Culture-Exchange Levanger /Verdal – Homa Lime,Kenya 2006 Report from the Norwegian Group Going to Homa Lime

Culture-exchange Levanger /Verdal – Homa Lime,Kenya 2006 Report from the Norwegian group going to Homa Lime 2. – 11. November 2006 a group of 5 representatives from Levanger and Verdal went to Kenya, -to Homa Lime by LakeVictoria. This was the third exchange from Norway through a Norad-supported culture-exchanges program between friendshipgroups in Levanger\Verdal and Homa Lime. The plane went to Nairobi,- from there with local bus to Homa Bay by Lake Victoria and finally by boat crossing the lake to Homa Lime. There are about 5000 people in Homa Lime, and most of them are farmers or fishermen, Lake Victoria is very important for the society. Along the shores there are small ports,-centers for fishing and trading. The lake also has an important role for social events and sports activities,-for example rowing- competitions for both men and women. The water is used for drinking and washing, but it has to be cocked and filtrated first. The people carry the water on donkies or cows,-or women carry it on their heads. Fishing in Lake Victoria The friendshipgroup from Norway were heartly greeted in a welcoming ceremony with many cultural activities. Pupils from grade 1 to 4 have 2 whole days of traditional song and dancing during their schoolweek ,- and their powerful singing made a great impression on us in their colourful costumes as they were dancing. Homa Band was the first exchange-group from Homa Lime to visit Verdal 3 years ago. They play traditional music on Orutu and various rythm-instruments besides singing. Orutu is almost like our violin, but has only one string. In a cave we were shown a small museum,-containing different tools for work, old traditional handicraft,-for instance jars for water, ropes, hides and various weapons for hunting and warfare. The Norwegian group also presented itself, and we sang and played on violin and trombone for an enthusiastic audience. These instruments have never been seen in this area before. We stayed at Coordinator Mary Lieta’s house, except one night where each of us stayed with different host-families around Homa Lime(“African night “) The houses are built of bricks, dirt or cow-manure. The roofs are of tinplates or straw. There is no electric power or running water in the houses. We shared rooms for sleeping together with the family members,- ants, bats and lizards. kjøkkenhuset og til lunch ankomst-dagen. The housowners welcoming us to their house for lunch Culture-exchange Levanger /Verdal – Homa Lime, Kenya 2006 Report from the Norwegian group going to Homa Lime The kitchen is a separate building, often more simple than the main house ,- containing a fireplace for cooking. At night the hens often were put into the kitchen house for shelter. The food is prepared on the floor. We ate cornbread, cooked and fried hen in many variations, rice, potatoes, fish and fresh fruit. Culture contains lots of things: cooking, sports, religion, playing, music, dancing and handicrafts. Living together with the local people gave us the unique opportunity of taking part in their daily life and to experience Kenya from inside,- words can hardly describe our impressions! The social structure is not very like the one we have in Norway. One example is what they call “The extended Family”. Orphans, people being rejected by their family, or older people without care or family are included in other families or taken care of by friends or neighbours in stead of beeing taken care of through the welfare sysytem as we have in Norway. The perspective of time is also very unsimilar compared to Norway. The rythm of the day is more dependent of the sun and not ruled by the watch. Bad road-conditions and an unreliable public transportation system makes it difficult to plan arrivels and departures accurately in Kenya. Even the walking-tempo is much slower than in Norway. The Culture-group in Homa Lime had put together a very interesting program with lots of events for us. One event was a ride on the back of a pick-up around the area of Homa Lime The first visit was a pottery where all the production was done manually. Beautiful and functional jars for transportation and storage of water -, small portable ovens for cooking with a small chamber for fire in the bottom. The jars were decorated by using leaves from aloe vera. We also stopped at a weavery,-originally a Norad- supported project.It is now driven by widows. Because of HIV/AIDS there are many widows also in Kenya. Every one of them has her own small field to grow cotton. By using spinning-wheels the cotton is developed into treads which is then coloured before it goes to the weaving-chair for production of different purposes. For these women who have no one to support them,- this is the way to make their living,-even though the work takes much effort and everything was manual. 2 of 4 Culture-exchange Levanger /Verdal – Homa Lime, Kenya 2006 Report from the Norwegian group going to Homa Lime Music and dance are one in African culture. They don’t have the same separation and institutions as we know from western tradition. Silus from Homa Band tries the violin Music and moving the body are inclusive activities,-it starts spontaniously, and everyone is welcome to participate,- weather you are a man or a woman, 2 or 80 years old. No knowledge is required,-it comes from inside of each person,-and is open for everyone. The Norwegian group participated feely on many occasions. “Gloria” Tora tries Orutu One night a workshop was arranged where Homa Band, the Norwegian guests and all others who wanted to contribute had a very exciting jam-experience where we sang and danced together and tried each other’s instruments,-using elements from both Norwegian and Kenya’s traditional folk-music. These uique experiences really give us the chance to feel in our body and i our soul,-that music and dance are shorely an international language and an important way of communicating,-despite differences in language and cultural background. The jam-session is one of many things we will always remember from our Kenya-visit. As a result we also gave away our guitar to the Friendship-group of Homa Lime. Vigdis dancing with the school-children Sports and playing are important and uniting all over the world. Playing with balls made of cloths or straws were popular. But the happiness the children showed when they got coca-cola footballs that we had brought to Homa Lime, was enormous. This led to organized football- teams for children under 10 years old,- called “Dillan”, ”Harry” and “Vigdis”. They have already played matches against each other and have also got coaches. First meeting with a football filled with air ! 3 of 4 Culture-exchange Levanger /Verdal – Homa Lime, Kenya 2006 Report from the Norwegian group going to Homa Lime The Norwegian group experienced a very rich culture and hospitality .And the contrast are great! One can hardly imagine what the Kenyan group must have felt when they visited Norway and experienced luxurious materialism compared to their own standard of living. The communities in Homa Lime and Levanger/Verdal have been represented both from the administrative and political side. Representatives have been host-families in both countries, and there is a tight cooperation with the local cultural schools. In the future the Norwegian group wants to work for a closer link to the Community administration in Levanger and Verdal. This will make the continuation of the project much easier and to reach the goals we set up Steinar and Chief Aloys in Kanam Community with community flags from Verdal and Levanger An important goal for the friendship-group of Homa Lime is to establish a Ressource-center for Culture. The small museum we visited can for instance be included and continued here. It can also serve as an arena for educational purposes, meetings and organized cultural activities. It would then serve many functions,- for instance as our Culture-houses in Norway do. One of the goals for the culture-exchangeprogram is to contribute so that the Homa Lime society, (and African in general) can maintain its own cultural identity,-to keep up their own values,- despite changes in their daily life. Establishing a cultural resource-centre will open up many positive opportunities.. The friendship-group that visited Homa Lime in nov.06 came from many different parts of the local cultural-life in Levanger/Verdal (music, theater) and immigrants-education in Verdal. This project is financed through Norad after an application each year. On this project volunteers from groups within the Cultural life have a unique opportunity to take part in a whole new cultural experience ! Arne Espen Dillan, Vigdis Skårdal, Tora Stølan Ness, Steinar Hegstad and Olav Harry Vada . 4 of 4 .

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