While approving photographic sets, we ran into a week of Mr. Xiong Jun called ‘traditional opera actor,’ that took us behind the scenes of Chinese opera. His photographs of the opera actors during preparation before entering the stage left us fascinated and completely in awe, as we were able to experience an unknown world only a chosen few can normally enter. The photographs left us wanting to know more about this type of art and due to the language barrier between us and Mr. Xiong Jun, we decided to explore this world, find further information ourselves and finally share it with you in the form of reportage. We thank Mr. Xiong Jun for such inspiration and fascinating photographs.

„1 minute on stage equals 10 years behind the scenes.“

Even though opera as art is mainly considered as part of western civilization, a longstanding tradition can be found in the history of the eastern continent as well, specifically in China.

This country can be proud of its more than three hundred types of traditional Chinese theatre: Kunqu, Xiang Ju, Beijing opera, Shaoxing opera, Henan, Pu Ju, Sichuan opera, Tibet opera, pantomime, Marionette Theater, two man shows, and so on. Beijing opera („ťing-tü“ or „ťing-si“) is the most famous and, compared to local Chinese operas that are usually performed in the local dialect, uses the national dialect and is surely the most sought out form of opera in the country.

Beijing opera differs from the classical European in many different aspects, one being it’s dramatically higher mental demand which is complemented by an equally difficult physical aspect. No wonder actors prepare for such tough moments from a tender age. Beijing opera combines singing, dancing, pantomime and martial arts; it is claimed that one minute on stage equals ten years behind the scenes.

Two hundred years worth of history is carved into the Beijing opera but it wouldn’t exist without the initial wishes of the imperial palace in the Xuanwu district, under the rule of the Qing dynasty, which requested the presence of four opera choirs from the Anhui province. Thanks to this public success, the choirs remained in the imperial court. They looked for inspiration from operas from Kunqu, Yiyang, Hanju and Luantan and during half a century of combining and adding elements of these operas, the Beijing Opera developed and came into being.

As previously mentioned, Beijing opera is the most popular in China and the richest in actors, spectators and repertoire.

„Every pattern and color reflects the nature of a given character and the whole spectrum of human emotions.“

One of the main and perhaps most important elements of Beijing opera, and Chinese opera altogether, is make-up. This art tends to be very expressive and full of designs and all sorts of patterns. Its importance lies in the fact that every pattern and color reflects the nature of a given character and the whole spectrum of human emotions. Red for instance represents loyalty to the royal court and nobility and that is why it is often used with generals. Black stands for honesty and rightness while white, on the other hand, describes cunning and falsity.

The spreading of colors alone is based on four methods – rubbing, sketching, overlap and completion. Rubbing comes first; color is spread by fingers across the whole face with emphasis on the eyebrows, eyes and veins. Then, with the help of a brush, a sketch of the basic facial pattern is made with greased-up color. The next step consists of the face being covered with a layer of white, again with the use of a brush, focusing on the forehead and eyebrows. Completion comes as a last phase during which non-symmetric patterns are colored in. Based on artistic intent, either all four methods are used, or at times, one or two of the methods are left out. Using silver and gold for instance signals the presence of an immortal or supernatural being.
Over a period of time, Beijing opera gave birth to 6 basic types of characters – an elderly man (lao-sheng), a younger man (siao-sheng), a woman (tan), an old lady (lao-tan), a painted face (ťing) and a clown (chou). In order to visualize how such characters receive their make-up, let us depict the process of for example a woman and the elderly man. A woman represents middle-aged and young females. The make-up of the actors has multiple layers; cheeks are painted red to evoke contrast with white powder on the forehead, nose and jaws. Eyes and eye-brows are emphasized and the lips glare with an expressive red. As for the elderly man, this character represents middle-aged males. The make-up is softer and, according to age, black, grey or white is added to the color of facial hair. In addition, a not so expressive and decent costume is used.

Mei Lanfang is regarded as one of the most significant and outstanding actors of Beijing opera. He started studying opera when he was eight and at an early age of eleven, he was already present on stage. He is the most famous impersonator of female roles in the 20th century and is acknowledged and praised for promoting Beijing opera in Japan, the United States and Russia.

„A glimpse of hope for tradition has appeared in the form of Li Yu Gang, a young man whose life story is close to a fairy tale.“

In recent years, the era of men playing all roles including female ones is almost over. The Era of Mei Lanfang is slowly fading away and female roles are frequently assumed by women. However, a glimpse of hope for tradition has appeared in the form of Li Yu Gang, a young man whose life story is close to a fairy tale. Despite his talent being obvious from his early years, poverty and his family situation prevented him from studying, so he was forced to travel to the capital city of Jilin province and earn a living as a waiter in a nightclub. One day an accident, in the form of a female singer being sick, changed his life. Li Yu Gang offered to step in and finish the show instead of the ill actress. He was a huge success, basically stunning the audience, which broke out into long-lasting applause. His enormous talent was soon know throughout the land, and he was finally able to live his dream and start studying Beijing opera, specializing in female roles. The tradition of the opera is therefore kept alive for some time; however, the desire of the young generation in China to undergo the hardship of studying is quickly diminishing.

Weeks of Xiong Jun

Juraj Sucharda, Businessperson, Slovakia

Before anything else, I need to make a confession. I think I may be a bit too emotional; I love children, I admire the unspoiled and pure world of children along with their little joys, sorrows and ’issues’. I’m glad I can be a part of it from time to time, and take a rest from the often cruel, disturbed and chaotic world of adults. When Jura Sucharda contacted me about the possibility of publishing a report called ‚Standing in Front of the Gate to Heaven’, I had mixed feelings. I wasn’t really sure if this issue is appropriate, or whether it belongs in the Week of Life sphere. Nevertheless, I accepted in advance. Then I saw the first photo from the snapshots Jura sent me, where a human hand is holding the tiny hand of a baby, who, instead of enjoying the delights of life, has to experience the first struggle for life. It hasn’t even begun and it can already be at its very own tragic end. This photo deeply touched my heart, and I immediately realized that this report should have its own place on the Week of Life website. The included text I read much later was of no less importance, however the initial glance at the photo simply showed the power of photography and its emotional impact on the inner soul of an individual. All of this combined played an important role in the decision making process. Adolf Zika

Neonatology, a subdiscipline of pediatrics, offers medical treatment to neonates, the diseased and the premature ones.

I stood facing the gate to heaven… Someone entered it, someone else left it to descend to the Earth. I am the father of two daughters. Of two beautiful and healthy girls. I’m familiar with the far caused by fever, and even though the nights I have stayed awake might be counted on the fingers of my hands, suddenly I perceive life in a different way. I hold out my hand to a doctor – God’s right hand. In his eyes I can see incredible energy and determination. I enter the Department of Neonatology with him. As he starts his work, the chief of the department, Doctor Krcho who has been working in this field since 1989, also begins his narration about people, their worries, opportunities, about the hardship and complexity of the whole system.

There are 10 doctors and 38 nurses at both departments that work in four shifts. Each of them is able to accommodate between 20 to 24 babies in danger of dying. The fight for their lives starts after their arrival and a complex check-up. The first steps, taken shortly after, will be decisive not only in the development of his or her condition, but will also influence possible long-lasting consequences. However, many parents do not realize what a critical state their child is in, such as for example with severe brain damage. Almost always, they expect the doctors to perform a miracle and the possible consequences, which will affect not only the child’s life but also theirs, would not even come to their mind. Just to think of such a situation makes my flesh crawl and I have no idea how I would react were I in their place…
The stay for premature and diseased neonates ranges between two weeks and four months, depending on various factors. A child with a weight over 2,000 grams (if its condition allows it) can be taken home… But the medical care doesn’t cease and its condition is under continuous control by specialized consultories, oculists, orthopedists, cardiologists, neurologues and nephrologists… However the most important steps are taken at the Department of Neonatology…

„I believe to witness a miracle, when I see a baby born in its 24th week – whose stay in this world is a great message.“

Premature birth can be caused not only by a too high or too low age of the mother, but also women who undergo artificial insemination are in danger, for this method allows multiple pregnancies. Furthermore, alcohol, cigarettes and an incorrect regime cause premature birth, and sometimes there can also be psychological factors, diabetes, viral infection or womb diseases that increase the danger. It might sound like a paradox, but the accomplishments of present-day medicine are also a cause of such problems, for they allow pregnancy in cases which, a few years ago, would be impossible to achieve.

Doctor Krcho approaches a baby girl only a few hours old, whose mother is 16 years old. I feel so impressed while I look at that little creature, that even though she’s no bigger than my hands, she has such strength to fight for her life. I keep track of the personnel’s teamwork. They are so calm and balanced, so strong… Everything has its precise rules and procedures. I believe to witness a miracle, when I see a baby born in its 24th week – whose stay in this world is a great message. „The heart’s gettin’ better, the pressure’s stabilized, the color’s coming back…“ They cut off the umbilical cord and introduce two catheters that will supplement the tiny body with the medicaments and nutrition that it needs… The doctor stands up and says: „Ok, that’s it, we’re done.“ And I believe I saw something that resembled a smile. But this is only the beginning. Many complications may arise, such as various infections, bacterial sepsis or brain hemorrhage. Doctor Krcho continues with his description of the whole process. I can see nurses changing giant nappies, controlling all of the appliances. I can see the mothers holding their children with love, even despite all the tubes. Who knows what those little ones are thinking about… And what about their mothers?!? Mommies that are, after a tough fight, finally allowed to caress their sweethearts. I think of their fathers. I remember the birth of my daughters, the fear I felt seemed unbearable to me, but in comparison to what they have to be going through I think they deserve a Nobel Prize for courage. They have to support the woman – the mother, and cannot fail, they have to trust doctors and believe in their children… And not lose their mind.

Appliances, instruments, tubes, strict norms, procedures… and among it beautiful slippers for these little defenceless babies hand-made by the nurses. I get to know about the lack of money, apparatuses, about the need of people with ardour and an opened heart. I hear about tough moments and impossible decisions in which the babies are divided into those, that will have the chance to take the shot in this life, and those, that will increase the number of angels in the heaven.

„The hands – like God´s tools, they help, save, caress, work…“

The hands – like God´s tools, they help, save, caress, work.. they are skilful, necessary and perfectly invented. The hands of doctors and nurses look so gentle even though so huge while caressing the little head. Their hands are golden. With the consent of doctor Krcho and the parents, we would like to explain you the importance of a digital camera, that in several cases was the only mean of connection between the mother and her child… After a very complicated birth the mother died. However, thanks to the small camera, that is usually used for documentation or quick (and many times only virtual) communication with other experts, the mother was able to see her little baby before she breathed her last.

The deparment of neonatology is an important part of the hospital. However, not many parents know about it unless they had been there with their child. Therefore, I would like to introduce you to this world, to offer you the chance to get to know their hands, their work, possibilities, shortages… But the most important thing I want to show is the strenght of these children, their desire for life, their courage to fight and to win this battle.

When I ask doctor Krcho whether he feels like God when he saves a life in case where others would give in, he responds with a serious face: „ No, I don´t. I feel that way when we decide that the chance of life is gone and the appliance therefore can be switched off.“

Weeks of Juraj Sucharda

Jiří Pergl, Enterpreneur, Czech Republic

Report Kenya 2010 – 2nd part

19.1 Regions Laikipia and Nanyuki

We set this day aside to visit city magistrates in various areas of Laikipie where are we active. We informed all the mayors of our organization and what we do for the children in their province. We asked for a donation of a piece of land in the southern part Laipikie where they have rain at least once in a while. Why again and why another piece of land? I certainly can’t support a second orphanage. We need this land to grow food – vegetables, grains and beans to support our future children’s home so the operating expenses will be lower. As usual, all the mayors are excited and they will raise the issue at the city council, there should be no problem. By now you know a bit about Kenya from my reports. Unless we hold some official paper we should not get too excited. My gut feeling is that our chances are around 80%.

After some bureaucratic work and after an introduction of OMDC to the mayors (by the way, everybody who wants something from a mayor hast to go through three steps before he stands in front of him – we went almost immediately, without any complicated procedures) we go to visit some other locations where children are really suffering. I will again introduce these five kids to you with my new offering of our long distance adoption program.

Let me give you a small example of what we encounter here. We leave the main road and continue about 10 km inland. No road, we make our way through bushes, mud, dust, potholes that are half a meter deep and countless other obstacles. I nurse our Toyota Prado at 10 km an hour and than we arrive at… something. I have no clue – some wooden boards glued together with mud, grass, and plastic bags instead of a proper roof. Cyrus, who has seen quite a lot, goes inside to record it on video but is immediately back and he is throwing up. Outside we meet the HIV positive mother with a toddler, there is no father. The little girl we want to adopt is at school. We gave the mother a bag with food and went to look for the school. I have never seen any Masai as startled as those we met on our way. Speaking of which – we cover about 2 km in one hour of driving. We finally made it to the local preschool. Fifteen bewildered Masai girls aged between 3 and 4, together with their teacher, stepped out of a derelict shack and must have thought a UFO had landed. They had never seen a car, let alone a white man! So I was giving out sweets to confused children and putting them into their little mouths because their hands were so dirty. I took photos of a little girl named Elishiba Wambui Kairu and I will include her in our adoption program. After finding the main road again we continue back to Nanyuki.

There is a meeting ahead this evening. I invited all registered members of my organization ONE MORE DAY FOR CHILDREN so we could discuss what lay ahead and what we have already accomplished this week. Among our members there is a lawyer from Nanyuki, a female lawyer from Nairobi, a Nanyuki council member, three social workers, two assistants (Patrick and Cyrus) and the founders–Hellen and I. The doctor promised that he will collect blood samples from all our children so they can be tested and he will also give them an exam to find what other medicine they need. The lawyers discussed how to register OMDC in the north so we could build our children’s house and become active in all of Laikipia province. Patrick and Cyrus promised to make their nine-passenger vehicle they call Matatu available to use for the transport of Hellen and the kids. The social workers were discussing individual cases and then came my turn. Me and my English. Ouchh! I am old enough to remember when we had to learn Russian at school, some of you can perhaps relate, so my English is not textbook, to say the least. For the last ten years I have travelled the World and that is supposed to be the best way to learn. Even though I overuse infinitives and ignore tenses, so far I have always gotten by. So when it was my time, I, the President of our foundation started to speak. I have no idea where it came from, but I managed to give a fluent speech and ended with the pledge: “I promise that if Hellen and you succeed in getting the necessary paperwork, I will return in August and set the first stone in person. If I do not get money from sponsors, I will build our children’s house from my own funds.” Everybody applauded wholeheartedly and there were tears in my eyes.

20.1 Road from Nanyuki to Meru – rescue of 10 Masai girls

Together with Hellen and the social worker Josephine, who happens to be Masai, we announce to the Nanyuki governing body that the foundation ONE MORE DAY FOR CHILDREN will take care of the Masai girls and help them. That cheers up our journalist and he starts writing an article for a newspaper. We go to pick them up from the two orphanages. One other car comes with us because, as we found out, there are 11 of them plus 5 of us and that really will not fit into our Toyota. We come to pick up the first group and, again, I can’t believe my eyes. There are three little children, girls, the smallest is no more than three years old. Were they really forced to marry and have sexual contact? I am so mad I can’t even think straight and just want to punch somebody in the face. Easy, easy. This is not helping and it would only make the girls afraid seeing me this upset.

We seated the girls in our car and head north in the direction of Somalia towards the city of Meru. The reason? Josephine set up accommodations and arranged for a Catholic school for the 11 girls at the premises of the local children’s home. Josephine used to stay in this home and knows the director, a Catholic Father who was her teacher. He accepted the Masai girls, even though it was not for free. This home is sponsored by Americans and Italians.

The road from Nanyuki to Mehru is not bad. The pavement is full of potholes and obstacles that slow you down but much better than that terrible path to Doldol. The problem is that the road is full of drugged drivers that are tripping on stuff called MIRA. It is a flower grown in Kenya and exported worldwide for medical use. Locals chew it to bring them ecstasy. At least three times I barely avoided cars coming from the opposite direction swerving left to right. Often, I have to brake sharply or get out of their way completely so the girls in the back do not come to harm. Turning around to chase the car and kick the driver in the teeth makes no sense. They would not even know what was going on. One of the cars, a pickup truck fully loaded with construction material suddenly appeared in the opposite direction, coming from a fast turn at about 100 km/h, going sideways he straightens his vehicle, missed my rear view mirror by ten centimeters at 80 km/h and than stepped hard on the gas again. Madness.

Going about 40 kilometers an hour we aim for Mehru and I anxiously watch every car in our vicinity. Father, as everybody calls him around here, is waiting for us at the town’s end. He is from Tanzania and he is the director of a truly large complex for children. When we get there, we find that the accommodation and the schools are separated in to girls and boys areas. The complex can handle 750 children and is full. They are fully self-sufficient because they own the land where they grow grains and fruit, and they raise animal stock that provides them with life’s necessities. The children are from all around Africa but the largest numbers are from Somalia and Kenya. After a long inspection of the place and after seeing some of the domestic animals, which takes about 3 hours (locals just love to show you absolutely everything they have done), we go to visit the girls section.
I can’t help but think how strange this must be for our little Masai girls. After all that hardship, without parents, whose murders some of them witnessed, they will live here, among 450 girls they do not know, years–until they reach the age of eighteen. They have no possessions and all of a sudden they are thrown in the midst of turmoil created by the large number of girls of their own age. How will the other girls accept them? They would be separated, of course, they are of different ages. Oh well, I think they will go through many sad moments, but it is still better than staying on the street without food and water.
Anyway, they do not have to stay until 18. It could be they end up on the street again anyway, unless you help me with their adoption. I payed the first month for all 11 girls to stay in this complex. All 11 girls can be adopted into our program.
The specific information can be found at my web presentation www.omdc.cz in the section about the adoption of 11 Masai girls. When the time comes I would like to bring them to our shelter in Doldol. That’s where they come from and where anybody can visit them. For now it has to be the way it is. Best of luck my little girls…

After saying our goodbyes we leave the complex accompanied by 450 girls singing Christian song about school, work and God. Father says that if you keep to those fundamentals, your life on this Earth will be good. I shake his hand, and with the words God bless you, we head for Nanyuki. I spend the afternoon there with lawyers and organizing official sponsorship for adoptive parents from the Czech Republic. This is where my work ends. Work?
It is a lot more than hard work to me, it is a great pleasure.

I would like to conclude by stating that I managed to move our foundation one step further, perhaps two steps. We are known to all government members of the province Laikipia – Nanyuki. All of Kenya knows from newspaper reports of our help to the eleven Masai girls. Together with Hellen we got important people involved – lawyers, doctors and social workers. We established a functioning, furnished office in Nanyuki. We have moved significantly towards building the new children’s home in Doldol – complete documentation and drawings from the local architect are done and Hellen is working on getting a building permit as well as other paperwork necessary to begin construction. I helped 23 children improve their lives so they do not have to worry about the next day. I delivered food to 15 children that are waiting for the adoption and I gathered information including photos that will help in the process of distant adoption. Some of the children are hungry, some are HIV positive and some of them are orphans. I helped 3 children get a roof over their heads for the following six months and provided food for the next one to one and a half months. I paid the rent for the 12 kids you know from my previous visit; those children are also parentless. We saved 11 Masai girls from life on the street and I truly hope that people will help me with their adoption so they can stay off those streets. What to say in the end? Many thanks to all of you for the help you grant to our foundation. Thank you for reading my report all the way through to the end.

Weeks of Jiří Pergl

Jiří Pergl, Enterpreneur, Czech Republic

Report Kenya 2010 – 1st part

15.1. Nanyuki

In the morning we finished food-sorting and found we have no rice, beans, nor green grams (a kind of local green berry).
I guess we counted wrong, so we return to the center of Nanyuki and buy the rest of the needed supplies so everybody gets the same amount. While the boys are sorting the food, we go with Hellen to set up an account at Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya for all our transactions, such as money transfers from adoptive parents, money to be used for various purposes (school, doctor, hospitals, etc.) and also so we comply with the requirements of Kenya’s government, which likes nothing more than to oversee any transactions where money is involved. Just to set up an account for an organization like OMDC in Kenya you need five people. Only I and our lawyer can withdraw money. Others must undersign and supply photos, ID and documentation certifying where they live. One really funny part is that the bank does not make copies for you, and to do so you have to run to the shop across the street; the machine they have must be one of the first ones ever produced and it produces shabby copies. If the bank does not accept the result, only then will they use the new Minolta copier they have right there on the desk. We spent five and a half hours in the bank to start one account. Coffee or water? Are you mad? This is Kenya! The fact is that they fill in everything by hand, and they spend ages gluing the photos to the documents. This I can accept. But the copying ordeal really tested my resolve.
That afternoon, after a phone call, we went to visit a local architect. Why? As I said, I wanted to build new children’s home in Doldol and I intended to come trough. I put forth my idea to the architect about a home for 60 kids, including a school, church, kitchen, lounge, bedrooms, washrooms, and a fence. I proposed a U-shaped complex and he informed me that his take is 6% of the complete cost. Needles to say, I flinched. After a long discussion where I carefully explained exactly what the purpose of this project was, he finally had a change of heart and agreed to give us a discount and charged 55 thousand for the complete project. This does not include building inspections (only round stamps for revisions). He claims he also likes children, so I guess we are lucky. I agreed to give him a deposit of 50% (again from my own pocket) and I insisted he finish the whole project in 10 days (I am returning home then). He shook his head, but said it could be done. We shall see.
Now to the children’s home in Nanyuki. We brought a lot of sweets, lollipops and 20 children’s films on DVDs in English. No food here, as I mentioned, the government has started to care about this place and the kids don’t go hungry any more. There are two new residents here, little sisters Brenda and Grace. One of them got here 14 days ago terribly beaten, face bloodied and burned by the blade of a knife that had been heated over a fire. That really got to me and I will try to get the girls in our adoption program. Later we play some games, sing a few songs, take pictures together, pass the sweets around and all of a sudden evening is upon us.
A journalist from Daily News Kenya is visiting our resort and he wants to talk to me. He promises he will do everything to give our organization maximum exposure with the most important local companies (Telefonica Safari, Barclay’s bank and others) that have resources to help us. Hellen is going to take care of that in the future and she will try to get some donations and sponsors for the construction of our orphanage and eventually for its upkeep. The journalist and I talk about the Czech Republic and our plans here in Kenya. How did I get involved, and so on. He tells me about that slaughtered village near Doldol. All the newspapers in Kenya are now writing about this incident. About 10 little girls that survived the carnage and then escaped are mentioned together with some other girls who escaped from marriages they were forced into. Supposedly they ran for 200 km, some of them barefoot, without provisions and water. They made it through the territory of elephants, lions and other wild animals towards Nanyuki. Just before they reached the town, one of the local humanitarian organizations placed half of them into a children’s home in Nanyuki. The second half of the group is being cared for by an Italian organization that runs an orphanage at the outskirts of Nanyuki. Unfortunately both facilities are full and the girls won’t be able to stay there more than three to four days. Such a touching story. We should do something about this. We have already, together with our social worker, come up with something but let’s get to that bit later..
PS – The LG service center still hasn’t called…

16.1. Nanyuki and the Slum in Likii

Today we started with a visit to those 23 adopted children, we bring food and gifts. Because we arranged these visits for the weekend we were sure the children are not in school and all of them will be present. Today we managed to visit 16 adopted children. We have information about how they live, photos and videos where the children are holding photos and gifts in their hands. The caretakers and parents received food donations and they wrote down everything that each particular child might need. It is all pretty much the same – school or preschool fees, uniforms, school bags, books, pencil and pads, food and rent money, sometimes even a bed so the child doesn’t have to sleep in one bed with three or four of his siblings. Those who are unfortunate enough to contract HIV will need specific medication in addition to all the other stuff.
Shortly after the visit to a nine-year-old child, I was in for a shock again. There was always a bunch of kids around our car asking for sweets and gifts, and I gladly obliged. Than I noticed a little girl, about five-years–old, with a backpack holding her four-year-old sister by the hand, with the other stretched towards me. Cyrus asked her in Kiswahili what had happened and she answered that her mother had died and they had no relatives. For the last three days they hadn’t eaten and had been living on the streets. I immediately took them to the local “slum restaurant” and purchased food for them – two kinds of mash, which is bread and milk for toddlers. Seeing how they gulped everything down just showed me they were not lying. The girls were in tears when they sat at the table, but as they ate, smiles were beginning to appear on their faces. I felt so much for them that I prepaid their food for four days at this restaurant and issued a stern warning to the service should they get any funny ideas.
We return to our resort dead tired and go to sleep early. The next day there will be three children in the Likii slum that we must visit and fifteen families with children that are really struggling. I don’t sleep too well, worried about what we are going to do regarding those three kids keeps me awake. I finally come up with a solution but it will have to wait for tomorrow. Good night…

17.1. Nanyuki and the Slum in Likii

In the morning we take off in the direction of the Slum in Likii and go to visit the three adopted children. Again we distribute gifts and obtain information and records. One thing doesn’t add up, though. Some of our adopted children are HIV positive since their birth because of their mother’s blood. Now we are asking about the children’s health and we learn that a new test is negative. That is nonsense! Our OMDC doctor told me that there are isolated cases where a child that is positive at birth can get negative result after six months which does not necessarily means that he is out of the woods. But these kids are five or six years old and there is just no way they all of a sudden become negative! We have to make new and better tests. That will be upon Hellen and our doctor because I will not be around by that time.
Hellen pulled out a list of other kids. Again, sad stories prevail. These include children without parents or who have an HIV positive mother only, or they contacted AIDS at birth, and many other unfortunate cases. They don’t go to school, don’t have enough to eat and eventually they join the glue-sniffing derelicts on the street. We took photos of some of these kids and gave them bags with food. When I return home I will prepare their material so you can adopt them. There is one remaining big bag in the car, it is full of stuffed toys from Chvaletická school. Big smiles all around when we distribute them among the children. Too bad Patrick messed up and did not set up the manual controls on our camera correctly, nearly all of the photos are useless. Hopefully the video will be better.
So, since early morning I have been thinking about those three children and how to solve their precarious situation. First of all we have to find them. When we finally do, they are happy to see me and immediately jump into our car. I ask them where they live and they take me to their pitiful dwelling. It is built of clay, has two broken beds, and the one without any mattress was theirs. No blankets, they keep worm at night by huddling next to each other. You may ask whether it is cold in Kenya? Laikipie province, better yet area around the Mount Kenya, is 2,200 meters above sea level. At night at our resort I use two blankets and still shiver with cold. To take a shower in the morning is quite a challenge. During the day the temperature reaches 30 degrees, but nights are really darned cold here. The temperature at the moment is somewhere between 8 and 12 degrees. A kitchen? Well, the place for the fire and the cooking pot is near one of the beds and some kind of bench with three legs. And that is all. Either way, this is their home. I found the owner of this dump, and asked her how are they doing as far as rent payments. They owe for the last six months. Again I used my own resources, settled the debt and paid for the next six months until I arrive again. I left two bags of food (60 kg) and kindly asked their neighbor, if she could use them to cook for the children. I can’t prevent her from keeping some of the food, but I strongly emphasized that this food is only for the children. Then we distributed lots of sweets again and also some clothes that I brought from the Czech Republic, including one set of baby clothes.
Good work. We are leaving Likii slum with smiles on our faces, going to our resort, and I, for one, am really glad it turned out this way.

18.1. Journey to Doldol

It is morning again and we leave for Doldol. This is the most important part of the whole trip, this is why we are here. First we visit this so-called, municipal office to get the piece of land to build our children’s home, and then we want to see the three Masai girls, our latest adoptions. After conquering a road without pavement where you would not have a chance without a 4×4 with increased ground clearance, we head for the mayor’s office in Doldol. Luck would have it that the mayor has changed in the last six month and the new one is absolutely unaware of our case. This is Kenya and unless you have some iron-clad paper, nothing is granted. A new valuable experience, though. Anyway, we proposed our plan to him, told him about our organization and he was very excited. No obstacles from his side, but we have to register our organization in the provincial office of Laikipia Nord. Our OMDC is registered with Laikipia East. So, if we want to function here, a second registration is needed.
We also learn that Doldol has 2 DC (municipal offices). Again they are split according the cardinal directions. So we get the mayor of the west to join us and visit the mayor of the east 🙂 There we again explain our organization, what are we doing, what our aim is and what exactly we want to build here. I have no idea how important this guy is, we get on really well, on a first name basis, we joke a lot, I tell him about the Czech Republic, the company I have and that from our profit I want to build this orphanage, and so forth. Later we talk about Masai history, about his love of children and how he agrees with the aim of our organization and has no problem with a donation of land. He also shows me his new building that is currently being finished. Called Nasary School it is an elementary institution for kids from preschool to the 6th grade. He will also erect three additional buildings separated by gender, with a dining room and kitchen included. During the week children can sleep here. I was beginning to worry that somebody had beaten me to my plan. But fear not, his project is strictly business; children have to pay for school and the room and board. Laikipe Nord badly needs a project like mine! So after the coming discussion at the city council, it should be no problem to get our piece of land after we register, of course. Hellen has her work cut out for here while I am gone.
Either way, we are leaving the city to see our three adopted children and we have smiles on our faces. Cyrus and Patrick are really excited that the mayor is traveling with us and keeps telling me how great it is that we had run into this gentleman. I am sort of unimpressed, mayor here mayor there. Guys keep taking photos with this man so it finally dawns on me that this is not just any mayor and I ask them who this guy was. It is supposedly one of the most influential people in Kenya and he happens to be the spokesperson for Kenya’s President. He apparently is number three in Kenya’s government and actually is higher than the ministers. His face is in the papers and on TV all the time. Well, my jaw dropped. Absolutely great that we can introduce our OMDC to Kenya’s government in this wonderful way! I will remember this experience for a long time. Either way, at least I know why they had to build additional anmunicipal office for the eastern region 🙂

We arrive at the school on the outskirts of Doldol and this is where our 3 adopted Masai girls are. Change again! The head teacher of the school is a new one. The woman that we gave the school fee money for the two girls last August is no longer here. The current head teacher is unaware of our organization and only one of the girls (Soina Lekianit) still goes to the school. The other two (Nais Lowari a Nolari Moiyale) got expelled because they had no text books. What had happened to those books we found out bit later. I inform the head teacher we will pay the school fee for Soina, Nais and Nolari and that they must be admitted back tomorrow. We give presents to Soina and go to look for Nais. By the way, Soina has grown beautiful dark hair, straight without curls which is highly unusual here. She looks very nice.

To find Nais we have to get some help from a local teacher. We travel about 20 km through the wilderness, among elephants and lions, over terrain that is challenging even for our sturdy 4×4. A small fortress made of thorny cactus plants comes into our view. That’s what I call an effective fence! The thorns are 6 cm long and they penetrate even my Solomon shoes. Three of them are in my leg before I find the entrance. I whimper about the pain and complain about those fine, sharp points staying under my skin. The teacher tells me that sometimes when kids step on cactus barefooted up to 20 thorns need to be pulled from their tiny feet. The child usually cries a little and then goes out to play. Spoiled Europeans cry and seek medical help concerned about poison. So I grind my teeth and get going. By the way, Masai never go to a doctor. No matter what. Not even at childbirth, and that’s why their exact birthday is complicated to find. They know roughly how old they are, but that’s about it. I have to laugh when Nais tells me she was born on Friday but she does not know exactly what year. We come to the house itself. It is made of animal dung, wood and grass. Nais is sitting outside and holds a month-old infant in her arms. I was here in the summer and she was at school, so what happened? I ask her mother and she tells me that that spring she had been sold to marry a Masai for two cows; they simply had had no food… Oh boy… Those Masai! We gave Nais presents and food and told her she should return to school. Nais is gifted and speaks three languages fluently. We arranged with her mother that she would take care of the child while Nais goes back to school. We did a good job here and are very pleased. Returning to my car some local kids are showing me the way so I avoid those awful thorns. Then we are on the way to visit the third of the girls who also left school. Again, she receives gifts and food and she promises the teacher she will gladly join class in Doldol. It’s getting dark, and we are leaving, accompanied by the sounds of Nanyuki wilderness.

Weeks of Jiří Pergl

Jiří Pergl, Enterpreneur, Czech Republic

Within the scope of his One More Day For Children organization, Jiří Pergl has traveled to Kenya for his second time and through the means of his report, you have the perfect opportunity to observe how successful he is in helping local children infected with AIDS.

Few people understand why it is so important to help children in Kenya. Why not Somalia, Chad, Kongo, Zaire, or Ethiopia? I will give you a simple answer. In 2007 extensive fighting between the tribal groups of Kikuyu and Luo took place because of the presidential election. Many people died. There was practically no TV coverage of this here in Czech Republic, only a brief piece with an inaccurate data. CNN talked about 50 thousand people who were killed during the unrest. Locals claim that the number is many times higher. As a result, a lot of children became orphans, unless of course, they were killed. Nobody is able to say how many people lost their livelihood during this period. Thousands of cases are undocumented. Murdered families in villages, burned down houses and churches, raped women and so forth abound. Locals claim that there are more than 200 thousand dead as of 2010, and they are still counting. Let us return to current state of affairs which is not all that different from 2007. September 2009 – in the region of Doldol where most of my activities take place. No TV has ever broadcasted what happened there. Only the locals know, and nobody has any desire to deal with it. People from one village set out to massacre a neighboring settlement. Over 100 brutally murdered only because no rain had come for fifteen years, and they had no food. The killers murdered their neighbors with automatic weapons so they could take their livestock and feed their own children. Were remaining children from slaughtered village (mainly girls between the ages of four to twelve) immediately forcibly married to wealthy men from a nearby settlement, circumcised, and sexually abused? OF COURSE! Damn…! This is terrible…. But this is not all! They were sold by survivors from their own village to get back their cows and sheep. So a four-year-old girl was married to 30-year-old man in return for 10 cows!!! What about little boys that survived? They ran for the bush, to the jungle where animals roam. Trying to survive among lions and monkeys in the wilderness. Many of them were devoured by lion packs, some were found half-eaten by monkeys. Oh yes, with faces nibbled off by baboons… I want to help the remaining children, all of them. By the way, one of the girls in our adoption program, Soina Leiknait, is a survivor from the village. I am not telling you all this to scare you off of a possible visit to Kenya, however there are a number of people who are telling me, “I have been to Kenya and it’s all right there.” They forgot to add that it was with a travel agency in some national park accompanied by a guide. And when they went alone, they would go to areas where wild animals live in peace and everything is fine. I understand that going to those God-forgotten places like Doldol (and further North towards Somalia) is rather uninteresting for them but… We are talking about something entirely different here. To make a long story short, after six months I returned to Kenya to help the sick, abused, hungry, and abandoned children. There is already a specific project in place. Our plan is to register, with the local authorities, 23 children that are included in our program of adoption, establish a bank account with Standard Chartered bank, set up a furnished office in Nanyuki, and fill out all the forms pertaining to the children. I am also going to pay a visit to an architect to get the full drawings needed for the erection of a brand new children’s home, including a school for 60 kids. Furthermore, I am going to visit those 23 kids and give them presents from their adoptive parents in the Czech Republic and gather some information regarding the use of our new account needed for future payments for school expenses, electricity, and rent. I will also deliver food supplies from the nearest large cities of Karatina and Nanyuki. Not to forget a children’s home in Nanyuki where sweets and DVD films are eagerly expected. Why not more stuff? Because they no longer need so much. We managed to spur the local government into action and they are supplying them with more money to purchase food and other life necessities. Out activities at this place are gradually decreasing but we have already adopted 3 kids there and plan further to adopt 3 more. From the money collected we also want to purchase food for another 15 struggling families with children. A visit to those 12 children from our last reportage is coming up as well, they survive without parents in a single derelict shack. Then we made a stop at the office of Doldol mayor and placed an official request for a donation of a piece of land that will be used to build our children’s home. A visit to the local people of influence who can lend a hand is a must, and we must not forget to contact Kenya’s newspaper.

12.1 Arriving in Nairobi

This is about the events that awaited me on my trip. My report documents how it all actually went.

The trip to Kenya is quite difficult unless you are willing to pay an exorbitant price and fly directly from Prague. A visit to a couple of German providers, however, will score tickets for some €500. The departure is from Munich with the flight being via Istanbul with seven hours of waiting between flights.

The scheduled arrival of this flight to Nairobi is always in the early morning hours (2AM). Waiting for me were Partick and Cyrus, our old friends from the previous reportage, who are assisting me here with the foundation. After a short nap comes the visit to Dr. Martin, who helps pregnant women who are HIV positive. We brought various medications from the Czech Republic, medication that people who contribute to our fund donated. Martin was astonished but regrettably his mother died the very same day so his pleasure was lessened to say the least. He informed me of a shocking fact – the number of HIV-positive mothers has been increasing at a rate of 50 a month, an increase of 300, from 1537 to 1837… Horrible. He also told me that 50% of young people in Nairobi are HIV-positive, an unbelievable number.

In the evening we had a meeting with Hellen and our lawyer, Elizabeth Njorge. It happened at the restaurant of my favorite hotel—Central Park. We had to discuss our program and set up meetings for the next day. After that, just sleep, so badly needed…

13.1. Nairobi

A visit to the LG service center awaits me the first thing in the morning. Why? A TV set we bought for the children in Nanyuki had broken down after only two months. Warranty? Here? Don’t be silly! They will not replace the set. Cyrus took the TV to a service center in Nairobi. That was at the beginning of October. The part needed should have come from Dubai. Now it is January and our TV is still idling in the service center. So I got upset again and had to be insistent. They will call Friday the 15th, so they told me. The TV should be repaired by then so we shall see. Off we go to setting up our administration, buying various folders, office supplies and then getting behind the desk and starting work. Our lawyer familiarized me with the regulations I need to know to get the process of adoption going and everything else necessary to making the Kenyan government happy and ensuring no problems come our way. Dead-tired we finish at 8 o’clock and go to sleep. In the morning we head for Nanyuki province where our organization operates.

14.1. Leaving for Nanyuki

It’s 8 in the morning and we are heading for Nanyuki. There is an important ahead stop in the town of Karatina. The biggest food market happens to be there, one claimed to be the cheapest. We needed to buy food for twenty-three adopted kids with money collected from OMDC to purchase food for fifteen families from the slums of Mount Kenya province.

I have no idea how we did it but we fitted the 1,140 kg of food and all the suitcases into our rented Toyota Prado. The one of the things that differentiates us from big foundations is that I use the money people donated only directly on the children themselves. I don’t use it to cover all the costs like flight tickets, car rental, gas, hired help and their food, my food. When it comes to adopted children, the situation is such that the government keeps 20% of the monthly payment (money you send them monthly); it is used for taxes and other expenses. Expenses mean everyday, ordinary care for the children – buying food, doctor’s visits, accommodation, necessary transportation, bringing needed school supplies (school bags, other supplies, and even beds for some). There is a cost to all of this of course.

After loading the food, we leave for Nanyuki. I plan to stop at Patrick’s village. Why? I want to visit the family of that 18-year-old boy from our first Kenya video who hanged himself (if you haven’t see the first film and so far have nothing to do with our foundation, you can visit my page www.expedice-world.cz where I visit various God forsaken corners of this planet. It is about nature and people, with beautiful scenery from Kenya all accompanied by wonderful music). The unfortunate boy committed suicide and the story leading to it is hard to believe. Upon our first visit to the village we set up an innocent competition among the local youth – whoever first brings a big banana spider, to be captured on film, wins 500 Kenyan Shillings – around 10 USD. This region is so poor that this money amounts to a small life-start. One of the local boys brought us a banana spider, we shot our video, payed the winner, and left for Nairobi. A little later we learned that the other boy also caught a spider but was too late to bring him to us. He was so devastated that he resolved to take his own life. Needles to say we were really sorry and we decided to visit his family on our next visit and today we will.

The road, if you want to call this a road, leads towards Mount Kenya. 5 km from the main road Patrick asks us to stop. Here it is. A small corral occupied by 1 cow and 2 goats, a tiny wooden deteriorated house sits in the middle. An older gentleman steps out of this dwelling and greets us kindly. This is the father of the unfortunate boy. We chatted for a while and I told him how sorry I was and gave him 1000 Shillings. Tears started pouring out of his eyes and he hugged me with words “God Bless” and “assante santa.” Than two brothers of the boy came and shook my hand. They explained that Joseph was an introverted person, difficult to understand, and I should not blame myself for his unfortunate suicide. After saying goodbye we leave for the town of Nanyuki to get to our original task. Our first visit is to Hellen’s office that she had in the meantime rented out to our OMDC. 6,000 Shillings (1500 Czech Crowns) a month – not bad, but the office needs to be furnished. We buy a printer, cartridges, office supplies and furniture (chairs, cabinets, folders, staplers, accounting books, notepads and lots of other stuff). I also brought a Notebook PC with the English version of Windows XP from the Czech Republic.

And then a short trip to a small cottage resort where we settle and where we spend the following nights. Hellen knows the owner, so we get one night for 500 Shillings. Do not get the idea that everything is cheap here. I haven’t mention what most things cost here yet. This resort charges 4,500 Shillings for a single bedroom (1,216 Czech Crowns) and this is by no means a standard hotel. It includes a bed, a shower that spews either boiling or freezing water along with precarious wiring for 220V electricity. In Europe this would be very substandard for the money. A three-star hotel in Nairobi (1-2 stars compared to European standards) costs from 900 to 1,900 Czech Crowns. Don’t even think about what the Hilton costs! Just to give you an idea about local prices: 1 beer – 60 Czech Crowns, 1 liter of petrol 28 Crowns, Fanta 3dcl – 14 Crowns, spaghetti bolognese – 82 Crowns, the charge for the use of an ATM – 240 Crowns (with a withdrawal limit translating to 10,000 Crowns) renting a vehicle – 1,200 Crowns a day for a small one, while a larger car with the large trunk we need to conquer local slums will take you back some 4,400 Crowns. If you are thinking about buying a car, let me warn you, cars here are three times more expensive than in Europe. A sixteen-year-old Toyota Land Cruiser that at home you could buy for around 150,000 Crowns will cost at least half a million here. Should you decide to travel by bus, say to Matatu, 200 km away, it will come to 500 Crowns and there is around a twenty percent likelihood you will not survive the ride. This was just a short sample of what is it going to cost you, should you decide to come along.

Now comes the physically demanding part, distributing 1,140 kgs of food and carefully sorting it into 38 plastic bags.

Weeks of Jiří Pergl

Tomas Loewy, Photographer, Florida

Life in Miami is characterized by beaches, sun, entertainment, fashion and nightlife… the life of Tomas Loewy shares these attributes. Unfortunately, the island of Haiti suffered an earthquake last week and thousands of people needed help. As Tomas says, Haiti is in many respects closely related to Miami, so when he and his friends were given an opportunity to fly to devastated capital Porte-au-Prince, he didn’t hesitate. His camera lens captured the atmosphere of the destroyed city and the suffering of its inhabitants, as well as the work of the paramedics and volunteers who were doing their best to help. You have a great opportunity to read his reportage, words about a journey which was definitely engraved into Tomas‘ memory forever.

Living in Miami Haiti is very close. Geographically and personally. Many of us have personal Haitian friends, one of the most beautiful and charming models I work with is Haitian; one of the greatest news photographers for the Miami Herald is Haitian, an underground DJ friend, a nightclub promoter, etc. And that is just in my personal world without even thinking twice who is Haitian and who is not… Plus all those Haitians we don’t know but hear when they chat in Creole while scanning items at the supermarket. No corporate American rule is ever able to completely stop the joy of life, the smiles our Haitian friends and co-workers show, even when life often is not as rosy as they make it seem. There is a big part of Miami which is called Little Haiti, molded on the tight knit Cuban community known as Little Havana.

Which is why it felt like part of our own Miamian world had come crashing down when the earth shook on January 12 destroying all we saw destroyed on TV. A couple of my personal group of friends took the initiative. The earthquake was on a Tuesday. Wednesday evening Dirk had organized a big truck from a friend who „just had one available“, found a place to park it in a convenient location in Miami Beach’s South Beach and put a status update on Facebook. Something like: „Have truck for Haiti relief. a) bring donations. b) come help sort & load“. The first truck was filled in 5 hours. This is a group of professionals where everyone knows someone. So the next step (I don’t know myself whose contact this is) was that there was a recipient for all our donations, Project Medishare.

A project started some 20 years ago by Dr. Barth Green from the University of Miami’s Medical School and Hospital. Project Medishare was one of the first organizations on the ground because… it already was helping in Haiti for many years. They could use help and supplies (food, water, donations). Add to this the contact to a private business jet charter company, Turnberry Aviation at a beautiful executive airport in North Miami, and suddenly you have transportation of goods (and then people) to Port Au Prince, when almost nobody could fly in those first days after the quake.

Our „1st & Alton“ group (called after the street names where the truck was parked) filled ten trucks in five days, had them flown to Haiti and then some of the most compassionate people signed up as volunteers to help set up medical relief and start building a big new field hospital, set up on vacant land in the northwest corner of Port-au-Prince’s international airport.

So from one day to another, from accepting donations (and you should have been on that corner of 1st & Alton to see the outpouring of practical help and donations from humble on one side to the young businessman who pulled up impeccably dressed in his brand new Jaguar and emptied his trunk with lots of just-bought food) there was a group going to help with that hospital in Haiti.

From one day (Monday) to another, from photographing the premiere of a big Cirque du Soleil derivative show on Tuesday with 50 beautiful horses (amazing! Cavalia!) and preparing a fashion show I was hosting and co-designing Saturday night I had the chance not only to help load the planes at the private airport on Wednesday (that day in the evening photographing (my own) mini fashion showing for a fashion industry networker), but to fly out on Thursday on 60 minute notice.

The idea was to help the doctors set up a system and photographing patients and their wounds, etc. The new hospital being built in front of our eyes and with the help of my friends from „1st & Alton“ houses a medical staff of over 100, including two operating rooms. The hospital is formed out of four tents that retired Miami Heat basketball star Alonzo Mourning arranged to have donated by a party-planning company. Project Medishare assists over 300 patients right away, and patients kept pouring in, brought in on flatbed trucks, taxis, carried by their relatives directly out of the rubble of their collapsed houses.

With Mauricio, an Israeli-American surgeon who works at the University of Miami’s Hospital and has great experience in planning emergency medical relief situations (and whom I met because he had a bag of bagels and cream cheese and shared with me), his 21 year old son Barak (a law student in Miami) and an ambulance (if you can call a delivery truck used as such an ambulance) we transported a patient who had had a miscarriage and was in very bad shape to the Israeli field hospital on the other side of Port Au Prince. The Israelis are better prepared for immediate emergencies and catastrophes. As the chief surgeon there told us they were in the air just four hours after the earthquake happened, set up in six hours after landing, everything being prepared and ready to go, and had been operating just 24 hours after the earthquake happened – coming from Tel Aviv!

Amazing how perfect the Israelis were set up. The patient is photographed lying on the stretcher with a tablet device (as you see), data is then immediately available wirelessly in all computers set up all over the field hospital. There is a tent labeled “Imaging”, there are incubators with tiny prematurely born babies, etc, etc. Little can trump preparedness, training for emergencies and professionalism. The – relative – calm there was amazing, even – or especially – in a catastrophic situation efficiency and calm make a hospital function better.

We drove back through the devastated downtown of Port-Au-Prince to get patients next to the also crumbled cathedral. The images you see from photographers and video crews dedicated only to capturing that are better than mine, so I just tried to capture the general atmosphere. People wandering around in the heat (it is over 90F/33C during the day in the merciless sun), searching for food and water; hands sticking out of collapsed buildings; but also traffic jams full of agile motorcycles and overloaded colorful mini-buses.

Back at the Project Medishare over one hundred doctors and nurses, highly trained professionals, are giving their time, compassion, effort to do what they can. They took vacation time to rush to Haiti right away, working 16 hour shifts, then sleeping of exhaustion on a cot in a 200 person tent. It was amazing to meet some of my own personal doctor friends there, with a smile of doing whatever they can on their face. One of the tents is for children. On one hand the cries of wounded, suffering kids was heartbreaking, on the other hand those kids outside in the sun immediately found makeshift toys to play with. Children’s beautiful smiles combined with other kid’s cries. Not easy to say the least, but life is about the next day.

It was not planned that way but I came back Saturday night at 11 in the evening (Haiti is less than 2 hours flying time from Miami). It just happened that someone came into that big sleeping tent for 200 doctors, nurses and helpers at 7:30 saying that a big plane might leave „right now“. Not that that was a reliable information, nobody really knew, I had slept on the tarmac of the airport the night before after not being allowed on a flight because of absurd bureaucratic procedures; trying to sleep a bit, just literally 20 meters from the infernal noise of US Army’s C-130 and Hercules planes landing and taking off all night).

Somehow a group of 20 people got to the airport (the Project Medishare hospital is one mile from the runway on airport grounds) and there it was. A Boeing 737 with friendly guys taking names and passport numbers. Nothing is sure until you are in the air, the previous night I had been on a plane already before being kicked out, others had to throw a coin to determine who would have to stay behind, etc. But this „Vision Air“ 737 (yes, there is such a – charter – airline, they normally fly from Miami to … Havana, Cuba!) took off. My seat neighbor, a Peruvian-American doctor happily planning not to call her husband and surprise him by just getting home researched of who had paid for the plane to fly. (Although we all forget, someone has to put up the funds…). Guess who? This 737 was chartered (and paid for) by … the Church of Scientology (as a critic of their ways I have to admit that there were amazing Scientology „Volunteer Ministers“ helpers on the ground). They were flying out orphans to Miami. So, thank you, Tom Cruise.

Landing in Miami at 11 that evening I realized I could do one more crazy thing, which I was never planning to do: attend my own (the models have paper/postcard based dresses with my art/canvases as part of the dresses) fashion show at a big trendy luxury night club in a posh hotel. Obviously that had been planned many weeks ahead. It was not relevant to me to miss it obviously, but being back in Miami two hours before the show was to start I decided to surprise my fashion partner Julia and just show up… The fashion show was at 1 in the morning, technically on Sunday, so that’s where this crazy week ends.

So I went dirty, unshaven, smelly into this high level nightclub at the Gansevoort South hotel. Trust me I was surprised myself that the doormen even let me in, although technically and on the invitations to the show I was not only part of it. Officially I was the host of this show…

Yes, life is rather cruel and has many facettes. You do what you can and let it affect you in your spare time.

If interested see the full set of photos on my photo site www.coolpoolevents.com or see video at www.youtube.com/coolpoolmedia.

Weeks of Tomas Loewy

Jiří Pergl, Enterpreneur, Czech republic

Report from Kenya 3.8. – 9.8.2009 – part I

5.8. The way to slums and Maasai village Doldo

The number of children living in the Children’s Home is 78; that’s the limit the government has decreed shall not be exceeded. Nevertheless, a larger number of children (specifically, 142) who come to the Home everyday, because the school is part of it. These children have lunch in the Home and that’s their only food they have the entire day as they will get nothing during the day in their homes. They are grateful for this single serving of food daily. On the basis of this fact, Jarda and Hellen and I made the decision that we would do something special for these specific children. Unfortunately, it was not possible to help all of them, because to visit 142 families would mean staying longer than we could. Hellen helped us to choose the ten saddest cases, and then we went to buy some basic food for them. Children from these families had already gone through such hell in their 8 years of life that we cannot barely understand it (they are affected by AIDS, their parents have already died, they sniff glue to calm down, they endure starvation, and it’s not even worth discussing water purity and hygiene).

In illustration, I point out our first stop at a little girl named Sarafin’ place. She lives in the slum with her great-grandmother and foster parents. Her parents died of AIDS and unfortunately, Sarafin has AIDS as well. She has to take medication and mainly eat, because the medication is very aggressive, and she has huge stomach-aches. The fact that she doesn’t eat for several days or that she discontinues her medication because her great-grandmother or foster parents can’t pay for it damaged her health so much that her time here on earth is rapidly declining.

Other cases are almost the same. So we settled on journey to help the rest of the families. In Nanyuki, there are 6 slums and the number of people living there is approximately 350,000. During our second stop, we visited 6 children living in their grandmother’s home as well, due to the death of their parents. Half of them are suffering from AIDS.

The third case was the worst with regard to psychology. We met with 12 children from 2 to 13 years of age. The thing was that we couldn’t find them. In the place where they were supposed to live there were just locked doors and nobody around. They had lived with one old African woman who threw them out onto the street because they hadn’t paid the rent for three month. We tried to find them to help put everything in order. As there were no OMDC financial resources remaining, I paid the debt plus rent for the next 4 months by myself and warned the woman that if she did it one more time she would meet with furious mudzunga (which means white men).

The next visits were in the same spirit as the earlier visit Joy, hugs, thanks (asante sana in Swahili), and a lot of happiness. We took the last five big bags of food and went to Somalia, which is 180 km away from Nanyuki. In Dodol, there was a big surprise awaiting us. The first stop was not as was usually the case at a children’s home, but directly at the office of local civil authorities. The city’s mayor’s personal invitation really surprised me. He had learned from Hellen about my organization, OMCD, and about our help to the Children’s Home in Nanyuki. He acquainted us with the problems of the province where 90% of inhabitants are Masai. Local girls are married at the age of seven, and they must fulfil all the marital duties. In addition, all these girls undergo female genital mutilation. This practice is still present, and not only in this area. The city’s mayor announced to us that for this reason he would give us an area of 1000 acres for OMDC to operate and help these desperate girls. He gave us a specific time frame to establish the background and schools for girls with security to prevent husbands from coming into the building.

That day, we were accommodated in an Old House, just beyond Nanyuki. Hellen surprised us once more when she invited journalists to share dinner with us. One man was from Daily Nation Kenya, which has the largest daily circulation in Kenya, and two other men came from different Kenyan radio stations. We talked about our organization, about helping children in this area, and all three were enthusiastic. They promised to publish an article in the journal and to make reference to our organization.

6.8 Departure from Nanyuki to Nairobi with the stop in another slum

In the morning, we discovered in a suitcase one blown-out plastic bag the stuffed toys that a school called Chvaletická from Czech Republic had donated to us. It occurred to us that we could go to the next slum and hand out the stuffed toys from the car. Although the joy in the Children’s Home in Nanyuki was amazing, the joy of children living in poor slums without the chance to get into the Children´s Home was incredible. It was fascinating and wonderful.

In Jaroslav’s and my opinion, this journey leading back to children from Nanyuki succeeded. We cared for two-hundred and twenty children who will have enough food for the next four to five months; they can watch fairytales for the first time in their life, and, finally, they know the feeling of having something in their own possession—like stuffed toys.

7.8. – 8.8. Departure from Nairobi to Masai Mara National Reserve

The second part of our trip to Kenya wasn’t related to the OMDC program. Jarda was in Kenya for the first time so, possibly like most others, he wanted to visit a national park to encounter African nature and its wildlife. The most famous park in Kenya is Masai Mara National Reserve. It’s situated in south-western Kenya and borders Tanzania. It’s such a large reserve that it’s not possible to pass through it in one day. Mara River, which divides it, is known for its annual migration of thousands of animals coming from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The Nile crocodile, which is the largest crocodilian in Africa measuring 8 meters, lives in this river. The migrating animals, such as zebras, wildebeests, etc., have to cross the river, and very often, it’s not easy. Either they drown or are eaten by the crocodiles. August is the best month to see this nature show. Another amazing adventure is the view of the large number of lions, which you can come close to and look them face to face, or just watch them eating their food. Apart from lions, there are also other interesting animals—leopards, elephants, giraffes, waterbucks, hyenas, hippos, and various kinds of snakes including black mambas and cobras.

The entrance to this national reserve costs 60 USD for mudzunga and 40 USD for a car. It’s better to set up sleeping arrangements in advance in Nairobi at any Kenyan agency. If not, you might have to drive 400 km to Masai Mara and there discover there is no vacancy. In nearly all cases accommodation is provided in tents where there are 2 beds, a shower and toilets. The prices can be different—from 40 USD per person without food to 250 USD per person all inclusive. You can meet all kinds of people–including rich Germans, French, Italian, Japanese, Americans, etc. We paid for the cheapest one and went two days without taking a shower. We also enjoyed dirty water from the tap, a toilet that was out of order, and over-roasted food.

9.8. Masai Mara and leaving to Nairobi

The price of entry to the Masai Mara National Reserve is for a one and a half day visit. If you are able to wake up at 6 a.m., you have a unique chance to watch lions during hunt. Their attacks on wildebeests and zebras are an everyday spectacle. But you have to be lucky as we were because we found a huge pack of lions that hunted down two animals. Even our guide told us that he had never seen such a spectacle although he has been going to the reserve for more than 5 years.

After watching the animals we leave Masai Mara and go to Nairobi. It’s almost impossible to drive on this road by ordinary car. You drive 80 km on the dusty roads that are full of pot-holes where even a big Jeep has problems. Near the city Narok, we finally were able to continue on an asphalt road which was in construction and should be finished by the end of 2009 which is almost a miracle in Kenya. When we arrived in Nairobi, we went to our favourite hotel, Central Park Hotel, and after being two days without clean water we finally had a shower, food, and clean bed …

Our Kenya adventure lasted until August 12, 2009. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to help children from the children’s home in Nanyuki through our organization One More Day For Children and at the same time show a little piece of this magical country to my friend, Jaroslav Tarczal.

Jiří Pergl

Weeks of Jiří Pergl

Jiří Pergl, Enterpreneur, Czech republic

Jiří Pergl is an amateur traveler, a person best described as an adventurer! For me he’s also a person full of contrasts and some to this day uncomprehended acts. Fortunately, these acts are positive, praiseworthy and even moving sometimes. This relates to his activities towards African children in Kenya, whose fates stand on the edge of society’s interest. We bring you his first story today. We decided not to edit it and leave it in its original version. Perhaps to make it possible for you to gain an understanding of his person through his words. This man, who has two beautiful red Ferraris in his garage, at one point in his life realized that there are other things in life than the race circiut, powerful machines and the so-called lifestyle. His earlier interests are so different from his current activities that I include him among people with the most contradicting personalities I’ve ever known. I wish him and his foundation many accomplished goals. Adolf Zika WEEK OF LIFE.

Five months later, I decided to return to Kenya and help children impacted by AIDS with my own financial resources and those collected during the beneficial actions of OMCD. I was not alone. Jaroslav Tarczal, owner of the restaurant U zelených in Beroun joined me and we both started on a journey. He decided to go with me after having seen my documentary film about the children, which I made in February. He was not the only person impressed by my film. After its presentation, many people from the Czech Republic decided to help as well by making donations.

This journey to Kenya had just one objective – to deliver donations from the organization ONE MORE DAY FOR CHILDREN to those who need them the most.

3.8. Nairobi

After our late night arrival, a friend of our Kenyan friends Patrick and Cyrus took us to my favourite hotel, Hotel Central Park, which is in the centre of the poorest part of Nairobi. The hotel offers security, dinner, a bed and a warm shower. That’s all you need in Kenya. The price for one room depends on the season—from 50 to 100 USD per double room per night.

Back in the Czech Republic, we had made a reservation in advance for a car in Kenya. Cyrus and Patrick could help us because in the winter, I had invited them to spend some time in the Czech Republic. I was their host during their three-month stay and introduced them to a completely different life than they had known in Kenya. They flew back home on August 2nd and on the same day, both the new members of the expedition, Jaroslav, and I, settled in on our journey as well.

At 9 am, Sam arrived and helped us arrange all the formalities needed to rent a car. We chose a Toyota Prado 4×4. It cost 216 USD per day, which may seem too expensive, but the investment is worth it. Around the city, there are many police patrols controlling and stopping every car of second-rate quality and trust me, they will always find something bad on the car to get the money from you. Moreover, the roads in Kenya in combination with their typical speed bumps are in such a bad condition that after 100 km spent on the road you have to find the nearest vehicle service to have the torn exhaust pipe changed, in the best case. It’s not really worth it to be scrupulous with a car in order to save money.

After all arrangements were made, we went to see Doctor Martin who was already waiting for us at the hospital. Doctor Martin claims to cure patients affected by HIV and AIDS. The first time I met him in the winter, he told me that he had 537 pregnant women and 137 children in his program to help HIV-positive individuals. At the present time, the numbers have increased to 1,680 pregnant women and 589 children. He gave us the creeps. We gave him a lot of sedatives and medication from the Czech Republic for his patients and also a financial donation to buy food because as he always says – patients taking medication for treating HIV infection must eat, if they don’t, their stomach cannot handle it. Since January, 30% of Doctor Martin’s patients have died of hunger.

Our next trip led us to the airport. Patrick and Cyrus came back at 1 p.m., because they flew on a different airline than we had. The welcome from their families was amazing. About 30 family members waited for each of them. Nevertheless, I had to deal with another thing. In the Czech Republic, we packed toys into Patrick’s and Cyrus’ bags for a Children’s Home in Nanyuki. But the customs officers wanted the boys to pay a duty charge. I didn’t like it of course and I demanded an explanation for why they wanted to seize toys destined to children dying from AIDS. On top of that, these toys were second-hand. I wanted to speak to the chief of the customs’ officers and security guards. After what seemed like a never-ending argument they just let us go. Anyway, they took me aside after the chief left and I had to pay some money. Kenya is well known for its corruption.

I was wondering about what to buy with the donated money from OMDC and after consulting with Mrs. Hellen, we decided to buy a Plasma TV. We had already purchased a DVD player and DVDs with fairytales from the Czech Republic. Children from the children’s home in Nanyuki have never seen any fairytales and had no clue what one was like.

4.8 Trip to Nanyuki

When we woke up and took our breakfast at the hotel, we loaded all the bags and television in the car and went to Nanyuki. The road to Nanyuki can take approximately 4 hours. Here in Kenya, distances are not calculated in kilometers but in hours. Roads are in terrible condition, and so the average speed is not more than 50 km/h. In the middle of the drive we had to do something very important. We had to buy food for children. The huge African food market is set in the city Karatina, mid-way from Nanyuki. We needed to buy flour, sugar, corn, carrots, cabbage, beans, legumes, oil, washing powder, tomatoes, onion, potatoes, etc. Half a tonne in total.

We arranged to have two local boys keep an eye out for the food that we had already bought and left in the middle of the market, and two other boys carried it to the car. Because of the large amount of food, we decided to call a pick-up taxi. Our Toyota was fully loaded and there was no space for the rest.

Before our arrival at the Children’s Home, we had to crush the corn from which mush would be made by adding the other ingredients. So we found a corn crusher in Nanyuki and had it crushed.

Children in Nanyuki had already known about our impending arrival so the welcoming shout was immense. The huge joy that surrounded us was very much like that at the arrival of Barack Obama to Kenya. Everybody here respects him and is proud of the fact that one of their own became a US president.

First off, we unloaded the food from the taxi.

The joy we saw in the children’s eyes was inexpressible. Of course, they were enthusiastic about the food, but the biggest happiness came when we started to carry the suitcases full of toys into one of the common rooms. Even though we had wrapped the big plasma TV in a sleeping bag, we could hear the children’s voice calling, “TV, TV!” and obviously we had to put it out immediately. Mrs. Hellen then told them that we were from the Czech Republic and had brought them some food, presents, candy, and one surprise. The children along with Mrs. Hellen and the member of the staff from the Children’s Home started to sing and dance in the rhythm of traditional African songs. None of us can even imagine such happiness; you had to have been there. I have to confess that I wept with joy.

Report from Kenya 3.8. – 9.8.2009 part II.

Weeks of Jiřího Pergla