Stories about people

Alison Clarke, is the Institute of Education's Continuing Professional Development Coordinator at the University of Worcester.

She's visiting one of Christian Aid's successful water projects on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital city, Nairobi.

Alison Clarke

The project is in the shanty town of Kibera, which is Africa's largest slum, with approximately one million inhabitants.

Alison, who's 58 and from Hallow near Worcester, is chair of the Worcester Christian Aid committee.

She has been involved with Christian Aid ever since she was asked to do a collection in her local church, 10 years ago.

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29/6/09

Having spent three days in Nairobi itself, it was interesting to visit a rural project.

UCCS is a development organisation connected to the Anglican diocese of Ukambani, which lies to the east of Nairobi.

Alison in Kenya

Funded by Christian Aid, it has been working with a community group in the region, whose harvests have recently been badly affected by lack of rain.

Our journey to the area - by sturdy 4x4 - took about four hours and took us through savannah then up into a range of small hills.

It was a surprisingly green landscape of neatly terraced slopes dotted with small farmsteads and traditional round houses, some shaded by mango trees.

In the fields I recognised maize, sunflowers and cabbages. (Greens are an important part of the Kenyan diet) - the soil is a strikingly deep red.

Harvest

People in this area rely on the 'short rains' to build up the ground water, which feeds their wells on which they rely in drier seasons.

Really heavy rains normally fill the rivers albeit for a short period.

Over the past three or four years, however, these rains have failed, a pattern which experts are attributing to climate change.

What little rain they had was lost, because it quickly flowed away.

UCCS has worked with the community group, providing essential training to help them to help themselves.

We were greeted on our arrival by the women of the village who danced and sang a greeting in true African style.

Women working

They were proud to show us the sand dam they have been building from rocks collected from the adjacent area.

When rain does come it will be held in the dam and used for crop watering.

Cooking fires are traditionally fuelled by charcoal, but this, of course, necessitates the chopping down of precious trees, which take many years to grow.

So the ladies here are using a different technology for their cooking fires.

They combine dried leaves, other vegetation with paper, and even spent charcoal waste with water, to make a mush which they mould into briquettes then dry in the sun.

They make a really sustainable alternative source of fuel.

Celebrations

They have also started a tree nursery so that felled trees can be replaced in time, and there will be less risk of erosion and loss of valuable farming soil in the local hillsides.

So the day was a real cause for celebration for the village.

Our hosts were really grateful to Christian Aid for funding these projects, and there was much more singing and dancing, a feast and many speeches.

The ladies of the village presented us all with beautiful, handwoven sisal baskets which they had made for us.

I shall treasure mine for a very long time!

23/6/09

It's nearing the end of  a very eventful first day in Nairobi.

Our flight yesterday was smooth and punctual. The highlight for me was seeing the Sahara desert. It must have taken almost three hours to cross it. Looking down, you could see the odd pipeline and a spectacular orange sandstorm going on, beneath the few clouds which were dotted about.

Life is tough

After a briefing this morning at the Nairobi offices of Christian Aid, we were taken this afternoon to the Kibera settlement, just on the outskirts of the city. Nairobi is a city of some four million people, 60% of whom live in 'informal settlements' or slums. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa with around one million inhabitants.

People live in very small dwellings with mud walls and corrugated iron roofs. As you look across the rooftops from the higher ground on which the railway line runs (right through the middle of the settlement) the homes seem joined together into one mass.

Life is very hard here. People are extremely poor, the majority living on less than $1 a day. There are open drains, and the diseases that come with poor sanitation.

We walked through Kibera for about three hours, talking to local people and to the young men from the settlement who acted as our guides. I felt overwhelmed by the sheer extent of the poverty. On the edges, in sharp contrast, new smart blocks of flats on one side and a lush golf course on the other! It's hard to see prosperity side by side with such poverty and not feel angry at this injustice.

Some of the children

But there is hope. One of Christian Aid's partners, MNU, is working with the community to provide sanitation blocks and clean water, at the same time encouraging people to form community groups to look after the blocks, and to work together for a better future. All of this is making a real difference to people's lives.

Everywhere we went we were greeted by small children chanting 'How are you? How are you?' and giggling when we replied. They were really delighted to see their pictures appear on our camera screens.

22/6/09

Ten minutes to take off and I just have time to put some thoughts down as I make last minute preparations for my Kenya trip.

Of course I am very excited about visiting Kenya (and, yes, Africa) for the first time, but, quite naturally, there are a lot of unknowns ahead.

It is brilliant to have an opportunity to travel with Christian Aid, and to see some of the projects which it supports in and around Nairobi.

You won't be surprised to know that I am a little apprehensive too - I just can't imagine what it is like for people who have so little, who live on less than $1 a day, without even decent sanitation and clean water.

But that's what I am going to find out.

So now I am off down to London to meet for the first time the others who are coming on the trip.

More from me soon.

Best wishes, Alison.