ThinkImpact Supporters Guide

We are three weeks into the village homestay component of the program and the interns are becoming accustomed to the nightly and morning rituals with their families.  Each evening the interns arrive home tired from a full day of work, walking in the sun from project site to committee meeting to homestay and back again.  A refreshing bucket shower, conversation with the parents and games with the kids are typical before dinner. Dinners vary between ugali (corn pounded into a flour and boiled) or chapati (greasy flatbread) with a chicken stew, greens, eggs or beans.  Portions are generous and some interns are actually complaining of being overfed!

The after dinner routine is relaxed.  Anna and Steph are pictured with Mama Theresia (now called “Mama T”) as she sings her nightly song to Steph’s stuffed bear name Zingo. Most interns are in bed by 9pm, at the latest, to read a book and fall asleep, only to be awoken by a honking goat or rooster.

In the morning the interns usually eat bread, tea and perhaps another fried goody. The teams meet to plan for the day before they separate to their different projects.  Some teams will walk up to two hours with their translator to the project site they are evaluating.  Typically the van picks them up in the afternoon so they can attend another team meeting and then retreat home for the remainder of the night. Anna, Nick, Steph, Marty, Paddy, and Leslie S. are pictured after a meeting.

For a break from the homestay experience, the second half of the group visited Ngomeni One Love Island for two nights.  The group is pictured enjoying the sun on the beach.

On Tuesday, we attended round table meetings with representatives from World Vision and African Medical Research and Foundation (AMREF). Both organizations are carrying out projects in our target area. Casey, Nick, Jessie and Paul are pictured listening intently. The meetings were fruitful and some interns plan to reconnect with these organizations for future partnerships.

Xin is excited about the next phase of project development.  She is utilizing her medical and law backgrounds to analyze the new constitution proposed in Kenya.  She is specifically researching the health components regarding HIV/AIDS and abortion.

Despite both groups being in places without electricity (Kayafungo and Ngomeni), anyone interested was able to watch the World Cup final game.  The Ngomeni folks took a 20-minute boat ride to a fishing village, which showed the game in a small crammed room on a solar-powered television.  Those in Kayafungo convinced the ThinkImpact van driver to take them to Mariakani so they could watch the game and cheer with the rest of the world.

Overall, everyone is healthy with the exception of a few upset stomachs here and there.  We did take Nick and Paddy to visit a doctor in Mombasa last Thursday.  Nick received antibiotics for a mildly infected tick bite and confirmed no transmitted disease.  Paddy got ointment for his itching legs and treatment for possible ringworm.  Both issues are now resolved.

Everyone is excited to meet again in Mariakani on Sunday to reconnect and celebrate the birthdays of Jessie and Casey.

Every family has its own traditions and the interns like to compare and contrast their experiences.  But from distant villages stretching across Kayafungo the interns shares a common event. Pictured is the sunset seen vividly from each homestay.
Hope you are having a good week!

Kelly, Marty, Rachael and Casey learning to dance

Letter from Managing Director, Lily Muldoon, in Kenya:

We are concluding another great week in Kayafungo.  In addition to our grueling fieldwork, we are getting to know our homestay families and enjoying the Giriama culture. A women’s group dressed Kelly, Marty, Rachael and Casey in traditional skirts and taught them their hip-shaking dance style (pictured).
In Kayafungo, the interns performed the capacity inventory analysis and compiled their results in asset maps.  ThinkImpact relies on asset-based community development practices to identify where and how to implement new initiatives and social businesses.  An alternative to traditional needs-based approaches that focus on a community’s problems or deficits, our approach helps community members understand their talents and resources.  Each intern is acting as a facilitator, not a direct implementer, to catalyze change in Kayafungo.

Nick and Kelly discussing community assets with students

Following the initial assessments, the intern has the opportunity to partner with an inspired community entrepreneur who shares similar passions and has motivation to initiate a social business.  For example, Paul performed a capacity inventory with the Kayafungo nurse who works in the government-run dispensary because he has an interest in health improvements and sees her as a potential resource.  Nick and Kelly are pictured discussing community assets with students from the polytechnic school.

This week we are starting our Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis.  ThinkImpact has developed this monitoring and evaluation program that relies heavily on the fieldwork of the interns.  This impact measurement is an opportunity for us to thoroughly appraise our effects in the community.  Using the SROI methodology, we take into consideration the social, environmental and cultural aspects of a community by expressing social value relative to investment. For the next two weeks, the interns will visit our past projects including: two schools, a dam, a sanitation program involving the construction of latrines and hand-washing stations, a community health trainer program, and a library project.  Using ThinkImpact resources and our own creativity, we will identify indicators and conduct a variety valuation methods to value our social impact.

Excursion to Ngomeni One Love Island

For a pleasurable excursion, half the group visited a magical island in the Indian Ocean.  Sunday through Tuesday, Jessie, Paul, Stephanie, Anna, Xin, Paddy, Rachel G. (team leader) and Abdallah (country director) ventured to Ngomeni One Love Island for a break on the beach.  The group is pictured having fun and eating in the main cabana.

A friend of ThinkImpact, Madi, has started an ecotourism project for community development in his coastal village called Ngomeni. Off the coast is a completely uninhabited island where we enjoy the beach, collect seashells, swim and relax in a tree house.

Meals on the island consist of coconut rice, shrimp, crab and fresh fish. This is a pleasant contrast to the peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches we eat daily in Kayafungo as we conduct the assessments.  Local women from the Ngomeni village are employed to cook.  We enjoy this excursion because we can appreciate the culture of the Swahili people of the coast and simultaneously give back positively to the community.

A non-profit called World Wide IMPACT formed to facilitate the initiative and is constructing a website to support the Ngomeni Eco-Tourism Community Development Project. Click on the “Photos” section to view the project and the island.

Saul meeting with the Kenya GDIs

Saul Garlick, ThinkImpact Executive Director, visited our Kenya site last week.  He met individually with each group to address any concerns, answer development questions, and reinforce the program and curriculum.  Saul is pictured discussing with the entire group on his first morning.

Everyone is spending the night in Kayafungo tonight and pass their regards.

Back in Mariakani again and had a short time on the internet to connect with the outside world. I feel so oblivious to what is happening globally, as the only news we get here is in Kiswahili and primarily focused on the health of Raila Odinga (the Kenyan PM) as well as the upcoming vote to change the Kenyan constitution. It is quite nice though to disconnect from technology and just enjoy talking to people and spending quality time with others!!

So to quickly summarize this past week, the interns moved into the second chunk of our work here in Kayafungo, where we started with capacity inventories. Basically, we go around our subareas in Kayafungo, mine being Mbalamweni which is soo huge, but absolutely beautiful with palm trees and lush green everywhere. Along with our translators, we just go to different homesteads and ask people about their skills and talents. The point of the capacity inventory is to tap into the resources and assets that community members have, so as to get a better idea of the strengths of the community, as well as meet people that we potentially will establish partnerships with to launch a social business or advocacy project. It has been really incredible to find out about the hidden skills and talents of everyone we met. Nick and I met this incredible man Michael who just talked to us for about an hour and a half while grazing his cattle (and my feet were getting eaten alive by fire ants) about his crazy life experiences doing just about every job. He, along with several other community members I met, were very inspirational because they told us point blank that they didn’t want handouts, as USAID and the traditional aid system has focused on doing, but rather that they wanted the training and knowledge so that they can pull themselves out of poverty. So that was pretty incredible to hear their amazing mentalities and that they want to achieve for themselves…and that is exactly what ThinkImpact and my own personal philosophy on development is, that just handing out money to impoverished people (though out of good intention) ends up being detrimental and creates an atmosphere of total dependency, making it virtually impossible to break the cycle of poverty.

So after we met people and just found out about their skills and talents, the second half the week was asset mapping, where we made lists of the groups, institutions, physical resources and prominent individuals existing in our sublocation, just to get a good overall view of the community and what strengths it has to offer. It is so crazy that we have only been in the community for 2 weeks, since I already feel that I have learned SOOO much about Kayafungo, Giriama tradition, Kenya, and just the daily lives of the people in Kayafungo. And I’m slowly picking up Swahili as my host family patiently drills it every night while we make dinner! It really has been an incredible learning experience.

Okay, really must run now, but everything is going great, feel like I’ve been here forever and definitely feeling at home! Next weekend we are going to an island called Ngomeni, which should be incredible, so I’m already excited for that!!

Kelly Souls

GDI Kenya 2010

Written 6/21/10

Happy Birthday Anna and Arianna!

Letter from Managing Director, Lily Muldoon, in Kenya:

After a full week in Kayafungo, we are quickly becoming accustomed to village life. The interns are familiarizing with their homestay families and growing acquainted with typical Giriama practices.  They spend the mornings and evenings cooking, collecting water on their heads, and doing chores with the families.  During the day the interns meet in their small groups with their team leader, review the ThinkImpact curriculum and plan for the day.

For the first several days the interns observed daily life to increase awareness about community infrastructure, relationships and resources. Working in pairs, they gathered information by performing a scavenger hunt, facilitating capacity inventory and asset mapping in the town centers, health clinics, homesteads and businesses.  Leslie S. inquisitively questioned families about their use of eggs to supplement protein deficiency and plans to research more about starting a social business to sell eggs .

Birthday celebrations!

We spent Sunday and Monday night together in Mariakani for clean showers, laundry and Internet. Arianna and Anna had birthdays over the weekend and we celebrated with a frosted cake, singing and candles (pictured).  We were all happy to have time to reunite after the first homestay experience.  Interns shared stories about fascinating meetings with empowered women’s groups and visiting schools.  We mostly enjoyed sharing hilarious incidences of trying to live comfortably with a family who has no electricity or running water.

Saul Garlick, the ThinkImpact Executive Director, arrived on Monday for a site visit and to spend time learning from and guiding the interns.  He will be joining the teams in Kayafungo for the next two nights before he returns to continue running the organization from the Washington DC.

Attached you will find a picture of the group in front of the Kayafungo Chief’s office with the Chief and his Assistant Chief.  The rains are starting to clear up so the van is not stuck as frequently.  In the next picture Rachael, Nick, Leslie M. (now called “Marty”) and Jessie have fun together although the van is stuck, yet again, behind them.  In the last picture the class enjoys their first formal Swahili lesson.

The group in front of the Kayafungo Chief's office with the Chief and his assistant

Rachael, Nick, Leslie M. and Jessie in front of the stuck van

The class has its first Swahili lesson

Hope the US is treating you well.

We have been a week in Kenya, although most GDIs will attest that it feels like a month.

From Nairobi we flew to Mombasa on two separate flights.  One landed properly but the other hit a storm and was forced to turn back to Nairobi before landing.  We waited on the runway for about an hour, laughed and joked to calm our nerves, and arrived safely in Mombasa - late but with no problems.

Kenya GDIs with their homestay moms

We spent the day touring Mombasa and the girls purchased khangas, colorful pieces of material they wear as skirts during their stay in Kayafungo (pictured on the right).  Early Monday morning we departed for Mariakani, the highway city a 40-minute drive from the heart of Kayafungo where we will be spending the weekends showering, washing clothes and reflecting after the homestay experience.

On Monday we got our first glimpse of the community we will be working in for the next seven weeks.  We piled into two vans and headed first to Gogoraruhe Primary School, a school ThinkImpact built last year.
Only a few yards from the school grounds, not one but both vans got stuck in the mud!  Even with the assistance of 35 community members and two hours of pushing, pulling, and digging, one van could not be removed.  Once nightfall emerged we left the van, piled into the other, and returned to our hotel in Mariakani.

The next day we toured more project sites, riding in vans and walking on small footpaths. While jumping across a small creek, Stephanie fell in the mud but shook it off with bellowing laughter.

Kenya GDIs in Kayafungo

The food so far is delicious and everyone is healthy.  Patrick and Rachel G. had some episodes of nausea that we eventually determined was not from sickness but from taking their doxycycline (malaria prophylaxis) before eating. Thankfully this was a problem easily remedied!

The rural homestay experience started yesterday.  The interns were partnered and met their homestay families.  They will be living in different villages with the families until August and meeting Sunday through Tuesday in Mariakani.  Pictured you will see Leslie, Meredith (team leader), Ari, Patrick and Xin with their homestay moms, Betty and Agnes enjoying fresh coconuts.

Overall, the trip is going great!  Hope you are too!

We arrived safely in Kenya around 6am this morning with just one bag missing.  Luckily it was filled only with granola bars, candy and other small things we won’t need until Kayafungo next week.  The two days of training in Washington DC were highly successful as the interns learned about the ThinkImpact development model, how to conduct monitoring and evaluation on past projects, our asset-based community development system and what is in store for them over the next 8 weeks.

After an 11 hour layover in London and our arrival in Nairobi, life was non-stop as we checked into the hotel, ate our first Kenyan meal (surprisingly delicious!) and had three consecutive meetings with other non-profit social enterprise organizations and the Director of the Kenyan Ministry of Water.

Tomorrow we will take care of business in Nairobi and then we catch a flight to Mombasa early Sunday morning.

Everyone seems healthy and happy.  Soon the Interns will be posting blogs on our website and you can hear more about life from their perspective.

Cheers,
Lily, Rachael, Rachel and Meredith
Kenya GDI Staff

These are our 2010 Kenya GDIs!

We are in the midst of the second phase of our Global Development Program in Kayafungo, Kenya. As we speak, the students are working hard to complete monitoring work on our past development projects. They are meeting with community members and leaders, teachers, students and partners to understand the impact that the Secondary School we built is having on students lives, to learn how youth are benefiting from the latrines we constructed at 14 schools, to see how behavior has changed in a community that received our Community Health Training workshop programs and finally, to see how families are benefiting from the new water dam built at Katsangani.

The group remains motivated and hard working, and we are excited to
see how their efforts lead to new projects and initiatives that will
continue to create opportunities for others in such a poor, rural
area. Life in the homestays has proven very rewarding and informative, and students have actually been requesting to spend more time in the local homesteads than at our small motel that is 15 km away. The cultural immersion is intense and exciting, and the group has really enjoyed it. Yesterday we spent the school day with the Youth Polytechnic, a wonderful community run school where children learn practical skills (construction, carpentry, metal work, auto repair) so that they may get jobs in the future. This was so inspiring, and we joined them for sports in the afternoon.

Two nights ago I went to dinner with a friend who works on food security issues at USAID. We were talking about the conditions in Kenya where SMRC works and in Southern Sudan, her portfolio. We talked about the food crises, the conflicts that have been worsened in Sudan because President Bashir of Sudan has shrewdly kicked out NGOs and what else can be done. I was thinking about what NGOs could do in Kenya – seeing that we have access – that is now impossible to achieve in Sudan because of political tactics (which have devastating results for the people there).

Then today as I got to the office, Vanessa alerts me to read an article about food in Kenya: http://tinyurl.com/dbxp6c. It appears things in Coast province and other areas are getting desperate.

While we are eager to get to work on development through asset assessments and thorough monitoring and evaluation of past projects and hopefully serving as youth catalysts for future projects, we must expect to be emotionally drawn to dealing with the immediate needs of the community – food for survival.

When Lily was leaving Kayafungo this spring, she noted that the food crisis was serious and that 3 people had died of starvation. It seems that while nothing is getting any easier in the community, we need a strategy to balance our development goals while working through a desperate situation.