Kenya community tour, heroes and heroines

Planet

In the Kikuyu and Maasai communities that you visit on this tour, your hosts have embraced organic farming.

This is an opportunity to see small scale farming using biogas systems which convert waste into non-polluting organic fertilizer. Biogas means that waste no longer pollutes ground water supplies by being captured in the biogas system and is then broken down by sunlight. And in the local communities that you visit you can discuss with your hosts how this came about and the challenges they faced. And because the organic fertilizer is now used on their small plots of land, the yields are higher, and this has helped their secure a regular food supply. Guests on this tour will be able to see this local initiative and action remembering that the local farms of the Kikuyu grandmas and the Maasai supply all the food for their families.
You can also talk to the grandmas and your Maasai hosts about the improvement in their health as a result because previously they were ingesting the smoke from fires and/or coal.

You will also be able to see how the forest is regenerating because they no longer must forage for firewood as the biogas (fueled by cow and pig manure provides all their energy needs. This tour gives guests the opportunity to talk to these community leaders face to face and see these local initiatives for themselves.

People

Empowering Women
The tour enables our guests to meet and have conversations with of the most inspiring Kenyan who are leaders in their communities. In addition to what you will experience in this program, it’s the one-on-one face time with these amazing Kenyans which will give you unique insights into life in Kenya.

You will get the opportunity to talk to Mary, a woman who has set out on a path of achieving economic empowerment for women impacted by the effects of poverty. Mary will explain some of the unique challenges and opportunities that the norms of Kenyan society has placed on marginalized women. She provides unique insights into Kenyan life and her accounts are riveting and equally inspiring. The women’s center that she founded is the backdrop for the activities on the day and you will meet the current class of women who are on their journey to economic empowerment.

Maasai Community Leaders
In the Maasai community you are visiting on this tour you will meet Daniel (a village elder) and his wife Rispa. These two are unique in being married for over 20 years. Most of Daniel’s contemporaries have a number of wives. Daniel and Rispa are advocates for monogamous relationships, the education of girls as well as leading the community against FGM. They are role models in their community and their insights in regard to the Maasai community will surprise you. You get the opportunity to sit down with them in their home and talk to them about their role in the community.

Kikuyu Grandmas Leading Change
In Kenya 50% of the population live on or below the poverty line and average annual incomes are $1,400 per year. Social service pensions are virtually non-existent. And grandmas are often left with the job of raising their grandchildren.

Within this context you will meet your grandma hosts who are forging change in their communities. Their economic empowerment through the pig farming program and as tour guides has given them a new perspective. They now provide piglets to new grandmas wanting to come into the program and they have become mentors to their contemporaries at a time when many people in other societies would have retired. The grandmas provide insight into their culture from the perspective of women in the 70’s and their insights are revealing.