Sorry for lack of updates. I promise you that this one is very interesting.
I just returned from a field trip to Maseki, a rural area around Kitui town.
Together with Nelie and Ken-da-man from Nairobi we planned to visit the community bank that was supposed to exist here, but unfortunately we found out that the community bank was not operating, and that the locals were still waiting for a office-issued training.
What did we do?
1) The Akamba tribe living here is very skilled at fabricating baskets and handbags out of plants. Hawkers from Nairobi however pay them less than production costs, and run of to sell the baskets to rich tourists. With my sharp business eye I immediately noticed that selling below your production costs consistently is never a good thing, so we decided to incorporate them in our fresh Fair Trade Branch. Today I wrote a complete catalogue for their products, and hopefully we can find an organization willing to take them.
2) I beheaded a chicken.
3) I consumed said chicken.
4) We visited a school for orphans. This school looked really professional, so we wrote a project appraisal, and a volunteer application (they need extra teachers).
5) CIVS work camp 2 years ago (of which Ken was leader) was also in this area. For three weeks volunteers from a variety of countries build a few houses for orphans living with their relatives. When we went there all the houses were lying on the ground, completely collapsed (Ken almost cried). Building houses out of clay was a big no-no even in biblical times so I do not really wish for these little orphans to live in one (by the way, when the houses came down the orphans were apparently inside). Somewhere in the near future we will try to find a volunteer with a background in construction or engineering for our new CIVS Professionals branch, and hopefully this person will be able to lead a group of unskilled volunteers in building proper structures. If we can try to get some funds for this (I'm thinking Potje met Bouwfraude), we can hopefully even afford some better materials to work with.
6) We visited the witch doctor. The Akamba are still with one leg in the occult, and even our homeboy Ken (who is part Kamba) was terrified to walk through the dark! Apparently 'nightwalkers', men with sheep-legs, are quite common in those areas. Ken refused my offer to hunt one down for dinner (after killing a chicken I felt like a warrior).
Anyway, the witch doctor own explanation of her skills was 'I can do anything'. After I asked for some specifics, she claimed that she could 'heal anything, mentally and physically'. Very interesting, considering that her son's coughing sounded a lot like tuberculosis to me.
After the initial chitchat I might have taken it too far a bit. I asked the witchdoctor how much it would cost to cast an evil voodoo spell on Ken. Lucky for him, she claimed to be one of the good guys. Ken, however, didn't speak to me for the rest of the day, and refused to share his mango's. That curse backfired right at me.
Tomorrow I will leave for Mombasa, to visit another community, and then take a couple of days of in a private beach-hut.
Was interesting, wasn't it?
