Chicago Business

Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: GSB Life

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It was Tuesday morning, March 20, as we walked through the Kibera slums of Nairobi and I wanted to flee. The extreme poverty of this home to almost 1,000,000 people was overwhelming. As part of the Chicago Global Citizens (CGC) spring break trip to Kenya, we were in Kibera to meet with the Jikaze Women's Group, female entrepreneurs who had organized themselves into a profit sharing system within the slum. The ladies took us on a tour of their homes and businesses, from fruit stands to rug making, which were housed in aluminum shacks that did little to shield from rain. The roads were awash with rubbish and excrement, rivers of sewage flowing through Kibera's main thoroughfare. Amidst the muck, in a community where the average person makes less than $1 a day, lines had formed for the two available shoe shine stands, demonstrating the proud face of Kenya.

An hour later, surrounded by Western ex-patriots, we ordered lunch on the patio of the upmarket Java House in the beautiful East African sun. My relief to be in a more familiar environment paled next to the guilt of eating a sandwich that cost more than a month's rent in Kibera. In Kenya the contrast between the Haves and the Have Nots is extreme. I wished that our meeting with the ambitious ladies of the Jikaze Women's Group had not disturbed me so. Suddenly, as we awaited our lunch, thankful for the world into which we had been born, Sir Richard Branson and entourage walked into the very restaurant in which we sat still dazed from the morning's experience. Virgin Atlantic was opening a route to Nairobi, signaling a nod from Sir Richard and his vision for the future of East Africa. Such was our week in Kenya, a hopeful place in a time of contrasts and contradictions, a bittersweet and magical experience for us all.

The Kenya trip was the culmination of several CGC initiatives this year that have positively impacted development in Africa. Last fall, in partnership with the Millennium Promise Foundation, CGC members designed an investment strategy for ten African countries with the goal of balancing social impact with financial return. Working with the Clinton Foundation, another CGC team generated a business model for the roll-out of male circumcision (MC) clinics, which have been shown to dramatically reduce the transmission of HIV. Leading up to our departure, CGC collected over $500 and almost 25 full backpacks of clothing, school supplies, and other gifts for a Nairobi orphanage, thanks to the generous donations of the entire GSB community.
Our five full days in Kenya brought life to these topics and many others, as we met with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and businesses involved in a wide array of activities. We visited Family Health International (FHI), a leading international non-profit public health organization. Their representatives provided powerful insight on HIV in Kenya, where incidence has recently dropped to 6.7%, a welcome downward trend and relatively low figure for a Sub-Saharan African country. FHI also shed light on their MC activities, a high profile topic garnering much support across Africa, and admiration for the CGC for getting involved in such cutting edge (if you will) work. We then shifted to the U.S. Embassy, where we learned about the various U.S. government programs administered through USAID, education initiatives in Kenya, and the country's political and media history. Our week also included a visit to Honey Care Africa, a honey producer established to increase the income of rural farmers through sustainable bee-keeping practices. After a tour of the factory and a few jars of fresh honey, we were set with our first souvenirs for the trip.
Our meetings were informative, inspiring, and wrought with emotion. Still shaken from the poverty of Kibera, we spent Day 3 of our trip at the Neema Children's Home, an orphanage where over 50 youths live crammed into a 3-bedroom house and a few dank aluminum additions.
The GSB donations allowed us to buy new furniture for the school room, enough supplies to paint the entire house inside and out, soccer balls, basket balls, and other games for which the kids went absolutely wild! We also brought pens, paper, candy and snacks from the United States, which were a huge hit. Together, the orphans and Chicago GSB had a blast repainting the house to give the kids a new home. Word of our work spread quickly; a reporter from the Business Daily, the economic section of the Daily Nation, Kenya's largest newspaper, soon arrived to interview several GSBers. We coordinated the orphanage visit through Inspire Kenya, who has told us that the photos of the GSB's volunteer day were so inspiring that the Salt Lake City Rotary Club wants to emulate our effort by sending 25 students to Kenya for similar work.

With our contribution to saving the world complete, we then headed off on Safari! Destination: Amboseli National Park at the base of Kilimanjaro. It was the play hard to our work hard, 2 days of glorious sun, sights, animals, and ambiance. Together with our guide, Rufus, and the trusted coordination of Gametrackers Safaris, we saw zebra, gazelle, giraffe, ostrich, elephant, lion, wildebeest, hyena, warthog, hippo, buffalo, flamingo, marabou, impala, and even cheetah. We enjoyed the setting of the Amboseli Lodge and its perfect view of Kilimanjaro, who, as a bonus, completely revealed herself to us both days we were there. Rufus also organized a visit to a Maasai village, where the villagers welcomed us with a dance and invited us into their homes. The Maasai are nomadic pastoralists known for growing their ear lobes long and subsisting on only blood, meat, and milk. In many places they still live in cow dung huts the way they have for centuries. It was a treat to get to know them better.
The CGC trip did more in five days than many people do in a month, and Kenya welcomed us with smiles, familiarity, and hope. Everywhere we went, people unanimously recognized our Chicago connection to Barack Obama, whose Kenyan heritage has made him a celebrity in the country. We learned an incomparable amount about Kenya's drive for economic development and education, as well as its commitment to achieving a middle market economy within 25 years. Most of all, we made an impact on countless people's lives, from supporting honey farmers and entrepreneurs to the GSB's generous gifts to over 50 orphans. And we left with the contagious smiles we had received everywhere, new friends to each other and to Kenya, each one of us vowing to return to East Africa one day soon.

For more information on Chicago Global Citizens and their work in international development, please visit www.chicagogc.org.

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