Finding a smile and smiling.

Had an impromptu visit to the slums today. Was meant to be going to town to organise registration of Tushinde in Kenya, but got a call from Sgt Sibbald from the British Army saying that he wanted to drop off a load of books that had been sent over for Mogra. So I met Sgt Jeff and Sgt B in the slums and we unloaded 8 or so boxes of lovely books. Really good quality and doubles of quite a few of the new ones, so some will stay in the school and some will go to the children's home. Waiting outside the school were various Mamas needing help. One was Janice's Aunt, who I have written about before. Their situation has become even worse: Janice's uncle has since been badly injured on a building site, where he was working for the daily wage of £1.60. He has lost the use of his right arm and now they are three months behind on the rent and threatened with eviction. The poor Aunt appeared on the brink of tears and was shaking; it turned out she hadn't eaten for four days, trying to scrape some money together to pay the landlord, they owe about £50. I took Jeff and B (Bernice) around to visit some of the communities we help. The lack of rain hasn't helped the general stench of the place and today there were water shortages everywhere, including the school. The kids were bright and chirpy though and poor B was mobbed in the playground with lots of children excited to have someone from the British Army. Jeff and B are willing to help and they have asked me to write them a wish list, which is great news...where do I start?!

Whilst we were talking, back in the school, we were visited by a woman who had two month old twin girls. One was perfect, but the other, Rebecca, had a bad cleft palate deformity. The Mama is HIV positive, we don't yet know the status of the twins. She is a single mum, caring for her own seven year old daughter who has the disease and three children, orphaned when her sister died. She has no job and no money and struggles to feed the children and pay the rent. She got pregnant with the twins as she had resorted to having sex for food, which is so common in the slums. Every day is a struggle, let alone finding help for a baby daughter. So, when I have finished writing this, I will be trawling the internet, looking for an organisation that can help little baby Rebecca. Any suggestions? x x