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Remembering Chapaties and Mangoes in Kisui Village.

It has almost been two weeks since arriving back to Sweden and the smell of dried earth and oily chapatie seems a world away. The sound of children playing has been replaced by the steady beat of rain as spring begins to creep into Stockholm, Sweden. Our fly infested squat toilet has changed to one that flushes and our morning mango is now a strong coffee (milk with one sugar.) Although it is comforting to be back in an environment of extreme luxury and routine, silent bus rides and barren town squares make me crave the vibrant chaos of Kenya. 

 Ana, Anna, Dom and I have been thrown back into student life at the Youth Initiative Program. Playground for Change is just one component of our course so we are madly scrambling to puzzle together all the rest for our end of year presentations in June. Despite arriving four hours before class started, we managed to present Playground for Change to our classmates and colleague as well as to the local community of Järna who heavily supported our fundraising events. Structuring the presentations has allowed all of us to process both our time in Kenya and the outcome of Playground for Change. It has been interesting to see how without planning, our entire trip has naturally flowed into four phases of the Oasis methodology.That is: identifying the beauty in the community, asking for people’s dreams, exploring recourses and finally the Oasis game itself.

Our first week we were really finding our feet. In a community with such a harsh environmental situation I found it rewarding to go on home visits and demystify the preconceptions of the local peoples living conditions. As "outsiders" it was ironic to see that a lot of the issues were a direct result of negative outside influence particularly on the peoples culture and mindset. The worst of these we experienced was Catholicism which was introduced by colonialism  in the early eighteen hundreds. Now forty five percent of the entire population of Kenya are practicing Catholics. This is quite a shift for a country which was originally composed of 42 culturally distinct tribes. It was such an extreme sense of worship which lived amongst the Kisui people that it was hard to truly connect too many of the people we met. For instance the school gardener George became like a brother to us and despite having two wives and two children was someone we looked to for guidance and advice. However when questioned about health George truly believed that the transmission of diseases was a question of faith not hygiene. I ask you how can you not be critical of an individual who will pray for their child and not buy malaria treatment?  We entered many dark conversations and it was the light which glowed from the gleaming white teeth of the students which drew us out every time. 

 The next step was asking friends, teachers and families for their dreams for the future of Mina Academy. This was truly amazing and made what we hadn't already identify as beautiful radiate with potential. In our second week we hosted a dreaming workshop where we facilitated parents, teachers, board members and elders of the community in a process of finding a common vision for the school. It was incredible to see how open these people where and how ready they were to support what we had to bring.

Our third week was a bit of a disaster. It was meant to be a week of collecting materials from the local town and surrounding areas but what we ended up collecting was, malaria, typhoid, amoeba, Diarrhoea, constipation and fevers. Five girls in a mud shack, with no running water no electricity and a hole in the ground for a toilet. It was intense to say the least. What I can say is despite avoiding taking vaccines by the next week everyone of us where on antibiotics. In the end it was the unwavering support of the local people which pulled everything together for the two days of the Oasis game.

It was spectacular. To have one hundred and fifty people show excitement and trust in something in you is very empowering. It gave each of us the strength to withstand the 15 hours in scorching Kenyan sun and the enthusiasm to smile whilst doing so. Maybe some of the young men came because they saw each of us as potential wives or maybe some people just came for the food but what ever their intentions what they created was one of the most elaborate Playgrounds I have ever seen. Watching one hundred and fifty people working harmoniously together for a shared vision made me realize this really was going to be a Playground for Change.

So much has happened in our four weeks in Kenya and I have no doubt from the strength of the Kisui community and the intense needs of the people much change is to come. So for now I’ll go happily to the toilet, hope for even a slight sunburn and send many prayers to the beautiful people of Kisui Village

Greetings all!
Wow...I can't belive it has happened. We have had the most incredible past two days and let me tell you "change" has defiantly taken place. We have danced, sung, sweat ed, hammered, cut, laughed, applied sunscreen, applied more sunscreen, hugged and at the end off all this fun produced the most amazing Playground for the children of Mina Academy Kenya. We have spent much time here planning the one and half days of building and celebration. Our first weeks were quickly spent on house visits, speaking to elders hosting dreaming sessions, collecting materials organising finances and food, working with the students of the school, putting up posters and finally it has happened! And when i say Happened i mean in a big way. Three massive structures  and two swing sets for the children to climb on now decorating what was once a barren school yard. However the physical structure is the least of our achievements. The energy and perseverance of the 150 local participants was amazing. A local band played for 8 hours straight and the woman cooked everything from bread to an entire goat. It was amazing working in the Kenyan heat which sizzles for a good eight hours a day. We did many cooperative games to stay motivated however it was a very different dynamic when the circle had a 50 meter diameter!
Working alongside the Kenyan people also gave us a very different insight into the culture and the mindset of the Kenyan people, and despite all our efforts most of the men preferred to build whilst the woman remained the chief cooks. The amount of young men that turned up was also quite impressive and I wonder if the the fact that we were four blond white females helped motivate a bit extra community spirit. However what ever it was these people worked for the love of the children for 16 hours for free and we woke up this morning to find many people had come back to continue working. It is truly inspiring! Many thanks again for all your support i wish you could see the children sitting on a swing for the first time in their lives.
Peace Love and Many Thanks
Phoebe, Ana, Anna and Dom Playground For Change.

Howdy all...

I have just walked for fifty minutes in what feels like fifty degrees to find internet access that does not take longer then thirty minutes to upload a page. God bless Kenya. Its amazing how the Kenyan people  find a consistent rhythm in there lifestyles amongst the sleepy heat and continuous breakdown of systems such as electricity, transportation and government infrastructure. Everything here happens very much on Kenyan time which is the locals say is "pole, pole" or slowly, slowly.

However our time here seems to be the exact reverse and it is amazing what we have achieved despite adapting to the lifestyle so well. Whilst on Kenya's sandy shores we have achieved the 2000 euro mark on the one percent club fundraiser, making us the first initiative to reach its target on the international website and in 28 days! Woo Hoo. We have also spent our last Sunday hosting a dreaming workshop with about forty elders of Kisui Village. Honoring the principles of Oasis we took the group through a process of identifying the natural beauties which already exist on the Mina Academy School grounds. We then went further into what they saw as the highest potential for the school and the community. It was powerful to say the least and clearly outlined that all the community did really want a beautiful environment for there children to play in. It was a relief as non of us wanted to bring the concept of the playground as something that was not needed, owned and produced by the local community.

The meeting was also very empowering experience as budding Oasis trainees. We began with wavering voices but ended in true Kenyan style singing, smiling and shaking our hips. We now have a a visual drawn out by the community of the playground and we will use this as the blue print for what we co create at the Oasis game and community building session next Sunday and Monday. We are very excited to see how a community with such little resources will contribute to what we build but we are determined weather it is one twig, a smile, two songs or a cheesey "knock knock" joke that this element of contribution occurs. As the Playground for change team we believe that by contributing something you have a greater sense of owning the outcome. We also hope to break the patronizing cycle of "mazungos"  (white people) coming and endlessly giving to the people. Its a disempowering cliche that is not relevant to the beautiful strong and creative people we are currently living amongst.
The last couple of weeks we have already begun working with the beautiful children and Alongside Mina Academy so it is with high hopes that we look forward to the coming Sunday. Until then we will continue to perfect our squat toilet technique and keep things "Pole Pole"

With Peace and Love from Phoebe and the Playground for Change Crew

Hello friends, Family and supporters of Playground for Change.
After a 9 hour bus journey, 3 hour boat ride and a very vibrant  30 minutes in a taxi we have arrived in the beautiful Kisui Village.  It is stunning here. The massive hills sorrounding us provide a perfect backdrop for the lazy sunsets and the  cool breeze from the lake frees us from the scorching miday heat.  We are staying at Mina Academy the school were the project will take place. The kids, the teachers and boards members have welcomed us with open arms and we are already being recognised at the local market as the resident ”mzungu” or white people.  Since we arrived we have had many meetings with the local teachers and board members to negotiate how the project will play out and it is getting very exciting! Yesterday we spent time meeting families  associated to the school and it was eye opening to say the least. Comparing our opportunities, recources and basic living conditions has made us all question the harsh void seperating our countries.  However we are very  hopeful for the  possibility our project provides and we will keep you updated.
Until then Peace, Love and Sunshine
Phoebe, Ana, Anna, Dom and the Playground For  Change Crew

The bags are packed the sunscreen is on and we are just about to hop on the bus to the airport. I can already feel the warmth of Kenya waiting for us. Dom, Ana and Anna and myself have worked hard fundraising, organizing tools and utensils, movie, nights cake stands....you name it we did it. However the support from the one percent and all you lovely donators and friends of Mina Academy for playground for change has been awesome. Your support reaffirms our intentions and gives us more energy in this project. We will keep this page updated with the progression of our project in Kenya so stay tuned to hear how we join the local people of Kisui Village to build a Playground for Change.

Peace, Love and Many thanks 

The Playground for Change Crew