Having access to education and clean water is something a lot of people take for granted, and one Jasperite learned first hand the value of these things on a recent trip to Kenya from July 15 to August 4. 

Kai Okazaki spent three weeks in the Kenyan village of Sikirar, in the north-western Masai Mara region with Free the Children’s Me to We program. 

There, Okazaki helped to add on more grades to the school that can only house pre-school to Grade 3. The charity hopes to continue building the school to support students to Grade 8, at which point they can choose to move onto high school. 

“It was really a huge culture shock,” Okazaki said. 

When they arrived there were two separate buildings housing the pre-school, with one teacher working with 100 kids, and another building holding 150 students in grades 1 through 3. Two classes were taught by a teacher each and the principal taught the final class. Okazaki said the pre-school building is run down, and Free the Children expects it will not survive the next 10 years. The teachers and principal all donate their time and efforts to teaching the 250 students. 

“Because they got an education they feel they should spread their educated minds,” Okazaki said. 

Okazaki and his fellow volunteers not only built a portion of the school, adding on a grade, they prepared the foundation for the future expansion. 

The decision to go with Free the Children was one Okazaki had been thinking about for over a year. In 2009, six Jasperites went to Kenya with the charity, and they returned with incredible stories of their experiences. 

“I felt really fired up to go,” Okazaki said. He was further inspired by watching motivational speaker Spencer West perform during Me to We Day; West inspires people to lead and make changes in the world. 

Originally hoping to be a part of the 2009 trip, Okazaki officially signed up in January, 2010, and began fund-raising. West, who lost both of his legs at age five, came along on the Kenya trip, allowing Okazaki to get to know him. 

Okazaki managed to raise the exact amount of funds needed through a silent auction, a concert he organized with local talent and outside bands, and his father’s restaurant, Oka Sushi at the Jasper Park Lodge. Oka Sushi had a chopstick campaign that invited customers to purchase chopsticks, with the money going towards Okazaki’s cause. He received additional donations from individuals in the community. 

“Everything just worked out great,” he said. 

Once arriving in Kenya, the group of 32 were trained by Kenyan foremen to build the school. 

“They were Kenyan staff of Free the Children,” Okazaki said. The training didn’t last long, and the group was off running with the building. “They only had to teach us for a few days between the 32 of us.”

Okazaki was the only Jasperite to go on this trip, but he said he was in good company with the 31 other people. 

“It seemed like everybody had the same purpose of why they were going,” he said. 

The volunteers were well received in the village, Okazaki said. “They were really appreciative.” During their time in Kenya the students, who attend school in three month periods with a break to help their family out with the harvesting of crops, attended the school even though they were on break. 

Okazaki got to see first hand African children who are extremely malnourished. 

“They actually look younger than their age,” he said, recalling one 16-year-old girl who looked as if she was about 10. 

When a student attends school, Free the Children provides them with a free nutritious meal. Many students are unable to attend school if their family’s crop harvest conflicts with studies. Others must walk up to 14 kilometres a day to get there. 

Okazaki said the struggles Kenyan children go through just to get an education is something students in Canada should be aware of. 

“North American kids talk about dropping school and not being motivated,” he said. “These kids would walk one to 14 kilometres a day to go to school.”

Okazaki recommends that anyone considering leaving school without obtaining their diploma should go on a trip to impoverished areas of Africa, to see the true value of an education, or attend an upcoming We Day celebration. He also suggests those students think hard about the options available to them with an education, compared to without. 

Another issue Okazaki observed was lack of clean water. Many of the village’s people had to walk up to two kilometres a day just for water from an unsanitary lake. While there, the group went with the “mommas” on these walks several times. They also used the community’s nearby lake for bathing. 

“It’s really tough for all the community to get all the water that they need,” Okazaki said. 

Free the Children tries to build wells in communities, but the cost can be anywhere from $65,000 to $100,000. 

Throughout the trip, Okazaki and the group didn’t take any pictures until the end. Instead they learned about the community and got to know the people there. 

“We weren’t going there as tourists, so we didn’t take out our cameras until the last day,” Okazaki said. “We were kind of feeling like we were part of these families.”

A common portrayal of African children is the sad-looking faces charities often flash on TV, but Okazaki said the reality is a little different. 

“Truly they are some of the most happy people I’ve ever met,” he said. 

The community works together to support each other as best they can. If one family has a bad crop year, another family will step in to help out. The mothers and fathers are all very close with each other, and Okazaki said there is a true sense of unity. 

When they arrived, the group was greeted by representatives from the community. 

“They all spoke about how appreciative and honoured they were,” Okazaki said. The community appreciated the fact that each volunteer had raised the money to come to Kenya on their own. During their time in Sikirar the townspeople repeatedly told the volunteers “Asante sana,” or thank you in Swahili. 

“It definitely gave me new perspective on things I take for granted.”

After his time spent in Kenya, Okazaki said his view of the world has been altered. 

“The most important thing would be your family and friends,” he said, adding that he realized material goods should not be as important. “Be thankful for what you have.”

Okazaki said everyone should try to do something like this if they have the opportunity. 

“I would recommend going on this trip,” he said. “It would be a life altering or life changing experience.”

Having recently graduated from high school in Jasper, Okazaki will be attending the University of B.C. this fall to get his Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Conservation. While there he hopes to gather interest for another trip to Haiti to teach children there. Even before the country was rocked by earthquakes the education system was crumbling. The earthquakes destroyed as many as 2,000 schools, leaving students to learn under tents if at all. 

Okazaki hopes to focus his degree on water conservation and sanitation after his experience in Kenya.

“I think this was the beginning steps to the pathways to what I want to do,” he said. Okazaki would like his future career to focus on humanitarian aid. 

Sikirar has a population of about 2,200. As much as 95 per cent of the village lives on a budget of between one and two dollars a day. The average life expectancy of men is 48, and 46 for women.