Kenya

About the Kenya Project 2010 Project Objectives Work Completed

Mbitini is a small, rural village located in the Kitui District of Kenya’s Eastern Province. It spans 5km² with a population of 10,000 and consists of 5 small districts of its own. Kitui district has a semiarid climate with ~71cm of annual rainfall, which occurs sporadically during the rainy seasons. Rainfall would be adequate; however the region has been plagued with drought (2009 marked 2 years of drought in Kitui district), which ultimately leads to crop failure. Drought and starvation have claimed the lives of thousands and has led to an increase in school dropout rates as feeding programs struggle to feed ¼ of the student population.

MBITINI EMMANUEL CHILDREN’S HOME- Esther Kisavi’s Story

Pictured Left: 3 Generations- Esther (right) with her daughter Katherine, who works as a nurse in Nairobi, and her son.

The home was unofficially started in 1994 when we took three children to live with us. The parents of these kids, in retrospect, had died of HIV-AIDS, but at the time the cause of death was not clear and the children had nowhere else to go. The only place they knew was our home because their parents were our family friends. Later on, these 3 children brought 2 children who were struggling under the same circumstances. They said, “mama, these children have not eaten anything and have no one to go to”. Those 2 kids were fed and stayed.

In the community within our villages, 2000 was the year when HIV-AIDS became a serious issue. Unfortunately, many people did not know what it was until the time when we began to experience many deaths, particularly with people who worked in Mombasa. Many of them were brought home to be buried and we could not understand what was killing them. Later on, we understood that, yes, HIV/AIDS had affected our rural community. These people who were dying had unfortunately infected their spouses and children in the village unintentionally because, even though they lived in Mombasa, they came home regularly to visit with their wives and children. At this time, we realized that something dangerous was happening within the villages. When many of these children, left without parents, began coming to our home looking for food, our hearts were moved. In order to show compassion, despite our limited resources, we started our home with our greatest and only weapon being our Faith; We called the home Emmanuel (meaning God with us), which was opened officially in the year 2000.

The largest number of children we have had has been 60. Currently, we have 48 children. Those who have left have been picked by their relatives for various reasons. Some have claimed that they have resources to help them out, however many have taken them to use as house help/child minders. Even with 48 children the living conditions are not very comfortable. The housing is not adequate and we do not have the resources that we need to support all these children. Despite these issues, we can enable our children to receive three meals a day and the opportunity to finish their elementary/primary schooling.

IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION!!

What will we be doing in Kenya over 2010?

December 2010 will mark the official start of HSP’s agriculture program. During our annual 2-week trip this upcoming winter we will be implementing 4 main projects:

1.) Water harvesting facilities-

These collection reservoirs will be created through gutter and tank systems built along the roofs of local housing structures around the Mbitini area.

-The water collected through these structures will serve as an extra source of water that can be utilized during the dry seasons in which well reservoirs are running low.

-With a 2 year drought hitting the Mbitini area just 1 year ago in 2009, it is imperative that the village take steps to ensure the availability of an emergency water supply in the event that drought does (and inevitable will) hit again.

2.) Removal of invasive Pine and Eucalyptus trees

- Pine, native to North America, is a foreign, invasive species of tree that has inhabited the Mbitini area; this species is hydrologically expensive consuming large amounts of groundwater annually.

-Our team will begin the process of removing these invasive species and replacing them with local species of trees with lower water requirements.

-Pine removal will increase the amount of water filtering into aquifers utilized by local well systems.

-Phasing out Pine in the area entirely will be achieved over the next couple of years.

3.) Introducing Yo’Manzi Water technology into local farming practices

- Yo’Manzi is a time-release technology for irrigating plants, elegant in its simplicity it is truly a revolutionary product.
The product consists of ordinary water, bound in the form of a solid (gel) that provides consistent subsurface irrigation to plants for up to three months per application, without the need for other forms of irrigation.  Similar to an ice cube melting at the soil surface next to a plant, Yo’Manzi gradually releases water to the roots, minimizing water loss and maximizing plant survival rates.

4.) Seedling Nursery construction

-The Seedling Nursery, which will be located at the Emmanuel Children’s Home- the site of HSP’s clinic- will introduce a new, wide variety of nutritious vegetables lower in water requirements to the Mbitini population.

-These seedlings will be accessible to the community at a cost lower than anywhere else in the country and will serve as the only seedling nursery in the area.

-The money generated from seedling sales will go towards paying orphan school fees at Emmanuel.

-Seedling availability will encourage the local community to diversify their diets and current farming practices; the local diet is primarily composed of maize-based products.

**Many of these products are culturally significant; by providing easy access to more nutritious crops, the community has the opportunity to incorporate a more nutritious variety of foods into their cultural dishes rather than changing their dishes altogether.

The clinic:

Our group began construction on the clinic in December 2007. Over a 10 day period, we dug, stabilized, and cemented the foundations and began to build the clinic walls brick by brick from the ground up. The clinic was completed in December 2008.

We set up a temporary infirmary in the orphanage office with the medical supplies purchased and donated before our departure. Each shelf of the infirmary was equipped with instructions on how to treat various ailments.

Letting the Children be Heard:

We interviewed each of the children in order to learn important details about where they were born, who they are as people, what their hopes and aspirations for the future are, and how they came to live at Emanuel Children’s Home. We also accrued 24 hours of footage including shots of construction, a tour of the orphanage, daily life in Mbitini, and the special moments we shared with the children of.

We also created arts and crafts projects for the children as a way for them to express themselves and their experiences on an emotional level through drawing. Arts and crafts time also served as an opportunity for the children to educate us on their language, culture, the country’s history, and the candidates for the upcoming election. We departed from Kenya just 3 days before the election results were announced.

The footage is being used to create a documentary that will allow the children to share their stories with our global community; to help individuals from all walks of life to understand the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic from a more personal level, and to convey the message that despite cultural boundaries such as language and customs, we are all fighting this virus together.