D'vareinu

Making a Difference in Muhuru Bay

Check out WISER and how the organization is changing the lives of young women in Kenya.  Local connections include Foothill High School and the employees of Johnson & Johnson.  Key people in this project include our very own Mike & Carrie Arndt.  See the story in the Pleasanton Weekly and www.wisergirls.org for more information.

WISER Construction Begins

Dear Friends of WISER,

 

Construction has begun for the WISER campus and community center in Kenya!  While 120 girls wait for the school to be completed, hundreds of community members are pitching in to turn a dream into reality.  Sweat equity takes on a new meaning when it involves turning boulders into gravel for a foundation, using only a hammer and chisel.  For a photo of the construction site and a quick trip to Kenya please see the front page of the newsletter.  We are on our way!

 

The newsletter also contains many sights and sounds from the harambee, the community groundbreaking ceremony.  As part of our continent spanning partnership, we hope you enjoy this journey into life in Muhuru Bay. We are one year and counting until the first class of girls striving for independence and dignity enters the WISER school.   

 

Warmest wishes to all.

Sherryl Broverman, Ph. D

WISER Co-Founder

Faces of Change in Muhuru Bay, Kenya

Dear Friends,

 

Happy New Years from Muhuru Bay, Kenya! I hope all is well. 

 

Because of your ongoing, generous support, WISER has continued to make history during this holiday season and I wanted to let you know about some exciting developments. Soon, you will be receiving WISER's "One Year and Counting" Annual Newsletter that will fill you in on all of the incredible progress that has been made this year and the challenges that lay ahead in opening our school on time in January 2010. This will be either emailed or mailed to you by the end of this month. 

 

Before then, I thought I would share with you the faces of a community ready for change. During this week, I encourage you to take a break for just 10 minutes from your school work, job, and daily grind to realize the real impact you are making in a rural fishing village in Muhuru Bay, Kenya. You are, literally, changing lives. 

 

Below are links (the result of 12 hours of uploading) to WISER's new Picasa albums and a new YouTube Video, "WISER Soccer," that chronicles how 30 volunteers built the first WISER women's soccer pitch by hand in 5 days. 

Dr. Broverman

Dr. Broverman teaching girls at rural school on rock near Tanzania

More Photos...

Girls at Wingo Primary singing WISER song to us

Shining Star school performs

First aid kit donated at Shining Star Academy

Muhuru Bay

I have spent 5 days living with the local community in Muhuru Bay, Kenya. It's difficult to capture the diversity of experiences in a few short paragraphs but I'll give it a try.

The warmth of our welcome in this community is widespread. Walking down paths alongside farms, we frequently hear "muzunga"--white person--no way to be inconspicuous. Then children come running to shake our hands. We have been welcomed into many homes and have seen the breadth of living accommodations, ranging from thatch roof, mud walled one room huts to multi-room homes with ceilings. We visited with Mike's friend, Saddam, meeting his grandfather, parents, and many of his 11 siblings. We also visited Verah's family, a remarkable young woman with educated, supportive parents who went away for high school and heads to university tonight.

Life here is challenging. There is no electricity in this community. There are a few homes and building with solar panels but in general, when the sun sets it is DARK! There are poles erected and promises from the district officer of electricity by December--cautious optimism. The lack of lights makes studying or basic home activities difficult--paraffin or kerosene lamps create very dim, local lighting.

Water must be hauled from the lake. This is the duty of girls and women. Where we are staying at the chief's compound, they pay someone to bring large plastic jugs on a bicycle from the lake up a narrow dirt path.

Sanitation is a pit latrine-a hole in a concrete floor in a tin roofed hut with a hole in the floor.

Three of us are staying in a two room home with concrete walls and floor and open rafters below a tin roof. Two of us share a twin bed and the third uses a couch, with mosquito nets around us. At night, we hear bats and mice above us. (The cat who sneaked in last night was no help--she got brave and cuddled instead of reducing the mice population.)

Despite the adversity, the people in Muhuru Bay hold so much hope for the future. They find great joy in music and sing a capella frequently.
The old chief died 3 weeks ago and the first two days of our visit was his funeral and burial. The outpouring of people (no idea how many but would guess several thousand),their support for the family and each other touched my heart. The first day, they brought his body from Migori in an ambulance--a two hour motorcade. Then people viewed the body and sang all night. The second day was the funeral (in Luo)--an all day tribute to Rose's dad, a man who had been a strong leader in this part of Kenya, followed by burial.

Life is quieting down now in the chief's compound, although guests continue to travel to pay their respects.

The opportunity to bring strong education to young women and help them expand what they can do for Muhuru Bay is so inspiring.

The next few days we will visit schools to distribute sanitary pads and first aid kits and meet with Officer at Tagache Clinic, the only health facility in this area. We want to understand how to partner with the clinic and gain a better appreciation of where we can help.

Look forward to sharing these experiences.

Carrie
Muhuru Bay, Kenya
September 8, 2008

Update on WISER School

On Friday, the local and national WISER boards met, very appropriately, under a tree outside the Tagache church in Muhuru Bay. The property for the WISER school and community center is adjacent to the church.

This was my first opportunity to observe the local community and see up close how deeply they care about the project. This is truly a project WITH the community. The eagerness for the facility to advance the education for local girls is intense and the community members also expressed a strong desire for a community learning center where they could access world news and health information daily.

The boards spent several hours in dialogue about the design of the school, the time line, costs, available funds for construction and operation, local fund raising, and planning for the ground breaking ceremony.

The engineering plans should be finalized in the next week during Sherryl and Rose's visit in Nairobi. Competitive bidding comes next and then pouring concrete (hopefully in the next two months).

The school site is fantastic. Located on a ridge about 750 meters from Lake Victoria, it receives a gentle, cool breeze. We looked at the plans for running pipes for water, how it will be stored and purified, and where the buildings will be located on the site.

The promise of WISER in this community has become so real during my visit that I am now quite impatient for completion of the facility!

Look forward to sharing more when I return.

Carrie
Muhuru Bay, Kenya
September 7, 2008

Update From Muhuru Bay

We traveled for many hours over rutted roads (last stretch from Migori is unpaved) and arrived in Muhuru Bay after sunset on Tuesday.

The funeral for the tribal chief is today. His body was transported from Migori yesterday and last night was spent paying respect to him. They played music all night.

We walked miles yesterday to visit the Rabwao Secondary School (where Mike worked and lived last summer), to the Lake Victoria waterfront where people were bathing, washing dishes, swimming and fishing all amongst each other, and into town.

The local clinic (Mama Maria) has closed--so far, no explanation why other than no doctors. Their partially built facility remains--no idea what will happen with it.

More soon.

First Thoughts From Kenya

I arrived in Nairobi last night and slept well in a hotel--last chance for the comforts of civilization like a cold beer, lights, a shower, my own room, and a wood floor. We leave for Muhuru Bay in a few hours.

It is now 5:30 am and I am slowly waking up. It is still dark out--my impatience to see Kenya will need to wait a few more hours until day light arrives. I hear the songs of many birds in the trees outside my window. They sound quite charming and quite foreign at the same time. In the distance, I hear morning prayers being chanted.

My thoughts turn to what it is like to grow up as a girl in Kenya and attend a rural school. Dr. Broverman lent me a book on this subject, which filled the time on the flight to Nairobi.

The challenges are deeper than I imagined. Most parents (and especially women) did not attend school and can not read or write. The priority for parents is to pay for the boys' education over girls'. The enrollment rate in primary school is low in many areas and the need exists for many more teachers.

Chores are the women's responsibility, a practice that dates back to colonial times when the men left their shambas to work on European-owned farms or in urban areas. The household work can take a girl 6 hours a day when she is 8-14 while a boy spends only two hours. Little time is left for study after school and the lack of electricity (and therefore lighting) makes progress almost impossible.

Their studies are highly structured towards passing the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education at the end of Form 8. This allows entry into secondary school. The culture in the class room does not encourage girls to be assertive in responding to discussions or questions--the traditional belief held by teachers is that the girls will end up in the kitchen and do not need education as much as the boys.

"Educate a man and you educate a person; educate a woman and you educate the nation."

Carrie
September 2, 2008
Nairobi, Kenya