Building a School in Kenya

Thank you for all your visits to our blog...we are in the process of setting up the appropriate channels to build a school in Kenya.  Here is a brief summary and we hope you will visit often to see where we are at with our hummanitarian work.  Please go back to past blogs to see pictures of our kids and the existing school building they are being schooled from.

• We have set up a council and board of directors in Kenya.  The individuals are all from the village where we will be building.  This idea is mostly the villages' and is 'owned' by them.
• The head woman is 'Momma Helen' who's ten children have all gone to University with two completing their Masters.  No small feat in Kenya! 
• We have completed the blueprints for an eleven room school house and have detailed costs of constructionl.
• We have photos of all 130 kids (give or take) who will need immediate sponsorship.  This affords the children books, uniform, pays teachers, feeds breakfast and lunch and covers off most operational costs.  Currently half the children's parents have died from Aids and the other half have parents that find it very difficult to meet tuition fees.
• We have the directors in Kenya who have secured a NGO status from the Kenyan Government.
• We have people in Kenya working on a web site that we will be able to share links with you soon so you can help.
• The short term goal is to get the kids sponsored with a longer term goal of raising the capital to build the school.  When capital costs have been met I will go back to Kenya to oversee the construction and ensure our dollars hit the ground for maximum impact.
• Lori and I are working on a charitable registration with the Government of Canada.  If you are, however, not in need of a charitable reciept you may send a donation to us at 123 Clare Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3L 1R3.  This money will be wired to Momma Helen and the board for immediate use on urgently required supplies as mentioned above.

I hope you will check back frequently...

My wife Lori and I thank you for your emails and support.  Do it for the kids.

Jim.

Last 30 minutes in Kenya

Hi all. Thought I would share a few thoughts in my last 30 minutes before I board my plane. As you look at the few pictures above, you may think, why would Lori miss Eldoret.  Well this is why I will miss my time in Eldoret, Turbo, Mosoriot and Kenya in general.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Kenya to Canada

After some discussion my beautiful wife Lori and I made the decision to leave Kenya.  With hightened volatility in the region and most likely more violence with the coming "elections" it was time to leave.  Alex and I left for Canada leaving my wife to finish up her work.  It has been about five weeks since landing back home.
It is bitter sweet when one leaves after working in a post election violent region for some nine months.  Yes, we had some wonderful times with safari trips, meeting some of the most incredible and resiliant people one could ever hope to meet.  Friendships made and then you leave.  You leave knowing these people face hardships we can never imagine back home here in Canada.  You can have a little holiday in Africa, but to live there it is truly different.  These people can not just leave for 'greener' pasters, they must carry on in the face of oppressive governments, corruption and overall failed states. Their strength is in their hope.  A hope that others most fortunate can help.
I was depressed when I got home to Canada.  It took some four weeks to clear my mind.  I still see images of small children, women and men who haunt me in my dreams and waking moments.
This was still a privilidge to serve, to instill hope and to go back one day and build a school for some 120 kids in a region of little hope.
I came from a political and business elite family background but was also fortunate to have a good mother and father who eventually instilled enough in me to ground this dissident son.
This experience has changed me profoundly.  I hope and pray that I can get back there some day to help out in a bit better way.
Perhaps universal rights come with universal responsibilities.  How do we who benifit from the wealth of other Nations redistribute back to those in need.  I had a dream the other night where two children from Africa visited me and said "You promised you would return."  Left me cold yet at the same time vigilant to produce an outcome.

HANDS THAT HELP ARE BETTER THAN LIPS THAT PRAY.

God Bless and please visit our web site as we prepare fundraising for an eleven room school.
www.backtobasicscarpentry.com

Rawanda and Around

I travelled from Kenya to Rwanda for my last trip in Africa before heading home.  I visited the Memorial Museum in Kigali and went to one of the church massacre sites in the foothills.  I am very proud to be Canadian and to know General Dallaire did his best to help during the genocide 18 years ago.  The UN failed again, the International Community failed again.  Here are some pictures of the sites I saw.  PLEASE NOTE SOME OF THESE PICTURES ARE VERY UPSETTING.

Evil men

Stained glass window at the Memorial Museum.

Average people like you and I were executed in the most intimate ways utilizing hand weapons.

Many thought they would be safe on church grounds but they were not.  This is the inside of one of the many churches where people sought refuge.

Pictures of survivors were posted on public boards.  In this instance a young girl with her baby brother strapped to her back look in hope for a family member.

This little person did not make it and was hacked to death.

The trauma shows.

More evil men.

Inside the museum there are pictures of loved ones who died.

These pictures go on and on and on by the thousands.

I could only sit and weep.

Blood stained clothes

This one is a Super Man blanket.  Unfortunately there were no heros to intervene.

The skulls show how intimate the violence was.  Over approximately 100 days 330 people were killed per hour.  That is more "efficient" than Nazi Germany's machine.

 

In short over 20% of the population was murdered.  Boutros Boutros Ghali as former Secretary General of the United Nations (1992 to 1996) suppressed information relayed by General Daillare so no intervention would be forthcoming.  It is horrifying to note that this same Secretary General facilitated and arms deal with Egypt to Rwanda in 1990 while he was an Egyptian diplomat.  He was also sided with the French who also supplied arms to the Rwanda government in preparation for the genocide.  It was all planned.

I suppose as we sit here in Canada with our heads up our asses and choose to take no action this will happen again.  I am not blaming as we are all in our own little head spaces but perhaps we need to start looking not just local, provincial and national but also international.

Love most of you.  Try to be kind to one another.