The Boma Project

Prosperity with Dignity

  • Home
  • Our Work
    • What We Do
    • Where We Work
    • Why Grants and Not Loans?
    • Who We Are
      • The BOMA Story
      • Our Team in Kenya
      • Our Team in the U.S.
      • BOMA Board of Directors
      • Our Partners
    • Jobs at Boma
  • Impact
    • Impact Reports
  • News
  • From the Field
    • Video Gallery
    • Field Blog
  • Donate
    • Donate to BOMA
    • Our Partners

Swimming with Crocodiles

Posted on 11.05.10 by The BOMA Project

It is hard not to think about crocodiles when you are swimming in Lake Turkana, supposedly the body of water with the highest concentration of crocodiles in the world.  Everyone assures us that the mamba’s (crocodile in Swahili) avoid areas where there are people, especially anywhere near the Elmolo, who hunt the crocodile and incorporate them into their traditional practices.  This includes the requirement that a young man kill a crocodile to achieve warrior status, likely a discouraged practice, much like the maasai who are discouraged from killing a lion for their warrior status.

My swimming buddy, a young Turkana girl

After a morning of training, a carbohydrate-fueled lunch and an afternoon of meetings, the cool water of Lake Turkana is welcome.  Few of the women join me for the full swim, but everyone at least refreshes themselves.  At the men’s beach there is lots of yelling and screaming – boy’s games.  A young Turkana girl joins me and we swim-race out into the lake.  Makombo told us that the mamba’s will not attack people that are blessed, and I pray that those blessings are with us now.

Our training program has been a participatory one.  There is an active dialogue between the Mentors and Kura and I as we refine the questions on BOMA forms for cultural appropriateness and the goal of receiving true and consistent answers to the questions we must ask in order to determine REAP participant data.  Our objective is to establish individual baselines in nutrition, household assets and the education of children.  Those questions will be asked again at one year and at three years to determine change – the most effective way to measure the impact of our poverty reduction program.  The question of how to verify dependents stirs up many questions on both days.  Do we include the children who are living in another household?  Do we include the adults that a household must care for, like the disabled and the elderly?   Do we include the children of a co-wife?

The BOMA Village Mentor Training Program, conducted by Kura

For northern Kenya, we are breaking new ground.  The main activities in the area have been the delivery of relief food and the traditional poverty reduction programs common to the continent, including the building of schools and homes, digging wells and providing medical care.  My opinion on these activities is controversial.  Should we not ask whether we are undermining the self-confidence of people’s ability to improve the conditions of their own lives when we reinforce the idea that the only way out of poverty is through the charity of others? I continue to believe that if we are to address persistent poverty we must create markets and income-earning opportunities so that people have the tools and resources to do the things that traditionally come from charity.  I recognize that government structure and accountability, infrastructure, and judicial systems that establish property rights must all be part of the successful equation on poverty reduction.  But billions of dollars of aid has been dumped into the continent and it is poorer now than it was 30 years ago.  Maybe I am swimming with the crocodiles here too.

By the end of the day, I have had my requisite visits with the local officials, including the District Officer, the District Commissioner, a Councilor and one crazy chief named Bullet. Our conversations revolve around two significant issues.  One, how can we encourage the rebound of the once-thriving tourism business around the lake and Loiyangalani (anyone want to buy a hotel?) and two, what will be the effect of the Lake Turkana Wind Project on the region?

Share

Categories: The BOMA Project, Uncategorized Tags: Africa microfinance, Africa microlending, BOMA, entrepreneurship, Grant Based poverty reduction, Pastoral Nomads, REAP, Small business development, Turkana

Your support will help a family.Donate Here

Follow BOMA Online

Link to my Facebook Page
Link to my Flickr Page
Link to my Rss Page
Link to my Twitter Page
Link to my Youtube Page

News from Boma

  • Reflections for Father’s Day June 16, 2018
  • The Data Dilemma: Making Measurement Matter June 1, 2018
  • Peery Family Foundation Commits $1 Million to the BOMA Project May 7, 2018
  • Making a Difference for Mothers May 3, 2018
  • We Can’t Afford to Wait: The Global Cost of Poor Maternal and Newborn Health and Nutrition April 24, 2018

Our Archives

MAKE DONATION

BOMA in the news

 

imagesL06K25RG  
WSJ  

CGAP Blog

 
 Huff Post  
Salon-logo  
AP  
Business Daily Africa

Business Daily Africa

 

 
 

rutland herald

 
Full Tony Loyd  

 

U.S. Office:
P. O. Box 1865
Manchester Center, VT 05255 USA
802.231.2542

Kenya Main Office:
P.O. Box 3039
Nanyuki 10400 Kenya
+254 (0)20 800 9959

  • Donate to BOMA
  • Our Partners
  • For The Press
  • Jobs at Boma
  • Contact Us
  • Policies

The BOMA Project, All Rights Reserved