Thursday 28 April

Staff attendance

Eyrun and Eli aren’t in today.  Eyrun’s ill with a bad headache.  Eli’s got important stuff to sort out in town.  Another local staff does not show up to work today and as usual does not take the initiative to let the Director know.  Once again, Julie follows up with a phone call.  This is not uncommon.  Local staff are not in the habit of sending apologies or communicating when and why they are unable to come into work.  For the time I have been here,  at least two days out of five, one staff member is absent with no explanation.  On the other hand though, they generally have very valid reasons, such as a child being unwell, financial problems at home that impact on their ability to come into work, etc.  Still, regardless of how valid these reasons are, it is a tricky one to work with, and I feel for Julie.  This is not a challenge that is easily rectified.  Still I have to focus on why I’m here.  

My patience runs out

The challenge for me in particular is the fact that the staff member who is not in today is very difficult to communicate with and generally does not seem interested in working here.  Now, it is one thing motivating staff with no financial incentives; it’s another thing motivating staff who seem to have no interest in their work – I think it’s impossible.  This afternoon, I’m supposed to be working with her and supporting her on the programme that she is responsible for.  Ironically, she chose to meet with me today to discuss her programme.   Part of my work here is to manage, support and help make more effective each of the programmes that the organisation runs.  I only have a few months to make any impact and today in particular I’m running out of patience and do not feel I have the time to wait for people to come round.  On the other hand I know how soul destroying it can be to work on something that one is not keen on, and I’d rather not put us both through the impossible.  So I make a decision.   I take the initiative and suggest to Julie that two other members of staff who are keen and more reliable take over the Economic Empowerment programme and share responsibility of it as they already have two other projects that they are responsible for.  Julie seems agreeable with this – she understands where I’m coming from and she has more knowledge of her staff than I do obviously.  I’m happy with this; now I feel I can get on with things and that I have a team of people I can work with.

Managing expectations 

I get through a fair amount of work today including filling in the gaps of the grants management database with Julie.  There are still some missing elements but this is very much a work in progress.   In addition, we have what I can only describe as an influx of people living with HIV/AIDs (PLWHAs) coming into our office to register.  They have photocopies of their medical cards and their ID cards.  I’m impressed at how a little effort from our side goes a long way to making our job easier.  A few days ago, we created a form to help us assess how best we support PLWHAs and we began using these registration forms yesterday during PLWHA Group therapy.  These women have been ‘mobilised’ by one of their own and are trooping in.  I begin to think this organisation needs no leaflets or brochures.  We’re swamped, as we can be in this tiny office.  It’s evidence of how word spreads very quickly around here.  But, I am also fully aware that the reason they are trooping in is because they have expectations.  This is the first time in a long while, I think, that the organisation has used a detailed form like this, therefore this is something new to this group of PLWHAs that we plan to support.  

Lucky or blessed?

I help to register some of them today, and once again I realise how very lucky I am.    ‘Lucky’, not ‘blessed’ – although my mother will have me use the latter.  But I find it difficult and it does not sit well with me - if I describe myself as ‘blessed’ in this context, does that suggest that these PLWHAs are not ‘blessed’? I find that difficult to answer.  

The long rains begin 

About an hour before we leave for home, the heavens open and it rains cats and dogs.  I’m not sure which I prefer – that it started raining heavily close to the end of the day, as one half of the office leaks really badly, or that we are indoors when it starts raining as Kibera is definitely not the place to be when it rains - it’s muddy and slippery.   Since I’ve been here, Kenyans have been waiting for the long rains.  This is the first proper sign I’ve seen of it.  Our office tin roofing and it’s pretty low.  So when it rains there’s no escaping the constant loud thud of rain on the tin roof.  This is definitely tropical rain, not England rain.  Forget raincoats and umbrellas – we have no choice but to sit in the office and wait the rain out.  Wait it out for as long as is possible until it stops or at best until there’s a pause.   With the other office leaking badly (and with buckets placed strategically to catch water leaking into the office) it’s clear to me that when it rains, there’s not much work that can be done in the office.  This is not a challenge I want to deal with.  How do you plan for rain and a leaking office?  Besides getting a new office which would require resources that the organisation does not have at the moment, I have no idea.

Rush hour in Kibera

We wait until the rain eases off and then we leave immediately.  It’s the rush hour.  If you thought Clapham Junction was bad with the influx of people, Kibera is worse at 5pm, coupled with the fact that one needs to watch where one walks with or without rain. Without rain, there’s sewage strewn around and open gutters where  you don’t expect them.  Of course the ‘roads’ aren’t tarmaced, and are terribly uneven.  So when it rains, there are mini floods and streams of water everywhere, and in the rush hour at the end of the day it seems there are more people that come into Kibera than leave it, so it’s easy to find yourself walking into people.  

These boots are made for walking!

It’s times like these that I say a small thank you for the small things in life ... my walking shoes.  I do a sort of walk, hop, skip and jump to get home.  By the time I’m home my shoes have collected more mud than I can imagine. Not only from Kibera but also from the last five minutes or so of my journey  home which is also dirt road that gets terribly muddy when it rains.  Over the next few weeks, with the long rains persisting, I have more journeys like these to get through!!!