update # 10
on Beatriz Pujol (Kenya), 22/Apr/2009 12:06, 34 days ago
Hi Everyone,Greetings from Kenya! So, this month has been quiet. The kids are on holiday for the month. Only a few of the older kids are here preparing for their big exams at the end of the year. Otherwise, the center has been empty. At the beginning of the month some of the kids went to Special Olympics Sports. The kids participate in track and field events, soccer, basketball and volleyball. 9 of our kids made it to the National level and our region came in 1st place!I have been quite bored at work. I have spent most of the month doing paperwork, sending emails and administrative tasks. YUCK! I really need the kids to balance out all this“office time”.The good news is that I leave on vacation tomorrow! YEAH! I will head to Nairobi for a few days to visit friends and then am planning to go up to the Rift Valley for a few days. Not sure exactly where yet, but will get into nature and see some animals!Last weekend I headed to visit my co-worker, Ruth, and her family at their rural home. She lives in a district called Makweni. It was really beautiful in that area with big hills and valleys, a great road and a nice breeze. I miss the mts. of NM so it was nice to see big hills. We didn’t have time to get up into the woods, but will do so next time I visit. Ruth has a side business of wedding decorating. So, I went to help her decorate. It was interesting to say the least.I stayed with her, her mother, sister and sister’s kids on their family plot. It was my first real rural experience and I enjoyed it. They live a pretty simple and hard life. Up at 5:30 to start the fire with wood, milk the cows, buy bread and make tea. (No I did not get up that early, I slept in till 6:30! OUCH!) . I bought the bread and margarine for breakfast. They usually just have leftovers from the night before. They were very appreciative of the meal of bread and butter. I brought her mother a gift of honey, which is a specialty from Kitui, and she treasured it!Her mom is wheelchair bound, having broken both her legs a few years ago. This is especially difficult living in rural Kenya with rutted paths and dirt roads all around. Ruth says her mother was extremely active before her last accident. (She was already disabled and used crutches to get around but still worked the land and animals. Then she got wound up around the legs by the rope from a cow, which knocked her over and broke her legs!) Her father died when Ruth was a child. She has 7 siblings and they all help each other out and share the care of their mom. This is very traditional and expected in Kenya. Every Kenyan I know helps their family financially and emotionally all the time. There really is a sense of community that is unlike anything in America. With this also comes constraints and the younger generation struggles to find a balance in moving forward and not being held back by their cultural/familial expectations. At the same time they seem to understand the value of their culture and family roots.Ruth’s mom adopted me and invited me to be part of their family! She didn’t speak any English but despite that we communicated well enough. I had a nice time and was also glad to come home to the luxury of running water and lights. The trip put my housing situation into perspective!May 3, 2009 - Continued….After that weekend I was back for a few days and then off to Nairobi and the Great Rift Valley for vacation.Nairobi is actually growing on me, which is a good thing, as I am feeling fairly certain I will stay in Kenya and many of the jobs are in Nairobi. I used to feel extreme culture shock when I went from Kitui to Nairobi. It is like going to a different country. But now I transition quite easily between the two places.I stayed with a friend, Jannake, who just moved to a really upscale neighborhood where it is really peaceful. It was nice to hang out and get to know her better. She had a party where I got to meet lots of new people. There are so many interesting people in Nairobi and I love being in such an international crowd. There were: Kenyans, Dutch, British, Canadians, Phillipinos, Italians, English, Irish and Me.I went out one night with some friends to hear live music at the National Museum. It was a terrific outdoor venue and we had lots of fun. There were three musicians playing. We got there at the end of the first one. But the next two were amazing! If you can get your hands on the music of a Kenyan named Eric Wainaina or a South African who is called Lira, they are worth hearing.I then headed up to the Great Rift Valley (GRV). I had a friend who had though of coming with me but in the end didn’t. So I went up by myself. First I went to Nakuru, which is about 2 hours N. of Nairobi. As soon as you leave Nairobi and enter into the GRV it is stunningly beautiful. There are mts, hills, lakes, and green pastures. It gets a good rainfall and we are in the rainy season, so it rained every dayfor a bit while I was there. I was in awe by the beauty all around.I had been put in contact with a woman who had a son who was just diagnosed with autism and went out to see her my first day there. She has a 7 year old who was just diagnosed a month ago. But she had anticipated the diagnosis from her online research. There is very little in the way of information and resources about Autism in Kenya. There is an Autism Society and the Kenya Institute for Special Education has, in the past, partnered with VSO to bring Autism Specialists to Kenya. However at the moment there is no one in that role. (Some of you may remember that I had originally connected with VSO for that position in Kitui but by the time I applied the position was filled.) On a side note, VSO is working with the Ministry of Education to implement an Autism Training program and bring on 3 VSO volunteers for that purpose. If this comes through I will be involved!! Keep your fingers crossed!!!Back to Lillian, the mom, and Jeff, the kid. Lillian is a secondary school teacher and really on it. She had read everything she could find and definitely understands the basics of autism. Jeff is great. He was a lot of fun to interact with and I spent all afternoon at their home. I gave Lillian lots of suggestions, teaching strategies and online info. to access. I will stay in touch with her and offer support however I can. I realized just how much I miss working in autism and what a need there is here in the area of autism work. I really hope this position with VSO comes through as it would put me in touch with everyone in the field and would hopefully lead to paid work down the road!!So, the next day I hired a guide to take me into Lake Nakuru National Park. I only took a half-day tour due to the price, so it was a little rushed. But nice none the less. The lake is famous for its Flamingos. So I saw lots of them. As well there were tons of Zebra and I got some wonderful pictures of them. Unfortunately I only had my small point and shoot digital with a small zoom. Next time I will take my EOS with me! I saw: several White Rhino (at least 10 and a couple were close!), wart hogs and wart hog babies (too cute), one lioness, monkeys, buffalo, 2 hippos, a hyena, a jackal, tons of antelope, baboons and beautiful birds. It was nice to finally see African animals in Kenya after being here nearly 6 months!!Next I went to Lake Naivasha, which is one hour South towards Nairobi. I got there in the evening so when I arrived at the camp I was staying at it was dark. I settled into my little“banda” (sort of like a little cabin) and went to sleep. When I woke up and saw the view of the lake from my window I about died!I really loved Lake Naivasha and the camp where I was staying. I was up on a hill overlooking the lake but the camp went all the way down to the lakeside. The restaurant and camping area are in a big grassy lot and are surrounded by huge trees. At night hippo come up and there is an electrical fence to keep people safe. (Hippos are the most dangerous animal to humans in Africa!). There are beautiful birds, storks and black faced monkeys as well as colombus monkeys running around. I could have easily spent a week here.I really wanted to get into nature and hike. So I headed to Hells Gate National Park, which was just up the road from where I was staying. I hired a guide, George, who was wonderful! Hells Gate does not really have any predators so people can walk and bike through the park (which is rare in National Parks in Africa). The park was stunning and I saw lots of animals close up here as well. There is a baby white buffalo (an albino buffalo and I think the first one recorded in Kenya) that was born here last year but unfortunately we did not see it. I hope to see it next time! We walked through the park, which was nearly deserted of any other tourists, and George gave me lots of great information. Then we hiked down into and through an amazing gorge. It reminded me a lot of the Southwest. If the rocks had been red it could have been Sedona! It was tons of fun and really what I had been looking for, a day in nature! (I miss the NM mts. and hiking!!)The day in Hells Gate was my favorite day of the trip!!!It was nice to see more of the country. I came away certain I would like to live somewhere with more accessible nature and hiking. I also realized a lot about where I live in Ukambani (the land of the Kamba people). It is REALLY dry here, people are much worse off economically than other areas and it is less Westernized. I think in many ways people are friendlier here to Muzungo’s because they aren’t as used to us and because they probably haven’t been as exploited by white people as in other areas. I am fairy sure that in all of Eastern Province there really isn’t any tourist destination which brings in money and foreigners.Don’t get me wrong, I met really great people in the GRV and in general I would say Kenyans are super nice and friendly people. But I got a sense that maybe they were more cautious (with good reason) of white people, especially in Naivasha. This may be because they get lots of tourists there. Imagineall these foreigners coming and enjoying the lake, fishing, hiking and touring the national parks when most Kenyans can never afford to do these things. The parks have three rates: tourist, resident (which I am considered) and citizen. However, for most parks you need a car to get into and most Kenyans do not have one and cannot afford to hire someone to take them in even if they have the money to pay the fee. As well there are large flower companies that are ruining the environment by diminishing the lake and causing much havoc to the animals in it. These large companies are owned by foreigners or white Kenyans and they are notorious for exploiting their workers. So, it makes sense that the locals may be a bit cautious of foreigners.I also noted how most of my contact in Kitui is with people of the Akamba tribe. While traveling I was meeting people of many different tribes. Many things that I have come to assume is typical of Kenyans I now realize may be more a characteristic of the Akamba people. There is much tribalism in Kenya, which is at the heart of most of the political problems here. People tend to stick to their people and tribes. To put it into perspective, before the British came here and“colonized” Kenya, it was just land with people from many different tribes (more than 10 major tribes). So, imagine each country in Europe with their different languages and culture suddenly being brought together as one big country where everyone has to live happily together. One can imagine there would be problems. It was nice to learn more about the different tribes and I continue to be awe-struck by the Masai people. At one point this Masai man got on a matatu wearing a suit and carrying his “stick” (sorry do not know the proper name for it, it is like a club that denotes that he is married). He has his earlobes stretched, although he is not wearing earrings but does have a beaded bracelet on. Next to him is a Masai man with a Masai cloth “skirt” and with a machete on his belt. All of this next to other people wearing jeans and Western clothes. I doubt I will ever get bored of Kenya!So, now I am back in Kitui and I start back to work tomorrow. The kids start returning and I will be back in full swing in no time! I wanted to let you all know that I often try to call the States, but have had a really hard time this month with my phone calling system. It is just completely touch and go if it works. I am still optimistic that I will get some visitors one of these days! Kenya is wonderful! Keep me posted if you are thinking of planning a trip and I can help. Also, I will need some advance notice so that I can make sure I save vacation time!!