Work has been insane, but fun mostly. Emily’s friend Madison came to visit so Emily took some time to travel and show her Kenya. It was fun to have Madi around, 1) because she is just a chill person, and 2) because it’s always fun to see these things that I’ve become accustomed to from a fresh pair of eyes. But with Emily out having ridiculous adventures, I had a ton of stuff to do here. The MoSan toilets finally arrived and this week we began our pilot with 5 households. Before distributing the toilets - Mona, the designer of the toilet, and I were able to sit down with many people and really get a feel for what their situation is like and why they want a mobile toilet in their home. In the US if you need to go pee in the middle of the night, you can half sleep walk to your bathroom, go and come back in 2 minutes - no problem. This is not as convenient, comfortable, or safe when your bathroom is possibly 20 feet from your house as it often is here in Kenya. It is especially bad if you are an elderly woman and fear for your safety. It is also not easy if you are disabled.
Now, being friends with the lovely Sarah Moll in high school, I became somewhat more aware of certain difficulties physically disabled people face, but it has never been a focus of mine. Having spent more time learning about sanitation though, and especially after visiting Kakuma I have come to be more passionate about this issue. I got my heart set on targeting disabled persons for our project in Kakuma, but was told a few weeks ago by wiser, senior members of our team that this was going to be too difficult bureaucratically and present data not easily generalized for reporting. Part of me completely understands this and respects it. We are having enough issues starting this project as it is; working with a particularly vulnerable population would only make matters more complex. But, part of me also feels that that’s maybe exactly why we need to do it. Disabled refugees are a vulnerable group within a larger vulnerable population. If our little project can’t attempt to cater to their needs, who will address them? Anyway, that is a fight for another day I suppose. We have begun working with some disabled people here in Naivasha, and hopefully, if the pilot goes well, people will take notice that this is a real issue.
There is a disabled persons community group in Naivasha that has gotten me really excited. I met 2 of the members many months ago to talk about a completely different thing, but when we got the MoSan toilets I called them up to see if any members wanted to be a tester for us. They do. These great guys, Thaddeus and Peter were thrilled to try this new toilet. We got to talking about what all their group does in the community and it turns out they do briquette making! They showed me around their office and briquetting equipment and are actually excited at the prospect of collaborating with us and experimenting with briquettes made from poop. They have been doing this for about 2 years and already have an established infrastructure and market AND it would be amazing to train them to have a sustainable briquetting business for when Emily and I leave (eventually). Mona and I were so pumped we were practically jumping up and down. It’s inspiring to see these people (men especially) working so hard to be involved in and improve their community with trash clean up and recycling, briquetting, health promotion and more.
The pilot has been a really interesting learning experience already and it has just begun. It’s just another wonderful reminder that these things will likely not run as you planned and there will problems you never imagined. Our waste collector, Stephen, who goes around to all of the toilets to collect the waste containers and bring them to the treatment site - is wonderful and tries so hard to do a good job and not complain that he actually makes it a bit harder on us. For example, we gave him a log sheet to fill out as he made his rounds, with things like arrival time, departure time, cleanliness scale, etc and went through how to fill it out with him. He assured us he understood, but then the day after collection, we saw that the sheets were completely empty. So with Nancy translating, we learned that he was afraid of somehow making an error in filling it out, so he just didn’t write anything. It just amazes me.
So on a completely different note, school has been starting back in the US, and while I’m not at all jealous of class registration and exams, I do miss that community. It’s not just that I miss people (although that is true) but it has been pretty long time since I have not been invested in a very intentional community (CCF, El Oasis, Church on the Street, Big Saps, etc) where I could lead and serve people and also be challenged and pushed and encouraged by people. I have some wonderful friends here but it is very different. Most expats are pretty transient, and well the village is just a whole different world. While I’m learning Swahili pole pole (slowly slowly), I just can’t connect with people from Mirera on the same level. I’ve been thinking a lot about community lately, and I don’t know how long I will be here, but it’s something I need to work on. In the meantime…. my wonderful sister Anne is coming to visit in less than a week! Words cannot express how excited I am.
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