Reflections from Afar...

It's currently the 7th of November, and Kenya seems like a world away. Or two worlds away: I'm currently in the south of France where I'll be studying for the year, so from Kenya to UBC, and UBC to France, that makes two worlds. From this distance, I hope I can do the students justice.

This isn't going to be short, so for the faint of patience, feel free to read only the beginning and end. Brevity never was the soul of my wit, and besides, I was never very witty. But what this will be is honest. I never was big on glorifying people or projects for the sake of good PR; diplomacy was more my strong suit. I hope this will be neither glorified nor diplomatic, but honest, true and simple.

* * *

They said Kenya would likely be life changing. I don't know if that's true, because my life hasn't been all that long since then, so the comparison is difficult. But clichés aside, Kenya was special, and it was important.

I had never been to a slum before Kenya. Kibera is enormous. Over 1 million people live there, which makes it a strong rival for Soweto, South Africa, if not the largest slum in Africa. That might sound like the intro for a charity drive, but that's not what Kibera taught me. Kibera is not just a slum, it's a city. There are people, homes, electricity, law courts, cars and infrastructure just like any other. The only question is one of degree. I'm told that virtually every home in Kibera has a television. But the roads aren't paved. Yes, sanitation is a problem. No, not everyone is dying of AIDS.

It's hard to pin down Kibera, but it's safe to say that it is a city - a poor city, but a city all the same. And that means that there are people, families, and communities. And people are getting by. Does that mean that they don't need our help? Did they ever need our help? And what do we really mean by help?

I didn't go to Kenya to help. I went to Kenya to learn. I knew that. And here's what I learned:

I learned that the students I worked with are amazing. They're smart, talented, funny, shy, outgoing, hard-working, and don't like homework just like any other student. They were there to learn, to start businesses, to get funding, to support their families, to support themselves, to get out of Kibera and to stay in Kibera and help their community. Whatever their reason, whatever motive, what they wanted was more than what they had now, and they came looking for it.

I don't know what they got. I know they got workbooks. And for the majority of them, they got a complete seminar on how to write decent business plans, and so long as they completed the homework, they got a solid working draft. And the ones that came out with us on our last night, they got a couple of drinks, too. So to each their own. At the very least, they all learned something. Isn't that what any teacher can only hope for? That their students retained something? Our students did.

Did they all get funding? Did any of them get funding? I don't know, and to be perfectly honest, that's what keeps me up at night. That we went to Kenya, and we taught a three-week course, and most of them came every day, and many of them completed thorough business plans - already we asked the sun, moon, and stars - and that we then deserted them. Some of my students had business plans that would have pleased any venture capitalist. Others needed coaching, but with time and education, they could have made it. And just between those, all of my students could have been employed. I don't know where we are anymore, and that's no-one's fault, but that's a question that needs to be answered. Therein lies the future of this program.

Three months later, and I'm still processing what it is that I got. My only hope is that my processing isn't the act of forgetting - two worlds away seems more dreamlike than one. But at least I know that I learned. I had never co-taught a three-week class before, and I learned that teaching is a labour of love. I learned how to put together a cash-flow statement, and thanks to my finance partner-in-crime, I now know the difference between that and an income statement in the absence of accounts receivable. I learned that Nairobi is a complicated city, and that Kenya is a breathtaking country. And I learned that between people, between language barriers and cultural differences and economics and politics, that students are students, youth are youth, and between soccer and drinking and dating and laughter, it's really very easy to connect. I connected. And I miss my students.

So maybe I'm white. And upper-middle class, and privileged to hell, and maybe that complicates things. Maybe they respected me more, or less, or felt more intimidated, or less. I don't know, and I do care. In the world of responsible development, microfinancing and global relations, it makes a big difference. I think we did the best we could, given the time, energy and resources we had. But it's not over. If we want to talk about responsible development, we have to acknowledge that we went to Kenya, taught a course, and in whatever way, we gave our students more hope than they started with. We gave them the expectation that they were coming to learn, and not for nothing. So if we truly want to be responsible, we need to see that we started something, and we have the responsibility to see it through. That's responsible development.

So if given the chance, I'm going back to Kenya. This program needs a follow-up, and a follow-through, and I would love to be a part of that. If anything, my experience with SE101-Kenya has kindled a drive, and shown me that the opportunity to make change exists, we just need to take it.

Shout-outs to the Team, our co-teachers from Daystar and Ebony, and the students of Kibera - you were the real teachers.

KK.

Posted by Kevin Keystone

NAIROBI......Party Like the Sun Don't Rise!

Jimzy In.......

Would it be fair if we, young energetic able bodied youth visited a new city and did not taste/tempt the party scene or did not write about it? I think not! So, what does Nairobi city look like when the shops close, bankers go home, and children are safely tucked in? A few members of the SE101 team (names witheld on request, and my writing this should/does not insinuate that I am the party animal of the team. It so happens that tonight the blogging duties fall to me) will take you on a tour of the Nairobi party scene.

TACOS: Location-CITY CENTRE. The music is great, some of the tracks were similar to those played in Canada and I clearly recall two memebers of the team singing along to some of the songs being played. This is where Alvina, Kevin and Steven took to the dance floor-details of which may be found in an earlier blog.

PAVEMENT: Location-WESTLANDS. An extremely great and a must go-to club in my opinion. Had what it takes to make a great club scene. Nice music, perfect ambience, crowd that seemed to be made up of passionate club goers and party people. I noticed the crowd was mixed (not unlike a Vancouver club scene) and was clearly a favorite for tourists/foreigners/expatriates or it was probably the theme night that seemed to attract everyone. It was a 2 in 1 club. With one section of the club playing main stream hip hop music and the other playing techno/garage sounds. The only hustle was getting into the club and the line up stretched about a block. Club cover was about 400Kes, beers 120Kes, a gin shot 300Kes.

QUEUES: Location-WESTLANDS. Also a 2 in 1 club establishment. Despite the flight of steps one has to climb to get to either, it is a fairly descent party place. Both clubs play similar genre of music but are manned by different D.J's. The top floor is an open air club/bar/pub allowing you to party alfresco. With the another club on the 2nd floor where you could relocate if you wished for warmer temperatures.

REZEROUS(not too sure of the spelling): Location-WESTLANDS. A 3 minute walk from QUEUES. Extremely jam packed on all occasions one of the team went there. A wide range of music, pocket friendly prices and great crowd. Other than the line up to get into the club, all is well at this location.

CARNIVORE: Location-CLOSE TO NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK. Yet to be tasted/tested.Though it is well known for its theme nights.

K1: Location- WESTLANDS. Excellent ambience and decor. Wood and grass thatch is the predominant architectural design theme. In essence there are close to three different pubs at this location. Fortunately, there is nyama choma and othe fast food should belly make demands for food. Beer and nyama choma is definitely big in Nairobi and a great combination too experience has proven. Highly recommended you carry along a sweater or jacket. Also a great spot on Tuesdays for Karoke lovers.

And that is it for now. Please note more venues may be added to this list in the near future. So incase you wish to stumble home at 5am the next time you are in Nairobi like........................ you know where the adventures lie.

.................Jimzy Out!

Posted by Jim Atamba

Routines and Surprises

Like Nancy mentioned in the previous post, our team has really settled into a routine this week which probably does account for our lack of blog postings. Our second week of teaching ended with a bang as Art finally taught his first and final class! Despite his usually calm demeanor, Art did an energetic job of both entertaining the students and ensuring that they understood the fundamentals of Daily Operations. While it's sad that he's leaving our team today, we congratulate him as he embarks on a year-long opportunity to teach English in Japan!

At the Kibera site this week, our teaching team was really able to bond with the participants. On Wednesday of this week, instead of our usual afternoon mentoring session, Kevin and I were able to be part of an impromptu discussion on Kenyan politics, standard of living and current events with our students. By just listening to the discussion, I was able to learn so much about our students and their desire to effect change in their lives. I think that discussion really helped our teaching team understand a lot more about the background of our students and helped our class as a whole bond together. I found out that many of the students in our class did not know each other before the course. Yesterday, we had another opportunity to get to know our students better through the soccer/football game. One of our students is a soccer coach so he arranged a field and equipment for our class. It was an informal game but a great time of fun and bonding for all who participated.

Perhaps the most memorable this week was my conversation with one of the quietest students in our class during the walk back to the classroom from the soccer field. While we walked, she openly shared with me how her mother had passed away several years ago and that she was now living with a stepmother and taking care of her younger brothers and sisters. She was unable to finish school and had only completed up to Form 2. She told me how much she appreciated this course as it provided an opportunity for her to think differently and to be successful at business. Just knowing that we had made some difference in this young woman's life was enough to convince me that it was worth all the preparation and hours of hard work back home to come to Kenya.

I hope that the last week of teaching will be just as good as the last two. More updates soon!

Posted by Alvina

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... (and Jill a wealthy widow)

Week one - complete! As a reward for our terrific first week of teaching, the team went out to celebrate at a local landmark restaurant, Carnivore. It's exactly as it sounds: a restaurant with a prix fixe menu of a variety of different meats, featuring one exotic specialty per evening. We lucked out with ostrich meatballs, which interestingly tasted like beef with a hint of chicken. The decor was kitsch but the food was great, and the bill spoke volumes of just how well we treated ourselves. Consensus: well deserved.

Our weekend of celebration, however, didn't start with our meat-eating binge. Friday afternoon, Kathleen invited us to a free concert at the local Alliance Francaise: the annual event was called Spotlight on Kenyan Music, and was absolutely terrific. Featuring a veritable cabaret of female vocalists, jazz bands, traditional Masai chanting and even a blind self-taught guitarist/floutist/singer, we really were treated to exceptional talent that was clearly very popular among the local youth in attendance. We certainly didn't hesitate to buy a CD of this year's featured musicians, and Jessie even had the good fortune to have hers autographed by her personal favourite - the young Masai activist who combined traditional chanting with modern beats and political messages.

Not yet ready to call it a night (and happily enjoying the 100 shilling beer), some of the team decided to take on the local wildlife and headed to Tacos, a hopping joint with a knock-off Taco Bell logo for a sign. We met up with Stephen, one of our Daystar students at Kibera, and spent the evening enjoying more of the local brew (Tusker, fyi), the company, and even a song or two on the dance floor. It seems to be the case that in Kenya, dancing brings people together; thus, thanks to his smooth moves, Kevin met a few members and even the coach of the National Kenyan Cricket team. Alvina and Stephen were met with less success, but nonetheless enjoyed the occasion to "shake what their mamas gave them", as the local expression goes. Tragically, Brent and Jim were not to be found getting their grove on, but we
think it likely they'll be dragged into it by the end of the trip.

Our weekend of festivities was dominated by trips to various animal-viewing grounds. First stop: the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, where one could entertain him/herself by feeding giraffes from raised verandahs, and (secondarily, of course) learn all about the histories and habits of African giraffes. Some of the more adventurous deigned to hold a piece of giraffe food between their lips, and as the rest of us looked on with a combination of gleeful disgust and horrified captivation, both young and old (and mostly American) stepped up to undergo the touristy rite of passage. We happily resigned ourselves to the traditional hand-to-mouth technique, even sneaking in a timid yet affectionate pat now and again. And for everyone's information, a giraffe's tongue is dark, leathery, and unsurprisingly slimy.

Our next adventure took us to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, where a greater variety of animals could be appreciated. Although not nearly as exciting as fauna in the wild, it was nice to at least be guaranteed that we'd see them, seeing as you can't get far behind a chain-link fence. Speaking of getting behind chain-link fences, Art, Alvina and Jessie managed to sweet-talk their way into the cheetah cage, so under the extremely tight observation of a barrage of groundskeepers, they managed to score a picture. When it is up, you will notice a pained look of control on Art's face, thinly veiling an expression of sheer terror.

Last stop on our African safari: Lake Nakuru National Park. Known as an ornithological paradise, it boasts one of the highest number of different species of bird of any national park in the world. Within metres into the park, it was easy to see how it got its reputation: we saw a whack of funky looking birds (none of whose names we caught), and turning the bend towards the lake, we were immediately greeted by a sea full - or more like an entire lake full - of bright pink cheerfully squawking flamingos. I kid you not: at best estimate, there were probably several thousand of them stretching in a warbling colour mass from shore to shore, right down to the horizon. It was like the world's fair of flamingos was being held at Lake Nakuru that very day, and we just happened to stumble upon it. Very cool.

In other news, we saw the usual horde of zebras, buffalo, and even a couple of impalas fighting for domination, but other than a brief sighting of a black rhino, the flamingos were definitely the highlight. We also spotted a bunch of park visitors who were dumb enough to leave food lying around for baboons (and then panicked when the baboons came after them), but such guests unfortunately don't seem to be a rare species. Judge not lest ye be judged, though: a particularly cheeky monkey found its way into our van when we weren't looking, and managed to sneak away with one of Alvina's granola bars, which it unwrapped and consumed from a nearby treetop. We'll know better for next time.

The evening wrapped up with a bright orange Kenyan sunset just as we arrived back in Nairobi, all sufficiently safari-ed out, pleasantly tired, and looking forward to another eventful week of teaching, business plans, and the adventure that has been our trip thus far.

With Love,
The SE101: Kenya Team.

Posted by Kevin Keystone

Day Three: On Solid Ground in a Shaky City

[This blog entry has been adapted from a mass e-mail sent to family and friends. Apologies for the personal tone.]

Hello dearest family and friends!

First thing's first: I'm alive and well, even in spite of the earthquakes. For those of you that haven't heard, there was an earthquake on the Tanzanian-Kenyan border, and its aftershocks have been hitting Nairobi for the past week. Yesterday the quake on the border registered a 6.0 on the Richter scale (that's high), with a proportional aftershock in town. I kid you not: I haven't felt a thing. Guess I'm too busy bouncing off the walls to feel the ground shake. :)

So, to the gist of things: I've been working in Kibera for three days now, and it's been nothing short of amazing. The students span the spectrum of ages, education and life experience, and yet are active, participating, and really really inspiring. Here are a few stories:

Peter is 24, and didn't graduate from high school. He completed grade 10 but was forced to flee his home in southern Kenya when his family's land was raided and stolen. Given his incredible entrepreneurial talent, he started a dvd shop in Kibera, and has been doing well supporting himself. He's noticed, however, that the market is getting saturated, so wants to focus his attention elsewhere. He hopes to start a mini-farm and become an inexpensive wholesaler to local retailers, to provide a more affordable food source for his community.

Roseline is 22 and did graduate from high school. She's currently employed in a pharmacy, and hopes to open her own mini-pharmacy to provide more affordable medicine to the community. Through her employer, she's learned the ins and outs of the business, has met prospective suppliers, and has saved enough of her own money to cover the entirety of her start-up costs, minus the first month's rent and start-up inventory. She wrote in her mission statement that part of the reason she wants to start her own pharmacy ('chemists', they're called) is to earn enough money to avoid resorting to 'evil ways', which was later explained to me to be sex trade work. Apparently in Kibera, that's not uncommon.

Peter and Roseline are only a couple of examples of the students we're working with (I feel like this is beginning to sound like a World Vision commercial). The honest-to-god truth is that all of their stories are really incredible, and that for many of them, all they need is some business training and no more than $100 US (about 7,000 Kenyan shillings) to get their ideas off the ground. There were 22 students at my site on the first day, and that's been whittled down to about 12 given drop-outs, but the 12 that remain are here to stay. I only hope that our microfinancing partner, Ebony Foundation, will come up with the capital, support and monitoring, to make sure they make it.

So that's what I've been up to lately. So far my role has been to support the UBC and Kenyan university students on my team while they teach their assigned workshops (we've covered Intro to Business Plans and Marketing I), and to provide mentoring in the afternoons to 3 or 4 participants. I take over the teaching on Friday - Finance I - which should be really interesting, given they're not the world's simplest concepts, but I'm really trying not to underestimate them.

In fact, on that note, here's some interesting facts about the Kenyan education system that I found just bewildering. Background: a 'C' in high school is considered a decent grade, a 'B' is really good, and an 'A' is nothing short of exceptional. The way it was described to me, 'A' students are the top of the top of the class. It used to be the case that the entrance requirement for university in Kenya was a 'C' in Form 4, your final year of high school. Due to over-enrolment, instead of building more spaces for more students, the government simply raised the entrance requirement to deal with the problem - to an A. And in Kenya, I'm told that if you don't have a degree, you're 'a nobody'.

Which means that Kibera and other slums in Kenya are chock full of solid students, students who in Canada would be averaging a solid B+/A-. These people aren't just intelligent and talented, they're also reasonably well-educated, but because they didn't get the opportunity to pursue post-secondary education - either because of entrance cut-offs or very steep tuition fees with virtually zero financial aid - they're in the slums, trying to get by. The injustice is palpable.

But I want to make clear that Kibera isn't doom and gloom. In fact, one of the most remarkable things about the place is that it really is a city unto itself - complete with its own law courts - and that other than the condition of the infrastructure, it could be any other city in Kenya. It's the mud walls, the corrugated iron roofs and the lack of basic infrastructure (water, electricity, etc.) that give it away. Nonetheless, it's there, it's bustling, and people are making do.

In other news, my journal is mad at me. It's frustrated that I haven't been able to put a half-decent entry together for it in a while, because I keep falling asleep while writing in it. I even went as far as to sit at the table in my room for a solid hour well before bedtime trying to make up for three days of neglect, and I still didn't make it. Just goes to show that the days have been long, and the nights have been short. Somehow typing seems to keep me up, but for the purposes of posterity, I'm going to have to start writing in the morning before school.

And last but not least, I'm thoroughly disappointed in the tolerance level of my UBC peers for the weather. No, it's not to hot. If you can believe it, a handful of Canadians from Vancouver, BC are finding Kenya too cold! In fairness, Nairobi is at a pretty high elevation, and it's 'winter' here right now, but I'm having trouble believing that the slight chill is anything more than a decent spring or autumn day in Toronto. I guess it's just these thin-blooded Vancouverites that have yet to experience the true meaning of winter in Canada (then again, as a bred-in-the-bone Torontonian, have I? :).

So, that's all the news that's fit to print. The food is great, the people are nice, and I recently purchased the Lonely Planet guide to Swahili, to satisfy my intense itch to pick up more of the language than just 'hello', 'goodbye', and 'thanks'. I'm in the process of mastering some basic verbs and sentence constructions, but until then, I'll just have to be satisfied with my expertise in the area of one through ten.

Until then, be well, lala salama, and chao! (Yep, for those in the know, Swahili has roots in Spanish.)

From Shakesville, East Africa,
Kevin K. (on behalf of the SE101 Team).

Posted by Kevin Keystone

Meeting the Partners

'Twas an early morning wake-up for some of the team members, and not
so early for others. We discovered that breakfast is from 7 am to
9:30 am, and as jet lag took its toll, some of us didn't quite make it
in time! Breakfast was nice and basic - toast, eggs, jam, the usual -
but Brent the caffeine fiend quickly noticed something amiss: no
coffee! And no tea! We quickly put two and two together -
Seventh-Day Adventists (who run the guesthouse we're staying in) don't
indulge in caffeine! Brent is currently plotting other ways to get his
morning fix.

A note on the guesthouse: we're staying at the LMS Guesthouse and
Conference Centre, and LMS stands for Literature Ministry Seminary (as
the bibles in our room informed us). We discovered rather quickly,
however, that it's normally referred to as the SDA House, when not
a soul had heard of LMS That made it awfully difficult to tell our
taxi drivers where to take us, although fortunately we're just up the
street from the Integrity Centre, a well-known civic landmark. The
place is great - clean, secure, and if you wait long enough for the
heaters to kick in, hot water showers - and we even have internet
access. The only hiccups were when Jim's closet door fell off, and
Kevin nearly flooded the bathroom because the shower didn't drain
quickly enough, but otherwise, home sweet home.

Our first order of business today was at 1 pm, when we met with our
partners from Daystar University and the Ebony Foundation. It was
great to finally meet the students we would be working with, until we
found out that they unfortunately were all in summer school, and would
only be able to collaborate on evenings and weekends. The student
president of SIFE - Students for International Free Enterprise - is
hoping to find more students who would be able to team-teach with us
during the week, but it looks like we might be on our own.
Nonetheless, we had the opportunity to walk through our workshops with
the students from Daystar, and was that ever helpful! We were able to
clear up the translation of some key words into Swahili, and learn
more about how business is generally conducted in Kenya and East
Africa. Within a short hour, we had already made huge progress in
tailoring our workshops to make them more accessible for our
participants. We certainly hope we'll continue working with Daystar
throughout the project.

At 2:30 pm, our next meeting was with our second site partner, the
Kimathi Information Centre (KIC). We met with Jose and Carthy from
KIC, and Kathleen from the International Development Research Centre
(IDRC), a Government of Canada outfit in Nairobi. Kathleen put us in
touch with KIC because she heard about our project through a friend
from Canada, since she's a Sauder grad! She graduated with a BCom a
few years ago, and has been doing some very interesting research over
the past six months on microfinancing, as well as the social impact of
cell phone usage, for her masters program at a university in South Africa.
In fact, she just came back from doing field work in Mozambique. It
was great to meet a Canadian working in Nairobi and find out about work
in East Africa that some of us might be doing one day!

And thank goodness Kathleen put us in touch with KIC - Jose and
Carthy were absolutely amazing! Their energy and enthusiasm for
the project was just overwhelming, and although only in their late
20s, both of them have done terrific work with local youth, pulling
off a nearly 200-person youth symposium with absolutely no budget.
All of the youth that we'll be working with at our second site in
Kimathi are a direct product of the youth symposium, and each already
have their own ideas about what business they hope to start! Based on
current registration, the stats for our Kimathi participants are as
follows: 1/3rd are women; the majority are 18 years old, with the
highest age at 35; most have high school education, a few have
university-level education; and they're all deeply motivated. We're
very excited about working with KIC and have high hopes for their
participants!

So, all in all, a very exciting and productive day. We met with each
of our partners, confirmed many of our arrangements and worked on
details still to be sorted out. We'll be meeting again with the Ebony
Foundation and Daystar tomorrow to confirm whether we'll be
team-teaching with Daystar students, and how many sites in Kibera
we'll be able to cover. Once final arrangements are confirmed, we'll
have a much better idea of what the next three weeks will look like.

And either way, Monday is game time!

Many of us are starting to feel a little nervous, since most of us
have pretty limited teaching experience, let alone teaching in another
country. After this week, though, we're sure we'll be pros - next
thing you know, Sauder will be offering us positions on faculty! In
spite of any anxiety, we're all very much looking forward to the
challenges and experiences of the next three weeks, and are very
confident that as a team, we'll do a terrific job, learn a ton, and
have an amazing time.

Wish us luck!

xo. The Social Entrepreneurship 101: Kenya Team.

Posted by Kevin Keystone