The Arrogance of Knowledge

The BBC has a news article (here, written by Bethany Bell) about a burial shroud which was found in a tomb in Jerusalem and dates to the time of Christ. They state that it is the “first time” that such a shroud has been found. The new discovery is naturally compared to the Turin Shroud which many believe was Jesus’ burial cloth.

The recent discovery is different from the Shroud of Turin in that it is a simple two-way weave while the Turin cloth was a complicated weave.

I have no idea whether the Shroud of Turin is genuine or not. I know that there are many who would die for the belief that it is the real thing, showing us what Jesus actually looked like. Meanwhile others claim to have all the evidence that it is a fraud.

The Shroud of Turin

What truly amazes me is the arrogance that demonstrates itself through the researchers when they describe the importance of this find. This really is nothing new. After all, one can find the same type of conclusions drawn from archaeological finds regarding the origin of species. One skull is found, or maybe even just a jawbone and the timeline for a whole species is defined.

Human Evolution: Filling in the Blanks

The conclusions drawn from this discovery seem almost as grand. In the BBC article, Bethany Bell states:

"The researchers believe that the fragments are typical of the burial cloths used at the time of Jesus.

As a result, they conclude that the Turin Shroud did not originate from 1st Century Jerusalem."

This, we are told, is the “first time” pieces of a burial shroud have been found from the time of Jesus. That would make this the only burial shroud ever found from that time (except for maybe the Turin cloth). Yet this one discovery is sufficient evidence for the researchers to conclude that this burial cloth was typical for those used at the time and subsequently to decide that the Turin Shroud was a fake. This strikes me either as incredible arrogance, or great faith! You either know what all the other clothes were like at the time (based on one find?), or you have a firm belief that they were all the same. But are we not told time and again that faith has no place in science?

What is it about science that makes people lose all humility, that makes people believe they have all the answers – to everything? In the modern era many believed that technology would solve all the world’s problems. We would live to a ripe old age, free of war, poverty, famine, and disease. Then the world wars hit Europe and many changed their minds.

But still many scientists believe they can know everything, even if their conclusions are drawn from just one cloth or one bone fragment. I firmly believe in the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge without humility is arrogance. Few seem to agree with the well known quote, “The more I know, the more I know I don’t know.”

It isn’t only the scientists who virtually worship knowledge and technology. In a recent BBC interview concerning global warming a specialist from India was asked whether we need to be concerned about climate change. He didn’t really think it was a problem as he was convinced that future technology would be able to fix all of today’s mistakes.

Some people choose to look to science for all the answers to life, refusing to acknowledge that faith plays any role in their decisions. Others choose to make God part of their lives, thereby acknowledging that faith plays a role in life.

The BBC report about the burial cloth states another interesting bit of information. The researchers believe the man in the grave had leprosy. That would have made him the earliest proven case of leprosy. They also believe that he was a member of the aristocracy or was a high priest.

What to do about bribery?

We are in the process of amalgamating our plots of land into one. The purpose of this exercise is to save some money on government taxes. The process itself should really not take all that long – or so we were told. But so far we’ve been working on it for almost a year! In that time it has also cost us a fair amount of money as each person involved in the process has had to be paid for their services: architects to show the original plot measurements, government offices to confirm that we are indeed a learning institution, amongst other things.

Now we are almost there. Approval has been given and everything is sorted – almost. All we need now is for the Lands Office in Nairobi to change the original title deeds to reflect the fact that the centre lies on just one plot of land.

That is when we received the phone message from the architect who is managing the process for us:

A special request

The text message we received stated:

“I passed at survey of kenya n we need some money for the same.registration amendments verification fees.all amounts 20000.but arrage for 4000o. to help us in quick execution of work. Thankyou.bye.”

The question is, what should we do? If we pay what is asked we won’t have to wait another year to finally get this matter sorted out. Supposedly. But on the other hand, as a Christian organisation, we don’t believe in bribery.

What is to be done? What would you do?

Water and Health Issues in Naivasha Town

The lack of a proper water delivery system is a real problem in Naivasha. It’s hard to believe that a town sitting beside a lake would have so many problems with a lack of water. It is even harder to believe when you realise that farmers way up on the mountains around Naivasha used to have enough water. In Eburru, the mountain on the north side of the lake, there are giant water tanks which used to provide the whole community.

Many people in Naivasha town have to rely on the water sellers. The municipality pumps water from their large bore hole each day but the supply is divided between the various parts of town. As a result we get water on Monday and Friday while others get it on other days of the week. When you build your place you are required to put in your own water pipes. The water company then connects your pipe to their main supply line.

Many homes and businesses do not have the luxury of having their own pipes or a water storage cistern. For this reason they rely on the “water boys” for their daily supply. There are a few bore holes scattered about town where people go to buy the water. For those who require more or are able to afford it, they buy a tank load which is brought by a tractor. But most people just buy their water from the donkey drivers.

Water being delivered by donkey

It is not uncommon to see donkeys pulling carts over laden with water barrels, being beaten relentlessly with a whip to encourage them to move faster under their heavy load. Many donkeys often have open wounds and are covered in scars due to the harsh treatment they endure. The RSPCA has an education campaign to encourage better treatment of animals, but that seems to be having little impact.

This week the health minister in town decided that the donkeys were a health threat in the community. He has subsequently banned the transport of water by this means. This has left most with few alternatives. Water delivered by the municipality either does not exist or it is provided too infrequently. Water delivered by tractor is just too expensive. The result has been a water shortage in town. Homes and businesses have subsequently run dry.

How much can people take before they cry “enough”? It is one thing to ban something and force people to use alternatives. But what happens when there are no other alternatives, or when the alternatives are priced beyond the means of the common person? Clean and sufficient water should be a human right. But here in Naivasha, on the shores of a drying lake, that does not seem to be the case.

The word on the street is that the water donkeys have been banned to stop the spread of typhoid. The disease – together with malaria – apparently occurs in epidemic proportions in the community. Whenever someone is ill and goes to the district hospital, nine times out of ten they are told that they have malaria. And if it isn’t malaria you can be sure that it will be typhoid. Sometimes they are told they even have both.

Entrance to the District Hospital

Fever? Must be Malaria. Or maybe Typhoid.

A while back a participant at a conference being run at the centre suddenly started feeling unwell. The local hospital told her that she had typhoid. All our water is boiled and filtered. If she ended up with typhoid then she would have brought it with her. But we thought that her symptoms made the flu a much more likely diagnosis.

Then a second participant started feeling unwell. The local hospital diagnosed him too with typhoid.

When the third participant was told she had typhoid, she refused to accept the diagnosis and did not take the medicine. She struggled through and then went to see her doctor in Nairobi. The diagnosis there? The flu.

We have seen so many people wrongly diagnosed. Either malaria or typhoid, those are the two options. The local health authority even asked us why we were not treating our daughter for malaria when she had a fever. But we refused to go with the consensus.

We know of people who have even died here in Naivasha as a result of being wrongly treated for malaria or typhoid. There was a young girl a while back who was not only wrongly diagnosed but then overdosed on the wrong medication. We had hoped her death would lead to reform. But it was not to be.

Another tragic incident happened last month to one of the employees at the centre. His daughter suddenly became unwell. The local hospital diagnosed his five year old child with malaria. When she didn’t get better he became concerned and discharged her from hospital, took her on a matatu (local taxi) and brought her to a hospital in Nakuru. They found that she didn’t have malaria, but meningitis. Sadly, by that time the damage had been done. Now, though she is alive, she can no longer use her arms and legs properly. She is now disabled due to the wrong diagnosis and treatment being given at the local hospital.

The Naivasha Postal System

In the olden days (talk about dating yourself!) the post was very unreliable. If there was any suggestion that money might be in a letter or something valuable in a parcel, they would just disappear. We estimated that about half of our post never arrived, not because we received so much money in letters, but because people probably thought that we did.

I knew of one young man, in the days before email, who was in a long distance relationship. The two would routinely write their letters in triplicate just so that at least one would get through. They always received at least one of the letters, sometimes two, but rarely all three.

But that was then. Today the postal system has become much more reliable. We don’t often have many parcels disappear, some, but not all that many. More commonly we have received packages or envelopes which have been torn open when someone wanted to see what was inside worth stealing.

Take for example the parcel we just received. When the postal worker ripped it open to look inside he/she found some nicely wrapped presents. There is no way of knowing if any of the contents were stolen, but one of the presents was then torn open.

Usually when this happens today they stick the damaged post into a plastic bag with an apology: sorry, envelop was damaged in transit. This time they just put some tape over the opening to try and hold things together a bit.

Pilfering fingers couldn’t resist
Opened parcel with torn open contents

We sometimes receive an envelope onto which the sender wrote the message “No money enclosed.” I don’t know if that helps, but I’m sure it didn’t help that someone had written on this particular parcel “Your Christmas stockings.” Clearly that was too much temptation for someone.

The problem with this sort of thing is that you just don’t have any recourse. There is nobody worth complaining to who will actually try to do something about it, to stop it happening in future! And that makes these experiences doubly frustrating.

Security in Naivasha

There was an article in the news that the police had shot five gangsters in Naivasha on Monday night. A tip-off had warned that the group was planning a robbery in Naivasha. They were shot and killed by the police when they refused to stop. “Suspected gangsters,” is how the media has labelled them. You would hope there is more than suspicion on the side of the police if they are willing to shoot to kill.

Following the incident, the Naivasha OCPD, Joseck Nasio, warned criminals that their days were numbered since the police had increased security leading up to the holiday season. "We will not allow [the gangsters] to take advantage of the festive season to rob innocent wananchi [people] and cause them unnecessary anguish", he said.

Armed and Ready

I do hope this is not just an empty threat. We’ve heard from a number of people how the security situation in and around Naivasha has deteriorated. In our neighbourhood alone there have been a number of robberies last month. Many of our neighbours were affected. A gang has been going around and stealing all the tyres off of vehicles. This has happened to at least eight of our neighbours. We are grateful that they have not come to the centre. A few times the car alarm has gone off in the middle of the night, throwing us out of bed. But fortunately these have all been false alarms.

Some of our workers have not been so lucky. Last week one of them had his door broken down at two in the morning. Thieves came in and stole his bicycle, amongst other things. He lives in Karagita which is an estate on South Lake Road. He now has quite a long walk to work every morning.

I asked him whether the neighbours had come to his aid. In years gone by people used to support one another, often rushing out with machetes if someone cried out for help. But today so many of the bad lot carry guns. What good will machetes do against a gun? So better to stay safe and come out once the thieves have gone.

Another worker was assailed just as it was getting dark. The attackers tried to pull her into the bushes. “Cut her! Cut her!” the one yelled at his colleague when she cried for help. Fortunately she was able to escape. Her cries went unheeded even though many people had yet to return home and lock their doors for fear of the night. Apparently it isn’t uncommon to hear a woman screaming in the village at night. Most people attribute it to a man disciplining his woman for whatever reason so these calls are mostly ignored.

We have heard from others that the security situation, particularly in Karagita, has really deteriorated as of late. There are gangs who go from house to house each night and rob the people from what little they have. Many of the people living in the village work in the nearby flower farms. With the lake level going lower and lower, more and more people are losing their jobs. This, together with the upcoming festive season, contributes to the increase in insecurity.

Fearing 2012

2012 is when Kenya will be holding the next elections. Although there are still about three years to go, that has not stopped the wrangling for power amongst the MPs. Numerous individuals have already come forward declaring their intent to run for the top office in the country. The news media carry repeated stories about the threat of violence we face with the next elections.

According to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8293745.stm) various tribes are preparing themselves for battle in 2012. Last time they fought with machetes and bows and arrows. This time they are looking for guns. One arms dealer claims to be selling more than 100 rifles a month. The article quotes one Kalengin man as saying, “Before we were using bows and arrows to fight the enemy but ... compared to guns, the arrows were child’s play.”

When you talk to the people who were directly impacted by the violence, people who had family members beaten, raped and killed, who had their land and property either stolen or destroyed, you recognise that they too feel as though they have been forgotten. They too feel that justice has not been done. How can the country forget the violence of the last election and move on when hundreds if not thousands of people are still living in tents throughout the country because they fear for their lives if they returned to their old homes?

One of these “tent villages” lies outside the neighbouring town of Gilgil. The former refugees managed to scrape together some money to buy land to set up the tents which the Red Cross had given them. But every time there is a large rain their land turns into a lake. How can such a community forget what was done to them? How can they not feel resentful when the leaders of the country resist local and international pressure to bring the perpetrators of the post-election violence to justice?

Many in Kenya speak with fear of 2012. Healing in the pursuit of justice has not happened. This leaves the threat of violence hanging over the country. In light of this, what possibly can cinema goers think when they see the posters advertising the up and coming movie, ‘2012?’

2012 – We were warned.

Is violence inevitable? Or is there something which can be done to prevent it? We may not be a very large organisation, but we are doing what we can in Naivasha to fight against the flood of evil. Sometimes our efforts seem almost futile. But sitting back and doing nothing, waiting for the inevitable, is clearly not an option either. For this reason we invited an organisation dedicated to reconciliation called “Le Rucher,” to come and do some reconciliation workshops here at the centre. The moderators were people who spoke from experience, from countries which had witnessed unspeakable acts of violence such as Rwanda and DR Congo.

We have been amazed to see how people’s lives have been changed and the healing which took place in these meetings. How can it be humanly possible to forgive those who killed your husband, raped your child, stole your cattle, burned your house? And yet we have witnessed such healings in the participants. Initially people arrived refusing to even talk to members of the other tribes. But by the end they were laughing, hugging, and singing and dancing together.

When we witnessed this change, we couldn’t help but be amazed. How was this possible? Surely only God is able to bring someone to the point where they can forgive, be healed, and then be reconciled after experiencing personally the evil that humans are capable of perpetrating against one another. It isn’t philosophical or scientific evidence for the existence of God, but there was just no other way for me to explain the changes that we saw in people’s lives. The change was not due to the excitement of the occasion or a rush of adrenaline. That was clear as what they experienced continued to have an impact on people’s lives once they returned to their homes.

Giving up the pain

Some of the later conferences were intended for training purposes. Those who had participated in the initial events returned to learn how they could teach and run these courses in their own home towns and villages. In these training sessions the candidates shared how lives were changed and how the message is now also having an impact in their home communities. Through their own personal healing and through the sessions they have attended, they have learned how to apply the teachings to take on the healing and reconciliation to others.

Reconciliation Celebrations

Maybe these are the kinds of people who can make a small dent against the threat of violence we face in 2012. With God’s help we can maybe avoid yet another round of hatred and destruction in this place.

The Changing Kenya Coast

We took some time off a while back for a short but well needed break at the coast. Driving through Tsavo and beyond Voi, we were shocked at how dry everything was. We’d heard that many animals were dying in the park and it was not hard to believe when you saw how little grass there was beside the road.

The road to Mombasa

A few places we saw dik dik congregating under trees right beside the road where they might find a few remaining blades of green grass from a long forgotten shower. Usually you see only one or two dik dik, but this time we saw many under certain trees. At one we counted over 20 of the small antelope, all standing together under the shade of a scraggily tree right beside the road, oblivious to the passing lorries. I’ve have never heard of dik dik congregating together in such numbers.

No grass without rain

At the coast we stayed at a place which has been made into a conservancy. The local village had expressed their desire to save the remaining marine life in order to attract tourists. That was the intention in theory. However, the practice was very different. You see very little if any attempt to save the what is left from destruction.

Each morning we watched as local fishermen went out on the reef to collect anything they could find to feed their families. With so many going out all the time, it’s hard to imagine that anything might survive!

Shells for sale in Malindi
Can anything be left in the ocean?

We watched as they proudly pulled a beautiful manta ray onto the beach and then proceeded to butcher it. Many in the village probably ate well that night. However, it is sad to see such a beautiful fish being killed. Much will have to change if there is any hope for the community based conservancy!

Manta Ray to feed the village

Even the head is prepared for the cooking pot

The reef too is a real disappointment. Long gone are all the colours I remember seeing in my youth! Back then everything was red, yellow, blue, green! Everything was so alive. Now you have to struggle to find anything which is still alive, besides sea urchins.

Little life left on the reefs of Kenya

Have things truly changed so much? Or do I have it wrong in memory? Now everything is dead. It’s like walking through a cemetery, all the pieces of dead and bleached coral lying about your feet. A real tragedy.

On the way back home we stopped off for a short stop under some thorn trees which struggled to provide the minimum of shade. I was shocked at the size of the thorns! You sure wouldn't want to drive over those.

Thorns the size of nails

The Highs and Lows of Stairway Construction

How do you build stairs? It shouldn’t be that difficult, as long as you keep a few basic principles in mind. For one, all stairs should be equal in height, and length. Then there are some standards which are worth adhering to in order to ensure that people will be able to climb the thing once it’s completed. But as long as you abide by these basic points, it should be relatively straight forward.
 
Or so you would think.

Alternative Stairs

Building stairs in Kenya is a different matter. And Naivasha has some of the best examples of how NOT to build stairs! Take the "Diplomat House," for example.

The Diplomat House

One level, stairs wide, next level narrow
Top stair very short to help you pay attention

Or how about the building where the NHIF (National Hospital Insurance Fund) used to be located? Today you'd never know how shoddy the stairs are. You can't even get in to see! In fact, the whole building looks different. It has now been converted to a bank and with a new facade on the building, it looks like an amazing building. But I'm sure the stairs are the same as they were before: all over the place!

An entire new look!

I must hasten to add that I am no expert stair builder, never having built anything remotely looking like a staircase before. But I was able to design a structure which would get us onto the next level of the house using Adobe Illustrator and some criteria I was able to find on the web.
 
The first problem we encountered was when the “fundi,” the building expert, accidentally laid an extra layer of stones for the ground floor. As we didn’t have much room for the stairs in the first place, this was a disaster! It meant we had to make the stairs much steeper than they should have been. I still managed to get them to come within the maximum standard limit, but just barely.
 
And then the time came to build the wooden stair frame in preparation for the concrete work. What a catastrophe that was! First one fundi tried his hand at it. When he made each stair a different shape (rectangle? What’s that?) I had him redo the whole thing. After his third attempt I realised the futility of it and got another fundi on the job. He didn’t fare much better. I finally got the carpenter onto the job and after two tries on his part, I realised we were getting nowhere. By this time over three weeks had passed. Everything was ready for the concrete work to proceed, except the stairs.
 
Finally I called the welder over and asked him to take a look. Walter has an eye for things being equal and for knowing how to measure accurately. So we finally managed to get something mostly sorted. The final problem was that the top stair was 5cm too tall: our solution? We added an extra cm to each of the top stairs to get the height of the top stair down.
 
After weeks on the job we were finally able to get to the concrete work. The stairs were all ready and, although they were much steeper than I would have liked, they were acceptable, and mostly equal in length and height.
 
But then…disaster, again! We were finally able to pour the concrete for the slab. Unfortunately the fundi in charge was just not up to the job. But we didn't know that at the time. We’d contracted the work out to a team of builders in Naivasha as they had access to the necessary building equipment – both the hoist and the cement mixer. All we needed to contribute to the job was the supplies and the supervisor.
 
So what did the supervisor do? He had no idea how to ensure that things were level, no water pipe, no rope, nothing. He just eyeballed it. The slab looked like the surface of the ocean - in storm - when they were done! And the stairs? After all our effort the top stair is now 5cm taller than all the rest. I was furious! Now how are we ever going to correct the problem? And after all that effort and all those weeks of ensuring that the stairs would end up well. I wonder how much extra that mistake has cost us?

I then got another fundi to help start building the walls. He used a plum line and string to ensure things were straight. He was the one who noticed that the opening to the stairs was all crooked.

I was beginning to feel like the crooked little man who lived in the crooked little house.

No wonder they had problems getting the stairs straight. Now when you look down you can clearly see how wrong everything is. I wonder how we are going to fix it? Maybe when we put tiles on that will help. As they say here in Naivasha, tiles hide a multitude of sins.

Making Nairobi a World Class Capital

The municipal council in Nairobi is bringing in a number of by-laws which are to help Nairobi reach world capital status. At least that is their expressed intention. But when you read the list you have to wonder how well the new laws have been thought through.

Some make a great deal of sense. For example, they want to ban the use of a mkokoteni (a handcart) in the capital. I can’t remember how many times I have been stuck in a big traffic jam only to discover it was because someone was pushing a handcart down the main thoroughfare making it nigh to impossible for vehicles to pass! Getting rid of such obstacles should help keep the traffic flowing. A good move.

Other new laws are downright strange. It will now be an offence for your dog to impregnate someone else’s dog without the owner’s consent. So how will the city regulate that? How will they ever determine the guilty party?

The Standard on the 19th June, 2009 also reported that pedestrians walking on the zebra crossing must walk on the white-stripes and keep to the left. Perhaps it might be safer to cross the road where there are no zebra crossings (though that’s probably banned now too) rather than forget and cross on the right. A 2,000/ Ksh fine for such an oversight would not be a happy outcome!

The city will also ban any loading and unloading within the city centre during the day. Shops will therefore have to bring in all their supplies at night. Will the city offer the needed security to ensure the store owners aren’t robbed blind? Somehow I doubt it. To prevent problems, shops will have to provide their own security. This will surely have an impact on the price of goods.

The Town Clerk, Philip Kisia, was quoted as saying that the Nairobi City Council was going to implement hourly parking “in response to motorist requests.” I wonder which motorists they surveyed. I can’t imagine anybody asking for what will become an increase in the parking rate.

He also claims that Nairobi has some of the lowest parking costs in the world, making the point that parking in Europe and Asia is five to six times what it is in Nairobi. The City Council will therefore look at both land value and the cost of parking in other world cities to determine what the new rates should be. But Nairobi isn’t in Europe and Asia. The question is, where would Nairobi stand in comparison to other capitals in Africa? How much does parking cost in Kampala? Dodoma? Kigali? Pretoria? Accra? Khartoum? Adis Ababa?

Why is there such a need to compare things to the West and Asia all the time? Where does the myth come from that everything is better in the West? And why do some MPs seem to always encourage such a view? Is it perhaps that they spend too much time in the West and Asia rather than in their own constituencies? One can only wonder.

If the Nairobi City Council insists on comparing the city with the West, then why not look at safety and security, whether or not water and electricity are adequately supplied for, or at public transport facilities? Or perhaps one could just look at the state of the sidewalks. How many gaping holes can you find in either the sidewalk or the road? In Nairobi, some are large enough for a person to fully disappear into! Or what about other obstacles which pedestrians have to negotiate around, pipes or steel bars sticking out of the street, for example? Does that make any sense? Of course, to fix these things costs money, unlike parking fees which bring in the money.

Considering the state of the sidewalks, and even many roads, it’s hard to believe that the new by-laws also ban roller skating or skate boarding. The obstacles themselves are probably enough deterrent to stop anyone from even trying such modes of mobility. But perhaps the government is optimistic and they anticipate a great improvement in the infrastructure in the near future which will enable such activities.

Philip Kisia claims that Nairobians have “a habit of driving up to the doorsteps.” Sure you can drive up to “the doorsteps.” The only question is, which doorsteps? They sure won’t be the ones you need. You’re more likely to find the first free parking spot clear on the other side of town! It does make one wonder when Mr Kisia last drove into town himself.

The Capital News tried to clarify some of the nuances of the new laws: “The by-laws make it an offence for motorists to cross roads outside designated zebra crossings.” I can’t imagine how they expect that to work. So where do they propose motorists should drive? And what happens to the pedestrians? And, more to the point, who edits such news reports?

The Standard (19.Jun.09) too tried to make some of the new laws clear regarding the new “parking positions:” “For drivers wishing to change car-parking position would be committing an offense unless an interval of 30 minutes elapses, and should not be within a distance of 22.9 metres.” Can someone please explain what that means?

Corruption in Death

[Warning: This account include some graphic details.]

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.” (Isa 10:1-2 NIV)

The committee arranging for the funeral of Baba Rebecca came by the centre today to see if we could assist them. They shared with us what had happened. On Friday Baba Rebecca informed his wife that he was returning home from Murang'a. But he never arrived. The following day a few men went out from Njabini, a small farming community on the foothills of the Aberdare mountain range, to see if they could find him.

They finally found his body on Sunday morning. It appears he had unexpectedly come across an elephant and had tried to run away. The elephant caught up with him and trampled him to death. After the police were informed, the body was transferred to the morgue here in Naivasha.

The Aberdares - Elephant Country

As we were discussing the plans made to transport the body back to Murang'a for burial, I was shocked to discover that the hospital had informed the family that a post-mortem needed to be carried out. Why?! What did they think killed Baba Rebecca? The cause was plain. After all, it's hard to miss an elephant, especially when he stops to trample and crush a human body! Surely a post-mortem was superfluous.

When Teacher Josephine died last year so unexpectedly at the age of 36, a post-mortem would have made sense. But the family had decided not to have one done. Finding out what killed her would not have brought her back. Besides, 6,000/ Ksh is much more than a month's salary for many here! It is a great expense for people who have so little.

Yet in this case, the family is being told they must pay for the procedure. They feel powerless and therefore have given the authorities 1,500/ Ksh already to cover the expenses. Another 4,500/ Ksh are still outstanding. That is much more than this family makes in a month! Yet the authorities insist it must be done so the family has no recourse. If they refuse, the hospital would not allow the release of the body for burial and daily expenses would be incurred as long as the body remained in the morgue.

Some of the people in the planning committee suggested the money would never actually be used to perform a post-mortem. Instead, they would probably just return the intestines back into the body and clean up a bit of the damage done by the elephant, then claim the procedure had been completed.

What can be done about such corruption? If they refuse to pay they will be left without the body of their loved one. And eventually they would have to pay. So they have no option.

The story reminds me of the situation which existed during the clashes following the elections at the beginning of last year (2008). There were too many bodies for the morgue refrigerators. But family members - desperate to have their loved ones preserved until the violence settled down enough to allow for a burial - paid for their family member's body to be kept cold. The money was taken, allegedly 1,000/ Ksh, and a body was removed from the refrigerated unit to make room for the new occupant. Then when someone else came along able to pay for their loved one, the process was repeated.

Whether or not you paid for a refrigerated unit was irrelevant. If someone came after you and also paid, you had no guarantee that your loved one wouldn't be taken out to make room for someone else.

It's no wonder that the bodies began to decompose in the heat despite having spent some time in the refrigeration. When we went to the mortuary to look for Bwana Ndege, the man who had lost his whole family after his house was deliberately set on fire, the smell of death around the place was too much to bear. It took all our will power not to run from the place, retching.

How is such a thing possible? People in authority who demand money from others suffering from grief and pain - that must be corruption at its worst!

“A poor man’s field may produce abundant food,
but injustice sweeps it away.” (Pr 13:23 NIV)

Killed by an Elephant

We received the shocking news this morning that one of our students lost her father in a tragic accident. He was out in the bush close to the Aberdare Mountains and suddenly came across an elephant. The elephant apparently trampled him to death. That is as much as we know at the moment. His body is currently being held at the mortuary while the family makes the preparations for the funeral.

Historically stories of people killed by elephants and other wildlife almost seemed part of everyday life in Kenya. But today? Other than a hippo attack, a number of which seem to happen every year, we don't hear of other animal attacks. What a freak accident!

Our heart goes out to Rebecca at the loss of her father.

Elephants - beautiful but dangerous

Quality is Left Wanting

Kenya has changed tremendously in the last few years. If you are willing to take the time to look in Nairobi, and are willing to pay top prices, you can find almost anything you need. People from overseas are often amazed at the shopping malls which we now have in the capital city. Friends visiting from Uganda and Tanzania have had a shock when they walked into some of our shopping centres, stocked full of whatever the heart may desire.

Of course, there are still some things which are virtually impossible to find. I have been looking for a half ton hoist for the last few months, traipsing from one end of the industrial area to the other, but so far without success. We desperately need something to haul the building supplies up to the top floor of the administration block. I’m resigned to the fact that we’ll eventually have to build something to do the job. But even there I have been unable to find someone who feels they are up to the task. So in the mean time I keep looking.

Construction slowed due to lack of proper equipment

Scaffolding Kenya Style
Look Ma, no safety line!

Although we can now buy most of what we need in Nairobi, the quality leaves much to be desired. Most people prefer to buy things based on price rather than quality. It seems they don’t worry about having to replace a lock every six months because the Chinese made material wears down so quickly. That is a preferred option to giving out more money on something that will last for years. When you go into the hardware shop they will usually have two options available for sale: cheap Chinese imports or more expensive products imported from the UK or America. If you’re tempted to give out less money on the Chinese products, invariably it ends up costing much more in the end because the poor quality just is not made to last.

Unfortunately sometimes you just don’t have an option. We have one electrical extension cord which we have used virtually every day bar Sundays for the last five years. It was made in the UK and has never let us down. When we needed another one I was able to find one for sale in Nakumatt department store in Nairobi. The new cable lasted three months when it suddenly stopped working. A quick check of the fuse showed that wasn’t the problem. There was something wrong with the wire itself though no external damage could be seen.

So we were forced to buy another one. The second one lasted even less than three months before it too stopped working. And a third also stopped working for the same reason. Returning the used products is not an option despite shoddy workmanship so we are left with three useless extension cords. Meanwhile the UK extension cable keeps going, and going, and going…!

One fully functional UK extension cord, three useless Chinese products

Most people in Kenya make their purchasing decisions based on price. That means it’s in the store’s best interest to carry cheap goods. But when things continue to break down, it leaves you wondering if something else isn’t going on. Are companies perhaps dumping their useless products here in the country because they cannot sell them elsewhere?

I heard a few years ago that Nigeria rejected a whole consignment of toilets because they were faulty. These were then exported to Kenya. Whether or not the story is true I have no way of knowing. But I do know that the toilets we have bought over the years where hopeless! Firstly the exit pipe is often not round so you’re left having to figure out how to connect a round pipe to an oval toilet outlet. Then once you finally have them connected you discover that they do not flush. There is insufficient water allowed through the system. So we have taken to grinding the holes larger. That does make it possible to get a good flush but you have to do that with great care as the porcelain toilets easily crack while you’re grinding the holes larger. Needless to say, a cracked toilet is a useless toilet.

Plumbing work, always a challenge

Kenya is not unique in the poor quality which you often get from the shops. A few weeks ago I put a Trent router table together which was made in Australia. We’d just had problems with a power saw breaking due to poor quality workmanship, so I was enjoying the opportunity to assemble something which was clearly of a much higher standard than most of the things you can buy here in Kenya.

Or so I thought. I suddenly hit a snag and was unable to continue the assembly process. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get the table together. As it turned out, whoever put the table together had riveted two of the parts on the wrong way around! I couldn’t believe it. Even in Australia.

Bad quality even from Australia
The two red connectors assembled the wrong way around

Using my Kenyan acquired ingenuity, I was finally able to get this high quality Australian product into full working condition. Maybe I should write the company a letter and tell them about my experience. Surely they need to watch their quality control a bit more. For the price, I would have expected better.
And those are just some of the challenges we have to overcome. Finding solutions is not always easy, but if you want to move forward, you have no option.

Raining Bugs

The rains have finally arrived. A week ago we suddenly had 28mm on one day, followed by 38mm the next. But it is still a very unusual rainy season. After two days of rain we then had sunny weather again. We had to wait another week before the rains returned and yesterday we had close to 32mm. But as it so often is here in Kenya, one place can have floods and right next door things are still dusty and dry. On the other side of the lake by the mountains of Melili we saw big storm clouds with flashing lighting a number of evenings. They are definitely getting more than their share of rain! Meanwhile 20 minutes drive away they have only had 3mm of rainfall and the grass is still as yellow as ever!

Storm Clouds over Lake Naivasha

We were doing the cement roof for the administration block and, although we desperately wanted and needed rain, we also could have done without as it damaged a lot of the work that had just been completed. In the end, the only way we could finish the work was by building a tent with plastic to protect the cement from the downpours.

Protecting the Work from the Rain

With the start of the rain we have suddenly been inundated by beetles. We haven’t seen that many beetles for years! By the next morning the ants were having a feast on those who had been unable to get away during the night.

It starts with one beetle…

and soon you have a beetle infestation!

Despite all the beetles we are seeing at the moment, it amazes me how few insects we have in Kenya. It was completely different when I was a child. We used to have hundreds of moths flying around the lights, sausage flies, and many different kinds of beetles.

Colours of the Rainbow

I can remember huge moths with big eyes on their wings, or the tiger moths. I can’t remember the last time I saw one of them. Even the small moths were amazing if you took the time to admire the microscopic detail on them, the wide variety of wing formations, the different colours, the diverse antennae.

But those days are long gone. Even when we drive in the evening, rarely does an insect splatter on the windscreen. It used to be like an entomologist’s dream, looking at all the different bugs plastered onto the grill of the car. But now, nothing!

Powerful Mandibles!

I wonder what has caused the decrease in the insect population. Is it the pesticide that people use on the farms? I remember visiting Romania in the twilight years of Cauchescu’s reign. Western Europe was much like Kenya is today. Lights in the garden attracted few insects. But in Romania it was different. They may not have had many lights in the cities due to the lack of electricity or people’s inability to pay for such a luxury. But bugs, there was no lack of them! There were millions of them: big ones, small ones, some that made a great racket in flight, some drab, others with different colours, some with vicious looking mandibles, others so small you could hardly see them.

At the time I thought Romania may have still had all the insects because Cauchescu had impoverished his nation so much that people could hardly afford to farm, let alone pay for fertilizers and pesticides – completely different from the way things were in Western Europe. Perhaps that gives a clue to the changes here in Kenya.

Kenya on Fire

Last Sunday we saw smoke billowing from Mount Longonot. The news was filled with worry about all the animals which would be burned to death because they cannot escape the flames. How tragic! Apparently at least 70,000 acres had burned in Kenya by Monday, including many fields of maize almost ready for harvest. When we drove to Nairobi on Monday there was little smoke coming from the crater though the one half of the mountain was black from the fires. By evening though the winds had fanned the flames back to life and smoke was once again pouring from the crater.

Mount Longonot, Fire Damage

The fires are still not out. Yesterday the winds roared the fire back to life. Smoke was pouring from the Longonot volcano as though it had just erupted.

Smoke Billowing from Mount Longonot
(From the shores of the drying lake at Sopa Lodge)

We can also see many other fires on the other side of the lake. It looks as though Eburru is completely on fire. The fires are not like those in other countries as we don’t have such big trees here to burn. But still, with the drought, the country cannot afford to lose the few trees left or the little remaining grass when the animals are in such desperate need for food.

The Hills Around Lake Naivasha on Fire
(Eburro on the right with smoke rising all over)

Today there are many clouds in the sky so perhaps the rains will arrive soon. What a blessing that would be!

Lake Naivasha Drying Up

It is so unbearably hot at the moment. Some days it looks like storm clouds are approaching and other days there isn’t a cloud to be found. Everybody is hoping and praying for rain, but so far…nothing. We have only had two good rains since before Christmas (each about 13mm rainfall). The wind whips up the particles and makes it hard to breath, and if you’re very unlucky, you might get caught in a dust devil as it sweeps through town. Everything is gritty and smells of dust.

Dust Devil in Karagita

Trying to avoid the Dust in Naivasha Town

Meanwhile countless fires dot the hills around the lake as the Maasai desperately try to bring on the rains by sending smoke into the air. Even Mount Longonot was burning over the weekend. The fire there was so large it almost looked like a volcanic eruption. But so far these rain making rituals too have been unsuccessful. The smoke has only mixed with the dust in the air to create some very colourful sunsets.

Sunset over Lake Naivasha

The Maasai are struggling a lot with the drought. Traditionally they always have many more animals than the land can healthily sustain (animals are their bank accounts). This system is a recipe for disaster when the rains fail. What grass there is quickly turns to dust under the trample of many hoofs.

A Maasai friend visited us from Suswa the other day. He has thirty cows – had thirty cows. Two weeks ago they lost five and last week five more died. The ones remaining are just barely hanging on. They have to go to Mai Mahiu to buy hay which runs at over 1,000/ Ksh per bale at the moment. Who can afford that?!

Lake Naivasha is also lower than we’ve ever seen it before. And each day it appears to be getting smaller as mud flats appear where once there was water.

The Developing Crescent Island Causeway

If things continue, the hippos will really struggle. As it is they have to now walk quite a ways from the water for grazing.

Hippo Footprints to the Lake

Some believed the rains were on their way and tilled their soil and planted the seed. But the rain did not come. Now the seeds are left for the insects to feed on. Where will money be found for more seed?

God, please, send us rain!

Sickness and Culture Clash

One of our students was away for the last few days. Turns out her daughter was unwell and had been in the local hospital.

“Malaria,” I asked? That’s by far the most common illness in Naivasha – even though there isn’t any malaria in this area (or very little). We don’t have the right species of mosquitoes living here which carries the malaria parasite. But that doesn’t stop the doctors from diagnosing everybody who comes to see them with malaria. All they need to have is a hint of a fever: malaria! Sometimes they don’t even have to have that and they leave the hospital with medicine for … malaria.

And if it isn’t malaria then it’s typhoid.

But in this case the little girl had neither. She had a white tongue and pneumonia according to the doctors. The mother was told the white tongue was because she has allergies.

Allergies. That’s another one like malaria. Parents bring their children to the school and half of them warn us about the child’s allergies. They’re allergic to beans, to meat (unusual, that one, in a country where “nyama choma,” roasted meat, is a luxury), to milk, to rice, to cabbage, to tea. I don’t quite understand it. What seems to happen is the child gets sick, goes to the local hospital, doctor looks at child then decides it is suffering from one of three things: malaria, typhoid, or allergies.

“Matumbo” (stomach) – when you can’t afford “Nyama Choma”

Sometimes being told you are allergic to a particular food can be quite useful! Don’t like beans? Can’t eat them; allergies, you know. Imagine what frustration this caused when we were preparing meals during youth camps. You never knew what to give or how to deal with people’s dislikes. Do you dare tell them what you think about the doctor’s advice?

But back to the little baby girl. It turns out that the child had not been feeling well so the grandmother had advised that the girl should go to the local “mganga” (the local herbalist) and have her uvula cut out. The uvula is the small piece of skin hanging down in the back of the throat. They go and after a snip with the scissors, it’s gone. That’ll cure whatever’s ailing you, at least according to the old Kikuyu customs.

The Hippo’s Uvula
(From “Little Polar Bear” by Hans de Beer)

No wonder the child is sick! But when you try and explain how pointless – and even dangerous – this surgery actually is, you just get this blank stare back. I knew this was a common practice in the Kenya of a bygone era. It surprised me to hear that it was still being done!

There is no point trying to tell people information that contradicts what the people in white coats have told them in the hospital. Or, as it turns out, what some herbalist claims will work.

The incident reminds me of the missionary in South America who wanted to prove to people in his local community that colds are the result of viruses and bacteria, not demons. He got out his microscope, prepared the slide, and showed them the bacteria in the sputum specimen. But he wasn’t expecting their response! They looked at his evidence, then recoiled and exclaimed in surprise, “Now we know what demons look like!”

We’ve heard some amazing things about what causes illness! Parents tell us at the school that their child should not drink juice. They should not drink cold water either. Why? Because these things cause colds. Children have become sick because they have climbed mango trees. That is where malaria comes from! I guess that’s not all that different from what the early settlers used to believe, that the yellow acacia trees around the lake caused malaria. After all, whenever people camped under them they suddenly came down with fevers, hence their common name, the “fever tree”.

Giraffe amongst the yellow “fever trees”

Sometimes these beliefs can be more dangerous, like when babies have their uvula cut out to stop illness. Another belief is that taking children outside causes pneumonia. Pneumonia is a big child killer in this country so parents fear it. If taking children outside will prevent it, then that’s just what they will do. The problem is that many people keep their homes very dark. If they have a window, they put curtains over it. Babies therefore spend much of their time in dark rooms and subsequently don’t get enough sunlight.

Surely that is one explanation for why we see so much rickets in this community! So their attempt to protect their children from one illness – pneumonia – leaves the child with another – rickets. How can such misconceptions be corrected, particularly when people in white coats encourage them?

Naivasha Tensions High Once Again

Memories of last year’s post election violence came back to haunt us again today when the Mungiki (an outlawed sect from the Kikuyu tribe) decided to hold the town of Naivasha at ransom with their threats. They had announced that they were going to hold protests and had warned the matatu (taxi) drivers to stay off the roads. The matatu drivers are always obedient to such calls because they don’t want to lose their vehicles. Matatus are often attacked and burned in times of unrest.



The first we heard of the situation was a call from friends wondering how the situation was in Naivasha town. They’d had a report from the American embassy warning people about the possibility of unrest. It surprised me as we hadn’t heard a thing. All the matatus had been pulled off the road. Nobody was able to get to Nairobi or back.



As the morning progressed we started hearing more and more reports that the tension in town was increasing. There was a high police visibility in town. They were clearly taking the threat seriously.



We had to go to a meeting past the village of Karagita on South Lake road. That’s when we saw the first signs of a threat. There were many young men on the road and they had set a number of tyres on fire. That made it impossible for us to drive on the road so we had to make our own way on the dirt track that ran alongside the main road. On the one side were all the youth, on the other the riot police. Someone came up and said that it would be okay for us to drive through. But as we drove through the mass of humanity the police must have detected a threat and they suddenly charged the young men with their riot sticks at the ready. For a moment we feared we’d get caught in the middle, but we put our foot down and managed to get out of there. We were worried about the return journey but by then someone had removed the burning tyres and the police had left. Crowds of young men were just milling around by the road.



In town nobody was making any money today. All the shops were closed, the kiosks along the side of the road were empty, and there were no taxis waiting for passengers. The normal bustle in town was missing. People were about but I noticed you only heard Kikuyu being spoken. It was strange to see Naivasha so empty. Even the main taxi stand for passengers heading to Nairobi was devoid of activity. There was just a large lorry standing there filled with riot police waiting in case they were needed.

Downtown Naivasha without the taxis

In the morning the tension in the town was palpable. Parents were ringing us up and asking what we were doing about the children in the school. They worried about what would happen if the situation suddenly blew up. We were worried as well since we have to drive through areas of Naivasha which were particularly hard hit during the post election violence last year. If something happens while you’re in those areas, things could become very dangerous.



A police friend contacted us and advised us to get the children home earlier. The police had been on high alert all day. The situation was particularly difficult in the morning but there was a risk that things could blow up again in the evening. We therefore started to take some of the children home who live the furthest from school. Other schools had also excused their children early so that they could get home quickly while things were calm. I drove along in the school van just in case there was trouble but the neighbourhoods were quiet.

Local water boy with his donkeys in Site, Naivasha

It is hard to imagine that one group can have such an impact on the country. How many people will struggle because they were unable to go to work today, because the matatus were not driving, because the shops were all closed? The only people who were doing a brisk trade were the piki-piki (motorcycle) taxis. The donkey drivers were also still out and about, providing water to their customers.

Old Man's Bride

Two young Maasai girls from Kajiado came to see us today. We thought they were interested in doing one of the vocational programs we offer. But the purpose of their visit was very different. They were both 14 years of age and had just finished elementary school. They brought their school reports with them and we were quite impressed. They were able to speak English well and had good grades, ranging from a plain C to a B+. Although that sounds average, so many of the people we see have much lower grades. A teacher came looking for a job today, for example, whose highest grade was a D, with an average of D-!


It turns out the girls were looking for someone to sponsor them so that they could go to secondary school. Both came from large families, one with six siblings and the other with eight. It was therefore impossible for their parents to send all of the children to school. Education is free in Kenya – theoretically. Primary education has been free for quite some time and secondary education was made free in 2008. However, free does not really mean free. The parents may no longer have to pay school fees, but they have to pay for books, for upkeep of the school, for school supplies, etc. One of our workers was even told he had to provide the school desks for both of his children. Surely that shouldn’t be too difficult for him, the headmaster reasoned, considering that he was a carpenter.


Our visitors were desperate. Both needed to find sponsorship if they wanted to avoid the arrange marriages their parents had sorted for them. Marriage, often to much older men and sometimes as the second or third wife, would at least bring the bride price to the family. This is the old Maasai custom so the girls had no say in their future. The only thing they could do to prevent it was to go to secondary school. Yet for that they needed money.


One girl’s father had come along to plead her case. I explained to him that we were unable to give them money. I tried to encourage him to do what he could for his daughter. She clearly was cleaver enough to go far, given the opportunity. I hoped I had persuaded the father that he should find a way to let his daughter continue her education. The drought had killed many of their animals and left them strapped for cash. They faced other hardships. Surely there was a way!


But I fear it is not to be. As they left I said I would like them to come back in three years time and share with me how things worked out. The father responded that he would let me know before then – he’d send me an invitation to their wedding. How can you help people like that? Sometimes you can help one. But what about the rest? What a tragedy!