The group then went to visit the Lake Victoria-Michelle Obama Academy, a one-room school constructed within the Nyaoga Clinic compound. The program originally began within one of the small rooms of the clinic but now has its own building.
The "Academy" provides 7th and 8th grade primary education for young mothers who dropped out of primary school when they married and had children. There is a benefit to education in general and, in Kenya, having the 8th grade certificate does open some doors.These 36 women are there regularly with one to three children in tow.
Two teachers split the responsibilities for two grades and many classes. It's difficult for the young women to take the time, but they are committed to completing at least primary education. Many would like to go on to secondary school, but that is more problematic. Greater fees are needed, and children cannot join in. What this points up is the cultural problem of very early marriage and immediate and frequent childbearing. But these young women are indeed impressive.
Had a bit of a rest in the staff house, then Bob Horn and I divided up the gifts GUW had purchased for us to take to our families for the "Day in the life." We attended the meeting of the Living Positively group, a 28-member mixed group of mostly women but with some men who are HIV Positive and have publicly acknowledged their status -- difficult within this culture. Many have no employment and no income. The group has been working on a business plan which was finally completed and received GUW approval at this meeting. They know it will take at least 3 months to make any profit, but it is hoped that the project (selling kerosene) will result in ongoing and regular income.
Had lunch at the staff house and waited for our "Day in the life" families who were originally supposed to come at 2 but didn't arrive until between 4 and 5. Grace picked me up at 4:20. We walked to her home which was 10 to 15 minutes away. Grace's husband Charles has a knee problem, probably in need of knee replacement surgery, an impossibility here. He uses a cane and has limited mobility. Mary warned me that he might spend a lot of time complaining and try to get me/GUW to do something. He did explain his circumstances and that he was in pain most of the time, but did not belabor the point. I talked mostly with Charles since his English was better than Grace's -- although I really liked her.
Grace and Charles have only one child, a daughter who lives quite far away. Although married she has no children, having lost one baby (and maybe being infertile as a result). By comparison with my Ugandan "Day in the life" family and particularly in comparison with the families in the slum homes we'd visited in Tororo, Grace and Charles appeared well off. (It's amazing how one's standards adjust to the circumstances!) Their home has a cement floor and has two good-sized rooms. Because Charles was a fisherman in his younger days and at that time fisherman made really good money, the house has actual furniture -- a couch and 3 chairs as well as a bed on a frame off the ground.
The separate kitchen building is larger than many, and there are additional out-buildings housing hens and goats. They have a privy just for their own use. In addition to the hens and goats, they have 2 cows, used for plowing and for a little milk, and 2 calves. They appeared to have a reasonably large piece of land for farming nearby and another at a bit of a distance. I told Charles he was wealthy!
Grace and I walked about 15 minutes to the market where she bought some greens and tomatoes. Then we walked back, and she prepared dinner -- a maize ugali and greens. The greens were quite tasty; I was glad I had a plastic fork with me so I didn't have to use the ugali (pretty tasteless stuff) as a utensil. I offered them a taste of the tuna I had brought but, like every other African who'd been offered tuna, they didn't like it. However, their cat LOVED it. She was quite thrilled with the taste so I left the remainder of the package for her continued enjoyment.
Charles had milked the goat before dinner; the cat got that for its food. After dinner Grace milked the two cows; she drank the milk since Charles didn't like it at all.
At 7:30 we headed back for the staff house along with Amy and her host, Grace and Charles' neighbor. It was a bit dark; I was glad I had my headlamp with me. Dinner was served at the staff house at 8:15. I wasn't hungry but did eat a little of delicious garlic mashed potatoes. Spent the rest of the evening downloading pictures and printing off several to take to Grace and Charles in the morning. (I'd brought along a small printer for pictures.)
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