Monday, August 31, 2009

I went to Molo

I’ve got to start blogging regularly again – I have been asked by many people to sum up the experience and initially that was quite difficult. I think it was the jet lag and I was so busy it was just too hard to process initially. After all it was a complicated trip and also I was there for a month, the purpose/s for going were complex and many events occurred. Anyway I thought I’d start with few bullet points.

I went to Molo, Kenya to volunteer at the Chazon Children’s Centre here’s what happened:

I met some incredible people whom I now love deeply.

I met 72 kids who loved nothing more then to be close to me.

I met and interviewed a brilliant man running for the Kenyan parliament – very courageously opposing the massive corruption that grips Kenya.

I was kidnapped on the first day Kenya.

I went into Casino and filmed Molo’s slum.

I saw kids whose hair was reddish brown for lack of nutrition.

I saw many kids walking around the debris and rubbish with no shoes.

I saw men drinking a locally brewed illicit drink meant to intoxicate in a matter of minutes.

I saw the shallow roadside ditches where these same men sometimes pass out in only to drown in a few inches of rainwater.

I met a couple (the directors of Chazon) who have sold their own profitable businesses, sold much of their own property and sacrificed themselves to try to get kids off the street.

I preached at a local black Pentecostal church.

I was approached by a prostitute offering sex for the remainder of a half eaten bag of popcorn – she was 9 -10 years old

I met other IVs from the UK, Spain, Canada and the US.

We hauled hundreds of gallons of water up two flights of stairs every two to three days.

We lost electricity regularly.

I ate like African royalty, we had meat often (mostly lamb) and I was introduced to African tea. It’s amazing stuff and an important cultural activity.

I introduced my African hosts to American Tea and made sure we always had some on hand – they loved it! Coca-Cola

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Daniel,

Can you expand on some of your "teasers" tell me more about the kidnapping!!!!!

Virginia Duffy

The Soyring Family said...

Glad you made it home safely, Daniel. Sounds like quite the adventure.

Ty Hatch said...

Wow Dan! I'm super curious. Do tell more!

Daniel Brevick said...

Hi Virginia,

I'll be in touch soon and give you some more details privately - I kept a pretty detailed daily journal, I'm not sure how best to even share the journal yet or if I will. The only reason I have never traveled abroad before this trip is because I have an unnatural fear of being kidnapped... since you are a professional in the psyche biz maybe you can tell me if there is a name for that - a phobia?

I was so shook up by this it put a little bit of damper on the whole trip. But somehow I feel if it had not happened the trip would have been too wonderful - that likely makes no sense??? The following day Jordi and walked to the bank in Molo to change some currency and get coins for the Matatu, as you known one of the same military like policemen was out in front of the bank, holding the same weapon, it made me uneasy every time I crossed paths with these fellows. But not Jordi - by the next day he was completely unaffected, I asked him about it because I could see he was not at all uneasy, he put it behind immediately... I was jealous :)