Jambo!

Finally back in Kenya - my second home! We arrived in Nairobi on Thursday and got to the Children and Youth Empowerment Centre Friday evening. Felt great to be back with these amazing kids! I'm happy to see that many of them are still there, and others that have left have moved on from the Centre and have found jobs! The kids look much healthier too - no distended bellies! So they are getting more nutritious food more often :-) I didn't recognize some of them from how much they've grown! All great signs.

Tonight I will start my work with the older youth who are involved in a hay baling business through the CBO at the Centre. Hope to find out how things have been going, who does what within the business, where they'd like to see the business go into the future, and address some issues like the importance of trust in their peers and delayed gratification. The rest of the week I'll be helping them define the business direction, and will TRY to help in building tools like the manual hay baler, hay rakes, and pitch forks. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had already built 1.5 balers before I'd even arrived!

Now to back track about Mozambique...

A very different experience than the majorly developed South Africa: the non-Africa part of Africa.
Our mode of transportation throughout the country was a big pink school bus that just barely fit our entire group in it. We were quite the spectacle - a bunch of Americans riding around Mozambique in a pink bus - needless to say we got a lot of weird looks!
Thurs May 17 we finally arrived at Catapu - a forestry concession that works to employ locals in sustainable jobs related to forestry plantations, the timber industry, wood work, and beekeeping. We stayed in cabins in the woods and made friends with lots of spiders and geckos! I learned a lot about beekeeping that I could take back to the Centre, since beekeeping is a major enterprise we are trying to start in Kenya as well. We rode around through the forest to learn about the trees there in a "bucky" - the back of a pick-up truck! We also went to the Zambizi river to watch the sunset - lots of amazing African sunsets on this trip!!
After a couple days at Catapu we went to Envirotrade - a carbon trading & sequestration group outside of Gorongosa game reserve. Gorongosa is "Africa's lost eden" - a civil war destroyed the land and nearly all the animals. Now it is a major restoration project. It was really good to see the contrast of Addo Elephant park and Gorongosa - could be compared to the contrast of all of SA to Moz.
We stayed in tents under thatched roofs at Envirotrade and our hot water was heated with a wood fire! We had a tour of the villages around Gorongosa and visited a school - really wanted to talk to the kids, but none of us could due to the language barrier - people in Mozambique speak Portuguese!
I hated saying goodbye to our SA/Moz group at the Joburg airport, but I'm excited for a reunion with everyone in a few months or so. The entire experience was amazing and unforgettable!

Thanks for reading! Asante sana!

Hello from Stellenbosch South Africa! 

 

I have been about an hour outside of Cape Town for the last three days at Stellenbosch Uni, and have made my way to an internet cafe so I could tell you about my adventures so far and let everyone know that I'm safe, disease free thus far, and having a fabulous time! However, I forgot my journal so I'll have to try to remember as much as I can....

 

The plane ride with South African Airways was... interesting... aka incredibley long and uncomfortable... but all worth it of course! I sat next to a South African man for most of it - he'd been in Texas for some sort of science project with his students. It was hard to understand each other's accents so we didn't talk much after that. His dominant language was probably Afrikaans... which is a form of Dutch (I think!) since the Dutch (and the British) settled SA... a little history for you!

 

We got to Port Elizabeth at night on Tuesday and went out for a Windhock (pronounced Vintook) at a bar on the beach of the Indian Ocean - touched it for the first time there. the next day we went to Addo Elephant park - saw loooots of elephants, zebras, wart hogs, jackals, etc. Next day we went to Tsitsikama where we did the zip lining through the tree canopy!! that was soo incredible. there were 10 lines. i was the very first to go and was kind of nervous the first few times but by the end i was wishing there were more lines. probably some of the most gigantic and coolest looking trees i've ever seen... and i was in them! the tallest tree was 600 years old. the forest looked similar to something at home but much much greener and bigger trees and lots of ferns on the ground. on the way there we stopped at Storms River Bridge which goes over a giant river gorge with a tiny river in the bottom with jagged rocks throughout. that night we stayed at Storms River Park right next to the ocean in these little log cabins. we hung out by the beach and looked at the stars that night - lots of shooting stars!

 

(please excuse my lack of capitalized letters - trying to be fast!)

 

next day we woke up early and swam in the indian ocean at sunrise!! it was so cold so it was more like a run in / run out type deal! later we hiked up the side of a mountain along the ocean and over to a suspension bridge. very wobbley .... so naturally i jumped on it :-)

 

then we left storms river and headed to Knysna. a very nice town, would definitely live there (south africa is kind of the anomoly of africa - it's very nice here and very developed. Knysna is a very cute beach town with shops and what not. my mom would even like it!!)

In Knysna (Nise-na for pronunciation) we checked out the local forestry (since this is a forestry class technically). we drove up a mountain ridge - literally a scary steep ridge and up to the top of a mounttain! i thought we were going to roll down the side! but it was worth it to be at the top. could see all the mountains and out to the ocean and could see part of Knysna. We stayed at Victoria Bay in beach-side villas at the top of a hill. at the bottom by the water was a small restaurant were we got amazing calamari - that is the big thing at these coastal towns it seems...

Next day we went to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Saasveld and mingled with some students there. it was fun to exchange our experiences and knowledge as most of them are about to graduate and I just did. later that night those students and their prof came to our villas for a "braai" aka cook out. sooo much fun. swam in the Indian Ocean - an actual swim despite the cold - that night! It is extremely salty!

 

next day we drove 5 hours to Stellenbosch and on the way stopped at PetroSA - petroleum company of South Africa. got a tour of the plant and learned what they do. after their presentation i asked about whether they invest in alternative energy resources like biofuels (switchgrass, wood, etc) and whether the plant could be converted to a biofuel refinery when there is no more petrol / gas. surprising answer was that the processes aren't that different, so it could be converted. the special thing about this plant is that they convert gas, as in natural gas in gas form, to liquid fuel. they explained the whole process but it involved chemistry so i have no idea how that works. then we continued on our way to stellenbosch. last night we got dinner at a really nice place but it was super cheap - food is inexpensive here but clothes are more expensive than home.

 

today (monday) we got a tour of the forests here - they are in these incredible mountains - reminds me of pictures of the Rockies, minus the snow of course. it is winter here tho, so everyone looks at me crazy in my flip flops and tank top when they are bundled up with boots and a coat in 60-70F degree weather. and the sun is still very hot mid-day but they are cold!

we stopped at a little place in the forest mounttains for lunch. it made me feel so peaceful and appreciate what i'm doing, what i'm learning, and where i am. i got some green tea because i was feeling so zen :-)

tomorrow i will go to a lecture here on biofuels and then we are touring the winelands and doing a little wine tasting - i will come back so sofisticated swirling, sniffing, and sipping my south african wine! wednesday we were in Cape Town all day just sight seeing - lots of overlooks along the Atlantic ocean. we visited Table Mountain National Park and the Cape of Good Hope - we were pretty much of the tip of the Cape Peninsula. 

 

Leaving for Mozambique tomorrow - should be quite a different experience. Will be at Gorongosa game reserve for a few days as well as Envirotrade. Then will be on to Kenya for my research and applied work with the youth at the Children and Youth Empowerment Center in Nyeri. Can't wait to get started and see my favorite little ones (and big ones) again! i might be distracted by playing with them when i'm supposed to be building a manual hay baler for the older youth's hay baling business.... hopefully not TOO distracted... lots of work to do!

 

I wish you could all be here with me! the pictures will never do it justice. will blog again about Mozambique and progress in Kenya again in about a week!

 

love to all!

 

- LT

Intro & Thank Yous

Jambo!

Welcome to my African Adventures 2012 blog! I'll be using this as a medium to tell my story of a month of travels through South Africa, Mozambique, and Kenya, and to report back on the progress of my applied research (and new findings) for the Eco-village and Community Based Organization projects for the Children and Youth Empowerment Centre in Nyeri, Kenya. 

First and foremost, thank you to all the donors who are making my research and these projects possible! And an extra big thanks to Earl and Kay Harbaugh for their generous scholarship award! This blog is for you!

Last week I finally got my flight itinerary! So excited to get back to Africa to see my Kenyan brothers and sisters at the CYEC. This is my in-country itinerary:

May 7 - Depart from Washington D.C.

May 8 - Arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa, then directly on to Port Elizabeth in the south.

May 9 - ADDO Elephant Park

May 10 - Storms River indigenous forests

May 11 - Knysna, Sanparks forests

May 12 - Knysna / George

May 13 - Stellenbosch 

May 14 - Cape Town

May 15 - Visit Stellenbosch University

May 16 - Tour sustainable winelands & plantation forestry

May 17 - Fly to Beira, Mozambique, visit TCT factory

May 18 - Cataphu

May 19 - Forest Management in Cataphu

May 20 - Gorongoza National Park

May 21 - Gorongoza

May 22 - Enviroserve

May 23 - Fly to Nairobi, Kenya, then on to Nyeri

May 24 - June 4 - Based at the CYEC to work with youth and eco-villege sites

June 5 - Depart from Nairobi, Kenya, back through Johannesburg, and home to D.C.

More updates to come leading up to my departure!