One of our latest ventures is to go into the home of each and every child at the school. We decided that we could not really understand their background, family situation and living conditions if we didn’t go there ourselves.  Our social worker, Esther (not to be confused with our new nurse Esther) divided the student list into the 21 zones they live in within the slum areas and away we went with the first 3 areas.

 

Well, as you can imagine, two white people with red hippo T-shirts going where no white man has dared to go before causes many stares and excitement in these areas, there is always a crowd. We bring Esther, the social worker, Wycliffe, our right hand man and translator and Moses, our builder with us. We maneuver through narrow paths between buildings (sometimes we have to turn sideways to get through), step over sewage and garbage, past dirty half-naked children that should be in school but can’t afford it, past chickens, skinny dogs, millet drying on the ground waiting to be turned into alcohol, small fires cooking tiny meals, lots of hanging laundry, and many, many very needy families. 

 

When we reach each home we interview the mother about the details of her household. All of the dads have either passed away or have abandoned the family, none of our school kids have two parents and many don’t even have one. We then take a tour of their home, and make notes about the conditions, is it a rental or owned, does it need repairs, does it have a proper roof and floor, how many kids are sleeping there, are they sleeping on the dirt, do they use a mosquito nets? etc. We can buy 50 gums (like double-bubble) for 60 cents at the store and always have it on hand to give out to all of the kids around us.

 

Esther writes down the info and we quickly add up how many mattresses, nets and blankets are needed for each home and whether we need to fix up their existing house or build a new one. One mother and her 4 children are living in a 8X4 foot space, yes, that’s 8X4 feet! They are definitely at the top of our “needs a new house” list, Pastor Hummer is on the search for a plot of land for them. We also note a bunch of other information such as how many siblings there are, how many children are at home instead of school, their clothing and shoe requirements, etc.

 

Ok, now the fun part, delivery day. This week we gave out 30 mattresses (2 kids share one), 30 blankets (again 2 kids share one) and 14 mosquito nets (we buy the large nets that cover up to 4 people). The mothers are so thrilled to have these basic needs met for their families, they would never have enough money to buy these things. They are usually quiet, smiley and have a hard time grasping that Canadians so far away are loving their families in this way and in such remote areas that never see any aid. 

 

While it is a joy to deliver these things to the families of the kids in the school, it is always really hard to pass so many in the same position as the ones we are helping right now. We walk by hundreds of needy moms and school aged children that don’t have money for school fees. We will often hear a quiet woman’s voice whisper “take us too” as we are walking through these areas, it can be heartbreaking. It is somewhat easier to deal mentally with the drunk man who says “give me money” or “fix my house” but sad just the same. 

 

There are 17 zones left to visit, assess and deliver goods to so we will continue to be busy completing this project for the next while.  Two families from Canada have paid for 30% of the blankets, mattresses and nets, it is very exciting!   Isn’t it awesome that with each passing week, more and more kids and their moms will be warm, dry, protected from the hard dirty ground, shielded from mosquitoes and loved by Canada? 

 

Click on the YouTube link to see the video.