Another week in Kenya.

Written by Amy Rawlinson and Harrison Blizzard.

This past week started off a bit slow. On Monday Harrison and I just organized ourselves, catching up on writing and preparation for our food service and infant feeding work, which will take place over the next few weeks in unison with the food security data collection. On Tuesday the nursing and biology students arrived in the early evening. We were both pleased to have the company of them all as the compound has been very empty the past two weeks.
Wednesday and Thursday we went on joint home visits with biology student, Hannah, and biology professor, Kevin. This was the first time of Harrison and I were doing the food security questions solo, so it was exciting to finally be doing some research work independently. We visited two homes and the interviews went very smoothly, however, it was difficult to hear that the women were having a very hard time getting food as a result of the dry weather. The three women that we visited on Thursday were no exception to the food insecure majority, as they too were all having a very hard time feeding themselves and their families. This is an eye opening experience for us as food insecurity is not an open issue in Canada; here it is right in front of us, we are dealing with the direct effects of drought weather and starving families. Interviewing these women will not get easier. Harrison will be interviewing the women of Muchui and I will be interviewing the women of Ruju; Ruju is an area that is much more lush than Muchui, however, the food security of this area may still be poor. The work of Farmers Helping Farmers will hopefully make a lasting impact on these families and sustainable farming to help support them better for future droughts. This experience is constantly proving to be a reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a Country with such abundant food sources.
On Friday, the 24th of June, we visited Muchaka with the nursing and bio students. On arrival at the orphanage we were greeted by some Sisters and then were taken on a tour of the orphanage and their grounds. Muchaka’s development has been supported by the work of the NGO “Trame Africane” founded by an Italian by the name of Pasquale, their impact on this area is truly amazing. The orphanage is currently housing 30 children under the age of 4 and the feeding program is providing two meals a day and school lessons to over 30 children from the local slums. We were able to help feed and play with some infants, well, technically I did not feed the infants as some of the girls did as I was worried about choking them with porridge! but I was there to comfort some. Before we left we served the young children, of the feeding program, their githeri and then went back to St. Teresa’s. The nurses and biology students left for Samburu National Park to enjoy a weekend of safariing. Harrison and I stayed behind to work on some reports and preparation for next weeks infant feeding at the hospital. We are hoping to go to another safari before we leave though.
Next week we will have reached our half way point, it is sad to know that our work will be half over soon.