Far removed from Nairobi and the other “trouble-spots”, it is easy to forget that the political situation remains tenuous. Yes, the news media has frequent stories regarding the ongoing battle of wills between Kibaki and Odinga. Since this really translates into whose crony is heading which ministerial position it has little direct bearing on the general public. That is unless one counts the cost of the additional ministries that have been spawned to “find jobs for the boys”
So it was with a certain amount of surprise I read that Obama would be visiting Ghana rather than Kenya – because of the unstable situation here. It wasn’t but an hour later I received a security alert from the VSO office in Nairobi. The warning was to avoid a particular roundabout (basically a sector of downtown.) The stated reason was that “the Mechanics are fighting the police”. Not sure who or what the “Mechanics” are. In common with many of the demonstrations in Nairobi, however, it was apparently limited to one sector of the community in a specific physical location.
Meanwhile I assume Obama continues to receive briefings regarding his grandmother’s securit, the biggest threat to which is from the Seventh Day Adventists intent on her conversion from the Muslim faith to their brand of Christianity.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
So much for Self Help
Sunday May 10th.
This morning I was totally lacking inspiration about what to write this week. Not that there is any shortage of topics to pick up on around here. That was before taking a stroll through town this afternoon.
First, a little about Kilifi town. Kilifi and it’s smaller twin, Mnarani, across the creek basically grew up to serve passengers waiting to catch the ferry which crossed the estuary cutting through the Mombasa-Malindi road. That was before a bridge was constructed in the mid-80, which at the time was reputedly the longest in Africa. Kilifi town is bordered on the west by the Mombasa-Malindi road, by the estuary to the south and by the Indian Ocean to the east. The one paved road in town follows the estuary around to the ocean before looping back to the Mombasa road. The house is just across the road from the town.
Alongside most of the roads in town, one could find any form of clothing along with choices of whatever produce happens to be in season. Mangoes are currently plentiful, the biggest and juiciest imaginable for 10-20 KShs (80 Kenya Shillings to the US Dollar)! Bananas and peanuts seem to have no season.
Sadly my use of the past tense above was not a grammatical misstep. Sometime since late yesterday afternoon just about every small vendor stall in town was demolished. As recently as Friday Anne and I had stopped in one of the larger stalls selling kanga – the brightly colored material worn by all the women as skirts, headdresses and baby backpacks. The stall keeper’s inventory probably ran into a few hundred dollars worth. In all likelihood she acquired it through micro financing. At least her goods were not perishable. Dozens of the smaller stores with a few dozen tomatoes, garlic and greens were not as lucky. Young women, with babies and toddlers, operated most of the stalls. The few shillings they were able to get for the little extra produce they had managed to grow doubtless represents a significant portion, if not the sum total, of what they are able to earn.
There is no obvious rationale for the structures’ removal. Sure, it is highly unlikely they were paying the 16% VAT to the government. But then how many are? A few stalls, but only a few, obstructed direct access to the more established businesses standing behind them. It was not obvious whether the authorities had also removed the structural material or left it to be recovered by the stall owners. There is a large open space that would make a natural open-air market. But since government offices surround it, that won’t happen. It will be interesting to see what happens next week. I suspect, however, that whilst there may be much talk there will be little action. Given the poverty evident everywhere here it is hard to see life will ever improve for the disenfranchised when their own government seems intent on snuffing out the smallest of enterprises.
This morning I was totally lacking inspiration about what to write this week. Not that there is any shortage of topics to pick up on around here. That was before taking a stroll through town this afternoon.
First, a little about Kilifi town. Kilifi and it’s smaller twin, Mnarani, across the creek basically grew up to serve passengers waiting to catch the ferry which crossed the estuary cutting through the Mombasa-Malindi road. That was before a bridge was constructed in the mid-80, which at the time was reputedly the longest in Africa. Kilifi town is bordered on the west by the Mombasa-Malindi road, by the estuary to the south and by the Indian Ocean to the east. The one paved road in town follows the estuary around to the ocean before looping back to the Mombasa road. The house is just across the road from the town.
Alongside most of the roads in town, one could find any form of clothing along with choices of whatever produce happens to be in season. Mangoes are currently plentiful, the biggest and juiciest imaginable for 10-20 KShs (80 Kenya Shillings to the US Dollar)! Bananas and peanuts seem to have no season.
Sadly my use of the past tense above was not a grammatical misstep. Sometime since late yesterday afternoon just about every small vendor stall in town was demolished. As recently as Friday Anne and I had stopped in one of the larger stalls selling kanga – the brightly colored material worn by all the women as skirts, headdresses and baby backpacks. The stall keeper’s inventory probably ran into a few hundred dollars worth. In all likelihood she acquired it through micro financing. At least her goods were not perishable. Dozens of the smaller stores with a few dozen tomatoes, garlic and greens were not as lucky. Young women, with babies and toddlers, operated most of the stalls. The few shillings they were able to get for the little extra produce they had managed to grow doubtless represents a significant portion, if not the sum total, of what they are able to earn.
There is no obvious rationale for the structures’ removal. Sure, it is highly unlikely they were paying the 16% VAT to the government. But then how many are? A few stalls, but only a few, obstructed direct access to the more established businesses standing behind them. It was not obvious whether the authorities had also removed the structural material or left it to be recovered by the stall owners. There is a large open space that would make a natural open-air market. But since government offices surround it, that won’t happen. It will be interesting to see what happens next week. I suspect, however, that whilst there may be much talk there will be little action. Given the poverty evident everywhere here it is hard to see life will ever improve for the disenfranchised when their own government seems intent on snuffing out the smallest of enterprises.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Piki Piki Training April 16th.
Less than a week before departing for Kenya I was surprised to receive notification of motorbike training set for a couple of weeks after our arrival. Though I hadn’t anticipated the assignment coming with a motorbike it is now obvious that the vast majority of the organization’s business is in the hinterland remote from Kilifi. Never having owned a motorbike this was going to be something new.
The training was in Machakos about 40 miles outside Nairobi. Requested to be in the Nairobi VSO office Thursday morning at 8:30 called for taking the overnight bus. I managed to sleep most of the way and can report the trip was without any form of incident. The training was scheduled for five days, which seemed like an inordinately long time to learn to ride a motorbike. The first day was taken up with getting everyone (4 trainees - of which 3 were female, instructor, 5 bikes and VSO driver) out to Machakos. At this pace it was easy to see how 5 days would go by. Right! After breakfast the next morning it was out to a large open field for – introductions to your piki piki. After a couple of hours of general driving and weaving around plastic cones we rode into town for lunch. The afternoon agenda called for “off-road riding” – yes! Turned out they were not kidding! True, we didn’t have to contend with traffic, just the occasional goat. Dried-up river beds and the like proved to be a great place to learn. I surprised myself with the kinds of terrain I could traverse and still manage to stay upright. The following afternoon we took a much longer ride up one of the volcanic mounds that surround town. This time there were other “road users”. First, calling significant sections of the route a road is to be overly generous. True, some sections contained tarmac. The unfinished tracks in most places were, however, far smoother. Negotiating steep hairpin bends when one half of the road has reverted to dirt and the other half is pocked with 6-9 inch deep craters is interesting. And, here everyone is a user who claims rights to the complete road. Everything from trucks, matatus, crazy cyclists careening downhill carrying impossible loads, herds of cattle, and kids using it as a playground, all expect full right of way.. In the meantime we were exposed to the requirements of the Kenyan driver license theory test.
The theory test includes the usual knowledge checks of the Highway Code and road signs. This is supplemented with a “model town-rule-of-the-road” test. The major feature of the tabletop model is a four-lane highway intersecting a three-lane city thoroughfare at a roundabout. There is probably just one such intersection in the whole of Kenya, in Nairobi where the highway from the airport meets Kenyatta Avenue. The test is to maneuver a toy car from one spot to position it behind another vehicle on the board. Given the convoluted nature of some paths it is hardly surprising the majority of drivers negotiating the Uhuru-Kenyatta roundabout do not adhere to the patterns memorized to pass the test. The test day was Monday, and that is what it takes – a day!
No schedules here. Everyone (on this day 28 applicants) wishing to take the test arrived by 9:00 am.. The police inspector arrived shortly after – we were lucky I was told. She then addressed the assembled crowd in the courtyard spending the next hour or so going line by line through the two application forms as everyone filled them out. Then one by one the theory quiz. Pass and one now waits for the practical. For the motorbike this consisted of riding out of the driveway onto the main road into town, riding out about a 100 yards or so and when safe doing a U-turn and returning to the driveway – finished. Well not quite. Now more forms before we managed lunch around 2:30. Oh - yes I did pass. Now all I need is a piki piki – this week inshallah.
The training was in Machakos about 40 miles outside Nairobi. Requested to be in the Nairobi VSO office Thursday morning at 8:30 called for taking the overnight bus. I managed to sleep most of the way and can report the trip was without any form of incident. The training was scheduled for five days, which seemed like an inordinately long time to learn to ride a motorbike. The first day was taken up with getting everyone (4 trainees - of which 3 were female, instructor, 5 bikes and VSO driver) out to Machakos. At this pace it was easy to see how 5 days would go by. Right! After breakfast the next morning it was out to a large open field for – introductions to your piki piki. After a couple of hours of general driving and weaving around plastic cones we rode into town for lunch. The afternoon agenda called for “off-road riding” – yes! Turned out they were not kidding! True, we didn’t have to contend with traffic, just the occasional goat. Dried-up river beds and the like proved to be a great place to learn. I surprised myself with the kinds of terrain I could traverse and still manage to stay upright. The following afternoon we took a much longer ride up one of the volcanic mounds that surround town. This time there were other “road users”. First, calling significant sections of the route a road is to be overly generous. True, some sections contained tarmac. The unfinished tracks in most places were, however, far smoother. Negotiating steep hairpin bends when one half of the road has reverted to dirt and the other half is pocked with 6-9 inch deep craters is interesting. And, here everyone is a user who claims rights to the complete road. Everything from trucks, matatus, crazy cyclists careening downhill carrying impossible loads, herds of cattle, and kids using it as a playground, all expect full right of way.. In the meantime we were exposed to the requirements of the Kenyan driver license theory test.
The theory test includes the usual knowledge checks of the Highway Code and road signs. This is supplemented with a “model town-rule-of-the-road” test. The major feature of the tabletop model is a four-lane highway intersecting a three-lane city thoroughfare at a roundabout. There is probably just one such intersection in the whole of Kenya, in Nairobi where the highway from the airport meets Kenyatta Avenue. The test is to maneuver a toy car from one spot to position it behind another vehicle on the board. Given the convoluted nature of some paths it is hardly surprising the majority of drivers negotiating the Uhuru-Kenyatta roundabout do not adhere to the patterns memorized to pass the test. The test day was Monday, and that is what it takes – a day!
No schedules here. Everyone (on this day 28 applicants) wishing to take the test arrived by 9:00 am.. The police inspector arrived shortly after – we were lucky I was told. She then addressed the assembled crowd in the courtyard spending the next hour or so going line by line through the two application forms as everyone filled them out. Then one by one the theory quiz. Pass and one now waits for the practical. For the motorbike this consisted of riding out of the driveway onto the main road into town, riding out about a 100 yards or so and when safe doing a U-turn and returning to the driveway – finished. Well not quite. Now more forms before we managed lunch around 2:30. Oh - yes I did pass. Now all I need is a piki piki – this week inshallah.
Another Trip to the X-Farm Thursday April 9th
In the interim since the first trip to the experimental farm at Ganze, planting holes have been dug. Today’s task was to basically fill the hole back in again whilst inserting measured amounts of fertilizer and pesticide at prescribed depths. Although the task is relatively simple the exercise didn’t get off to a great start. An instruction sheet was used to demonstrate the process to the twelve or so non-English speaking day-workers, The first demonstration unfortunately omitted a step. The second attempt went smoothly. But in handing out the instruction sheet and pointing to the accompanying diagram it became obvious the two didn’t gibe, hence one more demonstration. The third time was a charm. Needless to say though. by this time there were a number of confused looks. So, I got to observe and ensure everyone followed “the” process.
I am sure you have seen old colonial-era pictures of a white overseer standing under the midday sun, complete with big floppy hat, watching locals working the land. The picture usually invoked in me a somewhat negative reaction and a questioning as to why he was ”just standing around”. Standing on a classic African hillside under the late morning sun, I found myself in just that pose. Thankfully no one had a camera and lunchtime eventually came to my rescue.
Lunch was at the local hotel aka restaurant (kind of). The nyama (gristly meat) usually isn’t worth the effort that chewing it requires, which leaves beans, rice and varied cooked greens. The maharagwe (beans) are a staple here and when cooked with shaved fresh coconut can be delicious. No small praise from this avowed carnivore.
Chickens! As we were relaxing after lunch, sitting outside the restaurant, along came the chicken truck. The standard Toyota Hilux pickup. (Those familiar with the BBC program Top Gear will further appreciate why this particular vehicle is the one of choice in this part of the world - video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5179975685121295378 or search 'top gear toyota'). The bed of the truck had a three tier cage arrangement. The bottom two were FULL of chickens. As the Easter holiday was coming up the assumption was they were selling chickens. No. Following a brief conversation and an exchange of money another chicken was added to the load. The local economy at work.
I am sure you have seen old colonial-era pictures of a white overseer standing under the midday sun, complete with big floppy hat, watching locals working the land. The picture usually invoked in me a somewhat negative reaction and a questioning as to why he was ”just standing around”. Standing on a classic African hillside under the late morning sun, I found myself in just that pose. Thankfully no one had a camera and lunchtime eventually came to my rescue.
Lunch was at the local hotel aka restaurant (kind of). The nyama (gristly meat) usually isn’t worth the effort that chewing it requires, which leaves beans, rice and varied cooked greens. The maharagwe (beans) are a staple here and when cooked with shaved fresh coconut can be delicious. No small praise from this avowed carnivore.
Chickens! As we were relaxing after lunch, sitting outside the restaurant, along came the chicken truck. The standard Toyota Hilux pickup. (Those familiar with the BBC program Top Gear will further appreciate why this particular vehicle is the one of choice in this part of the world - video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5179975685121295378 or search 'top gear toyota'). The bed of the truck had a three tier cage arrangement. The bottom two were FULL of chickens. As the Easter holiday was coming up the assumption was they were selling chickens. No. Following a brief conversation and an exchange of money another chicken was added to the load. The local economy at work.
Matatus and Chickens (for real)
Recipients of Elspeth’s journals are already familiar with matatus and chickens. Matatus are the private minivans that provide the majority of the public transportation in Central Asia and Africa. They operate between defined locations but not necessarily along a predefined route. The destinations are painted on the sides along with the other key piece of information - the passenger capacity. No mention of luggage/cargo limits, which in many cases would be equally significant. Needless to say the limit is “advisory”. A matatu is never so full that it can’t pick up more passengers.
We recently made the trip to Ganze, about 35 kilometers inland from Kilifi. Ganze is one of the poorest places in Kenya. In addition to being the site of a number of farms already supported by the organization it is also the location of a new experimental farm (more of that later – back to mutatus!).
The trip out was uneventful, particularly as we had snagged the premium seats – the two front seats. The front seats being available, however, indicates one may have quite a wait. Economics dictate staying put until commercially viable to move, usually about 80% full. No schedule here. With gasoline at over $4 a gallon and the fare for the 35km trip over punishing roads running around $1.20 it’s easy to understand the rationale. The first stop outside Kilifi was for an elderly woman complete with, yes you guessed, a large pile of bags and live chicken. One of the bags took two of us to load and as we unloaded it in the middle of nowhere I have no idea how she transported it home. Returning late in the afternoon we departed half empty. Not for long. Not counting driver and “conductor/passenger procurer” and not including babes in arms, of which there were two, we figured that ultimately there were 23 passengers.
Between times we had assisted preparations at the experimental farm. The fields are on relatively steep, rolling hills. The soil is predominantly sand and doesn’t look capable of supporting much beyond the scrub they were cleared of. The area looked as though it had received a fairly heavy downpour overnight. More than a couple of millimeters down, though, it was bone dry. The plots had previously been cleared of brush and small trees that characterize much of the scenery in this part of Kenya. The task for the day was to mark out the planting grids for the three crops currently being studied – sunflower, jatropha and eucalyptus. Eucalyptus and jatropha have already been planted on the first 150 farms. The experiments are to determine the most effective planting and maintenance strategies. The variables include differing plant clones, size of planting hole, amounts and types of fertilizer, pesticide and water, followed by varying levels of pruning.
At the end of the day a cold beer and cold (although never truly cold, as the water tank sits on the roof heated by the sun all day) shower never felt so good.
We recently made the trip to Ganze, about 35 kilometers inland from Kilifi. Ganze is one of the poorest places in Kenya. In addition to being the site of a number of farms already supported by the organization it is also the location of a new experimental farm (more of that later – back to mutatus!).
The trip out was uneventful, particularly as we had snagged the premium seats – the two front seats. The front seats being available, however, indicates one may have quite a wait. Economics dictate staying put until commercially viable to move, usually about 80% full. No schedule here. With gasoline at over $4 a gallon and the fare for the 35km trip over punishing roads running around $1.20 it’s easy to understand the rationale. The first stop outside Kilifi was for an elderly woman complete with, yes you guessed, a large pile of bags and live chicken. One of the bags took two of us to load and as we unloaded it in the middle of nowhere I have no idea how she transported it home. Returning late in the afternoon we departed half empty. Not for long. Not counting driver and “conductor/passenger procurer” and not including babes in arms, of which there were two, we figured that ultimately there were 23 passengers.
Between times we had assisted preparations at the experimental farm. The fields are on relatively steep, rolling hills. The soil is predominantly sand and doesn’t look capable of supporting much beyond the scrub they were cleared of. The area looked as though it had received a fairly heavy downpour overnight. More than a couple of millimeters down, though, it was bone dry. The plots had previously been cleared of brush and small trees that characterize much of the scenery in this part of Kenya. The task for the day was to mark out the planting grids for the three crops currently being studied – sunflower, jatropha and eucalyptus. Eucalyptus and jatropha have already been planted on the first 150 farms. The experiments are to determine the most effective planting and maintenance strategies. The variables include differing plant clones, size of planting hole, amounts and types of fertilizer, pesticide and water, followed by varying levels of pruning.
At the end of the day a cold beer and cold (although never truly cold, as the water tank sits on the roof heated by the sun all day) shower never felt so good.
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