The poorest individuals in the United States have access to far more resources than those in the third world. The lack of infrastructure, job availability and economic instability in Kenya keeps the poor helplessly locked in poverty with NO HOPE of ever getting out. Most of the residents of Kiambiu want a job-period. They want to be employed. They exist in a daily search for ANY opportunity to earn a few shillings. It seems not to matter that they are talented, dignified, industrious (and sometimes trained) people who want to support themselves and their children. There is no social net and there isn’t even enough menial labor- dirty jobs that almost no one would want to do- to go around. The remaining Kiambiu parents and guardians want, as we do, their children to have a better life with broader opportunities than they had. They gratefully accept help when it is offered but only as a means to the end of self-sufficiency. They do not evidence the so called “charity wounds”or ”learned helplessness” that one reads about in the literature. Nor do they seem willing to accept endless chronic bad government. Some of the residents, if they had the strength and opportunity, are more than willing to be part of the civic solution. What amazed me most is that these folks realize that Kenya is only a 40 year old democracy and will be a “work in progress” for many years to come. None of them believe that humanitarian aid is a substitute for good government. But all of them know that it will take time to eliminate corruption and time to develop the fairness and safeguards of a more mature republic.

    The World Bank found that funneling money into governments is the wrong partnership. It has been estimated that for every $1 given in humanitarian aid, $10 leaves the country through corrupt administrations. The answer is not to partner with the elites, but to partner with the poor and middle class on the ground. For Kiambiu residents, self-sufficiency and long term economic growth is the goal. That may mean a small kiosk per remaining family member or guardian, safe water for sale, grinding grain with a posho mill, or providing a service, like day care or sanitation which supports the providers as well as the communal economy, which then becomes self-sustaining over time. LECDEN projects could easily support the individual as well as contributing to the community as per a cooperative.