Simplicity

So this is village life. I am in the beautiful Rusinga Island on the shores of Lake Victoria in South West Kenya. I arrived by boat after a seven hour bus ride from Uganda about a week ago, just as the sun set over the volcanic hills that dominate this impressive landscape. I am here to volunteer for the Alekii Self Help Group, a community based organisation who run a school for around 50 vulnerable children on the island.

As the light faded, I took a motorbike taxi (boda boda) through Mbita which is the local town. Women fan their fires by the road side preparing their evening meal, whilst men cast off into the lake on small wooden fishing boats which look impossibly fragile yet seem to perform their task ably.

As we passed the outskirts of the town we are plunged into darkness, and bounce along a dusty dirt track which leads to my new home. I am introduced to my family, mama and baba who are to be my surrogate parents for three weeks, and brothers and sisters who greet me affectionately.

They live in a humble yet welcoming house. Inside, light warms the interior from gas lamps, and I am drawn the shadows of framed pictures and certificates of achievement which are proudly hung with nails and string around the living room. There is no running water or electricity here, and the latrine is something to behold.

My shower

My routine here is straight forward. The family donkey as my alarm clock, I am up around 5.30 every morning to train with my new brother Evans who is a semi-professional kick boxer. We run under the sunrise as roosters sing their morning songs, pass bemused villagers who rarely encounter mzungo (white person) in this corner of Kenya before I learn how to fight. Evans tells me that he had the opportunity to compete in national championships some years ago, but the family could not afford the bus fare to Mombassa on the other side of the country so sadly he couldn't go.

In the mornings I work with Francis Opiyo who is the project co-ordinator for the group, a skilled web developer and computer technician who leads on much of the work the Alekii group does. He is passionate about education, and the plight faced by many children on the island.

HIV/AIDS has decimated the local population, with estimates of 40% infection rate being given by the government. This is the worst affected region in the country for this terrible disease, and it has resulted in a huge number of orphaned children who face challenges in accessing food and essential primary education. 70% of pupils at the school are total orphans, and without the Alekii school, it is highly likely that these young, bright children would not receive any schooling at all.

And we are working hard. In a chance meeting with the local District Development Officer, we are made aware of a grant opportunity for innovative projects which support the millennium goals. The only problem is that the deadline is the next morning, so we work through the night on a proposal for $20,000 for a sustainable farm which would provide income and food for the school and its pupils. We find out whether we were successful this month.

More pressingly, I am also working on an emergency appeal for a new school building as the Department of Health have recommended that the school move premises immediately as the current building is not up to standard. At present there are not funds for this, and it would leave the pupils without education as most cannot afford the small fees levied by the local government primary school. 

In the afternoons I return to the school to coach the football team, borrowing boots which are two sizes too small yet preferable to attempting to play football in my clown-esque running shoes. I've realised that there is no better sound in the world than children laughing and screaming as the chase the ball, and they celebrate like Premier League stars when they score which makes me laugh.

Evenings are for family meals of fresh fish and ugali. and I sit outside with baba listening to how he sees the world. He is wise, and has lived through droughts,  the struggle for independence, and more recently the violence which marred the 2007/8 election.

The family are not rich by any means, but compared to many of the children at the school who are sometimes forced to survive on just a chapatti a day for food, they are comfortable.  Before retirement, both baba and mama were teachers, and their passion for education has led them to also be involved in the Alekii school. The brothers and sisters work hard as boda drivers, hotel managers or around the home where they grow maize and wheat as well as delicious bananas, pineapples and oranges.

They are rightly proud of their children who are educated and intelligent, and of the success they have made of the family home. They are, in the main, happy people who are a joy to be around and I feel privileged to be welcomed into their family.

Here I am fit and healthy, and I laugh heartily every day with brilliant people who have learned to appreciate what they have, rather than wish for what they do not.

"Simplify, simplify" is a Henry David Thoreau quote which is appropriate here. I think he meant that to be happy and contented we should strip our lives of the extras which in reality are not important. By doing this, we learn more about ourselves, each other, and the world we live in, which is a gift that we should treasure. This is village life.