The funny things you learn

We have just finished our evening meeting together as a group, discussing the last few items for finishing each project. It seems rather strange to be talking about the end, as it feels like only yesterday that we started this together back in Groningen. I remember when Robin first came to me about this project and how unimaginable it felt back then. Today I sit writing to you all with such immense admiration and respect for this group of students who have given their all out here and achieved so very much. I only joined the group last week, but in this short time have had the priveledge of seeing their work first hand, meeting the children, teachers, professionals and other volunteers they have been working with. The developments made have been huge from each and every group. They all frequently had obstacles in their paths and difficult working conditions, yet each time they found a new way to adapt, creatively finding solutions that would exhaust every avenue and option. They may not have always received their desired results, but the true success can be seen in their personal journeys and the lives of many they have touched being here. 

It is a wonderful thing as a teacher to be able to honestly say when you learn from your students. Not only have they taught me all about Kenyan culture, getting into matatus and bartering, they have taught me about what can truly be achieved when we work together as a community. They have shown me that there are amazing people, willing to give up their energy, summer vacation, and sometimes even health or sense of safety, to do something good for others. 

There have been so many of you out there who have helped make these projects possible. Please know how grateful I am that you did what you did. I hope you can see what a difference you have made.

Thank you all so much. Asante Sana!

Gemma

Time is flying by...

Friday morning Gemma touched Kenyan ground and was picked up by us. After an 8 hours flight from Frankfurt to Mombasa and some trouble shooting beforehand with her flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, she finally arrived. Having a quick breakfast and a refreshing, we left by Matatu to Blue Bell Nursery School in Mtwapa for the Fire Protection Training with Mr Jackson from the Mombasa Fire Brigade. The kids were really exited about the training and were listening carefully to what Mr Jackson told them about fire prevention and how to react when a fire is breaking out. 3 hours later, some of us left Blue Bell and went further to Majengo to St. Joseph House of Hope to introduce Gemma to the students and show her the premises. For Friday evening Carol, the head of St. Joseph, invited us to her home for dinner, so at 6pm our group arrived in Majengo and were picked up by Carol's son. We enjoyed a wonderful evening full of typical Kenyan food (very delicious), nice music, campfire and a tour around her property. Furthermore, we had a delightful company by some of Carol's students to whom she is offering a place to live, as their parents cannot affort to take care of this. As the day passed by, Gemma received so many different impressions in one day and the group realised how normal the life here is for us already and that we feel a part of this city and not 'Muzungus' (foreigners) anymore.

The next day, the St. Joseph team had the normal business class from 10am to 4pm with a special guest from the Kenyan Agriculture Institution to discuss the possibilities for building up a chicken farm in combination with the St. Joseph House of Hope and the entrepreneurs. Besides this, our team also received some of the student's business plans and gave them back Monday that further changes can be made to hand in their final business plan by today. On Sunday, we went again to the feeding center in Mtwapa and helped handing out food and drinks for more than 1,500 children. It was heart-melting to see all these children waiting in front of the center to get a hot meal and some food to take home for the entire week. Later that day, some went to the Haller Park, where they watched animals such as hippos and crocodiles being fed.

To sum up a varity of first impressions for Gemma and for the team the last weekend here in Mombasa, it is hard to believe that the last week has already started and it is also the last week for us to work on these projects in person. While staying and working in Mombasa, the team received many other chances to be invloved in many different projects and this is a great idea for all curent and future honour students, who could not join the trip or were in their year abroad, to also take part in this great ConTribute Kenya project!

Mtwapa Feeding Center

On Sunday the 21st of July, some members of the team joined the Mtwapa Feeding Center for a few hours of volunteering. The center offers a meal to 1000 to 2000 local children every Sunday. In addition, each child can take home a bag of flour. Therefore, it is clear that the local families highly rely on these feeding operations to subsist.

Before entering the center, we are amazed to see hundreds of children queuing before the entrance. In a way, it was heartwelming to see all those kids playing around, smiling and waving at us, exited to get a meal. On the other hand, it was difficult and heartbreaking to realise that the meal they were about to get was a real luxury: most of these children come from poor families and subsist on a bowl or two of Ugali (maize paste) per day.

Many volunteers were working at the center that day, we had the pleasure to meet youngsters from all around Europe (UK, Denmark, Germany) who, like us, came to help the center besides their other activities in Kenya.

The menu of the day included rice, beans, bread and orange juice. After being prepared, the food was distributed to the kids in groups of four. We were amaze at the organization of the operation: in a matter of an hour, 1600 children got fed and were ready to return home. We were told that usually the feeding is a lot busier, however, many local children did not attend due to the Ramadan.

The Mtwapa feeding center is run by wealthy locals and this weekly operation is financed by various companies and charities. We were told that on that day the operation was financed by an  Asian company. Every Sunday, the center spends around 200 000 Kenyan Shillings (2000 euros) to finance the food, the cooks, cleaners...etc.

This experience was truly incredible and definitely an eye-opener. Working at the feeding center made us understand how lucky we are to have an unlimited access  to food and drinking water. Daily in the Western world we waste huge quantities of food, without realizing that a meal is a luxury for some people.

Blue Bell News

In week two and three of our five week community project at the Blue Bell Nursery School in Mtwapa Robin and I worked mainly on adjusting the final changes to the accounting system and teaching Gideon how to work with it. Gideon the person in charge of the book keeping at the School required us to make a couple of changes in the demo accounting system that we had presented in week one. Among these changes was a more detailed breakdown of the expenses the school has on a monthly basis. The idea behind this breakdown is to enable the school to monitor their expenses more closely and see how they vary from month to month. This break down in extremely important for the school to see whether their expenditures are within the scope of their budget. An example of the expenditure break down can be seen in the images below. 

After updating the accounting system we started to teach Gideon the basics of excel and how to navigate the program. To our surprise Gideon picked up the basics very quickly and within a couple of days understood how the program works and in what way it can support his accounting activities. Towards the end of the week we then explained in depth how the updated accounting system works and started working with it. We entered the income and expenses for the two previous months and the system automatically created financial statements for those two months. In addition to that the system produced a detailed breakdown of the expenditures for the months May and June which enabled Gideon to compare expenses for those two months. In the following weeks we are going to continue making Gideon familiar with the accounting system and excel.

A lifetime of experiences in only 15 minutes

Arriving in Mtwapa, the Matatu desperately searches for some space between the hundreds of locals standing around wildly gesticulating. It tries to stop and leave out its sweaty, irritated passengers, among which the three of us. Even though a Matatu ride generally entails various complications, it has become the norm for us to choose for this transportation mode, since it brings us one step closer to blending in with the locals and – of course – with an amount of 20 Schillings (approx. 0,20€) is by far the cheapest option.

Mtwapa is the place where we step over from Travaler’s-Mtwapa-Majengo, where we teach at St.Joseph’s. Next to some old buildings, it consists of a small fruits and vegetables market, where the locals sell Mangos and Avocados for 30 KSH (Kenyan Schillings) or if you are a good negotiator maybe even for 20 KSH. 

The first challenge we face every time we want to come on board of one of these 14-passengers capacity mini-vans called Matatus, is to negotiate the price. Starting off paying 3 times the price we should have, we have gotten to understand that after naming the desired destination, while stepping into the car we quickly, but with great determination have to mention “20, hey?!”, underlining the statement with the “Piece” sign, each finger standing for 10 KSH equaling a total of 20KSH. Once this first hurdle is mastered, finding a place to sit is the next challenge. If there are actually seats available and you do not have to stand bend over at the door of the car, you face 3 options: 

1. Either you squeeze yourself all the way through the very limited space in between of the seats through to the end, where you will likely have barely any space; not for your legs and definitely neither for your head, since the ceiling is very low so you have to sit bent over. Furthermore your legs are likely to be covered by easily infecting scratches after a couple of these maneuvers, since safety is not the biggest concern for the locals, so rusty iron sticks, broken seat parts or loose screws represent tricky obstacles. 

2. A second option is to choose one of the seats in the middle, various of which entail getting up every 2 minutes for passengers leaving or new passengers getting on board. However getting up is not only getting up. It usually consists of squeezing yourself all the way through the gaps between the seats, stepping out of the car, letting the passenger pass, and squeezing yourself back to your seat. 

3. The third option is to choose to sit in the front row. Here 2 challenges expect you: Firstly, often you have to be very careful where you put your legs, since there happens to be an extremely warm piece of metal at your legs which is not always covered up and which would probably slowly burn your leg away if you don’t pay attention. Secondly, the drivers’ assistant, who tries to find new customers and always sits/stands together with the passengers in the car, is the one standing when there is no seat left. From working the entire day and from deodorants being considered a luxury good and therefore not being used by everyone, the assistant tends to bend himself over you, in order to fit under the low ceiling. The front row offers the unique experience of literally smelling the assistant’s hard work while having the feeling that somebody might give you a small kiss if you don’t make sure your head is clearly turned to the other side. 

Even though it is not always easy to deal with all these new impressions, I love taking the Matatu! I find it amazing to be part of the local culture - and driving the Matatu definitely is. Especially when the music is turned on full power, smashing out Kenyan or Jamaican songs such as “Paper Love” (my personal favorite) or “every little thing, is gonna be alright” by Bob Marley, you understand how Kenyans are able to enjoy small moments, that us “westerners” would probably effectively use for work, or spend catching up with our lost sleep while throwing meaningful looks at everybody who talks to loud for our taste. 

Waste in Kenya does not necessarily equal waste – you can see that very well in towns like Mtwapa. Every little piece that we would undoubtedly consider as garbage is, as Robin explained previously in his post, being re-used for another purpose. Even though we could criticize various different aspects in terms of sustainability, I must say that this is actually really sustainable! Nevertheless the garbage that can’t be found another use for is often simply thrown into the streets, where the waste piles up into small mountains. Some are being burned because they block the way and nobody seems to know what else to do with these useless piles. Others are being attacked by cows or goats that try to find any eatable item possible. What we consequently might find on our plates in the evenings is something we deliberately avoid thinking about, it might make us switch to purely vegetarian meals. 

Having entered the second Matatu, we drive towards Majengo, our final destination, requiring an additional 20KSH. Usually the driver and his assistant memorize each passenger’s destination and stop in time. On rare occasions they forget and we have to notify them to stop and leave us out. Given the age of the cars, it does not come as a surprise that there are no bright red “STOP” buttons you can press. Instead you simply knock 2 times against the side of the car, which is being understood as “let me out”. When stepping out in Majengo, we are usually greeted by various motor bike drivers who wish for us to pursue our trip on the back of their bikes. However with the traffic we got to know, the lack of safety and of course an unwritten no-helmet policy, we choose to forego this option. Entering the small village of Majengo, we pass a Muslim church and many small shops, selling mostly clothes items or food and drinks. To us well-known stores for computer hardware, cars, perfumes or mattresses would go bankrupt here - there simply isn’t any money available for luxury goods. 

Suddenly I feel something touching my hand. Surprised I look down and find a little girl holding my hand, walking with us – barefoot. She has become our faithful companion through the village and almost always coincidentally appears when we enter the village. When asking her about her name, I received silence. “Fina is only 3 years old, so she doesn’t speak English very well yet” I am being explained by some other children of the village. Together with the others, I have made it my task to teach her a couple of sentences, starting with the obvious “My name is Fina”. 

After a 5 minute walk, we arrive at the wooden gates of the St. Joseph school, which is being opened for us by the female guard. Leaving Fina with the rest of the kids to go back to the village, we enter the large but very simple facilities, consisting of various small clay houses that are clearly “handmade”. We walk past the water well, which provides the children with fresh drinking water and water for cooking lunch (which is the same every day) to the office of Carol. She is the headmistress of the school, who provides us with chalk every morning and a big smile to start our day with. “Where do we have class today Magda?” 

“Form 2 and Form 4”

“Alright, I’ll start with Form 2, see you later”

Another day at St. Joseph has just started, and even though the day has barely yet begun, we have already experienced a lot!

(written by Roxanne)

Next to strikes at Mombasa Fire Brigade

The strike of Mombasa city workers has hindered progress at the Mombasa Fire Brigade, but has provided the privilege of extending the team to various other tasks. One of these tasks includes assisting Salim, a Mombasa fire fighter specialized in water rescue and diving, in giving swimming lessons to children of Blue Bell Nursery School in Mtwapa. The lessons include teaching the children simple leg and arm stokes in frigid water at a local pool, and allowing the quick learners to display their skills while receiving a very supportive round of applause from fellow students. Regardless of being situated in the coastal region, much of the local population are either unskilled in swimming or have absolutely no training at all. As a result Salim is on a mission to increase water safety and awareness throughout the region, under the registered business name of ‘Coast Aquatic Rescue Team’. Following the swimming lessons the team met Salim at his Buxton home in the city center and his Bamburi home in the hillside not only to strengthen ties, but to find out more about his mission and business.  By the end of the day we were very impressed his passion and vigor for water safety training, and we are now looking into possibilities to assist him in developing the ‘Coast Aquatic Rescue Team’. 

On Friday the team was excited to read in a local paper that Mombasa city workers had been paid and the strike was no longer in effect. The very next day we welcomed Mandip to the team, and promptly introduced him to Mr Sammi Murimi, the chief of the Mombasa Fire Brigade. Upon arrival at the fire brigade on Monday morning it was clear to us that the local paper was politically biased and provided us false information. As a result we were only able to present the promotional plans we had been developing, and discuss alternate opportunities to promote the fire brigade. The next day the team arrived early in the city center to scan for opportunities and build up contacts in the region. One of the contacts we approached was Nation Media Group, the administrator of the largest national newspaper and television station. Much to our surprise they were very interested in our project and scheduled an interview with us the very following day. We are still waiting to hear whether or not our article will be published. 

After the interview we headed to the fire brigade to meet Mr Jackson, a duty officer specialized in fire safety training and consultation. The result of the meeting was a fire safety training day at St. Joseph’s House of Hope, which took place on Monday morning. Mr Jackson gave a very captivating and professional lecture, followed by a practical session of fire fighting with a modern extinguisher provided by the team. At this moment the team is planning fire drills at various locations in Mombasa County, which we hope to conduct in the coming weeks. There will be three drills focused on the services offered by the fire brigade, namely: fire, diving and rescue. In the mean time we have printed stickers with the new logo and phone number, which will be distributed to every citizen, boda-boda, matatu, tuk-tuk and goat in Mombasa. Any questions, comments, or suggestions are always welcome!

Fever Pitch - Kenya

Finally East-Africa has its first player in the best football league in the world Premier League. For Kenya’s football the last week has been very special, Celtic Glasgow’s Victor Wanayama has transferred for a record fee of 12.5 Million Pounds to Southampton at which 23 year old Victor Wanyama will play a central role for Southampton ambitions goals. With this news in the background, Biko and I decided to explore the football scene in Kenya a bit closer. Both of us decided to attend a local football tournament at which St. Josephs House of Hope participated as well.

As you will see in the pictures it was once again a fascinating experience for both of us. 

Behind some clay-build houses we found a football pitch close to Majengo. The word ‘football pitch’ cannot be used to describe the scene presented in front of us. The so called pitch looked more like the bomb-crater fields of Verdun than the typical football fields we used to have in Europe. The match that we watched was very professionally set up, at least for Kenyan standards. Both teams marched onto the pitch and bowed to the approximately 300 spectators sitting on the grass or on ruins all around the pitch. The two teams wore old German-Retro-Football jerseys of two German amateur teams and one team even had EDEKA sponsor logo written in front which is kind of ironical. A referee was also present, so with a whistle from him the match started. Both parties battled heavily from the start and in terms of speed and technical skills many top amateur teams could take a leaf out of there book. It was really spectacular and both of us had great fun watching some goals and moves on a disgrace to the word pitch. 

With the sun setting, we left still marveling at some of the players who played for 90 minutes barefoot but without any handicap being noticible. We are both very sure with some proper nourishment, good fortune and support some of these players have the chance of being the next Victor Wanyama. 

Second week at St. Joseph House of Hope

During our second week we started introducing Finance/Accounting as well as Supply Chain Management and Law subjects to the High School and Business Class students. Furthermore, we discussed the topic supply and demand, as well as Emotional Intelligence (EI) and how this is related to promotion and selling of own ideas and products. Challenge for these students was a 2 minutes pitch where they had to introduce and sell a product of their choice in order to convince the audience of buying their product. Feedback was given to them by the audience. By using practical examples the students will realize the need of understanding what they are doing and how to convince others of their ideas.

On Saturday Robin was invited to give a guest lecture about self-confidence to the students of the business class. He talked about the 8 steps of success and gave practical examples for each step. By involving the audience into his lecture, he created an interesting and motivated atmosphere for everybody. 

Afterwards, William from the Mombasa government joined our Saturday class and talked about the "Youth & Community Participation". He stressed the importance of community involvement for the youth, but also explained how the government can support these clubs with fundings. All students enjoyed the two guest lectures and gave very positive feedback. One of the students from the business class invited us to the Majengo Youth Group for Sunday late afternoon in order to talk about prevention of HIV, early marriage and education.

The Majengo Youth Group was founded in December 2012 and is basically helping the people from Majengo to stay away from the streets and give them hope and opportunities to change their life. Most of the members dropped out of school and were earlier involved in taking drugs and prostitute themselves. During our visit we mainly socialised and got to know the members and asked for their expectations towards us and how we could help them. The plan for the next Sunday is to prepare a prevention class to discuss the topic of HIV, early marriage, prostitution and education. Futhermore, we also invited the members to our Saturday Business Class, as this course is extra for non St. Joseph House of Hope students. In addition, we are planning to offer art and basic computer courses during next Saturday's class to extend the students knowledge and give them better opportunities on the job market, but also for their own business creation.

Besides teaching and working together with the High School and Business Class students, our team got in closer contact with the local village people and visited their homes and played with the children, who do not have the possibility to go to school and interact with us. We are all very touched by their sincerity and hospitality towards us and we are very much looking forward to the upcoming weeks, planned with more interactive classes and practical example

Nowhere in Africa...

…you can find Lions yawning two meters in front of you.

Last week something rare happened to the three groups involved in the different projects. We had 1 1/2 days off. Throwing caution to the wind we decided to explore a different side of Africa, namely ‘Wild Africa’. As we are allowed to stay in this beautiful country and enjoying the company of many amazing people, it was just esstential to also explore the wild and untouched nature of Kenya to fully understand this culture and country.

Early Sunday morning (7th of August) the whole group left to Tsavo-East-National Park (15,000 sqm, as large as Israel) and home to lions, giraffes, ostrich and especially 15,000 elephants). We divided into girls and boys bus and each of us enjoyed the ride to the park, especially as the girls got challenging questions from Samy, the driver of the bus. We had a quick stop over at a souvenir shop, where Mousbah bought a mask, which was suppose to bring us fortune for the safari tour. And this fortune was in dire need as Brian was breathing down our necks by saying "The only thing I want to see is a lion" so there was lots of pressure on our drivers. Even for safari standards lions are quite rare. Normally, one says there is a 1 out of 6 chance in seeing a lion. From the start, we all greatly fell in love with the vast nature unfolding in front of our eyes as we drove through the gates. For miles and miles the most stunning and varied landscape stretched out in front of us. Within half an hour drive into the park we had at least experienced five different nature sceneries ranging from dry treeless savanna to the typical Baobab Tree and very tropical looking areas. 

During the first hours of our tour we found out that this variety of nature scenery was home to a great array of fascinating creatures. Amongst some of the creatures we spotted, while looking out of the open roof of our small bus, were: countless elephants, many ostriches, various antelopes (incl. oryx, impala, waterbuck), warthogs, zebras, baboons. To spot these animals in their natural habitat was a fascinating experience for all of us and we did not get tired of driving for hours around the spectacular sceneries. Even though, we all felt greatly happy and fulfilled by what we saw, Brian still had not seen his Lions. As the day slowly emerged to an end (our bus was already on its way back to the lodge), we suddenly saw a huge group of buses on the road in front of us. It seemed like they had spotted a Lion. As we drove closer there ‘was a huge shout’ and just two meters next to our bus and about 50 m away from all the other buses a Lion was sitting peacefully at the side of the road. This beautiful female creature seemed to be the icing on top of a fantastic day. For some minutes that felt to us like hours, we watched the Lioness in front of us yawning and stretching. With a sudden movement it stood up and made a half heartedly attempt of going after some buffalo’s but that would have been just too fantastic to experience a proper hunt for pray.

Over night, we stayed at a hostel and went to bed quite early as all the different impressions really overwhelmed us. Strengthened by the breakfast we left the hostel early in the morning to further explore the nature. Right a the beginning, we had to wait for a group of baboons crossing the street, before we were able to continue our journey. It was just amazing to see how the whole environement and its creatures woke up and got prepared for the upcoming day. This time the girls bus was in front of the caravan and right at the beginning Roxanne spotted some giraffes eating, the first ones we saw during our trip. Later on the girls bus stopped near by a huge male elephant that was standing at the side of the street. While we were watching him, he started walking towards us and after 5 minutes the elephant was so close that he only had to stretch his trunk in order to touch us. Carefully, our driver moved away from the elephant as it is still a wild animal and hard to predict what can happen.

All in all we had a great time experiencing wild Africa and Brian especially was over the moon with happiness but all others felt greatly fulfilled and ready to take on the task lying ahead of us.

Blue Bell

Upon arrival in Mombasa on Friday they 28th June Robin Balser and I Biko Huester were introduced to the blue bell nursery school by two flight attendants of the condor flight crew who have been working closely with the school since it was founded in 2006. During this introduction Grace Mutunga the proprietor of the school showed us the school facility which is located in Mtwapa a town on the outskirts of Mombasa. The school which consists of a kinder garden and primary school that goes till class 5 is in a very basic neighborhood and on a plot that is roughly the size of a football field. Grace explained us that currently 270 students attend this private school that has been growing over the past years. After learning more about the history of the school and viewing the facilities Grace introduced us to Gideon Mtuwa the person in charge of the administration of the school. 

The following day Robin and I took a Matatu which is a mini bus and is the most common public transport mode to Mtwapa.  At the entrance of the school we were warmly welcomed by Emanuel, Gideons son and a student of the blue bell nursery school who is currently attending the nursery class. Grace and Gideon also warmly welcomed us and we chatted a bit about the first day before moving on to an in depth explanation of how the school operates and the Kenyan school system. The school is an all-day school starting at 7.00 AM in the morning and going till 5.00 PM in the afternoon. The students usually have classes for 40 minutes and two long breaks consisting of 20 minutes in the course of the day. After an extensive explanation of the daily cycle of the school we explained our background and purpose. In the course of our stay in Mombasa, Robin and I will be working closely with Gideon together and try to optimize and simplify the book keeping system. 

During the course of the first week Robin and I familiarized ourselves with the current book keeping system. The fact that we arrived at the end of the month enabled us to work together with Gideon on the income statement of the June.  During this week Gideon was very open and willing to explain us how the income and expenses are journalized and at the end of the month consolidated. The expenses that occur throughout the month must be allocated to certain categories in order to create a simple overview at the end of the month. This overview is then forward to Condor Flugdienst GmbH and help-alliance who support his school in various ways among them financially. Both Condor and help-alliance want a transparent overview at the end of the month indicating where their donations have been spend on. 

Towards the end of the first week Robin and I fully understood the book keeping system and discussed the possibility of using excel to simplify the system. We presented Gideon with a demo excel sheet in which income and expenses have to be entered and then the overview is automatically calculated. This excel book keeping system shortens the procedure of consolidating all entries and eliminates multiple intermediary steps. Gideon was very impressed by the efficiency of this system and suggested a couple of changes he that we are going to incorporate in the course of the week into the demo excel sheet.  

How it is to be on a constant high

Now after nearly one week in Kenya it is time to talk a bit about the experience and impressions gained. I have coined this entrance into the ConTribute Kenya – Blog ‘How it is to be on a constant high’ because of the feeling I’m waking up with and going to bed with day by day. I would describe it as a constant feeling of bliss, inspiration and pleasant warmth which spreads throughout your whole body. This feeling of ‘being high’ has been caused by the BEAUTY I see and have encountered in this wonderful city of Mombasa (Kenya).

This feeling has started from seeing the sun rise above the clouds at the beautiful Kilimanjaro Mt. during the flight to Mombasa. It grew to a feeling of constant while being greeted by the beautiful ‘sing-song-rhythmic happiness-filled’ words of ‘Karibu’ and ‘Jambo’ by the Kenyan people. I’m aware of the beautiful aspect which ironically can be seen in the poverty where the upward mobility and the willingness to change ones situation can be seen in countless small beautiful aspects. For instance the entrepreneurial activities ; ‘Matatu-business (local buses), fruit-stores, handcraft-furniture to the boat owners who in itself are superb sales people who will try to sell you anything in a cunning, intelligent fashion which is all just beautiful to watch. Another beautiful feature next to the climate is the vegetation which every evening reveals to me its richness; through the appearance of several different species of bats appearing out of nooks and crannies and with this sun-setting kolibris (humming-bird) in a vast amount showing off their fast beating wings and on spot levitation at close-by flower beds. If I could write poems I would start ‘Kenya the Beautiful’.

All this beauty and feeling of ‘being high’ is only marked by the feeling of seeing this project ‘ConTribute Kenya’ come to life. If I think back at the long process we went through; from the idea forming in my mind at the beginning of 2012 to the countless hurdles it has overcome. The great students, professors, friends, family who have been a great support, who have committed themselves entirely and put in an incredible amount of work. The people who are directly involved in the projects here in Kenya or back in Germany (representing Condor). It is just once again beautiful to experience.

Every day I drive to a slum area called ‘Mtwapa’ and visit the Blue-Bell School where I’m working together with a fellow student Biko Hüster on setting up a simple to use Accounting-System for simplifying and optimising administration. Even though the nature of our work is not in direct contact with the children of Blue Bell the many happy faces looking at us as when we walk through the gate, the numerous small hands trying to get a ‘high five’ are an extremely beautiful form of motivation to me.

As you can see from the small descriptions of aspects here in Mombasa, the hands-on help we as a group are providing for the different projects day by day and the experiences all around it are so rewarding that it accumulates and gives off this feeling as being on a constant ‘high’ .

As the Kenyan Firefighter/Rescue-Diver Salim (involved in countless un-paid social initiatives) puts it; ‘This is how and why I do, when I do’ – to put in my way ‘this is how WE do, when We do’.

With the beauty in mind and around us….

St. Joseph House of Hope

Our first day at St. Joseph House of Hope was on Friday when we (Anne-Sophie, Magda, Roxanne, Mousbah and Lena) were visiting the different projects. We received a very warm welcome from Lydia who introduced us to all the small children, age ranging from 2 years to 16 years old, studying at St. Joseph. With lovely songs like "welcome, welcome" and "good bless you"  the students welcomed us, their visitors.

After meeting the children and students studying at St. Joseph House of Hope, we were introduced to the business class, which consists of entrepreneurs, teachers, students and workers who are interested in extending their knowledge in business. On Monday, together with Mariaelena, we started an interactive one hour class with the older, high school students, where the students had to discuss a business case. Goal was to analyse the case, find a group solution and defend this solution they had choosen for. For the project team it is very important to create an understanding of the necessity of group work, as the students can reach a higher end result by sharing ideas, knowledge and expertise.

On Tuesday we met Carol, the dean of the school, and Susan, her assistant, in order to discuss the schedules and the availability of the students. Both of them offered their help whenever we need it and are very glad and happy that our team is at St. Joseph House of Hope to support and teach the students.

In total our team has now 5 groups (4 classes from St. Joseph House of Hope and 1 class of external people) which are all very keen gaining more business background to have the ability to successful open and sustain their own business. So far, we taught what business is in general and how business differs in regards to the internal and external environment. Furthermore, we shortly explained how to create a business plan in order to represent their idea, get in contact with investors, NGOs and banks and convince them to financially support their business idea. Our end goal is to provide knowledge that is sufficient in writing a successful and complex business plan. 

Also, Mousbah gave an introduction into entrepreneurship that aimed to inform them that entreperneurs have a different way of thinking than others, and that entrepreneurs are able to filter idea killers from feedback. Additionally, Anne-Sophie spoke about creativity were she explained how to tap into ones creative mind and that creativity is the key to entrepreneurship. Afterwards, Roxanne introduced the students to marketing and mentioned the differences between products and services as well as which factors are needed when starting a business by explaining PESTEL and SWOT analysis. Later on she devided the class in groups and handed out a case, so that they could apply there new acquired  knowledge.

All of the students are highly motivated and interested in what we are teaching, but also interested in our background and culture as well as our language. Some classes have already invited us to have lunch at their houses so that we can try some typical Kenian dishes. At the end of our course, we would like to cook together with all 5 classes to enjoy Kenian food all together. Most of the time the students also accompany us through the little village, we need to go in order to reach the main street to take a Matatu back to our hostel. This is an adventure every single time as we never know for sure where the Matatu will take us, but so far we have always managed to reach our destination. Occasionally, in the middle of our trip we need to exchange the Matatu, and finding a newne is never easy, hence it never gets boring.

Our team is very much looking forward to the next four weeks of teaching, but also to getting to know the Kenian culture even more in-depth.

Fire Brigade - First impressions

The Fire Brigade Team is consisting of Mike, Tom, Brian and Mandip. Last Friday, 28 June, the whole ConTribute Kenya team arrived in Kenya and was very warmly welcomed by Fabrizio, the owner of the Hostel in Mombasa and his friendly staff.

In the afternoon all projects were visited together with representatives from Condor who flew with us to Mombasa. The Fire Brigade Team was accompanied by Guido Müller, a fire man from Reutlingen, Germany, who has been working together with the Mombasa Fire Brigade for many years and has helped us set up the project along with Walter, a local diving instructor and Mombasa resident for more than 25 years.

Together with Guido, we met Mr Sammy Murimi, the chief of the Mombasa Fire Brigade. We had a nice first meeting followed by an introduction to the operations and equipment at the Fire Brigade. It was remarkable for us to see that out of 11 vehicles, mostly donated by developed Western countries, only one was fully operational. By the end of our first visit we were invited to return on Monday morning to be registered as consultants to the Fire Brigade at Mombasa City Hall.

Monday morning, after a 50 minute Tuktuk ride through the smog of Mombasa and many new impressions of Africa, we arrived at the Fire Brigade only to discover that business in Kenya does not run as smooth as we are used to. First, Mr Sammy asked us to wait until he has made an appointment at the city hall. 

While we were waiting, we received a more detailed introduction to the Fire Brigade by the Duty Officer Mr Jackson, with whom we spent around 5 hours discussing the problems of the Fire Brigade and also about his personal plans to become a fire prevention equipment supplier. After this relationship building session Mr Sammy informed us that there is no possibility to register at the city hall and asked us to come back on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, while passing the street market that is situated in front of the Fire Brigade, we noticed loud music and singing people. When we entered the Fire Brigade it was also a different atmosphere compared to our previous visits. It took a long time until someone approached us and furthermore the firemen were even less enthusiastic about their work and the main entrance was closed. Suddenly, the door opened and a mob of around 30 people singing and dancing with flowers in their hands entered the yard of the Fire Brigade. A short time later Mr Sammy informed us that the local civil servants are on strike due to a delay of salary payments for more than two months, and for reasons of security we should stay away from the Fire Brigade until Tuesday when the strike should be over

The next day, Thursday July 4th, the situation changed yet again. Following the disappointment of the previous day we met Salim, a Fire and Rescue Trainer of the Fire Brigade who also has very good contact with Guido. He shared his vision with us on how to improve the situation of the Fire Brigade and provided insight into the hierarchy and organisational structure of the Fire Brigade. Salim is also responsible for providing swimming lessons to children of our partner projects at Blue Bell and St. Joseph. As we reach the first week milestone we are optimistic that our initiatives will gain ground and will be developed further in the coming weeks.

The journey begins

After having travelled from all kinds of origins in Europe to Frankfurt airport on the 27th of June, we finally arrived at our destination in Mombasa in the morning of the 28th of June.

Followed by warm "Jambo" shouts, our taxi made its way to our hostel called Giardino. After quickly unpacking our luggage, we separated to visit our three main projects: Mombasa Fire Brigade, Blue Bell Nursery School and St. Joseph House of Hope.

We received a general introduction of the different projects on that Friday. Even though the pool made the 30 degree a little more enjoyable, we used most of the weekend to prepare for the projects.

Furthermore, we also explored the city center of Mombasa where we discovered a lot of cultural differences. Therefore, not only taking the "Matatu" (minibus normally offering room for 11 passengers; however, usually fitting at least 15 travellers) but also walking through the city center became an adventure to us. Being followed by a self-assigned tour guide every step we took, our visit was mainly marked by curious looks of Kenyan people and many new impressions. On our way back to the hostel, we took a "Tuktuk" (small 3 person motorbike), which made us realise the lack of safety regulations on the road.

On Monday every group worked on their projects and further details and pictures will follow within the next days from each of the teams.