I work really hard

Kenya's new Constitution came into effect on Friday (now known as Promulgation Day).  There was a big ceremony in Uhuru Park, attended by Kenyan and many other leaders, including, unfortunately, Sudanese president and war criminal Omar Hassan Al-Bashir (who's been indicted by the International Criminal Court, which means as soon as he landed in Kenya the Kenyan authorities should have arrested him).

So Friday was declared a national holiday in Kenya, which meant U.S. government employees here got the day off.  So my friends and I celebrated by going horseback riding out in tea plantation-land.

You can see more pictures here.  It was so, so much fun, and I am hoping to make this a regular weekend activity.  I was super sore afterwards, though!

Then yesterday I went on another embassy-organized trip to a place called Bomas of Kenya, which is kind of like the Kenyan version of colonial Williamsburg.  The government set it up in the 1970s when they saw that the country was really starting to develop and change, so that Kenyans wouldn't forget their cultural heritage.  Of course there are lots of tourists that visit, but it's mainly for Kenyan schoolchildren to see how their ancestors lived.

They have traditional huts from different areas of Kenya; for example, this is the style used by many ethnic groups along the coast of Kenya:

Besides the traditional houses, at Bomas you can also see performances of the traditional dances of the different ethnic groups:

You can see more pictures of Bomas here.  Unfortunately the lighting in the auditorium wasn't great, and it was only towards the end that one of my friends pointed out that sometimes the pictures will actually turn out lighter if you turn off the flash.

Then yesterday I went hiking at Mt. Longonot, which is not just a mountain but a volcano!  I've never been to one before, so it was very cool.  In the morning it was very foggy, so we couldn't see much, but we finally got some good views at the very end of our hike.

You can see more photos of Mt. Longonot here.

It may not seem like it from this blog lately, but I do actually do some work in Kenya on occasion, when I have time in between all the fun stuff.  I'll write about it soon.

Freedom!

Finally my car is here!  I'm so excited to be able to go places now, without having to spend a million dollars on taxis or beg for a ride from other people. 

Tomorrow I have to get the oil changed and take care of a few other maintenance things, since it's been sitting on a boat for almost two months.  But after that, I'm going horseback riding and hiking and all kinds of fun stuff!  I feel like a teenager getting my first car (although in actuality I didn't get my first car til I was 21 and in grad school).

I just drove it from work to home today.  I thought I'd gotten used to the whole driving on the left side of the road thing just from riding in cars around here, but it's definitely going to take a little getting used to as a driver.

World Humanitarian Day

In case you are still wondering, this is what my job is about.  (Although the video makes it look a lot more exciting than it is most of the time).

Tea Plantation

This past weekend I went on an embassy-organized trip to visit a tea plantation just outside Nairobi.  It was beautiful and made me think again that I understand why the British colonized Kenya.

I also found out that there's a place nearby where you can go horseback riding through the coffee and tea plantations.  So as soon as I get my car (hopefully next week!), you know where I'll be spending my free time and money!

You can see more photos here.

Peace!

An overwhelming majority of Kenyans voted to adopt the new constitution yesterday, and today William Ruto, one of the politicians leading the No camp, conceded that "the Kenyan people had spoken".  So it's all over, no violence so far, and none expected in the next few days.  We have been lucky.

Now if we can just be so lucky when the International Criminal Court indicts the leaders of the 2007 post-election violence (expected in the next few months I think) and during the next elections...

Article about Kenya's referendum

I think this article gives a pretty good summary of what the main issues are in the Kenyan constitutional referendum.

Kenyan constitutional referendum

Today Kenyans vote on whether to adopt a new constitution.  I haven't studied the proposed constitution, or the current one, closely, but my understanding is that one of the most important differences is a decrease in the power of the presidency, which has long been called for in Kenya.  However, (and unfortunately I think), politicians and the media have instead tended to focus on two sections in the proposed constitution: one which allows abortion if the life of the mother is endangered (compared to an absolute ban currently), and another provision which allows Muslims to go to Muslim "Kadhis courts" for marriage, divorce, and inheritance matters, which they are already able to do anyway under the current constitution. 

In any case, after all the violence following the elections in 2007, there is a lot of nervousness that there could be violence again with this referendum.  But this time the government, the Kenyan Red Cross ( which is the designated first responder for humanitarian crises), the UN agencies, NGOs, and the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (where I work) are prepared. 

So we are praying for peace, but ready to respond if things go the other way. I'll update later when we know more. 

And for those of you who worry about me, don't worry, I'm very safe.

USAID and the "counterbureaucracy"

I've been reading a perhaps overly-long but interesting article by Andrew Natsios, a former USAID Administrator, about how bureaucracy, in particular requirements to measure and report on activities, is preventing USAID from being effective at development.  Natsios describes how initiatives to promote accountability and improve government performance have led to an emphasis on more-easily measurable activities, like vaccination campaigns where you can easily count the number of people vaccinated, over less easily-measured activities that would likely have a more sustainable, long-term impact, like building the capabilities of developing nations' ministries of health so that they can vaccinate their populations on their own instead of needing our assistance.  He also shows how spending money quickly has also come to be considered good program management, (who hasn't heard criticisms of USAID or the Red Cross after big disasters like the tsunami, Katrina, or the Haiti earthquake for only having spent, say, 15% of their money allocated to the disaster within the first year?), even though, for a program to be really effective and sustainable, you need to consult with the local population and government, which can take a lot of time and means that you will spend money much more slowly.

 

Unfortunately, while Natsios points out the problems with the way USAID does things now, there don't seem to be any quick fixes.  (While USAID is fighting for its life as an independent agency, how likely is it that we'll convince the President and Congress to let us spend less time reporting results and being accountable, so that we can spend more time actually working on development problems? Fat chance, I'm thinking).  But Natsios does have some interesting recommendations, which I'm copying in below (and hoping that it's not violating copyright).  I will admit upfront that I'm only copying the recommendations I like and find interesting, and not, say, his recommendation that USAID technical staff should have to work 30 rather than 20 years to qualify for retirement, which obviously is not in my self-interest!

 

Okay, here are his (selected) recommendations:

 

Measuring foreign policy results. Critics of U.S. foreign aid have long argued that it has failed on three counts: not connecting aid with U.S. foreign policy objectives, moving too slowly to implement programs, and not producing measurable results. It may not have occurred to these critics, but these objectives are mutually exclusive demands. Political aid programs frequently do not produce good development results because they ignore both good development practice and theory; they have other objectives, which make diplomatic and military sense, but not much else. Political aid programs are not going away any time soon because they are needed to carry out U.S. foreign policy, but they ought to be judged using very different standards than traditional development aid programs.

USAID should develop, with Congressional assent, politically based evaluation standards for aid programs in war zones or where U.S. foreign policy interests are of central importance. Examples of such situations include Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, the West Bank, Gaza, and Afghanistan, where the Defense and State Department micro-manage aid programs for purposes that are unrelated or counter-productive to good development theory or practice. These are political, not development, aid programs and should be judged by whether they win hearts and minds, attract the
support of particular warlords or political factions, prop up fragile allies, or send diplomatic messages. We should stop applying development performance standards to these programs, and dispense with the polite pretense that they are development programs at all. Development professionals have little control of how they are designed, implemented, or managed. We should judge them for what they are.

 

The End of Time-based Measurements. Using program spending or disbursement rates to judge the success of aid programs, whether by OMB, GAO, OIG or Congressional oversight committees, undermines the ownership and sustainability principles that have long been central to good aid practice. The regulator's assumption that appropriated aid money is not being spent quickly enough, and thus is being poorly managed, misses the point of good development practice. This kind of work cannot be done easily or quickly, if it is to be effective.  Moreover, it requires a much longer time line to achieve results when the institutions of the recipient countries are weak or non-existent. Disbursement rates
should be used sparingly as a means for judging aid programs. The weaker or more fragile a state, the longer the time lag will be in showing program results, and allowances must be made for this lag in evaluations.

 

Aligning programs with organizational incentives. I suggest that only direct hire aid officers with advanced technical expertise should design projects and programs (now contractors design them), the length of which should be coterminous with the designing officer's assignment in the country where the project is being implemented. Moreover, that designing officer should manage the project to its conclusion. At the end of the project an impact evaluation would be done that should be included in the personnel evaluation of the responsible officer and be used to determine promotions and annual salary bonuses. These field evaluations would have to identify factors that were beyond the control of the aid officers. The officers would have to have much greater mobility to visit projects outside their imprisonment in USAID and U.S. Embassy compounds, caused by the draconian security measures required by the Embassy Security Act of 1998. This reform would align program design and management with the personnel system and incentive structure of the agency (and would require amendments to the Foreign Service Act). Other process heavy systems required by the counter-bureaucracy would have to be scaled down or eliminated wholesale.

 

A concluding thought, again courtesy of Andrew Natsios:  T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) wrote in his celebrated memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom about his exploits organizing Arab desert tribes against their colonial masters—the Ottoman Turks—who had sided with Germany and the Austro-
Hungarian Empire in World War I: "Better to let them do it imperfectly than to do it perfectly yourself, for it is their country, their way and your time is short."

Hiking in Hell's Gate

I went hiking yesterday in Hell's Gate National Park, just about an hour outside of Nairobi.  Besides being very pretty, there are zebras and antelope and warthogs and baboons, and other animals which we didn't see.  And it's a volcanic area, so there are hot springs and steam vents, which I've never seen before.

The zebras were just hanging out by the side of the road.

Steam vents.  Our guide Hassan carried a stick for fighting off baboons, just in case.  But we didn't see any until we got back to the car.  We did see hyena tracks, though.  Luckily we were following it instead of the other way around!

You can see more pictures here.

Kitengela glass factory

This morning a very kind colleague took me along with her to the Kitengela glass factory, about an hour outside of Nairobi.  She had told me you could see them blowing the glass there, and then you can buy glass stuff.  And I have to admit, I thought, "big deal, we have glass blowing at the Appalachian Center for Crafts not far outside my hometown."  So I was expecting shelves and shelves of vases and other glassware, which were indeed there:

But she didn't warn me at all that this place is like a fairytale hobbit-land with art!

Also it reminded me a bit of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

And to top it all off there was beautiful scenery.

Excellent field trip!  You can see more pictures here.

Ostrich riding!

Today I went on an embassy-organized trip to an ostrich farm about two hours outside of Nairobi.  Apparently ostriches are pretty curious animals, but I think they look mean.

Turns out they are fun to ride though!

The ostrich was making angry noises when I got off:

Also, we had ostrich stir-fry for lunch - tastes like beef, but the texture is a little different.

Overall, a fun day, but I think I will stick to horseback riding.  You can see more pictures here.

Trip to northeast Kenya

This past week I traveled up to northeast Kenya (around Garissa and Wajir if you want to look on a map) with several colleagues to monitor a project OFDA funded to rehabilitate boreholes (really deep wells that require pumps to pull the water up) and truck water to villages with insufficient water during the drought last year.

So for several days we drove over bumpy dirt roads (I started to feel like I was getting Shaken Baby Syndrome from all the bouncing around) from one settlement to the next, asking the people living there, who are mostly nomadic but some settled, ethnic Somalis about their boreholes, water quality, and the health of children and animals.

Used as I have gotten to the very formal, long-winded West African way of doing things, our quick interviews with the Somali-Kenyans felt strange, but we did get a lot of good information.
In one settlement after the next, we were told that they need another borehole, a new generator, and often that the water coming from the existing borehole was too saline.  In one village the water was so saline that the animals are dying, because drinking the salty water just makes them thirstier, so unless the people force them away from the water, they keep on drinking until they swell up and die.

So things are tough.  If we had had more than 30 minutes to spend at any one site, I would have wanted to have a more frank discussion about priorities and needs - if they did get another borehole, it would probably just deplete the groundwater even faster, leaving them in even more of a fix in ten years or so. And if there's any increase in water availability, then people will just get more animals, and more families will move into the area, and the people will end up right back where they are now, with the bare minimum of water required to survive. And the generators are always breaking down, and getting the equipment and expertise to repair them is expensive and takes a long time, and the fuel to run them is expensive, so overall it's just not very sustainable.  The problem is, what's the alternative?

So I don't have any big answers after this trip, but I at least was able to get an idea of what life is like out there, which I think is important.  And on the fun side for me, driving around out there was like being on a safari.

We saw giraffes (which I hadn't been expecting), antelope, dik diks (which are tiny antelope the size of small dogs, and for some reason every time I saw them, I thought "Ooh, I bet those taste good!"), warthogs, baboons, and one roadkill hyena.  And to accompany the sights, our driver told us stories about his village boyhood adventures hunting giraffes with arrows (they have the tastiest meat!) and fighting pythons.

Overall, a very good trip.  Now back to the office to pay the price for all my fun with a week of mind-numbing training.

You can see more photos from my trip here.

I am not suffering here

Yesterday I went to the grocery store for my first real shopping trip.  (My social sponsor took me just after I arrived, but I was jetlagged and didn't want to take up her time so I just grabbed a few quick things and we left).  But yesterday I took my time, wandering around and checking out everything.  And they have pretty much anything you could want, from Kellogg's cereal to Heinz ketchup to at least five different brands of milk to choose from.

I liked this one, just because its name strikes me as an oxymoron.  And also, tigers live in Asia, not Africa (but maybe they are marketing to the Indian/Asian population here).

Flowers!

Kenya is a big horticultural exporter, and there are lots of beautiful flowers all around, even now during "wintertime".  This one is in my backyard:

These were in my house when I moved in, and a week later they still look great:

Someone told me you can buy a dozen roses for about 300 Kenyan shillings, which is a little less than $5.  Nice deal for the husbands and boyfriends!

...And now I have internet at home!  Just need to get my wireless router and it will be perfect!

First day at work

Had my first day at work today - starting at 7:15am!  But at least I get to leave at 4:30, and 12:30 on Fridays.

The OFDA team I'm going to be working with had my cubicle all set up and ready for me, which was nice:

It was a good, busy day, mostly spent meeting people and doing paperwork.  But I found out I'm going on a trip next week to northeastern Kenya to visit one of our partners' projects, which is very exciting!  And it sounds like there will be lots more trips and interesting work to come, so I'm very happy.

Now if I can just get internet at my house, and maybe some food in the fridge... (please note that internet is the higher priority).

Hawkers' Market

This morning a colleague (new friend?) took me to Hawkers' Market, which is a big outdoor/covered market with lots of individual vendors selling vegetables, fruits, etc, just like I was used to shopping at in Senegal.  It made me so happy, especially as I'd been feeling weirded out by how patron/expat-y my life here is so far.  The market wasn't crowded at all, and was a lot more laid-back than they ever were in Senegal, so that was nice, but my colleague said it was just because we went early on a Monday.  So we'll see what it's like next time (and maybe I will take some pictures).  But in any case, I'm much happier having found that place.  Now I just need to find a special favorite vegetable lady like I had in Senegal.

2nd day in Nairobi

This morning I went to brunch with some other DLIs (new USAID staff like me).  Everybody was really nice, and I may be on my way to making some friends!  Then my social sponsor took me around town a bit more - I am really liking Nairobi so far, except have I mentioned it's freezing cold?  The last two days have been very gray like it's about to rain, and I'm wearing a shirt, a sweater, and a jacket.  Weird to come from America to Africa and have to bundle up more.

Still working on unpacking and fixing up my house, but I'm not being very diligent about it - the internet is so much more interesting!

Nairobi!!

Just a quick post because I'm jetlagged and I'm supposed to be unpacking:

I got in to Nairobi airport last night around 8pm.  The airport is much bigger and nicer than Dakar airport, so that was nice.  I got to go through the "fast lane" at passport control (finally my dip. passport was good for something!), but then I discovered that that was pointless because that just meant I had to wait longer at the baggage carousel for my bags to come.

The Embassy "Expediter" met me at the bag carousel (apparently she'd tried to meet me before passport control, but I didn't know to look for her there so I didn't notice her) and then helped me get through customs.  There I was met by a woman from the OFDA office (where I'll be working) who bargained with the money changers to get me a good rate on Kenyan shillings, and then we hopped in the OFDA (right-hand side drive) car driven by an official driver, and they drove me to where I'll be living.  They said that even late at night traffic can be bad and sometimes the trip will take several hours, but we got lucky and it only took 15-20 minutes.

Then we arrived at my house!

The OFDA people soon left, but my "social sponsor" who is another new-ish USAID employee like me came over and showed me around the house.  It's very weird having a kitchen big enough to fit my entire DC apartment inside it; I started getting a little tired of it today while I was unpacking - in DC if I needed something, no matter where I was it was only about 3 feet away.  Now I have to walk all the way upstairs/downstairs to the other side of the house.  But I'm sure I will get used to it!

Today I am just hanging around, unpacking/being jetlagged while everyone else deals with official 4th of July celebration preparations.  Hopefully soon people will start to get back here and maybe I can start making friends.

On the road again…

The past month has been crazy.  Somehow it ended up that my annual employee evaluation, the paperwork for the student loan repayment program, and all the paperwork and other errands for getting ready to move happened all at the same time.  So I’ve spent a huge chunk of the past month just doing paperwork and stalking people in our HR department to make sure that everything was moving along as it should be.  I got in a little “real” work as well, but not much.

But all the stress and running around and craziness finally paid off.  Monday last week the movers came to my apartment and packed everything up to have it shipped to Nairobi for me.  They were supposed to show up at 8:30am and finish within about three hours, but of course instead they didn’t show up until 11:30 and then didn’t finish for seven hours.  But it got done, which is all that really matters, and I was able to turn in my apartment keys and stop worrying about whether I would really get moved out of my apartment by the end of the month before the management threw my stuff out in the street so the new resident could move in.  Yay!

I stayed in a hotel for ten days, courtesy of the government (thanks, taxpayers!) to make moving out of my apartment easier.  I had looked forward to it, thinking it would be like being on vacation except that I would still have to go to work, but as it turns out I prefer sleeping in my own bed and having my clothes on hangers in the closet rather than rumpled in my suitcase.  Maid service was still nice, though.

Finally, Tuesday was the big day.  I went to the airport early, lugged my three suitcases to the Delta counter to check in, and then was told I had to go check in with KLM, Delta’s “partner” for this flight.  (Apparently this partner stuff is how they get around the Fly America Act which requires flights paid for with government money to be on US carriers).  So I lugged my three suitcases across the airport to the KLM counter.  The KLM check-in woman told me my suitcases were too heavy, so I would have to move some things out of the checked luggage, which gets weighed, to my carryon bag, which doesn’t get weighed.  This doesn’t make much sense to me since the same amount of weight is going to end up on the plane, but fine.  I rearranged things, got my boarding pass, got through security, and finally made it onto the plane.  Yippee!

The flight to Amsterdam was fine, no incidents.  The landing was super smooth, prompting some of the passengers to break out into applause, which I thought was funny but kind of sweet.  I’d hoped that there would be a line at passport control for diplomatic passport holders, just for fun, but no such luck.  But I made it out of the airport hassle-free, and then went to wait for the 5 euro airport shuttle.  It was 8am in Amsterdam, which equaled 2am in D.C., and I was exhausted.  After about 30 minutes I finally gave up waiting for the shuttle and went to get a taxi.  I was staying at the Marriott airport hotel (thanks again, taxpayers!), so I figured it would be close by and the taxi ride wouldn’t be expensive.  Big mistake – the 10 minute ride cost 30 euros, and my regret was compounded by the shuttle arriving just five minutes later.  But you live, you learn, and my five minute head start put me at the head of the line for getting a room as soon as the maids finished cleaning one (an hour later). 

I’d hoped I’d have the energy to go out and do some touristing around Amsterdam, but I ended up sleeping til 4pm, so I only went for a short walk in a residential area around Central Station.  But it was a nice way to get an idea of what it would be like to live in Amsterdam – live on a houseboat, ride a bicycle everywhere, hang out at cafes – in short, European heaven, except that there isn’t enough sun for me, so I’m still be glad to be heading back to Africa.

This morning it was back to the airport for me for my flight to Nairobi.  I tried to check in at the automatic kiosk, but it gave me an error message about my flight status requiring me to check in with a real person.  So I waited in a long line to speak with a real person, and then she told me that my suitcases were too heavy, and she also weighed my carryon bag and said that was too heavy.  Also, apparently the flight was overbooked and so I was going to be bumped to another flight – maybe in the evening, and maybe not til tomorrow.  Not good news, especially when I am jetlagged and haven’t had any coffee.  So I rearranged my luggage, this time taking everything heavy out of my carryon and putting it in a checked bag, and then I still had to pay a 100 euro fine.  Boo.  I guess the overnight stopover in Europe wasn’t such a good idea after all. 

The check-in woman gave me a standby boarding pass so I could get through security, and then I was supposed to talk to the airline staff at the gate to see if I could get a seat or if I would have to get bumped.  I got ready to use my very best African bargaining skills to try to get on the plane, and I even considered trying “I’m holding a diplomatic passport and I’m on government business” to see if that would get me anywhere.  (Amsterdam is nice but I’m ready to get to Nairobi and get settled in).

But before I had to pull out my African bargaining skills, the woman at the gate gave me a real boarding pass with a seat assignment.  Yay!  And then as I boarded the plane, the flight attendant directed me to my seat “upstairs” (it’s one of those giant planes with a small upstairs cabin).  So I hauled my suitcase up the little stairway, and discovered that they gave me a seat in business class – awesome!  (Definitely worth the 100 euro luggage fine).  I don’t think it’s because of my diplomatic passport since none of the check-in people looked at the cover that says it’s a diplomatic passport.  They just went straight to the picture page with my information on it.  So I guess I just got lucky, and I will have to see if the diplomatic passport has any power some other time.

I’m sorry to say that business class airplane food still tastes like airplane food, even though they put a little tablecloth on my tray table and serve the food on real dishes.  

The reclining seat with the footrest and the nicer pillow and blanket are much appreciated, though, as are the better headphones (movie selection is the same as for the proletariat).  All in all, I have to say I wouldn’t mind flying business class again someday! No more unnecessary overnight stopovers, though – getting real sleep is nice, but not really worth all the hassle of having to check in and go through airport security again.

Next blog post: from Nairobi!