Most of the day today was spent at the Kipsonga slum. A village of some 2,800 people of all ages, working daily for mere survival. The people are of the Turkana tribe originally out the north-western part of the country. They live in hundreds of individual family huts, most made of stacked mud in a wood pole and lattice structure coated with cow dung (which becomes a stucco like surface once dried). The older huts have thatched roofs while the newer ones are fitted with corrugated tin sheets. There are still over 150 huts made literally on a wood stick dome structure covered and woven with plastic; bags & loose pieces. The elder’s first goal is to build mud huts to replace these remaining plastic bag huts, especially for the elderly women without families, of which there are many.
This was once again one of those scenes we’ve all seen repeatedly on TV or in print but when you visit it in person, its difficult to comprehend. I was invited into an elderly lady’s home – the plastic bag construction variety – where she slept, cooked, and kept all her personal belongings in a 45 square foot area, max height 5ft, dome. The smoke stained ceiling I suppose guaranteed warmth and fewer malaria mosquitoes but I had to wonder about her lung health and fire safety. Frankly a bit humbling when you consider that the value of the laptop I’m typing this blog on is equivalent to the cost of building her a new home of the mud hut type construction.
The young children (2 – 5 years of age) scurry around us as we walked throughout the village, holding our hands and wanting to be recognized and acknowledged. They are wonderful little kids but fight each day for their survival as well. The Church in the village works very hard to educate and feed them a meal a day in an effort to keep them from walking 2 miles down the road to downtown, and becoming glue boys, like so many of their older siblings and friends.
The single water well for Kipsonga has a broken handle so cannot be used … the women walk a mile or so to fulfill the daily water needs of their family … we are making simple arrangements to get the handle welded back on, and then will check production and quality. We're planning two more wells, to accomplish one well per 1000 people.
Again the needs are urgent and important; water, food, housing, and security. We are working also though with the elders and some of the young adults to secure a commerce plan which will help them take care of themselves, and make the improvements long lasting & managed by the village leadership … the goal is to shake the name of being a slum. They take pride in their plan and effort to work in this direction. Their passion fuels our enthusiasm.
11:50 pm …It’s a cold evening so we’re headed back out in a few minutes (well after dark) with some of the US mission youth to do a “blanket drop” … simply finding some of the kids still out on the downtown streets, and dropping off blankets to them, so they can get a better night’s sleep.
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