A Little Economics, A Little Sociology

Greetings again,

This post will be fairly short, as I have many things to do today. But first, a little follow up to something I mentioned yesterday.

After writing about the other projects REPACTED members have started in order to raise money, I began to wonder how and where other locals find their income. At home that night I asked my host-mother, and she had a lot of very interesting things to say.

First a few facts from the CIA World Factbook:
There are 37 million Kenyans. The average life expectancy is 55, and 50% of the population lives below the poverty line ($1 per day). The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita is $1200. The HIV prevalence rate is around 7%. The unemployment rate is 40%. Although the annual economic growth rate is up to 6%, it was as low as -0.2% in 2000.

My host-mothertold me that the recent economic upturn is just starting to manifest itself locally, with minor but perceptible changes taking place in the Nakuru in the past few years. New construction projects (though still infrequent) are undertaken more often. People are returning to the city in the evenings for social and business reasons, something that has not happened for years. She attributes this to an increase in optimism about the future, growth downtown, and a significant decrease in crime (which may be a result of this phenomenon as much as it is a cause.)

Despite this recent upturn, there remains a 40% unemployment rate remains nationally. And many of the employed are rural farmers, meaning the rates in the cities are much higher. Dennis Kimambo (leader of REPACTED) estimates the rate may be closer to 50% in Nakuru. And among young people (18-30) who have recently finished school and should be entering the workforce these numbers are even higher, possibly as great as 70%. This is because the young people in the city are a significantly majority. As a result, retirement rates are low, and the rate of young people entering the workforce is many times higher. According to Jane, this results in a culture of "wasted youth," (her words) where talented young people are sitting idle, unable to generate their own income, instead drawing off of their parent's salaries well into their twenties. Even a college diploma is often unable to generate employment.

For me, this makes REPACTED's work that much more impressive, and that much more worthy of international support. For my friends and I, founding the Courthouse Theater Company required a little initiative and a little sacrifice, coupled with the generous support of our community and the institutions already in place. Founding REPACTED required the ability to dream far beyond the established environment. Taking local theatrical talent (that would otherwise have never been discovered) and turning it into a sustainable force for development in a city where many have nothing at all is visionary beyond anything else I have ever encountered.

Yours,
Chris