RE: [youthagendayln] Fwd: [ccr-kenya] Re: [Jambo] Kenyan Delegation Visit Mr. Calvin Burgess in Oklahoma

From: Elisha Obongo

Bwana Ombok,

It is good we have people like you who will criticize so that we make changes to rectify the critism, what a world would we be living in if everybody agreed with each other 100%?

PR as you call our Visit to Calvin Burgess - I do not know what you mean it has been mentioned so many times but I have not been able to ask anybody to elaborate on the PR thing maybe then I can explain my part.

It is too sad that we still have people oposing developments especially if it comes to your door step. I hail from Karachuonyo and being a Luo I believe any development in Luo Land is a blessing to us all Luos.

I headed the delegation to Oklahoma and it was very successful beyond expectation, there is a nother upcoming one in June 1st and 2nd. You are cordially invited to attend so that you can air your views to Mr. Burgess rather than filling the internet with emails. You are lucky you have been to Halem and all those countries, most of those brothers and sisters in Bondo haven't.

In simple terms as I have told people before maybe I have been too complicated while explaining things but these are the issues that I have seen people complaining about:

Labour Exploitation:

1. In a worst case scenario -if someone is employed as a day labourer at Dominion farms making kshs. 100 per day after 30 days he will be having kshs. 3000. if he uses half of that and spend another half in studying say Computer Applications. After 3 months he can be able to have his/her certificate that can propel them to get a permanent job elsewhere or at Dominion as a computer Operator earning maybe kshs. 5,000. Or attend driving school and come back and get a job as a driver at Dominion. That Old lady who can not work as a day labourer can make some Uji and Nyoyo to sell to the day labourers thereby earning kshs. A day as profit. That shop keeper around the corner can on an everyday basis re-stock his shop due to high demand of his stocks and so many of them will come up due to demand, Just like you said, toll buildings and bridges are not development, I fully agree and to me I call that scenario development but on the lowest side. We do not expect an investor to come and build us permanent houses and buy us cars to call those development but rather show us how to get resourses to build or buy cars.

We do not have to scream about day labouring that wazungu's will subject us to but we need to use our brains to develop ourselves too, maybe those screaming about day labouring did not think this way. Personally I have been down that road and I did it and I believe anybody can do it.

Environment:

2. Everywhere in the world people are complaining about global warming, if they do, do you want to tell me that they did not know that cars will burn oil thereby polluting the environment? They went ahead and manufactured cars and I believe you must have used one before. "We develop first before we start cleaning". In the USA alone there were screams about Biogenetic foods introduction, they realised that if they stop them, then they will be forced to import food from Africa and elsewhere in the world thereby creating dependency, what did they do? Allow it so that they can have some kind of independence in terms of food security. My brother would you rather sterve without food and die after 30 days or eat Bio genetic foods and Live upto 20 years? Okay look here - not in a bad way though - but we know about it, "let them eat those kind of foods, they will get sick at some time, some companies will come up with drugs to cure their sicknesess - na hiyo ni maendeleo

- I can explain that later.

The birds they are compaining that are not there anymore since Dominion started building canals and etc, did you guys of Bondo use to eat those birds? If you did then you should have been focusing on how to double the population of those birds to accomdate population increase if not then what have those birds been helping you with ecconomically? Tourism?

How much income per year from them?

Displacement:

Why didn't people of Nyakach complain when they were compensated to leave their ancestoral lands for the Sondu-Miriu Hydro-electric project?

Why don't we complain when government reposses lands earmarked for roads? What are your organisation doing to re-setle the Ogiek's and those landless kenyans everywhere? What will my mums/dads grave help me achieve economically so that I have to live on that land forever? My brother - Land is the only thing that God did not want to add us instead we are loosing some hence we need to think of how best we can utilize this rare resource we have. (Example - I have 4 other step brothers, the only land we have that we inherited from my dad is 2 ha, divide this by 5 boys/then these 5 boys will have 2 boys each, if they will still be inheriting lands from their dad's, in the third generation how much land will they have left to divide further?

I can not go ahead because the point is so clear that we need to change our ways of life to fit into a modern society, the world is changing and we need to change with it, let's not hate wazungu just because of their colour, there are some bad ones out there too, but we need to give development a chance in Luo Nyanza, or if you have a better idea of improving the lives of millions of Luos starving to death, HIV innfestation then please please bring it up and we will fully support it, Right now we have Dominion and let us give him a chance.