From theory to practice

Some members of Tuala youth initiative group with their donated football siting atop their home made one. Taken on 14th September.

In my efforts to get involved in local community development, I recently accepted an invitation to attend a fund raising for the proposed secondary school in our locality. They have a shell of the secondary school that was started but construction stalled after the contractor fled with the money half way through. The event was moderately attended and a fair amount was raised. This type of fund raising activity brings forth several troubling issues. Among them is the question of accountability. The money raised sometimes gets ‘misplaced somehow’ and those that sat in the sun baking as they handed over that they did not have, are left with nothing but hopes and dreams. Another issue is following through. As previously noted contractors are notorious for accepting money for a project and then abandoning it half way or not doing anything at all. It is usually difficult to pursue these shady contractors once they have accepted the money. Will the school get constructed in time for next year’s school intake? Time will tell and I will keep readers informed of developments.
I also attended a neighborhood meeting of Rongai residents and business people a few weeks ago. The topic discussed was garbage and sewage. As mentioned in the previous article, on entering Ongata Rongai from Nairobi, you are met by open sewage spewing a green murky liquid substance. It is said many a small animal that had the misfortune to stumble into these open drainage systems has been vaporized, never to roam the earth again.
In addition to the garbage and sewer issues, we also discussed building codes, access roads and a few other topics that were not on the agenda. At the end, the participants came up with four resolutions to adopt and implement. My take on this neighborhood meeting is that while the the nothing is going to be done as we have a very ineffective County Council that in my opinion earns a failing grade in the provision of basic services.
Getting Involved
I have begun visiting neighbors and town residents and have met a few development minded citizens. In the course of my ‘meet the people tour’ I met a group of local youth who work in the nearby quarries loading trucks with stones. A little background is deserved. Kajiado County has many rocky areas that are mined for building stones. At the entrance to our town, which is more like a trading center, a group of youth waits for trucks coming from outside the area. They then hop unto the trucks to be loaders of the building stones that are mined in the hinterland. The truck owners have an agreement with the local youth to provide loading work to them in exchange for buying stones from their area. I met the chairman of this group who shared a little about this group. He told me they are a registered group and have an account where every member contributes a set sum weekly. He told me that recently his group has stalled and contributions were no longer being given as regularly. He heartily welcomed me and told me he would like a visionary to help propel their youth group further. Since community activism is what I am all about, I humbly welcomed his invitation to work with his group in engaging the youth in social and recreational activities. The youth in rural Kenya are prone to partaking illicit brews due to boredom or lack of worthwhile engagements.
One of my first gestures of being involved was donating a football to the youth to play with as they waited for loading work. Previously they had been using a homemade football composed of nylon and bound together by sisal rope. This small token was received with much appreciation. Going forward we plan to start a local football team. Duties have been assigned. Among them are scouting suitable grounds, pricing hardware for the goal posts and approaching corporations for sponsorship.
I will keep readers appraised of developments.