Kenya Connects

About this Blog

2006-12-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

Starting this winter, iMentor will begin connecting students from two remote villages in Kenya with American mentors.

In November of 2006, in preparation for the launch of the iMentor Kenya program, we traveled to Kenya and visited with teachers, students, principals and community leaders. This blog is an account of that trip, an attempt to bring back the flavor of Kenya’s evolving students, schools and villages.

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To follow iMentor's trip, start at the bottom of the blog and read up...

You can also visit the iMentor Kenya Photo Gallery & Video Gallery

To learn more about iMentor, visit our website.

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iMentor Kenya Rewind
The Last Three Weeks

What a truly inspirational trip. From Machakos to Sereolipi to Lamu, three weeks in Kenya were over before we knew it. Here is how we spent our time...

Week 1

After two day of travel, I arrive in Nairobi, via London, and Week 1 for iMentor Kenya starts off in celebration, then just keeps getting better.

I am greeted at the airport by the world's most ambitious retiree, Jane Newman, who will be my host and guide for the next three weeks.

Our first day begins in Machakos, where we meet Jackson and visit Kyangala High School.

Even though schools are on holiday this month, there are 200 people there to greet us and the students and faculty have many surprises in store.

The school has constructed a computer lab for the 20 laptop computers we are handing off (they have been donated by Pfizer). These are the first operational computers the school has ever owned.

After we tour the computer lab, everyone gathers in a large hall for the celebration, which is mind-blowing. Students perform songs and poems and the principal and the village pastor (who is also the Board chair for the school) give speeches about the "global village" and the power of IT. Watch the video!

Day 1 ends with a hike into the mountains and a wonderful dinner at Jackson's ranch.

Day 2 begins with learning the basics of the Kenyan education system and a visit to a second school in Machakos, Kyandili Primary School.

We also learn about some of the challenges facing high schools in Kenya and hear from, Joy, who will be one of iMentor Kenya's first student participants.

Then we go back to Nairobi, to prepare for the long journey to Sereolipi, where I will meet my mentee...

On Day 3, the long road to Sereolipi begins and we get as far as Isiolo.

On the way, we learn about the challenges posed by isolation in northeastern Kenya and I begin to understand the basics of Samburu culture.

We arrive in Sereolipi and Week 1 ends when I meet my mentee, Thomas. Thomas and I had been communicating for the last four months over email and it is an amazing moment to meet him in-person.

Week 2

Our first few days in Sereolipi are jam-packed. Thomas gives us a tour of Sereolipi Primary School, we learn about the Thorn Tree Project and its role in Sereolipi's recent education boom.

I also get to sit down and talk with several students, including the charismatic Steve. Watch the video! Steve discusses everything from his views on education, his analysis of the Kenyan government and his hopes for the future.

How does a place without electricity or running water have a fully functional computer lab and internet access? We find out...

Then we build Sereolipi Primary School's first website and visit the Lewa Conservancy (where I am invited to dress like a real Samburu man).

Week 2 ends on a high note, when Thomas and I travel to Ndonyo Wasin and I get to meet his entire family. Watch the video!

Week 3

After 6 days, it is time to say what becomes a surprisingly difficult goodbye to the wonderful people of Sereolipi, but not before we put up "the big picture."

And as soon as we're gone, Thomas reminds me what is so good about iMentor's mentoring model with THIS EMAIL.

After a one day stop over in Nairobi and a half-day workshop with the Machakos team, it is time to set off for Lamu. (Post coming soon)

Last few posts coming soon...

iMentor Works: What You Didn't Say

2006-12-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

There are many amazing aspects of iMentor's program model. And one day after I leave Sereolipi, I get a shining example of one of my favorites.

While much gets said about iMentor's ability to recruit mentors who would not otherwise volunteer (81% had never served as a mentor post-college) and our ability to connect these mentors to students in communities where mentoring programs did not previously exist, we end up talking less about the power of the written word. This is truly one of the most unique and powerful components of iMentor's mentoring model.

This is why: In-person, it is not easy to say everything you want to say, or to express yourself fully to someone you have known for only a short period of time. There is something that happens when mentors and mentees sit down to write each other an email. They have time to think and reflect on what they would like to say. They have the opportunity to "compose" a message. And what comes out is a communication more fully formed, and with more depth than each pair would have been able to express in conversation.

This is obvious, of course. Think about the times you turned to a journal or wrote a letter in order to say what you really meant.

Only one day after I leave Sereolipi, I have an email from Thomas in my Inbox.

Thomas' Email
Subject: its have been good,unforgettable moment with you in -personal

Hi friend mike,

its have been days not to be forgotten in my life to be with you for five days here in Sereolipi and my homestead Ndoyno Wasin. What you have done here and visit my home will remain in my heart, soul and mind for ever. At the same time the heart of my family you have a place special for you in my family all the time. Its my hopes and believe that you have real enjoy your visit here and feel welcome again.

As usual let keep coming here all the time i hope you remember what it mean.........

More soon. I had nice rest yesterday ,more rain here. I had nice moment to show the childrens the movies through the NEW TECHNOLOGY THE PROJECTOR THE REAL LIKE , ALL THE VILLAGE LIKE IT, ITS NICE, FANTASTIC, your are hero.

Its have been a long lonely moment without you, anyway we are together via new system, the email and internet. Please my friend mike i am happy for accepting to visit us where you are not able to see your face for five day, just imagin, the bumping roads but with love you had towards as you accepted to visit. Remember I have special place in my heart which is keep marking mike. And my family were very happy to see you and greet you too.

Please let us keep our friendship keep coming,

I miss you and my eyes are itching with tears remembering more help you have given
during your visit.

We keep blessing coming ,wishing nice, best of luck in your work.

I have real learn alot from you. I send my heartfelt thanks and regards to your family. With you i have learn alot.

May God bless your journey here in Kenya. Have safe journey to Machakos, then Nairobi then Lamu. Remember i pray for your trip.

From your mentee,

Thomas

Leaving Sereolipi & The Big Picture

2006-12-08T08:06:00.000-05:00

After six amazing days in Sereolipi, it is time to say what becomes a surprisingly difficult goodbye before we start our journey back to Nairobi. Thomas and I are up before sunrise, to work on one final project together before we depart.

The problem: while Sereolipi has more than 30 computers, only two of them are connected to the internet. This is fine for when Thomas is teaching MS Office, but has so far limited his use of the internet in his teaching. It has also made it difficult for him to model tasks for his students. Imagine trying to explain how to use Excel to a group of students with no previous knowledge of computers or (obviously) spreadsheets.

No longer. The answer is simple and looks miraculous once we get it up. The answer is a projector and there is a small moment where both Thomas and I sit back and smile when we see the internet thrown up on the wall. This will revolutionize the way he is able to teach.

What is the first thing we show? Sereolipi Primary School's new website, of course. Then iMentor's website. Then, we throw in a DVD that had been donated to the school. All of a sudden, there are tigers and lions crawling across the wall. There is music playing. People poke their heads into the room, all of them surprised, some of them audibly. It is like a small movie theater landed in the middle of Sereolipi.

I think to myself, this is the thing that lands the "cool" factor. The people who are coming in, amazed, are not students but warriors and parents. My mind races to community movie nights, to internet demonstrations for non-students. For a moment I consider whether this large image can become one of the tipping points for education in Sereolipi. Cache for the school...

But there is little time to ponder that. Thomas and I have to stay goodbye. And Thomas is saying, over and over again, "OK Mike, we keep going over email. We have a lot of work to go. We have got to keep it going."

And we will...

Postscript: On the drive back, we get what Kenyan roads are famous for, a flat tire. As I expected, this one is no match for Jane.

Meet the Family: A Trip to Ndonyo Wasin

2006-12-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

A day after our Lewa visit and a stop back in Sereolipi for more work with Thomas in the computer lab, we set off again on another day trip to a place I have heard much about, the "real bush" Samburu land of Ndonyo Wasin.

Tangent: The contrast of these days, from working in the computer lab to participating in more traditional activities in the rural areas has me increasingly excited about the possibility of Sereolipi's evolution. That it need not be a coup of modernism, or a fight against it. It feels like the very first hints at what a prosperous and diverse Samburu life might look like twenty years from now. The hope is not that the village overflows with computer engineers and PHD's. The hope is that the village overflows with choices.

And we are off. 26 miles of paths and a late afternoon arrival. We go immediately to the place where Thomas was raised. To visit his mother, his sisters and his brother in their manyatta.

Thomas and his brother Stephen. Also, Thomas' family looking at pictures of the school where he works.

Thomas' mother gives me this traditional Samburu "mala." This is a flask that holds milk, and is given to a woman as a part of Samburu marriage proposal. Thomas' mother gives it to me for "my future wife." (See the video for other gifts I am given.)

It is an amazing experience, to meet the people I have been learning about over the last four months of email exchanges with Thomas. His family is extremely important to him. His father died when he was just 15 years-old. In Samburu culture, the oldest male takes over responsibility for the family, is in charge of their well-being. Thomas takes this charge very seriously, a pressure that was compounded by tough decisions the family has needed to make along the way.

As Thomas and his family describe it, after his father's death, the family began working as "slaves." They worked for a more prosperous Samburu family, taking care of their livestock. After a couple of years they had saved up enough money to send one child to school. This child was to go off, get an education, and then get a job to support his family (and the education of his younger siblings). At the time, both Thomas and his brother were old enough to attend school. The Lolipuske's put their money on Thomas.

But perhaps it is better to let Thomas explain. Here he is, with his family, from our visit to Ndonyo Wasin.

Meet the Lolipuske's

View the Ndonyo Wasin Photo Gallery

Ndanyo Wasin (Visiting Thomas' Family)

Sera Camp, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy & BBC Mission Africa

2006-12-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

After three nights in Sereolipi we set off just before sundown to spend the night at Sera camp, part of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. It is a wonderful two hour drive through the bush and I ride in the back of Jane's Landrover with Thomas and the three warriors we are taking with us for the journey.

Paul, Tringus and Lucas

As the sun is setting we turn a corner to find three men standing in what appears to be the middle of nowhere with walkie talkies and guns. We have arrived.

The wonderfully outfitted camp where will be spending the night was actually built as part of a BBC program called "Mission Africa." The program, think Extreme Home Makeover, followed 15 fifteen artisans from the UK (plumbers, carpenters, electricians, interior designer and architects, to name but a few of the skills) who volunteered to spend 6 weeks of their lives developing a remote but growing community conservation initiative with the Samburu. The result is the camp in which we stay, and hopefully increased attention to this part of the country. Learn more about the BBC project HERE or watch a video about Lewa HERE.

Center Camp, where we take our meals

My lodge (left) and the view from my bed (right), where elephants come to drink in the mornings...

My bed & shower...all made from materials found in the bush.

The security guard who sleeps just outside my lodge all night and the warriors cooking breakfast over a small fire the next morning.

Extreme Mike Makeover

There is a surprise for me after breakfast. The warriors come into my lodge with big smiles on their faces and begin removing pieces of jewelry.

They have decided. It is time for me to dress like a real Samburu man.

Then it is time to embark on what is quickly becoming a favorite Samburu pastime, the taking of digital pictures.

This is the first time I see Thomas in his traditional Samburu attire. Also the first time he has seen me in mine.

Then Together...

Too see all of the pictures from Lewa, click on the image below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kenyaconnects/SeraWildlifeConservatoryBBCMissionAfrica

Sereolipi Photo Tour

2006-12-06T14:55:00.000-05:00

Want to see more pics from Sereolipi? Take a photo tour of the village by clicking on the image below.

See Sereolipi
http://picasaweb.google.com/kenyaconnects/Sereolipi

A Website Grows in the Bush

2006-12-05T21:00:00.000-05:00

Thomas doesn't waste any time. After a tour of the school and a great lunch, Thomas says, "We have a lot of work to do."

What I begin to understand over my first few days is the challenge and the pressure of being the only computer expert (read: functional knowledge of computers) in an entire village. Until his first class graduates, it's all up to Thomas. This is a challenge he takes on with pleasure and pride. Over the course of our visit, Thomas wants to talk to me about resources on the internet, about what else he can be doing with students in his computer class.

Thomas is strong in Microsoft office and classes have focused on using the various programs it offers, along with typing and writing skills. What he is interested in is in bringing the internet more fully into his classroom. At first we begin making a list of internet resources and websites he can use. Then we decide to take it one step further.

The Website

Thomas and I decide that Sereolipi Primary School should have its own website. That it should be a living website, a portal through which the school can provide the world with continually updated information on life in Sereolipi and Samburu culture. We begin devising a structure so that each student can contribute. Then we put it up...

Luckily, iMentor has already developed a great curriculum project where mentors and mentees can work together to create a website. It uses an extraordinary program offered by Google, called Google Page Creator. Page Creator makes it easy for anyone with a Gmail account to create and publish a webpage. It offers a variety of templates, easy to edit page designs, and perhaps most importantly, it hosts all of these pages on Google's servers for free.

While I am there, Thomas and I create the homepage. We also create a page of internet links that may be helpful to students (everything from news sites, to You Tube, to free e-books, to online educational games). Students will be encouraged to search the web and add links to this page, working together to build Sereolipi's database of internet resources.

When students return to school (early 2007) they will begin to work on fleshing out the site. Early projects will include:

Each student will work on writing a biography and then post the biography as their own webpage in the "About our Students" section.

The class will work together to create an online Sereolipi Primary School Photo Gallery.

Students will work in small groups on webpages that explain and celebrate Samburu culture. These pages will be located in the About Samburu Culture section of the site.

Posting samples of their work to the 2007 Sereolipi Computer Class Goals section of the site that Thomas and I have created. This page is designed as a way to create and track specific goals and benchmarks for the class next year.

And this is only the beginning. If you have ideas for projects for the class, please share! You can post them as comments to this blog or email them to Mike O'Brien at iMentor (mike@imentor.org).

Check out the Sereolipi Primary School website HERE

Sereolipi 2.0 (The Computer Lab)

2006-12-05T05:55:00.000-05:00

It is hard to describe what an achievement this is, a fully functional and internet-connected computer lab in the middle of the Kenyan bush. The school's principal calls it, "leapfrogging the industrial age." From most places throughout town, it looks like a mirage. How does it happen?

One answer is: Sereolipi's school (especially its Principal and village chief) has been wonderfully forward thinking and open to change. Another is: Jane makes great introductions.

Sereolipi's computer lab, which launched in January of 2006, is the product of an extraordinary collaboration.

Enter Whitney Tilson (T2 Partners LLC / Tilson Mutual Funds / Teach for America) and Bill Ackman (Pershing Square Capital Fund). These two got together around a big idea that is followed by a big question. The idea: to bring the internet and computers to Sereolipi, a place without electricity, phone lines or cellular reception. The question: what happens next?

A computer lab was built. A solar panel was installed. So was a satellite dish. Over 30 laptop computers were donated through Helen Suskin-Lang at Pfizer.

Over the course of the day, the solar panel automatically tracks the movement of the sun, to provide maximum power to the lab.

What happens next? The answer to this question grows almost monthly and begins with Sereolipi's first computer class, in February 2006. Lesson #1 was titled: What is a Computer? When students first entered the newly constructed classroom, they mistook the laptops for TV's.

And what has happened over the course of this first year. Students have learned the basics, including how to operate and maintain computers, Microsoft Word, and image manipulation. Along the way, students learned typing skills and got extra opportunities to practice English language skills, two opportunities that raise them above a large part of their competition in Kenya's competitive job market. These students will enter high school (which does not have computers or the internet) with a huge leg up.

Students hard at work...these students have stayed at school during the month-long holiday to receive extra instruction.

And what's next? In just this last month, in conjunction with iMentor Kenya, the school has made yet another leap forward. For a detailed description of each of these new projects, see this post.

Students from Sereolipi have created, designed and published their own website!

Beginning this winter some of the students will receive American mentors through iMentor Kenya and all students will receive email accounts through iMentor. This will further empower students by providing them with baseline email and internet skills that are also attractive commodities in Kenya's evolving job market.

My mentee Thomas (who is also the computer teacher at the school) and I have created an ambitious workplan for the computer lab in 2007. Throughout the year, I will continue to work with Thomas on lesson plans and give him access to iMentor's innovative curriculum and resources.

...And the computer lab has not even celebrated its first anniversary. The question snowballs with possibility: what's next?

Note: Bill Ackman has continued his support of Sereolipi, including building a new dormitory for boys (with solar power) and installing taps on Sereolipi's water tanks, to provide running water.

Whitney Tilson continues to work vigorously to introduce American professionals to life in Sereolipi, and has begun a scholarship program for high school students who cannot afford school fees.

Meet Steve!

2006-12-04T10:46:00.000-05:00

It is amazing, the number of students I have a chance to meet in Sereolipi. As I have mentioned before, all schools in Kenya are on holiday this month, but there are maybe twenty students who have stayed on in Sereolipi, to receive extra instruction during the holiday break. I had a chance to sit down and talk with several students, including Steve, one of the more outgoing students I've met this trip. Steve is excited to talk to us and later, he comes back and asks if he can add to what he's said.

Steve, along with Joy (from Machakos), will be one of the first students to join iMentor Kenya this winter. See him here, as he discusses why he came to school and his views on education, along with his evaluation of Kenya and its president, what he thinks about America and his hopes for the future.

Steve Speaks...

Education Moves: The Thorn Tree Project

2006-12-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

So many factors (and people) have come together to inspire the education boom in Sereolipi. Maybe none bigger than the Thorn Tree Project, part of the Sereolipi Nomadic Education Trust, designed and run by Jane Newman.

The Thorn Tree Project inspires an investment in education from the very beginning. In the last four years, the project has established nine pre-schools over a 40-mile radius in the rural areas surrounding Sereolipi and Ndonyo Wasin.

The pre-schools were designed to inspire a love of education among communities where most families were nomadic and few parents could even write their names. Each school serves 25-35 students and are assigned to a group of families. In order to accomplish these goals, 3 of the pre-schools actually travel with the families when they migrate (the families have agreed to move together) and six schools are located in central areas, where families tend to congregate. It is an amazing example of a project that is designed to work with the communities it serves.

What do these schools look like? The largest thorn tree in a given area becomes the site of the preschool. Branches are placed around it in a circle to make walls and the black board is propped against the tree trunk. The children are given an exercise book and a pencil but all the teaching materials are home grown. Seedpods and stones are used as counting materials.

When the project began, less than 10% of children in Sereolipi and Ndonyo Wasin attended school. Graduates from the Thorn Tree Project have increased enrollment at the two primary schools from 130 to 460 students over the last four years. Many of the children entering primary school are the first members of their family to ever attend a school.

To learn more about the Thorn Tree Project, and to find out how you can get involved, visit their website.

http://www.tilsonfunds.com/Personal/Thorntreeproject/Janethorntree.htm

Photos courtesy of the Thorn Tree Project

Take a Tour: Sereolipi Primary School

2006-12-03T18:05:00.000-05:00

By far, the biggest thing in Sereolipi is the school. At its outset, the school consisted of a blackboard around a Thorn Tree. Students took their lessons altogether outside. In 1975, the first classrooms were constructed (around the same time the bridge was put up) but enrollment remained very low. Why?

(1) Traditionally, families employ their children to tend the livestock, to protect and graze and goats and cows. Since this was the sole source of food and income for these families, they simply could not afford to send their children to school during the day.

(2) The Samburu are nomadic people, they go where the grass is. Families and homes move (as often as every 5 weeks, but in some cases they will stay in the same place for up to six months) and the walk to school becomes longer and longer. Many families simply did not have the stability to send their children to school.

(3) For many Samburu families, education seemed simply impractical and had little perceived benefit in their day-to-day lives. 98% or 99% of the parents currently living in Sereolipi have never set foot inside of a classroom. There were no role models in the community, no success stories to bring the benefits of education from the cliche catch phrase down to something tangible.

But now everything in changing, dramatically, in large part due to the work of two Georges (George the village Chief and George the school Principal) and Jane Newman. Much more on how this happened later, but first, my mentee Thomas gives us a tour...

Take the Tour

See the Photo Album

Sereolipi Primary School

The Kick-Off Begins!

2006-12-03T14:10:00.000-05:00

It is mid-afternoon of Day 4 and we have finally arrived in Sereolipi. We make a quick right off the main road and head directly for the school, to try and find my mentee Thomas. We do. He hears the car (there is only one "community car" in Sereolipi, used mostly for medical emergencies, so it is easy to identify) and comes strolling out of the computer lab, his hands in his pockets.

This comes as a surprise to me, but it is a truly extraordinary moment, to meet someone in person with whom you have been communicating over email. Thomas and I had discussed so many things in the first four months (our family histories, our aspirations for the future, our daily routines) that finally meeting him in-person is something special...

...Learning what is great about iMentor, all over again.

Since it would be difficult (and costly!) to meet iMentor's benchmark of 5 in-person meetings between October and June, Thomas and I will be spending the next 6 days together. Over the course of that time we will tour Sereolipi and the school, talk with the students, I will sleep in Thomas' Samburu Manyatta and we will travel together to Ndonyo Wasin, the real "bush village," where I will get to meet Thomas' mother, his two brothers and his two sisters.

We jump right in...

On Samburu Culture: The Basics

2006-12-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

I find it daunting, the challenge of giving an overview of Samburu culture, with its varied and interconnected customs...Especially as they begin now to evolve at a rate far quicker than ever before. That being said, let's jump right in...

A Place to Call Home

The Samburu tribe lives in Northeastern Kenya, just above the equator in the Rift Valley Province (See Map). The tribe generally set up homes in small encampments (8-10 families) located in the valleys and mountains of a 4,500 square mile area which surrounds two villages: Sereolipi and Ndonyo Wasin. The Samburu are generally classified as semi-nomadic pastoralists. Once the grass is gone, they will pick up and move in search of land better suited for grazing.

Two Towns: The Modern & The Bush

Sereolipi is the epicenter of "modern" Samburu life. The people I meet there are quick to tell me that Sereolipi is "a modern town" and they talk about the "bush village of Ndonyo Wasin." Sereolipi got its jump start in the mid-seventies, when a bridge was built over a mostly dried and silted riverbed, allowing trucks carry supplies to other villages farther north. First it was a truck stop. Around this the village grew.

Approximately 800 families live here, adding up to about 5,000 residents. The vast majority of residents live in the Samburu "manyatta" (below) and keep their livestock (goats and cattle and recently camels) in pen they construct from thorn tree bushes. The most affluent members of the community, three or four families, live in cement houses.

It is hard to see Sereolipi as the modern town that the Samburu describe. The largest institution in town, ten times over, is the school. After that, there is a tiny Christian church (leftovers from the missionary push), no electricity, no running water, no phone lies, no cell phone reception, no postal service, approximately 4 shops selling basic provisions, one bar (and extension of someone's living room) and many warriors is full regalia making their way up and down the dusty paths.

Main Street in Sereolipi

So what about Ndonyo Wasin, the "bush village" the Samburu talk about in nostalgic tones of bygone days? Ndonyo Wasin is the "other Samburu town" and is located exactly a marathon (26 miles) deeper into the mountains, on a path that loosely resembles a road. To my untrained eye it looks and functions much the same as Sereolipi. The residents live in manyattas and keep their livestock with thorn trees. However, Ndonyo Wasin is certainly more remote and often residents traveling into Sereolipi leave at 4 AM, to avoid the midday heat. They travel in packs and speak or sing loudly to one another, so as not be a surprise presence to elephants and lions. (More on Ndonyo Wasin when I go to visit my mentee's family, who live there.)

The Manyatta

Almost all of Sereolipi's residents live in the Samburu hut called a manyatta. To match the nomadic lifestyle, there huts are made to move, constructed from sticks and twine and with a thatched hut roof. Manyattas have either dried cowskins or simply dirt for floors. Often residents do not have a bed (although my mentee does). Other things you will find in a Manyatta include: a small fire pit for cooking, a traditional Samburu school for blessings, a plastic bin for washing, and some decorative cloth.

It is the Samburu women who build the manyattas. In Samburu culture, a wife must build the hut for her husband. If a man is not married, he must employ a woman to build the hut for him (approximately $60 US). Often, all family members will sleep together in a single manyatta, the mother and father on the floor with their children. There are only a few key exceptions (below).

You can tell a Samburu family on the move to greener pastures by the roll of sticks tied to women's backs...The manyatta they have taken apart and will reassemble the next time they find home.

A Moveable Feast

Dine with the Samburu and you begin to get an idea of how their long history shows itself on the plate.

The most prominent fixture in any household is tea (British colonialism) served in a plastic Thermos. It is customary that tea must be served to all visiting guests, each time a new person arrives, even if he has simply crossed the street. I average about 8-10 cups a day during my stay. Tea in Sereolipi is heavily loaded with sugar (to ward of hunger pains) and there is also a special Samburu Tea with added chai.

Samburu Kitchen

Meals vary little from day to day. Breakfast is often just tea, but it can also include a porridge made from mealy-meal or some nan cooked on an open flame (Nan is the Kenyan carb-staple, Somali influences here).

Lunch is a stew of potatoes and sometimes meat (usually goat) over rice or mealy-meal ground into a consistency halfway between bread and mashed potatoes.

Dinner is the same.

Note: The Samburu love their livestock, they take care of their animals with craft and concern and relish in the meals that contain them. A favorite Samburu joke is when a group of men slaughter a goat and go off into the bush for a "meating."

The Birds & The Bees

Gender relations are one of the most complicated and conflicted aspects of Samburu culture. The customs follow a more or less traditional patriarchy: a man of marrying age (15 years after circumcision) can choose any woman to be his wife. There is no age regulation here and the stories, at their worst, include 70 year-old men marrying girls of 13, the girl of 13 coming on as a third wife. Additionally, although there is no divorce, a wife can be "returned" and a marriage annulled if she fails to produce a male child within the first year. The female's father is paid a dowry for his daughter (usually 5-8 cows). Wifes are responsible for building and keeping the Samburu hut, cooking meals and taking care of dishes and laundry. Children are responsible for grazing and tending to the livestock. Men are responsible for protecting the family (Reminder: this is a culture of warriors who have only recently stepped down from war).

Men and women do not eat meals together and cannot show affection in public. It is, obviously, tough to find the romance in these relationships and I find myself wondering what they are like behind closed doors. In many families, there is obviously affection. There are times when you can feel it repressed in your presence.

Age Sets

Age sets determine the roles and responsibilities for the male Samburu and are designed to benefit the community at large. A quick run down would go like this:

Herders (Under 18): Samburu children are in charge of taking care of the families livestock. Taking goats and cattle out to graze consumes most of their day, every day, and Samburu children begin working with the animals as early as the ago of 5. Initially, and in many cases still, this was the single large roadblock to education in Sereolipi. Parents could not release their children to school because it would leave no one to take care of the livestock. This is a conflict the community is still addressing.

Warriors (18-30): Although there is no set age for the transition (it is at the father's digression to choose), Samburu males go off for circumcision around the age of 18 or 20. Circumcision is an important ritual for the Samburu, as it is in many African cultures, signifying the point in life where each boy becomes a man. Boys march off into the bush in groups of 10 or 15, where they meet a traditional healer who performs the circumcision with a spear (two other relatives or appointed friends hold the back and legs of each boy during circumcision). When the boys return, now as men, they take on an entirely different role in the community. Now they are warriors and must wait 15 years until they can marry. During that period they are in charge of protecting all Samburu people. They begin to wear the traditional Samburu attire. They can no longer live in their family's manyatta. They cannot eat any food cooked by Samburu women (until they are married) and must not be seen eating by women at all.

Junior Elders (After Marriage): After a Samburu marries, he becomes a junior elder and becomes a part of the large decision making consensus groups which rule over all important community decisions.

Elder (50-60): The Elders are a highly respected faction in the Samburu culture and are called upon to make important decisions is personal and community matters. There are usually between 100-200 elders in the Samburu tribe at any given time.

On English

Of Sereolipi's 5,000 residents, about 20 are fluent in English and the oldest English speaker is the village chief, who is 45. This is a challenge for a school where all classes and qualifying exams are given in English. (Many students at the school are the first members of their family who can write their name.) It will be a significant marker between the younger and older generations currently living in Sereolipi.

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Much more on Sereolipi, Samburu and the evolution of education and technology in the bush... coming soon...

How to Preserve a Culture

2006-12-03T08:10:00.000-05:00

What environment must exist for a culture not to change? How can you preserve a culture and create a community that allows its people to climb to the top of Maslow all on its own?

Some guesses…

The Factors

Isolation—What seems by far the biggest factor, the elimination of outside influence, not the rejection of it. What we are talking about here is a culture condensed to a single location and physically remote from others. Ideally, modern means of communication (phones, internet) should be absent, potential travel between this location and others should be difficult, lengthy and (for basic survival needs) not necessary.

Subsistence—Location, location, location. Location and lifestyle need to come together to provide the basics: food, water and shelter. The supply must be in a continual state of replenishment.

Adaptability & Security—The culture needs to be flexible enough to adjust for intrusion of outside forces, both natural and human. Its strategies for adaptation must provide for subsistence and security without breaking isolation. If this does not exist, need and anxiety protrude to push people out, to experience and learn from other cultures. These people, their ideas or their stories, may return.

Pride & Contentment—What secures the moat against influence is pride and an overall contentment among the people. This means a culture with a working religion, a community that operates as a whole to assist its members and a social structure of hierarchy that provides the two basic psychological needs: mastery and belonging.

This may be a crude list but it is a start. The Samburu, who I am about to meet, score high marks in all four categories. And on the whole, it has worked, incredibly well. Until a few years ago, the culture had preserved and had not changed.

So my entrance to Sereolipi and my first few days there have that amazing feeling of stepping inside a vacuum. But it is not as simple as that. And it is much more interesting. Sereolipi is no museum.

Because the dam has broken, and everything is changing.

Four consecutive years of droughts (2000-2004) have crumbled the walls and threatened subsistence and security. The cattle died and the cattle raids came back. It became harder to be content. At the same time, the Kenyan political landscape changed. A new president in 2002. Free education in 2003 (especially important for a culture without much use for traditional currency—you can’t pay school fees in goats and cows). And the rest is dominoes. The realization that jobs outside of the farming industry and not susceptible to droughts. Sereolipi gets a store. More than doubles its school enrollment…And that creaking sounds is the big wheels of change starting to turn.

What an amazing opportunity to visit this place at this time! In the first few years of a culture making giant lunges at change. Much more on this, including specifics, in future posts. Jobs in place of subsistence farming. Camels for cows. The cell phone….

Week One: Review

2006-12-02T08:24:00.000-05:00

After two day of travel, iMentor arrives in Nairobi, via London, and Week 1 for iMentor Kenya starts off in celebration, then just keeps getting better.

Day 1

Our first day begins in Machakos, where we meet Jackson and visit Kyangala High School.

Even though schools are on holiday this month, there are 200 people there to greet us and the students and faculty have many surprises in store.

The school has constructed a computer lab for the 20 laptop computers we are handing off (they have been donated by Pfizer). These are the first operational computers the school has ever owned.

After we tour and computer lab, everyone gathers in a large hall for the celebration, which is mind-blowing. Students perform songs and poems and the principal and the village pastor (who is also the Board chair for the school) give speeches about the "global village" and the power of IT. Watch the video!

Day 1 ends with a hike into the mountains and a wonderful dinner at Jackson's ranch.

Day 2

Day 2 begins with learning the basics of the Kenyan education system and a visit to a second school in Machakos.

We also learn about some of the challenges facing high schools in Kenya and hear from, Joy, who will be one of iMentor Kenya's first student participants.

Then we go back to Nairobi, to prepare for the long journey to Sereolipi, where I will meet my mentee...

Day 3

The long road to Sereolipi begins and we get as far as Isiolo.

Days 4-9 (Coming Soon)

We travel the remaining three hours to Sereolipi, where I live with the Samburu warriors and meet my mentee...Posts, video and pictures will be up in the next few days...

Day 3 Ends: Isiolo

2006-12-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

After 7 or 8 hours in the car we pull into Isiolo, about 3 hours south of Sereolipi and the last true town before we begin to make our way into Kenya's northeastern tribal regions. Here we will stay the night at a hotel called The Bomen, which bills itself as "tourist class."

Isiolo is a fascinating and often terrible place. What I know of the town comes from the impressive synopsis Jane gives me as we are pulling in.

Isiolo was a large border-post for the British occupancy, an official line between the myriad tribes of the northeast and the long road to Nairobi. With this foundation, after the British departed, Isiolo became what many report as a wonderful post, deep in diversity and rich in the regal colonial architecture. It was a place where members from all of Kenya's northeast tribes (the Samburu in Sereolipi, the Rendille, Borana, Maasai, Somali and Gabra) could come to get provisions, news, gossip and transportation south.

Note: Life in Northern Kenya is so distinctly different from that of the rest of the country that the residents refer to traveling anywhere south of Isiolo as, "going to Kenya."

Then the rains ended. 2000 was a year of great conflict in this part of Kenya, droughts led to cattle raids, cattle raids led to revenge killings, revenge killings led to more of the same and much of the arid Northern region went hungry and went to war.

As Jane describes it, many stayed in the villages to defend their land, their livestock and their families. Others did not. Those with nothing left fled to Isiolo, without money to pay for food. Jane talks in Darwinian terms, describing how the weaker half of many villages (those without livestock to defend, those without strong ties to their community) started a mass pilgrimage in search of food, leaving everything behind. Soon the town was flooded with refuges.

The droughts continued and those who settled here have not left. To make matters worse, for the last four years HIV-Aids has run rampant through Isiolo. It is still a town of astounding diversity, but now under the weight of poverty, crime and disease. For the most part, NGO's do not come here and the government has not taken an interest. People recoil when they talk about Isiolo, no one mentions plans to turn it around.

I realize it sounds ambiguous but there is a distinct difference in feel between Isiolo and the other communities we visit. What I love about Kenya (the optimism, the sincere thirst for development in many regions, the localization and democracy of decision making) feels absent here. Admittedly, we don't stay long enough to learn much and feel is no measure. But it gets me wondering what is ahead in Sereolipi...

More street scenes in Isiolo

Day 3: The Journey to Sereolipi Begins

2006-12-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

After a stopover at Jane's apartment in Nairobi for the night, we are up and beginning the long journey to Sereolipi by mid-morning. The trip will take us two days, nine hours by car on dirt roads that limit us to maybe 20 MPH. We pass over holes and rivers and ridges that have us bouncing in our seats the entire way, through herds of cattle and past Mount Kenya, which to my great disappointment is hidden in a fog.

The long road, scenic to the Kick-Off Event

There is much to be excited about, Jane is telling me about it as we drive.

(1) When we arrive in Sereolipi, I will be meeting my mentee Thomas in-person for the first time. Thomas is the computer teacher at the Primary school in Sereolipi where we will be running iMentor Kenya. As a way to launch and begin testing the program, Thomas and I have been communicating over email for the last four months. We have grown quite close in that time, exchanging two or three emails a week and discussing everything from our family histories to the (enormous) cultural differences between New York City and Sereolipi. Needless to say, I cannot wait to meet him...

(2) While I have seen urban Kenya, in Nairobi, in rural Kenya, in Machakos, I will now be visiting tribal Kenya, a place and people altogether different in its customs and practices. As Jane describes it, Sereolipi will make Nairobi feel like Manhattan and Machakos like Westchester.

(3) There is an amazing thing going on at this school in Sereolipi, the breath of which I do not grasp until arriving. Through Jane and through generous and visionary donors in the US, the school has constructed a computer lab, complete with internet connection, in the middle of the bush. The lab draws power from a large solar panel (which over the course of the day follows the movement of the sun) and connects to the internet through a satellite dish. This is an amazing accomplishment for a village like Sereolipi, a place without electricity or phones lines or cellular reception. A place where few of the residents have ever traveled outside of the village hills that surround it. It is a grand experiment in the power of connectivity and I am already enthralled with the myriad possibilities and implications it brings. The computer lab is less than a year old but, under direction from Thomas, is already being used by students at the school (upon their arrival, students mistook the computers for TVs). Over email, Thomas and I have been working on new computer lessons for the class. I can't wait to check it out...

High School in Kenya: The Challenges

2006-11-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

Although free Primary education has been a big step forward, the truth is that the country still faces extraordinary challenges and the majority of students cannot finish the line the government now allows them to start.

primary school > high school > university education > employment

During my first days in-country I begin to hear these stories from students, teachers and their parents. We hear stories of families who save for years to afford the first year of high school fees only to be unable to pay the second. Although there is no official count, high school drop-out rates in Kenya are astronomical. Students study each semester unsure if they will have the money to return for the next.

Illness, unemployment and drought combine to create a daunting trinity of obstacles. There are three dominant narratives:

(1) There are stories of parents passing away. It is often the oldest and most responsible of their children that are enrolled in school and this first narrative ends with that student dropping out, for any work they can find, in order to feed their younger siblings.

(2) There are stories of parents unable to pay school fees after losing jobs

(3) and farmers whose annual income is sunk when the rains don’t come.

Rarely do we hear stories of students who fade away from apathy. Schools in Kenya become great gathering places for children whose homes are scattered in the mountains, it is a guaranteed meal they may not have otherwise. The mind wakes up there, and there are books. The more communities we visit, the more I realize that the schools are the happiest places in town, a center for optimism; and they are quickly evolving into a marker of prestige for those who attend.

This if from a high school student in Machakos, named Joy. In addition to being undoubtedly ambitious, Joy will be one of the first students to join iMentor Kenya this winter.

“We are three in our family. My mother died when I was in Standard Four. Due to the effects of that, my father became jobless and harsh to us. This made my sister decide to get married. My brother went never to come back again. Due to this I couldn’t afford school fees. I stayed idle for the whole year until village members decided to look for funds so that I could learn. Because I passed very well. Then in the year 2001 I joined Form 1 at Kyangala High School. The fees were offered for the first and second years. Afterwards, I don’t know what happened. Right now, in January, I’m expected to have 38,000 for balance and for next term.

I’m very good in school. I score the highest at class work. I’m cool with very best mentionable contact the teachers choose me as the School Headgirl. The principal understands my situation and just keeps me in school with the big balance. I’m very good in games, this year I managed to reach the District level in cross-country. I’m soccer girl’s team Captain and this year we went to Divisionals. I like playing soccer and running. I’m very hard working that even after that idle year I can manage to pass. I’m working very hard in computer as my compulsory subject to become a Dr. in Computer Engineering and Maintenance. My dreams are that one day my habitat will not be Kenya anymore and it’s my prayer to attain all this. I would like to be the light in our family. As we talk now none of my family members is supporting me. But I have devoted myself to work hard so that I can show a lot of concern to them, help them and lead them in the right direction.

Also, I am practicing so I may get a chance to compete in Athletics with those British. In fact, I don’t have time to rest."

Day 2: School 2 (Kyandili Primary School)

2006-11-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

The next morning we are up and off to our second school tour, this time to a Primary school in Machakos where Jackson teaches.

We are there because Jane is meeting with the principal about the possibility of rebuilding classrooms (they haven't been renovated in 60 years, since the school was first constructed) and we learn about the schools new innovative program which allows parents who cannot afford school fees to help in the construction.

Since all Kenyan schools are on holiday this month, we do not meet the students. But we do get a great tour of the school and a chance to talk with the principal. Below are some pictures from the trip. This school, located in Machakos, is similar in look and feel to many of the schools we visit on our trip. See pictures below, including the way the school is putting rain water to good use and one of the coolest basketball hoops I've seen in a long time...

The classrooms...

These tanks collect rainwater. Like most schools in rural Kenya, this school does not have running water.

The playground..students learn the art of basketball, without the bank shot.

Although all classes are taught in English, students learn both of Kenya's national languages, English and Kiswahili. For students from tribal communities (many have their own languages) this means knowing three languages by the age of 7.

After discussing the renovation we leave the school, and its imposing backdrop, looking back up the mountain to Kyangala High School.

Curious what it takes to renovate two classrooms in Kenya? About $4,400.

Budget below...
(Note: 70 Kenyan Shillings per $1)

REF: MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR RENOVATION OF 2 CLASSROOMS

IRON SHEETS 60* 2 = 120
CEMENT 140 BAGS @ 600
ROOFING TIMBER 4² * 2² - 205 X 2
ROOFING TIMBER 3² * 2 640 ft @ 210
Y12 BARS 60 @ 570
Y8 BARS 28 @ 350
BINDING WIRE 10 KG @ 500
ROOFING NAILS 4² 16 KG @ 80
ROOFING FLAT 14 KG
WOOD PRESERVATIVES 2 * 20 LITRES @ 500
2 METAL DOORS 76¹ * 30¹ @ 3000
6 METAL WINDOWS 4 * 5 @ 2,000
GLASSES 54 PIECES @ 60
WHITE WASH 4 BAGS @ 150
CREAM PAINT (10 TINS OF 20 LITRES) @ 550
LIGHT BLUE 2 TINS OF 5 LITRES @ 550
BLACKBOARD PAINT 1 TIN OF 5 LITRES @ 750
RIDGES 12 @ 100
BARBED WIRE 1 ROLL @ 2,200
ROOFING NAILS 12 KG @ 120
RED OXIDE (SPRAYING POWDER NO.1 16 KG @ 250
BUILDING BRICKS 300 @ 5
PADLOCKS 2 @ 150
FACE BOARD 148 ft @ 35
PUTTY 24 KG @ 30
SAND 2 LORRIES @ 6,000
RED OXIDE 2 TINS 4 LITRES @ 550
BLACK PAINT 2 TINS 4 LITRES @ 550
BALLAST 140 WHEELBARROWS @ 50
LABOUR @ 40,000

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TOTAL KSH
308,120

We are on our way now back to Nairobi for the night, to prepare for our trip to Sereolipi. Everyone talks about the roads in Kenya, it is the national bemoan. Before we reach Nairobi, I get my first taste, as a lorry gets stuck in an over-wet patch of road and we are held up for an hour, unable to pass. I learn about the teenagers who come out with the earthworms after the rain. They know these patches of roads, those notorious for flooding and for the sinking of back tires. They walk long distances, shovel in hand, and wait by the side of the road for the vehicularly unfortunate. When the time is right, they will dig and pull you out, working expertly and in a team, in hopes of a tip. Need and service, entrepreneurship blooms...

A typical road in Machakos

See All of the Photos

Kyandili Primary School (Machakos)

Education in Kenya: The Basics

2006-11-30T06:30:00.000-05:00

Like few other places in the world, the Kenyan education system is brand new again, having begun ambitious plans to reshape itself in 2003. Under the Ministry of Education, the country is currently working toward the twins goals of (1) “universal primary education by 2005 and (2) education for all by 2015.”

Some background…

Before 2003, a “school tax” ($650 a year) that far exceeded the average annual income of most Kenyan families ($371 annually per capita) prevented the majority of the country’s children, especially those form rural areas, from attending school.

In January 2003, the government of Kenya introduced free primary education for all children (students still must pay fees for school uniforms). This initiative was followed by a huge influx of students, estimated at 1.8 million, many of whom were the first members of their family to attend school. Kenya now spends slightly more than 30% of its national budget on education.

8^th grade, it all comes down to this…

8^th grade is the Super Bowl in the Kenyan education system and culminates in an exam that makes the SAT look like a sudoku puzzle taken for extra credit. Similar to the US, Kenya is on an 8-4-4 system-with middle school and elementary school rolled into one-and 8^th grade culminates with the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam, given in English. The exam determines what type of high school students can attend (there are three, below).

The discrepancy in the quality of resources, facilities and teachers at these schools is dramatic (in the schools we visit, at the bottom of the spectrum: 3 students per desk, 3 to a text book, 1-100 teacher-to-student ratio). The link between which type of schools students attend and success markers—college enrollment, employment, income, depth of knowledge—is rock-solid. The test is designed as a way to manage the county’s inadequate resources, to (at the age of 13) separate the wheat from the chaff, and to propel students with “promise.” The exam is a way to use the countries resources to cultivate the few.

The twin blind-spots here seem to be:

(1) the system does not take into account the quality of the Primary schools and the education students receive there. There is a big difference between schools in rural, often tribal communities like Sereolipi and the comparatively affluent neighborhoods of Nairobi.

(2) These kids are young. Visiting these schools, I think back to when I was in 8^th grade, when my sole and burning ambition was not to be fat. Additionally, a large majority of the 1.8 million students enrolled in Primary school are 1^st generation learners, the first members of their family ever to go to school. It takes time, encouragement, maturity and role models to develop academic skills and ambitions.

Still, we meet many young students in Primary schools driven and focused. Working the system. Fighting back against the wind.

Footnote: These exam results are also used to evaluate Primary Schools and the allocation of government resources, schools with higher scores get more, deepening the divide.

The Division…

There are three classifications of secondary schools in Kenya.

District Schools—This is the catch-all rung on the schooling ladder and accepts all students. Students who have attended these schools score the lowest on the nation-wide 8^th grade exams. Although there seem to be no official numbers, it is safe to say that an extremely small number of students who attend these schools go on to college.

Provincial Schools—These are very good schools, accepting only students who score 380 or higher (out of 500) on the 8^th grade placement exam.

National Schools—These schools house the best and brightest of Kenya’s young scholars. Most of the students go on to a University education. Many of the members of Kenya's current government attended national schools.

The Numbers...

1.8 Million: Number of students enrolled in Primary school.

40%: Official, nation-wide transition rate from Primary to secondary school. Schools we visit cite this number to be much, much lower.

6%: Number of Kenyans who said they attended high school, in a recent nation-wide survey of all Provinces and Districts. 64% of these people identified themselves as working, although 41% reported that they were "self-employed."

7: Number of public universities in Kenya (there are 5 private universities).

40,000 Number of Kenyans currently enrolled in University (.1% of the total population).

For a good, basic overview of the Kenyan education system, see the Kenya Institute of Education.

Day 1 Finale: Jackson's Ranch

2006-11-29T18:40:00.000-05:00

After lunch, we say goodbye at the school and start our next drive, halfway back down and around the other side of the mountain to where Jackson lives, to Jackson’s compound, what seems to me a piece of land that showcases a local and evolving Kenyan success. In rural Kenya, it is not the size of the plot—land is everywhere—but rather what you are able to do with it. Jackson's is a wonderful place, built like steps into the mountain. The same piece of land where he was raised and where he planned to leave until his mother, in her last months, had a dream and advised him to stay.

Jackson’s driveway operates like a Main Street for his own small town. On one side of the dirt drive there is: a hut for laundry and cooking, another for storage and a cement house where Jackson lives with his wife Elizabeth and his three children. On the other side there are wonderful trees I cannot name, a tea-and-conversation-veranda of sorts, another mud-and-stick hut for visitors, a regal-looking turkey, a house for his goats and a coup for his chicken. Main Street is stopped at a dead-end by a cement two-bedroom house, where Jackson’s brother lives.

One step down the mountain are rows of Jackson’s crops (he is studying with a famous Kenyan botanist), both a garden for Elizabeth’s kitchen and herbs for his clinic. One step down from the crops is a half-built, five-room house constructed of homemade bricks and when we arrive the construction crew—a teenage mason and two seventy year-old old women—are packing up for the day. This is where Jackson, after graduating Divinity school in December, will move his family.

There is no time to rest so we do not rest. Jackson wants to hike and we do, a couple of miles back up the mountain, to see a house he is building for a recent widow gone homeless, also a plot of land he has purchased and may turn into a eco-friendly campground and cultural learning center. The view is for miles and the sun goes down. I learn that Safari Ants, a trail of which I almost step in, can gnaw through a human arm, if they are left undisturbed and given enough time. I learn that enough time is about one week.

We return to the compound at sundown, gather in Jackson’s home for dinner. While we wait for dinner, more of the obvious dawning on me, this time—no electricity, no running water. Paraffin lamps are lit. Tea is served out of the Thermos that is absolutely ubiquitous in Kenya. It is 7 or 8 PM, perfectly dark, and I have much assimilating to do. Jackson and Jane work at their cell phones, text messages and emails and returning of messages. I go to bed marveling at the challenges: how short the day that ends at 7, how hard it is to go from one place to another. I go to sleep fatigued by Jackson’s ambition, baffled and impressed into a genuine state of wonder about the ways in which this country moves...

See all of the Photos

Jackson's Ranch

Kyangala High School: The Celebration

2006-11-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

Jane and I are taken to a large building on the far side of "campus." Maybe 200 people are there for the celebration. Parents and high school students and elementary school students and members of the community. The greeting when we enter the hall is mind-blowing. We are seated on a large stage, looking out at the crowd.

And then the entertainment begins. Poems are performed. Original songs and performed. Speeches are given. All of them, literally, are amazing.

See it for yourself...

The Celebration

After the ceremony, we are treated to a feast with maybe twenty community members, including the village chief...What an amazing way to start Day 1 of our trip!

The New Computer Lab

2006-11-29T14:30:00.000-05:00

It is time to break out the hardware and we are shown to the computer lab that members of the community have constructed in anticipation of the computer donation. It is a long, low building attached to a row and classrooms and the Headmaster and teachers are clearly proud of what they’ve put together, the locking case to hold the computers, the long row of counters and stools which will become their first computer terminals, the windows specially built to keep out dust. There are apologies for the fresh paint that comes off on our hands and clothes.

Jane and I open up the computers and everyone gets a first look.

We attempt to explain the internet, from scratch.

I anoint Kenya's first iMentor instructor.

And then we are rushed off, before maybe we have that internet explanation nailed down. We are told that we are "wanted in the hall."

The Surprises Begin

2006-11-29T13:30:00.000-05:00

The Headmaster and the computer teacher, they are not alone. Although we see only a handful of people during the hour climb to the school, we now approach a crowd of people in the road. They are gathered outside the gates of the school and form a fold around the car as the gates pull back and we see what has been waiting for us inside—maybe 200 people assembled for our greeting.

The school is no longer on holiday.

The high school is there.

The primary school is there.

The PTA is there.

The school’s principal, Board of Directors, and the village tribal chiefs are there.

What later becomes apparent—the obvious thing that dawns on me only slowly and hours into the ceremonies—are the incredible distances each person has traveled to greet us. Hours of walking to be there when we arrived, the hours home after we leave.

See all of the Photos

Machakos Secondary School

Kyangala High School

2006-11-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

Jackson has been working with Jane Newman, my host and guide, to identify schools for iMentor to partner with. Today he is accompanying us Kyangala High School, a high school enrolling 300 students and located another hour up and into the mountains. If Jackson knows what is in store for us, he does not let on.

This is what Jackson tells us. Jackson tells us that we are going to meet with the school principal and computer teacher. He tells us that Kenyan schools went on mid-term holiday last week, and even though students do not return until early January, that the principal was going to try to arrange for a few of them to be there to meet us. When I comment on how remote it is, that we have seen few homes along the way, Jackson tells us about the long distances students must walk to attend school and he tells us about the 4 kilometers he walks each day, to and from the Primary school where he teaches. What we know is that we are going to hand off 20 computers which have been generously donated by Pfzier. That the school has constructed a special “computer lab” to house them. That we are going to figure out strategies for how to integrate the internet and iMentor into the school's curriculum.

What follows is what Jackson does not tell us.

Meet Jackson

2006-11-29T07:12:00.000-05:00

Jackson, born and raised on the Machakos farm where he is now raising his own family, is a man of the Kenyan renaissance, employed three times over. He is a teacher in a Machakos Primary School, a farmer, and a healer—he runs an alternative medicine clinic in town, treating boils, arthritis, malaria and skin diseases with recipes he has spent years collecting from elder healers and with a mixture of herbs and plants he picks from the mountains. In his spare time, Jackson is building houses for recent widows and working to secure land deeds for people who live on the farms that surround his own.

Day 1: Machakos

2006-11-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Day one starts off in a flourish and is full of surprises, to say the least. After leaving New York Saturday night I arrive in Nairobi, via London, Sunday around midnight. Monday morning we are up at sunrise and off to the town of Machakos, about an hour into the hills outside of Nairobi. Here we meet Jackson.

Meet Jane!

2006-11-27T15:06:00.000-05:00

I am picked up from the airport by Jane Newman, the woman who will be both my host and my guide for the next three weeks.

Six months ago, Jane and I had met for maybe an hour in New York. Although I was struck immediately by her passion and intelligence, nothing could have prepared me for the generosity of the woman I was about to meet, the number of development projects in her charge, or the drive with which she attacks them all—simultaneously in the one big burst that seems her trademark.

She is known, from the Samburu warriors in Sereolipi to the fisherman of Lamu, as "Mama Jane."

Born in the UK, the only woman in her graduate program for Marketing, and employed in the upper ranks of NYC advertising, how did it happen?

I get bits of Jane's story over the next three weeks.

The Career
Prior to living in Kenya, Jane worked for many years in advertising in London and New York. At Chiat/Day she established the first account planning department in the United States. During the next ten years the agency grew from $30 million to $1 billion in billings. Later she was a founding partner of Merkley Newman Harty, one of the fastest growing start-up ad agencies in America. During her ad career, Jane worked with companies including IBM, American Express, Reebok and General Electric (just to name a few), as well as on campaigns to stop drug abuse, uphold human rights and protect children at risk from poverty.

The Retirement
Jane retired from advertising in 1999 and decided to travel the world, spending two years on a line that wove extensively through both Asia and Africa. On a drive from Ethiopia to South Africa, an ambitious and popular tourist trek, Jane's car breaks down. She is in Sereolipi, but maybe doesn't know that yet. She goes and sits on the side of the road and it is not long before George (the school's principal and Sereolipi's shop owner) introduces himself. He asks her about the book she is reading; puts her up in his home for the three days it takes to acquire the necessary car parts. It gives them time to talk, for Jane to be simultaneously stuck with the kindness of the Samburu community and the desperate state of education in Sereolipi. Like so many successful people, Jane has a kind of innate repulsion for the gap between potential and execution (in this case, the desire for education in Sereolipi and the simple resources that are simply unavailable). Jane's life changes.

Jane Unleashed, on Kenya
So things do not go exactly as planned. Jane does not make it all of the way around the world. She goes home to New York City, cannot escape nagging thoughts of Sereolipi, steels herself into a decision and moves to Kenya.

That was five years ago. This is what has been keeping Jane busy:

She designed and founded the Sereolipi Nomadic Education Trust, called the Thorn Tree Project. In just a couple of years, this project became maybe the single largest component in Sereolipi's extraordinary education boom. Much more on the fascinating Thorn Tree story HERE.

She began working with Kadija Rama on Pepo la Tumaini, a project which provides education and support to children orphaned by AIDS. (While I am visiting Jane, the proposal she wrote for the project secures a $150,00 grant)

After witnessing what she felt was a trend of Western medicine eclipsing traditional healing methods in many Kenyan communities, Jane organized a project to collect the myriad practices from many healers and publish them in a book designed to inspire the next generation of Kenyan health professionals.

She is leading the charge (a relentless ringing on the phones of Government officials) to test for potential well-water drilling sites in Ndanyo Wasin. The lack of running water in Ndanyo Wasin and Sereolipi leads to too many unnecessary deaths each year (and is the feature of a feature in a small UK paper while I am there).

She raises money (and donates personally) to rebuild classrooms in schools she visits throughout Kenya. An example HERE.

And she has practiced a sort of Mama Jane micro-finance (grants instead of loans) with two womens groups and one group of men in Lamu. Jane makes grants to entrepreneurial groups, allowing them to launch small businesses (Example: Jane purchased a boat for a group of fisherman, booming their business).

And this is not to mention Kizingoni Beach, 24 acres of beach front property Jane owns and runs in Lamu, Kenya. Kizingoni is one of Jane's largest Kenyan endeavors (and also a little piece of heaven on earth). Even in her for-profit projects, Jane makes a large splash in the community. Kizingoni is built using 100% local materials and workers, creating dozens of jobs previously unavailable to Lamu residents. After the houses are built, Jane employs other Lamu residents and chefs and service professionals. I meet many of these people when I arrive in Lamu during my third week. They are some of the most professional, intelligent and warm individuals I meet on my trip.

During my trip to Kenya, I will stay with Jane in her house in Nairobi, we will travel together to Machakos and Sereolipi and I'll visit her at her mind-blowing haven in Lamu. We are together almost non-stop during the three weeks of my visit.

It is an honor.

About iMentor Kenya

2006-11-27T06:14:00.000-05:00

In February of 2007, iMentor will launch a new beta program, iMentor Kenya, matching high school students from remote villages in Kenya with American mentors in New York City. The program is designed to test the limits of iMentor’s mentoring model and to investigate the power of email and the internet to build relationships that span the globe, between individuals from extraordinarily diverse life experiences.

Students from the two schools participating in iMentor Kenya are like the majority of students attending school in Kenya, with little or no connection to life outside the villages in which they live. An exciting experiment in the growing “global village,” this program will provide these students with an introduction to perspectives and technological resources that are now staples of the western world (and that have begun to flourish in Kenya’s major cities and universities) but have in large part yet to penetrate the rural areas of the country. 2007 will be a fascinating year in Kenya’s long history, as the country strives to achieve ambitious goals for educational, cultural and economic development. iMentor Kenya will provide an important counterpoint to news reports of Kenya’s progress, giving students a glimpse into life outside their community and providing mentors with access to the personal stories beyond the Kenya’s headlines.