Live On Air

It’s interesting for me to see how my service has shaped up. Both in Mali and Kenya, my most significant projects have often been ones I hadn’t given much thought to at first. By thoroughly integrating into the community, opportunities just present themselves in the form of the needs and desires of the community, and the people who I’ve gotten to know. The best way to help is to just go with the flow.

Steve-o, Vincent, and I during our radio spot at Bulala FM Wednesday afternoon.

While preparing for our tree nursery training, Steve-o, the secretary of Mumbaya Youth Group decided to reach out to the media. In rural East Africa, this means the local vernacular language radio station. Bulala FM, the local radio station here in Budalang’i sent one of their on-air presenters, Moses, to attend our two-day training.

Following the training, we were given a one-hour long radio spot from 11AM to 12 PM to discuss the importance of trees, methods and benefits of tree planting in our area, and our work in particular. Steve-o and I decided to tag team the spot, and although at first the length dedicated specifically to us was rather daunting, we had a great time, and were both honestly giddy walking back about how well it went.

Steve-o and I prepared material the night before. We basically followed what we had discussed, but Vincent, the radio presenter, wanted to handle our show in the form of an interview. So he tailored his questions to lead us into our planned material. And Steve-o and I basically split the time equally. Steve-o mainly spoke ‘olunyala’, the local vernacular, while I spoke mostly ‘kiswahili’, with my limited ‘olunyala’ mixed in.

Tree Nursery Training

Last Friday and Saturday, Mumbaya Youth Group, as well as other community members, received training on tree nursery development from trainer Dickson (left) of Trees for the Future.

Back in early February, I helped my fellow members of Mumbaya Youth Group to plant moringa tree seeds which I had previously received from Trees for the Future, an American-based NGO who came to speak to us at our Peace Corps In-Service Training in December. Unfortunately, chickens destroyed all but four of the seedlings, but the group seemed excited enough about the prospect of a tree nursery that we began planning together to take the effort a step further.

On Sunday, April 14th, our group constructed a small plot for our new tree nursery to be used during the upcoming training. Here, Omundi and Topher are each tilling the soil for the seed bed using a 'jembe', the traditional hoe used in Kenya.

Maisha ya Wanyala (Life in Budalang'i)

Josi is the owner and head cook at Jubilee, my favorite 'hoteli' I frequent for my daily meals. The fish he is holding is Nile Perch, known locally as 'Buta.' As you can see, its a pretty freakin' huge fish. It has become a staple in my diet - I prefer eating it at least once, often twice a day.

Kenyans generally prepare fish by frying first, then stewing to get 'soupu,' which is nice to dip your Ugali (a doughy substance of maize flour served with just about every meal here) into. I generally ask them to boil the fish fresh for me, with tomatos and onions. Its then served with a vegetable (either 'sukuma wiki' (kale) or 'kunde' (an indigenous leafy-green cooked with milk added)). To say I'm eating better here than in Mali would be an understatement.

Expanding Lunch to Buongo Primary

This past Friday, Edwin and I headed back out into the swamp, this time to begin laying the groundwork to expand our proposed school lunch program for Bubamba Primary School to another school, the newly formed Buongo Primary School.

Edwin and I held a community meeting with the head-teacher Obari and 23 parents under the large tree on Buongo’s school compound.

The school in Buongo began simply as an ECD (early childhood development) center, but now serves children in classes 1 and 2 as well. This totals to 94 children. The school plans to add a level each year, basically following the current students up to Class 8.

The school compound in Buongo. Parents had actually constructed this rustic mud school building voluntarily in order to start the school. The school is still not fully registered with the government, and won’t be eligible for funding for new facilities until next year.

We are now well into the rainy season, and with the significant rainfall especially upstream, the Yala River has begun to swell. Just last week, the agricultural fields adjacent to Buongo experienced significant flooding, and accessing the village required wading through water past waist deep.

'One Shining Moment' For Reflection

Being so physically distant from America, along with being rather absorbed in the moment, following the progress of my Syracuse Orange has largely taken a backseat. Whereas I used to watch every football and basketball game with religious fervor, now I follow from a distance, asking friends and family about their progress. But when the men’s basketball team won their Sweet 16 game against #1 seed Indiana, and their Elite 8 game against Marquette, things got real.

Kuchaba Enterprises, Budalang'i's Official Game-Watching Spot of the Syracuse Orange. I swear there were over 20 crazed Syracuse fans behind me.

The last time Syracuse made the Final Four was, of course, in 2003, when we won the championship. I had the pleasure of being a sophomore at Syracuse at the time, attended all of their home games during the year, and was able to travel to New Orleans with some good friends to experience the Final Four in person.

THE BLOCK. HAKIM WARRICK. With the final seconds ticking down, a three-pointer from Kansas' Michael Lee seemed destined to force the game into overtime. But our rubber man had something to say about that. I don't need much of an excuse to post this picture... siiiiccckkk...

Trudging Through Swamp and 'Siasa' (Politics)

Trekking through the swamp, back to Bubamba School to begin work. Thankfully, the water has reduced greatly.  The Yala River had swollen in January, at the time of our first trip out there, causing waters to reach up to waist-deep. This time, only up to knee-deep.

At the beginning of the month, I joined all 123 Peace Corps Kenya volunteers when we were required to consolidate in a central location, such that in the event of any widespread violence resulting from the elections held on March 4th, we would be able to quickly evacuate the country by any number of means.

Although the voting and tallying process was fraught with a number of failures and inconsistencies, and results therefore were delayed until five days after the election, there was thankfully only isolated reports of violence, all of which quickly contained by the security forces. So instead of an abrupt end of our time in Kenya, which would have marked my second evacuation in as many countries, what we were left with instead was a week and a half vacation with close friends in a rather fantastic resort in rural Kenya. Comfortable accommodations, buffet meals, Peace Corps Olympics, sports, and general shenanigans... yes please!

Working Through Political Interference

When I first heard about my site, I figured that I would have a predetermined workload. Unlike in Mali, I was assigned to a host organization, which has had over ten years experience in implementing a variety of projects within the community. I thought this meant I'd basically be an employee again. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The disorganization within my host organization at the moment, along with the abrupt resignation of my supervisor to pursue politics once I arrived, and the departures of my initial counterpart, whom I saw only once a month anyways, and Austin, the young man who assisted me over my first two months, has meant me being again on my own, the same way I was in Mali.

We hired Edwin, my current counterpart within my host organization, on a voluntary basis at the end of November. I really enjoy working with this guy. He is very motivated to help his community, specifically marginalized villages within the Yala Swamp near where he lives. But Edwin lives across the river from me, voluntarily teaches at a local institute each afternoon, and must often scrape together odd jobs to earn money to support himself. With all of these constraints, we are only able to truly work together a couple times a week.

In many ways, I like working this way. The situation has given me a lot of freedom to determine for myself where my time can best be utilized. I am still working hard with my host organization to build it's capacity and succeed with it's current contract on Land Rights outreach. But otherwise, I have been largely able to choose whom to work with, and what needs to focus on.

Mumbaya Youth Group members during a weekly meeting this past Sunday.