Farewell to Kenya

Well, sadly my time in Kenya is over.  It seems a little crazy but despite that I was gone for a month, I’m not sure I was ready to come back.  I just feel like there is so much more that I would have liked to get involved and help with, and a million other areas of Kenya that I would have liked to explore.  That said, it had to end sometime…..and it’s been really great getting to see all of my family and friends again.  I definitely missed them all while I was gone.

Quick update on St. Frank:  I talked with Joseph via email and they just wrapped up their last few days of the food that we bought for the school.  Thankfully, I’ve received enough donations to be able to purchase another round of goods for them.  So, we are working through a few of the details and will get that done in the next few days.  I’ll send out an email to everyone who’s donated so that you can see where your money is going.  I can’t thank you enough for your generosity.  That said, we currently have enough for this next purchase of food and one more.  If anyone else is interested in making a donation to keep things rolling, you can go online at http://www.gofundme.com/327yqc and do so today.  Any contribution of any size is greatly appreciated and will go a long way for the school.

Thanks to everyone for following my blog.  Although my dearest mother sort of forced me into doing it so she could track my every move while I was gone (love you Joanie), I’ve actually really enjoyed it.  It was kind of nice to feel like I was communicating with everyone without having to be one of those idiots texting & hanging out on Facebook on my iPhone the entire trip.  It also kept everyone informed while keeping me from having to tell the same stories 50 times when I returned.  Bonus!  So, I think I’ll definitely do it again as I travel in the future.  So, before I close this last post (tear) I wanted to throw in a few last thoughts that I have about Kenya.    

What I will not miss about Kenya:

• Weird toilets – Quite a few are just stanky holes in the ground, some force you to go outside to fill a bucket of water to flush, many of them are real toilets….with no toilet seats, pretty much all of them have no toilet paper (so I carried a roll around everywhere with me).  I even saw a few where they paid to put in the plumbing and flusher but never bother to spring for an actual throne (this is a pic of Mary’s new house below).  It’s madness.  I will forever be grateful for the plain old set up that we have here.

• Flies, fruit flies, mosquitoes….and pretty much anything else that is bug-ish.  And there is plenty of it.
• Kenyan Time – I know in the states we need to slow down, but they take it farther here than anywhere else I’ve traveled.  It’s not uncommon for things to begin 2 hours after they were scheduled.  Granted, I think it’s forced me to work on my patience, but the impatient American chick in me thinks it’s still a bit much sometimes.
• Having people scream “Muzungo” at us constantly.  Kenyans will tell you this means English speaking person, but it really just means white honkey.  Where we lived in Nairobi you could probably go months without seeing another white person.  So we stuck out (a lot) and people from 2 years old to 90 really seem to enjoy pointing it out.  But, I’ve never been the minority in my life, so I guess it’s only fair that it’s my turn to see how it feels.  Thankfully this happened a lot less in Naivasha.
• And the winner is…..DUST!  Jimmy told me before I got here that it was a dusty place.  I didn't really know what he meant until I got here, but it’s AWFUL!  My nose, ears, and every other crevice in my body was constantly full of dust.  If you washed your face now, half hour from now it will be filthy again.  And I refused to wear shoes in that kind of weather, so my filthy feet & legs made me look like a homeless person pretty much all the time.  I will definitely not miss the dust.

A few of my favorite Kenyan things:

• The “winter” weather.  It was 75-80 and sunny every day & 55-60 and calm every night.  Perfect weather.  It rained one day for like 20 minutes and sprinkled a couple times, but otherwise it’s literally the best weather there is.
• Mangoes, Avocados, African Oranges (sort of a cross between an orange & a lime) Papaya (they call them Paw Paws)….and anything else that grows here.  Even boring old bananas are incredibly sweet and amazing when they come off the tree rather than fly thousands of miles.  I can’t express how good it all is!  I ate more fruit than any person in history. Yum!
• Banana Gum – All you banana runts haters may not agree.  But you’re also wrong. 

• Pineapple Fanta – Orange is nothing compared to this tasty delight.
• “Be Free” – I heard this phrase from totally different people, for many different reasons during my time in Kenya.  No matter what the surrounding situation was it was always just a really positive message to send.  It clicked with me and it’s something I’ll hold on to.  The teachers at St. Frank said it to the students a lot, telling them to be totally open, share their thoughts, ask whatever questions they had, and just “Be Free”.  Pretty cool.
• Recycled things - Yes, this is more of a necessity than anything for many people, but it's great to see how much they reuse and recycle.  There were a number of things that made me stop and think about what I could do at home, and I'm going to do a better job of it.
• Chipates – I’m not sure what makes them so delish, because it’s really just flour, water, sugar & salt…..ok so the massive amount of oil they’re fried in doesn’t hurt.  Regardless, they are a staple in Kenya and served with a variety of stews.  I like leftovers with banana & peanut butter for breakfast or lunch…..sort of like a PB&B&GH!!  I'm going to try to make them here.

• Mandazis – Basically just a doughnut, but pretty darn tasty with a cup of coffee.

• And of course, Tusker J  I tried a few other Kenyan beers, but that’s the one you see everywhere....and for good reason.

• Matatus – Yes, they’re crazy, unpredictable, smelly, cramped, you’ll quite possibly pick up some sort of disease while you’re in it and without a doubt be near to death at least once no matter how short the ride…..but they’re cheap as hell and it’s always an experience.  Here’s a quick photo I took on a ride the other day.  They crammed 19 people into that thing.  The record that I’ve witnessed is 22……keep in mind they’re intended for 14 passengers.  Yeah, I'm a little odd, but I think I'm actually going to miss them.

• I wasn't going to get all smushy, but just one last note before I sign off.  I will definitely miss the genuine appreciation that people in Kenya have for the blessings in their life.  It's really a beautiful thing.  What they have may be a 10x10 room that they share with their family of 5, clothes and housewares that have been handed down multiple times, the same flour and water ugali dinner that they’ve had for a few days straight, and an extremely laborious job in uncomfortable conditions…..but they are thankful for every bit of it.  And despite what they may not have, they will share whatever they can with anyone they can.  I think we miss the boat in the states.  Sometimes we’re so focused on what we don’t have, that we miss out all together on what we do.  I don’t want to be preachy but take a minute to look around that all that you have in your life.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for, and I'm going to spend a little more time appreciating it all.  

Hell's Gate (Kind of)

About a half hour drive from our house is a national park called Hell’s Gate.  It’s supposed to be a great place to go for a scenic bike ride, so after work two of my roommates and I decided to go.  There are a number of movies that have been filmed there like Tomb Raider, one of the Indiana Jones, and also it’s the home of the real pride rock from the Lion King.  It’s a gorgeous place full of giant rock formations, a huge gorge, tons of exotic animals walking right along side of you……and come on, who doesn’t want to see Pride Rock!?!  When we got in the park, we went to pick our bikes, which was interesting in and of itself.  These are hands down the jankiest bikes I’ve ever seen in my life, but when in Kenya you roll with it, right?  So, we found a couple that sort of seemed to function and headed out.  At first, it seemed promising besides the chain falling off a couple times.  Then, about 45-60 minutes out the entire right pedal and gear piece fell off of my bike all together.  There was no fixing this situation.  So, Darrius got off of his bike (Christie had stopped to walk a while before) and we walked on hoping to run into either pride rock or the gorge before we ran out of time, but no luck.  So, we turned around, ran in to Christie, and made the long 90 minute walk back to the entrance to the park.  SUPER bummed that we didn’t get to bike for long and see all the amazing scenery, but there’s nothing that could be done.  We needed to catch a matatu home, so off we went.  I think this whole fiasco helped me start to feel ready to go home though.  

We got back, I took a cold shower (for the LAST TIME!!), packed up some of my things, played cards with the kiddos until dinner time, and chatted with Marcus and Darrius for a bit.  I almost forgot to take pictures with the kids, but I nabbed a couple right before they went to sleep....I think I'm getting burnt out of this photo thing so I'm not doing that well any more.  So, here's at least a couple so you can see the little sweethearts.  They're a lot of fun, I wish I'd had more time with them.  I sat and looked at pictures with Gad again for a while on my laptop, and then I headed to bed.

Israel and Chico - My card playing crew.

Christie, Chico and Gad - You may note the impressive photography work done by Mr. Israel.  I think he's better with my camera than I am!

I can’t believe I’ve just got one night left in Kenya.  This month has flown by so quickly.  I haven’t felt like I was ready to go at all, then I talked to my parents last night about getting back, got an email about getting together with everyone on Saturday, started to think about washing my dust filled clothes, having clean feet again, eating raw vegetables without fear of bad things following.  So, all of a sudden I think at least part of me is ready to head back to the states.  Tomorrow I go to KCC for one more day, then I’m heading to Nairobi to spend the night with Mama Kimbo before my 22 hours of flying on Wednesday.  I’ll be back in the states on Thursday at noon and my favorite welcome crew will be there to greet me.  Beth says Eli has been talking about picking me up since I left, and I can’t wait to see the three of them. J  For now, off to enjoy my last couple of days in Africa……

Kimbos!!!

I spent the weekend with Mama Kimbo at her house in Nairobi.  For those of you who don’t know, a good friend of mine, Jimmy Kimbo, is originally from Kenya and his family still lives here.  So while I was on the continent, I thought I’d swing by for a visit.  It turned out to be a really wonderful weekend.  Mama Kimbo spoiled me rotten!  She still lives in the house where she raised her family, and it’s a big beautiful home with a great patio and yard.  I had my own bedroom….and bathroom!!!  Soooo nice.  We spent the weekend chatting, watching crazy Spanish soaps, putzing around Nairobi, and eating and drinking way too much.  I have a bit of a hard time saying no to food and drink anyway (no comments please) but every time I would blink I’d have more wine in my glass or more food on my plate.  Ridiculous.  But I’m coming home fat and happy. 

Saturday we started out the day at the National Museum.  It gave me a solid understanding of the history of the country…which is a bit of a rollercoaster but very interesting.  There is a live snake park, preserved birds and animals from the country, Kenyan art, and many other things.  Afterward, we went into City Center to do a little shopping at some shops and the Massai Market.  I bought a few things on the cheap using my masterful negotiating skills ;).  We had lunch, stopped at an upscale mall with beautiful things (which I could afford none of), sat outside for a beer, ran a couple errands, and then came home for delish whole fish dinner out on the patio….and of course some more vino and Spanish soaps.  Very fun day with a really great lady.

Sunday we went to Phyllis’ church.  I’ve officially gone to church more here than I have probably all year at home (oops).  This was a catholic church, so it was essentially exactly the same as every other mass I’ve been to in the states….but with better singing.  We came home and I finished book #4 out on the patio before the rest of the crew arrived. And that is not a joke, I’ve read 4 books in 4 weeks!  It’s crazy what you can do when you slow down a little.  Jimmy’s sister Liza came over with Steve, a colleague/friend of the family, and Jimmy’s other sister Carol came with her husband and two kids.  They put out a huge spread for lunch which was prepared by Chef Gideon at the house throughout the morning.  It was the best meal I’ve had since I’ve been here I think.  Again, (shocking, I know) I’ll be stuffed for days.  Phyllis invited me to come back for my last night in Kenya, so of course I said yes.  I headed out to take the Matatu back to Nairobi, but I’ll be back on Tuesday.

The Kimbo ladies.  Phyllis, Chi Chi (sp?), Liza, and Carol - From left to right.

Thanks to Mama Kimbo for a really wonderful weekend!

Highlights of the week

• As I'm sitting here typing this out at the dining room table, Gad came over with his computer to sit and work with me.  He's so ridiculously cute I had to take a pic.

• I miss the crew at St. Frank, but have been talking with Joseph at the school and things are coming along well.  They have a couple of new volunteers that have been there for a week now.  They have two days left of the food that we purchased, so it’s not lasting as long as we had hoped….but we could tell at the first few lunches that they had probably underestimated how much they needed.  Thankfully, many of you have made generous donations at our fund me page, so we already have enough to purchase another round of food for them.  Thank you!!
• I taught the kids at my host family to play Crazy Eights and they love it.  Gad is only 2 so he’s not quite old enough, but Chico and Israel love it.  So, we’ve been playing when we get home from work for a while at night.  Chico is kicking everyone's fannies so far.  I keep forgetting to take pics of them, but soon! 
• Loving my new placement at KCC!  We’ve been doing lots and lots of cooking for the kids.  We work with Beatrice to prep and cook lunch every day making enough for the little kids that attend classes at the school, and also enough for the kids that are sponsored in primary school to have when they get back at the end of the day…..it’s not until 4 or 5 pm but better a late lunch than no lunch at all.  It’s definitely not like cooking at home, but it’s been fun.  We use the same staples as we did at St. Frank (Rice, Beans, Flour for Ugali and Ugi - sp?) and then pick vegetables from the garden there to make it a meal.  We spend a lot of time picking through beans & things which we never think of at home.  Also, the meals are cooked over open fire in a huge pot, so I’m going to be one smoky smelling lady until I leave.  But the meals are tasty, healthy, & the kids all leave happy with full bellies.

A few of the boys playing at break.

Before they take their vitamins in the morning, Teacher Eva sings some crazy songs with them.  It's rediculously cute.

All twisted up during one of their songs.

Cooking Ugi.

• I’ve been getting my hands dirty pretty much every day gardening at the school as well, and I love it!  Since I’ll be moving I wasn’t able to plant my own garden this year, so this is at least getting my fix for me.  We’ve been weeding, prepping the soil, planting various veg, watering, etc etc.  I’m filthy when I get home, but it’s a lot of fun. They all are shocked that I know what I’m doing since I’m an American….it’s actually hilarious.  One of the workers asked if I’d been to Kenya before.  I said no and he asked where I learned to use gardening tools then since I’m from the states.  I love all the American stereotypes.  
• We visited the future site of the KCC boarding school which is another addition to the KCC project than the other items I’ve already mentioned.  Marcus and Katherine have such a vision for where they want the project to go, and this gave us further insight into what that vision is.  They have purchased land outside of Naivasha and have the outer structure of the building in place for a boarding house.  In five years they hope to have a primary and secondary school built as well to help support the two slums there.  Their dedication and drive to their goal is really impressive.  The impatient American in me probably doesn’t have what it takes to do what they’re doing because it’s definitely not a quick process.  They are constantly working to fund raise and when they’ve got enough to take another step toward their goal, they take it. And KCC continues to get bigger and better, one step at a time.
• We visited “Heaven”.  One of the first days we were here we were walking into town to get some snacks after work and walked down this road that said it had a panoramic view.  It was a beautiful resort overlooking Lake Naivasha with a pool and full menu of sandwiches, pizza and other wonderful things.  So we dubbed it Heaven and said we’d be back for a beer soon.  On Wednesday we had a busy day, & stopped for a couple of beers after work at a little pub in town & then headed toward Heaven.  We were disappointed to find that Heaven is a Christian resort and doesn’t serve beer (so I’m not sure it can truly be called Heaven any more) but it had pretty tasty American-esque food and a beautiful sunset.  So, still a good ending to our day.

The view from Heaven.  Lake Naivasha is in the background.

Darrius, Sandy & I toasting to our N/A waters as the sun set over heaven.

A Few More Firsts

• Washing my laundry by hand.  It’s still up in the air how clean my clothes actually are….
• Riding 3 deep on a motorbike.  Joseph brought us home one day on his bike & all three of us rode on.  With the bumpy ass dirt roads & thought for sure I’d get dumped off at some point, but all is well.  We got a lot of laughs from people though. 
• Moving Kenya style – In case you’re not sure what that means, see below.  Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of this bc my camera was packed somewhere 15 feet        deep in this shenanigans.  But it was pretty priceless.  To their credit, everything made it in one piece, and one trip.

o   Step 1: Get a truck & stick up a few pieces of wood as walls in the back

o   Step 2: Load it up to the top of the wooden walls

o   Step 3: Stack another 5-6 feet worth of your belongings on top of the wooden walls

o   Step 4: Strap things down with a little bit of rope

o   Step 5: Pray that your things make it there

• Drinking 3% milk.  One of the things I miss most in my diet is milk.  I drink a ton at home & not only is it whole milk nearly everywhere here…it also freaks me out a little.  We were at the market the other day and I saw 3% (which is the lowest I’ve seen since I’ve been in Kenya) so I went for it.  I’m not sure I could just drink it straight, but it gave me a fix at least on cereal.
• I witnessed proof that TOMS really does give away a pair of shoes for every pair purchased.  Naivasha was recipient of several hundred pairs and we were able to hand them out to the kids at school.  We helped them to take off their current falling apart & ill-fitting shoes and replaced them with new TOMS.  They were all beaming.  It was pretty cool to see.  The two boys on the outside here have their new TOMS on, but you can see on the girl in the middle how rough some of their shoes are to begin with.  Regardless, very cool to see them with their new kicks.  I will be buying TOMS shoes in the future.

• A couple of my roommates and I went for a run the other day (which I can safely do in the area I’m living in now).  A couple of kids started running with us, then a few more, and we had a whole brood of around 10 before we knew it.  It was so cute!  They probably ran two miles with us & took us all the way back to our home.  We got some interesting looks from the people we passed, but it made the run go by a lot easier….thank God because I have done nothing in my 3 weeks here so I definitely felt it!

My New Project

The KCC is a project that was started by Marcus and Katherine (who I live with) in 2009 to help support some of the people in the slum.  This slum is much much smaller than Kibera that I wrote about before, housing only around 6000 people in the Naivasha area.  The project started with the goal of feeding some of the children in the slum, and has grown impressively in many ways over the last four years.  They began teaching the students (ages 4-7) shortly after they started the feeding program, have added on to the school in several stages, they have organized multiple medical camps to provide free care for needy people at the slum, and also began sponsoring students from underprivileged families to go to primary school the area.  It is only $10 per child per month and includes their schooling and their lunch.  Last year, the farmer who owns the land that the school is on decided to sell his land and told them they either had to buy the land (all 40 acres of it) or get out of the school.  Despite that the only farming they had done was for vegetables for the school and a little extra to sell at the market, they decided they couldn’t lose the school & they took a chance at farming the land.  They did an extensive amount of fundraising, asked for a few farming tips from friends and decided to give it a shot.  They have planted their first crops now on a portion of the land, and so far things are going really well.  They plan to export much of the yield and hope to raise money to continue to grow the school and support the people at the slum.  It’s a pretty impressive project & I’m excited to be a part of it.

So, my job here will be a bit of a mix.  I’ll be doing a lot of food prep and cooking, some work in the gardens, and one day a week they work with some HIV positive women on a project in the slum….as well as any other variety of things they need.  I’m really excited for the change, and happy to help such a great group of people.  Day one we distributed vitamins to the kiddos, made porridge in the biggest pot I’ve ever seen, picked through beans for lunch the following day, helped the kids wash up for lunch, moved building materials around for some of the work they are doing, and of course did the dishes.  We are busy the whole time we are there and so far I like it a lot!  You can go to kccslumproject.org in you're interested in reading more about the project.

As you can see, the school is immaculate.

Two classrooms, the storage area and the teachers lounge.

My New Kenyan Home

Sunday morning (after a couple of days of sitting due to Kenyan organization…or lack thereof) I finally left for my new placement.  There was a group of 14, mostly new arrivals, heading to various towns in that direction.  On the way we stopped at Lake Naivasha to do a boat tour.  Not a lot of animals...mainly just a bunch of cool looking birds and the hippos and giraffes below.  Still a fun a little excursion.

A shot of the gorgeous lake & volcano behind it.

We pulled over at one point and did a little nature walk.  We were about 40 feet from some giraffes which was pretty cool, and the whole area is stunning.  I’m excited to be living near here. 

We got up close and personal with some hippos in the water.  As we were sitting here about 20-30 feet from them, our guide starts rambling on about how they are the most deadly animal in Africa so we shouldn't be too comfortable sitting there bc they are fast & could easily maul us all.  I think he needs a new profession.

Kenyan fisherman.

We pulled over at one point and did a little nature walk.  We were only a short distance from a few giraffes which was pretty cool.  It sort of looks like this guy is munching on my hair...that's what happens when Europeans take your photos ;)

A bald eagle swooping down to catch a fish.  What amazing photography skills.....ok, not really.  The guide threw a fish in the water and we were all waiting with our cameras aimed & ready.

The birds.  Scary, aren't they?  It's a bunch of Cormorants who actually really freaked me out.

Next we were dropped off at our placement.  As we pulled into the area, I got really excited.  The house and the whole area is really nice, and so open compared to where I was in Nairobi.  We are living with Katherine, her husband Chris and her three kids.  They are all very sweet and seem like they will be wonderful to live with.  There are three other volunteers at the house….two teachers from Atlanta who just arrived and another college girl from Canada who has been in Kenya for a month already.  Also, Marcus lives in the apartment behind the house.  He is from New Zealand & originally came to Kenya to volunteer for 3 months.....4 years later he's running the program with Katherine and working toward his citizenship here.  Overall, at first shot it seems like a pretty good mix of people and I’m excited to see how things go. 

Just to give a little comparison of this home to the last, I've included a shot of the bedroom & kitchen as I did of Mary's house.  This is like a resort!

One thing you might note is that there is actually floor space!  Ok, so I never said it was lean, but there is a lot more room, and two less people staying there.  I'm loving it.

I have no words.  It's not only sanitary, it's just tidy all the time.  And, Katherine is a great cook to boot.  I'm in heaven!