Mon, May 5, Rpt 45 - Training expands

From: David Zarembka

Dear All,

Here in Western and north Rift Valley provinces, upcountry Kenya has returned to the normal pre-election bustle. The roads are full of vehicles, the matatus (mini-buses) are full, and people are scurrying about their business as usual here in Kenya.

The Government is pushing to have the remaining 150,000 internally displaces persons returned to their farms, which many of the displaced people are reluctant to do. Except for President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga visiting the camps in the Rift Valley (which
resulted in a farce about whether the Vice-President or the Prime Minister was "second" in the protocol pecking order) almost no work has been done to bring about any kind of reconciliation between the folks displaced and those who displaced them. Politically of course, if the internally displaced people (IDP) can return, then there will less need to support them, but one of the questions is how are these folks going to get back on their feet? Then, the question is, what will guarantee that this violence will not occur again during the next election as it did in 1992, 1997, and 2007? Tough issues.

One of the reasons to get the IDP's back on their farms is because the country is now looking towards a food shortage. As we drive from Lumakanda to Eldoret, we find that many farms have not been plowed. Years ago I worked in agricultural development in Tanzania and one of the rules in this part of the world is to plant as early as possible. Those who planted by April 1 now have nice green fields. But many did not plant until later and I think that their yields will suffer. While the talk in the newspaper is to return the IDP's so that they can plant, I think that
the planting season is over for this year.

Even farmers in the area who were not displaced have not plowed and planted all their fields due to the uncertainty. Fertilizer prices have tripled. This means that farmers here will put less fertilizer on the crops they have planted, which again is going to lower yields.

Let me remind you again that here in the corn (maize) belt of Kenya most of the crop is consumed by people and not by cows, pigs, and sheep as is true of the American corn belt.

Lastly, while the rains have been sufficient for Lugari District, they are below average. This means that in less well-watered areas, there is another drought coming on. This has already begun the drier parts of Kenya.

As to our AGLI work, last week we had a gathering at the Friends Peace Center--Lubao for the 36 active AVP facilitators we have in westernKenya. I texted Getry that it was a nice 2 day gathering. She texted back, "I am very excited about it too. Happy AVP life. Thanks for making it a success and the support. Pass my appreciation to Mama Gladys."

Perhaps two of the facilitators were in their 50's, 3 or 4 more in their 40's, and the rest (30 or so) in their 20's and 30's. Were they lively!!! The Lubao Center has only 20 beds. Where did the other 16 sleep? On the floor on mattresses: no complaints. Gladys and I (being old fogies)
did not spend the night there, but I was told that they stayed up until midnight doing role plays on transforming power. We have worked to expand outside of the Luhya group and here perhaps half were Luhya, a little less than half were Luo, and 4 were Kikuyu. We are still missing Nandi (Kalenjin) but we are working on this from a few different angles. Later this week we will do the first AVP workshops with the Sisters of the Assumption. They are based in Eldoret, but the workshop will be at their house in Turbo on the Kalenjin side of the border. They want AVP for their 125 nuns and then perhaps we can do AVP with the Kalenjin communities with which they are working. After the AVP Facilitators Gathering last week we did 7 AVP workshops including another one here in Lumakanda. This week we have nine workshops scheduled.

Like Getry says, "It's exciting!"

Let me end with two brief cow stories. Now that the rainy season is here the grass (and everything else) is shooting up like it does during spring in America. How do we cut our grass? We invite four local cows into the compound to chomp away for a while!

The second story concerns one of the workmen who built our house. Last year one of his cows was stolen. Five months later the cow walked back into his compound. Was he astonished!

Peace,
Dave

David Zarembka, Coordinator
African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams