I have not been very faithful to the blog, although there have been many things going on here; some good, some tragic. I will try to recap.
Last Weekend
We have been trying to get the services of a tractor for our 2 acre shamba in Ngelani. Mwololo got all the materials delivered to the shamba site for the building of a small house/room for the worker there. A tractor will come (it did) and plowed the acres and the land is not fenced and the house completed. He land will continue to be worked until the rains arrive and we plant maize for our projects (schools and widows group).
There was some sad news of the drowning of two young boys near me. There is a construction site that had a large pit which filled with water. The boys could not resist and jumped in. As I walked by, they were draining the water from the pit to remove the boys. There was too much emotion there for me to stay. When people are upset they can often single out the white guy to express their rage.
Also disturbing is the amount of land grabbing in this area. Even next door to where I stay, little shacks have sprouted up designating the purchase of the land. The terrible thing is that these people bought fake title deeds from an unscrupulous realtor. He takes their money, gives them a fake title and then leaves town. Then the craziness begins with fighting and shouting and violence that accompanies the possession of the land. Yesterday (Thursday) truckloads of angry buyers came to the area shouting, blowing whistles etc. They threaten the Masai and others on the land and terrorize all, including the young and women. We will see how this plays out. The soldiers came but very late. A few nights ago a group of Samburu on the land were beaten by thugs trying to scare them off the land so that they could grab it.
Mwololo and I headed to Athi River school to do one of our periodic audits of the teachers to make sure they were getting paid what we were told on the scale. We also travel to Kaweithe to count the students in the classrooms to make sure that the Foundation isn’t being cheated into over-paying. We also monitor the food use in our feeding programs.
All of the materials were delivered for the construction of the classroom in Bisil. We wanted the supplies to be at the school (on the hill!) before the heavy rain, when it would be impossible to get to the site.
And lastly, I traveled to Kibera to visit the school we try to assist. Rain, mud and a mess! The roof leaks on one of the two rooms so all 80 students were in one small room. More to follow.
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