Interview with Mr. Rafael Selas Colorado

Founder of ANIDAN

August 2009

ANIDAN is an NGO, founded by Rafael Selas, to care for the needs of young children in Kenya. On the island of Lamu, off the northern coast, he has a Shelter where he houses one hundred children but feeds, dresses, cares for and educates over two hundred.

Rafael Selas worked in Miami as record producer for Sky before travelling to Africa and deciding to help the neediest kids in Lamu (Kenya)

Q1/ You founded Anidan in 2002 to care for the needs of young children in Kenya. Could you give us your thoughts on the evolution of Anidan since its creation in 2002?

My first steps were helping the local orphanage with my savings but soon I came to realize that, unless I had my own organization, I would never achieve complete satisfaction with the outcome of my aid. After using up all my savings on a pilot phase with a dozen kids, and once the project was showing success, we started getting most finance from Anidan’s members, mostly close people. The word of mouth had proven most worthy to us and soon we were helping over fifty kids living in extremely difficult situations.

To offer kids on the streets a way out and into society, through integral care, was a big challenge; so, I got involved in establishing a fully Kenyan organization and team of staff to attend the kids and shelter those in most need. All thanks to the support found on friends and family, who have helped me from the very beginning, both financially and mostly through their expertise to cater for more children under extreme conditions in Lamu.

Q2/ Could you give us some key figures of Anidan?

A2/ Currently we offer shelter, food, education, health and basic needs to around 240 kids on a daily basis, about half of them are living in our dorms. Last year we opened a free hospital for children, in memory of Pablo Horstmann, thanks to the support of his foundation (Fundación Pablo Horstmann). We expect to attend about 20,000 children from the region this year and fight back the high infant death rate here, with emphasis on quality and knowledge transfer to locals, who ultimately shall attend Anidan with little help.

In Madrid we have up to 20 volunteers, working on a donated space, who help with all parcels of Asociación Anidan´s work, so that most money raised reaches Lamu and is used directly on our children. In Kenya we count on sixty employees, 59 are Kenyans, earning a good living here and helping their own families better. We also help them to study and grow professionally, thus safeguarding the future of the project.

Q3/ The hospital Pablo Horstmann was inaugurated in March 2008. How is the creation of this hospital helping to reduce the child mortality rate in the area?

A3/ By bringing free quality medical assistance to an area where the majority would not have access to such services and kids die for all kinds of reasons, from malaria, diarrhea, AIDS, Pneumonia, undernourishment, etc. Many people would go traditional or so called witch “doctors”, who wouldn´t help in most cases but make the situation worse.

Infant Mortality was as high as 12% in Amu District and our goal is to bring it to less than 2% in the next two years. The role of the Spanish volunteers and Medical Direction in hands of Fundación Pablo Horstmann has been decisive to establish a Health Centre distinguished by its quality, as is the case with the Shelter Home and Integral Care and Education that we offer.

It is a great luxury in a remote rural area as Lamu to come across the work of our three Doctors at Anidan who are so motivated to cope, in a place where Medical Officers have to face such an enormous task due to lack of physicians. There is a Pediatrician coming from Spain, our Head Doctor, Loise Lalu, with great experience in Africa and lastly a Kenyan Physician. There are also four nurses, two lab technicians and the whole of Anidan’s team, everyone is learning much from that experience of sharing time and knowledge with International volunteers. For us offering free quality services goes hand in hand with knowledge transfer and we are making an effort to receive second opinions about our achievement from doctors around the world via Internet. That allows our Medical Director, Ana Sendagorta to be well informed and to handle things promptly.

Q4/ In Dambisa Moyo’s book “why aid is not working and how there is a better way for africa" the authorsuggests cutting off all foreign government aid to Africa within five years because foreign aid helps perpetuate the cycle of poverty. To what extent do you agree with that opinion?

A4/ I would really like to know: which society doesn´t need help to develop when the pillars of such development involve such huge investment in areas as demanding as proper infrastructures, health, education, hygiene or a transformation of the agricultural practices and other rural activities, occupying the majority of the population, into profitable activities. According to the little that I know, recently Asia counted on a green revolution sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and massive investment from the West. Other examples would be Marshal Plan for Europe and the European Union, which was vital for countries in need of development through solidarity, such as Spain, Ireland, Greece or Portugal, where recent achievements involve great amounts of investment from Germans, French or English. Thus, to think that Africa should be the one to do it all alone makes no sense to me.

If anything, we have a moral debt towards the African people firstly because of climatic changes caused by the West, drought and other catastrophies, then of course because of colonialism, corporate practices, lobbies, etc. I also beleive that Africa is the cradle of humanity, and the source of most raw materials currently!

Many people have excuses for not helping others, thus trying to justify that they don't do anything to change or improve the world. But to me, it seems obvious that any support could increase Africa´s access to the world markets for its products. Hopefully, as much investment as possible will fund the pillars of development in Africa that were mentioned above and pointed out by J. Sachs, on his great work on development. However, he adds and I also agree that the global era of information and technology shall achieve much of the job without any help. Still, my trust is in people and I am content with devoting my life to the NGO, where I feel the support of so many people. I also beleive that my work is as necessary as that of someone who comes to invest in fair trade, local business, empowering native staff, etc.

Q5/ Private donations are essential to accomplish Anidan’s vision. What message would you send to private donors interested in contributing financially?  

A5/ Let us join at Anidan to fight poverty amongst infants in all its forms, to create hope for people who live in extreme need and let us do so, by relying on transparency, quality programs and good results. Let us spread love and trust, so that future generations may get a chance. Imagine…
 
Any monthly amount as Anidan´s member makes all the difference; it shall translate into much help and happiness for needy kids and mums in Lamu, Kenya. Also, providing us the chance to find stability and offer a bright future to many children under tragic circumstances, such as orphan hood, undernourishement, etc.