My sadness in Kenya

Most Kenyans’ lives are very difficult and this makes me sad. Not just because most are quite poor - labeling people poor can be problematic when it homogenizes multiple experiences, and inspires pity when there are still qualities of life for poor people. For many of the people we have met there appears that there are the qualities of life derived from living in rural areas where the air is clean, the pace isn’t harried, the food is mostly grown at home and quite healthy (when there is food - many people face hunger and many others died as a result of the food crisis last year, when food prices greatly increased, and they still are much higher than they were before 2009). It is hard to see little kids without shoes, walking long distances to and from school, and wearing tattered clothes. Yet it is helpful to put this into context – at least these kids are not living in a consumer culture like the US with daily reminders of what they don’t have. Most people we have met don’t have tv’s, magazines, books. I am reminded of the ethic of ‘having enough’ that is promoted by Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia. He explains that the goal of development he is pursuing is not living “up” to Western culture’s ideals, but ensuring that everyone has enough.

What makes me sad is meeting young people with little hope of finding work someday, let alone meaningful work. We met a recent college graduate living in a city so he can find work, and trying to not give up hope after months of searching. People in the US are experiencing this is as well, but here the consequences of unemployment are often more dire without any safety net whatsoever. There is massive unemployment and under-employment here. There is very little industry and very few “white collar jobs” as they call jobs outside the agricultural center. As a result the promising students, the ones lucky enough to go to school all the way through high school, set their sights on universities outside Kenya, leaving behind poor families in hopes of some income from abroad. This is called the “brain-drain” as the best minds are attracted by better resourced institutions and jobs abroad, and never return. In one family we met, 8 out of 12 boys in the family live in the US. This is considered the most successful family of the village.

Many kids don’t know if they will be able to go to school after they are 14. Spots at the best, national highschools are very limited, and you have to take a competitive national exam to get in. Then you have to be able to afford the fees, and many families don’t have the income.

Another devastating fact of life here is the loss of life due to AIDS. In many communities, the middle generation is missing, has died, meaning the parents of kids, and the sons and daughters of the elderly. Grandparents frequently take care of 4, 5, 6, 7 or more orphans. One woman we met had lost 4 children. These are farmers who prepare the land using very labor-intensive methods, and they need help, but there is often no one around to do the work except little kids. Caleb, our host in Rongo, told us that 90% of the communities he works with have been impacted by AIDS. It is a difficult thing to comprehend.

Perhaps the saddest thing is the inept government and corruption of the public sector. Millions of dollars go to ministries and disappear – no one can tell how the money was spent. Multiple scandals have erupted while we have been here, splitting the coalition government. The maize scandal, the milk scandal, the books for education scandal.

For me the saddest thing of all is the brutal long term impacts of colonialism, and especially the way Western cultures are regarded as superior. One example: In some of the places we have been little kids run up to us in the streets as we walk by yelling “mzungu, mzungu, how are you?”….mzungu meaning white person. It is very cute, and in some places we are the first white people the kids have ever had contact with. Some of them reach out to touch our hands, laughing, while others run away, looking frightened. Babies have turned away in terror from us, crying, and their parents explain that they have never seen a white person before in person. This is all very interesting, and often adorable, except that we are told that the moment of meeting us will be something they never forget, that white people represent the greatest thing in the world to these kids. What? How can this be?

Everyone we meet has real needs. Many of the people we meet ask us for our help. It makes me sad to say no, knowing that despite our fairly meager incomes, we have so much more than most people here. The good news is that a small amount of funds goes very far in Kenya, and a large amount of funds goes even further. We encourage individuals reading this to give to the organizations we have met, as they are all deserving and collectively improving the lives of thousands of people. We also encourage the Gates Foundation to meet small farmers and listen to their needs. Increasing the self-sufficiency of communities will help. Increasing the flow of expensive inputs to farming will not help.