First Day in The Valley

5 Airports and 31 hours of travel later, we finally make it to Nairobi. Since some of the events have taken place before today I will comment on those details later. The place that our group will working is called the Mathare Valley. It is a small community located in the city of Nairobi. We met with the school children just after breakfast on what would become a bus ride that none of the 95 people would ever forget.

Traveling through the streets of Nairobi there were times that the driver would warn us to close our windows to deter people from reaching in and taking what is in our possessions. At other times we were warned to not take pictures of certain areas that were affiliated with the upcoming election. Apparently election time was very stressful in Kenya and locals see it as a time of unrest for the people.

We arrived at the Mission of Hope school and church. We were greeted by the most angelic sounds of 5 - 12 year old kids who were singing a welcome song that included the phrase 'Hakuna Matata'. Which for you Lion King fans means 'No worries' in Swahili. After introductions, songs, announcements, dos and donts we were split into teams to join the leaders from the Mission of Hope staff.

Our tours with the staff took us around the actual school grounds and showed us that there was much more than a school for children. There were classes for women, men, high school kids and all ages. Teaching more than just a base curriculum, they are teaching trade skills that people can take back into their own communities where they can become businessmen and women. They also inspired to be the hope that the community sees as a positive influence that makes a difference and hoping to create a positive cycle of progress.

After the tour of the school grounds we went into Mathare Valley. No infomercial, no celebrity answering phone calls could have possibly prepared us for what we were about to see. The majority of the people that we encountered were children. Some just being able to talk uttered "how are you" to us 'Americans' as we walked through the valley. Words cannot describe the conditions that people are subjected to live in. If you have ever seen 'Slum Dog Millionaire' that is a small but close representation of the living conditions. There is no running water for the most part, as well as sewage or waste disposal. The waste runs literally in the middle of the streets....

I am going to leave with that and continue this day in a second post..