Three Photos

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.

Photo 1. The Colour of Water

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.  

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.

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.

Photo 2: Work Permit

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.

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!

Photo 3: Matatu Art

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.

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.  

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.

A Political Discourse

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).

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.  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.  The constitution also sets out plans to devolve the government through the creation of 47 counties.  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.  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. 

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.

The photos in this post are of the book launch event.
This is Mike, CEO, making his remarks.

Mike, the CEO at ICL, has recently published a book which is his proposal for how to elect and hold County leaders to account.  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).  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).  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. 

The Government Spokesman signing the first copy of the book.

Mike’s idea is really to create a movement within Kenya to change the political landscape and tone of the country.  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).  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.

Some attendees and the press.

 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!)  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).

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.

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.

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.

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! 

Krismasi na Mwaka Mpya

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.

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.

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.

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 flexibility and adaptability, and with that many VSO recruited brains around we figured it out.  

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. 

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.

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:

Nick and Moses, our driver, next to our very cool safari Jeep that we could stand up in!

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.

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.

Sitting around the camp fire.

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.

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.

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!

Kuku Choma!

Jamhuri Day

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.

Nancy, another of Barbara's colleagues, stirs the rabbit.

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??

Barbara and Josephine

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.

LUNCH!

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.

This is a row of 4 separate family houses.

We felt a little like the Pied Piperettes.

 

Josephine's nephew shows us what to do with corn.

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.

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!

Domestics

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!!

What I've been working on

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.

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.

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).

From left: Yegon (the IT guru), Mike (the founder and CEO of ICL), and Pascal (one of the Project Managers).

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.  

My colleague June and I.

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).

Wambui (Finance Manager) and Sarah on a much needed lunch break in the sun.

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. 

The Baby Elephants

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

Ah well. Sawa sawa. Tomorrow is Tuesday and I'm going to go in fresh, mud or no mud!