Okay, okay, I'm sorrrrrry!! I know I've neglected my posts here, and now I'm horribly out of date. But a packed schedule combined with rolling power-outages in Nairobi made it very difficult for me to get anything done. And now I'm in Mombasa...andwell...you know how it goes!
I can't possibly write about everything that's happened in just one post. It would take me FOREVER. So I'm going to break it down, starting with my last weeks in Nairobi.
One random night a couple weeks ago, I went with Andre, Aubrey, Kasamba, and Kasamba's friend Babu to a reggae club downtown called Monte Carlo. Kasamba was a bit worried about us going because I guess its very likely you'll be pick-pocketed there. We weren't worried...but we SHOULD have been warned about the male-female ratio! We got there to discover that, not only were Aubrey and I the ONLY white girls in the club, we were also 2 of only about 9 women! There must have been about 20 guys to every girl. It's hard enough to fend off advances from Kenyan men when there's one or two of them.......now try fending off TWENTY at once!! We wanted to dance because the music and atmosphere of the club were really fun, but everytime we stood up, we got mobbed. At first it was kind of funny, but as the night wore on and the men were chewing miraa and drinking, they got aggressive. I finally forced the guys to leave with us, but not before Andre tried the miraa also! He was quite a handful to deal with for the rest of that night, lol. For those who don't know, miraa is a leaf that people in Kenya commonly chew as a stimulant. It also has the unfortunate effect of being like an herbal viagra! Can you picture the scene at Monte Carlo now? Yeah...pretty nuts. =P
I know some of you are wondering about my latest Facebook status...and I guess I'll write a bit here because it IS a major event in my time here in Kenya. But I'm gonna keep it short. Yes, I have a Kenyan boyfriend. It was completely unintentional and I'm STILL wondering how it happened (you all know what a commitment-phobe I am)! I'll just say that I met him through my Nairobi brother--he is very progressive and smart...and we just clicked. :) It's nice but I don't know what will happen because now I'm going to be mostly in Mombasa and he is in school in Nairobi--an 8 hour drive away. The funniest thing about it is that EVERYONE here is trying to marry me off to him! =P My Nairobi mom was thrilled and said we should marry at her rural home. My colleagues in Mombasa are planning a beach wedding. And Aubrey & Ashley don't care where it is as long as they get to be bridesmaids! Haha, the culture about dating here is SOOOO different from the US. Luckily for me, he thinks its just as hilarious as I do. Sorry y'all, but there won't be a wedding anytime soon!
Moving on...as I hope you're all aware, my birthday is coming up very soon! When we're all (hopefully) celebrating Obama's win on Nov 5--just remember to wish me a little Happy 21st Birthday if you can! A whole mess of us were born around the same time here: Aubrey's was Oct 28, my friends Jane and Kathy are tomorrow (Halloween!), and then me, and then Joey on Nov 16 (right Joey?). Everyone who had a birthday on the program while we were in Nairobi got a special cake, and we didn't want to miss out on cake just because we'd be separated by the time our birthdays rolled around! So me, Aubrey, Jane and Joey planned a combined birthday outing for our last night in Nairobi. And boy did we celebrate! Unfortunately, poor Joey got really sick with a bacterial infection the day before, so she couldn't come. But the rest of us went back to our fav Westlands club, Rezorus. It was me, Aubrey, Ashley, Jenna, Ash&Jenna's host brothers + dates, Jane, Jane's friends, my bro Toti, my boyfriend, Tony, Tony's date, Simon & his wife, and a few more of Simon's friends! All-together, I'd say about 25 of us took over an entire area of Rezorus. We laughed and chatted and had a great time, and then it was time for the cake-cutting. Jane had bought a HUUUUGE chocolate cake from Uchumi and brought it to Rezorus. They sang to us and then we began doling out slices. Now, if you remember from one of my other posts, its tradition for the kids to put dots of icing on their faces at birthdays. So I put a bit on Jane's face...then she put a bit more on mine...then I put even MORE on hers...and it spread and spread until the ENTIRE group was covered head to toe in frosting!!!!! It was a full-blown frosting WAR that night. And we had so much fun. Though I think our waitress pretty much hated us for the mess we made. I spent the rest of the night with nasty frosting dreadlocks, but it didn't matter because pretty much everyone else in the club had some on them too. We danced for hours and got home just in time for the Kisumu group to shower, grab their stuff, and catch the bus. Mombasa people left a few hours later, but I just stayed up all night with my boy & my bro. Sleep was an after-thought to spending my last few hours with them.
That morning, plus one REALLY heavy suitcase and minus a few dreadlocks, I caught the bus to Mombasa with the rest of the MSID-ers working out here. It's a long, 8-hour drive from Nairobi to Mombasa, but at least the roads are relatively decent the whole way! The bus company was called Mash Cool, which I find really amusing but in fact probably isn't. But whatever, you get to hear about it anyway! Praise be to cupcakes that I had a front row seat, because I got to stretch out my legs and sleep most of the way. I woke up only a few times: once to see that we were driving through real African bush (I mean no people, no houses or huts or anything, no animals...just sand and scraggly trees), another time for lunch at a roadside snack bar, and once more in time to see what I have termed "the swirling vortex of mystery". It looked like a tiny, black tornado and formed directly in front of us on the left side of the road...crossed over...and then dissolved entirely. If you remember Tazmanian Devil, just picture when he'd spin around and destroy stuff and that's what it looked like! I still have no clue what it was.
We knew we were getting closer to Mombasa when everyone started shedding their sweatshirts and began sweating instead. The heat rose by more than a few degrees and the humdity JUMPED up. Nairobi is practically cold in comparison!! As we neared the city, Abby was dropped off at her homestay just outside it, then the rest of us continued on to the Mash Bus stop on Jomo Kenyatta Avenue to meet our families. It was nerve-wracking to leave the comforts and friends I'd found in Nairobi, and I had no idea how strict or welcoming my new, large, Muslim family would be. I already missed everyone I'd left behind, but you know me. I thrive on change, so this new part of my trip was exciting! And let me tell you...Mombasa is a WHOLE different story.
Okay, I will post again soon on life here in Mombasa. Now its high time I get myself back to work! Take care everyone! Have a GREAT Halloween, and I will be with you in spirit on election day!! Fingers crossed Obama wins, because I may just have to stay in the house for a while if he loses! Kenya will be in a frenzy either way!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Matunda, Mathare, and Maasai
Unfortunately, the field trip this past week turned out to be a complete let-down. We spent 1 1/2 hours on a bus to spend about 3 minutes standing on the edge of a pineapple farm, then 1 1/2 hours back so we could eat at Steers...a burger and fried chicken place downtown. I'm not sure why they thought this would be a productive use of our time. And now I have to write an essay, in Kiswahili, about the trip. What on earth can I write???? "The roads were decent, I slept most of the way there and back, and I saw a few pineapples growing. The end." Go figure.
But even though the trip was a bust, the rest of the day wasn't. When we were at Steers, Andre called up his connection at Mathare, the poorest slum in Kenya. Kasamba showed up at our lunch and when we'd finished, he took a group of us to walk around Mathare. Kasamba has lived there his whole life, but he's managed to avoid all the pitfalls that face people growing up there. He works as a manager of a small program that sells locally made crafts in Kenya and abroad so the women have a way of supporting themselves. He also helps to manage the many football (soccer...not American) teams that the kids play for. Now don't get the wrong idea when I say private school. The Kenyan government recently made all public primary schools "free"...but I use that term lightly. The family still has to pay for food, uniforms, transportation, books, etc. It ends up costing a fair amount for that "free" education. But families still want their kids to be educated, so they send as many of the kids as they can, usually the boys, and as a result the public schools are crammed full of kids with not enough teachers. Some schools have one teacher for every 50-100 students. Mathare has a few of those kinds of public schools, but they are really not effective. The one privated school, which we saw, is a much more efficient use of time and money. First off, the families only pay a tiny stipend, and only if they can afford it. There are lots of orphans attending the school who obviously can't pay for themselves, so the school and other families find a way to pay their fees. And this small fee pays for uniforms, books, a daily lunch, AND the kids are occupied from 7am til 6pm everyday, which keeps them out of trouble. Public schools only supervise their kids til 3pm. When we went to see the school, we first were shown some of the locally made crafts that the women of Mathare make and sell with Kasamba's help, both here in Kenya and in America. They make hand-woven purses & bags that are so so beautiful, hand-made batiks, and other small wooden crafts. I didn't buy anything at the time, but I definitely will in the future. Anna, Sara and Jesse...we're decorating our apartment with this stuff!!
Then we met the principal and vice-principal of the school. They talked to us for a while about how they operate, then we finally got to tour the school itself. It's nothing more than a bunch of tin shacks smushed together with dirt floors, a chalkboard, and one lightbulb in the ceiling. The shacks are tiny, so even though there's only about 15 students per class, they are squashed next to each other on benches with no chance for movement or stretching out. The 5 of us visiting were able to squeeze into the front of the rooms in some of the classes, but a few were so full we had to stand outside and look in the "window". It looks bleak...but these kids are amazingly smart! They're basically fluent in English already, they sing wonderful, harmonized songs, their artwork is impressive, and you can tell they all desperately WANT to be there. As a part of the school, they also get to participate in sports when classes are over, which is what takes up the rest of the day for them. I was very very impressed by the school's organization.
After seeing the school, Kasamba took us around to see where people live. The conditions in Mathare are absolutley disgusting and inhuman. The shacks are all made of tin, which gets hot in the sun and cold at night. They cannot keep bugs or animals out of the homes. Their are no floors, just the muddy ground. Many places have no form of lighting. People cannot keep themselves or their families clean in such conditions. As we walked around, children mobbed us screaming "howareyou! howareyou! imfine! imfine!" and many of them were filthy and had sores on them. They were also all tiny...malnutrition really affects them. The adults vary in how they act and appear. Some of them work very very hard to keep their families alive, so they try to keep themselves clean, they are sober and intelligent and kind. But a lot of people, particularly men, succumb to alcoholism and drugs. There were tons of drunks lying around in filth, some who would sit up and yell at us as we walked by. The worst of them are those who drink changaa. I think I mentioned this before, but changaa is a locally made alcohol that can be fatal if drunk. It's called "illicit brew" because the government forbids making it. But addiction makes people do horrible things, so it's still made and sold and people have gone insane from drinking all those dangerous chemicals. At one point, a lady came up behind me and started petting my braids. My hair is so thick right now that I actually couldn't feel her doing it, so Aubrey had to nudge me and say "turn around". When I did, there was a small lady with red eyes staring at me. She started talking in Kiswahili, but her words were so slurred I couldn't understand her. Kasamba said she wanted to sell me changaa for 10 shillings a cup. Then he told me that the reason she was so strange and loopy was because she drinks the changaa a lot and it has completely fried her brain. I politely declined, but she didn't leave us alone until we left. As we walked away, we saw her standing in the middle of the soccer field, trying to sell changaa to the girls practicing.
Speaking of changaa, we also got a chance to glimpse how it is made. There is a small stream that runs through the outskirts of the slum, and guys collect this water in huge, black barrells; they add the various chemicals that give it it's punch, and then they boil the mixture in the barrells over open fires by the river. Walking through the slum, we saw smoke rising from the river, and Kasamba took us to a steel fence on top of a wall enclosing the river where we took turns leaning as far out as we could to see them making the illicit brew. We had to be careful because, since making it is illegal, the guys who do it don't want outsiders watching them. And I think they can be dangerous if you're caught. So we got to see it for only a few seconds before we had to come back and head out.
The roads, if they can be called that, through the slum are the most disgusting and horrifying part. Raw sewage flows down them, full of human waste, trash, etc. There are no sewers so the waste has nowhere to go. And the ground is littered with trash. You can't even see the mud underneath all the plastic bags and paper bits covering the ground. I'm pretty sure I saw used condoms among the filth. It was disgusting...particularly because I was in sandals. I had to be extra careful where I put my feet.
But among all these horrifying conditions are some truly amazing people. I know it seems like no one does anything productive in these places because of all the drunks and crazies I described...but I'd say for the most part people are just desperately trying to stay alive. They want their kids to go to school and have a chance at a future and they work so hard to achieve this. The kids who were running around after us may have been dirty and under-nourished, but they were still bright and cheery and excited for the most part. The highlight of my day was when a tiny boy, probably no more than 2 years old, ran as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him into my legs and wrapped me in a biiiiiig hug. He was smiling soo big and looked so happy. He was one of the ones who had sores on his body and his nose was running so much that I got a nice big snot stain on my pants...but it didn't matter. He was the cutest kid I have EVER seen and I wanted to just scoop him up and take him home. Can you guys even imagine an American kid having such an amazing attitude if he had to live in a situation even HALF as bad as this kid does? This little boy has nothing...but he is happier than most of the people I know in America. And then there's people like the principal and vice-principal of the school we saw, and Kasamba and his friends. They work hard so that the kids of Mathare can have better lives. It's people like them that will save hundreds and thousands. If only the government would take a similar stance on the extreme poverty that exists just in their backyards. Mathare is just a couple miles away from the high-end hotels and highrises of downtown Nairobi. Even the cheapest possible waste management system would make such a huge difference in the living conditions there. And such a system could reduce the burden of disease these people face. I'd also like to see the conditions of the football field improved. Playing football is such a highlight for the kids, but most of them have to play in just sandals or even barefoot because they cannot afford sneakers...much less afford cleats! And the field is not a field; it's a rectangular area of mud with trash and broken glass throughout it. And it's not flat, so the ball goes every which way when it's kicked. They have goals, but no nets, and all the practice jerseys are the same color, so people just have to memorize which side they're playing for. And the ball looks as if its on its last legs. Donations of a new ball, new practice jerseys, and basic sneakers would make such a huge difference.
Anyway, that was our afternoon excursion to Mathare. I definitely plan to go back and volunteer if I can.
Yesterday was another Friday holiday for us, so I decided to go and visit a Maasai compound. One of our program managers, Simon, is Maasai and he took us to his home for the day to visit his family. He comes from an area just an hour or so outside of Nairobi. His home is in the Rift Valley, near a town called Ngong. We met him at this big mall in Nairobi called Nakumatt Junction, then caught a bus to Ngong town. From Ngong, we got tuktuks that took us halfway along the road to the Rift Valley. Then we disembarked and started making the walk down the edge of the rift valley into Maasailand. I took a video during the walk which I will attempt to post just as soon as I can charge my camera (I woke up this morning to discover we had no electricity again, so I couldn't charge the battery). After walking through completely deserted land and passing a few cows and donkeys, we found a small compound that belongs to Simon's family. It consists of 2 larger homes and 2 small huts for cooking. They have some livestock that were out grazing, so the enclosures were empty. The only man who still lives there is Simon's father. The Maasai are polygymous, so he has several wives. I believe they numbered 4. And because there are so many wives, Simon has 15 brothers and sisters who all have lots of children of their own. Most of them don't live in the compound anymore, but remaining were the 4 wives and a few of their kids. The youngest wife is 20 I believe. She has a tiny new baby...Simon's youngest sibling. Simon himself is 26, so his 3rd mother is younger than him! And his baby brother is younger than Simon's own daughter, Bethany, who just turned 2. The women were very sweet and welcoming to us. We numbered 7 and they had prepared for us a fantastic lunch of rice, potatoes, cabbage, chapati and chicken. After eating, we hung out in the compound for a while and the ladies brought out all the jewelry they make and sell. It's all these gorgeous, beaded necklaces, earrings, bracelets and decorations. Seeing as I hadn't bought very much yet and I really wanted some jewelry, I went a little nuts. But it was okay because Simon was with us and we got incredibly fair prices. I bought 5 bracelets, 3 necklaces and some earrings for 2000 shillings (or about $30ish). The Maasai women wear lots of jewelry at once, so they were pleased when I put on everything I was buying at the same time. With my hair in these braids and all the jewelry, it actually looked pretty cool! =P
After our shopping frenzy, Simon took us to see another compound where they still have the traditional Maasai huts. They're tiny and dark and hot and I can understand why they've switched to houses with a bit more room and more light. Then we walked to the local dam where all the water for the area is supplied. It was built in 1982 when the road through the Rift Valley was being constructed. In exchange for allowing the contractors use the local dirt for building the road, the Maasai of the area receivied this well built dam. It's nothing fancy and not very big, but its lasts through the dry seasons and has worked well for over 25 years now. Such development is proof that very little effort can make a huge difference.
We headed home around 6 and it was dark when we finally reached Nairobi again. My brother and his friends picked up me and Shalinda and drove us home so we wouldn't have to take a bus in the dark. Then I just took it easy, visited Aubrey for a bit before she left for Malindi (everyone in my area went to Malindi on the coast this weekend. I didn't go because in 2 weeks I'll be in Mombasa anyway...so why spend the money?). So I'm going to just take it easy, not go out, and get some work done. I have a couple projects and papers to do in the next 2 weeks before I leave, so that will be taking up a fair amount of my time from now on. But next weekend I'll be heading to Naivasha to go camping with a bunch of friends, so that should be really fun.
I'll catch you all later! Miss you!
But even though the trip was a bust, the rest of the day wasn't. When we were at Steers, Andre called up his connection at Mathare, the poorest slum in Kenya. Kasamba showed up at our lunch and when we'd finished, he took a group of us to walk around Mathare. Kasamba has lived there his whole life, but he's managed to avoid all the pitfalls that face people growing up there. He works as a manager of a small program that sells locally made crafts in Kenya and abroad so the women have a way of supporting themselves. He also helps to manage the many football (soccer...not American) teams that the kids play for. Now don't get the wrong idea when I say private school. The Kenyan government recently made all public primary schools "free"...but I use that term lightly. The family still has to pay for food, uniforms, transportation, books, etc. It ends up costing a fair amount for that "free" education. But families still want their kids to be educated, so they send as many of the kids as they can, usually the boys, and as a result the public schools are crammed full of kids with not enough teachers. Some schools have one teacher for every 50-100 students. Mathare has a few of those kinds of public schools, but they are really not effective. The one privated school, which we saw, is a much more efficient use of time and money. First off, the families only pay a tiny stipend, and only if they can afford it. There are lots of orphans attending the school who obviously can't pay for themselves, so the school and other families find a way to pay their fees. And this small fee pays for uniforms, books, a daily lunch, AND the kids are occupied from 7am til 6pm everyday, which keeps them out of trouble. Public schools only supervise their kids til 3pm. When we went to see the school, we first were shown some of the locally made crafts that the women of Mathare make and sell with Kasamba's help, both here in Kenya and in America. They make hand-woven purses & bags that are so so beautiful, hand-made batiks, and other small wooden crafts. I didn't buy anything at the time, but I definitely will in the future. Anna, Sara and Jesse...we're decorating our apartment with this stuff!!
Then we met the principal and vice-principal of the school. They talked to us for a while about how they operate, then we finally got to tour the school itself. It's nothing more than a bunch of tin shacks smushed together with dirt floors, a chalkboard, and one lightbulb in the ceiling. The shacks are tiny, so even though there's only about 15 students per class, they are squashed next to each other on benches with no chance for movement or stretching out. The 5 of us visiting were able to squeeze into the front of the rooms in some of the classes, but a few were so full we had to stand outside and look in the "window". It looks bleak...but these kids are amazingly smart! They're basically fluent in English already, they sing wonderful, harmonized songs, their artwork is impressive, and you can tell they all desperately WANT to be there. As a part of the school, they also get to participate in sports when classes are over, which is what takes up the rest of the day for them. I was very very impressed by the school's organization.
After seeing the school, Kasamba took us around to see where people live. The conditions in Mathare are absolutley disgusting and inhuman. The shacks are all made of tin, which gets hot in the sun and cold at night. They cannot keep bugs or animals out of the homes. Their are no floors, just the muddy ground. Many places have no form of lighting. People cannot keep themselves or their families clean in such conditions. As we walked around, children mobbed us screaming "howareyou! howareyou! imfine! imfine!" and many of them were filthy and had sores on them. They were also all tiny...malnutrition really affects them. The adults vary in how they act and appear. Some of them work very very hard to keep their families alive, so they try to keep themselves clean, they are sober and intelligent and kind. But a lot of people, particularly men, succumb to alcoholism and drugs. There were tons of drunks lying around in filth, some who would sit up and yell at us as we walked by. The worst of them are those who drink changaa. I think I mentioned this before, but changaa is a locally made alcohol that can be fatal if drunk. It's called "illicit brew" because the government forbids making it. But addiction makes people do horrible things, so it's still made and sold and people have gone insane from drinking all those dangerous chemicals. At one point, a lady came up behind me and started petting my braids. My hair is so thick right now that I actually couldn't feel her doing it, so Aubrey had to nudge me and say "turn around". When I did, there was a small lady with red eyes staring at me. She started talking in Kiswahili, but her words were so slurred I couldn't understand her. Kasamba said she wanted to sell me changaa for 10 shillings a cup. Then he told me that the reason she was so strange and loopy was because she drinks the changaa a lot and it has completely fried her brain. I politely declined, but she didn't leave us alone until we left. As we walked away, we saw her standing in the middle of the soccer field, trying to sell changaa to the girls practicing.
Speaking of changaa, we also got a chance to glimpse how it is made. There is a small stream that runs through the outskirts of the slum, and guys collect this water in huge, black barrells; they add the various chemicals that give it it's punch, and then they boil the mixture in the barrells over open fires by the river. Walking through the slum, we saw smoke rising from the river, and Kasamba took us to a steel fence on top of a wall enclosing the river where we took turns leaning as far out as we could to see them making the illicit brew. We had to be careful because, since making it is illegal, the guys who do it don't want outsiders watching them. And I think they can be dangerous if you're caught. So we got to see it for only a few seconds before we had to come back and head out.
The roads, if they can be called that, through the slum are the most disgusting and horrifying part. Raw sewage flows down them, full of human waste, trash, etc. There are no sewers so the waste has nowhere to go. And the ground is littered with trash. You can't even see the mud underneath all the plastic bags and paper bits covering the ground. I'm pretty sure I saw used condoms among the filth. It was disgusting...particularly because I was in sandals. I had to be extra careful where I put my feet.
But among all these horrifying conditions are some truly amazing people. I know it seems like no one does anything productive in these places because of all the drunks and crazies I described...but I'd say for the most part people are just desperately trying to stay alive. They want their kids to go to school and have a chance at a future and they work so hard to achieve this. The kids who were running around after us may have been dirty and under-nourished, but they were still bright and cheery and excited for the most part. The highlight of my day was when a tiny boy, probably no more than 2 years old, ran as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him into my legs and wrapped me in a biiiiiig hug. He was smiling soo big and looked so happy. He was one of the ones who had sores on his body and his nose was running so much that I got a nice big snot stain on my pants...but it didn't matter. He was the cutest kid I have EVER seen and I wanted to just scoop him up and take him home. Can you guys even imagine an American kid having such an amazing attitude if he had to live in a situation even HALF as bad as this kid does? This little boy has nothing...but he is happier than most of the people I know in America. And then there's people like the principal and vice-principal of the school we saw, and Kasamba and his friends. They work hard so that the kids of Mathare can have better lives. It's people like them that will save hundreds and thousands. If only the government would take a similar stance on the extreme poverty that exists just in their backyards. Mathare is just a couple miles away from the high-end hotels and highrises of downtown Nairobi. Even the cheapest possible waste management system would make such a huge difference in the living conditions there. And such a system could reduce the burden of disease these people face. I'd also like to see the conditions of the football field improved. Playing football is such a highlight for the kids, but most of them have to play in just sandals or even barefoot because they cannot afford sneakers...much less afford cleats! And the field is not a field; it's a rectangular area of mud with trash and broken glass throughout it. And it's not flat, so the ball goes every which way when it's kicked. They have goals, but no nets, and all the practice jerseys are the same color, so people just have to memorize which side they're playing for. And the ball looks as if its on its last legs. Donations of a new ball, new practice jerseys, and basic sneakers would make such a huge difference.
Anyway, that was our afternoon excursion to Mathare. I definitely plan to go back and volunteer if I can.
Yesterday was another Friday holiday for us, so I decided to go and visit a Maasai compound. One of our program managers, Simon, is Maasai and he took us to his home for the day to visit his family. He comes from an area just an hour or so outside of Nairobi. His home is in the Rift Valley, near a town called Ngong. We met him at this big mall in Nairobi called Nakumatt Junction, then caught a bus to Ngong town. From Ngong, we got tuktuks that took us halfway along the road to the Rift Valley. Then we disembarked and started making the walk down the edge of the rift valley into Maasailand. I took a video during the walk which I will attempt to post just as soon as I can charge my camera (I woke up this morning to discover we had no electricity again, so I couldn't charge the battery). After walking through completely deserted land and passing a few cows and donkeys, we found a small compound that belongs to Simon's family. It consists of 2 larger homes and 2 small huts for cooking. They have some livestock that were out grazing, so the enclosures were empty. The only man who still lives there is Simon's father. The Maasai are polygymous, so he has several wives. I believe they numbered 4. And because there are so many wives, Simon has 15 brothers and sisters who all have lots of children of their own. Most of them don't live in the compound anymore, but remaining were the 4 wives and a few of their kids. The youngest wife is 20 I believe. She has a tiny new baby...Simon's youngest sibling. Simon himself is 26, so his 3rd mother is younger than him! And his baby brother is younger than Simon's own daughter, Bethany, who just turned 2. The women were very sweet and welcoming to us. We numbered 7 and they had prepared for us a fantastic lunch of rice, potatoes, cabbage, chapati and chicken. After eating, we hung out in the compound for a while and the ladies brought out all the jewelry they make and sell. It's all these gorgeous, beaded necklaces, earrings, bracelets and decorations. Seeing as I hadn't bought very much yet and I really wanted some jewelry, I went a little nuts. But it was okay because Simon was with us and we got incredibly fair prices. I bought 5 bracelets, 3 necklaces and some earrings for 2000 shillings (or about $30ish). The Maasai women wear lots of jewelry at once, so they were pleased when I put on everything I was buying at the same time. With my hair in these braids and all the jewelry, it actually looked pretty cool! =P
After our shopping frenzy, Simon took us to see another compound where they still have the traditional Maasai huts. They're tiny and dark and hot and I can understand why they've switched to houses with a bit more room and more light. Then we walked to the local dam where all the water for the area is supplied. It was built in 1982 when the road through the Rift Valley was being constructed. In exchange for allowing the contractors use the local dirt for building the road, the Maasai of the area receivied this well built dam. It's nothing fancy and not very big, but its lasts through the dry seasons and has worked well for over 25 years now. Such development is proof that very little effort can make a huge difference.
We headed home around 6 and it was dark when we finally reached Nairobi again. My brother and his friends picked up me and Shalinda and drove us home so we wouldn't have to take a bus in the dark. Then I just took it easy, visited Aubrey for a bit before she left for Malindi (everyone in my area went to Malindi on the coast this weekend. I didn't go because in 2 weeks I'll be in Mombasa anyway...so why spend the money?). So I'm going to just take it easy, not go out, and get some work done. I have a couple projects and papers to do in the next 2 weeks before I leave, so that will be taking up a fair amount of my time from now on. But next weekend I'll be heading to Naivasha to go camping with a bunch of friends, so that should be really fun.
I'll catch you all later! Miss you!
Monday, October 6, 2008
got mah hair did
So several interesting things occurred this past weekend. I'll start off with Friday, which I had planned as a quiet night in. Of course that never happens here. Aubrey had some friends visiting from Tanzania, and they were planning to hit up Carnivore for this huge reggae concert with Andre, Dave, and some others from the program. Yes, it would have been cool, but it was also 1200 shillings just to buy the ticket, so that's why I passed. Anyway, around 6 or 7 that night, I was chillin in my house when Aubrey came over and was like "okay, we're going out." I asked why she wasn't taking her friends to the concert anymore, and it turns out they didn't get tickets because Andre was in the hospital with TYPHOID. Yep, earlier that day he had toured one of the slums and got stuck there because of all the traffic downtown. They ate at a restaurant there (no I don't know why there was a restaurant in a slum) and he drank the water they served. Granted...he thought it was purified. But it definitely wasn't because 3 hours later he was hallucinating and vomiting with acute Typhoid. He spent all that day and night in Nairobi hospital. Poor guy. :( But anyway, Aubrey needed to take out her friends, so we met them back at Westlands, AND we managed to convince my brother, Toti, and his 2 friends Ben & Mohammad to come with us! It was a great night and though we had set a time limit for ourselves of 1am, we made it back closer to 4.
The next morning I got up at 9:30 so I could walk over to Kenyatta market (just across the road from me) to get my hair braided!! I went to the ladies my mom here uses and spent a confusing 10 minutes picking the size of the twists I wanted, and then what color extensions, etc...Then they sat me down in a plastic lawn chair and 4 of them went to work. I couldn't see what they were doing, but I think it was something like taking tiny tiny pieces of my hair, twisting the extensions into them so that they stuck, then twisting them about 1/3 of the way down. The extensions kept the twists in place. It took them 3 hours and 5 sets of extensions to finish sectioning off all my hair, then one of them put her foot on my armrest, exposed her thigh, and started rolling my twists along her thigh! I don't understand quite how it worked, but doing this twisted the remaining 2/3 lengths of my hair, and another hour later I was FINALLY done. Then they dipped the ends in hot water, tied it back, and sent me on my way. It didn't hurt much, except that they made me sit scooted down in that chair forEVER and I think the pressure on my head and chest gave me the random nosebleed that I got. But it was worth it. I LOVE IT. I must have like 400 loooong twists and you know, I kind of expected it to look a bit goofy, but I swear its probably the best hair style I've ever had. Now, I'm not allowed to get them wet, which means no washing my hair or scalp until I take them out. That will be interesting...but it sure cuts down on the amount of time it takes me to get ready!! And lets face it, no one on the program showers very much anyway. =P
That afternoon, Jesse & his friends from Cairo showed up!!! I was SOO FREAKIN EXCITED to see someone that I knew from Madison! I wanted to show them everything about my home and Nairobi, but unfortunately they were only here for that night. They had a 5am flight to catch back to Cairo Sunday morning. So we went out to Carnivore for dinner, which was RIDICULOUSLY expensive (2100 shillings just for dinner and a water!), but delicious. Carnivore is this touristy restaurant in Nairobi that serves all kinds of meat, even game meat. It's kind of like Samba in that they carry the meat around to your tables on spears and its all you can eat at a fixed price. I had chicken, turkey, pork, beef, ostrich, crocodile, and chicken livers (which are not good, for the record). The crocodile was definitely the tastiest. Very tender and salty. I kind of wish they served it more often, but its only for tourists. We talked and caught up over dinner, then taxi'd home to get ready for a night out. I won't bore you with the routine, which was going to Mad House (the prostitute hangout), then ditching it for Rezorus in Westlands again because Saturday nights at Mad House are apparently for prosties and old white men ONLY. Rezorus was typical and very fun, but then something kind of insane happened!! I was sitting at our table with my friend Joey, when all of a sudden we saw a guy at the table across from us get his flaming Sambuca shot. He apparently didn't know how to drink it because Joey and I watched as he poured the shot, flames and all, ALL OVER HIS FACE!!! His face was literally in flames and he started yelling and hitting himself and his friend tried to blow out the fire!! Oh my god, it was INSANE. It was probably only 30 seconds before he got the flames out and sat there just looking stunned, but it felt like forever. When we realized he was okay, Joey and I started cracking up at how stupid he was. But oh man, I will NEVER forget that. Then when I was leaving to get a taxi for everyone, some random guy by the door pinched my butt. Since I've been here, guys have said a lot of things to me, but no one has EVER gone so far as to touch me inappropriately like that. I whipped around and started cussing him out and shouting, but all he did was smile and move closer to me! So I shoved him as hard as I could and he stumbled backwards into the table. As I left, I saw his friends laughing at him. Serves him right. I thought going out in America was bad? In just over a month here, some guys tried to mug me and I had to assault a guy in a bar for touching my ass. At least I'm learning my own strength I guess. But that was definitely unpleasant.
I got everyone home and we tried not to fall asleep before their taxi came to take them to the airport. There was some drama getting the taxi, and I learned that I definitely cannot trust 2 of the guys I've been using. But thankfully Ken and my brother were around to help out and we got everyone to the airport eventually. I think they made it back okay! Jesse, if you read this before you contact me, please let me know you're safe in Cairo!
I slept in SUPER late on Sunday, then got some cheap Ethiopian at our fav restaurant Awash and chilled in my living room before going home and getting to bed early. It was a fun, crazy weekend and I'm still exhausted. But it was so good to see someone from Madison and reminded me just how much I'm missing all of you back home. I hope you're all well and it's not too cold yet! Write to me and let me know how you're all doing. We're going on a field trip tomorrow (yes, like back in elementary school) and then Wednesday I think I'm taking a tour of the slum Kibera. So I'll write about those things ASAP. I have also figured out where and how to call on Skype, so if anyone has it and wants to talk, let me know!
XOXO
The next morning I got up at 9:30 so I could walk over to Kenyatta market (just across the road from me) to get my hair braided!! I went to the ladies my mom here uses and spent a confusing 10 minutes picking the size of the twists I wanted, and then what color extensions, etc...Then they sat me down in a plastic lawn chair and 4 of them went to work. I couldn't see what they were doing, but I think it was something like taking tiny tiny pieces of my hair, twisting the extensions into them so that they stuck, then twisting them about 1/3 of the way down. The extensions kept the twists in place. It took them 3 hours and 5 sets of extensions to finish sectioning off all my hair, then one of them put her foot on my armrest, exposed her thigh, and started rolling my twists along her thigh! I don't understand quite how it worked, but doing this twisted the remaining 2/3 lengths of my hair, and another hour later I was FINALLY done. Then they dipped the ends in hot water, tied it back, and sent me on my way. It didn't hurt much, except that they made me sit scooted down in that chair forEVER and I think the pressure on my head and chest gave me the random nosebleed that I got. But it was worth it. I LOVE IT. I must have like 400 loooong twists and you know, I kind of expected it to look a bit goofy, but I swear its probably the best hair style I've ever had. Now, I'm not allowed to get them wet, which means no washing my hair or scalp until I take them out. That will be interesting...but it sure cuts down on the amount of time it takes me to get ready!! And lets face it, no one on the program showers very much anyway. =P
That afternoon, Jesse & his friends from Cairo showed up!!! I was SOO FREAKIN EXCITED to see someone that I knew from Madison! I wanted to show them everything about my home and Nairobi, but unfortunately they were only here for that night. They had a 5am flight to catch back to Cairo Sunday morning. So we went out to Carnivore for dinner, which was RIDICULOUSLY expensive (2100 shillings just for dinner and a water!), but delicious. Carnivore is this touristy restaurant in Nairobi that serves all kinds of meat, even game meat. It's kind of like Samba in that they carry the meat around to your tables on spears and its all you can eat at a fixed price. I had chicken, turkey, pork, beef, ostrich, crocodile, and chicken livers (which are not good, for the record). The crocodile was definitely the tastiest. Very tender and salty. I kind of wish they served it more often, but its only for tourists. We talked and caught up over dinner, then taxi'd home to get ready for a night out. I won't bore you with the routine, which was going to Mad House (the prostitute hangout), then ditching it for Rezorus in Westlands again because Saturday nights at Mad House are apparently for prosties and old white men ONLY. Rezorus was typical and very fun, but then something kind of insane happened!! I was sitting at our table with my friend Joey, when all of a sudden we saw a guy at the table across from us get his flaming Sambuca shot. He apparently didn't know how to drink it because Joey and I watched as he poured the shot, flames and all, ALL OVER HIS FACE!!! His face was literally in flames and he started yelling and hitting himself and his friend tried to blow out the fire!! Oh my god, it was INSANE. It was probably only 30 seconds before he got the flames out and sat there just looking stunned, but it felt like forever. When we realized he was okay, Joey and I started cracking up at how stupid he was. But oh man, I will NEVER forget that. Then when I was leaving to get a taxi for everyone, some random guy by the door pinched my butt. Since I've been here, guys have said a lot of things to me, but no one has EVER gone so far as to touch me inappropriately like that. I whipped around and started cussing him out and shouting, but all he did was smile and move closer to me! So I shoved him as hard as I could and he stumbled backwards into the table. As I left, I saw his friends laughing at him. Serves him right. I thought going out in America was bad? In just over a month here, some guys tried to mug me and I had to assault a guy in a bar for touching my ass. At least I'm learning my own strength I guess. But that was definitely unpleasant.
I got everyone home and we tried not to fall asleep before their taxi came to take them to the airport. There was some drama getting the taxi, and I learned that I definitely cannot trust 2 of the guys I've been using. But thankfully Ken and my brother were around to help out and we got everyone to the airport eventually. I think they made it back okay! Jesse, if you read this before you contact me, please let me know you're safe in Cairo!
I slept in SUPER late on Sunday, then got some cheap Ethiopian at our fav restaurant Awash and chilled in my living room before going home and getting to bed early. It was a fun, crazy weekend and I'm still exhausted. But it was so good to see someone from Madison and reminded me just how much I'm missing all of you back home. I hope you're all well and it's not too cold yet! Write to me and let me know how you're all doing. We're going on a field trip tomorrow (yes, like back in elementary school) and then Wednesday I think I'm taking a tour of the slum Kibera. So I'll write about those things ASAP. I have also figured out where and how to call on Skype, so if anyone has it and wants to talk, let me know!
XOXO
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
SIASA (politics)
Okay, now I can finish up my last post and add a few more details about the past 2 days. I think the only thing I left out was what happened when I met my brother, Kip's, friends in Kericho that night. Geoff and I had driven into Kericho town so I could 1) use the internet because JESSE IS COMING TO NAIROBI THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! and 2) buy groceries for the breakfast I made Sunday morning. We were also going to pick up Kip, who requested that we buy some Brandy and Coke for him at this sketchy little store down a dark alley. =P After doing these things, we went to get Kip......or so I thought. In fact, we went to MEET him and ended up staying at his bachelor pad on the porch, drinking Brandy and Tusker with him and his friends. I was fine with staying for a little bit, but it turned into a 3 hour event. His friends were nice and funny, but as the drinks kept pouring (I opted out after just one, FYI) they got very interested in talking about American girls and how much they all want to marry one. I got at least 2 proposals, and the fact that I am not looking to get married anytime in the near future seemed irrelevant to them!! When it became clear I wasn't going to walk down the aisle with any of them, they started asking about all the other girls on my program. I tried to divert them from this thought, but they couldn't get over the fact that there are 24 American girls living in Nairobi right now that they think they can have access to. Yeah right. I got pretty annoyed after dodging these kinds of inquiries for an hour, and the final straw was when one of them suggested a game: either dance by yourself for 2 minutes or take 2 shots of brandy. I was not going to do either one of those, but my efforts to leave (including kicking Geoff in the shins repeatedly, texting him in Swahili that I was going to kill him, etc...) weren't working. We ate ugali and french fries (an unpleasant combination with Tusker) and fiiiinnallllyyyy we left. At this point I had missed out on a delicious dinner back at the house AND I felt sick. So I just got back and went straight to bed. It was not my best night.
Anyway, here's what's been going on since. Monday was relatively uneventful. I had a full day of classes, which was brutal to sit through, then after school the Golf Course/Sunview crew all came over to my place to chill. We just hung out, got some fries and samosas at a nearby place called the Chips Hotel (hehe, I think it's funny), then later that night I hung out with my mom, her friend, and our neighbor Ken for a while. Wrote a few essays, then went to bed. Yesterday (Tuesday) was really fun. Another full day of classes, but the first 4 hours were Swahili and I actually enjoy that one. We ended up talking (in English, lol) about Kenyan politics and how insane Kibaki's wife, Lucy, is for the final hour. I've never really been too interested in politics. In the states, I simply find such discussions exhausting. And let's be honest, BUA did not teach me ANYTHING about US political history, so I don't have much info to go on. But here in Kenya, politics are ingrained with the culture because they are based on the inter-tribal relationships (or lack-thereof) that make up the basis of modern Kenyan society. It's so interesting to learn about the 45 year history of Kenya as an independent country. And the current political atmosphere is so charged since the conflict this past January. Everything seems to revolve around what Kibaki and Odinga are doing or not doing and how the new system is working out. Kenya only became a multi-party political system in 1991, and only since the 2007 elections have things started to take any kind of true democratic form. But it's only a whisper right now. In the US, we have the Democrats and the Republicans, the 2 major parties which are based on certain ideologies and platforms. But here, the 2 emerging political parties seem to have no platforms whatsoever. PNU (Party of National Unity-Kibaki's party) and ODM (Orange Democratic Movement-Odinga's) are merely fronts used during election time. But once in office, neither party seems to have a clear-cut plan or any particular agenda. There's no way to say that PNU believes in such and such, and ODM believes in the opposite. Kibaki is Kikuyu and Odinga is Luo, and all politics seem to follow these very clearly defined ethnic lines. It will be interesting to continue following Kenyan politics and see if they ever turn away from tribal affliations.
After classes, I went home and chilled for a while, then I got ready to go out again. Today is a holiday because it is the end of Ramadhan, so no school today! And last night a big group of us went out to a place called Club Vibro. It's a restaurant with live music and a dance floor that Lisa introduced us to. The drinks are SUPER cheap and the food is incredible. We ordered huge plates of chicken, spinach, ugali, fries, and tomatoes with onions and absolutely gorged ourselves on them. And a highlight of the meal was that we ate everything with our hands. :) I love not having to worry about utensils, just grabbing a handful of spinach and chicken then washing my hands off in a plastic bowl they carry around the table. It's very informal and fun. And the bathrooms are just SUCH a kick. Even when there are actual toilets, they often dont flush, and a bathroom attendent hands you a few pieces of toilet paper because there isn't any in the actual stalls. And since there was no running water in the bathroom sinks and the soap dispenser doesn't work, you just stick your hands straight into a bowl of liquid soap and the attendant pours some water over your hands from a plastic cup. Then you air dry cause there's no paper towels or working dryers. I think its funny, but other people are starting to get a little fed up with it. =P Then after dinner, we joined the 30 and 40-something Kenyans on the dance floor. A huge group of wazungu (white people) dancing to a local band really gave everyone a kick, and some of the girls in our group became VERY popular with a few elderly men. I was getting kind of annoyed by their advances and made that really clear, so they just pushed past me and did their "lord of the dance" routines with my friends instead! They were shaking their butts and backing it up and bumping hips like a bunch of teenage girls. It was actually funny, but I couldn't let on that I thought so because otherwise they'd probably start trying to dance with me. I focused instead on copying the choreography of the band, which was really fun. And anytime we all went back to sit down for a rest, this one particularly encouragable guy in a leather jacket who must've been about 50 years old would come and harrass us to get back on the floor! He'd spend at least 2 minutes pleading with us to come back, gesturing wildly and putting his arms around the boys at our table saying "come on, get your ladies to come back. bring your partners for one more dance!". He was ridiculous. By midnight, most everybody was tired and since several of them were staying over at my house because they were locked out of theirs, I left with them for home. I had kind of wanted to go out dancing at a younger location, but it was okay. While we waited outside for our taxis, some of our group was leaning up against a car. Then the owner of the car came out, a stately gentleman in a suit, and began harassing them about why they were "sitting" on his car? He was giving us such crap about it and looked super pissed, even though all they were doing was leaning against the trunk a little bit! Then my friend Joey jumped into the conversation. She's had 3 years of Swahili already and is one of the most advanced people in our group, so she spoke harshly to him in Swahili, saying "they aren't trying to make trouble. Do we have a problem, sir?" He said "oh, you speak Swahili?" "Yes, I do. Are we okay here??" "Oh...yeah...sure we're okay." And that was that. Joey: 1, Rude Kenyan: 0. He shut up and didn't give us anymore problems. And all the while, the security guards at the door of club were laughing at us and enjoying the show: 8 white kids vs. 1 Kenyan man.
We piled into a cab, 6 of us returning to Sunview/Golfcourse and the others headed to Jamhuri. Shalinda slept at my place, but seeing as it was only just past midnight when we got back, we ended up watching Prison Break Season 1 for the next 4 hours. My brother, Toti, has gotten me completely hooked on that show!!
Anyway, now I'm just enjoying a lazy day off. Some family and friends were over earlier and I chilled and played with this ADORABLE baby for a while. May or may not actually do anything. =P Then this Saturday, Jesse is coming into town for a day!!! I'm SO excited to see him and hear all about his Egyptian adventures. Everyone take care, and I'm sending lots of love and warm weather your way. XOXO!
Anyway, here's what's been going on since. Monday was relatively uneventful. I had a full day of classes, which was brutal to sit through, then after school the Golf Course/Sunview crew all came over to my place to chill. We just hung out, got some fries and samosas at a nearby place called the Chips Hotel (hehe, I think it's funny), then later that night I hung out with my mom, her friend, and our neighbor Ken for a while. Wrote a few essays, then went to bed. Yesterday (Tuesday) was really fun. Another full day of classes, but the first 4 hours were Swahili and I actually enjoy that one. We ended up talking (in English, lol) about Kenyan politics and how insane Kibaki's wife, Lucy, is for the final hour. I've never really been too interested in politics. In the states, I simply find such discussions exhausting. And let's be honest, BUA did not teach me ANYTHING about US political history, so I don't have much info to go on. But here in Kenya, politics are ingrained with the culture because they are based on the inter-tribal relationships (or lack-thereof) that make up the basis of modern Kenyan society. It's so interesting to learn about the 45 year history of Kenya as an independent country. And the current political atmosphere is so charged since the conflict this past January. Everything seems to revolve around what Kibaki and Odinga are doing or not doing and how the new system is working out. Kenya only became a multi-party political system in 1991, and only since the 2007 elections have things started to take any kind of true democratic form. But it's only a whisper right now. In the US, we have the Democrats and the Republicans, the 2 major parties which are based on certain ideologies and platforms. But here, the 2 emerging political parties seem to have no platforms whatsoever. PNU (Party of National Unity-Kibaki's party) and ODM (Orange Democratic Movement-Odinga's) are merely fronts used during election time. But once in office, neither party seems to have a clear-cut plan or any particular agenda. There's no way to say that PNU believes in such and such, and ODM believes in the opposite. Kibaki is Kikuyu and Odinga is Luo, and all politics seem to follow these very clearly defined ethnic lines. It will be interesting to continue following Kenyan politics and see if they ever turn away from tribal affliations.
After classes, I went home and chilled for a while, then I got ready to go out again. Today is a holiday because it is the end of Ramadhan, so no school today! And last night a big group of us went out to a place called Club Vibro. It's a restaurant with live music and a dance floor that Lisa introduced us to. The drinks are SUPER cheap and the food is incredible. We ordered huge plates of chicken, spinach, ugali, fries, and tomatoes with onions and absolutely gorged ourselves on them. And a highlight of the meal was that we ate everything with our hands. :) I love not having to worry about utensils, just grabbing a handful of spinach and chicken then washing my hands off in a plastic bowl they carry around the table. It's very informal and fun. And the bathrooms are just SUCH a kick. Even when there are actual toilets, they often dont flush, and a bathroom attendent hands you a few pieces of toilet paper because there isn't any in the actual stalls. And since there was no running water in the bathroom sinks and the soap dispenser doesn't work, you just stick your hands straight into a bowl of liquid soap and the attendant pours some water over your hands from a plastic cup. Then you air dry cause there's no paper towels or working dryers. I think its funny, but other people are starting to get a little fed up with it. =P Then after dinner, we joined the 30 and 40-something Kenyans on the dance floor. A huge group of wazungu (white people) dancing to a local band really gave everyone a kick, and some of the girls in our group became VERY popular with a few elderly men. I was getting kind of annoyed by their advances and made that really clear, so they just pushed past me and did their "lord of the dance" routines with my friends instead! They were shaking their butts and backing it up and bumping hips like a bunch of teenage girls. It was actually funny, but I couldn't let on that I thought so because otherwise they'd probably start trying to dance with me. I focused instead on copying the choreography of the band, which was really fun. And anytime we all went back to sit down for a rest, this one particularly encouragable guy in a leather jacket who must've been about 50 years old would come and harrass us to get back on the floor! He'd spend at least 2 minutes pleading with us to come back, gesturing wildly and putting his arms around the boys at our table saying "come on, get your ladies to come back. bring your partners for one more dance!". He was ridiculous. By midnight, most everybody was tired and since several of them were staying over at my house because they were locked out of theirs, I left with them for home. I had kind of wanted to go out dancing at a younger location, but it was okay. While we waited outside for our taxis, some of our group was leaning up against a car. Then the owner of the car came out, a stately gentleman in a suit, and began harassing them about why they were "sitting" on his car? He was giving us such crap about it and looked super pissed, even though all they were doing was leaning against the trunk a little bit! Then my friend Joey jumped into the conversation. She's had 3 years of Swahili already and is one of the most advanced people in our group, so she spoke harshly to him in Swahili, saying "they aren't trying to make trouble. Do we have a problem, sir?" He said "oh, you speak Swahili?" "Yes, I do. Are we okay here??" "Oh...yeah...sure we're okay." And that was that. Joey: 1, Rude Kenyan: 0. He shut up and didn't give us anymore problems. And all the while, the security guards at the door of club were laughing at us and enjoying the show: 8 white kids vs. 1 Kenyan man.
We piled into a cab, 6 of us returning to Sunview/Golfcourse and the others headed to Jamhuri. Shalinda slept at my place, but seeing as it was only just past midnight when we got back, we ended up watching Prison Break Season 1 for the next 4 hours. My brother, Toti, has gotten me completely hooked on that show!!
Anyway, now I'm just enjoying a lazy day off. Some family and friends were over earlier and I chilled and played with this ADORABLE baby for a while. May or may not actually do anything. =P Then this Saturday, Jesse is coming into town for a day!!! I'm SO excited to see him and hear all about his Egyptian adventures. Everyone take care, and I'm sending lots of love and warm weather your way. XOXO!
Monday, September 29, 2008
the rural home
What I had originally planned to be a quiet, productive long weekend at home quickly turned into everything but. I'll start with Thursday, when we were supposed to get out of classes early with the prospect of no school on Friday! I had every intention to spend some time at home, get some work done, go out with Lisa and crew that night, then hit up Carnivore (a restaurant nearby) for Luya night on Friday and cook and start my research papers on Saturday and Sunday. Yeah right, T.I.A. (This Is Africa), so nothing will ever go according to plan. I was reading my Kiswahili book outside on Thursday with the rest of my class when a girl in the intermediate class, Meghan, came outside to get some water from a vendor. She said she wasn't feeling too well. Then she turned deathly pale and fainted in the middle of our university parking lot. Some quick action found me, her and another girl named Becky in a cab on our way to Nairobi Hospital, where we proceeded to spend the next 4 1/2 hours getting her registered, into a room, x-rayed, tested, etc... The strange thing about Kenyan hospitals is that you have to pay for everything BEFORE you get it. Since she didn't have enough money, I ended up footing her bill. It wasn't a problem because of course she'll pay me back, but I wonder why it's set up that way? I mean, if you have an accident and end up in the hospital, what happens if you don't have enough money with you to pay for your treatment? It's insanely expensive by Kenyan standards, and if you don't have someone there with you who can get ahold of a credit card or cash, you're basically SOL. But other than the payment issue, the hospital was good and she was given excellent care. So that took up pretty much my entire day. Then I walked back home. It was really hot and sunny, so by the time I got back I was really dehydrated and not feeling too well. Then my host mom announced that, if I didn't have any other plans, we would go to her rural home in Kericho......leaving at 5am the next day. I was too tired to remember the other things I had in mind, so I agreed. I would have agreed anyway though. I wasn't going to miss out on seeing where she grew up and where much of her family still lives.
Later on Thursday evening, I walked down the road to a nearby compound to visit Ashley at her host mom's new shop. It was starting to get dark, but I figured we'd just meet up and leave. Wrong! We waited there for her mom and when she finally showed up, it was already dark outside. We had no choice but to walk back to our compound in the dark. Since there were three of us white girls AND Ashley's mom, I wasn't too worried. But then we had to pass through a group of young boys. One of them felt my thighs, I'm assuming he was looking for pockets to go through...and then another one tried to steal my baseball hat right off my head. We're told to just let muggers take what they want and not put up a fight because they could potentially have a knife or worse, but my automatic reaction was the grab my hat back and scream "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" at the boys. Then I pulled a basketball move and swung my elbows back and forth to deter them from coming close to me. It was just a gut reaction, probably not the smartest thing, but it worked. I kept my hat, I didn't have any pockets for them to steal from, and then a concerned older Kenyan man walking behind the boys yelled "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" and the boys scattered. I then walked as fast as I could back to my compound. Not the worst that could have happened, but definitely unsettling. And at least they didn't get my hat.
What with the dehydration and the early departure looming ahead of me, I decided to cancel my plans to go out and just hit the sack. And thank god I did. I woke up at 4:45 to get in a nice shower before heading into a land of no electricity or running water. Now, you may all be surprised to learn that I've become very accustomed to cockroaches here. But I mean the little, light brown ones that are barely a few centimeters long. As I was showering, I looked down to find the GODZILLA of cockroaches staring me down. It must've been at least 3 inches long and dark brown and definitely looked like it could eat me if it felt so inclined. I stamped my feet hard and yelled to try and scare it away...but this only encouraged it to enter the shower with me. It chased me around for a few seconds until I gave up, grabbed my towel and fled back upstairs where I climbed into bed and hoped it hadn't followed me.
We ended up leaving Nairobi at closer to 6am. I passed out in the front seat with my knees squished against the dashboard (we were in a car that, if possible, is actually SMALLER than the Prius). But we couldn't have gone very far before we hit a police checkpoint and got pulled over. I woke up to a mean-looking, old policeman staring at me through the window. He spoke harsh Swahili to the driver, Geoffrey, and to my mom in the backseat. Then he reached through my open window and started tugging on my seatbelt. I did my best to ignore him because I had no idea what his deal was. Turns out he was one of those corrupt officials we hear about so often, and after making up a bunch of laws we were supposedly breaking, he tried to get us to bribe him with 1000 shillings. This is only about $13 USD, but is quite a lot in Kenya. So finally, 500 shillings shorter, we got to drive off.
There are only 2 roads to Kericho from Nairobi. One goes through Nakuru (the town where we did our first week of orientation) and is a very nice, well paved road. The other goes through Narok and is still incomplete. For some reason I still dont understand, we took the Narok road. It was mostly unpaved, potholed, red dirt road and our little car had a very hard time of it. I would sleep for a few minutes in between every crater sized pothole we had to drive through. And the parts that are paved are only partially finished, so they are swarming with giant construction vehicles. What should have only taken 1 1/2 hours ended up taking 3 to get to the first middle sized town on the way. We stopped, got some awesome samosas and stretched out before continuing on to a small town near the Masai Mara called Bomet. My mom has a few relatives and tons of friends there, and we stopped for a quick meal with her niece and friends before continuing on. Then we stopped at a random little outpost on the road to pick up one of my mom's sisters. She squished in the back and, a couple hours later, we finally got ourselves to rural Kericho. And when I say rural, I mean REALLY rural. I had ignorantly pictured something similar to a midwestern farmhouse...only without electricity or running water. Kind of amish-like. I was dead wrong. Tons of family members live together in a small compound of about 5 mud huts with either tin roofs or thatched roofs. There's no doors, no windows, no water, no electricity, nothin. There were small forests all around, small patches of fields for the animals to graze on, and a few other huts dotting the surrounding hillsides. Its the most isolated place I have EVER been. The kids have seen so few white people, that they were actually afraid of me at first. And since they speak only the local language, no Swahili and no English, we had trouble communicating. But the adults were very kind and welcoming and the kids warmed up to me after a few hours. Just as we arrived, it started POURING, so we stayed inside the dark huts and I listened and tried to communicate with my mom's relatives. They have a few chairs and a small coffee table, but little other furniture. They made us ugali and beef stew, which was actually quite good considering how I don't like those things in Nairobi, and they got a kick out of me eating the ugali with my hands, like a Kenyan. And that's pretty much all we did until it got dark. They lit a few old-fashioned lanterns, we had dinner (the same thing plus greens) and I took some pictures and let the kids play with my camera. I had to go to the bathroom, but seeing as they were across a field, 2 of the kids grabbed a lantern and guided me there. The lantern was too big to take into the latrine with me, so I was in a tiny stall in pitch darkness with a hole in the floor that I couldn't see! I did the best I could to aim, not fall over, and be as fast as I could. When I got back to the house, everyone had a good laugh at me because they knew how difficult I had found it. Then I was so tired, I had to pass out. They made up a bed for me and I plopped into it half asleep already. It wasn't til I woke up the next morning that I realized they had given me one of the 2 beds they have, and that the rest of the family had slept on the floor inthe next room. I felt incredibly guilty, but later learned that guests will never be made to sleep on the floor, so there was nothing I could have done about it. I brushed my teeth next to a cow in the yard, had some chai with the family, then walked around taking pictures. I stumbled on some of the kids peeling potatoes for our lunch and sat down to help. They thought this was absolutely hilarious and had a great time watching me slowly cut the potatoes. I stopped only when a bunch of ants became too interested in my ankles and started biting.
We ate a hasty lunch (rice and fresh fresh chicken), then took off to get to Kericho town and visit my mom's in-laws there. Kericho is famous for its tea plantations, and as we drove along the road, I took a lot of pleasure in viewing the miles and miles of rich green tea. It's a nice change from the red dust I'm used to seeing everywhere we go. Not much happened at the in-laws. We had tea, chatted, I finally met my other brother Kip (who has been working in Kericho since I arrived). Some funny things happened that night when we hung out with Kip and his work friends, but I'll elaborate on that later. Pretty uneventful, and I was exhausted from all the driving and a nice sunburn I had gotten that morning. I went to sleep early.
The next morning (Sunday), I woke up and made breakfast for everyone with some food I had bought the night before in town. Kenyans supposedly don't like cheese, but I took a risk and made scrambled eggs with onions and cheddar. I think they actually liked it, if they weren't lying to me to be polite. Then we squished back into the car, this time with me in the back plus my mom's brother in law and his son, mom in the front and Geoffrey driving. Pretty uncomfortable, but there was nothing to do about it. So I alternated reading and sleeping. We took the road through Nakuru this time, so it was easy enough to sleep thank God. Next thing I know, we're stopping in a random town to buy fresh meat. The animal parts were hanging from hooks in the ceiling in a delapidated wooden shack, but this is apparently one of the best places to buy from and I enjoyed watching my mom's brother in law negotiate the price and cuts of meat he wanted. He also bought me a roasted corn from the side of the road, which I tried but seriously disliked. The maize here is nothing like the sweet yellow corn we get at home. It's starchy and flavor-less, if you ask me.
Another couple hours and I looked up to find our car surround by at least 15 men in white, butchers coats running alongside and yelling at us. We had pulled into an open-air "restaurant" where they sell fresh nyama choma (roasted meat) and these guys were all jostling to get us to come to their stall. I was soooo not in the mood to be harassed, so I sent them a mean look and they stayed away from me. We picked our meat and it was brought over to a plastic table for us to enjoy. We ate with our hands and oooh that meat was DELICIOUS! I stayed away from the intestines and other unknown organs, but the actual meat itself was as good as anything I've had. And the hundreds of flies that buzzed around, landing on us and the meat as we ate, only added to the authentic feel of the place. I loved it. :)
We made it back to Nairobi with no further distractions, and I tell you I have never been so relieved. The weekend was great and very eventful, but we spent a majority of our time in a car, with me getting sunburnt in the front seat or nauseous in the back. If we had stayed in just one of the places for the whole weekend, I think I would have been able to enjoy it more, but I'm not complaining. I had a taste of what most Kenyans live like outside of the city, I experienced things both good and bad, but always interesting, and I met a lot of wonderful people. Now, I'm tired and I have to go back home and entertain my friends. I'll post again soon.
Until next time! XOXO!
Later on Thursday evening, I walked down the road to a nearby compound to visit Ashley at her host mom's new shop. It was starting to get dark, but I figured we'd just meet up and leave. Wrong! We waited there for her mom and when she finally showed up, it was already dark outside. We had no choice but to walk back to our compound in the dark. Since there were three of us white girls AND Ashley's mom, I wasn't too worried. But then we had to pass through a group of young boys. One of them felt my thighs, I'm assuming he was looking for pockets to go through...and then another one tried to steal my baseball hat right off my head. We're told to just let muggers take what they want and not put up a fight because they could potentially have a knife or worse, but my automatic reaction was the grab my hat back and scream "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" at the boys. Then I pulled a basketball move and swung my elbows back and forth to deter them from coming close to me. It was just a gut reaction, probably not the smartest thing, but it worked. I kept my hat, I didn't have any pockets for them to steal from, and then a concerned older Kenyan man walking behind the boys yelled "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" and the boys scattered. I then walked as fast as I could back to my compound. Not the worst that could have happened, but definitely unsettling. And at least they didn't get my hat.
What with the dehydration and the early departure looming ahead of me, I decided to cancel my plans to go out and just hit the sack. And thank god I did. I woke up at 4:45 to get in a nice shower before heading into a land of no electricity or running water. Now, you may all be surprised to learn that I've become very accustomed to cockroaches here. But I mean the little, light brown ones that are barely a few centimeters long. As I was showering, I looked down to find the GODZILLA of cockroaches staring me down. It must've been at least 3 inches long and dark brown and definitely looked like it could eat me if it felt so inclined. I stamped my feet hard and yelled to try and scare it away...but this only encouraged it to enter the shower with me. It chased me around for a few seconds until I gave up, grabbed my towel and fled back upstairs where I climbed into bed and hoped it hadn't followed me.
We ended up leaving Nairobi at closer to 6am. I passed out in the front seat with my knees squished against the dashboard (we were in a car that, if possible, is actually SMALLER than the Prius). But we couldn't have gone very far before we hit a police checkpoint and got pulled over. I woke up to a mean-looking, old policeman staring at me through the window. He spoke harsh Swahili to the driver, Geoffrey, and to my mom in the backseat. Then he reached through my open window and started tugging on my seatbelt. I did my best to ignore him because I had no idea what his deal was. Turns out he was one of those corrupt officials we hear about so often, and after making up a bunch of laws we were supposedly breaking, he tried to get us to bribe him with 1000 shillings. This is only about $13 USD, but is quite a lot in Kenya. So finally, 500 shillings shorter, we got to drive off.
There are only 2 roads to Kericho from Nairobi. One goes through Nakuru (the town where we did our first week of orientation) and is a very nice, well paved road. The other goes through Narok and is still incomplete. For some reason I still dont understand, we took the Narok road. It was mostly unpaved, potholed, red dirt road and our little car had a very hard time of it. I would sleep for a few minutes in between every crater sized pothole we had to drive through. And the parts that are paved are only partially finished, so they are swarming with giant construction vehicles. What should have only taken 1 1/2 hours ended up taking 3 to get to the first middle sized town on the way. We stopped, got some awesome samosas and stretched out before continuing on to a small town near the Masai Mara called Bomet. My mom has a few relatives and tons of friends there, and we stopped for a quick meal with her niece and friends before continuing on. Then we stopped at a random little outpost on the road to pick up one of my mom's sisters. She squished in the back and, a couple hours later, we finally got ourselves to rural Kericho. And when I say rural, I mean REALLY rural. I had ignorantly pictured something similar to a midwestern farmhouse...only without electricity or running water. Kind of amish-like. I was dead wrong. Tons of family members live together in a small compound of about 5 mud huts with either tin roofs or thatched roofs. There's no doors, no windows, no water, no electricity, nothin. There were small forests all around, small patches of fields for the animals to graze on, and a few other huts dotting the surrounding hillsides. Its the most isolated place I have EVER been. The kids have seen so few white people, that they were actually afraid of me at first. And since they speak only the local language, no Swahili and no English, we had trouble communicating. But the adults were very kind and welcoming and the kids warmed up to me after a few hours. Just as we arrived, it started POURING, so we stayed inside the dark huts and I listened and tried to communicate with my mom's relatives. They have a few chairs and a small coffee table, but little other furniture. They made us ugali and beef stew, which was actually quite good considering how I don't like those things in Nairobi, and they got a kick out of me eating the ugali with my hands, like a Kenyan. And that's pretty much all we did until it got dark. They lit a few old-fashioned lanterns, we had dinner (the same thing plus greens) and I took some pictures and let the kids play with my camera. I had to go to the bathroom, but seeing as they were across a field, 2 of the kids grabbed a lantern and guided me there. The lantern was too big to take into the latrine with me, so I was in a tiny stall in pitch darkness with a hole in the floor that I couldn't see! I did the best I could to aim, not fall over, and be as fast as I could. When I got back to the house, everyone had a good laugh at me because they knew how difficult I had found it. Then I was so tired, I had to pass out. They made up a bed for me and I plopped into it half asleep already. It wasn't til I woke up the next morning that I realized they had given me one of the 2 beds they have, and that the rest of the family had slept on the floor inthe next room. I felt incredibly guilty, but later learned that guests will never be made to sleep on the floor, so there was nothing I could have done about it. I brushed my teeth next to a cow in the yard, had some chai with the family, then walked around taking pictures. I stumbled on some of the kids peeling potatoes for our lunch and sat down to help. They thought this was absolutely hilarious and had a great time watching me slowly cut the potatoes. I stopped only when a bunch of ants became too interested in my ankles and started biting.
We ate a hasty lunch (rice and fresh fresh chicken), then took off to get to Kericho town and visit my mom's in-laws there. Kericho is famous for its tea plantations, and as we drove along the road, I took a lot of pleasure in viewing the miles and miles of rich green tea. It's a nice change from the red dust I'm used to seeing everywhere we go. Not much happened at the in-laws. We had tea, chatted, I finally met my other brother Kip (who has been working in Kericho since I arrived). Some funny things happened that night when we hung out with Kip and his work friends, but I'll elaborate on that later. Pretty uneventful, and I was exhausted from all the driving and a nice sunburn I had gotten that morning. I went to sleep early.
The next morning (Sunday), I woke up and made breakfast for everyone with some food I had bought the night before in town. Kenyans supposedly don't like cheese, but I took a risk and made scrambled eggs with onions and cheddar. I think they actually liked it, if they weren't lying to me to be polite. Then we squished back into the car, this time with me in the back plus my mom's brother in law and his son, mom in the front and Geoffrey driving. Pretty uncomfortable, but there was nothing to do about it. So I alternated reading and sleeping. We took the road through Nakuru this time, so it was easy enough to sleep thank God. Next thing I know, we're stopping in a random town to buy fresh meat. The animal parts were hanging from hooks in the ceiling in a delapidated wooden shack, but this is apparently one of the best places to buy from and I enjoyed watching my mom's brother in law negotiate the price and cuts of meat he wanted. He also bought me a roasted corn from the side of the road, which I tried but seriously disliked. The maize here is nothing like the sweet yellow corn we get at home. It's starchy and flavor-less, if you ask me.
Another couple hours and I looked up to find our car surround by at least 15 men in white, butchers coats running alongside and yelling at us. We had pulled into an open-air "restaurant" where they sell fresh nyama choma (roasted meat) and these guys were all jostling to get us to come to their stall. I was soooo not in the mood to be harassed, so I sent them a mean look and they stayed away from me. We picked our meat and it was brought over to a plastic table for us to enjoy. We ate with our hands and oooh that meat was DELICIOUS! I stayed away from the intestines and other unknown organs, but the actual meat itself was as good as anything I've had. And the hundreds of flies that buzzed around, landing on us and the meat as we ate, only added to the authentic feel of the place. I loved it. :)
We made it back to Nairobi with no further distractions, and I tell you I have never been so relieved. The weekend was great and very eventful, but we spent a majority of our time in a car, with me getting sunburnt in the front seat or nauseous in the back. If we had stayed in just one of the places for the whole weekend, I think I would have been able to enjoy it more, but I'm not complaining. I had a taste of what most Kenyans live like outside of the city, I experienced things both good and bad, but always interesting, and I met a lot of wonderful people. Now, I'm tired and I have to go back home and entertain my friends. I'll post again soon.
Until next time! XOXO!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
time flies...
Wow, sorry for the delay in posts guys! It's been a crazy few days. Let's see here, the first thing I've been needing to post is that Janet, our househelp, is amazing. Remember how I made french toast for the fam a couple weeks ago? Well, she watched me making it, then a few days later made it for me for breakfast before school! It was SOO cute because she's never made it or heard of it before, so I could tell she was being really sweet. And it was delish. :)
Secondly, I have officially befriended pretty much every primary school-aged kid in my compound. Aubrey (who lives a few houses down) has 2 little siblings who we play with a lot, and basically all their friends and neighbors and a few randoms have discovered the 3 "wazungu" living in their compound and basically assault us every chance they get! This past week, I think I've probably spent 3 hours every day playing with at least 7 or 8 little kids. Thank god for Aubrey and Ashley. I could NOT handle them on my own. They're cute, but they must think that white people are indestructable, so they jump on us and rough house and beg to be carried at all times. And they think we're hilarious. The way I say "hi sweetie" cracks them up. And me, Aubrey and Ashley walk Aubrey's siblings to school every morning now, and the first few times they brought us into the classroom like show and tell!
I got sick for the first time a few days ago. I think it was my body finally reacting to all the pollution here, but I was exhausted and ended up with a low fever. I spent Monday in bed and then felt pretty much back to normal. But my cough I think will never go away here. The air in Nairobi is just so bad with all the exhaust from cars and trucks and the heat and the lack of sanitation in many places. I walk just about everywhere these days, and during the day it can get really bad. But late at night (9:30 or 10) the air has cleared and its nice and cool and the stars are out, so I've taken to walking around my compound with Aubrey and Ashley for 30 or 40 minutes every night just clearing my lungs and enjoying the quiet. I've also started running at that time--when I'm not too tired from walking all day! Yesterday we got out of classes early, and a group of us went to the MSID office, then went to Prestige (the mall), then to a used clothes market, then to the supermarket, then back home. All in all, we probably walked about 6 or 7 miles. And I got a thorn in my foot the other day, so I skipped the run last night. =P But seriously, aside from the pollution factor, this is the healthiest I've been in a long time. The amazing food and all the walking and the urge to go run or work out...well...it's working for me!! Lol. And yes, Shannon, I actually have a tan this time. With all the time I spend walking around in the sun, it would be ridiculous NOT to.
Speaking of tans, I finally found out today that my internship in Mombasa has been confirmed!! I will be working for Solidarity with Women in Distress (SOLWODI), which is the group that provides healthcare and education to commercial sex workers on the Kenyan coast. I'm SO freakin excited!! And even though Mombasa is going to be ridiculously hot and humic, I don't care, because it looks like one of the most beautiful places on earth. I can't wait for my internship to start so I can really get a feel for work here in Kenya. AND my Swahili will really improve there. In Nairobi people speak a lot of Sheng, but the coast is where the really good, pure Swahili is spoken...the kind I've been learning. So I expect to come back knowing it pretty well.
There is some sad news unfortunately. My host mom, who I absolutely LOVE, has to go to London in a few days to see a heart specialist. She has a pacemaker and its something she manages well, but she has to go and stay there for a whole month. So I won't see her again until I come back from my internship in December. She's so wonderful and is going to let me stay in her house with my brother and Janet until I leave, but I was devastated when I found out. And worried. I'm definitely not religious, but I pray for her and her wellbeing pretty much daily. And I'm so thankful I don't have to move to another homestay. I am so settled and comfortable here that it would really suck to have to switch now. Everyone keep her in your thoughts please and wish her the best. She should be back by the end of October.
I finally started taking some pictures here in Nairobi this past weekend, so I'm going to figure out how to get those up ASAP. They're mostly of a birthday party I went to on Sunday. I've become good friends with Simon, a director in my program, and his wife and daughter. They deliver milk to my house twice a week, and I always play with Bethany, who just turned 2 last week. I think I've mentioned her before. We're besties now. :) Anyway, I was invited to her birthday party, and it was SO much fun!! There must have been at least 30 people crammed into Simon's living room--mostly kids. We ate amaaaaazing food (cabbage and chapati are definitely my new favorites!) and the kids played and played and the parents talked. I was the only white person there, so of course the kids mobbed me, as usual. But you all know I love it. :) We played with a makeshift soccer ball made of a bunched up plastic bag and some string. I took lots of pictures of the kids and they stole my camera and completely wore it out playing with it. And eating the cake was so much fun! Simon is Maasai, and apparently it is tradition for the birthday girl/boy to feed a piece of cake to close family members and friends before doling it out to everyone. She had a great time feeding us all, and I got fed too! Lol. Then its also tradition for the kids to dab the frosting on their cheeks, nose and foreheads. Of course, I got dabbed as well, and then laughed at because the pink frosting was the same color as my skin and didn't show up on me!! I had the best time, but it definitely wore me out. I came home and absolutely collapsed.
I also went to my first Baptist church on Sunday with my bro and his friends. I wasn't feeling too good at that point, so I definitely fell asleep during the service. But to be honest, it wasn't as much fun as the Catholics! The sermon was 2 hours long and mostly about evangelizing and converting others and being "saved". I wasn't too keen on the message. At least at the Catholic service they talked more about being a good person and loving your fellow man...and the music was wayyy better at the Catholic service. But I'm glad I experienced it. I would still like to go to the Quaker church down the road and to a mosque. But I'll probably wait til I'm in Mombasa and living with a Muslim family before doing that. I'm not sure if I'm actually allowed to attend.
Oh, and on Friday night the usual crew checked out a new club in a ritzy part of town called Westlands. It's supposedly where all the white people live and party, and I definitely saw some of that, but the club we went to was called Rezorus and our Kenyan friend Lisa took us (the one who's taken us out before). So it was definitely an all Kenyan club. I LOVED it and danced til 4am with Ashley, Aubrey, Andre, Lisa, etc. I did check out the club across the street called Black Diamond, but that was definitely where all the Europeans and Americans gather, so I left pretty fast. It's so funny because my mom and Aubrey's mom both say the same thing when we go out. They say, "oh girls, you're going to go shake-shake!" So that's our new favorite phrase. On Monday night, when I was feeling better and after a nice walk around the compound, I got home to find my mom having a fashion show with 3 of her friends! One of them is a part-time dealer of used clothes, so she brought over a ton of her new finds and they made me model for them. It was really fun and my mom and I had a bit of a dance party in our outfits. They told me I "shake-shake" very well, like a Kenyan! :) I liked this one outfit so much that I bought it on the spot. So there's my first purchase here in Kenya. I got some white linen pants and a matching vest and this morning I wore the pants and Aubrey's little sister told me I look very smart. So that's a plus. I didn't find anything at that used clothes market we went to yesterday, but I would rather buy Kenyan clothes than used American ones, no matter how cheap they are! So I'll probably wait til I get to Mombasa to buy anything else. That's where they have all the good kangas and Swahili dresses. It's going to be fun!
Alrighty, I better get home because it's getting late. But I promise to write again soon. This coming weekend should be a fun one, so I'll report on the various happenings ASAP.
All my love!
Secondly, I have officially befriended pretty much every primary school-aged kid in my compound. Aubrey (who lives a few houses down) has 2 little siblings who we play with a lot, and basically all their friends and neighbors and a few randoms have discovered the 3 "wazungu" living in their compound and basically assault us every chance they get! This past week, I think I've probably spent 3 hours every day playing with at least 7 or 8 little kids. Thank god for Aubrey and Ashley. I could NOT handle them on my own. They're cute, but they must think that white people are indestructable, so they jump on us and rough house and beg to be carried at all times. And they think we're hilarious. The way I say "hi sweetie" cracks them up. And me, Aubrey and Ashley walk Aubrey's siblings to school every morning now, and the first few times they brought us into the classroom like show and tell!
I got sick for the first time a few days ago. I think it was my body finally reacting to all the pollution here, but I was exhausted and ended up with a low fever. I spent Monday in bed and then felt pretty much back to normal. But my cough I think will never go away here. The air in Nairobi is just so bad with all the exhaust from cars and trucks and the heat and the lack of sanitation in many places. I walk just about everywhere these days, and during the day it can get really bad. But late at night (9:30 or 10) the air has cleared and its nice and cool and the stars are out, so I've taken to walking around my compound with Aubrey and Ashley for 30 or 40 minutes every night just clearing my lungs and enjoying the quiet. I've also started running at that time--when I'm not too tired from walking all day! Yesterday we got out of classes early, and a group of us went to the MSID office, then went to Prestige (the mall), then to a used clothes market, then to the supermarket, then back home. All in all, we probably walked about 6 or 7 miles. And I got a thorn in my foot the other day, so I skipped the run last night. =P But seriously, aside from the pollution factor, this is the healthiest I've been in a long time. The amazing food and all the walking and the urge to go run or work out...well...it's working for me!! Lol. And yes, Shannon, I actually have a tan this time. With all the time I spend walking around in the sun, it would be ridiculous NOT to.
Speaking of tans, I finally found out today that my internship in Mombasa has been confirmed!! I will be working for Solidarity with Women in Distress (SOLWODI), which is the group that provides healthcare and education to commercial sex workers on the Kenyan coast. I'm SO freakin excited!! And even though Mombasa is going to be ridiculously hot and humic, I don't care, because it looks like one of the most beautiful places on earth. I can't wait for my internship to start so I can really get a feel for work here in Kenya. AND my Swahili will really improve there. In Nairobi people speak a lot of Sheng, but the coast is where the really good, pure Swahili is spoken...the kind I've been learning. So I expect to come back knowing it pretty well.
There is some sad news unfortunately. My host mom, who I absolutely LOVE, has to go to London in a few days to see a heart specialist. She has a pacemaker and its something she manages well, but she has to go and stay there for a whole month. So I won't see her again until I come back from my internship in December. She's so wonderful and is going to let me stay in her house with my brother and Janet until I leave, but I was devastated when I found out. And worried. I'm definitely not religious, but I pray for her and her wellbeing pretty much daily. And I'm so thankful I don't have to move to another homestay. I am so settled and comfortable here that it would really suck to have to switch now. Everyone keep her in your thoughts please and wish her the best. She should be back by the end of October.
I finally started taking some pictures here in Nairobi this past weekend, so I'm going to figure out how to get those up ASAP. They're mostly of a birthday party I went to on Sunday. I've become good friends with Simon, a director in my program, and his wife and daughter. They deliver milk to my house twice a week, and I always play with Bethany, who just turned 2 last week. I think I've mentioned her before. We're besties now. :) Anyway, I was invited to her birthday party, and it was SO much fun!! There must have been at least 30 people crammed into Simon's living room--mostly kids. We ate amaaaaazing food (cabbage and chapati are definitely my new favorites!) and the kids played and played and the parents talked. I was the only white person there, so of course the kids mobbed me, as usual. But you all know I love it. :) We played with a makeshift soccer ball made of a bunched up plastic bag and some string. I took lots of pictures of the kids and they stole my camera and completely wore it out playing with it. And eating the cake was so much fun! Simon is Maasai, and apparently it is tradition for the birthday girl/boy to feed a piece of cake to close family members and friends before doling it out to everyone. She had a great time feeding us all, and I got fed too! Lol. Then its also tradition for the kids to dab the frosting on their cheeks, nose and foreheads. Of course, I got dabbed as well, and then laughed at because the pink frosting was the same color as my skin and didn't show up on me!! I had the best time, but it definitely wore me out. I came home and absolutely collapsed.
I also went to my first Baptist church on Sunday with my bro and his friends. I wasn't feeling too good at that point, so I definitely fell asleep during the service. But to be honest, it wasn't as much fun as the Catholics! The sermon was 2 hours long and mostly about evangelizing and converting others and being "saved". I wasn't too keen on the message. At least at the Catholic service they talked more about being a good person and loving your fellow man...and the music was wayyy better at the Catholic service. But I'm glad I experienced it. I would still like to go to the Quaker church down the road and to a mosque. But I'll probably wait til I'm in Mombasa and living with a Muslim family before doing that. I'm not sure if I'm actually allowed to attend.
Oh, and on Friday night the usual crew checked out a new club in a ritzy part of town called Westlands. It's supposedly where all the white people live and party, and I definitely saw some of that, but the club we went to was called Rezorus and our Kenyan friend Lisa took us (the one who's taken us out before). So it was definitely an all Kenyan club. I LOVED it and danced til 4am with Ashley, Aubrey, Andre, Lisa, etc. I did check out the club across the street called Black Diamond, but that was definitely where all the Europeans and Americans gather, so I left pretty fast. It's so funny because my mom and Aubrey's mom both say the same thing when we go out. They say, "oh girls, you're going to go shake-shake!" So that's our new favorite phrase. On Monday night, when I was feeling better and after a nice walk around the compound, I got home to find my mom having a fashion show with 3 of her friends! One of them is a part-time dealer of used clothes, so she brought over a ton of her new finds and they made me model for them. It was really fun and my mom and I had a bit of a dance party in our outfits. They told me I "shake-shake" very well, like a Kenyan! :) I liked this one outfit so much that I bought it on the spot. So there's my first purchase here in Kenya. I got some white linen pants and a matching vest and this morning I wore the pants and Aubrey's little sister told me I look very smart. So that's a plus. I didn't find anything at that used clothes market we went to yesterday, but I would rather buy Kenyan clothes than used American ones, no matter how cheap they are! So I'll probably wait til I get to Mombasa to buy anything else. That's where they have all the good kangas and Swahili dresses. It's going to be fun!
Alrighty, I better get home because it's getting late. But I promise to write again soon. This coming weekend should be a fun one, so I'll report on the various happenings ASAP.
All my love!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
i got a booboo
So I just washed my underwear in a bucket outside and managed to scrape off most of the skin on my fingers. SWEET. On the up-side, I now have clean underwear. :) Though I can't say the same of my feet, which seem to be perpetually filthy no matter how much I shower. Oh well, nobody really cares here!!
I'm taking a break from my extensive Kiswahili homework, and I think having a cyber cafe directly in front of my house will prove to be very distracting in the coming weeks. Then again, I will need the distraction because reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o in Kiswahili is VERY challenging. My pace is about a page every 45 minutes. Oy vey.
I'm taking a break from my extensive Kiswahili homework, and I think having a cyber cafe directly in front of my house will prove to be very distracting in the coming weeks. Then again, I will need the distraction because reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o in Kiswahili is VERY challenging. My pace is about a page every 45 minutes. Oy vey.
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