What Do I Share?

"You Cannot Escape the Responsiblity of Tomorrow by evading it today"

-Abraham Lincoln

Over my time in Kenya, I have been sharing with all of you my stories and experiences as well as thinking about the environment that I find myself in for three and a half months and the challenges of successes of the people I meet within the community each day. Why am I keeping a blog? The first answer is because it is a requirement for my program. I have been asked to critically think about my experiences within Kenya and post them on the blog. The deeper answer is because I truly believe that I have a responsibility to share the stories of the people I meet.

One of the biggest challenges in telling people’s stories is representing them as accurately and responsible as possible. I want to be as careful as possible in relaying my experiences on my blog and respecting the people I interact with each day. I think that no matter how difficult it is for students to communicate these stories, I think it is their responsibility to do so, so that people can begin to know and understand what is happening within the world we all live in. The more people that know these stories, the better a chance that things will be done regarding human rights issues and basic humanity. If more people understand that families live in temporary structures mounted in dirt that becomes mud during a rainfall, have no access to toilets and no access to education, then hopefully this will challenge the way people reading this blog live their daily lives in Canada and whomever is reading this around the world. The more that these stories are reported, the harder it becomes to ignore that people in Kenya and across the developing world have to choose between their basic rights like healthcare, education, food and shelter.

I have tried my best to ensure that I have protected the privacy of those individuals that I meet. I’m not here to exploit the people and exploit their circumstances just to get a few more blog hits or a better mark in the class. I want to share what is happening in their lives and why their lives should be important to the everyday person. I don’t want people to give individuals pity or pettiness. What I do hope is that I’ve made you think about the system. Its not enough to know that a man who tried to steal a motorbike was almost beaten within our neighbourhood; we all (myself included) need to think about why the system supports the behavior of a collective justice system and why the courts and the police are corrupt in matters like these. Its not enough to know that children sleep in the kitchen without understanding how money is distributed and the corruption of the ministry of education in Kenya. I can’t just tell stories without giving context about the  forces behind the stories.

There are stories that I just can’t tell. Some stories, I’m not ready to explain. Some stories, I still need to make sense. Some stories are just not for telling. This is where accountability and responsibility come into the discussion. It would be irresponsible for me to tell some of the stories of the people because there is a certain amount of confidentiality and safe guarding that comes into play and I know that it isn’t my role to tell these stories like a tabloid dropping a major headline without thinking about the repercussions. I refuse to shatter the serenity and peacefulness of these stories.

When I come home, I already know that a lot of people will ask questions like ‘What was it like? How did you find Kenya?’ These are all the immediate questions that come to someone’s mind after encountering a Beyond Borders alumni and this is where I think the greatest amount of personal responsibility comes into account. I know I cannot come back from Kenya and simply state that this experience was amazing. Yes, it was amazing but only saying it was amazing and not explaining the ‘why?’ Is a disservice  to those that are going on future exchanges, to a captive audience that wants to learn and do something and a disservice to the people that have supported us financially and emotionally every step of the way. We need to rise up to the call of action and tell the stories of the people. Personally, I know that I want to go on a pursuit of quality education for at risk youth, I want to make sure students are in school instead of playing in that garbage pile on the street and I want to ensure that teachers and parents are educated on how important their role is in the education model. These are the things that I need to talk about and share and advocate for. My role is not simply to advocate because although I have seen teachers lashing students 12 times across the arms and children sniffing glue in the streets; I’ve also seen the ability for hard work to pay off. I’ve seen students try and succeed. I’ve seen students challenged and think and do better. I’ve seen adults who are active community members who work everyday to make a better Kenya and a better community.

To do all of the above is not the easiest task in the world. To be honest, sincere, responsible, compassionate and act with integrity when working with marginalized people is hard. Everyone in the world deserves running water, an education, love and shelter. Everyone in this world deserves a fighting chance but not everyone gets that chance and that’s what makes it hard. The problems I encounter everyday here should be non-existent and it is in this frustration that the greatest learning and self reflection takes place. The truth, I want to send a huge ‘F*** you’ to the world to get their attention but the system does not work this way and if we truly want to challenge the system in which we live, we must be sincere, responsible, compassionate and have real integrity in sharing the stories of the people we’ve met on our journey.