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NOTES FROM KENYA |
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Tonight, a chance to create clean drinking water for Kunya Village
posted 11/27/2007 "Young children will be relieved of duties and will have more study time," he said. Girls won't be risking their lives and health by going to the lake to get water. Crocodiles were a danger there. Girls also ran the risk of being raped by fishermen traveling through the area. Often the fishermen were infected with AIDS. Ratang has been visiting Friday Harbor for six weeks at the invitation of Joanruth Baumann and Dick Coffey. The couple traveled to Kenya earlier this year with Village Volunteers. Mama na Dada (Swahili for Mother and sister) is a small, local organization of community leaders. They decided on the priority of community needs with the water project being the top priority. Baumann said, "People frequently ask us if we are affiliated with a church or religion and we are not. The people who have worked on this project, and others who volunteer through Village Volunteers and Mama na Dada, represent many beliefs – and unbelief. People work with us because they want to help their fellow beings have basic health and opportunities to live. The rules of our two organizations, that each volunteer must sign to work in Kunya, expressly forbid any missionary work, proselytizing or other expressions of volunteer’s religious beliefs. Everyone in Kunya already has his or her dearly held own beliefs." There was an overflow crowd at the first fundraiser held in Friday Harbor Nov. 9. This second fundraiser Nov. 27 will feature a presentation by Ratang. He'll be leaving the island on Wednesday. On his way back to Kenya, he'll spend a few days in Seattle where he'll speak at the University of Washington. Another chance to help African Village Nov. 27
An effort is underway for Friday Harbor to assist another waterfront fishing town in the world that is less fortunate than ours. As a follow-on to their work in Kunya Village this year, Joanruth Baumann and Dick Coffey are attempting to help the community solve an enormous health problem - the lack of any clean drinking water. A second fundraiser will be held at 6 p.m. at San Juan Island Grange Hall on 1st Street in Friday Harbor. Tickets are $15 at the door. Coffee and cookies will be served. This area of southwestern Kenya, on the shores of Lake Victoria, has received little aid or assistance from outside, even though area residents have the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world - about 40%. For this community of 5,000 people, the only water available needs to be scooped from the lake in buckets and carried miles home each day. The water is heavily contaminated with sewage, cholera, typhoid and parasites. Half of the population affected is children. This community is a prime candidate for assistance for three reasons:
Community educator Daniel Rateng, from the Kunya village organization "Mama na Dada" will make a presentation. This is Daniel’s first visit outside Kenya. During November, Daniel has been speaking at schools and various organizations in our community. For questions about Daniel’s visit or the water purification project, please call Joanruth and Dick at 378-6362. Further Notes from Kenya: Mama na Dada Comes To Friday Harbor
posted 11/01/2007 Daniel works with Mama na Dada*, a Kenyan organization that helps members of its communities to organize themselves to identify and find ways to solve pressing community problems. They have designed a system to treat, store, and distribute water for Kunya; they need money to complete the construction of the system. The goal of the local group is to raise that money. The need for clean water in Kunya is serious. Kunya is a farming and fishing village on the shore of Lake Victoria, and although the lake water is contaminated with parasites and diseases such as cholera and typhoid, residents have only that water to use, usually without treatment. Since about half of the population of the area is children, and since nearly half of the residents of the area have compromised immune systems, diseases introduced from the water kill hundreds each year. The story of Daniel’s life is an inspiring one. Now 29 years old, he was born into a poor family and left motherless as a child; nonetheless, he overcame considerable cultural and financial odds to obtain his education, earning a college degree in social work. He directs Mama na Dada's Stay Alive One-Stop Youth Center in Nairobi and also works with their programs in Kunya, where they have organized the community to build a health clinic, secondary school, and day-care center, all of which are now operating with local volunteers. Daniel teaches about HIV and AIDS and counsels those with the diseases on how to extend their lives. He also directs projects helping farmers to find ways to grow higher yields of more nutritious crops; hunger and malnutrition can be deadly for anyone but especially so for children and those with HIV or AIDS. Daniel consistently puts his community's needs ahead of his own. He often works for little or no pay; Mama na Dada is a small, local organization always with uncertain funding. This trip to Friday Harbor fulfills a life's dream for him and, aside from a recent brief trip within Africa, marks his first time away from Kenya. So Friday Harbor is providing his introduction to the western world and the United States. For further information about Daniel, the water project, or various medical, water, and other special-interest-group lunches planned, please call Joanruth Baumann at 378-6362. (*"Mama na Dada" is Swahili for "Mother and Sister.") Further Notes from Kenya -Friday Harbor residents launch campaign to provide clean water for Remote Villageposted 10/18/2007
This area of southwestern Kenya, on the shores of Lake Victoria, has received little aid or assistance from outside, even though area residents have the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world - about 40 percent. For this community of 5,000 people, the only water available needs to be scooped from the lake in buckets and carried miles home each day. The water is heavily contaminated with sewage, cholera, typhoid and parasites. Half of the population affected is children. This community is a prime candidate for assistance for three reasons:
Joanruth, Dick and a community group are planning an African evening and fundraiser November 9th at the Mullis Center in hopes of raising the $40,000 required to install the water purification and distribution system. For this event, they are bringing community educator Daniel Rateng, from the Kunya village organization “Mama na Dada”. This will be Daniel’s first visit outside Kenya. During November, Daniel will be speaking at schools and various organizations in our community. For questions about Daniel’s visit or the water purification project, please call Joanruth and Dick at 360.378.6362. |
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