Social Work Department Day 1

The agenda for the day was help social worker Mary do home visits for students that are new to the Pangani school. The point of these first time visits was to make sure their family records were correct. This is so that CMF can keep the sponsors accurately updated on their students information.

Early this morning four 1st grade students meet down in the Social Work department in the Pangani Center. We then had the children take us to each of their houses one by one. At each home we sat down with the student and there parents (typically the Mom) and filled out two forms with them. Some of the questions on these forms subjects such as medical information, family tree, income, expenses, child's favorite sport, how the child behaves at home, what they want to be after they graduate college.

After we visited all 4 homes we walked back to the Pangani center to eat lunch. After lunch we met up with 4 students from grade 2 and went to visit their homes for the same purpose as the first group of students. But this group live in an area that was much worse then the first group that we took that morning. When in Nairobi you realize quickly that each family has their own unique testimony on how they got where they are today. It was very encouraging to hear parents say things to the social worker like, "My son has grown so much academically and spiritually since attending the Mission of Hope Pangani School." or "My daughter struggled so much keeping her grades up in her old school and now is excelling in your school program."

When doing home visits the families are always so welcoming to us a visitors. The students are very proud to show us where they live and to have us meet there family. To give you a better idea of living conditions in the Mathare slums... their houses are about 10' x 15' and are made out of corrugated metal, wood and cement. This small space normally includes a twin bed that sleeps 2 to 4 people, a small wooden chair/sofa, coffee table, and a few pots and pans for cooking and cleaning and and a few other small items. Some of the houses in the slums have just enough electric to run a light bulb or small TV but most of the houses have NO electricity and you can only see by the light coming from the door or a oil lamp.