'Be Your Brother's Keeper'

'Be Your Brother's Keeper'

This van sums up my feelings towards Kenyan road travel.

Having been instructed to arrive 4 hours early for my flight from Heathrow, I had ample time to enjoy a farewell coffee with Mina who dropped me off. She is very much ‘over’ me going away these days having cried when I went away for Camp America just 3 years ago. Clearly I’m too big and ugly to be fussed over. As people filtered in, the remaining time provided a great opportunity to get to know the other UK volunteers, most of whom I had met before. Either at the initial assessment stage or the pre-placement training that I completed in late Feb.

The team’s travel was split over two flights with mine stopping in Amsterdam, the others flying direct to Nairobi. Initially I coveted the quicker direct flight; however, we soon received frantic messages from the other team informing us that a baggage truck had crashed into their plane, denting it. A tense hour ensued as engineers assessed whether the plane was fit to fly or not. Despite eventually getting the all clear, I’m not sure whether I would have liked to fly on it.

              

         After the 10 hour flight, we were faced with a 6 hour bus journey from Jomo Kenyatta Airport to our final destination of Kericho. The hot and bumpy ride would have been a total slog had it not been for the amazing scenery that we enjoyed on the way. It started with the high-rises of Nairobi city centre with fantastic variety in the architecture, then onto the sprawling slums in the suburbs of the city. After this we reached the country side moving through forest, then plains then the highlands of Kericho in the tea hills. Seeing zebra and baboons so close to the road as we passed through the plains fulfilled many of the preconceptions we had in our heads about what Kenya might look like. However, the scenes in Kericho were very different with their verdant rolling hills, partly demonstrating the incredible variety of Kenya as a country.

                

         The only point that detracted from the experience of the bus ride was the rather 'gung-ho' attitude towards road safety. As much of the journey was completed on dual and single carriage ways, we were forced to overtake many large transport trucks. However, there also happened to be many coming towards us from the other direction. I felt as if we were riding our luck at many points, however, the driver seemed more than comfortable with the sight of a 40 tonne truck barrelling towards our rather puny minibus. As we pulled into Kericho, I think many people were glad to be at the end of the journey seeing a graveyard of utterly destroyed cars and trucks that had been abandoned by the police station in town.

                

Theorising over the fate of the driver was a short conversation.

           Kericho itself is situated on the ridge of a large hill with one central highway running through it, and the town sprawling down the sides and into the valley. I think that many of us didn’t expect how metropolitan the city would be. There are bars and clubs, restaurants and supermarkets with countless churches and higher education institutions dotted around the town. This acted as a source of great comfort as there will be lots for us to do during our placement here. I think we are lucky that it is rainy season as the weather remains a very pleasant 20-25 degrees and the occasional, very dramatic, thunderstorms prevent the place from getting too dusty.

                

            We arrived at a guesthouse where we would be kept for the first 3 nights before being placed at our host homes. Here we met the Kenyan volunteers who we will be working with very closely for the duration of our time here. Balloon makes sure that none of these volunteers come from Kericho, ensuring there is a sense of unknown for all involved. It is a real privilege to be able to mix with young Kenyan people who share many of the same aspirations and values as us. However, the context of the conservative society within which they live is very obvious. We were surprised to hear in conversations with Balloon ventures coordinators that not one of the Kenyan volunteers drank alcohol! Yet, this myth was quickly dispelled as stories of nightclub and university antics were discussed later in the evenings.

                

          We immediately tucked into the 140-page curriculum with the help of Balloon’s programme coordinators. This syllabus is equal parts conceptual, and practical giving us a good grounding for the work that we will be completing. This is all fascinating material drawing from all of the top business schools around the world, focusing in on the mentalities of entrepreneurship. I was shocked to find that many of the most successful companies in the world simply winged it. It seems counter-intuitive, however, chasing consumer need doesn’t happen on neat spreadsheets and 5-year business plans. To start something new, a concept called effectual thinking must be adopted. This method dictates chasing the consumer interest with infinite adaptability and a total disregard for your own opinions and ideas should they conflict with the evidence. This was combined with Eric Ries, ‘Lean Start-up’ that calls for the Minimum Value Proposition. An idea that states that demand for a product must be tested in the simplest form that still functions. It removes many of the assumptions made by the entrepreneur in the assessment of need within a product, often with beneficial effect. The Lean Start-up can remove the features of their product that consumers don’t like or want, providing a competitive advantage.

                

Emanuel and I sharing samosa and coffee

              After 3 nights in the guesthouse we were placed in our host homes and I have lucked out in a fairly major way. Firstly, I have been partnered with a really nice Kenyan volunteer from Eldoret who was born in the running hills, and has met Mo Farrah! Emmanuel is a laugh, and will be a very easy person to share a room with for 10 weeks. Secondly, our host ‘mama’ loves her boys and expresses this through food. For anyone that knows me well, you will know that this is already enough. However, she is also kind and accommodating and upkeeps a lovely home in a gated compound just outside Kericho.

My home for the next 8 weeks

                

             Despite the massive and obvious change in my lifestyle, I already feel very comfortable in my surroundings. All of the people we have come across have been very welcoming and the community of Kericho really seem to engage with the work that we are doing. There is a beautiful Kenyan phrase which rings true throughout all of my experiences so far; ‘Be your Brother’s Keeper’. This represents much of what we have experienced from all of the Kenyan people that we have interacted with so far. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into the real work next week.