Kisumu Internship - first week

I started my internship on Friday with the OGRA foundation On Friday I met with several people on staff and then accompanied several people on visits to rural primary schools. We took the organizations Land Rover which we definitely needed to navigate a lot of the rural roads. The organization runs a health clinic in Ombeyi where people can come for very affordable and sometimes free health care. The facility is equipped with a pharmacy, laboratory, several exam rooms, a maternity ward and bed occupancy for about 30-40 people. The facility also is a VCT (voluntary counseling and testing) for HIV. We provide testing services and then follow-up support counseling with our staff. The organization also provides free anti-retroviral drugs for 294 patients with 424 on the waiting list. Nyanza Province in western Kenya has the highest prevalance of HIV in the country with about 37% of the population being HIV positive.

We have been going to the primary schools to photgraph some of the children as part of their family's registration for the National Hospital Insurance Fund. Through this program, the familes can become eligible to receive free treatment at our health clinic. I have done a lot of editing of pictures and organizing of files since we have to submit the information to the government soon.

Today I spent the day at the organizations feeding center. The feeding center is located near one fo the rural primary schools. We provide 2 meals a day, 6 days a week for about 30 children presently. For many of the children, the meals they receive through OGRA may be their only food for the day. The feeding center has seen great success with classroom attendence increasing and performance improving. Several of the headmasters we spoke to told us how difficult it is to teach children who are hungry. By 10am, the children can not concentrate. The feeding center was built through the generosity of Kenyan Orphan Project who has currently been visiting with us this week. They are looking to build a youth center for the children that can also be used for community education purposes. One of my projects for the internship will be working with OGRA to analyze the operations of the feeding center. I am interested in examining the menu to determine areas where we need to introduce new and different foods. Fruits and meat are very expensive so they are often lacking from the menu at the feeding center. A balanced diet provides these children crucial vitamins and nutrients during these important development periods.

One of my other main projects will be in conjunction with the International School of Medicine and Applied Technology, an OGRA Foundation project. ISMAT is a comprehensive community-response tertiary college that trains under-privileged and vulnerable youth. The college currently teaches 72 students. I will be contributing as a guest lecturer/tutorial fellow for the Community Health and Development program. I am looking forward to this knowledge exchange with the students since we can learn from each other's backgrounds and experiences.

I will also be working with the organizations webmaster to improve on the website. We are looking to expand our networking by linking with our partners' websites to increase awareness about OGRA. We are also looking to expand our fundraising capacity by increasing ways for people to donate directly to OGRA programs.

Karibu Kisumu!

I have safely arrived in Kisumu in western Kenya where I will spend the next six and a half months with my internship. I will return to Nairobi the second week of December for final exams. I will then be travelling for three weeks. My travel plans are still in the works. I have to be back to Nairobi on January 5th (my birthday) for a weeklong seminar to discuss my plans for my second semester research. I will then be back working with my internship in Kisumu from early January until the end of April.

On Thursday I got a taxi from YaYa shopping center near my Nairobi home. The taxi was about 30 minutes late since the two other students he was picking up had slept through their alarms. We students don't respond well to 6am. We thankfully made it to our bus on-time since it was running late. The bus was quite nice - the size of a Coach bus. They gave us a bottle of water, hard-boiled egg, vegetable samosa, and sweet cake. The bus took about 6 hours, it would have been shorter but we blew a tire so we were stopped for an hour as they replaced it.

I met up with my new host mother after lunch. My house in Kisumu is about 4 blocks from the town center. Both my host mom and househelp have been very nice and welcoming. The househelp speaks little to no Engish so I've been able to use my Swahili I've been learning for the past 6 weeks.

On Friday I went to my internship at the OGRA Foundation. I met several of the staff members and one of them is an American from Connecticut who is taking some time off between high school and college. I went with several of my coworkers to 5 different primary schools to take pictures of children to complete their registration for the NHIF - National Hospital Insurance Fund. By doing this, these children can receive free medical care at our rural health clinic in Ombeyi. I also visited the health clinic in Ombeyi which has a pharmacy, exam rooms, laboratory, maternity ward and VCT (voluntary counseling and testing) for HIV. The costs at this clinic are either greatly reduced or free for most patients.

This is my host family's house in Kisumu.


Sophi, our househelp, coming home from the market carrying eggs on her head. Very impressive!

October 5, 2008

As usual I met up with my friend Anna to go to church at Holy Family Basilica in downtown Nairobi. We arrived at the church pretty early so we walked around town for awhile. We took some pictures of downtown so we could show people what the city is like. We've both gotten a lot of questions from family and friends about what Kenya, particularly Nairobi, is like. The Parliament is near to our church so we walked around the area. We asked the security guards but they wouldn't let us take a picture with them or Parliament. Kenya is very secretive when it comes to government buildings. The State House where the President lives is a huge complex that is about a mile long with a huge gate. Every 10 feet or so there are huge signs that warn about taking photographs.

When we got to church, we found out immediately that it was going to be a huge celebration. Archbishop Njenga from the Archdiocese of Mombasa (on the coast) was celebrating Mass because he was releasing his biography. The Mass started with a very large women's choir marching around the outside of the church. The children's choir was all dressed up and lined the main aisle of the basilica. The procession contained over a dozen priests and several deacons. The Mass ended up lasting over two and a half hours which was quite longer than the usual hour-long Catholic Mass. After Mass Archbishop Njenga saw Anna and I (being the only two white people in the congregation of 600+ people) and blessed us and smiled. When we were walking in the parking lot we encountered the procession again as it was walking around the basilica. Archbishop Njenga saw us again and personally welcomed us to Kenya.

Ngong Hills

On October 4th, I went hiking in the Ngong Hills just outside of Nairobi in the town of Ngong. I caught a bus early in the morning with my friend Anna outside of Prestige Plaza (a large shopping center near my home). It took about a half hour to get to Ngong Town and the bus was quite crowded with people going to the Nairobi Show. When we arrived we were dropped off at the main stage where all the buses and matatus pick up and drop off passengers. The town was very busy and had many different stands with vendors selling everything from fruits, sugar cane, rice, nuts and cellphone air time. As always, two white people walking around attracted some attention from people as we got the now expected chants of "how are you" and "mzungu!!!" We utilized the African Map which is basically asking people directions until you eventually find your way. We ended up walking about 1.5 miles from the town up and winding road and eventually found a very small sign that indicated that we were going in the right direction. From there we walked up a STEEP gravel path for about another half mile to the gate. We ended up having to pay 100 KSH ($1.38) to get in which we of course were hesitant to pay since we thought it was another instance of trying to get the white people to pay more for things than the average person. We tried telling the workers that we were residents and lived in Kenya (in Swahili) but they didn't buy it. We figured it wasn't very much so we gave up. They recommended that we take a guide with us on our hike and pointed to the disclaimer sign warning people about wild animal attacks in the area. We politely refused the assistance of a guide.

As we started hiking, we soon realized that having a guide would be completely unnecessary. The hike was very straightforward and we just followed a single path all the way to the top. The "wildlife" that they warned us about ended up just being the occasional grazing goat, sheep or cow. The path was pretty steep so we took several breaks for water and to admire the views. As we got closer to the top, we could see all of Ngong town and for many miles in the valley. It took us about an hour and a half to make it to the top. The top of the hill is home to many satelite dishes and towers. We decided to eat an early lunch and enjoy the views from the top of the hill. As we ate a dozen cows walked by us and we being the city kids that we are got excited and took pictures with them. It was definitely a lot colder on top of the hill and we ended up having to put on our rain jackets we packed. This time of year, the rains come quite frequently in the afternoon so we had to be prepared for anything.

The hike down the hill went a lot faster. Since the decent was so steep, it was hard on our toes. We took the bus back into downtown Nairobi and then went to the Maasai Market. When we arrived we were immediately welcomed by the self-proclaimed "chiefs" of the market. They explained to us that they would help show us around the market and gather things from different vendors to help us comparison shop. When we were finished they would bring together everything and then barter the price. I had been looking into buying a rhino sculpture since I arrived in Kenya and I had been doing a lot of comparison shopping so I knew exactly what I should pay for it. I walked around the market and picked up some African masks, a Maasai blanket, some jewelry and several batiqs (painted murals). One man brought a mural that I really liked but he told me the price was 10,500 KSH ($145). I knew from the minute I heard the price that he was trying to rip me off. I used my new-found Swahili to call him out on it saying that he was charging me "bei ya mzungu" (white person's price). He asked me to name my price so I told him I would pay him 750 KSH for it - a drastic difference from his 10,500 asking price. I could tell instantly that my price was too low and for the first time ever I actually had a vendor walk away from me. Of course being a true Kenyan, he found me 10 minutes later in the market wanting to bargain with me again. I eventually got him down to 2,000 KSH (1/5 his original price!) but I could tell that he was still overly eager to finalize the deal. I told him that it was still too expensive and that I wasn't about to pay an inflated mzungu price. Vendors are never very friendly when they realize you aren't going to buy from them.

It started to rain so I ran across the street with Anna and the "chiefs." I only had 2100 KSH with me so I knew I had to do some serious bartering. I knew that I could get a certain price for the rhino sculpture at the Hilton (hotel) Arcade. They started with all of the prices way over their actual value. I had set aside a small and a large rhino sculpture. They wanted 3400 KSH for the rhino that I knew I could get for 1500 KSH at the Hilton Arcade. They wrote down a price for each item and then asked me to write down my price. For each time I halved their price and then some. Oftentimes the mzungu price is SO inflated that even half the price is still more than you should pay for it. I've started to like the challenge of bartering so I spent about 45 minutes talking the various prices down. When they wouldn't budge any further, I employed one of the my dad's favorite tricks that he always uses when buying a car. I gave my final offer and when they said no, I grabbed my things and just walked away. This definitely got their attention and before I knew it they gave me the Maasai blanket and large rhino for 2100 KSH. They were originally asking for 3400 KSH for the rhino and another 2000 KSH for the blanket. I left the market feeling only mildly cheated.

October 3, 2008

On Friday October 3rd, we got out of class early so several us decided to attend the Nairobi Show (Nairobi International Trade Fair). It is basically a huge state fair but since it's Kenya, it attracts people from all over the country. The Ministry of Agriculture is a major sponsor and displays all kinds of farm animals.

We decided to walk through Jamhuri Estates which is the equivalent of a subdivision. We had to ask for help to navigate our way to the fairgrounds and two ladies volunteered to help show us the way. Another woman joined us later along our way but when we arrived at the Show, she tried telling us that since she "helped" get us to the Show we had to pay the 200 KSH admission fee. This kind of thing happens to us a lot where people are eager to help but then expect payment just because we're white and are assumed to be wealthy.

When we got there, we found one of our fellow MSID students who works with an orphanage in Kibera Slum. She helped organize a trip for about 50 of the kids to come to the Show so we all volunteered to help bring the kids around for the day. They told all of the kids to grab the hand of the nearest mzungu (white person). I ended up walking with a little boy named Michael who was about 4 years old. He was pretty small so he walked very slowly. I ended up carrying him on my shoulders for the majority of the afternoon. The Show was very very crowded and there were a lot of school groups. Many of the schools give the students the day off in order to attend the Show.

We stopped at the stadium and watched some of the dramatic performances for awhile. None of us white students understood the plots of any of them, but the kids all seemed to really like them. We ended up buying all 50 of the kids ice cream which turned into a pretty funny ordeal. White people passing out free ice cream definitely attracted the attention of just about everyone around us.

After watching the performances, we took the kids to see all of the different animals. We saw sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens, and even camels. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. It started to rain so we walked all of the kids back to Kibera. One of the girls in the program had made friends with one of the girls from the orphanage. They found out that they were the same shoe size and the girl from the orphanage had been walking around all day at the Show in a pair of high heels. She told us that the heels were here only pair of shoes besides her school shoes. The student with the same shoe size traded shoes with her for the walk home. It was interesting to see the student reflect on this experience as she put into life the saying to "walk a mile in another person's shoes." In this case, she walked several miles in a pair of high heels that belonged to an orphan girl from Kibera. The student vowed to return to Kibera during her time in Nairobi to bring this particular girl a new pair of shoes.

Spending time with these kids was a really good experience. Granted Michael who I spent the afternoon with gave me his cold, I really enjoyed spending time with them. During my initial visit to the orphanage, I played soccer with several of the boys and since the Show I have come back to visit with the boys one other time. For many of these kids, the only opportunity they have to leave the orphanage is through the activities organized by my fellow MSID student. It's been great to see other U.S. students get involved in volunteering with the orphanage.

Several people have told me that they would like to make a donation to something in Kenya. About 80 kids reside in the orphanage, several of which are HIV positive. Most beds are shared by 2-3 children. Over 200 kids attend primary school classes in the orphanage. The orphanage works to pay the school fees for the older kids to attend secondary school. The orphanage is also currently sponsoring one girl to attend university. The goal is for each child in the orphanage to graduate from the university. This place gives these children a chance that they normally would never have.

I would really appreciate if anyone could support the work of this great place.

Tunza Children Centre Kibera
c/o Diminah Khasiala
P.O. Box 7164-00200
Nairobi, Kenya

tunzachildrenscentre@yahoo.com