Reflections on Week One in Kenya. By Clive.
“WHY? WHY are you so fat?”
This was the punch line from an amusing story delivered by our Project Leader Carl, a master of the thespian arts, in a fantastic impersonation of a small Kenyan boy. I first heard this during the CWB training weekend at Green Park a few weeks prior to our departure to Kenya. At the time it was just that, an amusing story, but having been here in Kenya for a week now “WHY?” seems to be one of the most common words I hear uttered by Kenyan children. This is great, as I love it when I hear children questioning what they have been told by adults. However the longer I spend here the more I hear myself internally asking “WHY?” as I am presented with more and more situations that I cannot understand or simply failing to accept what I am told.
WHY did I volunteer to be a part of a CWB project? I am a first time volunteer and this is also the first time I have visited Africa. I was initially made aware of CWB and the work they do by Mick Stratford, a team mate at Ditchling CC. It was just a brief conversation during a league match on a Saturday when I probably had plenty of time to kill having yet again gifted my wicket to the opposition. During this chat I learned that Mick had volunteered with CWB a few times previously, one of his trips being CWB’s first to Kenya. This piqued my interest, however it wasn’t until a few years later that I actually got my act together and completed the online application.
Having been through the selection process I found myself invited to join a trip to Kenya this autumn. Before I knew it I was at the training weekend and preparing to head off. I really wasn’t sure what to expect once I arrived in Kenya. We had all already read blogs of previous visits and been shown some very powerful videos. Along with this some of the returning volunteers and Project Leaders had recounted personal stories of previous visits, both uplifting and heart-breaking. I don’t think any of this truly prepared me for what I am experiencing during my visit to this incredible, beautiful, fascinating and tragic continent.
I don’t want to go through a list of everything that I have encountered so far on this trip, the daily blogs that are posted on the CWB website cover this, but rather to concentrate on just a few things that I have learned or experienced in Kenya and the questions these have posed in my mind.
Obviously there has been a great deal of cricket coaching with children at schools. In five days at schools we have coached around two thousand two hundred children. More than some cricket coaches will do in a lifetime. Whilst I have a great love for the game of cricket and am really enjoying the time I am spending coaching children it is vitally important to remember that in this particular scenario introducing the sport to a whole new cricketing community is very much a secondary goal. The work we are doing here is very much about educating the youth of Sub-Saharan Africa about the dangers of HIV and AIDS and hopefully how best to avoid infection. Prevention is always better than cure, not that there is a cure. The cricket coaching is to a great extent an instrument of engagement allowing the far more important messages to be communicated in an enjoyable and engaging format for the children that hopefully cements the knowledge that is imparted to a much greater degree than simply lecturing.
The children we encounter encompass a vast range of ages (some are simply not children and are as old as some of the volunteers in our group) but, to me at least, far more significantly hugely disparate socio-economic backgrounds.
Back home in the UK, or for that matter in any country, there are always people who are less fortunate than others. Having spent a week in Kenya I now have a very different perspective as to what the true meanings of poverty and deprivation are. This week we made four visits to three separate orphanages. Although it would seem that the children we met there are truly at rock bottom it is important to remember that in many ways these are the lucky ones, there are so many more street children that are in far worse situations. With nowhere to live, no-one looking out for their interests and, in many ways, most importantly, no-one to show them the love and attention that every child, the world over, craves and deserves.
At the same time, as we have travelled around Kisumu and Kericho we have seen that Kenya is very much a place undergoing huge investment with new roads, nice plush new office blocks and car dealerships full of shiny new vehicles being built alongside people who are obviously totally destitute.
WHY is it that there can be such a huge disparity between the affluent and the under privileged? Not just on a country to country basis but actually within Kenya itself. How can this possibly be happening in the twenty first century?
At one of the orphanages we visited, New Life in Kisumu, I spent my time not with the babies that have been abandoned and have been lucky enough to find their way there, but with the older disabled children that have not and probably never will be adopted. This orphanage has made a commitment to continue to care for these children for as long as is necessary, probably well into their adult lives. I was absolutely appalled to find out that, to the best of the knowledge of the staff at New Life, there are no care homes for adults with disabilities at all within the entirety of Kenya. I heard a story of one girl with downs syndrome who the authorities had decided to house by placing her into a remand centre, along with criminals. Almost certainly she will have been sexually abused on an almost nightly basis by male inmates. Fortunately for her a missionary had heard of her plight and rescued her from this truly horrific situation.
Disability in Kenya has a huge stigma attached to it. Many families will either simply abandon these children as soon as they are aware of their conditions or alternatively keep them locked in back rooms within their houses. It is not unheard of for the children that are locked away to be chained up to stop them from wandering out and embarrassing their families.
WHY is it that any-one with even an ounce of humanity can consider this to be an acceptable practice? WHY is it that this allowed to continue? WHY, WHY, WHY?
It may seem at this point that all I have experienced whilst here is absolute despair and despondency. This is not the case. People both in Kenya and further afield can and do make a huge difference.
Take the New Life orphanage. The centre is run by Beverley and Charlie, a retired couple from the UK who have dedicated their life to helping these children. It goes far beyond simply clothing, feeding and housing the children in their care. The children here live in what would be considered to be unbelievably lavish conditions for the majority of Kenyan children. The building that they live in is in an affluent area of Kisumu and was donated to the centre by a single donor. The children have food to eat, toys to play with and most importantly are shown true love and respect by the staff at New Life, many of whom are volunteers from western countries with the skills and expertise necessary to help such wonderful kids.
Beverley and Charlie are exceptionally inspirational. As I left New Life, and indeed as I sit writing this now, I am choking back the tears. I cannot help but feel I should be doing so much more. Beverley and Charlie are truly special. If in my life time I can give back to humanity a tiny percentage of what they do then I will be so much more of a better man than I am now. After meeting them and seeing the truly remarkable work that they do I cannot help but feel that I could, and should, be doing so much more.
At the Hovic orphanage in Kisumu there were many children who, to be brutally honest, have suffered awful lives. And although the facilities there would be considered by some in the UK to be substandard for keeping livestock in, it is remarkable to see how these funny, witty and intelligent kids still find the most incredible delight in the simple gift of a tennis ball or a balloon. The enjoyment they so obviously displayed when we joined them for an afternoon, playing with some cricket bats and tennis balls, balloons and frisbees we brought along with us, or having a kick-about with a football, in reality a ball of rags tied together with string, was truly memorable.
It was at the Hovic orphanage that I met a 13 year old boy named Kenneth. Kenneth is mute and so none of the staff know his background as he cannot tell them. Kenneth obviously has some serious issues. The staff at Hovic had arranged for Kenneth to board at a school where he could receive the more specialist care that he so desperately needs. This in itself is incredible as schooling in Kenya is not free and this orphanage is very obviously in no way shape or form affluent. In sending Kenneth to school it obviously takes much needed funding away from the other children. Incidentally, the largest benefactor to the Hovic orphanage is Comic Relief. Kenneth returns to the orphanage during school holidays and is very obviously loved and cared for by both the staff and the other children.
I had not really noticed Kenneth at first until he literally grabbed hold of me and would not let go. At this point I did not know Kenneth’s issues and thought it was due to a language barrier that I was struggling to communicate with him. Then some of the staff explained to me about his condition. Kenneth grabbed hold of my arm and held my hand tightly. He simply walked me round and round the small enclosure that the Hovic orphanage occupies. Through the ramshackle buildings, past the stand pipe at the back and the piles of rubbish and filth that are piled up in one corner of the enclosure. Kenneth would not let go of me and would not even look at me directly, instead looking down at the ground as round and round we went. Although Kenneth is mute he can hear and understand. I tried to talk to him, as slowly and softly as I possibly could. But round and round we continued to go as Kenneth continued to hang on to me for as if for dear life. If I tried to stop or to even adjust his grip on me Kenneth would struggle violently. I am not entirely sure how long I was with Kenneth but eventually I did seem to make some sort of connection with him, and in what will forever be one of the most incredible, rewarding, fulfilling and simply magical moments of my life, I did eventually elicit a smile from him. Before long I was playing with Kenneth, high fives, piggy back rides and hugs followed. This was and always will be a simply beautiful experience I will remember until my dying day.
These are just a few of the many awful and beautiful, harrowing and fantastical, miserable and magical experiences I have had over the last seven days. I honestly feel that I do not possess the words or the skill to write something that will in any way explain to anyone that has not found themselves in similar situations, the truly incredible journey, both geographically, spiritually and emotionally that I have been through over the last seven days, and I still have another week to go before I return to the UK.
At times it has been absolutely overwhelming. The scale of the problems here is huge. With HIV rates in some areas of Africa running at over 40%. Ingrained attitudes within the population at large to poverty and disability, along with governments at both national and local levels either unwilling or unable to tackle the problems that exist.
Obviously the trips to Africa organised by CWB aren’t going to solve everything. However if we don’t as relatively rich westerners do something, however small, then maybe they never will be solved. For those of you that were kind enough to donate towards CWB to help fund this trip I send thanks, not just from me and the rest of the CWB team here in Kenya but also on behalf of the children whose lives I believe we are making a positive impact on, even if only for an hour or two whilst we play cricket or simply spending time with them and having a chat. This has been a truly life changing experience. One I would recommend to absolutely anyone.
I will leave you with one last question.
WHY, if you have read this and hopefully understood part of what I am trying ever so poorly to explain, and you have a soul or consider yourself to be in any way part of this wonderful human race, WHY would you not want to volunteer? Man up, do something, do anything but don’t do nothing. You won’t regret it. Trust me.
What a great piece of writing and truly inspiring act . Thanks for sharing your experience.
Brilliantly written Sir!
Straight from the heart.
Julian [ Kenya 2 ]
Extremely inspirational blog Clive! You are all doing such fantastic work out there. Enjoy the rest of the time in Kenya and keep up the good work!
Absolutely
Brilliant
Commentary
Great blog Clive, I know from experience that your trip will leave you and your colleagues with an ever lasting memory of how lucky and privileged you/we are!!! My trip to Zimbabwe gave me an insight of the vast differences between the education and opportunities between town and rural children. The children in Kenya being propositioned for sex by Italian men made me very angry and disappointed with humanity. Well done to you all, I think you now know the reason why you volunteered. Enjoy the rest of your stay Michael
Hi Clive,
What a heartfelt and moving report. Well done for stepping up to the plate (wrong game analogy I know)
I’m sure that I speak for all your cricketing colleagues when I say that we are all very proud of you.
best wishes – Rog
Very moving words Clive. I think the next stage of your journey will be relating your experiences to what you find on your return to the UK.
I’m glad to hear that the orphanages in Kisumu are still providing fantastic care. I still wear my wristband from New Life with pride.
Keep up the good work and make sure Carl and Gellers are working you hard.
Clive, I was with my husband Mick on that first CWB trip to Kenya. My sentiments remain the same as yours ‘life changing’..listen to Clive’s last remark, volunteering won’t just change your life, you will be helping others to change theirs.
So beautifully written Clive, and really encapsulates what this awesome charity is all about. Keep up the good work Team Kenya.
Jules x
Ps do give Carl the birthday bumps!!!!