The World According to Mitzie Mee

Lynette.

After a long and very bumpy ride, we reached Naro Moru just before noon. At the ChildFund office Lynette was waiting with her mother, her sister and her grandmother. The ChildFund staff introduced us to each other and then gave a brief presentation of the work they do in the community. Lynette was very shy at first, but then she caught sight of my camera and curiosity took over. After a brief introduction to the basic functions, she was therefore allowed to take most of the photos during the day, which resulted in some really nice and funny pictures.

From Lynette’s perspective.

The ChildFund employees in Naro Moru had organized the day’s program, which included lots of interesting visits to some of all the projects they support. We started out with a visit to Lynette’s school, where all the children came out to greet us and seemed to be really excited about our visit.

Hello Naro Moru.

In the school yard.

Afterwards we went to see two different locations, where huge water tanks have been installed to collect the water, some of it all the way from Mt. Kenya, and create enough pressure to distribute the water continuously to the households in Naro Moru. Naro Morus biggest challenge is to ensure stable access to clean drinking water for humans and livestock, as well as water to make it possible to irrigate crops, even when there is drought, in order to avoid famine, which has otherwise been a recurring problem in the area.

In the car.

Lynette’s mother and sister photographed by Lynette.

The goal is to make fresh drinking water available to all households in the region. This is both to avoid diseases caused by contaminated water, but also to avoid that people (often the children) have to spend many hours each day bringing water from the waterholes and to their houses, leaving very little time for other activities, such as homework.

Lynette in front of one of the drinking water project sites.

It was such a great experience to meet Lynette and her family and see how much so little (my monthly donations) can accomplish. Besides paying for Lynette and her sister’s school, the monthly donations also cover the expenses the family might have to medical care, and support various initiatives and projects within the community. This includes the continuous work to secure an adequate supply of drinking water described above, but also many other projects. The center has thus recently hired an employee to advise on cases of child abuse and to make sure that children know their rights and that the parents are educated in recognizing the signs of sexual abuse.

I had brought some presents for the family such as toys, food and household products, which the whole family could benefit from, and it was really touching to see how much joy it evoked. Even though it wasn’t any expensive gifts, the ChildFund staff decided to escort the family all the way home with their gifts, in order to avoid that envious souls got silly ideas and robbed the family on their way back home.

Lynette and her older sister Ruth.

Days like this really provide some food for thought. When you find yourself in an area of the world, where clean drinking water is a luxury, and where the children are happy, as long as they can go to school, the small issues you might be struggling with really crumbles, and you realize how privileged a life, you actually have. To be able to contribute to make the life of Lynette and her family a little easier, is a wonderful feeling, and I can only recommend others, who have the possibility, to also start sponsoring a child through ChildFund. Visit ChildFund’s international website here.

The family and me in front of the ChildFund office in Naro Moru