Geez, I didn't realize it had been so long since I wrote!  Well, I guess there's a lot to fill in, but the bottom line is that the semester's over, and I'm back in the states!  I'll back track a little bit though...

I was able to go out to the camp one more time- on my last Saturday in Maai Mahiu- despite all the issues throughout the rest of the week.  It was quite the day.  I worked with Anne, but I met Babu and Mary and Rachel in the morning to say my goodbyes.  We took a few pictures, said our goodbyes, and I promised to stay in touch, and then Anne and I started off on our way.  But we couldn't start the interviews right away... Anne had to finish her household chores first.  The biggest thing she had to do was go fetch water, so I offered to help.  She looked at me like I was a little crazy, but said ok, so we grabbed the big drums and walked the half mile or so to the water tanks.  We filled up the drums and then it was time for Anne to teach me how to carry them.  Oh boy.  The drums have a handle on the top of them, and then Anne laced a rope through that and tied it into a loop.  Then she lifted the drum onto my back- I was bent over at the waist, with the drum on my back, and then the rope got put on my forehead.  So the weight of the water is partially on your back but mostly on your head and neck... which makes this not the most comfortable activity.  But it was a good experience- the women in the camp have to carry water like that four or five times a day, according to Anne.  And I definitely got some weird looks as I carried the drum back to Anne's house... she said she had never seen a muzungu carry water before, and judging by the stares and laughs I got on the walk home, neither had any of the people we passed on the way.  Anyway, that was a small thing that was a fun little bonding moment with Anne and her little niece, Agnes, who tagged along.

Then it was time for the last day of interviews.  We went back out to Tumaini camp at my request- I wanted to make one more trip to a tent camp before I left to try and get a few pictures, because I hadn't get been able to do that.  I had a few good interviews, and then Anne and I stopped at a home to ask the two women there if they would mind talking to us.  The women were polite, but they very emphatically said that no, they didn't want to be interviewed.  They then proceed to explain why- they were tired of white people coming in asking them questions, taking pictures, promising that they will help, leaving, and never doing anything to help.  They repeated this over, and over, and over again.  It was, of course, completely fine that they didn't want to talk to me and Anne.  But it was the first time that someone had turned me down for an interview.  And the fact that they were so vehement about not wanting to talk is what hit me, and because it genuinely seemed like they were just trying to protect themselves from more broken promises and false hopes.  And who can blame them for that?  I sure can't.  But, in a completely self-centered way, it wasn't exactly easy for me to hear, either.  I was genuinely just trying to learn and see if there is a way to help.  But I can't deny their experiences, and obviously, the least I can do is respect their wishes.

But then, as Anne and I were starting to walk away, a woman whose name I can't remember came up to us.  She had overheard the conversation, and I had interviewed her the first time I came to Tumaini camp.  And she came over to me and Anne, and put her arm around me, and said "You come home now."  She led Anne and I to her home- her small, ripped tent- and we started talking.  I think she and Anne thought I was more upset than I really was by the two women turning me down for an interview. I was a little saddened by the wall they put up, but even more sad that so many people had heard their stories and not found it in them to help.  But this woman and Anne and I just sat and talked.  For a couple of hours.  They explained in more detail about how, for years, people have come into the camps promising to help and not doing it, and that, of course, people really resent that.  They were comforting and still told me a lot of stuff that no one had told me before.  I also tried to explain to them why its hard sometimes for muzungus or westerners to come into the camp.  It's not something that many people from the western world are familiar with or have ever seen- living conditions like they live in and the traumas that they have been through, I mean- so we don't really know how to process it all. And we really have no idea how to help.  I explained how it is a little overwhelming, and while that is no justification for not following up on a promise, that maybe that was why some people hadn't actually helped.  They said that no one had explained a muzungus perspective to them before.  Anyway.  I'm not really sure what it was about that whole conversation, but it really got to me.  I think it was a combination of my first small defeat (and I think that is an exaggeration, the actual thing wasn't even that big of a deal), combined with the honestly and hospitality of this woman.  She was so genuine, so friendly, and all she wanted to do was talk.  It was a bittersweet note to leave the camp on, but definitely a memorable one, and it made me so much more motivated to stay in touch with the people that I met at the camp and to try, even if its in a small way, to help improve the living conditions for the residents of the camp.  I've started sending a few emails to different organizations to see if they will consider operating in Maai Mahiu, so for now, I just need to wait and see what their responses are.

Anyway, that was my last day in the camp.  Then, on Sunday, Gee from Marafiki came out to Maai Mahiu and took me back to Nairobi.  Then the writing part began.  I had been coding all my interview responses and typing everything up every night after I got back from camp, but I still had the whole paper to write.  So thats all I did until Wednesday, when I finished my 46 page report.  Most people finished on Thursday or Friday, so I had a little down time until we all got to celebrate.  The group in Nairobi that was done by Thursday went out for a fancy dinner on Thursday night.  It was way too fancy, let me tell you.  I didn't really have any idea what to do in a place this fancy- I felt so incredibly out of place in my tshirt and skirt from Costco.  Oi.  Oh well, it was fun, I just giggled uncomfortably the whole time!  And then, on Friday, all the girls who did their projects in Kisumu came back.  We hadn't seen them in a month, so we all went out for a few drinks and caught up, which was a ton of fun.

Saturday, we moved out of the apartment and had to go turn in our copies of our ISPs and other paperwork at the office.  We all spent some time running around and then a few of us from the Nairobi group and all the girls that were in Kisumu went to Brew (they said they missed it while they were in Kisumu!) for happy hour and continued catching up.  Then, because food is really expensive at Brew, we went down the street to a little Ethiopian place for dinner.  For god knows what reason, one person in our group ordered multiple bottles of the most disgusting drink I've ever tasted.... homemade honey wine.  It was opaque and orange, and the group collectively decided that it tasted like burning trash.  Yet, somehow, it got finished. Yikes.  Not pleasant, but we laughed so hard as we all choked it down.

Then, as crazy as it was, it was time to get on an overnight bus to Mombasa!  We had to go to Mombasa to get to Malindi, which is the coastal resort town that we did our final presentations in.  We finally got to Malindi around 4:30pm on Sunday- it was a long day of travel.  But the resort we stayed in was spectacular.  It had four pools, beach access, and the landscaping was absolutely incredible- it looked like we were in the middle of a rainforest.  We had that afternoon free, and then for the next three days, we did ISP presentations in the morning, and had the afternoons free to swim, rest, sunbathe, or basically whatever we wanted.  It was wonderful.  And everyone's presentations were incredibly interesting!! Everyone did something so different for their project- some people studied community health workers, diabetes, wetlands, the used clothing industry, music, traditional birth attendants... very diverse and fascinating projects.  And then, on Wednesday afternoon, the goodbyes started. Two of the girls left Malindi and went directly to Zanzibar for some extra travel after the program, while we all got back on the bus to Nairobi.  It was incredibly sad saying goodbye to everyone.  In one semester, we all got pretty darn close since we were such a small group.  And its particularly difficult because we really don't know when we'll see each other again.  But we all promised we would stay in touch and do our best to have a reunion next summer, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Once we were back in Nairobi, I had 3 more days until my flight home.  We had to go and do some check-out stuff at the office and collect the extra bags that we'd been keeping there, and I had to print some pictures out to send to my Shirazi host-family, like I promised them I would.  And somehow, that took almost all of Friday.  Saturday I went and had tea with my Nairobi host family and said goodbye, and then went on a hunt for the Maasai market to get a few last minute gifts.  I don't think I mentioned it, but several of the students had their parents or families come to visit Kenya after our program was over, so by Saturday, a lot of parents, siblings, families, and friends were also around.  So a group of us- some students and family members- went into city center to a photo exhibit about the 2007-2008 post-election violence.  This was particularly interesting to me since the folks I worked with in Maai Mahiu were displaced in the post-election violence.  The exhibit is open to discourage and promote peace in the upcoming elections (they're scheduled for March 4, 2013).  But man oh man, was the exhibit graphic.  Really graphic.  It was hard to see all of it knowing that all the people I met in Maai Mahiu had been through that.  But it was still very educational, and I think everyone was glad that we went.  To wrap up the day on a happier note, a big group of students and parents got together at one of our favorite restaurants- Smart Village- and had a big group dinner before we had to say goodbye to a few more people who left on Saturday night.

Sunday! The day I left.  We had to move out of the hostel we were in at 10am, but we (there were two other students from my program on my same flight to London) didn't have to leave for the airport until 7pm.  So we took our bags to one of the homestay mom's houses for the day and did our last few errands. There are two girls from the program that stayed in Nairobi for an extra week or so, so I went and met them at Java and had lunch to say goodbye, and then I picked up a few last minute things at the grocery store- I bought Kenyan tea and masala tea to make for my parents, got some Kenyan candy for stocking stuffers, etc.  And then it was back to the house where all our baggage was.  We were able to shower before our flight, which was a blessing, and then it was off to the airport!! Three of us, plus the taxi driver, and 12 bags.... the taxi was just a little crowded!  We got there plenty early, and ended up playing cards for quite a while before we finally boarded.  The flight to London was uneventful, and then finally, when we got there, I had to say goodbye to both the people I traveled with- the last goodbyes- and it was really said saying goodbye not knowing when I would see them again.  After a long layover, I got on my direct flight to LA, and although it was quite long, it was just fine and I arrived safely, as did all my luggage.  After a little confusion as to where in the airport I was, I finally met my dad, and we drove home.

The condo is more or less packed up (for those of you who don't know, my dad is moving back up to Alaska in January, yay!!)- and I'm sitting here with the movers as I write this, and they are packing up the last of it- so I've just had to go through and get rid of some of my stuff that has been in storage here in California, and I haven't had to do much else.  And tomorrow, we fly up to Alaska first thing in the morning!

So.  The semester, and these 8 months of adventures are over.  I'm not even going to try and summarize it and say everything I've learned.  If you're interested, ask me, but otherwise I would just be typing out a whole novel of nonsense, so I'll spare you.   Lets just say it was exciting, frustrating, challenging, exhausting, educational, fun, and so, so rewarding.  Thank you to everyone in India, Alaska and Kenya  who helped make these last 8 months so exciting for me... saying that I will never forget this year is a putting it lightly.  Asante na kwaheri.  

Well, this week has been the week of attempted productivity, but no actual progress being made!

Monday when I went out to camp, I found out my translator was in the hospital with a bad toothache, so I couldn't do any interviews.

Tuesday was an ok day, I did a few interviews, but with a new translator, so it was a little rocky.  In the morning on Tuesday, I had a horrible experience in town trying to get a matatu- I ended up yelling at multiple people and calling one some not-so-nice names.

Wednesday there was an absolutely torrential downpour that flooded part of the camp, so I couldn't go out.

Thursday was my one real successful day of interviews with Mary.

And then today there is a matatu strike going on, so there is no way to get out to the camp.  So now I'm back in my room after a group of creepy men tried to get me into the back of their truck and going to try and be productive here... somehow.

So thats life for now... lets hope tomorrow the strike is over so I can go out and do my last day of interviews!

Well here I am, at the midway point through our independent research time, and I'm spending a couple of days in Nairobi.  But to backtrack a couple of days to the beginning of this week....

Monday and Tuesday I was back out at the camp doing more interviews.  Unfortunately for me, but very luckily for all the camp residents, most people had gotten casual jobs, so I didn't have many people to interview- I only interviewed four people each day.  Both of the camps were distinct from all the others I'd been to.  The camp I went to on Monday was an entirely tent camp, and the tents were TINY. I had my first taste of a little unrest in the camp too, although it wasn't severe at all.  Apparently one of the men I interviewed has a neighbor he doesn't get along with, so even though we were on my interviewee's property and he had consented to answer my questions, the guy came onto his property and started yelling and basically having a little tantrum.  Of course this is all going in Swahili, so I have no earthly idea what is going on, so I just sat there.  But then when my translator got up and started trying to calm both the men down, I got a little worried.  But soon after she started talking, the angry neighbor left, and then one of my interviewee's friends that had been nearby went to tell the camp chairman about what had happened- apparently this guy does stuff like that frequently.  Hmm.  Anyway, I'm not really sure if it was because of me or not, but either way, it was a little unsettling because I was warned that the camp might not be safe, but up until that point I had encountered nothing but welcoming smiles and handshakes, so it threw me off.  But nothing like that has happened again!

Tuesday was also interesting because we went to a camp that was so far away from all the other camps I didn't even realize it was there.  Mary and I had to walk for about 45 minutes to get there.  This camp was different from all the others because the people neither lived in permanent brick homes nor tents- they had built their own mud homes.  Many of the homes by the road were deserted and partially destroyed with huge chunks of the walls missing.  But most of the homes in this camp were back away from the road a ways.  To get to the main area of the camp, we had to climb through the biggest ravine I've seen in any of the camps.  All the camps deal with flash floods and the subsequent destruction of much of the land, but this ravine was something else.  It was probably 25-30 feet deep and had a horrible pathway down one side and up the other.  Mary and I had to help each other down and up on each side- it was steep and covered in loose sand so we had no traction whatsoever (of course I was not blessed with a natural grace or sense of balance either, so that helped a whole lot, too).  And yet small children run through there everyday- scary.  Anyway, while the answers I got from my interviewees there were similar to what I've been hearing in a lot of the other camps, the physical structure and layout of the camp was so different it still made it noteworthy to me.

Wednesday, I had an easy-going morning, and then Izzo came and picked me up and drove me back into Nairobi.  I got into town around 12pm, and went straight to the apartment and saw the gang there for the first time in what felt like forever- but it had really only been 10 days!  We hung out for a bit, and then since we were preparing for Thanksgiving the next day, a few of us made a run to the store for some necessary items.  We spent the afternoon just running around, and chatting- it was definitely nice to have some familiar people to talk with- even though I've been around a lot of people when I'm in the camps, they're all strangers, so it was nice to be in a comfortable environment again!  I also made fruit salad Wednesday afternoon.  Its a McNelly family traditional holiday dish, and it sounds totally gross, but its canned fruit, mini marshmallows, and sour cream all mixed together and then refrigerated overnight- its one of my favorites!  But canned fruit doesn't exist in Kenya, so I had to buy all fresh fruit (and not the right fruits either, so instead of fruit cocktail, I chopped up mangoes and kiwi... but of course I replaced the canned pineapple and oranges with fresh pineapple and oranges, so at least that was close).  Also mini marshmallows are nowhere to be found.  So I found giant pink marshmallows that I had to cut up.  And then the sour cream was the consistency of milk.  And it was chunky.  So I mixed up all of that wonderfulness in a bowl and stuck it in the fridge (the next day it kind of looked like vomit, but oh well).

And even though I still can't believe it, Wednesday was my 21st birthday!  So after a nice afternoon hanging out, I put on my only article of clean clothing, and six of us went out to a place called Brew Bistro, where we've been before.  We were only there a couple of hours, but we had a great time and got some quality pictures (which I needed later so people could prove to me that I danced...whoops, didn't mean for that to happen!), and we somehow made it back to the apartment with everybody.  Then we made homemade pizza for dinner and enjoyed a delicious chocolate torte that they had made earlier, and everybody collapsed into bed.

Then it was Thanksgiving!!!  In the morning, I went with two of my friends to a nursery school, which is run by one of my friend's host mom.  So we took a matatu to the edge of town where the school is, and spent a few hours watching some adorable children graduate from preschool and perform little songs and poems.  It was pretty cute!  It was nice to get out of the apartment for a few hours so I wasn't inside all day.  It was interesting too, to see the interactions between the parents and their children in a celebratory environment, and how the parents interacted with the teachers.  Overall, it was a very nice way to spend part of the day.

Then it was back to the apartment where the one student in the apartment who is actually a good cook was workin' away on dinner, and the rest of us took it easy.  I did a little work, watched some tv on my computer, and then helped clean the apartment a little.  A little after 6, all of the guests started arriving.

Well there were 8 students, so we'll start there.  Then, there is an American that we've all met who is taking a gap year and working here in Kenya, and her parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, so the three of them came over.  Then one of the student's host mom came over, alone with two previous SIT students that she hosted, who now live in Kenya.  So that brings our total count to 14 so far.  Then two of our professors came, which was a riot- they are quite comical.  16.  And one of our Swahili teachers crashed the party- which brings us to 17!  It was a full house, but it was definitely a lot of fun, and there was SO MUCH FOOD.  Although, I must say, I think it was only me and one or two other people that tried the fruit salad- it looked pretty gross, but it actually didn't taste that different from when my mom makes it at home!  So I was happy with it, anyway.

Then, as everybody started heading home for the night, we did some cleaning and the Christmas music started, which was lovely- I LOVE Christmas music!  And then about 1am we decided to watch Elf, but I fell asleep about 15 minutes in, so we all stopped it and I'm sure we'll watch it in its entirety soon.

And now, even though I'm still in Nairobi for a couple more days, its time to get back to work!
I hope you all had a great kick-off to your holiday season!!!!

Well, this will be a short post, I just had to share a remarkable story from one of my interviews today.

I interviewed a 45 year old woman today, and throughout my questions, she filled in some other information about her past.  When the post-election violence started in 2007, she was 9-months pregnant.  When her home was burned and she was forced to flee in the beginning of 2008, she hid in a forest where she delivered her 8th child.  After she had her baby, a little girl I met today, she was forced to keep running.  When she finally reached a safe place with nothing but her 8 children and the clothes she was wearing, a well-wishing member of parliament gave her and a few other families a small piece of land and tents.  But then the government decided they didn't think that was ok for whatever reason, so they took away the land and the tents.  Finally, an NGO came and gave her and the other families some tarps so they could make their own tents on land that they shared with still more families.

When I asked her what she did every day, she said she gets up at 3am to walk into the town of Maai Mahiu to try and get some corn from fields that are on the edge of town that is farthest from the camp.  She walks, about five miles each way, barefoot, in the dark, every morning, to get what looked like about 5 cups of maize for her and her 8 children.  And then she still has a full day of taking care of her kids and her house.  Yet she still gave Mary and I a cup of chai as we talked with her.  And most remarkably, she said she is very happy with her life and thanks God for everything in her life.  I think we could all take a few lessons from this incredible woman.  

Week one of interviews is complete!  I was able to do 5 days of interviews this week, for a grand total of 34 different interviews, which is great.  I was supposed to go out today as well, but it was raining, so just as I was climbing into a matatu to head out to the camp, Babu called and told me not to come.  Its probably best, I could see the camp turning into a bit of a mess with rain- all the paths are steep and completely sand, which means mud if it rains, and there are giant ravines that fill up and turn into little raging rivers when it rains- so its probably best I didn't go today.

Anyway, back to earlier this week.  I was in a different sub-camp every day, and I worked with two different translators, Ann and Mary.  They are both incredible ladies, and I am excited to keep working with them this week and next.  I told you a bit about Ann already, but Mary is also wonderful.  I thought she was older, but she is only 20, has a two year old daughter named Candy, and lives on her own.  Mary's parents stopped supporting her when she was 17, and so she couldn't pay her school fees and had to drop out of 10th grade.  She's been taking care of herself ever since.  Her sister has left her two children in the camp while she goes out and wanders around- nobody knows where she goes- and so Mary was taking care of them as well, but they just recently went to live with Mary's parents.  When Mary's sister comes to the camp once or twice per year, she steals Mary's food and clothing, but nevertheless, Mary says she is glad to live on her own and depend on no one, and have no one except her daughter depend on her.  She is a very, very mature, yet still fun and friendly 20 year old- its been a pleasure and a privilege to work with her so far.

So, like I said, I went to a different sub-camp every day and interviewed a total of 34 people this week. Each interview is taking between 30-45 minutes and then there is time walking to and from each camp from the school that I meet either Mary or Ann at, and then the time it takes to find each person that is willing to speak with me.  Most days I get to the camp around 9:30 and leave by 2:30 or 3, and then come back to my hotel room, transcribe all the interviews from that day, and put on copious amounts of aloe lotion to combat my ever deepening sunburn (I'm outside virtually all day).  With all of that, each day passes by pretty quickly, and I pass out at the end of the day!

I've been to 3 camps in which the residents have permanent houses, and 2 camps where the residents live in tents.  The conditions in all of the camps are rough, but the tent camps are especially tough to walk through and speak to people in.  Yesterday I was in a tent camp, and it is also the smallest and farthest away from the center of the whole camp.  Most of the people there lived on their own and were older- between 50 and 80 years old.  The people in this camp, just like all the other camps, do "casual jobs", or hard, physical labor, like cutting wood, tending to the farms (called shambas), fetching water, etc., but the people here doing those jobs are 75 year old women.  Call me crazy, but I don't think that's how it should be.  None of the people I spoke with yesterday had a bed- a few of them were lucky enough to have a single foam pad to sleep on and one blanket.  None of them had any furniture, and they each had one or two pans to cook their food in.  Not a single one of them said the food they grew on their shambas was enough to live on, yet one woman, Miriam, was kind enough to give Mary and I each a plate of githeri for lunch, a Kikuyu dish made with maize and beans.  This camp was definitely on the extreme end of everything I've seen and heard through the camp as a whole, but it was still humbling and heartbreaking to hear these people talk about their lives.

It is striking how friendly and optimistic people are in the camp, regardless of their current circumstances.  I have had numerous people give me lunch or chai, they aren't at all shy around a muzungu (the Swahili word for "white person"), and they make me feel completely at home and at ease.  I've been asking people if they are happy right now, and while some say no, most have said yes because at least they have a home or a tent and there is no fighting.  I think it is really hard to imagine many people in the states or the rest of the western world being happy in these conditions, and that makes their appreciation that much more striking.  And their warmth, oh my gosh.  To be honest, a lot of people in the town of Maai Mahiu sketch me out a little, but everyone in the camp is incredibly genuine.  Everyone I pass greets me and shakes my hand, even little toddlers (well, except the toddlers that are scared of me because I'm white- some of them actually scream and run away in terror- oh well).  I have gotten quite good at the traditional Kenyan handshake, which I will be happy to share with everyone when I'm home.  I guess the bottom line is, every day I wake up excited to get out of my hotel room and out of town and into the camp where everyone is friendly, helpful and welcoming, and incredibly willing to answer my questions.

Although I'm not quite sure how yet, I do think I will stay in touch with Marafiki and try and work with them on ways to continue to improve the conditions in the camp.  Something else I've been learning is that many people in the camp don't want to move again- they want to stay in the camp.  If thats the case, conditions have got to improve.  No one should have to live the way a lot of these folks live, and I really want to look into getting a microfinance or other financial service organization into the camp to work with the residents, because nearly all of them want to start a business.  While it certainly wouldn't fix all of the problems, I think it would be a step in the right direction.

So, I guess thats it for now.  This week went by pretty quickly, and I really only have another week and a half to spend in the camp.  I hope time slows down a little bit, so I can continue to learn from all of these wonderful people, and get to know some of the faces I already know a little better.  

And another week has gone by- I can't believe it.  Last week was mostly just computer and paperwork, nothing too exciting.  We had our final term paper due, so I spent a couple of days working on that.  It was quite possibly the worst prompt I've ever had to write on, so it took me almost a whole day just to decide what exactly I'd be writing about.  Anyway, after that little torture test was over, it was time to start ISP!! But not until the election was over....

Because of the time difference, the election results started coming in around 3am Kenya time.  So, the group of students who rented an apartment in Nairobi for their independent research time invited a few people over to watch and spend the night.  So on Tuesday night, there were a few of us over there, and we cooked a big American meal to celebrate- cheeseburgers, coleslaw, potato salad, and apple crisp.  After absolutely pigging out and watching a little tv, we all went to bed around 11 or midnight so we could get a couple hours of sleep before the results started coming in.  I was sleeping on the couch, but there was a really annoying mosquito that kept buzzing in my ear, so I got up at about 1:30 and just messed around on my computer until 3am, when everybody else got up to watch.  We turned on MSNBC and not much was happening yet, but we kept watching.  We had some apple crisp, and watched as the results from the east coast started slowly coming in.  Finally, at about 7:30am our time, they called Ohio for Obama, and therefore the election, and we all started running around the apartment out of excitement.  We were just a little sleep-deprived, keep that in mind.  Then we decided to open a beer and split it between the three of us that were still there (everyone else had to leave), even though it was 7:30 in the morning.  But then there was the whole drama with Ohio being disputed, so we waited until about 9:30am our time when Obama gave his speech.  Then we choked on the disgusting warm beer, and happily listened to Obama's wonderful speech.  And the, in our state of exhaustion, it was time to get on with our day and start working- because Wednesday was our first official day of ISP!

I spent the last half of this week just reading articles.  I needed to learn a little bit more about IDPs in general and the post-election violence of 2007-2008 that drove these particular IDPs from their homes.  So I read, and I read, and I read.  I also worked on my interview questions and consent form for my actual research.  On Friday I met with Izzo from Marafiki to finalize the plans for when I'm out in Maai Mahiu, and we agreed that I would head out with them on Sunday to get settled in and meet my translators.

Saturday was a fun last day in Nairobi.  I met one of the girls in my program at Java, and then our advisor, Donna, came and met us, and we went out to a place called Kitengela Glass, which is relevant to my friends ISP.  I was really just along for the ride so I could talk to Donna about my project in the car.  But the glass place was amazing- a little fairy land on the outskirts of Nairobi.  There are mosaics covering every possible surface, blown glass things hanging from beams and trees, and all sorts of amazing creativity on display around every turn.  So it was fun and productive because I did get to talk to Donna about my project (I hadn't yet- whoops). Then we headed back into Nairobi, and Donna dropped me off at my homestay for my last night with my family.

It was a pretty normal last night with them.  I did a little packing before I went into the house and then I brought in their gifts- nothing big.  I gave my brother a water bottle from the Olympics that my dad had given me before I left the states to use as a gift, a journal and some markers for my sister, and then a candle for my mama.  We took a few pictures because only Jero and I had taken any pictures together before Saturday, and then we had dinner and watched tv like normal.  I went to my room around 9 to finish packing and get to bed.

Sunday morning I got up early and showered and such and then packed up the last few things I'd left out and then said goodbye to my family.  I promised I would come back and have dinner and visit after my ISP was done so I could tell them about it, which I will definitely do.  Then a taxi picked me and my embarrassing amount of luggage up, and we stopped at my friends apartment and I dropped off two of my bags, since I don't need them out in Maai Mahiu.  Then the taxi dropped me off and Gee from Marafiki picked me up and we headed out to Maai Mahiu.  We picked up some volunteers on the way, and before I knew it, we were here.  We stopped at a little grocery store and I bought a big jug of water and some crackers (I brought a huge jar of peanut butter with me) and then we went out to the camp for a couple of hours and walked around a bit to some parts I hadn't been to before.  Then after Gee got some of the volunteers settled, he brought my to my hotel.  It is way too expensive for what it is, but its much safer than the other one, so I guess I'll just have to deal with it.  I'm spending my entire daily stipend on my room, so I have to pay for food, transportation and my translators out of my pocket now, which is really not ideal.  Anyway.  I got settled into my room and then went for a jog, which was really nice because my hotel is right on the edge of town, so the highway is right there and with it, some beautiful views of the Rift Valley.  After that little excursion I went up and bought some fruit, and then settled into my room for the night.  I did some ISP work and finished preparing for my first round of interviews, and then it was off to bed.

Yesterday. Ohhh, yesterday.  It was quite the day.  I woke up pretty early, so I got ready and took my time, and then when I was supposed to call someone at the camp to figure out a meeting place and time, I realized my phone was out of minutes.  Oops.  So I quickly walked up the road to a shop that sells airtime, and on the way had a little run in with a donkey cart.  Literally.  I was walking on the shoulder of the road, and then all of a sudden this donkey cart was right in front of me, the busy highway was on one side, and a 10 foot drop off was on the other side.  So I was kind of able to jump over part of the cart, but then one of the wheels ran over one of my feet and I got hit in the leg with some rebar that the cart was carrying.  Then I heard the explosive laughter of the locals that had just watched that happen.  Oh goody.  But I was totally fine, aside from a sore foot and some welts from the rebar, so I got my phone minutes and then called Babu, a new contact in the camp..

Babu wanted to meet pretty quickly, so I gathered up everything I needed and then asked around about how matatus work here (matatus are minibuses that are used as public transportation in Kenya) and then caught a matatu out to the camp, which is about 3 miles away.  I met Babu there, and he introduced me to my translator for the day, Ann.  Ann is only 18, and we had a blast yesterday going around and interviewing people.  She's lived in the camp since 2008, and has finished high school and is now trying to go to school to become a counselor.  But to do that she needs money, which no one in the camp has.  Anyway, we were able to interview 5 people yesterday, and each interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes.  The first interview of the day I got to conduct while holding the woman's two week old baby.  Oh goodness, I was in heaven.  In the middle of the day, Ann made me come have lunch with her, and several of the people I interviewed also made me have some chai or a little porridge or something- so I was pretty stuffed when Ann said her mom needed us to run a quick errand for her.  Sure!  So Ann and I started walking to tell her mom's friend about Ann's sister's wedding which is next week.  It turns out this friend lives almost to the top of the mountain on the other side of town... so with my bookbag and flip flops on, we walked up the mountain in the 1pm scorching sun.  But Ann's friend Jen came with us, and we talked the whole way, so it was still a lot of fun.  I knew this before I came to Maai Mahiu, but Sam is a mans name here, so they started joking around and Jen became known as John and Ann became Anthony- it gave us all a good laugh.  We reached the friend's house, which was a simple house, but she gave us yet more chai and chapati and Ann relayed the message about the wedding.  Then we went into the lady's shamba, or small farm, and picked some avocados.  Yum!!  Then it was time to go back down to the camp. So we went.  When we got back, I did two more interviews and then chatted with "John" and "Anthony" for a while, then they walked me back to the matatu stop and I came back to my hotel.  On the way I stopped and bought some oranges and yogurt (I was so happy when I found a shop that has refrigerated yogurt- most of it is just out in the open here, and I just don't want to risk that), and then I settled into my room for the night.

I spent several hours transcribing all of my interviews from the day- I was audiorecording them- and then I had some peanut butter and crackers and an orange, watched part of a movie on my laptop, and went to bed!

This morning I'm headed to a different sub-camp to do more interviews-- and so day two begins!

Uganda.  Wow.

A part of our study abroad program is an 8 day trip to either Tanzania or Uganda, and we each get to choose which trip we would like to go on.  Just based on the itineraries, I chose to go to Uganda, and I am so glad I did.  I'm sure I'm going to forget a lot of what we did, but here are the highlights.

We left really early last Saturday morning and drove the hour and a half or so to the town of Nakuru, which is in the Rift Valley.  We had a gorgeous early morning drive through the Rift Valley, but it got even better when we got to Nakuru, because we got to go on a tour of Nakuru National Park.  The National Park is home to a ton of different animals, but we were lucky enough to see pelicans, flamingos, impalas, giraffes, a rhino and a hippo, zebras, buffalo, and lots of other smaller animals.  It was a beautiful morning and part of the drive led us up a big hill that gave us a stunning view of the valley below.  We could have stayed there all day, but we had a long drive ahead of us, so we had to move on.

We reached the town of Kisumu in Western Kenya by evening and settled into our hotel for the night.  We had a very short and informal lecture with a professor in Kisumu about the development issues facing the western part of Kenya and had dinner with her.  Then, after a long day in the car, we went to bed.

Early the next morning we got up and back in the van and drove to the Busia border checkpoint.  We had to cross the border on foot, but what is interesting is it is not a simple border crossing.  We had to fill out forms in order to leave Kenya, and then we walked through an area known as "limbo" which is neither Ugandan or Kenyan in order to reach the Ugandan border checkpoint.  After paying our $50 with relatively little hassle, we were in Uganda.  We met another van and loaded up all of our bags, and then we once again began driving.  We only had to go a couple of hours to reach the town of Sipi, which is home to Sipi Falls.

We had a little time to settle into our absolutely beautiful cabins in Sipi before beginning afternoon activities.  The lodge-type place that we stayed in Sipi was on a steep hill, and the eight students stayed in two 4-bed dorms with a gorgeous view of a valley and Sipi Falls.  After changing into comfy clothes, we went down and had a delicious lunch in the dining hall (after having what more-or-less amounted to a lunch in the van on the way- oh well).  We were completely stuffed, and that naturally meant it was time to go on a hike.

When I say hike, I'm not exactly sure how to accurately convey the nature of this little excursion.  Well, first, we thought we were driving to the hiking site from where we were. Nope.  We walked the whole way.  We reached the little trailhead, and I thought they were joking.  It was probably a 70 degree incline, going down into the jungle.  The dirt path was barely wide enough to put both feet side-by-side, and it was wet.  Awesome.  They handed us all walking sticks, and I really didn't want one, but based on how the hike actually went, I am so thankful I had it.  Anyway.  Here's the scene:  There is a valley with two steep slopes on either side.  We are on the side opposite Sipi Falls, and so we are supposed to hike down one steep slope to the base of the falls (which is 100 meters tall) and then hike back up the other side.  So we started. And it was slipper and narrow and each side of the path was more or less a sheer cliff.  So given my history with gracefulness, I was a little concerned about plummeting to the bottom of the valley and crashing through all the coffee and banana trees.  But somehow, with the help of some local children, I managed to only fall twice on the way down, and I luckily stayed on the path.  The falls were beautiful.  When we reached the bottom, we were getting soaked by the mist of the falls, so I didn't take too many pictures because I didn't want to ruin my camera.  But it couldn't go completely undocumented either- I mean, there was a rainbow for crying out loud.

Anyway.  After taking in the view for a few minutes, we turned around to start walking back.  It got really steep really fast.  And because now we were soaking wet, the path was getting even slipperier, so naturally, I fell again.  But this time I also twisted my ankle (which I have had problems with since I was 15 or so), which slowed me way down as we climbed back up.  By the time we reached the top, my ankle was pretty swollen, but we had some stunning views.  Completely covered in mud and drenched, we all climbed into a car which drove us back to our little cabins.  An exhausting, but successful afternoon!

That evening was very low key, we had dinner at the lodge.  The high point (or maybe it could be considered the low point) of that evening was trying home-brewed millet beer.  First, let me just say that it was being served out of a gas can. Awesome.  And there was a hose in it, which we were just supposed to suck on to drink the beer.  I'm not sure I've ever tasted something so disgusting.  It was warm, thick, and gritty.  Not exactly my beverage of choice.  But it was an experience! And then what added to that, was one of the locals that was sitting around the fire with us, informing us that this is a traditional circumcision brew, and then he asked us if any of us wanted to be circumcised.  After awkwardly explaining that female genital mutilation is not a part of American cultural practices, we changed the subject and started telling scary stories, and then went to bed pretty quickly.

The next day we went and visited TASO (The AIDS Support Organization) in the town of Mbale.  This is one of the most effective organizations in Africa at combating AIDS, largely because of their signature counseling program.  We also had the privilege of seeing their drama group perform.  This group consists of all HIV positive clients of TASO who sing and dance and put on shows and tour local communities teaching about prevention and management of HIV/AIDS.

After this point, the days kind of blur together, so here's a not-at-all chronological account of what we did on the rest of the trip...

We spent a night in Kampala (the capital and largest city) and had a lecture by a former member of parliament about the history of Uganda.  He was actually forced into exile during Idi Amin's regime in the 1970's, so he was a very interesting person to meet and talk with.  The next day, as we were leaving Kampala, we had traditional Ugandan food for lunch.  Big mistake.  I'll spare you the details, but lets just say I've never been that sick, stomach wise- luckily it was over within 24 hours or so.

We travelled to Western Uganda and spent the night and visited Queen Elizabeth's National Park.  We went on a boat ride during which we saw buffalo, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, lizards, and tons of other amazing animals- besides, the boat ride and the landscape were beautiful, on their own.  We spent the night in the park, and the next morning we got up quite early and went on a game drive.  Oh man.  We saw lions.  A whole family- mom, dad, and four cubs.  So fascinating, beautiful, and an absolute privilege to see.  We were able to watch them for quite a while, the cubs were adorable and playful and I was lucky enough to get quite a few good pictures.  Then, as we were leaving, we saw no less than 10 elephants right on the side of the road.  Again, a stunning experience.

Another amazing experience- seeing the source of the Nile River and taking a boat ride on it.  The Nile originates from Lake Victoria, which borders Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.  We were, obviously, on the Ugandan portion of the lake, and then the river flows out through Uganda, through Sudan, and ultimately to Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.  Pretty incredible.

On our last day, we were back in Kampala and we had a lecture on Northern Uganda (where a lot of the political tension and conflict are) and then in the afternoon we saw traditional Acholi dancers, which was really neat.  They had dozens of different instruments, and it was a really nice way to spend an afternoon.  We also got to go and see the second largest mosque in Africa (the largest is in Casablanca, and Kampala quite randomly has the second largest), and we were even allowed to go inside after being covered head to toe.  It was a stunning mosque.  I didn't have my camera, but some of my friends did- I am definitely going to have to steal those pictures later.  It had a huge balcony type area that looked over all of Kampala.  The inside of the mosque had extremely intricate decorations and a beautiful dome.  We also got to climb to the top of the spire, which gave me both a headache (I CANNOT stand spiral staircases) and an astounding view of the city.

So, even though I know I'm forgetting things, I'll go ahead and wrap this up.  Bottom line is, we had a great trip.  Uganda is beautiful- so green, and lush and with rolling hills and mountains.  I was surprised at how different from Kenya it felt when both countries together are relatively small- Uganda is roughly the size of Oregon state.  Anyway.  Definitely a successful trip.  And now we're back in Nairobi and getting ready for our independent study projects, which start on Wednesday- yikes!! 

So I'll just skip talking about Saturday and Sunday because they involved a lot of sleeping and making Swahili flashcards.  Exciting, I know.

But yesterday actually was exciting.  Yesterday morning I got up bright and early and met Izzo, the director of Marafiki at a mall called Junction at 8am.  Well, actually he didn't get there until about 8:30, but thats ok.  I was under the impression we were going to be taking a matatu, but I was wrong- Izzo pulled up in an SUV.  In the front seat was another girl, an American, who just graduated college this spring and has been in Kenya for about six months working with Marafiki.  Without the faintest idea what the agenda for the day was, we started driving.  After about 20 minutes of driving through a slum on the edge of Nairobi, we pulled into a neighborhood where the volunteers from Marafiki were staying.  Three of them climbed into the car to come out to Maai Mahiu with us so they could work for the day.  George also met up with us, he is the field coordinator for Marafiki, and as Izzo put it, "he will be my new best friend".  So the seven of us started driving, but we didn't make it very far because everyone wanted to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things for lunch.  Then, we finally all piled back in the car and headed for Maai Mahiu.

We hadn't been driving for very long when we drove around a bend, and I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the ground.  All of a sudden, there was the Rift Valley.  I couldn't take in the whole view, it was so stunning.  What was interesting is that you could tell it was very dry, but at the same time there were a lot of colors- reds, browns, greens, blues, everything.  There were hills, and right out in front of us was Mt. Longonot- the highest point in the Rift Valley.  After I recovered from the initial shock of the view, I got my camera out and rolled down the window and started to take a few pictures.  Izzo laughed at me, apparently he'd forgotten I'd never been there before, and he pulled over so me and the other new volunteer could take a few pictures.  When we got back in the car, we immediately started descending down into the valley.  Nairobi is a mile above sea level, and within about 20 minutes, we were at the bottom of the valley, which is close to sea-level.  We drove through the town of Maai Mahiu, which is a small but still very busy little town.  And then about a 10 minute drive past the town is the Maai Mahiu IDP camp.

When we pulled into the camp, all of the kids ran out of the school and swarmed the car, all of them shouting "Izzo, Izzo, Izzo!"  It took us all several minutes to get out of the car because they were climbing all over us, giving us high fives and shaking our hands.  When we finally all made it out, we split up- the volunteers who had been there before went off to work on their projects with Izzo, and the new volunteer and I went with George for a little orientation.

We just started walking around.  There are 9 smaller camps within the larger camp, and a couple of them have permanent brick houses that were built by Habitat for Humanity.  But a majority of the people still live in tents, five years after being displaced.  Eventually, we met a woman who lives in a tent and went into her home for a few minutes so George could talk to us a bit.  He just gave us background information on the post-election violence, told us about the origins of Marafiki, and told us a little bit about the woman who's house we were in.  She is a single mother of seven, has lived in her tent in the camp for 5 years, and is HIV positive.  Her home was so poorly constructed that all the walls and the ceiling swayed as the wind blew.  While she had a fair amount of pots and pans and blankets and such, the physical structure she and her children are living in is astounding.  We didn't talk to her too much, and we didn't stay long, but we thanked her, and then George kept walking us around a bit.

As we were walking, a swarm of children that aren't enrolled in school came up to us, and they were all really surprised and excited when I could ask them their names and say a few basic things in Swahili.  That then of course led to them saying really complicated sentences really quickly and me being really confused, but oh well, it was still fun!

We also went and saw the classrooms at the school, the clinic that is currently under construction, and the humungous ravine that has been carved out by the flash floods that come down from the hills.  After our little tour, we had a little break and sat and chatted with the other volunteers, and then once all the kids were out of school, we played with them a bunch.  A huge group of kids attacked my hair with sticks, creating a complete rats nest- but they had fun, and I had a hairtie to pull it all back after they were done, so it was ok.

After playing with the kids, a delivery of lumber came for the clinic, which we then helped count and move around.  Then we spent a little more time talking and baking in the sun (yes, my face has blistered once again- all the other volunteers were laughing at me- oh well!), and then we headed back into Maai Mahiu town.  They quickly drove me by two possible hotels that I can stay at, both of which looked completely fine, and then we headed back into Nairobi.  It was a very long day- the heat is sooo exhausting, and the heat there is way more extreme than in Nairobi because we aren't a mile above sea level- but it was a great day, too.

A few things stood out to me.  I felt very safe in Maai Mahiu.  Nairobi is a little sketchy at times, but everyone in Maai Mahiu was very friendly and I felt completely comfortable.  Everyone is happy to help and answer any questions I had, which was great.  The area is beautiful- I know there are a couple of nearby national parks that I can visit on the weekends if I have time.  I guess the bottom line is, I am excited to get to go back and spend a few weeks there soon!!

But for now, I have to focus on our Swahili exam which is the day after tomorrow, and then we head to Uganda this weekend!

I hope all of you are doing well, too!

Well, overall the week was uneventful, but I still have lots to say! Imagine that!

Lets start with last Sunday.  I got up in the morning and met a few people from my group and we went to a mall called Junction to see a movie.  The movie is called Nairobi Half-Life, and its the first Kenyan movie to ever be up for an Oscar (I think in the foreign language category- but it has subtitles).  It is about a young man from a rural part of Kenya who moves to Nairobi to become an actor but gets caught up in gangs.  It was a great movie and you should all definitely go see it when it comes out in the states.  It was especially interesting though, because it was set in Nairobi, and obviously, we are in Nairobi.  So we recognized places (perhaps more than we wanted to, especially in the violent scenes), scenery, etc.  We all agreed afterward that the movie would have had a completely different effect on us if we had seen it in the states.  I don't want to say too much and spoil it, because you should all definitely go see it, but we were a little shell-shocked, thats for sure.  Anyway, go see it, its worth it!

Then this week happened.  Again, nothing too exciting.  We had Swahili every morning this week, but they weren't all lessons.  We had a horribly long exam on Wednesday, and yesterday (Thursday) each class had to make a skit in Swahili relating to noun-classes. Ugh. Except, magically, everyone decided to play a game instead, so we actually got to play charades, jeopardy, and taboo in Swahili, which was actually pretty fun (even though I HATE charades).  In the afternoons this week we have had some free time to do work, since we had a ton of assignments due this week and some due right after we get back from our trips (oh, by the way, I'm going to Uganda in about a week- so excited!!).

This is also the week where all of our Independent Study Projects (ISPs) got seriously underway.  This weekend and Monday and Tuesday of next week is our ISP prep period, which is where we are all supposed to go to the location where we will do our research and make contacts, figure out where we are going to live, etc.  So this week I've been talking with an organization called Marafiki (which means "friends" in Swahili) that works in an Internally Displaced Persons camp called Maai Mahiu.  Maai Mahiu is also a small town that is about an hour outside Nairobi in the Rift Valley Province.  This camp was formed following the post-election violence of 2007-2008, where more than 1,000 people were killed, and more than 600,000 people were displaced across the country.  Five years later, there are still thousands of people living in this one camp called Maai Mahiu, and they are now classified as settled IDPs.

So through a happy circumstance, I found the organization called Marafiki which works in the camp at Maai Mahiu.  They have build a school, are working on building a clinic, they run food programs, adult literacy programs, skill building workshops... I could go on and on.  They are a relatively new NGO, since they obviously only originated after the post-election violence of 2007-2008.  After playing a pretty epic game of phone tag with the founder of the organization, I finally met him yesterday afternoon to discuss what I want to do and the logistics of me working in the IDP camp.  Izzo is a young guy with a degree in biomedical engineering that then decided to start Marafiki after the elections five years ago.  We met and he gave me a more detailed history of the organization, what they do in Maai Mahiu, and how I can work with them.  All I can say is, I am glad I found them.  From what it sounds like, they are more than happy to accomodate me and my somewhat unorthodox request.  Normally they work with volunteers, but I am really just looking for an organization to host me informally while I do my research so I have some established contacts within the area.  Izzo has agreed to help me find a place to stay, to match me up with a translator, and to have someone within the organization work with me throughout my time researching.  Oh, and what I want to research... right.  I want to look at livelihoods within the IDP camp, which will be particularly interesting because this is a settled camp.  While most people are still living in tents, they also own the land they are on.  So what do they do to make it on a day-to-day basis?  According to Izzo, most of the residents of the camp are farmers, yet the land they are living on in Maai Mahiu is very dry and infertile.  I think it will be absolutely fascinating to look at how the thousands of people in this camp survive, and what they hope to do in the future.  I'm SO excited.

So, what the tentative game plan is, is that I have the weekend here in Nairobi free to do some independent work, and then on Monday I'm going to take a day trip with Izzo to Maai Mahiu and get a tour of the camp, learn the basic function of things there, and look at living options for while I am there.    It sounds like just the intro I will need to the area before I return to actually start my research! And then after we go to Uganda, we actually start our ISPs.

What I am planning on doing (and lets see if this actually works... it's Kenya, so I'm never really sure of what is going to happen until it is actually happening) is spending the first four days of our ISP period in Nairobi doing basic research on my own.  Then I will go to Maai Mahiu for about a week and a half and start my field research.  Then I will return to Nairobi for a four day weekend.  There are four or five students that are staying in Nairobi to do their research and are renting an apartment, and they've said I can crash on their couch for a few days.  The long weekend will be for me to touch base with my advisors in Nairobi, do a bit of online research if I need to (I doubt I'll be taking my computer to the camp), and it just so happens that the weekend I'm planning on spending in the city falls over my birthday and Thanksgiving, so I'll get to spend it with some friends- sounds pretty perfect to me!  Then it'll be back out to Maai Mahiu to finish my field research for another week or so.  Finally, I'm planning on spending my last week in Nairobi talking to NGOs and government offices in the city about IDPs to get a different perspective, as well as finishing my written report and preparing for my final presentation.

So. I don't know if that sounds as great to anyone else as it does to me... but I'm pretty psyched!  We'll just have to see if it all works as planned.  Even if it doesn't, I'm sure it will be an amazing experience, and I'm excited to finally have a decent idea about what I'll be doing for my last month in Kenya!

Anyway, thats my ISP.

Then, after spending a lot of time doing work and researching yesterday, I went and met some people from my program at a place called Brew Bistro, and we hung out there for a while- it is a really fun place, but because getting home safely is an issue, we left around 8:30.  And last night, in a very impromptu fashion, I actually didn't stay at home- I went to one of my friend's houses in a part of Nairobi called Fort Jesus.  Lets just say its pretty different from my neighborhood, and it is basically part of Kibera, the biggest slum in Kenya.  Three of us spent the night with our friend, so there were four of us all together in two twin beds.  You can imagine how restful that was.  So now, after taking a taxi back home, I think I'm going to take a quick nap, shower, and then try and do something productive today- we'll see how that goes!

Well, overall it has been an uneventful week, so this will be short and sweet.

Monday it was back to class- Swahili was a little rough after a whole week off!  We spent most of the day reviewing everything, because we covered a lot in Shirazi and we had forgotten a remarkable amount.  Anyway, Tuesday was actually pretty interesting.  We went to Gikombo, or the informal sector here in Nairobi.  The informal sector is a huge area where people make and sell all sorts of things: pots and pans, clothes (SO MANY SECONDHAND CLOTHES), trunks, food, shoes... and on and on.  Walking through Gikombo is nearly indescribable.  The ground is mud, trash, food, and waste, all mashed together into a very soft and slippery surface that you have navigate very quickly because the pathways are very narrow and you are in everyones way no matter how fast you try and move.  On either side of you there are haphazardly made tables which are making and selling items (very aggressively, I might add).  And this goes on forever.  I can't quite describe the feeling in this area, it is much more hurried and frantic than any of the slums we have walked through, and I think we all felt much more out of place.  We went on this walk without any previous information, but in the afternoon we had a lecture about the informal sector (80% of employed Kenyans work in the informal sector...unbelievable) which was very informational and made a lot of what we saw make a lot more sense.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had development lectures all day, and while it is tricky to focus on one subject from 8:30-4, they were interesting lectures.  Thursday quickly turned into a frustrating day for me though, when I was told that my idea for my independent study project (ISP- which we all do for the last month of our time in Kenya) probably wasn't going to work.  Next weekend we are all supposed to go to the location where we'll be spending our ISP time and make our contacts so that when we return during the second week of November we can hit the ground running.  So it was a little frustrating when I was told a week before that that what I have been planning all semester isn't going to work.  So I left the office pretty darn ticked off and bought some chips and an avocado on the way home and sat in my room with my homemade guacamole and pouted for a while, and then got to work.

The next morning (after skyping with Wooster friends-one of my favorite things ever), I was in a much better and more productive mood and did some work and sent some emails that I think helped make my ISP idea do-able.  Nothing is set yet, but it is looking like its going to work.  When I know for sure, I'll specify what it is I'm planning on doing.  Other than that, on Friday I just had Swahili again and our last development lecture, mailed in my absentee ballot (ahhh- I voted in my first presidential election!) and then went home for the night.

This morning I didn't set an alarm, but I didn't really need to because I slept so horribly that I was up most of the night anyway.  I felt like I was going to throw up in the middle of the night, but because my room is outside of the main house and the house (and therefore the bathroom) are locked and therefore off limits to me during the night, I just laid in my bed feeling crappy until I finally fell back asleep at who knows what time.  So, when I finally got up, I showered and got dressed and came down to Java, a coffee place with free wifi.  As of now, I've been sitting here for about 6 hours writing all of the papers that are due next week before our ISP preparation period begins.

So for now, I'm just focusing on getting everything done for this next week (we have several papers and our Swahili final this week, so its a busy time!) and then next weekend its off to my ISP site.  I'm sure after that little adventure I'll have much more exciting things to say- so, until then, I hope you are all doing well, too!!

The tricky part of writing a post based on the last three weeks or so is that I can’t possibly capture everything that happened.  And these last three weeks were fairly fantastic. 

First the less interesting part- the week spent in Nairobi.  We continued our classes, but we focused on Swahili and cultural topics because we were about to leave for the rural village stay where it was more important that we know a few cultural intricacies rather than particular health or development knowledge.  So the last week was spent largely in class and preparing for our trip to the coast.  On the September 21^st (a Friday) we had a free afternoon before getting on the overnight bus from Nairobi to Mombasa.  Getting on the bus was an interesting experience, as we were loading our bags and climbing on, a police officer walked over and started yelling.  We couldn’t quite understand what was going on for a few minutes, but he was looking for the bus driver because he had parked the bus on the edge of the road, and apparently the Kenyan president had just driven by, so that was unacceptable.  But he had a giant stick in his hand and was waving it around and putting it right in peoples faces, so all we could do was apologize.  He wasn’t just upset at the driver, it was all of us too, because apparently we should have been saluting, but we definitely didn’t know anyone noteworthy had been there.  Anyway, it was an interesting insight into how the Kenyan Police handle issues. 

The bus ride actually wasn’t that bad, I think a lot of us slept pretty well. We arrived in Mombasa around 7am and then went to the SIT office in Mombasa to brush our teeth, eat some breakfast and relax for a few minutes.  Once the shops opened up, around 9am, we headed out in a few different groups with staff members from SIT Mombasa leading us around to do some shopping.  In the village we stayed in it was inappropriate to wear any of our Western clothes, so we needed to find a few local things.  We all bought muumuus (long flowy nightgown type things) and khangas, which are two pieces of rectangular fabric, one of which gets wrapped around your waist, and once gets wrapped around your chest and head.  After a few hours of shopping in some incredible heat, we had lunch and then got on a bus to drive us about an hour and a half south to the village of Shirazi, where we would spend the next 10 days. 

When we arrived in Shirazi, all of our families were already gathered around one of the main buildings in the village and were waiting for us.  So we very quickly collected our bags and sat down on a giant grass mat.  There wasn’t any beating around the bush- our director just immediately started calling out student names and pairing us up with our families.  I was called somewhere in the middle of the group and met my mama and gave her one of the most awkward hugs imaginable because she is literally only about 4 and a half feet tall.  But we grabbed my backpack, mosquito net, jug of water, and candles, and started walking to her home.  When I got to their home, they let me get a little settled in and then they gave me one of their family khangas to wear, and then we just spent the afternoon and evening trying to get to know each other.  I didn’t figure out exactly who was a member of my immediate family until the end of our time in Shirazi (which I know sounds ridiculous, but I swear, its not!) because there are so many children in and out of every house all the time that it is hard to tell who actually lives there and who doesn’t.  Even meal time and bedtime aren’t helpful because kids ate with us all the time who I knew weren’t a part of the family.  Anyway, in my family there was Mama Zedi, and then three sisters: Saumu, who was about 15, Mwanapili who was about 9, and Rukia who was 4.  My mama was a widow, so there wasn’t a father in the house.  They also gave me a Shirazi name (all the other students got one as well), so for the 10 days there I was called Saumu.  Yes, that was also my sister’s name.  So it got a little confusing, but she was my namesake, so it was still kind of sweet!      

Their home in Shirazi was very simple, but provided all of the necessities.  It was a simple mud and stick house, but it had several rooms.  When you walk in the front door, there is a very small hallway with one room to the left and one room to the right.  I actually had the room to the right all to myself while I was there, which was nice but made me feel guilty since everybody else stayed in the other room.  In my room there was a small bed, a little table, and a grass mat to cover the dirt floor.  The whole house had a palm frond roof, but my room also had a layer of World Food Programme bags that had been stitched together to give a little protection against rain.  I never actually saw the other room to the left, but I am assuming it is very similar.  The little hallway room area is the multipurpose room of the house.  It has a dirt floor, but whenever we sat there they put a grass mat down.  This is the space where we sat to talk, ate, played cards, and where everybody did homework- it was the only sitting area in the house. 

Then there was another door out the other side of the hallway that led to an open, outdoor area that was used for cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry etc.  It was a large dirt area that was more or less open.  Then off to the right was the kitchen.  It was covered with a palm frond room but didn’t have a door, so it was still very open.  They had a little fire pit area in the corner of the kitchen and then the other walls were stacked with drums of water, the few pots and pans they had, and the few food items they had.  Then there was my favorite room of the house, the shower.  It was an open area with palm frond walls that came up to about my shoulders, but then there wasn’t a ceiling.  There were a few large stones and logs in the ground that you stood on as you poured water on yourself from the bucket in the corner.  Even though there were some very large millipedes and spiders in this area of the house it was great because as you were showering you had a view of a bunch of other homes and the palm trees- it was pretty stunning.  And then off of the shower was the bathroom, literally just a hole dug into the dirt.  And that was the house! 

I don’t know how best to sum up the 10 days in Shirazi, so I’ll just try and go over some of the highlights and main challenges. 

We had class Monday- Saturday while we were there, which meant we had Swahili every morning from 7am-11am (we met earlier so it wasn’t as hot) under a giant tree.  We had lunch with all the students under a giant mango tree that was right on the water- this is a coastal village very near the Tanzania border, if I didn’t mention that.  A couple of afternoons we had activities, but mostly we were supposed to be working on research projects.  Everybody had both a group research project and an individual project to work on while we were there.  It was really interesting trying to conduct research in a village where we have very little command over the language and cultural practices.  But a lot of times, we just ended up going and sitting on the dock and playing with some local kids in the afternoons- much more enjoyable! 

On our first full day in Shirazi, we all met up and all we were told is we were going to go to a beach to go swimming.  So we loaded up a boat with about 10 of us and no SIT staff member, and then boat started plugging along in the inlets that led out to the main ocean.  For some reason we all thought it was a short ride- we were very wrong.  After about 45 minutes in the boat, the driver started slowing down the boat.  In the middle of the open ocean.  We were a little confused and concerned.  And then we realized what was going on, but we didn’t quite believe it.  The driver was pulling up to a sandbar that only comes up out of the water at low-tide: it is a disappearing beach.  But when we pulled up, even the shallowest points were still a food or so under water, so we just started laughing uncontrollably as the boat dropped us off literally in the middle of the ocean.  We couldn’t take anything out of the boat because there was no where to put it, so we just ran around and we couldn’t help but smile and laugh.  It was pretty incredible.  After 15 minutes or so the boat with the rest of our students and one of the SIT staff members came, and by that time there was some sand that had come out of the water.  We spent a couple of hours there just playing in the crystal clear water and then laying on our own private white sand island.  Absolutely incredible.

Oh goodness, the clothes was another highlight of the time in Shirazi.  Even though we all bought clothes to wear in Mombasa, almost everyone’s family still insisted on giving them clothes to wear.  And this resulted in some pretty comical things.  I really only had three spectacular outfits, the rest of them were fairly normal.  A normal day was wearing a muumuu with khangas over it, so we were well covered up.  We were staying in a Muslim village, so it was important to be modest and keep our heads covered most of the time.  But there was one day that my family gave me what one of my friends later described as a very long sequined negligee.  It was pale pink and COVERED in sequins, a sheer fabric, and it had spaghetti straps.  But mind you, my shoulders may have been exposed and my shorts were visible under the sheer fabric, but you better believe they had a matching scarf to keep my head covered.  Oh boy.  Then one day they gave me a khanga that was completely tie die.  Someone described what I looked like by saying that I looked like an exploded bag of skittles.  It was a little vivid.  And then the best outfit they saved for my last day.  Oh lordy.  It was a polyester floor length dress that was blue and white.  It reminded me of a child’s Halloween costume, except adult sized.  It also had a matching headscarf to match its spaghetti straps (one of which broke during the day, therefore exposing my bright pink sports bra… classy.  But I sewed the strap back on that night).  It was so hot in the Shirazi sun, but it was pretty comical.  While them dressing me was a little strange, it was done with so much love, it was totally ok.  They were just trying to show that we were a part of their family and they tried to give us their nicest things so we would look “good” while staying in the village.  It was actually pretty darn sweet. 

We also got to experience piki pikis in Shirazi.  Oi.  Piki Piki means motorcycle.  We had to ride them.  I have had not so pleasant experiences with motorcycles in the past (basically I'm just terrified of them) and so I was not too thrilled when we were told we would have to ride on the back of a piki piki to go visit a health clinic in the next village over.  So, the poor guy who was driving the piki piki had to deal with my death grip as I climbed on the back and one of my friends got behind me.  It was only about a 10 minute drive through the jungle to get there, but that was enough for me.  I was laughing hysterically, but mostly so I wouldn't cry.  The views were amazing though, I will say that.  The tour of the clinic was relatively uneventful, but then there was the piki piki ride back.  I was feeling slightly more comfortable at the beginning of the ride back. That is until we drove through fire.  Literally.  My friend and I just screamed a little and went "why yes, of course we just drove through fire on a piki piki on a dirt path in the jungle".  Yikes.  It was definitely an experience!

Let’s see, what else.  Oh- the food!  So. Much. Coconut.  Amazingness.  They make rice with coconut milk, beans with coconut milk, fish with coconut milk… yum.  They don’t have much food and there is very little variety, but coconuts are in abundance- they just climb trees and get them.  My family taught me how to grate the coconut (in fact I still have a cut on my leg from that coconut grater) and then make coconut milk.  There is a lot of fish in the village because it is coastal, but other than that, there isn’t really any protein.  We had beans once when I was there, but you could tell that was a special occasion.  And on my last night we slaughtered a chicken, which was an even bigger deal.  On my first day in the village, Mama Zedi told me that she doesn’t always have enough food, so when she doesn’t she goes to her mama, and when her mama doesn’t have enough food, she goes to my mama’s house.  That is a pretty foreign concept coming from the States, and it was pretty humbling.  But it makes sense- my mama was a widow, and I still don’t understand where she got the little money that she did have, but somehow they are still scraping by.  Needless to say I went and bought them a ton of groceries before I left.  Eating in Shirazi was a very interesting thing too, they put all the food on one big platter and everybody washes their hands with a cup of water, and then everyone says “Bismillah” and everyone eats off the same platter.  It was definitely a bonding thing, since we were all huddled around the same plate. 

On our last day in Shirazi I had to go and do a little work in the morning, but I came back to my house around 1pm.  My mama had made an appointment for me to go and get henna before I left, so we went to her friends house.  They do piko, which is like henna but it dries black, so it is much more obvious.  This woman drew with piko from my fingertips to elbow and then from my toes to mid-calf.  It was beautiful.  While she was drawing on my feet, she stopped for a minute and said, “Oh, wadudu!”.  Wadudu means bug in Swahili.  There are little bugs called jiggers in Shirazi which get under the skin in your feet and grow there.  And I had one in my big toe.  Lucky me.  But my mama came over and saw it, so after we went home when my piko had dried, they told me to go get a needle (luckily I had one in my sewing kit) and I sat down in the hallway sitting area.  My 15 year old sister, Saumu, took the needle and picked the little bug out of my foot.  It hurt, but it wasn’t too bad.  But then she found two more in other toes, so she took those out as well.  And then, I found out, they had gotten some brown/orange henna like we have in the states and they took a little stick and colored in some of the piko designs on my hands and feet with the henna.  I can’t quite describe how or why, but from Saumu picking the jiggers out of my feet and then my whole family helping put henna on me, it was just the perfect way to spend my last night there.  It was all done with so much love and caring, it was so wonderful.  Then we had our huge dinner of pilau and chicken, played our last game of cards (I gave them a deck of cards and taught them to play a few games- go fish was their favorite) and exchanged some gifts.  I gave them a few toys, a notebook, a new paraffin lamp (I don’t think I mentioned, but hopefully you got the picture that this village doesn’t have electricity or running water), and a bunch of groceries.  I still don’t know how they afforded it, but my mama had a hat, purse and fan made for me.  It was so sweet, they were so excited to be able to give me something, and I will definitely keep all three of the gifts for a very, very long time.  That night I also promised I would find a way to send them a bunch of the pictures I had taken throughout the week, because they don’t have any pictures of their family. 

I don’t really know what else to say about Shirazi.  Some of it was overwhelming, there were constantly kids crawling all over us, Swahili was a little tricky, but overall it was great and I really loved my family.  My mama was so incredibly sweet I can’t even begin to describe it.  Saumu is very serious about her studies and really wants to go to secondary school next year.  She was also who taught me how to do the most in the village- how to cook, how to wash dishes with dirt (yes, they don’t have soap, so they wash with dirt) and she dressed me every morning.  Then there was Mwanapili who has the biggest smile imaginable and just wants to play games all the time.  Rukia is a typical whiny, but actually very sweet four year old.  She took a while to warm up to me, but when she finally did, we had some precious moments of her meeting me at school and then holding my hand as she walked me home. 

I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to, but I really hope that someday I get to go back to Shirazi.  They were all so welcoming and happy to have us there- I really did feel a part of the community, which was fantastic.  I was surprised I didn’t struggle more there with the lack of conveniences that I am used to, and some really, really big bugs (including the ones that were living in my feet) but my family made all of that more than worth it. 

When we left Shirazi we went back to Mombasa for a few days and had a lot of health lectures there.  We didn’t have Swahili all week and instead just focused on some NGO visits and learning about the Kenyan healthcare system, which was interesting, but with 6 hours a day of lectures on the same topic, we were already to be done by the end of the week. 

And now we are back in Nairobi and spending the weekend with our families here before we start classes back up here tomorrow!

Sorry for the really long post- next time I won’t wait three weeks to write again!! 

Yikes, I definitely didn’t mean for a week to pass before I wrote another post, sorry!  And it has definitely been an eventful week… so here we go!

Tuesday was quite the day.  I walked to class with some girls that live near by me, and first thing in the morning we had Swahili.  We realized that three people from our group were gone and that they all walk together, but we just assumed they’d left late.  Well, an hour and a half later, we realized that definitely wasn’t true and then the three students got to the SIT office.  They had been robbed on the way to school- one girl had her laptop stolen, another had a camera taken, and everybody lost the bags they had with them.  They were very shaken up, but everybody was fine, thank goodness.  The rest of the day was a little off, while we still had a lesson in the afternoon a lot of people were distracted (and understandably so!) and then we spent a good chunk of time figuring out how to safely get us all home and how to safely commute for the rest of the semester.  Our program decided that it was no longer advisable for any of us to carry bags of any kind to or from school, because that is obviously a target.  So that night, one of our academic directors drove us all home because we all had bags.  Starting on Wednesday, I have just been stuffing my bra full of all of the most important things: my phone, money, thumb drive, etc., and then just carrying a notebook and pen. 

           

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly uneventful, but still interesting.  On Wednesday we didn’t have Swahili and instead we had two lectures from guests.  In the morning we heard the political history of Kenya (which was a little bit of an information overload, but still very interesting!) and then in the afternoon someone who works in the human rights sector in Kenya came and spoke to us, which was very interesting.  On Thursday we had a broad overview of Islam and more specifically Swahili Islam culture, because the village that we will be going to at the end of this week is Muslim.  And then it was back to Swahili!  We have been learning a LOT, and while I am actually enjoying it more than I thought I would, it is really difficult to retain as much information as they are giving us on a daily basis.  Anyway, evenings at my homestay have been very pleasant but low key.  I have been getting home around 6pm and there isn’t normally anyone home except Flo, who is my family’s house help.  So I tend to study some Swahili and read a bit and then spend the evening with my family once they all get home around 7:30 or 8.  We eat dinner fairly quickly after they all get home, watch a little tv and visit, and then we are normally all off in our rooms by 9pm to get ready for bed.  It is funny going to bed so early, but it does give me a chance to journal fairly regularly, get some reading done, and get plenty of sleep.  While our program doesn’t give us a considerable amount of homework (at least up to this point) we are all still completely exhausted at the end of the day because everything is so new.  Our classes are taught differently than they are in the US, our home environment is foreign, our commute requires a lot of attention and pretending that we know what we are doing… basically everything is new and we are learning from everything, so even though going to bed before 10 is ridiculous given what a normal night at Wooster is like for me, here it is kind of necessary to make sure we are still getting the most out of our experience!

Friday was a whole other ballgame.  We met at the SIT office like normal, but on Friday morning we had our first site visit: we went to see WOFAK, or Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya.  We had a lengthy drive to their office, which is right on the outskirts of the second largest slum in Nairobi.  When we arrived, we gathered in the small office and spoke to Helen, who is in charge of the office.  She gave us a background on WOFAK and what they do.  WOFAK was founded more than 20 years ago by an HIV positive woman who felt that there needed to be services and a support network for women with HIV in Kenya.  Now WOFAK provides counseling, support groups, home care, meal programs, and more for women, men, and children affected by AIDS.  After hearing from Helen, we all split into small groups of 3 or 4 to walk into the slum and meet some of the women that WOFAK serves. 

I went with two other girls from my program, Mama Mary (who is from SIT) and Helen, and we didn’t have to walk very far to reach the home we were visiting.  With only a curtain as a door, we entered a one-room home.  When we arrived, the woman we were supposed to be visiting wasn’t there, but her two daughters were, so Helen spoke to them and we sat down.  The home was miniscule: there was a twin bed, a couch, a coffee table, and some trunks that were stacked to make a shelf, and on the makeshift shelf there was a tv.  As we looked around, we realized that there was a third child in the house that we hadn’t even seen when we walked in, he was so small.  We later found out that he was in fact a 10 year old boy with cerebral palsy, but he could have easily passed for 5 years old with how small he was.  He couldn’t support himself at all, his sisters were helping him bathe and get dressed, and he just looked like a rag doll.  While Helen told us he can hear and understand people, he has virtually no control over his body and he can’t speak.  But boy oh boy did he have a big smile when Helen told him he had visitors!! We sat and spoke to Helen for a while about WOFAK and AIDS in general, and then the mother arrived.  We had been fairly quiet and somber up until that point, but that all changed when she walked in.  She is a large woman with an even bigger smile and she happily shook all of our hands and then sat down. 

Helen introduced us to her in Swahili, and one of the only words I picked out of what she was saying was “Obama”.  I laughed, and when they looked at me, I said “Oh, I just heard ‘Obama’”, and Helen said she had told the woman that we came from Obama’s country and that the woman said we were all from the same nation, then, because Obama is Kenyan.  After the introductions, we asked some questions and learned a little about this woman.  She was diagnosed as HIV positive 11 or 12 years ago, and although it is common for men to leave their wives when they contract HIV, her husband didn’t leave.  However, 10 years ago when she gave birth to a disabled son, he did leave her.  So there she was with four children (there was an older daughter also, who we didn’t meet) and HIV.  Now she pays $6 a month in rent for her one room house, and I’m honestly not sure where all five of them sleep.  The bed is half covered with stuff, and there is a couch, but I can’t imagine more than one person fitting on the floor.  Anyway, this woman makes chapati and chai and sells it in the morning to people who are on their way to work and she makes about $2 a day doing this.  $2.  She has to support herself and four children, one of whom requires a lot of attention and extra resources.  She is not sure if she will be able to send her daughters to high school, because high school isn’t free in Kenya.  She says what she wants more than anything is a special chair for her son so he can be taken out of the house, because right now he is essentially housebound.  She said the stigma of having a handicapped son is even greater than the stigma that goes along with her HIV, yet she is still ridiculously upbeat and optimistic.  I can’t quite fathom why, but she still wears her wedding ring, and everything else she and her children are wearing is riddled with holes and covered in dirt; I watched the two girls put a baby onesie on their brother as a shirt with the snaps between the legs undone because he’s small, but he isn’t quite that small.  After asking our last questions, we said goodbye to the woman and thanked her for talking to us, and we walked back to the office… and we were pretty quiet the whole way. 

Everyone else in our group met incredible women as well.  One of them was taking care of her 6 children and 8 grandchildren.  One had 10 kids of her own that she was taking care of in addition to her HIV.  It was a very humbling visit and while it was important and in many ways inspiring, it was also very hard to see.  After thanking Helen for her hospitality, we loaded back on the bus and drove back to the SIT office where we all had lunch.

After lunch we had Swahili, where we had a HUGE quiz.  Oh goody, just what everyone wants on a Friday afternoon.  We learned a lot of Swahili this week, but it was still a really difficult quiz and we were all taken down a couple of notches after finishing it as best we could.  We still had a two and a half hour Swahili lesson, and by the end of the day everybody was a little on edge and tense.  It was the end of our first real week, we had had a good but rough morning, and then we had all just bombed a quiz.  So we all headed out of the office pretty quickly.  Two other girls and I ran to an ATM, and then soon after that we met several other people at a little local bar for a couple of drinks.  It was just what we all needed.  We just unwound a little bit, laughed a lot, and discovered a fabulous local drink called Snapp- a hard, sparkling cider. Yum.  Anyway, at about 7:45, I split a cab home with two girls in my neighborhood, and I was home in time for dinner.  After a good meal with my family and chatting for a little bit, I headed off to bed because we also had activities bright and early on Saturday morning!!

On Saturday we all met at Java at 8am to take our bus to MYSA, or the Mathare Youth Sports Association.  We were all very impressed by the organization: they are a community development initiative that targets youth through soccer, arts and music, and library programs.  They work in low-income areas and their services are free to kids.  They have impressive facilities and very dedicated and welcoming staff members, and we had a great visit.  We went to several different branches and at one of them, we got to see a short dance performance, which was really neat. Except then they made us all dance with them, and I DON’T DANCE!!! Oh well, all the kids watching got a good laugh, I guess.  After the visit, we all had lunch at a little hole in the wall restaurant (among the people at our table, we found rocks, plastic and hair in our food, but whatever, we didn’t et sick!) and then the bus dropped us back off at the SIT office at about 2pm.  A few of us walked to Java and chatted and had smoothies, and then around 5:30 we all walked home. 

We all planned to go out around 8:30, but we didn’t want to be gone all day, so I came home and spent some time with my family, had dinner, got changed, and then a couple of the girls came and picked me up in a cab.  Went downtown to a bar called Galileos, which had fabulous (and distracting) lighting and VERY loud music, but 6 of us sat there for a couple of hours, talked, had a couple of drinks and enjoyed our first Saturday night out in Nairobi J  Around 11:30 we headed home, and one of the girls came home with me and slept on the floor in my room since it isn’t safe to go back to her neighborhood late.  We stayed up and chatted for a while, but finally went to sleep around 1:30. 

This morning we got up, had a quick breakfast, and I walked her out to the main road so she knew where she was, and she walked home.  As of this morning I still hadn’t done laundry, so I was finally able to spend an hour or so washing almost every article of clothing I brought with me and hanging them up on the line to dry.  After showering, I had to finally face my first real homework I’ve had here.  I had to write two short papers, and even though they are due later in the week, I wanted to get them done so I can just work on my Swahili this week.  We leave for the village on Friday night, and they don’t speak any English, so I definitely need to focus on some language stuff this week! We’ll see how it goes…

Anyway, now I think I’m off to skype with a couple of people from Wooster (yay!), and then it’ll be dinner time, quickly followed by bedtime!!  I’ll try and write another post before we go to the village, because otherwise it will be 3 weeks or so until I write again.  So, bye for now!