VISA? Nah Go M-PESA!

Everywhere I go, mostly in small to medium sized towns and villages, you will notice the words M-PESA splattered on so many walls and signs at many shops all over.  Looking at the pictures below, can you tell me how many M-PESA words can you find.  Note: You can click on the picture to enlarge them.  From four pictures below, I found 20 M-PESA words.  Agree or disagree?

So, whats with the M-PESA?  M-PESA stands for Mobile Pesa, and Pesa is Swahili word for money, so in other words is mobile money or mobile wallet.  So hows that mobile? They live in your phones instead of your wallets.

I read somewhere that its like 1 out of every 3 Kenyans have a phone.  I think I agree based on what I have observed but I think maybe its gaining ground to where maybe its more like 1 out of every 2 Kenyans got a phone.

Furthermore, currency is often hard to get -- for example when you are in a supermarket, you will often find cashiers trying to get currency from the next cashier or ask you for other bill or coin amounts so that they can change your total successfully.  Can you imagine same situation for even smaller shops and open-air markets, or even for Maasai tribe out in the open safari trying to buy or sell their livestock and not able to carry cash.

Although I have not yet used my VISA but I have seen other volunteers trying to use their VISA at places, even at a large supermarket, they will find it a challenge to have them accept the card.  Some places will require you to head over to their customer service desk and do the VISA transaction there (the manual way I assume) as I have not yet seen any places with VISA card readers.  I assume its probably easier to use VISA in Nairobi, the capital, and Mombasa (the beach city).

M-PESA was brought to Kenya by its largest cell carrier -- Safaricom.  People can go to any Safaricom agents to load money into your phone M-PESA account. First timers will need to apply and show Kenyan national ID or a passport, but after that, you can go to any of them to load (or withdraw) cash into your phones.  No need to go to banks or branches and wait in line for your financial transactions.

Once you have a balance on your M-PESA, you simply go to any shops or even to individuals, and pay by using your phone, sending an amount to the other person's phone number (along with safeguards like pin, etc).  Once the other person phone receives a SMS confirming the transaction, your business is successfully done.

This method spread across Kenya and other surrounding countries like wildfire.  I read somewhere that theres like 17 million M-PESA accounts are already floating around.  There is like 38 million Kenyans, so thats like half of them got a M-PESA account already.

I will open my own M-PESA account once I get my "red book" (residency document) when I am sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer next month.  So I do not have to carry too much cash in my wallet, and be an easy Mzunga (white foreigner) target.  

ABC Deaf Trade School

Near my home stay site, there is a placed called ABC Deaf Trade School (they actually just say ABC, and I added Deaf Trade School).  ABC stands for African Brotherhood Church.  ABC has been good to the Deaf folk by providing them with a building on their main campus east of Machakos for their Sunday worships, and this school for the Deaf adults learning trades for future life work.

There is about 12 students/residents at the school. they all are either too old for high school, or have already graduated.  A few of them never went to school at all. I have visited them several times and met with them when they played football (soccer) at a nearby field.  But today the entire group of trainees came to visit them formally as part of "socializing with the Deaf to be immersed into KSL and Deaf culture.  It was very beneficial for others, but for me, I feel I am already ahead of the game on that.

The school offers pretty much sewing and carpentry.  They also include ironing and "computing" but there is only 3 computers with only one working, and none of them are connected to the internet.

The building behind these folks are where the two classrooms are.

Sewing samples and the manual sewing machine (the one you operate with your feet rocking the platform).

Jamo, a Deaf deputy to the principal, manages the place.  He gave us a tour.

In the carpentry classroom, these two old yellowish posters are pretty much the only resources they got.

They make furniture such as the couch below, coffee table (below), and small furniture such as meal trays, stools, etc.  The teacher takes the furniture and sells them in the town, and uses the proceeds to purchase more wood and materials for the class.

This is where the residents live -- typical Kenyan "quarters" -- males are on the far right side, and females on this side.

Their kitchen, and if you look at a "window" opening on the left, is their dining room.  This Deaf lady comes in and cooks 3 meals a day for them M-F and just breakfast and lunch on Saturday.  The residents tend to themselves for dinner on Saturday and all meals on Sunday.

They tend to cages of rabbits, but they say they do not eat them, although Kenyans do elsewhere.

The students gave us a cute skit.

They were carrying a dead guy that passed away due to AIDS.

All Deaf students, their teachers, and of course me (pretty obvious -- must be my orange shirt -- or being a Mzungu (white foreigner)).

Chapati Baptism

Chapati (also called different names by different parts of this country and other close by countries in Africa) is among main staple eaten by the people here.  They are quite good, but a little greasy.  You will always find the need to wipe your hands after eating it -- but the irony thing is that almost never will you find a napkin or paper towel to use.  You sometimes would have a bowl with a water pitcher to wash your hands though.

It takes a lot of work to make them.  So, if you made them at least once, I consider you baptized as a Kenyan (well, maybe after you make their other staple called Ugali).

It all starts by mixing a whole bag of flour with some water, some animal fat (shortening), and little salt. You knead the dough.  Leave the dough covered for about 10 minutes to let it rise (?) or set. Note the outside kitchen environment -- all done on the floor and stool by the firepit.  The animal fat is melted on the jiggler (charcoal grill pot).

They are then broken up and rolled thin.  Then cut them up into about two inch strips, then spoon on more animal fat on it.  Fold up the strips then curl them up into batches.

See the batches in the bowl on floor.  Roll the batches thin, then put it on the jiggler to toast them light brown on both sides.

Can add more chapatis on top of each other and we flip them around so all sides are toasted.

Add more animal fat on the sides and toast them even more.  We use our hands to spin the chapatis around the pan.

Finished Chapatis.  Note the container.  These containers are always used by almost all homes -- for all meals not just Chapatis.  We spoon our meals out of these containers into our bowls.

Yummy.  "Soup" of grams (small tiny beans), carrots, potatoes, onions with of course Chapati.