Jessie's Kenyan Experience

Jessie was one of the adults in the July expedition group.  Her work experience involves Occupational Therapy, so working with the kids at the Sean Michels School for Special Needs Children was a natural fit.  She found herself stepping outside the comfortable during her two weeks in Kenya, and that experience changed her:

Jessie with students at the SMS

My trip to Africa with Koins was nothing less than amazing.  Throughout my life I have not been much of a spiritual person. This trip showed me there is more that is out there that I have yet to recognize. I was able to witness and experience a kind of divine intervention that I previously would have never acknowledged.  One such experience happened one day when I was working in the clinic. Naomi came, got me out of the patient screening room, and told me my help was needed in another area. I had no idea what I was going to be doing until we walked into the room where they were doing wound care.  Once I became aware of what I would be helping with, I became quite alarmed. I have always been a very squeamish person and have been known to faint at the site of blood. My initial reaction quickly changed as a sense of calmness prevailed over me. I stayed and assisted with treating, cleaning, and bandaging of wounds for over an hour that day. I did have a few incidents where I felt a little woozy and doubted my ability to continue with the process of cleaning out wounds but the feeling very quickly passed and I was able to continue. This is just one example of an incredible ability to defy the boundaries of my comfort zone while in Africa.  

Painting the new classroom at Miyani

Jessie playing with SMS Students

Greeting students at Miyani Primary school

Jessie and one of the sweet SMS girls

Jessie shadowing Betty

Pounding corn with a baby on your back, all in a days work in Kenya

Life as I knew it before Kenya (B.K.) has changed. I am still just on the cusp of trying to accept, process and understand it all. This trip was everything I had hoped for, needed, and much, much more than I could have ever expected. I met some remarkable people who have become lifelong friends.  I am so excited about the future and am eager to see what it has to bring. Thank you Bret, Ingrid, Jami, Sue, Cindy, Leah and all the locals at Koins for opening  up, making possible and sharing this experience with all of us who are so privileged to have taken part in this expedition. I know every single person who was on this trip has been touched deeply by the experiences we had and shared while in Kenya.

Christopher - Bofu Celebration Day

This journal entry is from Christopher, one of our youth expeditioners.  The youth expedition was an entirely new concept this year, with the youth living in mud huts, in a village, away from the comparative luxury of the KCC (Koins Community Center).  They used latrines, which will be used by the Vikolani primary school once the expedition is done.  They slept in hammocks in their huts, took bucket baths in bath huts made of palm leaves, and essentially, lived about as authentically as a group of Americans can in rural Kenya.  It is interesting to observe their perspective on their experience.

Wednesday July 11, 2012

Written by Christopher Osborn

What a day!! We woke up at 5:45 and found that we were already late... We made the trek to the KCC, where we prepared for the race to Bofu. This race is a pretty big deal.  People come from all of the villages to get a chance to run a 7.2 mile race, across the arid Kenyan hills, for a monetary prize of great value. When we arrived at the KCC around 7:00, there were already over 50 Kenyans waiting. And the race starts at 8. 

We ate breakfast at the luxurious KCC, which is a 5-star hotel compared to our dirt floor huts. Most of the youth ate scones, while several of us, the ones who were going to run, stuffed them in our packs for after the race. We tied our shoes, filled our bottles, and pinned our numbers on. Since Kenyans run at leopard speed, all white people were allowed to start the run with the women, who began the race 20 minutes before the men. We took a photo with all of the runners and lined up. I heard someone yell something and we started running. 

The road to Bofu

I found myself left far behind by the women, who sprinted from the start...and didn't stop! I ran down the road, which is just a wider dirt path. I ran up and down hills, looking out over the valley as I went. This place is simply beautiful! It is dry and dusty, but the streams are lined by massive palm trees. This view is what kept me going when I wanted to give up and walk. Looking out at this amazing 360 degree view, and stepping back a bit and thinking, "I am in Kenya, in Kenya, running the longest run I've ever ran, against Kenyans, who are not only twice as fast as me, but are barefoot! I can keep going."

Christopher running to Bofu

As with every day, every twenty or so steps someone would yell "Jambo!" and I would reply with "Jambo!". I especially love it when the children yell jambo. Some of the adults would go on to say something in Swahili or Duruma and I would just smile back, because I can't understand one word they say. Every so often, I would pass one of the checkpoints where the others were waiting to hand out water. Unfortunately, the water isn't safe for us to drink, so I would run past just saying hello and receiving some encouragement.

Water station along the race route
  

I knew that the men were fast, but it surprised me when the men would pass me at double my speet, and that's not all, while we were going up a hill.

When we reached Bofu, a small group of children started running with me after greeting me with "Jambo!". They ran with me until just before the finish line, which was a row of yelling Kenyans. I nearly collapsed when I stopped running and Jami was there asking if I needed any water. I realized that I had completely forgotten about the liter water bottle I was carrying!

I found Chase, who had somehow finished 3rd, (of the women...) and we sat down, ate our scones, and took a break. All of the runners were given a T-shirt, a wristband, and a packet of swedish fish! Boy oh boy! I have never enjoyed swedish fish so much before! And then another photo was taken, this time with all of the runners in their T-shirts.

All the runners in their race t-shirts

A small parade arrived. It was made up of several women dancing and a few men in cultural clothing with leather straps on their legs that had cans with rocks in them. They would stomp and dance, creating a strong beat. We paraded/danced over to the new two-room classroom. The building was dedicated and many more pictures were taken, the entire time the dancers outside still dancing. We walked over to a row of holes and every visitor got to plant and water a sapling. There was a large ceremony and it seemed that all of Bofu was there. The Skonnard family and the Guest family were thanked in an elaborate ceremony and given Doruma names. There were several activities and dances and songs for entertainment and at the end several people spoke. We walked over to the vans and had the opportunity to ride back to Vikolani.

Dancers at Bofu celebration

We had cabbage and ugali for lunch and most of the guys fell asleep in their hammocks. Benny, Caleb and I sat down in the hut and wrote in our journals for a while, trying to catch up because we have been so busy there hasn't been much time to write. We took turns in the showers because we didn't exactly smell like fresh linen after the race. There wasn't any warm water at the time, so my shower consisted of a cold bucket of water and an extra shirt for a towel. But did that feel great! I fixed our door handle because Ted was asleep. It is normally Ted's job because he designed the rope with  knots tied on the ends fed through a hole. Normally, when it breaks, someone yells, "TED!! You're door broke again!" and he comes and fixes it.

We broke out the guitars and ukelele and started playing and singing when a boy named Edwin came to our camp to teach us how to make slingshots. He started by showing us how to make marbles from the dirt. He made a pile of dirt and poured some water into the center and mixed it into a clay. After he would roll small balls and set them out to dry. We made our slingshots with his help and tried to shoot them. Benny and Gary can both hit a pole at over 10 yards!

The youth practicing with their new slingshots

We headed back inside and continued writing in our journals. All of the sudden Garey runs into the room and yells, "Chris!! I have some stuff for you!" We share our handwritten dictionaries. 

Benny in Kenya, July 7, 2012

We have returned from another successful and very busy expedition trip to Kenya.  This year, we had a youth group, as well as a regular expedition group.  The two groups overlapped, but since the youth built mud huts in the village of Vikolani where they lived for the duration of their stay in Kenya, we had enough room for all.

The next few posts will be from the youth group.  Jami, who dreamed up the Youth Leadership Expedition, planned and carried out all the details of it, had several of the kids type up a journal entry on her iPad, which will be what I post.
 

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Written by Benjamin Cardullo

After going to bed at 2 in the morning arriving from the flight, we woke up to the smell of chapatis in the morning  (chapatis being pretty much tortillas).  After breakfast we had heard of one of the turkeys being injured during mating, so they decided to kill it.  We got to see them chop off its head.  Post-mortem, the turkey continued to writhe and flap its wings. 

When we were ready to go to the village we will be living in, Vikolani, a bunch of kids from the local school greeted us and sang and danced for us.  They then continued to lead us to the village never letting up with their song or dance.  They had about three songs, repeatedly sung, which were highly entertaining.  When we got to Vikolani, they put on an official little show for us, which included a group of boys on the drums and some kids with an organized song and dance.  It was a wonderful representation of the Kenyan culture and it was nice to get to know the villagers better.  We were also introduced to the school leaders who were all working on building our mud huts, which truly showed how happy they were to have us there.  

Benny helping mud the huts

Jacob tossing the mud

After the show and introductions we helped finish the construction of our mud huts, which to be honest were better than most homes in Mombasa.  I got to go get water with the women, and we put wrapped scarves on our heads to keep from having hard plastic on their heads.  They could walk at a regular pace over treacherous irregular terrain with these buckets on their heads without even using their hands!  These weren't little buckets either, they were home depot sized, and the children were laughing at me as I approached the mud huts, my kanga cloth and shirt soaked through with water.  (by the way, this isn't Benny any more, in case if you are wondering why i am wearing a kanga cloth and carrying water on my head like a woman).  Mud huts, as you may have guessed, have mud walls with an inside of sticks.  We throw mud at the wall to close up holes.  Apparently, I am horrible at throwing mud at walls.  I didn't even know that is something you could be bad at.  

Carrying water back from the water hole

Back to Benny.  When we were done working for the day some of us headed straight back to the KCC camp at Myenzeni but some others, including myself, took the scenic route back.  We saw how Kenya functions agriculturally and we got to see the Koins farming lands and how they help the local community.  

Kenyan farm

Youth at the baobab tree at Windridge school

When we got back we had lunch and soon headed for a hike up to the Windridge school in Chikomani.  We got to see a bit more of the Kenyan culture and life style.  Upon return we all got to take long needed showers and the Brown group helped prepare our dinner of the previously deceased turkey, and some pilau, which is a rice dish.  After dinner we had our peaches and pits meeting, which is pretty much the high and low lights of our day.  The bottom line is that Kenya is amazing, and this was a wonderful first day of our trip.  

Live from Kenya

We have an expedition in Kenya.  Actually, we have two, as we have the Youth Leadership group in Vikolani, and we have the regular expedition at the KCC.  Altogether, it is a large group of Americans immersed in Kenya.  

We have had a very busy couple of weeks.  I will be adding more entries outlining our activities, and lots of photos.  

The top photo is the new Hidden Springs school at Bofu.  The opening ceremony was held last week.  There was another race hosted by Monica, the Race to Bofu, which brought out about 20 Kenyan women this year, compared to the 2 that ran last year.  

We planted trees behind the new school building, part of the opening ceremony.

We had several dances performed for us at the opening ceremony, all part of the cultural experience of an expedition.

Much of the group leaves for Mombasa tomorrow.  The remainder leave Saturday.  We have almost finished our work here.  There will be many blog posts to come outlining our experiences.

Asante sana,

IVL

Turkeys and Chickens in Kenya

Bret has regular visitors while staying at the KCC.  Sometimes they come to say "hi" or "welcome", sometimes they come bearing gifts, as is often the case of the families of our scholarship students.

A scholarship student and his family bring a duck as a gift to Bret

With the help of Self Reliant Agriculture, we are teaching villagers how to grow bigger, stronger and healthier chickens.  Chickens in our village area are common, but rarely do they have any size.  They are usually scrawny because they are exposed to sickness and disease without receiving the necessary antibiotics, while running wild foraging for their food. Our chickens receive the best of care from the time they exit the egg, never touching the Kenyan soil until they are over a month old.  Antibiotics are administered regularly to fight off the common avian illnesses that are so prevalent here, and our feed is the best available.  In return, our birds are healthy, with higher egg output.  The villagers are seeing the returns of keeping healthy animals, and are beginning to adopt the methods we are teaching.  The end result is to provide eggs and meat for the children on a regularly basis, and our strides are beginning to pay off.

Chicks in an enclosure get a healthy start

 Turkeys are VERY rare in Kenya, and fetch a price that is more than twice what they cost in America.  The Head Teacher at the South Summit School, Mama Mishi, had an outlet to sell turkeys, but had sold her birds in order to pay medical bills for her daughter that was born last year with Downs Syndrome.  With her contacts and willingness to care for the birds, we launched a private venture to raise these birds. 

Mama Mishi's daughter, Chizi (cheese-ee), entered the hen house to show us one of the nests that is full of eggs. There are four more nests just like this one, indicating that Thanksgiving platters in Mombasa will be filled with our birds.

 

 This Tom is a great model showing the overall health of our flock.  And there are more healthy birds strutting around our turkey enclosure.

The most exciting thing about our current work in Kenya is the innovative new projects, and the ability we have to incorporate fresh ideas into the work.  We are well established in the community, and our continued support of village schools and students, as well as multiple other projects has earned the trust of the villagers.  They are beginning to come to us with new ideas, and the partnerships we are creating will provide great opportunities for the future.

IVL

Kenya Updates - June 2012

Bret has been in Kenya for nearly 2 weeks.  There is a small expedition there now, with more board members to arrive this week, and 2 large expeditions coming in July.  There is a lot of activity going on.  Here are a few photos and explanations of what they are from Bret:

The innocent eyes of young Kambi (Cam-bee) look curiously into his first camera, fearful of the white man smiling at him.  He is the son of our seamstress, Mbeyu (Mm-bay-you), so he had better not shed those tears every time he sees one of us, or he'll surely become dehydrated.

Halee cuddles a newborn that she helped deliver at our dispensary.  Although she has a nursing background, helping bring this baby into the world was a special experience.

Sandra Dahl stands in front of the bore hole that is being drilled courtesy of the generous students and parents of Orion Junior High.  Once finished, this water well will change the lives of more families than any other single project in the area.  Clean drinking water, an additional growing season for vegetables, and the eradication of many water-borne diseases that are so common to surface water.  Priceless!

As the outside walls are completed, roofing begins on the youth group huts.  Within a couple of days the initial mudding will be applied, and by the time our youth group arrives they will assist in the completion of these palatial dwellings, spending two weeks walking in the shoes of the Kenyans we serve.  This group of young adults will have an experience that even the most veteran Koins supporters have never enjoyed.

I believe that Bret Matano was the first "Bret" in the village area.  There is rumor that one exists who is just a little bit older, but I don't know to whom they are referring as there are a few within this age range.  I believe this one looks more like me than the others, plus he practices his English and can communicate with me while the others cannot.  He knows I'm good for a few cookies when he walks the 2 miles of paths from his house to the Koins Center.....a journey well worth the effort.

The heavens opened yesterday washing away the dust while it washed away many concerns about the survivability of our villager's crops.  The level of humidity skyrocketed after the storms passed, but so did the water behind our Dam on Kevin's Creek.  The outlook on our gardens, construction projects, and interactive programs for our upcoming expedition could not be better.

I will post more as photos come my way.  There is so much happening in Kenya! 

Asante Sana, 

IVL

Movie Nights in Mnyenzeni - Bret's April Journal, Part 6

Our dinner at Kombo Mwero’s home was nothing short of delightful.  He is a gracious host and genuine gentleman.  He has lived in Nairobi for 35+ years, but decided to construct a home on one of the hills overlooking our area in 2009.  Mr. Mwero comes from a family where his father had three wives, so the roots are spread wide in our area, and Mwero is a common name.  This particular Mwero ended up in Nairobi almost by mistake, and ended up making it in a major way.  The invitation to join him for dinner was a treat for our entire group and the food prepared was very appetizing.  We brought my iPad and a mini-projector system that Burt brought along and showed the new Koins for Kenya movie “Purity.”  It’s a wonderful story documenting the first girl ever from our service area to achieve the number one position in our secondary school, and go onto university, where she continues to excel. 

The African guests, as well as the help from the kitchen, and a few neighbor kids all watched in a trance.  The story unfolded in front of them, seeing one of their own on the big screen, filled with wisdom beyond her years, inspiring all who looked upon her.  Tears were shed at the moving account of this phenomenal girl, and an enthusiastic applause erupted at the conclusion. 

Steve Quesenberry and I decided to ride motorcycles up to Majengo since the van was so cramped.  Now that the evening was over, the reverse trip was in order.  Our new motorcycles were shipped to the village from the U.S. because they are sporty and built for rough terrain.  However, a small oversight is that these performance bikes don’t have headlights, and as pitch black as things get here, they are day-only bikes.  We rode in front of the van on the way home, using the headlights as our guide, dodging potholes and washed out areas as we moseyed along.  Q’s bike suddenly sputtered, then died in the middle of the road.  He was out of gas.  I pulled aside with Q, sending everyone else back to the Koins Center with our driver to get some fuel and drop the group off.  Q and I stood silently under a tangible blanket of thick darkness, laughing at our ironic situation while absorbing the stunning beauty that the stars provided us.  We sang some rock and roll tunes, chuckled more, and waited for our rescuers, hoping they would take their time. 

The groundbreaking for the new school at Miyani is going to be a popular event.  That community has not enjoyed a groundbreaking since we constructed the Sean Michels School for our special needs kids over 4 years ago. 

A load of lumber arrived for desk-making, and bags of cement for more blocks.  With classrooms going up in Bofu and Miyani, and a new office at the KCC, our crews will be heavily engaged until the end of summer, and everyone wins when that happens.

Since schools are now on their break the Koins Center is a focal point for the university students.  Throughout the day these stellar young adults will drop by to visit Steve and I, to our complete delight.  We have watched these spectacular kids from their latter days in grade school, and now to see them obtaining university degrees is as rewarding as anything I have experienced in our work here.  Shy girls have blossomed into self-assured women of substance and culture.  Boys from the bush, with little social sophistication, returning home as refined intellectuals is stimulating to the soul.  It truly stirs the emotion as these young men and women vocalize their appreciation for Koins and their respective sponsors.  A young Muslim girl named Furaha (foo-rah-hah, meaning happiness) stopped by today to pay her respects.  She said something very prophetic while being interviewed by Burt Matthews.  He asked her what she would be doing if she didn’t receive a Koins scholarship, and she replied quite succinctly, “I’d be working in the fields.”  Then she continued talking about her sponsor, stating “With Bill Hardy I have no limit.  Without him, I have no possibilities.”

Hundreds of villagers showed up for the ground-breaking at Miyani, and similar to Bofu, when the dirt began flying, all we could do was stand back in bewilderment at the effort put forth to get this project started.  There was hardly room to move in the trenches, as men and women alike wielded their tools, chipping away at the baked soil.  Chatter abounds and laughter is plentiful as our superstars prepare the ground for footings and foundation.  In less than an hour, the job is complete with the construction ball back in our court to begin the pouring of cement……by hand, of course.

Five of our university students arrived shortly after dinner to pay their respects.  Moses, Sherrill, and a couple others also passed by since we are the center of attention.  Burt pulled out his mobile projector and we showed the Purity movie on the outside wall of the KCC.  More convened, and the Koins Theater entertained for the next 90 minutes between the Purity movie and episodes from the series “Earth.”  We lacked only popcorn.

It’s only 25 miles to Mombasa and the rain has really caused them problems.  Although we’ve not been completely dry, we need the water badly and all we have had is hot, gusting wind.  I was told that the same winds that pulled pieces of thatch roof from our village huts knocked down a series of tall billboards along the road to Mombasa.  Our sturdy roof rattled vigorously, but withstood the blustery assault.  Every day without rain has serious impact on all of our activities, so everyone is pleading to the heavens in unison. 

Mama Mishi smiles without reservation and loves to laugh aloud.  She is an industrious lady who farms the typical staples, but has also found that raising a certain type of tree used in the making of telephone poles provides extra cash every few years.  She has been exploring additional methods to provide for her abundant family of 8, even asking me for ideas.  I noticed she had raised three beautiful turkeys, which are expensive here, and asked why this could not be a revenue source.  She didn’t have the required knowledge to get serious about it, nor the resources to provide the protection and feed to raise proper broods.  I invited her to the KCC to meet with our poultry experts and be my partner in this enterprise.  Her face exhibited the excitement of this notion.  Patrick outlined the required tools, supplies, and numbers of birds that would be required to get serious about this business.  Mama Mishi and I agreed who would be responsible for each line item.  Her items required significant sweat and preparation, while mine was only funding.  Within a few a week we’ll have our initial flock within the confines of our turkey farm, so put your Thanksgiving order in now.  Mama Mishi plans to pay the medical bills for her 15 month old who suffers from Down’s Syndrome with her share of the proceeds.  I plan on eating turkey when I’m staying at the KCC.  It’s a great partnership.

The drill arrived to the excitement of everyone in our group and in the village.  Within 5 feet of piercing the surface, we found a layer of solid, inflexible rock.  The first meter and a half went like butter, but the next 10 inches required the rest of the day of unrelenting gnashing by the diamond-tipped drill. 

The Tuttle’s and Scott’s both came to the village today from LDS Humanitarian.  The Scott’s have visited our area on several occasions, while the Tuttles had only heard about us.  We showed them our facilities, discussed our activities, and even watched the drill in action together.  The church is looking carefully at the drill to see if it’s something they want to be involved in, so this was a great opportunity to see it working in such a rural setting, with the driving force being the local villagers who make it work. 

The Redd’s also came today from Mariakani where they are establishing a dairy, of all things.  The concept is great, and we’ll do anything we can to help them, so hopefully they can find a way to get the necessary momentum to create a replicable business that maybe we can imitate.

My partner in crime, Steve Littlefield, departed shortly after the rest of the crew, the difference being is that he is headed for the states.  He has worked diligently to establish new protocols and reporting for our financials, handing over the reins to Leah for this massive obligation.  Safari njema, rafiki yangu.

Burt, Spence, Scott, Jake and I all went for a late afternoon run together.  I cannot imagine what 5 alabaster-skinned guys looked like to the villagers we passed as we clomped along the uneven pathways towards Vikolani.  We ran to the spot where our Youth Expedition will be located, then down to the watering hole where they will fetch their bathing water.  On well-worn trails we traversed some freshly plowed fields as the sun began to set.  Our pace quickened as we realized darkness would be upon us soon.  As we passed through Mnyenzeni we saw a perfect setting for a village movie.  After dinner the painted wall of a fallen house became the town’s one and only theater, featuring the Lion King.  There was no advertisement, no advance notice.  The movie was set up, and the play button was pushed.  Within minutes we had over 50 kids seated all around watching the film in total amazement.  When mothers came looking for their children, the recognizable groans from disappointed kids could be heard.  We were major contributors to their delinquency tonight, so we’ll begin our next movie a little earlier.  What a fantastic evening to watch a movie under the stars, especially when the patrons had never seen a movie before.

BVL