First Day

Well I’m just ending my first day in Nairobi. I arrived this morning and three AIESEC Daystar members there to pick me up. They were super nice, and told me about their country as we drove into the city. We stopped to change some money and then they took me to the office of the Humanist Centre of Kenya, where I met Ken and Ben. I was met there by Brenda, another AIESECer and we talked for quite a while and she wrote out some Swahili phrases for me. Then Ben took us to see the school where I will be working. We talked with the teachers and made some plans (I’ll probably go more into this next week).

Then we met back up with Sylvia. I had given her 1500 Kenyan Shillings to get me a cell phone. Sounds like a lot, eh? Well that 1500 shillings became a brand new phone, a sim card and 100 shillings of credit with 100 shillings change at the end. The total in Canadian dollars? About $22. Not bad eh?

We met up with another intern who just arrived a few days ago from China and went to the mall so she could use the wireless.

Nairobi is a very open city. The main roads are paved but the others are not. A lot of people walk and the buses are actually vans called Mutatus that pull off the road when they need to stop. A typical fare is 20 or 30 shillings.

I’ll be staying with Ben, whose house is within walking distance of both the office and the school (though in opposite directions).

So far I would say that Kenyans are very nice and giving people. I’m really looking forward to working with them and seeing what we can accomplish in the next couple months.

Now… I’m about ready to collapse.