My stay in Chaaria

Today, I’m going to leave the Cottolengo Mission Hospital, Chaaria.

I will fly with numerous impressions, thoughts and feelings in my head, which to digest will probably take some weeks when I’ll be back in Germany.

For now I can describe these thoughts and feelings as following:

I feel great respect for the people who founded this institution and for those who are now keeping it running, living a life of great sacrifice.

After I spent 8 months here, I got a glimpse of the struggle and the amount of work it takes to maintain the stability of this place.

When I arrived in September ’09, I was surprised by the well structured organization, as well as the architectural structure of the hospital itself, lying in the middle of “nowhere” in a small village, called Chaaria. While sometimes the power has to come from generators due to power rationing and maintenance by the Kenyan government, a lot of the food comes from the hospital’s own farm. To create that kind of “microcosm” within this very rural environment (without even tarmac roads within a radius of 20 km) takes a lot of effort and commitment, which impressed me very much.

Most of my stay I worked in the centre for disabled called “Buoni Figli” (good sons). Because it was the first time for me doing this kind of work, it was a great new experience. I could feel not only a good relationship between the workers and the disabled, but also an atmosphere of combined efforts because everyone was involved in whatever appeared to be done. It could happen that an old father of the church was standing next to an inhabitant, both feeding those who cannot move their arms. Although some parts of the work were hard, or took some time to get used to, the gratitude of the “good sons” made it easy. A great openness on sides of them towards strangers makes it easy for volunteers to build a relationship to them.

Even though the facilities and things like occupational therapy do not reach the western standards, to them, it is as close as it can get to social structure and a dignified life in a third world country, where homes for disabled are very uncommon. Some of them were found in streets or have been abandoned by their families who are ashamed or not able to take care of them. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to contribute a small part to a life of dignity for them, by playing with them, talking to them, just being a friend to them. Considering 52 disabled and around 10 workers on duty during the day who have to do basically everything, from washing them, to general cleaning tasks, it is understandable that the boys might not get all the attention they need. As a volunteer my task was to give them this attention. And it filled me with joy throughout all this time.

Of course there were things that I also disliked and things I had to learn. For instance the “clash of the cultures” will always be present. When a person from the western world comes to a tiny village in Kenya to work, that person might feel very anxious and motivated to change a lot, to “make things better”. By not doing this with the necessary sensitivity the volunteer can create an odd atmosphere of superiority of the strangers to the local people.

Another person might consider himself “just” a volunteer. And he doesn’t feel committed or responsible enough to really get involved with this place and this people. And then he might feel left out. This place is kind of busy. If someone expects a welcoming party he will be disappointed. After all, everybody here is human and with a lot of work comes a lot of stress. But once somebody understands this, he will adjust to the given situation and learn that things like communication are still essential and important, even when everybody seems to be running around all the time.

I had to learn about these things. But due to the length of my stay, I was able to understand at least a little about these kind of issues. A person here told me about commitment and what it really means to help these people instead of using this opportunity to get some nice photos and some souvenirs from Kenya.

I had to learn a lot. Sometimes I felt lost. But seeing people here giving everything they can for the poor and the disabled, motivated me so much. When I got up sometimes, even at 6 am, somebody was already working. When I was going to bed at 12 pm, that same person was still working. When I was having lunch, somebody was not having lunch because the hospital was congested with patients. For these examples (I could also say “teachings”) of commitment I am more than grateful to other volunteers, brothers and sisters of Cottolengo.

To me it is not important that this institution belongs to the Catholic Church. It is not important what everybody here believes in. More important to me, is that they believe. That this place has a spirit, and everybody knows why he is doing this. Also that I had to find out for myself. Now, in the face of departure, I feel like I succeeded.

Martin