interesting shoot today

there was some filming for the "road to punda milia today". i was chatting with iratxe who is currently in molo and was sitting there with sam and lucy at the time and i asked her to ask them a question - after some detail as to why and some set up for the question she used her camera (a point and shoot - with video option) to ask them about the extra money i have been sending. not much really - $120 a month more then before - but it's money i'm able to send because i have cut back on some of my coffee consumption each month. not a big sacrifice. but we'll see how this small sacrifice on my part pays off in molo. i won't know till i see her footage. i'll have to give her a a credit for filming now :)

organizing my thoughts

one of the things my friends covered at sxsw was how to approach the editing. i'm going to start by editing the individual stories first and then assemble/figure out the bigger picture. it makes a lot of sense as i have so much content and so many stories it's just hard to know how or if it all fits. i'm going to start with all things related to Molo Kenya.

this makes sense as Molo is the key to everything. if we can fix Molo the effect on the local region and well beyond is staggering. Molo sits in the Rift Valley and the Rift Valley is some of the most fertile land on the planet. it's akin to what we call the bread basket here in the midwest of the US. i interviewed the tribal chief of molo and he told me that when the rift is working they can feed all of Kenya, Uganda, South and Middle Somalia, large portions of Ethiopia, Northern Tanzania and Southern Sudan.

A Botox Party

I was at a Starbucks last week and there were three woman there having a business meeting. One was the owner and the others managers of a salon. The conversation was of who they may let go, how to increase skills and fees, what kind of waxes, hair extension training/equipment and finally the planning of a Botox party.

My own excesses over a half a lifetime leave me no room to be critical or in anyway judgmental (I did say I was at Starbucks). But the contradiction of having seen children starving last summer (hair turning red due to malnutrition) and the excesses we reach in our everyday lives is astounding. It's all around us - great absurdity. It's everywhere - and I'm as guilty as anyone else - I'm working hard to change myself. It's going to be one of the themes in the Punda Milia film for sure.

I know life isn't fair, but still - people can be fair. As individuals we can choose to be fair.

Bullets points on my time in Kenya

I went to Molo, Kenya to volunteer at the Chazon Children’s Centre here’s what happened:

I met some incredible people whom I now love deeply.

I met 72 kids who loved nothing more then to be close to me.

I met and interviewed a brilliant man running for the Kenyan parliament – who is very courageously opposing the massive corruption that grips Kenya.

I was kidnapped on my first day in Kenya.

I went into Casino and filmed Molo’s slum.

I saw kids whose hair was reddish brown for lack of nutrition.

I saw many kids walking around the debris and rubbish with no shoes.

I saw men drinking a locally brewed illicit drink meant to intoxicate in a matter of minutes.

I saw the shallow roadside ditches where these same men sometimes pass out in only to drown in a few inches of rainwater.

I met a couple (the directors of Chazon) who have sold their own profitable businesses, sold much of their own property and sacrificed themselves to try to get kids off the street.

I preached at a local black Pentecostal church.

I met other IVs from the UK, Spain, Canada and the US.

We hauled hundreds of gallons of water up two flights of stairs every two to three days.

We lost electricity regularly.

I ate like African royalty, we had meat often (mostly lamb) and I was introduced to African tea. It’s amazing stuff and an important cultural activity.

I introduced my African hosts to American Tea and made sure we always had some on hand – they loved it! Coca-Cola

Welcome to the "The Road to Punda Milia" blog.

This is so-over due. It's hard to even know where to start! I could have started more then a year ago when a good friend let me know she wanted to volunteer in Africa. I could have stared from when, after being rejected at Watoto Wa Baraka, a few days later Lucy Njenga started to pursue me to go to Molo and serve at Chazon. It could have started the day I boarded a plane for Africa or the day I returned.

Instead it starts today - nothing special about today :), other then I'm finally getting this going.

There have been so many important milestones reached already. The website launched! chazonAfrica.org

This was perhaps my most important role as a volunteer, to gather information, photos, content and an understanding of the situation and culture of the Chazon Children's Centre, of life in Molo Kenya and to come back and build a website for Chazon.

I plan on this blog being about the film, the volunteers and the organizations in Africa that are committed to making life there better.