My Family Trip to Nyumbani

July 2010 - Alison Stedman

Last year I felt I couldn’t go because I had duties to fulfil as Rotary president and that occupied an awful lot of time. However, July 2010 I was free of all commitment so off we went.

Jenni (17), her brother Matt (14), Sarah-Jane (14), her Mum, step- daughter Tracy, Alex (12) and ex Rotarian Frances Wilson and I along with ten extra rig bags full of clothes, school stuff, sewing gear, plasters, you name it we had it, arrived safely off the night flight from London. It is so nice to be greeted like part of the family which of course Nyumbani has become for me. Sr Mary, Protus, Sr Julie, all the kids and some new arrivals whom I had yet to meet.

Sr Mary kindly put us up in the orphanage which saved an awful lot of transport and accommodation problems and which gave the teenagers a really good idea of what life is like for these children. They settled in well aside from the only guy in the team who freaked out at the sight of chitchats climbing up the walls of his room and ants coming in the door! Not having a very sympathetic Granny he took solace in the gentle encouragement from Sr Mary who explained that things were different in Africa and everyone had lizards and ants to put up with and no-one had died from these things yet. In fact as I had earlier explained to him the lizards are brilliant bug eaters and were to be encouraged.
I was proud that they ate what was produced in the kitchen, mainly rice and pulses with a bit of meat thrown in occasionally. A visit to the supermarket amply supplemented their diet.

We had a busy few days with a visit to a couple of our eight, yes eight now, Lea Toto (raising the child) clinics. Just in case you aren’t aware, Nyumbani has three main areas of dedication.

Nyumbani Orphanage currently home to 112 HIV+ children also houses an excellent Diagnostic Laboratory. Lea Toto which is a fully fledged community home based care programme sited in and around the resource poor communities of Nairobi namely the slums. Lastly Nyumbani Village which when completed will house 1000 HIV infected and affected children and their 150 or so grandparents.

It was fortuitous that we arrived at Dandora clinic when we did because our clients were lining up to get their food rations. Matt and Alex especially were visibly moved by watching and realising that this meagre amount of rice, oil and maize flour was all these ladies would have to feed their families for a whole month. This is supplied by World Food Programme (WFP) and is truly a life saver in many situations. I was proud that our clients were shaded from the sun and rain by the shelters erected by last year’s Rotary team. I let my children give out a bag of clothes we had brought and again they couldn’t believe how grateful these proud ladies were to be allowed one item of clothing each for their children. Dandora manager Paul whom I have known since I first found Nyumbani deemed it unsafe to go out into the field as there had been a shooting there the night before so we had to forego that. If we had gone to visit with a few families in the slum as I normally do I am sure that would have been the moment for my children to realise that they are truly blessed.

A lot of knitting has gone on in Inverkeilor village and around over the past year and visit to our five susus in Nyumbani village situated way into the bush east of Nairobi proved a huge success with them all recognising me from the last time. We have no common language so everything is done in sign with much smiling and gesticulating. They were delighted with their blankets and sweets for their grandchildren. Jadidas grandson had had a very traumatic accident (he picked up something in the bush, threw it on to the fire his Granny was cooking on and it exploded causing him to lose three fingers, very nasty) so he got a special set of clothes to cheer him up.

Sadly we missed the opening by Jeremy Hunt MP of the new Lawson Academy, the senior school in the village, by a couple of days but I was absolutely delighted to hand over the £12000 we had raised with a matching grant for the library. This took place at a visit to Karen Rotary Club who are the host club in the M/G senario. We supplied 10 computers, all the desks and furnishings, shelving and books with this money a very worthwhile literacy project.

Whilst there we also presented every standard 7 child with an illustrated dictionary (92) which is probably the only book they will ever have owned. The standard 7 children in Nyumbani home also got a dictionary of their own to keep. The funds for these dictionaries4life were raised by some of the primary schools in our Montrose cluster. I think we have enough to supply classes for the next three years or so.

The clinic in the village is now functioning well, here you see one young lad who took the back off his heel while playing in the bush and if help hadn’t been on hand he would most likely have lost his foot due to infection.

I am always struck by the huge progress which is made between each of my visits, there is always something new to see and admire, this time of course the new Lawson Academy and the separate kitchen block.

Back now to Nyumbani Home. The newest innovation there is the conversion of two of the cottages into a respite centre for the most malnourished children from our Lea Toto programme. These children are brought in and fed well until they are well enough to return to their carer who will have been taught how to keep the child healthy. You see two boys here, Kevin and Michael, the latter being the same age as our Matt but looks about nine. Angel is 19 months old and couldn’t even sit up but is now coming along well. The average stay is two months. The only snag is sometimes the carers don’t want to take them home when they see how well they are doing with us.
Cantina, seen here with Alex was found at the side of the road with her umbilical cord still attached so couldn’t have been more than one or two days old. She is now being adopted by a Kenyan living in the US

Lastly but certainly not least. I was very proud to see the genetic analyser in place that we had managed to fund alongside our Irish friends ($110.000) although the computer was temporarily corrupted. This is indeed fixable so isn’t a worry. The reagents for the analyser are to be supplied by PEPFAR for the next five years.

A very rushed restock of the Gift shop which I refurbished with Jim last year was done just before we went off on safari. The shop is running well and has made a lot of money for the home so I feel very pleased about that. When I return in Feb/Mar my main job is to spend a lot of time in the shop doing all the things I have not been able to do so far.

My teenagers had a wonderful time and said it was the best holiday they had ever had and Matt put his arms round me when we were parting company and said “Granny, I think I would really like to volunteer at Nyumbani when I am older” Hooray - someone to take up my cause despite the beasties.

THE CARE OF CHILDREN WITH AN INCURABLE DISEASE MAY NOT SEEM LIKE A PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE BUT AS AN HUMANITARIAN ENDEAVOUR SURELY IT IS UNSURPASSABLE.

Rotarians, friends! Please help Build Communities and Bridge Continents and for our HIV+ orphans and help fulfil our RI President, Ray Klinginsmith's wishes for 2010/2011. Kindly send cheques payable to:

The COGRI-Nyumbani (Scotland) Trust Fund.
c/o Rotarian Alison Stedman SVP
The Rotary Club of Montrose
Anniston Mill, Inverkeilor
Arbroath, DD11 5SW
Tel: 01241 830466
e-mail: annistonmill@hotmail.com

Charity no. for The COGRI - Nyumbani (Scotland) Trust Fund: SC039674

BACK