In April, Katharina Weiland-Zejewski, volunteer director of the widows’ project, Anne-Kristin Henker, programme manager, and Nicholas Koech, former sponsored child and now member of the board of Dentists for Africa (DfA), travelled to Kenya with their families. As volunteers, their destination was the St. Monica Village widows’ cooperative in Nyabondo in the west of the country, which also houses the DfA sponsorship office. They spent a week here working on new projects, distributing donated goods and supporting their own projects.
Read Part 1 of Katharina Weiland-Zejewski’s report here.
It’s Sunday, and we’re meeting at the Witwendorf at around 11 a.m. I’m a little nervous, as I haven’t seen Rhoda Ogada, the manager of the cooperative, and all the other members for so long. Although we are in contact almost every day, it feels like we are meeting for the first time. I knew that Rhoda would also be very happy to see me, but I didn’t expect this kind of welcome. Confetti, balloons and warm hugs await us; it is a joyful reunion.
After a brief tour, we meet the two seamstresses who will be driving our project forward. Looking back, I have the utmost respect for their work.
Cloth diapers
We introduce ourselves and the project that Rhoda and I discussed at length beforehand. Diapers are to be sewn from the fabric we brought with us. The cloth diapers are intended to help young mothers care for their children and avoid buying expensive disposable diapers.
There are many young mothers in this region, girls who are often only 15 years old. They become pregnant due to a lack of education, rape and fear of the consequences of refusing. Left alone with their babies, without a father or the support of their own families, they try to finish school somehow.
In Kenya, babies are usually potty trained, but the spread of disposable diapers is increasing due to Western influence. A pack of diapers costs 685 Ksh in the supermarket in Sondu – the equivalent of around €5.15. Which schoolchild can afford that? However, potty training is also difficult when you are a mother and still going to school.
The suitcases containing the fabric have not yet been completely unpacked, and already the first sewing machines are rattling away. Until our departure, seamstresses Nancy and Josefine sew from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., all without electricity, using treadle machines.
Sanitary pads – support for menstrual hygiene
In addition to the material for nappies, we also have fabrics for sanitary pads in our luggage: terry cloth, molton and liquid-proof PUL are intended to make menstrual hygiene easier for women and girls – here, too, the aim is to avoid the purchase of costly disposable products for women. We also have a pattern with us, and the future users are enthusiastic about the shape, because the pad doesn’t look like a pad at all when you hang it on the line to dry. ‘It could also be two socks!’ I hear a few times. This is an important point in terms of actual future use.
Play equipment from old car tires
On Monday, the men, both big and small, spring into action. Rhoda has procured 20 car tires in advance, which are now waiting for us on the cooperative’s premises. The tires will be turned into toys for the nursery and planters for medicinal plants. In an earlier project, play equipment was made from wood – but it fell victim to termites after a short time. That’s why old tires are now being given a second life. A shopping list is drawn up and Rhoda and chairlady Pamela Obora rush off on motorbikes to Sondu to buy paint, brushes, paint rollers and saws. Until they return, our children enjoy themselves with the children from the cooperative’s own kindergarten. It’s actually the school holidays, but in our honour, the kindergarten is staying open for an extra week. 
The two kindergarten teachers make it easy for our children to fit in: anyone who wants to is thrown up in the swing cloth, and the children play football together or teach each other how to roll tires. The encounters are moving – some of the children have never been so close to people of a different colour before –
And so during yesterday’s greeting, hands were given diligently and partially held in order to examine the different-colored skin extensively.