Bernard Pollack and Danielle Nierenberg are two travel bloggers who have set out to visit almost every country in Africa. In their latest post for Cheapflights, the duo report back on their experiences in the troubled sub-Saharan nation of Kenya.
Keep posted for more from Bernard and Danielle, and be sure to check out their blog Border Jumpers where you can track their progress as they traverse the continent
Our entry begins in Maralal, Kenya, a place mostly known for its wildlife. And as we made the seven hour, bumpy trek from Nairobi – half of it on unpaved roads – we saw our fair share of water buffaloes, rhinos, impala and giraffes. But we weren’t here to go on safari. We were here to meet with a group of pastoralists – livestock keepers who had agreed to meet with us and talk about the challenges they face.
Although most of these people don’t have access to cable TV or even radios, they do have a good sense of the challenges their fellow livestock keepers face all over Kenya: climate change, conflict over land and water access, and a lack of support from policymakers and leaders. They also understand that the world is changing. They know that many of their children won’t live the same kind of lives that their ancestors lived for centuries. Many will choose to go to the cities, but they said if their children become “landed,” they want them to be able to maintain links to the pastoralist way of life.
During our visit to the “big city,” Nairobi, we met a self-help group of women farmers in Kibera – likely the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa with a population anywhere between 700,000 and one million – who were raising vegetables on what they call “vertical farms“. But instead of skyscrapers, these farms are in tall sacks, filled with dirt, and the women grow crops in them on different levels by poking holes in the bags and planting seeds. More than 1,000 of their neighbours are growing food in a similar way. During 2007 and 2008 when there was conflict in the slums of Nairobi and no food could come into these areas, most residents didn’t go without because so many of them were growing crops – in sacks, vacant land or elsewhere.
In Kerecho, Kenya we met with the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) and the Solidarity Centre – a group affiliated with the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations that provides resources to hire organisers, conduct trainings, and offer communications and transportation support. The union, despite having more than 200,000 members in the agriculture sector, has still lost density over the last two decades. Companies are trying whatever they can to cut costs, including implementing child labor, and mechanising the plucking industry.
But the union, like all of the people and organisations we met in Kenya, is demonstrating its resiliency and fighting back. Despite its recent setbacks KPAWU has grown over the past couple of months, with 6,000 tea workers joining its ranks. Kenya may be a country wracked by civil strife, but its people understand better than most how to cope with challenges facing Africa in the 21st century.
This guest post was contributed by Bernard Pollack and Danielle Nierenberg of Border Jumpers. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of Cheapflights Ltd.
