Contact!!!

Well, it has been 25 days (wow! I can't believe it has already been that long...not sure how to think about that. On one side, it seems like just yesterday that we were there, but on the other hand, it feels very lonely to have been apart from those wonderful people for so long...) since we have been back. There is still no way to go a single day and not reflect back on that most magical week. With the election last week (OBAMA!!!OBAMA!!!OBAMA!!!...I will never get tired saying that...) we felt an urgent need to re-connect, but were having a terrible time with not hearing from anyone. Then in a matter of a few days we have gotten one e-mail from Cosmos (our incredible server/giraffe handler), two e-mails from Rudy (our host, who is coming to stay with us in April!), made a connection with an UN Aid worker who lives in Kenya who may be able to help us (Emmett does karate with her nephew), and finally received a call from George! Well, a partial call...The cell phone rang but when I answered, nothing happened. From the number, we realized that it was a Kenyan county code. We checked the Manor number and confirmed that it was a Kenyan number, but not the Manor. We made the call and got to hear George's dignified, distinct voice on the other end. It is nearly impossible to express what feelings that it inspired hearing him. He is well, but very busy. He sounded like he has not had time off to go to the Cyber Cafe. Regardless, it was what we were waiting for. We really needed some contact so that we could tell him that we needed to change our plans. We have planned to send him $100 per month but were shocked to find out that it costs $30 a pop to wire money to Kenya. So, having heard from him, we told him that we will put in $500 in his account.
For some, an explanation may be needed now. George, like all of the workers at the Manor, work 16 hour days with one,maybe two days off a month. His family lives about two hours away. He has three children which he must pay to send to school, has no medical insurance, and has no means to "get ahead". His monthly salary is 9,000 Schillings, about $120. That must pay for his food and lodging, his families, and any other costs. His elder brother died last year (the average life span is 45), which means he is now financially responsible for his brother's widow and his three nephews. Additionally, since his elder brother is dead, he must now look after his parents as well.That's not it...his younger brother is going blind and has needed medical procedures this last year. To boot, in March, during the election violence, George's wife and kids had to flee their home and while they were gone, their house was looted of all of it's possessions. This was not information that George gave to us willingly. It took about three days of incessant questioning on our part to find out his "story". Part of this was his natural sense of honor, but also he put himself at risk divulging any information to us. If the Manor found out, he could be severely reprimanded or fired. With the country at 40% unemployment, this makes him a very cautious man.
So, maybe, you can understand that we are very interested in making a difference for him. All he needs is a chance. For us, we went to Africa with the intention of finding someone that we could directly help. Going through an aid agency means that nearly 90% of your money goes to overhead, graft, and corruption. This way, we got to develop an intensely personal relationship with someone and now get to be a positive force in his life. Hopefully, his children will grow up educated and have a chance to give something back to their country. Better yet, hopefully our children will grow up knowing his children and all will have a better idea that giving is always more important than getting. We have been so fortunate in our lives: being born white, in America during an era where education, technology, and wealth are all available to those that take advantage of it. As Warren Buffet said, we were born with "the lucky ticket". So, our money going to George is trying to send him a piece of that "lucky ticket".
Look for info on stuffed Giraffes that Julie, the kids, and I (with already our dear friend Diane offering to help) will be selling as a means of raising more money for George and two other employees at the Manor.
Enough for now...
Asante Sana

Parker's Get another piece of Africa

How many times have you heard of someone going to the pound and not coming home with a new dog, let alone an adorable Fox Terrier/Basenji mix. For those of you who don't know (like us until about noon today...) a Basenji is a "barkless" African herding dog. As I knew would happen, everyone fell in love with little "Oswald" as the Humane Society had named him. He was very friendly and when I brought over Paisley, they seemed to get along very well (Paisley was very happy being the only dog...she insisted that I put that into the official record...) With little discussion, we decided to operate exactly as we usually do, and that was to adopt him on the spot. Once home, we looked for some names and found two Swahili words that we liked. So, his official name is now "Baraka Busu" which means "Blessing Kiss". Also, for some reason we like the sound of the name....kinda fitting, don't you think??? He is currently passed out on the chair and has blended into the home perfectly. He can sit on command and understands the words no, come, and sit. He can really jump, but does not jump up on you. He is about two years old and the breed mix is usually long-lived. We are really happy that we made the decision and the kids love him.

November 7th

Finally got an e-mail from one of the staff (must keep confidential, lest the management of the Manor find this blog) and they are incredibly excited about this weeks election. What an experience to have gotten to meet a people half way around the world who were so vested in what our election was going to do. They were so excited about Obama. Every day's headlines had articles related to the election when we were there. In fact, one day I found myself giving a civics lecture to about five of the staff on the electoral college system in America. Needless to say, on Tuesday after McCain's concession speech and my subsequent yelling for joy outside...we made probably a very expensive phone call to the Manor. Unfortunately, we were only able to leave a message. We hope that they got it.

Anyways, we are still trying to send $ to some of the staff. We are running into the problem of $30 fees per wire-transfer, so we are modifying our plans to transfer every 6 months or so. Thankfully, with a first e-mail, we can move forward with our plans. Hopefully, we will be able to help 3-4 of the families eventually. Julie and I (with any friends that want to help) are planning on making some hand-made gifts for the holiday season and using the proceeds to send back to Kenya. We are going to use the pattern from a stuffed Giraffe that we bought at the Giraffe Center as our model. Hopefully, we can get Made in Chico to sell them perhaps. We are looking into setting up a Non-profit to help facilitate all of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah...bleeding heart liberals is what some of you might be thinking, right? Well, just think about that in a very small village on the western edge of Kenya a man was born who earned a scholarship to study in America, and that man was the father of the most powerful, hope-inspiring man in the world at the moment. Julie and I believe that there is no limit to the possibilities of helping out. Preaching to the masses I am sure, but you never know.

Cheers and Asante Sana, the Parker Family