I would like to begin this blog by wholeheartedly thanking Jody Kern, Edina Rotary, for emailing all of these pictures for us to use in our blogs!!! Her Blackberry picture taking email technology has been so appreciated to share with us, as I'm still learning how to use our Sony cameras and convert to our hotel computer. For only really getting to know Jody for 3 days, I feel like we've known her for years and she's a wonderful new friend, as is the rest of our great Rotary team- Steve, Liz, and fearless leader Tim. This is what I love most about Rotary- relationships, friendships, and common ideals....service above self!
I would also like to share that my endearing husband has raised the bar with his love of loud but tasteful shirts. His Hawaiian aquatic shirts have met their match with his new cheetah shirt, above, inspired by Monday's events which you read about him petting a cheetah as he would a house cat- truly unbelievable!!! I think he looks very handsome and pulls the look off amazingly well! :-)
Now to the highlights of today's events. We began our morning with a trip to the Giraffe Center, home to thirty Rothschild Giraffe. The Rothschild Giraffe is native only to Kenya and is not as hearty as the Reticulated Girraffe or the Maasai Girrafe. We got to feed by hand and pet Kelly the Giraffe, an 18 year old Rothschild. She delicately took cereal from our hands, and while Giraffe saliva is gross and sticky it is interestingly a natural anti-septic. Yes, I admit, Chris was a natural at it, and after 2 licks off my hand I jumped away and had enough of the experience. :-) Pictures 2 and 3 show some highlights.
From the Giraffe Center we next toured the Karen Blixen Museum , the woman famous for her life story, Out of Africa. We toured her home where the Meryl Streep and Robert Redford film was shot. While she left Kenya bankrupt and returned to Denmark , she is famous in Kenyan culture because she treated her Maasai coffee plantation workers so well. She employed and allowed 700 Maasi to live on her plantation at the foot of the Ngong Hills. She built schools for their children and provided free medical care for all of the tribe. She is a personal inspiration to me, as she feels like such a unique trail blazer to be so independent in the early 1900's, a visionary, and a Rotarian in a sense without the title. She left the world a better place for sure.
From the Giraffe Center we next toured the Karen Blixen Museum , the woman famous for her life story, Out of Africa. We toured her home where the Meryl Streep and Robert Redford film was shot. While she left Kenya bankrupt and returned to Denmark , she is famous in Kenyan culture because she treated her Maasai coffee plantation workers so well. She employed and allowed 700 Maasi to live on her plantation at the foot of the Ngong Hills. She built schools for their children and provided free medical care for all of the tribe. She is a personal inspiration to me, as she feels like such a unique trail blazer to be so independent in the early 1900's, a visionary, and a Rotarian in a sense without the title. She left the world a better place for sure.
Karen's book begins something like- "I had a farm in Africa, on the foot of the Ngong Hills." Sidenote- Did you know the 'Ngong' hills is the Maasai tribe term for "knuckles"? When we get home to upload our pictures, you will see the hills have 4 distinct "bumps". Legend has it that one day God was not happy that people were misbehaving, so he planted his fist down to the ground and left the indentation of knuckles!
The Kazuka Bead Center was our next stop. The Bead Center employs over 300 single parent Kenyan mothers and creates beads that are sold throughout the world. The mothers and their children are given health care, which is a privilege in Kenya . Many Kenyans must call upon their friends and family to pay for medicine when it is needed. Our driver Benjamin put it as “God is my health insurance”. Wow.
For lunch, we met Tracy Hagman, Executive Director of Heshima Children's Center, and Paula, President of Rotary Club of Karen (Karen is a suburb of Nairobi, named after Karen Blixen). Tracy is a native of Edina, MN, and has lived in Africa for the past 9 years with her husband Eric, son Sam (16), and Simon (14). Simon is a special needs child, and was born at 20-some weeks at 1 lb. He was at Children's Hospital for the first 18 months of his life. Eric seized the opportunity 9 years ago to be a contractor for a bible translator missionary company, and their family moved to Nairobi. Tracy advocated for Simon's special needs in Nairobi, and felt God's calling to help find children hidden in Africa. Two years ago, she founded a 401c3 non-profit, Heshima: http://heshimachildrenscenterkenya.wordpress.com/. We learned that typically, Kenyan women are essentially shunned from their community if they give birth to a special needs child, with the opinion that the child is "cursed" with evil spirits, as is the mother. These women end up alone in most cases, abandoned by their husbands (or else many times beaten), and lacking support of their family and no love.
The Kazuka Bead Center was our next stop. The Bead Center employs over 300 single parent Kenyan mothers and creates beads that are sold throughout the world. The mothers and their children are given health care, which is a privilege in Kenya . Many Kenyans must call upon their friends and family to pay for medicine when it is needed. Our driver Benjamin put it as “God is my health insurance”. Wow.
For lunch, we met Tracy Hagman, Executive Director of Heshima Children's Center, and Paula, President of Rotary Club of Karen (Karen is a suburb of Nairobi, named after Karen Blixen). Tracy is a native of Edina, MN, and has lived in Africa for the past 9 years with her husband Eric, son Sam (16), and Simon (14). Simon is a special needs child, and was born at 20-some weeks at 1 lb. He was at Children's Hospital for the first 18 months of his life. Eric seized the opportunity 9 years ago to be a contractor for a bible translator missionary company, and their family moved to Nairobi. Tracy advocated for Simon's special needs in Nairobi, and felt God's calling to help find children hidden in Africa. Two years ago, she founded a 401c3 non-profit, Heshima: http://heshimachildrenscenterkenya.wordpress.com/. We learned that typically, Kenyan women are essentially shunned from their community if they give birth to a special needs child, with the opinion that the child is "cursed" with evil spirits, as is the mother. These women end up alone in most cases, abandoned by their husbands (or else many times beaten), and lacking support of their family and no love.
After lunch, we drove to the slum in Kenya where Heshima is located. Benjamin could only drive us so far, and we walked a few blocks to get there. We walked through the slum area, with so many children were in the pathways saying "how are you", with huge smiles on their faces, looking for positive recognition. In some instances, there were 3 year olds walking all alone, and I was amazed and could only imagine the resiliency a child in the slum must face from birth to survive in a place like this. Once we arrived at Heshima, we saw a refreshing area with painted outside and inside walls and a well-kept space. Tracy has developed a special place where kids can thrive to their maximum potential, and honors the slum environment by coming to them, vs. them coming to Heshima. Although, there are vast slum areas, and some mothers carry their child up to 5 kilometers 1 way ON THEIR BACKS to bring them there. There are currently 12 children in her program who age in range from 3-15 years old, with various developmental issues from cerebral palsy to autism and club feet. One mother admitted to us when we were there that her 3 year old child Lizzie is there 2 days a week, and the other days when she is working, many times she has no choice but to lock Lizzie in the shack for 8 hours to be alone while she is away, as there is no one to care for her. Lizzie can not walk, is completely helpless, and awaits her mother's return. Tracy has done a wonderful job almost single-handedly developing the curriculum for these kids to receive physical therapy, 2 nutritious meals daily, various stations for projects, and weekly horseback riding excursions as part of therapy. She is a strong believer of faith and mentions how Jesus cared for the wounded and well alike, and has the bible verse Mark 10:16 on her wall- "Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them". The kids were immediately handed to us upon our arrival so the kids could get warm, loving, physical contact which they all crave. (See Chris's video excerpt below of a boy who really adored him.) Tracy's vision is as the children grow up, they could become helpers and be paid money to be part of the center. Many hand-made physical therapy equipment is needed and extremely expensive, but she seems to find alternate, creative ways of making them happen. She also recognizes the mothers have limited income, and they need to pay 200 schillings ($3) monthly tuition to show their commitment as well. She recently has begun a beading project where the mothers can earn a little money by making jewelry for Heshima to sell, with 100% profits going directly back to Heshima. Overall, the visit was a moving experience and I believe our Rotary clubs are committed to looking into matching grant funding to further support her.
After Heshima, we went back to Tracy and Eric's home in Karen for a very nice meal and conversation before we went to the evening Karen Rotary Club meeting. Again, we were amazed by the warm welcoming and meaningful connections we all made!
Asante until tomorrow- Jane
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