Counselors September Report

The Tunza counselors, Collins and Becky, continue to be a great resource both to the kids at Tunza and to us in understanding the issues/problems facing the kids and how we can help.

Click HERE to read their report for September.

Under 10 team wins third place!

Since we last wrote about our Under 10 and Under 17 teams playing in a tournament with about ten other teams from Kibera, both lost the match that would have qualified them for the tournament finals.



However, because of an earlier victory, the Under 10 team had the chance to play in a match for third place yesterday. Our team played well and the game went into a penalty shootout. The shooters made two goals in a row and the goalie blocked two in a row and we won the match!



The boys were so excited and jumping all over each other and cheering. As part of their win, they received a trophy, new uniforms and some balls from the tournament organizers. After the game, they all huddled up with their coach and said a prayer. Then the coach asked them what they were playing for, to which they all responded in unison "LUNCH!!"



So after the game, all 22 of them headed to a restaurant where they were rewarded for their victory with a hearty meal.

A little bit goes a long way

Maxwell is 3 and a half years old and the younger brother of two of our brightest sponsored students. Last weekend, Maxwell was playing outside of his house, fell down and badly injured his arm. While visiting his older brother three days after his accident, we met Maxwell and learned about what happened. He was unable to move his arm and it was swollen to almost two times its normal size.

His mother told us that she took him to a local clinic and they gave him medicine to rub on it. She could not afford to go to a decent hospital and get an x-ray or proper treatment so she just had to hope that it would heal properly on its own (which we all realize is unlikely).




We knew that it was serious and if his arm did not heal properly, he would be affected by it for the rest of his life. So we offered to cover the costs of the hospital and his mom took him the next day.

When we returned to visit Maxwell yesterday, we found Maxwell in a cast and a sling. It turns out that his arm was completely dislocated from its socket and broken in three places. The total costs (transport to and from the hospital, examination by a doctor, the x-ray, the cast and sling, and medicine) came to $13.

We are happy that we can help even in small ways such as this and thanks to our donors, Maxwell is now doing okay and on his way to recovery!

Remembering Jenny

Last year and earlier this year, we wrote about a 15 year-old girl named Jane (or "Jenny") who was HIV positive. We met Jenny in August 2008 when she was admitted to the HIV/AIDS ward of the hospital and in the bed next to one of our regular patients.

By spring of 2009, Jenny had regained her health and wanted more than anything to return to school. Thanks to the generosity of a sponsor, we were able to sponsor her to attend high school.

Almost 2 months ago today on June 20, 2009, we received the heartbreaking news that Jenny had passed away in her sleep at the age of 16.

Jenny was an orphan and lost both of her parents to AIDS. She was born HIV positive. She struggled with her health throughout her life as a result. However, she was determined not to let the disease get her down and fought until the end. We met her because she saw us buying our patient juice and she spoke up that she too would like some juice (and soda and cookies and fruit). We sponsored her because every time we would visit her at home, even when she could barely sit up, she would remind us "what about school?" She attended school up until the day before she passed and never gave up.

She was a fighter and an inspiration and we miss her very much.

Our Under 10 team could take it all!

All four of our boys soccer teams (Under 10, Under 12, Under 14 and Under 17) are currently participating in a tournament against other teams from throughout Kibera.

Their first match was today. The Under 12 and Under 14 teams unfortunately lost (3-0 and 1-0, respectively) and have been eliminated from the tournament.

The Under 17 team's opponent did not show up so they have automatically advanced to the next round.

The Under 10 team was scheduled to play two matches. They played really well and won the first match in an intense shootout. They did not miss a single goal, while the other team missed two. During the shootout, a giant crowd gathered to watch and all eyes were on the Uweza team. The boys were all so excited when they won, they were jumping all over each other, cheering and running around. Most (if not all) of the boys are from very poor families and many are orphans. It was really great to see them having such a good time and getting the chance to feel proud of themselves.

For their second match of the day, the opponent dropped out of the tournament so the Under 10 team will automatically advance to the semifinals. Prizes for the winners of the tournament include balls, shoes and new uniforms so keep your fingers crossed!

We also managed to provide lunch for all of the boys during the course of the day, which they seemed to enjoy almost as much as playing soccer.

August Report from Counselors

Click HERE to read the report written by the counselors that we have hired to work with the Tunza kids about their work during the month of August.

Taking Cyrus to school

Last year, we wrote about a 16 year old boy named Cyrus who is a resident of Tunza Children's Center. In October, Cyrus made the terrible mistake of ingesting methylated spirit with juice. Luckily, we were at the center and with the help of many generous donors, we were able to cover all the costs of his hospital care and likely saved his life. Unfortunately, Cyrus is now completely blind.

This year, thanks to sponsors from Australia, Cyrus is attending a Technical School for the blind. He is learning to read and write braille and also learning the skills that he will need to live on his own. He has a great attitude, a true zest for life, despite the hard hand he has been dealt in life, and is determined to make the best of a truly difficult situation.

He will finish the technical school this November and will then start Class 8 at a school for the blind, which he was close to finishing when he lost his sight. After Class 8, he will move on to high school. He hopes to become a lawyer someday.

Last Wednesday, I (Jen) went with Cyrus as he returned for his second term of school. I took some pictures of the school and they are below. We are so grateful to everyone that donated to Uweza to help Cyrus and to his school sponsors. The support has not gone to waste. Cyrus expresses his gratitude every day and I never cease to be amazed by him.

Soccer Program Update

We now have four set teams with four different coaches. Each team is composed of about 10-20 boys from throughout Kibera. Although the teams were started by the children of Tunza Children's Center, they have grown to include children from throughout the slum. Now that the Tunza children have moved to Ngong, our Kibera teams are continuing to practice. We are working on a solution to ensure that the kids in Ngong will still be able to play soccer.

Temporarily, the four coaches will be traveling to Ngong every few weeks to visit the kids and play soccer with them. We think that its good for the kids to see familiar faces in their new home so that they understand that they are not being abandoned by the people that care about them and to make the transition easier. (On a related note, the Tunza counselors will also be traveling to Ngong to continue to work with the children).

Last week, we had a meeting with the coaches to discuss what we can do to make our teams in Kibera better. In the past few weeks, we have purchased 70 pairs of shorts for training, first aid kits for each team, a net to carry soccer balls and books for the coaches to take attendance each week. We will also be purchasing shoes and socks for all of the boys in a few weeks.

The coaches came up with two ideas at the meeting to help us ensure that our soccer program offers more to the kids than just the opportunity to play soccer. The coaches, who are all residents Kibera themselves, pointed out that the kids come from challenged and difficult backgrounds so they would like to take a half an hour each practice to sit down with the kids, get to know them, discuss any problems the kids might be having. Then the coaches can offer advice and possibly see how Uweza can help.

The coaches also created a prize-giving program to motivate the kids to do their best. They will be telling the players that at some point each month, one player (e.g. most hard-working, best attendance, best skills) will be getting a prize such as a new pair of socks or shorts. This will teach the kids about the value of hard work and dedication and encourage them to do their best always.

New Home for Tunza Children's Center

Yesterday, the Tunza kids moved into a new home outside of Kibera. An organization called Tara Projects (http://www.taraprojects.ie/) in conjunction with VICDA, which is based in Kenya, raised funds and completed construction for a new facility in Ngong, which is about 30 minutes away from Kibera.

Over 80 children moved out of Kibera and into the new home yesterday. Each child now has their own bed and the home includes a spacious dining room and a big yard with a swing set and plenty of open space for the children to play.

We'll be trying to work with Tara Projects, Faces of Kibera and Tunza to ensure that the transition goes smoothly and that all of the needs of the Tunza children are met in their new home.

Addendum: Just to clarify, Uweza was not involved in the building of the new home - the credit for that goes to two organizations: VICDA and Tara Projects. We were just present for the move and will be continuing our ongoing support of the new home in Ngong as well as the center in Kibera, which will remain as a primary school.

"Silent Food Crisis Crippling Kenya Slum"

This article published yesterday by Voice of America points out the toll that skyrocketing food prices have taken on the residents of Kibera. The need for aid and opportunities to help are greater now than ever.

As international headlines draw attention to the political bickering among Kenya's leaders, a crisis almost entirely hidden from view is ravaging Nairobi's Kibera slum. A window into the lives of Kibera's schoolchildren reveals how the silent food crisis in Africa's largest slum is threatening an impoverished generation's future.

On the edge of Nairobi sits the sprawling tin-shack Kibera slum, which with its roughly one million inhabitants is large enough to be a city in itself.

Food prices have more than doubled in the past year, making the always-difficult survival of Kibera's population more challenging.

Plight of children

For a generation of Kibera children growing up with extreme urban poverty, disease, and ethnic violence, the unmanageable price of food is causing much wider and more sinister ripples than simply whether or not they will go to bed hungry. When families cannot afford meals here, it is often the children whose lives change most drastically.

"I am going to go home," said Gideon. "Then if there is no food, then I am going to rubbish."

Gideon dropped out of school last year so he could help support his family by scrounging for scraps in the heaping junk piles of Kibera. If he is lucky, he might make 20 cents a day. Gideon is 13-years old.

The school Gideon used to attend is supported by the World Food Program. Usually the lunch meal the school offers is enough to keep kids attending, as it is likely to be their only meal of the day. But in Gideon's case a fatherless home with younger siblings that need feeding and a mother in the late stages of AIDS has all proven too heavy a burden.

Gideon's mother, who is too sick to work and has been unable to persuade her son to return to school, says she makes her other children continue going to school, even though she can not pay the school fees - otherwise her children would not eat. When the kids are kicked out for being unable to pay, she is nevertheless forced to send them back to the school.

Miriam Wawira is the headmistress at a pre-primary school in Kibera. She says those children whose situations are unfortunate enough to qualify them for admittance into the small school are the fortunate ones in their families. While those young kids receive at least two meals a day during the school week, their siblings are unlikely to be as lucky.

"There are those parents who bring their children here simply because they know in as much as there is no food at home, at least this child can come to school, have porridge at 10 o'clock, have lunch at 1 pm," said Wawira. "And then after that, when they go home, even if there is some little food at home, these children who have been to this school, they will always be the last to be served in their family because there are other children who have been in the house and maybe they have not had lunch or did not have breakfast."

Prices skyrocketed

Food prices in Kenya have shot up, in part due to a severe drought that has left the year's harvest well below the nation's basic demand. Maize flour, the basic staple, has more than doubled in the past year, a trend that holds true for about all other simple grocery items.

For families already engaged in a daily struggle to make ends meet, the unbearable food strain could hardly have come at a more inopportune time.

According to a joint report from humanitarian groups Concern Worldwide, Care International, and Oxfam International, the cost of cooking fuel is up by as much as 50 percent from last year, while the price of water has doubled. Meanwhile, the global economic downturn has helped shrink incomes in Kibera by 20 percent.

Steven Okello, a project officer based in Kibera for CARE-Kenya, explains the crisis has remained largely under the radar because the problem is not that there is no food, rather, the prices are simply too steep.

"The food is available, that is the paradox," he said. "The food is available, but the prices are unaffordable for people living in Kibera. Right now if you look at maize flour for instance, one packet goes for 100 shillings. Yet a majority of people living in Kibera live on less than 70 shillings per day."

Read the rest of the article here.