So there is quite a contingent of us heading out to Bukura to visit farmers.  Joyce and Matano have decided to join Hussein and I and then the 4 Canadians.  We meet at the matatu stand and Michaels is already full and heading out so we have to grab thee next one.  We wait patiently trying to find other people to fill it as these drivers won’t leave until the vehicle is full.  Doesn’t take too long, an hour, because it holds 16 and we are 8 so we pile in and head off.  The vehicle drops us off and we start walking in and eventually get picked up by Hesbon, other farmers and other boda-boda drivers and hop onto the back of the bike for the ride into Abel and Susan’s home. 

We are greeted by Tabitha and some of the other ladies and ushered into the house for some tea and bread.  We then head down to the ponds and see all the other farmers working in the hot sun and the mud and have extended one of the ponds.  They all take a break and we jump in to continue the work.  It is amazing seeing this group working and helping each other and we get the pond finished for Abel and Susan to finish and pipe so they can get more fish stocked.  The mud is so heavy but it has certainly been made easier to dig with the new shovels and wheelbarrows.  We work for a couple of hours and then head up to the house for the meeting. It was a very emotional day for me as this will be the last time I see the group until September.  Hussein and I are given a flowered necklace around our necks while they sing in appreciation for all the work we have done with them.  We are entertained with speeches and then I am asked to stand to accept some gifts.  They present me with 4 beautiful chairs for my new home made by local Bukura crafts people.  They are made of sisal and wood and are just beautiful.  I also receive eggs, fruit and sugarcane that Hussein and I will share.  It was very emotional and I was actually at a loss for words with tears in my eyes.  I give a speech and then we move outside to wait for food.  We receive very sad news as fish farmer James Wandere’s brother was hit and killed by a matatu in Mumias town just a few hours previously.  Last year when we were meeting his son broke his leg falling off a bike so again sad things happen to him.  He was at a loss so he took his bike to head home to help with the arrangements.  All the positive things that happened that day are a part of the struggles people face here.  Kenya is going through a famine due to many issues from lack of rain and high food prices all related in some way to post election violence.  Everyday in the papers there is more bad news about people facing struggles.  The corruption is still bad and rich people are still taking more and more money.  One big issue here right now is the price of maize the staple for all Kenyans.  The price is skyrocketing and becoming out of reach for a lot of people.  So the government decided that poor people pay 52 shillings a kilogram and rich people will pay 72 shillings a kilogram.  But then how will the storekeepers know who is rich and who is poor.  And I can’t imagine a rich person walking in to a store and saying, yup I can pay more.  What a stupid concept.  Currently they say 3 - 4 million Kenyans are facing famine.   After eating a fabulous meal the matatu driver phoned to see where we were.  So I told him we were just on our way walking back to the road. He said he would come and get us so we started walking and he drove down the road to pick us.  Of course with 8 of us it certainly helps fill up his matatu.  So we pile in to funny looks from the other passengers in the vehicle and head back to Kakamega.  We made it about 2 kilometres away before we had to abandon the vehicle because of the 2^nd flat tire and none left to use.  Of course I had my chairs so a truck stopped to give us a lift all the way to the house.  We piled in the back and while sitting in my chairs we headed home.  It was pretty funny. 

Tags: , fish farming, kenya

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 am and is filed under fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.