Sporting on Lake Victoria: Boat Racing, Tug-of War, Wrestling, and More

Children stand in a beached boat at Marenga Beach, watching a race boat pass by the shoreline while practicing for the upcoming race.

My area may have generally sacrificed much of their traditional culture in favor of a more western lifestyle, but at least one time each year, my community harkens back to the days of old, when their traditions were strong and distinct.

The Abanyala people have a strong heritage in both water and land sports. The main traditional sports for the Abanyala are three: boat racing, tug-of-war, and wrestling. The winners from this region would move onto national competition in Kisumu. From there, the top teams would move on to represent the nation against teams from the other East African nations bordering Lake Victoria: Uganda and Tanzania. The Abanyala people are very well represented in the lore of past champions.

These traditions continue through today, but whereas they used to be practiced throughout the year, they are now reserved only for the Christmas season. I had the pleasure of attending these events over the past few days.

Christmas Day in Budalang'i

I spent Christmas Day here in my village of Budalang'i, primarily with the Mango's, my host family. It was a fairly low-key event, but it was enjoyable as they are very good people. We basically spent the day chatting and eating at the house, before heading into town a bit later in the afternoon.

Most families slaughter a goat to mark the holiday. Brothers of John, my host father, carve up the goat as my host mother Angelina and host niece Okampo look on.

Myself, host sisters Mevans and Mercy, 'mama' Angelina, 'baba' John, and brother Peter. Mevan's young daughter Okampo is striking a pose down in front. Angelina and John have another son and daughter, but were away for the holidays.

Kenya's Complicated Political Culture

A NARC-Kenya political rally on Wednesday, December 19th, within Budalang’i market center was well attended.  

There is a reason why my entries from Kenya have largely been devoid of discussions on local culture, especially when you compare them to those from Mali. It is not that my interest in culture has waned. Rather, it is difficult for me to pick out any real noticeable differences from America. Most of Kenya, and the Abanyala people of Bunyala in particular, have adopted a largely western lifestyle, phasing out many of their traditions.

Any discussion of modern-day Kenyan culture must begin and end with politics. After having lived in Mali for nearly two years, where no one in village ever really engaged in a serious political discussion, this is in many ways refreshing.

In Mali, there is such a grave disconnect between the government and its people. Village life is by-and-large unaffected by the political powers in Bamako. Regardless of whoever won any election, rural Mali never saw any changes. No new roads, no electricity, no infrastructure, nor stable water supply.

In the days following the coup d’état, the events in the country were only topically discussed. It was a political transformation in the most extreme sense, but it was still only worth a mention. The consensus was that it was not a big deal. Things would sort itself out in Bamako, and there would be no ramifications in village no matter how things proceeded. Imagine the contrast in sentiment if the government of Kenya collapsed. Or America.

Transitions...

My major role in Budalang’i thus far into my service has been to serve in basically an advisory role in reforming my host organization to ensure that it can work into the future. It has proven to be a difficult task, and these past couple of months have seen several changes within our organization.

There were two major critical issues I raised with the Board of Directors during a meeting held on October 17th. One of these issues is an inability to continue to provide services which the community now relies upon the organization to provide, such as flood rescue and relief. This is due to the issue of lack of 'organizational knowledge' from prior projects resulting from a reluctance of prior staff to turn over project-related documents to those remaining in the organization. We have made slim, if any, progress on this matter, and I do not fully understand why it has been so difficult. But it is clear to me, this issue must fall on the board to resolve. I have been unable to get anywhere. Being an outsider likely does not help.

But really the most critical of issues was the lack of staff. At the time, our office was only staffed by a volunteer office assistant named Wilfrida, who had only started work a month before I arrived, and had no knowledge or experience in the organization's operations (She is highly motivated and I am confident that she is capable of much more, but she has yet to be given an opportunity for real work, and I hope to make sure she gets that opportunity in the future). Without staff, there can be no work, even if we address the 'organizational knowledge' problem.

Therefore, following the meeting we soon posted a job advertisement for a Programme Officer on voluntary terms. Without funding available to pay staff, applicants were tough to come by. We actually only received one applicant, a young man in his early thirties, before the two-week deadline passed.

The applicant certainly left some question marks, but he seemed reasonably qualified and worth giving a chance. But being a local, the chairman of the board new of him and had some concerns. I convinced him that we just needed staff, and unfortunately we couldn’t afford to be too picky at the time being. We don’t have to entrust him with a lot of responsibility up front. Since we aren’t paying, lets give him a chance, and if he proves himself, we keep him on. If not, we can let him go. No harm, no foul.