Following chicken slaughters and special dances with ancestral sticks, the Kayafungo people wished the interns good-bye today.  Tears were shed and coconuts gifted as the interns loaded into vans to return to Mombasa.

Over the past week, potential fellows diligently compiled the last components required for their social business models and advocates finished interviews, collected stories and completed survey research.  The initiatives facilitated by the interns are remarkable and stories inspirational.

This Week’s Highlighted Projects:

As an advocate, Nick is focusing on issues associated with the stigma of having and speaking about HIV/AIDS in the Kayafungo Community. Following interviews with families personally affected by HIV/AIDS and tracking trends in testing, he is writing a research paper, which will be published with the University of the Pacific’s Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship.

Xin is reviewing the Ministry of Health policy regarding HIV/AIDS and breastfeeding for her advocates project.  She was shocked to learn that the Ministry recommends that mothers who are HIV+ breast-feed their children, although the child may contract the virus through the milk.  Xin is interviewing individuals affected by this policy and is writing a persuasive paper regarding the situation and possible alternatives to HIV+ mothers breast-feeding their children.

Rachael is following the fellowship track to initiate a poultry farming business with single mothers. This initiative will create jobs and also address malnutrition.  With her community partner, she plans to educate the members on the importance of protein in diet and to create a system whereby the mothers sell both eggs and chickens in a widening market.

Using her public health and veterinary background, Leslie S. is an advocate for Rachael’s fellowship project. To demonstrate the problem of malnutrition in Kayafungo and how a poultry business can alleviate protein deficiencies, she intends to give a presentation about her findings to her public health class, write an article accompanied by photos to be published in an electronic newsletter and edit a short video.

Jessie is developing a micro-finance lending institution in Kayafungo.  This institution aims to offer small sums of money in the form of loans to the Kayafungo community using a group loan scheme. Interest paid on the loans will go to fund financial literacy classes  to improve business practices and money management.

The interns will stay in Mombasa for the next three days as we do final presentations and concluding meetings.  They depart on Sunday evening and transfer through Nairobi, London and then to Washington DC.  I bet you are excited to get them home and hear these stories in person!

The 2010 ThinkImpact Fellows arrived in Mombasa yesterday morning and are excited to stay in the new apartment and follow up on the initiatives they started in Kayafungo as interns last summer.  Alexandra Crosson is developing a soap-making business with a local women’s group interested in health promotion. And Laura MacArthur is bringing together farmers in Kayafungo to share knowledge and mobilize local assets to combat starvation through a micro-drip irrigation business and demonstration farms. You can follow their blog posts over the year on the ThinkImpact website.

In national news, Kenya is likely to see a new constitution as citizens flocked to the polls yesterday to vote on the referendum.  We witnessed a historic day as Kenya voted to pass a law that will drastically change the current constitution bequeathed by their former colonial power.  The final results will be announced tomorrow.

Larry Street, Meredith’s dad and professional photographer, helps me reduce my pictures and optimize their exposure for emailing. He is now out of town photographing.  We will send pictures when he returns in the next few days.

Peace and love,
Lily

With less than two weeks remaining of our program, the interns continue to prepare their final advocates and fellows projects.  Interns are excitedly forming important partnerships with local entrepreneurs, structuring committees and carrying out research using surveys, focus groups and individual interviews.

Early Saturday morning we transferred from Kayafungo to Mombasa for a day of shopping, researching on the Internet, and relaxing by the Indian Ocean.  For dinner we feasted at an authentic Swahili restaurant in Old Town. Those not too exhausted from the demanding week in Kayafungo, joined Kenyan friends for dancing at a club on the water.

At 6am on Sunday we met for the start of our safari excursion to Tsavo East and Amboseli National Parks.  We were delighted to see lions, giraffes, elephants, impala, waterbucks, monkeys, gazelles, zebras, dik diks and a variety of birds.  Missing the hippos and cheetahs gives everyone another reason to return to Kenya. Kelly, Nick, Marty, Ari and Paul are pictured in one of the safari vans.  Also pictured is a monkey crossing the road and a family of elephants, some of the interns’ favorites.

Marty turned 22 on Wednesday and Stephanie turns 21 this coming Tuesday.  We will be celebrating together on Sunday evening during our last night in Mariakani.

In other ThinkImpact news, we identified the location of our new ThinkImpact office and apartment in Mombasa!  As our new full-time country director, Abdallah will be running office logistics and supporting the Global Development Internship and Fellowship programs.  Two ThinkImpact fellows arrive next week to stay for eight months to a year. They will be using the apartment and office as a base as they carry out their social business initiatives in Kayafungo.

This Week’s Highlighted Projects:

Following the advocacy track, Marty is writing an article focused on the importance of family planning in alleviating poverty.  She will compare two families, one with two kids and the other with many more, to show the benefits of a smaller family.  Then she will present her research discussing the social barriers that inhibit families from participating in family planning.

Also an advocate, Patrick is working with three secondary schools in the Kayafungo Location to explore the issues surrounding access to education.  He is using surveys and statistical analysis to evaluate the relationships between education, poverty, health and any other issues he discovers affect educational opportunities.

In response to health issues that exist as a result of people walking barefoot, Paul is developing a shoe-making business on the fellowship track.  Using recycled materials, including old tires, he is working with local shoemakers to create inexpensive, atheistic footwear.

Pictured are Paddy, Meredith, Jessie and Leslie in front of the supply shop in Mariakani called, “In God We Trust.”

Hope you are having a good week!

Peace and love,
Lily

After completing a grueling two weeks of monitoring and evaluation, the interns are excited for the next component.  Each intern submitted an extensive report of their analysis on the effect of ThinkImpact’s past projects.  Xin and Ari are pictured playing valuation games with the students to ascertain the monetary value of the impact of our latrine and hand-washing station project.

Over the weekend, we celebrated the birthdays of Jessie and Casey (pictured) with a delicious chocolate in the shape of a butterfly and fun at the hotel in Mariakani.  Next weekend interns are looking forward to a two-night safari in Amboseli and Tsavo game reserves.

Interns who pursue the Fellowship are mobilizing community members around a business idea.  The intern partners with an inspired community entrepreneur to leverage local assets to facilitate the creation of a social business.  If selected, the fellow spends the next year deepening his/her understanding of the social business, expanding the network for product development, and fundraising.  After completing the training in Washington DC and reaching fundraising targets, the fellow returns to Kenya for a fully funded year to develop the social business.

Global Development Advocates create projects to raise awareness of an issue they are passionate about.  They use any medium they choose to demonstrate the values of ThinkImpact and the importance of innovation and social enterprise.  Upon completion of the program, Advocates will have the opportunity to speak at conferences, present on college campuses, host film, photography and art showings and publish relevant research in magazines and in journals.

Some Interns are choosing to partner together so that an Advocate supports the initiative of a potential Fellow.  On Sunday night Rachael Gordon (team leader) led a full group brainstorming session analyzing major issues in Kayafungo and potential projects.  She is pictured taking notes on ideas spewing from the excited interns.

This Week’s Highlighted Projects:

Arianna and Stephanie are working on an Advocates project to create a collaborative art book with students from two local secondary schools, which will be compiled and published in the United States.  The Advocates are asking students to discuss their passions, hopes, fears, problems and creative solutions for the future in art or writing form.  The project will serve two main purposes. First, they will motivate and inspire students in Kayafungo while helping them understand that their voices are important and can be heard. Secondly, they will change the public’s misconceptions about rural education in Africa by showcasing the impressive skills and abilities of these students.

On the Fellowship track, Anna is proposing to develop a social entrepreneurship club in a secondary day school in Kayafungo. In Mwijo Secondary School, the school ThinkImpact initiated and built in 2009, the social entrepreneurship club plans to grow and sell soybeans in order to address malnutrition problems.  Profit generated through the club will address challenges students face in education, particularly difficulties paying their school fees.

Kelly is following the Advocates track to partner with Anna on her Fellowship initiative.  In a bound booklet she will provide information about and pictures of the school, biographies of the students, analysis of their educational issues and an overview of Anna’s project.  She will present the obstacles restricting primary students from advancing their studies, particularly school fees, and how Anna’s innovative enterprise can make secondary education sustainable.

Also on the Fellowship track, Casey is partnering with a local seamstress and women’s group. The seamstress will train the women’s group and girls to sew school uniforms to be sold.  Profits will fund the girls’ secondary school education.

Look forward to more projects highlighted next week!

Finally, the ThinkImpact Kenya staff wish you a happy day!  Pictured: Lily Muldoon (Managing Director), Rachael Estess (Team Leader), Abdallah Mohamed (Country Director), Rachel Gordon (Team Leader) and Meredith Street (Team Leader).

Peace and love,
Lily

General Intern: http://bit.ly/aeOKC3

Social Media Intern: http://bit.ly/9ljNGm

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!

As South Africa wrapped up the World Cup last night with a 1-0 victory by Spain over the Netherlands, the Global Development Interns are beginning on a whole new journey. After a relaxing trip to Djuma Game Reserve last week, with sights of Big 5 animals, delicious meals, and refreshing showers, the interns are back at work. They began last week on the second stage of the GDI, either choosing to follow the Fellowship or Advocacy paths that ThinkImpact has developed to showcase their understanding and commitment of poverty reduction, social enterprise, and global development. Those who choose the Fellowship path will be working over the next three weeks to facilitate the development of small businesses under the direction of local community members. Those who take the Advocacy path will be pursuing an interest of their own in conjunction with a community partner to develop a tangible representation of the community in which they live and work. They will use this to advocate to their home communities and universities about challenges and opportunities in poverty reduction and community development in rural South Africa.

The interns have already begun to showcase their talents, understanding, and creativity over the past week. While some are pursuing partnerships with local community members who wish to start social businesses surrounding farming, funeral services, and education, others are building advocacy initiatives focused on HIV/AIDS, marriage, leadership, and daily life in the communities. It is a very exciting time here in Manyeleti and I, along with the rest of the ThinkImpact South Africa staff, cannot wait to see the results of all this hard work. We will be sure to update you again soon on the great progress the interns are making!

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.