Putting some shine into children's lives

SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Charlie sits in the dust outside the orphanage he and his brother call home and wiggles his toes through the holes in his tattered footwear.

"Will there be shoes?" he asks hopefully. Yes, there will be shoes. His little face lights up. "And toys?" he adds, looking up optimistically. Yes, and toys. He breaks into a wide grin and returns to examining his toes. "Toys," he smiles to himself, "and shoes."

There is a sense of anticipation spreading through the 40 orphans housed at the Arise and Shine home in Kogony on the outskirts of Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city – and the adults who care for them. A 40-foot container, filled with bedding, clothes, toys, books, school desks, sewing machines, cooking utensils, tools and pencils, donated by schools such as Fort Primary in Leith and the Royal School for the Blind, as well as other groups across the Capital, is due any day now.

But, in a place where heart-breaking stories would be two a penny if there were any pennies, perhaps no-one is more deserving of help from the Edinburgh Direct Aid shipment than Charlie and his little brother, Kevin.

After all, they are the reason the orphanage exists in the first place.

It was four years ago that the brothers were found begging on the streets of Kisumu by charity worker Jonas Okoth, then 34. Their father had been jailed for murder and their mother had remarried. Their stepfather's violent beatings made it clear they weren't wanted, so their mother choose her new husband over her boys and abandoned them, aged just three and one. They were malnourished and filthy, with scabies and infections. Jonas, who had worked with street children for years, scooped them up on to the handlebars of his bike and rode home.

As he burst through the kitchen door that rainy night, his wife, Nancy, said: "And what am I supposed to do with them?"

The answer turned out to be give up their jobs – Nancy, then 32, was in hotel management – and open an orphanage. Arise and Shine feeds hundreds of children and helps 120 HIV widows form support networks to make and sell produce, such as soap, maize and fish. The orphanage also delivers food parcels and links them up with other charities who can help them with their medical needs.

Kenya has been ravaged by HIV and Aids, and violence also erupted on the streets of Kisumu last year when a disputed election caused bloodshed. Burnt-out buildings are still visible.

The orphanage itself was recently threatened with closure by the Children's Welfare Office because of a lack of proper cooking facilities. That problem is now being solved as a new kitchen and dining hall are being built, thanks to Edinburgh Direct Aid, and the project is being overseen by two volunteers from the city charity, Lisa Anderson, 36, from Leith, and Jim Harkins, 66, from Dunfermline.

Scores of children are drawn to the orphanage, to play and to get a decent meal, which Nancy is happy to provide whenever she has enough funds.

Enoch, one, Sophie, six, and Loice, four, are cared for by their older brother John, nine. They are at the orphanage every day as their widowed mother is working as a farm labourer.

Hilary, two, Doreen, four, Steven, six, and Alphonse, eight, are the most recent arrivals after being abandoned by their parents. Their father had been gone a year-and-a-half and they were begging for food when someone informed the Children's Welfare Office in Kisumu and it phoned Nancy.

"We always visit the children first to assess their needs because we are so short of space and funds. The children have to be a very bad state before we can take them, but when we saw these children I took them straight home," explains Nancy. "They were filthy and had scabies, worms and lice. Doreen had an ear infection which, because it was untreated, has left her partially deaf. We took them for treatment at the hospital, fed and washed them and later enrolled Alphonse at school. Steven, though, needs extra help and with the books in the container we will be giving him extra lessons so he can start school next year."

Nancy also tracked down their father and persuaded him to come to the orphanage. None of his children would go to him, though, as they were scared he'd take them away.

Sometimes, Nancy says, it takes weeks for new arrivals to speak at all about what they've been through. Often they don't know how old they are, where their parents are or where they have come from. Examining their teeth is sometimes the only true clue to their age.

The orphanage also offers respite care for children whose mothers are widows with HIV and have many youngsters to care for. They will stay at the orphanage during term times so that they can concentrate on their schooling.

Nine-year-olds Cynthia and Fanice are two such children. Fanice's mother was thrown out with her four children after her husband died of HIV and the family blamed her. They were found living in a shopping centre. Fanice is living at Arise and Shine whilst her mother, Evelyn, and her siblings have been given accommodation near by.

Cynthia's mother, Elizabeth, 41, is HIV positive and has seven other children. Her tiny mud hut only has three chairs, a table and two mattresses – and even the chairs are borrowed from a neighbour in honour of Nancy's visit. Nancy tells Elizabeth about the container from Edinburgh and that she'll be getting the bedding and clothes that she so desperately needs. She smiles and says: "Thank you."

It's tribal custom in Kenya for men, like Elizabeth's husband, Zedakia, who died from Aids, to have more than one wife. Elizabeth and Wilfreda, Zedakia's other wife, live as neighbours. Wilfreda, 54, is also HIV positive. She has had seven children, three of whom have died. Her son, Arthur, is severely disabled and looks as if he is literally wasting away with his bones and joints sticking out of his skin. Daughter Evelyn, 26, with her two children, Caleb, one, and Euanice, four, are living with her after fleeing Evelyn's abusive husband. Elizabeth and Wilfreda are involved with the widows' group selling fish to gain a small income and enjoy the support of other women living with HIV.

The orphanage teaches the children until the age of six, but the older children, like Cynthia, go to Kanyamedha Primary School, about a 30-minute walk away. There, there are 1100 pupils with just 12 teachers. More than 400 hundred of the children either have HIV or have been orphaned by Aids, or both. The school will be receiving equipment from the Edinburgh Direct Aid container. "It's a dream come true," says Nancy.

As for Charlie and Kevin, their mother was found recently and promised to come and visit but hasn't yet. Charlie's face hardens as he says: "I don't know why my mum doesn't want me, but maybe one day I'll find my father. For now my future is here."

To support the charity go to www.edinburghdirectaid.org or phone [phone]

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
EDINBURGH Direct Aid formed in 1992 as a support organisation to help civilians caught up in the war in the Balkans.

Volunteers gathered supplies from across the city, taking them to people in Bosnia, such as those driven from their homes by ethnic cleansing.

The group has since helped make a major difference to the lives of thousands of people in Kenya, Sarajevo, Kashmir and Sri Lanka.

The group pledges to deliver aid in person and make sure the aid gets to those for whom it is intended.

All its staff are volunteers.