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Jambo Maweni |
Here is the report of Anita Aretz:Dear friends and acquaintances,so, now
unfortunately I am back again from beautiful Africa. My
soul is full of impressions. Head and heart are filled with experiences.
In any
case I want to highlight my meetings with these
marvelous people. They live in miserable
conditions. Their hospitality and cordiality agitated me deeply.
During my stay in
Kenya many of you have already responded to me and helped me locally
with cash or other donations. At least for some people
we managed to relieve their poverty a little. Thanks for
it as well in the name of those who benefited of the assistance. They
live in a suburb of Malindi, a small village named Maweni.
In Germany
many people also wanted to assist me in my help for
these people. I will introduce
you to you a few of this people who I personally learned to value and
respect. Although they
permitted me to photograph them and their really poor
environment I sometimes decided not to intrude into their privacy. To my
mind it was not important to picture their
poverty but to preserve their dignity. In
most cases faith, hope and will were their only possessions,
and therefore my respect for them was unrestricted
and thus I was not able to record their poverty in
photos. We
begin thus with Barke:
She is 16
years old and her largest desire is to attend High School.
The school term begins in January and the school fee of 400 € has to be
paid for one year in advance. Without
assistance she will never have the chance of getting a good education.
She would like to study medicine, with some years of experience abroad
(now of course staying with me in Germany) and then return to
her country to help her compatriots.
She has
understood that her only chance is education. But the
government demands very high school
fees after primary school, so in most cases a better
life remains a dream. Barke's
family:
They live in a
dingy hut. Five children share an are of about 6 square meters, the mother
uses a second one which is not much larger. The roof will collapse in
one way or another, it is only a question of time. The
three existing sleep opportunities urgently need mattresses, there are no
seats. Actually there is nothing at all. Public life takes
place on the loam floor before the rooms . Electricity
and water supplies may remain an unattainable luxury
forever. Despite hardest conditions their hygenic conditions were exemplary. It
lacks everything: food, house equipment, clothing and
education. Priska
and her children:
Despite these conditions there is no lack of idealism among these people. Priska made it her duty to to give lessons to children of the nursery school, I believe free of charge . These children include eight orphans and all children beside their own children who have interest in training. As far as I can judge, their drive comes from their faith. Hope and cordiality seem to be the only things they possess. I never before met merrier children . Although the poverty was hard to bear for me, these small human beings fascinated me. They brought their unrestricted confidence to me and reciprocated my interest in them with their unbelievable laughter. During my stay of nearly five weeks I could not discover a single toy. This world does not know cozy toys. In the hut they called "school", nothing but the improvised sticking board reminded me of a school. They sit on the loamy soil, there are no tables and even more no books or other teaching materials. But they come each day and bring along their good mood. Many of them do not live in a family, others do have this luck. Their teacher, whose life attitude I really admire, gives them a place in her dingy hut, in which she tries to live with her own children. Food is a matter of chance, if they are able to procure food by donations or other assistance, this consists only of a one-sided and perfectly unhealthy nutrition. Corn flour and beans, that's all. Drinking water has to be acquired at a high price, electricity and water supply do not exist.
These people really need assistance. Please help me to help them. Thanks, Asante Sana, good-bye, Kwaheri.Anita Aretz |
