Those least able

In previous blogs I've introduced my good friend Lucy and now also would like to introduce her best friend Milan. Lucy, 5 years ago and through thoroughly duplicitous means, interviewed me about the upcoming Pacquiao vs. Mayweather boxing fight. Explaining to me that the camera and recording devices in that busy parking lot on my second day in Africa were merely for a project she was working on - and no that she was a sports reporter for a local TV news channel. I of course was more than happy to give my usual colorful opinion on the optics of the fight and ended up on the evening news. This was a strictly forbidden activity with my previous employer and so despite harboring a healthy amount of disdain for her nefarious underhanded methods, have had to concede, after 5 years  that she is a person of excellent character and a delight to spend time with.

So too is her cracker jack smart and hilarious sidekick Milan. So close are they that you can barely tell where one begins and the other ends. Milan is the definition of a "self-starter" managing her own business and always ready to roll up her sleeves and do whatever needs to be done. And that -- always a chuckle and a giggle finding funny in the mundane and hilarity in the obvious.

They need a hand ...

Under the guise of free pizza and wine (something I knew Milan and Lucy would never turn down) I lured them to my place to cut bulk soap into bars or the folks at the Majengo slum. You see, Grace shown below is the head of Malezi the volunteer school in the Majengo slum where I have been helping out a bit together with a great team of spirited volunteers.Together, we have helped out with cleanup - education - laptops dishes and food. These efforts focused on the Malezi kids until now.

What has changed? Well -- I've had an urgent plea from Grace to help the Mom's and Dad's of the kids we've been supporting. As a result of Covid19 and associated lockdowns throughout the country and city, the supply chains that bring food and other basics have been severed.  The result is the cost of goods have risen and certain things have become increasingly hard to get. Like soap. The slums are being isolated as hotspots by the government and "sealed off" to avoid infecting the rest of the city. An already extremely marginalized community, this now means a new level of desperation leading to unprecedented levels of domestic violence and suicide.

Grace, who is more like Mother Teresa than the fabled Mother Teresa - is working hard to get food and soap into the slum. This week (Monday) I'll use motorcycles that can smuggle goods into the slum using Panya routes (swahili for the path of rats) that avoid the road blocks. 300 bars of soap and 200 kgs of rice and beans will be sent in to help out. I'm also purchasing small cloth sacks so the food can be prepackaged for easy quick covid mitigating distribution. Volunteers in the community will do the prep work. We will do all this for $171 USD and help a lot of people.

What would be helpful would be an additional 1000 kgs of food which would get these needy folks through the next month or so.  The cost is about $750 - and that is what I hope to raise before the end of the month.

Having spent almost 5 years in Africa working in the NGO sector - I have witnessed the frittering away of phenomenal sums  of money. In fact, single UN employee can blow through $750 by lunchtime on any given day. hehe

My ask for $50 e-interact to my account - and I'll make sure that your donation goes right to the people who need it so desperately. The video below is a pretty good intro to Majengo - and while 10 years old - conditions have not changed at all. This cycle of poverty is complicated and persistent but can be changed with the good intensions and good deeds. Majengo needs heros right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqO0fu-EH2c

if you can help please e-interact to - laynemahon@live.com

... a special note of thanks to Cliff Cyr who parted with a few more dollars to help the kids in the slum - thank you on their behalf.

Sonny & Lucky love the soap idea.

Thanks for reading ....Layno!!!