Ewiki Yo Emihung’ano (Week of Meetings)

This week has been awfully busy for me, particularly due to the lack of staff currently within our organization. From Monday through Thursday, I had to attend at least one meeting each day, on several different issues.

Most important was our own internal meeting on Wednesday, when we held the full Board of Directors meeting I had requested. During this meeting, I formally introduced myself to the board members and stressed my role as a Peace Corps Volunteer both within the organization and the community as a whole. I then took the opportunity to give a speech, based upon my own observations and discussions with staff, regarding the present state of the organization and how best to move forward.

I was pleased by the response I received from the board. There is an acceptance of the challenges faced at this current juncture and a willingness to make the necessary reforms to improve the daily operations and the sustainability of the organization. Although we still need to work on the specifics, I believe that the will and commitment is there to move this organization forward and continue the great service it has always provided the community.

Because of the optimism that I feel regarding the direction of the organization, I have been willing to, only for this short period of time, take on a larger role in management of daily operations than I generally feel comfortable with.

I have made it clear that any work that I do should be in an advisory role only. I can only accompany and assist staff in the work that they do, in order to teach skills and build capacity. But given the current challenges, until the organization does make additional hires, I find it necessary to represent the organization in order to maintain its good name within the community.

When possible, I have been taking Wilfrida, our office assistant, with me to meetings. And following the meeting on Wednesday, board members have also availed to accompany me at more important meetings within the community.

On Monday, while waiting at the Bunyala District Ministry of Agriculture offices for training on Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease, which was scheduled to begin at 9AM, a CHEW (Community Health Extension Worker) named Charles arrived, insisting that I join him at that moment in speaking to a couple of local primary schools as part of Global Handwashing Day.

Bunyala District - South of the River Nzoia (Interrupted)

My plan to tour the entire district of Bunyala by bicycle has hit a bit of a snag. I previously detailed our completion of the villages north of the River Nzoia. We had been making steady progress on those south of the river through the end of September.

But around that time, my counterpart Austin received a message from a local financial services business he had applied to a long time ago. A job opening had emerged. Austin spent several days preparing and interviewing for the position. Our previously steady momentum was significantly hindered. Over the first two weeks of October, we were only able to go out into the field twice. And last week, he officially left my host organization.

I am very happy for Austin, the man needed money. He has been working without pay since college, and was therefore unable to adequately support himself. He has been building his house within his family’s concession, but has been unable to complete it since he couldn’t afford supplies. He had been using a phone without a functioning screen, and just last week, this phonewas switched off on account of being counterfeit. He has no means of transportation, and has had to borrow someone else’s bike just to accompany me to the field.

But in terms of my work and the organization in general, times have gotten even more difficult. The person whom I have worked most closely with within this organization has now left. My host organization is now entirely staffed by Wandera (my original counterpart who has now been elevated to my supervisor after Tom’s departure for politics) and two office assistants. I have not seen Wandera in over a month. He spends all of his time within the Samia District office, and is unfamiliar with projects within Bunyala District. Therefore, since I am based in Bunyala District, I am now working with a staff of only one office assistant, who has been with the organization for only two months herself.

I am currently working closely with the chairman of the board and have asked him to schedule a full board meeting. This meeting will happen shortly. During this meeting, I plan on presenting to them all of the challenges which I see facing this organization. We can then discuss as an organization strategies to succeed into the future. As a result of this meeting, I hope the organization will have a clear path forward and we can begin to rebuild.

Challenges: Organizational Development and Disaster Management

Here in Kenya, I have been assigned to work with a local organization. This differs from my time in Mali, where I was simply assigned to a village. There, it was necessary to assess the needs of the village on my own, compare them to the desires and resources of the villagers, and then work together with whomever was motivated and able within the community on various small-scale projects to address those needs.

I still feel that it is important for me to travel around the district, meet with the local people, in order both to understand the issues facing the community, as well as to acquaint myself with the community, since any project we tackle must be undertaken as a team, primarily driven by community members, in order to ensure sustainability. This is what Austin and I have been undertaking over the past month.

I am working alongside an organization which has been doing great work within the community since 1999. Local community members had originally formed this organization primarily to address the flood events communities throughout the district regularly face. But the organization has also worked on a wide range of additional projects since its inception. Such projects have dealt in the areas of agriculture and food security, access to safe drinking water, advocating for the basic human rights of the marginalized in society, natural resource management, and the promotion of behavior change in order to improve the health of the community and reduce risk of exposure to illnesses ranging from water-borne diseases to HIV/Aids.

Becoming part of an active organization necessitates that I, to some degree, inherit certain ongoing projects and responsibilities. This brings me to my biggest challenges faced as a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Budalang’i.