I hope everyone made it through the week safely - I wish I could've been home to witness the history. I think the last snow day I had was in 8th grade, and I clearly remember it being an awesome day.
So this week brought my much anticipated visit to the very first Millennium Village of Sauri. The taxi picked me up for the airport Wednesday at 05:00 for my 07:00 flight. Domestic flights here are quite a bit easier than they are at home: security checks your bags in the main entrance when you first arrive (which makes more sense when you think about it). I checked in and I was at the gate within 3 minutes. With my supervisor Ros, I flew into Kisumu - the 3rd largest city in Kenya on the banks of Lake Victoria. After checking into the hotel, we arrived at the MVP office in Kisumu. Apparently, Sauri has a constant flow of press and journalists coming in and out, so we had to wait a good hour before our counterparts were free to meet with us. I only mention that it took an hour because waiting is something I have found to be a common occurrence here. Last week, at a meeting with the Co-Operative College of Kenya, (whose acronym makes for a good laugh) we waited for 25 minutes or so for their representatives to meet with us. That is fine, but I just found it odd because they were the ones trying to "sell" us. Apparently that is completely acceptable behavior, though.
After a brief meeting, we cramped in a Rav 4 (pictures below) and drove 30 minutes North, over the equator, and up into the hills of Sauri (Sauri is really just the name of one village inside a cluster of ten or so others) for our meeting with the Yala Dairy Cooperative Committee. The meeting was very long and slow and I definitely wasn't the only one nodding off. Below are some pictures of the Cooperative, the facilities, and the committee members who I met with. I tried to be as subtle as possible taking snapshots with my phone, so hopefully I captured the essence of the meeting for you.
We then had lunch at the MVP Field Office. The big loaf you see in the picture below is called Ugali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali). It is maize meal, textured similar to polenta, eaten by hand, and often shaped into a spoon to scoop up other foods with. No silverware and no napkins and it was a damn good lunch.
For the next hour we drove around looking at potential collection centers for the dairy products. One of my jobs will be to establish the criteria for selection of these centers. The sites are all in different districts and I guess the politics are pretty messy.
It is hard for me to say what kind of progress has been made in Sauri as I never saw the village before the MVP's "intervention". Driving around, though, we passed by some of the schools and resource centers that were built by the program over the past 5 years. I also saw a lot of children leaving school, people herding cattle, and small "businesses". In a place like this that counts for something.
It rained and hailed while we drove back down to Kisumu, and I have no idea how the driver could see the road but we made it back. I met Clare from Leeds, England for dinner at the hotel. She is also here until April, working in the MVP Health Dept, and we discussed the hardships of being Mzungu in Kenya. I may have already mentioned that I am hoping to collaborate with her on a supply chain project for health supplies.
Only one more thing of note: after dinner, I returned to my hotel room and the door was open. I had left my bag, with my passport, in there and my heart dropped for a minute. Luckily, everything was intact, but hot damn!
Tonight a group of 10 of us are going for Ethiopian fare at a place called Habesha. Yet again, I will be the only American - something I never thought possible, but has largely been the case here. I don't know if/how I will watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, but I'm not too broken up by it. Also, some of you have expressed worry about my ascending Mt. Kenya alone. I have found at least one other climber to join me so fret no more. His name is Thomas, a lovely young man from Marseilles. We should be going sometime in the next few weeks. Until next time, I bid you adieu.
*UPDATE*
Pictures are not loading properly. I will try to get them on here tonight, otherwise they should be on fbook.
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