Construction Team Extraordinaire

I visit the construction site of Pamba Zuko's building, sponsored by friends in the US. The building is being constructed in the heart of the Nyalenda slum area to provide education to adults and children, focusing on widows and orphans. When I arrive, Walter is busy directing the crew in mixing cement and pouring the foundation, with the help of a professional contractor, William, who is donating his time. The project brings hope to the people around the site. Caroline and Karen are active with Pamba Zuko and prepare meals for the workers, in addition to bringing water to the site for mixing cement. The main water source for Nyalenda flows next to the building site. It is clogged with plastic bags and other trash. Clogged. I tell Walter we must clean the stream from Ring Road to Pamba Zuko's building and perhaps beyond. Maybe all the way to the river. Perhaps we can teach the community children to clean the area, dividing the children into teams and assigning them a segment of the stream to maintain. What parent would toss feces-filled plastic bags into a stream being maintained by children? None, we hope. The Mama at the back of the slums, who owns a large plot of land next to the river, has agreed to allow Pamba Zuko to construct a water collection site on her land (to be built with bricks from our building) where water will be purified and available to residents of Nyalenda. Right now, hogs wallow in the water, pit latrines leak into the stream and it is constantly contaminated by people stepping in its flow after they've visited the bathroom. People simply bend down with a plastic Kimbo container and collect the water they'll use to cook and bathe with, even though a hog is rolling in the stream a few yards ahead. We're still working out how to ensure residents take ownership of the purified water source and help keep the area clean. The Mama is also allowing Pamba Zuko to plant a garden on her land. This will give widows and children a space to grow their own food and to grow food for selling. We hope to teach a strong work ethic through this community garden. Walter and I also talk about cleaning up the area around our building and planting cacti to dress it up. Because goats roam freely through the slums, as seen in the photos, any flowers or shrubs we plant will be eaten. So we'll use cacti and other hearty plants for landscaping. With plans to keep our compound clean, we want to teach cleanliness by example. After the building is completed and the purified water source is available, we'll begin working with clusters of homes to build and maintain their sanitary latrines. These very basic things, clean water and sanitary toilets, will be addressed before we begin teaching income-generating activities to the widows and before we begin educating orphans so they can enter school at the level of their peers. Pamba Zuko has something other aid organizations don't have. Walter Odede, who grew up there and who still lives there. He knows the people inside and out. Walter knows how to take his neighbor's negative, suspicious attitudes and turn them around to see Pamba Zuko's vision for the children. I've seen him turn people on several occasions. Today, the man who lives next door sits with our workers as they eat lunch. He's drunk and irritated, trying to provoke the men, somehow angry that we are putting up a building. Walter talks with the man and invites him to be in the photos. The man lifts a shovel of mortar and throws it in the wood frame, his face smiling hugely at the camera. After he's included in the photos, our neighbor is on our side. When I leave, Walter walks with me to Ring Road. As we stand talking, a parade comes down the road, led by men on skates in bright yellow t-shirts. Seven vehicles pass by, the largest supporting a musical band dressed in nutty costumes. They are promoting Tusker's new beer. Everyone runs from the slums to see this spectacle, especially the children. The music is pumping and the paraders are smiling and waving. They pass on by, headed to town toward the mountains of the Rift Valley escarpment, and things return to normal along Ring Road. Well, normal for Nyalenda.