Report by BHW Kenya Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key Person: Robert Omundi

On 12 August 2019, after leaving Bob Abdullah’s rural home near Kendu Bay (KEN13a), we drove to Rongo and Robert was waiting for us at the petrol station. We drove down the road to his home about 10 minutes away. He lives on the same property as his extended family. His father has passed away but his mother still lives there – she is getting old and was in a lot of pain.

Personally for Robert, he was attacked last year while he was in Tanzania. The attackers assaulted him badly and he is still recovering from the injuries. Robert’s wife and two children (a boy and girl aged about 10 and 4) live in Rwanda – Robert would like them to move to Kenya but Robert’s wife has a good job as a teacher at an international school in Rwanda and can’t get a job like that in Kenya. So, for now, his family will stay in Rwanda.

We were served a big meal by Robert’s youngest sister and mother. There was goat, cabbage, tomato and more. Robert’s older brother was also there – his name means "advocate" in Swahili.

Recent Events

School

After lunch we went down the road to where the school is located. It was holidays so the children were not there except for the 8-year olds who were studying for a national exam. The land the school is built on slopes steeply. The school has continued to grow and now has 250 students. Robert has continued to build new classrooms each year as the school expands to the next year level. 

We went and introduced ourselves to the 8-year olds who were in the classroom closest to the bottom of the hill. As we went around the kids, Robert asked them their name and some of them he also asked their father's name. Some did not know their father’s name because their father had died or they were ophans. 

The costs associated with the school are significant and are much greater than its income. Out of the 250 students, only 10 pay school fees (i.e. the income only covers about 5% of the expenses). Robert is turning away students, however, he is already committed to continue with the 250 students as they progress through the levels. 

Most of the students at the school are street kids or from very difficult backgrounds that make it difficult for Robert to charge fees (which would otherwise help the school to become self-sustaining). In my mind, the best solution to this problem would be to empower the families with Foundations for Farming (where they have land) or some other small business to enable the families to pay school fees. This may be unrealistic, particularly where the families are sick, have no land or the children are orphans. Part of the solution may also be for Robert to have a business that generates funds for the school. He has an idea for a physio clinic but I have reservations about that idea.

Table Banking

We then went up to the top of the hill where about five men and five women were waiting in a tin shack classroom. It was very hot, about 33 degrees. These men and women were involved in the table banking group. There are more that are involved in the group (mainly teachers) but they were away because it is holidays. One woman stood up and told her story about how the group had helped her – she had borrowed money from the fund to pay school fees and plow her field for planting crops. She was very happy.

Jackie Ogutu (KEN11) has come twice to do training on table banking with a group of 30 women in the community. The table banking group is relatively new. They had a book with meticulous records of each member’s contributions. They have about 8,000 KSH (US$77) in the group in total. This isn’t very much but probably reflects the short time since the inception of the group and the means of the members. They meet each week and the loans need to be repaid with interest within a week. It makes sense to me that the one week term is extended as they become more experienced and the amounts being borrowed are increased.  

Soap Initiative and Soccer Teams

In Robert’s words, “women are the foundation [of their homes]. If the foundation is not strong, the family crumbles”. For this reason, Robert’s vision was to start by helping the women in the community become strong. Often their husbands do not support the families – they go off drinking and are often drunk and unproductive then come home and abuse their families.

The soap initiative and soccer teams has given these women support, belonging, the skills to be financially independent, self-esteem and dignity. The change is dramatic. Women are no longer reliant on their husbands and their children are much better for it.

With the soap production (lotion, bar and liquid) they are able to manufacture soap, sell it and save some funds to acquire more chemicals needed in manufacturing more soap.                                 

The women have also successfully managed to incorporate modern methods of vegetable gardening such as the trench method (which uses organic manure) and the sack method (planting vegetables in sacks which can easily be transported or planted in a backyard in limited space). With these skills they are able to produce more than enough vegetables to feed their children and for sale locally. It is encouraging to note that increasing numbers of people are coming to learn about the new technology and in the near future Bright Hope World intends to bring agricultural specialists to this village to train the farmers in Foundations for Farming. This will improve crop production and generate more income for the people.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

The combination of the school, table banking, soccer teams and soap initiative has attracted attention from many people in the community. People want to be involved and can see that these initiatives are changing people’s lives and having a positive impact on the families and community.

This program has significantly improved the lives of women/widows who had acquired HIV through practicing prostitution, some were abused by drugs and alcohol addicted husbands. They have transformed women in the group, including those who made strong local spirit liquor mixed with battery cells black power that killed many people unknowingly in the village. Two ladies and one man have accepted to follow Jesus after practicing witchcraft for many years. Their testimony is shocking when you hear them narrating how they used evil powers to remove dead bodies from graves and eat the dead human meat.           

Ideas for the Future

Men

Robert’s initial vision was to build up the women given that they are the foundation of the family and he has seen great transformation in the lives of the women he has been working with. However, recently a man who was a witch has become a Christian and this has prompted Robert to start thinking about what he can do to help the men in the community. Robert explained that a lot of men are alcoholics and he would like to involve them in some business activity that keeps them engaged in doing something productive which will distract them from drinking and help build their self-esteem (in a similar way to the impact of the soap initiative with the women). Robert has not got any fixed ideas of what to do with the men yet but he will keep us posted.

There were two young men sitting at the back of the classroom. Robert explained that they used to get drunk and fight but since they have seen the change in the lives of their wives they have stopped drinking and are looking for ways that they can also support their families out of poverty. They go fishing in the nearby river but catch nothing. They explained that their fishing equipment is very basic and asked whether BHW would fund a net. They also talked about how they try to make money washing cars and asked whether BHW would fund a pump/water blaster that they could draw water from the river and use to wash cars. 

Current Issues and Challenges

The main challenge they are facing is the increasing number of children that will be being admitted to the school each year and the lack of resources they have to build more classes. The government expects that any licensed school will continue from nursery onwards. Teachers' salaries is another challenge as their salary is supposed to be increased annually which they are unable to do and so keep losing good teachers who seek well paying jobs elsewhere. 

Comments

We previously agreed that the funding for the school was to reduce over the next few years as follows:
1) US$4,000 for 2020
2) US$2,500 for 2021
3) US$1,000 for 2022 

The men requested funds to purchase a fishing net and pump for washing cars. However, I think we’re best to focus on the table banking rather than fund the fishing net or pump (maybe BHW could boost the table banking fund after they have been going for 1 year). The members can use the table banking fund for the net or pump if that’s what they decide to do on the basis that it must be repaid.