I wrote about how I found the paradises in Kenya, but for the sake of balance I should also write about what scares white people from staying in this paradise, the things that make it backwards third world country. I'm pretty sure that at least most of it applies to entire Africa. Oh yeah, and I want to say, that I understand why some people doesn't understand my wish to go to live there, but I also want to explain how little this bad side disturbs me. When you go to Africa, you find lots of things that are different, annoying, dangerous and weird. Same time you are also most exited of everything beautiful and exotic. But then, after a little you get used to things.. kind of. This is the moment of truth, you either fall in love with this world and life there or you understand that your home is much better. I just fell into the first category. I can even pretty much say that I'm disappointed of how things are in my home country and I'm disappointed of the great western civilization. It is too cold, too calculated, organized.. and in my oppinion also unstable. Ok, you can ask me after reading this chapter about how I find more stability in Africa, but what I can already say, is that I will be more happy there.
But yes, I admit that Africa has its own set of problems. And actually we went there to do some voluntary work and change something. We were invited by them, that alone shows that even locals understand that everything isn't exactly the best. We also asked, why to call white people, why not to do it by themselves, because if they understand the problem, then it shouldn't be too hard to fix it. We got answer that if local would call people up to do something, they usually don't come, but whites are always great role models to follow. Probably also funds that they get together with our arrival, play important role. Certainly everyone understands that we can't change much.. we could plant some ideas, change maybe some individuals, but what happens when we leave. It is possible that instead of spreading like a chainreaction, these ideas are more like a campfire. They burn for a little more time, but then lose gradually the power until nothing much is left. So basically first problem is the attitude of the locals. They don't believe into themselves enough. Yet, even if they have the will and belief, then for them it is often much harder to start. Often they don't have corresponding infrastructure to make the change work. No one listens them, no one takes them seriously and no one gives them needed money. Municipalities don't have enough money to give to anyone who goes and tells that he wants to start a great program. Yeah, they often don't trust locals either. If there is white people with locals, then municipality seems to be more certain that the funding goes where it is supposed to. Why money can vanish in the hands of the locals - quick answer is corruption and all kinds of shady movements of that money. They don't have so much bureucracy like we. They don't have to hold the proper accounting, etc. So it is easy just to lose the money. Also, locals often don't have clear plans in their heads. They have some idea, but when they start implementing it, then it is quite probable that they use more resources than needed.
Yes, locals have good ideas and intentions, but so often it gets damn messy in just a little time. Good, critically thought out, detailed and practical plans from what maximum gain would rise, are so hard to find. And even if you think that ok, now we got some kind of plan that may work, then for some reason everyone seem to simply forget about it. Everything goes into zero again and then they start protecting themselves, why they didn't implement that plan. "Plans can be made by man and plans can be unmade by man" (Wesley Chirchir). So it is.. plans are made and made again.. and again.. and again, and real action starts to seem like a unreachable dream.
Our project didn’t get its start for a long time, only “environmental leaders” Josiah and Justinas were so much activists that they simply took everything into their hands. They made plans, went to municipal council to get their approval and some things like garbage trucks for cleanups, they discussed with Green Eldoret Initiative and got them interested too, and real action took place. Still, how useful was that - this is arguable. Truth is, what we together with some local kids cleaned up, as much or even more garbage had soon replaced that. And I saw from the start the need to raise the awareness of the people not just make some cleanup days. Problem is, population is greatly forced into this situation. Even if we could tell people how much pollution, how great hazard for the health of people and animals garbage creates, both when burned or when just thrown into the piles at some street side, then what, they actually don't have any other good options. They have nowhere to put all this garbage. We were told that in the past municipality organized garbage trucks to pick up the garbage from outer districts, but people there is so poor that they simply couldn’t pay for that service. So they cancelled it. Only town centre has bins and garbage trucks making circles. We could tell people how not to create so much pollution. They shouldn’t take plastic bags from shops and markets, they should re-use whatever they could. But yeah, we had really little opportunity to reach to these people. We had chances to teach some children, but how much will they use that knowledge in actual life. Also I think it would be in vain to talk with chiefs of the localities or with people in town hall. They surely say: “Yes, that is very big problem, I think we come up with some plan,” but actually this is where it ends. Surely they know about the problems, but they don't care enough. They have low budget, other problems, and of course.. corruption.
Similar situations are with education, human rights, gender equality, public health, poverty, tolerance, traffic and accidents and I don’t know what else. In this country there are the lucky ones who can have a really happy life, but in slums surrounding the cities and towns where is most of the population living, people are left alone with all these prroblems. Ok, some problems are not the business of authorities, but some problems critically need someone’s attention and assistance. Maybe this large mass of population should put some more pressure on officials, but surely in some cases they should also think if Jesus really sets their life as it is and has to be, or perhaps they could do something also by themselves and create a change. Ok, there are great problems in this country and surely you wouldn’t want to fall under the great hand of corruption, but still, I would say that when compared with all the good you can get there, it is worth everything. And you can always protect yourself from these problems. For example I plan to build my home and guesthouse as independent as possible – just a little bit away from town I hope, with wind generator or solar panels, maybe also have my own water pump, so far the problem with such location would be the lack of sewer system what I certainly need. I plan to find myself European or American doctor who can give good professional help. I already know many things about crime and how to avoid it and surely will learn more about it. I have many friends and some people who can assist me with different problems I can have in the beginning. Maybe in future I can even help some unlucky locals myself by teaching them art and some other things, or by offering employment. One thing I say, when you go to Kenya, don’t give money to street kids. They probably only use it to buy glue to breath. If you really want to help these kids, then buy them some food or something else useful, or donate to some official aid organization.
But yes, I admit that Africa has its own set of problems. And actually we went there to do some voluntary work and change something. We were invited by them, that alone shows that even locals understand that everything isn't exactly the best. We also asked, why to call white people, why not to do it by themselves, because if they understand the problem, then it shouldn't be too hard to fix it. We got answer that if local would call people up to do something, they usually don't come, but whites are always great role models to follow. Probably also funds that they get together with our arrival, play important role. Certainly everyone understands that we can't change much.. we could plant some ideas, change maybe some individuals, but what happens when we leave. It is possible that instead of spreading like a chainreaction, these ideas are more like a campfire. They burn for a little more time, but then lose gradually the power until nothing much is left. So basically first problem is the attitude of the locals. They don't believe into themselves enough. Yet, even if they have the will and belief, then for them it is often much harder to start. Often they don't have corresponding infrastructure to make the change work. No one listens them, no one takes them seriously and no one gives them needed money. Municipalities don't have enough money to give to anyone who goes and tells that he wants to start a great program. Yeah, they often don't trust locals either. If there is white people with locals, then municipality seems to be more certain that the funding goes where it is supposed to. Why money can vanish in the hands of the locals - quick answer is corruption and all kinds of shady movements of that money. They don't have so much bureucracy like we. They don't have to hold the proper accounting, etc. So it is easy just to lose the money. Also, locals often don't have clear plans in their heads. They have some idea, but when they start implementing it, then it is quite probable that they use more resources than needed.
Yes, locals have good ideas and intentions, but so often it gets damn messy in just a little time. Good, critically thought out, detailed and practical plans from what maximum gain would rise, are so hard to find. And even if you think that ok, now we got some kind of plan that may work, then for some reason everyone seem to simply forget about it. Everything goes into zero again and then they start protecting themselves, why they didn't implement that plan. "Plans can be made by man and plans can be unmade by man" (Wesley Chirchir). So it is.. plans are made and made again.. and again.. and again, and real action starts to seem like a unreachable dream.
Our project didn’t get its start for a long time, only “environmental leaders” Josiah and Justinas were so much activists that they simply took everything into their hands. They made plans, went to municipal council to get their approval and some things like garbage trucks for cleanups, they discussed with Green Eldoret Initiative and got them interested too, and real action took place. Still, how useful was that - this is arguable. Truth is, what we together with some local kids cleaned up, as much or even more garbage had soon replaced that. And I saw from the start the need to raise the awareness of the people not just make some cleanup days. Problem is, population is greatly forced into this situation. Even if we could tell people how much pollution, how great hazard for the health of people and animals garbage creates, both when burned or when just thrown into the piles at some street side, then what, they actually don't have any other good options. They have nowhere to put all this garbage. We were told that in the past municipality organized garbage trucks to pick up the garbage from outer districts, but people there is so poor that they simply couldn’t pay for that service. So they cancelled it. Only town centre has bins and garbage trucks making circles. We could tell people how not to create so much pollution. They shouldn’t take plastic bags from shops and markets, they should re-use whatever they could. But yeah, we had really little opportunity to reach to these people. We had chances to teach some children, but how much will they use that knowledge in actual life. Also I think it would be in vain to talk with chiefs of the localities or with people in town hall. They surely say: “Yes, that is very big problem, I think we come up with some plan,” but actually this is where it ends. Surely they know about the problems, but they don't care enough. They have low budget, other problems, and of course.. corruption.
Similar situations are with education, human rights, gender equality, public health, poverty, tolerance, traffic and accidents and I don’t know what else. In this country there are the lucky ones who can have a really happy life, but in slums surrounding the cities and towns where is most of the population living, people are left alone with all these prroblems. Ok, some problems are not the business of authorities, but some problems critically need someone’s attention and assistance. Maybe this large mass of population should put some more pressure on officials, but surely in some cases they should also think if Jesus really sets their life as it is and has to be, or perhaps they could do something also by themselves and create a change. Ok, there are great problems in this country and surely you wouldn’t want to fall under the great hand of corruption, but still, I would say that when compared with all the good you can get there, it is worth everything. And you can always protect yourself from these problems. For example I plan to build my home and guesthouse as independent as possible – just a little bit away from town I hope, with wind generator or solar panels, maybe also have my own water pump, so far the problem with such location would be the lack of sewer system what I certainly need. I plan to find myself European or American doctor who can give good professional help. I already know many things about crime and how to avoid it and surely will learn more about it. I have many friends and some people who can assist me with different problems I can have in the beginning. Maybe in future I can even help some unlucky locals myself by teaching them art and some other things, or by offering employment. One thing I say, when you go to Kenya, don’t give money to street kids. They probably only use it to buy glue to breath. If you really want to help these kids, then buy them some food or something else useful, or donate to some official aid organization.
Some photos of reality in Kenyan town in the next post. Town centre, slums, schools, street kids, everything that can be shown on photos. Ok, you simply will see visually how it is, but still, reality is more.. it is how people socialize, their thoughts, culture, it is the smell, sound, feelings. Therefore I think that maybe I will write few comments between the photos in the next post too.
