So its been a while since I've updated, so Ill do my best to highlight the past month or so.
I finished my finals and 55 pgs worth of term papers abou 2 weeks ago, which is such a relief. Between Uganda and this I didnt do much: just took it easy in Nyeri, worked at my internship, and made one journey out to Aberdare National Park where i saw elephants. Overall: not too exciting...Nyeri is pretty quiet. I think I certainly prefer Nairobi. There is much less excitement in Nyeri and it lacks the vivid cultural diversity and cosmopolitan feel of Nairobi, which is what I think mkes it such a great world city. In Nyeri its easy to get lost in the African-ness, and its easy to get homesick or frusterated with things that seem pointless in inefficient, but at the same time there is something nice about the rural-ness, the beauty, and the quietness. One slightly scary moment that happened though was when I was walking in Nyeri town to meet some friends for lunch and all the sudden saw some guy running at me out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head just in time to miss getting glue-laced spit strait in the face, but it did get my hair, and I could tell it was a guy too messed up on drugs to really know what he was doing. After the spit thing he hit me on the back (not hard since he was not really with it) and ran away. Luckily I wasnt hurt at all, and everyone around was super nice and made sure i was ok, but it was a little scary. I still get jumpy around random people now.
Anyway, moving on to the real adventures. After finishing finals and turnig in papers I started my beach travel along with 3 of my friends: dan, hannah, and drew. We took and overnight bus to Mombasa on a Thurs night, and arrived around 6 in the morning. From there we hopped on a 7 am bus to take us to Tanga about 4 hours from Mombasa in Tanzania. The border was slightly more legit than at Uganda (there were fingerprint scanners and no holes in fences, but the 2 hours from the border to Tanga where miserable, and the worst roads i've been on yet. From Tanga we took a matatu (or dala dala as their called in Tanzania) to Pangani, a coastal town about 1hr45 mins from Tanga. It was a tiny little town and because news of mzungus spreads fast, we were greeted within a minute or two by the guy fromt he tourism office. This was fantastic because it was already about 2 o'clock and we needed to hire a boat to take us to Zanzibar asap. Within an hour we were on said boat, a rickety looking wooden thing with 2 motors (in case one fails as we were told as a safety sell) and I think 4 lifejackets for the 4 of us plus 3 crew. The boat trip to Kendwa in Zanzibar took 4 hours, meanign we arrived navy seal style in the dark. Luckily, the sunset was pretty from the ocean. But back to our illegal immigrant style arrival:we litteraly arrived at the beach, in the middle of the night (well about 730, but it was plenty dark), and got of in knee deep water via cell phone light and approached the small string of Kendwa hotel/resorts that way. It was certainly an adventure. Luckily, we were able to hop between the 3 resorts and find the best deal on a bungalow for the next 4 nights. Zanzibar is honestly probally one of the most stunningly goergous places I've ever been. The sand is white and the water is that crystal clear turquoise blue that you always dream of seeing. We spent most of our time just lounging by the beach and enjoying the fun, young atmosphere of Kendwa, which is where a lot of young people and backpackers go. We did take one excursion, which was a amazing day of scuba diving. It was one of those trips where they give you a crash course in what to do (mainly in the boat ride over to the spot) and then you go.If the water at Kendwa was stunning, the water at where we dove was unreal. We scuba dived off this little island and coming up to it on the bat it looked like something was glowing around it. The water was such a vibrant turquoise it looked like someone literraly installed lights under the surface. And as the water got deeper, the shades of blue got deeper, going into royal and navy hues that were also beautiful. Diving itself was also amazing, we saw all sorta of really cool coral and fish, i felt like i was at an aquarium but one i got to swim around and explore. It was fantastic.
AFter 3 days and 4 nights on Zanzibar (which I already want to go back to)we took a shuttle to stone town and began our journey to kenya, and our second destination. We were all a little neevous about this since the coast of both Kenya and Tanzania are predomenantly Muslim, and the whole Osama thing had just gone down. Luckily, we encounterned nothing negative the whole way.From stone town we hopped on the high speed ferry to Dar Es Salaam...which only took 2 hours and was air conditioned! We stayed a night in Dar, which was actually a pretty nice city that i wouldnt mind returning to. The next morning bright and early aka 6 am we were ona bus back to Mombasa, minus Dan, wh headed towards Malawi where he had some internship thing...a journey that eventually took him 30-something hours and a lot of detours and transportation changes. Our journey itself was pretty awful. The trip to Mombasa from Dar eneded up taking basically 10 hours, and it was hot and miserable. Ecspecially since East Africa doesnt seem to grasp the whole deoderant concept. The two hours from Tanga to the Border may have been some of the most miserable two hours traveling I have ever had. That night we spent in Diani beach, a beach just south of Mombasa. We stayed in a tree house. Yes, a tree house. I personally slept on the porch of said tree house, where I appreciated my mosquito net not to stop mosquitos (there were holes of course so they could get in if they wanted) but as a barrier against monkeys and bats...non of which i ever encountered thankfully). Hopefully there isnt a limit to how much DEET you can put on your body in a short period of time, because I literally slept with my bug spray and reaplied about every 45 minutes, plus used it as a weapon everytime i heard a buzz. Before my sleeping adventures, we ate dinner in a cave. Yes, a cave. It was fantastic.The walls were cave-like and it was open at the top to the stars. The food and service were both also fantastic, as was the wine....three things that mean a lot being in Kenya. The next day we once again started bright and early and took a taxi, ferry, and matatu on a 3 hour journey to Malindi, where we met up with two other friends: amanda and savannah, and took a flight to Lamu. It was so worth flying I was over busses. The flight was pretty sketchy though. It was a tiny airline and a tiny airport, where we took a tiny plane on a 25 minute flight. They never once checked IDs, and i managed to get on board with a lighter in my purse...so security wasnt on their game either. but, in hindsight, it all went smoothly. Although we all admitted later to being a little nervous when we saw we were sharing our flight with an old muslim women who had a head to toe burka...not a sliver of skin showing, not even eye slits, and she even had gloves. Lukckily, she was obviously old, being in a wheel chair and you could tell she was all frail and such, so I felt confident she was actually just an old muslim woman and not some person pretneding to be one, which made me slightly less nervous.
Lamu is a really cool town. It is an island in the Northern coast area of Kenya and is actually the oldest town in East Africa. It has no real roads, just windin alleys that are about 6 feet wide, if that. There are no cars, but about 5 thousand donkeys that move everything around. There are actually 2 cars ont he island...one belonging to the district commisioner, and the other is a donkey ambulance. There is also a donkey sanctuary. Thakfully, the town doesnt really smell so bad becuase people are hired to clean the alleys often, and there is a really good drainage/sewage system. We stayed in a "coral castle" on the top floor, where we had a nice view of the city. Unfortuently, the water on the Kenya coast isnt as nice this time of year, due to changing weather stuff, so it wasnt the crystal clear blue you usually get, but it was still nice. We travelled to the beach via boat taxi, and being the low season, had basically the whole thing to ourselves. It was beautiful, with big dunes and the tides created cool little islands to swim to. One day we all took a dhow trip, which is a traditional swahilli wooden sailboat. We fished and played on another, even more secluded beach. We also ate a delish lunch prepared by our captain, that included the fish we caught! It was really cool. That afternoon, me and my friend Amanda decided to try and find a place to get traditional henna, and stopped a lady walking when we saw she had some peaking out of the sleeve of her dress. We asked her where to get it done, and she took us to her house, where we met her family and her neighboor came to give us henna. I got my arms done, from the hand up to right beow the elbow, and a really bautiful flower design that should last about 3 weeks. Amanda got the same on her feet up to right below the knee. It was really cool to experience a bit of what family life is like, ecspecially for a muslim family in Lamu, and the women were very interesting to talk to. The next day we had an evening flight back to Nairobi, where once again I realised on the plane that my purse contained a huge aray of shoul-be-illegal items, including a lighter, leatherman pocket knife, and pepper spray. Needless to say Ill probably avoid Fly540 in the future. But the fligh landed me safely in Nairobi last night. I plan on spending the day here, and heading back to Nyeri this afternoon, where Ill hang out untill I go to Nairobi the 18th when Penn State people come, and the 2oth, when Mom and Ally come, and I begin my next adventureL Safari!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Uganda
I have been blogging a lot less since coming to rural Kenya, mainly because my internet modem doesn’t actually work well at my house, so I have to squeeze any online time more or less in when I’m at work. So, I feel it’s about time to talk about Uganda, which I visited 2 weekends ago. It was an adventure. It started Thursday at 6 am, when I boarded a Matatu from Nyeri to Nairobi. It should be a 2 hour trip, but this being Kenya, it took about 3 hours and 15 minutes. There is now a nice Highway that runs from Nyeri to Nairobi, thanks to the influx of funding into central province thanks to the shared ethnicity of this region and President Kibaki. However, there was a cop roadblock every few miles (aka a place for the police to collect a “kitu kidogo” from the matatu drivers)…so we ended up taking an hour long detour on some back road, that was really a glorified nature path. The next leg of my journey was an 8 hour bus ride to Kisumu, where I met up with my friends and we had a awesome dinner of delicious non-Kenyan food, interrupted by a brief torrential downpour. The next morning at 6 it was off again in a hired Matatu to Uganda, with a detour at the equator for needed pictures. At the boarder we ran into a problem because an oil tanker was leaking and they weren’t letting anyone across from where we were. But, we were eventually helped by our driver on the Ugandan side of the boarder, who came and got us, took us around behind some buildings, through a hole in a fence (yes a hole in a fence) and onto the Kenyan side of customs, which we went through followed by the Ugandan side, and then it was a 2 hour drive to our final destination of Jinja. Our hostel was so cool, with two sites, a main hotel with restaurant/bar close to town, and a more campsite oriented site, also with a large outdoor restaurant/bar on the nile. We stayed the first night in the latter and the 2nd in the formal. After checking in at the first site, we started meeting some of the staff, who were all a ton of fun. We ate lunch and decided to bungee jump in the afternoon. One of the staff convinced us to rent bikes and bike to the bungee jump place, and then down to the camp site. Bungee jumping over the Nile was a ton of fun. Even though I had bungee jumped in Switzerland, from a place that at about 20m, makes 44m look like cake, I was still nervous. Luckily, I went last, so I had plenty of assurance on the safety. That said, I had a moment of hesitation when I realized a towel and some heavy duty strapping where all that was connecting my ankles to the bungee cord and carabineers. However, I trusted the people knew what they were doing, and the whole experience was a ton of fun. After biking around for a bit, we had a fun night at our hotel, meeting lots of cool people, and had an early night. At 8 the next morning, we were bused back to the main hotel to leave for white water rafting on the nile. There were the 7 of us and the guide on our raft. Our guide was funny, but sort of an ass-hole, and we all were not supprised to find out he spent most of the time creating elaborate lies about himself for us. The first rapid we went down was essentially a waterfall. Rafting, or as I may choose to call it, getting thrown around in the Nile rapids like it was a waterslide, was so much fun. We probably flipped about 4 or 5 times, all of which I think was intentional on our guides part, because every time we were warned to keep our feet up, or be careful of something if we flipped, we didn’t flip. But, every time we were told it was deep and to just chill if we flipped, we flipped. It was an interesting experience flipping, because while you would think you would panic, you actually remained surprisingly calm. The first time we flipped I got trapped under the raft, and I just calmly held on under there until the water calmed down. The other times, you just get tumbled along in the waves, managing to catch a gasp of air every several seconds while not being entirely sure of what direction your going (up, down, forward, back). This lasts for about a minute, and then the water is calm and you get pulled back into the boat. It’s scary but fun. That night we had fun hanging out with the people we had met, and in the midst of a literal monsoon of rain, we all went to a local club and danced for a few hours, before taking motorbike taxis back to the hotel. At 9 the next morning, we were on a bus back to Kisumu, which about 12 hours later, landed me in Nairobi. I spent the night in Nairobi with my host family there; and, at 730 the next morning I was on a matatu back to Nyeri. I arrived in town around 10, and was back at work by 11! It was an exhausting but fun weekend!! Uganda was a lovely and beautiful country. It was lusher than Kenya, with a jungle like feel, and the people were very friendly. It was also CHEAP, and this is even compared to Kenya, which I also find incredibly cheap. Paying more than a dollar or two for a meal is going to be an adjustment when I come home. One thing that was interesting was that for whatever reason, Ugandan English was much easier to understand for us, and vice versa than Kenyan English, so it was a nice change of pace to not have to constantly be repeating oneself, or asking others to do the same.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Hi Again
Its been a while since my last update, so this will be a long one.
First, two weekends ago, I went to Mombasa. It was HOT in Mombasa, think 90 degrees 80% humidity hot. We stayed in the town, which was itself ok. We saw the tourist things, and got a tour from some really friendly locals. It was Friday, which is prayer day for Muslims, and that was interesting to see. Mombasa is majority Muslim, so it was a very different environment, though everyone was very nice, and despite the guidebook warnings, we saw no Osama bin Laden graffiti or t-shirts. The transportation there is of course matatu, but also tuk-tuks, which were these fun 3-wheeled taxis, with a tent like covering and handle bars to steer. The second day, we went to the actually coast, which was amazing. When my classes are over for good, we are going to take another trip and spend a few days going down the coast from Lamu to Mombasa again. The Indian Ocean is a gorgeous blue color, and the sand is white. We went to a little beach bar that was full of other mzungus, was still lovely. The beach wasn’t crowded, and the water warm. The heat was also not so deadly there also, which was nice. One part that was memorable was the ferry ride over to the south coast, which is free, meaning it was jam packed with locals. In line, a bunch of locals with big bags on their head started barging to the front of the line, making “tsk” noises. Realizing that we had to be aggressive to get anywhere, the guys put their bags on their heads and started making “tsk” noises – the whole loading ramp exploded in laughter!! Back on the beach, we had a really awesome and relaxing day swimming and enjoying the water. I even rode a camel on the beach, which although a little anticlimactic, was still quite fun. We even found the play we want to stay when we come back, a small backpacker hotel across from the beach bar we were at where the rooms are tree houses!!!
My last week in Nairobi was pretty uneventful. I went to the doctors to get antibiotics for a cough that wasn’t doing well, which was pretty painless. I also went to the post office to pick up a package, which was one of the more frustrating experiences I’ve had. For one, after my mom spent $40 dollars to send the package, I had to pay the equivalent of $30 to pick it up in duty fees. How do they assess this fee? Someone literally, when you are not even present, opens your package and goes through everything, even opening envelopes. Then this random person decided how much they think it’s worth and charge you an exorbitant fee based on that. It’s ridiculous!!! Maybe if government officials could keep their grimy hands out of government funds, there wouldn’t be a need to charge someone $30 dollars for a t-shirt, some candy, and some instant coffee. As much as I really do love Kenya, the blatant impunity of the political elite here makes me sick.
Finally, on Sunday, I moved from Nairobi to Nyeri, which is about two hours north of Nairobi. The town I actually live in is called Thunguma, and it is quite rural. To get anything I have to take a matatu into Nyeri, which is only about 5 or so kilometers away, so its not bad. This area is gorgeous. Our town is almost on a plateau of sorts, so we are surrounded by hills, which are covered be trees, cut through by lakes and quarries, and of course, the ubiquitous shambas (small farms). There is really only like 2 main roads, plus small lanes, and only one road is paved, the rest are the red dirt found in this area. In the horizon you can see the mountains in the distance, and when it’s clear, the snow covered top of Mt. Kenya, Kenya’s largest mountain. Also, the air is cleaner than in Nairobi, which is a nice change. My new host family is very nice, and it feels much more Kenyan than my Nairobi family. We do have water and electricity, but other luxuries are scarce. There is no stove or oven like we have in America, and we cook on small cooking stoves that run on gas. I help with the cooking and dishes, and I am enjoying learning to cook Kenyan food. I live on a small shamba, so we have chickens and goats, as well as a dog and 3 puppies! During the day our neighbor’s sheep graze in our yard. We get fresh milk every morning from the neighbor as well! I have a host brother and a host sister, but they are away at school. I haven’t met the brother who is 14 or 15, but the sister who is 21 I met briefly, and I liked her a lot. I also like the place where I am interning. It’s a home for street children. During the day the younger kids go to local schools, and the older kids do vocational training. I’m working on the farm, and it’s quite exhausting. I’m currently learning the basics, doing things like making beds, planting, watering, weeding, transplanting. Water is a big issue here, and in the 2 days I’ve been here, the pump has had to be fixed 3 times! Hopefully soon well figure out a specific project I can do, hopefully focusing on food production to improve nutrition. I wake up and go running from 630-7, shower, eat, and do some school work until I go to work at about 9, take lunch back at home from 1-3 (when it’s too hot to work), and then go back from 3-5 or 6. After this, I do some more school work, help with dinner, and relax a little. It turns out to be a very exhausting day, and last night I went to sleep at 9pm! But, the work is fun, and the kids at the center are adorable an so much fun to play with!
First, two weekends ago, I went to Mombasa. It was HOT in Mombasa, think 90 degrees 80% humidity hot. We stayed in the town, which was itself ok. We saw the tourist things, and got a tour from some really friendly locals. It was Friday, which is prayer day for Muslims, and that was interesting to see. Mombasa is majority Muslim, so it was a very different environment, though everyone was very nice, and despite the guidebook warnings, we saw no Osama bin Laden graffiti or t-shirts. The transportation there is of course matatu, but also tuk-tuks, which were these fun 3-wheeled taxis, with a tent like covering and handle bars to steer. The second day, we went to the actually coast, which was amazing. When my classes are over for good, we are going to take another trip and spend a few days going down the coast from Lamu to Mombasa again. The Indian Ocean is a gorgeous blue color, and the sand is white. We went to a little beach bar that was full of other mzungus, was still lovely. The beach wasn’t crowded, and the water warm. The heat was also not so deadly there also, which was nice. One part that was memorable was the ferry ride over to the south coast, which is free, meaning it was jam packed with locals. In line, a bunch of locals with big bags on their head started barging to the front of the line, making “tsk” noises. Realizing that we had to be aggressive to get anywhere, the guys put their bags on their heads and started making “tsk” noises – the whole loading ramp exploded in laughter!! Back on the beach, we had a really awesome and relaxing day swimming and enjoying the water. I even rode a camel on the beach, which although a little anticlimactic, was still quite fun. We even found the play we want to stay when we come back, a small backpacker hotel across from the beach bar we were at where the rooms are tree houses!!!
My last week in Nairobi was pretty uneventful. I went to the doctors to get antibiotics for a cough that wasn’t doing well, which was pretty painless. I also went to the post office to pick up a package, which was one of the more frustrating experiences I’ve had. For one, after my mom spent $40 dollars to send the package, I had to pay the equivalent of $30 to pick it up in duty fees. How do they assess this fee? Someone literally, when you are not even present, opens your package and goes through everything, even opening envelopes. Then this random person decided how much they think it’s worth and charge you an exorbitant fee based on that. It’s ridiculous!!! Maybe if government officials could keep their grimy hands out of government funds, there wouldn’t be a need to charge someone $30 dollars for a t-shirt, some candy, and some instant coffee. As much as I really do love Kenya, the blatant impunity of the political elite here makes me sick.
Finally, on Sunday, I moved from Nairobi to Nyeri, which is about two hours north of Nairobi. The town I actually live in is called Thunguma, and it is quite rural. To get anything I have to take a matatu into Nyeri, which is only about 5 or so kilometers away, so its not bad. This area is gorgeous. Our town is almost on a plateau of sorts, so we are surrounded by hills, which are covered be trees, cut through by lakes and quarries, and of course, the ubiquitous shambas (small farms). There is really only like 2 main roads, plus small lanes, and only one road is paved, the rest are the red dirt found in this area. In the horizon you can see the mountains in the distance, and when it’s clear, the snow covered top of Mt. Kenya, Kenya’s largest mountain. Also, the air is cleaner than in Nairobi, which is a nice change. My new host family is very nice, and it feels much more Kenyan than my Nairobi family. We do have water and electricity, but other luxuries are scarce. There is no stove or oven like we have in America, and we cook on small cooking stoves that run on gas. I help with the cooking and dishes, and I am enjoying learning to cook Kenyan food. I live on a small shamba, so we have chickens and goats, as well as a dog and 3 puppies! During the day our neighbor’s sheep graze in our yard. We get fresh milk every morning from the neighbor as well! I have a host brother and a host sister, but they are away at school. I haven’t met the brother who is 14 or 15, but the sister who is 21 I met briefly, and I liked her a lot. I also like the place where I am interning. It’s a home for street children. During the day the younger kids go to local schools, and the older kids do vocational training. I’m working on the farm, and it’s quite exhausting. I’m currently learning the basics, doing things like making beds, planting, watering, weeding, transplanting. Water is a big issue here, and in the 2 days I’ve been here, the pump has had to be fixed 3 times! Hopefully soon well figure out a specific project I can do, hopefully focusing on food production to improve nutrition. I wake up and go running from 630-7, shower, eat, and do some school work until I go to work at about 9, take lunch back at home from 1-3 (when it’s too hot to work), and then go back from 3-5 or 6. After this, I do some more school work, help with dinner, and relax a little. It turns out to be a very exhausting day, and last night I went to sleep at 9pm! But, the work is fun, and the kids at the center are adorable an so much fun to play with!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
$40 weekend
I am constently amazed at how far my money gets me in Kenya! Case in Point -- the amazing weekend I recently had for a total (including EVERYTHING) of less than $40 US. Pretty much everyone in our group spent the weekend at Hells Gate National Park (which is what the lion king is based off of -- even though there are no lions here). I left y house super early (like 630 am) on Saturday morning and went dontown to catch a matatu to Naivasha, a trip that takes about and hour and 15 mins. From there we took another matatu to the Park, about 30 mins away. For those who don't know matatus are the big public transportation (sort of -- i don't think the government runs them but its essentially a cheap way to get places both near and pretty far) that is basically a glorfied van. They ususually get stuffed with about 10 people, you put your bags on your lap, and lets just say most have seen better days. Its a trip in itself. Once we got to the park, which is one of the smallest in Kenya, we rented bikes (which had also seen better days) and traveled through the park that way. I must say, seeing zebras, waterbuffalo, birds, baboons, antelopes & gazelles, and warthogs from a bike is definetly the best way to see them!!! You can really enjoy the scenrey and the animals when your out in the open air. There aren't really any big predator animals at Hells Gate, which is probally why you can bike. There are also Giraffes, but I never saw one this time. We biked several kilometers into the park to the back end, and then hired a guide to take us on a 3 hour hike of the gorge that lays right outside the park. The gorge was so pretty, and reminded me much mmore of the gorges I saw in Oregon as a kid (not the fake gorges in Ithica). The African wilderness is so vast and impressive it is really awe inspiring, exspecially in the rocky, stark environment of the gorge. Hells Gate got it's name I think from soething having to do with the eruption of Mt. Longaunat about 100 years ago, so there is a lot of volcanic activity in the area. One thing that was really cool about the gorge was that a lot of the water coming out was hot from this, and we saw lots of natural hot springs and steaming areas. At one point, about half our group got lost (its a long story that involves someone wanting a picture of a dancing spider) and while we were trying to find them, a storm came through, which made the rest of the hike (and borderline climb) pretty funny. After our hike, we had to bike back to return our bikes, which was so hard because the bikes werent very good, it was 8km uphill, and we were all sore! Thankfully, we were able to catch a ride from the gate to our campsite! We camped inside the park, which was so pretty! We did have some technical difficulties when we realized our tent was missing a pole, but we used some rope and got it standing. We watched the sunset, cooked food, and watched the moon rise. I didn't know the moon could rise, and I dont think Ive ever seen a moon rise before, but it was absolutely stunning to watch it rise up over the horizon like the sun. We all tried to get a good night sleep, but between the wind, hard ground, and occasional tent collapses (and my sunburned back) it didnt work out so well. In the morning we watched the sun rise and a few of us that still felt like we had some energy hiked with our stuff down to this giant rock tower-like thing near the gate where we were able to go rock climbing with the resident climbing guy. At around noon we caught a cab back to Naivasha and a matatu back to Nairobi, which ended up taking 3 hours because it broke down and we stopped to pick people up and let them off every 15 minutes! Needless to say, I slept very well that night!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Climbing Mountains, Teaching Kids
Last Thursday, I had a truely eye opening experience. A few of my friends had previously gone to volunteer at a school in Kibera, and I finally joined on Thursday. Kibera is the second largest slum in Africa, and is rumored to be home to something like 1,000,000 people. The school was fairly deep into the slum, which seemed to be covered by a layer of garbage, and was rundown and overcrowded. The students were crammed into classrooms smaller than my bedroom at home, with little light and no ventilation so they were very hot. I could never imagine learning in such an environment. Yet, these students, most who had torn and tattered uniforms, worked so hard and were so smart. I helped 5th grade students review science, the respiratory and disgestive systems, and I was so impressed with how much they knew, and how polite and studious they were. Its hard to remember they're just young kids sometimes, but luckily I got the chance to play some singing games with them too, and they were so full of life and energy despite being stuck in such an awful situation. It really makes you value your education and the opportunities you get just being an American. I really am so lucky and blessed, and I know its something I often take for granted. Later this week, I will hopefully be able to go back. Me and another girl are going to talk to some middleschool ages girls about female health issues and sanitation because they male science teacher said he was a little unconfortable doing it. It will hopefully go well!!!
On a lighter note, this past weekend was a real fun adventure. We all went up to Ngong Hills where one of our staff member's family had a camp resort. It was a ton of fun. Wehiked down to our campsite area the first night, and had a bonfire where we danced to music and looked at the amazing stars. The texts were awesome, big with comfortable cots. The next day we hiked all the way down the hill to Simon, our hosts, families house. He is Masaii and it was so interesting seeing a more traditional family. His family lived on a small compound with several small houses, animal pens, kitchens, and a small farm. Simons father was away with the cattle, which is traditional of Masaii. Masai's are polygamistic, and Simon's mother and his father's two other wives and his grandmother (each had their own house) were busy doing beadwork, shelling peanuts, and caring for children. Simon is himself married and has a child, but his father's 3rd wife is younnger than him, so Simon's half siblings running around were all young children. They were so adorable! They came up to us and grabbed out hands, and had a blast playing with our cameras and geting thrown up in the air and carried on our backs. We also all bought some gorgeous beadwork from Simon's family, who do it as part of their traditional activities. Later that afternoon, a few of us set out with Simon on a "hike." This actually consisted of hiking down the hill again till a seasonal river, now a dry riverbed, started, and we perceded to climb up the river basin to the top of the hill. This was not just hiking, it was bouldering, and even rock climbing (eask rock climbin, but a little scary since there were no safety nets). At the end, looking down at the river bed, as it weaved through the hills and into th valley and the savanah beyong was so picturesque. When you think of African beauty, this was truely it. The adventure was put to a fitting end when we to boda boda's back from the campsite to the town, where we caught a matatu home. Boda Bodas are motorcycle taxis that go about as fast a vespa. They are pretty small, but you still put a driver and two passengers on it. Riding the 15 minute trip over the crazy Kenyan roads in the fresh air was such a fun experience. I really enjoyed how much closer you felt to everything and to everyone when your riding with your hair in the wind on a motorcycle! It was overall, a really fun and exciting weekend. As I head of to camp at Hells Gate National Park this weekend, I hope there is more of that sort of adventure in store!!!
On a lighter note, this past weekend was a real fun adventure. We all went up to Ngong Hills where one of our staff member's family had a camp resort. It was a ton of fun. Wehiked down to our campsite area the first night, and had a bonfire where we danced to music and looked at the amazing stars. The texts were awesome, big with comfortable cots. The next day we hiked all the way down the hill to Simon, our hosts, families house. He is Masaii and it was so interesting seeing a more traditional family. His family lived on a small compound with several small houses, animal pens, kitchens, and a small farm. Simons father was away with the cattle, which is traditional of Masaii. Masai's are polygamistic, and Simon's mother and his father's two other wives and his grandmother (each had their own house) were busy doing beadwork, shelling peanuts, and caring for children. Simon is himself married and has a child, but his father's 3rd wife is younnger than him, so Simon's half siblings running around were all young children. They were so adorable! They came up to us and grabbed out hands, and had a blast playing with our cameras and geting thrown up in the air and carried on our backs. We also all bought some gorgeous beadwork from Simon's family, who do it as part of their traditional activities. Later that afternoon, a few of us set out with Simon on a "hike." This actually consisted of hiking down the hill again till a seasonal river, now a dry riverbed, started, and we perceded to climb up the river basin to the top of the hill. This was not just hiking, it was bouldering, and even rock climbing (eask rock climbin, but a little scary since there were no safety nets). At the end, looking down at the river bed, as it weaved through the hills and into th valley and the savanah beyong was so picturesque. When you think of African beauty, this was truely it. The adventure was put to a fitting end when we to boda boda's back from the campsite to the town, where we caught a matatu home. Boda Bodas are motorcycle taxis that go about as fast a vespa. They are pretty small, but you still put a driver and two passengers on it. Riding the 15 minute trip over the crazy Kenyan roads in the fresh air was such a fun experience. I really enjoyed how much closer you felt to everything and to everyone when your riding with your hair in the wind on a motorcycle! It was overall, a really fun and exciting weekend. As I head of to camp at Hells Gate National Park this weekend, I hope there is more of that sort of adventure in store!!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Contraditions and Quirks of Kenya
This is Africa.
I am finding Kenya to be a truly fascinating place. It is full of unique an interesting contradictions and idiosyncrasies that make it a really vibrant example of what it means to be a "developing country," ecspecially in the sense that development today can be somewhat synominous (unfortuently in many aspects) with americanisation. In many ways Kenya reminds me more of America than Italy did. Kenya has shopping malls complete with food courts, coffee chains, clothing stores, sport stores, book stores, and even Apple stores. Italians would probally rather vomit than construct such a thing. When I lost my computer charger in Italy, I never was able to find out how to replace it. If I lose my chaarger here, it would be a short trip to the mall, maybe even the massive walmart-like grocery store, to relace it. There are other American like institutions that seem to have seeped into the cultural framework of many parts of Kenya. DsTV, the satelite company many people use for television has E! network, disney channel, and dscovery channel. In fact, Kenya may have more American TV channels than Canada, in this is in addition to the massive amount of british television. But what makes this country so unique is how things so western live side by side with that which is so African. This can be humourous and somewhat sad, such as when you see so many landrovers and mercedes driving on what have to be the worst roads I have every seen. There are shoping malls and nice cars and American television, but then you walk down the street among beggars, roadside vendors, matatus crammed with 20 people and a fre collecter hangingout, wires hanging in ways that dont seem safe, and people cooking on outdoor fires in conditions far from snaitary. Hopefully some of this can change, and things can get a little safer, better for those struggling, but there is something really wonderful and unique about Kenya, the good side of TIA, that I hope is never lost. Like being able to get a great Kenyan meal at my school for less than a dollar, the fact that fresh fruit and vegetables are cheaper thaan junk, the seemless mixing of endlish and kiswahili in the way people talk (my family only calls chicken by its kiswahili name -- kuku), the way the culture is so open and sharing, with my house getting visitors in such a friendly and open way that is just not possible in us culture, and the thrill of market shopping. There is nothing quite like going to Masai Market and hagling down from a mzungu price to a slightly less mzungu price. This past weekend i got a bag, a medium sized painting, 3 necklaces, and a elephnt figurine made out of tusker bottle caps for the equivalent of $15 US, which was pretty good i thought. All in all, despite the contradictions, the inconruities,there is something very vibrant and unique about the crazy frenzy that is Nairobi. There is something so uniquely African about being able to go to a mall that sells Ipods and iced lattes or a grocery store with CornFlakes and Mac & Cheese, but also to a crazy outdoor market with 20 shilling scarves and old american tshirts or a roadside stall selling mangos and 50 shilling bootlegged DVDs.
While I still cringe when i see someone boiling a plastic container in water, and I definetly learned the wrong way about eating fruit strait from the market without washing it, there is something charming about Kenya. While I hope things get better for all the hardworking people here -- and they are so hard working and ingenious, its only a matter of time before the take control of this place and make it great -- I hope they carve out their own development, and really retain their vibrant culture.
When it comes to Kenya, there is really only one thing to say:
TIA
I am finding Kenya to be a truly fascinating place. It is full of unique an interesting contradictions and idiosyncrasies that make it a really vibrant example of what it means to be a "developing country," ecspecially in the sense that development today can be somewhat synominous (unfortuently in many aspects) with americanisation. In many ways Kenya reminds me more of America than Italy did. Kenya has shopping malls complete with food courts, coffee chains, clothing stores, sport stores, book stores, and even Apple stores. Italians would probally rather vomit than construct such a thing. When I lost my computer charger in Italy, I never was able to find out how to replace it. If I lose my chaarger here, it would be a short trip to the mall, maybe even the massive walmart-like grocery store, to relace it. There are other American like institutions that seem to have seeped into the cultural framework of many parts of Kenya. DsTV, the satelite company many people use for television has E! network, disney channel, and dscovery channel. In fact, Kenya may have more American TV channels than Canada, in this is in addition to the massive amount of british television. But what makes this country so unique is how things so western live side by side with that which is so African. This can be humourous and somewhat sad, such as when you see so many landrovers and mercedes driving on what have to be the worst roads I have every seen. There are shoping malls and nice cars and American television, but then you walk down the street among beggars, roadside vendors, matatus crammed with 20 people and a fre collecter hangingout, wires hanging in ways that dont seem safe, and people cooking on outdoor fires in conditions far from snaitary. Hopefully some of this can change, and things can get a little safer, better for those struggling, but there is something really wonderful and unique about Kenya, the good side of TIA, that I hope is never lost. Like being able to get a great Kenyan meal at my school for less than a dollar, the fact that fresh fruit and vegetables are cheaper thaan junk, the seemless mixing of endlish and kiswahili in the way people talk (my family only calls chicken by its kiswahili name -- kuku), the way the culture is so open and sharing, with my house getting visitors in such a friendly and open way that is just not possible in us culture, and the thrill of market shopping. There is nothing quite like going to Masai Market and hagling down from a mzungu price to a slightly less mzungu price. This past weekend i got a bag, a medium sized painting, 3 necklaces, and a elephnt figurine made out of tusker bottle caps for the equivalent of $15 US, which was pretty good i thought. All in all, despite the contradictions, the inconruities,there is something very vibrant and unique about the crazy frenzy that is Nairobi. There is something so uniquely African about being able to go to a mall that sells Ipods and iced lattes or a grocery store with CornFlakes and Mac & Cheese, but also to a crazy outdoor market with 20 shilling scarves and old american tshirts or a roadside stall selling mangos and 50 shilling bootlegged DVDs.
While I still cringe when i see someone boiling a plastic container in water, and I definetly learned the wrong way about eating fruit strait from the market without washing it, there is something charming about Kenya. While I hope things get better for all the hardworking people here -- and they are so hard working and ingenious, its only a matter of time before the take control of this place and make it great -- I hope they carve out their own development, and really retain their vibrant culture.
When it comes to Kenya, there is really only one thing to say:
TIA
Monday, January 31, 2011
Cell Phones & A Crash Course in East African Politics
This weekend was rather uneventful, a trip with my family to visit a school my host brother hopes to go to all day Saturday, and church and a meeting with the director of the NGO I will be interning with on Sunday. Therefore, I want to write about two things I think deserve attention, the first of which is the really innovative ways Africans are using cell phone technology!
When someone mentions "Kenya" inginuity and innovation are probally not the first things to come to mind. As a country regarded as a member of the "global south" there are a host of development problems, from hungar to HIV/AIDS, to pollitical corruption that probally first occupy any thoughts about the country. But the good news is, that in a post structural adjustment era, as those big multilateral players in development have finally realized that there may be more to development and fighting poverty than GDP growth and oppresive cnditionality, home grown, truely "African" solutions are begining to emerge that frankly just make sense for these countries and their unique contexts. One more globalexample is obviously the advent of microcredit, which was developed by Nobel Prize winner Mohammed Yunis in Bandledesh, and which has been very succesful. In Kenya there has too been some really interesting and ingenious revolutions in finance and the whole concept of banking. A few years back in order to get a bank account one had only multinational banks to chose from, and minimum accunt balances were the equivalent of a couple hundred US dollars, significantly out of reach of many many Kenyans. Then, a home grown bank came along that offered accounts with a minimum of 100 shillings, about $1.20 US, which made bank accounts available to a much larger population. Another industry that has boomed is cell phones. For about US $25 you can get a cell phone, and they are pay as you go, with rates that are incredibly low, a shilling a minute or so in network. While both affordable cell phones and access to banking are good developments in and of themselves, what is really innovative is how they have been combined in Kenya to create a mobile bankng system that is incredibly pioneering. In fact, there is an article about this very topic in last weeks Time Magazine. Essentially, one can hook their bank account up to their mobile phone account, or simply just load money directly to a mobile phone account. With this mobile money, using just a simple, cheap, no 3G required cell phone (think old brick of a nokia) one can make purchases at an extrodanarily huge number of retail outlets, pay bills, and even transfer money to other mobile phone accounts, just by using the other persons phone number -- to help a friend out in a jam, or pay for services such as a taxi ride by sending money to the drivers phone (and if your phone gets stolen -- a password is required, so you wont loose any money). It essentially works in place of a debit or credit card and is accessable to a whole range of socioeconomic levels that previously had no access to any similar services, all that is needed is the phone. I heard and/or read somewhere it explained like this: In the US you often need a bank account as a credit check to get a phone. In Kenya, you use a phone as a credit check for a bank account.
The other thing I have found fascinating here are some of the political issues facing Kenya and Eastern Africa that don't seem to make the headlines in the US, ecspecially with all the developments emerging from North Africa and the Middle East. Most people probally remember the massive post-election violence in Kenya in 2008 that killed over 1000 people and displaced many many many more (many of whom still remain in internal displacement camps 4 years later). What came of this was a power sharing arrangement where Moi Kibaki became president and shared power with Prime Minister Ralia Odinga. This appears to be a rocky relationship. In almost every daily paper here, there is guarenteed to be a story involving dissagreements between the two sides, and at the ministerial level, the underlying tribal conflict seems fierce. In fact, the recent political alliance of the Kikuyu, kalanjin, and kamba peoples have been some what ironically dubbed the "KKK". However, for most Kenyans, it seems to me,a lot of what is happening is frustrating, and there seems to be anticipation for a new set of elections and the implementation of the new constitution that was voted in in August. One area where the Kibaki - Odinga rift might have reached the international stage is in the response of the Kenyan government to the International Criminal COurt (ICC) inditement of 6 Kenyans, majority being high up Kenyan officials still holding office, in the post election violence. Essentially, Kibaki wants to get the case deffered so that it can be tried in Kenyan courts, which he claims are being established now (Kenya's current judicial system is far from being world renowned), and has sent his Vice President on a mission around Africa, and eventually the AU (African Union) summit, gaining other countries support. Odinga claims to not support this shuttle diplomacy. The ICC has come out and said that this is futile and pointless, and that the only productive path is to talk to them. From the point of view of the Kenyans I've talked to, this is all pretty embarassing, and the Government is making a fool of itself diplomatically, and it seems like majority of citizens would be supportive of the ICC and many think this whole move is a glorified way of protecting those indicted from any real punishment. I think most Kenyans, most Africans, just want justice and are tired of these sorts of antics, which seem to be the rule and not the exception in Africa. For example, there is the issue of Gbagbo refusing to step down from power after losing the recent election in the Cote d'Ivoire (and whats equally frustrating, the recent turn of events where the AU seems to be softening on the strong international stance that he peacefully relinquish power). The AU itself seems to have made a questionable choice this weekend, chosing as its new chairman Equitorial Guinea's Nguema, a dicator in power for multiple decades with a horrible human right record, and of course there are the strong hold characters, like Zimbabwe's Mugabe. However, with calls for democracy seeming to take off across the north of the contenent, and the fact that Southern Sudan managed an all things considered peacefull referendum (99% chose yes) to form its own country, things may not be all grim. While there are always risks of bad outcomes, extremism taking hold in north Africa, bloodshed and fighting over contested oil-rich areas on the boarder between noth and south sudan -- as one Op-Ed I read today said, "There is a Devil Behind Every Door" -- there is also always hope, and in this continent, great potential.
I guess that is all part of why they say:
TIA
(This is Africa)
When someone mentions "Kenya" inginuity and innovation are probally not the first things to come to mind. As a country regarded as a member of the "global south" there are a host of development problems, from hungar to HIV/AIDS, to pollitical corruption that probally first occupy any thoughts about the country. But the good news is, that in a post structural adjustment era, as those big multilateral players in development have finally realized that there may be more to development and fighting poverty than GDP growth and oppresive cnditionality, home grown, truely "African" solutions are begining to emerge that frankly just make sense for these countries and their unique contexts. One more globalexample is obviously the advent of microcredit, which was developed by Nobel Prize winner Mohammed Yunis in Bandledesh, and which has been very succesful. In Kenya there has too been some really interesting and ingenious revolutions in finance and the whole concept of banking. A few years back in order to get a bank account one had only multinational banks to chose from, and minimum accunt balances were the equivalent of a couple hundred US dollars, significantly out of reach of many many Kenyans. Then, a home grown bank came along that offered accounts with a minimum of 100 shillings, about $1.20 US, which made bank accounts available to a much larger population. Another industry that has boomed is cell phones. For about US $25 you can get a cell phone, and they are pay as you go, with rates that are incredibly low, a shilling a minute or so in network. While both affordable cell phones and access to banking are good developments in and of themselves, what is really innovative is how they have been combined in Kenya to create a mobile bankng system that is incredibly pioneering. In fact, there is an article about this very topic in last weeks Time Magazine. Essentially, one can hook their bank account up to their mobile phone account, or simply just load money directly to a mobile phone account. With this mobile money, using just a simple, cheap, no 3G required cell phone (think old brick of a nokia) one can make purchases at an extrodanarily huge number of retail outlets, pay bills, and even transfer money to other mobile phone accounts, just by using the other persons phone number -- to help a friend out in a jam, or pay for services such as a taxi ride by sending money to the drivers phone (and if your phone gets stolen -- a password is required, so you wont loose any money). It essentially works in place of a debit or credit card and is accessable to a whole range of socioeconomic levels that previously had no access to any similar services, all that is needed is the phone. I heard and/or read somewhere it explained like this: In the US you often need a bank account as a credit check to get a phone. In Kenya, you use a phone as a credit check for a bank account.
The other thing I have found fascinating here are some of the political issues facing Kenya and Eastern Africa that don't seem to make the headlines in the US, ecspecially with all the developments emerging from North Africa and the Middle East. Most people probally remember the massive post-election violence in Kenya in 2008 that killed over 1000 people and displaced many many many more (many of whom still remain in internal displacement camps 4 years later). What came of this was a power sharing arrangement where Moi Kibaki became president and shared power with Prime Minister Ralia Odinga. This appears to be a rocky relationship. In almost every daily paper here, there is guarenteed to be a story involving dissagreements between the two sides, and at the ministerial level, the underlying tribal conflict seems fierce. In fact, the recent political alliance of the Kikuyu, kalanjin, and kamba peoples have been some what ironically dubbed the "KKK". However, for most Kenyans, it seems to me,a lot of what is happening is frustrating, and there seems to be anticipation for a new set of elections and the implementation of the new constitution that was voted in in August. One area where the Kibaki - Odinga rift might have reached the international stage is in the response of the Kenyan government to the International Criminal COurt (ICC) inditement of 6 Kenyans, majority being high up Kenyan officials still holding office, in the post election violence. Essentially, Kibaki wants to get the case deffered so that it can be tried in Kenyan courts, which he claims are being established now (Kenya's current judicial system is far from being world renowned), and has sent his Vice President on a mission around Africa, and eventually the AU (African Union) summit, gaining other countries support. Odinga claims to not support this shuttle diplomacy. The ICC has come out and said that this is futile and pointless, and that the only productive path is to talk to them. From the point of view of the Kenyans I've talked to, this is all pretty embarassing, and the Government is making a fool of itself diplomatically, and it seems like majority of citizens would be supportive of the ICC and many think this whole move is a glorified way of protecting those indicted from any real punishment. I think most Kenyans, most Africans, just want justice and are tired of these sorts of antics, which seem to be the rule and not the exception in Africa. For example, there is the issue of Gbagbo refusing to step down from power after losing the recent election in the Cote d'Ivoire (and whats equally frustrating, the recent turn of events where the AU seems to be softening on the strong international stance that he peacefully relinquish power). The AU itself seems to have made a questionable choice this weekend, chosing as its new chairman Equitorial Guinea's Nguema, a dicator in power for multiple decades with a horrible human right record, and of course there are the strong hold characters, like Zimbabwe's Mugabe. However, with calls for democracy seeming to take off across the north of the contenent, and the fact that Southern Sudan managed an all things considered peacefull referendum (99% chose yes) to form its own country, things may not be all grim. While there are always risks of bad outcomes, extremism taking hold in north Africa, bloodshed and fighting over contested oil-rich areas on the boarder between noth and south sudan -- as one Op-Ed I read today said, "There is a Devil Behind Every Door" -- there is also always hope, and in this continent, great potential.
I guess that is all part of why they say:
TIA
(This is Africa)
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