"Kubaka" -- by Reynolds Whalen

During my time in Rwanda, I have had the pleasure of connecting with the organization of my roommates Amir and Anna, called "Miracle Corners of the World " (MCW). This is an international network that empowers youth to become positive agents of change, to improve their lives and contribute to their communities. MCW serves youth through leadership training, community development, oral healthcare, and partner initiative programs.

In Rwanda, MCW has begun building a community center inspired by the ideas of youth throughout the Bugesera District, several kilometers south of the capital city of Kigali. This center will house an ICT center for learning computer skills, a classroom for language instruction, and a preschool, among other facilities.

This project will be particularly important in facilitating Rwanda's switch from Francophone to Anglophone, which occurred officially only several weeks ago at the end of 2008. In fact, Miracle Corners Rwanda hopes to build the first public library in the entire country, focusing on making English-language books available to the community.

"Kubaka" in Kinyarwanda means "Construction." This film tells the story of the groundbreaking ceremony for the center, highlighting some of the ways MCW has been working with the community, and celebrating the opportunities for education, networking, and socialization that have been and will be "constructed."

My life in Nyamata has also offered me many opportunities for personal "construction" and reflection on life's deepest joys.

The other day, in desperate need of exercise, I ran up one of Rwanda's "thousand hills" after work. At the top, I enjoyed a dazzling view of Nyamata and the surrounding villages. Coupled with the sound of my own heavy breathing was the never-ending chorus of children squealing in glee or utter dismay (i've remembered recently that kids rarely fall anywhere on the spectrum of emotions except the absolute extremes).

Later that night, I found myself interrupted at my computer by my landlord Bosco, who showed up at my door with his larger than life, tooth-missing smile, insisting that I join him and his wife for dinner. Moments later, I found myself at table with the two of them and Amir, laughing our way into the African night and struggling joyously through our language barriers, elated to discover in the immense confusion an almost sacred bond of friendship that truly united our common humanity and reaffirmed my strong belief in Christianity, a religion focused on the two qualities that made the night transformative: love and community."

Part I



Part II



Reynolds Whalen is living in Rwanda working for Millennium Congregation, linking congregations with the work of Millennium Villages Project in that nation. His work is chronicling the work going on there and he will be posting regular videos to this blog.

Two Videos from Rwanda to Make Your Heart Glad! -- by Reynolds Whalen

Reynolds Whalen, who blogs here regularly, has just arrived in Rwanda where he will be living and working for six months for Millennium Congregation -- a wonderful new nonprofit that is linking congregations of all faiths with "Millennium Villages" that are making the MDGs happen in Rwanda.

Reynolds will be shooting lots of video and doing lots of other things to tell the story of the amazing ministry happening in Rwanda (for a snapshot of all the projects he has lined up, check out the latest post on his blog). As a test of his video equipment, he shot these videos at the groundbreaking ceremony for a site for Miracle Corners of the World (MCW), a non-profit promoting local change and global exchange, a community driven process. The site that will include a preschool, a radio station for Bugesera District, and other educational and gender empowering initiatives.

This first clip is of a group of youth dancing.



This second clip is of kids marveling at Reynolds' LCD screen, which is reversible and can reveal the live video to the subjects. Kids love seeing themselves on live video.



These faces are the face of Christ, the image of God. Watch and enjoy!

"One Word: Plastics" -- by Reynolds Whalen

I got off a plane in Kigali yesterday after a trip that took 35 hours including layovers. Driving through the city, one of the first things I noticed was the remarkable lack of trash. I believe this can be largely attributed to the Rwandan government's decision to ban plastic bags from the country.

In many parts of nearby Kenya, especially informal settlements and slums, one of the most striking images is streets lined with plastic bags, strewn across roads like carpets whose designs are the art of the nation's waste. Now, Kenya too has banned plastic bags.

Several weeks ago, I watched an independent documentary about an area the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Here, plastic floats freely and collects in large, ice berg-type chunks the size of a small car. Gutting a fish or an albatross reveals stomachs lined with plastic bags, wrappers, cellophane, and bits of plastic jugs. The biggest problem, however, is more subtle. Because plastic is non biodegradable, it breaks down smaller and smaller, literally changing the composition of the sea water and poisoning everything with which it has contact.

Perhaps our country too should consider banning plastic in as many forms as possible and using our political clout to encourage others to do the same. As with many issues I have noticed and studied, perhaps we should focus less on what we have to teach Africa and more on what Africa has to teach us.

"Self-determination, sustainability and learning the lessons of the past" -- by Reynolds Whalen

During my time abroad in East Africa, I had the unique opportunity to spend about a week with the Hadzabe people of Tanzania, some of the last truly nomadic hunter-gatherers on Earth. They spend much of their time harvesting yams and roots beneath trees, picking berries, harvesting honey, and pursuing wild game. Their impact on the environment is negligible and they live in amazing symbiotic relationships with nature that raise interesting questions about what it means to be human.

Let me give you an example.

One of the staple food items for the Hadzabe is honey that must be harvested from hives that dwell deep within tree branches. The hives are identifiable by a tiny tube protruding from the branch, visible only by a special bird that eats bees. When this bird discovers a hive, it begins calling out until one of the Hadzabe people follows the sound and uses an axe to split open the branch and grant access to the hive for the bird. After the bird has eaten the bees, the Hadzabe harvests the honey and a portion of the bee eggs, leaving enough for the hive to regenerate and start the process all over again. Pretty sustainable, if you ask me.

Unfortunately, the Tanzanian government has decided that living this way is “primitive” and “uncivilized”, and the Hadzabe people face real danger of losing their way of life. In many instances, the government has encouraged encroachment of Hadzabe land by pastoralists, who are losing their own land to the most “advanced” method of agriculture. While not all of the Hadzabe wish to maintain their current livelihoods, I firmly believe they should have the choice to continue doing so.

More importantly, I think that mandating specific land use for people who have lived in an area for hundreds or thousands of years is a terrible idea. Agriculture is simply not an effective use of land in parts of Africa.

While spending two weeks with the Maasai people at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, I saw this first hand. Pressure to privatize communal land has led many to lease plots for farming, overseen of course by various development programs and “experts” in agricultural production. The reality is that these tracks of land do not produce the volume or quality of crops to adequately compete in the cash economy transplanted by the West in the past century. In fact, many are struggling to survive and can only use an area for a few years before the land stops producing.

Of the hundreds of farmers we encountered, none had been on one track of land for more than five years, and few had even heard of such a situation.

In addition to the obvious degradation of converted land, agriculture has caused conflict in the area between pastoralists and farmers. This is by no means a unique situation. In fact, many of the current high profile conflicts on the continent have roots in land disputes caused by restructuring and reorganizing of land.

Consider Darfur. Most people in this arid region of Sudan have historically relied on grazing livestock and cultivating large tracks of land communally. In wet seasons, sufficient grazing land is relatively easy to come by, and pastoralists spread out over a large area. However, in the dry season, only a small percentage of land is fertile enough to provide nutrients for livestock, so everyone congregates and shares these few areas until the rains allow their dispersal once again.

When the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) in the 1970s and 80s, they provided important loans and development services that benefited many of those who received them. However, in order to receive many of these services, people were required to privatize land.

When you privatize land and introduce individual ownership, one family or group “owns” these crucial areas. When the dry season comes, or there is temporary drought or famine, conflict arises as other groups must use this land to survive. As this continues over time, these groups polarize and ethnic violence, now based largely on land ownership, becomes a major concern. Many scholars and experts on African culture and history recognize this as one primary reason certain groups are willing to join the government-sponsored militia force called “Janjaweed” and participate in attacks on villages in the region. This violence continues as I write this article.

Now, as we begin this millennium with a new development framework, we must pay close attention to the lessons of the past. When pursuing the MDGs and looking especially at Goal 1 to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, we must be careful to pay close attention to the desires of those we seek to serve. We must continually analyze and dissect our own notions of “civilized” and “developed” so as not to repeat the mistakes of similar initiatives only thirty years ago. We should strive to be truly open to the ideas and rich knowledge of the people we are assisting and not presume to advance any agenda of our own, even one as seemingly simple as agricultural production, in an area of the world where we all have much to learn.

Reynolds Whalen is a 2008 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has made a documentary film on that experience. He is currently raising funds to spend 2008-9 working in Rwanda for Millennium Congregation helping people in the villages of Rwanda tell their stories. You can give toward Reynolds work in Rwanda with Millennium Congregation here (be sure and put Millennium Congregation - Reynolds Whalen in the designation field)

"Poverty Through Christ's Eyes" -- a sermon by Reynolds Whalen

We live in a world where a child under the age of five dies every three seconds due to a preventable illness, where 500,000 women still die every year due to complications with pregnancy and childbirth, and where 100 million children do not have the opportunity to attend school and read the books that tell them one billion people in our world live on less than a dollar a day. Just to give some of those numbers a bit of context, nearly 10 children have died of a preventable disease since we sat down.

Now, many of you may be sitting there and wondering why I would start a sermon with statistics that seem so depressing and disarming. But I think as people of faith, and especially as Christians, we shouldn’t see them that way at all. Because you see, our gospel is not one of despair. Ours is an invigorating gospel, a gospel of determination and hope…an empowering gospel…a gospel of action.

In fact, Jesus was a living example of all of these things. More than anything, the life of Jesus was about opportunity and transformation.

Jesus simply saw things differently than anyone else. Instead of focusing on the burden of hunger, Jesus saw the opportunity to feed 5,000 people with just a few fish and loaves of bread. Instead of seeing a criminal hanging on the cross next to him, Jesus saw a repentant man and the newest member of the Kingdom of Heaven. When Jesus saw prostitutes, tax collectors, and those we would consider vagabonds, he saw his dinner guests for that evening’s meal. Even in his very last days on Earth, when he knew he was going to die, Jesus did not focus on that fact in isolation (which is astounding when you really think about it. I mean, your own death is a pretty big deal). Rather, he took the opportunity to show us how something as simple as bread and wine could represent something as profound as his own body and his own blood. He surprised the disciples by grabbing the food items and saying “see this bread? This is not just bread. This is my body. See this wine? This is not just wine. This is my blood. I am here to tell you that just as I am taking these seemingly ordinary things and making them extraordinary, so will you take your seemingly ordinary lives and make them extraordinary.” Instead of seeing a broken and lost world, Jesus saw one of renewal and hope.

At the end of a semester abroad in Kenya my junior year of college, everyone on the program did a four-week independent study with an agency or organization of their choice. Some people worked in health clinics in Uganda, others worked in law offices in downtown Nairobi, and some spent time in national parks looking at wildlife and issues of conservation. As a double major in African Studies and Drama, I was ecstatic to find an organization in the slums of Nairobi called “Haba na Haba” that uses performing arts for education on important issues in the area, such as HIV/AIDS, prostitution, drug abuse, and violence. During the semester leading up to my time with the group, and during a research project I was conducting on the area, I read dozens of newspaper articles about Mathare, the primary slum where I would be working. Every single story, without exception was bad. I read about gang violence, police brutality, or a fire that consumed 15 houses in under an hour. So naturally, when I arrived in the area, the first things I saw were the horrific conditions of sanitation and health, and the vastly different ways of living.

This probably doesn’t surprise anyone. My experience was typical of most of us living in a Western world where the media is accustomed to portraying Africa a certain way. In fact, I would be willing to guess that the first things that pop into your mind when I mention Africa are negative: hunger, violence, political corruption, etc. These are the things which the media chooses to highlight. And in a certain way, I can hardly blame them. There is a tendency when visiting a foreign place to capture that which is different. When we approach a situation that seems depressing or unjust, we think “wow, I need to take a picture or video of this horrible thing so I can show people back home and they will hopefully help me fix it.” In many ways, this can be positive and inspire people to give money to various causes. But in a more subtle way, this particular approach is dehumanizing and portrays the people involved as more foreign and less like ourselves. By emphasizing the “other,” we make it easy to accept the conditions we are seeing and begin to internalize an assumption that this should somehow be expected, even if we feel compelled to help change it.

Well, it didn’t take me long working with Haba na Haba to realize that, apart from the conditions in which they live, these people were no different than myself. I talked with many people who had similar hopes and aspirations, and who approached each day with goals and a desire to do the best they could with what they were given. I had always understood this concept intellectually, but actually living it had a significant impact on me. And I believe my surprise grew out of the oddly slanted exposure we have to Africa, one that highlights the problems at the expense of people’s humanity.

But you see, I think this humanity is the first thing Jesus would see. I think Jesus would look at Mathare and see the small business owner who only sleeps a few hours a night to protect his goods and ensure the stability he needs to pay for his child’s college education. He would see the young soccer player who was persistent enough to earn a spot on the Kenya National Team and play in the World Cup. Or my friend Fupi who receives a transportation stipend for participating in Haba na Haba, but walks several miles a day and saves the transportation money to pay his rent. Or especially my friend Allan who is a prolific musician and lost his left arm in a bus accident, but instead of letting it hinder his participation, started a brass class for over a dozen teenagers…he still has his right arm for playing his trumpet. These are the things Jesus would see.

In the Galatians reading today, Paul proclaims that there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, man or woman…black or white, African or American, rich or poor. As Christians and followers of Jesus, we should strive for equality between all people by seeing their humanity first. Then, we can turn our eyes to the towering trash heaps in Mathare. We can see our brothers and sisters defecating into bags and throwing them as far as possible because there is no existing system of sanitation. And that will make us ask “what can we do? What must we do?”

At the turn of the millennium, international development economists from all over the world came together to discuss that very question. At the end of months and months of research and painstaking analysis, they determined that for the first time in human history, we have the ability to eradicate extreme global poverty if the “rich” nations of the world would contribute 0.7% of their incomes to the cause. Eight specific goals with targets and means for evaluating progress were established, and over 190 member states of the United Nations signed a declaration pledging to do their part in achieving these “Millennium Development Goals” or “MDGs.”

Since that time, our very own church has taken this project and made it an issue of faith. The national church pledges 0.7% of its income to the MDGs and encourages individual congregations to the same. We have an organization called “Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation” that exists for the primary purpose of equipping churches and individuals with the tools they need to address these issues. We have “Episcopal Relief and Development” which provides disaster relief and manages development programs all over the world. Most recently, a non-profit called “Millennium Congregation” has been started by Episcopalians to encourage inter-faith support of incredible development work in East Africa. And finally, the Lambeth Conference a few months ago released a statement urging the entire Anglican Communion to make this Thursday, September 25th, a day of fasting and prayer as a special session occurs in the United Nations to discuss the progress made on the MDGs and the best way with which to move forward.

As the Millennium Declaration suggests, we have the extraordinary means for the first time in history to eradicate extreme global poverty. No longer do we have an excuse for inaction. But instead of seeing this as a burden, which seems to be the approach of much of the world, we as Christians should see it as an incredible opportunity…an opportunity to put the Gospel into action and carry out the work Jesus called us to through his very own life. Amen.

Reynolds Whalen is a 2008 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has made a documentary film on that experience. He is currently raising funds to spend 2008-9 working in Rwanda for Millennium Congregation helping people in the villages of Rwanda tell their stories. You can give toward Reynolds work in Rwanda with Millennium Congregation here (be sure and put Millennium Congregation - Reynolds Whalen in the designation field)

"What One Congregation Can Do" -- by Reynolds Whalen

For the next eight months, the Millennium Development Goals are becoming an integral part of parish life at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Starting in September, a different goal will be highlighted each month with a related project and education at all levels of Sunday School, from toddlers to the adult class. The Prayers of the People will be modified to include both the MDG of the month and a general prayer for global reconciliation through the realization of all eight.

This is only the beginning for St. John’s as they have contributed a significant portion of their 0.7% budget line item toward funding my position as videographer for Millennium Congregation, and are considering becoming an official “Millennium Congregation” in the next fiscal year.

When approaching issues as overwhelming and broad as extreme poverty, one must be creative. Here is just one idea for sparking interest and beginning an education campaign in your own congregation: an interactive bulletin board…

(This model was designed by members of St. John’s using components of the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation website. Feel free to use as much or as little as you would like, and use your creativity to come up with something even better)

1. Find a picture to represent each MDG (if you’ve traveled abroad, this is a chance to bring your own experience into the process). Format the picture in the program of your choice to be 7”X7”. Using a text box, superimpose a statistic about each MDG.
2. Using the same program, import the MDG “squares” from the EGR website. If desired, use the text box to change the wording of each MDG to reflect faith in action. For example: “Lead us to reduce child mortality. Lord, hear our prayer.”
3. Fold eight 14”X7” pieces of paper in half to make a 7”X7” square. With the fold facing up, paste the picture on the front and lift the cover to paste the MDG on the inside.
4. Arrange the squares in the shape of a cross. Encourage parishioners to match a separate list of the MDGs with the pictures and lift the pictures to check if they are correct.

The result is an interactive and educational bulletin board that makes the MDGs personal by portraying actual people who live in daily poverty. Additionally, it encourages action every time anyone lifts one of the flaps. This is a great way to begin general education on the MDGs before moving to more specific action points and ways to be involved.

Reynolds Whalen is a 2008 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has made a documentary film on that experience. He is currently raising funds to spend 2008-9 working in Rwanda for Millennium Congregation helping people in the villages of Rwanda tell their stories. You can give toward Reynolds work in Rwanda with Millennium Congregation here (be sure and put Millennium Congregation - Reynolds Whalen in the designation field)

"Millennium Congregation -- What One Person Can Do" -- by Reynolds Whalen

Let me tell you about a new non-profit called Millennium Congregation. I’ll start with a quote…

“If you want to eradicate poverty and promote justice, compassion and reconciliation, then I invite and encourage you and your congregation to join Millennium Congregation's exciting initiative in support of Millennium Villages."

+ Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu

Most of us know the statistics by now surrounding the horrors of extreme poverty. We live in a world where a child dies every three seconds from a preventable illness, where half a million women die every year in childbirth, and where 110 million children do not even have the opportunity to learn how to read the books that tell them about the 1.2 billion people worldwide living on less than $1.00 a day. For people of faith who believe in global justice and enacting God’s love through our very own lives, these numbers should excite and invigorate us.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Certainly, these figures can be daunting and depressing. But they also represent an incredible opportunity. The entire premise of drafting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was this: for the first time in human existence, we have the ability to eradicate extreme global poverty.

It’s time to stop wallowing in the figures, using their enormity as an excuse for inaction. We must stop focusing on the statistics when educating our congregations about the MDGs and start focusing on the amazing things we can do to change them. This is what people like Dr. Josh Ruxin and the Rev. Jay Lawlor are doing.

For the past couple of years, Josh has been living in Rwanda and implementing the Millennium Villages Project (MV). In an era where “development” and “aid” have become a fad and far too many programs serve their own interests before the communities they seek to improve, MV is a shining beacon of light. This is one of the few development projects using a comprehensive approach by addressing all eight MDGs at once, and at the level of an entire village. Rather than building a house for one family or installing a water pump for one neighborhood and creating dependence on those who installed it, MV equips entire villages with a self-sustaining system of productive growth. To read more about their incredible work and success, go here. This is one of the most amazing and effective development projects in the world, but it is not cheap.

Here is where you and I come in.

Several months ago, the Rev. Jay Lawlor launched an initiative to support MV called Millennium Congregation (MC). This non-profit operates on the principle that extreme global poverty is an issue on which all faiths can unite and have a significant impact. By pledging as little as $50 a month, your congregation can join other communities of faith in changing the course of human history.

Soon, I will be traveling to Rwanda to film, interview, and document Millennium Village’s story, putting stories and faces on the incredible people Millennium Congregation seeks to support. We also hope to establish more internet communication, including blogs and international video web-chat. Most importantly, MC plans to offer members of congregations the chance of traveling to the villages themselves. All of these initiatives will provide you and your congregation with the personal connection you need to warrant a financial and personal commitment. Now, your 0.7% (or more!) can support a comprehensive and effective development program in which you can build relationships and see the direct impact of your contribution.

The time has come for us as people of faith, and as caring human beings, to take the next step in eradicating extreme poverty by joining forces and doing something really big. Millennium Congregation simply provides the networks and the tools. It’s up to us to pick them up and use them.

Reynolds Whalen is a 2008 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has made a documentary film on that experience. He is currently raising funds to spend 2008-9 working in Rwanda for Millennium Congregation helping people in the villages of Rwanda tell their stories. You can give toward Reynolds work in Rwanda with Millennium Congregation here (be sure and put Millennium Congregation - Reynolds Whalen in the designation field)

"Much Work Left To Do In Sudan" -- by Reynolds Whalen

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of spending time with Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak of Sudan. As he spoke to the Companion Diocese Committee of Missouri, he stressed the need to think on a large scale when approaching issues of development and reconciliation. He stressed the importance of the United States facilitating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the North and South in Sudan three years ago, and used that as an example of how American citizens can have a profound global effect. He urged us to use our political agency as citizens of one of the most powerful nations in the world to help ensure peace in Sudan.

Over the past five years, there has been considerable media attention to the atrocities in Darfur. The conflict has left several hundred thousand people dead and several million displaced from their homes. Personal stories from people living in the area and the labeling of the situation as “genocide” have mobilized a significant activist movement around the world. However, recently, the Sudanese government has used this attention to further exploit the failing peace agreement in the South. Many provisions are not being met and returning refugees are finding their villages in shambles, no sign of the reconstruction promised by the government in the CPA.

When I was in Southern Sudan in 2005, shortly after the signing of the CPA, I conducted several interviews about the political situation and the relationship between conflicts in Sudan. Here were some reactions:

We know [Darfur] is affecting us here because now peace was signed, but now peace is not working. We know this is the problem on the Darfur: if there is no war in Darfur, maybe there is change in this peace, but now peace is not changing. We know that is the war in Darfur.

You see, if we still hear about war in Sudan, it is like still we are not free, we are still under war because the Darfur people are our people, you see? They are still in Sudan. So we don’t want to even hear a war in Sudan […] we are Sudanese and if the peace was there, you see for all the Sudanese, not only the one side, you see, still if you hear your brother is groaning because of something, you still feel pain, you see. So, in fact, it affects us badly...we are thinking we are still in war.

[Darfur] will affect the peace because it is the same Sudan government involved in that war and it is the same Sudan government we signed peace with from the Southern Sudan. So even though those of Darfur are far from here, we are still sympathizing with their situation because we have gone under the same situation and we know exactly how they are feeling.

Three years later, these issues continue to plague the country and all of the conflicts continue to be related. As those interviewed explained, the country needs to be addressed as a whole.

Recently, some positive steps have been taken in the direction of addressing issues of conflict in Sudan from a multi-faceted approach. The United States Congress passed House Resolution 1011, which calls on Chad, Sudan, and the Central African Republic to work together for stability throughout the entire region.

However, there is much to be done. This upcoming week will be crucial for our government as we decide on a Supplemental funding bill for Sudan in the FY2008 budget. As Christians living out our baptismal covenant, concerned for all of humanity, this is an issue on which we should speak loudly. How can we even begin to discuss the Millennium Development Goals in regions where constant armed conflict threatens all forms of infrastructure and livelihood?

Your members of Congress will listen. I have called Representatives and visited Senators’ offices many times, and am often contacted later and told that the information I offered became a great factor in decisions to sign or co-sponsor important bills. Do not let the size of our democratic system be daunting and stop you from letting your voice be heard. Educate yourself and use that education to think big and spread your knowledge to the places where it will have the most impact.

Reynolds Whalen is a graduating senior (ONE MORE WEEK!) at Washington University in St. Louis, has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has produced a documentary film on that experience.

"Voices from Nairobi" -- by Reynolds Whalen

I have talked on this blog before about a group called Haba na Haba that uses performing arts for education, social change, and development in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. For this entry, I want to experiment and try something new and different. During my time working with Haba na Haba, I have conducted dozens of interviews about various topics. In this post, I simply want to share with you a very brief selection of inspiring things that were said about poverty, development, the power of theater for education, and the strength of local people to address their own problems. Hopefully through reading these, you will gain a further appreciation for the ability of local grassroots movements to make a difference in the developing world.

On Theater for Development and Education

“After the performances, when we do a skit or a play, we create a forum of discussion between ourselves and the community and we put ourselves in the shoes of the community. Now it’s not like we are actors anymore, it is like we are discussing issues that are affecting us…me and the audience. Now, in this case we do not call the audience the audience. We call the audience like a, you can say, a friend who we are in a free space and we are speaking freely. By that, each one of us comes to speak freely on all the issue that are affecting us. Yeah, so I think it’s a very unique program and very effective compared to other mediums of awareness.” –Paul Kamau

“We live in a society where girls are still looked down upon and when they can stand in front of a crowd and be listened to, just imagine what that does to their self-esteem.” –George Ndiritu

“I like being in drama, creating that awareness, you know? I’ve been through a lot, I’ve seen many people suffer, and I know it can be changed, you know? Through me I can bring change to the community. And that’s why I like being in drama because I know one day one time I will see a different kind of slum and I’ll be proud of it because I was part of the change…So I like doing what I do. That is drama.” –Stella Mwangi

On Development and the name “Haba na Haba”

“Haba na Haba means step by step, little by little. It's a Swahili proverb "Haba na Haba Hucheza Kibaba". You know “little by little, we'll fill the pot.” And that's of course, our working principle, that development is a process and we have to proceed step by step. Take one step at a time. When you're really comfortable, you can take another step.” –George Ndiritu

“For us to have a big social change in the world, all it takes is for you to do something little on your end and for me to do something little on my end and then we have the success we desire…because I find that most of the time we tend to focus on the bigger goal and we lose out on counting the small, significant steps that you are making when measured together has an amazing impact toward our ultimate goal of building safer and healthy communities in this world.” –John Ndichu

On Kenya and slum life

“For anyone who is not in Kenya or anyone who happens to be very far and would like to come to Kenya…Kenya is not what you hear. Kenya is what you see. So if you happen to see something in Kenya, then you judge it...you should judge Kenya according to what you see, not what you hear.” –Allan Shibweje

“I have finished school like other people, and I am now doing my degree at Nairobi University, degree in Sociology, so it doesn’t make any difference because in my class the other people who also come from the rich families…and I am in the same class as them, so for me it doesn’t really…I just tell people not to be depressed, all we do is just to be patient and patience pays” –Elizabeth Kiathera

“So, there are many people who will come down to see that poverty, you know to see how people are living helplessly and all that, but to me I'll always look at it differently that despite the poverty, that's the place that I've seen people smiling more than any other part of the world. And it's not about hiding our poverty, no no no, you are poor but you have to live, you have a life. So are you going to waste your time frowning? No, people have to live you know. For me to communicate with people, I don't have to show my poverty, I just have to be a normal human being.” –George Ndiritu

Reynolds Whalen is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with Haba na Haba in Mathare -- read his blog on it here and is working on a documentary film on that experience.

"Building Partnerships for Living Water" -- by Reynolds Whalen

In last week's gospel reading, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and asks for some water. In the ensuing conversation, he compares spiritual fulfillment to the satisfaction of quenching intense thirst with a long drink. The "living" water Christ describes will not run out in the same way as water on Earth.

We as Americans forget that easy access to clean water is a privilege. For us, fifty gallons of water for a ten-minute shower is as easy as turning a faucet and lifting a lever. For the woman at the well, fifty gallons of water was probably inconceivable to gather in a day. Even five gallons would be a full day of hard work, making the journey from her home to the well then making the return trip with a heavy bucket. It also may be easy for us to forget that millions of people still collect water this way and that much of that water does not meet basic sanitation requirements.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that unsafe drinking water kills over 1.5 million children each year. In addition, more than 1 billion people do not have access to drinking water from improved sources. In the Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya women collect water from a river that also operates as a communal toilet for nearly half a million people. During my time in the area, I saw babies bathing in filth and small children lugging water jugs almost as big as themselves. In Sudan, I saw hundreds of elderly women balancing 30 lbs jugs on their heads with two more hanging from both arms. These could be carried up to 20 or 30 miles in temperatures soaring over 100˚F.

So what can one do to address these problems?

While there are many ways to get involved (as described on other portions of this site), I would like to focus on one and tell a brief story of a modern day miracle.

Often it seems that MDG #8 gets overlooked when addressing global poverty, probably because the message seems so obvious: develop global partnerships for development. Clearly, we need to communicate with the people we are trying to help. But this absolutely must extend far beyond getting permission to impose our ideas of how to develop foreign communities. As the Church, one way for us to enter these partnerships fruitfully is by engaging our brothers and sisters in Christ through companion diocese relationships. By listening to each other and being open to the Holy Spirit, both sides can assess the needs of the other and grow together in God’s plan. Sometimes, God has amazing ways of acknowledging these partnerships.

In late 2006, the Diocese of Missouri officially entered into a companion diocese relationship with the Diocese of Lui in Southern Sudan. After prayerful discussion and several international trips from both ends, both parties recognized an urgent need for greater access to water in Lui. After fundraising on the Missouri end and logistical planning on the Lui end, drilling finally began in the early spring of 2007.

On Easter Day, 2007, I sat down at my computer and read the following words:

"Christian greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The drilling of bore hole in Cathedral compound has finished this afternoon and now the hydrologists moved to Lunjine School this evening. The bore in Cathedral Compound is 65 meters deep and it has lot of water, I hope the problem of cathedral concerning water is solved. And thanks yours sincerely in Christ Jesus."

We had struck water together on Easter Day, in the middle of an intense dry season. The day of celebrating Christ’s glorious ascension brought with it a spring of life-giving water to the people of Lui. Nearly one year later, I still remember the tears that filled my eyes.

As we complete our Lenten journeys over the next few weeks and prepare to enter Holy Week together, let us consider ways in which we can use our resources to make Easter the blessed season it should be…a time of new life and hope for all of God’s people.

Reynolds Whalen is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and is working on a documentary film on that experience.

Step by Step: Finding the blessings in the slums of Nairobi

by Reynolds Whalen

As I walked through the streets of Nairobi’s poorest area, the police were pulling electricity out of people’s homes. Local gangs had tapped it illegally from nearby power lines and charged residents to use it. My friend, Fred, advised me to hide my camera as we passed a dump truck full of wires surrounded by a dozen officers donning sleek sunglasses and brandishing fully automatic weapons. The air pulsed with a dangerous tension.

Several minutes after we passed this scene, gunfire erupted behind us, popping like the firecrackers I had watched serenely on a grassy hill in St. Louis weeks earlier for the Fourth of July. Startled, I turned to my friend Fupi for a plan of action and was surprised to find him and Fred laughing.

“Shouldn’t we get out of here?” I asked frantically. They just smiled reassuringly and replied:

“Don’t worry, they’re not aiming at people, they’re shooting into the air.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I can tell by the way it sounds,” replied Fupi.

My immediate thought, and one that still haunts me, was that no one should have to know the difference between the sound of bullets being fired into the air and the sound of bullets being fired into a human body.

Mathare is one of the most neglected areas in Kenya. It is the second largest slum in the country with 700,000 people living on about four or five square miles of land. Like many condensed informal urban settlements in this part of the world, problems of HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, violence, prostitution, early pregnancies, and poor sanitation plague its inhabitants. Visitors to this harsh and violent area often balk with disgust and lament the hopeless conditions of its inhabitants. Over the past year, I have learned to think differently.

During a study abroad program last fall and while conducting research this summer, I worked with a group called Haba na Haba, which means “step by step” in Kiswahili. This is a development agency run entirely by people in the community that empowers youth to change their own difficult situations, using a broad spectrum of performing and visual arts. As an Acting major at Washington University, I found particular interest in the drama group and their stunning community outreaches.

Every weekend, groups of young performing artists pile into vans and drive to nearby informal settlements. Upon arrival, they identify an open area such as a field or courtyard and set up drums. Soon, the air is filled with powerful rhythms and a crowd of hundreds has gathered within 10 or 15 minutes. Then, a group of acrobats performs, creating impressive human structures, doing rope-skipping tricks, and swallowing fire. A team of dancers follows, merging aspects of many Kenyan cultures into one poignant routine that uses specific movements to address important issues in the community. Finally, the drama group enters the space and performs an original short play about a concern affecting that particular area. These topics are carefully selected in weekly rehearsals where members of the drama group brainstorm and use improvisation exercises to form their plays. The actors live in these areas, and thus understand which issues are most important at the time. Due to a high level of illiteracy, education through drama is the most effective way to teach about HIV/AIDS prevention, violence, and drug abuse. Haba na Haba reaches nearly 100,000 people a year with its community outreach program.

In addition to the theatre activities, Haba na Haba has a program called Shootback. This initiative started nearly ten years ago when an American photography student equipped about a dozen Mathare youth with cameras and asked them to take pictures of their daily lives. The result was stunning and produced a beautiful book and photography exhibit that traveled the world for years. Last year, Shootback underwent a similar project where they educated ten local young people about the Millenium Development Goals, then asked them to take pictures of them in the community. The resulting book has raised a considerable amount of money for Haba na Haba and increased international exposure.

The Shootback that exists today is run entirely by the original youth and seeks to capture a life that is horribly misrepresented in the national and international media. Journalists and reporters only venture to Mathare when something terrible happens. Therefore, we get the image with which we are all so familiar: starving babies, crumbling homes, uncontrollable violence, towering trash heaps, etc. We never hear about the talented football team that won an international tournament in Norway, the local furniture business that successfully put a bright student through college, the thousands of Mathare residents commuting six hours a day to central Nairobi, or the Mathare kid who became an important United Nations consultant. These stories are not told, so Shootback makes it their mission to tell them.

Recently, Shootback developed a program called Slum T.V. where they spend all week in the community, interviewing people about their businesses and shooting footage of important events. On selected weekends, they have a showing on a large screen in a popular Mathare field, highlighting slum life and the significant contributions of its residents. These bright young adults have reacted to a life of extreme poverty and marginalization by re-claiming agency and changing the community from the inside.

Supporting the MDGs should be central to our lives as Americans and Christians. But when you plan on giving, carefully consider why you are doing it and where your money is going. Resist the temptation to feel you are somehow solving “third world” problems or saving helpless African children. Our role as the church and as a global community is not to “save” anyone. Our role is to share the love of Christ by offering all that we can, while thanking God for the innumerable blessings granted to us.

When you donate 0.7% of your income, know that your money does not have to go to huge organizations like the United Nations or USAID. There are countless movements and groups like Haba na Haba doing incredible work every day. Be creative. Think locally. Find someone who has traveled in developing countries and ask how you can be involved. Participating in the MDGs should not be a passive activity. Take ownership of your ministry and seek to be like Christ, constantly seeking the best way to serve others and share a message of undying love.

Reynolds Whalen is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with Haba na Haba in Mathare -- read his blog on it here and is working on a documentary film on that experience.

Tomorrow: The Rev. Becca Stevens