One Drop of Hope

I'm excited to launch our new "One Drop of Hope" campaign inspired by my friend Yvette Narlock's beautiful song, "One Drop." I'll post it here if I can figure it out technically, otherwise, you can find it at www.umoja-onedropofhope.blogspot.com.

Terry has had many successes in fundraising through Rotary for KASFOOC (Kakamega Supporting Families of Orphaned Children). So far we have raised funds to stock and provide feed for 22 ponds and have most recently secured a $5,000 district simplified grant from Rotary to protect four fresh water springs. This will mean the difference between drinking out of a most often diseased, always dirty puddle and having a source of free flowing, clean water for hundreds of families in rural Kenya. Our deepest gratitude goes out to Strathcona Sunrise Rotary for their enthusiastic support.

We know what a truly incredible difference a small amount of money can do. I have partnered with Julie (remember Julie, she is also from the island and volunteered at Maji Mazuri in Nairobi at the same time we were in Kenya) to raise more awareness and funds through our One Drop of Hope Campaign. We are providing beautiful glass drop ornaments, supplied from a local Vancouver Island business, in exchange for donations of $10.

All proceeds raised will fund projects that we were personally involved in during our visit to Kenya -- Maji Mazuri, with projects supporting women and children in the slums of Nairobi including micro-credit, a children's shelter for disabled and orphaned children and education (www.majimazuri.org); Kenya Education Endowment Fund, providing sponsorships for needy children to attend highschool which is crucial for any chance at success (www.kenyaeducation.org) and KASFOOC, which you have heard much about through our blog, projects supporting widows and families of orphaned children with education, food security and enterprise, clean water, health and sanitation. There is no website for KASFOOC as they are a very small Community Based Organization, I do believe we are their only support.

There is much good work to be done. And we know the local organizations that are equipped to get it done. With a little bit of funding, and just a little bit of hope, they can do amazing things. You can provide One Drop of Hope that together with others will grow into lasting, positive change for the children in Kenya.

Please call or email me to get your One Drop of Hope... or lots of them! They make great gifts, ornaments for your Christmas tree, window or light fixtures, gift tags...

Tanya (250) 898-7728 tanya@findyourmarathon.com

We will have drops available for pick up in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Courtenay and Victoria. We are certainly willing to ship, but will need to add a $5 shipping fee to those orders. Thank you so much for your continued kind support!

One Drop of Hope (the drops)

These are the "Drops of Hope". Glass drops are available in clear, red, blue and green for a donation of $10 each or three for $25. Soldered drops are available in clear, red and blue for a donation of $20 each or three for $50.

Drops will be on display at several local businesses in Courtenay, including Zen Health Haven. You can pick them up there, or email tanya@findyourmarathon.com to order and we will arrange delivery. We will also have pick up options in North Vancouver, Vancouver and Victoria. For orders outside these areas, we will add a $5 shipping fee per order.

If you are willing to display drops in your business or take orders from your friends and workmates, please call me (250) 898-7728. We would love to have Drops of Hope for Kenya falling with the same enthusiasm as the rain is falling locally!

Made a decision

Yesterday I made the decision to support Fredrick and his young family, Josephine and baby Brenda by paying their rent for one year so that Fredrick can finish his carpentry.

Up until last week, Fredrick had been living on his Uncle's land with his mother, and two brothers and their families. This was the maternal homestead. In Kenya land is passed down from the father to the sons. When Fredrick's mother was divorced from his father (frowned upon in Kenya), they were left with no land and no home. Due to pressure from Fredrick's grandmother, the fatherless family moved onto a very small portion of the uncle's land. They were never welcomed and Fredrick and his brothers were ridiculed for not having a father. Fredrick said at times that he wanted to kill himself.

Fredrick's grandmother was ill when we were in Kenya and has since passed away. She was the force keeping Fredrick and his family on the land. The family has been broken. Fredrick's mother has gone to live with a sister, his brothers have found homes and Fredrick and Josephine have found a small house to rent with the baby. Thanks to Joyce and Matano, who lent Fredrick the money for the first month's rent and negotiated a better deal for them (2,500 Ksh/month), they have a place to live. They were barely getting by with a free place to live and land to grow food. Now they have to pay rent and buy all their food as nothing is planted where they live. I am unclear whether they have a spot to plant for future crops.

Fredrick has been going to carpentry everyday for 6 months, with no pay. And doing boda boda in the late hours of the day. Josephine has been working the business selling used clothing in the market. Carpentry is Fredrick's only chance at providing a future for little Brenda. For $38/month I can give them that chance. How can I not?

What's Next?

We've been home for almost two months and life in the Valley is beginning to feel familiar. We've given a couple of presentations to the community, schools and Rotary Groups. It is becoming increasingly clear is that this thing is so much bigger than we are. In our two months in Kenya we were introduced to a myriad of projects -- all worthy, all vital and all in need of support. How do we choose just one? I feel like we need to choose a focus so we can spread hope, not overwhelm.

Water. Sanitation. Leadership. Education. Children. Micro-credit. Fish Farming. Widows. Orphans. Women. AIDS. Urban Development. Goats. Rural... and on and on and on.

I sat down in my favourite coffee shop today to work on my to-do list and set my week up. Someone from across the restaurant said, "Hey, I want to talk to you. She's the one who went to Kenya." Gotta love a small town. So, I chatted with Zac Whyte, a video journalist from Courtenay (visit http://occupationhuman.org and http://connectingwithkenya.com). His bio states, "Zac is passionate about international development and helping people find their individual power to positively affect the world around them." ME TOO! Though I'm on the seeking side of my individual power to positively affect the world around me.

We shared some stories about flat tires and corruption and singing and hope and how we in the West with our big hearts and deep pockets can really make a mess of things if we're not careful. Below is an excerpt from "When the Crocodile Bites the Sun, A Memoir of Africa,"

"It's always instructive to observe the life cycle of the First World aid worker. A wary enthusiasm blooms into an almost messianic sense of what might be possible. Then, as they bump up against the local cultural limits of acceptable change, comes the inevitable disappointment... Even those who have learned the language and done thorough research, often have their faith eroded by the vagaries of Africa, which can start to look horribly like irrationality to the northern eye."

Ah, the wary enthusiasm. I still remember standing in Staples, heart pounding, purchasing boxes of pencils and pens to bring to schools along with soccer balls. I was pretty wide eyed then. Still am, but now it is mixed with just a smidgen of experience that tells me that nothing is as simple as it seems.

Again, from "When a Crocodile Bites the Sun,"

"I feel like weeping. Weeping at the way Africa does this to you. Just as you're about to dismiss it and walk away, it delivers something so unexpected, so tender. One minute you're scared shitless, and the next you're choked with affection."

So, here I am. Kenya has seared my heart. And I'm scared... of what, I'm not quite sure... Maybe of not doing enough. Now that I've seen what I've seen, I'll never unsee it.

O.K., what's next? Focus. KASFOOC (Kakamega Supporting Families of Orphaned Children) will be our signature project through Terry's Rotary connection. And me... I'm working on my message. "I can't do everything, but I can do something" keeps ringing in my ears. I'll see what unfolds from there. Thanks for coming along with me as I sort all this out.

Comox Valley to Kenya Presentation April 29th

Re-entry continues

April 7, 2009


I always knew that going to Africa would change my life forever, but I never understood how deeply. Everything I see, feel and hear now passes through the filter of my memories of Kenya. At times I am cynical and can't make any sense of the world, my career, spirituality, friendships, wants, needs, values...

I was in the kitchen today looking at my bowl of large, perfectly shaped oranges each with their very own sticker on them. As I peeled the stickers off that speckle my garden if I leave them on the peel when I compost them, I wondered if it is really necessary to label every single orange. Each time I am in Superstore staring at a sea of plastic looking, brightly painted produce and isles and isles of packages resembling something like food, I long for the Kakamega market. I miss seeing our friend and favourite vendor Paul and his wife Vanessa, meeting us with a warm handshake and asking how many pieces we want today, choosing each piece personally to make sure we get only the ripe ones, often throwing in a 'discount' or suggesting a melon or passionfruit to increase his sale.

I feel alone. People that I love and respect don't get it. They say things like, "it's all about balance," and I want to scream -- where is the balance in millions of people starving, oppressed, ignored. I am conflicted and probably most disappointed in myself because I am not doing all I can do to dive in and help. I'm selling a little jewelry and will send a few hundred dollars, maybe even a few thousand back and it will make a difference. But there is so much more to do.

I am having difficulty finding meaning in anything. Life coaching seems so trivial. I wonder if Josephine is worrying about dying "with her music still in her" as she is walking for water or worrying about her sick baby.

A lovely woman I know has just spent $12,000 having her teeth veneered. She says it is the first time she has ever done anything that is just for her. What are we missing that we need to gift ourselves with $12,000 worth of shiny white teeth? I wonder if it has given her the sense of love and meaning that humanity is so craving.

Oh, and please believe me, I am not pointing fingers. I am looking in the mirror. I picked up B12 drops for $24.50 yesterday and am taking my fish oil caplets daily in the hopes of stopping my hair from falling out. I'm still wearing Lulu Lemon and making Feng Shui adjustments in my home. I am grasping to goals and to do lists tightly so I can function and get out of bed in the morning.

I know my family wants me to shake it off and just be happy. I don't want to burden my friends with my broken heart and I certainly don't want to be a downer. I want to learn to speak about our experience in such a way that people are uplifted and moved to contribute. Even as I say this I am reminded about how many people followed our blog and have been moved by it. And have helped me to feel less alone. This is why I am writing now, just in case someone is still reading. It helps to get it out so that I can hopefully cease to be so paralyzed by the biggness of it all.

And I am happy much of the time. And so grateful for my life. We had such a wonderful time in Kenya. I'm so blessed to have been able to share this trip with Cody. We laughed every day, lounged in the sunshine, drank chai with friends, ooed and awed constantly at how beautiful the people, the sights and the sounds are. So sometimes I am confused by my own sense of grief. We kept our trip pretty darned light -- no medical clinics, no refugee camps, no starvation... just friends with no electricity or running water working hard to eek out something like a living against very tough circumstances.

We watched the movie MILK recently and I am reminded that Harvey Milk's movement for gay rights only fully came to life when he switched the focus of his speeches from oppression to hope. That is what people need; hope.

I feel moments of hope every time I sell another piece of Julius' jewelry, or put a two-nie in my mud bank to save for the tools Fredrick will need upon completing his carpentry training, or when people jump right in to donate to fill a pond with fingerlings for KASFOOC... oh, there is so much hope. I look at the picture of the children from the Head Start School and I find hope.

Back in my world

March 23, 2009

I just re-read my initial re-entry blog entry. And, I must say, it is a pretty accurate reflection of how this transition has been. And still is.

I'm feeling lonely, like I left such a huge part of myself in Kenya. I have wonderful friends and family here reaching out and I am slowly thawing to their love and support. I've basically spent a week under a blanket eating chocolate. Monday I promised myself I would get busy and get on with life. I have revamped my resume, condensing myself to one page of skills, experience and accomplishments that I think someone might want to pay me for. I wonder if anyone would like to pay me to spend money in Kenya protecting springs, sending kids to school, training teachers and families on their strengths and virtues, providing hope... building latrines, equipping classrooms with text books, producing youth leadership workshops, providing seed money for micro finance enterprises, putting in fish farms for food sustainability, feeding orphans, sponsoring salaries for nurses, physiotherapists and teachers... oh, so much to do that means so much.

I brought back little fired mud piggy banks from the Kakamega market... each day as I put in a 2-nie I feel that much closer to my next trip.

I hope to have some pictures posted on facebook this week and we will be scheduling some presentations soon for those who would like to hear about our experience of Kenya and the organizations that are doing such good work.

Thanks for being with us on this journey. And please accept my apology in advance as I stumble my way back to my world in the West. I really am grateful for you all.