We had planned on sleeping in and having breakfast here at the hotel, stopping out to get coffee, and maybe heading over to the Keys hotel to go lounge by the pool. Instead we woke up pretty jazzed about our project and spent most of the morning and afternoon discussing the options.
It turns out that we were all having some negative feelings about helping Upendo and we needed to acknowledge them. When we emailed the sisters, they would mostly ask for money, and when we were clear that we would not be handing out money, but only offering to pay school fees and supply books and uniforms, we were ignored. When we did not respond with what they wanted to hear, we were ignored. The three of us also feel like our money could be spent more efficiently in other places where there is a greater need.
To start, Living has switched his placement with CCS from working at Jiendeleze (the nursery school I taught at last year) to being the headmaster at Watoto Rau. Watoto Rau is a community school much like Jiendeleze, where the students come from poor families or orphanages, and are allowed to attend for free. He told us that there are three children from the Tuleeni Orphanage that do not have uniforms. Seeing as how they are only 5-10 dollars a piece, we offered to cover that expense. We agreed to meet Living this morning at Watoto Rau to meet the children and to have them fitted for new uniforms.
Stepping inside the school brought back a flood of memories from the days at Jiendeleze. We were up in front of the class singing songs and repeating the alphabet. Recess was a mob scene as usual. Before school ended Living ran up the street to find the seamstress and she came to the school to measure the kids for uniforms. Instead of there just being three children, there were nine, but the smiles on the faces of the mamas was worth every bit of time and money.
The plans for helping Upendo are mostly out the window at this point. We are still going to return there to drop off clothes for the children and a small amount of money as to not leave them in the dust. As far as continuing the relationship with them, we feel that once we let on that we will not continue to provide funds that any bridges will ultimately be burned.
Our new project plans are slowly developing, but I am beyond ecstatic about them. We are going to pick out 5-10 students from the Majengo district to put into primary school this year. Where will we find these children? Well, it just so happens that Jiendeleze is in the Majengo district and I happen to know 5-10 deserving students to send to school!
Sending a child to school sounds easy, but it's going to be a lot of work. At times I feel incredibly stressed at how much work there is to do, and how little time we have to do it, but I remember where I am at and things move polepole here.
Tomorrow I will be heading over to the "mzungu bar" across from the CCS home base to talk to Mama Marie and ask her to assist us in going to Majengo Primary School to talk with the headmaster. We need to make sure that the students can still be accepted into school since classes started on the 15th.
If all of that works out the plan is to head to Jiendeleze to find the students and visit their houses one by one to speak with the parents and offer the "scholarship."
Needless to say, I can't wait!
Tomorrow is going to be a big day.
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