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Community Outreach

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Over 30 Rotarians representing 10 clubs from Central California were in Kisumu, January 2005, to see for themselves and participate in activities directly beneficial to the urban poor.

The group, ranging in age from the youth to recently retired executives, traversed the winding footpaths in the slum areas of Kisumu where they built a kiosk for a grandmother struggling to raise 27 grandchildren. The men and women from the United States hammered away in the sweltering tropical heat as they rebuilt the roof of a maternity clinic run by a local volunteer nurse. The Rotarians got their trendy clothes splattered in paint as they rehabilitated an elementary school and health centre catering to teenage mothers and orphans.

These Rotarians from District 5220 of Central Valley, California were in Kenya as part of “Project Hope”, an idea of District Chairman Mr. Dave Gallagher. Under this project, orphan children will be provided with school uniforms, books, desks, etc while girls will benefit through provision of AIDS medicine, equipments and materials for training. In Kisumu, Project Hope is a collaborative effort with existing community organizations such as the Teenage Mothers & Girls Association of Kenya (TEMAK) and Agape Ministries.

Funds channeled to TEMAK under Project Hope will enable the expansion of its existing Hand Loom training project and help start a community Library. Part of the funds will be used in starting a half day classes for housemaids and girls wishing to pursue education and obtain a certificate in primary education. Improvement of the existing school furniture is underway and was kicked off through actual participation of the American Rotarians.

The trip to Kenya with all its activities also happened to be the group’s Centennial Project to commemorate 100 years since Rotary Worldwide was began. Each Rotary District is expected to engage in a worthwhile project as part of the Centenary.

The Americans arrived in Kenya right when the dawn of a New Year was breaking. They then headed to Kisumu, Kenya’s third city to the west of the country and on the shores of Lake Victoria. This was an ideal time for the organizations they were to visit were also just re-opening after a long Christmas break. At TEMAK, the Rotarians were taken round the premises where they met young women taking various training courses at TEMAK’s centre.

It was at TEMAK that the hard labor began. On January 3, soon after familiarizing themselves, the Rotarians unloaded an arsenal of paint buckets, brushes, hammers, nails, saws and gloves. The mission: to repair the structures of TEMAK’s elementary school that provides basic education to children of teenage mothers as well as children from the slums who cannot afford regular schools. The structures consist of iron sheets nailed onto a wooden framework. Over time, some of the wooden poles had rotted and needed replacement. The iron sheets on one side were missing, exposing the children to the on goings of the slums which include illegal brewing of hard liquor. The rest of the iron sheets looked rusty and a fresh coat of paint was sorely needed in restoring their appearance. According to Joab Othatcher, the arrival of the Rotarians guaranteed the operations of the school as health officers had previously expressed concern at the state of these structures.

Men and women of the Rotary group assigned to TEMAK this first day worked hard as a team. The women sawed the wooden poles, though it took some time getting used to holding saws. The men hammered away. Hats shielded faces from the hot sun, while thick gloves helped keep hands safe from injury. Cleary, this was a group that was well prepared for the task at hand. But it wasn’t just all work though, for there was plenty of fun to be had working in this strange environment thousands of miles far from home. Digital cameras were on hand to document the work for friends and family back home. The gadgets were a tremendous marvel to the children who would ask to see instant photos of themselves on the futuristic LCD screens.

There was more work to be done in the Obung’a slum of Kisumu, a notorious centre of illegal alcohol brewing. Joab Othatcher led the group on a visit to Margaret. Almost 80 – and a long time widow - Margaret is raising 27 grandchildren by herself. Reason? All her children died from AIDS related illnesses. The once big homestead with many houses and hard working men has now been turned into a home of death; haunted by fourteen graves acting as a constant reminder to the painful deaths of already departed dear ones. Margaret’s grandchildren range in age from very young ones aged less than 10 to adolescents approaching their twenties. The situation gets worse for Margaret since some of her teenage grandchildren conceived and gave birth.

Grandma Margaret remembers how she got worried after she lost three of her sons. She went on a crusade to educate and counsel the others with the notion that AIDS was the devourer of her dear ones. Little did she know that HIV had already invaded her prosperous home and was ready to reduce her to shambles and utter poverty. She then shifted her attention to her grandchildren. She was only too aware that many would run to the streets or even join bad company in the slums. Every evening, she would gather all the 27 together and give them wise counsel. They would pray together before Margaret saw to it that all went to bed.

Margaret is running a roadside business selling food, porridge and snacks to her neighbours. Her shed was demolished to make way for road construction and until the Rotarians from America visited her, Margaret had resorted to hawking foodstuffs right on the dusty footpaths. The Rotarians brought with them building poles, iron sheets and cement on a handcart. They listened to her story, comforted her and got down to work on the selected site.

Of course the sight of foreigners doing manual labor in a Kenyan slum inevitably drew in crowds of curious passersby. However, the atmosphere was generally cordial and there was no ugly incident. The children stopped their games and focused on one of the Rotarians who tried conversing with them in English. The children would repeat everything said to them and it became difficult to tell whether they were learning new words or whether they were merely mimicking the American accents!

In the first afternoon, the wooden frames for Margaret’s kiosk were up. By evening some of the iron sheets had been nailed on. The following day, work was completed on the roof, door and windows. The concrete floor was done with help from local laborers who used leveling and measuring equipment.

It truly was a busy week for the group of Rotarians. No sooner had they finished work on Margaret’s kiosk than Joab took them about half a mile away and even further into the slums. In this place, people fetch water from factory drains. They live in houses plastered in mud and cow-dung. There are no roads to speak of and the paths are flooded in murky, stinking waters polluted with run-off from illegal brewing. The residents subsist on waste fish from canning factories. The fish is prepared at a makeshift market abuzz with vultures, hawks and other birds of prey. The children hardly go to school; skin diseases are a common sight. Men and women sit on the doorsteps of their shanties, staring vacantly, with nowhere to go. No hope. No jobs. In this environment can be found Jane Wasonga, a community nurse offering services for free to pregnant girls in this area.

Jane, a professional nurse has been running a maternity clinic in the Obunga slum since 1992. She has been offering her services to women about to give birth. This in spite of the fact that most cannot pay even a token fee. Because of the nature of her voluntary services, Jane is now regarded as a Community Health Worker, a term used to describe persons who are in the frontline of social health programs and who are easily accessible to the community. At the clinic, Jane helps the mothers to deliver and recuperate before going back home. She started the clinic because its better than doing home delivery as most slum houses are congested by several adults and children.

Over the years, Jane’s clinic has suffered the vagaries of nature. Rain, wind and sun have taken a toll on the wooden poles and iron sheets used to put up the clinic several years ago. Because of the voluntary services offered at the clinic, there’s clearly no money for maintenance. The roof had been falling apart by the time the Rotarians walked into the place with their arsenal of tools.

An American couple from Texas, who were not part of the Rotarians, expressed shock and disbelief at the circumstances under which mothers undergo labor. Wayne and MaryLynn Mclemore said the sight of maternity beds in a mud-walled structure seemed like something from a horror movie set. But for the residents of Obung’a, this is real enough. So the Rotarians got to work in making Jane’s maternity clinic more accommodating.

The walls were painted, both inside and out. The broken roofing beams were replaced with strong, sturdy ones. Gleaming iron sheets were hammered to make a new roof. Working with iron sheets in the hot sun is definitely no fun as it was soon discovered. However, this didn’t deter the spirits of the men and women from California who had come so far. It was much easier working at the maternity clinic as there were no crowds of onlookers. Unlike Grandma Margaret’s kiosk, Jane’s maternity clinic is a little bit out of the main routes. Of course, the local children wanted to have their pictures taken and group members happily obliged. Jane’s neighbours were also greatly co-operative and the experience of rebuilding her maternity clinic was both enjoyable and productive.

From the maternity clinic in Obunga the Rotarians found their way back to TEMAK once more, only this time, they came to present a gift. It was their last day at TEMAK and they came smartly dressed in uniform white shirts. They were armed with cameras to record the moment when the memorial weaving room was handed over to TEMAK. Mr. Dave Gallagher was here to make the mandatory speeches with Joab Othatcher of TEMAK. However, the visitors were entertained by the girls at TEMAK who gave melodious renditions of their Christian faith.

The visit by the Rotarians from California was, indeed, a New Year’s gift to all at TEMAK. Children will learn in better conditions than they did last year. The school actually looks a whole lot better now. The people of Obung’a have received their New Year’s gift from the Rotarians. Pregnant girls with little money can receive the necessary natal care that will ensure the survival of their precious babies. Most grateful of all in Obung’a is Grandma Margaret, who now has a comfortable shop for selling traditional food and porridge to her neighbours across the street. From this business, she hopes to give something to eat to her 27 grand children so they don’t go to bed cold and hungry.

Many thanks to District 5220 of Central Valley, California!

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