Tuesday June 22
After initial greetings with JDF staff at the compound, we set up our eight-man tent alongside the clinic army tents that serve as their long-term temporary housing. Mike Wagner, the new project manager for JDF, and Daniel, the 15-year-old Sudanese student who has helped me on past trips with translation, videotaping, and getting messages across the village, helped.
It's a Coleman tent with full 8' height across the top, fairly unclear directions attached to the bag it came in, and an insufficient number of stakes to stake all the tent poles and guy wires. A small number of the clinic's supply of concrete block for their new housing project, which is stored only feet from our tent, is now in use holding our tent secure. The tent has great ventilation from big screened windows, we're under the shade of a tree, and it's a comfortable as it can be in a hot climate like this. JDF staff took the car to pick up a couple of our mattresses for us.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Arrival in Duk
June 21
Our chartered AIM Air flight allowed for 1000 kg of cargo and passengers. We filled it to the max with our cargo, Joseph, Angie, myself, and Boniface, a Kenyan Internet serviceman flying to Duk to repair International Relief Development's (IRD) dish misalignment.
Our flight was delayed which allowed us to savor some African tea (heavy on the milk and sugar) and samosas at Wilson Airport, and to chat with a gentleman preparing to leave for South Sudan on a huge (in comparison to ours) Samaritan's Purse plane.
We stopped in Lokichoggio to drop off an AIM staff member and refuel, then to Bor, the capitol of Jonglei State, South Sudan, to drop Joseph. As we approached Duk Payuel our pilot agreed to circle our building site so that I could shoot some aerial photos, though he warned that if the large birds (I don't know what they're called, but they're huge) that make Duk home were soaring overhead, he would have to abort.
The John Dau Foundation (JDF) Lost Boys Clinic staff awaited us with a car along the airstrip, and IRD (International Relief Development) staff were there with a car to pick up Boniface. When I landed last fall, car travel wasn't possible due to the flooding, so all my cargo had to be carried on the heads of women or the shoulders of men and boys. (The position of the burden is cultural.) It took several round trips to ferry the cargo to storage at the school. The community and our other NGO partners, JDF and IRD help us out, which makes working in this difficult environment easier and more pleasant.
Our chartered AIM Air flight allowed for 1000 kg of cargo and passengers. We filled it to the max with our cargo, Joseph, Angie, myself, and Boniface, a Kenyan Internet serviceman flying to Duk to repair International Relief Development's (IRD) dish misalignment.
Our flight was delayed which allowed us to savor some African tea (heavy on the milk and sugar) and samosas at Wilson Airport, and to chat with a gentleman preparing to leave for South Sudan on a huge (in comparison to ours) Samaritan's Purse plane.
We stopped in Lokichoggio to drop off an AIM staff member and refuel, then to Bor, the capitol of Jonglei State, South Sudan, to drop Joseph. As we approached Duk Payuel our pilot agreed to circle our building site so that I could shoot some aerial photos, though he warned that if the large birds (I don't know what they're called, but they're huge) that make Duk home were soaring overhead, he would have to abort.
The John Dau Foundation (JDF) Lost Boys Clinic staff awaited us with a car along the airstrip, and IRD (International Relief Development) staff were there with a car to pick up Boniface. When I landed last fall, car travel wasn't possible due to the flooding, so all my cargo had to be carried on the heads of women or the shoulders of men and boys. (The position of the burden is cultural.) It took several round trips to ferry the cargo to storage at the school. The community and our other NGO partners, JDF and IRD help us out, which makes working in this difficult environment easier and more pleasant.
Kenya, Kiberra Slum Orphan school, Rift Valley
Our driver, the personable and dependable Mumias, who has become a friend during my three trips to Kenya since November, took us to visit his family in their tiny two-room apartment where old airline seats, complete with unused ashtrays, serve as a loveseat. Charity, his wife, served us tea and chapatti, and his children—Ayela, Walter, and Marcy—showed me their excellent school marks and took turns reading aloud from children's books on my IPad. The baby, Dominique, was content breastfeeding and being passed around to the siblings.
With Mumias, we made two visits to Kiberra, the largest slum in Africa. Home to a couple of million people, Kiberra is a city within a city. The slum is built along hillsides offering tremendous views of a sea of colorful tin roofs. In an effort to improve conditions, areas are being razed and families moved into concrete apartment housing. While the apartments include two bedrooms, kitchens, indoor bathrooms, and subsidized rent, the $250 per month is still higher than many can pay. Built as apartment blocks with center courtyards, no provision was made for businesses, so many residents trek back to the slum to fry and sell chapatti, style hair, sell their wares, fix machines, and attend church, which we were invited to do on Sunday.
Below steep banks runs a railroad track. A recent rain made the narrow, uneven paths even more treacherous. The mud is slippery, and the path is soft underfoot, comprised of garbage pressed solid by millions of footsteps.
We visited Little Steps Academy, a school for orphans run by one of Mumias' friends. Mary oversees four classrooms of children from nursery through primary school. Packed shoulder to shoulder in two classrooms 40 preschoolers and 50 kindergarteners entertained us with singing and pantomime. We left a donation that they used to buy flour for chapattis and a blackboard.
We finished our days in Nairobi with a drive outside the city to take in a view of the stunning Rift Valley, arriving just before the fog rolled in. Later, we enjoyed dinner with Joseph at Habesha, the wonderful Ethiopian restaurant where we ate on our first visit in 2007. Without realizing it was the same restaurant, I ate there last November with Jeremy Groce, one of our board members, who was in Nairobi on business. We arrived after dark and were seated inside at a low round table designed to hold the platter of injerra, a spongy, sourdough flatbread used in lieu of utensils, served with lentils, meats, and vegetables.
This was the end of our time with city living. In the morning, it's on to the village of Duk Payuel.
With Mumias, we made two visits to Kiberra, the largest slum in Africa. Home to a couple of million people, Kiberra is a city within a city. The slum is built along hillsides offering tremendous views of a sea of colorful tin roofs. In an effort to improve conditions, areas are being razed and families moved into concrete apartment housing. While the apartments include two bedrooms, kitchens, indoor bathrooms, and subsidized rent, the $250 per month is still higher than many can pay. Built as apartment blocks with center courtyards, no provision was made for businesses, so many residents trek back to the slum to fry and sell chapatti, style hair, sell their wares, fix machines, and attend church, which we were invited to do on Sunday.
Below steep banks runs a railroad track. A recent rain made the narrow, uneven paths even more treacherous. The mud is slippery, and the path is soft underfoot, comprised of garbage pressed solid by millions of footsteps.
We visited Little Steps Academy, a school for orphans run by one of Mumias' friends. Mary oversees four classrooms of children from nursery through primary school. Packed shoulder to shoulder in two classrooms 40 preschoolers and 50 kindergarteners entertained us with singing and pantomime. We left a donation that they used to buy flour for chapattis and a blackboard.
We finished our days in Nairobi with a drive outside the city to take in a view of the stunning Rift Valley, arriving just before the fog rolled in. Later, we enjoyed dinner with Joseph at Habesha, the wonderful Ethiopian restaurant where we ate on our first visit in 2007. Without realizing it was the same restaurant, I ate there last November with Jeremy Groce, one of our board members, who was in Nairobi on business. We arrived after dark and were seated inside at a low round table designed to hold the platter of injerra, a spongy, sourdough flatbread used in lieu of utensils, served with lentils, meats, and vegetables.
This was the end of our time with city living. In the morning, it's on to the village of Duk Payuel.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Kenya Procurement June 16 through June 19
Nairobi is a city of odors, noise, and action. The belching smoke of busses and matatus (minibuses) mixes with the acrid smells of garbage, sweat, and sewer, and the aromas of chapatti (flatbread) cooking on a roadside stand. Pedestrians dodge traffic to cross streets where vehicles ignore stoplights and force their way through roundabouts by intimidation.
Angie Ostbye, a special education teacher, and I arrived late evening June 16 with nine duffle bags of supplies for the ASAH Home for Girls. Our first few nights we stayed at the Country Lodge, a contemporary-style budget business hotel. This allowed us a comfortable transition from the US and access to the Fairview Hotel restaurants.
Then we moved to Mayfield Guest House, owned by Africa Inland Missions (AIM) and populated by missionary families and other humanitarian workers. Toilets and showers and tubs down the hall, mosquito net-draped beds, in-room sinks and wireless Internet. Meals are served family-style and dinner companions may on leave from their work translating the New Testament in South Sudan, piloting evacuees from the border areas during this difficult transition to independence, teaching pastors how to use media developed for remote areas to serve their congregations, or teaching the Gospel to isolated tribes.
We spent our time in Nairobi procuring additional supplies for our boarding facility for orphan girls in Duk Payuel, South Sudan. Joseph Akol Makeer helped Angie and me bargain for shoes at one of the markets with hundreds of stalls and shops selling every kind of goods. The transactions were lengthy, but our prices were still higher than what a local would pay. Just the presence of a couple of white women starts the bidding higher.
At Tusky's, a large department store, we purchased everything from garden tools to bed sheets, from cooking supplies, food, and toiletries to plastic tables and stools. We spent many hours over three days there, leaving our goods for them to box and transport to AIM Air the day before our flight.
Angie Ostbye, a special education teacher, and I arrived late evening June 16 with nine duffle bags of supplies for the ASAH Home for Girls. Our first few nights we stayed at the Country Lodge, a contemporary-style budget business hotel. This allowed us a comfortable transition from the US and access to the Fairview Hotel restaurants.
Then we moved to Mayfield Guest House, owned by Africa Inland Missions (AIM) and populated by missionary families and other humanitarian workers. Toilets and showers and tubs down the hall, mosquito net-draped beds, in-room sinks and wireless Internet. Meals are served family-style and dinner companions may on leave from their work translating the New Testament in South Sudan, piloting evacuees from the border areas during this difficult transition to independence, teaching pastors how to use media developed for remote areas to serve their congregations, or teaching the Gospel to isolated tribes.
We spent our time in Nairobi procuring additional supplies for our boarding facility for orphan girls in Duk Payuel, South Sudan. Joseph Akol Makeer helped Angie and me bargain for shoes at one of the markets with hundreds of stalls and shops selling every kind of goods. The transactions were lengthy, but our prices were still higher than what a local would pay. Just the presence of a couple of white women starts the bidding higher.
At Tusky's, a large department store, we purchased everything from garden tools to bed sheets, from cooking supplies, food, and toiletries to plastic tables and stools. We spent many hours over three days there, leaving our goods for them to box and transport to AIM Air the day before our flight.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Fellow Blogger Angie Caruso blogged about ASAH
Ripple Affect: Awareness Leads to Action.
You can find her post here: http://rippleaffectawarenessleadstoaction.blogspot.com/
You can find her post here: http://rippleaffectawarenessleadstoaction.blogspot.com/
Monday, May 23, 2011
Rasmussen College Raises Funds for ASAH
Fargo College Students
Work for Gift to Charity
(Fargo) – A college in Fargo raised more than $1,400 for a charity recently and the students used it as a learning experience. Challenged to perform a service learning project, the Business and Communication students at Rasmussen College created several pieces of writing including business letters, short reports, press releases and visual communications to market and create awareness for their chosen charity – African Soul, American Heart.
The finished writing projects were the centerpiece of a silent auction held at the college. The student’s goal was to raise $1,000, and with donations from staff, were able to present African Soul, American Heart president Deb Dawson a check for $1,428. According to a Rasmussen instructor, this was an excellent way for the students to experience writing in the “real world” as well as demonstrating to them how writing is a tool for social action that can be used to participate in and contribute to a local and global society.
African Soul, American Heart (ASAH) is a Fargo-based non-profit foundation dedicated to helping feed, house, clothe and educate young orphan girls (ages 10-15) in Southern Sudan, Africa. The organization has recently begun building the ASAH Home for Girls. The first group of girls is expected to move in about July 1st.
Learn more about Rasmussen College.
Work for Gift to Charity
(Fargo) – A college in Fargo raised more than $1,400 for a charity recently and the students used it as a learning experience. Challenged to perform a service learning project, the Business and Communication students at Rasmussen College created several pieces of writing including business letters, short reports, press releases and visual communications to market and create awareness for their chosen charity – African Soul, American Heart.
The finished writing projects were the centerpiece of a silent auction held at the college. The student’s goal was to raise $1,000, and with donations from staff, were able to present African Soul, American Heart president Deb Dawson a check for $1,428. According to a Rasmussen instructor, this was an excellent way for the students to experience writing in the “real world” as well as demonstrating to them how writing is a tool for social action that can be used to participate in and contribute to a local and global society.
African Soul, American Heart (ASAH) is a Fargo-based non-profit foundation dedicated to helping feed, house, clothe and educate young orphan girls (ages 10-15) in Southern Sudan, Africa. The organization has recently begun building the ASAH Home for Girls. The first group of girls is expected to move in about July 1st.
Learn more about Rasmussen College.
Forum on Oprah--Deb Dawson mentioned.
FROM Forum:
One of Winfrey’s philanthropic causes has been to educate women in Africa by opening a school for girls in South Africa. This work has served as a touchstone for Deb Dawson, founder of the Fargo-based nonprofit African Soul, American Heart, which provides shelter for orphans in Southern Sudan.
Dawson is not a regular “Oprah” watcher but sees news coverage of the challenges the icon’s efforts in Africa have faced. Dawson says seeing that “gives us a little heart when we run into challenges we face” helping in Sudan.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/320837/publisher_ID/1/
One of Winfrey’s philanthropic causes has been to educate women in Africa by opening a school for girls in South Africa. This work has served as a touchstone for Deb Dawson, founder of the Fargo-based nonprofit African Soul, American Heart, which provides shelter for orphans in Southern Sudan.
Dawson is not a regular “Oprah” watcher but sees news coverage of the challenges the icon’s efforts in Africa have faced. Dawson says seeing that “gives us a little heart when we run into challenges we face” helping in Sudan.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/320837/publisher_ID/1/
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