Post 9: Security

Many of you have reached out to us in the past few days upon hearing of the terrible massacre at the Garissa University.  We appreciate and thank you for your concern and want to assure you that we take every precaution to remain safe.  Every Monday morning, we receive an NGO security briefing alerting us to any recent crime in our area and violence or rumors of violence throughout Kenya and the neighboring countries. We take these briefings seriously.

For example, we wanted to experience the Kenyan beaches over the Easter holiday, as our office was closed for a few days.  We had heard that Lamu is beautiful, but we also had heard of security concerns along the coast.  We reached out to various people who have contacts with security officials to confirm that traveling to Lamu would be ok. They advised us that Lamu would be fine, but suggested we stay at a smaller, boutique hotel, instead of one of  the more popular ones, which we did.

Even though there were rumors of potential violence at colleges in Kenya, obviously (and unfortunately), that didn't prevent the tragedy that occurred. Can I promise that nothing else will happen while we're here--of course not.  Given the craziness of the world these days, no one anywhere can.  I wish I could say otherwise.  Just know that we are careful and together 95% of the day.

Upcoming events:  We're off to Karamoja, a region in northeastern Uganda for two weeks next Sunday to work on some development projects.  Don will be providing business and financial advice to small businesses and pastoralists in the region. I expect to write some success stories.

On April 30, we leave Nairobi, and after a one-day stopover in Istanbul to see friends, we return to DC for two weeks.  We are very excited to see everyone, including our three grandsons, two of whom we have not yet met.

Posting 8: Weekend Retreats

Don and I have been working hard, so we took some time over the weekends to visit new sights in Kenya.

On February 22nd, we lunched at the Giraffe Manor--a boutique hotel in Nairobi.  Besides being a lovely property with great food, nine giraffes and many warthogs run free on the property.  If you stay overnight, the giraffes wake you up in the morning by bopping their heads through your window looking for breakfast.  We only visited for lunch, but still were able to feed the giraffes and give them a good hug.  (We've decided that giraffes are our favorite animals.)

We celebrated Don's birthday last weekend by going on a Safari to Amboseli.  We took a short flight on a four-person plane, landing in the bush.  It was brutally hot during the day (sorry Eastern US friends--we know you're suffering in the snow), but cool in the evenings.  We drove around the Conservancy the first day, mostly seeing families of giraffes.  We spent the second day in the Reserve, where we saw hundreds of elephants and a beautiful view of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Below are some pictures from our recent weekend adventures.

A new friend

Hugging our new friend

It's lunch time

For us too!

Giraffes at Amboseli

Maasi Village at Amboseli

Zebras at play

A family out for a walk

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Night time safari

Posting 7: Traveling through Western Kenya

We’re sorry we haven’t posted anything on the blog in a while, but we’ve been very busy.  For the past two weeks, Don and I have traveled extensively around Western Kenya.  We have been to West Pokot, Kitale, Eldoret, Nandi, Kericho and Nakuru.

Each area has its unique personality and problems.  For example, West Pokot is an extremely poor region of Kenya—70% of the population lives on less than $1/day.  Nearly two out of 10 people do not live past the age of five. There are numerous conflicts in West Pokot and some of the other regions due to land disputes and cattle rustling with neighboring areas. In contrast, portions of Kericho and Nandi have significant agricultural production.  Their tea plantations are lush, presenting a spectacular sight.

The purpose of our trip was to review and summarize the results of a development project focusing on the youth of Kenya and scheduled to come to an end.  My role is to write a series of articles reflecting the success of the project. Don’s role was to meet with youth groups who had started various small businesses in order to advise and mentor them forward.

We literally spoke to hundreds of people: local officials, youth groups, elders, and women mentoring girls on staying in school, gender-based violence (GBV) and female genital mutilation (FGM).

The Kenyan people we met were all very impressive.  Our hero was a young woman who raised money making bricks.  With the money, she bought a piece of land and single-handedly built a pre-school. Her 35 students were from three to seven years old.  Many had lost their parents to AIDs and could not pay the $5/month tuition.  She employs three other teachers who she pays $20 each/month when she can afford it.

One of my favorite memories of the trip was glancing over my shoulder to see a group of young tomato farmers surrounding Don as he outlined a detailed budget and workplan for their next harvest.  The men were mesmerized during the two hours he devoted to calculating their expenses and advising them how to maximize their profits.

Below you’ll see a picture of us visiting a group of women who were earning money by creating and selling beaded jewelry and belts.  They adorned me with layers of beaded necklaces (how could they have known of my love of jewelry?) and presented Don with a colorful beaded belt. We plan to help them find a cheaper source of supply for the beads to make their business more profitable.

Don and I continue to be fascinated as we learn about the culture of the various ethnic tribes (42 in total) and the impact it has on their lives.  The cultural rules, differences and competition among the tribes are often the cause of conflict.  For example, circumcision for men is common among most of the tribes; however, the age of circumcision varies from 12-15 years for one tribe and 25-35 for another.  The process represents initiation into manhood.  One dominant tribe does not believe in circumcision at all, and the other tribes refer to those uncircumcised men as “children.” There also are stereotypes associated with some tribes: one is great in business and frugal; another is lazy and likes to show-off flashy purchases.  Each person’s tribal affiliation has a significant impact on his or her interactions and associations with other Kenyans.

See the pictures below for some of the highlights of our trip.

Our hotel in West Pokot

My new jewelry wardrobe, thanks to the women of West Pokot.

The pre-school class 

Some beautiful Kenyan kids welcoming us

Don advising tomato farmers

Goofing off with co-workers

A meeting with county officials

Enjoying the moment

Posting 3: Adjusting to a new way of life

12/16/14

We now have a daily routine. Walking to and from the office each day, sharing an office (literally) and exploring Nairobi on the weekends. 

We've learned that Nairobi is a city of great contrasts.  We found the central business district somewhat seedy, as is common in a developing country.  Cell phone stores are ubiquitous.  Just three miles out of town is the beginning of a national reserve, where lions, zebras, etc. roam free.  As we drove near the reserve,  several baboons crossed the road in front of our car.  We visited the Elephant Orphanage, home to baby elephants less than three years old who were rescued because they were injured or their mothers had died due to poaching or natural causes. And, yes, you can adopt a baby elephant—you just can’t and wouldn’t want to take it home. When these baby elephants become three years old, they are taken out to one of the national park reserves, so that they can be integrated with and adopted by elephant families.  The process takes another 5-7 years for elephant families to accept the orphans.  We visited the nearby Giraffe Park, where these huge, incredible and beautiful animals ate out of our hands. We lunched in Karen, a suburban part of Nairobi.  The homes were gorgeous—we could have been in Great Falls or Potomac—except each home was surrounded by high walls and overseen by 24 hour security guards.  Adjacent to a nice neighborhood, closer to town, is the worst slum area in Nairobi.  The disparity in wealth is great.

Last week, Don drove about 2.5 hours out of Nairobi to the central part of Kenya to observe a development project.  The countryside is beautiful, with abundant rice fields, banana trees, corn fields and so forth.  The resources in Kenya are amazing.  But the workforce in the rice fields earned about $2-3/day.  In the small towns that he passed, there were numerous kiosks selling a variety of different items.  If each kiosk owner makes $2-3/day, they are doing well.  In Nairobi, a woman doing housekeeping earns about $6/day. While there is a growing middle class in Kenya, the majority make due at a subsistence level.

I spent my week traveling through Uganda. I have never seen such poverty. Things we take for granted—running water, bathrooms, refrigeration, kitchen facilities, paved roads (or cars)--don’t exist for many of those people. Their clothing ranged from none, for the very small children, to blankets draped around farmers or herders, to clothes that could have been donated by you or me.  Regardless, each greeted us with a handshake and a smile; except for the small children, who sometimes cried because they had never before seen a white person.  The capital, Kampala, was the opposite; it was dominated by severely heavy traffic, thick morning smog and row-after-row of shanty-businesses. An interesting experience, but I was happy to return to Kenya.    

The Kenyan newspapers have robust political discussions.  The current debate involves the security laws being considered by Parliament with would give the President expanded powers to deal with the terrorist threats.  The new proposals would permit wire-tapping of telephones and would prohibit journalists from printing information that would undermine national security.  The issues being debated, such as limitations to privacy and freedom of the press, to address security risks are not that much different than some of the debates going on in the U.S.  Every day the newspapers carry articles about corruption. It is clearly endemic to the society; but little is done to change the situation.  Yesterday the newspapers carried an article about girls who were circumcised.  It is outlawed in Kenya, but continues in many areas. The parents were quoted as saying that the government should not interfere.

What is striking to us most of all is how nice and welcoming the Kenyan people are.  We have met many wonderful people in our short stay here. 

Posting 2: Day 1 and Day 1

12/01/14

Day 1 in Nairobi
After a very long night, Don and I landed at the Nairobi airport at around 4:00 Sunday morning.  Our hired driver was nowhere in sight. We were exhausted at that point (me more so than Don, as he had been upgraded to Business Class from Istanbul to Nairobi--I'm still pissed about that!)  I had suspended my phone coverage and Don's phone battery was very low.  This was a problem as we had been cautioned not to take a taxi--only use the contracted drivers. After a few stressful calls, our driver appeared.  He had fallen asleep in his car!

While the drive to our lodging was similar to the first phase of many far away trips previously taken, the significance of this trip finally hit me.  I immediately felt homesick and missed my family. Thank goodness for Skype, email and cell phones.

We spent our first afternoon at a Thanksgiving dinner at the NGO Regional Director's home. He and his family live in a lovely house with a beautiful garden and 24 hour security. We were welcomed by a houseful of friendly, enthusiastic expatriates who have lived abroad for most of their careers. It was a lovely afternoon for our first day.

We stopped at the supermarket, loaded up on water and returned "home."  Our apartment is fine.  A one bedroom with a living room and what is advertised as a full-kitchen. Only problem: the appliances don't really work.  The toaster caught on fire and the refrigerator leaks.  Oh well, good excuse not to cook!

Day 1 at work
Our driver picked us up at 8 am, and we started the day with a 8:30 staff meeting, followed by a comprehensive security briefing. I must admit, I was overwhelmed, but I also appreciated the care and caution provided.  Regardless of where we are, if we experience ANY trouble or problem, we have a security person to call.  The rules are very different here--only use designated drivers, do not carry a purse, don't go out after 6 pm unless your driver takes and picks you up, stay out of certain parts of the country--but people seem to do fine as long as they follow the rules.  Rest assured--we'll be following the rules!

The NGO Kenya Director took us to lunch at a pizza restaurant near the office.  Looking around and eating the pizza, we could have been anywhere in the US. So many things here are the same as home, but the differences are important to pay attention to.

To be continued....

Posting 6: Safari!

1/7/15

Over the holidays, we went on a Safari in the Masai Mara National Reserve, the southwest part of Kenya on the Tanzania boarder. It is connected to the Serengeti in Tanzania.  During the summer, millions of animals migrate from the Serengeti to the Maasai Mara.

In our jeep, we were able to get extremely close to many animals, including lions and their cubs, cheetahs and giraffes.  We also took several bush walks with two Masai tribesman protecting us with riffles.  We also visited a Masai village and got a glimpse of the culture and Masai way of life.  It was a fascinating and wonderful experience.

Here are a few select pictures of our trip.

Posting 5: A new grandson!

1/5/15

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, but we've been with little or no internet access lately.  We were off on a Safari and up at Mt. Kenya.  We'll be posting pictures of our trip later this week.

We wanted to devote today's blog to a much more important topic: the birth of our new grandson, Tyler Jay Schreibman.  We're so excite to welcome him to the family. Mom, dad and baby are all doing well.

Before we left home, we knew the most difficult part of being away would be how much we would miss our family and friends. And that has definitely proven to be true, especially during life-events like the birth of a baby.  Thank goodness for Skype and FaceTime, which have allowed us to keep in touch on a weekly (or more often) basis.  One of our kids, Brian, says that because of FaceTime he actually "sees" more of us now that we're in Africa! Many of you have continued to communicate via email, which we very much appreciate and encourage you to continue.

Don and Bobby