More Players... KASFOOC

I wish I had a dictaphone and a typist to follow me around to capture everything.  Each meeting, or even walk into town is so full... sigh.  It reminds me of last year when we were on safari; I was so torn between trying to get the perfect picture of an elephant or lion and not wanting to miss the experience by having my nose in a camera the whole time.  I'm sure as we settle in I will be able to give myself to the present moment and trust that the memories will be there when I need them.

Yesterday we met with KASFOOC, Kakamega Supporting Families of Orphaned Children, at their office which is just down our street.

Left to Right:  Terry, Moses, Matano, Jackson, Joyce

 
We met the members of KASFOOC on our last trip and have formed a good relationship with them.  KASFOOC supports a group of 10 widows, who raise 40 orphans between them, with agriculture (bananas, vegetables, casava), education (school uniforms for the children -- just uniforms, not shoes or sweaters), fish farms (samaki shamba in Swahili -- this is the project that Terry started and many friends have contributed to; we also have a small Rotary grant to further support the farmers), fresh water (One Drop of Hope has funded one protected spring and Rotary has funded four others -- now there will be 50 springs constructed over the next year which Rotary has provided a grant for and KASFOOC will help administer), and finally health (guiding and counselling only).

You will hear us mention KASFOOC board members Jackson (Chairman), Matano (Secretary), and Joyce the most as we know them the best.  Other active board members are Moses, Zacharia, Amos, and Esther (there are others, that I am forgetting 12 or 13 in total).

We were greeted warmly by Jackson, Moses, Matano and Joyce yesterday.  Jackson told us that we are growing younger.  And Joyce confirmed saying, "Yes, you have also put on weight."  That got me up doing P90X this morning!  We had much to talk about but agreed that this first meeting would be devoted to discussing the Protected Springs.

The Rotary Grant money has arrived and will be managed by the Rotary Club of Kakamega.  KASFOOC has the relationship with the community members who will benefit from the springs and so will coordinate the priority of construction and visits, etc.  Terry will crack the whip and I will help decipher the Kenyan accent for Terry and take notes to keep it all straight.

The relationship with the community is so important and can be very fragile.  It might seem simple -- they should be happy, they are getting clean water, but as Jackson explained, "they have been cheated several times... for several years Church groups and politicians will promise and then after election they just forget it."  KASFOOC has developed trust in the community and also with officials because of the good work they have delivered.  Members of the community will contribute by unearthing grass that has grown over the springs, collect sand and stones for the construction and filtration.

The Rotary Club here is moving a little more slowly than we would have liked -- they are a small club and each of their members are very busy in their businesses, so we certainly understand.  Terry and I are hoping that we can take some of the burden of the work to get things rolling quickly.  One hold up is that the Rotarians here seem to want to choose more contractors to spread the employment opportunity around.  We have chosen two contractors that have a good track record with KASFOOC and also with Tembo.  Jackson says their can be problems if you don't know the contractor, "some might escape and we don't know where they come from."  We are going to the Rotary meeting tonight and will propose that we get started right away with the two contractors we have and if the Rotarians find other contractors, then we can bring them on later.

One of the tricky bits is in compensation for KASFOOC.  They are putting in a lot of leg work, visiting every spring, building relations with the contractors and most importantly the community, gathering quotes, etc.  Rotarians are all volunteers.  Terry and I have come here on our own expense, the Kakamega Rotarians are all volunteers, as are Rotarians everywhere.  We met with one Rotarian on our first day, Vaghela, who said KASFOOC can own the project, but there will be no fee for administration, they should be volunteers like we are.  It keeps it very clean that way.  That is one of the things we love about Rotary -- they are impeccable with their accountability and volunteers are truly volunteers.

Jackson told us about KASFOOC, "We are not so financially fit."  He told us, for example, that when we left sugar was 70 Ksh and is now maybe 160 Ksh.

Moses said of why they do it, "When we are old men, we can look back and see this as our legacy."  Clean water for the majority of the community (about 75%) is a legacy both Rotary and KASFOOC can be proud of.