After breakfast, Fr. Mutiso and I went to meet with Br. Frank, a meeting we set up yesterday when we met him. He told me the history of Aids relief in Kenya. Some years ago, a Maryknoll brother, Brother John, was asigned to St. Steven's to assist the pastor, Joseph Okech. Brother John started a program through CRS, providing medicines to HIV sufferers through the parish. To overcome the problem of patients who stopped the course of medications when they started feeling better, instead of completing it as prescribed, he put together a group of volunteers to go to the patients' homes to check on them, and to see if any other needs were there. That is now the program followed throughout Africa by hundreds of volunteers - and it started at St. Steven's Bomu. And I came here thinking I would try to put together a program for them! Another unknown fact about Fr. Okech, a pretty amazing guy.
Br. Frank also told me that the problem with shipping items to Kenya, whether clothing, bicycles, or whatever, is that when it arrives, in order to pick it up they have to pay a tax that is essentially equal to the value of the goods. The last two containers that came in were just left on the docks because they could not afford to pick them up. He said the better course is simply to send money and let the people here buy whatever is needed. One exception to this is computers, which come in duty free.
I'll finish this later but while I was here I thought I would send this in.
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