Site visits in Western Kenya

Western Kenya...Obama Country (as it now commonly referred to). I spent three weeks here doing follow-up visits with 3 groups of women who had attended the African Women and Water Conference.

Interesting rocks. There is a local legend here that these rocks have a spring that never never stops flowing and that has amazing healing powers.

The rice paddies of Kenya...it was like being home in the Philippines.


Felix, my traveling companion for this trip, dancing with the orphan girls who prepared a special presentation for our visit (complete with two songs about Obama).

Juice (pronounced "ju-eece" here in Kenya) made from Verbena they are growing in their women's project garden.

House of Ghetto. This is the Kenyan version of a movie theatre. There is a TV inside and an odd assortment of wooden benches and plastic chairs and they charge as entrance fee and play anything from the news to football games and movies.

Oh I love the constant availability of avocados here!

Using the Tippy Tap the women's group has set up for demostration.

Rolling chappati dough.

Felix's adorable cousin playing racket guitar. I was entertained by him and his sisters for 3 hours straight! Running skills, songs, poems, drawings, dances...they were nonstop.

Anybody know a 5th grader in another country that wants a penpal? The beauty in orange is desperately seeking one. She wants to be a neurosurgeon when she grows up. Her sister wants to be a gynecologist. Why such specific aspirations you may ask? Well, their teacher told them that neurosurgeons have good hands and that gynecologists get to deliver babies.

Anybody? Huh?

Taking little sister for a ride.

Bubbles! Pure joy and excitement from this crowd.

I could have stood out and played with these kids all day; I always attract quite a crowd of little people but with the simple joy of bubbles my popularity increased imediately!

Walking through the market I asked curiously, "what do people do with these rocks?" "They chew on them." Yes, people-especially pregnant women-eat these because they believe they are a good source of iron for their diet.

Kind of a "Where's Waldo" scene!

I learned about cotton farming, something I had never seen before.

The creativity and resourcefulness of people here is outstanding. They now have a proper latrine.

Seline Osian, a participant from the Women and Water Conference and solar cooker extraordinaire!

The beautiful women of Katito, Kenya listening to a presentation about water and hygiene.

Felix making new friends.

The women's group in Katito wanted to show us how they grind maize.

Good day for solar cooking!

The women came up to the road to greet us, singing and dancing.

A Hammercop and drying laundry.

Access to water (not to mention clean water that is not from a river being shared by cows) is an unusually hard challenge in Kendu Bay.

Vivian and I sitting on the shore of Lake Victoria.

Um...this water looks healthy don't you think?

Kingfisher getting ready to dive.

Kitui Site Visit

African Women and Water Conference participants Jeniffer and Priscah-the amazing women of Kamanyi village in Kitui, a dry region southeast of Nairobi. These women are the epitome of your small town, model community members. Jeniffer is a teacher and Priscah is a business woman. They are key members of the Tei Wa Wo community based organization, leaders in the church, board members for other local organizations, and they are helping to establish a polytechnic school for young girls to help learn sewing and other income generating skills. I had a wonderful week staying with them in their community, watching them implement their new water project. They installed gutters and storage tanks at a school and a clinic and the day after they completed it started to rain! They are now selling the water to their community, saving to install more community rainwater harvesting systems.

Done with the shopping for rainwater harvesting materials and ready to head back to the village (a 3 hour, dusty, bumpy ride hugging the new plastic water tank).


Feeling like a celebrity! People in Kitui were very excited to have ther picture taken with me.


Almost an African woman what with my new clothes and little friend!


The Kitui ladies took it upon themselves to see I have proper clothes to wear in Africa.


The amazing ladies of Kamanyi Primary School (heading to fetch water at the river for the school garden and kitchen).


"Dear God, help me to be number one or two AMEN" Exams are a particularly stressful part of education in Kenya. Almost weekly there are stories on the TV news or in the newspapers about national exams. Last fall the stress of exams led to student strikes, violence and vandalism at many secondary schools. The pressure to perform well and the implications it has for their futures is intense. At the home I was staying at in Kamanyi, my little host brother woke up at 2:00 am to study by candlelight before going to school! For 2 weeks straight he did this!


School lunch



Collard greens was the main course every night of my visit, served with chapatti or ugali and milk tea.

And I was tutored nightly on how to properly prepare and cook Kenyan food (this was done simultaneously with my Kikamba language lessons-this is my little teacher and whew she was tough!).

Here I am, working in the office trying to escape the sweltering heat!

Amazing sky! This was a welcome sight, as it had been 8 months since it had last rained.

There aren't words to describe this beautiful little girl! Her smile says it all!

Tei Wa Wo community group member with her adorable son.

The short bus! Only passes through the village twice a day to transport people to and from Kitui town 3 hours away.

Main street Kamanyi

Yes, it's amazing, the white woman knows how to roll chapattis!

This is how it started...you can see from above that I attracted quite a crowd.

These two gentlemen are fantastic! They are members of Tei Wa Wo and volunteered their time to help install two rainwater harvesting systems for the local clinic and primary school.

Yum, chapatti!

Local restaurant

What a face!

Bicycles are a common sight in Kamanyi and the women are quite mobile on them. They ride into the village center, to the farms, to church...it's amazing how this simple addition to thier lives makes such a difference. In Kamanyi a bicycle has become a household spending priority.

Pounding maize

It's a different version of writing on the bathroom stalls

And a nice greeting when I arrived back in Nairobi!