Phil and Dalene Hamer

Phil and Dalene Hamer

hey there!

Thank you for checking out our blog! Stop by regularly and keep up to date with what we're up to! Here we will be sharing our adventures, heartaches, insights, challenges and probably really random stuff. Phil is a filmmaker with a gift of storytelling. Check out R4P.co to see more of what he does. And Dalene will be writing most of the posts! Ha! We have a passion for bringing awareness to injustice, and spend our days learning and contemplating how to empower the voiceless. With our family and friends, we work through Until Then to help street kids, and are continuously seeking relationships with organizations and individuals who we can join arms with. We hope you enjoy our blog!
Dalene and Phil

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

we're still here...

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and wish you a Happy New Year. We can't believe 2011 is less than a week away. This year has been hectic for us. Besides traveling to Canada, Mexico, Thailand and Kenya, Phil quit his job at DC earlier this year and we moved in with his family in Seattle, which has actually been wonderful. I graduated college with an associates degree in May (which only took 5 years), and we've both taken turns with health crisis. We learned a lot about women's rights, and the injustices that oppress women throughout the world. We've shared about domestic minor sex trafficking, and our journey of learning how to help trafficked and prostituted children here in the United States. Until Then, our non profit organization, is expanding and developing in more ways than we ever dreamed it could.

The hardest thing about working with street kids is having to understand the different realities they face, from homelessness to abuse and prostitution and and and... but to still have hope that life can change and that rehabilitation and reintegration into society is attainable.

In 2011 we want to learn more about hope. We're ending this year exhausted, emotionally overwhelmed and drained of just about everything. The world is dark and evil and takes everything it can from us. We sometimes see light, and I have my faith, but to be honest we're just mopey.

Below are three videos Phil did while we were in Kenya, and watching them is a reminder of the good that sometimes breaks through the bad. The first two are videos for Mattaw Children's Village. The last is a music video for our friend Sammy, you might reckognize him from Phil's documentary Glue Boys.















If you have some cash you need to get rid of in the next 4 days, Until Then will gladly take it off your hands and invest it for good. 100% of all donations are tax deductible and go directly to helping children around the world. 

Thank you for reading, we appreciate your support. 

Hurting for the oppressed, 

Dalene

Friday, December 17, 2010

Saturday, December 11, 2010

For Hendri

 This past month in Kenya has been wonderfully exhausting. We have less than a week remaining before we board our flight for the long journey "home", and we've decided not to think that far ahead. Water: that's what is on our minds and consuming the majority* of our thoughts.

We've both been sick and sickness has hit our team pretty hard. Most of the sickness is from contaminated food and water, which motivates us even more to find water. We've got to find clean water and provide for the community here in Dago.

One thing I've learned about myself while being here is something that I had to painfully re-learn, and that is that writing is therapeutic for me, specifically this blog. So bear with me as I share yet another heartache with you.

My family has suffered a tragic loss, a loss that effects the world and runs deep in an ironic way with our quest to provide clean drinking water. My beloved cousin, the great whitewater explorer Hendri Coetzee, got in a fight with a crocodile and the blasted croc won. He was leading an expedition for Eddie Bauer where they were documenting the unexplored whitewater of Central and East Africa, focusing on the need for clean water. CNN has a report on it linked with the Eddie Bauer team blog if you'd like to read more. MSNBC also has a beautiful write up. He created a blog a couple months ago, and is a truly gifted and entertaining writer. I wish there was more to read, but please follow this link to read of his adventures.

The shock is still fresh and I find myself sitting with deep heartache and overwhelmed with emotion. The Lord is trying to teach me something, but I don't know if its getting through yet. I loved my cousin so much, and admired him even more. He always encouraged me to explore my curiosities and challenged me to get uncomfortable with the world in hopes of learning more. We last shared a hug in 2006, though our lives continued to cross paths just the same. Though South African, he lived mostly in Uganda on the Nile, where he worked as a river guide and on Mondays would take street kids out rafting. He was a passionate man, and completely devote to whatever adventure was unfolding before him. Next year we were supposed to meet up and change the world together, and he had wild ideas for Phil to film in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a dream for both of them. Hendri was in the DRC when he met the crocodile that took his life. I hope to go there one day and provide clean drinking water for the people he fell in love with.

Only a month ago I was completely ignorant to the crisis of water. I still know little about water, but I have experienced the devastation a lack of it can cause. If you come to Dago you will see power lines and a cell phone tower, but will have to drive several kilometers for clean drinking water, and even then you'll still probably get sick from consuming it. More people have cell phones here than clean water. This is Africa. We're about 80 feet down and have yet to find water, but we know it's there. We have until Tuesday. Pray for water.

We're going to finish this well for Hendri.


ever determined, 
Dalene

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Some Pictures from this week


A few pictures from this week- sorry we haven't updated sooner- been busy looking for water.  We will do an update blog asap- lots happening.

Russ Qualls- working the drill



The scene around the drill
 

Mr Tim Loza


Scout Master Russ Qualls- doing his best impression of McGyver


Isaiah "Chapter 1" (as Sammy calls him) getting the contact info for some local cuties (this one is for his mom, Lisa)


 
FreeWaters cofounder Eli Marmar- getting dirty

Friday, December 3, 2010

The Joys of Poop.


I originally planned to title this post "Well Shit". I was exhausted and annoyed by the buzzing of mosquitoes hovering around my hospital bed and it seemed like a fitting title for the post I had written in my head; 48 hours of consistent diarrhea would make anyone shrug in a "well, shit" kind of way. Phil was in the hospital bed next to me, exhausted and also suffering food poisoning and being treated for malaria (just in case). The diarrhea continues but I'm out of the hospital, probably should have stayed longer but I wanted a toilet that I don't have to pour water into to flush and don't have to carry my own toilet paper and hope the sink has running water to scrub my hands. My mom always says to just wash wash wash your hands. Sometimes that's easier said than done, especially in this part of the world.

I'm suffering from moderate typhoid, which is a water borne disease, along with food poisoning and a bacterial infection. The antibiotics are strong but all I really want to do is eat. I envisioned the Santa Ynez Valley was in my hospital room, with all the comforts of delicious cuisine teasing my taste buds and the beautiful countryside sending a sweet breeze my way. I'm certain I asked Phil to bring me a 'barking bulldog' from the Bulldog Cafe in Solvang, and sitting here in bed now I'm craving anything from Mattie's Tavern in home sweet home of Los Olivos. Comfort is something that has been stretched for me this week. I've been sick away from home before so thankfully I'm okay where we are staying, but I don't think I've ever experienced such discomfort in my life. My body is hating me right now, and it's just not comfortable.

If you've been following our blog then you know we are also here in Kenya working on a water project. The team all arrived today, and they're on their way to Kisumu. We'll leave Kitale and meet them there in a couple of hours. Phil and I aren't familiar with Kisumu, and are even less familiar with water, but let me tell you, we are more motivated than ever to find water there. Typhoid, one of the diseases infecting my intestines today and causing so much poop, is from contaminated water. We've been drinking bottled water, washing our fruits and veggies with 'veggie clean' and filtered water, and yet I still got typhoid. When I went to the clinic to get tested, there were about 30 other people who were also sick. If you remember the post about Peter, we helped him get medicine for typhoid and malaria. Basically what I have is very common here. More common than the cold in the States, or allergies. If there was clean water, then this wouldn't be a problem!

Our hope is to drill as many wells as possible using a simplistic technology, where each well will cost roughly $1200... that's it. We're partnering with a drilling company that has been doing the $50,000+ wells and they're not sure what to think of our 'cave man' system. The problem is that the people who need water the most are the people who don't have thousands of dollars to get water. They walk to the nearest water source, which is usually where livestock also go for water, and 99% of the time get infectious diseases from it, such as typhoid. This is where Freewaters come in. They are a shoe company based out of California, and I am so in love with them right now. For ever shoe purchased, they are going to provide clean water for one person for one year. They are footing the bill. What you can do is buy their shoes. Unfortunately you can't do that until February when the company officially launches, but you're going to want these shoes. They specialize in sandals, and I've been a "rainbow" girl, but I'm leaving those behind and will be rocking my Freewaters for the rest of my life. I have a sample pair and they've held up beautifully here in Kenya.

If you can't wait until February to be a part of this water project and want to donate a well, you can contribute through the 'donate' button on the top right of this blog, or go to www.UntilThen.org and contribute on the homepage.

By providing clean drinking water in villages, we are helping to prevent children going to the streets.

Feeling empowered,

Dalene

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls.

Along with preparing for our project with Freewaters and spending part of our days at Mattaw, Phil and I are also doing work for our non profit organization back home called Until Then. We are a street kid organization that focuses on awareness and advocacy through partner programs and you can learn more at www.UntilThen.org. So yesterday we spent the afternoon meeting with street kids.

I'm going to tell you Rosemary's story because I want you to pray for her and the thousands of girls like her. Her name isn't really Rosemary, but that shouldn't matter.

Beautiful Rosemary. She is 19 years old, though she doesn't really know how old she is. We don't know if she's orphaned or where her parents are, but Phil has known her for about 6 years, always as a street girl. He and others around Kitale have tried multiple times to help her and her 3 children, the youngest of whom is 5 weeks old, but she always ends up back on the street, which should be an indicator to the years of abuse she's suffered. Rosemary is a fighter, the fact that she is still alive and still wants help is a miracle. Yesterday she proposed to us that we help her start a small shop where she can sell soap in the slum. You may remember our post about Peter and how Phil helped him a few years ago start a business that is still thriving today.

Having read the book "Half the Sky" by Nicholas Kristof earlier this year, we knew that we needed to know more to successfully help Rosemary. We learned that she hadn't had more than 3 years of formal education and cannot read or write at all, nor comprehend simple arithmetic. This was not surprising since she is a street girl, but my immediate thought was that supporting a shop is setting her up to fail. There was a representative of Youth Apart having lunch with us also, and she proposed that we help Rosemary learn a skill through trade school. Ever heard the saying "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime"? Phil and I want to provide something lifetime-sustainable for street kids. Rosemary is going to learn how to sew, and she will be able to support herself for the rest of her life from that skill.

Rosemary is a statistic of so many things. The irony of "Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls" is that Rosemary can't read, yet that is what her shirt said yesterday... she bought it because of the bright colors. She has been through it all and wears it on her shirt. But she is also our friend and we're going to help her. Again. Our prayer is that we can do it the right way, which we realize isn't the easy way. There are over 150 million children on the streets of the world like Rosemary. That's overwhelming. Today we can try to help one. Thank you for contributing to Thanksgiving in Kenya, it's how we're able to help Rosemary.

We haven't been able to find the two girls Phil wrote about the other day.. let's hope that means they are somewhere better...

Ever Hopeful,

Dalene

below is the priceless smile of a rescued child at Mattaw, courtesy of Phil Hamer

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Picnic time


 Today we took time out from our busy schedule to have a picnic at the Mayer Farm.  We ate thanksgiving leftovers and took pictures in the sunflower fields.  It was a good time for all.





Asante"giving"

On Monday we had Thanksgiving- I'm not sure why we did it on Monday, but we are in Kenya, so it really didn't matter when we did it.  We ate until we were sick, and then like all good American's do, we watched "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" (as you can see in the picture below).

It is easy for us to reflect on how blessed we are while we are here in Kitale.  Everywhere you look there is someone in need.  It is heartbreaking to see the 6 year old glue boys on the streets, and the poor mothers who are unable to provide food for their malnourished babies, and the children we visit everyday at Mattaw Children's Village who are orphaned or abandoned.  It is easy to feel blessed, but it is hard to see hope.

Today I met two young street kids, aged 7 and 13.  At first I thought they were boys, but after talking to them, they explained in the little English they could speak that they were sisters (looking like boys is a common defense mechanism for girls on the street- they are less likely to be raped if they are thought to be boys).  With their limited English, and my limited Swahili, it was difficult to have a conversation.  But I was able to understand that these two girls were from the town of Bongoma, had been on the streets for only a few weeks, and had to leave their parents because they could no longer feed them.  This is a common occurrence in developing countries.  When families can't afford food for their children, many times they are sent to larger towns to scavenge or beg for food.  After a few minutes of talking, I had to go, I had to leave these girls to fend for themselves on the street.  As I drove away I had a pain in my stomach like I had been hit with a sledge hammer- it was the pain of knowing that I should have done more to help, and I didn't.  I circled around the block to see if the girls were still there, but they were gone.

All day today I could not stop thinking about them.  Sending them home to Bongoma would only cost about $20, and providing their family with food would cost very little in comparison to what it costs to feed a family in the US.

After working all day today on the drilling equipment for our well project, I returned to town to try and find the girls again.  I circled the block I first saw them on, but was unable to find them.  I asked a few older boys if they knew them, but they did not.

My hope, for the moment, is that we can find these girls tomorrow and help them return to their family.  My hope is that it is not too late.


Phil



Saturday, November 20, 2010

A few pictures from our day today...

Only in Kenya does a motorcycle become a 4 passenger vehicle...



Georgie Style...

 Charles...



 Happy face...


Us...

Friday, November 19, 2010

help us give a goat...



Some friends of ours have a children's home here called Mattaw; if you're following us you've heard of them before and have seen some of the beautiful children in photos from other posts below. They are doing a gift drive called Cows for Christmas in hopes of becoming more self sustainable, and have three already! One thing we've learned with them is that goats milk is the best thing readily available for children infected with HIV/AIDS. With donations through our Thanksgiving in Kenya fund, we want to gift the children a goat for Christmas. Realistically, they wont understand the impact of the gift, or why they will drink goats milk instead of from their cows, but it will change their lives. After all, the best gifts are those that change lives. All of these children are orphaned and abandoned, and some have stories so atrocious you wouldn't think it possible in the few years they've been alive. But they are all precious and they now know that they are loved.

We want these kids to have the best goat... the milk from it will literally give them life, and the cost for the best is around $300. We are here in Kitale with them until December 1st. Help us gift these beautiful children a goat!

(below are photos from day 4 at Mattaw, courtesy of the Phil Hamer, camera extraordinaire)





Thursday, November 18, 2010

A hard day in Kitale


It was a hard day today in Kitale.  After a great day at Mattaw, I (Phil) met my friend Sammy at the district hospital to help out one of his friends.  As usual, the story was confusing and hard to understand over the phone, but after meeting Sammy and his friend, it all started to come together. 

Sammy's friend Faith, a young girl no older than 20 years old, had gone into labor two weeks ago, at the same time her husband was killed in a car crash on his way home from Mombasa.  Faith had complications during her labor, and needed to have a C Section at the hospital (most girls from the slums jut give birth in their homes).   However, Faith did not have the 7000ksh to pay for the C section (about $70USD).  After her baby was born, she was informed by the hospital that she would not be able to leave until she paid her bill, and that she would continue to be charged 300ksh everyday she stayed. 

In a country where the average person makes less than $1 a day, for a poor girl who was orphaned at the age of 10 and lives in the slums, paying a $75 bill is impossible.  We were able to pay Faith's bill using donations made by people who clicked the button on the top of this blog to donate.  After getting Faith out of the hospital, where we had to literally show a receipt at the door before letting us leave with the baby (similar to Costco), I asked Sammy a question I wish I hadn't.

I asked Sammy "What would have happened if we weren't here to help Faith?" Sammy responded "They would not let her leave with her baby until she paid the bill."  At first I laughed, unable to comprehend what Sammy had just said.  He reiterated, "Many times the Moms have to leave their babies because they cannot afford the hospital bills, and then the babies are sold".... "Sammy? Really?" I stated in disbelief.  "If you don't believe me, let's leave Faith and see what happens." 

After getting home, I couldn't stop thinking of the 50 or more other women in the maternity ward laying with their babies, and how many of them won't be able to pay their bill.  And what will happen then. 

I asked a few other friends in town if what Sammy had told me was true... everyone sadly corroborated his story.  Each person I had talked to knew of at least someone who had the same thing happen to them.  There was also an investigation that happened at another hospital in Kenya where a woman was kept hostage in a hospital for two years because she was unable to pay her bill and unwilling to leave her new born child.  

I'm not telling this story to guilt you into donating more money to help, I'm not telling you this story because I want you to be impressed at something we did to help, I'm not telling you this story to show the horrors of Africa.   I'm telling this story because I don't know what else to do. 

oh, Thailand.

I was in Thailand this past March for only 8 days, but it was long enough to ruin my world view. Now when children are running around restaurants or skateboarding along the street by themselves I panic. Phil often has to calm me down and lock the car windows so I won't yell at them, in hopes that it will scare them of strangers and they will find their parents. Being in Kenya is a nightmare only in that we are surrounded by abandoned children playing in the streets and no one seems to care except perhaps the pimps that would recruit them. Needless to say, I'm a broken mess from those 8 days, all those months ago. Alex Miller of Defend and Empower forwarded me a news article this morning that I'd like to share with you, to remind us both that justice does happen occasionally. Alex and I were roommates in Pattaya, Thailand, and she has invested much over there in rehabilitating victims.

The news article is copied from the Pattaya Daily News.

Child Prostitution Ring Uncovered in Pattaya Internet Café

(this article is copy/pasted from http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2010/11/17/child-prostitution-ring-uncovered-in-pattaya-internet-cafe/)



"The manager of a child prostitution ring has been arrested for the second time in Pattaya for the sale of under aged children to foreign clients for sexual gratification.

Pattaya, 16th  November 2010 [PDN] At 10.30pm Police Lieutenant Colonel Kreetha Tonkhanarat, head of the Child and Women Protect Center from Police Gendarme Region2, along with his team and an arrest warrant number 911/2553 signed on 28th October 2010 for the arrest of  Mr. Traiphop Bunphasong [40] from Sinkburi, an internet shop owner, for child abuse and providing children for prostitution.
The suspect was arrested in the SF Cinema on the 6th floor, Central Festival, Pattaya Beach Road, whilst watching a film.
 
Mr. Bunphasong had been arrested previously on 4th July 2010 for child abuse and providing children for prostitution by the same officer and taskforce, but was later bailed.
According to recent records relating to the Child and Women Protection Center, Police Gendarme Region 2 officers had apprehended several foreign suspects who had committed offences of child abuse with further investigations showing that Mr. Bunphasong managed the prostitution of the boy’s under15 years of age for the foreign suspects.
The Officer collected all the necessary evidence before requesting a warrant from the Pattaya Provincial Court for the re-arrest of Mr. Bunphasong.
Under a brief interrogation, the suspect Mr. Bunphasong continued to deny all allegations presented to him by the arresting officer and was subsequently sent to the investigations department for further charges.
 
This is a continued investigation following the arrest of the internationally renowned Russian musician Mr. Mikhail Pletnev earlier this year when investigators successfully uncovered a network of paedophiles operating through various “front” internet café businesses in Pattaya and statements obtained from a victim of the alleged scam who revealed that the operation involved largely foreign clientele with Thai men acting as intermediaries.
Allegedly after the children ran out of money whilst playing games in often unlicensed internet café, they were offered the chance to pay off debts by performing indecent sexual acts with foreign clients. The Photographs taken of the incidents was then uploaded onto the internet and the child would then continue to earn money in this way to fund their gaming habits or leave.
The Child and Women Protection Center have already devised a “blacklist” of all suspected offenders in the network and investigations into their whereabouts are already underway."



Take THAT, most disgusting people in the world. May all those that prey on children be persecuted in this life and the next.


Monday, November 15, 2010

Some Pics from our day at Mattaw

Here are some pictures from our day at mattaw yesterday...











http://www.mattawchildren.com/

Sunday, November 14, 2010

thank you

It's Sunday afternoon here in Kenya. The rain is falling for the second time today as I sit beneath the covered porch and hear the gentle drops hit the leaves of the banana trees in the yard. In the distance I hear birds chirping and a drum being pounded, I imagine there's children dancing to it as their afternoon church service continues with no end in sight. Sitting here, feeling the cool breeze from the rain and smelling the sweetness of the afternoon I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

We've been in Kenya since Monday night, and arrived in Kitale on Wednesday afternoon. Since coming to Kitale, where Phil and I met, we've been busy, and it's been good. Among seeing old friends, meeting new ones, celebrating birthdays, having fiestas, visiting and filming at Mattaw, eating, sleeping almost normal, and going to town, Phil's phone has been ringing non stop. It's about 3pm here and he's already had 27 missed calls today from street kids and others needing help. You may have read our previous post about Ian going home, but what Phil didn't share is that it's because he has spent so much time with the older street boys over the years that they helped get Ian on the bus. There are thousands of street kids here and only a few are successfully rehabilitated. The older street boys may no longer live on the streets, but they do run the streets. And some of them got to do something different: they were able to send one boy home and be his hero.

If you donated to our Thanksgiving in Kenya Fund, its because of you that 7 year old Ian got to go home. For Ian's bus ticket, new clothes, food, water and change in his pocket it was exactly $25. Because of your contribution there is one less child sleeping on the street. As Phil mentioned in his post for Until Then, its not always this easy to help reunite a child with his family. But when it is, we jump on it!

This is Peter. He's an older street kid that Phil met before he filmed Glue Boys, and he currently lives in the trash dump outside of town.


Peter is a successful businessman, which started with a micro-loan that Phil was able to provide him with years ago because of a donation. The other day we heard from some boys in town that Peter was sick and unable to work. They were worried and called Phil for help. Because of your donations to Thanksgiving in Kenya, we were able to help Peter see a doctor and get him medication for typhoid and malaria, two diseases which could have killed him within a month. It cost 15 dollars to save Peter's life.

On behalf of Peter and Ian, we want to thank you for your donations to Thanksgiving in Kenya. We could not have helped them with out you!


Dalene

Thursday, November 11, 2010

First day in Kitale

Today was our first day in kitale. Saw a few old friends and started finding the equipment needed for our well project. I went out to the Mattaw Children's Village (the group we are doing the video for) a few times picking up kids and taking them to the drs. here are some pictures from today...

 Starting to shop for supplies for the well in town...


Lucy from Mattaw.  She is 5 years old but looks like she is only 2 because she was so malnourished as a baby.  She loved playing games on my phone and looking at pictures of herself.

Found the best shoes ever- i'm assuming these shoes are named after the famous Phil Hamer...  they didn't have my size, but my new mission on this trip is to buy a few pair.




Hey Aaron- saw a patagonia sticker on a truck in town... 


more to come tomorrow...  if you haven't checked out UntilThen.org or Freewaters.com yet, check it out for more info on what we are doing.   Freewaters sandals will be available in February.

We are having a fiesta tonight, nothing like Mexican food in Kenya...

Phil