To Be Launched Summer 2008!
Call it fate, perhaps. In mid December I went to Kenya as usual. Shortly after the December 27th elections Kenya went crazy. Read The Kenyan elections blog. Following Lucas Sang's funeral some children on the side of the road at Chepkoilel told that they were afraid to return back to school, for fear of being attacked. So I decided to hold a peace race; 500 schoolgirls running for Peace all holding a twig of peace. I thought a photo of which might make the politicians in Kenya think deeply about stopping this madness.
At the end of January I returned to USA and the plans went ahead. Arriving back in Kenya on March 5th I recruited as many athletes as possible, got the help of the girls at the camp for pinning on numbers, sorting out shoes, went to see every department needed, bought food and school supplies with the savvy help of Monicah Kiplagat, got the town involved, and on March the 15th held the Iten Peace Run. See See Youtube.
The week before the riots I had been in Kibera, organizing the Kibera Project. It had been planned to held March 17th; Kibera and Eldoret were the worst hit areas. On March 17th I stood on the ruins of the church that had burned on January 1st, devastatingly with 50 women and children trapped inside. I listened to a mother tell how her child had been pulled from her arms and burnt alive, "What is this madness for?" She implored.
That afternoon I sat in a friend's restaurant in Eldoret with two of my best friends, Lornah Kiplagat and Pieter Langerhorst. "Hey, do you think it can be done? Can you get $15-million?" Lornah asked. Pieter and her explained they had been given a proposal plan for a Children's hospital in Eldoret, the only children's hospital. Of course, I replied, "Why not!" I started to think about all my great connections around the globe, all the good people I knew who could help, "Why not!"
The next day I visited the hospital. I saw two mother's with two children on each single bed. I saw the way they lay so as to not disturb each other, and asked them how they passed each and every day on the mattresses, how one woman had not left the ward for ten months as she alone had to look after her two year old who was dying of cancer. There is no chemo treatment available, the child gets a pill each day, and each days gets a little worse.
When I left the hospital the last person I met was a young boy, "I was caught in that church. I noticed the confusion and thought if I crawled I could escape. He did through the flames; his arms and ankles proved it. I was reminded, "What was the madness for?" I knew then that the hospital project had to happen. I bumped into an old lady, she looked familiar; I remember she had been on the front page of the newspaper the day that the church had been burned, it was the only newspaper I had brought back from Kenya during the riots; she asked for help and told how even the corrugated iron sheet from her hut had been stolen that day, where she lived by the church, "But I was lucky, I escaped with my life, not like my neighbors..."
A hospital, a run for peace becomes a place of peace. If Kenya's crisis was caused by tribal indifferences, then what better than a united building that brings people together, bridled with hope?
That afternoon, lazing in Pieter's back garden drinking coffee, Pieter called out, "Your friend's in the paper!" In the Daily Nation there was a large picture of Tony Edwards "Dr. Mark Greene" telling viewers to tune in and watch the most popular show on Kenyan television, ER. I phoned Tony, "Hey, when I get back to New York, Kenya needs a hospital, the Shoe4Africa children's hospital. Let's do it."
And Tony, being himself replied, "Why not!"
Keep tuned for our launch. It will be True Charity -- Every single dollar raised will go directly, 100%, to building a complete hospital. No administration, no travel, no transport costs. According to a leading expert in the charity business, "Never believe any percentage, it is the easiest number to fudge. Many charities that boast low overheads don't include their salaries, or SUVs in their cut down." Believe in True Charity, all our costs will be met either by ourselves or our sole sponsor, Leppin; not by your donation.