Mara Landscape

Thanks Brian!







 

Mara Wildlife

Pictures courtesy of fellow volunteer Brian Thomas (visit his website here) and a little help from Picasa.


Croc-Daddy


Maybe we shouldn't all face the same way...


I'd rather not smell you


Baboon-Daddy

Final Retreat in the Mara

This week the other YAVs and I had our final retreat at Keekoroch Lodge in the Masai Mara. It was a relaxing time, as we caught up on our activities, read a few books, welcomed Phyllis back to Kenya after a four-month "missionary tour," and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Mara wildlife.

The lodge had a safari walk where there were plenty of monkeys and hippos to see. The monkeys even invaded the non-fenced camp and went into my room while I was taking a shower... when I emerged dripping wet and towel-girded, I found Andrea being chased around by a monkey. The two of us were able to reclaim our territory and kick the rest of them out. Apparently they wanted my watermelon but were unsuccessful. I think Andrea was somewhat traumatized by the whole episode, yet I still remain a die-hard monkey fan. Lemurs are still the best, though, but I'll have to visit Madagascar to see them in the wild.


Zebra at Sunrise


Hippo Yawn


Lions on the Lookout 

Amboseli Pictures

These pictures come from Brian and Katie on their trip to Amboseli (near the base of Kilimanjaro) with Brian's parents. I doctored them up a bit and here is the final product below. It doesn't look like I'll get to visit the park myself, so like you I'll just live vicariously through these images.






 

A Faithful Distribution

A story I wrote for CWS and ACT.

Mr. Kisu, an elder in the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC), beams a smile as he calls out another name. He is not the only one smiling. A woman rises, presenting her ID before stepping over to the stacks of flour packets. Three women, chosen by the community to distribute the relief food, hand the woman her family’s share.

This week villages across Ukambani district outside Machackos, Kenya, including 800 families today, will receive 24 kilos of corn flour through KELC with funds provided through Action by Churches Together (ACT) and Church World Service. The church targets the neediest families, including orphans, widows, the elderly and poor, regardless of religious affiliation, to ensure the most needy receive food until the rains return.

Pastor Chambi and two church committee members observe the distribution from a distance. With weekly offerings of US$15 or less, he cannot help many people who seek assistance but today is different. Seeing these food donations makes his robust arm movements more expansive, as he emphasizes, “It doesn’t help to just give them something, but to teach them how to use it.”

Originally from Tanzania, Rev. Chambi preaches a self-reliance and communal gospel, where those suffering individually come together to discuss their problems. As he explains, poverty is “bait” to get people thinking about real, long-term solutions. In preparing for the future, he has trained his members to build churches and store grain. By teaching them certain skills, the pastor empowers the people to be self-reliant and fight poverty. Declares Rev. Chambi, “I want to go somewhere, but I don’t want to arrive there alone.”

He watches as another single mother passes, stooping under her received unga (flour). A member of Salvation Army, Sarah Nzuki has five children and walked 3 km today to receive her rations. While the food is only enough for one week, she is happy and extremely grateful to have more time to spend on productive activities such as growing and selling mangoes.

Grace Mumo of KELC also passes by on her way to receive food. She and her daughter Dorcas live alone due to community stigmatization of their HIV positive status. In this area, AIDS is a badge of shame. In “a culture of secrets,” many people die alone with the disease, she says, and the community often tries to silence her when she speaks out. Grace finds support from an ecumenical group living with AIDS and continues to educate others about the disease.


Pastor Chambi with Mama Nzuki
Pastor Chambi is very pleased with distribution, managed in a “natural and relaxed manner with no haggling.” The pastor attributes this to self-selected distribution by women, church reverence, open accountability and specifically targeting the needy. With the food on open display, the community provides an excellent model for the church in working together. Today the church is a source of present and future hope, as the faithful distribute food to those in need. 

Sick, Finally!

Last night I finally had a dose of the fabled traveler’s diarrhea. I’m not sure how I got it, but luckily it passed after a few hours, although I still feel a bit weak and dehydrated.

I’d been waiting to get sick, frankly, as I the only time I’ve been sick this year is on the way back from Sudan… and that was due to motion sickness, where I passed out only to wake up with a good deal of food residue on my shirt.

Many others have gotten sick here, including my roommate (on 5 separate occasions), another volunteer who’s had at least 3 bouts with malaria, and another volunteer friend who must have been sick every other week since he arrived in January.

I like to think I have an iron-stomach. It’s good to know that we all have weaknesses, and I am thankful to be humbled once more.

I also like to think I’m a healthy individual. It’s also good to be reminded that without good health, no one can do much of anything.

I am blessed, to be sick and have recovered. May God bless us everyone.

Fade In, Fade Out... and Away

I’m not feeling myself, as if I were in a sleepy daze on a Saturday morning. I’m finding myself much more content to stay in and watch football than type up a blog entry. I’m more interested in finishing up watching Season Three of “24” than I am getting in touch with friends. At work, I find myself seeking the next international news story rather developing my own stories here at work.

What happened to my motivation? Did it leave with Emily two weeks ago? Am I content to just cruise through this last month and half? Am I so sluggish because of lack of inspiration, or hope, or just wanting the future now?

Lord, revive me! Revive my soul! Let me wallow not in pits of emptiness, but be filled by your grace and wisdom. Let me not fade out of compassion for those with me now, nor fade away from consciously engaging the experience before me.

African Child

The All-Africa Conference of Churches organized a radio discussion about the future of the African Child, organized by my roommate Will. I found the discussion to be quite informative and heart-wrenching at times, as the participants were very honest about the future, or rather plight, of the African Child.

From what I heard, one-third of African children are malnourished, and almost that many are subject to child labor. Nearly half of the world’s child-soldiers call Africa their home. At least 200,000 children are trafficked yearly through Africa.

The participants, who included a UNICEF program coordinator, a renowned Kenyan psychiatrist, a social worker and the AACC’s General Secretary, touched upon these issues and others. They discussed the ranges of child abuse, from paddling in school to sexual abuse in and out of the home, and ways society and the church can address these issues.

Some outcomes: Awareness is an essential step towards Action, and yet it is only the beginning step. It takes a community response to a community problem. If we don’t speak for the children, who will?

World Cup Madness

For those of you in the US, the news of football might not have gone much further than previews of NFL training camps. Here in Kenya, there’s all kinds of hype with the beginning of the World Cup, and its one fever that has no remedy.

Men are going out to buy TVs they can ill-afford. Women are seeking counseling for spousal neglect. Students argue who is the best team (England or Brazil) and player (Rooney or Ronaldhino). While other nations are talked about, England, Brazil and perhaps the host country Germany are the only ones in contention for the title in Kenyan’s minds.

They will, of course, be rooting for one of the five African teams to qualify: Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Tunisia, Togo and Ghana. None of the traditional African powerhouses made it this year (Senegal, Nigeria or Cameroon), so I’m interested to see if this is a changing of the guard.

My prediction: not a single win by an African team. And still I’ll be rooting for them. [Later turns out I'm wrong: Ghana stunned Czech. Rep. 2-0 June 17th.]

The team to watch: Ecuador. That’s right, folks, you heard it here. While I have some partiality to this small South American country, having lived/studied there for 4 months, they deserve to be rooted for. They’re the only team to have beaten both Brazil (1-0) and Argentina (2-0) during qualifying matches. People say they can only play in their 9,000-ft high city, Quito, but I think they have a shot of causing some chaos in their second World Cup Finals.

With 3 games daily, beginning at 4 PM and lasting until midnight, I won’t be surprised if Kenya’s overall GDP decreases during this period. I know my productive output will…

(Im)practical Education

It’s an all-too familiar case in Kenya: a promising student passes through free primary education, goes on to secondary (high school) through the support of relatives or donors, receives satisfactory marks that aren’t quite good enough for the university, and eventually finds themselves working as a house servant or estate guard in Nairobi. The bottom line: they could have saved a lot of money by forgoing secondary if this were going to be the end result.

In Kenya, there is an abundance of labor and not enough jobs, leading to massive unemployment and a majority of Nairobi citizens in slums and severe poverty. Where is the hope in education?

I remember writing a paper for IPE (International Political Economy) based on Education as the “Weapon for Mass Development” for the Global South. I argued that education would provide opportunities for people to find the jobs they sought, and create a common language between various industries without borders. If people were going to take advantage of technological and global market advances, they would need to be educated on how to make uses of these emerging opportunities.

Now that I’m here on the ground, away from the theoretical classroom, I see a different picture. As I pass by field after field of corn, I remember studying how the World Bank encouraged a focus on cash crops for export, even as the US continues to subsidize many of these crops, thus reducing world prices as US farmers flood the markets with their product. When I see a USAID box in a school’s kitchen, I know the full meaning of the imprinted tagline, “From the American People”: The US Government bought food from US farmers, shipped the food via US shipping companies, all of which was coordinated by US-based NGOs. There’s a reason the two hands on the logo are both white.

But does the average Kenyan know this or need to know this? If I found myself working in that corn field or that school kitchen, what would this knowledge possibly DO for me?

One’s education is only so good as one can use it to take advantage of a market-niche: First, there needs to be a market, and second, one needs to specially trained to take advantage of that market.

A secondary education is just too general: everyone has one. Yet many people are unable to afford higher education, and even if they do, they often end up leaving the country for higher wages and/or living standards (a.k.a. the arguable Brain Drain). Still the economy remains largely undeveloped, with huge potential for growth… but how?

Perhaps education should be more practical; for instance, vocational training in industries such as carpentry, tailoring or construction. In many of our micro-financing projects, CWS trains single-mothers in simple and specific skills so that they can make a living. In one of our programs that sponsors students, a high school graduate is out looking for work, whereas a trained-mechanic is now taking care of his mother. There is no overnight success, yet the small steps forward are lasting ones.

Development is a process, arguably a good or bad one. Yet like any process, there is a good way and a better way to go about achieving the same results. Here’s one more idea.

A Miracle Job

An article written by Toya Richards Hill, appearing in the June/July 2006 issue of Presbyterians Today Magazine.

Learning how it feels to be a minority: Evans McGowan, who stands out among the people he works with in Kenya

Evans McGowan dreamed of living for an extended time outside the United States. And he believed a faith-based endeavor would be the backdrop for this experience.

Through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Young Adult Volunteer program he found the "perfect fit" for his dream: a one-year mission adventure in Kenya.

Working with Church World Service (CWS)—a U.S.-based relief and development agency in partnership with community-based organizations around the world—McGowan chronicles various programs and initiatives in the East African country. The goal: to build awareness and generate more donor funds.

Through a mix of traveling in the field to see projects up close and personal, and listening to updates from CWS workers and various grassroots organizations, McGowan gathers stories for a Web site and newsletters detailing how people's lives are being changed. His base is Nairobi.

"It really is a miracle job," says McGowan, 23, who calls Wilmington, Del., home and whose mother is a pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church there. "What's wonderful is to see development work in practice, as opposed to just knowing of it in theory," he says.

Since arriving in Kenya last August, McGowan has witnessed everything from dairy goat farming and beekeeping to water system development and micro-financing efforts. And the 2005 Davidson (N.C.) College political science graduate has made a connection with the people of Kenya.

McGowan's time there also has resulted in personal growth and introspection. The experience of being away from family and friends has brought him closer to God.

There came a time when "I just suddenly realized I didn't have any of my close friends," he says. "That feeling of loneliness just hit."

Yet that same feeling of separation has been crucial to his Christian walk, which includes practices such as daily devotions and journaling. "Really getting in touch with God has been very key to me," McGowan says.

Being a minority—a white male in a majority black African world—also has been "challenging," he says. "It's really opened my eyes" to the feelings of segregation and discrimination."

"It's been humbling for me, and that's been a good thing," he says.

Ultimately, McGowan is hoping the overall experience of this year will help shape his future. He returns to the United States in August, after which he plans to take a year off before entering San Francisco Theological Seminary's Master of Divinity program.

"I really feel called to lead people to combine community action with their faith," says McGowan, "so they can put their faith in action."

The Islands of Lake Victoria

The last place Emily and I visited was Lake Victoria on the Tanzania side. Africa's largest lake is also home to one of the largest fishing industries in the world. There are over 200 islands on the lake, many of which have a small fishing camp. People come from the mainland to these camps to earn money in fishing (men) or hospitality/prostitution (women).


Flying over a fishing camp
These camps are really put-together slums to take advantage of the money inflow of the fishermen. At night the camps turn into one big party with young persons participating in all sorts of illicit activity. This troubling situation creates a "Hot-Zone" for the AIDS virus and other diseases, where the disease is readily transmitted, infecting many persons. When the people start showing symptoms they return to their villages on the mainlands, often infecting their loved ones and neighbors.


My Dream Come True: Getting to Fly with Captain Hamilton
The missionary couple we visited, the Hamiltons, work with the African Inland Church to plant churches and improve the dire health situation of these islanders. Dale is a pilot and has (what he claims, I have no way of verifying) the only float plane in sub-Saharan Africa. His wife Chris is a registered nurse and has trained many community health evangelists to promote the life of Christ with responsible living.


Emily and I on a hill above the Hamilton's Place
I felt very challenged to be surrounded by such natural beauty and created ugliness. I also felt blessed to see what good can come out of such an incredible partnership the Hamiltons have with the local people. They have been there for 18 years, and their impact is most telling in the relationships they have formed. We met many members of the small church and were greatly encouraged to see their hope in a seemingly hopeless situation.


Children gather around to see the visitors
Still, there is much work to be done. My colleague Sam Mutua visited shortly after we left, and is working with the Hamiltons on a proposal that would fund a sustainable project to bring much-needed medicine and health training to these often-overlooked areas. God-willing, we will find funding for the program.