Wednesday, July 04, 2007

July 2007


July 2007

Well, here it is July! We are in the throes of winter which means it is cool, in the 80’s and the rain has lessened somewhat. We now have showers instead of the monsoons. Although, last night it poured pretty good, but I was already tucked under my mosquito net reading a good book sent by a good friend. Good dreams and cool nights.

We have had several deaths in my immediate community of friends in Kenya. Death is heart managed so differently here. No tears allowed. It might make someone uncomfortable. But then, death is a daily occurrence here. Either someone you personally know or someone you know has someone they know who died. When you think that of the 30 million people living in Kenya today, there have been 10 million who died over the last ten years of AIDS and more still dying every day. Then, there are almost 100 children dying of malaria each day. This forces them to have a very different perspective on death. They do not talk about it or share their grief the same way we do. They seem to slip through the grief process in moments rather than weeks or months or even years as we sometimes do in America. Half the population is Muslim so there is no visitation. Muslims are buried the same day they die and then everyone gets on with life. The Christian community here plans the funeral around when relatives can get there and if the body has to transported back to their homestead in some other province. Often there is up to a two week delay before burial. There is no carrying in of meals to the bereaved family in Kenya. The family bears the burden of feeding and housing all the visitors. There could be as many as 20 or 30 people a day. It is financially burdensome and requires the family to seek donations for the process.

The harambe for burials is more like a stealth asking and giving process. Nothing is openly done. Harambes for school fees, weddings, building programs, or anything else that no one can afford are done with big meetings, sometimes refreshments and arm twisting as part of the giving. I sat through a harambe at church for the Women’s Guild. It extended the Sunday service by an hour and half and had a series of collection processes by groups. So the men of the church were asked to give, the elders of the church, the youth, the women, the choir, the Sunday School classes, the visitors, the members of the congregation; it went on and on. Of course, everyone present is a part of many of the identified groups, so you give multiple times. It was an expensive Sunday.

I have decided I am one spoiled American………I miss running water. I miss driving a car. I miss having money and stores and washing machines and choices of all kinds! My friends here really do not get it because they have never had it. When I was home, my son John got on the Internet and we did a quiz on how much of the world’s natural resources we use each day. In Kenyan I use so very little compared to when I was living in the US. I make do with 120 liters of water a week for everything, drinking, cooking, washing me and my clothes, cleaning, etc. At home in the US, I am sure I probably used that a day…….

Work is getting a little crazy. Since my site is a test site for East Africa, we are already working on scalability. In addition, we have the daily craziness of any start up operation of training, improving processes around quality and production, inventory management and, procurement process or lack thereof, etc. I get to influence but not make decisions and as you know, I like making decisions. So, the craziness is as much a personal struggle as the actual work.

The young man I am mentoring who is managing the production process at the factory has told me several times old women cannot be trained. What does that really mean? I have to remind him I am an old woman, at least by their standards. He has been reluctant to hire any trainees past the age of 30. Of course, we did anyway. And guess what, the older women are having a terrible time fitting into the schedules, learning the process and are very hesitant in everything they do. I believe it is from the lack of formal schooling and the language barriers. For many, their tribal language is the first language. Even their Kiswahili is not so good. And, they have never had to juggle work at home and a job

Mold is my new enemy. The raining season has caused mold to grow overnight on floors, walls and furniture. My address book and event calendar have been consumed by mold with little salvageable. Bleach continues to be my friendly cleaning tool, but sometimes I just have to laugh out loud at the speed and viciousness at which the natural elements conspire against me. You would think as few resources as I am using while here, they would show more kindness towards me.

I get asked many times about what foods I eat here. I do get a good assortment of vegetables like carrots, peas, onions and sometimes, string beans. Cabbage and greens are always available. I have started keeping cleaned chopped up veggies in my little refrigerator. On lazy nights, I simply add them to the Ramen noodles I buy in Mombasa. On nights I feel like cooking, I make mac and cheese (thank you my dear friends who continue to send me cheese packets), pasta primavera or something similar. . I have also started to eat eggs more frequently. I scramble them and make egg sandwiches or an omelet. The egg yolks are such a funny color here, more beige than yellow. For breakfast, I live on nutrition bars and oatmeal (again, thanks for all those instant packets of oatmeal) and lunch is usually some kind of fresh fruit and bread.

It is mango and avocado high season here. My sons have an expression for the Mexican restaurants they love. They say the burritos are as big as your head. It is an overstatement when they say it; but, it is not an overstatement here to say that about our avocados and some types of mangoes. It is high season for avocados and mangoes and they really, really are as big as your head! One avocado can easily feed 4 people and some types of mangoes can feed a large extended family. The small green skinned ones are eaten like candy – spilt and peeled back with chili pepper on them. Adults and children alike walk around the market eating them. It is a tasty, cheap treat, just a few shillings. .

I have a new secondary project to go with the many others that keep popping up. I am assisting the Lunganya Women’s Leadership Group in helping to start a savings and loan cooperative. It is similar, but not the same as a traditional micro-finance. It will be more affordable in terms of membership and amount of savings and shares a person or group must hold. We hope to have it up and running by the end of the year. Funding for start up has been secured through USAID via Family Health International. The SACCO will target at risk woman and eventually will be open to community. Its’ first members will be the over 400 women who make up the smaller merry go rounds that comprise the Lunganya Women’s Group.

So, I continue to keep busy. This is a good thing or my spoiled American persona would cause me more havoc than it already does. I am hoping to get a visit back home sometime late this year. I need approval from the Peace Corps, from FHI and from my son (if I can afford another visit or not!). All business in Kenya literally shuts down from December 15th through the first of the year. Even the schools close from the last week in November until the middle of January. So, there is not much that will be happening around here. And, the lives of my family keep pushing on so I really need to catch up with them.

Thanks again to all those who continue to support me through their prayers, packages, phone calls and emails. You brighten my life here more than you can ever know.