Kageno Kids-Helping Hands

Meet Carlyla Dawson, Kageno Kenya Volunteer

Greetings from Kageno Kenya,

My name is Carlyla Dawson and I am the most recent addition to the Kageno team here in Kenya. I am from Colorado and will be volunteering here at Kageno Kenya for the next several months. I have been here for two months now and have been very busy, there are so many great things happening here. I have been getting use to village life and am feeling right at home, thanks to all the wonderful staff members and volunteers here at Kageno.

My two months here have been full of activities. I have visited Mafangano (Kageno’s newest site), gone on safari and traveled through Uganda to visit Kageno Rwanda. The safari trip was quite an experience. I have seen all the different types of animals in the zoo, but it is different seeing them in their natural habitat. The most exciting sightings for me were when we saw lions; they are my favorite kind of animal. The most exciting sighting was when we saw a whole group of female lions bathing in the sun. I think there was about twenty of them. We stayed in a tent camp right outside the Masi Mara gates and at night you could here lots of different sounds coming from inside the gates. The most recognizable sound was that of the elephant trumpeting, which actually kept me up one night.

In between the safari trip and my East Africa adventure, I have been busy with the KG Micro-Loan program, the Orphan Sponsorship program and the Kageno Baseline Survey project. The emphasis of the KG program is to empower the women in the fishing industry. The women here involved in the fishing are very poor and have trouble finding money to buy fish to sell. This forces them at times to beg for fish, which can be very demeaning and even sometimes abusive. Kageno has seen that this is a problem and for a long time has been trying to find a way to address this issue. The program will help the women by giving them the financial freedom to buy the fish they need. The women are very happy to have this opportunity that Kageno has provided them with. The first phase of the KG Micro-Loan and Savings Program is complete and the loan repayment is in its fifth week. We have a really great group of women and I look forward to keeping you updated on their progress as they proceed through the program.

The Orphan Sponsorship program is ongoing and there is always something new happening. We just finished doing our quarterly updates and are working on plans for various different activities in the next few months. It is nice to be involved with the children it really makes me feel at home, as I have two young nephews back in Colorado, that I am very close to and miss very much.

The Baseline Survey project Kageno is conducting is trying to set a baseline to use in the future to better determine how we have helped the community. It will also help identify things Kageno needs to address in order to better facilitate the work with the community. We are asking several different kinds of questions and are hoping by the end to have a better understanding of the challenges people are facing here. This week I have spent time going from house to house with the surveyors. This has been a very interesting experience, allowing me to see for myself what life is like living on Rusinga. All the people have been very welcoming and all seem happy to have a visitor.

The thing I am enjoying most about being here in Kenya, is I am able to see with my own eyes the things I have been reading about in books. I have spent many years studying and researching different aspects of International Development in Africa, but it is much different being here on the ground. Being here is really helping me to shape a better and more rounded perspective of the possibilities and challenges facing the future of development in Kenya, as well as the continent of Africa as a whole.

Our visit to Kageno Rwanda

The Kageno Rwanda site is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. There is quite a contrast between the beauty and the need. The village where Kageno is working is in the middle of the Nyungwe National park which is one of the oldest and highest elevation rainforest in all of Africa. It is amazingly beautiful, hugh trees. The village is one of three in the forest and is located in a valley 2 km down from the road. The road is like my driveway back in Colorado; only you get stuck in the mud not snow. The village looks like a partially abandoned mining site at first. But as you stay a while, you begin to see all the villagers coming to greet the visitors. The first priority for Kageno is to build a health clinic and pharmacy which if all goes well construction will start very soon. Second, they are going to construct an eco-tourism lodge for visitors to stay in while trekking to see the gorillas. It will be one of the only lodges in the park, at least for now.

Our visit was a very eye opening experience for me. All the people in the village came out to greet us, many children running after the car and just wanting to shake our hands. We also had a great opportunity to see the desperate need for our selves. We met a group working in the area at the guest house we were staying at, they were so happy to meet people from the organization constructing the clinic. Saying "the village has been praying for a clinic for the last twenty years". We were told many very sad stories about people from the village dying due to the difficulty of transporting the sick to the closest clinic 14km away. They usually are transported on a stretcher, up the 2 km to the road and then they have to wait for someone to pick them up and drive them another 30 min to the clinic. Many just don't make it.

We had the pleasure of meeting a girl that was saved by Rwanda Aid last week. Alavera was her name; she is a 16 year old suffering from epilepsy and would probably have been dead by now, if they hadn't found her last week. The pastor in the village told the UK director of Rwanda Aid about the girl when he was visiting the village. He then agreed to bring her back with him in the vehicle to their clinic. When he got her to the clinic, she only weighed 16 Kilograms and was too weak to even open her eyes. She had been having seizures 6-7 times a day and her mother was unable to get a hold of any medication for her. The mother has four other children and is the sixth wife, so she is basically on her own in terms of support for her and her children. She was trying very hard to care for Alavera, but it was just getting to hard.

We were even able to help the family by transporting the youngest child back with us to the clinic. The mother and Alavera were both at the clinic, but the mother was very concerned about her youngest child who had to stay behind. The director knew we were going to the village, so he asked us if we could try to find the child and bring her back with us. After a lot of asking we were finally able to find the girl and bring her to the clinic. It was really a great feeling holding this girl on my lap, knowing that we were helping her and her family. When we arrived at the clinic you could just see the joy we brought her mother and sister. Alavera was looking strong and was finally able to hold solid food down; she had not had a seizure since she arrived at the clinic. The sight of Alavera brought so many emotions to me. This girl was so small and so sick, but had the biggest smile. When we walked in the door she just reached out her arms to hug us and thank us for bringing her sister. And to show her appreciation she sang us her favorite song, about how she was going to play her guitar in heaven. It was the hardest thing for me not to start crying, instead I had to just hold her hand and smile knowing that she was going to be ok.

This story is just one of many powerful experiences I am having over here, each and every one just reaffirms that I am truly realizing my dream of helping people around the world. I feel so fortunate to be here and to be able to make a difference in so many people’s lives.

BELOW PHOTOS
View of Kageno Kenya from the Water
KG(Micro Loan) Program Pilot Group
Beautiful Lake Victoria
Mafangano Fishing Village
Road to Banda Village, Rwanda
Banda Village Kageno Rwanda
Banda Village Girl
Banda Village Boy
Banda Village
Banda Village Kids
Banda Village Kids Greeting

More on Andrew Gerber.....

More on Andrew Gerber...
1. How did you find out/ become involved in MBAs without Borders?
During the past year I was getting my MBA from Purdue University in
the US through joint studies at GISMA Business School in Germany. I
had been down to South Africa (Limpopo and Mpumalanga primarily) on
two previous short-term trips to observe and help in disadvantaged
communities, and I decided to make another trip during a break in the
MBA program to see how my future career path and the development
sector might intersect... After a great trip, I returned to Germany 
and found an email from the career services department listing new
MBAs Without Borders positions... and the posting with Kageno in Kenya
sounded like a perfect fit. I applied, and within a month ended up
here on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria.

2. Please can you tell me a bit about your experience and the
actual project you're involved in?
My undergraduate degree is in Information Systems Management, and I
did a Master's program in Rhetoric & Public Address. (Both in the US) 
After that, I worked in Europe, managing IT for 7 manufacturing plants
in a group of companies. When the opportunity came to meld all of my
experience and studies together through Purdue's MBA program in
Europe, I leaped at the chance.
I am working with the community, local staff, and volunteers to shift
Kageno Kenya to a sustainable source of funding. Kageno Worldwide is
starting their second project in Rwanda, and so I'm focused on 
building capacity in the local income generating activities so that
the project can continue as Kageno Worldwide expands to other needy
areas.
Specifically, I'm working with the women's group that takes water 
hyacinth, a destructive weed that blocks ports in Lake Victoria, and
produces crafts. We've secured an initial order with Tuskys, the #2
retailer in Kenya, to produce an initial order of laundry baskets, and 
pending our successful delivery of that order, they have promised
additional orders which should lead to an income stream that could
potentially cover up to 100% of the operating costs of the project
within the next year.
I'm also working with the fishing industry, starting with Kolunga
Beach where we're located. The industry has many problems and so we're working to see 
what we can do to effectively restructure the marketplace to ensure
fair access to the market.
Additionally, I'm working on drafting a forward-looking business plan
for Kageno Worldwide and also for Kageno Kenya. Each day I'm using 
different parts of the body of knowledge that I gained from my MBA,
and there's definitely no boredom.

3. What has been your hardest challenge yet?
I think the biggest challenge for me has been to let go on many 
issues. Thankfully, I'm very often rewarded to see the locals I'm
working with rise to the challenge. My role here isn't to do things,
but to grow capacity and work with people to ensure that anything that 
is accomplished while I'm here continues in the future.

4. How has the project changed you as a person?
After living and working with the local people here on Rusinga Island
for 2 months (and with 2 months left to go), I think that the project 
has profoundly reinforced the importance of empowering the
disadvantaged members of a community in a problem solving approach to
the problems they face.
Living in a local mud house here has also shown me that the standard 
assumptions we make about our needs are often inflated--while I look
forward to having running water, a microwave, and a flush toilet
again, I do fine with chlorinated lake water, a propane burner, and a
latrine. I think it's been a healthy experiential "reset" of my 
expectations and needs.

5. Where to next?
I'm always up for a challenge and enjoy a lot of variety in my working
environment. I will most likely pursue management consulting, either
on my own or by joining a consultancy. I'm pondering where in the 
world I will head to next, with South Africa being a very attractive
location, providing both a vibrant and rapidly growing economy
together with a desperate need for creative development solutions.

Andrew on boat in Lake Victoria with Alphonse, Kageno Kenya's project director.

Meet Andrew Gerber

I've been a volunteer with Kageno for 2 months now. Before coming to Kageno, I worked in Germany for a manufacturing company, and then got my MBA from Purdue University. I've been interested in community development work in Africa for a while--I've visited rural parts of South Africa every year during the past three years--and when I got back from my most recent trip this May, there was an email from the placement office at Purdue with the volunteer position at Kageno. After reading the description of what Kageno was doing, I realized that it was a perfect chance for me to get more experience in rural Africa while having a chance to make a difference in a disadvantaged community.

One of the most important parts of how Kageno helps communities in Africa develop is sustainability—meaning that within a few years, each Kageno project needs to find ways to raise money locally, so that the donations and money raised in the US and around the world can be used to start new projects to help more people. I've been volunteering with Kageno through an organization called "MBAs Without Borders," and I am working primarily on sustainability.
There are several things that Kageno is currently doing on Rusinga Island to earn money. These "Income Generating Activities" include our clean water program: treating the dirty lake water and selling it affordably (it costs less than 2 cents to buy 5 gallons of clean water, which is enough for one person for a day). Other Income Generating Activities include providing computer training and internet access, photocopies, and charging cell phones for the community, since no one has electricity at home.

The Income Generating Activity that I'm working most closely with is the craft program. Women from the community get water hyacinth from Lake Victoria and dry it. After they dry the plants, they tear them into strips and then braid ropes. After the ropes are braided, they then weave the ropes into all kinds of things—placemats, baskets, stools, and even coffee tables!
Over 200 women have been trained by Kageno, but because most of the crafts are sold to tourists who come to visit, only about 20 women have been able to take part in the craft project and earn a good wage. The biggest problem that faces the craft project is finding a market for the products—people and companies who will place large orders to allow many women to have jobs making crafts and to allow Kageno to earn money from selling the crafts.
In the last two months that I've been here, we've been able to establish a relationship with Tuskys, the second largest supermarket chain in Kenya. They have placed their first order for 100 laundry baskets, which the women are working on now. After we complete their first order, they have promised additional, larger orders. I hope that we will be able to grow the craft project further with additional orders from Tuskys and other companies, and hopefully it will be the main source of funding for Kageno on Rusinga Island in the future.
After living and working with the local people here on Rusinga Island for 2 months (and with 2 months left to go), I think that the project
has profoundly reinforced the importance of empowering the disadvantaged members of a community in a problem solving approach to
the problems they face.

Living in a local mud house here has also shown me that the standard assumptions we make about our needs are often inflated--while I look forward to having running water, a microwave, and a flush toilet again, I do fine with chlorinated lake water, a propane burner, and a
latrine. I think it's been a healthy chance to "reset" of my expectations and needs. Of course, if you decide to visit the Kageno project, there is a very nice lodge on the island which has all the things you'd have at home -- running water, electricity, every kind of food, and a great swimming pool. I would really encourage anyone who is interested in what Kageno is doing to come for a visit--it's a lot better than just reading a blog entry.

That's it for now... Feel free to ask any questions
Andrew

below are photos of Andrew and Alphonse ( Kageno Kenya Project Director) then Andrew and Shadrak from Tuskys