Out of Africa
Seventy-five dollars will pay an entire year of college tuition in Kenya! Wow! When my daughter C.C. told me that upon her return from Nairobi, I was astounded. C.C. spent part of her summer break from UNC-CH working at Riruta Shade Orphanage in a suburb of Nairobi. The orphanage is home to about 50 abandoned or orphaned children, infants to 18.
No indoor plumbing amd no electricity - my little princess spent several weeks working with these lovely children, teaching them and painting their classrooms. She had her Uncle Van, a screen printer and graphic artist, design all her students brand new, matching school t-shirts which he promptly Fed-X'd. A new shirt of their very own is the equivalent of giving a 16 year kid in the U.S. a new car.
Another Tar Heel and classmate of C.C.'s, Brianna O'Donnell spent the winter months (when not busy playing goalie for UNC Women's field hockey team) raising $7500 dollars to take back to an orphanage in Kibera, the largest slum on the planet in the center of Nairobi. In May, with just $7500, Brianna contracted with locals to build an entire second floor to house two boys bedrooms. Previously about 18 girls and an equal number of boys slept in one room.
C.C., following Brianna's entrepreneurial spirit, has created a web site for Riruta Shade and is working to establish an international non-profit fund that will hold in trust donations to allow these children to receive further schooling after turning 18. She has already planned to go back for a longer period of time next summer. I'm hoping to make it a family affair for all five of us.
I asked C.C. didn't she find the poverty and the children heartbreaking, and she said, "No Daddy. The children are all so grateful for our love and attention; there's nothing sad about that." Check out the video Jambo to Jesus and you can't help but be happy for these children.
FYI: C.C. traveled to Kenya via an organization called Global Crossroad. However she says Brianna's trip through Global Volunteer Network was even more affordable and seemed to direct more money to actual programs in country. Ultimately though, both groups coordinate through Volunteer Internship Community Development - Africa or VICDA.
Hakuna Matata.
