The Orphanage

Two days ago I visited an Orphanage in Likoni. It was set up about seven years ago by a Baptist church to offer a'home' to street children in Mombasa. There was a staggering number of orphans in the area in the mid to late nineties on account of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, with ARV'S now more readily available the number of new orphans has decreased over the last number of years.

Some of the children in the orphanage had been there from the start. Their accomodation is extremely basic but they get schooling and food every day. The problem is that many of the children are very old and still in primary school on account of starting school so late. The orphanage thought it might be a good idea to setup a computer lab to give the older children ICT skills. They are constantly trying to find innovative ways to give these children dignity in life...The children are always welcome back to their 'home' at any time.

Before I visited the orphange I had serious doubts about this as an idea. Then I met George and his brother Michael.

George is 17. He is striking looking - extremely well formed features and he is well built but its his eyes that capture you immediately. He has clearly been traumatised.

We stood with him outside the dorms whilst the pastor gently asked him questions about his life. He answered the questions with a dignity I honestly cannot put into words. He was clearly trying to hold back tears but he stood up right and bravely and in soft slow sentences looking straight ahead he told his story...

Both his parents had died of TB. His mother had died about seven years ago and his father who had been seriously ill for years had only died two years ago. However, as the oldest child it was his responsiblity to look after younger brother Michael. From the age of 10 he was on the streets with the responsibility of caring for his dying father and looking after his younger brother of 5.

I stood there listening to the story and I am not ashamed to say that it was impossible not to cry.

Michael then arrived with a big beaming smile on his face and George instinctively put his hand on his brothers shoulder. In the context of what I had just heard it was a human gesture of titan proportions.

I looked at the two of them, the last remnants of their family and realised how love transcends everything. George had given so much to make sure his brother was protected from life. George now, more than anything else in the world, needs love. It may sound trite but that actually is the truth. And perhaps volunteers coming out and teaching ICT to someone like George might provide a bit of that - ICT skills aside, people demonstrating that they care about someone else is a potent force. Micheals beaming smile was testimnoy to that.

For a long time now I have been 'academically' talking about how important it is that people from either side of disadvantage meet. So ICT experts in projects like the clubhouse and camara connecting with people disadvantaged means a lot more than just imparting ICT skills.

Well George has given me the courage to say that at the heart of projects like the above its all about love and compassion. Institutional Education as it presently stands does not help us to teach us to love and that is fundamentally where it fails....