Just a few passing thoughts as this trip winds to a close; we are off to Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on Sunday and then I fly home on Tuesday.
A rooster with an ego problem woke me up around 4 yesterday morning, crowing incessantly. Once awake, as anyone my age knows, our bladders cannot pass up the opportunity to visit the latrine! On my way back from the latrine there is a noise of someone hammering metal in the distance and another one chopping wood...not unusual for this industrious and polychronic society. What was a total surprize tho was a voice, saying hello behind me, in the dark. Turning, I met a person I had only been told about: the nightwatchman for Common Ground. He was wearing in a trenchcoat, and I am not kidding, carrying a bow and arrows! Joshua says he is from the Masai tribe which caters to security work, and that everyone knows the arrows are tipped with poison, so intruders are rare! Could this be an answer to the gun control dilemma in America?
We have met with another group that is coincidentally working on waterfilters of the same type for another village in Kenya about 2 hours away. They have a challenging situation in that there is no reliable electricity for their factory, adn the host village is not opposing the factory, but they are not jumping at the idea of taking it over either. So we are discussing the idea of merging our projects, using their equipment and kiln knowhow with our site, infrastructure and eager hosts in Kiminini. If this idea comes to fruition we could be making ceramic water filters in a few weeks instead of months away!
It will be hard to leave Kenya, Kiminini, and Joshua and his family, and the friends I have made here. Kenyans are very gregarious and affectionate, laugh a lot and almost always put relationships ahead of time and to do lists! This is in stark contrast to our compulsion to achieve and finish projects on time. It is particularly helpful in a country with poverty and Aids orphans on every corner. This extended village family provides an amazing care fabric for almost all its members.
I promise in a few weeks to have some pictures here to go wtih the narrative. And never again will I take for granted teh luxury of high speed internet connections!
best to all,
Bill
Friday, July 18, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Kenya!
JUst reentering this after an hour uploading pictures then the poewr went off, adn all were lost! so here is the text, pics later....b
We are in Kenya now. The others have gone back to Seattle, I am at Joshua Machingas Common Ground program, and Terri is staying with Sister Freda (Nurse and clinic owner) about 20 minutes down the road, doing midwifery stuff and really being appreciated by them. Terri delivered her first baby yesterday, so she is in her element! I visited her a while Saturday while my family went to 7th day Adventist church . We had a wonderful tour of their farm and grounds, and saw a 1 day old lamb, along with an amazing sight of two guys above and below a scaffolding, sawing lumber from a log by hand with a crosscut saw!
Yesterday, I went to Manor House, the Ag college where Joshua learned organic farming, and saw their demonstration acreage, so I am getting a lot of farm exposure, which as you know, I love! It was started by Polly … the daughter of the founder of Intel, from Maine, who has lived here for 20 years managing and funding this great school.
The countryside here reminds me of the rolling farm hills around Lancaster PA, or south of Portland OR. There is very little forest or wilderness, since the Brits colonized the area and quickly realized this region was the most fertile in all of Kenya. It is the breadbasket for corn/maize and many other crops. Much of it is grown organically, but some larger operators use chemicals. Needless to say we have not seen any wildlife or tropical native trees, but hope to go to a park later to do so.
Also we have finished a cost spreadsheet for the water filter factory (the main reason I am here), and met a lot of people who could help Joshua make it happen, so I am satisfied with its feasibility and sustainablility. Only problem is there are now 3 yes 3 groups interested in building filter plants within 50 miles of each other! Of course there are also a million people within 50 miles of here who need clean water, so its not really a problem.
Earlier this week I went to a funeral… A little girl in the school here died of tb, malaria, and sicklecell anemia, age 7. I went at Joshuas invitation to the wake and saw this little girl in her casket, and spoke with J and her Dad, a teacher at another school. Avery sweet scene of how this very close community of a very collective culture rallies around the grieving family for two continuous days of singing, crying, dancing, eating, remembering and finally burying the little girl in their back yard.
So many other touching scenes and experiences, each one reminding me of the cultural uniquenesses here. For example on my cel phone I get a scripture every day from some anonymous source, alternating between the Koran and the Bible!
Two days ago we went to Kipsango, a slum for Turukanu refugees. Very heart-breaking and hopeless really, in that the families or orphans there are not recognized at all by the government because they are refugees from a war in northern Kenya 40 years ago, and now number 2000 people living in squalor and starving in the midst of the fairly prosperous town of Kitale. Sister Freda goes there every month and doles out medicine and tends to the seriously ill, of which there are many. We helped hand out loaves of bread, but there were way too many kids for the bread we had…
Stepping back from all this, its necessary to triage the many opportunities to find ones which could be helped by us or our funds, and really help the situation. I think Joshuas school and Fredas clinic are exemplary models of talented people making a real difference limited only by funds and volunteer support. So don’t be surprised when I get home if you hear from me to see if you would like to help in some way.
Sorry the blog has been so intermittent, but internet service is slow and hard ot find here since I don’t have an easy way to get around.
Home in 10 days, so probably no entries til then, and I promise, some pictures, infact many many pictures!
Best to you all,
Bill
We are in Kenya now. The others have gone back to Seattle, I am at Joshua Machingas Common Ground program, and Terri is staying with Sister Freda (Nurse and clinic owner) about 20 minutes down the road, doing midwifery stuff and really being appreciated by them. Terri delivered her first baby yesterday, so she is in her element! I visited her a while Saturday while my family went to 7th day Adventist church . We had a wonderful tour of their farm and grounds, and saw a 1 day old lamb, along with an amazing sight of two guys above and below a scaffolding, sawing lumber from a log by hand with a crosscut saw!
Yesterday, I went to Manor House, the Ag college where Joshua learned organic farming, and saw their demonstration acreage, so I am getting a lot of farm exposure, which as you know, I love! It was started by Polly … the daughter of the founder of Intel, from Maine, who has lived here for 20 years managing and funding this great school.
The countryside here reminds me of the rolling farm hills around Lancaster PA, or south of Portland OR. There is very little forest or wilderness, since the Brits colonized the area and quickly realized this region was the most fertile in all of Kenya. It is the breadbasket for corn/maize and many other crops. Much of it is grown organically, but some larger operators use chemicals. Needless to say we have not seen any wildlife or tropical native trees, but hope to go to a park later to do so.
Also we have finished a cost spreadsheet for the water filter factory (the main reason I am here), and met a lot of people who could help Joshua make it happen, so I am satisfied with its feasibility and sustainablility. Only problem is there are now 3 yes 3 groups interested in building filter plants within 50 miles of each other! Of course there are also a million people within 50 miles of here who need clean water, so its not really a problem.
Earlier this week I went to a funeral… A little girl in the school here died of tb, malaria, and sicklecell anemia, age 7. I went at Joshuas invitation to the wake and saw this little girl in her casket, and spoke with J and her Dad, a teacher at another school. Avery sweet scene of how this very close community of a very collective culture rallies around the grieving family for two continuous days of singing, crying, dancing, eating, remembering and finally burying the little girl in their back yard.
So many other touching scenes and experiences, each one reminding me of the cultural uniquenesses here. For example on my cel phone I get a scripture every day from some anonymous source, alternating between the Koran and the Bible!
Two days ago we went to Kipsango, a slum for Turukanu refugees. Very heart-breaking and hopeless really, in that the families or orphans there are not recognized at all by the government because they are refugees from a war in northern Kenya 40 years ago, and now number 2000 people living in squalor and starving in the midst of the fairly prosperous town of Kitale. Sister Freda goes there every month and doles out medicine and tends to the seriously ill, of which there are many. We helped hand out loaves of bread, but there were way too many kids for the bread we had…
Stepping back from all this, its necessary to triage the many opportunities to find ones which could be helped by us or our funds, and really help the situation. I think Joshuas school and Fredas clinic are exemplary models of talented people making a real difference limited only by funds and volunteer support. So don’t be surprised when I get home if you hear from me to see if you would like to help in some way.
Sorry the blog has been so intermittent, but internet service is slow and hard ot find here since I don’t have an easy way to get around.
Home in 10 days, so probably no entries til then, and I promise, some pictures, infact many many pictures!
Best to you all,
Bill
Friday, July 4, 2008
Safari at Queen Elizabeth National Park!
QE park Friday July 3 2008
Here we are at Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of Uganda’s best safari areas, on the western border with Congo, and right in the heart of the African Rift Valley-West. Here the earth is slowly spreading apart, (possibly forming a new tectonic plate) and has sunk into a flat plain 1000 feet below the surrounding hils and volcanic mountains, 20 miles or so wide, and hundreds of miles long. The sources of the Nile flow thru lakes along this valley running from south to north, so that part of the valley is very dry savannah, and part is lake, river or marsh, creating a great variety of habitat for abundant wildlife and plants. There are over 100 mammal species in the park and over 600 bird varieties!
Yesterday, after driving all day from Kampala, and crossing the equator, (a big tourist attraction), we arrived late in the day and were greeted by a highway roadblock of baboons, demanding bananas before we were allowed to pass. Fortunately our veteran travelers were prepared and we had enough bananas to secure our release and safe passage into the park! They ate the banana first and then the peel too.
After we arrived at our hotel and were enjoying a drink on the deck, we were greeted by a large hippopotamus grazing in the yard at dusk , not 20 feet away from where we were having happyhour! This enormous creature was systematically munching her way across the lawn, making only crunching and chewing noises, oblivious of the cameras going off and us tourists going nuts trying to get close but not too close to her!
Today we had a little safari in our bus with a park naturalist, Van, who was very knowledgeable of each animal and its behavior. In 4 hours beginning at dawn, we saw elephants, gazelles, water buffalo, water bock, gazelles, wart hogs, forest hogs, hyenas and monkeys! I even saw the ears of a lion, who was camouflaged in the grass, but would occasionally lift her head to survey the dinner scene of gazelles and warthogs around her. Tho the famed Serengeti is a few hundred miles east with zebras, giraffes, and other large mammals, I cant imaging a better experience than we are having here.
Upon returning to the lodge, we were greeted by a troupe of mongooses, including several cute babies. They live near the lodge and come around every day to amuse the guests.
We were booked for a river boat cruise this evening, to look for crocodiles, hippos, water birds, etc, but a major squall came up and turned the river into a raging storm-tossed sea with whitecaps and duststorms, so the trip was cancelled. Good for Uganda for having safety standards that put safety above more mercenary motives! Oh well, one more reason to come back to beautiful Uganda! As a consolation, earlier in the day while standing in the lodge swimming pool we had seen an elephant bathing in the river (Brad and I remarked it is probably the only time we will ever see a elephant smimming while we were swimming too!), and about 100 water buffalo cooling themselves in the river too.
A few miles north of here at Murchison Falls, the movie River Queen was filmed years ago, so you can imagine what the river scenery would have been like if you have seen that movie (think leeches)!
The lodge was built many years ago and all decked out for the Queens visit in 1954 and again in 2007, so needless to say it is a rustic but elegant old place, reminiscent of those old lodges out on the Olympic Peninsula…very comfortable and wonderful food, with open passages between the dining area and lobby and the outdoors. The climate here like Kampala is surprisingly mild and breezy…no airconditioning and few bugs. It has been a great break from the workfilled week in Kampala, and a chance to meetup again with the kids and adults from Forest Ridge, who have almost completed their loop around Uganda installing over 150 computers for the schools. They have provided a wonderful service for the country and had a great time doing it!
Pictures to follow this weekend...
bill
Here we are at Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of Uganda’s best safari areas, on the western border with Congo, and right in the heart of the African Rift Valley-West. Here the earth is slowly spreading apart, (possibly forming a new tectonic plate) and has sunk into a flat plain 1000 feet below the surrounding hils and volcanic mountains, 20 miles or so wide, and hundreds of miles long. The sources of the Nile flow thru lakes along this valley running from south to north, so that part of the valley is very dry savannah, and part is lake, river or marsh, creating a great variety of habitat for abundant wildlife and plants. There are over 100 mammal species in the park and over 600 bird varieties!
Yesterday, after driving all day from Kampala, and crossing the equator, (a big tourist attraction), we arrived late in the day and were greeted by a highway roadblock of baboons, demanding bananas before we were allowed to pass. Fortunately our veteran travelers were prepared and we had enough bananas to secure our release and safe passage into the park! They ate the banana first and then the peel too.
After we arrived at our hotel and were enjoying a drink on the deck, we were greeted by a large hippopotamus grazing in the yard at dusk , not 20 feet away from where we were having happyhour! This enormous creature was systematically munching her way across the lawn, making only crunching and chewing noises, oblivious of the cameras going off and us tourists going nuts trying to get close but not too close to her!
Today we had a little safari in our bus with a park naturalist, Van, who was very knowledgeable of each animal and its behavior. In 4 hours beginning at dawn, we saw elephants, gazelles, water buffalo, water bock, gazelles, wart hogs, forest hogs, hyenas and monkeys! I even saw the ears of a lion, who was camouflaged in the grass, but would occasionally lift her head to survey the dinner scene of gazelles and warthogs around her. Tho the famed Serengeti is a few hundred miles east with zebras, giraffes, and other large mammals, I cant imaging a better experience than we are having here.
Upon returning to the lodge, we were greeted by a troupe of mongooses, including several cute babies. They live near the lodge and come around every day to amuse the guests.
We were booked for a river boat cruise this evening, to look for crocodiles, hippos, water birds, etc, but a major squall came up and turned the river into a raging storm-tossed sea with whitecaps and duststorms, so the trip was cancelled. Good for Uganda for having safety standards that put safety above more mercenary motives! Oh well, one more reason to come back to beautiful Uganda! As a consolation, earlier in the day while standing in the lodge swimming pool we had seen an elephant bathing in the river (Brad and I remarked it is probably the only time we will ever see a elephant smimming while we were swimming too!), and about 100 water buffalo cooling themselves in the river too.
A few miles north of here at Murchison Falls, the movie River Queen was filmed years ago, so you can imagine what the river scenery would have been like if you have seen that movie (think leeches)!
The lodge was built many years ago and all decked out for the Queens visit in 1954 and again in 2007, so needless to say it is a rustic but elegant old place, reminiscent of those old lodges out on the Olympic Peninsula…very comfortable and wonderful food, with open passages between the dining area and lobby and the outdoors. The climate here like Kampala is surprisingly mild and breezy…no airconditioning and few bugs. It has been a great break from the workfilled week in Kampala, and a chance to meetup again with the kids and adults from Forest Ridge, who have almost completed their loop around Uganda installing over 150 computers for the schools. They have provided a wonderful service for the country and had a great time doing it!
Pictures to follow this weekend...
bill
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Week 2
here are a few pics and observations from our intensive week work ing on the SMS (aka textmessage) data gathering project for midwives...
The main Mosque in Kampala. About 10% of the people are Muslim, but 100% of us get to hear the call to prayer at 530 every morning!
There seems to be goodwill among all the religious sects here generally; they work well side by side in the hospitals and clinics, for example
the main Uganda Hospital in Kampala, where all high risk moms and babies are hopefully brought
Dr Margaret Nakakeeto, an amazing leader in the mother/baby care system in Uganda. Here she explains work they have done on ultrasound for babies. They also had posters up about Ebola virus, bird flu, and other problems unique to Uganda. We saw many preemies there where they do "Kangaroo care" to improve outcomes: the mom carries the little infant swaddled to the front of her skin to skin to keep the babywarm and cuddly til it is older.
baby bill of rights
I am not showing pics of the cute babies because of patient privacy concerns and out of respect to the families; but let me tell you, there are some cute babies here any grandpa would be happy to hold!
These next pics are from Kikiri, about 30 miles west of Kampala where we went for our first trial of the software and celfone idea with midwives
Most people love VP Bokenya here (we were in his district where this crosstitch for him was) ...something you wont see in many places for VP Cheney in the US!
A midwife with her celfone trying out our data entry system at the training in Kikiri. They loved it, because its simple, goes directly to the database where someone will see the trends and do some thing about the shortage of transportation, training, equipment they need to reduce infant and maternal mortality and problems in Uganda.
Here Fredrik is giving certificates to each of them after the training.
These women are so devoted and talented, and very comfortable with digital/celfone technology...they were a pleasure to work with. This despite a scheduling mixup (one of many) that caused them to drive all the way to Kikiri twice for this one meeting!
A little free range goat outside the office!
Fredrik working on his laptop in the hotel garden (and everywhere else we go!...a Microsoft slave driver fi ever there was one!
Fredrik, Terri, and Brad, our US team at breakfast in the Fairway hotel
Ugandans really take their bugs seriously
Meeting Katie and Ivan in Kampala, who were over at exactly the same time from Seattle to adopt a child! Its taking longer than hoped, but what's new about that? They will be very happy when its all done!
We grind our own coffee each morning; how strange: here we are in Uganda, a BIG coffee exporter of great coffee , but you cant get a good cup of coffee here. Why? possibly because the British colonized Uganda so everyone drinks tea! (or soda)
The main Mosque in Kampala. About 10% of the people are Muslim, but 100% of us get to hear the call to prayer at 530 every morning!
There seems to be goodwill among all the religious sects here generally; they work well side by side in the hospitals and clinics, for example
the main Uganda Hospital in Kampala, where all high risk moms and babies are hopefully brought
Dr Margaret Nakakeeto, an amazing leader in the mother/baby care system in Uganda. Here she explains work they have done on ultrasound for babies. They also had posters up about Ebola virus, bird flu, and other problems unique to Uganda. We saw many preemies there where they do "Kangaroo care" to improve outcomes: the mom carries the little infant swaddled to the front of her skin to skin to keep the babywarm and cuddly til it is older.
baby bill of rightsI am not showing pics of the cute babies because of patient privacy concerns and out of respect to the families; but let me tell you, there are some cute babies here any grandpa would be happy to hold!
These next pics are from Kikiri, about 30 miles west of Kampala where we went for our first trial of the software and celfone idea with midwives
Most people love VP Bokenya here (we were in his district where this crosstitch for him was) ...something you wont see in many places for VP Cheney in the US!
A midwife with her celfone trying out our data entry system at the training in Kikiri. They loved it, because its simple, goes directly to the database where someone will see the trends and do some thing about the shortage of transportation, training, equipment they need to reduce infant and maternal mortality and problems in Uganda.
Here Fredrik is giving certificates to each of them after the training.
These women are so devoted and talented, and very comfortable with digital/celfone technology...they were a pleasure to work with. This despite a scheduling mixup (one of many) that caused them to drive all the way to Kikiri twice for this one meeting!
Chaqua and two colleagues refurbishing computers at the Connections Uganda office in Kampala
A little free range goat outside the office!
Fredrik working on his laptop in the hotel garden (and everywhere else we go!...a Microsoft slave driver fi ever there was one!
Fredrik, Terri, and Brad, our US team at breakfast in the Fairway hotel
Ugandans really take their bugs seriously
Meeting Katie and Ivan in Kampala, who were over at exactly the same time from Seattle to adopt a child! Its taking longer than hoped, but what's new about that? They will be very happy when its all done!
We grind our own coffee each morning; how strange: here we are in Uganda, a BIG coffee exporter of great coffee , but you cant get a good cup of coffee here. Why? possibly because the British colonized Uganda so everyone drinks tea! (or soda)
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