Images from Kenya

From top: orphan feeding center, chicken coop at feeding center, woman balancing basket on head, drying corn maize slurry pancakes in sun, Kisumu farmer's market stalls, riding through town in a tuk tuk.

I live and work in the city of Kisumu on the shoreline of Lake Victoria. These pictures are some of the things that I see every day. The orphan feeding center is located about one hour away in the village of Ombeyi. There are over 1,000 orphans who aren't getting enough food and the feeding center serves only about 50 children from nearby schools. They walk as far as a mile during their lunch break for what might be their only meal of the day. Many of these children have lost their mothers or fathers due to the high rates of HIV/AIDS in the region- over 30% I think. The poultry project and chicken coop are part of the sustainability program we are launching to provide a revenue stream to keep the feeding center open. Funding for the orphan feeding center will end in June 2010 so the chickens must be making a profit by then. We have 250 one day old chicks arriving soon and we are planning to raise them for 6 weeks into broiler chickens. Profits from the sale of the chickens will be used to purchase food for the orphans and to buy the next batch of chickens. This is a high risk project but the rewards will be great if we can succeed.

The women here often carry heavy loads on their heads and make it look easy. So far, I have yet to see a man carrying anything in that way- must be a cultural taboo or maybe lazy men. The Kisumu farmer's market is a busy and colorful place where you can buy fresh vegetables, fruits, rice, beans, spices and even live chickens. The corn or maize flour is prepared into a pancake like mixture and dried in the sun. It becomes hard like a biscuit which is one way of preserving the flour. The cakes are then boiled and made into an oatmeal like porridge.

A common means of getting around is the tuk tuk. It is a three wheeled golf cart like vehicle made by Piaggio in Italy. It holds 3 passengers, vibrates heavily, spews smoke and goes about 5mph. Riding gets a bit dicey when you are sharing the road with diesel trucks, cars, bicycles, cows and push carts. There are no traffic lights, painted lines, directional signs, or apparent traffic rules. You occupy the road at your own risk and you never assume anyone sees you or will attempt to avoid hitting you. Defensive driving skills are a must. Tuk tuks are at the mercy of the faster vehicles which is just about everything except a pedestrian. Before getting into a tuk tuk you negotiate the price. A ride across the city is about 100 shillings (1 US dollar = 75 Kshs Kenyan shillings) and worth the price if you are carrying groceries or heavy loads. We walk almost everywhere and when combined with the heat and humidity it becomes a good workout.

If you look out the right side of the window from the tuk tuk you can see that I am passing a makeshift trash dump. Trash collection does not exist and most of the time it is just set on fire and burned creating a noxious smoke.

I am working alongside six other GSK volunteers who come from around the world. Two are from Italy, one is from the UK, one is from Canada and two are from Philadelphia, USA. We all have different skills and experiences that compliment each other- human resources, IT, manufacturing and supply, clinical science, nursing, drug safety and microbiology. Living and working together is a bit like being in a college dorm again but we have quickly developed into a tight knit team. Other projects we are engaged with- the hygiene program which teaches the villagers how to properly wash their hands and importance of drinking clean water to prevent transmission of disease, a new pharmacy management and information system to avoid drug losses from expired drugs and to improve efficiency in drug ordering, installing an IT system at the Ombeyi Medical Centre to improve documentation and tracking of patients, improving the development and training of all healthcare staff at the OGRA Foundation including managers and of course the orphan feeding program and poultry project.