ADEO and Mothers

We had two classes today. The first was for the kids that we and some friends of ours sponsor, as well as some of their mothers. About 26 mothers and daughters came. Most had been through an earlier version of the class before. Some were nearly 5 years ago. The class has changed a lot since then. And the girls have changed too. It was a good time for a repeat. I found it interesting to see how many different schools at which I’d encountered the girls. Some have gone from day school to boarding, and I met them at the day school.

Above is Zippy. I met her at Wise Steps Academy in 2021. Her sister was sponsored and was moving to boarding school. But Zippy didn’t have a sponsor, so she was staying. That is very dangerous, as the kid who remains is often subject to retribution.

Darlene stepped up in minutes of my plea to sponsor Zippy at that time. She is a really sweet girl. Always smiling.

In the picture are, left to right, Faith, Virginia, Zippy, Catharine, Vera, some dude attacking Zippy, Irene.

Below is Ruth. Her mother is Mama B, who we’ve known for years. Wonderful family. Very caring. Ruth and I got to work on her math homework together. She has been struggling. After reading a couple of the questions, I completely understand why. I didn’t study this material until I was in college. And I was a math major. This is ambitious for the Kenyan government to expect the equivalent of high school juniors to get this. I was having to read the questions multiple times and google formulas. Yikes! We will keep working on it together. Matt and Renee have been sponsoring her for several years.

Below, left to right, are Patience, Cecelia, Marion, and Sarah. The fifth sister is Valary, who is away at school. Ginger and I have sponsored Sarah since 2017, and first met her when she lived in an orphanage in Nairobi. We knew she had 2 sisters there, but didn’t meet them until later. A year or so later, we moved Sarah to a school close to her mother, in Kisumu. (You don’t have to be an orphan to be in an orphanage. Many kids are given up when the parents can’t support them any longer.)

Younger sisters Marion and Valary needed to change schools, as well. So we started sponsoring them. In 2022, we met the family and learned of Patience and Cecelia. Because Ginger lets me travel to Kenya unsupervised, we now sponsor them, too.

Below is Beth. Many of you have heard her story before. Ginger and I met her in 2019. We did a home visit, driving Beth from her school to her house. No one was home. Virginia (the Kenyan social worker) started asking questions. The story was that Beth’s parents had split up and both left the area. Beth, two older brothers, and an older sister were left behind. The sister was in boarding school and the brothers had left to find work. Beth was living alone at the house, out in the bush, at 9 years old. She continued to attend school, walking 3 km each way on a busy road, since she got a meal there every day. It was typically her only food.

We immediately moved her to boarding school.

Virginia has since connected with Beth’s father. He is back in her life. And she is doing well in boarding school.

A number of the kids we’ve met, including some we’ve sponsored, and their parents, are HIV-positive. Medication is available to help control it. It is critical for them to keep taking the meds. If they don’t, their health and school performance deteriorate rapidly. For some, there are collateral health issues, such as very frequent coughing.

There is still a stigma for HIV-positive people, so it isn’t widely discussed. I know who some of the Positive kids are, but I’m sure I don’t know all. It doesn’t really matter to me and isn’t my business.

After the morning class, we went to the African Development and Emergency Organization (ADEO). ADEO is an NGO dedicated to improving the lives of marginalized and disadvantaged Africans. They implement programs in association with the UN and a number of governmental organizations, US, EU, and African. They have a lot of different activities. One area of focus is on gender-based violence. Cedric works through this organization, as well as the Kenya Red Cross. We had a class of 13 workers.

Our classes are much smaller this trip than some we’ve had. The schools aren’t in session, so we can’t go there. The schools are where we’ve gotten classes of 100 to 180 girls all at once. This has allowed a lot more individualized attention. The classes are set up through community organizations instead of the schools.

Luckily, I have a well-trained team in Kenya. I have two, Cedric and Wangari, who can run classes effectively by themselves. One area they aren’t as equipped to handle is  questions. At this point (I’ve had over 2,800 people in the classes since I started doing this), we don’t get a lot of brand-new questions. But sometimes we do. 

The small groups mean we don’t need a lot of people to teach. Which is a good thing. Some of my team aren’t always operating at their best.