morning, susan, fish and textiles

January 20, 2009


Terry woke up at his usual 4:30am and when he came back to bed around 6:30, I laid in bed listening to the birds singing, roosters crowing and dogs barking. The evening sounds are frogs, crickets, more birds and more dogs. Oh, was that a cow I just heard.

We had an easy start to the day, sitting in our yard overlooking the hills reading. The sound of drums and singing filled the air. Later we found out that was in celebration of Barack Obama day. We have had many days like this in our own backyard at home (sans drums of course). Only today, we are in Africa. We are still waiting for someone to yell, "Cut" and for the cameras to stop rolling.



We've just come from a bit of a party at the Sheywey Guesthouse where Mizungus and Kenyans gathered to have dinner and watch the inauguration of Barock Obama. I felt chills when it dawned on me that here I am in Kenya watching the first African American being sworn in to the office of the President of the United States. Amazing.

Speaking of amazing, this afternoon we met with Susan Thompson, whom Terry has been corresponding with for a few months. Susan is from the Yukon and has been coming to Kakamega since 2004. She has personally sponsored 10 or 15 students. When I say sponsored, I am not referring to sending $30 a month to an NGO like World Vision or Plan, I mean, she has met the students, visited their homes, has a relationship with their parents and has personally put them through school. Today she had a young man, Duncan, with her. Her brother, whom she is sending to university, is a good friend. Today she and Duncan were laden with bags from the shopping trip to purchase his school supplies, uniform and shoes. Duncan is 18 and in Form 2, grade 9.

We walked together to Susan's home on the other side of town. She has such an easy way about her and smiles and jokes with the Kenyans we meet on the way. Terry has commented several times how much like India this is. Dusty streets, market stands on the side of the road, the streets crowded with men walking, women with babies on their back or carrying bundles, baskets or water on their heads, boda bodas EVERYWHERE. It still feels surreal.

For the two months she is here, Susan is living in a small apartment for which she pays $100/month and includes her water and electricity. Our three bedroom "estate" is $400/month, water and electricity extra. Hers is definitely the real deal, with the sounds of children playing, dogs, and life happening right outside her door. She has neighbours that sweep her front porch for her and all of her neighbours are Kenyans – they take good care of me she says.

She has fish farm projects and is waiting on approval for a grant to provide training to the farmers – not only in how to dig a pond and the mechanics of fish farming, but in project management and most importantly working as a team. Working as a cooperative is a foreign concept to them. As an example, Susan told us that she had purchased some piping (again with her own money) and given it to one farmer to take to the cooperative and share it among the members. Later, she asked him if he had distributed the pipes, to which he answered, "No, I think I need it all."

She has also had the same trouble with the textile school she started (yes, again with her own financing… she really hopes her grant comes through soon!). She had purchased sewing machines for her school and then gone back to Canada. 8 months later when she came back the machines had been taken to a private home. Susan drove out to the home and took the machines back, while the mother cried and yelled. She says they get very angry at her. They are not used to mizungus coming back to check up on them.

Susan told us there are 23 mizungus (white people) in town including us. Kakamega has a population of close to a million, so we are definitely the minority. 12 of the 23 were at the inauguration party tonight.

Susan has hired a young man to work with her. She had put him through school and now pays him a daily rate to assist her with her projects. When she comes back to Canada, Hussein and his girlfriend will live in her apartment which is much better than their present situation. Where they are now has no running water or electricity and is quite a distance from town. She says she selfishly gets to see the good she is doing. She has no children and wants her money to be put to good.

Susan tells us it is very difficult to get the truth out of a Kenyan. She volunteers for an education foundation that grants scholarships to needy girls. One girl she interviewed, 13 years old, told her that she was a total orphan. She was granted a scholarship and when Susan followed up she found out that the girl had two parents, who were both teachers. She withdrew the scholarship. The parents were furious and the girl heartbroken. Had she told the truth, she likely would have qualified as teachers here make very little money.

Tomorrow Susan is taking us with her to meet three of the families of students she has sponsored. This will be our first introduction to rural Kenya. We have so much to learn.



It's 11pm and the sound of music is coming from the streets. More Obama celebration I think. We were given a ride home from the Sheywey house tonight which is only a block away. No one takes a chance walking at night. It seemed a bit excessive as we only passed two or three Kenyans walking down the street. Our driver brought us right to our gate and was about to get out and open the gate so he could drive us right in to our compound. "No, no, we'll be o.k." He waited until we were in the house. As we were unlocking the pad lock on our iron gate, the night watchman, billy club in hand, came to introduce himself. We have many guards and caretakers here and go to sleep with the soft glare of the security lights filtering through the windows.

Some things are hard to get used to.