A two month post

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I arrived in Nairobi Wednesday evening with 27 other volunteers. We were greeted by current volunteers at the airport. We all loaded a bus and were taken to our hostel for our initial training, overall rules and expectations for PCV’s (Peace Corps Volunteers. Living and spending time with this many people 24 seven, you get close really fast. I was surprised and still am of how well we all get along. We are from all over the US. I guess it could consist of how we al want to help and serve the common man.

Our group consist of teachers: deaf education, math and science. Starting today Sunday, we will begin our official Pre-service training. This will consist of our language, culture and everything we need to know to be successful in our service. We are going on a 7 hour bus ride to the site which is roughly 150 miles (of which I have been told). I guess that only means the roads are not that great.

Yesterday I had my interview regarding where and what I wanted to teach at my school. I said I wanted to teach PE, math and Religion. I chose to be in a Christian community rather than Muslim or other. There is a curriculum that we go by, because the standardized test are based off of what is in the curriculum. From what I understand we can interject our opinion and thoughts and subjects. Of course the placement solely depends on PC. There were also choices for Isolated, rural, peri urban and urban. I chose peri urban and urban, with the hopes I get urban. Most if not all deaf schools are in either of those two areas. We also got to chose the climate. Hot/humid, cool/cold, wet/dry. I chose cool/cold and wet/dry.

All of the deaf ed volunteers will be will do their training together. We have up to 9 weeks to take and complete the sign language proficiency test. We can take the test in the 6th week. If we pass it then, then we can learn our local dialect and or Kiswalli. My goal is to pass the test as early as possible.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Another day.

I am slowing getting the future in my mind when I am in training. Training is very helpful with increasing my knowledge of KSL. I realize that training is very important and I can definitely see the benefits of my language classes and the various lectures that we attend. I am very much looking forward to going to my site in the western provence.

Several volunteers have visited us and have given several bits of advice. I like how they have all said, trials will come, but you have to fight through them and continue with the journey. I know it is a tough road being able to bounce off my frustrations and continue to move forward. I can’t sulk and pout over any minor issues that might arise.

Living and conversing with the host family Anthony, Charles, and Eva is really good. It is always a good laugh. I like how there is a laughter.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

My conversations with my host family are very interesting. I like that my two brothers speak english and thus we can carry on conversations. Yesterday we had a very interesting conversation. We saw on the news that Obama wants to send more troops into Afghanistan. One brother mentioned that it was not a wise thing to invade Iraq. If there is no evidence of WMD, why invade. Oil was brought up as a possible motive for invasion. Also that you can’t force democracy upon any group of people. It is a decision that they must decide on their own and not be forced.

My mama is terrific. Even though her english is barely to the point of conversing there is always a smile on her face. I like that we can laugh. A recurring joke when I am helping cook is my tendency to cry when I am cutting the onions. Even more than that, If I am in the kitchen and I can smell the onion, I am going to shed a few tears.

We also discussed the proper customs of etiquette of the bathroom, dinning, the restroom and privacy. It is so not like the US. For example the men are served their food first. We sit in the den in front of the television. The mama serves us while the house boy and house girl and mama usually eat in separate rooms than the men. Recently mama has dinned with the men of the family.

I am responsible for cleaning my own clothes. I pour liquid detergent in a water basin with my clothes then get some cleaning soap and start scrubbing. Once complete the first stage of cleaning I then move it to the basin where I rinse and continue to clean. The third basin is used for a final rinse, then they are hung on the clothes line in the back yard. Cleaning day is reserved for the weekend. There is no time during the week to clean.

One thing that has taken some time to get used to is the choo. It is an outside toilet, or rather a hole in the ground. Squatting is required. One lesson I learned is that there is no need to shine the light down the hole. Why you ask, on my one experience I was greeted by a bat that decided to show itself to the rim of the choo hole.

One thing I learned recently is that kids do not like using the choo. Therefore they feel free to relieve themselves anywhere in the yard. Good for them! When they get older and realize that they are not going to fall in, they start using the choo.

Some friends and I have thrown together some phrases for the choo. It is choo time. Choo it up. What is your choo of choice? It is choo luck (when more than on person are using the choos that are close to each other).

Sunday, December 6, 2009

This evening three friends (whitney, mary and jon)came over to my house for dinner. I met them outside on the main road. We then all looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful rainbow. We arrived at the house around 5pm and sat in the den for 2 ½ hours while my mama and house sister and brother prepared dinner. We had ugoli, skuma wiki, beef, cabbage, chicken, and chapati. It was a lot of food. It was the first time we used the nice plate-ware as well as chicken and beef together. I helped prepare and cook the chapati. Chapati makes any meal outstanding. After dinner joseph and baba and I walked the three friends home. It was completely dark (the moon was not visible), but you were able to see the stars. It looked like there were twice as many stars as I have ever seen.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Today in Lecture class in the afternoon we were introduced to an article about Albino Africans. The witchcraft in Tanzania has said that if you bring some body parts of an albino that you will become rich. You could get up to 5 million shillings (approx 67K usd). Because of this many of the albino people go into hiding because they do not want to be caught and then murdered. The latest person mentioned was a 10 year old boy in October that had his leg cut off. The boy’s father tried his best to ward off the attackers but to no avail. He was severely injured in the process.

For the second time in four days there has been a black out at the house. We then have to use your lanterns from around the house. It is a constant occurrence in Kenya. Caribu Kenya. (Welcome to Kenya)

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

When it rains here it is obviously a challenge walking along the roads. All of the roads are dirt, but because they have been compacted because of foot traffic and cars the roads are not as bad as they could be.

This week we have had deaf students from a secondary school reverend come. It has been really good to have these students

December 13-15

We took a trip to Makindu as a whole (all pc trainees). Makindu was hot. We visited there to be immersed in AIDS/HIV prevention and treatment. Makindu is on the motor-way right in between Mombassa and Nairobi, 109 Km to either city. Though I have pictures I don’t think it will do it justice. It has dukas (shops) side by side. It is a community where all of their needs are met with in the small city town. Bike shop, supermarket, outside market and lots of little dukas of various sorts. There are houses right next to these dukas, made out of mud and very small. It was so fascinating. I really thought I would be living in those conditions. It looked like 10 feet by 10 feet.

Friday, December 25, 2009

This past Sunday through Tuesday all of the volunteers went to Makindu to learn about HIV/AIDS prevention/counseling/clinics/hospital and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

Christmas

The slaughter of a goat at 6:30 by a massi. I was waken up at just prior to 6:30 am by Joseph with word that the slaughter of the goat was nigh. I go outside to see what was going to happen. The goat is being led to behind the shed. I watch as the massi squeezes the neck of the goat and cuts very quickly to severe the head from the body. I stayed for a little past that to see him remove the skin and cut open the innards. After that I needed to go back to sleep. A few hours later I awoke and went back outside to see what was going on. Joseph was cleaning the innards in the water basin.

Boxing Day

December 26. I asked my brothers what the meaning of boxing day was and they did not know. A national holiday and another day to party is at the fore front of most Kenyans mind. I attended the family’s church this morning, Seventh Day Adventist. Momma and Baba rode in the car and charles, tony and I walked. Oh boy was it a walk, roughly 45 minutes. It is one thing walking with comfortable clothes and shoes, but not Sunday attire. One thing that is unique in a good way here is that neatness and cleanness is a priority and required. Most roads are dirt and thus getting your shoes muddy or dirty seems like it is inevitable but somehow the Kenyans do a great job of keeping their clothes clean.

Back to church. I walk in and notice that most of the women are sitting on the left and the men on the right. The church building is probably 40 feet by 100 feet. The only light is from the sun shinning through the numerous windows. There were a few songs then we were dismissed to “Sunday school” groups. I am not sure of the name that that were given there but essential that is what it what. There was 4 classes: adults, career, and two primary. All of the groups were outside sitting on wooden “benches.” After a 45 minute lesson we proceeded to go inside the church for “preaching.” There was announcements, a children message where the kids come up to the front, singing and then preaching.

Monday, December 28, 2009

These last couple weeks have been slow at PST (pre service training). It feels like that since I have passed my LPI (language proficiency interview) things have definitely slowed down a great deal. Now I am taking a combined KSL and Kiswalhili class. Though we have just met only a very few times it has been some help but not a great deal. Peace Corps did give us Kiswalhili learning workbook with cd’s that are very helpful. I have started learning, but have not got far. I have halted my training because my confusion on whether I should learn kiswalhili or not. I am going to Luhya land where they speak Luhya and kiswalhili and a little bit of english. But kiswalhili is the national language and would be beneficial for travel and thus the quandary. After much thought I am going to stick with Kiswalhili. Peace corps will pay for a tutor for me. I am going to take advantage of that great opportunity.

My host family has mentioned on several occasions that I should come back to visit when I have time off during my school term. It is nice to know that want me to come back and visit. I have had such a great time with them. I spend most of my time with the house brother (just finished form 4 -high school-18 years old) and the mama.

English premier league is really big here. For christmas we are eating our goat and watching WWE. WWE is a close second behind futbol as most watched among kenyans. It is crazy.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

I have had several interesting conversations with my family members. I do spend the majority of my time with the house brother, Joseph. We get along very well and joke around a lot.

It is a constant occurance where I am attempting to cook in the kitchen and I will burn myself or do a poor job of cutting the veggies or meat. Without fail Joseph will make a comment. When you go to your site in Mumias, who is going to cook for you? I would then reply of course, I will. You can’t cook he replies. It is humorous banter.

Today I just got home from going to Catholic Church. Ema (house sister) said I needed to take some yogurt. It has the consistency of peptol--but it is really good). I go and pour a glass and the lid comes off and the yogurt is spilled all over the table and cloth. Joseph then comes in and cleans up after me.

We then begin a conversation about punishment in schools. I learned some valuable information when a student needs punishment there are certain things a student wants to do for punishment. It is common for teachers to tell a student to use a slasher (used to cut grass-hand held sling blade). Kids are asked to cut about 1 acre. But you see, the kids like this activity, it gets them out of the class. They drag it out as long as possible, maybe up to a week.

So I asked Joseph what is a good punishment that the students do not like. Having the student come to the front of the class and kneel for the remainder of the class is a punishment they don’t like. I will definitely keep that in mind.

I have attended church two times while I have been here so far. I have not been to many catholic churches in the past, but this one is similar to the ones I have visited before. At this church, the layout of where the people sit is really interesting. There are two main sections with seats around the outside wall. The left sections is a mix between families, mothers and men. The right section, the women sit there. The outer two sections lining the walls are divided by gender. The right side wall is all women and the left side is all men. The service begins by youth dancing down the center aisle with the priest and brothers following behind. The choir has roughly 20 members. Every song involves some dances. The moves are very orchestrated and simple. There is a ot of standing up and sitting down. The sermon by the priest is 95% Kiswahili with the occasional english phrase thrown in.

One thing I learned is that Swahili is not the language, Kiswalhili is. Swahili is a tribe near the coast that speak Kiswalhili.

I am slowly becoming more comfortable in my own skin and starting to enjoy time alone. This is definitely taken a long time. Being a volunteer requires you to be alone a lot. Reading is very big among volunteers.

Jamahari Day is a Kenyan National Independence Day. December 12 1963. I learned today Kenyan has another independence day in May. There is also national holidays in honor of the first two presidents as well as labor day. Jumahari Day was held in a futbol field in Nairobi and was aired throughout Kenya. The prime minister gave a speech about goals and objectives in the coming days.

I have been really blessed to have a wonderful home stay family. It is great to feel part of the family and to be included in the activities. I really like cooking with mama, Joseph and Ema. So much of the time is spent talking and joking around. They often give me a hard time about my cooking. The house boy will occasionally comment about my lack of cutting ability. He says this food is not even suited for prisoners. We both get a good laugh about it.

I am still amazed how easily the house boy and girl and mama can pick up a hot pot or juko (charcoal grill). I have tryed on several occasions but always found a way to burn my head.

Today is December 20 and all of the trainess have gone to to Makindu. We all met at the petrol station in Loitokitok market center close to 9 am. The trip was planned so that the PC staff would not be there to arranger the matatu. It was really a good experience to get our feet wet. We had to change matatus in Emali to get on our final leg of the journey. In all it took 3 ½ hours. The road from Emali to Makindu is the same you take from Nairobi to Mombassa. Where we got on the matatu in Emali it was 280 km to Mombassa. It is equadistant to Nairobi and Mombassa from Makindu 209 km.

I was staying in homeland hotel. The rooms have a single bed with a mosquito net. I just noticed that they provide you with 12 sheets toilet paper. It guess you must use it wisely.

Well it is obviously been a few days since the last entry. It is now December 30 and the anticipation of leaving Loitokitok and going to Nairobi is growing among the trainess. We have a host family appreciation on Saturday. The deaf ed and math/science are both doing a skit for all of the families. The deaf ed is doing a skit on 4 areas: cooking, washing, looking smart, and bargaining at the market. I will be doing how to look smart. (all of this in sign). I will make sure my clothes are neat, ironed and looking african.