Transition Day

Today we travelled from Utooni to Nairobi. What should have been a 2 hour drive ended up being 5 hours of sore bums. It just so happened that some university students were protesting (about the treatment of animals is what we heard) and the roads were blocked. Apparently this is not normal. We're just that lucky:) There is no need to worry, we were safe and sound the whole time!  This evening we said goodbye to Hellmut and Teigan as they headed back home to Canada. We're going to miss them!  This week is going to be different. Tomorrow we split into 2 groups-one will be staying in Nairobi to visit various MCC partners, and the other will be heading to Najile to visit friends and partners there. We're sure it will be another exciting week! Stay tuned for more posts from both groups.

Sand Dams A sand dam must be located on a seasonal river that has a solid rock base and natural sand in the area.  This makes the Machakos district an opportune place for sand dams.  Joshua Makusia, who grew up in the area, was the creator of this technology.  It really is an amazing thing-a local solution for a local problem.  Because of the requirements of a sand dam, they cannot be replicated everywhere.  This truly is local development.  Utooni is carrying on Joshua's vision wonderfully.  By getting to know Kevin Muneene the new CEO, we developed a strong respect and admiration for him.  UDO has a powerful way of giving ownership and dignity to communities, as they encourage them to help themselves.   When a community is interested in building a sand dam, they contact Utooni and work out collaborative goals.  If the community is willing to commit, a site assessment is done and donors are found.  The community then has to prepare their site by gathering rocks and sand and water if necessary.  Once the site is prepared Utooni will deliver building supplies such as shovels, pans, picks, lumber, and cement.  They dig a trench across the river and build a form for the dam.  Cement and sand (3 parts sand to 1 part cement) are mixed with water by their own hands, with shovels.  This mixture is passed in assembly line on pans, with extreme efficiency and dumped into the form.  They fill it layer by layer, adding large rocks at bottom and smaller rocks as they move up.  These stones are also heaved down an assembly line.  Sometimes weeks of human power are put into these structures.  The dam we helped with had 150 community members (along with 600 school children who stopped by) actively participated in lifting, mixing, cooking, singing, (and much more) to make this possible.  Once the dam is built and the rains come, sand will accumulate upstream of the dam, holding water within it.  It is 60% sand and 40% water.  A mature dam can have up to 2 km of sand built up behind it, making water accessible for a great distance.  You would never guess that you were walking on water, it feels like you're walking on a strip of desert. The sand not only holds water, but acts as a filter, provided clean water to many people.  It also causes the water table around the dam to rise, making farming more successful.   A dam does not just make water accesible, but it greatly reduces the time people have to spend travelling to get water.  It causes things to grow, which provides the community with food.  Excess food provides them with income, which allows them to send their children to school.  In times of drought, the men no longer have to go away looking for work.  Families stay together and the prevalence of AIDS in the community decreases.   The more we saw and learned, the more in awe we became of sand dams and the commitment of the communities who build them.

March 30, 2012

Final night at Utooni. Tomorrow we will debrief and head back to Nairobi. More updates will come when we have power and wifi.

Unfortunately we are scared to charge the computer here. We may have melted a converter. All is well. No MCC Computers were harmed. But we wont take any chances.

Another Trivia Question: Who do you think the biggest card shark in the group is?

A game for all our readers

**Here at Utooni we are divided into boys room, girls room, and the 2 couples rooms.

Picture this… Mosquito nets folded nicely, beds made, suitcases packed and zipped nicely on their beds, and all waiting patiently 15 minutes early for everyone to get up for breakfast.

Now picture this… At that same time,  the alarm clock coos. Mosquito nets dishevlled, beds unkempt, suitcases messy as things are strewn about in search of a semi-clean t-shirt to wear for the day. They stumble into the courtyard for breakfast.

Guess which room is which? 

Water is Life

In Canada, water is a necessity for showers, washing clothes and dishes, and even our vehicles.

In Kenya, water is life.  With water, crops grow, animals survive, food can be made and cooked, clothes can be washed, and yes, vehicles can be washed.  In most of the villages we’ve passed through, at least on the highway, there’s been a large black water tank with a car wash sign on it.  I’ve seen many cars, motorcycles, and even a bicycle being washed.  Considering what a precious commodity water is, I’m surprised by the number of carwashes I’ve seen, even if they are washing by hand.

On our second day at Utooni, as we toured several sand dam projects, we met a group of women and children getting water upstream of a sand dam.  They told us the sand dam and resulting stable water source, made their life easier because their multiple trips to get water each day took significantly less time.  As we spoke to the women, several groups of livestock came down to the riverbed to be watered, also taking advantage of a water source that’s now always there.

As we have driven to and from the sand dams, we have seen children carrying water on their walk to school.  We’ve seen women carrying 20 L of water on their backs, held by a strap around their head.  We’ve also seen donkeys loaded down with jerry cans of water, making their way from a water hole or tank, their minders following behind

People in Kenya, at least in the rural area around Kola, where Utooni Development Organization is based, devote a large part of every day, to getting water.  They know that without water, crops die, animals become emaciated, there is no food to prepare, and clean clothes don’t matter.  They understand that without water, there is no life.

Judy Epp

Side By Side

March 28

As we pulled up to the site for our first day of work we experienced a greeting that I don’t think any of us will ever forget or experience again. We heard the singing and the shouting and as we filed out of the vehicles we saw the dancing and the joy on their faces. They surrounded us with hugs and smiles and a few of us couldn’t help but join in, well attempt to anyways. According to the video footage our dancing was not very good but we sure had fun. They were so happy to see us and have us come and show an interest in what they were doing and be willing to help.  And we were excited to be there.

The tasks for the day included carrying bags of sand, passing rocks and bucket of water, shoveling sand, mixing cement and passing cement up to fill the forms. I can’t speak for everyone but I loved the work. It did not matter what language you spoke, where you came from or who you were, we were working together for a common goal. Although we did not always know what we were doing or how to do it properly, I think we managed to do not too bad (even though there was some laughter from the locals).

The part I loved most about today was the side by side, whether it was dancing, working or laughing; we were together for it. We could share a smile as we passed a rock or laughter at nearly sloshing cement all over your neighbor.  I did not have the heartfelt conversations with people but personally I think the smiles and laughter mean just as much. It was genuine joy.

Teigan Fehr

Mwethya

For me the word of the trip so far was been Mwethya. Mwethya is the kikamba word for working together as a community on a common task and it is one of the core parts of the Utooni philosophy. Building sand dams doesn’t start when the shovels start flying or when Utooni shows up. Rather, they start when the community comes together and forms a self-help group to address their common problems.  It seems that the news of Sand Dams travels by mouth and are so popular that Utooni has a 5 year waiting list of groups that have approached them wanting to build a sand dam.  Utooni is strict about how the process works. It is not about building a sand dam as efficiently as possible. It is about the community coming together and working together to make their community a better place.   There are many wonderful things about how Utooni works but for me the real highlight has been the opportunity to see Mwethya in action.  We got to see women’s pride in having been part of building the sand dam that has dramatically reduced the distance that they have to go to get water. We came across a large group of community members digging terraces like they do every Tuesday and looking like they were having a great time while doing it. It sounded more like a social occasion than a day at work despite the fact they had been working since early in the morning.    To me, however, today was really the time the idea of Mwethya came together as our group worked together with the community group on a sand dam.  It was exciting to see hundreds of people working together passing rocks up and down hills, moving sand, shoveling cement…. There were many people from young school children to old women all coming together from their everyday lives to work for the good of their community.  I thoroughly enjoyed joining in to the line-ups and experiencing working as one to accomplish daunting tasks like moving a huge pile of rocks down the hill in a surprisingly short period of time.   It has struck me that us being here is part of the Mwethya that is already occurring.  It really feels like we are here representing all the Canadians that are concerned with the lives of Kenyans and all the people who have given money for these projects. This is a great responsibility for us and is also a great honour. It also makes me wonder what we else we can accomplish together. What could we accomplish if groups of people back home gave up one day a week for the betterment of our communities?  Where are the other places that the global community can come together in a constructive way?  And how can we make working together quite as joyful as working here?

Cara Baergen

Laughing and Learning together!

Thanks for following our Blog everyone!! Right now we're sitting in the dark with headlamps writing this post, so that might give you a sense of how hard it is to get internet. We'll update as we're able. Sorry there's no pictures!
Just a clarification... No one almost got kicked out at the airport. We were just all being silly and having fun and some got a look from an airport guard. Apologies from those adults who were encouraging said behavior.
All is well and good. We have a great group and are having such a wonderful time laughing and learning together.

March 27, 2012

Today was a day that started early and was designed to be memorable. We saw three sand dams in various stages of maturation, got a brief chance to shovel out a terrace, shook some hands, climbed some rocks and said things like, “No seriously, I don’t feel car sick.” It was a full day and in all of this rushing and seeing one event struck with particular force.

I’m a teacher and I teach grade four at Menno Simons Christian School. Schools are an environment that I’ve been in for almost as long as I can remember. I’m at a point now where schools are basically my native habitat so when we were invited to go and check one out I was…tired. But that was because I had gotten up super early. Beyond that I was curious. Sand dams and farms are interesting but schools are where I work, where I spend most of my time. This was going to be something that I could relate to in ways more numerous and direct.

Menno Simons Christian School has made it a habit to participate in MCC’s School Kit Initiative. That is a lesson I’ve taught and a program that I’ve helped my students to be a part of. Intellectually, I’ve always understood it. I’ve always liked the idea behind the program, MCC’s planning and educational component to the program and the actual process of collecting and collating school supplies. This morning I saw those supplies again. They were in their intended home.

They were in boxes in the school’s main office. They were unassuming, neatly stacked and some of them were open. They had MCC Alberta stenciled across the side. 

These were the kits that I had talked to my class about. These were the supplies that were going to help the teachers to teach and the students to learn. There they were, a bridge between my classroom and theirs. The bridge that the kids in my school helped to build.

The impact was surprisingly visceral and affecting. There is a divide between intellectual understanding and true appreciation.  Appreciation cannot exist without understanding but the opposite is need not necessarily be true. I understood and I still do, but now I can also appreciate.

I’ve seen the bridge and while I may never have a chance to cross it, at least now I can truly appreciate that it’s there.

Theo Weibe