How many readers of this newsletter remember the lively, upbeat (and sometimes mischievous) service project reports of Usha Shah, the Convenor of the TOS in Kenya?  Since 2010 we have read of tree planting, famine relief, livelihood training for disadvantaged women and exciting parties for slum children and children in hospital.  Here Usha sends us no fewer than three reports.  If you would like to learn how to put on a party for 48 children in your TS branch, or supply abandoned women with solar lighting or get a thousand fruit trees planted, read on!

REPORT ONE

Dear All,

Our latest party was a hit!  The Masai Slum in Nairobi has about 200 persons comprised of 35 families living in miserable conditions on a tiny piece of land.  A friend and I visited the place and invited around 20 children to come to our party on December 23.  We invited 25 children from Gachie Village too.  That made 45 children to entertain from noon till 5pm.

The Gachie children arrived at the Lodge at around eleven and the others soon after.  As if to compensate for the rainy day of our November party for the children of Deep Sea slum, the day was cool and pleasant. Each child was welcomed with a drink and biscuits.

We once again put up a huge bouncing castle, slides and a trampoline. These children were somewhat younger than our last ones but no less enthusiastic about the play equipment.  They had a riotous time.  To see them jumping tired me out!  There was time to paint the faces of most of the children and they became spider men, batmen, tigers and cats!  Then we played games amidst a lot of merriment and laughter.

We have to bear in mind that organised games and exciting play equipment are a complete novelty for these slum children.  Naturally some were timid to start with.  One small boy just sat in a corner not joining in in the games and I wondered why.  It turned out that he could neither hear nor speak!  I didn’t know what to do but slowly managed to get him to join in the games.  His clothes were in tatters.  A couple of days later we managed to provide some decent clothing for him. There was also a twelve-year-old girl looking after a three-year-old. She looked wistfully at all the children having fun and so we took care of the toddler so that the ‘ayah’ (or ‘aunty’) could have fun!

While the fun and games were going on, we cooked potato curry and rice to serve with chapattis. The children received strawberry flavoured milk as well.  This was all a great treat for them and they loved every bit of it. Their usual diet is limited, you see.  They usually eat ‘ugali’ which is cooked maize meal and a green vegetable called sukuma wiki.  They have no fruit at all and no bread or milk.

We also distributed party packs containing stationery, clothes, sweets, juice, crisps and soft toys, along with our remaining teddies knitted by the ladies of the TOS in Italy.

As they left, the children also received food packets for their mothers containing wheat flour, baking flour, oil, sugar, salt and tea leaves. They were reeling with the weight of the packs but, more than that, at the thought of having food for the next few weeks!  I had to drive a few of the little ones home in my car! They all left reluctantly but with full stomachs and taking happy memories with them.

Blessings upon all who helped.

Usha

P.S.  Donations to help cover the costs of this party came from the Pattni family from London but most of the cost was borne by the Kenyan TS. The sponsors wanted to see how we organised the whole programme with a view to providing more financial support possibly.

REPORT TWO

In early April I went to visit my dear niece, Shivani, in Samburu County.  She manages a Non-Governmental Organisation called 'Ewaso Lions' which looks after lions and educates the members of the Samburu tribe on wildlife conservation.

While I was with her, Shivani took me to visit a village inhabited by women who are widows.  There are nine of them living in mud huts.  I learned that when a woman loses her husband she has to fend for herself and cannot live with either her in-laws or parents.  It was a shock for me to see how young some of these women were.  Apparently the older men get married to very young girls who are widowed at an early age.

The nine huts were enclosed in a rough patch of land. Prettily dressed in traditional attire, the women were going about their work with animals nearby and children running around in rags.  I met one young lady who was making a lion shape using bits of wire and beads.  Amazing work which helps her to earn a living.

She took me to see her hut and it was a revelation as I saw at first-hand how different their lifestyle is!  The limited space was divided by hessian cloth or just plastic sheets into three parts, a kitchen, a bedroom and a living room.  One had to crouch down in order to get in there.  It was dark and gloomy, the only light coming from the cracks in the wall. Smoke was coming from the wood burning in the grate used for cooking. The lack of light limits the ladies’ work after sunset and so they use kerosene lamps whose fumes give them a cough, asthma, etc.  Later I talked to them and saw that they were learning to read and write.  An enlightening visit!

After coming back and talking to our TS Lodge Chairman Narendra, it was decided that we would send solar lamps to these ladies.  As Shivani was travelling to and from Samburu, we sent ten lamps with her.  The huts now have light, eliminating the need for kerosene lamps and lengthening the ladies’ working and learning hours.  They also now have the ability to charge their radios and mobile phones.  (You may wonder how people living in mud huts can afford mobile phones. Well, given the absence of electricity, mobile phones are the only way to communicate. They are very cheap to buy and calls costs less than a penny to make.)

Shivani and her aunt Usha prepare a solar lamp for use.

So we have been blessed once again with the opportunity to empower women disadvantaged by certain practices that can develop in patriarchal society.  God helps those in need and does it in mysterious ways.

REPORT THREE

As has been reported by Usha before, in recent decades Kenya has suffered drastic destruction of its forests, grasslands, wetlands and other critical ecosystems.  Its people are increasingly taking the matter in hand, however. They know that forests are important for protecting ecological diversity, regulating climate patterns and acting as carbon sinks. Forests are the basis of water catchments.  Their loss increases pressure on a population grappling with hunger, water shortage and power shortage.

Theosophists in Kenya are joining in the work of reforestation.  Their most recent initiative took place in mid-April when Navin, Narendra, Pratibha and Induben Shah, Mitesh and Himatlal Doshi, Shivani Sarkar, Mary Gachumba and Joseph Kiyo drove into the countryside outside Nairobi to plant one thousand fruit trees for two schools who hope to market the fruit for school revenue.  This particular project was accomplished with the help and guidance of Mr Samuel Wakori, a senior officer in the Government Forest Department.  He will oversee the trees and ensure that the schools take care of them appropriately.

Usha Shah describes the planting expedition…

Those who are superstitious consider the 13th day of the month to be inauspicious and I began to think this may be true when the bus that was to pick us up at 8 a.m. still hadn’t come by 8:45!  I was becoming more frantic by the minute.  Finally we decided to take our cars and drive the 40 kilometres down to Kiambu District and to Thirime Primary School. We left in a convoy and passed through some beautifully scenic places. The newly constructed road was very pleasant to drive on. For us in Kenya to have such a road is just sooooo good!

Anyway we made it to the school and found the Principal, members of the school committee and the children waiting to give us a warm welcome.

After the preliminaries, we set to work with a will to plant the trees. We had all brought chits with messages written on them invoking blessings on the project and wishing the seedlings to grow well. This is a practice I learnt in Chicago at the TOS Conference held in July 2013.

It was good to see all of us mucking around in mud, hands receiving a mud massage, getting the seedlings out of their black plastic bags and putting them in the holes already dug and lined with manure and compost.

In a short time we planted about 150 fruit trees and indigenous trees. The rest were to be planted by the school pupils the next day.

We then drove about ten kilometres to Mahinga Primary School where we planted about the same number of trees.

By this time, all the trees will be planted in fact. The staff and children are now responsible for looking after them.

We tried to take the mud off our shoes with very little success. In fact I drove my car back home in bare feet! Nice!

Yes, the thirteenth of April was not a bad day after all! How can it be bad when we gave our Earth a thousand trees to nurture and heal herself?

EN31 June 2014    >Back to newsletter    >Top