Visits to CARE Tumaini Projects and ARK School

Our Africa trip is winding down. Yesterday, Chris and Jerry left for the peaceful shores of Zanzibar. Sydney and I spent the day with staff from CARE International visiting two Tumaini projects. Tumaini means hope in Swahili. It was an interesting contrast going from our small grantees to organizations benefitting from PEPFAR money. Both programs follow specific funding guidelines, reporting requirements and continuous monitoring by CARE staff. The first one we visited, UMAKI, was about an hour out of Dar es Salaam in an area called Kibaha. It was actually located on a military base and at least one of the program managers was in uniform. I learned later the military plays a much different role in Tanzania. They have not fought in a war since Edi Amin left Uganda and have had no internal conflicts so they spend their time doing community work. The second organization, Jipeni Women and Community Organization, is closer to Dar but still felt rural. The program manager is a dynamic, young woman named Beatrice Janda. Both organizations are charged with indentifying people living with HIV/AIDs (PLHA) and most vulnerable children and orphans (MVO), providing psychosocial support, mobilizing communites, finding volunteers in each village and training them on home based care, food subsidies, transportation for receiving ARVs and education including uniforms and supplies so orphans can go to school. They cover large areas with populations of 50,000- 100,000.

Sydney left today after some whirlwind shopping and 10 minutes on Coco Beach (we had to see the ocean before leaving). Mama Rhoi (Executive Director of ARK Foundation) met me back at the hotel and took me to visit the Teens Against Aids(TAA) office at the ARK secondary school. Victoria (TAA office support) was meeting with two of the team leaders (Sargent and Leandra) from the TAA camp we visited on Tuesday. They were discussing how to follow up with participants to encourage membership and then went over the flipchart notes they had taken during the sessions. The three questions addressed during discussion were what is a teen? what is the role of community? and what are teen rights? The general theme across all groups was education, poverty and health(including HIV), having a voice in their family, the community and government, freedom/responsibility to organize and survival. Mama Rhoi's role with the teans and the secondary school are quite amazing. She motivated Charles Dingo to mobilize teens and start TAA, she continues to be their mentor. The secondary school was started by Ark. It sits on a piece of property donated by the government and provides education and room and board to about 300 orphans and most vulnerable children. It also houses a community nursery where single mothers working in nearby mines leave their children for care. Mama Rhoi is mom to many of the orphans living at the school.

This has been a truly exceptional trip and look forward to sharing photos and more information when we get back.

Linda

Dar es Salaam and Teens Against AIDS

This is Sydney writing from the Peacock Hotel in Dar. It is early morning here on Wednesday June 28th and the internet connection is actually pretty speedy at this hour.

Yesterday we visited the Teen's Against AIDS project. The day began with a bit of uncertainty when our escort ( a woman who we had not had previous contact) arrived with a car too small to carry all of us. We resolved that problem and headed off to visit a youth camp organized by Teens Against AIDS with the help of the ARK Foundation (Washington DC based). As it turns out, the camp was located on Masaii lands, and we were the honored guests of both the Masai community and the Teens Against AIDS. As Chris said in the van on the way back to Dar, all the stars were aligned to make this visit a highlight of our journey. The Masaii people typically keep to themselves and continue to live their traditional lifestyle. The camp was for orphaned and vulnerable children from very young through teens from all over Tanzania. The purpose of the camp was to provide education on HIV/AIDS and to empower the youth to take control over their own lives.

The leader of the Teens project was actually in South Africa tending to his father who was receiving special medication for AIDS. He is said to be an exceptional young man with much charisma. We were welcomed by his assistant, Victoria, who is also a very bright capable young woman who did a great job of being our host and organizing the day. We were also welcomed by "Mama Roie" from the ARK Foundation who attends this camp annually and works closely with the Teens on an ongoing basis. She is an amazing Ugandan woman who lives and works in Washington DC and travels to Africa 4 - 5 times a year. She was our translator and communication link to the whole experience.

The location of the camp is also the place where the education center that will be built as part of our grant will be located. We saw the outline of the building trenched in the grass. The Teens have already produced much written material and we were provided copies in English. They have held three training sessions and are already making a big impact with the Masai community that we met. The young people in the Masai are learning about the transmission of AIDS and how to protect themselves for the first time. The youth have been able to take the message to their parents and they are being listened to for the first time. The parents of the Masai youth in attendance at the camp invited their parents to come for a discussion on female circumcision ( or female genital mutilation). The parents heard for the first time that the daughters did not want to participate in this practice!!

During this year's camp the Chief of this comunity agreed to allow his teen aged daughter leave to attend the ARK secondary school. This is an incredible measure of respect between him and the Teens Against AIDS and the ARK Foundation.

We were treated to traditional Masai singing and dancing as their honored guests - not as tourists. The day was an experience of a lifetime. We feel very good about having funded this organization and will relay more details when we return to Seattle.

Chris and Jerry head to Zanzibar today. Linda and I will visit a couple of CARE Tanzania projects today.

Asante Sana,

Sydney

Checking In - St. Margarita and Wild Animals

We've just returned from 4 days out of email range. The first two days were spent traveling to, and visiting, the St. Margarita Development Center. We were all most impressed by what we saw there--the depth and holistic nature of the programs, the passion of the leaders, the involvement of the community. Too much to recount on 33k dialup, when we have an early flight to catch in the morning, but you will like what we learned about them. The region where they work, the Suba District, is the hardest hit with HIV/AIDS in the country. Prevalence of the virus is known to be 42%, but they believe that most adults in the community are actually positive. Michael Obuya, group leader, told us they feel like their mission is to save the children. The population of Suba District has dropped from 400K to 200K because of AIDS. Michael was in the hospital when we arrived, having just been diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension, and we visited him there. Linda describes the hospital as "about as bad as it gets," and it certainly was grim. The doctor told us 90% of the patients are HIV+. It is so overcrowded that there are beds in every corridor, and people are lying on the walkways waiting to be seen. We saw one young boy getting last rites as he waited. Our project has helped give this community hope, and we were all touched by their courage. More details when we see you on July 17.

From Suba, we headed to the Masai Mara game park where we spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning seeing the most incredibly variety of wild animals: lions, a leopard (rare), elephants, giraffes, zebras, a couple of wildebeests (the migration is just starting), hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, antelopes, gazelles, vultures, etc. etc. Jerry got a new camera before we came, with 10x optical zoom and image stabilization, so he was able to get incredible pictures of the animals. Our stay at the game lodge was less than ideal, since they were overbooked and we drew the short straw among the tour groups. Sydney and Linda had to share, and Jerry and I were in the staff quarters (primitive).

We've spent many hours in the van, since every road in Kenya seems to be in poor repair. Very few are paved. The roads approaching the game park are unbelievably bad, resulting in a bone-jarring ride and very slow progress (25 kilometers/hour). It took us 10 hours today to get back to Kisumu, and we were all tired and crabby by the time we arrived. Not to mention filthy dirty from the dust. We've been lucky so far with the weather...not too hot (I hear it's hotter in Seattle), and a few rain showers in the late afternoons when we were ready to head back to the hotel anyway.

We'll try to post another entry after our day with the Teens Against AIDS group.

Ciao, The Pangea Travelers

Pangea visit to Ikonzo Musanda Self Help Group

Greetings All!

Just a quick post to let you all know we are doing well but facing the challenges on sending news via very slow connections and limited computer availability.

Yesterday we vistiting the Ikonzo secondary school built with money from a 2005 Pangea grant. We got quite the welcome from Francis Anyona, the students, parents, teachers and a large executive committee. There are 33 students in this first class including 16 girls. Half the students have lost at least one parent and some both. The classroom was modestly furnished and has acquired a limited supply of books and laboratory materials. The students were a little shy and I could sense they are anxious but excited about being the first class. They put on a wonderful song and dance lead by a young girl named Claire. Claire is the oldest child of a woman that lost her husband two years ago and has many other children at home. Claire was recruited by the teachers for this year's class because of her excellent performance in primary school. She hopes to become a doctor.

In the afternoon we visited a Millineum Village Project in the village of Sauri. We saw a clinic, village phone, agricultural project and a spring water source before the afternoon rains threatened to close the road. It is an amazing example of how community mobilization and adequate resources lead to rapid implementation of quality programs.

We head to Homa Bay and St. Marrgarita Development Center today. I have to go. I've been accused of being on Africa time because I was late yesterday.

Linda (and Jerry, Chris and Sydney)

Ikonzo and the Millennium

Today we visited the second Pangea project in the Kisumu area, Ikonzo Self Help Group. The village of Ikonzo is about an hour from Kisumu. Most of the ride was on a paved road. We were met by members of the Ikonzo executive committee, teachers, students and parents at the primary/secondary school. The primary school has been in the village of Ikonzo since 1938 and recently, teachers and parents donated 7 acres of to be used for the school and a community library. Pangea's 2005 grant funded the construction of a secondary school classroom. A community library is also planned and construction will begin in the near future. There are 33 student's enrolled in the 1st class including 16 girls. Approximately half of the students are orphans or come from single parent households. The student's recited poems and sang for us. Claire, stands out in my mind as an exceptional student. She is the oldest child of a single parent. Her father died two years ago. She was recruited by the teachers for her strong academic performance in primary school. She lead the class in their song and dance. Claire hopes to be a doctor. Most of the students at Ikonzo come from very poor families and are unable to pay school fees. This is a challenge for the Ikonzo group in trying to meet ongoing expenses at the school. I got a real sense the students are a bit anxious and at the same time excited about being in the first secondary class. Government officials are scheduled to visit the school in July. If the school passes this inspection they will receive certification and eventually paid teachers.

In the afternoon we had the opportunity to visit a Millineum Village Project in the village of Sauri. This was the first MVP in Africa. We were able to tour the health center, a village phone, an agricultural area and a spring fed water source before the afternoon rains threatened to close the road. We were most impressed with the community organizing around the 8 areas of the millineum goals and how successful they were at implementing their objectives very quickly. It was an excellent model of how community moblilization and adequate (lots of) resources improve the likelihood of success. It would be great fun to come back near the end of the 5 year grant cycle to see all they have accomplished.

Visit to Loyce's Rabuor Village

Today will be a hard act to follow. We were given an incredibly warm welcome at Rabuor, and an introduction to African culture that I'll never forget. Dawnson Owuor, a full-time employee of Rabuor Village Project, met us in Kisumu and escorted us to Rabuor, which is difficult to find. It took about 40 minutes: 20 minutes on an asphalt road that we would think poorly maintained, and 20 minutes on a dirt road that was difficult to drive even when dry.

Once at Rabuor, about 50 members of the Rabuor Women's Group greeted us with singing and dancing, and then they were joined by a swarm of small children from the nursery school, laughing and clapping. After a prayer, official welcome and introductions to the key players in Rabuor, we toured the school and had more singing and recitations by the children. These kids are under 7, and there are about 150 of them; 3/4 are orphans, and the rest pay a small monthly stipend (<$1) to attend. They sang several songs in English ("I'm a little teapot") and several of the more brave recited poems, most of which had a religious base. The school is a spotless, well-kept building with two classrooms, a small pharmacy (just launched), an office, storeroom, and kitchen. The kitchen includes 3 energy-efficient wood-burning stoves which were donated by Slum Doctors.

After touring the school, we took a walking tour where we saw a field of sunflowers (part of our project), and a location where members of the Rabuor Youth Group make adobe-like bricks by hand. We also saw the foundation for a storage building to hold the sunflower oil press, the oil, the seeds, and quarters for the night watchman who will watch over the building's contents. The proposal we funded included 22,000 kenyan schillings for this building, but that would only have built a 10x10 hut. Seattle-based Rabuor Village Project coughed up enough extra money to expand it significantly. We ended our walk at Loyce's parents' homestead, a compound that contains 5-6 small huts. We were served an abundant lunch inside the main house, where we sat at the table and the rest of our entourage and the family sat in the sitting area. After lunch, we toured the homestead, seeing one of the hybrid goats ("diel"), the chickens, cows, and sunflowers being dried and the seeds extracted. We saw three bags of seeds that have come from the first crop. Dawnson told us that approximately 40 acres of sunflowers are being cultivated, by the 29 women who signed up after they were told about the project. Some of the youth group (age 18-25) are helping to train the women and in some cases helping prepare and plan the fields. Now that the project is showing results, many other women who were originally skeptical are now wanting to participate. The storage building is scheduled for completion in a month, and they will start producing oil at that time. They've already done some marketing, and they have already got orders from some of the surrounding schools to supply them with oil.

They have not yet purchased the goats, but will have them by the end of the month: 2 bucks and 4 pregnant does. Rosemell (Loyce's mom) has had her example goat for about 9 months, and it has already fathered one mixed-breed goat. These goats are preferable to the local goats because they grow bigger, have more meat, and are resistant to illness.

We returned to the meeting area, where we had a ceremonial meeting. There were formal thanks from village spokespeople, then we told Pangea's story and thanked them for their welcome. We presented the gifts we brought (40 plates and 50 spoons for the nursery school, and a journal for Rosemell to keep group records in), which were graciously received. The Youth Group told us about their origin and goals, and performed a couple of HIV/AIDS awareness skits for us. These young men are amazing...they were quite and retiring when introducing themselves, but then started their act and were dynamic and charismatic. Next, Rosemell told the story of the Rabuor Women's Group, which started in 1973 and grew very slowly until HIV/AIDS started threatening the community. Next, five representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture were introduced and talked about how they collaborate with local villages and international partners. (It seemed to us that Rabuor was doing well without their help, and we weren't sure that bringing their attention to Rabuor was a good thing.) Finally, the pastor of the Rabuor Church gave a farewell prayer.

We had been supposed to have tea at Rosemell's before leaving, but all of a sudden it started to rain. And when it rains in Kenya, it really rains. Our driver came running and said we had to leave right away or we wouldn't be able to get through the worst parts of the dirt road. We said our goodbyes hastily, and jumped into the van. The ride back to the main road was harrowing...it was difficult to see and the road in some places had become a stream. At one point, we got stuck and were afraid we were high-centered on a rock, but Kennedy finally got us moving again.

All in all, today was a wonderful adventure. I can only hope the next few days will be half as good.

Love to all,
The Travelers

More experiences at Common Ground

Hello everyone,

Today is my last full day with the people of Common Ground. The past six days we (two other Village Volunteers - Dena Jasper and Jeanette Herting) and I have been very active in all aspects of life of Pathfinder Academy and with the "Communities" supported by the Common Ground Program. Dena and Jeanette are teaching women and students at Pathfinder to cook using solar ovens. Dena raised money from friends and family at home to buy solar ovens to give to community leaders and women interested in training others. The women have been very excited by the possibilities of cooking with these ovens. Their excitement was evident in their smiles and laughter and even spontaneous song and dance! Very fun! I became the official photographer and have been very happy to have Allan's camcorder to capture the song and dance.

We have visited many small communities.

A farming cooperative ( 40 families) is using biointensive farming techniques to make it possible for a large family to support themselves on one acre of land. There crops and animals appear very healthy and their farming techniques very simple yet sophisticated.

A women's self help group has learned to make pots with local clay from the Nzoia River - a 4 km walk from the potting "studio". They make clay stoves used by locals to cook using fire wood or charcoal. They sell the stoves in the farmer's markets and also to their immediate neighbors. They were in the process of firing 600 stoves in their kiln when we were their.I spoke with these women about potential "Potters for Peace" water filters project. These locals may be very helpful in providing local knowledge in creating clay water purification filters. We also spoke with these women about their current water use practices. They have a deep well but their pump is broken and they don't have the 36,000 shillings needed to fix the pump. Currently they walk 4 km to the river for their water. They know that they get typhoid from this water but their prefer to take their chances rather than spend time and fire wood to boil the water. This will be a very difficult education project to change the practice of drinking unpurified water.

Two HIV/AIDS widows each with 7 to 9 children have set up very small retail kiosks where they sell products that they buy in bulk and repackage for sale to their immediate community. This provides them with shillings to buy essentials and also means that their neighbors do not have to walk so far to buy such things as tea, cooking spices, cooking fat, salt, sugar, bread, laundry soap etc.

Another widow - Grace- with young twins has set up a tailoring enterprise in her home where she makes dresses and also does embroidery on her dual powered singer sewing machine. The three of us "Village Volunteers" oredered a dress which Joshua will mail to us in Nairobi before we leave Kenya.

These microenterprises as well as others that I have not yet visited are supported by the 2005 Pangea grant to Common Ground.

Other activities since my last post include a day of Music competition amongst the primary schools of the Kitale district. This is a major event with what seemed like 30 to 40 different schools. Pathfinder students placed quite high in this competition and will go on to Provincial competition held in a town about 70 Kms from Kitale. Then if they do well there they will go to Nairobi for the National competition. The african children are very skilled and naturally talented when it comes to singing, drumming, and dancing. I had a great time that day!

I met with each of the 13 pathfinder students currently supported by Pangea. I have pictures of all and video of some. One of the girls is an orphan who is in 7th grade and boards at pathfinder. She is an amazing musician, an excellent student, and very kind to the younger children. She appears to have natural leadership skills.

Another of the girls lives with her Mom and 6 siblings in a tiny mud home. Her name is Robai and we visited her garden yesterday. She is the primary gardener for the family and grows maize, firewood, kale, carrots, cabbage, avocados, tomatoes, and mangos. She sells the food to provide money for seeds for the garden and other minimal essentials for the family. In the dry season her garden provides enough wood for cooking. In the wet season they need to buy dry wood. We gave her 200 shillings (about 3 dollars) so that she could buy seeds for tomatoes and kale. She was so taken with our visit that she gave us one of her hens! Joshua let us know that we could not refuse \ so now there is another hen at Pathfinder. Joshua will give her the first chick born to this hen.

Today's activities will include a visit to another widow, Gladys, where we will do the memory box project. This is a Village Volunteers project that allows the family to write about family members and draw pictures of how they remember the recently deceased or about memories of those who are sick. Gladys is currently taking ARV drugs for AIDS treatment.

Tomorrow we leave for Kisumu, and a night at Mama na Dada in volunteers huts. Tuesday morning Joshua and I will meet up with Chris, Jerry, and Linda at the Imperial hotel in Kisumu.

Asante sana,

Sydney

Last Minute Preparations and Trepidations

Tomorrow, we fly to Africa from our home-away-from-home in Toulouse, France. After rereading the safety reminders from Shana Greene, who helped us arrange the trip, and the health warnings from the UW Travel Medicine Clinic, we're a little apprehensive but also very excited to start this adventure. We'll do our best not to look like rich tourists, allow our pockets to be picked, get mugged in Nairobi, catch malaria or dengue fever, get sick from eating the wrong kinds of food or drinking the water, etc. etc.

Despite all the warnings, we expect to have a fantastic experience that will alter our view of the world. We know we'll meet many wonderful people, learn what life is like in rural Africa, and see some beautiful scenery and big animals. We hope to come back with more extensive knowledge of each of the projects Pangea funded in 2005 and how we might help them in the future.

Today, we're trying to figure out how to cram our clothing (minimal), medications & first aid supplies (extensive), and gifts for the projects into two small roll-around suitcases.

Wish us luck!
Chris & Jerry

My first week in Kenya

Hello everyone,

Life in kenya is full of wonderful people dealing with challenges with hope and hard work and vision for the future. Nairobi was exhausting, frenetic, polluted, and stimulating! People everywhere trying to get somewhere through traffic unlike anything I have every seen. I was hosted by a wonderful family who picked me up from the airport, fed me (wonderful food), and took me around Nairobi on Mutatas just like a local. Crossing the street is a unique experience that I wouldn't try on my own. For two hours I went with Njoki ( one of my hosts) to a home for abanded babies. We changed them and fed them and played with them. What incredible work. The attitude is hopeful and many of the babies are adopted mostly by Kenyans and some by foreigners. Many of the babies are HIV+ and are more difficult to place.

My 8 hour bus ride to Kitale was quite an experience, being the only non-Kenyan. We stopped once for a toilet break. Imagine! The country side was beautiful. At one point we slowed down for zebras crossing the road.

Now, I have been living with the people of Common Ground in a hut built for Village Volunteers for 4 days. This is one of the programs we at Pangea have sponsored. The program is an amazing story mostly because of the energy and vision of the director, Joshua Manchinga. The beauty of the story is the understanding of the interconnectidness of school, community and the environment. The center piece is the PathFinder school. It is a private school for anyone in the surrounding community. Most of the children are very poor and dealing with extreme challenges of family life, and long distances to walk to school. Joshua works hard to find sponsors for the children to allow them to come to the school. After being open for only 4 years there are 298 students in grades K through 7. They will add 8th grade next year. The school is unique in that the children are taught the importance of working within their community. They are taught from very early grades the principles of bio-intensive farming and are taught to go out to the adult community and teach so that families can be self-sustaining on a small plot of land. The children are intent learners and know how fortunate they are to be able to attend school - especially the girls. Pangea is sponsoring 14 children who would otherwise not be able to attend school at all. Tomorrow I will be able to talk with them and learn their stories directly from them. The Common Ground program also makes connections between people and supports creation of such community groups as the Masaba Widows Group. These women have been widowed, many from HIV/AIDS, all have young children, and as women many were left with nothing after their husbands died. These women, now are supporting each other by using bio-intensive farming, and engaging in microenterprises such as tailoring, brick making, and farming. They are energetic, welcoming, creative, hopeful and even joyful in their lives. I wish everyone could meet them! Today I will meet other community groups benefitting from the Common Ground Program. Pangea has also provided support for the microenterprises of the Masaba Widows. We can feel very assured that this support for both the children and the Widows is being well used!

Joshua felt so strongly that he wanted to meet the whole group traveling from Pangea that he is going to travel with me to Kisumu to meet for an hour or so with all 4 of us.

Take care everyone. When power is up and connections are good and I am in Kitale again I will update this post.

Asante sana,

Sydney

Leaving on Wednesday

This Wednesday, June 14th, I leave Seattle to join the Doerr's and Sydney in Kenya. First, though, I will be going to Kampala, Uganda to meet my friend Samuel. I first met Samuel 2 years ago while visiting a program at his school called Straight Talk. It is a program organized for youth to meet with their peers for support and to talk about relationships with girls (or boys), families, HIV/AIDs, etc. . Samuel and I have become good friends (mostly through the internet) and he will be taking me to meet his friends in Kampala and then out to his village to meet his family. I will also meet with Kevin Fitzcharles, CARE's Country Director in Uganda.