What I'm doing and where I'm doing it

Well I am now a full four weeks into being an actual Peace Corps Volunteer, which feels incredibly, fantastically liberating considering the monotony and structure of training. More importantly, I came with these grand ambitions of finding work that is meaningful and fulfilling; now I get to discover if Peace Corps offers that.

My assignment is one that is exactly what I wanted in many ways and in others it is kind of what I feared I might get when I decided to apply for Peace Corps. I'll start with the positive. Many months ago, when this idea of me spending two years in a developing country was still in its infancy, one of the things that got me the most excited about Peace Corps was the freedom Volunteers have in determining the projects they pursue and how they go about pursuing them. Now all Peace Corps assignments certainly don't offer these wonderful liberties. Many in fact put you in an established, often well run, organization and come with a defined role you are expected to fulfill (and many volunteers prefer this type of scenario). When I was talking to Peace Corps administration about what I wanted in my site I was explicit-as-can-be in expressing my interest in getting one of the flexible ones that allows for me to define what I deem to be good work and then create the plan to complete that work. Well I got exactly that. I have been partnered with a Village Development Committee, which is something like a group of activists who want to improve this, that or the other about their community. But my partnership with them is pretty loose. My Peace Corps director has allowed, and even encouraged, me to go around and talk with a lot of people/groups to find out different ways I might be able to help. Essentially they put me down somewhere and said "make it a better place." Couldn't ask for anything more with the work itself.

Now the negative. When I was talking with administration about site placement the other thing I was explicit-as-can-be about was that I strongly preferred being in a more developed, urban area. They gave me the exact opposite of that. I am in a tiiiiiiiiiny town called Mbumbuni in the middle of nowhere. It is very appropriately pronounced "boom-boonie."

My thinking was that if I was placed in a decent sized city the diverse population would have a lot of different things going on and I would definitely be able to find a bunch of projects that were of interest to me and at the same time beneficial to some group of people. And being in a developed area there would be ample resources allowing me to be effective in doing whatever it was I was doing. On the other hand, if I was in a small town I would be confined to the small number of projects that are relevant to the needs of a small, homogenous group of people. And even then doing anything significant probably wouldn't even be possible because the rural parts of the developing world aren't too resource rich (or else they would probably be developed and not developing). The good news is that my thinking was very wrong. The volunteers who have been placed in bigger towns are struggling to be accepted by their community and get an understanding of the issues it is facing (making it nearly impossible to figure out what should be done) and my community has embraced me with open arms which has allowed me to quickly find some really obvious areas where I can help and have already begun working on them. Unfortunately my thinking wasn't entirely wrong. The limited access to resources thing has turned out to be real, and will make progress with certain kinds of work slow. Internet access is expensive and unreliable. I have to walk 20 minutes to any place that sells food or water, and closer to an hour if I want something more than bread, butter, sugar or fruit. So I am finding that over two hours of my day are spent walking. There are towns relatively close by with everything American (including Heinz Ketchup!) so I shouldn't complain too much.

Also unfortunate, the reason that I have found things to work on so quickly is that Mbumbuni is truly entrenched in poverty. Though the area is actually pretty scenic, being surrounded by rolling hills with interesting rock formations, it is semi-arid and prone to long dry spells. This makes two of the most basic aspects of life, ones which Americans take for granted, huge challenges that are a struggle to meet daily - getting food and water. Most people here walk a Kilometer or two with a donkey or a small cart to one of the dammed areas to fill barrels full of water for the day's drinking, cleaning and cooking (and sorry ladies, this is a woman's work in Kenya). The bigger issue with the water scarcity is the havoc it wreaks on crops. Mbumbuni is a farming community. Farmers who can't keep crops are like salespeople who can't sell - broke and miserable (who would've thought my work experience in New York City would help me relate to rural Africans). Practically speaking, not only is the locally-produced food supply very low, many people have their only source of income completely decimated on a regular basis. Right now the region is in the middle of a pretty severe drought. I have already witnessed two massive deliveries of relief maize (not to take away from the seriousness of the situation, but the atmosphere at relief food handouts is surprisingly cheerful. There's something about free stuff that is overwhelmingly uplifting).

But the solutions to those problems are not very simple, and I don't really have any relevant useful knowledge to offer. I'm helping as much as I possibly can to keep the group organized and focused on a few ongoing projects that should make a dent in the water situation (there are a few areas they have set aside for dams or water catchment). Though that sounds like it shouldn't be something I should have to contribute towards, it is and for good reason. Most of the group members are poor farmers so I would estimate about 80% of their waking life is spent doing something to secure that day's food and water. It is a big sacrifice to not only give up the remaining 20%, but take a small chunk away from the 80% to work on something that will pay off in a small way a few months down the road. It is unquestionably worth it though. Once there is a reliable and easily-accessible water supply, there are bunches of other income generating activities that become possible. And besides, if nobody works on these long term projects then in a hundred years the people of Mbumbuni will be facing the exact same problems, probably only more severe versions of them (which is one of the things I've said to surprising effect. Kenya's culture doesn't allow for parents to be particularly affectionate with their children, making me think the youth's future quality of life wouldn't be a concern, but wanting our offspring to have a better life than our own must be something inherently human).

The other thing that I've jumped right into, and that I absolutely love doing, is helping out at the local primary and secondary schools. On one of my first days in town I visited to introduce myself, meet the staff and tell them I would be around for a while. The Principal ended up being this very nice and cool lady who has a progressive attitude towards education (a lot of Kenyan educators are big believers in wrote memorization and toeing the line, neither of which I subscribe to) and said if I wanted to do anything I was more than welcome. Well they have a new computer lab and only one teacher so I said I could teach some computer basics. And since I was going to come two days a week anyway I might as well teach something else. She said fine and that I had another 40 minute block to do whatever I want with the 10th graders. "Just enrich the children" were her exact words. So I start off with a15-20 minute life lesson. With this part I’m trying to balance the inspirational and the practical (dreaming big followed by goal setting and working hard, and such). The last half I try to use business as a platform to get the students thinking and solving problems. The major problems Kenya faces (and they are major by all scales) are solvable if there were only more people with initiative, courage and an active mind (the HUGE exception here is HIV/AIDS, but luckily for Mbumbuni and myself that epidemic hasn't hit this area too hard, but it certainly could). Either way, it's tons of fun. The kids like having a white teacher (not many American/European tourists make it to Mbumbuni) and they're all pretty likable students.

Also there is a library with no books in it. Read that again - a library with no books! I don't know why they call it "the library" and not just "that empty room." So I've been reaching out to different NGOs/charities that send books to Africa with a little progress. That's something I'm dead set on doing. I will not leave this place until there are books in the library. Ideally it ends up not only having books, but is a comfortable place for students to come and develop their own intellectual interests. I have been a huge beneficiary of free and easy access to a wide range of books. If the only learning I got was the learning that I was subjected to during formal schooling hours who knows what I'd be doing now. This lack of books thing is everywhere in Kenya. No rural towns have a library or anything like a book store (other than the Kenyan government issued text book suppliers). Even Nairobi's book stores are pretty shameful. Very very limited selection. I'm hoping that Barnes & Nobles makes it to Nairobi sometime in the very near future (I suspect that I will still be hoping when I step on that plane taking me back to the U.S.).

A cool little twist worth mentioning is that I am living in a nice, big house (with electricity, running water and a gas stove to boot) on the property of the head of Kenya's armed forces, Chief of General Staff J. M. Kianga. He grew up in Mbumbuni and went to the elementary school that I teach at. His story is a sort of Kenyan rags to riches one - a normal son of a farmer who joined the army at a young age, worked his way up the ranks, was sent to the US to be educated and is now one of the more powerful men in Kenya. He knows exactly what the people of Mbumbuni are facing and cares very much about helping their situation (and Kenya as a whole). All the major land development projects that require heavy equipment and expertise are made possible by him. A few years ago a Peace Corps volunteer did a bunch of good work in a nearby town and he saw that Mbumbuni could use a lot the same stuff that volunteer did. So he built a house on his property and lobbied Peace Corps until they finally consented. Now I'm here.

In summary, it does indeed look like I will find the work meaningful. And I am happy. Every day I wake up, do things I enjoy doing, read things I enjoy reading, write things I enjoy writing and think about things I enjoy thinking about. Now only if I could follow football a little easier my life would be complete...for the time being.

Well I've written entirely too much again. I'll try to plan a little better and break these posts up a bit and update more regularly. Pictures to come eventually!