Kisumu – Give me your phone!

Almost at the end of my assignment, I have had my last major field trip this week and it really hit me again. Sometimes I feel like I am becoming numb, I still see the misery but it doesn’t get to me as much as it did before, but normally that does not last too long. I meet people for whom I feel empathy or great respect, and I meet people who annoy me very much. I am surprised by my own thoughts about people and situations. I now understand better why people thought I was going away for a very long time; although it is not easy, I’m glad I’ve stayed so long as to experience what I did last week.

I visited the SWAP / NICHE project in Nyanza, a province bordering Lake Victoria. SWAP stands for Safe Water and AIDS Project, and it is an organization that works with groups in the rural communities. These can be women groups, youth groups, families, HIV/AIDS patients self-help groups, etc. They all work together for a certain period to support one member, it’s a merry-go-round system. Through SWAP they get training on how to prevent illnesses such as malaria and cholera, and they can buy products such as water purifiers, mosquito nets, soap, condoms, at reduced (subsidized) rates. They are encouraged to first try these products themselves, and if they like them, they can sell them at a profit in their communities or at a local market. This enables them to generate an income.

The system is really beautiful, it is particularly nice that training on and products for different hygienic and health issues are combined, and that people can generate an income out of it themselves. In a part of the area a pilot study has been done with Sprinkles, which is a product similar to MixMe. That was the main reason for me to visit, in combination with the distribution model for the other products.

My expectation before my visit was that many people would grasp the opportunity they are getting, and would become eager sales representatives, pro-actively going door-to-door in their villages, making sure they sell as much as they possibly can. Reality is not that simple. Some of them are, and they have been able to become reasonably rich with it. The vast majority however just uses it for themselves and perhaps some family members, and that’s it. Maybe it is OK like that, it is just not what I had expected. The mosquito nets are often used for fishing rather than to prevent malaria – that is not why donors are putting in money. But a lot of success is measured as well, and behavior change takes a long time, so I am sure results will continue to improve over the years to come.

I was happy to learn that the acceptance of the micro-nutrient powder is better here than it is in Kakuma, people are much less suspicious, report very positive results with their children (more active, more energy, better appetite, less illnesses), and are paying for the product without complaining about that.

When I was visiting one of the groups, a SWAP staff member asked the group what message of Kenya they wanted me to go back home with. One after another they started to explain in very elaborate stories that since I was from the World Food Programme, I might consider them for food distribution as well. And how it was not convenient for them that they did not have light at night, so perhaps I could buy them a generator. I did not need to do that right here and now, I could also go back to Holland and raise some money there and settle things later. A water pump would be good as well, they all had access to water, but closer would be better..

Of course I understand that life is not easy for these people, their living conditions are extremely basic, and in this area about 60% lives below the poverty line with an income of less than 60 eurocents per day. But I just could not handle their attitude. How can you expect that the whole world is going to help you if you can’t even be bothered to try yourself? I remembered the training that I had before I came here: never raise false expectations. When I started talking, I amazed myself. I spoke like a strict school teacher. I explained to them that they were not eligible for food aid, since they were capable of buying their own food – which is not the case for many other people around the world – and that is why those people do get it for free and they do not. I believe I even said something like: “you are not dying here because there is no food, are you?” They all agreed that they were not. Then I explained that if I would buy them a generator, it might break down next year, and I asked them what was going to happen then? They still would not have money to repair it, and they might not find a donor crazy enough to buy them a new one. They would again be where they are today. They all agreed that that was true. Then I told them that the products they are able to sell through SWAP are heavily subsidized, so huge amounts of money from Western donors are put into that already. It allows them to build their own business, and with that they are gaining skills, skills that will always stay with them, donors or no donors. I told them they would be so much more powerful if they achieve their goals themselves than if they simply ask me for money. Some of them understood English, for the rest my little speech was translated in Swahili. Most of them were nodding yes. One lady gave a reaction: “the Bible says: ask and you shall be given. We know you are right, but you can’t blame us for trying”.

If someone tells me they are positive, this does not mean that they have a positive attitude towards life… HIV/AIDS is a real problem in Kenya, and prevalence rates are particularly high in this area, it is estimated around 20-25% here. I asked the staff why that was the case. “Because of the lake” one

woman told me. Ehm, a bit more specific please? Well, if a woman wants to sell fish, she needs a “friend”, otherwise she will not manage. And if she wants to buy fish, she also needs a “friend”. And if her husband is fishing and there is no man around the house, who is going to buy her eggs or meat? Right, she needs yet another “friend”. Things like this infuriate me. Even if women have official rights, which they do not really have much around here, the unwritten rules in the society have no respect for women in this sense. I am afraid we have a long way to go here, before such traditions will be broken.

And then we have not talked about domestic violence yet. Actually, I did not even dare to ask my colleagues about it. But I sure see a lot of people with bruises and scars that don’t look like they were obtained by accident. Women and children mainly. Orphans especially. These things break my heart.

I have gained great respect for the people at SWAP. I was lucky to have a very good translator, so I could follow much of what was going on. It was quite entertaining to me to see how they educate groups of people. Standing in front of a crowd, together with them calculating how many kilograms of shit they produce in their village, every day, every year. And how that ends up in the water. “So that you end up drinking…?” “SHIT” – the crowd yells. “No wonder you are getting diarrhea! Do you want to drink shit? Do you want your children to wash their hands with shit? Do you want to kill each other that way? Hallelujah!” “AMEN” – the crowd yells. The fact of the matter is, they do get the message across. People really seem to understand why and how to use water purification methods, mosquito nets, and micronutrient powders too.

Of course all households I visited were or claimed to be very active users of the micronutrients – I’ve seen that show before. At some point I demanded that I could pick some random houses along the way, I just didn’t trust it. So we met some very surprised people who were not pre-warned about our visit, which first of all gave me a nice different insight in their life at home (what are they doing when they do not sit around in their nicest clothes waiting for me? – they are sweeping the floor, ironing clothes, are busy with cattle and apologizing for their old clothes) and second of all, demonstrated that the knowledge of the product was better than I had expected, it had reached the random households as well. So praise for the communication campaign – or my sample was not representative, that is hard to find out.

I really enjoyed to look around in the houses. They are made of cow-dung and look better on the inside than you would expect from the outside. There are up to 6 huts together in one house area, one to cook, a lavatory (at least, for 40%, the rest shits wherever they like and all that ends up in the river, so in the drinking water, remember?), one for children to sleep, one for the second wife and her children, perhaps one for the third wife as well, etc. Inside the main houses all look the same, some low tables in the middle, surrounded by fauteuils and couches. Walls are decorated with whatever they were able to get their hands on, frequently spotted items are quotations from the bible or general religious texts, a calendar or poster of Obama (as his father is from this particular area – people here love him even more than in the rest of the country), pictures of (white) babies, advertisements for sodas, and the occasional Western movie star – I have spotted Sylvester Stallone, and Brittney Spears in bikini…

I like to think that if I would live here, I’d be one of those active sales women who worked really hard and became so successful that she can now hire others to do the work for her. However, that’s easy for me to think, because I am not from here. Chances are I would not have even made it to my age if I had been born here, and if I did manage to survive, I’d probably have AIDS and a couple of HIV affected children, and some orphans of a dead sibling to take care of too. I guess it is pretty hard to become a successful business woman on the side of all that..

Still, the attitude of just asking for things really annoys me. During one of the training sessions in the middle of nowhere, I stepped outside to receive a phone call. Just at the time when school was out. Soon some children gathered, and before I knew it I had about 150 young children in a pink and white school uniform staring at me, listening to my conversation about changing a flight, airfares, payment methods, etcetera. Great. As soon as I hung up, I got a few of the usual “how are you”s, and then a boy, I estimate him about 8 years old, slightly taller than the rest, stepped forward and said: “give me your phone!” I was shocked! If this would have been Nairobi I probably would’ve given even such a small child my phone, but the setting was not intimidating at all, pathetic would be a better word to describe it. I told him to finish school, find a job, earn a salary, and buy a phone himself. Then I went inside again.

No matter how glad I am to have had all the experiences I had over the last 10 weeks – I truly feel like a privileged person for being here – to be honest, in a way I am glad this was my last field visit of this trip. I’ve seen my fair share of poverty and misery, I’ve seen true despair and I’ve seen people who try and make things look worse than they are, hoping that the white woman will dig up some money while they can remain seated on their couches. I noticed that during the last few days it became increasingly difficult for me to deal with it all. I feel like I can use some time to digest it all. It was nice to spend the weekend in Nairobi, which has become a familiar place now, where everybody at the hotel knows my name and asks how my trip to Kisumu was, where you have a choice of restaurants where you can get really nice food, etc. Many people complain that there is nothing to do in Nairobi, but I do not agree, there are some sights and activities, the nightlife surely is great and I’m simply having a good time here. I have one more week to go, for my last meetings in Nairobi, and for a formal debrief at the WFP country office. In one week my assignment will be finalized, I am sure I will be more than ready for my holiday then!