TransAfrika A Journey Through the Heart and Soul of a Continent “Steve Baroch is a great traveler, photographer and developer who has interacted with nature and the wild of the great Savannah grasslands in Africa. His photographs and writings speak of his encounter that will continue to speak, even for future generations.” -Chief Joseph Ole Tipanko Maasai Chief in Africa ~ “Every once in a while I meet an artist who creates with a camera. You know what I mean, they show you their photos and they just "capture" you! Steve is this kind of guy. When I have observed him shooting in Africa (where we have worked together distributing mobility devices to people in need) I have seen him "seize the moment" and get the shot. Is he just fortunate? Perhaps so... but when you see his work, it will convince you that you are looking at more than good luck!” -David Talbot Professional Photographer and Founder of www.crutches4africa.org ~ “Steve’s vibrant images capture the magic of Africa. In his photography and in his philanthropy, Steve displays deep respect for those to whom he plays witness.” -Andrew Romanoff Senior Advisor – iDE (International Development Enterprises) Former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives
STEVE BAROCH
Copyright Š 2012 Steve Baroch All rights reserved. ISBN-13: 978-1479188994 ISBN-10: 1479188999
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are so many pieces of the vast puzzle that make up my experiences in Africa spanning eight countries and three decades. And there is no possible way I can thank all of those who have taken us into their homes or huts, met with us at restaurants or on their farms, guided us through ancient streets, wild paths and uncharted land, helped me lug cameras around or flown us in helicopters and motored us across hippo-filled lakes. Thank you so much to Amber Grove who has helped me assemble this book. It was no small chore and I would not have gotten it done without you. Thanks to the Amisi family – for sharing yourselves and your extended family through multiple continents. Your care for giving back to people in Africa has touched thousands of lives. And thanks to our Kenyan photography and videography crew - Peter Amisi, Sonny Kibukosya, Jeki and Shawn for traveling with us and taking photos and video. Thanks to Charles Ogenga, who has driven us on many perilous journeys and gotten us out of rough times more than once. Thanks to guides Mambo, Tish, Joseph, Mohammed and Ryan who have shown me lands that I never would have seen without your help. And thanks to Ana for your unending patience.
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“Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.� -Roy D Chapin Jr.
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Thank you for buying this book. I truly hope you enjoy it. All profits from this book will go toward the projects we are working on in Africa. Maybe luck comes from being at the right place at the right time. But, you had to make a choice to get to that place to begin with. My association with Africa started in 1981 when my roommate at Richmond College in England turned out to be Tanko Ahmed from Plateau State, Nigeria. Tanko and I have been the closest of friends ever since.
Our friendship survived the years when we only had postal mail and even when we could not use that because of changes in governments in Africa and the difficulty in communicating. Once in the early 90s, I sent a package of gifts to Tanko’s family. They got them one and a half years later.
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Visiting Tanko and his family, my wife, Ana, who I also met at the same college (talk about luck meeting a great friend and your future wife all in the same week!), saw the need for help in schools in Africa. We visited one of Tanko’s sons in his elementary school; a fine school by African standards, but with almost no books or school supplies for the hundreds of young minds there. Ana decided we needed to do something to help. The projects have grown from there to cover many other countries in Africa.
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Our work in Africa moved further after meeting Joseph Amisi who founded TransAfrika, a Colorado-based non profit organization dedicated to improving health and education in Africa. The Amisi family is from Kenya and has lived in the US for several years now and built TransAfrika from scratch to give back to those who need help so desperately. Through TransAfrika, we have provided thousands of books, hundreds of pounds of school supplies, many computers and huge amounts of medical supplies - all of which have now touched tens of thousands of lives. We have traveled several times with the Amisis in Africa and feel as though we are part of their family.
Our next project with TransAfrika is to build a daycare and orphanage in the town of Ngong, next to the Amisi house, that will be run by the Amisi family to give home and refuge to street children and children who are victims of political or economic tragedy. We have also partnered with groups such as Crutches4Africa, International Development Enterprises and Rotary International to further try and improve the situation of people in Africa. We will talk more about some of those projects later in other parts of this book. Thank you. Steve Baroch Steve Baroch
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“Thanks Raven, for taking one of the few photos in this book that I did not take. The photo on the very back cover was taken by my traveling buddy, Raven!� -Steve
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“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.� - Nelson Mandela
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“The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say
'Africa'.”
-Ryszard Kapuścioski, The Cobra's Heart
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“I would stand in line for this… There is always room in life for this…” -Moby
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“Egol, nepi enaa orgatuny” Strong and brave as a lion
“E-go-go, negol ana olaro” Fierce and tough as a buffalo
“Sapuk ana organjaoi” Big as an elephant
“Ngen ana enkitejo” Wise as a hare
“Eten ana entarakwet” Fast as antelope
“Eikuret, newulu ana orgojine” Cowardly and greedy as a hyena
*Maa language
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“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.� -Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
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“You know you are truly alive when you’re living among lions.” -Karen Blixen, Out of Africa
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“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.� -Margaret Mead
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SABONGIDA KANAR I struggle to write this chapter of our African experience. But, it would be wrong not to include the story of Sabogida Kanar in this book. After reading it, you will see why. In Nigeria outside of Tanko’s town, he had a poultry farm in a village called Sabogida Kanar. The farm produced chicken and quail eggs, employed several people and provided a significant amount of protein for people in the area. It also provided some supplemental income for Tanko and his family so that he could send his children to better schools. On our first visit to Tanko and his family, he took us to see this village. It was only a few miles away but more like several decades removed in its general conditions with no electricity or paved roads. One well supplied the whole village. The school had no books or supplies and the roofs were falling in. When we first stepped out of the car, the children ran because they had not seen non- Africans for a very long time due to neglect and isolation. They literally thought we were ghosts. There had been no Western magazines or newspapers here, and no TV. But, slowly, one by one, the children got the courage up to come and talk to us, and within a few short minutes we were bumping knuckles and chatting and high fiving all around.
After we left, we organized numerous shipments of books and school supplies and even soccer balls over time to the village in conjunction with TransAfrika and Castle Rock High Noon Rotary Club. We continued to supply them on a quarterly basis for several years. However, disaster occurred a few years ago when a conflict started between this village and a neighboring tribe. The media wanted to make it simple and claim that it was a religious war. But the tribes were manipulated more by politics than creed. So, to say it was a religious war is far too simple. It was a political conflict that was superimposed on otherwise ‘good neighbors’ who had been
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living together in harmony for a very long time. On September 12, 2001, there was a violent eruption of the conflict. We never would have heard about it because our newspapers were overwhelmed covering September 11 in America. In Nigeria, Tanko opened the grounds of the government complex he lives and works in to allow refugees of the violence from both sides to stay on the property. Tanko’s actions, without regard for which tribe was which, saved hundreds of lives. This more recent conflict was brutal. It left many dead. It was violent and occurred over several days and included death by means as primitive as being hacked by a machete. Many of the children we had met and given books and supplies to lost their lives or parents. Many of the children in the photo on the previous page were killed or became orphans. Haruna, the caretaker of Tanko’s poultry farm, whom we had spent time with previously, was hunted down. He tried to make it to the walls of the compound that Tanko was in, but just short of the wall, he was caught and killed and his corpse burnt to ashes.
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The other members of the community who made it to safety found an area about 30 miles away that could be a refugee camp of sorts. Some of the people moved there. Some moved to other places with family and friends. With funds from our Castle Rock High Noon Rotary Club and TransAfrika, we helped settle some of the orphans in new homes or at the refugee camp. As a result of the conflict, Sabogida Kanar is now just charred ruins. I do hope that somewhere among those children who are now scattered throughout Nigeria, some occasionally remember playing with the guy who came to visit them and brought them books and photos of their friends from a far away place and who wanted them to have a better life.
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Methare and Kibera / TransAfrika There are several slums in Nairobi. We have done work in two of them, Kibera and Methare. To give an idea of how conditions are, Kibera has about 1 million people in a bit over a square mile. There is no running water system; no sewage system; no electrical system. It is the largest slum in Africa. Children pick through the garbage for anything to recycle and anything to potentially eat. Mothers wash clothes in the mud puddles. Flies are everywhere.
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Through TransAfrika, we have delivered hundreds of books to children in this slum. These are children who almost certainly have never had a book of their own. People ask me all the time, “Is this really making a difference? Is this really having an impact?� I think if you look at the photo below, you will see my answer. These boys in Kibera just received a book that we took them.
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In a smaller, but no less painful slum called Methare, we met Grace and her Harvest Mission School. The school is on a former garbage dump, scraped of garbage with the garbage piled behind the tin walls around the area. When it rains, the rain water mixes with sewer water and runs through the garbage making pools of muddy water that the children’s feet would are in. There are no lights. The only light is from the sun coming in through the holes in the ceiling.
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We have brought in several loads of books and school supplies now and have rebuilt the floor with cement and drainage so that the floor stays dry and the children do not have to sit in puddles. Friends are helping to pay for teachers’ salaries and attendance has increased. But, there are still holes in the roof and there is no light. And there are still only three teachers for about 40 children, many of whom are special needs kids. But, through all of it, Grace and her team are laughing with the children and teaching them to read and write.
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Ngong / TransAfrika Just outside of Nairobi, in the hills to the southeast, not far from the former plantation of Karen Blixen of “Out of Africa� fame, lies a village of the wonderful Maasai people. Chief of the tribe is Joseph Ole Tipanko, a tremendously charming man with a heart of gold and completely devoted to his people. His lovely wife, Cicilia, works tirelessly among their people to try and improve the quality of life with a sense of compassion and dedication that is unequaled.
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We have visited the tribe several times and through TransAfrika have provided books and school supplies. In conjunction with the Castle Rock High Noon Rotary Club, we have built a school for some of the children in the area. Previously, these children were being taught outside in all conditions under a tree. Now, they have a roof over their head and we are working on raising funds for a toilet system and windows for their new building. The name of the school is “Castle Rock Preschool and Daycare� to honor the town in Colorado that helped fund it!
The Maasai have very strong traditions and are tremendously united as a people. They have survived not only external oppression, epidemics, colonialism, and having maps drawn around and through their lands, and they have chosen to continue with their traditional pastoral lifestyle while influences around them push them ever harder. Chief Joseph recently spoke before the United Nations about how he and his people are trying to maintain their cultural balance in an increasingly volatile world.
"(The Maasai) had that attitude that makes brothers, that unexpressed but instant and complete acceptance that you must be Maasai wherever it is you come from." -Ernest Hemingway, Green Hills of Africa
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iDE I became acquainted with iDE, International Development Enterprises, through Rotary International. To publicize the work they were doing, the offices called and asked if our local Rotary Club would be interested in having Andrew Romanoff come to speak. “The� Andrew Romanoff, I asked? Andrew was a past Speaker of the Colorado House and a candidate for US Senate in 2010. Andrew in his capacity as Senior Advisor, came and spoke to us about the work that iDE does educating farmers on basic farm technology such as irrigation methods, water storage, food storage and improvements in seed and fertilizer technology. By improving production of these crops in very poor environments, incomes and food supplies can increase. When incomes increase, families send their children to schools more often, health improves and therefore productivity increases. All of this comes from education about techniques that may seem simple to some of us but which are huge revolutionary changes if you are in a field and carrying water on your head for the bulk of a work day. Every day.
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In a joint effort between iDE and Rotary International, we are working now to build a joint program between these two organizations. We are trying to build a sustainable project in Mozambique to educate farmers on how to improve their productivity, and also to provide better education and health services for them. All with the goal of ultimately having them help themselves.
Above - Our friend Marco Machado, Country Director for iDE, working on a project at a farm near Chimoio, Mozambique. iDE is a tremendous group, which has helped 19 million people lift themselves permanently out of poverty. Feel free to read more about iDE at www.ideorg.org
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"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list...� -Susan Sontag
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Baroch has lived, worked and traveled across five continents and more than 50 countries. He has worked on volunteer projects on the ground in places like Kolkata (Calcutta), schools in the slums of Manila and on remote islands in the Philippines, in villages and hospitals in Latin America, in the streets of East Coast US inner cities and throughout Africa. His passion for working with people and working in difficult conditions did not really come right from the start. As Steve puts it, “My parents worked with, literally, Saints, in my early life, traveling with people like Mother Teresa. I met people involved with this kind of work my whole life, but never really thought that it was or would be a part of my life. Until one year in my late 30s, I had a break in my career and decided that I would go and work in Calcutta as part of a journey around the world. But even then, I was doing it for myself. I was doing it as a test of my own bravery and perseverance. I was doing it so that every day for the rest of my life, when I woke up, I knew that this day would be better than a day in the misery I had seen. It was not until I took care of men who were likely going to die that night or that week and especially when I worked with children who thought that attention from me was so valuable, that I realized I had something more to offer than I could ever have known. When the journey became about someone else, that is when it became a real passion.” Steve’s photos have been published in many magazines, newspapers and as greeting cards. He has received numerous awards, including placing in the Top 10 of National Geographic’s Traveler Magazine Contest, winning Photo of the Year in “Rotarian” Magazine and placing in the top 12 photos of the Year for Ricoh Photo International Calendar Contest. Steve is a partner in The NetMark Group, a business in the Telecommunications and Electronics Industry. He is on the Board of Directors of TransAfrika, is an Assistant District Governor for Rotary International, is an Ambassador for iDE-International Development Enterprises and lives in Castle Rock, Colorado, with his lovely wife, Ana and their two Westies, Dermot and Izzy.
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“Do all you can, with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are.� -Nkosi Johnson
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