Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Beginning of the End

Hello everyone! As our time here in Kenya is starting to come to a close (less than 3 weeks left!) I thought I would update you on what's been going on here in Kiritu. First of all, a few weeks ago we were lucky enough to travel to the Masai Mara and go on safari with Louise and her friend Marg, as well as Ellissa, a fellow intern in Kenya, and her friend Frank. While Louise and Marg were able to stay at a resort in the park, us four students decided to save some money and stay at a tented camp just outside the gates. At 30 dollars a night including food, it turned out to be great- it even had a hot shower and a working toilet, so even more luxurious then our home here in Maragoli! We were able to arrange a game drive with a Masai man who took us all around the park and made sure we saw lots of animals. My favorite, of course, were the lions (one even roared at me), but we also saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, antelope, gazelle, impala, hippos, crocodiles, a hyena, and a cheetah among other things. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done and an experience I'll never forget.

When we were finished in the Mara we all traveled to Nairobi for a few days so that we could drop Marg off at the airport for her trip back to Canada, as well as pick up two brothers named Teddy and Daniel who were to be staying with us here in Maragoli for a few weeks. I can definitely say that Nairobi is not like any other place I've been in Kenya! It is much more of a modern metropolis and is filled with people and reminders of home, like chicken burgers and sundaes- we even went to see a movie! But we had business to attend to in Nairobi as well, as the laboratory equipment provider has their headquarters located in the city. Since we were sick of waiting for email replies we decided to go straight there and get the lab equipment sorted out once and for all. We met with the a very nice man who was able to get us everything we needed for about $500 under budget (I may have lied about what our top price was, but it worked) and when we returned to Maragoli the next day we were able to arrange with his contact here in Mbale to drop the lab supplies by our home within the week.
With the lab supplies finally purchased we were also able to go into Kisumu and purchase the needed supplies for the rest of the kitchen, which we also came in under budget on. Now our kitchen is furnished and ready to go! Of course there are still a few minor roadblocks before we can really start getting things moving- the windows need to be fixed, the floor paint needs to be sealed, we have quite a few meetings we need to set up with the staff involved in the project, and the electricity STILL needs to be completed. Hopefully this can all be done within the week so that we still have a full two weeks to do training and get the HIV/AIDS registry completed. We are hoping that Ellissa and some of her Mama's will be coming this Friday to see how the probiotic is cultured and how to use it, as once the lab is up and running we are hoping to supply the kitchens in Oyguis with probiotic as well. This means we definitely need electricity and a practice run through with the probiotic before they get here, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

On another note, for the past two weeks we had the company of Teddy and Daniel, two brothers from Ajax, who were volunteering both around the community and at Muungano. They were able to completely close in the cook house at the school to keep the fire wood safe, help us start fixing the windows on our kitchen, and build a chicken coop for George, a boy in the community who Louise has befriended, as his long awaited birthday present. They also brought tons of supplies for both the school and people in the community and were able to spend a lot of time with the kids, who adored them. It was also great to have some more company in the house, although living with three boys definitely has its moments. They are currently in Nairobi in preparation for their flight home tomorrow morning, and the house is feeling a little empty, but certainly a lot quieter!

At the Masai Mara 
Our first lion siting at the Masai Mara 






































Another thing to mention is that for the last few weeks we have had an amazing dog by the name of Georgia living at our house. We borrowed her from some people we know in the community and after a good flea bath, a new collar, and some bones, she has warmed right up to us. She's a local breed and kind of looks like a big chihuahua, but she's so sweet and gentle and is a huge lap dog! Hopefully none of the Australians who are coming are allergic to dogs because she's definitely part of the Muungano family here in Kiritu!
Georgia taking the opportunity to nap while I write this post

Thursday, July 12, 2012

To Oyugis and Back

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, for some reason I couldn't sign onto my blog but I've figured it out, which is a good thing because sooo much has been happening! First of all, all the work to get the kitchen/ lab area up to snuff is almost completed; the wiring is in, the electric company is coming on Friday to hook it up, the partition is up, the water tank is raised, the tables are made, and the glass has been fitted into the windows. Of course someone bought a batch of expired putty to fit the window tiles so some of them are coming out, which means we will have to put in some more hours to refit them with proper putty ourselves, but it's a small sacrifice to make sure the windows are well done- and by the end maybe I'll have learned a new skill! We are also currently painting the space blue, which should be finished today, onto which Isaac will be able to paint a mural on the back wall for us. It's starting to finally look like a kitchen! Of course this means that the space is almost ready for our lab and kitchen equipment, which still has to be purchased. We have had quite a bit of trouble looking for an inexpensive incubator for the space and have contacted just about everyone from KEMRI to local universities to see if anyone has one we could purchase. So far we haven't had much luck but we have one more source to check out and then we'll just have to order one from the company we are purchasing the rest of our equipment from (hopefully at a discount). Our goal is to have the lab equipment ordered by Tuesday so that we can then go and get our kitchen equipment- finally some shopping, my favorite part!

As well, last week we took some of the Mama's to Oyugis for yogurt training at the Orande kitchen. This trip marked our half way point in our time here and we were excited to finally get the participate in some of the WHE activities. We took two mama's named Florence and Eddy and a staff member at the Muungano school named Violet. Another intern named Ellissa has been in Oyugis for the past few weeks to see what's going on in the two kitchens located there, so we were able to join up with her and stay at her hotel at a small discount and she accompanied us around the town during training. The Mama's in Oyugis first showed our Mama's how to make the yogurt, then they were able to do it themselves and we were able to take some of the yogurt back with us to give to the rest of the women's group. When the training was finished, Ellissa came back with us to North Maragoli to see our kitchen and another part of Kenya. The next day Louise and her friend Marg, the treasurer of Muungano, came to join us as well, so our house was quite full- very different than what we've been used to! Unfortunately we ran into a bit of a problem when we went to ration out the yogurt we bought at training for the Mama's, as we realized not all the yogurt had made it back with us. We asked Violet what had happened to the rest of it, and she told us that the last batch we had made hadn't been ready so we hadn't taken it. Of course Ellissa asked her Mama's in Oyugis about this and they admitted that Florence, Eddy, and Violet had taken the yogurt in containers and then called Mama Diana in Oyugis to ask her not to tell us. I was so upset by this, not only because WHE had covered all their accommodation, food, and travel, but more importantly because they had deprived the rest of the women's group of getting yogurt. We figured out that Violet was the instigator of all this, and since she is not part of the women's group we are talking to her this week to make sure she knows that she isn't to have anymore involvement with the yogurt project and that both her and the other Mama's need to apologize to the women's group for what they did. Louise also approved taking the money for the yogurt out of her paycheck at the school so that we can buy more milk and make some yogurt for the Mama's ourselves so that they can get to try some. We are definitely starting to learn a lot about who you can trust and who you can't here.

Painting the Kitchen Space


Florence making yogurt

Mama Diani, Mama Eddy, Mama Florence, and Violet
But another exciting thing coming up is our safari! Blake and I were looking into safaris for a while, but felt a little uncomfortable traveling alone, so we emailed Louise to see if we would be able to join in on her safari that she is taking with Marg. It turns out she had booked a car to take them from Kisumu to the Masai Mara, but since it wasn't on a regular pick up day for the company they had to pay for all seven seats in the car even though it was only the two of them traveling. When we asked Louise if we could come with them, she was gracious enough to let us travel in the car for free since it was already paid for, and as anyone who does a safari knows, the transport is often the most costly part of the trip. We had also met up with Ellissa again in Kisumu as she was staying with a friend she met at Kenyatta University named Frank, and they were eager to go to the Masai Mara as well, so we found a cheap tented hotel for the four of us and will be departing with Louise and Marg this Friday morning! I am so excited to get to see the animals and promise to take lots of pictures!