Christmas in Kenya
So this was definitely a Christmas to be remembered. Friday I went with Habbakuk, the head of the Farmer Field School network in the Kakamega district, to an orphan's Christmas party. The organization that works with these children is called the "Wake up Women's Group" and they find orphan children and, although they do not currently have funding for an orphanage, support them through food, clothing, and group activities. There are currently about fifteen children in this group and an equal number of sponsors for the children. Almost every child in the group has lost their parents through AIDS and for Christmas they each received a large bag of maize and some bars of soap from the group. It broke my heart because the kids were absolutely adorable (I'm still kicking myself for forgetting the camera) and the meager gifts they got were probably the only good thing they had for Christmas at all, since it meant they had guaranteed meals for the next few days. I can't even imagine what a bad attitude I would have had if, at the age of 10, there was only dried corn and soap under the tree for me. Even worse, one of them, a little girl, was extremely sick from AIDS, which she got from her deceased parents. I had assumed there was a treatment (Antiviral Drugs) available for everyone diagnosed, even if they can't afford them. After asking some of the PEPVAR volunteers, it appears this has recently become the case although it's not wide spread knowledge. I'm going to immediately look into what can be done to treat this girl. The other issue is that Mickey, the volunteer before me, gave a large amount of money to the group and bought the children food and uniforms. I'm under the impression they are expecting the same thing from me and since this looks like it will become a secondary project, I need to start looking into ways to apply for funds. Any previous or current volunteers reading this who have suggestions on grant money feel free to send me an email, meanwhile I'm planning to go to the Kisumu Peace Corps office on Friday to dig around for information. Among other projects for the children, the group is currently wanting to build an orphanage to house the these kids so they can live together and not with distant relatives or family friends who do not have the resources to support them.
The biggest issue I've come across is how overwhelmed I am with people in dire straights needing help, almost all of it in terms of financial assistance. I could go on and on but here's just one more example: There are currently several people in town who are crippled and crawl on their bellies with oven mits because they can't afford a wheelchair. I met the District Officer of the region and he brought this up to me as well, and I told him to look into how much it would cost for a local craftsmen to make wheelchairs, as perhaps I can find the means to assist them. Of course, the biggest problem is there will always be more people without wheelchairs, and the money will always run out. It's nice to know that I can find a way to have a tremendous impact on a few people, which is certainly better then nothing, but the real problem isn't lack of money, but dependence on it from outside sources and the inability to be self sustaining. The Peace Corps has been here for forty years, and the consensus for those involved in managing the program, as well as several professors from Kenyan universities I've spoken to, is that we really shouldn't need to be here any more. This country has so many resources and so much going for it by means of education. resources, and a skilled work force, yet poverty continues to increase and people continue to be dependent on outside assistance. One of the main reasons I want to be here is to help create a self-sustaining infrastructure for the farmers in the area, but the problem spans throughout Kenya and even though I may be able to help on a small scale there is relatively little I can do until the government is able to better provide for the people here as well. Perhaps corruption and the lack of initiative from the government are key reasons people are so poor, and I am hopeful that as Kenya continues to grow as a democracy controlled by the people (as opposed to the virtual dictatorship controlled by Moi as it was until just a few years ago) things in the country will continue to improve. I've told several Kenyans that I would be excited to come back here 20 years from now and see how much things have changed.
More on that subject at a later time, I went off track and am trying to recap my Christmas....
Anyway, after the Orphan Christmas party I had about 15 volunteers show up at my house for Christmas eve. We had some really good food, but went vegetarian because I was in no mood to slaughter anything this time around. Lunch was Spaghetti, which has proven time and time again to relatively inexpensive and able to feed a lot of people, and we also had mango salsa, bean dip, and guacamole for dinner. There are these tiny chili peppers that grow in my yard...I've been told they are called African Birds-Eye Chilies, and they have to be the absolute hottest thing on the planet. We put just a few of them in about five gallons of salsa and it became so spicy we had to add additional tomatoes and mangos to make it edible again. However, everything is so fresh here and the food is so good when prepared right, and all in all things turned out great.
After dinner we stayed up late, watched the Princess Bride on a volunteers computer, and camped out in my yard. Since I hosted things I was pretty much on my feet cooking and cleaning and preparing the whole time. I had help from a few volunteers but definitely know now how my grandmother must feel every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The next day after breakfast we headed out for the rainforest on Christmas day. We rented a private matatu since the logistics of transporting people on holidays here is extremely difficult. Anyway, with 15 volunteers (plus 3 Kenyans) all in the same pickup truck we were able to get a decent price out to the woods. We brought tents and slept in the forest that night while surrounded by monkeys and some of the strangest and most beautiful trees and birds I've ever seen.
The rainforest seemed like a walk back in time, what I would envision the Jurrasic era to look like, with strange, gnarled, and twisted trees almost as big as a giant sequoia, but covered in vines and reaching up to a canopy full of birds and monkeys. Unfortunately there is very little of this rainforest left, which once spanned in an equatorial belt from the Atlantic to the Pacific across Africa. Now it's down to just a few hundred "protected" square miles and all the big game, jungle cats, etc has been hunted out. Even now people continue to clear it out for gardens and tea fields. In fact, when we started looking for firewood one of the Kenyan guides assisted us by going into the woods with his panga (Kenyan machete) and chopping down a tree for us.
Regardless, I got my monkey fix at least and plan to spend at least one weekend a month hiking in the forest, as it is just beautiful and I would love to know it inside and out. Christmas in the rainforest definitely won't be forgotten, although phone reception was horrible so I went to sleep disappointed that I wasn't able to speak to anyone from home on Christmas day.
So after a freezing and uncomfortable night (forgot a sleeping bag and nights get cold here) we woke up, lounged around for a bit, and stayed the next night at another volunteer's house who lives closer to the forest then me. Luckily I was able to talk to family then, but with so many people trying to call over the holidays I had a five second delay to content with. This morning I returned to Kakamega with twenty something people in the bed of a pickup, and that's about the latest.
Hope everyone had a great time over Christmas and expect to hear more soon. Looks like New Years will be spent camping out at Lake Victoria, so hopefully I've have a good story to bring in the new year with.
The biggest issue I've come across is how overwhelmed I am with people in dire straights needing help, almost all of it in terms of financial assistance. I could go on and on but here's just one more example: There are currently several people in town who are crippled and crawl on their bellies with oven mits because they can't afford a wheelchair. I met the District Officer of the region and he brought this up to me as well, and I told him to look into how much it would cost for a local craftsmen to make wheelchairs, as perhaps I can find the means to assist them. Of course, the biggest problem is there will always be more people without wheelchairs, and the money will always run out. It's nice to know that I can find a way to have a tremendous impact on a few people, which is certainly better then nothing, but the real problem isn't lack of money, but dependence on it from outside sources and the inability to be self sustaining. The Peace Corps has been here for forty years, and the consensus for those involved in managing the program, as well as several professors from Kenyan universities I've spoken to, is that we really shouldn't need to be here any more. This country has so many resources and so much going for it by means of education. resources, and a skilled work force, yet poverty continues to increase and people continue to be dependent on outside assistance. One of the main reasons I want to be here is to help create a self-sustaining infrastructure for the farmers in the area, but the problem spans throughout Kenya and even though I may be able to help on a small scale there is relatively little I can do until the government is able to better provide for the people here as well. Perhaps corruption and the lack of initiative from the government are key reasons people are so poor, and I am hopeful that as Kenya continues to grow as a democracy controlled by the people (as opposed to the virtual dictatorship controlled by Moi as it was until just a few years ago) things in the country will continue to improve. I've told several Kenyans that I would be excited to come back here 20 years from now and see how much things have changed.
More on that subject at a later time, I went off track and am trying to recap my Christmas....
Anyway, after the Orphan Christmas party I had about 15 volunteers show up at my house for Christmas eve. We had some really good food, but went vegetarian because I was in no mood to slaughter anything this time around. Lunch was Spaghetti, which has proven time and time again to relatively inexpensive and able to feed a lot of people, and we also had mango salsa, bean dip, and guacamole for dinner. There are these tiny chili peppers that grow in my yard...I've been told they are called African Birds-Eye Chilies, and they have to be the absolute hottest thing on the planet. We put just a few of them in about five gallons of salsa and it became so spicy we had to add additional tomatoes and mangos to make it edible again. However, everything is so fresh here and the food is so good when prepared right, and all in all things turned out great.
After dinner we stayed up late, watched the Princess Bride on a volunteers computer, and camped out in my yard. Since I hosted things I was pretty much on my feet cooking and cleaning and preparing the whole time. I had help from a few volunteers but definitely know now how my grandmother must feel every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The next day after breakfast we headed out for the rainforest on Christmas day. We rented a private matatu since the logistics of transporting people on holidays here is extremely difficult. Anyway, with 15 volunteers (plus 3 Kenyans) all in the same pickup truck we were able to get a decent price out to the woods. We brought tents and slept in the forest that night while surrounded by monkeys and some of the strangest and most beautiful trees and birds I've ever seen.
The rainforest seemed like a walk back in time, what I would envision the Jurrasic era to look like, with strange, gnarled, and twisted trees almost as big as a giant sequoia, but covered in vines and reaching up to a canopy full of birds and monkeys. Unfortunately there is very little of this rainforest left, which once spanned in an equatorial belt from the Atlantic to the Pacific across Africa. Now it's down to just a few hundred "protected" square miles and all the big game, jungle cats, etc has been hunted out. Even now people continue to clear it out for gardens and tea fields. In fact, when we started looking for firewood one of the Kenyan guides assisted us by going into the woods with his panga (Kenyan machete) and chopping down a tree for us.
Regardless, I got my monkey fix at least and plan to spend at least one weekend a month hiking in the forest, as it is just beautiful and I would love to know it inside and out. Christmas in the rainforest definitely won't be forgotten, although phone reception was horrible so I went to sleep disappointed that I wasn't able to speak to anyone from home on Christmas day.
So after a freezing and uncomfortable night (forgot a sleeping bag and nights get cold here) we woke up, lounged around for a bit, and stayed the next night at another volunteer's house who lives closer to the forest then me. Luckily I was able to talk to family then, but with so many people trying to call over the holidays I had a five second delay to content with. This morning I returned to Kakamega with twenty something people in the bed of a pickup, and that's about the latest.
Hope everyone had a great time over Christmas and expect to hear more soon. Looks like New Years will be spent camping out at Lake Victoria, so hopefully I've have a good story to bring in the new year with.
posted by KenyaJoe at 2:42 AM
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