Run Around

Well, its been a hectic but rewarding week, hence the lack of entries. All last week I was running back and forth between Bungoma Town, Shibanze village (location of the school/farm) and Chianda village where I was helping run a fish farming seminar for local villagers. The seminar went incredibly well despite some last minute budget issues, we were able to get it off and everybody learned alot. We had two facilitators for four days lecturing on everything from digging ponds to making your own fingerlings to feed. I was very happy to see a good showing from the fish farmers from Shibanze, as these are the people I meet with every week. Everyone was very appreciative at the end, I even got an African thank you clap (or so they called it). This will be hard to explain but basically one man stands up and has his hands a just a small distance away from each other, "like this?" "NOOO!" (about 50 people) - he spreads them a little wider "like this?" "NOOO!" - a little wider "like this?" "NOOO!" - then really stretches his arms "this?" "YESSS!". Then they do three big claps three big stomps and three big claps while one of the women does a shrilling yell thing (that I definitely cannot explain). Anyway it was really nice and I couldn't stop grinning.

On Thursday I met with my youth group. Unfortunately it was raining right when the meeting started so some people didn't show up right away. Then because the group decided to have a 2shilling fine for being late, many people didn't come because they couldn't pay the fine - so I will be talking to the chairman about this rule. Anyway there were about 25 people who showed. The meeting was incredible. I prepared a discussion on women and development and gender balance. This is an issue I've been wanting to discuss with them since I arrived because it is absolutely crucial to development. Also you can see many social problems here that are caused by men not respecting women. It was mostly incredible because I felt like I was really educating these guys on issues they had not really considered before. Everyone was very thoughtful and challenged me on what I said, but I think I did pretty well. At one point we were talking about gender roles and what could be shared between men and women. People seemed to be fairly receptive, then one guy spoke up. "Ok, this sounds good and everything, but let me ask you, personally, would you cook and clean for your wife?" So I told him, I've had a girlfriend for almost 3 years and 90% of the time I cook dinner (in Sara's defence she always helps, but I didn't bring it up). They all started laughing and couldn't believe it, but I eventually convinced them. One guy told me I might cook dinner, but I wouldn't cook lunch because my friends would see me! I told him of course not, many of my male friends will cook for their wives/girlfriends. It was a great conversation and I think for them, just hearing a man say he cooks for a woman unabashedly will do a lot, I hope.

I've also been working with both the youth group and women's group on some micro-finance projects. Currently we are having Tony (who you met in a previous post) talk to both groups on business skills and practice. Soon, hopefully, we will be granting small loans for them to use. As always funding will be slim so I will post more details on this if anyone is interested in helping. These micro-loan projects have been very successful all around the developing world. They're simple, effective and most of all you are empowering people to make it on their own and not rely on handouts.

This past weekend I also visited Shianda village, which is about 20 miles away. A few weeks ago I went with Amanda (past volunteer, who has since returned to Canada) to do a presentation on making soy milk. While I was there I saw a baby who was extremely sick. He was about 2 months old, had very loose skin, very under weight and an extremely swollen head. Neither the mother nor the nurses at the clinic knew what was wrong with the child. So I took down the child's information and took a picture (which I wont post because there is already enough pictures of starving Africans and I think its time to move past that mentality in the west - although poverty and malnutrition are still big problems here there are many other problems, but also many fantastic things in Africa). I sent the information and picture to a Canadian doctor I met on the bus ride from Nairobi to Bungoma to see what advice he could give me. He got back to me with alot of information, including that there is a hospital outside of Nairobi that does fairly cheap surgeries (less than $200) for what he thought the baby had. So I went to the village to meet the mother again (who is only 18), pass on the information and get some more info from her. I really hope she will be able to get the surgery done for her baby.

On a lighter note, I went out this weekend with some friends of mine. One guy in particular, Malik. He's 20 and probably my best friend here of my age. He lives in Shibanze village and volunteers at the school WEPOGA runs. He's a really bright kid, unfortunately he doesnt have enough money for university right now, so he works at the school, everyday starting at 7:30, completely unpaid! Anyway he doesn't get out much so I decided to take him out for some drinks with some other friends, it was his first time in a bar. I think he enjoyed the night although he seemed pretty pre-occupied with watching girls and the silent TV at the bar.
Overall time is flying by here and there's still so much more to be done . . .

Some of the men from Shibanze at the seminar with the speakers.

My friend Malik in a snazzy Hawiian for his big night out.

Friends at Sharriffs Center, the place is pretty modern, maybe even nicer than some of the bars I go to back home, I prefer the village joints and more African type bars, but the beer is always cold here, which is nice.

Chill spot at home (why living in the city is overrated)

Moses the Boda Boda

This is just one of many incredibly fly bodas (bicycle taxi) that you can find around Kenya. I take these at least twice a day, so I figured you should get a peek, the good ones even have radios and tape players on them. Sorry princess/whatever pete calls his bike/the rest of my ridiculous bike nerd friends in Boston, but this has gotta be one of the sweetest bikes ive ever seen - take notes.

I'll have a more interesting/informative/important post soon.

Chalk It Up!

As of yesterday I can officially say I have been to two countries on the African continent, even if it is only in a technical sense. So, this Saturday I made plans to visit Busia, Kenya which is a town about 40 miles (2 hours travel) from Bungoma, on the eastern border of Uganda. I had been wanting to go for awhile, then the opportunity arose when I met Tony. Tony is local man here, although educated at a university in Nairobi, who is back in the village for awhile, heard about our youth group and wanted to help out. We are actually having him come in once a week to talk to the youths on micro finance and micro enterprise and possibly the women. His first meeting with the youth was this past Thursday, which I think went really well. Anyway, I was telling him I wanted to travel to the border sometime and he told me he had family in the town and would be more than happy to take me out there this weekend. So we hopped in a matatu Saturday morning, with one transfer, we were at Busia in about 2 hours. Travel in matatus mainly takes so long because they stop and pick up people the whole way.

Busia, like many border towns, is busy with lots of traffic. There was about a 1/2 mile line of gas trucks, coming from the Kenyan coast into Uganda, which luckily we skirted by with some questionable yet effective driving. First stop was to see Tonys sister. When we got to her flat however someone told us she was out at the market. The flat supervisor knew tony though and gave us a key. The place was nice (concrete walls instead of mud) with alot of pictures and even a color tv! We had some bananas then decided to head for the border.

The border was a pretty crazy scene. Besides all of the gas trucks, there were hundreds of people coming back and forth, walking between Kenya and Uganda. Lots of people selling things, many women with produce on their heads and an incredible amount of boda bodas (bicycle taxi's). We walked up to the Kenyan building, filled out a card with passport information (which I luckily brought despite being told I didnt need it) then got stamped out of kenya. Now it was on to no-mans-land (which is actually marked by a sign of the same name, the area in between the Kenya gate and Uganda gate, I coulndt get a picture though because one of the gaurds said something about at restricted area - but just imagine two gates on either side, one painted with the Kenyan colors and a Kenyan flag and the other with the Ugandan colors and flag, pretty crazy place to be). Then we passed through the gate onto Ugandan soil! - Hence I was "technically in Uganda. Then it was time to stamp in at Uganda. I handed the official my passport and told her my business (just visiting the border for a day). She looked at me suspiciously for a uncomfortable period of time and then told me to pay $50 USD (which is an incredible amount of money here for something like that , I didnt even have that much on me). Pretty bummed out, I walked back through to Kenya (while discussing corruption in Uganda with Tony, he was pretty sure if I just slipped them something it would have been fine). The real exciting thing about the journey though is the road I was walking on is the great north road, which stretches from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa! (roadtrip anybody?)

Back in Kenya we met up with Tonys brother for some lunch, I had a delicious rice and chicken dish. Then we got stuck in a rainstorm for awhile so we ducked into a mattress storage building where I suppose the "guard" (a sleeping 80 year old man) was keeping watch. We almost went blind though from the dust swirling around from the wind so we found a spot under a ledge outside and waited it out for a bit. Then we went back to Tonys sisters, who was now home with her kids. She served us up some porridge which was so incredibly thick that I couldnt even finish half a coffee cup full. I think its mostly made with millet, a small grain, milk and honey. It was fairly tasteless though. All in all the trip was alot of fun, Tony was good company and now I can get back to the border if I ever decide to take a longer trip into Uganda.

In other news, I've been keep extremely busy as usual. I've been working alot with Maurice to get this fish farming seminar off, it starts tomororrw. I'm actually off right now to buy some breakfast stuff for the speakers. There also might be a new project in the works - an HIV/AIDS program at WEPOGA. I'll write more about this soon if it progresses. And the youth group is coming along well, they have adopted a set of rules for the group and I am trying to arrange for a setup so we can watch some documentaries and educational videos. Keep letting me know what your up to as well, I love to hear from everybody.

Tony and I on the Great North Road near the Kenya-Uganda border

Me and Tony's sisters children, Wayne and Wendy

Gone Fishin' . . . With a Little Help

One of the projects I've been helping out on here in the village is a fish farming project, started by the WEPOGA's mens group. The project is a community project, meaning the proceeds should be going towards funding more projects or improving things within the village. The men involved in the group have been very dedicated and serious about this project. They composed a contract for all the members to sign, and there are weekly meetings to discuss the development of the fish farm and issues members might have. There was a piece of land generously donated by a community member near the large river that runs through the area. The plan is to have two fish ponds, one with 300 fish and the other with 200 fish to be sold at the markets and possibly given to some of the children at the school WEPOGA runs. Currently the farm is just in its developing stages. The digging for the first pond should be completed sometime this week. After the digging is complete I'm having a friend, Maurice, come to evaluate the progress of the group (he has a lot of experience in fish farming, his organization has over 50 ponds in a neighboring village).

To assist the men as well as other members in the surrounding community, Maurice is holding a fish farming seminar next week to better educate the men on proper fishery techniques. The seminar is going to be 5 days long with speakers from the Kenya Department of Agriculture as well as other professionals in the field. I am currently working with Maurice to get this seminar together, including acquiring food for the attendees and accommodations for the speakers. As is often the case here, funding has become an issue. We are asking the farmers for a 300 shilling (about $5.00USD) entrance fee for the week. Unfortunately, many of the farmers cannot pay the full amount or are unwilling to do so. Therefore if anyone would like to kindly sponsor one of the farmers from the WEPOGA men's group, please let me know. A $5.00 donation would allow one of the members to attend all 5 days of the seminar, receive a decent lunch with tea throughout the day as well as transportation costs to the location. However most importantly, you will help provide a quality, intensive educational experience for members of this community in need. Please email me at chasecohen@gmail.com if you would like to help or have any questions. Thanks a lot.

* A note on donations: For many projects here, WEPOGA is still largely dependent on donations. There are many opportunities to donate for various projects, even going on right now. If you do wish to sponsor one of these men, that's great and I wouldn't post this if I really didn't believe it was a good cause. However, if you have an interest in donating to a specific cause as well, please let me know so I can inform you on other ways to help. This is a unique opportunity to donate (for those of you who know me) because I will be directly responsible for implementing any donations that come through. You can receive updates and pictures of exactly what your money is going towards and the lives you are improving.

Here's the progress on the first pond, that patch in the middle should be dug out this week.

Who Knew Janis Ate Ugali?

I hope everyone back in the US had a great freedom day. I celebrated my first 4th of July outside outside of the country this year (I think). It was a great time. I have a friend here named Hassan who owns a hotel (i.e. just a restaurant . . . something got lost in the translation here) and he decided to throw a 4th bash at his place in town called the Red Hat. Somehow his place is sort of the unofficial hangout of foreigners in the area. Although it wasnt hamburgers and hot dogs it was an incredible spread of good Kenyan food, with some other things mixed in. It was buffet style, so being a good American, I ate myself sick. To top off a great meal Hassan prepared a delicious cake with a big US flag on it, very patriotic.After the feast Steve, Sheila and I went out to a bar called Good Friends, the place where the two met. The bar was great, despite the weird mix of reggae, boys II men, westlife (who are huge here, ive never even heard of them), techno and african music. The bar itself is a dive by US standards, but very African. There is a lot of open air space and the walls are painted with these big jungle scenes in glowing pain. They also love to put black lights in the bars here, so everything is really luminescent, I will definitely be going back.

So during the more freetime I have here, I usually like to help out in the school or on the farm whenever possible. A couple of days ago I helped the cooking staff out with serving lunch to the kids. The menu consisted of sukuma wiki (local greens), ugali (the only real food by Kenyan standards, its basically a tasteless heap of cornmeal bread) and a little beef. This is a pretty typical Kenyan meal, I have partaken in it many a time already. Therefore I thought since the meal is so common the kids would appreciate a little flair with their lunch, so I started serving it to them around the back, and through my legs and even a few BAMS! I think they got a kick out of it.

I also had my second youth group meeting yesterday and I think it went pretty well. About 35 guys showed up, which was a little less than last time, but I heard some more people wanted to come but couldnt for some reason. It was at least encouraging to see some familiar faces. For the meeting I prepared a discussion on alcoholism, which is becoming an increasingly big problem in the area. I typed out an outline for it which included what alcoholism is, the side effects (medical and social) and a short questionnaire test to find out if your alcohol consumption is at a risk level with some other topics included. I tried to involve the group as much as possible and they were really thoughtful and honest in the discussion. I even proposed that if some of the members thought they did have a problem, we could start a smaller, more anonymous group to specifically focus on sobriety.

Although the discussion went really well, one part was really difficult for me. I was talking about idleness and how it is one of the leading causes for youth to start drinking. A few people chimed in and agreed, then one guy raised his hand (who seems very smart, the group actually elected him chairman that meeting). He told me, in a very desperate tone, whenever these guys wake up they wake up to nothing. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, idleness here is not a choice most of the time, its just life. It hadnt really hit me until that point what it would really be like to wake up with nothing before you in the day. Of course for me, and most of us, I cherish days with nothing planned out, but only because I can fill it up with things I would like to do that I dont have time for usually. But for these youth, theres no reading a book, or writing a letter or watching a movie or taking a drive or traveling or surfing the web or picking up a hobby that costs any money, theres really nothing. I thought the timing of the meeting, right next to freedom day was interesting. Back in the states we are celebrating a strong, enforced rule of law, a million things to do and a million obligations, these guys out here really have all the freedom in the world to do what they want, when they want, but in the words of Ms. Joplin, freedom's just another word for nothing left to do.

The group was also really anxious to start having more discussions on practical training and future projects. We decided to hold two meetings a week now (yikes!), which is encouraging though, I just hope Im up to it. I really dont want to let these guys down though, I think funding the projects might become an issue. Well thats good for now, keep letting me know what your up to wherever you are, take er easy.

Me going Behind the back

Sheila and Steve cuttin it up at GF, what a terrible picture

Hassan and the freedom cake

I had to post this one, this was after lunch. I litterally had my harmonica out for 5 seconds and this was the crowd I got which doubled shortly.I had to take it away because kids were trampeling eachother. I swear this thing is gonna make me the most popular guy in the western province.

The Sugars Not So Sweet

As I continue to live and learn more in this fascinating place, I suppose its only inevitable that the good is revealed with the bad. The largest cash crop in the Western province, especially in my area, is sugar cane. Although it "supports" thousands of families here, I'm coming to realize it is one of the biggest roadblocks to development in this region.

Sugar cane is not indigenous to the area, in fact it was only brought here in the past 150 years, because of Kenya's tropical climate and cheap labor. The first major problem with sugar cane is its impact on the land and land use. When you walk through the villages here, well over half of the farming land is growing cane (the other large food crop is maize). Despite the fact sugar cane makes a delicious snack (which I have been practicing to chew better, its not that easy) there is virtually no good nutritional value that comes from the plant. If farmers would harvest a more diversified range of crops, they would be able to eat the surplus and maintain a much healthier diet. The other problem is sugar cane is destroying the land. The big sugar companies will provide chemical fertilizers and insecticides for farmers to use year after year which rapidly deplete the natural nutrients in the soil, making it increasingly difficult to change crops on the same land.

There is also the issue of payment and income. If a farmer decides to use his land for cane, from the time he signs a contract with a sugar manufacturer until the time he receives any payment at all is at least two years. During the first year he must till the land, plant and weed the cane without ever seeing a shilling. Then in the second year he can only wait, which is even worse. Idleness is a huge barrier to development, it is what often leads people to alcoholism or just a general lack of motivation to better their situation. After the second year the cane can be harvested and the workers are paid, but not before fertilizer, insecticide, transportation and other fees have been deducted. At the end of the two years the average farmer can only expect around 20,000Ksh (about $300USD). But the problems are far from over. After two years of scattered income, 20,000 shillings all at once is like hitting the lottery. Farmers will often not budget accordingly and misuse the money only to return to the same situation in a couple of months or less. Appropriately, the biggest sugar manufacturer in this area is Mumias Sugar, who got their name from Mumia, the last king in the region . . . one tyrant replaces another.

After learning all of this my first instinct was to look to the power of the masses for an answer. Nearly every farmer in the region plants cane and they are all in the same situation of poverty and lack of nutrition. Surely if they could just be organized the companies would at least have to make some changes (starting payments before two years would be nice). Unfortunately I found out many older farmers here really appreciate the sugar companies and are not interested in straining relationships. I suppose it is difficult to look at someone who his paying you these large, accountable sums of money as your adversary, but something really needs to change. Part of WEPOGA's mission here is to train farmers in organic, sustainable and diversified crop production which will hopefully empower farmers to move away from cane. Its a crucial part of development in this region, and something I'm really proud to be working towards.

These are some typical village shots. The sugar cane is all of that tall grass looking plant. The cane is actually the big stem under the blades, the blades can only really be used for animal feed. Both of these pictures are showing houses in the interior and the bottom picture is showing a typical road.

Bearded in Bungoma

Hey there! If your reading this message than you've reached the official blog of Bryan Cohen and the chronicling of his adventures in beautiful rural Kenya . . . congratulations. For those of you that already know me in the real world you know keeping a blog is not really my style as I seem to prefer keeping most people completely in the dark about what I do with my life until I see them in person, so why the blog? Mostly to amass a superior amount of iFriends but also so you can share this incredible experience with me, hopefully learn a few things and maybe even help out. It just seems selfish to keep all of these things to myself.

I suppose the real way to do a blog like this is would have been to track my whole emotional turmoil with leaving home, deciding to come to Africa and layin out the whole tale from the beginning. Well for better or worse I'm starting this thing up two weeks in, so heres the update in short: There was very little emotional turmoil other than leaving my beautiful and incredibly supportive girlfriend Sara, but we're able to keep in touch fairly frequently and hopefully I'll get to see her in late September. Currently I'm a student at Northeastern University (Boston) pursuing a double major in Political Science and Philosophy. Although I've never had much of a "career goal", as a political scientist one thing you are certainly privy to is how many people could use a helping hand on this spinning rock. Therefore, one thing that has always interested me is hyper localized community development. I like the idea of getting to know the people you are trying to help, so the big flashy NGO or UN stuff doesn't really do it for me, I've always wanted to be in the community and really see the results of my work. Given these few conditions I have found a perfect organization in the Western Province Organic Growers Association (WEPOGA) in Bungoma district, Kenya.

*(Some of you have already seen this next part by email so you can skip it, I'm just posting it to round out this entry) So heres the story: A couple of months ago I was accepted for an internship to come work for WEPOGA The organization serves people in the western province of Kenya, some of the poorest people in the world. They are involved in many aspects of community development for the rural poor. In addition to training farmers in sustainable agriculture and organic farming, the organization also has a school for orphaned children and a small micro-lending project. Although the organization is off to a great start and has served many people, theres still a lot of work to be done, so I'm really excited to be here. There is also a lot of opportunity for me to serve this community in a very individual way with projects I may start myself or continue from other volunteers.

Whats it like in rural Kenya? Incredible (for me anyway). Currently I am living in the compound of the family who runs the organization. Compound might be misleading, I am living in a house completely made of mud and some timber and a tin roof. Theres no running water and no electricity (not even a generator). To most of you this may sound pretty far away from incredible, but i have adjusted really fast and the people make it feel like home. The foods not bad and the tea is delicious and served anytime you sit down (they guy I'm living with tells me I should be up to 7 cups a morning, not quite there yet).Many people in town speak English (Kenya is a former English colony) but in the interior (rural ghetto) its hard to come by, mostly Kiswahili and lhuya (loo-yah) the local dialect. This is also an extremely impoverished area that needs help. However, its far from depressing and widespread despair, the people are incredibly positive and welcoming, I often forget how little they have.

I hope this was a sufficient update, of course If you have any questions or comments just send me a line, I'd really appreciate any and all input for this, especially from any of you blog-xperts out there. Take er easy

Busy Busy Busy!

Wow! So much work to do and so little time. Before arriving here I was told to be ready for all of the down time that comes with development work . . . the only down time I've been seeing lately has been from my bed, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Here's a brief update of some of the work Ive done up to this point.

The first day "on the job" included taking a couple of women and their children from the village to get tested for HIV (all negative, thankfully). These women were really incredible, I was sitting there with them at this small clinic in town, waiting to hear if they were positive for a life threatening illness and they were absolutely calm. They knew the severity of the situation, they're really just strong as hell, I couldn't imagine being in their position, and I was sitting right next to them. One of the children, Leonard, was about 8 and extremely quite. So I, half successfully, taught him how to play tic-tac-toe then I bought him a samosa because the family had not eaten all day. After the good news, we took one of the women to the market (I'll have to get pictures, its exactly what a rural African marketplace should be). The other volunteer here had got some donation money, so we bought her a bunch of things to start a business (i.e. sell some vegetables by the side of the road). Handouts don't help anyone here, but if you can give someone the means to work for themselves, then you've really empowered them. Ive certainly been hit up for money a lot here, as soon as some people see a "muzungu" (white person) they automatically see dollar signs (and perhaps rightly so). Sometimes its really hard to turn people down, especially when they're asking for less than a cent in the US. But you really have to consider the habits your helping create and the mindset that people here are dependent on muzungus for money.

A few days ago I went to a clinic/school in a neighboring village to do a presentation on basic nutrition for a bunch of mamas (women with children) and the kids at the school. The main part of the presentation included a demonstration on how to make homemade soy milk. The diet of the villagers here is extremely poor. Its almost exclusively starch (when they do eat), mostly oogali (corn meal) chipati (bread) and potatoes. Soy beans do grow very well here and most importantly have many of the same proteins you can get from meat (something often too expensive for the villagers). As I said before, chai tea is huge here, so as part of the demonstration we made a massive pot of chai with the soy milk. I think everyone was pretty surprised that you could get milk out of a bean, and with the tea you can hardly tell the difference. The next step is making sure people are actually using it, which is always the hardest part.

This past friday I held my first mens youth group meeting at the school with the help of Setven, the manager and guy who I am living with. Youth here are considered anywhere from 15 to 30 and we pretty much had the whole spread. I decided I wanted to start the group after a few conversations with Steven. WEPOGA already has a mens group and a women's group, but the youth have been really left out and in my opinion they're the most important. Many of them are idle for most of the day, either playing pool or drinking when they can. For the first meeting we just did introductions and discussed challenges that face them in the community. I think everything went really well, and the responses after the meeting were great. One guy was really thankful towards me and told me that just getting the guys together to discuss issues had never been done before and they couldn't wait until next week - I cant wait either.

As both a project for the farm at WEPOGA and for the group, I have been really eager to start a small egg farming project here. Theres alot more to say on this, and I will update on the progress as it comes up. Yesterday Benson and I with another man went to a near by village to checkout this guy John's egg farm. Although I come from an egg farming family, I really don't know anything about poultry, especially how its done it Kenya, so I wanted to get a look at a completed project. The outing was really successful and got me really pumped to start working on the project here.

So thats a snap shot of some of the things I've been working on. Unfortunately I don't have the time to explain everything, but hopefully now that I've caught everyone up a little I can get more detailed on some things. Thanks to everyone who replied to my mass email and I hope you understand if I cant get back to all of you right away, but I really do appreciate it and keep letting me know what going on in your life, its really nice hearing from you.

Pictures! - These take forever to upload, so I'll have to show you most of them in person. Take er easy.

The view from my house

Me and Emmanual (Manu for short) , maybe the happiest baby in the world. I live with him and his parents.

Father (Steve) and son (and moms ass) this is the family I live with, I'll have to get a better picture.

Workin hard on the WEPOGA farm.

Some students from the school. Check out that boy in blue who apparently got into a fight with the eraser.