The big city

So I'm in Nairobi right now and I really don't like it. There are so many people and it's so crowded and crazy and congested. The traffic is unreal at all hours of the day. I'm visiting my homestay family from when I was here last year, so I am excited about that.

The past few days in Kisumu were very promising. I went to the KYFA (Kisumu Youth Football Association) office, which is the organization I worked with last time I was here, and I gave them a huge bag full of soccer balls and another full of uniforms. They were beyond excited! So they asked me to help with a few projects they're involved in. Possibly starting a football academy and helping to promote their org within the community. Should be really interesting..

Thursday I visited an organization right in town called HOVIC. I can't remember exactly what it stands for but it's a drop-in center for street kids. So the kids, mostly boys, who live on the street come to HOVIC in the morning and they get breakfast and then they have lessons in an informal school setting for a few hours and then they are given lunch. After this, they return to the streets where they spend the rest of the day usually begging and they sleep on the streets. HOVIC does some work with repatriation of the kids and trying to find out where they're from and why they left. They offer counsellors and social workers for the kids to talk to. Almost all of the kids do drugs, usually sniffing glue, opium or marijuana. So when they come to the center they have to leave the drugs outside so they are clean while they're in the center. Remember most of these kids are between 9 and 15.....

HOVIC works with Pandipieri, the org I'm working with because they refer kids to Pandi where they are given a place to stay for a few months before attempting to reintegrate them back into their communities. So as you can imagine, it is really challenging work for the staff and volunteers there, but I think it's rewarding because street children are so marginalized in society here. So hopefully I will be able to volunteer at the center a little bit and get to know some of the kids. They are also having a sports day for street children in a few weeks and I'm helping to organize that. The boys will be able to play soccer and have a meal and just have a really good day.

I'm back in Kisumu on Monday, so I'm going to try to enjoy Nairobi for the next 2 days... :-)