Image copyright Nuru International.
While the world got worked up about Kony2012 two weeks ago, a little headline about sustainable development in rural East Africa from Robert Johnson (@JohnsonRW) over at Business Insider caught my attention. It caught my attention for a few reasons, but primarily because of the shared connection I felt as soon as I saw it.
The title was, “How A Former Spec Ops Platoon Commander Is Creating A New Social Approach To The War On Terror.”
This immediately grabbed my attention. I have fought in the War on Terror. I have worked in Special Operations. I have been incredibly frustrated at what I would call our overwhelming ineptitude in winning the social side of the conflict. So without a moment’s hesitation, I found myself devouring the article with fascination.
Though it was a bit simplistic in description, Meredith Galante’s (@mkgalante) article painted an articulate picture of the founder of Nuru International, Jake Harriman, his background, and the transformative work that his organization is daily accomplishing in a rural district in southeastern Kenya called Kuria West. His story excited me (perhaps because I could easily see myself taking a similar path) because not only was it described constructive good being done in the world in an effort to curb the weaknesses exploited by those who spread terror, but it was doing it in Kenya! This was an amazing blend of common factors indeed!
Let me take a second here and explain a little bit about why Kenya is so significant. It’s fairly simple, really. My wife was born and raised in Nairobi, and her entire family is Kenyan. My son is half-Kenyan, just like President Obama (though of a different tribe). I am, essentially, adopted Kenyan if you ask her family. So far I have only had the privilege of visiting Nairobi once, but I loved my time there, and can’t wait to go back. As part of her (and now my) family live their daily lives in Kenya, I am as interested, if not more so, in seeing it do well as I am in seeing Georgia, North Carolina, or Ohio do well. I daily follow news and politics about the nation and the surrounding region. I am certain that whatever I end up doing my grad work in, it will have some connection or focus on Kenya. But I digress…
A few minutes later, my skepticism kicked in. I have to be skeptical. I know that it is all too easy to take a few pictures of rural “Africa”, tell a sad story, get money from guilt-ridden (and perhaps a bit paternalistic) Americans, and set yourself up in a nice lodge in Karen. Never mind the fact that, while still considered to be a developing nation, Kenya is well on its way to being a technological and commercial powerhouse in East Africa. And even before the recent explosion in growth, it had an excellent centralized educational curriculum that has produced a slew of academics over the past half-century (not the least of whom was the father of the current President of the United States). There are plenty of Kenyans who are working very hard to improve Kenya, and most are doing it without a single US Dollar.
I decided to dig past the BI article and check this Nuru out. I tweeted a few feelers out to journalists that I know in Nairobi to see if anyone had heard of the organization and it’s work. Unfortunately, none had. Well, maybe that is fortunate, as they hadn’t heard anything negative either. Instead I turned to their website to get into the nitty gritty details of Nuru’s work.
At the same time, I was contacted by Billy Williams (@chanchanchepon), the Grassroots Movement Director at Nuru. He graciously offered to personally answer any questions I had about the organization and I gladly took him up on the offer. Over the course of several emails and a great phone conversation, Billy explained the Nuru story in great detail. It would take a long time for me to share everything that he did, and I’d probably do his ability to explain things a disservice, so I’ll just hit some of the highlights:
- From the beginning, Nuru has involved local Kenyans in the direction, planning, and execution of their work in Kuria West district.
- They believe in putting as few westerners on the ground as possible, instead preferring to mentor, train, equip, and empower local servant leaders to lead out the initiative.
- Their educational assistance initiatives work with, not in place of, the existing Ministry of Education schools. They supplement rather than replace.
- The agricultural program is more education than aid. Participant farmers pay back the initial input loans (seed & fertilizer) quickly, and often join in efforts to educate others.
- Kuria is part of Nuru’s “Proof of Concept”. While it does have extreme poverty, it is not necessarily as ripe for terrorist exploitation as, say, southwestern Somalia. Nuru wants to polish their systems before branching into failed states and post conflict areas.
- When Nuru scales in Kenya beyond Kuria West, the initiative will not be led by western staff or western funding, but rather by local Kenyan staff who have been mentored and trained in the Nuru model as they served in their communities in Kuria. (Hopefully I will be able to explain this part in greater detail in a future post, as this is the part of their model they are most excited about.)
In short, I think they are doing it right. I anxiously follow their work, and look forward to watching their success (which I am confident they will have). I would love to hear from any Kenyans who have interacted with them, good or bad.
If you are interested in finding out more, check out the following links, or contact them on Twitter (@IAMNURU):
www.nuruinternational.org – Their organizational website. Contains great videos and explanations of their work and concept.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/linking-extreme-poverty-and-global-terrorism/ – An excellent feature in the New York Times by Jake Harriman about his motivation and vision for Nuru.
Finally, I pray that they are blessed with not only success but also with the humility required to remain successful in the long run. I hope they will live servant leadership that is infectious, bringing another little corner of Creation closer to the way things ought to be.
