I'm settled into my small room at my host's house, Kelly Nelima.  The cat has come to lie on my bed to keep me company today. I like to think she remembers me from the other years (this is the 4th year I've stayed at Kelly's) but I think she just likes a soft bed and some attention. It is very nice to have animal company.  I'm sitting and having a cup of coffee, made from instant Starbucks which I always bring with me.  There is a small breeze so it's nice and cool with the windows open.  For the second year in a row,  it has been very hot and dry here but they are expecting rain soon.  I'm not sure the expectation is tied to a weather forecast, which seems unlikely, but more to a positive attitude in hopes of influencing the elements.

Kakamega is growing by leaps and bounds, literally.  There must be 4 or 5 new 4 story buildings.  Apparently several major universities have opened branches here. So in addition to the students at the local university,  Masinde Muliro,  there are students from all over the country taking classes at these local branches.  Also, several new banks have opened.  It occurred to me yesterday when I was at the bank with Emma, our Just One Person executive director, why credit is so important in developing countries.  People living in poverty have access to only a small amount of money at a time. They can't really save because there is a cultural tradition of giving money to relatives or other people when they ask. A bank  loan fills the gap when people need to pay for things like school tuition or new business inventory.  Then with the small money they make each day, they are able to pay the loan back over time. 

 

The banks aggressive loan marketing has practically replaced the micro finance institutions in town.  The largest micro finance institution here, K-REP has closed it doors after 10 years because they weren't able to create enough profits to support their business and the funding from their big donor ran out.  I think one of the major reasons for micro finance failures is that, compared to banks, the cost associated with administering MFI loans is high.  A micro finance officer must approve the loans, provide business training, and pursue collections by attending borrower meetings each week.  The bank solves this problem by being an uninvolved third party.

The newest thing in transportation in Kakamega is the motorbike, or piki piki. 

 

 Just an aside, it is funny that almost all of the modes of transportation in Kenya have names that include 2 identical words....piki piki, boda boda(bicycle that carries people on a seat on the back) and the tuk tuk(a three wheel scooter with a cab).  My guess is that the words approximate the sounds the vehicles make...

There are hundreds of guys with motorbikes in this small town.  They buy them using a bank loan that's secured by the motorbike.  I don't see how they are able to pay back the loan.  With so much competition, they take only a few passengers each day.  It would be interesting to know how many are surrendered to the bank when the loan is defaulted on.  My experience tells me that with so many banks in the loan business,  the piki piki owners do what many people do in such a situation.  They pay off the first loan by taking a new loan from a different bank, therefore deferring the payments over a longer period of time and racking up more interest expense.  The banks are making a pretty good profit from this scheme.

Each and every year that I come to Kakamega,  I have a better understanding of the intertwined relationship between poverty, economics and Kenyan cultural traditions.  I also am beginning to understand the Kenyans perspective on westerners and money.  Just like us, the only thing most people know about each other's countries is what they see on TV.  We think there are lions and snakes lurking outside of people's houses; the Kenyans think that westerners all live in very big houses and have an ATM account that never runs out of money.  Until we experience one another's cultures, those beliefs will undoubtedly persist.

See what we did during this year's 2012 Cultural Exchange.

This year four women from Chico accompanied me to Kenya in March to take a safari and visit the Just One Person program in Kakamega.

Naming Traditions in Western Kenya

The tribe living in Western Kenya is called the Luyha people.  The Luhya are the 3rd largest tribe out of 42 tribes in Kenya and each tribe has a distinct language, customs and traditions.  Even though people from different tribes now live in various parts of Kenya, the majority of tribe members live in the area they call their homeland, where the land has been handed down for generations. 

(While we might think that identifying people by tribe is ethnocentric and mildly pejorative, it's actually akin to saying that I am a Montanan or a Texan.  In the U.S. we primarily identify ourselves by where we were born even if our whole family doesn't live there.  Even though I've lived in California for 23 years, I always tell people that I come from Montana, where my family has deep roots going back to 1865.)

Today I learned about the Luyha tradition of naming their children. Emma Sisia Adolwa, our Just One Person Co-Founder and Director, is a member of the Luyha tribe. Emma's older brother and sister are twins, so her second name, "Sisia", means "one who is born after twins".

Her third name, "Adolwa", is her father-in-law's name and is very unique.  In Western Kenya, there is a superstition attached to a family who've had many children die as infants or toddlers. To trick the evil spirit who is responsible for the death of the previous children, the mother gives birth in a neighboring village and leaves the baby along the road.  Shortly after, someone from her village retrieves the newborn baby and brings it back to the mother's home. This makes the evil spirit believe that the baby is not the biological baby of the family, but an adopted child, thus protecting the health of the new baby. Emma's father-in-law was born under those circumstances.

Because of the naming tradition, when a Luyha learns a person's name, they are also learning import information about that person's birth.  There are hundreds of names with specific meanings in Luyha such as "one who was born at harvest", one who was born in the early morning", and "one who is born under a full moon".

Even though I don't know, I wonder if the name's meaning goes even deeper than simply implying the circumstances of a person's birth.  Perhaps each name also carries some sort of prediction about the child's future, like the belief that zodiac signs influence a person's personality or fortune.  For Mr. Adolwa, "one who was adopted",  it was the promise of a healthy and a long life.

Celebrating A Few Steps Forward for Girls in Kenya

11 girls convened for tea at the Just One Person office this week.  We are celebrating each girls success in passing the Kenyan Comprehensive Exam, which they took after graduation.

One of the highlights of the tea, for me at least, was having strawberry ice cream!  We bought it at a nearby supermarket and raced to the office on a motorbike to eat it before it melted.  It tasted so good, of course its made from really fresh cream and packed with calories...

Faith

The results of the Exam are used to determine 

where they can pursue further education and

which field they have qualified to study.  4 girls

have qualified for the University.  2 of the highest

scoring will qualify for government assistance. 

The other two can attend the University if they

can afford it.  

 

Razoha

The remaining seven can attend either junior
college or take classes that will qualify them for
junior college in the future.  Faith and Razoha
scored very high and it will be so gratifying to
follow their progress from this point forward.

One really revealing fact about how unique these 
results are is that only 9 or the 11 girls in JOP
have moms who graduated from high school.


Self help groups are an integral part of Kenyan society and have formalized procedures for their formation.  The guest speaker at the tea was a woman from the Social Services and Community Development Department who informed the girls about how they could come together and form their own group.  Once they have registered a group, they will be eligible for continuing counseling from the Department as they develop their projects and learn about entrepreneurship.  They'll also be able to take a small loan from the Government's Youth Fund that they can use to start their own project.

The girls were thrilled to learn about the opportunity and met shortly after the social worker left to decide about forming a group.  They voted unanimously to form a group which they named "Just One Person Pioneer Group".  These are the officers they elected to lead them.  They named three activities which they will begin with; bead making, braiding hair and the mushroom project.

Self help groups are taken very seriously here and I feel confident that all the girls will be active participants.  But more importantly they will be able to put into practice the skills they learned from the Just One Person life skills and entrepreneur classes they've attended the last three years.  They'll be challenged to work together as a group; to communicate openly, to follow the leadership of someone other than a teacher or parent, to allocate duties and do their part in making the group successful, to learn about running a business and record keeping and finally, managing their own finances and start saving.  This will be the ultimate test in how well JOP has prepared them to chart their own futures.

Sometimes it feels lonely

I don't feel much like writing today.  I just learned that my cat was hit by a car and died on Monday.  So, today I feel very far away.

Charlie was my daughter's "brought home from college" cat. We always called him Grey Kitty. He was born under her building and was the runt of the litter.  She was afraid he wouldn't find a home.  She knew we were soft hearted and would adopt him.

Grey Kitty was 13 and the last few years, he was having thyroid problems.  Twice each day, over his objections, we would rub a dose of thyroid medicine on his ear.  Ironically, the past few months, he had gained weight again was feeling perky and energetic again.

He liked hanging out with the cat across the street and coming home one night he didn't look both ways before crossing.  My husband buried him in our backyard.  Our family tradition is to remember our pets and the love they brought into our lives by planting a tree in our yard.

 I believe that all sentient beings come from star dust and return to star dust.  Through the goodness of our being, we contribute our spirit to ignite life again somewhere in the universe. 

So Grey Kitty, this is your new journey.  You will always live in my heart. 

Beside Every Successful Man, Stands a Successful Woman

This was the motto of the International Women Day's Baraza (celebration) that I attended at the village of Ikolomani.

The celebration was scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m., but didn't get underway until 12:00 African time.  Everyone here calls this "African time" because it refers to the loose interpretation of scheduled meeting times, which can be anywhere from the actual time up to three hours later.  In the villages in particular, life is so unpredictable that it is practically impossible to be on time.

The event finally kicked off when the honored women's group arrived.  They danced and sang as they made their way along the road, traveling from their village that is located several miles away. As they danced into the compound, the other women present, danced to meet them and a crazy melee of dancing ensued. I loved it, it was such a fun way to express my excitement and happiness for being with these women.  (Yes, I danced and let me tell you, white women can't dance in the African way....)
 

The singing and dancing was accompanied by a young guys' ragtag band consisting of a metal ring being knocked by a nail, a couple of handmade drums and a horn like the ones you hear at world cup soccer games.

The members of this women's group,  Mandeleyo ya Wanawake, is a group of widows, 75% of them are HIV positive.  You can see that they are primarily older women, so most likely they were infected by their husbands.  They sang about their experience of going to be tested for HIV so that they would know their status. Their courageous song encourages others to be brave and to be tested for HIV so that they'll also know their status.  While it's decreasing, there is still a very strong stigma attached to people who are HIV positive. Most people in the villages don't want to be seen going to the clinic be tested and very few people ever reveal the test results publicly.

The guest of honor was the District Commissioner, who treated with respect and honor.  Here's something I didn't quite get... to honor him, several of the older women, danced in front of him, shaking their booty his direction?  That somehow reminded me of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

There were many(meaning 3 hours) of speeches and presentations conveying the hopes, dreams and achievements for women in Kenya. The District Commission introduced the chiefs in the area.  I think that the word "chief" means elected village leader in the African context and doesn't have the same connotation as it does to us.  All the male chiefs were dressed in full British style military apparel and carried a baton tucked under their left arm.  When they were introduced, they goose stepped forward and gave a crisp salute.  This young woman is the only female chief in the district, she is a measure of great success for Kenyan women.

The Kenyan government is keenly aware of the pressure on African countries to be able to report they have met the U.N. Millennium Development goals in 2015, so there is a  spotlight shining on those programs that empower women.  Women are coming together in solidarity and men are joining them. In fact, as you can see, several of the male village elders joined the event as well.

I'm really proud that Just One Person is already providing programs that are empowering girls in Kenya. As more and more opportunities become available, rural girls like those participating in Just One Person, will recognize their abilities and step in to the shoes of women leaders in their country. I hope I will be fortunate enough to join them again in celebrating many more successes.

Join Me for a Day In Kakamega, Kenya....

Nothing but net

Saturday night bath in a bucket

The neighbors

The "Hood"

My ride

The Just One Person  Headquarters

Mwanaidi sewing up a storm

Goin' home

In spite of the lack of rain, Just One Person is growing

Even global warming changes are being felt here in rural Kenya.  It has been hot, dry and dusty and now people are praying for rain so they can plant their crops.  There are a few wispy clouds today so maybe it's on its way.  I'm thinking good thoughts.

In spite of the drought, Just One Person is starting to bloom.  11 girls graduated from high school in June and have just learned their scores for the Kenya Comprehensive Exam that all Kenyan graduates take at the end of their 4th year.  6 of the 11 JOP graduates scored high enough to qualify to attend university.   Razoha, on the left, scored very well and is interested in studying biotechnology.  Those girls who did not qualify have an opportunity to attend a type of "junior college" where if they perform well, they can move on to earning a Bachelor's Degree.  I was looking at the course catalog for Masinde Muliro University, the school located here in Kakamega.  They have an extensive list of bachelor's degrees that students can earn including Education, Physics, Nursing, Engineering, etc.  But they also offer some  interesting degrees really relevant to globalization.  Like Renewable Energy and Biofuels, Agriculture and Biotechnology, Disaster Management and International Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution and Humanitarian Assistance.  The course I'd really like to take is a 2 year degree in Ethics and Corruption studies.  Even though we don't like to admit it, Africa isn't the only place where corruption exists...

Emma Sisia, our Kenyan executive director is currently arranging internships for all of the graduates during this "gap year" before they can go on to school.  Mwanaidi is working with a university project that is developing mushroom farms in the community using a variety of mushroom species.  While she is receiving her training, we are building a mushroom growing hut near our office.  Emma has engaged a group of women who are experienced farmers to help run the project.  After recovering project costs, the proceeds from the sale of mushrooms will be used to support our core girls' empowerment programs for the 12 girls still in school.

Sylvia is participating in a project that grows spirulina bacteria.  The bacteria is used as a health supplement as well as in making soap and other products. Spirulina is a popular new technology in Kenya and there's a good market for the products.  I am not 100% sure how one grows bacteria, but I'm anxious to find out...

Emma is also assisting the 11 grads to form an official youth CBO(community based organization).  Once the group is registered with the provincial government, they will be eligible to take a small loan from the Women's Enterprise Fund and start their own project.  Having the girls work in small projects beforehand gives them the ideas and experience they'll need to decide as a group on what project they will develop.  This is such a great program for so many reasons..,, the girls have the valuable opportunity of working as a member of a team, they will learn about money management and practical entrepreneurial skills, and they will be earning small wages for their work, for the first time in their lives!

 The formation of the JOP Youth group embraces two of JOP core values; girls that have benefited from JOP programs are now giving back to the program in some small way.  In addition, profits from projects like this are a valuable starting point in reaching financial sustainability for future JOP programs.

P.S.  Here's a photo of a happy tree nursery customer.  She is standing by some of the 250 trees she purchased from JOP last year.

A Death in Kenya

Juliet Karmari's mother died unexpectedly last week in Ivola, a small village near Kakamega.  Her dad has been terminally ill, so it's really unfortunate that her mom passed away.  Juliet has been a member of our Just One Person family for the last 3 years and graduated from Kamoisi High School in December 2010.


During the last 5 years,  I've learned that death is a constant companion in most African countries.  In Kenya, the "average life span" is about 60.  But so many people die of common things before then....diabetes, childbirth, malaria, AIDS, malnutrition, and tuberculosis just to name a few.

Personally, at age 56, I've attended perhaps 5 funerals.  But for people living in Kenya, it is common to attend 5 funerals a month. It's evident how frequent death is when you see coffins displayed for sale along the roads. 

Most of the funeral activities take place at the family's house.  Usually, the deceased person is displayed in a coffin in the family's main room.  Relatives from all over, neighbors, friends and acquaintances come to visit and honor the deceased days before the funeral takes place.

A couple of years ago, I attended a visitation with a group of women who were the widow's friends.  The women brought sympathy cards and, when their turn came, the group sang several songs to console the woman.  For me, one of the most unexpected events during the visit was that each and every person who came gave a monetary donation to the deceased person's family. 

Tradition in Kenya dictates that the family provide lodging and food to all visitors who travel to attend the funeral.  As you can imagine, this is a difficult task for a family who is grieving, let alone an impossible financial responsibility. As a consequence, no matter how poor and short on cash, each visitor gives some amount of money. In essence, with so many funerals taking place, there is a kind of pot of funds that moves from one family to another as deaths occur.

While the event was sorrowful,  I saw that funeral customs are another powerful example of the commitment to being part of a community that makes life feel rich in rural Kenya, even though people have few material possessions.

Thanks to our donors, we were able to be a small part of that community by contributing  to the funeral fund for Juliet and her family.

Musings on Haiti and Non Profits

Last night on PBS, I watched a documentary about rebuilding Haiti after the earthquake. The devastating earthquake was the catalyst for bringing poverty stricken developing countries and the issue of foreign aid into the limelight once again. 

The Haiti documentary compelled me to consider my own participation in international development and to rethink the roles of NGOs(nongovernmental organizations) in developing countries.  It's an issue that I wrestle with frequently and I never really arrive at an answer that leaves me feeling comfortable or resolved.

A Little Background

Robert Perito of the United States Institute of Peace has called  Haiti "The Republic of NGOs". There are about 3,000 NGOs currently working in Haiti. However, Haiti isn't alone in its abundance of aid agencies. It was estimated that in the year 2000, there were 5,900 NGOs operating just in Africa....

For most people, foreign aid brings to mind either the UN or organizations operating as charities. However, there are a growing number of independent NGOs focusing on sustainable international development as an alternative to charity. What's the difference?  In general, a charity's mission is to ensure people are fed, housed and receiving medical care at no cost to the beneficiary.  Sustainable development, on the other hand, operates on the premise that developing countries need a strong economy that provides its citizens with jobs and the resources to buy those things for themselves.

What's the Issue?

My own internal conflict is fueled by the question of whether foreign based NGOs are helping or hurting the development of a country.  Are charitable programs that provide free services helping in the "right" way?  In  the case of natural catastrophes like Haiti's earthquake or the Asian tsunami, emergency food and medical care are unquestionably essential for saving lives.  But in the absence of a disaster, food and medical care are consumable goods that have to be replenished time and time again. 

As a response to this self perpetuating cycle of foreign aid, during the past decade, more NGOs have shifted their focus to investing in a country's private business sector with the belief that more jobs and more money circulating in the economy will provide the means for people to make and buy those items for themselves.   

Both models of are derived from heartfelt good intentions to help "less fortunate countries".  But like a parent who does everything for a child, is the unspoken message that the child isn't capable of doing for him or herself?

As the the founder of an NGO working in Kenya, these are the questions I ask myself;  Does the mission of our program reflect the needs of the community?  Is it relevant and working in harmony with the Kenyan culture?  Are we unconsciously implying that outsiders have better solutions to their problems? 

In the end, I'm left wonder.  Is it better to try in a mindful way to help those in need in developing countries? Or should we get out of the way and let developing nations find their own way forward? 

Further Reading:  White Man's Burden by William Easterly.

Development Creeps into Kakamega

Things are changing very quickly in Kakamega. It was a pretty rural town when I first came here in 2006, but I don't think that will last for long. There is a big new supermarket coming named Nakumat. It is a Kenyan chain, and even though I grapple with buy locally, having a lot more choices of kinds of food to eat will be really nice. They actually have put in a kind of shopping center, with other shops and a new modern restaurant. The restaurant has only been open a couple of weeks and they are still working out the kinks. They have a lot of interesting things listed on the menu but actually are only serving one thing, Kakamegan's favorite of chicken and fries.

There are also two new hotels with restaurants. I don't know who is investing in these places, but Kakamega's economy must be booming.

Boda Boda bicycles are slowly being replaced by motorbikes. They are a big status symbol here, are mostly bought on credit and are wildly dangerous. It's isn't uncommon to see 2 adult passengers or a family of 4 riding on one motorbike with no helmets. There have been some reports of fatal accidents, so I opt for the slightly safer boda bodas.

More young women and girls are wearing pants and I see an occasional mama wearing them too. There also more white people here than ever, so now I don't attract as much attention as I used too, or get approached to put their kids through school. I actually saw a father wearing a front baby pack today too....

There are also a lot more Masai living in Kakamega...those are the people that are the classic icon of Africa that you see pictures of. They are used to toursits and charge an arm and a leg to take their picture. Several are living near me on the govt water project in a makeshift hut. They have been hired as security.

Masai are renowned as fierce warriors so they are highly valued as security. I heard one story about a Masai who was told to not open the gate for anyone after a certain hour at night. One night, the owner came home late and the Masai totally refused to open the gate for him. Yesterday, someone told me that the Masai had caught a their and beat the thief up and almost cut his leg off.

I love Kenyan politics. Just like in the US, there always seems to be a big corruption crisis. Right now, the prime minister(who was appointed after losing a rigged election) suspended a cabinet minister for alleged corruption and the president was reportedly absolutely furious, of course because the minister was one of his cronies. Kenya is such a small country, that everyone is personally involved with the news, just like it was one big city....lots of talk about how bad the government does.

The pet chicken who has been sneezing is here begging for food and getting into everything so I need to chase her out.

The Tree Nursery

The road to the JOP Tree Nursery is beyond explanation....it's made from red clay and when it rains, it is molded liked putty by anything travelling over it. Due to the excess of rain during January, it was the worst I have ever seen. Holes and ruts at least 3 feet deep that expose volcanic boulders that litter this area. In Peter's 4 wheel drive, which is much worse for the wear, our driver bumped and careened and picked his way to the nursery. It is hard to tell how far the actual distance is, but the journey takes about 30 minutes of bone jarring travel.

Karen, Cathy and Billie were overwhelmed and delighted as the 27 members of the Ematende women's group greeted us as we drove up. There were Kenyan high fives and hugs and laughing that made us feel immediately welcome and like special guests. Then, in customary Kenyan fashion, they sang a welcome song and we all danced our way further down the road to the nursery site.

Our program coordinator has done a wonderful JOP in organizing and developing the nursery. It is located on a quarter of an acre and marked into 4 quadrants. The group has erected a barbed wire fence around the plot to try to keep the goats and chickens out and planted mulberry bushes around the perimeter to use for silk worm farming, a project they will start developing in the future.

The trees are all indigenous species that are in high demand in Kenya. The seeds are planted in raised seed beds and covered with makeshift thatch roofs to keep them out of the sun. Once the trees sprout, they are transplanted by hand into short, black tubes filled with soil and placed under an awning made from sticks and more banana and palm leaves. Currently, there are four thousand! trees under production and will be the right size to harvest and sell by March. Each quadrant will be developed the same way over the next few months so eventually there will be 16,000 trees growing in the nursery on this one small plot of land.

The Ematende women's group provides the labor paid for by JOP. There are 3 teams of 9 women and each group works one week on a rotating a basis. They plant seeds, transplant seedlings and water the trees morning and evening. We haven't bought a water catchment tank yet so the women must carry jerry cans from the river to do the watering. Its an enormous amount of work.

As a benefit, the Ematende women's group was trained by the forest department to identify trees and collect seeds that they can sell for personal income. JOP has also given them a small supply of seedlings so that they can start their own mini tree nurseries at their homes.

What is really unusual about this project is that the profit earned by the labor of these women is being used to support girls that are total strangers to them, not relatives. This is a very rare occurrence in Kenya where true philanthropy has yet to catch on....

Needless to say, other women in the village and surrounding villages have noticed and are now looking for ways to participate. Once we have the Ematende group established, we are hoping to be able to scale up with other groups using land donated or leased free of charge by a local family. Just the visibility of such a enterprising project inspires and motivates the other village women to start their own small businesses....a wonderful by product of our JOP activities. It is through these small projects that we hope to start to change cultural beliefs about the role of girls and women in Kenya...it expands our impact far beyond the boundaries of our non formal education activities for the 25 girls currently participating in the program.

Sustainable development and true change never takes place in a void. Creating the network and support systems such as these are an integral part of the work of JOP in Kenya

Watching JOP Grow

We visited JOP girls and school staff members at Muslim Girls' School and Bishop Sulemeti Girls' School today. We arrived like a "flock of mzungus" and caused quite a stir among all the girls.

We had a great meeting with the JOP girls. They've become more comfortable visiting with strangers and were pretty chatty. Overall the girls are working hard at school. Our focus at JOP isn't for girls to get straight A's, but to improve their performance and work to their personal best. When we asked them about their favorite subject they mentioned a variety...math, chemistry, kiswahili, a course called Christian Religious Education(or Islamic Religious Education at Muslim Girls') and home science. 2 JOP girls have the honor of being number one in their class in math and science.

7 girls are seniors this year and are "candidates" for taking the Kenya Nation Exam in October of 2010. They are required to attend boarding school during their senior year and to forgo playing sports so they can focus all of their attention on studying for the exam.

How well they score on the exam will determine what choices they have after graduation. Those who score well are chosen to attend University with reduced tuition, the next tier can attend university at their own expense and lastly, those who don't qualify for university can choose to go to a variety of two year schools to get a certificate in business management, computer science, social work, etc.

The girls won't get their exam scores until 2011 so won't begin their post secondary activities until 2012. They will still be participating in JOP during this "gap year" in various activities. Some will intern at various businesses and learn how to dress for work, be on time, communicate with others and so on. A few girls will be volunteers with JOP and will work with the younger JOP girls as presenters and counselors. They will also be starting village JOP groups for younger girls from ages 10-14. This will give girls in the villages a motivation to stay in school and a headstart for when they enter high school.

Our JOP mission is to use JOP as an agent of change for improving the status of women and girls in the villages. We emphasize to the girls that one of their responsibilities is to give back to their communities, to be a good role model and to share the knowlege they are gaining through their participation in JOP. I'm really pleased to see that this is happening and that the girls take their responsibility seriously. With their help, we will be able to expand the impact of our program and to continue to build a Kenyan owned project.

On Safari

What a treat! I've returned to Kenya with some friends from Chico, Karen Goodwin, Billie Kanter and Cathy Webster. Our trip is a combination of a safari and a visit to our Just One Person project in Kakamega. Believe it or not, this is my first tourist visit to anywhere outside of Western Province in Kenya. I am seeing some new country that I wasn't even aware of and I feel very privileged and overwhelmed. Although the landscape is unfamiliar, the friendliness of the Kenya people is the same everywhere we travel.

We are visiting the area around Mt Kenya, which is the granite peak you see here. It is about 17,000 feet high and a pretty popular climbing destination. We stayed in a lodge at the base of Mt. Kenya and aside from the elephants running across the road, the trees were pine. The Mountain Lodge is located on the edge of a watering hole and every room looks out at it, so it is simply a matter of relaxing in the room and waiting for the animals come to drink, which they do in some previously agreed upon schedule. First the waterbucks, then the water buffalo and finally the elephants. It is very surreal to see these animals appear magically out of the underbrush. According to our foodie, Karen, the food is absolutely wonderful. There is a great deal of variety including baked arrowroot, green grahams, fried chicken gizzards, and ugali of course.

After Mountain Lodge, we descended to what I guess is called the savannah. We drove for about 60 miles through very dry and scrubby fields and then came to Sweetwater Nature Conservancy which is an oasis in the midst of them. Apparently, the previous two years have been a drought but January was very rainy and so everything is lush and green and there are rivers running through the Conservancy with very shy hippos in them. This is a tented lodge, like you have seen in Out of Africa, and once again the luxurious tents sit right at the edge of a big water hole where all kinds of animals come to drink, wart hogs, giraffes, gazelles, elephants, crane birds, and more wart hogs. Actually Karen has dubbed them "hogworts".

We've taken 3 game drives in a pop up van and the wildife is more abundant than I can describe. We have seen what they call the big five....lion, cheetah, water buffalo, hippo and rhino plus many many other species like the mongoose, oryx and more wort hogs. The animals are somewhat accustomed to people in vans, kind of like the bears in Yellowstone, so we are privileged to see them at close range for the most part. My favorites were the lions, who were a male and female mating as you see in the photo here and the cheetah mother and young young who were hunting this morning. They stalked several zebras and gazelles for quite a long time and the young one took a training run at a gazelle but wasn't successful. All of the animals were very alert and aware of the cheetahs presence so it was tough going.

We also visited a chimp sanctuary founded by Jane Goodall here. Chimps aren't native to Kenya so they are all chimps who have been pets that were rescued or have been born in the sanctuary despite of the use of birth control. They have been so damaged as previous pets or captives so they won't ever be released into the wild and therefore the sanctuary is trying to keep the numbers limited. If anyone is interested, you can adopt a chimp for one year for $6000USD.

The next stop is Kakamega and a visit to the JOP program. I think the Chico women will see a different side of Kenya there, as it is much more rural and densely populated. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing our Kenya partners, the JOP girls and my Kenyan friends.

Chicken #1 has two new friends

We visited several more JOP girls’ homes in the villages today. I felt like my Granny Yates must have in 1865 crossing the prairie in a covered wagon. Yesterday it rained heavily and there were mud holes and lakes in quite a few spots on the road. On our way to the villages we passed some mysterious shops…there was the Long Wait Shop, across the street from The Salvage Hotel and next to the Victorious Butcher.

As you can see, chicken #1 has two new friends. The generosity of people who have so little is simply overwhelming. Chickens that are kept by rural families represent money in the bank and are not for eating. In case of an emergency, the family will be able to sell the chicken for cash to pay unexpected expenses. That makes giving a chicken a pretty big sacrifice.

Today, we visited one of the poorest families I have met in Kenya. It was almost more than I could bear. Mwanaidi’s father, who is about 35 years old, recently had a stroke. He is almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak. He used to be a mnamba, one of the guys responsible for drumming up business for the matatu taxis. He has 2 wives and 10 children plus his mother to support and there is literally no money. The mom and 5 children live in a one room mud walled house by the side of the road. It’s furnished with a wooden couch and a single mattress in the corner covered by mosquito netting. The grown children sleep on burlap bags on the concrete floor. Every single piece of clothing they were wearing was torn and ripped.

6 moths ago, the mother gave birth to twins. Carolina was significantly smaller than average but she was able to sit up on her own. She was running a high fever but otherwise looked like she was thriving. The little boy, Hussein, was the size of a one month old baby and he was very very sick, he could barely cry he was so weak. They have no money for a doctor or medication. Most likely the baby will die soon. Incredibly, in spite of all these hardships, the mother seemed happy and never complained about her difficulties.

Every one of these families has experienced bad luck. It seems like they just get on their feet and another tragic incident arrives on their doorstep. Sepeta’s father drove a tractor for the sugar cane factory. While working one day, it turned over and broke his left arm to pieces. He was employed as a “casual worker” and therefore no one was responsible for his medical bills. He told us that he feels very lucky that he is alive and believes that the accident meant that God must have another plan for him. Our JOP girl is in actuality his niece, both of her parents died of AIDS. She is one among 6 or 7 other orphaned children he and his wife have raised in addition to their own children.

When we hear the statistic regarding how people in Kenya live on $1 a day, it can be very misleading. Most Kenyans have enough land to grow maize and vegetables to feed their families, even if it is very little. What they lack is a way to generate the $1 a day they need to buy other essentials like soap, lard, tea, sugar and to pay doctor bills. So were pleased to see that, when we visited their homes, many families have taken the information they learned at the JOP parents’ training camps very seriously and have implemented the new ideas. 2 families have planted passion fruit that can be sold as a cash crop. The 17 year old girl who acts as Bridgette’s “stepmother” learned to roast peanuts and sold them at the market.

So, happily, Just One Person is making a small difference somehow. It is a much bigger dream than we originally envisioned.

Our programs not only support the girls in school, but we are also working to change the beliefs and traditions within Kenyan families that are obstacles to their achieving self sufficiency. So while it is difficult to seemingly ignore the dire circumstances that people must live with, our Kenyan partners and I believe that our resources must go to projects that will ultimately help people feed, clothe and education their families. Knowledge and encouragement are valuable contributions to the JOP young women and their families. It brings the gift of self esteem and self reliance to people who have, by relying on foreign aid, come to believe they are not able to do for themselves. We hope that as time passes, our JOP girls and their families will start to believe that “yote yawazekana”….everything is possible.

They call a chicken kuku in Kiswahili

Even though Kakamega is a small commercial center, you don’t have to go very far from the main road to find yourself in a Kenyan village with no electricity and no running water. Many people, even in the villages located within walking distance of Kakamega, have never been to town and will live their whole life within a small radius of their village.

Yesterday we visited the homes of some of the girls who are participating in Just One Person. Luckily, we had access to a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Not only are the “main roads” into the interior riddled with pot holes and big rocks, but the path leading to one family’s shamba was just a bike path bordered on both sides by heavy shrubbery. The driver wasn’t concerned and we just drove through whatever was there, sometimes with the car leaning precariously to one side.

Visiting the girls’ homes paints a complete picture of what challenges the girls face as they are growing up. You can see how big the family is by how many small children are running around in the yard, whether the family owns a cow, how far the girls must walk to get water, if the family has enough land to grow vegetables or maize or kale and how far she has to walk to get transportation to school, which sometimes can be 2 or 3 miles.

We’re always honored guests when we visit and each family has its own story to tell. While visiting one of the Monica’s grandfathers, a very short, old, wrinkled Mama literally danced and sang as she entered the house to express her happiness at having visitors. The grandfather was almost completely blind with cataracts in both eyes. There were many women in the house during the visit, because the family practices polygamy so both Monica’s Dad and Grandfather had multiple wives. Unfortunately, polygamy is one of the cultural issues that perpetuate poverty in western Kenya. It gives rise to too many mouths to feed and educate and, when resources are available, they are always allocated to the boys first, and the girls are taken care of with whatever is left.

Lydia’s parents were both dead leaving her oldest brother in charge of providing for the entire family which included his mother, his own wives and family, his little brothers and sisters and his grown sisters who are widows. He worked very hard at making bricks by hand from clay dirt he had dug from a big swimming pool size hole in his yard. Even with that, he still struggles every day to put food on the table and it is rarely enough.

In spite of the hardships, Kenyans can be the most generous people in the world. We didn’t leave a single house empty handed. We were given maize, beans, avocados and a live chicken, that you see me holding in the photo. I think it was some kind of test to see if I could manage a mean live chicken which I thankfully passed. Poor chicken, they tied his feet so we could put him in the back seat and all during the ride home, he kept flapping his wings and jumping up to escape. The chicken lives temporarily at Emma’s house, at least until he is invited for dinner.

We were also given ¼ of an acre of land on Monica’s family land…..this is land that has been in the family for generations and passed down from father to son for centuries. I was so moved by the gesture and the appreciation the family has shown to JOP for the opportunity given to their daughter. It made me think about what our values are around education in the US?

At all these villages, the small children had never seen a white person or a picture of a white person before, especially one wearing glasses. Most of them were afraid that I was a “jinn”, their name for a ghost. I tried to greet a group of about 5 kids and two of them started crying and the rest ran away. Geez, I hope I didn’t give them nightmares. They are still wondering if I had lost my blood, or was I sick or was I a monster? A couple of weeks ago, a small child asked me what color my blood was. I wish I could assure her that not only is everyone’s blood is red; we all share the same blood regardless of our skin color.

Istanbul, Turkey...Home of the Turkish Carpet

Istanbul was never really on my list of places to see before I die and now I am wondering why. I am only here by happenstance....thanks to the generous donation of United miles from my friend Beverly, I am flying to Nairobi via Istnabul this time. It seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up, so I arranged to stay for a couple of days to sightsee. In short, it is an astounding place and I would really love to not only come back to Istanbul again, but to tour the entire country. The history is so important to the western world. And it is wonderful to put places to all the names....Marco Polo, Constantine, Justinian, Persia, Tarsus, Epheseus, Ottoman, the list goes on. The country has been conquered and reconquered so many times, it didn't become a country in its own right until 1923! The population is 99% Muslim now, where once it was the seat of Christianity.

The city of Istanbul is very modern and westernized, a stark contrast to the dominance of Byzantine architecture. The old city streets are very narrow, winding and cobblestoned. The city sits on a small hill that overlooks the Bosphorous and the view makes it exceedingly clear why this was one of the most sought after port cities in the world, it really is a crossroads to the world.

Yesterday, I saw the Blue Mosque, famous for its interior decoration using blue tiles called "izik" tiles. The word turquoise is the French word for turkish blue and he color is ubiquitous and symbolic color in Turkey. I also visited Hagia Sofia, a church built by Justinian about 1300 years ago. Constantine built the first christian church on that location in about 300 AD, but it and another church burned down so now in its place is the Hagia Sofia. Since, for all practical purposes, no Christians live in Istanbul, it is now used as a concert hall. The huge wooden doors are said to have been made from wood brought down from the Ark on Mt. Ararat. Another set of doors were made in Tarsus, the home of the apostle Paul. The stone floors in all the mosques and churches are worn to a smooth, soft finish from so many bare feet treading on them for hundreds of years.

I also learned that flowers have particular significance in Turkey. The flower of Allah is the tulip because in Arabic script, the name Allah resembles a tulip. The rose is the flower of the Prophet Mohamed. These flowers are growing all over the city and not only make the city scenically beautiful, but also integrate faith into the residents' daily lives.

I love hearing the call for prayer all throughout the day. Live muezzins have been replaced by recordings broadcast over loudspeakers, but the calls from every mosque are synchronized and penetrate the city noises. The final call for prayer is timed with sundown and as a result, changes each day. Kakamega, where I live in Kenya, is located on the equator which means sundown never changes and therefore, the call for prayers from the mosque there remains constant all year.

My guide said she frequently is asked the question about how Turkish people feel about Americans. Thankfully, the people here have separated the Bush political choices from the American people's integrity and don't hold the average American responsible for the chaos we've created in the middle east nor do they beleive we see Muslims as part of the axis of evil. In my short experience here, I've found the people extremely friendly and accomodating and the men are respectful of women. In the city, all the women wear pants and I've only seen a few women in burkha. Fundamentalist Islamic women who do wear pants, also wear beautifully patterned headscarves and the current fashion seems to be to wear a type of belted raincoat over their clothes.

Finally, this is a city of COMMERCE. From its inception, tourism and trade have been the industries of Istanbul and there are shops and shops and shops everywhere. They are selling carpets, jewelry, leather coats, blue beads, belly dancing costumes, pillows, spices, tea, antiques, books, lamps, pashmina shawls, silk scarves, handbags, spinning tops, wooden flutes, hookahs, and of course the list could go on for pages. How in the heck do these people sell all these things???? Wait, this is a port city and that means cruise ships! Can you imagine people getting off cruise ships in 495 AD and coming to Istanbul to shop? I am pretty sure it happened. Marco Pollo was probably the first guy ever to shop till he dropped...

Food

4/25/08

I give up. I want green chile enchiladas, I want pizza, I want steak, I want ice cream……The list is endless. People always ask what I eat in Kenya. The answer is pretty much the same thing day after day. Because Kenya was a British colony, the food is distinctly British. Chicken and tilapia are the only meat I eat, and with rice or French fries. Everything is bland, without spices. Most meals include ugali, the Kenyan’s favorite food. It is made from corn flour and water boiled together until it forms a type of a dense dumpling. It doesn’t have any taste to me and its main purpose is to fill your stomach. It is always accompanied by the staple Kenyan vegetable which is called sukuma wiki, or kale as we know it. I never realized before living in Kenya how much I like being able to choose something different to eat every day and how much I look forward to eating. For people here, meals are just a function of life and don’t have any other significance. I want tortilla chips, I want strawberries, I want…….

My brother Greg asked me once why I want to go back to Kenya. I guess it is like participating in a marathon or an Outward Bound course. It is a personal challenge to adapt and learn about living in a culture so different from ours and I feel that I grow as a person every time I am here. Having backpacked and camped for all my life has been the best preparation for coping with the inconveniences of the living conditions. Nothing has prepared me for learning to relate and communicate in a culture that is so different form ours. It is a challenge I face every day. This week I have visited a couple of places where, literally, the children have never seen a white person or even the image of a white person. They get so excited, I can hear them shouting to the other children, “come and see, there is a white person”. They all crowd around to shake my hand and greet me in the Kenyan fashion. Some of the children are too frightened and just stand back and stare at me. They are all very very poor. They are wearing tattered, dirty clothes from playing in the dirt, and none of them wear shoes. There is garbage disposed of everywhere and the houses are long concrete blocks with rooms on either side of an indoor hallway. Each family of 6,8,10 people lives in one room. The children will live their entire life in an area of about 3 square blocks.

As always, I am plagued by doubt if there is any big enough and long lasting solution for fighting poverty. It is like digging a hole in the sand, the hole gets to a certain depth, and then the side of the hole collapses and the sand falls back in again. My friend and mentor, Peter Ingosi, has dedicated his whole life to working on solutions here. He inspires me to be focused on doing what I can and hanging on to the faith that it will make a difference. That is when I repeat to myself for the millionth time, if I can help just one person then I will have succeeded.

No electricity and no water

No electricity and no water. People sigh and say, “Yes, the water is a problem”. The dogs are even howling in the daytime. I am hurrying to get this written before my computer battery dies. I might have to resort to writing by hand…..

There has actually been no water in the town of Kakamega since I arrived. The people I am renting from have been either bringing water from somewhere, I think probably from the river near town because it looks cloudy, or saving rain water. However, today, there is not even water in the storage containers. The down side is that we are using the outdoor pit latrine because there is no water to service the inside toilet…

Several people have complained that they are still getting bills from the water company and are expected to pay. The rumor circulating is that the water company owes the electric company 14 million shillings (60 shillings for $1, you do the math) for its services, so the electric company has shut off the power until the bill is paid. That means that even the management at the power company doesn’t have water in their own houses. When it rains cats and dogs, which is does frequently as Kakamega is located on the edge of a rain forest; everyone rushes outside with collection containers to save water. The unfortunate thing is that studies done here have shown that the rainwater is impure and not safe to drink, so people get sick from using it if they don’t purify it first. Yesterday’s paper reported 11 cases of cholera and there is serious concern about an outbreak. Don’t worry; mzungus drink Dasani, the only sure source of pure water here.

I’ve developed a great system for bathing in a skimpy 2 gallons of water in a plastic basin. I lather my hair, get myself wet, soap up, rinse off with a washrag, pour some refreshing water over my head and rinse my hair. Oh, and then I wash my underwear. The laundry ladies here do not do underwear. Anyway, when I take a bath, I realize how much water we waste in the US taking those long luxurious showers. But man I sure miss the shower and I don’t think I will be converting to the bath in a basin method anytime soon.

The reality is that everyday life in Kenya takes time and planning, it is sprinkled with inconvenience and uncertainties, and requires flexibility and a make do spirit. The simple fact that people here live without the expectation that things will go smoothly or be easy results in a pace of life that is so relaxed and people centered. The genuine stress that plagues poor Kenyans is generated by the struggle to earn enough small money each and every day to feed and educate their families.

I guess my rhetorical question is this; if we have enough money in the US to eat and educate our children, why are we so stressed?

Kenya observer

Today I love living in Kenya (not all days are like that). I’m travelling to Kisumu by matatu this morning. The matatu Nissan van is equipped with 14 seats for passengers, but it’s not officially full until there are 20 or 21 people crammed in, the unlucky passengers have to crouch between the seats in the narrow aisle. Boarding schools started their school break today so there are herds of girls in groups trying to catch a matatu home to their villages. Each girl is wearing a school uniform that identifies her as a student of that school. The uniforms are an array of colors, bright blue, forest green, gray, brown and maroon. They are wearing a white blouse, sweater or sweater vest, skirt, white anklets and black shoes. Some are required to wear ties. All have a number 2 haircut as required by the schools.

Really, I can’t emphasize enough the terrible conditions of the road between Kakamega and Kisumu. The potholes are so numerous and deep that it looks like it has been bombed. The matatus customarily drive very fast, not only so they can get to their destination and pick up another load of paying passengers, but also because the widespread belief is that by driving fast, the vehicle just skims over the holes and causes less wear and tear on the car. The whole matatu rattles and sways. The window next to me doesn’t latch and regularly rattles open so I hold it shut. Thank God for the numerous speed bumps that have been installed. We speed up to them, put on the brakes, crawl over them and then accelerate until the next one we encounter. I think riding matatus in Kenya has taught me more about not being in control than any other experience in my life. A day you arrive safely in a matatu is a good day.

Today there are numerous police check stations. The first few we breeze past with just a small bribe to the police officer for our infraction of the rules. But we are halted at a check station that is manned by two women police officers who mean business. On of them surveys the crowded matatu and begins ordering the extra passengers off, insisting that they catch the next matatu coming along. She grills the driver, asks to see his license and they move off to the side to discuss business. Shortly, the police officer returns and orders everybody out of the vehicle, announcing that this vehicle is under arrest. Uttering a weak protest, the passengers climb out and we stand by the side of the road, wondering how we are going to get a ride with all the matatus stuffed to the gills. The driver is arguing his case vehemently with the police officer across the road and after a few minutes, heads back to the matatu, tells us to get back in and we continue on our way. Apparently this particular police officer was holding out for something much bigger than “something small”, which is the customary price of a bribe. It is inexplicable, the matatu conductor will be forced the next run to take excess passengers to make up for the cost of the bribe, perpetuating unsafe travel conditions on the Kenyan roads.

Travelling Kenyan highways in the morning means being a spectator of the entire gamut of Kenyan lives. People simply live, work, play and socialize their lives outdoors and in public. Here is what I see:

-unaccompanied young children in groups of 3 or 4 walking on the dirt path along side the road, the oldest, about 8 years old, is carrying an infant on his back

-mamas in the traditional village dress, the kanga, carrying bundles of just about everything on their heads

- men digging holes by hand

-women hoeing fields of maize, potatoes, sugar cane

-vendor’s wooden stalls mile after mile, selling every type of commodity; tomatoes, onion, potatoes, mitumba, household goods, tea, sugar, cheap watches, hats, single bic pens, coffins

-hundreds of idle boda boda drivers

-people repairing bikes, tires, cars, motor bikes, shoes

-people sitting, people leaning, people laying on the ground, people walking on paths that have been worn into the countryside for generation after generation

There are crops growing in every clearing. It’s a hard thing for me to get my head around. As Americans, we have lived in our country for less than 500 years. The Kenyans have been depending on this land for thousands of years to provide for them and yet, it still continues to sustain them, a verdant green ecosystem that supports people, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chicken, dogs, cats and multiple types of trees, birds and plants. The uninterrupted connection to the land over eons is the undeniable birthright of every Kenyan, defining their place in the world. If I were a Kenyan with such deeply planted roots in this land, I would ferociously defend my claim to it.