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Panel speaks of problems in Africa
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor SCSU instructor and panelist Jessica Hasslen holds Ibrana Omwancha, 1, as Kenya native and mother Lilian Mogendi looks on after the Women on Wednesday program in the Atwood Theater. Mogendi, who also spoke, is seeking asylum in the U.S.
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 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor Omwancha is Mogendi�s fourth child and the only one born in the U.S. Mogendi�s other children are in Kenya.
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As the SCSU's semester draws to an end, many students are frustrated due to procrastination and financial stress.
For thousands of women and children of Uganda and Kenya, just the thought of having a chance to receive an education is more than words can describe.
Mary Steiner Whelan, Lilian Mogendi and Jessica Hasslen told students Wednesday in the Atwood Theater that they are working for those unfortunate women and children through their organization Give Us Wings. Whelan is the director and founder of the non-profit organization, Mogendi is a Kenya native and Hasslen is a mass communications instructor.
When Whelan and Hasslen volunteered to visit these poor communities, they saw a part of the world that they would not have seen or heard of otherwise.
"I knew I'd be doing talks like this before I left," Whelan said. "I struggled for a long time about how to share my experiences. I saw the struggles and strengths of the women I've met. I don't want to turn them, these women's stories, into sob stories."
For the weekly series Women on Wednesday, the discussion focused on "From Powerless to Empowered: Women and Poverty in Kenya and Uganda."
For Mogendi, it is a personal story, as she is seeking political asylum in the United States. She was once a college professor at a teacher's college in Kisi, Kenya. In a recent election she refused to illegally stuff ballot boxes for a government official. She encountered problems and was fired from her job after speaking about the treatment of the people in her country.
"Back home the death threats are continuing," Mogendi said, "because I told about the truth of my country."
Mogendi stayed in the United States and hasn't returned home to her husband and three children. It has been almost 10 months since she's seen them.
Whelan learned about the problems in Africa when she went on a trek there in 1998. She and her daughter took a vacation to figure out their lives.
"We were set out on a grand adventure that might do some good," Whelan said.
Neither Whelan nor her daughter expected what they found. Shortly into the trip it became clear that their American nonprofit organization was corrupt. The money was not going where it needed to go, so they set out on their own. They visited small villages and spoke to the women.
"They spoke of rape and domestic abuse," Whelan said. "I felt the sorrow, shared the tears and the sorrow. They were riddled with diseases they could not treat. We had come to Africa expecting to meet poverty. We met people with the same needs as us but without the resources."
After seeing all of this, Whelan knew she had to find the strength to do something about it.
"I knew I was growing because I was not afraid," she said.
As Whelan walked the beaches in Africa, looking for a way to write a book about what she had seen, a vagabond vendor approached her. Whelan asked the woman to write her a story about the children of Uganda and Kenya. After Whelan gave her paper and a pencil, the woman wrote her story. She wrote something that became very important to Whelan.
"'It's OK to give us shillings, but we need the resources, we need someone to give us wings,'" Whelan said about what the women had written.
Whelan knew then what she needed to do. She decided to collect the stories of the women and bring them back to America to inform others.
When she returned to Uganda and Kenya for the second time, she had created the organization Give Us Wings and was prepared to help.
"They couldn't believe white people actually cared," Whelan said. "We learned many dimensions, especially from the women, about the culture."
After returning from that trip, she distributed information. It eventually connected her with Hasslen who wanted to help.
"Learning means living and listening," Whelan said.
On Wednesday, Whelan told the story of Faith, a teen mother of eight children, who is living in the village of her husband's brother because her husband is dead. Faith, who has a college education, must tend a house in the poorest of conditions. She asked Whelan why she had to live that way. Whelan promised to help her.
In the same part of Uganda, there are plenty of 15-year-old mothers because of rape. There is a belief that if a man has sex with a virgin he will not get AIDS. AIDS and HIV are the number one killers in Uganda and Kenya. They are very widespread and all too common.
Most of the girls are "circumcised," which, for a female, means the removal of part, or all of the labia minora and/or majora and/or clitoris. This is usually done with a dull, blunt, dirty and often infected instrument, be it a shard of glass, a rusty metal scissors or anything that will cut skin. Infections are common, as is bleeding to death.
Meanwhile, mothers are starving to feed their sick children.
"They hope in me, they cry in me, they sing in me," Whelan said. "These women have graced me."
As for Mogendi, she is still struggling. Since coming to America, she has had her fourth child, of which she was pregnant with when she arrived. She does not work, but has the help of American friends, while keeping in touch with her family back home.
As for Hasslen, she had to work hard to save up money once she volunteered to go to Kenya and Uganda.
"The women are incredible," she said.
Hasslen told a story of a woman named "Grandma," who was the matriarch of a small village in Kenya. She is only 68, but her picture tells a story of a woman about 95, weathered, gaunt, old.
Hasslen told of meeting women in a village from all types of religious backgrounds living coherently.
"The women we met have simple requests," Hasslen said.
Hasslen told the story of Phibby, from Tororo, Uganda, who is 28 years and is the Give Us Wings liaison in Uganda.
She was an orphan, filled with hunger and loneliness. Now working for Give Us Wings, she has helped resettle 40 children from the streets, and pays for fees and needs for 33 children to go to school. The street children who once ate trash are now in school.
Phibby is learning to be a tailor, and she has had to use old cement bags because there is no fabric to practice with.
"Every dollar that Give Us Wings collects goes directly to those who need it most in Kenya and Uganda," Hasslen said. "I know it will be put to use, to change their lives. I felt their hopelessness, now I can help. It defines what giving of yourself, your time and money is all about."
"These are the forgotten villages and slums," Whelan said. "Despair picks up and people take flight."
Give Us Wings is going back to Africa again in July.
Nissa Billmyer can be reached at: [email protected]
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