Solar Cooking

If you have been following my blog then you have seen evidence of the endless equatorial sunshine, a resource which in necessary for all life and is responsible, in part, for the lush green of the landscape. The sun is useful for other things as is evidenced by the influx of solar farms in our immediate area.  Not only does it provide light energy but much needed heat energy as well.
It was this seemingly endless capacity to produce heat energy which inspired Gabriella Zamojski and her family to bring solar cooking to Kamin Oningo, a fishing community near Mbita, Kenya.  Gabriella and her crew spent two days of our CanAssist trip introducing the locals to this method of cooking.  The solar ovens, themselves, were inexpensive and of course the sun was free, making this a very cost effective way to provide food for the family.  Everything from soup to nuts (beans to cake) were prepared in this way and it seemed that the entire community came out to watch, learn and share in the subsequent delicious meal.
One of the problems in the region is a lack of firewood.  Traditionally, most meals are still cooked over open fires and firewood is scarce and expensive.  Now, local people can save money on wood, have more money for food and utilize a renewable resource which is free for the taking.  Hats off to Gabby who spent two full days bringing this resource to the community.  Your efforts have the power to transform lives in the region.  To read more about this great venture, check out John Geddes' feature article in yesterday's Whig Standard:

www.thewhig.com/2016/02/18/solar-ovens-help-fuel-future

Hugh checks out the cookers!

If I knew you were coming I would have baked a cake!

Beans, a staple food product, so delicious!

Gabby checks out the feast!

Two types of cookers;  An expensive North American model in the foreground and the less expensive equivalents in the back.  It is Gabby's hope that local craftspeople might study the designs and start to produce ovens of their own.

Thank you!

Getting snowed in has provided me with time to catch up on blogging.  One of the most important things to do at this juncture is to thank the people who helped to make this adventure happen.  I will mention them in no particular order and I know that I run the risk of forgetting some one.  If I do, blame it on jet lag and let me know.  I can go back and edit this post and fix it.

Thank you to all of the members and supporters of CanAssist.  Thank you for the work that you do to support infrastructure projects in Africa.  Without you this trip would not have happened.

Thank you Kingston Impact for the donation of basketball uniforms.  This crazy muzungu was able to take the uniforms and some basketballs to rural regions of Kenya and Uganda.  I am convinced that one of these schools had never experienced basketball before.  Together, we brought basketball to Busagazi!

Thank you Andre Labrie for the kind donation of a laptop computer for the Headmaster of the S.P. Geddes school in Kenya.  He was very, very appreciative.

Thank you Truedell Public School Community for your unwavering support for my African projects. This is not the first time that I have come to you for help and it probably won't be the last.  Each time I ask, you open your hearts and wallets and you make a difference in the lives of others.  Your donations bought much needed school supplies, including textbooks, chalk, pencils, notebooks, paper and basketballs.  Students and staff at three schools will benefit from your generosity.

Thank you Ms. McLeod and your fabulous grade 6/7 class for your leadership in the "2 Weeks 4 Change"  Fundraiser.  Together we filled many buckets!

Thank you to Mukhtar, Dan, Njoro and Joseph for escorting us safely throughout Kenya and Uganda. This work came at a sacrifice for you, taking you away from loved ones and families.  We appreciate your work, care and kindness very much!

Thank you to all of the African community members who welcomed us with open arms.  Their names are too numerous to mention here but your kindness and generosity will not be forgotten.

Thank you ETFO Limestone Local for your generous donation of $500.  This money was combined with money from OTF and another organization to create a pool of cash used to purchase much needed school resources for 10 schools in rural areas of Kenya and Uganda.

Thank you ETFO Humanity Fund for your past support to two important projects visited on this trip: Kanyala Little Stars and Busagazi Primary School.

Thank you Cathy Carson and your team at Lancaster Public School for the donation of footwear and uniforms.  I can tell you that these were gratefully received by several individuals in Africa and will be well used.

Thank you to all who donated hockey bags such that our donated items could get there safely.

Thank you John for using your phone to contact Father Emmanuel and coordinating my return to the Kasana region.  I was able to take school supplies to three schools because of your help.

Thank you Father Emmanuel for giving your time so freely to pick me up and transport me to some great places from my 2012 trip.

Thank you Gail Fones, for initially contacting Father on my behalf.

Thank you Safari 2016 participants for your kindness.  I laughed more in the past three weeks then I think I have in the past three years.  Thanks for being so flexible and resilient.  I wish you all the best and hope our paths cross again soon!

Thank you Mom and Dad, for inspiring in me the love of learning and the desire for adventure.  Years of reading National Geographic and watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom have impacted me to this day.  Teaching me the value of education made it possible for me to travel and do the things I choose to do!  My good fortune came at considerable sacrifice on both of your parts and I am forever grateful!

Thank you Pat and Adrian for making my life so meaningful and for always encouraging me to do what I want.  I am stronger each day because of you!

This final thank you is for the two individuals who planned out trip and who never stopped working while on the trip.  John and Gabriella, this wonderful adventure would not have happened without you.  Here is the poem that I read to you on our last night.  Thank you!

T’was the First Day of our Safari!

T’was the first day of our safari and we cracked open our cases.


Reached for sunscreen and Deet and supplies for great places.

We tossed off our fleece and let down our hair,

As we felt the first heat and warm breeze in the air.

That first night we tossed nervously all snug in their beds,


While visions of Africa danced in our heads.


Many miles we had come by bus, plane and truck.

Our journey here was complete, it seemed we had luck!


When out in the parking lot there arose such a clatter,


I ran with my binoculars to see what was the matter.


Away to the window I flew like a flash,


Tore open the blinds and threw up the sash.



The sun on the rise of this beautiful first day


Made me for eager for warmth in the African way.


When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,


But a huge Bunduz truck, no longer in gear.





With a principled leader, sporting a beard white, not long,


We knew in a moment it must be our John.

Behind him, quite nervous, his friends they all came,


As he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!





"Now Evelyn, now, Hugh!

now, Jean, Neil and son James!


On, Maddy! On Bob, Lynne and Jenn!

Judith, Mike, Dan, Kathy, Kim, Janice and Sue,

Mukhtar, Joseph, Njoro, Molly, Mark, Stefan and old Mrs. Grew!

He called to us come, we must go, it is time.

His theatre voice kept us towing the line. 

With stomachs in jitters, we checked out the one now in lead,

The Director, the mentor, the one we would heed.

At his side was our Gabby, her face it was pleasant.

A great leader is nice but two is a wonderful present!

And then, in a twinkling their planning began to unfold,

As we visited many great places too numerous to be told.


Each school we visited, children gathered as a group,

To the welcome the Muzungus with a dance, cheer and whoop.

John and Gabby planned all our days, told us all what to do,

Answered all of our questions, which was more than a few!


A bundle of stories, John had nothing to lack,


And Poor Gabby looked like a peddler, just opening her pack.



Unloading mints, gums and wipes, she kept all of us clean,

With her help we kept well, except for our poor Jean!


John spoke about rules, how they would keep us all safe,


“Avoid political rallies”, he said and you’ll find Africa is a great place.



They told us of all the great adventures that they had both planned

Throughout Kenya and Uganda, this great African land.


We know and appreciate all their hard work,


The lessons they shared, the adventures and perks.

From Karen to the Mara, with the Ngong hills in between,


Keriocho, and Kissi and Jinja, so green!


At the foot of the Nile we spent our last night,


With our memories to cherish, to hold and hold tight.



None would have happened without the work that they both do,


The planning, the calls, the lunches, organizing the crew!

With our trip at an end we see relief on their faces,


They had done it, they had brought us to all the “great places”!



So spring to your feet friends, give a cheer and a yip,


To thank John and Gabby for a great time, a great trip!


And hold on to those stories, and then share them with all

"And say Thank you CanAssist, Thank you Africa, Thank you one, thank you all!"

Do You Believe in Magic?

Here is an interesting story that happened even before I left.  A few days before my big trip , my Dad had a leak in his apartment and the carpet needed to be replaced.  I offered to pack up the apartment for him so that moving his furniture would be easier and the process would be less stressful for him.  Dad and I spent a whole day packing.  There was an accumulation of stuff from 32 years of occupancy and much of it had not been sorted for some time.  Dad handed me a bag of old recipe clippings, for example, and I took them home to peruse later.
That night, at home, I looked at the yellowed clippings, saved by my mom over many years.  Some I kept and others were discarded.  A large folded sheet caught my eye and as I opened the full page from an old newspaper I saw that it was covered with recipes.  However, when I went to put it aside a picture on the back caught my eye.  It was a photo of Karen Blixen, a women who lived in Kenya during colonial times and the focus of the famous movie, my personal favourite, "Out of Africa".  I could not believe it.  The hairs on my arms stood on end.  You see, this article was all about her and her life in Kenya.  She was a character that I had read a lot about and in fact, part of my upcoming trip itinerary included the opportunity to visit her home, now a museum, in Karen, Kenya.  How ironic that mom cut out this page of the newspaper in 1986.  How ironic that the full article was found on the back of a page of recipe's that caught her eye.  And how ironic that I would discover this long forgotten treasure just days before I would visit Karen's home in Africa.

 

More Kenyan Stories: A Simple Gift!

Now that I am home, I am backtracking a bit to share a few stories that I did not have time to include earlier.  The internet is unreliable throughout much of Africa and often the processing speed presented a challenge.  Uploading a few pictures could take an hour or more so I could not share all that I wanted to.  In some places Youtube was blocked so I was unable to share video until now.  
On the day that our group visited the St. Catherine's Primary School and the Ramula Secondary School, I experienced a great moment of connection.  At Ramula we were all introduced as were the teachers of the school and members of the Parent Council, who were present.  One woman, a grandmother, was a retired teacher and a member of Dan Otienno's family.  When the group broke for refreshments she sought me out, in part because I had been introduced as an elementary school teacher and she wanted to swap stories, as teachers often do.  In the course of our discussion, she mentioned that she was a Primary teacher and she still loves to volunteer her time at the school.  She said that she loves to read to the children but that unfortunately, she has had trouble seeing the words as of late.  Those of you who know me well, can see the lightbulb going off, as I realized that her problem was not one of increasing blindness, but rather a need for reading glasses.  I felt the top of my head but my ever-present glasses were not there.  I ran back to the bus, found them, and met her outside to test my theory.  First I handed her a juice box from my lunch and asked her if she could read the print.  I recognized her familiar squint as she tried to focus.  Then I gave her the glasses and she tried again, "Passionfruit", she said, beaming.  The smile on her face and the hug that I received were gifts that I will cherish for a lifetime.  I gave her my glasses that day and now she can read.  A simple gesture but oh, so life changing, for both of us.  

""Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Margaret Mead

Kenyan Stories

When I was visiting the orphan elephants and kissing a giraffe, a group of fellow travellers went to the busy nearby town of Ngong to visit the Kenya Help Women's Empowerment Centre where a new building is being constructed in conjunction with Nancy Stevens and the Kenya Help Group.  There is also an orphanage on the site which was toured by the group.  The new building is being constructed in order to facilitate some skills development programs for women such as tailoring.
The group then proceeded through Kiserian at the foot of the Ngong Hills in order that they could climb a portion of the hills to have lunch and take in the beautiful view of the Rift Valley.  The group was accompanied by some members of the Moiko family - long standing friends of both Judith and John.
After a peaceful rest and lunch the group were then energized to go back down the hills and continued on foot to the home of Stephen and Liz Moiko and their extended family where a very warm welcome was awaiting.  A special thank you to Judith for sharing this story and pictures.  Good to have all stories included in the blog!

Construction of the Women's Empowerment Centre

Girls can learn valuable skills to provide an income for themselves and their families.

Ngong Hills with scenic view of the Rift Valley

Judith and Friends

 

Kampala Traffic

Kampala is the capital city of Uganda and has a population of 1.2 million.  There is a lot of traffic and very few traffic lights.  As a result driving through this city is perilous at best.  We made it through, but not without witnessing a political protest and having a minor fender bender.  Watch this clip and you will see what I mean.

Political Protestors exiting Kenyatta Stadium.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ql3NLhy6Qs

Hope For Youth School, Uganda

Our last school visit was to the Hope For Youth school, in rural Uganda.  This school is thriving, in part, due to donations from a variety of organizations and individuals, including CanAssist.  Despite the fact that it was a school holiday the community turned up in full force.  Many of the current and former students and teachers were there to greet us.  It was a beautiful hot and sunny day.  We had a tour of the school, serving some 300+ students from P1 to P7 (grade one to grade 7), and a tour of their extensive gardens, where we saw crops ranging from cassava, tomatoes, and maize to oranges, pumpkins and passionfruit.  Food from these gardens helps to feed the students and the excess is sent to market to secure funds for school and community needs.  I was impressed with the fact that this school started with only seven children and now it is a full service Primary School similar in size to my school, Truedell Public.  They have latrines, a bore well, a water tank and now a teachers' quarters paid for in part, or in full, by CanAssist.  The teachers' quarters are almost done and they will be a huge benefit to the school.  It is very difficult to entice good teachers to rural areas.  They are paid very little and often have to pay for accommodations some distance from the school.  By providing good quality accommodation at the school large enough to house the teacher and his or her family, Hope for Youth will now be able to lure good teachers looking for a more permanent placement.  This will be good for the teachers, good for the students and good for the community.  Happy teachers = happy students.  This is a consistent formula, no matter where you are in the world.
The children, led by teacher, Diana Nandujja, performed some amazing songs and dances, including an interpretive dance featuring the life of the village and the benefits of improvements such as latrines and wells, to the health and well-being of the community.   After the entertainment and our presentation of books and resources paid for by funds from OTF, ETFO Limestone Local and others, we had a wonderful communal lunch under a nearby tree.  The school community provided delicious local foods such as baked Irish potatoes, matoke, (stewed green bananas), sweet potatoes, beans, baked pumpkin, ground nut (peanut) sauce, and rice, while we contributed pizza and oranges.  It was a melange of flavours and delicious to the last bite.  What a satisfying end to our trip.  All that remained was a long drive through Kampala, a stop at a hotel for a shower and a meal and then the long flights home.

Warm greeting at Hope for Youth.

Motivational Tree

Focusing on the importance of a basic education.

Anchor Charts:  Evidence of learning.  

One of the earliest classrooms.

Cassava plant

Baking Irish Potatoes

Mmmmmm, pumpkin!

Stefan tries out the new pump.

Hannifer, my tour guide.

Tomato plants.

Passionfruit plantation.

Hannifer tries out my camera.

The Gals!

Great sign.

John, Jenn and Judith, cutting the ribbon on the new teachers' quarters.  

Teachers' Quarters.

Time for singing and dancing.

John presents books and supplies paid for with funds from OTF, ETFO Limestone Local and others.

Time for the bathroom.

Girls are lining up.

Inside of bathroom.  You must squat over this hole.

Rhoda, a young girl who led us in song and dance.
Love the butterfly top!  She was there!

Serving the lunch.

Communal lunch.

Good-bye Hope for Youth!

Jinja

We spent our last few days in Jinja, a lovely town located in Uganda.  Our hotel looked out on the Nile River and it's source, Lake Victoria.  We spent a free day exploring the town on foot, by bus, boda boda and by boat.  Everyone found their own adventure and evenings were spent sharing stories while the sun set!

Judith, Janice, Gabriella, Molly and Mark explore the Nile!

First Boda Boda ride!

Street scene.

Lining up at Barclay's bank.

Delicious lunch at Asswad's.  Yes, you read that right!

Double cappuccino in the morning!

Watching the city come to life.

Headlines!

Great coffee and ice-cream!

Sunset on the Nile!

An African Adventure or Successful Wild Goose Chase

On Friday, February 12th, I revisited an area that I had travelled to in 2012 with BuyaNet, Malaria Prevention Group. In 2012, we delivered malaria nets to a small rural village on the Nile River and it was my desire to return to the region and to take school supplies purchased with the proceeds of the "2 Weeks 4 Change" campaign put on by my former students at Truedell Public School.  I am pleased to announce that, with the help of others, my wishes came true, and in the typical African way, it was a true adventure!
The story begins in Kingston.  When I received the itinerary for the CanAssist Group trip, I realized that I was going to be in an area very close to where I wanted to go.  I contacted Gail Fones, former Director of BuyaNet, for contact information.  She contacted Father Emmanuel, a local priest, who promised to take me to the region.  When our group got close to Uganda, John Geddes, Director of CanAssist, kindly used his African phone to make contact and arrange the details.  I was on my way!
On the date in mention, our CanAssist group left Jinja and headed north.  At a juncture along the way, I left the bus and met Father.  We continued in his car to the region, a short distance away.  Our first stop was a local book shop where I bought more school supplies for the schools that we would be visiting.
In total, we visited three schools and each school received much needed supplies purchased with money from the Truedell community.  Each stop involved a tour, a short visit with some of the school community (school was not in session due to holidays) and I even squeezed in a short basketball lesson with a group of boys at the last stop.  It was an amazing journey and there are more elements to be told but I will save them for a personal conversation in the near future.  Suffice it to say, I feel so privileged to be surrounded by such great, helpful and caring people.  Thank you Truedell, thank you Gail, thank you John, and thank you Father Emmanuel for making my dreams come true!  You are all amazing people.  I am so glad that I know you!

Time for a quick refreshment at Father's parish.

The parish living area.

A basketball court at the High School.

One of the buildings are the Nabugamyi Public School.

Great to see that this school is receiving support from agencies and from Truedell Public School.

Bringing Basketball to the Community.

Thank you Kingston Impact for donations of uniforms.

These school supplies are from the Truedell community.

Time for a lesson.

Time to learn shooting.

Happy Day!