Good news, Bad news, Great news

First the great news, Elizabeth is having a baby girl!!! They had an ultrasound, she's perfect and female! Due date is June 13th. We are all excited and anxious to welcome her.
The bad news is that the turmoil continues in Kenya with no real solution in sight. Despite the efforts of the international community and Kofi Annan the violence continues. It has degenerated into tribal conflict under the guise of political unrest. Long standing tribal issues and hatreds have been unleashed and the innocent suffer. The rape rate has greatly increased, people have no access to their medications so the death rate from HIV will increase as their virus becomes resistant and the infection rate will rise. The long term implications of all this will go on for generations. My return is still on hold, I am determined at some point to go back to do the work that will be even more important but at this point it's not safe. The kids in the orphanage and the village are still safe, the kids in the slums are not. Some have been found, many have scattered. Please pray for all of them.
Now the good news. I decided that while I was here I would use my time wisely. You all know how much my D boys mean to me, John, George, Brian and Sammy K. Well, with the help of the orphanage staff, Sr. Mary's and the American board of Nyumbani's approval I am bringing them to the US in December for a visit!!!! Nicholas has agreed to accompany them (4 boys who have never traveled? He's quite brave!). They will be here for about 3 weeks and we hope to travel from Madison through Iowa, Milwaukee Chicago to Washington DC, and New York. What I will need is help with the airfare. We are arranging for them to get medical care, George has a terrible cough, Sammy's eyes hurt all the time, John has had 2 surgeries on his leg. They are all well enough to travel but there would be long term benefit from the care we could give them here. People have asked if it would be cruel to bring them here and then send them back. Kenya is their home, other Nyumbani kids who have traveled overseas had no problem going back to Nyumbani and sharing their experiences. They will have so much to tell their friends and their mums. They can tell them that people here love and care about them, that there's a whole world out there that if they do well in school and take their meds they can take their place in that world.
We chose December because they know summer and they want to know what winter is. Whatever it takes we will find them some snow! They won't know until a few weeks before they leave that they are coming, things are obviously usually too uncertain and we don't want any disappointed kids. Protus is now working on getting birth certificates which will allow them to get passports. We're hoping visas won't be too difficult with all the connections we have.
If you would like to help (and please do!) you can make a tax deductible donation through the Nyumbani.org website, under comments earmark the funds for Visit US
There are 4 boys whose lives you can change, and you can hopefully meet them too!

Watching and Waiting

This will be a big week in Kenya's history. The opposition has called for protests on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They will either be peaceful or a bloodbath. If chaos results I'm sure it will impact my future plans.
Warren is back in Nairobi, says he is well but shell shocked from his experience in Kericho. My friend Mary's husband Richard emailed and said they have been fine, used the $30 taxi to get to the airport rather than the $750 military escort and arrived there without any problems. They live in Karen, where the orphanage is, and have been barely touched by the violence. The Hardisons, who run the mission hospital up by Kisumo, were evacuated to Nairobi, and say they are safe, well rested and well fed. Like everywhere in the world, what you see depends on where you stand.
Watch the news, watch the blog. And pray.

One step forward 2 steps back

So, for a awhile the news was good, things had settled down and there seemed to be some progress in coming up with a peaceful solution. I have been in touch with Warren and Nicholas, they're in different areas of the country so have different perspectives. Both were feeling very optimistic and starting to venture a little farther out from where they were hunkered down. Then, the president appointed a cabinet full of his tribal members and the opposition leader refused to meet with him. Violence again.
As all this plays out against the background of our own electoral process I have learned so much about what it takes to make a democracy work, it's more than just a trip to a voting booth. The lack of leadership in Kenya has chilling implications for the ability of tribes to live together peacefully.
The hardest thing is the implications for all this in terms of the country's economy, tourism and most poignantly, the lives of it's children. The HIV+ children enrolled in our Lea Toto program are now scattered and out of their ARV medication. Time off from the meds greatly increases the risk of resistance and due to the limited availability of drugs in Africa will certainly lead to the death of many.
My own plans, like those of many people, are pretty much on hold. I will go back when the US Embassy says it is safe. In the meantime, I have decided to use my time wisely and have come up with a plan for my D boys. Stay tuned for details...................

Watching It All

Things are still very bad in Kenya. I have been able to talk to an exhausted heart broken Warren. The compound in Kericho where I taught is now home to 1500 frightened Kikuyu. The IU program is evacuated out of Eldoret. Nairobi continues to self destruct. No one knows how or when this will end. I have been in touch with mum Anne's family and Nicholas. All are safe, the volunteers in Nyumbani are staying behind the guarded gates, all are facing food and water shortages. I look at the plenty around me and feel ashamed of all I have here. I watch on the news and see the streets I walked many times. I think of all the shopkeepers I met and got to know and wonder if their stores still exist. I worry about all the kids (3000) who come to the Lea Toto clinics in the slums and know that for now they won't see doctors and nurses when they're sick and won't get their next month's ARVS, and that could literally kill them. I have no idea where or how Rosalia is, she lives in Kibera where there has been much violence. How frightened they all must be. When Dr. Jim Conway was visiting me we walked through Kibera together and wondered why it hadn't erupted, a million people living in extreme poverty I couldn't begin to describe. We wondered what the spark would be that would set it all off. Now we know.
Please keep all of them in your thoughts and prayers, I will keep you updated.