Week 1

Hi Everyone (Amosi),

Yes I am going to be greeting and saying goodbye in the language that I am learning now, Dohluo. I hope you enjoy. There are many rather cool coincidences, like Good Evening is said, "O'emorey." Try it. Pretty cool, and reminiscent of the 70's...and the Elephant Show...and Andy Bernard from "The Office".

I am here in Kisii, a city one hour's drive from Lwala where i stay and work. We are in an internet cafe, all of us typing away. I've never seen so many of us ready to use a computer before but email withdrawal has become a powerful thing.

My experiences here have been overwhelming to say the least. The work being done here is literally turning this village into a healthier, more stable place every day. We are working noe to "protect" one spring. I will show you pictures of the before and after and the process. It is literally amazing. Imagine getting your water from a small 2 foot diameter pond that is filthy with weeds and mud, and then suddenly being able to get it from a continuously running pipe emerging from a cement wall. Moreover, the improved water is clear and pH neutral! It still has some bacteria but that is a far cry from the situation before the arrival of volunteers here.

Our accomodations have been very good indeed. The latrine is clean, if a little mosquito infested, and we buy our water from the Nakumart, equivalent of a walmart in Kisii. For us americans, life is pretty sweet even in the village. Relations are very interesting as well. White people in Swahili are called "Mzungus," so we get that a lot, especially from children, many of them frightened. When we were playing with a group of kids at the soccer field after school one day, the little ones ran from us. The older kids said they were running because it is well known among children younger than 5 or 6 that Mzungus eat children, ha. For a minute I wondered if exploiting this by chasing them while licking my lips and chomping would be wise but I was urged by the girls not to.

The family we are staying with is very nice and welcoming, as is the entire town. Everywhere we go, we are celebrites, and easily identified; it can get very tiring but we are very proud of the work that has been done so far to make people so joyful when americans show up. There is a reputation here in this village, that americans do not just bring money to throw at problems, but they actually work to provide solutions to complex yet desperate problems, and moreover, they respect the culture of the people they meet. Moreover, everyone in the village, I believe since the two brothers who started this project moved to the US, are very concerned with education. At every opportunity we are asked to read essays and help people applying to US colleges. They mostly want to be doctors and they are all very intelligent and motivated, especially Japolo, a cousin of the Ochieng family that has taken us in. He knows English very well and he knows a lot of slang so he has been our ambassodor many times. It makes me very happy that they all see that what we have is certainly not unattainable.

The environment is of course, beautiful, even if the townspeople don't think so (it's been a while since I've been to \mammoth Cave as well). We have walked several miles to different towns to inspect their springs and visit with the people there. The temperature is quite comfortable, if a little on the hot side most days, about 80 degrees or 85 is average. Ironically, this is their winter time, south of the equator, so they all think it's cold. While we are sweating in shorts and gasping for water, they are walking around in sweatshirts, pants, and hats because it is too frigid. It makes me laugh to think of the brothers going to undergraduate school at dartmouth in New Hampshire; that has to be the definition of misery to a kenyan (no offense Jon).

All in all, there are lots of adjustments and adaptations to be made. I am still trying to learn the language, greetings and questions and such, and am looking very awkward, like the other day when I greeted at least twenty people in the morning by saying good evening. I'm sure they thought a lot of me then. I did go to Church yesterday at the local Catholic church. It was very intense and I really did not understand most of what was going on, but it was inspiring nonetheless. The congreagation at the end, asked me if i would get up and give a speech to them, with a trnaslator (note: i am not good at speaking through a translator. They keep criticizing me for not speaking proper english and using phrases they don't know. I tell them I am from the southeast of america, and most people in america cannot understand what we say.). They then asked me for something around 300,000 kenyan shillings ($2000-3000) for a new roof for the church. I tried to explain that I am just a student without that kind of money, but they already started clapping and i don't think my message got through. There is a lot of that unfortunately, but you can't really blame people in a village where those who are lucky enough to be employed make about $25 per month.

This week, we will be protecting the spring in the village and possibly teaching some at the primary school after classes since we are inevitably an intense distraction from learning. We will also be working to create a database for the clinic so they can keep electronic records. If anyone knows someone with really good MS Access skills who would also be willing to volunteer their time or program for cheap, please contact me. Papers are overflowwing as the clinic serves an average of 80 people per day from areas as far as 20 kilometers away.

Times are still desperate here, but they are getting better. Plans are in the works to acquire a generator at the clinic to augment the solar power source, sell bednets to families for fraction of what we purchase them for (we would give them but modern international development theories say that towns should buy their infrastructure slowly rather than be given a handout, to increase a feeling of ownership of improvements), and to install a pipe from a pump well to the clinic to provide rather clean water we could treat and use for medicinal purposes. They also want to eventually start a working lab to better diagnose malaria cases and test for oodles of diseases.

I want to thank all of you again, for all of your support. This town thanks you too. I can easily see this area becoming a center of growth in the near future, and with effort sthat concentrate carefully on how to grow responsibly with an eye out for crime, corruption, and general welfare of the community, you will hear many great things coming from this place. I am sorry I do not have pictures uploaded yet but there are plenty so far, and if i can find a way to recharge my batteries, there will be lots more. I miss all of you, and hope to catch up with you in person when I return.

Goodbye (Oriti),
Ben