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Letter from Managing Director, Lily Muldoon, in Kenya:
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!
Posted by Sarah Whitney
It has been an exciting week so far in Manyeleti, South Africa! The Global Development Interns for ThinkImpact have arrived in Dixie, Makrepeni, and Uta. There are 12 interns this year and they will be living and working in the communities for eight weeks. The ThinkImpact staff has already recognized so much potential in this year’s South Africa GDIs in the short time since we began training in DC last week. The GDIs spent the day yesterday visiting all of ThinkImpact’s past initiatives in Manyeleti, including the high school soccer fields, primary school libraries, and community centers. Today the GDIs began using field work tools for asset-based community development (ABCD) to learn more about their communities and create a foundation for the work they will be doing over the next eight weeks. With the excitement over the World Cup reaching its peak in South Africa (only three days before the competition begins!) we are equally excited to see what the GDIs will accomplish this summer.
As the Uta Community Center nears completion, we are anticipating an exciting opening celebration and great chance for the Uta GDIs to get involved. As soon as electricity is installed, the community will be able to watch the World Cup games at the center. This will provide a safe space for fun for the whole community and a great start for the revenue-generating activity and small business involvement at the center. Women will be able to sell snacks, drinks, and other goods at the games and community members will pay a small fee for entrance. The GDIs will be completing monitoring and evaluation assessments of the community center over the next month to determine the “social return on investment” of this ThinkImpact fellowship initiative. The GDIs will also have a chance to attend the opening of the center and will be able to see the development of community programs over the next two months. This will be a great resource for the GDIs to get a first-hand experience of the successes and challenges that come with pursuing a fellowship as they complete their internship field work and begin to develop a sense of where they wish to go next. We are excited to see the advocacy projects and fellowship proposals for social businesses that come out of this year’s GDI in South Africa, and will be updating you soon on all that’s going on Dixie, Makrepeni, and Uta.
Posted by Claire Bristow and Sarah Whitney, Global Development Fellows
Today a loved committee member passed away. Lizzie had a smile that could brighten anyone’s day. Her laugh was infectious. Lizzie died of TB while staying in a hospital 45 minutes away in Acornhoek. She had been in the hospital for over a month when it happened. She was so strong and so alive just a few months ago. She has young children that will now grow up without her.
We got to know Lizzie when she shared some brilliant thoughts with us about what she wanted to see in her community. She was looking forward to the business opportunities that the community hall would bring. As one of our most dedicated and involved committee members, Lizzie brought such valuable ideas to our meetings and played such an important part in making the community hall possible.
Posted by Sarah Whitney and Claire Bristow, Global Development Fellows
Today marks the two-month countdown to the 2010 FIFA World Cup here in South Africa. It would be an understatement to say that South Africans are excited. Everything in the country has revolved around soccer and preparations for the greatest competition in the sport since the host site was announced by FIFA in 2004. Things are no different here in Utah, where kids are looking forward to their four-week school break in June scheduled especially to accommodate the event and a lucky few community members have scored tickets to matches across the country.
The Project Steering Committee is hoping to make the most of the World Cup at the community hall and plans are underway to ensure that soccer-mania does not pass without taking advantage of the new facility. The committee hopes to host viewing parties for the community in the hall by setting up a big screen and projector for all of the matches. By charging a small fee for entrance to these events, the committee will be able to generate an income for maintenance and utility costs and future community initiatives at the hall. During the viewings, local entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to market and sell their goods to soccer fans, boosting their profits and developing business opportunities within the hall. Many women will be sure to make use of the building’s kitchen to sell snacks and beverages to hungry viewers.
The timing of the World Cup also brings a great opportunity for the Project Steering Committee to involve the local soccer teams in the opening of the community hall and its programmes. The PSC secretary, Rames Mndlhovu, is currently working with the three teams in Utah to develop a plan for their use of the hall. Rames hopes that the facility’s health and fitness space can provide players with a safe place to use equipment such as free weights, while also serving as a resource for health education initiatives. We hope that in the future, the teams can also make use of the meeting spaces for mentoring opportunities with local youth, taking advantage of their interest in soccer to motivate peer education and tutoring programmes within the schools and community.
With all the hype leading up to the 2010 tournament, the adverts are right: the world is watching. So are we, and we can’t wait to see what lays ahead for soccer, sport, education, health, and empowerment opportunities in the new community hall.
Shangaan word of the day – bolo – soccer
Posted by Sarah Whitney and Claire Bristow, Global Development Fellows
Programming begins! We are so excited to get programs running even before the community hall is up and running! The plan is to have groups and programs that can begin use of the hall the day it opens, so that means our committee has a lot of work to do to get these programs started. Each committee member is currently committed to starting one group to run inside the hall to help their community.
The most progressed of the programs is that of dramas! Two members of our committee, Angie and Lucky, have mobilized young people to participate in plays that teach of HIV/AIDS, TB, and safe sex.
The plays with older students will be performed in English, which is an exciting way for young people to further their language skills. Angie is helping children with their reading and pronunciation after school. She spends her time, for no money, to help children learn this language that will define their future. All students in Uta have to complete exams in English in order to graduate from high school. All employers require that their staff speak English, especially in a region where tourism is so vital to the economy. This extra practice is a push that the students really need.
Lucky is helping young children to practice and perform plays at a local church. These are done in Shangaan to ensure understanding. The children will learn about health issues through these plays and others will learn by watching the performances.
We can’t wait to go and watch these plays be performed once the hall opens!
Shangaan word of the day – rihanyu – health
