China

Beijing

Monster between cities, Beijing offers to the eyes a giant show of urbanism and colors. One thing that visitors- who want to know something about Beijing- should see is the view from the plane; when you travel by plane you can really see how big this city is. And this can offer you an image about where you are really going. From a plane you can see how the urbanization is shaped in Beijing: areas covered just by flats which have mostly the same shape but different colors. You can also see areas covered only by houses which are- how I could later discover- mostly in poor condition and pressed together in such a manner that those neighbors know everything about each other. But you can also find combination of huge flats with poor small houses, mixture which has not so many features common with some urbanization.

Another modern symbol is the new center which is created by skyscrapers and other buildings signed by the modern architecture. Skyscrapers are not so big like in Shanghai and Hong Kong but the city is growing up very fast and with it also is the number of new buildings.

Air pollution in the city during our stay in Beijing wasn’t that big as expected but still from plane was possible to see cloud which I can connect with fog but the difference is (as I know from Czech Republic or Norway that fog is white) but in Beijing it was always yellow.

Let’s move inside the city. After our arrival at the airport we took the bus to the city. When the bus arrived people were pushing each other as they wanted to get inside of the bus. During the way to the center of the city I had to sit on the floor of the bus.

When we arrived to a bus station near central railway station in front of the bus there were waiting few persons who offered travelers accommodation as close as possible. In first night we took some cheap hostel but next few days we had accommodation with one Chinese guy in his flat (guy that I met on Couch Surfing).

When we arrived to his house I was a little bit surprised that he lives alone and his home is so big when many bigger families have to live in small flats; but we were happy for this because it meant more space for us.

If you want to have a picture about how big is Beijing, imagine that if we wanted to get from our accommodation only to Central Railway Station which is near to the center of the city it took around 40 min. by metro; and if we wanted to get on the other side of the city it could have taken more than 2h by metro. When I’m talking about metro you have to know that this is the right place where you can feel the overpopulation in the city. When the metro arrives in the station it is hard to get inside metro but also out of the metro. Inside the metro you can feel like tuna in the can.

Living style in Beijing for me seemed quiet strange: flats everywhere; from plane how I said We could see many flats, but when you get in the city you think that there must be maybe 30 times more flats than you could see from the plane. Some people even if they live in the huge flats they have in front of them small cages with chickens or some other home-bred animals.

As well, drying clothes on the streets is a normal thing which We have never seen in Europe. Just imagine that you are driving a car on a big road with many lines and next to the road there are trees which are connected with ropes and on this ropes people dry clothes. So now you know that Chinese use every space in the city. I can say that actually Beijing is not such a modern city comparing to others. For me Beijing is a city created from Chinese villages where houses are pressed on each other with the only difference that they have access to hot water and sanitation but this doesn’t change the fact that inside their homes you can find a total mess. Yes, Chinese people don’t have such a big sense of clean household as western countries. Our sense of organization of our own things doesn’t say anything to them. You can find it maybe in educated families which are numerous in China but if we will think about how many people live in China the proportion is not in favor of this number.

Security in Chinese big cities is high and I can say that many times also annoying and this is the security that checks places like metro, train stations or some other areas where can be a lot of people together. Only when we wanted to get near the Forbidden City we had to pass through a small area we had four security checks which were as usually busy so we have spent also a long time waiting.

When we talked to some people they told us that they don’t understand why the security checks are such a big deal and what exactly the security guards are doing. Because many times when we went to the metro we just put our luggage inside the roentgen and person who was responsible to check the screen didn’t care about it. So it seems like that government is wasting money for some security which is not effective.

But on the other side, the Government manages in this way many working places for people. A city of 20 million inhabitants cannot provide jobs for all of them using just the help from investors, it needs to create also its own work places.

Also you can see in the city many workers who have to clean the streets sometimes you can even see that they are working in Chinese highways, work that has to be really dangerous. Nice thing is that you cannot find so many homeless because most of the people have job even those jobs which from outside seem a waste of money. But I don’t want to say that there are no homeless. Comparing with Prague there are not so many or at least is hard to find them.

Shanghai

(Shanghai as center of Chinese Economy)

Not an historical city but a rich city. Master piece which constitutes a symbol showing the growth from fishing village to a giant monster between cities. I cannot say that there is a difference between lives in Beijing and Shanghai. The advantage that Shanghai has comparing to other cities is the port and the sea which bring more goods from other countries. Nevertheless, the rest is similar to Beijing. Many constructions, poor parts separated jus by walls. Many poor parts in Shanghai are separated by walls from beautiful parts. When I was walking around one wall in a poor part at the end of the wall I arrived to a new street with beautiful shops.

Way in the train to Yunnan province

36 hours in the full Chinese train that was real experience. Because we wanted to save some money we chose hard seats in the train.

People were everywhere. Some of the people had ticket for standing as we discovered and that was the reason why the train was so full and carriages for sleeping were locked so all this people had to stay in the same carriages where hard seats were. I don’t know if I should say we were lucky or we had bad luck but around us was a Chinese family.

A grandmother and two married couples with four kids and between them there were always sitting some other two persons. And for these 11 persons plus Liga and I, there were 10 not so big and- I can say- hard seats. In front of me was sitting the grandmother which was always carrying one child and many times it was really annoying to have these two persons in front of me because the kid was always putting his legs in my space and the grandmother also. I felt like fish pressed very well in the can. Also if you travel a long way with the train you can see some advertisement in the train for selling some goods like special towels, energy banks for phones or some electronic devices or what looked special and have big

success was presenting a book for math. The promoter started to give passengers math exams and many people started to buy this book.

One week in the village

After the long way by train we arrived to Kunming capital city of Yunnan province.

We also visited HQ of HPP in China and with their help could get more experience between people; we spent two days in one city where we could see school for small kids who can learn English and we were also invited there for Chinese lunch. We could also try there to teach these small kids. It was nice because the kids were willing to learn English and I can also say that it gave me some ideas which I hope I can use in my project.

Another experience from Yunnan province is that Euclid and I spent one week in a village which is 40 minutes from Dali, being hosted by a local family. We could see how it looks in normal Chinese village how the life is going on there and we also tried to work in one of the many brick factories which were around the village and also, one day we went with the family to the mountains where they have tea fields and nut trees.

The paradox in the Chinese village is that buildings are very simple but sometimes you can find expensive car inside. But on the end of village there are the poorest people. Chinese houses in the village are very simple many times the rooms in the house are missing front wall so that some rooms are open and you can see inside if there is no wall around the house.

We had a beautiful room but with a bad odor. People in the village were mostly friendly and neighbors were visiting each other as they wanted. Small kids had fun seeing people like us in the village because most of them have never seen people from other parts of the world.

I remember when we arrived in the village in the first hour I smoked around five cigarettes because everybody we met gave us cigarettes. It looked like it is a Chinese hobby to smoke like mad. I didn’t see any woman smoking cigarettes, it seems like they are not allowed. It looked also like that man was the head of the family and had the only authority. We couldn’t see this exactly, but the woman in the family was doing almost everything: cooking, working, washing, taking care about home-bred animals.

As well, when we were in the brick factory and worked with them, women were working really hard. And some of them were older so I can say that Chinese women are really strong. We also went to see how the work in the mountains was.

The field of the family who hosted us was around 1h far from the village at the beginning of the mountains. During the walk there we could see other people from the village how they have to work. I was surprised how heavy were the boxes they have to carry up to the hills and that they have to bring up to the hills water in leather bags on the horses.

Is it Communism?

This is a good question: which system is working in China?! Is it Communism? I believe that people who have experience with communism, I mean people from countries which were under Soviet Union will say that there is no connection with communism. But censure is one of the biggest sign of communism as I know and I’m not talking only about blocked facebook or youtube but they are also checking the personal things which you can send from your PC.

When we were in village (we were there for one week) it looked that they don’t even care about the fact that they would be under communism.

The people that I could see there, looked as they had everything they needed. They wake up, go to work, work which maybe doesn’t even have some strict schedule after work at home, chat in the streets and that’s all. I didn’t even saw during this stay that somebody got angry.

People in the big cities for them have higher living conditions than the people in the villages and it makes them satisfied. It seemed that if they had enough electric devices they wouldn’t need anything else.

When you get in the metro you can see that 80% of the people are using smartphone and are playing games, listening music or watching videos. This is the way they make time pass faster. But 90% of them?

That is way too much people! I couldn't see this anywhere in Europe. I could see in Europe funny picture about what Chinese people do in the metro and there were five persons, two of them were playing with smart phone, one was reading a book, one was reading news and the last one was an old lady. But I have never seen anybody read a book in the metro and even old ladies were playing games on smartphones.

Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong and Macau are very interesting cities which are still somehow part of China but just because of their own government the living style is completely different. We could as well feel that the atmosphere in the streets is different, I don’t know why but we felt freer and also people were a bit different. Hong Kong in comparison with Shanghai looked for us more modern, even if Shanghai has a higher development index. Hong Kong looks newer and you can feel the influence of colonization from the British part. A city built especially for businessmen and the biggest and strongest economic companies in the world, Hong Kong is for China what the Western countries are for Europe. Main land China is like cities which are still in developing process but Hong Kong is fully developed and the poor parts are hidden very well that you cannot feel them. It is a city made for rich Chinese people who own flats here, go for shopping and enjoy typical western rich live. Huge buildings with the most famous and expensive brands for clothes or other fashionable brands as HUGO BOSS, CHANEL, LOUIS VOUITON, ROLEX and many others and rich Chinese are ready to stay in huge queues just to shop in this shops. When I was walking with the guy who hosted me during my first stay in Hong Kong he told me that these people are 90% Chinese and it is something when you have in front of the shop PRADA 60 persons waiting to get in this shop.

Macau is another interesting city which is not build that much for shopping and typical business but especially built again for rich Chinese which are coming here for another kind of fun. This kind of fun is now hazard and gambling in the casinos. Yes Macau is a city built mostly from the income brought by casinos. And life seems also different than life in China or Hong Kong. In Hong Kong you can see people with very nice fashion medium class cars, but Macau is fashion somewhere in the middle. I think I can say that I never saw so many expensive cars as in Macau, Ferrari, Lamborghini and many cars with very expensive tuning. Hong Kong and Macau- these two cities are good examples how you can build city with help of rich people- on one side, strong economies of the big international companies and money from Chinese people which are spent for shopping and on the second side is spending money for fun in casinos.

In these two cities there are also differences in what people do on the streets. I mean spitting on the ground, smoking or riding bicycle. These things are in many places forbidden. Also it is hard to find parts where people dry clothes in the streets. And population in these cities is multicultural. You can find many people from other countries.

Conclusion

It probably seems that this report is full of criticism but really I cannot imagine my life in China. There are so many things which don’t look good for me probably just thanks to the very fast development. I’m used to live in cities which don’t have a population counting more than 100 000 people and this is probably what makes China different. Being in the village for one week, living and experiencing with the locals was the best time spent in China.

Beautiful Iran

On the 6^th of December we arrived after a very long train ride from Ankara Turkey to Tabriz Iran. Our host, Asad and his friend BAmeen picked us up at the train station in less than 30 minutes. Soon after we arrived a bunch of their friends arrived at their place and we soon started talking about everything. Iranians are mostly curious about how their country is perceived in other parts of the world. We approached various topics, but the one that stayed with us during the entire travel was the Islamic political regime and its restrictions. There seems to be a huge gap between the younger population and the very intolerant political government. Iran, unlike other countries has a supreme leader who is the religious representative of Islam and who is also the most powerful person in the state. Therefore the President has limited power and the Islamic form of government dominates democracy. 

            We could see among the younger generation a big desire to leave Iran and meet other cultures. Many want to emigrate to Australia, Europe or USA in order to study or work. The problem is that men are unable to get a passport, unless they attend obligatory military service for two years. Women can apply for a passport, but unfortunately Iranians obtain visas in many of the countries with a lot of difficulties, or, in most of the cases, not at all.

            There already were some attempts to fight against the regime. For example in 2009 there was the so called Green Revolution. Many people went out in the streets to protest against the oppressive and restrictive regime and more particularly, at that time, against the stolen votes during the presidential elections.. The government however sent military troops to fight back and suppress violently the movement. Many people were killed, imprisoned or disappeared without a trace. Such was the case of our host’s girlfriend. She was killed while getting out of school without any reason by the Lebanon Army employed by the Iranian government. She was sixteen and got brutally murdered in front of her friends and her boyfriend (our host). Nobody could do anything to save her. In that moment Asad(at the time only 17) decided to join the revolution and was arrested as a result of his actions. He was then sent to a survival military training course for nine months – mountain, desert and jungle survival. The course transformed from a training one into real missions at the most dangerous borders.His position was the one of a sniper and although very good at it, he hated the missions. He still blames himself today for the ugly things he was involved in.  Due to a serious accident during one of these missions, he managed to be sent home and hospitalized after a series of pressures and bribes from his family. Some of his colleagues are still missed by their families and nobody knows where they are!

            Our host made it possible as well to visit the shop of a local shoemaker (which was one of our points on our wish list) and we were able to make an interview with him. Although he had already been working for twelve hours he answered all our questions patiently. The most important fact we found out, was that his business was not threatened by the invasion of the cheap products, because he has his own clients that understand the difference in quality. Similarly, the knife makers from Zanjan (area famous for this craft) were also able to sustain their business for the same reasons. Andras purchased a knife, helping thus the local craftsmen.

Another part of our plan was to spend a day with a honey maker and understand his way of living. With the help of our hosts (who drove us everywhere, even if we were seven in a small car) we managed to visit Kashan, an old cave-village in the mountains, where we met a local family that was sustaining itself from honey making. This simple family was getting by with one tone of honey per year. Although their lives implied a lot of work, they said they would never leave their home (which was three thousand years old) in order to move to the city. We had tea in their one room humble home (which was 3000 years old) and discussed about the struggles of their life and the habits of the people living there (we managed discreetly to make a short video as well, as they were not too much into photos and videos).

            The Southern part of Iran was a strategic point for us, as it represented the place where the Nomadic Tribes were spending their winter. We were lucky, as our host in Shiraz was a Nomad himself, currently living in the city. He made it possible for us to visit his family in the mountains and to spend two days with them. The life as a Nomad is very harsh because there is a constant work with the sheep and goat herds. Water is scarce and the weather conditions are sometimes difficult, especially in the nights, when it is freezing cold. We experienced this on our own skin, by sleeping in one of their tents and waking up frozen in the morning.

The next morning we visited the Nomad school, which was in very poor conditions. Only seven students were studying there. We were told that only a few years before there were between 40 to 50 students, but recently the number of Nomads is rapidly decreasing. The Nomadic life is extremely limited in certain respects; therefore young people decide to move to the cities for better life conditions and the chance to continue education. The children impressed us with their simplicity and humbleness. We decided to donate money for a computer, as they were having computer classes in their curriculum but no computer to work with. The teacher was a nomad himself and has been teaching all his life in that school. The school and the teacher were in theory supported by the government as it was recognized as a public school, but, unfortunately, the government couldn’t care less about 7 scattered kids – fact which led to having a school in terrible conditions.

     

       Isfahan was the next stop, one of the most beautiful cities of Iran, where again we got more lucky than we thought we could. We had as host Adel, a student graduating tourism. However, because he was busy with his final paper, we ended up spending most of our time with his flat mates. Jonathan and Afshin were also working on their thesis, one specializing in ecotourism and the other one in intangible cultural heritages. It was the first time we discovered that Unesco has under its patrimony these type of heritages, such as experiences, traditions and customs. For his thesis he chose four of the most important and ancient intangible heritages and he made it possible for us to experience three out of four. ...

1.      First one, called In Persian tradition, Tazieh drama, inspired by historical and religious events, symbolizes epic spirit and resistance. The common theme is the heroic tales of love and sacrifice, and of resistance against the evil. While in the west the two major genres of dramas have been comedy and tragedy, in Persia (Iran), Tazieh seems to be the dominant genre. Considered as Persian opera, Tazieh resembles the European opera in many respects.

The Tazieh that we attended was about the murdering of the third Imam, Imam HusaynIbnAly – the third Shia Imam who, together with his family has been brutally and unjustly murdered in a battle against the governor at the time. The annual memoriam for him and his family is called Ashura and people are every time extremely touched and depressed when they are faced again with the story. For us it was strange to see people’s reactions as this is an event that happened 1400 years ago but one of the directors of the play explained to us that Iranian people believe that truth is immortal and that every time they are part of the Tazieh, they are faced again with the truth and their dramatic reactions come naturally.

2.      Pahlevani and zoorkhanei rituals - a traditional Iranian system of athletics originally used to train warriors. It combines martial arts, callisthenics, strength training and music. Recognized by UNESCO as among the world's longest-running forms of such training, it fuses elements of pre-Islamic Persian culture (particularly Mithraism and Gnosticism) with the spirituality of Sufism. Practiced in a domed structure called the zurkhaneh, training sessions consist mainly of ritual gymnastic movements and climax with the core of combat practice, a form of submission-grappling called koshtipahlavani.

This form of training was practiced hiddenly in times of war and even the places where they are held look like some hidden cellars with small doors. Only the local people interested in these heritages know where to find these rituals. For us, the men practicing it were exceptional: very proud but humble, very strong but caring. They were so happy that we were part of their training and we enjoyed it so much. The drummer that sets the tone to all their movements and rhythms is very talented and plays a key role in it. Every time they make a move, the sportsmen ask permission from their drummer and the audience. It is fascinating to watch and we are very blessed to have experienced it.

3.      Radif is a collection of many old melodic figures preserved through many generations by oral tradition. It organizes the melodies in a number of different tonal spaces called Dastgah. The traditional music of Iran is based on the radif, which is a collection of old melodies that have been handed down by the masters to the students through the generations. Over time, each master's own interpretation has shaped and added new melodies to this collection, which may bear the master's name.

The preservation of these melodies greatly depended on each successive generation's memory and mastery, since the interpretive origin of this music was expressed only through the oral tradition.

To truly learn and absorb the essence of the radif, many years of repetition and practice are required. A master of the Radif must internalize the Radif so completely to be able to perform any part of it at any given time.

On Christmas Eve, our hosts invited two of their friends, professional players of Santur (a very complex stringed instrument played with two delicate wooden mallets– an instrument which is said to have been the basis of the piano) and Tonbak (the national drum). For almost two hours we were taken away in the dream like world of Persian music – it was absolutely amazing to listen to and it left us all speechless.

4.      The 4^th and last of these intangible cultural heritages is an ancient form of oral story telling (using some paintings or drawings) which we did not manage to see and also would have been difficult to understand as it is in Farsi but it is still very much alive today.

There is no better way to learn about a country’s identity than by experiencing its culture and by spending time with its people. Jonathan and Afshin were simply beautiful people who spent their entire free time with us in order to give us a good feeling of Iran, its welcoming people and its ancient culture. We will forever be grateful to them.

            Another very powerful experience was meeting Asa, a young Afghan living in Iran. He was the one who took us to the ancient village in the dessert, called Fahraj (in Yazd province). He was supposed to be our host, but because of his problems with the police he took us to a special hostel where he spent the night with us. We first did not understand why we couldn’t spend the night at his place and also why he seemed to be hiding all the time when he was with us. Soon we found out about his story. Two years ago he was working in Orient Hotel (in Yazd), where he met a Chinese tourist. She seemed to have had a bad experience in Teheran with some Iranian people and when finding out he was not Iranian she gladly accepted his offer of being hosted at his place. The next day the police knocked at his door and started questioning him about his guest and his decision to host her. Later on they ended up at the police station where they have been questioned for hours. Things dramatically changed when one of the officers found out that he was Afghan. They called the chief of police to see what there was to be done about him. He was told that hosting tourists is illegal in this country as it is threatening the hotel industry (and we thought it might reveal too much information about Iran to people from outside as it happened in our case). He got as a punishment 50 whips and 2 weeks in prison. He was later transferred for a few days in an Afghan refugee camp where life apparently was worse than he could imagine. The refugees had only 2 meals per day, breakfast which consisted out of a piece of bread and dinner which, as he put it, was worse than dog food. The water was also not drinkable and people were getting sick because of it. The funny part was that the leaders of the camp opened up a small supermarket at the entrance to the camp, so refugees were spending whatever money they had on buying overpriced food in order to survive….business was running great as the reports to the United Nations were reading that all the refugees are getting good food and the money received is being spent properly.

Asa managed to get out after numerous interventions and bribes from his father. Every attempt to get him out ended up with a refusal and a ridiculous explanation, either that the servers are not working and he cannot “check out”, either that the right officer is not there, and so on. Finally, his family succeeded in paying enough and putting enough pressure to take him out.

Before this incident he had had several years of experience in the hotel industry, but it was all washed away. None of the hotels were able to hire him as they would have been closed down if anybody founded out that there is an Afghan in the staff. He was later even banned to come and visit his ex-work colleagues. Currently, he is working in a sesame factory (which we visited) where he is highly appreciated by his boss (who knows he is Afghan) but not so highly paid. Afghan people are extremely discriminated in Iran. I tried to found out why and we asked some of our Iranian friends who told us that the reason is that Afghan people made a lot of mess in Iran; there have been many rape cases or robberies committed by Afghan so nowadays they are very much hated. Unfortunately, this extended to honest, peaceful people like Asa who was trying everything in his power to leave Iran.

 We actually witnessed this hush discrimination when we entered a shop and the shop to buy some food for dinner. Asa asked the shop keeper why he keeps the plastic bags behind the counter when is so much easier for people to serve themselves. The explanation was that he did not want Afghan people touching his products as they are dirty and he wants nothing to do with them (without knowing that Asa was Afghan). Our friend got out of the shop extremely shaken up and almost with teary eyes and he told us that almost on a daily basis he has to experience that and he cannot wait to find a way out of this country. He even wanted to return to Afghanistan, despite the fragile situation, but refugees from Afghanistan are not allowed to go back to their country as there are no jobs and no conditions for a normal life. 

It is very difficult to present in few pages our one month experience in this unique country. We have never felt more welcomed and safe as we did in Iran. If the people of Iran had freedom, this would be a great country to live in. We can honestly say that we made lifelong friends who will stay in our hearts forever and who, we hope, one day, to meet again. We felt Europeans have a lot to learn from these people regarding selfishness or better said lack of it, giving up egos and genuinely caring about the person next to you. Regardless of their lack of freedom, of which they are highly aware, they keep faith untouched, they enjoy life and they appreciate and respect human values. It was a humbling experience to be in their presence, in their homes and now, in their lives and hearts.

If, at the beginning of the travel, we had a rather confusing idea of how an investigation should look like, now it is perfectly clear that by giving away any prejudice, expectations and images we might have created beforehand and by getting close to the people, living as they do, listening actively to what they have to say, everything comes to you naturally.

We are very much looking forward to present to you a complete version of our experience in Iran and to show you the videos we have made and to introduce you properly to our new friends. With this occasion, we would like to thank the school and the program for making this possible for us. It will be definitely a life changing experience for some of us and we should not forget how lucky we all are to be part of something so beautiful and liberating.

                                                                                          Team: Alina, Iosif, Vali, Andras, Alin

           

Kenya - Mathare slums

Mathare is one of the biggest slums in East Africa and the oldest in Kenya, counting officially around 70.000 inhabitants and still expanding, but in the community the rumors are that the population is around 500.000 living in around 25.000 households. Situated only 5 km from the center of Nairobi, a part of the world that nobody remembers, Mathare is bursting with dirt, poverty, overcrowd, misery, nevertheless life. As all over the internet the awareness is raised concerning visiting the place as considered dangerous and inaccessible, we try to get in contact with some organizations that can get us inside. We find MEO Kenya and send an email about our interest in visiting and working inside the slum. Bernard Nyachieo replies the very next day and we meet him and establish a one week plan of involving in his work. 

In the first day we stepped the path that leads to the slum, we were astonished. There are fields of corn around and we have to pass a small dirty river where clothes are washed and hanged or left in the bushes to dry. Garbage all over, a smell of lost hope and misery follows us all the way…As we go more and more inside, we hear children voices asking us at unison ”how are you?!”, a melody that will greet us every morning in the next 5 days and people saying ”muzungu”(white person) and “welcome”. It is 7 o’clock in the morning and people doing their daily chores are greeting us from everywhere. The landscape is overwhelming and not in a positive way…we feel totally helpless.

We find out that life is a burden inside the slum, valued at less than a dollar per day. Even the poorest people have to pay for everything, from using the toilet to having buckets of water at 2 shillings per 20 liters. The women are going to the place where there is the tap water and fill their buckets and carry them through the field to their homes.

All the huts are 10 feet per 10 feet covered with metal sheets and most of them lack electricity. There are also some flats, but very few of them can afford to live in them, even if the conditions are as low as in a hut, those who live there are considered already rich comparing to the other slum habitants. The police and the elder’s council are the rulers and more than everything the owners of the land make the law. Renting the hut from the owners doesn’t make the slum people being part of any aid coming from outside. Bringing aid is usually made in two ways either through the church either through the owners…and the owners are taking everything. When Red Cross came to bring supplies, as food and washing soap, bed sheets and blankets, because none of the people living inside could show a legal document the owners took over. It is almost

impossible to find somebody that owns the small land where his family is living, as the owners are living somewhere in the city taking advantage of their poverty. Owning a piece of land costs 1500 euros, sum that nobody living inside can afford, and the rent goes from 1000 Kenyan shillings to 3000 per month. Most of the people are working as vendors in the streets or trying to do small chores in the rich people’s houses like washing clothes, house holding, or the lucky ones have small businesses around the slum where they sell different kind of things that they find or can procure easily. As we find out the story of a woman who is everyday going to a restaurant in the city and collecting the left-overs of bread and sells them inside the slum or around at small affordable prices. The slum is surrounded by a field of corn, where some of those who were lucky are working and take the corn, transform it in flour for ugali and sell it to the others. Some of them trying to make some money build corn mils inside the house and put the flour outside the door and sell it.

We find inside the slum a small restaurant, and by small we mean really small, full of flies and with two benches and a long table where people are eating. Across, there is another small shop where somebody is selling bananas at a price of nothing.

       

Most of the inhabitants are

women who were left by their husbands with a lot of children , most of them are under 30 years old. As we hear Bernard saying, behind everywoman that lives in this slum, behind every woman’s tears there is a man who deceived her. Usually the women are going to work in the mornings and live the kids in the slum. There are few schools where the kids can

go, but they are also requesting money, and from the small income they cannot afford to let their kids have some education. Most of the families are mono-parental, single mothers, the husband left or died and they live with the kids. The most terrifying stories we heard about mothers dieing and kids left behind have no other choice but wandering on the streets of Nairobi, begging for food or money, stealing, etc. because the owners of the slum huts will never let the kids living in the houses if nobody can pay rent for them.

People’s stories

We hear about Linda, a single mother with three kids who is working for a family in Nairobi. She is washing their clothes for 1 dollar per day. She is complaining that she is forced to use chloride for washing and her hands are damaged, but she has no other option. Her husband left her few years ago, run away to another city and she had to take care of the kids. Few weeks ago her husband came back and took two of the kids to live with him and his new wife. The mother cannot afford to do anything, but Bernard is trying to put her in contact with a school nearby her home village and some children care organization that can help her bring back her kids.

Lidia

She is a woman who was living all her life in the slum. But she was fortunate; her family could afford to keep her in school until second grade. Now she is volunteering at MEO Kenya, Bernard’s organization and she is trying to teach the children everything she knows. Even if she has the status of a volunteer teacher, she receives 3000 shillings per

month, money that can help her live with her husband in a small hut in the slum. She is
open and joyful and talks about God who is working through everything. She cannot imagine how life can be like outside the slum, but she would like someday to come and visit us.

 

It is astonishing how people can still keep their good mood and faith in a deity when living at the edge.

MEO Kenya, a hope inside the slum

“I need volunteers to help these people develop through education, I would even like to receive volunteers from Humana” (Bernard O. Nyachieo )

http://mabawaorg.weebly.com/index.html

When we met Bernard he was really happy that we wanted to involve in the slum and in his organization because he needs people that can volunteer to teach. He was born in a village near Kisi(village that we discovered at the end of the week) and he was very poor, but when he discovered the slum, he realized that there are people out there living even in much more poverty than him. He finished his second grade and he started to work, he was dreaming that one day he will start an organization for the people that need more help than him. He met Esther, a Dutch nurse who was in holiday in Nairobi and he shared his dream with her and she gave him 280 euros with which he started Mabawa School in the slum. He rented a hut for 85 euro per month and started to bring children in for the first 5 grades. Because he believes in development from inside he is trying to use funds

from inside the slum. Now half of the funds are coming from Esther and half from the fees-the families who can pay are requested to pay 900 shillings per year per child. The MEO Organization has now two parts, one part school and the other part baby care. Till August, Bernard is planning to extend the organization to helping women develop and acquire skills. Therefore he made a huge detailed plan for Laura Institute which will have two parts- Dana salon, where women will be trained for hair cutting and facial beauty, manicure and pedicure and Esther Tailors, where women will receive skills in sewing, so they can open some private small businesses inside their own homes. It was amazing how Bernard was telling us that he has plans for the organization for the next 21 years and he is waking up everyday at 4 am and starts to work on them. He came to us one day and started to speak about the new institute and the next day he had already everything written down. We helped creating some logos for the new institute and gave him some advice. As he was telling us he really needs volunteers that can involve in helping with the children education and with the next projects and he is trying to persuade us to send our team mates to his place or he is even willing to start cooperation with Humana.

Volunteering in Mabawa School

We spent 4 days in the slum. Our day started at 7am and finish at 5pm when we go to spend the evenings with Bernard and his family. We took the matatu and drove 15 minutes till the slum. The cold mornings woke us up and gave us energy and a huge influenza at the end of the week. When we reach the school the children are already there as they start their lessons at 8 or 8.30. We had English classes, Math, Science and Drawing with 2nd, 3^rd and 5^th grade. The children were very communicative and involved. Most of them don’t know how to count or to spell, but almost everybody knows to speak in English.

Everyday after the first morning class they have one hour of sport and we join them on the field situated across the school between a church and some police abandoned buildings.

 

The joy fills the air and the laughter and energy makes us join them. We teach them new games and they teach us their games and we play until they are overtired. The feeling is overwhelming and shocking, as even though they already know us from the classes they surround us all the time staring laughing fighting between each other to touch us.

Usually at midday they have lunch, some of them are eating in the school, the never-ending rice with beans. Before eating, together with Bernard we are trying to teach them to clean their hands with water and antibacterial gel.

The kids are coming in the row as they already know the rule and we are helping them.

The classes end at 5 pm, but some of the children join the dancing or science clubs and every afternoon they brought us some of their dancing parts trying to show us their beautiful culture and their knowledge.

As a response to their evening art programs we are holding an evening presentation about Europe and together we try to compare traditions and culture and we listen to their amazing questions about muzungus and we try to make the picture of the world we are living in as clear as possible for them.

At the end of the week when we have to leave the slum behind, we feel the sorrow filling our hearts and we are not even strong enough to say goodbye.