Back Home in Kasigau - Weeks 4 & 5

We have had a relatively quiet couple weeks in the bush, with two week-ends of exciting events and get aways as bookends! I’ll start this posting by going back to previous week-end activities, which were quite rewarding and fun all around. On the home scene, fruits and vegetables have been in short supply because we were on holiday instead of at market last week-end. Katy, Sara, Liesl, & Tara are tackling the shopping in Voi open air and supermarket as I write so we will be eating well again soon. The food is healthy and all of us who were looking forward to the "Kasigau weight loss program" are being successful.

It is starting to become much drier now that the rains are over; the flower in the photo blooms at the tops of its trees when it is becoming dry.Keenan has moved to the Jora banda, joining Jenny, Macaela, Molly, & Jake. In other big news there is a new cell phone tower being constructed, which in optimistic forecasts will be operational just about the time we are leaving Kasigau.

Two Saturdays ago we had a meeting for orphans and their caregivers at the community library in Bungule, organized by Jenny Mae, Macaela, Molly and Jake. The four of them have been making home visits and gathering very specific needs assessment data on the living conditions (drinking water, food supplies, sleeping and bathing arrangements, school attendance, clothing, and financial support) of children without parents, in each of the five villages around Mt. Kasigau.

There are many children in the community who have been orphaned by mining accidents, snake and animal encounters, and AIDS, with “double orphans” having lost both parents and “single orphans” having lost one parent, usually a father.

In these Saturday meeting photos Jenny & Macaela are collecting information and identifying new families to visit, and Jake is fitting a child with a pair of athletic shoes.

Jake and Molly arrived with two giant duffel bags full of new shoes, sandals, shirts, shorts, and books for distribution to the neediest of families (as identified by teachers in schools, village elders, and their survey).The meeting on Saturday was a great success, attended by at least 75 people who enjoyed lollipops, books, juice, and scones as well as giving valuable information and receiving much needed articles of clothing.

Saturday in the evening we returned to Eunice’s house for (by general consensus) the best meal we have eaten in Kasigau...well, except maybe my birthday dinner at the banda. We feasted on fresh chapati bread, rice pilau with goat meat, tomato salad, greens, ugali, and fruit. Eunice and her daughters had three of the family compound kitchens in service, and I was even allowed to help roll chapati; in the photo I’m responding to the comment that “Aren’t those chapati supposed to be round?” (You can see that mine are less than perfect compared to the perfect circles of the local cooks...but I did improve by about the 15th one.)

Jenny Mae and I distributed glass pendants, made by Kathy Peevy in Craig AK, to all the women and girls in “Eunice’s village” family compound. Here again we were apparently limited by the cultural divide, because I have since seen two of the pendants being worn by a couple of the coolest young men in the community! I’m not sure how they came to have them but am betting there was love and/or money involved.

Monday the 23rd bright and early, interns started new placements in Rukanga and Jora, the largest & noisiest, and smallest & most industrious, respectively, of the towns “around the hill”. Sara and Tara are at Jora, and Katy, Liesl, and Keenan are at Rukanga. Interns have now finished teaching valuable skills in reading, writing, and math in their second set of placements and next week we will move to Bungule, the closest village to our banda home, and our home base.

Interns are making friends and impressing people in school and out, showing clearly the power of good teaching and falling in love with Kasigau children. We are having to restrain someone, I won't say who, from kidnapping every Kenyan baby she sees.The recent placements are a relief for transportation, because the morning and afternoon drives are less than half as long for “dropping and picking” the interns at their respective schools. (To bungle we canAnother advantage for about three days was the fact that Rukanga has signal and power for using and charging our phones and computers.

But the drive and the town soon became tiresome and hot, so this week Ken and I are dividing driving between morning and evening, which has the extra advantage of leaving one extra seat in the Probox (that one front seat yesterday morning had three people in it!) So far our record is 12 people in the 5 seater, with 6 behind the back seat in the “boot”.

One day after school last week the interns visited the Rukanga basket weavers and scone bakers, to the accompaniment of much singing, ululation, and

overall good cheer. They returned with new acquaintances, orders for Rukanga Basket weaver T-shirts, and many beautiful baskets that some readers can probably anticipate receiving as gifts (from what I hear). Aside from the educational gains by Kasigau students, our visits with interns also support the local economy with payment for lodging, hiring people to drive and cook, and buying food, baskets, and the occasional almost cool soda/beer. The wages and extra purchasing power that we bring to the community also helps people buy books and uniforms for school children, upgrade their personal businesses, and save for college.

Ken and I drove two Thursdays ago to Marungu, a village between Kasigau and Maungu at the highway, to visit one of the young men we are sponsoring at college. (The interns think it is highly unreasonable to have two towns so close together with names that are so similar...Marungu and Maungu.) Those of you in our group of sponsors will recognize the name of Philip Ndurya as one of the boys we sponsored for 4 years at Moi High School. Philip is now teaching biology and Kiswahili at Marungu Secondary School during the regular school term schedule, and attending an intensive teacher training program in Mombasa during the break months of April, August, and December. (The Kenyan school year begins at the first of the year with three terms of three months and a month break between each.)

Philip is quite bright and a VERY hard worker who was always near the top of his class at Moi High School, and initially intending to become a physician. The cost of medical school was prohibitive, however, so he has decided to become a teacher, and then a master teacher, and then hopes to eventually use his salary to fund a PhD course...”and at last I will be called Doctor Ndurya!”

We are still trying to raise sponsorships for Philip’s college, as well as for Albert and Beja, the other two young men who completed Moi High School with good performance in December 2011. As anticipated we have had many, many requests for support of students in high school and college.Everyone we have supported in the past has siblings, or other children, or grandchildren, or cousins, who also need support. Our friend and teacher Faith is also attempting to continue her education as an early childhood educator, looking for sponsorship to take a degree course (like a BA) after having completed her diploma (like an AA) in ECE that Suzanne Krogh and I sponsored.

This is the most difficult part of coming to Kenya for Ken and me...making decisions on requests for support. So far this trip we have helped personally with funds for building a chicken house, repairing a matatu engine, purchasing a motorbike, and supplying flour and lard for the widow’s bakery effort. The one-time support for concrete items gives people a boost that can often lift them out of poverty to start a personal business, and also allows recipients to repay a bit with eggs, bread/scones, and transportation for the interns.

The longer term funding of education is a more difficult matter. Public education in Kenya only extends through Class 8 (middle school), and high school has increased in cost from $400/year for room, board, and tuition to closer to $500 this year. For the last few years we have had wonderful combined donations from friends and family of Ken and Kris, the original group of sponsors who initially committed to four years of support for the group of 4 boys we started at Moi High in 2006-2007. My sister Janet keeps reminding me to send out the “ask” for this year’s assistance, which I guess I am doing now, but we also seem to be reaching the limits of that level of support.

Now that we are retired, I think we either need to upscale and consider a non-profit or NGO status, or quit while we are ahead and solvent. I’m not sure I have the time and energy for the former, or the heart for the latter.

It is so difficult to meld our lives at home with the reality of life here, so any thoughts or ideas readers have for me will be much appreciated, whether or not you are already a sponsor. I know there are also many needy children, families and educational endeavors closer to home, but here a little money goes a very long way toward changing lives, by giving people a little push to break free from a subsistence lifestyle with the advantage of high school.

On to lighter subjects, we all had exciting week-end get aways. The interns went to Diani & Tiwi Beaches south of Mombasa and came back rested and refreshed from time in the sun and the water, dancing, eating different food than we have at the banda, and generally enjoying themselves as young people and young families do. Katy, Mark and the girls went to Tiwi Beach, and today I can't find the photos but will try to get them up next week. The other interns went to Diani, Kenya's premier tourist beach.

Ken and I took off for Tsavo West National Park and stayed at a banda camp overlooking the bush. We sat outside our room on Friday evening and heard lions roaring loudly and buffalo mooing for a long time, and maybe even a leopard grunting right below us. (We heard from the Masai askari that the leopard sometimes cruises through the dining room after lights out in the evening, but he was not to be seen that night.) The next morning we were told that the lions had killed a buffalo and were guarding their meal not far away. We had the fantastic experience of climbing a rock outcrop above the camp, where we sat with a young Masai who showed and told us everything we could every wonder about bush wildlife.

We saw a giraffe, the female lions with their cubs, elephants facing off with the male lion on their way to the water hole, all in one view, with narration and explanation from our impromptu guide.Tsavo West is between Amboseli and Masai Mara, both traditional Masai homelands that have been converted to national parks.

The interns also encountered Masai men working the beaches selling jewelry and escorting mzungu women, and by comparison it seems that they are more in their element in the national parks as askaris (watchmen) at the lodges and guides in the bush.

Everyone had a wonderful time away but we were all happy to be back in the bush where life is simple and people are familiar and friendly. I realized when we were visiting Philip in Marungu how much Mt. Kasigau defines and grounds us here.

Like the ocean at home, we can orient ourselves in relationship to which direction we are moving relative to the position of the mountain, how it looks in all the different villages, the way it frames each household, and what the weather is like up on top. When away from Kasigau, I find myself inadvertently looking up to see where I am and being unsettled not to see some view of Kasigau, and then scanning the horizon to see if we are close enough to our Kenyan home to see the profile of the beloved mountain.

Kris

Back Home in Kasigau - Week Three

Our third week in Kasigau included a variety of local activities on the week-end, and the second week of teaching in Makwasinyi and Kiteghe, the schools on the back side of the mountain and farthest from where we live. Last Saturday many of us went to market in Voi, courtesy of Eliud and his matatu. There was much shopping done and much good food consumed. We all took turns on the fast internet in town, mailed letters, bought school supplies, and generally got hot and sweaty for the long ride home. Ken met us in Voi on his return from taking Claire to the Nairobi airport for her trip home, and we packed our Probox and Eliud’s matatu with people, supplies, groceries, and 600+ pounds of porridge flour for the Kasigau schools, one of our host Abs’ ongoing projects.

Ken and I stopped in Jora to leave a message for Jenny and Macaela, and the battery in the Probox died! In very short order there were many people (read men) trying to jump a charge between two batteries with two wrenches, then one wrench, then a bus stopped on the way back from a huge funeral and offered to push, but the car is an automatic transmission. Finally the Minister of Parliament for the area came by and had jumper cables, which did the trick once a battery was carried from his car to ours. Meanwhile I sat with the local women, took photos, and learned how to say “How many men does it take to fix a car?” in the local Taita language.

Sunday most of us went to church, which was a colorful and joyous affair with fantastic musical entertainment from men, women, and youth choirs, an auction of non-cash offertory, and a very long and enthusiastic sermon. We’ve gotten a song book from the pastor to learn some of the music for next week. It is difficult for some of us not to be able sing along when everyone is singing out, dancing, and generally rocking along to the new electronic piano and sound system.

After the service we were invited to chai (tea) at the home of Eunice, Eliud the matatu driver’s mother and a long time friend of mine. We are sisters, as you can see by our matching lesos (sarong type wraps) in the photo. In the family compound there were a number of adults, and many children, welcoming us to their family compound for tea, ground nuts, and cake.

Following the hot but somehow refreshing chai on a very hot day, we went to the Bungule basket weavers and interns bought the first of what I predict will be many baskets in villages around the hill. A couple days later in the week Ken, Liesl, and I made a visit to the women’s bakery in Rukanga, a project Ken and I supported from its inception in 2010. They have a very large oven in a very small building and bake cakes, scones, and bread for sale locally. Ken says they could almost bake outside the oven, it is so hot in the little bakery! Many of the women are also basket weavers and after serving tea and cakes and selling us a few beautiful baskets, the group treated us to a group singing parade out to the road on our departure. It was a purely African women’s experience, and a highlight of our week.

Interns are finishing up the time at their first school assignments, and summarizing improvements for the teachers. It is truly remarkable how many skills have been taught to so many struggling students in the 10 short days since we started.

Sara and Tara are working at Kiteghe Primary, where both the village and the school have the reputation of being the quietest of all places “around the hill”. The two were introduced to the entire assembly of students on their own and despite a rather cool reception and start, have now been seeing/hearing their teaching techniques being used throughout the Kiteghe classrooms. Sara said climbing Kasigau was the worst day of her life, but nonetheless was up long before dawn the next day for safari and hit the ground running on the first day of school in Kiteghe.

Tara’s stomach was quite unhappy for a number of days following the mountain climb and safari, but she missed only one day of school. Both young women are calm, steady, and effective teachers whose classroom is bright and welcoming. I suspect they are each called “Sara and Tara”, in the same way that both Ken and I are called “Kris and Ken”. On their last day the teachers are preparing a going away lunch, and I know everyone will be impressed with the progress Kiteghe students have made.

.Liesl, Keenan, and Katy are at Makwasinyi, the largest and loudest of all the schools and villages in Kasigau. They were welcomed at Makwasinyi as experts in remedial instruction and pretty much left to their own devices by the teachers. Their classroom is enthusiastic with all three sometimes teaching at once to students across the age range from early primary to middle school. By her own admission Liesl is spoiling her older students with sweet treats now that time is short, and so far most everyone in Kasigau calls her “Lisa”. Katy’s young primary students have been so intent on their lessons that they are hanging over the table to see, and her own two young daughters are attending school each day in Bungule. Keenan as the lone male looks the most like a Kenyan teacher, is a great role model for the middle school boys, and tends to be called “Kenyan”. All three are energetic and successful teachers, and Makwasinyi students have also made great progress in the last two weeks. (That is Katy behind her students.)

Jenny Mae and Macaela are the independent operators in the group, and moved last week to the Jora Community Banda. They were joined this week by Molly and Jake. Molly was here with us in 2010, and has an amazing memory for the names and faces of her students from 18 months ago. She has brought Jake this trip, an especially welcome addition the morning there was a large, red spitting cobra at the door of their washroom. Jenny and Macaela have been working at the Jora preschool mornings, and with Molly and Jake are completing a pilot survey project on orphans in Bungule and Jora.

This group of interns is just amazing in all respects. They have learned local greetings and use them regularly, learning new words and phrases, and making new friends every day. In schools, students are drawn to the libraries where interns are teaching, coming long before and after their scheduled times for instruction. All schools are having special activities on the last teaching day, and teachers are eager about learning new instructional techniques. Tonight the interns are summarizing improvement data and making cards for each student they have worked with, bookends for the professional and personal interactions and experiences they have brought to Kasigau schools.

On the home front, everyone sleeps with bugs and/or nets, uses the outdoor facilities, and eats whatever is prepared with many compliments for Grace Chari, our cook (whose course of study has been sponsored by friends Fran and Jim in California, and well-worth it from the empty plates each meal). Everyone seems to have adopted the Kasigau approach to communication and transportation, which is to have alternative plans, make best possible use of any available resources, patch together long strings of contingent possibilities, and “hakuna matata” when things don’t work out quite according to any of the plans. Truth is, it always seems to work out in good enough time and with much attendant personal interaction.

We are always thinking and talking of friends and family at home, and miss you all here where some days the time seems to be going by much too quickly, and occasionally some hours crawl by very slowly. As Liesl says, “Every day here is an adventure where something new happens.”

Bedai (“later”, I think)

Kris

Back Home in Kasigau - Week 2

Our second week-end in the bush was VERY busy with most of the young people making the long and arduous climb up Mt. Kasigau on Saturday while Ken, Jenny, and I went to Voi with Grace for the weekly market trip. We thought we had it bad in hot, crowded, and dusty Voi for shopping, but changed our perspective when we ran into the group who were just completing the mountain climb at the very end of our day. You can tell from the photo that Mt. Kasigau is a definitive presence in this place, and the interns now own it to the very highest point!

We pushed forward for a safari on Sunday, even though our original plan was to go on a later week-end when people were better rested. But we did visit Tsavo East National Park for a game drive and saw many of the incredible animals that are only found in this part of the world: birds (too many to describe), elephants (many, many), giraffe (few but favorites), buffalo (mean), and a host of ungulates (grazers) with and without horns: antelope (various), gazelle (lovely), eland (big), kudo (striped), dik dik (tiny), kungoni (weird), zebra (funny), waterbuck (marked on the butt with a toilet seat shape), and oryx (stately facial markings).

And of course baboons and even a couple hippos. Our friend Simon was our guide, and is incredibly knowledgable about everything having to do with the history, ecology, animals, and people of Tsavo, and whose wife Rhonda cooked us a wonderful East African feast for lunch. Even for those of us who have been on multiple game drives in the past, each new safari is a wonderful treat, and most of us hope to go again soon.

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Monday the interns were at schools for their first day bright and early, identifying students who need help in reading and writing English, assessing skills, finalizing teaching schedules, and meeting new students. The first two schools, Makwasinyi and

Kiteghe, are the farthest on the back side of the mountain and we drove a circuit each morning and afternoon for a week with 7 people in a Toyota Probox (one of about 15 Toyota models we never see in the US, and NOT meant for 7 people). Our second week in schools we have had private “matatu” (van bus) service from long time friend Eliud in return for helping him get his matatu repaired. Ken and I have been stuck in the sand twice now and carried many local people once we drop the interns at schools. Most recently we had the two of us in front, 4 adult women with a baby and many bags in the back seat, and three adult women in the boot (behind the back seat).

Our reception this trip has been much more enthusiastic than last year, mainly because we have shown how skilled our interns are at teaching the students typically considered to be “slow learners”. Only the best and the brightest are able to keep up in the Kenyan national curriculum, which is delivered at a rapid pace to the entire class with few teaching resources beyond shared

textbooks, and no opportunity for remedial work as we know it. Students can fall behind because they haven’t learned enough English to use the official language to learn, because teachers are sick and there are no substitutes, because of obligations athome on the farms or with younger siblings, or any number of other reasons. Many teachers and children alike walk far distances to school and it is a privilege for us to be here helping out for a short time with the car and with our interns knowledge and skill. The interns have already made great progress in teaching math from number sense to long division, reading from letter sounds to comprehension and test taking skills, and writing from letters to paragraphs. We have two more days in Makwasinyi and Kiteghe and then move to Jora and Rukanga next week.

On my birthday, January 11th, we started the day with birthday cake at breakfast and many well wishes all day from friends here. Thanks also to all of you who sent email birthday wishes; it means a lot when we are so far from home. It was raining very hard in the morning, which is a good omen for me and the coming year. “Water is life” here where there is much more likely to be a drought than rain. We had a big party at night, which doubled as a going away party for Claire, with the requisite beer, soda, goat meat (only a partial goat this time), and even a little brandy and vodka. Chari (Grace’s Taita name) cooked us a fantastic meal of pilau, rice, peas, and cake. Ken took Claire to Nairobi for her flight home a day later and we all miss her.

My father shared something with me this summer that his father said during Dad’s college years, in support of getting an education at all costs: You can lose your possessions, have your property stolen, even lose friends and family, but once you have an education it is yours forever (paraphrased poorly, I fear). In the next posting I will write a bit about the group of young people who are here, because they are central to the purpose of our trip and our accomplishments in Kasigau schools and with families...Ken and I are old news in this part of the world, but each young person brings with them a measure of excitement and interest that transcends their daily activities. They are out there interacting with children and adults while walking around and while teaching, using local language, following local customs, and generally enjoying themselves and their surroundings. You should all be very proud of those you have entrusted to our adventure in Kenya this year.

I'm posting a photo of Grace Chari on “network rock” so you all can see what we see when we are taking to you on the phone or sending email from the bush. It is marvelous for those of us who have been here before and incommunicado to be able to walk 10 minutes and make a telephone call. More next week or maybe even this week-end.

Kris