Monday, December 29, 2008

On her way back...

My mom has left the country! She's home safely now, and telling me that she's going to rent the Lion King, probably to reminisce about our fun trip. It really was fun. After the Maasai Mara, we came back to Nairobi for just one night before taking the long bumpy bus ride to Kisumu. Once in Kisumu we stayed with my host family there for four nights. It was good for mom to see the other family that I live with, and now the family that I spend most of my time with. Our time in Kisumu was fairly relaxed, we had quiet mornings and early bed times.

One day however, we decided to take a day trip out to Kakamega Forest, the last chunk of an old tropical rainforest in Kenya. It's less than two hours away, you just have to get to Kisumu town to catch a matatu. Mom and I got out of the house and were on our way to the matatu stage, then we met up with David to come with us. We looked around for a matatu or a bus, but there weren't any. We were told to just sit and wait and that "soon" another would come to take us. An hour later, none were there. Turns out that in Kenya there is a fairly severe fuel shortage and that was holding up a number of vehicles. Lines were even stretching out of parking lots. (There was a government probe into this problem, but there were no good answers at the end of it. Not surprising.) Also, there was a police line somewhere in between Kisumu and Kakamega so no cars were willing to go near the police, preventing vehicles from traveling. So we asked around a bit more and finally we found a random guy who said that for 200Ksh each (<$3) he would just drive us there in a private vehicle. We excitedly accepted his offer, and hopped in the car. Then waited for fuel for about an hour.

Twenty minutes out of town and we're on a road that's falling apart, but it's quite beautiful. All of a sudden, smoke starts pouring out of the hood of the car, and we pull over. Something has sprung a leak, or broken, and we're not even halfway there. We all get out of the car (it's almost noon by now I think) and sit under some shade to see if there's any chance of it getting fixed. Eventuallly our driver tells us someone is coming to fix it... Half an hour later, no fixing, so we decide to just go to the lake and have a nice boat ride. Plan totally foiled in a typically Kenyan fashion. Even if we had gotten to Kakamega, we figured, with a police block and little fuel, we'd probably be stranded. Again, unsurprising.

From Kisumu we flew to Lamu, which was heavenly. I'm used to 6-18 hour bus rides on some of the worst roads imaginable. I'm used to the dust that gets all over you, and how hot it is in those buses in this tropical climate. But flying? About 2-3 hours to Lamu, barely any lines or waiting, and even little treats on the plane! I was so spoiled. Seeing the land that I've traveled on from a birds eye view was beautiful and quite moving, seeing all the little huts and herds of cattle.

Lamu was, of course, beautiful. We ate good food (okay mostly me, Mom had caught a stomach bug), drank some Tuskers, and got ridiculously tan on the beach. We went on two dhow rides (sailboat), one to a beach and another time to some ancient ruins. On our dhow ride picnic we had a huge slab of red snapper fish, mangoes, oranges, toast, and fresh chopped veggies. It was delicious. Our Christmas was lowkey, we just had a nice meal with dessert and lounged around our beautiful hotel. I couldn't have asked for more!

We came back to Nairobi a day before her flight to do some errands; she got some gifts and some things for the house. Now she's home, and I have a special treat! She will write a guest blog about her trip and her impressions of Kenya for me (haha Mom, now you're locked into it), and I'll post it here.

In the meantime, enjoy the new pictures on Flickr.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Quickly

Back in Nairobi for a few hour lay-over before flying to Lamu for a Merry and warm Christmas on the coast. We are safe and happy, while we hear tales of snow in the Midwest. Mom and I want to say that we miss and love everyone. Merry Christmas from the Equator.

Friday, December 19, 2008

She's here!

Everyone, worry not, my mother is here. She arrived about 12 hours later than originally planned. What happened was that her first British Airways flight was delayed by three hours, causing her to miss her second British Airways flight from London-->Nairobi. She had to run around the airport, from Virgin Airways to Kenya Airways, everyone trying to put her on a flight then telling her to go somewhere else. She did eventually get on a Kenya Airways flight that got her in Nairobi by 7am. When she arrived though, the luggage never appeared. Anyone who travels knows this nightmare, looking around the carousel over and over hoping that somehow you missed it, that of course it's coming. But in this case it didn't.

Good thing though, she had an extra set of clothes and some basic things she needed, and I have all the toiletries a lady could want here with me. We had to go on the safari without it, but when we got back the luggage was at our house in Nairobi, all in one piece, with nothing taken.

While in Nairobi we visited the giraffe center (enjoy pictures on Flickr!) and the Nairobi arboretum. Both were fun and we got to see some different parts of the city. My good friend David accompanied us. After that, we headed out for a safari in the Maasai Mara! It was absolutely amazing. We saw a cheetah family with cubs, lions eating a kill, herds of elephants, tons of huge giraffes, all sorts of gazelle and antelope, tons of beautiful birds... The list goes on and on. Mom said that it was like being in a Discovery Channel documentary.

I took a lot of pictures, but by some stupid move I erased them all... BUT WORRY NOT, viewers, there was a professional photographer with us who will send me all the pictures. Part of the reason all the pictures disappeared is that I got a new camera, and I was fiddling with it... Apparently I "formatted" the memory card......Which means all the pictures go bye-bye, and there's not even a confirmation prompt. Oh well.

Overall though, things have been really good. Mom hasn't been sick, her jetlag isn't too bad, and the baggage deal was quickly resolved. We've been safe and well fed. The next leg of our journey is to go to Kisumu by bus in just a couple of hours. There we'll visit a tropical rain forest, see the sunset over Lake Victoria, and meet the host family there.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Stronger than you think.

Something interesting is happening in Kenya right now. It all started with a bill in parliament that would require members of parliament (MP's) to pay taxes, like the rest of the population. MP's in Kenya make about as much money as an American senator, even though the standard of living is very different here. In other words, they're filthy rich. The average citizen is keenly aware of this, and not that happy about it either. So when the bill was introduced, it received a lot of news coverage and citizens were very in favor of it. Of course, in line with the extreme selfishness and corruption we've seen in every corner of Kenyan politics (ie voter fraud leading to post-election violence last year), the parliament voted the bill out, maintaining their tax-free life.

The citizens were pissed. They didn't riot, and they protested minimally, but the media covered it thoroughly. Newspapers and television channels blasted the MP's for their selfishness, especially when the money they would be taxed could go to, say, helping the millions of orphans in Kenya. Shortly after the drama had subsided, parliament put out a bill that would highly censor the media, and allow the government to control what they say. The reaction this time was different.

Journalists have flooded the streets with their lips literally taped shut, or their hands behind their back. Every news channel is featuring it as their main story, talking about how Parliament shouldn't pass such a bill, that it was ten steps back. The response was amazing. Foreign diplomats to Kenya and community leaders said their words of warning.

The bill was passed, but it hasn't been signed yet. General protests and protests specific to journalists have continued. Just yesterday was Jamhuri Day, which is Kenya's independence day from colonial rule. At the celebrations, as President Kibaki spoke, people who were protesting were being beat by the police (standard procedure here in Kenya, they show it on the news daily) and carried out kicking and screaming. It was shocking.

Kibaki has yet to sign the bill, which is the only hope right now. Kenya has a vibrant media, there are three major newspapers and three major news networks that have shows in Kiswahili and English. They are quite critical of the government and they do not hesitate to reveal the all too-often scandals. It would be a shame to lose one of the few checks on the Kenyan government. You can follow the story here: www.nation.co.ke

On a more personal note... My mom is coming tomorrow! I am very excited. The itinerary is: couple days in Nairobi, camping safari in the Maasai Mara, a few days in Kisumu, and a tropical Indian Ocean Christmas in Lamu. I couldn't ask for more!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Exams and Retreat

My exams are through! I think I really nailed them. I didn't study as much as I could have, mostly because I'm mostly on African time now, so I have gotten slow and possibly a bit lazy. But as I wrote my exams, I was feeling like I really knew what I was saying. So that's a weight off my shoulders. I have one of four papers done, but I'm working steadily and quite well.

During exam time we spent two nights in a nice guest house here in Nairobi. By American standards it was fairly nice, but by Kenyan standards it was pure luxury. I took a hot shower. I used a toilet. I ate vegetables. There weren't cockroaches. It was amazing!!! On a more serious note, it gave me a much needed break and time to think. I was able to reflect on the semester and realize how much I have already learned. I could be going home on Saturday with half the other kids, but I have chosen to stay. (Even though my Grandpa says I should come back now, and on bad days I agree.) I'm lucky enough to have the time and capacity to be here, to continue challenging myself and to continue learning.

I think I finally realized what a crazy thing I'm doing. It seems so day to day when you're here, but this is a big experience. It's exactly the kind of life I want, challenging, experiential, and international. This fits perfectly with what I want to do in the future, ideally working for the UN or a governmental organization doing something in the gender arena. This is exactly where I want to be right now in my education and career path, as well as personal development.

I thought about why I came in the first place, and how much I have fulfilled those goals. I came to scare myself, to gain career experience, to learn about a different culture, to see how women's issues differ in Africa, and of course to beef up my resume. So far I have done all of those things, and I will continue to next semester as well.

Next semester will be more in the field, which will continue to be challenging and rewarding. I won't have classes anymore, but I will have a large first-hand research project. The work I do next semester should be master's level; I'll have my own primary sources from the field and from the community I worked with (I'll post my proposal up when it's done in January). It will not only be an honors senior thesis but also something that maybe I could publish, or build off of on the future. I don't think I have ever been so excited about an academic paper before!

I'm feeling more optimistic and confident that I have in quite a while! Oh, and on Saturday night I went clubbing for the first time in Nairobi. It was a total blast and worth the lack of sleep I got. Gotta keep stepping out of the box I guess.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Nairobi!

I arrived safely in Nairobi for 4am this morning. The bus was supposed to arrive here at 5:30am, so I had to awkwardly wake up my Nairobi host family. They were of course very welcoming, making me tea in the middle of the night and preparing my bed for a short nap.

It feels strange to be back here. Nairobi is HUGE! There are lots of roads, lots of lights, lots of people. Especially white people. I saw more white people today than I have in the past month and a half. I think I'm having a little bit of culture shock. Today, I ate a bowl of fruit and a scone. WOW. I also charged my cellphone in my OWN HOUSE. I watched TV. If this is hard, going back to the United States will be crazy!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Flickr Photos Updated

World AIDS Day at Orongo!

Three Months

It's hard to believe I've been here for three months - it feels like so much longer, to be honest. I've adjusted to Kisumu very quickly. The city is small, so anything I do, someone sees and reports it to someone else. But Kisumu has almost everything I need, an Italian restaurant, a coffee shop with wireless internet, a large supermarket, even some pools! The only thing it really lacks is a decent clothing store, which would be handy, seeing as I have gained a solid 15 pounds. All the pants I brought with me no longer fit. But that is neither here nor there. I like the city and I'm comfortable here, as I should be since I still have another long semester ahead of me.

Weekends in Kisumu are especially satisfying. A group of Americans has been established, including current MSID students Andre, Ashley, Sarah, and Joey. We also spend time with Jen and Tosha, two past students who now have a sweet apartment here with their husband and financee, respectively. On Fridays after work, we usually go to the Sports Grounds, a big park, for beers to wind down the week. We are the stereotypically loud Americans, laughing and complaining about our work weeks. After that, we go for an all-you-can-eat Indian food buffet that I think I've mentioned before. It's such an awesome way to close up a week! Later on in the weekend we often eat pizza and swim somewhere. It's fun and relaxing, although I have to admit I burn up a lot of money.

My internship is finally taking direction, although with a bit of assertiveness from me. Before I wasn't given enough work, but I think next semester I will be completely in the field, doing home visits and supervising the community health workers' orphans and vulnerable children.

But with these troubles at the internship came my first real homesickness. When things get tough abroad (like when I was in Germany), I've always had an inclination to think "I wouldn't feel this bad at home!" (Not necessarily true.) That, of course, leads me to want to be at home. And when you're grumpy about one thing, other things seem worse. For example, constantly being called mzungu, anytime I walk anywhere, gets exhausting. It's not considered rude here though, and people mean no harm. But when I'm grumpy, I want everyone to just shut up. It can also be hard to live with a family that simply is not your own, in addition to losing a great deal of independence. But all temporary difficulties aside, I'm doing fairly well and I intend to finish out the year.

The month of December will be a stressful one but also a good one. I have exams and about 40 pages of writing due by December 12th, so I am and will be stressed about that until it's finished and over. But after that, my mom comes on the 14th until 28th. We're taking a simple tour of Kenya including a couple of days in Nairobi, a few here in Kisumu, a safari in one of Kenya's amazing national parks, and a time on the coast, relaxing and soaking up the Equator sun. She'll meet and stay with my host families and see my internship site. Not only will this be fun for me, but I also think it will be important that when I come home, someone understands on some level where I was, what I saw, and what I experienced during my time here in Kenya.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving

A lot of people have asked me how I celebrated Thanksgiving while in Kenya. The actual day was very uneventful... To be honest, it was a bad day at work for me, so I was grumpy a lot of the day. But after work, a friend and I went to watch the sun set at Hippo Point, which is a beautiful spot along the lake. On our way back, we ran into another friend of mine, Sarah, and we just stopped to chat. All of a sudden it began to rain, of course, so we ran into the nearest building. It was a member's only club, but we were soaked and knew we had to wait it out. Somehow Sarah and I convinced this fat old man to let us in for a beer, even though we weren't members and didn't want to pay the 200Ksh (~3$) to be a member. So, my thanksgiving dinner was half a liter of Tusker and a chocolate bar. But in the company of friends along the lake, I didn't mind.

However, on Saturday, I had a more proper celebration. Jen and Tasha, two Americans that are married/engaged to Kenyans, graciously hosted an elaborate dinner at their apartment. It was a large group of Americans, some Kenyans, and lots of food! There was turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, two kinds of stuffing, green bean casserole, squash... WOW. The spread was amazing and delicious. We indulged in some electronic-entertainment (aka watching a movie), then I went home to bed! All in all, not so bad.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Bugs, bugs, bugs.

I think most of you had heard the scorpion story (got bit in the leg in a Maasai village), and there's where the bugs truly began. Living in Kenya is not for the faint of heart. It's ridiculously hot, there are lions, it's fairly unsafe... And the insects. Cockroaches, giant beetles, giant wasps, scorpions, giant spiders, fire ants; everything the US has but bigger and far more frightening. Since the scorpion bite, I've had a few run-ins worth sharing. Often when I enter the bathroom (hole in the ground surrounded by tin), I am met by a giant cockroach. I don't know if it's the same one or different ones, but this guy is huge: two inches long or so. I've taken to opening the door with one finger. They don't really cause any harm, but I think it's the giant cockroaches that weird me out the most.

I also have a cockroach infestation in my laptop. I first discovered this when I was sitting in a coffee shop with my friend Andre. All of a sudden a little cockroach ran out on my keyboard and I wasn't too surprised because they're really all over. I told Andre, and then he looked up and saw that there were a bunch running out the back of my computer. Now whenever I use it and it gets heated up, a few run out. Not sure how I'll solve that...

The other infestation I have is an interesting type of wasp that keeps making it's home on my towels. When I don't use one for a few days, I come back and there's a little home for just one wasp made on the towel. It's like a mud cocoon. Often the wasp isn't in there, so I just peel off the mud house, or whatever it is, and put it in the laundry bin.

The flies are also out of control here, but you get used to it quickly. They are literally in swarms. When I sit in the office, there will be about five on me, ten on the desk, and countless others swarming around. At first you try to swat them away, but eventually you just let them crawl all over. The beetles that are bigger than 25 cent quarters don't even phase me anymore. I'm toughening up!

Friday, November 21, 2008

What exactly do you do at Orongo?

Good question! However, not an easy one to answer.

I have no normal schedule as to what I do, at least not yet. For the most part I shadow one of my supervisors, Moses. Examples of things I do:
  • Attend trainings on HIV/AIDS and TB
  • Attend trainings on the paperwork that US AID (United States Agency for International Development, the department that gives foreign aid) gives the women in the program
  • Run errands in town; bank, various government offices
  • Write reports on home visits
  • Visit people living positively with HIV/AIDS in their home, discuss nutrition, importance of adherence to ARVs, etc.
  • Help teach the orphans in the nursery school
Right now I am spending a lot of time just learning and observing. The organization works with a lot of families (over 1,000 orphans and vulnerable children alone), so I'm getting to know everyone so that they're familiar with me and that they trust me to some degree.

I'm hoping that in the future I can be doing home visits on my own. So far I am enjoying myself and I am learning a lot.

Monday, November 17, 2008

What happens when it rains in Kenya

Bright, sunny day. I go outside to wash my face and hands – after a day in this nearly intolerable heat, I feel unbearably sticky. I see, in the very near sky, black masses of clouds. I call to my family that we are going to get rain, at first they are skeptical because it is still so bright, but after all it is the season of short rains.

Within a few minutes, the sky darkens, the droplets begin. This begins a fast-paced and important process in a rural Kenyan household. The laundry on the line must be taken down, the animals corralled. The firewood covered, the buckets placed out for collection: rain here is a useful and needed natural resource.

The family amasses in the house, which includes some frightened chickens (which one will we eat this week?) and goats as well. The rain quickly escalates, and I venture outside to observe the action. I lean on the still warm side of our mud and concrete house. The walking paths fill up, and I know that tomorrow’s transport will be very difficult and that vehicles will not be able to pass.

Address Change

Now, you can send me mail at:
Stephanie S. Payne
c/o Moses Miruka
PO Box 4132-Kisumu-40100
Kenya

Please do!

Friday, November 14, 2008

A Typical Day in Kisumu, Kenya

6:30am: There's a rooster crowing and the sun is coming into my open air room. I hear pots and pans clanging as my host sisters prepare water over a fire for bathing and breakfast.

7am: I finally sit up in bed. My back usually hurts because Kenyan mattresses are often cheap, so they bend in the middle. When I actually get out of bed, I have to untuck my mosquito net - Kisumu has frighteningly high malaria rates. I go into the sitting room and greet my family:
"Good morning!" "Good morning to you!" "How was your night?" "Oh, mine was fine. How about yours?" "Very fine thank you."

7:15am: There is a bucket of heated water ready for me in the stall outside the house. I gather a khanga (printed cloth with African patterns and a Swahili proverb printed on the back) to use as a towel. I scrub off, although my feet never come clean from the "black cotton soil" that is present here. Back in the house I apply 100% deet and sunscreen each and every day, seeing as I live a few kilometers from the Equator - this is not the most forgiving climate.

7:45am: Breakfast. Banana stew, peanuts, or bread. Rarely anything else. Tea, of course.

8:30am: Caleb, my boda-boda driver, arrives. He can arrive anytime from 8:15-8:45 though because he doesn't have a phone or a clock of any sort. He doesn't know English and I don't know much Luo (yet) so our friendship, and our conversation, has hit a wall. I get on the back of his bike and we ride to work, which is farther out of town. I am, of course, greeted by call s of "mzungu!" and other various versions of hello.

9am: The office is supposed to open at 8 but in Kenya, time doesn't mean a whole lot. So if the office is locked, I go to the main house. Tea number two and possibly another margarine sandwich on cheap white bread. If I'm lucky there will be mandazi, which is deep-fried bread from scratch, sort of like a donut.

9:30am: Moses, my supervisor, arrives. We work (a whole other blog post on what I do and don't do at work).

2pm: Lunch! Finally! By this time I am usually starving. Same thing every day at work: ugali, kale, and often eggs. My co-workers have discovered that I can pray really well, so now I always pray for our food (I actually can't eat without praying now, it's become such an automatic reflex). A woman comes around with a bucket and a pitcher of water to wash our hands. No soap though, so I'm not sure how helpful it is.

5pm: The day of work is over and I call Duncan, another boda-boda driver. The same story as before: lots of greetings on the road, and lots of greetings in the house. If I get home quickly, I'll have two hours before it's totally dark. Usually I'll sit with my family, talk to Velma and Winnie, and watch the chickens and goats, and play with the dogs and cats. Easy entertainment.

7pm: It's dark so the mosquito army has invaded. Prime target, my ankles and feet. We tretreat inside to attempt to work by the light of parafin lamps. But it's dim and you've been sweating all day, so I get woozy quickly in the dark. Usually I'll help Winnie cook in the kitchen, which is another building next to the main house.

8:30pm: Dinner! The hand washing and praying commence again. The cooking in this house is good, but there is very little variety. The Menu:
Beans and Chapati
Beans and Rice
Ugali and Meat
Ugali and Fish
Ugali and Eggs

9pm: Everyone quickly heads to bed. By 9pm it is pitch black and I'm exhausted. I happily crawl into my dipped bed and thoroughly tuck in my mosquito net and get settled before I do it all again tomorrow.

Flickr Photos Updated

Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Naked in the Nile

What a wonderful weekend I had! Friday afternoon a group of seven of us headed out to Uganda to go white-water rafting on the Nile. I hope all you know what that is, because I'm tired of explaining it. Kenyans have no idea what rafting is, let alone "rapids," or "white water," or even "water fall." In general they stay away from that river and any type of excess adventure.

We had a great, and safe, time. Uganda is significantly less developed than Kenya, but far more lush over all. Everything is green and over-grown and incredibly beautiful. It's unlike any type of landscape in the US that I have seen so far.

We had an amazing dinner in Jinja on Friday night. It's always so nice to get a break from ugali and kale and have some American-leaning food. Saturday morning we had another amazing breakfast then headed out to the water. There was a big inflatable but very sturdy raft with seven of us Americans. Then of course there is a guide; someone who steers the boat and directs us on how to paddle, when to "GET DOWN!!!" etc. He was actually Australian and very cool. The first day there were about 8 rapids. It's pretty nerve-racking, because if you fall out, you're in for a swim. It's not necessarily unsafe to fall out, because the Nile has a lot of warm water but no rocks. But it's that warm water that will really get you. For instance:

On Silverback, the rapid with the greatest volume of water flowing through it in the world, we had to nail a waterfall perfectly in order to not flip the raft. The guide is yelling, "forward! forward!" and we're all trying to paddle together in order to nail it perfectly. All of a sudden we see the big drop we have to hit. And we hit it. Of course I close my eyes so I'm not really sure how we fall, but all of a sudden I'm in the water. I get pulled under for quite a while, and then I can feel the water spinning me in circles. I get up for a breath of air, and pulled down again. Slowly I get pulled out of the rapid and can get a few breaths of air until finally I'm back with the boat. I was the only one to fall out! I was fine and apparently I had a giant booger on my face.

The only downside to this was that I really didn't want to fall out for the rest of the trip. We had a relatively easy day, then stayed at The Haven, which was a sweet resort along the Nile. The view was gorgeous. We ate an amazing three-course dinner. That night one of the Americans got pretty sick though, so she had to go back the next day (maybe too much sun, maybe a stomach bug).

On the second day of rapids (Sunday), I had to really psych myself up for all the rapids and the knowledge that I might fall in again. But this time I decided to hang on for dear life and to keep my eyes open. When you're going through a rapid, you can see water crashing up in all directions. The raft goes nearly vertical, and you're thrown around. It's amazing when you can see what's going on - and the victory is so much sweeter when you know how crazy the rapid was and the fact that you're still hanging on!

I didn't fall again on the trip, but everyone else fell at least once except for Ashley. All in all it was amazing! I ate great food, I saw amazing scenery, and I kicked ass on the river. I didn't even get sunburnt.

And of course what you're probably wondering: why naked in the Nile? Skinny dipping, of course!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

I'm white.

The fact that I am usually the only white person I see all day is something worth discussing on this blog. I'm surprised I haven't gotten to that yet, how it feels to be white in a land where there are over 90% black people and then a few people from India.

In Nairobi, it wasn't so bad. I occasionally heard the call "mzungu!" but it was mostly children. Otherwise people didn't look at me any differently because I think they were used to seeing white folks. In Nairobi I was also able to go to places where there were loads of white people: nice restaurants, malls, coffee shops, etc. I could partake in American culture a bit and also spend time with other Americans. I could use slang and talk about the interesting parts of Kenyan culture.

Out in the field, it's a whole other story. I hear mzungu, or odiera (white person in Luo) constantly. Little kids literally chant "HOW AH YOO! HOW AH YOO!" as I walk or ride by. I am culturally expected to respond and ask them also how they are doing. But it's not just kids, it's also adults. It can be sexually harassing as well when it comes from men. It amounts to me constantly having to be on my guard, greeting people and positively representing white people and America.

Being white out here is also a double-edged sword. On one hand, people regard me as a special guest. They always run and get me a chair if I'm sitting on the ground. They always buy me a cold soda when I visit their home, and they make sure I'm comfortable. On the other hand, people can really wear you down. I get made fun of a lot, for the way I eat ugali, to the amount of food I eat, to the way I speak, to the way I dress - you get the idea. Most of the time I can laugh along with them, but it can be very exhausting at times as well.

One particularly frustrating thing is that any white person is just a white person, rather than a Swede, American, or Russian. I know that I am very different from someone from Russia: to start with, they speak a completely different language! But to a Kenyan, we're all the same. This leads to many people thinking I'm someone I'm not. To top it off, many people don't even know where the US is. I have been asked by professionals if the US is in North or South America more times than I can count! I have to be very patient when it comes to explaining where I am from. Sometimes I just want to blend in for once.

These are all problems that I can imagine any minority, including those in the United States, deal with on a daily basis: the feeling of being an outsider, everything you do being watched, the generalization of your heritage.. It's tough. Here in Kenya though it comes with the territory. It will be interesting to see if these things change after being in the same small community for six months.

Links and Questions

Hello readers! I have added another link to a fellow student's blog. Adam's is very interesting and one of my favorites.

Also, if anyone has any questions about how things are while I'm here, feel free to comment and ask - I'll address them in a blog next week. Maybe there is something obvious that I have failed to talk about!

Thanks and lots of love,
Steph

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Yes we can! Yes we can!

... Is what we chanted as I marched through the streets of Kisumu at 9am this morning.

I woke up this morning at 4am to find out that Pennsylvania had gone to Obama. Shortly after, he got Virginia and other key states. It was clear he would win! CNN annouced their projection that Obama had been elected President of the United States of America!!! We immediately starting celebrating.

We all called our families in the US and Nairobi, then yelled Obama from the window as we clapped and toasted. Then, we patiently watched McCain's gracious and respectful concession speech, and Obama's moving victory speech. Finally, the parade started!

We heard chanting and honking and music, so we ran out of the house in our pajamas. Most of us we grubby and nasty, but as quick as we could we got on the streets. We chanted, we danced. I probably hugged half the city. Kenyans and Americans walked hand in hand through the streets in victory. Kenyan's certainly see it as their victory; they said "we're going to the white house!" and even staged some mock voting events here in Kenya.

Tomorrow was declared a public holiday by President Kibaki, so no work for me! And there's another parade that we'll definitely join in on. Funny that I am celebrating more in Kenya then in the US for the American elections... Americans have got to learn to party!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Obama!!!

...Is what I often hear yelled in my direction as I make my way around the Kisumu area.

Today is the election, although I won't find out the results until tomorrow morning because Kenya is nine hours ahead of America. But it's a big day for Kenya too. Actually, if Obama loses, it won't be safe for me to be around here. I'll be on house arrest. Furthermore, I may be on house arrest anyway because the people are going to be SO EXCITED!

My plans for tonight? Slumber party at another American's house with satellite TV to watch the results as they roll in!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Mwalimu, update, and stereotypes!

First of all, a short update:

I love Kisumu! It's a small town with lots of fun things to do. On Friday night, a group of us went to an all-you-can-eat Indian food buffet for less than $7. It was SO amazing, way better than any Indian food I've ever had in the states. And there was even dessert. I ate so much I couldn't sleep at night. Today I also went swimming in a pool that was on the lake. You can't swim in the lake because of various diseases, which is why the pool was necessary. But really I'm having a lot of fun. I have met two other Americans who studied abroad here last year, but are now married/engaged to Kenyan men. They know the best ways to get around town and the most fun things to do. For the elections on Tuesday, I'll probably watch the results roll in with them.

Next weekend I'll be in Uganda to go white water rafting on the Nile! It's two days on the river and apparently it's pretty crazy. I'm going with a group that was recommended by generations of MSID students, so don't worry it's quite safe. I'm so excited: this was on my top three list of things I had to do while in Kenya. This will actually be the last of the three! (The other two were camping and then going to coast. They were quite achievable!)

I also wanted to inform people that women do really carry things on their head in Kenya. It's one of those stereotypes that you always think you only see in movies, but totally happens. Even my host mom carries firewood and bananas on her head. When I want to make the neighborhood laugh, I try to carry things too. Everyone totally loves it and thinks it's the weirdest thing they've ever seen.

And last little tidbit: There is a teacher who lives next door to us who always visits the family. I don't know his real name, because we only call him "mwalimu," which is teacher in Swahili. He comes and for hours he'll just ask me questions. Does it rain in America? Are there black people? Do you have charcoal? What's the climate like? Did you come by plane? What's the time difference? Do you cry when people die? And more... These are all actual questions I've gotten from him. Lots of people drill me about America, but mwalimu is the most thorough. I've really come to enjoy our conversations. He swears that he'll come to America to see me graduate from college! I try to explain to him that I only know about two states (MN and WI) and that I don't believe I think like most Americans. He enjoys my replies anyway. :)

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Two Months

Two months in country – I’ve never been away from the US for this long. Even at the University of Minnesota, I go home about every two months. I’m moving into uncharted territory!

A lot has happened this month: an amazing adventure to Lamu, the conclusion of classes in Nairobi, my move out to the field, and the beginning of a six-month internship. These are big changes, big moves. After all, the internship is the purpose of this program and it’s why I came to Kenya.

What can I say, so far so good. My family is amazing and I have connected with them faster than I could have imagined. The internship is picking up now, and I’m beginning to understand the structure of the very successful and innovative program. I think that I will do good work with this organization.

Working at Orongo, even for this short time, has shown me a completely different side of Kenya that is very sad. In this area of Kenya, about 30% of people are estimated to be infected with HIV/AIDS – a staggering number. You can imagine how many children this has orphaned, how many families and lives this has disrupted. The organization I work with serves both widows and orphans, wisely putting the orphans in the homes of the widows and providing them with education, support, and income-generating activities. They create homes and safe places where there were none before. This is an example of a technique that I did not know about before I came here – I’m learning a new side of social services that I believe only study abroad can give me.

For that matter, I’m learning all sort of things this month. I can now do laundry for about three hours with my host sister. I’m not so hot at washing yet, but I am a good rinser! I can rinse the sheets and curtains, which is harder than it sounds. I’m also beginning to learn how to cook traditionally: with firewood over three stones.

But don’t let these clever anecdotes fool you: it’s lonely out here in the field. Without my daily American companionship, I don’t really have anyone to talk to in-depth about my day. Kenyans in general tend to have, at least around me, very thin conversation, in that it doesn’t go much deeper than the surface. I miss deeper friendships. I’m sure I will develop them though, as I really like my host sisters, Winnie and Velma, as well as one of my supervisors at work, Moses. Of course I will see my American friends on the weekend for some much needed American slang and conversation regarding the crazy intricacies of rural Kenyan life. But this is why I came, to see how far I could push myself and what I can handle. So far so good.

In this next month, I hope to settle more into a routine. I want to improve at Kenyan cooking and in general learn more about the duties that keep this household running. Learning the Luo language is also high on my list: people barely use Swahili out here, and knowing Luo would be a sweet skill. I shouldn’t forget that I want to have a nice Thanksgiving celebration with my family. Of course, by the end of the month, it will almost be the end of the semester and I’ll have two short weeks until my Mom comes to visit from the US. If things get boring, it certainly won’t be for long.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Orongo Widows and Orphans Support Group

As the title suggests, I will be interning at Orongo Widows and Orphans. They even have a website! How rare this is for a Kenyan organization. These people are on their game! I think the website explains a lot... So I will write more at a later time.

I have arrived.

After a very long bus ride, I arrived in Kisumu. Kisumu is Kenya's third largest city, but once you get past Mombasa and Nairobi, the towns become very small quite quickly. Kisumu is located on Lake Victoria, which supplies fish to the area. Unfortunately, you can't swim in it due to various diseases...

It's always very frightening to meet a new host family. Every time it has happened, I feel sooo scared and like I'm about to cry. I never actually cry, but I'm always on the verge. It was this way again. But this host family is so nice. Right away they showed me around the house and the surrounding area, which is something my Nairobi family never did. In Nairobi, I was left to figure out the way things worked, which took about a month. They also asked me right off the bat what I did and didn't eat (no liver, no intestines, prefer vegetables to meat) - again, something that has never happened in any host family I've stayed with. This relieved a lot of stress for me during meal times, knowing that I won't refuse anything. My new mama told me that if I didn't like something she wouldn't be offended and that she would even cook me something else. So nice!

The family is BIG, so let's do introductions. There is my mama, Herine. She is a nurse, although she is taking amonth or so of leave. She is strong and very direct, which I appreciate. She is married, but he lives and works somewhere else so I haven't met him yet. She has in total six children, four of which are at home. The oldest is Velma, who is 22. She is an occupational therapist and very nice! I think we will be good friends. The second is Winnie, who is 18. She is waiting to go to college (arranging it usually takes quite a bit of time here) so now she just works in the home. Then there is Alan, who is 14. He is in school pretty much all the time. The youngest is Fidel, who is 11. He's very playful and I think with time we will develop a friendship.

Now there is another family entirely of animals. Four sheep, a goat family with twins, countless chickens, two full grown dogs, a puppy, and a kitten. The kitten is my favorite. They all hate it but I love him! They gave me the great honor of naming him, and I named him Odo, after a Star Trek character I like a lot. Shut up, you non-trekkies!

The home is about a ten minute matatu ride from Kisumu town. It's build in the traditional Luo style, where there are multiple buildings. There's a certain order and rhyme to why they're built, but I don't understand that yet. Anyway there is a main building with the sitting room, dining table, and then my and my mama's bedrooms. There is a small building for the kitchen. Then another for the children. Last but not least is the hole in the ground for going potty and another small stall for the bucket bath that I have become such a pro at. These buildings are actually quite high-quality for the area; they are concrete with tin rooves and concrete floors. They are open air though, so it's sort of like camping. There is no running water or electricity.

I'm quite happy with this placement and I think it will work quite well! I will post again later today (after lunch and a bathroom break) about my internship - that's an entire essay all by itself.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

From Lamu to Kisumu: across the country

Wow. I don't know where to begin!

Last Thursday morning, I decided that I wanted to travel about 16 hours to the tropical island of Lamu, off Kenya's northern coast. David decided to accompany me. (No, we're not dating.) So on Thursday night, we found a night bus and hopped on! The trek is long and difficult. One can fly, but why do that when you can get there for less than $20 (1500Ksh to be exact). Ten hours by bus to Mombasa, 2 hours by matatu to Malinda, 4.5 very bumpy hours to the end of the continent, 30 minutes by ferry to the island: we arrived Friday at 4pm.

Lamu is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, second only to the area surrounding my family's cabin in Northern Wisconsin (the north woods will always be my favorite). Lamu is technically a number of small islands, but we spent most of our time on the main island. It is a traditional Swahili community, although there is a lot of Arabic and Indian (or Asian as it is called here) influences. Many white people (wazungu) visit but it isn't touristy per se, because there is an actual community there. The community is mostly Muslim, and all the women were in bui-bui's, or hijab, about half the time with only their eyes showing. Five times a day you can hear the Muslim call to prayer from numerous mosques throughout the city. It's beautiful, to say the least. The architecture and city structure is traditional Swahili, similar (but much better) to Mombasa's old town. The streets weave in and out with beautiful carved doors and built in sewers. It was ungodly hot, and their hot season is just beginning! There is a constant sea breeze, which is the only thing making the climate tolerable.

We mostly just relaxed. We spent a lot of time on the beach, where you can see the ridiculous sunburn I got (I was not very thorough with my sunscreen, 2 degrees from the equator). We also took a dhow ride, which is a sail boat that'll take you around the islands. Ours took us to another island, made us a delicious lunch, and let us fish/snorkel. Quite enjoyable! David and I met a Canadian couple who were very fun to chat with - I have to admit, I enjoy talking to other white people outside the MSID program who are in Kenya. I like to know how they survive, what they're doing, etc.

Eventually though, we made the long trek home. We had a "layover" in Mombasa for an afternoon, so I got to walk around the area and familiarize myself a little bit for when I go back, either with my mom or to visit friends. We arrived in Nairobi on Tuesday morning: I was in bad shape. Very very tired from the nightbus, and my feet and ankles were extremely swollen, not to mention the sunburn! But I did an entire day of school.

On Sunday, I found out that we're going out to our internships a day early, on Thursday. Which is tomorrow. I have a lot to do in a very short amount of time. In 24 hours I will have a new host family in a new city, with a new full-time internship coming on Friday. A lot of changes in a very short period of time. Wish me luck!

I don't know how internet access will be, although I'm sure I'll be able to get to internet at least once a week. It is just a matter of me living or working in Kisumu and if not, then how far away I am. Hopefully my internet addiction will continue to be fed!!!

By the way, I loaded a bunch of pictures onto Flickr. Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Weather, internships, and family.

Hello friends and family!

I am currently sitting on a sunny patio at a fairly American coffee shop with my laptop. I spend way too much money here, but I love to email my mom and my friends (and eat ice cream) , so it's worth the free wireless. The calendar tells me it's October, but it feels more like July or August... Kenya is perpetually tropical, with an extra kick of heat at the same time as Wisconsin's coldest winter months. It's a little baffling for my internal seasonal clock. I feel as though time has stopped and I'm on some never-ending, very challenging summer vacation. I can only imagine how it will feel to spend Christmas on the beach this year with my mom.

It has been a rough few days here. Lillian and Gloria, my mama's sister and her 3 y/o daughter, unexpectedly (and with a lot of drama) moved out. I have learned to love Gloria and to see Lillian as a friend and peer (she's not even two years older than I), so to see them go has been sad and unfortunate. In addition, there have been small skirmishes and tension between MSID students as we get on each others nerves: we spend about six hours a day together in class, so it's no wonder, in addition to the normal stresses of ex-pat life. And I have to admit, I've been irritable towards people myself. But shortly, we'll be heading out to our internships!

I have received a number of questions surrounding internships, so I will finally address them. I will leave for my internship on October 24th. I will be in Kisumu, as I think I've mentioned, working with widows and orphans with a Kenyan NGO. Students from this program have interned here before, which bodes well for me. I am very excited! I'm also nervous though. I'll be living with a new host family (who have also hosted before) in a much more rural setting: no running water, no electricity. I've been quite lucky with my first host family, so I'm really hoping that I get along well with this family as well.

It took a long time to get comfortable with my current host family. My mama has always been very good to me, and told me to just help myself and to feel at home. It took a long time to know HOW to help myself though. For instance, we have running water about half the time. It often just stops for no good reason. When we do have running water, I'm able to take a decent shower. But at first, the water was always cold. I just dealt with it, because hot water is certainly a luxury here. However, I also knew that hot water was possible, because I'd see the steam seeping out from under the door whenever my siblings showered. One day I finally said, off hand, "why can't I ever get hot water?" And they gave me a funny look and explained to me that there was a switch you had to flip in order to turn it on. Well duh. My host-mama giggled every time I showered for a week.

My siblings also took a while to be comfortable around me. At first they were constantly calm and well-behaved, as Kenyan children usually are when I'm around. I wondered if they ever got silly, or what they talked about when it was just them. With time, they've grown crazier and more talkative. Now they will tell me a little bit about their day, play games with me, and let me go with them on errands.

I really feel like part of the family. I help with dishes now, and I have even served the male guests like a true Kenyan woman (even though it pained me to do so). They worry about me when I get a cold, and they know what I like to eat and what I don't. For instance, last night we had intestines for dinner. Mama knows I don't eat any meat other than "regular" meat, so she made me eggs, without me even asking. That she went to that extra length (which also cost them extra money that I don't think they have) meant a lot.

We are SO culturally different but we have made inroads that are globally important. The lesson is that it takes a long time to even begin to truly know someone, especially from a different culture. Sometimes I say, "oh my gosh, it's like we're from different planets." Sometimes I say, "oh my gosh, we're all just human beings."

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Hot doctors.

Nairobi Hospital has some of the cutest, nicest doctors I've ever seen! How did I find this out? By going to the hospital today, of course!

Don't worry. It's nothing serious. For the past two weeks I've been having, on and off, extreme stomach pain. Sometimes, but not always, there would be what Kenyans call a "running stomach." (The Swahili verb for this is the same as to drive/to ride or kuendelesha.) You can imagine what I'm talking about. Anyway, it went away for a few days so I didn't worry. But this week it is back and it is really bad. So the stomach combined with the fleas (?) combined with the swollen scorpion bite means hospital.

This morning I embarked for the hospital at about 8:30. We arrived, and I had to pay about $12 just to be seen. A nurse asked me questions, then I waited again. Then I got called back, where a (cute) doctor talked to me about more specific symptoms, and ordered a stool sample. Crapping on demand is impossible, so I went to a coffee shop to down some espresso in hopes of helping things along. Sample obtained, I headed the long trek back to the hospital to drop off the sample. And wait. Another hour and a half and I was called back, to give the sample to the doctors. Wait again. Finally the doctor called me back, and explained the results. I have a version of salmonella, a cousin of typhoid but nothing terrible. He gave me a strong antibiotic and something for the stomach pain.

As for the fleas - who knows. The first doctor said they were fleas, but the second doctor told me it was a food allergy, probably from eating too much meat. Interestingly, my host family refuses to believe it is fleas. I guess we'll see; if in a week after cutting down my meat consumption I'm still the itchy mess I am today, I'll try to get all my clothes and bedding washed, which will be a labor-intensive job.

The scorpion bite is all swollen and red, but apparently that's normal.

Impressions on the Nairobi Hospital: Well, first of all, this is a private hospital. The public hospitals here are a mess. But none the less, the whole thing cost me about $80. By Kenyan standards, that's ridiculously expensive and thus, only affordable to the richest people here (many of them foreigners). By American standards though, it's a steal. The doctors were patient and very friendly, and I met a total of three. Hopefully I won't have to be going again anytime soon, but if I do, I won't be afraid!

Photos and another post.

I just uploaded some pictures, finally, onto Flickr.
Also, read David's latest blog post: very accurate, funny, and entertaining!

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

One Month

I celebrated my one-month anniversary of being in Kenya on the first of October. I was able to look back at the time I have spent here so far, how I felt at the beginning of the trip, how I feel now, and what I expect to experience before I leave.

I remember when I arrived that I felt amazed and helpless. First of all amazed because of all the little things that were different. The unpaved roads and sidewalks, the goats, the chickens, the stray dogs, the fruit/veggie markets, the traditional clothing, baboons, etc. It was amazing and I was in sensory overload. During orientation especially I felt ecstatic at being in Kenya, and I was looking forward to my home stays, the internship, and learning more about Kenya.

But I also felt incredibly helpless. I couldn’t even buy something in a store by myself! I couldn’t walk down the street alone, I couldn’t catch a bus, couldn't do anything. The program did a good job of scaring the shit out of us, telling us that everyone was out to get us. While Nairobi is dangerous and you have to be careful, Kenyans are generally incredibly generous and helpful. I was so afraid because of what people had told me.

However, with time I adjusted. All in all, I adjusted very well! There were little ups and downs, and there definitely still are. There were days when I’d wake up grumpy, or when the cultural confusion (which is perpetual) was too much to handle. But most days I was able to go with the flow and not be too homesick. So far I’ve had maybe one really bad day but it has passed, and now I know that all of those bad days will pass and that I will feel good again about being here and about what I’m doing.

So now, I feel much less helpless. I can take a bus downtown, I can walk alone when it’s light out, and I can even do some weak bargaining for the things that I need around town. While I am still constantly confused and have plenty of cultural bang-ups to keep the American laughing, I feel more in control of my surroundings and myself. I am still amazed sometimes at this country and these people. Sometimes I’ll just laugh and say to myself, “I’m in AFRICA!” It just sounds so silly. So far I can say I’ve been stung by a scorpion, mountain biked with zebras, ridden a camel, and made significant cultural connections. I’m happy! Of course, I am looking forward to my rural home stay and to the internship portion of this program. That’s really why we came, to be challenged and to be in a very different location, and the rural areas will certain satisfy both of those desires!

As for Kenya itself, I am just beginning to understand the diversity that is this country. On one hand you have the Westernized cities, with running water and electricity. There are a few shopping malls and even pizza (no McDonald’s and no Wal-Mart, thank goodness) to satisfy those American urges we have. There are cars and nice homes and people who understand where you come from.

But within those same cities are the slums where people don’t necessarily have running water or electricity. They, in many cases, have 8 people in a small tin shack smaller than a typical dorm room. You can imagine where they go to the bathroom, and what they’re eating. Without any city planning, the shacks are very close together and there are no planned streets. Someone unfamiliar with them can be dangerously lost because the shacks quickly become dense and complicated. The police cannot search for or chase someone in the slums because of how complicated the area is. The lack of urban planning leads to more infrastructure and safety problems than I can imagine.

Outside of the cities are the traditional people living in small houses made of organic material, or again, some sort of metal shack. These areas are a fascinating mix of Western and traditional (those are the best words I can think of), where nearly everyone has a cell phone and a watch. However, these areas are also underdeveloped in that they do not have hospitals or resources in that area. Kenya has pooled its resources into the cities, leaving behind a number of people who could share some of those resources.

And I have only been in a small area of Kenya! I haven't been to Western Kenya, or to the coast. So much to learn! This is an exciting and a complicated place that has been influenced by colonialism, capitalism, traditional values, tribal conflict, and other factors I haven't delved into yet. So much to learn!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Scorpians, goats, and other Kenyan adventures...

My mom told me that people were asking about me since I hadn't updated for a while! I am doing quite well, but haven't thought of anything too interesting to say... But thank goodness, I had an interesting weekend so there is something to write.

On Saturday, David, Sarah and I went out to a traditional Masai village. The Masai used to be a pastoral cattle-keeping tribe, but now they keep cattle in certain areas of the country. In Kenya, they are the tribe that has stayed the most traditional. They are easily recognizable because they stretch their ears to huge sizes, particularly the women. They wear colorful jewelry and clothes, especially with the color red.

David knows an American at the University of Minnesota that had lived in this village, and so we went out without knowing what to expect. The village was in the Rift Valley, only about two hours from Nairobi. Greetings are very important in Kenya but especially with the Masai, so when we arrived I literally shook about fifty hands in a row. Most people couldn't speak Kiswahili or English, so communication was very limited. But everyone was so generous! We were fed well and we stayed in a mud hut, which is the way a lot of Kenyans live, without electricity or running water. The homes are built (and this differs by tribe) with sticks and mud, with no windows, just little ventilation holes. The women cook all their food over a fire and the pot sits on three stones, which makes the huts extremely smoky. When the wife was cooking, I couldn't even stand to be in the hut because my eyes just watered all over my face!

That day, we just walked around and chatted with our host before bed, but sleeping was very interesting. At one point I woke up and a goat was staring at me. Some cat kept jumping in the window too, and it was really freaking me out! But I eventually slept decently. In the morning, we went for a hike in the hills of the Rift Valley. Our host's children showed us around, telling us about the plants and the bugs and just generally being silly.

When we got back into the hut for the first of three lunches, I sat on the bed and took of my shoes. All of a sudden I felt a sharp, scary pain in my leg and I screamed and brushed something black off my leg. It hurt so badly that I immediately started sweating and had trouble breathing normally. The wife ran over and told our host that I had been stung by a scorpian! It wasn't poisonous, just incredibly painful. It hurt more than any tattoo or piercing I have gotten. It got very red and swollen and continued to hurt for a short while. Within hours though, the swelling was gone and I was fine!

The children in the village are fascinated by white people. I'm told it is a combination of being unfamiliar with us but also that we are always willing to play with them, whereas the adults of the village do not play with them and are very busy either in the home or with their cattle. They would play with my hair because white hair here is the beauty standard. Most of the women here relax their hair and try to make it soft and limp like white hair. And then, the children would touch my arm hair because most Africans don't have any body hair. The kids would touch my face, hold my hand, and crawl all over me. It was kind of cute! We played games with them, including some weird version of catch/soccor/football with a big rubber O-ring.

We had a good time and it was amazing to see such a different way of living. While the people do need and deserve running water and electricity, they are very happy. Water and electricity would help their health significantly, seeing as their life expectancy is approximately fifty years old. But more on this later... In the next couple of days I will post some awesome pictures from this weekend, and I want to share some general thoughts on Kenya thus far.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Added a link!

Hi everyone! I added another student's blog to the links list a little bit down on the right-hand side of the page. This is the blog of Stephanie F., the person I spend the most time with here on the program. She's an amazing writer, so read her first post. She captures so many things I've been unable to articulate thus far.

If you have the time you should also read Dan's most recent post: this blog is also linked to on the right. His post discusses the biggest slum in Africa, called Kibera, which is less than a five-minute walk from my Nairobi home.

Enjoy!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

A more interesting weekend than planned...

I have had a good weekend indeed! And I'm in the process of loading up some pretty cool photos to my Flickr account, so look at the photos!!!

Thursday night, to celebrate my birthday, I went out to a bar called Three Wheels with Andre, David, and Lillian, which we had gone to once before. Don't worry Grandpa, I only had one beer (but they are half liter bottles here)! Lillian is actually host-mama's sister and the mother of Gloria, but she is only 23 so she's kind of a peer. It's weird, she's so young and just like me but she's a mother, and she works all day. It's kind of confusing in my head. I've learned a lot about the culture from her though, especially the Kenyan view of romance (it's dead). But the interesting thing is that we got about ten pounds of meat. And ate it all. This is the second time I've decimated the nyama choma and I love it. Mom, you're in for such a treat when you come visit!

On Friday, we didn't have school, so David, Sarah and I went downtown to the University of Nairobi library. Going downtown is so strange, because suddenly everything is very.... Western and modern, or at least a lot more modern than what I'm normally seeing. It's almost disorienting, actually. I'm getting so much more comfortable here with the public transportation, which is good. The program really scares the crap out of us in order to keep us safe, but for a while I was too scared to take a matatu because of the threat of pick-pockets. Really all you need to do here is just keep your valuables safe, carry money in two places, don't go out after 7pm, etc... It's not that hard. Obviously it's a dangerous country, but a little knowledge will carry you pretty far. Anyway, the library was very outdated unfortunately. It didn't have anything remotely new, and was still using a card catalouge. A hand-written card catalouge, at that. But it was nice to become more familiar with downtown and to get out of my neighborhood.

Friday night we were going to go to Carnivore, a big nightclub here, for a Luuya night (2nd largest tribe in Kenya), but the plans kind of fell apart and I stayed home with my family.

Saturday, Sarah, David, and I went to Kiambu, a small town about 20 km outside of Nairobi. We went to a little place with a waterfall, some caves, a lake, ostrichs, and camels! (again, see Flickr for some crazy documentation) We all rode camels! [A note on camels: they're nasty and so much bigger than you'd expect.] And Sarah and David climbed DOWN a tree next to a cliff, but I just watched and made a video of it, because I'm kind of lame. Someone has to document, right? Anyway it was an adventurous day! It was a perfect little day trip.

There was one very embarrassing cultural mishap though, which I'm sure was bound to happen at some point. We hitched a ride into town to find a little cafe to eat at, ya know, get the "authentic" Kenyan experience (impossible when you glow like we do). So we found a place, a tiny hole in the wall, with about eight places to sit. The menu outside listed dengu, maharagwe, samosas, etc., so we figured we could all get something tasty and cheap. We sat down and of course, everyone stared and almost started laughing. We waited, assuming we'd be waited on or that someone would tell us how to order if we weren't doing it right. Eventually the woman who ran the kitchen came to us and gave us water with which to wash our hands (makes a lot of sense here, when it's the water that's hard on foreign American stomachs and immune systems). And then, without us asking for it, she brought us food. At first we just laughed awkwardly and took it, because it was chapati (a type of bread) and some other fair looking dish. At first I commented on the presence of broccoli, because I haven't seen a flowery vegetable since I arrived... But upon further inspection, it wasn't broccoli. Ohhhh no. It was something rubbery and tentacly. I thought it was maybe seafood, but the lady told us it was goat liver. I am not exaggerating when I say that it smelled exactly like how a barn smells. No lie at all, it was terrible. I took one bite and gagged and honestly none of us could choke us down.

In the US, this might not be so offensive, to leave food and to walk away. But here, where a lot of people go without good food, this is very offensive. Not to mention that some nice woman had made this food, that we had somehow goofed up, and we were now refusing her cooking. She was obviously hurt, and we felt terrible. There was really nothing to do because we really couldn't eat it, we tried but it was sooo bad. We appeared to be, and we were, ignorant and stupid Americans. We did not represent our skin color or our countries well.

That was a buzzkill, but we got a free ride back into Nairobi and cheered up a little bit. We had a very adventurous and fun day, and it was very cheap (<$10). That night my family made my favorite meal, Githerie, which is a Kikuyu dish with maize, brown beans, tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes. It's very heavy but super delicious. It was an extension of the birthday celebration which never ends here, apparently. I went to bed early!

Are you tired of hearing about my weekend yet? Steph and I today went to a very very upscale mall and I bought a tanktop for FIVE HUNDRED SHILLINGS! (That's about $7). It's pink and very cute. Now we're lounging and talking about boys in a coffee shop. No worries everyone, I haven't met any Kenyans! :)

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Preacher

Lately I've had one of my first experiences with the effect that whiteness can have here: people believe you can get them connections into the US, and they'll use you for it.

My mama's church has a number of pastors: there's the big pastor who preaches on Sundays, and then the baby pastors who are in training. Well one named Vincent has been coming to our house a lot lately, talking to me, asking me about religion in the US (because I'm so knowledgeable!), etc. Eventually he came out and asked me to talk to pastors in the US, and ask them to bring him into the US. Apparently here you can't be a big pastor like the Sunday pastor until you've done some sort of work in the West. When he asked me, I wasn't sure what to say, because I wasn't sure what the relationship between my family and this pastor was, but I was pretty upset at the time. It's not that I don't want to help him out, but that I know he's only asking me because I'm white and American.

Later that night though, my family asked me how I felt about him asking that, and I told them that it made me a little uncomfortable and that I also didn't think I really had any legitimate church connections or US embassy/immigration connections a (a lot of people here thinks we can get them a visa or a green card, which is totally untrue!). My family then admitted that he was a pushy guy, and that they didn't 100% trust him either.

Anyway, he has been coming around a lot lately but luckily I've been away or sleeping when he has come. My mama finally told him that he shouldn't be asking me, that our program discouraged us from getting involved in this kind of thing. I wasn't around to see that so I don't know what will happen. I don't even know if I would have the guts myself to tell him off; he's a pastor! In the US, you give pastors/priests a lot of respect. According to my host family though, here it is easy to get that title and it doesn't afford you as much respect, at least until you head a church yourself.

Wow, so much to learn!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Birthday, etc.

Thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes! The amount of messages I received was overwhelming - I feel extremely loved and blessed.

My day here was pretty lowkey, but very enjoyable. My MSID-Kenya program staff bought me a delicious cake and a biiiig card. My friend Steph here gave me a really sweet card, complete with a picture of me doing yoga in Africa...
After school, pretty much all of my American classmates came out for Chinese food, it was delicious! Not exactly the same as American Chinese food, but very tasty.
With my family, we didn't do anything too spectacular. We had samosas (beans or some filling inside a crispy bread) and a normal dinner. I wasn't sure what to expect for a "Kenyan" birthday so this was definitely alright with me.
The only strange thing was that I didn't have a single drink on my 21st birthday! I had school today, so it was probably for the best. Since we don't have school on Friday, I think I'll go out tonight instead!

This weekend I'll be staying in Nairobi but probably taking some daytrips... Possibly to a tribal dance, Nairobi National Park, and a giraffe orphanage! Hopefully I'll get some good pictures to share.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Quick update...

I'm back at school and looking forward to Chinese food tomorrow for lunch.
I finally got just a couple pictures up on Flickr, and I will continue to work on getting more up this afternoon. I have also added a couple links of other students' blogs in Kenya onto the right side of the page. David is the one I hang with pretty often, and Rebecca is a student from the U that I have had Gender Studies classes with... They are all very different and worthwhile!
Enjoy!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Charging hippos, flat tires, and Tusker beer!

It was a crazy weekend to say the least. This is a long tale, so you may want to go get a cup of coffee or tea for this. Hopefully I can get some photos up on Flickr sometime soon!

The four of us, David, Sarah, Stephanie F., and I set out for Lake Naivasha and Hell’s Gate Park on Friday afternoon. Sarah wanted to bring her bike, so we were going to meet her at the stage. First bump in the road: Sarah took an additional half an hour to get to the matatu stage, and wow, was that a creepy place! Some people who were very clearly mentally ill were hassling us more persistently than anyone here has done yet. Of course, we were warned of this, and it was a crowded place, but it was really frightening! But Sarah eventually came and we were on our way to the Lake!

We figured we’d head straight to a camp ground that we had read about in our guidebooks, called Fisherman’s Camp. We were not able to make a reservation ahead of time (kind of impossible for anything that’s budget or mid-range in Africa, it seems), but luckily they had plenty of space for us. We rented a tent and set up camp! That night we just relaxed and ate in the restaurant that was attached to the campground: very American, very delicious. Since it was technically my birthday weekend, I ordered one glass of red wine! Yes Grandpa, just one!
So at night then we knew there would be hippos near us. We heard some weird noises, so we wandered over by the measly electric fence. Hippos are actually one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Their jaw span is about a foot wide (we saw it) and during the day, they knock over boats in lakes for fun! But they’re actually very territorial and get angry quickly. Anyway, so as walked up to them, we decided that if they were to charge us, we’d run up a tree. Just that talked angered a hippo, and we heard a grunt, and some moving hooves, and we ran as FAST as we could in the opposite direction screaming loudly. At about 11pm, mind you. Well the hippo didn’t make it past the electric fence, obviously, because I’m alive to tell you this in my blog! But we woke a lot of people up I think.

In the morning we got out pretty early and rented some bikes to take to the national park. The rental itself went smoothly and we started out on our way. We even got into the park smoothly! It was so beautiful. There were zebra, gazelles, and other grazing animals. It is one of two parks in the entire country that you can actually get out of a car, because big game are so dangerous here.

We decided to take a 14km loop that went through the park. It was literally uphill 70% of the way, I cannot believe I actually did the trail. Unfortunately, halfway through, one of the bikes got a flat tire. And not just a normal flat tire, but that kind where the bike barely works. But we kept on anyway! (What choice did we have?) When we finally got to the top of all the hills, it was a crazy downhill adventure! I had never mountain biked before, so it was pretty excited and scary going down. You could see for miles and miles, you could see the shadow of the clouds on the ground. You could see herds of animals and you ran with them as you came down the hills. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.

Once we finished the loop though, we had to head home. The bikes were getting tired and so were we. In addition, a big storm was blowing in. You could actually see it raining in the distance. We got caught in it, and decided to hold back for a little bit: then, all of a sudden, we remembered that our tent didn’t have a tarp underneath it. And that our sleeping bags were in there. And some of my clothes were out on a clothes line to dry.

We sent David back ahead of us to retrieve our wet sleeping bags and wet clothes and to start drying the tent out for the upcoming evening. But, we were left with three girls, and only two working bikes. Three WHITE girls, I may add: and in the village, we really stood out. So, since the walk back to the camp would be about 5 miles, Stephanie got on the back of Sarah’s bike, and I rode two bikes. I was riding one normally and pulling the other with my right hand, which was surprisingly difficult. The broken bike was heavy and didn’t want to move because at that point the rim was bent, because we simply had to ride it down the hill. There was no way we could get 7 or more km without a bike and beat the incoming storm. Needless to say, everyone stared at the three crazy white girls on their way back to the campground.

That evening we had another big delicious dinner, then sat around a campfire and drank some beer. We were in bed pretty early and our sleeping bags were only slightly damp. In the morning, David and Sarah chose to hike another 14km (no bikes this time!), but Steph and I headed back on our own. Getting a matatu on our own was quite the feat, but Steph is a better bargainer than I so I’m learning from her.

The whole trip was pretty amazing. I’ve never seen or done the things I saw/did! A good way to spend my 21st. It was also good in that I feel a lot more confident traveling around. I got over my matatu fear, I know more of what to expect, and more of what to pay. Anyone will rip you off given the chance. Someone tried to get us to pay Ksh2000 for something we eventually got for Ksh160! So they start ridiculously high just to gauge how stupid you are. It’s a rough country, that’s for sure… But I’m learning!

Costs:
Transportation: Ksh700 or ~$10
Lodging: Ksh1000 or ~$14
Bike rental: Ksh350 or ~$5
Park entry: Ksh150 or ~$2
Food: Ksh1500 or ~$20 (biggest expense by far, but the food was so tasty!!!)
TOTAL: ~$51!!!!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Upcoming weekend!

I continue to do very well here! I feel more and more adjusted every day. Staying here until May actually seems doable. We are learning a lot in school and my Swahili is improving quite a bit! My host family and I are continually bonding. My host mama and I have had a lot of interesting discussions about politics (see the previous post), gender, and business. School never really ends here.

My birthday is Wednesday, so four of us are going out of town this weekend to celebrate. David, another Stephanie, Sarah, and I are going to take a matatu (and old VW bus that takes people places) out to Lake Naivasha, to camp in a tent and go to Hell's Gate National Park. Of all the parks here in Kenya, it's one of two that actually lets you out on foot or on bikes. So we are going to rent mountain bikes and ride through the park to see hippos, zebras, etc. We'll rent a tent and have an adventure! Things in Kenya are necessarily spontaneous, because matatus don't leave at set times and you can't really make a good reservation ahead of time. So we're just going to do our best! What a good way to celebrate my 21st. I will certainly take some pictures to post early next week.

Please keep the comments and emails coming, I love hearing from friends and family!

Love,
Steph

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

A note on the political violence of 2007, tribes, and inequality.

In school we have been learning about the political violence that happened late last year in Kenya surrounding their presidential elections. In addition, I have been constantly asking my host mama and baba about what happened.

Granted, this is a very complicated and racially/tribally-charged issue. My point of view is skewed because I stay with a Luo family. Nearly all the information I receive, even in school, is biased towards or against one tribe or another.

Tribes are very important here in Kenya. It dictates what the family eats, the language they speak, the province or even neighborhood they live in. Even being here less than a month, I am learning who likes and dislikes whom, and how to identify the tribe a person is in based on their physical characteristics. It's disturbing how quickly this knowledge is passed on to us. To me, at first, everyone appeared to be similar but there is a lot of ethnic strife.

Colonial leadership partly contributed to this. The British leadership here never encouraged a united Kenyan identity. In fact, they prohibited political parties that were based on the national identity, and only permitted ones which stood for a tribal identity and platform of issues. Anyway, onto what actually happened.

So, the President in 2007 was named Kibaki, who is a member of PNU and a member of the Kikuyu tribe. The Kikuyus are the largest % of the Kenyan population and also one of the richest. They are situated in high populations in areas that are the most fertile, like the central highlands.

Raila Odinga was the challenger, with the party ODM. Odinga is a Luo, which is the third biggest tribe in Kenya (Luya being the second). So the papers, polls, and most people speculated that Odinga would win. The night of the election, as information began coming in, it was clear that Odinga was going to win. Then, the results stopped for a little while and then, the numbers drastically changed. In areas where there were not many Kikuyus, or even many people, a ton of votes came in that were for Kibaki instead of Odinga. According to my host dad, the numbers were so obviously fake because not even as many people lived in the areas compared to the numbers of votes that were coming out.

When the President was to be announced, the announcement took a while and the person announcing it was in a very special and secure location. When Kibaki was announced, the violence started. Again, according to my family, Kikuyus were targeted in areas where they were minorities. Then, they were targeted where there were larger populations. I think eventually it was sort of everyone targeting their enemies... In addition, foreigners, like Indians and Arabs were targeted as well.

Nairobi, and Kenya for that matter, is a very two-faced place. There is the coffeeshop I'm sitting in, with very nice chairs, tables, food, and a lot of white people. There are nice cars and houses and even a couple shopping malls. Then, there are the slums. People living in tin shacks, 7 people to a small room with no running water or electricity. There is trash all over, human waste all over, and water pooling with mold and mosquitos. People actually crap in a bag, then throw it onto the street. Now, here there are practically no drainage systems and so things flood quickly and water goes every which way. Imagine the quality of this water, that many people get onto their food and their bodies. It's not a pretty sight. These types of conditions, with no work to be found for the common person or for even the educated people makes people very angry, especially when they see the President giving millions of Kenyan shillings to already-millionaire athletes, or that every one of his ministers and top employees has guard-dogs, security officers, and multiple Mercedes'. It's scary. This also breeds the crime that has already hit MSID, with one bag stolen and some other dangerous incidents.

Apparently the poverty is also striking in rural areas, although in a different way. There is also not a lot of electricity there, and the food quality is low. I will see this when I go into the field in October.

We're still learning about the refugee status here in Kenya, since many people had to leave their homes as a result of being targets of ethnic violence. It's a very complicated issue and I certainly have a lot to learn...

Monday, September 15, 2008

Crazy, exciting, and dramatic weeknd...

As the subject indicates, what a crazy weekend!

Friday I opted to stay in with my family instead of going out with a large group to a club that mostly white people attend. But it turned out really well: my family and I really bonded! On the weekends, they are so much more free and talkative. We had a good dinner together, lots of fascinating political/social conversation, and watched silly movies together. Little Gloria and I even cuddled a bunch!

Saturday, David, Stephanie and I decided to go to a Masai market, where traditional goods made by a mostly un-urbanized tribe are sold. Immediately we were hounded by people, "Sister, come look at my goods, I make you a good deal." It was incessant. At first it was annoying but eventually you get used to the craziness and it's fun. You also have to bargain HARD. I learned a lot about it. I got a scarf for 250Ksh (~$4) and a bracelet for 50Ksh (<$1). I'm excited to try again and see what I can get. The good are SO beautiful. Very traditional African stuff that is gorgeous. Just going downtown on the bus by ourselves was quite an epic adventure! We haven't really gotten out like that yet.

That afternoon, I got my hair braded at my mama's salon. Just two french braid pigtails, but it's so tight that it looks vaguely African. It's handy because now I won't have to wash it all week, which is good, because the availability of water is very iffy here. There was no water Thursday-Sunday this week, and this is in a very middle-class home.

That night then, a few of us (David, Jon, Adam, Shelinda, and I) decided to go out to a local bar just down the street. I had my first Tusker, which is an East African beer which comes in half-liter bottles. Needless to say, I only had one and a half because they're giant! But it's good beer, so I'm looking forward to more. We definitely stood out in the bar. We ordered "nyama choma," which means roasted meat. It was about five pounds of pure animal, just roasted and handed to us with a pile of salt to dip it in. It was actually VERY delicious! That's how I know I'm adjusting well, when a big pile of meat makes my mouth water...

But my food adventure continued! One of my worst fears here has been the fish. They just fry the fish and give it to you - uncleaned, unskinned, just a fish. Now if you know me you know I am very wary of seafood or even bones in food. And I knew the day was coming that I'd be forced to try this. Well we got back from the bar at 10:20pm, because here staying out late isn't too safe... and waiting for me was none else than a fish. And with 1.5 beers in me, I was totally ready for it. You essentially have to just break it's vertebrae apart and pull the meat out with your fingers. They eat the skin, but I wasn't feelin' it. But all in all it was good! Not too fishy, very tender, and good! Here the fish is very fresh so that helps. I'm very proud of myself. In addition, here, you are very accountable for your food. You see the live animal, you see the dead animal, you see the meat hanging in the store, and you see it chopped off and cooked (sorry vegetarians and vegans). But you know where it comes from and where it was raised. So now I'm much more cool with huge chunks of meat and bones in my food. It's very real.

Anyway, Sunday was also cool. My friend David got dreadlocks at my Mama's salon, so it's nice to bring her some business. We're still not 100% if the dreads will turn out or not though, since white hair is so different from the hair that most Africans here have. Even braiding my hair stumped the ladies, they said that it was too soft! Pretty funny.

So now this week it is back to school. I am learning a lot of good stuff and enjoying school very much. This weekend I may travel, but those plans are still up in the air. I feel much more adjusted this week with food, family, and travel. But still so much to learn!

One other quick note; I have not received any text messages even though I know that a few peopl have tried! So sad! I'm not sure why right now but I'll try to look into it... It should work if you text 254 714 924 051... Alas!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Photos!

I started a Flickr site for my Kenya photos. It takes forever to load them up, so there are only a few right now...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30440787@N02/

Response to a comment...

My good friend Jill from Minneapolis who I have had numerous Gender Studies classes with made a comment on my last post:
what do you mean more patriarchal? why do you think that is? is the form of patriarchy you are describing "universal" and monolithic in kenya and/or does it have anything to do with the particular social location of the women you've observed? please elaborate.

Jill,
Yay for some critical questions...

These issues are by no means black and white, and it is hard for me to "unpack my baggage," as we say, of being a white Westerner in the global south... My point of view is sorely biased and I'm still very new here... I wonder what I'll say on this topic in a few months...

I would say right now that things are more patriarchal in that it is easier to point out here rather than in the US, in addition to very strict gender roles here. For instance, my host mom owns a salon. She works from about 8am to 7pm, then comes home, cooks a huge huge dinner until it is served at 9pm, then cleans up and goes to bed. The entire time, my host dad watches TV and is served tea by the children, etc. The women definitely work more and serve the men. The men are not involved in the rearing of children at all... This is what I see in my family, and what I hear from the other students of their families. We were told that we would see that, and that it had infuriated students in the past, which is why they warned us.
I don't think it is necessarily monolithic or all encompassing. It may be different in very high-class families, although only one or two of us are staying with families like that. Those families are more like American families, where there is clear inequality but not the way there is here. Those families are about 5% of the population but hold about 50% of the wealth (cited to us by a teacher, I don't know the actual source so be wary of stats), and they are often American or British-educated. These families more resemble American families, where the men do some housework and some child-rearing, although they earn more money and are typically considered the head of the household.

We were also told that in the rural areas, where we will do our internships, the gender roles will be even more pronounced. For instance, in many homes, the women and children must sit on the floor while the men sit on the chairs and couches. A few students have been in Kenya all summer or have been in this region before, and have echoed that sentiment.

Having only been here for a couple weeks, my ideas about why this is may be incorrect: It has something to do with tribal tradition, first of all. We have started learning about pre-colonial history, and most of the tribes had very strict gender roles, particularly that the women had children yearly if physically capable, and stayed home to take care of the children and the home. The tribal leaders were/are typically the oldest men, although the women did have a say in things. So tribal/ethnic groups are VERY important here, actually more important than a national Kenyan identity (this causes a lot of problems for Kenya and is a result of colonial rule and post-independence leadership, but more on that another day).

Of course, then colonial rule came on about and introduced Christianity. In most areas of Kenya, Christianity is very important (on the coast there are some Muslims as a result of Arab trade routes in that area). Christianity here is also used as a justification for the strict gender roles. This is pure speculation, but colonial rule may have also reinforced gender roles as well.

This presents an interesting situation for American students, especially for the two of us that are majoring in Gender, Women, and Sexuality studies. We are not here to impose Western feminism, by any means. BUT, we have to draw boundaries about what we will and will not do. For instance, the program specifies that we should not be expected to serve our host-fathers or stay within the home all day; we are to be part of this culture (as much as possible) while maintaining our Western values, especially surrounding the importance of education.
Also interestingly, when I told my host-mom, Janet, about my major, she was enthusiastic about the value of it. She said that she believed women were one of the most oppressed and marginalized populations in the entire world.

The thing is though, with my host-mom, it's not an issue of pity. She is inspirationally hard-working. She owns a business and raises numerous children to be as industrious as her and to value school and their God. She works as much as the straight-A college students do. I haven't breached the topic of her point of view of gender differences; we're not that close yet.

Again, I look forward to being more cultually competent and hopefully to have some of my baggage unpacked... I also look forward to visiting my friends' homestays to see how they live, what their values are, etc. The rural experience should add to it as well.

A Note on Packages...

Mostly for family: I have more information on how packages can be sent. They can indeed be sent to the address that I originally posted. There are, I think, 3 ways to send things. One is ground and it is really really slow. One is crazy expensive, hundreds of dollars. Then there is one in the middle that is medium-priced. I don't know the names so this isn't terribly helpful, but just don't pick the cheapest one, because it'll take forever. And it should get to me safely. Another important thing to do would be to write "no commercial value" and "no electronics" on the package. This will help the speed and then the duties that they might try to make me pay when I pick up the package.

Edit: I was talking about USPS. And I don't really know anything more than the medium speed, because the slowest takes months and the fastest is crazy expensive.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Family life, daily life...

Well, I said I would update about homestays and family in this country and now I finally will! I meant to yesterday, but then I discovered milkshakes in a coffee shop (where I am now) and my internet plans fell apart. But first, day-to-day life:

The past couple of days have been pretty good. Mood wise, I continue to be up and down. Culturally, it is so different here that it is frequently overwhelming. But then I have little victories and I get excited. For instance, today I bought my lunch by myself. I also walked to this coffee shop myself. I am also getting better at navigating the terrain of Kenyan family life, so I am encouraged that in less then two weeks I am adjusting well.

Classes are continuing, although today we got out early! We’re supposed to be familiarizing ourselves to Nairobi, but there was a rain storm today --- very out of character for this time of year. Kenyans are saying that their seasons are disrupted due to global warming (there appears to be a consensus on that here). The short rains shouldn’t come until the end of October. Anyway, it has rained 3 out of 4 days here and so my shoes and pants are getting muddy faster than I can wash them (by hand, of course). Classes are going well though, the faculty seems to be of good quality and they are nice as well.

Now about my family and home. We live in Jamhuri Estates, which is a large area of flats where most of the students with the program live. The roads are very rough and unpaved. There are chickens running around every which way and stray dogs and cats everywhere --- I’ve seen two dead dogs already, just on the side of the road. Little shacks selling fresh fruits and veggies, or candy, line the road.

The flats really vary in quality; some have locked gates and some are more lower class. I live in a more simple flat. There are two bedrooms, one for the parents and then one where I am, in addition to my younger sister Tamara. Then in the living room there is another bunk bed where Lovell sleeps (top bunk) and then Lillian, my aunt and her 3 y/o daughter Gloria sleep (bottom bunk). The floors are just concrete, and the walls are unfinished. The kitchen has no counters, and they have to cook outside of the flat in the hallway. BUT. Very important here, they are middle class here. Next to us is the biggest slum in Africa, Kibera. Now that’s poverty. So they live simply here. It can be a little frustrating, but they do have an indoor flushable toilet and a decent shower, although you have to wear “slippers,” as they call flip-flops.

Family life is very different though. It is much more patriarchal than the US. Much, much more. It’s kind of hard for me to watch, but I’m going to keep my mouth shut. I’m not here to change Africa, just to participate and help in whatever endeavors they’re doing. Anyway, my host-mom works all day at the salon she owns and then comes home and cooks dinner. The TV is constantly on. They don’t talk too much about their day, and they definitely don’t joke around a lot. The TV is on during dinner, before breakfast, always. It may be because Nairobi is fairly Westernized, so it will be interesting to compare to my rural homestay in Kisumu.

The kids don’t play much, probably because they don’t have toys. They take school very seriously. Children are treated more like small adults. They have a lot of housework to do. They are never babysat or played with, they are just around. In the US intelligence is cultivated in children, but here they are just left to learn on their own. As a result, Gloria, the 3 y/o, has cognitive skills that are very different than Emma or Misa, some of the similarly-aged children I know in the US. Things are certainly different here…

Feel free to ask questions. And thank you for all your comments and messages, they make me feel at home and have something to look forward to. Tatu onana baadaye…

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

First days in Nairobi...

We started class yesterday, although we didn't actually have any class! We were introduced to the faculty, then we ran errands. We bought cell phones, which is very handy for us "mzungus" staying in touch with one another and for you Americans calling me (Dial 254 714 924 051 or text me! Please!). That was quite the fiasco, and took a large amount of the day. Then we went to the immigration offices, where every single one of my fingers was fingerprinted twice. Yeah. Now that really took the rest of the day. Adventues in the city! Nairobi, downtown especially, is like any other city except very very few white people or non-blacks. I talked to my mom on the phone and she was asking about that; but here appears much more homogenous to me than the US. Of course here there are 42 recognized ethnic groups or tribes, but I can't recognize those differences. Otherwise white people are few and far between.

So today then was the first day of actual classes. Four hours of Swahili (I learned every possible greeting and then some ways to introduce personal details) and then some Country Analysis, where we are learning pre-colonial history. Both instructors are pretty good so far, and I think I'll be liking school.

More tomorrow on my homestay and food...

Sunday, September 07, 2008

In Kenya!

Well, I have arrived safely in Kenya. I have been here for almost a week already! I had written some posts on my laptop but am unable to transfer them right now... Anyway, we spent the first few days at Lake Nukuru National Park, having orientation and getting to know one another. It was wonderful! I saw baboons, vervet monkeys, giraffes, 3 lions, rhinos, hippos, warthogs, many types of deer, etc. etc... It was crazy. I was able to begin getting over my jetlag. The only downside was that British Air lost my luggage, even though I had a 3.5 hour layover... I got it on Thursday. But it was a good experience anyway, I had to learn to live on very little and I got super dirty, which will certainly come in handy here.

I also got to know the other Americans very very well. What a great group! One of my favorite people is another girl named Stephanie, who goes to school in Arizona. We're disturbingly similar people, and we have a lot of silly fun together. There are so many other great students though, and I'm glad to have gotten to know them well.

At orientation I learned a lot: specifically, where and what my internship will be. The internship begins in late October (earlier than I had originally thought). I will be working with widows and orphans near Kisumu in western Kenya, near Lake Victoria. The Kenyan NGO has meetings for the women and children (two separate programs, by the way), home visits, and income-generating activities for the women. I'm very excited for this! I think it is just up my alley. I also found out about my host-family for that duration of the year; they're in a very rural area and there are six kids, but somehow I still get my own room.

Yesterday we came back to Nairobi to be adopted by our host families. It was scary as heck! But mine is very nice. My mom is named Janet, and the dad is Michael. Their children are Valdo, Tamara, and Lovell, but Janet's sister Lillian and her 2 y/o daughter Gloria live there are well. Valdo is in 15 and at boarding school though, but still, it's a full house. I share a room with Tamara and Gloria, who sleep in the bunk above me. I still feel like a guest rather than family though...

This morning I went to church: WOW. It was very scary, to be honest. At one point I had to go up to the front of the church because it was my first day there, and shake the hand of the pastor. EEK. But hey, it was a good cultural experience and I think my host-parents will like it if I continue to go.

Tomorrow we go to school for the first day, to buy cell phones, get a tour of the city, etc. I'm excited to get started with a routine finally.

Some cultural notes: Time here is completely different. It's like rubber time. Everything revolves around tea time, and what's going on is eternally unclear and flexible. Trust me, it can be frustrating. Example: we went into the town of Nukuru on Friday to do a little shopping. We were told we would leave at 10, after tea. Well, at 10:30 we had tea. Then we didn't leave until 11:30. It's almost always like that, or just the details are fuzzy or they change. People are very relaxed and going with the flow. Now if you know me well, you know I am a control freak, and very punctual. I suspect I will have completely changed in that regard by the time I come home!
Also, relationships are very important here. Everyone knows everyone, family is important, they stop and talk to whomever they know in the road just to say hi and ask how their family is doing. Kind of funny, actually. Tea and religion are important as well.

Overall I'm doing pretty well. Thanks for all the comments people are leaving, it makes me really happy to see them and know that people are reading. From now on I should be able to update regularly, at least until I go into the bush, or "up country" as it is called here.

Love,
Steph