Day 1- January 30, 2012 – Kiambethu Tea Farm

Yes, day 1 came after a long journey from Canada. We had met up for the first time at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport the previous evening. Long awaited introductions happened quickly as we wound our way to the Mennonite Guest House (in a most reliable bus with a very competent James at the wheel) down the dark Uhuru Highway of Nairobi – a trip that took only about a half hour at this time of night, yet would end up taking much more time when the traffic was out and about during the day.

Most of us did not need the knife clanking away on the xylophone in order to wake up for breakfast. Our internal clocks had not yet made the appropriate adjustments causing many of us to be awake for many an hour already. Breakfast was most tasty. Excellent granola made on site! I for one would love that recipe. This is a good start. If the food continues on like this, it will help a lot!

After breakfast we make our way (by foot) to the MCC offices which were just 15 minutes or so down the road. This walk is our introduction to Africa in the sunlight. There are people walking everywhere. There is the smell of burning garbage. One must always keep an eye out for where one walks as the surface of the road and walkways are not consistent.

Ron and Martha were waiting patiently for us when we arrived and then introduced us to the variety of programs that were part of MCC Kenya’s portfolio.

After about an hour at the office, we headed out by bus to visit the tea farm. Yes, this day was going to be our first taste of rural Africa – after all, Nairobi is only 15 minutes out of Africa.

We’re still all being pretty careful with each other. First impressions can be so important. No need to misstep at this early stage – at least one hopes not to. Our road to the tea farm is uphill – it feels like all the way. For Adelia and myself, there is much anticipation as we are off to visit our dear friend Fiona who lost her husband in a traffic accident less than three months earlier.

We drive past the first set of tea fields. Such a lovely green – almost manicured. Actually they are.

Tea gets picked year round, sometimes as often as every 7 to 10 days, and in the cooler dryer season, maybe only every two weeks. It used to be that they picked only two leafs and a bud, but over the past few years the tea processing plants have decided to take the top three leafs and a bud as the third leaf is also useable for tea, even if having a bit lower quality.

We arrive a half hour before our anticipated arrival time (traffic must have been working in our favour this morning). Fiona is doing last minute preparations in trying to get things in place (she certainly misses her husband Marcus who was always such a help). Adelia and I feel quite at home and take the group to her gardens where we begin (or was it continue) to share stories of our life in Africa. Thank you all for showing such interest.

At 11:00, Fiona welcomes us inside where she tells us the story of tea in Kenya and introduces different grades while we get to sip on the locally grown tea and munch on some homemade cookies.

An hour later Kimani leads us out to the indigenous forest where he explains the medicinal value of various plants and trees. No need to worry with him as our guide because he “knows his way out”.

We return to the farm house (which is actually a replacement for the original wood house that was eaten by termites) for drinks on the verandah. This is followed by a most delicious meal, all locally grown/raised finished off with home-made ice cream from the jersey cows. The food is an absolute delight. It seems to be getting better and better all the time. This certainly can’t continue.

The purpose of this day was three fold. First off it was to be a gentle introduction to Africa (Kenya light is how we sometimes refer to it). Actually it is more of a look back into history allowing us to get a bit of a window into those days of British colonialism prior to Kenya gaining its independence in 1963. Secondly, this day was to be a buffer for all of us as we work to get over the jet lag caused by an 8 hour (9 hour for the Winnipeggers, 10 hours for the Calgarian) time change. And third, it was a day where we started to get to know each other in a context that was quite new. It was an opportunity in a most relaxing setting of getting to know each other and make new friends.

A side benefit was that it also allowed for the first treasures to be purchased. We certainly hope you are enjoying them, Shelley and Stephanie.

By mid-afternoon we started our trek back to the Mennonite Guest House where many of us bedded down for an early night.

Day 2 – January 31, 2012 –Mathare (Menno Kids Academy) and Kola (Utooni Development Organization)

What a marked change from the tranquility of the tea farm this day would turn out to be.

Right after breakfast we again got onto the bus with our trusty driver James to head off to the Mathare slum area in anticipation of our visit to our first MCC project – a Global Family program called Menno Kids Academy.

We may have been a bit overwhelmed by the smells and the sounds along the way, but nothing would do it quite like the traffic. When I think of traffic, my mind takes me to moving vehicles. Not this morning. Instead, what we experienced en-route was a traffic snarl/jam. There was no movement anywhere. What had been a two lane road had somehow morphed into 5 lanes, and they weren’t all travelling in parallel directions. I think the message became very clear when Stephen (the owner of the tour company that operated the bus) asked us all to close our windows. This was not a safe area. And then when James asked Ron to put down his camera, the message became even clearer. How we got out of there was simply by God’s grace. The Kenyan sun sure packed a punch as we felt the temperatures inside the bus increase by the minute.

Could we survive living in an area like this? The congestion and noise reminded each one of us about how fortunate we were to have had the parents we had. Growing up in North America has protected us from having to live the way so much of the rest of the world lives. Experiencing this way of life can most definitely be eye opening.

In the end, the traffic did begin to move once more and before long we arrived at Menno Kids Academy.

Upon entering the compound gates Ron Ratzlaff introduced us to Enoch, the school’s head master. He made us feel most welcome.

It would not be long before the children would be dismissed from the class they were currently in. We did not realize how the still atmosphere could change so quickly. The next few hours could very well be described as overwhelming – and in different ways. The children attending the school come from very poor families. Looking at them was really looking poverty in the face.

But the other part of the feeling of being overwhelmed came from observing the teaching staff and the WASH promoters. The sense of commitment and intentionality by the educators was awe inspiring. One got a quick sense that there was something really special going on here. The turnover of the teachers was very low. Most had been there for a long time.

A special part of this program is their focus on WASH. Over the past year Global Family has helped Menno Kids Academy pilot a program that provides education in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene.

SODIS (solar disinfection of water by the sun’s UV rays) together with an emphasis on hand washing techniques and access to toilet facilities have done much to reduce the number of missed school days due to illness caused by water borne parasites.  

As a side benefit, families now also need to spend less on medication, making more of their scarce funds available for food and school fees. Everyone wins. What a wonderful thing! And the WASH system cannot be contained. Others in the community are also interested and as a result we are witnessing the beginnings of a community in transformation.

Before we left Menno Kids we were invited to share a meal with them. This was our first foray into traditional Kenyan food – ugali (cooked cornmeal paste) and sukuma wiki (cooked greens – kale). This is truly food that helps stretch their budgets, helping them make it to the end of their month.

We left Menno Kids Academy in early to mid-afternoon and headed off for Kola in the Machakos district. Our destination was to visit the sand dams being built by Utooni Development Organization. Again we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the area. The terraces along the road made us realize the work that had gone into helping make this dry area into productive farmland.

Our arrival found a group of UDO (Utooni Development Organization) employees waiting patiently for us. They treated us to a soda which was followed by introductions as well as a bit of an explanation of what each one of them did. It was obvious that Joshua Mukusya had left a big hole in the organization after his murder, but they were also most committed to continuing on and fulfilling the goals that had been set out prior to his death.  As with the teachers at Menno Kids, we were impressed with their intentionality and clarity of purpose. Their commitment will continue to move them forward.

After being served a delicious supper, we were intrigued with our first night in the countryside. Without the lights of the city, the night was dark. The quiet of the land was rustled only by the discreet laughter of those playing cards prior to heading off into a deep sleep.

Day 3 – February 1, 2012 – Kola, Machakos district – Starlight Academy, sand dams, terraces, and dam-raising!

The day started off with a visit to Starlight Academy, a school run by Joshua's widow, Rhoda. We were there for their worship time and every one of us was inspired by the children’s attention to the message being preached while standing in formation. Such discipline is hard to imagine in our western culture. The children were absolutely adorable.

The teachers stood by with pride as their work was on display. It was clear to us that the moral teachings along with strong biblical principles were core to their education.

From here we moved on to visit three sand dam projects. The first one was still in need of one more rainy season before it would be classified as mature.

The second (built more recently) had already filled up with sand.

You probably all remember the passage from John 6:19. It says, “When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened.”

I’ve often been intrigued by this passage, even though knowing that with Jesus all things are possible. But what was the chance of Jesus simply having known where to step in order to move from stone to stone? My scientific mind could not quash those thoughts.

Being at the Utooni sand dams allowed our group to also walk on water. What a gift to do this in a place that experiences such high evaporation rates and droughts caused by missed rainy seasons.

Concrete barriers are built across river beds after 1m x 1m terraces are dug along the sides of the river to divert the silt from filling up the reservoir space.  

Now when the rains come and the water flows come carrying stores of sand with them, the sand is held back behind the dammed wall while the excess water flows over and continues on downstream. It may take as many as three or four rainy seasons for the dam to mature (filling up with sand), but once that has happened, the community will have a water supply that will carry them through many difficult seasons. Sand dams are 60% sand, leaving room for 40% water.

Open pans of water experience incredibly high evaporation rates, while water stored in the sand dam experiences very little evaporation. Mature dams can carry water through several missed rainy seasons. Incredible! Walking on a sand dam is really an experience of walking on water.

Once sand dams mature, the concrete barrier can simply be built up to hold back even more sand in upcoming rainy seasons. This then significantly increases the amount of stored water.

Water stored in the sand dam is important as it also raises the water table of the surrounding area, changing the vegetation as well as creating unique micro climates.

The third sand dam that we visited was in the process of being built. The majority of our time was spent here. It was a place of much joy and celebration (noise). We walked down a hill to the riverbed only to find hundreds of people working together (might it have been 500 or so?). The forms had been prepared beforehand. Rocks had been collected. Of course the terracing had also taken place before any of the construction could begin. And the rocks in the riverbed, rounded by the constant erosion by the sandy water during rainy seasons were a feast for the eyes.

It was obvious to each of us that this was the work of a well-organized community. They all had a task to do, and they did it in unison, with their music and dancing motivating all to join in.

Today was a special event as the Kamba community had Maasai guests who had come to learn from the ‘experts’ sand dam construction techniques. How could something like this be built in 5 days? They wanted to learn so that they would be able to take that knowledge back to assist them in their own sand dam projects.

This was truly a day of tribes coming together with a purpose. It was a day of beauty and hope. And with every gathering of this kind, we learned that it was also cause for ceremony. Many speeches were made – from government officials, to project chairmen as well as Dan Driedger representing our “donor” group after having received a ceremonial “vote of thanks” that was simply unforgettable.

But for me, the highlight came when Joel, the chairman for the Maasai group got up to speak. Joel, by the way, is a marathon runner – one of the world’s best. He has trained with the one who holds the world record. Maybe he will break that record someday. He is not yet at the peak age for marathon runners.

But that aside, what was so amazing was when Joel spoke to the crowds. He honoured the Kamba people for being sand dam experts. You could almost feel their pride grow. What a moment! But then he went on to say that although they (the Maasai) had learned a lot from this experience, they were ever more aware that they did not yet know enough. He asked the Kamba people if they would be willing to come and help when they were ready to build their first sand dam, and the response was a resounding nodding of heads. Yes, they would be there. It truly felt like a moment of walking on holy ground. Tribal tensions were simply not there. It was a moment of peace and tranquillity or as I said earlier, a day of beauty and hope.

Sand dams change communities. No longer will children need to spend hours walking many kilometers to get water. Instead they will be able to go to school. Education becomes possible and that also becomes a big agent for change.

It has been a most wonderful day. I wanted to see sand dams. Never had I imagined that we could be part of witnessing the things that took place today. Absolutely awesome!

From here it was back to the bus for our return trip to Nairobi and the Mennonite Guest House. That place is beginning to feel more and more like “home”.

Day 4 – February 2, 2012 -To Maasailand in the Ngong district

Change is in the air. The Maasai people, traditionally a semi-nomadic group, have been encouraged by the governments of Kenya and Tanzania to take on a more sedentary lifestyle. Work has been done to develop agricultural skills, specifically in the growing of a variety of crops.

Our day started off with a visit to the MIDI (Maasai Integrated Development Initiative) offices. Here we met with their staff prior to heading out to the field to engage in three projects currently being undertaken.

MIDI works with self-help community groups that are made up mostly of women. On this day they were harvesting and thrashing beans. How wonderful to witness people working together, helping each other with the harvesting of their crops.

They also showed us some of the potatoes that they had been growing.

And of course no visit to the Maasai is complete without being given the opportunity to also purchase some of their handicrafts/beadwork.

From here it was onwards down the Rift Valley, over dusty and rocky roads, to a place where goats were found bleating in their thorn fenced pen. 

This project is the result of a growing awareness that simply working with relief aid help might not be good enough. Every time another drought hits, people can lose most of their herds – at times even as much as 80%. Food for work programs had been initiated, but it seemed like every crisis simply meant the need for another round of relief. What could be done to help curb this ongoing need and rather work towards more sustainability? With this question in mind, the self-help group decided to try a goat restocking project. Goats have some real advantages over cattle. First off, they will become the woman’s property, and second, their survival rates during periods of drought are much higher than cattle. Maintaining goat herds will help supply them with milk needed to survive times of crisis.

When we arrived at the place where the goat distribution was to take place, we found the self-help group waiting for us under the shade of the acacia tree. There were 102 in this self-help group of which 90 were women. The goats were not entirely a gift, but rather the self-help group had collected funds to pay part of the purchase price. For the first goat they would pay 10% and that would increase so that by the time they received their fifth goat it would be 20%. In today’s distribution, each would receive their first two goats.

The process for the goat distribution was done by lottery. Each of the goats was numbered. There were two numbered “1”, another two numbered “2”, and so on. When they drew their number, the goats they would receive was set. There was no need for any rush or hysteria. It was all well-organized. Their investment in the project was crucial to its success.

One of the things that really impacted me was when one of our tour participants asked the question “How many of them can read and write?” The responses to the translation showed only three of the 102 hands go up. The follow-up question was “How many of you have your children going to school?” For this, all the hands went up. Change is definitely in the air for the Maasai. The education of their children will help their communities change. Knowledge multiplies the tools available. Learning to read and write will help them learn about sustainable methods of agriculture as well as the causes and prevention of HIV/AIDS.  Growing a variety of crops and working with animals that can withstand the harsh conditions they experience will help them survive in their new social structures.

From here we headed off to a beading workshop where they make jewellery for export, including Ten Thousand Villages. It was remarkable stuff, and in buying from them we knew that we were helping them pay their children's school fees.

And then it was down those same roads one more time, back to the Mennonite Guest House where we would debrief our experiences in the evening. We were shaken and tired, dusty and overwhelmed again.

Day 5 – February 3, 2012 – Off to Arusha, Tanzania

This day started off with a very early breakfast as our shuttle was scheduled to meet us at the Guest House at 7:00 am. Getting an early start doesn’t mean getting anywhere early. The traffic in Nairobi has most certainly picked up over the last few years. Hopefully that is a sign of increased prosperity with more and more being able to afford cars. Having said that though, something has to give! A city like Nairobi will find it most difficult to move forward if people can’t get from one place to the next in a timely manner.

So with questions running through our minds of “Will we ever get there?”, it was a bit of a surprise when we finally ended up travelling down a straight highway, through dryland, going east in the direction of Mombasa. It was not long to the turn-off towards Arusha, Tanzania.

A last minute pull-off just before the border gave us all a chance to stretch (and a few shopping opportunities at the Curio Shop.) I hope the batik purchases will work out well in some new creative project. I can hardly wait to see!

Getting to the Kenya/Tanzanian border introduced our learning tour participants to a whole new level of aggression. It was clearly obvious to each of us that these hawkers were not new to their trade.

After going through customs and leaving our cash donations with the border folks, we headed off under the capable leadership of Erwin and Krispen from Global Service Corps – a partner of MCC, as well as Simeon who is a service worker for MCC Tanzania. We were most certainly humbled by their commitment to the people as well as their knowledge of the context in which they work and the programs they support.

Our first stop in Tanzania was to visit to sand dam #2. This dam was built just this past November and had not yet experienced a good rainy season as the last one had been somewhat disappointing.

The biggest challenge that they faced was pulling together the communities to work on something so new. Sand dams are not yet as well a known entity in this part of Tanzania as they were in the Kola area of Kenya. On top of this, might it be true that the Maasai in Tanzania are shyer, more individual and perhaps even more traditional than those we met in Kenya?

The visit to sand dam #1 was interrupted by a bit of a break for lunch. This was our introduction to goat. Needless to say, the noodles went over big time!

Sand dam #1 was also built this past November, so it also was waiting for more rainy seasons before it would be functioning at capacity.

We also stopped at a water hole and witnessed goats drinking from the same water source as one of the local boys.

"Might he get sick from drinking this water?" I asked. The answer was "Yes!" "Have they ever heard of the simple technology called SODIS which uses the sun's UV rays to purify water?" There was much interest and this will be worthy of a follow up when I return to the office in Winnipeg.

As we continued on to Arusha, we also made a stop at a model farm. Tanzania projects seem to be more based on working with individual farmers who will then become promoters for other farmers in their area with regards to innovative technologies that make farming in dry land areas possible.

The farm we stopped at had an inground reservoir (upper centre of picture) that was used to store water, covered with a sheet of black plastic to reduce the evaporation. 

Kitchen gardens (also referred to as keyhole gardens) were an innovative way of concentrating nutrients and plants in small areas. More on these later.

We finally arrived in Arusha and settled in at the La Jacaranda Hotel which would be our home for the next three nights. Dinner with everyone was up in the open air restaurant. This is a great group to be part of!

Day 6 – February 4, 2012 - In the Arusha area visiting model farms

This will be a day of viewing first hand some agriculture innovations being worked on in Tanzania.

We start off by visiting the headquarters of an MCC partner – Global Service Corps where Erwin is their leader. He shows us around and we are amazed at some of the work that they are doing.

Krispen introduces us to stingless bees who make honey that has medicinal qualities.

Erwin demonstrates solar dehydration units are used to dry fruit, making it available for consumption in times outside of the growing season.

Grain storage bins can be made without too high a cost and they safely keep the grain from rot and rodents.

We also went to visit two model farms. Their innovations will go a long way if they can promote their ideas to others and have them also follow suit.

One of the things that really caught my attention here was the concept of keyhole gardens. About one and a half metres in diameter, these gardens have a centre tube that accepts compostable material and then when the kitchen water is run into it, the nutrients from the waste materials become available for the plants that are grown in a concentrated fashion.

Sack gardening also allows for plants to grow not only from the top but also from the sides. This seems like a great idea for intensive gardening in small areas.

Non grazing goats are kept in pens.

A bio-digester produces methane gas for cooking inside while moving the sludge which can then be used for fertilizer through to the other end.

This model farm also grew fish fingerlings which were marketed regularly.

And how’s this for a new hand wash machine? The cord connected to the cap tips it over allowing the water to run through small punched holes – just enough to get a good wash. This innovative yet simple  technological mechanism conserves water while also encouraging good hygiene.

Our second model farm was not that far away, but we had moved from a zone where water was scarce to one where water was in abundant supply. This farmer was able to grow rice

as well as sugar cane.

After Nyama Choma for lunch with Mike and Maguy Salomons and their children we had an afternoon at the Art Museum (simply WOW! fabrics and more delight!)

and a bit of Maasai Market shopping before heading back to the hotel for the evening and night.