Our epic Sunday

As promised, an account of my Sunday (last weekend)

5 girls in my program and I wanted to get out of the city for a bit and go hiking. After consulting a few Kenyans, we decided to head out to Ngong, a rural town about and hour away from the city. Heading out of crowded and smoggy Nairobi, we passed through a much greener town of Karen and then finally reached out destination in the rural highlands. We were told take a matatu (a small bus that everyone uses to get around) to the police station in Ngong and then start the hike from there. I knew we were off to a rough start when the matatu stopped in town and the driver told us all that this was the last stop and that we had to get out. I asked him if we were near the police station only to receive a slight nod of the head and the response, "yes, close." Walking away, the driver's friend burst out laughing and I overheard him say "kidogo, kidogo..hapana!" which means "close, close, no!"

Crossing the street we asked a man how to get to the police station. His response? "Are youwalking there?" Yes, I told him, we were walking there. He gave us directions (in swahili) and added, "It's not to close..and it's not too far." Helpful.

His directions proved worthless (or my swahili translating wasn't great..I'd like to think it was his directions though) and after the second wrong turn we spotted a mzungu walking towards us. Thankfully, this American woman, in her 60s, spoke English and was able to direct us to the station. A mere 35 minutes later we arrived at the base of the hill, only to be told by a police officer (in a "corruption free zone") that we would have to pay her 40,000 shillings (about 40 dollars) to hire two guards to hike with us. I had a few issues with this.. 1) the website didn't say anything about needing to hire guards 2) I wondered what exactly happened that made them decide that guards were necessary and 3) none of us expected it to cost so much and we didn't have that much money. Still very sketched out by this "requirement" for hiking that would allow her to pocket our 40 dollars, we told her that we didn't have enough money but would like to hire just one guard instead. "You see this gun?" she asked as she lifted her huge, possibly broken, and definitely outdated weapon. "Two guards are needed to carry this thing." We declined the guards and decided to hike up to the starting point ourselves and see if maybe we could hire a guard at the start for a cheaper price. What we thought would be a quick walk to the stand to pay the entrance fee (a sign at the bottom of the hill read "Ngong hills hike, this way) turned out to be an hour long trek up the side of this HUGE hill. We made the most of it though and figured that if we couldn't end up paying the fee, at least we were getting a bit of fresh air. The path up was incredibly beautiful too, and I could literally feel the difference in air quality there than in the dirt and pollution filled air in Nairobi.

To our dismay, we were told the same thing about hiring guards at the entrance. Instead of hiking further, we sat down on a grassy area next to the entrance stand and ate our pb+j sandwiches, only to be informed 5 minutes later by one of the guards that, since we were not paying, we were not allowed to stay there. Thanks for the adventure Ngong hills.

Walking back down into town, these three little children ran up to us and started following us. They told us that they lived in the Ngong and were headed into town as well. We kept walking and somewhere along the way, this street dog started following us as well. Initially I was worried about some stray dog sticking with us, but he proved trustworthy as he began to walk in front of us leading the way into town, turning around ever 20 seconds to make sure we were still following him. When it became crowded in town he stuck right by our sides, not wanting us to leave him. Kenyans don't generally keep dogs as pets and I think he loved that we weren't kicking or shooing him away as most Kenyans seem to do when dogs approach them. By the time we reached town, we had quite the family, complete with 6 American chicks, 3 Kenyan children and our very own dog. I wish I had a family picture to put on the fridge back home.

Reaching the matatu station, we said our goodbyes to the children and, after negotiating the price of our ride back into town, hopped into the matatu to head home. While being distracted by a pickpocketing incident (my friend's phone was stolen from her pocket, but we managed to get it back...but that's a story that deserves a blog post of its own) we didn't realize that the dog had hoped into the matatu with us. Finally, as we settled down from the phone incident, we looked down to realize that this dog was next to us hiding under the seat. Simama, Simama (stop, stop) I said to the driver, but we were already on our way back to Nairobi and he didn't want to slow down. We moved to the back of the matatu and the dog followed us, hoping up onto the seat with us. He laid down and rested his head on my friend Janae's lap. At that point, we were sold. This dog was so well behaved and kind and just wanted someone to pay attention to him. We all started calling people to see if there was someone who would want to keep him. Finally, towards the end of our ride back to Nairobi, one of our friend's host mom agreed to keep the dog, saying that they had been looking for a dog but had not found one yet to adopt.

We reached Nairobi, scared that Baby Odo (what we named the dog) would run away as soon as we got out of the matatu. We were delighted to find that Odo stuck with us just like he had in Ngong, following us all the way back to my friend's house. A dozen strange comments from people on the street about white girls caring for a street dog and one mile later, baby Odo finally had a home.

We played with him for a while and then all went our separate ways, heading home to relay the details of our extremely strange day to our families.

Nearly a week later, telling this story still makes me laugh. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best choice to befriend a street dog, as many dogs in Kenya have rabies, but baby Odo was an exception. I promise not to risk it with any more stray animals Mom and Dad :)

Tomorrow we're leaving for the coast (Mombasa) for two weeks. The first week we are staying in a rural village called Shirazi where they only speak swahili, have no running water or electricity. I'm SO excited. It's going to be tough, but I'm pumped to practice swahili 24/7. The fact that Shirazi is on the beach doesn't hurt either. The second week we are heading back to Mombassa to relax for a few days. We will have class in the morning, but the afternoons free to explore the city, shop and go to the beach. I'm not bringing my laptop and will be out of communication for at least one week. (I'm not sure whether or not I'll have access to computers when we head back to Mombassa.)

Be on the look out for some updates when I return. I'm sure there will be a TON.

Until next time

-Megan

me and Odo

proof that Odo actually came in the matatu with us

What a weekend

I don't really know how to begin this post, as so much has happened in two days, so I'll just get right to it.

Saturday morning we had a school trip for a few hours. We traveled to Mathare [ma-thar-ay], the second biggest slum in Kenya. You can tell wazungu (white people) are coming from a mile away because of the shouts echoing through the streets. Walking through Mathare, kids pour out of their 10 by 10 tin homes just to greet us with shouts of "how are you! how are you!" They shriek in excitement when you reach down to hold their hand or give them a gota. (fist bump) At one point I took out my camera to take a picture of some of the kids that began to follow me through Mathare. After taking one picture, ALL of the kids wanted their pictures taken. "Na mimi?! Na mimi?!" (and me?! and me?!) they shouted. Most of them have never seen a picture of themselves before and they began to giggle uncontrollably when I turned my camera around to show them their pictures.

this beautiful little girl held my hand and walked with me through Mathare

(click for a larger view)

Even having spent a decent amount of time in Kenyan slums from my previous trips to Kenya, I still can't explain what it's like to walk through a slum. Words will never be enough to fully convey the absolute poverty that exists in a slum like Mathare. Mathare is on a hill and we fought against the mud and the rivers of water streaming down the hill as we walked uphill towards our destination. I turned to Milton, one of the Kenyans walking with us, to comment on how hard it must be for people to get around with all the rain water coming down the hill and the huge piles of mud. His response? It hasn't rained in three days. I then learned that when it rains, houses flood completely, people can't move around easily and sewage flows down the hill into to the paths of the Mathare residents. And the water that streams into houses isn't just rain water--it's a mixture of trash (as there is no trash system set up), feces, water and mud. Imagine that water filling up your one room tin shack as you and your 5 brothers and sisters are trying to sleep, eat or get ready for school in the morning.

a view from the top of the hill in Mathare

(click for a larger view)

another view of Mathare- a trash infested river

After making our way up the hill we moved on to learn about MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association), the most successful youth program in any slum in the world. What once started as a small soccer program, has expanded to an all-encompassing organization, including education, athletics, community health programs and more. MYSA has over 21,000 Kenyans registered in their soccer program alone. Their program attracts youth through sports and then exposes them to all the other resources they have to help them better themselves and encourage them to strive for excellence and success. One of the coolest programs they spoke about was a scholarship program for members of MYSA. Secondary aged students (high school age) in MYSA can volunteer with different MYSA organizations to gain points. The top students at the end of the year receive scholarships from MYSA to pay for their school fees. It was so encouraging to see a community-based organization that's really making a remarkable different in the lives of people all around Kenya.

a street performance outside MYSA

Leaving the slum, we walked to a local Mathare restaurant to grab a quick lunch. The owners were beyond shocked when a group of 26 whiteys walked into their small one room restaurant. After sufficiently taking over their place, we all ordered Kenyan dishes. Chapati (an amazing tortilla like food-- a "staple" of Kenya) beans and rice was my chosen dish that cost me all of 120 shillings (about 1 U.S. dollar)

Saturday night we decided to check out nightlife in Nairobi and made our way to Westlands, an area of Nairobi that attracts a lot of expats and "smart" Kenyans (at least that's what the online reviews say.We didn't want to stay out too late so we decided to be back by 1 am at the latest. I asked my host mom, who seems pretty hip, what time people start going out and she said around 8:30 and that it gets pretty busy at 9. We decided 9 would be a perfect time then to start our night. We all commented on how early this seemed, but just went with it, not questioning it too much. After our 30 minute taxi drive to Westlands (costing us about 7 dollars total...loving these Kenyan prices) our taxi driver stopped in the middle of the road and said (in broken English), "here we are..have a good night." Being the most outspoken one in our group I quickly replied, "That's great but please park and walk us in." (we had no clue where this bar was) Despite being annoyed, (or so it seemed from the bits of swahili I picked up in his murmurs) he agreed and walked us up to the door. As we stood outside he walked into the bar and then walked back out saying, "ok! have a good night!" I asked if there were people in there and he said, "Oh yes! Have fun!" and then waved and walked away. You can imagine how surprised we were then when we walked in to find that we were not just the only wazungu in the whole bar, but the only people at all in the whole bar, except for the hired staff.

Deciding to make the most of it, we sat down and ordered some drinks, enjoying the DJ's attempts to reach out to us with his choice of "western music" --black eyed peas, celine dion and the bee gees--quite the mix. Eventually things began to pick up and around 11 we decided to check out the club right across from the first bar. This club, black diamond, was packed. It was a mix of expats and Kenyans and seemed to be really fun atmosphere. We found the rest of our friends who had arrived before us and began to dance with them. Quickly, we became quite the spectacle, as any group of 20 foreigners dancing would be in a local club. People found us amusing I suppose-- every American song that came on (about 2 out of every 3 songs) caused us to FREAK out and get so happy and dance like crazy the entire song. At one point I decided to take a break from dancing and find the bathroom, which required me to leave the dance floor and walk through the club's outside patio to reach the choo (toilet). Life off the dance floor was SO interesting and hilarious to watch. I want to compare it to some movie or funny show I've seen but I really just can't compare it to anything familiar. As I made my way to the toilet, I passed European looking men putting the moves on women of all races. Most notable though were the 60 year old white men sharing "romantic" moments and drinks with Kenyan women who could not have been any older than me. Quite disturbing. I don't know what the men were trying to do, (well actually I have an idea) but I'm pretty sure the Kenyan women were either just looking for a sugar daddy or their green card...maybe both..

We stayed out until around 2...a little later than originally planned..and when we left, everyone in the club was still going strong. Apparently, Kenyans will stay out until 6 am or later. When I expressed how crazy I thought this was to one of my Kenyan friends she joked with me and said, "Well we go out before it gets dark to ensure getting to the club safely and then just stay until it gets light to make sure we will have a safe journey home." We all survived our first nightlife experience (told you I'd be safe mom and dad :) ) and had a blast. We only have a few weekends in Nairobi together and are already making plans for what else we all want to do together before going our separate ways for our ISPs.

Elsa, me and Anna with my friend Sam's homestay brother, Brian, and his friend, Kevin

So that was my Saturday. I was originally planning on talking about my entire weekend in this blog post but I feel like I've already written a book just talking about Saturday, so I'm going to save my story about Sunday until tomorrow.

Yesterday was quite the day, I promise it will quite the story, so keep posted. Just a little preview...my next blog post will include: getting lost in a village, pick pocketers and taking a dog to Nairobi via matatu.

Until next time--

Megan

Ninapenda mahali hapa! (I'm loving this place!)

This week has been so busy! We started class on Monday and are at the school office from 8:30 am until 5 pm each day. Even though the days are long, I'm loving the teaching style and the material that we're learning. Swahili lessons start each morning at 8:45 and last until lunch at 12:30 (with a tea break at 10:30..Kenyans LOVE their chai) The lessons are extremely interactive with only 4 or 5 students in each class. There are 6 different swahili classes, divided by skill level, so everyone is learning at about the same pace in the classroom. There are 6 swahili teachers employed by SIT and each day they rotate classes, so I never tire of one teacher. The teachers are also so hilarious and keep the mood of class very light (while still teaching a lot.) They focus on speaking (instead of just writing or grammar) and we spend the 3 hours in the morning conversing with each other in swahili. I've learned SO much in one week. I feel like I learned more this week than I learned in a year of swahili back in the US.

The afternoons consist of health, development and society lectures as well as field trips to different NGOs and organizations around Nairobi. Yesterday afternoon a professor from the University of Nairobi lectured on the colonial history of Kenya and today we traveled to AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) for our afternoon "lecture" (more like field trip.) We finished the trip earlier than expected today and a few friends and I spent the rest of the afternoon at Java House (a coffee shop that has an extremely Western feel--we call it our little "slice of home") studying swahili together.

As the semester is progressing, our academic directors have begun to stress making a decision about our independent study projects (ISP). For those of you who haven't heard about ISP, this is one aspect that makes an SIT program unique from another study abroad program. The last month of my time abroad is reserved for a research project of my choosing. We literally can pick anything we want to study and go anywhere we want in the country for the last month to research this subject (except maybe dangerous areas like Turkana) Projects in the past have covered everything, ranging from the study of chapati (a traditional Kenyan bread dish) to the birthing practices of the Maasai tribe. I'm back and forth each day about what I want to study but am currently thinking about perhaps studying maternal mortality in a rural coastal village. Maternal mortality is a HUGE problem in Kenya (lifetime risk of maternal mortality : 1 in 38 Kenyan women) and is pushed aside by NGOs as the HIV/AIDs epidemic rages on in sub-Saharan Africa. I think it would be fascinating to talk to women in a rural village about access to skilled birth attendants, birthing practices and their beliefs of the causes of complications during childbirth.

All of these ideas, of course, could change tomorrow (those of you who know me well know that I change my mind...a lot) but for now that is what I am thinking about looking into for the last month. I'd love to combine the study with some sort of photography project in the village showcasing the daily life of the Kenyans I meet, but that would be something I would have to discuss with the community once I arrived to make sure I was respecting their privacy.

Finally, for a few photo updates:

This is where I take my BUCKET showers every other evening..it has been quite the experience.

This is our kitchen where Grace (one of the house helps) is washing dishes.

Our sitting room

This is my bed room, complete with princess stickers covering the walls and a beautiful blue mosquito net

The little diva herself, Milaika.

That's all for now! Until next time-

Megan

I have a family!

The last few days have been crazy--exploring Nairobi, getting to know everyone in my program better and adjusting to life in Kenya. But yesterday I finally felt like everything settled down a bit as I moved into my home stay :) I now have a home base- somewhere to go back to after a long day instead of all the moving around we have been doing thus far. It feels great :)

My family is SO sweet- Mama (Wanja is her name) is 38 and has a 7 year old girl (her name is Malaika--she turns 7 tomorrow actually) Baba Mordi (Dad in swahili--he's 42) is the east african regional director for a wildlife organization so he travels a lot but was home this weekend and I luckily got to meet him. He's leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow morning for the week, but will be back for the remainder of the month after that. My host mom has her phD in ichthyology(the study of fish) and works for the national museum doing research. She also travels a lot to attend conferences where she speaks about the depletion of fisheries around the world. Next month she will be gone for a week traveling to the US for a meeting (crazy that she will be in my country while I'm in hers) My little sister is SO cute. She's an only child and is loving having a bigger sister around. We've been attached at the hip since I arrived yesterday. She's such a diva and so hilarious. I'm sure I will be posting lots of Malaika quotes throughout the semester. Yesterday she asked me if I was pregnant (awesome) and today she was telling me I was crazy for not being married at 20.

Yesterday, right after my family picked me up from a retreat center where all us SIT students were staying, they brought me along to a wedding with them. Malaika was actually in the wedding as a flower girl. Being there was SUCH a cool experience. Kenyan weddings (or at least this one) are a mix between your average modern wedding and African traditional culture. I'll be posting pictures of the wedding on facebook when I upload a new album sometime soon! I thought it would be rude to ask but I'm pretty sure the people getting married are some sort of big deal in Kenya...one of the wedding guests was the attorney general of Kenya. There was also security there surrounding the church and scattered throughout the crowd during the ceremony. I think they were sketched out by me (I'm really pretty frightening) because some guy with an earpiece was glaring at me every time I looked over at him. He would look at me and then say something into his mic piece. It also could have had something to do with the fact that I was the only mzungu (Kenya's word for white person) in the whole crowd of about 500...who knows..

Today we spent the day at this pool near my family's house celebrating Malaika's 7th birthday. Again, everyone stared all day as I was the only mzungu in sight...I feel like I'm just going to have to get used to that.. Besides the stares, I really enjoyed the day-- I got to meet Malaika's cousins aunts and uncles and really felt like I was part of the family. Tonight when we got home I helped Grace (their house help) prepare dinner. My family speaks English SO well and they do not speak too much swahili in the house, but Grace speaks a lot more swahili and her English isn't as advanced..so she has agreed to take me under her wing and teach me a lot. As I helped her prepare stew (mom you'd be so proud--i'm finally learning to cook) she began teaching me new swahili vocab. I also told my family that tomorrow is an all swahili speaking day in the house to help me learn, so we'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow I also am attending my first full day of school at the office. 3 hours of swahili before lunch and then 3 hours of a health and society lecture after lunch. It finally feels like I'm studying abroad as opposed to just being abroad :)

Hmm..well I think those are all the updates for now! Until next time!

Megan

Greetings from Kenya!

Hello America! Irene was nice enough to let me out of the country and I’ve been in Kenya since Sunday evening. Though the ride was a bit turbulent, I finally got to the airport, and after a bag scare, retrieved my luggage and met up with the group. Our ride was a pimped out old bus called the “Jazz Quartet” fully equipped with neon lights lining the ceiling.

So about 20 of us SIT students and the Jazz Quartet made our way to the Mary Ward Center, which is a catholic monastery. We’re staying here for the first 4 days of orientation as we begin to acclimate to Kenyan culture and learn more about our program.

Monday we woke up (to a freezing morning!) and headed over to the giraffe center to kiss some giraffes (see the picture below). I figured that once was not enough (I kissed some on my last trip to Kenya) and decided to kiss some more this time as well. (Don't worry, their saliva is an anti-septic)

After learning about giraffes in Kenya (they can kill you with one kick and they only sleep 2 hours each day) we made our way over to Nakumatt, Kenya’s version of Walmart where we bought our Kenyan cellphones. I chose a pretty snazzy Nokia phone that looks like it was made around 1995…but it gets the job done. Kenya’s cellphones are pay as you go and when you run out of minutes you “top up” on your minutes and purchase more. It’s super cheap..calling the US even is about 3 cents a minute and doesn’t cost anything to the person receiving the call. (Nance and Jimbo must be happy about that)

Tuesday we were all split up into groups of three and dropped off at various locations around Nairobi. Two other girls and I were dropped at a women’s hospital where we spent the day learning about a program started there called the Gender Violence Recovery Center. The Center was started by a well-known doctor at the hospital to give battered women, men and children a place to recover from abuse and receive counseling, free of charge. Prior to this center (which was the first of its kind in Nairboi) people who couldn’t afford the hospital fees were turned away and forced to return to their homes which often left them vulnerable to more abuse.

After returning back to the monastery, we had our first Swahili lesson and were told that our language classes (which are 3 hours each day) will consist of about 5 students and one teacher. There are 6 swahili teachers that rotate to a different group of students each day. I was pumped to hear that our class is mostly oral speaking instead of writing or reading because conversational Swahili is what I really need to work on. There was hardly any interaction between students and the teacher in my classes at UNC. I’m excited to be able to communicate with locals and improve my Swahili a tonnnn!

Today was our first day actually seeing downtown Nairobi. Again, we split into small groups and, with our Swahili teachers, were guided around the city. Nairobi is definitely a city—I don’t know what I was expecting, but I guess all my experience in Kenya thus far has been in rural areas so I’m not used to seeing skyscrapers and tall office buildings—but I learned that they do indeed exist here. The air quality is atrocious. There isn’t the regulation over here on emissions so the air is definitely SO dirty compared to that of your normal US city. Besides that though, I really liked the city. There’s this huge park in the middle that I’m excited to explore and tons of cool shops all over.

On our way home from the city we were shown where the SIT school buildings are (which are on the outskirts of Nairobi) and learned that we will be visiting them for the first time on Friday. Tomorrow we leave the monastery and move to a hotel for the night in Nairobi, in hopes of become more “acclimated” to Nairobi-living. Saturday we actually get to meet our host families and move in with them. I’m SO excited to meet my family. I feel like once I move in with a family it will actually feel real that I am here studying abroad. It still kind of just feels like I’m visiting for two weeks or something.

I guess those are all the updates for now…more to come later for sure. I’m loving every single person in my program. The students are all so different, yet we mesh so well together as a group. There are students from Columbia, Davidson, Duke, Colorado College, Rollins, UC San Diego, UNC (duh)…and more. Everyone has such a different idea for their independent research at the end of the program and just listening to what people are passionate about is really fascinating. Even though we’ve only been together for 4 days, I feel like I’ve known everyone for weeks now. It’s such a fun group—we’ve been joking around a ton and just have been having a blast here alone in our little monastery compound (imagine when we hit the big city..watch out Nairobi)

That’s all for now I suppose. Sorry this was so long and detailed—my updates in the future will hopefully be shorter once I settle down into my homestay (so pumped!)

Until next time—

Megan

All packed and ready to go :)

Group shot (of most of us) at the giraffe center

My new Kenyan boyfriend

I'm leaving!...maybe

Tomorrow I leave for Kenya!...on second thought, maybe not…

Hurricane Irene is angry and trying to get in the way of me making it to Kenya on my scheduled flight. As of now, my flight is still on, but a few people from my program have already had to change their flights to Monday night…fingers crossed I can fly out of Dulles tomorrow.

It’s crazy that I’m going to be in Kenya in two days. Even though I’ve been there before, this experience is going to be so different than my first two. My previous trips were through a non-profit that works with poverty-stricken areas in Kenya to build high schools and start social businesses. But this time around I am in Kenya as a student, participating in a SIT program (school of international training) that is focused on health and community development.

I’m not too sure all of the specifics of my program yet—we received a rough schedule and a general overview of the program—but it seems like I’ll be well informed after our initial orientation week when I first arrive. My program consists of 28 students (26 girls and 2 guys—looks like I haven’t left the Carolina ratio after all) from colleges and universities all over the US. I’ll be staying with a family in Nairobi for 6 weeks, a rural family in Mombassa for 2 weeks and then the last month’s (a period of time reserved for our individual research projects of our choosing) living arrangements are TBD based on where I choose to research in Kenya. For 2 weeks we are also traveling to Tanzania and/or Uganda.

I really have no idea what this semester holds, but I couldn’t be more excited. I’m thrilled to be living in country for 4 months rather than a tourist passing through. I hope this allows me to learn about the culture and norms of Kenya much more than any 3-week trip could ever teach me.

I’m sure that in addition to all the great times ahead of me there may be some more difficult times, as one might expect living in a 3^rd-world country for an extended period of time, but I know that they will all be worth it. I have a quote written in my room by Paula Rinehart that says, “life even in the hardest times, is full of moments to savor. They will not come this way again, not in this way.” This experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so thrilled. I hope to savor each moment I’m there because these moments will truly never come again in such a way.

I’ve been given this amazing opportunity to travel to this country that I love and to be a student in Kenya for a semester and I feel so blessed. I can’t wait to see what this semester holds.

Until next time :)

Megan