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July 30, 2005
July 30, 2005
Literacy teacher’s workshop ended yesterday. We had a good farewell party last night for Lucy and her friend. I just saw them off about an hour ago. They have a long journey back to Nairobi but plan to spend the night in Nyhururu, the half way point in terms of driving time. The trained teachers were so enthusiastic. Even the volunteers who had come for the training showed up again on the last day even though they had been told they were not needed. They had had so much fun learning to read and write that they just had to come back for the closing ceremony to show their appreciation. That is encouraging. Now we will concentrate on getting all the trained teachers started with on the ground literacy programs in their own villages.
It is rainy and cold today. July is Maralal’s ‘winter’. Makes the garden grow nicely but everyone has the sniffles and coughs. We sent two men off today to go collect the camels I had purchased a couple weeks ago. They will bring them to Maralal and then we will figure out how to send them from here up to Ngurunit. A group of camels are coming from Ngurunit to participate in the camel derby next week so we may be able to send them all back together after the derby is over. Preparing my activities for the camel derby will be my main work this coming week. I plan to sell the Ngurunit baskets for the women. Also, the Rotary Club of Maralal has taken over the fun games that are held every year to raise money for charity. So I will be collecting prize donations, drawing a giant pin-the-tail on the camel game prop and other such preparatory activities. I must say, life never does get boring.
July 27, 2005
July 27, 2005
Life is going on. I have been busy this week. The Rotary Club of Maralal is co-sponsoring a training of literacy teachers this week. The facilitator, Lucy, came up from Nairobi to teach a method called CLE (Concentrated Learning Encounter). In Samburu, the illiteracy level is over 75% overall and among women alone it is more that 80%. I have been working with my women in Ngurunit the last 9 years trying to remedy the situation but the problem is so huge. I am happy to see this program starting now through Rotary. It has great potential and will be one of the focuses of our club this year. In fact, one of the Rotary International themes for this year is Literacy and Education. The other one is Water. We as a club in Maralal are also working on the planning of a number of water projects for the district. The next step will be to look for funding. It is exciting though to see one of our themes already taking off. Lucy was able to get her group of 10 illiterate women volunteers reading sentences in English (none of them had ever spoken English before!) in just 3 two-hour sessions as her demonstration of the technique and its effectiveness. The teacher trainees are now practicing the techniques on volunteers the rest of the week. They are teaching in the local languages. Lucy used English first just to show how effective the methods are even across languages, so then the trainees can know they will work really well in the people’s own language. Amazing.
I am still struggling away on the Seren materials invoices. But I have a bit of leeway now on the deadline after talking to the donors yesterday. The project will get done. One step at a time.
July 23, 2005
July 23, 2005
This last week I have been experiencing another of the health problems that plague the pastoralist people yet there is little awareness of it, thus few get treated. This is Brucellosis. This disease passes from animals to man through unboiled milk or undercooked meat. It can even be passed through the placentas of the newborns. Last Tuesday I had just finished a few days before yet another course of malaria treatment after having been tested positive again the week before. Despite this, I woke up feeling all the aches and pains and laziness feelings of malaria. I was so fed up with the feeling not quite right that has been a normal state most of the time these last few months. I went to the doctor and told them take my blood and test for everything you can. The result was they found no malaria this time, but they did find it highly positive for Brucellosis. I am not happy I have it, but I am happy a reason was found for my lethargic feelings.
The Brucellosis issue is actually something I have been trying to bring to people’s awareness for the last 5 years after one of the Salato Group camels aborted and later after drinking the unboiled milk, the owner also miscarried some 5 months later. This is a classic sign of the problem and I was able to find a vet to test the camel and he found the camel positive for the disease, as well as 6 others of the 8 he tested. Scientifically, camels tend to have a very low prevalence of Brucellosis so if it gets into the camel population, it is known that it is very high in the cow, goat and sheep population. It is treatable in humans if it is discovered, but people here just haven’t seemed to realize the scope of the disease. Mostly, as the symptoms are similar, everyone, including the doctors, simply say it is malaria and take course after course of anti-malarials. Not a good situation, as I myself have now personally experienced these past few months.
The general culture of pastoralist people is to drink unboiled milk. With a high prevalence within the livestock population, this leads to high exposure risk for Brucellosis. My nephew had it last year after staying in the village with his parents for a month. Now myself this year. But I don’t drink unboiled milk. So I have no idea how I got it. I must have unknowingly gotten some unboiled milk in tea somewhere. The organism dies very easily at just a moment of high heat so it could be easily controlled if people were aware of it. I have been working on this awareness within my women’s groups in Ngurunit. The camel owners now know how to detect a suspect animal and make sure they always cook the milk of that animal. Though they still prefer raw milk so to get them to boil everything seems impossible in the short term. To control it within the livestock population is very difficult in a pastoralist society. Treating an animal is so expensive as to be impossible. Even in Britain and the USA, any case of Brucellosis found in cattle was countered by slaughtering the whole herd, rather than treating the sick animal, and the owner being compensated by the government to buy new animals. That course is impossible here. People would not stand for this, and the government could not afford it anyway. I have been told by a vet that if the animals get Brucellosis vaccine it will stop those who don’t have it from getting it. In the ones that already have the disease, the shedding into the milk of the disease causing organism will be halted. That makes the raw milk safe even from animals with the disease. This would be essential as within livestock, it is very hard to detect without testing the healthy animals and the ones that have contracted the disease. It is usually just like a one day cold for them. Sometimes spontaneous abortion, though there are so many causes of this that one can’t be sure it is Brucellosis even then. The vaccine course sounds wonderful, but putting it into practice has proven impossible these last 4 years I have tried. One, the vaccine is very hard to get and despite asking for and ordering it through numerous people and organizations, it is yet to be forthcoming. Second, the government vet system hasn’t really figured out how they want to deal with the whole thing and give lip service to the slaughter method. As a vaccinated animal can give false positives on the brucellosis tests, they discourage vaccination so they can tell the difference between the animals with and without the disease. Yet they are unable to implement the slaughter and herd replacement scheme. So, making vaccination hard to get, they condemn the pastoralist to having no way of controlling the disease so that even infected animals could produce safe milk. The ever continuing paradox. Such is life in Northern Kenya.
My contracting the disease myself has one positive outcome. I had sort of given up on the whole thing in terms of trying to get the vaccine for our camels. Now, knowing first hand what the disease is like, I am motivated to work hard again on trying any means to control Brucellosis within the livestock population in Ngurunit, thus helping people to avoid the disease. Of course, I will continue with my milk boiling sermon to everyone that will listen, but stopping it at the source would be best of all.
July 17, 2005
July 17, 2005
What a fun trip we had. My niece arrived from Ngurunit and to get her to her interview, I decided to make it a family outing. I let the kids miss school on Friday and we all piled into the car early in the morning to go to Gilgil, about 250 Km from Maralal. That is where Martha was to get her interview for a nursing job and my very good friend Anne lives. Anne said that after the interview we could all come over and stay at her place for the night and go back to Maralal on Saturday. That worked perfect because on the way down I had the time to stop at Mugie Ranch to buy some camels. Buying the camels was fun because we got a ride through the ranch and saw lots of giraffes really close up. I had the kids with me in the back of the ranch pick-up truck and they were fascinated. The camels are for needy families in Ngurunit. Various people from my home town in Wisconsin and from connections in Wales have given money to buy these camels. Finally I have accomplished that step and only have to figure out how to walk them from Mugie to Ngurunit. That can take 7 or more days! But Reuben has a plan to come with the men from some of the recipient families in Ngurunit to herd the camels home. I was expecting him yesterday but he has been delayed somewhere. There is no way of communicating with him as he went North where phone lines and mobile networks are basically non-existent. So, I am just patient and hope he will arrive today. I have heard through the grapevine that he did reach Baragoi so at least he isn’t stuck in the bush somewhere.
After purchasing the camels, we continued on our way to Gilgil. We stopped in Nyahururu at the hardware shop that is supplying the materials for the Seren project. They sent the first truckload to Maralal last Wednesday and I shipped it on to Seren. The first step in implementation of that project is taken. But there were a couple problems so I had to stop and sort them out. I had only done business with them by phone so it was good to meet them face to face. Finishing in Nyharuru, we reached Sue’s, the woman who was to interview Martha, just in time for lunch. I had a really good time talking to her about the project they are starting in Samburu. They want to do mobile clinics concentrating on HIV/Aids awareness and testing along with basic health care. This is a really needed service so I am looking forward to it starting on the ground. I was quite surprised to find out that Sue was family to the pilot I always use when a charter plan is needed. Her house was very close to Jill and Angus’s place and I asked how she knew them. Small world syndrome. I had met Sue in Maralal the week before and never imagined that she was Jill’s daughter! While Sue interviewed Martha, I went up and had a pleasant visit with Jill and Angus while the kids had fun running around in the grass and looking at the plane Angus keeps at home. It is like a second car to him. He had flown some people to a place not far from Gilgil and had just popped home for a couple hours before he had to go take them somewhere else. There is a little airstrip just below the house. I wouldn’t mind a set up like that. It certainly would make travel to Ngurunit easier if I could just walk out of my door and hop into the plane for an hour flight instead of a 7 hour drive through the dust and mud.
After the interview and visits, we got in the car and crossed the road to Anne’s house. It was so good to see her. Her son Stephan is home on school holiday and my kids know him so there was some rowdy greetings as they all ran off to play on the farm. We talked late into the night and well into the next morning, then, after some shopping in Gilgil, we all had to head back to Maralal. The trip home also involved several stops. One of them was at another ranch called Bobang to see my friends Amanda and John. I picked their brains about how to run the fun games event at the upcoming Maralal International Camel Derby. They had always done it in the past but this year Rotary Club of Maralal is taking over. The fun games are used to raise money for charity. I got a lot of ideas from Amanda and John about guessing games, running games, pin the tail on the camel and throwing rungus (the sticks that warriors carry). The Derby is in just two weeks so I have a lot of planning to do and donations for prizes to find. The Rotary Club members will be the source of the donations so with the information I gained from my visit at Bobang, I am almost prepared.
The best part of the whole trip was the last leg of the drive. The sun was just setting as we passed the road that goes through Mugie Ranch on the way to Maralal. As we drove along, we saw so much wildlife. Giraffes eating from the tree tops, zebras, gazelles, elands and cape buffalo grazing and best of all, a herd of elephants big and small. We got really close to the elephants and they are so majestic walking among the trees. One elephant was guiding a small baby through the bushes gently with her trunk. We were all fascinated.
July 12, 2005
July 12, 2005
What a weekend. I extended it over into Monday yesterday just so I could get at least a little rest. My favorite saying “the only thing one can plan in Kenya is that plans will change” certainly held true. I made it to the water office on Friday only to find that the technician still hasn’t come back from his “two day meeting” that he had left for two weeks ago!! I will go again today and see if he has by chance decided to appear at work yet. Reuben was to have arrived on Saturday, we have a Rotary Board meeting in the evening, and then he was to have left Sunday to go on his Northern circuit work trip. Reuben was delayed in Nairobi so called to say he would arrive Sunday morning so could the Rotary meeting be pushed till Sunday afternoon. He arrived at 2:30 pm just as people were arriving for the meeting so he had about 15 minutes to eat and rest from the long drive and then launch right into the work. He left for his Northern trip Monday morning, a day later than planned. He will be gone for 2 weeks. Bummer. We miss him on these long trips. He was in Nairobi for all of last week and then home less than 24 hours before he is off again. Such is our working life here. If it isn’t him travelling, it is myself.
The other plans that also got completely changed this last weekend was my whole truck schedule. The truck load for Ngurunit had to be pushed to leave on Sunday instead of Saturday as my Maralal supplier suddenly ran out of cement and had to send for more from down country. So all day Saturday and Sunday morning I ran around trying to get the truck loaded and ready to go. It finally left Sunday afternoon. This change meant that I had to change my Seren shipment from Monday to Wednesday as I am using the same truck that went to Ngurunit and he is not due back till this morning (Tuesday). So instead of the planned Seren trip today, he will load up tomorrow when the shipment arrives from down country and continue to Seren on Thursday. Changes, changes, changes.
It wasn’t a very restful weekend. Yesterday morning I did nothing but hang out at home and watch weird movies on the satellite TV. Then I got a call from my friend, Alison, whose husband had taken one of our cars to Tuum on Friday. He has a satellite phone so was able to call Alison with the unfortunate news that the Susuki’s clutch plate had broken on his trip there. He had made it there but could not make it back to Maralal without a new clutch plate. That meant I had to go run around town to find the part and then work on how to send it to Baragoi. Having accomplished that, I now wait to hear news that he has received it and fixed it with no problems. Hopefully he will appear in Maralal sometime today.
Hectic times these last 4 days, but now I think everything is sorted out, to some extent. My niece should be arriving this morning and I think I will go with her on Thursday for her interview. On the way I want to stop at a ranch and buy some camels. I have been trying to do this since March but the old changing plans thing keeps getting in the way. One can but take whatever happens and go with it in life. Flexibility. That is the greatest strength to have.
July 08, 2005
July 8, 2005
Early morning at the office. It is nice being here alone to catch up on some general stuff before the day starts in full swing. The kids are all in school. I gave myself a treat of breakfast at the café next to the office. They have the most delicious bacon sandwiches. Yum. Carried a tray into my office so I can munch and sip while I work. Now I am waiting for 9:00 am to arrive so I can go to the government water office to look for the water technician that is supposed to be giving me a report on his survey of the Seren project. Several days late already. Maybe I can motivate him a bit to speed it up. Reuben delivered the first invoices to the donor in Nairobi and they have been approved. So now I have the first truck load of materials planned to start for Seren on Monday. I feel now like the first major step in the implementation of the project has finally been made. Satisfaction sets in for a moment. But I need to keep pushing all the players to keep up the gained momentum until the final nail is pounded and bit of cement is in place.
I have also been busy with a few other ongoing projects. My Salato Women’s Group is building themselves a storeroom and office with some of the money they won last year from UNIFEM-Germany. I am arranging a truckload of their materials to go to Ngurunit tomorrow. I will have the truck come back with my niece Martha, who I am hoping will be able to start working as a nurse with a new venture I am starting to get connected to. This is a HIV/Aids awareness, testing and care project started by a woman named Shanni. The work she envisions to do in Samburu District is really needed and the approach she wants to attempt sounds like it has a great chance of success. I am getting involved on a peripheral basis mainly as a person who knows the area and has some connections to a few of the really remote villages which are the types of areas that Shanni wants to target in the work. Martha would be a great asset to this work as she has a lot of experience working in remote village healthcare and she can speak the local language fluently (being local), which is essential to the success of this project.
My coffee is gone. The other desks in the office have now been filled by my co-workers. Time to get on with the order of the day.
July 02, 2005
July 2, 2005
I’m up late tonight getting some work done. It is so nice to have my solar power working again so that I can use my computer at home. I can often be much more productive at night after the children have gone to bed than during the day with so much activity going on I can’t concentrate. I am really needing to get down to business, too. Spent my Saturday at a meeting about the coming up Maralal International Camel Derby that is held every year. I am still a member of the organizing committee. I sometimes wonder how that happened. Can’t seem to get my name struck off the list. Thus I keep finding myself with time-consuming assignments like working on the budget and writing ‘briefs’, which aren’t always so brief. We have only one month before that derby and are still struggling to make the final arrangements with the sponsors. At least we have sponsors. It will all work out but the pressure is on and the run up to the event to be held on 5th to 7th August looks to be very hectic, and exhausting I am sure.
Reuben is going to Nairobi again on Monday for work. That means I have a lot of things to organize for him as well. The Seren invoices are still in the works but getting closer to being finalized. Reuben returned last Tuesday from his Ngurunit trip and had a look at the project with a government water technician. That is good, except for the fact that immediately upon arriving in Maralal, the Technician took off for another meeting somewhere and now I hear he decided to pop home for a few days. That means I can’t get his report and bill of quantities until at least the end of next week and that is not good. Delays. Delays. One part of the project is worked out already so I have decided to make the order for the first truck load of goods and send it with the artisan next week to at least get a start while we wait for the water technician to get his act together. All I can say is that I can’t wait for the day of completion for this project to come around. Yikes!
Well, time for bed. I have a lot of work and organizing to do tomorrow even though it is a Sunday. I also have friends coming, Alison and Mark, with their 4 month old baby. It will be fun to see them and see how the baby is growing. When they went through in May, the baby was so tiny I was amazed. They were supposed to arrive today but Alison called by her Satellite phone to tell us the baby had been a bit under the weather the last few days, so they decided not to travel all those hours from Tumm (5 to 6 hours) on the hot, dusty roads until he was a bit better, which he now is. When I told Reuben, he remembered how difficult it was raising the kids when they were young babies with all the worries of illness we experience in Northern Kenya and the difficult travelling conditions. Even now when they are over 5 years, there are plenty of worries, but it is a lot better than in their first months of life. I always seemed to be so much more anxious then. Such fragile little creatures trying to adjust and adapt to this harsh world of germs and accidents. It will be good to chat with Alison again and find out how motherhood is going. I do have fond memories of babies, but I am very happy to keep them memories and not renew the experience anytime in the future. Two beautiful children are enough for me!
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