Part 2: Back on the road (the informative part)

When we arrived at in Kwale, it was a quite a reunion! We were so happy to see Terry again! She and Paul are such wonderful friends. We got to spend the day with Terry, Paul, their 15 month old son Dave, and two babies from the infant care center, Riziki and Swahip. Riziki is also called Jameelah, and Swahip is also called the Notorious B.I.G. 

I didn't realize this until we arrived, but Terry's home is adjacent to the infant center. The two buildings are so close that they basically form one unit. She spends her days with the infants more often than not, when she is not managing the Vocational Center or the activities at Pamoja. 

For those of you who don't know or need a refresher, here is a quick explanation: 

We met Terry on our second trip here. We instantly had a profound respect for her incredible work ethic and the results that her projects generate. She is Kenyan, she has a degree in community development, she has lived and worked in the Kwale district for 10 years, and she speaks swahili, chadigo, and english. These are all qualities that work in concert with her kind heart, charasmatic personality, and vision to help the digo people. We could not ask for a better partner to help us accomplish our goals.

Terry and Paul run several impressive and successful projects out of 3 centers. 

• "Pamoja Center" houses a children's nursery school for orphans and disadvantaged children in the community. The kids receive an education superior to the public schools as well as 2 cooked meals every day (many of these kids would not have access to food otherwise). The center also houses micro-financing programs that assist women in starting their own self-sustaining businesses. 
  
•  "The Vocational Training Center" offers a two-year certification program in sewing (sponsored by VCF).  The certification is governmentally approved and the women are placed into jobs at the end of the program. There are also carpentry classes at this center. These are sustainable, community-led efforts to develop life skills for members of the Digo community, particularly in the village of Vuga. 
  
•  "The Infant Center" is house for babies born to VERY young mothers (14-15 years old). The goal of the house is to provide long term care to the infants while the mothers go back to finish school. This program is unique because the mothers do not have to GIVE their baby to an orphanage or put them up for adoption. Rather, the infants are given proper care and nutrition while the mothers finish school AND come to the center to visit their child and learn how to care them. Eventually, once the mothers are ready and willing, they will resume the responsibility of raising the child. So far, this program is working beautifully. The case of Swahip, illustrates this well. When he arrived at the center, he was severely malnourished and his mother did not know how to care for him at all (she is 15 years old). Over the next few months, Swahip started gaining weight and moving around like a little kid should. He started to grow hair (he had none before) and eventually became a perfectly healthy baby. Now he is learning to walk and he is constantly smiling and laughing, almost as though he is showing his appreciation for all of the care, attention, and affection. His mother is back in school and doing well. She comes to visit at the center and is developing a close relationship with him while she receives instruction on how to properly raise a child. 
  

We spent the day discussing the details of these projects, talking about our lives, revisiting the past year's major events, and hammering out our vision for what we hope to accomplish in the next 3 weeks.