KIBERA

In Nubian, Kibera means forest, jungle. After the ‘’favelas’’ of Rio de Janeiro and the slums of Bombay, but with higher poverty rates, Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa. More than a million people live in it, in extremely poor hygienic conditions. Only 1% of the houses are made with materials we are familiar with, like brick or stone. Here is a video worth seeing:

As soon as you step off the matatu or minibus, that brings you to Kibera from the centre of Nariobi, you can feel the unique experience you are about to live. You walk through mountains of garbage. You smell what is supposed to be a sewage system on both sides of the ‘’street’’ but ends up being accumulated muck. A few kids come close to you with dirty faces and broken t-shirts. They haven’t showered in weeks. You look at them slowly, the white of their eyes isn’t white, it’s yellow. As you continue to walk, people are laying on the street. You ask yourself if the whole walk is going to be the same, but as you cross the border between what’s purely physical and what’s more emotional, you realize that this neighbourhood is a special place.

As you go deeper into Kibera, as you get to know people from the community, you get a sense of the good vibes that surround this area. Most of the people that live in this neighbourhood come with hope of finding a job in the capital of Kenya. That ‘’job’’ doesn’t exist in Madrid, nor in Nairobi. The difference is that in Nairobi they know they have to pull through, and that one way or the other they have to bail themselves out. They start up businesses, they help each other and they are able to take a step forward.

Some of you may still be asking yourself, so why do these crazy people go to Kibera?

GIVING BACK

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Nacho Sáenz. I graduated from my degree in bilingual business from CUNEF, last September. As almost every freshly graduated student, due to the current situation in Spain, I found it difficult to find a job. I was lucky enough to start working in Excom, a company that takes internet to rural areas. Meanwhile, the curiosity to undertake something of my own overcame me, and together with three friends, started up a business called SAGA CAZA.  The idea of this initiative is to promote and reduce prices of hunting in order to approach a younger public and that way, make ourselves a small place in this difficult market. A few days ago I started working in Salesforce, an American company that sells software to other companies.

It all started some months ago when Alvaro called me to ask my opinion on some internet doubts he had, and before I had hung up I was already 100% given into the project. I loved the idea from the beginning. We have worked hard, but it has been easy thanks to our growing expectations and hope as we see that what was once an idea in our heads, is beginning to take form faster than we expected. All the changes that I’ve lived throughout these months have made the project grow, and with it, all of us who are involved, grow too.

This project is addictive, and every day it is more real and more present. Soon we will have news and improvements: Part of the team will go to Kenya at the end of this month and we have another team working on the development of our internet platform. It’s a pleasure to work with both Alvaros, Pedro, Elena and an honour to be able to have in our team, our Trust Comitee, sponsors and partners. But it is even more satisfying to see that there are people that come to us every day eager to help us and offering us their time or even their paintings. This is helping us and pushing us, because at the end of the day, you are the ones who will finish making this project real.

For professional reasons, I will not be able to see our school, our orphanage or our clinic…but I will be here in Madrid, to help and assist in the development of our internet platform. From Madrid, I will be one of the people that will be in charge of using and handling the strong force of the web so that this project is well known and continues to grow.

Mas Por Ellos is my way of giving back what I’ve been given throughout my 23 years, trying to give to those who are not destined to have the same opportunities I had, much more than they could ever dream of. To conclude, a video which was recorded last week when we went to the radio. On the way out they interviewed us answering to the question; what is happiness in the work? Here is my answer…

Nacho

I`VE NEVER BEEN TO AFRICA

My first experience in social work was a compulsory afterschool activity. It involved looking after children with unfavorable situations and helping them with their homework. It was an enriching experience, but I wasn’t happy with the little perspective I was able to give these kids, because of my short experience. Little did I know that this experience would be followed by many more in different NGO’S, in different countries, leading up to this; Más Por Ellos.

Slowly I learnt how these organizations work; the feeling of personal satisfaction which they give you. If I had to choose something, I would stick to the people that one meets in these type of projects; people that teach you how to value what really matters. Yes, this is what has made me write this. It’s difficult to recount or sum up all these experiences, but I can point out one which really made me want to make of these activities a part of my life.

It happened last year in Brazil, where I was studying architecture with three friends. Whenever we could we took some time off to travel. We would grab our backpacks, and dive into the adventure. Throughout these trips, we were lucky to find the organization: Un teto para meu pais (A roof for my country). This NGO provides module homes for helpless families in marginalized areas of South America. In Brazil they work in different ‘’favelas’’. The idea of getting to know a ‘’favela’’ from the inside, attracted me immediately.  I had no doubt I would sign up and offer my help.

We started off from Sao Pablo to Guarulhos, a small colony surrounded by different favelas. We settled in one of the schools in the community, and the people couldn’t have greeted us better. The plan was to live there for a few days and help in the construction of some houses. My experience was incredible, and from it, I took home many positive things. On the first day we met the different families we were going to help, bringing us closer to the inhabitants of the favela and witnessing their happiness whilst thanking us for our work. We were going to build them a house, but most importantly, we were going to give them a home. Their reaction gave us more strength and eagerness to start the construction.

During the following days, we worked hand in hand with different members of the favela. The cooperation of their community surprised me greatly. How could people that have nothing, offer their help and their time, whilst people that have everything, and therefore helping means less to them, don’t do it?

However, it wasn’t all hard work. We also had time to talk and hang out with the neighbors. We were invited for lunch at a different house every day where we lived the culture and customs of such a damaged community. It was an unforgettable experience.

I know Alvaro since I was a kid, and we always talked of our ideas and ways of seeing life… We mentioned it very often; some day we would build something together, but we never even thought it would be something so incredible. We embarked in another project, and I say ‘’another’’ because we had already tried the ‘’entrepreneur world’’ with an event business which never really took off.

I fell in love with Mas Por Ellos from the very first moment, and it took me less than two minutes (literally) to decide to form a part of the project. We began to take our first steps and built a strong, compromised team who really felt the project and defended it. We began polishing the idea, how to make it sustainable, how to involve technological innovation, how it would work…etc. In order to compare with professionals from this area, foreign to our organizations, who would be able to criticize our project, we participated in different entrepreneurship contests. This is how we have been improving day to day to reach this point and there is a lot more to come!! ‘’A lot more to come’’ which will be received with hope and desire to work, and if I can confess, with a little bit of fear from time to time. Thankfully, to soothe these brief moments of fear, we have all of you who from the outside, trust in this project and support us. Thank you!

I’ve never been to Africa, and this summer, finally, I will go. We will keep writing from Kenya, but our plan is to use this time over there to buy land on which we will build an orphanage and a school. I’ve never been to Africa, but everyone who’s been only tells me how easy it is to fall in love with it, how it has something different to everywhere else, how magic it is. I’ve never been to Africa, but I’m off!!!

Mesos

MUZUNGU

"Muzungu! Muzungu! How are you?"

Parties, friends, choosing a university degree, shopping, going to the movies…that’s what should have kept my mind occupied when I turned 18. I had finished school and for me, it wasn’t time to decide. I needed to live.

Whilst my parents advised me not to, I was busy closing my suitcase. Hope and fear where at the same level inside me. I was beginning an adventure, my adventure. I was beginning a dream, and without knowing it, I was about to start drugging myself, and I was about to become an addict. My drug and destiny blended into the same name, Africa.

I was going to start travelling Africa from Kenya, with 8 months ahead of me, Nairobi seemed the perfect place to start. A conflict between local oppositions, forced me to change my direction. Zambia called my attention. Honestly I think it was because I didn’t even know where it was on the map or maybe it was because in its border with Zimbabwe it had one of the Seven Wonders of the World (Victoria Falls). The plan was to spend a few months in Zambia. I never stick to the plan.

Victoria Falls

Muzungu! How are you?

It´s impossible to explain with words what enchanted me. What was it that made me stay in Zambia. There are a million good reasons, but what most attracted me; the people.

Mwandi is a small community near Livingstone city. Everything was very different to what I was accustomed to, the walks were never ending, the life-style seemed to be in slow motion, and even their needs to be happy, were different . In the short time I was there, I got to know almost everyone in the community, I adopted some of their customs and began to speak their dialect. Africa was completely different. I had just discovered another world and I didn’t want to leave it.

Morris and Elena

I loved to go to a small school in the community where children can learn for free until the end of their primary education. I helped teachers; I painted walls, played with children and even started up an afternoon reading club for the children and adults of the community to learn how to read. I fell in love with each and every one of the kids I met, each with their own story. Edson, the perfect student, smart, joyful, who at the age of 10, had 3 brothers and a 25 year old mother; Morris, orphan after losing his parents and brothers by an elephant attack while they walked to try and reach the city; Alex who lost his mother, and at the age of 8 was diagnosed with the most widespread disease in Africa, and who’s father abandoned him after finding this out.

In spite of all these stories which in our world could be called tragedies but for them are nothing more than ‘’part of life’’, these kids don’t ever lose the smile on their face. Not a day goes by without hearing ‘’Muzungu, Muzungu! How are you?’’ as you walk along the streets. Muzungu is how they call white people.

Edson and Elena

With time, my vague idea of studying languages completely changed. Something had created a bond between me and Zambia and without realizing, it had defined my near future. I would study medicine in Spain, and I would cure in Africa.

As soon as I landed in Madrid, I was already planning my visit for the following year. I started medicine and before a year had gone by, I had saved enough money to return to Zambia. I went back to Mwandi school to see ‘’my kids’’. The school’s headmistress, Joyce, confessed her fear to me. Edson was finishing primary school and without help, he would have to leave his studies at that. Edson and his 19 classmates, as their families had no money to pay secondary school. I couldn’t let that happen. I decided to try and start a sponsorship program. Thanks to the friends and family I have, it didn’t take long for me to convince them to participate in this project. 100% of the money reached the kids, as it was me who sent it or personally took it to Zambia and Joyce offered her help. Her help meant she would walk every day from the community several hours until she reached the city, to buy uniforms, shoes, to pay the school fees…etc. With less than 100€, each sponsor was paying one child’s school and uniform for a year. The same price we pay for a good dinner, a night out or tickets to the theatre. In exchange, one kid would be able to study another year.

My next trip was different. Seeing the children in school with their uniforms, shoes with soles, or a notebook instead of the back of their hands, couldn’t make me happier. It’s now been three years since these kids began being sponsored, are studying, are creating a life with a more promising future. (It couldn’t have been done without the help of all the incredible ‘’sponsors’’).

So things can be a different way, the infinitely small can become great.

I wish I could sponsor all the kids. I wish I could save the 13 year old girl about to give birth, the 10 years old boys who follow in their brother’s footsteps and decide to get high with whatever they can find, the 12 year old kids who walk for hours to the border with Zimbabwe making business, and all those who dream of being nurses or pilots but can only dream, because history, geography, politics or the million other reasons foreign to them have unjustly given them this life.

My idea was to begin something at some point. Something that could have an infinite economic imput to be able to sponsor all the children who finish primary school. It was only an idea. Until a few months ago, Alvaro called me. Alvaro is one of my friends that sponsored the children from Mwandi community. As always, eager to help, generous and devoted, another victim of Africa’s addictive vibe, didn’t think twice before answering ‘’Tell me when you want the money’’. When he called me, he told me his idea, his project, his dream. Much bigger than what I had ever even though of. He told me he wanted to fund an NGO to help Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa which is near Nariobi. He had spent some time there a few years ago. He wanted my help. Starting in Kenya, and continuing in Zambia some day, without a doubt, I accepted.

Since then I have put myself in the hands of 4 people who continue to amaze me every day with their initiative, their creativity, their effort, their work, their dedication, their good humor, their desire, their excitement, their intelligence…I could go on…but what I like the most, is that they don’t lose hope, they are sure that this will do that ‘’bit’’ to the world which could make a difference. Alvaro, Meso, Nacho and Pedro make it seem easy to build an NGO. I have been absent this last month with exams and things which in my world in Madrid become more important than they would do in Africa, and without realizing, this project has taken huge steps, without a doubt, thanks to them. As I’m sure you are also thinking, I am the luckiest person ever!

Thank you for reading our blog and for helping us make this real.

Elena