Christmas Pics!

Not a Christmas pic but one I forgot to post from the Farmer Field Day a few weeks back. This is a dancer in traditional Luhya clothing. He was absolutely nuts.

Covering up the water damage in preparation for the Christmas party.

Here's my mantle decorated for Christmas, complete with lights, candles, stockings (second hand Christmas socks from street vendors) and even a tree. Things turned out really nice.

...And here are two volunteers showing off the finished product. Above the mantel is a laso, which is usually wrapped around women's waists, but was given to me as a gift and is now used to cover a mold spot. It says "Watu kwa Amani" which means "People of Peace" and since it is red, white, and blue makes an appropriate Peace Corps tapestry.

Here are a few of us bathing, shaving, brushing their teeth, etc. in the back yard. There were also four tents in the front yard and a few people sleeping under the stars. 15 Mzungu's in a small African village draws a lot of attention.

Here we are loading up into the pickup truck for the ride to the rainforest Christmas morning.

The ride to the rainforest. We got plenty of looks and I ended up hanging off the back to make enough room for everyone.

A few pics of the rainforest on Christmas day...

Here are some of the trees in the rainforest. The one we are standing on is gigantic so there's no way to do it justice with a camera.

When you take about 5000 monkey pictures, a few of them are bound to turn out well. This is my favorite. It's a blue monkey, taking a break from swinging around in the trees above our campsite.

So Kenya believe it? I got all these pics to post right here in Kakamega. Looks like I've found the best cyber cafe, they even served me tea. Anyway, time to get on with things but happy holidays.

Christmas in Kenya

So this was definitely a Christmas to be remembered. Friday I went with Habbakuk, the head of the Farmer Field School network in the Kakamega district, to an orphan's Christmas party. The organization that works with these children is called the "Wake up Women's Group" and they find orphan children and, although they do not currently have funding for an orphanage, support them through food, clothing, and group activities. There are currently about fifteen children in this group and an equal number of sponsors for the children. Almost every child in the group has lost their parents through AIDS and for Christmas they each received a large bag of maize and some bars of soap from the group. It broke my heart because the kids were absolutely adorable (I'm still kicking myself for forgetting the camera) and the meager gifts they got were probably the only good thing they had for Christmas at all, since it meant they had guaranteed meals for the next few days. I can't even imagine what a bad attitude I would have had if, at the age of 10, there was only dried corn and soap under the tree for me. Even worse, one of them, a little girl, was extremely sick from AIDS, which she got from her deceased parents. I had assumed there was a treatment (Antiviral Drugs) available for everyone diagnosed, even if they can't afford them. After asking some of the PEPVAR volunteers, it appears this has recently become the case although it's not wide spread knowledge. I'm going to immediately look into what can be done to treat this girl. The other issue is that Mickey, the volunteer before me, gave a large amount of money to the group and bought the children food and uniforms. I'm under the impression they are expecting the same thing from me and since this looks like it will become a secondary project, I need to start looking into ways to apply for funds. Any previous or current volunteers reading this who have suggestions on grant money feel free to send me an email, meanwhile I'm planning to go to the Kisumu Peace Corps office on Friday to dig around for information. Among other projects for the children, the group is currently wanting to build an orphanage to house the these kids so they can live together and not with distant relatives or family friends who do not have the resources to support them.

The biggest issue I've come across is how overwhelmed I am with people in dire straights needing help, almost all of it in terms of financial assistance. I could go on and on but here's just one more example: There are currently several people in town who are crippled and crawl on their bellies with oven mits because they can't afford a wheelchair. I met the District Officer of the region and he brought this up to me as well, and I told him to look into how much it would cost for a local craftsmen to make wheelchairs, as perhaps I can find the means to assist them. Of course, the biggest problem is there will always be more people without wheelchairs, and the money will always run out. It's nice to know that I can find a way to have a tremendous impact on a few people, which is certainly better then nothing, but the real problem isn't lack of money, but dependence on it from outside sources and the inability to be self sustaining. The Peace Corps has been here for forty years, and the consensus for those involved in managing the program, as well as several professors from Kenyan universities I've spoken to, is that we really shouldn't need to be here any more. This country has so many resources and so much going for it by means of education. resources, and a skilled work force, yet poverty continues to increase and people continue to be dependent on outside assistance. One of the main reasons I want to be here is to help create a self-sustaining infrastructure for the farmers in the area, but the problem spans throughout Kenya and even though I may be able to help on a small scale there is relatively little I can do until the government is able to better provide for the people here as well. Perhaps corruption and the lack of initiative from the government are key reasons people are so poor, and I am hopeful that as Kenya continues to grow as a democracy controlled by the people (as opposed to the virtual dictatorship controlled by Moi as it was until just a few years ago) things in the country will continue to improve. I've told several Kenyans that I would be excited to come back here 20 years from now and see how much things have changed.

More on that subject at a later time, I went off track and am trying to recap my Christmas....

Anyway, after the Orphan Christmas party I had about 15 volunteers show up at my house for Christmas eve. We had some really good food, but went vegetarian because I was in no mood to slaughter anything this time around. Lunch was Spaghetti, which has proven time and time again to relatively inexpensive and able to feed a lot of people, and we also had mango salsa, bean dip, and guacamole for dinner. There are these tiny chili peppers that grow in my yard...I've been told they are called African Birds-Eye Chilies, and they have to be the absolute hottest thing on the planet. We put just a few of them in about five gallons of salsa and it became so spicy we had to add additional tomatoes and mangos to make it edible again. However, everything is so fresh here and the food is so good when prepared right, and all in all things turned out great.

After dinner we stayed up late, watched the Princess Bride on a volunteers computer, and camped out in my yard. Since I hosted things I was pretty much on my feet cooking and cleaning and preparing the whole time. I had help from a few volunteers but definitely know now how my grandmother must feel every Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The next day after breakfast we headed out for the rainforest on Christmas day. We rented a private matatu since the logistics of transporting people on holidays here is extremely difficult. Anyway, with 15 volunteers (plus 3 Kenyans) all in the same pickup truck we were able to get a decent price out to the woods. We brought tents and slept in the forest that night while surrounded by monkeys and some of the strangest and most beautiful trees and birds I've ever seen.

The rainforest seemed like a walk back in time, what I would envision the Jurrasic era to look like, with strange, gnarled, and twisted trees almost as big as a giant sequoia, but covered in vines and reaching up to a canopy full of birds and monkeys. Unfortunately there is very little of this rainforest left, which once spanned in an equatorial belt from the Atlantic to the Pacific across Africa. Now it's down to just a few hundred "protected" square miles and all the big game, jungle cats, etc has been hunted out. Even now people continue to clear it out for gardens and tea fields. In fact, when we started looking for firewood one of the Kenyan guides assisted us by going into the woods with his panga (Kenyan machete) and chopping down a tree for us.

Regardless, I got my monkey fix at least and plan to spend at least one weekend a month hiking in the forest, as it is just beautiful and I would love to know it inside and out. Christmas in the rainforest definitely won't be forgotten, although phone reception was horrible so I went to sleep disappointed that I wasn't able to speak to anyone from home on Christmas day.

So after a freezing and uncomfortable night (forgot a sleeping bag and nights get cold here) we woke up, lounged around for a bit, and stayed the next night at another volunteer's house who lives closer to the forest then me. Luckily I was able to talk to family then, but with so many people trying to call over the holidays I had a five second delay to content with. This morning I returned to Kakamega with twenty something people in the bed of a pickup, and that's about the latest.

Hope everyone had a great time over Christmas and expect to hear more soon. Looks like New Years will be spent camping out at Lake Victoria, so hopefully I've have a good story to bring in the new year with.

Kakamega - Week Two

So it’s about time to update the blog...where do I begin? First off let me make a sincere apology to everyone who has taken the time and effort to write me a letter only to find their mailboxes lacking a response from me. I have no doubt that everyone who has written waits impatiently day in and day out for the mail truck to come, only to rush eagerly to the mailbox, peer inside, and be devastatingly crushed that once again a letter has not arrived. Well, worry no more. My post-Christmas pre-New Years resolution is to write everyone back. I love getting mail from home and I’d imagine if I take the time to respond my chances of additional letters improves substantially. I feel badly about not sending out letters in time for Christmas, but honestly I’ve been so overwhelmed with adapting to life in Kenya, not to mention self absorbed, that I have not been able to make time to write. So here’s a Christmas card for everyone:

Dear (Your name here),

May all you dreams come true this holiday season. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Best Wishes,

Joseph

Ok, now that that’s out of the way I feel better. On to the latest in Kenya

So this past week has been busy. Over the weekend I had a “painting party” on Saturday and now the living area really looks nice and is ready for Christmas holidays. I won’t get into details on the kitchen but it is still a work in progress. Anyway, I found that it is so much easier to just paint over moldy splotches that to try and clean them off, and with a little silicone sealant to cover up the holes in the ceiling made by termites the place is good as new. Moving all the furniture out of the house and being forced to closely inspect the wall and ceiling while painting really made me realize just how dirty the place was. I don’t think it had been thoroughly cleaned in years, and mushroom clouds of dust exploded from the furniture and Astroturf (which now has a new home rolled up in the closet) as I moved it from the house. The mop water remained dirty and black the first three times I went across the floor. Funny thing is I thought the house was fine when I first moved in (as did the guy before me, apparently). It took a female to come over and tell me the place was disgusting before I realized it, but now it’s a thousand times better.

After a weekend of cleaning and getting ready for Christmas I was invited to an Indian restaurant by the Canadian volunteers that was extremely good. I like Kakamega more everyday, and finding an alternative to Kenyan food really brightened my weekend. I ended up staying the night at the Acess house (the Canadian volunteer’s extremely well funded and very nice home) and four of us fell asleep on chairs on the front porch. The problem is there was no mosquito net so I would remain buried under a blanket until the air became to stale to breath, poke my head out just long enough to hear a buzzing in my ear, and go back under the blanket again. Needless to say it wasn’t the best night’s sleep but it was a lot of fun regardless.

The next day I came to work to help host some guests from the JICA, which is a Japanese volunteer organization. They are working in Kitui of all places on farming as a business for trees, and wanted to gain information on FAO in order to see if they could apply the same principles to forestry. We went to various Farmer Field School sites and since it was an introduction to FAO principles I learned almost as much as they did, although much of the presentation was in Swahili. The Japanese volunteer has lived in East Aftica for seven years with various organizations and speaks Swahili far better than English, therefore I had to struggle to understand what was being said. I walked away from the last few days further determined to better understand the language.

Tuesday was a great day because it involved food the entire time. One of the most marketable products the farmers are growing, I’m convinced, is the Orange Flesh sweet potato. We made sweet potato chapatti, donuts, greens (from the leaves), uji (porridge), jam, and juice, and I had a chance to sample them all. By far the juice was the best, and I think between the juice and the flour there is a potential for a lot of money to be made with this crop. If farmers can sell a finished product (e.g. Juice, Flour) instead of the raw materials to the middle men I think there income would increase quite a bit. I plan to start working very soon on ways to package and market these products.

So that’s about all. I’m in the office now, having finished work for the holidays, and am going into town to gather supplies for the upcoming Christmas party. I’ve also been invited to a Christmas party for orphans on Friday that I definitely plan to attend. Expect to hear more about the holidays the next time I’m around a computer. Merry Christmas everyone!

Back in Kisumu again

So it's yet another day I'm in Kisumu. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since the food is good and the Internet is great, but in this case it's frustrating because I've got a lot of work to do which I'll be paying per minute on this computer to do here, and would rather be back in Kakamega. As I was leaving for Kakamega after my last trip here I got a call from medical saying my bloodwork was showing liver problems and I could not take the medication I was given to clear up the stuff growing on my feet. Anyway, I had drank a few Tuskers (only a few) the night before with some PVC friends and suggested that may be the reason the numbers were off. The doctor told me it was likely and to return on Thursday, so this week has been crazy.

I went back to Kakamega on Tuesday, left early the next morning for a three hour matatu ride to FOA classes on Wednesday, and left from there Thursday afternoon for a two hour return to Kisumu. Luckily I was able to attend the management classes regardless and learned quite a bit. It appears I'll be in high demand all over the Western province and will be traveling regularly, so I've got plenty of matatu adventures ahead of me. Also, the test results just came back and the numbers are fine so things will be ok, I can blame it on the alcohol. Saturday I'm having the PCV's over for a "painting party" which basically means I'm bribing them with food to come help me paint the walls in my house. It looks like Christmas will definitely be at my place and I'm going to try and make it look really nice before people show up next weekend.

So that's the latest, I'll try not to make this too long winded since I need to be getting back to FOA work and then return to Kakamega. Will write again soon.

More Pics

Ok, the rest of the pics:

Here's a pic from market day in Kitui, there's never a shortage of Bananas

A Chameleon before he had a chance to change color

Found this boy in the woods while hiking. He looked sad and hungry but wouldn't take any of the cookies we offered him.

Swearing in at the Ambassador's house in Nairobi. Pictured here are all the teaching and business volunteers, along with language and technical trainers

...And here are the business volunteers and our trainers

Here's a pic from the top of Monkey mountain in KituiLook! A monkey!
This is a Kitui Traffic Jam on the way to my house

Posting pics in Kisumu

So I'm in Kisumu and able to post pics! Very exciting times. Things are going well, I've been to the doctor today and given the pills to kill off the amoebas, and I'm also getting a foot infection cleared up. Who doesn't love Africa? Regardless, I'm in a nice Internet Cafe and I feel fine and the site is coming along well. I had the PCV's over for lunch and we cooked Biriani, which actually turned out really well. Looks like my house has been settled on for Christmas and other than that not much new, so without further adieu here are some pics:

Thankgiving day in Kitui with Tom Turkey. I was unexpectedly assigned to do this after dropping by the pastoral center in the middle of a foodball game (this is not what I'm usually wearing here) to see how dinner was coming. Thanksgiving will never be the same for me. My friend Anne is helping me keep Tom in place with a tarp we found.

Here's Anne again with the finished product: A tasty turkey!

Although the drive between Nairobi and Kisumu has to be one of the worst roads ever, there's plenty of wildlife. Here's some Baboons on the side of the road.

Tusker, the national beer of Kenya, and not a bad deal at 65 shillings a half liter.

Mmmm....bugs anyone? I tried a few and they aren't that bad if you stop thinking about what exactly it is you're eating.

So it's not letting me post any more pics and I'm just getting to the good pics. I'll try another blog entry.

Week One - Kakamega

So I’m sitting in my office learning a valuable lesson about the African sense of time. I was told to be here at 10, but now it’s almost 11 and nobody has shown up yet. Yesterday I was told to be here at 2 and we did not get started until after 3. I need to remember to always bring a book with me so I don’t feel like I’m wasting time so often. Maybe I should just start arriving at least a half hour late, but with my luck that would be the one time everyone would be on time and waiting for me, so perhaps it’s a lose-lose situation. Regardless, it’s a beautiful sunny day and a sweet smelling breeze is drifting through the open windows, plus I love the little village my office is in so being here alone and waiting isn’t so bad.

So I’ve decided that, concerning resources at least, I’m really lucky as far as PCV’s go. I’m typing on a slick Dell computer donated through the UN and sitting in a nice office that was provided via funding through the FAO project. However, it’s my first weekend in Kakamega and they already have me working both Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully this won’t be an every weekend occurrence. Considering that the Peace Corps Directors recommend spending the first three months not doing much of anything besides adapting and getting to know people I’ve really been thrown into things. My situation may be an exception since I’m replacing a previous volunteer. The current issue I’m working is that most of the grant money has already been spent through various projects, and we need to reapply for additional funds, with the intention of creating a self-sufficient project by the time I leave. The only problem is that the UN needs to see financial information concerning how the money has been spent, and all that information is stored in QuickBooks on this computer, which is a software suite I’ve never used and was hoping to have more than a day to figure out. At least I have managed to throw a balance sheet and expense report together that I hope will be sufficient, and hopefully today we will finish everything off.

So the last few days have not been bad. My first day of work on Friday consisted of going to a “farmer field day”, which is a training day where farmers learn from other farmers about various crops and successful farming techniques. There were easily a hundred people there, and although farming tutorials were interesting, the field day was basically a big party with lots of dancing, singing, and celebration. There were drums, guitars, and instruments made out car parts and old soda bottles, and a dancer dressed in traditional clothing who was absolutely crazy. He climbed a tree, hung from a branch near the top, and fell to the ground while singing and dancing the whole time. I have a few pictures that I hope to post from the event. There were lots of speeches, presentations, foods, and refreshments and apparently every farmer field day is similar so I have a lot to look forward to.

On Saturday in between work I caught up with several of the other volunteers in town and managed to grab some lunch and see one of the houses another volunteer is staying at. A few volunteers still don’t have their housing situation worked out, and I ended up with six people staying at my house. The consensus is my house is the nicest so perhaps the Christmas party will be there, but I’m waiting to see if the owner of the house, who occasionally stays in one of the locked rooms, will be in town over the holidays.

While all the volunteers were at my house I was out with several Canadians I had met who had invited me to join them for dinner at their place. The Canadians are volunteers as well through a program called Acces, and they either have a lot of funding or lots of money because their housing is ridiculously nice. I returned to my house via taxi at about ten to catch up with the PCV’s crashing at my place and overall it was really had a fun night, despite my day which, with no much going on, was a little overwhelming. I forgot to mention I had been limping the whole day because I stepped on a grate that fell through earlier in the day and banged up by leg and skinned my hands pretty good.

So Kakamega isn’t a bad place, and I have a lot going on the next week to keep me busy. Tomorrow is a holiday and I’ll be cooking with a the PCV’s and Melvin, one of the Kenyans I have met. On Tuesday I have to go to medical in Kisumu to kill off the amoebas in my stomach, and then the rest of the week I will be traveling to various farmer field schools with my boss. I’ll keep everyone informed the next time something interesting happens.

Starting off in Kakamega

So I’ve been in Kakamega for three days now and all my stuff is pretty much in place and moved in. My house is exceptionally nice, perhaps even better then that duplex I vaguely remember living in long, long ago back in whatever country it was I came from. Then again, maybe my house isn’t such a paradise resort after all. Perhaps after living without electricity for 10 weeks and experiencing the living conditions of the average rural Kenyan my standards have changed significantly. In my house there’s piles of what appears to be coffee grounds, but is actually termite poop falling out of the ceiling, the walls and ceiling are water-logged and covered with moldy splotches, and my living room carpet is a strip of dirty Astroturf. Still, it’s admittedly better than some of the places I lived in college, but from American standards the house is definitely a fixer-upper.

The same change in attitude definitely rings true with Nairobi. My first impression of the city was one of absolute madness. The rule on Nairobi roads and Kenyan highways in general is that nobody has the right of way and it’s every man for himself. There are very few traffic lights in Nairobi, just chaotic four lane roundabouts filled with matatus, bicycles, motorbikes, and even pedestrians walking from car to car trying to sell wristwatches, apples, posters, or anything else small enough to carry. It’s hard to walk a hundred meters in some places without being asked for money or approached by a street kid, and when I first came to Nairobi, even in the nicer parts of town, I thought it was a dirty, overcrowded, and chaotic city. However, after almost three months living in small Kenyan villages I’ve really come to appreciate Nairobi. I can get almost anything I would eat in the States, catch a movie, and even upload pictures on a relatively quick Internet connection, although I couldn’t fit in time to do that last time. Nairobi is like an oasis of American amenities and Western culture surrounded by a completely different way of life in the rest of Kenya.

So I don’t check in with my new boss until Friday, and for the last few days I’ve been on my own. I wandered through town on Tuesday to run some errands and grocery shop, and in the Internet café I met a Kenyan college student studying Engineering in Nairobi. He’s determined to get to America to work and walked with me pretty much the rest of the day. His father is a manager at Mumias sugar, which is a huge sugar plant in the town of Mumias, about 20 miles from Kakamega. He invited me to tour the plant with him and I plan to make my way up there on Sunday to check it out. Yesterday I went back into town for Market day (hundreds of small kiosks selling veggies, clothing, fish, etc. every Wednesday and Sunday) and stocked up on fresh produce. This time I was accompanied by Melvin, who is another Kenyan about my age and the grandson of one of the mamas on my compound. Melvin seems very ambitious and determined to start his own business. His parents live in Mombasa and he recently moved back to Kakamega and is living in a very tiny one-room apartment trying to make something of himself. Melvin claims to be a cook and on Monday we may try to throw something together. Speaking of cooking, I cooked for myself the first time since I came here yesterday and it turned out surprisingly well. I fried some of the locally grown greens with carrots, tomatoes, onions, goat meat, and the secret to any Kenyan dinner: lots of vegetable fat and “Royco spicy beef flavour mchuzi mix.” Thanks to my fridge I’m probably the only PCV who is able to save my leftovers for the next day.

Today I had about everything done concerning shopping and spent the day at home by myself. I’ve realized that these first three months are not going to be easy. During that time I’m not allowed leave my site so I’m pretty much stuck here. I’ve never been much of a person to sit in one place and relax for very long, and I’ll have plenty of chances to do just that when I’m not working. I’m hoping I’ll stay plenty busy with my job so I’m not sitting at home alone thinking about who I am and what the heck I’m doing here too often. I managed to kill a good bit of time today reading, exercising, and practicing Swahili but I’m not sure how long I can keep myself entertained.

So that’s about it. Things are coming along well and I’m looking forward to starting the job tomorrow.

Kakamega at last...and I still have all my things!

So the last few days have been an adventure. Ok, more realistically it's been an ordeal. The logistics of trying to organize getting over 100lbs. of stuff all the way across Kenya with the least amount of money possible along with eight other people is not easy.

First off, the key to my house was left with a Security company in Nairobi and I had to walk through town trying to find it. Peace Corps assured me they would pick it up but an arrangement had been made that ensured nobody but me could get it. Luckily, after a few hours I had that out of the way, but the Matatu we rented from Nairobi to Kisumu had to be the worst ride I’ve ever been on. It’s hard to describe how bad the road is between these two cities. The previous trip in a bus was bad enough but we ended up with eight people and all of their belongings in a small Toyota van. We were piled under and around luggage for over eight hours of bumping along cavernous potholes, bumps, and dips. Oh, and did I mention I’ve been diagnosed with both amoebic dysentery and a bacterial infection in my stomach? Things were better for a day but promptly returned, so I’ve got a follow up medical appointment in Kisumu next Tuesday to pick up some medication to take out all of the critters swimming around in my stomach.

When we finally got to Kisumu, the driver had no idea where the hotel was we were supposed to be dropped off at, so we ended up practically looping all the way around Lake Victoria (which is beautiful, by the way) before finally convincing the driver that yes, the Hotel is actually in Kisumu and we needed to turn around. Luckily we finally made it through the second leg of our trip (the first being Kitui to Nairobi) and stayed at a nice hotel in Kisumu called the New Victoria. Our rooms were naturally on the top floor and each of us had about 120 lbs. of gear to lug.

The next day we went to the Nakumatt City, which is bigger that a super Wal-Mart and gave us a chance to stock up on most of the things we would need at site. I splurged and bought a weight set so I have something to use for my sanity over the next two years. We took taxis back to the hotel and piled all our of things on the sidewalk next to a security guard while we waited for our ride to Kakamega, and we literally had a mountain of stuff. The final leg of the trip, Kisumu to our front doors, turned out to be the hardest. I was last to be dropped off so I got to see the ordeal everyone had to go through on the way. We left Kisumu with all of our gear piled in a matatu and all the PVC’s piled in a sport ute. The rain really started pouring down about the time the first person, Elicia, needed to be dropped off and the road was so bad that the matatu, complete with all of our luggage, stated sliding all over the road and eventually slid into a rut and got stuck. We enjoyed digging all of the luggage out of the matatu while covered in mud and soaked so we could get to Elicia’s stuff and load it into the sport ute for the rest of the way to her house. When we finally got this done and managed to push the Matatu out of the rut and get it going again, the driver was furious, claiming this wasn’t part of the deal and asking for more money. He claimed he only received 2000 shillings for the drive and was told he would be driving straight to Kakamega and not dropping everyone off, although our group gave 14000 shillings to his boss and we were assured this would not be a problem. We weren’t really sure who to trust so we ended up giving the driver 1000 more shillings to prevent him from dropping us off in the middle of nowhere with all our things. From there we continued on our journey to the next house, which would not have been as big of a problem except the bearings went out on the front wheel of the sport ute and after spending a lot of time trying to get it fixed we had to flag down another vehicle to take us to the next stop. We had to get a car from one of the volunteer's supervisor to meet us at the matatu stage and it was there that we began unloading the things for the next few volunteers while random sketchy people crowded around our group and peered into our van full of shopping bags and luggage. Some people even started trying to grab things from our matatu and I had to shove a guy backwards to keep him away from our bags. These types of experiences continued until the driver finally made it to my house. Miraculously, I got there in one piece with all my things. I celebrated by going to bed immediately and not doing anything else the rest of the night.

So thank God I’m in Kakamega. I’m meeting up with my boss on Friday so I have a few days to unpack and get things in order. Expect to hear more soon.

No longer a Trainee

Wow, seems like these 10 weeks flew by. Now I'm in Nairobi in the extremely overpriced mzungu mall Internet cafe and am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. I'm overdue on replying to quite a few emails but give me a few days and I'll be onsite where the Internet is less expensive and there will undoubtedly be plenty of time. Hopefully I can post a few pics there too because my camera isn't on me right now.

So much has happened since I was last online. My family in Kitui had a party for me that I wrote about, but last Wednesday there was also a party for our entire cluster of host families from out village and their volunteers (which started as six trainees, but now at the end of training is down to just four). The party wasn't anywhere as fun as the one just for me, mostly because I started coming down with something pretty nasty the night before. Even worse, the group bought a goat to slaughter for the party, and when my family noticed it was healthier then Red they decided to swap it out and put Red on the chopping block instead! So Red is dead at the homestead. The new goat is nice, but not Red. We named her "Stripe", maybe she'll be around to eat next time I come to visit. Tony, one of the volunteers in our cluster, tried to slaughter Red but couldn't go through with it and stopped halfway through. One of the mamas finished Red off. Luckily I stayed at the house and missed the whole ordeal. Red was tough and chewy, so in my opinion it wasn't worth it but the Kenyans seemed to enjoy her, including all of Red's mystery bits and pieces that I did my best to stay away from.

So I started feeling worse and had a fever over 102 but was able to hang in there. My Swahili oral exam results cheered me up a bit since they came back that day. I received "Intermediate Mid", tying me for second highest on language. Another guy Dan scored "Intermediate Advanced" but he doesn't count since he already knew Hebrew and the languages are similar. I was able to carry on a conversation for about thirty minutes, and even though it was choppy and I forgot a few words, it's a great feeling to know I'm really picking up a second language.

Anyway, from that afternoon until yesterday the fever really didn't go down and a nasty stomach bug decided to join in on the fun. I spent plenty of time on the Choo over the last few days while at the same time having to pack all my things and preparing to leave Kitui for Nairobi and our site visit. Luckily, I started felling better yesterday thanks to a visit to the medical facilities in Nairobi and was able to make it through our swearing in ceremony, which was fantastic. Our group was very lucky because we were able to swear in at the U.S. Ambassador's house, which is apparently a rare event. The home was the most beautiful, large, and well-guarded house I've ever seen. The ceremony was great, with many Kenyan political leaders and U.S. foreign service guys around to talk to and congratulate us. Also, the trees were full of monkeys and they kept running across the rooftop. No doubt they were highly trained Secret Service and CIA monkeys. My stomach was still pretty off, but bowls of doritos, kababs, samosas, and real coffee was too much to turn down so I went ahead and enjoyed my self anyway. Thank God for Pepto.

It's pretty incredible to go walking through the slums of Kitui and then through Westlands in Nairobi and the neighborhoods where ambassadors and wealthy Kenyans and foreigners live. The diversity in wealth is incredible. Even though the U.S. is far from exempt, the disparity between the rich and the poor is at a completely different level in Kenya.

After swearing in had we an auction with goods donated from volunteers that are returning to the states now that their service has ended. The money goes towards a women's education program and I was able to get some pretty good things, including an external CD burner for my notebook computer (I can send pics home now!), some American sunscreen (the stuff PC gives is about greasy and useless. The back of the bottle says "reapply at least every hour or after sweating", real helpful in Kenya), and some board games (Yahtzee and Scrabble) to kill time when volunteers stop by. Afterwards, I got my bike finalized, but the shock fork doesn't work, so hopefully the mechanic guy will get it fixed before they send it out to me this week.

Otherwise, if Matt Baron is reading this, he needs to fly out here really soon...bring me a Terry seat, a cone wrench, and some allen wrenches too...thanks!

Yesterday evening we wanted to go to Carnivore to celebrate, which is one of the best restaurants in Kenya. We were told by the trainers, however, that it was "Kikuyu night" (The largest tribe in Kenya) and it would not be any fun. We went to an Indian restaurant instead and went out to a club called the Barcode and really had a great time. I had a chance to meet a lot of the volunteers that are returning to the states and are midway through service, and am looking forward to catching up with everyone again, although it looks like it will be July forth before that happens.

So that's about all. I could think of more to write but not at four shillings a minute. I write more soon.

Woohoo! I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer!!