Last Days in Kenya

Hard to believe it, but it’s already time for me to be leaving Kenya. It still in many ways feels as if I just only arrived. November begins with the Kitale agricultural show where we will be featured in a booth sponsored by the ministry of labour, which no doubt will be an exciting time for us, but I am confident in the sales team and I feel things will be able to continue on quite well. Since Burts visit things at the factory have also been going well, it is looking like we are nearing the end of the testing phase for a potential new source of clay, another thing I would have loved to see though, but I know Sammy and the team will continue to work hard.

Things up where we stay have been going very well. Recently one of the dogs gave birth to a litter who of puppies who have begun to venture out and around the compound. Some are more shy than other, but watching them is always funny.

The KCP sales team: Salesperson Jackline Khaemba; Marketing Manager , Stephen Karanja; and Salesperson Andrew Wasike

The KCP production team: Technician, Martin Wanjala; Production Manager, Sammy Barasa; Technician, Pius Wanyama.  Absent: Technician Collins Mabonga.

Joseph Kiplagat, KCP nightwatchman and helping hand

I spent some of my time organizing for another  truckload of filters to go Nairobi. I arranged for the truck to show up at our factory at 8am on Tuesday morning, but this being Kenya I was hardly surprised when the truck showed up at 6pm on Monday night expecting me to load the truck and go. None of our regular works are in at 6pm so once again we relied on the magical enthusiasm of children to help us out. Thus began yet another midnight truck run from Kiminini to Nairobi, only this time it was a little more fun because there was no moon and occasional bouts of fog. Another advantage we had on this trip was our truck was a little smaller and a little faster. Instead of sharing the cab with a couple of farmers, this time it was with someone who was transporting a damaged Land Cruiser.

At around 2am we were just pulling out of Nakuru, the last big town before Nairobi when we were pulled over at a police checkpoint, nothing unusual about this. They were interested in the Land Crusier and asked to see the papers, then at some point the driver got out and was in the conversation while I waited in the cab. They spent about 15 minutes looking at before a policeman approached me and asked to see my passport, which I showed him. About another fifteen minutes later a policeman opened the door an motioned for me to move over. “We’re going to the police station” he announced to me. About two minutes later we were on our way to Nairobi without any policemen.  I asked the owner of the Land Cruiser “those men are very disturbed” he told me. How much, I asked, and he told me 200 shillings.

In Nairobi I was also able to consult with our bucket supplier, Kenpoly, with whom we had an outstanding order. The day after I arrived they were able to ship us our buckets. Timing was great for us as we were in need of another load of filters to arrive in Kitale as Suam Supermarket had just placed an order for another 20 filters. I have learned so much during this trip and I would like to thank everyone involved with the project for this opportunity and all the help and support over the last six months, it’s been an amazing experience. 

Burt Visits!

Me, Burt Cohen, Sammy Barasa and Joshua Machinga

The past couple weeks have proven to be quite busy to the visit of potter extraordinaire Burt Cohen. But works with Potters Without Borders in Canada, a group which provides technical assistance to producers of ceramic water filters such as us. I'd first met back in Canada where I'd visited him at his Vernon workshop shortly before I left for Kenya, during which time he gave me a few lessons and some useful pieces of advice. Fortunately for us  UNICEF invited Burt into the country to draw up a report on the status of ceramic water filter production and Burt was able to spare a few days to help us out.

Collins, Sammy, Burt, Pius, Martin

Martin, Pius, Sammy, Burt

One of the first things Burt did was confirm some of our fears about our old source of clay. We'd been a bit concerned that it had narrower firing range than would usually be expected in such clays, meaning the workability of the clay was sometimes a little questionable. But happily he seemed quite impressed with our new clay, so now we're working on working integrating a measure of new clay into our filters.

Burt was also able to spend a lot of time working with Collins, Martin and Pius, (all of whom adore him) helping them with their technique in working with the clay. Clay is a very temperamental medium and it takes much practice to have a good working relationship with. I learned this when Burt gave us a quick lesson about  how to make a cup on a pottery wheel. Lets just say that whatever I made was nothing like a cup.

I also got the opportunity to visit Sammy's house. He lives very close to the factory, and the other day he invited me over and I met his family. It was a very nice experience, and we got some

We've also got another order in Nairobi, meaning already we need to organize for another truckload of fitlers to go to Nairobi. Which is of course very exciting, but also a lot of work. At this time of year the farmers are trying to bring their agricultural products to market, meaning the trucks are often very busy. And recently the fuel price has gone up again, which seems like a daily occurance here. Nevertheless it is quite encouraging, and if I need to cram into the lorry with a bunch of farmers again I'll be happy to do it.

Morning Run & New Clay

You may know that Kenya produces some of the world’s best distance runners. Nearly all the world’s top marathon runners hail from in and around the town of Eldoret. One reason for this is that the elevation is quite high, something around 3000m above sea level. Kiminini is probably about 80km away from Eldoret, so I’ve taken up a bit of running in the mornings. The first rule is getting up early, the sun can be quite hot, so as it begins to rise, I’ll begin to run. It took a few times to get acclimatized but once I was able to catch my breath, everything was fine. There is nothing like running on a dirt road through the middle of farms as the sun rises and the fog lifts up over the fields so I tried to take a few pictures.

October means I have been here nearly five months which is quite incredible to find it’s already been that long. In many ways it still feels like I just got here. At the factory we’ve been doing a little bit of experimenting. While not too long ago we went and picked up some kaolin, recently we ventured to a village just outside of Kakamenga where we got a sample of some new clay. We also did some more upgrading to hydraulic presses, installing a brake and brace on the two of them so that they now work simply and effectively.

In town are marketing is starting to pick up. The marketing team made a trip to Bungoma, a town not far from Kitale, to start a promotion outside of the supermarkets there, including a Khetias where they were able to not only create awareness but sell filters as well. Of course marketing and sales work in Kenya poses its own unique challenges. One thing about Kenya is mobile banking, or banking on ones cell phone is quite popular here. The most popular service is safaricoms “m-pesa” which allows people to send money to one another via cellphone and will store deposited money. We’ve been working  on ways to try and incorporate such tools into our approach.

The hut with the thatch roof is where I stay

They narrowly beat out the Kiminini Hilton for the title of "Best"

One problem for us here has been inflation. Election tactics, a distracted government, recession, whatever the reason the shilling has been deflating against the dollar, and in the country prices for commodities, such as sugar have been rising. At the start of the month Safaricom changed their calling rates from 3/= a minute to Canada to 10/=. Which admittedly probably isn’t a terrible rate, but it was a surprise to me when I found my call was more than three times what I thought it had been.

Clay from near Kakamenga

The weather here has been quite irregular. While people tell me by this time of year it should be hot, and not raining, it’s still been raining fairly often as well. But it’s still been quite hot, if there is one thing I think I’m fearing it’s moving back to Canada just in time for winter.