BJCF, Kitale, and Back to Site (Finally)

It was unfortunate to leave the coast but there was still plenty to do before settling back into the routine of work in Kakamega. A group of visitors from the states had arrived yet again to work with the Brittany James Children’s Fund Orphanage in Migori, and I went there to visit for a few days. I did this for several reasons: First, I wanted to follow up on the sweet potatoes Habakkuk taught the farmers to grow many months back. Although I recently learned they are not yet hugely marketable, at least they are nutritious and inexpensive to grow. I was happy to hear that the farmers are having huge successes with them and even a nearby under-funded orphanage is now using them as a staple food for their children. Second, my guitar from the states arrived in one of the BJCF containers and I was eager to pick it up. I’ve tried to learn to play the thing on at least three separate occasions and every time I end up distracted and set it aside. The way I see it it’s now or never, since my evenings are pretty much free for the next year and a half. I can proudly say I’ve been practicing every day this week. The other reason I went to visit the orphanage is to assist Whitney, a social worker from the states who is looking into working in Kitale with an organization called World Vision. More on that in a minute.

Steve James’ orphanage continues to grow. They now have over one hundred children and BJCF is in the process of building a clinic across the street. The clinic will staff teams of doctors from the states working in shifts year round and provide free health care for the community. Steve’s project is coming along well. One only needs to look at the dismal conditions of the district hospital or the homeless street kids in town to see the impact he is having for those he can help. My only concern is self-sustainability, which I realize more everyday is critical for the long-term success of a project. Steve is working to address this with farming, poultry, and livestock projects, but it will only go so far. The orphanage and clinic, as things stand right now, will be dependent on outside funding for the entirety of their existence. Thankfully there are an ample number of sponsors and funding does not appear to be an issue any time soon, but I’m skeptical that the Kenyan government will ever step in where people like Steve have left off.. The enormous amount of foreign aid coming into the country no doubt helps discourage any initiative from the government, and therein lies the grey area that I wrestle with often. It’s inhumane to watch people suffer and do nothing to help, but I feel projects with the eventual goal of running without outside assistance should be a focal point of aid work in Kenya. Surely Kenya needs to be able to stand on its own some day. So anyway, that said I really feel God is at work at BJCF and his projects are leaps and bounds beyond most of the projects dependent on foreign aid I’ve come across.

After spending a few days at the orphanage and toughing out yet another unfortunate stomach bug I left to escort Whitney to Kitale. Kitale is about two and a half hours north of Kakamega, and since I love it there I was happy to help her out with the hassles of public transportation and travel to Kitale. Kitale is a long way from Migori and on the way we stopped in Kakamega. While there we met with the Wake up Women’s group so I could get some ideas from Whitney about what to do with them. I am determined to help these orphan kids but I don’t want to throw money at their organisation ‘till kingdom come, and even though they want me to build them an orphanage I'm not going to tie myself into a project like that. After speaking with Whitney I am going to try to use what I am learning through farming as a business to develop a self-sustaining way to assist the children. I have a meeting with Wake up Women next week to develop a needs assessment, and then I want to apply for a grant to purchase some land to grow cash crops in order to generate revenue to help the kids. I’m also thinking about a poultry project and will have more to say on the subject once I’ve pieced everything together. I trust Habakkuk more than enough to know that he will keep the money going towards the children even after I leave Kenya, and that’s saying a lot.

After our stopover in Kakamega we went to Kitale the next day and met with the World Vision group. They are supporting street kids and have a great orphanage program that is more like a halfway house in that the kids can come and go as they please. Nearly all of them get off the streets eventually and stay there, and young girls that were forced in prostitution, or young boys that were huffing glue and begging for handouts, seemed genuinely happy. The staff was great and the woman that is raising the funds has been living in and out of Kenya for years. We ended up spending the entire day with her and her adopted son, a refuge from Namibia who has become completely Americanized. I am going to work with her on growing medicinal plants and sweet potatoes with the help of the Farmers Network to further assist the children, and I may have even found a market for some of the dried chips we have been unable to sell.

While in Kitale I made some great connections, including meeting a man working with the Pokot tribe in the Northwest wilderness. I may schedule a weekend sometime soon to travel with him and visit his projects. He also gave me the contact info for an organisation looking for farmers to grow a crop called artimesia that is used as an anti-malarial medication. I contacted the organisation and have a meeting scheduled next week.

We stayed the night in Kitale and went to nearby Saiwa Swamp national park the next day. Whitney gave up a trip to Masai Mara to visit the orphanage and I wanted to take her somewhere fun, plus I’ve wanted to go there anyway. The park is very small and was set aside as a reserve for the last remaining few of an endangered species of antelope. African swamps are apparently full of bugs and biting ants. At one point we stopped to admire millions of ants crawling across the path in what seemed like a river, only to find them crawling all over us as well. I fared better than Whitney and was only bitten three or four times, but these were no ordinary ants and had giant pinchers. They bite so hard that their torso rips off their head when you try to pull them off. Also, although the park had planks across the swampy parts, in many places the planks were broken or missing, and try as we might we’d find our feet soaked with Kenyan swamp water filled with God knows what. I’m just glad I’ve got my midservice medical exam coming up soon.

Regardless, the swamp was a lot of fun. I saw monkeys, including what I think was a species I had not seen before. He had just jumped across the fence with a maize cob he had grabbed from a nearby farm, and he stopped to observe us watching him, while standing upright and eating his meal. There were also platforms throughout the park with excellent views of the swampland, and as we were about to leave we saw one of the endangered antelope running for cover in some nearby trees.

The next day I dropped Whitney off at the Kisumu airport and I’ve been busy with my projects ever since. Lots going on including progress with the wheelchairs, a farmer field day, and meetings and training days coming up soon. Tomorrow I’m off to Bungoma to visit the lawyer and it’s nice to be back in the swing of things once again.