My Humble Abode

10/29/07

While in Nairobi last week, I took some time to see some of the sights around. Since I have been coming to Kenya, the only thing I have ever seen in Nairobi was the airport and downtown. So, I hired a taxi driver to show me around for a few hours. Solomon gives tours like this often and was an old hat. We first visited the animal orphanage at the Nairobi National Park which, believe it or not, is on the outskirts of the town. There is an animal orphanage that takes animals brought in from the bush by wildlife officers. The animals are not released back into the wild but live out there lives there. There were many lion cubs and several adult lions, a cheetah and a leopard. The most enjoyable part of the experience was that there were several nusery school field trips there and to watch those 3 and 4 year olds and their excitement at seeing these animals was so fun. They all were wearing the standard school uniform of shorts(boys)skirts(girls)white shirts and sweater. The schools are differentiated by color, red, green, maroom, blue, etc. After, we visited a giraffe sanctuary housing 14 giraffes. Did you know there are 3 different species of giraffes distinguishable by the patterns on their bodies, and if their pattern extends all the way down their legs. Visitors stood on a feeding platform and fed the beggars pellets. Giraffes have black rough tongues like a cat, but they are about a foot long so their tongue snakes out of their mouth and grabs the pellets out of the palm of your hand. They were pretty demanding to be fed and at one point, one of the more dominant giraffes swung her neck and head butted a woman standing there unaware. It was a really hard blow and the woman was shaken up. The attending volunteer remarked that "we have a sign warning about head butting". One is expected to use common sense and personal responsibility in Africa. And people here know that accidents happen.

After that, Solomon told me he would drop me for lunch and we proceeded to drive to the ultra rich ultra white part of Nairobi called Karen. The area is of course where Karen Blixen, the author of "Out of Africa" lived. We went to the Karen Country Club and I had a delicious vegetable crepes with creme sauce lunch. I felt transported by scotty to another planet after having lived all my time here in Kakamega. The homes in this area are absolutely monstrous, probably averaging between 4,000 and 6,000 square feet, all of them with separate servants quarters. These are the remants of the white colonial Kenyans. I just couldn't help wondering why the hell these rich white Kenyans weren't pitching in to assist in the development of the impoverished rural areas in Kenya. OH well, who said life was supposed to be fair. Oddly enough, on the return trip, about 1 mile from Karen, you see the immense shanty town slum famous in Nairobi called Kibera.

Silly me, a couple of days ago I found out that my hotel room does have hot water! Well actually it is warm water, but alot easier to start the day with than cold water. There is a small switch on the bathroom wall that turns off and on the water heater. Wonders never cease. Downstairs there is a restaurant and bar and last night was the big football match between the English premier league teams, Arsenal(1/2 of Kakamega mens chosen team) and Liverpool. The other 1/2 of Kakamega cheers for Mann U. I could follow the game from my room by the sounds of quiet or the sounds of cheering from below. When the game was tied near the end of the game, the fans went crazy with happiness, whistling, cheering, clapping for a period of about 5 minutes. The identify so completely with their english team. I guess the game ended in a draw but Arsenal remains as the league leader. That is all you can hear being discussed by all the guys in town today.

Finally, a word about Kenyan words. The Kenyans speak British English and have a much bigger vocabulary than we do as lazy Americans. So when I am here I almost have to learn to speak another language called English. You'd be surprised at how difficult it is to always try to be articulate when you are talking. They also have a british/kenyan accent and use many british/kenyan phrases that it can sometimes require thinking about. Rather than having a baby, they say "she got a baby", rather than me too, they say "same same to me" rather than saying I live in that direction, they say "I live the other side". I am always wondering the other side of what? The list of unique phrases is quite long and it is my intention to develop a phrase book to help other clueless mzungus to communicate with Kenyans.

So for now, god bless you, good night and it will be ok.

P.S. Here are some makeshift pictures of my hotel room. The one is of my underwear drying on the balcony. It is considered very rude to let someone wash your underwear or to even see it drying on the line, so i have to do the washing in a bucket in my room.

Settling In

10/21/07

I am sitting watching the sun set over Lake Victoria in the city of Kisumu and listening the children play in the pool five floors down. They let people bring their children to swim on Sundays. I think the hotel management feel like if they have a pool, they might as well let someone use it. I am staying on the 5^th floor, which is actually called the 4^th floor, and the elevator is not working. In reality, until not too long ago, elevators were a real luxury here and so everyone is quite accustomed to running up and down the stairs. Me, on the other hand, I am not so anxious to run down to the lobby just to get something….

On the way from Kakamega we passed two stacks of plastic green lawn chairs just sitting by the road. When I see odd things like that, which is pretty often, I always wonder about the story behind it. I came in the taxi of my friend Maloba. He is a very safe driver although the roads are literally bombed with potholes; I don’t know how their cars stay in one piece. Actually, when we got to Kisumu, Maloba’s car began having problems with the idle and it totally died every time we slowed down. We solved the problem by recruiting a couple of guys every time it stopped to give us a push so he could jump start it. Flexibility is the strength of Kenyans.

In pursuit of implementing our girls’ empowerment project, I chatted with six high school girls to get their input and ideas. Initially they were very shy, but after devouring chicken and fries, they were surprisingly open. When I asked them about what kind of topics would be interested in discussing during the meetings that are a part of the program, they gave answers like abortion, coping with stress, learning how to care for an HIV patient who was ill, and how to overcome and live with the stigma that always accompanies having a parent who is HIV positive. The typical day for these girls are to get up at 5 am and prepare some sort of food, get ready for school and depart for school at 7 am, go to school until 5 pm, travel back home for one hour, do all the household chores and complete their homework. It is staggering to think of what is expected of 15 and 16 year old girls. They also wanted some advice on how to improve their concentration in class.

Not all students in Kenya are admitted to high school. They sit for exams in the 8^th grade. Based on their marks, they are then admitted to a school for which they are eligible. There are four classes of schools, based on highest marks to lowest acceptable marks. The national schools, the provincial schools, the district schools and the harambee or community schools. The most desirable schools are of course boarding schools where they can escape the responsibilities of home, but of course they cost considerably more and even if a student is chosen, they may not be able to afford the fees.

The students sit for exams again after they complete the 12^th grade, and currently because there are so many students and not enough facilities, the universities are only accepting students who score and A- or higher. Even if the student qualifies for university, it requires a bribe of about $2000 for the student to be considered for acceptance.

According to the papers, the college admission board one of the top three most corrupt institutions in Kenya. Do we really understand how lucky we are in the US?

I also attended a meeting of the group of microfinance entrepreneurs that have come together to form a coalition with the intent of strengthening their businesses as a collective. The seriousness of the members is astounding. They have formed a registered community based organization, elected officer and adopted a constitution. The constitution outlines fines for lateness to meetings, excused absences and unexcused absences and expulsion of a member who does not regularly attend. The meetings are conducted by Roberts rules of order, except for the prayer part. Prayer is a major part of all gatherings, public or family and these people are expert prayers. There is a prayer to the opening of the meeting, before we eat our snack, and at the close of our meeting. I would guess that the praying took up about 20 minutes of the meeting. They have a strong faith in the goodness of God and rely on prayer to bond them together as a community. I am just praying they don’t ever call on me to lead the prayer….

The chairlady of the group had just experienced some bad luck. She had purchased a tree and paid someone to turn in into lumber for her, using a borrowed chain saw. Apparently, someone had been watching the goings on, and in the night, came to the house where the wood was waiting to be hauled away and stole the lumber, the chain saw and the truck being used to haul the wood. They also beat up the owner of the house so badly that he is in the hospital. She had borrowed money to buy the tree, which she could have easily paid back after the sale of the lumber, but now she has no means to repay the loan. This is a story I hear repeatedly in Kenya. Theft is so rampant here. The group members agreed by consensus that they would each be prepared by the next meeting to financially assist the woman. Helping and sharing among friends and family are an integral part of rural Kenya. There is no hesitation or doubt about the obligation of helping someone in trouble. It is the way things work, you can absolutely count on getting the same type of assistance if and when you are in need. The government doesn’t make Kenya run, the caring people of Kenya do.

I AM HAPPY TO BE BACK

I arrived in Kisumu, a town on the edge of Lake Victoria on Sunday via Kenya Airways. I decided the 80 bucks was worth it over a 9 hour very very very bumpy ride from Nairobi to Kakamega. Kakamega is a one hour taxi or matatu ride north of Kisumu. You actually travel a whole world away, from the third largest city in Kenya to a very rural town of Kakamega. While I am here for 5 weeks, rather than staying in an apartment, I am residing at the Ambwere Alliance hotel. It is actually nicer than I anticipated for about $7 per day. It has a balcony, a nice bed, it's very clean and has a sit down toilet with 1/2 of a toilet seat, the back half. The room is painted like every room I've ever been seen in Kenya, the bottom half is painted turquoise blue and the top half is painted pale yellow. I am really curious about the meaning behind the color scheme. My first night here I ate in the dining room. The ubiquitous black and white tv was on, showing a Japanese movie with English subtitles, the sound was turned down because the radio was blaring over the loud speaker. The building is of course constructed of concrete and has large, high halls. In the morning I am woken by the usual African sounds, the roosters, the boda boda bells, the chatter of people working and a treat, the maid singing swhaili hymns as she works.

However, cold water is not part of the deal. There is a low pressure shower head, but taking a cold shower requires bracing myself. For shower shoes, they provide a pair of mismatched blue and red thongs(flip flops, not underwear)

I've seen so many people I know and they once again have been very welcoming. I have discovered if I walk at a slow leisurely pace people assume I am more of a mzungu resident than occasional visitor, plus by slowing down I recognize people I know and can be more friendly. Africans always have that stone face, but if you greet them with a smile, they bloom into really friendly people. They just look intimidating.

I am surprised how my swahili is coming back. It seems like it needs to simmer in my head during the times I am at home, and then it is there to use when I am here. The maid at the hotel doesn't speak English so I am truly forced to speak swahili, rather than be lazy and speak English. It helps that she is very patient. Children are also good to practice on.

It must be the rainy season. It has been pouring cats and dogs most days. That makes it a little more difficult to get around. Even an umbrella doesn't really help, the wind blows the rain sideways. Apparently it is not really mosquito season though and no malaria is going around, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that my malaria medicine is effective and I am going to skip that part this time.

Everyone is focused on politics right now. The presidential election is in December. The present president Kibaki is running again and another guy named Raila. The race is really against a Kikuya(Kibaki) and a Luo(Raila). Those are the two biggest tribes in Kenya. The other remaining 40 tribes are in the process of lining up with their preferred candidate. Most tribes traditionally like or dislike the one of the tribes represented, so rather than voting on an issue basis, they vote for the preferred tribe. I guess that is really not so different than the US. The Luhya, the tribe I live with, hate the Kikuyu, so they are Raila all the way. Also, there is alot of news in the paper right now of election corruption and buying votes, which is very effective for people who only eat one meal a day.