Running in Kenya

Knowing that my 'running in India' stories were always such a big hit, I thought I'd write today about my first jogging experience in Kenya. One might think that running is popular here, especially since Eldoret is actually very close, but.....not so much in the village.

Now that I know the roads around my house a little better, I thought I would venture out for some running. First of all, everyone at the project site commented that I looked very sporty....I think because I had pants on, and it's pretty rare for females to wear pants here. Before I'd even left the project site, I was asked to jump up and down. I obliged, which the older ladies thought was pretty funny. After that I headed out on the open road. Basically everyone I saw was yelling 'mzungu habari, mzungu habari' so I was pretty much constantly saying mzuri, mzuri in response. Similar to India, I also had many moterbikes and bicycles stopped to ask if I needed a ride, I must be in a rush. The best comment I got though, was an older lady who actually stopped me to ask 'what is wrong!!'. It was pretty funny.

I am going to try and run pretty regularly here, my friend Rose has even promised to come join me. We have set up a fitness plan and if all goes well, I should be in pretty good shape by the time I get back. There isn't tons to do in the evenings, so we have been doing some yoga after dark in our house.

I am also thinking of starting a little run club at the high school nearby. Amanda, the director suggested it because she had heard of a run club that a volunteer from another project had started that was actually pretty popular. It turn into a youth group of sorts, and quite a few girls were interested. If it gets going, we might also combine it with some aids awareness workshops or other education events as well. Amanda has also suggested setting up a soccer league for some of the young people in the community as well. I think she was even approached by a friend who is interested in donating some old jerseys if we get it going! I have already bought a soccer ball in town to play with, which has made me pretty popular. Most kids use an 'african football', which basically consists of foam from old cushions or paper, wrapped in old plastic bags and tied with twine. Here is a picture of it.



I also have a few images to add that I mentioned in earlier posts....

This is a photo of Bungoma. Bungoma is the larger place close to here..... it's not huge, but I do find myself coming here pretty often to buy supplies and things.



And this is Harambe, it is the smaller town closer to where I am. There is an internet cafe here so I do find myself here pretty often. Here is a picture I took when I came for market day.....this is where all my food comes from!



Here is a picture for Sachin. I was telling him about how I walk to an even smaller market nearby and pay 10 Ksh to get my phone charged, he thought it was pretty funny so I have included a picture. He plugs the phone in, then gives you a receipt and you come back in an hour to pick it up.


That's about it for now. We have a new volunteer coming today. She is from Wales and it staying for six weeks. As of right now I am the only mzungu volunteer, so it will be nice to have her here helping!

My Biggest Challenge in Kenya

Hello Everyone,

Today I wanted to tell everyone about some of the other things that are going on with the project. First though, I will attempt to describe what I think will be my greatest challenge here. It might sound obvious to us, but the concept of making a project self-sustaining is difficult to get across. Unfortunately, past foreign aid to Kenya has created a culture of dependency here. People will see mzungus and think that they have come to bring money. For example, we were discussing a tailoring training program that has some great potential. The concept would be that the tailoring teacher can teach the students to make either school uniforms, items which can be sold in the market or even items which could be sold outside of the country (Amanda, the director has a shop in Canada which sells African handicrafts). I was discussing the project with the local people here and trying to figure out how much it costs to purchase the materials to make the items vs how much they can be sold locally at the market. We were talking about petticoats, they told me the different materials they needed to purchase, which I added up to 190 shillings and when I asked how much they are sold for, I was told 130 shillings. Hmmmm.....something wrong here. When I was pointing this out to them, they said ' wow, we can tell that you are very good at business'. Oh boy! I'm not too sure about this part, but I think that in the past they have had donations to purchase materials and therefore they hadn't accounted for that cost. It sounds pretty obvious, but for some reason here it's not always clear to everyone. If I ask why a project has failed, the typical answer is that they stopped receiving donations or that the donation that they did receive ran out.

So....I think the biggest challenge is to figure out how projects can be self sustaining. I would like to see any donation money used towards projects that will be able to function independently of donations in the future.

In saying all of that, the locals do have some great ideas, which I really think have some real potential. As I mentioned, They would like to have a tailoring school, in the past they did have a little school going, but it hasn't been running for a couple of years. In the past they had received the sewing machines as a donation, so they even have the equipment to get started.
I am working with them to set up a plan for items they would like to make. They already have a teacher, who has agreed to a salary that will consist of a portion of any profits from the school. Another thing I am working on is setting up a system of follow up for the project. I am going to be visiting past students of the school to see what they are doing now, whether their training has made a difference in their lives.

Another project that has some potential is a brick-making school. Amanda, the director has told me that she does think that there is a market for this. I haven't done too much research into this project, but it is on my to-do list.

There is also an interest in some small scale farming. They have the land to use for the project site if they want to, and there is even a good well on the project site for water. With this project, I am hoping to help them set up a sort of agriculture educational centre for the community. There are other ngos in the area working on agriculture, so I am hoping to talk to them about what has been working in the area.

These are the main things I have been working on, there are many many other projects in the area that I haven't even touched.....like fish farming, poultry projects, dairy or a tree nursery.
I will look into those things in time though.....

I think I've pretty much written a novel for you guys today, I hope you are still reading, despite the lack of pictures.

I will post some pictures soon. I am planning on doing a little segment on food so that I can tell you about what I have been eating and how it is prepared.

Bye for now!

Tumaini Kids!

Hello Everyone!

I had no idea how refreshing a cold grape fanta could be until today. I was volunteering at the school this morning and after school I walked into town to the cyber (internet cafe). It was a warm one outside (but don't worry mom, I had my sunscreen on), I was pretty hot by the time I arrived here....but now I am sipping a cold fanta.

It's funny what things become luxury items here in Kenya. On Friday, I had a most luxurious day.... I slept in until 7 am to start with, ate a fried egg for breakfast with coffee (a latte technically since it was made with fresh milk!), then Rose warmed water over the jiko (stove) for a sponge bath. I felt I was in the lap of luxury! After that I made my way into town to do some work. There are lots of things I am working on which require a computer and internet, so I find myself heading into town fairly often.

I will elaborate on my other work later. For now, I wanted to show you some pictures of the super cute kids at the school.

This is a photo of the class I am helping. And no, they aren't crowded in for the photo. This is their class room and they are just waiting for class to start. Crazy isn't it? Since taking this photo, they have gotten two tables and about half the kids have chairs. They are working on getting tables and chairs for all the kids. I think it will be much easier for the kids to learn to write when it's on a table instead of their lap!


They have a big piece of plywood that they have painted black to make a chalkboard. The kids are learning the alphabet here, they point at it with a stick and have the other kids repeat after them. When they do a good job, the teachers says 'mpigie makofi' which means 'clap for him/her'. The kids all clap and sing this song in english 'well done, well done, try again another day, a very good girl/boy'. While they are singing the student at the front will dance. It is so funny to see! I have heard this coming from many other classes and schools, so I think it is some kind of standard thing across Kenya!



I know that teachers aren't supposed to play favorites, but I figure since I am not officially a teacher I am allowed. This little girl is one of my favorites! Her name in Winny-Dorkas, and she is always smiling and shyly asking me for help.



This little guy is another favorite. He likes to yell the answers as loud as he can. I am working on teaching him to say 'This is a...'. He constantly says 'piece piecea...' and I can't seem to get him to get it right. Work in progress I guess.



Another picture of some of the kids from class, since they are in the youngest class, none of these kids were here when the other volunteers visited, so I don't think they had ever really seen a camera before. They were a little unsure what to make of it.




There isn't really very much playground equipment, so the slide and see-saw are very much in demand....



Right now, I am working on helping the teacher of the baby class get a little more organized. She hasn't actually ever done any graduate teaching school. For a lot of the teachers in Kenya, finishing high school seems to be the only qualification required to become a teacher. I don't think that she really knows what to be doing with the class most of the time, she doesn't really have any textbooks or anything to go by. I am hoping to help her prepare some resources for the classroom, like alphabet, colour and number charts, as well as teach her to do some lesson planning. I was in town on Friday and I was able to buy a teacher's guide for math for her level which gives lots of guidance. There are teacher's guides for other subjects too, and if I am able to get her to use the math one, I will get the other ones for her as well. I want to make sure she will actually use them before I buy more though! It is a little slow going, there is also a bit of a language barrier, but all of the subjects except kiswahili are supposed to be taught in english at the schools here, so there is a lot I can do to help.

Oh, I'm also taking some Kiswahili lessons myself! I have hired on of the teachers to give me lessons a couple of times a week. I am a slow learner, especially with languages, but I am starting to at least be able to greet people I meet!

I have so much more to write about, I am working on many other things with the project outside of the school, but it will have to wait for another time. I have to get back for dinner... today is lentils and chapati day! I'm looking forward to it.

School Pictures

I have finally gotten to posting some pictures of the school! I've had to compress the photos so that I can load them, so hopefully they are still okay for viewing.

So, this is Tumaini Academy, the main building of the school is cemented. It holds the office, standard 1, standard 2 and standard 3 classrooms.



There are actually 6 classes at Tumaini, there are 3 pre-school classes, the pre-school classes are in the mud buildings shown here.




And lastly, there is another mud building that holds the kitchen. The kitchen also has a door on it, so all the school supplies from the three classes behind have to be put in the kitchen every night.



I think I'm going to be late for dinner tonight since it took me a little longer than I thought to post these pictures....I will have to save the story telling for next time. I do have lots of stories to tell though!
I am going to go for an overnight trip to a nearby town with one of the teachers tomorrow, so I'm hoping to do another blog update on Sunday maybe.....

Mzungu!

It has been quite a week! It's funny how many things become pretty normal in a week, living without electricity or running water and taking a motorbike taxi everywhere. I have to remember to stop and think about how lucky I am to get the chance to do this! (although, after seeing the pics, I'm not sure that everyone would agree with me on that 'lucky' part)

One thing that I'm still not quite used to is the constant calls of 'Mzungu! Mzungu! Mzungu!' from every kid I see. Mzungu is the word for white person. Kids basically chant it when I walk past. The other thing they do pretty persistently is wanting to great me. In Kiswahili, the common greeting of 'Habari' translates to 'how are you?'. So the kids learn to say 'how are you' in English. It means, however, that kids everywhere yell 'how are you! how are you! how are you!' at the top of their lungs when I pass by. It's actually pretty funny to see.

Although I am still not always 100% sure what to do with myself right now, I am starting to set up a little bit more of a schedule. The project works in two separate villages, Khalaba and Shibanze. When they say village, it's really more of an area though, the houses aren't that close to each other. Harambe is the closest town to these areas, but it is pretty small and Bungoma is the nearest bigger place. The project has two elementary schools, Tumaini Academy and Vision Academy. I will be volunteering at Tumaini Academy on Mondays and Thursdays and at Vision Academy on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays and Fridays I will be working on other things with the projects. I am hoping to help this project network with other ngos in the area, as well as help them get a little more organized for hosting volunteers.

My first visit to Tumaini was quite the experience. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming. I am helping with the baby class, which is what they call the youngest class - similar to junior kindergarten. There are over 40 kids in the class with only one teacher! Right now, all the kids sit on a mat in a single room. I think they are working on getting tables and chairs for this class, but they don't have them yet. In the next couple of weeks, I plan to take some pictures of the school so that you can see what it is like. The kids are really really cute though. The first day that I was there, they were all scared of me, but they are starting to get used to me. I have realized that it has been quite a while since I have been around little kids, I think I'm going to have to do a little research into kindergarten activities!

I have also hired one of the teachers at the school to teach me Kiswahili. I had my first lesson today. I have a lot to learn, but hopefully I will soon be able to communicate a little bit better with the kids.

Other than school, I went to the local market in Harambe on Saturday with Rose. It was pretty cool. Of course everyone wanted to charge me way too much, but I expected that. Since it is the local market, it was really only food and household items, so I didn't really buy too much.
I think that in the future I will try to use Saturdays to travel to different towns & villages in the area to see more of the western province. On Sunday I went to an Anglican church with the director and his family. I didn't really understand too much about what was going on, but whenever they sing it's pretty cool. They can really fill a room with their voices! There are tons and tons of churches in the area, so I think I will check out a few different ones while I am here. Church is a very central part of life here, one of the first questions people tend to ask you is 'what church do you go to?'.

Right now I am the only volunteer at the project, but there is another girl coming on January 27th. I'm not too sure what parts of the project she will be interested in working with, but I'm looking forward to having someone else stay with me & Rose.

that's it for now....keep the comments coming, I like hearing from everyone.

Pictures!!!

As promised, here are some pictures of my new home!

This is the outside of it. I sit in that chair to read sometimes.



This is Rose, she is doing the cooking and cleaning. She is very sweet and I am teaching her to play cards. This is a pic of the kitchen, she is preparing dinner, not exactly what we are used to!


Here is my bed! Next door to the kitchen...hehe.


Here is the toilet. This part takes a little getting used to....but it's really not that bad!


I know you all want to see this, the inside of the toilet.


and....the inside of the shower.



Enjoy! I shall write a more detailed message about some of my work tomorrow.

Journey to the village

Hello Everyone.....
I made it to the village, and what a village it is. When I told you it was a remote village.........I mean remote! This is definitely an adventure.

I caught the bus from Nairobi to a city in the Western Province called Bungoma. The bus was pretty much like any greyhound bus, but maybe a little older and a little smellier. It was pretty comfortable, so I sat back, relaxed and watched the scenery. The trip was 7 hours, so it was nice to see the scenery change and the towns and villages along the way. I also saw some ZEBRA! I thought it was pretty exciting and the guy beside me thought my reaction was pretty funny. He then proceded to point out everything out the window the entire trip. Some things were funny....like... here is a pipeline, here is a river and here is a market. He was a nice older man though.

After my arrivial in Bungoma, the adventure truely began. I got off the bus, and was met my Maurice, the local director of the program. We grabbed a quick bite and headed to the village.

Heading to the village involves hopping on a matatu (it's almost like a vw van with four rows of seats in the back). When I say 'seats' it's not exactlly what you thing. The matatu won't leave until full,,,,,,, full meaning at least 4 across all seats (including a board between seats for someone to sit on) and up to three people holding onto the outside and ducking their head it. We take the matatu along the main road, swerving around pot holes and bikers. We got off in Harambe, which is the larger market area near the village. After getting off the matatu, I am instructed to hop on the back of a moterbike. YIKES! That's correct, we take a moterbike taxi (called pik pik..i think) to the village. It was then that I learnt that sitting on the back of a moterbike with a huge backpack on is quite the ab workout. So we take the moterbike along a dirt path through fields of sugarcane. It really is quite a pretty trip, there are mut huts tucked away amoung all feilds. We finally arrived at the volunteer house and I attempted to settle in. Soon I will include a picture of the house. It really is a mud hut! It does have a concrete floor and a metal roof though.
It really does feel like camping right now.... There is a pit toilet out back (literally just a concrete stall with hole in the ground) and a 'shower room'. A shower room is really just a room with a slanted floor, since there is no running water it is sponge baths from now on in.

My first day was spent taking a pik pik around the village and seeing the different projects. It was a little overwhelming to see the conditions of the school and some of the homes. I am still not 100% sure what I will be doing day to day, they really don't have very many resources to work with here. But I will learn a lot about life in rural Africa and hopefully help where I can.

This past evening I went into town for a dinner that was organized for all the volunteers in Bungoma. It was very interesting to hear what different people and groups are doing here. I will hopefully be able to meet with them in the future to discuss our work and challenges involved.

One thing that stuck me as really strange is that EVERYONE here has a cell phone. Cell phones are super duper cheap, I had only loaded about $6 on my phone and I've been texting and have called home a couple times. Internet is not as easily availiable, I will have to come into town to update this blog...but I am going to try to update it once a week.

That's it for now, thanks for the comments and the emails! I love hearing from you guys as I continue on my adventure.

To Market!

day two.....much more successful than day one.

Despite having some trouble adjusting to the time change (I basically read half of my book in one night) I was up and ready to go this morning.

Today I needed to get a few things sorted out for my stay in Kenya, number one priority = phone. Amanda (the director of the program) offered to help me find a good price. We decided to meet downtown, so it was time for my first adventure with buses. 1st hiccup, I needed to catch the bus on the other side of the road. Crossing the road is like playing frogger, eventually I made it, but it definitely took me a while! I think that about 5 matatus and one city bus passed before I finally was able to flag one down and get on. A matatu is like an old minivan with lots of seats and lots of people packed in. It was pretty crowded, but also super cheap. It cost me 20 shillings, which is like 25 cents.
I made it downtown and was able to find our meeting spot.

We set out to get a phone, which proved to be pretty straight forward. For all you who saw my Canadian phone before I left, new one is a big upgrade hehe!
I've moved back into the age of coloured screens. I was surprised at how cheap the phone was. For a total of 1550 ksh (About $19) I got the phone and even some time on it. Yay! I have a phone number now. I think this will make things much more convenient.

After that, Amanda had some errands to do, so I went to the Maasai market to wander around. I didn't buy anything, cause the market is quite touristy and therefore pricey, plus I don't really want to lug stuff around for 6 months. But the stuff was so beautiful! Lots of jewelery, carvings and paintings, I already have lots of ideas of things I want to bring home.

After grabbing a coffee and wandering around a little more, I met up with Amanda again to get my bus ticket. I am heading to the village tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to go into quite as much detail about each day in the future.

Amanda, who also has a business selling African handicrafts in Canada was heading to a different market with her friend to pick some things up and invited me along. I went with her.....it was quite the experience! This market (Kariakor Market) was the real deal. It was where people to go buy items to sell at other markets. It was narrow pathways with people actually making the items. There were even piles of old tires that they were making into shoes soles. It was pretty interesting, but really hot, dusty and the smell of the glue was really strong. There were no tourists here!

Now I am back at the hostel/camp where I will hang out for the evening. I'm looking forward to dinner, after walking around all day I sure am hungry.

All in all... a great day.
I'm looking forward to going to the village tomorrow, I can only guess what is in store.....

Day 1

Arrived!

After a super long flight, I arrived in Kenya!
Thankfully, everything worked out perfectly when I arrived. The driver was there to pick me up and I got to the hostel/camp without a hitch.
The camp turned out to be really nice! They didn't have any dorm rooms left when I booked, so I ended up staying in a tent. Best decision ever! The tents are set up in the garden and I got my own little tent. There are flush toilets and showers here, so I feel like this is a good way to ease into my Kenyan experience.
Fortunately, I was able to sleep quite well on the plane......unfortunately, that meant I was pretty awake upon arrival last night. My new headlamp proved to be most useful as I stayed up and read for quite a few hours.

This morning, Amanda, the director of the organization I'm volunteering with is going to meet me at the camp. Right now, I am enjoying the warm weather in the garden with a book and waiting.......