Giving and Receiving, Loving and Laughing

 Pulling stuff out of my battered duffel bag, it feels like Christmas! I feel pure joy in giving the gifts I’ve been collecting for months while Millicent and her team express pure delight in receiving loads of goodies for the Faraja Community Centre in Chogoria, rural Kenya.

My bag was full of good quality, second-hand colourful clothes I’d bought from charity shops back home in Tenterden, Kent to donate to the local ladies to sell in the markets and make some income for themselves with a percentage going to Faraja.

I give Fridah sewing supplies I’d bought cheap on Amazon, give Millicent musical instruments, games and books for the children and Faith and Robert notebooks, pens and stationery for their fieldwork taking health information to remote villages; items I’d bought cheap from Poundland that can make their work easier.

I ask Fridah to hem a dress and long skirt and take in some baggy pants for me as part of the mending project, which generates income for Faraja.

Caring visitors from other countries can donate clothes to support this little income-generating business and bring other useful resources to support the work of the centre. 

Fridah hard at work sewing bags

Faith and Robert who take health information to remote villages 

And then I show Millicent and Garama my idea for the kitchen in the corner of the large, spacious room, for use in the feeding program for the kids and how we can teach nutritious cooking classes and even have a café that draws in the whole community. We discuss how we could install flush toilets and go outside to the rough but fertile ground and visualise a community vegetable garden.

Millicent and Garama on the site for the community vegetable garden

The dynamic and dedicated couple are overwhelmed with excitement, saying they have always wanted to make these improvements to the centre but lacked the funds.

So now the vision for adding the electricity, plumbing and kitchen and expanding the services of Faraja will be possible with some enthusiastic volunteers pitching in with the trade skills and labour and a fundraising campaign amongst supporters in the UK, Australia and the States.

A realistic plan is starting to form in our minds and hearts, which already feels unstoppable and achievable. 

The Friday night party at the guesthouse for the hospital staff and their gorgeous children is a fun-filled occasion with a potluck dinner and rowdy games and quizzes. My instant new friends warmly welcome me to join in.

Meeting The Faraja Kids

Saturday is my first experience meeting the Faraja kids. It’s such a pleasure to watch the children sitting quietly and tucking into their hearty meal of rice and beans before playtime erupts, with boys kicking balls and doing handstands and filling the room with laughter.

The children eating their meal of rice and beans

Ball games and hand stands! 

Around 30 children, aged 4 to 14, come to the centre every Saturday for food and fun! They are vulnerable children from troubled, unstable families and many are orphans living with relatives in poor conditions.  

I introduce myself as ‘Mama Dee’ and then ask each child to come forward and write their name and age in my book. It is such a simple exercise but the children are enthralled watching intently and applauding riotously as each child completes the task and beams with pride!

Me leading the 'name game'!

But my idea for singing and dancing is a flop! I’d brought a jawbone speaker to sync to my iphone playlist but the music isn’t loud enough above the noise of the excited kids. So I decide to buy an old-fashioned CD player for next week’s session and Millicent suggests we teach the children the words to the songs before they try to sing them! What a good idea! In my eagerness to jump in, I have overlooked the obvious!    

But Pastor Garama saves the day by telling the kids an animated Bible story about the Good Samaritan with the message of being kind and helping each other.

Pastor Garama tells a bible story

Dinner with new American Friends

Beth and Larry from Alaska are living in a house in the hospital compound. Larry is a senior doctor training medical staff and Beth is a human rights lawyer. They are dedicated humanitarians and Christians devoted to Making A Difference to the community here during their two-year tenure.

They kindly invite Millicent and Garama and me for dinner on Saturday night and over a delicious meal of spaghetti we talk about the volatile political situation in Kenya with a second disruptive election and we all agree that peace is the most important issue for people struggling daily with poverty.

Ree’L and Jason, a paediatrician, and their young son Silas pop by. The adventurous family from Los Angeles are devoting five years to working here. Ree’L is a business expert and has volunteered to create a new website for Faraja and so I offer to write the content. It is funny how things are just flowing naturally with like-minded people coming together!

 Ree'L who is creating a Faraja website

Sunday is for 
Praise and Worship

I wake up at 5 am to the heavenly sound of the girls at Boarding School singing hymns in rich harmonies that float across the misty gardens.

Sunday is devoted to church and groups of men and ladies, dressed in immaculate suits, hurry to services at a myriad churches, all singing praises to God,throughout the vibrant community.

I join the congregation of Pastor Garama’s Baptist Church to sing hymns together, and hear his inspiring sermon, in English, Meru and Swahili. It is a joyful, uplifting experience worshipping God and praying together and meeting everyone.

The congregation of the Baptist church

  

Glorious Locations 

That night in the guesthouse, over dinner, Uli, a university student from Germany, and Mark, a Kenyan surgeon, and myself talk about the challenges of social change and how the beauty of God’s own country gets into your soul. Looking at a faded map of East Africa on the wall, Mark points out some of the most glorious locations to visit, which I add to my wish list! 

The idea of bringing groups of visitors to volunteer in the Faraja centre combined with experiencing adventurous wildlife safaris is taking shape in my mind.

Checking Out Accommodation

So on Monday morning, drenched in sunshine, Millicent and her friend Rebecca, driven in the mini-van by her son Eliud, collect Beth and me to visit the imposing hotel being built near by.

From the outside the Snow Peak Hotel, on the busy main road, looks like a building site with the top floor still under construction but inside the lower area is impressive with shiny marble floors, 14 pristine guest rooms, a busy restaurant overlooking the rainforest, stylish bar and spacious conference room.

Rebecca, me, Millicent, Kuka and Beth on the balcony of the Snow Peak  hotel

Kuka, a vivacious woman with an irresistible sense of humour, shows us around and we all agree that Snow Peak would provide quality accommodation at a very reasonable rate for groups of visitors.

With Beth and Rebecca opting to walk back to the hospital, Eliud drives Millicent and me to check out another accommodation option. Driving through lush farmlands we reach the idyllic Kilimo Talii resort with nine beautiful thatched roof huts providing luxurious privacy to guests amid the tranquil tropical gardens.

Beautiful thatched roof cottages at Kilimo Talii

Relaxing with soft drinks in the traditional circular restaurant, Eliud tells me he has a German Shepherd puppy called Daisy. As a dog lover missing my two Cocker Spaniels, I’m captivated and we chat about puppies. I can’t wait to meet her! 

That afternoon, I get stuck into writing content for the Faraja website, my creativity flowing with enthusiasm. Back home in Kent, my ideas for making a difference were all theoretical but now, being here, the whimsical dreams become feasible!

Tuesday morning I ceremoniously wave farewell to the three German hikers who have conquered majestic Mount Kenya. Karl, Holger and his son Uli are off for their next adventure in Tsavo National Park to see the beautiful African wildlife: elephants, rhino’s, lions, leopards, zebras, giraffes and antelope.

Karl, Holger and Uli with Douglas, their hiking guide and driver setting off for Tsavo

Meeting with Ree’L over coffee we discuss our shared goal to attract international interest in the humble community centre with its massive potential to transform lives.

That afternoon Millicent introduces me to charming David and Justus, retired teachers, who serve on the executive board of the Faraja Community Centre.

When I lay out the vision to install power, plumbing and a kitchen, the men are elated and bursting with ideas. Justus wants to introduce local kids and adults to the wonders of healthy fresh juices made by a Juicer! 

Board member Justus and David with Millicent and Garama at the Faraja centre 

Discovering the Markets 

I meet Jane, over dinner, who is staying at the main guesthouse while she leads a series of seminars on Preparing for Retirement for hospital staff. I meet her son Paul, a super intelligent young man highly qualified in maths, science and computer programming, who has driven his mum from Nairobi.

It’s Wednesday already and after another morning of working solidly writing the website copy, I venture to the nearby markets with my purse and camera, returning with some delightful photos of colourful street life, a new long dress, a t-shirt, African fabric for Fridah to make bags and bunches of spinach and avocadoes for Douglas and Anne in the kitchen!

Chogoria's colourful markets 

 Feels like home

In less than two weeks I have settled into the funny old guesthouse and the relaxed rhythm of life here. I am soaking up the fragrance of tropical flowers on the gentle breeze, basking in the clear blue skies and caressing sunshine, and delighting in the purple Jacaranda, Bougainvillea, pretty Hibiscus, orange Poinciana and red Banksia reminding me of my former home on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. 

I am overjoyed to meet warm and friendly local people who smile and say ‘Jambo, karibu’… ‘Hello, you are welcome’ and good-hearted humanitarian workers who share the dream to make a difference for people living with the horrendous challenges of poverty.

And my courage to take a risk to commit to the ambitious project of fundraising and recruiting volunteers to build amenities in the Faraja community centre has taken me by surprise.

Suddenly the impossible seems possible … if I can just inspire enough people to care.  

 

Dreaming the Same Dream

Squashed in with 12 other passengers, with one whole seat dedicated to my pile of luggage, I am travelling by mini-van from Nairobi on a four hour drive upcountry through lush green tropical vegetation and rusty-red soil fields, gazing out the window at bustling roadside stalls, soaking up the sun and breeze, munching fistfuls of potato crisps and crunchy peanuts, next to pretty Evelyn, a teenager clutching her backpack. Then after two hours of companionable silence, she whispers: “I have only one parent now”. She is returning to her village for her father’s funeral. A knot of sorrow tightens in my chest: “I am sorry,” I say softly with total inadequacy.  

Happy Arrival

Millicent, beaming and beautiful, and her strong and kind husband, Pastor Garama welcome me with an afternoon meal in the Faraja community centre, a sturdy building of painted brickwork that Millicent funded herself in 2003. In these past 14 years she has been feeding and caring for orphans and vulnerable children and supporting girls and women with vital health education.

After Millicent, a dedicated nurse and midwife and later hospital administrator, was sponsored to study and work in Scotland she felt so blessed she wanted to give back to her community. So she poured all her savings into the building and called the centre ‘Faraja', which means ‘comfort’ in Swahili, an apt name for this soothing refuge that gives comfort and hope, joy and love to so many.

The colourful room with animal murals where the boisterous children play and laugh and dance and sing is a vast uncluttered space. However the empty room has no basic amenities - no plumbing, no electricity, no kitchen to cook the children food! The ladies make dishes of rice and beans at home and transport the food to the centre.

The corner of the spacious community centre with the potential for a kitchen

I meet Fridah, who is employed in the sewing room making impressive African fabric bags, and Faith and Robert, who Millicent is mentoring and training as facilitators to take health and human rights education into the remote villages.

Millicent and Garama with a selection of the African fabric bags that Freida is making 

Millicent and Garama outside the centre where the community could create a vegetable garden

I am happy to be here in this blessed place that I’ve been visualising day and night – while drifting off to sleep, waking up, under the shower, driving along country lanes and on the slow train to London - since my last visit to Meru exactly one year ago.

Settling into the Guesthouse

I’m staying in a ramshackle guesthouse built of faded grey tin sheets and timber by a British doctor in the 1920s in the tranquil compound attached to the busy hospital. 

The house has dormitory-style bedrooms and three other guests have left to hike Mount Kenya. I have the spacious house all to myself. My small room has a single bed, cheerful blue floral duvet and rock hard pillow. I find an old soft pillow stashed in a cupboard and save my neck from cramps!

Mastering the squat toilet is an interesting exercise so I opt for the flushing toilet. My shower is scorching hot. The other shower is freezing cold…nothing in between! I discover how to adjust the temperature after a few days, just in time to wash my hair!

The guesthouse where I'm staying 

My single bed in my little room

New Friends

Millicent introduces me to her American friends, Beth and Larry and Martha and Jim, doctors and community workers who live in the hospital houses nearby. They are sharing their expertise with the medical staff, supporting local projects and soaking up the fascinating culture. 

I take my breakfast and dinner, lovingly prepared by smiling Douglas and Anne, in the comfortable guesthouse where I stayed last visit, just a short walk across the garden. Jane, the gardener, has the entrepreneurial finesse to multi-skill and put down her rake and sell me a bag of scones! 

Douglas and Anne at the main guesthouse where I have meals

Cooks, Douglas and Anne in the kitchen

I dine with Josh, an enthusiastic young American doctor volunteering at the hospital, Mark, a Kenyan surgeon who can work up to 16 hours straight to finish a complicated operation, and Kerre, a visiting dentist, doing his monthly clinic at the hospital, when patients from all over the district come for urgent dental treatment.

Our Shared Vision

Millicent and I sit together and share our vision for the Faraja community centre. Mystically, I have been dreaming of installing a much-needed kitchen and so has she!

In some inexplicable cosmic intersection of dreams, we have been dreaming the same dream - me in secret journals in my secluded home in rural England, and Millicent in prayers in her church in rural Kenya!

As we sip coffee, we dream together of cooking classes for young and old, making nutritious food for all, planting a community vegetable garden and keeping hens to provide fresh eggs.

We imagine expanding the sewing project into making reusable shopping bags and mending donated clothes for ladies to sell in the markets.

We dream up the possibility of bringing volunteers to the centre from the UK, Europe, US, Australia and other countries to share our cultures in a multitude of enriching ways in a grand ‘voluntourism’ venture, combining community work with exhilarating safaris!    

We laugh and cry and smile until our cheeks ache! Now the dream is spoken out loud we both know we have made a commitment and a promise to the children, the community, in fact, the whole of Kenya and those people who want an exciting opportunity to Make A Difference.

Grey Clouds of Doubt

Later in the afternoon I am alone and overwhelmed with anxiety. Suddenly imaginary cynical voices are taunting me: ‘Just how are you going to make it all happen?’ I’m tormented by details, doubts and questions and oppressed by grey clouds of pessimism.  

My mind is spinning when I join Mark and Kerre for dinner. We share our philosophies about the crushing unfairness of poverty. We lighten the mood with entertaining stories, laugh and joke and connect across cultures through our shared concern for suffering humanity.

When I return to my little room, my confidence has returned because our warm conversation has reminded me why I am here and why I am doing this: for the love of these people.

The heavy rain pounds the tin roof all night but I feel safe and snug and wake up with the realisation that this ambitious project is like having a baby.

Surgeon Mark and Dentist Kerre

Giving Birth 

After gestation, a mother gives birth and the overwhelmed new parents do not have a clue how they are going to raise this baby over the coming years. They don’t know exactly how they will solve the countless problems and challenges ahead. 

The nervous yet determined parents only know they must take care of their precious child day by day.

And so they step bravely into the unknown journey!

Years ago, when I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, I also launched my newspaper column, Family Matters, writing that ‘giving birth is the ultimate act of faith’.

The time to ‘give birth’ has come again at a more mature stage of life. My Kenyan soul sister, Millicent and I are committed to raising Baby Faraja into an inspirational, dynamic force for good. And together, without knowing exactly how, we are embracing an ultimate act of faith.