As I have mentioned in previous posts, it was a huge victory for us to get approval to go out to Isiolo to visit our client. Isiolo is one of 47 counties that were created in 2013, and is greatly impacted by the arid lands and lack of water. Without access to clean and safe water, women and children must walk long distances to fetch water. This prevents the women from engaging in other economic activities and children from having a full day of school. When new water sources are established, communities develop around them - increasing the access to health services, creation of new schools, and improved planning of services.
It is one thing to read about this and another to go see it in person. Thursday we departed from Nairobi at 5AM in order to meet county officials and a local communities just outside the main town. 9 of us (my team of 4 IBMers, Lucky - the head of IBM Security, Dr. Kala Flemming from IBM Research, Ignatius from Millennium Water Alliance, and Muriuki and Sharron from our implementation partner DOT) packed into a van and hit the road for a 5 hour drive.
You never know what to expect with the roads in developing countries, and this was no exception. It was definitely a better road than I expected - mostly a 2 lane country road as we would call it in the states. I love the driving where you frequently drive in the oncoming lane to pass another car or just to drive in another lane. Bob and I had a good laugh when we realized we both hit out FitBit 10,000 steps on the drive to Isiolo and had barely walked at all - it was all just from the bumpy road. Obviously I sat in the back as I love turbulence - the bumpier the better!
We made a brief stop when we got to the equator to take a few photos. It never dawned on me when people would say Isiolo is in the north because when if you look at a map it is really central Kenya, but now I realize they say that because it is NORTH of the EQUATOR.
We had a great time at the equator getting a demonstration from "Professor" Mackenzie on how water swirls clockwise when we walked 20 meters north of the equator, counterclockwise 20 meters south of the equator, and not at all on the equator. Whether its a trick or not I don't care, it was a really cool demonstration and a lot of fun!
Ignatius, Lucky, Molly, Kala, Arianna, Anshul, Sharron, Muriuki & Bob at the equator
Proof of our visit , signed by "Professor" Mackenzie!
We stopped a few kilometers down the road in the town of Nanyuki for breakfast and tea. I was a little concerned we were going to be late for our meeting with the Minister, but figured I would leave it up to the locals to manage. Who am I to turn down a meal?
During our four+ hour drive and as we approached Isiolo, I was really confused as the terrain seemed very lush - green grass, rolling hills, terrace farming, lots of pasture and trees. Not at all what I expected in Isiolo when I think of their water challenges. Then almost suddenly, as if it was on the exact county border, I started seeing cacti. All different types of cactus. And the green became less and less and less, quite suddenly. Reminded me of Peru in how you can quickly move through multiple temperate zones in just a few kilometers. By the time we got to the capital "city" I could start to see some of what I read about. And I had to remind myself that we were in the capital - the part of the county with the least problems.
Due to our extended breakfast, we ended up being over an hour late for our agenda (#KenyaTime). We first went to the county offices to meet with various ministers - I had practiced how to say Honorable Ali in Swahili for the last few days, so was ready with "Muhishimiwa" when I met the ministers!. The county offices were very simple, even the road leading to it was a dirt road. But the people were most hospitable - making sure we had a place to sit while we waited, and running to the market to get us bottles of water. Everyone says the Kenyan people are very friendly, and I have seen this over and over again in my first week.
It turned out most of the ministers and chief officers were already in the board room at the hotel down the road waiting for us, so we went there. My team and I really had no idea what we were walking into - we were given an agenda and were told that we ARE the agenda, but it is difficult to tailor a presentation when you don't know the audience. Not only were we not sure of exactly who was going to be there, but didn't know/understand the various roles and responsibilities of the people, as well as how to "translate" certain pieces of information. For example, one of the NGO partners told us the county has lots of "data," but what does that mean? As an IBMer and one who works out of the Watson HQ offices in NY, I have a certain understanding that pops to mind when I think about "lots of data", but at the same time I am pretty sure we aren't thinking the same thing. The same is true when we meet the county's head of technology. What exactly does he do? I am pretty sure the Chief Technology Officer for Isiolo is a lot different than the CTO from a Fortune 500 client of mine, but how basic should I consider their capabilities? I don't want to under assume and insult senior level officials, but I don't want to over estimate their capabilities and not come up with recommendations that would benefit them. So with all those unknowns, my team and I were prepared for anything. We joked that the interview guide we drafted for ourselves was more of a choose-your-own-adventure - where we could tailor the questions and level of specificity based on what we learned in the meeting.
The meeting was great - and most importantly we made the connection with our primary stakeholder and got a greater understanding of the challenges they have today and we now have a better understanding of the baseline we are working with. The challenges they face are tremendous, and nothing new - these problems go back hundreds of years, as do the lifestyles of the people.
That in and of itself is daunting - lots of NGOs have come into Africa to "help" and yet there are still kids that walk 25 km EACH WAY to school, carrying water because there is none at their school. What makes me think that anything my team and I do will actually make an impact? So many have tried and really not moved the needle. But we try and stay focused and remember that we bring a different perspective and a different set of skills and capabilities.
One shocking thing we have discovered in our first week is that funding is NOT an issue. There are plenty of donors - wealthy individuals, corporations, governments - that will fund development projects in Africa. The challenge is finding capable individuals to implement these programs and to set them up in a sustainable way. Our client emphasized several times projects that various NGOs did to map water sources and create new water sources, but they produced reports (literally shelfware) that gave them nothing actionable or set up boreholes in areas with little water that dried up in just a few months. Can we do something different leveraging data and analytics? How do we ensure we are helping the newly formed government of Isiolo set up a sustainable model?
After each of the ministers and chief officers introduced themselves and spoke briefly on some of their key challenges and desires, my team and I began to ask questions and dig in. I jumped in with one of the first questions and thought I aimed pretty high level and broad to start things off. Again - I didn't want to offend anyone with asking something too basic, but I also didn't want to speak in complicated IBM jargon that would be over their heads. So I started off with, "what types of information do you have today?" Easy, right?
The Minister smiled and looked around as if waiting for someone from his team to comment. I expanded on my question referring to various types of data they might (and should) have - information about water sources, consumption levels, demand, etc. - in order to "lead the witness" in case someone was shy to answer. Again, still figuring out the cultural nuances. After an awkward pause I got my answer - they have no data. No actionable information. No insights. Boy do we have our work cut out for us.
And as they concluded the meeting, the minister made it very clear they have high expectations for us and it will be difficult for us to manage their expectations.
After a lovely lunch, the next stop on our agenda was to the local community. Unfortunately the Minister had to cancel our visit due to a conflict in that community that day. The conflict, like most in the region, was due to pastoralist families fighting over grazing land for their cattle. While it is a secular state and one might assume that is the source of conflict, it tends to be driven by the cattle as that is their livelihood. While disappointing we couldn't go to the community, we certainly got a lot of great information out of our first visit to Isiolo.
The 5+ hour bus ride back to Nairobi was made fun by a few rounds of Heads Up and reflecting on all we heard that day. While many questions were answered, many more came up and we are anxious for our next meeting to learn more about the people and the challenges.
Molly
#LivinLaVidaVannuci #Kenyeah #IBM #IBMCSC #CSC #Kenya