Fast Tube by Casper

During the two weeks of our first travel2change project in Kenya we conducted the following activities:

• Training of the community members to become trainers for safe water treatment and hand washing
• Involving the community members in producing liquid soap
• Providing a learning experience to visitors and participating soccer teams through activities such as the glitter game, demonstrations of improvised containers and lectures on preventing water born diseases
• Visiting community members’ homes to discuss safe water treatment

Summing up, we feel that the first travel2change project was a great success! But what does success mean for travel2change? This ties back to the two forms of change seek to accomplish: Positive change within the local community of the travel destination and positive change within the travelers, who experienced the project.

With regards to the first aspect and in an effort to quantify the impact, we estimated that we where able to reach around 400 young community members directly. Through training 50 SEP members as trainers for the basic life skills that prevent water borne diseases, we expect to reach another 150 through their contacts within their families and among peers. Throughout the four-day event of the soccer tournament we held multiple sessions where we engaged the present youth and the participating soccer teams with a number of activities. During each day there were at least two sessions with around 30 kids each. We provided them with a learning experience on save hygiene practices and raised the awareness for the necessity of hand washing to prevent water born diseases.

When it comes to the change within the travelers, you will have read about Nina’s resumé. The travel experience for me personally has also triggered change. The slower pace of life required patience. Eva, a fellow German traveler, mentioned after a three hour waiting period: that “whether you perceive it as waiting or enjoying depends on your state of mind”. Apparently she has accustomed to the pace. I have not. At least not yet. But what the slower pace provided for me was a break of the pattern of my ordinary daily live. As the pace and modernization of the world accelerates, I feel that time flies by faster and faster. A travel experience such as this, represents a remarkable event that makes a year more significant.

The nature of rural Africa with its beautiful landscape and wide-open spaces, sunshine, and places of solitude and silence was precious. We enjoyed the simplicity and nature-based life that we experienced in Kenya. Interacting with people unaffected by commercialism and not relying on things we take for granted gets you back to basics, reconnects you with the basic values of life and leaves ample room for reflections on our routine life. Living with our host family was invaluable to have an authentic experience and learn about the cultural richness of Kenya. We are grateful for the hospitality and kindness of our host family and the people we have met on our trip.

Going back to the aspect of positive change within lives of the local communities, the question that is prominent in our minds is: How can we leverage the implemented activities to create a continued impact on the local communities? Throughout all our activities the emphasis was on providing the children and local community with the knowledge and means that encourages them to spread the word to their peers. The SEP team members will continue to visit homes during the following weeks to continue spreading the word on preventing water borne diseases. Thus we hope we were able to touch the lives of many community member in a positive way. They certainly touched ours.

Although overall successful the project was not without challenges. Preparing the project with the local conditions in mind requires a lot of time, sensitivity and diligence. I came to realize that offering grant money is not an effective way to support the local community. Evidently money alone does not solve any developmental challenge, but in addition it puts the recipient in a passive role, where the goal of becoming independently self sustaining, becomes less of a priority. In addition it may create room for opportunistic behavior.

With travel2change we don’t want to function as top-down charity, but instead work on bottom-up sustainability. Rather than awarding the winning project with a monetary grant, we plan on offering exchange opportunities in the form of travel. Local participants are given the opportunity to travel abroad to gain insights and crucial experiences within an organization. They will return to their community and share the lessons learned. Travel2change looks to make its trips work both ways – instead of the traditional flow from north to south.

What’s Your Take? How can we make our efforts more effective?

My experience in Kenya was absolutely amazing and perfect. I wouldn’t change anything for this experience enhanced my personal growth as a future public health professional with the added bonus of simultaneously learning about an entirely new culture.  Our host family, the Kiche’s were the upmost hospitable individuals whom we owe a great deal to for introducing the authentic Kenyan lifestyle to us. Hakuna matata!

The sole purpose of our time spent in Oyugis was to implement a community outreach program during the Society Empowerment Project football tournament. It had gone well overall and we received positive feedback from the community. Coaches along with a number of local individuals were very grateful for the youth engagement through the WASH program. The junior SEP girls appeared to be optimistic in taking on the responsibility Festus, the executive director of SEP, had organized for them. Door to door canvassing in reinforcing basic life skills is a moral responsibility that was acknowledged when speaking to Evelyn and Cynthia (two SEP members). The local people deeply care for their friends and family, therefore they recognize the need to spread awareness on the importance of hand washing and water purification to reduce the number of illnesses and death that can occur within the community. I will be keeping contact with those currently living in Oyugis for the progress being made in SEP.

Traveling as a career lifestyle is what I’ve always aspired for, and travel2change has helped me realize this dream. From my gained experiences and increased cultural competencies in Kenya, I know for certain that I will pursue a career in global public health. This is why I believe travel2change is a such a truly great organization. It assists individuals in pursuit of their dreams of traveling to establish something meaningful in the world. Travelers who aspire to change will get an opportunity to do so. While learning a great deal and overcoming challenges, travelers and host communities will be beyond fulfilled with the concluding finale of each project realized, just as I am. I want to greatly thank the Oyugis community and travel2change for all that I’ve learned and for what we’ve accomplished.

It is unique the idea behind travel2change’s objective of bringing about change to different communities. The idea sounds very simple and realistic! It calls for passion and humanity to realize this objective, and as simple as it sounds, so is its practicability.

SEP got the idea of travel2change just through the internet, and like any other curious person would try out luck, we submitted an idea on WASH. However, it was not just an idea picked in the air, but that which originated from our local needs, challenges that if not well addressed, would glaringly lead to death. It is at this point we felt it would be important to share this challenge with the travel2change team, if really their vision would work out for us in this region, Oyugis. We are glad that our idea was chosen, among many others which were proposed.

The main concept is to sensitize the community on House Hold water Treatment and Hand Washing with Soap, with the children who are also members of SEP being the role models. They would be trained, hence replicate the idea in the wider community, starting from their homes. The idea hence involved Hand Washing with soap, improvising hand washing containers using locally available materials – containers, liquid soap making and also learning on germs’ spread through the glitter game. All these were effectively delivered, with travel2change travelers taking on the heavy task of conducting the educational components on the same. The travel2change team was very practical with their work, while also working with SEP members in attaining the project goals.

On the same note, I must appreciate highly the host family. They directly contributed to the success of this project by virtue of providing enabling environment to the travelers throughout their stay in Kenya. More practically, they were also directly involved in the project, as they helped in the translation to the children.

Basing on the SEP plans of reaching out to the wider community with WASH program, the efforts by the travel2change is the foundation of our practical work. They have just set the pace.  They have set the ball rolling – the dye is cast, and the game is on. SEP hence has the responsibility to ensure that all that which was learnt is implemented. This will be done through allocation of chemicals to continue liquid soap making, conduct home to home visit to help install locally improvised hand washing containers, distribute water guard as well as WASH Information, Education and Communication ( I.E.C.) materials. SEP will do this through the already trained youths; hence keep them involved in the program throughout.

While we are determined to retaining this noble partnership with travel2change and UNICEF, SEP is also very keen on bringing some actors/partners on board to help acquire such items like water guard and other WASH related items, either at reduced cost or freely. This idea is yet to be applied and will keep our partners in at travel2change posted on its progress.

As we come to the end of Travelers’ stay in Oyugis, we all realize it is the beginning of SEP WASH program implementation process. We are ready to take up the task, replicate the idea we already have to the wider community and as usual, share the report with our travel2change partners. It is therefore important for both the organizations to get into consistent communication, in order to share, discuss and consult as the process continues. We intend to have WASH as an independent program under SEP, thus should be continued in the long run. This will help curb down water related infections and hence reduce such related deaths as well.

We are proud to be associated with travel2change for a transformed society, a society that embraces the good practices related to water hygiene in general!

Travel2change team; thank you for your consideration to work with SEP, thank you for practically coming down to Africa and help in initiating the program, we will keep the spirit alive, we shall cross the bridge, we shall together celebrate the success of this project, WASH!

I didn’t want to make this a critical assessment of the days you have spent with us, but rather a period in which unforgettable life lessons were learnt, shared and will forever be part of us. I fall short of proper words to express our gratitude but simply say we are indebted to you. For decades, co-existence between different races has been no bed of roses and your stay here has proven that we can overcome barriers that have been there for generations. That makes you authentic agents of change.

I now know how to play “UNO”, and beyond the games we played, mouth-watering recipes, the laughter and gifts we shared is a tie that binds 3 continents. This synergy of like-minded people in different locations on earth is a milestone to Kiche family and the Kanyango fraternity at large. This is an opening for present and future undertakings on a mutual basis, thanks to social sites that will remain our sole medium of communication despite the distance.   

I may not have a glimpse of the future, but I live in the belief that travel2change will continue to touch millions of lives across the globe. An idea that may seem as a drop of water in the ocean will have ripple effect as long as you keep the spirit burning, endure the battle and have more people and organizations participate and champion this worthy course.  

Parting is bitter-sweet and my wish is to re-live at least my past few days. Feels so dramatic, another Mexican soap opera coming to an end. At this point I must admit I’m nostalgic, emotions and actions desperately clutching the pen writing away every minute that passes; I can’t see it coming down my eyes so I’ve got to make the pen cry.

I wish you the best in your endeavors. Soldier on, keep traveling and change the world. Cheers to travel2change!

After breakfast, we met with the leading SEP girls, Evelyn and Cynthia. We walked to their homes where they showed us how they treat water and maintain personal hygiene. Evelyn uses a bottled chemical called “Water Guard” to treat her water and Cynthia simply boils her water. As for soap, they would purchase pre-packaged bars of soap for about 130 Kenyan shillings. This can’t be considered an inexpensive price for a local necessity. However, now that the girls learned to produce liquid soap, they plan to invest in purchasing local chemicals to produce enough for sale. The SEP goal for the girls is to go door to door canvassing in the community to raise awareness in water-borne disease prevention and sell their liquid soap at an affordable price. During our time spent together today, we discussed what changed for them because of the WASH program. Both emphasized that they have learned a lot during the past week. Cynthia for instance pointed out that “Prior to the workshop we did not have the knowledge how to make soap. Now we have the opportunity to produce it. I consider that to be a positive change”. We discussed how to utilize the information learned to sensitize community members. Based on my experience in teaching the children, I advised the girls on what I found effective in illustrating the message. I trust that they will use their drive and knowledge to spread the change to their families and friends. Tomorrow we are off to Kisumu, where we have our flight back to Nairobi. We will miss our Oyugis, the community and especially our host family.

In yesterday’s final the junior SEP boys celebrated their victory and the SEP girls came in second place. The SEP boys won after their fourth penalty goal igniting the audience in roaring excitement as the local team came in first. It was a very enjoyable scene. We’re also glad to have been successful in reaching about an estimated 400 children in our WASH program. Last night we went out to the local Oyugis bar “The Nest” with the Shootback camera crew, Festus and some SEP members. We had a lot of fun, drinking the local beer and dancing to the awesome Kenyan music.

Today it’s been raining all day and we decided to celebrate the day after the tournament indoors. Aside from discussing the outcome of the activities we have implemented during the event, I’ve been eating avocado sandwiches since morning playing what feels like, infinite rounds of UNO. For the remainder of the next two days in Oyugis, we will be doing some sightseeing and shopping. Aloha!

See our first video impressions from the football tournament and our teaching and learning activities for 300 children from our SEP Kenya Project. Thanks to the Shootback team for working with us during the exciting event! Video made by SHOOTBACK, www.shootbacknow.org

Two days have passed and we are fortunate to say we’ve accomplished much of what we’re here to do. Sensitizing the community on the importance of practicing basic life skills such as hand washing and water treatment has been very rewarding. Starting yesterday, during the football tournament, we’ve been rounding up the community youth in groups of 10 to 20, briefing and providing activities for them one group at a time. After introducing ourselves, we begin with informing them of the different causes to contracting a water-borne disease, primarily emphasizing how germs and bacteria spread from fluids and physical contact. We then have each group of kids participate in a game that demonstrates how germs spread from person to person primarily in hand shaking. Hand shaking is stressed because here in Kenya, the people love greeting each other by shaking hands. An individual will shake hands with friends and family in the community at least 15 times a day. After the game, we demonstrate the proper way to hand washing with canisters of water and liquid soap that we created. Following the hand washing demonstration, we lead the group to a classroom where we give the kids activity booklets and handouts provided by the UNICEF WASH program. In the end of the session after quizzing the kids, we reward them with pencils, travel2change t-shirts, candies, and balloons. Our host family members, Mike and Josephine did a great job in assisting us as translators. The main message is to reinforce the youth as responsible community members to permanently adopt these daily life skills, and to disseminate what they’ve learned to their friends and family. The impact is evident when the kids are responsive to the lectures and continue to ask questions. We look forward to the finale of the tournament tomorrow and wish the best of luck to our SEP junior teams.

The football tournament started today, however, everything was delayed including our work due to the poor weather. Teams from all throughout Kenya arrived today and are still continuing to make their way into Oyugis to participate in the big annual event. We prepared some more prep work that we’ll be ready to implement tomorrow. We learned how to make liquid soap with Festus’s wife being the instructor. Consisting of local chemicals, we made 20 liters of liquid soap that we will be utilizing for the event and to teach individuals how to properly hand wash. We’re looking forward to reinforcing national communities to practice basic life skills such as hand washing and water purification. Local community members are also excited to be working with us. The local children grew more excited after the local junior boy’s SEP team won today. They look forward to their next game. Tomorrow the SEP junior girl’s will be playing against a team from Thika, a city located five hours away from Oyugis. They’re very eager to begin playing. However, as of right now everybody is just hoping that the weather will be in our favor tomorrow and provide us with sunshine.