Bunyala District - North of the River Nzoia

My counterpart Austin and I have embarked on a comprehensive tour of Bunyala District in order to familiarize ourselves with it's people, the challenges faced in their daily lives, and the resources and organizations found within the area.

This past Friday, we finished our travels within the three locations north of the River Nzoia (Bunyala West, Bunyala North, and Bunyala East) after six days of visiting villages and beaches throughout this expansive area. Even so far, we have found vast diversity in both the natural environment and the lives of the people from village to village. I expect this to continue as we proceed to the remaining three locations of the district (Bunyala Central, Khajula, and Bunyala South), all located south of the River Nzoia, beginning next week.

Below is a summary of our travels, in pictures, across the locations of Bunyala District north of the River Nzoia:

Port Victoria, within Bunyala West location, Bukani sub-location, is the largest, most metropolitan town within the district. Once the new paved road is completed, I could easily see Port, scenically situated along Lake Victoria, becoming a tourist destination. This picture was taken on a Friday, market day.

Flood Reconnaissance - The Southern Banks of the River Nzoia and Current Mitigation Efforts

On Monday, Austin and I finished up our tour of the dykes North of the River Nzoia by biking along a small, final section of the dyke north of the river. Tuesday, we crossed the river to tour the entire length of the dykes intended to protect the villagers south of the river from flooding.

These areas in southern Bunyala District had received the brunt of the battering during last December’s floods, which displaced nearly 25,000 people.

This was a picture taken on Monday from a road along a hill north of the river of the main point of crossing known as ‘Khu Ferry’. The River Nzoia is the main body of water, at the front. Behind it are temporary bodies of water present due to the rising water level.

The river crossing is made by a small canoe-type boat, filled with passengers, bicycles, and motorcycles.

Note how close some families actually reside to the river, unprotected by the dykes. The clothes you can see are hung within one such family’s household.

Flooding is quickly becoming, as it does every year, a matter of urgency. On August 30th, the early warning system was triggered; meaning that the water level had risen to such an extent that flooding along the river could be imminent. And just that same week, the Kenyan Meteorological Department forecasted above-average rainfall in much of Western Province, including the entire catchment area of the River Nzoia, through December. Even now, sustained rains have lingered upstream.

Maendeleo, tutaendelea vipi?

There has been some reshuffling within my host-organization, after Tom, my former supervisor left the organization in order to pursue politics. Wandera, my former counterpart and now supervisor, held a staff meeting last Friday in order to discuss how we proceed.

Following this meeting, Austin, now my official day-to-day counterpart, and I have received the green light to proceed with performing a Community Needs Assessment and acquainting myself with the community of Bunyala District.

This is a much more daunting task than it was in Mali. There, my community was the small village of Makili with a population of approximately 1,500. Here, my community is the entire district of Bunyala, comprised of more than 250 villages divided up into six locations, each comprised of three sub-locations. The population of the district as of the 2009 National Census was 66,723.

Bunyala District is, in comparison, a massive area. It is a diverse district in terms of geography, and is divided by a large river, the River Nzoia. Because of its diversity in geography and its water features such as swamps, rivers, and Lake Victoria, the problems that each community faces within the district vary greatly. It’s a complicated district with a plethora of problems.

I asked Austin to help me make a list of all of the villages with markets or major meeting centers where we would be likely to meet people at any given time. This came to 20 villages and 7 beaches, the latter being important in order to meet with the fishing community as well.

We have prepared a schedule to visit each of these locations, meet with the chiefs of these communities, speak with people in the community centers, visit a few families at their homes, visit health centers and schools, and speak with active youth and women’s groups. We will surely have to return to some locations later so as to meet with key community leaders and active community groups at scheduled times. But some of the locations are so remote, such as a village called Osieko, which will require an overnight stay due to the need to cross the river Nzoia and either Lake Victoria or the Yala swamp.

Kan jumɛn bɛ? Bamanankan.

Since arriving in Kenya, I have continued to keep in touch with my Malian village of Makili regularly by phone. There have been a lot of happenings in village life, and unfortunately like those on the national scene, most are not particularly good.

My friend Dramani called me August 10th to inform me that Shaka, a young man of about 35 and heavily involved in the ‘Diarrakɛla tɔn sigi’, passed away from something he described as blood not being able to flow. I’m assuming it was a heart attack. It was tragic not only because he was so young, but also because he was a great guy who was very involved in the village.

The ‘Diarrakɛla tɔn sigi’ had always impressed me in their motivation and activities, and a lot of that stemmed from its two ‘ɲɛmɔgɔw’ (presidents), Shaka and Alou. The committee operated within one of the four neighborhoods of the village, Diarrakɛla. The youth of the neighborhood would normally work twice a week during the planting and harvest seasons to work on behalf of the committee. This is not a small sacrifice, as work during these times is substantial with families having to work their own fields daily. The funds raised by this work then go towards community events, primarily their often-times weekly ‘shɛniw’ (dance parties) and other celebrations. Shaka will be greatly missed.

I later learned that a young boy of about 10 years old, whom the village endearingly called ‘Dugutigi’ (because he was the namesake of his uncle Madou Katilɛ, the ‘dugutigi’, or chief of the village), passed away on August 26th after drowning in a body of water near the rice fields which they were working. People tried to save him, but couldn’t get to him in time.

Hearing of his loss really shook me. Dugutigi was still only a child, way too young to go. But not only that, he always seemed to me to exhibit such a strong since of compassion and responsibility well beyond his years. He always helped his siblings and the younger kids around him as best he could. Just a great kid all around.

I was fortunate in that, unlike many of my colleagues in Peace Corps Mali, I never encountered the loss of people I became close with while in village. The only deaths that occurred while I was in village were either very young babies generally under a year old, the elderly, or people whom had been suffering from illness for an extended period of time. So these two losses shook me.