Two Million Shillings in Five Minutes

This morning was back to the office for us. Being Tino’s last day before his holiday, we started with a meeting. In the middle of the meeting, as Tino is browsing through e-mails he starts laughing. We ask him what is so funny. He just shakes his head telling us that the Director General of icipe just asked him to reschedule his holiday due to some meetings. To make things clear, his flight, he purchased five months ago, was leaving that night. Sarah and I tried to muffle our laughs. As Tino said, “Nothing about this place surprises me anymore.”

Our morning was spent transcribing the five hours of interviews we had with the farmers. What it really consisted of was me playing the recording whenever Sarah told me to, along with rewinding and replaying sections. After a question was answered and she had caught everything said, she would put it in English and I would type it out. The work was tedious and will continue to be next week. However, every minute detail is very important for our analysis. We continued with this throughout the day. By four, we had only gotten 45 minutes translated. I guess besides learning Geographic Information Systems and finishing an online course about food insecurity, I know how our time will be spent.

After lunch I went to visit with Fabian, just to clarify when I am leaving for my next field gathering trip and being briefed on his experiment. Each morning I run around the compound. The lap is about half of a mile so I end up running in quite a few circles. I’ve really wanted to go out and run in the streets with a group. Fabian must have been talking to someone I mentioned that to because he inquired about my speed. Thinking he meant how fast I run my races, I told him my race times. He looked at me shocked, as if I run fast. I think there was some confusion that those were my fastest times. He said he was a little slower but asked if I would like to join him after lunch one day. Of course I said yes. Monday will be the real test; he said we will go seven kilometers. He will also soon find out I’m actually not fast at all.

This evening I went to a benefit dinner for Little Prince Primary School with Vivian. Vivian doesn’t work on my project but I met her through the other girls. After I changed into something to look semi-presentable, considering I didn’t bring clothes for any fancy dinner, we left for her house to pick up her son. On our way, Vivian explained the Kenyan schooling system. There are public schools, for any student. There are semi-private schools, where students have a pay a minimal fee and these schools are usually associated with a church organization. Then there are private schools, usually international schools funded only by the people who go there. I found it interesting that no matter which school children go to, they have to pay the price of a uniform—northing is free. Vivian’s husband is the head master at Little Prince. Little Prince is a semi-private catholic school for children of the Kibera slum. Kibera slum is the second largest slum in Africa. The school was founded to provide children a chance to learn skills that would help them succeed and move beyond poverty. Parents have to apply for their children to go to Little Prince. Only 300 students are admitted for grades 1-8. The school was opened in 2000 and the whole project sounded really inspiring.

We arrived at Vivian’s house and her son, four-year-old Damian, welcomed us when pulling in. He was so excited to see his mom, and quite a little ball of energy. I waited in their home as Vivian got ready, trying to talk to Damian in what words he understood. Having just entered pre-school, he has only been speaking English for two years. He told me about “Cars” the movie. Vivian says he watches it weekly. I also asked him about school and what he learned there. Being a typical child, he wanted nothing to do with talking about school.

The benefit dinner was held at a Country Club. As any Country Club in America, this place was quite similar. The landscaping was flawless, the architecture was beautiful, and honestly, I didn’t feel as if I was in Kenya. It was hard to believe that surrounding the gates of the area is some of the most impoverished places in the world. My dinner was 2,500 shillings, about $30. The most I’ve paid for anything since being here. I figured the money was going to a good cause and the food would be good. The diversity in the dining area was remarkable. I bet among all the people there, over forty countries were represented. I took a seat, shaking hands and meeting people as they came up. The food was some of the best I’ve had in Kenya. It was kind of a failed attempt at Italian cuisine, but I finally got some cheese in my food, something I dearly miss from America. There was mango pizza, something new and different, but it wasn’t too bad. The food was so good I asked Vivian if it would be considered rude to get some more. She laughed and said, “Of course not. There are no rules in Kenya.” I probably was viewed as the American shoveling food into my mouth but doing so was worth it.

A video was played about Little Prince. I find it amazing how a school can change and rally such a community to work together. Such an example shows the true power of education. Vivian explained to me how most of the children only come to school, not to learn, but to get fed. Living in the slums, their only meal each day may be the lunch they receive at school. A well-known Indian philanthropist, made a presentation of 500,000 shillings to the school. He then rallied people to keep contributing. He would point directly at tables and people he knew had a lot of money, to contribute. With his persuasion, in five minutes 2 million shillings had been raised. That money will provide lunches for the children for two years. I felt out of place with all the millionaires around me. It is fantastic they are giving their money to such a great cause and see the power children have in the future, but I’m not sure if I will ever have the money to do the same. I think I will stick with what I have and contribute manually, through helping in ways I can.

 
Older students of the school attended the benefit dinner to say thank you. They are now successful members of the community, most graduating from high school this year and going to college. A hand drawn picture was placed on each seat as well. Their thanks made me want to help even more. Hopefully I will be able to visit Little Prince in the coming weeks. After dinner, there were raffles and a movie for entertainment. After that a lot of mingling and talking occurred. I was sitting with Vivian and a man came up to me. In Kenya, one shakes each person’s hand as a way of greeting one another. He shook my hand and asked me how my work was. Thinking he was someone I had met at icipe, I told him it was good. (I meet so many new people daily it is often hard to keep them straight.) He then asked me about my married life. Immediately, I said it was great and I was happy with a huge smile on my face. I wanted nothing to do with this guy. He walked away. Haha. Damian picked flowers off of the bushes to bring to his mother. Being the sweet little boy he is, he brought me some as well. I wonder how the landscapers of the country club feel about that. My ride home was with the man in charge of most of the event since he was taking Tommy, the Italian guy staying at icipe, back as well. This man, although from Italy, must have lived in Kenya for too long as he definitely had no sense of time. I think Tommy and I waited for over an hour. When he finally took us back he quizzed me the whole way about not only what I was doing in Kenya but American politics. He made it clear he was not a fan of Obama and kept inquiring about my opinion. It is so interesting how the world has so much interest in American politics, but most Americans have absolutely no idea what is even going on.