Out of Kenya and into the Developed Motherland

Goede Morgen

After an unconscious flight from Nairobi last night, I arrived in Holland this morning and met my cousin Dim, who then took me to my great Ome Gerrit's. Ome Gerrit is brother to my Opa, so today we drove around Holland and saw Barneveld, Pijnacker and areas where they grew up. Not only did I begin to discover my roots today but I got a full blown shot of the developed world. As beautiful as dear Holland is, I'm finding it a wee bit boring in contrast to the vibrant, energetic, almost chaotic streets of Kenya. Is that heresy?

I didn't believe my body could become so climatized or I guess unclimatized in the time I've been in Kenya. It is minus 2 here and I feel like I can't move. I feel like crying like African babies do when they're a tiny bit cold (which always astounded me in all my sweat). I am fearing Alberta a lot right now, but I'll try to not be an African baby. The cold however does make me feel like it is in fact Christmastime.

I am so excited to be here and then go home to my friends and family on Friday but I feel a real longing to be back in Kenya, and I don't think it will ever really go away. As down-right frustrating and inconvenent as the place could be, I found myself living a life there that made me feel rather complete. That sounds a bit extreme, but I learned to love my Swhilli rafikis more than expected.

Reverting back to something so far from whatever that was won't be easy. But hey, no one said it would be, and once again, why do we always go around looking for things that will be easy? Idolotry of comfort as my Dad puts it, is scary and real everywhere. In Kenya, like every country, it's absolutely sick how rich and getting richer the people are who live not a five minute walk away from a slum. No water, electircity, toilets, clothes... the even sicker thing is that these people have deliberately stolen from the poor. Perhaps they pose as Mother Theresa and say all the right things in order to get donor money. Once the money comes, they set things up in such a way that the donors could come at any time and be convinced that the vulnerable people are being reached. Donors are easily convinced during their 1-3 day visits and don't take the time or or do the proper research to realize what's really going on.

At first I was really excited and rather shocked by how many people approached me with projects and ideas for eliminating poverty. They would be incredibly persuasive and overwhelmingly excited about the imporatance of their idea and how I was the one who was brought to them by God to 'help' them with this project. It happened countess times, a few I felt were genuine, but many, I am convinced, and I learned to see, were well-planned-out tactics for their personal wealth. I hate sounding this bitter, but I have seen and heard of such things happening far more often than I feel comfortable with. It is very sad what people will do, or have been brought to understand they can do, to succeed. It's not the fault of one side or the other, but this whole business is not as simple and straight forward as it can seem.

I've become a wee bit more cynical than I expected, but I haven't lost hope. There are things that scare the heck out of me about this kind of work, yet I hope to come back to it soon.

I was able to visit a bit with CRWRC and see some good people working together on projects like their well project. CRWRC makes a point of raising funds for fresh water wells for village people but don't build them until 10% of the well cost is raised by the community. Though it may take years and people continue to die from drity water, it is crucial that the community raises the money so that the well belongs to them and this sense of ownership ensures that the well will be maintained by those who seriously invested in it in the first place.

My last week in Kenya was nice. I was able to see Mombasa/the coast, catch up with and meet friends/students, hear about good projects, meet CRWRC folks, fish and swim in the warm Indian Ocean, reflect on my time in Kisumu and maybe mentally prepare for home...

I am incredibly greatful for this experience and now must look forward to trying to really articulate ...