Through collaboration, long-term commitment, and devotion, TWU Assistant Professor of Cross -Cultural and Leadership Communication, Ruth Anaya, has cultivated a rare relationship with the people of Muhanda, Kenya, where she — a fair - skinned Chilliwack girl — is considered one of them. Now, through TWU’s Travel Studies program, she gives her students unheard of access to the developing East African nation.
In the remote village of Muhanda, Kenya, Ruth Anaya, DLitt et Phil, is unanimously considered family. Locals call her “Daughter of our community.” Muhanda, in the Vihiga District of Western Kenya, is one of the poorest areas of the country and — with about 5,000 inhabitants — one of the most densely populated. The struggle against extreme poverty in daily life is prevalent: children go barefoot, mothers struggle to feed their families one meal of maize porridge a day, and the elderly are left with grandchildren but no resources with which to raise them.
Ruth’s husband, Petra, is a native Kenyan whose family owns a large piece of land in Muhanda with an artesian spring running through it. The spring was the main water source for the community at one point; as a result the family regularly hosted many people who travelled to and from their land to collect water. Ruth’s father -in-law was an educator and is a respected leader in the community. When his wife passed away, the family hosted a commemoration lasting three-days during which they fed over a thousand people — providing their best food and drink to everyone who came to mourn an integral member of the community. To this day the elderly, the young, and the abandoned will often show up at the Anayas’ door and will receive food and care.
In 2004 Ruth, Petra and their two sons, now ages 14 and 19, spent the summer in Muhanda. At summer’s end they had to return to Canada but Ruth promised they would come back. At the sight of Ruth and her family the following year, the community was awestruck and touched to see they had kept their word. Annual trips further solidified the bond, and in 2009 Ruth and Petra created Hands-On Development Initiatives International Society (HODI Int’l), to formalize the relationship,qualify for government grants, and create capacity to grow. “The launch of HODI was phenomenal. We had an array of projects that we’d already accomplished and a lot of successes to show,” exclaims Ruth. Their accomplishments include establishing the mukema Education Fund Group that assists primary school youth to continue on to secondary school, and creating a medical and maternity clinic, a community centre and a water project.
Remarkably, the trust earned by Ruth’s family is extended immediately and unconditionally to her colleagues and students who come to Muhanda. A 2009 Kenya Travel Studies participant, Rachel Thiessen (’10), experienced this firsthand. “Staying in the Anayas’ home and working with the students in the school, I got to know the people through our shared experience. You remember the laughs, the tears and the family.”
Agents of Change
Ruth left Kenya on a Saturday and three days later sits across from me in TWU’s cafeteria lounge. The TWU assistant professor is glad to be back in Canada to see her children, since this was the first of her annual trips that she didn’t have them with her. Petra, the Director of HODI, stayed behind in Nairobi, to receive a 40-foot container packed with medical equipment, books, and other goods. “This year’s trip was a professional one,” explains Ruth.
Thirteen professionals and academics, who work in fields as diverse as textile design, entrepreneurship, and medical anthropology, assembled in Muhanda for five days to engage in 13 community development projects. “Some projects took only three hours because of the work we had done in advance, and others went on for three or four days, working from dawn until dusk,” she says. Many of the projects were determined after the group had arrived in the village and observed the areas where their expertise would be of greatest use. This year’s group included members of Ruth’s personal and professional networks, particularly a local social concerns group. The group invites international workers into their homes to discuss issues concerning development and poverty with the aim of educating and empowering one another to be agents of change.
Citizens of the World
At TWU, Ruth teaches six diverse core courses, ranging from linguistics, cultural anthropology, and economics, to development studies and leadership. “I don’t spend much time in libraries,” she explains with a smile. As an applied researcher, a quarter of her study is in the field, where she finds herself most at home. Each summer she leads a three-week Travel Study program to Kenya with a student group assembled from as many as 11 different majors. Incorporating each student’s background and skill set, she equips them to perform ethnographic research focused on understanding the local culture, with the aim of positively impacting the standard of living in Muhanda.
“Ruth has a great way of acknowledging the culture you were brought up in and opening your eyes to another way of living that’s helpful and illuminating,” explains alumna Sarah Abbott (’07), a 2006 Kenya Travel Studies participant. After two Travel Studies under Ruth’s leadership (the second in Guatemala), Abbott can attest that the professor’s connections to the community give the students access to rich resources. “It was like going into the community as a local. We experienced a more intense perspective of the culture,” she says. Abbott’s team assisted the Muhanda Women’s Development Group, MAWAZO, with micro-loans. “We raised $600 and let the group decide who the money would go to. The recipients used the loans in their businesses—selling eggs or basket weaving—and eventually paid it forward to other members,” says Abbott. This goodwill goes on cyclically with the intention of increasing profit margins beyond the $1-a-day off of which most people live. Abbot recalls, “The women were so thrilled with what we had done; they got together in the local church to sing and dance for us.”
Transformative Collaboration
“We usually respond to Africa in terms of ‘Bono’,” jokes Ruth about the pop icon who funnels passion and money into third world issues. Ruth acknowledges that money is a big part of the equation but emphasizes it’s not the end goal. She pursues development within a context of deep change that is strategic and culturally relevant. “It feels nice to hand over goods to people in need. It creates excitement—like Santa Claus has come to town! However,” she clarifies, “we don’t want to create a donorrecipient relationship. We want partnership. And I’ve challenged students about the impact of transformative collaboration.”
Ruth theorizes that western culture has essentially cloned itself in the developing world by nationalizing leadership. “Current development leadership models do not equip communities to be effective in their own context. Most of the educational materials and leadership texts are largely foreign to African culture,” she contends. “I’m interested in a perspective that tries to understand what authentic African leadership is like; what is respected, what is authoritative, and what has follow-through.” This perspective is paramount in Ruth’s efforts to ensure permanent and pervasive change. And it’s something she looks to instill in her students as she invites them to practice the transformative collaboration she teaches.
Model Projects: Water & Banana Bread
In the ongoing struggle for economic viability, Ruth’s family started a bakery, selling standard starchy muffinstyle breads. “People there don’t eat much fruit or vegetables and, with meat being a luxury, they survive mostly on starches and local greens,” explains Ruth. One team looked at the goods the bakery offered to find ways of adding value and nutrition while aligning with existing initiatives. Observing the copious amount of bananas available, the team introduced the idea of selling banana bread. They researched relevant pricing structures and developed marketing plans to increase profits. A novelty in the region, the banana bread was a hit. It was picked up by a local government official and taken to the capital to be distributed and promoted in his well-heeled circles. Further batches were taken to nearby cities and sold at hotels and inns.
Another group of TWU students and interns identified that 70 per cent of illnesses in the area were water-borne. Further statistical research uncovered that women spent up to five hours a day travelling to collect water. The community sectioned off a protected area for the water tank, collected the water and purified it. In 2009, local partnership brought a successful completion to the Muhanda Water Project—providing purified distributed water to over 5,000 people. Now 60 households have it piped to their homes, with another 82 families next in line to be connected. Implementing water meters made the project sustainable. Nominal monthly fees support maintenance costs and provide water to the majority who can’t afford metered water to their homes.
Shortly after the project was launched, during a period of extreme water rationing, a local Member of Parliament invited Ruth and her colleagues to his home. Over chai tea, he explained that his home community had no water, and asked the Anayas to show him how to get water to his people. Now, with the Muhanda Water Project as a successful model, Ruth and Petra are mentoring three additional communities to implement effective water systems. And through effective management, they’re building them at a fraction of the estimated price. “Most of the time and expense come from corruption,” says Ruth. “Accountability is an important element of the Canadian-Kenyan partnership, and we’ve addressed that head-on. Everything is an open-book.” This policy is evident in the medical and maternity clinic project where their operating budget is visibly written on the front gate.
Every Day is New
On the day of the commissioning of the Muhanda Water Project, the people of Muhanda presented Ruth and Petra with their highest honour: a goat. It wasn’t just any goat—it was a special breed with high milk production and exceptional nutritional value. “It cost five thousand shillings—nearly two months wages!” explains Ruth. “For a community in poverty, that is extravagant!”
“The human spirit is resilient to adversity and responsive to hope,” she remarks. “And the possibility of change brings hope.” Her own hope for development embraces transformation of mind and spirit and is built on a foundation of unconditional love. “It’s through my relationship with Jesus Christ that I have the capacity to love unconditionally,” says Ruth. This foundation allows her to inspire Kenyans and students alike not to be content with the status quo, but to dream and work for transformation.
Over the years, Ruth’s dream for Kenya has proven infectious, with four of her travel studies participants remaining in the country for long-term projects. In addition to Abbott and her husband Scott, who stayed in the region to pursue fair trade and direct trade initiatives with the Kenya Tea Development Agency, alumna Lisa (Wendland) MeeHan (’06), spent time in Kenya to further research the Water Project.
Ruth’s own passion for the land and people of Kenya only grows stronger with time. “The dignity and generosity of the people continually amaze me,” she says, “and every time I go, I am surprised by the sky. It feels like you can see the whole universe and God is only a hand’s breadth away.”
Along with Andrea Soberg, Dean of the School of Business, Anaya will lead the next travel study to Kenya and Uganda in May 2011. Learn more about students who have participated in TWU Travel Studies by visiting impact.TWU.ca
Experience Kenya through a photo tour
Narrated by Ruth Anaya
