AIDS - THE ALL-THE-TIME-KILLER
6 April 2010 - this page is under construction - 6 April 2010
AIDS is not an emergency of today - its an emergency of every day.
In Kenya, AIDS kills all the time. Slowly, steadily, unremittingly.
And when it kills, it leaves others behind - especially children.
In Kenya there are hundreds of thousands of children who have lost both parents,
and many who have no family at all to care for them.
And after the recent communal killings, displacements and political turmoil
in Kenya there are more to care for than ever.
Edinburgh Direct Aid is helping some of these orphans and the local community at
a place called Kogony, in Kisumu, Kenya - on the shores of Lake Victoria, almost
on the equator.
"Arise and Shine" orphanage and community centre, Kogony, Kisumu, Kenya
Nancy Joan Okoth and Joahanes Okoth Obonyo started the "Arise and Shine" orphanage at Kogony,
an outlying area of Kisumu (Western Kenya, on Lake Victoria), in January 2007.
Beginning with nothing they managed to build a dormitory and class room, and house
21 orphans, and began also caring for the sick, weak and desperately poor AIDS
widows in the local community.
A small French charity 'New Dawn', run by Don and Jennie Waterman, has provided
basic running costs and much
support.
Edinburgh Direct Aid is working alongside New Dawn to build up and
try to ensure the future of the project.
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The orphanage provides safety, food, shelter and education for some,
but in May 2008:
- Sanitation was a latrine
- The water supply was an erratic well at the foot of a hill
- There was no electricity
- The kitchen was a fire outside
- The boys' dormitory was a curtained off part of the classroom
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EDA Kogony Programme: 2008 - 2010
When EDA committed to the Kogony project in May, 2008, this was the plan:
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Build a new kitchen/dining room
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Deliver a 40' container of aid
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Convert the container to a workshop, office and store
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Mobilise local and international organisations to provide running water, electricity and sustainability support
With the help of generous support from the public, especially in Edinburgh, Crieff and Skipton (Yorkshire),
aims (1),(2) and (3) have all either been achieved and (4) is well under way. This
is how it was done:
| May 2008 - John and Patrick Home Robertson |
| Volunteers: | John Home Robertson
(sometime long time East Lothian MP/MSP) and son Patrick |
| Task: | build the kitchen/dining area |
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By adapting plans drawn by EDA volunteer Alan Black, maximising use of local know-how and canny procurement,
John and Patrick got the building built with the money we had, rather than the money it would normally cost
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How the kitchen/dining room came together...
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Women brought water for mixing concrete
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.. the girls lent a hand
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Men broke local stone for the foundations
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... children helped carry them
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EDA volunteers organised procurement and design, and pitched in
where they could
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.. and eventually it all came together
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More pictures ...
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Patrick Home Robertson and children
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Small person by himself
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Building in progress, and the building team
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Kitchen building, and builder |
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Kitchen dining building with roof timbers on |
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The building done
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| January 2009 - The goods from
everywhere
(especially Crieff) are sent on their way |
| Volunteers: | Many |
| Task: | Cram a warehousefull of stuff into a 40' container and send
it to Kisumu |
| This was what was in the warehouse, more or less as it was arranged.... |
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| | .. EDA had first to sort everything out and document it carefully for
shipping,
buy a used container and get it delivered,
then squeeze as much of as possible into it.. |
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| We must be able to get this in somewhere... |
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| ... I'll just put it in this drawer |
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| Container ready to go |
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| and the team all line up |
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The container was then picked up by a transporter, towed away to Grangemouth and
put on board a container ship for
Felixstowe - Rotterdam - Mombasa. Which was where we next heard of it (in March) and a
long war with Kenya Customs began. |
March/April 2009 - Lisa Anderson and Jim Harkins |
| Volunteers: | EDA Secretary Lisa Anderson and convoy stalwart Jim Harkins |
| Tasks: |
- plaster the outer walls of the dining area
- build a verandah around it
- get the container out of the clutches of the Customs
- get it delivered to site and the goods distributed
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How the community hall got finished and EDA got to know the
Kogony community...Plastering
was essential, to prevent water damage to the cheap local brick
used in its construction. Lisa and Jim organised and oversaw the work of plastering,
construction of a verandah under the eaves, and installation of a gas cooker to
make a proper kitchen.
The container got delayed in Mombasa port, then on the railways - again and
again. Finally it arrived in Kisumu on 2nd April 2009; but despite all efforts, a final
agreement from Customs to let it through duty free could not be got; and all the
time it was held up, port dues were ratcheting up.
Meanwhile the EDA volunteers spent much time in the orphanage and visiting in
the local community comprising mainly widows of men who had died of AIDS.
A signal event while Lisa and Jim were there was the birth of triplets to one of
the widows (father nowhere to be seen); Lisa did her best for them, but although
all survived the neonatal period, two died a few months later.
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| Plastering under way |
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| Verandah base under construction |
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| Plastering Done |
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The dining hall/kitchen rapidly took on a new character: in
addition to fulfilling its primary function, it rapidly became a
meeting hall for the local community, a youth centre, and community workshop all
in one.
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In the days of waiting for customs clearance EDA came to appreciate the better
that "Arise and Shine" was not only an orphanage but a true focus of the
community - doing its best on limited means to provide food or supplement the
meagre diet ( maize flour "Ugali" alone) on which most of the widows
survived; helping them to earn small amounts of money; caring for them in the
event of their becoming too weak to fend for themselves; and providing a hospice
for the dying.
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| Aid worker and 1 small client |
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| Aid worker and lots of clients |
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| Grandmother and child |
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| a widow and disabled child |
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| Widow's House |
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| Widows group at Work |
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July 2009 - Stephanie Wolfe Murray |
| Volunteers: | Stephanie - with EDA on and off since Kosovo days |
| Tasks: |
- Get the container out of the clutches of the Customs
- get it delivered to site and the goods distributed
- mobilise Unicef, other NGO's to support the Community
- anything else
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Stephanie
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August 2009 - Nancy, founder of the orphanage |
| Volunteers: | Nancy |
Tasks:
- finalise deals with customs and Kenya Ports
- get the container to the site
- deliver and distribute the goods
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Maggie
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November 2009 - Maggie Tookey |
| Volunteers: | Maggie Tookey bringing a full experience of container conversion, NGO interaction etc from
Kashmir and other places |
| Task: |
- convert the container
- mobilise Unicef, other NGO's to support the Community
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Maggie
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February 2010 - Maggie Tookey |
| Volunteers: | Maggie Tookey |
| Task: | Follow up with NGO's etc
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Maggie
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Outside the orphanage - handsome visitor
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Inside the orphanage - handsome inhabitants
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