This past weekend was reserved for "ISP Prep" where we had four days to travel to the site where we are doing our month-long research project and set everything up for November. Since me and a few friends are staying in Nairobi, we decided to travel during our prep days to Kisumu, a city in the Western Province.
My good friend Sam's host mother grew up in a small village called Siaya, about an hour outside of Kisumu, so she offered to take us around her old stomping grounds.
Saturday morning we left around 5 am and made the 7 hour trek out to the village. Her village prides itself in being the home of the Obama's family. Obama's grandmother lived in this small town . Rose, Sam's host mother, took us to Obama's family's home and after verifying our American citizenship with the guards (except for Sam who is Dutch..which confused them a lot) we were allowed into the compound. Obama's blood grandmother (the mother of his father) died some years ago, but lucky for us, she was a part of a polygamous family and we got to meet the other wife of Obama's grandfather. People just call this woman Obama's grandmother, so we went with it. Relations in the Luo tribe, along with most other Kenyan tribes aren't rigid and someone's friend could be considered her sister, aunt or child...it gets confusing sometimes.
Anyways, this grandmother, Sarah Obama, was a riot. She was at a fundraiser when we arrived (apparently she's a pretty popular lady now) but rolled up to her house about two hours later with a TON of people. She was decked out in full tribal attire (see picture below) and invited us to dance with her as soon as she got there. Her friends thought we were hilarious as we quickly proved the common stereotype, that white girls can't dance.
We stayed with Rose's family Saturday night in the same village as Sarah Obama and left the next morning to head into Kisumu. The city is absolutely gorgeous, as it sits right on Lake Victoria. We ate lunch at this wonderful little restaurant next to the biggest Nakumatt (Kenya's Wal-Mart) in Kenya. The restaurant, Mon Ami, is known for serving "ex-pat western food." Normally I'm all for the Kenyan dishes, but after some time I just need some pizza. Needless to say, lunch was phenomenal.
After lunch, we headed to a few lookout points on Lake Victoria, and spent a couple hours admiring the beauty of the lake. Lake Victoria is the source of the Nile as well as the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world (behind Lake Superior) At our second lookout point, a Kenyan boat driver came up to us and asked if we wanted to go on a "hippo-seeing tour." Two hundred shillings down ($2) and 5 minutes later we were questioning our guide's legitimacy, but were soon proven wrong as 3 hippos appeared right next to our boat. I have only seen a hippo in the zoo, and those hippos are TINY compared to the ones we saw in the water. I was amazed by how large they were. Apparently hippos are also extremely dangerous which was comforting to know as these hippos appeared only a few yards from our boat. Regardless, the sight of these kiboko was wonderful--they were such beautiful animals. Two dollars well spent.
We headed back to shore just as the sun was setting over Lake Victoria, which was a breath taking sight. Sunsets in general are among my favorite things in the world, but add in a beautiful lake, my best friends in the program and trolling along in a makeshift wooden boat, and the sunset was one of the best I've ever experienced. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
Sunday night was spent at another one of Mama Rose's relatives in Kisumu and Monday morning we woke up early to visit the national museum in Kisumu, which was a "must see" according to Lonely Planet. We quickly discovered that Lonely Planet was exaggerating quite a bit, as the museum had next to no exhibits. We were still holding out hope for the alleged "snake pit" but were disappointed when the only snake in this pit was a green garden snake. We still made the most of it though, keeping ourselves entertained with the painted murals of village life.
After the museum, we decided it was time to head back to Nairobi, but were discouraged when, an hour into our drive, the road we had to take was under construction and were forced make a 3 hour detour along the bumpiest road I've ever experienced. This 3 hour detour ended up being SUCH a blessing in disguise because it took us on a "scenic route" of Kenya. We were going so slow that I could stick my head out the window and be comfortable, so I literally just sat with my head out the window of our little bus for 3 hours straight trying to soak in the beauty of western Kenya. We drove through the tea district which was unlike anything I've ever seen. Tea fields lined the roads for miles, with a sea of green stretching as far as my eyes could see. After the tea fields, we descended down this huge mountain for a few miles, which was stunning. Again, I can't even describe how beautiful it was, so I'll just let y'all enjoy the pictures from my ride.
I'm now back in Nairobi, feeling refreshed and ready to start our short week of class. Today was another day of ISP prep, so I spent it hanging out with my friends who are already back in Nairobi. We went to our favorite coffee shop and attempted to do some work, but ended up just messing around the whole day, uploading pictures from the weekend, searching for summer internships and downloading new music that we are missing out on in the US.
I also spent some time today trying to figure out what to do with my next month. We're leaving for Tanzania on Sunday and when we return ISP starts, and all of my projects have fallen through so far. I originally wanted to work with women on a rural island looking at their access to prenatal care. When I got sick and spent a week in their nearest hospital (the week from hell) I threw out that idea. Then I thought I wanted to work with a mobile medical clinic working with street children in Nairobi. I visited their office and it turns out they don't exist anymore. Last week I was set on working with this NGO to study economic empowerment of women from war-torn areas all over East Africa. I still haven't heard back from them yet though and was told today by my academic directors that I need to start pursuing plan B (which in my case is more like plan D)
I'm actually okay with all these plans falling through though because I found another topic that I think would be fascinating to look into. I was told this weekend that girls in rural areas as well as girls in the slums in Kenya often miss up to a week of school every month because of their period. Because sanitary pads are too expensive, girls have to resort to makeshift forms of pads like dirty cloths, and have to miss school because they can't control their periods. Because menstruation is a taboo subject of sorts in Kenya, with women and men often feeling uncomfortable talking about this issue that can affect half their population, this issue of menstruation affecting education is often ignored. Girls miss up to half a month of school every term, which can significantly impair their ability to learn and move forward with their education. Pair this with a country that already favors boys, and these girls face serious barriers when trying to move forward with their schooling. I haven't decided what exactly I want to look at regarding education and menstruation and I'm waiting to hear back from multiple people about this topic, but I think that anything related would be fascinating.
Besides deciding on an ISP topic, all is calm here in Nairobi. Everyone is getting really excited to head to Tanzania on Sunday, which I'm sure will be an amazing week.
I'll post some more updates before I leave!
Until next time-
Megan
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