Lake Victoria looked very beautiful as the sun came up – very little water hyacinth, (the aquatic equivalent of Rhododendrons), to be seen. This vegetative pest has been choking the life out of the lake for a number of years and causes the fishermen awful problems getting their boats out to deep enough water to fish in and bringing their, (dwindling), catches to shore. It is difficult to comprehend the real size of Lake Victoria. It’s the second largest stretch of freshwater in the world. The bit of it that we travel past is only really a small inlet but looks huge – like being at the seaside. From the window of the Matatu, (minibus), that we have hired for the day looking out at the fishing boats on the lake looks almost biblical.
Kisumu is very different. Packed full of people, tuc-tucs, (three wheeler taxis), motor bikes, cars, bicycle taxis and people. Poverty next to prosperity. The biggest shopping centre in Kisumu is opposite one of the slums. Along the side of the road billboards promote a lifestyle that most Kenyans can only really dream of, (80% of them are farmers, mostly living at subsistence level). I cannot help feeling sad that poor Kenyans are being sold the aspirations of a globalised world economy. They can’t afford it and don’t need it. One of our neighbours in Kosele has a little boy called Robin. He was admitted to the local District Hospital with typhoid a couple of days ago. His Mum can’t find clean water anywhere close to her home, (which is only about 8 km away from the second largest source of fresh water in the world), but could buy him a bottle of coke from the nearest kiosk to her house.
We are looking for a hotel/conference centre called the Duke of Breeze. It is up a side street off the main road into the centre of Kisumu. Doesn’t look very encouraging from the outside but the conference room on the third floor is pretty good. Having seen a number of workshops in progress in various locations in Kisumu but never taken part in one I was looking forward to the day. Self sufficient or self-financing schools are a bit of a development holy grail. In principle setting up viable businesses in schools run by students and teachers should be an easily achievable goal. In practice the constraints of the Kenyan curriculum, lack of capital, land and markets for products make it a real challenge. Fortunately the delegates at the workshop are a determined group and keen to overcome these barriers. Challenges were identified, solutions proposed and a good deal of networking happened. This was probably the most useful aspect of the workshop for me – it’s great to catch up with Kenyans who are actively pursuing development in their schools and communities and willing to share their successes, frustrations and contact details. It was even more rewarding to exchange experiences without being asked for help in finding outside donors or sponsors.
A key part of our plans for the Agriculture College that we will be opening in January next year involves becoming a Cambridge examination centre and entering the students for International GCSE exams. Our plan received a good response from a group of head teachers I talked to. They said that IGCSEs are usually only offered by the most expensive fee paying schools in Kenya and largely taken by students from Asian families in preparation for studying in the UK at university level. Our team was fired up by the workshop and we will have a lot to talk about and plan for in the coming weeks.
Whole body massage courtesy of the last 8 km of our journey home followed by further plotting and scheming with Ian and Hilda brought the day to a good conclusion. We have set ambitious goals for the coming year but have been reassured by the workshop experience that we are on the right track.
Many thanks to Lindsey, Samina and Zoe from Teach a Man to Fish.
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