Field study week

Monday-Friday we’re leaving Nairobi again, this time for our field study week in Kisumu. Kisumu is located by the coast of Lake Victoria and is Kenya’s third largest city so there will be lots and lots to see.

Kisumu’s main resource is fish, no surprise there, so most of the things we’ll get to do and see are lake or fish related but of course well get to do and see more than just fish.

Monday will be spent in 4 busses, two going to Kisumu (SP-students) and the other two going to Kenya’s only rainforest (NV-students). We’ll be traveling from 7.30 to around 17.00 when we’ll arrive at New Victoria Hotel in Kisumu.

Tuesday we get to choose if we want to go on a boat tour on Lake Victoria or go explore Kisumu, I’m going on the boat tour. After lunch we’ll get to choose once again but this time between going to the VI-forest (Swedish NGO), a visit to the Kenyan NGO IDCC which is working in a village near bye called Osiri with questions like HIV and AIDS (Kisumu has the highest percentage of population with HIV or AIDS in all of Kenya) or again explore Kisumu, here I’m going to the VI-forest.

Wednesday we’re going to a small traditional Kenyan village called Kusa. Here we will be divided into two groups. The first group will contain the 9 lucky people who got their names drawn in the lottery we had about who would get to go will go fishing on Lake Victoria. I was not one of them but I’m happy anyway because I’ll get to go with group number two and learn about the village life in Kusa and visit a couple of homes. After eating we’ll get to talk and listen to the different groups of the village, the elders, the women, the single mothers and the youths.

Thursday we’re going to visit a fishing camp, the fishing ministry and a fishing factory. After that we leave Kisumu behind to go to Kericho, the Kenyan center for planting tea.

Friday is dedicated to a visit at a tea farm and a visit to a tea factory. Then after lunch we head home.

// Kisumu is a Luo word and means a place where hungry people can go to find food. //

// One hour with car from Kisumu there is a small village called Kogelo, where Obama’s grandmother lives. //