[HRAP Kenya] HRAP kenya 09' Day 8
Helloooooooo, So today we Came back from doing a workshop on Youth Activitism and yesterdays workshops were on Human rights & Education. The kids in Kibera are great and extremely intelligent and just by talking to some of them you can tell what they are going to be in the future, they are really amazing and so happy even knowing the conditions that they live in, they still manage to smile and just enjoy life how it is. Also in the beginning of the week (monday) we woke up super early to go to Nairobi's national park and we saw a lot of cool animals but I kind of expected more animals but then we went to their zoo and we saw more there and that was pretty cool.
Later that same day we had to be at a meeting at 3:00pm and the meeting was about "Female Genital mutiliation". That meeting really impacted me in such a huge way it made me open my eyes on the real world and just so many other things and just how ungrateful we can be with some things. It really hit me hard, almost like a slap in the face and I had no choice but to just cry...and I cried A LOT that day even when we left I was just thinking about some things; personal things. Kenya is the real deal, people are starving, and some are working to just eat and support their family and these girls are getting circumsized and being used basically as sex symbols because they are valued as nothing in some of these tribes and they're in a lot of pain; emotionally & physically and they still manage to put a smile on their faces and sometimes us as girls complain for littlest things that are so unnessary and when I say us girls I include myself too. I think it's time we wake up and smell the coffee because this is it..the REAL WORLD people are putting their lives at risk every single day and we just go through life like its just fun and games and complain because we wanna live in a bigger house with lots of rooms and more cars and more money and etc, meanwhile people are living on sheet metal and wood and are still happy and enjoy life... I hope that when i get back i could do the best i can to help some of these children and girls, I wanna open my own book foundation to help MYSA's library and hopefully it will be a success thats the 1st thing im going to do once I get back and I hope that I could get the most help as possible from my family and friends and that includes GK of course...This trip is really opening my eyes on the real world and I know I have more days to go this is just the beginning, Because I've got work to do when I get back! I'm extremely grateful to be here in Kenya dispite all the downs we had it all happen for a reason. If it werent for GK taking me on this trip i think I would still be the same person..and I now know whats real and what to expect from life and to appreciate the things I have especially the little things like hand sanitizer because over here people were so surprised to see the hand sanitizer because they have never seen it before and I was just so shocked how surprised they were to find out about this liquid that cleans your hands without soap and water... Soooooo im done for now but i'll be back again who knows when; thanks for listening again =]
Comments
thank you for taking the time to write about this experience. You have helped me understand more about the young people of Kenya - and the conditions under which they are living. Thank you.
And safe travels home. xx Carole
Posted by: Carole Artigiani | July 30, 2009 9:41 PM