My Second Thursday in Nairobi

My amazement continues.

Let's see...Monday I went to the Autism Unit at theNairobi Primary School along with Sarah, a young woman in our group who is a special education teacher from Houston. We sort of surprised them so we were only able to do a quick tour and then wait to see the Head Mistress. She was unable to meet with us before we had to go back to the orphanage but we were invited to return the following day. Sarah chose not to return but I did.

I have spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and today, Thursday, at the Autism Unit (AU). These workers are as amazing as those who work at the Missionaries of Charity. The AU is in one wing of a public primary school. Conditions there are primitive there also and the classrooms quite bare. Remember it is Kenyan winter and about 60 degrees, I think. There is no heat in the classrooms nor is there artificial light. There are about 40 children with all degrees of autism and perhaps 15 workers. I think there are five classrooms. A couple of the teachers have some special education training but I believe most don't. I don't know the level of training of the teaching assistants. But they are doing a super job.

Angela is the business administrator and Grace is the lead teacher. They both astound me as do the other teachers. Everyone is eager to learn whatever I can teach them. I have done some demonstration teaching with individual children and the teachers and aides hover around watching closely. I must strongly encourage them to get them to ask questions but when they do their questions are relevant and observant.

I am already thinking about how I might come back again and do a little more teaching and consultation. I have never encountered a group of people who absorb what I try to teach so eagerly.

One slight problem we have encountered is that I speak rapid colloquial (did I spell that right?) American English in a fairly loud voice and they speak rapid formal strongly accented British English in very soft voices. I explain that I am old and deaf and they try hard to slow down and speak up for my benefit. I think they are too polite to ask me to repeat myself. I only hope they understand.

I gave each teacher a special item of teaching material that I had demonstrated for them. Those of you who gave money can take the credit for the suitcase full of materials I gave to them. I chose to give almost everything I brought to the AU because they started using them immediately and will continue to do so. If we gave something so simple as rattles made of plastic pop bottles and beads to the children at the orphanage when we got back the next day they had been put away. Oh, well.

As I prepared to leave today Grace and Angela took me into Angela's small office and presented me with a necklace, bracelet, and ankle bracelet that had been made by the teenage children in their workshop. To say I was overwhelmed is an gross understatement. These people have given me the blessing of working with them and sharing their children with me AND they give me presents. Who can explain such generosity of spirit?

We also took a bunch of the stuff you bought to Villa Teag yesterday. Villa Teag is an orphanage for 50 children and school that the brother of Julius Were, our team leader, helped establish. It is in the Dandora slum which appears to be marginally less populous and deprived than Humara. The children sang and chanted for us. Each child was given either a toy car (sent along with me by Aiden Adair, who is my sweet "adopted grandson" from Smithville), a ball, or a jump rope and a toothbrush and toothpaste. Those who had been there last year were given a portrait composed by a Missouri or Kansas artist from a photo taken last year.

Some children come to the school at Villa Teag from the surrounding homes. Villa Teag feeds 120 children a noontime meal which is cooked in two huge vats. They have two dishes each day. I will share pictures when I get home. They vary the meal according to the day of the week to keep the diet as balanced as possible. I cannot put into words the creativity and dedication of these people.

We then took a walking tour of Dandora. A charming young man (21 years...looks 12) named Joseph attached himself to my elbow. He is a friend of Emmanuel who had asked him and another young man to accompany us around. We were 8 muzurus (white tourists), one African American, and six young Kenyan men riding herd. Julius and Emmanuel took us to the building where they grew up. We went to the roof of the four story building and looked out over the Nairobi dump which starts no further than 20 yards away. It stretches one mile wide and about five miles long. Pigs, goats, giant ugly Maribou storks, and human scavengers pick over the garbage. The stench is incredible. How hard is the heart of she who would not weep at this sight!
Joseph, on the other hand, is cheerful and says he is quite comfortable. He says he wants out but all he can do is "be comfortable, pray God, and work hard." Unemployment is high and he has no job but he volunteers at Villa Teag. He admired my bright gold University of Missouri t-shirt. He rode back to the guesthouse with us and ate dinner with us...probably his best if not only meal of the day. He had a hundred questions about life in the US. When we got back I went to my room, put on another shirt and today there is probably a delightful young Kenyan man walking around Dandora in an MU t-shirt. God Bless him.

More on Saturday, perhaps.