Christmas?!?

It is still 90 degrees every day, there is no crazy holiday shopping, no holiday music, no snow, no santa and no Christmas baking! Not quite the same as home... The last week I have just been catching up on everything from when I was on vacation. The organizations I'm working with are closing for the holidays and people will start to travel tomorrow, mostly to the rural areas to be with family during the holidays.

I am currently sitting in the only coffee shop in Kisumu that offers FREE wireless internet. It's so bizarre. It's really nicely decorated on the inside and almost feels like Starbucks. I'm drinking a white chocolate mocha and eating a chocolate croissant... where am I again?!? Yet, on Thursday this week I went for a pre-home visit with one of the counselors from Pandipieri. One of the boys at the center, who is 8, they are trying to place him back in his rural home. So we took public transportation for two hours to the place where the boy says he is from. It's past a town called Bondo which is west of here. So we get off the van in the absolute middle of nowhere near this tiny town and the guy I'm with starts asking people if they know the boy (he has a picture). Someone recognizes the boy and they call the man who is the supposed guardian of the boy. We get this man's phone number and tell the people we will contact him soon to discuss plans for the boy to be reintegrated. After being there for maybe 20 minutes, we turn around and get back into a van to come home... successful trip, sorta... On the way back, the door falls off the van, the lady next to me is holding a box of rotten tomatoes and the man in front of me is carrying live chickens. At that point, I REALLY wished I had the white chocolate mocha.

The football team I am supporting is doing so well! They are practicing almost daily, all the kids have quit sniffing glue and they are really focused on working hard so maybe they can go back to school sometime soon. My friend Elizabeth and I are also helping the organization (HOVIC) to start planning to set up a drop in center for street girls. It will be a temporary shelter where the can sleep at night and also be a place where they will receive vocational training. Right now, we are still working on funding and planning, but I'm really excited about the project.

So basically, I have a lot of projects going on here, but I really feel like I am contributing to all of them. I'm excited for the next two weeks of holiday celebrations and seeing my family!

Lamu

So the last part of our vacation was absolutely amazing. We left Malindi on Wednesday morning and took the worst bus ride ever up to Lamu. It was about 4 and a half hours of literally hanging onto our seats so we didn’t fall on the person next to us. We would hit bumps sometimes and come a foot off our seat. It was crazy and pretty much like off roading on a dirt road in a huge bus…pretty great. Since Lamu is an island we had to take the ferry from the mainland which was more like a small crowded motor boat. We arrived and were immediately swarmed by people trying to tell us places to stay and toursity things to do. We had an idea about a guest house from a guide book and found it and got a cheap rate (think $3.50 each per night). We just lounged the rest of the evening and checked out a local food place. Everywhere we walked we were constantly followed by local guys and not really in a bad way. Lamu is so different than the rest of Kenya because it is actually safe. You can walk around at night with lots of money and not have to worry about getting mugged or anything.

So Thursday we decided to spend the day on the beach. There are two main beaches in the island so we went to the other town on the island, Shela, and spent the day on Shela Beach. I can honestly say Lamu Island is hands down the most beautiful and amazing place I have ever been. The beach was great and no crowded at all and the water was totally warm and great for swimming. At night we would hang out with a lot of the people we met during the day. We met tons of other travelers including some couples from Canada, a British guy, American girls, and Peace Corps volunteers from Kenya and Uganda. It was so fun to meet other travelers and hear their stories.

Friday was the best day. We had heard that the thing to do in Lamu is to do a day trip on a dhow, which is the traditional wooden sailboats made there. So we left around 10 with 3 other American we had met while there. We sailed over to a beach on Manda Island which is right next to Lamu. The three other Americans stayed and snorkeled there while Cara, Elizabeth and I went deep sea fishing with the crew. It was AWESOME! They caught a ton of fish and they would let us reel them in because we weren’t so lucky with catching out own fish. We used fishing line wrapped around a block of wood with a weight and hook on the end. All we did was let the line out and pull it back in by wrapping it around the block. They caught fish like red snapper and leatherjackets. After the fishing we sailed back to the island to meet the others. While we swam and lounged the crew made lunch. They cooked the fish we had just caught, coconut rice, a vegetable mix and also cut up fresh fruit like passion fruit, mango, oranges and bananas. It was the best mean EVER. In the afternoon we sailed back to Lamu and went home to clean up for our evening event which was a beach party also on Manda Island. So we went with a few other people we had met, some Candians and British people. We got to the beach and got to see the sunset from the boat and from the island. It was unreal. We set up a mat on the beach and the local guys we were with made a fire for us and made food. A similar meal to lunch: chapati (like flatbread), fresh fish and coconut vegetables and fruit. After dinner the locals started some drumming and singing, mostly reggae style stuff. We all sat around and drank coconut wine, which sounds delicious but was easily the worst concoction I have ever tasted. The stars were so bright and easy to see, the air was warm and the company was phenomenal. It was such a great night and we even got to sail back to Lamu at night which was quite an experience.

Since we had so much fun, we decided to stay an extra day. Saturday we spent more time on the beach and eating delicious seafood (like crabcakes yummmm). Overall Lamu was absolutely amazing. The people are wonderful, the landscape is beautiful and the island is so rich in history. The bus ride back to MOmbasa was horrible, the train to Nairobi was ok and the night bus back to Kisumu was fine. The 45 hour travel back to Kisumu was not fun, but the whole trip was so worth it.

It’s nice to be back here now and kinda get back into the swing of things…

Yesterday, Cara and I visited HOVIC and brought some American music. We taught all the kids how to do some American dances. We looked so ridiculous, but it was SO MUCH fun. The soccer team from HOVIC that I'm helping out with also go second place in a tournament last weekend, so everyone there is pretty excited.

the coast

So I am currently traveling with my two friends on the coast. We left Nairobi on Friday night and took the overnight train to Mombasa. It was supposed to take 14 hours but ended up taking 20. Oh well, we still got there and found a guest house to stay in right in town. We showered, in cold water of course and chilled for the evening. That night we went out for dinner and drinks and enjoyed a bit of the coastal city night life... very fun. Sunday morning we shopped around it town and bought some cloths called kangas which are brighly colored wraps that Kenyan women wear. Then we headed toward the ferry (because the city of Mombasa is on an island) and crossed the channel. From there we took a matatu, a 14 passenger van t othe town of Ukunda and from there to Diani Beach. We found a place to stay (using the Lonely Planet guidebook which we have been living by!). It was a cottage about 100 yards from the beach and it had a restaurant attached, very very cool. We spent the afternoon on the beach and swam. The water was wartmer than any shower I have take here the entire time....

Monday morning we woke up very early and took a matatu to Bodo, the little village we did our rural homestay in when I was a student here. It's in the absolute middle of nowhere and its beautiful. It was cool for Cara and Elizabeth to see it and meet my family and everything. We drank water from fresh coconuts, walked around the village, saw the beach, ate coconut rice, and relaxed. It was wonderful! Later we somehow got a free ride back to our place, which was nice. We ate at restaurant last night right on the water with our feet in the sand. Diani Beach is pretty touristy but there are some beautiful places.

This morning we headed back into Mombasa and took the ferry to town where we boarded a matatu to Malindi. We got to Malindi, put out stuff in a guest House (thanks Lonely Planet) and headed to the beach where we spent the last 4 hours. It was not quite as nice of a beach but still pretty sweet. Were leaving here tomorrow morning to go to Lamu, an island 4 hours north of here up towards the Somali border. It's supposed to be beautiful, very traditional and awesome. I'm hyped....

The trip has been great so far. We have really enjoyed it and it's been nice to get away from the every day routine. I've seen more white people in the last 2 days than in the last 3 months combined.. haha but still not many Americans.

I hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful December weather in the US. It is 90 and sunny and beautiful and hot here EVERY DAY. I'll soak up some rays for you all....

just a day in my life...

Saturday was quite an interesting day. In the morning, the team I am sponsoring from HOVIC had a friendly soccer match in town. It was a great match because the kids have these new uniforms that were donated to them and new cleats so they really look like a legitimate team. They kept telling me "People won't even know we are street kids when we play." A very proud moment for them... And they won the game 5-4 so I think we are off to a good start for the season.

In the afternoon, my friend and I went to Kakamega, which is a town about an hour north of Kisumu, for a soccer match. A few of my friends play for a team there called Western Stima who competes in the Premier League, which is the top league in Kenya. It was their last game of the season and they had to win in order to stay in the league and not be kicked out. The ride up there was in a matatu which are vans and the main for of transportation here. At one point I think there were 22 people in the car, which is made to seat 14. Later in the trip a woman got on who was carrying a live chicken... pretty typical in Kenya.

We got to the stadium in Kakamega and there were tons of people there to support the team, me being the only white person of thousands, obviously. During the second half we went and sat right behind the team bench and the one camera man from the local TV station came and filmed me for like 5 minutes. Everyone was staring at me the entire game. A mzungu (white person) at a football match in Western Kenya... apparently that was news worthy. Luckily, Western Stima scored in the first half and won the game 1-0. People went crazy at the end of the game and rushed the field. Everyone was chanting and cheering and dancing... slighlty different than celebrations in the US. Also during the game, people were yelling things at the ref like "You obvisouly didn't eat your ugali today," (ugali being a staple food in the Kenyan diet that is thought to give people strength, yet it is made from ONLY flour and water) and others were saying "You must have gone to see a witch doctor recently." These are pretty typical criticisms here that I don't think would be very effective in the US....

After the game, since we knew players on the team, we got to ride on the team bus through town. All the players were singing and clapping and waving signs that said Western Stima from the bus and we drove SLOWLY all through town. Now remember, they didn't win the league... they didn't even finish in the top 10 (out of 16). They finished third from last and just missed being relegated. Basically they were the winner of the losers and this was the celebration. Kinda funny.... We went to a restaurant and they had a team meeting and then a bunch of them and us rode on the bus back to Kisumu. During the hour and 15 minute ride back, the bus overheated twice, so the trip ended up taking almost 2 hours.

Needless to say it was a totally fun day and just really emphasized the fact that I am soooooo far away from home haha. I guess sometimes it's easy to forget when I'm here in Kisumu because i is much more of a city and there are some things I am used to, but once you leave the city it is a whole different world.... and I totally love it!

So recently the thing that I have missed most about home is the FOOD, or should I say the variety of food. I love the food here, don't get me wrong, but there just isn't as much stuff as home. I went into town yesterday to do only one thing... go to the supermarket and buy cheese!!! I came home and made a cheese and vegetable sandwich and was in absolute heaven. It's the little things in life....

Work is going well. I've basically been doing a lot of planning recently for an academy that is going to be started by KYFA. It will basically be a mobile clinic that will move around Kisumu and do mini-camps on the weekends for kids. I've also been planning the budget for the HOVIC soccer team that will play in the league for the first time this season. The kids are so excited to be part of a team and be playing and thankfully a lot of people from home have been really great and generous with contributions to help fund them.

Not much other news here. Serena Williams was in Kenya last week opening a secondary school that has been named in her honor. I watched a news story last night about recent violence in a prison here. An inmate (who somehow had a camera phone in prison?!!?) had filmed the guards making many prisoners strip and then beating them until they were unconscious and even killing one man. Most likely no one will be arrested in this case... just a different world here.

All else is well. Just looking forward to my trip to the coast next week. Touristy vacation, here I come!

I arrived at Pandipieri this morning because today I'm supposed to work with their rehabilitation project and of course, no one is here because they all went to a meeting and no one told me. Awesome... this is the type of stuff that is frustrating here, but at least they have internet here so I get to write in my blog haha.

This week has been pretty low-key so far. Monday I helped out in the school here and red some books with the kids while they teach me Swahili and I try to teach them English. Tuesday I went with one of the case workers here to follow up on a case that has gone to court involving the rape of a ten year old girl. They deal with A LOT of cases like that here and it is really hard for me to br around sometimes. The way things are dealth with here is so different than home. It is such a slow process that in my opinion does not do nearly enough to protect the child or apprehend the criminals. So to hear the adults involved speak about the case so non-chalantly is quite upsetting to me. I just have to bite my tongue and deal with it, which is really draining and hard for me.

As far as my work with the soccer association goes, I am helping them get ready for their upcoming season which will start in the middle of Decemeber. This involved developing a lot of documents with rules, regulations, expectations, consent forms and things like that. I am also helping them to plan and hopefully implement an academy of sorts under the umbrella of KYFA. It will essentially be a travelling camp that will train local kids and coaches. Hopefully some of my sports admin training will pay off...

Everything else is going well. In two weeks an American girl I met here, myself and my friend from UNC who is coming to visit are all going for a touristy vacation on the coast. I am so excited for that!

Obama

So the last few days have been quite eventful. Tuesday night I stayed up pretty late watching election stuff and then I woke up at 4:30 am my time which was 8:30 eastern time. It was so exciting to watch everything. One of the main TV stations here was showing the CNN broadcast so I watched that along with BBC News, Al Jazeera, and Sky News. So it was definitely interesting to see the different broadcasts. When they announced the Obama win I was yelling and screaming and SO excited. The speeches were very emotional and everything here was crazy. They kept showing Kogelo, the birthplace of Obama’s dad, on TV. That is about 2 hours from where I’m living. So later in the day when I finally left the house, EVERYONE on the streets was yelling to me things like “Obama’s sister” and “Yes we can.” People were playing music really loud in the streets and everyone was dancing and singing. There are a lot of songs here by local musicians about Obama so I heard those songs all day long. I could not stop smiling all day and it was really a cool experience to be here when he won. That afternoon the president here, Kibaki, declared Thursday a public holiday, Obama Day haha. So Thursday was a national holiday and it was nice to just relax and celebrate.

Yesterday I spent the whole day with kids. In the morning I visited HOVIC, the drop-in center for street kids. I hung out with them while the listened to music and some of them showed me their sweet dance moves. Later in the day we went to play soccer in town. Some visitors from the UK had brought the kids some donated cleats and uniforms so the kids got to look like real teams when they played. They were sooooo excited and they kept saying “Kelsey look, we don’t even look like street children now!” So it was a good day for them. In the afternoon, all the kids and staff from Pandipieri came into town and we played a soccer match with the staff vs. the kids. I played for the staff and was of course the only girl playing. After the first time or two that I sprinted I thought my lungs were going to collapse haha. Those kids can run forever, but it was so fun to play with them. Of course, I have no idea what any of them are saying ever because everyone speaks in their mother tongue, Dholuo, so I kinda just stand there and smile. I played much better than I thought I would and the kids were pretty impressed, I think mostly because I’m a girl but I guess also because I’m white. Needless to say, after about two hours of playing I had to stop because I thought my legs would give out haha. It was a great day to be able to spend a lot of time with the kids. I really feel like I am starting to connect with some of them which is cool because there is still a major language barrier. Now when I’m walking around town a lot of the street kids recognize me and come and talk to me.

So I’m working with HOVIC to try and help develop their soccer program. They are entering three teams, under 12, under 14 and under 16, in the local KYFA league here this season. They are looking for funding to transport the kids to a field every day and so feed the kids during the season and pay a few fees to be in the league. Hopefully I will be able to use my resources and connections to help them, but we are also trying to develop a plan to make their organization sustainable and maybe start involving the kids in some income generating activities so they can be self-sustainable. We’ll see how it goes…

This morning I had a pedicure here in the house. This girl I met, a friend of a friend, works at a salon in town and she offered to come to the house to give me a pedicure. It was hands down the most thorough pedicure I have ever had, although some of it was a little painful (maybe African women are tougher than me…). I had to do some deep breathing to get past my intense disgust with feet and realize that my feet definitely needed this. The whole thing cost $5… I love Kenya.

The last week has been quite busy and eventful. On Wednesday, I visited the street children drop-in center again. There was another German woman visiting Pandipieri this week so she cam along with us. At the center the boys were having their focus group discussion so I sat with them. They are all amazed that I can speak Swahili so they all want to introduce themselves and shake my hand. After this went on for a while, we all walked into town to the sports grounds where they played a soccer game. I think the game was probably 20 v. 20 instead of 11 aside. But it was still so fun to watch. None of them have shoes. Most of them barely have clothes that cover themselves. As soon as we left the center to walk to the field, the kids are free to sniff glue or do whatever drugs they do. Only in the center do they have to be clean. So at the field a lot of them were sniffing glue while playing or would take a break to get their glue form the sideline. Basically what happens is they buy these bottle of glue for really really cheap and this is not Elmers glue, it’s like a very toxic horrible smelling industrial type. So they actually aren’t sniffing it, they’re inhaling it. So they just walk around with this little bottle hanging from their mouths. The effects are crazy and the kids who were totally smart and normal at the center become kind of crazy and delusional as soon as we left because they are high from the glue. They will say and do anything… it is so sad because some of them are only 8 or 9 and then some are 18 or so. Street children in general are so overlooked especially in Kisumu so I really feel like I will be able to help a lot just because they are a population that is given so little attention. I try to explain to people how we don’t have street children in the US. I mean obviously we have homeless people, but when was the lats time you saw an 8 year old child living alone on the streets in America? Yea, doesn’t really happen. Yet, here it is so much more common than homeless adults. The good thing is that these kids are OBESESSED with soccer which is really cool because it is a good way for me to bond with them. It is just so sad to hear their stories and they all ask me to help them go home or to help them go back to school or to buy shoes or a shirt or stuff like that. The center provides a lot of good services, but the truth is they just don’t have the funding to help every single child.

Later that afternoon, I went back to the Pandipieri Center and played soccer with the boys for a little while. They were blown away that I could play. And let’s be honest, I haven’t played for like 8 months or so… not quite the same as I used to be haha. But after I would touch the ball they would all be laughing and yelling like crazy. Of course, I couldn’t understand what they were saying because they were speaking their mother tongue, but I would hear the word “mzungu” meaning white person in Swahili or “odiero” meaning white person in their mother tongue. So I asked the teachers to translate and apparently the kids were saying “Wow, the white girl knows how to play” and “the white girl can actually run,” hahahah. I guess I impressed them a little…

Thursday night I slept at Pandipieri. They have two center pretty close to each other. One is where the 40 or so boys stay and they other has the school on the compound and is where the 6 girls stay. So I slept at the girl’s dorm. They have a house mother who helps take care of them and lives with them. We had dinner and then I got to hang out with the girls. I brought some nail polish so we did manicures and pedicures… yes I even touched some of their feet despite my extremely disgust and hatred of feet, but this seemed like an appropriate time to suck it up. The girls were totally in heaven. They don’t really speak English so well so most of them were speaking Swahili and their mother tongue so the house mother was there with us and translating. They were all so excited and kept saying how they felt so pretty with their fingernails and toenails painted!! One girl even told her house mother that she thought I was the nicest white person in the world and she couldn’t believe I wanted to be friends with them and help them…. After we painted nails and took a bunch of pictures the house mother wanted each of the girls to tell me their story about how they wound up there. I wasn’t too excited about this because I wanted it to be a fun night and not a night where they had to talk about their horrible past. Of course, I lost that battle and they all told their stories with the house mother translating for me. There are 6 girls age 10, 11, 11, 13, 13, 15 ( I think). Some of their backgrounds include being total orphans, daily beatings, born out of wedlock and abandoned by parents, week long treks to Kisumu to find food, living on the streets for weeks, abusive step-parents, sexual abuse, drunken family members, child labor and starvation. Their stories were absolutely heartbreaking and overwhelming. All of the girls are so smart such hard-workers. All they want is to be able to go to formal school, but the center can’t afford it. Also if they want to go to formal school they need a place to be able to stay and most of them don’t have any living family members or anyone in their family who wants them. So sad…. But overall the whole night was a blast and I hope I will be able to spend more time with them.

Yesterday, I met up with an American family from Portland who has come to Kenya for 6 months to do volunteer community work in a small place a few hours from here. So I hung out with them most of the day and we went out to dinner with us and another American family from here. It was so funny to be at a table with 7 other white people talking about the election and crazy/awkward Kenyan stories. It was really really fun. I would have to say that is the thing I miss the most about home... being around other people from my culture who share my background and understand my mindset. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in another culture and learning how other people view the world, but it’s nice to discuss this with other people who can understand where I’m coming from. That’s why this week has been great because I spent time with the German woman and two American families so I’ve had my fill of white people interaction for a while haha.

I’m excited to relax this weekend. This morning I slept in (until 8:30, very late for me) and had some coffee and was able to relax. I watched a little Fresh Prince and some BBC News… not a bad morning. Yesterday evening I watched American Idol reruns and Oprah. So I also get my fill of American TV….

This upcoming week will be very busy. I’m working on quite a few projects with both Pandipieri and KYFA. For Pandipieri, I’m helping write a proposal for an increased sports and recreation program for the kids. I’m also doing some teaching and home visits. Also, I’m working with HOVIC (the street kids drop in center) to help write a proposal for a soccer program for them. I would like to be able to help them find some funding so the kids could practice on a regular basis because they are joining the KYFA league this year, yayy! With KYFA, I am helping to develop their procedural handbook, a contract for their referees, and a code of conduct for all positions within the organization. They are trying to build a resource center related to sport management, so hopefully I’ll be able to help considering that’s what my degree is in haha. I’m also working with one of the KYFA staff members to help him pioneer an economic development program in his home area which is just outside of town here. So I basically have a lot of stuff going on and a lot of people asking for my help. They obviously want my input, but I’m sure they are also looking for me to be a financial resource so I’m hoping to be able to assist with fundraising and be able to use my resources and connections from home.

Bottom line, I have lots going on and lots to do. All anyone talks about here is the election and most people here in Kisumu legitimately believe they are related to Obama and that if he wins, the will benefit tremendously. Some people actually think that all Kenyans will be relocated to America for free and be able to form their own state becoming the 51st state in the US… I try to tell them this is not going to happen but a lot of people are convinced it is. Oh well….

I miss everyone. Keep the life updates coming!!!

The big city

So I'm in Nairobi right now and I really don't like it. There are so many people and it's so crowded and crazy and congested. The traffic is unreal at all hours of the day. I'm visiting my homestay family from when I was here last year, so I am excited about that.

The past few days in Kisumu were very promising. I went to the KYFA (Kisumu Youth Football Association) office, which is the organization I worked with last time I was here, and I gave them a huge bag full of soccer balls and another full of uniforms. They were beyond excited! So they asked me to help with a few projects they're involved in. Possibly starting a football academy and helping to promote their org within the community. Should be really interesting..

Thursday I visited an organization right in town called HOVIC. I can't remember exactly what it stands for but it's a drop-in center for street kids. So the kids, mostly boys, who live on the street come to HOVIC in the morning and they get breakfast and then they have lessons in an informal school setting for a few hours and then they are given lunch. After this, they return to the streets where they spend the rest of the day usually begging and they sleep on the streets. HOVIC does some work with repatriation of the kids and trying to find out where they're from and why they left. They offer counsellors and social workers for the kids to talk to. Almost all of the kids do drugs, usually sniffing glue, opium or marijuana. So when they come to the center they have to leave the drugs outside so they are clean while they're in the center. Remember most of these kids are between 9 and 15.....

HOVIC works with Pandipieri, the org I'm working with because they refer kids to Pandi where they are given a place to stay for a few months before attempting to reintegrate them back into their communities. So as you can imagine, it is really challenging work for the staff and volunteers there, but I think it's rewarding because street children are so marginalized in society here. So hopefully I will be able to volunteer at the center a little bit and get to know some of the kids. They are also having a sports day for street children in a few weeks and I'm helping to organize that. The boys will be able to play soccer and have a meal and just have a really good day.

I'm back in Kisumu on Monday, so I'm going to try to enjoy Nairobi for the next 2 days... :-)

The last few days have been full of lots and lots of sports... who knew right. Saturday morning I went to the sports grounds in town and watched a basketball game. It was a part of the national league... think NBA of Kenya, but it's actually more like lower level college basketball in the US. It was still really fun because they played at an outdoor asphalt court, not fun if you fall. Saturday afternoon I watched a game from the nationwide soccer league and my friend coaches one of the teams. Saturday night I got to go out and enjoy some Kenyan music and drinks. The beer of choice here being Tusker...

On Monday, there was a try-out for the program called Aspire Africa. It's a program that goes to 9 different countries trying to recruit young talent to come and train at an academy in Qatar. It is open to boys born in 1995. So there are a bunch of tryout sites in the country and then they choose a few from each site and those boys go to Nairobi for the final tryout and the best 3 are given full scholarships to live and train in the academy in Qatar. So it's a really cool program, even though not many kids will benefit from it. So I met the Spanish scout who was here choosing the players and it was a really fun day. Later in the day, there was another game I watched and it ended up pouring in the middle of the game and everyone stood in this abandoned house for like 30 mins. The rain wouldn't stop so we had to run across the "field", which was actually just mud by that point, to get to the vehicle we were taking home. I was absolutely soaked and stepping in huge mud puddles and sinking up to my ankles in mud while all these people were waiting in buildings around us and laughing and yelling "mzungu" (white person)... it was quite the sight.

I have a cold right now so I didn't do much today. Not exactly roughing it right now as I'm sitting in my living room writing this blog entry because we have a wireless modem and I just watched Oprah and now switching back and forth between MTV and E!Entertainment channel (Yes I have cable, which has a few American channels). Yet, I did take a bucket shower today, had to pour water in the toilet to flush it, and washed dishes WITHOUT running water. I love it here!

Yesterday I visited the nutrition clinic that Pandipieri puts on every Tuesday in a slum here called Obunga. There were about 15 mothers and they children ages 4 months to 4 years. All the children are severely malnourished. The workers talk to them about health and sanitation and the proper foods to feed their kids and how to have a balanced diet. They also teach them about sanitation and diapers, clean water and the importance of bathing their children. The kids are absolutely so cute, but some of them look like their arms and legs will snap any minute. They are SO skinny. Then there are others who have huge bellies, another sign of malnourishment. It's just so sad because these mothers want to help their children, but they just kept saying how they have no money to buy food. The clinic evaluates each child weekly and gives the mother some food for the week and any other needed medications. Some of the kids are 2 or 3 and they look like babies. It was really really sad....

Not much else is new. I'll post some pictures soon!

First week of volunteering

So overall this past week was pretty good. I started volunteering on Monday. This week I helped with the informal education program. There are two classes, called phase 1 and phase 2. Phase one is mostly kids who would normally be in first through third grade. Phase 2 is kids who would be in fourth through six grade or so. This makes the teaching difficult because within one class, many of the kids are at different levels. I spent most of my time with the Phase 1 class. The teacher asked me to teach an English lesson on Tuesday morning so I taught body parts and we played Simon Says. It was fun, but hard because a lot of the kids don't understand English well, especially the really little ones. Tuesday afternoon I went with the kids to play soccer, but I didn't actually play because I didn't know what was the plan so I was wearing sandals and a dress... hardly soccer clothes. They thought I should just play barefoot, but honestly the "field" they were playing was a little different than what I'm used to. I would have had a hard time WALKING across is barefoot, let alone playing soccer. Wednesday and Thursday I did more observing than teaching. I mostly have to speak to the kids in my broken Swahili because speaking English is not happening.

Overall, I am excited about working with Pandipieri. The only issues I have are the lack of communication and the seemingly disorganized ways. Things are just different here. Efficiency and speed are NOT part of the work environment. The pace and structure of American ways is nonexistent here and that is hard for me to adjust to. Two different times this week the teachers told me that we were taking the kids fishing in the afternoon. I was obviously excited about this and couldn't wait to go. Both times I would come back to the center after lunch and somehow the plans had changed and no one had thought to inform me... Just a bit frustrating. Oh well.... Next week I will be spending each day with a different health program so I'm really looking forward to that, even though it will be challenging to see people in the conditions they will be in... malnourished children, teenage mothers, HIV positive people who can't afford the ARV drugs, etc.

Still pretty hot every day but luckily it has been raining in the evening and cooling down at night. I wear SPF 50 sunscreen every day and I reapply like crazy and I still got burnt the other day. To get around, I pretty much try to take boda-bodas (bicycle taxis) as much as possible. I love them and it's definitely the cheapest means of transport. Not too much else to report... I was proposed to the other day which is always fun. Today is a national holiday so I'm excited for the three day weekend... yay!

October already?!?!

Today was my first day of volunteering. I will be working with an organization called Panidpieri, which is actually the name of one of the slums in Kisumu. Their website is www.pandipieri.org. They are a pretty well known organization here and are highly regarded. They have three programs: a street children rehabilitation program, health services program and an education program. I will mostly be working with the street kids, but for the next few weeks I will actually be able to experience all of their projects. Next week I will be helping with a different health project each day. Some of the projects include educating mothers on balanced diets for their babies, home visits for HIV positive patients and terminally ill patients, VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) for HIV, and health education programs for youth involving theater. I am really excited to experience the variety of services Pandipieri offers. This week I am involved in the education program. As a part of the rehabilitation and reintegration of the street children, they have an informal school that children attend during the day that will help them get back on track for school when they are reintegrated. Basically what the organization does it find kids, mostly boys age 8-15, who are living on the streets and they bring them in to the center. During a 3 to 4 month process they try to find out where the child is from, why they left home, and make contact with their family and attempt to reintegrate the child back into their family and community. If this is not possible, they have vocational training for kids and also they send some kids to boarding schools to continue their education depending on heir age. There are about 30 boys and 10 girls at the center who live and go to school there. They have a soccer team which participates in the league in town. So I mostly just observed in the classroom today. Tomorrow, they asked if I would teach the English lesson, the drawing lesson and anything else that I wanted haha. So we'll see how that goes. Like I said it's an informal school so it's much more relaxed than the public primary schools. So that is what I will be doing with my time here. This won't be a full time thing because I would like to help out at KYFA, the youth soccer association I worked with last time I was here.

Otherwise, my accommodations are good. No running water, but bucket showers work well. I even washed the dishes the other day which took me an hour and with running water would have taken maybe 15 minutes. I bought a fridge and a microwave... so I'm not exactly roughing it. I even went running yesterday morning. It was quite amusing because not only am I white, but I'm a girl and I was running, which is pretty unusual here so I got even more looks than usual. I also have cable where I'm staying, which means we have 12 channels instead of 3... but one of them in FOX Sports so I'm able to watch American sports wahooooo. I watched the UNC Women's soccer team play on Friday and I watched NFL football last night... pretty sweet. The food is good. Lots of rice and french fries and good fruit. Needless to say, I have not had chocolate in 2 weeks!

I am asked about Obama probably 6-7 times a day because everyone here thinks he is their brother because his father was a Luo man from this area. Every store sells t-shirts with his face on it and you can buy DVD's of his speeches and photo montages of him set to music.... they are obsessed.

Keep me updated on all American news. I wish I had the patience to keep up to date more from the internet, but not having instant high-speed internet is unbelievably frustrating. More to come soon!!!

Hot

So it's hot here every day. Probably around 90... I am constantly sweating and it's funny because the Kenyans are not even phased by it. They clearly have never been to upstate NY in the winter to know that 90 degrees is really frikkin hot! So I'm in Kisumu now. I took the night bus on Saturday and the ride was actually a little bit better than last time I was here. You're only on a dirt road for half of it now haha. I'm staying with a friend in a neighborhood called Migosi. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get to town by public transportation, matatus. Today is the first day I've been in town. I'm finally getting settled and realizing that I will be taking bucket showers for the next year and doing dishes with a bucket of water... sweet. The food is awesome and I even tried intestines yesterday (I'm not sure from what animal). It was just as gross as I thought it would be, but at least I tried it. Not too much else to report. Hopefully I'll start some volunteer work in the next week or so, that's the plan anyway...

FINALLY here

I am finally back in Kenya and it is exactly as I remember it. The same smells, the same people, the same dusty roads everywhere and I still stand out just as much as I did before... awesome. I'm in Nairobi for a few days now and then to Kisumu on Sunday where I will be spending most of my time. I'm already hot and sweaty and dirty all the time... gotta love Kenya. I'm still pretty jet-lagged, so it's nice to have time to just relax and catch up on sleep. I'm going to see my home-stay family tomorrow that I lived with last time I was here. That's about all for the time being.

P.S. I already miss ice!