Fenny and Mercy are teenagers, 13 and 17. They live in Babadogo. They’re tall, slim and slender. They’re very beautiful. Fenny’s hair is twisted on her head. Mercy’s short-haired. They smile through their eyes. They smile with their mouths and their bone-white teeth. They dance in Acref’s group together with the other guys of their age. They’re preparing a performance in which they can show all the bad things in the slums and how things can be changed. They spend here almost all the afternoons dancing, singing and playing the drums. They’re really clever.
They’re bright, full of strength and energy. They’ve gone through thousands of lives and now they’re here.
I’m standing on the doorstep to watch them while they’re setting up their show. Fenny comes here, introduces herself, smiles at me and invites me to sit down with them. We introduce each other. They write down some of the most important words and phrases in Swahili: how are you, what’s your name, child, girl, happy, chicken, onion.
Fenny lives not far from here. Mercy lives with her brothers by her mother. Her father’s dead, she says. They’ve been living here in the slums as the revolt broke out after the elections in 2007. I can’t imagine what they’ve seen.
She asks to come with me to Italy. What do you know about Italy, I ask. Nothing, she answers. So how do you know that you’d like it? It must be a beautiful place, she says, because you’re always smiling. I’m smiling because I’m with you, I’m happy to see your eyes, your strength and your will power.
Mercy wants to become a lawyer. Fenny a director. I picture them in my mind. I think it’s possible. They can be all they wish.
You only have to look around, image what a hell this place becomes after 7 p.m., when there’s no light and you can’t see the dirty streets, people locked up themselves because there’s no man’s land outside and who goes around is someone who you wouldn’t like to meet. You only have to look around, the cafes in the end of the streets, noisy and dark since early morning, ten years boys who drink deadly liquors, dogs who scavenge, the hard looks of people. You have only to look around to understand that these children are just winning girls.
In the meantime the stage is full of 2, 3 years children who are dancing. One of them dances as a boy, he’s unbelievable talented and conscious of his own body. He’s Mercy’s brother.
Nicoletta Rolla
Supporter of World Friends
After a short break due to the rainfall in April, the works in the Maternity and Physiotherapy wards have started again.
Maternity:
The windows have been fixed and set to embed the window glasses; the covering of the bathrooms walls with the tiles are completed.
The inner walls and the wooden frames of the doors have been painted.
The works for electrical and hydraulic systems are still in progress.
Physiotherapy:
All the doors and the windows have been fixed, the walls and the columns have been plastered; the treatment for the external walls has been completed.
The hydraulic system is finished; the floor covering of the gym in the Physiotherapy ward has been plastered and smoothed.
The setting of the tiles on the walls of the bathrooms and the locker rooms has been completed.
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Helena Pes
Project Manager WF Nairobi