Moving on from the Village

Hi, this is Gavin's Mom, Gail here.
We have now left the village and have a real mixture of feelings. Let me start by focusing on all the positive things that we have accomplished:
1. Played games and sang songs with the children every night, and on the last day we led them in singing in church - the joy of the congregation crossed all language barriers - they loved it!
2. Blair taught guitar to our friend Fred every evening, as well as others from the village too. We have left them with two guitars to continue with this.
3. Blair painted wonderful murals in the clinic, orphanage and the guest house - he has really left his mark on the village.
4. Gail had fun selling baskets at Sondu market with the women in the village, and is returning to Canada to try set up a trade partnership with Ten Thousand Villages.
5. With money that was donated, we built a hut for the women to keep their corn in, and celebrated with them when it was finished.
6. Gail worked with the young girls (age 12 to 16) in workshops on empowerment, and took them on a field trip to the Impala Sanctuary.
7. Gail story told in four local schools, with help from Gavin, and co-ordinated a storytelling festival at the local high school. It was great to see the children grow in confidence.
8. We counseled our friend Fred, and paid for him to enroll in a 48 week computer course.
9. We sponsored a young girl (Ida) at high school.
10. We supervised and paid for the repair of the chicken coop.
11. We worked at the rehabilitation centre for children with special needs.
12. We led the children in an environmental clean up ,and taught them about the importance of conserving and the environment.
13. Bought many books to equip the library.

It has, however, also been VERY difficult to work through the web of deception and corruption which seem cultural. In a country where it is common practice to bribe the police officers, it is no wonder that honesty and integrity are sometimes lost. We were told that our donated money had bought things, only to find out that other donors had been told the same thing. Or asked for money to buy things e.g. mattresses, and then watch as the new mattresses slowly disappeared - maybe sold, or who knows! The worst was when we found out that we had been given forged receipts, and that 82,000.00 KES is unaccounted for! It sometimes feels that the Ligusa Centre have made poverty into a business, where the family and the community centre are so interwoven, and where there are no clear boundaries. This should perhaps be a warning to anyone who may want to help in a developing country.

Sadly the negative experiences have marred our stay at the village. Although we will miss the children, we are not sad to leave. It is time for us now to move onto our next leg of our journey - Safari!