Worry and compassion
| 05 July 2011
I just learnt that Tumaini's fantastic volunteer manager, Stacey, has had to cut short her 2nd semester in Shibanze and return home to Canada to be with her family. I truly hope Papa Helliker recovers well but have to thank Stacey for still finding the time, despite the worry and distress, to send me an update on Sylvia !
Maria from McGill University and Juli and Sabrina from Germany are currently pushing forward with administrative improvements for the teachers and school, as well as all the other projects initiated by our volunteers, especially Stacey, who has been tirelessly working within the community since January 2011. Stacey has been in charge while Amanda returned home with her baby daughter to open 2 new Kuku Hut shops, selling Kenyan crafts to provide an income stream for the overall project.
A few weeks ago we heard that Sylvia was still struggling to socialise and become integrated into the baby class so Stacey organised a few things to help her along. Stacey reports "She did start school, and seemed to be doing pretty well. I told Christine that it is important that she tries to have Sylvia come to school everyday, even if it is just for morning and she goes home for the afternoon. I think lunch time is a little hard because Sylvia doesn't really run around and play with the other kids... hopefully someday that will happen!"
One of the main problems for Sylvia was that she didn't have a chair to sit on in the school. Its hard to understand how things operate in Kenya - this would seem such a trivial matter - but children generally sit on the floor. The lucky ones have desks and chairs - Tumaini has a few but you have to remember how far they've come. "In 2006, .. they were kicked out, but Emily would not give up on the kids and kept up teaching, this time under the tree in the pic below, now located at the Tumaini Centre  ...close to where Sylvia lives with her siblings and grandmother, Christine."
Since then there have been many improvements made through Amanda's determination and the compassion of our volunteers.
Before her plans were changed, Stacey purchased a few comfort items for Sylvia.
...along with exercise books and uniform. A local carpenter is making bunk beds so that Sylvia's siblings can finally sleep up off the floor and Rose is looking after the weekly budget for Sylvia's nutrition programme (and extra vegetables for the rest of the family). As with most Kenyan families, perhaps before too long the older children will be able to help provide themselves, after they've received a good education, allowing Christine to enjoy her old age with a little time off for good behaviour x
Best wishes to everyone and a speedy recovery to Mr Helliker xxx
Thanks also to Amy who just arrived back in Canada and safe flights to Danielle and Ainslee who take up their positions in Tumaini next week.
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