May 31, 2009 Stories

Veronica:

Veronica’s story is the “Poster Child” of the tragedy and struggle to survive that we as donors gladly support. She is 38 years old. She lived in Eldoret with her husband, 7 children and two relatives when the post election violence turned her world upside down. One night during the post election violence rioters set their house on fire. Everyone tried to flee. Later she learned that her husband along with her oldest child and the relatives had burned to death in the fire.

I met Veronica in the Lodwar IDP camp. What caught my eye were the five little children that were following her around. I asked to take pictures of her family and then her “hut”. Even though she has been through so much tragedy she presents herself as confident and going forward with her life and doing what she can to provide for her family.

The government of Kenya gave each IDP (Internally Displaced Person) family the equivalent of $125 for food and to start life over. Veronica spent $100 on food and cooking utensils, soap, and other essentials and invested the remaining $25 in a fish retailing business. She bought fish in Lodwar and sent them to a friend in Kitale who sold the fish at a profit. But when the friend wired the money back via a cell-phone wire service the wrong code was entered and the money went into a different account. She had lost her investment.

Those kinds of set backs do not stop her from being helpful in any way that she can be. Even though she is not a paid distribution assistant she helps out voluntarily anyway. She moves 110 lb bags of maize and split peas as good as any man she works with. My heart goes out to people like her and I pray that someday God will bless her and provide her what she and her family need.



Margret Akoru:

Margret is not a displaced person nor is she receiving relief, but her story still needs to be told. Margret grew up and lives in Lokichar. She is the Headmaster of the local Christian School which is part of the RCEA. There are 470 students and 11 teachers. That is an average class size of 43 students per teacher. The boys make up 60% of the students girls 40%. In Turkana girls are a sign of potential wealth that parents might have when the girl marries and the groom pays an expensive dowry to the bride’s parents. A girl with education has no more potential value than a girl without education. There is no advantage for a girl to be educated.

Margret stated that for each person receiving aid there are three people not receiving aid. I asked Margret about people starving in the camps. She estimated that 50 people starved to death in Lokichar in 2008.

A teacher’s salary is about 144,000 Kenyan Schillings per year, $1,800 or $150 per month which is $1.00 per hour. With this money Margret helps meet the needs of her family and also gives money to support her mother.

Margret’s brother is a minister and the General Secretary of the Reformed Church of East Africa (RCEA). Margret is educated with a college degree she is the School Headmaster (Principal), a member of the committee for beneficiary selection and food distribution and a prominent member of the community. There are people who grow up in humble circumstances who go on to make something of their lives and give back to their communities. This is a side of side of Africa that we do not often see in the news or books.


Christin Akoreter:

Christin’s parents are of the Turkana tribe. They migrated from Turkana to Eldoret where the Kalenjin tribe is, for opportunities to work as casual labor; farm workers, security guards, etc. Christin was born and grew up in Eldoret. On January 17, 2008 during the post election violence her uncle paid for bus fare for her to leave Eldoret. Christin was from the wrong tribe to be in Eldoret. Her man was of the local tribe she was not and had to flee for the safety of herself and their six children.

I asked her what the food we were distributing meant to her. She said “It is my life”. In the morning Christin and her children eat porridge for breakfast. It is a common breakfast. The corn is ground into flour. To have the corn ground into flour they exchange 4.4 pounds of the 110 pound bag for the whole bag to be ground.

For breakfast the flour is boiled and served in a very thin soup that is called porridge. They do not normally have a noon meal, at night they eat their main meal of corn flour which looks like potatoes along with some split peas.

The food we provide lasts about two weeks. When they run out of food Christin uses a machete to cut wood and sell the wood to make money to buy food.

The school age children are fed a noon meal of boiled whole corn and beans.




Beneficiary Diets and Eating Habits:

The corn, split peas and oil that we distribute make up only a 50% ration. That sounds very tough and cruel but there is some hard logic behind the decision making. We do not want the beneficiaries to become dependent on the donated food. I’ve talked to numerous beneficiaries patiently standing in line waiting their turn to receive their ration. The answers to questions I asked were very consistent. The food we distribute lasts about two weeks, even when eating only a light breakfast and no noon meal. Two thirds of the people are under age 18 they are children.

Based on the analysis and summary of over 10,000 surveys we have a picture what the beneficiaries are eating.

Before we started providing food the people were eating less than 1.5 meals per day. After distributions people are eating an average of 2.3 meals per day.

In addition to the corn split peas and vegetable oil people are also eating;
- 90% potatoes, yams, or other root vegetables
- 60% other vegetables
- 50% add salt to their food
- 35% sugar or honey
- 30% some form of dairy product, probably from the local goats

These other foods in their diets come from performing casual when they can find it or cutting and selling wood, making and selling charcoal, setting up little shops where they buy food at stores and sell it to their fellow beneficiaries.

To expand their diets people also barter the corn, peas or oil in exchange for the local potatoes, vegetables and other foods when they are in season. An example one pound of corn can be exchanged for three pounds of potatoes or yams.

Those of us who are of Dutch background sometimes take pride in our penny pinching frugal ways. We could learn from the Turkana how to really make a penny go a long way.


Quotable Quote:

Pastor Samuel Meli is the pastor of two churches; Katilu and Kalimorok. He is everywhere helping us during distributions. His monthly salary is $75.00.

I asked what he saw as the main role of IRMs (International Relief Managers, white) at the distributions. His answer was insightful, he said:

“Just being at the distributions. When representatives of the donor are at the distribution, people believe it will be done fairly. When donor representatives are not present people believe there is corruption.”

Often in the news we see trucks from donor organizations going into refugee camps and just throwing bags out to masses of people who are scrambling over each other to fight for a bag of grain. The strongest and toughest run away with the food. This does not happen at distributions from CGFB or CRWRC.

Another example is of aid organizations going into camps with lots of media people with cameras taking pictures while some people receive 5 pounds of food. Then the media circus is over and everyone leaves. Again this is not what happens with our distributions. We can be thankful to God for blessing our work and aligning us with talented local people who provide such necessary guidance and leadership.

Richard Ekai

Richard is 44 years old. I have seen him before at the distribution at the Katilu village. He’s always smiling and helping people with the heavy grain sacks, 50 kilos = 110 pounds. He is not a paid distribution assistant but he helps anyway.

Before the post election violence of January 2008 he lived near Eldoret with his wife and 8 children. He made and sold charcoal for a living. He had a three bedroom house on a ¼ acre of land. He is proud of what he had, he felt prosperous. His family had a TV, radio, 3 bicycles, 3 dense mattresses. He said one truck would not have been able to carry all his possessions.

Richard’s 15 year old son often slept over night with his friends who were from the Kalenjin tribe. Richard is from the Turkana tribe. One morning Richard learned that during the night his son had been beheaded the “friends” he was staying over night by. Richard’s house and all his possessions were burned. Richard fled with his family to Katilu in Turkana which is where his wife grew up.

In Katilu Richard is trying to put his life back together again. He works as a casual labor in the fields where there is an irrigation system that has canals that divert water from a nearby river. The irrigation project includes over 600 acres and is being expanded to provide irrigated land for more people. Richard hopes to get a plot of land of his own.

I went to the irrigation project. It is beautifully peaceful and quiet to view. There are trails with huge trees covering them with shade. It reminds me of a painting I’ve seen of Jesus walking on a path shaded by very high huge trees, Jesus is shown teaching the disciples as He is walking along the path. There is absolute silence. The fields all have people hoeing and weeding the maize and sorghum. There are many hand water pumps. I came past one pump that was surrounded by large trees and bushes. The pump was on a raised cement platform. There was a group of women and girls who were washing cloths, drawing water to take to their homes, they were talking, laughing and bathing. I sensed that this was a regular daily event that they enjoyed.

Before each distribution there are short speeches that the local minister, and we in the Relief Team make to the large gatherings. The ministers lead in singing and prayer and then we each say a few words. Before I had heard Richard’s story I was telling the crowds that after the August distribution there would be no more distributions in Turkana from CRWRC. I encouraged the people to seek God’s guidance in determining where they could best make a living to support their families. That if they could make a living in Turkana, wonderful. But if they couldn’t earn a living in Turkana then they must think of moving some place else where there is more opportunity.

After hearing Richard’s story and others like it I found it hard to tell them to move away from the security of their tribal homelands and move to where there might be more opportunity. They had tried that and had suffered terribly.

Leaving Kenya by Darlene

Today is Wednesday May 13, and I have 3 more days before I head back to Michigan. The Time went really fast, the work was rewarding, the people we met were awesome and God was so good!

I was able to go on two food distributions, one in the first week of March and the second in the first week of April. The food distribution was the number one reason for us to come here and it will be remembered as the number one reason to be here. Unforgettable images include the faces of starving children picking up every last kernel of corn that has fallen on the ground, and putting it in little plastic bags and carrying it home as a prized possession. The children and the elderly are the most-needy. When they come to you and rub their stomach and say “hungry” and you have nothing to give, those are faces you remember.

We have two more distribution to do during our stay here, We were suppose to do a May distribution from May 4-l0 but things got delayed and Dwayne will now do the May distribution from May 25-30. The June distribution will be held the second week of June. Dwayne will have very competent people helping him but I wish I could help also.

I am looking forward to coming home. I’m eager to see my Children and grandchildren, my house, my yard and flower garden. I’m also ready to worship at our church again. I really miss my friends and the communion of the saints which we enjoy at South Olive.

Thank you for thoughts and prayers during the last several months

Dwayne and Darlene

Nothing is wasted

Pictures of hungry people who are not on the beneficiary list and are picking up the corn that was spilled onto the ground, at first it’s hard to watch. When I first saw corn and peas spilled during the distribution process I talked to a person in charge. I discussed how we might do things differently because I didn’t feel right about food going to waste. But by the end of the distribution as I watched every kernel being picked up I was reminded of the Bible story of Boaz and Ruth when Boaz told his workmen to leave extra grain in the field for the gleaners who would follow the harvesters and pick up anything that was left behind. But it was still hard to watch little children and aged women down in the dirt scooping up handfuls of sand and sorting through it to get every kernel.

Measuring at Distribution

The beneficiaries themselves divide up the food and oil after they receive it. They carry the maize and oil to an uncrowded area and divide it according to their family size. The larger the family, the more food they receive. The oil is not given by family size; each family must divide a geri can of oil, which once it is divided is about 6 cups per family. This oil will maybe last them two weeks depending how much they use each day. Oil is very precious for the cooking of their food and is divided very carefully. The pictures show them dividing the oil and maize; we know that if the Kenyans themselves divide the food and oil the measurements will be accurate and fair.

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Gas costs $3.75 per gallon.

An oil change costs $175.00 – we had it done last week on the truck

Driving in Kenya is an altogether different experience. It works in a very different way. Nairobi has an estimated population of 4,000,000 people. There are only a very few traffic lights and no road signs (stop or yield) in all of Nairobi. It is almost unusual to hear people blowing horns. Main roads have right of way over smaller roads and you watch how fast vehicles are coming. Basically the first person to an intersection has the right-of-way. If you want to merge onto a road that has bumper to bumper traffic you just ease the corner of your bumper between cars and go. Everybody assumes that who ever has his vehicle, even just a corner of his vehicle, in front of you then you have the right-of-way. It works surprisingly well. People also let people through when you have to turn across lanes. People are very polite drivers in ways that would never happen in the USA. Space is also very different. Instead of cars being a few feet away from each other the space here is in inches. It can be a little un-nerving when you first start to drive but it all works because everyone understands the un-written “code of the road” when driving.

People are much more patient here. Chris, the Kenyan man that we work with, has a good way of saying things. He said “North Americans may come with the Fruit-of-the-Spirit called Patience but it does not truly mature until they have been in Africa for a while”.

In America we know that we have problems, especially now. But people in Kenya have a tendency to think that everything in America is very good. A teenager approached me and said “take me to America”. Kenyans view of America comes from Hollywood. They think we have lots of material things but that we all have broken homes and don’t have close relationships in our families. They say that they are surprised when American talk about their families because they assume that we don’t put much value on families. Families are very important to Kenyans. If a member of your family; parents, siblings, nephews or nieces are having difficult times then it is assumed other family members will help out. It is expected. Brothers and sisters help out other siblings when one of them needs money to go to college. It is expected to be the norm. If God blesses you then it is expected that you are required to be a blessing to others. Parents expect that when they grow old that their children will take care of them if they need it. This is one of the reasons that there are very few rest homes for the elderly in Kenya.

I asked one woman that received grain at a distribution what the grain meant to her. She said “It is life to me”. She meant that with out the grain we were distributing she and her four children would not be able to eat.

I ask what people eat each day. One woman said that in the morning her family eats a thin soup of corn flour in water. She doesn’t eat any lunch. Her children eat lunch at school which we were told comes from the USA for school lunches, it is a whole corn soup with some onions in it. At night she eats a thicker soup of corn flour and water.

There are probably thousands of different perspectives and my impressions will probably change with time.