OUR FIRST OUTING WITH THE AMAZING MIRACLE BABIES

So if people don’t know, I have started a small foundation called The Miracle Babies Foundation.  It started with an idea a month ago and I posted a blog entry on how the MB (Miracle Babies) came to form and their background.  The actual blog entry can be found on the supplied link below:

http://berniesafricanodyssey.blogspot.com/2013/08/can-you-help-im-forming-miracle-babies.html

But to give you a quick overview back in 2004 a Kenyan evangelist living in the UK was stealing babies and convincing people in the UK that if they prayed hard enough then a child would come.  It is unclear how Mr Deya and his wife convinced churchgoers that they were pregnant when they were not and how they believed that they had given birth in the backstreet in Kenyan clinics.  British and Kenyan officials say vulnerable church members were convinced that Mr Deya had the power of prayer to make them pregnant although they showed no outward signs.  Desperate women, some past the menopause and others who were infertile, were convinced that being prayed for by Mr Deya and travelling to Kenya would result in a child.  Once there, they were convinced by Mrs Deya and others that they were in labour and taken to illegal clinics where they underwent what they believed to be childbirth.  They say he used trickery to convince women they had delivered babies and the whole thing was an international child trafficking ring.  It is quite shocking the whole story, but when you want a baby so bad, I think people will believe anything.  Well the good news is that Mr. Deya’s scam was busted in August 2004.  There were 9 babies in his care at his private home at the time and after the fall out there were 19 in total that are currently still in the orphanage systems around Kenya.  The shock for me is that Mr. Deya has still to be repatriated back to Kenya to stand trail, NINE years after the fact and in the meantime these children cannot leave the country or be adopted out until the outcome of the case.  It seems extremely unfair, and I feel for the children as they watch other kids get adopted out around them and by no fault of their own they cannot move forward with her life until Deya is back in Kenya and stands trial for the wicked allegations. 

I know I can’t save the world but I would love to make a difference here in Kenya.  There are so many charities, NGO, missionaries, the UN in all its forms, aid workers-you name it Kenya has it and to an extent that maybe there are too many ‘singular’ charities flooding the country and I feel that some of them would be better off joining forces rather than 1000 different small agencies all trying to do the same thing.  But then again, if what they do changes one life, how can you stop the kindness of strangers wanting to help? I just wonder if there is a better method.  Long term people here in Nairobi are a little sceptical of people like me.  Still being an African ‘rookie’, they think that the ‘newbies’ have these rose coloured glasses on and that we have the view that we can change the whole country within 6 months.  They think we want to change the world and because they have been here for a longer period of time, I guess they do see people fly in, do their volunteer time’ and then fly out without as much as a backwards glance.  Well I am certainly not that blindsided and I am starting to see it slowly myself now the longer that I am here, but I do believe that I can make a difference and if people think that is dorky or sad then I think they possibly need to take a long hard look at themselves and shouldn’t be so judgemental. 

So this is where my idea formed.  The Nest has 11 of these Miracle Babies and I wanted to make a small difference in their lives if I could, try and make this stage of their lives a little happier, give them some fond memories of their younger years, then I was by golly going to give it my best shot.  With the blessing of the director I started thinking if there was a way every month that we could organise to take the kids to somewhere new/different.  If they are going to be stuck in their country, why not get them out and about to see their own environment.  I have been knocking around a few ideas and the first outing I was going to take the MB to the cinema.  As they are all different ages and all attending different schools we had to wait for the school holidays to come around that coincided with them all and this week and next week are those weeks.  So I am starting in my own backyard, literally down the road from my place, I was going to help where I could.  After posting the above mentioned blog entry, I had within an hour some very generous pledges from people that were very kind and big hearted, and without checking with them, I won’t mention them by name until I ask if it’s okay with them, but let’s just say that it bought a tear to my eyes that people were so willing so fast to help these children.  Really, it was amazing and blew me away.    

So making hay while the sun shines (I love that saying) I made a date with Irene to bring the 8 children from Limuru Nest on Tuesday (it is around 25 minutes away) and I would meet them at the Baby Nest (Halfway House) with 2 of the other MB children and then we would all head to Village Market to the movies.  I was very lucky that a mzungu supporter of The Nest, who I have made friends with, Sarah, offered to come along to help and then a staff member would accompany the other children from Limuru.  So taking into account TIK (this is Kenya) I decided to head to The Nest a little earlier to see what vehicle arrangements had been made, and just to have some time on my side should we need to arrange anything unforseen.  When I arrived at The Nest I could see the MB playing in the yard and the second they all saw me they came running over calling my name and saying thank-you and I hadn’t even met them all yet.  So I shook all their hand individually, introducing myself and asking their name and I had finally met 10 of the 11 MB.  There is a 13 year old MB, who didn’t want to come today, which is fine, but I will meet him at a later date hopefully.  So I’d like to introduce you to the Miracle Babies and for the sake of their identity, I’m not going to use their full names:

Master G is 6 years old

Miss N is 6 years old

Master D is 7 years old

Miss J is 8 years old

Master J is 8 years old

Miss VR is 9 years old

Miss V is 10 years old

Miss R is 10 years old

Miss M is 11 years old

Master E is 11 years old

Master J is 13 years old

So I think I am slowly getting into the TIK mode for when I got to The Nest, Irene was on an appointment in town and The Nest van was on a home visit with some children-so we had no transport.  I had just told my stand in taxi guy Izak (Steven had an appointment) that he could leave.  I spoke to Irene and she said that we should catch a matatu to Village Market, as it is good for the kids to learn and see how the public transport works and give them a bit of familiarity which is a great idea, but by the time the matatu’s get to the point where we get on they are pretty full and there certainly wouldn’t be enough room for the 12 of us.  I spoke to the office and Rachael had a thought to ring Izak (my 2^nd driver) and see if he could send a matatu down to us empty from Ruaka (which is a change point for matatu’s) which he did and called back with a price of 1000KSH, which is a crazy price as it would normally cost around 200KSH for all of us for a ‘normal’ matatu.  So with time on our side we decided to walk the 15 minutes to Village Market with the kids and we would catch a matatu back as it shouldn’t be as hard later in the day to get a half empty one we could all fit into.  The kids are used to walking as Roberts was telling me that they walk further than what we were doing to church each Sunday.  The concern for me is that there are no ‘pathways’ as such and we were walking along the side of the road with cars, matatu’s (which were full) and trucks just within meters of us.  Roberts and I just tried to keep the kids on the inside of us and it is times like this is would be really handy to have a car and can’t wait to get some wheels next year.         

We got to Village Market Shopping Centre at 11.45am, all in one piece, and with the movies not until 12.30pm, we arrived exactly on time.  I text Sarah to tell her that we had arrived and after meeting her, we made our way to the cinema’s.  While the children went to use the bathrooms I purchased the 13 tickets that we needed to see the movie Despicable Me 2.  Adults and children’s ticket prices were the same cost at 500KSH (6.25AUD) and they didn’t have a drink machine and just the 375ml bottles.  I had in my head that we would share a popcorn and a drink between them, but with time on our side, if we were going to be buying them a bottle, we would go to Nakumatt (supermarket) and buy the drinks cheaper there and then come back for the popcorn as we head into the cinema.  So we did just that with us asking what soft drink the kids wanted, Sarah and I headed into Nakumatt and the cost for 13 bottles of 375ml drinks came to 705KSH (8.80AUD).  Can you imagine buying a bottle of coke for 67c……..  Some things here are so cheap.  We weren’t 100% sure if they would let us take in our own drinks, but we figured it would be worth a try and I would be saying something if they didn’t but we didn’t have to worry, as when we got back we bought 7 popcorns which cost 1050KSH (13AUD) and were then good to find our cinema.  The beauty of coming midweek is that there is hardly anybody in the theatre and when we arrived there was nobody else and we just let the kids sit where ever they wanted as long as they were with their ‘popcorn buddy’. 

I haven’t seen the first Despicable Me, but I tell you the next 98 minutes was a hoot and there were some parts that I couldn’t stop laughing and you could hear Sarah and I laughing and the kids weren’t.  But I think these kid’s movies always have adult connotations through them so that there is something for the adults when they bring the kids to watch these movies (Walt Disney movies are a classic example) and this movie was no different.  I also found out that I LOVE the Minions, they are just the cutest little creatures and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and when the house lights went up I think the kids also enjoyed their outing.  Due to the cost of the movies, we didn’t have enough money in out kitty for lunch at the Village, so we were heading back to The Nest where lunch was getting prepared for them there.  Who would ever have thought that we could get 13 people into a new release movie (in a cinema), 13 drinks, 7 popcorns and transport one way for 104AUD!!!!  Crazy town huh!!!!  We said our goodbyes to Sarah and then headed back onto Limuru Road to see how we were going to go with a matatu to fit all 12 of us.  A few went by, tooting us, asking for a ride, but they didn’t have enough room and the 4rh one stopped and we were able to squeeze us in with some existing passengers and I have to tell you this was the first time I have caught a matatu in my 7 months here and it was quite liberating for me.  It was a little squishy and I am not sure how I would go if I had to travel a long distance in one, but for the 12 of us the total cost was 140KSH (1.75AUD) and the matatu in the morning wanted 1000KSH.  It is a classic example of where mzungu’s get charged more than the locals, which sometimes you just have to suck it up, but we have to draw the line at 9 times more.  So we got dropped off as close as we could get on the main road and then we walked the 10 minutes back to The Nest from there and were back just after 2pm. 

After the kids had eaten their lunch, the afternoon was spent playing on the swings, ball games and getting to know them all a little better.  I am happy to report they all seemed to like me and they all also got a chance to play with my camera and take some photos all afternoon.  They LOVED having their pictures taken and after taking a group shot I did promise them that I would get a printed copy to them all the next time that I saw them.  Irene had also arranged to have an artist come and he sat and spoke to the kids for an hour and drew a portrait of one of them and they were fascinated by him and the drawing.  It was super cool.  He did go round the group at the start and asked their names and where they were from and why they were at The Nest.  Miss J explained to him that they were all stolen when they were babies.  They know their history, even if Miss J story was a little distorted as she kept explaining, but they know the gist and the predicament that they are in.  I did find out that 5 of the older children attend boarding schools. So it maybe a little tricker than first thought about having something every month-not impossible, but a little trickier and with that in mind and while we do have them all together, I am planning on taking them bowling next week, it is September then anyway, to squeeze in another event before they head back to school and I also before I leave for West Africa.  I am going to ask if Sarah will take the October event for me and then I am back in November for a week, so I can do that one and then they have Christmas events organised with The Nest for December and then I am back in January.  I did promise them that I would go out to Limuru next week to see them all and see where they live and I do intend to keep in constant touch with them all. 

So it was a successful day, the kids are amazing.  They are very bright and they were ecstatic that there are people in Australia that are happy to help them all the way over here in Kenya.  So again I want to thank the people who have pledged money for these children and if there is anyone else who wants to contribute money, please get in touch with me, as I can send you picture’s, give you receipts and know that your money will 100% will go towards The Miracle Babies Foundation.  If you have kids, please think about these children who cannot be adopted out and are stuck in limbo as the babies and children around them are given a chance with new families.  If we can help them to have some good memories in this chapter of their lives, then I believe that we need to give this a shot.  I paid for the movies out of my own pocket, but if I can get some financial help for the ensuing months you can be supremely confident that the money will be put to proper use, it will be greatly and deeply appreciated and know that you will be making a MASSIVE difference to these children lives.  Think about these children, who have no control over their own fate and take a second to stand in their shoes.  It’s humbling isn’t it?  This stuff isn’t out of a book, it is real life, it is happening in our world, in our decade. 

CONTACT: schmackers2@hotmail.com