Scenes of Kenya

One of the things I love most about Kenya is that everywhere I go, there are people.  On the other hand, as an American, one of the hardest things about Kenya is that there are people and noise everywhere I go.  But, when I get home to Chico, I miss the hustle and bustle and feel kind of isolated, especially in the winter. Have you noticed?  There aren't many people outside their houses during the winter.  And because we rarely walk, our daily contact with a people is diminished.  Enclosed in a car, we miss being intimately connected to our surroundings.

Here are some of the things I see on my daily walk to town;  women doing laundry, kiosks constructed from sticks and boards selling vegetables, goats tethered anywhere there is something green to eat, hundreds of guys on boda bodas (bicycle taxis) waiting to carry a passenger, people walking and carrying a plastic bag, thousands of discarded plastic bags, women carrying bundles on their heads, and every few yards, racks and piles of used clothing. 

The used clothing business is booming here thanks to the Salvation Army and other thrift stores in the U.S. and Europe.  Did you know that the clothing we donate and is only slightly worn is sorted out from our contributions and sold in huge bales to a middleman?  The middleman then ships containers of the used clothing to Africa where vendors buy them at a discounted price and turn around and sell them to Africans.  Jeans sell for about $5, shirts at $2 and shoes at $3.  Most people just can't afford new clothing, nor can they afford to buy more than one or two items of clothing that they wear until it is worn out. 

However....because cable TV has come to Kenya, girls are increasinly becoming more aware of fashion trends. Girls whose families are at a higher income level wear western fashions like bling jeans and tights with tunics.  I've even seen some of those shoes that zip up the back!

But just a couple of miles out of town, in the villages, women still dress in traditional clothing and wear only skirts, lesos and headscarves.   It's such a wild contrast that when I go to the villages, I feel like I'm traveling back in time. City mouse and Country mouse; it exists everywhere.

Barney comes to Kenya and Cindy dances up a storm

 Progress continues to steal (or steamroll) into Kakamega.  Barney has arrived.  The family I live with, who are better off than most, now have cable TV.  I’m in my room listening to “I’m a Little Teapot.” Yesterday it was reruns of Hawaii Five O.   It seems weirdly incongruous to my image of Africa. 

I also overhead Chris Mathews on MSNBC and caught up on the Hillary Clinton hearing, the conspiracy theorists and the newest fiscal cliff mess.  Too bad, I was really looking forward to a whole month of not hearing about the problems in the U.S.  Every time I come to Kenya, I’m reminded again how our problems are so inconsequential compared to the problems the people living in the villages face.  It's a never ending struggle to make just enough money for food the means for educating their children.  

 

  Cindy finished her visit with a presentation on reproductive health to a group of women and young mothers.  As you can see, the women really studied the pictures in the handouts Cindy provided. While most of the women know these things on a basic level, to see it explained through illustrations was eye opening.  Discussion about sex between mother and daughter is not common, so young girls rely on rumor and myth.    Unfortunately, they also rely on customs that have been accepted for generations…men refuse to use condoms and any resistance is met with domestic violence.  Therefore large families and the spread of HIV is a self-perpetuating cycle. The Kenyan government is currently promoting “family planning” but it is a tough sell.   

 

As Emma explained it; for women, who virtually have nothing, children are their most valuable asset. 

In 2011, the Chinese came into Kenya and are investing in and improving the country’s infrastructure.  They’ve brought lots of massive equipment and are constructing new major roads everywhere.  It’s a huge contrast to the manual labor I saw a few years ago where men and women were spreading gravel on the road by hand. Not surprisingly, the Chinese are the administration and supervisors; the Kenyans are the laborers. The Kenyans are extremely happy about the roads, but they are not happy that there are so many Chinese living here.  They are suspicious of their motives. I would guess they are looking to expand their exports to Kenya, most manufactured products already come from China.

Visitors to Kenya and Just One Person

As always, can't believe I'm back in Kakamega, Kenya again.  This is the 8th year I've come and it's starting to feel like home.

Cindy with a rain forest butterfly at the Kakamega Butterfly Farm

This year, Cindy Green, a registered nurse from Chico came with me to see what's up with Just One Person, to learn about Kenya and to meet some of the wonderful people here.  We've kept Cindy busy from morning till night, but she's enjoyed every minute and fallen in love with Kenya like so many people who visit do.  It's a challenge to come to Kenya with all the inconveniences, the crazy bumpy roads and seeing the poverty level, but the courage and positive attitude that people maintain here it awesome to experience.  When I'm here, I always stop and reflect on how lucky I am to, merely by chance,  live in such an affluent country.  I always come home with a sense of gratitude for all those things that make my life easy.

Kicking back while she eats...resting her back foot.

There's a long list of things that Cindy and I've seen and experienced during the last week.  After doing some sightseeing in Nairobi, including the elephant nursery, we took an 9 hour bus ride to Kakamega so Cindy could see the countryside and diversity of geography in Western Kenya.  Contrary to most people's image of Kenya, Western Kenya is mountainous, lush and abundant with growing crops.  We passed by tea plantations, plots growing corn everywhere there is a small space and the Rift Valley.  Kakamega receives a lot of rain and is located at about 5,000 feet.  It never really gets cold here, but the nights do cool off and are a relief from the heat.

One of the highlights in Kakamega has been visiting a Children's Health clinic located in rural Kenya and operated by a wonderful Swiss couple.  With funding from private foundations from Switzerland and Spain, they've built a clinic that treats children who suffer from severe malnutrition and infections resulting from jigger worms burrowing into their feet.  The children aren't malnourished because they don't have food, but rather they don't have nutritious enough food and because the women have babies often and close together so babies aren't breastfed for long enough.  The basic diet for rural families is black tea and ugali, which is a doughy dumpling made from corn flour and water.  It's very filling, but doesn't provide the protein children need for grow healthy.  The toll it takes on their bodies is evident...this little boy, once he had a full stomach, fell asleep immediately.  The children that are treated usually return to their families after about 2 weeks and then community health workers work with the moms to educate them and help them to provide more nutritious food.  That's easier said than done because so many household don't have ways to make even the $2 a day that they need to buy an egg or some vegetables.

On a brighter note, we also visited Shibuha School where Sylvia and Marion, two of our newest Just One Person participants are attending school.  They're sophomores this year and are very serous about taking advantage of JOP programs and doing well in school.  We're proud to report that of the 25 pioneers of JOP, 15 of them are currently attending colleges or universities. All of our JOP girls come from very poor homes. With this further education, these girls will not only be able to escape poverty themselves, but will also help their families to eat and go to school. 

Progress and change are slow in a program like Just One Person where eating always takes priority over education.  But girls who have participated in JOP will teach their daughters, neighbors and granddaughters and over time, many lives will be changed.  That's what keeps us motivated....knowing that by helping a small number of girls, the cumulative effect will create a lasting, sustainable change in many people's lives.