SHARE Africa

Highlights:

Dr. Martha (Bobby) MacGuffie (right) with a sign of the newly named Dr. Bobby MacGuffie SHARE Program in Kenya.

1. 2011 was the first year for the newly named Dr. Bobby MacGuffie’s SHARE Program in Kenya.
2. As of December 2011, SHARE has 231 orphans in the program.
3. There are 133 sponsors (many of whom sponsor multiple orphans).
4. SHARE employs 2 full time social workers in Mbita, Kenya.
5. In 2011, five Board members visited our community in Kenya at various times.
6. These visits included meeting with the orphans, their schools, their guardians and conducting SHARE related business and due diligence, conducting EMS training.
7. Acquired a mini school bus to transport orphans.
8. Plans are underway to build the sewing machine and the second solar oven programs.
9. Expanded our fund raising activities, especially to purchase the school bus.

The SHARE EMS Team led by David Violante is currently in Kenya where they will be carrying out Emergency Medical Services training.

You can follow their updates on the SHARE EMS Trip Blog here »

Ambulances in Kenya are typically seen running around town docile and blending in to daily life or urgently blazing somewhere lights and sirens pleading for traffic and people to move. The casual observer would think nothing of the event. Historically, government ambulances have been used as a reliable resource for hospital business such as water collection and mundane errands – an efficient use of resources as long as there’s not a patient in waiting somewhere. Such a practice is not the case for non-MOH services such as St. Johns Ambulance, the Kenya Red Cross E-Plus Ambulance Service, or other private hospital ambulance services like Avenue Ambulance. Such institutions provide dedicated ambulance services to the community and patient transfers from hospital to hospital, only.

The development of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems in Kenya has been a long road, despite much work by many NGOs, many years of local progress, steps forward by the Kenyan government, and the multitude of meetings about the need to do so and how to move forward. The need in developing countries for this level of emergent healthcare is great, more so than would be expected from a developed nation perspective. There exist many public health concerns beyond those usually related to public health in such an environment and those concerns have led the CDC to hold the first symposium in East Africa to attempt answers.

SHARE orphan in front of Our Lady of Orore Boarding School.

2010 FEATURED SCHOOL : We believe Sponsors would like to see the types of schools that the SHARE orphans attend. This year we are featuring Our Lady of Orore, one of the most prestigious schools in Western Kenya, where in 2009 we had 37 SHARE orphans.

Our Lady of Orore is a wonderful boarding school which provides education for grades 1-8. It is located in the small town of Orore which is situated near Lake Victoria, Kenya. The school itself is very self contained and secluded. It was founded by the Marist Brothers of Germany. Today, the Brothers are all Kenyans and the Principle is Brother Josea; he is assisted by Brothers Rogers, Frederich, and Andreas.

Solar oven

In 2008 and 2009 we learned that the post election violence, continuing drought conditions and the abysmal poverty have left little options for jobs for our high school graduates. Accordingly, we are very concerned that we will have a growing population of SHARE sponsored orphans who are not on a college path and have no means of support.

We explored possibilities of capitalizing on our solar oven experience and partnering with the Marist brothers of the Our Lady of Orore Boarding school. Why this school?

Pieces for Peace drawing by Kennedy Odhiambo, age 17.

In 2009, SHARE orphans participated in a project called Pieces for Peace Mosaic with Youth from Around the World. Over 200 drawings, poems, and essays were created by children from 28 schools in Wetern Kenya and submitted for this project. With much thanks to SHARE Social Workers, Cyprina and Lucy, SHARE brought this program to western Kenya. Many of the sponsored youth in SHARE’s Orphan Sponsorship program called on their own inspiration to create images of what peace has meant to them. Additionally, students from many of the schools where our sponsored orphans attend, joined in as well also inspired by the encouragement that this project provided “…encouraging youth to become active participants in shaping their future”.

Everline with several SHARE sponsored orphans at her college graduation.

The SHARE Orphan Sponsorship Program (SOS) has been in existence for more than 20 years. Over the course of time, a group of orphans have graduated from high school through the generosity of our sponsors, and some of them continued with their education at a University level. During our trip to Kenya in September 2008, we decided to follow up on some of these orphans to see what their lives are like. Today we have more than 8 students in prestigious universities, and each of these success stories is heart warming.

One of SOS orphans enjoys coloring a book for the 1st time in her life. The book was one of the gifts sent to Kenya by her sponsor. Helping her is SHARE Board member Usha Wright.

I hadn’t seen a paved road in about 5 hours. We (Usha and I) were traveling from Kisumu to Mbita Point to visit the children, meet the school principals, see the solar oven and check on how the various SHARE programs are functioning. This is no drive for the weary. I couldn’t help wondering if the holes in the roads were deeper than they were last year, or if they just felt deeper because I am a year older.

Last year, Bobby McGuffie and I traveled these same roads to give World Cup soccer balls to the numerous schools where the SHARE orphans live and study, as a present from donors back home. The roads still do not have names, nor do the streets that pass through the small villages along the way. The villages consist mostly of mud huts, or makeshift houses with sheet metal roofs. Sheep and chickens walk in the streets; young people appear to be standing around without much to do. There are very few older people. Life expectancy in the Suba District is 37.