Update from Kenya

This is a roadside cafe near the town of Naivasha in Kenya where me and my friend Njaaja stopped for tea last October. I saw the very same cafe on the website of CNN last week ... only this time it was the scene of people being beaten with sticks.

It is a very different Kenya right now that the one I visited in the fall. Hard to believe that things can change so fast.

I've been getting updates from my new friends .. ironically I haven't heard anything from the journalists I met ... likely too busy getting the story out there in the big media to communicate one-to-one. I would guess that those working for Kenya Broadcasting Corporation are fine .. busy, but fine.

I was more concerned about Leah, my friend who works at the radio station in the Korogocho slum. I hadn't heard from her in a while .. I was very relieved to hear back from her last week that she is fine. She is working on a story that we're not hearing about ... rapes and violence against women that are happening as a direct result of the current conditions.

And of course I have been even more worried about the 74 children in the Njaaga's Hope Child's Home. At first, the violence wasn't near the home so I wasn't so worried. Now it has moved closer in, and the village close to the home has had incidences of violence. Thanks to Fran, a woman here in Canada who is in constant contact with them, I am getting regular updates.

A few days ago it looked like the kids were going to be moved to Nairobi. There are now 90 of them ... James and Lucy, the two Kenyans who started the home, have taken in 16 more kids ... all between the ages of 3 and 5. Their parents were killed in the violence when they took refuge in a church. It was then was torched and they burned to death, leaving all these babies ... a blessing that the babies weren't with them in the church ... but so tragic and horrific that so many more children are being orphaned .. as if the AIDS epidemic wasn't enough to cope with.

So we just wait for news ... the other children I am concerned about in all of this are my two nieces Elizabeth and Emily. Just before Christmas their family decided to sponsor a child from the orphanage. Having friends in Africa is really a big thing in their lives ... they are sponsoring a boy named George and they wrote them letters before Christmas. My sister Lori and I have had many discussions about how much to tell her kids .. who are only 12 and 8.

Lori had a talk with Elizabeth, who's 12. She is a very sensitive little soul and is carrying around some sadness about all of this. And some fear too. I feel some responsibility for this ... I was the person who introduced my nieces to these children in Africa. And if anything happens to them, this will be a very difficult life lesson... and that I was the one who inadvertently brought this into their lives.

Somehow it's different to bring messages to "the masses" than it is to bring them to those within our small circles of family and friends. We don't ever know what kind of impact our stories bring in the greater world ... I can see clearly how the stories shared with my immediate circle has created awareness and change.

I have to constantly remind myself that we can't ever totally control the impact of our words. Telling stories and sharing them with the world requires a great deal of faith that our words will have the impact and results that we intend.

In this case, even if something bad does happen, Elizabeth will be fine even though it will be hard. And despite the gloomy tone of this piece of writing, I do have faith that the children will not be harmed. I'll keep you posted.

Word from Kenya

I got a message back from James of the Children's orphanage that I visited in October. I sent him an email asking how everybody is because I was worried. Here's what I got back:

Jambo Victoria,

I am well as well as my family together with the extended family (the kids.

The political situation is quite volatile at the moment but the children are safe right now.

The skirmishes have now caused the delay of reopening of the schools. we
are trying to manage though the prices of commodities have gone very high
thereby causing lots of anxiety as to what tomorrow will bring.

my business is not doing very well following the political instability in
our country.

thank you so much for your concern. It feels much better to know someone
out there is watching us.

Best regards

james.

Ten things you didn't know about me ...

A few of my friends have started the new year writing about the things people didn't know about them. So I thought I'd join the fray. Here goes:

1.) Everybody called me "Vicki" until I was 25. (when I was really little, it was "Vicki Lynn".) When I moved to Vancouver I decided to adopt the more regal version of my name.

2.) I changed majors several times in University -- I started in philosophy until I realized that there aren't many jobs out there for philosophers. I also have 3/4 of a music degree. My official degree is in Communication Studies.

3.) I spent a week living with the Moonies in rural Wiltshire in England. That's when I knew I was indoctrination proof ... they were glad to see me go because I kept correcting them on their theology. And morning wakeups at 6 am by a woman with a thick accent, singing John Denver songs accompanied by bad guitar playing .. a rare form of torment indeed.

4.) I am Catholic by choice. People who were born into the Catholic faith think I am crazy .. especially since I am a feminist and Catholic. I sometimes wonder why I did that, but I still stick by my decision. Some days more than others. I do not like this current pope and I didn't think much of the last one either.

5.) All branches of my family settled in Essex County no later than 1830. The earliest branch of the family, the Delauriers, arrived somewhere around 1775. There is a museum in Point Pelee National Park called Delaurier House, the original family homestead. Our roots go deep in the flat soil of the most southern part of Canada.

7.) I've always wanted to play in a band .. I did it when I was in my 20's .. would like to do it again. Anybody want to join me?

8.) I once shared a house with 2 crazy blacksmiths, two dogs, several horses and 25 guns. I even learned how to shoot. (The horses weren't in the house, they were in the barn). I even carried my house-mate's M-16 when we went shooting groundhogs (I'm a pacifist so I didn't kill any. Never will ..)

9.) I lived in a very primitive artist warehouse in Toronto that used to be a coffin factory. We sublet it from a man who was the current boyfriend of Anne of Green Gables (Meaghan Follows). We had the only loft with its own private bathroom .. everybody else shared the one down the hall with the people who lived under the Bathurst street bridge.

10.) I was immortalized on the CBC Radio comedy show "Double Exposure" in the '80's -- the character "Victoria Penner, small but vital reporter" was named after guess who ...

This is hard work ... I think I've gotten a bit too ordinary in recent years ...