Letter to Sponsors and Well-Wishers

Please pardon the duplication, but a version of this letter will go to sponsors and other well-wishers this week... Please consider "following" this blog and linking it to your Facebook and other social networking; we'd love to have even more people connected to the wonderful people and work in Cura!

Please do watch for an official announcement of our Second Annual Safari Nights event, coming up on 19 November. I posted in this blog about the event last year, and we hope to build on those previous successes. At this year's event, we plan to focus our fundraising on both some very essential needs and on an exciting new proposal for adding music education to the curriculum at Cura Primary School.

For that project, we’re partnering with a non-profit called One World Chorus to offer children in Cura an opportunity to perform with and learn about children in choruses all over the globe. The project, if it’s fully funded, will be developed with teen mentor programs and even recording opportunities through its founder, award-winning Aaron Nigel Smith. Please watch for more information about this as plans come together.

Of course, whatever we begin at the primary school will be extended through the secondary school once it’s built and fully operational. Those of you who have been with us for a while know that we raised funds last year through a special west coast premier of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Since then, we’ve worked tirelessly with One Kid, One World to confirm community buy-in and get the appropriate permitting, and we’re in the process now of confirming Construction for Change as project managers for the groundbreaking in January. We’re thrilled to be on the verge of offering Cura’s children a local option for public secondary school, and I hope you’ll watch and celebrate our progress with us!

Of course, my news from Kenya is complicated by the fact that most of East Africa is suffering a drought of historic proportions. According to CNN.com, "East Africa is in the midst of its worst drought in more than 60 years, with as many as 10 million people at risk." Our children, thanks to generous sponsors and supporters like you, do not have to worry about whether they’ll have food to eat, though they are feeling the effects of the drought in indirect ways. Water is a pressing concern in the surrounding community, for example, and much of the Home’s budget has had to be recommitted to trucking in water when the rain collection isn’t sufficient. Food prices, too, in the region are fluctuating radically, and the Kenyan shilling is losing strength. The cumulative effect of this means that the leaders in the village and at our Home have to make some tough choices about what they can afford… and what they can’t.

We hope, of course, that our ongoing fundraising efforts will keep up with the need, at least on behalf of the children who are under our care. Because we’re committed to being a positive force for self-sufficiency and development, however, we feel a powerful sense of responsibility to improve the circumstances of the community as a whole.

Please know that your support, both financial and otherwise, has done measurable good – you are a partner with us in Cura’s well-being. On behalf of everyone there, I am deeply grateful.

-H

Glorious Water!

Jordan has returned to Cura, and has brought with him vibrant energy that has resulted in not only Cura's first major "Sports Day," replete with team t-shirts...

But also water, water, water!

In this blog during the summer, I wrote about the fact that water was on the minds of everyone in Cura -- how to collect it, how to pump it, how to pay for it. All of East Africa is enduring a drought, and Cura isn't entirely immune from its effects: water has to be rationed, and the community has to collaborate, for example, even to provide water to keep the primary school clean and the children fundamentally hydrated.

When the rains come, of course, our Home's tank fills quickly, and Moses, the housemothers and the children all celebrate. But what overflows or isn't captured is lost... at least it was before now. Thanks to Jordan's generous network of friends and well-wishers, not one but TWO more collection tanks have been delivered and installed in the Home's courtyard.

Feeling grateful for this thing we take for granted here at home:

and for wonderful Jordan, of course.

--H

End of Summer Update

Paige, Savannah and Danielle are gearing up for the children to return from their holiday break... but they're working with those who stuck around and generally getting a feel for the place. For more regular updates from Cura (and the rest of their Kenyan adventures), please follow their electronic journals at:

wildairafrica.wordpress.com (Savannah & Paige)
journeytheglobe.wordpress.com (Danielle)

Pen Pals, too, are eagerly awaiting the children's return for September classes -- missives from Cura are forthcoming, I promise!

Meanwhile, we're working over here to keep the One World Chorus and Construction for Change plans in motion, and we're developing plans for our Second Annual Safari Nights fundraising event in Los Angeles in early November. Do watch for more information as that gets closer, and for photos if you're unlucky enough not to be able to attend...

Wishing, as always, Cura wasn't so far away...

-H

We're back from Kenya and settling in at home... but I'm still immersed in Cura-related communication and planning. I've got this photo set as the background on my desktop, just to remind me of where we just were...

And we've got new (and very lucky!) volunteers headed there soon!

Paige, Savannah and Danielle are heading to Cura in August to begin a series of art and theater projects with the children, both between school terms and once classes begin again in September.

Jennifer will return again in November to reprise her Rotary-inspired "World without AIDS" photography and writing projects.

And Aaron and Diedre are working on plans to come to Cura in January to begin a global "Music and Movement" project with the students at Cura Primary School.

Of course, we hope Construction for Change will also be arriving after the first of the year, to break ground on the long-anticipated secondary school, as well.

These plans, and all of the details associated with them, keep me busy and thinking of Cura when I'm home -- as do pen pals and sponsors and interested well-wishers. But nothing beats being there.

-H

Saturday was Bittersweet

Samuel rode a bicycle around the field probably 100 times.
Henry played football with our driver, Gilbert.
Grace and Phyllis spent prepared 150 chapatis on the new jiko and pans.
Minne and Naomi learned three new songs from my Girl Scout counselor days and promised to teach other kids when we're gone.
Margaret and Esther and Nancy had an enthusiastic dance party in the tv room.
Sharon tucked herself against me, drew my ratty old kikoi over her head and napped for an hour.
Esther and Mercy reminded me to pass along messages to their pen pals.
Amos and Peter asked over and over when we'd be back.
John Michael gave me a stack of drawings of birds to take home.
Loise begged to look at the photos on my camera one more time so she could memorize them.
Simon didn't want to look at us when we made our way out to leave.
Minnet let herself be dragged by the car instead of letting go of my hand.

Leaving is brutal.
-H

Friday was Awesome

After our Thursday pleas for the last of the “map” donations, we were so flush with pledged cash (we’ll send information on how we’ll collect the funds when we get home, so watch for that!), that we wanted to get a jump on our shopping day Friday. The morning started early, with the about-a-mile walk to Village Market to get caffeinated and get going!

We made a Nakumatt (Kenya’s chain of Kmart or Fred Meyer-esque shopping emporiums) run there, purchasing the following to resupply some necessary materials for the housemothers:

1 sufuria (large cooking pot)

1 jiko (a charcoal burning stove)

2 chapati pans

12 bowls

8 cooking knives

50 melamine tea mugs

2 plastic wash basins (for laundry)

Fast forward now to the delivery of the above materials:

If ONLY Christmas morning elicited jubilation like this over each small and useful gift! Catching sight of the children helping us carry in these items, the whole group of women instantly burst into ululations and song – and the Kikuyu singing and dancing went on and on and on… Later, when Scola remarked that she couldn’t believe that we brought EXACTLY what was needed, we reminded her that we weren’t psychic… we just asked. Matching the donated funds to the necessary items was such an easy thing, and it created ecstatic results!

Back to Nairobi:

After loading Gilbert’s car with the kitchen-related booty, we went over to Westgate, a mall in another neighborhood, where we had made arrangements the prior day to order the maps at Savani’s Book Centre. The maps were there, waiting for us upon our arrival, but then we began a LONG process of working with Pardeep and Sam to fill the orders from the long list the teachers had made.

When we were done, we had purchased:

Full class sets of Science textbooks for grades 1 through 8

3 teacher’s guides for above Science textbooks

9 Kenya maps

6 East Africa maps

10 each of 9 different titles of English storybooks set in Kenya

Class sets of Encyclopedias for grades 1 – 8

5 staplers

4 boxes of staples

8 calculators

1 desk sharpener

16 copies of the primary mathematics textbook for grade 7

20 copies of the English primer for grade 5

15 copies of the REQUIRED Social Studies textbook for grade 8

2 copies each of 24 titles of Swahili storybooks for grades 1 through 8

We were giddy to deliver the goods!

When we arrived at Cura, our delivery was turned into a grateful and formal presentation led by Mrs Mwathi, flanked by the teachers who were misty-eyed with joy.

It’s impossible to overstate the number of times the word “miracle” was used in reference to the display covering the three tables they set out under a tree in the courtyard of the school. The grade 1 teacher showed us the scars on her palms, resulting in sharpening pencils with knives and razor blades – thrilled at the notion of having a desk sharpener now. “Imagine,” she said, “a professional teacher who has to find a knife from the kitchen to make sure her students can do their lessons.”

The books, though, were the star of the show – and Mrs Mwangi, one of the teachers who has been there the longest, gave the children a challenge to accompany this gift: She explained that before, they were all struggling to perform well on exams without the required texts to learn the material… but now there is no excuse. The children were assigned their textbooks and were launched, eagerly, into a heightened level of expectation.

While Greg and I shared Fantas and bread-and-butter sandwiches with Mrs Mwathi and Mrs Hinga (the deputy head teacher and extra-curricular music teacher extraordinaire), we noted the chalkboard graph on the wall indicating the exam scores over the last four years: they’ve been in decline. This is a fact Mrs Mwathi is now making public and working to bring the community’s parents and other leaders into the fold for solving the problem. We’ve connected her with our friend Bernard Mathu, formerly of Kenya’s premier high school’s administration and currently running his own school in Nanyuki, and Cura’s new Vicar is also on the team. With this kind of energy and intellect on board now, we also expect good things!

As it turned out, Friday was also an incredible day for Cura because ANOTHER group showed up to make a donation. A group of Nairobi businessmen have formed a charitable project for which they locate orphanages and schools in need and provide necessary resources. Their arrival meant 50 new wool blankets (which will go very nicely with the sheets and pillowcases recently donated by the Hilton Hotel!), bags and bags of maize meal, and various other sundries. They also left Cura with this challenge:

Any of the 5 girls who are currently in grade 8 can earn a scholarship for their secondary school fees next year IF they earn at least a 400 on their national exams at the end of the term.

This is an enormous gift, and a significant challenge. No pressure, Grace, Esther, Leah, Sarah and Anne… Except that the pressure is on!

We closed our day with promises to return (we’re heading back for a day of football and singing and prolonged goodbyes this morning) and a quick visit with Mike Eldon back in Nairobi. We reflected on all the good progress – as well as the ongoing and mounting challenges – we continue to see in Cura, and marveled at the project Evelyn started five years ago, feeling grateful to be a part of it.

-H

Connecting Cura to YOU

On Tuesday, I held a meeting in the library of all 29 children who currently participate in the Pen Pal Programme I run with Scola Nduta, my committed, reliable, capable, not-to-mention gorgeous partner in Cura. The purpose of the meeting was to explain fully to the children how the pen pal letters are sent and received, since sometimes it seems like a mystery…

They draft their letters on ancient PCs, and Scola saves the files to send via email when she can sit down with her portable modem (which we keep supplied with internet “minutes” using the donations of the pen pals on the US/west side). The children receive their letters in print form, after Scola downloads them from the emails I send her – when pen pals send photos, she has to simply show the children the screen view, though, since the printer warps the images beyond recognition.

I assured the children that the eventual goal was that they could one day communicate directly with their pen pals and others, once Cura has internet access more reliable than Scola’s trusty Safaricom USB plug-in. They were thrilled with the prospect of one day having email accounts of their own, and they were inspired to become more proficient with word-processing so they’d be ready when that day comes.

This is the kind of authentic learning we hoped to create with this program: the children learn multiple skills (keyboarding, English language, conversation, inter-cultural awareness, geography…) that are organic to the activity that engages them. What an incredible success this has been so far!

As our meeting went on, I invited the children to ask questions of me… anything they wanted. Nearly all of them wanted to know the ages of their pen pals, down to the day. This prompted my reminder that that’s a question they might ask of their pen pals in their next letters (though I answered truthfully when I could!). Some wanted to know why their pen pals asked so many questions themselves! This led to a lengthy conversation about how it’s a cultural practice in the US and in the west to use questions as an invitation to further conversation. We role-played possible responses, comparing:

Q: What is your favorite animal?

A: A giraffe.

to

Q: What is your favorite animal?

A: My favorite animal is a giraffe because its hide is a beautiful color and I once saw one nibbling from a tree. I read in a book that they have very long tongues. What is YOUR favorite animal?

This was a fun exercise, and Scola confirmed, in Kikuyu, that everyone got the gist. A room full of happily responsive “ehhhhh” affirmatives made my day!

All of this is to say that the pen pal program is not only going well, it’s growing! Many of the 29 current participants expressed interest in having a 2^nd pen pal, and the teachers at the primary school expressed interest in having more of their students participate.

If you are not yet participating in the program but would like to, please let me know (hayden@curaorphanage.org) -- I’ll reply with details. The boys, especially, would love boys their own age to write to, so let me know if there are boys in your life who would like to sign on.

If you are already participating, please tell your friends… and please know that your letters are EAGERLY anticipated. Some children receive incredibly regular letters, which is thrilling… but which provides a comparison point for others whose pen pals are less prolific. The children think of you as FRIENDS – they know your names, they ask after you, they give me messages of love to pass along to you, and they want photos of you to have for themselves. You are a connection to a world beyond Cura that they can’t really even imagine right now – a way to make the rest of the world real. No pressure! ;)

At the end of the meeting, I met with each child to find out what they liked and didn’t like about how the pen pal process is going. My favorite moment was when Simon, a born performer and as optimistic a human being I’ve ever met, said: “McKenna is my pen pal and I don’t want anyone else. She writes VERY often, and she knows me. We will meet some day.”

Full disclosure: McKenna is my niece. But she IS an excellent pen pal, and she makes a kid’s day on a regular basis. You can, too!

-H