Kenya Week 2

The food poisoning ordeal took about a week to fully get over, but we're back in business. We still aren't sure what caused it, but suspect something on the pizza we had at the hotel we were staying at.  Last weekend was pretty bleak, we left our temporary apartment all of two times, but getting rest was good.  By Monday we were out and about again, and by wednesday both our stomachs seemed back to normal. Hopefully they'll stay that way!  (particularly as we've taken to eating lunch at a little food stall in Kibera ;)

This was our first full week of going to the Children of Kibera Foundation (CoKF) office in Kibera every day, and actually feeling like we are getting some work done.  Its been great to get to know the crew in the office, and see first hand what the projects we have been supporting for the past few years truly look like on the ground. 

Carrie has been working on putting together a curriculum for a 2-week college application workshop that we are going to be running for the ~30 high school scholars that the organization sponsors (a process which has made us feel pretty old, considering it is coming up on 15 years since either of us went through that process. yikes.)  I've been helping with that a little, and also trying to get started on putting together an annual report for the Foundation to help our communications and outreach to donors.  Its nice to have a project to sink our teeth into for a while.

On Friday I went with the CoKF crew to an academic award ceremony at olympic primary school, a public school in one of the nicer areas of Kibera (3,000 students, kindergarten through grade 8, roughly 100 students per teacher).  Our goal was to raise awareness of the CoKF High School Scholar program.  Each year the foundation offers 10 scholarships to outstanding Kibera students who otherwise would not be able to afford high school.  The foundation guarantees all four years of tuition at a top kenyan boarding school, school supplies, and a huge amount of support in the form of mentorship and guidance during school breaks.  For the kids that get the scholarships it truly is a ticket out of the slum.

This is a relatively new program for CoKF. There are 34 scholars in the program to date, with the first few graduating from high school this year.  Last year there were 350 applicants for the 10 spots.  With better marketing and a bigger effort to get the word out at this kind of event, it will probably be a much higher number this year.

It's heartbreaking to think about turning down what inevitably ends up being many smart and ambitious kids who really need the support, but its worse if they never hear about the opportunity in the first place and miss the chance to apply.  Every year so far there have been very qualified kids who have shown up to ask about the scholarships after the application deadline. Hence the effort to get out to this kind of event and spread the word.


We had a little table set up around the corner from the awards ceremony (all of this happens outside), and were signing people up all day.  Watching the variety of kids and parents come by our table to learn about the program and register was pretty incredible. A few highlights:

•  The kids who showed up first thing as we were setting up the table, papers in hand and ready to go (registration requires filling out some basic information, including recent test scores, and providing a copy of the students birth certificate, copy of a parent or guardian's ID). This was obviously something that they were not going to miss.
• The mom who at first wasn't going to register her daughter because she was already being looked after.  When pressed for more information, she claimed her daughter was going to be "just fine" because she prayed for her every day.  Eventually the daughter showed up and jumped at the chance to sign up, and turned out to have one of the highest test scores we saw all day ... I guess she is somehow being looked after, but I'd attribute that to a lot of hard work on her part!
• The father who made about 4 trips back and forth to the school to get all the information he needed, and copies of the right documents.  The registration process was clearly pretty complicated for him to understand, but it was clear that he wanted to give his kid any chance they could get.

We probably had about 100 people register, so there were countless more of these snippets, older sisters signing up their siblings, etc.  In general, just watching the enthusiasm of the kids as they clustered around the registration table was enough to make we want to figure out how to give double the number of scholarships we do.  someday.

Its hard to be in Kibera every day and not feel bad about the disparity in wealth.  Not just random people you see in the streets and walkways, but even as compared to folks with relatively good jobs (explaining the fact that we somehow got ourselves in a position to take a year off from working doesn't make this any easier, as that seems to be unfathomable).  Its hard to say no to people who ask for money, or food for their kids.  Its hard to think about choosing one of these students over another for a scholarship. It never seems fair. 

And yet, for those students who do get chosen, this will truly be an opportunity of a lifetime, and will hopefully have a big ripple effect.  I guess that is the thing to remember, even if it is sometimes hard to do.


(Photos to come ...)