One Drop of Hope

I'm excited to launch our new "One Drop of Hope" campaign inspired by my friend Yvette Narlock's beautiful song, "One Drop." I'll post it here if I can figure it out technically, otherwise, you can find it at www.umoja-onedropofhope.blogspot.com.

Terry has had many successes in fundraising through Rotary for KASFOOC (Kakamega Supporting Families of Orphaned Children). So far we have raised funds to stock and provide feed for 22 ponds and have most recently secured a $5,000 district simplified grant from Rotary to protect four fresh water springs. This will mean the difference between drinking out of a most often diseased, always dirty puddle and having a source of free flowing, clean water for hundreds of families in rural Kenya. Our deepest gratitude goes out to Strathcona Sunrise Rotary for their enthusiastic support.

We know what a truly incredible difference a small amount of money can do. I have partnered with Julie (remember Julie, she is also from the island and volunteered at Maji Mazuri in Nairobi at the same time we were in Kenya) to raise more awareness and funds through our One Drop of Hope Campaign. We are providing beautiful glass drop ornaments, supplied from a local Vancouver Island business, in exchange for donations of $10.

All proceeds raised will fund projects that we were personally involved in during our visit to Kenya -- Maji Mazuri, with projects supporting women and children in the slums of Nairobi including micro-credit, a children's shelter for disabled and orphaned children and education (www.majimazuri.org); Kenya Education Endowment Fund, providing sponsorships for needy children to attend highschool which is crucial for any chance at success (www.kenyaeducation.org) and KASFOOC, which you have heard much about through our blog, projects supporting widows and families of orphaned children with education, food security and enterprise, clean water, health and sanitation. There is no website for KASFOOC as they are a very small Community Based Organization, I do believe we are their only support.

There is much good work to be done. And we know the local organizations that are equipped to get it done. With a little bit of funding, and just a little bit of hope, they can do amazing things. You can provide One Drop of Hope that together with others will grow into lasting, positive change for the children in Kenya.

Please call or email me to get your One Drop of Hope... or lots of them! They make great gifts, ornaments for your Christmas tree, window or light fixtures, gift tags...

Tanya (250) 898-7728 tanya@findyourmarathon.com

We will have drops available for pick up in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Courtenay and Victoria. We are certainly willing to ship, but will need to add a $5 shipping fee to those orders. Thank you so much for your continued kind support!

One Drop of Hope (the drops)

These are the "Drops of Hope". Glass drops are available in clear, red, blue and green for a donation of $10 each or three for $25. Soldered drops are available in clear, red and blue for a donation of $20 each or three for $50.

Drops will be on display at several local businesses in Courtenay, including Zen Health Haven. You can pick them up there, or email tanya@findyourmarathon.com to order and we will arrange delivery. We will also have pick up options in North Vancouver, Vancouver and Victoria. For orders outside these areas, we will add a $5 shipping fee per order.

If you are willing to display drops in your business or take orders from your friends and workmates, please call me (250) 898-7728. We would love to have Drops of Hope for Kenya falling with the same enthusiasm as the rain is falling locally!

Made a decision

Yesterday I made the decision to support Fredrick and his young family, Josephine and baby Brenda by paying their rent for one year so that Fredrick can finish his carpentry.

Up until last week, Fredrick had been living on his Uncle's land with his mother, and two brothers and their families. This was the maternal homestead. In Kenya land is passed down from the father to the sons. When Fredrick's mother was divorced from his father (frowned upon in Kenya), they were left with no land and no home. Due to pressure from Fredrick's grandmother, the fatherless family moved onto a very small portion of the uncle's land. They were never welcomed and Fredrick and his brothers were ridiculed for not having a father. Fredrick said at times that he wanted to kill himself.

Fredrick's grandmother was ill when we were in Kenya and has since passed away. She was the force keeping Fredrick and his family on the land. The family has been broken. Fredrick's mother has gone to live with a sister, his brothers have found homes and Fredrick and Josephine have found a small house to rent with the baby. Thanks to Joyce and Matano, who lent Fredrick the money for the first month's rent and negotiated a better deal for them (2,500 Ksh/month), they have a place to live. They were barely getting by with a free place to live and land to grow food. Now they have to pay rent and buy all their food as nothing is planted where they live. I am unclear whether they have a spot to plant for future crops.

Fredrick has been going to carpentry everyday for 6 months, with no pay. And doing boda boda in the late hours of the day. Josephine has been working the business selling used clothing in the market. Carpentry is Fredrick's only chance at providing a future for little Brenda. For $38/month I can give them that chance. How can I not?

What's Next?

We've been home for almost two months and life in the Valley is beginning to feel familiar. We've given a couple of presentations to the community, schools and Rotary Groups. It is becoming increasingly clear is that this thing is so much bigger than we are. In our two months in Kenya we were introduced to a myriad of projects -- all worthy, all vital and all in need of support. How do we choose just one? I feel like we need to choose a focus so we can spread hope, not overwhelm.

Water. Sanitation. Leadership. Education. Children. Micro-credit. Fish Farming. Widows. Orphans. Women. AIDS. Urban Development. Goats. Rural... and on and on and on.

I sat down in my favourite coffee shop today to work on my to-do list and set my week up. Someone from across the restaurant said, "Hey, I want to talk to you. She's the one who went to Kenya." Gotta love a small town. So, I chatted with Zac Whyte, a video journalist from Courtenay (visit http://occupationhuman.org and http://connectingwithkenya.com). His bio states, "Zac is passionate about international development and helping people find their individual power to positively affect the world around them." ME TOO! Though I'm on the seeking side of my individual power to positively affect the world around me.

We shared some stories about flat tires and corruption and singing and hope and how we in the West with our big hearts and deep pockets can really make a mess of things if we're not careful. Below is an excerpt from "When the Crocodile Bites the Sun, A Memoir of Africa,"

"It's always instructive to observe the life cycle of the First World aid worker. A wary enthusiasm blooms into an almost messianic sense of what might be possible. Then, as they bump up against the local cultural limits of acceptable change, comes the inevitable disappointment... Even those who have learned the language and done thorough research, often have their faith eroded by the vagaries of Africa, which can start to look horribly like irrationality to the northern eye."

Ah, the wary enthusiasm. I still remember standing in Staples, heart pounding, purchasing boxes of pencils and pens to bring to schools along with soccer balls. I was pretty wide eyed then. Still am, but now it is mixed with just a smidgen of experience that tells me that nothing is as simple as it seems.

Again, from "When a Crocodile Bites the Sun,"

"I feel like weeping. Weeping at the way Africa does this to you. Just as you're about to dismiss it and walk away, it delivers something so unexpected, so tender. One minute you're scared shitless, and the next you're choked with affection."

So, here I am. Kenya has seared my heart. And I'm scared... of what, I'm not quite sure... Maybe of not doing enough. Now that I've seen what I've seen, I'll never unsee it.

O.K., what's next? Focus. KASFOOC (Kakamega Supporting Families of Orphaned Children) will be our signature project through Terry's Rotary connection. And me... I'm working on my message. "I can't do everything, but I can do something" keeps ringing in my ears. I'll see what unfolds from there. Thanks for coming along with me as I sort all this out.

Comox Valley to Kenya Presentation April 29th

Re-entry continues

April 7, 2009


I always knew that going to Africa would change my life forever, but I never understood how deeply. Everything I see, feel and hear now passes through the filter of my memories of Kenya. At times I am cynical and can't make any sense of the world, my career, spirituality, friendships, wants, needs, values...

I was in the kitchen today looking at my bowl of large, perfectly shaped oranges each with their very own sticker on them. As I peeled the stickers off that speckle my garden if I leave them on the peel when I compost them, I wondered if it is really necessary to label every single orange. Each time I am in Superstore staring at a sea of plastic looking, brightly painted produce and isles and isles of packages resembling something like food, I long for the Kakamega market. I miss seeing our friend and favourite vendor Paul and his wife Vanessa, meeting us with a warm handshake and asking how many pieces we want today, choosing each piece personally to make sure we get only the ripe ones, often throwing in a 'discount' or suggesting a melon or passionfruit to increase his sale.

I feel alone. People that I love and respect don't get it. They say things like, "it's all about balance," and I want to scream -- where is the balance in millions of people starving, oppressed, ignored. I am conflicted and probably most disappointed in myself because I am not doing all I can do to dive in and help. I'm selling a little jewelry and will send a few hundred dollars, maybe even a few thousand back and it will make a difference. But there is so much more to do.

I am having difficulty finding meaning in anything. Life coaching seems so trivial. I wonder if Josephine is worrying about dying "with her music still in her" as she is walking for water or worrying about her sick baby.

A lovely woman I know has just spent $12,000 having her teeth veneered. She says it is the first time she has ever done anything that is just for her. What are we missing that we need to gift ourselves with $12,000 worth of shiny white teeth? I wonder if it has given her the sense of love and meaning that humanity is so craving.

Oh, and please believe me, I am not pointing fingers. I am looking in the mirror. I picked up B12 drops for $24.50 yesterday and am taking my fish oil caplets daily in the hopes of stopping my hair from falling out. I'm still wearing Lulu Lemon and making Feng Shui adjustments in my home. I am grasping to goals and to do lists tightly so I can function and get out of bed in the morning.

I know my family wants me to shake it off and just be happy. I don't want to burden my friends with my broken heart and I certainly don't want to be a downer. I want to learn to speak about our experience in such a way that people are uplifted and moved to contribute. Even as I say this I am reminded about how many people followed our blog and have been moved by it. And have helped me to feel less alone. This is why I am writing now, just in case someone is still reading. It helps to get it out so that I can hopefully cease to be so paralyzed by the biggness of it all.

And I am happy much of the time. And so grateful for my life. We had such a wonderful time in Kenya. I'm so blessed to have been able to share this trip with Cody. We laughed every day, lounged in the sunshine, drank chai with friends, ooed and awed constantly at how beautiful the people, the sights and the sounds are. So sometimes I am confused by my own sense of grief. We kept our trip pretty darned light -- no medical clinics, no refugee camps, no starvation... just friends with no electricity or running water working hard to eek out something like a living against very tough circumstances.

We watched the movie MILK recently and I am reminded that Harvey Milk's movement for gay rights only fully came to life when he switched the focus of his speeches from oppression to hope. That is what people need; hope.

I feel moments of hope every time I sell another piece of Julius' jewelry, or put a two-nie in my mud bank to save for the tools Fredrick will need upon completing his carpentry training, or when people jump right in to donate to fill a pond with fingerlings for KASFOOC... oh, there is so much hope. I look at the picture of the children from the Head Start School and I find hope.

Back in my world

March 23, 2009

I just re-read my initial re-entry blog entry. And, I must say, it is a pretty accurate reflection of how this transition has been. And still is.

I'm feeling lonely, like I left such a huge part of myself in Kenya. I have wonderful friends and family here reaching out and I am slowly thawing to their love and support. I've basically spent a week under a blanket eating chocolate. Monday I promised myself I would get busy and get on with life. I have revamped my resume, condensing myself to one page of skills, experience and accomplishments that I think someone might want to pay me for. I wonder if anyone would like to pay me to spend money in Kenya protecting springs, sending kids to school, training teachers and families on their strengths and virtues, providing hope... building latrines, equipping classrooms with text books, producing youth leadership workshops, providing seed money for micro finance enterprises, putting in fish farms for food sustainability, feeding orphans, sponsoring salaries for nurses, physiotherapists and teachers... oh, so much to do that means so much.

I brought back little fired mud piggy banks from the Kakamega market... each day as I put in a 2-nie I feel that much closer to my next trip.

I hope to have some pictures posted on facebook this week and we will be scheduling some presentations soon for those who would like to hear about our experience of Kenya and the organizations that are doing such good work.

Thanks for being with us on this journey. And please accept my apology in advance as I stumble my way back to my world in the West. I really am grateful for you all.

Thank You

I just wanted to say thanks again for everyone that kicked in for our trip to Kenya. I am feeling good now,Tanya is still a bit shaken up, but we are both grateful. It is a real honour to be able to help people in need and those that contributed to this wedding present made it possible.

So, how was your trip?

I've only had to answer this question once since we landed on Tuesday early evening, and thankfully, the person who asked had read the blog. Such an innocent question with no possible answer.

One of the things that is standing out so strongly is how tidy everything here is. I don't think I have seen one little kid since we landed. And there seem to be no people walking on the street... it's damned cold, so I guess that one kind of makes sense. Everything is tucked away nicely. We live in a world of boxes here, everything behind a wall, a window or a door. The shops are all indoors, there is no one selling goods on the street, or from a basket on their head, or running up to the cars and buses to offer a bag of plums, or perhaps some socks or peanuts or a flashlight or a calculator... in Kenya you can buy just about anything you can imagine out the window of your bus.

I was talking with a friend yesterday and she said that I should write down what I am feeling and noticing while the re-entry is so fresh... it's really powerful, she said. Powerful is not a word I could use to describe how I am feeling. Stunned is more like it. Getting off the plane and into my car was the most natural thing in the world and yet it blew my mind. Smooth roads, traffic lights, it's all so civilized. And I fit right in. Was I really bouncing around in overcrowded matatus barreling down dusty pothole ridden streets dodging cattle, bicycles and babies only a few hours ago?

We had a 10 hour layover in Amsterdam on our way home. Now there is a city of contradictions. Quaint, beautiful, historic, charming and seedy and desparate all at the same time. We visited the Ann Frank museum which was so... It really rattled me to know that we were not only looking at history. Ethnic cleansing is alive and well in this world. When will we learn?

The weather, the long flight and the contridictions of Amsterdam lead to a mini breakdown on the train back to the airport. Quietly crying looking out the window, I noticed that I didn't see Schipol Airport listed as one of the upcoming stops. Until the train pulled away FROM THE SCHIPOL STOP, that is. Damn, we missed our stop. And of course we hadn't left ourselves much of a window. The crying stopped and now it was toe tapping anxiety. It was pretty dicey, missing our plane was a real possibility. Especially because we seemed to be on an express train traveling efficiently AWAY from the airport. When the train eventually did stop we sprinted down the platform to catch a train going back from whence we had just come. The door closed seconds after we got on the train. Then, once in the airport we had to find the locker where we had stored our backpacks and race through the airport to our gate. We did make it as the plane was loading.

And here we are. And I would go back in a second. We've been trying to figure out what it is we loved about it. Because frankly, in and of itself, it's pretty unappealing. Sure it's sunny and warm and the tea fields are lush and green and beautiful. And the birds sing so sweetly and the kids are gorgeous. But the poverty and the dust and the touts are pretty in your face.

I think it is the feeling of usefulness and purpose all the self help books talk about. We made a difference there, however small. There is no end to the ways one can contribute there. At times we were paralyzed by the scope of the need... we would just shake our heads and say, "They're fucked." And then we would concentrate on building desks or learning about the needs of a widows group, or give a soccer ball to some kids. Fredrick's baby girl has a chance because of us. The boys at Musingu Highschool have a chance because of Terry's Rotary group. Julius can plant because of the jewelry that you bought.

So, my job is to do the best I can with what we have been given. Which is so so much. I slept last night under a down quilt and spent $70 on one meal for my family. And I have never wondered, even when I was a struggling young mom, whether my children were going to eat, or go to school.

I hope I can still have compassion for our Cadillac problems here in the west. I hope I can feel grateful, not guilty for all that we have here. I hope I don't become a self righteous do-gooder. And I hope that I don't ever forget and slide into apathy to protect my heart from completely breaking.

For now, I'm turning to toast and cheese, brownies and sudoku.

I see white people

Its totally weird to be back. Cold, immaculate, sterile, empty streets, no colour, ridiculous wealth and landscaping. Amsterdam was the same.


I started with this blog after saying no to all my vaccine recomendations (as well as malaria and cepacol prescriptions etc)from our public health nurse with the exception of Yellow Fever. It turns out no one at any border asked us if we had had this shot. Another win for the pharmacy gods. Make vague threats about the neccesities of vaccines to boost sales. Total cost savings: $600.00. Plus I probably felt better and didnt get sick because I didnt take the drugs ie no drug side effect symptoms.

A week after getting the unnecessary vaccine I was sick with an aching body for four days. Turns out that after 2 months in Africa the only sickness I experienced (aside from a one day head cold) was from the side effects of the vaccine shot I got, but I didn't need. I will be going down to the public health nurse in Courtenay just to let them know they can stop falsely advising people that border guards are standing by to check your vaccine cards.

I guess Im talking about this because I feel so weird about all the other stuff. I don't know how to put it in words. Why am I sitting in totally luxury right now while a few friends of mine are living in abject poverty? Its easier just to talk about the stupidity and corruption of our drug addicted society.

I'm feeling weird. Similar to my trip back from India. Must be a bit like how war veterans feel. Not even much point in talking about stuff, it seems. People might just feel like I am trying to make them feel bad... I'll stop there, easier to just talk about the stupidity of drugs for now.

Last day in Kenya

I was happy this morning to receive a blog post from Cody! I know he has quite the fan base! His blog lightened my mood and has me overflowing with awe and gratitude for this trip. Thank you once again to everyone who has contributed in getting us here! I can't believe we're coming home today. Well, we are going to begin the long journey home... our flight leaves at 11pm, then 9 hours to Amsterdam, Steve Schut (our friend from Courtenay who is going to school in the Netherlands) is going to meet us in Amsterdam for a tour of some windmills, canals and quaint cafes. We'll have 10 hours or so in Amsterdam then a 9 or 10 hour flight home.

I can feel real life trying to bully its way into my brain. To do lists of taxes and bills and banking are dancing in my head -- I'm still managing to drown them out with images of Kenya. We've had nice texts and good bye phone calls from our new friends. Yesterday we met again with Joyce and Jackson in Kakamega. We gave them a very small gift (nice pen and a scarf)... we were saying that it is just something small and Joyce immediately cut me off in a very sincere voice saying, "We love them." I hope I can carry the Kenyan appreciation with me.

Time is ticking, but I don't feel any need to squeeze one last adventure in. I will be happy with a couple of hours by the pool at the YMCA here in Nairobi. I want to pick up a couple of books by African authors and we have a couple of short meetings to go to today. Oh and a cup of Kenyan coffee at the Java House -- there's no coffee to speak of in Kakamega... and even though I gave up coffee over 4 years ago, it is worth a small case of the jitters here as the Java House in Nairobi makes the best, richest, smoothest coffee I have ever tasted! We'll bring some home to share.

See you soon... we just may pop in to the blog again during our travels.

Cody's musings on the mara (finally!)

This blog entry might not be as good or I might be better then the other ones I’ve done before, because I can’t remember all the things that happened on my safari but I’ll try.

We had to wake up really early that morning and I didn’t like it at all. But the good part was that we didn’t have to walk anywhere to get to our ride, because it was literally right outside of our door. I took 2 steps before I got in the car it was that close. I can’t remember most of the drive but apparently it took like 11 or something hours to get there but it only felt like 2. When we got to the front gate of the Mara, there were these Masais that wanted to sell us stuff. I bought something and I thought they would leave us alone, but they kept trying to sell us stuff. I was thinking “Dude, how much little masks do you think we’re gonna buy?” but I never said anything like that. But before I knew it we were on our way again. When we arrived at the Fig Tree resort, I was so shocked that there was a place like this in Africa. Because from what I saw before, nothing compared to this place, money wise of course. It was really fancy, but one thing that bugged me about it was that whenever we ate our meals, there was only one African eating, everyone else was white, and that African was Jeremiah, our guide. I thought that was pretty racist. Oh yea, forgot to mention that we saw a bunch of animals before we even went out on our game drives. We saw a heard of giraffes (or whatever you call a group of giraffes) crossing the road right in front of us. It was pretty crazy. We also saw many antelope on the way.


The next morning, we had to get up really early again, but this time it didn’t bug me because I was so excited to go out on the drive. I got up, had some tea and maybe I had a little snack too but I can’t remember, and then we went in the van. Ok, for this part, I can’t remember what days we saw what animals, so I’ll just describe some of the things I saw. The first thing I loved about the drive was that it was so flat and there was a random tree every mile or so. It was like it was right out of The Lion King. One thing that I loved the most was the warthogs. Now when you think of warthogs, you probably think of nasty pigs but grey right? But the warthogs were so amazing and surprisingly clean, except for the ones in the mud, cooling off. But warthogs are extremely stupid, because they will forget why they’re running. For example, if they were being chased by a lion, they would run really fast for a bit, but then they’ll just stop and be like “Wait, why are we running?” And they would be eaten. That’s why they call them “Lion Sausages.” I saw them doing this first hand. There would be a couple warthogs on the road, and we would drive up and they would, obviously run away. But then they would just stop. They wouldn’t slow down at all, they would be running, and then they would be stopped. It was pretty hilarious. Another thing that was for sure a “once in a life time” type of thing was the cheetah. Now we didn’t only see a cheetah, we saw a cheetah hunting a gazelle. It was amazing; it stalked up to a gazelle and got only like 40m away. Then the gazelle spotted him and ran for its life. The cheetah ran after the gazelle, but cheetahs give up after a short amount of time. They only run for about 100m, then they quite, so the gazelle got away. But another thing with cheetahs, is that they remember that gazelle. If it goes on with a pack, the cheetah will only go after that one gazelle; it will leave the others alone.

We miss you

Today, our last day in Kakamega, has been sweet. We are saying good bye to all our friends. With each good-bye, we are met with "Oh, we will miss you." This even from my boda boda driver this morning whom I hadn't ever previously met!

We are sad that we only yesterday discovered that the "Fresh Juice" stand we have passed by every day is actually FRESH JUICE. We hadn't tried it up until now because we assumed it was sugar water (there is a row of coloured tubes behind the counter that threw us off). Terry, ever the adventurer said yesterday that he was game to try it. So, we have had at least four glasses each every time we have passed it since. You mean I could have been sipping freshly squeezed mango or passion fruit juice instead of Fanta for all this time??? Grrr.

Naturally today was spent discussing and thinking about all the things we could have done differently. Like gotten an internet connection at home so we could have used our locked-in evenings email Canada and the states for more money! That and the fresh juice stand are our biggest regrets. I, of course, also regret that I didn't put more effort in to running. I guess it was the heat and the altitude and the constant attention that turned me off early in the trip. Now, I wish I could have all those mornings back to do over again!

I've noticed that we've been answering people with, "maybe in one year's time," when they ask when we are coming back. Wishful thinking or foresight... I'm not sure.

I often hear people at the end of a holiday say it was wonderful, but I was ready to come home. We are definitely NOT ready to come home yet. It has been so incredible NOT to be wrapped up in the ramblings of my mind for the entire time we've been here. Sure there is the odd shallow self talk, like "hmmm, I've gotten a little pudgy," but for 95% of the time my thoughts have been on how blessed we are to be here and how much work there is to do. Ideas are pouring in for projects, fundraising, a youth leadership conference Alinda and I are wanting to produce here, a women's conference on the island to fundraise for here... etc. etc. My dreams have almost all been of Kenya. I hope Kenya stays alive in my mind when we are back home!

Last Day in Kakamega

I just got back from my last run. It was a good one. I headed for the tea fields and trails. Instead I found the gates to the Moi Showgrounds open. I went in with a wave to the group at the gate. Very strange, it looked nothing like a show grounds. No real field per se. Lops of men bent at the waist using machetes to cut the long grass. There was a dirt road and a little ghost town. One store was open: the Kenyan seed Company. I came acroos fields being dug and I could see my tea fields beyond the fence. I fantasized about building a utopia there for the starving people in NorthEast Kenya. As I ran I drafted in my mind the constitution and rules of the village: No men, but what happened as the boys grew up? A large pig ran across my path and brought me back to earth. Looks like there will be some bull fights today, groups of singing men following bulls around.

Last night after a visit to Daisy school where we presented a pretend Rotary plaque (the real one will be finished today) we went to movie night at Sheywe. We met Charlotte from a small private group of Canadian do-gooders called Suitcases for Africa. They had no big backing, all strictly volunteer. Over the years they had built dormitories and done feeding programs in African countries. We thought she’d be a perfect match for KASFOOC. We will try to connect the two today.

Right now Tanya is packing her jewellery in shredded newspaper and washing her clothes by hand. I am in a lawn chair outside on the lawn having just finished a very unsatisfying water melons. Melons are hit and miss the world over I conclude.

We leave at 0645 tomorrow, for likely a fairly, but not terribly, unpleasant bus trip back to Nairobi. If only they would announce when you are stopping and for how long. Most bus trips have been this way, with sudden changes of vehicles that you only learn about as people pour off the bus. Somehow it all works.

Tanya is ready, so off we go for a walk about the neighbourhood. One last look around. The changes are quite numerous. Several buildings and roads have been paved while we were here. All the fields that used to be forest of cornstalk sticks are now plowed and ready to plant.

3 hours later: we had a great 2 hr stroll through some quiet roads in the country, very nice, nice breeze, some breathtaking views it takes too long to describe in words. We got a little lost, but women digging in the hot sun in bare feet pointed out the right path. So friendly- i'd be bitter and twisted if I had to do what they were doing for 20 minutes. Im just checking email, looking for money (we have sent out several requests and have had a great response).

2nd to Last Day in Kakamega?

I’m not happy about it. It’s another beautiful warm morning, the birds are in full singing swing. We have just ate our fruit salad breakfast of locally grown mangoes, bananas, pineapple and passion fruit.

We have a long (and fun) to do list today as we tie up loose ends. Tanya is going to make the 2 hr round trip to Musingu High School [I actually went with her, i see she has blogged today, maybe she mentioned it] to give the boys the last of their things courtesy of our Rotary club. Iam going to have prints made and write instruction letters, make photocopies and present a plaque to Daisy School that officially hands over to them the 65 desks . It has been difficult to get this plaque made. The instruction letters contain the money and timelines for the remaining desk building projects. We also have soccer balls, pencils and love-bugs to give away. Giving sounds fun, but its quite complicated. What we want to do is to chuck the soccer balls into fields of children playing with plastic bag balls. However, who gets to take the ball home? Will this cause more problems than before?

I haven’t run for the past couple days because I got a head cold in Eldoret. Perhaps it is my punishment for getting too close to the running gods. More likely my body is just catching up on repairs and maintenance. Too much chai, chapatti and soda in the past two months. I am Jonesin’ for a run, but think I may wait for one more day. I will likely do my last African run in Nairobi on Monday . Then I give my shoes away, with all the usual complications that make giving stuff away complicated.

I really should write a separate blog for the Eldoret visit- it went so far beyond my wildest dreams. The thing I hate about blogging is the need to be accurate. I met about 6 Olympians there, but I don’t want to pull out my notebook and go online to get their names, events, PB times and metal standings correct. The german fellow we met won the marathon Olympic Gold in 1976 AND 1980. He was there coaching the #1, #3 and #5 fastest german marathoners in the country.

One thing I was amazed at was how poorly they all ate. Zero fruit and (raw) veggies. Breakfast was a fried egg, millet porridge, a stack of white bread with margarine and jam and tea. Followed by a slice of avocado each. No juice. I asked for a banana but they had none. To the German team I spoke about the “what if” idea that diet plays a huge role. They were 2:13 marathoners. “What if, diet, combined with genetics and training, was enough to oust the Kenyans out of running dominance?”. In response to the Raw food diet they said, “We’d be going to the bathroom a lot”. They weren’t interested. I asked more questions about their training and history but I won’t bore readers with that here. I was very present. I don’t think I’ll forget a word of that visit (I laso took notes!). Heaven.

I went for a run at 0615 Tuesday morning with the Kenyans-male and female. I asked the coach to puty my name on the schedule (amongst all the champions). He did so with a chuckle and a "of course".

I felt like a warthog among the gazelles. As expected, about 3 minutes into the run they warmed up and took off. I watched them go with admiration. As I hit the main road I saw another group of runners ahead. I easily caught up. They were also from the Camp. They were running easy because they had a track meet coming up Friday. They were jogging only.

I couldn’t believe my good luck. I chatted with each one, careful not to fawn too much on anyone in particular. A group of runners passed us coming the other way. One guy waved to us, I waved back. Andrew, beside me said, “He won silver in steeplechase at Bei Jing last year”. All I could do was laugh. Andrew was a new runner had only been training for 4 months. He was discovered at a track meet last December after doing 800m in 1:49. Ok, Ok, I’ll save the rest of the detail for the runners’ forum. Suffice to say I was in heaven. I would have been satisfied to have a picture of myself at the front gate of the training camp, and here I was running and eating with past and future world champions.

Wrapping Up

So here we are on the countdown home... I knew it would fly by. I remember the count down leading up to this trip (I think I started at 56 sleeps). I'm killing some time in the cyber cafe while I wait to meet Frederick in an hour or so to open up a bank account for him. Today is the day I give him the money to start a business for he and his wife. He has started training for carpentry and will have a used clothing business in the afternoons and on the days he is not working. His wife, Josephine, will be selling cereals (maise, beans, millet, etc.). Frederick's mother would also like a little business of selling rope and small fish. I told Frederick to get himself and Josephine established and perhaps I can help his mother in a few months. I have connected them with a lovely young woman with a passion for business, Rebecca. She has agreed to provide them with training and support along the way and William, the carpenter, will be a great mentor to Frederick. The rest is up to them and God, I suppose. We had tea yesterday and he said that he hopes God blesses me and my children and all of my decendents forever. He's pretty happy.

Hey, Cody has put some pictures up on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=224974&id=757575580&ref=nf . I hope this link will take you there. If not, you should be able to see them on my profile as well. The ones with the kids were taken at the Maji Mazuri Care Centre (orphanage) in Nairobi.

Terry was down yesterday with a cold... I think he got it from me, he thinks he got it from too many sodas, chai and chapati. He's at a meeting with KASFOOC (the widows and orphans group), finalizing their budget proposal for a Rotary Grant. We heard that Rotary may not be approving any more matching grants this year because of the economic crisis -- their reserves have been hit pretty bad; they were probably in so called 'safe' investments like everyone else! We have a small amount of personal donations that will at least get them started with their fish ponds and then we'll do our best to find some money when we get home, through Rotary or maybe fish farm connections.

What I will miss most: the people, of course, the music, the sunshine, the kids, the animals (wild and domestic), the greetings (shaking hands with everyone), the feeling that so little can help so much and that we really are making a difference.

What I will not miss: the dust, the matatus, the yelling and being swarmed by touts, the dogs barking at night, the security lights, the feeling that there is so much to do and that we can't even possibly make a dent.

What I am looking forward to coming home to: walking down the street without being noticed, running, SALADS, and of course, friends and family.

Oh, it's going to be hard to leave... O.K., now for a cup of chai before I start to cry :o)

Rubbing running shoes with Olympians in Eldoret

I'll let Terry fill in the details on this one, but I just wanted to say that our excursion to Eldoret was perfect in every way. I was a bit reluctant to go and kind of grumpy about it even the morning of departure... I reminded myself of Jono and Cody moaning, "It's too far, it's too hot, what are we going to do there anyway, it's just another big, dirty city, blah blah blah." Thank God I ignored the whiney voice in my head long enough to get on the crowded matatu headed for Eldoret.

For those of you that don't know, Eldoret has been called the birthplace of marathon running, or something equally as cool in Runner's World Magazine. Unfortunately for us, the author's of our Lonely Planet Guide for Kenya aren't in to running and so we were going in blind. We did know that they have a cheese factory -- yup, you heard me right, cheese. And I like cheese, so that was enough to get me to go. So after 2 1/2 hours in the back of the hot, overcrowded, bumpy matatu, we arrived in Eldoret... surprise surprise, it was busy, noisy and dirty just like every other Kenyan city we've seen so far. But, we headed straight to the most expensive hotel in town so I could check out their pool. If all else failed, I would have a day by the pool.

We asked a tour company if they knew of any elite running training camps, fully expecting to come up empty. Just so happens that there are two close to town and also a stadium that is home to running. So we headed out on foot to have a bite to eat and find the stadium. We ended up in Will's Pub, recommended by Lonely Planet, and had an expensive, but pretty yummy lunch -- I had fish curry, Terry tried spaghetti again (noodles with frozen veggies and something resembling cheese on top). I was cheered up by the nice quiet restaurant... Terry was laughing at me saying that if this was Vancouver I wouldn't even go into a restaurant that looked like this and here I am going on and on about how nice it is.

After lunch we walked up to the stadium, maybe 10 minutes away. Terry was pretty tickled and we took lots of pictures of him alone on the dirt track in his CVRR singlet. There were no runners, of course, it was 1:30 in the afternoon. We asked a couple of women there if the runners come here. They said yes, at two. Two? Oh, we had heard about this time thing here where 6am is 0 and 7am is 1, 8am is 2, etc. We didn't believe it because up until now we hadn't come across it, but here it was. O.K., this is great. Terry will come back in the morning for a run and maybe get to do a couple of laps in the midst of greatness.

One down, now to find a taxi to take us to the training centre. Maybe we could peek over a fence or take a picture in front of a sign. We negotiated with a car on the street and got nowhere, so went back to our expensive hotel and went with the driver from the tour company. He definitely knew where he was going and even said that he was friends with some famous Kenyan runner, whose name escapes me.

So, after a 15 minute drive or so into the country we arrive at Kip Keino's Training Centre for Elite Athletes. Not only did we have a picture in front of the entrance sign, we got a tour, by the coach of the facilities and even snuck a peek at a couple of the athletes that were staying there. Terry was giggling like a school girl! Talking too much, asking too many questions... he even asked if we could stay there, to which the answer was, YES!

We settled in to our room and were told that we would be taking tea at 10 o'clock (there's that time thing again... if you count from 6am, then 10 o'clock means 4pm). We had Kenyan tea with bread and jam and saw a couple more elite runners. Then we went for a walk around the running circuit (I didn't even bring my runners with me), which is a nice one mile loop with turns in a treed area close by. The training centre is on a dairy farm, where they have a lot of cool things going on -- bio fuel, a dream of fish farming, honey bees, they get their hot water by running a pipe from the water supply to the house over a stove lit with corn cobs. They have room at the centre for up to 36 athletes and there is also another guest house on the property which will house several more. Currently there are 8 runners (6 men and 2 women) staying in the centre and the German Olympic marathon team is staying in the guest house. The German coach won the 197something Olympic marathon. (I'll leave the name dropping and stats for Terry).

Terry had a nice easy run; I took pictures of him running where the Kenyans train, and then we had dinner with everyone. We sat with the German team and Terry was in ecstasy as he peppered them with questions and of course, ranted about raw food :-) After dinner we chatted in the very comfortable sitting room with a young Sri Lankan athlete. They knick named him Indika, which means bicycle.

After a comfortable sleep... it was soooo sooo nice to go to sleep to the sounds of frogs and the odd bird (no dogs barking or security lights here). We set the alarm for 6:00am so Terry could at least take off with the group. He was the first up and dressed. It was still dark when they took off. The Kenyans dressed in tights, jackets and touques, and Terry in his shorts and a singlet. He managed about 4 minutes with the first group before they left him, but the second group were on a recovery run, so he was able to join them for the full 50 minutes! Unfortunately I missed their return because I was reading "The Perfect Mile" about the three runners racing to break the 4 minute mile.

Over breakfast we chatted with a few more of the runners, now that Terry had been out with them, we felt at home. We heard from Farah Mahamoud, Olympian in the 1500M and 800M, how he got his start. There used to be a famous runner in his village that he adored. He would always run beside him and be so happy. After primary school, his mother told him he had to stop running all the time and go to school. He said he would cry and cry, all he wanted to do was run. He did finish school and he did continue running. He used to run barefoot and thought he could be faster without carrying those heavy shoes. Needless to say his feet were covered in cuts and blisters and he had to wear shoes. (We also heard another story from the coach of an athlete that was sponsored by Puma... he had always worn bare feet and when he started with shoes his times suffered, so he went back to bare feet... Puma dropped him, it doesn't look good if your sponsored athletes are faster WITHOUT your product). Farah did learn about shoes after much trial and error. His 800M is about 1:50.

Dream come true kind of stuff for Terry!

The matatu ride on the way home wasn't quite bad enough to squeeze out the dreamy day. This one was a record -- 24 people in a 14 passenger van. Toyota really should do ads in Kenya, these vehicles really can take a beating.

The Real Deal

This is a letter that Patricia received from a primary school teacher. Not for the weak of heart... I have left the names blank as I have not asked permission to publish this letter. I thought it was important to share though.

Hello,

My name is -----. I have been the headteacher of ----- Primary School for the last 8 years and I have recently moved to ----- Primary School which is about three kilometers from -----. This School is one of the schools in the Maseno North Diocese of Anglican Church.

I am so sorry that all the teachers were caught up with issues that we could not attend the one day workshop that was at Ekwanda last week on Saturday. We had wished at least to have two representatives unfortunately we had previously arranged for a community meeting at school on that day, prior to receiveing your invitation.

I am interested to share with you the situation at ----- Primary School and invite you for a visit any time that you may have the chance to do so.

The school is right on the boundary of Western Province and Nyanza Province. We have an enrolment of 237 pupils from STD 1-8. Unfortunately this is a school that is facing very many crises that it is in deed crying for support. The drop out rate is very high in this school. Maybe because most people who were students in this school through the time have not been going to secondary school. Most children do not see the need to complete even their primary school education alone.

Girls becoming pregnant seems to be a norm. the STD 8 class of last year had 24 pupils in total. By the time of KCPE exam in November 4 girls had already given birth and two others were very pregnant. I am told that the joke was that they were bringing forth several "Obamas." The STD 8 of this year has two girls who carried out abortions last year. One small girl in STD 7 dropped out last week because she was pregnant.

In last year's KCPE examination virtually all the pupils failed the exam. In ranking of the schools in Emuhaya District we are among the last six schools in the same exam. Out of the 24 pupils only three have gone to secondary school. The community seem to be contented with the fate of the rest.

As for the boys the trend is that once they are registered for the KCPE exam they mostly drop out or start coming to school when they want and keep off when they do not want to be in school.

The facilities in the school are so dillapidated and my findings indicate that the poverty index in this community is extremely high. Mostly because not investing their future in education. We have only 9 classrooms. Fortunately the CDF gave us a grant of KSH 200,000 which we are using to renovate 4 classrooms. The rest have cracking walls or are falling apart. We have 3 pit latrines for all the girls and another 3 for all the boys. The latrines are equally in deplorable state.

We are all new teachers in this school and our main target at the moment is to restore hope in everyone. The response seems to be very good as there is a very strong goodwill from the community.

It is at this point that I wish to invite you to help us in the process of restoring the hope and the future of the community. My feeling would be that even by you meeting the pupils or the parents or by mounting workshops in this school can open it up and make the people here know that they belong to the larger community where people are responsible of each other.

Thank you so much for your patience in reading this mail and we hope to read from you soon.

Bye.

Close to Comfort

I believe I mentioned a few weeks back that I hoped to be able to walk through town ‘comfortably’. The last few days; I don’t know when it started really – I feel like I’ve arrived in that place of comfort, at least to the degree that is possible in Kakamega. A walk in Kakamega town includes hot sun, dust, noise, chaotic traffic of bikes, motorcycles, matatus, cars, livestock and pedestrians, diesel smoke, potholes, litter, men asking for 20 shillings or please buy me breakfast or where are you going, are you going to Kisumu (asking is far too light of a term), children shouting how are you relentlessly (I’ve seen mothers training their little babies to say how are you mzungu), street children sniffing glue walking too close with their hand out if your lucky, harassing you if your not so lucky.

So, as comfortable as you might expect one can be on a walk with all of the aforementioned, everytime… that’s how comfortable I am. The fear is gone. Not vanished gone, but far enough at bay that I am free to come and go as I please without needing Terry by my side every moment of every day – which is VERY good for our marriage :-) (Don’t worry mom, I’m safe and cautious, not taking any risks).

The Lonely Planet says about Kakamega, “There is no real reason to stay here,” I beg to differ. The authors clearly didn’t stick around long enough to appreciate all that this noisy, busy, dirty town has to offer.

More Memories of Maasai Mara

Continued from February 4th journal entry:

Cody and I fell in love instantly with the Fig Tree and it didn’t take too long for Terry to get over the cost… well, at least to stop grumbling about it.

Our room (looks like a canvass tent on the outside, feels like a finished, luxury hotel suite on the inside) is right on the Tarek river. We enjoyed a nice swim before dinner. It was strange seeing so many mzungus. Jeremiah was the only African who was seated as a guest, all the others worked there. Cody noticed right away and didn’t like it. “It kinda bothers me,” was his comment. A good thing to be bothered by, I think.

The food was good, though the drinks were expensive (100 shilling for a soda – it’s 20 or 30 at most in Kakamega). We offered to buy Jeremiah’s drinks during our stay, but he said, laughing, “Please don’t pay for my soda – you pay 100 /=, that’s triple what I would pay!”

During the dinner, a group of 8 or so Maasai Warriors sang and danced for us. They have jumping contests. It is tradition that whoever jumps the highest gets the girl. Man, can they jump! We ended the night watching an amazing lightening storm; Cody even caught a great bolt on video on his phone.

We left around 6:30am for our first game drive of the day. Not 5 minutes out of the gate we saw a cheetah stalking a gazelle. Everytime the gazelle would put her head down to eat, the cheetah would move a little closer. The gazelle would look up and the cheetah would crouch in the grass. After a few minutes of this, the cheetah made his move and the gazelle took off. I had no idea how fast gazelles could run! The gazelle got away. Terry attributes her speed to her raw vegan diet.

After seeing some nice ostriches, we hit about 20 minutes of fog. The effect on the trees was great, but not so great for spotting wildlife. Hmph.

Once the fog lifted, we thought we saw some lions, but they turned out to be hyenas! These are impressive animals, far more so than I ever imagined. They are huge! Not great posture. Very lazy according to Jeremiah, they only ever scavange. We then stopped so Terry could take a picture of an anthill and saw a herd of about 6 elephants. Every now and then it would hit us just how cool this is!

On our next drive in the afternoon, Jeremiah’s fried Steve joined us to help point out a few things. To us, Steve just doesn’t quite look like a Steve. Steve is a Maasai, about 4 ½ feet tall, with very long earlobes and a small moustache. He wears the traditional Maasai blanket and carries a small sword. We enjoyed having him along and he was a great help in navigating through the Mara, knowing where the slippery bits were and where the animals hang out. As just one example of his expertise, Jeremiah asked Steve what would happen if we went for a swim with the hippos. “I think you would have a problem,” was Steve’s most helpful response.

He also told us about the Rhinos. There are currently only 22 Rhinos in the Mara (we did not see them here, but did find some in Lake Nakuru National Park). The rhinos are protected now, but are having a hard time coming back. They only have one baby every 16 months to three years. And, Steve explained to us that they are very lazy and do not make good mothers. They prefer to sleep rather than take care of their babies and so many are lost to prey. Elephants on the other hand are very good mothers. The women, mothers, sisters and grandmothers always stay together. I am wearing an elephant necklace to remind me of the unique and important bond between women.

Something

In Kenya, I am learning, that nothing is as it seems. I am also learning that I can't do everything... but I can do something. So that's what I am doing with Frederick. Something to give him and his young family a foot hold in life. Terry's also written about the gong show we went through to get to his compound today to meet his wife and mother. And also his little girl. In all of our meetings over the past couple of weeks he never mentioned he had an 8 month old baby girl! She is a little darling. Terry urged him to put off having any more kids until their situation improves. But, by the way he giggled, I don't think the message computed.

Anyway, what we thought would be a quick 10 minute walk to Frederick's turned into an hour and a half of hopping in and out of vehicles, on and off bodabodas and walking on dirt roads. I have put a lot of energy into this one young family and I am doing it for myself as much as for him. Since we have been here I have met and seen organizations that help girls go to school, high achieving boys go to school, widows, orphans, women with literacy and in new businesses, and of course street boys. But what about the HUGE population of young people who have made it only to class 8, are now too old for high school, but have no marketable skills. So, that is how I chose Frederick.

We have some well wishers from home that are asking to help change a person's life and I am realizing that that is much easier said than done. The worst thing we could do is nothing, and the second worse thing we could do would be to hand over a sum of money (no matter how large or small) and disappear. The best help takes time and energy... training, money and on-going support. So, what we will do with any further donations -- and please pledge if the spirit moves you!!! -- is hand it over to groups that we trust that are here in Kenya that can distribute the money in a meaningful way for lasting support and most of all self sufficiency! As I told Frederick and Josephine (his wife), I will make sure that they have a good start and the rest is up to them. They need to work hard, together, to ensure their support. Right now I understand that they need money to get started, but after that, they must save and grow their businesses to ensure a good future for themselves and little Brenda.

So, I have a couple of favourite groups:

KASFOOC which helps widows and orphans; I will direct funds from anyone interested in food sustainability (fish and bananas)

Maji Mazuri which has three projects directly supporting residents of the Mathare Slum in Nairobi (HUGE NEED HERE), just let me know if your interest is women micro-finance, youth micro-finance and leadership training, or special needs children and orphans

WEBB which is a Kakamega based organization providing micro-finance and training for women in small business

And then of course, all the proceeds from the jewelry sales will support a women's adult literacy program in the rural village (name escapes me right now) where the artist is from.

Oh yeah, and if you want to send a child to high school, I've got great contacts for both girls and boys.

Whatever your fancy, we can put your money to good use! I'm just not going to try and do it all myself :-) though it is definitely worth all the hub-ub.

Frederick Home Visit

Its 1:30 pm on a hot Friday afternoon. Tanya is off at her 3rd meeting of 5 today. This morning she met with Rebecca at the CHES office to discuss how to go about training Frederick’s wife (Josephine) in a small business (ad cash handling and saving) while he is apprenticing as a carpenter for the next 1-2 years.

Tanya got home in time for us to meet Frederick at 10am. He told us he lived about a kilometre from here so we figured we had enough time to visit his family and home (i.e. check him out) before a lunch meeting with a Technical college and good old Nora (I’m not sure what Tanya is up to with the technical college, I think its just to learn ‘how it all works’).

Well we met Frederick; he was late, trying to find a place to store his bike while we took a matatu to his ‘area’ (Msala). Hmm, didn’t sound like a 1 km trip to me…and it wasn’t. We stood by the road waiting for an unfilled-to-the-brim matatu to pass by. No luck, so I suggested, since it’s so close, let’s just splurge on a taxi, what’s $4 round trip? We jumped in a taxi after negotiating too long only to discover the taxi was boxed in and had no gas. Then we found a mini mini van willing to act like a taxi. After a jumpstart we were on the road. Five minutes later we pulled over because cops were ahead. The plan: boda boda around the cops and then meet the mini mini van on the other side. We did and off we went (that’s the short version). About 10km up the road we stopped and got out, time for a boda boda ride along a dirt road. A few kilometres in we had to stop. New road construction (if you can call it that, basically the road was impassable). So we walked for 10 or 15 minutes along paths until we reached Frederick’s tiny little home- a mud shack with grass roof. What a commute Frederick must make but he does it all by bike.

Incidentally we may have broken a record today: 21 people in a 14 passenger van.

We had chai. His wife and Mama (all aunts are mamas too, so it took awhile to figure out who was who) served white bread with margarine and ground nuts. Thankfully no soda. We had the interview and let them know the game plan and took some pictures. Our friend gave us a 100 USD to change a life. Frederick qualifies. His Aunts said he was a very good boy, “perfect”.

Next, after Tanya gets back from the college, we meet David Enkombe, he is one of the 16 year old Rotary boys my club is helping, he asked to meet me for some reason; I’m not sure what that is about.

After that its “pizza night” at SheyWey House where we hope to meet with Maria. She doesn’t know it yet, but we are going to ask her to steward some of the money for the ongoing projects we leave behind.

KASFOOC update

Tomorrow at 10am I get to see the final final KASFOOC budget, wish list. This is my favourite project because the focus is fish farming for widows and orphans. One pond, a little training (ongoing, hands-on, not just at the beginning) and start up money can create a source of income that exceeds the rest of their lands harvest. The extra money raised goes to school fees, which of course breaks the cycle of poverty. The women work together and save money so that they can survive droughts and life’s problems, rather than lurching from one crisis to the next. They can use the money for oil, paraffin, soap and other necessities.

We are not trying to create any new relationships, but it’s hard. This is the home stretch. We have 13 projects we are supporting with friends and Rotary. There are many loose ends to tie off and people to meet.

I suppose Tanya has told you about the things we see on the back of bicycles? We have seen milk crates of soda pops stacked 4 high, car tires, 2 3 year olds, huge bundles of wood and a coffin. Today on the way here I saw guys hauling bags of cement. It rained a few days ago so near one of the construction sites they dammed the puddles and all day long there are men and children filling buckets of water and hauling over to the brick layers. I hope no ones drinking it.

Its strange now that some of these bizzare sights don't stop us in our tracks anymore. They just keep coming, one mind-boggling sign of poverty and ingenuity after another.

Shopping

I can't remember what I wrote yesterday, so forgive me if I repeat myself today. We are sitting in a frustrating cyber cafe (the same one at the gas station that the goats walked past last time... no goats today, though). I keep getting kicked out of gmail, so will take this time to blog. We just finished shopping for the Musingu Boys. We were able to buy EVERYTHING on their lists and still have 1000 or so shillings left over! Terry wasn't too pleased with my buying books used on the street (no receipt), but I know his Rotary Club knows we are good for it. And I think it saved just enough so no one had to be disappointed!

Walking in to town today Terry was saying that he was much more brash (is that a word? I'm not sure if he actually said brash) in India about taking photos. We have been quite shy about it here, because we LIVE here and are now worrying that we might not have enough! So, we'll be a little more in your face about it for the next few days. Oh, I know, we are heading to Eldoret on Monday... they don't know us there!

For example, it is one thing for me to write about all the things we see being carried on the back of a bicycle, but it is quite another to see it! Do words do justice to this:

A red velvet coffin
A HUGE, wide, high load of sticks
8 Twenty litre water jugs
Enormous bundles of... hay, clothing, fruit, vegetables
One or more live chickens, on the back or on the handlebars
People in suits, dresses, old, young, fat, skinny, you name it
People with babies or briefcases
Long pieces of metal or timber (like REALLY really long)

Oh, there go the goats... there's a whole herd of them today. Just paused to take a picture :-)

Memories of Maasai Mara

I did promise an entry (an exciting, detailed, entry I believe is what I said) about our trip to the Maasai Mara. It seems so long ago and since our trip will be a memory before you know it, I thought I’d better deliver. So, with some help from my written journal, here it is:

February 4, 2009

What a fantastic day! We all got up and were ready to go on time. Two of Jeremiah’s employees picked us up in the Tour Africa Matatu. Jeremiah had put in two captains chairs, so it really was quite comfortable. We drove off in the dark early morning with Dolly Parton love songs playing… too much.

Even at 6:30am, the streets were busy with people walking. On the whole drive from Kakamega to Kisumu, the road was lined with kids wearing every colour combination of school uniform one could imagine. On several occasions, we had to stop to let herds of cattle, sheep, or goats cross the road. A little farther in to the drive it was donkeys.

Note: We heard from Jeremiah today how he got his start to success. He had known Alinda and her husband for some time. Jeremiah used to have a very old car that he used as a taxi. He told us it was not uncommon for him to break down with four flat tires on one trip. Alinda asked him one day if she bought him a decent car would he be able to pay her back. The answer was yes, and so she bought him a car. After some time he was able to pay back the loan, he then sold the car, which left him enough for a down payment on the café.

The scenery was spectacular… gorgeous bright green fields of tea, dotted with colourful pickers; crowded, noisy, colourful market days; donkeys. I was so enamoured by the donkeys that I barely noticed the change in scenery. It was getting dryer. Cactus fences replaced the barbed wire. The soil turned from red to light brown. The roads were now lined with sandcastles. Huh? Who is making sand castles in the middle of the desert? Oh wait, those are ant hills.

After several hours which flew by like minutes, Cody spotted the first animal (other than the goats, cows, pigs and donkeys previously mentioned). Giselle, then antelope and then 3 giraffes, and we are not yet officially in the park! Next were the wart hogs, who would come to be my favourites. Jeremiah told us that wart hogs are “very shallow minded”. They get scared and run very fast, which seems pretty smart to me; but soon they forget why they are running and simply stop. Lion sausages are what they are known as here. We witnessed this over and over again – warthogs with tails standing straight up, take off with a quick prance for maybe 5 seconds and then abruptly stop and look around. Ugh, just adorable. A little pathetic, sure, but totally adorable.

Next in my journal are some bullets:
- herd of 13 giraffes
- 2 elephants
- Huge hyenas, such a treat
- Wart hogs, often a pair will be hanging out with other animals, who hopefully remind them to keep running!
- The ostriches are HUGE, bigger than zebras if you can imagine
- Buffalo; look quiet enough, but Jeremiah says are very dangerous.

Coming through the gates at the Mara, the Maasai women were selling necklaces, bracelets, and carvings. And believe me, they do not take NO for an answer. “O.K. Mama, this one, this one, 700 for all.” They would put things in my lap and say “O.K. O.K., it’s no problem.” Like, I mean they were AGGRESSIVE. It worked though, Cody bought a mask and a statue for 500 shillings. Later they offered me two statues, 2 masks and a giraffe for 700. They told me this is the “mama price”.

To be continued…

Locked out (again)

February 25, 2009

I was just about to sit for an hour before my next appointment after a busy morning. Terry was reading comfortably in the shade on the grass and I just wanted to ask him something quickly before I could relax… there was a nice breeze and then, the door slammed shut. ARGH! Our door locks automatically. We are locked out. I am wearing short shorts and we have only one pair of flip flops outside the locked door. One of us will have to go to Sheywe Guesthouse to try and get our keys. Since I’m typing, I guess you know who has gone. He’s not at all pleased about it, but one must be flexible in Kenya!

This morning got off to a bit of a frustrating start when the Musingu Boys were over an hour and a half late for our shopping day (there was a mix up with their school bus). But once we got started, it all went very smoothly. The 8 boys arrived with their list of wants and needs and we got them all sized for shirts, trousers and shoes. Rotary has granted $50 for each boy to top up some of their lacking educational needs. I think we will be able to manage most of what they are asking for. Even though I have done the shopping myself, it is still hard to grasp that $200 will outfit 8 high school boys in uniforms, text books and math supplies! We bought everyone sodas, mandazi (doughnut type things) and a full lunch afterward (9 people) for 20 bucks, I KNOW you couldn’t do that in Canada.

Julius came by to drop off the first order of jewellery. He is so happy. I will pick up the rest next week when it is ready. It was gratifying to hand him all those 1000 shilling notes and listen to him talk about the possibilities it brings for him and his family. He spoke of planting, beginning to save for more land and of solar panels so that his children can study at night. He is excited about the women’s literacy program that Patricia will begin in late September when she returns. I wish I could be here for that.

Right now I am waiting for Frederick to come by at 4:00pm. Things are working out so well. I was asking our friend, Williamson, who has been making the desks for Daisy School, about a school I had checked out for carpentry – did they have a good reputation, does he hire graduates of that school, etc. He told us that he has promised himself that he will help at least two boys a year. He trains them on the job, feeds them lunch and pays them a small wage until they are fully trained when he employs them until they are eventually ready to go on to open their own shop. He interviewed Frederick yesterday and has agreed to take him on! The training wage will not be enough to carry him through, but I can look at perhaps getting his wife and mother into a small business to make up the difference in the short term and hopefully begin a real lift towards a life of something more than just barely surviving.

Terry just came back with Sammy who was able to pick the lock and get us in! Hey, so much for high security.

Busy, busy

The last few days have been a whirlwind of meetings; it’s been a bit like work- fun work, but work. As we consider project after project and how to make them eligible for specific types of Rotary grants I am spending lots of times reading downloaded Rotary manuals and sending emails to various clubs and our District Grant coordinator and Rotary Activity report centre.

We met with RC Vihiga on Monday and introduced them to KASFOOC in the hopes the RC becomes a Host partner to a grant. We then met with Vihiga and a few government officials to look at the dam they want to build to create hydro power and a fish farm. Later on we met with KASFOOC again to help them make a Rotary-friendly (i.e. highly specific) budget. That was fun; I can talk about fish farming forever.

I am having a few good runs these days. This morning was probably the least reaction I have received while here. Although yesterday I sent my first small child shrieking home – I was running uphill from a gully and kind of emerged from the trees into their small lane where the little gaffer, about 4 years old, was heading off to school. There was man shaving in the next yard looking on with a big smile. That little guy was scared for his life.

I wish I had a dump truck of soccer balls. All the schools have sports immediately after classes from about 3-5. We go by the fields and see about 4 or 5 games going on simultaneously, tons of kids. Each group has a “ball” made of plastic bags wrapped tightly. I think out of the dozens of schools we have passed we have seen one group with a real soccer ball.

As I post this we are waiting for Misingu High School boys (8) to meet us so we can buy them school supplies (compliments of RC Strathcona-Sunrise). So far they are an hour and a half late. Tanya’s gone to check again and she’s not back yet so that’s the signal she may have found them. We have found the Africans to be very punctual, so this was not expected. This afternoon we meet Julius to buy jewellery, and Frederick who has been accepted as a journeyman compliments of our desk carpenter (that’s very cool- I’ll let Tanya describe the story).

Oh yeah, I better go.

So good to be feeling good

I am falling in love with Courtenay, BC by being here in Kakamega, Kenya. Not for the reasons you might think -- sure it is beautiful, and the roads are smooth and the internet is fast! But what has my heart fluttering is all the encouragement we are receiving from home. You just never know who is watching... especially with blogging. We have been so pleasantly surprised by the response to our blog and to our call for jewelry orders. Some people have even sent spontaneous donations along with their jewelry orders. There is so much good to be done here!

Yesterday was my first day of not feeling up to par. It really started the day before when my tummy was not all that comfortable and it was showing in my mood -- which translates to: I wasn't being very nice to Terry! So, yesterday I slept most of the day and watched a light, fluffy movie -- cried and laughed in all the right places -- while Terry enjoyed his first day of not being accountable to anyone. More than not feeling well, I was worried about having something more serious (our friend after taking $2,000 worth of Malarone, got malaria). So, waking up and feeling healthy was a great relief physically and mentally!

I'm feeling back to myself again and we had another good day today. Terry rented a motorcycle and after watching him practice some, I trusted him to carry me about the town. We managed to swerve our way around potholes, cattle and marketeers and found our way with some assistance to Julius' place. Actually, we had a tiny run-in with a ditch and used that as our opportunity to call Julius. His phone wasn't working, but we happened to have a picture of him with us and asked a local woman if she knew Julius. We were directly in front of the turn to the dirt road to his place. I love how things work out. So, a young boy with very good english hopped on the back of the bike with Terry to direct him there as I walked behind. We gave him a little soccer ball for his help and he was very happy.

Because of the orders that are coming in for jewelry, Julius will be able to plant and buy fertilizer... not sure what his plan b was, but people go on faith here.

We had a very minor run-in with a bodaboda on the way home... no injuries, I lost a shoe, a little village girl picked it up and ran it to me. I did lose my free and easy feeling after that though, which made for extra squeezing and a little nattering at Terry.

Earlier in the day I met with Frederick, the bodaboda driver I am considering helping, again and learned more about him and his family. He lives with his mother, three brothers and his wife. He is 21 years old, the youngest in his family. His mother is "only at home" with no job; sometimes she digs other people's shamba for 50 to 100 shillings a day -- the current exchange is around 60 shillings to the dollar, so there is the less than a dollar a day we in the west so often hear about. Here is a text message I received from Frederick yesterday. It will be clear why I want to help him:

Dear my sweet heart,
i would if you can request i go to driving school
then if u can also like to help those childrens
who are orphans through u if you will
request please late me take care of them
if I said what is wrong
please I beg u forgive me
reply

When we were speaking today he was worried that I would be angry at him if he told me his idea for helping the orphans. Imagine.

Renting a motorcycle

I can almost taste freedom. There are no rental agencies, but a guy I know, knows a guy and in about 2 hours I will be BORN FREE. For $20 I can have my own wheels for a couple days.

This may fizzle, as I will be VERY rusty, but I'll practice tonite in the compound and stick to back roads as much as possible. And I wil even wear a helmet- heck with long sleeves I may even blend in a tich.

Tanya is home feeling tired and Im in town getting some photos made so we can hand them out before we leave. Iam also photocopying some (Tilapia) fish farm material to give out to farmers and Rotaracts.

It almost feels like a "day off" as we have no tours or appointments. Yet we are booking them all day for next week. Tanya is meeting with a boda boda driver she likes. Iron Ron gave us $100 US to "change a persons life", Frederick is a candidate. His big dream is to sell clothes in the market. Boda bodas earn nothing. He looks about 14, but he's married living in a shack. He has completed junior high but had no money to go further (they say school is free here but there are tons of fees- including for school maintenance) so he has looked into a driving course (to get a license) and will meet with Tanya tomorrow. Meanwhile Iam setting up some trips for next week to revisit some places with the resident Tilapia expert Hussein. We have lots of loose ends to tie off before we leave.

Sigh, there is the word, "leave". We don't want to come home yet. 2 months felt like a long time 5 weeks ago, but has dwindled to 2 weeks so fast.

to do:
-get quotes for custom made desks for Daisy school
-make plaques for RC Cumberland and my club projects
-arrange ceremony for Daisy desks- presentation of plaque
-meet w/ Julius for jewelry order (weee! thanks everybody) then revisit to pick up
-plan good bye tour
-plan 2 day Eldoret trip (cancelled today, Tanya is not feeling great)
-pick up Misungu boys wish list, shop
-back to Vihiga on Mon and Tues, to look at proposed project with local experts
-distribute photos to the many people we visted because a) they love photos, b) we said we would and c)so they remember us

and so on....

ok, time to ride off down the dirt roads.

Other People's Money

Oh, we are having such fun spending other people's money! We went today to Daisy School to see the kids who need custom desks. We only have a small amount set aside for this, so when the deputy provided us with a list of 19 children that needed desks, it was really tough to say that we could only manage 4-6...

So, we took measurements for 15 and will try to do a little finangling to find the money. Our friend mentioned that Windsor Highschool in North Vancouver is interested in supporting Daisy, so I will plant the seed there!

Thanks to everyone who is ordering jewelry -- I know I have confused the pricing, so basically, tell me how many pieces you want and how much you want to spend and I will take it from there. Or send me a note with specific questions and I will make sure you, the jeweler and the community benefits!

As I am sitting here in this tiny cyber cafe, looking out the door at the SomKen petrol station, a mama and baby goat just walked by and a women wandered in to see if I would like to buy some ground nuts or a drink. Terry and I wonder what we will do without seeing cows in the most unusual places when we leave! A young woman just walked in wearing an Obama t-shirt.

Just before we left a good friend gave us a moderate sum of money and asked us to change someone's life. I think I have met that someone. We have been taking bodabodas for over a month now and for the first time a couple of days ago, the driver spoke to me. He asked where I was from and whether I thought Kenya was good or bad. I told him that the people, the food and the sunshine are good and the dust, the roads and the leadership is bad. He told me that he had a problem, he wondered if I could help him with... He was able to go through Class 8 in school and then did not have fees for highschool (a common problem). He is wondering if I could help him with some training, perhaps driving school.

Now, before we got here everyone warned me that we would hear many sad stories and people would see us as walking piggy banks. And it is true, we have heard many sad stories and we have been sold to. But this is the first time that anyone has approached me directly asking for this kind of help. I think he is a good candidate.

We met today and he told me his ideas of either driving training or perhaps a business selling clothing. I told him I was also meeting with a friend who runs a training college in carpentry. I asked him to get more information, like costs for training, costs and potential for success of selling clothing and we will meet again on Monday. Frederick lives with his wife about a kilometer from town, has no children yet and no other family. He is afraid that when he is old he will not be able to be a bodaboda driver as it takes a lot of energy and at the end of the day he is very tired.

I'll keep you posted as I learn more about him. I get a good feeling, but of course, I almost always have a good feeling about people.

We are going to try another safari (means journey) this weekend to Eldoret, the mother of running. This means another long, cozy, bumpy matatu ride.

Too Bogged to Blog?

So much has happened since I last posted 6 days ago that I think I better go point form rather than story form, but even that poses a challenge because there are many categories from Rotary to Running to Food to Friends and in between.

Last Sunday….egad, even after looking in my journal I have drawn a blank. We did SOMETHING, I know. Must-remember-to-journal-every-day. [bing! Now, after writing all of the below, I remember. We went with Rod and Patricia (RC Victoria) to Shisalachi to meet Julius the Jeweler and see a protected spring and well projects. Quite an experience in Rod’s car 4 wheel driving down paths that may rarely if ever see a vehicle. We had to move some logs and Rod did some amazing, 45 degree angle driving to get around. Patricia conducted a How To Use Cow Dung for heat seminar with all her students balancing water jugs on their head while they listened, swarming with kids of course. Amazing to see these barefoot little girls walking up steep slopes carrying water and laughing at us. Those jugs are heavy (10-20L).] Then Rod and I spent what seemed a lifetime acting as jewelry demo racks while Patricia and Tanya hummed and hawed- all in a tiny grass mud hut that was his workshop. It was great to meet the kids and orphans that benefit from the jewelry sales.

Last Monday we had a long meeting with KASFOOC (the widows self help program) and that was followed by a meeting with Daisy School, where we checked out the new desks. The KASFOOC meeting was basically us looking at their books to see how they are funded and how they track their support. They had been audited and had some great grant proposals. They passed with flying colours. At Daisy School we saw the kids sitting in their new desks. Amazing how just a few weeks ago they sat on the concrete floor or 4 to a desk, but now they are all seated. Very gratifying. We see they could use some custom desks and thanks to our Humanities Team back in Courtenay I think we can get a few built (e.g. For a girl with no arms).

Last Tuesday we had a full day with the Rotary Club of Vihiga and looked at their earth dam proposal and another proposed fish farm location. This was followed by a big afternoon feast of Ugali. We also saw their dairy goat and dehydrator projects. About 6 members of the club escorted us around in two cars. Much sharing and chatting in between stops. We saw pictures of other projects such as protected springs, wells and adult literacy classes. They also explained how tea and sugar cane farming was not paying off, a mugs game due to crazy low prices to the farmers. They are very funny too: how can you spot a Kenyan drunk driver? He is driving in a straight line, through, not around, the potholes. We are going to introduce them to KASFOOC, and Hussein, next week

Last Wednesday was actually a tough day due to the heat; or should I say, our lack of water. We walked for hours going from farm to farm (shambra to shambra) talking to members of KASFOOC (who were digging their fields and ponds in bare feet) and their neighbours. Joining us was Hussein the local Tilapia farming expert. As we walked around more people wanted us to inspect their land to see if they had potential for a fish pond. I learned a lot as Hussein advised each one. Jackson was great as he just kept the information about each person place or thing coming on. There were 8 of us in our group, with several members of the KASFOOC board. Cars cannot reach these areas and many people had never seen a misingu in real life. This tour was followed by a big ugali and chapatti and Fanta feast. Tanya and I were knackered and filthy when we got home. Very dusty. We had about 2 hours before the Rotaract (college age Rotarians) meeting that night. It was great, even greater because my club released the funds to send two members to RYLA (youth leadership conference on the coast- this is a big deal). Tanya gave a leadership talk, by asking two members, male and female, to tell us about what drew them to Rotaract. Very interesting talks- no Canadian I have ever met went through what these kids did to get to college- man was I ever a spoiled brat at that age! Because they were so brave by standing up (most Kenyan youth we’ve met, and it’s been a lot, are very shy) I awarded, from my club, each speaker, Leah and Felix, with a trip to RYLA in Malindi. They were VERY excited. The president was thankful he did not have to choose.

Yesterday, Thursday, was another great-to-be-in-Rotary day because my club also gave us the OK to buy some supplies for our 8 high achiever, but very poor, boys at Musingu High School. So off we went, with Nora Harrison, on an incredibly cramped, hot, dusty matatu ride to the boonies to meet with the headmaster. The power was out all day so we didn’t know if he would be there. Thankfully he was, and after about a ½ hour wait we sat down to discuss how to a) determine what the boys need vs. want and b) how to distribute it without causing jealousies etc. He gave us a good plan and we went with it. Another long wait by a dusty road, and then another bumpy trip into town and we went for lunch. Due to the power being out, our options were limited, but we eventually found a place that served chai (me) and ugali (Tanya). I did some gift shopping as we met our first souvenir-touting tout in Kakamega. This is NOT a tourist town. Then we swung by Rotary High School, to see what they needed. Unbeknownst to them, and I hope they are not reading this blog, my club has given the OK to buy them up to 30 desks - I am pretty sure they need more , but this would be a big boost. I just need to confirm. Unfortunately the principal, Zachary, was busy teaching.

The power came back at 5pm so we cyber café’d it until the Kakamega Rotary Club meeting started at 6pm. It was well attended with a speaker: the District Children Officer. The topic was street children. After being assaulted our first day by street urchins, it was good to hear that things are happening, namely the establishment of a Rescue Centre.

Today is looking not so busy; we met Williamson at Daisy School to do some measuring for some custom desks. We measured 15, oh the need! We are also looking to get some plaques done for both Strathcona Sunrise RC (desks) and Cumberland RC (windows and shutters).

We also met with Zachary from Rotary High and said we MIGHT be able to address his needs. We asked his priorities:

1. about 40 desks (1000 CDN)
2. a printer ($50 CDN?) (they are charged 10 shillings a page (alot), old printer died
3. small photocopier ($200 CDN?)
4. textbooks-currently has 1 per 4 students. To get 2 per student, 11 subjects, 350 shillings per book would cost 1200 CDN (200 books at 300 ksh/ book at 61 ksh/ 1 CDN$)


Then perhaps plan a weekend pilgrimage to Eldoret- the capital and birthplace of long distance running (according to Runners’ World magazine). I’ll save my running stories, of which I have several, for the CVRR forum (www.cvrr.ca).

It is HOT today!

Ask and It Is Given

One deeply moving experience for me was our visit to Maji Mazuri Care Centre in Nairobi. I know I have mentioned the project, but I don't think I have shared how moved I was. This was Cody's last day in Nairobi. We went with Julie to meet the children at the Care Centre. This project was started 20 years ago when Wanjiku heard of a fire where two children perished -- these children were special needs and had been tied up inside the house. Wanjiku was horrified and knew that if these two children were hidden away, then there must be others. So began the care centre for special needs. The stories of these children are absolutely heart-wrenching, but that is not what I want to focus on today.

As soon as we arrived at Maji Mazuri, a boy, not a small boy -- he was maybe 10 or 12, jumped into our arms for a hug. We spent several hours there and everytime he saw us, he would throw his arms around whoever was handy. Julie told us just to peel him off when we'd had enough. I will never forget him, Miguel is his name.

Another girl, whose name I do not know, had a very sober face most of the time. Every now and then something would tickle her fancy and she would have a good laugh and then turn serious again. She is a young woman, perhaps 16 or so. Cody sat down to rest on a bench in the shade after playing with the kids from the nursery school for hours in the hot sun. This girl in the soft blue sweater sat right down beside him, took his arm and put it around her. She sat like that with a straight look on her face as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Just hangin' out with Code.

And then of course there were the little kids from the nursery school. As far as I can tell these kids are "normal", whatever that means. These kids come for school each day and I believe pay a small fee to help support the care centre. We each had our favourites. One little girl in a green sweater took hold of my hand and followed me for the whole day. She wasn't interested in playing games, unless I was playing and was content to be held and just be near me. Terry was adopted by a little boy, about 4 years old. He was a little more in your face about the kind of love and attention he was looking for. He would grab hold of Terry's (or Cody's) arm and just start swinging. His name was Boney (short for Bonface). At one point Terry was giving him a shoulder ride and was ready to put him down. When he went to lift him off, Boney squeezed his legs tight around Terry's neck, clearly not ready to be put down. It took some assistance to release the grip. Boney lost both his parents to AIDS. He is HIV positive.

What so moved me about our day with the children was how they just took the love that they so needed.

It is with this spirit of unabashedly asking for what you want, that I have sent the email taking jewelry orders. And it is this spirit in Terry that I am so proud of. He asked Rotary for some support, with no expectations, and I am so grateful to say that Rotary said YES! And because Terry asked, we are now able to send two university students to a leadership weekend, the 8 boys of Musingu Highschool will have their educational needs met with uniforms, calculators, mosquito nets and books and we will be able to assist the 160 students of Rotary Highschool with furniture and sports equipment.

So, thank you to Rotary for responding to our shot in the dark! And thank you to those children who have shown me how to go after what I want. My heart is full.

Fish Farms, Springs, Widows and Dreams

Terry has gone off for his run. Yesterday I went with him for the first time in perhaps two weeks. It was lovely, more of a shuffle than a run, but I am glad I went. The pointing, yelling and laughing has calmed some. Terry has been running every morning so we are less of a spectacle – even the ridiculous becomes normal when seen often enough.

The past two days have been wonderfully full. On Tuesday we met with the Rotary Club of Vihiga. We took a matatu to Mbale (about 40 minutes from Kakamega over the pot-holed, bumpy highway) and met with four members of the club; Paul Gimode, Jack Anduvate, Karani and Mama Avedi. After chai, we took two cars to visit a project that has been a dream of Jack’s for years. On the way I had quite a conversation about Christianity, divorce, Heaven and hell with Paul. The missionaries have done a very good job of ingraining Christianity in this region – EVERYBODY belongs to a Christian church of some flavour or another. Paul seemed quite intrigued and a bit concerned that I don’t attend church or believe in Hell. Everyone is surprised that I have two practically grown up boys – I look like just a girl myself, or so they tell me  And when I told Paul that Terry & I were just married this year, he hoped for me that Terry was a virgin! “It could happen,” he said. As for Heaven and Hell, we decided that we would find out when we get there and in the mean time Paul will pray for me.

We arrived at Ingudumani Valley where Jack has a vision of damming the valley to make a lake for fish farming with a potential for hydro electric power. Of course, he would have to have buy-in from the families that are farming on that land (it is public land), but he feels it would be an easy sell. A project of this size would have to be done in stages; the first stage being to build the dyke which Jack estimates would cost about $30US. This may be a potential matching grant opportunity for Terry’s Rotary Club.

We then visited Avedi’s shamba where Rotary has rehabilitated a spring for fresh water for the community. The spring is down a VERY long, steep hill. Seeing young women and children carrying 20 litre buckets of water on their head up this hill is sobering, no matter how many times we see it. Apparently before the spring was done, the area was just marshy and people were basically getting their drinking water from a big puddle. Now the water runs clean and fresh constantly. The Vihiga club has done a lot of water projects and have decided that the springs are the best way to go. Bore holes are expensive and wells break down if not properly maintained. Springs can be put in for $500-$700 and require no maintenance.

Talking to Avedi, who does so many good projects in this community, the most urgent needs here are clean water and sanitation. We saw a typical family bathroom as we walked along the shamba (farm) property line – a falling down mud shack with little to no privacy, a hole that is not deep enough, no where for the gas to escape… just a mess. This causes so much illness as the flies go down the hole and then are free to fly around and land on your food. Proper latrines and sanitation education; another good project potential.

Our Rotarian friends suggested that we have a little snack before they took us back to catch a matatu. So, we stopped to pick up a few sodas and went to Avedi’s house. This is by far the most beautiful house we have been to. She lives in a large colonial style, dare I say, mansion with lovely grounds. I asked what she did to become so successful, to which Paul answered, “She worked very very hard.” As we are becoming used to, our snack was a full course meal of eggs, ugali, beans and maize, cabbage, chicken and fish. Avedi is a good African Mama, she did not sit down with us, but she knows we will not finish everything, so will eat after we go.

We promised to meet again and to do some good work together.

Yesterday we had another tour with the KASFOOC folks. This time it seemed like the whole board came out with us – Matano, the Secretary and his wife Joy, Jackson, the Chairman, Amos, the Manager, Moses the Co-ordinator and Esther the Treasurer and Hussein came along to advise on fish ponds. We all piled into a matatu and drove to the Shilonga village where we were to tour widows and impact farmers’ potential fish ponds. Yesterday was the hottest day so far, so after 4 hours of touring farms in the hot sun, I was pooped and thirsty. We walked between 12 farms and saw everything from little puddles, to large holes ready for fish.

It is hard for us to understand how with all this land, they can be struggling to feed their families. Matano explained that they lack education. Many of the fields are full of maize or sugar cane, or grass for feeding cows. If the cows die, as happened to one widow who had expensive dairy cows, then there is no food for the children. KASFOOC educates and supports food sustainability, changing the mindset from cash crops to food for a balanced diet. Many of the widows are established in bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, cow peas, skuma wiki and are now ready for either poultry or fish. We hope to help with the fish farming, through Rotary. We will introduce the chairman (they like to call each other by title rather than by name) and the secretary to the Vihiga Rotary Club.

The tour ended with soda, a meal and lots of laughs. Terry was saying that it is hard for us to get used to being fed spontaneously so well. Hussein laughed and said, “In Canada you have to apply to be invited for a visit, that’s so funny.” I love the warmth and hospitality of this country.