An interview with Steven Otieno - Political tension and HIV/AIDS support work in Kenya

In the second of our interviews this week, here is Steven Otieno from Cadif Kenya. Steven represented Kisumu, Kenya at our latest international conference, Footstep 12, in Slovakia last year. Cadif operate in the slum region of Kisumu, right on the shore of Lake Victoria. Cadif improve the lives of many through their health and education programmes. We talked about the current political situation in Kenya, Cadif's work in 2011 and some potential new volunteering opportunities.

13:39

Hi Steven

Hi, how is it going?

Good thanks. I'm doing some interviews for our Global Footsteps blog page, would you mind answering a few questions?

No

just send me some

Great, so firstly, how is life in Kisumu today?

Kisumu is warm, there was some rain but generaly okay, there is absolute peace but political temperature is raising.

What's happening politically?

Kisumu is ODM zone and there are many ODM politician from Rift Valley that want to ditch the party. This is because they are being left to take personal responsibility for their involvement in the 2007 post election violence. So there are ethnical blames between Rift valley and Nyanza on Raila Odinga's position at the post election violence trial in the Hague.

Raila Odinga is the current Prime Minister correct?

What does ODM stand for?

yes

from ODM

ODM Stand for Orange Democratic Movement

What do you mean by 'ethnical blames'?

Political leaders from Rift valley who are named to have sponsored the 2007 post election violence, most of them are from ODM, so the people of Rift valley (Kalenjin) expected Odinga to defend them, reasoning that all that happened was for benefit of Raila Odinga. Luo's in Nyanza oppose this view point and are very strong on their stance. They believe that the political leaders have to take personal responsibility for their involvement. This would be damaging to the implicated politicians, so they are threatening to leave the ODM if Odinga does not support them. This is a hot debate and accusation ahead of 2012 General election

Kalenjin and Luo are both tribes in the region, is that correct? And Kisumu is home to mostly Luo?

Yes

Kalenjin are from Rift valey region in Kenya while Luos are from Nyanza Region

Are you worried that violence could once again erupt in Kisumu?

That is a slight fear but only if the constitution is not fully implemented. If it is not there will be worse violence in 2012 than 2007.

That would be terrible. So are people hopeful about the new constitution?

Yes, its taking root, Kenya anti-corruption is now little bit effective due to new constitutions, but there is still a lot of amendment needed for it to be effective.

Things are moving slowly in the right direction.

yes

What about CADIFKenya, what does the week ahead hold for you all?

At CADIF we have started the year well, we are now starting our school outreaches , this week we will have 3 outreaches every week, we are also having community mobilization and sensitization in 2 locations, 4 moonlight Voluntary counseling and testing at night targeting commercial sex workers and their clients

What exactly is sensitisation?

This is an organized forum for creating awareness on HIV/AIDS within slum areas

check on our videos on this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFE6u3jGMJ8&feature=share

I see, thanks, I will do that.

Is the HIV/AIDS situation getting better or worse at the moment?

The prevelance rate is going down among the youth but increasing among the couples and with that, we are lobbying for small grant to target couples for HIV education

To who will you apply for that grant?

Well I'm loking at the government through National Aid control council, and partners like Global Footsteps.

Unfortunately we cannot directly send money to fund projects like this, but we could try and send you a volunteer to help deliver the program and raise some funds for you too.

Thank you

I could also write you a recommendation letter.

would that help?

That will be helpful

I can do that for you no problem.

And the issues of having one of us join some of your volunteers for fundraising in UK later this year or next year, can it be productive?

This may well be feasible and useful yes. We will have to to discuss this further another time.

Its okay, so do you have some volunteer that are showing intrest to come?

We are going to do a big push for volunteers in the next few months, I really hope to get two people to Kisumu to work with Cadif and Kosimbo.

Thanks for the updates Steve, it is really great to hear what you have been up to.

Thank you, Volker was working on some reports, I will send them to you.

I'll look forward to them. Do you have any messages for our Global Footsteps members?

CADIF has been happy for the Global footsteps exposure and we will be sharing our project updates, opening up possibilities to partner. We are working on our new website, we will share with you our progress.

OPEN LETTER: Friends of Kisumu Link - An appeal.

11^th November 2010

Dear Friends of Kisumu,

In 1985 the much missed founder of The Rendezvous Society and Global Footsteps, Mr. Dennis Mitchell, initiated a link between Gloucestershire and the Kenyan community of Kisumu. This link was hugely successful in uplifting the lives of many Kisumians while also providing an opportunity for the people of Cheltenham to learn about life in one of the most interesting parts of Africa. Over the last 25 years Global Footsteps has sustained this link through various reciprocal visiting activities, but recently we have been working to breathe fresh life into our links there.

The Global Footsteps programme has set up links with two community capacity building projects with a view to sending volunteers over there on two to four week ‘Global Ventures’. In the centre of Kisumu we are linked to CADIF Kenya who work on everything from vocational training and IT literacy to urban agriculture, education and HIV awareness campaigns. In the rural district surrounding Kisumu we have linked up with Kosimbo Widows and Orphans group which was set up to improve primary health care, education and sanitation in a very remote village, Kirindo. Through Mikidadi Olela and Edwin Ochieng, our long time contacts there, we are also helping to develop ‘Kisumu Link’ which acts as a crucial co-ordinator for us in Kisumu. Without ‘Kisumu Link’ we would not have linked with Kosimbo and CADIF and we would not be able to find host families for our volunteers in the region. Kisumu Link is effectively our presence in Kisumu.

With my good friends Arosh Ali and Mary Paterson I have recently been involved in the setting up of a charitable trust here in Cheltenham called ‘Friends of Nowder’ it exists to raise funding for our linked project in Bangladesh. I would like to propose that those with an interest and a passion for helping the citizens of Kisumu come together to form a similar body ‘Friends of Kisumu Link’ to support Kisumu Link, Kosimbo, CADIF Kenya and potentially other suitable projects in the future.

I should be clear from the outset that while I am keen to help in establishing ‘Friends of Kisumu Link’ and can offer advice in how to do this, I would not personally have the time to contribute heavily to its activities. At the moment Friends of Nowder is quite enough for me on top of my other work! But, I am very happy to help in my capacity as co-ordinator of Global Footsteps and can certainly offer the use of our cafe in Portland Street as a hub for setting this up, but I would hope that a few committed people would be able to come forward to drive ‘Friends of Kisumu Link’ or something similar.

Please forward this letter to any interested parties. If you are interested in finding out more and potentially getting involved in any way, small or large, please get in touch with me.

Email: info@global-footsteps.org

I look forward to hearing from you,

Very best wishes,

Morgan Phillips (Co-ordinator, Global Footsteps)

P.S. The picture is of me with Mrs Margaret Kawala, founder of Kosimbo, it was taken in July 2009 at Kisumu railway station, just before departure. I promised then that I would gather help, please help me come good on that promise.

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 6

Mikidadi Olela, our man in Kisumu, has sent us his reflections on Footstep 12!

My trip to Slovakia was a learning experience and adventure. My first time to be in Europe and outside Africa. I enjoyed every single bit of it, my journey though long and exhausting, it was exciting all the way.

The programme and the way it was ran was superb, hosting, the conference, the excursions were all marvelous. The Slovaks were very friendly and nice people; I love them all and the volunteers too. I would like to express our (Kenyans) gratitude to all the "KERIC"members, the entire Global Footsteps family and all those who were involved...KUDOS....!!

Feedback from Footstep 12 in Slovakia 5

Jana Eyssel our representative from Gottingen attended Footstep 10 in Cheltenham and has twice been on Global Ventures with us. Jana volunteered to help out at Footstep 12 and was fantastic in organising and facilitating before and during the conference. Here are her reflections.

The week I spent with the other participants of the Global Footstep 12 conference was a very enriching and encouraging one. I had the duty (and the pleasure!) to pick up the three participants coming from Kisumu, Kenya, at the Frankfurt airport and travelling with them to Cadca, Slovakia, where the conference was held. These two days served as a perfect introduction to the conference. I enjoyed talking to the Kenyans and to show them around – sometimes it was like seeing my country and Europe with different eyes.

Having arrived in Slovakia, we all had a very pleasant weekend with our host families, I found myself in a family introducing me to traditional Slovak sweets and liquors, and playing a lot of games. For the conference, the participants moved to a small town close to Cadca. Living and spending all the time together, we could get to know each other and I enjoyed having the possibility to talk to people from all over the world about important and serious things, but also to having fun with them. The projects’ presentations were very interesting and the people were linking their projects to each other. At the end of the week, many “small” links between two or three projects or people were established, but also the network as a whole had been strengthened. I hope we will stick to our plans and goals! I also enjoyed learning so much about different cultures. The task for everyone to prepare one typical meal was an ideal introduction to all those delicious national cuisines. Also, singing Kenyan songs at the fireplace and hearing about Desmond’s beehives was a great pleasure!

I hope to see you all again soon!!

News from Kosimbo

We have just received some positive news from one of our linked projects 'Kosimbo' in our linked community of Kisumu in Kenya.

Margaret Kawala founder of Kosimbo will be representing Kisumu at the forthcoming Footstep 12 conference in Cadca Slovakia, in an email to us she tells us:

'Kosimbo projects are changing the faces and the mindset of our community. They know that a woman can do wonders when given a chance.'

The Kosimbo Women's and Orphans project was set up in the rural area of Kirindo on the shores of Lake Victoria. Its major aim is to provide basic primary healthcare for people in this marginalised community. This healthcare is currently given a few times a week from a temporary structure. Promised funds to allow the construction of a more permanent community dispensary and some permanent staff have yet to materialise from the Local Government pot. Kosimbo, is however making significant progress in other areas and Margaret remains positive:

Other doors are opening and people are getting treated in our temporary structure. We initiated an adult education class and it was very pleasant to see old and young women involved in different sporting activities during our district sports day held on 8th april.

We are partnering with the national library and at the end of this month we shall be given two hundred books to keep and we'll manage them so that people can get fair access to the books.This is a great achievement as more people and students will get a chance to read.

As more people understand that our work is actually benefiting a lot of people, they are beginning to offer their services, I believe that the library will really be of benefit to our people.

I'm really praying for more networks so that Kirindo moves from being a fishing village with girls getting married at 14 years and boys also going fishing at the same age to a community where our next doctors will come from.

I'm also happy to report that Plan Kenya wants to work with the youth and our youth department is soon to be registered.

Global Footsteps offers opportunities for individuals to travel to projects situated across our network of linked communities. Volunteers who choose to travel on Global Ventures have a unique experience, learn about the community they visit at a grass roots level, develop their professional skills and make a significant difference to the project they work with. There are many opportunities at Kosimbo from health and education through to construction and social work. In her latest email Margaret has expressed a particular interest in finding a volunteer child counsellor. If you think you could spare two weeks, two months or more to help make a difference in this beautiful but marginalised part of the world please get in touch with Global Footsteps co-ordinator Morgan Phillips via info@global-footsteps.org

[This of Global Footsteps member Aby Morley interviewing Margaret Kawala of Kosimbo was taken in summer 2009 during a Global Venture to Kenya, which you can read more about on earlier posts to this blog. If you would like to hear the interview in full please follow this link: Kosimbo Interview 2009]

Kenyan Venturers in the Echo

Daisy Blacklock at the Gloucestershire Echo interviewed our Founder Dennis Mitchell following the recent Film screening held at Friends Meeting House. Please click on the article to read it in full.

Kosimbo Women's Clinic

In June and July a team from Global Footsteps visited a volunteer run health clinic in a rural part of the Kisumu region of Western Kenya. The clinic was set up by a widow, Margaret Kawala, who wanted to make access to basic medical care easier for widows and orphans in her remote home village. Kosimbo volunteers managed to build a very basic medical centre, dig a borehole to gain access to fresh water, while also contributing to the building and running of the local school. When our team visited the project seemed to be operating well. But the need for more work and resources was clear. The health clinic needs to be open more often, the school needs books, pencils, uniforms, teachers and computers and more boreholes are needed so that people don't have to walk miles to fetch the dirty water of Lake Victoria.

Since July conditions have become more difficult for Kosimbo and life has become harder for the people of the village as a result. Crucial funds from the Kisumu Rural Community Development Fund have been diverted to other projects. Because of this and some other more troubling, deeper, cultural reasons Mrs Kawala has found it increasingly difficult to keep the project alive. She recently sent me the following email:

morgan,

how are you. i have not been myself for the last four months and was almost giving up on kosimbo widows group.
it has taken me a while to realise that this project was started with a purpose of helping the widows and our orphans.
It also took me time to realise that very few people appreciate a person interested in development and especially if the person is a woman and a widow . But this has given me the courage to be a stronger person and work hard for kosimbo to be able to improve the lives of the widows, ophans and needy in our community.
since i have not communicated for sometime, im not sure of the plans you have for kosimbo. i will give you an update after your reply.

thank you

margaret

On December 12th Global Footsteps is screening a documentary made during the June/July Global Venture. The Kosimbo project is featured and we will be giving a fuller update on the latest developments. You can get a sneak preview on youtube

Kosimbo is crying out for help and support, but more than anything it needs recognition. Kosimbo is in many ways a pioneering project and of huge value not only to those directly benefiting from its services, but also as an example for other villages to follow. Please send messages of support to Margeret and her team via: kosimbo@yahoo.com

Global Footsteps is an inter-cultural linking and sustainability charity. We very much encourage anyone who would like to travel to Kisumu to volunteer with the Kosimbo project. Whatever your skill set there will be huge amounts of things you can contribute.

Please email us on globalfootstep@googlemail.com for more details. Projects like Kosimbo need support from partners in the richer parts of the world, please offer what you can even if it is only kind words.

Visit To St. Lukes Parish

This blog is a little late, but better late than never! Its entirely my fault that it is late, but it is well worth a read....

Tuesday 07th July 2009

Visit To St. Lukes Parish, ACK, Manyatta, Kisumu, Kenya.

This morning I visited St. Lukes Church, Manyatta, where I was shown around the Parish & his Archdeaconary by the Pastor Canon Shadrick Jackim Owour.This was quite an eye opening experience as the Parish is in quite an impoverished slum area of Kisumu. Canon Owour s Parish was close to the epicentre of post election uprising of 2007. Only 100 yards from his church are the destroyed ruins of homes occupied by members of the Kikuyu Tribe.Despite the trouble church services still took place during that time of unrest. Many people could not get to church due to road blocks. At the same time time the Vicar could not always get out of the Vicarage to visit his parishoners for the same reason. When I interviewed Canon Owour later that morning it was quite horrifying what he saw and many experienced during that time of unrest. He and his wife kindly put people up in the vicarage who had lost their homes for their own safety as well as providing them with a place of shelter.

Outreach Projects.

Many of the roads around Kisumu are dirt tracks so Canon Owour showed me around the Parish in his much needed 4X4 vehicle. A lot of the communitities are not in the most accessible places and cannot afford transport to the main church at St. Lukes. As a result they have a number of Mission Areas where they are building churches accessible to the local community they intend to serve. I was shown 2 of these projects.

Herald Church.

This church when completed is in a rural area on the outskirts of Kisumu, close to where the post election violence took place. It is uncertain when the project will be completed due to funding. The churchs current structure consists of wooden uprights that supports a corrugated metal roof.

Riat. ACK Church.

This church is situated on higher ground with a scenic view of Lake Victoria in the distance. We were met by the Church Warden who lives nearby. He showed us the ambitious architects plans for a new church building on this site. Due to many factors including funding this project will be ongoing and will probably not come to fruition in many of our lifetimes. It appears to be a long term project. The existing church is a mud hut with a corrugated metal roof, which although functional is not ideal in the long term.I get the impression that people like churches, particularly in many of these rural areas as they bring small communities together. It doesnt matter what their religious beliefs are they often look upon the church as a source of help and support as well as being the focal point of that small community.

Howard Marshall.

The Rotary Relief Fund Kisumu

Yesterday afternoon, Alice, Aby and I met up with some people from the Rotary Club in Kisumu...

Tuesday 7th July

It was another busy day today, we met in town before heading over to see an old friend of our very own Dennis Mitchell, Sat Jobanputra at his beautiful home in Kisumu town centre. He moved into this house when it was built in 1937. He told me how the city had changed dramatically in the proceeding years. Kisumu sprang into existence in 1901 when the British completed the Mombassa – Nairobi – Kisumu railway, built to link the Indian Ocean to Africa’s biggest water body, Lake Victoria. The Lake is the origin of the great River Nile and Kisumu is on its coast. Mr. Jobanputra was born here and told me that during his lifetime the population has risen tenfold from 50,000 to 500,000. He has watched it spread outwards as more and more people arrive here from the surrounding rural areas in search of work. What they find is a difficult life, over 50% of the people live in slums or shanty towns, some of the poorest in Africa. Although the city centre, at the moment, is coping with the volume of vehicles here, it is surely only a matter of time before it becomes as gridlocked as Nairobi (or London!)

Mr. Jobanputra, now retired, used to be an active member of the Rotary Club in Kisumu. We wanted to know what the Rotary Club had done here in response to the Post Election Violence in late 2007. He took us to meet an American couple Dan and Patty Schmelzer at their home in Kisumu town centre. Dan and Patty are heavily involved with the Rotary Club here and were instrumental in the Rotary relief project that was launched in the wake of the post election violence. The relief project is ongoing and utilises the US $20,000 fund they accumulated from around 20 different organisations, of which Global Footsteps was one. Dan reported to us what they have achieved. They spent the money in three key areas. 1. Emergency food relief, 2. Provision of medical services, 3. A peace initiative.

1. Food: Four local volunteers went into the slum areas to uncover individuals and families who were badly effected and were on the brink of starvation. They helped around 1,200 people to stave off hunger
2. Medicine: Two medical camps were set up in the rural areas to help people needing basic treatment for illnesses and injuries. On top of this they funded life saving operations for people who were very badly injured during the violence.
3. Peace: A headline grabbing and very effective initiative was set up by Rotary to promote peace in the city. They wanted to spread a message of peace and settled on an innovative way of doing it. Rather than spending money on billboards they decided to approach the local 'boda boda' bike taxis. A boda boda is a push bike with a seat on the back for a passenger who pays around 30 pence to travel a distance of around 2-3 kms in the city centre. Rotary decided that they would make t-shirts with the slogan 'Peace begins with me' and they distributed them gradually to 1000 boda boda cyclists who wore them as they travelled around town carrying passengers. This made the cyclists themselves committed to the peace movement and their enthusiasm rubbed off on the other residents of the city. Rotary gave the cyclists small financial incentives to keep wearing the t-shirts which facilitated the good will between them.

As an extension to the boda boda peace initiative Rotary helped the wives of the cyclists to set up businesses. They did this through a micro-finance initiative as a Small Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP). This has been very successful and continues to grow as women take out and pay back loans of increasing size to grow their businesses from side of the road shacks to down town shops.

Rotary has spent $10,000 of the $20,000 originally donated, the focus has now shifted to sustainable long term development. Through the SMEP they are helping environmentally and socially sound businesses to start up and grow.

Dan has promised to send us an interim report, when he does I will ask permission from him to publish it on our main website.

Dan and Patty also run Capstone Ministries Child and Family Restoration Outreach in Kisumu, please visit their website: http://www.capstoneministries.org/

The Tungari Youth Project

On Tuesday morning we visited a volunteer run mobile HIV testing service on the fringes of one of Kisumu's slum's.

Tuesday 7th July - Morning

On Tuesday morning we went off to meet my host, Shamsia Nuru, who volunteers for a HIV testing organisation. The Tungari Youth Project is a mobile HIV testing service. Each day 6 stations are set up on the fringes of Kisumu’s slum areas and people voluntarily arrive to be tested. Shamsia told us how it was often difficult to encourage people to come to be testing, a combination of fear, shame and lack of awareness means that the testers (there are around 5 at each station) usually fail to meet their target of 10 tests a day. Shamsia and her colleagues are all volunteers, they are trained on how to use basic testing kits and how to counsel those who test positive and give information to those who test negative on how to stay infection free. The results are almost instantaneous and those who test positive are referred to a doctor immediately so that they can begin treatment as soon as possible. The testing kits are very expensive, it costs over 1000 Kenyan Shillings (about £10) to test each person. The money is raised by a charity in Atlanta in the USA.

At present around 300 people are tested each day across the 6 stations, so far they have tested around 35% of the population, they aim to increase this to 80% by the end of 2010, they need more money. HIV is a huge problem here, it spreads rapidly because of prostitution, the tendency for men and women to have polygamous marriages, the lack of awareness about whether one is infected or not, the reluctance of men to use condoms and the generally low levels of personal hygiene. There is a campaign at the moment for males to be circumscribed as this reduces the chance that they can contract and pass on the infection, it is a difficult campaign because men do not like to do it. The traditional methods of circumcision sound brutal, they involve a machete, a big stone and a lot of blood. These methods are still in practice in some rural areas around Kisumu but men are now given the opportunity to have the operation using modern hygienic methods.

Last week Shamsia and her colleagues has been on a course to train them in how to go door to door in the slums to try to encourage people to take tests in the privacy of their own homes. I'm sure this will make a big difference to the amount of tests they can get done. It is sure, however, to be much harder work for the volunteers, but they seem to be a determined and committed team so I am hopeful they will succeed and make a big impact on the lives of the people of Kisumu.

Monday in Kisumu

We spent the whole of Monday in Kisumu meeting various people, below is a report

Monday 6th July

The first appointment on Monday was a meeting with the Mayor of Kisumu at the town hall. Howard had collected letters from the Mayor of Cheltenham, Lord Surgener and Lord Nigel Jones and we passed them to the Mayor. He very graciously received them and presented us with a Kisumu plaque for us to pass onto his counterpart in Cheltenham. He was encouraged by the letters we had delivered and told us how happy he was to see people connecting at a grass roots level. He did, however, tell us that he was disappointed that Cheltenham seems to have fallen behind its other linked cities in Germany, Sweden and the USA. He hoped that the links between Kisumu and Cheltenham will be revitalised at a Civic level in the future and will write to the Mayor of Cheltenham to express this optimism.

After our meeting with the Mayor we headed in an old seven- seater Peugot matatu to Kisumu airport. We had an appointment with the Meteorological department. We were hoping to get some insider opinion on the impacts that climate change is having in this region. We spoke with the Deputy Provincial Director for Meteorology – Berike Arera. He was very cagey not allowing us to record the conversation, he explained that he was only willing (or allowed) to discuss the data collected in Kisumu. He could not talk about climate change or long term trends and even though we pushed him quite hard he would not speculate on what the weather might do in the next few years. They are not involved in prediction.

He did explain to us however the traditional pattern in the weather here. Kisumu is almost on the equator, but this does not mean the weather is the same all year round. The weather here is affected by weather patterns in other parts of the world as these effect the winds converging or not at the equator, winds that bring in moisture from the Indian Ocean. Kisumu usually has a Long Rains season during April, May and June during which it can expect to receive around 50-70mm / day of rainfall. It then has a Short rains season in October and November. The temperature drops a little during these periods, at all other times it is hot and dry. Arera told us that in recent years there has a dramatic reduction in rainfall during both of the rainy seasons, he said that last year was below average and this year was lower again. This is a big concern as this is not a part of the world that copes well with drought conditions. When there is little rainfall crops fail and people get hungry, it is as simple as that. All around Kisumu we have seen evidence of this, there are fields full of failed Maize crops and the news is full of stories about predicted shortfalls in other crops.

Our day on Monday ended with a dramatic thunderstorm which lasted for around 2 hours bringing much needed rain. The wise residents here collect rainfall from their roofs when it falls. They use this ‘grey’ water to flush toilets and water any plants they may have in their compounds. Aby’s host, Michael, uses this water for his paper making business. This was the first serious rainfall we have experienced since we have been in Kenya, it was certainly very refreshing.