~ Amanda Heads East ~

Music Festival Prep!

2010-07-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday July 12 to Thursday July 22
Day 42 to 52
Quote of the week: TIA. This is Africa

The big day for our marketing event, the Fiti Yogurt Music Festival, was supposed to be Friday July 16th. Jackel, Kinleigh, and Emily came back from safari on Monday and we had 4 days left to finish organizing everything. But...on Tuesday we found out that there was going to be a YES campaign for the August 4th constitutional referendum on the same day and at the same location as our event! We only had one option. We had to change the date of our event. We couldn't change the location because there was no way that we could compete with a political event. The YES campaign would draw much more attention than anything else.

The proposed new constitution is a big step for Kenya and I am so happy that I was there for such an important and memorable historic event :) All across Kenya there were YES and NO campaigns leading up to the big day with people wearing red and green everywhere! In Oyugis, everyone was in support of the new constitution decked out in green YES t-shirts and hats. Almost all Kenyans from the Luo tribe were in support of the constitution partly because the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, is Luo. Most of the senior figures in the coalition government were supporters of the YES campaign including Prime Minister Raila, President Mwai Kibaki, the Vice President and both deputy Prime Ministers. On the other end, the Minister for Higher Education and former president Moi led the NO campaign. Many people wondered whether or not violence would break out throughout the country like in 2008 after the disputed December 2007 Presidential election which left 1,500 people dead and more than 300,000 homeless.

We received an email from the Government of Canada warning us about potential violence that may occur. They advised us to avoid wearing red or green and avoid all gatherings - even peaceful demonstrations. The vote will take place in 2 weeks on August 4th!

I know I've mentioned this a million times but I LOVE SPEAKING LUO! I speak like the locals now, its hilarious. Everyone knows I speak Luo too so they don't even greet me in English anymore. Some guys even yell "omera!" at me which means "dude". A ridiculous amount of people know my name also.

Victor, Part 2:
I hadn't seen Victor, the 8-year old boy from the hospital who I wrote about in the blog Life is not easy, for three weeks until the evening of Monday July 19. There was a young boy who was following Emily and I for a while on our way home from the market but I didn't think anything of it. Eventually I turned around and saw that it was Victor. I couldn't believe it. I felt terrible that I hadn't been by his house to check up on him yet. Luckily two friends of mine were nearby and could translate so that I could talk to him. They helped me ask Victor what was going on which was when he told us that he forgot something at the market and his grandmother had kicked him out of the house threatening to kill him if he returned.

I had no idea what to do. I couldn't leave him alone on the streets for the night. I wanted to give him food and shelter for the night but I also didn't want to take him back to the hotel either, a place completely different from the home he knows. I got my local friends to give me advice and one of them kindly offered up his place for the night for Victor to stay. Victor didn't want to leave me and go home with a complete stranger but my friend encouraged him that he would be well taken care of and he was :) I was shook up about everything that had happened and I was terrified of sending Victor home. I didn't know what to do.

The following day I had my good friend Morris help me figure out a solution. Morris, Victor, and I sat outside on the grass behind the hotel talking for about 30 minutes about the situation and what to do. I was getting emotional when Victor told us that he never wanted to return home, he wanted a new family and to go to boarding school. Victor was quiet and soft spoken and he stared at the ground the entire time. His family could not provide for him and it seemed like he had been neglected by his parents. It was hard for me to deal with the fact that there are so many children that are in Victor's situation or worse.

After a long day Morris and I eventually spoke with a chief in town and Victor's grandmother to find a solution. Morris' mother had found out from a relative of Victor's that his family was in a poor situation after the post-election violence in 2008. Everything changed when we heard the grandmother's side of the story and learned that Victor's story was not entirely true. Victor had seen me in the market and come to me knowing that I would take good care of him and provide for him. I felt terrible that I had partly created this by helping him at the hospital a couple weeks ago but I also couldn't just leave the boy when he was that sick and needed help. I didn't know who to believe because Victor seemed so honest. What if he was telling the truth? Eventually we brought him home but I was terrified and so conflicted between the two stories. Even if the grandmother told the truth Victor had still told us that he wanted a new family and that was hard to deal with also. His father is away and only visits once a year, his mother is not mentally stable, and the family is living in poverty.

After Morris spoke with Victor's older brother at their home he realized just how bad the family's situation was. They are living in dire poverty. No animals, no crops or fertile land, and the great grandmother is not earning enough to provide for all four children plus herself and the mother. Morris and I committed ourselves to helping this family and returned on Saturday to discuss what we could do to help.

Fiti Yogurt - Western Heads East:
• I strongly believe that Western Heads East is an incredible organization and that the success of the yogurt project relies entirely on the people. With the right people in place this project will grow successfully and sustainably to benefit many people in the world.
• We are in the process of getting communication boards (like cork boards) made for both kitchens so that we can post documents, notes, and other materials on them for all of the Mamas. This will definitely help with communication.

PREPARATION FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL:
• Met with our MC and YOFAK (Youth Fighting AIDS In Kenya) to discuss the event and the key messages that we would like to send.
• Ran around everywhere to change the date on all of our posters and put up new ones. Kinleigh and I even put some posters on the tarmac road! It was awesome. At one point she was redirecting traffic to go around the posters on the road.

• Met with the mayor and other VIP at the Oyugis Town Council (OTC) and the police station to invite them to the Music Festival. It was an interesting experience. Everything was pretty informal but they were all extremely nice to us and being a mzungu definitely helps. There are lots of very important people that we needed to invite.
• The t-shirts we ordered didn't turn out so well... the majority of them were dirty, had oil stains, had holes in them, and/or the printing was smudged. They also were the wrong sizes. We tried to give our supplier constructive feedback to help him in the long run with his business but the t-shirts were pretty bad.
• The stage: we looked around everywhere for a stage but couldn't find anything affordable (of course most of the time there was a "mzungu mark-up" factored in). Solution....we built one! We also rented 2 tents, 50 chairs, and 4 tables
• Coordinated transportation for the Ongiya Disi Preparatory School children and the Kadongo Yogurt Mamas
• YOGURT PRODUCTION! I spent the majority of the day on Wednesday preparing to do production for Friday.
• I lead a meeting on my own with the Nyanam Women's group who is responsible for advocacy of the project. I had Morris, a translator, there which was extremely helpful. I was nervous doing the meeting alone without the other interns but it was a great experience and it went really well! I asked Mama Jessica to choose someone to start with a prayer and then we spoke for a while about the music festival and the message that we wanted to send. I was very impressed with everyone in the group as they started having their own discussion with Morris in Luo about what to say and what to do on the day of the event.
• Thursday July 22nd...the day before the music festival, and EVERYTHING goes wrong! :) O well.....we embraced it. The t-shirts and the packaging were not finished so Kinleigh worked with the supplier to finish them. The amount of milk we had ordered was a lot less because our supplier couldn't get as much as we had requested. Lastly, the stage turned out to be a disaster but everything was fixed in the end. The wood was very old and poor, it was overlapping with nails sticking out everywhere and it wasn't supportive at all. It was extremely dangerous for school children and other performers to be walking and dancing on. Ellena and the men constructing the stage were up until 1am with flashlights and headlamps on until it was complete.
• We made some posters with photos and details about the Mamas and the project. We included maps to the kitchens as well.
• One of my best friends Frank is DJing tomorrow!!!! CAN'T WAIT :)

CHALLENGES
• Funding. The long complicated process of transferring money from World Bank to Canada To Nairobi to Oyugis really slows things down at the kitchens and can create problems. Purchasing necessary equipment and supplies and paying suppliers is delayed sometimes which harms the business. We are trying really hard to communicate the importance of sustainability to the Mamas so that they understand that their sales will have to cover their expenses in the future when the funding stops.

Most Memorable Moments
• I met some rappers/artists in Oyugis and went to check out their production studio one day. It was really cool to be there...I loved it! I did my best to encourage them and give them some friendly advice :) Work hard, don't give up, etc. They freestyled and filmed a music video, it was sweet!
• The YES campaign in Oyugis! Everyone in town was wearing green YES t-shirts and caps (paper cut-outs). It was an incredible day to experience :)
• Ellena's surprise goodbye party! She had been living in Oyugis for over 9 months and we wanted to throw her a little bash. It was Saturday afternoon and the Oyugis Yogurt Mamas, our good friends, and some of the hotel staff were all in attendance. It was really great to chat with everyone, dance, and have fun! I had another great conversation with one of the hotel staff about Canada and Kenya, and the high population growth rates which contribute to poverty. I really enjoy having those conversations with the locals.
○ I went shopping in the market on Friday which was really fun! My good friend (Morris), Jackel, and I purchased rice and beef with some spices to make a dish called "pilau" as well as some pineapple. It was really fun to actually shop for a full meal in the market.
• Playing football with kids during the beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing it as much as last year but it is my favourite thing to do in Africa. Ahero football, ahero kids (I love football, I love kids).
• Visiting the small town of Tabaka where the majority of soapstone carvings are produced. Soapstone is used to make gorgeous chess sets, vases, bowls & plates, sculptures, jewellery boxes and so many other things. The drive from Kisii to Tabaka is stunning and the town is so quiet and peaceful. I absolutely love all of the soapstone that Tabaka has...I wish I could take it all home with me!
• Riding a camel with Emily!!!! Monday afternoon we saw a camel in Oyugis for some agricultural show going on. After thinking about it for a long time we decided to ride it and it was AMAZING! It was so spontaneous and I loved it. I was laughing hysterically because Emily was falling off the back of the camel the entire time. A large group of kids ran after us on the camel while Em and I made a pact to do 1 spontaneous amazing thing like that every day for the rest of our time in Kenya.
• The Oyugis Mamas keep joking about Morris and I getting married. We are always together now since he is one of our main translators and he's helping me out with Victor. He's a great friend who has helped us tremendously with the project!

Life in Oyugis
• After school children spend their evenings fetching water and fire wood and helping their parents prepare dinner.
• One of the greatest toys for a child in Oyugis is a bicycle tire. They love running around and rolling it everywhere.

Life in Kenya
• These big marketing shows/events are the next big thing for companies in Kenya. Safaricom, one of the major telecommunications company, started it and now EVERYONE is doing it. There was a company called Panadol, like Advil, set up with a stage (i.e. a truck), a PA system, tarps, and a DJ in Raila Grounds on Tuesday so I went to check it out for a while with a friend. When the MCs noticed me in the crowd, which wasn't very hard since I was the only mzungu, they called me out in front of everyone. Of course I couldn't understand a word they were saying because they were speaking in Kiswahili. They tried to get me to go up on stage and participate (and by participate they meant dance in front of hundreds of people) but I wasn't going to go alone.
As I stood there I was observing everything carefully to get some ideas and insight for the music festival. I wanted to make sure that I knew what happened at these events and how they were organized. Competitions with audience members and skits are the most common type of performance. Skits are very popular because they are well liked by children and they can be understood by everyone including people who are illiterate. Skits are a very effective way of engaging the audience and getting the message across.

• Primary and Secondary School in Kenya is free for everyone however the public school system is not very good and no one wants to send their children there. One public school that I know in town has 1,300 students and only 24 teachers which means there is 1 teacher for every 54 students. Not to mention that some of these teachers are not very committed, honest, or well educated. It is the same way with public hospitals.
• I LOVE the trees :) They are so big and beautiful and perfect for climbing.

Ahero football! (I love football)

2010-07-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday July 5 to Sunday July 11
Day 35 to 41
Quote of the week: "Sports are 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration"

This week the other three interns left to go on Safari so it was just Ellena and I together in Oyugis. The week was really great and I enjoyed being on my own running around doing errands (while Ellena did interviews for her research). I really enjoy the experience of working alone in Oyugis but it is challenging and extremely tiring at times. I spent the entire week preparing for the Music Festival next week :) There is so much to do and very little time...Ellena and I are exhausted!

There is an organization called SEP (Society Empowerment Project) in Kotieno, a nearby village, which hosted a football tournament on Saturday to empower girls. SEP is the organization that is working with the American girl, Aliza, with the inflatable television screen for the World Cup. I helped out with the tournament and it was absolutely amazing! Aliza and I were there all day from about 10am - 3pm, there was music blasting, and we brought Fiti Yogurt and some bread to give to all of the girls for lunch. The tournament was so great and I loved it! Some of the kids are unbelievably talented football players. By the end of the day there were over 50 girls who had participated and I was so impressed with SEP. I love football and I love kids so it was the perfect day :)

After the football tournament on Saturday I realized what I want to do in terms of international development work. I really want to do something with children and football...possibly starting up recreational centres focused on empowerment through sport. I have a strong passion for children and I believe that sports are essential in a kid's life. Not only are sports important to develop certain skills and for the health and fitness of a child but they will help keep kids motivated and away from other not so great things. At the end of the tournament Aliza and I made some speeches to all of the girls. I encouraged the girls to continue practicing "pile pile" ("every day" in Luo), and to follow their dreams and work hard. It was such a great day and I was really happy.

Fiti Yogurt - Western Heads East:
• I started getting every document that we give the Mamas translated into Luo. Communication is so important and I thought it would be a good idea to translate everything to ensure that as many Mamas as possible are informed about everything. The documents included the interns' goals, meeting minutes, and information about the upcoming music festival.
• The Oyugis Mamas decided to increase their wages from 50 Ksh to 100 Ksh (approx. $1.25) per day which is great!

PREPARATION FOR THE MUSIC FESTIVAL:
• Some students from Ongiya Disi Preparatory School are coming to do some performances at the Music Festival. Ongiya Disi is the incredible school that the other interns and I supported last year. The children are very talented and truly inspirational and I know that they will put on a terrific performance like they always do.
• We are getting 100 t-shirts branded with the new Fiti Yogurt label that we have created. 50 t-shirts are for the Yogurt Mamas and interns while the other 50 are going to be given out for free to the first 50 customers who purchase 50 Ksh worth of yogurt. We are also getting 2 big banners made which both kitchens can use in the future. We are hoping that they will take the banners to the market when they sell yogurt.
• We have four different musicians/bands from Oyugis performing throughout the day. Ellena and I went to check out all of the groups this week to see them perform and discuss the festival.
• I spent a lot of time with my good friend Dennis putting up posters and giving out invitations/flyers for the Music Festival in Oyugis, Kadongo, and some other towns in between. We had a lot of fun and I appreciated him coming around with me...thanks Denno! :) The flyers are a lot more effective and important than the posters. Everyone wants a personal flyer...we had to emphasize to everyone that you don't need a flyer to attend, everyone is welcome!

Most Memorable Moments
• My best friends (aka the boys) speak to me in Luo now, it’s awesome. Everyone knows I am learning Luo and that I try to speak it as much as possible so the boys will sometimes say full sentences to me in Luo joking around but I will have no idea what they are saying. They always call me "bwana!" which is like "omera" (in Luo) or "man/dude" (in English). I also say "bwana" all the time now. It is hilarious, and I love it :)
• Saturday evening I helped Mama Sophia by carrying a tub of yogurt packets to the spot where she sells in the market. On the way there I stopped to chat with some people who were doing a marketing event for some radio station with a big truck and a PA system. I was asking them about their stage (aka truck) when all of these people started buying yogurt from me. It was really fun; I sold 17 packets in about 10 minutes :) I think it is a lot easier to sell something as a mzungu, so I really do respect what the Mamas are doing.
• I had a really interesting conversation with a local when I was buying credit (aka cell phone minutes) across the street on Saturday night. We talked a lot about Canada and Kenya and the reasons for poverty: the high population growth rate, education, and the government. I appreciated when he commented about how social I am with the locals...it made me happy to hear that :)
• Aliza and I went to the new hotel next door for some amazing live music. It was a group of four men with locally made instruments (a drum, string instrument similar to a violin, and a triangle type instrument) and they were so incredible! We danced and I even played the triangle, it was so much fun.
• Watching the World Cup Final at Sports House with the boys....YAY SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life in Oyugis
• There is a swing fair ride in town and it is AMAZING! People have been setting up the ride for a couple days now in Raila Grounds (the big open space where our Music Festival will be held) but it finally started operating on Tuesday and I saw the first run. It costs 20 Ksh (about $0.25 CAD) to ride and it lasts for a couple minutes. It is similar to the swing rides we have back home at amusement parks but with an African touch. Some of the other interns think it is super sketchy but of course I think it is so cool and I couldn't wait to ride it! :) I finally rode it on Sunday night with my good friend Morris and it was sooooooooooooo AWESOME! I was definitely the craziest person on the ride grabbing the swings on either side of me to spin.
• I saw a group of young children smiling and dancing around a burning pile of garbage. Although it’s not great for the environment, it’s a source of entertainment for the kids.
• I learned a little bit from a good piki piki friend of mine about the life of a piki piki (motorbike) driver. Most of the drivers don't own the motorbikes, they pay a flat rate to the owner every day and the money that they make from day to day can fluctuate significantly. He explained to me the importance of customer service and being friendly. It was really cool... I love learning more. I appreciated when he commented on how I came back to Oyugis and how I ask so many questions because I must be interested and enjoy learning about it.
• Chillin' with the boys at their hangout spot outside Sports House is now my favourite past time :)

Life in Kenya
• A local friend of mine commented how Kenya's leaders are leaders only by title, not by example. It is sad but true. Unfortunately nepotism is too common here.
• There is a fairly popular legal drug called mirra that I've seen a couple people chewing these days. It is a plant, a mild stimulant that gives you a slight high and keeps you up for hours. You chew the bark of the plant and it is usually taken with gum or ground nuts (aka peanuts). I was told by some friends who were chewing it that it is one of Kenya's main cash crops.

Market Research

2010-07-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday June 28 to Sunday July 4
Day 28 to 34

This week we conducted interviews in Oyugis, Kadongo and other surrounding areas to collect some information on the market we are working in. It was great for us to learn more about the buying behaviours and preferences of the market while gathering some very interesting information that can benefit the Mamas. We did a total of 150 interviews throughout the week hiring some of my local friends as translators/research assistants. Each interview took about 30 - 45 minutes and we gave out complimentary packets of yogurt and a thank you flyer with a map of both kitchens to all participants.

Not only were the interviews great for market research but it was also great to create some awareness about Jiko La Jamii dairies, Fiti Yogurt, and probiotics. We had a couple situations where people brought up the free yogurt being given away to people living with HIV/AIDS and how they thought that the yogurt was only for HIV positive people. We were able to create awareness about Fiti Yogurt and educate people on the benefits of probiotics while eliminating any myths and misconceptions. Overall the market research was extremely successful, beneficial, and also very fun!

On Thursday we celebrated Canada Day!!!!!!! The four of us were very spirited, just like last year, and we went all out with red and white, Canadian clothing, and red lipstick on our faces in the shape of maple leafs. As if we didn’t already get enough attention...now we had even more :)

Jiko La Jamii Dairies - Western Heads East:
• I set up two potential sales opportunities for the Mamas at two small shops in Mikai (about 20 minutes from Oyugis, 10 minutes from Kadongo) while doing market research there. I discussed the wholesaler selling price and the profits that they would make and inquired about other milk products that they sold. The Mamas would have to discuss transportation including the cost and logistics of everything.
• I saw a woman in the market wearing an Orande Women's Group dress (a dark blue dress that they all have) selling milk from containers just like ours but she was not a Yogurt Mama. I believe she was trying to look like one of our Yogurt Mamas. We are going to brand the aprons very soon so that no one can pretend to be associated with the project when they are not.
• We have started organizing things for the big Music Festival we have planned for July 16th. This involves running around town everywhere to book things and look into the costs of renting a PA system, a stage, chairs, tents, etc. We've been sending around our friends/research assistants to do most of these things so that we don't get overcharged being mzungus.
• On Thursday we had a little "tea party" to bring both groups of Yogurt Mamas (Kadongo and Oyugis) together to discuss the Fiti Yogurt label. We really want them to have a good relationship with each other so that they can work together for their mutual benefit without any conflict. We decided to bring some beads to make necklaces and earrings as a fun activity that the Mamas could all do together. Unfortunately the tension between certain Mamas in the two groups is too much and the tea party was a little awkward and intense at times. I really wish that the Mamas could be professional and work together but I don't think it will ever happen. The main problem is between the leaders of both kitchens.
• As Kinleigh, the Oyugis Mamas, and I walked to the matatu to head to the tea party in Kadongo I tried to come up with some cheer/chant to lift the Mama's moods. When I yelled "FITI!" the Mamas yelled "YOGURT!" It worked out pretty well and this is now our official cheer for both kitchens :) We also sang in the matatu which was fun.
• We did our first lesson plan/business discussion in Oyugis on Sunday and it went pretty well. I think it’s a really great idea that we are having these discussions to exchange knowledge for the Mamas' benefit and for our research. We discussed all record keeping documents and Fiti Yogurt's competitive advantage. We tried very hard to make sure that it was a discussion and not a business lecture from us.

Challenges
• COMMUNICATION! Communication is key. Communication is everything. We have had a couple problems now related to work with miscommunication. It is so important to tell the Mamas absolutely EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING that you are doing. It is extremely hard to communicate with everyone when we can't speak to certain Mamas and when other leaders in the project are not helping and supporting us.
• It is extremely difficult to get all the Mamas' input on certain things because they all follow the leader(s) in the kitchen and they don't express their own personal opinion. When we asked the Mamas about which packaging label/logo they liked the best the Kadongo Mamas all chose 1 design and the Oyugis Mamas all chose 1 other different design. Out of 7 different sample logos only 2 were chosen by the Mamas. Unfortunately the 2 designs that they chose were completely different from the designs that were most popular from our market research. It was also very difficult to get a discussion going about what they liked and what they didn't like even when we emphasized to them that we were going to mix and match (i.e. choose the best things from each of the 7 samples) and put them all together to create 1 logo.

Most Memorable Moments:
• Eating lunch at a little hotel in the small town of Mikai during the market research interviews. I was so excited when I found out that I was the very first mzungu to eat in the hotel! It was a small wooden shack with a tin roof and a couple wooden tables and chairs. I had chai with mandazi. It was really cool and fun, I loved it!
• Four weeks in and I finally saw this young girl Daisy and her younger brother who I was friends with last year! I was so happy.
• Sitting in the boot of a car with Kinleigh and Emily on the way to Kendu Bay, Lake Victoria for a little Saturday afternoon trip. There were 12 people total in a small Toyota...4 in the front, 4 in the middle, and 4 in the boot (1 man jumped in the boot with us right before we left). It was pretty hilarious, 12 people in a tiny car for about 45 minutes on a very bumpy rocky road. I enjoyed it though, it was fun!
• Playing pool/billiards in Kendu Bay. Pool tables are fairly common here and they are a great source of entertainment for idle men. I played Cliff and Morris (two of my friends), beat them, and then went on to play the manager/owner of the pool table. I was close to winning but unfortunately I lost... if I had won I would have been the best pool player in Kendu Bay :)
• Singing the Shakira "Waka Waka" song with some kids as we went on a walk. A group of kids and I sang it together and it was amazing!

Life in Oyugis
• I'm pretty much in heaven here with all of the kids. There are so many kids EVERYWHERE and they are so cute!
• On Thursday it was the first of the month and I had to witness my favourite little girls next door (Sachbeah, Dierdre/Tracy, and Everlyne) being evicted from their house. A large crowd was gathered in front of their home as the landlord and others emptied their furniture and belongings on the front lawn as everyone watched. It was terrible and I felt sad...I couldn't believe it. All of the other interns had delayed me from leaving the hotel that morning because they had seen it first and they were worried about what my reaction would be. I'm sad that they are no longer outside my window :( I miss the girls and I wish that they didn't have to go.
• Men get very drunk very early in the day. I interviewed one man on Friday and realized that he was drunk after a couple questions in. When I asked "at what time of day do you take yogurt?" he replied "when I'm tipsy", and then when I asked "do you check the expiry date on products?" he replied "I don't care about the expiry date when I'm tipsy'. It was pretty hilarious.

Life in Kenya
• Breastfeeding in public is very common. One woman I interviewed was breastfeeding her child the entire time.
• Although caning is illegal in Kenya it still happens and some parents even encourage teachers to do it. Unfortunately I could hear two young students being whipped by their teacher right behind my back as I was doing interviews at a primary school. I hated being there...it is so terrible. Later my friend told me that when he was in grade school he was whipped for getting a math question wrong.
• I can't stand the way that the majority of managers treat their employees here. The manager at the new hotel next door is terrible. He pays his employees nothing, talks down to them, and treats them very poorly. The staff is so sweet and so great and they deserve so much more.

The hardest part

2010-06-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday June 22 to Sunday June 27
Day 22 to 27
Quote of the week: "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment".

This week was very intense and emotional for me. On Thursday I had another life changing experience that I will never forget. I was at the Oyugis kitchen in the morning with some of the Mamas when I noticed a young boy on the ground outside the kitchen. He appeared to be very ill and it looked like he was vomiting so the Mamas went over to help him and brought him inside the kitchen. The boy could barely walk or talk and he was very ill. He was in a brown tattered and dirty school uniform with no shoes on. He had 100 Ksh (approx. $1.50 CAD) in his pocket and he told the Mamas that he had been sent by his grandmother to the hospital. He was unable to make it to the hospital on his own and it really didn't look like anyone else was going to do anything so I helped the boy on a piki piki (motorbike) and we went together.

The piki piki driver helped carry him around since he could barely walk. The boy was seen right away by the nurse and the doctor. I'm not sure if it was because I was there or not but there were many other people sitting around on the benches who appeared to be waiting to see a doctor as well. The boy never really looked at me and he could barely talk to anyone. A neighbour recognized the boy and I found out some more information. His name is Victor and he is 8 years old. His mother has some psychiatric problems, his father works out of town, and his great grandmother supports three young children and a 17-yr old boy on her own. The next step was to contact Victor's school teacher to take responsibility of him and contact his grandmother. In the meantime we went to the lab to get Victor tested. He was terrified of needles and I'm sure that being alone with some random stranger didn't help. As we waited for the lab results Victor lay on a wooden bench with his eyes closed. He looked so sick and I was so emotional when I picked up the phone to call the other interns. I couldn't believe what was happening. I didn't know what was going to happen and if he was going to be okay. I was so nervous and scared.

Victor had malaria and parasites and was admitted to the ward where he would stay for as long as necessary. I spent about 6 hours with him at the hospital until his grandmother arrived. No one else was there to take care of him and pay for the necessary drugs. He kept shaking and moaning in pain. He could barely talk to anyone...he was terrified. I could barely talk to anyone either because I would get too emotional. Everyone else seemed to be so calm and cool about everything. Everything was so informal and casual and I was very unimpressed with the conditions of the hospital and the way the nurses treated their patients. Victor was one of the only children in the ward without a family member there. There were two rooms in the paediatric ward with about ten children in each room. All of the children were sleeping, eating, or staring at me. We tried really hard to identify and contact Victor's family but he could barely talk to anyone so it was difficult to find out any information. He kept saying that he attended school at Highlands Academy but two teachers from the school didn't recognize him and he didn't know them either. He lay on the bed beside me with his eyes closed.

I met a very sweet smart young girl in the ward. Her name is Lynette and she is 13 years old. She was sitting on her bed smiling and staring at me while translating everything that was going on. Her English was really good. I started chatting with her about school, her favourite subject, what class she was in, etc. She was so sweet and looked so happy to see me every time I came back to visit. She kept saying "please don't go" and "come back" every time I left the room.

When Victor's grandmother eventually arrived at the hospital I could tell that his family was in a very bad situation. There were two other young children she had left at home who she had to return to. I finally headed home after assisting Victor and his family although I really didn't feel comfortable leaving him at the hospital alone. His grandmother left him with another relative in the ward. The following morning I found Victor sitting with the nurse drawing on his medical records sheet. I saw him smile for the first time :) He looked so much better. I found out that his drugs, a cup and a bowl that I had bought him the day before were stolen. I was furious and so unimpressed with the nurses at the ward. He also didn't have a mosquito net which is ridiculous because the hospital gives them out for free. Before leaving Oyugis to meet the other interns in Kisumu I sat outside on the grass with Victor and Lynette playing cards and hangman. Victor has the most adorable smile ever and it made me so happy to see him smiling.

Victor was discharged from the ward on Sunday. He looked healthy, happy, and ready to go home. Lynette was waiting at the gate of the hospital when we left. I walked with Lynette, Victor, his grandmother and his sister towards the kitchen (which is on the way to their home) and thought about how I could help this family in the long term. The grandmother cannot provide for them and I'm worried about what will happen to Victor and the other children in the future. I'm thinking about sponsoring Victor to go to school and helping the grandmother with some income generating activity. I've thought about making bags and wallets out of the fabric here to sell in the market. I want to test it out first and see if there is any demand before giving some bags to the grandmother to try and sell.

It was a super intense week, one that I will never forget. These moments make me scared about doing this type of work that I love. It is so hard sometimes. I will never forget Victor and Lynette and the day I spent in the ward. It was a day that I will never forget.

Jiko La Jamii Dairies - Western Heads East:
• Emily and I spent all day Tuesday at Agoro Sare High School with Mama Sophia and Conzy selling yogurt. There was a music festival (i.e. competition) for primary schools going on and it was AMAZING :) There were groups of children from different schools everywhere all dressed up in costumes with body/face paint. The four of us walked around the school grounds selling yogurt and we sold over 200 packets in a couple hours! I was the load and talkative one speaking to all the kids and teachers asking "idwaro yogurt?" (would you like yogurt?) to pretty much everyone while Emily and the Mamas took care of the yogurt sales. I love helping the Mamas with field sales to get the Fiti Yogurt name out there and to encourage the Mamas to be a little more talkative and aggressive. The Mamas have fairly low self-confidence and they are very shy and quiet. However the majority of people selling things in Oyugis and Kadongo are not very aggressive at all and usually just sit around waiting for customers to approach them.
• The interns and I met with three Mamas from the Nyanam Women's Group (the 4th group involved in the project responsible for advocacy) to discuss planning a Music Festival/Concert in Oyugis to raise awareness about Fiti Yogurt and educate the general public about the benefits of probiotics. Unlike the Kadongo kitchen, the Oyugis kitchen never had an official launch for the opening so this is very exciting for the Oyugis Mamas. The meeting was great and very efficient. We achieved a lot and planned exactly what we wanted to do.
• Date: Friday July 16 (the BIG market day in Oyugis!), Location: Raila Grounds (an open area where many events are held), Other: branded t-shirts, piki piki with a banner waving behind it, musicians and an MC, school dance performances and poems, yogurt samples and yogurt for sale
• We are preparing for the market research interviews that we are conducting next week. We plan to hire some of our local friends as translators and conduct interviews in Oyugis, Kadongo, and other surrounding areas. We want to learn more about people's perception of yogurt, their purchasing behaviours, and their thoughts on the current yogurt, pricing, and packaging.
• We spent this week looking into ordering communication boards (aka push pin boards) to post things (e.g. Label prototypes and notes) to improve our communication with the Mamas. We hope that they will also use the boards to communicate with each other and to post important things such as meeting reminders. We are also looking into getting banners for the Mamas to take to the market, branded umbrellas (which many people have to create shade in the market), and a push cart on wheels to sell the yogurt from. There is a small business around the corner from the Oyugis kitchen that sells ice cream from push carts.

Challenges
• Unfortunately the two yogurt kitchens in Kenya don't have the best relationship with each other. We all know how large groups of women can be...competition and lots of drama. We are trying really hard to resolve the issues and improve the relationship between the two groups but we really can't do anything to stop the name calling and backstabbing that happens. The two groups will definitely never be friends but we are hoping that they can work together professionally for their mutual benefit (i.e. Purchasing together to realize economies of scale).

Most Memorable Moments:
• Although this may not be a very positive and exciting memorable moment it definitely is memorable. Kinleigh, Jackel, Emily, and I were playing football out back with the kids and it was great in the beginning. The four of us were playing with a large group of kids who were all different ages until a group of four older boys came (about 17 - 19 years old). Of course I said they could join in but after a couple minutes I noticed my younger friends from last year (Bruce, Austin, and Boston) sitting out at the side. I immediately pulled them back into the game only to see one of those older boys telling them not to play. Since I had experienced this last year and I have no tolerance for it anymore I started causing quite the scene. I yelled, politely of course, at the older boys for a good minute or so in front of about 30 young kids, teenagers, and adults. I couldn't believe that I was yelling at them but I was so furious and angry. I emphasized that everyone is allowed to play, I politely told them to leave, and then I asked them how they expected kids to get good at football if they don't let them play. I was shocked at myself that I lost it on these boys but I didn't care what everyone around thought... just as long as the young kids get to play football. That is all I care about :)
• The four other interns and I spent the weekend in Kisumu to visit KEMRI and to do a couple touristy things. I ended up traveling on my own to Kisumu and back which was fun. I loved the independence and the experience of doing things on my own.
• Cramming 6 mzungus + 1 of my Kenyan friends into a small Toyota that we had rented for the weekend in Kisumu. It was pretty hilarious to have so many mzungus traveling the African way. The floor of the car may have hit the ground a couple times when we went over speed bumps.
• I struck up a conversation with a young Kenyan boy who was fishing at a resort on Lake Victoria. He was using long sticks with fishing wire and had a couple small fish in a plastic bag. He didn't speak much English and looked like he came from a pretty poor family.

Life in Kenya
• Young children react so differently to us it is hilarious. Some are so confused and stare at us as if we are monsters.
• All I do is DANCE! It is amazing and I love it! :) The DJs are great, the music is amazing, and the people are unbelievable dancers. I love dancing in Kenya.
• I love matatu rides! They are so relaxing and there is so much to look at and the landscape is beautiful. I love it.
• We witnessed the drastic amount of inequality in Kisumu while driving towards Lake Victoria for a boat ride to see hippos. The boat ride was absolutely amazing, so beautiful and so relaxing...I could have stayed there for hours. I enjoyed speaking to the locals about the lake and the hippos...I love learning more from them. We saw a couple hippos, but only their nostrils, eyes and ears above the water. After the boat ride we drove to this resort on the lake to check it out but I hated it. We were driving along a bumpy dirt road through a very poor area with people living in poverty directly beside a modern luxurious expensive resort. I think it is great that tourists are in Kenya to boost the economy but their money doesn't go to the people that need it the most.

I absolutely love interacting with the locals here. I think it is so important for work and I enjoy it. The majority of foreigners who I have met who are working in Kenya don't know any Kiswahili and don't have any local friends at all. They spend almost every weekend traveling to the bigger cities to hang out with the expat crowd. I am definitely not the norm here. I'm not really interested in the expat scene at all. The foreigners/expats that I have met are all very intelligent good people and I respect them. However, I don't like their lack of integration into the community and the lack of effort they put into learning the local language and becoming friends with the local people. I've experienced some expats talking negatively about the Africans as well which I can't stand. I am definitely not the norm. I love interacting with the locals and I want to spend all my time here learning more about them and gaining their respect. I LOVE learning the local language! :)

Life in Oyugis

2010-06-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday June 15 to Monday June 21
Day 15 to 21
Quote of the week: Life is like a river: the twists and turns along the way are meant to guide us, not to stop us. - an SMS text I received from a good friend here named Cena

I am a little behind on my blog postings once again but sometimes I think it is more important to spend as much time as possible living in the moment and doing what you love rather than spending so much time documenting everything that happens. Work has been hectic every day and I love spending lots of time hanging out with the kids and friends I have here. But of course I love updating my blog too and it is important, so better late than never! So back to our second week in Oyugis...Emily and I had two more students from Ivey join us this week, Kinleigh Wiedeman and Jackel Yip, which was exciting. We will be working together until the end of August (with the exception of Emily who will be leaving at the end of July) to ensure the sustainability of both yogurt businesses in Oyugis and Kadongo. It is interesting to be in such a large group of mzungus (there are 6 of us now with Aliza, the American girl) but we have a lot of fun together and spend a lot of time with my local friends from last year which is nice :)

Kinleigh, Jackel, Emily and I spent every day this week rotating between Oyugis and Kadongo to observe the current operations at both kitchens and to spend time with all of the Mamas. It is so important that we bond with the Mamas and gain their respect before assisting them with the development of the project and making recommendations for their business. As well, it is critical that we learn as much as possible about the two yogurt kitchens and how business works in Kenya. It was definitely a good idea to spend a full week at the kitchens from morning until evening and it gave us a good picture of what is currently going on. Communication is still the most difficult challenge to overcome. It isn't great that we can only communicate with certain Mamas and not with others. The project coordinator is only working at the Kadongo kitchen and he is not always there to translate so we try our best and resort to dancing and singing to bond with the Mamas.

I love Kenya but I really wish that there wasn't so much reliance on free things and funding from NGOs. However, with the extreme amount of charity and aid from the Western world what else can you expect. I find that most people spend the majority of their time writing proposals and looking for more funding rather than working on the development of their business through other income generating activities. Corruption continues to exist almost everywhere I go. Secrets, dishonesty, and fraud are too common here. I find that I am a little too trusting of people sometimes and I always want to think the best of everyone when maybe I shouldn't. It is hard to deal with the reality that some of the relationships I had with people last year were not as honest and real as I believed they were. Every day I learn something new about someone that makes me second guess if our friendship is genuine or not. It is really hard when I can't really be certain if someone is being honest with me. It hurts, but I have learned from it and I know better this time.

Again, it was another week that I absolutely loved. I love the social aspect, the excitement, the conversations, the culture, and something different. But it is still so hard at times. The conversations that I have with the people are by far the greatest learning experiences. I love it :) I met this theatre group that had travelled from Nairobi with about 15 young actors to put on performances for primary and secondary school students in and around Oyugis. They perform plays/skits for students on the novels that they are studying. There were about 10 students staying in a very small concrete building with a couple thin mattresses on the floor, but there were definitely not enough for everyone. I talked with the group for almost an hour about Canada and Kenya and everything came back to the whole you always want what you don't have and you never appreciate what you have thing. They brought up electricity and how they watch CNN and wish they could go to North America. While I brought up light pollution and how we can't see the stars as well as they can. I love stargazing here!

Jiko La Jamii Dairies - Western Heads East:
• We decided to help the Oyugis Mamas sell yogurt one day and took a cooler to a football game at Agoro Sare High School. We thought that two things would happen...1) people would be sceptical and not purchase the yogurt from mzungus or they would expect it to be for free OR 2) people would think the yogurt is high quality and very healthy and would love to talk to us. It was interesting and very successful in the end... we sold everything in the cooler!
• We are planning to do market research all next week with some local friends/research assistants through interviews. As well, we are looking into getting a stall in the market for the Oyugis Mamas.
• We gave both groups of Mamas a simplified list of our goals and action plan for the internship. I think this is so important for communication and transparency because the Mamas are typically very left out of the loop and have no idea about the role and responsibilities of interns. I want the Mamas to know exactly why we are here and what we are working on at all times which was never clearly communicated to them before we arrived.
o We have decided to purchase a communication board (maybe something like a cork board) for both kitchens to improve the communication between interns and the Mamas. We are going to post our internship goals and action plan, reminders about meetings, and any other materials for the Mamas (e.g. The Fiti Yogurt label designs).
• My observations from the past week:
o Wages are too low at 50 /= per day and Mamas are still coming in late for work.
o The Kadongo kitchen seems to be running very smoothly and lots of Mamas are always there which is great! The Mamas seem to be much more interested in taking their time with packing and production rather than focusing on efficiency which is partly a cultural thing. In Kadongo they have 3 Mamas who stay at the kitchen and 5 Mamas selling in the field every day. The Oyugis kitchen is not as well organized and they lack Mamas in the kitchen and in the field.
o The Mamas at both kitchens usually wear white aprons or lab coats when they sell in the field which is great because it looks professional and customers can easily identify the Mamas.
o Since the Mamas are still not purchasing their own supplies and equipment I think it would be a really good idea for interns to assist them in preparing a monthly and annual budget that includes all expenses that they will incur (buying a new sealer, packaging, etc.).
• We are getting a couple different prototypes for the Fiti Yogurt label for next week's market research so that we can ask customers their opinion. The most important thing is that the label is simple and clear. We are hoping that the packaging design will be finalized by next week!
• The Mamas recently had some training done by an NGO (CARE International) so it may be a good idea to assess the impact that the training had.
• On Saturday June 19th we had a meeting at the Oyugis kitchen which went pretty well. Before starting the meeting I showed all of the Mamas a Western Heads East video that my good friend Stas made using videos and photos from last year in Kenya. It was amazing to see the smiles on their faces, the Mamas loved it! We discussed our internship goals, the standardized prices & volumes we had decided on, wages and salespeople, and marketing and sales.
• We are planning a fun social get together for both the Kadongo and Oyugis Mamas to decide on the final label for the packaging, coolers, aprons, etc. However, things aren't looking great since the two groups of Mamas don't have the best relationship and they are very competitive with each other. We want the best for both of them and we are trying hard to help them understand the benefits of working together to support each other and achieve economies of scale.
• Kinleigh, Jackel, Emily and I reviewed our goals for the next two to three months and revised our action plan.
o Research potential sales opportunities for both groups of Yogurt Mamas
o Look into getting the KEBS stamp of approval (all products must have this to be sold in a supermarket). This is not very urgent right now as the Mamas still have a huge number of people willing to purchase the yogurt from the market without KEBS.
o Conduct market research through interviews and create a marketing plan.
o Assist the Mamas in branding their product and other marketing materials.
o Research different suppliers (packaging and milk) and assist the Mamas in securing and improving the relationship.
o Ensure that the operations of both kitchens are efficient and sustainable while helping the Mamas reduce costs where possible.
o Help make both kitchens more environmentally friendly.
o Research potential expansion opportunities for Western Heads East.
o Provide the Mamas with the necessary knowledge, skills, and information to improve their business.
o Conduct group discussions with all Yogurt Mamas on everything from sales and marketing to budgeting and record keeping to share knowledge between the interns and Mamas. We hope that this will benefit the Mamas while helping us significantly with our research. Closer to the end of our internship we would like to discuss long-term goals and a strategy for sustainability. We want to emphasize that these are meant to be group discussions rather than lessons from the interns.

Challenges
• It has been very difficult for us to find out the balance of the project's account from the World Bank funds. We are left in the dark about how much is left in the account which makes it difficult to plan ahead and budget for both yogurt kitchens’ expenses. We would really like to communicate to the Yogurt Mamas when the funding will end and we need to know the balance to properly budget for necessary costs that the kitchens will incur.
• It is still a struggle to get more Oyugis Yogurt Mamas to show up to work and sell yogurt in the market. There is so much opportunity and a lot of interest from customers but the Mamas don't want to hire any new Yogurt Mamas from outside the Orande Women's Group. We have been encouraging them to hire salespeople on commission to increase their sales and profits for the kitchen but we must wait patiently for them to make the final decision. It is clear that the Mamas don't want to lose any control and they want to keep as much money as possible for themselves.
• The Oyugis kitchen needs some serious maintenance and repairs but there is still a problem with getting money on the ground. The Mamas don't want to use their own profits for expenses that they have been told will be paid by the World Bank funding. One day I spent a good 30 minutes as a handyman tightening the loose nuts/bolts on the legs of the gas stoves. I was covered in burnt milk and ash by the end of it.

Most Memorable Moments:
• I saw a local gym for the first time...and by local gym I mean a homemade barbell made out of a steel rod with cement cylinders at either end.
• We finally went to Agoro Sare High School to play football like last year! The 5 of us went, plus Rebecca who was visiting for the weekend, and caused quite the scene as usual. Kinleigh, Jackel, and I ran a couple laps before joining in on a recreational football game that was going on. It was so much fun and it started pouring rain as usual. As all the boys ran for shelter I stayed out in the field with the ball enjoying the refreshing rain pouring down. I loved it :) After Jackel, Kinleigh, and I debated forever whether or not to do a mud slide we finally just did it. There were quite a few boys at the school who remembered my name which was nice. As we walked home in the rain Rebecca commented on how everyone remembered my name and she also commented on my Luo saying that I even sound just like them with the right emphasis and tone. It meant a lot to me :)
• Playing football with some young kids with a really small Blue Band (margarine) container. We were waiting for hours for a football game to start at Agoro Sare so I started playing with them. It was so much fun and hilarious, everyone was watching. I love kids so much, but I can't help to always think about their future and the lack of opportunities that they have. The game didn't start for a very long time because there were players who were not actually high school students who had been recruited for the game.
• I found out that Tracy changed her name to Dierdre after I looked at her notebook from school. Her parents informed me that she wasn't happy with the name "Tracy" so they changed it.
• On Sunday I attended a funeral for a client who was in the World Bank study. He was actually a very good friend of mine from last year named Manase. He was an old man with crazy hair and an amazing sense of humour and I loved him. He would always joke about me marrying a Kenyan and having another Obama. He passed away on the exact same day that I arrived in Oyugis...I only wish that I could have seen him again.

Life in Oyugis
• There are many small video theatres/sport houses in Oyugis since the majority of people don't have televisions or even electricity in their home. They are usually packed with men crowded around a tiny screen and cost about 10 or 20 Ksh (about $0.15 - 0.25). I finally went to Sports House (just down the street) with my good friend Caxton to watch the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast game and it was AMAZING! I was the only mzungu and the only female, and everyone was really nice and respectful. I really wanted that real experience of watching the World Cup excitement in Africa rather than sitting in the empty restaurant at home in Vesture Villa. I'm definitely going to become a regular there now.

Life in Kenya
• The roads are absolutely terrible for automobiles! I enjoy walking on the bumpy, rocky, dirt roads in Oyugis but the paved highways and roads with giant pot holes make it very difficult for transportation and increase the chances of an accident occurring. Cars, trucks, piki pikis (motorbikes), and matatus have to slow down completely and swerve all over the place to avoid the potholes. The solution: the government has placed rocks in the potholes which have only made the situation worse.
o Jackel and I saw a matatu completely flipped over on the side of the road on our way to Kadongo one day. The front windshield had shattered and there were a few men there waiting around but it looked as if the accident had occurred a while before. Our matatu pulled over and the driver informed us that something happened with one of the tires hitting a pothole.
• Getting malaria here is very common (especially in Oyugis) and people have a very different mindset about illness and death. Many people wait days or even weeks before going to the hospital when they are sick insisting that they will be fine or they simply don't have the money to pay for the services at the public hospital. Not only are coffins sold on the side of the highway, but you will often see a pick-up truck drive past with a coffin surrounded by women singing after someone has passed away. The actual funeral, where hundreds of people attend, is more of a celebration than a time for mourning. People are on their phones, reading the newspaper, and talking to others during the speeches and politicians must attend if they want votes.
• Although litter is everywhere and you will see garbage being burned all the time, Kenya does have some environmentally friendly initiatives in place. The government is providing funds to people who plant large amounts of trees.
• People are extremely resistant to change. This is something very important that we must take into consideration for work. Most of my local friends will not even try different types of food (like soup and pizza) when we go out somewhere.
• People are extremely resourceful here and very little goes to waste, it is truly amazing. I found out that the black sandals that all the men wear here are made from old truck/car tires! It is so cool and they are sold for very cheap...I am definitely getting myself a custom made pair before I come home.

Oriti for now!

Home Sweet Home

2010-06-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday June 8 to Monday June 14
Day 8 to 15
Quote of the week: "Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher. See the champions take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud." - K'naan's 2010 FIFA World Cup song

The first week in Oyugis was amazing. It was busy, challenging, memorable, and SO MUCH FUN! On Tuesday Emily and I hopped on a matatu (the minibus packed like sardines) and headed to Kadongo (about 30 mins away) to visit the second yogurt kitchen. I had no idea where it was or what the place looked like but I wasn't worried at all...we had some fellow passengers help us out :) It was really great to see Roy, the project coordinator, waiting for us when we arrived. Kadongo is a much smaller town, or a large village, in comparison to the bustling town of Oyugis. I recently found out that Oyugis is the largest town in between Kisii and Kisumu (2 major cities along the same highway). When we arrived at the Kadongo kitchen the Mamas greeted us with singing and dancing. We got a tour of the kitchen and saw their record keeping books which were very impressive. The renovations look great and the operations of the kitchen are running very smoothly. However, the kitchen is still very new and their expenses are still being covered by funds from World Bank. The Yogurt Mamas in Kadongo are hardworking, committed, and aggressive salespeople and it is rare to find any yogurt packets left in the freezer at the end of the day, which is amazing. I'm so happy to be back doing what I love working in my dream job with the Yogurt Mamas. I know that this summer will be just as exciting as last year with new tasks, a new team, and new challenges to overcome. I can't wait!

Life in Kenya is pretty normal for me now and I feel at home in Oyugis. Emily, Ellena, and I have been keeping busy doing lots of exciting things in our free time and I am having the time of my life here once again. I love how different the experience is from last year and I love learning more each and every day about the culture, the people, and their lives. We met a girl named Aliza in our hotel from the US who is documenting how Africans watch the FIFA World Cup. She brought a large inflatable screen with a projector to show the games in a nearby village, called Kotieno, where people do not have the opportunity to watch the games. I love the idea of providing the people of Kotieno with the opportunity to watch football, something that they are so passionate about, especially when it is the first World Cup in Africa. Even though the World Cup is in South Africa, every African country is so excited and so proud. I'm so happy for Africa. I'm happy that the people of Africa get to be proud of something so incredible and that they have the opportunity to show the world that Africa is much more than disease, poverty, and violence. I'm excited for the future of Africa and the opportunities that a successful World Cup will provide.

I have been speaking Luo, the mother tongue of the Luo tribe, as much as possible whenever I can and sometimes I have full conversations with people in Luo which is awesome, I love it! A lot of people still laugh hysterically when I speak Luo because they are so surprised that any mzungu knows their mother tongue, usually mzungus would learn Kiswahili instead. I greet as many people as possible with oya ore (good morning) and nango (how are you) and when people smile and laugh at me because I'm speaking Luo I love using waynera (stop laughing at me) and then they laugh even harder, it is a lot of fun :) Many people comment on my Luo and I'm really happy that they appreciate my efforts to speak their language. I still only know the basics so I can't wait to learn even more!

Jiko La Jamii Dairies - Western Heads East:• The industry and competition: the dairy industry is doing very well in Kenya and fresh milk dairies are popping up everywhere. There is an establishment that recently opened right down the street from Jiko La Jamii - Oyugis that sells fresh milk. This isn't great for our business but we are confident that we have a high quality product, Fiti Yogurt, with a significant advantage over the competition. As well, none of the local dairies make yogurt, so the only other yogurt products are produced by large corporations and sold in Shivling Supermarket for a much higher price. Fiti Yogurt's direct competition is fresh milk which is cheaper than yogurt and people are more accustomed to it. The Oyugis Mamas sell fresh milk as well from Jiko La Jamii which seems to be more popular than the yogurt. We will be working hard to effectively market Fiti Yogurt and increase awareness about the product.
• The Oyugis kitchen: the first Jiko La Jamii Dairies in Kenya is the business that I helped start up last year with the Orande Women's Group and it has now been in operation for almost one year. The record keeping looks pretty good, but still needs some improvement, and operations seem to be going pretty well also. However, while some of the Mamas are extremely dedicated and hardworking, others are not and we are seriously lacking Mamas in the kitchen on a daily basis. The main challenge in the Oyugis kitchen is motivating the Mamas to show up on time, work hard, and get out in the field to sell the yogurt. This is extremely challenging with the slow paced Kenyan culture combined with the Mama's other responsibilities such as their young children at home. The hot sun really doesn't help either and we get exhausted easily after a couple hours outside.
o The Oyugis kitchen has two very dedicated Yogurt Mamas, Sophia and Diana (aka Mama Dee), who are at the yogurt kitchen 7 days a week and they are usually the first ones to arrive around 6am and the last ones to leave around 7pm. They are amazing and very committed to staying open late and on weekends for their loyal customers. There are 9 other Yogurt Mamas who come in throughout the week, but it becomes very difficult when two are expecting children soon and some of the older women cannot read or write preventing them from doing record keeping. As well, many of the Mamas do not have the confidence and/or social skills to sell yogurt in the field or sit at customer care (i.e. serve customers at the front of the kitchen). Mama Dee stays in the kitchen greeting customers and clients all day and she does almost all of the record keeping while Mama Sophia is the kitchen's top field sales Mama. We have recognized that they really need some support and they need rest but they are both too dedicated and they refuse to take any time off at all.
o The Oyugis Mamas have started selling flavoured strawberry yogurt with sugar which is a big hit especially with the younger customers. Instead of increasing the price for the flavoured yogurt we have decided to decrease the quantity slightly (by 25 ml) to make up for the added value and cost of the flavouring and sugar. In this price-sensitive market, increasing the price is the last thing that we want to do.
o Selling in the market: the Mamas take 1 bucket of yogurt and 1 bucket of fresh milk almost every evening to the market to sell. Emily and I went with Mama Sophia to the market on Saturday which was a lot of fun and definitely very helpful for research and observation. She sells at the same location every time so her customers can easily find her. The market operates very differently from a supermarket or a retail store and the customer determines the quantity that they want rather than selling the pre-packaged yogurt. Customers like to see the quantity of yogurt/milk poured in front of them and record keeping in the market is pretty much impossible. There were lots of people around our table purchasing yogurt and milk and we sold 1,800 /= (approximately $25 CAD) in just over an hour, which is incredible!
• The Kadongo kitchen: The second Jiko La Jamii Dairies in Kenya has been in operation for almost 3 months now and there are 24 Yogurt Mamas from two different women's groups, Baraka & Besigre, working together to produce the high quality probiotic yogurt. The kitchen is very advanced in comparison to the two yogurt kitchens in Mwanza and Oyugis. The Mamas have a large electrical vat for making the yogurt that can process up to 200L of milk at a time. Water inside the vat heats and cools the milk making the production process a lot simpler and more convenient without the hassle of changing the water frequently to cool it. However, until the Mamas scale up production the vat is not very cost effective or efficient in comparison to the method of heating the milk on the gas elements and cooling the milk in tubs of cold water. The electrical vat is not being used on a daily basis for numerous reasons and the production process takes just as long as the original method, if not longer.
o *For the purpose of sustainability and expansion in East Africa, it is important to note that it is much more feasible for future yogurt kitchens to be simple and less advanced than the Kadongo kitchen to reduce start-up costs and required maintenance. As well, a less advanced kitchen will be easier for new Yogurt Mamas to use since they most likely won't have the technical food/dairy scientist background. Ideally, we hope that women's groups will approach WHE with the interest of starting up their own yogurt kitchen. As well, interested women's groups should contribute a portion of the initial investment so that they have some financial commitment and stake in the business. This will ensure that WHE has dedicated and hardworking women who understand the importance of a sustainable micro-enterprise business without ongoing funding.
• Packaging/branding: Ellena had started looking into branding for the packaging and we looked at some samples the other day. We are working on getting a couple different designs/prototypes before making a final decision with the Mamas from both kitchens. This will definitely be a huge step for Fiti Yogurt as customers will be able to identify our product and it will look a lot more professional. This is necessary before we start selling Fiti Yogurt in supermarkets and other small shops. We plan on branding the packaging, all of the coolers, the Mamas' aprons & lab coats (which they wear when selling in the field), and the buckets.
o We are also working on securing a good reliable packaging supplier for the polythene bags that we use to pack the yogurt. It is difficult to find a good supplier who consistently provides a high quality product and we have had lots of trouble with faulty packets.

Accomplishments
• Most of the first week was spent observing the operations at both yogurt kitchens to get a better understanding of the current situation and the issues and challenges that we need to address. As well, it is very important that we spend a lot of time with the Mamas to gain their trust, establish our credibility, and create a personal relationship with them before making recommendations and suggestions for the business. The Mamas at both kitchens love when we come by and they really don't like it when we leave...they expect us to stay at the kitchen the entire day.
o Afternoon tea is the best! The Mamas at both of the kitchens have chai and bread every day around 4pm and it is amazing. I love the chai which is mixed with 1/2 milk and 1/2 water.
• Emily and I did some costing and breakeven calculations to determine the amount of yogurt that the Mamas need to sell in order to cover all of their variable and fixed costs. When calculating the breakeven amount for 1 product (125 ml) it comes out to approximately 200 packets of yogurt that the Mamas need to sell every day to cover their expenses before making a profit. It was fun and exciting to apply some of the tools that we had learned at the Ivey Business School to a real life situation.
o For all of those Excel nerds out there...we even used Solver for an optimization problem :)

Challenges• Meetings! Although all of our meetings are very interesting and a great learning experience they tend to be very long and difficult to get through. Emily, Ellena, and I tried really hard to encourage and motivate all the Mamas to speak and share their thoughts and ideas during the two meetings that we had this week but many of the women are very quiet and do not say anything at all. We are usually the ones leading the meetings because everyone else expects us to and waits for us to start. We acknowledged the importance of getting to know the Mamas on a personal level and speaking to them one-on-one to hear their thoughts and opinions which are important. We are working hard to ensure that we are collaborating with the Mamas and assisting them with their business rather than telling them what to do or imposing our ideas on them. We have continued to emphasize that it is their business and that we highly value their opinions because they know the market much better than we do.
o Meeting #1: Oyugis & Kadongo, Wed. June 9
• Standardize prices and quantities at both kitchens for consistency in the market with a standard product.
o Meeting #2: Kadongo, Sunday June 13
• Discuss any issues in the Kadongo kitchen: the end of funding from World Bank, packaging/label, theft in the kitchen, meetings, etc.
o An interesting part of our meetings...a prayer is said at the beginning and end of every meeting.
o On African time: meeting #1 went on for almost 2 hours and meeting #2 started 3 hours late and lasted 3 hours. It doesn't help when we have to translate everything in Luo and English.
• Yogurt sales are weather dependent and it is difficult to sell on cold and rainy days. It has been raining pretty heavily in Oyugis almost every day which affects the Mama's sales.
• There will always be gossip with a large group of women.

Most Memorable Moments:• Joseph, who works at the VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing Clinic) at the Rachuonyo District Hospital, showing us his photo album which had the photos that I gave him of us last year :)
• Watching a primary school track meet at Agoro Sare Secondary School (where I played football/soccer last year) in Oyugis with Mama Sophia and Mama Consolata (aka Mama Conzy) while they were selling yogurt. I feel very close with the Mamas and I love hanging out with them. I love how we can laugh and have so much fun together even though we are very different ages and we come from such different backgrounds and cultures. Most of the time it is the Mamas laughing hysterically at me because I'm speaking Luo or just being silly. We have a lot of fun together!
• Playing cops and robbers with the kids out back...it was an awesome workout. This young boy named Nicholas had this really cool car toy that he made out of wire and rubber straps with a steering wheel. Iti s one of the few toys I have ever seen around in Oyugis.
• Taking Tracy (the 3 yr old little girl who lives next door) to school one day after lunch.
• Going out to a bar/pub in Oyugis with live music! I have always wanted to go somewhere in Kenya with live music so I was really happy that I finally had that experience. The music is amazing here and I love it!
• Mama Dee telling Emily and I about how the yogurt has changed people's lives including two young orphans down the road who the Mamas have decided to sponsor. The two young boys (about 4 and 6 years old) come in every day to receive a packet of yogurt and Mama Dee said they have improved significantly. It makes my day when young children (some as young as 4 years old) come into the kitchen to purchase yogurt or fresh milk.
• Carrying a bucket of yogurt on my head to the market. Yup! The Mamas were laughing hysterically at me as usual. It was AMAZING but it got heavy very quickly so Mama Dee had to help me. The women here are professionals though, and they have incredible balancing skills.

Life in Oyugis• Our walks around Oyugis are the best! We've been on two nice long walks which I absolutely love. I enjoy talking to my Kenyan friends about their lives and culture while walking around the quieter beautiful parts of town. We talked about the slow-paced lifestyle in Africa, children, population growth, and development. My friends enjoy the walks as well because they usually don't spend time walking around their home town and they don't even notice how beautiful their country is until we point it out. This came up a lot last year and has come up a lot recently...you never appreciate what you have and you always want what you don't have.
• Just a refresher from last year in case you forgot...every Sunday morning we wake up to extremely loud music and preaching blasting through our bedroom window from across the street. It can get pretty bad at 9am in the morning when people are trying to sleep.
• High unemployment rates and underpaid jobs. A lot of my friends refuse to work in Oyugis because they don't want to be taken advantage of being underpaid for the amount of work that they do when the guy at the top takes it all for himself.

Life in Kenya
• I love the children...the majority of them are so amazing, so intelligent, so responsible, and they look so happy most of the time with very little. Most of the kids are very shy and will not even look me in the eye when I smile at them or talk to them. They turn their heads or look at the ground. Most of them don't get the same encouragement, affection, and praise that other kids in Canada and other countries are used to which leads to lower self-confidence. Of course they are especially shy when it comes to talking to mzungus.
• One of my favourite kids who I played football with last year, named Boston, had the most amazing big white smile :) Unfortunately when I saw him this year I noticed that his teeth had been completely discoloured. The dentist is a luxury, something that the majority of families in Kenya cannot afford.
• In the larger cities, like Kisii and Kisumu, there are quite a few street kids that spend their days looking through the garbage, begging for money, and sniffing glue. It is so hard to see the street kids because they deserve so much more than that. It is one thing to be living in poverty with a family and a place to call home, but it is another when you don't have a family or a home. Every child deserves a good family and every child deserves a safe home. No child should be born into this world without that. That is another thing that I am so thankful for that we sometimes take for granted. An amazing family and a great home.
o When we were in Kisii Ellena, Emily and I were approached by two young boys who were street kids about 9 years old. They looked weak, one wasn't wearing any shoes while the other boy's shoes were ripped and torn, and they were wearing oversized tattered clothes. The boys' faces were covered in dirt and they were both gripping bottles filled with glue. I later found out that they sniff glue because it makes them feel full so they can go days without feeling hungry. We purchased some fruit, bread and milk for the boys. We couldn't leave them without doing something and we didn't want to give them money that might be put towards glue or something else. At least we could help them a little bit. It was so hard, I couldn't help thinking about what those two young boys could have been...a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. No child deserves that life.
o A couple days later in Kisumu we saw 15 - 20 street kids down by Lake Victoria where we went to eat Tilapia for lunch. It was so terrible when we really couldn't do much. This time we couldn't give out food to just one child or even a few. There were numerous other wealthy Kenyan professionals around but we were an easy target. I left some tilapia on purpose and told the waiter to distribute it to one of the kids after we had left. Some of the boys grabbed our sodas as soon as we left our table to gulp down the last few sips in the bottles.
• The majority of the large supermarkets, hardware stores, electronic stores, and other businesses in Kenya are owned by Indians. I have an Indian friend who owns an electronic store in Kisii and I was asking him about it...he replied saying that Indians are good business people, and if an African were to start up their own business it would flop in a few years. That may be a stereotype but I don't agree with it at all...I'm going to prove him wrong.

Life here can be very difficult and challenging at times but I still love it. Home sweet home :)

Arriving in Nairobi & Oyugis

2010-06-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday June 1 to Monday June 7
Day 1 to 7
Quote of the week: Impossible things can happen

After taking the exact same flights as last year from Toronto to London and then on to Nairobi, Emily and I arrived in Kenya on Wednesday June 2nd early in the morning. Our flight from London to Nairobi was completely full which I was surprised about because last year it was so empty and some passengers had 3 seats to themselves. I believe that the improvement of the economy and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa are two reasons for that. Its the very first FIFA World Cup hosted in Africa which is a HUGE deal and even though I will not be in South Africa for the games I am so happy to be in Kenya for the celebrations! I'm sure it is going to be very exciting and I can't wait :) I'm definitely cheering for Brazil (as always for my best friend Jess) and all of the African teams.

Life in Nairobi
My experience in Kenya (round 2) so far has been completely different from last year which is good and keeps things exciting. Emily and I arrived at the Nairobi airport and jumped in a taxi to go to our hotel. Everything felt so normal, nothing was out of the ordinary, and I feel really comfortable and at home here in Kenya. Unlike last year, this time I was much more focused on reading the newspaper I had bought from my window while stuck in traffic than looking around at everything. The day before, June 2nd, marked the 47th Madaraka day (for Kenya's independence). At the celebrations in Nairobi President Kibaki ordered tough action against those provoking violence or hate speech before the referendum on August 4th to determine if the new constitution is passed. Everyone I have spoken to is very excited about the new constitution in Kenya which promotes a more democratic country where women have greater rights.

When we arrived at the hotel we met my good friend and classmate Rebecca who is also working in Kenya for our professor's research. Emily and I spent a total of 5 days in Nairobi which was definitely long enough. It is a big congested city just like any other with some of the worst traffic in the world and I couldn't wait to get back home to Oyugis. Nairobi is the central hub of East Africa and is very developed in some areas but it still has one of the largest slums in Africa. My time spent in Nairobi was completely different than my experience in Oyugis last year and it made me think a lot about the large and growing income gap, inequality, corruption, and development. There are lots of large expensive houses and properties in the Westlands area in Nairobi which is the complete opposite of the homes that surround me in Oyugis.

Some highlights from Nairobi...
• I've been trying really hard to speak Kiswahili (or Swahili as we call it)
• I immediately met up with 2 of my best friends from last year... Caxton and Nick!!!!! Everything was great and it was as if time had never passed and I had never left.
• Meeting with the Director of Economic and External Trade in Kenya. I was put in touch with the Director after meeting a High Commissioner of Kenya a couple months ago at a WHE event at UWO. He chatted with us for about an hour which was really kind of him to do and it was very interesting. We talked a lot about development and the importance of trade for a country to develop. He also enlightened us about m-pesa which is banking on your mobile phone. Kenyans can pretty much do anything from their phone with the click of a button including withdrawing cash at an ATM, paying bills, paying for things at a store, and transferring money to someone. It is amazing and I can't believe we can't do this in Canada yet.
• The Safaricom 7s Rugby Tournament! Saturday June 5th was the most AMAZING day in Nairobi because we attended the biggest East African rugby tournament. We arrived very early at 10am with a local friend of ours and cracked a Tusker almost right away. Before entering the stadium Rebecca and I got a Kenyan flag painted on our cheeks (I really wanted my entire face or half of my face painted but o well, next time). The tournament was sponsored by Safaricom this year which is the largest telecommunications company in Kenya so we got lots of cool free stuff from them...a keychain, a drum, flags, temporary tattoos, and hats. The stadium wasn't huge but it was big enough and there was a village tent area behind it with food, a seating area, a stage with music, and other sponsors with fun things. The ambience was truly amazing and I had so much fun cheering, chanting, and watching the games.
o We met some of the rugby players from Argentina and another team.
o For a long time my friends and I were the only ones dancing in the afternoon at the stage in the village. They had a cameraman there who was filming us the entire time for a jumbo screen they had. We had so much fun and the music was awesome!
o KENYA WON! The Kenya team is amazing since Kenyans are known to be the fastest in the world (next to Jamaicans I believe) and they dominated the games.

Home in Oyugis
On Monday June 7 Emily and I arrived in Oyugis after driving for 2 hours from the airport in Kisumu. It was so nice to be out of Nairobi and in the more rural part of Kenya because it is STUNNING and the landscape is beautiful. Back home I always talk about how beautiful the country is but I definitely didn't remember it being as stunning as it really is. Bikes and motorcycles fill the streets, large potholes are everywhere on the road, and lots of people are walking everywhere. As we approached Oyugis I got more and more excited. I noticed every little thing that was different...some trees cut down here and there, small improvements to local businesses, and new shops & buildings that had opened. I directed our driver down the rocky dirt road towards our hotel and as we got closer I looked for the girls who lived next door (Tracy, Sachabea & Everlyne) but I was surprised when I didn't see them because Tracy & Sachabea are always there during the day because they aren't in school.

The first day in Oyugis was amazing! I took Emily around everywhere and we saw almost everyone :) Everyone remembers me and asks about Jen and Rani. There are lots of kids who still remember me and they approach me to say hi or yell my name as I walk past. It is so great to be back and its nice to see a lot of the people and children who didn't even know I was coming back. I think they are all pretty surprised about that. We went to George's place down the road for chapati & beans, the Rachuonyo District Hospital to meet Francis (a nutritionist and Principal Investigator for the WHE project), the yogurt kitchen, the market, and the internet cafe where my close friends hang out. I was speaking Luo the entire day and everyone loved that I had remembered it. I remember almost everything I had learned last year which is great but I plan to learn a lot more this summer. I want to be fluent!

Our first week will be spent observing the current operations of both yogurt kitchens and catching up with Ellena, the PhD student who has been here for 9 months, on the challenges and accomplishments of the WHE project.

Most Memorable Moments:
• We almost missed our flight to Kisumu. Long story but there was a shuttle that was taking us to the airplane. In the end we were the very first two people to walk up the stairs and on to the plane. It was pretty sweet.
• Seeing Tracy & Sachabea (the girls who live next door) for the first time :) I saw that the steel door on their home was open so I knocked and their mother Emily called me in. I hugged them really tight for a long time as we all smiled. I didn't even notice that they were both in school uniforms until Emily said something. I was so happy that both of the girls were finally in school since they had not been last year. I am so excited and happy for them!
• Seeing the Mamas! As soon as we walked into the yogurt kitchen the Mamas erupted with cheers and ran towards me. We had a huge group hug for a very long time and they welcomed Emily. It is so good to see them again.
• Drinking the yogurt...Emily finds it a little sour and had trouble drinking a full packet but I found it pretty good and had no problem at all. I guess I'm still used to it.
• Hanging out with my best friends/the crew: Cliff, Dennis, Frank, Keenan, & Brian in Oyugis.
o Cliff was recently accepted into the University of Nairobi for Veterinary Medicine and I am so proud of him! CONGRATS CLIFF :)
o The boys have been teaching us some Luo slang which is fun
o The boys told us that Keenan is now in the army...fighting mosquitoes. He works for an organization funded by USAID to spray people's homes to prevent malaria.

Life in Kenya:
• I completely forgot that some people like to drink their beer warm so when you order a Tusker you must say "baridi" = cold
• The University of Nairobi (the best university in Kenya) is closed temporarily right now due to a student riot after a disputed/rigged student election. Sounds a little too familiar. Unfortunately this means that Nick's exams are now delayed.
• Even in the early morning at 6am Nairobi is lively and busy but mostly with security guards and police officers who roam the streets.
• "Thank you" is not something that people say frequently at all. Spoken thanks are not common in East Africa so I almost never hear it. On the other hand, I say "Asante sana" (Kiswahili) and "Ero kamano" (Luo) all the time.
• African time exists everywhere you go...people are never on time! Its not really rude, its almost expected. Life moves at a much slower pace and it is common to see lots of people taking long breaks, having naps in the park, and relaxing during the weekdays. Sometimes I really do enjoy the laidback chill atmosphere.
o Example...a friend of ours was going to pick us up around 10am to do touristy things in Nairobi. We didn't meet up until 4pm and didn't do anything that was planned. I really didn't care and wasn't really interested in doing anything touristy anyway :)
• Kenya is STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT :) It is such a beautiful country with so much luscious vegetation, gorgeous landscape, and a beautiful sky. Its true... the sky is actually so different and so much more vibrant in Africa, especially in Oyugis.

Life in Oyugis:
• Some of the staff are still working at the hotel which is really nice and they all remember me. All of the cleaning ladies, including Pamela who looked after Jen and I last year, are still here and two of the receptionists/managers are here as well.
• People I've seen so far (this is mostly for Jen & Rani):
o At the hospital...Francis, Joseph, Maureen, Phenny
o The kids...Tracy & Sachabeah, Akoth, Valeria & Brian, Bartie, and the boys (Boston, Claudia, Austin, Bruce)
o Friends...Frank, Dennis, Cliff, Brian, Keenan, Omar, motorcycle Steve, Byron, Esther, and Johnson
o Agoro Sare boys...Dave, Steve, and Thomas
o The mamas: Diana, Sophia, Jennifer, Hellen, Leonora, Mary, Eunice, and Regina. Mama Jessica from Nyanam.
• Mama Mary and Lillian are both expecting children very soon!
o Other people in the community...George (chapati dengu)
• Some things will never change...
o There are still frequent blackouts (almost every other day)
o Matatus are still packed with 20 - 23 people when they only seat 15
• The supermarket that we always went to, Shivling Supermarket, has moved next door to a much larger nicer building that was in renovation last year. They still sell the same things but they now have a lot more inventory and it is less crowded.
• We've been out twice to play with the kids behind the hotel but there are only about 10 - 15 kids out which I'm really surprised about. I think those numbers will grow soon once the kids start to realize that we are back. Sachabea still had the rope that we used to skip with last year which is great.

It is so good to be home! Oriti!

Back to Kenya

2010-06-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
This is all we've got and we've gotta start thinking that
Every second counts on the clock thats tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying

You only got 86,400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or to throw it all away
Gotta tell em that we love em while we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

My dream came true...again! :) After spending every second of every day for the past 9 months thinking about Kenya I am finally back. It was great to be home in Canada with my friends and family but I couldn't help to think about the incredible experience that I had last year, the Yogurt Mamas and the Western Heads East (WHE) project, and all the friends I had left behind. Kenya has a big place in my heart and I knew that I would be back as soon as possible...but I had no idea that it would be this soon.

My Objective...
This summer I am working as a Research Assistant for my professor Oana Branzei at The Richard Ivey School of Business (Ivey), The University of Western Ontario. I am excited to work with a team of three other students from Ivey: Emily Royer, Kinleigh Wiedeman, and Jackel Yip. The four of us are working in Oyugis for 3 months (Emily will only be here for 2) to research community-based enterprises while assisting the Yogurt Mamas in the development of the WHE probiotic yogurt business to ensure its sustainability. As well, we will be looking into opportunities for expansion of the project with different women's groups in Kenya.

Other specific goals include...
• Evaluate all aspects of the business operations and collaborate with the Yogurt Mamas to implement new innovative ideas to improve the business and guarantee its sustainability.
• Assist the Mamas in establishing good production and sales tracking systems, quality control, as well as clear financial management practices.
• Identify new sales channels and develop a marketing strategy that will raise awareness about the yogurt product while eliminating any misconceptions associated with its consumption.
• Identify women’s groups interested in starting up their own probiotic yogurt business and assist them in the start-up process and preparation.
• Assist PhD student Ellena Andoniou on the completion of the World Bank study.
• Research alternative packaging for the yogurt.
• Implement promotions and customer loyalty initiatives.
• Research possible opportunities for partnerships in the community with schools, orphanages, and other organizations.

An update on the WHE project in Kenya...
The objective is to establish a sustainable, grass-roots food based development project, to improve health, nutrition and alleviate suffering from malnutrition in vulnerable social groups in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Oyugis-Rachuonyo district in Kenya.

The Kenya project is funded by the World Bank for a research study on the effects of probiotics on people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) and malnourished children. The first yogurt kitchen in Oyugis has been in operation for almost one year now and a second kitchen in Kadongo, about 30 mins away by matatu, has recently been renovated and production has begun. The research study for World Bank is in its final completion stages and it will be important for us to assist with the collection and accuracy of the data.

I am so excited to be back in Kenya and I hope that you will continue to read my blog to learn more about the WHE yogurt project and my other exciting adventures! :)

Oriti/Tutaonana/Goodbye!
(Luo/Kiswahili/English)

The Finale

2010-06-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday July 27 to Sunday August 23
Day 56 to 83
Quote of the week: "Making a million friends in 1 year is good but having 1 friend who will stand by you for a million years is better" - my friend Caxton

Okay so this is almost 1 year later but still...better late than never! This will be my final blog entry for my 3 month summer internship with Western Heads East (WHE) in 2009. My last month in Kenya was crazy busy and unfortunately my blog was never completed. I am returning to Kenya exactly one year later to my home in Oyugis for another 3 months to work on the sustainability and expansion of the probiotic yogurt project with WHE. Before I start my new entries for Amanda Heads East 2010 I will do my best to summarize the final month last summer. It was INCREDIBLE (of course), lots of fun, and very emotional. Saying goodbye to everyone was the most difficult part, especially when I had no idea when I would ever see the Mamas, the kids, and my friends again. There was always a possibility that I wouldn't return for 2, 5 or even 10 years. Thankfully I'm now home in Kenya again!

Distribution of the yogurt to the 300 clients for the World Bank study continued as usual and every day the daily operations were improving. The Mamas were getting a lot more efficient and no longer needed us to help them out at the distribution sites. We met with the Nyanam Women's Group several times to assist them with the development of a poster campaign in Oyugis. By the time we left Oyugis the kitchen had been in operation for exactly 1 month, the Mamas were doing great, and the study was going well. I was so sad to think that I wouldn't be able to know what was going on in the kitchen every day. I loved work and everything about it.

We did quite a bit of traveling in our final month making a trip to Kisumu, the 3rd largest city in Kenya, to celebrate our friend Nick's birthday and also a 1 week vacation on safari! It was amazing to see more of Kenya because it is stunning and it was really nice to have a break from work after the long hours and weeks we had been having. It was soooo different being a tourist and we didn't really like it. I love living in Oyugis where everyone knows us and we can speak Luo. Everything was so expensive and of course there were lots of mzungus everywhere. Our safari in the Masai Mara was pretty much like being in The Lion King and we saw EVERYTHING :) Lions playing, elephants, rhinos, buffalo, vultures eating a dead Wildebeest, giraffes, a leopard, and so much more. It was truly amazing and the Masai Mara was gorgeous! We also visited Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru which was beautiful and amazing as well.

By the end of July I was so comfortable in Oyugis and walking around and taking a matatu by myself was no big deal. I loved it and it was my home. It was the best 3 months of my life and it changed my life. I have a much broader view of the world and the real problems that exist. I have a much greater appreciation for everything that I have especially education, a healthy and happy family, the opportunity to travel, access to clean drinking water, and the opportunity to experience something this incredible. I will never ever forget the people I met...they will always be close to my heart. I now know what I want to do in my life and I aspire to help entrepreneurs start up sustainable businesses in developing countries. I am so appreciative and thankful to CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency), the Students for Development program, and Western Heads East for giving me the opportunity to go to Kenya. I love Kenya and I know that this will not be the last time that I will return.

Project Accomplishments:
• The Mamas distribute the yogurt at Ober Health Center and the Rachuonyo District Hospital on their own for the first time! :)

Most Memorable Moments:
• Our trip to Kisumu:
○ Eating pineapple on a stick while in the matatu
○ Taking a Tuk-Tuk (taxi-like small slow vehicle) into the city
○ Eating pizza for the first time in 2 months!
○ Dancing at the Grill House (a bar/small club) to Disturbia, Day & Night, etc.
• Taking long walks around Oyugis to the more rural areas and villages. It is so beautiful, quiet and peaceful and I love our walks. The photos I have don't do justice.
• Our day at Ongiya Disii Primary School donating over $2,000 of school supplies, sports equipment, roofing, fertilizer and maize, etc. Thanks to all of our friends and family who helped us raise this amount! The kids and parents were so appreciative of everything and I know that the money we donated went a long way.
• Sitting in a matatu from Kisii to Nairobi after leaving Oyugis. This was no regular matatu...it was more like some ballin premium shuttle because everyone actually got their own seat!
• Mama Sophia wanting me to extend my internship for another 3 months

Life in Kenya:
• It rains a lot and when it rains it pours! The rain has held us up at the yogurt kitchen many times and it is so loud on the tin roof. There are always streams of water flowing outside the yogurt kitchen along the dirt road and one time the wind and rain was so bad that wooden stalls, mud homes, and tin roofs were significantly damaged.

Quotes and memories:
• "Please don't go until you sit down and sort out our problem I told you about. We need another Obama." - Joseph, a volunteer at the hospital, joking around with me

The Best Job in the World!

2009-07-30T02:24:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday July 6 to Sunday July 26
Day 35 to 55
Quote of the week: "People must make responsible choices that prevent the spread of disease, promoting health in their communities and countries" - Obama (speech in Ghana during his first visit to Africa as the U.S. President)

WOW, I can't believe it has been 3 WEEKS since I last blogged! My delay in writing has been due to work being crazy busy and I am thrilled to announce that we have finally STARTED PRODUCTION! We started production on Sunday July 19 and distribution began the following day on Monday July 20. It has been unbelievable for us to finally achieve this great success after so many challenges have set the project back (mainly the post-election violence). Roy, the Yoghurt Mamas, and the community have been waiting for this project to start for over 2 years and now we can finally say that we are up and running :)

Jen, Rani, and I have spent the past 10 days working from 7:30 am to 5 pm at the kitchen and distribution centres with Roy and the Yoghurt Mamas. We have 3 distribution centres→ Jiko La Jamii Dairies which is our yoghurt kitchen , The Rachuonyo District Hospital, and The Ober Health Centre. Rani, Jen, and I rotate between the 3 centres supervising distribution for the study which is so great because every day is different and I love meeting new people every day. The clients have been LOVING the yoghurt and they are always asking for more.

The best part of my day is distributing the yoghurt to men & women living with HIV/AIDS and many malnourished children. I have had the great opportunity to meet some very healthy happy clients who are open about their positive HIV status and determined to spread awareness and educate the general public. It is the greatest feeling in the world to wake up every day and do something so simple which can bring a smile to someone's face. I have the best job in the world doing what I love and that is why I don't mind the hectic work days that we have been having getting only 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

Project Accomplishments:• Teaching the Yoghurt Mamas to ride a bicycle which is necessary for distribution to the Rachuonyo District Hospital. Initially only 1 Yoghurt Mama knew how to ride a bike but after a week she had successfully trained 5 others. Although this was very important and a lot of fun it was also very challenging since the 2 bicycles we have are HUGE and for the women who are short like me it is impossible to mount the bike and reach the peddles.
• We went over all of the record keeping documents with the Orande Women's Group prior to distribution. We also had all the women sign a contract ensuring confidentiality of the study subjects, high quality milk production, etc.
• PRODUCTION FINALLY STARTED!
• Sales have been relatively good considering we haven't really done any marketing yet. We are hoping to meet with the other women's group working on advocacy this week to spread the word about Fiti Yoghurt and eliminate any misconceptions about the benefits.

Challenges:• Pushing the huge broken water tank in the reception area out of the kitchen. This was pretty hilarious and we ended up taking a machete to it! This cracked water tank was in very high demand and many people tried to take it...although I'm not sure what they wanted it for.
• The study for the project→ The study is pretty demanding requiring 300 clients to come in and consume the yoghurt on site every single day for 6 months (including Christmas)! In Oyugis with their culture and lifestyle it is nearly impossible for this to happen when many of the study subjects are sick in bed, at church, or live very far and do not have the money to travel to our distribution centres every day.
o Many mothers struggle to get their very young children to consume the full 200ml of yoghurt because it does not have sugar and the children think it is medicine. On the first day of distribution I had a mother with her young child in our room for 30 minutes!
o Over 200 of our clients do not have telephone numbers so it has been extremely difficult to contact them about the start of distribution. As well, we have had to sign up many new clients and each survey takes 30 minutes to complete so we need to have someone who is capable and willing to survey the new clients.
• Communication (again)! When we are out at the distribution centres and must communicate very important information to the study subjects it is very difficult without a translator. I have been working to learn more Kiswahili & Luo phrases for the project and we have been finding ways to overcome this challenge. Sometimes the clients who know some English will help us translate to other clients which is really nice.
• Our milk supplier→ we have already had to switch suppliers after our first one failed to deliver high quality milk on time. It is impossible to find high quality milk at competitive prices in Oyugis so our suppliers come from out of town which causes delays a lot of time.
• The Yoghurt Mamas→ I have learned so much about the Orande Women's Group this past week and one thing that I had no idea about was the fear that some of the women have about distribution. Almost all of the Yoghurt Mamas have less than high school education and many of them have trouble looking up a client's ID # on the distribution sheets when the numbers are in order. We have been very patient with them supervising and teaching them every day.
• People ALWAYS asking me to give them or buy them yoghurt which is especially hard when they want it for their child.

Most Memorable Moments:• Playing football (yes, I don't call it soccer anymore) with a local high school boys team. Roy spoke with the coach previously about me practicing with the boys’ team and although he told me they were very excited to have me play I was soooooooooo nervous. I was the only girl, the only white person, so out of shape, and HUNDREDS OF BOYS at the high school were watching the entire practice. Agoro Sare Secondary School is an all boys boarding school where they NEVER interact with girls so having Jen, Rani, and I come there was a pretty big deal. Plus none of the boys would talk to me since they've never had a lot of interaction with females and they are all in high school and very shy.
I played with them for 3 days and LOVED it :) It was the best feeling to finally be getting a good workout and it was pouring rain everyday which was awesome. A lot of the boys showed concern for me when I stuck it out in the rain, they said some really nice things about the way I play, and they kept telling me to come back every day. We also spent a full day with the team at a tournament and made a lot of new friends.
• Children outside the kitchen using our broken water tank as a play pen and slide.
• Leaving our hotel for dinner for the first time ever. This was definitely a good decision since our new dinner place makes the BEST food with a variety of items and exceptional service unlike at our hotel. We thought it was such a big deal to leave our hotel after dark because everyone built up this fear inside us but we have never had a problem and Oyugis is very safe.
• Stargazing behind our hotel :)
• Teaching Sachabea (our 8 yr old neighbour who isn't in school) some English phrases and math.
• News travels very fast in Oyugis which is why we must be very careful with our actions all the time because we get a ridiculous amount of attention. We were very happy when a friend told us that people in Oyugis like us because they have noticed that we try to blend in with the local culture and live like they do. I absolutely hate seeing tourists around because we are not tourists (we live here!) and sometimes I think they act so disrespectful and only solidify the stereotypes that Kenyans have about us.
• Jen and I trekking through the market with bicycles on a Tuesday (market day)!!! This was a disaster and pretty embarrassing and will never happen again. It is impossible to move around with people, food, and clothes everywhere!
• Speaking to one of the Yoghurt Mamas about her life. She shared with me how her mother passed away when she was very young, she was sold by her aunt to her current husband, has 6 children and would not like to have any more.

Life in Kenya:• Being Mzungus (white)→ we get asked to sponsor someone every single day...I only wish people could understand our situation as students in debt when we return to Canada. My boda boda (bicycle taxi) driver even asked me to sponsor him so he could buy a motorbike!
o We are ALWAYS offered a chair to sit on...we usually sit on the ground to show them that we are NOT superior to blacks and DO NOT deserve better treatment.
o They think we are very fragile beings→ bruises, always sick, sunburns, etc.
o People call us fat...YUP! I have gotten this comment about 3 times now and it’s hilarious.
o "H1N1! Swine flu!" being yelled at us after some UK students were quarantined in Kisumu (2 hours from Oyugis) and were all over the news.
o A hospital staff volunteer asking to be my Mom's maid and if I eat snail.
• Electricity and food are luxuries for many people in Oyugis
• The market→ the one thing I don't really understand is why everyone sells the exact same thing right beside each other...I'm not sure if this is some sort of regulation or their own choice but I find it very weird with no differentiation, excess supply, and very little demand.
• Corruption is EVERYWHERE!
• Children grow up learning to ask for money and food from Mzungus and to take things for free without earning it through hard work. One of the saddest things I have seen has been around the yoghurt kitchen where very young children scavenge through our garbage bin for empty yoghurt packets to drink. I always tell them "THI! THI!" (meaning GO!) because I am so worried about them getting sick or contracting a disease.
• Every little thing is entertainment since many people have nothing to do.
• Families of 6 and 7 are very common.

Quotes and memories:• All of our friends here say that I'm the loudest out of the 3 interns...I'm sure my family and friends back in Canada are laughing about this one.
•"I am almost the small dairy God" - Roy...because he is!

Tears of Joy

2009-07-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday June 27 to Sunday July 5
Day 26 to 34
Quote of the day: "They are corrupt at the top out of greed, and they are corrupt at the bottom out of necessity" - Chris Hirst, Ongiya Disi Preparatory School sponsor

This was the most INCREDIBLE week of my trip so far and it was an emotional rollercoaster that I will never forget. I shed tears of happiness for the first time in my life on two completely different occasions. The first life changing experience for me was on Friday when we visited Ongiya Disi Preparatory School located on top of a hill in a small village called Ringa. We have met many children and visited a school before but Ongiya Disi is truly something very special. With 227 children and 9 teachers (plus the head teacher, kitchen staff, and maintenance) the school focuses on teaching the children integrity and empowering them out of poverty.

Ongiya Disi was built by an amazing woman named Risper Saituni...the Mother Teresa of Kenya. She has a huge heart and has devoted her life to building hope for the country she loves with this school. The school is currently surviving on the good will of the staff and the local community as they realize that education is their only hope. The teachers are practically volunteers with such a low salary and they are keeping this school alive without corruption (unlike all the government funded schools here). Upon our arrival we received a tour of each classroom and each group of children had a different song or poem for us. The youngest class, age 3 to 5, was definitely my favourite as the children belted out different songs in English led by 1 very young confident girl. Our tour ended with the most amazing song and dance performances by the children, speeches from Risper and Chris Hirst (sponsor who brought us there), and finally speeches from us. As soon as I began to speak my emotions took over and I began to shed tears of happiness. I tried to hold my tears back as I thanked Risper, the teachers, and the children expressing how incredible they all are in every way.

I truly believe that these children can make a difference and that they will be successful in their lives. It is something you really have to experience to believe in which is why I have really good videos for all of you to see! Children are the future and we must start with them to change the world.

Now the project and my second emotional experience...
This week we had 3 Yoghurt Mamas from the Fiti Yoghurt kitchen in Tanzania (up and running for 4 years now) in Oyugis training our Yoghurt Mamas on production, quality control, and hygiene. These women were truly inspirational and I am so proud of them for everything they have done for themselves and everything they have taught our Yoghurt Mamas. The 6 days of training were very successful and I was very impressed by the hard work, dedication, and desire to learn from both women's groups. On our last day of training speeches of thanks were given by the 3 Yoghurt Mamas from Tanzania, one of our Yoghurt Mamas, Roy, and the interns. Again as I started to speak my emotions took over and I cried uncontrollably. I was just so happy and inspired by the Tanzanian Yoghurt Mamas, their incredible leadership, and everything they have accomplished for themselves.

Project Accomplishments:
• Purchasing the necessary lab equipment and supplies for production
• Branding the kitchen FINALLY! We painted the front and side of the kitchen which includes "Jiko La Jamii Dairies", the project title, a dairy cow, and "processors of high quality healthy yoghurt". We also used blackboard paint inside the kitchen and have been using it for production records.
• Training by the Mwanza Yoghurt Mamas is finally complete! Although many of our Yoghurt Mamas were late on the first day of training their attendance and timeliness improved over the week which I was very happy about. I am very proud of all them for their huge amount of self-sacrifice when they leave their families and come to the kitchen for the whole day with no pay and no lunch.
• We have electricity!

Challenges:
• Every day we are faced with the challenge of dealing with people who want to use our phone (and therefore credit), buy them something, give them money, etc. The most difficult part about this is when they are our friends or acquaintances and it is hard for us to say no.
• Another similar challenge is replying to our friends/acquaintances when they ask us how they can get to Canada or to help them get to Canada. Unfortunately almost everyone here believes things are better outside of Kenya in the Western world and they all have dreams of going there. Every time we meet someone I dread this question being brought up...it is very difficult to answer and Kenya is way more beautiful than Canada anyway.
• Changing the stereotypes that everyone has about us. We are staying in the most expensive hotel in Oyugis and we have to purchase every meal out since we don't have a kitchen to cook for ourselves. We would prefer to live in an apartment with our own kitchen especially so people don't judge us as white "cash cows". We also buy a lot of water which people ration here.
• Communication! The biggest communication challenges are with the project work since Roy is the ONLY one in the kitchen who speaks Kiswahili, English, and Luo fluently. Roy was a translating machine this past week and not only was this very difficult but I'm sure many things got lost in translation. I love learning Luo, it is simple and usually white people never learn the language which makes us unique, but Kiswahili is the national language so it is probably more important for us to know that language.

Most Memorable Moments:
• ONGIYA DISI PREPARATORY SCHOOL!!!→ I also saw my first traditional African dance put on by these children :)
• Our 1st customer at the kitchen!!! A small child (about 5 years old) in her school uniform came into the kitchen with money for yoghurt. We gave her a packet for free since the yoghurt was not high quality yet.
• Chasing the young children as they run away screaming and laughing. They love it!
• Kennedy (my favourite soccer friend who is 13 years old) setting up an email account and sending his first email ever to me!
• Celebrating Canada Day decked out in red & white and temporary tattoos, stickers, and flags. By the end of the day we had many children, friends, and the hotel staff all wearing the temporary tattoos and stickers...it was awesome!
• Jen's birthday celebration! We spent Thursday night enjoying Tuskers (Kenyan beer) with our local friends and Saturday we had a fabulous trip to Lake Victoria! Lake Victoria is East Africa's most important geographical feature and the best part of this trip was the sweet boat ride we took on a really old gorgeous wooden sailboat (without a sail...just giant paddles) :)
• The Tanzanian Yoghurt Mamas thanking us for our self-sacrifice and commenting on how difficult it is for our parents to let us come here.
o Also, when we held elections for the kitchen positions one of our Yoghurt Mamas nominated me as Secretary as a joke

Life in Kenya:
• The average elevation of Oyugis is 1420 meters, about 4686 feet, compared to Toronto at 270 meters.
• WOMEN: Hair maintenance is very expensive so many young girls have their heads shaved and sometimes we have trouble distinguishing whether some children are male or female.
• CHILDREN: Jen and I observed the children and discussed the young ones looking after the babies as usual. We realized that when parents have more children it really isn't more work for them because they just have their older children looking after the young ones. Children grow up so fast and mature at a very young age learning to cook, look after their younger siblings, do the laundry, clean the house, etc.
• SCHOOL: A field trip for many children in Kenya is a trip to the supermarket where they learn to shop, pick an item, take it to the checkout, and make a purchase. This is something I would have never imagined but for these children it is educational and an important thing for them to learn.
• There is a sign that says "HIV/AIDS keep off or use condoms" at a junction near the market and kitchen
• We have been told that witches exist in Kisii (30 mins from Oyugis). They eat human corpses (by tapping on the grave and the coffin just comes up) believing that it gives them strength. They also use human hands as stir sticks when making alcoholic brews.
• Our hotel guards use a bow and arrow as their weapon. I have now witnessed one of the guards bring it out twice now after our friends were at the gates...it's nice to know that we are protected but I get really scared when they are pointing them at our friends!

Quotes and memories:
• INCREDIBLE is my new favourite word. Everything here is incredible and in every video we have I am saying that word.
• Singing along (very loudly) to Dilemma by Nelly and Kelly Rowland in the Matatu to Lake Victoria
• "Education is Life! It gives bread and wine, for those who are clever and wise, they never fail in life!" - Children singing at Ongiya Disi Preparatory School...just wait until you see the videos :)
• I got bit by a dog...it really isn't that bad at all and it barely broke skin but it’s funny because I'm the only intern who got the rabies shot. My co-intern Rani got a kick out of this...
o "Amanda's rabies shot - $800...Amanda getting bit by a dog - PRICELESS"
• Our friend wrote a cute message on Jen's birthday card and added "T-H-U-G→ True Homies Under God"
• "How do they hold the pot when it is so hot?" - Interns to Roy about the Yoghurt Mamas
"They are women, they just do it....you are not women." - Roy

Embrace Life

2009-07-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday June 22 to Friday June 26
Day 21 to 25
Quote of the day: Impossible things can happen

The Project:
Unfortunately our project work this week was very slow, complicated, and frustrating. We wanted to spend the week completing some necessary tasks for production to start (which is our main priority at the moment) but instead we had some financing limitations and other restrictions from KEMRI (Kenyan Medical Research Institute) which held us back. Instead we worked on anything and everything that we could think of to do for the kitchen.
Our accomplishments this week:
• Financial statements including a balance sheet and projected income statement. These tasks have been very difficult to complete with such large amounts of missing information (e.g. start-up costs). As well we must decide whether to create these statements for the kitchen as a commercial business or as a project including the World Bank funding and the study.
• Completed a rough draft of a business plan for the project kitchen in Oyugis (including the study)→ this will be used by all stakeholders involved. We can also make slight changes to the business plan to make it appropriate for the kitchen as a commercial business.
• TRAINING→ On Thursday we had a very successful training session with 9 of the women from The Orande Women’s Group (our Yoghurt Mamas). Unfortunately I was sick and had to stay home at the hotel :( I wanted to be there more than anything to see the Yoghurt Mamas again!
o Topics covered: project summary, yoghurt benefits, the Yoghurt Mamas, and Yoghurt Mama profiles (occupation, why they are involved, goals, etc.)
o I created a project summary sheet for the Orande Women's Group which includes the objective of the project, the benefits of the probiotic yoghurt, the role of the Yoghurt Mamas, information on the study, and a list of resources/contacts. This information was reviewed with them on Thursday as part of their training. Many stakeholders have not read the project proposal so this document will be used as a brief but thorough summary of the necessary project information.
• I also worked on my personal work responsibilities by summarizing some information informally to assess the cultural and intercultural communication issues around business decisions among the program stakeholders in Oyugis.
• I received feedback from the Yoghurt Mamas on the marketing materials (poster, flyer, and packaging inserts) and made necessary changes to make them more eye-catching with clear and concise information
• I designed and created client ID cards and dairy farmer tender posters
o Although Roy already has milk suppliers, KEMRI is requiring us to distribute the posters to attract milk suppliers for formality
• We created the training schedule for next week when the Tukwamuane Women's Group from Tanzania will be training our Yoghurt Mamas. These women have been involved with the Western Heads East project for 4 years and they are successfully operating the Fiti Yoghurt kitchen in Mwanza. This training will be very empowering for both women's groups and I know that the Orande Women's Group will gain more hope and excitement for the project after next week. Some things that will be covered in this training are:
o Hygiene & cleaning procedures
o Yoghurt production process
o Business practices: sales & distribution, record keeping, ethics, financial statements (opening and closing entries)
o Personal benefits for the Yoghurt Mamas

I love the work and it is so great to actually be using what I've learned in school. We face many challenges every day and work is very slow (something we are not used to at Ivey) but we are doing absolutely everything we can to get the kitchen up and running.

Challenges:
• We have a long list of THINGS TO PURCHASE BEFORE PRODUCTION which we wanted to buy this week but unfortunately KEMRI, a government institution with a lot more authority than us, has very specific requirements which must be met and they are extremely slow on transferring funds so this did not happen.
o As well our project manager Roy has ordered many of the necessary supplies for the kitchen and we are still waiting (after many weeks) to receive them.
• Although the Western Heads East project is very important to many people it is a very small project for KEMRI and this makes it extremely difficult for anything to get done.

Most Memorable Moments:
• Watching a group of kids (about 7 or 8 years old) taking turns riding an adult's bicycle down a hill. The kids would stand on one side of the bike with 1 leg through the bars to reach the other pedal. It was incredible.
• Climbing a tree at Oyugis Primary school. It was COVERED in ants so I was a little hesitant at first but of course I just climbed away. The children who followed us up the tree were like monkeys climbing at double the speed of us.
• Again I have to mention the children yelling my name  Everywhere we go I get many children who have now replaced “Mzungu!” with “Amanda!”
• Tracy (our 2 year old neighbour) speaking for the first time ever!
• Making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Yummmm...after eating huge portions of chicken or beef with rice or potatoes it is nice to have a smaller option available for lunch or dinner

Life in Kenya:
THE CHILDREN→ usually the children wear exactly the same thing clothing every single day (which is usually ripped or the wrong size). I can't believe how much we complained to our parents about wearing hand-me-downs. Their feet, hands, and faces are very dirty and the soles of their feet are as hard as rock from running around without shoes. One time I attempted to play soccer without shoes but barely lasted 10 seconds...running on the stones and hard ground was so painful!
• Children don't cry very often but when they do their parents are usually not around and so they are left to cry on their own.

I constantly think about how grateful I am to be here and how perfect this opportunity is for me. I love everything about the project and living in Africa is an incredible experience. I will always have a place in my heart for Oyugis, the project, and the people I have met here. I wake up everyday and still can't believe that just over a month ago I had no idea what my summer plans were and now I am living my dream.

Outliers

2009-06-24T13:15:00.001-07:00

Date: Friday June 19 to Sunday June 22
Day 18 to 21
Quote of the day: "Amanda! Amanda!" - The children :)....there are now quite a few of very young children who have replaced "Mazungu" with my name which makes me smile. We will be walking down the street and young children who I barely recognize will be yelling my name.

On Friday June 19th I reflected on my experiences so far and I realized that my life has truly been impacted. The people I have met, the things I have seen, the places I have been, and the life I have lived here are so different than I had ever imagined. In my opinion the most difficult part of life in Kenya, and Oyugis in particular, is the lack of opportunities available to the children. There are some people who have the opportunity to get a good education, they work hard to overcome challenges, and they live a happy successful life. However, some children in Kenya will never have the opportunities that are available to us which we take for granted every day.

I have been reading the novel Outliers - The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell where I have found many things relating to Oyugis in many ways. Here is a perfect representation of the children in Oyugis: A sociologist Annette Lareuau conducted a study where she found "Poor parents tend to follow a strategy of 'accomplishment of natural growth'. They see as their responsibility to care for their children but to let them grow and develop on their own....The poorer children were, to her mind, often better behaved, less whiny, more creative in making use of their own time, and had a well-developed sense of independence."

Returning to the primary school again on Friday we listened to the teachers speak about the lack of funding for facilities, supplies, and sports equipment for the children. As well they told us of the many children who are orphans from HIV/AIDS victims and the challenges children face inside and outside the classroom. Many children struggle to complete their homework due to the lack of light in their home or emotional problems after the death of a sibling or parent.

Respect and authority are generally still based on age and gender. The majority of our free time is spent playing with the children which is my favourite thing to do. The older boys believe that they have authority over the other children and get to do whatever they want. I feel accomplished when we teach the children some discipline when it comes to the soccer ball and skipping ropes that we bring out. One afternoon we switched it up so that the girls played with the soccer ball while the boys used the skipping rope. Many of the boys continually asked me for the ball saying that the girls weren't any good at soccer...but since it is my ball I told them it was the girls turn and they listened. By the way, the only reason the girls may not be very good is that they never get time with the ball to practice!

The Project:
• Our project work is almost ALWAYS delayed as problems continually arise and must be dealt with immediately. Many simple tasks require the project coordinator due to language barriers, cultural differences, and inaccurate or missing information which is very difficult especially when Roy is required to make last minute trips to Kisumu or Kisii.
• Communication between stakeholders is one of the most challenging aspects of the project. Cell phones are very common however it is a pay-as-you-go system and many of the stakeholders demand to be financially compensated for telephone expenses related to the project. E.g. The chairlady of The Orande Women's Group contacting 20 women to inform them of a necessary 3 day training session which they must attend.
○ Keep in mind, in the Oyugis-Rachuonyo region many people are struggling every day to provide food for their families and cannot afford these additional expenses for a project that they are volunteering for.
• Recent problems:
○ The water tank in the kitchen fell over and broke...we are still not sure how this happened. We need to submit a proposal to receive funding for a new one which will take over 2 weeks to get the funds to purchase the new tank.
○ The training by the Mwanza Yoghurt Mamas is delayed by 1 week.
• I am thrilled to be working with my peers Jen and Rani. It is so much easier to work cooperatively and efficiently with people that you are sharing such an intense experience with.

Most Memorable Moments:
• Everlyn, our 10-yr old neighbour, inviting me over for Tea and tomatoes
• Watching a high school soccer game with thousands of other people crowded along the sidelines of the field.
○ Shaking hands with over 30 guys from 1 high school who wanted to meet us...it was pretty ridiculous.
○ The girls team playing in just bare feet (no shinpads, no shoes, no socks)
○ Our friends asking us if we want to sit in the shade and a random girl asking "how are you affected by this weather?"→ we found out that everyone thinks white people can't be in the sun. This all happened about an hour before I got a little bit of a burn.
• Our soccer games every night! I am getting such an intense workout and every time I slip in cow poo I think of the children who aren't wearing any shoes on the field.
• Climbing up a ladder on the 4th floor of our hotel to a ledge where the water tanks sit. This is probably one of the highest points in Oyugis so we had an amazing view while dangling our feet over the edge and children yelling up at us "Mazungu! Mazungu" or some of them "Amanda! Amanda!"
• Playing cards with our new friends and the hotel staff. They call the clubs suit "flowers".
• SKIPPING! Again I counted out loud for a group of young boys (about age 4 to 10) the # of jumps they completed in a row. After a while they wanted me to count in Luo ...which got pretty difficult because I only know how to count up to 10. Whenever I made a mistake or my pronunciation was wrong these young boys, who are usually the bad kids misbehaving all the time, would burst out laughing and some of them fell down on the ground after laughing so hard. It was hilarious...and I loved being able to make them laugh, even if they were laughing at me :)

Life in Kenya:
• It is extremely difficult to try and stop kids from pushing, shoving, and hitting each other all the time (especially when in line for skipping). These kids never have any adult supervision and after I tried to stop the kids from pushing in line I noticed a mother approach her child and hit him with a stick to get up and go home.
• Mazungus→ something else Kenyans love about us is touching our skin and hair...they are curious and think it is so different.

*With love from Oyugis, Kenya
Amondi (my African name) or
Emelda (what a lot of people think my name is)

The Perfect Balance

2009-06-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday June 15 to Thursday June 18
Quote of the day: How do we ensure we are doing more good than harm?

Over the past couple days it has been extremely challenging to balance having fun with the children now without harming them in the long term. We have started to bring out some small luxuries that we have: bubbles, the soccer ball, and our digital cameras to play with the children but the fascination in these items has been overwhelming. Our soccer game has grown significantly and we now have over 20 children playing every time. We are being a lot more careful with the toys that we brought for the children and I'm happy that my soccer ball is getting so much use.

The Project: Jen and I spent a significant amount of time at the Rachuonyo District Hospital going through hundreds of the study subjects' questionnaires to enter missing data. Although this process was very time consuming and tedious it was necessary for data analysis and the research portion of the project. Unfortunately we still have some missing information but the data is much more complete and we can now start to analyze and perform regressions on the subjects' information.

My friend and peer Rani Suleman has now joined us in Oyugis to work on the project as a third intern from The Richard Ivey School of Business. It has been a really great experience for me showing her around Oyugis and getting her adjusted to life here. This really makes me feel like Oyugis is home, and it is :)

Life in Kenya:
• A soccer ball is a bunch of plastic bags stuffed inside each other tied together with a string. This is the main reason why the soccer ball I brought attracts so many kids.
• It is extremely difficult for us to tell which children are using us for our soccer ball and bubbles and which children actually like playing and spending time with us. One child followed us on a walk for about 15 minutes and at the very end said "Give me money!" Many people and children are taught that white people have a lot of money and we are all wealthy.
• SCHOOL→ At Oyugis Primary there is 1,300 children and 28 teachers. About 3 or 4 children share a small desk and bench made for 2 at most and I even saw some children sitting on the ground. The children raise their hands and stand up when they speak. I was shocked and appalled when we arrived at the school and the Head Teacher was acting like a King sitting with his feet up on another chair beckoning the children to fetch us chairs and water for him to drink and wash his hands.

Most memorable moments:
• Finally meeting our neighbours→ the 3 girls who I always see doing laundry outside our hotel window. I absolutely love these girls because they are adorable, very well behaved, always happy, and always wanting to play with us. Tracy is 2 and a half, Sashabea is 8, and Evalyne is 10. Evalyne attends school at Oyugis Primary and Sashabea is at home with Tracy during the day. Sashabea should be in school at her age but I am guessing that she isn't because she has to stay at home with Tracy :( They are my favourite children!
o Tracy falling asleep in my arms on the walk home from playing soccer at the school
• Finding a pool table at a bar/restaurant....amazing!
• Photo shoots with the hotel staff. We really have to show and encourage them to make funny faces because they have no experience with that :)
• I saw a 6 year old with a 3 month old baby on her back in a sling wrap. Although we see young children carrying babies all the time I will never forget these two girls because they are the youngest I have ever seen doing this.
• Visiting two Oyugis Primary Grade 8 classes teaching them English and educating them about Canada. This was one of the most incredible experiences so far! I was so impressed with the children. Their questions were very intelligent, their English was really great and they were very well behaved. Many of the children do not speak confidently and tend to trail off at the end of their sentences making it very hard for us to hear what they are saying. I kindly encouraged them all to speak up and with confidence because they were all very smart. Some of the questions they asked about Canada which were very difficult to answer at times:
o Who is your President (of course we had to correct them)? How often are elections?
o What do the colours of your flag represent?
o What kind of transportation do you use?
o Food & industries
o Do you pay taxes? What is your health care system?
o When do people get married?
o What is a child's responsibility?
• Singing the Canadian national anthem twice and forgetting some of the words the first time! It was hilarious and all the kids were laughing at me.
• My neighbour Evalyne and I held the skipping rope for children to jump. I taught the children how to form a line so everyone could participate with equal turns and without pushing. I also counted the # of jumps for each child out loud to encourage them to keep going and to beat their personal best.

*Thanks so much to everyone who has been sending me emails and keeping up with my blog. I really appreciate it soooooooooooooo much!

Visitors no more

2009-06-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday June 11 to Sunday June 14

I am officially no longer a visitor in Oyugis! For the past couple days Jen and I have begun to do things without Roy and everything has been great. From the marketplace to the hospital to the internet cafe we know where everything is, what everything costs, and how to communicate with the people in Oyugis.

My favourite part of each day is when we go down the street to Oyugis Primary School from about 5:30 to 7 pm to run and play soccer with the children. Many of the children follow us as we walk down the street and many others now know exactly what time we will be there so they just show up every day to play soccer or watch us. The children seem to be doubling in numbers every time that we go and it is difficult to tell them to go home when we leave.

On Saturday June 13 we went to Roy's village Wire. It was absolutely stunning! Unlike Oyugis his village is very peaceful, serene, and there are a lot less people. We had a fantastic home cooked meal prepared by Roy's younger siblings who chased, killed, and cooked the chicken. We took a really nice hike up to the peak of the hill that Wire is on and the view was breathtaking. Unfortunately the photos that we took do not represent what we saw.

On Sunday June 14 we awoke to loud music blasting and people preaching for hours. We spent the day relaxing by reading on the balcony and playing with children in a grassy area behind our hotel. We made so many friends, yay!

Greatest learning experiences:

Learning and speaking the language of Oyugis called Luo. Everyone laughs when we speak Luo because the majority of white people don't know the language since they only stay in Oyugis for a very short amount of time. I love learning the language and it is really important for communication with the children and many adults.

Life in Kenya:
People are either African or a Mazungu. A 'Mazungu' (white person) includes those who don't appear to be Caucasian to us: Indians, Asians, South Americans, etc.
It is a lot of hard work to live a simple life. Most people do not have fridges or freezers so the food that they eat is purchased in the marketplace or from someone on the street and prepared every single day. Roy's sister explained to us the difficulty of chasing and catching a chicken and I can't imagine how long it takes to remove all the feathers and cook on a small little stove called a 'Jiko'. We have it so easy.

Most Memorable Moments:
- An 8 year old girl ran and kept up with me for my entire jog at Oyugis Primary. Afterwards a group of about 12 - 15 children stretched and did yoga with us copying exactly what we did. It really didn't matter what we were doing it was just like Simon Says and they loved it! The children even started chanting with us "Warrior 1...Warrior 2...Warrior 3" as we did the yoga positions with them.
- Learning how to make coal and mud huts
- Buying beautiful fabric in the marketplace to make custom African dresses.
- The sky is absolutely gorgeous! It is difficult to describe but there are so many beautiful colours and as I scan the sky it is so different from every angle.
- Making friends with our hotel staff...I love them! They all think Jen and I are between 15 and 17 years old which is hilarious.

Keep on Running

2009-06-12T12:28:00.003-07:00

Date: Tuesday June 9 to Friday June 19

Quote of the Day: "Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

These past couple days have been pretty relaxing which is nice and Jen and I have made some BIG steps forward venturing out on our own! :) Roy is still being a little overprotective stepping in as our worried parents but we finally convinced him to let us walk home alone from the marketplace (its less than 2 minutes away) and go to the Oyugis Primary School down the road (also less than 2 minutes away). We still get stared at all the time and the children still ALWAYS yell "Mazungu! Mazungu!" but besides that it is very safe, the people are really nice, and I really feel at home here now.

Life in Kenya:

THE FOOD

Our lunch and dinner is usually: Chicken or beef with rice or chapati or ugali + pop (Fanta, Coke, or Sprite). Portions are HUGE and unlike us in North America no one is trying to lose weight or is on a diet.

· Coca-Cola is EVERYWHERE...they pretty much have a monopoly and are taking over Kenya.

THE CLOTHING

· It’s really interesting how opposite it is here from North America and other parts of the world. In Canada everyone is obsessed with fashion and everyone judges people by what they are wearing from your shoes to your jewellery. In Kenya NO ONE CARES what you wear and fashion does not exist. People really like to wear graphic Ts with random stuff written on them. I found some pretty hilarious ones today. :)

· Women do not wear clothing that shows off their best feature and Roy told us there is no "perfect body" for a woman...no one cares. This definitely results in fewer eating disorders (if any at all) and women never having to feel self conscious.

THE DAY-TO-DAY LIFE:

· The marketplace is the busiest place in all of Oyugis. It is truly incredible and I love it! It is packed with people, Matatus, bikes, and shops. Many people are selling the exact same things side by side so competition is tough, everyone wants us to buy something from them, and I don't really think anyone makes that much money.

· Sometimes straight men hold hands...I'm not really sure why, it’s random.

· The life of a child is so different. Freedom to go wherever and play but also many chores at a young age...and by play I mean whatever they can find/do to entertain themselves (I haven't really seen any toys at all) which is why we are so popular with the kids. A lot of them have extremely limited opportunities and I'm assuming very limited dreams as well since there is so much in the world that they don't even know exists.

Most Memorable Moments:

· THE CHILDREN:

o Bubbles with the kids across the street! This caused quite the scene...children were pushing and shoving each other to get their turn blowing the bubbles.

o I helped a 2 year old girl out of a tree today. She was with her older sister in the tree but she was at least 6 feet off the ground and I have no idea how she got up there in the first place but she was crying. Of course her parents were nowhere to be seen.

o Young children as young as 5 years old carrying babies. I also saw a boy about 8 washing his younger sister, about 3, in a basin of water outside my hotel window.

o The youngest ones are usually NEVER wearing shoes...and they are all extremely dirty.

o A group of about 12 children (ages 3 to 9) followed Jen and I running around the field at the school, stretching, doing yoga, jumping jacks, etc. THE ENTIRE TIME. It was pretty hilarious and they really didn't care what we were doing they just copied us like Simon Says until we had to leave. Some of the girls then grabbed our hands and we struggled to communicate to them that they had to go home. Eventually two young 8-year-old boys who knew the most English helped us tell the young girls that they had to go home.

· Football! Or as we would call it...soccer! I finally got my soccer ball, which I had packed in my suitcase, blown up at a little bike hut down the road. The pump wasn't exactly meant for a soccer ball and didn't have the needle so it took about half an hour to get the ball pumped up.

o The kids play without shoes on and some of them are really really good!

o Today was our second time out playing, we got some kids back who were there the first day, and we're hoping they will continue to come back because they play with so much heart, they love it, and I love it!

o The field we play on is on a slope with ditches, huge rocks, and cow poo everywhere and we used bricks for our goals

· Seeing other white women for the first time in Oyugis! They were from the UK and stayed at our hotel for 1 night and they just kept saying "Blimey!"...it was hilarious.

· Our adventure to Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya. This was our first time riding in a Matatu, a taxi bus that can seat 15 people (5 rows of 3) but they cram AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE into the Matatu so we had 20 people in there at one time. Ours was more like a pretty sweet party bus...music blasting on a TV screen with a music video of some Kenyan guy named ____ Basement who sang a song called "Obama". Many people got on and off throughout the trip to Kisumu and along the route every time we stop people come up to the Matatu selling different things (newspapers, candy, socks, watches, water, and the list goes on...)

o The Matatus do get pulled over by police along the highway. Each time we got pulled over the driver/Matatu man would just pay off the police and we would drive away. That is how things work and no one cares.

· Things I have seen women carrying on their heads: bowls of fruit & other items, potato sacks, pails of water, planks of wood, a suitcase + mattress on top. A lot of these items are extremely heavy and I am still so amazed by the women and their balance especially walking on these uneven rocky roads.

The Project Work:

We are still waiting for the Yogurt Mamas from Mwanza, Tanzania to arrive in Oyugis to train the Yogurt Mamas here. Until then we are preparing for the kitchen to be up and running so we can start production! There are still some necessary supplies we need to purchase and we are still waiting for some funding from KEMRI (it takes FOREVER!) in order to cover the cost of the raw materials for at least the next 3 months. Jen and I have really started to get this project moving and we are making some extremely efficient progress. Unfortunately we cannot move forward until the training is complete.

· Made posters for the kitchen: quality control, the production process/steps, and milk tests for quality

· I designed some marketing materials using Microsoft Publisher, my favourite! :) I created a poster, flyers, and the packaging inserts for the yogurt. We are hoping to distribute these materials to the advocacy group within the next 2 weeks.

· The Data: established the intervention & control group (the control group will not start consuming the yoghurt until 6 months after the first group), assigned study subjects to the appropriate distribution centres

o Unfortunately it will be very difficult to notify the control group about their status...they are not going to be very happy

· Our adventure to Kisumu: Visited KEMRI and purchased necessary supplies for the kitchen

Honoured in Oyugis

2009-06-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day: Life has no limitations, just the ones you make.

Sunday June 7 was a very intense cultural experience and not the happiest of times. One of the Yogurt Mamas from the Orande Women's Group who was going to be working in the kitchen with us passed away last week at the early age of 37. Roy had to attend the funeral and Jen and I were invited to go and not only that but it was an honour for us to be there. We had nothing else to do and we thought it would be nice to attend. Jen and I rode on a motorbike together to get there which was pretty sweet and we got to see another area of Oyugis higher up on the hillside. Another incredibly gorgeous view.

Two of the Yogurt Mamas from the Orande Women's group greeted us and it was really nice to see some familiar faces. They were all so kind to us and smiling the whole time. Again we were the only white people there and many people came up to us and introduced themselves. We were told repetitively that it was truly an honour that Jen and I were there as visitors.

We were then treated as the guests of honour...before the ceremony started the Yogurt Mamas took Jen, Roy, a friend of Roy's, and I into one of the women's homes and served us a HUGE meal. A whole chicken, cooked liver, ugali (kinda like dry mashed potatoes), chapati (like a flour tortilla), and a HUGE pot of rice. When we asked if all the food in front of us was just for the 4 of us Roy replied "No...its really just for you two"...Jen and I! There was enough food for a table of 8 and we had to be respectful and try to eat it all! We sat on couches and ate with our hands. After we ate we were told to finish a whole bottle of pop as well. I felt so sick afterwards...o well, I'm fine now and will eat strategically next time in order to be respectful but not STUFFED :)

A funeral in Kenya:

Lots of people & lots of speeches. Even if you are friends with a friend of the person who died you should attend and you may be asked to speak.
Politicians usually attend, make a speech, and blabber on about politics...HOW RUDE during a funeral! So disrespectful.
Many people were talking amongst each other during the ceremony and even answering their cell phones!
Groups breaking out into song
Attire is pretty much everyday wear for them...you can wear whatever you want
A teenage girl breastfeeding her child was right behind us

Most memorable moments:

Eating the chicken served in a pot along with the head/beak and claws/feet. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Feeling sick after eating so much food...my little tummy can't eat that much!
Being mentioned in the ceremony twice by the Orande Women's Group and one of the men from the District Hospital
Squeezing into a hospital pickup truck with 7 people + 2 in the back of the truck
Finding out that the children of the women who had passed away are now orphans :(

Greatest learning experiences about Kenya:

In general, relationships between a man and a woman do not involve much emotional connection and marriage is simply for convenience or if the women gets pregnant
Cow poo mixed with mud makes a really good house...and its cheap! I learned this right after I stepped in cow poo...right after my shoes had been all sparkly clean from our hotel staff cleaning them.

Down to Business

2009-06-09T02:23:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday June 5 and Saturday June 6

Quote of the day: You never appreciate what you have.

Friday was AMAZING. It was our first real day in the kitchen and we met 12 of the Yogurt Mamas who are volunteering to produce and distribute the yogurt. They are all family and belong to a community group called the Orande Women's Group. Two of the women who had travelled to Tanzania for training did a demonstration on the yogurt production process. Many of the women do not speak English very well but they were all very welcoming and I am excited to get to know them better over the next 3 months.

For the remainder of the day Jen and I grilled Roy with questions to assess the current situation at hand and to decide on the necessary tasks which must be completed before production begins. Everyday Roy has been reminding us of the many challenges that exist and the urgency of getting this project up and running. One of the most difficult challenges arises from the obligation to complete the required tasks set out in the project proposal 2 years ago. Unfortunately a lot of these tasks are unnecessary and simply impeding the process of starting production. As well it is a ridiculously long and complex process to obtain the funds from Western Heads East and this is causing many problems with purchasing necessary supplies and raw materials.

In summary...there are many challenges that must be overcome before we can start production and this is not a simple task. Doing business in Kenya is completely different, a lot slower, and things just do not go as planned. We are working hard to ensure that this project will not fail because it is truly incredible and there are a lot of very committed people who are going to make it work. :)

On Saturday we pretty much went over our main goals and objectives for the next couple weeks:

Start production July 1st at the very latest
Assign study subjects to each distribution centre and formalize procedure with the distribution centres
Assess customer reactions

Their perception of the product
Random informal surveys

Marketing plan in Oyugis

Poster campaign, in-field marketing
Design business cards/packaging material

Kitchen-front signage
Selection of women & their roles in the Probiotic Yoghurt kitchen
Design record keeping system for the study and sales
Training

We went on another really nice beautiful walk around Oyugis. This time Roy took us to explore some other parts of the village. It is absolutely beautiful...I never want to leave this place!

Most memorable moments:

Roy teaching us how to eat chicken with our hands. We will no longer be using cutlery for much anymore! WOOHOO :) I also tried Chapati, kinda like a tortilla but different...really good.
The walk home from the kitchen. Oyugis was very busy with lots of people getting ready to go home after a busy day in the town marketplace. It is packed with people (all Kenyan) and a large group of children in their school uniform passed us singing loudly. Children really do live life happily and freely around here, always playing and smiling, running around and chanting "MAZUNGU! MAZUNGU!" at us...ALL THE TIME! (remember it means white person..they love chanting it at us)
Waking up to 3 young children (ages about 11, 8 and 3) doing the family's laundry in buckets of water outside our hotel window
Tasting the yogurt! It tasted a little sour but after being in the freezer overnight it was AMAZING.
Riding a Boda Boda (bicycle taxi) for the first time! SO MUCH FUN :) We ride these every morning to the kitchen now...only 10 shillings = $0.10. I could ride these all day long...the cushion on the back is so comfy too!
The # of times Roy says "Sorry"→ he uses it whenever anything bad happens to us...like tripping, dropping a phone, a piece of paper falling on the floor, curtain blowing in the wind in Jen's face, Jen's shoe untied, etc.

Probably the funniest thing ever! We crack up every time he says it...he's catching on and doesn't wanna say it anymore.

Seeing children bathing and playing in a muddy pond...they will most likely get sick from it :(
Getting caught in the rain!!! We took shelter for a while as the rain poured down around us and in the distance the sun shined through the dark clouds onto a beautiful hill far away. Kenya is beautiful.

Greatest learning experiences about Kenya:

Some girls take the Emergency Contraceptive Pill every morning! It only costs 75-100 shillings = about $1
Genital mutilation/female circumcision still exists in some areas
An old tradition: they used to remove the 6 lower front teeth...an extremely painful procedure!
Polygamy has died down but still exists
There is a trend towards independent women→ single women are raising children however they are usually obliged to get married if poor or pregnant

Home Sweet Home :)

2009-06-06T11:17:00.001-07:00

Date: Thursday June 4
Quote of the day: "It doesn't matter what you do from 8 to 5, it matters what you do from 5 to 8 in your own personal time" - Roy (the amazing Project Coordinator)

"Everything happens for a reason" - Roy

Thursday morning we woke up very early again to fly to Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya, where we met the Project Coordinator and our guide for the next 3 months Roy Omulo. He arrived to pick us up with Dr. Odawa who is a research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) studying AIDS/HIV and helping with the project. Before leaving the city we made a stop at KEMRI which is one of the leading research institutes in Africa. The institutes primary research mandate is to ensure the reduction of the disease burden due to infectious agents, particularly HIV/AIDS, and also due to parasitic infections, particularly malaria. We got a tour of the facility and met a couple of the people there which was great. We also ate our first Kenyan breakfast there which was sausage, mandazi (a pastry), and tea.

We then made our way out of the city to our home...the small village called Oyugis about an hour and a half drive from Kisumu. I spent this time to speak with Roy about the project while keeping my eyes out and observing everything out the car windows. Some of the things I learned...

Unlike Nairobi there were bicycles everywhere...they are called Boda Bodas. People use these as taxis with cushions and handlebars on the back, it costs about 20 shillings as a taxi which is about 20 cents. The Boda Bodas are the most common type of transportation used in Kisumu as well as in Oyugis.
Luo is the language spoken in Oyugis, not Swahili! So now we have to start learning a different language that we had prepared for...o well :) Luckily all the words are pronounced like they are spelt. Ero Kamano - Thank you, Ber - Hello
Food grown: avocados (AMAZING! I have already eaten 2 huge ones and drank avocado juice at breakfast), sweet potatoes, pineapples, rice, bananas

THE PROJECT:

There is a serious state of urgency for the yogurt production to begin. The Yogurt Mamas (22 volunteers currently who will be making, distributing, and selling the yogurt) have been waiting 2 years to begin. The study subjects (200 children, 200 women, and 200 men) are getting frustrated and angry that they have been interviewed and extensive data was collected from them and they have still not received any yogurt.

Other challenges:

It was very difficult to get 200 men to participate in the study since many did not want to expose themselves as HIV positive
distribution→ the study subjects MUST consume the yogurt daily and it is especially important to ensure that the children are drinking the yogurt (and not their parents)

The study subjects' compliance to come to a distribution site and consume the yogurt every single day is one of the most challenging aspects of the project.
It is necessary to extend the working hours to provide the yogurt daily for people who work 8 to 5 and cannot make it to consume the yogurt
Although the yogurt is supplied free to the study subjects if they do not see the benefits then they will not want to travel every single day to consume the yogurt, which is necessary for the study to be complete.

A record keeping system needs to be designed to record sales, raw materials, expenses, etc.
Roy's objectives:

Completion of the study (2 yrs): this is critical to prove the results and benefits of the probiotic yogurt. The study is necessary for further funding and sustainability of the business.
Empowerment of women→ financial freedom for the women

Women were chosen over men because they are known to use the money to support orphans and other children. Men are likely to use the money for booze and women.
The Yogurt Mamas are leaders in their community

Other goals:

Help the women brand and market the yogurt to sell

Greatest learning experiences:

The study subjects ' average annual salary is 10,000 shillings which is equivalent to $140!
The poverty index level is 75% who are living below $1 a day→ this is a main reason why HIV is transferred. Roy did not directly say why but I got the impression that this was because women had to resort to prostitution to earn income for their families.
Women conceive children around the age of 15 and they average 5 children each. Women are pretty much obligated to have a child in order to keep a man.

We finally arrived in Oyugis which was when things really started to get interesting. This would be our home for the next 3 months and I was a little nervous but my excitement overtook that quickly. From the moment we got there I could tell that the village was one of the poorest regions in Kenya. In this small village we are the only white people so we attract A LOT of attention and everyone is curious to meet us. Our first stop was the Rachuonyo District Hospital where we met the Medical

Superintendent Dr. Peter Ogola, some other doctors and nurses as well as many other curious Kenyans who wanted to meet us.

Our next step was a visit to the yogurt kitchen where we will be spending most of our time working. It looked great! Roy has taken a lot of time to renovate it ensuring that all the requirements are met to produce dairy products in the kitchen. It is very clean, operationally functional, and Roy has proven to be quite the intelligent young man who is well educated about dairy production and business in general.

Everywhere we went we got attention especially from the children. Many of the younger children between 3 and 7 years old are running around everywhere which is completely normal. We checked into our hotel which is really great and a lot better than I had expected! The staff are amazing and the security is pretty tight especially because Roy has been very helpful ensuring we get the very best service. Lastly Roy took us on a walk around the village which was absolutely amazing! This is when we

interacted with the children the most after they had finished school.

Most memorable moments:

The children!!! They are so fascinated with us it is amazing. They all smile, giggle, laugh, and run after us yelling "Mazungu!!! Mazungu!!!" which means 'white person'. The children also say "How are you! How are you!" all the time to us which is the greeting they learn in school. We got a couple photos with the children because they LOVE it and they loved it even more when I showed them the photo afterwards.
The view from the peak of the village...Oyugis is gorgeous!

Fun Facts:

Popular areas of study in Kenya: Information technology & computers, community development, and business administration

Nairobi, finally in Kenya!

2009-06-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday June 3

After very long and tiring days of travelling, and another 8 hour flight, Jen and I finally landed in the capital of Kenya at 6:30 am. Our friend and peer Soraiya kindly hosted us for the day and we couldn't have asked for a better host! We were greeted by a smiling Kenyan named Sammy who would be our tour guide and driver for the day. As we drove from the airport into the center of Nairobi down "The Great North Road" (aka Mombasa road) my eyes were constantly moving and looking at everything...as I expected, it is truly a different world.

As the capital of Kenya, Nairobi is a crowded busy city with people always on the move. Many people walk miles along a muddy dirt path at the side of the road every day to get to work. The streets are packed with people and cars with no street signs, lines, or speed limits. I really enjoyed just looking out the window from the car observing absolutely everything as we drove all over the city. It is difficult to describe everything that I saw on this day but it was incredible.

Our day consisted of all the touristy things in Nairobi...the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (elephant and rhino orphanage), the Giraffe Center, and eating lunch at Carnivore Restaurant. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit any of the famous museums but hopefully we can at the end of our trip! :)

Kenya is a BEAUTIFUL place with gorgeous scenery and we were lucky enough to have gorgeous hot sunny weather for the second day in a row...YAY!

Quote of the day: You can never really understand what it is really like until you live it

Most memorable moments:

Kissing Laura the Giraffe
Touching a very rare Black Rhino
Watching baby elephants play in the muddy water
Eating crocodile and ostrich at Carnivore Restaurant...SO YUMMY!

Highlights from the car drive with Sammy from the airport:

EVERYTHING is in English...Why? English is used as the official language in Kenya after different tribes with different languages merged and English helped them "come together"
Public transportation, mainly Matatus (large taxi-like vans), is used very commonly by Kenyans going to and from work
About 3/4 of Africa is Christian
They are very HUGE fans of Obama
Pretty much EVERY car is made by Toyota since they are easier and cheaper to maintain
Traffic congestion is EXACTLY the same as in Toronto...rush hour sucks!
They have frequent power outages since the power supplier has a monopoly

Fun Facts:

Giraffe's are SOOOOOOOOOOO strong→ they use their legs to defend themselves from Lions by kicking
How has the recession affected Kenya? The same as the rest of the world...I heard on the radio that this is their worst recession in 17 years
This is the 47th year since Kenya's independence

Tomorrow morning we fly (again!) to Kisumu, the 3rd largest city in Kenya, where we will meet the project leader Roy Omulo and drive to our place called home for the next 3 months...Oyugis! :) I CAN'T WAIT!

The adventure begins...

2009-06-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks of orientation and training at Western, more shots than I can count, and tearful goodbyes I have finally left Toronto to embark on my 3 month journey with Western Heads East to Kenya. I will be documenting my personal experiences as well as my progress with the internship project including: initial goals, accomplishments, and greatest learning experiences.

I have never been more excited about anything else in my life. I hope that I can make a difference this summer and help move the project forward to contribute to creating a sustainable business for the benefit of the people living in Oyugis.

The Project: Probiotic Yogurt for Health and Nutrition in East Africa: Women Helping Women

This project is supported by The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Western Heads East is a program at The University of Western Ontario, their mission is: To engage staff, students, faculty and the broader community in teaching, research and service targeting the African HIV/AIDS crisis. This will raise awareness and funds to support the exchange of learning experiences, while making a sustainable difference to communities in Africa.

The Team: My friend and peer, Jen Eldridge (jenheadseast.blogspot.com), will be joining me for the 3 months and I can't wait to become even closer friends with her!... after all we will be spending every second together for 86 days.

Why is the project necessary?

Oyugis-Rachuonyo district has a 72% poverty level which contributes to the spread of HIV
estimated that over 50% of People living with AIDS (PLWAs) and more than 45% of infected children suffer from diarrhoeal disease
30% of the women suffer from bacterial vaginosis

My Internship Objectives:

Assist in the process to begin production of the probiotic yogurt for consumption and sale of surplus in their district in Kenya
assess cultural and intercultural communication issues around business decisions among the program stakeholders, especially the women
explore potential sources of grants to subsidize probiotic yogurt for PLWAs
identify most appropriate yogurt packaging and distribution mechanism to ensure efficiency and effectiveness
develop and implement a poster information campaign to raise the understanding of the general health benefits pertaining to the program and to eliminate any misconceptions that may be associated with the yogurt

Problem Definition: The project will address the following problems...

Malnutrition
Diarrhoeal diseases: over 50% of PLWAs and more than 45% of infected children suffer from this disease
Baterial Vaginosis: this condition doubles the risk of women acquiring HIV
Low income of rural women: empowering the rural women!

Potential challenges:

Many challenges faced by female interns and female Yogurt Mamas (volunteers who produce, distribute, and sell the yogurt)
Process is very important, things are VERY SLOW in Kenya
Communication
People have resistance to change
Sustainability is key
Jen and I are the very first interns in the Oyugis area, which is the poorest region in Kenya
Cultural safety

The above is the initial information that I have received from Western Heads East. I am certain that things will change and I will update information this information as often as I can.

After a long 8 hour flight Jen and I arrived in London, England and toured the city by foot for a couple hours before our next flight to Nairobi. It was gorgeous weather in an amazing city and it was the absolute perfect way to start our journey! :)

I miss friends and family already but I am so excited to start the project and live for 3 months in a completely different world!