Adult Literacy Graduation at Ilngarooj

Another graduation of our Adult Literacy classes!  Wow.  How exciting is that?!!!  This one was at Ilngarooj.  Don't worry if you can't pronounce it -- I can't either!  I have tried and tried, but my tongue just won't cooperate. This is where the classes were held.  The Pastor, James Kondonyo, and Aaron Koilel were the teachers.

The name of the church is Dominion Chapel Zion Church, Ilngarooj, Kenya. 

Before any meeting in Maasai land, you will see this familiar picture -- the men sitting under the trees sipping tea.

While under another bunch of trees, the women are busy making tea and cooking lunch to feed all who come.  Most of these ladies are also the students who will be graduating.

Pastor Kondonyo opening in prayer and welcoming the visitors and graduates and their families.

I look like I'm doing something, but reality is, I was teaching my Maasai friend, Peninah how to use my camera so we could record this day.

Here I am welcoming everyone as the official from Starfish Charities.

We always ask our students to demonstrate anything they have learned in the four months of literacy.  All of them can write their names, do simple math, and one is even reading her Bible.  I have to just give God praise for the fact that anyone can read their Bible after only four months of instruction, but it happens over and over again.  These ladies (and a few men) are so eager to learn, they are exceptional students.

We always give them an official "Certificate of Completion" at the end of the classes.  Pictured with us is Pastor John Shakai, one of my board members.

Here are the proud ladies who successfully completed their course.  There were two men who also completed, but they weren't able to be there that day.  Initially, we had 18 who registered for the class, but a severe drought afflicted the area, causing many to migrate for greener pastures -- literally.  Their cows have to have grass, so they just move the herd until they find pasture.  Also, affecting the ladies when drought comes, the cows quit giving milk.  Most Maasai women sell milk and use it to feed their families.  And with cows in their compounds, there is always plenty of manure.  The ladies rake the manure into large piles to sell.  Without cows, they lose a major part of their income, so they suffer.  Its really a huge problem for them, so they were all rejoicing when the bountiful rains came in April, the grass started growing, and the men came home with the cows.  But by then, many had missed too many classes to qualify for completion.

We always give gifts to our students and their teachers as a reward for diligence.  I presented the pastor with his own Concordance!  Wow.  I have never seen such joy.  He was thrilled.

This is our other teacher, Aaron.

The ladies are excited about their gifts!

They always wear their finest, which includes their beautiful bead work.

They also gave me gifts of beads.  You will notice how many more beads I am wearing in this picture than at the beginning of this blog.

These are the additional students standing with the graduates.  Although they didn't qualify to graduate on that day, they are still eager learners and want to continue the classes.  Thankfully the pastor agrees.  I am so blessed by their passion to learn, and by any of you who have sent funds to help make this all possible. 

Tanks and Toilets!

New projects for this year include Tanks and Toilets!  For those of you who live in developed countries around the world, the title of this post may seem strange.  But for people living in Kenya these two things can have a huge impact on health and hygiene.  We have targeted four Maasai churches to be the recipients of  Tanks and Toilets this year.  One of those churches is in Oreteti.  This is a church we have worked with for many years.  The first time I met with the people of this community their church was under a tree and we simply called it the Tree Church. 

This was a great place to start a church due to its proximity to a very popular water well in the area.  Unfortunately one year the rains were so heavy it flooded the whole valley, including the water well, generator, etc.  The water eventually receded and the well restored, but the community decided it was time to move the church to higher ground.  A man in the church donated land and a new building was built.  The picture above was in 2010 at a literacy class we held there.  The picture below was last year after we gave the Academy these cute tables and chairs. 

The current pastor of this church began an Academy a few years ago.  Academies (nursery schools) are becoming more popular among these small churches due to the large population of small children who are too young to walk the distances required to reach the public schools.  However, they start with very little and need our help to move them along.  It is a wonderful opportunity to give them Bible-based curriculum to lay a solid foundation for these young children, and help with other items such as water tanks and well-built out door toilets.

Another ministry provided this tank for them a few years ago.  You can see the pipe running into the top of the tank.  That is attached to the guttering on the tin roof of the church building.  Just this year, they were able to pipe water directly from the water well under the trees to the tank, thus providing them with clean water.

They began building an outdoor toilet, but ran out of funds and this is as far as it got!  When I visit there, I have to bring a cloth with me and have a female partner cover the opening while I do my business.  I am not sure what they do, but they need help.

 We bought supplies and were on our way to get the job done. 

The church members were so excited when we arrived with the materials.

Everyone pitched in to get that truck unloaded.

This is the official handover of the materials to Pastor Emmanuel.

And again!

I checked in on the progress a week later and found the toilet half finished.  In this area there are stones all over the ground.  The children from the Academy, as well as the adults from the church collected stones and river sand to add to the other materials we bought.  Just by using the local -- and free -- resources, we saved several hundred dollars in construction costs.

These are some of the children from the Academy, along with the pastor, the school chairman, one of my board members, and on the far right, Pastor Elijah, who will be the recipient of the next Tank and Toilet.  He was very excited to see what will come his way in the next month.

All the construction activity is behind me as I took this picture.  These curious and excited children cannot wait to see what happens next.

I think this smile says it all!  Thank you to all who have helped make this possible with your faithful support and special gifts.

Jiggers Campaign

Jiggers!  What are they?  In America we know about ticks, fleas, chiggers, bed bugs, mosquitoes and other pesky insects -- but jiggers?  I had never heard of them until I moved to Kenya.  And trust me, you may not really want to know.  In fact, this blog contains pictures that will most likely turn your stomach.  But hopefully you can brace yourself and read it to the end, knowing that those who are suffering need your help, and through Starfish Charities, we are trying to make a difference in the lives of individuals.

In late November, Starfish Charities joined hands with Asira Foundation and AHADI (swahili for promise) Kenya to reach out to the people in an area of Western Kenya.  Many individuals in that area have been afflicted with jiggers.  Our venue was a Primary school (see sign below).

Standing with me is Franklin Asira (Asira Foundation) and Fred with AHADI Kenya.

We spent a day training volunteers on the ins and outs of jiggers infestation, treatment, and prevention.  I left the training to the experts!

Fred did an excellent job explaining all about jiggers and proper treatment.

WHAT IS A JIGGER?
It is a small pin head sized flea found in sandy terrain of warm, dry climates.  It feeds on warm blooded hosts including man, cats, dogs, rats, pigs, cattle and sheep.  Poor people living in unhygienic, unsanitary dwellings get jigger infestations.  Economic activity reduced by poor health due to infestation, makes people poorer and/or unable to rise out of poverty.

On treatment day, we needed water -- lots of water.  These eager students carried water to our treatment area.

Meet Simon, one of our volunteers who agreed to register the individuals who required treatment.  This information was necessary for followup during the days and weeks ahead.  We couldn't have done this without the local volunteers.

Step one is identifying those who were affected.  It wasn't difficult.  When your feet look like those below, it is not only very painful, but almost impossible to wear shoes.

The impregnated female flea feeds by burrowing into the skin of the host under the toe or fingernails, resulting in a sore.  As the flea continues to feed on the host's blood, it enlarges and forms a round sack full of eggs with the shape and size of a pea.  The flea releases the eggs and is slowly sloughed from the host's skin.  The holes you see are where the pod or sack has worked its way to the surface, or in many cases, where the individual has picked at it with a needle or pin -- mostly likely unsanitary and causing a greater problem with infection.

After the affected ones were identified, the first order of business was to get their dirty feet washed.  It had rained the night before, so many showed up barefooted, caked in red soil.

Our Public Health Workers (PHW) are volunteers in the communities.  They worked tirelessly with us all day to attend to these students and community residents.

This man is the Principal of this school and was very excited when Franklin responded positively to conducting this Jigger's treatment in his school.  The infestation causes many students to miss school or drop out all together.

Although jiggers are normally found in the feet, it is not limited to feet.  You can literally get them anywhere on the body, but most of what we saw were feet, with a few individuals also having them on their hands.

After the feet are cleaned, the toenails must be trimmed as much as possible.

This just looks like a mud encrusted foot, but the truth is it was one of our worst cases.  The mud was embedded in the crevices created by the jiggers.  His feet were washed several times before treatment could happen. 

You can imagine how difficult walking would be.  They contort their feet to stay off the affected areas as much as possible, but the end result it the feet begin turning outwards as the infestation grows worse and worse.

This child has lost most of his toenails due to the jiggers under the nails.

After washing the feet, and clipping the nails, the next step is to soak in a solution of potassium permanganate.  This purple solution is like magic!  They soak for 15 minutes in this solution, which begins the process of killing the embedded jiggers.

No worries about cross contamination, so many shared basins as they soaked.

After soaking for 15 minutes, they had to "dry" for 15 minutes.  Then they were moved to another area for the next step.

The final step is to smear their feet with Vaseline.  This not only softens the feet, but it helps to smother the jiggers.  This treatment is supposed to be repeated three times a day for two weeks. 

This is a jigger sack in the palm of a worker's hand.

This poor child could hardly walk and was by far, the worst one we saw that day.

This is a month later, after treatment.  Although it still isn't completely gone, the relief to this child is immeasurable.

Another shot of the top of his foot.  His nails will have to regrow, but with eradication of the jiggers in his home area, treatment followup, and better hygiene, he should fully recover.

These are the treatment tools and medications needed.  The Sevin dust is for the home treatment area.

The purple solution is poured into five liter containers for individuals to take home for the followup treatment.

These backpack sprayers are needed to fumigate the home areas twice a year to help eradicate the infestation.  Very few families in these areas can afford the treatment for the soil or treatment for jiggers.  They depend on well wishers, or in most cases just continue to suffer.

I have to tell you this really pricked my heart.  This sprayer is only $30 per sprayer.  We need at least 10 to start with.  Then the Icon solution to put in the sprayer is approximately $10 per household.  This can quickly run into more money than these communities can imagine.  If you would like to help make a difference to these hurting individuals in these communities, please contact me at rabquilt@yahoo.com and share with me how you can help.  Or send donations directly to Global Outreach International, P. O. Box 1, Tupelo, MS 38802 for Rhonda Baxter and indicate it is for Jiggers Eradication.  Any help would be appreciated.