We
have only written one newsletter in English.Here comes the second, and we will try to write
more regular hereafter...But we can really say that the Lord has been with
us and opened exiting paths for us the last year!
Jonny
went to Norway from end of March until 1st June, and
also had George from our Maisha Mema family and Barak
coming for one month.Through services in churches, meeting pupils and
teachers in schools and nurturing friendships, we had a
great time together, and accomplished quite a bit.We just see it is so important to keep contact
with those already supporting us, and also make new
friends and supporters.Highlights from the tour were a church service in
Jonny’s hometown
Stavanger, where a choir also participated, and a visit
to a school near Bergen that supports us.The school arranged an activity day, where all the income
went to Maisha Mema.It is very nice
to see pupils from Norway literally
run for children in
Africa!
George also made a big impression on everybody he met.With his background as a street boy, a clear
Christian testimony and a desire to succeed in life, it
is impossible to be left
Jack,
who got married in Norway end ofMay, is one of three trustees in Maisha Mema.Kennedy (will be 12 in September)
is living with us in the Maisha Mema family
untouched from what he has to
tell.He is
also one of our most helpful children, always ready to
stretch out for other children or others.
We
would also like to share a bit about the every day life
of some of our workers.Fredrick Oguttu – Fred – is studying
Architecture, and is soon through with this at Kenya
Polytechnic.Nine months of the year, while school is on, he
is a part time worker with us, and finances his studies
in this way.He manages to pay for school- and living
expenses, although he has to turn every Shilling.The remaining three months he is full time with
us.He helps some of our children with homework, but
is otherwise basically in Soweto.In addition to activities in the Clubhouse there,
his main occupation lies within the football teams.
He
is responsible for our U12 and U14 football-teams (we
also have a small boys team where Julius is responsible
and two girls’ team taken care of by Kwame).In the May report, Fred writes a chapter we
really want to share.He writes: «The team has become my life.They are my joy, my shame, my encouragement and
my pastime.They face many challenges, from weak
family-bonds, playing bootless
to being looked down upon – hunger has become
part
Fred,
with football and architectural drawings.The job has become a lifestyle.It is hard to find such coworkers!
of their
diet [because of poor home-conditions], but still they
rise.They are my prayer and they are my wish, I just
don’t know what I’d do without these 24 souls: life
is surely a mystery.I never pictured myself pairing with a crowd, as
I’d always been a very independent person.When I think of the future now, they almost
always pop up in the horizon.Let’s just see what lies await for us».
Another of our workers, Florence Mkala, has good
contact with some of the mothers of children in our
program.In
the April and May reports, we can read some passages
starting with Saturday 5th April: «I visited
Mama Mary [not her real name] together with 4 mamas.We encouraged her and prayed for her ».Monday 7th April: «I visited Mama Mary.She is sick with HIV/AIDS and quite weak».Tuesday 6th May: «
I visited Mama
Mary, who showed me the documents stating that she is HIV
positive.I
encouraged her, and from this day she became my friend».Monday 12th May: «I visited Mama
Mary,
and encouraged her to accept her situation and live
positive in it.She
is improving».Tuesday 13the May: «I visited Mama Mary first thing in the
morning.She
has shown tremendous improvement, and seems to have
accepted her condition
».Wednesday
14the May: «
I visited Mama
Mary.She can
now afford a smile …».Tuesday 20the May: «I
visited Mama
Mary.She told
me that she was given a referral letter [by the doctor
in the slums] to go to Kenyatta National Hospital».Mama
Mary’s condition is deteriorating.We have made an agreement with
her.Her daughter (she will be 11 in August) will come
to us some times in August to be part of the Maisha Mema
family.There
is nobody else to take care of her when the mother dies.The mother is helped by an organisation taking
care of AIDS-sick.
I
don’t know how much of our every day life you see
through the newsletters or even when you visit us.But we put a lot of weight on close relations.Doing so, also some of the bad things surface.As for example one of our children in Soweto who
recently experienced brutally being uprooted from
education and friendship in the Clubhouse:
Virginia,
14 years old, lived with her aunt in the Soweto slums of
Nairobi for some time.The aunt treated her more like a house-help,
though, than a niece.She only has boys, and Virgina therefore had to
do all the housework.Last year (2002) the family wanted Virgina
up-country to get circumcised.Luckily, we were able of preventing this from
happening, and Virginia remained in Nairobi.Through conversations with the aunt we told her that the
Government of Kenya bans circumcision, even though more
than 50% of the girls of the Embu / Mbeere tribe are
circumcised [actually, only 4 out of the 43 main tribes
of Kenya do not circumcise their girls!]. The operation
also means quite a big health hazard for the girls.The physical scars are of course impossible to
heal, passing urine becomes a big problem for many of
these girls (or they become incontinent), complications
with childbirth are rampant, and the psychological scars
are also very hard to heal.
Virginia
formally entered the Maisha Mema program in January 2003
after having been in the Clubhouse for some time, and
also entered class 5 in Bethlehem Primary School in
Soweto from the same time.She really enjoyed school, and became one of the
best in class after a short while.Unfortunately, one of the aunt’s sons
couldn’t keep away from Virginia, and she was nearly
raped in the house in Soweto.When we talked with the aunt about this, she was
only defending her son, and began treating Virginia
quite bad.In
April, the grandmother came to Nairobi to bring Virginia
up-country to stay there.However we tried talking sense with her, we didn’t succeed,
and there was a very tense situation between our workers
and Virginia’s relatives.Virgina cried, but off she went.
In
the middle of June, our social worker Florence Kibicho
and one of our Clubhouse-workers, Julius Kinoti,
travelled up-country to check on Virginia.Equipped with a letter from the Children’s
Officer in Embakasi Division (where Soweto is), we
feared the worst.The
threat of circumcision was lingering still, and we were
wondering whether she was in school.But Virginia was in school, and the headmaster
was also aware of the threat of circumcision.Even though the grandfather had no idea about the
whole situation, and told Florence that we should never
have let Virgina leave Nairobi, the other relatives had
taken a decision, and our hands were tied.She’s in school, and she’s with relatives.We therefore feel we have done what we can do for now, and
hope that Virginia will still have a good life.But it hurts, especially for our workers in
Soweto and for the kids there.
The
day after Virginia was “kidnapped” (yes! really
kid-napped!), there was a feeling of doomsday at
Clubhouse.We
get very attached to the children in the program, and
feel it has to be that way.We have to focus on the individual child, and not
on the big masses of children – as some of the other
organisations do.Close
follow-up has become one of our trademarks.We will keep it this way.Listen to the words of Julius in a song he wrote
after Virginia left, and which the other children in
Clubhouse now sing in memory of Virginia:
Teach
me, not to hold a weapon, but a pen
Teach
me, not through fighting, but through books
I
am a child in need of love
Stand
for the rights of children
Be
strong, children, be strong
also
when they don’t care about our rights!
None
of you have probably missed the fact that we have
a building project coming up.We really need a centre where our work can
be properly coordinated and where our children
will have a safe place to stay.Jonny will travel to Norway again in
September, and the whole month is this time
dedicated to this cause.We have gotten about 1/5 of what we need to
start building a house for the girls, for the boys
and for us.But we also need to put up a perimeter wall
around the property.This will be about 3 meter high and about
250 meter long to surround one of the properties
of 1 acre (we also have a neighbour plot of 1 acre
for sports activities).Water supply in Nairobi is unreliable, to
say the least, and we therefore need a well.The sewage is also unreliable, so we will
have septic tanks.The plot also needs to be landscaped, and
we need some equipment.Pray for us about this!This first phase will cost about GBP
375.000 / US$ 560’000 (which includes the price
of both plots, i.e. 2 acres).This is a lot of money, but if you need
some arguments for it, check our web page
(Building Project)!The second phase, which includes a clinic
and a community hall [church!] / guest house, will
cost about GBP 225.000 / US$ 330’000.When everything is in place, we will have a
real good place where we also can receive visitors
at our own compound!
Finally, I have to
mention that we have a group of 6 American
visitors from a church in Richmond, Virginia here
for the moment.This came about through our friends Rick
and Jane Taylor, and we are thrilled about the
opportunities it opens.They have been ministering in Soweto, both
in Clubhouse and several schools, and will also
fellowship with the Maisha Mema family.Julius even said they are the best visitors
they have ever had in Clubhouse!It has been really wonderful to have them,
and we hope this will be a long-term contact!With this, we wish you a real
good summer and autumn (although it is winter in
Kenya for the moment).God bless you, and keep us in your thoughts
and prayers!
The
American team threw a party before they left
. What a joy!
With
this, we wish you a real good summer and autumn
(although it is winter in Kenya for the moment).God bless you, and keep us in your thoughts
and prayers
Nairobi, 5th
August 2003
Best
greetings from Jonny and Marianne Haldimann
Mydland
