Thursday, November 23. 2006
Groceries in Kenya
Sarah and I have been back in Canada from Ugunja, Kenya since mid-April.
For some reason, readjusting to Kitchener-Waterloo society wasn't hard for me. When my aunt had travelled through southern Africa in the 80's she didn't see a single grocery store. So when she came home it was a shock.
This wasn't the case for me. We had our share of large grocery stores in Kenya and the other African countries we travelled through. The largest grocery/department store chain in Kenya is the Nakumatt. I believe it originated as a furniture and mattress store. The name is a combination of the words Nakuru and mattress.
Nakumatt, and a few other similar Kenyan shops are similar to any large superstore-type place in North America. They have everything from British-grown potatoes and South African wine, to digital cameras and laundry machines.
In Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, there was a new mall built a year or so before we had arrived. It was a quasi big-city mall. A new and huge Nakumatt was the foundation. A few smaller shops (with lots of spaces still available) made up the rest of the first floor.
On the upper level there was a food court and a 2-screen movie theatre. There was usually an Indian (Bollywood) movie playing on one screen and an American movie on the other. On the night we went, the American movie looked mediocre, and we had no idea about the Bolly flick so we did rock-paper-scissors (Sarah's favorite decision-maker) and ended up watching the American movie. I can't remember the name...
We were the only ones in the theatres when the movie started, and only a few came in after that. Most of the moviegoers were watching the Bolly screen. Most of the middle-class in Kisumu (and Kenya in general) are of Indian descent.
For some reason, readjusting to Kitchener-Waterloo society wasn't hard for me. When my aunt had travelled through southern Africa in the 80's she didn't see a single grocery store. So when she came home it was a shock.
This wasn't the case for me. We had our share of large grocery stores in Kenya and the other African countries we travelled through. The largest grocery/department store chain in Kenya is the Nakumatt. I believe it originated as a furniture and mattress store. The name is a combination of the words Nakuru and mattress.
Nakumatt, and a few other similar Kenyan shops are similar to any large superstore-type place in North America. They have everything from British-grown potatoes and South African wine, to digital cameras and laundry machines.
In Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, there was a new mall built a year or so before we had arrived. It was a quasi big-city mall. A new and huge Nakumatt was the foundation. A few smaller shops (with lots of spaces still available) made up the rest of the first floor.
On the upper level there was a food court and a 2-screen movie theatre. There was usually an Indian (Bollywood) movie playing on one screen and an American movie on the other. On the night we went, the American movie looked mediocre, and we had no idea about the Bolly flick so we did rock-paper-scissors (Sarah's favorite decision-maker) and ended up watching the American movie. I can't remember the name...
We were the only ones in the theatres when the movie started, and only a few came in after that. Most of the moviegoers were watching the Bolly screen. Most of the middle-class in Kisumu (and Kenya in general) are of Indian descent.
Tuesday, April 11. 2006
Brooklyn Mall, Pretoria, South Africa
Sarah and I are thinking - no, we're sitting in Giovanni's restaurant at the Brooklyn mall in downtown Pretoria. This is the last day of our trip. Our flight leaves Joburg tonight at 9:25.
We have been staying at John & Marcia's (family friends from Botswana & Ottawa) place for the past 3 nights, which has been great. I haven't seen them for years!
Sarah and I are a little anxious about our return home. We are really excited in anticipation, but when I really think about what it will be like to return it is a bit depressing and confusing. It will probably be fine. It's just very emotionally strange to anticipate.
It's disorienting to be heading home because I will have to start managing my time and making decisions about my life. I'm actually looking forward to that but it's still a transition that I will have to go through.
We have been staying at John & Marcia's (family friends from Botswana & Ottawa) place for the past 3 nights, which has been great. I haven't seen them for years!
Sarah and I are a little anxious about our return home. We are really excited in anticipation, but when I really think about what it will be like to return it is a bit depressing and confusing. It will probably be fine. It's just very emotionally strange to anticipate.
It's disorienting to be heading home because I will have to start managing my time and making decisions about my life. I'm actually looking forward to that but it's still a transition that I will have to go through.
Posted by Julian van Mossel-Forrester
at
07:10
Sunday, March 12. 2006
Last Days in Ugunja
Today is our last Sunday here in Ugunja. It is a beautiful day. I walked over to the church/clinic/preschool compound to get some water. It is a sunny hot day with big gusts of breeze that lift me up.
I am sad to leave this place, to leave behind the landscape that has been my home for the past five months. In some ways it has been a short period but at the same time longer than I have spent in most places as a "visitor".
A couple of days ago I watched Sarah Obiero do her laundry when I was waiting for my jerry cans to fill up at the water tank. She is so fast. Her hands move with real experience, holding the bar of soap in one hand and the piece of clothing in the other. Her way of applying soap is much faster than the way I have been doing it for the past 5 months! Hand-washing is a skill that I never really developed.
Handling water here in Ugunja is different from what I am used to in Canada. Here it is no problem for water to splash around a bit and get on the ground. It will just soak in. But back home we are usually inside and obviously don't want to splash water everywhere.
For example, this morning Betty wanted to rinse off her right hand. She took a cup of water in her left hand and poured a bit of it onto her right hand, just over the floor. That's the great thing about these floors made of dirt and dung, they just absorb water.
****
I haven't really seen the reality of HIV/AIDS while being here but I know it is there. It is a huge force. The other day a fellow staff person reminded me that there are very few members of the community living in their 30s or 40s. Most of that age group have died from this disease. I don't think about it most days. The funeral music that blares across the landscape at night sometimes reminds me of it, but still it's in the background. I have no idea who it is that has died.
I am sad to leave this place, to leave behind the landscape that has been my home for the past five months. In some ways it has been a short period but at the same time longer than I have spent in most places as a "visitor".
A couple of days ago I watched Sarah Obiero do her laundry when I was waiting for my jerry cans to fill up at the water tank. She is so fast. Her hands move with real experience, holding the bar of soap in one hand and the piece of clothing in the other. Her way of applying soap is much faster than the way I have been doing it for the past 5 months! Hand-washing is a skill that I never really developed.
Handling water here in Ugunja is different from what I am used to in Canada. Here it is no problem for water to splash around a bit and get on the ground. It will just soak in. But back home we are usually inside and obviously don't want to splash water everywhere.
For example, this morning Betty wanted to rinse off her right hand. She took a cup of water in her left hand and poured a bit of it onto her right hand, just over the floor. That's the great thing about these floors made of dirt and dung, they just absorb water.
****
I haven't really seen the reality of HIV/AIDS while being here but I know it is there. It is a huge force. The other day a fellow staff person reminded me that there are very few members of the community living in their 30s or 40s. Most of that age group have died from this disease. I don't think about it most days. The funeral music that blares across the landscape at night sometimes reminds me of it, but still it's in the background. I have no idea who it is that has died.
Posted by Julian van Mossel-Forrester
at
10:27
Tuesday, February 28. 2006
Plastic
A couple of years ago I was surfing around the internet and found a website about how wonderful plastic was and how plastic was going to save the world. It was published by some massive plastic manufacturer. Being here sometimes reminds me of what I read there.
Plastic is everywhere here. We drink tea out of plastic mugs, wash our clothes in plastic basins, fetch water in plastic jerry cans, put our goods in plastic bags when we shop, and when we have no filtered water we sometimes buy water in plastic bottles.
Back in Canada (and every country) plastic is everywhere as well. But here we see the problem close-up. When we are finished with a plastic item like a bag or bottle, what do we do with it?
Here there are two options. Either reuse it or throw it outside, preferably in the pit beside our compound.
Someone burns the garbage in the pit every several weeks. Then we get to inhale the miracle of plastic. I might be sitting in my house drinking a cup of water when the stench enters. It smells like rotten toxic meat.
Most compounds have a pit or a pile for non-biodegradable waste to be burned. So normally we walk through at least one cloud of toxic smoke on the way to and from work.
When there is no pit or pile of trash at hand, people usually throw their plastic on the ground. No matter where I walk I find a shredded plastic bag on the ground every few metres. When travelling by taxi I see the bags clinging to shrubbery and corn stalks, or blowing along the ground.
A couple of times each week the Ugunja town council sweeps the street garbage into small piles and sets it on fire. What else are they supposed to do to get rid of the mess left after market days? Onion stems, broken plastic bottles, dried grass, rotten tomatoes, plastic bags and more, all burned up.
The funny thing is that people call plastic bags "paper bags". No one seems to be bothered by the plastic issue, not that so many people are back home either. Plastic companies do a good job of selling their products and somehow walk away without taking any responsibility for the mess left behind.
Plastic is everywhere here. We drink tea out of plastic mugs, wash our clothes in plastic basins, fetch water in plastic jerry cans, put our goods in plastic bags when we shop, and when we have no filtered water we sometimes buy water in plastic bottles.
Back in Canada (and every country) plastic is everywhere as well. But here we see the problem close-up. When we are finished with a plastic item like a bag or bottle, what do we do with it?
Here there are two options. Either reuse it or throw it outside, preferably in the pit beside our compound.
Someone burns the garbage in the pit every several weeks. Then we get to inhale the miracle of plastic. I might be sitting in my house drinking a cup of water when the stench enters. It smells like rotten toxic meat.
Most compounds have a pit or a pile for non-biodegradable waste to be burned. So normally we walk through at least one cloud of toxic smoke on the way to and from work.
When there is no pit or pile of trash at hand, people usually throw their plastic on the ground. No matter where I walk I find a shredded plastic bag on the ground every few metres. When travelling by taxi I see the bags clinging to shrubbery and corn stalks, or blowing along the ground.
A couple of times each week the Ugunja town council sweeps the street garbage into small piles and sets it on fire. What else are they supposed to do to get rid of the mess left after market days? Onion stems, broken plastic bottles, dried grass, rotten tomatoes, plastic bags and more, all burned up.
The funny thing is that people call plastic bags "paper bags". No one seems to be bothered by the plastic issue, not that so many people are back home either. Plastic companies do a good job of selling their products and somehow walk away without taking any responsibility for the mess left behind.
Posted by Julian van Mossel-Forrester
at
01:45
Website Development Update
Since returning from Kampala three weeks ago, I have been focused on website development.
I sit with George almost every day including some weekends as he adds pages, text and photos to the website. He gets more familiar with the site structure each day, especially when he is able to work without me looking over his shoulder.
There are a lot of distractions. Computer classes go on all day from 6am to 6pm in the same room. There are only a couple of room dividers between us and the lectures. Still we are able to focus and now the site is almost ready.
If I left Ugunja today I'm sure George could finish the site. He could add the few remaining pages and text and all of the photos. All that I have to train him on is how to upload the files to the internet.
Other staff are so busy these days. I did only a brief training with Paul, Rose and Bernard. Rachel is also interested. Each of them hope to find another few hours for training before I leave. Most of them have only basic HTML knowledge but I hope they will still be able to update the pages with a little training.
I have been emailing with a German man who hosts the UCRC website. He has been helping us on the server side of things. He found some software that might serve as a guestbook on the website and is also setting up several new email addresses for UCRC staff.
I have to confirm our use of the guestbook software with Aggrey. The issue with it is that it posts entries directly to the website. Aggrey had asked for something that would allow a moderator to either accept or decline each comment before it was actually visible to other visitors, in case some comments were garbage.
Aggrey and I also need to discuss the online donations system that was on the old site. Apparently there was a downside to that system: too much of the money was lost in the financial transfer to Kenya and in payments to the company which provides the service.
I sit with George almost every day including some weekends as he adds pages, text and photos to the website. He gets more familiar with the site structure each day, especially when he is able to work without me looking over his shoulder.
There are a lot of distractions. Computer classes go on all day from 6am to 6pm in the same room. There are only a couple of room dividers between us and the lectures. Still we are able to focus and now the site is almost ready.
If I left Ugunja today I'm sure George could finish the site. He could add the few remaining pages and text and all of the photos. All that I have to train him on is how to upload the files to the internet.
Other staff are so busy these days. I did only a brief training with Paul, Rose and Bernard. Rachel is also interested. Each of them hope to find another few hours for training before I leave. Most of them have only basic HTML knowledge but I hope they will still be able to update the pages with a little training.
I have been emailing with a German man who hosts the UCRC website. He has been helping us on the server side of things. He found some software that might serve as a guestbook on the website and is also setting up several new email addresses for UCRC staff.
I have to confirm our use of the guestbook software with Aggrey. The issue with it is that it posts entries directly to the website. Aggrey had asked for something that would allow a moderator to either accept or decline each comment before it was actually visible to other visitors, in case some comments were garbage.
Aggrey and I also need to discuss the online donations system that was on the old site. Apparently there was a downside to that system: too much of the money was lost in the financial transfer to Kenya and in payments to the company which provides the service.
Sunday, February 26. 2006
Sunday
Today was Sunday. I went to work around 1pm. I love the walk to Ugunja on the weekend because it's so quiet. And it's usually real hot because I go later in the morning than I do on weekdays. The heat radiates off of everything and I feel like I am floating along. During the afternoon I worked on the website with George and worked on one of my resumes.
On the way home from work I dropped by Aggrey's compound to ask if I could borrow their flat pan and egg flipper. When I was there Charles came and surprised me with his presence. It took me a moment to realize who he was.
Charles has been in Kitchener for the last 3.5 months at The Working Centre. He just returned to Ugunja this morning and has been in hiding so that he can rest and recover from the jetlag.
When he was in Canada he met my Grandma a couple of times and saw my Dad once. He really enjoyed meeting them, and got some good contacts from my dad.
Everyone has the same reaction when they meet my Grandma: "She's QUITE a lady!" She introduced Charles to her church which is interested in doing some work with UCRC.
Charles and I didn't talk for too long because he was tired and wanted to save his stories for when he was more alert.
When I got home Sarah was sitting on the stoop of Paul and Betty's house picking the stems off of a big tray of cow pea leaves. I helped her finish that off and chop them into tiny pieces.
Cow peas are referred to as an indigenous vegetable. The plant makes these translucent green seed pods the same shape as snap pea pods. Sometimes the pods turn black. I am not sure why. The leaves taste somewhat like spinach, and reduces the same way when you cook it. I think that cows eat the peas.
I had arranged to cook pancakes with Wilson that evening, which is why I borrowed that pan and egg flipper earlier. Two nights ago I made pancakes for our whole family and they liked the recipe. It's from the Joy of Cooking cook book. So good. Wilson asked me to show him how to make them.
So today he bought a few extra eggs and a small package of flour. Dusk was approaching and he had milked the cow when he called me over. We went to work.
Then we had a delicious dinner of ugali, cow peas and fried cabbage, followed by some tea.
Now I'm sitting in our house at 9:39 PM, typing on this laptop. Sarah is brushing her teeth beside me. We're listening to Tom Waits on the laptop speakers. The room is dark, lit by one candle only.
On the way home from work I dropped by Aggrey's compound to ask if I could borrow their flat pan and egg flipper. When I was there Charles came and surprised me with his presence. It took me a moment to realize who he was.
Charles has been in Kitchener for the last 3.5 months at The Working Centre. He just returned to Ugunja this morning and has been in hiding so that he can rest and recover from the jetlag.
When he was in Canada he met my Grandma a couple of times and saw my Dad once. He really enjoyed meeting them, and got some good contacts from my dad.
Everyone has the same reaction when they meet my Grandma: "She's QUITE a lady!" She introduced Charles to her church which is interested in doing some work with UCRC.
Charles and I didn't talk for too long because he was tired and wanted to save his stories for when he was more alert.
When I got home Sarah was sitting on the stoop of Paul and Betty's house picking the stems off of a big tray of cow pea leaves. I helped her finish that off and chop them into tiny pieces.
Cow peas are referred to as an indigenous vegetable. The plant makes these translucent green seed pods the same shape as snap pea pods. Sometimes the pods turn black. I am not sure why. The leaves taste somewhat like spinach, and reduces the same way when you cook it. I think that cows eat the peas.
I had arranged to cook pancakes with Wilson that evening, which is why I borrowed that pan and egg flipper earlier. Two nights ago I made pancakes for our whole family and they liked the recipe. It's from the Joy of Cooking cook book. So good. Wilson asked me to show him how to make them.
So today he bought a few extra eggs and a small package of flour. Dusk was approaching and he had milked the cow when he called me over. We went to work.
Then we had a delicious dinner of ugali, cow peas and fried cabbage, followed by some tea.
Now I'm sitting in our house at 9:39 PM, typing on this laptop. Sarah is brushing her teeth beside me. We're listening to Tom Waits on the laptop speakers. The room is dark, lit by one candle only.
Friday, February 17. 2006
Trip to Kampala
Our weekend in Kampala was sunny and luxurious. Kampala is the capital city of Uganda which lies just East of Kenya, one of the countries of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). It was a four hour bus ride from Ugunja.
I reconnected with Ida, a friend from my childhood. She is Norwegian but lived in Botswana at the same time as I did. I was three to five years old and she was around one to three. The last time I saw her was ten years ago in Ontario.
Ida has lived in Kampala on and off for the past five years and full-time for the past one and a half years. Originally she came to visit her mother who was in Kampala for a few years working on a contract. She liked it so much - and she met her boyfriend Ali - so she decided to stick around.
Ida is sub-editor for a new women's magazine. She compared it to Elle magazine. The magazine is published in Kampala, printed in Dubai, and distributed throughout East Africa. Ida seemed at home in the fashion and music scene. She has a degree in journalism from Norway and is now thinking of getting a masters.
Ali grew up in Vancouver but has lived in Kampala for the past five years. His family owns a security company which keeps him busy during the week. He also owns a happening nightclub which keeps him up late on weekends.
Ali's family has a history in Kampala. They had lived there before he was born but were forced to leave when Idi Amin, the past dictator president, forced all non blacks to leave. And so Ali was born and raised in Vancouver. Years later a new Ugandan president invited all the evicted Ugandans to return. His family came back to the business they had established.
When we were there Ida's fridge was warm and her milk was sour. The power had been off for four hours. That day we used her gas powered generator to check email and charge our phones.
The power outage was not a malfunction of the system. It is the Ugandan government's latest strategy on dealing with recent power shortages. Power is cut for twenty four hours every other day in different districts at different times.
The recent combination of extreme dry weather with rising power use has led to the over-use of Lake Victoria's water. A hydro dam controls how much water flows from the lake into the Nile River which flows up to Egypt. So much water has been allowed to pass that the water level of the lake has dropped two metres. This drop in water level has forced the government to explore alternatives to the dam. It is no small lake - look at a map of Africa and you can see it is the biggest on the continent.
The power rotation happens all over Kampala except one neighbourhood of rich people. Restaurants and shops need generators to stay in business.
We had quite a luxurious time when we were there. Ida introduced us to many of her friends, a mix of Ugandan's and foreigners, including a couple of Canadians. On friday night we went out to a huge Korean restaurant for steak, pickled pork ribs and more. On Saturday we had lunch while hanging out in Uganda's only olympic sized swimming pool which is located on the edge of Lake Victoria. For dinner we had Italian. I had some tenderized steak with cheese melted on top. (Steak seems to be a popular choice around here...) Sarah had delicate homemade tortellini stuffed with spinach and cheese.
After the Italian food we went out to Ali's nighclub for a drink, some dancing and some live music and dance performances. It was our latest night in East Africa yet!
I reconnected with Ida, a friend from my childhood. She is Norwegian but lived in Botswana at the same time as I did. I was three to five years old and she was around one to three. The last time I saw her was ten years ago in Ontario.
Ida has lived in Kampala on and off for the past five years and full-time for the past one and a half years. Originally she came to visit her mother who was in Kampala for a few years working on a contract. She liked it so much - and she met her boyfriend Ali - so she decided to stick around.
Ida is sub-editor for a new women's magazine. She compared it to Elle magazine. The magazine is published in Kampala, printed in Dubai, and distributed throughout East Africa. Ida seemed at home in the fashion and music scene. She has a degree in journalism from Norway and is now thinking of getting a masters.
Ali grew up in Vancouver but has lived in Kampala for the past five years. His family owns a security company which keeps him busy during the week. He also owns a happening nightclub which keeps him up late on weekends.
Ali's family has a history in Kampala. They had lived there before he was born but were forced to leave when Idi Amin, the past dictator president, forced all non blacks to leave. And so Ali was born and raised in Vancouver. Years later a new Ugandan president invited all the evicted Ugandans to return. His family came back to the business they had established.
When we were there Ida's fridge was warm and her milk was sour. The power had been off for four hours. That day we used her gas powered generator to check email and charge our phones.
The power outage was not a malfunction of the system. It is the Ugandan government's latest strategy on dealing with recent power shortages. Power is cut for twenty four hours every other day in different districts at different times.
The recent combination of extreme dry weather with rising power use has led to the over-use of Lake Victoria's water. A hydro dam controls how much water flows from the lake into the Nile River which flows up to Egypt. So much water has been allowed to pass that the water level of the lake has dropped two metres. This drop in water level has forced the government to explore alternatives to the dam. It is no small lake - look at a map of Africa and you can see it is the biggest on the continent.
The power rotation happens all over Kampala except one neighbourhood of rich people. Restaurants and shops need generators to stay in business.
We had quite a luxurious time when we were there. Ida introduced us to many of her friends, a mix of Ugandan's and foreigners, including a couple of Canadians. On friday night we went out to a huge Korean restaurant for steak, pickled pork ribs and more. On Saturday we had lunch while hanging out in Uganda's only olympic sized swimming pool which is located on the edge of Lake Victoria. For dinner we had Italian. I had some tenderized steak with cheese melted on top. (Steak seems to be a popular choice around here...) Sarah had delicate homemade tortellini stuffed with spinach and cheese.
After the Italian food we went out to Ali's nighclub for a drink, some dancing and some live music and dance performances. It was our latest night in East Africa yet!
Thursday, February 9. 2006
Journal entries finally entered!
I have just added a bunch of journal entries that I had written but didn't have time to load onto the blog.
The dates are:
-Feb 5 2006
-Feb 1 2006
-Jan 31 2006
-Jan 29 2006
-Jan 23 2006
-Jan 13 2006
Thanks,
Julian
The dates are:
-Feb 5 2006
-Feb 1 2006
-Jan 31 2006
-Jan 29 2006
-Jan 23 2006
-Jan 13 2006
Thanks,
Julian
Trip to Mark and Julius' place
I keep thinking about the fact that we're leaving Ugunja in 4.5 weeks. We spent a year of our lives preparing and then coming here. Our preparations started last May and we'll be returning to Canada in April. I will remember this year.
The last few weeks have been real challenging with things getting so busy and hectic at work, as well as personally for Sarah and I. But things are feeling really good now.
Last weekend was a social one. On Saturday we went to visit Mark Obiero (Sarah Obiero, the Early Childhood teacher's brother) at their compound. Joyce and Julius (sister and brother) were also there.
I rode on the back of Mark's bike and Sarah rode a boda boda. We went up a wide and dusty road that sloped down at its sides. It was so dusty that the bushes lining the road were stained the reddish colour of the earth. The road rose up a hill as if it would go on forever, heading all the way to Bondo.
After 15 - 20 minutes we turned left through a small village where Julius has his woodworking shop. I asked Mark what a very nicely painted building was. It was a rental-housing complex that had been sitting unfinished for a long time.
We were now in the rural area and wow it was dry! Mark said that there hadn't been rain here since October. He said that Ugunja gets more rain and that the last couple of downpours since January didn't touch his area. The fields were a different colour of dust. One compound that we passed accentuated the dryness with it's landscaping - no grass and few plants in general except for a few banana and papaya trees.
The landscape seemed particularly different to me because I hadn't been out to other rural areas since October when we first arrived and did our initial tours.
Joyce and Julius welcomed us when we arrived. She lives at the ECD Centre just in front of our compound with her sister, Sarah Obiero. She is so great - very friendly with a wacky sense of humour. She is always playing with words, which I like doing as well.
Mark and Julius gave us a tour of the compound.
They showed us the milking parlour, laughing because it is simply a tree with the grass worn away under it.
There was a small mango tree (a few inches tall) surrounded by a large protective cage. There were three levels of protection - large branches to keep out cows, medium for sheep, and small thorny brambles for chickens.
We continued past the charcoal-making area: grey sand that is easy to work with now that it is all dug up and loose.
Beside that was the livestock area. It had a "living fence" made of growing trees as the vertical posts and dried wood slats and branches as the horizontal components. The animals (cows, sheep and goats) are tied in here at night. Mark explained that they fence and the locked gate prevent the animals from leaving if they escape their tethers, and prevent any thieves from stealing the animals.
Mark took us into his house where he has his workshop. Mark is a real inventor. He has constructed a bicycle-powered battery charger by raising the back wheel of a bike, removing the tire and attaching a rubber belt that turns a small generator attached behind the seat.
For the garden he has developed an irrigation system using a foot-powered pump that sucks water out of a water hole and sprays it over the garden using rubber tubes with rotating sprinklers on the end. He alone dug the water hole which was about 5 metres by 8 metres large and went 7 feet below the water level (about 14 feet below ground).
His sikumawiki (collards) were looking very healthy in this dry season.
The last few weeks have been real challenging with things getting so busy and hectic at work, as well as personally for Sarah and I. But things are feeling really good now.
Last weekend was a social one. On Saturday we went to visit Mark Obiero (Sarah Obiero, the Early Childhood teacher's brother) at their compound. Joyce and Julius (sister and brother) were also there.
I rode on the back of Mark's bike and Sarah rode a boda boda. We went up a wide and dusty road that sloped down at its sides. It was so dusty that the bushes lining the road were stained the reddish colour of the earth. The road rose up a hill as if it would go on forever, heading all the way to Bondo.
After 15 - 20 minutes we turned left through a small village where Julius has his woodworking shop. I asked Mark what a very nicely painted building was. It was a rental-housing complex that had been sitting unfinished for a long time.
We were now in the rural area and wow it was dry! Mark said that there hadn't been rain here since October. He said that Ugunja gets more rain and that the last couple of downpours since January didn't touch his area. The fields were a different colour of dust. One compound that we passed accentuated the dryness with it's landscaping - no grass and few plants in general except for a few banana and papaya trees.
The landscape seemed particularly different to me because I hadn't been out to other rural areas since October when we first arrived and did our initial tours.
Joyce and Julius welcomed us when we arrived. She lives at the ECD Centre just in front of our compound with her sister, Sarah Obiero. She is so great - very friendly with a wacky sense of humour. She is always playing with words, which I like doing as well.
Mark and Julius gave us a tour of the compound.
They showed us the milking parlour, laughing because it is simply a tree with the grass worn away under it.
There was a small mango tree (a few inches tall) surrounded by a large protective cage. There were three levels of protection - large branches to keep out cows, medium for sheep, and small thorny brambles for chickens.
We continued past the charcoal-making area: grey sand that is easy to work with now that it is all dug up and loose.
Beside that was the livestock area. It had a "living fence" made of growing trees as the vertical posts and dried wood slats and branches as the horizontal components. The animals (cows, sheep and goats) are tied in here at night. Mark explained that they fence and the locked gate prevent the animals from leaving if they escape their tethers, and prevent any thieves from stealing the animals.
Mark took us into his house where he has his workshop. Mark is a real inventor. He has constructed a bicycle-powered battery charger by raising the back wheel of a bike, removing the tire and attaching a rubber belt that turns a small generator attached behind the seat.
For the garden he has developed an irrigation system using a foot-powered pump that sucks water out of a water hole and sprays it over the garden using rubber tubes with rotating sprinklers on the end. He alone dug the water hole which was about 5 metres by 8 metres large and went 7 feet below the water level (about 14 feet below ground).
His sikumawiki (collards) were looking very healthy in this dry season.
Early mornings and getting water
Paul and Betty are both extra busy these days because planting season is coming up and they have to prepare the garden. Betty is already a full time volunteer at the health centre, a mother of two, aged two and four, and since last week she is the secretary at the church.
This morning Betty had to set her alarm. She got up at 5:30am. When I woke up just after 6am, Paul was already digging in the garden just past his house. I walked up to the toilet and saw Wilson milking the cow as I passed the animal's house.
Yesterday I arrived at work late because I locked my key inside our house. I had to borrow Steven's hammer to pry off the lock held on by nails.
It took only a minute to get off. (That is why, Betty said, that Paul always has his eye on the door while we eat supper in their house.)
Then I straightened out the nails by hammering them into the mud floor which is more solid than the bare compacted earth in front of our house. .
Lately there have been problems with the well in front of the church by our place. The wood handle to crank the rope was falling apart so it was awkward to turn. Plus some days the water is really sandy. I understand that the water-level is getting low down there and that it had not been dug quite deep enough. So apparently this week someone will be down there digging it deeper. I don't mind getting water at the stream or the pump by bicycle, but during the week it is hard to find the time, especially lately because I have been staying later at work.
I hope that someone can bring us water until the well is fixed.
This morning Betty had to set her alarm. She got up at 5:30am. When I woke up just after 6am, Paul was already digging in the garden just past his house. I walked up to the toilet and saw Wilson milking the cow as I passed the animal's house.
Yesterday I arrived at work late because I locked my key inside our house. I had to borrow Steven's hammer to pry off the lock held on by nails.
It took only a minute to get off. (That is why, Betty said, that Paul always has his eye on the door while we eat supper in their house.)
Then I straightened out the nails by hammering them into the mud floor which is more solid than the bare compacted earth in front of our house. .
Lately there have been problems with the well in front of the church by our place. The wood handle to crank the rope was falling apart so it was awkward to turn. Plus some days the water is really sandy. I understand that the water-level is getting low down there and that it had not been dug quite deep enough. So apparently this week someone will be down there digging it deeper. I don't mind getting water at the stream or the pump by bicycle, but during the week it is hard to find the time, especially lately because I have been staying later at work.
I hope that someone can bring us water until the well is fixed.
Sunday, February 5. 2006
Getting water
Sarah and I just finished doing our first large load of laundry for the day in the shade of a tree on our compound. Our water was running low. Betty suggested that I ask Brian to go down to the water source with me and ask someone to bring water for us.
When we got to the water, which is a half-hour walk, there were only three other people there. Two were filling up their jerry cans and one was standing by his bicycle with five full jerry cans on the ground around him. He was about to tie them all on his bike and take them home.
I asked him if he could help me and bring five cans of water to our home. When I offered to pay him 30 bob (shillings) he said "thirty-five." I agreed to his price.
Brian and I went up to the path and waited for him to tie the water to his bike. It is amazing that he could carry five 20-litre containers all at once!
When we were waiting, Brian said, "that man cheated you." Brian thought that I should have paid only 5 bob per can. But it is the dry season so the price has gone up to 7. It was a fair price.
When we got to the water, which is a half-hour walk, there were only three other people there. Two were filling up their jerry cans and one was standing by his bicycle with five full jerry cans on the ground around him. He was about to tie them all on his bike and take them home.
I asked him if he could help me and bring five cans of water to our home. When I offered to pay him 30 bob (shillings) he said "thirty-five." I agreed to his price.
Brian and I went up to the path and waited for him to tie the water to his bike. It is amazing that he could carry five 20-litre containers all at once!
When we were waiting, Brian said, "that man cheated you." Brian thought that I should have paid only 5 bob per can. But it is the dry season so the price has gone up to 7. It was a fair price.
Wednesday, February 1. 2006
Web programming success & the value of water bottles
It was a good day. I worked on and pretty much finished programming the UCRC website menus using some ideas that my friend Matt sent me. I got an email from him while I was at the post office with the good suggestion to make information on the site as accessible as possible. Instead of relying on drop-down menus I made simple menus that are always visible and don't depend on a mouse to open up.
Sarah just finished washing out all of our used plastic bottles (about ten) and gave most of them away to our family. Brian was happy to have a new bottle. When he got to choose between the sizes of bottles I could see the excitement on his face. He said he would use it to take water to school.
Bottled water is not something affordable to many local people, and so the bottles themselves are not so easy to come by. I was in the grocery store in Ugunja once with an empty bottle and I asked the clerk if she had a garbage can. She asked if she could have it to carry paraffin.
Sarah just finished washing out all of our used plastic bottles (about ten) and gave most of them away to our family. Brian was happy to have a new bottle. When he got to choose between the sizes of bottles I could see the excitement on his face. He said he would use it to take water to school.
Bottled water is not something affordable to many local people, and so the bottles themselves are not so easy to come by. I was in the grocery store in Ugunja once with an empty bottle and I asked the clerk if she had a garbage can. She asked if she could have it to carry paraffin.
Sunday, January 29. 2006
Weekends in January
Sarah and I finally stayed home for the weekend this weekend. The last few weekends since Christmas we have been out and about, mostly in Kisumu. The first weekend we went to get cash out and to upload photos. The next was when Sarah was sick and went to the hospital. And the last was when my Dad was here and I went to Kisumu twice (once to get him, and once to drop him off).
Thursday, January 26. 2006
Dad Visiting
My father was with Sarah and I from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. It was so great that he was here! In Ugunja, in our house and on Wilson's compound. He met everyone on our compound and Aggrey as well as a few other people who were around.
On Friday night we got to explore Kisumu a bit. We had dinner at the Imperial Hotel the night he arrived - it was the best restaurant I've seen yet in Kisumu (although Sarah has since discovered an even better one called the Green Garden).
Dad got sick over night but he was pretty stoic. The Cipro antibiotic that he took discontinued any "action”. He drank tea while Sarah and I ate breakfast. He didn't eat anything much that day except bread. And then supper came - beef and chapati. He managed. (It was the tenderest beef I've ever had here!)
Everything was interesting to Dad. What a great outfit the doorman at the Imperial Hotel had on: a long grey jacket with white ornamentals and buttons all the way down to his feet. And there was the head waitress in the Imperial Hotel restaurant. She rolled her eyes and mustered up a smile for every comment my father made. She lost control of her tray and spilled his bottle of beer...just before her cell phone rang.
Sarah ordered a vegetarian pasta dish but they brought her one with loads of beef. She assumed that "vegetarian" just had a different definition so she picked around the meat. When she had finished there was a plateful of beef chunks left. But to top it all off, as soon as the waitress realized there had been a mistake she brought out the dish that Sarah was supposed to have. By that time we were all stuffed so it went to waste.
On Friday night we got to explore Kisumu a bit. We had dinner at the Imperial Hotel the night he arrived - it was the best restaurant I've seen yet in Kisumu (although Sarah has since discovered an even better one called the Green Garden).
Dad got sick over night but he was pretty stoic. The Cipro antibiotic that he took discontinued any "action”. He drank tea while Sarah and I ate breakfast. He didn't eat anything much that day except bread. And then supper came - beef and chapati. He managed. (It was the tenderest beef I've ever had here!)
Everything was interesting to Dad. What a great outfit the doorman at the Imperial Hotel had on: a long grey jacket with white ornamentals and buttons all the way down to his feet. And there was the head waitress in the Imperial Hotel restaurant. She rolled her eyes and mustered up a smile for every comment my father made. She lost control of her tray and spilled his bottle of beer...just before her cell phone rang.
Sarah ordered a vegetarian pasta dish but they brought her one with loads of beef. She assumed that "vegetarian" just had a different definition so she picked around the meat. When she had finished there was a plateful of beef chunks left. But to top it all off, as soon as the waitress realized there had been a mistake she brought out the dish that Sarah was supposed to have. By that time we were all stuffed so it went to waste.
Friday, January 13. 2006
Conversation with Paul
Last night Sarah and I had a great conversation with Paul. It started off with Sarah and Steven talking about N'gugi Wa Thiongo's book Devil on the Cross.
Paul talked about how the white colonizers treated Africans like slaves. I said that pretty much all whites used to think that way. He added that some whites who come to Kenya today show on their faces that they still think that way.
I talked about how I noticed so many products, here and at home, that are owned by Unilever, a transnational corporation. Paul said that companies like that are greedy and don't want other people to be able to own companies and share in the profits.
I explained how Ben & Jerry's, a small company that markets itself as very unique and locally-based was bought by Unilever but is still marketed in the same way even though it is now part of a mammoth global business.
I also told the story of a woman that I talked to back home who was a baker. Loblaws had approached her with a contract and a good price to bake pies for their Organic line. She thought about it and then refused because she realized that Loblaws' money would set her up very well with a huge bakery but that any day they might find a baker for 5 cents cheaper in Thailand and just pull out.
"These companies don't care about the affect of their actions," Paul said. "They just don't care about their children. They make so much money but they don't care about the future generations. It's like here on a compound if you have a parent who doesn't care for their children. What do you think is doing to happen to those children?"
I said it makes me question the whole idea of "development." If development means becoming a part of this global system, that system isn't that great. Or, from another perspective, development could be about people simply being their best in their local situation.
Paul said that some people have a superiority/inferiority complex. They refer to themselves as the "first world" and other places as the "third world." But what does that mean? I agreed. How about the words "developed" and "developing"?
Paul said that to him "developed" could mean to be well organized within your society. "For example within a compound," he said, moving his hands to indicate a compound and the different people moving together in it.
Then he started to say that most Kenyans are trying to become "global" or "modern" and that only one tribe is actually maintaining their traditional culture: The Masaii.
He said "most other Kenyans view the Massai as "primitive" or like no more than animals. But those other Kenyans don't understand that the Massai are being very intentional to keep their traditions strong."
"The Massai are very healthy," he said. "They know how to use all sorts of herbs that are available instead of conventional medicine. And it is rare to see a Massai person blending into "modern" lifestyles. That is why if you take a picture of a Massai without their permission you are committing a suicide."
Sarah said that it is interesting how the only Kenyan people on postcards are the Massai. "You have the animals and the Massai - they are treated like tourist objects just like the animals."
Paul talked about how the white colonizers treated Africans like slaves. I said that pretty much all whites used to think that way. He added that some whites who come to Kenya today show on their faces that they still think that way.
I talked about how I noticed so many products, here and at home, that are owned by Unilever, a transnational corporation. Paul said that companies like that are greedy and don't want other people to be able to own companies and share in the profits.
I explained how Ben & Jerry's, a small company that markets itself as very unique and locally-based was bought by Unilever but is still marketed in the same way even though it is now part of a mammoth global business.
I also told the story of a woman that I talked to back home who was a baker. Loblaws had approached her with a contract and a good price to bake pies for their Organic line. She thought about it and then refused because she realized that Loblaws' money would set her up very well with a huge bakery but that any day they might find a baker for 5 cents cheaper in Thailand and just pull out.
"These companies don't care about the affect of their actions," Paul said. "They just don't care about their children. They make so much money but they don't care about the future generations. It's like here on a compound if you have a parent who doesn't care for their children. What do you think is doing to happen to those children?"
I said it makes me question the whole idea of "development." If development means becoming a part of this global system, that system isn't that great. Or, from another perspective, development could be about people simply being their best in their local situation.
Paul said that some people have a superiority/inferiority complex. They refer to themselves as the "first world" and other places as the "third world." But what does that mean? I agreed. How about the words "developed" and "developing"?
Paul said that to him "developed" could mean to be well organized within your society. "For example within a compound," he said, moving his hands to indicate a compound and the different people moving together in it.
Then he started to say that most Kenyans are trying to become "global" or "modern" and that only one tribe is actually maintaining their traditional culture: The Masaii.
He said "most other Kenyans view the Massai as "primitive" or like no more than animals. But those other Kenyans don't understand that the Massai are being very intentional to keep their traditions strong."
"The Massai are very healthy," he said. "They know how to use all sorts of herbs that are available instead of conventional medicine. And it is rare to see a Massai person blending into "modern" lifestyles. That is why if you take a picture of a Massai without their permission you are committing a suicide."
Sarah said that it is interesting how the only Kenyan people on postcards are the Massai. "You have the animals and the Massai - they are treated like tourist objects just like the animals."
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