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.
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.
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