Today I was off to my first SAWA meeting. Even though I was introduced by Elsabe she
wasn’t attending this meeting as she was currently holidaying in Mombasa but I
was lucky enough that Kelly was going and at her suggestion, we go
together. Which worked out well for me
as it was a cheaper taxi fare to her place than to Karen and then I also go to
arrive with some-one which makes a big when you don’t know a single soul at a
function. Every month there is a theme
for the meetings, which we use that term loosely as there isn’t a lot of
meeting stuff as such rather more socializing than anything else. This month’s theme was Puppies and Pasta
where we were to bring a dog toy or dog food for one of the SAWA charities, the
KSPCA and there was going to be a cooking demonstration by an Italian caterer
to show us how to make fresh pasta.
SAWA is a non-profit organization of women who
volunteer their time, energy and love in order to give back to the communities
of their host nation. As a group of mixed Nationalities predominantly South
African, they understand the challenges and opportunities facing women living
their life as an expatriate and they try provide the necessary assistance and
support to help newcomers settle into Kenya. They are also
committed to improving the lives of their members, and their families, by
way of various networking and socializing events. They have a dedicated committee who work
tirelessly to create successful fundraising events which enable them to help
the various charities they support.
There are 2 big fundraisers a year, 2 big families days along with other
various social events throughout the year plus the monthly meet ups as
well. SAWA have a
dedicated committee who work tirelessly to create successful
fundraising events which enables us to help the various Charities we support.
Every year the newly appointed committee selects 3 main Charities that they support
and specific tangible goals are set for each. The charity
coordinators then work hand in hand with the teams to achieve these goals. The charities that are being supported for
2013 are:
The Mukuru Outreach Kenya is SAWA’s aim is to turn the Mukuru Outreach day
care centre into a safe, warm and stimulating environment with basic essentials
like floor matting, cots, mattresses, books and toys. It is a community based organization run for
the community by the community. SAWA
took on the responsibility for upgrading both the day care and the computer
centre as part of their 2012/2013 commitment to Mukuru Outreach Kenya.
Mji wa Huruma is a home for the aged. Currently Mji wa Huruma has a population of 47 elderly persons who are from poor
backgrounds with no known attached relatives. SAWA hopes to work closely with
Margaret and her staff in achieving their dreams and making the lives of the
elderly more comfortable and enjoyable. Mji
Wa Huruma is a city council managed old age home in Runda and the elderly men
& women have no family to take care of them. SAWA have committed to helping
them refurbish their kitchen, buy them two cows and furnish their empty dining
hall.
Wings of Compassion is a rescue home for teenage girls
who become expectant as a result of rape, prostitution, early sexual
relationships and/or drug abuse. Dorcas
and Danshire started the home to provide a safe environment for these young
girls in order to get them off the street or out of their bad situations. They
provide shelter, food and love but they also help restore hope to these
teenagers through one on one counselling sessions, giving them a chance to go
back to school, offering technical skills and becoming care givers to their
babies thus empowering them to reach their destiny. SAWA have committed to helping them purchase
their own land as currently the home is established on leased land – the long
term vision is to re-establish the home on their own land and build an
education centre to provide education and training to the girls which will
empower them to become self- sufficient and able to care for their children.
So a lot of very deserving charities that I will be very
happy to associate with. I was to be at
Kelly’s for 9am, and because Nairobi traffic can be so unpredictable, Steve
picked me up at 7.30am to be on the safe side.
I would always prefer to arrive early than late any day and as it worked
out we did arrive early at 8.30am. I had
Kelly draw me a mud map of where she lived, even though I had been to her place
once before, there was no way I was going to remember where it was, especially
as the last Elsabe and I were chatting and I paid no attention to where we were. As I had arrived so early I didn’t want to
impose the extra 30 minutes on her, so Steven and I sat in the car and just
chatted for the 30 minutes until it was time for me head up to her apartment,
which was a good thing because when I got to her apartment she was running a
little late from yoga, so I am glad I didn’t put that pressure on her. I couldn’t even remember what apartment
number she was and after telling the reception people she was 302 and them
telling me no she wasn’t, I had to make a call to her to ask her apartment number,
which was 308 (close) I was permitted to go up.
We left Kelly’s place not long after and we stopped at
her local shopping centre, which was good for me as I was empty handed for the
puppies and Kelly needed to get something as well. So we bought a 5kg bag of dried food and 4
tins of wet dog food and then we were on our way. I initially wanted to get a kilo of dog
bones, which I tried to get on Tuesday on my food shopping day, but my butcher
didn’t have any at the time. But in
hindsight I am glad I didn’t as the bones are going to really feed any of the
resident dogs and I think actual food would be far better than a bone. Again, with traffic, we left with plenty of
time to get to the Purdy Arms in Karen, which again we were early-but there is
a garden centre right next door to the carpark, so we parked-we were the very
first to arrive, that is how early we were and Kelly was able to buy a new
rosemary plant, have it planted in a beautiful massive clay bowl (with enough
room for her other two herb plants) and with compost and it was ready for
collection after the meeting for a grand total of 2000KSH (24AUD). I would love to ‘jazz’ up my back court yard
with plants and I have seen some lovely deck chairs by the road ‘furniture’
markets’ and I think that would be perfect for the back, but there is no point
doing any plants etc… until I get back from Australia in December. It seems there is a lot of things I am
putting on hold till them, but it makes perfect sense.
So by the time we finished at the plant nursery we were
right on time. So we walked the 200m
back to the Purdy Arms and they had set up dining chairs under a massive tree
outside and there were outside heaters with a teas and coffee table set up,
some beautiful desserts on another table with some small snacks. I was introduced to ladies, ladies, and more ladies
and they all seemed really nice. We had
to sign in and pay 300KSH (3.20AUD) to cover the coffee and cakes and I asked
about becoming an ‘official’ member and I was given another form and with a
payment of 1000KSH (12AUD) for the year, I am now an official member. I apparently get a membership card with my
name on it at the next meeting and I feel like I have found a great group of
women. A lot of them are older than me,
probably 75% of them a lot older than me, but the women I spoke to on the day
were very interested in what got me to Nairobi and they were all shocked and
told me how brave I was, which was sweet.
I didn’t get to meet them all as there would have been over 30 women
there, but I’m looking forward to meeting more ladies next month.
Today was for the KSPCA (Kenya Society for the Protection
and Care of Animals). And we were lucky
enough to hear a small talk from one of the very, very dedicated people who
work at the KSPCA and is also a member of SAWA.
Her name was Jean Gillchrist and she has been with the KSPCA for
over 20 years & has gained a reputation throughout Kenya as
simply 'the woman who loves animals'! This reputation is well earned as
many of us found out. This year, the
Queen of England awarded her an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in
recognition of all her work towards building the KSPCA up from a tiny operation
of 3 people to the great success it is today. She is tireless and dedicated
towards working with the people of Kenya, educating, leading and encouraging
them to treat animals with the respect deserved of any workforce a well as
running the rescue & homing operations of this ever growing organization. I asked her later how many animals they
currently had and there are 230 currently in their care.
The KSPCA is the only charitable animal welfare
organisation in Kenya that deals for the most part with domestic animals. It
evolved over the years, starting sometime after 1910 when some ladies took pity
on the oxen bringing goods into Nairobi from the surrounding districts. The
Society as an official body started in Mombasa. At that time it was known as
the East African Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Nairobi
followed suit shortly afterwards. The first available minutes of meetings were
recorded in 1925. Initially the society seemed more concerned with rabies
control, the inspectors’ main task being to shoot stray dogs. As more people began to take an interest in
animal welfare the Society’s emphasis, though short of funds, started
changing to the rescue and treatment of animals. The Society started expanding when it was
left a legacy in 1983 and a plot was bought in Karen, where the Headquarters is
today. For the first time kennels and a small cattery were built and the work
was able to expand. The two Inspectors at that time employed, went to UK for
training with the RSPCA, the Donkey Sanctuary and the Humane Slaughter Society
to learn about humane slaughter. Now
there is a staff of 17 employees.
Because of the manner in which the Society has grown, and
the fact that as they became better known, the main part of their work is
rescue and rehabilitation with teaching being done at the source of the
problem. In a developing country funds are not as readily available for animals
as there are so many human problems. They help the poor where they can,
to manage their animals better, so that there is mutual benefit. Because of the
nature of their work and lack of funds they have not been able to establish a
good education programme. School groups come go to their headquarters but they
lack a proper facility to give them the education that is needed. They firmly
believe that education of the young is the way forward as far as raising the
standards of animal care is concerned in the future. In the last twenty years they
have seen an encouraging change in attitudes to animals, though there is still
a long way to go.
For an average month at the KSPCA there are:
Investigations – 60
Visits to slaughterhouses country wide – 15
Calls to rescue and treat donkeys around Nairobi area
- 8 per week
Number of dogs rehomed per month - 45 to 50
Number of cats rehomed per month - 20
Average number of dogs in the shelter - 120
Average number of cats in the shelter - 50
Average number of donkeys in shelter - 10
Average number of dogs neutered – 40
bitches, 10 males
Average number of cats neutered - 25 to 30
females, 20 males
Average admission of dogs - 60 to 80
Average admission of cats - 30
As Jean mentioned, it is hard to get funding when there
are so many humanitarian issues and they get a large source of the revenue, so
the KSPCA appreciate every single schilling, tin of food, bone or toy
donation that comes through their doors
and what an amazing woman Jean is and the perfect advocate for the Kenyan
animals.
The rest of the morning went well with the demonstration
of the pasta making session. It was
hosted by an Italian lady that has settled in Nairobi and runs a catering
business for functions. She was really
nice and made the art of fresh pasta making look easy, and I bet I will never
be able to recreate what she made look like a walk in the park. Adriana also mentioned that she has never
seen a proper ‘Italian’ lasagne made here in Nairobi-ever, at any
restaurant. But that is coming from an
Italian where I am sure some of us would not really know the difference.
Kelly and I decided to leave at 12 noon as we had one
more stop to do before I was to be collected at 2pm back from her place and
that was at her ‘iron man’ guy. It’s
funny, everyone has a couch guy, a carpenter, a driver guy, a car guy, a visa
guy, you name it people have someone that they use and recommend. So today we were seeing Kelly’s ‘iron guy’
and as the name would suggest he makes things out of iron. She had previously had
made a towel rail and after we visited her place last week, Elsabe fell in love
with said towel rails and wanted some made by ‘Kelly’s iron guy’. Kelly also had a new project and she had drawn
up a design to hang up her necklaces, made of course of iron, and I could do
with one of those, so we stopped and placed an order for 3 towel rails at
2500KSH (30AUD) and 2 necklace rails at the same price and they will be ready
for collection in 3 days. Kelly
mentioned that we were more than happy to wait to get a good job and not a rush
job, so we said how about Wednesday which gave him nearly a week. Where the ‘iron man’ is located is along
Ngong Road there are a lot of carpenters, furniture makers, wicker furniture
and clay pots and garden shops, just along the side of the road and located in
sheds. We took a walk around to have a
look and there are some beautiful pieces of furniture out there, it is a shame
that I can’t squeeze another chair, table or piece in my apartment, but then
maybe that is a blessing in disguise? I
did manage to find a large pot, like a meter tall, that was hand painted with
an African scene on it and I got it for a great price and I asked him not to
give me a mzungu price and he said 1800KSH and I thought that was a fair price
and didn’t even bother to bargain with him.
We made it back to Kelly’s place only 10 minutes late
where Steve was waiting for me and with a wave and a hug, I said thanks to
Kelly for a great day and that we would catch up next week when Elsabe gets
back from Mombasa. I have been super
lucky and found a special group of women and for this I am eternally grateful
AND I’m now a member of my first women’s group and what a great feeling that is.
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