Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Posting 17: The End of our Kenya Travels

For his last field trip of the volunteer year, Don traveled to Turkana County during the week of October 26, 2015.  Turkana, the poorest region in Kenya, is located in the northwestern part of the country.    The Turkana are pastoralists. 87% of the population lives in poverty.  The school dropout rate for girls is 94%.  Don spent the week conducting a market assessment of a project that is intended to encourage girls, ages 12-19, to own small livestock. This would require an adjustment to cultural norms, as girls have no ownership rights in this region.

During his trip, Don met with government officials, animal health workers, micro-finance institutions, and villagers. He also toured a fisheries area in Lake Turkana, the largest desert lake in the world. Buying and selling fish is another possible means of income for the girls. As you can see from the pictures below, parts of Turkana resemble a lunar landscape.

This is our last blog detailing our year in Kenya.  On November 14, we leave Kenya.  We will miss all of the wonderful people we have met and are fortunate to now call our friends.  It has truly been an adventure.  We hope that we’ve had a positive impact in the places and countries we’ve visited; we know that we’ve learned a lot. 

We hope everyone has enjoyed following our journey. We will return to the U.S. at the end of the year, after a well-deserved vacation.

Don meeting with villagers

A Turkana village


The Turkana landscape

Drying fish

Packing dried, salted fish for shipping

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