Vumilia

New Images from Vumilia

2012-01-22T02:33:00.001-08:00

Vumilia's latest visitor

2011-08-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

Kathy Tate-Bradish, a long-time supporter of Vumilia is currently in Kenya, teaching and training women about HIV/AIDS and sex education.

Read her personal blog, and see some of her photos at:

http://andformynextlife.blogspot.com

Vumilia Girls singing and dancing in Kabras

2011-08-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Great progress on the site so far!

2011-04-01T10:01:00.001-07:00

The Dormitory Building (later to be converted into staff housing).

The chicken coop

The new seed beds

The future for Vumilia...

2011-03-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure many of Vumilia's supporters are aware, the Vumilia girl orphan's home has been asked by the landlady to move from their premises. Nick, Rose's husband, has helped design a simple, low-cost building to accommodate the 24 children temporarily, which can be built quite quickly. Work has already started on this building on a land owned by Vumilia at Bukhaywa. It was started in December, and the foundation, floor slab and walls to lintel level are complete. Toilets have also been built.

Although the budget is not huge, fundraising is still ongoing for the construction and any donations that can be offerred would be a huge help.

It is hoped that this site will eventually become the permanent home for Vumilia, and this building, which will eventually be used for staff housing, forms part of a master plan. The vision is of a 'children's village' which will comprise of 10 individual homesteads, each unit a home for 8 girls of different ages, and a 'mother'. The village could also include an educational building and a computer lab, classrooms, library and a home science facility.

With the help of a local firm of architects a site plan has been developed, with a complete set of drawings, specifications, bills of quantity and costings, all of which have been submitted to Kakamega County Council for approval. All of this will of course take time and money, and will be built stage by stage over the next few years.

If this vision can be achieved, Vumilia will have a permanent home and the girls will have somewhere they can return to for the rest of their lives.

Mama Priscilla – an update from Mary McVay

2010-12-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

I recently visited Mama Priscilla, the grandmother of Vumilia, and got an update on her situation. Mama Priscilla is a widow with land in her late ‘60s. When a neighbor informed Vumilia about her, she was weak and hungry, with symptoms of AIDS, and she was isolated and depressed, just staying in her hut with no company. Her only child – a son – was not in communication with her because he blamed her for his father’s recent death from AIDS. Were it not for neighbors leaving food near her door – afraid to come in - she would have died.

When I first met Priscilla, she had been with Vumilia for two years. She was physically strong and a core leader of the community-based health care volunteers, a very energetic woman with high spirits. The other women look to her to start the singing, to keep the group motivated. However, she was still not in touch with her son and not really able to farm because of lack of capital to pay laborers and buy inputs. She was often short of funds, but

full of love and hope.

Two more years later, I visited Mama Priscilla again. This time, she was really on top of the world and excited to update me. She showed me around her small farm where she was growing a wide variety of healthy crops – bananas, African leafy vegetables, fruit and yams, as well as the staple maize and beans. The food looked like a lot for one person so I asked, “What do you do with such a grand harvest?”

“It is to feed the desperate people in the community, the people who were abandoned like I was. I go all around on my own, now, visiting new villages, telling people I am positive, finding the ones who need help and bringing everyone to the truth – that you do not have to die because of HIV. No, you have to live, and live well!”

Her house – a traditional mud home – was in very good condition, and on her land was a brand new, very modern home. “This,” she said proudly, “Is my son’s home. He comes every few months now, with the grandchildren.” I had tears in my eyes as she asked, “You remember? Rose found him in Nairobi and talked to him, and he came and we talked and now, we are so close again. God has answered my prayers!”

“What does he think of all the work you do about HIV in the community?” I wondered.

“Ha!” She exclaimed. “Where do you think I got the money for the farm? And, he even adopted two children when I could not find a home for them. They are there even now, with him in Nairobi, staying just like his own children. Thanks be to God, God is very, very good! Ha-ha!”

Mama Priscilla’s story - just another example of how a little support can go a long, long way.

Mary McVay

2010-12-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Help make this a very Happy New Year ! Donations needed to construct permanent home for Vumilia Girls:

The Vumilia Girls’ Home has been located on rental property in a dusty town. Not only is the facility running down – with pit latrines filled to capacity and nothing but three-stone fires to cook on – but now Vumilia is being evicted. Fortunately, about a year ago, Vumilia received a generous donation to purchase a beautiful piece of land – boarding the indigenous rainforest on one side, a small sugar cane farm on another, and a spring and stream on the third side. The land is terraced for farming, lush, and isolated from the somewhat rough atmosphere of town life in a sugar growing area.

Now, we need urgently to construct a permanent home for the girls before the lease is up. Our immediate goals is $25,000 to build housing, sanitary facilities, a kitchen and dining/learning room to house our current 22 girls. We have raised $14,000 so far - $11,000 to go! These funds will launch the development of a permanent home for 80 girls at a time. The vision is to house the girls in small, traditional units of 8 children of different ages and a “mother.” Wherever they go in life, the girls will have a home to return to, and their smaller family to connect with. The site development plans call for more extensive development over time, including a proper education building with a library, computer room, development of the farm and more. Most of us are so fortunate to have a wonderful home for the holidays, please join us in giving others that sense of home!

How to contribute:

We are grateful to the African Children’s Haven for supporting Vumilia as one of its projects. African Children’s Haven acts as a fiscal agent for Vumilia in the United States, and is also a great partner. Its founder, Ed Sulzberger, has years of experience in international development and in supporting community-based NGOs.

If you are based in the U.S. and wish to make a donation to Vumilia, please do so using the following details:

1. Make check payable to: African Children’s Haven
2. Write in the subject line: Vumilia Fund
3. Mail to:
African Children’s Haven c/o Mary McVay, Vumilia Fund Manager
826 N. Lombard Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302
4. Questions? Want more information? Contact Mary McVay mary@mcvay.us, volunteer fund manager in the US.
You will receive an acknowledgement of your gift along with a receipt.

You can also donate on-line through the African Children’s Haven website, although additional handling fees are deducted from your donation:

www.africanchildrenshaven.org

Please visit the African Children’s Haven website to find out more about them and their support to children in Africa.

Donating in the UK

We haven’t yet got a UK Agent but you can contact ruthrowan@hotmail.com to get details of a Vumilia Holding Bank Account.

I look forward to hearing from you with any questions or comments,

Sincerely,

Mary McVay

mary@mcvay.us

Walubengo Rodgers: Know me better.

2010-05-23T02:13:00.001-07:00

Dearest friend,

My name is Walubengo Rodgers.

I was born in 24^th October 1992 in Kakoyi village, Malava division, Kakamega North District, with Boaz Martin Walubengo and Beatrice Khagali as my father and mother respectively. I was the second born. My parents separated when I was 11months old. My mother moved back to her father’s place in Kaimosi with me. My older brother Vincent remained with my father.

I grew up under the care of my grandparents. This was because my mother left for Nairobi city to look for her lost fortunes. My Calvinistic grandparents, Mr. And Mrs. Chimano took me to school on 28^th September 1997 at the age of five years. I thank this illiterate old couple who valued education and saw its importance for their small grandchild. They also raised me in the Christian way of life by introducing me to the church. I spent my childhood helping around the farm .I grazed cattles in the Kaimosi forest, swept the compound and helped in cultivating around the farm. For fun I swam in the ice river Golgol.

I worked hard in school because my grandfather advised me that education had the keys to all locked doors. He told me that it had transformed thousands from feeble backgrounds to well-to-do lives, and that I was no exception; if many had done it, I could do better. These words kept me focused ahead.

I vividly remember in August 2000. It was a very painfully year for me. I had come from school and found grandpa very sick. He was a chronic asthmatic. “Dr. Rogers Thomas” he called me in his bedroom. ‘Rogers Thomas’ was the name he liked. “How was school….?” He struggled between lines. “I hope it was good. Dr. Thomas work hard in school. If you do well in school, you will be a doctor. I want you … to…. become a doctor,” he struggled to finish. I never knew this was our last conversation. I left to fetch water from the river only to find, on my return, the compound filled with wailing women and men who shook their heads. Their wise “Likuru” (village elder) had passed on, God rest his soul in peace…. I was now left under the care of my grandmother. Grandma had impaired vision, however she tilled land to put food on the table.

I worked very hard in school despite all the challenges. I was forced to do most homework during games time before we broke for home. The main reason being grandmother could not afford to be buying paraffin on most occasions. The burning desire of wanting to change things around me gave me the strength. It increased my unquenched thirst for education. The sight of smiling teachers like Mr. Inganji kept one going even after not having anything to call a meal the previous night. I stayed with my grandmother until 2004 when she breathed her last. It was stressful. Loosing such a woman is no man’s joke. My uncle stepped in as the next caretaker.

I reiterate on the fact that I worked very hard in school. I reached class eight. I stepped up my game because I wanted to join the prestigious Alliance High School. I did not disappoint anybody when the results were released. It was my defining moment as I shed tear that reminded me of the hard struggle and my late old grandparents. I had attained 411 points out of the possible 500.

Celebrations did not last long because a threat laid a head. Now I had performed well. Who could pay my school fees? Justice Aganyanya, who happened to be working hand in hand with the Quaker Church to sponsor the school, had made a promise. He had promised that whoever could score 400marks and above, he would take care of the rest of his education. Deep in his heart he was convinced that no single genius from the little known Kisasi Primary School could attain such marks.

One of the many problems our beautiful country is facing is that politicians and influential people in the society give promises and pledges that they do not live to honour. That was the case with our only Justice. When the headtecher approached him with the my results he was puzzled: “I am sorry but Walubengo Rodgers is not a Tiriki. I cannot pay fees for somebody who will go and help other people”, he smiled.

I hate tribalism and any other vices related to it. Since then I have vowed to help everybody whenever I am in a position to do so, irrespective of their age, gender, colour, race, tribe clan or whichever scales of social stratification.

This was a very big blow to my uncle and me. I had nobody to pay my school fees because my uncle himself had a son at Imusutsu High school who spent the better part of the academic year at home due to school fees arrears. My uncle advised me to go back to my father’s home to seek his advice about the matter.

The following day I was in a tired matatu rolling down to Kakoyi. Pictures of what kind of man I could meet raced through my brain. I was eager to meet this mysterious man in my life whom I had yearned to set my eyes on for years. As fate would have it when I arrived in Kakoyi I was introduced to the thinnest man I had seen in my life. I received the shock of my life when I was told that he was my father. To cut a long, sad story short my father was on his ailing bed. The man whose love I had missed was pushed to the wall by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It was sad news to learn. I began my new duties of helping my brother Vincent and grandmother to nurse him. I saw the high school doors being closed before my eyes.

We have a very mysterious God.

As a HIV/Aids victim my father registered with a self-help group called Vumilia. From Vumilia he got anti- retrovirals, counseling and medical care. The organization was under the direction of the soft- spoken Rose Moon as the co-coordinator.

It’s true every misfortune has a fortune clinged it’s tail’s end. My father presented my case to Rose Moon. She listened carefully and you can be sure she was interested.

Rose Moon introduced me to a charitable education trust called EDUMED TRUST that was founded by the Dr. Solomon Mwangi, a reknowned counsellor. Edumed, together with Vumilia, saw me through my high school education. Life is a riddle. Today we are at our best and tomorrow we are very low and down. The only favour we can do ourselves is to get the best out of every situation. I had been discouraged to the point of being brought down to my knees, but there I was full of smiles because I could continue with my education after God sent an angel to me.

SHARE THE DREAM

High school came along with it’s own experiences. I had my good times as well as my fair share of bitter moments. I encountered the computer for the first time. I experienced it as I surfed on the Internet and it took me on a tour of the world. I also enjoyed the wonderful geography trips to the places like the fantastic lake Nakuru. Life started to have a meaning.

On my admission day my father had the following words “Son. A great challenge lays ahead. It is from here that you will be a PhD professor doctor or whoever you will be. Competition is stiff. Focus ahead. Soldiers never look backwards, because they have already conquered it. Make me proud. Be a doctor and help ailing people like myself. I will come to see you on visiting day. Go without looking backwards.”

Two and half weeks after my admission my father died. A man I had longed to spend a better part of my life with; unfortunately the longest time I spent with him was a month. It was very painful as my uncle picked me from school to attend my father’s burial. I still remember how I shed painful tears on that gloomy day as red soil covered daddy. It was indeed a bitter pill to swallow. I felt that the world had gone to a stand still, but wonderful people like Rose Moon reminded me that I had to come in to terms with my father’s death and accept realities the way they were. After all life had to continue.

It was not an easy going in high school but I was also luckily to have good teachers around me. In high school I realized that competition was indeed stiff. I also realized that I was not the best as I thought. High school provided a new platform for the birth of new academic giants. I had to read good to fit into the system.

In my final year at Chavakali something happened that still makes me sad. Meville Kilande had been my desk mate since form one. Melville was a nice guy. He was humble and generous. Whenever I could ran out of my little sugar reserve, he was more than willing to help. Everybody liked him.

He was an asthmatic and the cold of the previous night’s journey back to school had been too much for him. I went to see him in the sick bay and he said “Rodgers I hate some doctors. They don’t take good care of their patients. I know you want to be a doctor. Make a difference in the field.” I promised him to do so, as I went to the dormitory hoping to see him the next day. The next day I woke up with the news of Melville’s death. I had never wept for along time in my life. He was more of a brother than a friend to me. Melville was in the first week of his final year at Chavakali. He died two days after opening day. I promised that given a chance I would be a doctor with a difference.

LIVING THE DREAM

In my final year of Chavakali High school EDEMED TRUST organized for a student’s retreat in Nairobi. This treat worked well on me. I visited the University of Nairobi. It was a place to be. I vowed to work hard for the few remaining days to pursue my medicine course there. I also had the opportunity to visit a number of places around the town and some estates. I envied them. Looking at the smartly dressed young ladies and gentleman; this is where I would like to belong.

HOW BEATIFUL.

Friend, I would like to be a doctor. I would like to pursue medicine at the university of my dream; The University of Nairobi. I would like to spend the rest of my life in wards saving lives. I would like to make a difference. Given the chance I would like to be the most dedicated doctor you will ever meet in the wards. I would like to see mothers go back happily with their children at home. People re-unite happily with their loved ones who are fresh and healthy. A challenge lies ahead. To study medicine at the university an annual fees of 464,500 KSH per annum is required. That’s $5,872.00 USD or £4,058.00 British pounds.

It is not impossible. Friends of Walubengo Rodgers: Let’s live the dream together. Thank you for accepting to support. For sure God will bless you.

Be blessed.

Walubengo Rodgers

US Fiscal Partner – the Africa Children’s Haven

2010-02-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

We are grateful to the African Children’s Haven for supporting Vumilia as one of its projects. African Children’s Haven acts as a fiscal agent for Vumilia in the United States, and is also a great partner. Its founder, Ed Sulzberger, has years of experience in international development and in supporting community-based NGOs.

If you are based in the U.S. and wish to make a donation to Vumilia, please do so using the following details:

1. Make check payable to: African Children’s Haven
2. Write in the subject line: Vumilia Fund
3. Mail to:
African Children’s Haven c/o Mary McVay, Vumilia Fund Manager
641 N. Humphrey Ave
Oak Park, IL 60301

You will receive an acknowledgement of your gift along with a receipt.

You can also donate on-line through the African Children’s Haven website, although additional handling fees are deducted from your donation:

www.africanchildrenshaven.org

Please visit the African Children’s Haven website to find out more about them and their support to children in Africa.

Donating in the UK

We haven’t yet got a UK Agent but you can contact ruthrowan@hotmail.com to get details of a Vumilia Holding Bank Account.

Raphael's Story

2010-02-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

Raphael is 19 years old. He met Michael, my youngest son, 3 years ago while playing football at a local club where young people play every Saturday.

Hear the Voice of Michael:
“I met Raphael playing football at the club. One day after the match, while walking to get a bus home, I asked Raphael which bus he was getting and he told me that he wasn’t getting in any bus but walking towards town. Town was 15 kilometres from where we played football. I tried to inquire from him where his exact home was but he wouldn’t tell me. I asked him if he was going to have lunch with me before heading to where he was going but he said no. Quickly, in my mind, I thought: maybe he has no bus fare or money for lunch. I insisted and bought him a soda and chips. We said Goodbye until next Saturday which was the only day in the week we normally met.

The following week we met, and after the Game, Raphael started walking to where he was going. I decided to try and find out more about him. We sat at the road-side for 3 hours and he told me the following:

I have no Home and I sleep on the street and eat whatever I beg from people or from the dustbin. I have parents but they kicked me out after finishing primary education. My father told me to get out of the house and go and look for a Job.

I learned more about Raphael, and the struggles he was faced with, and we become greater friends. Every weekend I made sure that I fed him with the money that my Mum was giving me for lunch. Every Saturday I walked him to the street where he slept, then got the bus home, reaching home tired and very hungry. I never told my mum anything about it when I got home. Raphael used to ask me to share his lunch but I refused, telling him that I would eat at home. My mum began to get worried about why I came home every Saturday very tired and hungry. One day I decided to tell her that I had a friend that I helped to buy food, and I asked whether she would like to meet him.“

Rose’s Meeting with Raphael
Michael asked me to meet with his friend, and I asked him to bring him home after the game on Saturday. When I met with the Raphael he looked tired, dirty, displaced and hungry. I found out that he lived on the street begging from people and doing jobs carrying things like vegetables and fruits for traders, taking the stock to different locations in the City by carrying them on his back. At times he was paid 50ksh (50p/75cents) and used the money to buy food, and at other times people promised to pay him and never did.

I asked him what he wanted, or if there was any help he wanted from me, and he told me straight away that he wanted to go back to school. It’s very rare for a street child in this country, who has been on the street for more than 2 years, to say that they want to go back to school. After the meeting we agreed that I would pay for a small place for Raphael to stay and I gave him money to look for the place, while I looked for the school which would take him.

It took me 3 months looking for a school. Many schools refused him because he had been out of school for 2 years and because he was a street boy. They thought his behaviour might influence other students. I visited 5 schools which refused him, and finally I went to the 6th one. They asked why he had been out of school and I told them the same story but they too refused. I tried to convince them to take Raphael by telling them what he can do; play football and do odd jobs. I begged them to give him an interview and see what he can do but they refused. While I was standing there, still talking to the school principal, there was a bus full of students leaving to go and play football at another school. The principal asked him to get into the bus that was leaving for the football game, and I was told to wait for 2 hours until the bus returned. I did not know whether they were going to take him and wondered why they had refused to give him an interview but asked him to join the other students to go and play football.

After 2 hours the bus drove through the gate, the students were happy and singing. They came out of the bus hugging Raphael, and came over to where I had parked my car wanting to know when Raphael was going to join the school! The principal came over, and the students told him that Raphael had scored 3 goals and they had qualified for the district finals. When the headmaster heard of this he called me aside and told me to bring Raphael to start school in 3 days. Raphael never sat for class interview but was taken in by the school because of his skills in football.

For his first term in school they teachers were suspicious of Raphael. They kept on thinking that he would not make it, and could be influencing other students to take drugs. The prefects were assigned to watch over him and his movements. In the first term examination he was second last in a class of 50 students but Vumilia staff kept on encouraging him, and made sure they gave him every support he needed, and in the second term Raphael started picking up and up. Now he has been the top student for the last 3 years. Raphael joined school 3 years ago and he’s in his final year of KCSE Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. He will be do his final examination this year and thereafter the 2 year course for A levels, or go straight to University.

Raphael’s Background
Raphael comes from a family of 9 children. He was kicked out of the family house by his parents when he finished class 8 (in which he had scored high marks). I have tried to contact his parents to build the relationship with Raphael, but it seems it is not working. At the moment Vumilia has been paying his school fees, and our worry is that when he passes the examination to join University, Vumilia won’t be able to afford his tuition fees.

What have we learned? There’s hope in every child if the opportunity is given. Don’t write street children off, and not all street children takes drugs or engage in maladaptive behaviours.

What do we need for Raphael? A sponsor, or a scholarship, to help him finish his education.

If you feel touched by his story and want to give a gift donation towards his education please contact me.

Home Based Care visit to Dorcas 27.1.10

2010-02-01T07:43:00.000-08:00

Rosemary (left), Dorcas (right, in the pink dress).

Rose and I drive for 20 minutes from the Vumilia base along a very dusty road, following the Home Based Carer Rosemary on the motorbike supplied to Vumilia by Riders for Health.

About 100 metres from our destination, we stop the car and walk down a small path along the edge of a field to a small clearing where Dorcas’s house is situated. It is a traditional mud-built house with a thatched roof.

Dorcas is in her 50’s. She lives alone in her one room home and has HIV/AIDS and suspected malaria. She is malnourished and anaemic. Her husband died, and her one daughter is also sick, so can rarely visit. She has no income and so no way to buy food. She is in constant pain and cannot walk very far unsupported. A Neighbour will occasionally bring her something, but it is usually just tea. For this reason she relies totally on the Vumilia Home Based Carer to survive. We look around the home. It is bare except for a mat on which she sleeps, a three stone fire, and some empty water containers.

Rosemary visits 2/3 times a week and brings porridge and a boiled egg for Dorcas. This is as much as Vumilia can afford to bring, and these visits are keeping Dorcas alive. Rosemary will talk to her, wash her dishes and fetch water for her. Today she asked a neighbour to contact Vumilia to bring her some pain killers because she was in more pain than usual. We go and fetch water for her from a pipe about ½ a mile away, and when we return we wash her dishes for her. After some discussion we find she has a mosquito net in the house which we erect for her over the mats on the floor which are her bed. We help her get up and she comes out into the hot sun for a while.

Rosemary visits up to five clients a day on her bike, carrying out the same supportive role, and often taking medication with her. She normally has to bring food to her clients as they are too weak or poor to feed themselves, and this is even more vital than the ARVs that she brings.

----------------------------------------

The next day Rose returns to Dorcas and takes her to the Hospital, because she is worried about her swollen legs. The Hospital runs blood tests, and Rose decides to house Dorcas at the Vumilia Children’s home to look after her until the results come back. This will allow Dorcas to build her strength, and have a good level of nutrition for the first time in a long time. As I leave she is sitting in the shade at Vumilia helping the caretaker to prepare vegetables.
Vumilia struggle to keep the Home Based Care Programme running. They need money for transport (fuel) and food for their clients, as well as a some contribution to the hard-working volunteers that carry out the service.

This the first post of the Vumilia Blog!

2010-01-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

We are intending this blog to be in addition to the Website http://www.vumilia.org/, which gives a more detailed description of the programmes we run.

Here we plan to add photos, video, updates of Vumiulia news and future plans; so that our supporters and anyone else interested can find out about what is happenning.

This smiling face is Jumillah, aged 9, who lives at the Vumilia Children's home. This Christmas many of the Children wrote thank you letters for the gifts they recieved: