Friday - 11 April 2003
We land at Nairobi airport at about 0630, tired as expected, stained with coffee unexpected as Russ decided to throw his over me during the flight. Now the fun begins! Collecting the bags proved interesting four of us with 200 kg's of clothes, pens, pencils etc divided into 14 bags, deciding which were our 14 unmarked bags proved time consuming.

Our Kenyan friends Charlie, Roheama and Elisha were all extremely pleased to see us and in particular Russ. Firstly we deposited our gear at the church guesthouse, our home for three days and settled for a Kenyan breakfast of traditional porridge, fruit and bread. On with the day first we were off to Charlie and Roheama's to meet their children Janet and Amos. Their home consists of a room three metres square in a concrete walled block of many other families in a similar situation. Slums as I was to learn have different grades of squalor and poverty; in comparison to the worst this is about two grades up. Elisha has no home and stays with friends within the local slums. Walking the streets to the kid's school, shit flows past in little streams; Nicky was beginning to regret her decision to wear flip-flops! Children want to touch you wherever you walk, they run off to tell their mates and then more play the game of touching the muzungo, Swahili for white men. They all shout 'how are you, how are you' Roheama tells us that this is the only English they know and they shout it at all muzungo's irrespective of their nationality.

Roheama is from Tanzania and we talked about Kilimanjaro, stupidly I asked her if she had climbed it. She described the torment of their existence, each day is about finding food and surviving, the thought of relaxing or climbing a mountain is a concept that she could not contemplate. Life for her is a day-to-day struggle. I though about how in western society many moan and whinge yet they are blinkered to the real hardships that life can throw at you.

Off to Kibera now allegedly the second largest slum in Africa, 1 million people crammed into an area 2 miles by ½ mile set within a valley. Some families have lived in Kibera for 2-3 generations they know nothing else. We met up with the team from Vision Africa, Reverend John and Vera Packard and Deborah Ross who we followed deep into the slum. The road or should I say track continually through you across the truck due to the deep ruts, they would not be passable in the rainy season. People stare at you from the side of the road perhaps questioning why we were here, it is difficult to feel inconspicuous.

We walked further along small tracks with huts crammed on either side, our Kenyan friends act as our bodyguards and I think we are seen as easy prey. The walls are made of mud and cow dung, roofs of corrugated tin. Later I was to learn of children who become unable to walk through jiggers (a tick like creature that lives in cow dung), they burrow into their feet causing infections and sores; of course many children simply have no shoes. The environment that these people live can only be described as pathetic.

We arrived at a school and greeted by the teachers. Girls probably aged between 5 and 12 years old then treated us to a 20-minute dance show. Traditional dancing and singing about their plight, the threat of AIDS and requesting our help. Massive amounts of energy, talent and great bum wiggling! I cannot over emphasize the parody of the environment outside the door to these children who were giving it their all, bright, vivacious and smiling. Very humbling and emotional, whilst I did not appreciate at the time this experience to me was the most touching of the trip. It was on the flight home I decided that I wanted to help the young girl who had led the dancing. They all need help yet I cannot help them all.

We then walked onto another school called school of hope. Children here are given basic education up to 8 years old then nothing. You cant change the world but all this certainly makes you question the greed and selfishness of many, why do western governments not want to cancel third world debt, why is interest on average 53 times that of developed countries- the list goes on. The day made me realise that whatever projects we do they need to be sustainable, we need to give them a chance in life, basic education is a start but it is not enough.

Saturday 12 April 2003
Early start to a hectic day, first we visit a rescue centre for destitute and orphaned children. Here you can see it in some children's faces how they have been abused, most children smile, here they did not, insular and scared. We are told many are orphaned through AIDS however they do not test if the children have the virus, I feel uncomfortable at this, yet later I think why test if you do not have the drugs to do anything about it. One of the girls is wearing a Newcastle top with 'Shearer' on the back, I immediately think of writing to him.

Our next stop is deep in another slum, Colin McRae would be proud of our driver for getting us in and out of this place. This is real shitty slum; an open sewer runs across the bottom of a slope, leading to it is just piles of human waste with goats and dogs scavenging. Happy children in a small courtyard greet us; they hop across a stream of sewerage discharged from the adjacent building. The buildings here are falling down, upstairs the timber floors creak and the balcony rails barely support washing let alone one of us. There are five hundred children staying here, 9 to a double mattress with another 9 tiered below, they try and sought those who may wet the bed to sleep on the low level, again it is a pitiful existence. However the lady who runs this home is a real character, very passionate, genuine and proud of her children and rightly so. We play for a while skipping with a rope full of knots, the children are fascinated with our video; they play and dance for the camera.

On now to the Imani centre, this was established some 20 years ago from nothing it is very impressive. They take in abandoned children of all ages, educate them and give them life-skills the children run the centre. Local employers are keen to offer employment, they know the children are well educated and also wish to gain positive publicity.

To finish the day we have a traditional Kenyan meal with Charlie and Roheama doing the honours, Roheama says she is embarrassed when fly's swarm in, they are proud of what they have. This is surreal here I am in a slum eating a fantastic meal yet outside the door is just depravation and poverty.

Sunday - 13 April 2003

Up early for an important day, we leave by 0700 hours to visit Great Rift Valley. Having been in Nairobi for two days with its crammed streets and population it was incredible to see the wide-open spaces and beauty of real Kenya. Janet and Amos had never experienced anything like this, they had never been anywhere to relax and enjoy the surroundings, this was something that simply their lives did not permit. Later we all had ice cream, I wondered how many western children had to wait until the age of 10 to have their first ice cream. It was truly heart warming to see their faces today.

Later we visit Seed of Hope a centre run by Vision Africa. We arrive to take part in a welcome dance, see the video unfortunately we just don't have what it takes when it comes to bum - jiggling! Seed of Hope is a training centre that offers life-skills and vocational training to young girls to give them a chance in the community to work. I feel this is so important, many of the places we visited are touching but just do not have the resources and ultimately money to make a sustainable difference to the children's lives. Vision Africa does achieve their aim of 'giving a child a future'.

Three days is no where near long enough to truly understand all the problems, however you cant begin to appreciate the plight of the children until you have seen it for yourself. In three days we came up with many ideas, I had to continually remind myself that we cant change the world but we can make a difference to some children's lives. In partnership with Vision Africa we are going to support destitute or orphaned children through education and provide them life-skills - it is a start, small to us but I hope it will provide some 'Opportunity not Charity'.

As I am typing this (a week later) I have spoken to Russ in Kenya, we have 7 children. He has seen two sisters today, their parents have died and their uncle has been abusing them, they are insular and frightened, we will help them.