 Team Reports |
Unforgettable KenyaDon Potter - Barrie, Ontario I really don't know how to start my report since so much is going through my mind about this distribution, but here goes. Our team got together at the SCAW office March 2nd to begin an unforgettable trip. We left Toronto at 6:30 pm on Friday and arrived in Kenya Saturday night at 10:30 pm -- surely the longest flight I have ever been on.
The first distribution of 631 bedkits was at the Jamia Mosque in Kibera in the middle of the largest and poorest slum I have ever seen, but when we arrived, all we could see were waiting children with smiling faces. The first child who came to me was deaf and badly disfigured. Seeing this child smile with outreached hands, I gave way to my emotions and tears filled my eyes. The school teacher who was holding him was in charge of special-needs children. I asked her about the boy's condition and she told me that he has AIDS and was not expected to live more then another eight months. At that moment I decided to search for the special-needs children at every distribution. At every location I looked for these children and found many.
Although we gave out 4,000 bedkits this was only a drop in a very large pond. All this was going through my mind for those two weeks. What else can we do? We can only help just a few of many that need our help. We in Canada are so fortunate, even if we have little, in comparison to these children in Kenya. Poverty is everywhere in Kenya. Fifty per cent of the population is unemployed. This is truly the land of the poorest of the poor. The poverty and suffering I saw will remain with me the rest of my life. My heart was filled with happiness for these children because they will have a good night's rest with the bedkits given to them by the donations of kind and loving people, and my heart goes out to all those who gave so generously to this great cause. |
We were met by our driver, Steven, who was our guide for the next two weeks. He took us to our hotel, a welcome sight after our exhausting flight. He met us again at 6.30 am the next morning.
From then on, all my thoughts were of these children. I kept wondering what else I could do to help these poor unfortunate souls. If only we could get more donations of bedkits from those who are more fortunate.