Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda all in one week
So it’s Wednesday March 15 (well, it was when I started this long and rambling blog post, it’s March 22 now) and I’m sitting outside the guest house of the Brittany James Children’s home. Most of the team that is visiting from Alabama is off at a primary school this morning and I decided to take a breather to collect my thoughts and write a bit. Right now I’m watching women in the front yard washing clothes by hand, children fetching water from a well, and workers putting a roof on the new girl’s dormitory. I’ve had a pretty incredible week. Here’s a quick recap of my experiences thus far:
I left for Kisumu Saturday morning and arrived here in the evening. As we drove through Kisii and down to Mirogi, I was surprised how lush and green the landscape is. For some reason I had assumed that Migori was barren and dry like Kitui, but we even drove by a sugar plant and in the surrounding countryside were miles and miles of sugarcane fields covering the hilly landscape. The environment here is not so different than Kakamega, except that it’s a little colder at night and warmer in the day.
So after waiting in Migori for a bit I was picked up by a van that had come from Nairobi with the nine visitors from the States. It was strange to be greeted by so many southern accents and to talk to people who grew up in the same town I did. Listening to people talk about Huntsville and their life back home made me a feel nostalgic and a little homesick, but I was really happy at the same time. Honestly it was great to see people from my home town coming to work in Kenya. Many of them had never been here before and a few had never left the country. Hearing their comments on what they are experiencing and how life in Kenya contrasts to their lives at home made me remember what my first few weeks in Kenya were like. The emotions people felt from seeing so much poverty firsthand also made me realize that I perhaps I have become a bit desensitized to the hardships experienced by the poor and sick in this country. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism to not be as affected as I once was, but I felt a little guilty to see people in tears over issues (e.g. the conditions of a local hospital) that still bother me but I look at as an unfortunate part of normal life here.
Anyway, once everyone was together I went with them to the orphanage, which is right outside of Migori. We were welcomed by singing children lined up on either side of the road flying paper flags with greetings and the names of all visitors written on them. The reception was a lot of fun, complete with all of the singing, dancing, and speeches that are part of the warm and welcoming culture of the people here. Once again I had garland placed around my neck and of course no Kenyan welcome reception is complete without at least a hundred handshakes and a group of older mamas shouting “ayeayeayeayeaye” in a rapid high pitched-tone during the singing. Again it was great to see the reactions of people who were experiencing this for the first time.
The newcomers were pretty jet-lagged but I did have a chance to get to know everyone that night. The visitors were great people and so strong in their faith, which was inspiring to me. Also, the cook here was fantastic, so I had my first of many great dinners that night.
The next day was a Sunday and a church day at the orphanage. We woke up early for the young children’s service, followed by an older children’s service, which was then followed by the main service. The children’s services were a lot of fun and there was a lot of singing and dancing coordinated by the visitors from the states. The church on the compound started with a rather small one room building. Over the past few years the congregation has exploded and a covered outdoor structure has been built to handle the ever-growing crowd. The original church is used only for the children’s services now. In fact, Steve tells me that there are at least five new members showing up every week and almost every newcomer will return again and again. I could see why. I have to admit that I have not been regularly attending church services here in Kenya and the reasons are that A) I don’t understand the local language and have a hard time following rapidly spoken Swahili and B) I don’t have the patience for a 5+ hour service, especially when I only understand a fraction of it.
This church was different though. It had translators in English, Swahili, and Luo, so everyone attending could understand. This may sound like a hindrance, but the way the translators played off each other’s words and interacted really made the service interesting. Furthermore, electric guitars, a drum set, and a keyboard have been donated from BJCF and the music in the service was fantastic. There were some extremely talented Kenyan musicians playing Kenyan gospel music for the service and everyone in the congregation seemed filled with the Holy Spirit. I have not caught such a spiritual high in years, and to be able to attend such a powerful service in the presence of such a successful and well-run project funded from people in my hometown was a great reminder that I am a Christian.
About three hours into the service there was a sermon from a visiting missionary living in Migori which I basically summarized as “God does not offer unconditional love and if he is not answering your prayers it’s because you’re a sinner.” Maybe I took his intended message the wrong way, but since he was saying this to some of the most spiritually rich, yet materialistically poor people I have ever met it was a bit of a buzz kill for me and I left the service shortly after. True to form, the service continued long after I left. As I’ve noted time is not particularly important in this country, and even though my patience has improved tremendously I still lack the attention span necessary for meetings, church services, etc. that last the better part of a day. My personal limit without a breather is around two hours, which is exceeded on an almost daily basis here.
So after the church service we were given a tour of the facilities here, and I was tremendously impressed. Before I continue any further let me give those who don’t know a quick overview of what BJCF is. Brittany James Children’s Fund is a great example of something extremely positive coming out of a tragedy. Steve James is a Nurse Anesthesiologist from Cullman who had a daughter named Brittany. In highschool Brittany sponsored a Kenyan child named Newton through the Christian children’s fund and kept in touch with him regularly. Brittany always wanted to come to Kenya to visit Newton, and Steve tells me she had also wanted to join the Peace Corps. Brittany died her freshman year in college, and foul play was suspected but nothing was ever proven. Naturally her father was devastated. Steve decided to honor Brittany’s memory by making a pilgrimage to Kenya to visit Newton’s family. Once in Kenya Steve fell in love with the people and used his resources and medical knowledge to assist the people here. It wasn’t too long after that he organized a medical mission to bring people to Kenya to assist the sick and injured here. Steve then began using his connections as a medical professional to collect used medical equipment from local Alabama hospitals, and he was able to get these containers shipped to Kenyan hospitals. Medical missions were conducted to provide training for this equipment, which although second-hand in the states is cutting-edge compared to the resources available to rural Kenyan hospitals. Eventually Steve came in contact with someone who discussed the need for an orphanage in Migori and Steve felt a calling. He started raising money and gathering resources to accomplish this goal. Soon land was acquired and construction began. People in Migori, skeptical at first, began to see how quickly things were coming along and gave their time to help out. Within just three years this orphanage is already extremely successful. Over 90 orphan children are not longer on the streets malnourished and uncared for. There are girl’s and boy’s dorm rooms, a library under construction, dairy cows, a poultry project with nearly 100 chickens, a vegetable garden, a honey project, and an excellent staff taking care of the children. In fact, a big problem now is the amount of demand from the community to take additional children into the orphanage. Many parents are even trying to place their children there even though they aren’t orphans at all!
So anyway, things at the orphanage are going great. The visiting missionary told me he has been trying to do the same thing for four years and there have been setbacks every step of the way with no real progress made as of yet. Honestly that was really the way I would have expected things to go for Steve’s project as well. Programs funded from outside donors rarely work as planned. Things in Kenya take a long time to get started, and when large amounts of funding from an outside source is involved money often tends to go missing. Beyond that there just are so many other bottlenecks with trying to run a program from the other side of the world. The fact that everything is up and running to comfortably support almost 100 orphans in just three years is amazing.
This leads me to an observation. Peace Corps volunteers are not generally assigned to work in projects like this, and BJCF has been successful as a result of outside funding without a long-term plan for self-sustainability. There are so many organizations and donors in place in Kenya with the mentality of providing charity alone, and many of these programs fail, as money inevitably dries up. I feel BJCF will be an exception, because it is apparent to me that God is truly at work there. All finances are well tracked and accounted for, and I also feel the number people interested in providing financial assistance will continue to grow as additional visits are arranged and visitors are able to provide first-hand testimonials to others back home about how successful a project this is. However, BJCF aside, a big problem in Kenya is that many NGO’s and donors provide funding without accountability. People throw money into Africa without following through with ensuring everything is being used as intended, and as a result there is rampant corruption and projects often fail. A handout approach has also resulted in a dependency on foreign aid, which is a pity since Kenya is a country full of natural resources and a well-educated population that is willing to work hard. I continue to be baffled by why Kenya is so poor, I feel a big part of it is lack of financial accountability and the resulting corruption on development projects, as well as a government that has traditionally embraced fraud and self-interest over the needs of Kenyan people.
At the same time, so much good has resulted from foreign aid. As with almost everything, there’s a grey area. It is a problem that the Kenyan Government does not take initiative for social welfare, and without outside aid so many wonderful things, like BJCF, would never have happened. A hundred additional orphans with a chance at living a fulfilling life would be back on the streets with the hundreds of thousands of others. However, is it the foreign aid itself that is resulting in the lack of initiative from the Government? There is not an easy answer.
I respect what the Peace Corps is trying to do, and I realize that more everyday. By giving business volunteers limited financial resources and projects with self-sustainability as an overall goal, the objective is not to provide a handout, but to empower the people with knowledge and access to the resources necessary to find a way out of poverty on their own. This gives the volunteer a role of a facilitator rather than a donor. It’s a good approach, albeit one that is much more difficult to successfully achieve that simply providing money. However, the end result, if successful, is a long-term solution as opposed to a temporary fix.
So I went off track as usual, but I believe I left off on Sunday at the Brittany James Orphanage. After the church service we were given a tour of the compound. I met someone in a wheelchair that was bought for him through funding from BJCF. I told him about my wheelchair project and hope to work with him on getting some wheelchairs sent to additional disabled people in Migori. After speaking with him we continued the tour and I was particularly impressed with the playground, which was sent in a container from the states along with building supplies and medical equipment for surrounding hospitals. The container is a cargo hold from an 18-wheeler and it is astronomically expensive to ship. A large part of the shipping costs come from clearance and customs fees, which are a hindrance in sending additional containers. This is the same problem in keeping the wheelchairs from another one of my projects from arriving. I’ve been told that most countries wave clearance and customs costs for donations, and I don’t understand why the government here is charging so much for items going towards improving the well-being of people in Kenya. Anyway, the container that has already arrived is now used as storage for rice, maize, etc. which is prepared in the nearby kitchen. Children are currently eating in the classrooms but a cafeteria is underway and will be completed soon. The kids are everywhere and they are all such a stark contrast from the pictures that were taken of them before living at the orphanage. Once dirty, malnourished and poverty-stricken, they all seem healthy, clean, and happy now.
On Monday I played with the preschool kids for awhile then contacted Anne Green, a Peace Corps Volunteer living close to Nairobi. I love playing with the kids and working at the orphanage but unfortunately I live too far away to spend a lot of time in Migori. Anne lives nearby and expressed interest in joining us for a few days and maybe working with the orphanage. First she invited me to her site for lunch, and since Monday was pretty low key for the visitors I visited her for the afternoon to tell her a bit about the project. She agreed to visit the next day, and when everyone left for a hospital visit on Tuesday I stayed at the house to wait for her. She arrived at the orphanage about two hours before the group was due to return from the hospital, and on a whim we decided to go to Tanzania, which is only a 50 shilling/20 minute matatu ride away. The Tanzanian boarder was surprisingly easy to cross; no passport or ID required. The matatu stopped at the border, we walked through three gates, told a guard who came up to us because we were wazungu that we wanted to see Tanzania, and that was it. I can’t say I fully understand Tanzanian culture after one hour in a border town but I did notice some differences right away. Namely, things were written in Swahili instead of English, and the beer was different. I drank a cold Kilimanjaro lager and made it back across the border and to the orphanage in time for lunch.
That evening was a lot of fun. One of the visitors from Huntsville, David, is a NASA engineer. Since I grew up in Huntsville, that fact wasn’t extremely interesting to me. The kids here were just floored by it though. David gave a presentation to the kids about space travel and future plans for NASA to go to the moon and Mars, and they were fascinated. The older kids watched the presentation completely motionless with their jaws dropped. There were plenty of questions asked by all and some of them were so good that David wasn’t even entirely sure of the answer.
We also had a chance to play some games with the children that evening and I thought up the idea of “Red Rover”. Chaos ensued but the kids loved it. We also tried out “Red Light Green Light” and a few other American kid’s games and everyone had a great time. I may have said this before, but all in all I like Kenyan children more than American ones.
On Wednesday morning I had a chance to go across the street, where an additional 17 acres have been purchased through BJCF. This land is going to be initially used for farming and a medical clinic. Concerning farming, I plan to go back to Migori in the near future with Habakkuk, the network chairman for the FFS network. I want him to provide assistance for farmers working for the orphanage concerning proper growing techniques for orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as well as a tree called Moringa that has highly nutritious leaves. As far as the clinic is concerned, the foundation has already been laid and it is expected to be completed this year. Additional second-hand medical gear from the states will be implemented here with medical missions from the states working in two-week shifts on the used equipment. The intention is for this clinic to provide free healthcare to all orphans in the surrounding area.
After the tour we visited two nearby orphanages that are receiving support from BJCF. Bicycles and toys were purchased with funds from BJCF, as well as food and money for assistance with school fees. It was a great feeling to go to the orphanages and give toys to the kids and bicycles to the caregivers. The surrounding orphanages were quite different from the Brittany James house, and it was yet another reminder of how well run BJCF is. The Sally orphanage, which was the second one we visited, was particularly upsetting. They are sponsored from a donor in Belgium who is providing 1.2 million shillings a year to feed the kids and send the children to school. I was told by the caretaker that of this 1.2 million, about a third of it is actually making it to the orphanage after being channeled through an intermediary in Nairobi. As a result kids are not able to go to school, there is a lack of food, and the orphanage is in danger of being shut down. The caretaker said that the intermediary in Nairobi actually had the nerve to fly to Kisumu and take a private cab to the orphanage in Nairobi (about a $350 round trip as opposed to $20 via bus) just to inform the orphanage that the funding had not arrived. I know there are two sides to every story but I was furious. I asked the caretaker if she has mentioned the missing funding to the donor in Belgium and she told me that the donor does not want to be involved. The donor has told the people at the orphanage that this is an issue between the intermediary and the orphanage and to work it out between themselves. I feel that this is just another example of throwing money over the fence with no accountability. I now have the contact info for the people at the orphanage and hope to get additional information from both sides and try my luck with getting through to the people in Belgium. I know that this really isn’t my business and it may do more harm than good to try to assist, but if money is being stolen from orphans I can’t sit back and let it continue, especially is the orphanage is in danger of being shut down.
Wednesday evening was our last night at the orphanage so naturally there were plenty of long speeches from the BJCF staff in Kenya. It all wrapped up around 11 and early the next morning the visitors from the states left the orphanage to go on Safari. It was sad to see all my Alabama friends with their Southern accents leave but I had a great time and look forward to working with them again, since many of them will be returning again sometime over the next two years.
While the BJCF crew took off for a Safari, I grabbed a matatu to catch a 1:00 bus from Kisumu to Jinja, Uganda. Jinja is on Lake Victoria and also the source of a little-known river called the Nile. The group of Peace Corps volunteers that swore in just before ours had been planning a white-water trip on the Nile for awhile and it seemed like a good idea to tag along. I met in Kisumu with Adrienne from my PCV group and the other volunteers and we left together from Kisumu for Jinja. The first thing I noticed about Uganda was how difficult it was to get across the border. Just a few days earlier, going to Tanzania was nearly as easily as crossing a state line, and Uganda involved two customs check points, lots of waiting in line, plenty of paperwork, and thirty US dollars. When we finally made it through, the difference between Kenya and Uganda was immediately apparent. First off, the roads were greatly improved, sort of like the transition from Alabama to Florida but on a more extreme scale. There are so many motorcycles as well, while in Kenya there are virtually none. Sketchy motorcycle/motor scooter taxis weave in and out of traffic at dangerous speeds with three people piled in the back. No doubt people get places faster, but maybe it's a blessing that my only two-wheeled option in Kenya is pedal-powered. Also, in Uganda there is so much uncultivated, green land. In Kenya, as far as I can tell, nearly every bit of fertile land that is not in a national park has been cleared out for gardens or firewood. However, in Uganda it seemed that there were many more expanses of uncultivated land. I also noticed that many village children were wearing shoes and I even saw someone cutting their grass with a lawnmower instead of relying on cows. Also, people just seemed more polite. The entire time I was there I was approached by only one street kid, and he said “excuse me sir, may I please have 100 shillings?” (One dollar equals about a billion Ugandan shillings, so I gave it to him). This is a big change from “mzungu! mzungu! give me money!” that I would get regularly from a much larger number of street kids in any town in Kenya. In fact, I was not called a mzungu once and people did not even stare at me, even though I was at times the only white person around. Ugandans have a reputation of being orderly and polite, and I noticed that the entire time I was there. There is a saying I’ve heard many times and I find it pretty funny: “In order for East Africa to succeed, Tanzanians need to learn English, Ugandans need to learn Swahili, and Kenyans need learn manners.”
So I was only in Uganda for a few days and only visited two cities, but it really did seem that the quality of life for an average Ugandan was higher than an average Kenyan. I don't understand how a land-locked country with a recent history of violent warfare can be better off that Kenya, which had remained relatively peaceful and stable throughout conflicts in every one of its five bordering countries. Then again, I certainly did not venture up North, where I understand there are a considerable amount of problems.
Ok, back to Jinja. We arrived in Jinja in the evening and after walking in circles through the town for awhile finally found Nile River Explorers. It is a dangerous place to be because they take a credit card and charge all drinks and food to it, so you don't know your tab until the trip is finished. I used as much self-control as I could but still spent more than I should of. Some volunteers chose to stay up all night and raft the Nile hungover but I retired with the early crowd and woke up in much better shape than some of my friends for the rafting the next day.
The next morning after a quick breakfast we made our way out to the Nile, where I now have a much better chance of having schistosomaisis, a snail-borne disease that is pretty much in all fresh water in East Africa. There's a pill that will generally take care of it though, and Peace Corps checks all volunteers for it since we're dumb enough to get in the water, so I remain hopeful that I was able to avoid getting infected and if so it is treatable. Anyway, after some brief instruction we boarded the raft and took off down the rapids of the Nile, which were unlike anything I have every been in. The Nile is full of class 4 and 5 rapids that have to be about the scariest thing ever. After a little practice on still water we started with a class 3 that was enough to knock our raft upside down and send us swirling through the rapids. Luckily I made it back to the boat in one piece but Adrienne had a loose paddle smack her in the face, bust her lip open, and chip her tooth. She spent the next three rapids in a medical boat, and with about 14 more rapids to go I figured my time was coming soon enough. I fared pretty well for the next few and even took on a class 4 without falling out. Just as my confidence was rising again we came to the second biggest rapid on the lake (we skipped out on the biggest...a class 6 that nobody in a raft can actually run. There's a place and the end of it called "The bad spot" where you are basically stuck bobbing in and out of a whirlpool until someone finds a way to pull you out with a rope.) The biggest rapid was a class 5 that, in watching the video later, seemed relatively easy if you found a way around the middle. However, our raft was the only one out of our group that hit the rapid head on. The backwards-forwards motion of the current left the raft stuck in the center of the rapid, leaving the raft basically stationary while it thrashed around knocking everyone off except one person. On the ridiculously overpriced video we were able to preview later, the one remaining girl, a New Zealander on an African overland tour, realized she was about to fall out and shoved the remaining people off the boat to regain her balance. Anyway, I made my way into the water and the rapids were tumbling down at me from all sides. I was sucked underwater and the water was so full of air bubbles from the waves and the current is so crazy that I tumbled underwater for what seemed like forever without knowing which way was up or down. After about the first 10 seconds I began to panic, which was when I finally drifted out of the worst of the rapids and the life vest brought me back up. The trip continued like that for the rest of the day, although out boat was now pretty much terrified of falling out in the rapids and we managed to stay afloat the rest of the trip. The one exception was the girl who stayed in the raft on the class five. She fell out on a class 3 and was pulled out of the water coughing and wheezing, which seemed fair considering she shoved people out of the boat on the worst rapid.
So after rafting there was a big barbecue and everyone was glad to have made it through the day. Some of the exceptionally crazy volunteers stuck around to do it again the next day, but I could hardly walk straight after the trip. When I closed my eyes my whole body felt like it was going through the rapids again and I could hardly stand up. Also, I must have put sun block on ten times but I was coated with a crispy red burn anyway, so that was enough for me.
While in Uganda I also wanted to see a bit more so I took of for Kampala, the capital city, with Adrienne (whose tooth chip is only cosmetic but whose lip looks terrible) and several other volunteers. We left for Kampala Saturday morning and made it there in early afternoon. I had heard about a place called the Blue Mango that offered dorms and was nice to stay, and when we got there it was amazing. It had a lodge feel in the middle of the city and for just $8 a night there was a swimming pool and a beautifully laid out bar area with a nice restaurant. The plan was to spend more time in Kampala and less at the hotel, but the Blue Mango was top notch so I ended up spending the day relaxing by the pool and taking in the week. What I did see of Kampala was really nice though. I've been told it is perfectly safe to walk through Kampala at night, which as a mzungu is a very bad idea in Nairobi. Also, much like the rest of Uganda there wasn't trash everywhere. In most Kenyan cities there is garbage piled in drainage ditches and plastic bags stuck in trees and blowing through town, whereas Kampala (and Jinja too) was very well kept and clean. It almost felt like I was back in the States again, and the layout of the city is beautiful. It is built on seven hills and the houses are very nice with Spanish tile roofs and big lawns. I'm sure there is a poor area in Kampala that I was missing but I did not see it while I was there.
So we left bright and early the next morning and I caught the bus back to Kenya. It actually felt nice to be home again and I've just barely had a chance to sit down before taking off again. I'm leaving tomorrow for Nairobi to attend a 45th anniversary Peace Corps party, and I'm also visiting my wheelchair contact, Benson. With the help of PCV's from an email I sent I found a potential donor to assist with the delivery of the wheelchairs, and he is meeting with me at Benson's office on Friday. After the Peace Corps party on Saturday I plan to leave for Kitui to visit my host family, and return Monday. Expect to hear more soon.
I left for Kisumu Saturday morning and arrived here in the evening. As we drove through Kisii and down to Mirogi, I was surprised how lush and green the landscape is. For some reason I had assumed that Migori was barren and dry like Kitui, but we even drove by a sugar plant and in the surrounding countryside were miles and miles of sugarcane fields covering the hilly landscape. The environment here is not so different than Kakamega, except that it’s a little colder at night and warmer in the day.
So after waiting in Migori for a bit I was picked up by a van that had come from Nairobi with the nine visitors from the States. It was strange to be greeted by so many southern accents and to talk to people who grew up in the same town I did. Listening to people talk about Huntsville and their life back home made me a feel nostalgic and a little homesick, but I was really happy at the same time. Honestly it was great to see people from my home town coming to work in Kenya. Many of them had never been here before and a few had never left the country. Hearing their comments on what they are experiencing and how life in Kenya contrasts to their lives at home made me remember what my first few weeks in Kenya were like. The emotions people felt from seeing so much poverty firsthand also made me realize that I perhaps I have become a bit desensitized to the hardships experienced by the poor and sick in this country. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism to not be as affected as I once was, but I felt a little guilty to see people in tears over issues (e.g. the conditions of a local hospital) that still bother me but I look at as an unfortunate part of normal life here.
Anyway, once everyone was together I went with them to the orphanage, which is right outside of Migori. We were welcomed by singing children lined up on either side of the road flying paper flags with greetings and the names of all visitors written on them. The reception was a lot of fun, complete with all of the singing, dancing, and speeches that are part of the warm and welcoming culture of the people here. Once again I had garland placed around my neck and of course no Kenyan welcome reception is complete without at least a hundred handshakes and a group of older mamas shouting “ayeayeayeayeaye” in a rapid high pitched-tone during the singing. Again it was great to see the reactions of people who were experiencing this for the first time.
The newcomers were pretty jet-lagged but I did have a chance to get to know everyone that night. The visitors were great people and so strong in their faith, which was inspiring to me. Also, the cook here was fantastic, so I had my first of many great dinners that night.
The next day was a Sunday and a church day at the orphanage. We woke up early for the young children’s service, followed by an older children’s service, which was then followed by the main service. The children’s services were a lot of fun and there was a lot of singing and dancing coordinated by the visitors from the states. The church on the compound started with a rather small one room building. Over the past few years the congregation has exploded and a covered outdoor structure has been built to handle the ever-growing crowd. The original church is used only for the children’s services now. In fact, Steve tells me that there are at least five new members showing up every week and almost every newcomer will return again and again. I could see why. I have to admit that I have not been regularly attending church services here in Kenya and the reasons are that A) I don’t understand the local language and have a hard time following rapidly spoken Swahili and B) I don’t have the patience for a 5+ hour service, especially when I only understand a fraction of it.
This church was different though. It had translators in English, Swahili, and Luo, so everyone attending could understand. This may sound like a hindrance, but the way the translators played off each other’s words and interacted really made the service interesting. Furthermore, electric guitars, a drum set, and a keyboard have been donated from BJCF and the music in the service was fantastic. There were some extremely talented Kenyan musicians playing Kenyan gospel music for the service and everyone in the congregation seemed filled with the Holy Spirit. I have not caught such a spiritual high in years, and to be able to attend such a powerful service in the presence of such a successful and well-run project funded from people in my hometown was a great reminder that I am a Christian.
About three hours into the service there was a sermon from a visiting missionary living in Migori which I basically summarized as “God does not offer unconditional love and if he is not answering your prayers it’s because you’re a sinner.” Maybe I took his intended message the wrong way, but since he was saying this to some of the most spiritually rich, yet materialistically poor people I have ever met it was a bit of a buzz kill for me and I left the service shortly after. True to form, the service continued long after I left. As I’ve noted time is not particularly important in this country, and even though my patience has improved tremendously I still lack the attention span necessary for meetings, church services, etc. that last the better part of a day. My personal limit without a breather is around two hours, which is exceeded on an almost daily basis here.
So after the church service we were given a tour of the facilities here, and I was tremendously impressed. Before I continue any further let me give those who don’t know a quick overview of what BJCF is. Brittany James Children’s Fund is a great example of something extremely positive coming out of a tragedy. Steve James is a Nurse Anesthesiologist from Cullman who had a daughter named Brittany. In highschool Brittany sponsored a Kenyan child named Newton through the Christian children’s fund and kept in touch with him regularly. Brittany always wanted to come to Kenya to visit Newton, and Steve tells me she had also wanted to join the Peace Corps. Brittany died her freshman year in college, and foul play was suspected but nothing was ever proven. Naturally her father was devastated. Steve decided to honor Brittany’s memory by making a pilgrimage to Kenya to visit Newton’s family. Once in Kenya Steve fell in love with the people and used his resources and medical knowledge to assist the people here. It wasn’t too long after that he organized a medical mission to bring people to Kenya to assist the sick and injured here. Steve then began using his connections as a medical professional to collect used medical equipment from local Alabama hospitals, and he was able to get these containers shipped to Kenyan hospitals. Medical missions were conducted to provide training for this equipment, which although second-hand in the states is cutting-edge compared to the resources available to rural Kenyan hospitals. Eventually Steve came in contact with someone who discussed the need for an orphanage in Migori and Steve felt a calling. He started raising money and gathering resources to accomplish this goal. Soon land was acquired and construction began. People in Migori, skeptical at first, began to see how quickly things were coming along and gave their time to help out. Within just three years this orphanage is already extremely successful. Over 90 orphan children are not longer on the streets malnourished and uncared for. There are girl’s and boy’s dorm rooms, a library under construction, dairy cows, a poultry project with nearly 100 chickens, a vegetable garden, a honey project, and an excellent staff taking care of the children. In fact, a big problem now is the amount of demand from the community to take additional children into the orphanage. Many parents are even trying to place their children there even though they aren’t orphans at all!
So anyway, things at the orphanage are going great. The visiting missionary told me he has been trying to do the same thing for four years and there have been setbacks every step of the way with no real progress made as of yet. Honestly that was really the way I would have expected things to go for Steve’s project as well. Programs funded from outside donors rarely work as planned. Things in Kenya take a long time to get started, and when large amounts of funding from an outside source is involved money often tends to go missing. Beyond that there just are so many other bottlenecks with trying to run a program from the other side of the world. The fact that everything is up and running to comfortably support almost 100 orphans in just three years is amazing.
This leads me to an observation. Peace Corps volunteers are not generally assigned to work in projects like this, and BJCF has been successful as a result of outside funding without a long-term plan for self-sustainability. There are so many organizations and donors in place in Kenya with the mentality of providing charity alone, and many of these programs fail, as money inevitably dries up. I feel BJCF will be an exception, because it is apparent to me that God is truly at work there. All finances are well tracked and accounted for, and I also feel the number people interested in providing financial assistance will continue to grow as additional visits are arranged and visitors are able to provide first-hand testimonials to others back home about how successful a project this is. However, BJCF aside, a big problem in Kenya is that many NGO’s and donors provide funding without accountability. People throw money into Africa without following through with ensuring everything is being used as intended, and as a result there is rampant corruption and projects often fail. A handout approach has also resulted in a dependency on foreign aid, which is a pity since Kenya is a country full of natural resources and a well-educated population that is willing to work hard. I continue to be baffled by why Kenya is so poor, I feel a big part of it is lack of financial accountability and the resulting corruption on development projects, as well as a government that has traditionally embraced fraud and self-interest over the needs of Kenyan people.
At the same time, so much good has resulted from foreign aid. As with almost everything, there’s a grey area. It is a problem that the Kenyan Government does not take initiative for social welfare, and without outside aid so many wonderful things, like BJCF, would never have happened. A hundred additional orphans with a chance at living a fulfilling life would be back on the streets with the hundreds of thousands of others. However, is it the foreign aid itself that is resulting in the lack of initiative from the Government? There is not an easy answer.
I respect what the Peace Corps is trying to do, and I realize that more everyday. By giving business volunteers limited financial resources and projects with self-sustainability as an overall goal, the objective is not to provide a handout, but to empower the people with knowledge and access to the resources necessary to find a way out of poverty on their own. This gives the volunteer a role of a facilitator rather than a donor. It’s a good approach, albeit one that is much more difficult to successfully achieve that simply providing money. However, the end result, if successful, is a long-term solution as opposed to a temporary fix.
So I went off track as usual, but I believe I left off on Sunday at the Brittany James Orphanage. After the church service we were given a tour of the compound. I met someone in a wheelchair that was bought for him through funding from BJCF. I told him about my wheelchair project and hope to work with him on getting some wheelchairs sent to additional disabled people in Migori. After speaking with him we continued the tour and I was particularly impressed with the playground, which was sent in a container from the states along with building supplies and medical equipment for surrounding hospitals. The container is a cargo hold from an 18-wheeler and it is astronomically expensive to ship. A large part of the shipping costs come from clearance and customs fees, which are a hindrance in sending additional containers. This is the same problem in keeping the wheelchairs from another one of my projects from arriving. I’ve been told that most countries wave clearance and customs costs for donations, and I don’t understand why the government here is charging so much for items going towards improving the well-being of people in Kenya. Anyway, the container that has already arrived is now used as storage for rice, maize, etc. which is prepared in the nearby kitchen. Children are currently eating in the classrooms but a cafeteria is underway and will be completed soon. The kids are everywhere and they are all such a stark contrast from the pictures that were taken of them before living at the orphanage. Once dirty, malnourished and poverty-stricken, they all seem healthy, clean, and happy now.
On Monday I played with the preschool kids for awhile then contacted Anne Green, a Peace Corps Volunteer living close to Nairobi. I love playing with the kids and working at the orphanage but unfortunately I live too far away to spend a lot of time in Migori. Anne lives nearby and expressed interest in joining us for a few days and maybe working with the orphanage. First she invited me to her site for lunch, and since Monday was pretty low key for the visitors I visited her for the afternoon to tell her a bit about the project. She agreed to visit the next day, and when everyone left for a hospital visit on Tuesday I stayed at the house to wait for her. She arrived at the orphanage about two hours before the group was due to return from the hospital, and on a whim we decided to go to Tanzania, which is only a 50 shilling/20 minute matatu ride away. The Tanzanian boarder was surprisingly easy to cross; no passport or ID required. The matatu stopped at the border, we walked through three gates, told a guard who came up to us because we were wazungu that we wanted to see Tanzania, and that was it. I can’t say I fully understand Tanzanian culture after one hour in a border town but I did notice some differences right away. Namely, things were written in Swahili instead of English, and the beer was different. I drank a cold Kilimanjaro lager and made it back across the border and to the orphanage in time for lunch.
That evening was a lot of fun. One of the visitors from Huntsville, David, is a NASA engineer. Since I grew up in Huntsville, that fact wasn’t extremely interesting to me. The kids here were just floored by it though. David gave a presentation to the kids about space travel and future plans for NASA to go to the moon and Mars, and they were fascinated. The older kids watched the presentation completely motionless with their jaws dropped. There were plenty of questions asked by all and some of them were so good that David wasn’t even entirely sure of the answer.
We also had a chance to play some games with the children that evening and I thought up the idea of “Red Rover”. Chaos ensued but the kids loved it. We also tried out “Red Light Green Light” and a few other American kid’s games and everyone had a great time. I may have said this before, but all in all I like Kenyan children more than American ones.
On Wednesday morning I had a chance to go across the street, where an additional 17 acres have been purchased through BJCF. This land is going to be initially used for farming and a medical clinic. Concerning farming, I plan to go back to Migori in the near future with Habakkuk, the network chairman for the FFS network. I want him to provide assistance for farmers working for the orphanage concerning proper growing techniques for orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as well as a tree called Moringa that has highly nutritious leaves. As far as the clinic is concerned, the foundation has already been laid and it is expected to be completed this year. Additional second-hand medical gear from the states will be implemented here with medical missions from the states working in two-week shifts on the used equipment. The intention is for this clinic to provide free healthcare to all orphans in the surrounding area.
After the tour we visited two nearby orphanages that are receiving support from BJCF. Bicycles and toys were purchased with funds from BJCF, as well as food and money for assistance with school fees. It was a great feeling to go to the orphanages and give toys to the kids and bicycles to the caregivers. The surrounding orphanages were quite different from the Brittany James house, and it was yet another reminder of how well run BJCF is. The Sally orphanage, which was the second one we visited, was particularly upsetting. They are sponsored from a donor in Belgium who is providing 1.2 million shillings a year to feed the kids and send the children to school. I was told by the caretaker that of this 1.2 million, about a third of it is actually making it to the orphanage after being channeled through an intermediary in Nairobi. As a result kids are not able to go to school, there is a lack of food, and the orphanage is in danger of being shut down. The caretaker said that the intermediary in Nairobi actually had the nerve to fly to Kisumu and take a private cab to the orphanage in Nairobi (about a $350 round trip as opposed to $20 via bus) just to inform the orphanage that the funding had not arrived. I know there are two sides to every story but I was furious. I asked the caretaker if she has mentioned the missing funding to the donor in Belgium and she told me that the donor does not want to be involved. The donor has told the people at the orphanage that this is an issue between the intermediary and the orphanage and to work it out between themselves. I feel that this is just another example of throwing money over the fence with no accountability. I now have the contact info for the people at the orphanage and hope to get additional information from both sides and try my luck with getting through to the people in Belgium. I know that this really isn’t my business and it may do more harm than good to try to assist, but if money is being stolen from orphans I can’t sit back and let it continue, especially is the orphanage is in danger of being shut down.
Wednesday evening was our last night at the orphanage so naturally there were plenty of long speeches from the BJCF staff in Kenya. It all wrapped up around 11 and early the next morning the visitors from the states left the orphanage to go on Safari. It was sad to see all my Alabama friends with their Southern accents leave but I had a great time and look forward to working with them again, since many of them will be returning again sometime over the next two years.
While the BJCF crew took off for a Safari, I grabbed a matatu to catch a 1:00 bus from Kisumu to Jinja, Uganda. Jinja is on Lake Victoria and also the source of a little-known river called the Nile. The group of Peace Corps volunteers that swore in just before ours had been planning a white-water trip on the Nile for awhile and it seemed like a good idea to tag along. I met in Kisumu with Adrienne from my PCV group and the other volunteers and we left together from Kisumu for Jinja. The first thing I noticed about Uganda was how difficult it was to get across the border. Just a few days earlier, going to Tanzania was nearly as easily as crossing a state line, and Uganda involved two customs check points, lots of waiting in line, plenty of paperwork, and thirty US dollars. When we finally made it through, the difference between Kenya and Uganda was immediately apparent. First off, the roads were greatly improved, sort of like the transition from Alabama to Florida but on a more extreme scale. There are so many motorcycles as well, while in Kenya there are virtually none. Sketchy motorcycle/motor scooter taxis weave in and out of traffic at dangerous speeds with three people piled in the back. No doubt people get places faster, but maybe it's a blessing that my only two-wheeled option in Kenya is pedal-powered. Also, in Uganda there is so much uncultivated, green land. In Kenya, as far as I can tell, nearly every bit of fertile land that is not in a national park has been cleared out for gardens or firewood. However, in Uganda it seemed that there were many more expanses of uncultivated land. I also noticed that many village children were wearing shoes and I even saw someone cutting their grass with a lawnmower instead of relying on cows. Also, people just seemed more polite. The entire time I was there I was approached by only one street kid, and he said “excuse me sir, may I please have 100 shillings?” (One dollar equals about a billion Ugandan shillings, so I gave it to him). This is a big change from “mzungu! mzungu! give me money!” that I would get regularly from a much larger number of street kids in any town in Kenya. In fact, I was not called a mzungu once and people did not even stare at me, even though I was at times the only white person around. Ugandans have a reputation of being orderly and polite, and I noticed that the entire time I was there. There is a saying I’ve heard many times and I find it pretty funny: “In order for East Africa to succeed, Tanzanians need to learn English, Ugandans need to learn Swahili, and Kenyans need learn manners.”
So I was only in Uganda for a few days and only visited two cities, but it really did seem that the quality of life for an average Ugandan was higher than an average Kenyan. I don't understand how a land-locked country with a recent history of violent warfare can be better off that Kenya, which had remained relatively peaceful and stable throughout conflicts in every one of its five bordering countries. Then again, I certainly did not venture up North, where I understand there are a considerable amount of problems.
Ok, back to Jinja. We arrived in Jinja in the evening and after walking in circles through the town for awhile finally found Nile River Explorers. It is a dangerous place to be because they take a credit card and charge all drinks and food to it, so you don't know your tab until the trip is finished. I used as much self-control as I could but still spent more than I should of. Some volunteers chose to stay up all night and raft the Nile hungover but I retired with the early crowd and woke up in much better shape than some of my friends for the rafting the next day.
The next morning after a quick breakfast we made our way out to the Nile, where I now have a much better chance of having schistosomaisis, a snail-borne disease that is pretty much in all fresh water in East Africa. There's a pill that will generally take care of it though, and Peace Corps checks all volunteers for it since we're dumb enough to get in the water, so I remain hopeful that I was able to avoid getting infected and if so it is treatable. Anyway, after some brief instruction we boarded the raft and took off down the rapids of the Nile, which were unlike anything I have every been in. The Nile is full of class 4 and 5 rapids that have to be about the scariest thing ever. After a little practice on still water we started with a class 3 that was enough to knock our raft upside down and send us swirling through the rapids. Luckily I made it back to the boat in one piece but Adrienne had a loose paddle smack her in the face, bust her lip open, and chip her tooth. She spent the next three rapids in a medical boat, and with about 14 more rapids to go I figured my time was coming soon enough. I fared pretty well for the next few and even took on a class 4 without falling out. Just as my confidence was rising again we came to the second biggest rapid on the lake (we skipped out on the biggest...a class 6 that nobody in a raft can actually run. There's a place and the end of it called "The bad spot" where you are basically stuck bobbing in and out of a whirlpool until someone finds a way to pull you out with a rope.) The biggest rapid was a class 5 that, in watching the video later, seemed relatively easy if you found a way around the middle. However, our raft was the only one out of our group that hit the rapid head on. The backwards-forwards motion of the current left the raft stuck in the center of the rapid, leaving the raft basically stationary while it thrashed around knocking everyone off except one person. On the ridiculously overpriced video we were able to preview later, the one remaining girl, a New Zealander on an African overland tour, realized she was about to fall out and shoved the remaining people off the boat to regain her balance. Anyway, I made my way into the water and the rapids were tumbling down at me from all sides. I was sucked underwater and the water was so full of air bubbles from the waves and the current is so crazy that I tumbled underwater for what seemed like forever without knowing which way was up or down. After about the first 10 seconds I began to panic, which was when I finally drifted out of the worst of the rapids and the life vest brought me back up. The trip continued like that for the rest of the day, although out boat was now pretty much terrified of falling out in the rapids and we managed to stay afloat the rest of the trip. The one exception was the girl who stayed in the raft on the class five. She fell out on a class 3 and was pulled out of the water coughing and wheezing, which seemed fair considering she shoved people out of the boat on the worst rapid.
So after rafting there was a big barbecue and everyone was glad to have made it through the day. Some of the exceptionally crazy volunteers stuck around to do it again the next day, but I could hardly walk straight after the trip. When I closed my eyes my whole body felt like it was going through the rapids again and I could hardly stand up. Also, I must have put sun block on ten times but I was coated with a crispy red burn anyway, so that was enough for me.
While in Uganda I also wanted to see a bit more so I took of for Kampala, the capital city, with Adrienne (whose tooth chip is only cosmetic but whose lip looks terrible) and several other volunteers. We left for Kampala Saturday morning and made it there in early afternoon. I had heard about a place called the Blue Mango that offered dorms and was nice to stay, and when we got there it was amazing. It had a lodge feel in the middle of the city and for just $8 a night there was a swimming pool and a beautifully laid out bar area with a nice restaurant. The plan was to spend more time in Kampala and less at the hotel, but the Blue Mango was top notch so I ended up spending the day relaxing by the pool and taking in the week. What I did see of Kampala was really nice though. I've been told it is perfectly safe to walk through Kampala at night, which as a mzungu is a very bad idea in Nairobi. Also, much like the rest of Uganda there wasn't trash everywhere. In most Kenyan cities there is garbage piled in drainage ditches and plastic bags stuck in trees and blowing through town, whereas Kampala (and Jinja too) was very well kept and clean. It almost felt like I was back in the States again, and the layout of the city is beautiful. It is built on seven hills and the houses are very nice with Spanish tile roofs and big lawns. I'm sure there is a poor area in Kampala that I was missing but I did not see it while I was there.
So we left bright and early the next morning and I caught the bus back to Kenya. It actually felt nice to be home again and I've just barely had a chance to sit down before taking off again. I'm leaving tomorrow for Nairobi to attend a 45th anniversary Peace Corps party, and I'm also visiting my wheelchair contact, Benson. With the help of PCV's from an email I sent I found a potential donor to assist with the delivery of the wheelchairs, and he is meeting with me at Benson's office on Friday. After the Peace Corps party on Saturday I plan to leave for Kitui to visit my host family, and return Monday. Expect to hear more soon.
posted by KenyaJoe at 6:02 AM
