Today was a day I've been eagerly anticipating for a long time now. I visited the largest slum in Africa with an estimated 2 million people living in abject poverty. A perpetual poverty that has locked in generations of Kenyans. Yet at the same time, it was incredible to see the smiles of people. Hundreds of children all day long smiling and saying in English, "how are you?" The answer they expected was "fine" or "mazuri". Despite the incredible poverty, and with virtually nothing an American can conceive, the place was alive and you felt a sense of community.
We visited a school in which most families cannot afford the school fees necessary of $16 a month to allow them to get through primary school. A school so basic that none of us would probably take our students to it. Yet, I commend the courage of the head teacher we met for meeting his challenges with a smile. We met a family where the mother is partially paralyzed from some type of infection, whose husband died in December of AIDS. The teenage daughter is hoping to go to college someday and yet you see such heartbreak on her face. This family worked hard to make there 8' X 10" metal roofed shack comfortable and homey. We met a 74 year old man who has lived in Kibera since before Kenya's independence in 1963. It was a mud shack that was leaning over with only an old cot for a bed inside. He was ill but claimed he was only tired and only complained that he didn't get any meat from the aid agency that brings him some food once a week. A sadness I can't explain.
You go through a gamut of emotions. Pictures to follow I hope soon.
Tomorrow I meet with the lost boys of Sudan at the Gua House. More challenges, and more hope.
Gua to all.
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