Visited Millennium Village very impressive the work that’s been done… but

A bunch of us volunteers from the poor side of the track got to visit the Millennium Village Project (http://www.millenniumpromise.org/site/PageServer?pagename=mv_1sauri) the other day. I've heard the amount of 2.7 Million being spent on this village>
They have pumped a lot of money into their projects so it is a bit of a showcase.
In their agriculture project they have tested the soil to determine what is missing and then make sure it’s added. The farmers in the pilot project have been able to increase their yields by 10 fold. They have converted a large government building into a storage warehouse. Then they pay a bit of money to store their grains. Then the Millinium Village lets them know when the price is right to sell. I can see this being self sustaining when they leave. But I wonder about some others.
They have added a Lunch program to one school which works great. The kids now have a hot meat at lunch time they don't run home have a drink of water and return to school. I never did find out how they hope to have this self sustaining as there has to be funding to keep this a float. Also they have a regional hospital which the Millennium Village has helped with the faclitites. They have cleaned up the buildings themselves. Added a dental clinic but with no x-ray so therefore there is only extractions no fillings but one can't have everything. A operating theater has been added this year but haven't figured out who funded it as the President's name is on a plaque as opening it. But I smell politics here as the government doesn't support much except in an election year (of which one is coming up in Dec but more on that at another time). They have 2 X-ray machines but one has been broken for I believe 5 years. The guy from NY was telling us the bathrooms don't work because of a backed up sewers so we had to use the latrines in the back. However someone went into the bathrooms by mistake and were in for a bit of a shock. They were using it as a morgue as there were a couple of corpses being stored there! The guy from NY said "Looks like I'll have to bring the need for an actual morgue as a higher priority to the hospital. They say that the hospital should be self sustaining. But I find that hard to believe as most hospitals aren't self sustaining unless they're private hospitals in the US which charge exrobiant fees to visit.
They also showed us the many fish ponds they's set up using water from springs in the hills. They've also installed filtration systems in some springs so the water is purified to be drank. This was all very imprssive and we left thinking boy are we on the wrong side of the tracks. Also when the Millennium funding ends how will things operate?
There was an Irish guy on our tour who is riding his 650 motorcycle around Africa for the past 10 months. He has a website http://www.LAPofAFRICA.com/ which is interesting. He is also supporting a charity organization in Ireland. According to him they believe that the volunteers shouldn't come up with ideas. However the kenyans (and others) should come up with the ideas themselves and then the charity will help them. I haven't read enough of the website to form much of an opinion. However Hugh Bergin left his home in Kilkenny Ireland the beginning of December 2006, on a solo motorcyle ride through the continent of Africa.
He is raising awareness of, and funds for Self Help
Development International (www.SELFHELP.ie).
However I do have an opinion as I'm coming to the conclusion that a lot of Kenya has been bombarded with donations and freebies. It helps them without a doubt but it has to come to an end. As the saying goes 'Give a man a fish and feeds him for a day but teach him to fish and he is self sustaining". Yes with the donations have come some teaching. However they need new ideas, education on basic things about being self sustaining. They need to understand that a change in their ideas may be useful in arriving at a new life style and being self sufficient.
I spent 4 hrs this morning at a Parent meeting at the Obambo Primary School to win them over to get the Woman's sewing group a tender. The meeting was set at 9 am and after African time the meeting started at 11 am. Then it went on till 1 pm. I have no problem with the times as that is the culture. I was only interested in hearing the result of the parents thoughts. I don't know what was being said but I did get a chance to say my piece. I believe that we won them over in trying a prepayment method to pay for school uniforms but in what format is the next question. However I'll wait for the fall out from what is said afterward a day or 2. I was quite surprised that Binta who is their spokesman didn't say much and I had to get her to come up and show them the sample uniforms they made. The parents like the quality of material and work man ship. She brought this guy Simon who is quite articulate and is suppose to help them sew! So after this meeting and a previous one with the Parent committee it makes me feel that new ideas and concepts may be accepted if presented correctly. It's a small step but one that was forward (I think) not in neutral.
I also find that after visiting the Millinium Project and other things that I've encountered along the way it seems to mean that throwing money in projects is not always the only solution. I'm planning to have a "Taking the Next Step" meeting on Wed, Oct 31 at 2 pm (African time)/ 3 pm Mazungu (white man) time. I've posted notices around at schools, health clinic, Obambo Market and hope to get a few people to attend. My goal is to make people aware that they have to think of ideas and change their concepts. They have to come up with ideas on being self sustaining so they will take ownership of the ideas or they will never complete them. Kenyan are smart and want to learn it's just getting them motivated! This old concept that muzungu's are going to donate or sponsor things for them has to change. I was speaking to the Head teacher of Sabako Primary school about the computers they have there. I wanted to know if the KASOW Youth group was teaching anyone there at his school. He claims they are but then he told me why don't you put electricity in the KASOW office and do it there? I said who would pay for it? He laughed as he must have thought that we have unlimited money!!!! Wow is he mistaken.
So we have the Computer Resource Center set up and I'm training. However there are other people that know basic computer skills however it seems most people in the community don't share and would rather learn more rather than train others! I can't blame them as this might be due to their hard lives of just putting food on the table. But there are teachers who have the basic knowledge of computers but they want to learn more themselves not teach others. So I find they only want to practice so it's the story about sharing knowledge and ideas. What I mean when I say learning basic computer skills is I spend all my time just teaching people to use a mouse. Move the mouse here or there, click the left button. No don't drag and press the button at the same time or whatever you pointed to will be moved. They want to use the internet but hey we barely have electricity nevermind getting an ISP provider to link to the internet. I tell them they have to go to town.
Then there is the problem of the people in the community coming to train at the school. They are imtimidated by the Principal as he is very strict and I refer to him as Idi Amin (don't tell him I said that or I'll lose all credibility with him)! But he's really a nice man and does a good job as he is just trying to protect the young boys and girls under his supervision. I've been told that there are guys in the community who would sell drugs there or try to get after the young girls sounds like Canada or the US. This is why KASOW needs to insure that any people wanting to learn basic computer skills have to be screened and a list given to the school. If this doesn't work then it'll end up the School will be the only ones using the 2 computers.
That brings me to my next point as I've mentioned before! There are 3 laptops floating around but in each case people or groups want to keep them rather than share it with the community to teach people who computer illiterate learn. What I've noticed in Kanyawegi is there are too many people not willing to share assets, ideas, concepts. etc.
This has to change so I plan to try and educate them or at least bring it to their attention. I've the guy running the KASOW Community Bank to attend the meeting to address the audience and we could teach them the importance of setting aside a bit of their earnings for a rainy day. This maybe a stretch as some back home have trouble doing it. But I'm hoping we can land a couple new accounts for the bank as this is a new concept. Also I would like him to bring along that man who had 1000KS in his account when his wife died. This money was a big benefit for him for a burial and would like to see if he'd speak as an example. I don't to use an untimely event in his life so if this is too difficult for him then I can understand as we don't want to use his misfortune as a marketing tool but just to explain how it might help others.
I have spent my own money on computer parts, etc but what is need is computers (or the use of existing laptops) not monitors. So I won't use any more of my money until others learn to share and cooperate with things they horde.
It seems everyday is a new project or discussion on how the community can work to be self sustaining rather than expect handouts from volunteers.
Well tomorrow we are going on a trip to see the Kakamega Forest Reserve which is supposedly all that is left in Kenya of the once huge Guineo-Congolian rainforest.
I'll post any thing that is exciting about that trip.
In the next few weeks I plan to make a couple of trips on my own for 5 days to a week. i don't feel guilty of taking the time to do this as I've paid for my accmmodations and food. I'll also make sure that the projects I've been working on are on it's own footings. ie computer resource center, woman's group sewing/tailoring project of winning tenders from the local primary schools and making sure they keep good records, making an initial "Taking the Next Step" to being Self Sustaining Forum/meeting to make the community aware of using new ideas and concepts not donations to move in the new Millennium, helping the KASOW Youth Group get on track and carrying through on ideas.
I also hope to make a trip to the Rift Valley which is hope to gigantic shift in the earth's crust which stretches from Ethopia to Tanzania. It's centered around Nakuru and the lakes and valleys around there. I also hope to see some of the wild life there.
Then when we leave Kanyawegi we've paid for a 4 day trip to the Masa Mara game reserve. In Tanzania the game reserve is called Seregeti which is a bit bigger but the same game can be found on both. There is the big 5 animals on both. I believe the big 5 are: lions, elephants, leopard, rhino and buffalo. The migration of the widebeast is a magnificent sight where thousands and thousands of them migrate.
I also plan to go to the coast and see Mombasa (a lot of Indian and Arab influence) and beaches to the north in Kenya. Then I plan to go to the island of Zanzibar which is off the coast of Tanzania which has a lot of Arab influence.
So maybe a trip to South Africa may not happen this trip. But stay tuned.