Asking for Help

In the Kenyan coastal region, the rainy season has failed again.   They're asking us if we can help.

Folks in the village of Guruguru are struggling.  The crops have failed, the only water to drink is brackish, and the teachers went on strike.  With the schools closed, those children who depended on that one meal a day go hungry.

Today, the teacher strike is finally over, but government food aid hasn't been available for the last two months.  Meals at school will be rice, perhaps, or cornmeal.

Our friend on site is Bishop Samuel Kazungu.  He visited the village (left) and took some juice for our kids. He found 5 more who hadn't eaten recently and who couldn't afford the school fees.  We've added them to our little project.

We know Bishop Samuel and his church well, and we appreciate their willingness to help their neighbors.  When I was working in the area, I visited the village with Samuel.  Nice folks living in a harsh world.

A government water line project will bring the area back to life, they hope, but the project is still months away from completion.  Meanwhile, they need help.  We can't do it all, but we have direct access to 40+ children and their families.  We can get the kids in school with the required uniforms and supplies, and they'll get that one meal a day.  For many, it's all they'll get.  If we can raise additional funds, we can assist the families with bags of rice and perhaps some juice products that are available in a nearby town.

This is my buddy Wakil.  When we arrived last year with some treats for the families, our sponsored kids (37 of them then) came out from school to meet us and say thank you.  We'd paid their fees and bought them uniforms and supplies.  Wakili outran them all coming to meet me; he wanted to be first.  Sweet fellow.

This year, they need help badly.  Call, email, or Facebook message to me if you'd like to help.

You can transfer funds via Western Union directly to the church (or I will for you and I'll pay the fees.)

The church will provide a report (and maybe pictures) of the funds being put to practical use.
Tax deductible contributions must go through Our Father's House marked for Kenya.

My friend Wakil; a bit taller
now, more than a year later.

Update Dec '12:  We took food and water to the village and followed up with some specific assistance for families.  Much appreciated.

Update Oct '13:  With the new school year, we have 50 children sponsored in school now, three teachers employed and added to the school staff, plus some family assistance efforts.  More to come.

Go see for yourself!

Our 'comfort zone' is a 'holding cell.'  That can change.
 
In a coastal village in western Africa where we work, a sweet grandma shows off her new grandson. She hopes and prays for a better world for him.

You can make it happen.

Curious?  

Things you can do:

• Go.  Go see for yourself.  Stay long enough to outgrow being a tourist.  Stay long enough to meet and get to know some folks.  Then go back when you can. 
• Give.  Figure out how much is generous.  Then double that and give it.  If it isn't difficult, there's no cost, and you're unchanged.  Give until you have to change your lifestyle to keep it up.  Do that from now on.
• Help.  Find out where the needs are and pitch in; join in with those who are effective.
• Hope.  Push back the hopelessness for just one family by giving them a hand up.  Or two families.  Or ten.
• Learn.  Study deeply enough to get past your emotional response and get practical with your efforts.  Helping without hurting isn't as easy as it sounds. Pity isn't helpful.  Friendship is. 

Rinse.  Repeat.

Friends of ours since the early days, three here

are siblings; can you pick them out?
(click for larger version)

If you're living comfortably in the west (with a job, a house, a car, and a bank account), you're in the world's top bracket for wealth.   Rethink, adjust, do differently.  Or not.  Your choice.  :)

APR 2014: Specific requests (opportunities) in the queue:

$50 will cover a semester's costs for a kid in western Africa; fees, uniform and shoes, supplies, and some food assistance.
$300 will give a family a chance to step up a bit with food for a couple of months, materials to repair their home, and medicine they need. 
$800 will put 40 kids in Kenya in school, including one meal a day, for the upcoming semester.
$1500 will employ 3 teachers for a school year.
$2500 will equip, staff, and operate a preschool for a year.
$1950 will supply an elementary school with notebooks and pencils for each of their 600 students for the upcoming semester.

You can go to Africa and see for yourself; it's not inexpensive, but it's worth the price to understand the world we live in.

Africa is my focus; it need not be yours, but we should have a perspective that's larger than our own comfort zone, should we not?

Don't let me persuade you; go see for yourself!  You'll never be the same again.  :)

_______________________________________
The following is a quote from “Africans – Altered States, Ordinary Miracles” by Richard Dowden. 

“Africa has a reputation: poverty, disease, war.  But when outsiders do go they are often surprised by Africa's welcome, entranced rather than frightened.  Visitors are welcomed and cared for in Africa..  If you go you will find most Africans friendly. gentle and infinitely polite.  You will frequently be humbled by African generosity.  Africans have in abundance what we call social skills.  These are not skills that were formally taught or learned.  There is no click on have-a-nice-day smile in Africa.  Africans meet, greet and talk, look you in the eye and empathize, hold hands and embrace, share and accept from others without twitchy self-consciousness.  All these things are as natural as music in Africa.

“Westerners ... often find themselves cracked open.  They lose inhibitions, feel more alive, more themselves and they try to understand why they have only half lived.  In Africa the essentials of existence - light. earth, water, food, family, love, sickness, death - are more immediate, more intense.  Visitors suddenly realize what life is for.  To risk a huge generalization: amid our wasteful wealth and time-pressed lives we have lost human values that are still around in Africa.”

For those thinking of going to Africa ...

Good for you!  By all means, go.  You'll be so enlarged by the experience.

If you're thinking of going to one of the lesser developed countries in Africa, though, here's the stupidest problem you'll have to deal with. 

There's a sort of 'different' status you'll have to understand and handle early on.  You're different in many ways, especially if you're white, and that's perhaps entertaining but not really helpful at all.  We're actually all the same, of course.

When my wife (right) traveled with me to one particular village where I'm known, she likened it to being Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie; folks welcomed her enthusiastically and dragged her off to meet family.  I'd told them that she was coming, so they made a big deal of having her there.  It's fun being 'special', I suppose, but emotionally exhausting, and it's unhelpful if you're up to anything more than just visiting.

It's worth remembering, these folks are stronger than most, work harder than most, are more creative and innovative than most.  They're bright, gracious, and open to the world.

Classic 'do-gooder' photo in Africa

The photo (below) from earlier today illustrates your problem a little further if you're trying to share the story back home.  It's the classic 'do-gooder in a third-world country' look, and it doesn't convey anything useful; OK, perhaps it does, but probably only to the folks that are in the photo themselves.  This family here set up the picture and a dozen more.  The photo doesn't explain that we've known each other for a few years or that we met the young lady at my shoulder when her daughter (the youngster in my lap) was two weeks old.  She introduced me to her family; her grandma adopted me and began my education.  The three boys on the left side are her nephews and my buddies.  The young lady's husband composed us and took this picture.  I'll deliver prints next time I'm in country.

The 'celebrity' role is pretty much automatic, especially if it's your first time here, and it is kind of fun.  Kids run after you and call out to you for candy.  Folks are willing to welcome you, and if you ask politely, they'll probably be OK with you taking pictures.  You can bring little gifts for children and get to hug a few of them, perhaps.  You can play the 'special' person role, but it's more for your benefit than theirs if you do.  If that's the extent of your opportunity and purpose, no problem.  If you want to help, though, it takes more understanding.  Check your attitude; they know so much more about living than you're likely to grasp.  They may be poor by economic measures, but they are power-players at life.  Put yourself in their place; how might you respond in their circumstance? 
 



If you want to be a friend, you can't be other than that; being too different or too special messes things up.  At least, that's the best I've been able to grasp.  Grandma (right) helps me understand, but it's taken time. Five years so far, and I'm still learning things.  They introduce me as a family member now, which is pretty cool.

There are things we might grasp early on, but it's easy to miss important truths.  Toys and clothes are fun, but probably not needed.  Books for the kids are nice and even useful.  Things that matter more though, are larger and more costly.  Caring enough to understand and love well is difficult.  Grandma lost her brother this month, and her 25 year old son a few months earlier; it's been a hard year for the family and her needs have changed.

Seeing it in person, you get to shed the perception that the folks here are just sitting around being poor.  They're extraordinary workers; intelligent, innovative, creative, and always looking for possibilities.  Early 'til late, they're at work providing for their families.

One of my greater pleasures, I noticed this evening as I arrived back in the city ... being ignored by students on their way to and from school.  They pass in droves, chatting about academic stuff, and don't give me a second look.  I'm so pleased for them and hope for the thousands of others here that they'll have a chance at higher education too.  And a better life, dear Lord.

So what can we do if we want to be helpful?

JUN '12 - Sao Tome

Little princess is big enough this year to inherit a pretty dress from an older sibling. She danced all day in it, even wore it to the beach. Speaking of which, there are few things more entertaining than kids at the beach.  

The short video here is just enough so you can hear the squeals and laughter.

In Sao Tome & Principe to work with the local NGO, I had plenty of time with friends including a couple of trips to the beach. The kids really wanted to go; it's hard to refuse them, of course.

The goal this trip is to realign and expand our Family Assistance and Education Support project through STeP UP, the local NGO. We finance the project, and STeP UP does the work, for which I'm profoundly grateful.
We've expanded our small project to include 12 school kids and their families plus a couple of small business start-ups. We're working with a family and their son in prison as well. Circumstances here are difficult (understatement), but the people are among the nicest we've encountered in our travels.  

My friend and his son, (photo, left) at home; after a few years off and on when I'm in the country, we've covered a lot of conversational territory. He's accompanied me on several trips; he's got relatives in Ribeira Afonso which is home to one of our families. After a couple of years, we discover he's uncle to the kids. And I arrived this year to discover I've been named godfather (Padrinho) to the latest arrival among his nieces and nephews, an unexpected honor.

We've partnered with several families for specific goals of keeping the kids in school and the family viable and moving forward. School doesn't cost much, but there are uniforms and shoes and supplies and some small fees like the school bus if the school is too far to walk to. Helping parents includes things like mosquito nets or in-home health education or small business finance, or perhaps things for gardening or fishing.

This family (right) has doubled the size of their cultivation area. We financed the materials for water lines to the house and the field, but they did all the work. In an area about 450' square, they've got sugar cane, corn, beans, bananas, manioc, and several things I didn't recognize. They now raise enough for themselves and some extra to possibly sell or trade. Oh, okra, too. Lots of okra! They've got 5 kids, 4 of whom are in school. Busy folks.

Youngster (left) pulls up a manioc root to show me. Easily pulled from the ground, the root provides carbohydrates but no protein. Still, it's an important staple in the common African diet.

The large bananas (plantains, I guess) are eaten fried or boiled, much like we eat potatoes. Not bad, actually, with a little salt.

Off to Santa Luzia to visit family friends, the minimal road through the tropical jungle provides an opportunity for the kids to make lots of noise, a little of which is in the video here. If you can select a hirez replay, you'll get a good look at the vegetation here.

If you look for Santa Luzia on the Google satellite map, you'll have a hard time finding the road we followed. In fact, I had a hard time finding that road. :)

In the village of Santa Luzia, holy cow, I'm worn out! We've got almost a dozen kids with us, and they've dragged me all over the countryside. Fun, though; delightful actually.


I get a little relief when the kids run off with my cameras. They take most of the pictures from this trip; almost 4 thousand in two weeks.
Same kids, down the mountain and on to the beach near Micolo. Even with a tan, I look oddly out of place.

At a roadside vendor's near the beach, we eat concon (flying fish) and fried bananas. This was the first family to adopt me some years back; they introduce me to others as a family member now.

In a neighborhood where I've become the semi-official photographer, kids play at an odd jump-rope game. Easily entertained, the children are bright and energetic. Moms and dads appreciate having photos of the family over the years.


Delightful children; some show signs of inadequate nutrition. The lack of protein will often result in stunting; underweight for height and under height for age. The reddish tint to the hair is an indicator. This village is on the shoreline and most depend on fishing for subsistence.  

The rich steal from the poor, here. Illegal fishing by the developed countries has depleted the fish population in most of the Gulf of Guinea. It'll take decades to recover if we ever manage to get the bad guys off the water and out of the Gulf region.

Helping Others; it doesn't take much, but ...

It doesn't take much, and you don't have to do it all by yourself, and you don't have to do everything, or even do it all at once....

The circumstances and needs of others can be overwhelming, both for them and for those of us who would like to come along side and lend a hand.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  At least I don't think it does.

If, for example, you step in and support me and my family, that helps.   But I don't think I would want my family to be dependent on you long term.  What we could really use is some help to step up so we can handle things for ourselves. 

If you sponsor a child of mine, do it through an organization that works with the whole family and community.  A family can have lots of kids.

If you lend a hand so that my family or my community makes progress, well  that can be a real blessing.  One time donations are wonderful, especially in response to crisis events, but if you can, commit for the long haul, like a decade.  Or two.  Getting a couple kids all the way through school would be a big deal for the family.

Doing it well takes skill, insight, and long-term investment of time and attention to the details.  World Vision does that.  They lead with child-sponsorship, but it's really community investment that they do; and they do it well.

TechnoServe has been doing community development in an impressively thoughtful fashion for four decades.

TexasEx.Org is our non-profit organization; we work with some small organizations and directly in communities in Africa and elsewhere.  We do micro-this and that.  Finance, meds, tutoring, home repair, business equipping, scholarships, school renovations.  Five years in the work, so far.  Feel free to join in.

The Celebrity World ...

Being a celebrity has advantages, perhaps.  Wealth is nice, having an audience is encouraging and affirming, and getting to go and touch the real world is a big deal.  Not all celebrities grow up to responsible adulthood, of course.  They're like the rest of humanity in that there there are a few impressive folks who are working hard for the good of others.

Charlize Theron founded the Africa Outreach Project whose mission is to help "keep African youth safe from HIV/AIDS."  Did you know she was born in South Africa?

Bill and Melinda Gates are actively involved in making an end to Malaria.  And much, much more.

George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, others.  Angelina has been the UNHCR rep since '01 and has visited 20 countries.  Ben Affleck is on Facebook with his Africa travels. Impressive efforts all around.

They get to go see and touch the real world.  That's where most children (like the ones with Charlize there in the photo) live in poverty along with their families.  That's where there's no running water, little food, no jobs, no security, no school .... no hope for tomorrow either, unless someone helps out, unless things change.

Did you know you can go see and touch the real world too?  You can go sit on the porch with papa and watch the kids play there in the dirt, just like kids everywhere else in the world do.  You can go with mom to the kiosk and buy a few vegetables and maybe a fish if she's got some money.

You can go to the beach and help the fishermen pull in the nets.  They'll laugh, but they'll let you help.  You can sit on the hillside with the boy and his goats and count the hours.

Somewhere along the way, you'll get a grip on the real world.

It's not an emotion; clarity comes after the emotion is drained away.  It's an understanding and, perhaps too, an ownership of your place in humanity.

Then like a good brother, you can lend a hand and maybe make a difference just like the celebrities do.

What do you think?  Want to go?

TexasEx.Org

TexasEx.Org is a non-profit organization; we do not accept contributions.   TexasEx.Org provides administration services, material, and funding for developmental and assistance projects in East and West Africa.  Our support is provided without charge.

Participating contributions through our partner organizations are tax deductible and are deeply appreciated.  100% of those contributions go to the field. Administrative costs are funded separately.

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Current and active projects.  Recipients do the work and own the results; we carefully supply the means along with encouragement and accountability.

1.  Sao Tome & Principe Education and Family Assistance:  Donations support children and their families in Sao Tome & Principe, West Africa. Work is coordinated through STEP UP, an in-country NGO whose staff we know personally. It's a poor country with little employment for the uneducated. It's tough for families to cover the cost of school. Girls often get left behind when families have to choose which of their kids get to go to school.
We provide uniforms, shoes, school supplies, and in-home tutoring. We provide simple business training, health education, and food assistance for the families. The target is quality education for the kids first, but recognizes family circumstances and needs as well.  Family projects so far have included:

• We helped a family buy the house they were renting; saved being evicted.
• Helped finance two home renovations; provided materials for roofing, flooring, walls.
• Provided materials for piping water to a rural home; the recipient did all the coordination for approvals plus all the labor.  In June they beamed as they showed off the water spigot in their yard.  No more trips to the river for water and laundry.
• Start-up funds for a breeding pair of pigs, successful first generation.
• A father lost his arm and his job in a traffic accident; he was a taxi driver in a accident-rich region.  The family was destitute and with few resources besides a small plot of land.  Over 3 years, we provided med assistance, material costs for dwelling repairs (walls and a floor), seed money for the garden and a breeding pair of pigs.  They're doing well this year, and the kids are in school doing well also.
• Jan '14: A grandmother lost her husband, brother, and oldest son in a short period, along with her means of support.  We're augmenting her income while the family recovers and a couple of the younger members become wage earners.

School renovation projects:  Almas Elementary School - complete.  We managed to get embassy attention for this one and assisted the principal with coordination; the Navy SeaBees did the work, providing functioning bathrooms, running water, glass in the windows, and electricity for the classrooms.  Praia Francesa Elementary School - underway in 2012 with 500+ students and similar facility needs.  Water and toilets are in, food storage is in, glass and electrical are in the plan as are food supplements and school supplies.

2.  Sao Tome & Principe:  Basic Ed.  Beginning the summer of 2013, we'll begin providing basic tuition and fees, uniforms and shoes, so kids that otherwise could not attend are enabled to do so.  On a 5-year plan, the first group of 35 children began school in the fall semester, '13, thanks to a generous business owner here.  We'll add another 20 or so AUG '14.  Aiming at 100. 

3.  Sao Tome & Principe: Preschool and community center.  2017 complete!
4.  Sao Tome & Principe: Community center for the elderly.  Beginning in '14.
5. Kenya Education and Family Assistance:  Donations support education, micro-finance, and micro-med projects in Mombasa and the surrounding area. 

Education:  2012/13 school year.  We have relationship connections to families in Guruguru and Miritini with a total of 37 children on scholarship.  That covers tuition and fees, uniforms and materials, and gets them a meal mid-day on school days.  The meal is important right now, and is often the only meal they get.  For now, funds are managed through the church with which we're associated.  It has a board of directors, accountability and transparency.  The bishop is a dear and trusted friend.  We're on the ground routinely to oversee the efforts and gauge the outcomes.  Continuation is based on diligence and performance.
Micro-finance:  Through our church and community connections, we have regular opportunity to support several small, targeted development or assistance efforts.  Recently ...

• Home kiosk for resale of vegetables, maize meal, and dried fish. Built and stocked for about $100. Doing well when we visited in June '12. Reports APR '13 say they continue to operate successfully.
• Chickens, purchased. Coop framework is being built from scrounged materials and gift funds. May '12 (complete and doing well). APR 13, chickens everywhere! :) A good success.
• Widowed grandmother supporting her abandoned granddaughters; assisted with a small kiosk start-up for reselling vegetables. Successful, and she's asked for help to expand a bit to include cooked maize meal and fish. March '12
• The extended family's 6 children are in school; we subsidize the costs as needed to make sure they get to stay in school. Oct '11, one of the older boys was out of school on a school day. He reluctantly explained to me that his uniform was 'done' (worn out) and he wouldn't be allowed to attend until he got a new one. Resolved two days later with just a little help from stateside. APR '13; John has finished HS and is on his way to a 2-year college. We'll cover most of the costs to make sure he can complete the curriculum. OCT '17. Doing well, other issues addressed along the way.

Micro-Med:

• Anna has TB and begged for help with the costs for medications.

First, we had to deal with her father who was spending family finances on illicit drugs, then we bought her drug protocol with pretty tight reins on the follow up. May '11. Four months into the 6-month routine, she is dramatically improved. Weight has returned as has skin tone, color, and energy level. Oct '11. Doing well, '12.

• Anderson has malaria; we're monitoring his progress and care. He was back in the hospital with a flare up in NOV '11, but medication has it under control. His mom is a paraplegic whom we watch over as well. Apr '14, he doing well, just turned 6 recently. Apr '16, he's doing great in school.

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TexasEx.Org ... the name? 
Well, we started in Texas
 decades ago.  It'll do
for an anchor.
 

OK, here's a chance ...

From Samuel in Kenya this morning:

"Dear Friend,

I went to Guruguru today to see our children and pay the school fees.

I found out that our children are not given porridge at 10:00 a.m. which is a requirement for all kindergarten kids and that the relief food was no longer coming to the school.

These children wake up in the morning and there is no breakfast at their homes they just go to school without eating anything and the porridge was helping them during the day.

A public school usually accommodates many children the teacher said they have 168 children and only two teachers to attend to this kids. Its real a mess.

I have an idea that if we can get sponsors probably we shall do much better for our children.

1. asked a pastor of a church to allow us to use their shelter for our children and the respond was good. We can use the facility until the time we build our own church.
2. We will need to get one teacher and one cook whom we can pay
i) teacher $65.00 per month
ii) cook $ 40.00 per month
iii) food and poridge can cost $375.00 per month

This is a suggestion and if our friends can commit to give then I can go ahead and start the school immediately. For the first month I have the money already.

If there is no good respond from sponsors then they will stay at the public school

The Lord bless you abundantly my friend
Samuel"

OK, so anybody want to be ridiculously generous?  Give me a call, and we'll do something really radical.