You know you’re not in Chapel Hill when you awake to “come look at the monkeys outside.” Admittedly, being someone who doesn’t normally rise before 7 am, this statement provided an additional motivation to start the day beyond the normal lure of a luke warm shower.
As the day continued on, and our large group meetings commenced, I found that what we learned was so interesting that the events of the morning were quickly forgotten. The majority of our day was spent hearing the life stories of 9 Jamii Bora members who had escaped from a life of poverty. Due to our position in the project, not only were we allowed the privilege to hear these stories, the members actually demanded that we listen to them attentively so that others in the future could benefit from their experiences.
We heard the story of a grandmother whose children had all died, and was left to take care of 12 grandchildren while not even being able to supply her own needs. She spoke of facing such desperation that she considered adding poison to her porridge so that her and the 12 children would no longer face the slow path to death that they were currently living. It was fortunate that the night the desperation reached its peak she couldn’t even afford the ingredients to cook the porridge to put the poison. Shortly there after, a member from Jamii Bora spoke to her, and convinced her to start saving to build a business and accordingly build a future for her children. It was truly amazing to her talk about those same children and the success they were finding in secondary school (all had either graduated in the top of the class or were currently in school with top marks).
This was just one of the 9 stories that were told that day, with every one of them being just as memorable. It was impressive to hear the intelligence, creativity, and ingenuity that these members all had in addition to their incredible perseverance. With almost no schooling among them, and varied childhood experiences, each member seemed to have an innate ability solve problems. In the end, I know I will remember each and everyone of them.
I remind you again of the monkeys in the morning in case you forgot about them as I did. Turns out they were actually baboons.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Pictues from Kenya
We have had good internet access today. Watch for more posts in the near future. In the meantime, here is a link to our photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/robbieharmon
http://picasaweb.google.com/robbieharmon
Monday, May 11, 2009
The first few days
Due to limited internet access we haven't been able to post every day. Here are posts from various team members catching you up on what's been happening so far.
May 7, 2009:
Greetings from Nairobi!
I arrived Wednesday evening (May 6th) and started to meet our partners on Thursday. Africa Nazarene University (ANU) is located about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi in an area called Ongata Rongai. ANU is a private university that was started in 1994 and there are currently 1,200 students and about 30 professors. About 40% of the students live on campus in dorms and the others commute from nearby areas. The school teaches a Christian worldview and instills qualities of humility and respect among their students.
I traveled to ANU yesterday to gain a better understanding of how our time over the next two weeks would be spent. Attending the meeting was:
· Mary and Rose - ANU coordinators
· George and Steve- 2 lecturers at ANU, George teaches Entrepreneurship and Steve teaches Management and Accounting courses
· Fabian and Stephen- two of the five students who will be working on the project
Our schedule will be the following:
Ø May 9th, Saturday: Visit Jamii Bora sites
Ø May 10th, Sunday: Visit Kajado District to see Jamii Bora’s housing project
Ø May 11th, Monday: Get to know the ANU students and attend some of their classes
Ø May 12th-15th, Tuesday- Friday: Workshop with Jamii Bora (Education staff, trainers, and mentors), ANU (5 students, 2 professors, and staff), and UNC (6 students)
Ø May 16th-17th, Saturday-Sunday: Continue to develop curriculum/free days
Ø May 18th-22nd, Monday-Friday: Begin teaching the curriculum in local areas
May 8, 2009:
Today I traveled to the Industrial area of Nairobi to visit the Jamii Bora Trust Headquarters. I first met with Jacob Muni, an Education manager, to gain a better understanding of the organization and education curriculum. Later, I met with Susan (human resources manager) and Pamela (Jamii Bora trainer and counselor). The key insights from these meetings were that the curriculum must cut across the board- reaching a range of ages and education levels- and also help individuals identify a viable business. The training has mainly been used within Nairobi and not rural areas yet.
Beyond the Microfinance Company, the Jamii Bora Trust Structure consists of four support programs including:
· Business School: 3 trainers
· Health and Life Insurance: required to get a loan, Kshs 1,200 per year
· Tumani (hope) Program- counseling to help street beggars gain independence
· Levuka (sobriety) Program- helping people over come drug and alcohol addictions
During my meeting with Ingrid Munro (Swedish woman who founded Jamii Bora), Jacob, and Pamela, I learned that Jamii Bora would like to improve the quality of recordkeeping training for their members, as well as, life skills that allow members to explore their strengths and weaknesses. It was also expressed that our workshop should explore what makes a Jamii Bora member successful.
Over the course of the next week, we will be listening to Jamii Bora members, mentors, and trainers to hear their stories and to learn about what has worked in growing businesses and what still needs improvement. By analyzing current entrepreneurs, we will be able to advance the modules so they are more practical. Ingrid encouraged us to think outside of the box and to develop ways to encourage people to use their brain and talents. Furthermore, she charged us with the role of being ambassadors for Africa and showing the hope of this continent to others. I was encouraged by these meetings and I am excited about the workshop that will start on Tuesday.
May 9, 2009:
Today was our first full day together as a team in Nairobi. We got started early; after a great breakfast at Gracia Guest House, the students from African Nazarene University (ANU) picked us up at 8am and we traveled to the Jamii Bora headquarters. The ANU students and our team spent the first hours getting to know one another and our goals for the project so we could come together as cross-cultural team. We also met with Susan, part of the Jamii Bora staff, who gave everyone an overview of Jamii Bora’s history and loan process. Jacob, who runs the business academy and training at Jamii Bora, also met with us to discuss Jamii Bora’s policies, offerings to members and training issues.
Jamii Bora’s system requires a potential borrower to form a lending group of five people (chosen as friends or by location convenience) and register as Jamii Bora members. The five group members must make weekly deposits for six weeks, each saving a minimum of 500 shillings ($6) over the total six week period. Jamii Bora then allows two group members at a time to take out microloans of the value of twice their savings (1000-59000 shillings or $13-$700). Each borrower makes weekly payments for 50 weeks to pay back the loan with 0.5% weekly interest (~25% per year). Once the loan is repaid, a new loan can be made. If the borrower defaults on the loan, the loan group’s other members are required to cover the full loan repayment. All members, however, must take out both health and life insurance when they become members, so this insurance covers the loan if a borrower is incapacitated, hospitalized or dies. Jamii Bora borrowers can graduate to take out larger individual loans over time as well as loans for education fees or loans for Jamii Bora housing. We will visit this housing site tomorrow (more info to come).
Jacob and Pamela (in the education department at Jamii Bora) discussed the current training program for business skills and corresponding issues they’ve had with the programs. Overall, the Jamii Bora team encouraged our group to take a critical look at the current curriculum and think outside the box for ways to bring more members to take training.
The team then was able to visit the bank operations at Jamii Bora’s headquarters where the room was crowded with members making deposits, registering as new members and applying for new loans. Our team stopped and introduced ourselves to the bank members and asked questions to understand Jamii Bora and its value from the borrowers’ viewpoint. We heard firsthand from men and women about how their loans were helping them earn incomes (as kiosk owners, shopkeepers, school keepers, mechanics and other roles) even though business was reported as slow for many. It was incredible to meet these people and hear the conviction and hopefulness in their voices despite current tough economic times and to see the excitement of new loan groups and borrowers.
Then the team travelled to Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya and actually the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kibera is 2.5 square kilometers and is home to around 1.5 million people (over 1/3 of Nairobi’s total population). There we met Steven, who is the branch manager in Kibera for Jamii Bora and who told us the story of his bravery during the 2008 violence following Kenya’s elections. Though all other microfinance institutions fled, Steven organized food relief deliveries on behalf of Jamii Bora and had his life directly threatened by 200 local rebellors from Toy Market, led by a 26-year-old named Benard. Steven convinced Benard not to kill him as local women defended him given his life-saving role with Jamii Bora. Going further, Steven convinced Benard to end the violence of his 200-person gang and to help him rebuild the Toy Market. As we met local Jamii Bora members and residents, the respect and admiration for Steven was very apparent. We met the very first Jamii Bora borrower from the Kibera branch, who now operates a stall selling stoves and continues to repay back his loans. We also met a new borrower since the 2008 clash who operates a second-hand clothing stall and volunteers to coach the Jamii Bora Kibera youth soccer team. These men were impressive community leaders and eager to praise Jamii Bora for rebuilding Kibera in the past year.
Our group toured the Toy Market, of which Steven said 75% were Jamii Bora borrowers now. We then sat down with the aforementioned Benard, who told an amazing story of how Jamii Bora (not a person but an organization, he’d had to explain to his mother back home) had saved his life. Benard and his next-in-command John described deeply personal transformations that turned them from rebel, drug-using criminals who “lived in the dark” and in constant hiding into responsible adult business owners with incomes and families for the first time. Hearing this account told so frankly is something I’ll never forget. John, when asked about the moment he first felt the change in himself, honestly answered that it took time, that it was a process of hearing Steven repeatedly encourage him, seeing Jamii Bora fulfilling its promise to rebuild Toy Market and grant loans and feeling the pride of running his own business that brought him “into the light.” This gave me hope that change does happen, not immediately like we prefer and sometimes unrealistically expect it to, but slowly with deliberate help. This gives me hope for the future of Kibera overall and for poverty eradication in Kenya.
At the end of the day, our group feels a mission to help Jamii Bora help even more people and has made true friendships with our ANU teammates and new friends in Kibera.
May 10, 2009:
Today was a wonderful and fascinating day! We spent that majority of the day at Kaputei. After meeting Sang and Fabien (ANU students), John and Benard (Jamii Bora members), and Pamela and Susan (Jamii Bora staff), we packed into our van and drove about an hour and a half out into the beautiful Kenyan countryside. Kaputei is the housing development for Jamii Bora members in Masai land. There are both two and four bedrooms houses, a production factory for building materials, a primary school, and a bore hole with a pump system that provides running water to the homes in the village. Many, if not most, of the people there have never lived in an actual home before. Most come from the street or the slums. We were greeted by a large group from the village including the headmaster of the primary school, the pastor of a small church and several children. We then attended the first of two church services that prepared special presentations for us. At the second church service we were treated to several traditional Masai songs and dances by the elderly women in the congregation. After the service they prepared our first Kenyan meal. The large portions of meat they put on our plates made us nervous. A few students had a difficult time finishing the food and had to enlist the help of the ANU students to avoid offending the good people who provided the food. They had very little and sacrificed a lot to provide this meal. As we toured the village and met with the people, we were moved by the joy and hope these people possessed. Time and time again people have demonstrated in verbal and physical expression that Jamii Bora has changed the course of their life and given them hope. At the end of the day, we traveled to Africa Nazarene University where we will be staying for the next week. The campus is quite nice and our rooms are comfortable. We are starting to feel how difficult the dual responsibility of relationship building and “effective”/“efficient” project management. This is definitely going to provide valuable lessons about doing development work.
May 7, 2009:
Greetings from Nairobi!
I arrived Wednesday evening (May 6th) and started to meet our partners on Thursday. Africa Nazarene University (ANU) is located about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi in an area called Ongata Rongai. ANU is a private university that was started in 1994 and there are currently 1,200 students and about 30 professors. About 40% of the students live on campus in dorms and the others commute from nearby areas. The school teaches a Christian worldview and instills qualities of humility and respect among their students.
I traveled to ANU yesterday to gain a better understanding of how our time over the next two weeks would be spent. Attending the meeting was:
· Mary and Rose - ANU coordinators
· George and Steve- 2 lecturers at ANU, George teaches Entrepreneurship and Steve teaches Management and Accounting courses
· Fabian and Stephen- two of the five students who will be working on the project
Our schedule will be the following:
Ø May 9th, Saturday: Visit Jamii Bora sites
Ø May 10th, Sunday: Visit Kajado District to see Jamii Bora’s housing project
Ø May 11th, Monday: Get to know the ANU students and attend some of their classes
Ø May 12th-15th, Tuesday- Friday: Workshop with Jamii Bora (Education staff, trainers, and mentors), ANU (5 students, 2 professors, and staff), and UNC (6 students)
Ø May 16th-17th, Saturday-Sunday: Continue to develop curriculum/free days
Ø May 18th-22nd, Monday-Friday: Begin teaching the curriculum in local areas
May 8, 2009:
Today I traveled to the Industrial area of Nairobi to visit the Jamii Bora Trust Headquarters. I first met with Jacob Muni, an Education manager, to gain a better understanding of the organization and education curriculum. Later, I met with Susan (human resources manager) and Pamela (Jamii Bora trainer and counselor). The key insights from these meetings were that the curriculum must cut across the board- reaching a range of ages and education levels- and also help individuals identify a viable business. The training has mainly been used within Nairobi and not rural areas yet.
Beyond the Microfinance Company, the Jamii Bora Trust Structure consists of four support programs including:
· Business School: 3 trainers
· Health and Life Insurance: required to get a loan, Kshs 1,200 per year
· Tumani (hope) Program- counseling to help street beggars gain independence
· Levuka (sobriety) Program- helping people over come drug and alcohol addictions
During my meeting with Ingrid Munro (Swedish woman who founded Jamii Bora), Jacob, and Pamela, I learned that Jamii Bora would like to improve the quality of recordkeeping training for their members, as well as, life skills that allow members to explore their strengths and weaknesses. It was also expressed that our workshop should explore what makes a Jamii Bora member successful.
Over the course of the next week, we will be listening to Jamii Bora members, mentors, and trainers to hear their stories and to learn about what has worked in growing businesses and what still needs improvement. By analyzing current entrepreneurs, we will be able to advance the modules so they are more practical. Ingrid encouraged us to think outside of the box and to develop ways to encourage people to use their brain and talents. Furthermore, she charged us with the role of being ambassadors for Africa and showing the hope of this continent to others. I was encouraged by these meetings and I am excited about the workshop that will start on Tuesday.
May 9, 2009:
Today was our first full day together as a team in Nairobi. We got started early; after a great breakfast at Gracia Guest House, the students from African Nazarene University (ANU) picked us up at 8am and we traveled to the Jamii Bora headquarters. The ANU students and our team spent the first hours getting to know one another and our goals for the project so we could come together as cross-cultural team. We also met with Susan, part of the Jamii Bora staff, who gave everyone an overview of Jamii Bora’s history and loan process. Jacob, who runs the business academy and training at Jamii Bora, also met with us to discuss Jamii Bora’s policies, offerings to members and training issues.
Jamii Bora’s system requires a potential borrower to form a lending group of five people (chosen as friends or by location convenience) and register as Jamii Bora members. The five group members must make weekly deposits for six weeks, each saving a minimum of 500 shillings ($6) over the total six week period. Jamii Bora then allows two group members at a time to take out microloans of the value of twice their savings (1000-59000 shillings or $13-$700). Each borrower makes weekly payments for 50 weeks to pay back the loan with 0.5% weekly interest (~25% per year). Once the loan is repaid, a new loan can be made. If the borrower defaults on the loan, the loan group’s other members are required to cover the full loan repayment. All members, however, must take out both health and life insurance when they become members, so this insurance covers the loan if a borrower is incapacitated, hospitalized or dies. Jamii Bora borrowers can graduate to take out larger individual loans over time as well as loans for education fees or loans for Jamii Bora housing. We will visit this housing site tomorrow (more info to come).
Jacob and Pamela (in the education department at Jamii Bora) discussed the current training program for business skills and corresponding issues they’ve had with the programs. Overall, the Jamii Bora team encouraged our group to take a critical look at the current curriculum and think outside the box for ways to bring more members to take training.
The team then was able to visit the bank operations at Jamii Bora’s headquarters where the room was crowded with members making deposits, registering as new members and applying for new loans. Our team stopped and introduced ourselves to the bank members and asked questions to understand Jamii Bora and its value from the borrowers’ viewpoint. We heard firsthand from men and women about how their loans were helping them earn incomes (as kiosk owners, shopkeepers, school keepers, mechanics and other roles) even though business was reported as slow for many. It was incredible to meet these people and hear the conviction and hopefulness in their voices despite current tough economic times and to see the excitement of new loan groups and borrowers.
Then the team travelled to Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya and actually the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kibera is 2.5 square kilometers and is home to around 1.5 million people (over 1/3 of Nairobi’s total population). There we met Steven, who is the branch manager in Kibera for Jamii Bora and who told us the story of his bravery during the 2008 violence following Kenya’s elections. Though all other microfinance institutions fled, Steven organized food relief deliveries on behalf of Jamii Bora and had his life directly threatened by 200 local rebellors from Toy Market, led by a 26-year-old named Benard. Steven convinced Benard not to kill him as local women defended him given his life-saving role with Jamii Bora. Going further, Steven convinced Benard to end the violence of his 200-person gang and to help him rebuild the Toy Market. As we met local Jamii Bora members and residents, the respect and admiration for Steven was very apparent. We met the very first Jamii Bora borrower from the Kibera branch, who now operates a stall selling stoves and continues to repay back his loans. We also met a new borrower since the 2008 clash who operates a second-hand clothing stall and volunteers to coach the Jamii Bora Kibera youth soccer team. These men were impressive community leaders and eager to praise Jamii Bora for rebuilding Kibera in the past year.
Our group toured the Toy Market, of which Steven said 75% were Jamii Bora borrowers now. We then sat down with the aforementioned Benard, who told an amazing story of how Jamii Bora (not a person but an organization, he’d had to explain to his mother back home) had saved his life. Benard and his next-in-command John described deeply personal transformations that turned them from rebel, drug-using criminals who “lived in the dark” and in constant hiding into responsible adult business owners with incomes and families for the first time. Hearing this account told so frankly is something I’ll never forget. John, when asked about the moment he first felt the change in himself, honestly answered that it took time, that it was a process of hearing Steven repeatedly encourage him, seeing Jamii Bora fulfilling its promise to rebuild Toy Market and grant loans and feeling the pride of running his own business that brought him “into the light.” This gave me hope that change does happen, not immediately like we prefer and sometimes unrealistically expect it to, but slowly with deliberate help. This gives me hope for the future of Kibera overall and for poverty eradication in Kenya.
At the end of the day, our group feels a mission to help Jamii Bora help even more people and has made true friendships with our ANU teammates and new friends in Kibera.
May 10, 2009:
Today was a wonderful and fascinating day! We spent that majority of the day at Kaputei. After meeting Sang and Fabien (ANU students), John and Benard (Jamii Bora members), and Pamela and Susan (Jamii Bora staff), we packed into our van and drove about an hour and a half out into the beautiful Kenyan countryside. Kaputei is the housing development for Jamii Bora members in Masai land. There are both two and four bedrooms houses, a production factory for building materials, a primary school, and a bore hole with a pump system that provides running water to the homes in the village. Many, if not most, of the people there have never lived in an actual home before. Most come from the street or the slums. We were greeted by a large group from the village including the headmaster of the primary school, the pastor of a small church and several children. We then attended the first of two church services that prepared special presentations for us. At the second church service we were treated to several traditional Masai songs and dances by the elderly women in the congregation. After the service they prepared our first Kenyan meal. The large portions of meat they put on our plates made us nervous. A few students had a difficult time finishing the food and had to enlist the help of the ANU students to avoid offending the good people who provided the food. They had very little and sacrificed a lot to provide this meal. As we toured the village and met with the people, we were moved by the joy and hope these people possessed. Time and time again people have demonstrated in verbal and physical expression that Jamii Bora has changed the course of their life and given them hope. At the end of the day, we traveled to Africa Nazarene University where we will be staying for the next week. The campus is quite nice and our rooms are comfortable. We are starting to feel how difficult the dual responsibility of relationship building and “effective”/“efficient” project management. This is definitely going to provide valuable lessons about doing development work.
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