Saturday, October 29, 2011

"Maji ni Uhai"

"Water is life"

This is a phrase I hear almost daily here. And it is true. The provision of water to Kisayani has had dramatic effects. The occurrence of water borne diseases had been cut by around 50%; the value of land in Kisayani had grown by over 1000%; people walked less than 1 hour to fetch water compared to 6 hours previously; and people were irrigating crops and fruit trees generating income and increasing food security for their families.
Umani Springs


Yet the reality is that in Kenya it is estimated 60% of people have access to safe water. In the rural areas such as where I am now, the number is closer to 40%. Kisayani is therefore fortunate to have the water supply project as are the tens of thousands of others getting their water from Umani Springs. 
straight from the source


While this post was originally supposed to be about the general picture of water in Kenya, some recent unsettling findings this past week cause me to combine the two, the former offering context.

- - - 

In 1974, Kenya pledged to give each of its citizen’s access to clean water. Despite making some positive strides, the government had taken on more than they could handle and were unable to fulfil the promise. In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (agreed upon also by Canada and all UN states) pledged that by 2015 they would half the number of people in the world without basic access to water. Again in ~2002, Kenya created a vision that by 2030 all would have access to clean water.

This was done by a complete restructuring of the water sector via the Water Act (2002) in Kenya. This is one of the central areas of focus of my project. Without boring you with the details of the 200 page legal document, the bill supposedly invests all power over the regulation, conservation and licensing of water to the Minister of Water, while also decentralizing water service provision by handing over water systems to communities and private companies—water provision and services is too much for just the government to reside over.

Yet some projects such as the Kisayani Water Project were already in the hands of community management during the restructuring phase. Once financed by a NGO, the ownership of this project and it’s management was invested in a community self-help group: the Kisayani Community Christian Development Programme (KCCDP). The project was completed in 2003 and the Water Act passed in 2002, although it is still being implemented and enforced to this day. Thus, the Kisayani Water Project was developed in a time of transition of management (and still is).
Njoki and I at the Athi River

One of the new water management bodies in the Water Act is the Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA), which is in charge of management of water resources in each of the 8 catchment/watershed regions. It is the role of WRMA to give approval to projects, giving them permits, and co-ordinating management. The Kisayni project has a permit to draw water from Umani Springs, which is shared by a variety of other projects, including the newest project the Mtito Andei Umani Water Project, still under construction. This project is to serve the current 90,000 people of the Mtito Andei area. The put this in perspective the Kisayani project was designed for 12,000 people; the size of this new project is massive. Meanwhile, the source spring is already suffering shortages.

My research is examining the sustainability of the water project in Kisayani and the management of the spring. 


At the moment, there are several evident problems indicating threats to it’s sustainability: some people who once got water no longer do; some are using water to irrigate while other have none to drink; and both the demand and population are clearly growing. One of the pressing issues that keeps coming up i is how there is less water in the pipe or/and less water from the Spring itself. In fact, the river that leads downstream of the springs has shrunk drastically. The river once had a 2-3m deep riverbed, but now is a small trickling stream. Even 4 years ago I was told one could swim in the river. This is just one of the many indicators that show the Spring is undergoing some major challenges.

While I do not have the skill or capacity to measure the flow of the Spring, I had the idea that this new water project (Mtito Andei) would by law require an Environmental Assessment which I hoped would include data on the flow of the Spring and whether or not this new project was feasible. I also have the advantage of working under my professor who had once done the Environmental Assessment for the Kisayani Project and had flow data from the 80s to the late 90s.

After weeks of hunting this document down, I finally met with representatives of the WRMA who are in charge of examining the flow of the spring and permitting allowable withdraws. They not only had the EIA report from 2009, but also a Hydrological Report of the Umani Springs done just this July. They also had the power of granting or not granting the permit to the new water project, so these reports would surely show that where was enough water since it had already been approved.

The report revealed that there was enough water; in fact the report stated there was plenty of water! It claims the current abstractions along with the new proposed project would withdraw just 6% of the total flow. This wasn’t very reassuring, however. The report done in 2001 by my professor Dr. Spaling found that the Kisayani Project along with the other projects was withdrawing closer to 60% of the total flow of the river (not 6%). Since the anecdotal evidence from the local people indicated that the spring and the river downstream was significantly less today than 10 years ago, and the fact that there was a new project much larger than any existing project, something didn’t add up.
looks like 7

Trying to figure out where they got their flow data from, I contacted WRMA again, who is supposed to be measuring regularly the flow of the spring. Yet, what I got from them was about 10 individual sporadic data points from 1987-2011. The data points from the 80s to 2001 confirmed the data used by my professor that the flow of the spring averaged 18.5 million L/day. Yet the data points from 2009 and 2011 somehow showed 82 million L/day (4x as much). The latest data seems to have been used by the hydrological report which showed how the total projects added to 6% total abstraction from the natural flow. No one really knows who made the measurements either, the meters at the spring were stolen long ago.
without piped water


Furthermore, these reports are unclear on how many projects are even at the source. One report says there are two legal ones, one says 4, while WRMA people themselves say 6. My observation at the spring itself (see post from mid-sept) shows 7 individual pipelines.

with piped water
I hope that I am wrong, and that there is plenty of water. But my assumption is that there is not enough water for all of the existing (struggling) projects let alone this new mammoth project. Perhaps the local politician for the area, happening to reside in Mtito Andei has pushed this project through to please his constituency, thereby putting at risk the spring and all communities downstream as well as all those reliant on abstractions and pipelines. I have heard it as if it were a catchphrase, that “Water is Life”. This is indeed true. The communities I have seen with water and without have been stark differences. It would be heart breaking to see this community become one without water and suffering from even more severe shortages.



I hope I am wrong about the spring. 


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Kuku Chakula

I've been away on the Kenyan coast for a few days, and decided to add some photos my chicken dinner (kuku chakula). It all started over a conversation with the local police officer (a friend of mine) of what we eat in Canada. I have repeatedly been asked the questions, 'what do you grow?' 'what are your staple foods?' and 'what do you mean you don't have ugali?' After some lengthy discussion over how in Canada just 5% of Canadians are farmers compared to about 75% in Kenya (and my estimate of about 90+% in Kisayani) it led to further discussion on our radically different food systems (localized vs. globalized; small family farms vs. industrialized factories; meat-centred diet vs. non-meat diets). I also explained how I have never killed a cow, or goat, or chicken; rather, I buy them by the skinless/boneless pieces in a super market. So I told them I had no idea what to do.

Not only were my friends stunned, they decided to host a feast (also in lieu of Thanksgiving). The first step was to find a chicken. Very few people raise them here. The ones I see running around town are being shipped to Nairobi where they fetch a good price. After making a call to a friend, who made another call we found a chicken about 5km away. The owner used his bicycle to bring it to town. The next day we bargained and ended up paying 400KSH (~$4) for the bird. However, since the feast was growing in size, as more and more people wanted to come, I ended up buying 2 more the next evening. Splurging $12 on chicken is a bit extravagant, thus many wanted to come. It is also a reflexion of why so few people eat chicken here--expensive. While nyama (beef) and mbuzi (goat) are readily available at the butcher, chicken is not easily found.

Patiently waiting.

Finally the day arrived. But when I went to pick up the two new chickens, the first had got away. After about 20 minutes we found him hiding under a nearby shop, cowering from his inevitable fate. Once the chickens were assembled, I was called to the police officer's home, where he has prepared a cooker for bbqing (called 'choma' here) and had some boiling water ready do de-feather the birds. He insisted I watch him butcher the first bird and then carry on with the last two. ...

The victims.

while pinning the two legs with one foot and the
wings with the other, it's prevented from running 
there are now blood stains on my pants


After about 1 minute of struggling, when the chicken is limp
I put it into a bowl of boiling water to loosen the feathers

at peace 
Mmm...
Not so handsome anymore
Cutting each of the joints



kuku choma



The three day journey comes to an end!

By the end of the meal, I was quite satisfied and had a new appreciation for Safeway's $8.99 chicken specials ready to eat. The chicken was dry, tough, feathery, thin, but delicious. Happy belated thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed your 20lb turkeys.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Karibu Kisayani



These past 3 weeks I have spent getting to know the area of Kisayani, learning to cook local food, exploring the pipeline area, and conducting interviews. I have already finished 8 interviews and have a good introductory picture of some of the contributions and challenges of the water project. This is something I will comment on in more depth later. But for this post, I’ll update on my day-to-day activities and what I have been learning.

Baobab trees not far from my house



A few of the children
I have been here long enough to get to know some of the people around my area. My home is shared with about a dozen children and a few mamas who are their mothers, or hired to care for them. I wake every day to their crying and/or laughing have slowly begun to befriend me, though they were at first skeptical of me. The other children in town have made a habit to chasing me through town repeatedly shouting Mzungu (‘white-man’). While I am used to this from Tanzania, these kids are relentless. Plus the cuteness of it wears off quickly. I decided to teach them my name, so instead they chase me shouting my name repeatedly—a bit of an improvement, I guess. I tried learning their names, but there are too many of them, so I just shout back ‘Mtoto!’ (meaning: ‘little kid!’). I have also gotten to know where to buy the best veggies, who to go to for Papaya, and made friends in the market area, which has been beneficial.

Second on the left is all mine
Thus, I have not stared to death. In fact, I have learned to cook ugali (maize meal) and several other dishes (pilau—spiced rice, sikumawiki—boiled kale, and maharagwe—beans). When I tell Kenyan most Canadians have never heard or seen of such a dish, they are astounded as it is a daily meal for them. I ate it everyday if not twice when I was in Tanzania and didn’t have much of a taste for it, but for some reason the ugali here is actually delicious. I have also learned to cook beans (who knew how difficult it could be to cook them once they had been dried—I will never take for granted canned beans.) Tomorrow, the local police chief has organized a feast; he could not believe that I had not killed a chicken. So tomorrow I get to kill 3. The chicken I bought from the market actually ran away since I didn't know how to tie it up. After about half an hour frantically searching in the dark I found it... first time I ever lost a meal.

Cooking up a storm with Njoki - my UNairobi partner
I often get asked what our staple foods are, and what we grow. They are amazed just 5% of Canadians are farmers, and that we simply buy butchered chicken and have no idea how to harvest or process grains. I often avoid explaining how big area farms are and how much our land cost, since many farmers have just 1 acre or less and pay just $50-1000 for it.

As for work, each day is unpredictable. The interviews I schedule often don’t happen, and then they do it is often in the middle of another one I am doing. Moreover, the interviews are sometimes done in Swahili 
with a translator. My decent ...
Line-up for water at a kiosk


...comprehension of Swahili is good enough to know how much I am missing, but without knowing what exactly is lost in translation. At times people don’t understand Swahili well enough and I have to use a tertiary translator to go from Swahili to Kikamba (the local mother-tongue). One of the most frustrating things I deal with, is having to attain one's signature before the interview begins. Due to our Western bureaucracy and formality, research ethics requires me to hand out 3 page documents in English explaining the interview, research, and protocol before the interview begins. When they have been walked through it, I need to get their signature. Despite their verbal consent, many are very reluctant to sign as in Kenyan culture they are never or rarely asked to sign anything that doesn’t commit or bind them to something significant. Research ethic protocol is supposed to respect individual’s rights, but in this context and culture it seems to intrude on it more than respect it.

Kiosk without working water
Regardless work is coming along and I am learning lots. I have made several bodaboda trips (motor bike taxis) to the far ends of the pipelines to visit each of the kiosks and interview some households in those areas. These always prove eventful as I realize how Kisayani is much more developed than these areas, many of them lack electricity, selection of goods, access to basic medicines, and simple shops. Sadly, I have found that some of the communities at the very ends of the pipeline are not receiving water.


I am learning to conserve water myself (10L bucket showers) and also boiling the water I need to drink. It is still extremely dry here. Every interview has reaffirmed the bad drought for the past 4 years, and how it is affecting their crops and the water supply of the project (as well as demand). Along with the local farmers, I too am awaiting the rains which are to come in a week or so, and the transformation they will bring to the environment.

It has been a great experience thus far. The Kenyan reputation of being warm and welcoming is well surpassed, and my work is moving along. 


Stay tuned for:

  • rain and greenery
  • mangos
  • pictures of me killing the chicken that ran away

Monday, October 3, 2011

The home of Elijah


Elijah is a remarkable man in Kisayani. He is middle-aged, short, rather thin, quiet although talks a lot. But he is also a man of many skills: farmer, tree-planter, a builder, brick-maker, well-digger, host, labourer, and the treasurer for the irrigation co-operative. He also has an incredibly compassionate heart for his visitors and his children.

He was one of the first men I met in the village and has accompanied me this week, making sure my first week was not spend alone. He showed me to the local schools, churches, market, and government offices and has lots to share about his home. Elijah also seems to be related to everyone, either his nephew, cousin, great aunt, or one of his sisters, he has many roots here in Kisayani.

Elijah’s priority is for his children. He has three boys and enrolls them in the private school, which is not free (unlike the public school). He is not a rich man but knows the quality of education at the private school will likely graduate his children from primary school and into secondary school giving them a better future. The other day his child was taken out of school and sent home to bring back the school fees. Since he cannot cover these payments he helps out around the school—and by help out I mean build the school. He helped construct it from bricks he made, and he continues to do repairs and additions when needed.

Elijah has a wife and family of his own, but still lives on his parents (very common) land. He has taken me to his home several times and introduced me to his grandmother who is about 100 years old, mother and father, and the rest of his family who lives with him. He showed me his farm which is approaching planting season for the rains. He also insists I help out on the farm since there is no gym in Kisayani. On his property is a mango tree, the oldest one (and first planted) in all of Kisayani. When he was in secondary school all students were given a piece of fruit on Wednesdays. Instead of throwing away the pits of mangoes, Elijah would save them. During one rainy season he planted about 30 mango seeds, of which one survived over the years and through the dry season. About 25 years later he is able to offer his family the (literal) fruits of his labour—around a thousand mangoes.

Among other things, Elijah earns income by digging boreholes and wells. The amazing thing is he does this by hand. While I have yet to see him at work, from what he tells me it is extremely difficult work. He has one well that is 22 metres deep. He asked if I wanted to venture down there with him. I said no.

Elijah and his son Steve 
Perhaps the best time I shared with Elijah so far, was his son’s 11th birthday party, a pretty moving experience. His son, Steve, has a physical disorder (something like cerebral palsy) that has him slightly paralyzed on half of his body. Elijah tells me he carries his son 2km to school since he cannot walk well, but gets him to walk a small portion each time so that now his son is able to move around freely. He has taught his son to write and to feed himself with a fork. Steve is enrolled in school and is on the same level as the other children. Despite a speech impediment he speaks both Kiswahili and Kikamba, as well as understands my English.

Elijah told me days in advance of his son’s birthday, so I was able to buy a soccerball to give to him to give his son. When I arrived at the home (a piece of land with several grass huts) it was already very dark and he took me into his house where he had a solar powered lamp that he installed himself. He also tells me he is trying to adapt a vehicle carburetor to harness the wind’s energy.

Anyway, eventually his children, parents, and grandparents came into the eating area of his house where food was laid out. He said they usually have meat on birthday’s but since the drought has been difficult they cannot afford to have it this time. So instead we shared plates of potatoes and cabbage. After dinner the great-grandmother and grand-father shared a few speeches and allowed me to give a small one. When that was over he presented his son with the gift they had gotten him: a pack of crayons and a pencil, as well as one for his youngest son (so he wouldn’t be jealous). He also gave his son the soccerball. His son was smiling the whole night.


Elijah allowed me to take pictures of the party so that I can print them for him. He saves many pictures and puts them into different scrapbooks for his kids, so that when they get older they will have a ‘memory book’ incase he does not live on to share stories of their childhood to them.