In the months prior to this trip to Kenya, I had spent a lot of time reading about the success of healthcare in Africa. While economic interventions, in general, have not been overly successful — incomes across the continent are down or stagnant — there have been successes in the delivery of healthcare due toRead More
The Mechanic and Bodyguard Nannies
One only has to be in a village or in a meeting with mothers to see how beloved babies are in traditional Kenyan culture. At Mentor University, we have two young mothers with babies — Damaris from Mt. Kulal with baby Anon (nine months) and Judy from Kargi with baby Brian (five months). While theRead More
Bringing Down the House
The first sound I heard on Saturday morning was the muzzehin calling the faithful to prayer. It was 4:30 AM. In this village of mostly Catholic parishioners, South Horr is a typical village in northern Kenya, with a diversity of spiritual practices. As light filtered through the cracks of my wooden windows, I heard the soundsRead More
Now We Have a Bond
The annual training program for all of BOMA’s Village Mentors, dubbed Mentor University, was conducted in a conference hall at the Samburu Sports Club — a round building held up by long narrow poles and a cement half-wall. The panels between the poles were covered in nylon sheeting or netting, allowing a breeze to passRead More
From Safari to South Horr
The MAF plane was a large one, with few passengers. The plane had four rows of three seats each. The back center section was open, with no seats, and was intended as an area to strap down loads of supplies. There was also a back row of seats occupied by a MAF pilot, his wifeRead More
The Personal Health Care Advisor of Marsabit
This was one of those “what now?” situations that you need to anticipate and plan for while traveling in northern Kenya. I always have a Plan B and Plan C but had mistakenly not anticipated this turn of events. I tried to call Kura on the satellite phone even though I knew he was almostRead More
Abandoned in Marsabit
We had to be in Korr in time to catch the MAF flight to Marsabit that would take us on to Nairobi. MAF stands for Mission Aviation Fellowship, but I prefer to call it Missionary Air Force. MAF provides a critical means of transport to remote areas for those who work for humanitarian organizations. IRead More
If You Ask
Over a breakfast of njera, a Somali pancake, and dark, rich coffee, Kura told us about the meeting he’d had with the Ngurunit community the night before we arrived. They told him they were pleased with BOMA’s work. Mostly, they said, because you asked us what we need. What followed was a litany of complaints aboutRead More
They Do Not See Me
We all piled into Gumps, the BOMA Land Cruiser. Omar has now assumed cooking responsibilities in the field and he had organized a lunch at Joseph’s camp, a group of small bandas built at the confluence of three rivers. I explained to my friend Sarah, who traveled north to see BOMA’s work, that this wasRead More
The Raw Beauty of This Land
In a few days, I’ll be leading a safari for St. Lawrence University. My friend Sarah, who will be joining the trip, arrived a few days early to visit Northern Kenya and see BOMA’s work. Sarah was a trouper. After a long flight from Chicago to London to Nairobi, she arrived at the hotelRead More