A Life Changing Question [Water Project Part 1]

Posted on January 22, 2013

It was a simple enough question. Under ordinary circumstances this interaction between strangers might have produced a simple “no” and a polite but brief discussion.

These were not ordinary circumstances. I had arrived in Kenya only a few days earlier as part of a team attempting to do documentary work on good causes in East Africa. Learning that the World Social Forum was taking place in Nairobi, I stayed behind to network while most of my team went on to Uganda. With my camera draped over my shoulder, I wandered around the stadium looking for interesting people and causes to engage. This is when I received a life changing question.

“Excuse me, are you a journalist?” a man asked. “No” I answered. “I do some documentary work with photography and video but I am not a journalist.” Undaunted, he asked “Can I tell you about a project I am working on for my hometown village?” It is not uncommon to be approached by strangers in East Africa with requests for help. This question intrigued me, however, so I stopped to listen to the man’s story.
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Henry explained to me how his village in Western Kenya had needed water for many years yet lacked the resources to build a well. Moved by the situation he described I agreed to call him before my return trip from Uganda when I would be passing through the area.

Two weeks later we stepped off the bus in the middle of the night in a small town called Awasi. Ben, my traveling companion, asked “how well do we know these people again?” “I’ve only met them once I answered” suddenly realizing the risks in this scenario. Henry showed up a few minutes later with several companions and we hiked into the darkness while trying to keep our footing through rain drenched fields.

I woke up the next morning in a place that felt about as remote as I ever experienced. We spent the next two days interviewing locals, learning about their stories and sharing life through meals and conversation. Making it a special point not to promise anything, I told Henry that all that I could promise is that I would endeavor to tell their story.

Long after returning home I could not forget the people and the stories I had encountered in Rakwaro. A lack of access to clean water was costing the community their health and in too many cases their lives.

Three years later I returned to Kenya with a plan to help Rakwaro get water. I had contacted a number of charitable organizations that work on water projects and received the same answer from all but one. They all had their own sources for figuring out where to build their wells and were not open to suggestions, even when I offered to raise the funds. One organization agreed to help so I worked with Henry to get them all the information they needed from Rakwaro during my trip. Then I quit hearing from them, learning months later that they had found their drilling partners in Kenya to be unreliable. This experience made two things clear, finding reliable help in Kenya can be difficult and I wasn’t going to be able to rely on help from non-profit organizations.

A few years later I decided to try another approach. Contacting Moses, one of my Kenyan friends from Nairobi, I asked him if he would help me coordinate the project. Moses is from a village near Lake Victoria and passes by Rakwaro periodically. Having an interest in rural development himself, Moses agreed and within weeks we had a geological survey and several quotes from Kenyan drilling companies.

The next challenge became how to choose a drilling company that we could truly rely on to get the job done. During the summer of last year I attended a workshop that helped refine my approach to the water project. The concept of ending poverty by developing people motivated me to seek for ways to help Rakwaro that empower its people to pursue their own development in the future.

I received a call last summer asking me if I could capture an orphanage in Sudan with photography and video. This afforded a perfect opportunity to get back to East Africa and to revisit Kenya at the end of the trip to setup the water project. Much to my surprise, my sister decided to join me for the Kenya part of the trip. At the point where we will resume this story, Rebekah and I will have arrived in Nairobi after 13 hours in a bus from Kampala.

1000 Cups Coffee House

Posted on December 28, 2012

There are a few moments in life where you make profound discoveries that change your life forever. Although long in the making, these defining moments are what we remember when looking back. One of moments occurred to me six years ago at the 1000 Cups Coffee House in Kampala, Uganda. This discovery for me was not of deep spiritual importance but it did help to refine what became one of my most enduring interests, enjoying a good cup of coffee.
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Attracted by a flyer offering a coffee safari, I figured that a place that could introduce you to the coffee process probably makes some pretty good coffee. My boda boda driver (motorcycle taxi) struggled to find the place from my vague description. Stepping through the door I liked the place instantly. It looked like what an artisan coffee shop in Africa should look like, complete with a rustic wooden setting and well arranged sacks of fresh roasted coffee beans.

I had to go to the place where much of the world’s finest coffee is grown to discover how good coffee should taste.

I ordered fresh brewed Rwandan coffee and watched as the barista ground the coffee to prepare it. Deciding to try the coffee first without milk and sugar, I took a sip and that was the moment of discovery. I had read an article before this stating that coffee was supposed to be sweet and not bitter. I found it hard to believe because all of the coffee I had tried was bitter and needed a little help to make it more drinkable. This cup of Rwandan coffee tasted and cleaner than I had every sipped. I had to go to the place where much of the world’s finest coffee is grown to discover how good coffee should taste.
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Every time I am in Kampala I take groups of people back to 1000 Cups. It was a great pleasure to take my sister, also an avid coffee lover, to this special place on our most recent trip. Having arrived the day before, there was no better way to introduce her to the delights of East African coffee. I enjoyed a Ugandan Arabica while she sipped a robusta. We chatted about our hopes for the trip and where we found ourselves in life. 1000 Cups Coffee House was a delightful place to start our adventure together in East Africa.
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Traveling With My Sister

Posted on December 20, 2012

One of the great joys of my life has been sharing my love of travel with my younger sister, Rebekah. Our shared adventures include a three week road trip through the American West visiting 13 states and 7 national parks. We once drove from Ohio to Homer, Alaska, spending a spontaneous summer together in the Last Frontier. We’ve traveled along Lake Superior’s scenic North Shore and camped at Southern California’s San Onofre State Beach. We learned to surf together in the Pacific Ocean and kayaked for the first time during one of our journeys to Colorado.

Rebekah and I on safari at Kenya's Maassai Mara.

Rebekah and I on safari at Kenya’s Maassai Mara.


When I told her that I was heading back to East Africa she decided that she wanted to join me this time. I welcomed the idea of taking our initial trip together overseas, especially since this was our first chance to travel since she has given birth to two beautiful little boys.

During the most difficult parts of our journey I reflected often on how amazing it was to have a sister along who was so perfect for such a trip.

Rebekah found a way to make it happen so two weeks into the trip I took a taxi to the airport in Uganda to pick her up. I could hardly believe how blessed I was to have another chance to travel with my sister. She walked through the airport and into the Ugandan evening looking more adventurous than ever.

Over the next few weeks we spent countless hours on buses, walked for miles through mud and rain, often went without showers, ate unfamiliar foods and all the while pushed ourselves to connect with people and to accomplish our goals for the trip. Amidst the challenges Rebekah never complained. During the most difficult parts of our journey I reflected often on how amazing it was to have a sister along who was so perfect for such a trip.

Rebekah with Valerie, one of the little girls from the village of Rakwaro in Western Kenya

Rebekah with Valerie, one of the little girls from the village of Rakwaro in Western Kenya


Children gravitated to the loving way that she reached out to them. She brought gifts to give to people everywhere we went. One little boy hardly put down the toy car she gave him for the next several days. Her knowledge of agricultural best practices fascinated the people of the village. She resonated with the needs we encountered, contributing her unique input on how we might make a positive impact. Without her creative tastes and input, much of the progress we made would have been impossible.

Together we appreciated some of the world’s finest coffee originating from East Africa. Our safari into the Maassai Mara filled us both with wonder and made it into her top three travel experiences, she said. For a well traveled woman this is no small feat. I am so proud of Rebekah and grateful for the traveling companion that she has been both while traversing the US and now East Africa.

Rebekah and I on one of our many crowded bus trips.

Rebekah and I on one of our many crowded bus trips.


To learn more about our project in East Africa, go to YadumuProject.org

The Story Behind the Yadumu Project

Posted on December 14, 2012

We were young, energetic and ready to change the world. Combining our love for photography, video, travel and serving causes that matter we set out to find worthy projects in East Africa needing support. We aimed to tell their stories through well-designed visual communications. As aspiring creative professionals we wanted to use our skills for projects that would make a difference in the world.

This upcoming series of posts transitions from my time in South Sudan into discussing our ongoing projects elsewhere in East Africa. Sharing the background story here will reveal the context behind these projects. “Yadumu” is the Swahili word for “long life” identifying with our desire to support life-saving causes in East Africa.

Our initial idea was to create a documentary on how organizations were addressing the AIDS crisis in East Africa. If people in the West could see a message of hope, rather than dire statistics, it would more likely inspire them to contribute to solutions. Traveling through Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan, we found project after project addressing the needs of society in their own ways. Every one of them impacted the AIDS situation not by specializing in one particular issue but by caring for the vulnerable.

During this trip three projects captured my ongoing attention. The first was a much needed water project for the village of Rakwaro in Western Kenya. A Kenyan by the name of Henry approached me one day asking if I was a journalist. He wanted to show me his village and to allow me to see first hand how a lack of water impacted the community. I have never forgotten that visit. With the groundwork and strategic planning finally in place, we are now launching a fund-raising initiative to raise money to start this project.

The second was an orphanage in the Nairobi-area founded by a Kenyan pastor and his wife to care for vulnerable children. I have supported El-Shaddai Hope Centre and maintained a relationship with them for the past few years. We are working together on figuring out ways to help make their children’s home more financially sustainable.

The third project was an organization called Aid Child, dedicated to caring for children with HIV/AIDS who live without the support of extended family. The afternoon that we spent with Nathaniel Dunigan, Aid Child’s founder, was the most informative on our entire first trip. Although we are not currently involved in a specific project to support Aid Child they continue to be our best example of sustainable human development. Nathaniel is currently conducting Ph.D. research at the University of San Diego.This close proximity has allowed us to learn much from his experience.

Yadumu is the Swahili word for “long life” identifying with our desire to support life-saving causes in East Africa.

Since that first trip to East Africa we have been back twice. It has taken a lot of prayer, research, advice and consideration to figure out how we wanted to approach these projects. A conference called Ending Poverty by Developing People significantly influenced our approach this past Summer. Upon our return to East Africa in the Fall of 2012 we began exploring alongside the people we are working with in Kenya how their efforts and ideas could lead the way forward toward their own development. We believe that we have landed on the approach that we should take for our first major project, a well for Rakwaro.

We never did make that documentary, deciding instead that we needed to focus on working directly with causes to help tell their stories. At this point the Yadumu Project is not a 501©3 but a collaborative effort to empower the people of East to live longer and healthier lives. We are a work in progress and learning how to empower sustainable human development as we go. Your prayer, support and ideas are most welcome. Thank you for listening to our story.

Click here to learn more about the Yadumu Project.

The Nile is Not Just a River in Egypt

Posted on November 21, 2012

On a bright Sunday afternoon in Nimule, South Sudan, a group decided to set out on a walking trip to the Nile River. Following Elizabeth, a volunteer at the Cornerstone Children’s Home from Colorado, visitors and children alike set made this trek. The next few hours yielded rich cultural and natural experiences.

I walked alongside Jimmy, a sixteen year old orphan who speaks great English and always carries a sheepish grin on his face as though he is planning some kind of mischief. Jimmy is a fun to joke around with and behind his jovial manner is a kind heart. Enjoying this opportunity to get to know him, we spent most of the way there and back in conversation.

The persistent calls from young children of, “Mzungu, how are you?” punctuated the trip. “Mzungu” is the Swahili word for “white person” and is the almost universal East African way of referring to fair skinned foreigners with whom they are not acquainted. Since younger children are just beginning to learn English in school they squeal with delight when you answer, “I’m fine. How are you?” They don’t have anything else to offer to the conversation but just the fact that they asked a question in English and received an answer from the mzungu makes them happy.

While snapping a picture of the landscape a man started yelling at me from the path. “Have you received permission to take pictures here?” he asked. I responded that I didn’t know that I needed permission. We had passed into a reserve, he informed me, and pictures must not be taken there without the permission of the “big man” in the office. I asked this plain-clothed man on a bicycle if he was a ranger and he said, “Even I am a ranger.”

After more empty threats to take me to the office and to charge me an exorbitant sum of money to get my camera back, we moved on shaking our heads. I let him know that the park would do a lot better with visitors if they let people take pictures. This kind of short-sighted thinking is so sad in areas like this. They think that a fee for everything will bring money but in fact it drives visitors away.

Reaching the Nile at last, we enjoyed the sight of local fishermen rowing by in canoes. While eating some local oranges that are really more green than orange, we thought we heard the sound of hippos in the distance. Since hippos are quite dangerous it puts everyone on edge a little bit to know that they are nearby. Nobody bothered us as we snapped pictures of the water and of each other along the Nile’s banks.

I saw one guy taking a picture of the women with his cell phone. When he noticed me watching him he said that I had a lot of ladies with me and he started to offer cows for one of them. I let him know that he would have to speak to the lady himself and then returned to the group with a story that made everyone laugh.

On the way back I encountered a scene that I don’t think I will ever forget. I saw a man start yelling at a young girl. He then reached for a stick and she set out on a run. For at least the next 5-10 minutes I could see her running as fast as she could and him not giving up in his pursuit. I couldn’t see how the chase ended. Scenes like this break my heart and make me happy that at least the children at the Cornerstone Children’s Home have a chance to be protected from the abuse that is so common within their society.

We walked past a loud party gathered around a drum circle and Jimmy told me it was likely to celebrate a new birth. As the sun set over the horizon we passed the local mosque and entered the gate back of the children’s home. It was a beautiful afternoon so full of cultural experiences alongside harsh reality. The Nile is not just a river in Egypt, it is a river in South Sudan.

Playing a Game Called Dababa

Posted on November 17, 2012

You can learn much about a society by watching children play. The games and activities that they embrace can be instructive about the society in which they are raised. The children at Cornerstone Children’s Home in South Sudan played a that game that seemed impossible for us visitors to figure out. Aside from football (what we call soccer) it seemed to be their favorite game to play.

After trying in vain to figure out how the game worked I decided one evening to join in. Ohwilo, one of the boys from the children’s home, saw that I didn’t know what I was doing and grabbed my hand to try to walk me through it.

I found that they had created a grid by using their feet to make faint marks in the dirt. One team had to stay on the grid lines and try to touch any member of the other team which aimed to make it across the grid and back without getting tapped. If any of the players made it across before their teammates were touched, their team received a point. If somebody on their team got touched first by the children on the grid, the teams switched roles so that the other team got a chance to score points.

Two things stood out to me about this game. First, when I was watching them play I thought everybody was on their own. In the developing world people seem to more heartily embrace games like soccer where the mutual efforts of the community are central to the game. This was certainly true of this game and I chuckled when I figured out how far my individualistic perceptions were from reality.

Second, when I asked the children what the game was called it sounded like they said “Dababa.” For a minute I thought it was a poor pronunciation of “The Robber.” When I asked one of the staff members about the game I learned that it actually was called “Dababa.” The reason for the name is that during three decades of civil war in South Sudan, people referred to tanks as “dababa.”

This made so much sense because that team that was dababa could only run on the lines and the rest of the children could run anywhere within the grid to get past them. A popular children’s game based on the reality of war within their society demonstrates just how important is the peace that has finally come to South Sudan. I pray that the themes of war will fade into history as these precious children experience a new era of peace.

I Want to See the Photos

Posted on November 11, 2012

Children everywhere love to see photos. On my first day in Southern Sudan I met a little girl named Dorothy at the Cornerstone Children’s Home. Most of those who know her call her by her nickname, Nyonyo. I was carrying my camera at the time so she pleaded, “I want to see the photos.”

After showing her some of the pictures she approached me later on asking to see the photos on my phone. Every time I saw her for the first couple days I was there she repeated in the same begging voice, “I want to see the photos.”

One evening I saw her and jokingly said the same thing to her using her tone of voice. She promptly disappeared and then returned with a small photo album. I sat down on the concrete with her as she told me about the people in her photos.

This was a moving moment for me. Here’s a girl who has lost her parents but because there are people loving on her, she has pictures of a past that she can look back on with joy. I understood better than ever why she wanted to see my pictures.

Looking through Dorothy’s pictures helped me to appreciate the power of photos to connect people with their past. I have captured many images over the past few years but few of them are printed or in a format that can help others remember their experiences unless they are in front of my computer. I think I need to do something about this.

A Flight to Remember

Posted on October 27, 2012

There are a few moments in life where your experience collides with your interests, making you feel like it is a great time to be alive. Flying over Uganda this past week on our way to South Sudan provided one of these moments. Here’s what I wrote in my Field Notes shortly after we took off.

“I am so happy right now. I’m on an adventure and nothing makes me feel more alive than experiences like this. I am presently on an MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) flight from Entebbe, Uganda to Nimule, South Sudan.

We are on a small 12 passenger plane. The seats are covered with a tough canvas and the controls look vintage but capable.

Taking off over Lake Victoria was a treat. It is such a beautiful lake! The Ugandan countryside is so green. The only brown you see anywhere is from the dirt roads carved out between the villages.

There were a lot of nerves among some of the women as we were preparing to take off. Everyone seems fine now and this been a very pleasant flight. I’m loving this adventure!”

Flying over the Nile River in Uganda


Later as we flew over the Nile I was inspired to write down, “We just crossed over the Nile and it was glorious from the air. It winds and turns under the partial shade of the clouds from that vantage point. Converging with Lake Kwania it then winds around as it empties back into the long stretch of river that doesn’t stop until it meets the Mediterranean.”

Landing on a dirt runway in Nimule commenced our adventures in South Sudan. Next stop, the Cornerstone Children’s Home.

Feels Like Home

Posted on October 20, 2012
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Stepping off the plane in Entebbe, Uganda, my immediate feeling was that I had arrived at my second home. I love being in East Africa and it feels great to be back. We spent our first day acclimating around Lake Victoria and preparing for our flight into Sudan the following day. One highlight of the day was enjoying a delightful dinner at Olubugo, a new restaurant in Entebbe built to support the admirable work of Aid Child in Uganda. Check out the great work that they are doing to care for vulnerable children at http://www.AidChild.org Here are a few of the pictures of our first day in East Africa

My East Africa Journey

Posted on October 15, 2012

I have embarked upon my third journey to East Africa. Stepping off the plane this morning in Uganda I looked out over Lake Victoria and it felt wonderful to be back in this region. I feel more at home in East Africa than anywhere else outside of my home country in the United States.

The story of why I am here starts about six years ago when I co-founded a project called Mission Focus. Our intent was to provide creative communication services, such as web, video, photography and writing, for those engaged with critical causes around the globe. We have since changed the name to Bridge Cause because we build a bridge between causes and the creatives who can help them reach supporters.

The other co-founder, Brian Denton, runs Incendia Creative, a creative agency in Monterey, California. A local group approached him over the summer to help them build a web-presence for their project to support the Cornerstone Orphanage in Nimule, Southern Sudan.

Realizing that they would need to some quality photography and video footage, they asked who they could take on their upcoming trip and Brian volunteered me. This provided a wonderful opportunity to help support this vital cause and also to return to East Africa where I also have other projects in progress.

I will spend the first week and a half at the Cornerstone Orphanage in Nimule, documenting the work that takes place there. The aim is to not only connect with the children but also to tell the story of They Are One, the group from Monterey that is supporting them.

When the rest of the group flies back to California, my sister Rebekah will join me and we will spend an additional two weeks in Kenya. Meeting with the people of a village called Rakwaro we will be working with them on how to build a well for their community. The goal is to figure out a way that they can be empowered to change their future by participating in their own development.

I also look forward to revisiting the El-Shaddai Hope Centre for Orphans in the Nairobi area. The final item on our agenda is a safari since it is Rebekah’s first trip to Africa. This is why I have returned to East Africa and there will be much more to write about in the weeks to come.

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