Fountains, trees and Bodabodas

Habari!

With colleagues from LOKADO and someone from Welthungerhilfe, I visited two places on the border with Uganda to understand the situation of drought and its effects on the people and to listen to where they need support. On the way there, we passed through a sea of Prosopis juliflora trees (maybe my forest-loving friends know this tree species). It is the strongest invasive, non-indigenous species, which was probably brought in from Norway in the 1980s to combat erosion. Today, efforts are being made to control it. The long-term effects were probably not foreseeable at that time. Prosopis deprives native plants of their habitat. No grass grows around Prosopis, so the herders cannot find pasture for their animals. Furthermore, Prosopis, with its thorns, is dangerous and regularly injures sheep. The refugees and locals usually do not use it as firewood, but look for native, non-thorny trees. There are efforts to make pallets for cooking from Prosopis in order to preserve native trees from being cut down. If you are interested in this topic, here is a scientific article about Prosopis. I'm not an expert on trees. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309844315_Mesquite_Prosopis_juliflora_Livestock_Grazing_Its_Toxicity_and_Management

We first visited a village where the hand-operated crank water pump no longer works because the water level has dropped. That's why people now go to the dried-up riverbed and dig deep holes from which they scoop groundwater. Building a "well" takes days and is exhausting. Scooping water also requires a lot of patience and effort. The water is for both animals and people, for drinking, washing, showering, and cleaning. If there is any left, it can be used to water vegetables or trees. The water is carried to the houses in 20L jerry cans. The lack of water (infrastructure) is THE problem everywhere.
After that, we went to Nawountos, where I was already for the Smartclimate Agriculture project a few weeks ago. There, we had a kind of village conference under a huge tree to get the perspectives of men and women on malnutrition, water shortage, drought, and conflicts due to land grabbing. While everyone mentioned the lack of water as the main problem, the men often mentioned the conflicts with herders from Uganda, while the women were worried about how to provide enough food for their children. Many children in the village have received treatment for malnutrition from the nurse from Oropoi, who comes by every few months.

In the meantime, at the Cairo (the fanciest hotel in Kakuma), a huge truck arrives every day with clean water to supply the hotel guests and the restaurant. A swimming pool is currently under construction.

(By the way, when I was introduced to the owner at Cairo, I wanted to shake his hand. Major faux pas to try to touch a Sheikh as a woman. I didn't even know he was one until then. That was uncomfortable.)

Bodabodas. I have four numbers saved in my phone as "First name Bodaboda Kakuma". When it's dark and I'm not at the guesthouse yet, I call my first one. If he doesn't answer, I call the next one... The motorbike riders are the easiest way to get from A to B here. There are young men with motorcycles waiting for customers on almost every corner. There are no car taxis here. But I don't just get on any motorcycle, I make sure I know the driver. If I walk during the day, I am often approached to get on a motorcycle. After a long day, I really enjoy feeling the breeze and chatting with my Boda guys about the day. Recently, we often talked about the World Cup, but now I'm also well informed about who supports which team in the Premier League. Some also know Freiburg from the Bundesliga. After the national team's defeat on Wednesday, I had to listen to a lot on Thursday (not only from the Boda drivers, but from almost everyone who knows that I'm from Germany). I just replied how funny I find it that a Freiburg player (Doan) scored the first goal against Japan. Football is definitely a good topic to start a conversation here. By the way, a former refugee from Kakuma made his debut at the World Cup with the Australian team. Stories of success like this make many of them dream that there can be a life after the camp/outside the camp for them.

In addition to the sports updates, I also learn about the everyday life of the guys. They share their heartaches with me and give me an update about their day, their families... It has become a pretty nice evening routine. For 50 shillings (less than 50 cents), sometimes 100 if it's far away, I can safely get home and the drivers always wait until the nice night guard opens the door for me.

Kakuma is very international, but most of the white people mainly stay in their compounds or in the Cairo hotel. In Kakuma Town, where I live, I rarely see other white or non-Kenyan/non-refugee people. When I walk through the streets, I am greeted and asked how I am doing 100 times in 10 minutes. Being white here attracts a lot of attention, mostly "positive" attention. Sudden declarations of love in the middle of the street are also not uncommon. I can laugh about that. Some men don't give up until they get my phone number. Most people are just nice and friendly and want to shake my hand or chat briefly with me.
What is difficult for me is encounters with street children and older Turkana women. Even without words, I understand what they want. They either point to their stomach or bring a hand to their mouth. Most of them are not orphans, a social worker told me. Their parents simply couldn't provide enough food for all their children, so some of them live on the streets and survive by begging. Sometimes they follow me all the way to my front door. They take my hand and don't let go. Such situations are still difficult, even after several weeks here and years with homeless people in Germany. The hunger and thirst are so existential here. And even when I give them my water bottle or buy a snack for the little boys, it feels like a lot of injustice and helplessness. There is social work and projects for street children here, but no house where they can live yet. Most of them have become so accustomed to the streets and are often dependent, for example on glue, that they stay on the streets.

Yesterday I attended the talent show à la Supertalent - Kakuma Got Talent. It was organized by the Lutheran World Federation in cooperation with UNHCR.

 Hundreds of refugees from Kakuma and Kalobeyei showed their talents in various categories. At the end, a jury of 2 singers and 2 models from Nairobi named the winners. The event started at 9 o'clock in the morning and ended at 8 o'clock in the evening, without a break, without food. But the 11 hours passed by quickly because it was really impressive what the children and young people achieved. Many performances also had political messages on topics such as gender-based violence, war and child soldiers, and education as a way into the future. The reggae part was marked by calls for solidarity and unity. The camp is called "Little Africa" by its residents because so many different nationalities and ethnic groups live closely together. This also leads to conflicts from time to time. The younger generation definitely showed that they have so many talents together, and it was great to see how they cheered each other on. In each category, 5 individuals or groups competed in the finals after making it through the preselections.
It started with a poem and artistic performance, then came stand-up comedy. Next up were singers in the genres of Bongo, R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, Dancehall. After that, designers from the camp could showcase their creations, followed by models walking the runway. The day ended with cultural dances and breakdancing. I have never seen anything like it, unfortunately I can't show you any videos here. The break dancers were whirling several meters high on a concrete floor, they had a coffin with the "devil" and a live kitten and a dove that were scared by the zombies...

 The awards ceremony at the end came with high cash prizes. The first place winners in each category received 50,000 shillings, which is more than €400, the 2nd place received 40,000 KES, and the 3rd place received 30,000 KES. The topic of climate change or the drought did not appear in the performances.

Have a nice first Advent. I just realized today that it's already that time again. The Christmas spirit is far away.

Here are some random pictures that don't fit anywhere in particular:

Your Reyla (variation of my last name) - I have some other names in stock here. How about Nancy?