|
 | |||
| Lopez Island | Orcas Island | Visitor's Guide | ||
| Email this page to a friend | ||
| ||||||||||||||||
NOTES FROM KENYA |
Related PagesBaumann and Coffey have gone to Kenya to do volunteer work with indigenous women, preferably working on microcredit or economic self-sufficiency training. | |
NOTES FROM KENYA - Joanruth Baumann and Dick Coffeyposted 04/17/2007
Our first assignment was with the East African Center in a small village, Takaungu, about 35 miles north of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. Takaungu has a long history in the Arab/Portuguese fight for the coast and is very Moslem. The village is remote enough that there are few, if any, cars and little electricy. Our location was about a mile outside of Takaungu in a remote 'shamba'/school/clinic complex. Our home was a thatched hut about the size of our dining room at home, two beds, a bookshelf, no table or chair, no electricity, a shower shed, toilet shed and "kitchen" shed (used very loosely). Dick did a web catalog improvement task for the Vitakaka women's sewing group, developing a method to clean up their on-line sales catalog. This could only be done at the small office in the village - a long, hot walk away. I did a survey to be given to women who have completed their sewing training classes in the last few years, to evaluate effectiveness and help with future strategic planning. I also did some management consulting with the managers of the NGO about key organizational problems and suggested solutions. Women here are usually one of several wives and have no rights under the law. They have no right to select their husband, to inherit, to decide how many children are enough (8 to 20 are normal) or even to name them. So spending time with them was special. Those who are asserting themselves and learning the sewing and other skills here at the center are leaps and bounds ahead of the others in having some control over their lives. (But the husband usually decides how the money is spent, so there is still a ways to go!) We both enjoyed helping with the children's tutoring sessions after school. Because few can afford the simple cotton uniform and flip flops required to attend school, this free after-school program allows all the area children to come and get remedial English and math training. Since they are 5 to 15 years of age and in very different places with their language skills, this was a challange. Fortunately, the younger volunteers had the task well in hand and we just helped. The children are amazing. They learn English, Swahili, in addition to their own tribal language, starting in kindergarten. They really belt out the recitations and songs - and they love Dr. Suess stories! "Red foot, blue foot..." They are bright, eager, happy and don't seem to be aware that they have nothing. (Or maybe we are the ones who are lacking something important. We felt that way at times.) We gave out soccer balls (Thanks Dukes in Friday Harbor!)and you've never seen such thrilled, jumping, happy, laughing men and children. (They were using discarded plasic bags bound into a ball with twine.) Dick was a magnet for little children who loved for him to pick them up so they could look at their reflections in his glasses. The problem was getting those little feet unwound from around your waist! We loved the people. They are so kind, friendly and sincere. Everyone does so much with so little but seem so sanguine with their lives. Women walk down the baking roads, carrying heavy loads of firewood or water, singing and laughing. At the wells, the chatter is happy and their pride in their goats or cow is palpable. It was Mohamed's birthday last week and the celebrations went on all day and all night. We lay in bed listening all night to the drums and singing (clearly dancing too) coming through the darkness and the incredibly starry night. Dick attended a funeral celebration late one night, (too far for me to walk) complete with fire, drums and dancing. Surprisingly, it also included disco! We did find our own living conditions a bit challanging and felt defeated by the heat and humidity. We sweated constantly, sweat rolling down our faces, arms and backs. If we tried to find some respite under a tree where there might be some small breeze, the ants would crawl up our legs and the flies reveled in the sweat. The days were pretty much 6am to 7 pm. We went to bed then because, other than our flashlights, we had no light and there were too many bugs to sit outside. My planned Scrabble games did have not come to pass. Our huts seemed to be a passive heat collector so that, when at night when we had to shut and lock our door and get under a mosquito net, we felt in an oven. I covered my body with a soaking wet cloth and fanned all night. It was hard to sleep and the 5 am Imam's call to prayer, then the rooster's crow, came as relief from the sweltering night. We thought of our local health inspector when we tried to prepare food in our kitchen shed, where the chickens and cats roamed under foot and the ants covered the concrete counter. Food scraps were just tossed on the floor or out the door for the chickens. No electricity, so no lights or refrigeration. We did have eggs sometimes and wonderful fruit and limited veggies over rice. A native women from the area cooked dinner for us five days a week, so our food was the local fare - and it was delicious. Never any meat though as it was way too hot to get it there (a 1 ½ hour walk away) even if it could have been afforded. The walk to the village and the NGO's computers was a mile or so down a red sand road in the sun. We did ride on a Boda Boda once (a bicycle taxi you hop on the back of for a few cents) and the speed was wonderful, even if a pretty bumpy. We also took a path short cut through some fields and saw snake tracks crossing the path. There are cobras in the village and, while we never saw any, three children had been bitten and one got spit in the eyes in the last six months. All lived. There were little fires everywhere all the time and acrid smoke was always in the air. Because of the modest Moslem environment, I had to wear long skirts and blouses, which made it even hotter. We took to showering with our underthings on three or four times a day and then just pulled our clothes back on. It kept us a smidge cooler. There was a Peace Corps volunteer working on the same assignment and the Peace Corps negotiated a room in the village in a house with electricity (think FAN!) and gave her a bike! We are now in Nairobi and hoping to be off soon to work with Village Volunteers, hopefully at a higher and cooler elevation! On both trains to and from Mombasa, the preceeding train derailed and rolled over! It may have taken us 22 sweltering hours to cover the 360 miles each way, but we were happy with slow and steady. We have visited with Larry and Donna Donahoo of Friday Harbor in their Nairobi home and thoroughly appreciated their wonderful hospitality! We have learned a great deal from our short time here and are so glad for all whom we have met. Our best to you all, Joanruth and Dick |
|
|
SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2008 |
|