Help the street children in Kenya fund
Diana HarrisonHIV, AIDS political fighting and the Orphans of Kenya
‘The lost children’
A few years ago I visited Kenya and stayed for a while in the Mombasa area. As a ‘rich’ western tourist (in African terms!) my first impression was of horror at the poverty of dust-laden shantytowns lining the city, the rubbish, the dirt and the flies. I sat in my taxi bemoaning the hot bumpy ride through pot holed tarmac roads and glancing through the window at the thousands of people, felt somewhat like a visiting royalty. I was one of the lucky, a westerner who could afford taxis and a comfortable hotel bed. And in that moment in time had chosen to pass through and stare at this swarm of humanity, as each individual seemed to race in chaotic fashion to work or to find some means of making money to support themselves and their families for that day. As we passed through neighbouring villages, shoeless and ragged children would race out of their families tiny mud shacks to shout ‘Jambo’ (hello) to me. Perhaps like some of the other visitors I could have felt pity enough to simply hand out a few Kenyan schillings, or given away some pens, books, clothes, or shoes. Then I might have gone back to my hotel with all its conveniences and gone on with my holiday. After all, the country with all its rich diversity of ecosystems was what I’d gone out there to see and remember. And maybe I would have done just that, except for one thing that made all the difference.
On one visit into the city I crossed as usual by the overcrowded ferry carrying cars, lorries and thousands of people crammed into what looked like cattle sheds each side of the ferry. What caught my eye was an emaciated woman sitting by the railings and almost crushed by the throng of people around her, she sat staring wretchedly at the bundle on her lap. The woman barely seemed to have the strength to pick up the pile of rags, which turned out to be a child of under a year old. She had a begging letter beside her that told something of her story, it read that she had lost her husband to A.I.D.S and that she too was dying of the disease. Yet she wasn’t full of what would be understandable self-pity but was begging help for her sleeping baby girl who would soon be orphaned.
With the memory of that moment in mind I started noticing all the many street children, so often hidden by the piles of roadside rubbish they were scavenging through. I made enquires about the children and was informed that numbers were growing, and that many had lost their parents through diseases such as AIDS and Malaria. Sometimes it was simply that poverty had forced parents to abandon their children to the streets. Without any welfare systems such as health or education, the people of Kenya are left often struggling to totally provide for themselves and their families. There are a few orphanages for abandoned and orphan children, but these kind of resources are scarce and like everything else, they too battle for existence.
I was fortunate enough to be able to meet a couple of wonderful church people who were in charge of one of the orphanages. Likoni A.I.D.S. Orphanage Project, supports children whose parents have died from A.I.D.S. related illnesses was founded in 2000 by the members of Timbwani Baptist Church in Mombasa. I talked to these two amazing gentlemen, one of whom was the church Minister, they told me that the orphanage was run by church members and supported 33 children between the ages of 3 and 13 years. Many of the children had originally arrived back in 2000 begging help such as food, clothing and shelter from the church. Though the church members are either jobless or poor, between themselves they set out to assist the children as best they could.
So the orphanage was born and set out to provide not just food and shelter but also love, care, guidance and education (on HIV and A.I.D.S related matters). They also find the funding to get the children into school (mainly through sponsorship schemes).
I was told how children receive counselling and help to help them overcome the grief at the loss of their parents, and being a counsellor myself I was very impressed at what I heard described. Not just by methods used but by the love and compassion that poured out from this man as he spoke about the children.
The project runs totally on donations from well wishers both local and overseas yet has no long term funding, which worries everyone enormously.
Just last week I received an email stating that staff and orphans had only just escaped death from the political infighting going on in the region. The children are starving unable to get food as shops have been ravaged and violence abounds.
I started feeling that I had to try and help them so have decided that half of any of my profits will be sent directly to the orphanage to help them find food and other essentials.
So for anyone contemplating buying one of my paintings, please know that a whole 50% of the price will be sent directly to lIKONI ORPHANAGE (untill further notice). I can send you brochures about them if you email me.
If you are moved by this and want to do something, please get in touch with me as I am desperately trying to raise money at this terrible time. Or, if you wish to contact them directly the address is: Likoni A.I.D.S. Orphanage Project, P.O Box 96333, Likoni, Mombasa, Kenya.
Bless you for reading this.
Diana x