2009.02.24: February 24, 2009: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Third Goal: Art: Crafts: Small Business: The Times Union: Stephen Andersen promotes a group of workers in Kenya who craft bones into necklaces, earrings and bracelets, an age-old tribal practice in the country
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2009.02.24: February 24, 2009: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Third Goal: Art: Crafts: Small Business: The Times Union: Stephen Andersen promotes a group of workers in Kenya who craft bones into necklaces, earrings and bracelets, an age-old tribal practice in the country
Stephen Andersen promotes a group of workers in Kenya who craft bones into necklaces, earrings and bracelets, an age-old tribal practice in the country
In Kibera, where the people called him Zumana, Andersen helped organize small enterprises to help residents support themselves. It was where he met Raphael Otieno. Otieno leaves at night to walk into Nairobi and to the restaurants for the well-to-do to ask for discarded animal bones from dinner plates. Otieno and a group of workers then craft the bones into necklaces, earrings and bracelets, an age-old tribal practice in the country. Andersen and the Albany congregation are now offering the Kibera Bone Jewelry for sale. All proceeds go right back to Kibera. "I just wired Raphael $600 from our sales," Andersen said. "Right now it's going to support a nursery school to help widows and children." Church member Marilyn Paarlberg said sales have gone well. "We're an enthusiastic group of five people, and have frankly been a little stunned at the way this project has soared," Paarlberg said.
Stephen Andersen promotes a group of workers in Kenya who craft bones into necklaces, earrings and bracelets, an age-old tribal practice in the country
Peace Corps vet a link to Kenya
By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
First published in print: Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Caption: Peace Corps volunteer Steve Anderson talks about his trip to Kibera, Kenya, at the First Church in Albany. Photo: Skip Dickstein / Times Union
ALBANY � Stephen Andersen has stared into the face of dire poverty and disease and cannot turn away.
Andersen, who works for IBM in Albany, returned in 2007 from a two-year stint with the Peace Corps in Kibera, Kenya, Africa's second largest slum.
''Imagine a million and a half people crammed into an area about the size of Central Park in New York City with no sewer system or running water," Andersen, 57, said on a recent day in the sanctuary of the First Church on Pearl Street. "I've seen some of the poorest people in the world in conditions that are very repugnant."
But he said he can't wait to go back to the place depicted in the movie "The Constant Gardener."
In Kibera, where the people called him Zumana, Andersen helped organize small enterprises to help residents support themselves. It was where he met Raphael Otieno. Otieno leaves at night to walk into Nairobi and to the restaurants for the well-to-do to ask for discarded animal bones from dinner plates. Otieno and a group of workers then craft the bones into necklaces, earrings and bracelets, an age-old tribal practice in the country.
Andersen and the Albany congregation are now offering the Kibera Bone Jewelry for sale. All proceeds go right back to Kibera.
"I just wired Raphael $600 from our sales," Andersen said. "Right now it's going to support a nursery school to help widows and children."
Church member Marilyn Paarlberg said sales have gone well.
"We're an enthusiastic group of five people, and have frankly been a little stunned at the way this project has soared," Paarlberg said.
Andersen is making arrangements to return to help the people who have made a deep impression on his life.
"The first few weeks there were horrible, and I really didn't think I was going to make it," Andersen said.
He recalled how he had to constantly remind himself why he was there and pointed to a picture he took of two children laughing amid harsh conditions.
"The kids would take a piece of string and tie it to an empty sardine can and run up and down the alleys dragging it, laughing with glee," Andersen said. "You look into those kind and happy faces and you empathize with them and tears come to your eyes. Then you know why you came."
Boning up
For more information about ordering jewelry or providing other support to the Kibera community, contact First Church in Albany at 463-4449 or Andersen at 944-3474.
To see pictures and learn more about the Kibera Bone Jewelry, go to http://sites.google.com/site/kiberabonejewelry/Hom e.
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Headlines: February, 2009; Peace Corps Kenya; Directory of Kenya RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Kenya RPCVs; The Third Goal; Art; Crafts; Small Business
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Story Source: The Times Union
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kenya; Third Goal; Art; Crafts; Small Business
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