Nairobi and first day with Oasis Africa

Good afternoon everyone from sunny Nairobi

Well its a Friday afternoon and I have just finished my first day with Oasis Africa.
Since arriving back in Nairobi from our Masai Mara trip we had to find some accommodation for the next 2 weeks. On Wednesday afternoon we met with Edith and the gang from Oasis Africa and they were all very friendly and accommodating. After a few phone calls we found a place which is run by sisters (the religious variety by the way) in this beautiful hostel that is close enough to the city and Kabira. We have our own rooms and the costs include three meals a day (though Ive given up on breakfast - no Weet bix no Troy) . It actually feels like college life with their single dorm accommodation. I never experienced that at uni so Im reliving my youth by being here. There are some interesting people that are staying here as we find out when we have dinner each night. We try to sit next to a random each night. Our first night was a young guy from USA that has just been serving in Iraq as a civilian contractor (he was in the airforce beforehand, serving in Iraq) . He was telling us how easy the money is to be made over there but on the same token he was glad to get out. He just decided to do some volunteer work in Africa so flew into Nairobi to see what he could find. Very interesting guy, for a guy that has seen a lot of the world he is still very 'green'. The following day was Independence day in Kenya, so we went for a walk into the city centre and came across a free music concert. I must admit now I feel very comfortable finding my way around the city, which is always a nice feeling.
Today we had our first day of work with Oasis Africa, it was more of an orientation day for us to get ourselves familiar with the place and transport required to get us there each morning.
What was Kabira like? Well, I have seen photos but nothing could brace me for Kabira. The sheer size in such a small space. To give you a mental picture, there are over 1 000 000 people living in a few square kilometres. It is Africa's largest slum. It is a unfortunately a sad picture of people basically living on top of one another, with rubbish and contaminated water running through with a lack of basic sanitation. Its really hard to describe, I took a few pics today which may give you a better picture. The Principal of the school where we are working for two weeks met us and took us to the new school facility (which I thought at the start was the old building and they were upgrading) There is no power and the buildings are made from mud but they are trying to plaster the walls for the students. There are no sporting fields and basically no facilities at all. After a look around the new building (which they move in on Monday) we went to the old building as it was lunch and the students were having lunch. WOW! The walk there through enclaves, jumping over running contaminated water was an experience and then a walk through the 'main street' of Kabira was something else. (I was so hungry I bought some hot chips, just hope my stomach can handle it...:) ) We finally made it to the old building where all the students were waiting in a queue to be fed for lunch. This is a good news story of the 'Feed the Children' working in conjunction with World Food Program(WFP) to feed all the students at lunch. As the principal was telling us, before this there was a high rate of absenteeism and many students weren't coming home after lunch cause they were too hungry to come back. They all wait patiently for their serving of food (the same every day apparently) and you wonder if for many this is there only feed for the day. We then went for a walk around the 'old' building, they only had three classrooms for 350 students who ranged from Grade 1-6. It was also dark, cold on dirt floors. (It was an old bar that was transformed into a school) They used to have two classes operating in the one classroom (and trust me they arent big at all!!!)
Through all this the students are just incredible, they all come up to you to shake your hand and say 'How are you?' They may have nothing but to them they have everything. Just another example of the African spirit that blows you away!
OA was telling us that in a class of 30 students on average 7 would be HIV infected (that they know of). They have many issues of getting the students tested and they are currently writing to the Minister of Health to get some better testing done of the students. There are also many orphans in the school and a host of social problems that comes with living in such an environment. He told us some of the issues they are facing, most of them I cant bring myself to write on this blog, really makes you appreciate what you have back home. If anyone wants to assist financially in a place then this to me is about as high on the list as there is.
After meeting with the teachers that was the end of our orientation day of Kabira and I must admit I really cant wait to get in there and work with the students.
On the way home, Mike (guy from OA) stopped and we bought picks each and you ask why?
Well seeing they move into their new school on Monday, they need to even out the school yard so there are 15 of us with a pick in our hands that will be digging dirt tomorrow. Yes, I am doing some manual labour well I will anyway. (It saves me going to the gym)
Tomorrow, we are having a working bee at the school to get it ready for the grand opening on Monday. It is quite fortunate that we will be there to experience this and Im really looking forward to getting my hands dirty. We are being picked up at 8 tomorrow morning, so I will have an early night to be bright eyed and full of energy for my day of physical labour.
Anyway, its time I sign off. If you would like to know more information on Oasis Africa, then check out www.oasisafrica.net
I will keep you posted on how it all goes and post some pics from today and the working bee tomorrow.
Take care
Troy