Greeting from Kisumu

Greetings from a hot Kisumu. We have been here since late on Sunday night and have packed so much in already, I will hopefully be able to get some of it up on here when I get another chance to get online. Today we are with CADIF a volunteer run community capacity building program that we hope to form some useful links with. They are doing a fantastic job in some of the most deprived parts of Kisumu. Everyone here is well, we have had a great welcome and are safely in the hands of our various host families. Below is a report from an eventful day spent at Lake Naivasha and on the road to Kisumu!

Sunday 28th June

What should have been a fairly incident free day turned out to be anything but. We woke up at Elsamere for the last time this morning and decided it would be worthwhile visiting the neighbouring township ‘Kamere’. Howard and I had visited the night before in search of a beer but Aby and Alice had not been so Cliff and John from Elsamere took us all up there for a walk around. Cliff told us that this township is typical of the kind that have developed unplanned all around Lake Naivasha. It has spread gradually up the hill so that those at the top have views that rival any that a villa on the shores of the Italian lakes would have. The difference here is that the climate is warm and dry all year round. Probably too warm and dry. These communities are very tight knit, they have bars with pool tables, grocery shops, mobile phone charging and topping up stations, schools, churches, hairdressers, GP clinics, simple cafes and, as Cliff told us, a newly opened nursery for parents to leave their young children in while they go off to work at the Flower Farms. There are also stalls selling shoes, clothes, fruit, bike parts and even one specialising in car battery recycling. What they don’t have is a lot of space, running water, a sewerage system, a road surface, green space and enough food. We saw very few people over the age of fifty and many of the young children were walking around bare footed in ripped Western clothing, but none of them begged and they all, thankfully, looked in good health. This good health is however on a knife edge. Many of these children do not spend their days at school they form part of the army of men, women and donkeys who trudge up and down the 2 kilometre path to the Lake to collect water several times a day. The water in the lake is far from fresh, it is contaminated with the run-off from the activities of the flower farms and contains silt from the rivers and streams of the Aberdare mountains that feed the lake. The water is carried in small plastic barrels up to the township where it is then sold to those who are incapable, too busy or wealthy enough to not have to fetch their own. Cliff speculated that some sort of filtering system is used, but it is unlikely that the water would be anywhere near fresh when drunk.

HIV Aids is also a threat here, awareness raising into the dangers of having sex is evident. Given that it is unrealistic that condoms are either accessible or affordable the advice is abstinence. We saw many wearing awareness raising t-shirts.

After our last lunch, prepared and served to perfection as ever by Kennedy and his team, we packed and awaited the arrival of Edwin Ochieng from Kisumu. Edwin is our main host in Kisumu and a long time member of Global Footsteps. We were expecting him at 2pm, he arrived at 5.30pm, we’d had regular updates from him explaining that he had been delayed drastically due to the condition of the road between Kisumu and Nakuru. We were soon to experience this road, but shortly before departing we were lucky (if that is the right word) to witness nature as red tooth and claw on our doorstep. Cliff received a message to say that a python had killed a goat in the grounds of Elsamere. We rushed over to find two local rangers carrying a thoroughly cheesed off twelve foot python who had missed out on a very big meal. That very big meal, a pregnant goat was being carried by its legs by two young locals, who in all likelihood would now eat the goat themselves!

We left Elsamere at around 5.45pm, and made good progress to Nakuru where we dropped Cliff off who was going home to his wife and children after a busy week with us. I am so happy to have met Cliff, we share many interests in the world of Environmental Education. I told him before I left how impressed I’d been with what he is doing as the Education Officer at Elsamere. He is clearly passionate about the subject and passionate about developing his own skills and knowledge of it. He is way ahead of many of the environmental educators I come across in the UK, not only in ability and style, but also in his passion for the work, it is far more than just a job for him.

True to prediction the road between Nakuru and Kisumu was in a terrible condition, for well over 100km it runs adjacent to the developing new road, this temporary road resembles a farm track. Edwin had to slow to a crawl over and over again to negotiate the oncoming traffic, the potholes and the police checks. We eventually reached the New Victoria Hotel at 12.30am and crashed into bed. Howard has described it as resembling a Hotel in an old Western movie!

Environmental Education, Elsamere style!

Our last full day at Elsamere. Today St. Clare’s Secondary Girls School visited Elsamere. 55 girls in total arrived in two shifts (their 2 minibus did shuttle runs). It was great to watch Cliff Barkatch, our host, in action. Following on from a screening of ‘Born Free’ Cliff told the story of Joy Adamson, she was an inspirational woman. After that it was up to me to give a lecture on ‘Environmental Education’. I’d spent the previous evening frantically hashing together something relevant to say. In the end I talked about the need for us to explore the drivers of our behaviours, explaining how in the UK, our consumer obsessed society is driving climate change because of the over emphasis we place on the sign value of commodities. Climate change is observably having an effect here, now. We are on the shore of Lake Naivasha and there is clear evidence that the water level is falling. This is due to the extraction of water for agriculture, particularly to feed the 40 or so flower farms that flank the lake. While it is true that the flower farms are removing water too quickly in a classic case of ‘the tragedy of the commons’, the lake is also not replenishing itself because the rain is not coming. It is very possible that the droughts suffered in this region over the last two years are the result of climate change. This climate change is the result of the activities of Western cultures.

After a break for lunch and a boat trip, the girls gathered again in the main hall to be taught by Cliff about Natural resources. There is clearly awareness among the pupils of St Clare’s about environmental issues. They have developed a campaign of giving out green ribbons (similar to the ones used to raise awareness of aids and breast cancer) to encourage people to think about conservation and adaption to the changing climate. There is a large emphasis here on tree planting, to commemorate the visit of St Clare’s Cliff instructed a few of the girls to plant a tree in the grounds of Elsamere.

During the evening I headed out on a short bike ride, a mile or so down to the gates of Oserian (one of the biggest flower farms) and back. On reaching the gates of Elsamere I met Howard and walked with him up to the nearby township, in search of beer. Townships such as this have sprung up, completely unplanned, all around Lake Naivasha. Everyone was very friendly, the children, parrott fashion, all asked ‘how are you?’ as we walked passed them, not all of them were smiling and you can see why. The paths were rutted, sewerage spilled out onto the street, there is no running water and will probably never be any electricity. As soon as we left the main road we were met by Salom who enquired what we were after. ‘Beer’. He led us up through the very tight knit community until we eventually reached a small bar. We bought 6 bottles of Tuska and thanked him for his help before he led us safely back down to the road. When he’d met us he’d left his bike leant up against a shop front, advising me to bring mine with me. On returning he pointed at his bike saying ‘nobody will take it, I am a big man round here!’

Flower Farms

Below Alice Matthews writes about a varied Friday on the shores of Lake Naivasha

Friday 26th June

Surrounding Lake Naivasha, and Elsamere, are flower farms and this morning we had the opportunity to visit one. As the lake is decreasing, from lack of rain, but is still needed by the local people for their crops, we were interested in how the flower farms were using the water effectively. It seems slightly unfair that the farmers have thriving crops of flowers when the locals do not have enough water to grow crops, or feed themselves.

The farm that we visited was a ‘breading’ farm, which means that it creates new types of rose and then gets royalties from people who plant crops of them. They change the colours and strength of scent of the roses by mixing existing types together. Each new batch of flowers is given a number, which the farm keeps, and a name, which can be used freely. We were told that they have a watering system that only gives the flowers a tiny amount of water, enough to survive on. Any extra water is collected back up, topped up with fertiliser, and fed back to the plants. It is an efficient but expensive system that was in use, and although other farms, and Lake Nivasha, would benefit from it, most cannot afford to install it all in one go. Unfortunately we were not shown where the waste water is put, outside some of the other flower farms are ditches of dirty water.

The working conditions in the farm seemed good, although we were only allowed to visit one of the many plant houses, and although it was hot the workers seemed relaxed and the place was very clean. It is likely that not all of the plant houses are as pleasant. Unfortunately the wealth from the flower market does not seem to be making its way to the locals, only the owners (there were two expensive cars in the drive). The closest village to the farm was made of corrugated iron ‘shacks’ and was highly underdeveloped. Apart from the farms creating jobs for local people, they appear to have little interest in the area, or the protecting of its resources.

On leaving the flower farm, Cliff was keen for us to see a local snake farm. The place was not quite as we had expected and consisted of a few huts on the side of the road, but at 100 shillings each we couldn’t complain! The owners had caught many species of snake from around Nivasha and Aby and I were allowed to hold a small one. They also got out a Python and were keen for us to touch it. The Kenyans seemed to be more scared than the English! On the drive back to Elsamere we saw many giraffes on the side on the road, some of them were incredibly close. There were also warthogs and zebra. We noticed that some farmers have started to dig irrigation ditches from the lake, which is disliked by the locals, and Morgan and Howard interview Cliff about the effects.