First impressions of Lieta through Australian eyes

It is not often that a parent is asked by a son to help with the running of a Non Government Organisation [NGO] in Kenya, especially one he has started from scratch. So there I am on the board as a director of Happy Villages Australia. Everybody has heard of AusAID, World Vision & the like but who has heard of Happy Villages? Well a heck of a lot of people will have heard of it & be part of it over the next 5-10 years.


It is a fledgling Non Government Development Organization very much in the embryo stages & has only been officially running for 12 months in both Kenya & Australia. As its name suggests, Happy Villages is about improving the overall living standards of people in villages in Kenya. This involves education, health, well-being, improved farming & food availability, water supply, etc. In short making one village at a time just that little bit more happy.


All the ground work is now complete in regards to the overall management of Happy Villages. It is a very lean & mean organisation, no fancy offices or fancy cars, no highly paid managers or employees with expense accounts. In fact it is currently 99% managed & run by volunteers from all walks of life & varying ages.


After exhaustive, comprehensive research & reporting - all of which is compulsory for an NGO to operate in Kenya - the first village, Lieta, has been selected for help & advice. Working hand in hand with the village we will work towards a world without extreme poverty .... one small village at a time.


I am very fortunate to be in Kenya at the moment with my wife Jenny. I was lucky enough to travel to Lieta & have a look around the village.

The road to the outskirts of Lieta is one of the best highways in Kenya, which was a surprise to me. It is approximately one and a half hours from Kisumu (the third largest city in Kenya) where our son Michael & the Kenyan team are based.

As I drove to Lieta the thing that struck me was the gradual deterioration in the quality of the soil. Once we arrived at Lieta it was obvious that this village had very little going for it as far as farming crops was concerned. That in turn means that any form of livestock production is also very limited. The soil is very poor compared to other areas.

The little village square we drove through was well laid out, but unfortunately no market was in progress, so I didn`t see the produce or general items for sale.

However, Budwa Beach is right on the banks of Lake Victoria, just past Ndigwa & opposite Homa Bay, on the other side of the lake. On the lake itself you go through some narrows to enter Winam Gulf, so maybe fishing is the main source of food? But I am told fish stocks are very low due to commercial over fishing. We drove down to Budwa Beach & my first thought was "if this was any where else in the world there would be a 5 star resort here". I`m not sure if you can swim in the lake & I don`t know about any water sports either. But it was absolutely beautiful & as they say in real estate - Position, Position, Position !!! But no - this will probably not happen.

We also saw one of the small schools of Lieta called Agok Primary. It was neat & tidy as are a lot of schools in Kenya. You see education is vitally important & the kids love school... it may be their passport out of poverty. It is a pity the teachers are paid so poorly or indeed at all... Then it was time to head back to Kisumu.

It was just a fleeting visit to Happy Villages first village, Lieta, but all in all, after the site village reports & now having seen part of the village area for myself, it is quite apparent that to help these villagers it is going to take some long hard work. But with the full co-operation & consultation with the village, progress will be made.

It is not for us to change their life, we are only there to help them improve it.

To do this we need lots of money. We have the human resources, but cash is required to buy the necessary goods to implement this huge program of improvements. $1,000 Australian can buy quite a bit in Kenya & to help a village the size of Lieta will require at least $200,000 to $300,000 utilised in varying ways over 12-18 months & then more money to keep it improving.

There are many many organisations chasing the "Donor Dollar" but there are very few operating on the management cost structure that we at Happy Villages have. We are under no illusions. The implementation of improvements will be time consuming & difficult to begin with. Do it we will. We have 100% support from the village & with people helping financially, actual physical work of the job ahead will begin & get on a roll.

It was a real eye opener to see this village & compared to other villages I have been to over the years this one needs a lot of TLC.

Happy Villages will get on with the job, with your generous help.