Poverty and Promise: One Volunteer's Experience of Kenya

By Cindi Brown and Tamara Berry

Book Overview

AWARD WINNER: BEST BOOKS 2009 AWARD, GOLD MEDAL IPPY AWARD, GOLD MEDAL INDIE WARD, FINALIST INDIE AWARD, 2 FINALIST GLYPH AWARDS (MULTICULTURAL & BEST FIRST BOOK BY NEW PUBLISHER). Author Cindi Brown shares the stories of Kenya's big-hearted, smart, creative, earnest and caring people, and she gives 100% of the book's proceeds to programs assisting Kenyans. Cindi was a volunteer at the Tropical Institute of Community Health (TICH) in Kisumu, Kenya, and reveals what life is like in rural villages and urban slums. She lived in Barack Obama's father's homeland, and worked with many people from the Luo community. The author reflects on Kenya: "Each day, I would walk to school on dirt roads, crossing paved streets and dodging cars and boda bodas (bikes for hire). I passed little herds of sheep and cows, school children in uniform shouting out, "Hey, white lady " Young, handsome men from the slums walked to town for work. Cars passed, kicking up red dust. I would smile and say Hi to Maasai warriors guarding the fancy homes. Sometimes they would stand from their rock perch and shake hands, their lovely red plaid robes falling around their shoulders and covering their tiny, bony legs. Occasionally, I would pass coworkers, perhaps Mr. Henry Oyugi, perched on the back of a boda boda and calling good morning Seeing his bearded face, tweed jacket and notebook stuffed with papers, as he bumped on the back of the bike, would make me smile. Henry's research office was next to mine. A student or intern, or both, were always in Henry's office, inputting research data or getting a lesson in research methodologies. Lots of loud accented talk in a mixture of Luo, Swahili, and English, punched with laughter here and there. I'd watch Henry and his prodigies with their heads bent over a data book, then I'd turn to look out our second floor window, across the tops of trees with red and yellow flowers in full stance. I looked toward Lake Victoria, into cloud puffs, and heard bird wings flapping, or Director Dan's rooster crowing next door. Henry's voice would rise and I'd look back to see someone else entering his office, bodies collecting in Henry's realm, voices mingling languages and hands clasping in greeting. The Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development in Africa. I worked at this college and assisted with communications and the Annual Scientific Conference and participation in the agricultural show. Passing through the gate each morning meant greeting Fred, John, and other guards and signing the logbook. Greetings are important and required stopping to inquire about each other's evening and night's sleep and morning meal, often while holding hands. Kenyans taught me about compassion and living in difficult situations. This book is my homage to their strength and intelligence." Learn about the issues faced by Kenyans as they struggle to improve their lives with farming and education, and as they work with limited resources to house, feed and clothe their children. Even within this cycle of poverty, there remains promise for change in the Kenyan middle-class and in rural villagers, especially the women who build homes, tend crops, sell their goods at market and collect water and firewood to be able to provide for their children. The reader will visit the slums and public hospitals, and see people fight to live; most struggling with HIV/AIDS-related complications, like TB or malaria. Journey to rural villages on bumpy dirt roads and enter villagers homes, made of mud and cow dung, that are exceedingly neat and comfortable. Attend frequent funerals held in the heart of people's homes where loved ones are buried in the yard amongst much wailing and choir song. See the small victories and the promise of the people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0980062004
• ISBN13: 9780980062007
• Release Date: November 2013
• Publisher: Just One Voice Press
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Insighful and inspirational.

Poverty and Promise, is a wonderful book that helped me prepare for my trip to Africa. Cindi's honest detailed description of her journey volunteering in Africa should be a prerequisite for anyone that is planning to travel to Africa - especially to volunteer or participate in a mission or good will trip. Cindi's book educated me on the African ways and the actual conditions to expect if you travel there. It was eye opening in many ways and I would highly recommend this book to anyone - especially anyone that is planning a good will trip to third-world countries. Cindi is compassionate and inspirational. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling along with her in this book.

A heartening read and an amazing ride!

In cubicles everywhere, thousands of us daydream about leaving it all behind to do something that will make a real difference. Marketing executive and mother Cindi Brown went out and did it. Poverty and Promise, One Volunteer's Experience of Kenya (Just One Voice, 2008) is a refreshingly honest read with plenty of spirit, humor, and heart. Cindi Brown is a lively narrator who takes a curious and open-hearted approach to her new life in Kenya, where she goes to work for TICH, the Tropical Institute of Community Health. Her stay transpires in a way that takes her from elation to desperation, sometimes in the course of one sweltering, cacophonous afternoon. There are plenty of great travel tales here, from her nail-biting solo drive through Rwanda to her attendance at a Sikh wedding and a slum funeral, trips to the Kenyan countryside and Zanzibar, but there's something more: a real look at how you can really help Africa, or help anyone, in a way that will have lasting effects. Poverty and Promise itself is part of Brown's solution; all proceeds fund the non-profit she founded to support TICH's effort to build the new Great Lakes University of Kisumu.

Tremendous sacrifices for the good of mankind

For those of us living in relative western comfort, it is difficult to fully comprehend the daily struggle that many face. We take for granted the provision of basic needs and support structures, not able to fathom the scourge of disease and poverty on this level. However, Cindi Brown's book masterfully captures that plight and vividly depicts the humanity of Kenyans and groups like TICH to advance the lives of those affected. It takes a person of incredible compassion and sacrifice to give up a home and career in the U.S. to face challenges of this magnitude in a foreign land. I am truly touched and profoundly moved by Cindi's response to this calling and the passion with which she works to improve the lives of her fellow man. This book should be required reading in our schools.

Through the eyes of a humanitarian

Most Europeans and Americans rarely get to see the real Kenya. We stay at comfortable and secure hotels, ride in cars with drivers that are trained to keep foreigners away from trouble, eat in restaurants where the food is plentiful, shop in tourist-friendly areas and never walk anywhere unescorted. Cindi Brown, however, chose the non-pampered route. In "Poverty and Promise," she tells of her experiences as a volunteer living and working in Kenya among regular citizens, far away from the comforts of her U.S. home. She writes with great insight and compassion about the multi-faceted environment she discovered there - the humor and tenderness of the Kenyan people; the dedication and tenacity of her co-workers at a well-developed NGO; the dismal truth about poverty and the lives it affects; the burden that corruption places on a society; and, the powerful role that hope plays when people are suffering. After reading her story, I felt like I had met a woman in Cindi Brown who probably brings out the best in people. She occasionally loses her cool but long after most of us would. And, boy, is her patience put to the test! In one chapter, Cindi describes being responsible for driving a van-load of fellow volunteers across Uganda and that story alone would be a great basis for a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat movie. The dear Ms. Brown somewhat apologizes as she reports that toward the end of this harrowing journey, frustration finally got the best of her. Stopping the car like an experienced soccer mom, she had to yell at her whining passengers. Having done some work in Kenya myself, I thought I had a sophisticated understanding of the country, its tribal cultures and the nature of a developing society. Ms. Brown's book, however, taught me so much more - all of it fascinating and useful. The chance to learn all this through the eyes of a humanitarian left me grateful.

It takes a special type of person to volunteer - to do something for another with no compensation.

It takes a special type of person to volunteer - to do something for another with no compensation. "Poverty and Promise: One Volunteer's Experience of Kenya" follows Cindi Brown as she speaks about her days as a volunteer in rural Kenya, where many of the luxuries taken for granted by Americans are simply unheard of. A touching story filled with little triumphs over great adversity, "Poverty and Promise: One Volunteer's Experience of Kenya" is highly recommended for community library memoir and biography collections.