Today we went on a safari around the Athi River side of the Amrita children’s Home property line. We were surveying the construction site,taking documentation of the physical boundaries of the 11 acre plot. We found a mature indigenous tulsi plant with seed pods, so we collected them for our tulsi start. We also saw hippo tracks everywhere along the water’s edge. The natives say the hippos are more vicious than big wild cats, crocs and alligators. Especially if they have babies…….they are deadly if you get near their young. They tell us to stay completely away from these mammals.
Our local guide who walked with us was hired by Amrita Children’s home as an askari (gateman). He lives down the road from Amrita Children’s home in a Masai Village. They are a local tribe that depend solely on cows for their livelihood. Their homes are built of cow manure, sticks and they graze the cows in the local area. This year the monsoons did not deliver and so there is no grass.
When we went to their village they told us the cows are dying and sometimes they go without food for 5 days. One woman spoke to me for a long time about how this is affecting their families. She told me they can’t send their children to school because they are required to pay money for tuition that they don’t have. The children all had flies hanging onto their eyes and mouths and the children were coming after us and reaching out to hold onto our shirt, hand whatever they could touch. When I felt their soft little innocent fingers touching me I was immediately called to their heart felt pleas. I felt like it was Amma calling us to the aid of these people. We have read about many people like this, we have all seen it on TV, but when you meet an emaciated mother with her child on her back looking you in the eyes, telling you her story, you are never the same. Once Amrita Children’s Home is stabilized our goals are to reach out to neighbors with ongoing food and educational programs in the local area. Our long term goal is to reach out to 2000 local people for an ongoing food program.
Take a look at these statistics:
– In Africa 50% of the people live below the poverty line.
– 25.4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV
-3/4 of all women infected with HIV live there
-3.1 million new HIV infections arose there in 2004
-2.3 million people in the region died in 2004
-There are 12 million orphans in Africa
-By 2010 UNAIDS predicts 27 million orphans
Every two months more people in Africa die of AIDS than were lost in the Indonesian tsunami
Once you look these people in the eyes, you can get a glimpse of Amma’s teaching that all are one. It wasn’t so easy to come home and just put some music on or forget what we saw. We realize the gems that Amma has given, are an opportunity to embrace this situation as fully as she allows us to be her vehicles. If I walk away from this situation, not doing my best, I feel like I am walking away from Amma.
Hanuman and Nikhila
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