After months of preparation, research and studying, I am
finally travelling to Kenya for my field work. This is the highlight of the
doctorate, because here, finally, I will be able to ask the questions that trouble
me the most and hopefully (one can only hope) find out what I am seeking.
What am I seeking? Well my mindboggling question is how
come, so many people around the world (650m) and on the African continent
specifically (325m) lack access to clean water.
The asking will be done by travelling to the Western part of
Kenya, to a county named Siaya, which lays on the shores of Lake Victoria (the
third largest lake in the world) with up to 1400mm annual rain (in Israel we get
~600mm) and yet 47% of the population (of 842k) don’t have access to clean
water. This physical abundance of water makes the question even more interesting.
By the way, in Kenya, the average is 37% of the pop. without access (of 46.7m).
So, I will be residing in Siaya for the next two months. I
will be graciously hosted by the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science
and Technology or JOOUST for short. I will be travelling around the county
(2,530.4 sq. km) interviewing people, from county officials to local villagers,
observing what happens on the ground and picking my brain to make sense of it all.
I am very excited to see what happens, understanding that
any plans I make can change at any moment, so I am hoping, so hoping for
cooperation, for easy travels, reasonable physical conditions and to find some
answers.
But first on the way a short stopover in Luxemburg where I will
join the workshop on microfinance and clean water & sanitation as part of
the SDG lab for Young Entrepreneurs to advance local economies and community
health in Africa, and will talk about “sustainable water projects” at the university
of Luxenberg.
See you next time more to come……
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