tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55601137654707960372024-02-20T09:30:48.956-08:00Nicole in NairobiNicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-44687944740639358972012-09-06T00:29:00.001-07:002012-09-06T00:29:13.298-07:00A Weekend in Kitale<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Two months since last post - where has the time gone. The normalcy I spoke of in the previous post has become high octane! The past 2 months have seen the arrival of Nick in Kenya, a house move to a new part of the city, and involved numerous "urgent" projects at work which have demanded more of my evening and weekend time than I was expecting.</b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Nick and I at the wedding around 10.30am. Wedding started 1pm.</b></span></td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, in the midst of all the business, Nick and I managed to get away for a long weekend to attend a colleague's wedding in Kitale.</b></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Kitale is a small agricultural town in Western Kenya near Mt Elgon and the Ugandan border, and to get there we would be taking matatu (a cross between what we call a 15 passenger van in the US and a minibus in the UK). It was Nick's first experience travelling across country by matatu which is an experience I think he will be happy to forego for the foreseeable future!</b></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Matatus in Kenya wait until they are full to leave. We were told that the journey to Kitale was about 6 hours (in truth it was 8 hours) so we arrived at the matatu stage (like a bus stop) at 10am to buy our tickets. However, not until 2 hours later had they sold all the seats and we were finally ready to leave at noon. </b></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">The journey was beautiful. 45 minutes after leaving Nairobi on the highway you come to the edge of the Rift Valley and the rest of the journey was inside the Rift Valley - which you should Google to see photos better than ones I could show you! There are zebras and baboons and donkeys along the whole journey and small farms and huts dotted across the landscape - a nice change from the smog and buildings of Nairobi. We arrived in Kitale at 8pm - much later than anticipated (it currently is pitch dark at around 6.45pm) - but some people on our matatu we spoke to helped us find where we were going which was extremely helpful!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Kitale is a small town and not really on the way to anywhere - except to Mt Elgon, meaning that for such a small and remote town there was an exceptionally high number of mzungus (foreigners) who were staying there for a night prior to trekking or a night after having come back. Because of the high number of tourists that come through the town, there are actually surprisingly great ammenities - including a proper coffee shop and a restaurant/bar that serves a great collection of Indian, Chinese and Pizza dishes. For cheap! In Nairobi eating Kenyan food is very reasonable - you can get a nice plate of chicken, meat or fish with rice and vegetables for around $4 or £2.50. But foreign food is much more expensive. So we were delighted to randomly find great world food we could afford in a small agricultural town in very rural Kenya.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">My colleague's wedding was lovely. I had learned from my previous wedding attendance that Kenyan weddings do not necessarily start on time. So where the invitation said 10am, Nick and I cleverly arrived at 10.20am armed with the Saturday newspaper. We were the very first people to arrive - they were still setting up - and the wedding didn't actually begin until 1pm. Although there was musical entertainment from a local choir which sang for about an hour (see pictures below).</b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">The choir was a bit tired of waiting too!</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Precious, my colleague's new wife, arrives with her parents.</b></span></td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ceremony was very nice - set outside under enormous trees - and was entirely in Swahili, but I think we got the overall impression that at the end the couple was married! </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Mr and Mrs Evans Yegon</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Lunch was served in somewhat chaotic fashion (food appeared to be the primary motivator for many of those attending). The queue was probably 75 people long when Nick and I joined and the style of queuing is to stand immediately behind those in front of you - so close that you are basically touching them. As the queue was very long, Nick and I stood more side by side to chat to each to each other (rather than me standing directly behind him and staring into his hair for 20 minutes). This however was a mistake, as we were very soon pushed out of the queue and standing next to (but definitely not in) this tightly packed line. Someone took pity on us and invited us to join a different queue in the wedding party tent - but this was again a mistake as that queue was more than 30 minutes. Anyway, we ate in the end a nice lunch. The sky sadly had turned very dark by this point, and we managed to leave about 30 minutes ahead of a down pour.</b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">My work colleagues and newly-weds. </b></span></td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Kenyan government had announced a week before that the Monday following the wedding would be a public holiday (not in honour of my co-worker's wedding, but rather to celebrate Eid). We happily took the opportunity to extend the trip and spend an extra day in the area exploring. A quick review of our guidebooks led us to deciding to visit Kenya's smallest National Park - Saiwa Swamp. At 3 square kilometers, it is a pedestrian only park which was set up to protect a small water antelope. To reach the park we needed to take a matatu about 18km and then walk another 7km. The matatu I think was record breaking - we had at one count 29 people inside (well, mostly inside - some were hanging on but kind of outside). A matatu only has 14 seats.</b></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">The 7km walk was lovely - down this long dirt road with farms on either side. The people we passed were busy with their cows or preparing food - and were absolutely intrigued by these 2 mzungus strolling past their homes. The children we passed followed us for a long way - walking directly behind us so silently that we would turn to see if they were still there and they would nearly trip over us. The road went up and down hills and over swamp land and was the greenest lushest walk I have taken in years.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">We finally arrived at the park (after having wondered many many times if we were going the right way (7 km down a dirt road is a long way when you don't know for sure). The guide books had said you could arrange for a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to take you back to the main road, so when we arrived we asked the ranger and he said he could call someone when we were finished.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">We were the only people there that afternoon. The park is one of the loveliest gems I have come across in Kenya - and if for some reason you ever find yourself in Kitale take a few hours for a visit. The park has a large swamp in the middle with a 7km path that goes all the way around it, one bridge that cuts straight across it, and 5 viewing platforms (about 40 feet in the air) where you can sit and have a picnic and look out at the swamp to see the wildlife. Which is exactly what we did - and as soon as we sat down we spotted a few antelope and watched them peacefully for about an hour.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">There is a turning point to this story. After about an hour it started to rain - just lightly - so we decided to try to get across the swamp to another viewing platform and sit there for a bit. We started to walk and the rain got heavier, and we walked faster and the rain got heavier still. We finally made it to the platform - this one much much higher, up quite rickety stairs. The rain got heavier and heavier. There was a canvas covering on the platform, but as the wind picked up the rain was getting in everywhere. Skip ahead 10 minutes to Nick and I, hoods up and head down, standing in the heaviest rain, hail, and wind storm I have been in up on 50 foot wooden platform. The wind, rain and hail was so fierce that we couldn't look up or it would slap our faces and it was so loud we couldn't talk to each other. We stood there, bundled up, for about 15 minutes - absolutely soaking wet and freezing - and then the thunder and lightning started, and was getting closer every minute. </b></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I remember thinking I wished I had better wilderness training and was trying to decide if standing on a wooden platform was safer or less safe than standing down amongst the trees. With the thunder and lightening coming closer we decided to try to start the 2 1/2 km walk back to the park entrance. We very carefully climbed down the stairs - which were now covered in hail - and began walking back. "Walking back" makes it sound like a Sunday stroll. It was still pouring and hailing and lightening and thundering and wind was relentless. Not only that, but the path was now covered in standing water up to our ankles - freezing cold standing water. And I was wearing sandals. The path also had some very very steep sections, which now contained mini rivers - leaving me the only option to climb up and down them with hands and knees. </b></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">We then started to come across some trees which had blown over during the storm. At first they were smallish so we could climb over them, but then we came across very very large ones. One so large that our only option was go out into the swamp in order to get around it. We continued to trudge through running ice water for 2 kms and finally made it back to the entrance, soaked and freezing (I couldn't feel my feet by this point). We felt we deserved a medal for our efforts - it was one of the most intense nature situations I have been in (and hope to ever be in!).</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">The car park was in about a foot of standing water and we deliberated a long time about if a motorcycle would be the safest way to get back to the road or if we should try to find someone with a car to drive us. We ended up on a motorcycle - and very grateful as about a mile outside of the park a large tree had falled across the road and no car would be making it past that until someone came with a chainsaw!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">All in all a great trip - and definitely visit Saiwa Swamp if you get the chance!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Have been on a few field visits the past month and have 2 more coming up in the few weeks so will be writing about that in the near future!</b></span></div>
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Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-72219609046177890932012-06-24T00:40:00.000-07:002012-06-24T00:40:09.020-07:00When did things become "normal"?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've struggled for weeks trying to think of what to write about. There have been no visits to anywhere of note, no special conferences, nor mishaps of comic value. Things have become quite normal here. Which I've decided is actually very nice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's been nearly 8 months since I arrived in Kenya. On one hand I can't begin to explain where 8 months has gone, and on the other it feels like I've been here for years. When a new colleague at work asked how long I'd been there, another colleague standing nearby said she'd been there 3 years but couldn't remember me not being there. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I know that this happens with every big move and every new job. In the first few days and weeks you think you will never settle in - you will never learn how things are done or get your head around the work - and then a few months later you catch yourself giving instruction to someone on how something is done and come to find that without realising it you have settled and become the expert - the one driving and shaping things. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've experienced it before - moving to London when I was 22, starting work at the Students' Union - but for some reason I thought that the African volunteer experience might be a bit different - that I would feel unsettled and a stranger for most of my time here. Not that I wouldn't find routine - but that it would never feel "normal".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But after nearly 8 months it does indeed feel "normal". Well, "normal-ish".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So the past few weeks as I have been struggling to think of what to write as things have become "normal", it never occurred to me to write about the normal things. That is until I talk to my mom last night who scolded me for not blogging and told me to get on it!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Therefore, here are 5 "normal" things in my Kenyan life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. Commuting to work.</b> I leave the house between 6.45a-7a and walk about 5 minutes to get to a big highway. Actually, it's the biggest highway in Kenya - it goes all the way from Mombasa (on the Indian Ocean) to Kampala (the capital of Uganda) and just happens to run right past my house. After very carefully looking for traffic, I run across the road to the matatu stage (bus stop). I wait there as many buses and matatus pull up and the conductors shout out the destination and the price of the journey (public transport fares aren't standard - it's up to the individual vehicle what they want to charge). In morning peak travel times buses generally go to downtown Nairobi and have set prices no matter where you alight, so I usually take a matatu which has more flexible fares. I usually wait 10 minutes for a matatu and then travel only 6 minutes and alight and walk the rest of the 2 1/2 mile journey to work (it's a lovely walk down tree lined streets that house lots of embassies). I've even made a friend on the walk - Daniel - who is a house painter and keeps me entertained with stories about his crazy German boss. The whole journey is 1 hour exactly door-to-door.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. Managing Resource Mobilisation.</b> As the Resource Mobilisation (RM) Manager at I Choose Life (ICL) my VSO placement is focussed primarily on training a team of people (now 6) to be able to develop funding proposals. With 6 people on the team it means that at any given time we are working on a <b>minimum</b> of 6 proposals, and sometimes more if my boss or I are working on separate ones. The work is busy and involves me regularly spending evenings or weekends reviewing drafts, but I can say that I really enjoy it. I especially enjoy working with the RM Team and seeing them learn and develop in their ability to put together a strong funding proposal (although I have to admit that keeping track of where 6 different proposals can be a bit tricky - but so far no dire mistakes!). This is probably where things feel the most normal. When I arrived at ICL I knew very little about HIV&AIDS (our main emphasis) and even less about democratic reform (or secondary emphasis), and I had never fundraised in an international development context where everything is just different. I wondered if I would ever be able to get my head around the issues or really contribute. I don't know when or how it happened - but I got up to speed and starting actually managing and leading the work. And now it's normal - meaning, like all regular people, I feel the weekends are too short and Monday mornings too early and Friday afternoons too slow. But normal is actually quite nice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. Shopping</b>. I still go to Kangemi (the nearby "informal settlement" - slum) every weekend to buy my fruits and vegetables. I usually go with Andrea, but sometimes on my own. It is about a 10 minute walk down a dirt road, and along the way at least 20 children will yell "Mzungu!!" ("foreigner") and "How are yooouuuu!?", and some will come and shake our hands. The market in Kangemi is immense - it's made of a network of sheds with dirt aisles that are only about 2 feet wide (and generally quite muddy). You can buy all kinds of fruits and vegetables, clothes, house wares, used electronics, and shoes there. It is the main shopping market for this area of Nairobi and can get very busy - but we usually go on a Saturday or Sunday morning before the crowds come. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. Washing. </b>Every Saturday morning I still get up and wash my clothes by hand and hang them to dry. I have it down to a science and have learned how to most efficiently and effectively get my clothes clean. What I haven't yet learned is how to protect my poor finger nails in the process...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5. Going out.</b> Sometimes I even have fun! Nairobi is quite expensive, so meeting up with other volunteers for a night out isn't often possible on a volunteer allowance - but it does happen every once in a while. This past month several of us went to the Alliance Franciase (the French language centre) to see a film in the International Film Festival (a lovely film about a Dutch boy who gets lost in Kiberia), we went back to the Alliance a few weeks later to see a of 9 different musical acts from Turkana (which was brilliant), and with Euro 2012 on there has been a few visits to bars to watch football matches (and hopefully another couple if England win tonight as well!). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope you have found this very "normal" blog post a little bit interesting. While things in Kenya are not boring and adventure is surely always around the corner, I have actually enjoyed realising that I have come to a place where my daily life feels a little usual and regular. Things, however, are about to become a little less normal in my life as in less than 2 weeks my boyfriend arrives in Nairobi to start his very own VSO placement! </span></div>
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<br /></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-8703255248754768142012-05-13T04:31:00.000-07:002012-05-13T04:31:59.647-07:00Institutional Strengthening<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sadly no photos in this post - just some interesting information about a new programme taking place at my work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A bit of background. My organisation currently receives most of our funding from the US government, however we do not at present directly receive funding from the US government (USAID). Our funding comes from American agencies and organisations (such as Centre for Disease Control, Walter Reed, Family Health Initiative) who receive funding from the US government to implement programmes in developing countries which they do through subcontracted organisations, such as mine.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">USAID (United States Agency for International Development) has recently had a significant policy shift away from funding international bodies to implement programmes in developing countries, and to directly funding domestic organisations. These are not small grants we're talking about. When USAID provides direct funding it is in the millions of dollars and intended that the recipient organisation is not using all that money themselves - but is subcontracting out elements of the grant to smaller organisations.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is a problem with this. Currently in the health sector USAID directly funds around 30 organisations in Kenya to deliver health services, however only 4 of those are Kenyan. The solution is not as simple as just stopping funds to non-Kenyan organisations and starting to fund Kenyan organisations directly - the problem is there aren't any other Kenyan organisations who have the capacity to receive such large and complicated grants from USAID.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But a clever solution was devised. USAID recognised that to achieve their goal of providing funds directly to Kenyan NGOs, they would need to spend time capacity building a few organisations first. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last October I Choose Life applied to be part of this capacity building programme, called FANIKISHA (which means "accomplished" in Swahili). In December we made it through to Stage 2 (which involved piles of paper work, auditors coming into the organisation for 2 days to assess capacity of every department, and several interviews), and the end of March we learned we were one of 6 organisations selected.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The programme is 5 years. This first year will focus solely on institutional strengthening in 6 key areas: Leadership and Governance, Organisational Planning and Resource Mobilisation, Human Resources, Monitoring and Evaluation, Finance and Administration, and Management. The FANIKISHA team have been working with us on developing our plans for the year (which total at last count 107 pages). The plans involve key milestones as well as how we will be mentored to accomplish those milestones (mentoring will include support from FANIKISHA as well as use of funds to employ USAID pre-approved consultants). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my role, I will be working on the Resource Mobilisation plans, which are very similar to the work plan I had already developed for VSO placement, which is great as I now have additional funds as my disposal for trainings and workshops. I was also delighted to have been asked by the Chief Executive and Head to HR to lead the work on the Organsiational Planning, which will involve working over the next year to facilitate the development of a new strategic plan for the organisation. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Those of you who have worked with me will know that while I understand and am quite capable at fundraising, strategic planning is what really gets me going! I really look forward to the unexpected opportunity to use those skills and experience, as well as employ some new techniques learned from my studies at Cass last year. I will not be working alone in the strategic planning at all - we are a large national organisation which needs a strategic plan which will need to balance the personality and character of I Choose Life with needing to intentionally evolve into something much bigger in 5 years. For that reason and that the strategic plan will be largely health focussed, the scope of the work is a bit outside of my experience and knowledge and so we will be recruiting a consultant to work with me in facilitating the process.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After this first year (July 2012 - June 2013), FANIKISHA will begin to work with the 6 organisations on setting up systems to distribute funds to other organisations, something none of us has done before in a formal capacity. In years 3 and 4, USAID will provide "mentored grants" to the organisations to distribute, meaning we will receive funds to commission out to smaller organisations, including application process, finance procedures and monitoring and evaluation. But during this time, FANIKISHA will be holding our hand and supporting us as we learn and perfect how to become grant makers. Along with distributing grants to other organisations we will be required to support them in their institutional strengthening - helping them build robust internal system.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is not promised that by the end of the 5 years I Choose Life will automatically receive funds directly from USAID - we will still need to apply, but we are being given the support to grow into the kind of organisation that can deliver national health programmes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a final note, I was at a conference this last week for the launch of FANIKISHA and the press was there. In the matatu on the way home there was a 5 minute segment on the radio about FANIKISHA with interviews from the conference about how important it is to Kenya for Kenyan organisations to have the capacity be able to deliver services. I was thrilled to hear that the programme had made national news and that I would be participating in one of the 6 organisations "the country has hope in".</span></div>
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<br />Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-82622301705830609982012-04-29T09:05:00.000-07:002012-04-29T09:05:00.805-07:00Rain and Mud<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am currently writing this blog post in the dark. The start of the long rains has meant that while our water supply has now returned to normal, we are experiencing frequent power outages.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I left Kenya 4 weeks ago for a visit to the UK the long rains, which are meant to last from March - June, had not yet started. Kenyans were beginning to get a bit nervous. Last year the long rains hardly made an appearance leading to a severe drought in the Horn of Africa and the creation of the largest refugee camp in the world being set-up in the north of Kenya.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, while they were a few weeks late this year, the rains have indeed started. Oh yes they have! When it rains in Africa, it pours. None of this weak British half rain/half mist nonsense. We're talking proper sheets of water coming from the sky. The rainy season presents its challenges for sure. Drying clothes requires strategy as it isn't usually possible to hang them outside long enough to dry. The traffic is horrendous - there was unprecedented traffic jams of up to 5 hours in Nairobi on Monday evening which made national news. And everything is soggy all the time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And naturally, with the rain comes mud. Lots and lots of mud. Many of the pavements (sidewalks) in Nairobi are simply dirt paths, meaning that they turn to mud in the rain, and often into rivers of mud.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few months ago I changed my commute to work to include a 2 1/2 mile walk each way to and from the matatu. This change happened in dry season when the mornings were fresh and the evenings warm, and everything was dry. I hadn't given much thought to what this walk might be like in the rainy season, and returned to my commute this week with some important lesson learning. Here's a few:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. Walk slowly.</b> Or at least more slowly than usual. Or at least look at where you are stepping. This learning come from my walk to work on my first day back when I slipped on a rock and did a somersault and my trousers ended up caked in mud (my colleagues were very nice to me regardless of the fact I walked in looking a mess - probably helped by the face I brought them chocolate from the UK).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. Be brave. Be very brave.</b> Tuesday the rain started around 4.30pm. The sky was very dark and the rain was the most fierce and serious torrential rain I may have ever seen. With a bit of thunder and lightening thrown in for good measure. With half an hour of work left I began to question myself if I was really going to walk 2 1/2 miles in that. But I am made of sturdier stuff and decided I wasn't going to let some water deter me. Full of resolve, I laced up my trainers and pulled the toggles on my rain jacket hood tight and ventured forth. It was probably the longest 40 minutes of my life. I was slammed with rain the entire time, which meant my ears were ringing and I couldn't look up or my eyeballs would get stung. My skirt stuck to my legs making it hard to walk, and water got in around my neck soaking my clothes under my jacket. Mud wasn't so much a problem as the water was several inches high and racing down the street. I was once standing in water up to my calves. But, I did it. I felt I deserved a medal afterwards, but I did it. Every stitch of my clothing was wet when I got home - but I did it. And a few days later when I was faced with the similar prospects as I was heading out of the office, I didn't think twice and just went.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. Wrap everything in plastic bags. Twice.</b> This lesson comes from that Tuesday walk home where I had the foresight to bring plastic carrier bags to work to wrap all my things in before sticking them in the rucksack, however my poor book still fell victim to the rain (my rucksack had more or less filled entirely with water which had to be dumped out) and 5 days later is still a bit soggy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. Stop caring.</b> The rainy season is wet and muddy. It means my trainers and rain jacket and rucksack are constantly a bit wet and muddy. So what? In the grand scheme of things it's not really that big of deal. The rainy season can be inconvenient, and I would definitely not recommend to anyone planning a holiday to come during the rains, but the rain is important to Kenya and only lasts a few months and so I will continue to trudge through the rain and mud everyday and even maybe try to enjoy it too.</span></div>
<br />Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-4406157551024354142012-03-30T02:37:00.000-07:002012-03-30T02:37:08.718-07:00Resource Mobilisation Training. Resource Mobilisation Training. (Because twice is better than once)<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the really great things about VSO is the opportunity to learn from other volunteers and utilise their skills and experience in your own placement. A couple months ago Helen, another volunteer working in the area of Resource Mobilisation, and I realised we were both planning to hold upcoming training in resource mobilisation for staff in our organisations. We thought about it and recognised almost immediately that while training delivered by 1 volunteer is good, training delivered by 2 volunteers is really good, and so we decided to team up and co-facilitate both training days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAf9wjm889QgGgtzGz9eS78Q4DhohZT9pBkAERFQhxRkWumDJH-MmO2qUDEMvIjMfVQcRM_b7dAZlPaey43sev_l1OZO5ASpenxUpfhCQF3RacJFaFmYc9dg2jZF3gbyiT69VaMF0Ucc0/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAf9wjm889QgGgtzGz9eS78Q4DhohZT9pBkAERFQhxRkWumDJH-MmO2qUDEMvIjMfVQcRM_b7dAZlPaey43sev_l1OZO5ASpenxUpfhCQF3RacJFaFmYc9dg2jZF3gbyiT69VaMF0Ucc0/s400/003.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Helen leading a session at her organisation.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">In February I attended the VSO annual conference at which Helen was one of the facilitators – she was excellent and I was very excited to have her enthusiasm, dynamism and creativity in my organisation for a day. In addition – I thought it would be a great opportunity to have some of the ideas I’ve been trying to bring into ICL (such as cash is not the only resource to mobilise) echoed by another volunteer. And we all listen better to voices we don’t hear as often.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBe_WjQrFPKRmgK_5wA16iNpPJcKxJJWgsyPWyG8ZyJkbauVOZAfKXT1N0mRj6oDfsnAVTp9YVabta6aU0kk7ClNjB4H3Yt1bRewAF9tfVLG-auDw1Lt0wLaIwxZN5BhhWCHIXLNu9X4/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBe_WjQrFPKRmgK_5wA16iNpPJcKxJJWgsyPWyG8ZyJkbauVOZAfKXT1N0mRj6oDfsnAVTp9YVabta6aU0kk7ClNjB4H3Yt1bRewAF9tfVLG-auDw1Lt0wLaIwxZN5BhhWCHIXLNu9X4/s400/012.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Francis, one of Helen's colleagues, practising his organisational elevator pitch.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">The process started about 2 months before the training when we each individually started preparing our training sessions, specifically identifying what the learning objectives for the training would be and some activities we might include to achieve those. In my department plan for 2012 I have included 4 pieces of in-house training across this year, and it was suggested in January by the CEO that the first training look at developing, building and keeping relationships with donors. I was asked to include in the training the resource mobilisation team, project managers and executive management team (15 people in total) in order to start to build the capacity of senior staff in approaching potential donors. Working with that brief, I decided to widen the training to look more broadly at supporters of all kinds (not just monetary donors) – however the principles are the same. The learning outcomes I developed for the day were</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">1.Increased knowledge about types of supporters and their varied importance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">2.Increased knowledge of how to pitch to potential supporters</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">3.Increased confidence to approach (methods and content) and build relationships </span><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">with potential supporters.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">4.Increased resources through relationships developed and nurtured.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">5.Increased supporter satisfaction.</span></div><!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQqrIc-RynV8_0hGKCMpatRAjDcoAVK4TLSbcpqSjfP9fo_cjDneKMm-zxRrNIST_yz0CBcXUC4izlIo_a6jsGZ3OoZcTEICZq-6BsMtJTUH2i-ALv41_KJhTn02TEO9CBcc_UO8-RgM/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQqrIc-RynV8_0hGKCMpatRAjDcoAVK4TLSbcpqSjfP9fo_cjDneKMm-zxRrNIST_yz0CBcXUC4izlIo_a6jsGZ3OoZcTEICZq-6BsMtJTUH2i-ALv41_KJhTn02TEO9CBcc_UO8-RgM/s400/013.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Two of Helen's colleagues enjoying their training,</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><o:p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">About a month before the training Helen and I met together for half a day to plan out the two training days. This was one of the most beneficial aspects of the process; it helped me clarify what I wanted to achieve in the training and how to best to realise those outcomes. I had spent so much time planning and researching for the training that I was getting a bit lost in it and found it difficult to come up with fresh ideas. Helen had a lot of ideas for how to make sessions interesting and engaging and new, for example an activity about how to nurture a relationships supporters which involved audio recording “a donor” (my housemate Andrea) describing their experiences with different NGOs.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieddUc4Gn3LRb8SKUMeqqwp71o39XTIyEQFFBR3qcGtRdQ8t3L5loWIVLy3kx51fSD3vvCHuFSHrXLXn4sbEcE7ap-JJB_6rLX5_SFndZmJRWo008whErfWWciO-ZxSTmBmnIPQIRdgtY/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieddUc4Gn3LRb8SKUMeqqwp71o39XTIyEQFFBR3qcGtRdQ8t3L5loWIVLy3kx51fSD3vvCHuFSHrXLXn4sbEcE7ap-JJB_6rLX5_SFndZmJRWo008whErfWWciO-ZxSTmBmnIPQIRdgtY/s400/009.JPG" width="292" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Helen next to the agenda for the day's training.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">I was able to support Helen in flushing out her training as well. Her training day was focussed on providing core fundraising understanding and skills to all staff at her placement. Helen works for a national union of the blind, an organisation with large reach but quite a small central staff team with varying experience in raising funds. As part of the training she was specifically interested in supporting the staff to understand how to put a project plan together – which I have quite a bit of experience in and was able to support. We developed a basic template with 5 steps: identify the need the project will meet, state the aim of the project, identify a few outcomes (changes that will occur as a result of the project), specify what activities will be carried out to achieve the outcomes, and create a budget.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZpPrJpPKfIG7QfkLjgx86DjJDc0RmUD-PRNl9g7DRJlF641NtJLo_KRouP9dHkCw6HIzExyuO_IB8tbu5ipyZ4Q7F3PCLMjBCly1Zb72Xo9-FR4W_XnVYaq0cOFgobgAPYNkYlzxN84/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZpPrJpPKfIG7QfkLjgx86DjJDc0RmUD-PRNl9g7DRJlF641NtJLo_KRouP9dHkCw6HIzExyuO_IB8tbu5ipyZ4Q7F3PCLMjBCly1Zb72Xo9-FR4W_XnVYaq0cOFgobgAPYNkYlzxN84/s400/024.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Me, standing next to visual representations of the various types of support NGOs should look for - a key theme of the day of training at I Choose Life.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">The trainings were held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, with Helen’s organisation first. Helping to facilitate training for Helen’s organisation was really interesting as several of her colleagues are either blind or visually impaired and things I have taken for granted when delivering training sessions previously became apparent, such as using flip chart or handouts. I’ve not worked in an organisation working with persons living with disability before, and all of a sudden the concept of accessibility was more than government orders we begrudgingly comply with, trying to decipher how far we have to go to make “reasonable adjustments”. Rather I saw accessibility as something that either enables or disables someone from participating. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMH6QTNV7E8kDiy2Q8AMiP9HkZ7pubvOHUklqCjNSSGkgkxjT6NLVtCUPldAVyQ0PE4MdOMZc3TUWb8ZF4Z9MO5hnSpF5wsd-7tzKGS2V93AjbCyzKm89nrv7MDkWTJkz6giesbG5bDyk/s1600/034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMH6QTNV7E8kDiy2Q8AMiP9HkZ7pubvOHUklqCjNSSGkgkxjT6NLVtCUPldAVyQ0PE4MdOMZc3TUWb8ZF4Z9MO5hnSpF5wsd-7tzKGS2V93AjbCyzKm89nrv7MDkWTJkz6giesbG5bDyk/s400/034.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Group work during training at I Choose Life. This particular exercise involved analysing the types of relationships we have various supports and how to learn from those.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">Her organisation was extremely welcoming and friendly. Compared to my placement, which has a much more corporate culture and image and is a much more fast-paced and stressful place to work, Helen’s organisation is typical of what we think we sign up for with VSO – grassroots capacity building one small slow step at a time. While there are great things about my placement, I was able to see what this experience might have been like if I had that typical VSO placement – and there are some lovely things about it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciSZKs_u7tAHkR8AKjqo7uRtbzo4fNNkyydDbVkUXIkBKog1uK2kADET6FAsLeyY7qwtspbwx2EJDiAb69Rh8UJj6AdjEWtc-tpjFXktE4BcPtUAxOxatAK2TC3Ldwuxrzp98VLGL4D4/s1600/029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciSZKs_u7tAHkR8AKjqo7uRtbzo4fNNkyydDbVkUXIkBKog1uK2kADET6FAsLeyY7qwtspbwx2EJDiAb69Rh8UJj6AdjEWtc-tpjFXktE4BcPtUAxOxatAK2TC3Ldwuxrzp98VLGL4D4/s400/029.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Mutie, a member of the Resource Mobilisation at I Choose Life, practising his organisational pitch.</b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On Wednesday we delivered training at I Choose Life (ICL). We had quite a full agenda, but I think the agenda successfully included enough variance in activities while still rearticulating and punctuating the theme for the day. Despite the fact that some of the attendees regularly work closely with me on developing proposals and other have no experience in fundraising, the topic of relationship building seemed to be new and pertinent to everyone in the room. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J1XFa0U0du6wh-Zuk68k50wkB_Ev3KDaRkmSRmxHlVEjPS5LQQj7j9aO0Um3mZbL4gTnnvf4rhd1kmrft9ElMSmEFJEc70ogG7LOogMmKvthbzzDTWHgPBb2VZgxQr1c2KZ8krU6gv8/s1600/019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J1XFa0U0du6wh-Zuk68k50wkB_Ev3KDaRkmSRmxHlVEjPS5LQQj7j9aO0Um3mZbL4gTnnvf4rhd1kmrft9ElMSmEFJEc70ogG7LOogMmKvthbzzDTWHgPBb2VZgxQr1c2KZ8krU6gv8/s400/019.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Facilitating a session on how we talk about our organisation to the public.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">One of the highlights of the day was an activity in which we explored how we talk about ICL when we meet new people – the kinds of things we talk about and the language we use. ICL has a wide range of activities and beneficiaries and can be complicated to explain succinctly and passionately to those who don’t know us. There was good discussion around the importance of creating an institutional platform (the common things that are included in what the public hear or read about the organisation), while wanting to avoid creating robots required to recite a script. Each attendee was given 10 minutes to prepare their own 1 minute pitch about I Choose Life, starting with the phrase “I work at I Choose Life because...”. While being quite a lot of fun, the activity also gave everyone the opportunity to think about what they would tell someone about the organisation and practice what they might say.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxl77Sc6KIajOjKhWhZiLC4KOMoxFta1ldxNUHNQWWRAosWuUkKlh61tj68JCrQ_hcphGghTBkESZ5YCetCbYLgh_lU2Tr3VdReuMWHwxUPjGKkZcEBSMYGNqYHx7eAbXJJvSHmNHBRPY/s1600/038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxl77Sc6KIajOjKhWhZiLC4KOMoxFta1ldxNUHNQWWRAosWuUkKlh61tj68JCrQ_hcphGghTBkESZ5YCetCbYLgh_lU2Tr3VdReuMWHwxUPjGKkZcEBSMYGNqYHx7eAbXJJvSHmNHBRPY/s400/038.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">World Cafe(ish) activity exploring various themes around how to grow our <br />
relationships with supporters.</b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Helen was a great asset throughout the whole process – her ideas and enthusiasm really added value to the training, and she developed quite a fan club at ICL!! My co-workers are already asking when she can come back (although thankfully they haven’t asked if they can trade me for her!). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbuW_w3eI-_TV_nWG2Lb4v3sFbZTTdUFM0jE3JXSkD-6MOkbxfnUjxA3dht1T2ui1BYvVYazffLRSwnWArSKQQd-VSvyxcHU2pqJnVf65IgShqolqGufRNWsOr3I3xcCAwKbEF4xxRoxg/s1600/040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbuW_w3eI-_TV_nWG2Lb4v3sFbZTTdUFM0jE3JXSkD-6MOkbxfnUjxA3dht1T2ui1BYvVYazffLRSwnWArSKQQd-VSvyxcHU2pqJnVf65IgShqolqGufRNWsOr3I3xcCAwKbEF4xxRoxg/s400/040.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At the end of the training many shared that they felt they had really learned and benefited from the training, with several staff members not directly involved in resource mobilisation saying they felt they understood how they could help build relationships with all kinds of potential supporters – which is a great result.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Peris preparing for her organisational pitch.</b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We received some interesting feedback from the training as well, which highlighted some of the challenges delivering training in a different culture. For example, one staff member mentioned that some of the sessions were left-open ended without the right answers being presented. This specifically referenced an activity in which attendees discussed some sticky donor relationship topics in groups and then shared their thoughts with the group. Helen and I elaborated on some of their thoughts, and I provided a few examples from my own work – but no fixed and firm answer was given on how to respond in those certain situations. What I found really interesting about this feedback is that when I attend training it actually really frustrates me as well when facilitators summarise input without providing a concrete solution. I am generally not a big fan of group work – I always wonder what is being said in the other groups and if their groups are more “right” than my group. My boss highlighted that part of this cultural – his experience of training with North Americans and Europeans is that the facilitators are encouraging and find it difficult to challenge a bad idea, whereas training delivered in other cultures might involve just being presented with facts with very little discussion, participation or collaborative thought. I think in this particular case that there was value in presenting the topics for discussion, but that there aren’t necessarily concrete answers – all relationships are different with different dynamics and there can’t be a one size fits all response, however I will definitely take this feedback into account when working on the next piece of training.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEh2W4FRu2ROAhjtGkdEwqxxjVQUZPKgkM6gPvan_OiKR8C2wjdr3gvrf63AtYcZkgPIazZShsCATog35Bqt0S5nGpW2lQLrxdfN3VSDKuxgdBEot0cZb7Uz60R0P7NafGuvAjD7XvVOI/s1600/042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEh2W4FRu2ROAhjtGkdEwqxxjVQUZPKgkM6gPvan_OiKR8C2wjdr3gvrf63AtYcZkgPIazZShsCATog35Bqt0S5nGpW2lQLrxdfN3VSDKuxgdBEot0cZb7Uz60R0P7NafGuvAjD7XvVOI/s400/042.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Helen and I at the end of 2 days of delivering training. A job well done partially explains our radiant glow - although is was also very very hot!</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;">This will be my last post for a few weeks as I will be taking a bit of a holiday – but don’t forget about me, I will be back in full force the end of April!</span></span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-69936536076409104732012-03-18T07:44:00.000-07:002012-03-18T07:44:28.051-07:00Saturday 10 March in 10 Photos<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Forgive me all for I have been busy. It's been two weeks since my last posting. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are in the middle of completing 4 funding proposals at the moment, and I have been working steadily (early mornings, evenings and weekends) since my last post.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, last Saturday I thought to myself: Nicole, what shall we blog about this week? And having drawn a blank, I decided to photograph my Saturday in 12 photos, one each hour from 6am - 6pm. Well, it all started well, but around 2 in the afternoon it was hot and I was tired and I started to wane. So I share with you here not 12 photos, but 10. And they don't span 6am - 6pm, but rather 6am - 3pm. Anyway, it's what I can offer you now so hope you enjoy!</span></div><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Qz59NLPVOid0CsSPmmi_RH6Z8IPFQ3cEpbNAl1FG7VLqaN6NSFGxVYlSnJD3mBEtB9DKJ7iDSIIkW4nqkelaaKry5mlvFupPn1445EjQvw74GCUaAnAHyCqMoT1oZBNRcVqqb6PjcBw/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Qz59NLPVOid0CsSPmmi_RH6Z8IPFQ3cEpbNAl1FG7VLqaN6NSFGxVYlSnJD3mBEtB9DKJ7iDSIIkW4nqkelaaKry5mlvFupPn1445EjQvw74GCUaAnAHyCqMoT1oZBNRcVqqb6PjcBw/s400/003.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 1: 06:01</span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8;">I usually wake up at 6:30am on Saturdays to wash my clothes. It takes about an hour and a half (including boiling the water, letting them soak, scrubbing and rinsing). It's good to get the clothes done in the morning so they are hung up early to dry. Having a busy day planned for last Saturday, I got up at 6am to wash the clothes. </span><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8;">No alarm needed though - I wake up around 5:30am for work everyday, so even 6am is a lie-in.</span></span></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjFREMEGLmN8KSxzLbalzvb7ExoKbUo3K38Ln_OpHhS4JcWO22EZYLLVlkf5sSFS5fAdSXxVHWAOFS_y6jUbR6JYzQi5P2iW0NKF7hKDyVm8eqFf0nN9Z3W_gDvKz5wz9kp2F1Sm9ng9E/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjFREMEGLmN8KSxzLbalzvb7ExoKbUo3K38Ln_OpHhS4JcWO22EZYLLVlkf5sSFS5fAdSXxVHWAOFS_y6jUbR6JYzQi5P2iW0NKF7hKDyVm8eqFf0nN9Z3W_gDvKz5wz9kp2F1Sm9ng9E/s400/004.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 2: Washing Done<br />
Around 7:30am the washing was finished and hanging up to dry.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2w474EQRTzmgWSjpMezg3jhXB_PUsF41Z1NX2vEArT_MJbT6vrNUqGOuQhhY-H6o-FQkjF90DzpMvXGBgz4QDuKks-lhH0yAfq697qZepwd3pB4V90IEpdlj0aHz4qTigcJlvm-LHEvs/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2w474EQRTzmgWSjpMezg3jhXB_PUsF41Z1NX2vEArT_MJbT6vrNUqGOuQhhY-H6o-FQkjF90DzpMvXGBgz4QDuKks-lhH0yAfq697qZepwd3pB4V90IEpdlj0aHz4qTigcJlvm-LHEvs/s400/007.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 3: Waiyaki Way<br />
The highway that runs next to my neighbourhood. Looks tame here, however in order to get transport into Nairobi we have to cross these 2 lanes and the 2 lanes on the other side. This is around 8.30am on a Saturday, but weekday mornings involve saying a small prayer before crossing as cars, lorries, matatus and buses come flying down the road. The key is, according to my housemate Sandy, to wait. And wait. And wait some more. Until it is safe. So far, knock on wood, there have been no close calls.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTo69MrP7X0Op0vfmFhlftGhgGLoB5hmI0OwuVhcj-X_czriKsmg7qGIT8ulQDGC4iEt4J-wE-6n11IjAzNhCD8tTEd1a3lOQx5hZrZmiAaNwpNh_tTTaD-H9mPmJgI8HdY6YPmH-zZKQ/s1600/008+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTo69MrP7X0Op0vfmFhlftGhgGLoB5hmI0OwuVhcj-X_czriKsmg7qGIT8ulQDGC4iEt4J-wE-6n11IjAzNhCD8tTEd1a3lOQx5hZrZmiAaNwpNh_tTTaD-H9mPmJgI8HdY6YPmH-zZKQ/s400/008+(2).jpg" width="145" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 4: Moi<br />
According to Andrea this is a statue of Moi, president of Kenya from 1978-2002 (who did the county no favours). I took this picture as we were walking from one matatu stage (similar to a bus station) to another. I don't really know why I took it - but there it is. The building in the background is the Hilton Hotel.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqpauXFRJ3PjNoO7NCW4d8iw3zyPsMaJ2AFrQFd54-DqLQsVICQDYSyYOo099_UkvceqHdOV70ONsT3StDgEDVLQBvxaDzBKYWmnBKUtCbTmLIESu8KLxNd-FJ3piMq0CEzp_d3LEiwU/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqpauXFRJ3PjNoO7NCW4d8iw3zyPsMaJ2AFrQFd54-DqLQsVICQDYSyYOo099_UkvceqHdOV70ONsT3StDgEDVLQBvxaDzBKYWmnBKUtCbTmLIESu8KLxNd-FJ3piMq0CEzp_d3LEiwU/s400/009.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 5: Route 46<br />
While matatu is the most common form of transportation in Nairobi, there are several bus routes as well. This photo is of Kencom, the name of a bus stop. The buses don't individually have their route numbers on the outside, the conductor will hold a sign out the window indicating which route it is. On this day, we were taking Route 46 to Yaya. I should preface as well that this was around 9am on a Saturday morning. Visit this same spot on a weekday, it is not quite so tranquil!!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5pHTHxd4gRHMzY5sQLuCb8yOZZiLpoySYBp8o1g3nvgzlRRkaAFpTX57bRP3Pgx0RV7vQ5HYrEW7RrA7VSJEC541fLmf7T6OXgyFm0AShX6M2VJ6POpHi45w93oivMUu11jABpDhwnw/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5pHTHxd4gRHMzY5sQLuCb8yOZZiLpoySYBp8o1g3nvgzlRRkaAFpTX57bRP3Pgx0RV7vQ5HYrEW7RrA7VSJEC541fLmf7T6OXgyFm0AShX6M2VJ6POpHi45w93oivMUu11jABpDhwnw/s400/010.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 6: Tunasoma Kiswahili<br />
The reason we were travelling across town so early on a Saturday morning was for our monthly Swahili lesson. Andrea and I (try to) meet with Lucy once a month for 2 hours for lessons. Lucy is an absolutely excellent teacher and we enjoy our lessons very much.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysSloxggMUvPOvfozqDWXwvyaWFCbJanPf9jEV1py-vQkPmLvMtnGUKmo4Ki7ApBy5FT3CQTMFyh9Iv5_r1cxTi9VwwFrioLs49YNAidkkU-Pn9EwfQcsbccbKtqFnhJWK-OCjvpiLlE/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysSloxggMUvPOvfozqDWXwvyaWFCbJanPf9jEV1py-vQkPmLvMtnGUKmo4Ki7ApBy5FT3CQTMFyh9Iv5_r1cxTi9VwwFrioLs49YNAidkkU-Pn9EwfQcsbccbKtqFnhJWK-OCjvpiLlE/s400/012.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 7: Swahili Notes<br />
My scratchy notes from lesson.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaw1BwRcTL0WXTMQosBtjFFxJHKTAZw4v_n2LCD-0a7oIoGFj_LBvsZPxxLTgG8qSDPzAHWLZU9ta2yIfSJeHyIKScI9ehg3T8o9KB9yY6gOj4wI4mZrYfKt3Hvi0WPlWW8Tb93X8etE/s1600/013+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaw1BwRcTL0WXTMQosBtjFFxJHKTAZw4v_n2LCD-0a7oIoGFj_LBvsZPxxLTgG8qSDPzAHWLZU9ta2yIfSJeHyIKScI9ehg3T8o9KB9yY6gOj4wI4mZrYfKt3Hvi0WPlWW8Tb93X8etE/s400/013+(3).jpg" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 8: Toi Market<br />
After our Swahili lesson, Andrea and I walked to Toi Market - one of the largest and best quality second-hand clothing markets in Nairobi. It takes a lot of effort and determination to find gems and to get them at a fair price (there is a common unwritten mzungu tax of about 500% which seems to be added), but can be worth it. On this particular trip Andrea got some great trousers and I got a lovely vintage dress from Japan. After about an hour and a half of shopping we were very very hot and decided we had had enough success for one day.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkgafeNVUda1kwRKZP3xIaXbUbh702m247Lvj57faZkfyFSvTApiW0hTBWujMBtJfgXEqHd400JgcxyZiBq7ZkxYhrpp7trsO9wIuTDn1jAzH1Tw4RXEII8BaoCEcDfFyw3FWyzOO3fFk/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkgafeNVUda1kwRKZP3xIaXbUbh702m247Lvj57faZkfyFSvTApiW0hTBWujMBtJfgXEqHd400JgcxyZiBq7ZkxYhrpp7trsO9wIuTDn1jAzH1Tw4RXEII8BaoCEcDfFyw3FWyzOO3fFk/s400/014.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 9: Trousers<br />
A pile of trousers at Toi Market. Taking photos in public in Kenya is very difficult and Kenyans really dislike strangers taking their photos, so there sadly aren't more photos of the market.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIS4Hw3e5AeLhHqJle8j01H_hYvmlceETOjxkVc86u5XJGPrmnSZCNYelx0XGEZ5s6ju4i2HRf0cG6UcPO0zmZssVNkrdltXTDmA94WoPrcWzyOKJkpBngw-c8L5LggAXF5ARp3ImII4/s1600/017+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIS4Hw3e5AeLhHqJle8j01H_hYvmlceETOjxkVc86u5XJGPrmnSZCNYelx0XGEZ5s6ju4i2HRf0cG6UcPO0zmZssVNkrdltXTDmA94WoPrcWzyOKJkpBngw-c8L5LggAXF5ARp3ImII4/s400/017+(2).jpg" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo 10: Mint chocolate milkshake<br />
After Swahili lessons and shopping in the market, we decided to stop by a cafe for a treat. This doesn't happen often - less than once a month, but is very nice when we can. I asked for a milkshake with mint and chocolate. The mint was fresh, and for the first few sips it tasted like chocolate and basil. Very strange. But I got over it and enjoyed the rest!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-20406405554181473712012-03-04T00:09:00.000-08:002012-03-04T00:09:23.177-08:00Devolution and Voter Education<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday I travelled 2 hours to Kangundo to attend a community forum about devolution and voter education. I discussed in a previous post (<a href="http://nicoleinnairobi.blogspot.com/2012/01/political-discourse.html">see previous post</a>) that my boss, Mike, has written a book to launch a political reform movement in Kenya, and as part of that process the programme is being piloted in his home County.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vo9l-8A-jT-nmOJtbtVocp-F1Iov57seulMJffXIaRo3B-ERCuZ-DNBKLWstsSv5D09C2VwzFQ-lrW_Menx87iJptsHap7NSFEgjPI6OojaCE5UBXtT_ixg64M1Of__Bv2D1i9Raetk/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vo9l-8A-jT-nmOJtbtVocp-F1Iov57seulMJffXIaRo3B-ERCuZ-DNBKLWstsSv5D09C2VwzFQ-lrW_Menx87iJptsHap7NSFEgjPI6OojaCE5UBXtT_ixg64M1Of__Bv2D1i9Raetk/s400/001.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The event took place at this church in a town called Tala which is in Kangundo constituency.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmQ4vs8KRkzzMLtYrJSuLQ12Vug44nOO7k7GZQ3oo2hCSKvB348l-X0TYiLBkTOffBe0y5a6jfvOFBzV_YwhxH2ZU-uTHnP0UbMd8ADFniFAGQzFTFc2IWULGXZvP6vrtU52UCEpDEt8/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmQ4vs8KRkzzMLtYrJSuLQ12Vug44nOO7k7GZQ3oo2hCSKvB348l-X0TYiLBkTOffBe0y5a6jfvOFBzV_YwhxH2ZU-uTHnP0UbMd8ADFniFAGQzFTFc2IWULGXZvP6vrtU52UCEpDEt8/s400/002.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The pilot has so far involved the formation of a steering group made of about 40 community members to develop a draft strategic plan which maps out how key priority areas for how the County will develop in the next 3-5 years. Mike believes strongly that the fact that Kenya has lagged so far behind in development cannot be blamed purely on corrupt and incompetent politicians, but that average Kenyans are also responsible for making sure their country develops, and that begins at the local level.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2QZ-Eb6_Db3BGwyF_aGCbfQPiJkoxzFHE7H-9bPyx7X-WacS4GX9A-c0YhJt8lP3LHyqPgbcnXyOUZP6-bGTs81_CTA1CstjM612214lM7cyAPb3YC4Idfq4wzeC3_1xa8Rvvl40QYJo/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2QZ-Eb6_Db3BGwyF_aGCbfQPiJkoxzFHE7H-9bPyx7X-WacS4GX9A-c0YhJt8lP3LHyqPgbcnXyOUZP6-bGTs81_CTA1CstjM612214lM7cyAPb3YC4Idfq4wzeC3_1xa8Rvvl40QYJo/s400/003.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Constituents registering as they arrive.</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8RdCsIKU39BDAfYoEHiw7MLAXDnoBCxyIkx_dGFZp-wYOz1MtB8ZYpcqz2I5XkN51XeiBPXuGkug7aEUhR8OpYyS5w_a5OfxUqi455_7mIAa0NrSi-TViX39uONV-92NPCReu11p7V0/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8RdCsIKU39BDAfYoEHiw7MLAXDnoBCxyIkx_dGFZp-wYOz1MtB8ZYpcqz2I5XkN51XeiBPXuGkug7aEUhR8OpYyS5w_a5OfxUqi455_7mIAa0NrSi-TViX39uONV-92NPCReu11p7V0/s400/007.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Waiting for the event to start. It began an hour late, but ran over by 2.5 hours to compensate.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that the County Strategic Plan is in draft form, it is being taken around to each of the eight constituencies for consultation and to ensure local community leaders understand devolution and the new political offices it has created. This is the second of these consultation events, and this one was hosted by my organisation so about 12 staff from my organisation arrived in force to ensure it was a raving success.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEpJXIU-s1vrf2kxvFEyu3CkNOm3Ho2fO7OngtX3AvBzlg_NYEHe02z5tF5Z43wvfSQLAFuo1e1PfttE2IZ4A6TLnOI7wscXTmDFfWFUSzxTMBWBf07LpaNSsLmR6Mc5JEAaaBrS2bck/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEpJXIU-s1vrf2kxvFEyu3CkNOm3Ho2fO7OngtX3AvBzlg_NYEHe02z5tF5Z43wvfSQLAFuo1e1PfttE2IZ4A6TLnOI7wscXTmDFfWFUSzxTMBWBf07LpaNSsLmR6Mc5JEAaaBrS2bck/s400/011.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wambui, Finance Manager, and Barasa, Programmes Manager, modelling the t-shirt</b></span><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHamWHJCzZrTbCzwkEBCkT6I8TdckCqQNCW5XJSJw5DMTlHeOLStMVxDTuWM3g8dHW6nlOoODXtsW0i6JWTMZjpcDGjWNNvkbC7d5HML6U13gNOq4WoEU9CVfs0eyYTsqjyrdotdqTi98/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHamWHJCzZrTbCzwkEBCkT6I8TdckCqQNCW5XJSJw5DMTlHeOLStMVxDTuWM3g8dHW6nlOoODXtsW0i6JWTMZjpcDGjWNNvkbC7d5HML6U13gNOq4WoEU9CVfs0eyYTsqjyrdotdqTi98/s400/013.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Myself and Keter. We were on photography and sales duty.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The meeting started about an hour late (which actually isn't too bad), with delegates continuing to trickle in over the first 3 hours. The delegates were specially invited by members of the steering groups and selected as individuals interested to contribute to this process and able to action change in their local area. The forum started with prayer (as pretty much all meetings do), and greetings by the local chief and chairman of the local community development forum. Mike then presented the concept behind the draft Strategic Plan and explained that while the plan highlights 13 specific areas for development in the County to ensure it's development over the next few years, it was up to the community to determine the priorities within those areas and specific measures. Following this, the delegates broke up into 4 groups to look at and feed into 4 of those priority areas: water and sanitation, agriculture, finance and education. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsk_PT3-yrq8jde2EajuDuxa3_th1ies71hD28D81zYtuzOFt2qe3f8bL1vPWbKq2VFrUym5dpxAsI1zhPhvL5Bi2AsVDxClfBfVGtxoHMOu-k91Z3NwtUyRD5TMucb5OVnD7lnYU_fA/s1600/029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsk_PT3-yrq8jde2EajuDuxa3_th1ies71hD28D81zYtuzOFt2qe3f8bL1vPWbKq2VFrUym5dpxAsI1zhPhvL5Bi2AsVDxClfBfVGtxoHMOu-k91Z3NwtUyRD5TMucb5OVnD7lnYU_fA/s400/029.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Mike presenting the outline of the Strategic Plan.</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Dg_2Eses-0OpNQjtGstVNyRsUjCStgYmdC7Gf2QZXcIXPI0r8lXHhJpSpVTgCIKw8CYYenItgg7Hv_znT1pcR4oAWkkvKJ_eCSM510T1SeygiTyoEG0C6QFfLLb0ekn5K9c_npDc9G4/s1600/032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Dg_2Eses-0OpNQjtGstVNyRsUjCStgYmdC7Gf2QZXcIXPI0r8lXHhJpSpVTgCIKw8CYYenItgg7Hv_znT1pcR4oAWkkvKJ_eCSM510T1SeygiTyoEG0C6QFfLLb0ekn5K9c_npDc9G4/s400/032.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Group discussing water and sanitation.</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTn_qCNeHrNnJZRFdzkwFVEHFOiCgK_GeQsjg3o71S7dKxlr7UwyP1grd0Clwj_jg3R-mHS7GItxyYltfF5dRqsKn09fHFk-H-7ByCFhPmqb3A1ZnNUEpKfV9ovSYrRkJBV_ZZq-7_oZQ/s1600/037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTn_qCNeHrNnJZRFdzkwFVEHFOiCgK_GeQsjg3o71S7dKxlr7UwyP1grd0Clwj_jg3R-mHS7GItxyYltfF5dRqsKn09fHFk-H-7ByCFhPmqb3A1ZnNUEpKfV9ovSYrRkJBV_ZZq-7_oZQ/s400/037.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Group discussing finance.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then four members of the Strategic Plan steering group and who are experts in the 4 sectors being looked at came to share feedback from the small groups and background information on those particular sectors in the County. For example, currently while nearly 65% of children make it to primary school, less than 15% make it to secondary school and less than 4% attend any kind of post-secondary education (university or vocational). I've written quite a number of funding proposals and concept notes for this particular piece of work since arriving at my organisation, but it was the first time I actually was able to observe community consultation on strategic planning take place and it was really inspiring to see so many (nearly 400) members of this local constituency come together to discuss the needs and issues of their area and the changes they intend to make over the next few years. Too often Strategic Plans are developed <i>for</i> individuals and not by them - and this demonstrated the start of real ownership of this process by the community.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just a note that I was able to understand about 75% of what was said during the meeting. The other 25% was in kikamba, the local tribal language. But I think I got the general gist!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJeOQyH61DtBpc6nP-MejAMS81YbALbEvt8qH2lf9zPXDgq40Qx35gl7IN_HnwH4Luyy4fOjwB-x5q069-2T_TJa5zRwNNhEzxo4kkD3SRjEcBfYugd328T3q4MKdKVgHMf5H5fBtWvU/s1600/062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJeOQyH61DtBpc6nP-MejAMS81YbALbEvt8qH2lf9zPXDgq40Qx35gl7IN_HnwH4Luyy4fOjwB-x5q069-2T_TJa5zRwNNhEzxo4kkD3SRjEcBfYugd328T3q4MKdKVgHMf5H5fBtWvU/s400/062.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>The best photo I could get of the whole group.</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHAyoJhLfTWdXeGYCSdWOB5GVHRdlUzNit_FH9WyMzv1ixE8iaI7boe_O_sVb-eFjlG5G90q7yjgo9r6vOt5Aeq6qNzv4oh0Ab4CQFpuOiiLFr74GcbNkniWFW4QiRSA3VqSvy4v3OYU/s1600/082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHAyoJhLfTWdXeGYCSdWOB5GVHRdlUzNit_FH9WyMzv1ixE8iaI7boe_O_sVb-eFjlG5G90q7yjgo9r6vOt5Aeq6qNzv4oh0Ab4CQFpuOiiLFr74GcbNkniWFW4QiRSA3VqSvy4v3OYU/s400/082.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Koki Muli, key-note speaker.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The key-note speech was given by Koki Muli, a university lecturer and political columnist in a national Saturday paper. She spoke about devolution - what it is and why Kenya has decided to devolve power - and what implication is has at County level. I mentioned in a previous post the up to now Kenya has a very heavy and very corrupt central government and that the new Constitution (2010) has provided for a new devolved government which will be achieved through the creation of 47 new Counties. The counties have been formed - but the upcoming elections will be the first time that newly created posts (e.g. Governor) will be elected, so the Counties aren't actually really anything yet as they have no government or resourcing. Ms Muli explained that unlike American states which are fixed and permanent, the Counties can be easily changed, and she predicted where there are now boundaries for 47, if some are seen to be under-performing they will be merged with stronger Counties and so the result in 10 years time will likely be fewer Counties.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She also spoke about one of the key tenants of my organisation's political reform programme - which is leadership vetting, which is about creating a framework by which voters assess the candidates and select which is the right one for the job. It is a key theme of the upcoming elections and the way my organisation is proposing to accomplish this is by using the Strategic Plan as a type of JD and then having candidates demonstrate how using their skills and experience they will deliver the plan. For me, it is a strange way of looking at candidate selection - that the community determines first what is to be done and then unanimously selects a leader to accomplish it. My experience of elections is that there are often two quite different proposals from political parties on what needs doing and voters select the approach they most agree with. What's being proposed in Kenya allows very little freedom for the candidate to present their own priorities and ideas for how the County should develop, but it is a very different context here and it is the common way of thinking - my boss and I actually just met with a Swedish development agency last week which is very interested in adopting our candidate vetting model across their governance reform programmes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21c_qhKBhlvAr261pcFFisMQVw1h3p4WHeeSyjEVirp2jw5ZIuUpn_rDuCpXuhK-WfOdVZEvnOwKPx8uzCIp9aqpAVi-kyG0RdWqfQc8tEDcqvHTSHVA8XDBes7g_0rYvUgP7z_Lp458/s1600/068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21c_qhKBhlvAr261pcFFisMQVw1h3p4WHeeSyjEVirp2jw5ZIuUpn_rDuCpXuhK-WfOdVZEvnOwKPx8uzCIp9aqpAVi-kyG0RdWqfQc8tEDcqvHTSHVA8XDBes7g_0rYvUgP7z_Lp458/s400/068.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A bit of entertainment to keep everyone alert.</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMZZJduIau00JmwLQow6yIlr2_sHW9G5-52Ndmtsd2wSzwY-ZUaWBXtypYvQ-jq-Xn36aoTgqyhNhMdzQpH52MqQcBrRvwXT4h1nQAVmG8R9-xtbIr7kS4oAaYLhRhqIvvMl1N8awBK8/s1600/079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMZZJduIau00JmwLQow6yIlr2_sHW9G5-52Ndmtsd2wSzwY-ZUaWBXtypYvQ-jq-Xn36aoTgqyhNhMdzQpH52MqQcBrRvwXT4h1nQAVmG8R9-xtbIr7kS4oAaYLhRhqIvvMl1N8awBK8/s400/079.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>While there was no break during the 6.5 hour meeting, <br />
we did distribute snacks of a loaf of bread and a soda or bottle of water to attendee.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The forum yesterday was really the beginning of this process - the introduction. All the attendees have been asked to identify which sector they would like to work specifically on, and in coming weeks there will be a series of meetings for each sector to look at specific issues, objectives and targets at a constituency level to feed into the County Strategic Plan. The meeting was 6.5 hours long, running 2.5 hours over, and I think if it hadn't been cut off could have gone on another hour or two. People are excited and hungry for this kind of change and first the first time are being actively involved in shaping the change and being asked to directly contribute to it. As I said before, it was inspiring to observe.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Briefly, in other news - I found out that my very first funding application has been approved since starting with the organisation 4 months ago (and considering average turn around time for most applications is about 6 months - this is pretty good!). In addition, it was a (smallish) proposal to a UN agency and is as such the first piece of UN funding I've ever secured. I can feel my CV getting fatter already!! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-4646232857221424022012-02-23T07:11:00.000-08:002012-02-23T07:11:12.683-08:00VSO Sector Conference 2012<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, maybe not the sexiest title of all my posts to date, but sometimes I think just say it like it is, and it was indeed the VSO Sector Conference 2012.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyTmFrsSzQny63JzBQA0BO7494xt957GUNOm01fz9CPHPdkyjR01mj9Rg_M4SvJCJRjmDmaUWscEY5ER_YXlonrvVb1KvDZUX_LQDAo7GqADX6geRHo8dsWCbYgzCPky7lOFGyNGjCM8/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyTmFrsSzQny63JzBQA0BO7494xt957GUNOm01fz9CPHPdkyjR01mj9Rg_M4SvJCJRjmDmaUWscEY5ER_YXlonrvVb1KvDZUX_LQDAo7GqADX6geRHo8dsWCbYgzCPky7lOFGyNGjCM8/s400/009.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The conference is the annual event where all VSO volunteers Kenya and representatives from their partner organisations come together for a few days of networking, information sharing, and skills development. There were about 80 of us all together over the few days, and it was a great time.</span></span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6nTpHWf66InQ2C288a1JrIBtf2_0kmHRTtPsTdkMnHdFxoQ8H3UtgfWXYAf0nHc6jmjcr8l5mJrMUKIbTUyymOUC-gGAqnwwWaEP7OogYAMetm-c2t8Tgb3XYxZf_53zQr8vzFh0dtV4/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6nTpHWf66InQ2C288a1JrIBtf2_0kmHRTtPsTdkMnHdFxoQ8H3UtgfWXYAf0nHc6jmjcr8l5mJrMUKIbTUyymOUC-gGAqnwwWaEP7OogYAMetm-c2t8Tgb3XYxZf_53zQr8vzFh0dtV4/s400/005.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">The event opened on the first night with <b>Speed Introductions</b>. It's like Speed Dating, but without the dating part. Which probably is for the best.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second day had a packed agenda. In the morning we began by hearing three (tear-jerking) testimonials from beneficiaries of organisations which work in partnership with VSO. There was Zachary, a blind young man in University, and Bernadeta, a Maasi widow who began a small local enterprise despite gender inequility in her community, and Evelyn, a Lou widow who fought for her rights to prevent being "inherited" (a practice by which the brother or father of the widow inherit the women into his household largely for sexual exploitation). Because VSO doesn't send volunteers to directly deliver services, we are in most cases in offices working in capacity building functions and often don't get to hear these stories. It was really very moving and powerful. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuHsvVjOwxojPnes6do5v0Gffkpb-3MHUYDcnAK1aGhLeVCdjVEf32MuyEqZZoE3ZH5zQ25D6OnOl0mkS4aRd3lnMcIRIZHKoGrelatvPXekMzJf81jVBfo_5sZQp1wjrdwaYi3ny_qM/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuHsvVjOwxojPnes6do5v0Gffkpb-3MHUYDcnAK1aGhLeVCdjVEf32MuyEqZZoE3ZH5zQ25D6OnOl0mkS4aRd3lnMcIRIZHKoGrelatvPXekMzJf81jVBfo_5sZQp1wjrdwaYi3ny_qM/s400/010.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is Zachary, a beneficiary of an organisation working with VSO. He shared his remarkable story with us. Kenya is not in anyway a friendly environment for people living with disabilities, and Zachary has overcome some significant challenges to become the first visually impaired or blind student at the University of Nairobi.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpnVgJ4q1J4zlzRAlaiYzQMfTFCkl5YAJFf-kR1unOf5g0teZ7cp7fWxSUX7sCW5BnqwCsBCMm6TL18U-qva1IyZbU90velvp1W5FITUX1Nh-kQC92ycGDHID6VfYdlpf6lryRt3fekk/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpnVgJ4q1J4zlzRAlaiYzQMfTFCkl5YAJFf-kR1unOf5g0teZ7cp7fWxSUX7sCW5BnqwCsBCMm6TL18U-qva1IyZbU90velvp1W5FITUX1Nh-kQC92ycGDHID6VfYdlpf6lryRt3fekk/s400/012.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Bernadeta. A Masai widow who through a VSO volunteer was supported to set up a small jewellery business which has now grown tremendously serving 3 markets. Even though the VSO programme was around secure livelihoods, the programme has done a lot to support inclusion of women on all levels within that particular community.</span></span> </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After the testimonials, we had the opportunity to take part in a series of small workshops covering issues such as governance, environmental programmes, and gender equality. The two workshops I attended were in Mainstreaming and Advocacy, which are actually related issues. Advocacy is about bringing a voice to those who aren't heard (usually to make specific needs or issues known) and mainstreaming is about working to effect change in policies and programmes (social, economic and political) to improve the lives and situations of those who are marginalised. The mainstreaming workshop focussed a lot on disability, as that is a key theme for VSO's work in Kenya, but I was able to consider work my organisation does which we don't always consider to be advocacy or mainstreaming. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrmTYW6OPYZgiNt6YgphoPnShtiyCajHYrncXK3gTxsPycwDhDKW7Jqkifl1KK-QEAITQMpgovHavUD1ibOg3RDJRvJ-vah5dTW7ZSj2ZTODwAieFgDMUTXDI-p1LbaoKbGi7Uvrltuw/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrmTYW6OPYZgiNt6YgphoPnShtiyCajHYrncXK3gTxsPycwDhDKW7Jqkifl1KK-QEAITQMpgovHavUD1ibOg3RDJRvJ-vah5dTW7ZSj2ZTODwAieFgDMUTXDI-p1LbaoKbGi7Uvrltuw/s400/017.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">A workshop on Mainstreaming led by volunteers Dan and Ben.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">We provide drop-in health and </span>counselling centres for high risk HIV groups known as MARPS (most at risk populations). In Kenya MARPS include sex workers, long distance truck drivers (known frequent clients of sex workers) and MSMs (men who have sex with men). We also provide economic empowerment support to these groups and work with local community leaders and businesses to share with them why our work with these groups is so important and how they can be involved in developing policies to ensuring open access to health facilities and small business start-ups. That's because prostitution and homosexuality are illegal in Kenya. What I took away from both the workshops is that we need to do more to articulate and celebrate the work that we are already doing in these areas and develop a more thoughtful and coordinated approach to our advocacy and mainstreaming activity (trying to avoid mentioning developing an advocacy strategy - but there it is!)</span></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBN_3dTJoEGjO3ieXYSI5rfrus4p8L78i0FymlQ6bcAPBEXjjokYuw1IdnXKYWHh2HHQJuDotfsYLEHpZ1L_ZL44rTQrfRSD4Z7gTlkskclI_CVBF0lTYjW0-VZodw-UlMPMt57ZlsZg/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBN_3dTJoEGjO3ieXYSI5rfrus4p8L78i0FymlQ6bcAPBEXjjokYuw1IdnXKYWHh2HHQJuDotfsYLEHpZ1L_ZL44rTQrfRSD4Z7gTlkskclI_CVBF0lTYjW0-VZodw-UlMPMt57ZlsZg/s400/015.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">And after a busy morning we stop for a good (and calorific!) Kenyan chai (tea) break.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the afternoon the volunteers and partner organisations divided into groups for our specific sector workshops. VSO currently works in three sectors in Kenya: Disability, Secure Livelihoods and Health (formerly HIV & AIDS), which is where my organisation sits. The workshop looked at the recent history of HIV&AIDS in Kenya and government policy on the issue. In 1999 the then president declared that HIV&AIDS was a national disaster and it as an issue (both health and social) was brought under the Office of the President rather than being allocated within one of the two health departments. As this was a verbal declaration it was never actually put into formal written legislation, however the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) was set up to coordinate efforts. Until this year more than 90% of HIV&AIDS funding in Kenya comes from international sources, with more than half coming from USAID. (Nearly 98% of my organisation's funding comes from US government sources - CDC, FHI, Walter Reed).</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MeVuOpSfGslaxwmuML-rZoPezgPS1tZfnp4Z6TVhPZKJC2iUJ2EU9a2FTT1SZoe4K_6bZV6leJ14I81UY32vhCS2MMNYZhqY-AkJkEh7-9IH1UwS9iCaZrI6sk-wNp5E0W4b7qw40lQ/s1600/025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MeVuOpSfGslaxwmuML-rZoPezgPS1tZfnp4Z6TVhPZKJC2iUJ2EU9a2FTT1SZoe4K_6bZV6leJ14I81UY32vhCS2MMNYZhqY-AkJkEh7-9IH1UwS9iCaZrI6sk-wNp5E0W4b7qw40lQ/s400/025.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1999 the HIV prevalence rate in Kenya was near 15% and today it is near 6% - a tremendous result in less than 15 years. So why so many concerned faces?? Because organisations, such as mine, have built themselves to fight the long fight against HIV&AIDS and find themselves now in a situation where AIDS is decreasing as a priority area and funding is quickly evaporating. NACC will likely be absorbed into one of the health ministries, no longer a national disaster, and USAID announced a couple weeks ago that AIDS funding in Kenya will decrease by 44% in 2013. HIV&AIDS will find itself alongside other health issues such as TB and cancer which also have significant socio-economic factors, and government policy and resources will start to focus on meeting a range of complex health issues in large regions of the country.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjjHt86n-D2af6YZbOcGmeLN8PwBjcKRQoVPnT2rjQL6F3WlWqDvXMhnOOSl9vKq2P3R2g5Fg4Rj_FWNBF12IaVVmysLPJF8RRspG3qL1USJ_KiG9fi0dt7VsbzNIQxtf0NWRLY6xo6U/s1600/037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjjHt86n-D2af6YZbOcGmeLN8PwBjcKRQoVPnT2rjQL6F3WlWqDvXMhnOOSl9vKq2P3R2g5Fg4Rj_FWNBF12IaVVmysLPJF8RRspG3qL1USJ_KiG9fi0dt7VsbzNIQxtf0NWRLY6xo6U/s400/037.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">My neighbours, Andrea and Harvey.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, what's to be done? VSO's example is to start early and move away from exclusive HIV&AIDS focus to encompass wider health issues. As well, it will be important for organisations to form partnerships and consortia with other organisations who offer different geographic coverage as future funding will likely require full country coverage. It's a changing time in Kenya and for organisations such as mine, which actually spotted this coming a year or two ago and started to move then to offer more holistic services to those infected and affected by HIV. I will be carrying the conversation forward so we begin to identify long term partners, brining us neatly onto the next picture...</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSBYvnu0659ag1203LvTy2_y8U4jQbY4bHZY8r4m9YtqeKmqgEnDhyjFkxoCf0uY9hG5XD74kriIpG9moRuoVuT8asUU_0zijL_6jLBS-7e85x97p1d4bwae8_d9o1GMx6k4_XutnP_4/s1600/034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSBYvnu0659ag1203LvTy2_y8U4jQbY4bHZY8r4m9YtqeKmqgEnDhyjFkxoCf0uY9hG5XD74kriIpG9moRuoVuT8asUU_0zijL_6jLBS-7e85x97p1d4bwae8_d9o1GMx6k4_XutnP_4/s400/034.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the final morning of the conference there was a World Cafe exercise on funding. A World Cafe is where there are a number of tables each on a slightly different discussion topic around a room and delegates move between the tables to contribute to a number of on-going discussions. It a very effective and efficient way of gathering input from many people on many topics in a short amount of time. Fundraising is a topic which comes up in everyone's placement - regardless of the job title - so this was a very welcome and pertinent activity. There were 8 tables covering topics such as corporate donations, raising core funding, and alternative resource mobilisation. I hosted the table on partnership and consortia fundraising. I really enjoyed the exercise and came away having learned a lot from the contribution of those participating. I look forward to write up as well to see what I missed at the other tables.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9TjFINT66Tp7bR8KUw5Z_vCaqhMuOIOdClpRDoF06h3lwBZGKAsQ2J-qHKtJQM5bGxj9NDPptzYEehUe6CMDCsYxd7AbmVpivKal4gyGfH_4lAL4zcOmyKWXMQnIgQtcdG0WtbK9dv8/s1600/041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9TjFINT66Tp7bR8KUw5Z_vCaqhMuOIOdClpRDoF06h3lwBZGKAsQ2J-qHKtJQM5bGxj9NDPptzYEehUe6CMDCsYxd7AbmVpivKal4gyGfH_4lAL4zcOmyKWXMQnIgQtcdG0WtbK9dv8/s400/041.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">My colleague Charles who came as the representative from my organisation.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After 2 days the conference was over and people started making their way back to the far reaches of the country from whence they came. But not before a little boogie - what an appropriate way to end a conference! It was great and I look forward to next year.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDlK-6tXNK7kMgAdwARXdSfv4dhxMfQa4i3F1H0rvUbevAnwgHEKzFYrNqKvlk0zqWwrWuysFCfXCZhds9HwYyPQQVb-aBWRXf0CTg2aB1o9ez9Yeed2lhAH_rWE_SPd_Vog1E3UZCkQ/s1600/049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDlK-6tXNK7kMgAdwARXdSfv4dhxMfQa4i3F1H0rvUbevAnwgHEKzFYrNqKvlk0zqWwrWuysFCfXCZhds9HwYyPQQVb-aBWRXf0CTg2aB1o9ez9Yeed2lhAH_rWE_SPd_Vog1E3UZCkQ/s400/049.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div><br />
</div></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-31297769166953856422012-02-14T09:05:00.000-08:002012-02-14T09:05:03.257-08:00Hiking with Harvey<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On Sunday I went hiking (read: "walking along dirt paths") with my friend Harvey, another VSO volunteer.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitST4X_225krjSGToCOm38SK-Uy9xlHSLWEGd59rLxVJ3BPCt5Ur2JrOP1o11Z7MGpeahHSofo4-pn3nO3jB-fSHqu2Raz7mxMuucd-LA2kqDI3tLIzzDNfucRb8bUbrhBaansYEgONvE/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitST4X_225krjSGToCOm38SK-Uy9xlHSLWEGd59rLxVJ3BPCt5Ur2JrOP1o11Z7MGpeahHSofo4-pn3nO3jB-fSHqu2Raz7mxMuucd-LA2kqDI3tLIzzDNfucRb8bUbrhBaansYEgONvE/s400/011.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There are many places to hike outside of Nairobi which are amazing and beautiful. However they are difficult to get to by public transportation, therefore requiring expensive taxis, and entrance fees can be quite high and sometimes include the cost of 2 armed guards which escort you on the hike. Finding expanses of green space inside Nairobi is difficult. Finding green space in Nairobi which is safe even more difficult. And finding green space which is safe, easily accessible by matatu and inexpensive to enter nearly impossible. </span> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU47EAa57_kD9DF5sFXaACsYG8psGQjtiFXMghaQEC0Ithc8vLGI2hrbZhMMZA-pdhbjJCr5A6BYxcJLYOBGj1evJfgeGi_yPmUQIOYYgXNj4D0s5KuTGA5HZVtSBYPP6Fs2d_jAnR13M/s1600/028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU47EAa57_kD9DF5sFXaACsYG8psGQjtiFXMghaQEC0Ithc8vLGI2hrbZhMMZA-pdhbjJCr5A6BYxcJLYOBGj1evJfgeGi_yPmUQIOYYgXNj4D0s5KuTGA5HZVtSBYPP6Fs2d_jAnR13M/s400/028.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hiking is one of my absolute favourite pastimes, and with exception of the epic hike of Mount Longonot over New Year's (read: "climbing up face of volcano and nearly dying"), I haven't had the opportunity to do much since arriving in Kenya. So </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">when Harvey asked if I would go hiking in Karura Forest, a park run by Kenya Forest Service, just a mile north of the City Centre, I was definitely keen to try. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb37FgHwULLlq5H9x9PDIekzRoqUB8pPWN0AJ-pxsbvN42KJuWmx-qlktvdFWBruvL5kv43GJIB8zXPqYV4FpGltQOX8W_uRIflLAVK_Gmw8KAHFEjbWmymEPouF-NYoGqoNuAwjvMgys/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb37FgHwULLlq5H9x9PDIekzRoqUB8pPWN0AJ-pxsbvN42KJuWmx-qlktvdFWBruvL5kv43GJIB8zXPqYV4FpGltQOX8W_uRIflLAVK_Gmw8KAHFEjbWmymEPouF-NYoGqoNuAwjvMgys/s400/012.JPG" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Harvey points to a tall tree.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;">Karura Forest is just beautiful. It is covered in tall (and I mean tall!) trees which makes it cool and shady. There is a creek with a lovely waterfall. And there is a line of caves which were used by the Mau-Mau, freedom fighters pushing for Kenyan independence from the British in the 50s. For wildlife there are monkeys (which we saw plenty of) and other more obscure animals such as bush pigs and dik diks which alluded us.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9AQHaxYpuZzEQLH6ZZpTzcfjr-KvgxcNASWWSkFLz0U8AAYyKrHLLHg1Tq2lJqm7C_t5vqJwVLuOkU6vsGBAec4eYtcyl0GZd30g5PEilwOTtkUgUl867-XoD-8ixwTJdAzG1U_cpdI/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9AQHaxYpuZzEQLH6ZZpTzcfjr-KvgxcNASWWSkFLz0U8AAYyKrHLLHg1Tq2lJqm7C_t5vqJwVLuOkU6vsGBAec4eYtcyl0GZd30g5PEilwOTtkUgUl867-XoD-8ixwTJdAzG1U_cpdI/s400/014.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The park used to have a reputation of not being safe, with muggings not unheard of at all, but the Forest Service has put up a fence and placed askari (guards) every few kilometers or so. It is very safe now - there were many families and joggers and people walking their dogs. Sadly in the whole day I can't remember seeing a single Kenyan in the park - it was all wazungu (foreigners). </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Might seem strange to have a whole post about a Sunday morning hike (still read: "walk along dirt paths") but Nairobi can be a difficult city to live in. It is dirty (dirt on the ground, dust and exhaust in the air) and it is </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">aggressive. Just getting to work each morning can involve arguing over the inflated "foreigner" price for transportation, an elbow or two in the ribs trying to get a seat on a matatu, narrowly avoiding 3 car accidents, crossing highways heavy with speeding traffic, walking more than a mile over dirt and rock paths covered in broken glass, and crossing the Nairobi River on a rickety bridge basically put together with a few planks of wood and some gaffa tape.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> That's just the morning commute. Finding a piece of quiet, clean, safe forest may just be a saving grace.</span> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXkMO4ponEIdPyv08vkOUd-uB5TBlVgiO6vjbKRasL703xpVKtVsoA_sNY9aqi22_rEhgt9OzF_oydM7ocTk7meguB48MZZeVKWCnrvY3q3zB026V_02C5ptK24iXK8Eo9icc4FswzFM/s1600/022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXkMO4ponEIdPyv08vkOUd-uB5TBlVgiO6vjbKRasL703xpVKtVsoA_sNY9aqi22_rEhgt9OzF_oydM7ocTk7meguB48MZZeVKWCnrvY3q3zB026V_02C5ptK24iXK8Eo9icc4FswzFM/s400/022.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Standing in one of the Mau-Mau caves.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;">There are 50km of hiking trails in the park, so plenty left to explore. And plenty more opportunity to spot that elusive dik dik (will get a photo for you Nick!).</span></span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-17046535175484830352012-02-07T09:17:00.000-08:002012-02-07T09:17:10.183-08:00A Kenya Wedding Album<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You may remember from the Jamhuri Day post that my house-mates and I were invited to attend the wedding of the son of Barbara's boss, Josephine. Well last Saturday was the big day. So big, that I took 226 photos. While I won't put all of them here, I thought I would put enough to walk you through the day, a la photo album style. Let's give it a go..</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB-MNi4xEuIPSmR9fIzi4k15WeaMsaD815Xn-OAU3RUKmMI5HU9-U3lRah_6CiZSM-onMH3t0baUgS_j3KS79uiI7NxKb_3_SW6siJvgpZD1pWxtdeHT-bWYIQER6eCtxNm98lfQmB-Tw/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB-MNi4xEuIPSmR9fIzi4k15WeaMsaD815Xn-OAU3RUKmMI5HU9-U3lRah_6CiZSM-onMH3t0baUgS_j3KS79uiI7NxKb_3_SW6siJvgpZD1pWxtdeHT-bWYIQER6eCtxNm98lfQmB-Tw/s400/002.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Andrea and I waiting for the wedding to start. </b><br />
The invitation said the start was at 10am, so we arrived at 10.45am. <br />
The wedding actually started at noon. You may be able to tell a bit from this photo that the church was quite modern with capacity for around 1000. When the wedding started the church was about 1/2 full, but by the end it had mostly filled up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhONOQ_TmlILy8dtRJbJU8XGnKaR7QnYWNTalRTscCbiMjFxdmvJMrgdPiUR8oWhTXkVYi58aX2pG4QBf42-WkEd9CUXXuHXVTt4JgnhV0CErykp5LyUIjJCbBmWoj2myKnKtiu8mMbtJk/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhONOQ_TmlILy8dtRJbJU8XGnKaR7QnYWNTalRTscCbiMjFxdmvJMrgdPiUR8oWhTXkVYi58aX2pG4QBf42-WkEd9CUXXuHXVTt4JgnhV0CErykp5LyUIjJCbBmWoj2myKnKtiu8mMbtJk/s400/004.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>The flower girls and rind bearers.</b><br />
We were surprised by how Western the wedding was in format and style. There was a typical procession of bridesmaids and groomsmen in matching colour-schemes. <br />
One difference was that instead of playing music during this part, there was an MC narrating the activity.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidbIJ_7CWThrQsuE-WFY5Hl4ZkFhyzLhl4OusGl5ECbRlhR5xRIyXJ4wZSqQKyoe1758QwPC3yGsQthkq4D6sATlcX_YO1my5WN43KXEOnbjwZXsi9GYlHMpmFUr43IxHei_I9LSv9I54/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidbIJ_7CWThrQsuE-WFY5Hl4ZkFhyzLhl4OusGl5ECbRlhR5xRIyXJ4wZSqQKyoe1758QwPC3yGsQthkq4D6sATlcX_YO1my5WN43KXEOnbjwZXsi9GYlHMpmFUr43IxHei_I9LSv9I54/s400/010.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Waiting for the bride, part 1.</b><br />
We were surprised that most of the 600 some-odd guests were women.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGasyRzf-H-nu3NI1VTaiwFMZGrlTBMat4qMMQHK75J_fk5B61tc2UqPyBPjFmu1QEldyumkH-O_1IEHO8egvoqcGfKli-5s_pgsAzyULiV9dy2bS9lbc0WjRqZ1kW5yemUU6ljn_SJ8w/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGasyRzf-H-nu3NI1VTaiwFMZGrlTBMat4qMMQHK75J_fk5B61tc2UqPyBPjFmu1QEldyumkH-O_1IEHO8egvoqcGfKli-5s_pgsAzyULiV9dy2bS9lbc0WjRqZ1kW5yemUU6ljn_SJ8w/s400/011.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Waiting for the bride, part 2.</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghXcYa4qHlssDS0WnBxdHgHkhuGpeDZt9_s-tTvFQCpIvCjMFPDk5ybmGfj40NhdjYTog79hzfrfkvZVfWW0h7GxVgHUFP9e5teEl3aqukx0vktkI3dwSYYDnrGJG1GTD9EUdlX4JbavU/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghXcYa4qHlssDS0WnBxdHgHkhuGpeDZt9_s-tTvFQCpIvCjMFPDk5ybmGfj40NhdjYTog79hzfrfkvZVfWW0h7GxVgHUFP9e5teEl3aqukx0vktkI3dwSYYDnrGJG1GTD9EUdlX4JbavU/s400/014.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here comes the bride..</span></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgviFelOlpcDpoBeTKgcqsrq3Ml0Po5IsQCyQoHRhbdUB8ug9LA1Z7BigBjAQkk0HdOVFVustUmQtq0tlqUCDlB-n-PRpj6ahTLKfitXnRPBtsu6WlDX8dAJnqsQv5gOSZ-CA8NmepJk/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgviFelOlpcDpoBeTKgcqsrq3Ml0Po5IsQCyQoHRhbdUB8ug9LA1Z7BigBjAQkk0HdOVFVustUmQtq0tlqUCDlB-n-PRpj6ahTLKfitXnRPBtsu6WlDX8dAJnqsQv5gOSZ-CA8NmepJk/s400/017.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Praying for the couple.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguga2OXYIXu339MEvAgQbGKrp1RsgFTIJfTZLE4F2_djiLax7aGgQi_bWbjhshNTNvowSg2DcMgcJDi5mBXAyQE6MAHrVoGNvLO1HJqP65I4C_uZI-Fm8f6XJBq8NVbkcrGlNUFoLIDuA/s1600/026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguga2OXYIXu339MEvAgQbGKrp1RsgFTIJfTZLE4F2_djiLax7aGgQi_bWbjhshNTNvowSg2DcMgcJDi5mBXAyQE6MAHrVoGNvLO1HJqP65I4C_uZI-Fm8f6XJBq8NVbkcrGlNUFoLIDuA/s400/026.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>The ceremony begins.</b><br />
The service was in English and included a 20 sermon, exchange of vows and rings and blessing by the parents.<br />
This is a rare unobstructed photo as you will see from the next one...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vNRmF38iUH9wXh1DOrn28qOrg82r649HaU1HpWYIYwQT3qe8HlfpRntMbO0yq1HmbaParHwCpm_jx-x_dX_aJxPujaCn-Byp6qJDBh-eJfzkzmwX84P2R_UAvnzBtJZY2abBUEstdO4/s1600/033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vNRmF38iUH9wXh1DOrn28qOrg82r649HaU1HpWYIYwQT3qe8HlfpRntMbO0yq1HmbaParHwCpm_jx-x_dX_aJxPujaCn-Byp6qJDBh-eJfzkzmwX84P2R_UAvnzBtJZY2abBUEstdO4/s400/033.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Cameras cameras everywhere.</b><br />
Yes, catching glimpses of the service in between the camera men <br />
and photographers was difficult.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47QvAdFI4NeDZAJvCnrwlk4MR_ujxlNC7y_PxsVEzXAzLDObmzYI97l23i3lJTqg7BKzEezp0z5sDrnHuKBEdB-n1cL5ngCUxTwYAo1qJ1EQUc15X1JfWeB_DAoDbRDHAA57vvr-FUXo/s1600/053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47QvAdFI4NeDZAJvCnrwlk4MR_ujxlNC7y_PxsVEzXAzLDObmzYI97l23i3lJTqg7BKzEezp0z5sDrnHuKBEdB-n1cL5ngCUxTwYAo1qJ1EQUc15X1JfWeB_DAoDbRDHAA57vvr-FUXo/s400/053.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">"Yes, you're married now"</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaXNtv3Z79Brh_nke8StP4-rwH50VXqWzcm-DXJhAr4MZszvjkkzbTyWrDAD3EKtLiOdmuuPFDayNM9mrSgtV9j0uZZfBSQ2medwIbucQNzPeZ-VyIxe2biLiEtm5zCoFBQfW6RSdSao/s1600/060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaXNtv3Z79Brh_nke8StP4-rwH50VXqWzcm-DXJhAr4MZszvjkkzbTyWrDAD3EKtLiOdmuuPFDayNM9mrSgtV9j0uZZfBSQ2medwIbucQNzPeZ-VyIxe2biLiEtm5zCoFBQfW6RSdSao/s400/060.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">The aunties sing a song.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwZ6xQe7vzfbwOFdJZn9w45dqUQHgCGPdYaszXPyryLyH-BbfHtsybSypBp9FeW2vy4C-HKXAOvN2fneYPkxR4_bnwVwdftqJMoik4l121owqGaQm77Z8O4sSyH0k11VNN3wXIjY9C5MA/s1600/070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwZ6xQe7vzfbwOFdJZn9w45dqUQHgCGPdYaszXPyryLyH-BbfHtsybSypBp9FeW2vy4C-HKXAOvN2fneYPkxR4_bnwVwdftqJMoik4l121owqGaQm77Z8O4sSyH0k11VNN3wXIjY9C5MA/s400/070.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>All smiles.</b><br />
The bride and groom with the bride's family,</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAyWHPc-UrkBbp15WsiM-OoypPp9wrufhtWGqYYRCrwGCxNkEoT84Qr13ng2c79lvzpmiigryFEEKmrk1_4m7XVOumNGZxdlp9-quEGaj9c8cbs6gk3ZWWxg1RNmXi-rVVlJH-1HsJ0g/s1600/075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAyWHPc-UrkBbp15WsiM-OoypPp9wrufhtWGqYYRCrwGCxNkEoT84Qr13ng2c79lvzpmiigryFEEKmrk1_4m7XVOumNGZxdlp9-quEGaj9c8cbs6gk3ZWWxg1RNmXi-rVVlJH-1HsJ0g/s400/075.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">The wedding car.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_B6Vd1fw8JMNSEGRsMnaPincaxOt1WHlupOtlSGXMPhAGMDEVl8Kxta75Zq-hxpOFi40cVsZDoYQjPcHqFmxlL5q-iOxvPOS63AnUCEp9pAiVmFBku7iE4MexNbWpmnpFHYiZQy64yA8/s1600/077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_B6Vd1fw8JMNSEGRsMnaPincaxOt1WHlupOtlSGXMPhAGMDEVl8Kxta75Zq-hxpOFi40cVsZDoYQjPcHqFmxlL5q-iOxvPOS63AnUCEp9pAiVmFBku7iE4MexNbWpmnpFHYiZQy64yA8/s400/077.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Reception tent.</b><br />
The reception was held at a sports ground and had two tent like this one on either side, one for bride's guests and one for the grooms. In the middle of the two tents was a walkway, space for dancing to come, and most importantly...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFrJwNnhtHiAN7pepw4_dSOXaeGzuu6yZKGpx9GGdtekdGREc-4wqE23E4hHoNgyPeI1uVx0Wglwck_rSyvkAomHsWCQHzl3N2lWPDeFz6Kgae22ximwcru-8QA9seQDgI4c3k2RjtAQ/s1600/082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFrJwNnhtHiAN7pepw4_dSOXaeGzuu6yZKGpx9GGdtekdGREc-4wqE23E4hHoNgyPeI1uVx0Wglwck_rSyvkAomHsWCQHzl3N2lWPDeFz6Kgae22ximwcru-8QA9seQDgI4c3k2RjtAQ/s400/082.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>The cake stand.</b><br />
The cake wasn't cut until the very end of the reception. Most of the cakes there are given as gifts to the parents and family of the couple. For the other guests the cake is cut into bite-sized pieces and a plate is passed around with a fork to take one - <br />
but I used my fingers to pick one up.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphvnJZBbGu05X07Z4xH0LboaMoc3norfq3fUZIlDaXYKe0Rzyka7Dx9oc0PbLsDh1hOPjnJG6wEBEAiO1ATOIMOfSPfkEW9MruJUCCxqsDVi0iSstUOq0zFulswMrD8DjX4CHRq1jD-c/s1600/085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphvnJZBbGu05X07Z4xH0LboaMoc3norfq3fUZIlDaXYKe0Rzyka7Dx9oc0PbLsDh1hOPjnJG6wEBEAiO1ATOIMOfSPfkEW9MruJUCCxqsDVi0iSstUOq0zFulswMrD8DjX4CHRq1jD-c/s400/085.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">Barbara and I waiting for lunch.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh16EUtsCm-I_cBsCFHkOBaXu1nVzUqkQ9URcekwz_bVBF7RCrUtHoTL2-_o40v67R9Vpwq9UGKrqY8QbEophTw_sl00xvlQvahjLv0eVVfzO-YmqwbNRaP0URuOk4G685C0Vl_ZpI1GVU/s1600/095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh16EUtsCm-I_cBsCFHkOBaXu1nVzUqkQ9URcekwz_bVBF7RCrUtHoTL2-_o40v67R9Vpwq9UGKrqY8QbEophTw_sl00xvlQvahjLv0eVVfzO-YmqwbNRaP0URuOk4G685C0Vl_ZpI1GVU/s400/095.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1YUPaorIh7fnBfE-7XcsC1vzKJ2y1lEskGLgeXgHxVIgTj7P9LcOwj5QwhRikceaDyCG5dwJeyEUPYSOhIViBc2Pq9ZGfYlLoveruAMHOh8Py2Q1oZ54LF1xRuJidCdvT9-V6ZoaFqU/s1600/101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1YUPaorIh7fnBfE-7XcsC1vzKJ2y1lEskGLgeXgHxVIgTj7P9LcOwj5QwhRikceaDyCG5dwJeyEUPYSOhIViBc2Pq9ZGfYlLoveruAMHOh8Py2Q1oZ54LF1xRuJidCdvT9-V6ZoaFqU/s400/101.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Lunch.</b><br />
Lunch included traditional Kenyan fare of beans, ugali, irio and rice. There were also another 3 dishes with goat - but I don't eat goat so you don't get to see those.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYzDicy6rSiXLPI3PdK69Ek-UccNmIB1lLjIAZkxCgy3is71fNE6aemC56C6n13KNhIYgRlmeY-KU_jVCu2CUm_DYB7FyG9E4GNGPcSlZjDGH5aJ-poxJydIgpHk1nWlAmsr1S1Fv0-N8/s1600/106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYzDicy6rSiXLPI3PdK69Ek-UccNmIB1lLjIAZkxCgy3is71fNE6aemC56C6n13KNhIYgRlmeY-KU_jVCu2CUm_DYB7FyG9E4GNGPcSlZjDGH5aJ-poxJydIgpHk1nWlAmsr1S1Fv0-N8/s400/106.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Dancing.</b><br />
After lunch there was some dancing. After 2 hours the wedding party had not yet arrived at the reception so the MC encouraged people to dance while we waited.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeF45fk0LJ-RL_Q1cSpQYEhxDDbj0azma7-RRVsMnUah9zaO8Z9eJRqHd-1tdbHdkGfD0ON0qmYXf04h0wI8sLQZ26aQuLk4fNwQ96s9SBH5yheJEZYQInKqfFpF6G3enuXhZjdwHmls/s1600/115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeF45fk0LJ-RL_Q1cSpQYEhxDDbj0azma7-RRVsMnUah9zaO8Z9eJRqHd-1tdbHdkGfD0ON0qmYXf04h0wI8sLQZ26aQuLk4fNwQ96s9SBH5yheJEZYQInKqfFpF6G3enuXhZjdwHmls/s400/115.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">With Josephine, mother of the groom.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7nuhldxPcomCApY6yNOLZz7e_bIoGXx33WdYHBd61gf8xPKy8fmCeG5LeXqBvx2-L4H5HMI-MCfLrXiUH2Cd84FgRnsSJniGGXRLyEaxUDVzZUPZXxSgPu8EhTKJQ7KhUOX5Qs3XsS4/s1600/128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7nuhldxPcomCApY6yNOLZz7e_bIoGXx33WdYHBd61gf8xPKy8fmCeG5LeXqBvx2-L4H5HMI-MCfLrXiUH2Cd84FgRnsSJniGGXRLyEaxUDVzZUPZXxSgPu8EhTKJQ7KhUOX5Qs3XsS4/s400/128.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Arrival of bride and groom.</b><br />
When the wedding party did finally arrive, all the women went out to escort the bride to the reception while chanting and kind of shuffle-dancing. I don't know what was being chanted, but we joined in the shuffle fun.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinAbRYpwM_AXpZEMhzrAo7SxdOFtnM91Zn0R2xk0KpKq-XxziFpoMqqwZdE3nREBlIa-VI-9zyeGe9LGHu8xGdS-KprgyXvbXkNUcH4H2s0vssteZs54cbobyPrm-rPmVU3rGUZCDEjg/s1600/141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinAbRYpwM_AXpZEMhzrAo7SxdOFtnM91Zn0R2xk0KpKq-XxziFpoMqqwZdE3nREBlIa-VI-9zyeGe9LGHu8xGdS-KprgyXvbXkNUcH4H2s0vssteZs54cbobyPrm-rPmVU3rGUZCDEjg/s400/141.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;">Once to the reception, the proceeded through an arch, followed by two lines <br />
of shuffle-dancing guests.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Kikuyu dress.</b><br />
Both the bride and groom come from the Kikuyu tribe - the largest tribe in Kenya and most prevalent in the central province which surrounds Nairobi. This is a traditional bridal dress which was presented to the bride.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGqwRxTnAjYU5LaM48vIrTLxvzfXEv9bY_dXzrB8ujRLXBLDh_kN_-0Q-Lm9FMUhnejSkeqJf-9z7IzKukfyc0WRzK_vGmxHOMvB5gNEM48lboIykyu3MT_piucaAtQT59zzwDQvOS6g/s1600/183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGqwRxTnAjYU5LaM48vIrTLxvzfXEv9bY_dXzrB8ujRLXBLDh_kN_-0Q-Lm9FMUhnejSkeqJf-9z7IzKukfyc0WRzK_vGmxHOMvB5gNEM48lboIykyu3MT_piucaAtQT59zzwDQvOS6g/s400/183.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Speeches.</b><br />
There were a number of speeches given over the course of the afternoon. <br />
None of which I understood. Not because my Swahili isn't good enough - <br />
but because they were all in Kikuyu, the tribal language. There was one speech given in Swahili so that the wazungus (foreigners) could understand. <br />
That one I didn't understand because my Swahili isn't good enough.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>And the prize for the largest wedding gift goes to...</b><br />
The bride's family for this bed. The giving of the bed signifies that the bride has chosen to leave her home and make home with her husband. When she returns to her family's home it should be with her husband. <br />
Most gifts to the couple were money and little brown envelopes were distributed throughout the afternoon for that very purpose. Groups of people who did have gifts for the couple would come up in their groups (family, co-workers, church members - there were about 10 or 12 different groups) sing a song for the couple as a group and then present them their gift. We had bought a card and gave them some money which we discretely put on the gift table. Andrea and I tried to work out what our song and dance might be if were forced to go up. Due to childhood continental differences, the only dance we both knew was the Macarena, and for that reason let's all be glad we weren't forced to go up!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that about brings us to an end. One other thing I wanted to share is a song that became the theme song of the day. It was played while the couple walked down the aisle after the ceremony and several times during the reception. It is catchy and Andrea and I had it stuck in our heads for a couple days - so I decided to share that joy with you! Here's a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF8gAGzj4ec">link</a> to it if you are interested - although be warned that you will be humming it for a while!</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-60569490182352816102012-02-01T08:25:00.000-08:002012-02-01T21:13:48.913-08:00To the Field and Back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week I spent 3 days on my first field visit with work. A field visit (a term newish to myself as well) is anytime staff leave the office and go to visit a location where the organisation actually delivers services. For I Choose Life this is usually either a university, a high school, or a community health clinic. I have had a field visit in Nairobi, where I travelled less than 5 miles to visit a sexual health drop-in centre in Nairobi’s Industrial Area which works specifically with sex workers and MSM (men who have sex with men – as gay men are called in developing countries). On that occasion I was out of the office for less than 3 hours. This time I was gone for 3 days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Tea Field in Kericho</i></b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of my team of 5 (yes, it used to be 6 but it is now 5) 3 are based in Nairobi and 2 are based in the Rift Valley. The Rift Valley is the largest of the 8 provinces of Kenya and stretches all the way from Ethiopia in the north to Tanzania in the south. It is where I spent a week travelling between Christmas and New Year’s, and despite the fact that it is the only place I have been outside of Nairobi – it is hands down the most beautiful part of Kenya.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvN0pw1uL2gspjKFWOjrQbqpclLycrtL5N-kDbn9wdK_i5qByFUz94f5Zg0NZmUey705eJ8s8aYoovO8ba6v4s3qrKfL2iE18v41ycig8wNTTXaFPyNBTcepxWn7aRXU9bJnhE7OcdQs/s1600/076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvN0pw1uL2gspjKFWOjrQbqpclLycrtL5N-kDbn9wdK_i5qByFUz94f5Zg0NZmUey705eJ8s8aYoovO8ba6v4s3qrKfL2iE18v41ycig8wNTTXaFPyNBTcepxWn7aRXU9bJnhE7OcdQs/s400/076.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of our projects is based in Kericho. This particular one has 15 staff and has several community sexual and reproductive health (SRH) sites spanning a 400km area. As there were 2 other managers from the head office travelling with me on this visit, we were able to take a car and driver rather than matatu as the cost would have been comparable. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Bsa0LUDUpzUXW8Q34QkXz4o7X4xHqkY-HsuJ5ZfekEmH2DHbj1TxHoVy3jAgDKHS6ISu__wXwHAqOR4-gFEKPP-_vlB7qaISCRIZ3FXXlZyiayHDbKbo4ahgLqr4FYoRY2w9tnEmtC0/s1600/033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Bsa0LUDUpzUXW8Q34QkXz4o7X4xHqkY-HsuJ5ZfekEmH2DHbj1TxHoVy3jAgDKHS6ISu__wXwHAqOR4-gFEKPP-_vlB7qaISCRIZ3FXXlZyiayHDbKbo4ahgLqr4FYoRY2w9tnEmtC0/s400/033.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
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</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It took us around 5 hours to travel to Kericho. The first 3 hours were on good roads (“good roads” and “bad roads” are common vocabulary in Kenya) however the final 2 hours were bad roads. And when I say bad, I mean bad. The kind of roads that no one in the US or UK would consider driving down without a 4-wheel drive monster of a truck or SUV, Kenyans plunge onto in tiny two-wheel drive sedans. Roads that are dirt and rocks and hole and dips. Roads that despite it being 30C (90F) outside and no air conditioning you have to keep the car windows rolled up to prevent the dust stirred up by other vehicles coming into the car. Yes, I nearly passed out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbmU68TyH0skMSUiyb0i4zpNfFAfXd4LNDvFwWs4Y7MtDbCaYVweb8Dh5gR1okmNAbY4Z5fd91fi6zDZb7v-JNyn7Oc5rTy_4pWX-KTIdl5i71ml5XblJoSY0c2bxlZJtnEQVMNnN8d8/s1600/041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbmU68TyH0skMSUiyb0i4zpNfFAfXd4LNDvFwWs4Y7MtDbCaYVweb8Dh5gR1okmNAbY4Z5fd91fi6zDZb7v-JNyn7Oc5rTy_4pWX-KTIdl5i71ml5XblJoSY0c2bxlZJtnEQVMNnN8d8/s400/041.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the journey was beautiful. Kericho is most famous for growing tea, and there are tea fields everywhere – and they are beautiful. I don’t know much about the tea industry in Kenya, except that like the coffee industry, most of the raw material is exported cheaply to the North – the UK is largest market for raw tea from Kenya (Unilever and their subsidiary PG Tips grow most their tea here).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Housing provided for tea workers.</i></b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Women working in the tea fields.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The town of Kericho is quite small. Less than a quarter square mile covers the centre which has a couple of budget hotels, some clothing shops and barber, and two supermarkets. Kericho is also the home to Walter Reed (the international development funders – not the hospital) and they have their large offices there (which we were able to visit as they are the primary funder for our programme there).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzi_ZBK5oBB1QKAdd0b4IJSDLxvTZLv-Mh6XjsWbAPrtOltImLTVojrFjGtvS-AxwbXx-5KQidtnREvT2JuKWy1B7srRQrAEoF394cQnuufHH4qcE_bcIjBoj9Lb8XRTCmkNmPfouMxcU/s1600/027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzi_ZBK5oBB1QKAdd0b4IJSDLxvTZLv-Mh6XjsWbAPrtOltImLTVojrFjGtvS-AxwbXx-5KQidtnREvT2JuKWy1B7srRQrAEoF394cQnuufHH4qcE_bcIjBoj9Lb8XRTCmkNmPfouMxcU/s400/027.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Charles and I</i></b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We spent 2 nights in Kericho and our time there was quite busy. Myself, the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and the Human Resources Manager (who I travelled from Nairobi with) all spent the first morning meeting individually with our team members. I and Charles (who is my allocated staff member from that project, but who is also the programme manager) met to review the proposal he has been assigned to work on this month. I mentioned in an early post that after carrying out an audit of the RM Team I was going to change the meeting structure from weekly team meetings to one monthly team meeting and monthly individual meetings with each of the team members. The meeting went well – we were able to put together a good outline for the proposal and identify where there were gaps we needed to fill – such as bringing in more research to evidence the need for the programme and identify specific delivery partners.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJS2kU8ioYjP-wIDPrPFPaf3c4tYFeFsOVWC1SulooDQjghWFAQ_srncqBErfvzIkPcZUoM4TYypcBaNgmkDRiQtLqp71GzPNFpgDWGptnmu7O0VF6m_7LpHOLJMgxwAnfiI67SyFOYP8/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJS2kU8ioYjP-wIDPrPFPaf3c4tYFeFsOVWC1SulooDQjghWFAQ_srncqBErfvzIkPcZUoM4TYypcBaNgmkDRiQtLqp71GzPNFpgDWGptnmu7O0VF6m_7LpHOLJMgxwAnfiI67SyFOYP8/s400/016.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>During all team meeting.</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following our individual meetings, there was a large meeting with all the 15 members of the project and us managers from Head Office. The team presented an overview of their work – a map with all of the project sites and activities, their objectives and targets achieved last year, and plans for the upcoming year. The programme based from Kericho works across a number of themes: clinical services, counseling and economic support for Most at Risk Populations (MARPs) which include sex workers and their clients (especially long distance truck drivers) and MSMs, sexual and reproductive health education and testing services for high school and university students, ad community family planning services. This was a great session which provided a lot of information – and most importantly it was great to be able to hear about the projects directly from the staff who deliver them rather than reading about them in reports. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgeYhDydLgxh_XJdKsk7cOC26XXLy5gD3UTNcJIiS2JQmqdeZ3x94Mj8bMMk-6uLjt_strg-tKCRgnEZ6jUZbpZcJGJH1J2odOGZ1f0cZg8seQ1t5gXzqsF6vR5DX5bUG3qqVkCMyoCMA/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgeYhDydLgxh_XJdKsk7cOC26XXLy5gD3UTNcJIiS2JQmqdeZ3x94Mj8bMMk-6uLjt_strg-tKCRgnEZ6jUZbpZcJGJH1J2odOGZ1f0cZg8seQ1t5gXzqsF6vR5DX5bUG3qqVkCMyoCMA/s400/018.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Myself and other managers then took time to present a summary of our areas of work and what we will be focusing on in 2012. In my Resource Mobilisation plan for 2012 I have identified 3 main objectives we will be working to:</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></div><ul><li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">To develop and implement RM systems and processes that are accurate, organised and fit for purpose.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">To develop RM human capacity so staff are skilled, confident and productive both as individuals as well as a team.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">To realize increase in funding through improved donor engagement, strategic proposals and diversified income.</span></span></li>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After completing the audit of RM activity within I Choose Life it was clear that this year really needs to focus on systems and staff develop – rather than having an arbitrary income target which was unachievable. If this goes well, then the foundation is laid for ICL for years to come.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQbvtQJ94UXgdAaH4456unHd9QMAq4GKarRVNixbF9nLqNvvyjQjcKK0_5f76D1DGC2iyC1Z-L6c1jYSSM9_hIqYtNLu8VjTFtvMbBVZeD9OebP8TAOLAEIltlZ7btYEnHFpf7elePJY/s1600/046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQbvtQJ94UXgdAaH4456unHd9QMAq4GKarRVNixbF9nLqNvvyjQjcKK0_5f76D1DGC2iyC1Z-L6c1jYSSM9_hIqYtNLu8VjTFtvMbBVZeD9OebP8TAOLAEIltlZ7btYEnHFpf7elePJY/s400/046.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We then spent the rest of the day visiting the closest of the delivery sites – a sexual health testing centre and peer education programme taking place on a rural (30 min drive down a dirt road kind of rural) university campus. Again, it was brilliant to be able to meet students involved and see first hand where the work of ICL is taking place – outside of the Head Office. I’ve included a number of pictures from the visit below.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoxu7l1CUOqwtSuiXa9DzkmNFrM5tOaaLm7McHeYTiupgB50xuxsgGoJcokDwhTX0hBvRUEoGKH-uMKYCfW6xuMmUOveehmMxS6L_fpKdngaetaRYVt7UcaLROjkvAPvLRJ6vmeUJbHI/s1600/057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgoxu7l1CUOqwtSuiXa9DzkmNFrM5tOaaLm7McHeYTiupgB50xuxsgGoJcokDwhTX0hBvRUEoGKH-uMKYCfW6xuMmUOveehmMxS6L_fpKdngaetaRYVt7UcaLROjkvAPvLRJ6vmeUJbHI/s400/057.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Clinical consultation room.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXsNBYXR6iK3YuT2nHXHrHi_FpmLd6HLZ75vlLJ-T_vQPvYS-xOdhaVtWUEolZFrt_R0F2Qoi8AaxaQmGp8aQWw0zYtsxcX865vHBZwG5vmtZFXP4xqurNd9upOqWRPypjEs9bpJYkIg/s1600/066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXsNBYXR6iK3YuT2nHXHrHi_FpmLd6HLZ75vlLJ-T_vQPvYS-xOdhaVtWUEolZFrt_R0F2Qoi8AaxaQmGp8aQWw0zYtsxcX865vHBZwG5vmtZFXP4xqurNd9upOqWRPypjEs9bpJYkIg/s400/066.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Meeting with the Head of Student Affairs.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVGK4sWKUwfgT4517bOu112rQF5YGxjXoliKPjM1Hc1pFJCZnsyi-aVKOJucnuP0-xXsqZLspMX6sooGV3ob8GW3A-2TT2m32ZtjKiPjkmyC5JkuL2Yugv_7YH8eeBV36pXIVyaC-9io/s1600/070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVGK4sWKUwfgT4517bOu112rQF5YGxjXoliKPjM1Hc1pFJCZnsyi-aVKOJucnuP0-xXsqZLspMX6sooGV3ob8GW3A-2TT2m32ZtjKiPjkmyC5JkuL2Yugv_7YH8eeBV36pXIVyaC-9io/s400/070.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Students playing volley ball after class.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdYa5rP4TPJAsJ_cScLSDCcWNDkOelE7IRCXfovaaelSgBd6_8ImZH8IAzOV8mQIbgsOW-dYNVPHAKZ5bmIYEnfe9kvqhLCBmTCwGCClaYG6EhKO_AZKcCw2q2QSBArpreWjIP5-NHjw/s1600/071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdYa5rP4TPJAsJ_cScLSDCcWNDkOelE7IRCXfovaaelSgBd6_8ImZH8IAzOV8mQIbgsOW-dYNVPHAKZ5bmIYEnfe9kvqhLCBmTCwGCClaYG6EhKO_AZKcCw2q2QSBArpreWjIP5-NHjw/s400/071.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>One of the dorms.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XEwoCXfOPbBHVjj-kMYn_qmqjUItrs6hmLhGaaD_6tcNUByDgt2aYrQoCP4Mf6CANn6EGjYY8dNAgBXZLA-ZHId1RVTmDsRGZDyp2dttyIFy9knthHc5DyDPAMSXZagofAqWLJhC8ps/s1600/079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XEwoCXfOPbBHVjj-kMYn_qmqjUItrs6hmLhGaaD_6tcNUByDgt2aYrQoCP4Mf6CANn6EGjYY8dNAgBXZLA-ZHId1RVTmDsRGZDyp2dttyIFy9knthHc5DyDPAMSXZagofAqWLJhC8ps/s400/079.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>In front of university administration building.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the unexpected great things about this trip was spending time with my co-workers and learning a great deal about Kenya through their conversations. Politics is the hot topic in Kenya at the moment – you may remember from my post the other week – and politics is what was discussed in the car, during every meal, and in between meetings. It was fascinating to hear my colleagues discuss things from their personal experience which I had only read about in the news. They lived here in 2007/8 during the violence and were all affected by it in some way – as all Kenyans are. They discussed the ICC ruling (for those who missed this – 4 prominent Kenyans, included 2 front-runner candidates for the upcoming Presidential elections, have been charged with crimes against humanity by the Hague), the political parties and potential candidates for Presidents and how Kenyans, in spite of everything, are still likely to vote along tribal lines. They, like most, hope for peaceful elections – but have doubt that Kenya has moved far enough forward.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oyveEMdLnQpr3sNfYjFcfRvGyMYRE5Bf_3FRJvKx_4MsChaNeCmkX0ZQXUX-L00SwBNhRnNfEZIR-Qq7uAyMynUGgAI4Ri5jvY-gwU5VgkyppxTitE_H40Fkf3NuV3KiUsjRLS2ofLY/s1600/031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4oyveEMdLnQpr3sNfYjFcfRvGyMYRE5Bf_3FRJvKx_4MsChaNeCmkX0ZQXUX-L00SwBNhRnNfEZIR-Qq7uAyMynUGgAI4Ri5jvY-gwU5VgkyppxTitE_H40Fkf3NuV3KiUsjRLS2ofLY/s400/031.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>James (HR Manager), Peris (Research and Development Manager) and Charles</i></b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next day we travelled to Nakuru to visit another of our projects. Due to being called into a last minute meet and greet with Walter Reed we were quite late in getting to Nakuru – and therefore our time there was short and I have no photos. The programme there is based on a university campus about 30 min outside the town of Nakuru – although they work across 11 universities over a 200km area. There are only 4 full time staff and 2 interns. This project trains university students to be peer workers – the focus of the programme (and the USAID funding for it) is predominately around sexual health with a focus of reducing unwanted pregnancies and HIV infections, although the programme also delivers components on economic empowerment, academic and career mentoring and leadership and governance (in line with the strategic direction of ICL). Peer workers are trained over 11 weeks and then graduate the programme. They then are supported to deliver the same programme with other students – hence how the programme is able to operate across 11 universities with only 6 staff.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Myself and other managers again had individual meetings with our staff in those programmes. Mutie, the staff member I work with there, had done a lot of preparation on the proposal he is currently working on – specifically looking at how the peer workers can be used in community settings (working with at-risk groups such as out of school and unemployed youth) rather than in just universities. Was a great meeting.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We finished up there and I was back in the car and back to Nairobi. My next field visit to these projects will be beginning of March. </span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-74425495459574063502012-01-27T21:00:00.000-08:002012-01-27T21:11:13.774-08:00Three Photos<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will write a longer post tomorrow about my recent field visit to Kericho, however thought I would quickly share three photos from the past week with you.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC0RvVfHch62Av-8aRNrVszbXYtz7hQOHkw8L_79QD9F67qMJwks8BY9qTF3nS-MlFJri_YlEngxmvNPHVPiwrg6kPJLbKDGJbXBj3NqYyHsbGP-r4IAgsHbvZ2W3Xq24wv6_sABNTSkc/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC0RvVfHch62Av-8aRNrVszbXYtz7hQOHkw8L_79QD9F67qMJwks8BY9qTF3nS-MlFJri_YlEngxmvNPHVPiwrg6kPJLbKDGJbXBj3NqYyHsbGP-r4IAgsHbvZ2W3Xq24wv6_sABNTSkc/s400/001.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Photo 1. The Colour of Water</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have running water at my house only one or two days a week. During the rainy season we had running water 3 days a week, but now that it is the dry season we've had less. We have a large water tank which automatically fills when the main water supply is on and we can pump that water into the house to use in the kitchen and bathrooms - although with 4 of us living here we do have to constantly be careful to conserve water. On the one or two days when we do have running water, we also fill extra storage containers with water to wash our clothes. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a picture of the colour of the water last week. The water up until now has been clear - but has turned quite brown. Not sure why. I thought water turned brown after rain - but it hasn't rained for weeks.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Water in Nairobi is "treated" - but there are some sceptical as to what that actually means and how consistently it is carried out. We regardless boil and filter our drinking water. This is a process which can take quite a while - the water has to cool before it can be put into the filter and the filtering can take up to a day as well. So the key is to boil today the water you want to drink tomorrow.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_M_dkJGRuWVsU1WTWRhB_RP9AMOgKVyjZdOwTg4nAwJvh2umTUmIVAkHSm6xAviboDvbkWsTm9wxjbpzxJqth7KTQFeEuQkZNQXfCbxMAmpH9oDqUfqGFyj2vG9TT_L_BCE3nIPQ7qvo/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_M_dkJGRuWVsU1WTWRhB_RP9AMOgKVyjZdOwTg4nAwJvh2umTUmIVAkHSm6xAviboDvbkWsTm9wxjbpzxJqth7KTQFeEuQkZNQXfCbxMAmpH9oDqUfqGFyj2vG9TT_L_BCE3nIPQ7qvo/s400/002.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Photo 2: Work Permit</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I arrived in Kenya I had a 3 month single entry visitor visa, and last week I was issued a 2 year work permit. It was not issued without its fair share of complications - VSO told me it was ready however when I went to collect it I found there was no visa in my passport. Three other staff in the VSO office also looked through my passport and confirmed it was not there. Apparently my paperwork had been seen by the Kenyan immigration office and they approved my work permit but forgot to put it in my passport.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having moved to the UK at the age of 22, I am relatively familiar with immigration processes, permits and visas. I was on 5 separate visas/permits in the UK before becoming a permanent resident last year. So I was quite surprised that this long awaited work permit was in fact a hand written note. Surely I could have done that myself?? I now realise I may have inadvertently caused long term problems for Kenyan immigration as the readers of this blog (all 12 of you - hi mom and Rachel!) will now be copying my work permit into your passports and coming to Kenya to find employment. With that kind of influx, I may be single-handedly starting the transformation of the issuing of work permits from scribbles to stickers or stamps. Watch this space!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgG_4jjAx_MTRIKRAbBkidBSFSVeR2pjynEdWOi6Dmxonxf2FWv_s0_c_GP9LZUwCuByd76-xGQ5i8WBOcSojoCa9dnKMi1NqSn0EGj3Tjr9czU2sKsD-w9D36LH8Da1toxPzQPqrl7cU/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgG_4jjAx_MTRIKRAbBkidBSFSVeR2pjynEdWOi6Dmxonxf2FWv_s0_c_GP9LZUwCuByd76-xGQ5i8WBOcSojoCa9dnKMi1NqSn0EGj3Tjr9czU2sKsD-w9D36LH8Da1toxPzQPqrl7cU/s400/006.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Photo 3: Matatu Art</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;"><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Sunday morning my housemate Andrea and I went to go see an exhibition by Kenyan artist Dennis Muraguri entitled Matatu Project. The exhibition happened to be held at a lovely restaurant set in a beautiful garden - so we may have spent more time drinking coffee and eating crepes than looking at art - but that's besides the point.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Briefly - a matatu is the main form of public transportation here in Kenya. They operate within cities much like a city bus system would, but also are the main means to get around the country as well. They are large people carriers (15-passenger vans for my American audience) that drive around on set routes (although sticking to the routes is at the driver's discretion) picking up passengers and dropping passengers off. They are meant to fit 14 passengers - but 14 passengers is the bare minimum they hold as a matatu will not leave the stage (the starting/terminating point) until it is full - and then will continue to collect more passengers along the way. I have been in one with 21 passengers - however another volunteer said he was in one with 24 passengers and a chicken. Matatu drivers are notoriously unsafe - often using the pavement (sidewalk) as an additional traffic lane. However they are a quick and cheap way to get around. The government recently announced that they will stop licencing matatus - at moment only vehicles with a yellow stripe on them are official transportation vehicles - in a move to phase them out (by letting the existing ones slowly die off) and then plan to introduce new 24 seater buses in the future. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Muraguri's works were great - he used several different mediums/styles including wood cuts, newspaper and comic format as above to depict different aspects of how matatus feature in Kenyan life - from simple transportation to being used as a stage in a protest. There were certainly many things in his works I didn't pick up on - subtle references - as I'm not Kenyan and haven't lived here very long, but I thoroughly enjoyed the pieces nonetheless and may even try to purchase one for myself before I go. Anyway, I am not an art critic so will stop there.</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-48147785631885551392012-01-17T08:42:00.000-08:002012-01-17T08:42:34.718-08:00A Political Discourse<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mentioned last week that I was going to write about political reform work my organization is embarking on. It’s quite a meaty subject, and I have had the luxury of two months emersion, so I will do my best to dilute and make sound interesting! First, some background: Kenya’s last general election was in 2007 and was marred by terrible post-election violence (PEV) during which 800 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced within Kenya and outside of Kenya (many having fled to neighboring countries like Uganda).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The PEV was a strong signal that despite having an international reputation for being one of the most stable and developing countries in Africa, this was not necessarily the case under the surface.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year the country voted to adopt a new constitution – a particularly progressive document which includes movement toward greater equality for marginalised groups such as women and people living with disability.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The constitution also sets out plans to devolve the government through the creation of 47 counties.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Previously, government in Kenya was comprised of a very heavy central government, which lent itself quite naturally to foster all kinds of corruption, and the next level down was some 250 districts which held very little local power and through which very little representation took place.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new counties have clear devolved power to make local decisions about issues such as economy, industry and education, will be run by an elected governor and councillors.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kenya’s next election will be either in August, December or March of next year (there are legal questions around when the election should be and the courts finally handed it back to the President and Prime Minister and said it will take place 60 days after they dissolve their government – the latest date of which can be March next year). There is a lot of national and international attention on the upcoming Kenyan elections for two reasons: first, will it result in wide-spread violence as it did previously; and second, it is the first time that local governors will be elected and there is uncertainty about what that will look like in practice.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSKY14mPG1faVH9P1g7Y_tNcvew79gAq0jpcMwxROOvqLjtKgrprv94O1PvbawuK-Syb5eASW4AYRBOGTk40kdhIh6L9TtR0DM1YO9Y68KNKjuWkxUituguuQgrTu_dKbLUp3y77Auhr8/s1600/DSC03360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSKY14mPG1faVH9P1g7Y_tNcvew79gAq0jpcMwxROOvqLjtKgrprv94O1PvbawuK-Syb5eASW4AYRBOGTk40kdhIh6L9TtR0DM1YO9Y68KNKjuWkxUituguuQgrTu_dKbLUp3y77Auhr8/s320/DSC03360.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">The photos in this post are of the book launch event. <br />
This is Mike, CEO, making his remarks.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike, the CEO at ICL, has recently published a book which is his proposal for how to elect and hold County leaders to account.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His concept involves working with stakeholders in counties (corporates, universities, community-based organisations, and local leaders) to first conduct an asset mapping of the County (in order to identify the particular economic and social strengths of the county as well as the gaps) and then to develop a County Strategic Plan which will be the blueprint for how that county will achieve economic growth and social improvement (including health, education and employment).</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The County Strategic Plan will then be used as a guide for how prospective candidates will be vetted – the idea is that those running will need to demonstrate to citizens how they will deliver on the Strategic Plan and what qualifications and experience they have which makes them a suitable candidate (very much based on a corporate recruitment model).</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alongside this is civic and voter education which involves working with community groups to provide education on the importance of voting and what to consider when determining how to select the right leader for the County (voting in Kenya has a tendency to follow tribal lines rather than be issue-based) and how to hold elected leaders to account.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TbY6S3JZWo75s9kuADW_e-6KJvh4ErjzCgqJasw7CZtIfhw7Cm_fmfYHPZ0j3OtHpdq4qsEB4YHhocUYpS_5vNJVIf8BKXXzO30Ob5-R-kAkMbTT2fVb1Ijo_9wHx1eU6I8UAviRFkc/s1600/DSC03363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TbY6S3JZWo75s9kuADW_e-6KJvh4ErjzCgqJasw7CZtIfhw7Cm_fmfYHPZ0j3OtHpdq4qsEB4YHhocUYpS_5vNJVIf8BKXXzO30Ob5-R-kAkMbTT2fVb1Ijo_9wHx1eU6I8UAviRFkc/s320/DSC03363.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">The Government Spokesman signing the first copy of the book.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike’s idea is really to create a movement within Kenya to change the political landscape and tone of the country.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Constitution has been voted in, however still has yet to be actioned and Mike believes strongly that this next year will be the time when either Kenya embraces change and takes a big step forward or reverts back to the status quo and continues to live with corruption and ineffective government. He believed if you can solve government, then infrastructure in Kenya will improve leader to higher quality of life (health, education, employment).</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike hopes to see half a million people read his book and join the movement by the end of the year and for another five million to receive messaging about the movement through media.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgATlAKzcCzd58VW_VTW9tuKm5tS4hFB1JtYCSeNg6nBYffOJRTiOuastEBV3NJbIkhK-5Bilq8JkdY4yh5i3FBi8P8QYN7xfg_OEbxZoArwyIEZ7-meo_ZU7c1WWnS8XV_VdD4MPVA7Y/s1600/DSC03364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgATlAKzcCzd58VW_VTW9tuKm5tS4hFB1JtYCSeNg6nBYffOJRTiOuastEBV3NJbIkhK-5Bilq8JkdY4yh5i3FBi8P8QYN7xfg_OEbxZoArwyIEZ7-meo_ZU7c1WWnS8XV_VdD4MPVA7Y/s320/DSC03364.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: #444444;">Some attendees and the press.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"> <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to create buzz in the run-up to the launch of the book, a website was launched, wristbands developed, and Mike proactively engaged a number of government bodies and departments in order to get their support for this ideology – which I was fortunate enough to be brought along to (although realized afterward that he also expected me to take notes at these meetings – which I’ve learned I’m not particularly good at!) </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He succeeded in getting support from every committee, council, group, and department we visited (all of whom sent a representative to speak at the launch of the book in support of the movement).</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAX_yaDu01wLc5RtMRh-_NM0iDhEOBf0Sccg5XrgQm7Fg_a7yy11bKBtaF-mJc8jV8QJWEAeB-HtmlQmOpDA997pKe2GNfjtVL3n3QOgkQIdbLDAZ0SDYoPONtCphOVdr-qLq4o1LETVc/s1600/DSC03368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAX_yaDu01wLc5RtMRh-_NM0iDhEOBf0Sccg5XrgQm7Fg_a7yy11bKBtaF-mJc8jV8QJWEAeB-HtmlQmOpDA997pKe2GNfjtVL3n3QOgkQIdbLDAZ0SDYoPONtCphOVdr-qLq4o1LETVc/s320/DSC03368.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apart from my poor attempt at minute taking, my role in this work has been predominately around looking to bring in funds to support the idea. In my role I work alongside and support members of the Resource Mobilization team to develop and write proposals, and as such have been working with one particular staff member on this project. Finding places to apply was not difficult - there is a lot of funding out there at the moment for democracy, governance and accountability programmes, much more so than for HIV&AIDS programmes. Our challenge was translating a fluid ideology for political reform into a definable programme with outputs. Basically, we worked hard to put the movement into a box. Around five proposals and concept notes have been submitted so far. We are quite realistic that ICL does not have a track record of delivery for this kind of work which may be concerning to funders, but we have put our best foot forward and now wait.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4lvQXVZ9SKXSUQdzM6hSFFKnIBZBKcz7V-wpyQqXinBl0p5X_DeZ9ryNoiNMdl6IABd1FVb24ojnH68HwbyJ2GgIDsFYckDHF-fK0RB35wNH6q-ANzi2542zy2gHnrRjyhzAgz3uB3c/s1600/DSC03370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4lvQXVZ9SKXSUQdzM6hSFFKnIBZBKcz7V-wpyQqXinBl0p5X_DeZ9ryNoiNMdl6IABd1FVb24ojnH68HwbyJ2GgIDsFYckDHF-fK0RB35wNH6q-ANzi2542zy2gHnrRjyhzAgz3uB3c/s320/DSC03370.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been an interesting experience for me for two reasons. First, being in a country in such a period of political transition while working in an organisation forcefully pushing itself into that arena is very exciting. This year will be very telling for Kenya, and ICL has in a way signed up for the ride. The country has the opportunity to make a real change, and if it does not and it reverts back to a place where corruption is overlooked and violence is used as an expression for discontentment, ICL too will suffer consequences, even if just emotional disappointment.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyHyoOZoogF9aWn8g1sQnXC6ju4G8jSlBHe88FK2Ejrigu82J6Edu-Lff6kHHVd_jA5ttAl28CQUgBtmHXAXcA-nYV_ayvO9d0WK5Mu6UQi_WWCofw11TqYd3vlFXxlP-GPX9Y7oddN0/s1600/pic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyHyoOZoogF9aWn8g1sQnXC6ju4G8jSlBHe88FK2Ejrigu82J6Edu-Lff6kHHVd_jA5ttAl28CQUgBtmHXAXcA-nYV_ayvO9d0WK5Mu6UQi_WWCofw11TqYd3vlFXxlP-GPX9Y7oddN0/s1600/pic1.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondly, it has been interesting from an organizational learning perspective (thank you Cass!). The line between Mike’s idea and passion and the operations of ICL has become blurred (or has dissolved entirely). The launch and delivery of the movement has been made the core business of ICL, however this is not a criticism – only an observation in the process of learning. Mike is the Founder of ICL and as such the organisastion has always followed his ideas and passions (and has grown immensely over the past few years under his direction). He has also not acted alone, the Board of Trustees has supported the organizational shift from HIV&AIDS to include other socio-economic factors such as leadership and governance. However putting this into practice presents some significant challenges. So far there is no designated funding for the project, yet it is requiring a significant amount of the organisation's financial resources and time investment from staff who are expected to deliver on this project alongside existing objectives. But maybe this is the way great things happen. Mike is an innovator, and he is dynamic and inspirational. It is people like him who are change-agents, and I am fascinated to see if this year (and the methods being used) are leading to the evolution of ICL into a national player in governance and democracy, or if not, how the organization regroups afterward.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: #444444;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, this has been quite a heavy blog – which is what I promised after the lovely photos of my holiday and animals last week which I'm sure you all enjoyed. I will understand if the drop-out rate this week has been high, but thanks to those of you who are still with me (hi mom!). Tomorrow I am running my first Resource Mobilisastion Team Meeting and Training Session (which 8 other staff not on my team are sitting in on too) – so should have some good material for next week’s blog! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-58790174806873771752012-01-11T09:02:00.000-08:002012-01-11T09:02:32.075-08:00Krismasi na Mwaka Mpya<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A very delayed blog update, I will admit. But the holidays generally keep one distracted with good company, food and adventure - and I have had more than my fair share of all three.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spent Christmas weekend at home in Nairobi with a handful of other VSO volunteers and UK special guest, Nick. Along with my house mate Andrea and neighbour Harvey, 3 other volunteers who are based around Kenya in rural placements came to Nairobi for a few days of urban Christmas festivities.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRABLlKi4CzjekGyGnCyppkbBuf12hLzMDwk32RlZy1EV_sWW4q2PfMXH-lM0sGGEifFgvpCt77vhW3zB3M7nqo2pETbZUgx0x1QAxWKPws8XgIvUYONjRmxohKEahf1fVD247UFbCvyc/s1600/374784_341793269166630_100000078805189_1385828_1496133306_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRABLlKi4CzjekGyGnCyppkbBuf12hLzMDwk32RlZy1EV_sWW4q2PfMXH-lM0sGGEifFgvpCt77vhW3zB3M7nqo2pETbZUgx0x1QAxWKPws8XgIvUYONjRmxohKEahf1fVD247UFbCvyc/s320/374784_341793269166630_100000078805189_1385828_1496133306_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We spent the days in the run up to Christmas decorating our very large house with thanks to the creative genius of Andrea, who demonstrated a secret gift for the arts and crafts, and the box of surprise decorations our UK guest brought us. Christmas decorations are expensive in Nairobi, and Christmas trees more so - but we were lucky enough to have been provided with several pine branches that, through some magic I believe, were fastened together into our very own tree, a la Charlie Brown.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OsCIIEa0YPfY4B4YXHP1GDlAG6vpIp4towhKwCOxIVyfIqTRM-v1cB61BmWFCsxw64ckCoqPaf8DFdNI6EDrvK9g0XKEWuo9GajMbj8hUpx7ybkAI_LIE8jhMWFVl4WgHAuJHLLNfVs/s1600/tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2OsCIIEa0YPfY4B4YXHP1GDlAG6vpIp4towhKwCOxIVyfIqTRM-v1cB61BmWFCsxw64ckCoqPaf8DFdNI6EDrvK9g0XKEWuo9GajMbj8hUpx7ybkAI_LIE8jhMWFVl4WgHAuJHLLNfVs/s320/tree.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christmas morning we prepared a grand English fry up full with sausages (beef, chicken and veggie), beans, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, eggs, toast and this Irish potato thing I can't remember the name of - but which was very nice. With only 2 hobs cooking the full breakfast involved careful strategising, compounded by the fact that the electricity went out about half way through. But one of the core VSO selection criteria is <b>flexibility and adaptability</b>, and with that many VSO recruited brains around we figured it out. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAjhi5WSPnURN-FYYjMAiaKx309LEKStGrkKG4yPHLzHSNHOMl0whEAEAxfguPG3tjN7UswcY83sD4IBUHHIDrSLtRlUDXMyTV80A0Zdw9ichcYo-_H79C1lzIjKzqYvKn8rSkQqJPlU/s1600/christmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAjhi5WSPnURN-FYYjMAiaKx309LEKStGrkKG4yPHLzHSNHOMl0whEAEAxfguPG3tjN7UswcY83sD4IBUHHIDrSLtRlUDXMyTV80A0Zdw9ichcYo-_H79C1lzIjKzqYvKn8rSkQqJPlU/s320/christmas.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things got a bit tense later in the day when an epic game of Urban v Rural Placement charades took place (the urban team won, naturally) and Scrabble Slam was introduced to Kenya. Things did calm down later, however, when Harvey pulled out his ukulele and formed and impromptu sing-a-long. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbVQVHk9_UAySx45BBvVWOr4ecoVbbVqlT1pDU-dhqeg8tNpM9vEJa1tqPuUN12jNRzSKeqg285SsGNr9mL3spoK221CN4MfYz1R90V8a51KaojUQJez3KIpS_PI5K0KHztFjAr-CYwQI/s1600/DSC03416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbVQVHk9_UAySx45BBvVWOr4ecoVbbVqlT1pDU-dhqeg8tNpM9vEJa1tqPuUN12jNRzSKeqg285SsGNr9mL3spoK221CN4MfYz1R90V8a51KaojUQJez3KIpS_PI5K0KHztFjAr-CYwQI/s320/DSC03416.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spending Christmas in Nairobi was definitely different. The weather was an obvious difference - December begins the Kenyan summer. I actually missed the dark, cold, damp streets of London. There is something about sweating on the bus home from work which just doesn't make it feel like Christmas. And apart from the ex-pat heavy shopping centres, Christmas decorations are scarce. One could almost miss it all together if you weren't looking. Kenyans typically don't decorate their homes. There is gift giving (we had a Secret Santa at work), but largely Christmas is about travelling back the region of the country you come from and spending time with your family. What a novel concept.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Christmas, Nick and I travelled 2.5 hours via matatu (for the bargain price of Ksh500 or about £3.50) to Lake Nakuru where I went to my very first national park in Kenya and saw... ANIMALS!!! We saw rhino, hippo, zebras, lions (yes, lions!), baboons, impala, water buffalo, giraffe, and a leopard (from very very far away - but it was definitely there!). Absolutely amazing. I have included a few of my favourite pics from the game drive below:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i style="background-color: #444444;">Nick and Moses, our driver, next to our very cool safari Jeep that we could stand up in!</i></b></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kenya is synonymous with animals and there is something really fantastic about driving around and seeing them in the wild. Lake Nakuru is a relatively small park at about 166 sq km (Masi Mara is about 1,000 sq km), but it was really beautiful and I highly recommend it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a few days, we travelled down to Lake Naivasha where there was an informal VSO New Year's residential, and we met up with around 12 others for a few days of camping, hiking and relaxation to bring in 2012.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJRUGRkzJFB12R7gtxMC5vtBKQ_DWFnbmElqAz_c4u1ccnuDqkGZGiMHUCUNwX7eVML6mUs28-v0JyY30fxcFr4piCMscb5FGPY5De_NUNWejHNMxOOhP15zuy3qH4f_ffGCjln3jmsM/s1600/DSC03582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJRUGRkzJFB12R7gtxMC5vtBKQ_DWFnbmElqAz_c4u1ccnuDqkGZGiMHUCUNwX7eVML6mUs28-v0JyY30fxcFr4piCMscb5FGPY5De_NUNWejHNMxOOhP15zuy3qH4f_ffGCjln3jmsM/s320/DSC03582.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i style="background-color: #444444;">Sitting around the camp fire.</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few of us decided to hike Mt Longonot on New Year's Eve, an inactive volcano about 45 min drive from where we were staying. We were told the hike from the ground up to rim of the volcano was very difficult, but definitely worth it, and that the 11km hike around the rim of the volcano was pretty straight forward.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQo2fqGzVvtegi_1mXMrGyHragzhUZat8EIT1DKPkHNqKmwS2INpImLlb29AVvPnV2_WjGBhHJrUFHdXxUinKmRR6VZzaT31Zo88saI67A7ZMZVmhreRXETiSCYxJvQtqm5NyQRR0OiV0/s1600/DSC03588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQo2fqGzVvtegi_1mXMrGyHragzhUZat8EIT1DKPkHNqKmwS2INpImLlb29AVvPnV2_WjGBhHJrUFHdXxUinKmRR6VZzaT31Zo88saI67A7ZMZVmhreRXETiSCYxJvQtqm5NyQRR0OiV0/s320/DSC03588.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The photo above is a few of the group resting after the hike up to the rim before heading off on the hike around the rim, which includes hiking up and down the peak - which is off in the distance. We were pretty pleased with ourselves after the hike up to the rim - it was difficult, but we made it in good time. Little did we know what awaited us.. The photo above is the last photo I took as I was far too tired, dusty, and sunburnt to reach for my camera. The hike was gruelling and hot. I understand that photographic evidence of my appearance on this hike does exist - but I choose to ignore it! However, it was an absolutely brilliant day - and I would happily do it again. The views continually changed as we scurried around the rim. We could see almost the entirety of Lake Naivasha off one side, and the from the other we could see up out of the Rift Valley to the plateau that Nairobi is on many miles away.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last night in Naivasha we went out to a local Kenyan kuku choma (roast chicken) joint for, well, roast chicken. Great way to the end the holiday. I'm aware this blog post has a been a bit light side. Don't worry, next week we'll return to work updates - my organisation is currently launching a movement to change the political landscape of Kenya - it's very interesting stuff you will get to read about next week! Happy New Year to all of you, I hope that 2012 finds you well!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b><i style="background-color: #444444;">Kuku Choma!</i></b></span></td></tr>
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</div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-15693765174642562162011-12-13T09:32:00.000-08:002011-12-13T09:32:49.654-08:00Jamhuri Day<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday was Jamhuri Day which celebrates Kenyan independence from the British in 1963. My housemate Barbara's boss, Josephine, invited all of us over to have lunch with her family. Josephine and her family live in Kangemi, the slum which surrounds my neighbourhood on three sides. She is a local leader in the community and her husband's family has been there for generations.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEick-qsirj5r47Y9jj3MnzhF2SSeNESi2y3qZkChS4Zrz-gvYxkimPYPNG0nrUbuwYMjpd8GW6XhWwMNIILG53HR5ssPI_sAsiLck-OVgYEtwOyYqT2QPg0Q3wKXjn6tW7gvIl7gpXgV50/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEick-qsirj5r47Y9jj3MnzhF2SSeNESi2y3qZkChS4Zrz-gvYxkimPYPNG0nrUbuwYMjpd8GW6XhWwMNIILG53HR5ssPI_sAsiLck-OVgYEtwOyYqT2QPg0Q3wKXjn6tW7gvIl7gpXgV50/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Nancy, another of Barbara's colleagues, stirs the rabbit.</b></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We arrived around 1pm as the cooking was underway and were greeted with bottles of soda (and realised I could count on one hand the number of sodas I've had since I arrived in Kenya). Much had been prepared in advance, but I went outside to see if I could help (I was not surprised to be told no) and watch Josephine and her friend Nancy finish preparing the salad and the rabbit (yes, rabbit). I learned through this that there are two types of lemons in Kenya - green (which I often see) and yellow(ish). The green are better for cooking with and yellow better to use fresh. Who knew? Lemonade anyone??</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZXqWJNW_pYMKW3ReRMheLkAZ0N9uQlW8-CIbUlO8Ii_4ZJbs3uA0EQARGbkZYIKxthud5FCGHs-DlAkpT3aHZbL4RdInSJqkfmSlayYJ5ss36-yH1S5rKKlScRurKHKs2W_OU5cibTf0/s1600/032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZXqWJNW_pYMKW3ReRMheLkAZ0N9uQlW8-CIbUlO8Ii_4ZJbs3uA0EQARGbkZYIKxthud5FCGHs-DlAkpT3aHZbL4RdInSJqkfmSlayYJ5ss36-yH1S5rKKlScRurKHKs2W_OU5cibTf0/s320/032.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Barbara and Josephine</b></i></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lunch was soon ready which included typical Kenyan dishes of chapati, irio (mashed potatoes, peas and corn), rice, chicken and vegetables. There was also rabbit on offer (the first time I've seen it in Kenya). Lunch was great and we all had seconds. The TV was on in the background during lunch and we caught snippets of the national celebration taking place at a stadium in Nairobi which included dancing, some rather interesting dramatic interpretations of Olympic running and a speech by President Kibaki which I couldn't tell if it was in English or Kiswahili.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjergEByCOUKewMYdXbbzPDk1ytfT8OOYFmSX4XpukTc3T2U_WrAh8ashYhfddKPikm4mGfhh4_l8fIcOjDLV2V2IUVgSY3GkA_xekalRR94Vvz3D0QXOiKa4eA4jiOg486SZ23zy3eA3M/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjergEByCOUKewMYdXbbzPDk1ytfT8OOYFmSX4XpukTc3T2U_WrAh8ashYhfddKPikm4mGfhh4_l8fIcOjDLV2V2IUVgSY3GkA_xekalRR94Vvz3D0QXOiKa4eA4jiOg486SZ23zy3eA3M/s320/014.JPG" width="213" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">LUNCH!</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Following lunch Josephine took us on a tour of her house and grounds, which ended up a tour of her local area and tea (and a reggae boogie) at a niece's house. We saw a row of shacks which her family lets out to other families, a small cemetery in the garden where her in-laws are buried, and a lot of children (who thought it was funny that 3 wazungu were walking down their road). Just a note that it's actually not usually ok to photograph people you don't know in Kenya, whether children or adults. There is a myth that Westerners are making money off the photographs being taken and therefore one can cause considerable insult or get into a sticky situation taking photographs at the wrong place or time. As Josephine knew all the people on our tour, she gave us specific permission to take pictures - which I am happy to share with you.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3YIy2DCn1VJrDJFsmeEfkMGDBS8o8I2S0DoLcJAVXxPzvc288ZJjvFc7piQSDTRuSxCkJ6Q86UDr3adkdej0GW6GBGutKZPQGkzqTaRhigHpn4j46sQ-JWxMp05rV9b-Qal1nU7pkh4/s1600/058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir3YIy2DCn1VJrDJFsmeEfkMGDBS8o8I2S0DoLcJAVXxPzvc288ZJjvFc7piQSDTRuSxCkJ6Q86UDr3adkdej0GW6GBGutKZPQGkzqTaRhigHpn4j46sQ-JWxMp05rV9b-Qal1nU7pkh4/s320/058.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></b></i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">This is a row of 4 separate family houses.</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3tGKOY0Jxc5dxfT6b-74HtYEEdPLZmUIGFrwo0oeMxGVB81_C54nWaXf3MLxkBf4HID3I4uTT2vNdF01eqETXEJkR8yFEM2q7LUzEFkPZZRE6UobYs_DD7Gj-2vGbUABL0O66oa7OjVE/s1600/064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3tGKOY0Jxc5dxfT6b-74HtYEEdPLZmUIGFrwo0oeMxGVB81_C54nWaXf3MLxkBf4HID3I4uTT2vNdF01eqETXEJkR8yFEM2q7LUzEFkPZZRE6UobYs_DD7Gj-2vGbUABL0O66oa7OjVE/s320/064.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">We felt a little like the Pied Piperettes.</span></b></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b></i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPiQ4OZfV5DXhSg8FTXcowenoWQycjncxQxzAnG01FfuHUCsClORBFCpuwk2MHiHjqtwTRdrvhRmVzlHRY_uaAojxpIBMS6ld2_5ZLd44jMkUlRcs3X77oibb0FCv5cYjhvLxNwtJ2OI/s1600/065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPiQ4OZfV5DXhSg8FTXcowenoWQycjncxQxzAnG01FfuHUCsClORBFCpuwk2MHiHjqtwTRdrvhRmVzlHRY_uaAojxpIBMS6ld2_5ZLd44jMkUlRcs3X77oibb0FCv5cYjhvLxNwtJ2OI/s320/065.JPG" width="213" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Josephine's nephew shows us what to do with corn.</b></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kangemi borders our neighbourhood. You can see and hear it from our front porch. I go there once a week to buy my fruit and veg. But after spending 5 hours there yesterday I was left confused by the gap between the wealthy and the very poor in Nairobi. 10 minute bus ride away and I can be at a shopping centre, cocktail bar, or restaurant that rivals any in London. There are many middle-class children who live on my street who are daily out ide playing with their bikes and toys, yet less than a 10 minute walk away are children with no shoes who literally play with small bags of rubbish - empty wrappers or cans. I wonder about the kids on my street and what their perception of the kids in Kangemi is. As they grow up, how are the kids on my street coming to understand the world and the city they live in? I find it difficult to get my head around.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We came back from our wander and had a final glass of wine and brownie (both our gifts to our hosts) and made our way out into the yard for a group photo (which ended up as 20 group photos to ensure we had the possible group combinations!) We were also very kindly invited to Josephine's son's wedding in February which we are already looking forward too!</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-69511815808950141042011-12-10T02:22:00.000-08:002011-12-10T02:30:56.164-08:00Domestics<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;">I thought as my last post was heavily about work (which is going great by the way - the SWOT analysis and recommendations for the Resource Mobilisation Team were extremely well received by the CEO and HR Manager and I have already begun acting on them), I would write a quick post (as am about to head out the door) about the domestics of living in Nairobi.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcTRsnbC9_Cr_4vcy7Zq7p-addzzkQ_DCVikqrU75_23wzSH_KiFcEJH66lC4KY0I8LL2f58YOhu0LQ4tx2u5Roqrr7O5WpmSYTDEleCfZBWAhuyFRUEHiwa3aA8eWnUtn-eHIPoipjcw/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcTRsnbC9_Cr_4vcy7Zq7p-addzzkQ_DCVikqrU75_23wzSH_KiFcEJH66lC4KY0I8LL2f58YOhu0LQ4tx2u5Roqrr7O5WpmSYTDEleCfZBWAhuyFRUEHiwa3aA8eWnUtn-eHIPoipjcw/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;">In terms of shopping, there are three main supermarket chains in Nairobi - all of which have branches near where I work so they are very convenient to access. Supermarkets stock everything food related as well as appliances, dishes/cutlery, linens, household goods, hardware, stationary, and often clothes and books. They are very much a one-stop-shop. Food can be relatively expensive - particularly "western" foods such as pasta sauce and cheese - but I am slowly learning how to shop smarter using local foods. For produce we walk into the local slum, Kangemi, where there is a large produce market where all sorts of vegetables and fruits (as well as live chickens) can be purchased inexpensively. The photo above is our pantry after a trip to the market. I generally try to cook two or three times a week to have enough food to last for dinners and lunches for a few days. There is often no power in the evenings which, despite having a gas stove, makes cooking difficult.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFz7VYZiZvIkCEbDWYIYG0sHcdbEuYwTeGAeYO9rCLjt00xxl7ICiMW3RUvrG0x7woj7_kOZf01X6G-LTPd_m9rECfgMWGQc-1x_e3M7hgylNarlkCxkxS2FoXXNhdz1tB7XqZbfs_pc/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFz7VYZiZvIkCEbDWYIYG0sHcdbEuYwTeGAeYO9rCLjt00xxl7ICiMW3RUvrG0x7woj7_kOZf01X6G-LTPd_m9rECfgMWGQc-1x_e3M7hgylNarlkCxkxS2FoXXNhdz1tB7XqZbfs_pc/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;">The other main domestic task is washing clothes - which is done entirely by hand. I have discovered there is a learning curve to this as after my first (somewhat corner cutting) attempt my clothes were not exactly clean. Strangely, the more work you put in - the cleaner your clothes get! This is definitely my least favourite thing about my experience here so far - but at least I am developing strong arms and a strong back in the process! (Although my hands are a mess!). My housemates and I have decided to cheat a bit and every two weeks we have a local woman come to wash our bedsheets.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;">As we live in a big house we have also decided to employ someone to clean our common areas every week, a lovely woman named Beatrice comes and makes our floors shine!</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8;">In terms of other domestics - Monday is the Kenyan Independence Day and my housemates and I have been invited over to a local family's house for lunch and Andrea and I will be attempting to bake brownies to bring with our tiny easy-bakesque oven. Watch this space!!</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-27276871643943483322011-12-05T10:19:00.000-08:002011-12-05T10:19:18.201-08:00What I've been working on<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have just started my fourth week with I Choose Life (ICL) and I cannot tell you where the past 3 weeks have gone. They are a blur. It feels as though I have just started and have been there a year all at the same time. I am mostly settled into my work, although there is still a bit of work for the CEO and I to do around my objectives which will take place on Wednesday this week.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_rxv-_m5esQW0WvqYofMYggQ6aVTEiouyK876XLZ64PBMNly4Md_EYeX9rrv2faV9hz7DZpf0ykjJ7BMMcuXmPCQyfDs8frVVA1TTsFS3P-MPbJqXBmD0dJiFDN77LqoruA8KjRsNhE/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_rxv-_m5esQW0WvqYofMYggQ6aVTEiouyK876XLZ64PBMNly4Md_EYeX9rrv2faV9hz7DZpf0ykjJ7BMMcuXmPCQyfDs8frVVA1TTsFS3P-MPbJqXBmD0dJiFDN77LqoruA8KjRsNhE/s320/013.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Some of my colleagues during the fortnightly Manager's Meeting. My first experience of this meeting was 6 hours - although this particular meeting was 5 hours.</b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm working on a couple pieces of work at the moment, but quite a bit of the past few weeks has been spent on conducting an audit of what has happened in the area of Resource Mobilisation over the past 12 months and meeting individually with the 6 members of the Resource Mobilisation Team to ask them a series of questions in order to gain a better understanding of how the team works. The products of both have been interesting - although perhaps not unsurprising. It appears that there is very little joined up fundraising work currently taking place, there are lots of knowledge gaps with regards to funders and where responsibility for various aspects of contract management sit, and the volume and quality of fundraising work which has taken place was far less than I had initially thought. All this information has been very valuable, and after discussing these with the CEO (who agreed fully with the findings) I have been able to use this in creating my 2012 workplan as well as the first draft of my VSO placement objectives (the key things I and ICL agree should be complete by the time I finish).</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflBXMJKppbN8KDH9hAcskI15WrdBr_8jkH6Y566g67YwQ9sgfdsC1FOoymKg77IFpK6OWMi-1UI3oXTZFen_mc2WVCEutN9fIiteAbnHr34FlwYAJ96UBvKarwbT4aX0JLBquJKdExGo/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflBXMJKppbN8KDH9hAcskI15WrdBr_8jkH6Y566g67YwQ9sgfdsC1FOoymKg77IFpK6OWMi-1UI3oXTZFen_mc2WVCEutN9fIiteAbnHr34FlwYAJ96UBvKarwbT4aX0JLBquJKdExGo/s320/016.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From left: Yegon (the IT guru), Mike (the founder and CEO of ICL), and Pascal (one of the Project Managers).</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The feedback from my individual meetings with the Resource Mobilisation Team members was also not necessarily surprising, but was very telling. It is a relatively new team, the product of a somewhat hasty restructure through which the current team members were assigned to the department without necessarily having any interest, experience or skills in the area (only one reported they were happy to be on the team). The team members currently spend their time researching potentisl bids and developing Concept Notes (similar to an Expression of Interest), but do not at present work on full proposals - which is currently done primarily by the CEO and Programmes Coordinator. And even their research skills need support as there are cases of applying for funding which the organisation was clearly not eligible for. Numerous yet similar concerns were expressed from the team members about the structure of the department and I realised the full extent to which I have my work cut out for me if I intend to leave ICL in a year and a half with an operational Resource Mobilisation Department. </span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0uVFPFIROsjWp9XjX3ODp0VdGH94OiKNb322t3XgRfIt6cMPIsFkB1YF2rqv_LOYf6_CrenOjDHsleVG49g9TLLK8qtePeGs3aS5JkXOvCfh_KSBI5Q4vgRUmSudsGjeGTaDOZ14FtiM/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0uVFPFIROsjWp9XjX3ODp0VdGH94OiKNb322t3XgRfIt6cMPIsFkB1YF2rqv_LOYf6_CrenOjDHsleVG49g9TLLK8qtePeGs3aS5JkXOvCfh_KSBI5Q4vgRUmSudsGjeGTaDOZ14FtiM/s320/015.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My colleague June and I.</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">After thinking quite a lot on what the best way to present my findings from the team interviews to the CEO and HR manager would be, I settled on a conventional SWOT analysis template (thank you Francis Cooper and Cass Business School) for the reason that it would enable me to present the feedback in categories (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) without putting too much of my own interpretation on it. The recommendations I divided into short, medium and long term and included the outcomes I hope to be achieved through each of the actions. The short term recommendations include actions such as the team members meeting monthly with me and changing their job roles to specifically include proposal development and writing (which they unanimously requested), and long term recommendation is to recruit a Resource Mobilisation Officer in October next year to begin a 6 month training up and handover with myself (a key action in order for my work to be sustainable through skill sharing - which is the VSO model).</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Wambui (Finance Manager) and Sarah on a much needed lunch break in the sun.</span></b></span></span></td></tr>
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8;">This is all work in progress, but I am optimistic about the work I will be and am already doing at I Choose Life. The Resource Mobilisation Team is great (sadly no pictures of them here - but will in future) and several are extremely eager to learn. The organisation is an exciting place to be at the moment as it is in a period of evolution, currently diversifying into support for civil society in the areas of leadership and governance and is positioning itself to play a role in ensuring that citizens are making informed choices in the upcoming elections and holding their leaders to account - which is very exciting work (and about which I will write more in future). All in all a good start to week 4. </span></span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-74769821047396894072011-11-28T07:19:00.000-08:002011-11-28T07:19:27.439-08:00The Baby Elephants<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I and my housemates hired a car and driver yesterday and went to the Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi. The Elephant Orphanage was brilliant. It is set inside Nairobi National Park and currently is the home to 18 baby elephants, aged 8 days to 3 years.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv48vmDlkvCE0V_yArNRWX0vy7ikGDnD9nAJp2qbE243rt7SSUbz3B5wbygGOnHhRt7_tzMjdjrs3dPHavRXIqv51GGcRXjC5YT3yX7-COoHRxTw18tp8IBX5UG8rJ2xM5V1DcowzEWWI/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv48vmDlkvCE0V_yArNRWX0vy7ikGDnD9nAJp2qbE243rt7SSUbz3B5wbygGOnHhRt7_tzMjdjrs3dPHavRXIqv51GGcRXjC5YT3yX7-COoHRxTw18tp8IBX5UG8rJ2xM5V1DcowzEWWI/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Elephants become orphaned for two primary reasons - either the victims of poaching or of human/wildlife conflict. Human/wildlife conflict occurs when animals stray out of Kenya's many national parks and on to nearby agricultural land and farmers have little choice but to kill the animal. The Elephant Orphanage is the national programme which forms an immediate response to take in any elephant found to be orphaned. </div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKzcxLEqdp4r5op0LF8FT1r4GIV5ntIF6FYeBszdn9cVdjkbz3grH2jt4xLRPPcpDrqnLZG9at53yf33ucXLL8HHzbhvL-OBOz_PVKiZ1GmqSXsxf7s4canH7tTJRGfvEJcaWX2WsquwA/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKzcxLEqdp4r5op0LF8FT1r4GIV5ntIF6FYeBszdn9cVdjkbz3grH2jt4xLRPPcpDrqnLZG9at53yf33ucXLL8HHzbhvL-OBOz_PVKiZ1GmqSXsxf7s4canH7tTJRGfvEJcaWX2WsquwA/s320/011.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Once the elephants reach 3 years they are moved to Tsavo National Park where there is an Elephant Sanctuary where they are able to informally stay until they choose to leave and wander into the park and don't come back to sleep or to be fed.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQDjIFQYw_aO-PAUk1SYFXuGV9BqXx1PJOubvvrlOt6FUt3Z49M5675Ie8mVc_2ofLUUOmvrNYf3JsWsN7ueP4XmhVkPJl1w85ZwwuHWhde7SYRk37FejVHFuDh3R3EtY7qmlQuETyuI/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQDjIFQYw_aO-PAUk1SYFXuGV9BqXx1PJOubvvrlOt6FUt3Z49M5675Ie8mVc_2ofLUUOmvrNYf3JsWsN7ueP4XmhVkPJl1w85ZwwuHWhde7SYRk37FejVHFuDh3R3EtY7qmlQuETyuI/s320/018.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The elephants are fed by bottle every 3 hours, and visitors are allowed to come to watch their daily 11am feed for the cost of Ksh. 500 (or about £3.50). It was fantastic! The elephants are so cute and are very sweet with their handlers, who are with them 24 hours a day until they leave to move to the Sanctuary.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIbZJeeFLU07a5-7HvdyzvGEZeUObfeDxkM3Zv9J5zuCySv-R3PV6BhD-6qk9rlijB_rh2DaMBaMDgQR-8PpLhVPwjEqUBF6S7RHZLLWdggkiAzPGxSk0zTH4uMApxFc7Qci3I6br8i2o/s1600/023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIbZJeeFLU07a5-7HvdyzvGEZeUObfeDxkM3Zv9J5zuCySv-R3PV6BhD-6qk9rlijB_rh2DaMBaMDgQR-8PpLhVPwjEqUBF6S7RHZLLWdggkiAzPGxSk0zTH4uMApxFc7Qci3I6br8i2o/s320/023.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">After the elephants we went to a local shopping centre food court for lunch before going to Giraffe Sanctuary, and I will shamelessly admit that I had greasy Chinese food and it was great!</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Giraffe Sanctuary was nice, but there was only one giraffe at the feeding deck (there were about 5 more in the distance) and quite a lot of visitors. We all waited patiently-ish to get our turn to feed the giraffe which was quite cool (and a bit slimy). They are beautiful animals - and their eyes are amazing up close. But I was actually slightly more entertained by the warthogs wandering around!</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYl-YBqwLMrTS2fojOScQZZH-7mJIg0zZ9uaLwLwN1rz_bmdQN7k6kOPuDM0oumCCNuMCKYHbK21JmlGCnJ1zxGuVTU0VNHsc9Frzf7LOWz51x1BB_vUBodtNfHIceR66PXw5LGjaIq5Q/s1600/025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYl-YBqwLMrTS2fojOScQZZH-7mJIg0zZ9uaLwLwN1rz_bmdQN7k6kOPuDM0oumCCNuMCKYHbK21JmlGCnJ1zxGuVTU0VNHsc9Frzf7LOWz51x1BB_vUBodtNfHIceR66PXw5LGjaIq5Q/s320/025.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">After a splendid day yesterday, today (Monday) came as a sharp awakening. Got lost on way to work after matatu took a detour, showed up at work quite muddy as it had rained buckets last night, and left today realising that what I'm going to work on at ICL is not that clear and needs more refining with the CEO after I prematurely thought we had hit it on the head last week. Was bit demoralised on way home so I stopped to buy a Twix (a very special treat considering my tiny volunteer living allowance). It needed to be done.</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #93c47d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ah well. Sawa sawa. Tomorrow is Tuesday and I'm going to go in fresh, mud or no mud!</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-77421854214018632232011-11-26T10:24:00.000-08:002011-11-26T10:24:04.032-08:00We call her "Baby Blue"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I would like to introduce you to a new addition to my household: our beautiful new (and quite blue) Samsung fridge.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24bcvSxdaZ0V7Hb59Z-0hSLaoF2DgC3xJnWeeO2LgCa7vLznO2Pn8mhHEIlTlWM-GArMofOVYYvEGxeY1BTdvq4THHFrt0jc-hj8otd0G9f9QFRz5KPG4JhNQZgTpFDb5BewDy9hdrog/s1600/001+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24bcvSxdaZ0V7Hb59Z-0hSLaoF2DgC3xJnWeeO2LgCa7vLznO2Pn8mhHEIlTlWM-GArMofOVYYvEGxeY1BTdvq4THHFrt0jc-hj8otd0G9f9QFRz5KPG4JhNQZgTpFDb5BewDy9hdrog/s320/001+%25282%2529.JPG" width="213" /></a></span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">With four of us living here the previous little fridge had reached its limit, and we decided to pool together to buy a new one. My housemate Andrea and I took on the responsibility of selecting the fridge which included visiting every supermarket chain (most household appliances are sold in supermarkets here) to cost compare. We knew as soon as we saw her that the blue Samsung was the one for us! So last Saturday all four us went to the supermarket to make the purchase (and go out to lunch since we were at the shopping centre anyway...)</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85ikbQwcmxt-0dDDBEvghjbz9Y1px3EIpk88aawUEs-8YzEk9TVzyKixXWds_wt6rjDbB-TJPPkojVTUsvGbwKBybYzyLHOPuJobmGgEGW_7X2fmRwTfp9V1zscK0V4S8r6Uk7qO4Xmc/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85ikbQwcmxt-0dDDBEvghjbz9Y1px3EIpk88aawUEs-8YzEk9TVzyKixXWds_wt6rjDbB-TJPPkojVTUsvGbwKBybYzyLHOPuJobmGgEGW_7X2fmRwTfp9V1zscK0V4S8r6Uk7qO4Xmc/s320/013.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The day of delivery arrived. The supermarket said the fridge would be delivered at 11.30am so we sat on the porch anxiously hoping that every motor we heard was the delivery truck, until at last around 2pm it was what we were waiting for! (Just a note that nearly 3 hours late might seem like a lot - but at least the fridge was delivered on the day we were told - which in Africa is in no way a given!)</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">For those of you concerned about our former fridge and that we carelessly cast him aside, don't worry! A lovely VSO volunteer, Harvey, purchased him and took him home to a very nice house with a generator. </span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiEzgyBA3l7lRkxNWui3_SgUjATHsj-TWChQEaY2sE_OXt4Z7hyphenhyphenpFvc42h3Qvuz44TPFO2xSIOh9jwf-BXdHQM_-_t0SkX2FIGdy_8M4QtzH7utH0yfR9PyuxD9CAjBlVUT400inScuc/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiEzgyBA3l7lRkxNWui3_SgUjATHsj-TWChQEaY2sE_OXt4Z7hyphenhyphenpFvc42h3Qvuz44TPFO2xSIOh9jwf-BXdHQM_-_t0SkX2FIGdy_8M4QtzH7utH0yfR9PyuxD9CAjBlVUT400inScuc/s320/002.JPG" width="213" /></a></span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; font-size: small;">Speaking of generators, on the phone to my dad the other day he asked a good question - with so many power outages (we have electricity about half of the time) how does our food stay cold? The answer is through a nifty little device called a Fridge Guard. We don't have a generator at our house, so when the power goes out (which is daily) the fridge is plugged into a mini generator (looks like an adapter) which feeds the fridge enough power to keep the food chilled for a few hours. Pretty nifty indeed. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-39363654439213906612011-11-23T07:34:00.000-08:002011-11-23T07:39:25.646-08:00A bit about work<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">This post is sadly overdue. Finding time to sit down to write a substantial entry never happens - so my housemate Andrea has suggested writing more frequent bite-sized bits. So here we go.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I started my new job at I Choose Life - Africa last week on Monday and have been busy ever since. We have 9 hour working days (8am-5pm) and remarkably I already am struggling to fit everything into that. My role is head of the resource mobilisation team (a fancy way that international development types say fundraising) and I oversee a unit of six people.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-piChLta-i8vKy3kq2ExbazdE__kJoduD_fTMgy4qIYKaSEpOy5DzvZwA9n8HuUEPlpt4e1wNtVd672Z0CwvMp7MkrFuGnfeOcziuruWwkyTpFBdH5V-iSFt4AmMS4nbbXXl8MB64kW0/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-piChLta-i8vKy3kq2ExbazdE__kJoduD_fTMgy4qIYKaSEpOy5DzvZwA9n8HuUEPlpt4e1wNtVd672Z0CwvMp7MkrFuGnfeOcziuruWwkyTpFBdH5V-iSFt4AmMS4nbbXXl8MB64kW0/s320/001.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our receptionist Purity.</span></td></tr>
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</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The organisation recently restructured so the post is newish. ICL approached VSO for a volunteer to help them develop the infrastructure to move the organisation from a $1.2M to $5M over the next few years. My role will be to work with the team to develop systems to achieve this as well as capacity building the staff themselves (many of whom are new to the world of fundraising). After a bit of mapping of what is already taking place, I have agreed with the CEO that I will focus on donor mapping and engagement, developing tracking systems for proposals and contract management. I will also be working with them on changing their current mentality of getting as many applications out as possible (their current target is 1 per person per week) to developing a strategy for funding so we are spending more time on carefully selected fewer applications.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6_ZjsNMVQgcutgs93i8KzriinRmLSKotlhcjspdCr91svjHcq1PSE41nIPzIdFt9y04ZpAoN4I2UKXlV9lhY9Cmew7tFVvBhwYTkIw7yzdS0mBGpf9TJHr65XiwO_J1tGwbnsmBBO6e0/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6_ZjsNMVQgcutgs93i8KzriinRmLSKotlhcjspdCr91svjHcq1PSE41nIPzIdFt9y04ZpAoN4I2UKXlV9lhY9Cmew7tFVvBhwYTkIw7yzdS0mBGpf9TJHr65XiwO_J1tGwbnsmBBO6e0/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The outside of the ICL Headquarters Building.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">ICL is a large and very well respected organisation. They have 82 permanent staff and a total of 200 staff including seconded/sub-contracted staff and interns based in a few regions around the country. They are a preferred provider of USAID, and the majority of their funding currently comes from US government bodies and I will be working to move away from reliance on US funding to include European funding and trusts and foundations.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">ICL has previously focused primarily on HIV & AIDS prevention through peer work and reproductive health (RH) in universities and high schools, but have recently moved into testing and counseling of at risk groups (including sex workers and truck drivers) and even more recently are exploring options to support local government leadership and democracy. It is going to be a very exciting and informative place to be!</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjrAFKBl_PrPzAFPnD_mtmdIv_KPkQgfpXTyTx_7IPAXF1qbOVpvhyphenhyphenYK2qDkqxhEnFM5DQ2WT9XnYpIBGQzzIHvvSfVwi21HVw2Q3N_EdsxG9ExBIB94Vl6JkCxXRHw5inZtZhz8HxUk/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjrAFKBl_PrPzAFPnD_mtmdIv_KPkQgfpXTyTx_7IPAXF1qbOVpvhyphenhyphenYK2qDkqxhEnFM5DQ2WT9XnYpIBGQzzIHvvSfVwi21HVw2Q3N_EdsxG9ExBIB94Vl6JkCxXRHw5inZtZhz8HxUk/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">View to the garden from inside the office.</span></td></tr>
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</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have already attended a government committee meeting and a conference this week where I sat at a table with representatives from the Ministries of Education and Public Health as well as representatives from USAID and DIFD. Definitely rubbing the right shoulders - but think I should have brought a smarter outfit or two... maybe with nicer shoulder pads...</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #444444;">And, the other important thing about starting a new job - I know where the coffee is! But even better, there is a lovely woman called Florence who brings me (and everyone else) coffee or tea just as we like it in the morning and in the afternoon. Brilliant!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #444444;">Ok, realise now this was a longish post - but the next one will be sooner and shorter! </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-44193389584248627322011-11-15T10:01:00.000-08:002011-11-15T10:01:12.335-08:00End of Training and Moving House<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Been quite a week. Was ill for a few days which made the last day of training and moving house slightly rough - but got here in the end!</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our partner organisations arrived on Wednesday and spent the last 3 days of training with us. We look at VSO's key priorities in Kenya (HIV/AIDS, Disability and Secure Livelihoods) . It was great to have these discussions with the partners there and get their insight into why these are are areas in need of development. We also covered issues such as monitoring and evaluation, governance and the partnership arrangement between VSO, the Volunteer and the Organisation. We did also have a bit of fun and managed to meet together for a drink on Friday evening before leaving the hotel on Saturday for our various placements.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="color: black; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some of the volunteers and partner organisations on the last night of training.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On Friday I also met with the representative for my organisation (the HR Manager) and my Programme Manager at VSO to review and sign the agreement. Based on conversations I had earlier in the week with other current volunteers I asked for my contract to be changed from 2 years to 18 months with option to extend to 2 years - which was well received by both VSO and I Choose Life. The work I have to do for the organisation will still get done - just slightly quicker. But more about the job in the next post...</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On Saturday I moved to a suburban neighbourhood called Mountain View. It is about a 15 minute matatu or bus ride from Westlands (a large shopping area - and also where I work) down a long highway that apparently goes all the way to Uganda. The neighbourhood is bordered on one side by the highway and the other 3 sides by Kangemi (a large slum). Mountain View is a secure neighbourhood with 200 homes. I am living in a large 2 story house with 3 other women who are also VSO volunteers.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now, I must admit that when I signed up for VSO I was completely prepared to live in a cave with no electricity and having to carry my water 3km each day. But, I am not going to complain! The house has lovely living space, a great kitchen, running water during the week (we have to use our reserve tank on the weekend and with 4 women need to conserve) and electricity most of the time. All in all very happy here. We also have 3 adopted cats (Mango, Tango and James Dean) who are quite shy but I feel will warm up to me over the next year and half.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Spent part of Saturday and Sunday shopping for a few things for the house. One of my housemates, Andrea, is also a new volunteer who was in my In Country Training and has been brilliant to explore to go around with. On Sunday we also did trial runs for getting to work - so I saw the outside of my office (but, again, will talk about the job in the next post after the first week). I have also learned to do new things such as assemble and use a water filter and hang a mosquito net. In Nairobi malaria is almost non-existent so our doctor told us we don't need to take the antimalarials or use the net. But after the first night I learned better! The reason for the net is to keep the pesky things away from you!!</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Harvey, another new volunteer from my training, lives in Mountain View as well and it's great to be able to walk over to his and vice versa (and he cooks amazing Filipino food so is definitely welcome anytime!! Alright, enough for today. Have been in work for 2 days now and will write more on the weekend all about that and anything crazy which happens between now and then.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="color: black; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Andrea, Harvey and I (note: I was suffering terrible cold and therefore not my usual lovely radiant self!)</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-43879316714831598282011-11-08T08:06:00.000-08:002011-11-08T08:06:07.257-08:00In Country Training<div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #f3f3f3; font-size: small;">I have been in Kenya for 3 days now. Currently staying at a lovely hotel with other newly arrived volunteers for a week of In Country Training (ICT). Previous to this the VSO training has not been "context specific" (a phrase we joked was used often by VSO trainers in the UK to get out of answering a question they didn't know the answer to). On the training are eight other volunteers: 2 American, 3 Filipino, 1 Irish and the rest from the UK. 3 of the volunteers have already been in Kenya for a few months and are very helpful (and patient!) answering lots and lots and lots of questions. </span><span style="font-size: small;">All together a great group of people I have enjoyed starting this journey with.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMqnu12aD_SMIC9QdaUGtRRJYL2lBjbJk05T9iuVa6uUsVwO6GywvoC8hLbgkG3hPt2S962gdMXbxUH7lY3szRulqGW63Ld8qLS5u3MQ7ul_Yzq4FsJFLbEcQ9GY0H3tQMh67_1hWFgA/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMqnu12aD_SMIC9QdaUGtRRJYL2lBjbJk05T9iuVa6uUsVwO6GywvoC8hLbgkG3hPt2S962gdMXbxUH7lY3szRulqGW63Ld8qLS5u3MQ7ul_Yzq4FsJFLbEcQ9GY0H3tQMh67_1hWFgA/s320/001.JPG" width="212" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lucy (our Swahili teacher extraordinaire) delivering a lesson.</span></b></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">ICT so far has included Swahili lessons, health and safety briefings, and cultural expectations and norms. The Swahili lessons have been amazing - our teacher Lucy has been able to get us to learn so much in so little time. Have already decided to pool with a few other Nairobi-based volunteers to continue lessons after training. Tomorrow our employers will come for the day, the purpose of which is to ensure that there is clear expectations on the part of the volunteer, VSO and the employer (what VSO calls the three-way partnership). I looking forward to but also a bit nervous to meet my employer - I want to make a good impression and am also nervous to hear what their expectations are for me. I've been told by a current volunteer that this meeting is really important to ensure that I communicate any concerns and expectations I might have with the placement - but I (and most other volunteers) have such little information about our actual roles that I suspect this will be difficult to do.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz4UVcu6B8nwYPokhEFmgh8DiVumJDfPWivh6XmYupQ649m9943uX7eBaO6kBu2TEwItM7RnW-J15A2crBJiyAWmsMMU_J0G-h8Mu028DEcmpNXr9xtUJQNPfhmo2g6omkyJNJSXGkXSU/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz4UVcu6B8nwYPokhEFmgh8DiVumJDfPWivh6XmYupQ649m9943uX7eBaO6kBu2TEwItM7RnW-J15A2crBJiyAWmsMMU_J0G-h8Mu028DEcmpNXr9xtUJQNPfhmo2g6omkyJNJSXGkXSU/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Coffee break from Swahili lessons at the hotel.</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have seen very little of Nairobi so far. The hotel is in a compound (as I have learned most buildings are), but I have been to a local bar, a cafe and two shopping centres. We are still very much walking around in a large conspicuous group and have yet to take public transportation - so lots of learning (and mistakes) to go with navigating the city. It is rainy season which means that every afternoon it pours with rain for about an hour (but the rest of the time is lovely and sunny) which makes the dirt roads and dirt pavements quite muddy. The main roads and pavements are paved, but side streets are not. This afternoon Lucy walked us to the doctors office about a mile away on muddy roads in heels and didn't get any dirt on her whereas I walked in flat sandels and my toes were caked in mud! Think there might be a learning curve here!</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvLIQJcRQqFo7gE35JuKr5QbzPswUyDEdt_yQivEbV5yC2EkxaMQuPvlRp7a5OOIyw_E9V7Vsu5CkRjK0Z3bH-k_3La6sXlccs_0YpdGTQnb9bsyuahEVyaN0lmucU6HTDGMMURqM2Tg/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvLIQJcRQqFo7gE35JuKr5QbzPswUyDEdt_yQivEbV5yC2EkxaMQuPvlRp7a5OOIyw_E9V7Vsu5CkRjK0Z3bH-k_3La6sXlccs_0YpdGTQnb9bsyuahEVyaN0lmucU6HTDGMMURqM2Tg/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Volunteers visiting the VSO Jitolee office.</span></b></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #444444; color: #eeeeee; font-size: small;">ICT ends on Friday and Saturday we all check out of the hotel and head our separate ways to our permanent accommodation and start our new jobs on Monday. I found out today that I and two other volunteers from ICT will be moving into a large house in a compound that already has volunteers living there which I'm looking forward to and will report back on next week.</span><span style="font-size: small;">..</span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5560113765470796037.post-56070082741075544872011-10-28T07:22:00.000-07:002011-10-28T07:38:26.216-07:00One week to go<div class="separator" style="background-color: #444444; clear: both; color: #6aa84f; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnD_aToQR99iXjyko3-dQUxzB9h7CT53_Q-sTx-rw_x3sv3-QC74TQ08UXdlyAMGaTKqxC8osE0owPC3J31IyZf67ObRkx6PEjsbsDAbL5_flV8avuHSVA2PWCrA4lHeL1STWv7ZlRfQ/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnD_aToQR99iXjyko3-dQUxzB9h7CT53_Q-sTx-rw_x3sv3-QC74TQ08UXdlyAMGaTKqxC8osE0owPC3J31IyZf67ObRkx6PEjsbsDAbL5_flV8avuHSVA2PWCrA4lHeL1STWv7ZlRfQ/s200/001.JPG" width="133" /></a></span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One week to go until I board a plane for Nairobi where I will be based for two years on a placement with VSO. The past 6 weeks has involved decanting my personal possessions into the three small boxes pictured above. Strange yet liberating to have so little to represent my 31 years. </span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">I have been ready to go for a while now, the last of my VSO training was completed in September. There are two training residentials, several on-line modules and self-briefing volunteers need to complete</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> prior to departure. Training looks at preparedness of the volunteer for the realities of volunteering long-term in the developing world and basic professional skills for working in that context. I will receive another week of training once I arrive in Nairobi more specific to Kenya.</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="background-color: #444444; color: #6aa84f;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">I have also been jabbed more times I can count - my nurse at my local practice even got a bit teary after my final immunisation having spent so much time with me over the past 3 months. My airline ticket has been confirmed and visa is ready, and now have a final week of couch-surfing and goodbyes before I'm off. Will write again from the other side.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">If you are not familiar with VSO, definitely check out their website (www.vso.org.uk). </span></div>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07726115472815064514noreply@blogger.com2