In the six months before the trip, I spoke with everyone I could about international travel and attended events sponsored by our International Programs Office. I had hoped to sign on with a program that was just starting at our university called “Building A Better Tomorrow,” a visionary service project which is literally building a school for children in Kampala, Uganda. Sadly, they didn’t need an extra staff person at the time.

    I had been writing to Wallace’s mother, Mary Heyward, who told me about her nephew, H. Kelli Wambua, and the community based organization (CBO) that he and a friend, Steve Olito, had founded. The Leo Community Development Network (LECDEN) was born of sheer necessity. Best I could reconstruct, Kelly, a computer and cell phone tech, and Steve Olito, a former social worker, grew up in a very poor neighborhood called “Dandora.” The two friends started off collecting garbage for a living and became acquainted with most of the residents of a nearby slum called “Kiambiu .” As they visited households to collect their fees at the end of each month, they began seeing kids home alone, most of them looking after siblings. When asked why they weren’t in school, they would break down sobbing, stating that their parents had died. This is what moved these two sensitive young men to intervene to see how they could help these kids. Sometimes they’d come upon a parent so sick that he/she she was bedridden but not receiving services from the existing NGO’s.  It broke their hearts to see neighbors suffering. They knew at least forty-two children and their guardians who were clearly at risk. All were hungry, sick and lacking the basic necessities. Ignoring these children was not an option for these two young men in their late 20’s. They left garbage collection and became co-owners of a little business called “Tinetec Communications.” Here, they repaired and sold cell phones, a frank necessity in Kenya, as land lines are few and far between. They recycled as much of their earnings as possible back into the slum but found that they simply couldn’t financially sustain themselves and the kids. As soon as they were able to save 25,000 Kshs (about $385 US) they registered as a community based organization (2005). Their selfless generosity of time, funds and commitment led me to ask them if I could volunteer at LECDEN during my “unsabbatical.” Mary would go to Kenya with me, both to volunteer and to take care of some family business that she needed to transact. Maybe with collaboration from the Admissions Office, I could also take some recruitment literature with me since the Minister of Kenyan Education had recently sent out a notification to international publications that Kenya was looking for international study abroad programs due to a shortage of university seats.

    Admissions sent over recruitment materials and then I began filling five large suitcases with clothing, crafts and hygiene supplies, as well as vitamins, antibiotic cream, band aids and analgesics. Suddenly, everywhere I looked, Walmart, Shopko, odd little dollar stores, thrift sales, I found really good, serviceable shoes for $1-$3. Having watched “Feed the Children” updates on TV, I knew the kiddos also needed spoons and plates. I was on a roll! I could imagine each child having a new shirt and pants, shoes, with their pencil, notebook and plate full of food. I could hardly think of anything else. Since I had no money and little savings, I approached the bank for an extension of my second mortgage, which they approved.

    I went to Textbook Services and the Educational Technical Center and was able to get donations of books that they were going to throw away. $600 and about 400 pounds of quality books later, I felt happy that the slum schools were going to receive some decent library books and teaching materials. My goal was also to collect an assortment of children’s books, levels kindergarten through eighth grade, so that each child could personally have at least three books.