Edmund O’Sullivan, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto

In June of 2004, I was bringing my academic career to a close at the University of Toronto where I was a Professor of Education for thirty eight years. During my years at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT), I had the privilege of traveling to many continents on lecture tours and participating in academic conferences. However, my academic career had never taken me to the continent of Africa until a personal invitation from my Kenyan-Canadian colleague at OSIE, Njoki Wane, opened the door to a new journey in my life that I could never have imagined.

Njoki wanted to honour me by having me adopted into her Embu family as an “African Elder.” This wonderful event took place on June 20, 2004 in a ceremony conducted by an Embu Elder.  At this ceremony, I was given the name of Njage. 

A group of us traveled around the countryside of Embu. In the city of Embu we went to visit Saint Stephen’s School which was an orphanage for street kids from the town of Embu. To see up close the very difficult lives that these children endure brings home to you the marked contrast with the way our children live in Canada. Even under these incredibly difficult conditions one is struck by the “resilience” that these children demonstrate as they struggle to survive. In a very short period of time you come to realize the incredible magnetism that people have on you as they walk day to day in their very difficult lives. In short order I was drawn to a deep affection toward the people I was seeing as I traveled through their lives.

Up to this point I saw myself as having the privilege of visiting Africa for a short period of time having an experience of deep appreciation of the people that I encountered. At this point in my life I had no plans to come back to Africa. One event however, which took place over a period of three hours, was to change the eventual course of my life in Africa.  A woman by the name of Florence Nyganah wanted our group to witness the plight of some the orphan families in the five mile radius around the town of Embu.

As it turns out there are over 2000 families at risk in this small area surrounding Embu town. Many of these children were living with an elderly grandparent or community members who had decided to look after them after the death of their parents. Many of these families lived in extremely poor conditions, with insufficient funds for food, clothing and school tuition fees.

We also visited two families. The first was a family of three children and a surviving father. The mother had died about three months earlier. This family lived on a small plot of land no larger than a stamp where there is a very small enclosure hut.  The entire family occupy one room. 

As you can see from the picture below the father of this family has lost his legs up to his knees.  It was not clear from Florence how this man lost his legs. Even with this physical challenge, he is able to plant a garden on the small area where his family have shelter. For the most part he is dependent on his neighbors for help with the raising of his three small children. These children are not able to attend school because they do not have uniforms. Although public education is available to all children, they are only able to access schools if they have a uniform to wear to schools. They also have to have small fees to enter the school system. Because many of the orphan children do not have the basics supplies and clothing, they then fail to make it into the school system.

As we left this man and his family we walked past a freshly dug grave with a cross on the top of it. It was the grave of their mother. When I saw the grave sight of the mother of these children, I was overcome by a deep sorrow and it brought me to weeping from the depths of my spirit.

Embu Orphan Family

 

After we left this family, we traveled several miles over very rutty and deteriorated roads that brought us to a very isolated area.  It was in this very isolated area that we came to meet the second family of orphan children. This family had four sisters, one brother and an aging grandmother that was already senile. Both parents died well over a year before we made this visit. The four girls ranged in ages from 15 down to six years of age. The boy was teenaged but absent when we visited. The grandmother was being taken care of by the children as she was already senile. The oldest girl (about 15 years old) seemed to carry the weight of the families care on her shoulders. She never smiled. She had a younger sister about 12 years of age who was more responsive to us. She was the sole child in this family that attended school. A third girl about aged eleven stared off into space with her eyes closed. She gave the impression that she was blind, but Florence made it clear that she had vision but was a seriously traumatized child.

This situation was sad enough, but we were about to see something that saddened us even more. After speaking with the two older girls, Florence motioned us to go into a hut that was at the edge of the land where the children lived. The hut had a closed door on it and when we went inside I realized by the darkness in this enclosure that it had no windows for daylight to come. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I faintly started to see a small figure lying on the floor. It was a little girl that was placed inside this dark hut for her own safety. She was crippled and could not stand or sit up on her own. She was lying face down on the ground on a piece of cardboard. There were no beds in this hut and all of the children with the grandmother slept in this enclosure during the night. This dwelling had no electricity and no running water. The oldest girl had to walk a good distance to obtain water for the family. To see this little deformed child lying on the hard floor with no comfort and warmth was deeply saddening for me. I picked up this child and held her in my arms and when I did this I began to weep profusely.  It was such sadness for me to hold this little girl close to me and have a sense of what it must be like for her just living and surviving. Her baptized name was “Purity.” Her sister (the one who was traumatized) was named “Charity.” Both of these children died soon thereafter.

 

In speaking to a friend of mine on the phone one day about retirement he related that our Elder years seemed much more governed not by our personal plans but by events that lay a claim on us. There are events and situations  that come into your life and they call  to you to respond. This is exactly what happened to me with the plight of these orphan children.

By coming into contact with these children, they laid a claim on my life. I knew after encountering this great sadness that I was going to have the care of these children as part of the rest of my days on this Earth.

In a few short hours, the course of my life changed. This event was not only life changing, but also set into motion the birth of the Acacia Children's Project. 

I hope after reading my story and learning about the Acacia Children's Project you will  join with me as a partner in this life giving endeavor.

Sincerely,

Edmund O'Sullivan