Sunday, April 18, 2010

On June 7th we - Immanuel Lokwei, Howe Pearson, Matt Hurwit, and Jesse Humm - are embarking on a trip to Northwestern Kenya, to hopefully relieve some of the suffering in our world. Stemming from Immanuel’s knowledge of the problems that face his home community and our shared insights, this is what we are going to do:

1) With the help of village builders (whom Immanuel’s mother knows)
we want to build a traditional relief center for the members of
the village of Kalemng’orok. In addition to creating more employment opportunities in the village, the relief center will provide food to people suffering during hard times. Members of the community are facing especially hard times because of the current droughts. The relief will further offset the problems that have been brought to the village by corrupt businessmen trying to capitalize on the dire situation of the people. People who are starving will be given a chance to regain their strength and their hope. With the money that Immanuel has made from working at the library ($1500), he has already helped his mother start a business that is extremely successful today. This is a testament to the fact that our project is feasible and helpful to the community members of Kalemng'orok.
For problems facing Kalemng’orok and Kenya in general follow this link to a New York Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/africa/08kenya.html
and these youtube videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGfo6SBblRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxG5tP93Lc0

To build the relief center, we are going to hire village constructors who are experienced in creating long lasting houses with locally available materials. We have already been in contact with members of the village who are willing and able to help us with this project. Through this center we will be able to bring food to the village and have a safe place to store it. Because we will have the funds to bring in the food, we will create relationships between urban places and Kalemng’orok so that the village can begin to get food reasonably and safely. Furthermore, through Immanuel’s mother, we have trusted individuals to keep the relief center alive after we have left the village. This will hopefully lead to a sustainable project that will provide relief to the community members for many years. One can think of this relief center much like one would think of a food pantry, and hopefully this service will give the people a much needed helping hand.

2) We are going to be working at an Orphanage called Lewa Children’s Home for two months in Eldoret where we want to help make available necessities such as food, sanitation, second-hand clothes, education, and a suitable place to sleep. This aid will also benefit the Eldoret Street Children, a group of homeless children born in the streets: in Swahili they are referred to as Chokora. Because of the lack of funds, the orphanage doesn’t have enough carrying capacity for these children.

For more information about the orphanage follow this link:

www.africanrelief.org/lewa.html


- $5 buys a Kenyan child books and supplies for a year of education
- $10 buys a Kenyan child a uniform which he/she can use for a full four years plus hammi-downs to a younger sibling- $20 dollar gives a Kenyan child a primary school education for a year including (room and board)
- $50 feeds two children for an entire month


3) With our love of soccer (and the upcoming World Cup), we want to support a peaceful activity in the area by creating a Soccer Club. We will be donating shoes, uniforms, and soccer balls. The Wesleyan Football Club has already helped us gain momentum with a generous donation, but we still need some support to start the club.


Overall we are hoping to raise a total of six thousand dollars, which will give us the opportunity to start these projects which we hope to continue in the upcoming years.
We will be documenting the situation in Kenya and all of our efforts to help. When we come back, we will be pleased if you guys will spare some time to see it. And we are sure that the music and vibrancy of Kenya will inspire us all.

To get the album, please follow this link:
http://musicianshelpinghands.bandcamp.com/