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YOUR TAX-DThe
Story of the Founding of AFK
AFK started serendipitously.
In 2003 Irene Kimenyi (from Kenya
)and Wayne Silver's wife, Emely, were both
employed at E.O. Smith High
School in Storrs. One of the projects they were working on was uniting
unite some girls from Kenya with the girls in Storrs. While having lunch
together one day, Irene said, "I have a dream - to build a small library
in the Thika Highlands... It would be the first public rural library in
Kenya." Emely said, "Let's go for it." And they did.
After speaking with Irene, Emely
recruited 18 people within a three-month period to collect and
store books everywhere. Within six months, 50,000 books were
collected, as well as 14 computers. These were shipped to Kenya and
the first community library in the rural highlands of Kenya
was founded.
Irene explains to groups in America that books and paper were such
a scarce resource in Kenya. In fact, when Irene was attending
school in Kenya, she used the dark ashes from the fire under the cooking
pots and a stick to "write" her math problems on rocks.
After her dad had checked her answers, she was allowed to write her
homework , in very small print, on a sheet of paper. Books and paper
were a luxury .
In the summer of 2004, Wayne and a
group of 17 other people went to Kenya for the official ribbon cutting
ceremony at the library. Two thousand people, including members of
parliament, attended this week-long ceremony. The creation of a
library is a celebratory event in Kenya.
(See photos of Kenyan
library)
The Kenyans were absolutely delighted.
The library became a gathering place that not only loaned books, but
disseminated public health information, promoted adult and children
literacy, and promoted economic development. One woman, for example,
stopped at the library at the end of each day, after picking tea leaves
all day. Her daily readings transformed her, and she went on to get an
education, even though it meant walking 14 miles to school. Now
she gives public health seminars at the Kenya library.
When Wayne was in Kenya, he had
medical problems: kidney stones. He went to a hospital that
served 900,000 people and had only one doctor. There were people
sprawled inside the waiting room and outside too. People arrived
at the hospital
after walking for hours.
Some who were very sick were literally carried on the backs of healthier
people. Some died on the way. The hospital had no gloves and
one x-ray machine that was over 50 years old.
Thank heavens - Wayne survived.
After the trip, the group organized and
became "American
Friends of Kenya, Inc. "and set three modest goals:
1. Gather a few more books, maybe
25,000.
2. Gather a few medical supplies: first aid kits and latex gloves
3. Have a reunion in 2006. Each member would again pay for his own
transportation and stay.
Providentially, the organization grew
exponentially.
The head of the media center at E.O.
Smith High School put out feelers in a newsletter. Within a month he
was besieged with dozens upon dozens of high school and grade schools
that had thousands books to donate. A registered nurse sent out a
notice to medical supply houses and she was overwhelmed with millions of
dollars worth of wheelchairs, canes and walkers and medical supplies.
Board members started a newsletter and then a website. Emails from
everywhere poured in! Offers for old X-ray machines and EKG's came in.
A storage facility was procured to keep and sort items in between
shipments.
AFK Today
| Yearly, AFK sends over 200,000
books,
computers, school supplies, medical supplies and AV equipment. These are
distributed amongst 150 village schools, libraries, struggling hospitals
and clinics. All AFK workers are volunteers. No one gets paid
a dime.
Travelers pay for their own expenses. In 2006 its medical team saw over
1200 patients. |
Kibera Slums: 900,000 people live in a place the
size of Central Park - with no conveniences |
Three Ethical Issues Faced
by AFK
- How far should one go in accommodating cross-cultural
differences?
(not lifestyle differences but value differences)
The Kenyans are of a different culture. Their view of life is tied
to to the rhythms of the seasons. It is not continually driven by
the clock and by urgency. Women do not aspire to leadership roles.
In fact, Kenyans do not know what do do with a woman in a leadership
position. Wayne's wife, Executive Director Emely, is one that likes
everything done yesterday. When she sent emails to Kenya, Kenyans
would reply to Wayne. They did not know how to respond to women.
Women did not hold leadership positions. This was something
new to them. It was a clash of values that was more
than cultural. It is a basic issue of integrity. Emely needed to
be respected, and the Kenyans have come around.
- Weighing Incommensurable Goods and Priorities
Another ethical challenge
is balancing the priority of saving lives and reducing suffering
now, versus breaking the cycle of poverty for the future. There is
so much poverty that even Bill Gates would not have enough money to
save everyone now! Kenyans could exhaust all resources for
immediate help. How could we not want to help all of them now?
However, the mission of AFK is promoting public literacy and
schools. AFK is trying to help the next generation too. This is a
very difficult balance when the level of need is desperate. How does
one allocate limited resources to seemingly infinite needs?
- Why Kenya? Why not Norwich?
Wayne explained it is not an either/or situation. Everyone in is
organization is committed at the local level too. Wayne then
provided examples by talking about the volunteer activities he
participates in.
Moreover, the work of Kenya also spills into the local communities.
For example, AFK receives calls asking, "Can you use food, clothing
and toys? " The reply is, "We don't ship all of those items to
Kenya. We don't ship clothes because we do not want to compete with
the indigenous economy.... But, we can find a home for them ." Items
have been sent to the Tommy Toy Fund, to Community Meals, to soup
kitchens, to the Sioux Indians in South Dakota...
Personal Reflections on Serendipity and Synchronicity
Wayne states, "Eastern religions speak
of serendipity and synchronicity. There are signals all around us
Serendipity is a chance encounter. We have these all the time in our
daily lives.
Synchronicity is a coincidence, or the coincidental occurrence of
events.
We walk and we have an epiphany. Rare
and precious opportunities surround us and we at AFK have kept our eyes
and ears open for ways of helping. There is such a great need in Kenya.
It is so much greater than it is home. We are talking of millions of
preventable deaths, of lives that are devoid of opportunity because the
level of assistance is so much less. Here we have agencies that are
unheard of in the third world.
Members of AFK are from varied
religious beliefs. All of us have been taught to love the stranger.
People in distant lands are the same. People depend on grandparents for
wisdom. Parents want what is best for their children. We are all
children of God. Most AFK members believe in the power and affirmation
of prayer. We observe small miracles each day. Doors continue to open
in unimaginable ways , and on a daily basis. We are participating in a
special mission. Most of us have been transformed by our
experience and feel we are a part of something larger. It's a
miraculous experience. Our work is love made visible"
Information on How You Can Help
If you want to help those in Kenya,
here are ideas
- Let People Know about AFK:
Stay informed. Spread the word. subscribe to their free
newsletter. Send an email
requesting to be placed on their emailed newsletter.
- You can launch your own mini collection drive.
Books are needed and more libraries will be opened. Medical books ,
as well as children and teen books, that are in good condition can
be put to great use.
Medical supplies are needed.
Nutritional supplements are also needed, particularly Nutribars.
Why are Nutribars so important? Emely Silver writes:
The issue of Nutribars relates to the fact that individuals taking
ARV (anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment of AIDS) drugs must
take them with food. Without the food intake the drugs (which are
extremely powerful) will not only not be effective but can result in
many other problems for the AIDS patients, especially children
....Sending nutribars that do not require refrigeration
and can be easily stored and transported with our shipments of books
and medical supplies arose. It is a simple solution to a huge
problem.
- Broker a connection.
Go to your local grade
school, library, or church and tell them about AFK. Let them know
of the need. In the slums of Nairobi kids will sniff glue to ease
their hunger pains. This damages their health and vision. There are
800,000 people living in a Nairobi slum, without any
conveniences, and it is the size of Central Park. One grade
school has begun recording children's books on tapes.. Some
churches are raising funds for orphanages.
- Set up a presentation.
You can do this yourself
or invite AFK to do it for you.
- Manual Labor.
Assist in the loading of a
40' truck when it comes to the warehouse.
Helpers will also be needed to pack and load discarded books from
Otis library.
- Solicit funds.
- Come to Kenya in the
summer of 2008 with the AFK group. Click
HERE
for trip information
Contact Information
 
Mission Statement: We are partners with the people
of Kenya in building a better tomorrow.
.
Whether it is on campus
or in Willimantic, we can help with publicity etc. If possible, please
stay away from the weekend of April 14-15 because Emely and I will be
out of town and April 27 because that is the date a group in E. Lyme is
sponsoring a coffee house for AFK.
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