Saturday, September 23, 2006

A trip to Kahuho

I woke up today thinking I was to spend the day in Nairobi sorting through 94 boxes of books that have been donated to Cura. The thought of a library in the village has everyone, children, youths and elders excited. The books arrived with 30 computers. The used and refurbished systems are Pentium III, loaded with Windows 98. They may not be as powerful as the one you are reading this blog with, but at the moment the computer students are working with 3 old PC XTs (remember them?)

There is so much to be done before things actually arrive in Cura. As they say here, "Book shelves are very much in order" since stacks on the floor are not such a good idea. A secure location must be identified for the computers. In addition, the minor detail of electricity needs to be sorted out. The Cura Youth Champions for Change (CYCC) have been preparing for the arrival of computers for several years. Various ICT training programs have been attended, multiple revisions of a Cyber Cafe business plan has been written, and many meetings have been held to discuss the e-community development. Since the telephone land lines were stolen from the poles, we must look towards a slower wireless option for Internet. There is hope that the systems will create jobs for some of the 1500 unemployed and idle youths. There are likely to be several more meetings and revisions to the plans before they actually arrive in Cura. As we say, "Location, location, location". The day the CYCC hangs the shingle for the Cura Cyber Cafe will definitely be one for celebration.

I am learning that the way of business in Kenya is very slow and difficult. Since communication is so limited things just happen to fall into place. It is not an exaggeration when I tell you that four of us sat around, for four hours, waiting for a village leader to arrive for a meeting. That is a lot of chai drinking and ndazi eating! (BTW-the 9:00am meeting was cancelled at 1:00pm when the gentleman finally arrived to say he was too busy to meet.) Cell phone minutes are very expensive. There is a phenomenon called "Flashing" that quit common. This is when someone calls you and hangs up before you answer. You, being the receiver, and the one thought to have more money, is expected to return the call and find out what the person wants. The mobile cell phone provider also allows five free text messages a day. These are an emergency template sent along with your telephone number asking the receiver to call you immediately. The more courteous caller will wait until you answer your phone and yell, "This is XZY, call me right back!" and hang up on you. The whole thing confuses me. I'm still wondering why I should spend my minutes finding out what they want to say and why the caller is confused by my anger at the process.

So, I was told yesterday that I should come back into Nairobi to assist in the inventory of the two trucks of donated items. Since I had previously set an appointment to visit an orphanage in a near by village, I spent last night and this morning trying to confirm the task of inventory & sorting. Needless to say I was not successful and cancelled my orphanage visit in preparation for the Nairobi trip. This is a 40 minute (depends on how many people you stop to greet) walk -- down a dirt road -- to the matatu stage, 10-15 minute discussion with the tout (guy who tries to get your money and convince you to get on a particular matatu) 20 minute ride into town, another 15 minutes trying to figure out the transfer matatu, then goodness only knows how long before I find the meeting place.

Peace Corps tried to prepare us for the multiple cancellations and delays in the Kenya mode of business. It is one of the most difficult obstacles to doing business in the country. It's so common and expected that everyone accepts that you sit around waiting four hours to find out the meeting has been cancelled. So, at the last minute I get the much awaited call to confirm my trip to Nairobi. "Lisa, call me right back!" buzzzzzz

You bet I called them back and the first words out of my mouth were, "Do you realize I am an unpaid Peace Corps Volunteer? I do not have the minutes on my phone to call you. You are working in an office in Nairobi with a phone on your desk. AM I TO COME INTO NAIROBI OR NOT?" This was a very bad way to phrase a question to a Kenyan. They always answer "Yes" then go into the reason why the answer is "No". Ugh, these are my minutes we are using. Let me rephrase, "Do I come to Nairobi today? Answer Yes or No"

After finding out the Nairobi business had cancelled I went into action trying to save my previous appointment with the orphanage in Kahuho. Thank goodness everyone is use to the chaotic state of business. Of course I should come to Kahuho and meet the children.

Off I went back deeper into the rural area. Kahuho is an hour walk from Cura. (I have since found out there is a shorter route, silly me, I took the "Road to Kahuho" route, which is apparently, not the best one). I can't explain the look of disbelief from the people on the road as I merrily go walking down the road. The children see me as an opportunity to practice their English, "How are you?" is shouted out in a nasal tone, followed by giggles and laughter. The adults look at me with such a quizzical stare. Some of them will greet me, most all are amazed when I greet them in Kikuyu, "Wemwaga" for one person and "Moreaga" for many. (I'm sure those aren't spelled right, but that is how they sound) Several of the mama's ask if I am lost. They think I must be if I'm this far in the bush. I finally arrived at the top of the distant mountain. What an incredible view. It was amazingly beautiful. The matatus only travel back to Kahuho Monday and Thursday, the two market days each week. There isn't much traffic to speak of so the dirt road isn't disturbed much.

As I walked towards the orphanage I passed crowds of people sitting along the roadside. I thought Kahuho must have more unemployed than Cura. I was greeted by EvaKim (her name is Eva, her husband is Kim. This is not her last name, Kim is the first name of her husband. Once we arrived at the church I was introduced to the 15 children who come each day for breakfast, school and lunch. Afterwards they return to their guardians, most of whom are old grandmothers. The EvaKim explained to me why all the people were near the center of town. It seems that a young man, 18 years old, was found dead in his home earlier this morning.

I am then introduced to his girlfriend. She is 14 years old and the aunt to one of our Cura Rotary Home children. I spoke with her and her mother about the boy. Once I got the girl alone I asked if she had been "intimate" with the boy. She started to cry and explain that she was afraid. It seems the boy died of Typhoid. If it's not malaria - it's typhoid. No one wants to admit they are HIV positive. We'll never really know what the boy died of, but I did convince the young girl to accompany me to the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) center for an HIV test.

I held her hand and we were both tested together. She has only been with the boy for the last 3 weeks, before that she was a virgin. This is actually the "window period" and her test is possibly a false negative. In any event, she was very happy to find she was not HIV positive and she promises to go back with me in 3 months for another test. Since the boy had promised her a meal of meat I took her into a restaurant and ordered a big plate of goat meat for her. She stayed the night at my house and we had a great time getting to know each other. We shared girl talk and discussed the reasons she should remain faithful to her dead boyfriend. I had her write a lesson plan for me on teaching young girls abstinence.

I was asked to attend the funeral. This was not something I wanted to do, but I was told, "You must" so I did. Of course they insisted the mzungu speak. Another thing I was not too excited about. The response was "You must", so I did. There was much wailing and a few fainted. The grandmother almost fell in the grave, the mother fell on the ground, and the girlfriend had to be carried off to the clinic. I will accompany her to church on Sunday in hopes that she will return to regular service. It is through faith and the church that the teaching of abstinence has the greatest impact.

I guess I didn't want to take that trip to Nairobi and inventory those boxes after all.