My First Field Visit!

So I had my first visit to the field today. One of the region managers took me to a village on the outskirts of Kakamega to see a group having training in advance of receiving their first grant. It was quite an adventure!

We started out by walking from the office to the place where you get a matatu (or local bus; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matatu). Once we got there, my companion was immediately surrounded by several men shouting at him and physically moving him in different directions toward different matatus—I think trying to convince him which one we should get in. When we came to the matatu, it looked full to me.  There was one open seat.  Or so I thought… I was directed to the 3rd of 4 rows to a 2x4 board extended between the seats in that row.  So that was my seat.  My colleague then occupied the space between the seat ahead of me, and then 2 more people were wedged into the bus while 3 guys hung onto the outside of the open door.  I counted 23 people inside the 15 passenger van, plus the 3 hanging outside. I learned that the owner of the vehicle receives payment for every seat filled.  Any extra people in the non-seats become pocket money for the matatu’s operators. I found out afterward that my seat (and any others like it) are called “air time” which is a Kenyan play on words.  Here ‘air time’ typically means loading up your cell phone with extra minutes. In the case of the matatu, I think it refers to either the fact that you’re sitting suspended in the air, or if you hit a bump you might get air, or because the seat means extra pocket money for the operators (maybe so they can buy air time?).

When we got to our stop, we hopped out and headed toward the piki pikis (Swahili for motorbikes).  The drivers said that where we wanted to go was impossible due to the rains, which made the roads impassable.  So my colleague arranged with the driver to take us as far as he was willing to go. My coworker then asked if I wanted to ride on the back or in the middle?  After watching an episode of Tosho.0 this weekend where a girl bounces off the back of a motorcycle in a video clip, I opted for the middle seat.  Thus making, what I was told could jokingly be called a “mzungu sandwich.” (Mzungu is a Swahili term that technically means ‘foreigner,’ but is used to refer to white people here.)  We then went on down the dirt roads are far as we could go.

 

Afterwards, we walked the muddy roads (part of the time in the rain) for several kilometers to get to the church where the training was taking place.  Along the way I had many children (and some adults) shouting “Mzungu!” at me as I passed. Children also came running up to see me, shouting “Mzungu, How are you?”  The below photo was taken after we passed one group of kids and were pretty far down the road and then they started shouting “Take my photo!” So I did.

We then sat in on the training of business savings group members who were learning how to write a constitution for their savings groups. The training took place in a mud walled church, and was conducted in Swahili. I was asked to say a few words at the beginning, and fortunately, my colleague had provided some suggestions in advance so I wasn’t caught off guard. My comments were then translated into Swahili.  Everyone was really nice, and it was a great experience. The man whose family owned the land where the church was situated also invited me into his home to meet his mother and father.

Church where training took place

Training session

Fortunately, later in the day the sun came out and partially dried the roads making the walk back a little easier to negotiate. Along the way, we stopped by a stand that was owned by a business owner from another group that had benefited from one of our organization’s grants. 

Walking back with my coworkers

We then hopped on another motorbike, which took us to a place where we caught a much smaller, but equally crowded matatu, and made our way back home.  It was really neat to get out and to meet some of the people who are benefiting from our program. I look forward to future opportunities for field visits and getting more familiar with the area and the local transportation. 

Rough day for the shoes