Back in Nairobi!

It occurred to me that I didn't exactly introduce what me and my mom are here in Kenya to do. Basically, we have accrued through my mom's non-profit organization a sum of money that we would like to now invest in Sudanese refugee children's education here in Kenya. My mom got to know some of the "Lost Boys of Sudan"; students who won a lottery established in the U.S. to bring Sudanese boys living in refugee camps to study in American universities. She developed a relationship with them and as they graduated from universities like San Jose State and University of San Francisco, she realized that they were determined to go back to Kenya and work for change for Sudan. And she wanted to be a part of it. She is already sponsoring 5 or so Sudanese students going to college in Kenya, so this was an extension of a network that was already in place, by God's grace.

So Mario, Deng, and other students from the U.S. (who come back to Kenya when grant money and other means are available) put the word out to the Sudanese refugees studying here, some of whom are my mom's students. They were happy to put up fliers in refugee camps like Kakuma, and schools where Sudanese refugees study. In this way, by the time we got here on Thursday, there were over a hundred secondary school and university students (or hopeful students) waiting for us with their biographies, life stories, and copies of their grades and other documents that might help us make a decision.

Over the weekend, we were in Nakuru, a two hour drive from Nairobi. There are lots of Sudanese refugee students there and we had an even longer day of interviewing than we had in Nairobi the day before. But it was great to meet all the students. My heart broke for the ones who were very nervous, as well as for the ones who had lost a parent (or both). So many have no idea where their parents are. So many have lost their parents to the war. So many woke up from hiding in the bushes from bombs at night, to find that family members were missing in the morning.

So many walked to Ethiopia, then out of Ethiopia and back to Sudan when war broke out in 1991, and then Kenya when life in Sudan became too dangerous to continue. They didn't know they were en route to Kenya. They were just following the masses of refugees.

We spoke more with Kwai, who I mentioned in my first post: he's the coordinator of the donated Sudanese community office in Nairobi. It's called PARAD: Penkyou Agency for Relief and Development. He's an awesome guy, and a great resource for the students. He went with us to Nakuru and was one of our greatest assets. We didn't know much about him until we finally shared a couple of meals together. He was a former SPLA fighter (Sudanese People's Liberation Army; we met others who were kidnapped as children by the SPLA and then taken to Ethiopia before the Ethiopian war, and fed and clothed until they were old enough to either escape or be sent out to fight with AK-47's). He fought for the SPLA and then somehow got to Kenya as a refugee, where he was a teacher in Kakuma camp. Then he got to this post at PARAD, where he helps anyone and everyone in the Sudanese community.

Kwai was deployed by the U.N. (last year? can't remember) on a peace mission tothe Murlee tribe of Sudan. I am finding from interviewing students that one of the most commmon reasons for poverty and refugee status is the Murlee warriors. The Dinka and the Nueri tribes are frequently attacked by the Murlees, who steal children and cattle. Apparently, they suffer from STD's and some of them are left barren; Kwai says he hasn't seen any Murlee boys in their community, only Dinka and Nueri (perhaps stolen or bought). They even wanted to buy him when he was a young boy!

Anyway, so he was deployed with a team of 7 other Dinka and 2 Kenyans to Sudan. Their mission was public health: they didn't want to hold the Murlee accountable, they only wanted to give them what they obviously lacked: food and water (probably the reason for their reliance on thievery to subsist). They came expressing their desire to help with finding water, and drilled holes to 100 meters searching for a water source, with no luck. The Murlee got angry, starting to mistrust the team, and Kwai said he was truly afraid they'd attack. So he called the U.N. and got permission to drill to 120 meters, and a plane dropped more supplies so that they could continue their mission. They found water and drilled a lot of holes, and the Murlee celebrated with their tribal dances and by smearing cow dung, blood and saliva on Kwai and his team.

Despite their portrayal as guerrilla warriors and terrorists (as far as I know), the SPLA doesn't seem to be held in contempt by the Sudanese people I've been talking to. They steal kids and give them AK-47's, but I think in Sudan, where you have the Murlee and the Arabs terrorizing peaceful tribes, the SPLA stands against them, and is probably not too badly received. In fact, they seem to be somewhat well-received; in another moment of danger, when leaving the Murlees, Kwai had to call for emergency protection and the SPLA came to his rescue, surrounding the area with troops while a U.N. plane came to airlift his team out of Sudan.

Yesterday and today were devoted to compiling all the students’ information, including grades, schools, family status (Which is an indication of need…orphan? One parent? Father or mother? Who currently pays school fees, if anyone?), how many terms they have left (there are three terms per year for a high school student), and all sorts of other helpful information. We also narrowed down the list to about 12 university candidates, 12 high school boys, and 10 high school girls. It was definitely a two-day job, with me on the phone to all the high schools I could reach to confirm fees, and Jon making an excel sheet of estimated costs for all the university candidates. Yesterday, we also visited three girls’ schools, as educating girls is a priority of ours. We were not impressed with any, but got a lot of insight into what life is like for a student. You’re not allowed to go to your room anytime you want (as a boarder); they lock the rooms from 6am to 9pm because otherwise people steal from the rooms. Crime is such a danger in schools that you can’t even keep any pocket money with you; you have to leave it in the main office and take it out as you need it.

Today, we had two more last minute interviews, one for high school and one for college. One of the candidates was a 17 year old boy whose mom currently works for the SPLA and earns $100USD a month (the reason for her joining). She tries to support her son, but she has four kids. They are all in Kakuma refugee camp, and she is back in Sudan. Their father was killed. He is a straight-A student. The only hindrance to his studies is his ulcers. I think he’s so afraid to eat because of the grinding pain that he simply doesn’t eat except for the sake of survival (in fact, most Sudanese I meet only eat twice a day, or even just once, just something to keep them alive, even in Kenya). He is so thin! I talked to him at length about food at schools, and it’s hard because the schools have a set menu and his ulcers make it impossible to eat some of what they give. I asked him to buy bread with some money, but he can’t take any outside food to his boarding school; if he does, the administration will search him and take it away! Why? For fear of stealing. Yes, even a loaf of bread.

Sudanese are definitely treated differently in society. Today I was reminded of this fact yet again. We had borrowed a stapler at the motel we did most of our work at yesterday. Today, we borrowed another stapler. It looked very similar to the one we were using yesterday, and I wondered if one of us had mistakenly taken it from the motel in Nakuru. It turned out that we hadn’t, it was just a very similar-looking stapler (broken in the same way). But Mayen, one of the boys on our team, then mentioned to us that yesterday, someone called the police and told them that two Sudanese boys had stolen a stapler from the front desk. The truth is, we were all using that stapler! I had borrowed it earlier in the morning and returned it; he had come back because we needed it again. I was so angry…how unfair. The things they have to deal with in terms of discrimination, on top of lack of food and having gone through so much.

Ok this is the longest blog ever, so I’ll have to save some of this for later.