Kisumu, Day One

The plane ride to Kisumu took only 45 minutes in the air. We deplaned (what a silly word) and headed off to our hotel with our World Neighbors contact, Quiresh. After checking in we headed out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed a fine meal, with far more than we could all eat. Very full, we headed to bed early, knowing that the next day would be a long day in the field.

FOCODED

At 9am, we assembled in the hotel lobby with Quiresh and met Daniel, a government official from the KARI office (KARI is an agricultural development organization). We all piled into a van and headed off down the road to FOCODED (a community organization) which was about an hour or so down the road toward Nairobi. When we arrived we were escorted into a concrete building. We were introduced to all of the project members (Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Health supervisor etc.) and Martha, Victoria and I introduced ourselves too. Quiresh then quickly outlined how the project operated within the World Neighbors structure and handed the floor over to the Secretary (president) of FOCODED, Eddie.

Eddie started his presentation by telling us of all of the successful initiatives that the project had undertaken. These included some agroforestry and water quality projects as well as the livestock with which the community had won first prize in a regional competition. After the presentation we went with the FOCODED staff to the areas where they were currently undertaking some initiatives.

The first stop along the way was to a gully that had been created as a result of deforestation induced erosion. These gullies were greater than sixty feet deep and some were decades old. They demolished roads, consumed vital crop lands and completely changed the landscape. The good news is that the community has recognized that the cause is linked to deforestation and has come together to plant trees all over the area to reduce the growth of the gullies.
Another initiative to reduce the impact of gullies is the introduction of natural fencing. Instead of using cut timber and wire as fences, the community is starting to use hedges. The addition of the live fencing also contributes to mitigation of gully creation because of their root structure.

The degree of erosion in the gullies is largely controlled by the amount of water that runs off of the surrounding hills. In an attempt to curb the flow rate of these waters (especially during flood times) dams have been created in strategic places in the community. The dams pool water during flooding times and reduce stream velocity. Further, they allow silt to settle which can further cause erosion. Even more, the dams incorporate chicken coops, which sit over the water to allow chicken droppings to fall into the water. The droppings provide nutrients to fish which the dams are stocked with. Lastly, the communities have started to collect water during flood times to provide water to small vegetable gardens. These gardens are then able to feed a few families in the community.

After seeing all of the projects that were being undertaken to mitigate the erosion, we went a bit further through the community (Our van getting stuck only once on the ‘roads’ we were on) and came to a meeting of the community elders. Everyone in the room introduced themselves and explained where they were from. It turned out that not only were there elders from the tribe where the erosion was happening present, but also the elders of the tribe from the hills where the water was coming. The meeting was an effort to look at all of the ways that the tribes in attendance could work together to help one another. It was really neat to meet everyone and see how they were finding innovative ways to cooperate. After a few speeches everyone shook hands, and we headed back to our van.

The next stop was about fifteen minutes down the road to an example farm where one of the FOCODED executives lived. The farm was used as a model for members of the community to visit during training sessions so that they could see a real example of sustainable living.

On the property were goats that were kept in pens and fed hay clippings (livestock traditionally graze aimlessly), kitchen gardens to feed the household, trees planted in the gully on the property (which were banana and mango trees for more food, bonus!), a fish pond down by the river that flowed by the end of the property, bamboo trees that were grown for leafy cattle feed, a water point for filtered water and also a variety of mango tree that they were able to splice with apples to create a more hearty fruit.

It was inspiring, seeing all of the projects that were ongoing in this one farm. Clearly a huge amount of work had gone into making all of this a reality. If all of the community was able to follow this example then major strides would be made to decrease the environmental issues facing the community as well as generate wealth.

Respa
Crossing the road (which is always treacherous in Kenya), we walked up a short hill to a house that was owned by a woman name Respa. Respa is a widowed woman living with HIV/AIDS. After her husband died she was left with nothing and had little to carry on with. However, she was able to start small farm raising a few chickens and growing enough food to keep herself afloat. Eventually, she was able to expand her operation to have many chickens and enough food to start buying goats to produce milk to consume and sell.

However, in an incredible act of selfishness men from the community came into her farm one night and stole all of the chickens, because she was a single woman with HIV/AIDS. What a truly despicable act. Having no other option though, Respa started again and was able to restore her farm to its previous status. After members of the community found out about the theft on her farm they made sure that the theft would happen again by making it known that her land is not to be tampered with. Another amazing fact about this woman? It is her goat that won first prize in Kisumu.

While we were looking at her goats, chickens and vegetables I asked her if it would be alright for me to take a photo of her. She agreed on the condition that she got a copy and after organizing with Quiresh we came to an arrangement. Here is my photo, Respa. What a courageous spirit. We left soon after and when our van came by we said our goodbyes to the FOCODED team and Daniel, Quiresh, Martha, Victoria and I left to get some lunch.

We had lunch in the local village and our options were chicken, or fish (tilapia from Lake Victoria). No menu, just the two options. We were happy to be out of the heat though and enjoy a few cold Cokes (it was really hot outside, by the way). While Vic and I had chicken the rest had the fish. Martha wasn’t that hungry though when the food came, so after some coaxing, I tried a bit of the local delicacy. While I normally detest fish I decided that I should at least try and I’m glad I did! The fish was actually pretty good, and although the chicken meal would have left me a bit hungry, the fish was perfect to top me up.

Upper Catchment
After lunch we drove to our last stop of the day which was at the top of the hill where the water catchment area is. As we climbed up the road we passed by many tea plantations that were the local cash crop and sold to multinational corporations. We also passed by a few towns where people had gathered to grab drinks and get some shade from the heat. Many of the kids we passed stared into the van as we went by, having seen few Mezungus (white persons) before. We waved to everyone and mostly, everyone waved back.



At the top of the climb we got out and Daniel lead us on a hike through the bush (I gathered many scrapes on my arms from the dense thorn bushes we had to pass through) and after a while we emerged the ‘the rock.’ The rock was a pretty stellar lookout point where we could see all of the surrounding communities and all of the locations downstream where the gullies had formed. Naturally, as a photographer I grabbed a few snaps.




After ‘the rock’ we headed back to our van fearing that we were going to get caught in the rain that the ominous cracks of thunder were promising. We were about 100m from the van when the skies opened up. We got pretty wet, while scrambling to back to the van. We drove back down the hill (snapping pictures at the vistas that lined the roads) and headed back to Kisumu. On the way we stopped at Hippo point on the shore of Lake Victoria and watched the sunset.



When we were finally back at the hotel, we had dinner and relaxed, tired from a really long day. We opted for another early night as we had more projects to visit the following day with ICRAF.