Beginnings

DukeEngage/FSD Kakamega Group Photo

My House

Boda Boda

My Room

Kisumu Airport

Scenic Farm/Field

5/24/09  (date written)

As I write this, my first ever blog post, I have been in the town of Kakamega for just over a week.  I arrived in Kenya last Saturday night after enduring the most grueling (and probably amusing) itinerary any travel agent has ever created – Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale (overnight) to JFK (notice the change in direction) to Dubai to Nairobi to Kisumu and finally a very bumpy and crowded “matatu” (van) from Kisumu to Kakamega, for a grand total of about 40 hours of continuous traveling time.  Once the group (myself, 14 other Duke students, and the site team) arrived in Kakamega, we moved into the Kamadep Guest House, a small hotel located just outside the town of Kakamega where I had been staying until yesterday afternoon (5/23), when I moved into my home stay.

The past week has been very interesting, and while I know that the real learning experience has yet to begin, I have already learned a great deal.  For those of you reading this who don’t already know, I will be spending the next 8 weeks living and working in Kakamega, a small town in the heart of Kenya, through a program sponsored by DukeEngage (dukeengage.duke.edu/) and coordinated by the Foundation for Sustainable Development (www.fsdinternational.org).  Each of the 11 girls and 4 boys in my group will be working with a different non-governmental organization (NGO’s) and living with a different host family in the Kakamega area.  Some, like me, are living and working close to the center of town, while others live and work up to an hour-long matatu ride away in areas like the Kakamega rainforest.

Orientation (the first week) consisted of FSD training and frequent trips to the town center.  We spent about half of each day immersed in Kiswahili language training, and I am proud to say that I have a very basic understanding of Kiswahili greetings, verb conjugation, and conversation.  While most people speak some English, it is helpful to know some Kiswahili as it removes some of the barrier between cultures when talking to people from Kakamega.  We spent the other half learning about a variety of subjects including Kenyan culture, Kenyan politics, living with a host family, and performing needs assessments of our respective organizations.  Despite the helpfulness of these sessions, most of what I have learned has come from my experiences in the town itself.  Foreigners are very rare in this part of the country, and the members of my group (especially the white and asian ones) stick out like sore thumbs. When we walk down the street many people yell “mzungu” (meaning outsider) and point, sometimes even going so far as to poke us or grab our hands.  Most of them mean no harm, but are just very friendly and overly excited to meet us.  As expected, Americans are associated with having a lot of money in Kenya, and thus we draw the immediate attention of beggars and street merchants, of which there are an abundance.

The most common mode of transportation in the town is a “boda boda”, or a bicycle with a small extra seat attached to the back.  There are many boda boda drivers at every street corner, and their services only cost 10 or 20 shillings (at 77 shillings to the dollar), although they generally try to overcharge us muzngus at first.  This is a very convenient (and fun) way of getting around.  For longer trips, you must take a matatu, the concept of which is much like a public bus, but instead a small van filled far beyond capacity on turbulent roads.  The matatus all blast loud music and have flat screen TV’s at the front showing music videos.  (Funny story – one of the matatus was blasting Celine Dion and our group was singing along passionately in the van – other drivers heard that the Mzungus like this music, and now many matatus in Kakamega are sporting Celine Dion CD’s)  The food here is not bad, although it gets boring very quickly.  Most meals consist of chicken, beef, or fish and a side – usually rice, chips (fries), chapatti (Indian bread), or ugali (a cake-like food made of cornmeal – imagine grits in solid form).

As mentioned earlier, I moved into my home stay yesterday, and begin work at my host organization tomorrow.  My original host family consisted of a mother, a father, and two ten year old boys, but had to be changed as the father of the family lost his job unexpectedly.  If nothing else this gives some insight into the unpredictability of life in Kakamega.  The house at which I am currently residing consists of an older mother (Joyce) and father (Sylvester) who have a son that has moved out.  Also living here are two work boys, one of them 18 (Austin) and the other 23 (Peter) and an older work woman (also Joyce).  The family is well off for rural Kenyan standards, and has a barn with cows, chickens, and other animals, and a night security guard.  They also have a cat but insist that I should not pet it as it is only for killing mice. Similarly the dogs are only for protection.  I am lucky to have electricity and running water, although there is no running hot water and thus I have to take bucket showers and must have all of my drinking water boiled.  I have my own room, equipped with a bed, mosquito net, a desk and a chair.  Additionally, the household culture here is very different.  I was surprised to learn that most Kenyan men have more than one wife, and thus multiple places of residence with many children.  I told them I have only one brother, and this was shocking to them.  They also drink tea about 5 times a day (which I am getting used to), and expect me to eat about three people’s worth of food at every meal.  In Kenya, fatness implies wealth, and I tried to explain to them that this is certainly not the case in the US.

I will be working at the Kakamega Entrepreneurs Savings and Credit Cooperative (KES), a grassroots microfinance organization that gives small loans to small businesses in need.  At the organization, I will spend the first week observing day-to-day operations after which I will be expected to design a project that will have a sustainable impact on the community.  I have very little experience with microfinance, but have been reading up on it and I am very excited to learn more about how it works first hand.  I have no idea what kind of project I could implement, but the program director (Peter) and the program coordinators (Angie and Damaris) have assured us all that if we go in with an open mind we will find something to be passionate about.  We will also have the opportunity to apply for a $1000 grant from FSD if our project requires it.

That brings me to the focus of my trip, and of this blog.  I chose the word “endeleo” which means development, or progress in Kiswahili as the title of my blog.  Please note that the goal of this title is not a self-righteous or naive proclamation that I or anyone in my group is here to help “improve” Kenya, but rather the idea that involving the community in its own economic development can bring about sustainable change that empower those living in poverty.  I hope that my next 8 weeks in Kakamega will have a positive impact, no matter how large, on my host family, KES, the Kakamega community, and myself.

I am going to try to write a post at least once a week (hopefully they will all be shorter than this one…), and post pictures with it.  Just a note, people in town are very weary of pictures and it is not always socially acceptable to document a situation.  Also, I tried to load a picture through the internet cafe here, and it refused to load, even after an hour –   nonetheless I will do my best to find a way to get some pics up.  Keep reading and please comment!