Here’s our first field video from our time in Nyeri with Kiini…enjoy!

(don’t forget to check out today’s photos in the post below!)

Day four of our trip started in the rain (as today, day 4, is starting as well).  We’ve been lucky so far that, despite it being the rainy season, it’s only rained on us a few times and has cleared up pretty quickly.

We started the morning out visiting a group that’s started a fish project and has been building ponds and stocking them with fish that they’ll be raising.  They gave us a tour of their land and showed us the ponds where the fish are kept.

Next we  visited Agnes (one of the women from yesterday who showed us how to make jelly) at her school, which is the site that I visited last year when I came here.  After spending some time there with the orphans at her school we headed out to another site where Kiini is working with the community on a water project.  The project has been helping to get clean water distributed in the country side.  It was a good day, and if the internet works properly we’ll have a short video update from our trip so far for you later on today!

A view of the land where the fish program is taking place.

Boniface standing by one of the man-made ponds for the fish program.

A family who visited us during our tour of the fish project ponds.

The men who run the fish program fed the ‘fingerlings’ to get them to come near the surface for us.

All of the Fish program participants and the Kiini staff watching the fish eat.

Another of the man-made ponds.

The teachers at Agnes’ school.

One of the collaborators from Agnes’ group who has helped to keep the school running.

The children sang songs for us while we were visiting the school.

Jessi got a chance to join the kids in jumping rope.

They prepared us porridge at the school

Sam and Boniface enjoying their porridge.

One of the women working with the water project.

These pipes are installed and used to get the water to the different areas that it’s being supplied to.

It seems that every plant in Africa has 3 inch long thorns on it!

Back in Nyeri for dinner (I just liked this one!)

It’s the morning of our third day here in Nyeri and we’re getting ready to head out into the field again. But before we do we wanted to post an update from yesterday (as internet is a little hard to come by here). Yesterday we spent the entire day out in the field visiting more of Kiini’s programs and groups that did a large variety of different activities to support themselves.

We visited a women’s group who has learned to make milking jelly that they use for their skin and hands. They hope to be able to sell once they can make enough of it. We also got to hear stories from them on how the loans through Kiini have helped them improve their quality of living and be able to become self sufficient.

After that we visited a group of women who have been working on agri-business ventures. They were able to buy rabbits, goats and chickens through a micro-loan they received through Kiini. Now they have been able to buy and sell their livestock to increase their profits and grow their business.

We then visited the ‘Young Shakers’ group where the men have been baking cakes and have built a business selling them to local vendors to turn a profit.

Lastly we visited a man who has started a mushroom growing business and taught us the complicated farming methods involved in growing mushrooms in almost complete darkness.

It was a great day and we saw some really amazing stories and some really resourceful people, all of whom were touched by Kiini’s commitment to the community. I can’t wait to begin to put some videos together to show you guys!

As for today…it’s currently pouring down rain…should be interesting!

One of the staff for Kiini, Philip, as we wait to start the interviews of the women of the Mutirithia Ladies group.

The Mutirithia Ladies showing us the process of making milking jelly.

Melting the wax for the milking jelly.

They let Jessi try some, and then gave her a jar of her own to keep!

This is Sam, our wonderfully talented driver…

…It really wasn’t his fault that we got a flat tire. The roads are very bumpy and rocky here

This is Jane, one of the women who has become an entrepreneur in rabbit farming thanks to the help she received through Kiini.

These are some of the rabbits from Jane’s rabbit farm.

Some of the children who live near Jane.

These are Jane’s grandchildren.

Another group who has received help through Kiini.

One of the Young Shakers who has built his business selling cakes.

A Young Shaker making cakes.

Timothy Kamau, the mushroom farmer.

Our first day here in Nyeri with KIINI was a good one. We got into Nyeri around 10:00 and hit the ground running. After a few meetings here at the office, we loaded up the car and headed out to the first site, which was one of the squatter camps that KIINI works with.

We spent a while interviewing, shooting video and photographing a group of women who live in makeshift homes on land that they don’t own. There’s a law that says if you live on land that isn’t yours for 7 years it becomes yours, so the land owners, who charge the women rent to have their homes there, will force them to move every 5 or 6 years and destroy their homes to keep from having to give them the land.

KIINI has been working with these women through their microcredit loans to try and help them reach a place where they can afford to purchase some land of their own and begin to build more permanent lives.

After the day was done we went back to the Chairman of KIINI’s home and got some rest (although a combination of ‘The West Wing’ and jet lag kept us up pretty late!). It’s now the beginning of day two and we’re getting ready to head out into the field again! Stay tuned for more updates and enjoy some of our photos from day one!

Two of the women living in the squatters camp.

One of the grandchildren of one of the squatters living at the camp.

We were able to interview a woman named Priscilla who spoke of her challenges living as a squatter and how Kiini is empowering her to overcome these challenges.

The group walking to the next site.

Another squatter settlement.  They aren’t allowed to build their houses past a certain height so they dig down into the ground to make their roofs lower.

Women outside of their temporary homes at the squatters settlement.

The inside of this woman’s home is no bigger than a typical american walk-in closet.  She shares it with her family and her goats.

Another one of the women in the squatter’s camp.

This woman is watering seedlings that the government has given her to take care of in exchange for allowing her to live here.  Once the seedlings are grown she will be asked to leave.  This is called the ‘Shamba’ system.

This man is also living under the Shamba system.

Two grandchildren of one of the woman at the squatter’s camp.

Jessi and a cute puppy that she found outside of one of the squatter’s homes.

A man painting one of the buildings at a school where Kiini has helped to renovate the school by building latrines.

Some children that we passed on the way to a therapy group for people living with HIV.

One of the children of a woman who is HIV positive.

A group therapy session for people who are HIV positive.  These people come from all over the region to support each other.

it’s crazy to lay here in a nice bed in a nice house with my nice new christmas gifts typing on my nice computer and looking at this photo that I took in October.  There are people living here right now.  They didn’t have a Christmas.  They dug through garbage again for stuff that they could sell in order to survive.  To them, yesterday was just another day of digging.  Pretty crazy to think about that.  Even crazier not to let things like that change you.  This new years, be changed…and in turn…change the world around you.

- S