The West, dear John

Ahh its 6:3o AM or so in Amsterdam heading home from Nairobi. I have been throwing Christmas parties for orphanages in Tanzania and Kenya. The disparity of resources and comforts is unbelievable as I settled into my business class seat a few short hours after serving bowls of rice to three hundred HIV orphans in rags. I managed to give them all some clothing and school supplies and get them dancing and singing. I left medicine and pencils and money for food but it will never seem like enough. They sleep on cement floors in their classrooms the delapidated desks and chairs piled a way each night. Two large pots over a wood fire on the roof are the "kitchen" and they eat meals standing up between piles of delapitaqded desks and what not. They wrote me poems and songs and made me drawings which they delivered a bit before my departure and at that point I could barely hold back the tears. The school the other day was a small shack with rocky floor 100 kids with no place to go and two woman with hearts of gold. We gave them a party with juice an I gave them each a cup and a pencil and they clung to them as they ate and colored so not to loose what little they have. the kids never seem to cry or complain.
I have taken lots of photos and hope to make a book on blurb.com to help get them sponsorship.
I also took amazing photos in Rwanda and Egypt. We shall see how it all comes together. We are working on a shool in Egypt to be paid for with Papyrus paper. A very interesting international group has come around that project. French architect, Persian Fresco painter,South African neurologist, Belgian teacher, Egyptian Taxi driver donated land, Me, and a pile of illiterate mothers on the west bank of Luxor.
The Masai teacher is being paid for with bead braclets. One braclet per child per month in school. Any one want to buy a braclet I need to sell 1200 of them. A few of the kids died while I was there as they were left with out water and drank sheap dip. Another of the Masai came down with Typhoid. I saw all the dead Wildabeast on the edge of the river and that night the rains came and I knew it was to late to get word to the villages downstream in Tanzania that the water was deadly. A bit more research revealed that NOTHING had been done to help them. So many small children with huge buckets of contaminated water that they carry miles to their home. By the grace of god one survives here and they smile brightly regardless.
In the slums of Nairobi it is expensive and there are no trade skills to speak of to help them develope trade. We might be able to make a CD of thier songs. It would be so nice just to get the BY GRACE orphans a place to sleep and relax a little. Just outside the door raw sewage runs filled with filthy trash. I saw a small baby sitting in it putting things in her mouth as adults walked by without noticing.I was not allowed out of the car, the slums are dangerous and I am not allowed outside with out a guard. At night I was locked in the house with two guards outside which was very disconcerting. Well obviously I have a bit to process having met thousands of empoverished children in a months time. A dose of antibiotics and a month or so to process this I am sure I will be ready to embrace the challenge . Love daisy