Wazungu Wengi Wamefika Kakamega
As I’ve adopted Kenyan English I’ve noticed a downward trend in my speaking abilities, as more and more often I’m saying things in very simplistic and grammatically incorrect ways. For instance, I’ve found myself asking “How is you?” or something ridiculous like “The rain, it will come today, isn’t it?” The accent I’ve adapted to make myself understood is equally ridiculous, and I’m pretty sure my writing skills is getting worse as well, isn’t it?
I can pretty much say goodbye to every last bit of Spanish and German I’ve learned in the past. I even find myself struggling to remember the names of girls I’ve dated or old friends, simple vocabulary words that are not understood by Kenyans, or teachers I’ve had. My Swahili is continuing to improve though, as is my knowledge of African culture, so at least I’m gaining knowledge that is useful here but will not be so helpful when I go back to the states. I am also planning to start studying for graduate exams soon. I feel my knowledge of Kenyan tribal customs will not be so helpful, whereas the English grammar I’m forgetting might have come in handy. It’s reassuring to know that, regardless, I can still recite the names and weapons of every teenage mutant ninja turtle, as well as their theme song.
So it’s been a fun week. Work with the Network is coming along well, but there will be a lot of waiting before things pick up again: waiting for chili seeds to grow, waiting for the lawyer to get back to us, waiting for the grant money to come, etc. etc. It’s a way of life here. In the meantime I’ve found other ways to stay busy. There’s been a lot of wazungu around Kakamega lately, and I’ve been collaborating with them on various projects. A group came for a medical mission last Thursday and I helped them out. It wasn’t in any way sustainable but it was fun to hand out medications prescribed by doctors and count out pills with a group of attractive British girls and their dry, sarcastic sense of humor. A mother of one of the girls was here as well, and she was energetic and hilarious. She was a VSO volunteer for three years in Sierra Leone in the late sixties, with stories about Peace Corps volunteers she would not share except that she was “a naughty girl back then”. The organisation the girls were with is also building houses for people here, and I was invited to go out in the field with them to see the progress. I may do that tomorrow just to see if the money is actually being used the way it was intended. I grow more skeptical about any kind of outside funding every day. I have stories about naïve wazungu from the states and where their money actually goes that will drop your jaw, and I am in the process of finding the donors of one particularly rotten church leader, but I will save that story for another day.
On Friday I met with the regional sales director for a fertilizer often used by our farmers, and spoke to him about getting wholesale prices on the fertilizer to sell through our network. Things worked out well, and I think I have found another income generating activity for the network. The director was an Indian who has been in Kenya for many years now. Nearly every successful businessperson I’ve met in Kenya is either an Indian or from the Kikuyu tribe.
There is also a volunteer organisation in Kakamega that brings in volunteers from the States for 2-6 month stints, and I have become friends with many of them. I spent Wednesday at an orphanage one of them is working with hoping to get additional information for my women’s group. While there I learned that the primary caretaker at the orphanage has used the funding to purchase a very nice laptop computer with a pricey ADSL internet connection (an Internet café is very close by), while the children are sleeping 4 to a bed without mosquito nets. Typical.
On Friday evening I met the volunteer group in town. A lot of the group is college-aged, and many seem to be spending the summer working with this organisation as a “Peace Corps Lite”, testing the waters to see if it is something they want to commit to longer-term. Some of them are older and just doing it as a change of pace from their jobs in the states or as a way to spend time in another culture while helping out, and maybe a few of them were looking at it as an escape into the wilderness and are a bit disillusioned. Anyway, we met in town because there’s a great Indian restaurant I wanted to go to, and I wanted them to join me. It is on the outskirts of town, and we saddled up on Boda Bodas and rode out to the restaurant, which of course was closed. We then went back into town for dinner and to my place for a party.
The party was great. There was plenty of Tusker and the volunteers brought all kinds of tasty breakfast stuff for the morning. The next day I was extended an invite to the rainforest with them (after getting about one hour of sleep), and I tagged along with their group. The supervisor of their organisation, Peter, was basically raised by a Peace Corps volunteer. He worked as a house boy for a PCV that decided to stay in Kenya, and because of the influence he gained from the PCV he has committed himself to working with a similar program. Since I am also Peace Corps he likes me and we have been working together on ways to make his program better. I have been supplying him with materials used by the Peace Corps for training, and he even wants me to help find organisations around Kakamega that could use a volunteer. I’m also convincing him to steer away from two month terms to something longer term, as it’s almost impossible to get much accomplished in a mere two months in this country. Anyway, because of my assistance and because, for the most part, I’m a likable guy, my transport to the forest, the nice banda I slept in, the guided tours, and the meals were free.
The rainforest was even better than the last time I went. We had plenty of rain throughout the evening and a layer of mist covered the trees the following morning. We left for a sunrise hike at five and made it to the top of the highest point in the forest just in time to see the sun crest over the hills in the distance. The view was phenomenal, and luckily I had my camera with me and got in a few good snaps. On the way back we went to a cave that was dug in search for gold many years ago. It is now the home of fruit bats, and as my flashlight shined through the cave the walls sparkled with hundreds of pairs of eyes glistening in the darkness. When we made it back to the campsite the monkeys were awake and very active, and we ate breakfast while blue and colobus monkeys swung from tree to tree overhead.
So that about sums of my week. Beyond work good things are coming up, including a camel derby and a potential Scuba diving trip. I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to write about soon.
I can pretty much say goodbye to every last bit of Spanish and German I’ve learned in the past. I even find myself struggling to remember the names of girls I’ve dated or old friends, simple vocabulary words that are not understood by Kenyans, or teachers I’ve had. My Swahili is continuing to improve though, as is my knowledge of African culture, so at least I’m gaining knowledge that is useful here but will not be so helpful when I go back to the states. I am also planning to start studying for graduate exams soon. I feel my knowledge of Kenyan tribal customs will not be so helpful, whereas the English grammar I’m forgetting might have come in handy. It’s reassuring to know that, regardless, I can still recite the names and weapons of every teenage mutant ninja turtle, as well as their theme song.
So it’s been a fun week. Work with the Network is coming along well, but there will be a lot of waiting before things pick up again: waiting for chili seeds to grow, waiting for the lawyer to get back to us, waiting for the grant money to come, etc. etc. It’s a way of life here. In the meantime I’ve found other ways to stay busy. There’s been a lot of wazungu around Kakamega lately, and I’ve been collaborating with them on various projects. A group came for a medical mission last Thursday and I helped them out. It wasn’t in any way sustainable but it was fun to hand out medications prescribed by doctors and count out pills with a group of attractive British girls and their dry, sarcastic sense of humor. A mother of one of the girls was here as well, and she was energetic and hilarious. She was a VSO volunteer for three years in Sierra Leone in the late sixties, with stories about Peace Corps volunteers she would not share except that she was “a naughty girl back then”. The organisation the girls were with is also building houses for people here, and I was invited to go out in the field with them to see the progress. I may do that tomorrow just to see if the money is actually being used the way it was intended. I grow more skeptical about any kind of outside funding every day. I have stories about naïve wazungu from the states and where their money actually goes that will drop your jaw, and I am in the process of finding the donors of one particularly rotten church leader, but I will save that story for another day.
On Friday I met with the regional sales director for a fertilizer often used by our farmers, and spoke to him about getting wholesale prices on the fertilizer to sell through our network. Things worked out well, and I think I have found another income generating activity for the network. The director was an Indian who has been in Kenya for many years now. Nearly every successful businessperson I’ve met in Kenya is either an Indian or from the Kikuyu tribe.
There is also a volunteer organisation in Kakamega that brings in volunteers from the States for 2-6 month stints, and I have become friends with many of them. I spent Wednesday at an orphanage one of them is working with hoping to get additional information for my women’s group. While there I learned that the primary caretaker at the orphanage has used the funding to purchase a very nice laptop computer with a pricey ADSL internet connection (an Internet café is very close by), while the children are sleeping 4 to a bed without mosquito nets. Typical.
On Friday evening I met the volunteer group in town. A lot of the group is college-aged, and many seem to be spending the summer working with this organisation as a “Peace Corps Lite”, testing the waters to see if it is something they want to commit to longer-term. Some of them are older and just doing it as a change of pace from their jobs in the states or as a way to spend time in another culture while helping out, and maybe a few of them were looking at it as an escape into the wilderness and are a bit disillusioned. Anyway, we met in town because there’s a great Indian restaurant I wanted to go to, and I wanted them to join me. It is on the outskirts of town, and we saddled up on Boda Bodas and rode out to the restaurant, which of course was closed. We then went back into town for dinner and to my place for a party.
The party was great. There was plenty of Tusker and the volunteers brought all kinds of tasty breakfast stuff for the morning. The next day I was extended an invite to the rainforest with them (after getting about one hour of sleep), and I tagged along with their group. The supervisor of their organisation, Peter, was basically raised by a Peace Corps volunteer. He worked as a house boy for a PCV that decided to stay in Kenya, and because of the influence he gained from the PCV he has committed himself to working with a similar program. Since I am also Peace Corps he likes me and we have been working together on ways to make his program better. I have been supplying him with materials used by the Peace Corps for training, and he even wants me to help find organisations around Kakamega that could use a volunteer. I’m also convincing him to steer away from two month terms to something longer term, as it’s almost impossible to get much accomplished in a mere two months in this country. Anyway, because of my assistance and because, for the most part, I’m a likable guy, my transport to the forest, the nice banda I slept in, the guided tours, and the meals were free.
The rainforest was even better than the last time I went. We had plenty of rain throughout the evening and a layer of mist covered the trees the following morning. We left for a sunrise hike at five and made it to the top of the highest point in the forest just in time to see the sun crest over the hills in the distance. The view was phenomenal, and luckily I had my camera with me and got in a few good snaps. On the way back we went to a cave that was dug in search for gold many years ago. It is now the home of fruit bats, and as my flashlight shined through the cave the walls sparkled with hundreds of pairs of eyes glistening in the darkness. When we made it back to the campsite the monkeys were awake and very active, and we ate breakfast while blue and colobus monkeys swung from tree to tree overhead.
So that about sums of my week. Beyond work good things are coming up, including a camel derby and a potential Scuba diving trip. I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to write about soon.
posted by KenyaJoe at 10:32 PM
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