“Do you want to meet the Kenyan Ambassador to China tomorrow?”  Said Kakenya Ntaiya, on our bumpy country road from Enoosaen-her remote village in the south of Kenya-to Kilgoris, a town with just-a-little-bigger-size, 20 kilometers away from Enoosaen.

“Ahahaha…” I looked at her face–all as usual-”Good joke.”

“Here is a message for you.” She handed her cell phone to me.

“‘Ming Tian Jian-Tell the Chinese to read it.’” I read the message loudly with shock, “It is Chinese saying of ‘See you tomorrow’! Who is this?”

“I told you, the Kenyan ambassador to China.” Kakenya smiled.

5:00 p.m. on the next day’s afternoon, I was therefore drinking the Kenyan milk tea contained in the Chinese-china with Kakenya in the ambassador’s house located on the hill in Gilgoris.

AP Fellow Luna Liu, dressing in Chinese traditional cheongsam-top, shaked hands with the present Kenyan Ambassador to China Julius Sunkuli at his home in Kilgoris, Kenya.

AP Fellow Luna Liu, dressing in Chinese traditional cheongsam-top, shaked hands with the present Kenyan Ambassador to China Julius Sunkuli at his home in Kilgoris, Kenya.

Ambassador Julius Sunkuli appeared in front of us with casual outfit and warmly hugged Kakenya. He then politely asked me not to mind him dressing comfortably to meet us as his friends–especially after his meeting with all different kinds of politicians from morning to evening. After greeting him in Maasai and Chinese mandarin, I started my conversation with the standard diplomatic question.

Luna Liu: Compared with the international relationship between Kenya and the U.S., how do you think about the relations between Kenya and China?

Julius Sunkuli : You know the relationship between the US and Kenya is a long relationship of good friendship. Kenya, during the cold war, was on the side of the U.S. .After the cold war, Kenya still remained a very strong relationship with the U.S. and U.S. is still considered to be a friendly country to Kenya. The relationship between Kenya and China, although was not really good during the cold war, in the comparative terms, it is better than the relationship between Kenya and the United States now. Because you know the U.S and many western countries, they adopted a system where they wanted to impose their ways of life to Kenya, and Kenya has resisted to it a lot because the idea that the American type of democracy must work everywhere in the world is considered to be offensive to many Kenyans. Worst of all, when Kenya is going through the financial hardship, the Americans attach politics to aid. They give you conditions for aid, and when you fulfill these conditions, they give you new words. There is always a new condition that you do not get aid. The Chinese policy is a win-win situation. They open up for trade, and today we can see within a short time, Kenya has erected the infrastructure. The roads in Kenya have been really built up during the last three years; this is mainly done by Chinese companies. We believe that we will get a good solution of our poverty from China, because we want to buy the cheap machinery, that is affordable, that is manufactured in China. We also want to accept the fact that Chinese are giving us good technology while Americans would rather sell us commodities. The (construction of) roads bring technology here with us. So the relationship of Kenya and China is growing a lot.

Most of the roads in Kenya now have been done by Chinese, for example, most important roads in Nairobi and Mombasa, the road from Nakuru to Eldoret and many other roads are bridged by Chinese… The Chinese are bidding for important projects, Mombasa port, Lamu port and railways from Mombasa to Kampala and to Central Africa and most likely Chinese can win them. So Chinese companies have a very huge influence in Kenyan road construction.

Luna Liu: Chinese construction companies in African region have been criticized by western media for not hiring local labors in their projects and therefore local people did not benefit from the employment created by these development activities. How would you like to address this opinion?

Julius Sunkuli : Most Chinese companies hire local people in Kenya; so I do not think that is a big problem here in Kenya. What matters for us is the quality of the road. We are the ones who benefit from the road; it will be the road for Kenyan people.

Luna Liu: How does the Chinese speedy economic development impact the economy in Kenya?

Julius Sunkuli : There is a little thing could be done, which is Chinese buy more commodities from Kenya, like tea, leather, coffee, flowers then we can try to balance the trade. But I think the trade between China and Kenya is going to grow.*

*For Ambassador Julius Sunkuli’s opinion about girls’ education in Kenya and his promise about supporting Kakenya Ntaiya’s dream-the Maasai girl school of Kakenya Center for Excellence, please see the incoming post- Meeting the Kenyan Ambassador to China Part 2 Maasai Girls’ Education.

* The interview notes were collected and proofread by AP Fellow Luna Liu on 8th, Aug 2009)

“明天你想不想见肯尼亚驻中国大使？”Kakenya Ntaiya，我在肯尼亚实习的老板，在上颠下跳的肯尼亚南部的乡村土路上就这样突然地问起来 。

“啊哈哈……干吗不？”我调侃地回答了她。

“看短信罢那就。”她递给我她的手机。

“Ming Tian Jian(明天见)—让中国人看这条短信。”我的嘴巴成了O字形，“这是中文呃!？谁？”

“跟你说了你不信，肯尼亚驻中国大使呗。”我的老板大笑起来。

如此于是。第二天的下午5：00，我恍然地坐在现任肯尼亚驻中国大使在Kilgoris乡村的家中庭院里，用中国的瓷杯喝着肯尼亚奶茶。

大使Julius Sunkuli (以下简称Julius)一身便装出现了。在热情拥抱了我的老板以后，大使很客气地说:  “你好吗？（以后为英文）自从回到这边以后，每天从早到晚都一身正装会见各种政治家，Kakenya是我的朋友，你是她的朋友，见面朋友，我还是想穿得舒服点。请见谅。”

尽管大使大约再也不想打官腔，难得与大使面对面，我于是还是以典型的外交问题开始了我们的对话。

Luna：相比起美国与肯尼亚之间的关系，你是怎么看待中肯关系的？

Ambassador Julius： 你大概知道美肯之间长久维持着良好的合作关系。肯尼亚在冷战时期，是支持美国的。在冷战之后，肯尼亚仍然与美国往来密切并且美国仍被认为是对肯尼亚的比较友好的国家之一。中肯关系，尽管在冷战时期比较僵硬，但现在来看，可以说是比美肯关系更为亲密。美国和一些西方国家，一直采取一种强硬的态度向世界上不同国家的人民推崇西方的生活方式和政治体制，这在肯尼亚是被认为有所冒犯的并难以被肯尼亚人民所接受的。尤其是，当肯尼亚在度过经济难关的时候，来自美国的国际援助总是被附带上政治条件。当肯尼亚履行完一个附带条件，美国的政治家会继续附加新的条件—总是有新的政治条款让肯尼亚人民难于获得援助。

相比之下，中国对肯尼亚的外交政策是一种双赢政策。中国对肯尼亚开放贸易，并且帮助肯尼亚进行基础建设。在过去的三年中，我们可以看到很多肯尼亚的公路是由中国公司建设起来的。我们相信，从中国我们可以学到解决贫困的方法，因为我们希望买到我们能力得以支付的中国制造的机器设备。我们也愿意接受一个现实，就是中国在通过建设道路帮助肯尼亚获得科技技术，而美国更愿意卖给我们商品。中肯关系在日益发展。

说起公路建设，在内罗毕和蒙巴萨最重要的公路，从Nakuru到Eldoret的公路，以及很多其它重要的公路都是由中国建设公司完成的。中国公司现在还在竞标一些其它的重要建筑工程比如蒙巴萨和拉木的港口，以及从蒙巴萨到卡帕拉（乌干达的首都）以及到中非的铁路。目前来说，中国公司很有希望标下这些项目。中国在肯尼亚的基础建设方面，因此是很有影响的。

Luna: 据我在美国的生活经验，西方媒体经常批评在非洲的中国建筑公司不雇佣当地劳工，因而中国在非洲的发展工程并没有为当地人民创造就业及收入机会并使之受益。对于这种意见，您是怎么看待的？

Ambassador Julius: 就我所知，大部分中国驻肯尼亚的建筑公司是基本雇佣当地劳工的，所以我不认为这在肯尼亚是一个很大的问题。我们看重公路的质量，因为这些公路将会是肯尼亚人民的，从其受惠的也将是肯尼亚人民。

Luna:中国的经济快速发展是如何影响肯尼亚的经济的？

Ambassador Julius: 我认为中国如果加大与肯尼亚的贸易，更多进口我们的茶叶，皮革，咖啡和鲜花，会有助于平衡我们的贸易逆差。但是无论如何，中肯之间的贸易一定会继续增长的。

本文是由AP志愿者刘路在2009年8月8日经整理采访录音笔记并校对翻译后所发表的

It is interesting to hear how differently the two groups in Lelmolok Internally Displaced Persons Camp addressed the challenges that they are facing now:

Group 1:

(1)No house

(2) Leaking tents

(3) Lack food

(4) Lack safe water for drinking

(5) Poor sanitation and health care

(6)Exposure of women to rapes and children to molestation

(7) Hostile community environment

Group 2:

(1)   The fear holds the community from making any investment and development

(2)   Land Ownership is still not guaranteed

(3)   Local employment policy is against hiring Kikuyus—So no job more than farming, no extra income

(4)   Local government corrupted aid goods

(5)   Food shortage

(6)   Insecurity

The first group was all consisted by Kikuyu women and the second group was all consisted by Kikuyu men.

Why there is such a big difference between women’s thoughts and men’s even those women and men are family members and experienced the same trauma due to the 2007 post-election violence?

“(It is because) the day-to-day life of women and men are so different.” A community development assistant said during the community facilitator training held by Ms. Abby Onencan, a global advisor of Vital Voices in Nanyuki, Kenya.

On the contrarary with busy women, men in Eldoret Lelmolok IDP Camp still have leisure time to play chess.

On the contrarary with busy women, men in Eldoret Lelmolok IDP Camp still have leisure time to play chess.

Although the Kikuyu communities in Nanyuki are different from the ones in Eldoret, they share the commons of social background on the issue of gender balance.

During that workshop, under Ms. Abby Onencan’s entitlement, I, as a fellow of Vital Voices and The Advocacy Project, conducted a session of Gender Awareness and Gender Balance in Community Development to the local governors who take in charge of empowering the community in their wards.  The participants were divided into three groups to profile 24-hour life of a typical local Kikuyu woman/man/youth from their communities.

The man’s character was described by the first group of CDAs as a 35-year-old unemployed farmer and his daily life was profiled as below:

On 5:00 a.m., he wakes up the women in his family and goes back to sleep. On 7:00a.m., he gets up to milk the cows and takes the milk to nearest dairy. From 8 to 9, he takes the breakfast prepared by his wife and gives order to his wife and children. From 9 to 10, he collects folders for the cows and goes to his farm to till the land until 1:00 p.m. He then takes the prepared lunch. After watering animals and repairing fence, he walks to the local market for news. During the whole four hours from 4p.m. to 8 p.m., he is drinking spray and talking with other men about politics. Around 8p.m., he goes back home, takes prepared supper, enjoys entertainment such as watching TV and A.O.B, and then sleeps.

Compared with this typical local Kikuyu man’s daily schedule, activities that a normal local Kikuyu woman did in a normal day, described by the second group of participants, exploded over the table on the flipchart.

5:00 a.m  She gets up and prey. Then she lights the fire, prepares the breakfast for her husband and children and takes the older children to schools.

6:00- 7:00 a.m. She assists her husband & younger children to dress up, feeds animals, fetches water, etc.*

7:00-10:00 a.m.  She fetches food for family and animals, etc.

10:00- 11:00 a.m. She attends community meeting, feeds animals, etc

11:00a.m.- 1:00 p.m. She prepares lunch for the family and then takes her lunch.

1:00-2:00 p.m. She goes to the local market for marketing.

2:00-4:00 p.m. She fetches firewood and water, etc.

4:00-6:00 p.m. She prepares supper, etc.

6:00-8:00 p.m. She feeds the family, cleans up the home, waters the animals, watches the children to do homework, etc.

8:00-10:00 p.m. She washes clothes for her husband and children, takes a bath, A.O.B. and sleeps.

I was having a headache by just listening to and writing down all these activities done by this represented woman character. According to one definition of working–“activity involving mental and physical effort done to achieve a purpose or result”–the typical local Kikuyu women work 17 hours a day, compared with 7 hours a day for local kikuyu men.

However, represented by the characters in this profile, women in Kenyan rural area work so much but barely do anything that advances themselves. Or, women work so much (on basic housework) so that they do not have time to advance themselves by talking about politics, reading or receiving any education. Or, the reason that they have to work so much is because they do not have alternative methods to raise themselves or to be independent.

Even more sadly, women in Kenyan rural area work so much only for increasing the family properties that are not under their control. While the men in the families who work much less hold main accesses, benefits and controls on most family assets such as houses, land, cows, goats, furniture, electricity, etc, women only have their total control on the chickens. The only benefit that women can obtain from these assets is domestic use. (For example, they can drink the milk milked from the cows that belong to their families.)

Women’s loads, in the rural of Kenya, yet end up with just feeding their husbands. The youth, who graduated from schools without being employed, also rely on their mothers– they only work for 4 hours per day with little income and waste the rest of the day by doing nothing. (Also shown by the profile mentioned above) No wonder the Kalenjin youth in Eldoret were so easily “incited” by a “salary” of 300 shilling/day, paid by local politician, to constantly cause violence against Kikuyus in this region post the election in 2007.

At the end of this post, I guess it is not hard to answer several questions about the gender issue in rural Kenya.

Who work most? Women. Who benefit least from their working? Women. Who suffer most during and post the social traumas such as the 2007 election violence? Women.

How to solve this gender imbalance?

The answer for this question is probably not as easy as “empowering women”, as the gender issue is not about women but the relations between women and men.

To better balance the relations between genders in Kenya, the hope may be left for the next generation under RFH mentorship program.

To better balance the relations between genders in Kenya, the hope may be left for the next generation under RFH mentorship program.

*etc means there were some activities were not written down due to limited space on the flip chart.

While women in Eldoret Lelmolok IDP Camp were trying to do everything to make their family tent as a home, men just wonder their life by playing chess all days.

Women in Eldoret Lelmolok IDP Camp were trying to do everything to make their family tent as a home.

“It is because women and men are different.” It is even not an answer.

I looked at my watch.

10:00 a.m.

About half an hour ago, we were supposed to leave for a meeting with the Member of Parliament in the town of Kilgoris. So far, however, the taxi driver who should pick us up did not show up yet.

It is Kenyan time. More exactly, Kenya rural time—located in the time zone of at-least-an-hour-behind the real time.

I continued hand-washing my clothes in a tub, which was just used for washing my face, and all other people’s faces in Kakenya’s family. A cow walked by and tried to drink the water in my washtub. I stopped it from almost chewing my clothes and it continued his relax walking to another way.

Living in the internet world without electricity

Living in the internet world without electricity

It was my second day being in Kakenya’s village and I thought I almost got used to it.

It was fresh to breathe the smell of the land in the morning while stretching out on the green hill.

It was peaceful to look at the sunset dyeing a golden-rosy color on the maize.

It ws fun to play with puppies, baby goats, and chicks in the sunny afternoon.

…It was surprising that I could check out emails or even call my parents via skype with a quiet fast Internet speed—Safaricom Company should be appreciated for building a signal tower nearby this village and creating the wireless Internet modem—it is such a magic that allows people to use Internet wherever there is a phone signal and it bridges the people in such a remote village with the “civilized” world where such an innovation is not commonly used though.

It was not bad at all to live a rural life without electricity–

UNTIL this week that I find that I have to keep the same working pace as when I am in the cities—all the projects within The Advocacy Project, no matter blogging, video editing or photo uploading, require stable electricity support.

It was disappointing that after we walked about half an hour carrying all our electronic products from home to the town center to use the electricity resource and it got cut off an hour after we crazily typed on computers.

It was depressing that I was sticking at my computer, accounting the MBs left on my video uploading for two hours and the Internet got disconnected so that the time and the money on my modem were wasted for nothing.

When my mac system suddenly crashed along with the noise from the internal hard driver yesterday in-the-middle-of-no-where, I almost killed myself.*

Could my life be more dramatic than to live a modern life in the rural remote as an AP fellow?*

I eventually climbed on my bed feeling exhausted after wondering my life between the two worlds.

Suddenly, I heard a slight sound under my bed, which I seemed hearing every night.

I turned on the torch to look at the space under my bed.

A white objective.

And a pair of eyes.

“Goo looo…”

“There is a chicken nesting under my bed!” I called Kakenya.

She laughed out loud, “My mom says that it has been hatching for about three weeks!”

“Could you take it out? Now I understand why I always hear something ‘from’ my bed every night!”

The poor chicken was finally pulled out and resettled in a basket in the living room and we saw a nest of just-born chicks before they were returned to the mom.

I found I still had mood to laugh.

Life is moving on no matter how you think about it. The way to better enjoy it is to encounter it.

 *The reason why I eventually did not kill myself was because I backed up most important data on another external hard driver–That is a quiet important note for all AP Fellows!

*To know AP Fellows’ frustration of working as an Muzongu in Kenyan “metropolitan”, see Barbara’s blog: Making and breaking eye contect

*To see my director Kakenya Ntaiya’s legency of a Maisai girl’s frustration in US: In a New Country, Confusion and Doubts  

Poor chicken

Poor chicken that has been hatching under my bed were pulled out finally.

“A good mentor can change a youth’s direction in his/her life.” Said Ezekiel, 25 year-old, a 4th-year-student studying bachelor of commerce in Egerton University, also a mentor within Ripe For Harvest Nakuru Mentorship Program.

After joining the RFH Nakuru Mentorship Program in his university, Ezekiel, through Flamingo Primary School teachers’ help, found his two mentees– Richard, 14 year old, an orphanage child whose primary school fee is sponsored by a church, and Joshua, also 14 year old, the same grade (8) as Richard, a child of a single mother.

I would not leave my mentees after I graduate from university. Mentorship is a relation lasting for many years Said Ezekiel.

"I would not leave my mentees after I graduate from university. Mentorship is a relation lasting for many years." Said Ezekiel.

When asked about the reason why he chose these two mentees, Ezekiel said, “It is important to have some one to advise teenagers about what kind of persons they want to become in future. As their (my mentees’) parents were not able to do this, I hope I can help.”

It is not easy for the kids who have family trauma to give their trust to a stranger. “In the beginning, it was hard for my mentees to open up. So I played soccer and music with them. We also ate and danced together. Our mentorship program also held group discussions and games for all mentors and meentees and I found sometimes it is easier for children to open up in a group. I kept visiting them about two hours per week since September last year. After I feel the basic trust between us was built up gradually, I tried to add more conversations during our activities.”

About the content of the conversations between him and his mentees, Ezekiel said he usually talked about the importance of academics. “For myself, I learned the lesson that education is the most accessible way to make people’s life different especially if they come from a poor family. Therefore I encouraged my mentees to work hard and I sometimes tutor their studies.” His two mentess, after sharing his own experience, decided by themselves to repeat the last year in their primary school in order to gain a better academic performance for getting in secondary school.

Besides school, Ezkiel also communicated with his mentees about their social life. He listened to them about their relationship with schoolmates and advised them how to treat their peers, especially their female peers. “Richard is a good boy but sometimes he behaved beyond his wish. I therefore paid attention to assist him to control his emotion.”

“The most important thing for these two mentees, as I think, is to guide them to look at their lives in a positive aspect.” He continued, “I told them that recently I could not help them on their financial problem but I want them to be confident about their abilities to live their lives.”

He described his two-year experience of doing business in Nairobi before going to the university. “I shared this part of my experiences with my mentees that to do business, basic education is needed. However, if they unfortunately are not able to have college education, do not feel there is no hope. They can start their own business, as in this field, creativity and communication skills are more essential—it is proved by a lot of celebrate businessmen who did not get through higher education.” Said Ezekiel.

Ezikiel and His Mentee Joshua

Ezikiel and His Mentee Joshua

When he was asked about what benefit he obtained through this mentorship relationship, he said sincerely, “I learned a lot.”

“I reviewed myself when I was sharing my experiences with my mentees. I understand more about what I had been missed during my teenage and I hope I can catch up with improving myself.”

“Also, I hope through sharing my experiences, my mentees will not miss the same thing and make the same mistakes as I did. It will be the happiest moment for me to see their good changes.”

“More importantly, they let me realize that I want to empower myself so I can help them and others more in future. I want to start my own business after graduation in this December, so I will have financial ability to help them on their education or support them with job positions in the coming future.”

The question about what he plans to do about his mentorship relations with his mentees after graduation therefore was not needed. “Mentorship is a thing may last for ever and I hope this mentorship circulation could be continued by my mentees’ mentoring others.”

Ezekiel just confirmed my thought. To be honest, I was also mentored by him through this short conversation.

Ripe For Harvest Mentorship Program

Ripe For Harvest Mentorship Program

“Cluck cluck…”
“Wo Wo Woo~!”
“Moooooooo….”
“Baaa……”
“Hee Haw…”

Kakenyas younger sister Violet is cleaning the dishes on Sunday afternoon.

Kakenya's younger sister Violet is cleaning the dishes on Sunday afternoon.

I opened my eyes and tried to find my cell-phone around the pillow in the darkness.

6:15 a.m. The time blinked on my made-in-China-and-purchased-in-Kenya LG cellphone screen.

I turned my head to the other side, trying to continue my sleeping. But as there were more and more sounds joining, the morning melody became louder and louder:
“Bark Bark…” –From three puppies and three dogs.
“Dang Lang Dang Lang…”–From the cowbells in the farm.
“Shi la la la…”When the wind passed through the leafs.
“ @#$%&*!” People talked in Maisai.
…

The natural alarm would not allow me to have a snooze for five more minutes. I got up. The moment when I walked outside of the door, I was dizzied by exposing myself under the sudden bright sunlight.

This is the one that sings morning alarm on 6:00 a.m. sharp, EVERY DAY.

This is the one that sings morning alarm on 6:00 a.m. sharp, EVERY DAY.

Without clear consciousness, I poured out the context lenses on the soil from the container before remembering to wear them.

“Shit…” I sat down on the coach after greeting a rooster that was standing besides, using the solution to wash the context lenses and struggled to put them on.

Finally, I was able to confirm my symptom –I had a jet-leg by traveling only 6 hours on the car from Nairobi –the most advanced metropolitan in Africa to Enoosean—a totally countryside Maisai village on the south of Kenya.

It is such a big interesting contrast: The night before yesterday, I was dancing under the disco ball in the local club with all Indian Kenyan and Mozongus until 2:00 a.m. A bottle of water there costs me about 100 shillings. Last night, I ate dinner with the kerosene light after the only solar light slowly went off, brushed teeth under the twinkle stars while seeing the moving track of a satellite and went to bed on 9:30 p.m.–no electricity, no night life.

Baby goats--The important property in the rural.

Baby goats--The important property in the rural.

My experience of living a life without electricity was OK until the moment that I had to go to the squat-toilet during mid-night. That was the moment that I truly felt regret that I was not as prepared as my fellow Kate –I did not bring a headlight or even a torch with me. But I had to force myself to find a light resource before rushing to the toilet.

After realizing the screen light on my cell phone was too weak, I somehow touched my digital camera. While the LSD screen light accompanied with starlight was enough to guide me to find the toilet, it was not enough to help me see the little hole on the ground when I was in the purely dark toilet.

Without any other choice, I used the camera flash to light the toilet. After taking several pictures about the toilet hole, the rest of battery of my camera died.

…
“ Do you wanna a cup of Kenyan tea?” Kakenya’s voice pulled me back from my memory about the horrible night, “if you want, you can milk the cows at first and drink the tea with the most fresh milk.”
…
I knew she was kidding– before her family mixes the milk into tea, they will boil it at first and restore it in the container. I would love to go back to the countryside life that I experienced when I was young back to my hometown in China. However, before getting a torch, I decided not to take any food that may cause the problem of going to the toilet during mid-night.

James Muiruri, 15 years old, a student in class 8 and a mentee within Ripe For Harvest Eldoret Mentorship Program. He and his family (parents, sisters and brothers) recently are still living in the Lelmolok IDP Camp in Eldoret.

The chairman Charles Wakibia of RFH Mentorship Program was walking with his mentees.

The chairman Charles Wakibia of RFH Mentorship Program was walking with his mentees.

AP fellow Luna Liu interviewed James on 15th, July about his experiences during the 2007 post-election violence and his opinion about the RFH program. (Luna as L and James as J)

L: What happened to you post 2007 election?

J: On the night that the election result was declared, my parents’ house was burnt. My family lost almost all the animals and food, and I lost my books and uniforms.

L: How did this night and the whole turmoil impact you?

J: I realized that I need to study harder in order to help my parents in future as I saw most-uneducated people suffered most during the violence…Since we moved to the camp, I gained more awareness about basic hygienic. For example, I know we need to dig the drainage around our tent to reduce mosquitoes and malaria infection… I think I am better at time management than before as I have more things to do to help my parents, compared with the time when we were living in the house.

L: What are “more” things that you have to do since living in the tent?

J: Before digging a well nearby our tent recently, we had to walk three kilometers to fetch water for family use. I need to clean the toilet more often (as it was public shared) constantly maintain the space in our tent.

L: How do you think about the Ripe For Harvest Mentorship Program during your living in the IDP Camp?

J: The mentors brought us clothes. They also told me how to live my life in the tent. They also listened to our experience, when we almost lost everything and had no hope. Their visiting let me feel that I am not forgotten and I can seek help from others. My mentor sets up a good model for me—he is from a poor family and raised by his single mother, but now he is a (engineering) student in Moi University. From his experience, I knew the importance of hard working. He also taught me how to treat the local Kalenjins and now we are accepted by out Kalenjin neighbors.

L: How about your schoolmates? How did your Kalenjin schoolmates treat you post 2007 election violence?

J: Some of them said to me as “Kikuyu, go back to your own land!” But my Kalenjin friends in the school understood my situation and their attitude towards me did not change.

L: Besides your experience about the 2007 post-election violence, what else do you talk with your mentors?

J: We talked about the drug issue as some of my friends have this problem. We also talked about children trafficking as one of my close friends disappeared and we suspected that he was trafficked.

James Muiruri- A mentee in RFH Mentorship Program

L: What other activities did you do with your mentors?

J: We played soccer, jumping and volleyball. We also made jokes with each other. I am really happy to be with them.

L: What more do you think should be added to your mentorship program?

J: I wish to have more sports and academic tutoring. Also reading materials such as innovation books.

L: What things do you think should be done to prevent the same kind of trauma from happening again?

J: The fighting groups should be reconciled as I think. I am not comfortable with ICC (trial) as I think there will be more violence happening to us. A good governance is also needed.

“My parents, my relatives and I are in suspense about the release of the Waki List—We are all afraid that we may suffer from attacks once again if the Kalenjin politicians’ names are mentioned on the Waki list or their convictions found.” Said a Kikuyu primary school student within the RiPe For Harvest Mentorship Program.

The men group in Eldoret IDP camp

The ICC trial may be not enough to erase the root of Kenyan 2007-2008 post election violence, as the controversy in terms of land property had existed among Kenyan tribes post colonial period due to the land-redistribution policy announced by the first president Kenyatta after national independence. While Kalenjins, the major tribe in Eldoret, believe that President Kenyatta, as a Kikuyu, migrated a huge population of his own tribe from the Central Province to the Rift Valley Province (also as “White Highland”), where the soil is more fertilized for farming; the Kikuyu men group that we interviewed in Eldoter IDP Camp told us the other side of the story.

“Maisai was the original tribe that lived in this area (the Rift Valley). Since British Colonial, different tribes, Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luo, etc, were brought by the white people from all parts of the country here to work in their farms. After independence, the local farmers either bought or were assigned with lands left by their former employers. It is not true that we Kikuyu obtained a larger proportion of land than other tribes.”

Another man continued, “However, the local politicians always promote the local major tribe Kalenjin with the idea that that we, Kikuyu, stole their land as a result of being favoured by President Kenyatta’s land policy. During the election campaigns in 2007, those politicians spoke to their tribal supporters as ‘if you vote for me, I will give the land back to you and let Kikuyu go back to where they came from!’”

Besides being incited by political propaganda on the issue of land, Kalenjin and other tribes, under politicians’ emotional manipulation, fear the fact that Kikuyu tribe is the majority nationwide. There is a belief among Kalenjins in Eldoret that if Kikuyu no longer held their land, they are not able to populate and therefore Kikuyu’s population will decrease, so does their economic and political power in Kenya.

If Kikuyu, a minority in this region, have been suffering so much due to the majority’s hostility that has existed for decades, why do not they move to other places where local communities are friendlier towards them? For example, the province where most residents are Kikuyus?

“If we could have this choice, we already did.” Grimly answered a Kikuyu man in the camp.

“It is not possible to sell the land here with a reasonable price as the only customers who will buy the land from us are local Kalenjins. The land only could be sold out with a very low price under their control.” He continued.

Did they seek help from governments for group resettlement in other regions?

“The local governors did not support us to do so.” Answered the men group. Ironically, the reason that Eldoret local governments refused to help group migration is because they hope to keep national tribal integration—at least, geographically.

If Kikuyus in Eldoret IDP camp do not account on ICC trial, what do they think should be done to resolve the long-lasting conflicts between them and local Kalenjins?

“We need a new legal system—A revised constitution that protects our property from locals’ intervention and uncorrupted local courts where the local criminals could be punished for what they have done to us.” Concluded the men group in IDP Camp.

For most recent report about life in Eldoret IDP Camp : Scars and Sufurias (http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144020152&cid=4), published by Standard Newspaper on Monday 27th, July.

Charles Wakibia, 21 years old, a 3rd year student majoring in Civil & Structural Engineering in Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. He joined the Ripe for Harvest mentorship program as a mentor in October 2008. Charles had been the Chairman in the mentorship program taking in charge of 19 other mentors in Moi University.

(Left) Charles, Chairman; (Right) Francis, treasurer

Francis Cini Munyi, 22 years old, a 3rd year Mechanical and Production Engineering studentin Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. He joined Ripe for Harvest in 2008, acting as the treasurer, programs co-coordinator and the group photo man. He was the brain behind IDP’s donations collection and Tent Repair programs for Eldoret IDP Camp. As the group photo man, he came up with the idea of the R4H pictorial page. Currently he is writing an article MY DIARY WITH THE IDP, which will cover his experiences as mentor and a friend to the Eldoret IDP.

Interview with Charles and Francis about Eldoret Mentorship Program:

* Background of Eldoret Mentorship Program:

Kenya is still recovering from post 2007 election violence and the country had a large number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Eldoret is seriously affected by the violence. In view of this, students in Moi University decided to visit a nearby IDP camp and try to introduce the mentorship program to the adolescents who were present within the camp.

Initially it was a problem as the concept of mentoring was new and misunderstood by most parents in the camp who were hoping that the mentors were going to take their children and provide them with better living standards and a better education. Mentors therefore spent a few sessions with the parents to explain to them that what they were actually university students who were willing to share experiences with the children, in order to help them deal with the trauma obtained during the violence and guide them to become morally upright citizens in future. After most IDP resettled back to their own lands from the IDP camp this May, this mentorship program is not over but still developing, as mentors said: “Mentorship is a relationship that may last for many years.”

17:06 P.M. Town Center, Nakuru, Kenya
Outside of a local super market in the town center of Nakuru, when I was enjoying my “luxury” ice cream as a little reward to myself for working hard during the whole week, a street boy, around 12 years old, walked to me from the corner and raised his hand:
“Give me.”

Seeing my face filled by question marks, he made a gesture of eating. He meant my ice cream.

The center of the town for shopping.

I of course did not question about what he wanted me to give him. Rather, the question was about whether I should give him and why.

My thinking process therefore was:
He was not asking for bread but ice cream. –> Bread can feed him if he was hungry, ice cream cannot. –> If he could not afford ice cream as a kind of luxury goods, he should bear his life without ice cream. → It is the same as that a poor adult who cannot afford a bottle of beer could not expect a stranger to give him a bottle of beer for free.

Moreover, I would not consider giving a stranger the leftover (even if I cannot finish the whole cup) as a respectful action, even he is a street boy dressing shabbily, even he requested. It is different from sharing it with a close friend. Most importantly, I do not think there is any good effect to him if I gave him the ice cream.

I eventually did not give him the ice cream. However, similar sceneries have been repeatedly appeared to me since I arrived in Kenya and each time, I have to make a complicated moral judge—to give or not?

Most times are about money.

Marleen, 5 year-old, and Anthony, 8 year-old, are playing together in the Door of Hope Children Center.Their clothes were bought by the Sister from the second hand market.

In Nairobi, a Matatu bus driver did not want to give change back to me, with the reason of “don’t you want to help me support my family?” In Nakuru, I was having a picnic with local friends after hiking to the crater, a 5-year-old (around) shepherd boy showed up in front of us, “giving order” to me with anger, “Give me 5 shilling.” Even when I was sitting in the Matatu bus station waiting for the departure to Eldoret, two old ladies who were sitting besides me tried to talk with me: “
@#$%%&(in Swahili) Money, money!”

The habits of begging money from foreigners, no matter politely or impolitely, are not only reflected by local individuals but also by the local NGOs, charities and some community organizations. The more I co-worked with these local institutions, the more I feel the desperate environment of seeking foreigners to help them escape poverty and other problems generating from poverty.

“We need money to till the bathroom for the children center.” “We need more donors, the students are out of food.” “This…” “That…” Compared with most such institutions in Asian developing countries, the “dependency culture” in Kenya is much heavier.

When is the end of asking and giving? When most donor countries are busy of taking care of their own finance this year, it is the time for the recipient countries to review the recrimination as a result of longtime donor-dependant relationship, which is far from being productive or necessary.

In Kenya, American mean money. However, Obamas policy towards Africa seems seeking a departure from business as usual donor-recipient relationship.

President Obama, the son of Kenyan, “has been criticized for not doing enough for Africa—at least not as much as his predecessor George Bush…(It is because) he is more inclined that Bush to see aid as a temporary solution to a problem that needs to be solved institutionally and through better governance.” Said by Ms Warah, an editor with UN, on the newspaper of Daily Nation, Monday, July 13, 2009.

For a sustainable development, Kenyans have to build their fates on their own. People in the institutions above could start from themselves. For the directors of schools or children centers as an example, it may be wiser to consider buying cows, goats and chickens and planting vegetables as constant supply of children’s’ food rather than spending money on tilling the bathroom well—the cost was supposed to be saved by simply painting, if there is a good budget control in these local charity institutions.

* For more pictures about the “Door of Hope” Orphanage Children Center,

After living in a developed country (U.S.) for a year, I, who was born in a developing country (China) and had been travelling in developing countries mainly in South and East Asia, still could not stop feeling “fresh” about the tough local environment when I finally landed in the Africa continent after 18 hours’ flight.

Sunset on the road to Nanyuki

I waited in the “relatively” humid, dark and dirty Nairobi airport for about 45 minutes to get my luggage and then I found my friend’s cousin, Maggie, who had been outside of the arrival gate holding a white board written with my name for more than half an hour.

When we walked towards her car, however, I found she was not the only person waiting for me in this remote country –there were another two policemen.

“Come with us”, after arguing with Maggie for a few minutes in front of the car, the policemen said to her and led her towards a dark corner of the parking lot, while trying to avoid my curious staring. Five minutes later, Maggie came back with her “slimmer” wallet. When I asked her how much the fine was, (the issue seemed about parking), she gave me a smile with bitterness, “I just paid the police for their pocket money ha, it was not the fine.”

“Ayayayaya…Don’t worry, hah?” After finding the upsets on my face, she laughed out, “Hakunamatata! Welcome to Kenya.”

That is Maggie, a 35 year-old Kenyan women, who always says “no problem” to me when I, as a 99% stranger, found myself making so many troubles to her busy daily life.

Maggie’s husband died last year, leaving three kids with her. The oldest is 10 year old and the youngest is 5. For securing her children to have good education, in her official profession within the government, she works overtime in order to save the rest working days for her private business of handicraft.

On Thursday evening 8 pm, she picked me up from the airport after getting off from the work around 7 pm and did not eat dinner until 9:30. During the night, she had been packing a huge parcel of handicrafts to prepare her business trip to Burundi on the next evening with her sister. With little sleep, on the daybreak of Friday she drove me to the US embassy to help me renew my US student visa when the traffic in Nairobi already started. On Friday afternoon, she took her youngest daughter who had a cough to the hospital and then left the country.

Maggie, therefore, left me a great first impression about Kenyan women: hardworking, kind, smart and positive. On the contrary, my first feeling about Kenyan men was…well, even except from the two policemen, not as good as their women.

The men on the street yelled to me “munzogo” (white person) even the fact is so obvious that I am not white but yellow. If I replied to them by waving hands or smiling as trying to be polite, Wowhoho -______-, I was therefore making troubles to myself. Those men could run to me and try to speak with me along my way.

Moreover, during the thirty minutes sitting in the gas station waiting for Abby, the director of our host NGO named as Ripe for Harvest, there were about three local men coming to me and my partner from the Advocacy Project, Kate. The first one was about to promote some products to us. The second one seemed in high and begged us for something until some one used a stick to chase him away. The third one asked us whether we could break a bill of 1000 shilling. (The bill looked a bit suspicious though)

I am a foreigner. But still, I can feel in Nairobi, women are empowering themselves, materially and mentally. Maggie said, “It is hard, but we are trying.” Compared with them, men in this city more tends to earn “easy” money. Same situation happened in the rural area of Kenya.

My partner Kate went to the Village Umaja Uaso that is only consisted by women and their children. The women escaped from their husbands to avoid abuse (either sexually, mentally, or physically) and mainly live their life based on selling the handicraft. However, the ex-husbands’ jealousness rose along with Umaja Uaso’s gradual prosperousness and they began to steal women’s cows (as property) and spread out the rumours to foreign visitors that the village did not exist anymore.
(For more information: See Kate Cumming’s blog)

Hmmm, Thinking about empowering women? Educate men.

Below: Chinese version

在发达国家生活过一年，16个小时后一下被空投到内罗毕那潮湿闷热昏暗的机场，45分钟才等到转出的行李，出了机场见到肯尼亚朋友的表姐Margaret前来
接机，因错停车，被两个警察叫到角落强迫地付了行贿金（注：并非官方罚单），后再在机场高速路出口一路堵车后开上了蹦蹦跳跳灰飞烟漠的城市道路。

愕然中，Maggie笑着说了一句：
“Welcome to Kenya.Hakunamatata.”

而面对我远道而来的叨扰，她也一直笑着说：“No problem.”

Maggie今年三十五岁，有三个孩子，最大的十岁最小的五岁。丈夫在去年不幸去世。为了三个孩子都能上好的学校以获得好的教育，她一个人身兼两份工作，在政府的ICT部门作为一名总管，每周加班，以致得以有多出来的几天时间做手工制品私人生意。在星期四晚上下了班后去机场接我，回到家9点半吃上晚饭，之后便开始和她的表姐妹们收拾第二天晚上6点去往Burundi商旅的包裹。包裹之大，大约有我行李的4倍。她大约一夜未睡，早上5点钟叫醒我，在黎明已开始的交通堵塞中载我到美国大使馆，以便我续签学生签证得以在这次短期工作后返往美国继续学习。而后又带着生病的小女儿去了医院。

相比之下，肯尼亚的男人似乎并非如他们的女人那样让人敬仰。我和一起工作的同伴会合后等待接待我们的NGO工作人员，坐在加油站的三十分钟，大约有三个男人前来搭讪，或要换1000肯尼亚先令零钱，或推销不知是什么的产品，或疯癫地索要钱物直到被当地人用棍子赶跑。比起女人们的努力，这些人更像在用（看起来有钱又好骗的）游客来投机取巧。

我的同伴Kate，在我到达之前帮助Umaja Uaso村落进行一个手工艺品记录的项目。这个村落基本上全部由samburu族裔的女人组成，因被丈夫虐待而带着孩子聚集到一起，主要依靠制作手工首饰为生。这样的生活本已经很艰难，而周围村落的男人以及原来舍弃她们的丈夫们，因嫉妒她们村落逐日增加的游客和随之而来的收入，开始用暴力抢夺Umaja Uaso村落的牛群。而承载游客的司机们，则对外国游客声称这个村落已不存在了而拒绝带游客前往。

一个社会中的女性即使在物质上更为独立，而整个社会（尤其是社会中的男人们）仍处在思想意识形态由大男子主义转型的时期（特别是在农村中），女性即使再任劳任怨，到头来也不过是为那些嚼着大麻叶整天无所事事的男人们服务。男人们中更有甚者，自己不工作看到妻子赚钱自觉丢脸，于是虐待妻子借以发泄，或是用孩子威胁妻子以避免离婚。

如此看来，想要使女性更为坚强独立，同时需要实行对男性的教育。