Swiss student visits our water stations

Today's report comes from Alex Paur (left), a young student from Switzerland who is currently visiting the Rhein-Valley Hospital and their water stations to study the water situation for a personal study.

Yesterday I arrived in Nairobi and today I met the responsable people at the hospital, Ruth Schäfer and Stephan Holderegger. As the dark clouds showed a wet weather prospective, we soon climbed the mountain to visit the water station on 2700 m, which really fascinated me a lot. With the help of a simple system the residents of the area get their frish drinking water. Before we started our way back, Mama Matata ensured that somebody would bring charcoal to the fire places of the refugees in the hospital camp. So they couldn't came to the point to start deforesting. On our journey home we quickly stopped at the Show-Ground refugee camp in Nakuru. It was frightening to see in which circumstances the people have to live. Each one, who gets a place within the hospital ground, can be more than happy.


I liked the hills of Kasambara and the intensive green of the trees. I was also enriching to meet all the locals, especially the children who are all in their hearts. At the same time I was a little shocked when I heard how many difficulties daily have to be surmounted. I admire Mama Matata for her constant dedication and hope that she will meet less hurdles in the future.

270 water containers and 300 blankets arrived

sh. Today was a multifaceted day - regarding our work as well as the weather, which presented itself from the very hot to a fairly cold side. Early in the morning we got a call from Mr Meina Muhia (UN World Food Program) that he wanted to discuss the latest details about the sanitary installations and that 270 water containers for the refugees waited for us to be transported to the hospital. Then we controlled the last works to dig the necessary wholes for the toilets and showers. And finally the 300 blankets donated by the Swiss Red Cross arrived! Many thanks.

Mama Mata just got the promised 300 blanket from the Red Cross Switzerland through the intiative of Heinz Heer of "kidstokids".

The different tribes could live together peacefully

sh. This was a day of organization. We had to plan the last things so that the 30 toilets for men women in our camp can be installed tomorrow. The sanitary situation has to be under control, otherways it is not possible for us to handle the refugees in the camp. We have to be strict that all regulations are observed. Together with our medical care and the disposal of fresh drinking water the minimum requirements are given. Thanks to Mama Matata we also should get the 300 blankets donated by the Swiss Red Cross by tomorrow. We still had to pay 18,000 KsH but luckily the Swissport Kenya abstained from collecting the storage fees of 90,000 KsH.

These young men in our camp demonstrate that it is absolutely possible that people from different tribes can peacefully live together. All the hatred is only a dark vision
in some people's minds!

30 toilets and showers to be installed soon

This morning Mama Matata had to get up at 4 am to be able top reach the border to Tanzania to get a new Carnet. Normally this takes about 24 hours, but she got it in only one hour. So she had time to get the blankets that the Red Cross Switzerland donated through the initiative of kidstokids. But then she was amazed that the custom authorities wanted to charge her a big amount of money, probably more than the value of the blankets. Unbelievable! She is now trying to get them out for free. Let's hope for the best. As she won't be back before midnight, we will inform you tomorrow about the outcome.

While Mama Matata is on her misson in Nairobi, I was with the delegation of the UN World Food Program. Together we prepared for the 30 toilets and showers to be installed on Friday. We also built the central fire places (see picture) for the refugee camp here on the Rhein-Valley Hospital ground. A good organisation within these camps is of paramount importance as the number of refugees increases even more after the explosive political situation here in Kenya. Unfortunately there are still no signs of settlements within the Government and peace for the people in sight. The population asks for an immediate decision and a new election. As we heard all humanitarian organizations are at their limits and we do not know how all will continue. - Stephan Holderegger

Vaccination day for 380 babies

sh. Today was vaccination day. 380 mothers came with their children and many of them had to wait for a long time in burning heat. We started at 9 am and finished at 3 pm. Then we had to handle the cooking facilities within our refugee camp. As it is too dangerous for each individual to make a fire we organized a central fire place, controlled by our Securitas personnel. Later we also met Mr. Meina Muhia, responsable for the UN World Food Program. We exchanged our views and experiences in regard to the refugees. He then sent two of his employees to help us arrange things. Besides these good news also bad news from Nairobi. President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga couldn't agree how to arrange the parliament. As Kenyan TV broadcasted today, there are again riots in Kisumu and Kinera between the police, the military and demonstrators. Houses and tires have been burnt. The TV commentators also showed concern about the serious situation.

Crowds of people came for the food distribution

sh. The internet connection came back to live, so here is the latest. Yesterday morning masses of people gathered in front of the gate because they heard from the big food delivery brought by the WFP (World Food Program) and the Kenyan Red Cross in Nakuru. Mama Matata had the situation in full control using a new system to handle the large amount of refugees. Only groups of 20 persons were allowed to come in. It took us 7 hours to give out the food portions. After the main work of the day the hospital crew took a moment to discuss further improvements in the camp.

Stephan Holderegger gives out food at the Rhein-Valley Hosipital

Situation unclear - Internet interrupted

The political situation here in Kenya sems to be again very tense and at the same the internet connections have been interrupted. We hope this is only temporary and will bring you more news as soon as possible. Without interruption will be our daily photo contributions from Kenya on the Kenya Photos Blog.

Red Cross will help with the sanitary installations

rs. At midnight Stephan arrived in Nakuru. He again will help our crew for a couple of weeks. And he also brought some gifts from Switzerland. The Rohner company sponsored 1200 pairs of socks. In the morning, our first activity was the meeting with a representative of the local Red Cross in Nakuru. After discussing the sanitary situation they agreed to help build the toilets and showers so that minimal hygienic conditions are guaranteed. We also talked about the rules for the refugees established at our camp and how they can be implemented. Later in the afternoon we had to go home because our electrician was expected to repair our electric system. After 1 1/2 hours everything was back in order. Now we can make our last preparations for tomorrow. On Monday we have a big food distributions action because this time the people will get the portions for the whole week.

After an intense day we were rewarded with a nice sunset!