Kenya 2008

WELCOME to our KENYA 2008 blogsite!

We have developed this blog to follow Chris Gaido's and Jim Koenigsaecker's trip to Kenya this November 2008. The photo (left) shows Chris (on the right, if you hadn't guessed!) with his friend, George Tito and family in Migori, Kenya. If I had gotten started any sooner, we might have gotten a photo of Jim for the site as well. That will happen soon!

Jim is the CEO of Building Innovations Group (BIG), of Redding, CA. BIG has provided funding for a brick-making facility which is to be run by a local women's group in a village called Migori, near Lake Victoria. The region is plagued with poverty and disease, specifically malnourishment due to food shortages and a high density of HIV cases, among other problems. Also, Kenya recently experienced civil unrest associated with its last election and many structures in the region were destroyed in the violence.

Chris and Jim will purchase the brick-making equipment in Nairobi and arrange for its transport to Migori. Once in Migori, Chris and Jim will oversee the construction of a building where bricks can be dried and stored and meet with the women's group to plan the operations and maintenance of the facility.

Also near Migori are two hand-dug wells which Chris plans to deepen, sanitize, install hand-pumps, and seal. That will be their next adventure. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the well right behind the children. You can see how it would need to be sanitized, sealed, and how nice it would be to have a pump to obtain the water.

Once things in the Migori area are underway, a stop in Nanyuki is on the itinerary. Nanyuki is the city where Chris spent his Peace Corps years (see his history below). In Nanyuki, Chris plans to distribute several donated laptops, some water-quality testing equipment, and some clothing. His many friends and contacts in Nanyuki include Jerry Daniels (see photo right), a longtime missionary and friend who has constructed a church, a private school, and a new public library (2006).

In Nanyuki Chris will also explore the potential

for a kiosk where cell phones could be charged for a nominal fee. Cell phones are remarkably prolific in Kenya where only post offices have had telephone lines. Most people live without running water and electricity in their homes, making it difficult for them to charge their cell phones.

BACKGROUND

Now that we have detailed Chris and Jim's upcoming adventure, here is a little background on Chris and his time in Kenya...

Chris's passion for helping the Kenyan people began with his Peace Corps service in Nanyuki (1991-1993) and subsequent work under the Catholic Diocese of Marsabit (1993-1995). His work in northern Kenya has involved various water treatment and water distribution issues as well as crop stability and agricultural investigations.

Chris returned to the U.S. to obtain a M.S. in Civil Engineering and has maintained contact with many individuals in Kenya. He encourages his friends and coworkers in Kenya to develop project proposals that are both purposeful for their communities and reasonable in terms of operation, maintenance, and cost. He continually keeps an eye and an ear open for opportunities to match funding with projects and for another excuse to visit.

In 2000, Chris visited the South Nyanza province to investigate crop instability issues through the Farmer-to-Farmer program funded by USAID. He found that irrigation water channelled from Lake Victoria to nearby maize and bean crops actually became so salty (leaching salts from the soils lining the canals), that by the time it reached the crops, it killed the plants.

Chris returned to Kenya in 2006 to lay the groundwork for a spring protection system and water distribution system near Migori, in the South Nyanza province. Chris also stopped in Kitkern to help improve a local water supply system and Nanyuki to visit the newly constructed library for which he and Monique helped send 1300 lbs of books through their local church community.

Thanks for joining us and we look forward to your comments! Apparently you must open a gmail account to post comments. It's a free service, and we're sorry for the inconvenience. We hope to expand our blog to a service which is more available to others in the near future.

Monique and Chris