Education Project Kickoff!

Hello, hello! I haven't been able to get to a computer for close to two weeks now, but I'm happy to finally be updating again here. A month or two ago, I posted a blog update about a education project that my good friend Chris and I were in the process of setting up. With the help of our good friends Bradley and Dominic at the Kenya Education Fund, we are now at the point of making this project a reality. Chris did an awesome job writing up a letter giving a little more background, explaining how the donation process will work, and most importantly, expressing our thanks and appreciation. So I am just going to paste it verbatim below. I'll also be sending out an email later (probably this weekend) to those of you who expressed interest in helping out with this very worthwhile cause.

In the meantime, I thought I would post a few pictures of the Kamau's that Chris and I took just before we left our training site in January:


The first picture is Chris with the entire Kamau Family just outside their house. Joyce is on the far left, followed by Mama, Baba, and Chris, and James and John are both kneeling attempting to get two of the family's newborn puppies to stay still for the photo - didn't quite work out, but it was a solid effort nonetheless.



In this next picture, I am chillin' on the couch with the Kamau's. As you can probably tell from the smiles in the picture, we *always* had a good when we were over there. Definitely a home away from home.






In the picture to the right, I have convinced Chris that he should give Joyce a set of bunny ears - hence the devious look on Chris' face. Sorry, buddy, I had to post this one! Unfortunately, John snapped the picture a split second early or we would have added our distinctly American touch to this photo.



Ok, enough goofing around for now, here is our letter:

Dear Family and Friends,

We are pleased and excited to inform everyone that we are now going to officially establish a fund in the name of the Kamau family children. As most of you know, this family has taken a special place in our hearts. They welcomed us into their home and treated us like their sons and their brothers. Their help in our transition to Kenya can never be repaid, but this is one way for us to show our gratitude. The opportunity for a College or University education will provide the Kamau children a chance at a better life and a chance to escape poverty. This is a chance that they deserve.

Our goal for the Kamau family is to raise enough money to cover tuition, books, and accommodations for each John, James, and Joyce. Although no final decisions have been made with regards to who will attend which schools, acceptance letters from schools are being sent out or have already been sent out. As the siblings begin to make final decision about enrollment, some of the funding must have already been collected and then used during the enrollment process. At the advice of the Kenya Education Fund, we are looking to begin this process immediately. As you may have seen in a previous email, two acceptance letters have already been received from Interglobal College. The cost breakdown for attending this institution would be as follows:

Tuition, library and Admission Fees: Ksh 57,000
2 years accommodation: Ksh 120,000
Books and other materials: Ksh ????
Total: in neighborhood of Ksh 185,000 (depending on books)

At an average exchange rate of ksh 75 to the $, we're looking at each student's education costing a total of $2,467 over two years.

Using this cost breakdown as a rough guideline, we are looking at a total fundraising goal of around $7,500 (assuming all three attended a similar institution). This is a large sum of money, but a total that we believe is attainable. This money does not have to be raised at one time, but we just want to get the process started.

As has been mentioned, we have partnered with the Kenya Education Fund (KEF) to achieve this goal. The KEF was founded by a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer named Brad Broder. We had the pleasure of meeting Brad on one of his frequent return trips to Kenya. The KEF normally funds the education of high school students, but are making a special exception to help us out. We have attached a PDF file containing the KEF brochure for more information about the organization. As Brad has become a friend of ours, we would greatly appreciate you passing along that PDF to anyone whom you believe may be interested in the KEF cause. You can also visit their website at www.kenyaeducationfund.org or email them at info.kenyaeducationfund.org.

The donation process is very simple, but there are a few details that you need to be aware of. The donations can be made in one of two ways. Option one involves simply sending a check to:

Kenya Education Fund, Ltd.
360 East 72nd Street, Suite 3405
New York, NY 10021

Option two is to simply visit the KEF website and donate online. For either option, please note the following:

"For Tax deduction purposes: If you are writing a check you must write "referred by PCV Chris McKeown or Gavin Hoch" on the check. If you donate online you can indicate this in the designation portion. You must NOT write the name of a particular student on your check or in the designation section. If you decide to choose which student you want, you forego your tax deduction as per IRS guidelines (it is like not being able to claim a tax deduction on paying your own child's university tuition in the US. Universities are nonprofits, but parents can't claim a deduction because they are "choosing" the child they are paying for)."

We cannot express in words how grateful we are for your donations. Based on all of the enthusiasm we have received over the last two months, our fundraising goal seems well within reach. In such difficult economic times, we have been floored by all of your continued questioning and inquiries into the donation process. It has been very encouraging. Finally, we want this to be a very personal process for everyone involved. Aside from the email updates, we are planning on using Gavin’s blog to post pictures and updates about John, James, and Joyce. Some of these updates will be from us, but we are also going to post updates given directly from the siblings themselves. Gavin’s blog can be accessed at www.gavinhoch.blogspot.com.

Once more, thank you. We miss you all, love you all, and know that you are changing the lives of three very deserving individuals.

Sincerely,
Chris and Gavin

The Purchase Power of Sweaty Five Dollar Bills

Sometime early this week or last week, I can’t remember, I sent a really good friend a facebook message that I had recently seen full-size cans of Pringles in the supermarket that I visit most every day to buy food. This is a pretty major find here in Nanyuki. I would compare the emotion I felt to finding a crumpled up five dollar bill on the street. Even though I am a 31-year old adult with (previously) a very-well paying job, I would still be geeked if I found a 5-spot on the street. Two years ago after a 10K race in Lafayette, CA, I found the nastiest, sweat-soaked five dollar bill that had clearly fallen out of someones sock, and after I was unable to locate the owner, I proudly carried that guy home. That got turned into a book and frozen yogurt with cookie chunks consumed on a warm fall afternoon while people-watching by the big fountain in Walnut Creek - a damn fine way to spend five bucks. When I was little, my younger brother Kurt and I would go *everywhere* with my Mom and Dad when they ran errands just so we could "scrounge" for money. And we were pretty good at it too. Between that and the "junk sales" we conducted where we completely ripped off my younger sister Emily (and then repossessed the goods indian-giving-style), we had fairly substantial incomes for an 8-yr old and 6-yr old.

Ok, back to the Pringles in the supermarket... sometimes just seeing something simple (and delicious!) and familiar in an unfamiliar place is comforting. But the wind went out of my sails when I saw they were 285 shillings a can. That is about $3.50 US. And I have not found a sweaty five-dollar bill here... yet. I stood in the same spot for about 20 minutes pondering the worth of the Pringles and looking at the can from all angles trying to decide whether it was worth it. During that time, I learned that they were manufactured in Belgium, which means the cost breakdown is something like 205 shillings for the jet fuel and diesel to transport it from Europe to Africa, and about 80 shillings for the chips. The more relevant fact here is that 285 shillings is nearly 75% of my daily earnings nowadays. It would be like me buying a food item worth several hundred dollars back in the US. I told my friend in that fb message that, at that price, the can was going to stay on the shelf.

But I am a weak human being. It took less than three days for me to cave to their salty, processed goodness. I inhaled the whole thing in one sitting. The last several days, I’ve been opening up the can at night and taking a big sniff, but the smell is starting to fade as well. Soon the only thing left to do will be do tear the can open and lick the insides to get all of the last remaining bits of chips that are stuck in the seams. I have no shame – that is long gone. I try to keep less than 285 shillings with me when I visit the grocery store so that I’m not even tempted to buy them. Unfortunately, my grocery store has started stocking all sorts of goodies such as Kit Kat bars, Twix, chocolate bars, and even peanut M&Ms. I pretend they are not there. Not sure how long that strategy is going to work...

While I'm on the subject of supermarkets, I will also mention the foreigner-with-the-supermarket-black-plastic-bag phenomenon that I’ve recently noticed recently. It goes something like this: If you are a mzungu (foreigner) and are carrying a black plastic bag, kids are going to assume that plastic bag is filled with bisquits (cookies) and crisps (potato chips), and you will be politely encouraged to hand over your goodies (i.e., "Give me bisquits!!!"). There is no way to convince them that you are not hiding delectable treats somewhere, even if you show them the contents of the bag. In my highly scientific study, I have found that if I stick that plastic bag inside my green fabric Whole Foods Market bag, I am politely encouraged almost 90% less than if I just go on my way toting the black bag in my hand for all to see. It's actually fairly ironic that I’m even carrying around this green fabric Whole Foods bag in the middle of Africa given the type of store it is. For those of you who don’t know what Whole Foods is, it’s an upscale (i.e., hoity-toity) grocery store coop/chain in the Western US, mostly located in well-to-do areas that sell “all-natural” and "fair-trade" products for mostly outrageous prices. Whenever I go in there I always think of the South Park episode where Kyle’s family moves to San Francisco and everyone there is bending over to smell their own farts. It just has this smug sort of feeling when you stand in line to buy your granola, chicken breasts from freerange hand-fed birds, and yogurt from cows that only eat grass that was grown by poor farmers in Chile. I'm just joking - please don't send me nasty emails - I like their granola and yogurt too. Anyway, it’s funny that I’m carrying this bag around because if people here knew what kind of store Whole Foods was, I would be completely mobbed and they would be absolutely certain I was carrying bisquits and crisps and all sorts of other yummy things.

Ok, I don't think I've really said anything of substance today, but what else is new. I'll try a little harder next time.

Walking in Others Shoes and in Mine Too

Sorry to all of you who have checked in here the last couple weekends and left completely empty handed. Not that you don't leave empty-handed anyway, but most of the time you at least have something or someone (i.e., me) to laugh at... or wince at while reading about the kinds of uncomfortable situations I find/put myself in. But I digress already...

I've been really busy, and kind of uninspired on the electronic end of things the last couple of weeks. Every time I sit down to write a blog, nothing interesting seems to come out and after reading through, they sounded way too "complainy", so I deleted my failures instead of posting them. In retrospect, I probably just should have posted and let you guys be the judge.

So, what has happened... I will start off with today since that is very fresh in my mind. I was up shortly after 5 am (that would be "saa kumi na moja" Kiswahili time, which by the way, is offset by six hours because Kenya is on the equator and the sun never rises or sets more than 30 minutes earlier/later in the morning/evening - hence "hour 1" is the first hour after sunrise as opposed to the random way we think about it (i.e., as one hour after some random point in the middle of the night) - sorry, I still think that is really cool that there is a completely different system of time.) Ok, navigating back on course... Up at five and I took my phone and camera outside to charge on the socket at the back of the house across the way because my socket is broken inside and the sockets are a little different here and I haven't figured out a way to turn off the power. I'm kinda afraid I'm going to electrocute myself if I go cutting wires and then making connections while the power is still on - and I'm too cheap to hire an electrician, so outside I go. Back inside to eat breakfast, which consists of an avocado sandwich - just like it sounds, two pieces of bread, and I spooned some avocado out and added a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor - and a few bisquits (i.e., shortbread cookies), and a couple cups of hot Kenyan tea that I brewed fresh. Even though it's summer here, I am at over 6500 ft elevation near the mtn, so the nights and early mornings are quite chilly. I never really liked consuming hot fluids before, but the hot tea has really grown on me since I arrived here.

I putzed around a bit, then washed up my dishes, packed my bag, and headed out the door just after 6 am for my 40-minute walk to the far end of town. I was meeting a few people at the Water Resources Management Office where we were to travel to the start of a community walk to raise money for a local forest association that is trying to protect the nearby Mt. Kenya forest. Of course, I get there around 6:45 and the only one there is the guard, so I chatted with him a bit in Kiswahili, and eventually others arrived shortly after 7 am. I was actually supposed to be there at 6:30, but I was pretty sure 6:30 was "Africa" time (they use the sun to judge time in many cases), so there is quite a bit of slop in such numbers. Anyway, shortly after a few others arrived, we hopped in a vehicle, drove around to pick a few others up and then headed at least 10 km south of town to the start point of the walk. I quickly noticed that I was the only white guy there - not uncommon at all whenever I go somewhere - and that tons of people were staring at me, so I just starting talking to some of them in Kiswahili. I've realized that most people are very friendly and they are just shocked to see a white person at a community event and they don't quite know how to react, and they don't speak much English and think that I don't know any Kiswahili, so there's usually an uncomfortable silence until someone breaks the ice. I hate uncomfortable silences, so I usually say something, even if it doesn't make any sense or results in me getting laughed at. Oh well.

After a little fanfare, a few speeches, and a traditional dance (that I dare not partake in... yet), the walk was off. Much to my chagrin, I was not part of it. I was with the organizers and so I hopped in a vehicle to follow along. Luckily we stopped at the first checkpoint just up the road and I got out and immediately asked if I could walk with the rest of the community. Turns out that's all I had to do. So, even though I knew no one at all, I just started walking along with them. It really helps if your current president has roots in the country you are in, as is my situation, so there's always an ice-breaker, and usually the Kenyans bring it up when I tell them where I'm from... "Ohhhhhh! Obama! You know Obama?!?" Me: "Yes, Obama is a close friend - hold on, I'm texting him to let him know I'm with you." Seriously though, I had no problem making some new friends, and one dude, Michael, walked with me the entire way. I've finally managed how to put in pics, so just below is a pic near the end of the walk of the walk.




The walk was 26-km through the beautiful Mt. Kenya forest and I have to admit, I was quite pooped when I finished. Not so tired that I'm not still going to try to squeeze in a run when I get home though. I met my friends with the Water Association I was working with near the end at their station where they had set up info displays about trees and water conservation. We took some pics, which I would post here, but the usb is not working. Maybe tomorrow... It is now tomorrow, and the pics load slooooowwwwwly, so I'm just putting up the one. At the end of the walk, I got to the big field where everyone was hanging out waiting for the speeches from the local officials, so I decided to hang out with the crowd. And I soon found myself in a very uncomfortable situation. Most people in Kenya are very poor - and when I say poor, I mean that they eat maybe one meal a day, have no job (unemployment here is something like 40%!), and just scrape by. Many people showed up for the walk hoping there would be food and drink at the end. And after they had walked 26 km (about 15 or 16 miles) and there was nothing, they weren't happy. And there frustrations and anger were taken out on me. But I also very much sympethize with them, and as uncomfortable as it was, I have a much better understanding for what the average person faces and what their motivations are for attending these events (sometimes). Granted, this was not everyone, and it may have been only a small subset of people, but it definitely was not an insignificant number as I looked around. So, I talked about it with my friends at my organization and I'm going to talk with some of the organizers. I'm not sure that anything will come out of it - especially because the association itself is run on a shoestring, but I think it's good for all involved to know the reality of the situation.

Afterwards, there were speeches by all of the government and local officials and organizers, and they introduced me to the community (well, those that had not met me during the walk or just after), and then I was asked to say a little bit, in Kiswahili (Swahili) in front of several hundred people. I totally botched one part of my little talk - somehow I lost all thought for a few seconds, and it got very quiet. I didn't know what to do, so I just starting laughing, and everyone else just laughed with/at me. I recovered and finished up and got a nice round of applause, which felt good. I file that in my memory bank that if things go south, just start laughing. I think because a lot of people knew me by that point, I was given the benefit of the doubt, too. Several years ago I probably would have been terrified to speak in front of a crowd of 400 people, in another language, and being the only white-guy there. But for some reason, it didn't phase me in the slightest - except for that couple seconds. Not that I'm a "new person" (whatever that means), but I'm definitely growing a tiny bit. It's nice to have those small victories.

Afterwards, I congratulated and thanked the organizers for letting me partake, then smushed into a friends vehicle for the ride back to town. And now I'm here typing about it. Alright, that was a long desrcription of just today, so I'll summarize the last few weeks in one really, really long-ass sentence. Here goes:

A few weeks ago, I was attacked by the four geese that live at the place where I also reside (ooooowwww, I hate those geese!!! and I hope the people I live with that own those lovely geese aren't reading this), then I ran out of water... for six days and had to journey a mile to the river and haul a huge jerry can full of water back, uphill, which was quite rough but again good for me because that's how most people here get their water, and then I didn't do laundry for two weeks because the water was out and I wore and rewore and rewore really dirty, disgusting clothes (including boxers and socks!) and didn't flush the toilet (yes, I even have a flush toilet!) for several days, which was a horrible, horrible idea (don't ever, ever do that), and then I was supposed to travel to Mukureweini to do a language intensive training and take a test for the last four days (no the test is not four days, just the training), but there were demonstrations throughout the country which made travel unsafe, so that got bagged, allowing me to do the walk today. There you go, all caught up. :) I'll try to write more and load some pictures tomorrow. Off to see all my lady-friends (i.e., my "stalkers" - again, hope they aren't reading this) on my long walk home. Goodnight!