INTERVIEWS AND BANANAS

Weeks four and five and six: 7th April 09 to 24th April 09
Image: "Becky Westcott copyright 2009"

The first week was largely spent creating the constitution for the project. For the group to be registered as a Community Based Organisation [CBO] with the social services this document is a necessity, as it is with the donor organisations. The problem was that the level of detail in a standard Kenyan CBO constitution and that required for UK-based organisations to secure due-diligence is vastly different; so I had to work on it for a few days when I returned to the Africa Now office. I suppose this is one of the potential difficulties in participatory practice.

Other than that, the main events were the Harambee meeting on the 17th and the interviewing for the role of Director and teachers which we organized for the 22nd. The Harambee went well, despite the heavy, heavy rain we had all morning making the road to the village impassable. I was asked to be the customary ‘guest of honour’, which, due to lack of alternatives, I accepted. This involved me being responsible for collecting funds, making a speech and having a song sung to me by all of those present [most embarrassing]. We raised just over Ksh14,000 [£120] which again showed the local commitment to the project. The interviews were also successful, and we had a high number of responses from the poster campaign. The committee organized the interview process and I was present to add questions relating to the position of Teach A Man To Fish. I was pleased with the Director who has extensive agricultural experience which will, I hope, benefit the productivity of the businesses used to promote self-sufficiency. He also lived locally which was most welcome, as my fears that the qualified person would only be found further afield could have had practical implications, owing to the aforementioned dodgy road.

I’m really settled into life in the village now and have been learning all about local farming methods and how to cook Kenyan food. I can now milk a cow and make rope from a small green tree, the name of which I can’t pronounce. Everyone is unbelievably welcoming of me and literally bend over backwards to make my stay as wonderful as possible. On discovering that I liked bananas [I think I ate one, once] I’m now given at least ten a day. I heard that the England football captain, John Terry, eats three before every game. I thought that was impressive, but now I eat that for breakfast [very literally]. That however is where the similarity ends. As my performance in the local football game showed, I won’t be challenging for his place in the England team any time soon!

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!
ORGANISING A HARAMBEE MEETING

Weeks two and three: 24th March 2009 to 3rd April 2009

This time I returned to the village on my own. My priority was to organise a Harambee Meeting. This is a kind of community fundraising event introduced by the first Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, immediately after independence to promote development through social responsibility [I’m told it has an almost legal status]. This sense of commitment to local development certainly seems to have rubbed off on the committee members who have been working hard in my absence. This is an excellent sign of the feeling of local project ownership that Teach A Man To Fish feels is vital for the success of the school. They have been busy conducting local market research to ascertain the selling prices of and the demand for the product we shall be offering. This will allow us to finish the projection figures for the businesses and decide which ones to begin with. A community meeting was arranged for the end of the week, which was the perfect opportunity for me to explain the role of Teach A Man To Fish to inquisitive locals. Everyone was extremely happy at the prospect of a girl’s school and very grateful for the work that the committee was putting in.

With the Harambee organized for the 17th April, it was vital that we began advertising for teachers and a director. The committee drafted together an advert and I left to go to nearby Awendo [near if you have the use of a motorbike for an hour] to get the adverts printed. Unfortunately when I got there the town was suffering from a very common power outage and I had to wait until late afternoon to be able to use a computer. Finally everything was printed and we set off to post the adverts at 25 pre-determined sights around Ondati. On the way home having put up the posters, the rain finally came. The rainy season was supposed to have begun three weeks previously and the persistent hot weather was in serious danger of ruining the crops which the local population rely so heavily on. The torrential downpour turned the road into a running river within minutes and we had to walk/swim the rest of the two miles home.

On Saturday, Ken and Leonard [the Odongo’s sons] asked me if I would like to go down to the river for a swim, which I was keener than Roy was to do. It was only when I got there, stripped down and ready to jump, that they told me to watch out for crocodiles!!
I didn’t swim in the river that afternoon.