There has been rain on most days for the past couple of weeks so maybe the short rains have started in earnest. At least a bit of rain is better than none. There are many crops that are at the stage where they need rain badly. But some areas, apparently, are threatened with flooding. It's so disconcerting to be in a place where a long drought can turn into a devastating flood.
But we were in Bondeni for a meeting of members of a support group. They get together to discuss matters of common interest and share experiences and advice about things like microcredit, farming, income generating schemes and anything else that can be of help to the group. Well, it was a long haul for me, I admit. The meeting was due to start at ten but I was assured that if I turned up at 11 it would just be taking off. We got there before 11, started at 1130 and it was nearly 1400 by the time we finished. That's a long time to sit on a bench made for very small children.
As for the income generation schemes discussed, they included the usual things: hens, cows, bead jewellery, crochet and market gardening. Apparently hens are old hat and people are being advised to buy dairy cows. Of course, most income generation schemes only really get off the ground if the person or people involved work very hard and have a fair amount of luck. Some of these ingredients can be in short supply. But I'd like to come across people who are doing something different to generate income, something that people all across the country are not doing. But when I come across such schemes, I'll be sure to post them up here.
4 comments:
Hm, interesting. Do you think there's money in making things that people in rich countries would want? Or is it more profitable and reliable to focus on making money more locally?
Hi Claire
I'm inclined to think that most small organisations and individuals should avoid trying to make things for people in rich countries because the problem of exporting things, finding a market, etc, is one that most people and small organisations can't deal with effectively.
I think people could go a long way identifying things that their communities need. For example, some people have found ways of generating enough electricity to charge mobiles and there's a big demand for that. Others make or sell items or services that save people money and it's a hard sell.
But worsening economic problems should make their goods or services even more attractive. Foreign markets are fickle and Kenya is covered in massive estates of tea, sugar, sisal, flowers, exotic fruits and vegetables that there is no market for here and not always a guaranteed market for abroad either.
S
Yes that's true. I think that highlights the problem of being in a rich country (Me, in London) thinking about a poor country's problems: you tend to think about solutions which involve your own context. Interesting how we think we are pretty much objective (I have always tended to think I am), but living in a different country just does give you a better perspective on that country's problems.
Hi Claire
You're right that countries like Kenya need to produce goods that they can sell to foreign countries. They are now in the unfortunate position that they mostly produce raw materials or high bulk low value products so their balance of trade is always against them.
But most people in small communities, like the ones I've been to see in Nakuru, don't have access to the sort of capital, technology or training that would allow them to produce high value goods or to establish a market for them with foreign countries.
Their needs are immediate, they need to make things now and sell them in a few months time, grown things now and sell them when they are ripe, etc!
And if they get the money to grow something that doesn't ripen or doesn't sell, they need to start at the beginning again, if that is even an option.
S
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