Even though I know I will view my experience in Kenya in different and new ways as time goes on, as is the case with all significant events in our lives, the major theme I want to share in this final blog post will not change. It is not an emotion I feel or an idea I have come up with, but rather a fact that I learned and think is important to share with the world.

Contrary to media depictions of the African continent, Kenya is full of hope and possibilities. TV, movies and the news would have us think otherwise, and while I knew that the media portrayal of Africa was way off, I had no idea just how wrong it was until I spent time in Kenya, interacting with Kenyans and getting an insiders’ view on so many issues.

What made me get so heated up on this issue was a woman I encountered on one of my first days back home in the US. She told me assertively that the US should not give aid to “Africa” anymore since they just waste it away and aren’t doing anything to help themselves. I didn’t know how to begin my response to a person who so wholeheartedly believed in what she was saying even though she had no idea what she was talking about.

After working with young people who are used to living on about $7 a day take a 20% pay cut in order to volunteer, I was able to see passion for improving negative situations I have never before witnessed. After meeting youth in Kibera who have self-organized into youth groups in order to clean their environment and seek peace after the post-election violence, I saw a young generation committed to change and a better future. And after working with youth who are so thirsty to learn about things like photography and blogging to take action on important issues, I saw such a desire to improve their lives that I have only rarely seen in the US.

But when I came home, I saw images of pirates hijacking ships, cholera outbreaks, and news stories about the aid we give and how it is squandered to corrupt politicians. No wonder the woman said what she did. I am not denying that these things happen, because of course they are real, however, they are not what I would say characterize Kenya or other countries often lumped together as one entity named Africa. The problems are only half the story. No one seems to talk about the other half that tells of people working to fix the problems by forming self-help groups, cleaning up the environment on their own, and being savvy entrepreneurs eager for any opportunity that comes their way.

I am not sure why this depiction of the African continent is so prevalent, and why it continues to be even though it is so incomplete. But I do know that due to this portrayal, many people in this country have such a distorted and negative view, seeing African countries as backwards, hopeless places. The situation is not hopeless like the TV would make you think. But still, some people comfortably give up on the continent, without a second thought, due to what they know from the television.

If only everyone here in the US could have experienced the passion, the drive and the goodwill of ordinary Kenyans, then perhaps they would feel the same optimism and see the same potential that I do for the country. Reaching their goals has been a struggle not because they aren’t doing anything or that the situation is hopeless, but rather due to barriers they face like disease, poverty and lack of opportunity, which are making their very ambitious efforts to improve their society have an effect smaller than what one would expect. Giving up would be like saying that these barriers are insurmountable, that we have done everything in our power to overcome them but have failed.

In fact, we can and should do so much more to support our African brothers and sisters in their mission to improve their societies. While I know Kenyans could overcome their problems themselves, with support they could do so much faster. There is no excuse to watch a struggle from afar when we can give the help that has been requested of us. We can lend a hand, give monetary support to grassroots organizations, urge the US government to pass “Africa” friendly legislation, or do anything that backs up what Kenyans are trying to do themselves to deconstruct the barriers and improve their society. Once the barriers begin to disappear, the true spirit of Kenya will be able to shine through, outshining the negative images that have dominated our psyches for so long and allowing the world to see clearly and fully how great Kenya can become.

As you would expect, Kenyans have had Obama fever over the last few weeks. Their temperature peaked yesterday when their pride swelled on the news of his victory, so overcoming them that President Kibaki named today Obama Day, effectively closing all businesses to celebrate what their son has accomplished.

Some Kenyans stayed up all night on Tuesday to hear the first results. Me, on the other hand, just set my alarm for 4 a.m. so I could start to watch the results come in once the polls closed at home. Sitting on the couch, completely glued to CNN, the results started showing that Obama was in the lead. Hours passed and he when he started winning major states, my excitement grew and grew. Then at 7 a.m. (11 p.m. Eastern), the California polls closed and CNN declared Obama the winner!

The local channels immediately went to images of Kenyans dancing in Kogelo village (where Obama traces his heritage) where their excitement matched that of the crowds at home. The rest of the day Obama was the only acceptable topic of conversation. When I arrived at the USK office, I heard Obama’s victory speech being replayed over the radio, I saw employees looking at the state-by-state results and felt the happiness and pride that infiltrated every Kenyan that morning.

Obviously, this man has not only injected hope in Americans, but into Kenyans too. What he has inspired is not just excitement and pride, but the true belief that everyone has the chance to make it in life, no matter where you start from. The American Dream is just as alive here in Kenya as it is at home and Obama is the one that has made that happen.

However, this hadn’t always been the case. When I first got here in May, the common sentiment I felt from Kenyans was that life is hard and that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to move up past what you were born into. But on Wednesday morning, the attitude shifted. Thanks to Obama and the Americans who voted for him, now the feeling is that everything and anything is possible for anyone, even ordinary Kenyans. This new found hope and optimistic vision for the future is exactly the kind of thing Kenyans need to improve their lives and their society.

For this reason, and so many others, I am so proud to have such an inspiring man as our 44th president. He has already changed so much and I can’t wait to see what else he can do in the next four to eight years. Happy Obama Day everyone!

On October 19, USK lost two more Street Association members, John Kamau and Njoroge, from the Globe Roundabout Association. They were both shot to death by police, incorrectly accused of being part of the Mungiki sect. Martin Ndung'u, one of the Digital Storytelling Project facilitators, was friends with both of these young men and just wrote a blog about his loss and the injustice of it.

Two months ago, I wrote of two other association members being killed unjustly, one being shot by security guards and the other being hacked to death by a mob. But the death of John and Njoroge has hit me harder as I had met these two young men before and because Martin was friends with them. The Globe Roundabout Association was the first association I visited when I came to Nairobi and I remember John was very interested in being part of the Digital Storytelling Project, but due to his age (he was 23), he was too old to be involved. Njoroge attended the Youth Forum held by USK on October 15 and played the role of a boy being harassed by the police in a skit meant to curb police harassment. Just four days later he was murdered. The injustice he was trying to end took his life and his friend's, but at least his cause will live on through youth like Martin who are learning to stand up against these atrocities.

The seats slowly began to fill up as 9am approached. Soon, we found ourselves asking for more chairs and setting them up around the sides of the room to accommodate the 70 guests, 40 more than what was expected. Representatives from leading NGOs, government departments, the media and members of USK Street Associations were filling up the room to help validate the findings from USK’s study on inhalant abuse amongst children and youth on the streets of Nairobi, a hot topic judging by the turnout.

Seeing children sniffing glue and other inhalants out in the open is not a rare sight. Everyone knows that poor children and youth abuse these substances, but no one knows definitively why they do it, how many do it, or the exact effects of the abuse on Kenyan youth. This is why USK commissioned a study to learn more about the problem so they, with others, can work to end inhalant abuse among its key target group.

Photo by Patrick Mwema, a Digital Storytelling participant.

The part of the study that I found most interesting were the findings concerning what the children and youth interviewed wanted in terms of help. They do not want drug rehabilitation, but rather they want skills or money to start a business. The lead researcher shared with us that some of the youth stated that conditions in rehabilitation institutions are terrible, some even saying that the food is so bad there that they eat better on the street. Abuse in the institutions was also an issue. Therefore, they would rather stay on the streets and start a business than be taken to an institution and face worse conditions than they currently do. That is why the report suggests reforming such institutions or moving away from the institutional approach to drug rehabilitation to address this issue.

Another interesting aspect of the study was the part about legislation concerning inhalants. There is a three-year prison sentence for selling an inhalant to a child knowing or suspecting that he or she will use it in an improper way, but the problem is that this law is not currently enforced. Also, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act No. 4 of 1994 may apply to glue and other inhalants, but the language of the Act makes it very hard for a common person to know if glue is included. The report recommends clearing up such confusion as glue abuse has serious consequences and thus selling it to children should have the stiffer penalties outlined in the Act.

The report has not yet been made public as it is still in draft form, but once it is out, I guarantee that it will make an interesting read since the topic is so complex and dire. I’ve seen how serious glue abuse is by seeing young children stumbling around the town in a state that I can only describe as depressed alcoholism. I’ve seen how hard it is for some of my students who used to sniff glue for years on the street to retain information in the classroom. So I hope this report, once released, will help stakeholders not only in Kenya, but all over the world, end inhalant abuse amongst youth on the streets and help those currently addicted break their dangerous habit that is eating away at our next generation.

During last Saturday’s workshop, I was sitting on the stack of chairs pushed to the side of the room relaxing. This was really odd, since normally during a workshop, especially one that takes place at the computer lab, I would be pulled in every direction, trying to answer the 10 questions that are hurtled at me at each second.

Teaching people how to blog and post photos to the web is not as easy as you might think. Finding the address bar of Internet Explorer was sometimes a five-minute task, so just imagine how long it used to take my students to simply sign into their blog. The first sessions were sometimes painful, but also so rewarding once I saw the students beginning to remember how to do things without me having to give any hints. The questions began to reduce in number and soon, other students began stepping in to answer those that remained.

Some students have made so much progress that they are now taking over for me. I selected Martin and Joseph, two members of USK Street Children and Youth Associations, to work with me on a full-time basis so that I can start phasing myself out. I want my departure in November to be as seamless as possible so from 9-5, five days a week, I am emptying my brain to these two motivated young men, so they can lead the project once I am back home.

Their first test was Saturday the 20th, the first workshop since mid-August. The whole week prior, Joseph and Martin were learning the skills to be taught so that they were able to demonstrate them and answer questions from the other students. During this class, I still provided the structure, but Martin and Joseph were doing much of the teaching, with me stepping in only to make additions or clarifications. They took their role seriously and soon the other students were calling them Teacher as well. Each class since then has been an improvement, with them stepping up more and more.

Martin showing students how to make folders on the desktop to organize their photos.

As I was sitting in the background during that first session back, observing the new teachers in action, I had a smile on my face. This was not just due to a reduction in my stress level, which probably played a part, but due more to the realization that this project is starting to slip out of my hands and fall into the hands of the youth themselves. And that is exactly where it is meant to be.

My cell phone alarm wakes me up. I open my eyes and hear roosters crowing outside and the honking of a car horn that inevitably occurs around 6:45 every morning. I walk to the bathroom and turn on the shower, hoping that there is water, and if there is, that it is hot. Lately, I have been disappointed since two weeks ago, the water suddenly turned to mud, and didn’t turn back – resulting in the shower head getting all sorts of messed up, and me covered in dirt. Since then, I have to get out the big pot and heat up some water on the stove so I can bathe myself out of a bucket.

Clean, but not refreshed, I leave the house to walk to work. Along the way, I will usually encounter a couple school buses (more like vans), blaring rap music and full of wide-eyed children staring, pointing and laughing at the muzungu ("white person"). I’ll continue walking along the half-paved road that looks like it was a victim of a meteor shower the previous night, while the owners of kiosks will stare at me with a guarded curiosity that hasn’t faded after four months of walking past them day and night.

After crossing the busy highway, which involves impeccable timing and agility to avoid getting hit, and saying no to several offers of taxis from drivers who I am pretty sure I say no to every morning, I arrive at the building where the USK office is.

I pass the guard with the shotgun and press the button to go up the elevator. I stand there wishing that no one who works on the 4th floor enters with me, but surely they often do. If it is a good day, I will make it to the 5th floor with no incident, but on more than one occasion, we will reach the 4th floor and the doors of the elevator will refuse to open. After being trapped in the elevator for about a minute, we will be able to force the doors open with some teamwork and I will exit to walk the flight of steps to the 5th floor.

A day at the office usually goes without incident, unless, of course, you count co-workers trying to convince me to find a Kenyan man to marry, sometimes even bringing bachelors to my desk to awkwardly introduce us.

If I leave the office after dark, I have to walk to the corner to find a taxi home. Usually, the drivers will start their price around double or triple the "African" price, but after a little drama, including walking away and forcing the driver to yell after me, I can get it down to a reasonable level, but never what a Kenyan would pay.

Returning home after a long day, I wash the dirt of the city off not just my face, but my hands and feet as well. I’ll cook some dinner and relax before heading off to bed, where I lie listening to the loud croaks of some frog-like animal that likes to use my windowsill as his soapbox every night. I will sink deep into my foam mattress and drift off to sleep, dreaming of a steady water supply, sane drivers, and the events of another day that make life in Nairobi anything but normal.

The silence on my blog over the past month has been due to a two-week vacation taking me on a safari, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and relaxing on the beaches of Zanzibar. While this trip has helped me unwind and come back to USK refreshed and ready for the extension of my fellowship, it also reminded me that what I am working for here in Nairobi is not city, country or region specific – but rather a worldwide issue.

In Tanzania, I saw mothers begging on the streets of Arusha with their babies lying silently in their arms. I saw boys sleeping on the sidewalks with nothing sheltering them from the elements except their threadbare clothing. Seeing them not only reminded me of what I have seen in Nairobi, but also what my eyes have witnessed in Peru and what is going on unseen by me in countries all over the world.

Kenya is ranked number 148 on the Human Development Index, out of 177 countries. This puts my host country ahead of 29 others, such as Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the majority of other African nations. Not far from Kenya on the rankings are India, Haiti and Yemen, showing poverty of the scale I have seen is a worldwide phenomenon, not an Africa-specific problem. Even in fairly high-ranking countries such as Brazil (number 70), there are estimates that place the number of children living or working on the streets as high as eight million. Even in the US (number 12), there were one million children on the streets in 1996. This does not even touch on the much larger numbers of people living in extreme poverty, which is estimated to be approximately one billion people worldwide.

Thinking on such a worldwide scale has been discouraging and uplifting all at the same time. It has caused me to ponder the enormity of what I am working to end, but also made me appreciate the magnitude of what I am teaching my students to do. While they are writing about and photographing issues affecting their lives here in Kenya, they are in fact advocating on behalf of the poor and marginalized everywhere.

Empowering these 17 students to speak up about their situation is like handing a megaphone to the poor, a group that is usually spoken on behalf of, but not heard from directly. It is easy to ignore me when I relay a story about a young child I have met or a young mother who is having a hard time, but when they tell you their stories for themselves, it takes much more to dismiss. I view this as a first step in creating the worldwide unity that is required to end their suffering – something that makes me optimistic that humanity will be able to defeat the extreme poverty that affects our brothers and sisters in every country of this world.

"What would you think if your son or your friend told you that the place that you live is a dump? I know you would feel very bad and you would start asking yourself many things that you did not want to come to your mind. Please clean our environment please," writes Elvis in his blog.

Joseph's picture of the living conditions in an informal settlement.

Environmental degradation is one of the most popular blog and photograph topics amongst my students. However, they aren’t writing about global warming, ice caps melting or El Nino. They are writing about smaller scale environmental problems that affect their lives in much bigger ways.

As Dominic writes, "Many people live in places that are unfit for human habitation. The sources of rivers passing through Nairobi are very clean but when they approach the city, they become dirty because a lot trash is dumped into them. In addition, the drainage system is channeled towards the rivers, adding to the dirtiness of the water."

Since all of my students have experience living on the streets or in the informal settlements, they know quite a bit about the need for a clean environment. They have seen babies die of cholera due to dirty water, they have seen older children playing in and around sewage and have lived next to makeshift dumpsites that serve as breeding grounds for malaria and other diseases. If you are rich enough, you can afford to live in the clean suburbs with sanitation systems, but for the poor, Nairobi is very dirty city.

A picture by Elvis of a child playing around dirty water.

Joseph pleads for the government to do something about the dirty environment in Nairobi and urges common people to do their part as well. The government can build and maintain more public toilets, construct more waste bins and improve trash collection services so people are not forced to dump their trash on the sidewalk and burn it once the pile gets too big. Common people can hold on to their trash until they come across a waste bin, pledge to use only designated areas as toilets and create neighborhood clean-up groups.

The students have shown that the need for a clean environment is there and they are fighting for something to be done about it. So let’s fight with them. Together, Nairobi, and other cities around the world, can be clean for everyone, including the poor.

In the past week, two members of USK Street Children and Youth Associations have been killed in Nairobi. David Kimemia was shot dead by security guards because they mistakenly thought he was responsible for a robbery since he was running away from a large commotion. In reality, he was awoken by the chaos and due to his surprise, started running. Just a few days before that, Stephen Kimanzi was hacked to death by Maasai, accused too of stealing, when in fact all he was doing was going to buy medicine.

During all this violence, I have been reading a report called State of the World’s Street Children: Violence. It is a report by the Consortium for Street Children that focuses on violence as one of the issues affecting the lives of children, something that often drives them to the streets and affects their lives there.

The definition of violence used in the report is broad, including more than just physical violence. It also includes sexual and psychological abuse, as well as neglect.

The argument that the report builds off of is that poverty does not adequately explain why kids turn to the streets. For instance, here in Kenya, poverty is everywhere, yet not all poor children leave home. This report argues that it is usually a combination of factors that pushes a kid to the streets – a powerful one being violence in the home.

However, this does not go to say that poverty, violence, and other factors affecting a child’s decision to leave home are unrelated. For instance, when a family is already poor, they are more vulnerable to violence, even more so when the poor family lives in a very unequal society. The poverty and inequality “exacerbate stress on already vulnerable families,” thus making them more prone to violence and abuse.

What is unfortunate is that while some kids go to the streets to escape from violence at home, they are just entering into a zone of even more violence. For instance, as Peter, a participant in the Digital Storytelling Project, writes,

“For instance, one day as we relaxed near a shamble kiosk at around eight o’clock, we saw a vehicle driven towards where we were. We did not imagine they were our guests until the vehicle parked just next to us. To our surprise, we were given matching orders to all get into the vehicle. We found ourselves at the police station. To add insult to injury, we were charged with belonging to the outlawed ‘Mungiki’ group. We were remanded for five months then later released.”

As in this case and in the one of the boy who was shot, law enforcers (police and city council askaris) in Kenya are large perpetrators of violence and abuse against those living and working on the streets. Negative stereotypes and a disregard for children’s rights often result in beatings, threats, unwarranted arrest, rape and even murder, all by those who are hired to protect us.

On top of that, those on the streets even perpetuate violence among each other. A few months ago, USK interviewed many members of its Associations and one thing that surfaced from the responses was that many kids are forced to move around often in order to escape from the “big boys” (older kids) that abuse and threaten the smaller children. Also, groups of kids on the streets can be enemies of other groups – an unstable dynamic that I have seen played out when visiting the base of one of my students.

So unfortunately, even if a child is able to escape from violence at home, in a poor society, often his or her only option is to accept the violence of the streets instead. This perpetuates a life long exposure to violence, undermining the psychological and physical health of our world’s children.

Amina, a Digital Storytelling Project participant, took these photographs to depict violence between a mother and daughter, and the consequence – the child leaving home and exposing herself to the violence of the streets.

The report recommends that in order to reduce violence on the streets, strong support networks must be formed. Thankfully, USK is doing just that with their Street Children and Youth Associations. What is more is that USK does not just group the members together and have them exist in isolation, but rather encourages interaction between Associations through meetings, trainings, focus group discussions and sports activities such as soccer matches.

Although the Association model may not completely reduce violence from other sources, reducing violence amongst even some children on the streets is a positive step. Of course, more must be done, such as ending society’s acceptance of violence in the home, raising awareness of children’s rights amongst the law enforcers, and mitigating poverty to reduce vulnerability to violence and abuse. USK is working towards all these goals by enhancing children’s rights, working with police departments and the city council to end the unwarranted abuse, as well as providing education and training opportunities to young people so they can escape from the trap of poverty.

However, USK is just one organization in one country helping only a fraction of the affected. Violence, and the associated poverty and stereotypes, must be curbed on a worldwide scale by a collection of people and groups to ensure that our children are not exposed to and able to escape from violence. I don’t want to see one of my students, one of their friends, or any young person be the next victim of this injustice.

In my blogs, I have been referring to my students as “poor and marginalized children and youth” but after spending the majority of my days with them, their lack of wealth is not what defines them to me anymore. I have even found myself forgetting that they are poor several times.

But it is true, my students are poor. They live on the streets or in very impoverished areas like Kibera or Mathare. They are the ones collecting recyclables on the sides of the streets, selling sweets, eggs and other small goods and the ones who are too poor to afford the costs associated with "free" primary education, bus fare or even lunch.

However, they are also the people who hold my hand when crossing the street, share their snacks and candy with me, play with my hair, joke around with me and make sure that my bag is zipped all the way when we are out in the field.

They’ve shown me that their defining characteristics are not that they are “poor and marginalized” but rather generous, fun and caring. They are just people that don’t happen to have much money. Why should that define them?

Peter, Raphael, Joseph and Robinson having a good time.

My other experiences in Kenya would have me think the opposite – that wealth defines everything, including how we interact with each other. People see me, a white face, and assume I am rich and subsequently ask me for money, a way to get to the US, etc. Alternatively, I see poverty in the streets and feel depressed. We can continue viewing each other as richer or poorer than each other and act as if that creates a wall between us, but we don’t have to. It is possible to look past and forget wealth, or lack of wealth, and appreciate the person underneath.

I want to thank my students for not only showing me this but also giving me the chance to experience it. It is not just about helping poor kids anymore, but helping smart, funny, enthusiastic, ambitious, generous and caring people, too. Thanks to them, I am looking at my work in this new, and even more fulfilling, light and looking at the world with this sense of unity that I have never before felt.

Thanks guys.

My favorite place to have lunch is this little buffet restaurant behind the Undugu office. One afternoon I was walking back to the office, full of rice, githeri and vegetables and saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see what it was and I see a young man around my age sitting in the corner of two walls along the alley. He is covered in the ever-present dust that covers much of this city so that he blends in so well with the wall that I had to do a double take to make sure he was actually there.

He served as a real life metaphor for the fact that those living and/or working on the streets blend in too much here in Nairobi. The other morning there was another young man sitting on a bench at the bus stop with a bottle of glue hanging from his face. A nicely dressed, middle class woman was sitting right next to him and didn’t look at him, didn’t move, didn’t look upset, uncomfortable or anything. Just sat there next to him looking into the distance waiting for her matatu to arrive.

It is hard to know what she was thinking sitting next to him. Maybe she was feeling sympathy but was just unsure of how to act. Maybe she was ignoring him on purpose. Or maybe it was engrained behavior from a member of a society that is so plagued with poverty that scenes like a boy high on glue, or a boy so covered in dust that he blends in with the walls in an alleyway, are normal.

I have been told by people older and wiser than I that I have to be careful of how emotionally involved I get so that I don’t get so overcome by emotion that I start to become ineffective in my work. Keeping your distance is a defense mechanism to protect yourself and I think that is what some Kenyans have developed to the extreme so that they can cope without going through emotional breakdowns everyday. This doesn’t make them bad people, but rather people that have developed a way to shield themselves from the effects of seeing poverty everyday.

While I too have built a defense, I can still see over the wall. Disturbingly, what I have seen is that some Kenyans have built their defenses so high that they can no longer see over them. They have resigned themselves to thinking that extreme poverty is something that will always exist, something that requires the construction of a tall defense for peace of mind.

A goal of the Digital Storytelling Project is not to tear down everyone’s defense, but rather take a few bricks off the top and show that there is hope. Poverty should not be seen as a permanent condition or unsolvable problem – but rather a temporary difficulty in need of a solution. I don’t want people to lie awake at night and suffer at work because they are so emotionally distressed, but people should not sit next to a poor child at a bus stop and look as comfortable as if they were waiting for a table at a high-class restaurant. These kids have problems and need help – they don’t need people pretending that they don’t exist.

The dust has to be removed.

The participants in the blogging and photography project have all successfully posted their first blogs and photographs on the Internet!

This is a great accomplishment for my students. All but two had never used a computer before and only one had used a camera before. While they are still getting used to this new technology and simply the idea of a blog, they are learning quickly and have been able to post their writing and photographs online during class.

A total of 17 students are involved with the training. Nine were chosen from USK’s Education and Training program, which helps poor and marginalized children attain an education and gain practical vocational skills. The other eight were chosen from USK’s Street Children and Youth Associations, which are groups of children and youth living and/or working on the streets.

The workshops began with an introduction to blogging and photography, going over the basics of what makes a good blog and photo. Then we went out to take photos as a group and uploaded them from the camera to the computer and put them on a flash drive. Meanwhile, the students were writing, editing and sharing their first blogs on their own and in class. Once the pictures and first blogs were complete, we ventured to the Internet café to type the blogs, create email accounts, blogging accounts and Flickr accounts. Once the accounts were created, they posted their material online on their own pages (links to their work are below).

I encourage you all to read their blogs (including their About pages) and go to their Flickr pages to leave comments on their hard work. Ask them questions, start a discussion, or simply give them some positive remarks. The students have more work to post so continually check their blogs for new material. Also, some write in Kiswahili, but translations will be posted shortly.

Amina is 19 years old and is a student at USK’s non-formal school in Pumwani. Her first blog concerns discrimination she faced because she is Muslim.
www.aminakombo.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/aminakombo

Dominic is 20 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association. He writes about what his life is like on the streets.
www.dominicmuia.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/dominicmuia

Eliud is 18 years old and is involved with USK’s informal skills training program. He is learning mechanics. He tells his audience about Francis, a man who was killed in the post-election violence.
www.eliudkinyanjuichege.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/eliudchege

Elvis is 16 years old and is involved with USK’s informal skills training program. He is learning spray painting. His first blog is about the need for the government to clean up the slums in Nairobi.
www.elvisjamesmajani.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/elvismajani

Grivinson is 15 years old and is a student at USK’s non-formal school in Pumwani. His first blog is a picture from the internally displaced people camp in Mathare.
www.grivinsonmagomere.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/grivinsonmagomere

Harrison is 18 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association. His first blog is about his girlfriend and his second is about seeing death on the streets.
www.harrisonnjoroge.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/harrisonnjoroge

John is 18 years old and is a student at USK’s non-formal school in Pumwani. John writes his first blog about the day he will never forget - the day he learned he was going to school.
www.johnkioko.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/johnkioko

Joseph is 18 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association. The environment is the topic of Joseph's first blog.
www.josephgachira.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/josephgachira

Martin is 21 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association. He writes about how some Kenyan cultural practices are bad for curbing HIV/AIDS transmission.
www.martinndugu.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/martinndugu

Mavish is 15 years old and is involved with USK’s informal skills training program. She is learning hairdressing. She tells of a man being beaten during the post-election violence.
www.mavishjepkemboi.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/mavishjepkemboi

Nancy is 14 years old and is a student at USK’s non-formal school in Pumwani. She blogs about children living on the streets in her first post.
www.nancyanyango.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/nancyanyango

Patrick is 22 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association. His first blog post is about how he lost a friend to drugs.
www.patrickmwema.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/patrickmwema

Peter is 20 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association and is involved with USK’s informal skills training program. He is learning hairdressing. His first blog concerns police harassment and his second blog is about his and his friend's lives on the streets.
www.petermwatha.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/petermwatha

Piliphan is 14 years old and is a student at USK’s non-formal school in Pumwani. She tells her audience about her friend that died.
www.piliphankanana.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/piliphankanana

Raphael is 18 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association and is involved with USK’s informal skills training program. He is learning mechanics. His first post is a photoblog of his base (street association).
www.raphaelngugi.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/raphaelngugi

Rispar is 16 years old and is involved with USK’s informal skills training program. She is learning dressmaking. She writes of her friend that disappeared.
www.risparrusimbu.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/risparrusimbu

Robinson is 20 years old and is a member of a USK Street Association. He blogs about the respect and unity present amongst children on the streets.
www.robinsonmunene.wordpress.com
www.flickr.com/photos/robinsonmunene

If you have been following my blog, you know that a few posts ago I wrote a blog titled "Heartache" about the pain caused by meeting a 10 year old boy that lives on the streets. I met that boy the same day I met another young man, and when beginning that blog, I could not decide who broke my heart more. The 10 year old boy ultimately won, but just by an inch.

About two weeks ago, the Undugu Society interviewed 49 members of USK Street Children and Youth Associations about why they came to the streets, their lives, what they need, how the post-election violence affected them and more. Many interesting themes emerged that could each warrant a blog by me, such as malnutrition, police harassment, teen pregnancy and safety. However, the one that hit me the hardest was the issue of education.

One of the five young men that I interviewed got accepted into university but was unable to go due to a lack of money. His nickname is Obama, which is entirely appropriate. He is eloquent, intelligent, kind, and funny. 'Obama' got a scholarship to go to university, but his sponsor never paid and he was unable to attend school, leaving him no choice but to turn to the streets. When asked what his immediate needs are, he responded by saying that he needs a scholarship because he wants to continue his schooling so that he can become a lawyer. Instead of studying law, he spends his days collecting scrap metal to sell for money and eating from a dumpsite. He has so much potential, the only thing holding him back is poverty.

What’s more is that 'Obama' is not the only one wanting to go back to school. Many children and youth said during their interview that they need money for school fees so that they can continue their education. While primary school is free in Kenya, in reality, there are many costs associated with it that are out of reach of 1.8 million Kenyan children. Such costs include uniforms, shoes, supplies and books. This may seem minor, but when you are living in poverty and are struggling to feed yourself, a school uniform and thus education is not a priority.

What jarred me most when reading through the surveys was that these kids actually want to go back to school to learn. In the US, school is free (not Kenyan free, but free free) but most children would rather stay home everyday playing than go learn multiplication tables and grammar. However, when school is out of your reach, you realize the importance of it. How would you ever get a decent job without an education? How would you ever be able to read a newspaper or book without an education? Even read a menu or write a note?

American children and I assume well-off children everywhere do not realize just how lucky they are. Gaining an education is like getting a handed a ladder to escape out of poverty and a cushion to fall on in case you are sliding down towards it. It's like a game of shoots and ladders, but in this version, the fortunate children land on the ladders and are equipped with huge cushions when they come across a slide. The unfortunate children never seem to land on the ladders and just keep sliding down, lacking anything to break their fall.

Therefore, the Kenyan government has to even out this playing field. They must make the "free" primary education that they introduced in 2003 actually free and then work to make secondary and tertiary education accessible to all Kenyan youth as well. Until that day comes, I am grateful for the Non-Formal free schools that USK operates to help educate the poor and marginalized children of Nairobi who cannot afford the costs of a "free" Kenyan public school.

However, 'Obama' wants more than just a primary education. He may have landed on a few ladders in life and may have a small cushion, but they are not enough to keep him out of poverty. His lack of opportunity has caused him to live on the streets instead of in a dormitory where he belongs, waiting around to fulfill his potential that society has not yet let him realize. Until university is accessible to him, Kenya is missing out on the full benefits that an intelligent young man like him can bring to a nation – something that hurts everyone in society, not just this one unfortunate Kenyan youth.

I am sitting in the room listening to the first few paragraphs of the blogs that the boys have written and I am taken away. It is the second workshop that I have carried out with youth from USK’s Street Children and Youth Associations and I am impressed. Their first blogs cover a range of topics from police harassment, role models, and the negative consequences of drugs. While I know I am sitting in a room with eight boys who live or have lived on the streets, hearing their stories is the only thing reminding me of that fact.

While I am thrilled that the work they produce will be wonderful, it bothers me that I was impressed today. Why should I automatically assume that youth living and working on the streets will take a long time to understand blogging or struggle to write a good blog? I figured that the kids I would be teaching would be uneducated, high and generally hard to teach but as I learned today, these preconceived notions were wildly off the mark.

Participants from USK’s street associations writing the first paragraphs of their first blogs.

Of course, there are some youth living on the streets that have never been to school for a day in their lives and are high on drugs, but this does not mean that they are representative of all youth on the streets. Seeing the boys today paying attention and being excited to learn was one of those epiphany moments when you realize how naïve you were just minutes before when you did not understand the issue you thought you knew so well.

Harrison beginning his blog.

At least after today, I know that one of my project’s goals will be fulfilled – a change in public perceptions of children and youth living on the streets. People often see them as criminals, drug addicts and generally nuisances to society and evidently, I had some stereotypes buried away too. So along with the Kenyan public, government officials and the international community, I, the instructor, am in fact included in this target audience for these youth. My stereotypes have already been changed just after hearing their first paragraphs – I can’t help but imagine what the impact will be once their first paragraphs turn into first posts for the entire world to see.

Last Friday, my heart broke. All the children I have met have not been what I would qualify as "children" in the normal sense. They are at least in their mid teens, and are so hardened by the streets that they are capable of taking care of themselves. But Friday was different.

I met a ten year old boy, who was so small that he could easily pass for seven. He was dirty, wearing pants that were way too short for him and barefoot. Like most children, he seemed shy around new people, but quickly opened up and started laughing and playing like any ordinary child. However, this boy is not just like any other kid – he lives on the streets.

I have a ten year old niece at home in the US. Imagining her wandering the streets at night trying to find a warm place to sleep, waking in the morning so hungry that she picks through garbage, and being beaten and abused by older kids and the police is something so nightmarish to think about that it is hard for me to even write these sentences.

Unfortunately, while this is a nightmare scenario for my niece, it is everyday life for this young Kenyan boy. I don't know the exact story of this particular boy, but something happened in his life that made him run away from home, or be forced to leave. Perhaps he is an orphan. While whatever traumatic situation caused him to end up on the streets, the real tragedy is that in Kenya and other countries, turning to the streets is a real option for these kids.

While my niece has her moments and gets angry with her parents, running away from home is simply not one of the ways to solve the problem. Even if she were orphaned, going to live on the streets of Baltimore or any other city probably would never cross her mind. The fact that this boy and others like him turn to the streets goes to show that the kids and society at large give legitimacy to the idea that living on the streets is a possibility.

Because of this, steps need to be taken to see why kids turn to the street in the first place and then address these reasons so that the streets no longer remain an option. Friday, I interviewed five young men and the common reasons for being on the streets were poverty, disease and lack of opportunity. Taking care of these issues can greatly reduce the number of kids who end up seeing the streets as a possible improvement. It will also prevent kids from being forced on the streets against their will.

No matter what is done now, the boy I met Friday did end up on the streets. He is outside right now when it is dark and chilly while I am in a warm house writing this blog and my niece is safe, warm and fed at home. My heartache tells me that this boy will surely remain burned into my memory and heart forever, a constant reminder of the injustices of this world and the need to do something about them.

It is amazing how much you can learn about an organization in such a short time. These past two and a half weeks have been filled with meeting the what seems to be 100 USK employees, attending meetings and being taken out on field visits. How USK works is finally making sense, and I have to say, my experiences so far have left me utterly impressed.

Last week I was taken out to the field to meet some of USK’s Street Children and Youth Associations, groups of children and youth living and/or working on the streets. USK field officers work outside the office, identifying children and youth on the streets in order to help them form these associations. The goal is to help members help each other kick drugs, stop engaging in criminal activities and get their lives on the right track. Once a group is identified, USK helps them form group rules, choose a leader and register formally with the government. An innovative part of this process is the use of youth who used to be on the streets as youth facilitators to help gain the trust of others and bring them into this process of transformation and empowerment.

David, a volunteer and Bernard, a youth facilitator.

Once associations are formed, USK field officers and facilitators visit the groups on a weekly basis to make sure the groups are sustained and to deal with issues they face. For instance, in the first association I visited, there was a member complaining about his recent arrest and detainment by the police. Later, a police officer interrupted our meeting and did not care that the association showed their government issued certificate denoting that they are an official group. So at the monthly meeting of USK Children and Youth Progamme staff and volunteers, police harassment was discussed as a major issue facing street association members. Ideas were discussed to solve the problem, including talking to influential members in the police department in order to curb such harassment.

John, a street association member.

Later that day, we visited another association, this one being brand new. One of its members was a 16 year old boy who had only been on the streets for two weeks. He told the youth facilitator that he wanted to go back home so the field officer documented the boy’s information and will try to reintegrate him with his family. If it weren’t for the visits by USK field officers, facilitators, volunteers and interns, this boy may not have found help to get back home.

In addition to the street associations, I have also visited some of the non-formal schools USK runs as part of its Basic Education Program. I visited two of these schools, one in Mathare and one in Pumwani, two informal settlements in Nairobi. These schools are for children that have had no or very little formal education, therefore they teach children from a variety of difficult situations. The headmaster of the Mathare school even told me that some of the students were staying at the nearby camp for internally displaced people as a result of the post election violence.

Internally Displaced People camp.

Once students graduate from the basic education program, they choose a trade they want to pursue. USK gives students knowledge on how to choose an appropriate trade and find a trainer in the profession they choose such as hairdressing, mechanics, driving, dressmaking, etc. I visited youth at their apprenticeships in hairdressing and saw how the program works. Once a youth finds a trainer, they work alongside them to learn skills necessary to gain employment or start a business of their own. USK monitors their progress by visiting them and signing their daily reports of skills they have practiced. Also, once a week, trainees attend a theory class in their trade facilitated by experienced instructors from the informal sector. What’s more is that it is not just students from the basic education program, but members of street associations that can receive skills training as well.

So in the past few weeks I have seen how USK provides a hopeful future to Kenya’s poor and marginalized children and youth. This time has shown me that USK is amazing and even though I may have made you realize this in these few paragraphs, seeing what they do first hand has given me such an appreciation that I feel I have not been able to describe their greatness adequately in words.

I came to Kenya thinking that talk of the recent post-election violence would be everywhere and I was right. However, what I have been surprised to discover is that ethnicity, key to the violence, has been a non-issue amongst the Kenyans I have met. I was quite confused about this until I met Alex (below, right) and James (below, left), two shopkeepers who make and sell handicrafts.

According to them, the violence that occurred was not a result of strong ethnic divides between ordinary Kenyans, but rather emanated from the tribalist ways of current leaders from the old generation. For instance, James told me that during the violence, politicians would bribe poor and desperate youth with beer and money to instigate violence. They would be hired to burn property and go after people and would do so due to their poverty, not necessarily their desire to go after their neighbors.

Talking to many Kenyans of the new generation has confirmed that ethnicity is essentially a non-issue. One night I was out to a restaurant/bar called Carnivore, which was having a Kikuyu night. (The Kikuyu are a large ethnic group in Kenya and were targeted during the violence). To be honest, I was shocked by the apparent insensitivity of such a theme in a post-conflict country such as Kenya. However, this was incorrect of me to think.

Everyone explained to me that such nights are not meant to elevate or promote any one ethnic group but rather learn more about different cultures. In fact, there are Luo (another large ethnic group) nights as well. Just like Alex and James said, the common Kenyan does not seem as ethnically focused as the news reports would have you think. They tell me that tribalism is dying out in the new generation of Kenyans due to mixing and intermarriage. It is rather the politicians of the old generation who think this way and who perpetuated the post election violence.

The result of the politician’s past call to violence was not only the death of at least 1,000 and displacement of over 300,000, but also the economic hardship faced by nearly everyone in the country.

For instance, when I met Alex and James, they told me how their business has slowed dramatically ever since the violence, an issue they say has been felt by all shopkeepers.

The hardship faced by these two men is illustrative of the larger economic slowdown in Kenya. Of course, it is too simplistic to blame all this suffering on the violence, however it does deserve to carry the majority of the blame.

For instance, the largest problem Alex and James noted was the fact that nearly all tourists have been scared away from visiting the country. When the tourists go, so does a lot of Alex and James’ business.

The post election violence not only removed income from the tourists, but also removed income from Kenyans. Farms were burned and farmers were evicted during the violence, which happened to coincide with a harvesting season. Obviously, this had an effect on food prices, resulting in less disposable income for ordinary Kenyans.

On top of all this is the worldwide food crisis and increasing oil prices. So it is no surprise that the Kenyan shopkeepers are hurting. What’s more is that they are not only shopkeepers, but Kenyans too. Their customers don’t want to spend money on “extras,” and neither do they.

You may be wondering how this all relates to USK and poor children and youth. First of all, due to the state of the economy, these children and youth are hurting just like everyone else is. Additionally, what I haven’t yet mentioned is that Alex and James teach children on the streets how to make wall hangings made of wax drawings. Many other shopkeepers that I met do the same. However, when the teacher hurts, so do the students. Therefore, the violence instigated by politicians has perpetuated poverty, serving as a roadblock for youth wanting to get off the streets and have a better future.

The good news is that the violence has ended and everyone seems hopeful. There are many organizations like USK working to empower children and youth of this new generation. The Kenyan economy also seems to be rebounding. For instance, while I was in the market interviewing Alex and James, about 10 to 15 Canadian tourists came in and gave the shopkeepers business. So perhaps in the future, the new generation will no longer have to be proxies for the old generation, but rather be able to resist in order to move Kenya beyond ethnic conflict and the hardship that results from it. There are reasons to be doubtful, however, I will follow the old adage “When in Rome do as the Romans do” and be optimistic like the Kenyans.

The other day a co-worker was showing me around my new neighborhood and helping me get situated. We were on our way to purchase a cell phone when she said “Here’s the mall.” Okay...but surely it is not a MALL mall. I was wrong.

We walk in and it is a mall just like at home. Granted this one did not have an escalator, but sure enough the next one we went to did.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a shopping mall like those in the US. However, after a couple days in Nairobi, it seems normal. The USK office is in Westlands, a very nice part of town and incidentally the only area of Nairobi I have been to so far. I’ve been to bars and restaurants that could rival their Western counterparts. I’ve learned that I am going to be perpetually under dressed on workdays seeing that those on the street are wearing suits and high heels. And I’ve realized that my bottom-of-the-line cell phone that I bought does not fit in well with the fancy and sleek phones of the Kenyan middle class.

As I am walking around surrounded by all of this, I am slapped in the face by the sight of a poor, homeless child. All around him were nice buildings, gated communities and Kenyans clutching their cell phones. But then there was him, a boy around the age of 15 who was dirty and clutching his bottle of glue that was making him so high that he was just mumbling and smiling to himself.

Right then I realized that while I am in the nice part of town, I am still in Nairobi. I am in a town where there are tens of thousands of homeless children and youth spending their days and nights on the street. Most of them live in the informal settlements, such as Kibera, arguably the world’s largest slum. There, even if you have a home, you live in absolute squalor. The life of a child living on the street is even worse.

Next week I will be experiencing this side of Nairobi for the first time. I will be visiting the informal settlements (slums) to identify the children and youth who will be part of the blogging and photography project I will undertake with them. Those interested will be able to broadcast their lives, stories, opinions and hopes to the entire world.

Preparing to begin this project makes me wonder what the boy I saw in Westlands has to tell the world. How did he end up on the streets? Why does he sniff glue? Where is his family? What does he think about the government? We may never find out any of this about this boy, but in the next few months the world will hear the voices of others like him and be reminded that no matter where you live – whether it is in the nice part of Nairobi or in an American suburb – the lives of the children and youth living on the streets go on.

Lying in the corner of my bedroom, I have a pile of things to pack for my three months in Kenya. I have books, clothes, and all the Pepto Bismol that anyone traveling could ask for. While I am probably going to have to leave a lot of my belongings at home, there is one thing that I will never be able to leave behind anywhere—a keepsake from a previous fellow, Jonathan Homer.

At the end of last summer, Jonathan returned home from the Undugu Society of Kenya with souvenirs for all his friends and family. He was sitting in his room unpacking and realized that he brought back more boxes than could fit in his suitcase. These were boxes full of anger and sadness. His anger emanated from the harassment and exploitation of the children living on the streets of Nairobi and his sadness came from how close he got to suffering that he, himself, started to suffer.

When Jonathan was unpacking these boxes, he felt the need to give them to everyone, to make everyone feel the anger and sadness that built up inside him during his three months helping the tens of thousands of children and youth that live or work on the streets of Nairobi. I received boxes from Jonathan and now I am taking them back to Kenya to do something about them.

Right now the boxes Jonathan sent me are small. I am so angry that children resort to sniffing glue since it numbs the pain from their hunger and cold. I am furious that young children are abused by others since they have no safe place to call home. It breaks my heart knowing that there is a nine year old child that has experienced more trauma than any one should ever have to. Right now, all of this anger and sadness is filling my heart, but I know by August, it will be filling my entire being.

It’s my job this summer to get you to feel this too and to encourage you to do something about it. It is a large task, but these children need it.