The latest update

Well thank you to everyone who donated this semester! I sent Mboya $215 on January 5th, and when I had my book club meeting the next week I collected even more donations! I believe we'll only need $10-20 next semester to cover tuition - maybe I'll give everyone a break and cover that myself. Thanks again everyone. As always, your thoughtfulness is appreciated by Mboya:

Joseph Mboya Musau

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Jan 11

Hi ALLISON

Thanks so much that every thing went quit well, otherwise i got all the details as you had sent them,at the same time i fill very sorry for want happened to you with your UNTIE (Auntie - she passed away at the ripe old age of 95 last week) , I have no much to say but my condoles to the whole family and friends.

Anyway in case you want to sent the school stuff just sent them as you had sent the PHONE i received it with no problem use the same address then indicate my name.The only thing is the PHONE status is kind of not working very well but the SAFARI.COM is trying to work on it. in that case if you have any details about it please you can assist maybe from the person who was working

on it, cause the problem remains the network as they told me.
Well i have no much to point out but we still remain in touch,and please tell Rachel i can't wait to hear from her. wish you the best, take care talk soon.Bye

Hopefully I'll be adding more to this site soon. I am trying to find a way to send Mboya a disposable camera he can use to take pictures of his family and home. There are film developing services in Nairobi, so that's not a problem, the trick is getting either the camera or the prints back to the states because postage = MONEY, as always. Actually, you have to pay to pick up any packages that cannot fit in your tiny post office box, so the school supplies I'm sending Mumbua will have to be divided in several large manila envelopes that might be able to sneak their way into the School for Field Studies PO Box (SFS allows Mboya to receive his mail via their box, which is nice of them, as Mboya probably doesn't have a box of his own and anything sent general delivery to Nairobi would certainly get lost in the shuffle. Or stolen, I hate to say).

Also, the phone to which he is referring in the above email is an old LG phone I had. I got to upgrade when I went to Africa because the local Cingular guy was very curious to see if their phones would work from Kenya - no one had ever tried! They gave me a "razr" to use, as they couldn't put international calling on my old LG. In the end I got to keep the razr, which worked like a champ throughout rural Kenya (I don't think they wanted it back because it was a bit dusty, but I'm not complaining!) but I never had to turn in the old LG. I thought that it might help Mboya to have a phone for his job hunt. It's much easier than just showing up at a company and asking if they have job openings, plus you can respond to classifieds much easier. I had the LG "unlocked" by a California-based travel company. I guess (and forgive me for my non-technical explanation) most American cell phones are "locked." This means that you can't necessarily take your cell phone to another country and put a SIM card from a local cell agency in your phone and expect it to work. It might, but it might not, because some cell phone companies have "locked" their phones - they've programmed them to work with only SIM cards issued by their own company. STINGY! (this website explains it better)

I sent Mboya my phone right after I heard he lost his job - of course it was LOCKED! He used his head though and gave it to an SFS student to take home and mail from her house. That's what I love about SFS Kenya kids - they'll do stuff like that for you!!! Same with the professors - when my wildlife management professor visited Boston in 2003 I gave him about a dozen gifts for various staff members and he brought them back to Kenya for me! Argh, I'm rambling. Ok, so I got the phone back, did a little internet research, and found a company that would unlock my phone. Then I had to research the company :) Long and short of it, the old LG was unlocked and sent back to Kenya, Mboya got together the money he needed to fetch it, and now it's still giving him trouble. I think the trouble has to do with Safari.com, the Kenyan cell service, and the fact that they are accustomed to Nokias and probably haven't seen too many LG flip phones yet, but I'm sure they'll work it out in the end.

Well that's it from me. Thank you everyone for your donations. You're wonderful!
Allison

Greetings

Hello

I've created this blog to help my friend Mboya Musau send his sister, Mumbua, to school.

I met Mboya in 2003 while I was studying abroad in Kenya, and was lucky enough to meet up with him again a year ago when I went back to Kenya on a School for Field Studies organized reunion. In the span of three years the Internet has become much more accessible for SFS employees, so this time around, Mboya promised to keep in touch.

It's really wonderful to be able to email my friends in Kenya on a regular basis, and receiving current news from them is amazing, considering when I did hear from them by mail, their letters would take a month or more to reach me.

I am particularly glad that email has become our main form of communication because Mboya lost his job last winter, shortly after I returned to the US. His email to me follows:

Joseph Mboya Musau

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4/17/06

Hi allison Thanks a lot for your reply. Anyway that’s what happened and am looking forward to do something especially looking for a job. Maraka is not on that position of helping me with a job cause I also talked to him about it, but I am trying my level best. The same thing happened to Otieno, Damaris, Mulinge the mechanic, so they are busy looking around to do something. To surprise you my mum was shocked to hear that I was not working any more cause they really depend on me neither of them are working , nor my brother, they are only farmers but the problem is the rain season cause it has been long time since we got rain, that’s why you saw it’s very dry in Kenya and animals dying. The truth remains that they are really wondering how we can assist my little sister who is now 13 years now and she is in high school. It’s second year for her, so she still has two more years to complete high school whereby every term I used to pay 12,000/= per three months which calculates per year Ksh 36,000. So that’s why am worried about her cause now I am jobless although I am trying to have one. If you want to write me please use the same address cause I do not have a new one, and I can collect my letters from N.P.S. Please give my high fives to Mellisa and Rachael and tell them I will keep in touch actually either Mellisa or Rachael wrote me an email, but I will talk to them soon. Hope you guys you can rent me your assistances. Thanks a lot and we shall always pray for the betterness of the future. Yours faithfully Rafiki Mboya

I felt terrible that this happened to Mboya with little warning - he wasn't fired for bad job performance, he was simply let go because SFS Kenya cannot afford to keep two camps operational at once. Since the 2003 state department travel warning has been in place, the admission rate to SFS Kenya dropped about 50%. Without students paying to go to Kenya, staff cuts had to be made. For whatever reason, despite over a decade with SFS, Mboya was let go. In a way, I felt indirectly responsible for this. I am a Smith College alumna, and Smith is one of several schools that is affiliated with SFS, yet won't let their students attend the Kenya program because it is "too dangerous," something which makes me laugh every time the administration explains why they still aren't letting students go (for those of you who have been to SFS Kenya, you know how the program goes above and beyond to keep you safe....almost too safe!). What if one Smith student's attendance pays Mboya's entire salary? Smith is a women's college, and what if, indirectly, the policies of one institution are preventing a young woman from attending school? My fellow alumnae would be outraged by this, as was I, so I decided to take action.

I called upon my parents and my friends to raise the Ksh 12,000, approximately US$165. I paid that per month in student loan payments, and to think that that was the price of three months of Kenyan school fees nearly unbelievable to me. To not help out would have been simply irresponsible. I sent Mboya $175 a few days later, and he was extremely grateful:

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		Joseph Mboya Musau	to me	show details	4/26/06

Hi,guess what? i finally suceeded,and all that is cause you gave me all the details that was needed,they did not have other problematic acquires,things went smooth,only ther rate was not that good,the exchange rate was KSH 67 per $US,Then ihad one question cause i also tried to ask was,how much more or extra $US you had sent apart from $175 and the answer was $4 which was ok with me, only that i just wanted to conform,
The only option on my side is soo much appreciate from you and to the rest not forgetting your family for gathering together and making up one maid to assit me,you have made my live tobe alittle better when am going through the hardship of it,Only my wishes are,may God bless you sooooo much,and give us straith to keep on in terms of communication,anyway you cant imagine who much you have done for me,and have no wards to explain the situation,for now i say award of bye, and we shall talk more,RAFIKI YAKO MBOYA

I was hopeful that Mboya would find a job soon after that, but unfortunately in a country where the unemployment rate hovers around 40% he has had not luck as of yet. In September, it was school fee time again. This time around, I set up a paypal account to receive payments for the school fund, and then set up an ING savings account in Mboya's name to handle any overflow that comes into the paypal account. Then I recruited a bunch of friends to throw in some cash (I feel slightly vulture-like doing this!) and we raised nearly $300. I sent Mboya $250 and banked $50 for the next semester. Again his thanks was prolific:

Joseph Mboya Musau

to me

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9/25/06

Hi allison,

good news! you cant imagine l went through and received the cash, actually it was no a hardship since i applyed everything in orders all the details you had given to me.

Otherwise i will be home for at list one day so that i can pay for the fee and i think i will settle all the bills for this semester till December.thanks sooo much. please tell all your friends how much i appreciate and hope same day we shall see each other since i know only mountains never meet , but humans you never know!!!

Allison i really have not much news, only that in Kenya we are expecting for the short rains seasons to begin in late october through mind-December,right now people are preparing for the planting season,to make sure the try weeds is cleared and burned , cause we allso believe is part of manure which is good for soil and it keeps it fertile for the germination of the plants.

I had a question ? How do you want to learn the swahili? For me i had suggestion of you sending same wards in English then i can translate in swahili!! not unless you have other option!!!!

Samething i didn't understand! what do you mean your friends are so happy that they could do samething good for same one else? Do they want may be to educate more kids or students who are not able to pay for their schools or collages?or orphanes, please clarify to me!

Well am not still ,not the\at good in typing i can take the whole day, although am better than before , i will still keep talking to you any other time,any time .

Please if you send anything, think on the duties for the postage fee if you can, otherwise the end-up by charging so much at the post office,but i think with the stationery's are not that bad; but with electronics like the phone etc.hope it will be OK !cause i can't want to use it, and i really miss it pleeeeeeease.Anyways am not pushing anything just take your time.

wish you wonderful schooling and hope you can also have fun, do you have terms off from school? please give my best to Sister Amy,your boyfriend, Reachel and Melissa,Elizabeth and the rest;Tell them i miss to see them, hopefully pretty soooon than later for God will.

Thanks and please take care also don't fall to keep in touch. God bless you. by 4 now

Now it is January, which means that school starts in Kenya in a few days, and once again, Mboya is in need of school fees for his sister Mumbua. I'm serious when I say that I feel like a vulture asking people for money, but if you donate even $1 it will help a great deal. Of course $5 goes even further ;)

In the side margin, I have set up a paypal link. I know that for most of you (and I include myself) it's a little sketchy sending money to a paypal account because paypal is linked to a personal bank account and could technically be going into my pocket - I want to assure you that this is not the case at all, and if you feel like you need to email Mboya to confirm this fact, please email me so I can give you his address. I've included emails from him on this post to reassure the fact that I am indeed sending him money for his sister's school fees! I've even had to answer Homeland Security's questions about sending money to Kenya on a regular basis, so I'm sure you could contact them as I probably have a file somewhere! I just want to let anyone who may not know me personally, that this money is going directly to Mboya (once the Bank of Kenya has taken their cut, about $4) not to me. If would feel more comfortable sending your donation directly to Mboya, you can email me for details about how to do this - sending a Money Gram isn't the most convenient process in the world so I figured it was easier to have one person gathering the donations and sending them over, as this also eliminates the number of fees paid to Money Gram and the Bank of Kenya, but I completely understand if you want to send the money yourself.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I have been so touched by all the people who've been involved with this project thus far. It amazes me that most of the people who have donated money in the past have never met Mboya, or even been to Kenya. That generosity has encouraged me to reach out even further. Mboya needs the school fees by January 5th - I know it's very short notice, but we pulled it off last time - let's do it again!

Thank YOU!
Allison
(paypal link on your right!)