Quite the Day

Yesterday was quite the day. We conducted our first three of 38 food security interviews and they are ones that will not soon leave my memory. Two of the three women get by with the vegetables grown in their ‘shamba’ or kitchen garden but have consistently gone without meals in the last month. One woman’s maize reserve ran out two weeks ago and since then hasn’t had anything to eat. The crops aren’t doing well and they desperately need rain. If things go well they may get some maize come July. I am completely blown away by the complete lack of food security that is a common everyday occurrence in these women’s lives. What amazes me even more is the kindness and generosity that they display towards us regardless of their situation – a cup of tea, or some cut up paw paw  (papaya) is often offered when we come. This trip will be one of perspective and I will never again use the phrase “I’m starving”.

We were also pulled over on our way home by the police (they regularly pull cars over only to be paid off by the drivers) and as I was sitting in the trunk of the station wagon (there weren’t enough seats for all of the nutrition people plus the translator and as the car has no seatbelts anyway I figured the trunk had more room, why not?) they figured they could get some more money out of our driver. They also found it quite hilarious that a ‘mizungo’ or white person was sitting in the trunk and proceeded to take my picture. 300 Kenyan shillings later (about $4) we were on our way with me out of the trunk and squished into the back seat.

I also had two firsts yesterday… I milked a cow and participated in the butchering of one of the cow’s raised by the sisters for the food in the hospital. Let’s just say that food safety standards here are different than they are in Canada!

Thanks to everyone who is commenting on the blog – it makes me feel a little closer to home and I really appreciate it. I am still struggling with the length of time it takes to download pictures so will try and figure something out as soon as possible.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we found the kitties (two lionesses) as the sun was going down on Saturday night. We had a great day, and to top it off we celebrated Edward’s birthday in style with a cake and the staff singing him a rather interesting rendition of Happy Birthday/Hakuna Matata.

Yesterday we drove to Kirua stopping at the equator on the way, We watched a toothpick in draining water swirl clockwise in the northern hemisphere, counterclockwise in the southern, and not at all right on the equator – hard to believe that a distance of 20 m makes a difference in the way water swirls.

We are now officially settled in at our residence at St. Theresa’s Mission Hospital. It’s a wonderful little hospital run by a group of Kenyan nuns (who all speak Italian because they are the ones that founded the hospital and continue to fund it) and I feel very safe and welcome here. The sisters put on quite a dinner for us last night with lots of singing and dancing. We have access to their gardens all summer… tomatoes, kales (as they call it), cabbage, potatoes, onions, and carrots. There is also an avocado tree in the yard and a few pigs running around that apparently make quite a nice pork roast. Other than that there is a women’s market that we can get all of our fruit at for very cheap prices and once the three supervisors head home we will be provided with a cook during the week.

We are heading out tomorrow to conduct our first of 38 food security interviews with the women in the two communities. Should be pretty interesting. Crops are better this year than last, but still not great.

I do have a whole bunch of pictures to attach but am having trouble downloading them today so will try again tomorrow!

Week One Down

Wow, what a week! I am so amazed that it was only last Friday that we left PEI. We have spent the week doing a home stay with a member of the Meru community becoming acquainted with the area and the people and communities that we will be working with for the rest of the summer. There are two main areas that we will be working in… Muchui and Ruuju. Both areas have very prominent women’s groups and we will be working with both these groups and a number of schools in the area focusing on family nutrition, infant feeding, and food security. We also visited a number of farms to observe the work that the women are doing. It has been a week of perspective to say the least. I often find myself marveling at the strength of the people in this country, especially the women. In only one week I have encountered so many kind, warm, and welcoming people who have very little.

The Kenyan landscape is incredibly varied and can change from dry savannah to lush tropics in the space of a 45-minute drive. We will be working in both types of climate and it is interesting to see the diversity of available crops.

I am becoming accustomed to the food and have found two new dishes that I will be brining home to Canada – “scooma” (a sautéed kale dish) and “mikimo” (a dish made with mashed potatoes and plantains). The fruit here actually tastes like fruit, and I have been living off of fresh mango, pineapple, and bananas.

We are currently spending the weekend at a game reserve called Sweetwater/Old Pejeta before we move into the hospital compound in Kirua for the remainder of the summer. As we speak I am sitting on the balcony of my “tent” and looking out at a watering hole currently occupied by some zebras. Last night we took our first of four drives and saw elephants, rhinos, giraffes, warthogs, jackals, impalas, gazelles, and water buffalo (the lions haven’t been seen for the last three days). This afternoon we are off to a chimpanzee sanctuary and continue the quest for the kitty cats! Keep your fingers crossed.

Banana trees dug deep into the
ground - this way you don't have
 to climb the tree to pick the
bananas!

School cookhouse

Ruuju Primary School

Ruuju Primary School

Ruuju Garden

Sweetwater Park Gate

A Family of Pumba's

Ed the Giraffe

Black Rhinos

Giraffes

Elephants

Going on a Lion Hunt!

Our "tent"

ON the Equator

Zebras and Impalas

Pictures

So it took 22 minutes to download 3 pictures so I only chose 3... the first is Edward on top of our combi, the second is a picture of one of the farms we visited yesterday, and the third is a picture of the guards at our current residence!!! Stay tuned...

Day ???

Howdy,
Well, as you can tell from the title, I already have no idea how long I've been here!!!! We are currently in Meru (staying here for the week and becoming familiar with the area before we move out to the hospital in Kirua). Yesterday we drove from Nairobi... 225 km and 6 hours over bumpy roads... drove over the equator and had our first sleep under mosquito nets. Today we spent out in the country visiting farms that have been affected by the work of Farmers Helping Farmers (water tanks, green houses, screen houses etc). We have very limited internet access this week and I believe the days of high speed internet are behind us. I will post pictures when I can.
Hope all is well in Canada!

Day One

Habari (Swahili for Hello)! 

It still doesn’t seem possible that I am in Africa right now. Our hotel is a wonderful little place with gardens and flowers and great food (I had the best cup of tea at breakfast this morning). It sure doesn’t feel like we are in the middle of a city. I have included some pictures of the grounds and the pool.

Today we did a number of different things… this morning we drove around Nairobi and ended up at a bead store that was started in the 70’s by a woman who wanted to provide single mothers with an income. It is now a hugely successful social enterprise that employs just under 400 people and sells their beads to places like Harrods in London – needless to say I made some purchases.

We also stopped by the local ‘Nakumatt’ (the Kenyan version of WalMart) to stock up on water, and had lunch at an outside patio. The city itself is quite busy and there are the craziest drivers I have ever seen. Poverty is evident just about everywhere.

We are off to Meru tomorrow. Til then.

Well, we made it!!! After 31 hours of travelling we arrived in Nairobi safe and sound. More to come tomorrow when I am a little bit more awake! (Edward made it too... he's taking the picture)