Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wool Project Update - we won!
On the way home on Virgin Atlantic Airways (Nairobi-London), the cabin crew had a contest on who could turn in the "tidiest" tray. Lilly and I worked together on it... and we won! The crew clapped and happily handed her a huge bottle of champagne since the tray came from her seat. She thought that was so funny. Don't worry, her celebration drink will be sparkling grape juice!
A fun ending to a really successful trip. We also overnighted in London on the way home and were able to walk through the theater district and see the outside of Buckingham Palace.
Meanwhile we are catching up on sleep, paperwork, and soon will be sorting all the photos and videos. Thanks for all your good wishes! If you know of a group that would like Lilly to speak about the project (weaving, social action, service groups etc.) please let me know as she and I will be updating her Power Point presentation with photos, details about the project and projected needs for the future. She also has some of the weavings from the first training week to share. Our hope is to complete raising funds for the training and some initial wool and other materials, and then to have the people involved, spin and weave and with the money earned from their products to be able to buy more spinning wheels from Schacht Spindle and more commercial looms from Kenya as well as to support themselves. The idea is for self-sufficiency as soon as possible. George, the trainer, hopes that soon he can assign some of our women and men to weave and spin for him on specific projects. He has more work than he can handle. But first we need to send four people to train with him and his staff in Nairobi for one month. This will cost about $2,500, including living expenses.
Best Wishes,
Susan
Monday, July 21, 2008
Susan's Blog July 19th, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Susan - July 18th 2008
Today we decided to take a matatu (public transport) to Karambu's home to meet the weavers, but we ended up waiting more than an hour in a matatu until it filled up. People are not so worried about time as they are in the US! When we got there everything was in full swing, and George said people came as early as 8:30. Such a far cry from the first day when people didn't even start arriving until 12:30 pm. It really shows commitment and enthusiasm to me. We finished out the morning workshopping at the three stations. One woman worked late into the night and early in the morning and finished a very lovely scarf. Another one was well into a second scarf when got there and it was finished before I left. Again a full house of men and women making carpets on the three wall looms, scarves on our loom, spinning and carding wool. Then finishing touches were put on placemats and scarves by tying off the end.
The weavers needed to leave and go back to Nairobi and everyone was so sad to see them go. It was touching to see how close the Meru women and men had become to them. We did a closing ceremony, and George the weaver pledged his support to the group. He told me he had helped three street children on drugs and turned their lives around and now they are weavers earning a good living. He said he grew up poor and just wants to give back. We are so blessed to have found him.
I stayed three more hours helping to sort out and organize the materials, spare parts etc that we were leaving there and also to bring some school supplies to a nearby local school. I asked some of the members to say some closing words for the camera. And that was it. We said good-bye to everyone and we had a closing circle. They sang us a raucous goodbye song in either Meru, Kiswali or Swahili, I don't know which language. And we closed with a blessing. And then it was over.
Although we have some major fundraising to do-- the week with the weavers cost about $1,000 including all the materials they left behind (we only had about $300 left, and International Peace Initiatives covered the rest) we also have to raise money for the training of four people with George in Nairobi for one month. Including living expenses that will cost about $2500. After that it is really up to the people to earn their living and purchase more materials and equipment with the money they make from their products. George says that people in the weaving community of Nanuki (about two hours from Meru) are only weavers and they will pay top shilling for thin wool yarn which our Ladybug spinning wheel is so good for. But though the women learned to spin, they need more training so it's absolutely smooth with no little lumps. That will take a month, he says. So we want to send four people to train with him and one will learn spinning, one dyeing, one floor loom and one wall loom. Then the idea is the four experts will go home and share and they will work as a co-op.
So I will close the wool blog for now. Lilly and I will go to Samburu tomorrow for a one-day safari. On Sunday we return to Juja to Sister Luise's place (about four hours from Meru) and early Monday morning Sister Luise's driver will take us to the airport. We'll overnight in London and hopefully get to visit a lively pub and then we return to Denver where we will undoubtedly feel some culture shock as we return home. It is a different world here!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Susan - July 17th 2008
The early morning was spent again with three stations set up-- three wall looms, spinning and our loom. The three teachers taught at each of the stations.
We did another wool dying session, this time using two colors for green, then three for brown. It was very fun and interesting.
The rest of the day was spent in the hands- on training with the three stations set up. There was so much activity going on. I am so exhausted from it all, but it is a happy exhaustion. I really feel we done good!
More projects were finished and George says everyone is improving. In the afternoon, four people learned how to warp our loom (put the threads on) which is so wonderful, because that is the most complicated part of the process. As usual I left at 6:30 pm and there were still people there weaving and spinning. Lilly always finishes out the day with a short spinning lesson and both George and the spinner said that she is doing a really, really fine job at spinning the thin yarn, which is so valuable here. They are so impressed with her. I wish we had time to send her to Nairobi for training. She could really be a great weaver and spinner!Karamana, Karambu's sister returned for the first time today. Since she is in charge of the women's projects, it was so nice for her to return. She agrees that it's valuable to keep the momentum up and get the four (including) herself trained in Nairobi. So Lilly has her work cut out for her in fundraising, and Karmana will also apply to a women's fund to try to get some money to get the training going. It's possible International Peace Initiatives can put out some money for the training too. It's up to the board of directors.
I guess that's it for today. Tomorrow the weaving teachers stay till noon, then we say goodbye to them as they make their way back to Nairobi.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Susan - July 16th 2008
Also today three placemats were finished and one small rug on the loom. Also another doublestranded skein was finished. It's so great when everyone is working on stuff and George can walk around and fine tune people. Everyone is improving so much and several women are really good on spinning. Lilly is now an expert! But there is a lot of training yet to go, before they can do something commercially. Slowly and surely we are getting there.
George loves our Ladybug spinning wheel. He said that it is a great spinning wheel to do very fine (thin) yarn, and that that fetches a high price. It is much faster than his commercial spinning wheel to do such yarn. He wants them for his staff. He calculated that a woman working six days a week spinning for eight hours could earn about $415 a week, a huge amount of money by Kenyan standards and also a way to start becoming self sufficient so that each of the women (and men) could purchase their own wheel. When I told this to one of the International Peace Initiative staff, she was cautious, saying she really wants to know what the market is for this fine yarn. So I will quiz George about it tomorrow. I also got some good figures for how much it will cost to train four people for one month, and for living expenses and materials. It was about $600 a month per person all inclusive. He feels once we do this, then there are a core group of experts and after that those trained people can come back to train with him in Nairobi for a day or so to fine tune or if they have questions.
I really again feel so lucky to have connected with George. Not only was it lucky I saw his sign, but he told me today that many days he's off in Mombasa (Kenyan coast) selling his rugs to coastal hotels and is not even in the Nairobi office. So it was really meant to be that we connected.
Susan - July 15th 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Susan - July 14th 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Susan's Blog July 13th
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Susan's Blog july 12
It was hard to say goodbye to Paul and Eliot. Paul had to return to work and Eliot returned as he leaves today for a summer program at the University of Reno. Paul will be flying solo for about 10 days.
We decided to take a flight to Mombasa as it was only $60 vs an 8-hour bus ride for about $12. the flight was great except after we said goodbye to Paul and eliot at the airport we realized we were at the wrong airport and our ride had already gone. I was slightly panicked but luckily we had enough time. we actually got a ride in a very nice corporate car for a bank and the executive didn't mind the 20-minute detour. The driver asked for $1500 ksh, about $23, but I got him down to $1000 ksh. The airport we left from was tiny and the plane only sat about 40 passengers, but it was a very enjoyable flight and they even fed us a snack!
The trip to Tiwi beach was unfortunately another 2500 Kenyan shillings to get the driver to take us to the cottages where we were staying. We needed to go on a ferry and it was about a one-hour drive. This area is very Muslim, and there is a totally different feeling down here at the coast. We stayed in a really nice thatched-roof cottage with a kitchen and you could see the beach from our porch. It was huge--she put us in the biggest one because business is slow-- and gave it to us for $52 including all. Really nice African touches to the decor. Kitchen could stand an update though. Every day one of her workers would light a kind of barbecue type thing in the back twice a day which would heat our water so we could take showers. Wild monkeys visited us every evening, which is pretty cool, except one was threatening me several times when I was eating a cookie, so Lilly went out there screaming and waving a towel to scare him off. It was pretty funny. The second time the monkey peed on the edge of our porch, I think in fear, although the owner says that is a sign of embarrassment. There were tons of wild monkeys all over the property, and then the owner who is an animal nut has a pet monkey and got a week-old one while we were there that was rejected by its mother. She let us hold the baby as it didn't have teeth yet to bite. She also had 10 dogs, at least 20 cats, huge outdoor bird ages with all types of tropical birds, and lots of geese and chickens. she buys them and gets them from people who have abused them and gives them a second chance at life.
The beach is absolutely gorgeous, but at first we couldn't spend any time there because every moment someone would come up to us and try to talk to us and then they wanted something from us, to buy something to go snorkeling. It was nonstop, and we finally gave up. We told the owner and one of her workers went down to talk to the group of "beach boys"and miraculously the next few days were blissfully peaceful and we could even purchase a few souvenirs. The problem is there are no tourists. After the Feb violence most people cancelled their trips. It's hard when you are the only customer. The beaches were empty. some days we were the only tourists on the beach. There were never more than five others on the long stretch of white-sand beach.
At our cottage fishermen would come around with crabs, prawns and other catch of the day. I felt bad that we didn't buy, but we had visited the grocery store before we came, and Lilly and i just don't eat that much.
One day we visited Diani Beach as the owner gave us a ride there. This is supposed to be the hub of tourism for Kenya, and those beaches were completely empty too. I only saw two tourists there. Pretty sad.
Now we are in Mombasa waiting for our overnight bus (9 hours, arrives Nairobi 6 am to Nairobi and then we are taking a Matatu (public transport van, but not a very nice one) to Meru (four hours). I hope all goes well. All the Sunday flights were booked and we needed to get back to Meru. A weaver we met in Nairobi is coming with two of his weavers on Monday and Tues. to train the women and two men). I want to be there for the training, and to videotape part of it. This will feel like we really completed a big part of the project. From there I hope the women will practice for a month and then the trainers can come back for more advanced training in a month or so. They are going to train in three small simultaneous groups instead of one big one. In this way the three groups can later share what they learned among each other and it saves time for the head weaver who cannot leave his business for very long. I liked him when I met him, and I liked his work, so hope fully all will go well. The total cost for the two days is $300 including travel, which is four hours each way in addition to the two teaching days. I'
I'll blog again when we arrive in Meru.
Lilly's post July 12th
We finally got a weaver to come to Meru. He is coming on monday. it feels good to finally have it started and going. Any way after we dropped dad and Eliot at the air port we went over to Kenya air ways to find out we were at the wrong airport and had to go to Wilson airport instead. We went on a one hour flight to Mombasa. On the flight we got food and a drink. For the plane's size it was really smooth and didn't make much noise. After we landed we had a taxi that took us to coral cove ( the place were staying at) the self catering cottage we got was fantastic and they had monkeys there. They were tame wild monkeys. The owner has a orphaned monkey that she was tacking care of. It was sooooooooooooo cute. We got to sit on the beach . at first beach boys kept annoying us but after we told the owner she talk to them and they stooped. We'll be tacking a night bus to Nairobi. It leaves 9:00 pm and arrives 6:00 am. Then we will take a matatu to Meru for the last days we are here so we can see the weaver come.
Smile,
Lilly
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Susan's Blog July 5
From Lilly: July 5th, 2008
Yesterday, I got back from a safari. I saw lots of animals, including lions, elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, zebra, wildebeast, hyenas, deer, and birds. The coolest thing we saw were some lions eating a zebra. The campsite we stayed at was owned by the Masai people, a local tribe. We also visited their village, and they have lots of different customs. One of the wierdest customs was when they mixed cow milk and blood together and drank it. We found a very nice and talented weaver, who is willing to teach the women! See ya!
Smile,
Lilly
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
July 1st upload- Susan
We also hiked on Sunday to a huge waterfall. Trails in Kenya are nothing like the US. There are so many machetes here--we could have used one that day. We also had to hop from rock to rock in the river. Not so fun for me, but the waterfall was beautiful.
We decided to leave Meru since we have taught everything we know, and are hoping a weaver can come before Lilly and I depart. Now we are in Juja, visiting my friend, Efrem, who works with Sister Luise. For those of you who don't know, I was in Kenya in 2005, staying with Sister Luise to write a magazine article on the Sudanese women that Congregation Har HaShem got out of the refugee camp and to Sister Luise's care until they received their visas and immigrated to the US. Unfortunately Sister Luise is still in Germany getting an operation on her knee. But it's fun to see Efrem and all the children. I brought an old doctor's kit of my children's and as we were leaving I saw a "patient" on the bed with the "doctor" listening to her heart. Very cute! Today we visited the huge and wonderful Tuesday Masai market in Nairobi. We took a matatu-always an adventure-and turned down the first two because they were charging double. The third was charging double also but we took it, and lat
er saw that one of the ones we had turned down had hit a bus. It was the first accident we have seen here. No one looked hurt, but I am sure they had to wait a long time or figure out other transport. It's not like the US where they would just call another bus. We felt fortunate.
Tomorrow we go on a three-day camping safari to Masai Mara and see the migration of the Wilderbeest (not sure how to spell it). Paul and Eliot leave on Monday. After that Lilly and I are not sure what we'll do. At some point we'll probably return to Meru. There is an early morning aerobics class we really want to attend there. What a land of contrasts! We also want to learn how to make chapates (like tortillas) and we hope to videotape a weaver coming to teach the crew.
Susan