Well, I did say I’d use this to show off about the weather so I had it coming. At the end of last week the heat proved too much, made me sick and as a result I had a three day weekend of mainly flopping around the house feeling pathetic. Everyone was very nice and worried and offered to take me to the hospital, which I resisted. I did manage to haul myself outside on Saturday afternoon to go and meet three other volunteers to visit Karura Forest though, which is just inside Nairobi.
It was actually so nice to be surrounded by green and fresh (still dusty) air and see some space not swimming with faces for a change. Everywhere in Nairobi is so full of people that to see so few all of a sudden is a bit of a shock. I especially wanted to go because I just finished reading Wangari Maathai’s autobiography. Maathai was a Kenyan woman (she died last year) who spent her life campaigning and working for the people and environment she grew up with. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her environmental work founding and growing the Green Belt Movement which you can read more about here. She also led the campaign in the 90’s against public land grabbing in Karura Forest, which is why I was interested to see the land which was saved from more housing development. So it was interesting for those reasons, plus we also saw a couple of monkeys and lots of butterflies.
Every day I discover something else branching out from SMAK. Today, I learnt about the Umeme Sports Club. As I understand it, they were started in 1972 by Angelina's brother to provide a local club for the Ziwani area. The club has in the past had hugely successful sports teams of both sexes, including handball and basketball, at the national and international level. For now though, they focus on football.
Umeme have a wider focus than sport. Their key priorities are sport (obvs), education and health. Built into the core values of the club are the importance of working hard at both football and a second passion. It isn't important what the second thing is, but Umeme feel it is important for the boys to focus on a second goal and work towards both equally. They have often assisted members in obtaining scholarships for further study and seen former players go as far as the US to continue their education. Health is the third factor, and in particular Umeme encourages team members to use the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) service provided free by SMAK.
I've started building a picture of what SMAK is all about, although I haven't seen any of the rural projects yet. Single Mothers Association of Kenya really doesn't cover it. SMAK works with all members of the local community, male and female, young and old. There are so many offshoots from SMAK, all doing different work with various groups, but they all have in common the same non-judgmental and welcoming atmosphere which hopefully will continue to attract those who can really benefit from such an environment. SMAK don't give hand outs or freebies, they build relationships and work with the community to raise aspirations and the chance to build positive futures.
Today I also took photos of all the staff for the upcoming SMAK site. I attempted to take photos of the toddlers in the child care center but they were not amused by me or my camera so I think I'll have to go back a few times to train them to smile :)
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