I am settling into the Nairobi scene after two days of traveling, a week at Nakuru national park with fellow students and moving into my host family's home on Saturday.
We arrived in Nairobi after 30 some hours of traveling. I was on a group flight with other students and we had a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam. Hopefully on the way back our layover will be long enough to explore the city. We then flew direct from Amsterdam to Nairobi and got in around 6pm, Monday the 31st. After all 32 of us were in Nairobi, we boarded a tour bus and headed to a hostile nearby. Right away we were thrown into the reality of cautious water drinking, and not exactly what you would expect for showering and bathroom facilities- but this was to be expected.
We stayed at the hostile for one night and then continued on to Nakuru national park. The park was gorgeous! We stayed in a small compound within the park that consisted of 3 bunk houses, a kitchen and dining area, and a few stalls with holes in the ground that doubled as showers and toilets. We eased into the program with short sessions throughout the three days we were there, lots of tea breaks, great meals, game drives, and hanging out in the evenings. The compound was right in the park so it was not uncommon to wake up with zebras standing at the gate, or water buffalo grazing along the fence. Though we were able to easily coexist with most of the animals the baboons were another story.
They would raid our camp, usually during meal time, and open the doors to bunk houeses, bathrooms, the kitchen, whatever they felt like! One morning we were eating in the dining area, and the back door swung open, a baboon jumped in and grabbed a banana off the plate of the girl sitting next to me. I am told they are scared of humans, as long as you dont jump up, scream and run away like all of us at the table did- but it was quite startling.
We saw lots of animals on our game drives: flamingos, monkeys, packs of giraffes, rhinos, and much more- I have photos that hopefully I will get up at some point.
After our three days in Nakuru, and one practice outing at Nakuru's market place, we left for Nairobi. We arrived in Nairobi early Saturday morning and our host families came to pick us up.
My host mother Jennifer, or Mama Tracy as I call her, and her daughter Tracy, 6, came to get me in a cab and we were off to their place. They live in a modest apartment/villa in Jamhuri, a neighborhood in the city. There I met Eda, the house help who also lives with the family and I share a bedroom with. My host father is a tour guide and left Saturday morning so I have not met him yet, but he will return on Thursday.
The villa has 2 bedrooms, one bath, one sitting room and a 5' by 5' kitchen. All in all I'd say its about 30ft sq.
The country is experiencing a harsh drought right now. Today someone told me that the rains that were supposed to come in April never came, and they will not start again until October. There are many people starving across the country and many animals are dying. I think the news does a better job covering these issues here than the national news does at home-but I'm sure that is open for debate.
As a result of the drought, there is water and electric rationing throughout the city. My neighborhood has no electricity MWF from 7am-6pm when the sun sets, and water is in and out. I guess a lot of the electricity is hydro-power- still checking into that though.
We began classes on Tuesday and they all seem really interesting so far. A lot of our assignments are reflections and observations about what is happening around us, and then relating this back to international development. I'm taking Swahili, International Development: Critical Perspectives and Theory, A History of Kenya, and eventually a course specifically relating to education in Kenya. We have classes until October 23rd when we will all move to different places in the country. I will be right outside of Kisumu.
I hear Kisumu has 100 degree weather and is really muggy....ha not my favorite but I'm excited to see the rural side of things. I will be working in a school, probably teaching some and helping with after school clubs/activities. The school administration read my resume and saw I have experience in construction, so i've been told they are going to ask me to design a chicken coop! A little different than ASP but I'm definitely up for it.
All in all everything is wonderful here! Thanks everyone for your support, messages, help packing and everything! I will write again when I can :)
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Good to hear from you, it sounds like everything is going well! I think the chicken coop is a really sweet idea, it will probably be much easier than a lot of the work you did on ASP! I think we should have something similar but where lights aren't allowed on during the day-I hate having them on and so many buildings and institutions use flourescents 24/7 when they don't need to! Take lots of pictures, of your family and especially animals. LOVE!
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