Last evening all of us had the good fortune to be hosted by a community member. We had dinner with them and spent the evening at their homes exchanging ideas and learning about cultural differences and similarities. Anna woke at 2:30 a.m. and helped Esther milk her cows by hand ( a lot harder than Esther makes it look.) and under an almost full moon. She, then walked to the milk pick-up site and awaited the arrival of the Wakulima truck at 4:00 a.m. It was a terrific experience.
Olivia stayed with the secretary of the Wakalima Dairy Group. The farm had a beautiful crop of coffee and maize, as well as passion fruit trees. There were five cows, which is a large number by Kenyan standards, and these Holstein cows were the largest Olivia had seen since coming to Kenya.
Andrea stayed with Mama Sue, a successful local farmer who has been widowed for about 10 years. Mama Sue has dairy cattle, coffee and fruit and she is looking into getting a bio-gas system on her farm. Andrea’s experience was enlightening. Mama Sue is a retired school teacher and all five of Mama Sue’s children have been to college with two pursuing Masters degrees. This is a great feat, and indicative of Mama Sue’s great success and knowledge. Some female neighbors joined us for dinner, and Andrea found them all to be very well educated, ambitious female farmers.
Today was spent much the same as the other days here. We went to a number of farms and fielded questions from the surrounding farms while sitting under a tree. We examined several sick cows, one of which had East Coast Fever which is endemic here and not found in North America so it was exciting for us --- but not so great for the cow. It is treatable and we began treatment before leaving the farm. We said goodbye to the Nairobi students and spent several hours in Karatina walking around what is the largest market in Africa. As you first enter you smell fruit and then you see many people sitting on blankets under umbrellas selling mangos, carrots, onions etc. There are also people selling beans in large 80 kg bags. Of course, there is also an area where baskets woven from sisal, wood carvings and masks are sold. We probably spent too much money but had a great time practicing our bartering skills. Before heading home we stopped in to check email at the cyber café and then picked up the most Canadian-type junk food we could find. Tomorrow we will visit another farm in the morning and then spend some time at a school that is twinned with a school in PEI. In the afternoon we head north to Meru crossing over the equator which is exciting for all of us.
Day 6:
The women in Wakalima work very hard, carrying large bundles of napier grass strapped on their backs for several kilometres. Napier grass is not native to Kenya, but because it grows easily and in abundance, it is fed to the cows here. It is similar to hay but it is fed freshly chopped for the most part. We, being the athletes that we believe we are, foolishly thought it would be interesting to attempt to carry the na
pier grass bundle that one of the women had brought to the seminar. HAHA... pictures tell a thousand words. Andrea and Olivia struggled first to even pick it up a few inches off the ground, then with the help of our trusty driver, Simon, we managed to get the pack on our backs, only to fall over when the weight of it was given entirely to us. The crowd of farmers that had gathered had a good laugh with us crazy Muzungos (white people).During the journey to Meru, the change in the countryside was remarkable. It went from the very tropical, steep and hilly regions of Wakalima with lots of bananas and tropical plants to the savannah like regions surrounding the equator with cacti and animals roaming over large open ranges. At the equator we stopped to see the demonstration of the clock-wise or counter-clock-wise rotation of water which is different depending on if you are in the northern or southern hemisphere. We spent too much money at the shops there and then continued on to Meru. We arrived and were treated to dinner at Jennifer’s house. She is the head of the Muchui women’s group.
Day 7:
We spent the morning walking from farm to farm taking surveys. We split into three groups and each group went to four farms. The countryside was truly breathtaking, with fields of hand seeded corn in perfectly spaced rows mixed with sunflowers, and fields of wheat. We saw for the first time oxen and donkeys pulling carts and packed with supplies. Due to the efforts of FHF and the fact that there has been a lot of rain this year, the women, their families and farms are in better shape than they were last year. Most of them said that they have enough to eat, their crops are doing well and the Group has made a real difference in their lives. We had lunch at Jennifer’s farm and spent the afternoon walking around Meru.
We spent the morning walking from farm to farm taking surveys. We split into three groups and each group went to four farms. The countryside was truly breathtaking, with fields of hand seeded corn in perfectly spaced rows mixed with sunflowers, and fields of wheat. We saw for the first time oxen and donkeys pulling carts and packed with supplies. Due to the efforts of FHF and the fact that there has been a lot of rain this year, the women, their families and farms are in better shape than they were last year. Most of them said that they have enough to eat, their crops are doing well and the Group has made a real difference in their lives. We had lunch at Jennifer’s farm and spent the afternoon walking around Meru.
Day8:
This day will stay with us the rest of our lives. We arrived a hundred meters from Jennifer’s farm and were greeted on the road by the entire Muchui women’s group singing and dancing. We got out of the van and danced with them to the farm. They continued to sing to us songs about how FHF has changed their lives for the better (which we didn’t know at the time because we couldn’t make out a word of the songs they sang in swahili). They taught us how to dance to their songs, laughed with us as we tried to learn their words and steps. We then sat and talked with them for several hours. It was a fascinating exchange of cultural ideals and traditions. They welcomed us with open arms and I left today feeling a part of their circle. After lunch we all had a chance to thank one another and we exchanged some gifts. Seeds that we had brought from PEI (donated by Vessey’s seeds) I had been explaining to one of the women the kind of foods that we eat and was describing the vegetables that make up a salad. I was so happy to see that one of her packages of seeds was for cucumbers a vegetable she had never heard of but that we had just spoken about. It was truly a remarkable afternoon one that I will never forget.
This day will stay with us the rest of our lives. We arrived a hundred meters from Jennifer’s farm and were greeted on the road by the entire Muchui women’s group singing and dancing. We got out of the van and danced with them to the farm. They continued to sing to us songs about how FHF has changed their lives for the better (which we didn’t know at the time because we couldn’t make out a word of the songs they sang in swahili). They taught us how to dance to their songs, laughed with us as we tried to learn their words and steps. We then sat and talked with them for several hours. It was a fascinating exchange of cultural ideals and traditions. They welcomed us with open arms and I left today feeling a part of their circle. After lunch we all had a chance to thank one another and we exchanged some gifts. Seeds that we had brought from PEI (donated by Vessey’s seeds) I had been explaining to one of the women the kind of foods that we eat and was describing the vegetables that make up a salad. I was so happy to see that one of her packages of seeds was for cucumbers a vegetable she had never heard of but that we had just spoken about. It was truly a remarkable afternoon one that I will never forget.Today, Teresa was interviewing some of the women in the Muchui group regarding their health, as well as that of the families. A retired nurse translated questions for us, as we sat away from the group under a tree. The questions were about the number of children in the family, how many went to school, and whether there was enough food. One woman who was interviewed really caught my attention. She had four children, all of whom were in school. She had no husband, whether he left her or died, I wasn’t sure. She was not feeling healthy, although she had enough food this year, and enough money to send her kids to school. She was grateful for the FHF work that had been done in her community, and she had ideas of how to improve her financial situation. In spite of her not feeling well, she had welcomed us in her colorful dress, singing and dancing at our arrival. Her face was bright, and she had a big smile, and shook our hands strongly as most of the other women did. She shocked me when Teresa got to the question regarding whether anyone in her family have HIV/AIDS. The woman, suddenly took a very serious face, and looked at us all individually, and after a moment of contemplation, she said "Yes". When asked for further clarification on who in her family was affected, she said "I do". I think that is a moment in my life that I will never forget. I think that moment of contemplation was her wondering what we would think of her, I don’t know that for sure, it was just the feeling I got. I was amazed as I sat there, next to a woman, who made enough money to put all of her children through school, who had enough food until the next harvest, and who seemed outwardly happy and energetic, yet she was a single mother in Kenya with HIV/AIDS.
Kenyan women work hard, very hard, harder than any group of women I have ever met, they carry things that I could never even lift - for miles, and they seem to stay positive, have faith that things will get better, and they support each other. As Canadians, we take things for granted more often than I care to admit. But to sit next to that woman, and listen to her talk about the things that she worries about in her life, and the hardships she has, yet how she continues to plan for the future amazed me. I don’t think I will ever forget today, and hopefully I will carry with me a thought of her, when I think my life is getting rough.
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