Kenyan Journey

In the midst of the normal pressures of the life of a writer and amateur musician – the sales campaigns, the script meetings, the deadlines, the need for an audience, the rehearsals, the gigs, the practising – there is a regular, steady commitment which differs from the rest. This is the role of editor of a newsletter – for New Ways, the charity I’ve been involved with for the best part of 30 years.

My involvement was initially simply attending fundraisers – an annual ball, being the prime example – but extended when a sponsored bike ride in the Kenyan section of the Rift Valley was mooted. I resisted, having largely given up the bike when I passed my driving test many years before, but the organiser and Angela, the charity CEO, were both friends, and friends who were not going to accept the answer ‘no’. So I was committed, put in the hours of training (much needed and not quite as much as I could have done with as it turned out) and found myself on two wheels cycling from Nyeri to Kisumu, a steep learning curve in every sense of the word. The week ended with a life changing trip north to Turkana, where most of the work supported by the charity took place and a less well-judged evening in a Nairobi club where many of us fell foul of the ‘don’t drink the water’ rule and suffered as a result. I was back again two years later and found myself hooked, not least when Angela was looking for a new newsletter editor.

So now, all these years later, I am still editing, still part of the comms team, and still committed. This week I have been writing copy for the newsletter due to be released later in the month and the subject matter bears repeating. I’m looking at the rather different situation in the nursery school provision in two areas in Turkana - not terribly far apart in the scheme of things but at different stages of development. Nursery provision is one of the central planks of the work supported by New Ways and is linked to better nutrition, access to water, better opportunities for the girls, and the women they will become, and more. So, important, valuable.

In the schools based around the Nariokotome area the nursery schools have been going long enough for parents to feel the benefit, for better buildings to be provided, for qualified staff to be hired, and for demand for more places to be felt. In Lobur, by contrast, the work to create this state of affairs is still being done. Schools met in multi-purpose buildings, staff are typically not qualified and there is a tendency for parents to send their children only when they feel the need – especially in times of drought when the food provided is a life saver. To further complicate the picture, the schools in the Lobur area are very spread with many miles to travel between them and that puts pressure on time, but also on funds, not least now, when oil prices are high. It’s clear that both areas are providing a great service, at different stages of development. In a call with the people running the projects recently I was reminded again of the huge positive impact of the nursery schools.

This also reminded me of the lessons I brought away with me when I visited Turkana, among them the value of working with, and sharing knowledge and expertise with, the local people; the impact of improved access to water, improved nutrition, and of early years education. Underpinning all this was the experience of spending time with people living a far simpler life, with far fewer possessions, people facing the pressures of alternating drought and flood, competition for land and water, and generally a much more challenging environment. Despite all these differences they were hospitable, and lived with, and shared, both joy and dignity – and that was the biggest lesson.

While on the first of these bike rides I committed to writing a poem a day, and produced a pamphlet of them with photos by one of the other riders. One of those poems is below,

Turkana

Happy to welcome 
donors and visitors,
Turkanas are friendly 
and greet us with dance.

And we’re strangely humbled, 
fish out of water, 
happy and grateful 
that we have the chance
to visit these people, 
to gain some more insight 
into the needs 
of this arid land.

The answer is water, 
drilling for water, 
conserving water, 
and building stone dams.

We visit the projects
We’re moved by the children.
We’re moved that the adults 
bless us with thanks.

We fly out that evening,
receivers and visitors,
discussing Turkana.
Remembering the dance