update #6
on Beatriz Pujol (Kenya), 13/Feb/2009 11:58, 34 days ago
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!! Believe it or not the Hallmark commercialism of V. day is all over Kenya, even here in Kitui! There are cheesy bears, fake flowers and plastic crap everywhere! Pretty Crazy!I hope this note finds everyone well. I am hearing that times are really rough back home. I know we can’t compare things here in Kenya to the States because it is all relative. It makes me sad to know that friends and family are struggling and worrying about if they will have a job or how they will pay their bills. I hope that the times will get better everywhere soon.So, I have no idea how to sum up life in Kitui. Things continue to unravel and life is never boring. Overwhelming, exhausting and exhilarating at times, but not dull. I feel my life over the last several years was so stagnant. Although I lived in the beautiful Sangre de Christo Mts., had a great job and wonderful friends, I felt static. I knew I needed a challenge, excitement and adventure. Well, I am getting all of that!☺The last month has kept me very busy with little down time. Work has been FULL! It is challenging for me to be in such an administrative position. I miss sitting on the floor playing with kids and knowing what I am doing. Most days I feel like everything is so over my head. Not that the tasks are things I can’t do, but they are so taxing for me. They are tedious and everything is SOOO disorganized that it takes 10 times longer than it should to get anything done. Learning to work with Kenyans and their ways has been really difficult. Nothing is planned, everything is at the last minute, there is no organization and it is total chaos. Ok, to be fair, not all Kenyan’s operate this way, but the ones I work with do (and from what I gather, most do!)The hostel is a complete disaster. It has been mismanaged and NOT managed for nearly two years! There are lots of political and bureaucratic problems. We are essentially just a hostel where kids board while they are going to school in town. (Although we do have a nursery/early mobility program on our site and in our funding.) The kids are integrated into two schools in town and there are Vision Specialists from the dept. of Education there. The problems lie between the church who“owns” (runs) the program and the dept of ed. (especially the head teacher). The two programs have to work very closely but that causes tremendous problems in our case. It is truly a dysfunctional program. So, that is what I came into. Over the past year and a half there has been high turn overand it has all been quite ugly.We have been funded primarily through one International donor, CBM (Christian Blindenfold Mission). We have not become at all self-sustainable although there have been plans and income generating programs attempted, it has all been poorly managed. CBM saw all the problems in the middle of last year and that is the reason are funding had not come through until this week. They had put us on“proviso” until we met certain requirements.So, all of Jan. was filled trying to deal with CBM and running the program with no money. FUN! Now, those of you who know my financial inabilities will find it humorous (or scary) to know that I was/am giving financial/budget advice and probably making more sense than anyone else! I am becoming the financial police and putting the brakes on every dime we spend. On a daily basis I ask“where in the budget is that money allocated?”.Last week we hit a huge road block when the kids started to rise up against the acting manager. This had happened in the past and been the cause of many staff leaving. The kids are left in the dark about what goes on and they feel the brunt off all the dysfunction. Since they have no other avenue of being heard they rise up. I was there when they were threatening the manager and it was really scary. Since I had heard all the stories of what had happened in the past I was really shaken (I will spare you all the details in hopes that the past is the past!). Remember, the“kids” range in age from 4 to early 20’s. The boys who were behind this were all big teenagers and young adults. Anyway, to make a long story short, everything was sorted out and the kids who instigated met with the Board. We listened to them and we will be setting up a student association that will provide an avenue for the kids to communicate with the management. This whole episode was very insightful for me because I have been hearing the different “sides” of the story (dept. of ed vs. church) and I finally heard the kids. I had been building my relationship with kids and was hoping to speak to them about everything in time, but time came to me! I also saw all the true colors of the church/board and ed. members. I contacted VSO and feel very supported by them.The other good thing that came out of last week was that it helped me set better boundaries and limit what I take on. Before everything happened I was feeling really overwhelmed. I have spoken to the board and shared that I will be focusing on fundraising, community awareness and linkages. As well, I really want to spend time with the kids. So, two days a week I will come in late and stay into the evening when the kids are home and I can spend time with them. I will also commit to time in the nursery where the little kids are and I LOVE being with them!The good news is that at the first board meeting in Jan. we made plans to hire a manager and a new housemother. The process for determining the criteria was interesting to say the least. Can you guess what I argued against in this description:Manager:• must be 45 years or older• married• Christian• form 4 or higher education• possess administrative skills• experience in managing staff• possess accounting knowledge• have experience with special needs populationHouse Mother:• at least 18 years of age• female• Christian• Standard 8 or higher education• added advantage: basic first aid knowledgeAnyway, in the end we hired two great people! And yes, the new manager is married and just shy of 45 and of course an ACK Christian! But he seems amazing. He started today and gave me much needed hope! He has a wealth of experience and appears up for the challenge. The housemother is a nurse! So, maybe we can turn things around here!!!!As far as being supported, I am making great friends. My British couple, Jeremy and Jerica, are Godsends! They are my neighbors and are ALWAYS there for me! I also have a Peace Corps friend, Lisa, who lives a bit out of Kitui. She came for a slumber party last weekend and some good“girl” time helped tremendously! I have also made a few Kenyan friends and have started to explore the Kitui nightlife! So, all around I have great people supporting me. I am always blessed with amazing friends!I have a friend who I met recently who works for a place called Nyumbani village (http://www.nyumbani.org/). It is a planned village that will be completely sustainable. It houses kids who are orphaned due to AIDS. But is also brings in their grandparents, as grandparents are left to care for so many of the AIDS orphans in Kenya. Kids who have no extended family are blended into other grandparent run households. It is too much to explain here, so I urge you to look up the website. Anyway, I spent most of the day there. My friend has run the sustainability part of it for the past few years. It was really inspiring (and somewhat depressing to realize how far off my program is!).What else can I tell you? The teachers strike ended after about two weeks. I have stopped reading the newspaper and have no idea what is happening outside of Kitui (part of keeping myself sane!).I have had some really nice response to my“James” university mission. I will follow up with that soon.My house is coming along slowly. I dare say as I hear rain starting to fall and wonder how much my house will flood this time???? Every time it rains my house seriously floods. The water comes under the back door. After the first two nights, someone came to fix it, but what they did doesn’t solve the problem. If there is heavy rain and wind it still floods!!! Still no electrical sockets to charge my computer and phone. The cold showers in the am are getting harder as my body acclimates to the temperatures here. But, there is peace and quiet. I love the walk to town, I have some great neighbors (even though my landlord is a NIGHTMARE!) and I am making it cozy. My guest room awaits its first overseas visitor! Any takers???I went to a meeting that CBM (our donor) put on a few weeks ago. It was in a lovely area called Limuru. It is much cooler there and we stayed at a retreat center that was really nice. I met lots of professionals working with deaf/blind and blind kids. There were people from schools, hostels and eye centers. All the people there partner with CBM for funding. I learned a lot and made some great connections. We had a team building part to it that was run by an adventure company. We did team building activities and even a high ropes course. I am trying to find the funding to do this with my team here.I have been trying to figure out how to explain the main means of transport in Nairobi. It is on Matatus, which are local buses. Anyone who has lived in Africa knows exactly what I am talking about. They are absolutely CRAZY! They are meant to carry 14 passengers and the driver. One of the passengers is the tout. There are generally two categories of matatus. There are the Christian ones that have“God is Good” and bible quotes written all over it and you get to hear 3 hours or Christian radio all the way to Nairobi. Or there are the more popular “pimped out” ones that have fringe hanging inside and play hip-hop at ear splitting levels. Most have lots of heavy metal pipes for handholds that have been added and seats that are completely worn out. Matatu drivers are known to be INSANE drivers. Most private drivers started out driving matatus. I figure if they survived driving those they are allowed to move into private vehicles. My friend Sandy said she saw one painted with “driven with passion”, that is an understatement! They are all painted and done up, especially in Nairobi. My friend Rachel and I thought of the next reality TV series: Pimp out that Matatu! Matatu drivers could trade matatus and pimp out the one they got. (Like trading spaces.). I will try to get some photos to show everyone!Speaking of photos, I have not been able to load anything onto mobile me. If you are on face book, I have loaded a bunch. But I know many of you aren’t on that. I will keep trying and hope that once I am in Nairobi next month I will be able to get them all loaded. Will take pics of my house this week!Side notes:I never cease to be amazed by Nairobi: lots of greenery, quite pretty; extreme wealth and poverty (and I haven’t been to the slums yet); so modern; Western styles everywhere; a world away from KituiLiving without a fridge isn’t that hard but when I get one I will cherish it!!