Last blog from Vumilia

Friends,

This is my last blog post from my home for the past 12 days. It's been an interesting experience to say the least. It has been characterized by dust storms, hours of interviews, cabbage and beans for lunch, animal symphonies in the morning and myriad friendly and curious people. It will be odd to not hear, "how are you?" from the sing-song voice of a child everywhere I go. I hope the data we collected amounts to something- I have faith in the generosity of the human heart, even while acknowledging the depths of selfishness and violence which raged in the country 2 years ago.

Last night was the first truly tense experience of my idp camp stay. Everyone here has messianic-esque hopes for us, for what we can do to help them-it's simply not realistic. Individuals confronted us all day about not visiting their "home", i.e. tent, because they were gone or because we simply lacked the capability or time to do so. To make the night worse, we were showing the soon-to be two new teachers for the camp's temporary school the supplies that we bought-black board, textbooks, chalk, and our neighbor, i.e. kamau basically threatened them and they refused to teach. Kimau hates the Elderot camp, i.e. where the teachers were from. He hates them, because he claims they are selfish and greedy, even though Kamau's camp has houses as opposed to Elderot's tent's-if anything, Kamau. our host and neighbor is the most jealous of the lot. His threats frightened them off and endangered our school project at the last moment. Take away message: donors hold off until we find two more teachers. This man's tantrum effectively soured my night and made me eager to leave the camp.

There is no doubt I will miss this place-the sheer beauty of it, the sometimes annoying friendliness of everybody, However, I am not and probably never will be an idp, I always had a plane ticket and an escape-the people here don't. What they have is bare rations, harsh inclement weather, numerous diseases, and little hope for adequate or any employment. Some here have risen from extreme poverty and violence to open small businesses at the idp, to band to gather and form youth groups and self-help groups, to work 9 hour days for 200 schillings at the local quarry or 8 hour days for 100 schillings on a farm. Some here are exhibiting Dani's favorite word: resiliency and taking their lives into their own hands despite the terrible lemons they've been given. Most here are simply waiting for fate to change her tone and how can you blame them? The majority have been displaced 2-3-4 times by violence. It would be hard to trust in solidarity if you have never known solice (I interviewed a lady who was displaced 6X yesterday).

Despite the odds, some of these people will get good jobs and will contribute to the more peaceful Kenya that they all long for. Most will continue to barely survive, the women will continue to prostitute themselves, and too many will die. This is a bleak account with a touch of hope that refuses to be silenced-the hope of the vast reaches of the human spirit.

I hope people back at WSU will look at the pictures and peruse the profiles, and sponsor a child's uniform or secondary fees, it could be the impetus for a changed life.

Today we head to Nairobi, tomorrow we fly home for Christmas. I hope the Senate doesn't vote for the health care bill when I'm on the plane home. I want to soak in its passage as an early Christmas present.

As I learn I get more hopeful. Here's to a new tomorrow.

Living the dream.

[Author's note: Every problem with the school was resolved an hour after posting this. The temporary school will start in two weeks with one teacher and several weeks with two teachers. I will check in on both teacher's lesson plans and attendence roles. Please donate to this wonderful new program!!!!!]

-Cameron