June 13 post

June 13 Post

Today I straddled the northern and southern hemisphere.  We went to the Equator, which is one hour north of Nyeri.  A man demonstrated when in the Northern Hemisphere water empties from a hole in the bottom of a container clockwise, in the Southern Hemisphere counter-clockwise, and at the Equator no spinning at all.  We purchased a few gifts from vendors, but it was extremely stressful – they kept pressuring and didn’t give us space. 

We enjoyed lunch at a café owned by a Brit Nanyuki.  There is a British Base in this town, and the soldiers some of the women talked to were in training and then going to Afghanistan.  I had lasagna, and it was delicious.

After lunch, we visited The Lily Pond, a beautiful art gallery, café, and grounds with a Lily Pond.  It was also owned by a Brit.  It was nice to see another part of Kenya.  There was beautiful scenery and homes on our travels today.

On Sunday, we attended services at the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Africa.  This church is in the slum area of Nyeri, which is the size of large hillside and where 50,000 people live and 75% are children.  Jeffrey, a social worker from the CYEC, invited us to the service and we enjoyed the wonderful singing from both youth and adults.  At the service, a visiting evangelist said his sermon in English and it was interpreted in Swahili.  The church leaders invited us to a traditional African lunch.  He and others have been working in the slum area to try to provide a community of support and to help provide avenues for income.  Sixty percent of the children at the Center are from the slums. 

We then visited the JKUAT show grounds, which is comparable to our Ag Progress Day grounds and experimental gardens/plots.  I say coffee, arrowroot, and cassava plants.  There are banana plants everywhere.  We when back into town to visit Mamma Njeri at her home and purchased handmade jewelry from her and her children.

Sam has been our guide or “babysitter” for the past week and has done a great job leading us to the best placed to visit and purchase goods.  I will miss him and the staff who have been so good to us this past week.  We could not have been treated better. 

Several days ago, we met Caroline, a PSU student, who is staying for a few more weeks to work with the Center.  She has been accompanying us and has been great to be around.   I admire her and the K-States student’s maturity, dedication, and passion.

We are leaving the Center tomorrow and plan to stop at a coffee plantation and nutribusiness (we are purchasing cereal which will be brought back to the Center as a donation from us) on our way to Nairobi.  We are dining at Carnivore, a very famous restaurant, and sightseeing on Wed.  I am so excited to go on the safari on Thurs. and Fri.  Three of the women are leaving late Fri. night, and Andrea, Robin, and I are staying in Nairobi until late Sun. night.  On our way home, we will stop in Brussels for two days. 

Depending on time and availability of internet, this may be my last post.  This past week has provided an experience I never thought I would have had.  It is hard to capture the lessons learned and what this has meant to me in a blog.  As I arrive home and throughout the months and years ahead, I am sure the experiences I’ve had will provide me a different outlook on life.  I do appreciate so much the good like I have.  When I called my mom and dad yesterday, I thanked them for giving me such a good life.

I also need to thank the children at the Center who greeted us with smiles all the time and provided the background sounds I have gotten so used, too.  I will NEVER forget these beautiful children.  They will be forever in my heart, mind, and soul.

Kwaheri (goodbye) from Nyeri.

June 11 Post

Friday Events
Quote of the day – “You can’t get arrested for agriculture.”  (There is one exception!)  On Friday, we visited the CYEC Drop-in Center at the YMCA.  We met two lovely women, Esther and Lucy, both of whom are working with the CYEC to provide alternative sources of income for street children, although many are older than children.  Stealing scrap metal is a popular source of income on the street, but the program at the Drop-in Center is teaching them how to garden and sell the harvest.  The alternative income is similar to the income stealing scrap metal, but it’s legal.  The Y also provides a mushroom house for members to grow and then sell mushrooms.  The Director of Extension from JKUAT toured the facility with us, and plans to collaborate with the Y, the Drop-in Center, and the CYEC.  Extension in Kenya has many resources to help them.  The K-State students are working hard on the garden with the street children most of the summer.  They started with a plot of land with lots of weeds and are making great progress. The Director of Extension took us 30 minutes outside Nyeri to what I would call a 4-H Club.  The leaders and 18 children are growing many vegetables and have a greenhouse of tomatoes.  Again this is a way to teach a job skill and provide an income to the youth and keep them off the streets.  They were anxiously waiting for us all dressed up, and the kids just stared at us.  We, of course, stick out like sore thumbs EVERYWHERE.  Many times I feel I am on display.   We had lunch at a very nice restaurant.  I am acquiring a taste for long, leisurely lunches.  From now on when I am late, I am going to say, “I’m on Kenya time.”  We were quite impressed with the bathrooms. They, of course, had a toilet seat.   Earlier in the day, we had a wonderful chat with Nurse Daniel from the Center.  I so admire his dedication to the youth at the center and community members, who are allowed to use the clinic.  He has his degree from the University of Nairobi and is able to dispense prescription meds.  He words very hard to try to keep the children from becoming so sick that they need a hospital.  Most come in with sniffles and flu-like symptoms.  The largest problem they have is psychological trauma.  They also have problems with scabies and ringworm.  Some of the children have bad vision, and we referred him to Lions Club International.  Only two of the children are HIV.  They are in constant need of medical supplies at the clinic.  They do have a laboratory where they conduct some testing.  I have managed to catch a cold already and am taking ColdCalm, a homeopathic medicine I threw in the suitcase at the last minute, and it seems to be helping.   Saturday Events Today, we conducted a CYEC Health Fair.  We set up five stations – handwashing, teeth brushing, parts of the plant, food ID, and youth resiliency activity.  It was just like a kids health fair in the U.S – chaotic.  But, I do believe the younger youth of the CYEC enjoyed the learning experience throughout the morning. We went into town this afternoon.  There were so many, many people.  We are riding matatu’s (vans) in and out of town when the Center matatu is not available.  They pack us in like sardines.  It is quite an experience.  We purchased wine for the next couple evenings.  I feel the need to enjoy the wine and the good company of my fellow traveler’s tonight after dinner.   Speaking of dinner, I am eating plenty of fiber!  We’ve all been enjoying the food prepared for the volunteer staff working and visiting the Center.  A lunch is 300 Schillings ($3.50) for a vegetarian meal and a dinner 400 Schillings ($4.50) for beef or poultry.  We have “sumara wiki” (kale with seasoning) for every meal with a bean and a starch.  Starches include ugali (corn flour patty), chipotle (crepes), rice, or pasta.   I have been sharing my “luxury suite” with Laurie and have enjoyed bonding with her as well as the other women with whom I am traveling. Laurie and I are more high maintenance than the others, so it is good we ended up together.  Tomorrow, we are going to church in the slums and “touring the slums.”  I keep thinking about the movie Slum Dog Millionaire.  I wonder how similar it will be.  We will be working on reports for work on Monday and packing to head back to Nairobi.  I am really looking forward to sightseeing there, going on the safari, and heading to Brussels. 

June 10th Post

My quote of the day….”I can’t believe I’m sitting in Africa, painting my nails, and looking at goats.”  Right outside our “luxury suite” is goats and chickens.  The rooster awakens us every morning and way before the sun comes up.  Before I left for this trip, I was quite anxious about the conditions of the accommodations.  Even seeing it in pictures prior to the trip did not quite prepare me.  But, I am adjusting.   The toilet seat continues to be a hit.   We took a tour of the CYEC on Wed. morning.   It’s hard for me to walk around and see these children, who are craving attention, live in these conditions, but it is better than the street.  They have a “shamba” (garden), and we are enjoying the many vegetables prepared for our meals.  The children do not eat the vegetables from the garden.  I guess at this point, there is not enough harvest for the 140 children.  For lunch (sent to the schools they attend) and dinner, they have a stew with a couple different types of beans (likely kidney and navy) and corn.  No meat or vegetables.  It takes about four hours to cook the very large batches.  The children eat a porridge-type cereal for breakfast, but not every day. During our tour, we visited the sewing room (I bought several hobo bags the girls make) and the art room.  Both of these areas, along with taking care of the goats, chickens, and shamba, allow the children to develop a skill to make some money now and in the future. On Wed. afternoon, we went into Nyeri, which is the county seat.  It is like no other place I have been.  It’s  hard to explain the atmosphere.  The poverty is unbelievable.  We are safe because we always have chaperones from the CYEC with us.  Sam, the Art Director, took very good care of us.  The Kansas State students, who are here the majority of the summer, are keeping an eye on us “old ladies.”  They are great group of kids.  Most of the Penn State students left right before we arrived.  While in town, we visited Lord Baden-Powell’s gravesite – he was the founder of the Boy Scouts.  I also tried arrowroot.  The waitress said it was sweet, which surprised me, but I thought they might have done something to it.  It tasted like a bland grain. Something I have learned in the past two days is there is US time and then there is Kenya time.  Today (Thursday), we went to the first Day of the African Child with the theme for urgent action to address street children.  Sam worked with some of the CYEC youth as they were scheduled to present a skit.  The program was supposed to start at 8:30 am, but it didn’t start until 11:30 am.  To top that off, the politicians and government employees took so much of the time speaking, many of the groups did not have the opportunity to present what they practiced.  We asked Sam to have the CYEC youth present it to us in the next couple days.  We were all starved, so we went to lunch with the K-State kids and ordered pizza.  It took almost three hours!  We have found it is difficult to make any plans.  Instead of having an afterschool program, we are planning (we’ll see how this goes), to have a mini-health fair on Sat.  Stay tuned. Lastly, when I was at breakfast this morning, I met Brad, a Penn State grad student.  We were chatting, and when he told me his PSU undergrad degree was in International Studies, I asked him if he know my cousin Maria Williams.  She is one of his good friends.  It truly is a small world. June 10 post My quote of the day….”I can’t believe I’m sitting in Africa, painting my nails, and looking at goats.”  Right outside our “luxury suite” is goats and chickens.  The rooster awakens us every morning and way before the sun comes up.  Before I left for this trip, I was quite anxious about the conditions of the accommodations.  Even seeing it in pictures prior to the trip did not quite prepare me.  But, I am adjusting.   The toilet seat continues to be a hit.   We took a tour of the CYEC on Wed. morning.   It’s hard for me to walk around and see these children, who are craving attention, live in these conditions, but it is better than the street.  They have a “shamba” (garden), and we are enjoying the many vegetables prepared for our meals.  The children do not eat the vegetables from the garden.  I guess at this point, there is not enough harvest for the 140 children.  For lunch (sent to the schools they attend) and dinner, they have a stew with a couple different types of beans (likely kidney and navy) and corn.  No meat or vegetables.  It takes about four hours to cook the very large batches.  The children eat a porridge-type cereal for breakfast, but not every day. During our tour, we visited the sewing room (I bought several hobo bags the girls make) and the art room.  Both of these areas, along with taking care of the goats, chickens, and shamba, allow the children to develop a skill to make some money now and in the future. On Wed. afternoon, we went into Nyeri, which is the county seat.  It is like no other place I have been.  It’s  hard to explain the atmosphere.  The poverty is unbelievable.  We are safe because we always have chaperones from the CYEC with us.  Sam, the Art Director, took very good care of us.  The Kansas State students, who are here the majority of the summer, are keeping an eye on us “old ladies.”  They are great group of kids.  Most of the Penn State students left right before we arrived.  While in town, we visited Lord Baden-Powell’s gravesite – he was the founder of the Boy Scouts.  I also tried arrowroot.  The waitress said it was sweet, which surprised me, but I thought they might have done something to it.  It tasted like a bland grain. Something I have learned in the past two days is there is US time and then there is Kenya time.  Today (Thursday), we went to the first Day of the African Child with the theme for urgent action to address street children.  Sam worked with some of the CYEC youth as they were scheduled to present a skit.  The program was supposed to start at 8:30 am, but it didn’t start until 11:30 am.  To top that off, the politicians and government employees took so much of the time speaking, many of the groups did not have the opportunity to present what they practiced.  We asked Sam to have the CYEC youth present it to us in the next couple days.  We were all starved, so we went to lunch with the K-State kids and ordered pizza.  It took almost three hours!  We have found it is difficult to make any plans.  Instead of having an afterschool program, we are planning (we’ll see how this goes), to have a mini-health fair on Sat.  Stay tuned. Lastly, when I was at breakfast this morning, I met Brad, a Penn State grad student.  We were chatting, and when he told me his PSU undergrad degree was in International Studies, I asked him if he know my cousin Maria Williams.  She is one of his good friends.  It truly is a small world

June 8 Post

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

We finally arrived in Nairobi Monday evening.  It is dark here at 7 pm, so we didn’t see much of the city until the next morning.  I had my first experience with mosquito repellent netting over me during the night.  It was interesting to get out of bed to go to the bathroom and get back under the netting. 

Early the next morning, we traveled about 1.5 hours north to Jomo Kenyetta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) to meet with the Director and staff of the Research, Production, and Extension Division.  Their Director is from Kenya and started less than one year ago.  He spent the previous 15 years at Iowa and has moved their Extension organization ahead in a short time.  We spent the day conversing about Extension in our respective countries, touring the Food Science and the Horticulture Departments, and discussing possible collaborations.  Drying of foods for preservation may be an area of interest to collaborate.  The Director is visiting the CYEC on Friday, so we were able to aid in this connection.  The CYEC could use some of the expertise of Extension.  One of  JKUATS main thrusts is the train the trainer model in various areas of agriculture, and the CYEC is doing some of this to help the street children become responsible adults in society. 

The representative from the Food Science Dept. talked to us about some of their research areas, and insects as a food is one of them.  I was amazed to hear ants are high in omega-3’s!  I assume they are a complete protein, another reason they would be so important to the population of Kenya. 

We headed another two hours north to the CYEC.  We arrived after dark, and were met, or should I say bombarded, with the children from the Center.  They were very excited to greet us with a handshake and asking us our names.  They even carried some of our luggage to our living quarters.

One of the reasons I decided to travel to the CYEC in Kenya was to get outside my comfort zone.  Well, I am officially outside my comfort zone, but I am managing.  I did sleep well last night due to pure exhaustion.  

I am traveling with Fran Alloway, Andrea Bressler, Jan Cohen, Robin Kuleck, and Laurie Weinraub-Welch.  As we were preparing for this trip, Fran showed us pictures from when she traveled to the CYEC last year.  I started to become nervous when I saw the toilet had no seat.  My parents just happened to have an extra toilet seat in their linen closet, and I packed it in my suitcase.  Laurie and I are in the same living area, and we fastened it onto the porcelain toilet bowl last night.  Yes, I packed a screwdriver, also.  I think those who thought I was crazy bringing it may be requesting to use “our throne.”  I think I should charge them and give the CYEC a donation before we leave.  The toilet seat will likely go down in history!  BYOTS – Bring Your Own Toilet Seat!

Today, we toured the CYEC and went into Nyeri for lunch and shopping.  I’m feeling a bit weary from jet lag and once I get my thoughts together from today’s experiences, I will post them in the next day or two. 

A Day Behind

We got stuck in Phiily Sat. night.  Due to mechanical issues, they downsized the plane, the flight was delayed, and we would have missed our connection this morning.  Believe it or not, the three-hour delay was due to the dinner trays from the 767 not fitting in the 757 plane.  We are now going to Rome tonight and onto Nairobi tomorrow.  One more night in comfort, so I can't complain too much!  It is nice to be with five others in the same plight.  It made the waiting not so bad.    

Pre-Trip Post

As I prepare to leave for Africa tomorrow (June 4), I thought the best way to keep connected is through a blog. I am traveling with five other Extension Educators, all who program in the Family and Consumer Sciences area.
I hope you will follow me as I have time and web access to post what we are doing at the Children and Youth Empowerment Center (CYEC) in Nyeri. There are several projects we plan to work on with the children and the staff of the CYEC. While we have these plans, we'll need to adjust and go with the flow, from what I understand.
I will arrive and depart from Nairobi and plan to do some sightseeing and go on a safari.  On the way home, three of us will be traveling through Brussels and plan to stop there for two days.
I will send you an email when I make a post.  I would love to hear from you while I am in Africa, so please feel free to post comments.  I will not be able to access my psu email account.  If you want to try to connect with me, send me an email at magettings@zoomonternet.net.  Internet access will be variable, so I am not sure how much activity there will be with this blog, but I'll give it a try.  Keep us all in your prayers.
(Websites below - where I am going and PSU's involvement with the CYEC.) 
Mary Alice

Chidren and Youth Empowerment Center, Nyeri, Kenya
http://www.cyec.net/

PSU's invovlement at the CYEC
http://agsci.psu.edu/international/pdf/CYECTravelogue.pdf