Making a difference – Community days

Part 1 - Children of Kenya (Thursday July 14)

One of my highlights of this CSC assignment so far must be the visit to a local nursery and school for orphans and less fortunate children, the New Life Africa International School. It was not an easy day but the one I will remember for a long time. Before going there I was not sure what to expect. Was a bit worried how meeting these children would affect me as mother and if the reality would hit too hard. Well, it did hit hard as it was obvious that these small children had gone thru rough times and were totally depended on this charity organisation that provides them school uniforms, lunch, education and all that they need. But at the same time we witnessed the genuine joy and happiness of these adorable children. They seemed to be happy with what that had but from our perspective the thought was along the lines “ how can we best help the home and school”. Some of the kids live at the school as they are orphans but some live at the home and come to school to study. Over 500 kids go to this school. In addition to the school and nursery the place also has a crisis center for women who have got pregnant very young or are having other issues. It was a good place for many different groups and I was inspired by the good work the staff if doing.

The school was founded by a Danish couple who have been here for 17 years. They had got a calling for this and are totally dedicated to run the place. Here is their web site if you got interested in learning more: http://www.newlife-africa.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

When there is a will, there is means seemed to be the guideline that they were following. I can imagine leading this kind of school may not be that easy in these circumstances, knowing how many needy children there are only in this area alone.

All in all we met kids that were between 3-15 years. The little ones were really hungry for touching and holding hands. I can imagine they do not get all the attention they would need. It was so calming just to hold them and smile when we did not have a common language. In the nursery we visited at first (it was close to city dumb and the parents of these kids were earning their living by searching for something valuable on the dumb – how sad), we sang songs, took a lot of pictures (it was the best entertainment to them to see themselves in the digital camera screen!!) and I blew soup bubbles with them. How fun! Just to had to keep the mind off from the fact that kids were really needy and had clothes that had seen better days. There is so much we who are doing well in life could do for these cute little ones. They seemed to be so happy with what they got. You should have seen the smiles when we gave them some candy and raisins…

"Hug therapy" at the New Life school

Community days: Part 2 - University of Egerton (Friday July 15)

Very different but as valuable community day was spent at Egerton University which is pretty close to Nakuru. The computer science students had requested some presentations from IBM team (topics like how to make an idea into a reality in the world of entrepreneurship, cloud computing, business process outsourcing etc). We gave them presentations and on top of that conducted little workshops on “soft skills” like expectation management, communication skills, project management. This was very inspirational to them as many had not realized how much these skills actually mean in the work life. Even some of the professors took part in these events and were really glad they did. It felt good as these are the things we often take for granted and now we were easily able to share the importance of them and even give the students some useful tips and hints how to learn and apply these skills. The event had almost 100 students and considering that they were already out of the semester, it was really nice to see their interest in IBM and the skills we were able to share with them.

What I just heard earlier today was that the students were truly touched by the fact that we came to them and they felt that work we have done is valuable to Kenya. So they are following in our footsteps and are going to support the same schools and homes we visited by providing their time and IT skills for the benefit of New Life and the home for handicapped kids we visited on Monday this week. Talking about making a difference in the world!

Team presentations at the Egerton University

Community days: Part 3 – Small home for mentally handicapped children (Monday July 18)

The first 2 community days had met my expectations and I felt they were really amazing experiences but I have to say the third one we visited was a really deeply touching visit. I am still – after 3 days - trying to process what we were able to see. The place was called St Anthony’s small home for the mentally handicapped children. There were 11 children from 9-16 year old with different handicaps. The place was located in a village to where the road was anything but good and even. These kids really do not get to go out from there at all. In Kenya a disability and handicap is seen as a curse and many parents hide or even worse, abuse their children with handicaps. So in that sense this very modest home is a rescue place to these children who were so obviously happy to have us visit them.

Up: Sarah (who never smiles!) and the puppet (a present from my boys to African children ;-))

Bottom: me and the boy working on wooden puzzle

We played football, skipped rope, threw balls, sang songs and just spend quality time with them. Personally I remember a girl named Sarah who does not speak at all and apparently had not smiled for a long time….I gave this young lady a bunny puppet and she just loved it. It was fascinating to see how she was interacting with the bunny and actually smiled that day. Teachers were touched by the impact we made that day. And I was thinking how little that was from us and how big impact we made. Shouldn’t we all who are better of just try to do a bit more to the benefit of those who have not been as lucky in life? I challenge you all reading my blog to think about how YOU can make this world a bit better place. There are so many ways we all can help others. On upcoming Monday the IBM team will buy some mattresses and blankets to this St Anthony’s home as they are not getting enough government support and are obviously very needy. It is a little from us but makes a huge difference to them. Out of the three community days this last one made the biggest impact on me.

Left: Krishna and the much needed attention
Right: Interaction with a new toy

Community days are such an integral part of the Corporate Service Corps program and I am glad they are as I feel we were really able to make a difference. The work part of the program is also very interesting and important but community days are touching the lives of individual Kenyans. Feeling very inspired…

(Thanks for the patience and for reading this far: I seem to take time in between posts but then I have a lot to write about...:-)) )