Interesting Point of View

KCIS has recently posted a blog, asking for donations to get a project off the ground, and it brought an interesting comment from a Kenyan, apparently in the town where we are based, Kisii.

"I could give you a donation, but I'm opposed to this kind of aid, because it encourages dependency and entreches the aid industry. Poor people don't exist in Africa so Westerners can get an opportunity to "help" them and feel good about themselves."

I could not agree more that poor people in Africa are not just "feel good" toys for Westerners, and it made me think long and hard about what I am doing, and why.

1. KCIS is run mainly by Kenyans, I am the only non-Kenyan in the organisation.
2. Second, I was asked to join the organisation. The other directors, both Gusii, asked me to join their efforts to help them to offer shelter to the children in their care. They were my friends before I started to work with KCIS.
   
3. My main role is to raise awareness of KCIS in the developed world, and to try to raise funds for the organisation.
4. As a mechanical engineer, I have designed systems that can be built for little money, that will improve the lives of the poorest families, those who have lost the bread-winner and are literally scraping a living. These people do not have the time to worry about building a safe water system. They are too busy surviving.

OK, that's what I do. So the next question is why?

Do I do it so that I get plaudits from people, either in Kenya or here at home? Definitely not.

Do I do it so that the kids at our home treat me like a demi-God? Again, no. I like the kids and they like me. Why? Because I am friendly towards them, and probably there is the curiosity factor. My skin is the colour of a plucked chicken, theirs is dark. My hair, what little i have left, it straight and soft to the touch, theirs is black, curly and course. So, especailly to the little ones, I am odd.

So, why do I do it, why do I work for a Kenyan organisation?

I like the people. I like the country. I like the climate. In other circumstances, I would be living in Kenya. But that's another story.

It also gives an outlet for my low-tech approach to engineering. If people can benefit from my possible solutions to their problems, why shouldn't they?

I am not offended by the comment in the KCIS post. It did make me wonder, but now, in my own mind, I plead "Not Guilty".

Annan set to unveil deal!

From BBC website Friday, 15 February 2008, 11:18 GMT

Former United Nations head Kofi Annan is set to announce the details of an agreement reached after two days of talks to end Kenya's political crisis.

Both teams have returned to the capital from an exclusive tourist resort [I hope they enjoyed themselves!] after the talks were adjourned on Thursday.

A BBC correspondent says the teams may have agreed in principle to share power but details still need to be finalised. Whoopee!

However, my concerns are more immediate. There are over 300 refugees in Kisii, mainly women and children. Some have died. I have contacted every aid agency working in Kenya, including the UNHCR, asking for food to be sent to Kisii as they have received nothing since the troubles forced them there.

To date, I have not received a reply from a single agency, not even an acknowledgement that I have sent them an email!

Is it that these people are so self-important that they consider small NGOs, who are usually at grass-roots, too insignificant to worry about?

It is these little NGOs and other organisations who could give so much information to the big boys. They know the people, they can organise food distribution.

Or, are these big fellas so clever they don't need help from local people?

Mr Annan, once you have sorted out the political crisis in Kenya, can you please have a look at how major aid organisations are run, including the UNHCR?

Things looking up?

Well, Kofi is still in charge and there are rumours of a big coalition in the offing - but this is just rumour.

A news blackout, insisted up on by Mr Annan is igniting the fuel on the rumour fire. Still, the violence seems to have subsided, although there are apparently gangs of Mungiki still roaming around.

Dare I start to prepare for my now overdue trip to Kenya? I have a lot to do and it isn't getting any less while I am sitting here in the UK.

But I am getting negative feedback from one of my guys. I am really thinking he has a hidden agenda because all my other friends and contacts say that it is fine for me to go.

And Mr Negative is my first port of call when I step off the plane in Nairobi. He is my interface. Without him, I may actually have to fend for myself for a while!

Then there is our car - or rather the lack of. It was destroyed at the height of the disturbances and we are not in a position to replace it. We are, after all, a very small NGO.

I have tried contacting various aid agencies to see if I can beg, steal or borrow (no, maybe not steal) a vehicle, but to no avail. I am going to be carrying to much kit to easily use a matatu, so Mr Negative is it.

Oh well, I will just have to bombshell him and tell him I am coming on such and such a date and be ready to receive me, even if he feels totally underwhelmed (is that really a word?).

And Still It Goes On ...

Kofi Annan has had his say, Ban too. But Kibaki is, according to Raila, still using rhetoric to instill hatred and create violence.

OK, Raila, but your answers don't exactly make the rampaging youth of Kenya sit down and think about what they are doing.

The ordinary Kikuyu may have voted for Kibaki. That is his right. That is democracy.

But, the ordinary Kikuyu did not rig the election. That was carries out by an elite, the only people who may benefit from such an act. The people who don't give a damn about ordinary Kenyans hacking and burning each other to death.

These are the people who really benefited from Kenyatta and latterly Kibaki. The don't want to lose their grip on the Kenyan economy, on the country's earnings, as most of it goes to them.

Now I hear that violence has flared up in Kisii, up to now a peaceful town with 300+ refugees. It seems that the policeman who assassinated David Too comes from Kisii.

However, I have spoken this morning to my friend in Kisii and he says that he was not aware of any troubles. Then the Internet connection went dead. Am I worried? Too damn right I am.

Who do I contact to get aid to refugees?

I am amazed. In Britain and the United States, there are organisations which raise money in order to do good work in the World, especially in the alleviation of suffering and poverty.

My charity/NGO has the same aims and although we can raise small amounts of money, raising the sort of funds we need to really make a difference is impossible.

So we have approached the big boys, the foundations set up by such people as Pres. Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, etc.

We don't even get replies from these people. OK, I hear people say. They get hundreds of requests every day for money and they can't deal with everyone. Really? That is what they were set up for. If they can't deal (and I mean, reply to correspondence) with requests, where is their administration. These foundations are not run by volunteers, but salaried people - usually specialists in their field.

Other organisations try to remain "anonymous". They don't even tell you where you can apply for grants. They raise millions of pounds every year, but, in come cases, there is no means of applying for aid, there is not even any way of finding out what is happening to this money!

Yes, I am ranting. But I am frustrated. I have people on the ground in Kenya, trying to help 3,000+ refugees with no help. The major aid agencies in Kenya are missing a lot of people, because they are off the main roads - naturally. We know where they are. We have told the agencies, but will they listen? NO!

If you work for one of these agencies, please, please contact me. We are struggling to feed thousands of people with no resources and no help.

Rant over - for the time being.

Stop Kenya burning, says AU head

From BBC - Thursday, 31 January 2008, 10:18 GMT

African leaders at their summit in Ethiopia have been told they must get involved with the crisis in Kenya.
AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told them they could not just sit by. "If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow," he said.
Mr Konare - the AU's top executive - said it was the AU's duty to support the mediation process which is led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

'Special responsibility'
The current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Kenyan leaders to find a peaceful way out.
"President [Mwai] Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga... have a special responsibility to solve the crisis peacefully," he told the summit.
Mr Kibaki is among more than 40 leaders present at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, even though the ODM called on the AU not to recognise him.
Mr Odinga, by contrast, has not been invited.

All eyes
The BBC's Will Ross, reporting from the conference, says all eyes will be on Mr Kibaki.
He says Mr Kibaki is likely to brief at least some of the African leaders on events in Kenya, especially the talks between government and opposition.
The Kenyan crisis may then be pushed away, which could be convenient for an organisation which often struggles to tackle the continent's problems with any great urgency, he says.
Despite Mr Konare's plea, the official theme of the AU summit is industrialisation.