I have avoided writing a final blog post for weeks now. Writing a “final” entry feels so, well...final. It's almost as if I’m formally saying farewell to all the adventures I’ve experienced the past four months. But I can’t deny reality; I’m home now and it’s time to prepare for the next chapter in my life.
No words could ever do justice to all that I have learned, experienced and seen this past semester. Each day that I’m home, I realize more and more how much I have grown as a person, having lived in Kenya the past 4 months. My level of independence skyrocketed, as well as my self-confidence and eagerness to learn and experience new things. Certain things that I deemed so important in the past, simply seem trivial now. I’ve learned to appreciate the “small stuff,” like the change of seasons and reliable electricity.
I look back now, on my semester abroad, and can’t believe that it actually happened. Now that I’m back in the US, it doesn’t seem real that this time two months ago I was hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, after having just lived with members of a Maasai tribe for four days…what?! Who has the opportunity to actually do things like that…I am so blessed.
I realized that I never really addressed the outcome of my research. (My apologies!) The last month in Kenya was absolutely amazing. I spent the month visiting different primary and secondary schools around Nairobi and asking girls about issues that they face while menstruating. It’s such a HUGE issue; but since menstruation is considered a taboo subject in Kenya, it’s too often ignored. Girls shared heartbreaking stories about ridicule, abuse and embarrassment all because of menstruation. Stories of girls thinking that they were dying when they first got their period because they had never been taught menstrual health in school kept me up at night, as I revisited girl after girl in my head, pondering possible solutions to alleviate the issues they face. At the final school I visited, I asked the girls if they had any questions for me. Immediately, a 12 year old girl raised her hand. Addressing me she said, “Teacher, please come back. Please bring pads and help us stay in school.” Something needs to be done for school girls all over the world in similar situations, who are affected tremendously by menstruation, but can do little about it. I would love to share my final research (a 40 page paper) and more stories with anyone interested, so I’ll spare everyone else the specifics for now.
It’s difficult to sum up all that I have learned while abroad, as I have had so many different experiences..living with a host family, learning Swahili, visiting the coast, living in a Muslim village, spending a week in a (terrifying) Kenyan hospital, attending a Kenyan wedding, meeting the Obama family, seeing hippos in Lake Victoria, traveling by matatu all over the country, swimming in the Indian Ocean, experiencing Kenyan nightlife, traveling to Tanzania, meeting the black panthers, living with Maasai, climbing part of Mt. Kili, shopping in markets all over the city, sitting in Nairobi traffic for hours on end, living through a set of terrorist threats directed at foreigners, celebrating Thanksgiving in Nairobi, dealing with a crazy landlord, living in my own apartment…just to name a few.
I know that my time in Kenya will impact the course of my life, and all that I have learned will constantly be shaping the person that I am becoming each day. I wouldn’t change a moment of my past semester for anything, as all that has happened, both good and bad, made for the most remarkable 4 months. I don’t know what’s next for me, what I will be doing after graduation, or even what I will be doing this summer, but I do know that this experience will remain with me for the rest of my life.
Until next time-- Megan
