A Volunteer for the Community

I've tried.

Those are the words that come to mind when I think of my host organization at the moment.

I've tried.

I arrived at this organization at a time when my Peace Corps-designated 'supervisor' was on his way out to pursue politics. There was a lack of planning and preparedness with regards to the transition over to a new program coordinator, and a lack of staff.

I did my best to assist the staff who had remained, advise them on how to move forward. But when the person set to take the leadership position of the organization was neither willing nor able to move forward, it was up to the board to right the ship.

I've tried.

Since arriving here last August, I have consistently advised the organization's board members to effectively change the organizational culture and to hold regular meetings, at least monthly, to ensure that they can guide the organization appropriately. While they have held a few 'executive' board meetings with often only 3 or 4 of the 12 members of the board, they have been only held at times of absolute need.

I've tried.

As staff dwindled to none, I did my best to attend meetings, to represent the organization, even though my work should be done in conjunction with people, not solo. I trusted the chairman of the board, I felt that the will was there, that we could right things. My hope was before leaving, staff would take over. In the meantime, my efforts could bridge the gap, keep the organization relevant within the community.

I've tried.

I moved around the community with my counterpart, presenting ourselves as volunteers of the organization, actively building relationships and planning out new projects which could help the community.

Bunyala World Malaria Day Football Tournament

My hometown team, Budalang’i FC, or Budo Ijax. I’m good friends with most of these guys, and was hoping to present them with our championship in the end.

I had been working on planning a Bunyala District World Malaria Day event since December, when I approached the Ministry of Health about holding the event across the river by the swamp. Naturally, with all the standing water in the swamp and low-lying areas, this is the area which suffers most from malaria. And due to it's remoteness from District headquarters, they usually don’t have the opportunity to host such an event.

At the time everyone was on board with my suggestion. But unfortunately as we began our stakeholders’ planning meetings, which began only a couple weeks ago despite my insistence, we found that we could not get a sponsor. Unlike most years, PSI and other NGOs which generally sponsor this yearly event decided only to hold one event per county.

Along with Henry Bennett, my nearest fellow Peace Corps Volunteer in Port Victoria, we worked primarily with my friend Peter Odongo of the local Burenjo CBO and Eugene Nambesa, the District Malaria Control Coordinator, to pull together a more grassroots event. Through Peace Corps, each volunteer was able to obtain a small amount of shirts, footballs, and bags, which naturally fit very nicely into holding a football tournament.

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...