"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!