Youth Development Centre!

I feel like a Peace Corps volunteer today. Natalie, my closest neighboring PC volunteer and I have successfully written our proposal for the renovation of the town's youth room as well as a proposal for a girl's empowerment camp that I am going to run and a literacy program that she is heading up. We've been in lots of meeting and working really hard and today I got reassurance that this is really going to happen. The best part is that it's not my or Natalie's ideas - they are the ideas of the many youth and organizations in town, they've just not had the capacity to coordinate their efforts to make the youth centre grow to its full potential. Right now the room is empty but for a tv and computer donated by Christian Children's Fund. There is water damage in the ceiling that we just got word that we will have fixed by a volunteer youth environment group and we are also hoping to get timber donated to build wall to wall bookshelves in the room. We are planning on painting it lots of fun colors, as well as creating centers in the room that would include a reading/writing center, art center, computer/typing center, and a math center. WE have a concept meeting planned with the district officials, town council government officials, NGOs, the youth and community based organizations planned in two weeks. I am so excited, I can't wait to begin. It's amazing, I had no idea that we'd be able to get this far in such a short amount of time. Everyone in Busia has been really supportive and willing to work to get this project off the ground. There isn't a library in the whole district, so if we make bookshelves and get some books it will be such a blessing for the children here. I am going to document the process and hopefully put our proposals on my blog as an attachment so that everyone can get involved if they feel as though they want to. As the program develops, there may be a way I can get everyone from home involved in the camps and literacy program if you'd like. Just let me know! Great, great, great day!

Long Time

So it's been a long time since my last post, and I apologize. Things here have been busy. The main issue has been the Kenyan crisis. We are all watching and reading the news fervently as things seem to worsen daily. For about a month after the elections on December 27, my town had a steady influx of refugees. I was working at the camp helping to distribute food, carry sacks of charcoal and register new arrivals. It was exhausting but really worth it in the end. Everyone was so humble and I even learned some new Swahili words! Also in the last month or so, I have been working hard to develop a youth center and girls empowerment camp proposal. Fingers crossed this should be completed in the next few weeks. I begin renovations on the center in February, I will begin posting more and putting up pictures of the progress. If anyone out there knows of a good way or organization that could donate books or art supplies, please let me know! Thanks so much! I am also going to try to implement art therapy for some of the kids that are most affected by the issues here - any help or feedback on this subject would be so helpful. Thanks everyone for all the letters and emails and packages. Christopher and I are going to camp out in a rain forest this weekend - I am stoked! I will put up pictures when I can, I promise! Great week and merry weekend to you all!