Today was our second day of fieldwork! As usual, we woke up bright and early – I knew it was going to be a good day because we had omelettes at breakfast (which are my absolute favourite), so I was a very happy boy! I could eat those omelettes every day, all day, but I won’t talk about it too much otherwise I’ll start to get hungry and it’s not dinner time yet, haha.

After breakfast, we met up with the other CM4K members in class, though before we headed out for the fieldwork we all had meetings in our groups to clarify and delegate each group member a task for the day as yesterday we struggled a lot with uncertainty. I can say that it made such a phenomenal change! I think yesterday, because it was the first day everyone struggled, but today was an entirely different process, and I feel we all worked together incredibly well. As always, there were some bumps in the road (and that isn’t just metaphorically, the roads are very bumpy here). I really think that moving forwards, the process will only continue to improve. Below I’ve listed all the places we visited today, and descriptors of each place. Just as yesterday, at each location we gathered photographs, video, audio and the longitude and latitude of each place, ready to get the content ready to upload onto the maps! We’ll be editing everything tomorrow, I can’t wait for things to start taking shape. 😊

Cham gi Wadu Shopping Centre – Cham gi Wadu’s shopping centre is in the heart of a lively Luo community, providing local amenities for the people. It consists of a variety of retail businesses, hotels, salon and barber shops. Every week, an open market takes place which is open to all, and community members from both the Luo and Kisii communities are welcome, as in the Luo’s language, ‘Cham gi Wadu’ means ‘share with your neighbour’.

Ongo Health Centre – the Ongo Health Centre originally opened in 1985 as a small medical dispensary, and in 1996 expanded its services to become the Health Centre that it is today. The centre provides medical treatment for members of the community, including anti-viral treatment for HIV. The health centre consists of three wards; in patients, out patients, and a maternity ward and sees around 200 out patients a day, and 3-4 in patients.

Ongo Primary School Project – Ongo Primary school was established in 1984, and offers academic services from pre-school to year 8 students. There are currently 360 students (as of January 23, 2018) and 8 teachers.

Ongo Seventh Day Adventist Church – the Ongo Seventh Day Adventist Church is located next to the Ongo Primary School Project and offers a service every Saturday.

Kitere Primary School – the Kitere Primary school is located next to Rongo University. The school currently has 659 students (as of January 23, 2018), with 12 teachers currently teaching at the academic establishment. The school is funded by N-G-C-D-F Rongo, year 2015 – 2016.

Overall, it was once again a very busy day. I’m really surprised how different today was. I think everyone deserves a big pat on the back though as our time management dramatically improved. We went from yesterday, spending around an hour at each location, to today, where we spent between 10-20 minutes at each! We’re all progressing, and we’re all working together. 😊

Right, for now I am off to go and get some dinner. Expect more updates very soon, take care.

Luca. 😊