Day 7 and 8 (Working with the Kids and Safari)

This is most likely the last blog entry from here in Kenya. We have all been really tired after we get back to the place where we are staying, so we have been keeping up with the blog as well as we should be.

Anyways enough with the excuses; lets start with Friday. Considering the fact that we culminated all of our activities with the women’s rights organization and FIDA on Wednesday and Thursday, we spent the entire day working with the kids at the school on Friday. The first think that really struck me was just how long the children are actually in school. They get there at 8:00am and school is not over until 4:00pm. I don’t ever remember my school days being that long when I was that age. I also find it very interesting how eager the kids are to learn. Whenever you put up some sort of problem on the board, they just want to keep working. For instance, today lunch was delayed for the class that we were working with for 20 minutes because they wanted to keep working on the problems that were put up on the board. I have worked with kids in the USA, and they generally don’t seem that excited about learning.

Although things are different in many ways, they are also remarkably similar. One of the girls that Chris was working with had great answers to the questions that were being presented during a class session, but she was really shy about presenting them in front of her classmates. The same sort of thing happens, with our conflict resolution program that we do at a middle school back in Philadelphia. The great thing about us being here though is that because there are so many of us, we can help the teachers recognize which of there students are really gifted.

There was nothing particularly notable about Thursday’s work at the school, but lunch was very interesting. Since it was our last day working with the kids at the school, the staff wanted to send us off with a special farewell. They slaughtered two chickens right there in front of us, and that was our lunch. Lunch was actually bittersweet though. Although the food tasted great, Jacob, the director of the program, was explaining to us that many of the kids won’t have the opportunity to eat chicken a single time this year. Many of them only have the one meal a day that the school offers and nothing else. Jacob also explained to us the high prevalence of HIV in the school, that most of the children are orphans and most of their families have no access to income. With that in mind we ate to be respectful, but tried to leave a lot of chicken, so that the kids or the staff could get some.

We interviewed two of the teachers, once school was over and prepared to make our way back into town. In order to get back and forth, we have to ride in this large van that acts as a taxi (Matutu) and then take a ferry across some body of water. I think its a part of the Indian Ocean. Today, when we got out of the Matutu, where we catch the ferry, Chris realized that he had left his wallet in the vehicle. The Matutu disappeared and he chased after a few Matutus but never found his wallet.

We went back into town and played some cards. Then we came back to Jacob’s house for dinner. We had some really good crab. The crab here is really inexpensive when compared to prices in the states and more fresh. Everyone was really full after dinner, so we hung out for a little while and then prepared to go on Safari Today.

Today’s Safari was a lot of fun. We got the opportunity to see a bunch of different animals, including lions, giraffes, warthogs, gazelles, antelope, ostrich etc. Although it was really cool to see the animals in their natural habitat and get that close to them, the most interesting experience of the day, was visiting the village of one of Kenya’s indigenous people. They are called the Maasai people. The locals here in Kenya describe the Maasai as warriors. From visiting their village, I can see why. They live in very primitive homes that they build from sticks cow dung and dirt. They also make fire without any matches or lighter and one of the men was explaining, that once men turn 30, they are taken out into the Bush to kill a lion. To do this they use a spear, a knife and a club made of wood. The man that we were talking to, boasted that he had killed two lions in his life time.

If you are interested in learning more about the Maasai people there is an interesting link here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people

After the Safari and visit with the Maasai, we came home and are resting. We plan on doing an interview with Jacob tonight for the documentary we plan on making and then going out for one last time. Then tomorrow our flight leaves at 3:30 in the afternoon and we will begin our 27 hours of travel.

Its been an unbelievable experience. We came here with the idea of teaching the people, but I think that we have learned a lot from being here. There is so much poverty here, and people are trying to find out a way to get by. Of course there are people begging, but there are also a lot more people out there trying to figure out some way to get by no matter what it takes. For instance, every day we see men who run barefoot and shirtless through the streets pulling a wheel barrel full of water containers that they sell for the equivalent of a couple of dollars. Many can’t find work but they come across on the ferry everyday to try to find something that they can do to provide for their families. It has been a privilege being here and we hope that this will be the beginning of a prolonged relationship between UPenn BLSA and the people of the Mtongwe community. Kenya has a progressive constitution (and bill of rights), but in the end, without help to implement the document, it amounts to nothing more than words on a piece of paper.  There is work to be done and I think we can and should help.

This is “THE CREW” signing out from Kenya.

Day 6 (Finishing up with FIDA and Preparation for teaching)

First, we traveled along the dusty road to FIDA. Upon arrival, we were greeted again with the welcoming handshakes of the many members of this noble empowerment organization. Our task today was to interview several of the members in preparation of our soon-to-be-released documentary.

Fatuma was the star of the show. She spoke of the many struggles faced by her organization and the women of Mombasa. She told us how many of the problem facing Kenyan women are addressed by the constitution; however, it is unlikely that the mere passage of a document will lead to immediate empowerment. Overall, Fatuma showed measured optimism about the status of women’s rights in Kenya.

After the interview, Fatuma showed us around the grounds of FIDA. During the tour we continued interviewing other members of FIDA as well as discussing the intricacies of the new Bill of Rights. The property is equipped with kitchen, balconies, and several offices. There are also more intimate rooms available for intake of new clients—some of whom will be running from terrible, and often violent, situations.

We finished the day with a few more interviews, conversations and preparation for tomorrow—a day in which we will be spending all of our time in the school. Our preparation consisted of gathering around the dinner table with notebooks, pencils, and computers ready to prepare a lesson plan for tomorrow. Hopefully the kids will not eat us ALIVE!!!!

Day 5 (The Presentation)

Today was a productive day. For several days we have been preparing to meet with various female leaders to discuss the implications of the new bill of rights that are incorporated in the newly enacted Kenyan constitution. We developed a powerpoint presentation, which we intended to use to provide a visual to the audience.  When we arrived at the center, however, the cords needed to connect our laptop to the projector were not present, so we adjusted.  The center had butcher –block paper, which we taped to the blackboard that was in the room, and we transcribed our presentation onto them. Fifty women leaders attended our presentation.

We started the presentation by giving an overview of the bill of rights that are incorporated in the Kenyan constitution. Health Care, Education, Privacy, Freedom from Abuse and Affirmative Action are all incorporated within the constitution. We touched on the importance of the ideals promulgated in the constitution, however, we cautioned that it would take the people asserting their rights in order for the ideals to become a reality. Most of the women who attended spoke Swahili , so we had an interpretor on hand to convey our message.   

Pedro was the first to speak. He covered each of the aforementioned rights generally. Chris was the second to speak. He discussed the process by which the people would assert their rights. He emphasized the importance of accessing the courts; arguing that this is the only way to make constitutional rights real. He talked about the women’s newfound responsibility to ensure that their rights are respected and observed. Alex presented third. He started by reading a poem by Sojourner Truth. He focused on the women’s strength and necessity in society and how their empowerment must start from within. He juxtaposed the women’s position with that of blacks during civil rights. He argued that the only way that the women would ensure that their constitutional rights were to fight for them. He talked about the constitutional rights of blacks in the sixties; how the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendment guaranteed rights, but that those rights were not respected in certain parts of the country until blacks demanded them. Nate was the last member of our group to speak. He focused his presentation on the property rights of women. He discussed the importance of owning and passing on property; asserting that economic empowerment could be achieved through the accumulation of property rights.

After Nate, our host, Jacob presented on micro-finance. He discussed the benefits and drawbacks of the program. Alex also presented on the topic. He emphasized the importance of the women pooling their money together to pursue their ideas. An attorney from the Federation of Women Lawyers also spoke. She took questions about matters of law in Kenya and discussed the importance of women taking hold of their constitutional rights.

Chris concluded the discussion. He talked about the need for hope in order to create beneficial change. 

Day 4 (Court and Finally working with the Kids)

Today we had to wake up earlier than usual, because we had to be down at the courthouse to acquire the materials that the chief magistrate recommended for us. We had to review issues about child custody and marital property because these are evidently big issues in the Mtongwe community where we are working. The records at the courthouse were not digitized, so we spent a lot of time thumbing through books, old court records, and making copies. This lasted for about half the day and then we were finally on our way to the school for the first time.

We sat down and met with all of the teachers at the school and told them about our project and how we needed their help to facilitate our efforts. They were all very receptive and seemed very excited about our presence and the program that we plan to implement. After the meeting, we finally got to meet with all of the children. We started off with an icebreaker with virtually the whole school. The students taught us one of their local song/games that has one person in the middle of a huge circle, who sings and calls out the next person to the middle. The person who has been called out has to dance to the middle of the circle and restart the song. After a few iterations of the game, we got all of the older kids together in their classroom and started our curriculum.

Pedro really took the lead, and had the great idea of making our curriculum adversarial. This worked out great because the children like to compete. We presented hypothetical situations to bring about ideas on freedom of expression and a right to education. We then had the students do critical thinking exercises about the arguments for these rights and why these rights might be abridged. Time went by really fast and before we knew it, it was 5:30 in the evening and we had to stop. Ultimately, I feel like the kids left with a better understanding of what their rights were, why they are important, and an understanding that there are challenges, such as limited resources, which could hinder their rights, if they don’t stand for those things they truly believe.

Now we are just reviewing materials and preparing for our big training session with the women’s rights organization. We are eager to do the training tomorrow and will be sure to post on how it goes.

Day 3 (meetings all day)

Yesterday was a pretty event filled day. We were all pretty excited about the day as soon as we woke up, because it was our first official work day and there was a lot of work to be done on our project. Our project has changed pretty drastically from what we originally planned. We are not teaching human rights law at the Destiny Garden School and at the women’s rights organization everyday that we are here. Instead we are having a huge community forum on Wednesday for the women’s rights organization and teaching at the school on the remaining days.

Kenya recently passed a new constitution in August of last year and for the first time in the country’s history the idea of gender equality is explicitly incorporated into the supreme law of the land. Since the constitution is so new, many women are not aware of the rights that are espoused by the document. As a result, the women’s rights organization felt that it would be most helpful, if we worked with a substantial number of women leaders in the community and informed them of the rights afforded them by the new constitution.

Although we have been studying the Kenyan bill of rights and human rights law in general over the past months in preparation for this trip, there were still some provisions of the constitution that we were unclear on. Yesterday, we meet with legal counsel from the federation of women lawyers in Kenya (FIDA), to have any ambiguities about the constitution cleared up and to coordinate for Wednesday. FIDA is very well respected in the community and has agreed to work in conjunction with our project on Wednesday to make sure that the women get the most valuable information possible. We went to FIDA’s office first thing in the morning and didn’t leave until about noon. It was a lot of time, but I think its going to make for a great program on Wednesday.

The local court is right next to FIDA, so we stopped by and watched a proceeding about how the Kenyan electrical company was trying to get a business owner to pay an outstanding bill. We also set up a meeting for later in the day with the Chief Magistrate.

After leaving the courthouse, we had lunch at a local restaurant.

We didn’t have time to go to the school between our meeting with FIDA and our meeting with the Chief Magistrate, so we went souvenir shopping and bought some authentic Kenyan art pieces. Upon meeting with the Chief Magistrate, she provided us with some very informative information about the new constitution. Although the document is very progressive, the Magistrate questioned how practical it would be to implement with the limited resources that the country has. We also learned that according to the constitution, claims made based on the bill of rights do not incur any court fees. The Magistrate felt that the only way for the true meaning of the constitution to be brought to the forefront, was for individuals to start bringing “test cases” to see how far certain rights extend. She also recommended some materials in their archives to consider, but it was too late to acquire them, so we had to come back today to get them.

We left the courthouse and met with some individuals to put a deposit on a Safari that we are going to go on this Saturday. The meeting was at some hotel, so we had a couple of drinks while we waited for a counselor who sought to be involved in our teaching at the school and utilizing our program to assess the talents of the children. After a couple of hours of discussion with her, we finally left for home. We bought some playing cards on the way back and ended up playing Chinese Poker until about 2:30am. 

Day 2 (Beach and Rest)

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. We actually kind of took it as a day of rest. After all the traveling and meetings on Saturday, it was much needed. We all slept late into the afternoon. Once we finally woke up, our host, Jacob, took us down to one of the beautiful beaches in Mombasa.

Mombasa is a coastal city that borders the Indian Ocean. The scenery around the beach was extremely beautiful. It felt like a resort that you would see in a movie.  While we were at the beach we saw some things that we thought were pretty abnormal. There was a group of individuals offering Camel rides. I had never seen a camel before and didn’t realize just how big they were. Additionally, we saw a small diver’s boat come ashore. Evidently, there was a ship wreck off the coast some time ago, and divers constantly go down to try to recover commodities from the wreckage.

We returned home and had dinner, which was an Indian inspired lentil dish. Jacob spent several years in India studying business, so we eat a lot of Indian dishes. Also, Mombasa generally seems to be reasonably influenced by Indian culture. After dinner we reviewed and discussed the Kenyan Bill of Rights in preparation for a meeting that we would have with the Federation of Women Lawyers on today (Monday). 

Day 1 (Arrival and Such)

Today has been an incredibly long day. Actually I think that you can classify it as two days. We started off our day with a 4:45am wake up call. We all met to make sure that we had passports and additional sensitive items.  We got on the trolley and headed down to 30^th  street station, where we got on the Amtrak to DC. All of us were pretty beat and slept most of the way.

Once we got to DC we had a ridiculous  $80 taxi ride to Dulles International Airport. It took us a minute to find Ethiopian Airways check-in but when we did, it was unsuspectedly crowded.  We got our tickets with no problem but when we tried to get through security, they told Pedro that his passport picture didn’t look like him. After three security officials checked his passport, they finally let him through.

All of us boarded the plane and we were on our way. We were in for a monster 13 hour plane ride. After multiple hours of sleep, reviewing our curriculum and watching movies we finally landed in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. We grabbed another flight and made our way to Mombasa. Side note, we got some video footage of the sunrise over the Sahara Desert, and our flight in general which should be on the way soon.

Once we got in Mombasa, we met up with the program director, Jacob, who is amazing. He single handedly started the school where we will be doing a part of human rights work. He brought us to his home where we are staying and we had a traditional Kenyan lunch. It consisted of fresh chicken and rice in this delicious sauce. The food was much better than what I had anticipated.

After a brief lunch we had a meeting at the school where we will be working to discuss what is expected of us and how the program will be implemented it. That lasted a surprisingly long time (about two hours). Everyone had a lot of questions and it seems like we are going to have a good program, teaching human rights to the children. We actually saw some of the children while we were at the school. It was utterly amazing, how they can be so happy and enjoy life so much when they have so little. The kids were really funny and kept on posing for Alex’s camera (pictures to come).

After leaving the school we drove down to the women’s right organization (sauti ya wanawake) where we will be doing the second half of our work. We had another two hour meeting with them about how our program will be implemented. Ultimately we came to the consensus that we are going to have a grand day of training on Wednesday for 100-150 women community leaders. Kenya just passed a new constitution last August, and many of the women in the community where we are working are unaware about the guarantees to equality and various fundamental rights that are embodied in the new document. We are going to work with the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) here in the country to provide these women with this valuable information. We believe that by providing this knowledge, the women of the Mtongwe community will be able to avoid the instances of abuse they have suffered in the past and make sure that the provisions of the new constitution are actually implemented.

Once all our meetings were over, Jacob took us out to see what the Mombasa night life was like. We ended up at a lounge/bar. We had an amazing meal of roasted goat, roasted chicken, Tilapia and chips (fries). 

We have all probably had about 6 hours of sleep over the last two days and I’m really tired so I’m going to sleep. Continue to follow our adventure, as we try to make a difference, experience the culture of our native land. As mentioned Pictures and video will be forthcoming so be on the lookout.