Last days in Africa

An ancient place -

We left out of our safari post our stop at Oldupai Gorge which is considered the birthplace or cradle of man. In layers of volcanic deposits 300 feet deep archeologists have peeled back 2 million years of history. In 1959, Mary Leakey found a 1.8 million year old hominoid skull and later at Laetoli south of the gorge, she found hominoid footprints 3.75 million years old. Scholars have traced the probable migration routes from here to populations all over the world through DNA testing.

In our last post, we mentioned a meeting with the Hadzabe tribe, which live in an area south of Karatu. It is the only tribal remnant of ancient Paleolithic times on the continent and believed to be the most ancient tribe in Africa.

Nairobi -

Now, back to this most recent week; in the fall while we were in CA meeting with possible NGO partners we had dinner with Martin Fisher, the CEO of KickStart, an appropriate technology NGO whose main products are irrigation pumps. We have known of them and supported them for a long time, because Aaron did his Stanford MBA internship with them in Nairobi and then went to work for them in San Francisco after he graduated. (Martin has a PhD in engineering from Stanford, hence the connection.) Sharon offered to do volunteer work for them when we return to the US. So after reviewing her resume, Martin and others at KickStart decided that they could use her help with training. We went to Arusha on Friday, spent the night, and took the bus up to Nairobi on Saturday. Because of road construction (by the Chinese) the trip took 7 hours.

We were picked up by Bitenge Ndemo, a friend of Bill Drake and Anne McLaughlin. He went to the U of M and lived in MN for about 11 years. Bill met him through the International Center and helped him get a job at Medtronic. After returning to Kenya he completed a PhD in England. He was a university professor in Kenya when the government picked him as Permanent Minister of Information and Communication. Ndemo is very dedicated to improving the lives of people in the country, especially those in rural areas. He and his wife Pamela were gracious hosts, welcoming us to stay in their beautiful home, and taking us to the oldest country club in the city, dating to 1906 when of course blacks were not allowed. We met other relatives and also got some real exercise for a change, walking on the country club track. Unfortunately, Pamela was not feeling well, but Ndemo played tennis with Ruth, Barak Obama’s step mother, as they do every Sunday. Afterwards, we had a nice discussion with Ruth, who is from Boston but has lived in Kenya for 45 years.

We went to the KickStart guesthouse on Sunday night and had a pretty intense two days. We visited farmers who were using the pumps and described how it had changed their lives. One man was growing herbs on 1/6 of an acre and watering with a bucket. He got a pump and now has ¾ acre and of course more than one crop a year. He can afford to have his three high school children in private schools. Another woman had a nursery and she has expanded greatly since she saw a pump demonstrated and bought one to replace her bucket irrigation. We met a couple of dealers and with several staff people at KickStart. This is a very impressive organization whose employees have a very high level of skills. Sharon is hoping she will be able to provide them with useful tools as they are growing very quickly.

Nairobi was a bit of a culture shock with all the industry, large population (4 million), terrible traffic, diversity of wonderful restaurants, and showers with pressure and hot water!

Back in Karatu -

It was a nice homecoming to Karatu on Wednesday. We made it in time for the 30th birthday party of one of the ex-pats and it was great fun to realize all the friends we have made here. It is a second home.

Rick is back to editing videos and Sharon is orienting our “replacement” volunteer. Ellen moved to Tanzania six months ago intending to spend two years here with another organization. That has not worked out and she has decided to work with WellShare and continue our efforts with the women’s groups. We are thrilled to know there will be someone here to follow up with the partnerships that are coming together and continue to find other avenues to get training and income generation to these women.

It has been a busy and satisfying time here. If things progress as we hope, we can be comfortable knowing that we have indeed made a difference. What a high that is!