SAINET A PROJECT OF SRI SATHYA SAI NATIONAL TRUST - Kenya

[Guest guest]

May Swami Bless us all.

Manju Naul

Nairobi - Kenya

SAINET A PROJECT OF SRI SATHYA SAI NATIONAL TRUST - KenyaA National Community

Project to save the people of Kenya from MalariaHands that serve are Holier

than lips that prayNew Year’s Eve Brings Hope and Joy to the Poorest in

Kenya"If you do not feel the call at the sight of human distress, disease or

deviation from the right, how can you muster the determination and dedication

necessary to serve the unseen, inscrutable, mysterious God? When you do not

love man, your heart will not love God. Despising brother man, you cannot, at

the same time, worship God. If you do, God will not accept that hypocrisy. God

is resident in every heart; so, if you serve any one, that service reaches the

God within him: it brings to you the Grace of God." - Sri Sathya Sai BabaThe

New Year Eve this year was unique and will remain etched in the memories of the

Kenyan devotees who participated in the SAINET service in Bamba on Saturday, 31

December 2005. On this day, Kenyan devotees distributed 7,500 SAINETs and 18

tonnes of maize meal to the 50,000 population of Bamba, among the poorest and

most vulnerable to malaria in Kenya. Bamba is a remote, arid stretch of Kenya’s

coastal district Kilifi, which grows precious little but mosquitoes. Close to

the top of the poverty index in Kenya, the Bamba division features prominently

in the news whenever the country is threatened by a famine, as in this year.

The 50,000 population of Bamba division have learned to survive on cassava and

some greens at the best of times. This year, with failed rains, even that is

proving to be difficult.Thinly spread over a vast area, the people in Bamba

have little access to primary health care facilities or to any other basic

services. Malaria, the number one killer in the area, thrives on these poor

people, who are weak with malnutrition and can seldom afford to walk the long

distances to reach health care facilities of any kind. The best protection

against malaria, the mosquito bed nets, remain mostly in statistics, not in the

homes of the poor in Bamba, who can hardly access or afford a subsidized net.For

the Kenyan devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Baba what could offer a better opportunity

or better occasion to celebrate the New Year Eve than serving these poorest and

the most vulnerable among fellow brothers and sisters in Bamba? Yes, obstacles

had to be overcome, likeorganizing the formidable logistics of reaching the

remote areas with supplies and volunteers at a time when most facilities were

closed and people were away from work places, enjoying the Christmas and

year-end holidays. But as preparations began, the enthusiasm became infectious

– people canceling their holidays, others offering to join the service from

their holiday resorts and yet others offering to help in organizing the

logistics.Maizemeal and SAINET being given with love to Villager by deputy PC

Coast Province. Finally, as the day of service approached, Kenyan devotees were

joined by two most welcome guests from overseas: Dr. Brahma Sharma and his son

Gautam from the United States and Dr. K.H.Yeoh from Singapore, ardent devotees

of Baba, who traveled all the distance to see and experience, first hand, the

SAINET service in operation, leaving their families behind on the New Year’s

eve.1. SAINET - A PROJECT OF SRI SATHYA SAI NATIONAL TRUST - A National

Community Project to save the people of Kenya from Malaria STRONG>To bring

climax to the preparations, barely a week before the service the Newspaper

headlines carried the ominous message: Starvation in Christmas. Reporting from

Bamba and elsewhere in the country the news highlighted the plight of the

starving poor, who were living on roots and the like. For the devotees

preparing for the service, it posed a major dilemma: How to take nets to hungry

mouths? A decision had to be made urgently and the devotees reached out to

their hearts. It was decided that irrespective of the cost and the logistical

challenge, each family would receive, along with SAINETs, four kilogrammes of

maize meal. What could be a better gift from SAI on the New Year’s eve for the

starving people in Kenya?The final test of Swami was yet to come though. As the

convoys of trucks and vans carrying volunteers started arriving in Bamba in the

morning of 31 December, a real surprise was waiting for them which would put

all their meticulous plans into jeopardy. A crowd of thousands were waiting

eagerly at the first mobilization point of the service, having come from

villages all over Bamba division in search of government food relief, announced

a day ago. This meant that all the prior plans of distributing vouchers to

different villages and logistical arrangements were in vain and an emergency

distribution plan had to be put in place.Villagers queing to receive SAI´s

token of love SAINET through his devotees. With prayers in their hearts, the

experienced; SAINET core team immediately went into action and devised an

improvised plan for reaching out to the people in their new locations. Soon

they were joined by the district authorities, the area Member of the Parliament

and the local chiefs. The vast crowd that initially looked unmanageable, started

regrouping themselves and soon the distribution of SAINETs and food were well

underway. As the distribution came to an end by the late afternoon, it was

altogether a different sight. The hungry and impatient jostling crowd had given

way to happy and contended families who had started meandering their way back to

their distant homes, carrying the most precious food and SAINETs. Some of the

faces beamed as they had experienced a rare love shared by devotees and they

knew that someone cared for them.And for the returning devotees, the setting

sun was a most beautiful sight, with their hearts full of Swami’s love and

assured in the knowledge that they had made their beloved Swami happy and proud

through a day of self-less service. For the SAINET team, what a fulfilling way

to bring a most eventful year to a glorious end!With the service in Bamba, the

SAINET

project has distributed 64,400 SAINETs in Kenya over a period of six months in

2005. Yet, much more needs to be done to save the poor and the vulnerable in

remote parts of Kenya for whom SAINET is the last hope to survive in the battle

with malaria.Kenyan devotees remain resolved to continue with SAINET

distribution with equal vigour in 2006. The first distribution is now planned

to be held on 11 March 2006 in Kisii, a district known for upsurges of malaria

after every rain. Simultaneously, the re-treatment of nets distributed in 2005

will begin with Kitale on 18th February 2006. There is no holiday on the Sai

path! 2. SAINET - A PROJECT OF SRI SATHYA SAI NATIONAL TRUST - A National

Community Project to save the people of Kenya from MalariaPostscript - The

following lines are from a touching email the SAINET project received from Dr.

P. Masaulo, District Medical Officer of Health of Kilifi, on 3 January 2006:

"Sai Ram, I have just discovered that you are truly a genuine brother, kind in

heart and having the spirit to give and serve all with love. Let me take this

opportunity to thank you and the SATHYA SAI ORGANIZATION for the kind gesture

extended to the people of Kilifi, and specifically to Bamba, the poorest

constituency in Kenya. Surely, you have reached the poorest of the poor. By

giving a net you have given a life.""Service is God. Why has God endowed man

with a body, a mind and an intellect? Feel with the mind, plan with the

intelligence and use the body to serve those who are in need of service. Offer

that act of service to God." - Sri Sathya Sai BabaPlanning and loading of

SAINET and Maizemeal in Canters and waiting to leave for Mariakani the day

before to enable good planning. Contributions to the SAINET project could be

made by sending sponsorship cheques drawn in favour of "Sri Sathya Sai National

Trust – SAINET Project" and forwarded to:Bro. Nimesh Shah, National Project, SAINET Project, P.O. Box 78310-00507, Nairobi, Kenya, Tel:

254-20-555846/7, Fax:254-20-555848,e- mail:wef (AT) nbi (DOT) ispkenya.com

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