Here's Virginia speaking with some students in a secondary school on Rusinga Island. Their faces say it all!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Good-bye to Kenya
Hi everyone! It's the last day of February and we've been unable to post to our blog...internet issues here in Mbita. The photo loading seems to be the biggest problem, so we're posting sans pictures this time.
Tomorrow we catch the 7 AM ferry from here and then catch a cab back to Kisumu. We've decided that things look pretty calm in Uganda, so we're heading there to see some chimps and birds and visit Anna-Marie, whom we know from university days in Kingston. She's in Kampala. We'll be staying at the Namirembe Guest House, run by the Anglicans. From there we can make arrangements for visiting one of the National Parks. They have internet, so keep us posted!
We're sad to leave the wonderful people we've me here...not to mention the gorgeous view of Lake Victoria we have from our room and the 4:30 Tusker beer we enjoy each evening looking over the lake to Rusinga Island, where Mary Leakey found the bones of one of our earliest human ancestors.
Maybe we'll have better luck with photos from Uganda. Thinking of all our friends and family...Suzanne & Virginia
Tomorrow we catch the 7 AM ferry from here and then catch a cab back to Kisumu. We've decided that things look pretty calm in Uganda, so we're heading there to see some chimps and birds and visit Anna-Marie, whom we know from university days in Kingston. She's in Kampala. We'll be staying at the Namirembe Guest House, run by the Anglicans. From there we can make arrangements for visiting one of the National Parks. They have internet, so keep us posted!
We're sad to leave the wonderful people we've me here...not to mention the gorgeous view of Lake Victoria we have from our room and the 4:30 Tusker beer we enjoy each evening looking over the lake to Rusinga Island, where Mary Leakey found the bones of one of our earliest human ancestors.
Maybe we'll have better luck with photos from Uganda. Thinking of all our friends and family...Suzanne & Virginia
Friday, February 18, 2011
Little Stars and Kibisom
Update on Saturday, Feb. 19
We've been out of touch due to
technical difficulties and a road trip, but we're back! Last week we visited a school called "Little Stars Academy," founded by Mama Benta to educate orphaned and destitute children. She started with 26 kids and only two years later has 272! We had the BEST time with the kids there. Everyone in the kindergarten group exploded from their seats when we came in. They laughed and sang and held our hands. The older students sang for us and one of the boys directed the choir with more panache than we've ever seen. That boys needs to study Music. He's standing to the right of the Music teacher with the white patches on his head. We'd love to get some instruments for this group of stars!
Mama Benta saw at the beginning that the children were unable to learn well because they were malnourished. So she asked Canassist to help her with irrigation of her shamba's (farm's) garden. Now she employs 3 men and is able to grow kale, spinach, potatoes and tomotoes even though there is a severe drought here. She supplements the porridge that is the children's main source of nutrition with these fresh vegetables, which means she spends less on food, so another spin-
off is that she pays all the teachers on time (a rarity in Kenya). This year the school placed first in the district in test results. Isn't that amazing? 
Here's Mama Benta (left) in front of the garden on the day we arrived. She assembled a group of village elders to meet us. One woman (right) demonstrated the hip shimmy to the McGill students.
Feb. 17-18
We were on the road for two days with our friend John Geddes, Director of Canassist African Relief Fund. We drove from our "base camp" in Mbita to a health clinic about 40 minutes away (over BUMPY roads in a car that had been used, we assume, to cart fish--some of which had clearly died in the back!). At the clinic we met with
Karina, a nurse (shown with Virginia), and Justice, the local government administrator. They showed us the water tanks that http://canassistafrica.ca/ had installed as part of a water catchment system for the clinic, explaining what an incredible difference access to water had made to them. The next phase is to install the same system on a new building that the Kenyan government has funded. The little rural clinic sees 2000 people a month, with a high number of them suffering from malaria. They provide community education in HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, and childbirth health-related issues. Now Karina says about 30 babies are born each month in the hospital, but they want to get that number to 100. The death rate for mothers and babies is very high in rural Kenya. These local nurses and community workers are incredible people. (The photos show the old clinic building/water catchment and Karina with Virginia.)
We've been out of touch due to
technical difficulties and a road trip, but we're back! Last week we visited a school called "Little Stars Academy," founded by Mama Benta to educate orphaned and destitute children. She started with 26 kids and only two years later has 272! We had the BEST time with the kids there. Everyone in the kindergarten group exploded from their seats when we came in. They laughed and sang and held our hands. The older students sang for us and one of the boys directed the choir with more panache than we've ever seen. That boys needs to study Music. He's standing to the right of the Music teacher with the white patches on his head. We'd love to get some instruments for this group of stars! 
Mama Benta saw at the beginning that the children were unable to learn well because they were malnourished. So she asked Canassist to help her with irrigation of her shamba's (farm's) garden. Now she employs 3 men and is able to grow kale, spinach, potatoes and tomotoes even though there is a severe drought here. She supplements the porridge that is the children's main source of nutrition with these fresh vegetables, which means she spends less on food, so another spin-
off is that she pays all the teachers on time (a rarity in Kenya). This year the school placed first in the district in test results. Isn't that amazing? 
Here's Mama Benta (left) in front of the garden on the day we arrived. She assembled a group of village elders to meet us. One woman (right) demonstrated the hip shimmy to the McGill students.
Our visit to Kibisom: Community Group for Widows with HIV/AIDS and the little one-room school that they built for orphans and needy children (located at the far end of Rusinga Island)
We arrived in what seems to be the end of the world to find a small building situated in a shady grove of trees. "Welcome, welcome" a group of women repeated as they shook our hands and looked into our faces. Mama Esther, another amazing African woman , like Benta, started this centre and gave us a small look 'round, explaining each service that the centre offers . Women come here to get their
health questions answered, hang out under the shady trees, do some crafts to sell, and watch the kids in the building next door at school.
We arrived in what seems to be the end of the world to find a small building situated in a shady grove of trees. "Welcome, welcome" a group of women repeated as they shook our hands and looked into our faces. Mama Esther, another amazing African woman , like Benta, started this centre and gave us a small look 'round, explaining each service that the centre offers . Women come here to get their
health questions answered, hang out under the shady trees, do some crafts to sell, and watch the kids in the building next door at school.Suzanne and I met these two lovely teachers at the school...beautiful....Lilian is in the photo. They are with the kids all day, teaching their hearts out. Of course the kids were adorable. I brandished a soccer ball and the kids shyly said thank you...so quietly mannered..But two seconds later they were out in the dust shrieking and kicking it around like crazy! We plan to go back to the school next week and watch Lilian and Iscah.. bring some new notebooks for the kids, pencils, chalk and some toys. The ladies seemed excited to have us there..said what fun etc... We are really looking forward to it. We'll do the shopping for the supplies here in Mbita then find a way back out there.... It may be on the back of a motor cycle or on bikes that I've asked Wilfred, my Kenyan waiter boyfriend, to scare up for us. Transportation is the main obstacle here as the dirt roads are sketchy, making 10 kilometers seem like 50.
We are looking forward to sitting with the widows and learning about thier days, finding ways to support Esther once we are back in Kingston, and playing with the kids. Apparently they will take us on a hike up a nearby mountain so we can see all of Ruisinga Island. Yesterday on an evening bird watch we spied a huge monitor lizard so Suzanne is not so keen on hiking....
Feb. 17-18We were on the road for two days with our friend John Geddes, Director of Canassist African Relief Fund. We drove from our "base camp" in Mbita to a health clinic about 40 minutes away (over BUMPY roads in a car that had been used, we assume, to cart fish--some of which had clearly died in the back!). At the clinic we met with
Karina, a nurse (shown with Virginia), and Justice, the local government administrator. They showed us the water tanks that http://canassistafrica.ca/ had installed as part of a water catchment system for the clinic, explaining what an incredible difference access to water had made to them. The next phase is to install the same system on a new building that the Kenyan government has funded. The little rural clinic sees 2000 people a month, with a high number of them suffering from malaria. They provide community education in HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, and childbirth health-related issues. Now Karina says about 30 babies are born each month in the hospital, but they want to get that number to 100. The death rate for mothers and babies is very high in rural Kenya. These local nurses and community workers are incredible people. (The photos show the old clinic building/water catchment and Karina with Virginia.)I think we've used the word "incredible" often, but words can't describe the impact that these amazing community workers have had on us.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Week One in Kenya
On the Masaii Mara: This gal was watching a small herd of antelope. We were hopeful that she was going to spring into action, but she just eyed them, swished her tail, and lay down again with her cubs in the shade of a small bush.
We had three great days at a tented-camp style lodge with the warmest people you can imagine (the staff, not the other guests!). At the park gates is a Maasai school that Richard Branson of Virgin fame has funded. One evening we sat beside two teachers from the UK who were teaching there for two months and staying at the lodge. They said they always gave their box lunches to the Maasai teachers, who said, "Oh, chicken! I shouldn't eat it because I'm Maasai, but, oh well..."
On Feb. 11 we reached our first destination after a 6-hour bus ride, a 2-hour taxi, and a 30-minute ferry: Mbita, a fishing town on the shore of Lake Victoria--a Luo community in an area that has been very hard hit by the HIV/Aids epidemic. Five years ago, 38% of the population were infected. That number has dropped to 31% as a result of public education and the availability of free anti-retroviral drugs.
We met wonderful local people who work in their communities with widows, orphans and school-age children. One man began an eco-farm, another man helps "beach children" (like street kids, but they live on the beaches in the area), and two women began taking in abandoned children and others needing food and schooling. They are the most inspiring people.
We listened in as they spoke to the McGill students who are staying here in Mbita for a few days of their semester in Kenya and Uganda. (Our friend John Geddes from Kingston is their doctor for part of their term. The faculty ornithologist is named "Dr. Bird." Really. That's his name. We'll be doing a bird walk with him on Monday morning. This morning we saw ibis, kingfishers, fish eagles, hawks, and dozens of other birds from the shore beside the residence.)
Then two of the speakers, Mama Benta and Mama Esther, walked with us into town and through the market, where Benta asked for the vegetable cast-offs for her cow! We packed two sacks of stalks and stems, Ginny lugged a huge bag on her back to the delight of everyone watching (gales of laughter), and Benta hailed a motorbike (boda-boda) to carry them and her back to her school 20 minutes away!
Mama Esther helped us buy a cell phone (our first!) at a little stall and get it charged. These women are true forces of nature. We'll have pictures from their schools next week. Stay tuned!
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