still a supported practice. These are ways that men assert their dominance over women. At one point it was reported that 40% of adults in Kisumu had HIV/AIDS while the rest of the country reported about 11%. On the upside of the visit, Kisumu is the province that Barack Obama hails from.

When we woke up this morning, we went to breakfast and then headed over to New Life Home – Kisumu. This home houses 50 children year round. It is by far the biggest. It is run by an incredible husband and wife team, John and Prisca. Another incredible husband and wife team have just come in the last year to help with the administrative and academic focus of the home, their names are Tom and Forida.

John is the eldest of 21 children. When he got a job at a bank after leaving university his family was overjoyed. He was a rising star at the bank fielding promotion after promotion. Bank jobs in Kenya are coveted and extremely hard to come by. After 20 years he announced his intention to go into the community and care for the disadvantaged.

Prisca, John’s wife, is an RN by profession. Prior to New Life Home – Kisumu she worked in the best hospital in Kisumu in the private unit. Her job was also coveted and hard to come by. She was also paid very well.
One day an abandoned malnourished infant turned up in the hospital where she worked. She took the baby home after work to care for it and took it back to work the next day. She did this for about a week as the baby started looking better. She began this practice of bringing home babies became regular. She would bring the babies home one by one for a few days at a time. Suddenly, there were three babies in her home by night. Prisca decided to hire help. Suddenly there were five babies, so she hired more help. Eventually, and rather quickly, they became the Kisumu Rescue Mission with a maximum capacity of eight babies.

Prisca would care for these babies until they were well and strong enough to be transported to the already established New Life Home – Nairobi. All the while she was still working at the hospital and spending a few hours after work each day going around town to tell people at hospitals and police stations about New Life Homes and their mission. She did this in hopes of decreasing people’s tendency to discard and abandon babies. She encouraged them to take the children that they could no longer care for to New Life Homes.

The story of the Kisumu Rescue Mission began to spread locally. Eventually some donors bought the land and the maximum capacity expanded to twenty. More expansion and donations brought the maximum capacity to fifty children, where is stands today.

The Kisumu Rescue Mission became New Life Homes Trust – Kisumu in the year 2000. They care for fifty babies year round. They have a staff of fifty who care for the babies on a twenty-four hour rotating shift. That’s a crucial one-to-one connection for the kids most of the time. They get all the love that they need!

Originally, New Life Homes founders Clive and Mary Beckenham had the intention of making Kisumu the location for a New Life Home for special needs children. Under the incredible leadership of John and Prisca, New Life Home- Kisumu and the special needs home have merged into one. New Life Homes – Kisumu is home to five special needs children who are well-adjusted and thriving in the company of their peers. In recent years they have come into the opportunity and the funding to hire a full-time occupational therapist to work with these children. This is such a stimulating environment for them, it’s so exciting!

We also spoke with Tom and his wife Forida. They are the Montessori teachers at the Kisumu home and they eagerly expressed that the main objective of the learning program is to train the children for life and eternity. John and Prisca have trained the staff that will run the home in Kericho. In the very near future (we’re talking months) the Kisumu home will send 14 children to live at Kericho.

The Kisumu home boasts that they have never had an HIV positive baby die while being cared for there. That is because they have expended all of their resources to turn an HIV positive child into an HIV negative one. Many people don’t know that if a baby is diagnosed and treated early enough it can become negative and lead a normal life. The miracles of medicine…

After we came back and got the kids settled back in, we began to say our goodbyes. We had to prepare to catch our flight back to Nairobi. Once back in Nairobi, we went to dinner and then to bed! Long day tomorrow!

Building Community - Kericho

We said our final goodbyes, loaded up the vans, and headed towards Kisumu. We planned to stop by the new group home in Kericho, a town between Nakuru and Kisusmu. Nakuru and Kisumu are the two provinces at the center of the recent Great Rift Valley Conflict. Both provinces make up the Great Rift Valley though it is mainly Nakuru as Kisumu is farther to the West.

The conflict started early this year during the elections for the new president. The final two candidates were from two of the major tribes in Kenya, the Kikuyus and the Luos. The Kikuyu people make up 65% of the population in Central Kenya. As the ballots were being counted, the Kikuyu candidate emerged as the projected winner. Enraged, all other tribes across the country turned against Kikuyus everywhere. All the other tribes sought out Kikuyu people to terrorize. All Kikuyu houses were burned to the ground. Kikuyu men and male children were killed. Stabbed, shot, whatever. The women and children were taken, raped, beaten, etc. Many of the victims knew their attackers…many of them were their neighbors. In this time of great bloodshed and political unrest, many lives were lost. Kericho was one of the areas that was hit hardest. All along the road we saw the remnants of burned homes and businesses in a community struggling to cope with its loss.

There’s no questioning when you arrive in Kericho, you just know. It’s one of the most breathtaking settings you’ve ever seen. The town of Kericho is in the business of tea. They are right behind Sri Lanka and India in terms of tea exportation and serve as the tea capital of Western Kenya. The land is covered in beautiful high tea leaves and winding roads.

Settlers attribute the town’s name to John Kerich, a herbalist and early tea planter who lived here at the turn of the 20th century. Locals believe that the town’s name was derived from the Masai chief Ole Kericho, killed here by the Gusii during an 18th century territorial battle. Who’s right is anyone’s guess.

The James Finley Tea Company owns the particular plantation that we visited today. They wanted to do something for the community of tea leaf pickers. They opened up housing on-site for the workers near the school that most of their children attended. They decided that they wanted to open a home for disadvantaged children so they approached Clive and Mary Beckenham about opening a New Life Home in the middle of the plantation. This is the home we went to visit today.

The construction of this new New Life Home community is complete, but there aren't any children living in it yet. There are three houses for the children to stay with the house mother and an assisting auntie and a house for the administrative directors, Andrew and Ruth Too. The idea is that this group home type setup will accommodate orphaned children once they have grown out of the traditional New Life Home system which supports them up to age three. As opposed to turning them over to the government to be placed in foster care, New Life Homes will continue to love, educate, and care for them here at the Kericho home. The Toos are dedicated to raising these children through adulthood.

Andrew, a mechanical engineer by profession, and his wife Ruth, a nurse, have four grown children of their own. Now that the home is finished, they await the day that their new children will arrive. Any day now they will be receiving three-year olds from New Life Home – Kisumu and New Life Home – Nairobi. This new home is located about 30km away from Kisumu.

As we sat down to listen to Andrew speak about his expectations for the new home, a group of school children on their lunch break stared at us from across the fence. We told them to come inside and meet us. They did and eagerly lined up to have their picture taken. Then they sang for us!

Afterwards we sat down to listen to Andrew and hear a few words from the school principal Sally. It warmed my heart to hear how they all planned to take care of these children from the time they arrive, through school, and until they married if they were never to be adopted. They wouldn’t be discarded just because they had outgrown the New Life program, the New Life Homes program decided to extend itself to meet a need. I can’t imagine a more positive, beautiful, loving atmosphere for these kids to grow up in. These kids who were thrown away in garbage dumps as newborns are now living in the lap of luxury. Well, Amen.

After we said our goodbyes, Andrew delivered a prayer for our safe journey and we headed off to Kisumu. Once we arrived, we checked in at the Imperial Hotel. This hotel is apparently Kisumu’s most luxurious hotel and it beats Hotel Kunste by leaps and bounds. After checking in, we left almost immediately for dinner at Kikobo Bay right off of Lake Victoria.

Lake Victoria is said to be East Africa’s most important geographical feature. It graces the shores of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its waters bring mosquitoes and snails making the risk of malaria much higher in these areas. We learned this all too well at dinner! We were run out of the place by mosquitoes almost as soon as we came.

Wrapping Up in Nakuru

We arrived at the Nakuru New Life Home this morning around 8:30. The babies were up to greet us along with the caregivers, directors, and administrators. As we began to assist the staff by playing with and feeding the babies, Anne, the teacher, took us down to the school in groups of five at a time for the open house.


While the first group went, I played with Reuben until he needed to be changed. I was almost immediately given Osten (pronounced like Austin). He is absolutely adorable! He’s a very happy baby, you can tell because he’s always smiling. He’s a big boy and he loves to explore anything that you might be wearing. He explored my shoulder with his gums and left me a little “baby love” on my shoulder!


Finally it was my turn to go down to the open house at the school in the backyard. When I walked inside I was directed to the kitchen where there were small sandwiches, cookies, popcorn, and potato chips. I was told that the staff at New Life Homes had each given 50 shillings to make this possible for us.

The main attraction of the open house was the artwork portfolios that were on display. The school-aged children at the Home completed these portfolios. There were about 20 of them. They were like homemade coloring books, each bearing a different child’s name on the cover. The portfolios displayed the children’s ability to color inside the lines.

In looking at the portfolios, I noticed slight differences in what appeared to be same picture in different portfolios. All the portfolios had the same pictures in the same order, but the pictures looked just a little different from portfolio to portfolio. When Mom inquired, Anne told her that she draws each child’s coloring book page by hand. There is no internet or computer to download these blank drawings so that the children may color them and no copy machine so that she may draw it once and reproduce it the appropriate number of times. The things we take for granted…

That also made me think of something I’d seen the day before. When we got to the home yesterday, we saw a man cutting the grass in the yard…with a machete. We all thought “wow, we should raise some funds to get them a lawn mower.” But when you think of it, we would only be putting that man at a greater disadvantage. When we get them a lawnmower, we turn a job that takes him three days to complete into a two hour job. We would almost cut three days of wages for him.

It’s similar to when a pair of Amani contributors came to the home last year and were deadest on getting a washing machine down to the home for their use. Wilson and Beth had to explain to the generous contributors that the electricity needed to run the washer machine would cost more than paying the women who washed the clothes. It would also cut those women out of work. If we really want to continue to help them, we need to continue to sponsor these orphans. The money that we give cares for a child, the caretaker at the home gets paid to care for this child, that job helps that woman care for her family as she uses the money to feed them, put them through school, etc., this helps the economy survive. Circle complete.

Before leaving, Wilson talked to us a bit about what it was like when the country was at war with one another. The mass killings during the Great Rift Valley Conflict caused great stress for directors of the homes. He recalled how he had to hide in the roof of the home with the Kikuyu babies for their protection. It was mainly the male children because they were the ones begin targeted, but also because there weren’t many Kikuyu girls at the home in the first place. There weren’t very many girls at the home period.

He explained to us that girls are adopted more often. There are always more boys in these homes than there are girls. Wilson said that it is because girls are so vulnerable. They need a mother AND a father to protect them as they are growing up. It is believed that boys will be ok. That these homes can provide the care that they need. He also said that there are always fewer girls at the homes because they don’t come into the homes at the rate the boys do. This is because when some people find orphaned girls they’ll keep them and turn them into maids. They are often abused in situations such as these.

Josem Walker, a friend of the Amani Children’s Foundation, fears the vulnerability of female African orphans. He has 16 children…13 of them are adopted…all of them are girls. That’s not to say that he doesn’t care about what happens to young orphaned boys. He has started a school for them. It has produced some of the leaders seen in the various Kenya communities today.

Off to Nakuru – 6.23.08

We headed out this morning around 9am on a three hour trek to Nakuru. Nakuru is northwest of Nairobi and is the country’s fourth largest town with a population of 163,000. Upon our arrival at the Hotel Kunste we were informed that we would each be sleeping in single rooms! No snoring! Yes! We dumped our stuff in our rooms and headed downstairs for a buffet lunch in the hotel banquet room.

Following lunch we headed to the nearby Nakuru New Life Home to play with the kids there for a couple hours. Two administrators run the Nakuru Home, a married couple named Wilson and Beth. Before that New Life Home location actually opened, there was an orphaned infant in need of immediate care and shelter. Unsure of what to do, Beth and Wilson took the sickly malnourished orphan into their own home until they could take him to the home when it opened up.


The orphaned baby, Charles, was about 3lbs. when Beth and Wilson took him in. After spending a short time at the home he was almost completely healthy. They began welcoming more orphaned babies in need of medicine, food, shelter, and love. Less than a year later, Wilson and Beth adopted Charles as they continued to run New Life Home – Nakuru.

I bonded with Reuben all day at the Nakuru home. He’s a small handsome young man. He can’t walk yet and he was just getting over chicken pox. He still has a slight cold and some difficulty breathing. He barely left my side all day.


We were given a tour of the home and the school before we fed the kids. Anne, the teacher, showed us around. The little school for the Nakuru kids is located on the same property as the home, right in the backyard. It’s a quaint little building with toys and learning materials for the children. Right now, they are in the process of creating a library for the kids in a room right off of the kitchen.

There are a great many toddlers at the Nakuru home and most of them can sit and feed themselves. Smaller babies, like Reuben, still need to be fed. He was not happy when he finished all his fruit! They exercise precise portion control in that home so seconds were not an option.

Before we left the home, our Amani group planted and dedicated a tree to the Nakuru home. Our leader Jane gave a short speech before placing the tree in the ground indicating that this meant that we would be coming back to Nakuru and that we’d be around for a long time. Each of us put some dirt back in the hole as confirmation of our commitment then everyone (kids included) added more dirt to stabilize the tree!




We left the home and went to the Lake Nakuru game reserve to see the animals. We rode in the vans and popped the hood up so that we could stand and take pictures. We saw lions, rhinoceros, gazelles, water buffaloes, and flamingos among other things.

After a couple hours we were all pretty beat. We headed back to the hotel for dinner and we young adults quickly migrated to our rooms afterwards. Tonight is supposed to be the night of the flies. Nakuru has malaria carrying mosquitoes within its province. Now we’re all on malaria medication and the probability of contracting the disease is highly unlikely, but we’ll still have to sleep with nets over our beds tonight. Tomorrow is another early morning. We head back to New Life Homes – Nakuru for a special open house at 8am then it’s off to Kisumu!

The First Full Day – 6.22.08

Let me tell y’all, 7am in Kenya is the exact same as 7am at home in the States…painful! Given that we went to bed after midnight, getting up to get ready this morning was just as hard as it is to get up and go to work everyday. I supposed I’ll be imposing a regular bedtime upon myself while I’m here too.

I think the hardest thing about getting up in the morning here is remembering not to drink the water. It’s not the act of “not drinking” it as much as it is the fact that you can’t let it in your mouth at all. I did pretty good with the shower last night, but I had to walk back to my room and retrieve my bottled water to brush my teeth.

Anyhow everyone got dressed and two vans were loaded up, one headed for church one headed for coffee before church. Guess which one we were on? Yep, we needed that energy boost. About 9 of us headed to the Java House in the YaYa mall complex less than a mile from the Nfugami house. Mom had her usual house coffee and I had my usual vanilla cappuccino. We boarded the van and arrived at a very crowded church. We actually had to sit outside under a tent and watch the service on a projected screen.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the service but it was by far one of the most interesting services I’ve ever attended. It started out traditionally with praise and worship. Then a male and female choir member took the stage and sang a duet about keeping their marriage strong through fidelity. I was so confused! I’ve never heard that kind of song during a regular church service.

The next thing I knew, the pastor was to be a wedding right then and there! He summoned the groom to the altar and instructed us all to stand for the entrance of the bride. The pastor took the couple through vows as they giggled along with the congregation. We were so confused! We didn’t know if they were really getting married or not. It turns out they weren’t. They were actually a visiting husband and wife pastoral team who had come to speak on the relationship process.

After church everyone piled back into the vans and we headed back over to the YaYa mall complex. Out front the locals had set up a market selling their goods which apparently happens every Sunday. If you’ve ever been to Canal Street in New York City, you’ve got a good sense of what the market is like. They grab at you, compliment you, call you by name over to their lot to try to charm you into buying something from them.

They also keep you on your toes with relentless bargaining. They go high, you go low, and you meet somewhere in the middle. Keeping up with the U.S. dollar to Kenyan Shilling ratio was way harder than I expected. One thousand Kenyan Shillings is equal to about fifteen U.S. dollars. Doing the conversions off the top of our heads probably cost us a few pennies in the long run, but it’s a fun little game. We went inside the complex for lunch…pizza…go figure!


Afterwards we went back to the Nfugami house to regroup before we headed to New Life Homes to meet the babies in the Nairobi house! When we got there we washed up and were given smocks and each handed a baby by the staff. They’re so cute!

The Nairobi home is set up to house and care for babies until they are about 3.5 years old. The isolation room is for any child who is sick to reside until they are well so as not to contaminate other babies. The ICU houses babies from infancy up to four months. These babies are too fragile and small to be put into the “general population.” Then there are the “general population” babies. These babies normally range in age from about 5 months to 2 years. They’re the ones you normally see photographed on Amani correspondence. The “Alice Hardy” toddlers normally range in age from 2 to 2.5 years old. And finally the big toddlers are ages 2.5 to 3.5. Right now the Nairobi home is housing just over 40 babies.




After leaving the home we headed for Kazuri Beads. This is the store and factory that donates a lot of its prized handmade beads to the foundation to make the popular Amani beads. Here’s a bit on Kazuri Beads:

Kazuri, which means “small and beautiful” in Swahili, began in 1975 as a tiny workshop experimenting in making hand made beads.

Its founder, Lady Susan Wood, started with two African woman and soon discovered that there were many other women in the villages around Nairobi, most of whom were single mothers, who were in great need of regular employment. Driven by the desire to provide such opportunities, Kazuri has grown and today boasts a large worksforce skilled in the manufacture of handmade jewelry.

Following our trip to Kazuri Beads we made our way to a nearby mall complex to where we ate at an Indian restaurant. Following dinner we were all pretty exhausted so we headed home to pack and get to bed.

Last Leg

So when we got to Amsterdam Mrs. Stephens led us to her favorite spot in the airport, the meditation center. It’s this slightly dark, cool, room where people can stretch out and nap or meditate in a quiet place. Of course my mother went in there and passed out. I went off to the business center to use the internet. Nothing was really crowded with it being 5:00am.



When Diane finally came to we went to a little café for breakfast. We both had scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice, and tea. It was actually really good! We headed to our gate and boarded the final leg of our flight to Nairobi. Almost as soon as I got on the plane I went to sleep. Finally! Mom dozed in and out of 27 Dresses. Seven hours later, we’d finally made it to Kenya!

We all went and received our visas, retrieved our bags, and waited for our drivers. We also had to grab some Kenyan Shillings from the ATMs. The exchange rate at the airport is the best.

Our drivers came and quickly loaded us up and took us to the guest house we’d be staying in. As opposed to a hotel, the lot of us are staying in the Nfugami guest house, two doors down from one of the New Life Homes!

Mom and I are sharing a room with bunk beds. There are three bathrooms for the lot of us. There is definitely going to have to be a morning shower schedule and an evening shower schedule.

After everyone got their luggage into their rooms we congregated in the house meeting area to discuss our plans for the next day over some snacks. We all dug into something called “Samosas” or something like that. They look like empanadas.



Most of us agreed to go to the 8:30 church service in the morning to get an early start on our day. I think we’ll be spending some time with the babies tomorrow too. After we figured out how to work the showers, I jumped in and took a lukewarm one and got ready for bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a loooooooong day.

Flying

I didn’t realize how long we’d be in the air until we boarded the plane in Charlotte for the first leg of our trip. When I sat down and took a good look at my boarding pass I was taken aback! We left this afternoon (Friday) and we won’t get to Kenya until 7:30pm Saturday night. Then we have to get up and go to church on Sunday! Sheesh!
Anyhow, I’m really posting to share our crazy trip itinerary:

Charlotte to Detroit

Detroit to Amsterdam

Amsterdam to Kenya

The first leg was a breeze…one hour flight…a cinch. We left Detroit at 4:00pm to arrive in Amsterdam at 6:00am. My sleeping patterns are going to be all messed up.

The flight to Amersterdam probably one of the best international flights I’ve ever been on! Only because I was so entertained! Everyone had their own personal TV in the headrest in front of them. I’m used to that. What I’m not used to is having all of these options. Northwest has these personal remotes in the armrest for each passenger to control their own TV. There are tons of movies to watch, games to play, and great music to listen to, all free of charge!

After I played every single game, I started watching movies. I re-watched one of my favorite independent films, Phonebooth. All star cast, low budget, a must-see movie! Next I watched a movie that I’ve wanted to see since I heard about it but I just haven’t had the time. The Other Boleyn Girl, is the tale of Henry VIII and the demise of the Boleyn family. May I recommend it to anyone that may be reading this! It’s so good!

After the crew served us our breakfast (egg and cheese biscuit and a fruit cup), I nodded off while watching Harrison Ford in Presumed Innocent. Next thing I knew, we were in Amsterdam!

The Airport Fiasco

Today’s the day! How excited are we?! Words can’t express! Ms. Velma and Auntie Terry came over to help us get out of the door. We finally left the house around 10:20am (to board a 12:40pm international flight…yeah…Diane). After Ms. Velma dropped us off at the airport we headed into the EXTREMELY crowded airport terminal. We got in line for Northwest with our bazillion bags and waited.

Having already weighed our luggage outside, we were more than confident that check-in would go smoothly. Boy were we wrong. All of our checked luggage was indeed below the 50lb. limit. The problem was the car seat.
With the remaining monies that we donated, we moseyed on down to Wal-Mart last night to purchase a baby car seat for the babies at the homes. We had received and e-mail from Mrs. Stephens (our trip leader) a few days ago that said that we could check a car seat or stroller free of charge and that they would definitely be appreciated down in Kenya. Northwest Airlines obviously was not aware of this allowance.

Some loud blabbermouth Northwest employee was at the front of the check-in line directing people to self check-in kiosks. When she saw that my mother and I were both at our checked bag allowance limit, she told us that we would have to pay to check the car seat. We told her that we had been told that we could check it in addition to our luggage, free of charge. She said “well unless you can present documentation from Northwest Airlines stating that, I’m going to have to charge you if you want to check that. Car seats are only checked free of charge if you’re traveling with a child.” The attendant behind the counter, Celina, subtly rolled her eyes at her annoying co-worker and under her breath said “put it down on the scale, I’ll take care of it,” as she placed a checked luggage tag bearing my mother’s name on it.

Blabbermouth gave me a phone and said that I could call Northwest customer service and ask. After a couple rings, I got someone, explained our situation and he sympathetically said that there was nothing that he could do. Blabbermouth told us that we could leave the car seat there at check-in provided that someone come and pick it up before the end of the day. She instructed Celina to put the car seat on the ground away from the conveyor belt.

Man was I mad! Letting that be known in an airport will get you arrested and cavity searched these days so I kept my cool…all the while my mother is still checking in (don’t ask me what took her so long). The blabbermouth employee looked my way smugly and awaited the verdict. “We have to pay,” I said. In a fake unapologetic tone, she told me that the charge would be $150 (because it’s an international flight) and that the woman behind the counter would help us sort everything out. $150?! We only paid $50 for the car seat. No way. We began to think of who we could call to pick it up.

While my mother was walking around on the phone somewhere (as usual), I tried to sort out the situation. I approached a very busy Celina and asked her if we could check the car seat under one of our traveling companion’s names. There was a family of 5 (The Ellerbes) who were flying out of Charlotte with us to Kenya. They had checked in earlier and had not hit their checked baggage allowance as a family.
Celina said she could do it, but with the blabbermouth eyeing her every move, it would require us to go find one of the Ellerbes at our gate, bring them back up to check-in to present their photo ID, and go back through security. At this point, there wasn’t enough time to do that. We left the seat at check-in and thought more about who could come pick it up.

Down at the gate I called Mrs. Stephens to tell her the dilemma. She was shocked, as they had never had this be an issue. She told us that we would indeed be traveling with children once we arrived in Kenya, transporting them from home to home. At this point it was noon, but it was worth a try.

I got into the long line at the desk to talk to the attendant. When I finally got up to her, the plane was beginning to board. I explained the situation to her. I told her that we needed to have that car seat for the safe transport of orphaned babies in East Africa. Her hand couldn’t get to the phone quick enough! She called up to check-in and was about to demand that the car seat be checked only to find out that Celina had already slipped it in with the other luggage! What a day! There are good people in the world.

Reaching us in Kenya

So I know y’all are wondering if you’re going to get to talk to us over these next two weeks and you just might! We will both have international roaming enabled on our regular cell phones, but those should only be used for emergencies! Sprint’s rate is something like $1.95/minute overseas so we won’t be on those much. We do have a Kenyan cell phone number that you can call anytime (ALL OF OUR INCOMING CALLS ARE FREE!!!)

Our Kenyan cell phone number is:

0710 476 827

In most cases you’ll need to dial the country code from which you’re calling (US = 011), Kenya’s country code (254) followed by the cell phone number above barring the leading “0.” It might look something like this: 011 254 710 476 827. Otherwise follow the instructions on the calling card.

There are two ways to reach us on our Kenyan cell phone.

1) International calling cards are relatively easy to find at your Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Follow the instructions on the card…it’s pretty simple.

2) Skype. This is communication by telephone over the internet for an insanely cheap rate! If you think you’re technologically savvy (or maybe you have a teenager that is) the process is very simple. If you go to www.skype.com and check out the instructions, they’re also pretty simple. You buy credit (like an international phone card) via paypal and dial our number and it’s all good. The value you’ll get for $10 on Skype easily quadruples the amount of talk time you’ll get from a $25 international calling card. There are no connection fees or service charges or anything! All you need is an internet connection, a credit card, speakers, and a microphone on your computer and you’re all set. Skype gives some of the most competitive calling rates for international communication around the globe.

If all else fails, there’s always e-mail! You can reach us on our Gmail accounts:

Kristin – khill02@gmail.com

Diane – dfrosthill@gmail.com

We’ll be checking frequently!

The Packing Party

If you weren’t invited, don’t be mad! What started out as Jordan and Mrs. Garrick bringing over the last of the donations turned into a full-blown packing party! This past Wednesday night Mom invited some of our closest friends and family over to eat, hang out, pack up all of the donations for the babies, and pray for safe travel.

Aunt Gail came over and she and I ran out to grab drinks and the pizzas we ordered from Anzi’s. Mrs. Garrick and Jordan were first on the scene followed quickly by Aunt Gwen, Morgan and Tim. Next came Mr. Pete Jack and his son Nolan. They were in town for Nolan’s orientation at UNCC. He just graduated from Garner High School this spring! Ms. Velma and her sister Pat showed up next and finally my cousins Gennetha and Brianna and my friends Jessica and Jazmine. We had a full house before we knew it!

After everyone had had enough pizza and salad, Nolan and I headed off to Aunt Gail’s house to recover a scale to weigh the bags while everyone else started packing the two designated suitcases. Surprisingly, we got almost everything in the two suitcases and both were under the 50lb. limit!

After we joined hands and prayed, we said our goodbyes and most everyone went home. One more day!

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*Click on the pictures to shuffle through them*

The Jordan Garrick Initiative

It all started at a wedding about 3 weeks ago. Chrystal, my college roommate, was a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding here in Charlotte. Mrs. Gloria Garrick and her husband Ron were in attendance. They're Chrystal's godparents. Conveniently, we were seated at the same reception table as the Garricks. Awaiting the appearance of the newlyweds, we all began chatting and catching up.

We began getting into the details of our upcoming trip to Kenya. Each program participant is allowed to bring down 50lbs. of donations as we'll be visiting the babies in the homes. We weren't sure at that point how we were going to go about collecting clothes, toys, diapers, wipes, etc. for these babies. Mrs. Garrick said that her daughter Jordan might be interested in helping us get some of these things donated. She said she would have Jordan call me the following night and we would outline a plan.

Jordan called the next evening and I gave her a little background on Amani, the trip, and what we were aiming to collect. We agreed to meet in the next couple of days to iron everything out. After a productive meeting, Jordan sent out the following e-mail to a number of potential donors:

Hello,

My name is Jordan, and my mother, Gloria Garrick is helping me with a fund-raiser for the Amani Children's Foundation. Here is some additional information I would like to share, to gain your support in this effort!

I am working with Kristin, the daughter of Diane Hill, who is a rising senior and Robertson Scholar at UNC Chapel Hill to collect baby clothes for the Amani Children's Foundation. The Foundation is sponsoring several UNC Chapel Hill students on an upcoming Family Leadership Trip to Kenya, to visit the homes for abandoned infants and small children. The Foundation is focused on serving children, who have been orphaned by AIDS in Africa. Babies arrive and live in six "New Life Homes" across Kenya.

If you are wondering how you can help... We are collecting the following items, and need your support:

• New Baby Clothes (0 - 3 years of age)
• New sturdy Baby Toys (0 - 3 years of age)
• Disposable Diapers
• Baby Wet Wipes
• Baby Plastic Pants
• New / used books
• 2 new / used car seats

If it is easier for you to make a financial donation, please feel free to send money , and let me do the shopping for you!

It is our goal to collect over 100 pounds of baby items for Kristin and Diane's upcoming trip, so we will need to receive your donation by Monday, June 16th. Please respond back to this email, if you are interested in participating, and my Mom, Gloria will coordinate a pick-up time.

Here are some additional website:
Amani Children's Foundation: http://www.amanichildren.org
Kristin Hill Scholar profile: http://robertsonscholars.org/index.php?type=dynamic&source=scholarsProfilesDetail&at=student&id=383
Robertson Scholars Program: http://robertsonscholars.org/

Thanks in advance for your support!

P.S. I have attached some pictures of the children!

From there, the donations poured in! Let me tell y'all, that Girl Scout can move! She asked me for a flyer that she could take to dance, church, etc. I commissioned a good friend to design this:

With that, she was off again! After a good week and a half, Mrs. Garrick and Jordan came over to deliver the donations they'd collected from people. My mother and I were happily stunned! There was 145lbs. of donations in the form of books, clothes, diapers, and baby wipes!

Thank you so much Garrick family for organizing and collecting all of these items for the babies. Thanks to all of you who contributed, you are truly changing lives one baby at a time. Your help is invaluable to us!

Please send additional donations to this address:

The Amani Children's Foundation
c/o The Jordan Garrick Initiative
3288 Robinhood Rd. #107
Winston-Salem, NC 27106

The Amani Family Leadership Trip - June 2008

Each year, the Amani Children's Foundation does some sort of trip to Kenya during the summer. The themes vary. Some years the focus is on students, sometimes adults, sometimes doctors, sometimes family. This year, it's about family.

Over 13 million children in Africa have lost one or both parents to the HIV epidemic. That number is expected to double within the next decade. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is producing orphans so quickly that family structures can no longer cope. They are being found in garbage dumps, on hospital steps, and at bus stops across the continent.

Our 14-day visit/seminar/service tirip will examine the issues of AIDS in AFrica and the effects of this pandemic on infants and children. The trip is intended to begin the long-term process of bringing together the best imagination and resources of America and the best leadership in Africa. Together with Kenyan partners, we will brainstorm, converse, and draw on our professional skills and personal experience to further the work being done on behalf of infants and children whoe have been orphaned by AIDS.

This trip was designed around 6 core objectives:

1. To develop a core of American leaders able to speak from first-hand experience about the crisis of AIDS in Africa in order to make sustainable advances in caring for orphaned infants and children

2. To work with the staff of New Life Homes in caring for abandoned children

3. To meet with other young people and leaders in Kenya involved in the work of caring for orphaned children and protecting their rights

4. To study best practice approaches to the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time

5. To bring the best and brightest minds of the next generation both from the US and from Kenya to develop long-term relationships and big picture thinking about the future of the children of Africa and the ways every discipline and segment of the US and Kenya can affect that future

6. To deepen intergenerational relationships, both here and in Africa

Trip dates: June 20 - July 3

The Amani Children's Foundation

When I entered college in 2005, I entered as a member of the Robertson Scholars Program. Each year the program welcomes approximately 30 students (half at UNC, half at Duke) for an extraordinary expense-free four year collegiate journey. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is my home school along with about 14 others in the Class of 2009. One of those classmates goes by the name Rob Stephens. Rob is from Winston-Salem, NC and is an absolutely incredible individual. I could write an entire blog on our friendship, but I won't!

Upon entering the program, Rob and I became fast friends. We spent our first summer living and working together in the Mississippi Delta interning at the Delta Center for Culture and Learning. I've told many that that was the best summer of my life, and that still holds true. We learned a lot and endured a lot while we were there in the Delta and it proved to be an unforgettable experience.

In our sophomore year Rob began to tell me more and more about a foundation his parents had founded. It was called the Amani Children's Foundation. He had recounted his time spent in Africa and the adoption of his Kenyan brother (Joe) and sister (Bui) when we were freshmen, but he'd never gotten into the details. Since he gave them to me, I'll give them to you!

The Amani Children's Foundation was first created to raise awareness about the growing number of orphaned children in Sub-Saharan Africa and to build partnerships with groups and individuals in the United States to work towards decreasing the impact of this issue. This organization is primarily focused on serving children who have been orphaned by AIDS by providing various types of support for them.

Currently, the foundation is supporting New Life Homes in Kenya. The group has been working since 1994 and has rescued over 800 infants with most of them being adopted. They are a best practice example of how to raise infants in a loving environment. They are a highly respected organization in Kenya.

There are 6 New Life Homes in Kenya and Amani supports the operation of the homes in Nakuru, Kisumu, and Mombasa as well as assisting the other homes. The Kenyan government would like to see a home in each of the 8 Kenya provinces, and there is a great need for that. Rob tells me that some of these babies are found lying abandoned on the side of the street crying because their families just can't care for them. That was all I needed to hear, I knew I wanted to get involved!

That spring, Rob approached me wondering what kind of fundraiser we could have for the Amani Children's Foundation. We decided on a benefit concert. We wanted a venue that would a attract people so we reached for the stars and started with one of the most famous live music venues in the world, the Cat's Cradle down in Carrboro, NC. Miraculously we secured the venue! Then it was on to recruiting acts. While recruiting, we noticed that all the artist fell into one genre of music. Acknowledging that, we called the event "The Amani Children's Foundation presents: Hip Hop Helps."


With help from other student organizations and local sponsors, the concert was a great success. We were able to collect over $2000 in donations. It takes approximately $1000 to care for a Kenyan orphan in a New Life Home for their first year of life. We were pretty proud of ourselves. Keeping up with the tradition, we had two Amani benefit concerts this year.

Each time we've had an event to benefit the foundation, my mother has sent a donation. This got her signed up for the Amani Children's Foundation newsletters and she began to learn more and more about the foundation. In a way, we've both been connected to the program for a couple years. So when this opportunity rolled around, we both jumped on it!

Please read more on the Amani Children's Foundation on their website and find out how to get involved!

Less than a week!

Greetings and welcome to our blog! As many of you reading know, my mother and I will be taking a trip down to Kenya with the Amani Children's Foundation at the end of this week. We hope to use this blog as a way to keep in touch with y'all while we're away. Before we leave, I'll clue you in on a bit of what's been going on in preparation for this trip and our history with Amani.