Jambo! I figured it was time to update everyone on the ongoing project here in Kiritu. Since my last post we've already hit several roadblocks regarding the lab and kitchen, but we've also made some progress. First off, we met with the Chief of the town on Monday at what they call the "location", which sounded very James Bond to me so I was quite excited. Of course it was just the Chief's office a few doors down, but it was still cool none the less. We presented him with a letter regarding exactly what the goals of our project were, and lucky for us they were approved by him, which means we can go ahead with the project! We also attended the Chief's barazzaa, which is kind of like a town meeting, where we got to briefly introduce ourselves and our project to the rest of the people. On the way there I got to have my first piki piki ride! These are small motor bike taxis that you sit on the back of, and they have probably been my favorite things about Kenya so far! After that we got to visit the Muungano Special School and meet the staff and children. Unfortunately we did not get to spend much time in the classroom as we had to hurry off, but it was nice to finally see all the faces we will be helping! The school already provides a breakfast for the students, kind of like an oatmeal that comes in a package, but the yogurt will be added onto this as well once the kitchen is up and running. It was clear some of them were malnourished and definitely grateful for the food as they licked the package completely clean!
As mentioned in my previous post, electricity has been a huge issue to the project as this is essential! The staff at the school thought that it would be more cost effective to get electricity wired into the room the kitchen will go in then to buy a generator and keep it running. Doing this has a 65,000 KSH (about 812 dollars) start up cost, and then also a monthly fee based on usage. We have to confirm with Louise's foundation, the Muungano foundation, whether they will be able to cover this cost. As well, the kitchen requires running water. The school already has a rain water tank, so we just need to be able to raise it so that the water runs down, then attach some kind of hose system that will bring the water into the kitchen so it can be boiled and used. We are looking into the price to do all this and also the time line for these projects to be completed as we can't start anything with the kitchen until they are done!
Our last roadblock occurred today when we journeyed into Kisumu- yes, JOURNEYED! First we had to piki piki into the junction, a small space down the road from Mudete where piki pikis and mutatus gather. We then hopped on a mutatu, which is like a van with about 14 seats that gets very crowded! We then took this into Kisumu, which took quite a while! Once we reached Kisumu we got off the mutatu and into a tuk tuk, which is kind of a small covered motorbike with seats in the back, and traveled to KEMRI (Kenya Medical Research Institute) to talk to John Vuluva, the director, about helping us with our lab situation. When we finally arrived at KEMRI, about 2 hours later, we briefly met with John, who also helped with the yogurt project in Oyugis, and he gave us some numbers to get in touch with a lab technician that can come out and see our lab space to determine what is needed and what they can provide. This makes us slightly nervous as the local lab doesn't have any of the supplies we need, but its possible our budget might allow us to buy some of the equipment ourselves so KEMRI does not have to supply it all for us. This would make everything a lot easier as I know the women would not have the time or money to make the journey we did today every 2 weeks to pick up the probiotic.
But as I said we also made some more progress! We now have meetings in the works for the public health department to come see the kitchen space and approve it, as well as contact with the lab technician to come see the lab space. We also purchased a fridge today while in Kisumu that is currently holding the bacteria and will be used in the kitchen once its up and running- we might have some fruit in there for ourselves as well! We are also eagerly awaiting a response from Louise in regards to the electricity and water, and once that is a go then we just need to focus on getting the lab outfitted and training a technician to do the work. Hopefully once piece at a time it will all come together!
Now for something about my own experience here in Kenya! While we were in Kisumu today with Charles I told him I wanted to go see the lake. Maybe all those summer memories of cottaging in Canada made me miss being out by the water! He was happy to oblige and we took another tuk tuk over to Lake Victoria. Once there we hired a boat to take us out on the lake, and yes, spot some hippos!! We only had to boat about 20 minutes when we saw two hippos in the water. We could only see their heads come up, but we got pretty close! I tried to take some pictures but they move pretty quick! I think I got one decent shot and a video, which I'll post once I can find a cord that fits my camera. As well, behind where the hippos were bathing was an impala reserve and game park, so we got to see some impalas grazing at a distance. There was also a group of school children there who I think were just as excited to see the hippos as they were to see and have us wave at them! All in all it was an exciting day and should be an eventful few weeks to come as we try to get the project rolling!
No comments:
Post a Comment