Friday, May 18, 2007

I realized the other day that it has been a long time since my last post, and I apologize for that. I have been super busy and have not had a lot of time to write. I will write a longer entry (or 2) when I get back to the states though to get you all updated on the last month of my stay in Kenya. But for now, just know that ISP went very well, the paper, the presentation and just the experience in general was amazing. It was really hard to leave Kisumu, and I am hoping that I will get to go back sometime soon. But we'll see if that happens...

Speaking of my return, I guess I should let you all know what the deal with that is. I am flying out tomorrow (Saturday) night, getting into NYC on Sunday evening around 6. So starting on Monday I will be fully accessible by American standards! My cell phone should be back on in the first few days when I am back, and I will be back to my old obsessive email habits.

And, I think I should also let you all know what my plans are for this summer, since several of you have asked. I am working with an organization called the Student Conservation Association (SCA). They place students in national parks around the country doing various conservation efforts. I am going to be in California working in the Inyo National Forest, about 150 miles north of LA. I will be working with 5 other college kids and 1 team leader, doing reforestation to prevent off road vehicles from going off their designated trails and ruining the surrounding environment. I will be camping for most of the summer, which I think will be really really fun. It will be an adventure for sure, but one that I am really looking forward to. I fly out to start my job on May 29, leaving only about 8 days in Fishkill...

I definitely have a lot of mixed emotions about coming back home. I am really excited, but also really sad to be leaving. And I'm not really sure yet what's gonna hit me in terms of reverse culture shock, but I'm sure it will be an interesting experience, and I'll let you all know how it goes.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

The other side of Kenyan life

Just as a disclaimer, this entry might be a little bit of a downer. It’s not that I have started to get depressed or overly homesick or anything, but there are a lot of things about living in Kenya and Kisumu that get me down sometimes, and I wanted to share them with all of you.

I’ve said several times how much I like Kisumu, and this is true. It’s a great little city and it’s got a great atmosphere – most of the time. But like every other area of Kenya, it has its own set of problems and issues.

The poverty here is very different than the poverty in Nairobi, and while I did have some exposure to the extreme poverty there, for the most part I wasn’t around the poorest of the poor. In Nairobi, my house was in a pretty good neighborhood, and yet it was only about a 5 minute walk from Kibera slum. That kind of poverty is really overwhelming and in your face, but at least it presents itself all at once. So it may knock you over the first time, but after that you can start to accept it and get on with things and you know what to expect next time. In Kisumu, it’s a little different. The poverty here reveals itself a little slower, and doesn’t really give you a chance to fully digest it right away. Just when you think you have started to get a handle on it, you see something else that knocks you right back off your feet.

The first thing I noticed about the poverty here was the street kids. As the name suggests, these are kids that have no home. Most are males, and are either orphans, or have been abandoned by their families for various reasons. In America, these kids would have foster homes, orphanages or other places to go, and while these places may not be the best, they are better than the streets. I’ve seen kids as young as 6 or 7 and it’s heartbreaking every time I see them, no matter what age. They all huff glue and turpentine, since being high and passing out is easier then feeling lonely, hungry, cold and depressed. Many of them walk around high all day and just stare at people with glazed over eyes. If they are sober enough when they see me to realize that they are looking at a Mzungu (a white person), they usually ask me for money or food, or say some incomprehensible insult. I have a policy of not giving out money to anyone, and usually do not have any food on me, so I just walk by them. That is one of the most heart breaking parts. I want to help all of them, but I know they will just use the money to get high, and that’s not helpful. There are a few rehabilitation programs for them, but no where near enough. One of the guys that my roommate works with used to be a street kid, and actually went to one of these homes. Now he has a wife and a baby and is helping to run a youth football league here that is helping a lot of kids (much like MYSA from a few weeks ago). So there is some hope, but it’s hard to see that when I have to walk by a group of 5 street kids on my way out of the grocery store who are just waiting for handouts.

Many of these kids spend their whole lives on the streets. And when they get older, their adult life is no better than their childhood (if you can even call it a childhood) was. I see many of these grown men walking around downtown. Their clothes are just as tattered as their young counterparts and I have yet to see either one of these grown men or a street kid with a pair of shoes or sandals. Their hair is disheveled, and they carry the few possessions they have in old bags over their shoulders. There are no programs that I know of for these older people, they just seem to be forgotten about. They will also ask me for money just like the younger kids. I had a banana that I tried to give to one of them, but he told me that he didn’t want it and asked me if I had any money. I wonder what that money would have gone to… Many of them are not even lucky enough to have clothing at all. Some walk around wrapped in plastic bags, and my friends have even seen people walking around in just a T-shirt.

These people have no where to sleep but the streets, and it is not uncommon to come across several of them either downtown or a little bit further out, where I work. They sleep at any time of the day and are usually passed out from some kind of drug or drink. I was eating lunch at a small cafĂ© near where I work, and I saw a woman just lying on the side of the road, passed out. No one was paying her any mind, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was even alive. A few minutes later I saw her head move, so that fear passed. This is not an uncommon sight here – people passed out anywhere they can find some grass and some shade. Some on cardboard, others just sprawled out where ever they happen to fall over. It’s so hard to walk by these people every day and not do anything – but what can I do? I know that is kind of a cop-out, but I can’t give them money, I can’t start any kind of program, and while I may be able to give a few of them food, that won’t even make a dent in the larger problem. So it’s been hard.

Another thing that has been getting to me is the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. I talked about this a few entries ago when I talked about the village I stayed in, but it’s worth mentioning again. While HIV is big a huge fact of life in the US, I haven’t really been too exposed to it. But here it is a constant fact of life. The prevalence rates in this area are probably over 30%, the highest in Kenya. It’s really sobering to be sitting in a room and suddenly wonder how many of these people are infected with HIV/AIDS. And it’s not if anyone is infected, but rather how many. And there are programs where people can get free treatment, but there are never enough drugs. Another issue with this is that the drugs need to be taken with food, something that is a big issue for many people. So they stop taking the drugs or take them irregularly, which can have larger consequences of drug resistance, spreading the disease, etc. So curbing the affects of HIV/AIDS will take a lot more than just free drug programs, abstinence only education and charity. It’s an overwhelming problem, as are most issues in development.

Like I said, I do really like it here, both Kenya and Kisumu. But there are some facts of life that I haven’t (and hopefully never will) get used to. And so while most of the time I am optimistic about the future of these places and have great experiences here, I would not be giving you all a fair portrayal of my time here and my experiences if I did not share the hard aspects as well as the good ones. While there have been a lot hard things about living here, it’s the hard stuff that you learn the most from, right? And I can say with confidence that my good experiences in Kenya have outweighed the bad, and even the bad ones were not a total loss, since I have learned so much from them – both as a human being and as a development student. So don’t let this entry get you down, once I finish school, I’ll be back here to change a few things!

Friday, April 27, 2007

The ISP continues...

It’s been about 2 weeks in Kisumu, and I still really like it here. It’s a much more manageable city then Nairobi – you can walk around the whole downtown in less than an hour and after only about 2 days, I knew my way around (and I’m awful with directions – I still get lost in DC sometimes…). My 3 roommates and I usually cook dinner about 4 nights a week, usually some sort of carb (pasta, rice, bread, etc) and fresh veggies cooked in various ways. And I was talking before about how cheap it is – all the veggies for a meal for 4 usually don’t cost us more than $3. And fruit is also just as cheap, and so good and fresh. Even going out to dinner doesn’t cost us too much – if we pay $6 for a full meal, we are seriously splurging. What am I going to do when I get back to the states and I can’t get a whole meal for under a $1?! I’m not looking forward to it… And just to give you a taste, here is the view of the sunset over Lake Victoria from our balcony:


And my ISP is also going great. I am working with the Kisumu Innovation Center of Kenya (KICK), and they have been great so far. They have about 30 artisans working for them making handi-crafts that they export to the US, Canada, Australia and a few European countries. They have basically taken me on as an intern, and part of my time is spent doing various odd jobs for them, like sorting through products to make sure they are of good quality, taking pictures of products, etc. But my major project is doing Artisan Profiles of most the artisans. The manager and I made up sort of a questionnaire and I get to go around to the artisans and interview them. I’ve done almost 20 so far, and it’s been so interesting. They are all really open to talking to me, something that I was worried about, being that I am a white American female. These profiles serve a dual purpose – I am using them as raw data for my ISP and KICK is working on making a website (don’t worry, I’ll post the link when it’s done) and a section of that is going to be the profiles of all the artisans so that buyers can see them. Pretty cool, huh? It’s really comforting to know that the work I’m doing is not only benefiting me, but that KICK will also get something out of it.

As far as what I am getting from the artisans, that has been the most interesting part so far. Thankfully, they all speak English, and most speak very well, so I don’t need a translator. They are all really smart and all have a lot of talent. Many of them come up with the products themselves and then bring to KICK who help them to perfect the product. KICK then markets them to these companies like Ten Thousand Villages, Oxfam, and other smaller ones that (hopefully) buy them. For example, one of the guys I was talking to today harvests and dries hyacinth, a plant that is taking over Lake Victoria, and uses it to make paper, frames and books that are absolutely beautiful. And he does the whole process himself – getting the plant from the river, drying it, making the paper and then making the final product. A lot of them also train women they know to make various things to market and sell. One of the questions that I ask them is what KICK can do to help improve their lives, and everyone so far has said the same thing – more orders. The way it works is that KICK gets an order from a company, finds an artisan that can fill it and pays him/her 50% upfront. Then, upon completion of the order, the artisan gets the remaining 50% (this is pretty standard practice in the Fair Trade world). So if there are no orders, than an artisan does not work and does not get paid. Many of them also work doing other things, so there is some income when they don’t have orders from KICK, but many of them have said that they prefer working for KICK because the wage is better. The second most common answer to the question of what KICK can do to help them is more training. Some of them want training in painting, wire work, and even computer design or management training. The bottom line is that they all just want work. They want to do everything they can so that they will get more orders from KICK and continue working for them.

One of the most interesting questions that I ask them is whether or not they know a lot about Fair Trade. About half know at least a basic idea, which is good. But there are some that do not know anything about it at all and some also give me a very elementary definition, mostly using the words fair and trade in the definition. Something like, “Yes, yes I know. It is when the people who are trading the products do so in a very fair manner.” And then when I follow up asking them if they would like to know more about it, every single person has given me an emphatic yes. Even though they don’t really know what Fair Trade means, they can see that with KICK they are treated better, paid better, are given more artistic license, and perhaps most importantly, can support their various family members through school, with food, medicine or other necessities. Many have told me that with KICK they were able to save money to go back to secondary school (which is not, and has never been, free in Kenya), send their children or siblings to school, pay their rent, and one even told me that he makes enough money to “spoil” his nephew – which most likely means that he can buy him clothing and shoes that aren’t tattered and food that is more than just the bare essentials. So even though they don’t understand what Fair Trade means, they know that it is helping them, and understandably, they all want to know more about why it is helping them. I talked with Isaac, the manager of the company, about doing a mini workshop on Fair Trade for the artisans, and so we are planning to do it next week. It’ll be a little daunting giving a lecture on Fair Trade to the artisans (I’ve never even given one to other students), but I think it will be a really interesting learning experience and I am especially looking forward to the Q&A session afterwards – it’ll be interesting to see what kind of questions they ask and what they want to know more about.

All in all, it has been very encouraging to hear their answers. From their hunger for work, to the benefits they have seen through Fair Trade to their creativity it has been a great experience. I was really worried that I would find the opposite – that Fair Trade is just a name that doesn’t actually make much of a difference. But luckily, that has not been the case. Working here has been a great inspiration for me, and I’m so excited to take the inspiration and momentum back to GW and GWSFT next year!


Monday, April 23, 2007

An interesting weekend, for sure

I know that last time I said I would talk more about KICK and my ISP, but I'm putting that on hold until next time so that I can share with you all my wonderful weekend...

I took a break from ISP and had one of the coolest experiences yet in Kenya. As some of you might know, Barack Obama is Kenyan. His father was born and raised here, in an area about an hour or 2 from Kisumu. His grandmother still lives in that village, and this weekend 3 others in the group and I got to meet her. Yes, you read that right. We met Obama's grandmother. It was so awesome. She is about 85 and still alive and kicking. She still does all the work in her farm, takes care of her household and is totally still there mentally. She speaks Duhluo (the Luo language) and Kiswahili, but no English. We showed up at her house completely unannounced, yet she still welcomed us in and spoke with us for about 2 hours. She talked to us about Obama’s father, about him and also asked us about ourselves. Our translators were SIT’s home-stay coordinator who lives a few villages away and a friend of his who is principal of a local school. We thought that they knew her and had worked it out, but this was actually not the case. And when we apologized to her for just showing up, she said that since we were the Senator’s guests, that we were welcome at any time. And since Obama and his father have the same name (which isn’t uncommon in Luo culture), he was always referred to as “the Senator”, which we all thought was kind of funny.

She told us about Barack (the father) and how he was always so smart and had such determination, and how Obama has the same characteristics. He wasn’t that close to his real father, who died in the late 70’s. Oh, I also saw his (the father’s) grave, along with the grandfather’s – they are buried on the family compound. But he is pretty close to the family. The first time he came to Kenya was for his father’s funeral and he has been back multiple times since. He also flew his grandmother to D.C. for his inauguration into the Senate. I was not aware that he had been so many times, and had kind of thought that his last trip was just a political ploy. But it was good to hear that this was not the case. The first time he was here was as an undergrad (I think), and he stayed for about a week. He is in pretty regular communication with a cousin here, who then gives the news to his grandmother and the rest of the family. He has visited pretty regularly since then, and even took his wife to meet them before they were married. The grandmother told us that before he makes and really important decisions, i.e. running for the senate or for the presidency, he consults them. From what she was saying, he sounds like a great guy with a good head on his shoulders. And yes, I know that this is how any grandparent would talk about their grandchild, but it seemed really genuine from her.

She had pictures of the whole family around the sitting room, and many included Obama. One of them was him on his first trip here helping her to carry her vegetables to the market. There were other more formal family pictures, as well as an “Obama for Senate” sign that he had signed for her. There were also other family members, his father, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. The house itself was really nice – well built with electricity. The chairs and couches were really nice and there was even a TV. I got the impression that the family has always been relatively well off, by rural Kenyan standards at least. It seems like they are a family that has always been really hard workers and really determined to get what they want. Despite all this, it struck me how self-less this woman was. Apparently, she told Obama that he should do whatever he can to help the people of Kenya – not just her area. The main things that she kept talking about were development (I got the sense that she meant in terms of infrastructure – roads, communication, schools, etc) and medicine. The 4 of us are studying different things – mal-nutrition, medicine, politics and trade, and she told each of us that she wanted us to come back when we graduated to help the people in the area. She also wants me to come back and help her improve her business of selling vegetables. An offer I would have gladly taken her up on, but once again, school gets in the way. Oh well, maybe next year. By then maybe we’ll go from being the Senator’s guests to the President’s guests. One can only hope…

It was a pretty surreal experience. She told us that the US Ambassador was coming on Monday, and I couldn’t help but wonder what this woman’s life will be like if Obama does actually make it into the White House. Picturing her walking around the White House made us all laugh a little bit – an old African woman who has lived her whole life on her farm in Kenya getting waited on hand and foot by White House Staff. It would be pretty awesome, I think. I know the primaries are still a long way out, but after our talk with her, I think I have finally decided where my loyalties are this election…

The rest of the weekend was pretty good as well. We stayed for 2 days with home-stay coordinator, and it was an interesting experience to say the least. He has 2 women, about 20-ish years old, which is actually pretty typical here actually. I was a little upset at how they were treated – they were definitely treated as the hired help. And since they are women, they are treated a little worse. Nothing terrible, but their hard work was not appreciated at all, and they are definitely taken for granted. Unfortunately, that is also not uncommon here. Men are definitely superior, and that has been one of the hard things to get used to. Seeing the way they treated these women was just another reminder of that that I could have done with out. The house itself was also interesting. It was a very nice house, but there were some major design flaws. Like not having screens on the windows and having fluorescent lights. Oh, and just in case that didn’t let in enough bugs, they would also leave the front door wide open in the evening. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many bugs in one place in my life. And above the walls of the rooms, the ceilings were completely open throughout the house. So when the house help decided to turn the radio on (loudly) at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday, it might as well have been right next to my bed. Oh, and as if all that wasn’t enough, there were about 792 rats running around on the rafters above our heads. I was waiting for one to fall on us all weekend. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Staying in the house was definitely an interesting experience…

Despite all this, we did have fun. On Saturday night, our host arranged for a traditional Luo musician to come and perform for us. He played an instrument that is kind of like a guitar, but has 8 strings and is played in a sitting position, with the instrument on the ground. He sang mostly in Luo, but had a few songs in Kiswahili, with some English thrown in for good measure. He sang about Kisumu, Obama, women, and Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda who was a really great guy (ok, so sarcasm doesn’t really work in this medium – but speaking of him, you should all see The Last King of Scotland). Because of course, why wouldn’t you sing about an oppressive, tyrannical dictator who killed thousands of his own people? There were also a lot of friends and family in the room, and they all thought all of his songs were so funny. But the humor of Amin, getting a woman pregnant then leaving and getting drunk all the time was kind of lost on us 4 Americans. I don’t know, but Kenyan humor is something I still don’t fully understand. But other than his choice of topics, it was a pretty cool show and he was kind of (ok, really) drunk of Kenyan moonshine, so if nothing else, we could always laugh at him.

Like I said, there were about 20 other friends and family members in the room, and for some reason I had a really harsh realization during the performance. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these people were infected with HIV/AIDS. The area we were in has by far the highest HIV rate in Kenya. This is largely due to a highway that runs through the village that is the main route for transporting oil from the coast of Kenya to the inner African countries. As a result of all the truckers, prostitution in the area has skyrocketed, and with it the HIV rate. That coupled with the extreme poverty in the area (for a variety of reasons), and we were told that the rate in the area was 65%. I think that estimate is a little steep, but it’s probably around 40% or so. So with 20 people in the room, that means that anywhere from 5 to 10 people in that room probably had HIV. It was a sad thought, and I’m not really sure what brought it on. I obviously don’t know for sure if anyone in the room was infected at all, but just the possibility was enough to shock me and bring my mood down a little bit.

And on that note, I’ll wrap up. Sorry to leave on such a morbid note, but I promise, my next entry will be much happier!

Monday, April 16, 2007

And so it begins...

...ISP that is. But for now, let me catch you up on what I have been doing for the past week or so...

Last time I left off, I had gotten back to Nairobi from Tanzania. After the trip, we had about 4 days in Nairobi before leaving for ISP . These days were not very exciting, so I'll spare you all the boring details. I spent most of it writing a final paper, getting ready for ISP and getting some last minute details in order. Like I said, not too exciting, so we'll just skip right on to Kisumu...

Jen, Kelsey, Monica and I left for Kisumu on the 8:30 am bus on the 12th. Normally, the bus takes about 6 hours, but for several reasons, this one took longer. The first reason for this was getting stopped by the police. There are a lot of police check points on the roads, so this wasn't that big of a deal. But after about 15 minutes of not moving, people started getting a little rowdy. Normally you barely even stop for these check points. So we looked out our window to see our attendant surrounded by about 5 or 6 cops who were yelling at him and hitting him. We were a little freaked out and not really too sure how to react. The people on the bus seemed upset (for obvious reasons), but not too worried so we just sat there and waited. Some one told us that they were stopped for not having the right uniforms or something, but in reality they just wanted all the money they had collected that morning as a bribe. This is really common here - the police are pretty corrupt and if will often pull people over on bogus charges just to get some money from them. Pretty awesome, huh? After a few minutes, the attendant got into the back of the police car and they drove away. Our driver was still out there on his phone, but thankfully, they didn't arrest him. So he got back on the bus and we drove off as if nothing happened. Pretty crazy start to the trip, huh?

Then, about halfway through the trip, another cop got on the bus and we got a little worried again. But he was actually a good cop. Apparently, one of the women we picked up at a later stop didn't want to pay and was causing a big fuss. So the cop got on and told the woman that she had to pay just like everyone else and stayed there while she did. Nice change from the last cop we encountered. Other than those 2 incidents, the ride was pretty normal. There was a lot of truck traffic, so that added to the time as well. Oh, and another interesting thing about the ride was how many trucks we passed. There are no highways here, only 2 lane roads going both directions. But if the car/truck/bus in front of you is going slow, you can pass them. At any time. So there were a few close calls with on-coming traffic and a few passes around blind curves that kind of freaked us out a little, but I guess thats just the norm here. And we made it safely, so i guess it all worked out.

Pretty much, Kisumu is great and we have a really sweet set up. We are pretty much in a suite - 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a big balcony that, all of which can be completely closed off by a door that we can lock. One of the rooms is huge, so not only do we have 2 beds in there, but we also have a sitting area with a couch/extra bed, a coffee table, chairs and a TV. And all for 600/= a night (about $8.50). The balcony is also a great people watching spot, and I find myself just looking out onto the streets a lot, which can bring up a lot of mixed emotions. But its also a great way to pass the time. All in all, I love the apartment/hotel - and I actually have an area where I can unpack! I have been living out of my bags since February, so you can imagine how nice it was to finally put them to the side, even if it is only for a few weeks. My roommates and I have cooked for the past two nights, which is also really nice. Although depending on what you're getting and cooking, its almost actually cheaper to eat out sometimes, which is pretty ironic. But even cooking for ourselves is cheap - we made a stir fry last night, and for all 4 of us, the veggies were only about $1.50 - crazy, right?

And all the staff at the hotel are so friendly - they all love us and are really happy to have us. And some of them ask the most bizarre questions. Like today when I told one of them that I was from the States. His next question was "oh, so you know Madison Square Garden?" I said yes, I do know it. And his response was "Oh, so then you know the wrestlers? So they really shed blood there?". Wrestling is pretty big here, so that wasn't too weird to be asking about that, but it was still kind of funny. And I didn't even get into the whole wrestling is fake thing, because it just wouldn't have been worth either of our times to try and figure that one out. Oh, and another funny thing about Kenya (and Kenyans) is that they have no real concept of nationalities outside of Africa. I mean, they understand what it means to be British or American, but I could tell someone that I was from France, and they wouldn't question it, despite the huge American accent. I'm pretty sure I could even tell someone I was from Argentina and they would buy it. I'll have to test out that theory and let you know though...

Anyway, getting back on track, the manager at the hotel is our favorite. Her name is Diana, and she is so nice. Like I had said, we got there on a Thursday afternoon, and on Friday afternoon, she had us over to meet her (almost) 3 year old son and husband. Her son was so cute, and pretty well behaved, despite a strong mischievous streak. And her husband is also very nice - he talked a lot about America and the differences between the 2 countries - a very common topic of conversation for us. But she comes up to our room to say hi on almost a daily basis and always takes care of us. She is even going to show us how to make chapati (an amazing traditional Kenyan food) soon, so that's something to look forward to.

But other than that, we have spent the last few days just getting settled here. We all started work on our projects today, and I am looking forward to seeing how all of our projects develop over the next few weeks. Its a lot to take on, but something that should be good for me/us. Next time, I'll go into more detail about my project and the work that I am doing, but for now I think I'll cut it off here. Hope all is well with all of you - and keep the emails and the comments coming - I may not always respond, but that doesn't mean that I don't love reading them!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tanzania - Part 2

So to continue with where I left off, we got back to UAACC on the afternoon of the 4th and just relaxed, showered and did some laundry until dinner. We didn’t have anything planned after dinner, so after some technical difficulties, some of us watched the first half of Malcolm X while others headed to bed. While we were watching the movie, UAACC’s band Warriors from the East started practicing, and they provided an interesting background to the movie. They are a reggae band that is absolutely amazing. I guess I should stop here to explain that most of the staff at UAACC is Rastafarian, and so the fact that they were playing reggae was not a huge surprise. I was a little shocked to see so many Rasta’s in Tanzania, but that might also just have been a result of where we were staying. Either way, they had this amazing band that served as an interesting background to the movie. After we turned the music off, Karen (another girl in the group) and I decided to go and watch the band rehearse for a little while. They weren’t very hard to find, and were on the roof of one of the buildings in the compound. They loved the fact that we wanted watch, and even gave us instruments to play. Ok, so they might have just been tambourines but whatever. We were still a vital part of the rehearsal. Sitting on the roof was a little surreal. I kept having to remind myself where I was – in Tanzania at an amazing center surrounded by an incredible band who was pretty much giving us a private concert on a roof at about 11 at night – all less than 12 hours after having been in Maasai land for an amazing few days. Like I said, surreal to say the least. I really wanted to stay awake to see the end of their rehearsal, but as I was literally falling asleep in the chair (while playing the tambourine), I decided to head to bed.

The next morning was a typical African morning. We had planned to see some of the programs that UAACC has, but the woman who was supposed to show us around wasn’t there since it was Easter (Easter’s like a week long holiday here – I don’t really understand it.). So we ended up just hanging out all morning and talking, journaling, reading, etc. It was a little frustrating to not be doing anything, but kind of nice at the same time.

After lunch, we piled in the vans and went to an orphanage for some community service work. There was a little confusion as to what we were actually supposed to be doing, but things got worked out and we spent a few hours there painting doors, cleaning walls and floors and playing with some of the kids. They didn’t really tell us much about what the orphanage was all about, but I guess that’s not really too important, huh?

We headed back to UAACC for dinner, and afterwards had a discussion with the center’s HIV/AIDS education group that was fascinating. They first put on a skit for us that we didn’t really understand (it was in Kiswahili). Then we got to have a discussion with them which started out by us asking them a little bit more about what they do and how they get the messages out to the community, etc. They also asked us about how the disease is viewed in the states and how sex ed works. From there it got a little interesting…some of the questions they asked were:
-How can a condom protect against HIV since it was invented before the disease was an issue?
-Where did HIV come from?- Something about salt being able to escape through condoms and how this was possible (I think a large part of this one was lost in translation – we still don’t really get it)
-And my favorite – something about how when women wear skimpy clothes they are bound to get HIV because men can’t control themselves.
It was a little disheartening to hear some of their questions – I had kind of assumed a certain amount of knowledge about HIV/AIDS from them since they are the ones educating the community about it. But I guess that was a bad assumption on my part.

The next day we had planned on going to the International War Crimes Tribunal where we were going to see the trails regarding the Rwandan genocide. I was really excited to see it, but when we got off the bus, we were informed that it was closed for the day since it was Good Friday (damn Easter ruining our plans again). Apparently someone had checked if it was going to be open and was given the wrong information. So we changed our schedule around a little bit and were given the morning to explore the town of Arusha. I was really disappointed, but it was actually an awesome morning. I went with 2 friends from the program to an ice cream parlor, and then to a book store. After that we decided that we didn’t really want to shop anymore so we just walked around a little bit.

After a few minutes we found a park that led us to a playground – this was kind of shocking since playgrounds aren’t really something that you find all over the place in Africa. But we decided to take advantage of it and played around a little bit. I was a little upset to be wearing a skirt – not really conducive to playground-ing. But I still managed to make it work. A little while after we got there, we were joined by 3 young kids who were so cute – probably ranging from 5 – 8. We ended up playing with them for a few hours. The best part was that they didn’t ever ask us for anything. They were just so happy to be playing with us that that was all they wanted. And when we did by them some cookies, they split them equally between each other with out even a hesitation. Pretty great kids, huh? I kind of wanted to take one home with me, but I’m not sure how the officials at the airport would feel about me smuggling a kid back to the states…

We meet up with the rest of the group and spent the afternoon at a snake park – a little random, but interesting I guess. Snakes aren’t really my thing, and neither are zoos, but it was still pretty cool.

This was our last night with UAACC, which was pretty sad. We all really loved it there! But it was kind of cool, because the band that I was talking about was having their kick off concert for their East Africa tour that night. So we all went as an SIT sponsored event! It was a pretty cool show – like I said before, the band was awesome and has such great energy. The private roof-top show was definitely a lot cooler, but seeing them perform live for a bigger audience was also pretty sweet. It was a great show and a great conclusion to an amazing trip. I wish we could have spent more time there, but the next day it was an early morning wake up to drive back to Nairobi and all the pressures of SIT – papers, discussions and in a few days ISP (!).

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Panthers Goats and Beads - Tanzania part 1

As I thought, I'm breaking up this trip again. So with out further adu, here it is, part one:

We are staying at a place called the UAACC (United African Alliance Community Center) near a city called Arusha. It was started by Pete and Charlotte O'Neal. They are both Americans who were members of the Black Panther party in the middle of its prime. Pete started the chapter in Kansas City. He is here in Africa living in exile and hasn't been in the states since the 60's. The reason for this is the result of an interview he gave in which he said he wanted to storm into congress to take someone's head. And when the interviewer asked if hem meant that literally, he said yes, I do. About 3 weeks after this, he was brought up on charges of transferring a gun across state lines and was facing 15 years in jail. So instead of doing that, he moved to Africa - first to Algeria then to Tanzania. He has mellowed out a lot since his Panther days and while he still has the same ideas and beliefs, he realizes that there are more productive ways to attaining them. So he started the UAACC which does a lot of community development programs and education type things. He also started a clean water project where he helped install a water pump near the village so the families could have clean water close by. Its a pretty amazing place - a large compound with about 20 people living on it and room for about 20 students as well. They have students here all the time serving as interns and pretty much always have student groups around for one reason or another. Everyone is so amazingly welcoming and open that we all feel right at home. Its been great to just talk to everyone here, from Pete to the volunteers to the people who work here - they are all just such interesting people. And the food is fantastic (very American), we have free internet and a crazy amount of movies to pick from in our down time as well as a basketball court. I kind of fell like we're at summer camp, but its definitely the coolest summer camp ever.

The first day we were here we went on a safari through the Ngorongoro crater - its a collapsed volcano that has grown over with brush and is about 12 miles wide. There are all different types of animals in there and even a lake! Between driving there, getting over the crater wall, driving around inside it and getting back, we were there the whole day. We got to see monkeys, elephants, zebras, wildebeests, lions, hippos, random birds, ostriches, and a few other that I can't remember right now. The whole day was pretty cool, but the coolest part was at lunch. Our academic director (AD) had told us to be careful because there were eagles around who might steal your food. I didn't really take it too seriously, so I was just eating and talking like normal. Then all of a sudden this thing flew in front of me and before I knew what had happened, my food was gone. An eagle had stolen it right out of my hand! The only mark he left was a little scratch on my finger - its amazing how precise they are. I'm kind of hoping the scratch will scar because I think that can beat most scar stories hands down.

The next morning we had a dancing workshop at UAACC and learned a traditional African dance. It was a lot of fun despite how ridiculous we all looked. After lunch they let the nearby residents come in and they had a traditional dance show that also featured us doing our dance. I'm not sure how well that went over, but it was fun at least. We also had to do some kind of American cultural thing, and despite the hard time we all had agreeing on something, that went over really well.

As if all that wasn't cool enough, the next few days were so much cooler. We left for Maasai land on the 2nd, and staying with them was one of the coolest things I've ever done. We drove about an hour and picked up Ngoingoi, our Maasai guide on the side of the road. We turned off the road at a seemingly random spot and drove for about 10 minutes. How he knew where to go we had no idea - there were no paths or road that we could see but despite that we were still making turns and headed in a definite direction. We got to our campsite and spent the rest of the day setting up and getting familiar with the area. We toured Ngoingoi's Boma (compound), met his family - his 2 wives, siblings, son and parents and got to see their houses within the compound. After that, we went for a walk to gather herbs for tea and then helped them prepare the tea. I really wanted to like it, but it pretty much just tasted like dirt to me. But at least I tried it, right? Later that night, we had a chance to talk to some Maasai elders who told us (through 2 translators - one from Maa to Swahili and then from Swahili to English) a story about hunting lions and how every group of warriors has to kill at least one lion. First they cut off the tail while it is sleeping and then they run after it and kill it b spear. And the first guy to hit it with his spear becomes a huge celebrity and may have upwards of 10 girlfriends, some of whom he "might happen to sleep with" as we were told. They also asked us a bunch of questions - mostly focusing on animals and what kind of animals we have. They were surprised to hear that there were any wild animals, because according to them there is no place in America where we haven't built over the wild - aren't the stereotypes funny?

The next day was really amazing - we woke up really early to see the sunrise over Kilimanjaro. Jealous? Don't be - we didn't see anything. It was super cloudy and by the time we got to where we were going, the sun had already risen. So yes, it was really cool, but not as cool as I had hoped. After that, we helped milk goats before breakfast, and definitely got shown up by the Maasai in the milking department...

And then it got even better. After breakfast, we went to Orpul - a sacred site where the warriors go to sacrifice animals (goats and cattle). What did we do here you might ask? That's right - we helped the warriors sacrifice a goat. It was absolutely crazy. And in Maasai culture, the blood is one of the most sacred parts of an animal, so of course they can't slit the throat like in most cultures. So they hold it down and suffocate it. That's right. It was a little weird to watch, but they do it with so much respect for the animal that its hard to find it totally disturbing. Then we got to help them skin and butcher it. And they use every part and are so precise about it all. Some of it they eat raw (the heart, the blood, the liver) some they roast and everything else the boil in a soup, which is actually pretty gross (shocker, huh?). The whole process took about 2-3 hours and it was so awesome, and kind of gross all at the same time. We also got to hang out with the warriors and take pictures with them - which they loved. They loved wearing or hats and sunglasses and using our cameras - and it was really cool to see someone in full Maasai garb using a camera and wearing sunglasses (google them and you'll understand why).

After the goat sacrifice, we spent the afternoon going to their grazing lands, playing traditional Maasai games and learning more about them in general. We also got to dance with them that night, which was so intense. Their dancing involves a lot of jumping and chanting, and the only light around was from the full moon. Probably the best dance party I've ever been to. Oh, and as if that wasn't cool enough, they walked us back to our campsite too - we definitely felt pretty baller having the Maasai escort us back.

The next day was our last day with the Maasai. Another huge part of their culture is beading - everyone has beads and they are all really symbolic. So we got to sit with some of the women and bead with them all morning and learn (again, through 2 translators) what all the beading meant. It was fun to spend time with the women, we really hadn't gotten too much of a chance to do that before this. And watching them make all the intricate jewelry they wear was so awesome (again, google it and you'll understand).

Sadly, we had to leave Maasai Land after that. We spent a few more days at UAACC, but I'll save those days for the next blog entry - its getting kind of late and this one is already pretty long...

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Good times in Nairobi

Two entries in one week - lucky you! I am posting again so soon because we have another trip coming up. It is called the educational tour, and there are two options. Some people in the group are going to Uganda, while the other part of the group is going to Tanzania. I am heading to Tanzania tomorrow, and am so excited. Among some of the things we are going to do is spend a few days with Pete O'Neil, a founder of the Black Panthers who now lives in exile there with his wife, spend three days with the Maasai learning about their culture, mainly dancing and bead work, we are going to the War Crimes tribunals and to the spot where humanity is thought to have begun. So you can see why I'm excited - I'm sure there will be at least on long entry when I get back - so get ready for that.

I have been in Nairobi for about a week, and have been very busy. I've been doing a lot of work to prepare for ISP, as well as some assignments and papers for SIT. We also had some amazing visits to different organizations in Nairobi that I wanted to share:

UN Habitat
This is the UN's branch for urban housing development, and since they are based in Nairobi, they do a lot of work on slum development. The city of Nairobi is home to two of the biggest slums in Africa - Kibera and Mathere. We met with one of the people from the Office of the Director, an American named Chris Winters. He was actually a former SIT Kenya alum and a former Academic Director for the program. He gave us some words of advice about our ISP which I think was helpful for all of us. Then he gave us a brief background on UN Habitat and what they do. After about 20 minutes on that, he opened it up to questions and stayed with us for about another half hour. It was absolutely one of the best lectures I have ever had. He was amazingly smart and competent, and actually talked about the reality of the situation, and not just policy. One of the major complaints about the lectures so far has been that the people just talk about the government policy and not what is actually happening in reality. So this was a great change. He also went on a few rants about how development theories need to change and was just so eloquent about it. I was a little shocked to hear a UN guy speaking so freely, and he even said "I love talking to students this way because I could never say any of this to diplomats". He gave us all a lot of new insights, and after the hour talk with him, my brain was definitely in shock - it was a lot to take in. Another encouraging thing about the lecture was that I understood the vast majority of it and followed all of it. He used a lot of jargon and talked really fast about some semi-complex stuff. I'm not sure if I would have understood half as much of what he was saying last year. That made me feel good - as much as I dislike my classes at GW and the American academic system in general, I guess I am learning something!

MYSA
The Mathare Youth Sports Association. This is an amazing NGO that works in the slum in Mathare. Their main focus is sports as a mode of development, and they are doing an awesome job at it. It was started by a Norwegian man, but is now completely run by young people form Mathare. In order to be a member of MYSA, you have to be either playing on or coaching a team, and the teams start as young as 8. Once you are a member, you have full access to all their resources and information, of which there is a lot. They have a library with 2 computers, an HIV/AIDS resource center, peer counseling for HIV/AIDS or anything else you may need, and they also offer scholarships for various things. Every team has to participate in a community service activity at least once a year to try and help clean up the slum a little bit. If they don't participate, they can't qualify for the MYSA league tournament no matter how many games they have won. They also do a lot of leadership development and the people that were taking us around for the day were all about 20 years old and had been involved in MYSA for at least 8 years. One of the women even got a scholarship for high school through MYSA and said that she wouldn't have been able to go with out it.

There were two main highlights form this trip: one was getting a tour of the slum. I have seen pictures and videos before, but it is still always a shock to see it in real life. All the garbage everywhere, dirty water running throughout and kids playing in all the muck and garbage. The saddest part for me was that I realized that most of the young kids probably have no concept that that's not what a childhood is supposed to be like. They don't understand that most kids in the world don't play on garbage all the time and that they have houses with running water and electricity. The other thing that really struck me that you don't get in the pictures is the smell. It was really bad, and I couldn't imagine being around it all the time. I'm sure you get used to it after a while, but again, no one should have to get used to living in that kind of environment. I am very glad that I saw it and got a chance to walk through, but it was something that was really hard for me to do.

To lighten the mood after the slum tour, they brought us back to the MYSA headquarters where their dance troupe, Haba na Haba (Step by Step) did one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen. They started off with traditional dances and music that was great and a lot of fun to watch. There were both boys and girls doing it, I would say from ages 8 to 13. Then the acrobatics group came out and blew us all away. These kids (all male) were between 11 and 15 and were probably some of the strongest people I have ever seen. They did all these amazing flips and jumps and stunts for about 15 minutes. And to top it all off, they were doing it all on a concrete floor. No mats, no padding or anything. None of us could believe that they were doing this for real. They would just jump around and make these crazy pyramid like formations like it was nothing. Since again, I would never be able to describe it in words, here's another pic:

Football
The day after the MYSA visit, we got treated by SIT to a football match! It was the Harambe Stars (the Kenyan National team) vs. the Swaziland national team. It was a qualifying game for the Africa Cup being held in Ghana in 2008, and Kenya won! They still have many more games before they get there, but this is a good step. The score was 2-0. Everyone was getting really into it, and all the Kenyans were yelling in Swahili, which we all really enjoyed. The stadium was pretty small and nothing fancy at all,and had a capacity of about 30,000. But add all the people who sneak in and sit wherever they can (on the grass, on the stairs, etc) and there were at least 35,000. It was a really fun afternoon adn made me realize how much I like football! I will definitely have to go to some games back in DC (anyone want to join me?!) Another cool thing about this game was that it was the first official game for Kenya in about 6 months. FIFA banned Kenya from football for 6 months due to government corruption and interference in the league. But the ban was lifted about 3 weeks ago, and this was the first game since then. And to make it better, we won! So it was kind of historic as well, which is a cool little side note.

Maasai Market
The Maasai are a very famous tribe in eastern Africa, and are known for their beadwork and cloth. Every tuesday, there is a market in city center where they just come in with all of their stuff - everything from bead work to fabric to paintings to clothing, and baskets and handi -crafts. For you DC folk, think Eastern Market but about 300 times better. And the best part is that no price is set. They expect you to negotiate, so you can get some crazy good deals. And its also a great place to practice Swahili - and they'll give you better deals if you talk to them in Swahili. Espcially if you go at the end of the day when they are packing up. I got a lot of cool stuff, and after I got home just spread it out on my bed and stared at it for a while. I got braelets, head scarfs, and lots of other fun stuff. Its an amazing market that I'm really going to miss when I get back to the states.

That about sums up my fun activities in Nairobi. Like I said, I am leaving for Tanzania tomorrow, so I may not be able to post until after I get back. But save your energies for that, because I'm sure it'll be a long one.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Adventures in Kisumu

So I love Kisumu. It's a great little city/big town and where I am going to be spending about a month. It actually reminds me a lot of Poughkeepsie - same general size and the same atmosphere as well. I had a really good meeting with the organization I want to work with too - Kick Trading. They are a Fair Trade company who work with a lot of artisans in the area making things from recycled materials. I will leave my description of their projects, history, etc for a later entry when I actually have worked with them a little bit and know what I'm talking about. But I do want to share the story of my first days working with Kick.

I showed up on Monday morning about 11am, completely unannounced. This actually, is not rare in Kenya. It's not considered rude to just show up at an office and ask for a meeting. And it's actually a little more efficient this way. If you schedule a meeting, the other person might not show up, might be late or might forget about it. But this way, you are in the office and they kind of have no choice but to deal with you. Anyway, like I was saying, I show up and meet with the 3 main office staff members and tell them about why I am here and what I want to do. And they were so awesome, and totally open to having me work with them. But the asked me if I could come back at about 3, because they were busy setting up for a meeting. They told me that there was a group if buyers from Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) coming at 3, and if I wanted, I could sit in on the meeting. For those of you that don't know, TTV is a big Fair Trade store with stores all over the US and Canada. They're a big name in FT, so needless to say, I was a little excited about the meeting. So I headed out of the office and over to the Kiwanis compound for a few hours...

Perhaps I should talk about why and how I ended up at the Kiwanis Compund. Leah, the S.I.T. coordinator for western Kenya, is a member and has some official position in the local Kiwanis club (she might even be the president). The compund is around the corner from Kick, and while she was taking me to the Kick office, we stopped by to say hi and so that I could meet the people at the compound. They were all very nice. She told me about a feeding program they do for about 50 school kids who can't afford lunch, and said that I should come over to help out after my meeting with Kick. I agreed, and actually looked forward to it. So, when I had about 4 hours to kill before my meeting, I went there. It is an amazing place. They have a small resturaunt, the feeding program, as well as a reduced price lunch for about 50 other kids, a small micro-credit program for women, weekend activities (extra classes, music lessons, etc), and are looking to start a nursery school in the next year or 2. As if all that wasn't amazing enugh, they are also working on a project to make re-useable sanitary napkins for girls. There are a lot of problems here with girls missing school for a week during their periods becuase they can't afford pads or tampons, you can imagine how much this puts the girls back. So they are working on prototypes now, and are looking to have them ready and to sell for about 30 shillings (about $0.50). They are also looking to get the idea to an organization who can mass produce them for cheap, because as my tour guide, Rachel, said, they don't want to keep this a secret - they want as many girls as possible to be able to use them. I was really impressed by the whole compound and its definitely somewhere that I am planning on spending a decent amount of time at during ISP. There are 2 foriegn volunteers there - one American and one Canadian, and they and the rest of the staff was so welcoming and nice. Working there will be a great break from the stress of ISP.

So after helping out there for a few hours, I went back to Kick to find that the buyers were stck in Kisii (About 2 hours away), and wouldn't actually be in the office until 8:30 the next morning. I asked if I could come back then, and they were very happy that I was able to come back. I got up very early the next morning, to give myself some time to get lost. But, incredibly, I made it there without a hitch. I got there about 8, and helped them set up chai and cookies for the group, and got to know the staff a little better. The group showed up at 8:30, and at that point had a short breifing about Kick and a Q&A session. It was great for me because a lot of my questions were answered as well. Then we took a tour of the area where most of the artisans do their carving - and it was really interesting. The buyers were all really interested in taking pictures and talking with the artisans, and I couldn't help but think about how voyeristic the whole thing was. I think that that's going to be an issue that I have a lot of problems with during ISP - am I just here to study these people or is what I'm doing actually going to benifit someone? Anyway, all the people were really nice and really interested in what I was doing. One woman even wants me to email her my paper at the end! They were touring Kenya and Uganda on a learning tour - to visit the places where their products come from. One of the women I was talking to said that after these tours, the sales of products from that area of the world always increase, sometimes enough to pay for the trip itself. I learned a lot from the meeting, and was really happy that both parties allowed me to be there - it was a really encouraging first day. After the TTV people drove away, I worked out some of the details with the Kick staff, and as I was leaving, Issac (the manager), told me that when I came back he'd have some work for me to do - this made me even more excited. I don't want this to be just a one way exchange - I want them to be able to get as much from me as I am going to get from them, and his comment showed that he agreed with that, despite us never having talked about it. So between Kick and Kiwanis, it looks like I am going to be very busy during ISP! Just the way I wanted it!

I realize that I got so excited about talking about my meeting and ISP, that I left out another very crucial part of the weekend that I want to share before wrapping up. We got there on a saturday afternoon, and since offices were closed the next day, we did a little site seeing. We went to the Kakamega rainforest about 1.5 hours north of Kisumu. We had some troubles getting in - the security guard was a major bitch and wouldn't give us the student price since we didn't have a letter from our institution to verfiy we were students. So instead of paying the $3 student price, we had to pay the $20 tourist price. We were not happy about this to say the least. But we all payed and agreed to let it go and enjoy the forest. We walked around for about 3 or 4 hours, first to a little water fall, and then up a huge hill to the top of a viewing point - it was amazing. Just green for miles and miles. It was a really tough climb (we didn't actually know there was a real path until after coming down, so we just hiked up the side of the mountain...harder, but much cooler), and we were all dripping by the end, but it was so worth it. And since what they say about a picture being worth 1,000 words is true, here you go:



With that, I'll close out my Kisumu adventure, at least for now. I am heading back there in about 3 weeks, so there will be a lot more detail to come about Kisumu, Kick, my ISP and I'm sure lots of other things as well. As always, thanks for reading and thanks for all the comments - I love reading them!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

"So, what are you actually doing in Kenya?"

That's a question a lot of you asked me before coming here, and I know that when I answered you, I was very vague. That was largely due to the fact that I myself didn't really know exactly what I was getting into. That's just how S.I.T. (School for International Training), and most things in developing countries works. You just have to kind of jump in and go with the flow. But now that I've been for just over a month, I can give you a much better idea of what I have been doing, and what I will be doing for the next 2 months.

In Nairobi, we have classes. Lots of them. There are 2 lectures in the morning, and then one in the afternoon, a total of about 6 hours everyday. The classes are either Swahili, development, public health, cultural stuff orfield study prep. They are usually pretty interesting, aside from the health lectures. I'm not sure why, but the people they bring in to lecture to us on the health side are all just really bland. And since it is a different person every time, they end up covering a lot of the same topics. So it's a little frustrating, but when I start getting bored in lecture, I just think to myself "this lecture may suck, but I'm in Kenya, so it could be worse".

Other than the lectures, we also spend a good amount of time traveling. The travel is why i picked this program - we don't spend all of our time in the classroom, but a lot of it out in the country. And if you've read the last two entries, you should understand why I say this is my favorite part. Going to Bodo/Mombasa was amazing to say the least, and we have more travel coming up. On Saturday, about 10 of us are going toKisumu , in western Kenya near Lake Victoria to prepare for our Independent Study Projects (more to come on that later) and staying until Tuesday. It's supposed to be an amazing area, and I'm really excited to go. I'm surethere'll be a size-able entry about it when I get back next week.

After that, we are back in Nairobi for a few more days of lecture and then we are going on a 10 day trip to Tanzania. And this one should rival Bodo. We are going on safari, spending 3 days with theMaasai learning about their culture first hand, spending some time with one of the founders of the Black Panthers who is living in exile in Tanzania with his wife, and going to the War Crimes Tribunal, among other things. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. Again, I'm sure there will be at least one very long entry after I get back from this trip.

After Tanzania, we have about a week in Nairobi before we start our Independent Study Project (ISP). What this is is pretty much a thesis. We can pick any topic relating to development or public health that interests us, and we spend a month (from April 12 until May 12) researching it and writing a 30 - 40 page paper about it. Then we come back together as a group to each give a half hour presentation on our topic to the rest of the group. For my ISP, I am planning to look at Fair Trade as a method of development - does it actually do anything for the people? I am going to Kisumu because there are several Fair Trade organizations there for me to study and it gets me out of Nairobi (I'm not the biggest fan of this city). Most of my research is going to come from first hand interviews with the people producing the crafts, books, and NGO's like Oxfam. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to be doing - working with real people regarding their development, not learning about it in a classroom. I know that's not very specific, but I should have a better idea about what my ISP will look like next week after I get back.

As far as other topics go, they are really broad and I'm really interested to hear the presentations at the end of May. In case you're curious, some of the topics are:
-Why a Luo (a certian tribe) can't be president of Kenya
-Human rights abuses in prisons
-women and development (there are a few on this)
-there are several regarding HIV/AIDS in different ways
-the effect of university research on rural agriculture
-Swahili language and development
-how soccer can help development
-there are also a few regarding the situation of refugees
-there are several on health - malaria research, infectious diseases, and malnutrition

There are a lot more, but that's just a very short list. People are traveling all over Kenya to do their research, and it should be really interesting to see what they come up with. Everyone's topic has changed at least 3 times, and just seeing that process has been so interesting. So it'll be really exciting to see how they all end up in May.

ISP ends in May, as does the program. I'm still not sure what I'm doing after the program ends, so I won't even start to get into that yet. But I hope that clarifies why I'm here for a lot of people and what I'm doing. It's been so much better then I ever thought so far, and it should only get better from here!

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

The adventure continues...Bodo - part 2

So last time I pretty much set the scene for my week in Bodo. So now let me get into the specifics of what I did and how I spent my time.

Sunay was our first full day there, and they took us swimming in the Indian ocean. Bodo is on the water, but on a little bay type area, so we took a boat about 15 minutes out to a sandbar off the coast of an island called Funzi Island (it;s a big tourist island, so you might be able to google it and find pictures and info). It was so beautiful and we were all just so excited to be in Kenya and in the Indian Ocean - it was a pretty sweet experience. The water was so beautiful and it was such an awesome day. We all got pretty sun burnt, despite the bottles of SPF 45 and over we put on. But that's what we get for trying to go swimming on the equator. For the rest of the week, I was pretty much the sunburn expert. People who had never really had bad burns or peeled kept asking me things like "So, does this look normal to you?", "Will this peel?" and "So, how long will I be peeling for?". I think it's the only time that my vast sunburn experience has ever been put to good use. I'm glad to say that although I did get a pretty decent burn, I was not the worst one in the group by far.

For the rest of the week, our days pretty much had the same structure. We spent the mornings learning Swahili, had lunch and spent the afternoons working on a small group research project. Mine was about all the uses for a coconut and the tree. And they do use it for EVERYTHING. But more to come on that later. There were a few days were there was a locals vs. sit student football (soccer) and volleyball games. There were 4 games total, and we got killed in both football games, beat in one of the volleyball games, and despite a valiant attempt by us at the last volleyball game, we still lost. But it was a lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed it.

After class and the various after school activities, we would all go home and spend time with our families, which I loved. My family was awesome at including me in everything, and all I had to do was ask my brother "What is (s)he doing?" and he would explain it to me and then who ever it was would let me try it. I usually failed, but my family was very patient and had a great sense of humor about it all. Most of the things that I "helped" with involved cooking, so I think I should take this opportunity to explain a little bit about Kenyan food.

It is very, very carb based. Atkins would have a heart attack if he came over here (sorry about the bad pun, it wasn't intentional, I promise). I'll describe the food in the village, but its pretty similar in Nairobi too. The main staple of dinner is called Ugali. It is literally just boiled water mixed with corn flour until it comes to a consistancy that resembles mashed potatoes (but no where near as tastey). It is very dry and bland. So to go with it, they make a simple version of vegetable stew that is actually very tastey. It could also be served with cabbage, kale, both of which I really like. Other times it will be chicken - on the bone of course, or fish. Yes, I did eat fish. About 5 times in 8 days. And I realized that I really don't like fish. Before coming here, I hadn't had any fish in about 7 years, so eating it here was a huge step for me. Especially when my mom would just hand me a whole fish that had been boiled, complete with bones, the skin and the head still on it. Yeah, I was a little freaked out by that. But I sucked it up and ate it - I could tell that it was a rarity for them to have, so I didn't want to offend them. But don't get excitied - I do not plan on having fish for a very long time after this program is over. Other then that, we would sometimes have rice in place of the ugali, which was a nice break. For breakfast (aside from the chai of course) was chapati - its almost like a pita without the pocket and a little thinner. Hard to describe, but absolutely amazing. It has quickly become one of my favorite foods. We would also have mandazi in several variations - some were similar to biscuts or donuts or fried dough. They were also very good, although a little sweet for breakfast. And the funny thing is that they use the same spices in the mandazi as they do in the chai, so everything kind of tastes like the tea. But I like it, so it wasn't too bad. Oh, and we ate with our hands. And since it was a Muslim community, only our right hand. It was a little weird to get used to at first, but now I really like it. It was even kind of weird when I came back to Nairobi and all of a sudden had to use silver wear again. And when I tried to explain to my family that it was considered rude to eat with your hands in America they didn't really get it. Ahh, cultural differences. Gotta love them.

Anyway, my mama and sister would always let me help stir the ugali or roll out the chapati or mandazi and it was so awesome. And don't worry, my brother insisted on taking pictures of me doing all of this, so they'll all be up eventually, and I'll post the link when I can. Although, at slow connections that charge by the minute I don't think that's going to be until I get home in May...The kids in my family were so cute about taking pictures. I was a little hesitant to take it out at first, but they LOVED it! They would pose for a picture and then run to surround me and look at the picture I had just taken. They all loved it and I am planning on making them an album to send back to them soon.

Anyway, like I said, it was a Muslim village, so it was very conservative. I made the mistake of letting my knee show one afternoon, and my sister made it appoint to com over and pull my skirt down to cover it. And I wasn't ever able to go out of the house without my head covered by something. Definitely an interesting experience coming from America. But I got over it after a few days and enjoyed how ridiculous we all looked with our mismatching outfits and struggling to keep our head scarves on.

As far as daily life goes, hanging out with my family was definitely the coolest part. Even when they were all speaking in Kidoge or Swahili I enjoyed listening to them and trying to figure out what they were talking about. I'm not sure that they fully understood why I was there, but they were still glad to have me anyway. I was continually amazed by everything - women carrying 5 gallon jugs full of water on their heads, how welcoming everyone was, how resourceful they were, but mostly the kids - especially the young girls. My 7 year old sister would get up everymorning at about 6 to wash the dishes and sweep out the house. No questions asked. Young girls would be carrying babies that were about half their size and e totally comfortable with doing it. They all also know how to cook, clean and pretty much run an entire household by the time they are 10. I just kept thinking about what I was doing when I was about 8. I'm pretty sure I was still eating mud and playing hockey with barbie heads in the basement. And these kids are so responsible. They would play games and have fun, but they also just understand that they need to do all of these other things and get it done. Its amazing. I'm pretty sure my 7 year old sister is more responsible than I am.

They are also so generous. They share everything they have and even gave me presents! They gave me a really cheesy straw hat, straw fans, a little basket, and my favorite - a 5 foot long woven mat that is amazing. It's got these great colors on it - straw, maroon, green and purple and I'm in love with it. Right now its rolled up in the storage room at the SIT office, but I'm really excited to have a chance to use it. Oh, Gaby and Daryn - it is going to be somewhere in the room next year. You'll just have to deal with it.

So, in writing this, I'm realizing that I could go on for days writing about this one week alone. And this is already getting pretty long, so let me just wrap up with one more story. Like I said above, they use coconuts for everything. And as you may know, coconut trees are very very tall. Some were easily over 100 feet tall. So with no machinery or electricity to get them down, you can see the problem that would arise. So to get them down, they have special people who are trained to climb coconut trees. We got to see one of them in action and it was possibly the craziest thing I've ever seen. The get up the tree by using a rope (made from the coconut tree palms) around their feet and literaly jumping/shimme-ing up the tree. They go up so fast - it takes them less then 3 minutes to get up the 100 foot tree. Oh yeah, and did I mention that they carry a machete on their back in their shorts? Yeah, they do. Like I said, crazy. So once they shimme up the 100 foot tree with only a rope and a machete they cut the cocnuts off and they just drop down. Unfortunatly I couldn't see how they manage to do this without falling out of the tree - the palms were in the way and it was really really high. We only saw the coconuts fall and then saw him shimmi back down the tree. Again, in under 3 minutes. Then he cut them up for us and handed them out to all of us. Talk about fresh!

As promised, I'll wrap it up here. I hope the length wasn't too overwhelming for anyone, and I appreciate you reading this far! So until next time...

Sunday, March 4, 2007

The Bodo story, part 1

Sorry for the delay, but this has been a hard entry to write. The week I spent in the village was AMAZING, and trying to put it all into words is a little overwhelming. So since it's taken me a long time to write even this much, I've decided to split this entry into 2 parts. This one has already gotten really long, and you can expect another pretty long one later this week. But for now, here is part 1 of my Mombasa/Bodo saga. I hope you enjoy it.

From Nairobi (which is pretty central in Kenya), we took an overnight train to Mombasa, on the coast. It was a fun train ride and we were all really excited about the next 2 weeks. The best part about the ride was looking out at the sky at night. I think i had my head out the window for at least 2 hours. The night sky is absolutely beautiful. I've never seen so many stars in my life and the moon was shining so brightly. It was absolutely incredible. We got to Mombasa in the morning and spent some time shopping and walking around. I absolutely love Mombasa, but more on that later.

We only spent a few hours in the city before piling back into the van and driving about 2 hours south to the rural village of Bodo. The ride was so pretty, but I ended up sleeping for most of it. We turned down a sand road and drove a few miles into the center of the village. We were all pretty anxious about what we would find there, but all that melted away the second we pulled up. All the kids in the village were there to welcome us, jumping up and down and singing songs. I have to say that it was probably the best welcome I've ever had and it made us all so happy. We went to the pavilion that would be our main meeting/hang out spot for the week, where they had chai and snacks set up for us. After about 45 minutes, we were all introduced to our new families and lead to our homes.

Before I go on, I want to explain a little about Bodo. It's a small Muslim, rural village right on the coast of the Indian Ocean with only a little electricity for the whole village and no running water at all. Most of the men are either fishers, involved in the tourism industry, make random crafts, sell foods (coconuts, rice, meat, eggs, etc) in local markets, or are unemployed. All the women have no "real" job, but work harder then anyone I've ever seen. They clean the house, make the food, take care of the kids and laundry, etc. They are working all the time, it's amazing. And most of the men just sit around - it was a little frustrating to see. But everyone there was so welcoming and so nice - by the second day we all felt at home in Bodo.

My Family

My mama was absolutely amazing. She spoke no English, and I found out later in the week that she usually didn't even speak Swahili, but rather Kidoge, her tribal language. It was kind of a relief when I found that out. I realized that the reason I didn't understand what she was saying wasn't because my Swahili was that bad, but actually because she wasn't speaking Swahili at all. I found out throughout the week that she's a midwife, and that she also helped to start a women's group in Bodo that's similar to a micro-credit organization. Whenever she said anything, it got done - even the chickens and goats listened to her. Sometimes she would just look at me, say "Ahh, Bodo!" and start laughing. She knew that I barely understood a word she was saying, but she would still just start talking to me and asking me questions anyway, and then either laugh and walk away or nod and walk away depending on my answer. There were a few tricky situations where I agreed to do something (like, for example, agree that I was tired and wanted to sleep) when what I thought I was agreeing to was something else (like a shower or to help her cook). But luckily everything would always get resolved.

The rest of my family was awesome as well. I had a 21 year old brother who spoke perfect English and was my tour guide/interpreter the whole weekend. He would ask me questions about America - like do we have monkeys or elephants, and generally about how things work there. It was so funny that so much of the stuff we take as common knowledge just isn't here. Like the fact that Barack Obama is the senator from Illinois, not the senator of the US. Or when he asked me about men having more than 1 wife. It was an eye opening experience to say the least. It's not that he was stupid at all, but rather that they stuff that we take for granted they just aren't taught. But having him around made me really conscience of gender roles in the area. I wasn't sure exactly how to act around him, and was kind of afraid I would somehow be married to him by the end of the week. But luckily, that didn't end up happening. I just kind of felt like I was on an awkward date with him the whole time. But I am very thankful he was around and so helpful. I also had a 15 year old nephew who spoke pretty good English as well. He liked to teach me Swahili, and he taught me the names of the planets (useful, I know), body parts, days of the week, and other random things. My favorite was when I asked him to teach me future tense and he taught me how to say "future tense" in Swahili. Not exactly what I wanted...

Other then that, I had 2 sisters, one who was very pregnant and should be having the child any day, and another sister who was only around for a few days before going back to her village 30 kilometers away. I also had a bunch of Aunts, Uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. In villages like Bodo, everyone is related somehow. Either by blood or by some other way. For example, if a father dies, his children become his brother's children. It makes for some very confusing explanations of family ties, especially coming from an American perspective. But I loved my family - I loved having people walking in and out all the time. And they were so good about including me in what they were doing and being patient with me. But more to come on that later.

For the first few days, my family would just stare at me sometimes. I can't really blame them. They also laughed at me. A lot. Again, I can't really blame them. But it was in a very good natured way, and I was also laughing at myself most of the time, so I was really ok with it all.

My House

My house was very nice - a thatched roof, mud walls on the outside (that makes them cooler as the air can flow through) and concrete walls on the inside. There was extra space between the walls and the ceiling to provide for air circulation, but it also helped with noise circulation. Everyone pretty much heard everything that went on. There were several times when I heard my family practice saying my name in the morning, or heard my mom cooking, etc. It was really nice though - I liked hearing it all.

There were 3 rooms, and I shared one with my Mama. I did have my own bed, which was more then some people could say. I was happy about that. I didn't really see the other 2 rooms though. Straight down about a 15 foot hallway from the front door was the backyard area. This was where the living room, kitchen, bathroom and shower all were (and I use all those terms very loosely). The bathroom was about the size of a cubical with a hole in the ground, the shower was a little bigger and was just a bucket on the ground. There was no real "door" to the shower, so it was a little awkward. But after about 2 days and about 314 liters of sweat dripping off of me, I got used to it. The kitchen was a little bigger and was just a fire pit with rocks they used to balance the pots on. It was pretty cool to see how much they were able to cook on that one pit. Our living room was just a big open outdoor space between the house, kitchen, bathroom and shower. We used that space to eat, have chai, talk, hang out, whatever. We spent a lot of time outside, especially at night which I loved. All the stars in the sky were so amazing and I could have spent hours just looking up at them. I felt so comfortable in the house and I really do think that I could have stayed there for a lot longer. I'm not really sure what it was - but there was just something there, and I felt so much at home.

So with that, I'll wrap up part one. Like I said, I'll update again as soon as I can about the things I did, family life etc. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and thanks again to everyone for all the comments. It makes me really happy to know that you are along for the ride with me!

Friday, February 16, 2007

A note for all my loyal readers

Once again, I have nothing specific to report, and actually need to get going in like 5 minutes, but I just wanted to let all my loyal readers (I know there are so many of you out there) know that I may not be posting for a week or two.

We are traveling to Mombasa today (it's about a 14 hour train ride, right on the coast) and going to spend about a week in a rural village, Bodo. I am very excited, and a little nervous - there is no running water or electricty. And definitely no internet. So if you don't hear from me for a little while, this is why. I'm sure I will be posting an uber-long entry about my adventures when I get back, so save your energy for that. Don't worry, I have my malaria medicine, bug spray, head lamp and my journal all ready to go!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

A lesson in Kenyan culture

So in the past few days, I have been getting settled in a little more. The family and I are warming up to each other, and while it might not be the best home stay situation, it's not a bad one. The past few days have been pretty standard - get up at 6:30-7 (yes, I am out of bed by about 7 every day), leave for school at 7:45-ish, then have class all day. It can be Swahili, lectures on a variety of topics, or as we did today, Swahili love songs. Yes, we had a class where we sang Swahili songs. All of you who wondered why I decided on SIT, that's why. Cause singing is a legitimate form of education. Then I spend some time after school with friends, go home about 6:30, eat around 8:30, and am in bed by about 9:30 either writing or sleeping.

So, since there has been no big news to report in the last few days, I thought I'd take this opportunity to fill you in on some interesting details of Kenyan culture. So here they are:

-Kenyans love chai (tea) and drink it at least twice a day. But, they boil the milk in with the water which is a little weird. Good for killing bacteria in unpasteurized milk, bad for those of us who use milk to cool their tea down.

- Obama is HUGE here. There are always news reports and articles about him. They love calling him "Kenyan-American" as opposed to "African-American"

- Tribal heritage is also hugely important. People stereotype every one based on their tribe. I even heard someone say that since Obama is a Lou, he could never be a good leader.

- Times are more guidelines then anything else. Even if you have a set time for something, the person will show up late, if at all. Oh, and there's technically no Swahili word for "busy"

- People here never really get awkward. If they have nothing to say, they just kind of sit there. Anyone who has spent more then 10 minutes with me knows who bizarre of a concept this is.

- Nairobi is home to Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. People here are almost proud of that fact in a really weird way.

- The school kids here know one English phrase - "How are you?" and they all yell it to us in a chorus from the edge of their schoolyards as we pass on the way to school. Answering them in Swahili really throws them and is pretty fun.

- Almost half the population here is Muslim and I can even hear the call to prayer from my house. And no one here is gay. It's just not talked about. Being in a such a heavily Muslim and homophobic area is something that I find very foreign coming from the states and GW in particular.

- They all speak at least 3 languages - their tribal language, Swahili and English. Many of them even know more then that.

- There are no real sidewalks here - only a dirt path if you're lucky. My feet are going to be dirty for the next 3 months, and I'm actually pretty ok with it.

Alright, that's all I have for now, but I'm sure there'll be more to come in the near future. Hope you enjoyed it!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

A Kenyan 21st and a new family

Ok, first off, a disclaimer. This keyboard (like most over here) are really hard to type on, so please don't judge my grammar. Oh, and this is going to be a very long post. I may not post again for a few days, so feel free to read a little and come back. I won't be offended. Ok, on to the post!

Thanks to everyone for the comments and the bday wishes - it means a lot to me! I may not have time to get back to all of you personally, but know that I appreciate it and miss and love you all.

So, to catch you up on my life since the last post, we have officially moved into Nairobi. We spent the last few days of orientation at another convent/hostel that was very nice. The next few days were nothing too special, although very busy. A lot of group time, talks about safety, what diseases we're going to get, homestay families, etc. We did get to take some tours of Nairobi and see the SIT office, so that was awesome. The office is a house that they converted - our main classroom is the entry hall/living room, with the upstairs rooms being offices or smaller classrooms.

On our first afternoon off, a small group of us went to Toi (pronounced toy) market, where they sell everything imaginable (this is the one you were talking about Christina!). It was overwhelming and kind of smelly but so stereotypically African. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures for fear that they would be taken - sadly, that seems to be a theme here. But it was everything you would think a market should be - smelly, crowded, full of stuff and a maze. It was kind of overwhelming, but I'm really glad I went.

The next day - the 9th, after a very interesting lecture about the tribes and their initiation rituals (I won't go into detail here, but let me know if you are interested - they are fascinating). And then a small group of us got to go to an orphanage for mostly HIV orphans - to say they were cute is a little bit of an understatement. I got to feed one of them, Liz, and she (ok, I'll be honest, we) made a bit of a mess. But she seemed happy. Then we got to play with them and they all seemed so happy. In a way, I was also happy for them. I know that they have a really hard life ahead of them, but right now they just seem so happy and content. They are fed, clothed, played with, and taken care of. Part of me couldn't help but thinking that they are the lucky ones. We left after they went down for a nap and went back to our hostel for lunch.

After a short health lecture, a group who had already gone to the orphanage went to a local pub - The Three Wheels. It is a very "authentic" pub, and we were the only wzungus (white people) there. Pretty cool. After a few Tuskers (which only cost about $1.50 and are twice the size of a normal beer), we went back for dinner, and the guard let us out for a night out on the town! Most of the group went, and it was an awesome bday eve celebration. I didn't do the whole 21 shots, or even close, but I did have several Tuskers and a huge shot of gin. Yes, shot. Straight. It was pretty gross. But then again, it was my birthday. We heard that there was a live band next door, so we went to check it out. There was indeed a live band and a dance floor! We all started dancing and it was so much fun. The guys in my group are awesome and were definitely looking out for us- it made me feel really safe, and it that way - and only that way - it reminded me of Apex (I miss you guys!).

They closed at about 11, so we went home after that. I did stay up until midnight, but not much later- I had been up since 6:30! But it was a great bday eve and I went to bed excited to meet my homestay family.

The next morning, we ate, packed and headed over to SIT for some more Swahili. The language is pretty simple and I think I am starting to catch on. They ordered pizza for lunch and we had a cake for my bday! It was very yummy and American. After lunch, we started leaving for our homestays in shifts. I was with the last group, and we all sat around, nerves flying trying to prepare ourselves.

At about 6, I arrived. My family is Mama Steph, her daughter Steph (people are called the name of their first child here- her name is actually Ann), Mama Steph's sister whose name I can't remember. Steph and Mama Steph are quite, but we spent a little while talking. It had been raining, and so the power went out. We spent a lot of time just sitting quietly by the kerosene lamp. I started feeling very homesick and wondered if I could actually live with this family. The power came back on eventually and that helped so much. We turned the TV on and ate a very yummy dinner of chicken stew and coconut rice. At about 10:00, I started falling asleep and headed to bed. I didn't let myself think too much, knowing I would just start crying. I actually slept pretty well.

I woke up at about 6:30 this morning, and since I knew the family didn't get up til about 8 or 9, tried to go back to sleep. But unfortunately, I could not. That's when I got really homesick and had my worst moment so far. I tried listening to music, going back to sleep, but nothing worked. Then I started writing in my journal, and that did help. It was a distraction at least. Mama Steph had said that Sunday was a "slow day", and knowing that the group had nothing planned, I was not looking forward to it. But at about 9, after catching up on my journal and collecting myself, I faced my fear.

I am happy to say that it was so much better then I expected. Mama Steph and Steph are still pretty quite, but they are getting more talkative. I ate some breakfast, relaxed and little bit as my fears subsided. I spent some time working on Swahili, and reorganizing my backpack and other stuff, which was very necessary. My spirits soared when I heard Mama Steph's sister turn on the shower - I have running water! While this is not abnormal, it's not exactly guaranteed either. Needless to say, I was relieved. Then I watched a little more TV with the family, did a little more Swahili and decided to try my hand at my laundry. I washed my clothes by hand (yes mom, by hand!) and hung them out to dry. Steph and her friends were definitely laughing at me a little bit, but in a good natured kind of way. I would have laughed at me too. I'm a pretty awkward person when it comes to these things. Or most things in general.

Then we ate lunch and watched some more TV. They have a really interesting mix of programs here - Scrubs, ER, a Spanish soap opera dubbed in English, Kenyan news. Its really interesting. It was raining again, but thankfully, the power held up. I worked on a little more Swahili until Libby, another girl in my program who is only 2 houses down came over and we walked to an internet cafe.

I am getting more comfortable in my home and think that I will be ok there. It might not be the best home, but they are nice and there is running water, so I can't really complain either. I am going through an adjustment time and it is hard, but have no fear. It'll pass and I'll be ok.

If you have read this far, thank you- I appreciate it!