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• Reporter’s Journal: Snapshots of Kenya

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Reporter’s Journal: Snapshots of Kenya

My name is Andrea Crossan, and I’m a producer here at The World. As you can see, though, I’m not currently in Boston. I’m in Kenya for two weeks with the International Reporting Project. I’m criss-crossing the country with 11 other journalists,speaking to Kenyans about the problems they’re facing right now.

That list of problems is a long one. It includes health issues such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, and environmental concerns like land and water management. There is also continuing fall-out from the post-election violence that erupted here at the end of 2007.

It’s a strange situation for the people we meet. Instead of a lone journalist with a microphone, camera, or notepad, our group is like the paparazzi swarming in, with digital cameras clicking, Flip cameras rolling, and microphones being thrust forward. It’s hard to imagine how our interviewees feel about our presence. So far, people have been very polite about this media swarm. The kids are always curious, and ready to pose for pictures.

One of our first stops is the Siaya District Hospital near the city of Kisumu, which is located northwest of Nairobi on Lake Victoria. Siaya Hospital has 220 beds, and serves about 120,000 patients a year. This region of Kenya has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the country. Siaya gets money from the US Government’s PEPFAR program to do HIV tests, provide counseling, and to distribute anti-retroviral drugs. To the left, you can see that Siaya also has a circumcision clinic for men. Circumcision is a tough sell in this part of Kenya, which is predominantly populated by the Luo tribe. Historically, Luo men don’t get circumcised, so the clinic does a lot of outreach to explain the importance of circumcision in lowering the risk of HIV infection.

The next destination on our whistle-stop tour of the Kenyan countryside was a visit with Sarah Onyango Obama. Yes, she’s President Obama’s step-grandmother. She lives in a village called Kogelo, not far from Siaya. Mama Sarah, as she’s called, patiently chatted with us, through an interpreter, about her family and her life. We had a nice visit with her under a tree in the garden of her home. She was kind enough to let us walk around the property and look at the gravesite of President Obama’s father. Mama Sarah is a bit of a celebrity in these parts. In fact, the Obama name is everywhere. For example, later in the day we visited Senator Obama Primary School. The children there treated us to a song about a new Kenyan constitution. It’s the national obsession. Since the forming of the coalition government last year, constitutional reform has proceeded slower than most Kenyans would like. So even young kids sing about how they want a new constitution. And on our drive back, we caught sight of a small posho mill that has adopted the Obama name. Posho is kind of a corn-meal porridge that’s a staple food in this part of the world. We never found out if the Obama name helped the mill’s sales.

No trip along the rough roads of Kenya would be complete without a flat tire. Turns out our spare tire was also flat. So we had to wait by the side of the road for a tire to be delivered to us. Luckily, some local kids were more than happy to hang out and help us pass the time. After the tire arrived, we headed back to Nairobi. We’re supposed to be visiting the Kibera slum in the coming days. Somebody should tell the local residents that a van-load of camera-wielding journalists are on their way.

Andrea traveled to Kenya in 2009 on an International Reporting Project Gatekeeper Editors Fellowship.

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