Fruits of Malaba

This weekend my co-worker took me to Malaba. I felt like a true Kenyan heading just across the border to Malaba, Uganda to pick up some cheap foodstuffs and fabrics. I even sat beside a woman on the matatu who was going to buy body sprays to sell at a profit, of course, in Bungoma.

Now then, I only felt this way after I realized we were going into Malaba, Uganda. There is also a Malaba, Kenya. Due to this confusion, I actually forgot my passport back in Bungoma. Apparently, they usually don't stop mzungus (white people) heading into Uganda, but it was my lucky day to be caught by the customs officer. After a lengthy lecture about how I was doing something terribly illegal, I had to take the matatu (basically 15 seater bus that usually holds 20-25 people) back to Bungoma for my passport. At this point, I realized I'm definitely not part of the East African community even if I'm living like a Kenyan.

After all that hassle, I went shopping. Malaba was basically a sleepy little town with one street full of shops. Centi fitted me out with some African garb. I'm now the proud owner of a long, green dress, black sandals and fabric to be made up into a proper african outfit. I just got into work and got lots of compliments on my new African digs. I think my favourite was that I look "yummy." I feel pretty good about looking "yummy."

She also helped me buy food for the next month of so. I bought some rice, ground nuts and green grams. Ground nuts are a type of local nut that everyone eats. They taste a bit like peanuts, but better. We also had ground nut stew at the restaurant. I really like the ground nut stew. Centi promised to show me how to make it. So hopefully I'll be posting a recipe for ground nut stew sometime soon. Green grams are a type of bean. I'm looking forward to green grams and rice sometime this week.

Antigonish Movement!

So I have not been good at posting and this one is actually about Nova Scotia! So Sorry for the mistakes. I really wanted a post about the Antigonish Movement though. It was a grassroots movement that began in, you guessed it, Antigonish in the 1920s. This movement is important to me because it’s the basis of the Coady International Institute (a.k.a. the lovely people that are sending me overseas). I want to explain the movement in some depth because by doing so I will be able to explain what I’m doing overseas.

Two men, Fr. Moses Coady and Fr. Jimmy Tompkins, started the whole Antigonish Movement, although Moses Coady generally gets more credit and definitely gets quoted more frequently. So you’re probably asking by now, what the heck was this movement? Well, in the 1920s people in Nova Scotia were in desperate economic straits.

Generally, they worked for exploitive middle men who sold their goods, such as fish or coal, at much higher costs than which bought them from the Nova Scotians. Moses Coady and Jimmy Tompkins saw the inherent corruption within in this system. So they said to themselves, “Why bother with these middlemen? The people could do it themselves with a bit of education.” So that’s exactly what they did. Moses Coady began adult education programs surrounding practical skills that would immediately affect the lives of the people. Communities began building their own canneries, selling their products to the market directly, starting credit unions and any other project they felt their community needed. Summed up, Moses Coady preached a message of self-reliance by saying people could be “Masters of their own destiny.”

Now you might ask, “What does this have to do with contemporary development work in Kenya?” Well, the Coady still bases its work on the ideas of its founders. I will be partnering with an organization called Community Research in Environment and Development Initiative (CREADIS). Their work centres on educating people in the Bungoma District of Kenya so that they can help make their communities stronger. This approach to development focuses on looking at a community’s assets in order to improve upon them and make lives better for all. And that’s how I’ve become the newest member of the Antigonish Movement.

Bungoma Town

I’ve been in Bungoma for the past 4 days. I have to admit that my travel exhaustion made the first couple of days a bit of a wash. I basically went to work and to sleep. But I’m settling in nicely and starting to feel right at home. I’m living in a hotel for the first week and a half that I’m here so it’s been quite cushy. I have a largish room with a flushable western-ish toilet (no toilet seat) and even a little breakfast nook in the entrance. I fully expect my living standard to drop by the end of next week. I’ll give you an update on that though at the end of next week.

In some ways, it’s much easier to report on the amusing tourist things in Nairobi than my experience of Bungoma. It is at once larger and smaller than I expected. I’m happy to say that I can get almost anything in town, but it’s rural enough that cows, donkeys, goats, and chickens are common sights along the road. The first morning I woke up to the sound of a rooster cock-a-doodle doing. He actually cock-a-doodle doed several times that morning. You’d think once would be enough. The night also comes alive with the sounds of crickets, mosquitoes buzzing and even lights up with fireflies. In a nutshell, I feel closer to nature than I’ve ever felt in a Western city.

The people are very friendly. They consistently tell me, “Kariboo” (welcome in kiswahili). I’m surprised by how much Kiswahili you hear in the streets. I’m trying to pick up as much as possible. My co-workers speak Kiswahili to each other unless addressing me or Caleb. Everyone speaks English though so it’ll take some effort to learn Kiswahili. I think I’m going to hire a teacher.

The most exciting thing I’ve done since coming to Bungoma is participate in evaluating CREADIS’s HIV/AIDS programming by helping them conduct interviews. We drove from village to village asking women and men about how their lives have changed since CREADIS entered it. I was at once happy that their lives have gotten considerably better, but also sad at their dependency on the organization. We really want to strive towards making people independent. Some of the women told us they prayed to God that CREADIS would continue giving them support.

Others were more positive about their new livelihoods. I want to tell you two of the stories that I found particularly inspirational. One woman cared for two vulnerable children. She, herself, was HIV +. Unlike many other people she is living openly, or as they say here, “living positively.” Currently, she cares for 14 children who have nowhere else to go. She feeds them from the money she makes selling vegetables. Although this feat alone is phenomenal, I found her desire to support others the most amazing. She spoke of how she’d received counselling and support from CREADIS. She started her own support groups independent of CREADIS with those skills. Now, she gives support to others. She’s also an example to her community because she not only living with HIV, rather than dying as so many others, but she’s also succeeding.
The other young man spoke to me about raising his family from poverty to at least having enough food to eat. His parents and his sister died leaving him to raise his younger brother and nephew. CREADIS gave him some chickens, which laid eggs and made more chickens as chickens are wont to do. With the profit from the chickens, he bought a goat. Then he sold the goat in order to lease some land. Now he’s growing his own food for him and the children. More positively, the children are back in school with full bellies making them able to learn.

These are just two of the stories that I heard while interviewing people. I feel so lucky that I’ve had the chance to ask people about their lives.

Elephants, Giraffes and Rhinos, Oh My!

So I’ve finally arrived in Kenya after what felt like many mini-journeys. I first heard I was going to Bungoma, Kenya at the beginning of May while living in Kingston. As you all know, I took a journey back to the past by going home. Then I visited a completely new part of the country since orientation was in Nova Scotia. As you can probably guess, my flight to Bumgoma was anything but direct. I spent a day in Paris and a day and night in Nairobi with a morning in Kisumu before finally arriving in Bungoma last Wednesday.

Well, I’ve already been to Paris, but this time around I saw something that I have been meaning to catch for a while. I saw the unicorn tapestries at le Musée du Moyen Age. I’m not sure what it was about these tapestries that moved me. I stared at them for ages. It is a series of 6 tapestries of a blonde woman with a unicorn and lion in each. The first five represent the five senses: Taste, Smell, Touch, Sight and Hearing. The last is more ambiguous because it is simply titled, “Mon seul desir (My one desire).” I think I’m drawn to them because the female figure looks so powerful in each. There’s also something special about a tapestry because of its size. It’s hard not to feel awed by figures twice your size that used to grace the great hall of some noble. The colours in the unicorn tapestries are also particularly vivid. Quite ironically the only faded bits are those that were retouched using chemical dyes because of water damage. The vegetable dyes are standing the test of time, while our own chemical concoctions quickly wasted away.

After Paris, I took another red-eye flight to Nairobi. Now then I wouldn’t want to leave Nairobi too quickly. I had the pleasure of meeting Alissa, another volunteer, and her supervisor, Grace, who both work for another development NGO near Nairobi. My time in Nairobi became all about the animals. Even our hostel was called the Wildebeest Camp, although, disappointingly, there were no wildebeests to be found.
However, I did get to go to Sheldrick’s Elephant Orphanage. Just like the name suggests, this organization takes care of baby elephants. Now then one would think that a baby elephant would just need a lot of food, but there is so much more to the process. Elephants have a complex social structure, but they are also highly emotional. A baby elephant will often die of loneliness if they not found quickly enough or of stress. Sheldrick’s transports the babies by air to reduce the amount of stress on the newly rescue orphan. Now one might ask why the herds do not simply take care of these orphaned elephants themselves. Well, a baby elephant requires milk for at least the first 2 years, but usually 3, of its life. If its mother dies, unfortunately usually from poaching poaching although other natural causes do occur, the other female elephants do not have enough milk to give the orphan. But the orphan will die without milk. At this point, Sheldrick’s steps in. The kicker is that baby elephants are allergic to cow’s milk and will often die if given it. So Sheldrick’s imports baby formula from the UK for these little tuskers-to-be (no tusks yet when that little). I have to admit that elephants are the biggest babies I’ve ever seen with their own bottles. One of them was even able to hold her own bottle with her trunk. It made me want a trunk I must admit. Imagine all the things you could hold with a trunk . . . peanuts . .. mirrors . .. people . .. but I digress. The orphaned elephants will eventually be reintroduced into the wild where they will join a herd. Astonishingly, reintroduction takes 8 to 10 years. I did not realize that elephants were very close to humans in their maturing time. So these little tuskers have years to go before they are even adolescents.

My other animal adventure came in the form of the Giraffe Centre. In the 1970s , some people adopted a Rothschild giraffe because they were quickly becoming extinct. This one adopted giraffe has since multiplied into several that the centre now breeds with the small giraffes being reintroduced into the wild. The best part of the giraffe centre is that you could pet them and feed them. I particularly enjoyed their ears. They just look so big and floppy, but they’re surprisingly mobile and I think could be used as a form of communication. Giraffes also have the absolutely neatest tongues. These long, agile grey, prickly pine tongues will take food right out of your hand. And they’ll also take food from your lips. So I have to admit that I was already kissing Kenyans the first day I got here. Erin the giraffe convinced me that I needed some loving. Although her kisses were a little slobbier than I usually enjoy. And she was quite free with her favours because I saw her kissing lots of other people, including my friends. So ya, don’t expect your giraffe to be faithful. They’ll pucker up for anyone with some food on their lips.

After my foray into Nairboi’s National Park, I left the next morning for Kisumu. Kisumu is just a hop away from Bungoma. I arrived at the town I’ll be living in last Wednesday afternoon.

Final Days in Nova Scotia

I’m actually in the Paris airport trying to wrap-up my thoughts on my orientation. It was a really amazing experience that I’m having trouble putting into words. So I’m just going to concentrate on the last day and hope it gives you some idea of the wonderfulness that was orientation (somewhat shockingly since I had expected to be bored shittless).

We started the day off with evaluating the program. For me, I felt my facilitation skills had improved the most in the past three weeks. We had talked a lot about adult education and, to this day, I find these ideas simmering in the back of my head. The biggest adjustment in the adult education model is seeing each of your learners as someone with experience upon which you have to build. It becomes about creating a safe environment for each learner to come to a better understanding of the subject matter by themselves. Then we had the pleasure of working with facilitators who followed this teaching method. It was nice to be able to draw on one’s experience in the learning process. They also taught through games that encouraged us to understand concepts on an intuitive level, rather than just on paper. I found it a wonderful way to learn and a way that I want to emulate in the future.

At lunch, I had the pleasure of delivering a gift to the Antigonish Women’s Centre. All of the Coady participants, development workers from all over the world who have come to study at the Coady, and youth associates were invited to the annual women’s picnic during our second week of orientation. The women of Antigonish rolled out the red carpet by cooking wonderful food and providing great conversation. The female associates re-wrote the lyrics of “I am your Sunshine” to represent solidarity, as well as brought a piece of fabric for every woman to sign a message of solidarity. It turned into a collage of messages in all languages. We gave the fabric to the Women’s Centre as a gift, while at the same time receiving a tour. I found out that they do innovative programming, especially around sexual assault/abuse. The Antigonish community became as much a part of my orientation experience as the Coady Institute itself.

During the afternoon, we spent the day strengthening our relationships with the other youth associates. We had all become very close in the last three weeks. But the best, and saddest, part of the day was yet to come. We went to a farewell supper with all the participants at Cristal Cliffs. This place once again highlighted for me the beauty of Nova Scotia. It was a beach right on the ocean with trees lining the shore on either side. At this point, I said good bye to all of the participants, including the Kenyans who had already welcomed me to Kenya. They had taught me some Kiswahili, shared about their country, and shared contacts in country for me. In fact, tomorrow morning I will be welcomed by two women from the organization of one of the participants who has no stake whatsoever in the Youth in Partnership Program. From my experience with the Kenyans, I have found people to be consistently welcoming. At this time, I also said good-bye to my fellow youth associates with the promise to keep in touch.

The party was bittersweet, but the bus ride to Halifax was sheer excitement. My boyfriend, Kevin, came to spend the weekend with me in Halifax. We had a bit of a pirate theme going on actually. We took a harbour cruise, labelled pirate cruise, on a sailboat. My very first sailboat ride! I even helped raise one of the sails. I say help because it gets heavy and Kevin kinda took over near the end. But I have the pictures to prove that I did most of the work. But I have a better “ARGH, Matey.”Then we ate some lobster for dinner, or at least I did. And to continue with our pirate theme we went to the local theatre festival to watch an adaptation of Treasure Island. I love outdoor theatre and it was definitely a winner. We said our goodbyes at the airport since we happened to be taking the same flights home. And now I’m halfway to Kenya more excited than ever.

Mustard Pickles

I wanted to share with everyone a recipe that I found while in Nova Scotia. I have to thank my friend's mother, Carol Bray, for sharing it with me. She lives on a farm and shared this lovely pickle recipe with me. I haven't tried it yet, but when I start living closer to the land I will definitely start to pickle. Someone should try it and get back to me though.

Mustard Pickles

Day 1

7 cucumbers
5 onions
1 c coarse salt

Peel and remove seeds from cucumbers. cut in small pieces. cut onions into small pieces and mix with cucumbers.

Sprinkle salt over cucumbers and onions and let stand overnight.

Day 2

3 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1 T dry mustard
1 T tumeric
1T celery seed
2 c vinegar

In the morning drain and rinse the cucumbers with cold water.

Add vegetables to sauce mixture and heat slowly. Cool until cucumbers are translucent. Ladle into hot sterile bottles.

And voila! You have pickles!

Wowed at the Pow Wow!

So the first week of my orientation has passed. I'm amazed at how quickly the orientation is going. I'm also really impressed by all the cultural opportunities I've had since my last post. I went to the annual Coady Welcome Social, a Pow Wow and a Joel Plaskett concert.

The Coady Social was basically an opportunity for the Coady to interact with the community at large. Everyone in the Antigonish area was invited to meet the participants. Every fall the Coady, and greater Antigonish, welcome participants from around the world who come here for leadership training. The Coady took out all the stops to show them Nova Scotian culture. They included musical performances from a First Nations woman from the Micmac band, an Acadian singer, a gaelic singer, and a group of local feminist women's choir. They were all fantastic. But, honestly, they just reminded me of the wonderful diversity of Canada. I feel so lucky to get to discover more about the culture of Nova Scotia.

Then, even more excitingly, I went to my first Pow Wow. I have to admit that I felt somewhat guilty that my first pow wow occurred thousands of miles away from home. Indigenous people make up a large portion of Saskatchewan's population so it seems somewhat ridiculous that my first Pow Wow wasn't until I was 23 years old and living in Nova Scotia. One of the elders asked me why I hadn't been to one since loads happen in Western Canada. He also said you don't need to be invited. Of course, I couldn't fathom going to a Pow Wow without an invitation. I actually felt privileged and honoured to be invited to this one. It was really wonderful to celebrate with the MicMac. I also saw a lot of other people from outside of that community at the Pow Wow. I didn't realize they were so inclusive. It's even inclusive among the different First Nation peoples because the dancers come from all over.

My favourite part of the Pow Wow was the dance for the dead. They sing a song of mourning and dance for the people who have died this past year. The family and friends of those who have lost people are invited into the circle to dance with the dancers. Then, and here comes the coolest part, other members of the community are invited to come into the circle to shake hands or give each mourner a hug. It is a beautiful example of group healing. I loved dancing in the circle as well. I felt like I was being embraced by the community because others were dancing beside you and around you. Even though I've danced much closer to people in clubs, I have never felt solidarity like in the Pow Wow circle. Usually I am focused on keeping my little huddle of people together with other dancers buffeting us on all sides. But in the Pow Wow circle everyone was welcome and we moved in one continuous line and direction. I liked it. If you've never been to a Pow Wow, I'd suggest going to check one out. We're so lucky in Canada to have diverse cultures in our own backyards if we'd only explore them.

Today, our group facilitator explored another First Nations tradition with us. We participated in a Talking Circle. I think a talking circle is a fairly universal practice, but basically you hold a object (usually a rock or a stick) and whoever has the object is the person who is speaking. The group listens to the person's thoughts without interrupting before passing it on. I really like this practice because it's not so much about responding to other people as sharing your own truth or experience.

I found it to be an incredibly moving experience. The rest of the youth associates shared such beautiful, wonderful thoughts. All I can say is that I feel privileged to be a part of this group.