RE: Orphans/Victor Odongo+ Roylance/E. Kagan+Reachout

November 20, 2003

Hello Dear ine, Hezekiah, and All,

And to Hezekiah, how are things coming along in terms of fundraising or foodraising for the families and children you have previously posted about? Thanks again so much to ine and others for helping with that, and a contribution will soon be on the way from a terrific member of the KCA, Margaret ("Wams") Gichuki of the US, with a small bit added by yours truly to help send it via WU.

It would be terrific if you have time, Hezekiah, to tell us more about the various kinds of wife inheritance and arrangements as you mention below, because in that way we can see the complexity of the picture (esp. those of us not there, or for whom the idea is new and perhaps not all that appealing!), and be better able to address the issues posed by it re HIV/AIDS and gender empowerment. Thank you for taking the time to do so, as it is much-appreciated.

And ine, what terrific news! This is a wonderful offer and perhaps Hezekiah has enough children in this situation that he will be able to use all 20 places himself. If not (and I am also ccing this to Victor Odongo of St. Anne's Orphanage in Kisumu and to Roylance, organizer of the Orphan Care Conference at the ICASA in September..., I hope you see this, as I don't have your e-address handy!), myself and a small group of folks in the US--along with the invaluable work in Kenya by Valentine Arigi of UNICEF and the KCA--have been trying to find homes and/or year-round boarding schools for 8 children (4 per family) who were featured in a Washington Post article this past summer, in East Kagan. All have lost their parents, and their guardians seem to be neglecting or abusing them, so we are hoping to find permanent shelter for them as well as getting them into school, and there is a small fund developing to help support them and ease the burden on whoever will be able to take them.

Hezekiah, please let us know if you will need all 20 places, and ine, do you think if not that this home would consider taking these wonderful children? Val has been like a guardian/mother to them already, but I don't think one person alone is capable of meeting their needs for housing and all else...Val, what do you think? If this is not an option, can Victor and/or give us some feedback, or could Mr. Aboge feature this story and request in an article perhaps? We have been in contact with Fr. D'Agostino of the Nyumbani Home in Nairobi too, so that will undoubtedly yield some good advice and contacts as well, if not a home for the children. A wonderful friend of Val's is making a website for the children where people will be able to see pix and info about them, so that will surely help as well.

Deepest thanks and blessings to all, and all best wishes, Janet RE: Orphans

Hezekiah,

I need to introduce you to a Mr. Aboge of Standard Newspapers who runs a partly Unicef-funded children's home in Kondele, Kisumu. He told me yesterday that he could take in about 20 more kids beginning January 2004. I know the benefits of the home-based program you operate but if you have desperate orphans who don't have relatives to live with, Aboge's program could be of help.

ine.

-----Original Message-----From: Hezekiah Nyaranga [mailto:reachout5@...]Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 8:18 AMAIDS treatments ; kenyaonline ; kca_main ; Subject: Re :wife inheritance without sexHello Dear FriendsAlways there has been an option to wife inheritancewithout involving in sex.This date back to the Luotradition.There is something special about sex hereand there are several ways we can help my people tounderstand the complication brought about by Aids inthe inheritance issue.The option was that when onedied and was considered unclean there used to be thehanging of acoat in his room after lighting theevening fire.The Brother in law would stay in thishouse till late night then walk back to his housewithout having sex with the woman and the traditionwas fulfilled.We used to have the decission made by council ofelders as to who should inherit who and this was notaprivate a fair.We need to discuss and she how we can help the womenas i know there are gaps we can bridge.Hezekiah.

November 20, 2003

Greetings to you, Janet, ine, Hezekiah and all!

Sorry for the LONG silence but I have been with you each day, carefully

following the activity and continuing to learn from each of you. My little

hiatus was much needed, all the running around so much drained me that I found

myself getting sick constantly. Now, better paced and somewhat rested, I am

eager to rejoin the forum and hope to catch up!

This conversation has particularly bothered me because I can unfortunately

relate to it only too well. I am totally torn as to what to do. We are now up

to 50 children and have waiting lists for children needing help. The situation

is much like that in Kisumu but we are trying to catch up and provide food where

we can. This afternoon, I tried to get caught up on orphan profiles and was

very disturbed that over 99% of the kids are being taken care of by elderly

grandparents. Luckily we do not have any infants on our database, but I am

still wondering that quality of care these grandmother, good intentions

notwithstanding, are capable of giving. I am very eager to go home to visit and

see this for myself before determining how to best approach a solution.

Janet, you mention that a friend is beginning to put together a website. If she

has not already made much progress and would like to use ours since it's already

up, you are most welcome to. We could feature the children, their profiles and

clearly state why they are on the site. We are getting very many hits a day and

given the networking and exposure, this might be a good way to approach it

without having to reinvent the wheel. Just a thought.

I wish I could do more for Hezekiah's children but I am unfortunately totally

strapped and, as I said, agonizing over waiting lists of my own! If there is

any other way at all, other than financial that I can help, please let me know

and I will do it!

Mwende Edozie

www.twanatwitu.com

November 22, 2003

Hello Dearest Mwende and Geoffrey, and All,

I have been thinking about you both, and didn't see your own message, Mwende, which may be because I have been operating off of a small Webmail acct.(my email program and a good part of my computer crashed in October, and it's still not up and running), and things tend to bounce occasionally. Thus the reason for my own silence, but hope you've been "hearing" my spirit talking with you in any case, and it's wonderful to see you both here! Geoffrey, it was great to read your travelogues and to know that you were in Kenya visiting our dear friends, like Hezekiah and Mwende's family and organization (your love affair with Kenya, haha!), and your suggestion is an excellent one (and hopefully the Magiste-rial Ed is still here, as I sense a grant proposal in the wings!). It would be very interesting to see the Indian legislation, and am sure that President Kibaki, his wonderful wife, Lucy, and others in govt. in Kenya (as well as NGOs and anyone working in the HIV/AIDS and related fields) are thinking about legislation along these lines too, or would be open to the possibility.

There are now, by some estimates, 1.1 million orphans in Kenya who can be said to be "HIV/AIDS" orphans, and the numbers do seem overwhelming, let alone the task of addressing a problem of such magnitude. I think all of us here are doing what we can, and clearly this is matter which needs to be addressed both at the grassroots level--and one child at a time, in a sense--and in a more comprehensive and overarching manner at the national level (regional/international levels too). The youth population of the world is now the most-affected overall, according to a recent report, and infection rates are escalating too, which indicates that the problem calls for innovative solutions (arts, ICTs, peer education) and addressing some of the root causes like poverty and lack of education (though even that isn't a guarantee for prevention, as witnessed by the number of teachers dying daily and youth infection rates). One person in this forum who has been asking us to think of comprehensive ways in which we might address this issue, and that of funding and sustainable-development solutions involving perhaps eco-villages and ICTs is Joy Tang of the oneVillage Foundation (http://www.onevillagefoundation.org ), and she is in the discussion forum I will mention below. Please see OVF's "40 Million Hopefuls" for a comprehensive approach to this problem.

I agree totally with Mwende and Geoff, and believe that between them they embody this twin approach which needs to be taken. I appreciate so deeply the website offer, Mwende, and will cc this to Val Arigi and her friend, Ephraim Njoroge, who are setting up the site. Mwende, I have been meaning to tell you that there are several orgs/groups you might want to be involved with, and we would welcome you whole-heartedly in those (I say that to Geoff, too, but am thinking here about the Kenya location), and also that if you are still going to Kenya in January, I will send you a list of folks to hook up with there, from these forums and elsewhere, if you have time to meet with people (perhaps a group meeting could be arranged so many can get together at once). The first is Nakuru-based, with KAIPPG volunteer, Stan Tuvako, and orgs. like ANFORD (African Nations Foundation for Rural Development) working together on projects related to arts, youth, ICTs, and poverty-alleviation. Recently Ingrid Kloet of this forum went there with husband Steve Garrett, and brought with them a fantastic activity called "The Hands Project", which involves people affected by HIV/AIDS getting together and making what is essentially a group portrait using colored paints and making their handprints on paper or cloth. This was done with the children of the "Little Lambs" Project, and they loved it (it's not only fun but empowering), and I'll bet your children at Twana Twitu would love it too. We have even discussed doing some fundraising with it, perhaps with t-shirts or the like, though that is in the "dream" stage at present.

The Kenyan Community Abroad (KCA), based in DC and with a Kenya Chapter, is another wonderful org. which I think you as a Kenyan in particular would find a welcoming and supportive environment, and over the past several years I have found increasing support for KAIPPG and other efforts related to HIV/AIDS alleviation and education (http://www.kenyansabroad.org ). Also, there is a fantastic network of Kenyan women (in birth and some in spirit, like Ingrid and myself) called the "E-Network of Kenya Women" (subscribe by sending a blank email to E-NetworkKenyaWomen-subscribe ... I think the moderator is in Kenya now, but perhaps someone else can take care of subscribing you). There is also a group which has several other circles within it, and we have been discussing everything from eco-villages to ICT use and distance-learning. Recently a listserv was set up through COL--Commonwealth of Learning--for these mutual discussions, and I will be happy to tell you more about that and get you involved if interested (this is the one with Joy and others of like mind). And at KAIPPG we have just had the incredibly exciting signing of a partnership with Zawadi African Tea, a US-based company run by a Kenyan (selling Kenyan teas which are sustainably grown and harvested), who will give some of the proceeds of sales to our developing "orphans adoption fund", which will help local families in our communities to adopt orphans in their midst by providing them some financial support to do so. This blending of commerce and humanitarian motivation is exactly the kind of thing which will help to address the numbers of youth involved, and here's hoping we can encourage it on a global scale. Please see http://www.zawadiafricantea.com .

There are also some handcraft projects in the works or being contemplated, again by Stan and others in Nakuru, and KAIPPG in Mumias I also want to draw into this, as well as perhaps some of our other colleagues and friends who might be interested. I know you have mentioned this, and Ingrid and Steve just indicated that a friend of theirs has an outlet--and there are others like Globalcrafts, Eziba, SERRV/Christian Children's Fund, and ArtAidAfrica--which might take such crafts for sale, so perhaps another idea for an income-generation project. And the terrific Microaid, too, which is operating now in Kenya and which it would be great for all of us to join and work with, I think (http://www.microaid.net ). KAIPPG is a registered member now, and hopefully this coming year we will be developing a more specific working relationship.

There is also ITDG (http://www.itdg.org.uk ...or try w/out the "uk" if that doesn't work), and we have a wonderful member of this forum, Hillary Koech, who is with ITDG in Kenya, and is especially keen to develop sports as a means of addressing HIV/AIDS. Hillary, greatest thanks for your posting here a few weeks ago about same, and please forgive the delay in my response. I think that UNICEF is very involved (they even have a website devoted to this) with this in Kenya, and we might also ask the US National Soccer Assoc. which was helpful to Hezekiah (this contact was made by Neema Mgana of ARYI, a terrific youth-oriented org. with numerous members in Africa, at http://www.aryi.interconnection.org) , as well as asking Cameron Sinclair to get us networked with the possible resource he mentioned. I'll write a separate note about this soon, but for now just want to say that this is one way we might have an effect throughout Kenya in terms of youth and HIV/AIDS.

Another way is through ICTs, and there are folks discussing this in terms of peer education and education in schools or learning centers where ICTs might be available. The Peer Education Project (PEP-LA) of Los Angeles, with branches in Africa and one in Kenya, is another fantastic effort to address HIV/AIDS prevention and education in the youth population (http://www.pepla.org ), and the arts are also huge. There are many such orgs. and events operating in Kenya, and some who belong to the arts coalition I have been organizing, ActALIVE, which has a listserv and pending website, and 200 members in 25 countries. We'd love to have you join, and we hope to strategize and eventually get grants which will help to address HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and perhaps even speak to the difficult situation of the orphans who need food, clothing, healthcare, shelter, education, and a decent quality of life, which is no less than they deserve. One upcoming event that may help to galvanize support in this direction is the One World Beat Festival of March 2004 (http://www.oneworldbeat.org ), and of course the GFATM is very supportive of use of the arts, as Jerry van Mourik has recently stated (to a huge round of applause!). Other efforts include the "Keep A Child Alive Foundation" (http://www.keepachildalive.org ...some proceeds of the OWB Festival will be donated to this project) with a pioneering ARV program in Mombasa for youth and their families, as well as all of the NGOs and CBOs represented here, from Reachout, Lake Fellowship Centre, St. Anne's, and KAIPPG to SIDAREC, ANFORD, People's Health Movement, Harvest of Hope, UHAI, KANCO, KAWI, Wells-O-Joy, and so many others. And the Orphans Care Conference which Roylance and colleagues hosted as an ICASA satellite.

The problems and challenges still remain of course, and Hezekiah's recent posting about starving children--in addition to my own about the orphans of E. Kagan--spells this out clearly. From my own perspective, to address whatever immediate needs we can, while at the same time thinking of the longer term and trying to develop programs ourselves (with our own orgs) to meet those needs as well as to advocate for them in forums like this, with national govts and the international community, business, faith-based groups and the like seems to be the integrative approach needed. Ultimately it is poverty, malnutrition, general education and healthcare which need to be addressed and brought into the forefront of programmic focus, as all are connected to HIV/AIDS and vice-versa in terms of both cause and effect, problems and solutions. This must happen internationally, and within each nation and community, and a good place to start would be advocacy for a national conference, and as Geoff seems to be indicating, national legislation in Kenya which would address the topic in a comprehensive way. Does anyone know if this might be in the works, and/or how can we get the wheels turning for that?

Dear Mwende, you are back on your feet just in the nick of time, haha, and hope this letter doesn't find you flat on your back again, haha! I will close for now with high hopes that together all of us can help to address this daunting issue--one child, one community, one organization, one nation--at a time, and that someday we will even do so as "one world" (we are starting down that road already in this forum!). With greatest thanks and love, and wonderful to have you both here again (just in time for my own break, haha!), Janet Re: Re: RE: Orphans/Victor Odongo+ Roylance/E. Kagan+Reachout One of the recurring problems faced by orphans in Kenya and even Uganda and India is that while emergency relief is working or looking like it is it will be allowed to shoulder the load indefinately. The more you do the more you get to do.The problem is not going to get smaller for some many years but needs will definately continue to increase.A national spokesorganisation will eventually need to get invented or the media will only have sketchy sad short stories which will be read in a sitting and never read again.Civil society lead by capable support organisations have to raise the issues collectively and with some drama before the government is going to be forced to get more systematically involved.I am still waiting for someone to obtain for me the ration legislation from India's parliamentary archives so I can share it with the list as a possible program option. I have been informed that it does exist and all the speeches are available apparently.As soon as I get it I will post it to the list.GeoffreyOn Fri, 21 Nov 2003 mwendemwinzi@... wrote :>Greetings to you, Janet, ine, Hezekiah and all!>Sorry for the LONG silence but I have been with you each day, >carefully following the activity and continuing to learn from >each of you. My little hiatus was much needed, all the running >around so much drained me that I found myself getting sick >constantly. Now, better paced and somewhat rested, I am eager to >rejoin the forum and hope to catch up!>This conversation has particularly bothered me because I can >unfortunately relate to it only too well. I am totally torn as to >what to do. We are now up to 50 children and have waiting lists >for children needing help. The situation is much like that in >Kisumu but we are trying to catch up and provide food where we >can. This afternoon, I tried to get caught up on orphan profiles >and was very disturbed that over 99% of the kids are being taken >care of by elderly grandparents. Luckily we do not have any >infants on our database, but I am still wondering that quality of >care these grandmother, good intentions notwithstanding, are >capable of giving. I am very eager to go home to visit and see >this for myself before determining how to best approach a >solution.>Janet, you mention that a friend is beginning to put together a >website. If she has not already made much progress and would like >to use ours since it's already up, you are most welcome to. We >could feature the children, their profiles and clearly state why >they are on the site. We are getting very many hits a day and >given the networking and exposure, this might be a good way to >approach it without having to reinvent the wheel. Just a >thought.>I wish I could do more for Hezekiah's children but I am >unfortunately totally strapped and, as I said, agonizing over >waiting lists of my own! If there is any other way at all, other >than financial that I can help, please let me know and I will do >it!>Mwende Edozie>www.twanatwitu.com>

December 6, 2003

Hello Dear Mwende, Geoff, and All,

I am going through some older postings (in this nanosecond age a posting of 2 weeks ago is ancient, like me, haha!) and wanted to comment on this, as there are some resources which might be of help. There are several children's rights organizations like KAACR and also FIDA, the International Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya, who might have some resources and leads we can investigate, and there was a children's rights bill passed into law a couple years ago, I believe, though from law to action is sometimes a lengthy process. Some of those working on these issues are included in the report "Kenya in the Shadow of Death: HIV/AIDS and Child Rights in Kenya", and I believe that KANCO is a great resource in that regard, as I believe they contributed to this report. I was also involved in a Yale Law School project a couple years ago which was drafting model legislation on the human rights of women and children vis HIV/AIDS, and the hope was that this would become something which governments might adopt in Africa. One of the principals involved in this project is Friedman, a good friend now working at Physicians for Human Rights in DC, who might be able to shed light on some of these issues and I'll be happy to put you in touch with him. Finally, I recently was connected to the Kenya Children's Cabinet by Kenya MSF rep and a forum member here, Christa Cepuch, and I believe they work on this issue as well, so can connect you with that organization too. And I'll bet Philip Ndeta of Learning and Development Kenya will know quite a bit too, as his org. focuses on child abuse and also helping children affected by HIV/AIDS.

You are right that there may be a lot of talk and there is action as well, but with anything this comprehensive movement is much more slow than we would like, and the Kibaki administration is addressing so many issues at once that this is just one of many, albeit a very important one. I think the First Lady is very concerned about children and youth, though, and also Health Minister Ngilu, so hope we see more action translating into forward momentum! I'll be interested in seeing a copy of the speech you mention, and hope you'll pass it along. With greatest thanks and all best wishes, Janet Re: RE: Orphans/Victor Odongo+ Roylance/E. Kagan+Reachout

Hi Geoff and all,

I hear you on this one. There are so many different intiatives all over trying to put out the fires. In Kenya's case, the current government seems to talking much about HIV/AIDS and the orphans but I am not aware of them actually DOING anything. I do believe, like you, that a collective voice from us all, might lead some action and committment to the problem.

In Kenya's case, I think it also begins in the laws. They don't protect the children at all! Ironically, our AG, Amos Wako just gave a speech on the 18th to Child Watch International on children's rights in Kenya. I spoke to the Solicitor General to see is he could get me a copy of this paper, as I am dying to see what's in it (I need to understand the laws properly before making a stink) and will gladly share it with anyone in the forum that is interested. (that's if they pass it along!)

Mwende Edozie

www.twanatwitu.com

December 7, 2003

Dear all and HI Janet!!!!!!!!

I totally agree with your txt below the people from KANCO, , doing a great

job and also in cooperation with ANFORD, Stanley, , Dennis, *Willy*, Loraine

they are working very hard on the issues of education, prevention, for the children

and not only the children.As we have seen during our visit/working in Nakuru.

Introducing the HANDS PROJECT, from , was one of the exciting moments

for the children. And they start communicate with the children and woman+ from Phuket, here we go *COMMUNICATION* its an important issue to do that.

Without Communication, there is no commitment or networking possible.

My opinion and feelings and I can speak for Steve my husband as well, to connect

all those organizations in different cities around Nakuru, Rift Valley, and start Networking with each other and brainstorming together.

Warmly greetings

Ingrid

& Steve

Ingrid Kloetwww.gnpplus.netwww.planetpoz.org5300 Eubank Blvd. NE 9-DAlbuquerque, New Mexico 87111Phone/Fax 505-298-2644Mobile 505-280-2218Email: Ingrid@...

"The overall aim of GNP+ is to improve the quality of life of peopleliving with HIV/AIDS. GNP+ is based on a policy platform, "The GlobalAdvocacy Agenda", which focuses on promoting global access to HIV careand treatment, ending stigma and discrimination against people livingwith HIV/AIDS, and promoting the greater and more meaningful involvementof PLWHA in the decisions that affect their lives and the lives of theircommunities."

Re: RE: Orphans/Victor Odongo+ Roylance/E. Kagan+Reachout

Hi Geoff and all,

I hear you on this one. There are so many different intiatives all over trying to put out the fires. In Kenya's case, the current government seems to talking much about HIV/AIDS and the orphans but I am not aware of them actually DOING anything. I do believe, like you, that a collective voice from us all, might lead some action and committment to the problem.

In Kenya's case, I think it also begins in the laws. They don't protect the children at all! Ironically, our AG, Amos Wako just gave a speech on the 18th to Child Watch International on children's rights in Kenya. I spoke to the Solicitor General to see is he could get me a copy of this paper, as I am dying to see what's in it (I need to understand the laws properly before making a stink) and will gladly share it with anyone in the forum that is interested. (that's if they pass it along!)

Mwende Edozie

www.twanatwitu.com

December 7, 2003

Hello Dearest Ingrid, Steve, and All,

And YES, YES, YES (haha, do you get that I agree with you?!). **Communication** is key, and also networking, and I have been meaning to reply to your posting of a couple weeks ago ("USA/Nakuru/Kenya") on this subject, because it is vital. There are many intersecting and complementary efforts already in this regard, and a number of them (people and orgs) are in this forum! The COL (Commonwealth of Learning) initiative we are involved in, with some members here, and ActALIVE, as well as the E-Network of Kenyan Women, WSISYouthKenya, ARYI, and Kenyan forums like the KCA and Kenyaonline are all intersecting somewhat loosely together, pulling into a common loop people all over Kenya and worldwide. It will be fantastic to solidify, expand, and further integrate these networks, and you have been of great help in that regard already (I think between us we are in every eforum on the planet, haha!), so I look forward so much to continuing this work (and play!) in 2004, putting our hearts and hands together, as well as our minds and spirits (even on days when we don't feel altogether!). With greatest thanks and lots of love, Janet Re: RE: Orphans/Victor Odongo+ Roylance/E. Kagan+Reachout