Conversations in Goro Rukesa

Today we traveled to a village about a 1/2 hour away: Goro Rukesa.  The road was eroded, the drive was slow, but I must be getting immune to it all - my mind is picturing the green fields along the way rather than focusing on the deeply rutted and rocky road we were driving along.  I am also getting used to the mode of transport here.  We travel in a vehicle that has room for a passenger in the front, and then 4 of us squeeze onto the bench seat in the back - a seat that sits 3 comfortably.  Sitting like sardines certainly cuts down the amount we bounce around - there is nowhere to go when we are squeezed that tight together!  Goro Rukesa is the first community that received livestock from Sauti Moja - that was about 2 or 3 years ago.  What Tim was interested in hearing about this time was how they survived the drought, and how are they feeding their families these days.  Martha and I interviewed two women.  The first was a woman named Kula.

Kula has 6 children to look after and feed.  Her husband left a number of years ago, and she has never heard from him again.  The drought was very difficult - her donkey died, and only 1 goat, and 1 very young goat survived.  Right now, there is lots of water in the water pans nearby, so she has more time to go to the forest to get the wood that she needs to burn charcoal.  She sells the charcoal the easiest during the rainy season because it is cool and the people in town like to burn the charcoal to keep their houses warm.  Right now the price for a bag of charcoal is about 750 - 1000 Kenyan shillings (up to about $11 Canadian).  In the dry season the price goes down to about 500 shillings (about $5).   Although burning charcoal is illegal in Kenya, primarily because of the environmental concerns of cutting down all the trees, for these women there are very few alternatives to make money.  And it is far from easy.

I asked Kula if I could take a picture because I have heard often of the charcoal but have never actually seen it.  Those pieces of wood individually are very light, but the full bag weighs about 40 kg (80 lb or thereabouts).  Since her donkey died, she carries that on her back very long distances.  I helped a tiny bit in transferring it to another bag and my hands were instantly black - heavy and dirty work.

Hopefully there are some Canadians who will go to the Sauti Moja website to look at their Christmas donation page - buying a donkey could make an incredible difference to these women.  If Kula has a donkey to help bring back water from the well during the dry season, it means she might get a day in between trips.  Without the donkey, she has to do the trip every day - leaving home at 6 a.m., walking 3 hours, standing in line, filling her 20 litre can with water, then carrying it home on her back, arriving at home at 6 p.m.  Because of the work that she has to do either hauling water or finding the wood to burn for charcoal, her two eldest children (15 and 10) do not go to school - they stay at home to do chores and to look after the younger children.  Again, it is her faith that gets her through - she told me she wouldn't be here if it weren't for the grace of God.  If God gave her these children, then God will help provide the bread she needs to feed her children.  And she said if she can encourage the younger ones to stay in school, perhaps one day they will be able to look after her and look after themselves.

The other woman we interviewed was a woman named Salo.  She lives alone with her 12 year old daughter, Buke.  Several years ago her husband abandoned her, and went to marry someone else - he has never given them any financial support.  Salo works as a cook at a nursery school, but makes very little money.  She relies on the relief food to feed herself and her daughter.   Tim was telling us today that there has been no relief food delivered to this village for quite some time - the women he was interviewing told him they had been eating leaves off the Shaqeda trees for two weeks.  One of the reasons the trucks have not been delivering food is that the big food relief agencies have not been paying the truckers money in a timely fashion, which means the truckers either get fed up with no payment, or they simply can't afford to operate the trucks - so they simply stop driving.  Salo has lived in this area all of her life, and she has never seen a drought this bad - she said it was very, very hard for all her people.  Her donkey also died, but 3 of her goats survived.  So this tiny little woman will be hauling 20 litres of water on her back once the dry season starts and the water pans near her home dry up.

Even though she is very small in stature, I told her that when I went back to Canada, I would be telling everyone about this very strong woman I met in Goro Rukesa - because clearly, only a very strong woman would have been able to survive the drought like she did.  She found it funny to be described that way, and was quick to say that it is only God who helps her to survive.  I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch her laughing, but Martha didn't stop laughing as quickly:

As I walked along between the two houses I took a picture of this little girl - I found her very adorable.  But just after I took the picture she ran away crying very loudly.  My guess is she had not seen a white woman very often, if ever.  That has happened several times where very small children are quite frightened of us - perhaps we remind them of ghosts or something!  I didn't get a picture of them, but there were also several older girls who giggled every time I looked their way - just as giggly as I remember little girls being back in Canada!

Hearing the two women today strongly reinforced the incredible gift it is to have a donkey - no wonder they are called a beast of burden - they are fully capable of carrying these very heavy loads that the women have had to carry on their own backs for so many years.  As I look at this donkey, I give thanks for the ways it will help to ease the work-load of whoever it is that owns it.  Before coming here, I would not have necessarily named these animals so clearly as a gift from God.