ACTION THIS DAY

The first step for ACTION THIS DAY is to register to operate as an NGO here in Kenya. I am still a tourist and therefore cannot operate legally until I can apply to work for the NGO. We sent the papers off to Nairobi as there are no offices here in Mombasa. After reviewing them the NGO Council required a minor change to the stated purpose of the organisation. It amounted to a handful of words and I assumed we would deal with it over the phone or via email. No, you must come to Nairobi they tell me. An overnight bus trip and a struggle to
locate the offices found me eventually talking to one of the legal people there. They advised on the word changes and said “Go back to Mombasa, fix this, and then return”. They were serious. I extracted my laptop from my backpack and said I am doing this here and now. After much protestation from said legal eagle, I sat to one side whilst they saw other clients, I typed the change, they gave it the thumbs up and then the rest of the day was spent finding a place to print out the new copy, waiting for the government offices to open after lunch, and finally submitting the altered papers. Next week we get a phone call. They need to change one word. I need to go to Nairobi to do it… and so it goes on.

We will play this game with them but in the meantime I am going to start up a Community Based Organisation (CBO) through which I can change my visa status and begin operating here. The CBO is able to be processed here in Mombasa and has limited scope but enough for what we require. It only needs ten members from the local community (effectively the Parent / Teacher association we would have started at the school) and the approval of the Chief and Social Services Office in Mombasa. Hopefully in two weeks we will be up and running.

Apart from the above, my time so far has been spent finding somewhere to live and settling in. Meeting lots of people who may or may not be of assistance going forward, visiting the children in Bamburi, and also visiting as many existing projects as I can to make contacts, gain exposure to people who are established here and find out what works and what makes it harder.

It was on a visit to one of these projects that I met Mary.

Ignorance Kills
I was walking through a village, a slum. No water, no power, no sanitation. The locals were kind enough to allow me into their houses. Mud walls, one room, a single dirty, rotting mattress, a mother and seven children, a plague of flies inside the house. The same scene repeated everywhere I went. This is all they know and all they may ever know. A team of medical people were driving out of the village as I arrived and I asked my host what was going on. Cholera outbreak, they said. They lost one child from the school two days earlier and the parents are still in hospital.

At one house my host wanted me to meet a little girl called Mary. Her mother led Mary out of the house and as I knelt down to meet her at eye level, there was little to suggest she was alive apart from the fact she was standing upright and the slight increase in the pressure on my hand as I took hers. Mary made no sound and I could see no recognition in her eyes, just an empty stare. Her skin hung so loosely it seemed to be falling off her bones and you could tell her hair was dying. She was suffering a bad rash all over her body. I guessed she was around three years old. Seven, said her mother. Mary already looked like death to me and I can’t explain how completely useless I felt at not being able to do anything to help her. I’m not a doctor and have no ability to diagnose an illness, but I really thought she would probably die soon.

I left that place deeply affected by my visit, but mostly just feeling sad for Mary. I could not imagine how she must have been feeling herself.

The parents in the slums have no idea about what medical help may be available at the public hospital (there is only one here in Mombasa, the rest are private and well out of the financial reach of the majority of the population). At home that night I pondered the name of our charity and decided to take a nurse I know here to visit Mary. Severe malnutrition was the diagnosis. Mary had been to the hospital and the mother was in possession of a report that indicated Mary needed to be put immediately on a nutrition program at the hospital.

The mother did not know this, can’t read, didn’t understand when told (if told) at the hospital. Ignorance kills.

Thankfully I had access to someone who cared enough to accompany me to the village to check on Mary. We went and bought some milk, porridge and sugar; some medicine as advised by the nurse. We instructed the mother, and an accompanying teacher from the village, on how to administer the food and drugs and what to do about the nutrition clinic. I will check on Mary again later this week. There was also a mother in the village whose child is suffering from cerebral palsy. The boy was seven. The mother didn’t even know there was a charitable hospital less than a few miles away where her son could gain access to the sort of specialized care he required. Seven years just suffering in a village where no-one understood or questioned his problem.

Small Beginnings
I have also been working on a small school and orphanage project that we want to start with whilst we wait for the NGO registration and the land purchase. I have been seeking individual sponsorships and have a house, children and teachers all ready to begin. It needs to be run under the umbrella of some form of organisation so I will use the CBO I mentioned earlier populated by members from within the Bamburi community. We have been meeting various interested parties during the past week and should be ready to submit the forms next week.

Land Ahoy!
A large part of my time thus far has been spent looking for a suitable plot of land upon which to develop our project. I think I have now visited every inch of vacant ground there is in and around Bamburi. I have a slight problem though, well, it’s a rather large one as it happens and it involves pirates. Yes, think Captain Jack Sparrow and that’s the kind I am talking about (maybe not so much rum).

When I was in Mombasa in 2008 I had a decent idea about the price of land and what to expect. In the year following there has been an increasing number of Somali’s investing in land in Nairobi and Mombasa. In fact it’s a bit like a plague if you believe the locals. Guess where they got their money from? Ever wondered what the pirates do with their ill gotten gains? Well, I can tell you. They’ve pushed up the prices of land in the area by three and local land owners are rejoicing. The locals who hoped one day to own a plot big enough to build their
own home upon are not.

We are currently in negotiations over a plot that I feel is ideal, in fact we have agreement on favourable terms. I just need to do some sums and seek advice from our board on whether to proceed. I shall keep you informed.