Touched by graphic scenes of human suffering and tragedy, Morvant resident Danielle Johnson had to restrain herself from shedding tears during her recent mission trip to Kenya, Africa. She was among a group of volunteers from the Port-of-Spain based Is There Not A Cause (ITNAC) group that went deep into the rural heartland of Kenya to provide relief supplies and spread the Gospel of Christ. Among the villages they laboured in were Nakuru, Kisume, Limuru, Garissa and Total. "There is extreme poverty. People lack basic amenities. They have no water. Things like beds are a luxury. They have to sleep on the floor. They live in mud huts," Johnson said. She said because of a lack of proper education, Kenyans who contract HIV/Aids suffer discrimination and ostracism. "Many of them cannot find jobs to support their families. Among the ITNAC interventions was helping to fund an organisation to support people suffering from HIV/Aids and discrimination. We helped them to accept their HIV/Aids status. They had to get treatment and counselling," she said.
The T&T missionaries also launched a start-up programme for rearing poultry. Johnson said, "We helped them to create jobs. They desperately needed to earn an income. The programme reduced poverty since most of these infected people are women whose partners would have passed away. They need to find some means of sustaining themselves and their children." At Kisume, the ITNAC missionaries helped construct an extra wing at the Faith Primary School. "We supplied vitamins. Just basic advice on general healthcare. We helped a young woman, 20, who lived in a one-room apartment with her children. They got a lot more space and the children began to attend school," Johnson added. Provision of healthcare topped ITNAC's agenda. On the outskirts of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, lies the town of Limuru. Johnson said: "We conducted two medical clinics. It is a dirt poor community. We found a lot of cases of hookworms. People had fainting spells...dizziness. We found cases of malaria." To her amazement, she found several Kenyans had never once seen a doctor.
She said, "They could not afford it. It was a relief to see a doctor. We had pharmaceutical drugs." Surveying the extent of the need, Johnson said the team made a commitment to construct a clinic to meet the demand for healthcare. Garissa, which she described as "dry arid desert space," was inhabited by Somalians who had crossed the border fleeing famine. Somalia is located to Kenya's north east. More than 13 million people are affected by drought throughout the Horn of Africa. Tens of thousands of people have died, and the United Nations is warning 250,000 Somalis are currently at risk of starvation. "A lot of the people are malnourished," she said. Water was a major problem. "There was not much water. They have to depend on the local authorities to provide a truck-borne water supply which is irregular. They have hair and skin fungus because they have no pipe borne water. We had anti-biotics. But not a drop of water to mix it with. We used our water." At times, they leave their stick-built homes to make the arduous trek to the well. Sanitation and disposal of garbage remains a sore point. Johnson and the team had to conform to Muslim dress codes. "They were getting ready for Ramadan. Some of them take it so seriously they don't even swallow their saliva. We had to wear skirts and modest attire to slip through the cultural barriers."
