Not enough NGO (Non Profit Organizations) offer their donors field trips to the areas of their donations. Many years ago, I visited Vietnam with World Vision, an NGO, and the experience has stayed with me even when the specifics faded over time. Back then, Vietnam was very different from Vietnam today. I still remember the hardworking and the energetic Vietnamese I encountered in the market. I had the strong impression these hardworking people would be rewarded. Back then, Vietnam was so poor, that many children did not have shoes.That parting scene where there were so many kids running along the rough dike, poorly dressed, barefeet, waving hands but so poor. It is wonderful to see the economic progress in Vietnam over the last few decades. With a stable government and peaceful years, hardworking people can make a better living on their own.
This February, I joined another NGO, Global Give Back Circle, to visit Kenya for ten days. In the short span, my spouse, my daughter and I visited three schools for different female groups. We also spent two and half days in Amboseli National Park for the Safari.
It was our first time visiting Africa. The NGO has given us pre-trip health tips, and we took it seriously. We went to the county travel health clinic to get the shots and medications needed. Other than the proactive anti-Malaria pill that we needed to take days before, and another 7 days after the trip, we did not need to use any of the other med.
The hotel is a comfortable one with beautiful settings, a pool, a spa, and a couple of restaurants. Often staying inside a hotel does not tell much about the city of Nairobi. Because of China’s One-Belt-One-Road initiative, I anticipated running into more Chinese. In the area we stayed/visited, we hardly found any.
Africa is not a continent where we do self-guided tours, at least not yet. Throughout the stay, we feel pretty comfortable with the people but not to the point of walking on the streets on our own. Going to an ATM to get local currency is a trip — the hotel driver took us there, he stayed in the car, and then drove us back during the day time. We took Uber/Lyft to get to the National Museum and Gallery point to point. The Nairobi National Museum, the room with thousands of bird species exhibit, the room that charts the homo erectus species. If you ever visit Nairobi, the museum is a must-visit and worth at least half a day if not a whole day.
Meeting with my mentee
For many NGO, we provided financial support but hardly saw the beneficiary in the flesh. The first evening of the trip, I met with my mentee, a Kenyan girl whose college education I have supported. GGBC (Global Give Back Circle) gave us a lot of time together, as well as a group dinner for the girls and the families to network with each other. It is a neat set up.
The Girls’ Boarding school inside the biggest slum in Africa, Nairobi 出於泥而不染
The Kibera Girls Soccer Academy (KGSA) is not exactly a soccer academy. It is a boarding school for girls, well run and highly regarded. Located in Nairobi, Kibera is among the biggest slums in Africa, housing over millions of people living in conditions that we may not even walk around nor stay in one night. As the driver drove us through a small part of the slum, we experienced the dire living conditions, the suffocating space, the smell, the trash, and we also saw the many small businesses, the crowded and busy vibes. In the middle of it, there stood the KGSA for the girls. The KGSA is such a bearer of good and hope that we were told that all the people in the slum love the school.
We walked into the school hall, with the school staff and the hundreds of high-school girls welcoming us, followed by a school overview, the student speeches, and the dancing (and we joined the dance too). During lunch, we joined a table of girls for conversations. Some were a bit shy, and after the bold ones started asking us questions, they all joined. These girls woke up before six every morning, and had a full day of school and activities for them in this boarding school. They are energetic, happy, confident and capable and they are hardworking. They are the very lucky ones to be accepted in this school. Education gives them the opportunities to shine and create a better future. After lunch, we visited their dorms where the girls keep it clean and tidy. We visited the different clubs — the tailor club, the computer club and a few others. I particularly remember the computer club, the serendipitous Q&A with the girls, who asked me about cybersecurity, the language to learn, the ChatGPT, the barriers and challenges of working in Google and how Google Translate works. I answered as best as I could and drew an analogy to soccer or things that the girls are familiar with. If not for the tight schedule, the Q&A would likely go on for another hour or more.
In Kenya, many girls cannot afford school. These girls, I talked to, are considered the top group to earn an education. Girls in America and many other parts of the world often take the K-12 education for granted.
At the sportgrounds on the top of the school building, we had a view of the slum and its scale. It was a sad scene. The principal invited us to visit again and stayed in the slum for a night, a hard challenge to accept.
Next: HER Lab Visits
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