Beginnings

I still recall the day the hired vans drove me to my site in Western Kenya after three months of training. They dropped me off in the pouring rain, and basically said “see you in two years.” This marked the beginning of my Peace Corps experience.

At six months into my service I traveled the seven hours to Nairobi for a conference. When I came back there was a large mound of dirt on the neighbor’s compound. Under the dirt was the body of the kids’ mother. She had tragically died while I was away and she was now underground, twenty feet from their front door. She was the one that supported their education by brewing illicit alcohol – a mother does whatever she has to do for the wellbeing of her children. Once she died, the kids were sent home from school because they did not have the required fees. Education is not a right but a privilege in Kenya.

This was at the beginning of 2002 and I needed to do something. So I sent an email to my list of friends and family, asking if they would like to help send these kids to school. In one email, over $8,000 was raised. That was enough to send them to school for their entire high school years. With the remaining funds, textbooks were purchased for the school, and orphanage was assisted, and hospice care for those dying from AIDS was supported.

And this is the beginning of my story. The kids and I became extremely close over the next year and a half. They could not afford the paraffin for their own lamp, so they came over nightly and studied in my home. Sometimes I fed them dinner, sometimes we listed to music on my little CD player, sometimes we talked about our different cultures, and sometimes we sat in silence. In every way imaginable, they became my family.

I left Kenya in August 2003 and remained close with my neighbors. In December of 2006 three of them graduated from high school. I sent another email too see if people were interested in continuing to help in efforts to send the kids to college. Nearly $13,000 was pledged.

So now I am raising funds and trying to help with their continuing education so they can have a sustainable future. I love these kids like my own and I feel honored to be a part of their life. Through this blog and the sharing of their emails, I'm hoping that you all feel connected to them as well.

Diane