This week was an interesting one for me – not quite so busy as last week, but still very full.
Monday morning I began with a running start. Just moments after I got into the office Leonard informed me that he was going to Mombasa, and he wanted to know if I would be willing to come so we could look for filing materials. I quickly agreed, and that remained the plan…. for about 10 minutes. Then, he received a phone call from Madame Karo informing him that there was a hearing for the two boys at Gede who have been accused of rape. (For those who do not know, allegedly, two boys from Gede Special School raped one of their classmates. This happened over a year ago and the trial is still dragging on.) Leonard thought it would be a good idea for me to try to sit in on the hearing because of the policy that I have been working on – I would get to see it in action. I agreed, and soon I was off to Malindi, the opposite direction from Mombasa.
When I arrived at the court, the hearing was just getting out. It had been earlier and much shorter than anyone expected. The court itself was like no court I have ever seen. It was literally a circular courtyard with dirt floors and a collection on plants in the middle. The sky was the ceiling for the centermost area where people sat and milled around, and each individual court was in a small stucco room connected to the others.
I quickly learned that I did not miss much. Essentially all that happened was the magistrate said the boys had something to answer for, and that they needed to present their defense on July 2. While I stood there talking to the people who attended the hearing, a clerk with a small piece of paper came up to us to inform us that the date had been pushed to August 2. Another month! Even though I missed the hearing, I was able to discuss the case with the boys’ lawyer and the court interpreter. I am not sure what I should or should not say, but it is a messy case. A real tragedy for the school. I feel awful for everyone involved. By law, any trial regarding a child is supposed to be expedited, taken care of as quickly as possible. It is clear that is not happening, and everyone is suffering as a result. Especially the children. Such a dark stain on their young lives, dragged over a course of years.
Because the hearing was over so quickly I called Leonard, and we agreed that I still had plenty of time to go to Mombasa. So I got on a mutatu to Mombasa to meet Leonard there. As it turns out, I took the wrong kind of mutatu. I was on a mutatu to Mombasa, but I had not taken an express one, rather, I had taken one that stops for anyone along the road, and that stops and waits for people in the larger town areas. So instead of taking me a little over an hour and a half to get to Mombasa, it took me nearly three hours. And it was quite the ride! As we approached the larger towns, the mutatu would be so full that people would literally be hanging out the rickety sliding door. Then they would all get off and we would wait for more people to come and fill the mutatu and then we would be off again, dodging slow lorries, bicyclists and motorcycles down the undivided and unmarked highway to Mombasa. There are no lanes here in Kenya, at least not on the highways, and even if there were they would be utterly ignored. There is only one rule: don’t hit the vehicle that is coming toward you, or anyone that you are trying to pass.
I successfully met Leonard in Mombasa and we thankfully found what we were looking for, and we headed back to Gede. This ride was a much more peaceful one, as we took a nice express vehicle that did not stop (except for gas) until we reached Gede.
The next day was a quiet one. I spent it putting the new filing system in order and filing all of the children’s paperwork. But Wednesday was a new journey, this time to Marafa.
Leonard and I went to check on the progress of the new dorm that is being put up, as well as fill out some new applications for sponsorship and progress reports. The dorm is progressing really well! We were out there last when Cindy was here about a month ago and there had been a great deal of progress since then. Leonard also had a meeting for the building project, so I went ahead with the head teacher and began to fill out the new application forms for sponsorship. It took us the rest of the morning and into mid-afternoon to complete all the work. It was much more arduous and involved than I expected it to be. For each piece of information it seemed that someone needed to be contacted, or so and so needed to confirm something. Then, one of the girls we were filling out an application form for refused to let us take her picture. Whenever the head teacher tried to take her hand she jerked away, and ran away when we asked her to stand for the picture. She seemed almost frightened, and I felt bad – I did not mean to scare her! It took the head teacher nearly twenty minutes to finally get a decent picture of her.
Trips to Marafa are always more tiring than I expect them to be – even Leonard was falling asleep on the way back!
Thursday and Friday were rather calm days – I spent them typing up the information we gathered in Marafa, updating the Sponsorship Database, editing articles for the newsletter and cross- referencing the newly created files with their digital counterparts to check for any missing or inconsistent information.
Right now I am looking forward to my trip to Malindi tomorrow to do some much needed shopping with some friends I have made here in Kenya. Two of them are teachers at Bambakofi – another NGO run primary school here in Gede.
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