Holiday In Zanzibar

Zanzibar was amazing! Extremely hot, but amazing! For those who don't know, Zanzibar is an island that is part of Tanzania. I went with one of the other girls in the program and then met up with a small group of more students in the MSID program later. We rode a bus from Nairobi to Mombasa and then flew from there to Zanzibar. As we landed, I could see tons of palm trees and beaches with clear aqua water, I knew it was going to be a great vacation! The first day, Emily and I walked around Stone Town, which has many old buildings. The architecture was really interesting-it's a mixture of African and Arab influences. That night, we stayed at St, Monica's hostel which was the site of a slave market. In the basement of the building we were in, were chambers that slaves were kept in, and a cathedral near that building stands where the slave market used to be. We got to take a tour for free since we stayed there. The chambers were very small with only one very small window-not much ventilation at all-it reminded me of what a cellar looks like and 75 men were crammed into one of the chambers while 50 women and children were in the other-they stayed there for 3 days without food or water. It was really hard to actually believe that people could be treated so horribly, even as we were standing in the chamber. The cathedral was beautiful! Hopefully, I'll get some pictures up soon of it! The next day Emily got on a dala dala, which is essentially a pickup truck with an extended truck bed with a bench on each side for people-the record was 28 adults and 1 baby! We were quite squished! We rode that for 2 hours to Kendwa, which is at the Northern end of the island where there are a lot of beach resorts. We spent the next 2 days relaxing at the beach, exploring the area and going into the village to see the great difference between the lives of those living in the village and those just vacationing there at the resorts, and snorkeling. One night, we even cooked on a small charcoal cooker at one of the residents homes so we wouldn't have to buy dinner at the resort restaurant. After 2 days, Emily and I went back to Stone Town for 2 days to check out a few museums, shop, and take a spice tour. The spice tour was great! We got to see how various spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla are grown and also got to taste a lot of the fruit that is grown in Zanzibar-pineapple, mango, bananas, oranges, marmalade oranges, starfruit, jack fruit, and some others that I can't remember the names of. Our tour guide also took us to see an old Turkish bathing house used by one of the Sultan's of Zanzibar wife and a cave where slaves were hidden before being shipped out after Britain abolished slavery. Now I'm in Mombasa for about 6 hours and then our bus will leave in the evening back to Nairobi. I feel very relaxed after the last few days in Zanzibar and am so excited to be going back to Minnesota to the cold! The heat is quite intense-You pretty much just sweat 24 hours per day and in Zanzibar there was barely ever electricity so the ceiling fans in our rooms didn't work and cold water was very hard to come by! Nairobi is much cooler, though, so I'll be feeling much more human and clean by tomorrow morning!! :)

I'll be home for Christmas...

Surprise! My plane leaves Nairobi on Dec 16th! I was really feeling like my time here was over as the semester was coming to an end and felt completely satisfied with the experience. After my host mom in Meru kind of went a bit crazy one night after seeing our househelp with her arms around my host dad, I figured that was my cue to leave. It was a very uncomfortable situation and I wouldn't be able to go back living with them next semester and I couldn't really go back to my internship because relatives of my host family work there and it would be really awkward, so I am going to be going back to the U Spring Semester! Im very excited to get home! I'm leaving for Zanzibar tonight for about 5 days to relax after completing the MSID program!! :)

Thanksgiving in Kisumu

The Thanksgiving celebration in Kisumu was great! It was a short trip, but it was well worth it! We really had a feast!-fruit salad, vegetable salad, green beans, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner roles, pasta salad, jello salad, banana bread, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and of course turkey. The day before our dinner, one of the guys in my program killed the turkey and then one of the host moms plucked the feathers for us. We had a total of about 30 people at the dinner, 15 of them being MSID students. All of the students got together and worked as a team to prepare everything. It was a lot of work! We were a bit concerned about how everything was going to turn out having to be creative at times, for example making pie tins out of tin foil, but the meal was delicious! Before we ate, we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. I think it is one of the most meaningful Thanksgivings I've ever had. Yesterday morning, I made the 12 hour journey back to Meru by myself. I was nervous about how it was going to be, but it went well. Everyone is so willing to help people out here! I rode a bus to Nairobi and then had to find my way to the place where matatus going to the Mount Kenya region congregate. I asked a lady if she knew where it was and not only did she tell me the location, but she also walked me there and found me a matatu to take. When I arrived in Meru at 9;00 in the evening, one of the ladies on my matatu waited for me to be picked up and so did one of the taxi drivers who happens to be a friend of the founder of Ripples International.

The internship phase for this semester is ending on Friday, so I will be headed back to Nairobi this weekend to take 2 finals and hand in assignments next week. Then I get a 3 week break before the start of the 2nd semester. I'm really excited for that! I need a vacation! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Yesterday, I went to the place where court cases are heard. One of the girls was supposed to have her case heard, but one of the lawyers couldn't make it, so it was postponed all the way to March! My supervisor said that this happens a lot. Some of the cases of the girls at the Tumaini Center are 3 or 4 years old, and they still aren't completed yet! The court compound was much different from the courthouses in America. There were many small brick buildings scattered about the compound for various offices and the court building. When we arrived, court was in session and there were many people smooshed in the room with a cluster of people outside of the door along with a police officer with a large rifle in one hand. Near the building were wooden benches under some trees where others were seated waiting for the next case to be heard. We waited for 2 hours to talk to the prosecutor, but there were so many people waiting to see him, that we just ended up leaving instead of waiting for who knows how long. My supervisor seemed really frustrated, but luckily we didn't go all that way for just the court case, we also did a home visit. From there, we went to the home of one of the girls to ensure that she would be safe when she leaves the center in December. The girl lives with her grandmother on a farm. It was quite a hike, literally, to the house! We followed a dirt path along a very steep hill that was surrounded by trees and various crops. There was also a stream along the way with a waterfall! It's a very beautiful area and it seems so peaceful! I got to meet the girls grandmother and other relatives, and they all seemed very nurturing. It made me feel a lot better about her going home knowing that she has so many people to care for her. 4 cups of tea later, were on our way back to Meru. The grandmother just kept pouring me another glass full, so I just went along with it. I didn't want to seem rude. Last night for dinner I had mashed potatoes and steamed cabbage. It was good, but not exactly the Thanksgiving feast I missed back home! I'm not going to miss out on Thanksgiving festivities though! This weekend I am celebrating it in Kisumu with some of my friends in the program. We're even going to cook a turkey!

Coincidence?...I think not ;)

I heard a Del joke at church on Sunday, I thought it was a pretty good one! Upon seeing a small baby, a young boy asked his mother when the baby would start talking. The mother replied that babies usually start talking around 2. Puzzled, the boy asked, "But why could Job talk when he was born?" The mother asked her son to explain. He answered, "I learned in sunday school that Job cursed the day he was born!" :)

Usually about once a week, I have one of those days when I am more irritable than usual and I just want to go home. I make up my mind that I'm leaving in December! It doesn't last long and then I'm back to my normal self. A few days ago, I was having a day like this. After work, I thought maybe a nice walk would cheer me up. As I was walking down the road, I asked myself if I should leave in December and then I was thinking about how nice and relaxing the walk would be...just then, a guy came up to me, huge machete in hand, and started talking to me. I was terrified for my life, or at least for the loss of my bag! The guy pushing a wheelbarrow in front of me, who was the only other person on that path kind of seemed a bit concerned too and then he turned a corner leaving me alone with the machete guy. He was really nice and just wanted to ask me out on a date! After politely turning him down, I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on to my favorite spot that overlooks the city. You can see mountains in the background and it was a beautiful sunny day, so it was extra nice. I thought, "well at least I have this spot to find some peace." The very next second, a guy said to me, "you shouldn't stand there, murderers hide in the bushes around here, its not safe!" I don't know if those two run ins were supposed to be a sign, but actually I thought it was pretty comical and I felt much better!

Country Roads, Take Me Home...

Yes, John Denver is even in Africa. Yesterday as I walked home, I heard this song blaring from one of the shops. Little things like that always make me feel more at home. Today, I even saw two people wearing Minnesota Twins t-shirts!

Let’s see, it has been a while since I last updated! Last Friday, I went to the class 8 graduation (like finishing 8th grade in America) for one of the four Tumaini girls that go to boarding school here in Meru. It was quite a celebration! There were many speeches encouraging the children to keep working hard as they go on to secondary school (high school) and success stories of past students. Then, all of the parents and guests were treated to cake and heaping plates of food to celebrate the achievement that the kids have made. The cake seems to be kind of a big deal in celebrations here. There is usually a cake cutting ceremony where a group of important individuals, in this case it was the principal, a teacher, and a few of the students, cuts the cake together and pictures are taken.

On Saturday, my host mom took me to a harambe. This is an event where the community pools its resources for a certain cause. The harambe was for the reconstruction of housing and administrative offices for nuns that are affiliated with the church that my host family attends. It was a long process! There was first a catholic service featuring a lively choir with dancers dressed in vibrant blue robes. I really enjoyed the African touch in the service; it wasn’t as boring as I had anticipated! Following the service, a group of women entertained us with dance performances and then there was a series of speeches, which were mostly in Swahili, so I really don’t know what they were talking about, but some of them were pretty long winded! When the speeches concluded, there was a performance by a girls marching band featuring drums, piccolos, and recorders, and then 2 more dance performances. Finally, the main event began! For 2 hours people lined up one by one to put their donations and the donations of various organizations, community groups, and congregations into a basket as a man read out loud into a microphone how much each person was giving. The event started at 9:00 and didn’t finish until 4:00 in the afternoon!

Today for work, I spent the day celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children. We started off the day by joining with other organizations in the area that support children and marched with banners to the venue where the celebration was to be held. It was great to see all of the kids there marching for their rights as they are the ones who have been personally affected by the neglect children’s rights abuses. The ceremony featured many speeches, but this time most were in English. The speeches were very inspirational, especially the address by Mr. Chidi, the founder and CEO of Ripples International. He emphasized that children are largely ignored and left to suffer in silence as people turn a blind eye to them. This is a really big problem in Kenya as even the police for the most part don’t care about protecting children. The police system is so corrupt that without money, officers will do very little to help you out. He said that there are so many people living their lives for the sole purpose of making money to have nice things instead of taking the responsibility to protect those that are unable to protect themselves. I definitely agree with him. Even in America, there are so many kids that are abused and then betrayed by the government as they are lost in the shuffle of all of the children that need care and support. If America is such a rich nation, why is this still continuing to be a problem? I wish you all could see how amazing the girls are at the Tumaini Center! Each one of their lives is so much more valuable than anything that money can buy. Along with the speeches, the kids also provided the entertainment. There were songs, poems, dances, and skits. The Tumaini girls did 2 dances and a poem. They did a great job! This morning as they practiced before we left, they taught me the dances as well so now I am an expert at Kenyan dancing! I’ll give lessons when I get home ;)

I forgot to mention this in previous posts, but many of the girls are going to be going back home soon- by the end of December for sure so that they can start up the new school year in January. It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to all of them! The three babies are going to be relocated to the New Start Center (the Ripples International baby orphanage and rescue center) for three years so that their mothers can attend school. I hate thinking about them being separated from their mothers and not having the attention that they are used to, but it is for the best and their mothers can and are encouraged to visit them as often as they can.

Being sick abroad = :(

I am happy to report that I made it to work on Monday and felt 100% better! It was only a 24 hour thing, but nonetheless, it was not very fun to go through. Being sick so far away from home was really hard for me. On Sunday afternoon, I was laying in bed in tears wishing my parents were there to take care of me. I had a fever and felt absolutely miserable! If there was a plane outside of my house flying to America, I would have jumped on it without even a second thought! I prayed that God would strengthen and comfort me; I felt really alone in my suffering. Almost immediately, I fell asleep and when I woke up an hour later, I still felt really sick, but I felt well rested and completely at peace. The house was quiet (which rarely ever is true of my household!) except for the faint sound of of dishes being washed in the kitchen and saxophone music playing from the radio-like what my mom listens to sometimes! I closed my eyes and it seemed like I was at home! The rest of the night was fine, I woke up around 3 am and realized that I wasn't sick anymore! :) God is truly faithful, never leaving us, even when we are suffering!

My internship is going very well! I am spending a lot of time with the girls as my supervisor has been really busy with meetings and training this week. I have been doing a lot of reading, singing, and playing hide and seek! Yesterday, they taught me how to make dolls from just scraps of fabric. They really like singing and learning songs from me-everyday they show me that they remember parts of them even with the small amount of English that some of them know. I've been teaching them 'This Little Light of Mine', the "Don't let Satan 'whoowh' it out!" part is their favorite! I love all of the girls, but I am especially fond of Mercy who is around 9 or 10 years old. She is so eager to show me what she knows, especially in reading and math-yesterday she and I read together for 2 hours! I was really impressed by her reading ability! I could tell that she loved having one on one time with me. Today I found out that she has been at the center for a year and she is an orphan-when she got to the center, she had never gone to school and didn't even know how to hold a pencil! I was amazed! She has made great progress in just a year!

Miscellaneous/trip to the countryside

-Occasionally, I see things that make me think, "Yep, I'm definitely not in America anymore!" Last Sunday on my way to church, I saw a goat on top of a car! How it got there is a mystery to me. One of its goat buddies was near the car, so maybe he had something to do with it... On my way to work one morning, I spotted a donkey laying upside down in a really steep ditch furiously kicking its legs trying to flip over. I felt bad for the poor thing, but it was pretty comical!

-The three most played artists that I have heard here are Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, and Dolly Parton; quite an interesting combination!

-I am now hooked to 'Storm over Paradise.' It's a Spanish soap opera with voice overs in English, which don't exactly match up with the characters. My family watches it every night. At first I didn't know how I was going to endure 16 weeks of it, but now around 8:00, I am eagerly anticipating what Maura will do next and wondering if Nicolas will find out that Aymar is pregnant with his child! It's sad, I know, but I just can't help myself!

-There has been an addition to our household. The 4 year old daughter of our temporary house help, Lydia has been staying with us for the last week. Christine is kind of wild, but she keeps Zahura entertained so that I can do my homework. The two of them are so cute! Last night they were 'fixing' my hair. It felt like they were just pulling it, but they were having too much fun for me to stop them.

-The process of buying meat here is interesting. A huge chunk of meat hangs from a hook in a small non-refrigerated Plexiglas room. When you tell the seller how much you want, he saws a piece off with an actual handsaw! Last night as I was cutting up the meat, I disgustedly thought about how it was a miracle that I haven't gotten sick yet...and then around midnight, the miracle ended! I'm still feeling pretty bad, but hopefully with getting a lot of rest today, I will be able to go to work tomorrow.

On Friday night, I went with my host mom to the small medical facility that she runs in the countryside when she is not working at the nearby hospital or at their 6 acre farm. It looks really sketch, especially with the lack of any sign outside of the building labeling what it is and there are no licenses for operation to be found, but my host mom seems to know what she is doing. There is a bench constituting the waiting room next to a small office for seeing patients. There is a table and two chairs in there, and that's all there is room for! There is also a back room separated by a curtain where numerous medications and medical supplies are kept. This facility is part of a larger building where there is a salon and grain store. My mom introduced me to all of her friends who were either working or just hanging out. Of course, there was a guy there that wanted to marry me, I'm used to this now. While my mom was finishing up her work, she told me to go with him to see the river. I wasn't too happy about this, but I grudgingly went. It turned out to be an adventure! The path there was pure mud, and I was wearing flip flops...pretty much the worst choice of footwear! I thought I was going to be covered from head to toe with mud, but I came out of it relatively clean, at least from the knee up! The river looked like a river...dark water rushing over rocks, and the greenery around it was bright green and flourishing, it was a beautiful sight!

Orphanage visit

I really enjoyed spending the day at the orphanage yesterday! There are 31 babies there between the ages of newborn and 3 years old. They were all so cute! I think I am going to be working there on Saturdays now. There are only about 5 staff people caring for the babies at a time, so its kind of crazy there as they all want attention! After work, I was kind of sad because I was thinking about all of the love and attention those babies are missing out on with not having parents. In the 5 years that the center has been running, 88 babies have been rescued, but only 7 of them have been adopted. At the age of 3, the children are moved to a different orphanage with a partnering NGO. I had a minor melt down when I got home, luckily noone was really around! Although it is hard sometimes thinking about the hardships the children face, I am so glad that I was placed with Ripples!

Yesterday, I went to a boys boarding school for high school students with my host sister. Susan's friend is the principal there, and he invited us to come to the school and watch the drama performances that the boys had prepared as a competition between the dormitories. He picked us up in town and then we drove to the countryside. The dirt road had turned into a muddy mess from all of the rain. It looked like it was only suitable for a tank or a 4 wheel drive pickup at the very least! I thought we were going to have to get out and push the car, but we made it. The categories of the performances were narrative, play, solo and group chorals, and dance. I was really impressed with their work! It was the first time that they had ever performed on stage, but many of them seemed like they really knew what they were doing. The subject matter was also impressive. They covered issues such as public health, the challenges girls face in education, and government corruption. The Meru dances were my favorite. Some of the girls at the Tumaini Center have been teaching me some Meru dance moves, so it was interesting to see a whole dance. Today, Susan and I went to church together where many of the people that work for Ripples International attend. The founder gave the sermon today. The girls are also taken there as well so it was good to see them! They seemed pretty bored though because most of the 3 hour service was in English and many of them don't really know all that much English. I have really been motivated to learn Swahili better so I can communicate with the girls better and also the community when the organization does community outreach projects. This week, I am going to lead one of the morning devotions in Swahili. I think it is going to take a long time to prepare for it because first I have to write down everything that I want to say in English and then translate it into Swahili. Hopefully my family will help me out with it! I'm sure they will, they are so good to me. My mom wakes up early every morning to make me lunch to have at work. She also makes sure that I always have socks on and wear a jacket out because she doesn't want me to get sick because of the 'cold' Everyone here is so concerned that I am cold, but the temperature is perfect here. It feels like its around 75-80 degrees.
More about my internship...
I am working 40 hours/week mon-fri, so I am at the center from 7:45 to 5:00. The staff actually works on Saturday as well, but that is just too much for me especially since we are only required to work 25 hours/wk for the MSID program. This week, I spent time getting to know the girls. In the morning, they have class, so I watched the 3 babies. One of the days I helped out in the class where some of the girls are learning to sew clothes. They taught me how to measure and cut out a dress, and they tried to teach me how to use a manual sewing machine, but for some reason, I just couldn't figure it out! They make it look so easy! Before this experience, I didn't even know manual sewing machines existed, I never really thought about it I guess. On Friday, I came up with a list of all of the things that I would be interested in helping out with, so now I am going to start working on that, but I am hoping to have more time to spend time with the girls too as the girls that stay at the home are done with class at 2:00 and then they just have free time. Tomorrow, I am going to the baby orphanage for the day to see what they do there. I'm really excited for that! :)

My first week in Meru

Hi there! Meru is great! My family is a little different from what I was told before I came here. The family just has one cat and she stays in the entryway part of the house. One of my host sisters is working in Nairobi and I have 2 host brothers, but they live in a separate house that is literally right next to the main house, but I never see them. So it is just me, my host parents,the househelp, my 26 year old host sister, Susan, and her 2 year old daughter, Zahura. Zahura is so cute! She always has a lot of hugs for me and she recites poems and sings songs for me. She's almost 3 and talks a lot, but she doesn't know much english, so all I have to go on is the little Swahili that I know. I am really enjoying Zahura, but she could use a visit from that Nanny 911 Lady! When she doesn't get her way, she screams and cries until they give in to her. My family has been really welcoming and I am feeling very comfortable in their home already. Although Meru is an urban area, it doesn't really feel like it because their house is tucked away on the outskirts of the city and is surrounded by small farms with tall banana trees everywhere. It's really green here and the view is beautiful. In the distance you can see mountains and rolling hills. For my internship, I am working at Ripple International's Tumaini Center which offers counseling, schooling, legal services, and housing for young girls, up to 17, who have been abused. There are 12 girls living at the house with 3 babies, 3 of the girls are now mothers and one of them is pregnant. The girls are great mothers, you can tell that they really love their children. It just doesn't seem possible to me that a 12 or 13 year old can be a mother, then reality kicks in when I see them breastfeeding their babies. It's hard to think about what their lives and the lives of their kids is going to be like. It's great that they are able to get support from Ripples International, but I know that there are many other girls just like them that aren't recieving any kind of support for the abuses that they have endured. There are also 8 girls that come to the center during the day to be trained in how to sew and do beadwork so that they can earn an income. The girls are so full of joy despite what they have gone through in their young lives. They teach me songs and games and are even teaching me a little bit of the Meru language. There isn't really a lot of toys to play with, but they are very creative! Yesterday, we reenacted the birth of Jesus...I got to be Joseph! Tea time is highly valued here, I am now averaging about 6 cups of tea a day. I have also gotten used to eating sugar cane. The texture is like what I would imagine eating a piece of wood would be like and it tastes sweet like sugar water. I think that's about it for now!

I'm STILL in Nairobi.....

Today I officially finished the classroom phase of my program for the semester! I just had my Swahili final, which was a skit that I and my classmates in the intermediate Swahili class made. It went pretty well, so hopefully we'll get a good grade on it. The rest of the week is for finishing the first drafts of our papers. Its been challenging to work on them because all of my sources and my work are on my computer. In the last 3 days, there has been electricity at my homestay for about 2 hours total. This week my dad is gone to their farm in western Kenya and my mom has been working at the store during the day and then is administering the national exams in the evening, so I've pretty much just been sitting in my room alone in the dark for the last 2 nights until my mom gets home around 9:00. I am getting very anxious to get to Meru! Nothing really too exciting has been going on here, but just thought I'd give a quick update! Oh! and in the last week it has rained quite a bit, which I know is good for the country, but it makes it very difficult to go anywhere. There are very few sidewalks, so I'm either walking through mud or sharing the road with the cars and getting splashed with muddy water. Today its nice and sunny though! :)

On the Farm and Internship news!

On Tuesday,my class went on a field trip to Ngong, which is a Masai town about a 20 min drive from Nairobi. I was really excited to find out where we were going...and then I found out that we were going to a farm. The farm is run by the government and they test vaccines on the animals and also sell milk, eggs, and the animals for human consumption. I thought it was a weird combo as well as did many of the other students. We did get to pet the baby cows and sheep, so it made the trip worth it! They were really cute! We then went to the top of a really steep and rocky hill where there are 6 or 7 windmills that were built with the aid of the Belgium Government. The ride up there was kind of scary, I wasn't sure if our bus was going to make it, but it chugged along and we eventually made it. The view was great! I included a picture, overlooking the cliff is the Masai land where they graze their cattle and have homes. On the top of the hill were evergreen trees that reminded me a lot of the pine trees at home. It was a welcome site! :) After that, my professor took us all out to lunch! All in all, it was a pretty enjoyable day. This Wednesday is my last day of class for the semester! On Sunday, I'll be leaving for Meru and starting my internship the following Monday. I got all of the info about my new host family. I'm a little bit nervous about it, but Im going to hope for the best! It's completely different from my home stay situation in Nairobi! My new family has 2 cats, a dog, a 3 year old grandchild, and 3 kids-2 girls and a boy- that are all around my age, and househelp that is also my age. I won't have my own room anymore, I'll have a shared bedroom. It will definitely be an adjustment!

Field trip and a tour of Kibera

Yesterday, I went on a field trip for the social services course that I am taking here. There are 6 other students in the class as well. We fist went to a school that is run by an NGO in the Mukuru slum. It's actually mostly funded by the Irish government. The school was really great and they are really doing a lot for the community. The school teaches kids from what would be 1st grade all the way up to adults. Primary education is free here, but some kids still aren't able to attend school because they have to have uniforms and books and are also charged a small fee for the operations of the classroom. Some of the adults haven't been to school, so they are starting out right at the beginning. The class rooms were really nice and the kids were so cute! We told them our names and then they told us theirs and a few of the classes also recited songs they had been working on. We then went to a free clinic that is mainly for AIDS patients that is run by the coptic orthodox church. The facility was amazing, they currently have nearly 10,000 patients. The clinic offers free testing, medicine, clinic visits, even a maternity ward. The largest contributer to the clinic is USAID. After class I got in a quick nap and then my neighbor Frank called me and informed me that we were going for a walk, so he showed me around Kibera, which is the second largest slum in the world and its about a 5 min walk from where I'm staying. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before! There were dogs and chickens and goats roaming around all over and there were a ton of booths selling clothes, khangas, shoes, vegetables, fruit, you name it, it was probably sold there! There was also a crazy amount of garbage. I thought that I would be really sad after seeing the conditions of Kibera, but actually, everyone there seems really happy and you can tell that there is a really strong community bond there. The kids were absolutely adorable. When they saw me they chanted "how are you?" and some of them came up to me and shook my hand. Tonight some of my friends and I are going to make tacos for my family. My mom is really excited.

Victory is Sweet, even from Africa!

Yesterday after class, ESPN replayed the Vikings v. Packers game!! I didn't know the result of the game, so it seemed like it was happening as I watched it. My friend Janel, her host brother, and I went to a bar/restaurant here that has a lot of tvs, and they changed the channel for us so that we could watch the game. Watching soccer makes me sad, there's just something missing, so it was a nice change to watch football, and it was a great game! Farvre was looking good in purple ;) As I waited for a cab afterwards, a little boy came up to me and asked for money or food. There were about 6 other boys there too, they all looked like they were no older than 9 or 10. It's so sad to see all of the kids living on the streets, and there are quite a few of them. They look like they really need someone to care for them. Some of them do have homes or have been placed in homes, but they go back to the streets because they think that it is the best way of life for them as they get money and food from a lot of people. It's hard to look at them and not give them anything, but it is just encouraging the continuation of this lifestyle.

Today we only had one class, so I'm spending the day at a coffee shop that has wireless internet to do some research for the 3 papers that are due at the end of this semester,about 35 pages total. It is hard finding current sources here, even at the University of Nairobi, so most of my research is going to have to be done online. I just thought I'd share a picture of the view of Nairobi that is near my house!

Earth Dance was definitely not what I expected, but it was still really fun! When we first got there, the band was just setting up. The singer was an African woman that looked like she was at least 60. She was wearing a really sweet white African gown and head wrap that was embellished with jewels and gold fabric. She started out by saying that we were going to dance for peace and it was all about peace and love and what not. That band kind of had a reggaeish sound to it and then there was a Swahili hip hop artist. I really enjoyed that a lot! Then there were circus performers! I have never seen anything so impressive in my life that the human body can do. One of the acts was a group of 6 men that were crazily flexible. They could spin themselves all the way around from a stationary position and they made a pyramid balancing only on their hands. After that, there was just a dj playing music. On the way home we could see what the land was like in Tanzania as it was dark out when we went through the first time. There were rolling hills of sand with a mountain in the background. Its a really dry area. There were also grass hut homes with sheep and goats around. Along the side of the road, were children begging for water, it was so sad, they looked like they really could have used the water! Going back into Kenya was interesting. Two of the girls that I went with didn't get Visas b/c they didn't want to pay the money. At the border, officers actually came onto our bus and counted how many of us there was and made sure we all gave our passports. One of the men came back a while later with all the passports in one hand, except for two in his other hand. He came onto the bus and said "Kaitlyn and Rebbecca, You have committed an offence!" Right then I thought they were going to jail for sure, but he just told them not to do it again and we were on our way! They didn't even have to pay for the visa! I had my first exam today, Swahili. I think it went pretty well. It was an oral test and all we had to do was pick a topic and then talk about it for 10 minutes in Swahili. The rest of my day was definitely more stressful! On Monday, my ATM card got sucked back into the ATM, so I had to go retrieve it at the main bank of the company. Unfortunately, the bank was KCB, which is a government owned bank here. It was quite a process! When I got to the right window, I saw my card in a folder with some other cards and then the guy took it away and came back and said that I would have to get it from the 4th floor in 3 hours. The MSID staff person that I went with spent 1 hr. talking with people until I finally got it back! The issue was that the person that takes cards to the 4th floor wasn't there and that's why I was going to have to wait 3 hrs!! I'm just glad its over with and I have my card safely with me :) It's a really good example of how the government here is very unorganized and there also isn't a lot of checks and balances in the system. I don't know if its been in the news at home, but the Kenyan gov is really not happy with America right now. They are threatening to send the American ambassador back to America. A few days ago, the US gov. banned some top officials in Kenya from traveling to America, which is a big problem for them b/c they have kids that go to school there and they also have money and investments stashed away in American banks. The US is doing this b/c they see these officials as not working out the issues that led to the post election violence in 2007. My professors have said that the gov. has done nothing to solve the ethnic relations and land issues that people were fighting over, so after the 2012 election, there could very well be much worse violence than in 2007. It's really sad because Kenya has so much potential and resources that everyone could live here comfortably, but instead, the leaders have squandered huge pieces of land and tax money from the Kenyan people. I learned in class today, that if just the money that Kenyan leaders have stashed away could be recovered, Kenya wouldn't need to receive aid for 10 years! The good news though is that younger Kenyans are getting tired of the corruption and they are very optimistic about the future of their country.

Greetings from Tanzania!

Yesterday, we only had one class, so a group of 12 people from the MSID program and I went to Arusha, Tanzania for the weekend! It was quite a bumpy ride! There were some parts that had really good roads, and then others were really rocky dirt roads. The bus ride took about 7 hours. It was great to get out of Nairobi and see the countryside. It was beautiful! There were green mountains, and giraffes right next to the road! Along the way, there were also some small Masai villages, which was really interesting to see. The Masai are an indigenous group in Kenya that were traditionally pastoralists. Many of the Masai there had a lot of piercings and were wearing traditional Masai clothing. The trip kind of got off to a shaky start at Tanzanian border. We were told that the visa would cost $50, but when we got there we found out that it was actually $100. Many of us didn't even have $100 with us and the only ATM there was only for local use, so we were really concerned about what we should do. The bus driver told us to just forget about getting visas and we'd keep going. Luckily we all pooled our money so that most of us could get visas. It feels good to be here legally! ;) We're staying at a really nice hostel here. It has toilets and hot showers and even real pillows! Many of us staying in our home stays in Nairobi just have a piece of foam in a pillow case for a pillow. All for only $15 for 2 nights. There are a lot of European tourist here, mostly from Germany and Britain, Mt. Kilimanjaro is pretty close, so I think that's why there are so many tourists here. Tonight we are going to Earth Dance, which is a Reggae Festival, apparently it doesn't end until 6 am! so that should be interesting!

Me and the Cheetah!

Observations and News

Some random observations that I have noted while here:
-The people in Nairobi dress really nice, the men usually wear suites or at least button up shirts with dress pants
-When I and the rest of the students walk around we here the following: Mzungu! (white person), Hakuna Matata! or Obama!
-Muslims are very dedicated to their religion! There’s a mosque behind my house, and there is always people there praying and talking with each other. I spy on them from my window! It’s really interesting to see what goes on there. There is also a tower next to the mosque with megaphones on it, so the whole neighborhood can hear when they pray I think it’s 5 times a day. The 3 a.m. prayers are definitely NOT my favorite!! A few nights ago, a man prayed for 45 minutes! I think he was just trying to be obnoxious, seriously, who does that?
-Newspapers are the valued literature here. The newspapers are like mini novels! They’re way thicker than American newspapers.
-people generally go to bed pretty early here. I’m usually in bed by 9:45. It gets dark here at about 6:30, so it’s not really safe to be roaming around much past that, I think that has something to do with it.

Some newsworthy events happening here:
-There is a severe drought going on in Kenya. Because of this, the electricity goes off quite a bit because the power is hydroelectric. Many of the people of Kenya are really suffering from the lack of water, especially the pastoralists. Many of their cattle are dying and some communities have even begun raiding other communities for cattle. A few days ago, 32 people in one pastoral community were killed when another group came in to steal their cattle. Some of the Massai herders have even come to Nairobi to graze their cattle on the sides of the road. It’s quite a site! The crops are also not doing very good here and food prices are increasing. Many kids have even had to quit going to school to try to earn money for their families in order to buy food.
-I’m sure this may have been in the news at home, but a few days ago, an important Taliban guy was killed in Somalia by US forces. He organized the attack on a hotel in Mombasa, which is on the coast of Kenya. I didn’t even know that this happened. Normally, if I were at home, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but now those the man was leading have vowed to retaliate. It’s kind of scary to live in the country where the group would probably attack.

Hi there!
Last weekend wasn’t too eventful, but it was relaxing and I got to go shopping! On Friday night, I helped mom cook a vegetarian dinner. I just cut up the vegetables, and she did the rest. It was delic! On Saturday, I went with a few friends to downtown Nairobi. The traffic was really thick as usual, and instead of just waiting with the rest of the cars, the bus drove on the median like it was no big deal! As we continued bumpily along, I was a bit concerned that we were going to tip over, but we made it to our destination safely. We first went to a khanga shop. Khangas are large colorful and decorated pieces of fabric that have a saying on them in Swahili. They can be tied to be worn in many different ways and many women also use them to carry their babies in. I couldn’t find a khanga that I really liked, but I bought a pretty sweet African dress and shirt. I was really excited about my purchases! From there, we went to the Massai Market. The Market is a fenced in open space where people can go to sell stuff on Saturdays. There were a lot of handmade jewelry, purses, sandals, paintings, and khangas. It was really overwhelming! There were a ton of people selling stuff, and because we looked like tourists, we were bombarded with sellers asking us to look at what they were selling and asking for way more money than their products were actually worth. Luckily, one of my friend’s host mom came along with us to make sure that we were getting fair deals. I bought a beaded belt and a bracelet. There were so many interesting things there, I wanted to buy everything! On Sunday, I had my first encounter with washing clothes by hand. I have a new found appreciation for washing machines!! It was a beautiful sunny day and playing around in the water was kind of fun, so I didn’t really mind it. Later on, Mom and I went for a walk and then went to a restaurant that had live music and got mango juice. The band that was there was an accapella group. They were really good! They sang all Swahili songs, so I didn’t know what they were singing about, but it was still enjoyable to listen to. The route that we took on our walk was gorgeous! We passed by palm trees, trees with purple flowers on them, and vine type bushes with pink, orange, and red flowers on them.

Weekend Adventures

I have a big message saved on a zip drive, but the computer that I am at doesn't have a place to plug it in, so hopefully tomorrow I can post that one! This weekend has definitely been interesting. On Friday, we only had one class, so a group of some of the MSID students and I went to an animal orphanage. We saw a lot of baby animals that had been abandoned, mostly monkies and leopards and other cat type animals. I got to pet a cheetah!! My group got to go in the cage with 2 cheetahs, I'm not exactly sure how safe that actually was, but we all made it out alive. That night, we went out dancing, which was really fun until about half of the people in my group realized that their phones were gone. Pickpocketing is a big problem in Nairobi. Luckily I was really careful with my phone, so I still have mine. Then, the next morning, I found out that that night, my host family's store was robbed! There are some really great people in Nairobi, but unfortunately, there is a lot of crime here as well, because of the large disparity between the rich and poor. There are so many people struggling to survive day to day. Yesterday, I went downtown with some of my friends to do some shopping and today I went to church with my host dad and then have just been doing homework, nothing too exciting. Tomorrow we have the day off! because its a public holiday for the celebration of the Muslim holiday Ramadan.

Fight the Power!! ;)

Three days of class in!! It's hard to get back into having class like in high school. We have to be at the school at 8:30 and then we have a two hour class, tea break, then a two hour class, then lunch, and then 1 more two hour class, which ends at about 3:30. Today we got to skip the last class period though! We had 4 hours of Swahili class today, it was pretty intense, but I feel like I am getting better at speaking it. I try to talk to my host mom in Kiswahili, but I mess up a lot! Last night, I went to church with the host family of one of my friends here. Church here is really fun! Everyone is so happy to be there and they have a lot of energy. Afterwards, on the drive home, we got pulled over by the police, which was kind of scary b/c we had just been talking about how the police sometimes pull people over and try to bribe them into giving them money, otherwise the police will take them to jail. The officer talked to the host dad for like a minute and then we were on our way, so everything was fine. The host mom thought it was so funny that we were scared, but the police here do look kind of scary, some of them walk around with their guns out even.

Monday Night

Today we conquered downtown Nairobi, and by conquered, I mean survived!! The vehicle traffic and human traffic are intense!! This is definitely not a good place to be if you have asthma. Walking around your lungs burn and it feels like you just ran a few miles because of all of the air pollution from the cars. We walked around all day in the overwhelming flood of people, and when I got home I was completely exhausted. My mom came home soon after me and we had tea together and watched the Tyra show. I just love her! I couldn’t have asked for a better mom away from home : ) It’s really strange: all of my friends in the MSID program keep talking about how different it is here and how much they miss home, but I find myself noticing the similarities to home. I do miss everyone, but I am really enjoying my time here!

Sunday Evening

Well, I'm pretty much all settled in and am getting to know the neighborhood that I am living in better. My host dad is so cute! Last night, I got to meet him after he was done working at their store. He said "So, you're going to be my buddy for the next few months?" I showed John and Violet pictures from home and then we ate dinner. They eat dinner really late here, usually around 8 or 9. Violet is a great cook! We usually eat rice or ugali (a mashed potato like substance made out of sorghum) with a stew of many different vegetables, spices, and some kind of meat. We have fruit for dessert. Fruit is so much better here! The main fruits available here are bananas, oranges, pineapple, watermelon, mangoes, and passion fruit. This morning, John, Violet, and I went to Nairobi Baptist Church, which is right next to the school that I will be going to and is only about a 15 minute walk. I really enjoyed the service! The band and choir there are amazing! I even knew a few of the songs, so I felt quite at home. Later on, Violet went to the store, so I was at home with John, George, and Michael. We all watched soccer together. It's really strange having brothers. I'm not really sure what to talk to them about, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I forgot to write about this earlier, but I found out what i will be doing for my internship!!!! I will be placed in Meru, which is in the Mount Kenya Region. There, I will be working with a christian organization called Ripples International that rescues and rehabilitates kids from babies to adolescents who have been abandoned for various reasons. The internship is exactly what I wanted, but I know it is going to be very challenging. I know I'm going to want to take all of the kids home with me!

Hi there! I'm back in Nairobi now. It's really nice and sunny now, but today it was freezing! After 6:00 pm and before 7:00 am its pretty chilly here! The temperature is atually really close to Minnesota summer temperature, but its winter here right now. My host family is great!! My mom is so cute! When she arrived at the pick up place she said "Where is my girl?" and then gave me a big hug. When we got to the house, she prayed for us and then showed me around the house. I have my own room, which is really spacious AND I have a queen sized bed!! Upgrade from my own bedroom at home, haha. We then had tea and chatted while listening to American rap music. Kanye West came on and it was so great to hear something familiar from home! One of my host brothers came home and we watched some show that was like sports center together and awkwardly made small talk. Violet told me that he doesn't talk much, to which I said, "That's ok, I don't talk that much either, and I'm scared of boys" She thought it was hilarious...She also thinks its really funny when I talk about Jackson (my dog). Violet and her husband own a small stand that sells credit cards and they also own a small grocery shop. Both of my host brothers live at home too. George is going to college and studying business, and michael works at a bank. I think that's about it for now :)

LAND!!

Hi everyone! I made it to Nairobi last monday at about 7:30 pm. The plane ride was great, but waaay too long! We stayed at a hostel just outside of Nairobi the first night and then went into Nairobi to go to the immigration office and see the city a bit. The traffic is crazy!! Crossing the street is kind of scary b/c there aren't many traffic signs, but in a big group it isn't too bad. From there we went for a 2 hour very bumpy bus ride to Nakuru Park where we have been staying all week. It's beautiful here! The compound is fenced in from the wildlife around the park. The babboons like to hop the fence and try to get into our rooms and the kitchen to get food. They're very amusing! At night, we go for game drives to see all of the animals in the park-giraffes, monkies, rhinos, zebra, water buffalo, snakes, etc. At night, we have also been playing a lot of intense mafia games. There are 32 students in my program, and I am really enjoying spendign time with all of them! Tomorrow, we're going back to Nairobi to meet our host families! I'm really excited, but a little nervous. School starts on Monday... We're at an internet cafe, so I have to make this short. I'll write more details soon!

The Preliminaries...

Hamjambo marafiki!
I will be leaving for Kenya in one week!! There, I will be participating in a study abroad program with Minnesota Studies in International Development with about 30 other students. The first half of Fall semester, I am going to be in Nairobi, and then will go somewhere else for the internship part of the program, which will continue on into Spring semester. Spring semester ends on April 23, and I will be home on the 25th. I don't know how much access I will have to the internet, but I'll try to update fairly often!