Why I am going to a city/country that is currently under a
Government of Canada travel advisory alert for a genocide-y activities and
other kill-y type troubles? Well, there are two back stories before we can
answer that question.
The first is my cancelled trip to Churchill. As my regular blog readers know, my mom and I were booked for a two week vacation to Churchill, Manitoba in June. But, while we were in Winnipeg, there was a train derailment on VIA’s northern line which meant we could not get to Churchill and Bird Camp so my second week of vacation time was unused. http://www.joannecumberland7.blogspot.ca/. Between my extra week for long service, my carry over days from last year and my regular allotment of vacation time, I still have over four weeks of vacation time to use up by December.
The first is my cancelled trip to Churchill. As my regular blog readers know, my mom and I were booked for a two week vacation to Churchill, Manitoba in June. But, while we were in Winnipeg, there was a train derailment on VIA’s northern line which meant we could not get to Churchill and Bird Camp so my second week of vacation time was unused. http://www.joannecumberland7.blogspot.ca/. Between my extra week for long service, my carry over days from last year and my regular allotment of vacation time, I still have over four weeks of vacation time to use up by December.
I wasn’t sure what to do with all of those days. I didn’t want to just stay home. I don’t think I have ever used a vacation day
and stayed in my house, let alone a month’s worth of vacation days. So there I was, back to work a week early,
telling my tale of woe to the other staff and wondering aloud (closer to whining)
about what I could do this fall for my holidays. I was not getting much sympathy. But then Rhonda said in her quiet, gentle
voice “why don’t you go see Sam’s school?”.
Which leads to the second backstory which I mostly got second hand so
forgive any minor mistakes and let me know of any major ones.
This story is a real tragedy, unlike my cancelled vacation
which I know is just a minor blip, so I will not dwell but it is integral to my
trip and will have to be acknowledged. Rhonda
works on the front desk in my area. She
is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
She has many very young grandchildren and will happily give updates and
show their pictures if you ask. I
imagine she is the best grandma ever. Then
one day in January of this year, Sam, one of Rhonda’s grandsons, died just
after his second birthday.
In what I can only imagine is the worst of the worst times
of their lives, Sam’s parents, Tara and James (Rhonda’s daughter and
son-in-law), crossed paths with Anke. I
think they all live in the same building but I am vague on the details. Anyway, Anke is involved with a preschool an
hour or so outside of Mombasa, Kenya. There
is no other pre-school in the area. The
school is called Jipe Moyo and is run by volunteers on donated land. They have such a long waitlist for students
that Anke was raising money through A Better World Canada to build a second
classroom when she met Tara and James. You
can read about their meeting and about the project in their blog http://samsclassroomproject.weebly.com/sam.html. Tara and James decided to raise money to
build the classroom in Sam’s honour. I
haven’t met them but I imagine they are as wonderful and loved as Rhonda is
because they raised enough to build a two classroom building within a couple of
months.
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| Jipe Moya students holding Sam's picture |
So, this is where the two stories come together. They are going to start building Sam’s school
this summer and it will hopefully be open early in 2015. Rhonda thought it would be nice if someone
could go and visit and meet the teachers and students and just get a feel for
the place.
When she first suggested that I go, I thought it was a crazy
idea. But Rhonda had planted a seed. And we all know from tiny seeds, mighty travel
plans grow. By the next day, that seed
had taken root and I was checking ticket prices and airline schedules. Around the same time, things were getting
sketchy in Kenya and particularly on the coast.
Mombasa got a special mention in the Government travel advisory. http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/kenya.
I contacted Anke who had just left Canada and was in Germany
on her way to Kenya. She was
reassuring. She gave her personal advice
on how to stay safe and it was very similar to the travel advisory; avoid big
crowds, avoid touristy establishments (no problem there), avoid the
mini-buses. I can stay with her (in her
house on the beach!). Rhonda also spoke
to the Better World people and they were also reassuring about the safety of
the area.
I can help out at Jipe Mojo and Anke’s other school (right in
Mombasa - http://www.kencadaacademy.com). When I asked what I would be
doing, she said I can play with the kids.
Sounds grueling. I know, in my
Churchill blog, I said that volunteer vacations may not be the best way to
go. But this is not an organized
situation. The personal connection is
what makes the difference, at least for me.
Anyway, I bought my tickets and I am going for a month (late
October to late November). I used my
travel points to pay for most of the ticket (KLM) and I will contribute to Anke’s
house (as she says, rent, cleaning and security) but it isn’t much, so other
than any side trips I might take, this trip to the other side of the world is
not going to bankrupt me.
I had some trouble setting up my blog (a huge thank you to Sean
for fixing my messed up blogspot) so this is more like two posts in one so I apologize
for the lengthy post (if you know me you know it is likely the first of many).
Here is the A Better World Canada website. You can link through ‘Education’ -> ‘Kenya’
to find Jipe Moyo and Sam’s school. http://www.abwcanada.ca/. 