Culture Values

Exemplified by: high sense of responsibility, self drive, reliability, availability, punctuality

One of our female core members in the community has experienced dramatic changes in her health.  In the span of about 3 years, she moved from the most mobile and energetic person in the community to bed-ridden and finally up on a wheelchair.  These developments were cause for great suffering for the whole of L’Arche Kenya community and particularly the female assistants who had to support her.  

Amidst all the pain and suffering, acts of sacrifice driven by commitment took place; the assistants always accompanied her to hospital. When she needed to be admitted, they remained with her.  Even though common sense dictated so, they never gave up.  With great drive, they made and altered many plans, proposed various meals for her, various accompaniment plans, changed their sleeping arrangements to ensure that there was always someone by her bed every night, among many other plans.

For all this commitment, they were gradually rewarded with a more energetic and smiling member of their house.  She has since joined the workshops and the future looks ever brighter.

Exemplified by: loving what one does, deriving happiness from what one does

Teeth serve in a human being both aesthetic and to support in eating.  And that is why if one loses their teeth it is a blow of no minor proportions.  

It happened to one of our core members that over time he lost quite a number of them and it was a matter of great concern to him.  He wanted and needed the situation corrected by whatever means.  This prompted one of our assistants to take it upon himself to have the teeth replaced.  Over a period of several months the assistant accompanied the core member to attend a number of dental clinics that removed more teeth in danger of falling off and prepared his mouth to receive dentures.  Eventually, the dentures were ready and the core member wore them as proudly as a badge of honour.

Even though the core member used the dentures for a short while before losing interest, the assistant did not get offended.  He felt he had achieved one of his goals in support of his friend.  The core member on the other hand, felt that he had conquered one of his goals and was free to pursue others beckoning from the future.

Exemplified by: being in touch with reality, open to alternative ideas, responsive.

For a long time in L’Arche Kenya, we thought that it is important to protect our core members.  One of the ways we did that was by making sure that they do not travel by public transport.  The reason was, we reasoned, that it would be difficult to be accepted in a public vehicle when you have as one of your luggage, a wheelchair.  We also thought that core members could conduct themselves in a manner not acceptable in public.

One of our assistants challenged us by offering to travel with a core member who uses a wheelchair by public means.  The core member had been invited by a friend of L’Arche Kenya to spend December holidays with his family.  The family lived nearly 300km from where L’Arche Kenya is located.  There was need to change vehicles three times including in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.  

We accepted the offer of the assistant and hoped that the travel would be uneventful.  To our pleasant surprise, it was and both the core member and the assistant had the time of their lives.  The myth was broken and now we regularly use public means for travel.

Exemplified by: creativity, moving away from comfort zone, taking risks, adaptability

When our curio shop opened, it used to make all its sales to customers physically present.  Any orders received by mail had to wait until a means of delivery could be found. 

One of the biggest challenges we faced when we began to receive orders by mail was how to send the items.  The shop attendant was always on the lookout for vehicles travelling out of town until colleagues began not to discuss their travel plans in her presence.

In frustration, one day she got a revelation.  That it was possible to have items delivered by courier and the customers could be invoiced for the cost.  It doesn’t look like much, but the impact on sales and harmony between the staff and her colleagues is enormous.

Exemplified by:  being good at what we do, completion of tasks, ability to do what is required of us, extensive knowledge

When persons living with hearing impairment interact with society, they face many communication related challenges.  The challenges are felt more when they relate with bureaucratic authority.  

This happened to be the case for some person with hearing impairment who was required to appear in a court of law.  When it proved too difficult to communicate for the person and the court officers, they requested one of our staff in the outreach programme to translate.  The staff is trained professionally in sign language and was able to close the chasm that existed between the two parties.