first impressions

I have spent the last 4 months living and working in a rural Kenyan village. Chebukuyi village, situated just along the road from the Ugandan border, looks very much like the classic preconceived idea of what an ‘African village’ looks like. A wide red dusty road runs through the centre, with fields of high maize on either side. Goats are tethered and grazing by the side of the track road – and children are running by, chewing on sugar cane or wielding sticks of some sort. Women pass carrying jerry cans of water balanced precariously on their heads, as they gesture widely chatting to friends, discussing their crops or the latest village drama. Local matatus (small cars/ buses) fly by, literally stuffed full of, what on closer inspection turn out to be people – crammed in so tightly men sit with their shoulders and arm out the window, men huddle in the boot, the driver kindly shares his seat with a fellow passenger and of course there are chickens on every lap. The roof is strained with bags of crops and luggage strapped on, and usually empty jerry cans are strapped on to the back window, flying around at each tight corner. This may sound overly stereotyped – but this is really just what a usual morning looks and sounds like!

However beneath this rather quaint scene, there are devastating statistics highlighting the sheer poverty of this village and the surrounding area. I won’t bore you with all the details – but in brief here goes: the area has one of the highest and most constant high levels of typhoid in East Africa; malaria is as common as the cold; HIV wiped out a large proportion of the adult population 10 years ago, and the community is still suffering from the spread of the disease. Apart from this girls are married as young as 15, there are high levels of infant mortality, high rates of illiteracy, and there is very poor health care provision. It is rare for girls to finish high school – and many boys drop out early due to not being able to pay the school fees or pressure from parents to start working and contributing towards the family. This is a mere overview of some of the major issues facing just one small area in Kenya – and there are so many more villages even worse off.

I have been travelling to Kenya since 2008 – but only ever for 3 months maximum time. Travelling with the CHASE team – and teaching communities across Kenya about how to prevent the spread of common diseases, and how to care for the environment; I wanted to see for myself what it is really like living in one of these villages. What is it really like living in a mud hut – with no water, no electricity, no special treats, no luxuries for months on end? What does everyday life here look like? What does it feel like to live in poverty and how do villagers really survive? What does it feel like to survive on less than 50p a day? And most importantly – can I hack it? I was soon to find out…