Friends of Lenana
New hostel brings excitement!
When I visited Lenana in January, I went specifically to see what Hanne and Ted meant by ‘Hostel’…I was curious to see where the orphans return to during their school holidays? I had heard that ‘home’ was Mother Mary’s hostel on other side of the slum. But I wondered about the conditions…
Well, this picture says it all. I was very saddened to see a crampy, damp and dark place where single cots have to be shared, and the kids sleep on worn out mattresses and musty blankets.
And so what great luck was brought upon us when space within our perimeters came available to create a brand new Hostel!! While I was visiting, Hanne and I ordered new iron beds, mattresses, blankets, pink sheets for the girls and blue for the boys! We even planned a walk-in closet of sorts to put their few personal belongings. Hane put art on the walls, had pillows made of Maasai blankets and bought a few chairs for the kids to sit around and chat in a common area – a must for our growing adolescents. I thought to myself, what an incredible lifestyle change this is going to be for these young kids! And now Mama Mary, who is running the hostel, can officially call herself ‘Innkeeper’!
Unfortunately, my visit ended before the children returned to the project compound for their holidays. Oh, how I wish to have been there to see their faces when they arrived. I cannot wait to go back next year and see the bright, proud faces. Congratulations on the great work, Hanne and Ted!
26 young orphans have a ‘chic’ new home!
January 2008: We had just moved from a nearby church building into a few rooms in this compound, our third move in as many years. Putting a few tons of fill in the yard and raising concrete floors in this row of shacks (on a swamp) was just the beginning. This past week we added another 7 tons of rock to fill a few more low spots in the compound. We knew we had a lot of work to do, particularly before the rains came!
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April 2009: We now occupy the whole compound on a multi year lease and we’ve spruced it up! Our hostel is now ‘home’ to 26 of our kids. A huge improvement and they love it!
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Five rooms have been opened to create a dorm for the girls and a dorm for the boys separated by a common room they share for reading, studying, computing and socializing.
Cleaned, scrubbed and painted with new bunk beds and bedding – pink for the girls and blue for the boys! A closet built over the outside sidewalk on each side for day clothes and a small metal trunk for each child gives them space for other personal belongings. The new concrete sidewalk along the length of the compound keeps the water and mud out.
What began as a canvas tarp over poles next to the kitchen to keep the kids out of the weather is now a simple tin and pole structure (pictured below) with a concrete floor. This shelter doubles as the dining room and as a meeting place and activity centre. Getting meals organized and served and running daily activities has become much easier for all of us in this new space.
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Current Events Discussion Group
A number of very serious challenges confront Kenyans: critical food and water shortages; high youth unemployment, crime, poverty, disease, systemic corruption and a dysfunctional coalition government —just to name a few. It’s important for our youth to be aware of these issues. We do that through a current events discussion group. Each participant reviews an assigned article from the daily paper which is then discussed by the group. Critical thinking and analysis is encouraged. The kids really enjoy these sessions—they add to their knowledge and understanding of the world around them, build their self confidence and improve their language and speaking skills as they debate and express their opinions on these important issues. I have really enjoyed these sessions and they will continue weekly throughout the year.
Lights, Action, Computers!
We are excited to announce that we have recently installed power in the compound for the first time ever!
The kids now have lights for studying when darkness arrives in the slum as well as power to run our 2 laptops.
This past month, several of our high school youth have been learning to keyboard under the watchful eye of Patrick, our volunteer computer teacher. The computers are in hot demand and often we see small groups of youth huddled around one laptop in utter amazement! We are looking for more laptops, so if you would like to donate some of your old stock, please let us know.