6) MEETING A FAMILY IN KABULA

After the first 2 days in Kabula, Edwin asked us if we wanted to go and visit families in the village. Until then, we had met several people in the street, introduced ourselves to the neighbours but we hadn't got the chance yet to see how people lived in their homes. Iván and I were really looking forward to it. We wanted to meet needy people and understand why an organisation like BOHAPO is so essential in the community.
So first, we went passed the river where people sometimes go and wash themselves. As one can imagine, the water there was not that clear. But what can people when they don't have any running water ?

We arrived in the coumpound that you can see in the first picture above. Several families live in this area and like many homes in the village constructions are really basics; the walls are made of ground and a strawish material is used for the roofs. The problem is that it can rain heavily and sometimes the houses aren't solid enough.

The construction in the pictures is used as a kitchen...

In the next picture below is the first family we met : a women alone with her children. She knew Edwin and was really happy to meet us. She got some chairs for us to sit outside and we had a chat together (Edwin was translating for us). We were expecting to see one of her sons who has problem with his legs. Like several children in the community, this child was bow-legged (probably due to undernutrition). He arrived after 20 minutes because he was at school and he stayed with us for a couple of minutes. Edwin had put him in a waiting list for an operation but as he told us, there was already 8 children waiting for other operations before him. Once they are in the list, children have to wait for the organisation to get enough money to pay for the operation. So it might take time before the child can get operated.

This bow-legged boy is not pictured but you can see below the rest of the family. The children here are younger and their home is behind us. It is really sad to see that people can live in such conditions. These children don't have proper clothes and the whole family has to sleep on clothes put on the gound.

Unfortunately, we could be aware that these little boys were not really healthy. They were all coughing and one of them was crying certainly because he was not feeling well. As Edwin and Jacky told us, a lot of children don't live longer than 5 years old.

So basically, the presence of the association is a great help for the community. Even if BOHAPO cannot solve all the problems, they are fighting as much as they can to help poor people. The bow-legged boy is hopefully getting an operation and this family is provided with food and clothes when they cannot afford to pay for it

On our way back, we met these children who went out from the classroom to see how "wazungu" (white people) looked like. School in Kenya is compulsory and most of the schools are mixed. Pupils have to wear uniforms but here they didn't have any.

Still, we met this little child on our way as well. He was standing in the field with a bucket behind his back.
We were not sure but we guessed he was working.