FRIENDS OF TURKANA July 2009

Elizabeth Bailey, Linda Gibbs, Gerri Hernandez, Torkil Heggstad, Anna Hogan, Michael Hogan, Paul Kennedy, Fr. Mark Lane, Leo McMahon, Ryan McMahon,

Tom McMahon, Millie Tam

Produced by: Michael P. Hogan

Friends Of Turkana

• One of the main goals for this trip to Kenya by the Friends of Turkana was to visit a community whose goal was sustainability. That is, it would become self sufficient, not dependent on hand outs and charity. The Nyambani Orphanage and community has as one its goals sustainability. The community now has 460 orphans and 46 house mothers (grand mothers) on 1000 acres of land around 200 kilometers from Nairobi. The goal is to house 1000 orphans. Most of the orphans come from Nairobi and many have lost parents to AIDS. The community has built most of its own primary schools.

• The village solar powered pumps irrigating (drip) vegetable and has fruit gardens. It also has a cash crop of trees for timber – these will take around eight years to mature . Herds of goats and other livestock are fed from the village gardens. The community makes their own bricks and the wood stock is milled in their own “Polytechnic Institute”. At this time in the community is dependent on outside support but they have a plan in place where they should be self sufficient within ten years. This is the model (or parts) we want to duplicate in the Turkana communities.

Turkana

The Turkana communities are mostly nomadic. There is a great deal of goat and camel herding. There is serious overgrazing which negatively impacts the already parched environment. Water resources are scarce and underdeveloped. Barely one third of the students go to primary school and 95% of the schools were built by NGO’s. Although the state does provide teachers (ill trained and barely paid) there are practically no school supplies. The following is a photo chronicle of our visit this year.

Africa

Kenya

Turkana, Kenya

The Friends of Turkana - 2009

Nyambani Orphanage - a community moving toward sustainability

Nyambani - Children’s Cottages – There are now 460 Orphan and 46 Grandmothers

The Farm at Nyambani

Brick Making at Nyambani

Tree Farm for Timber – The Cash Crop

Nyambani Village Polytechnic

The Nyambani – Polytechnic School

The “Barn” at Nyambani

Construction of the Cottages

The Grandmothers – House Mothers

The Nyambani Children

A Nyambani Baby and Anna

The Primary School At Monti - Lodwar

Anna with a Student at the Monti School

Poetry Recital at the Vulnerable Children’s Program - Lodwar

The Abandoned Children Program - Lodwar

The Primary School at Losajait

School Supplies for Students at Losajait

The Bore Hole with Hand Pump at Sopel

The Deaf School - Lodwar

The Children of Natoo

The Foundation of the Natoo Primary School 2002

The School at Natoo – Mastering the art of concrete block making

Construction of the Natoo Primary School 2002

The Finished School at Natoo 2004

Meeting the Natoo Community 2009

A Solar Powered Well at Kalimapus

The “Shores” of Lake Turkana at Kalimapus

The Motor and Controls for the Well

The Kalimapus Community Greets the Friends of Turkana

A Gift for the Friends of Turkana from the Villagers of Kalimapus

The frame of the “Stolen” Solar panels in Kataboi

The Turkana Basin

The Turkana Basin Institute

Dr. Shirley Kenney President (ret.)– SUNY - Stony Brook at the Turkana Basin Institute

Village Outside the Turkana Institute and evidence of severe drought and climate change

The School Teacher at the Turkana Basin Village

Farming in Lodwar – Food for the Vulnerable Children’s Program

The Cow Peas and Maze are Sprouting in Four Days

Making Textiles for Products to be sold to Support the Vulnerable Children’s Program

Textile Making on a Manual Loom

Farewell to the Children of Turkana

Thank you to all the Friends of Turkana whose contributions made this trip a success. With your help we brought clothes, school supplies, some sweat and most of all hope

to these wonderful people.Friends Of Turkana: Mary Lai, Kathy Hill-Miller, Rhoda Grauer, Julia DeCarlo, Terry

Bordan, Camille Marzilliano, Staci Karathanasis, June Scheu, Joan McCarthy, Anne B. Morrison, Dan Aroaz, Bob Manheimer, Paul Forestell, Rob Altholz, Jeff Kane, Iftikar

Ahmad, and special thanks to Emily and Mike Seiman

Sunset in Kenya 2009

On Safari in the Masai Mara

The King of the Jungle

Giraffes in the shade

Jaguars by a Creek

Wildebeasts checking

The Catholic Cathedral in Nairobi

Commemoration of Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Cathedral in Nairobi