Volunteer Journals
Mama na Dada Africa

Caroline Cardosi , July 2007

I've been home for awhile now but I'm still missing the village! I had the most amazing time and I loved every moment of it. I spent most every day at the day care with the children and then Wednesday mornings I would go to the clinic to help with immunization day. The kids were absolutely the most amazing kids ever. I enjoyed every minute I was with them. It was hard leaving them for sure!

Gidi and Tony are doing great! Gidi is the leader of the pack. He is very smart and is very protective of Tony and Benjamin (Benjamin is the other little boy with HIV and the two of them have been living with Rosemary the teacher). Tony is a crack up. He always has a smile on his face and knows he is funny. Both of them seem very healthy. All of the kids were so loving, they would fight over who would sit on my lap and would constantly be saying "dinga, dinga" (pick me up)!

Right before I left we had one boy that was very sick, Onyango. He had malaria but the tablets and injection didn’t seem to be helping him and he was very weak and wasn’t eating. The first day we sent him home, one of the other volunteers found him not far down the road passed out. I’m anxious to hear from the other volunteers to see how he is doing! I haven’t stopped thinking about that boy and all of the kids!

For the first few weeks I was there I wasn't really feeling like I was making a difference, like I wasn't really accomplishing anything and then one day I was walking home from the clinic by myself and
this little boy was walking about 20 ft ahead of me and kept looking back at me. Then all of the sudden he stopped to wait for me and held my hand all the way back to the center. We couldn't say anything because he was about 7 and couldn’t speak English but he had the biggest smile on his face. It was then that I realized just being there and being a part of the community meant something to them and it was just the greatest feeling! I truly did feel part of the community. It felt like home! All of the people were just wonderful and I hope that I can keep in contact and hopefully go back.

Lydia Taylor, December 2005

The kids here are so wonderful. Today we had our Christmas party, which was absolutely hysterical and a good time was had by all. We decorated folders for all the kids and gave them all biscuits, cookies, and lollies. Joyce gave us some furry rim-hats for them to wear and provided juice. The kids were high on life and sugar and were such a sight in their furry neon hats with crumbs and huge smiles on their faces. We had brought in a radio and people were dancing and playing with the balloons, and Steffi had so many balloons that there was at least one per kid. It was quite an experience spending Christmas with people who were so happy with so little. It was a good reminder of what Christmas really is about.

We brought some coloring books back with us from Kisumu and thought it would be a fun activity to do with the kids at daycare. I had brought a monstrous box of crayons from home; one of those boxes that has every imaginable color included. We gave each kid a page from the coloring book and told them they could use one crayon at a time and when they wanted a new color they could come up and exchange. I then went around to each of them and let them pick out their starting color. The looks on their faces were priceless. So many choices! In a place where there are hardly any choices, getting to decide which of 5 shades of green to color a leaf with is a huge treat. Their hands would hover over all the colors, taking forever to decide and coming up to exchange every couple minutes. Despite Tony and Edward breaking and eating the crayons, the project was a huge success.

Michelle Henderson, November 2005

There is so much to say about the last couple of weeks. I feel like I have lived in Kunya Village for 2 years rather than only 2 months. My last day there was yesterday and it was a tearful goodbye. I didn't expect to feel as attached to the people in the community as I did when I left. Saying goodbye to one individual in particular was heart wrenching, as I realized that I truly grew to love someone in Kunya.

His name is Tony. He is about 2 years old and the younger brother of Gidi, the boy for whom the day care was started. Tony, too, was found to be severely malnourished when Gidi was taken to the hospital by the other Village Volunteers back in June. I can't wait for you all to see how healthy, and "fat" he has become in the photos I have taken. He is the most lovable little boy.

Tony and I developed our own special language, as neither one of us was adept at speaking Luo. Our conversations often consisted of me saying his name and him responding with a noise that sounded like "eh," to which I would repeat his name and he the noise over and over again until we were both giggling. One of his favorite games was to run head first into my long skirt, grabbing my knees and laughing. Then, he would look up at me, reach toward my hands and that was the signal for me to pick him up. He loved to be carried and cuddled. He probably hasn't received this much affection since his mother died over six months ago.

When Tony's father heard that his 2-year-old son was one of my favorite people in the village, he asked the day care teacher, Rosemary, why. She told him that I love Tony because he is fat and smart (well-dressed), the latter of which is utterly ridiculous because Tony wore the same two or three slightly stained and torn outfits for the past 2 months. I think Rosemary simply knew these reasons would make Tony's father happy. He accepted this good news with great satisfaction and asked me over to his home for tea the following day. Tony's father speaks no English, so we simply exchanged greetings and thank you's, drinking our tea in silence. He seemed pleased with my willingness to visit him and my interest in his children.

Upon leaving his home, he told Rosemary that he wanted to give me a hen in appreciation. I was stunned. I felt as if I had not done anything to deserve such kindness and generosity, particularly from a man who has so little. I wanted to refuse the hen and ask that it be cooked for his children instead but Rosemary told me that he would feel confused and offended if I declined the gift, so I thanked him profusely and promised to send him the photos I had taken of his family.

Another moving experience I have had recently was going with the women in the Mama na Dada support group to Madiany, a town 15 kilometers away from Kunya with a hospital that recently began providing free Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV/AIDS. The women who had already tested positive at a VCT clinic in Bondo (1-2 hours by bus from Kunya) were going to register at a closer location, where they can get free multi-vitamins and antibiotics to help keep their immune systems strong. The hospital will soon give out free anti-retroviral therapy drugs to clients but they can only access the free drugs if their white blood cell count is below 200 and getting one's count involves an expensive visit to the district hospital that most of these women cannot afford. It took these women approximately 2 hours to walk to Madiany in 85-90 degree weather. (Some of these women are in their late fifties and early sixties, which by Kenyan standards is very old, and, keep in mind, they wear flip flops!) I was so impressed.

One woman in her mid-twenties, Pamela, left very early in the morning for Madiany with her 16-month-old son and arrived even before Maura (another volunteer) and I, who opted to take boda bodas (bicycle rides). When we arrived, she was sitting by herself in the waiting area and told us she was waiting for another woman in the support group who had suggested that she come get tested. Pamela is a widow with 5 children. She was the second wife of a man who recently died following the death of his first wife, both of whom were suspected of having AIDS. I asked Pamela if she wanted to wait for Janet, knowing that Janet would not likely arrive for another hour or two, or if she wanted me to help her find out where she could access VCT. She didn't want to wait and asked me to help her. Hospitals are very intimidating to poor people here and unless you understand the system or are able to pay for care, you don't necessarily get treatment. I felt like a true advocate.

Once I found where they conducted VCT and tracked down someone who would meet with Pamela, she asked me if I would sit with her during the 1.5 hr. session. I knew that I would probably miss the arrival of the support group but I didn't want her to feel alone in what was undoubtedly a terrifying process. The meeting was conducted entirely in Luo but it wasn't difficult to guess what was being explained. When we reached the time for her to receive the test, I became so nervous. I prayed during the 5 minutes it took to complete the test that the results would be negative but they weren't. The counselor administered another test but it confirmed her positive status. Pamela took the news well but I can't imagine what goes through one's mind at that point, even if she suspected she was positive beforehand.

Afterwards, Pamela and I talked about how she could continue to live a long life with proper care and treatment and the importance of taking care of herself so that she could take care of her children. Later, she told Janet that she wanted me to come and do the Memory Box Project with her before I left the village, which was truly an honor.

There have been so many other amazing experiences that I will share upon my return. I am too proud not to mention one of them quickly, which is that my high school girl's soccer team competed in their first game against the girls in the primary school (8th graders) and won 4-2 in a shoot out. I was literally jumping up and down at the end of the game.

Michelle Henderson, September 2005

Living in Kunya village has been a remarkable experience thus far. It could not be farther or further from San Francisco, aside from the fact that it is right on the coast of Lake Victoria, so I enjoy beautiful views of the water and sail boats carrying fisherman as they pass.

I am learning a little Luo, the primary language spoken in the village. It is challenging. The more I learn, the more people talk to me in Luo and I have no idea what they are saying. Even though the primary language taught in school is English, everyone prefers to speak in Luo. Many people, especially the children and youth in school, actually understand and are able to speak decent English but they are often embarrassed to try. I will have to keep encouraging people to make the effort so that my tiny circle of friends will grow.

My primary work in the village is on a Memory Box Project with clients of a home-based health care program for people living with HIV/AIDS or those with family members who have HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the project is to encourage those living with HIV/AIDS and their family members to talk about their lives, to share their experiences, family stories & traditions, hopes for their children's futures, even living wills and to keep them safe in a box for their families, children and future generations. I brought a recorder and a Polaroid camera to document the meetings with the clients and family members. I visit people with a Luo translator named Wilkister, who is the administrator of Mama na Dada. She is also the one who will transcribe the conversations in Luo so that families can have a copy for their Memory Boxes. The project has been well received but some are still hesitant to share openly. With multiple visits, Wilkister feels that people will start to open up a bit more.

When I am not visiting clients, I volunteer at the daycare and nursery school for orphans ages 2 - 6. Working with the kids is so much fun. They are too young to have learned any English in school; however, as I am an adult working as one of their caregivers, they can't quite grasp that I don't understand Luo. A child named Kennedy, who is quite brave, keeps talking to me in Luo in spite of my telling him in Luo that I don't understand the language. His response is to simply repeat what he said but in a louder voice, which makes me laugh and then he laughs and this happens a few times a day. It doesn't really matter that we cannot verbally communicate well because they like me for helping to feed them, play with them, teach them the alphabet and their numbers in English and occasionally bring them balloons or other small gifts.

Funding for the daycare center was generated by volunteers who were in the village in June. The community health care workers who conduct weekly home visits to their clients with HIV/AIDS noticed that many of the children were not being properly cared for. One day, one of the workers found a 4-year-old boy named Gidi lying listlessly on a mattress virtually dead. His 2-year-old brother, Tony, was also sick and malnourished, and had not yet learned to walk. The client had been their mother, who passed away from AIDS weeks before and the worker was conducting a follow-up with the widow.

With their father’s permission, she took Gidi and Tony from the home and went with the volunteers to the local clinic to get them treatment. The doctor said there was nothing he could do for Gidi and that he would soon die. The volunteers said they would pay to take Gidi and Tony to the hospital in Kisumu (the third largest city in Kenya) and pay for their treatment. Gidi spent the first week in intensive care and another 2 weeks in the hospital recovering and regaining his strength. Aside from being HIV positive, he had contracted a host of other illnesses, primarily related to malnutrition. Tony was in better health than Gidi, tested negative for HIV and returned home after a week.

Fortunately, with the help of the volunteers and the women at Mama na Dada, both Gidi and Tony are doing very well. They are now running around and playing with the rest of the children. I can't wait to show you all a photo of them. Gidi is a wise, old man in a 4-year-old’s body. He jokes around all day and laughs every time an adult tries to scold him, as if to tell us all "don't take life so seriously; we are here to have fun!" Even at the age of 4, he told one of the daycare teachers that he did not want to return home because his father cannot take care of him, so she and her husband became his informal guardians. Gidi's older sister, Mercy, age 7, is now the woman of the house since her mother died and must look after her two other brothers, cook, clean, etc.

I am amazed each day by these children’s strength. Some of them walk far distances by themselves to get to and from the daycare every day. Needless to say, when the volunteers learned that there were many other orphans like Gidi and his siblings, they began fundraising to start the daycare so that these children would have breakfast, lunch and a bath everyday, and enjoy a safe place to play and learn while their parents, relatives or guardians are working. I only hope that the daycare will continue, as it has become a vital part of these orphans ability to live and thrive.

Jami Rudofsky, May 2005

Hi All,

We arrived back in the "big" city yesterday and after a week in the village there is so much more to share.

Okay, now on to the adventures of the week. On Monday I taught my first drama class. I'm not sure anything could prepare me for that experience. The way children are taught here is much different in the US. Everyone piled into the classroom and each person has to bring in their own chair. The boys and girls tend to sit on opposite sides of the room which I later found out was not mandatory, it's just where they naturally sit. I got in front of the 70 or so students and started off by asking what they thought the definition of drama is. SILENCE.....So I had to go to the backup plan which was lecturing them on the basics of theater, plays, acting, etc. Not an easy task. Needless to say I was a bit discouraged. After about 1/2 hour of me talking I decided to try some acting exercises. Of course when I tried to get volunteers once again I got SILENCE....

Luckily for me, one of the students is a guy who lives at Mama na Dada. He is a brilliant kid named Udi although at school I have to call him by his proper name which is Linus. Linus was gracious enough to get up and volunteer to do an improv with me and he was great! I think he helped me out because he saw me drowning up there in front of the kids. As the class went on a few more people came up and did scenes and then it got a bit easier. When class finally ended I was exhausted and went straight back to Mama na Dada in need of some wine. Oh yeah, every time we come back from Kisumu we load up on wine and boy does it hit the spot after a long hot day, sitting on the porch rehashing the incidents of the day and watching the sun set over Lake Victoria. Good Stuff!!

I made the decision that I was going to get all of the kids involved the next time I taught, whether they like it or not. I was a woman on a mission. Tuesday I woke early to a beautiful sunrise and reflected on how wild it is that I was spending my 33rd birthday in Kenya. A year ago I never would have imagined that. Since no one else was up I decided to take a walk to the Shamba which is the garden that is tended by a woman named Jackie. She gave me a tour of the gardens and showed me all the fruit and vegetables they are growing there. The proceeds from the products in the garden help Mama na Dada and it is a wonder to see how big the garden is.

After a brief tour we walked to the beach to buy fresh tilapia from the fisherman who had caught them not an hour before. I wanted to buy fish for the birthday dance party we were having later that evening. For a mere 400 Shillings the equivalent of about $7US we bought enough fish to feed over10 people. And then we cleaned the fish. Right there on the beach. I learned the art of scaling the fish and then gutting it. Again, I never thought I would be doing that on my birthday and I loved it. Especially because everyone at the beach got a great laugh watching the Mizungu (Whitey) cleaning the fish.

The rest of the day was very relaxing and I had the day off of teaching because there was already something scheduled at the school. We took a long walk into the marketplace on the main road and purchased warm beer and sodas for the party. Word got around quickly and more and more people wanted to come celebrate.

After heading back home it was dark and within 5 minutes of being back we loaded up the cassette player with batteries and the dancing began. The party was wonderful and the dancing went on for hours. Literally, people had a plate of food and ate while they were dancing… it was hilarious. The girls also made some amazing banana bread and put a candle in it for me. It was a birthday I will never forget.

Wednesday was a mellow day everyone seemed a bit tired from the night before. I went to class not knowing what to expect but I made the kids participate and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. When class was almost over I was informed that a few of the students had a play they wanted to perform for the class. I was floored and giddy. They did a great job although half off the play was played to the blackboard so I didn't catch a lot of it but again I went home happy that they took the initiative. Hope everyone is well and I always look forward to hearing news from home!

Love,

Jami

Sue Bell, May 2005

So I hope you all find this as amazing as I did......

As some of you know, I came to Kunya by pure fate. I had been randomly researching volunteer opportunities on the web when I found a program called Village Volunteers. The program and the founder/director seemed a perfect fit for me right away and so, without knowing a whole lot, I decided that it was the program for me. I couldn't have been more right. I love when a gut feeling is right. Not only has my experience been amazing (tough but amazing), I have had the opportunity to get to know a man and a family who have played an absolute amazing role in Kenya's history. I may have mixed up a couple of facts here and there as I was scribbling like mad to get them all down, but essentially I got them all down correctly. Here is the story:

Living next to us on a compound in Kunya Village is an 85 year-old man named Mzee Oneko and his wife. Mzee is the polite/respectable word here for "old man". It's commonly used. Mzee is the father-in-law of Joyce, the amazing woman who founded/runs Mama na Dada. She is married to one of Mzee's 12 kids.

Mzee was a Freedom Fighter in Kenya - one of a handful of men who led the successful fight for Kenya's independence from Britain. He was colleagues/friends with the first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta and served as the Minister of Information when they successfully won independence. But that is only a part of the story. The following info is where this story and man become amazing!!

Mzee was born in the 1920's after his grandfather had returned from WW 1. His grandfather had been forced to fight on the British side in the war since Kenya was still governed by Kenya. While serving, he learned that it was essential to know how to read/write. So many Kenyans did not and he saw how that directly affected the jobs the Kenyans were given in the military. He returned home and made sure all of his children went to school. Mzee went to primary school in nearby Bondo, walking from Kunya which is a 30-45 minute drive by car!!!!!!!!!!! Mzee also went to secondary school, which very few people were doing at that time.

Once he completed school, he was working in a meteorology department in Kisumu, talking a lot among his intellectual colleagues about the possibility of Kenya's independence. He began to put his ideas into writing by a paper called Ramogi (which is the name of the great founding grandfather of the Luo tribe of which he belonged). The paper put forth ideas all about freedom and independence. From Kisumu, he went to Nairobi and started a similar paper with his colleagues and also began forming political groups who were advocating independence for Kenya. He was instrumental in forming the first well-known African political party - Kenyan African Union (KAU).

Things started really heating up as the KAU took root and Kenyans began actually believing that they could rule themselves. So much power was the KAU starting to have that the British government had no choice but to recognize them and begin talks. They, of course, hoped to talk and push them aside. The KAU had other plans.

Around 1951, the British called members of the KAU to London to explain what the KAU was all about. Mzee led the delegation. At the end of the meeting, the British were not happy and made it clear they would not allow the Kenyans to rule themselves. Mzee returned to Kenya declaring "The tree of freedom is watered by blood." This statement has followed Mzee for years and essentially fueled the fight between the Kenyans and the British! The momentum had been found - riots broke out in the cities, strikes were going on across the country and in the rural parts, tribesmen were running to the forests in order to orchestrate their attacks on the British. This fight was having success because it was NATIONAL and not tribal. Finally, most Kenyans were fighting on the same side. Things were very bloody in Nairobi.

By 1952, the main political leaders including the Mzee, Jomo Kenyatta and 4 others were rounded up and imprisoned. Joyce's husband Mike (son of Mzee) was born in October of this year. Mike and his family had to go into hiding for fear that the government would round them up to threaten, kill or imprison them as well. Mike had three brothers at the time and all went into hiding with their mother. The Mzee was detained for 7 years!!! During this time, many people were also being imprisoned where they were tortured and even killed.

In 1959, Mzee was released from prison but was "detained". The detainees were allowed to have 1 wife and 2 children live with them in the detainment camp. Mike met his father for the first time when he was 8 years old. Upon meeting him, he said, "Hello. You look a lot like my uncle." They lived in the detainment camp for 3 years together. Mzee and is fellow detainees served as teachers, teaching the children subjects including math, English, Swahilli, etc. So Mike was educated by his own father for 3 years.

After the 3 years, they were eventually released and allowed restricted movement in the area of Kunya. In time, the restrictions were eased and they were finally allowed to travel freely. Eventually, Mzee headed back to Nairobi to continue the fight for freedom. And in 1963, the first elections were held and Jomo Kenyatta was elected President. Mzee went to Nakuru, a predominantly white farming area where he was elected as the first Member of Parliament (MP) under the new government and served as the Minister of Information. The KAU was now called the Kenyan African National Union (KANU).

After 4 years, Mzee and some other political colleagues were growing disenchanted with the government they had been a part of. Kenyatta was dismissing important land issues. Before coming into leadership, Kenyatta, Mzee and the others had agreed that any Kenyan who had lost land or loved ones during the fight for independence should be compensated. Kenyatta was now dismissing this idea and not keeping his promise to the people. Mzee was furious. So Mzee and some colleagues formed an opposition party.

And that promptly landed him back in prison for 6 more years - this time imprisoned by his former colleage and Freedom Fighter, President Jomo Kenyatta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was released again in 1975 and went on to become an MP again representing his own area of Nyoma, where he now currently resides. Kenyatta went on to become a dictator and KANU enjoyed long success in running Kenya. Others like Mzee kept fighting to establish other political parties who could oust KANU.

In 1990, Kenya had its first multi-party election!! KANU won after having been the only party ruling Kenya for 30 years. Rumors of election rigging (including what was written in my Kenyan travel book) plagued the country and were considered by outside countries lending financial support to Kenya. But soon, the country and those outside accepted the elections results. I asked Mike whether he thought the election was rigged and he said NO. The reason KANU won, despite the fact that the party had become synonymous with dictatorship was because it had been all the people knew. Change was scary. And the opposition parties were still small and unorganized.

And so Mzee is now retired. He is the longest detained political prisoner in Kenyan history. And he is the oldest living original MP.

While most other MPs chose and still choose to make money, he owns only the home he lives in in the village of Kunya. His house is simple and has no electricity. He spends his days sitting in a chair underneath a beautiful Indian tree in his yard gazing at the beauty of Lake Victoria. His wife spends her time minding the many chickens they have.

They enjoy visitors almost daily. Just last year, the road through Kunya (there is only one 4 km road) was mended (by crushed gravel) in honor of Mzee. Politicians from all over come to meet with him, hear his stories and seek his advice. He has managed to say amazingly humble and welcoming. His children are all educated professionals (one leading the Department of Tourism, one a doctor, Mike is consultant, one a fisherman, etc.)

I have met Mzee several times - the first when I asked for his help in finding me a carpenter to build me a boat. I have visited him numerous times since just to chat and say hello.

While I gathered he was important figure of some sort, I had no idea that he was a Founding Father of Kenya, a Freedom Fighter and the longest detained political prisoner in Kenyan history. Word on the street that he is as clean as they come - always fighting for the people of Kenya and never using his positions of power to get rich - which is THE thing to do in Kenyan politics.

And so that is my brush with an amazing man who made such a difference in Kenya. And he lives right next door!

Hope you all enjoy this little slice of Kenyan history. I found it fascinating!!

SUE :)

Kieran O'Dowd, September 2004

Mama na Dada is a program that seeks to empower women and girls through self-sustaining projects in a village that lies on Lake Victoria. AIDS spread rapidly in this area due in large part to the migrant fisherman.

Women-run businesses like goat-keeping, bee-keeping, Tye Dye, and tailoring have been funded by Mama na Dada. They also run support groups and provide home-based care to those that are suffering with the illness.

I met Catherine, a 29-year-old happy-go-lucky widow in poor health. Her house had collapsed and was rebuilt by Mama na Dada. Then there was Clarise, a 30-year-old mother of three who could barely move and was somewhat in denial about her condition. As is common in the villages, we prayeed as we entered and exited the house. She was being cared for by her mother and was most worried about the education and care of her children and whether her mother would be strong enough to care for thme. Her mother was also concerned, having given up everything to care for her daughter and grandchildren. Clarise requested and will receive a wheelchair from Mama na Dada so she can move around without the help of her mother and get outside to see the sun.

Mama na Dada also operates a recreation center and it was great to see all the village women come and play netball, a combination of basketball and rugby. The program director, whose husband grew up in the village, chose to lead Mama na Dada full-time for no pay instead of working as an Attorney. She was so pleased to watch the women come and play as she said the women get married and have children so young and so rarely have fun in their lives. The women beat the teen girls and won't let them forget it anytime soon! They also run a Stay Alive Youth Group for the girls in the village. Although very conservative in nature, the women elders all got together and decided to teach the young girls about sex and how to avoid AIDS. One elder told me that she tells the young girls to abstain, but if they can't they must protect themselves. The elder women were torn in disseminating this information, but they all lost children to AIDS and believed that their whole village would eventually die if they didn't take action. And it's working. In talking to some of the orphan girls, they know the dangers and are not about to easily trust anybody.