My last week in Kitui

So my party this weekend was a lot of fun. Extended host family members from all over Kenya came to visit and see me off. One of them, Josephine, is a caterer in Nairobi and she brought plenty of good stuff to eat. We slaughtered a goat (not Red...yet) and pretty much stuffed ourselves with goat stew, katchambari (the Kenyan equivalent of Salsa) and plenty of other good food. After we ate we went to a night club called Riverside and I definitely had a cultural experience. With the exception of only a few women the bar (who I understood to be mostly prostitutes) was full of guys, and they were dancing with each other like girls do at clubs in the states. I was sitting in a chair watching this when a Kenyan guy pulled me up and started dancing with me! It was harmless but so different from the way guys would act in the U.S.

Another interesting cultural difference is that men hold hands with each other walking down the street and women do the same, but you will never see a man and a woman holding hands. It's just an act of friendship with no sexuality involved but it's a strange feeling from an American perspective when a guy tries to hold my hand. At the bar my aunt Josephine must have thought I had an unlimited amount of money in my wallet because she ordered several rounds of drinks for everyone and expected me to pay. I really couldn't object too much since she brought all the food from Nairobi but one of the biggest problems I have here is that almost everyone assumes that since I am white I am a clueless tourist with tons of money. When I go to a shop or a market, and often when I ride a matatu, I get a ridiculously high "mzungu price" and have to bargain (doing it in Swahili seems to help) to bring it down to something reasonable. Admittedly, compared to many of the Kenyans here, I'm doing pretty good but my Peace Corps stipend does not factor in much more than food and lodging for myself and definitely does not take into account inflated mzungu prices on necessities or handouts for everyone on the street.

Anyway, back to the bar. I spent every bit of money I had and my aunt expected me to carry the tab for the cab ride as well, but luckily they brought enough to get us back home. We got back around 1 in the morning, and my mama, who had stayed up waiting for me, gave me a giant slimy goat liver to eat for a midnight snack. I politely turned it down so she salted it and saved it for the morning. I woke up the next day feeling a little off from the night before, and I've always said that nothing starts your day off better than the goat liver you had forgotten about the night before sitting on the table in front of you for breakfast. Luckily my brother from Nairobi was eyeing it enviously so I graciously passed it off to him before Mama could object.

So now I need to study some more for my Swahili exam. It's a thirty minute ordeal and I will be speaking in Swahili (hopefully!) the entire time. Wish me luck, I need to be at least "Intermediate Low"at this point.

Just two more days till I leave for Nairobi and I swear in as an official PVC on Friday. After that it's off to Kisumu for a night and then on to my site at Kakamega. I'm sure I'll have more to write soon and will try to post some pics in Nairobi so stay tuned.

Thanksgiving in Kenya

The past Sunday was our makeshift Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out really well. A group of volunteers appointed as the "Thanksgiving committee" went to Nairobi and purchased a lot of great stuff to make a Thanksgiving dinner. The spread was impressive with Mac n' Cheese, Green Bean Casserole, and even a Turkey with stuffing. We even started the morning with a game of American Football using a real life completely deflated football with a hole in it we found in storage at the pastoral center, so all in all it was a good day.

I definitely won't think about Thanksgiving the same again, especially because I came by the pastoral center early to check out the Turkey we bought only to find out that it was locked in a utility shed and still alive. As I opened the door to look at the Turkey it flapped its wings at me furiously. Anne, one of the only other volunteers around that early, was discouraged, because the turkey that we thought would be killed, prepared, and ready to cook, needed to be basting in an oven instead of flapping around in the storage shed. Therefore, in a courageous moment, we wrestled the Turkey down with a tarp, tied its legs together with a rope, and I sawed of its neck with a kitchen knife. It was about the most disturbing thing I've even had to do, and the knife, my hands, and my shoes were covered with blood, but I hope things were fairly quick and relatively painless for Tom turkey. Also, the turkey was fantastic, although I'll definitely appreciate buying a turkey that has been pre-slaughtered next time.

If the great Thanksgiving food wasn't enough our group went back to the Muslims house again for lunch and we were treated to Biriani, which is a Swahili dish I definitely need to learn how to cook. Afterwards we sat down and watched the Lion King. I hope to visit the Muslims again before I leave, I feel completely spoiled every time I'm there. Only a few minutes left so I need to be fast, but in less that a week I'll be sworn in as an official volunteer and soon after I'll be onsite. Training is coming to a close and I've got my Swahili exam coming up, where I am required to be at "Intermediate Low", which I don't think will be a problem since I can somewhat hold a conversation with my host family. Also, Kitui has become a nice place to be now that the rains are here and everything has changed from barren and dry to green, but the hard rains every night keep me awake, especially since I keep waking up with water dripping through the roof onto my head.

Oh, and the Chungwa (Orange) vote (no change to the current constitution) won. This is a good thing because it seems that the current draft was tailored more towards the president's preferences than the people, and I'm optimistic a new draft will be created that will be a better compromise. Also, with nothing really changing right now concerning the laws of the country I'm in a better position to be traveling and moving to a new site, which is almost 100% chungwa anyway.

I'll write more soon if the Internet continues to work, but need to get this posted before it disconnects me for the 5th time today. Happy Turkey Day to everyone back home!

Two weeks of Training remaining

So this week has been pretty good, but I'm really excited about moving to Kakamega and am having a hard time staying focused. It feel like I have already received all the training I will need and being back in Kitui again feels like I'm back peddling a bit. Then again it has been really good to be back with my host family and I feel fairly comfortable in Kitui now.

Some things about Kenya are frustrating to me. There are some days when I get tired of people shaking my hand and pretending to be friendly only to immediately ask for money, and the children always stare and yell "Mzungu!" and "How are you?" everywhere I go, but looking back I'm really suprised at how well I have adapted here. My host family is going to be really sad to see me go and I'm going to miss them as well. I really lucked out with them and it will be a different experience living by myself. Right now they are planning a going away party for me and have told me it is going to be a big event, with family members coming from Nairobi and several of my friends invited to come along as well. I don't have many details yet but will let everyone know more when it happens.

The training this past week has been a lot of fun. I ran into one training group going to a Muslim family's house for lunch and invited myself along for the free food, and it was there that I realized there is a culture here in Kenya that actually uses spices and puts flavor in their food. The house we went to was amazing too. It was very plain on the outside but the inside was full of designer furniture, plush carpet, and all the modern appliances. It was a surprising thing to see in Kitui. The next day we attended a cooking class with another Muslim family, which had an equally plain house that was extremely nice on the inside. We had lunch as part of our cultural training and again the food was fantastic. We made Pilau, which is a rice dish that was heavily seasoned with all kinds of spices I didn't even realize could be purchased here. There is definitely a big Indian influence in their cooking and it was fantastic. We made about a 30 gallon drum of the stuff and the spoon we used to stir it looked like a Canoe paddle. The Muslims use Henna as well and I now have a Henna tatoo on my hand and arm now that I took a picture of and will post in Nairobi. They put Henna on all the guys in our group and when the country director (who came to eat with us that day because we had the best food) saw it he commented it's the first time he has seen Henna on guys before. To make mine look tougher I had them draw barbed wire around my bicep. Once of the volunteers joked that you can take the redneck out of Alabama but you can't take the Alabama out of the redneck. I think it's funny. The problem is I thought the stuff was temporary but apparently it doesn't wash off, and I've been told it will go away in a few months, which is a long time to go with floral patters on your palms. At least I can cover up the arm.

So there's good food in Kitui and bad food, and I had a taste of both this week. There's millions of flying bugs around at night now that the rainy season is here and I had a chance to eat some fried insects last night, which really weren't bad except that I knew they were bugs. Feeling pretty comfortable for having survived that I went home for dinner and my host mom was making stewed cow intestines. To her credit she made some things I could eat as well, but I took one bite and officially found the first food in Kenya I couldn't take down. It tasted like warmed up cow patty and therefore I have finished my first and only bite.

Yesterday we had the Center for Disease Control come talk to use about AIDS in Africa and we all found the presentation very interesting. There are billions of dollars coming in for AIDS relief and as volunteers for the Peace Corps we have access to some of these funds for training stations, counseling centers, and testing facilities assuming one is not in place in our region and we can write an acceptable grant. I am planning on taking on HIV education as a secondary project time permitting.

So I need to go now, the Posta (Kenyan Post Office) closes at noon on Saturday. I'll write more soon.

Back to Kitui

Ok, Internet is working in Kitui, but as usual I'm short on time. We are having a "hub day" today, which is when all the volunteers meet up together at the conference center, and the Peace Corps Bike Mechanic came here to fit us for bikes. Many of the bikes are old and ratty and the newer ones are GT's that are newer but still not great. I told the fundi (mechanic) that I'm really into mountain biking and plan to do some trail riding here in Kenya. I got his name and number and he's planning on meeting me for some rides in Kakamega, and also he wants to show me some nice trails in the countryside outside Nairobi. He's going to get me one of the new Trek 4500's, which isn't quite as nice as the 4900 I'm used to, but hey, I'm in Africa so I'll cope. The fundi even let me ride his bike to the post office which is why I'm here now but will need to get back soon.

So Kakamega really was a great experience. Like I said in the previous post I have big shoes to fill but I'm optimistic things will be great. I had a chance to ride a boda boda all around the Kakamega district and I met many of the farmers I will be working with. I swear in as an official volunteer on December 2nd and I'll head out on December 3rd, so expect to hear much more about my job soon.

This weekend was action packed as usual. I went to the monkey forest once more and this time actually got some pictures that I'll post when I'm in Nairobi again. Instead of an out and back trip we walked over the mountian and down to the neighboring village, where I came across about 20 old men sitting together drinking the traditional Kamba beer. They invited me to sit with them and I drank a few cups before taking a Taxi back to town. Everyone here loves politics so I got to discuss the referendum at length with the men. In Kitui I met up with my host family as well as the family members of another volunteer and we went out to dinner. Unfortunately a television was wheeled into the restaurant and we had to watch "Commando" which is a really cheesy Schwarzenegger film that basically involves killing lots of people and blowing everything up. Most Kenyans can't get enough of these types of movies and I could not unglue them from the television, even to eat. Once that film was finally over and I thought it was time to go, they put in "Eraser", another Schwarzenegger flick, and we didn't get back until after midnight. There was a full moon though and it's incredible how bright it is here. We walked through town and back to the village and things were so well lit that even without street lights we could see everything.

This weekend I also walked with a friend to a boarding school where Major, one of the Kenyan children, is attending class. He is 14 and quit going to school because he didn't see any reason to go, but we were able to convince him to continue and he went back a week later. Several of us went to visit him and we brought him some candy and cookies for staying in school, so it was a good experience. Afterwards we went with one of the volunteer's host family cousins to a hospital to see her sick baby sister. The hospital was surprisingly clean, and it appears to receive quite a bit of foreign aid. Also, the sister is doing much better so everything worked out pretty well this weekend.

So that's all for now but I'll post more soon. Hope everything is great in the states.

Kakamega Site Visit

So my site visit was great. I've decided Kitui is a good place to train because after living in a place so hot, barren, and dry it's so nice to go somewhere green and scenic. On the way to Kakamega there were Zebras and Baboons on the side of the road and on the return trip I saw a Warthog and a Gazelle. Who needs a safari when you can take a bus ride for a fraction of the cost? Anyway, I'm really excited about my project and a little apprehensive with how much is expected of me as well. I'm really going to put my best into this project but the volunteer before me has done some amazing things and it's going to take awhile to get up to speed and be at his level. He had 33 years of Marketing experience going into this and pretty much started the Farmer Field School network for these people from the ground up. Now people are growing profitable crops and starting to sell and market to larger markets. He even has a child named after him in the village! At the same time I've been told I couldn't be coming in at a better time. A lot of the kinks have been worked out and a system is in place now to market crops and sell them at much higher margins than farmers were able to do a few years ago. Before FFS and the FAO project farmers were basically all growing the same things (Maize, Beans, Cassava) and taking them to the same market to sell to their neighbors who also are trying to sell the same crops. Not a very good system....there's a class coming into this lab now so I need to go. I'll finish up as soon as I can get online again.

Kakamega Pictures

Ok, I've returned to the hotel in Nairobi with the "fast" Internet connection so before anything else here's some pics (fingers crossed)

This is the house I will be staying at. The Peace Corps volunteer that's leaving in a week has done a lot to the place and it's already furnished. Also, he's leaving behind plenty of American food he got in care packages, including all kinds of spices, instant coffee, and Gatorade (You don't even know how exciting that is). He also has about 5 bottles of hand sanitizer he's giving me and plenty of dishes, pots, and pans that he doesn't think Kenyans will use. He's giving plenty of things away to the Kenyans as well so I'll be replacing the basics but I'm in much better shape than most volunteers. I plan to repaint the inside of the house and I even have a gas stove and refrigerator!
This is the view from my back yard but the picture I took just doesn't do it justice. It's absolutely beautiful. For some reason it didn't show up well in this pic but the outline of Mt. Elgon is in the background. It's over 13,000 ft tall and it's a gradual slope instead of a jaggy peak. People that climb it say that the accent is so gradual you really don't know that you're going up until the last 500 feet or so. This is my Choo (Latrine). I got the one affectionately dubbed "the Perfect Aim" and I think that's self explanatory. I think a "Choo's of Africa" coffee table book would sell well.

These pics show how I'll be travelling around the area for the next two years. The bicycle is called a "Boda Boda" and for 20 shillings a kid will peddle you down the 3 mile bumpy dirt road to the Tarmac that goes to Kakamega. The truck pictured is my least favorite way to travel but the one I'll be forced to used to visit the farmers. The bed of the truck has benches on each side and theres no limit to how many people they shove into it. Once the benches are full people start sitting in between the two rows on the floor and then once that is full people hang onto the rear bumper and even get on the roof. The previous volunteer tried hanging off back one time and vowed never to do it again so I'll take his word for it. As long as I can make it to work and back to my house in the same day I'm going to use every opportunity I have to ride my bike instead of taking the Boda Boda/Matatu approach.

So that's it for pics. I'm going to upload all this now and hope it works, then post another blog about my experiences in Kakamega.

Kakamega - Day One

So I left yesterday for Kakamega (my new site for those of you who didn't read all the way through the last post) and after a 10 hour bus ride I finally arrived. The Kenyan landscape is amazingly diverse and the ride from Nairobi to the Western Province is beautiful. It's so lush, green, and rainy here and it's incredible how much it differs from dry, dusty Kitui and the Eastern Province. On the way here the bus drove through the Rift Valley and there were Baboons and Zebras right on the side of the road. We even drove past a lake full of Pink Flamingos.

So anyway, my house is nice and I'll try to upload some pics before too long. It has electricity, clean water from a well outside, and a fantastic view of rolling green hills and Mt. Elgon in my back yard. It's only about a two hour matatu ride to Mt. Elgon, Uganda from my house so a climb to the top is definitely in the near future. Kakamega seems to have about everything I will need. There's an Internet cafe, a decent grocery store, and plenty of fresh produce from the market. There are even huge basins full of dead termites, which are apparently a delicacy here. The biggest issue I will have is the rain every single day. I'm going to need to get some breathable rain gear from the states and get used to being wet. At least it's sunny half the day so things could be worse.

The main mode of transportation here, besides a matatu, is a boda boda, which consists of a guy on a bicycle and a small seat over the back wheel. I took one of these into town today and had to walk with the driver up the steep hills and then get back on for the downhill ride. Total price was 25 shillings so it's hard to complain, although I'm looking forward to having my own bike.

I still don't have much info about the people I will be working with or the exact details of what I will be doing, as my supervisor isn't in town this weekend and I am staying with the current Peace Corps Volunteer. Tomorrow I will go to my office, meet my supervisor, and get some additional details. I'm not sure when I'll be near the Internet again but I'll be sure to post updates soon.

The Latest..plus a site announcement!

So perhaps I should change the name of my Blog from “Latest News from Kenya” to “Occasional News when the Internet decides to Work” but maybe not, since things are up and running now. Actually, when I’m onsite Internet should be fairly reliable…more on that in a minute. Let’s do this chronologically. I’ve got two weeks to catch up on so as usual I’ll just hit some key points.

First, our technical training for business development has gotten much better. We’ve done several site visits, including a village bank and a microfinance institution. I have a pretty good idea of how loans are acquired for small businesses and individuals in country and found it pretty interesting. We also went to the Kitui Ginnery, which is a cotton gin that is still using the same equipment that was brought down and installed in the 1920’s. It was incredible that this stuff is still working. Women with masks sit on top of huge piles of raw cotton and use a stick to push the cotton into a machine that cleans and deseeds it. Once deseeded it is taken to a bailer, which involves three guys that jump up and down on the pile of cotton to compress it until it is bailed. The workers are getting 120 shillings a day for this job (about $1.50).

We’ve also had a chance to interact and work with cooperatives now. We conducted a class for our group on the basics of record keeping, since any paper work pertaining to their business is currently nonexistent, and we covered the importance of keeping a cashbook. We provided handouts and wrote a cashbook example on the board while the cooperative members followed along. I really think they saw the importance of actually keeping track of their finances and they seemed extremely appreciative of the little bit of effort we put into their group. The women in the group even performed a traditional song and dance for us that was incredible. The music and the rhythm and the spirit of these people is inspiring. I walked away feeling more confident about why I am here and also a little bewildered at how basic the needs are concerning business development. Our next project will involve developing a business plan for our group, and we will do that in the near future before we are posted on site.

Our language training is coming along too. We took our first language assessment exam and I scored “Novice High – Strong” which means I am very close to the Intermediate Low ranking I will need to successfully complete my initial language training. I was told if I had remembered how to say “because” (kwa sababu) I would be there already so I’m feeling pretty good about where I stand on language. As part of our language training we spent some time walking around the poor Muslin area in Kitui speaking in Swahili to the mamas and babas (fathers) in the neighborhoods. One thing I came across that definitely needs to be mentioned is a pair of twins born on September 11th, 2001. One has slightly lighter skin that the other so naturally their mother decided to name one Bush (the lighter skinned one) and the other Osama (the darker skinned one) I don’t think that is their birth names but that is what they are called and I’m not making it up. To make things even worse….or funnier depending on your sense of humor….moma told the lighter skinned one that he was actually a mzungu (white person) and one day they were going to come and take him away. So when a group of us showed up to the compound and he saw us he froze still and looked at us terrified. Mama though it was hilarious.

Ok, so since broadband is working I’m going to try to post another pic. Lizards are about my favorate animal and this is a lizard that I see all the time in Kitui. I think it’s called a red headed rock agama. It's a little too quick to become a pet:

What else…we had a Halloween party that was a lot of fun. I brought about five liters of Karubu, which is the locally brewed tradition beer made by the Kamba people and it was enjoyed by all. It’s made with honey and sugar and tastes like a mead. Several people dressed up as best they could and the locals at the hotel we stayed at that night really enjoyed watching the crazy Americans.

The political system here is definitely interesting. The constitution referendum is coming up very soon (Nov. 21st) so things are tense at the moment. There has been some violence at Chungwa vs. Ndizi rallies and it probably will not get any better until the winner is declared and the aftermath of the election has settled down. We spoke to several University professors about their opinions on the current political system and the current referendum is definitely not ideal for everyone. There are many things that the new constitution offers to improve Kenya, but much of what the majority of Kenyan people want changed is not being addressed. I think the amount of power the president has is one of the largest key issues here, so almost everyone in Kenya wants a change but many feel the current draft of the constitution is insufficient.

However, others feel that it is better than nothing and if this constitution is not chosen it will be years before another chance to change the constitution arises. Another approach would be to vote yes for the current constitution and amend it later, but this version of the draft calls for a 75% majority in parliament for any chances to take place, which I have been told is virtually impossible on many key issues and therefore changing this draft, should it be made into the new constitution, will often be all but impossible. I still don’t know where I stand and am staying out of it as best I can but just wanted to let everyone know what’s going on here.

On a creepier note many of the Kamba people believe in witchcraft and recently there was an issue with one of the volunteer’s host family fathers. Turns out a girl, who was allegedly possessed, started screaming out the name of this family member who is a priest. The villagers called the priest over to pray for the girl, but when he arrived they cornered him with intention of killing him to save the girl. The father was saved just in time by the police, who took him to the station to protect him. The reason this happened is equally strange. The priest has recently acquired enough money to buy a car and send his children to private schools. The villagers saw this and became suspicious. Their fears were confirmed, as far as they could tell, when this girl became possessed and called the priests name. Apparently when people start acquiring wealth and become successful this can be due to a jinni, which is the Arabic name for ghost. These can be purchased in bottles in Mombasa (hense, jinni in a bottle). The ghost you purchase can provide you with riches and wealth, but in return you must make deals with it and never break them. Only the person that purchases the jinni can speak to it and the jinni must have it’s own room in the house. Furthermore, you must respond to the jinni’s every demand (e.g. slaughter a black goat and leave it in a certain place) or it will possess a child in the village. So, when the child became possessed and said the name of the priest as her father, the villagers assumed that the evil spirit was actually speaking through the girl. They felt she was citing the priest as the person that bough the jinni because the priest did not fulfill whatever obligation he had made. I don’t really believe in this stuff but do think there’s a dark side that I don’t want to know too much about, so I’m not digging any further. However, I later learned that the “possessed” girl was given school fees and spent the money on clothes, and claims that being possessed was why that happened, but regardless, the coastal regions in Kenya very much believe in this stuff.

Now for the exciting news if you’re still paying attention. I found out where I’ll be working today! I’ll be posted outside of a town called Kakamega, and I’m bordering the only remaining rainforest in Kenya. Google it and check out some pics, it looks amazing.

Anyway, I only have a basic overview of my job but I’m excited by how great it seems right now. All the current SEDICT volunteer’s resumes were submitted for this particular project and I was the one selected out of the group to take it on. I’ll give more details soon but here’s what I know so far. First off, I’ll be working for the United Nations, which is fantastic. I’ve been told that a rare thing about my position is I will actually have access to funds and a structured program. The program is called FAO, or Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, and I will be working with FFS (Farmer’s Fields Schools) in developing income generating activities, managing a computerized project management system, market products and linking producers and consumers, and assisting farmers in planning, managing, and administrating their activities. The project is headquartered in Nairobi and it appears I’ll be traveling throughout Kenya occasionally to teach other FFS groups (once I have more experience) The challenging part…I will eventually be doing this in Swahili.

Even better news…I’ve been told (brace yourself) that I have a house to myself complete with electricity and my own office with a computer and Internet access! So my Peace Corps experience does not appear to be at the same “roughing it” level as some of the volunteers, but it’s hard to complain about having resources and convenience.

So I leave on Saturday for my first site visit. I’ll be there until Wednesday and return to Kitui Thursday morning. Expect to hear much more from me soon!

Pictures at Last!

It feels so nice to be on a computer. I know it's pathetic but I'm afraid I'm an addict going through a bad case of email and google withdrawal. It's been about two weeks with the only network in Kitui down but now I'm in Nairobi on a broadband network. Before I do anything else I'm going to attept to post some pics...wish me luck!!

This is my host family...or some of it. My moma, Moma Veronica, my extremely intelligent seven year old Michael who can beat me at cards, and Junior, my sister Jackie's little boy who is my favorate sometimes and my least favorate others.

Here's my goat Red. We're buddies now so it's going to be a sad day when we eat her. Mom/Dad..you're looking at dinner when you come to visit!

This is the dry riverbed by my house. Once the rainy season comes in full force it will be full, but for now it's a place where livestock roam around and a shortcut to my house.

Here's a moma carrying about 100 pounts of firewood on her back. The women here are incredible and sooner or later I will write a blog post completely devoted to mamas. Although the men won't admit it it often seems like they run this country.

Here's some pics of Kitui. Beautiful, isn't it? Actually it really is alright once you get used to it. The top pic is the main strip, the woman in the middle is in the market grinding maize and beans, and the pic on the right is a poor Muslim area near the city.

Here'a a crazy Matatu driver putting the usual 10,000 pounds of stuff on the roof before taking off at reckless speeds to the next destination.

Ahh Diana...my favorate little kid. Every time she sees me she screams as loud as she can and buries her face into her mom. My family thinks it's hillarous but sometimes it hurts so much to be discriminated by a 1 year old child. :-)

Here's my mama pouring my bath water, and a nice shot of the compound I'm staying at.

Finally, here's our group right before we left. I'm giving this link out to some of the volunteers so I can't say anything too bad about them :-)

Ok, so pics are posted. This took all day and I've been walking in and out and waiting 20 minutes for each pic to publish, but I'll try to keep them coming.