I ate lunch with one of the teachers and had a wonderful conversation before gathering my group for the newsletter. Last week I had asked them to write a first draft of a story they would like to include in the newsletter. When I asked them to share their work I didn’t expect many of them to have done it or if they had to have put too much effort into it. Partly because for the past two weeks they haven’t had the supplies (notebooks and pens) to write their stories and I didn’t know if they had gotten them and partly because I know they’re busy and didn’t expect them to prioritize the newsletter. But I ended up being so pleasantly surprised with a lot of their work! Some girls had interviewed women (mostly Hehsima staff) they saw as leaders, others wrote about themselves and how they see themselves as leaders or becoming leaders, and others wrote about other inspirational girls in the program. Many of them also went out of their way to try to write them in English and while I’m still not sure how they did it (since many essentially cannot speak or understand English) their articles were really well done! It was so great to know that they enjoy this project and are actually putting effort into it. Plus, I got to spend some good quality time playing with the cutest little boy (probably about three or four years old) throughout the day between projects.
Happy Halloween! Although today was much like any other day in Kenya. I had a really great conversation trying to explain the concept of Halloween to my taxi driver, to no avail. I spent the day at my internship today, just like every Friday. My days at Heshima have been very hit and miss so far, although I still absolutely love the organization overall. This week was one of those really good days. I spent the morning working with one of the teachers to help the girls make cards for the US directors. It took us about three or four hours to finally get two cards made because they kept doing practice rounds to make sure it would turn out well. A few girls were selected to write messages and the rest signed their names and helped color the cards. They were all so excited to participate, even those who had never met the directors in person. The final products were just absolutely adorable and I’m sure the directors will love them. The Kenya director and my boss were so pleased with our work, although it was really all the girls.
I ate lunch with one of the teachers and had a wonderful conversation before gathering my group for the newsletter. Last week I had asked them to write a first draft of a story they would like to include in the newsletter. When I asked them to share their work I didn’t expect many of them to have done it or if they had to have put too much effort into it. Partly because for the past two weeks they haven’t had the supplies (notebooks and pens) to write their stories and I didn’t know if they had gotten them and partly because I know they’re busy and didn’t expect them to prioritize the newsletter. But I ended up being so pleasantly surprised with a lot of their work! Some girls had interviewed women (mostly Hehsima staff) they saw as leaders, others wrote about themselves and how they see themselves as leaders or becoming leaders, and others wrote about other inspirational girls in the program. Many of them also went out of their way to try to write them in English and while I’m still not sure how they did it (since many essentially cannot speak or understand English) their articles were really well done! It was so great to know that they enjoy this project and are actually putting effort into it. Plus, I got to spend some good quality time playing with the cutest little boy (probably about three or four years old) throughout the day between projects.
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In just over a weak we will be leaving for rural week! We are spending the week in a rural village an hour or so outside the town of Kisumu, near to Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. We will each be living with different families and can expect not to see each other for the week. The families might speak some English but they typically speak Dholuo. Throughout the week we are expected to hang out with our families, learn from them, and help them in their daily lives, whether it is fetching water, visiting the market, cooking, or cleaning. The homes we will stay at vary in shape and size. Some are made of mud and thatched roof, others of wood or brick. Most of the homes use solar energy for electricity and get water for from the river.
Today we received our homestay assignments and got to meet with the rural week coordinator. I am staying with a family that has four children, three girls and one boy. The girls are 3, 5, and 25 years old and the boy is 13. The mother is a primary school teacher and the father is self-employed (also his name is Peter, my actual dad's name!). Finally learning more about the week and the family I will be living with has made me even more excited for the experience especially since past students have described this week as being one of their most transformative experiences in Kenya and just in general. I am excited to meet my new family and experience a new way of life! I have been posting a lot about the things we do on the weekend so I wanted to take a moment and talk about some of the things that happen on a more day-to-day basis.
That’s all for now! More updates to come :) I woke up this morning before the sun had even begun to rise. The rain from last night was just coming to an end and I watched as the small droplets slid down my window. In the dark I got dressed, made breakfast, and packed a lunch for the day. Seven of us met down by the front gate at 6:30 to venture up to lake Nukuru to see the wildlife that live around the lake. The whole way up Evans, our amazing guide and driver, was eager to tell us all about the animals we might see. As we drove down the highway, passing cars on the one lane road and nearly running into other cars head-on, I tried to shut my eyes to get some sleep. Once I had managed to drift off I was jolted awake as the van came to a halt. We had been pulled over by the police. As Evans spoke with the police behind our van we all wondered what was going on. It turned out Evans had passed another car illegally (although it all seems the same to me) and had been pulled over. He ran back to the car and explained he had to get something small to give to the officer. Essentially, he had to bribe the officer to let him off. After having a lesson on corruption in Kenya less than a week ago in Institutional Strengthening a lot of us were excited to get our first glimpse into some of the corruption that exists on an everyday basis for many people. After this quick exchange we were back on the road to Nukuru. After several hours we pulled into the Nukuru wildlife park. As we were trying to pay to enter the park we encountered our second hiccup of the day. The officials were refusing to accept our pupils passes as documentation of residency and as such they wanted us to pay the tourist price of $80. Well not only were we surprised our passes weren’t accepted (they’ve been accepted everywhere else) $80 was way more than all of us could afford. We were able to speak to the manager, who just confirmed what the other officers said – she would not let us in on principle of following the rules. We got into a very heated discussion with her trying to explain we are in fact residents and every other Kenyan Wildlife Service unit had accepted our passes. Finally, she decided she’d be nice and give us the “student rate” of $40 (even though she refused to give us the residents price on principle of following the rules, yet here she was willing to “bend” the rules to give us a discount). Since $40 was still way too expensive for most of us we decided we had no option but to leave. On our way out Evans was able to contact a higher warden and they agreed we should receive residents price so right before climbing back into the van the customer service woman ran back out informing us she had changed her mind and she would accept our documents if we could provide receipts from other parks (luckily some of us had the receipts from Longonot). Eventually, after almost an hour later, we were able to pay the kSh 1200 (about $13) and enter the park. This was a good reminder to all of us that things are not always easy and to be grateful we’ve had relatively uneventful experiences so far. It also made us that much more excited to get to go into the park. Right away we spotted herds of impala and zebra right by the side of the road and some buffalo off in the distance. As we drove along we spotted many kinds of animals from the van, some of them extremely close others far off in the distance. We also saw animal carcasses from lion kills and while sad, it was really neat to see the circle of life in action – super cliché, I know. We climbed to the top of a hill where we had the most breathtaking view of the lake below and baboons climbing all around us. We got out of the van to take pictures and watch the monkeys. Down in the lake we could see the outline of hundreds of flamingos. Nukuru is one of Kenya’s salt-water lakes so it is home to flamingos and other species that rely on the salt water. Evans then took us down to the lake so we could get a close up view. He even threw a rock at them (sooo illegal) so that we could see the beautiful colors of their wings as they flew away. Back in the van we came upon the most majestic giraffes off in the distance. The giraffe surrounded by acacia trees and the savannah was one of the most iconic Kenyan images I have seen so far – it was absolutely stunning. Shortly after we spotted a giraffe right by the side of the road that stopped to pose for our pictures. Later, we drove by a beautiful waterfall before it began to rain and we decided to start heading back to Nairobi. In the rain all the impalas stand completely still all facing the same angle. It is one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. Today (like I say almost everyday) was one of the most incredible days. To be so close to some of the world’s most amazing creatures and to experience some of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes was just absolutely breathtaking. Definitively not a casual Saturday activity we could have back home in DC. It has now been over a month that I have been visiting my internship site (although right now we just go on Fridays). I spent the first few weeks organizing all of the books Heshima Kenya owns according to their call numbers, labeling the unlabeled books, and placing library cards on the front inside pockets. While it definitely has not been the most thrilling of jobs, I’ve realized how much of help it has been though. Over the last few months, in particular, Heshima had a lot of books donated to them by various organizations. With their limited staff members, they just didn’t have the time or resources to put them together into a coherent library like they would have liked. They are working towards building a greater reading culture with the girls and were having a really hard time doing it without a library. So as mundane as the work as been, I can really see the visible effects already. But as of last week my supervisor gave me a schedule of really substantial work to do for the rest of the month until I start coming full time. This meant that my agenda for today was to teach a three-hour class on life skills in developing positive sexual behaviors in the morning and then meeting with a group of participants in the afternoon to talk about the role of women in leadership and about having them write pieces about that topic for the upcoming newsletter. Needless to say, I was really excited and nervous at the same time. I spent four hours yesterday coming up with my lesson plan (and writing it all down by hand since we don’t have a printer). My lesson included nine core life skills that they needed to develop positive behaviors and for each skill I described it, gave examples, and came up with an activity. I studied it for a few more hours to make sure I was prepared for the lesson today. I knew that many of the girls didn’t speak English so my plan was to go through each section and then pause to let the one’s who didn’t understand talk with their neighbors who did. Well, I think I seriously misjudged language skills to say the least. It turned out that practically none of them could understand what I was saying. Luckily one of the teachers was able to come up to the front with me and essentially translate everything I said into Swahili. The system worked pretty well but I really felt the disconnect from the language barrier. It is so much harder to have a discussion when everything that is said has to be translated and elaborated. But the girls seemed to be engaged and they participated in most of my activities. At the break one girl mentioned how much she enjoyed today’s topic and after the class a lot of the students asked if I would be teaching any more of their classes, which I took to be really positive. The whole time I was waiting for some kind of disaster that never happened. Overall, the class went very smoothly and was as good as I possibly could have imagined it! Afterwards, I ate lunch with one of the other teachers in the resource center and chatted with him about his life before gathering up the group for the newsletter. Again, I was faced with the same language barrier, but this time it was harder since I had meant for this small group to be a discussion. I was able to go over the qualities of a good leader and communicate that a leader is not necessarily someone in power, it could be any inspirational women they know, the mama mboga (vegetable lady) down the street, or even themselves. I asked them to pick a topic they’d like to write about and next week we would discuss them and start writing them for the newsletter. This experience in particular was really frustrating because despite going well, I just felt so disconnected and really wished my Swahili were more advanced so I could communicate on my own. It highlights the importance of language in communication and the necessity of learning local languages when you get involved in communities. It makes me more interested in applying for the Boren Fellowship to be able to come back to East Africa and study Swahili for a year to hopefully become conversational if not fluent. I feel really positive about my internship experience so far and I am really excited to be full time in a few weeks. The girls are all amazing and I cannot wait to get to know them all individually. I am also grateful that my coordinator is helping me to plan projects that are tangible and will leave a lasting impact, no matter how small it may be. She also wants me to gain from the experience and already I have. I have been pushed far outside my comfort zone and so far it has paid off. Everything I’ve done up to now has been getting really positive feedback and I am excited to keep growing and helping the organization. One of the things I am working on while here is writing a grant proposal. I’ve been thinking of ideas for the proposal including money for a mobile structure to serve as a classroom, classroom supplies, transportation subsidies to make sure the girls can get to the program site, and another meal during the day, which is really important for all the breastfeeding mothers. I’m excited that a school project has the potential to make a huge difference in an actual organization that I believe in so much. This weekend was full of hiking, camping, boating, and animal watching. Early Saturday morning we all boarded the bus to climb Mt. Longonot, an extinct volcano North of Nairobi. On the way there we stopped at an overlook for the most incredible view of the Rift Valley. The valley drops thousands of feet below and you can see for miles, we could even see the outline of Mt. Longonot looming in the distance. At the mountain we began what was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done, except maybe the 14er I climbed this summer. There were practically no switchbacks and the trail led straight up the mountain on loose soil and gravel. Every time I turned around to take a breath I was overwhelmed with the beautiful view. Even though it was a bit of a struggle, we reached the summit of the rim in about an hour, far less time that we were told it would take. From there we could see the entire inside of the volcano and the other peaks around the rim. Looking out, we could see almost all of Lake Naivasha in the distance. We stopped for a quick break for snacks and pictures before deciding we wanted to try to hike all the way around the rim. A group of us set out for what we thought would be a nice hike – only to be surprised that it was almost as hard as the first ascent we had done. There were parts we found ourselves scrambling up gravel that seemed straight up and there were others where we were hoisting ourselves up through crevices. Because of all the volcanic ash there was dirt and dust everywhere. By the time we reached the summit of the tallest peak we were coated. Standing on the peak was one of the most incredible moments, the accomplishment from the hike and the sheer beauty of the landscape around us. We were all so glad we decided to do the whole thing. We hung out a while, took pictures, and chatted with other hikers before continuing our trek. The downhill part was almost even harder. Imagine all that loose dirt with a trail that led straight down with practically nothing to hold on to. Minus a few slips we all made it around down the front of the mountain in one piece. We hung out at the bottom for a while waiting for the last group to meet us playing charades, drinking lots of water, and chatting. By the end we were all so tired and knew we would definitely be sore the next day. Back on the bus we headed to Naivasha where eight of us planned to camp at a place called fisherman’s village. We picked out a site right by the lake and they came to set up tents for us. By then it was almost dark and we were all starving so we headed over to the fisherman’s village restaurant for some dinner. Afterwards we bought some wood to build a fire at our campsite. Before we got the fire going, we just lay on the ground looking at the stars. There is only one other time I can remember when the stars were as amazing as they were this night. We could easily see the Milky Way and the millions of tiny dots that sprinkled the sky. It started getting chilly so we decided to start our fire. Even though we had a lot of fire pros, we were unable to get the wood to catch. After a lot of frustration we realized it was completely soaked, of course it wasn’t going to catch! Right about when we were about to give up a man on a motorbike showed up with a new bundle of wood. Since he didn’t speak any English and our Swahili is still pretty basic, there were a lot of communication struggles. Eventually, we got the wood and got a good fire going. We sat around talking and telling stories for hours until we had burned most of the wood and we were all nodding off. Despite being so tired, I woke up periodically throughout the night because it was so cold. We each only had the one blanket they had given us and even though I wore my sweatshirt and raincoat too, it was still pretty chilly. By the time we woke up though, the sun was already beating down. A few people needed to get money from an ATM so we decided to walk to the nearest town. We didn’t end up finding an ATM but we stopped in this little hole in the wall restaurant for breakfast. We were definitely the only white people around the whole area. We got a few omelets, mandazis, and chai that were all surprisingly delicious and the total came out to only Ksh 540 – about $6 for all of us. Back at the camp we decided to take a boat tour of Lake Naivasha. As we floated around the perimeter, our guide pointed out species on species of birds. Apparently, there are over 300 kinds of birds that live on the lake. Some of them we recognized from home but others were completely foreign. Some were so large we marveled at how they could possibly fly. Soon we came upon a pod of hippos resting in the water. They lay their heads on one another’s backs so they don’t sink while they are sleeping. We passed many more hippos, some on the bank some in the water. As we drove by they jumped into the water, which was pretty funny to see although it seemed like we were a little too close for comfort. At one point we got stuck on a sandbank in the river that was between a large pod of hippos and two other hippos. Our guide started saying, “Oh shit, oh shit… this is not safe…” which of course made us all freak out a little. He pulled off his shoes and jumped on to the sandbank quickly trying to push us away as the hippos started moving around us. Back in the boat he said, “were you guys scared?” in a joking way. We laughed and responded, “Mn noo we think it was you who was scared!” We finished our tour by speeding across the middle of the lake feeling the light breeze on our faces and enjoying the beautiful sites. We grabbed lunch at the fisherman’s camp restaurant before our van driver picked us up to bring us back to Nairobi. Overall it was one of the most amazing weekends. Almost every weekend so far I’ve though that it was best weekend ever, only to be surprised that each one continues to be better and better. This weekend we embarked on a four-hour drive outside of Nairobi to a small village in Kitui County. Nyumbani village is unique in many ways. It is a model bio-friendly and self-sustaining community serving orphans and elders who have been left behind by the “lost generation” resulting from the HIV/AIDS pandemic. There are about 1,000 children who have lost parents to AIDS and 100 elders who have lost children to AIDS. They pair about 10 children per elder essentially to create nuclear families. The grandparents serve as role models and parents to the children and the children help out with cleaning, cooking, and other chores. In this way both groups can gain from living together in this community. The village is also almost entirely self-sustainable. They grow all the food they eat within the villages 1,000 acres. They have a large solar field and also use human and animal manure as biogas for cooking and electricity. Water is collected from local boreholes and during the rainy seasons large containers collect water for use for the rest of the year. Nyumbani also has three schools on site – a primary school, secondary school, and technical school, which is free for all the students. Students wishing to continue on to university will also receive scholarships to do so from the Nyumbani organization. The village also has a clinic that serves Nyumbani as well as neighboring communities and a small shop full of baskets the women weave and honey collected from the beehives. This model is so unique and amazing. They are filling a gap left by the devastation from HIV/AIDS while also living and thriving in a completely sustainable way.
After the most beautiful drive through Kenyan countryside and smaller towns, we spent the first part of the weekend meeting with the volunteers at Nyumbani and enjoying a delicious lunch of rice, bean stew, and greens (Kenyan food is sooo good!) Then we took a tour of the entire village, where we were able to learn about all of Nyumbani’s programs and meet with some of the community members. A few eager children were quick to grab our hands and join us on the tour. Afterwards we took a small break before heading over to the main field. Some of the older kids (probably around our age) played an intense game of soccer while I joined the younger ones in kicking around a ball and playing Frisbee. The kids loved hanging out with us, taking pictures with my phone, and grabbing our hands. As I took a break to take some pictures I realized how utterly beautiful the scenery was. The sun was beginning to set over the Kitui Hills and the red dust from the field swirled in the wind. It was a truly breathtaking and memorable experience. We headed back to the guesthouse for another delicious meal before gathering wood to make a bonfire. Under the stars we went around and each said our roses, thrones, and buds (something good, something bad, and something we were looking forward to). It was a really nice moment to reflect on the day and the past month of being here and to get to hear from everyone. Once the fire was extinguished we all lay on the ground and enjoyed admiring the stars, we even saw one of the best shooting stars I’ve ever seen. Eventually, we were all so tired we headed to bed. The rooms were really nice, which was something I was not expecting. We all got double beds with canopies of mosquito nets and individual bathrooms with pit latrines and running water. Although the light in my bathroom didn’t work I managed to pour some cold water over my feet to wash off the red dirt that accumulated throughout the day. Once I got in bed, I quickly drifted off. On Sunday we woke up early and enjoyed yet another delicious meal of mendazi’s and chai masala before heading over to church. Some people decided to stay back but as someone who has never really attended church before, I was excited for the experience. Mass was conducted primarily in Kikanga, the local language, although there was English and Swahili sprinkled in. I absolutely loved listening to the singing and the women swaying and clapping to the music. There were probably a thousand people packed into the large auditorium-like building all dressed in their nicest clothes and kangas. At the end of the service they made us come up front and introduce ourselves to the group. It was a little nerve-wracking standing in front of a huge crowd but they were also so welcoming and friendly. I was so pleasantly surprised by exactly how welcoming everyone was throughout the weekend. Village members were always eager to call out greetings and children were quick to run over and play with us. There were also a few experiences we would be walking around and a grandmother would approach us and without any English we would engage in the most intense handshake I’ve ever experienced complete with chanting. It was really beautiful to be able to communicate and interact in this way and experience the complete welcoming of this community. After church we spent some more time with the kids playing Frisbee and taking pictures. Before we left we stopped in the store where the women sell their baskets and honey and picked up a few things for souvenirs and gifts. We enjoyed our last meal and headed out on the bus waving good-bye as we pulled away. On the ride back I couldn’t help but smile at how wonderful an experience this weekend was. It was so refreshing and humbling and it would be incredible to have the opportunity to come back to the village to volunteer or work in other similar communities for a time. It is just so wonderful to know that unlike many organizations across Africa, Nyumbani is doing such amazing work and that there is a substantial role for a volunteer. Living and studying abroad I have learned so much about Kenyan culture. In Swahili class our professor will sometimes go on tangents about Kikuyu naming traditions or the gendered nature of asking a man/women if they are married. We learn insults and polite ways to ask for things. In other classes we learn about historical and cultural practices such as circumcision or different pre-colonial societal structures and traditions. We learn about the interactions between different Kenyan ethnic groups or the historical implications of a racially divided Nairobi. Different people we meet will always give us further insight into Kenyan culture in one way or another. The other day Victor enlightened us on the Kenyan way after we asked him to tell Mwangi something for us. He said “it is the Kenyan way to bring people something small before you ask them to do something so they have an incentive to do it.” Essentially it seemed like bribery. But it is small statements like this that further enhance our knowledge of the culture and common practices.
However, more than anything, I think being here has increased my own knowledge of American culture. When people tell stories about their culture and practices there is a natural human tendency to relate it back to what you know. It is also common people will ask you how you practice a certain custom in your country or how things work. For example, when talking about marriage traditions in Kenya it makes me reflect on marriage traditions in the US. Or when people mention what is acceptable to ask Kenyans you wonder if that would be acceptable to ask an American. These are things like asking a woman how old she is. Things that I’ve grown up, things I haven’t necessarily attributed to a specific culture, things that seem like just “the way things are,” are now coming to light for me as elements of American culture. I always have grappled with what exactly American culture is and being such a large nation with so much diversity has only complicated things. However, now I am realizing there are many elements of “American culture” that are fairly universal. And putting them in terms that relate to how people here can understand them only furthers my understanding of them. Oddly enough, being here I think I have learned more about American (or at least have had time to reflect on it) than I ever have actually living in the US. One of the best parts of this abroad experience is the cultural exchange. We are learning so much about our host culture and its people but it is also an opportunity to serve as American cultural ambassadors and to shape peoples knowledge about what it is to be an American. This is especially true in light of the many negative options people have of the US due to poor foreign policies. But, to be able to show that there is more to our country than our often incompetent government, that we are a people much like anyone else with social relations and cultural traditions, we begins to break down barriers and build connections. I’ve learned that while we are different there are certainly more similarities than differences. We are all humans and we share many of the same passions and desires. Despite coming from opposite corners of the globe, on a fundamental level we are more or less the same. And without actually living abroad and immersing oneself in another way of life, this is difficult to fully grasp. And I myself am only on the periphery of beginning to understand it, in all its complexity. As of Tuesday it has officially been a month in Kenya! I honestly cannot believe we have been here for that long already, but we are really starting to settle in with a routine, and crazily enough we are already into midterms. It is a little sad to think that we only have three months left here - time is going so quickly! But even in this month I have already learned so much and have had so many cool experiences. And we are starting to plan some really cool excursions to make the most of the rest of our time here. This weekend, for example, we are going to stay at this self-sustaining community that serves orphans and elders who have been left behind by the lost generation due HIV/AIDs (more details to come!). On our own were are also trying to plan a trip to Hell’s gate, whitewater rafting on the Nile, visiting Zanzibar, and going on a Safari. We’ll see if we can actually manage to accomplish all those things, but for now it’s really fun to start thinking about and planning.
Yesterday, to celebrate the end of our first two midterms, our Monthiversary, and Wyatt’s birthday, we went out to dinner at this restaurant called Fogo Gaucho. It’s a Brazilian Steak House that serves so many different kinds of meat, including crocodile! You had a little card on your table and if you had it turned to green people carrying all the kinds of meat would come over and cut it for you right there. It was all you can eat so lots of people. They also had a really awesome salad bar with all the delicious things. I mostly stuck to chicken but of course I wasn’t about to miss out on that crocodile. It was actually really good! It was a little chewy but the flavor was kind of like chicken. For dessert they had this roast pineapple coasted in a cinnamon sugar type thing. It was actually THE most delicious thing ever - we all liked it so much they cooked another one for us. And of course we got a cake too for Wyatt. Overall it was a really great night and it was fun to have almost everyone there to celebrate. (Pics to come!) |
AuthorAmerican University Student studying abroad in Kenya and India and wandering the world Archives
May 2015
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