Bikes to Benin !

We are collecting reasonably good but unwanted bikes to send out to Benin !   One of our projects is a school in rural Dogba; students can walk up to ten miles each morning to reach school, and the same home in the evening, so we have over 25 bikes now to send out for the students who have to walk the furthest.

Fortunately there is a tractor plus plough going out in a shipping container for Dogba, and we are filling the space around the tractor with bikes !   The container when it gets there will become the lockable garage for the tractor.  

Bikes are the answer in rural Africa to transport problems; as in Zambia where, with a trailer attached, they become bicycle ambulances !

News at long last !

I've finally heard that Milly is getting the counselling she so desperately needed.    I'm so relieved .... I was beginning to think my hopes for this child were coming to nothing.   I also understand there are now five students learning carpentry at the workshop, which is good.  More are needed !

Meanwhile, I'm still working in the HATW office.  Last week one of our volunteers returned from six weeks in rural Zambia.   She is a retired health visitor, so was helping and assessing needs in that capacity.  Two of the many things that she reported on was about the HIV situation in Zambia, and the dreadful conditions in a remand prison she visited.

HIV/AIDS tests are free in Zambia, as are the ARV drugs.   BUT .... as in many parts of Africa just to be seen to be tested carries a stigma with it.  The headman told her that if he was tested ... so what ?  He knew he wouldn't be able to take regular tests, for the test centres are in the towns, and rural people don't have the means or the money to get to the town to be tested.   The clinics or hospitals can only test ten people per day, so people arrive soon after dawn to be in the queue ...and if you arrive late and are number eleven in the queue, you don't get tested !    The other problem is that ARV drugs, to work properly with maximum efficacy, have to be taken at 12 hourly intervals, with food.   People don't have food ... many families only eat once every couple of days, and if they do have food, they have to be tested regularly to monitor their doses, so with limited money, do they use it for food or for transport ?   Then they run out of tablets which can bring the infection back in a more resistant form.  Its a mine-field.  

Then there was the remand prison ... with three rooms each about 15 ft square.  Two were for male prisoners, one for women and juveniles (under 16).  Each room was empty of furniture, and had a long-drop (toilet hole) in one corner.   Did I say empty ?   The two mens rooms had about 120 men in them ... 60 per room.    No space to lie down; it was only possible to sit upright or stand.   Within three days, a new prisoner would have caught chest infections .... and because of the close proximity of sexually active and frustrated men, the younger prisoners (if they went in without HIV) would have it by the time they left.  Some of the prisoners were on remand six months or more, waiting for their trial date.

I've said it before .... but when I hear of both of these situations in Zambia, I could weep.   And its the same in just about every African country.  Whatever can we do in our charity, with small groups of volunteers just scratching the surface ?   But we have to do it ..........


Click here to read an article about the situation in this part of Zambia ....
http://www.hatw.org.uk/default.asp?section=4&id=156

Books !

I bought several books published in Kenya while I was there.   I was pleased to see that reading books for school children have vastly improved from 40 years back !    I wonder how many schools can actually afford them ?   This one cost me 145 K.Sh ... or just over £1. 

I liked the idea of a child's alphabet book being called 'A for AIDS' ... the story is of a spooky, red comma shaped HIV virus which chases the children through the book as they learn both the alphabet and about preventing the spread of the disease ! 

These two were for me !  I have found oral history and stories within families fascinating whilst researching my own family history.   The oral tradition is so important, although family stories (in my case anyway) are often only half truths, but there is always some truth in them - its just a question of interpretation !

Every time I have been to Africa I have urged people there to preserve their old stories, legends and games, for once lost, they are gone for ever, and have lots to teach even in modern times.  Thankfully they are now being gathered by researchers, but are getting rarer in the family context. 

However, I was very pleased to see two little girls playing what must be ancient string games, just as I had as a child ... and the same game, here in the heart of Africa !    The photo is cut from a video I made of them, so I'm afraid not as sharp or clear as I would wish ...

                                         

"Uteshi wa mtoto ni anga la nyumba"

A Swahili proverb ... 'The laughter of the child is the foundation of the house'.  

I haven't written anything for a month now, but it doesn't mean my blog and Kenya have gone away from my mind.   Kenya never leaves me .... 

The laughter of children ... or of a particular child.  

I am trying to get news of Milly that I blogged about earlier, the child whose identical twin sister Carolyn was killed in a road accident.   I want to know that Milly is managing to laugh again .... but being so far from Kenya means that try as I might, I can't get answers to emails.    If I was there, I'd be banging on doors and agitating until I knew for sure she was getting the counselling I tried to get under way for her, and her mother.     Oh frustration ....

This child needs to smile again ... I remember the English bereavement counsellor who was in Kisumu at the same time as me, said this was the face of a 'frozen' child. 

See ...  http://luolaughter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/trying-to-upload-several-days-blogs.html

The charcoal sellers

So .... here is the answer to my puzzle !   Charcoal (to the detriment of woods and forests) is the common fuel used on the jiko .. the small cooking stove used by most people in the slum areas and out in the countryside.   

But after the lumps, large or small, of charcoal are sold either by the sack or in small quantities, there are always small chips and charcoal dust left over.   So ... my puzzle picture !    The small crumbs of charcoal are mixed with a little water and clay soil, and dried in the sun and sold on as fuel of a lesser quality. 

The charcoal jiko in use to boil a sufuria of water.    Made of metal from an old oil drum.  

A puzzle !

Seen drying in the sun outside a house at Nyamasaria !   No prizes .... but any ideas what these mystery blobs are ? 

I'll post the answer in my next ...

More about children

Children in Kenya seem to have different medical problems to us in the 'civilised' west.  When you consider that I didn't meet and talk to many children, just mostly those around the workshop site, I encountered these two children ....

This delightful chubby little boy, about six months old, was still being mostly breast fed, but he had an enormous umbilical hernia.   I have seen many, many young children in Kenya with this 'problem' and asked his mother about it.   She didn't see it as anything to worry about at all, explaining to me that as he grew, it would go down.  And she could well be right, for I can't remember ever seeing an adult man with one ... and men are often stripped to the waist when working, or naked when washing in ponds and the lake.   But I know if this child was here in the UK, he would be under-going corrective surgery.

This little boy is the one who was being weaned onto mango last year, and is about 18 - 20 months old now.   He was round and chubby, like the boy above when we saw him previously; now he is weaned he is thin and looks under-nourished ... often a common feature with children of this age.   But it was his scarred legs that I noticed (apart from the pretty pink sandals !).   He must be getting bites from mosquitoes regularly to have such scars, and thus malaria, which can be a killer of children this age.   One of Pauls twin sons had malaria while I was there.  

Once a child grows up, constantly exposed to malaria, he will develop some sort of immunity, and either not get malaria at all, or only very mildly, whereas the poor mzungu, when he gets malaria, will be very ill, sometimes dangerously so !   But I know at least two wazungu who don't take anti-malarials, having lived in Kenya by the lake for many years, and they never get malaria.  Its a risk I'm not sure I would take, having had malaria several times when living in Kenya.

Kit-Mikayi rocks

I wrote about this amazing place whilst I was in Kenya ... see blog  http://luolaughter.blogspot.com/2012/02/blog-12-lets-hope-this-loads.html

I've since had the opportunity to visit Mr Google and Wikipedia, and find this about Kit-Mikayi:

"The legend behind Kit Mikayi, which in Luo dialect means "the stone of the first wife", is that: Long time ago, there was an old man by the name Ngeso who was in great love with the stone. Every day when he woke up in the morning, he could walk into the cave inside the stone and stay there the whole day, and this could force his wife to bring him breakfast and lunch everyday. The old man became passionately in love with this stone to the extent that when people asked his wife his whereabouts, she would answer that he has gone to his first wife (Mikayi) hence the stone of the first wife (Kit Mikayi).

"An explanation of the shape of this unique stone is that the structure represents the Luo cultural polygamous family which had the first wife’s house (Mikayi) built further in between on the right hand side was the second wife’s house (Nyachira) while the third wife’s house (Reru) was built on the left hand side of the homestead. This rock also is seen to have a nuclear family whereby the father (Ngeso) being the middle stone followed by the bulky Mikayi (first wife), then Nyachira (second wife) followed by Reru (third wife) and further in front they have the child which is representing Simba (which is the house for the first born boy in the homestead). From a long time, this stone has been a sacred place for the villagers to worship in times of trouble."

 

Pauls son Graham clambers over and crawls under the rocks ... so do I !   I daren't look up ... there are ENORMOUS over-hanging rocks poised on almost nothing at all, waiting to crash down.

As we climbed inside the rocks, we could hear this weird singing ... it seemed to come from the very rocks themselves, but we turned a corner, and there in a cave, dimly lit by a candle, was a lady singing prayers.   It is a popular local pilgrimage site for followers of the Legio Maria sect who come to the rock to pray and fast for several weeks at a time.

At last we had climbed out of the claustrophobic confining cracks and caves within the rocks, and almost at the top, we had a good view of the countryside over towards Bondo.   Of course, we had to go back to the base of the rocks through the same passages !   Next time, if ever, I'll make sure I have proper shoes or boots, rather than sandals.

Once back on the level, two ladies were waiting for some more shillingi, I suspect, and did an impromptu dance and song for us.   I joined them, much to their surprise and delight, and danced and wriggled like they did !   Much laughter, fun and hugs, and all thoughts of money were gone !  Fancy a mzungu lady doing such a thing !

There are other 'tors' with massive stones balanced like this one, all over this area.  You can judge the size by the roof of the house among the trees to the right of the rock !   Big, isn't it !

Going shopping ?

Furniture for sale  at a carpenters shop ... not terribly good quality, but fairly cheap.  Some good work is spoiled, in my opinion, by the gaudy varnish that is always applied.

Pineapples for sale !   And a nice peaceful, shady spot for a chat in the heat of the afternoon !  I like the way the stall is leaning ... for how much longer, I wonder ?

A quiet back street in Kisumu, an empty bar ...

Roadside shoe shop !   These are very popular rubber sandals, made from old car and lorry tyres, with the straps created from inner tube.   Very tough and they last almost for ever !

Secondhand clothes for sale by the road.   Huge bundles of first world discarded clothing are sent out to third world countries, where they end up in a variety of places ... and not necessarily distributed  free to the poor and needy as we in the west assume.   Dealers buy the huge bundles, which are then split, sorted and sold in smaller lots and sold on by the road side, or in large markets like Kisumu's Kibuye Market on a Sunday.

A market seen from the bus, and a common sight all over Kenya along the main roads wherever there is a small (or larger) community.

I like this one !   The Yamaha shop, where bikes and motor bikes of all types are repaired and renovated.  Seats and feet rests are fitted to boda-boda bikes, welding is done, and there is a seat or two for another rest in the heat of the day !

Homes in and around Kisumu

Homes built right beside Lake Victoria out towards Dunga, the fishing village.   Nice outlook across the lake, and with interesting birds right outside ... but the mosquitoes must find easy blood meals in the residents of the houses.

Right next to the workshop; this black house had been newly painted and roofed since last year.   The house beyond and to the right of centre has a satellite dish so must have access to a) electricity, and b) a TV !!

The lady who keeps an eye on the workshop lives with her husband, a carpenter, in the two roomed shiny corrugated iron house to the left of the one roofed with rusting iron and with earth walls ... which is probably much cooler than the house built entirely of iron sheets. 

One of the old, mostly wooden houses once lived in by middle class Asian families; now they are in the main delelict or if maintained, lived in by African families.

More traditional houses out of town in the country-side, with plenty of space around them.   Earth walls, and iron or grass roofs.

What is regarded as the typical African 'mud-hut'.  Built probably by the person who lives in it from the earth around the shamba, and with a grass roof.   Practical, cheap and cool.



A typical shanty town dwelling made of recycled materials ... old iron sheets, bits of wood and plastic.  The window flaps are made of old cupboard doors.   This may be home to several people ...   The net curtain across the door-way is seen in the door openings of many houses, where it allows air in, but affords some privacy.

Plants and strange flowers

Although it was the very driest of dry seasons in Kenya when I was there, I did find some things in flower, but mostly around the guest house, where they are watered.    This strange bunch of ... I suppose they are seeds ... grew on one of the palms; the little green bobbles eventually turn black and get bigger.  The gardener said they were called African ladies plaits !   I can certainly see what he meant, for beautifully plaited hair was the in thing for ladies with a little money to go to a 'salon' and get their hair plaited.

The flamboyant tree avenue on the way out of Kisumu westwards, on the main road to Maseno, Busia and eventually Uganda.   Whatever the time of year, there always seems to be some of these beautiful trees in flower.

This little white flower grew on a bush at the guest house ... and smelled like moth balls !

Pink lilies which just flowered for one day in the heat, but the gardener said they would flower much longer when the rains came.

Another different type of palm ... I decided this was tree spaghetti !   I wasn't there long enough to see what would happen to these flowering parts after another week or two passed.

The incredible heady scent from this red flowered jasmine at night had to be experienced to be believed.  It filled the whole of the corridor outside my room with perfume.   I had thought when I smelled it the first night in the guest house, that there must be gardenias in flower outside, but in the morning, this was what I found ! 

I think this was some sort of amarylis; it flowered after watering, and the flowers lasted a bit longer than the pink lilies.                                 

Things that creep and fly and scurry about !

There were gecko's on the ceiling in my room ... strange, almost transparent animals but they eat the insects that come in the room so were very welcome.  

This lizard lived in the palm tree outside my balcony, and appeared in the afternoons.   He was very difficult to photograph because any slight movement on my part, and he was off, among the base of the huge palm leaves.

This pied crow shared the palm tree with the lizard, and its possible that given the chance, the crows might eat the lizards !

A sand bee, which dug the burrow you can see in the heap of sand at the workshop.   I first noticed grains of sand flying out of the hole, and crouched down to watch what might be making the hole.  Then he shot out and flew off, so I had to wait patiently until he returned; he landed on the scraped out sand each time, before crawling into his hole.

A nasty piece of work !   A solitary wasp - although they sometimes seemed to be in two's or three's - which made a hanging 'cell' in which they raised one or two more wasps.  They are about two inches long, and pack a nasty sting if annoyed !   Common on verandas and under eaves.  

Enough to give anyone nightmares !   But this little spider lived on my balcony, where it appeared to eat gecko poo !   It was, in reality, about a third of an inch in size.   If touched (and I used a pencil !) it jumped about six inches ... 

Mill Hill Guest House, Milimani, Kisumu

This was a great place to stay !   K. sh 2,500 per day for full board ... three decent meals a day, tea, biscuits and cake available at all hours ... cold drinking water always in the fridge ... (oh, that's around £18.75 per day)

My room was upstairs, right behind the palm tree in the centre of the picture.   The room had louvres and mesh windows at both ends, plus a balcony, so it was possible to get any breeze going.  The temperature was often in the high 30's C ... the hottest day being 39.2 C.  

Nice big room, with its own shower room.  I spent an hour or so every day on the balcony, just watching the world go by !   One day I watched a huge convoy of cars screaming along, with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and President Museveni of Uganda, going to open a new University of the Great Lakes ... a joint venture of African countries around the lake.   I never did find out why in the middle of the convoy, which was closely guarded by army and police, there was a pick-up truck containing a very nice pedigree cow !   Maybe it was a gift from the PM to the President, or vice versa ?

The open door onto my balcony; the tree right outside had a very well camouflaged lizard living in it.

The 'lizard tree' and the view of rather nice housing opposite.     Lake Victoria was a quarter of a mile beyond those houses ... and so were the lions I kept hearing at night !

My night-time view from under the net !   It was reassuring to hear mozzies zizzing outside the net while I was inside it, but it made bedtime a bit of a palaver ... everything I might need in the night ... book, glasses, torch, bottle of water, iPod ... had to go under the net with me !