I cannot imagine a life without any modern facilities. The masai people that are the natives in Kenya live a life the same as they have always lived. They are nomads and have cattle and goats. Some have adapted slightly to modern society and let their children go to public schools and i have also heard about masai with mobile phones. This is not something i experienced when i got the opportunity to visit a village right outside Amboseli national park.

They charge a fee to get into the village which will go to the community in that village. This village consisted of 80 members with one small house per family. The houses are built by the women in the village and takes 3 months to complete. The material is clay with wooden sticks. The house has two rooms; one where the father sleeps and one where the mother and their children sleeps. The floor is just the ground and I asked where the matresses were. No matresses - they sleep on cow skin. In the mother’s and children’s room they also has a fireplace where they cook beans and goat- and cow meat which is their diet (drink goat- and cow milk). The house is incredibly small and I could not stand straight. I got slightly claustrophobic when entering the very narrow hallway. When entering the first room (approx 4 sq meter) the disgusting smell hits you and i found it hard to breath - something between sweat, soil and strong smoke from fire place. This smell followed me the rest of the day....

In Kenya there are approx 2 million masai people and due to lack of family planning there is an increasing number. They live in polygamy and men can have several wifes and even more children with each wife. I also brought with me some questions that came to my head; what do they do with dental problems, toothpaste, lactose intollerance, home insurance, time since they don’t have watches or clocks, clothes washing, cure for tonsillitis and lots of other things that we take for granted???

What has hit me when I got here is the poverty and especially the children that are suffering the most from this. High unemployment together with low payments and lots of drug- and alcoholic problems are making the situation worse. Unwanted children are left on the street with a hope that someone will find them and take care of them. Because of all these problems there are a lot of orphanages that once started by an organisation or devoted private persons. The local authorities don’t do anything so they are all dependant on donations.

One of the orphanages that i got the opportunity to visit was founded 10 years ago by a Swiss lady; New White House Academy which now has 400 children living and attending education. The children are from 3 years old up to 15-16. The small children have ”mothers” employed by the orphanage, living with them, helping them with all that they need but most of all, they give them love. Fantastic work and I really admire people who give-up their comfortable life at home with the purpose to help children in need. If you want to read go to www.kenyanchildrenhelp.ch.

In the resort I am staying there is a German lady who has been visiting Mombasa for many years and in 2005 she started a school for kids from 2-3 years old to 15-16. These are not orphants, at least not all of them, but they come from very poor homes. We all went to visit the school today and we got such a lovable welcome that i could not hold my tears back. It was an incredibly emotional time with them but most important, everyone seemed happy and were smiling. All women In the group got handmade necklaces. When we were about to leave, they all came to hug us and to do high 5. These kids are not the poorest here but with very little to hope for so by having this safe place to go to everyday, learning on a daily basis, it will hopefully give them some hope for the future. This school is funded by some tuition fees and donations. Local authority doesn't contribute at all.

I believe in helping the people locally as these people are the ones that are worst off.

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