Maseno Kenya

Western Kenya does not look like the set of the Lion King. When you look out from the top of the Maragoli hills, waves of green are cut in squares by the small family farms, on which 80% of Kenyan’s live and work. The earth is caked red and the sky is either a crystal blue or pouring buckets of water on you.

Like the rest of Africa, Kenya is plagued by the spread of HIV, dire poverty and corruption. In addition, we found that theunemployment rate (something like 40%) and alcohol abuse are big problems for the people of rural Kenya. As subsistence agriculture becomes a less viable way to survive, there has been a massive influx of people to the major cities of Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa. For poor children this migration has been particularly devastating. Equipped with no education or skills aside from farming, many of them end up being exploited or living on the streets. The hands-down most disturbing sight I've seen in my life are the homeless youth of Kisumu, who carry around bottles of glue, pressed to their nose. They are addicted and will eventual die of brain damage.

Education is really the only chance these kids have for a better life. The best way we Americans can help is by building schools and creating other support networks that let the people of Kenya help themselves. In the small town of Maseno, the nonprofit we worked with, Building Futures, has built classrooms at two different schools and established sustainable feeding and clothing programs. For more info, please check out the videos we made.

A word about these kids. They are amazing and beautiful, but but most of all, they are just kids. Even after a few days we began to pick out the familiar roles: class clown, nerd, bully etc. The only toys they have are sticks and rusty hoops. The girls play this strange game where one girl falls back and the other girls catch her. At Mbaka Oromo Primary school they have the best choir in the district.

 

We hope you'll take some time to check out the work we did in Kenya. Also, if you've been fortunate this year and have money, time or talents you'd like to contribute to these efforts please consider doing so. The man we traveled with, Jim Nowak, is a retired school teacher, talented project manager and all around wonderful human being. He personally takes all donations over to Kenya and supervises the construction of new classrooms.

Us?

We are Dan Lane and Ryan Wilcox. We do videography and photography respectively and also enjoy adventures, such as missing flights at the Nairobi airport or riding in a packed van for five hours to see African wildlife. We had an amazing experience in Kenya and just hope we can share a little bit about what's going on there and somehow get you involved. We are currently working on projects for the below organizations.

PALS

The Partnership for American Lansing Schools was established by the parents, students and teachers of Lansing NY. They have been active in raising funds for the construction of new classrooms at Mbaka Oromo Primary school as well as culture exchange between the American and Kenyan classrooms Visit thier website here.

Building Futures

Building Future's Jim Nowak has been active for several years on the ground in Kenya supervising construction for a coalition of non-profits. In addition to building pojects, the group has been working to establish sustainable feeding & clothing programs at Esi Valu Primary School.