The people in the slums of Nairobi actually use the word “slum” to describe where they live. They say it casually like someone might say that they live on Main Street.
It’s a fact of their life. It is a kick in my gut.
The past two days, I’ve been in Nairobi helping film a documentary in the slums with Life in Abundance. There have been quite a few kicks in the gut. I thought I would share a few of them.
Rosa and I are both parents of a toddler. A few toddles and my toddler Harper can go from the safety of our toy-laden living room to the stairs or the kitty litter box. A few toddles of Rosa’s toddler and she can be out the door into a world of danger, starting with one of Rosa’s biggest fears – a steep dirt slope that fills with running water and could wash her toddler away.
Jackie, a mother in the slum of Mithera, sleeps with one leg in the bed and the other hanging over the edge so that the cold water would wake her.
Starting tomorrow morning thanks to the kind voters at www.heldhostagebyapathy.com, who could’ve voted for me to teach kids how to play ultimate Frisbee, I begin a 24-hour stay in the slums. I’m staying with a Prophetess.
I’m looking forward to it. While there will be plenty of kicks in the gut, there will be a lot of smiles and laughs. Plus, I’ve got a killer blog title. It should be posted this weekend.
I’m a journalist and author of the book “Where Am I Wearing” and since 2001 I’ve been traveling the world writing about people near and far. There’s only one item that has been with me the entire time – my Aerobie Superdisc.
I don’t leave home without it.
My Superdisc is so much more than just a fun way to pass some time, including:
A de-adulter: Turns adults into kids in a matter of a few tosses.
A language decoder: Pull out your disc and language won’t matter. Laughs in Mandarin, Nepalese, Thai, Khmer, Spanish, French, etc. all sound the same.
A friend-maker: Throw the disc and run after it, trying your hardest to catch it before it hits the ground. This is impossible, but will win some sympathy from onlookers. Continue the game until you spot potential buddy material and “accidentally” throw the disc at their feet. If they take the bait, you got ‘em.
A plate: Flip it over and you got yourself a plate. Be sure to wash it before and after you use it. Air dry.
I’ve played in Kosovo. I taught the children of a remote village on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras how to play Ultimate Aerobie. And the Superdisc was front-and-center during one of the most powerful experiences of my life.
I was visiting the Phnom Penh (Cambodia) city dump. Burning trash spilled forth acrid smoke. Dump trucks backed up, dumped their loads, and adults jumped on the pile of fresh trash looking for recyclables. The adults earned $1 per day. They had moved from their villages when they heard about the “opportunity” to work at the dump. The dump was the closest thing to Hell on Earth I’ve ever seen.
Away from the trucks, on a plateau of trash, a group of kids picked through older trash. They earned 25-cents per day.
The sight and the smell were nauseating and tear wrenching. I could have puked. I could have cried. I fought the urge of both. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I marched up the plateau of trash to visit with the kids, reached into my bag, and pulled out my Aerobie Superdisc. For the next 30 minutes we laughed and played. They were the only laughs and smiles I saw the entire time at the dump.
It was a magical moment in which joy triumphed over suffering and desperation. I will never forget it. It wouldn’t have been possible without my Superdisc. Here are a few pictures from the experience.
Unlike other throwing discs, the Superdisc is so easy to throw that adults and kids that have never tossed a disc in their life do so with ease.
Thank you for making such a quality product.
This June I’ll be working in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, and I’ll be taking my Superdisc (and perhaps a few extra to leave behind) with me. You can bet that more than a few impromptu games will be had courtesy of my well-used Superdisc.
My heart was leaping and falling and hanging on every loose ball, offensive rebound, and free throw during the NCAA Championship game between Butler and Duke.
I was literally leaping and falling on Butler’s last two shots. When the buzzer sounded I was a puddle of rabid, heart-broken fan on the floor. And I was $110 richer since I picked Duke to win it all.
The funny thing is, I’m a Duke fan. In fact, the last time I jumped around the living room like an absolute idiot during March Madness was when Laettner hit the shot to beat Kentucky.
There was just something wrong with my pocketbook profiting and my heart suffering. I didn’t want the money. I didn’t deserve the money. So this Tuesday I gave my winnings – all $110 – to Life in Abundance who I will be working with on a film in Kenya by the end of the month.
In a matter of few weeks a half-courter won’t seem so desperate. A game won’t seem so important. Neither will $110.
I read the label on my underwear and went to Bangladesh where I was nearly pulled to pieces in a Bangladeshi mosh pit. I read Dracula and went to Romania where I spent the night alone at the real life Castle Dracula. And now reading is playing a crucial part in calling me to Africa.
Before Life in Abundance asked me to go with them, I had spent much of the previous six months reading about Africa. It was a conscious decision. I wasn’t intentionally focusing on the continent.
I like Dave Eggers so I read What is the What — an amazing read about the Lost Boys of Sudan trying to escape war, but never quite able to do it.
A friend recommended Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder – another story about escaping war. The main character ends up in NYC living in Central Park. It’s about a refugees resilience and the decency and kindness of strangers to see the potential in a fellow human and help them reach that potential.
Ishmael Beah came to Ball State U to talk about his book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. It’s a story about the light in us overcoming the darkness. Ishmael is an inspiration.
So when Justin at Life in Abundance asked me if I had ever thought about going to Africa, I gave him a resounding YES. At that time, there was nowhere I thought about going more.
We made the plans. Rule29 designed the www.heldhostagebyapathy.com campaign, and now I’m just a few short weeks away from stepping foot on African soil. I can’t wait!
Once again, reading has got me in trouble. Let’s just hope that there aren’t any mosh pits, vampires, lions, or, even worse, a mosh pit of vampiric lions, anywhere in my near future.
Are you a fan of saving the world and wearing underwear? How about rock climbing in just underwear (see above) or playing tennis in just underwear or climbing a tree in just underwear or posing like Russian acrobats in just underwear?
The folks at PACT Underwear hope so. Go to PACTs homepage and hit refresh to see all of the outdoor things you can do in your underwear. (Not pictured: getting arrested for indecent exposure.)
PACT’s motto is CHANGE STARTS WITH YOUR UNDERWEAR. The purchase of PACT underwear is participation in a social movement: when you buy PACT underwear, you are supporting and encouraging organic cotton farmers, responsible labor practices, and businesses that form partnerships with nonprofit organizations dedicated to positive change in our world.
Joshua Berman, aka my favorite guidebook author and Tranquilo Traveler, pointed me toward PACT. Until I test drive a pair, I can’t give them my seal of approval, but it seems like the company does things right. They have a video from inside their factory in Turkey and they give 10% (!) of their sales to nonprofits.
And they make getting almost naked at work and running through the woods look like a lot of fun!
Why do we go the places we go? What do we expect to find when we get there?
Kristi Scott is wrestling with each of these questions. She is traveling to Peru to work at an orphanage for an entire year. This Tuesday as part of The #ten4tues Project, I’ll be giving $10 to Kristi.
For Kristi it’s a journey of faith and a desire to get our of her comfort zone. Some of the best experiences of my life — the ones where I thought “this is living” — have taken place out of my own comfort zone. That’s why I’m so excited to help support Kristi on her journey.
Kristi was kind enough to do a guest post on her motivations, hesitations, and expectations.
This is my third time rewriting this guest post. Not because Kelsey sent back my previous drafts. He didn’t see them. When he asked me to write a guest post about my upcoming year-long trip to Peru, I was so excited! And intimidated. I started my blog in order to get the word out about my volunteer trip to a Trujillo orphanage. I never expected a real blogger/writer to ask me to write something for his blog. When Kelsey asked me why I was going to Peru for an entire year, the intimidation factor plus the fact that I wasn’t sure how to explain led me to rewrite this post so many times. So, why am I volunteering at an orphanage in Peru for an entire year?
Mary Kaech posted something this past week on a Food for the Hungry blog. It was about what she learned from three Nicaraguan boys at a trash dump. Here’s the part that inspired this final draft:
“The boys quickly covered themselves and scowled at the idea of having their picture taken like this. The boy with green shorts attempted to cover his bare chest with his little hands, but it wasn’t working. I’ll never forget the face he gave me – wide, fierce, unblinking eyes staring straight into mine.
If you look closely at these facial expressions, you will find children who know this is not right. They know they were created for more than this.“
Through various experiences, God has shown me things that make me care about people I never thought I would care about. And when I did start caring, I realized how ridiculous it was for me not to care. I realized how ridiculous it was to be so caught up in my small worries (What am I going to wear today? What should my career goals be?). I want to be somewhere where I have to look into faces like the children Mary met. Why am I going for a year instead of a month or six months? I want to be there long enough to know that the children at the orphanage were created for more than what they were given at the beginning of their precious lives. I want to be affected to the point where I am unable to live my life with my small worries as the focus.
A month would have changed me enough. Six months would have changed me a lot. But a year will change me in an uncomfortable way that will affect everything I do from that year on. If it were up to me, I would stay in my comfortable life in Southern California. I would stay close to the family and friends who are easy for me to relate to and love. Those who hardly offend me and are cut from the same middle-class American cloth I was cut from. But there is Jesus Christ, who’s been telling me to go where I will not be comfortable all the time. He has called me to discomfort. He’s given me the grace to obey and do what He calls me to. To be bold in the broken places of a child’s heart, who I don’t have much in common with save for being a broken human myself.
There is so much more depth to why I am going an entire year, but I believe that is the best way I can describe it here. Deciding to move to Peru for a year wasn’t the hard part. The hard part will be actually having to live in Peru for a year.
I leave for Kenya in about one month and will be there for about a month. One of the groups I will be visiting and reporting on is NURU. This morning Billy Williams (no word on if his middle name is Dee, he likes to drink Colt 45, or if he starred in Star Wars) contacted me and asked if I could post his note below. Ironically, it’s about an event that I was hoping to participate in at Ball State, but just happens to be the same day I’m leaving for Africa.
Anyhow, I was happy to oblige and I’m pumped to look in on Nuru’s exciting work fighting poverty in Africa.
Take it away Lando!
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Last year, Nuru International hosted its first nationwide extreme poverty awareness event and campaign. It was an experiential event designed to raise awareness and empathy for the daily routine of hundreds of women and girls in the developing world. We called it “Be Hope To Her.” The event had nearly 1000 people participate on 11 college campuses, and raised over $36,000 that led to the drilling of four deep water wells in Kuria, Kenya and thousands of changed lives.
This year, we are pleased to announce that there are twenty four colleges who are participating in the event (including one in Florence, Italy). We also have three city-wide events happening in SoCal, Seattle, and Pittsburgh.
So what is it all about? In essence, it’s an event about being hope. Over 2.4 billion people go daily without nearby access to safe, clean, drinking water. Women and girls in these communities are usually charged with the task of gathering the water for their families as a daily practice. Imagine spending three hours of your day gathering water so you and your family can have it to drink, to bathe, to do laundry, to wash dishes. Imagine if that water were contaminated and needed boiled before anyone could drink it. Imagine not being able to attend school because you had been charged with this task for the sake of your family’s survival. It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, you can be part of the generation that stands up and says enough is enough, and chooses to make a difference.
Recently, I was reading a blog from our water and sanitation program manager, Nicole Scott, that talked about how life has changed in Kuria since the drilling of wells in the community. One of the stories told was about kids at one of the schools where the wells were drilled. The teachers said that the kids are playing now instead of running into the bush to try to find water during recess. This statement really hit me personally. I started thinking back to elementary school and recess. I can remember running, playing football, tag, and kickball, and just all around having a good time with friends. I remember running myself into a frenzy knowing that at the end of recess, everyone in my class would line up at a water fountain (I think the fountain was in my classroom too), and get a drink of water before settling back into class. What would it have been like if there were no drinking fountains in my school. What if my recess was spent looking for ANY water source near the school? What would my concentration level have been like in the classroom? It seems utterly unthinkable that anyone in the modern era would have to deal with this on a daily basis.
And that’s why we are asking you to join in Be Hope To Her this year. We believe that together we can end extreme poverty. We believe that together we can pioneer solutions for whole communities to not only have convenient access to safe, clean drinking water, but to lift themselves out of extreme poverty for good! Will you join us in this effort?
The first thing you can do isregister for the event. This event is going to take place in a variety of locations across the country, so chances are you live fairly close to one of the locations (and if not, road trips are always fun—especially those with a greater purpose!).
Then, invite your friends, relatives, coworkers, and classmates to get involved. (What’s a road trip without friends?) We truly believe we can end extreme poverty, together, one community at a time, and we will work faster and more effectively as we have more people involved in this work. Imagine what it will be like to one day say that WE were the generation who said enough is enough and ended extreme poverty! This goal is within our reach, but it is going to take more than a few getting involved. Be Hope To Her is a great “first step” for folks to take as they join us in this work.
After you have registered and started recruiting your friends to get involved, you can begin raising funds for your campus. There was actually a recent blog post on the Nuru website that includes some helpful hints to some FUNdraising activities! I definitely recommend you check it out.
I can guarantee that if you participate in this event, you will NEVER look at this issue in the same way again. And your friends won’t either. Not only that, but you will be offering them a tangible first step in the journey to be the generation that ends extreme poverty!!!
(Yes, I quantify fiscal responsibility in milk shakes. Just as when I was a kid I calculated car rides in Scooby-Doo episodes.)
But $10 can have a big impact. By donating $10 every Tuesday to an organization or individual of my choosing, I’ve been introduced to some amazing people doing some amazing things. Last week, an author friend of mine (Rebecka Vigus) decided to donate $10, a host of books, and do an event at the library of a librarian friend of mine. Next week, I’m posting a guest post from a recent college grad heading to South America for a year to work in an orphanage.
If I was interested in sloganizing my #ten4tues project, I’d say it was, “Better than a round of milk shakes!”
Reed, the dude giving away $10 each day, writes the Year of Giving blog about his efforts to give the money away (sometimes it’s tough, like his recent trip in West Virginia where the first three people wouldn’t accept it) and then he introduces the person who he have the $10 to.
His blog is funny and touching and frustrating and a testament to the power of 10.
Like garment workers everywhere, they are girls in their 20s. They look tired. They walked to work. They live on Ramen noodles.
They look to the future and hope that they’ll find better jobs because this job is the worst paying job a girl can have. They get paid nothing. In fact, they pay to have this job.
Such is life for college students at Ball State’s Fashion and Design manufacturing class. I had the pleasure of speaking with the girls today about the other garment workers I met around the world.
The students are working on a really interesting project. Each year professor Paula Sampson has her manufacturing class design, manufacture, and market a product. Thus, I walked away with one zebra-striped Snac Pac and one pink one. They’re not for me. They’re for Harper. She’s only 14 months, but the girl loves her accessories and her snacks!
To learn more about the students’ project visit their Facebook page. All proceeds go to Second Harvest.
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Tid bit: After I got done talking with the class, Paula said that she doubted it takes 85 people to sew together a pair of jeans as I report in “Where Am I Wearing?” I’m just going with what the manager told me. I saw the production line in work and it was a lot of people. Now I’m itching to know. Paula suspected the manager might’ve been talking about the entire production chain: sewers, washers, queens of cool, and the sandblasting guy.
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