May 23rd: Great progress is being made

A foreseeable endpoint now exists for kazi ngumu, we are almost at our goal! With continued help from the community we are able to make quick progress. Next week we will be able to lay the pipes and recover the trenches, the fruits of our labor will be realized when the water will flow to over 400 community members. 

This afternoon we picked up 50 trees from the reforestation project and headed to Manyatta Primary school. We were paired with students from the eighth grade who helped us with the planting task. It was an amazing experience for all of us, we were able to share information about Canada, our culture and our favorite activities. The students reciprocated, telling us of their families, school life and their lovely Kenya. It was an unforgettable experience to say the least. It is a wonderful keepsake to know that the trees we planted and the memories we made will grow and flourish here, many of us are already planning return trips at some point, the end of this experience is coming far too quickly. 

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

May 22nd: A different kind of kazi ngumu

The kazi ngumu continues on and we are making some great progress. As if digging trenches isn't enough, we have added some extra work to our daily schedule, and have been invited to work with the Mt. Kenya Tree Reforestation Project in the afternoons. Unfortunately on Monday the rain prevented us from working and today we managed to make it to the project for brief introductions. The project site is a beautiful oasis, a hidden gem located next to river amongst the trees. At the site they plant seeds and grow seedlings to plant throughout the community. Again the rain prevented us from doing much work but we have been informed that tomorrow we will visit Manyatta Primary School to plant 50 trees, we have a teacher in the group and she couldn't be more excited about visiting a school. 

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

May 20th: Off to hike Mt. Kenya!

It has been a long week of kazi ngumu and on our day off we decided that we would do some kazi ngumu of a different sort and 6 members of our group set out on a day trek up Mount Kenya. We decided to drive up to Met Station which is 3000 m above sea level and begin our hike from there so that we would be able to see as much as we could in the time that we had. During our drive up the mountain we saw many water buffalo and small deer-like animals called bushbucks, we were also fortunate to see all 3 species of primates that live on the mountain. As we reached higher elevation we were able see changes in the vegetation; we were surrounded by tall trees and as we climbed beyond the treeline, the flora was much smaller and widely spaced. We also saw some leopard scat along our hike which was quite an exciting find for the two biologists that are on our team. We had a simple lunch with our two guides Jeff and Wilson after a few hours of hiking. After lunch 4 members and Jeff began the trek down the mountain while 2 others and Wilson continued on for a longer trek, the more avid group managed to reach a stop point at 3800 m before heading back to join the rest of the group for our drive back home to the hostel. 

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

May 18th: The community comes together

Yesterday Benna had asked us if we would give her permission to be with us everyday of kazi ngumu, and of course we all agreed that we would love to spend as much time with her as possible! We also had Francis from the committee along with us today and he does a very good job at making sure that we are all on task. Today we had a lot of support from the community and over 60 people came out to help us along in the trenches, needless to say we made significant progress today! 
One more day of kazi ngumu and then we will have one day off for a trip to Mount Kenya! 

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

May 16th: Our Kenyan mother Benna

Back in the trenches once again! It is wonderful to see how much progress we have made since the previous day and we are slowly but surely getting used to the work. Each day of work we are accompanied by a couple members from the water project committee and we have been fortunate to have had Benna watching over us for the last couple of days. Benna is warm and loving and we have already begun to think of her as our Kenyan mother. This is the final day that Benna has been assigned to work with us and she has invited us to her home to have chai with her before we head for our lunch at the hostel. It is very nice to have a small group so that we are able to be extended such an invitation, we feel truly at home and welcomed into the community here in Naro Moru!

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

May 15th: Kazi Ngumu begins (Hard work)

It is our first day of kazi ngumu, and we have begun to understand that it truly is very hard work! Before we had started we had assumed that we would be able to put in a standard North American 8 hour work day and we had wondered why we were only scheduled to be working from 9am-1pm. After about one hour of working at the earth with jambe and kijiko (hoe and shovel) we realized that quitting time at 1pm would be appropriate. It is customary for Kenyans to have a traditional name as well as a Christian name. When we had met with the committee members we were told that we would all be given a traditional Kikuyu name and within the first few hours we had all been assigned our new names. In our group we have Ciko and Mwangi which are tribal names, Twiga (giraffe) for our tallest member, Mkubwa for our largest member, Nyakanini for one of our smaller members, Makena which means "always jolly", Njeri which means generous, and Daudi which translates to David. 

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

May 14th: Introductions and Orientation

This morning we met with six of the eleven project committee members we will be working with. Following introductions, we set off for a tour of the reforestation and irrigation projects that are currently taking place in this community. We learned that the people of Naro Moru were unhappy with the destruction of their forests and decided to take action to obtain control of the land. The community committed to rebuilding and protecting the area and providing sustainable solutions for supplying food and water to the entire community for future generations . The portion of the project we are responsible for is digging a 1.5km trench (kazi ngumu) to provide water to 400 more community members. In order to spare us from only digging trenches for the duration of our stay, we will also plant trees at local schools and work at the tree nursery. The entire community has welcomed us and made us feel very at home, they have expressed very sincere gratitude for the work we will be doing and that DWC has already done. After meeting the committee and seeing the community we are all very eager to get digging! 

May 13th: Settling in to our new home

We arrived in Nairobi Saturday night after a long day of travel. Seven of us had travelled together from Canada and the eighth member of our team had travelled from New Zealand and was already waiting for us in Nairobi with our driver David. David took us to our hotel (The Delta...Nairobi style) for the night and we settled in.

First thing in the morning we went out shopping for rubber boots at the Nakumat, the London Drugs of East Africa. It is the rainy season in Kenya and none of us had come completely prepared. Once we were stocked up we were ready to head out for the 4 hour drive to Naro Moru.

We had a couple of stops along the way but made it to Manyatta (just outside of Naro Moru Town where we will be doing our project) well before dark. They welcomed us at Mt. Kenya Youth Hostel with big smiles and little snack before supper. I think we were all surprised at how amazing our accommodations were. The three boys are in their room and then five girls in our room. The hostel is spacious and the food is so great! The family running the hostel has a smile and a hug for everyone and definitely make us feel very at home. 

After a long few days of travel we were ready for a rest so we would be ready to begin kazi ngumu (hard work) on Monday.  

 DWC Team
 Kenya, May 2012

May 2012: Students arrive in Naro Moru, Kenya

A group of students led by Team Leaders Sarah Armstrong and Kazia Armstrong, has arrived safely in Naro Moru, Kenya. The Developing World Connections volunteer team is composed of young global citizens, from Kamloops, Victoria, Saskatoon, and Toronto.

The team got a great start to the project, and has been busy working hard on the Gitwe Irrigation Water Project. They are also spending some of their time at local schools in the rural village of Manyatta to interact with the children and work on maintenance and repairs of the buildings.

The rain is consistent, everyday around noon.

We will keep you all posted on the progress of the project!


DWC Staff
May 2012