It's a Wrap

It's hard to believe our time in Kenya is at an end. While we were there it seemed we had lived there forever. But as we wound down our activities and started the goodbyes we realised it was a very short time. 

The last month flew as we had two sets of visitors from Ireland and then several rounds of goodbyes. At the end of October three of Iarlaith's Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara classmates and their Dads visited us in Iten. The boys spent a day in school with Iarlaith, went out on the murram roads running with the Kenyans and got to meet David Rudisha. His coach, Patrician Brother Colm O'Connell runs an athletics training camp a few times a year for promising junior athletes. Over the years, many have progressed to be world and Olympic champions. The boys had fundraised for the camp as part of their TY activities and came to see at first hand where the money would go. 

     Bro Colm, Tadhg, Luke, Iarlaith, Cillian and David Rudisha

    The boys and Siobhra at Kamariny Stadium

Most of the athletes are from poor rural families so the training camp provides accommodation and food. Part of the nurturing of the young athletes is to ensure they stay in school as this provides a greater chance of success on the track.  Teenagers who drop out of school after primary education end up working on family farms or getting a job leaving no time for training and little encouragement to succeed. Therefore the athletics training project often pays school fees for families who can't afford them.

    A day out at a hotel for Siobhra's birthday - hence the frock

    It's not a school bus unless it has the school motto on it, we blamed google translate for this one

    Bicycle taxis are the quickest and safest form of public transport in Eldoret

Our visitors also accompanied us to a 'Happy Day' an annual fundraiser for Mindililwo, a local residential home for children with intellectual disabilities. The main event was a Kenyan (long) mass and as mzungus we were accorded celebrity status and given seats under the tent. Our kids didn't exhibit much happiness at the length of the ceremony. The local schools came and contributed bags of maize, live chickens and other foodstuffs as well as money. This fundraiser provides the bulk of the food and running costs of the school for the entire year. Food security is a huge issue for the homes.  

   Schoolgirls dancing during the Happy Day mass

    Not that happy at the Happy Day

During their stay we visited Kitale, a big town about 90 minutes north of Eldoret in Trans-Nzoia County, where Fr Leo Staples lived, a friend of one of the Dads. Paddy Lavelle had been headmaster of a school in Sigor, West Pokot county 25yrs ago where  Leo was parish priest and we were going to see how it had fared since. Fr Leo is a famous (infamous?) Kiltegan Father nonagenarian who has lived in Kenya for over 60yrs. For most of his life he lived with the Pokot tribe, setting up schools and other social services, earning kudos by learning their tribal language at an early stage. It was an oral language and Leo was the first person to write a Pokot dictionary and the first to translate the Bible to Pokot. 

    Women and children carrying heavy loads are regularly seen in rural Kenya

    Kieran photographing the sunrise in Kakamega forest

The road from Kitale to Sigor, a three hour drive, was rough and nonexistent in places. Paddy remembers it as a pristine tarmac road, having just been built by the Norwegians, a 300km stretch from Kitale to Lodwar in Turkana. The development was part of a massive livelihood project for the extremely poor and nomadic Turkana to link the aid-funded fish factory built on the shores of Lake Turkana to export markets. It failed because the Turkana were not fishermen, didn't eat fish and had no background in fishing. The plant needed huge amounts of energy and fresh water, both precious commodities in the region. Brother Colm's exhortation to support Kenyans with what they need rather than what we think they need sprang to mind, not for the first time.

    Fr Leo and Paddy outside 'his' school in Sigor, West Pokot

The journey would have taken longer except Paddy rediscovered his inner Kenyan and drove like a native, skidding on gravel, bumping over potholes and generally giving me several heart attacks. It was interesting to visit the school he and wife Lorna ran for two years. Built as a co-ed school on the insistence of its European donor, it is now single-sex. As soon as Fr Leo got more funding he built a girl's school changing the first to a boy's school. It is a harsh reality that single-sex schools provide a safer environment for Kenyan girls and given a choice, there is little demand for co-ed schooling. The Fr Leo Staples School for Girls was set up shortly before he left West Pokot and he hadn't been back in fifteen years. Our visit to the school saw the girls giving Leo a Pokot welcome, where they danced him in from the gate, singing and yodelling (my name for the lilting which accompanies singing and dancing.

     Tea plantation in Nandi Hills

This blog can only document a tiny portion of our lives in Kenya over five months, there were so many amazing experiences. We visited Kakamega rain forest and watched the sunrise and the baboons playing. We drove the worst roads imaginable, meant to be linking main towns. We drove through tea plantations in Nandi Hills and visited Kisii, famed for its soapstone sculptures and Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria. I will always have the video evidence of Kieran and Siobhra dancing on the well-appointed lawns of St John the Baptist Centre in Eldoret, trying to keep up with the groovy moves of Brother James as they all starred in a video being produced by the Parish choir for charity.  Siobhra had a wonderful surprise on 15th October as Bro Colm had brought letters and gifts from her relatives and friends in Ireland when he returned to Iten a few days before her birthday. And it didn't matter that she had to read them in the dark as we were without electricity once again. 

    Siobhra reading birthday cards in the dark 

    I will not miss the murram speed bumps which usually scrape the bottom of the car

    Never underestimate the usefulness of a motorbike

I even took a matatu from Eldoret to Nairobi to negotiate funding for the Diocese with a couple of aid agencies. The constant beeping in the minibus on the five hour journey was an indication of how much the driver ignored the limiter. The return journey was a little better. Before we set off, I was chatting to the driver about how scary I found the Kenyan driving. He drove at a somewhat sane speed, obviously doing his bit for Kenyan Irish relations, and I didn't need to understand Kiswahili to know that my fellow passengers were giving out yards about his slow progress.

    Kieran, Siobhra, Bro James and parishioner strutting their stuff for the video

    Kenyans mostly don't 'do' cutlery, this is what I got when I asked for a knife for the Blueband

   Iarlaith reflecting Siobhra in Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria

We had a reprise of Siobhra's fright with the hippos surrounding the tent at Lake Baringo except this time we all heard them. No matter how many people tell you they are herbivores, four or five hippos snuffling and grunting around your dome tent in the middle of they night does require some evasive action. We sat up on the veranda of s nearby house until they wandered back to the water, ignoring us all the while.

    The Hungry Hippo in Lake Baringo

    Siobhra in athletic form on a trip to an island in the middle of Lake Baringo

We hung out with the Brothers and greatly enjoyed the times Bro Colm dropped in for a cup of tea and stayed to play a few rounds of 25s. He regaled us with stories of past times when the Irish Brothers and Sisters (the Killeshandra Sisters ran a school close by) played cards each week and drank an Irish coffee to help them negotiate the dirt roads on the drive home. While I was aware of the contribution many male and female missionaries made to the lives of ordinary Kenyans it didn't really sink in until we listened to those stories. They gave up a lot to spend their lives away from their family and culture and in the early days got home very little, missing important family occasions. I was also impressed that some of the Irish teaching Brothers resigned their positions as employees of the Kenyan Ministry of Education before reaching retirement age, thus foregoing their pension. The reason was they felt Kenya now had its own source of teachers and they shouldn't be taking up the positions. There are generations of Kenyans who received education and healthcare from the Irish which wasn't forthcoming from any other source.

    Colm teaching us about the 'short corner'

    Watching the rugby in Colm's house

Colm and his fellow Brothers made us feel very welcome and gave us huge practical help during our stay. We didn't expect it to be so hard to say goodbye to them and we still miss them.  Their friendship allowed us a deeper insight into Kenyan life throughout our five month adventure. Their stories from the olden days of the missions gave us a glimpse of their entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to the people which no doubt has contributed to Kenya now being one of the fastest growing African countries.   The sight of the kids in the back of Bro Paul's well-worn pickup truck as he drove us to the airport or their trip on the motorcycle Boda Boda is a symbol of how 'far' we've travelled in five months. These are things I would never have let them do six months ago. 

    On our way to the airport in Bro Paul's pickup

    Siobhra and Iarlaith on a Boda Boda - the driver has a helmet

But before the last goodbyes, we had farewells in several other places. Our departure at the end of November coincided with the end of the Kenyan academic year. At Sacred Heart of Jesus where Siobhra attended, there was a big ceremony for those graduating from kindergarten. There is much pomp and ceremony and lots (and lots) of speeches. Parents dance up to the teachers with gifts, waving them over their head, before handing them over. Money is presented publicly - the Bible's directive to not let the left hand know what the right is doing doesn't hold much sway here. But most of all there is much laughter and fun - the Kenyans really enjoy a good knees-up.

   The six year old graduates in Sacred Heart of Jesus school

   Siobhra had her dinner in school each day - rice and getheri (beans and corn)

It was no different for the elaborate goodbye the Diocese gave me. After an audience with Bishop Korir where he tried out his few words of Irish learned during his time studying in Ireland, there was afternoon tea in the boardroom. Each Department Coordinator thanked me for the help I gave them and presented me with gifts, including some for Kieran and the children. Cake in Kenya has to be fed to each other in strict order. So the Caritas Director, Fr George fed me and in turn I had to feed him and then the two Sisters present and then go around feeding everyone in the room.  I'm not sure of the reason but I think it has to do with a commitment to sharing with each other and a hope that there will always be cake. When Siobhra's classmates helped her celebrate her birthday, her teacher had to feed her first, then she fed her parents, teachers and then her best friends. At my gig, we also sang and danced around the table after presentation of the gifts. There are prayers to open and close all events and people are called upon or volunteer to say a few words or give thanks for everyone and everything they have. I haven't yet come across a Kenyan who is shy about speaking in public.

    Saying goodbye to Bishop Korir

    Sr Jacinta tying the Masai wrap they gave me as a gift

   Feeding the boss

    Siobhra feeding her friends at her birthday celebrations in school

   Dancing round the table and singing after the tea and cake and giving thanks

As we hadn't paid fees for Iarlaith's school we bought them sports equipment instead - and our initial idea it would be handed over quietly had no chance of success. At a more sedate event than the others, both Iarlaith and Kieran had to address their thanks to the entire school.  There are times when patriarchal societies have their uses as I sat in the back row. This was after a fairly lengthy awards ceremony where the league tables for tidiest dormitories and highest achieving students in different subjects were announced. The stand out award for me was that of the three boys picked as being the cleanest for the year, and sure enough they looked particularly clean and tidy. Even though St Patrick's Iten is a relatively prestigious State school, the boys' uniforms are often quite ragged and about three growth spurts too small for them.  The clean boys were given money as their prize to buy soap for the following term.  We learned later that gifts such as blankets, buckets, cleaning products and other very practical items are very popular in Kenya. 

    Sitting in the back row of the St Patrick's end-of-year awards ceremony

So it was when we cleared out our house of the household items we had accumulated in five months, we understood why Rebecca was overjoyed with the warm fleecy blankets we gave her and which she intended passing on to her parents as part of the dowry from her husband. Rebecca had saved my life taking over most of the hand washing and so well deserved the buckets, basins, brushes and other items. Her words of thanks were very touching - she thanked God for having sent us to her and for making her life special.  The privileged lives we lead weighed on me a bit and so I couldn't bring myself to tell her we were not going straight home but would spend over a month travelling in the Middle East including Christmas in Bethlehem. And so we left Kenya on the day the Pope arrived, sad to be leaving but happy to have been there and excited (and a little apprehensive) about Middle Eastern travels. 

   Last photo of Iten as we drove out for the last time

Kwaheri Kenya

Doing a Bit

Since early September I've been working with Caritas Eldoret, the social services arm of the Diocese as a volunteer project officer.  Kieran and I made an appointment to see the bishop one morning and he didn't hesitate in taking up my offer of helping out somewhere. He has open house for religious on a Monday morning and for everyone else on a Tuesday morning. It reminded me of something from The Godfather although not having much experience with bishops, perhaps it's normal.  We were invited to meet him on the Monday morning jumping the queue of priests, brothers and sisters who were waiting in line for him. Within fifteen minutes of meeting him I was sitting in Caritas Director, Fr George Okoth's office, discussing a 'job description'.

After an initial conversation we agreed I would give Caritas some support in seeking external funders for their various services, examining unsuccessful proposals, suggesting ways of strengthening them, using the internet to source funding opportunities and so on. The job started that day as we made some visits to their HIV/AIDS support service, a local general hospital and an orthopaedic workshop which supports the Small Homes Department. Small Homes oversees twelve residential homes and schools for physical and intellectual disabilities.

I drive the 45min journey into the Diocesan offices in Eldoret twice a week where I've been given a desk in the Peace and Justice office.  I work from home in Iten using a laptop and modem two other days. Friday is...eh....spent handwashing....oh alright, I'll own up. 

Rebecca, our neighbour is my new BFF as she comes twice a week to do some washing at the going rate for her but the tiny amount of KES600 (€5). I can give up whinging about handwashing and she gets to save - win win. She is 28yrs old and has two girls, Brenda and Maureen aged 8yrs and 10yrs. At Christmas she and her husband will go to her home down in the Kerio valley to officially seal the marriage deal. She has been with her husband for over 10 years but she laughed as she said 'he stole me'. I'm assuming he didn't have the money for the dowry at the time so they eloped. She said he has to give her parents money and cows and it would be an occasion when both their parents officially meet.  Like everyone else around here Rebecca earns her money from a range of sources. She buys charcoal wholesale and sells it to her neighbours. She makes breakfast for a local man each morning and washes clothes and cleans for a nurse who lives nearby. Her husband makes furniture at a workshop in Iten. He is a member of a savings and lending group which is part of a project called SILC managed by Caritas Eldoret.

Like Credit Unions....only better

The SILC (Savings and Internal Lending Communities) coordinator, Isaac Mukenya brought Kieran and I with him one day when he was visiting groups in small towns outside Eldoret.  The groups are fascinating to observe as they encapsulate many of the community values of Kenya. There are usually 25 members in each and people are grouped according to their capacity to save and borrow. One group might save KES500 (€4.25) a week, others KES1,000. 

The majority of members are women involved in small businesses, selling vegetables, chips or roasted maize on the street or who have hairdressing salons. Another popular business is selling second hand clothes. Iten has a market every Saturday where you can get good quality dresses, jackets, shirts and jeans for about a euro or two per piece of clothing.  Huge containers of clothes from Europe and the United States land at Mombasa from where they are distributed. People specialise, trading in children's or men's or women's clothes. It is not unusual to see a woman walking to work in a bridemaid's dress or tending cows in a business suit.  Flouncy, shiny dresses are de rigueur for girls going to Church on Sunday but I haven't yet been able to persuade Siobhra to get one.

The SILC groups meet weekly and have a 12month cycle.  In addition to saving, people borrow money for working capital or to expand, paying the loan plus interest back over the loan period.  The group decides the interest rate which can be about 10% flat rate and the loan period, usually one month.  In fact the aim each week is to lend out all money taken in in savings and loan repayments so there are no security issues with keeping cash. Everyone sits around in a room and sees every transaction taking place, how much each person is saving, borrowing and repaying. The records and any leftover cash are kept in a tin box with three locks with three different people holding the keys.

There is a mandatory social welfare fund, with members contributing around KES25 a week. This money can be borrowed by members - interest free - for social reasons like transport to a funeral, hospital expenses or school fees. The members can also decide to make a non repayable grant to an ill member who cannot generate income, or who might have other difficulties.

Only members can introduce a new member to the group and thus they are family, friends and neighbours living and working closely together.  There are no secrets in relation to their finances or personal circumstances and consequently the wider programme reports a very low level of bad debt. The group elects a chair, treasurer and secretary, people in the group who are trusted.  The groups also have technical support from a PSP (Private Service Provider) whom they pay thus making the model sustainable. The initial training of PSPs is undertaken by SILC which is also currently involved in rolling out a pilot enhancement scheme using smartphones for recording transactions and keeping a tally of the money. The funder is the US Aid Agency, Catholic Relief Services, and the pilot scheme is being evaluated by the Economics Dept in Trinity College Dublin, my alma mater. I met the evaluators one day when they visited the Diocesan offices in Eldoret. Yes, we Irish are everywhere!

So at the end of one year, all loans are repaid and the savings plus interest is divided up between the members and they start the cycle again. Rebecca said at Christmas they were expecting KES50,000 (€425) from her husband's group which is a tidy sum here. That'll buy a few cows for her parents.

This programme seems a great addition to the communities and the model is particularly interesting to me given the disaster which befell Newbridge Credit Union last year. My Dad was one of two remaining founder members of NCU before he passed away in July this year. Before the collapse of NCU we would discuss what was happening but because of the lack of transparency with loan transactions, no-one really knew. You can't help but reflect back on when financial transactions were simpler and more open.  Dad told us the first loan made in NCU was for a bicycle - a local man had got a job on the bog and needed transport, a loan which resonates with how SILC operates now.

Peace in the Valley

Although much of my work with Caritas Eldoret has been sitting at a computer, I was also very lucky to be part of their most recent peace building process.  Bishop Korir and the Eldoret Peace & Justice Office had been negotiating with three tribes in conflict in Baringo county over the past few months, the Tugen, Ilchamus and Pokot. The first day I tagged along we went to a meeting to listen to the issues of the Tugen and Ilchamus at a community hall in Marigat, a rural semi arid area beyond the Kerio valley.  They had previously had a separate meeting with the Pokot.  On the way through the valley to the meeting, we stopped off at the County's Deputy Governor's office in Kabernet to drink tea, tell him about the process and persuade him to accompany the bishop to the meeting that day. There was much pomp and ceremony and as a Mzungu, I was given a prominent seat beside the bishop.  Sitting in the fancy office, I kept getting distracted by the large flat screen TV left on with the sound turned up showing Nigerian soaps as Bishop Korir explained progress to date.

Much of the conflict between the three tribes has to do with lack of services and resources on the border between the counties of Baringo and West Pokot.  The impact is that cattle get stolen and lives are lost - over 100 people have been killed in the conflict in the past 12 months.  The many guns owned by the young 'warriors' who are mostly unemployed and without prospects make it a very serious issue for the community.  Sometimes the conflict arises because the pastoralist Pokot need to find land to graze their cattle, they encroach on other tribal lands and there is a dispute about boundaries.  Often the maps can be faulty or maps have been redrawn and no-one quite knows where the boundaries are.

The Diocese has previously been successful in negotiating a peace process between the Marakwet and the Pokot with calm being restored when there was a focus on developing livelihoods rather than trying to sort the actual border issues.  This included introducing high yielding dairy cows which meant the same milk yield could be achieved with a lower number of cows, thus requiring a smaller amount of grazing. Zero grazing methods are also very popular in Kenya, using shredded maize stalks as feed.  This particular peace process included building three milk cooling plants at strategic points and negotiating a lucrative contract with Brookside Dairies. The three plants were located in three different tribal areas and the managers appointed were not of that tribe.  Another strategy has been to establish schools which enrol children from the three tribes thus fostering understanding and good relations.

Although the position of women and girls in Kenya is often quite dire, particularly in rural areas, I have been pleased to see some genuine focus on ensuring inclusion of women in the talks.  At several meetings I've been at, women have been positively encouraged to participate. On at least two occasions, Bishop Korir asked for female participation when the men seemed to be hogging the show.  The women just needed to be asked, once they got going, they were very passionate and articulate about the peace issues. 

There is serious positive gender discrimination in Kenya with the groundbreaking 2010 Constitution stating that no more than two-thirds of members of any public body should be of the same gender.  Implementation is another issue however, like many things here.  Political representation of women in Kenya stands at 19%, far behind many of its East African neighbours who have twice that number, for instance Tanzania has 36% female representation.  

Ireland currently stands at 16% and even at that we have to listen to some men whinging about the new rule for the next general election - each political party will have to field at least 30% female candidates or they don't get election expenses. I've no doubt there are a few smoke-filled golf club conversations (metaphorically speaking) ruminating on whether the party could forego the money. 

Two weeks ago I went to Marigat with the Bishop again, this time to seal the peace deal.  The three tribes were present at this meeting, almost 100 people, made up of community activists and elders.  The process was slow and painstaking, with everyone given a chance to speak and no-one hurried along.  We had stopped off at the County Offices in Kabernet again and this time we met with the Governor, bigger plusher office, larger flat screen TV although with the same Nigerian soaps left on in the corner.  Amid much taking of photographs the Governor agreed to accompany us to the meeting and also to ensure the Police Chief and District Commissioner came along.  

It was important for the community they had a chance to question the Governor and other heads of county organisations about their performance in relation to policing the conflict and provision of services in the border areas.  The men stood up and answered the questions put to them about their failure to assist peace building.  I recalled a presentation I once made to the toothless Newbridge Town Council with the 'Where's Our Cinema' group - not quite an issue of national security.  When I put a question to the Council I was promptly reprimanded and told the procedure was we made the presentation but there was to be no questioning of the elected representatives.  Presentations made to the elected representatives in Kildare County Council about sensitive issues such as Kilcullen's community playground and the Gaelscoil's carpark followed a similar format.  

Given the high stakes of the peace process I felt part of an historic moment listening to the three tribes agreeing a way forward and then witnessing their elders signing the agreement immediately.  They undertook to provide leadership encouraging young people not to steal or be violent and to use a process of engaging with each other to resolve conflict if issues arose. Of course it was only the start as developing livelihoods for the communities is seen as a key part of the process.  Unless the young people have a way to feed themselves and their families there would always be difficulties between the communities as they struggled to survive. 

Samuel Kosgei, the Caritas Eldoret Peace & Justice Officer told me a story one day about a particular cattle rustling incident. During a peace process between two tribes, overseen by Bishop Korir, word came through of 50 cattle having been stolen.  The relevant elders negotiated with the perpetrators and got agreement the cattle would be returned.  A cattle truck was sent to rescue the rustled animals which were being loaded up when a local MCA (Member of County Assembly) arrived and ordered the cattle to be offloaded.  A standoff ensued with the Bishop having to call in his contacts at senior police level.  The offending MCA was arrested and had to be brought to a police station in Nakuru outside his sphere of influence.  It softened his cough apparently and he had to undertake to desist from such behaviour for at least two years.  The cattle were returned to their owners. Thus the focus on ensuring County structures were part of the solution.

Going out into the field  witnessing the work of Caritas Eldoret has focused my efforts writing grant applications and reflecting on how the organisation can develop its capacity to support activity at the grassroots.  I have written a proposal which I pitched to two organisations in Nairobi seeking funds to develop the technical and organisational infrastructure of Caritas Eldoret. Although the work is being done on the ground, without organisational infrastructure like annual reports, rigorous performance assessment, websites and up-to-date IT, funding organisations are likely to be wary.  While the lead-in time for such proposals can be quite long I am hoping for a little success prior to our departure at the end of November. With a little luck I will leave something more than the kids college fund which is financing our living costs for five months! 

Back to School (ish)

After the Nairobi Mombasa travels we had a quiet week in Iten (hand) washing clothes, sitting in our sunny green garden and hanging around with the Kenyans and the Irish Patrician Brothers. 

We finally went to see Kamariny Stadium, the rundown municipal stadium where all the greats do their training.  We are probably the  first white people EVER in Iten who waited two months before visiting it. Most mzungus only come to Iten if they are athletes or their groupies.  We went to watch Bro Colm put his team through their paces and it was fascinating to hear him listing off the races each had won in national, African or Junior World Championships.  He mostly works with juniors and has only two seniors in his training camp, one of whom is David Rudisha.  The Beijing World Championships were just about to start and as we sat with him, he and David were texting each other.  Rudisha won gold in the 800m at that event (for those as clueless as I was prior to coming to Iten).  Kenya went on to top the medal table in Beijing, with Jamaica in second place and the USA in third place.  Their respective populations (44m; 2.7m and 319m) shows the real significance of those rankings.  I heard a story later about how Kenya treats its elite athletes – they get very little government support and have to fend for themselves much of the time.  When Rudisha was travelling to the 2012 Olympics in London he looked for a business class seat as he's very tall but word came back from the Kenyan Olympic Committee to say only officials travelled first class! He won gold in the 800m in London, setting a new World record at the same time.

Colm reckoned about a third of the Kenyan team in Beijing had been coached by him at some point. I wondered whether we should claim the Rudisha gold medal by virtue of he being trained by an Irishman.

    Bro Colm O Connell training his team

As we were waiting for Colm to arrive, we had been watching other athletes on the track and I was taking a few action photos with my iphone. As I looked through them I noticed how hardly any showed the runners with their feet on the ground.  True enough, as I checked in real life it was amazing, their feet hardly seemed to touch the track at all, they land on their toes and are so light they bounce up again in nanoseconds. 

    Feet not touching the ground

In November Colm will host his annual event where he handpicks promising school-age athletes and gives them an opportunity to be coached for several weeks at his training camp. He has to fundraise for this as most of the athletes come from poor rural families and have neither training kit nor living expenses. I know some of the Athletics Clubs in Ireland to which he is giving talks during his stay at home in September are taking up a collection for him. A topic to which I shall return in a later post.

Running with the Kenyans (5yr olds are Kenyans too)

Iarlaith has taken up running for his Transition Year Gaisce Award challenge and I, being Kenya's first (and only) Helicopter Mom get up at 6am with him and go out for a 7km jog three mornings a week. If truth be told I jog with him for the warmup and then he's gone. Siobhra has now joined us, anxious to regain her place on the Kildare GAA team when we return. Iten is buzzing with runners at that time and we share the dirt tracks on which everyone runs. We also encounter little children walking to school for a 6.30 or 7am start, looking in amusement at the only jogger they have ever seen in their lives. Some run along beside me for a short time laughing and trying to show me up - but little do they know they have now given me the opportunity to truthfully update my CV to include 'Running with the Kenyans' in the Hobbies section.

As it happens, having finished the Mau Mau era book about colonial Kenya, hoping for some light relief, I moved on to 'Running with the Kenyans', a book written by a Guardian journalist. The book I had just finished about Britain's Gulags doesn't really end that happily for the victims, despite Kenya getting independence a few short years later. The first President, Jomo Kenyatta, decided it would be better to have a smooth transition which involved not having any recognition of Mau Mau's role in challenging colonial oppression or investigations into what happened to the Kikuyu population in the detention centres, the depravity of which is detailed in the book. The white settlers were allowed to keep all their stolen land and in that bizarre world which is colonialism the Kenyan government even had to borrow millions of pounds from the British Empire's Treasury to buy back their own land at market rates from settlers who wanted to leave following independence. In fairness the Fennelly report would be light reading after that. The sordid period seems to have been swept under all carpets although I read recently of some survivors who finally got compensation this summer in London, in a court case several years long and fought all the way by the British Government.

   Iten in the early morning light

    The long road ahead

    Siobhra running with the Kenyans

     On the way to school at 6.30am by themselves

So the Guardian journalist, Adharanand Finn, (of Irish descent with hippy parents apparently) spent six months in Iten running with the Kenyans. He and his family lived in the house where we now live and it is very interesting to read his accounts of things which form part of our lives, like the pigeons constantly fighting and dancing on the tin roof of the house so it sounds like someone is breaking in or buying milk and eggs from Geoffrey in the little wooden kiosk right outside our gate. It hasn't quite inspired me to train for a marathon in the Masai Mara but I might do the Kildare Carers Association 10km when I get back (invest in your future as Newbridge wag, Mary Doyle, would say). Siobhra was very unimpressed by Mr Finn's children who only lasted one day in the local school. 

    Geoffrey's hatch shop outside our gate

A week after we arrived back from Nairobi we decided to get in a trip to Lake Nakuru National Park before the kids went back to school. On the way down we visited James Hennessy and a charity he runs in Mogotio, a semi arid region close to Nakuru. A Corkonian, James has been living in Kenya on local wages for eight years, speaks fluent Swahili and is Bro Colm's cousin (second cousin twice removed type of thing). The charity is called Development Pamoja and is mainly funded through Ireland, with Electric Aid as one of the donors, a colleague organisation of St Stepehen's Green Trust. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tell them how impressed I was with the project. They have recently built a dispensary which is the first for the local community and they focus on disability, particularly cerebral palsy, a very neglected area in Kenya. 

    Kieran and James Hennessy from Mallow 

    Growing tomatoes in the greenhouse

They have a sessional physio, doctor and lab technician who provides services to a very rural population at an affordable price. Our little car nearly didn't make it on the very rough track out to their remote premises. They also have two greenhouses and a farm they use for both demonstration and income generation purposes. They built two large lined attenuation ponds which fill with water during the rains and which is used to irrigate the greenhouses and crops. They also grow fruits and and have the ever present chickens and goats. A shed has been built for the dairy cows which are coming soon. They offer a service to local farmers to help them with the construction of the ponds if they buy the materials. Drought has been a problem for the past few years and they say their ponds have already had an impact.

We stayed in James's friend and work colleague's apartment in Nakuru in an airbnb setup. We had the entire two bed apartment to ourselves and Mary cooked breakfast and a delicious dinner for the princely sum of e15 each per night. 

James even offered to try and get us into the national park at residents prices as they are about a quarter of the tourist prices, but no luck. We were in the Park very early to catch the Big Four which reside there, and while we saw buffalo and a rhino the lions and leopards eluded us. However we were also happy with getting up close and personal with the giraffes and zebras, lots of gazelles and various monkeys and baboons. 

    Rhino in the distance

     Zebra crossing

Back to school.....

We got many confirmations from locals throughout August that all schools started back on Monday 31st so we had everything sorted well in advance: ironed uniforms, polished shoes and sharpened pencils. However a few days beforehand it emerged that St Patrick's would ease their way into the week, teachers might return Tuesday, boarders might dribble back Tuesday and Wednesday and sure there's no hurry. Siobhra was up and ready on Monday but when we went to her school at 8am the gate was locked and we found out it'd probably be open by Wednesday. There was talk of a teachers' strike and by the time Wednesday came around it was confirmed - the public school teachers were on strike but the children still had to attend school. Siobhra is in a private school which was operating as normal. 

    Siobhra back to school, Iarlaith not

Iarlaith decided he would be fine for Thursday, a decision which nearly got him a caning. When he went in, the teachers had given work to the boys who were present on Wednesday and the Maths teacher didn't want to hear the excuses of those who said they hadn't done it because they weren't in the previous day.  She made those boys kneel beside their chair and then proceeded to walk around the room caning them on the backs of their legs. She left Iarlaith till last and when she got to him she said 'I suppose I can't hit you'. He said his legs were a bit wobbly when he got up - glad of his mzungu status. For the next week the boys stayed in the classroom by themselves occasionally getting a visit from a teacher who handed out work. As all teachers live on campus they were in the vicinity and kitchen and secretarial staff were still working. Striking teachers don't picket the schools but stage rallies outside their union offices or in public parks. 

The following week the Principal of St Patrick's said the school was being closed and all boarders (apart from Form 4 who start their KCSE or Leaving Cert exams early November) were to go home. Iarlaith hasn't had any school since and the strike has been Kenya's hottest topic for the past few weeks. The teachers are seeking a 50/60% increase which the Kenyan Supreme Court has ordered the Government to pay.  The Court Order upholds a decision of the Labour Court in a dispute which goes back to 1997. 

From our discussions with teachers it seems their pay is very low - from about €160per month for junior teachers to about €450 for teachers at the top of their scale. Many things in Kenya are quite cheap but even the top salary is not much above subsistence level and many have to farm or undertake other income producing activities to supplement it. Kemboi, a young teacher who lives in the house beside us grew tomatoes in the garden during the summer and sold them to the local market stalls. Compare this with the pay for President Uhuru Kenyatta whose monthly income is €9,800, not to mention his income from his family's massive company, Brookside Dairies. We're a bit perplexed by the status of teachers in Kenya given how much education seems to be valued. 

In one of Iarlaith's conversations with his classmates he explained the Irish minimum wage law to them and when he said it was €8.65, they were incredulous and said ' Wow, €8.65 a day?'. When he told them it was an hour they were just speechless. It's not easy to explain how this is not a living wage for many Irish families. 

    Religious iconography and Biblical phrases are all the go on the Matatus, in the apparent hope they            will keep them safe, thus permitting the crazy driving.

   Kenya is a country on the move, lots of building with scary scaffolding

   The items carried by motorbikes continue to amaze us

   First class Boda Boda travel - we've since seen a three seater on a motorbike

Siobhra was in school as normal for the past few weeks until the government threw a spanner in the works weekend before last by ordering all private schools to close as well, although not all complied. And despite her initial joy she wasn't too upset when we got a text last Thursday to say school was back the following day, a court ruled the government could not order private schools to close.

Iarlaith is undertaking self directed study (ahem) and is doing a placement in the nearby Kerio View Hotel for his Transition Year credits. He gets to work behind the bar which wouldn't happen at home. Kieran whose Tambach Teacher Training College job is on hold also due to the strike is travelling to the local (private) schools to do photo shoots of pupils and teachers. He gives them the photos on a memory stick and some are planning to sell them to parents as a fundraising venture.

   Iarlaith on his way to work in the Kerio View Hotel

In the meantime I have been keeping myself busy working for the Diocese of Eldoret. Late August I followed up an introduction to Bishop Cornelius Korir of Eldoret made by a work colleague several months ago. The Diocese has management oversight of many of the social services in the area, through their social services arm, Caritas Eldoret - something similar to Crosscare in Dublin. In Iten there are several special schools and residential units for children with physical and intellectual disabilities and I thought one might have some use for my skills.

Kieran and I went to meet with Bishop Korir, expecting he might point me in the right direction. But twenty minutes later we were in the office of the Director of Caritas Eldoret - my offer of helping in the area of Foundation funding and grant writing being enthusiastically received.  Another fifteen minutes later and we were being taken on a site visit to meet with the Coordinator of the Small Homes Department to see the orthopaedic unit which requires funding for more tools and materials so they can manufacture and repair the mobility aids of the children. Small Homes are residential units for children with disabilities, housing up to 30 children and using local State schools to educate them.

Traditional beliefs see disability as a punishment for the family's sins and children are often kept hidden at home and not educated. The Diocese operates an outreach service encouraging families to allow their children to live in the Small Homes so they get an education and are given mobility aids which aids their integration into the community. They also work with families educating them to see the potential in their child and change their views on disability so they can be advocates. One of their graduates is a man in a wheelchair I see going to work each morning in the local county offices in Iten. Through funding from a foundation he went to university and achieved a Masters in Finance and now lives in Iten with his wife and children. 

Another project we visited that day was the SILC Department, funded by U.S. Aid, which runs a very successful Savings and Internal Lending Communities model, something like a micro credit union (although more democratic, more transparent and less bureaucratic) which assists small businesses. 

   Sr Alice and Absolom from the Orthopaedic Unit

We then visited the Education for Living unit which is managed by the Christian Brothers and whose building was funded by Misean Cara (Irish Aid) in those shipping container units we also saw in Nairobi. This programme works with people with HIV/AIDS and those affected by the disease. It includes trying to break down the stigma and reduce discrimination against those who have it, including young children. You know it's Africa when you end up dancing with your hosts to the singing of the Education for Living choir at 11 in the morning. Unfortunately I don't have photos to prove it, but anyone who knows Kieran will know his dancing is generally reserved for events which involve alcoholic consumption so this was a special occasion. Our final visit was to St Brigittas Hospital which provides general hospital services to a slum community just outside Eldoret. The effects of the post election violence of 2008 is still being felt in Eldoret and many families have not recovered from being displaced from their homes or losing everything they owned. That's it - I was hired, and even given a title, Project Officer with Caritas Eldoret! 

   Education for Life Choir - a minute later we were up dancing with them

Next blog I'll write more on the work I've been doing including being an observer at peace talks between tribes in a conflict in Baringo County which has claimed over 100 lives in the last year.