I Still Wait for the Sun

I’ve been given feedback that my blog inspires anxiety attacks from friends who don’t want to read through to the end to find out whether I have malaria, have been robbed, or have had a Kenyan child. Therefore I’m going to start each blog with a Facebook-style “I am…” – here goes!
I am... doing great, nothing to worry about!

This week’s title directly quotes a text message I got from Evans, our nursery manager. It had been raining, so I texted him to see if we were going to be putting the cobs from our maize experiment out to dry. I found it so poetic, it made my morning…

OAF Update
Though we did have rain, all your well wishes must have come through because we have now successfully harvested all the maize from our fertilizer experiment at the nursery. The cobs were huge – much bigger than what I’m seeing in the field. This is likely due to several factors, including 1) the soil at the nursery is more fertile because it has not been used as much as our farmers’ land has; 2) Evans, our nursery manager, does a great job of making sure everything is done properly (planting, fertilizing, weeding, etc.). 3) The nursery is less afflicted by common problems you’d see in the fields, like striga weed (a nasty weed that kills the maize) or pests. Although at first look this might appear troublesome, I believe it represents a real opportunity for our farmers. Many farmers don’t follow our guidelines well; they don’t space their seeds properly, or burn the seed with fertilizer during planting, or don’t weed the way they should. Many farmers also have infertile soil caused by years of planting; we are developing training tools to educate them on composting and improving the fertility of their soil. So hopefully we will continue to see significant improvements in maize yields over time, especially if we identify good fertilizer options for farmers as a result of our trial! We shelled most of this maize today and are now finishing the drying process; once the kernels have reached the appropriate moisture content we will be able to weigh them and see which fertilizer configurations fared best. We’ll also compare this information with data we’re getting out of a field trial that Allana is running in Bungoma, so should be able to make some intelligent decisions regarding future inputs that are provided to our farmers.

I’m also very happy to report that two new Program Associates, Anushka and Jeff, have arrived here in Bungoma. I’m working very closely with them, and they are already off and running on several important projects. Unfortunately for Anushka, she came down with malaria her first day here (though she's on the mend). She's been a trooper! They also managed to see a circumcision ceremony within days of their arriving – welcome to Kenya, guys!

I’ve also come to the unfortunate realization that I am a terrible farmer (no big surprise I’m sure). I was in the fields yesterday in Kakamega, and helped with harvesting some maize for an experiment there (I was primarily there to observe the activities). Although I did ok at pulling the maize off and separating it from the silk, I realized that either I’m allergic to maize or some little buggers that live in the fields love me, way more than they like everyone else. My hands are covered in little bumps, they’re a bit itchy and painful but will go away in a few days (that’s what happened last time). And I shelled maize today at the nursery – although Evans said I did “good work”, I was definitely not as fast as he was. Good thing I don’t have to grow my own food (or yours)!

Learning to Drive – Again
In other big news, driving in Kenya is quite an experience. In fact, it’s so scary that I didn’t attempt it for my first two weeks. First of all, it’s British style – you drive on the left (aka the wrong side of the road). More importantly, it’s worse than any video game you can imagine. There are constant streams of people walking along the side of the road (including tiny children), boda bodas everywhere (bicycles carrying passengers on the back; sometimes they’re carrying sugarcane stalks that make them 8 feet wide), matatus (vans that are completely overloaded with sardines – I mean people – and driven by people who even Kenyans call “bad people”), tuk tuks, motorbikes, other random drivers, and of course, tons of ridiculous potholes and random speedbumps that you can’t really see until it’s basically too late. No one really stays in their lane (not that there are any marked, anyway). People just swerve all over, basically trying to avoid potholes and all the other things. I had decided I wasn’t interested in trying to drive (why be the one killed by a mob for hitting someone when it can be someone else), but seeing Delvin (the 10-year old son of our housekeeper) happily learning to steer gave me resolve that if he’s so excited to drive here, I can do it too.

So last Thursday, Aug 7, I found myself needing to go to the nursery. It’s about 10 minutes away, and I just needed to run in, make sure things were going well, and leave. And the car was free, which meant I could avoid the dreaded matatus. I took a deep breath, stuck the key in the ignition, and off I went. After making it there and back, I realized two things: 1) if you clutch the steering wheel hard enough, your knuckles really do turn white; and 2) if you basically drive down the middle of the road, it’s really not all that bad. And with that, I became a free woman! Later that day I drove into town with Anushka to do some shopping. A few days later, I drove four of us into town to run errands. And yesterday, I drove 1 ½ hours to Kakamega (part of the drive I’d done with Paul to Kisumu, a horrendous drive full of potholes and speedbumps). I then drove between a bunch of fields we were visiting (this is real off-roading, seriously). And then drove home. I seriously did a jig when we got back – driving here takes serious concentration, and I was exhausted!

The best part of the driving story, however, has to do with a mishap. No, I didn’t hit anyone or anything. And no, luckily no one was hurt. But I did manage to get the van stuck in a ditch. In my defense, I hesitated and wasn’t sure we should move forward (we were taking a short cut from a farmer’s home to a main road, and from there were going to be driving home to Bungoma). We had been driving along a really rough patch, and were facing a part where the dirt pretty much dropped off on both sides of the road and narrowed quite a bit. I wasn’t sure we could make it, but everyone (including our facilitator) thought it was worth a shot (and I did agree to try). Unfortunately, we realized we should’ve gotten out and looked at it before charging forward – as you can see from the photo, we ended up with a wheel hanging in the air. Oops!

It took two men and many children to get us out. I’d like to see AAA do what they did – they actually fixed the road by digging up dirt from the middle and filling the ditch! Crazy – thank goodness we had help, I think this would’ve been a much different post if it had been up to us mzungus to dig the car out on our own.

The Fun Stuff/Highlights

• Receiving my first pieces of mail here – the postal service actually works! Thanks Mom, Dad and Kelly, you guys rock!
• Sitting on my bed, wondering what animal had peed in it, and realizing my ceiling leaks when it rains really hard
• Hanging out with Mama Rebecca and hearing her joke that her daughter is going to be a “thief” because she’s going to law school – funny how people make lawyer jokes even here!
  Making tortillas from scratch for the first time (you can’t buy them here, and I made tacos for dinner) – yum!
• Watching Paul put ketchup on the risotto I’d made – I know my ancestors were turning over in their graves
• Pushing our van out of a ditch (see Learning to Drive – Again)
• Not killing my colleagues while driving them to and from Kakamega
• Hiking up Sangalo Rock and feeling as winded as if I’d hiked Mt. Kenya. Don’t the rocks look like a woman whispering into someone’s ear? (see photos below)
• Being told “good work” by Evans, our nursery manager and a 25-year farming veteran
  Seeing first-hand the power that our work has to improve the lives of our clients!