Did I Mention We Went to Lamu?

Oh where has the time gone? About three weeks ago Brian and I traveled to Lamu with two friends from TechnoServe, Adam and Bethany. Lamu, a place we had visited last year in August, is an island situated on the eastern coast of Kenya on the Indian Ocean. We left on a Thursday afternoon and stayed until that Sunday. We went during an Islamic festival called Maulidi, which celebrates the birth of the prophet Mohammed. Lamu, and Shela, where we stayed, are predominantly Muslim areas, showcasing a unique glimpse into the old Islamic Swahili coast.

Thursday afternoon, as we were waiting for Adam and Bethany to arrive, Brian and I were able to view the last of a two day dhow race; watching large white sails rippling in the fierce wind, while several men scampered to an off-shooting beam to balance out the boat. It was quite exhilarating knowing that this was an age-old tradition during the festival in Lamu.

That night we witnessed mass prayers in the town center, with men seated on the ground on one side of a large mosque and women on the other. This was a bit of an intense experience for both Bethany and I as a woman forced scarves over the top of our heads and we were doused with what was perceived to be holy water. We didn't stay long after that, feeling out of place and not wanting to offend anyone. 

The next day we enjoyed a walk through the small beach town of Shela and then took a tour of the larger Lamu with a local guide. That evening was the culmination of the festival presented by a massive parade of men singing, chanting and playing music through the streets. That was followed by a continuation of singing and dancing near the mosque, men and women celebrating separately late into the night.

It was beach time the following day with Bethany and Brian both impressively swimming out to a nearby sandbar while Adam and I hung out near the shore. We took a quick hike up one of the massive sand dunes to capture a spectacular view of the coastline. That evening as the sun was setting we enjoyed a relaxing dhow ride in the soothing waters of the Indian Ocean.

Our final day we took care of our requisite tourist shopping at the local Massai Market and purchased much needed ornate dhow boards. Brian and I almost ended up with three, due to excited hoarding instincts, but I was able to intervene successfully, so now we only have two. 

It was then a small plane ride back to Nairobi to shake out the sand in our clothes and leave the crashing sound of waves behind us. Overall it was an amazing and interesting cultural experience with enjoyable newfound friends.

Racing dhow

Adam, Bethany, Brian and I arriving into Shela by dhow from the airport

Shela beach

Children in Shela

Tour of Lamu

Decorative, hand-carved door frames in Lamu

Getting ready for the parade in Lamu

The festive Maulidi parade in the streets of Lamu

Local Muslim women looking for a place to watch the parade

Too cute!

Little boy waving a flag

Singing and dancing by local Muslim men

Donkeys carrying sand to a construction site in Shela

Catch of the day

Atop one of the sand dunes in Shela looking out over the Indian Ocean

Brian and Bethany standing on top of a sandbar

Sunset dhow ride

Brian's new friend

Dhow 'eyes'

Our almost three dhow boards, we got rid of the one in the middle

Flight home

Ugandan Chuck and Sleepy J

Today we held the first of two award ceremonies honoring and awarding young women from the slums cash prizes to start businesses. It was a huge and successful day with folks from Safaricom, Coca-Cola, other local partners and one of the Ministers of Parliament all supporting these aspiring entrepreneurs. It was a day filled with emotions, solidifying how life-changing our program has been for so many young ladies. There were many tears of joy shed by all. 

It was a seriously busy week with all the preparations accompanied by a few late nights but all worth it in the end. Now the weekend is here, and I'm in Nairobi and Brian is still in Uganda. He's been there since Sunday night and will return next Thursday. He's off to hike and explore waterfalls throughout one of the national parks. I'm certain he will have a lovely time, though I wish I were there to share the experience. 

But I'm exhausted and it's sleepy time for this chica. So this weekend will be full of much needed shut eye, yummy tea to warm the soul and a good book to do some exploring of my own. 

Here's a story I wrote about one of the top businesses who won today:

Big Five Making Big Waves in Kawangware

Around the corner and halfway down the dimly lit alley, rays of sunlight cast down on four young women peeling the shells off groundnuts as they prepare to make their next batch of tasty peanut butter. One crouches down, hovering over a small circular sieve while another sits on the ground sorting and filtering, working tirelessly for several hours at a time. For some of the ladies it is their first time in business and as they confidently describe, all with large beaming smiles, it has been a tremendous success.

Like the big five that dominate the great savannah, these young women are making waves in Kawangware selling deliciously, professionally packaged, tasty peanut butter. The ingredients are straightforward, a few kilograms of groundnuts and salt. The supplies are manageable, charcoal and a jiko for roasting, sieves for sifting, self-sealing containers for packaging and the rental of a milling machine from a friend for grinding the nuts into creamy peanut butter.

With training and support from TechnoServe’s Young Women in Enterprise (YWE) program, these bright young entrepreneurs were able to realize their potential in catapulting their business idea into a reality. YWE’s main objective seeks to raise the level of entrepreneurial activity among Kenya’s adolescent girls and young women, particularly the most vulnerable, to catalyze the start-up of income and employment-generating, women-owned small enterprises. For six months, these four have been attending weekly classes in an enterprise club in Kawangware called Excelling. There they have received training in four critical areas: entrepreneurship, employability, life skills and financial literacy. Their trainer, Jahazi, enlivens the curriculum with his exemplary training techniques allowing the girls to fully appreciate and enjoy the basics in starting and running a business.

With a small start up grant of Kshs 1500 from the experiential business-learning module in YWE, the Big Five hit the ground running and never looked back. Within a week they learned how to make peanut butter from a friend, accurately conducted market research, delegated roles and remarkably jelled as a team wanting to succeed in business. Young Women in Enterprise is committed to supporting these aspiring young businesswomen and plans to do so with the next phase of its’ program, called aftercare. This component includes business start up support, linkages to short-term and long-term employment opportunities, linkages to micro-finance institutions for additional lending options, and continuous learning (field trips, guest speakers, networking events, computer skills). 

The Big Five have their eyes on the future, growing their business and ultimately seeing their tasty peanut butter on the shelves of large supermarkets all throughout Nairobi. TechnoServe’s Young Women in Enterprise is proud to be providing the opportunity for these young women to improve their lives; knowing that the positive changes they make today will bestow far greater changes for themselves and a brighter Kenya tomorrow. 

A Grand Occasion - Seeking Your Support

These past couple of weeks have been amazing and intense. In both of the slums Young Women in Enterprise operates in we have conducted the judging of over 200 individual business plans. With six months of training in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and business, the young women were ready to share and promote their creative business ideas. The judges were folks from all over Nairobi who volunteered their time in support of these aspiring young business women; from business professionals, to professors, management consultants, teachers, bankers, accountants, you name it. 

It was an exciting affair seeing the girls all dressed up in their very best outfits. Some were adorned in black and white, some in grey, most in skirts but all with a professional smile. The transformation represented in these past two weeks is beyond what words can describe. During recruitment last July, these ladies were sporting ragged t-shirts brought over from far off Goodwill stores, stained skirts and unkept hair. But now just looking at them, it's hard to believe they are from the slums. 

A group of three young women decided to present a business plan together and as they finished up, they came storming out of the judging room, their faces lit up as if they had just won the lottery. They were on a cloud nine they never knew existed before. 

Left and right girls were departing their panels of judges with sheer joy written all over their faces. For most, this was the very first time they had ever presented anything to a group of professionals. And knowing that at the end of the day not everyone can come away with a top prize all of them are still winners as they've overcome so much to get where they are today. 

And they are still moving along this positive track starting with this Friday in Kawangware. We are holding the first of two ceremonies, presenting the winners from the business plan competition with cash prizes and other giveaways. Everyone will receive a certificate and a small gift. In these two weeks we will be honoring over 320 girls in both Kawangware and Mathare for their amazing accomplishment of successfully completing their core business training as well as writing and presenting business plans. Next, we'll be transitioning them into an aftercare program providing the continued support they need to get the ball rolling in business or employment. 

Brian (one of the judges) and I have been so moved by these young women and inspired by their determination to create something better for themselves and their families that we would like to invite all of our family and friends to support them, as they say in Kenya, in taking it to the next level. I know this is short notice for the award ceremonies but if anyone is interested in supporting these young women in their business start up with capital or gifts in kind please let us know and we are happy to facilitate the process. The aftercare program will be taking place starting next month and go until the end of the year. Each one of these girls is truly a winner and just a little bit goes so far in their lives. Most of them  making less than $1 a day.....

If you have any questions about this program please let me know as Brian and I are both happy to facilitate any contributions you are so inclined in giving. 

Cheers to young women paving a new path in Kenya and making history today ;-)

Waiting patiently to present her business plan

Coming away from presenting - she was quite relieved!

This young woman was all smiles, so professional and poised.

Waiting her turn....

Cloud nine

TechnoServe Kenya

Girl Effect

Brian + Jalyn = Brilyn

I totally get the whole Brangelina (Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie) thing now. You know the adopting of several children from developing countries? You know what I'm talking about, Madonna's on board now. 

What I'm getting at is everyday I see bright eyed, glowing-smiled children running around after me in the slums of Nairobi and I can't help but shake all their hands, ask them how they are, and wish I could take each one of them home in my pocket. 

I think you would think the same thing if you were me. Seeing children wearing two different types of shoes on their feet, covered in dust from the streets and hungry for food and attention. When I walk through the slums I am indeed a novelty and the children just eat it up. They run after me yelling, "How are you? How are you? How are you?" And I respond, "I am fine, how are you?" Sometimes they too respond but mostly they just giggle and run around. 

Despite how amusing and adorable this experience is, it is also very heartbreaking. I see several children who look as though they haven't been bathed in a week, sometimes their eyes are crooked, they walk with a limp or they are ill with TB/HIV. I just don't know how to cope, as there are so many. 

But I know one mustn't get overwhelmed because if you allow yourself to think too much about the issues in the slums and all over Kenya for that matter, you'll find it too difficult to move forward. So I shed some tears, say several prayers and wake up the next day to do it all over again. 

I know Brian and I can't save the world but at least we can make a difference in a few people's lives. You have to start small, and one person is better than none. 

P.S. Just to be clear, we have NOT adopted any children but I must say it's quite hard to resist these little guys ;-)

A Day in the Life

Sure Brian and I go on these exciting weekend adventures where we pet wild rhinos, wrestle crocodiles, and tame lions but what's an ordinary day like? Well, I will tell you.

Most days (at least the last few weeks anyway) I've been going into the slums. I've been working with the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager for YWE,  conducting Focus Group Discussions to understand how things are going for the school girls in our program. We've contracted outside consultants, so as to remain unbiased, and set up about one hour to meet with 10 girls in each school club to ask them a series of questions.

So my day usually starts between 8:30am and 9am; I check my email, work on a few projects, have lunch and then head to the slums, in my case, Mathare. I ride along with one of our TNS drivers and two or three of our consultants and we drive through the hectic streets of the slum to arrive at one of the schools. At one particular school, I find the school principal to announce our arrival and do formal greetings (customary in Kenya) and he arranges for us to meet the teacher who has organized 10 girls for our group discussion in a nearby classroom.

This school, is located in a three story building just on the entrance to an unpaved muddy side street. You wouldn't necessarily know a school even existed here if it weren't for the students pouring out the front door in their uniforms. They don't have a football (soccer) field nor any green space to play. As a result, they rent out a field from a nearby primary school and ironically have one of the best teams in the district. The halls of the school are dark and grey and the sound of students' feet shuffling about from class to class carries loudly through the entire building. It's hard for me to imagine any student easily concentrating on his or her studies in this environment.

Despite the loud noise coming from the hallway, we gather, with the 10 girls, into a small classroom across from the principal's office. The girls form a circle with their old rickety, wooden desks and stare at me as a novelty - it's apparent they don't see that many mzungus wandering through these halls. The principal also happens to be the teacher and patron for the Young Women in Enterprise club. He makes sure all the girls have joined and we get started with the questionnaire.

The facilitator asks a series of questions, some personal, some general, and some specifically about the program. One question is asked whether the girls think men or women are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in their community. The girls unanimously respond: women. She probes further to ask why and they convey that many young women engage in sexual activity for money, or they have low self-esteem and succumb to peer pressure. The facilitator takes note of the responses and then moves on to inquire about employment and what challenges the girls foresee in securing employment once they graduate from high school. Many respond by saying, tribalism, corruption and not enough jobs (i.e. high competition in Kenya). The facilitator continues on with her questions, many of the girls reluctantly responding allowing their shyness to win them over but some speak up and proudly respond to the inquiries.

After an hour's time we conclude the questionnaire and thank the girls for their time with us. The girls are pleased with our visit (a nice change from their normal routine) and offer to send us off in style. One girl stands up to lead the girls in a song accompanied by a series of clapping. After the last round of claps, we smile, pleasantly surprised and thank them for their send off.

Our team heads downstairs to the car to travel back to the office in the midst of the heavy 6pm traffic. We discuss our observations along the way and are satisfied by the overall responses and honesty the girls provided but also disheartened by the poor environment so many students must endure to receive their education. The girls really opened our eyes to their understanding of the world (Kenya) and I couldn't help but feel frustrated with what these young girls have to encounter in their daily lives.

We finally arrive back at the office and my day has come to an end. I meet up with Brian and we walk back to our cozy little apartment in Westlands. As I sit upon our couch, sipping a glass of wine, unwinding from the day, I can't help but think about the drastic contrasts that I encounter day to day. I travel to the slum, walk in streets lined with sewage, see mothers beating their children with wire switches and shake the hands of small children elated to see a white person in their neighborhood. I see young men concocting illicit brew, young mothers attending to several babies and senior citizens tired from decades of poverty. And then I come home to my cozy abode. Some days are really tough and other days are just days. But all in all it's a day in the life of someone working to help young women create better futures for themselves and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Chuck Norris Pets Wild Rhino

Last weekend Brian (aka Chuck Norris/CN) ventured to Ol Pejeta Sweetwaters Conservancy, a 90,000 acre wildlife conservancy situated between the foothills of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya. Because of CN's busy schedule I will write about his experiences there. 

Chuck was very pleased with the amount of wildlife he saw and that got to see him. The weather complied with his mood and the rhinoceros beetle he found in his room posed no threat because it knew what it would be up against. 

CN awoke to a beautiful sunrise looking out over Mt. Kenya which he knew he could climb in one hour if he wanted to. It takes most people 4 days. 

After a lovely morning game drive, Chuck and his friends sat down to enjoy a fulfilling breakfast. Animals couldn't help but be drawn in by Chuck's impeccable force. 

That afternoon Chuck fearlessly approached a wild* white rhino, petting him at will and showcasing his dominance over the entire animal kingdom.

Chuck was happy. 

These buffalos thought they could intimidate Chuck but quickly learned that the chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

Chuck enjoys bird watching and was pleased by these birds.

These chimps couldn't stop talking about Chuck.

Once the word got out that CN was in the park, everyone was looking for him.

It's known that Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are known today as Giraffes.

Overall, Chuck thoroughly enjoyed his weekend in nature and all of the animals in the park were grateful to Chuck for not killing or eating them. Because you know there is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.

*The white rhino Chuck fearlessly approached and got to pet was orphaned at a young age and raised by a park ranger. The ranger is working on reintroducing the rhino into the wild over the next 2 years. 

I would like to personally thank Chuck Norris (Brian) for allowing me to write about your experiences last weekend. You are awesome. 

And Now for a Little Swahili

It's time for a Swahili lesson. It has been entirely too long, last July in fact, since we shared a bit of Swahili and living in Kenya you must learn some Swahili. We haven't done a very good job of it but we'll do what we can little by little. 

Jambo!: Hello - this one we all remember and it's one of the first words we learned

Habari yako?: How are you? 

Mzuri or mzuri sana : good or very good

Sasa: Hey - slang

Fit: Fine - slang

Mambo?: Informal how's it going?

Poa: good - slang 

Asante sana: thank you very much

Kwaheri: goodbye

Kidogo: little

Pole pole: slowly slowly

Pole: sorry

Mzungu: foreigner/white person

Kazi: work

Biashara: business

Hapana: no

Bwana: husband

Maji: water

Pesa: money

Ndio: yes

That's all for now, let's hope the vocabulary continues to expand greatly!

I was visiting one of the schools in Kawangware and these children ran over to us, fascinated by the mzungu!