Kisumu and Asembo Bay 2011
July 29, 2011
I cannot believe that our time here in Kisumu and Asembo Bay is almost
done; it has gone by so fast. Looking back, I realize that I have
leant a lot and grown as a person. Amongst other things, I will take
with me the pure joy seen in the children's eyes, the sense of
community, the kindness and the hospitality of the Kenyan people. I
realize that what they have given me far surpasses what I can ever
give in return; though this saddens me deeply, I am eternally
grateful. Warm thanks to everyone who helped us with our projects,the list is endless. However, it would have been impossible without
Steve and Emily in Kisumu and Bertha and family in Asembo Bay. I
offer my sincere thanks and would love to see you again. I never
imagined that I would dread the day when I would have to return home,
I simply love the place! I guess what they say is true, once you come
to Africa, you will surely return. Asante sana sana!
- Marie-F.
July 29, 2011
Asembo Bay. It's in Kenya, somewhere along Africa's largest lake, Lake Victoria. It's not on any maps of Africa, and almost no maps of Kenya bother to identify it. Not even Google Maps, one of man's greatest atlases, can tell you where it is:it just doesn't find it within its vast database.
It's safe to say Asembo Bay is remote. And up until now, you probably did not know that this place existed, nor how its people lived. Sure life is different here; most of the village has no electricity or running water, women and girls carry water and goods atop their heads, and men and boys herd cattle and sheep through the village's streets.
Yet, these people are not that different from you and me. They too, just like us, have the desire to discover new things; acquire new knowledge and develop new friendships.
On the one hand we hope that the computer lessons we will have taught here will help the orphans in Asembo Bay be better prepared for their professional careers and help them become more employable, even though if for some these careers will start too soon. On the other hand, in teaching the widows of Asembo Bay computer classes, we hope that we will have been able to add an extra tool to the shed of these extraordinarily resourceful women. For we know that during our time here in Kenya, we will have learned countless lessons in humanity from them. The warmth of Kenyan strangers' smiles who wish only to welcome us to their land, and their confidence in the fact that strange people (like us) fundamentally deserve appreciation rather than apprehension are definitely something for us Westerners to ponder upon.
In the end, we will have developed lasting friendships in Kenya and in Asembo Bay. And on top of all the knowledge which has become available to the people of Asembo Bay thanks to the computers and the internet which we (TCP) have provided here in the past few years, in teaching these people to use these tools, we will have also have given them the power to connect with each other. In being able to check up on old friends, maintain relationships, and develop and nurture new found friendships, Asembo Bay is truly connected to the rest of the world. Think about it, this is one little village in the middle of Africa, which just a few years ago (or just a few minutes for most of us) we did not even know existed. Now, its people are able to learn about Jupiter's different moons, the cause of various diseases, and events happening around the world at a moment's notice. And in turn, through email and social media, we are able to know everything that goes on in this little village.
I think we can safely say Asembo Bay has put itself on the map.
Justin
July 29, 2011
Une histoire extraordinaire.
Nous nous apercevons rapidement que lorsque nous foulons de nos pieds la terre rougeâtre du Kenya, nous tombons dans un univers parallèle au nôtre. Au premier coup d'oeil, nos regards s'arrêtent sur tout ce qui bouge, sur ce spectacle hétéroclite, sur ce désordre quasi organisé. Nous restons la bouche grande ouverte, le regard médusé par ce changement si drastique. Pourtant, nous attendons toujours ce fameux choc culturel, vous savez celui que tout le monde parle quand vous leur racontez que vous aller en Afrique. Nous l'attendons toujours. J'ai la vive sensation que ce choc culturel explosera dans notre figure lorsque nous retournerons au Canada...
Explosion d'intenses sensations,
Comme un orphelin te souriant de telle façon,
Que tu restes là, immobile pour aucune raison,
A tenter de te rééquilibrer après ce trop plein d'émotions.
Explosion d'intenses sensations,
Comme ce regard des gens d'ici remplis d'espoir,
Que ces messages porteurs d'espoir viennent réécrire ta propre histoire.
Ainsi, ces petites leçons de vie, seront à jamais gravés dans ta mémoire.
Explosion d'intenses sensations,
Comme ton regard posé sur ces gens si courageux,
Fabriquant des montagnes avec bien peu,
Ils resplendissent, te rendant toi, petit blanc, bien heureux.
Explosion d'intenses sensations,
Comme ce regard illuminé de milliers d'étincelles de ces jeunes Africains,
Ressuscitant du même coup ton côté intrinsèquement humain.
Jeunes Africains, jeunes Africains tendez votre main d'humain à nous, Nord-américains.
Explosion d'intenses sensations,
Je partirai du Kenya le coeur remplis de sourires,
Sur mon visage se dessinera un long soupir,
De ne pas avoir été voir plutôt ce pays vivre.
cheers, Alex
July 22 2011
Its almost time to say goodbye to the people of Kenya, just thinking about it makes me sad. I didnt except to get so attach so fast to the people, the lifestyle, and especially the food. My experience in Kisumu was incredible due to the great welcoming of the Novelty Guest House employees and the opened arms of the people of this town. Since the beginning of our feasibility work, I was surprise by the support of the local NGO's and the Kenyans regarding our project. Each and one of them helped us achieving our own goals in a way or another. We met so many wonderful people (here are a few of them), from Wangu of Wangu Kanja Foundation, to Charles of UNICEF, to Harrison of IJUMA Foundation, to Georges of Omega Foundation, to Gabriel of SULWE and to the incredible story of Pal-omega community group. They helped us going further with our work but teach us great life lessons that we will remember as well. Also, a huge thanks to the Novelty Guest House, my second home like I call it now. All the employees made our experience even better by there warm welcome and there hearty kindness. Furthermore, what can I say about the local food? I really eaten very very well in Kenya. Tilapia, suma wiki, chapati and ugali were delicious almost daily . I even had the chance to learn how to bake some Chapatis!!! So far, Kisumu has been so great to me, but I'm certain that Asembo Bay will be the same.
Camelia
July 20 2011
le Kenya te fait reflechir sur beaucoup de choses. Le sourire d'orphelins te perturbent et vient te hanter lorsque tu dors. Tu te demandes comment ces orphelins sans mere ni pere peuvent etre aussi heureux, mais pourtant ils le sont. Tu fais egalement des rencontres incroyables avec des gens incroyables qui mettent sur pied des centres communautaires et qui ne veulent que le bien pour leur peuple. Tu regardes les Kenyeens et lrd Kenyennes et ils te rendent le regard par un immense sourire en te traitant bien gentillement de muzungu (blanc ou europeen). Tu realise que le cote humain est mis en avant-scene ici et que le cote buisness ne veut pas dire grand chose. Tu realises que les gens en general ont beaucoup plus a apprendre des Kenyeens qu'eux ont apprendre de nous. Tu realises qu il y a des ongs locales qui levent des montagnes, nivellent des collines, changent la trajectoire des fleuves et le monde sont instruits, eduques et les nouvelles ne parlent que d'education, que de developpement humain que d'amener le Kenya a un autre niveau. Tu te sens, toi petit muzungu, tout petit.
J'ai eu la chance de rencontrer des gens d'Amnistie International et d'aller dans les bidonvilles a Nairobi. Jai eu la chance de parler avec une bonne quinzaine d'ONGs dont un representant d' Unicef egalement. Le "people approach" est essentiel, ultimement important. Cette aventure vient reconforter mes ideaux, rassurer mes ideaux, me fait rever de nouveau. C'est incroyable, c'est beau, un soupcon de magie dans lair.
Cette magie se transporte avec la brise du Lac Victoria, elle vient rafraichir tes valeurs les plus profondement humaines, les plus profondement naturelles. Le lac Victoria se fait contempler par ces collines qui t'observent de haut tout en posant un regard hyper reconfortant sur ce que tu es en tant que petit muzungu, petit blanc dans ce pays de geants kenyeens. Tu ecoutes, tu ecoutes toujours, tu regardes, tu observes, tu te fascines. Tu ne parles pas beaucoup, car cela ne sert a rien de parler quand ce peuple a tant a t'apprendre. Ils ne te font pas la lecon, ils reinventent tes idees par leur sourire, leur gentillesse, leur approche immensement humaine, intrinsiquement humaine, naturellement humaine. Tu realises que c est cette approche qui est la bonne que l' approche tres mecanique occidentale est bonne pour developper un pays, mais elle n'est pas tres bonne pour developper une conscience. Alex
July 6 2011
Just had one of the most amazing days of my life. It started bright and early on a stuffy and bumpy matatu ride to Asembo Bay. Still, the 25 people sharing the transport couldn't deter me from being mesmerized by the beauty of the scenery around; gorgeous mountains and rock formations. Kenya amazes me every single day. After a few hours, we are finally dropped off at the junction to the village, where we catch a windy motorbike ride to the computer center. My first impression of Asembo Bay is a low-key, small village, filled with friendly faces. A few curious kids follow us mzungus to Lake Victoria and are full of joy when I offer them my hand to hold. What wonderful smiles I get in return! It is then finally time to meet with the children present for the feeding day. At first they are shy and merely stare at us in wonderment, with little interaction. But how things can change in a short window of time! For over 2 hours, we serve rice and beans to over 200 kids. The "thank you" we get in return is indescribable with words, truly a moment to be lived! Singing and dancing, jumping around, all the shyness we saw previously has vanished. At one point, I think I have about 10 kids on each arm! I only speak a few words of Kiswahili and Luo but that doesn't seem to really matter when you sing with them. These children are all smiles and laughter. The widows also warmly welcome us and offer their thanks and blessings. True Kenyan hospitality! I have never in my life felt sure gratitude when feeling that these emotions should be in reverse. I am overwhelmed by the moment and the tears of joy that I have been fighting off all day can no longer be retained. Having been able to be a part of this day truly makes me feel lucky. My sincere thanks to the Asembo Bay community, to the children and widows and to the Asembo Bay Women for Development group.
Marie-France
July 6, 2011
Where to begin?! Its already been 1 week that we arrived in Kisumu. Last Sunday, we meet with St-Francis kids, we had an awesome day playing around the field football, freeze-be and skipping ropes! They also sang for us and still had energy after a full day! We were exhausted!! hehe Yesterday, it was feeding day in Asembo Bay. Marie-France and I arrived early in the morning to join the guys to help with the preparation. We meet around 200 orphans who were shy at first but quickly became comfortable. After we feed them, they all came to thanks us by holding our hands and dancing with us. It was one of the most beautiful moment of the trip so far. There big smiles were full of joy!!! Also to end the day, we meet with the Widows of Asembo Bay who sang for us which got us all emotional.
Camelia
Kisumu and Asembo Bay 2010
July 7 2010
Nairobi is COLD!!!! Brrrr... well a lot colder than I expected (feels similar to early fall weather for us Canadians) especially after leaving the sweltering humidity of Toronto, but it is unbelievably full of colour with flowering trees,
lush foliage and bright red dirt makes a spectacular background. The group has arrived in stages over the last two days and we have all been getting to
know each other, and sharing our excitement about the upcoming projects over great hospitality that we are receiving at the guest house we are staying at.
Everyone we met has been really friendly and helpful so much that you feel like you have arrived home!
We fly off to Kisumu today and began the work.
That's it from me,
Michelle
July 9 2010
We were in Asembo yesterday for the widows and orphans feeding day - it was really good and lots of dancing - including Kaedra who really broke it down,
plus yummy african food (we all loved the tilapia the best) that we got to eat for the first time. Jason was greeted joyusly by everyone - like a heroic
son back from the war. The women in particular really praised you and Wendy with many wishes to bring you both back to Asembo. The kids from the local
primary school entertained us but it breaks your heart to see the holes and broken straps in the shoes of those who had shoes and the tattered clothing
of all the kids and some of the widows. so far everyone has noticed that Kenyan smiles are beautiful - everyone we met immediately starts smiling to which
you can't help smiling back. I can't wait till we go to the orphanage today and hopefully things will work out for us as they have so far. Josephine and
Robin didn't end paying any extra money for the bags of books and they are already at Asembo. I sent robin, hilary and jason to asembo and Josephine and
I are in kisumu.
Michelle
July 11, 2010
At day 4 in Asembo, I am thrilled to be back in this community full of familiar, friendly faces. We have been formally and informally introduced with
enthusiasm so many times, with so many smiles, thanks and handshakes that I've long-since lost count. One new computer has arrived so far (which will
bet setup tomorrow) and the Internet connection has been stabilized. The cellular service in the area seems to have been improved over the year, so
things are actually fairly quick compared to last year (to put it in perspective, the cellular modem we're using to provide Internet access to the
resource centre is about as fast as a 56Kbps modem).
We're about to hitch a ride with a friend of a friend into Kisumu (the city about 80KM North-East of Asembo) to sort out some supplies (technological
and otherwise), and possibly meet with the children at St. Teresa's or St. Francis tomorrow morning during the day before three of us head back to
Asembo to get things in order at the Resource Centre.
Oriti!
Jason
I'm on week two of being here in Kenya and I find it difficult to sum up everything I have experienced thus far. Only two weeks in, I already have
a lifetime of memories to take away with me. I have been rotating between Kisumu and Asembo Bay, having the privilidge of meeting the amazing children
and witnessing the difference that The Tumaini Children's Project is making in their lives. I am in Kisumu today, getting ready to visit St. Francis
boarding school tomorrow to visit with the children and to bring them their brand new textbooks. Soon, I will be heading back to Asembo Bay to help get
started with the computer classes for the children in the village as well. Seeing the smiles on these children's faces makes every day here even more
rewarding.
Hil
July 20 2010
Hello there,
As you know, Josephine and I gave the first computer class yesterday. After a few schedule changes last Friday, and then some very last minute
changes yesterday morning, we finally learned that we would have far fewer students than we expected, and would only need to teach 5 classes a day.
This is working out really well, since there are only three laptops and about 10 students per class (so that leaves around 3-4 students sharing each
laptop). I can't even imagine what it would have been like to teach around 16-17 students per class in the 6 originally proposed classes per day!
With the exception of maybe one or two students in the entire group, yesterday was the first time for them to use or ever see a computer. We
started out with some basic information about keeping the laptop plugged in and identified the main parts of the computer, such as the mouse, desktop,
keyboard, on & off button, etc. After that, we showed them how to handle the mouse, and then did a couple of activities where they could practice
left-clicking, for 'selecting' or choosing something & right-clicking, for opening the option menu . We then taught them how to use the double
left-click to open a document that Josephine and I saved onto the desktop for them, and in that document we asked them to practice holding down the
left-click button to select the entire text. In the last 20 minutes or so, we showed them how to open paint from the start menu and then let them take
turns drawing something and changing the paint tools so they could practice the mouse skills we had just taught them.
During the whole lesson we asked them to jot down a few notes, since they had all brought their notebooks, but this was sort of rudely enforced by the
male teacher who accompanied them to the session. I think the teachers were excited themselves to come use the computers, which is not the point of
the classes at all, but we told Bertha that they were obviously making the students feel a bit uncomfortable and that we would prefer it if they did
not come to class. I'm pretty sure she told the headmaster because no teacher came to the two classes this morning, so hopefully it continues to be
that way. Bertha is starting some computer classes in August, so the teachers can pay her to take classes in the future.
Anyhow, moving on, today we went over what we showed them yesterday and taught them a couple of new things. We showed them how to copy and paste,
as well as use the space, backspace, enter, shift and caps lock buttons. Then, we got them to copy the text we prepared and then paste it a couple
lines below, using all of the new buttons we conveniently showed them beforehand. The last thing we did today was show them how to write their first
and last names with a capital letter at the beginning of each name.
Everything is progressing quite slowly, but obviously we're taking it step by step since they really knew absolutely nothing. The majority of the
students seem to be getting the hang of things quite quickly though, so it's very promising! They are all very keen and have asked about how they
can practice outside of class time, so we'll have to talk to Bertha about maybe arranging another time they can use the laptops in the back room.
I hope that was not too much boring computer info to read all at once! We have another class starting in about five minutes so I must be off!
Robin
July 23 2010
It is nearing the end of the first week of computer classes in
Asembo. After a few schedule changes last Friday, and then some very
last minute changes before starting classes on Monday morning, we
finally learned that we would have far fewer students than we
expected, and would only need to teach 5 classes a day instead of the
6 originally proposed classes a day. This is working out really well,
as there are only three laptops and about 12 students per class (so
that leaves around 3-4 students sharing each laptop). I can't even
imagine what it would have been like to teach the proposed 16-17
students per class 6 times a day!
With the exception of maybe one or two students in the entire group,
Monday was the first day for them to ever see or use a computer. We
started out with some basic information about keeping the laptop
plugged in and identified the main parts of the computer, such as the
mouse, desktop, keyboard, on & off button, etc. Since then, we've
moved on to using the copy and paste functions, using shift and the
other very useful keys, and just getting the kids to practice typing,
which is so important. Also, we've stressed over and over again how
important it is to save a document you are working on... we even got
the students to write in their notebooks "ALWAYS PRESS SAVE!!!"
Everything is progressing quite slowly, but obviously we're taking it
step by step since they really knew absolutely nothing. The majority
of the students seem to be getting the hang of things quite quickly
though, so it's very promising! They are all very keen and have asked
about how they can practice outside of class time, so hopefully
they'll start coming on their own to the centre the use the facility!
Robin
July 24 2010
Our final rotation just happened and now Robin is now here in Kisumu spending time at St. Clair's orphanage and will be visiting the kids at
St. Francis for the first time this weekend. It was great reading storeybooks to the kids this morning and having them participate with the words
and songs that they know, as well, reciting poems and demonstrating their "good manners". We spent much of the morning with the babies at the
orphanage who are under the age of 1 year old, Francisca (also known as piglet) who loves her head to be rubbed, Moses a very active vocal baby
now that he is over his cold, Paul who is wide-eyed and at the same time a very old soul, and finally the oldest of the group Magdaline who has
a very strong personality and preferences for someone so young. There are also many other kids at the orphanage that we have also gotten to know
quite well and enjoy spending time with them, in particular are Imam, Marilyn, Helen, Jacob, Junior, Tracy, Paul, Victor among so many others.
Our days in Kisumu have found a great rhythm where we are able to rest after spending time at the orphanage before venturing out into town to
meet the many new Kenyan friends we have made or run errands. Overall the entire group so far has felt incredible warmth of Kenyan hospitality
and are amazed that so many people not only take the time to say hi and notice us but to express care when we have been under the weather from
the sun, food, or our days. Cheers to Kenya.
M
