Howdy Folks,

So Getting Ken on the bus yesterday didn’t happen so much.  We were a bit delayed, missed the terminal and it was crazy busy.  We should avoid December travel in the future if possible.  Not the end of the world, just makes things a bit more difficult.

Anyway, we took care of some things yesterday and then went out last night with Jane and Agnes.  I just arrived at Backpackers after dropping Ken at the right bus with a pre purchased ticket and I still haven’t been to bed yet.  Good times.

Meeting Famous friends in a few hours.  I’m going to send some stuff your way from the last 11 days.  I can’t believe I left Matoso 11 days ago.  It feels like 4-5 weeks.  Heading to Entebbe tomorrow, maybe the zoo and fly out.

                                                 Market in Uganda

See yall soon,

Kevin

So we went to meet up with Jacob.  He’s a friend of Caitlin, from SCHAP.  We met up in Kampala and saw his school, some of his friends and talked about his plans after he finishes pre-law and heads to law school.  After all of this, we started to head back to Jane’s house.  Ken and I have been traveling by “taxi” here in Kampala. They’re actually a 15 passenger van.  They call them a Matatu in Kenya. They can be a bit crazy.  Jane had warned us not wait too late to head back as the crowds get big.  She wasn’t kidding.  A crazy group was waiting that was smaller than a Japanese subway wait but a FULL contract version.  Not a gentle full contact either. 

We went for the 2nd bus in a string of 2 in hopes the crowd would go for the first.  They did but it didn’t help that much.  We’re talking about 100+ people trying to load up 14 people at a time while more continue to arrive.  We got in after the chubbiest guy in Kampala crushed into Ken but made a hole for me like a fullback.  I almost had my wallet jacked during the craziness, but the zip pockets saved me.  The pants were only traveling with me as someone had left them in Matoso so that was lucky.  After all that we were both bruised and I now have a broken watch.

Now we had to make sure we were in the right one.  We had some “Namugungo” vs “Namuongo” confusion before loading.  Yeah, they’re different.  We look out for the right landmarks.  Red China Furniture grand opening baloon, check.  SaveRite, double check.  Market, Check. Roadside nursery, good sign.  Mogas storage tanks, check.  Left turn before the overhead sign, not check, uh-oh.  Industrial sign from 3 days ago, maybe this is ok.  Right turn, umm, left turn, good.  Right turn, not good.  Wait, left turn, OK.  DVD sign out of actual DVDs, awesome, right road.  Public swimming pool, good close.  Stanbic ATM, and we’re there.  Good work team.  Thus continue the travels of Ken and Kevin.

Kevin and I, left matoso on wed 8/Dec/2010 to Uganda, Matoso, Migori, Kisumu, Busia.  The trip was interesting because from busia we had a van dropping us because of disagreement between us.

They wanted  ugandan currency like 1,500,000 to take us to Jinja. They drop us on the way because we could not pay.  We realized this when Kevin could do calculation and I, does the talking since they speak some poor english, but kevin could not understand but I could have some little understanding together with kiswahili to let us have easy time to communicate and could make us move. 

Since that we were drop on a certain shopping center. We’re to wait for some other vans which could pass to Jinja unfortunately there was NO vans, I ask kevin if we could get motorcycle to Jinja because it was late at night, he said we can but we did not know how far, Boda was and we agreed on the price to a center called Iganga where the same guy help us to find private saloon car to jinia and he also drop us to a junction to jinja town because he was going to Kampala so we decided to walk to town because it was near, few minutes we come across boda to take us to backpackers in jinja town. 

We reach there at midnight and spend a night there. Morning we went to jinja town to get some new MTN line and cords to allow communication while in uganda. Later we call Robert and he come to the hotel to pick us to pastor steven mbadi. Here there was no proper communication except the pastor could speak very little English because he said he did not get to school, and even some community member couldnt speak understandable English BUT together we managed through the pastor to accomplish our mission.

There, We met the family of pastor together and stayed for 4 days. The food was good, matoke(cooked banana), chicken, sweet banana, mango, jack fruit, good drinking water from Rwenzori mountain.  We tour the area and different villages,  with pastor and Robert who is a friend. eg,Chivubuka, Mafubira, Butiki, Kitayundwa, Buyala. Attended a wedding within the area, Kyabirwa, where we see like new power construction. And later in the afternoon left to Bujugali falls then stayed for a night,kevin went rafting and I went to see the source of the river nile, connect to Lake Victoria that flows to Sudan, Egypt, like where the founder was standing when he show the source and discovers it from.

                                                                (source of the Nile)

 We then met after all day trip in different ways in backpackers in Bujugali and had like supper there before we had a shuttle with other guys to Kampala in backpackers hotel in Town and had a night before we left for Jane’s place and she was at work but gives us directions to her place, and we get her kid’s Trinity, Papa, Sauda, and she sent one of her friends by the name Agnes to keep us accompany while she is at work.

We stayed until she come late at night. Next day we walked to the Acholi camp to see them and how they are making the bead’s. This was on Friday, and the next day, Jacob met us near Crane Bank in Kampala town and take’s us to Makerere  University where he stays in one of the apartments. I had some small test for malaria while we were with Jacob and Kevin, met Lilian and Jacob’s cousin who were both from achoil from the northern part of UGANDA.  We worked to different parts of uganda with Jane, eg markets show different things in Kampala town.  Friday we went back to acholi camp to have the beads that they were preparing for us.

ABOVE all I will have to THANK Kevin for the all trips he had taken his time to take me through, I also give my regard’s for every body have met to host me for some time that have been in Uganda.eg Pastor,Jacob,Robert,John, lastly JANE. They were good to us on everything.

(Ken with Mafubira Family)

I look forward to work together with Kevin may God bless you in everything you wish to take in life, I cant thank you enough BUT am glad with my soul.

-Ken

Sorry you haven’t heard much from us.  Ken and I have been seriously on the go for about a week.  We left Matoso at 6am and after a crazy travel day we arrived in Jinja.  I’ll get you the story sometime soon but maybe I’ll wait a bit so my mom doesn’t worry too much when she reads this.  We then spend 4 days in Kivubuka village with Pastor Stephen.  Cory had met him almost 2 years ago and he took us in and showed us the entire area.  This area of Uganda is far different from the area of Kenya I was in.  Lots of rain.  Lots.  They grow just about everything as well.  Avocados, coffee, some rice, maize … the list goes on and on.  We learned a lot about the area and then after a quick whitewater rafting trip on the Nile, we moved on. 

We arrived in Kampala, Uganda late last night and will be meeting up with our friend Jane very soon.  She is kind enough to let us stay for a few days while we see the Acholi women who make the SCHAP beads and investigate the refugee camp where the live outside of Kampala.

 Until later,

Kevin

So what was going to be a fairly uneventful day turned out to be a bit more exciting.  I was invited to church again and happily said “yes”. Since this is a 5+ hour event, I didn’t plan anything else.  That and football (read as ‘soccer’ if you haven’t caught onto this yet) are usually all that is on the agenda on the weekends….you know, the important stuff.

Church was great. I was again required to be an active participant in the bible study, reading and answering questions.

The service began with a little fundraiser for a small group of young adults that were taking part in a retreat to nearby Migori and Kuria in mid-December.  I had been invited as a ‘visitor’ to help sponsor Emily, the oldest Daughter of the Agono family I’m staying with and I happily agreed. We then moved on to the mass portion of the service.  I had Ken translating for me and someone had given me an English bible to use for the service so I kept up pretty well.  There was lots of Daniel in the sermon; Lions and fire and all that.  We finished up after about 4hrs total.  We did the greeting line outside, which I really enjoy.  Everyone shakes hands with everyone else before it’s all done.  Once again I’m great entertainment for the kids. 

As we finished, Maurice mentioned that I had been in Matoso for 2 weeks already and pointed out that we would be departing before next Saturday’s service.  This means…you guessed it, impromptu speech from Kevin!  So I said a few gracious words about how welcoming they had been and how much I had enjoyed it.  All true.  They asked what religion I practiced at home.  I said I was raised Catholic but I had friends from many religions and went with them to services at times.  Apparently they could have sworn I was SDA as I was keeping up decently with the songs in Luo.  It helped that I was reading from Maurice’s book as I went.  A small group of the church leaders prayed with me that the rest of my trip would be safe.  “Safe journey” is one of my favorite goodbyes here.

Following church we hung out for a bit at the community center.  Then we went down to watch the Chelsea football game.  The “sports bar” equivalent doesn’t serve any food or beverages and are 2 TVs in an unlit 15ft by 20 ft room with benches. 

We showed up a bit over an hour before kickoff to get seats and thus had to watch some Nigerian films and Commando running simultaneously.  By the time the game was ready to begin the Matoso version of a sports bar was totally full.  Like, people on the floor and kids peeking in the door, full.  Chelsea is pretty popular here.  Just before the half, Drogba (from the Ivory Coast) scored on a PK and the place went crazy.  I have some great video that is so dark you can’t actually see anything.  You can just hear it and it’s great.

Right before the half, Maurice showed up and grabbed me.  The District Officer and Location Chief had decided to visit town.  I had met both before.  They are roughly the equivalent of the county and state government in the states but on a much smaller geographic scale. Maurice is the Beach Leader in Matoso (read “Mayor”) so they let him know they were here and he included me in the shindig.  Pretty awesome.  They were just having a few beers and making the rounds, acquainting the new District Officer with the area better.  We met them in the bar which if similar to a bar in the states, but much smaller, less of a selection and no college kids doing shots.  So the group bought me a Tusker (Kenyan beer) and invited me to eat (another chicken dinner…) with them.  The district officer served me (it seems the senior official traditionally does) and was kind enough to give me the gizzard.  I’m a standard sheltered American eater with experience in a grocery store of over-processed food, so I have no idea what to do with a gizzard,  So, I ate the whole thing, my chicken leg, and my ougali.  I’m sure if I stay in this line of work, that won’t be the most interesting meal, but interesting enough for now.

The government folks departed with their crew of 10 or so, leaving a few of us to finish up our beers and sodas with the owners.  As the only white guy in the bar, I tend to end up as the center of attention.  Most of us gather at one table, introductions are made and we begin to chat.  The usual conversation comes up; people asking for comparisons of American and rural Kenya.  This leads me to a conversation I’ve had regularly in the last 2 weeks.  I’ll give you a generalized version of them all combined.  Also keep in mind that I’m a guy who was probably born in the right place of Kentucky, USA but probably about 100+ years late.

It is interesting to see the nature of development here in a very rural portion of a developing nation.  There are many easy comparisons to earlier times in the US.  Kids and young adults eager to leave the farm community.  Some people open to exciting changes and some people who fear them.  There are people with creative and effective fresh business ideas.  There are people trying to hold onto their grandfather’s profession.  There is family lineage in farming but inadequate amounts of land for some as it is distributed among several brothers.  A lot of these are reminiscent of different history classes I attended throughout my education.  There are some drastic differences though; Computers and solar panels are in this area before paved roads, electricity, water and sewage; Cellular phones are everywhere without a single telephone line to be seen; Some diseases are the same as in the history books but many are different. HIV? AIDS has changed the shape of families and created an orphan problem not yet dealt with by the government and has exceeded even the generous culture that brings in extended family members in need.

The things I always stress most is that America has developed far beyond what they currently see in their own area.  More importantly, that not ALL development is good.  I can’t list the good and the bad parts off for you, but there are certainly portions of both.  Even with our “advanced” society we face similar issues in education and caring for those living beneath the poverty line.  Our challenges just don’t reach the same scale as here.  I speak to people about keeping an eye out as development continues and grows.  I reassure them that it certainly will happen but they will have to try and separate the good from the bad.  I also stress that someone will have to look to bring those who are in the greatest need should not be left behind.  Throughout history there have been people abandoned and left to suffer as the multitudes find advancements.  It sure would be great if people could minimize or even eliminate this historical practice…Something to think about…

Best,

Kevin

Most of my BLOG entries so far have been about my travels and personal notes of interest.  So, something a bit different this time:

While traveling the area the last few days I have come across some reoccurring issues women in particular are facing.  I’ll try to recount two particular instances to give you an idea of what some people (specifically women) in rural Kenya are facing. 

The first was a visit to a local home.  It was a small one room structure with a divider in order to create a temporary living room during the day.  The entire space was about 8ft by 8ft with SIX people living in it. The father of the house had passed away about 1 yr ago.  The remaining 6 people were his 2 surviving wives, their 3 children and a child from the family whose parents had both passed away as well.  This was a home of 2 women and 4 children, scraping together whatever they could to feed the family and send the children to school. And this is not an unusual scenario.

The second instance was with a women’s group in the area called Danya.  They are an officially registered nonprofit and have sweet matching shirts. They see the major issues related to children who are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS deaths across the area. Many of these kids are taken in by family households but some have nowhere else to go.  Many in the group have orphans living right in their homes as well, whether they have a family/friend connection to them or not. 

 The women also farmed a small area of land to help feed orphans and elderly or to make additional money to pay for school fees for the children.  Their dream is to open an official orphanage in the area.  (There is an NGO run orphanage already but it’s 40 child capacity is tiny compared to the need.)

In both of these cases women living in poverty have taken on many orphans while still trying to take care of their own families and themselves. It is an issue affecting many, and groups like Danya are limited but are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

Until next time,

Kevin

Preface to Peter

Peter is one of our SCHAP Employees on the ground in Matoso. He is from there and as a SCHAP employee frequently sends updates and pictures on how the projects are going.  

I have not yet actually met Peter so I may be the wrong person to be writing this introduction. BUT I can say with full certainly, knowing that no one will disagree; Peter is amazing. He is pleasant and lovely every time we write. He always wants to know what I have going on as well, and if I dont have the chance to respond right away I can always count on the genuinely concerned “Why are you so quite?” email.

Here is an update he sent recently and thought it was worth sharing in HIS words. I did not edit this at all. His English is very impressive, and his passion comes through, even when simply creating a list….I also enjoyed his bit at the end regarding the Kevin/Cory mashup.

Faith See

Here are some of the positive impacts of the school has brought:

 1 The school has create employment to the community members e.g teachers, security officials and many more will be employed as time goes by

 2 Quality education, the school has really play great role by enhancing quality education to the pupils since last time some parent could take their pupils out of community to far towns in search of best schools

 3 Generally the school has also promoted 3 skills that is reading, writing, etc to the young kids so now some of them can now read and write compare to olden days whereby a child can be taken to grade one without going to other classes.

 4 Long distance’ the school has also reduce long distance walk to some kids .Some parents could send their kids to far place for education but now our school has reduce the cost of far distances

 5 The structure i mean building classrooms and our computer center has really impress some parents to love our school so much.

 Kevin is really resembling Cory everywhere he goes people confused him with Cory he is a cool guy i have ever met

Talk to you soon

Peter

               (Peter with the students at the school SCHAP built the past summer)

Bear with me on this one….  First off, I apologize for not having the appropriate photographic evidence for this BLOG.  Instead you get a sweet picture of me doing my best boat captain impression on Lake Victoria. 

So today at lunch I had a bit of a run in with a chicken.  There are chickens all over the place here (cows and goats too).  They all wander around and Ken tells me they know their way home at the end of the day.  I’ve heard similar stories in other corners of the world, so I’ll believe him.

…but back to the chicken encounter in a minute. 

Yeah, this one is a bit all over the map.  So as I wonder the town of Matoso, the surrounding beaches and Centers of West Kadem I keep hearing the same thing; “MAZUNGO”. This comes from just about any kid capable of speaking.  This is their way of saying “Hey Whitey,”… literally.  Then I get a lineup of kids wanting to shake my hand.  Fairly formal considering the wording of the yelled greeting.  Heck, here’s your photo connection.  As I was paddling there were a group of kids yelling it from the beach. 

Anyway, if I’m any distance away from the center of the village it gets better.  The kids then tag along on whatever the errand is until we get far enough from their own home they know mom will be ticked off if they continue.  This is pretty far though.  They’ll help out any way possible, grab on if they can, and gather more kids to the expedition.  This leads to my theory about chickens…

…Yeah, back to the chickens.  I swear they do the same thing as the kids.  It’s the hens, so they aren’t as loud, but every time I’m sitting in someone’s living room talking their chickens come in the front door to look at me.  I don’t know if chickens are colorblind or not, but they know I’m different and they want answers.  Today I was eating lunch with my hosts, Maurice and Peter, and here they come.  The chickens right in the back door.  This time the ringleader brought two more for backup and she just looked at me with that beady eye.  So Maurice yells into the other room to his wife Mary who has made another great meal for us.  He tells her, “The chickens are too brave, we must eat one for dinner.”  We all laugh, well everyone except the chicken who’s ability to translate English I know even less about than whether they are colorblind or not.  Mary chases them out laughing and we all go about our merry way. 

My afternoon then consisted of a boat ride, an interview with a loan recipient, some time spent watching simultaneous Nigerian soaps and “The Next Karate Kid” (with Chinese subtitles and no sound), and Question and Answer time with a gentleman who runs a tree nursery.  Apparently, orange tree branches grafted onto a lemon tree trunk makes for very sweet oranges.  If you followed the last two sentences in one reading you’re a pro. 

This all takes some time and I return just in time for dinner.  It’s already a bit dark and Peter opens up the first dish and immediately laughs while he goes for a lamp.  He turns it on and, you guessed it……..chicken.

Until next time,

Kevin

I am going to make this short and sweet for today. 

Went to church this morning.  It was Seven Day Adventist but it was almost 5 hours so in religion conversion math that makes me good for a month, right mom? 

                                                     (Church Greeting Line)

The singing was amazing.  I was in the “Young Adult Unmarried” bible study group.  They were kind enough to do the study in English for me.  And they asked me questions.  I know enough Revelations so I did ok.

Then we did a trip to a local center, Kochere Dam, for a sanitation discussion.  We talked about diseases spread from human feces in water and by flies to food. 

Domtilla, our local Sanitation Rep, and Maurice, the Matoso Beach Leader, did most of the work.  I just provided some extra drawing power.  I did some talking and some demonstartions, pictured above.  Good fun all around.

Until next time

Kevin