Observations and Adventures

Well I’m back again. It’s Tuesday today. I have a few things to talk about, plus my weekend excursion.

First, as promised, food! I’m slowly getting used to a Kenyan diet. The primary staple here is something called Ugali, which is basically just corn flour cooked with water. It’s very cheap, and many of the poorer people eat it at every meal. With it is a vegetable called kale or suki-something. Another popular dish is chipate, which is like a thick, hot tortilla. Nyama Choma is what I had with the Maasai, the meat roasted over the fire. At home, we have been eating rice, potatoes, beef, chicken and beans, usually with some fruit – banana or mango. But the food itself is not what is most interesting, it’s the way it is eaten.

Kenyans, in general, eat with their hands. Before a meal, at home or in a restaurant, someone will bring a basin and a jug of water. The person pours the water into the basin while you wash your hands. Sometimes there is soap in the basin as well. After washing, we eat. Typically, you grab a hunk of Ugali and some Kale with it until everything is done. Then it’s time to wash again, with the jug and basin. At first eating with my hands seemed very weird, but I’m starting to get used to it.

Every day at school we have Ugali and Kale for lunch, sometimes with some fruit. Students who pay a daily fee of 20 shillings eat this as well, or else their parents bring them a bag of lunch. For families, however, cannot afford the 100 shillings a week, and their children have no food. One of the volunteers at the school told be that about 12 students were in this situation of not being able to afford $1.50 for a week of lunches.

The other thing I wanted to discuss is clothes. Most people wear “western” clothes, but some women wear the more traditional African “suit” consisting of a long skirt and blouse with big poofy sleeves, plus a matching head wrap all made from bright coloured fabric. There are also a lot of Muslims here, so many can be seen in the traditional robes and headscarves. Another thing I have noticed is that in the city, most women wear pants, while in Karen and poorer areas, most of the women wear dresses or skirts. I think it is more to do with tradition than cost. All of the teachers at the school wear skirts or dresses every day. I wore a skirt today so I would match, haha. Women’s roles in general are viewed in the “old” way. Women are in charge of the house and the children. Period. At least in the areas to which I have been exposed.

Side story, today as school was let out there was a herd of cattle going down the main street. So there was a herd of cattle followed by a herd of children J

Now, on to my weekend trip! Joyce is the other intern here with AIESEC Daystar. She is from China and is also working three days a week at the same school as me. She has a friend in Rwanda who came last weekend to visit, so they invited me along. On Friday we left school early (such bad teachers!!) to visit the Nairobi National Park Walking Safari. Really it’s more like a zoo, but a nice zoo with many animals. I got some fantastic photos! Lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, albino zebras, hippos, rhinos…. Just no elephants or giraffes. The prices they charge foreigners to get in is outrageous though. Locals - $1.50. Foreigners - $20. Ouch! And I can’t exactly pretend I am Kenyan.

Afterwards we went for dinner and decided to make some plans for the weekend. Joyce wanted to go to see Kilimanjero (sp?), but a Kenyan friend of Joyce’s Rwandan friend, Earnest, said it wasn’t worth it and suggested some alternatives. So, early Saturday morning we headed of to the Rift Valley! We had some amazing views as we entered the valley and then made our way to Hell’s Gate which is a canyon that you can walk through as well as a small safari. Again, they charged us foreigners WAY too much, but at least Earnest got in as a Kenyan. A guide took us through the canyon, which had some seriously hot hot springs and tons of graffiti from past tourists. From Hell’s Gate we went to Lake Naivasha and rented a boat. We saw some local fishermen and lots of hippos!! The scenery was gorgeous. After the lake we headed to Nakuru for the night, where we went out for dinner and I had a shower with running water, yay! Be warned, though, about ordered western food at a small Kenyan restaurant. I ordered Macaroni and Cheese because I hadn’t had pasta since I arrived (it’s really not common) and ended up with a plate of noodles covered in cheese :P

The next day we headed off to Hyrax Hill, and archeological site excavated my Mary Leakey. It’s a multiple occupation Neolithic site and they had a small museum of artefacts there, as well and a former lookout spot that provided a great view of the area. Then it was off to Thomson Falls for some more pictures. A few hours later we were back in Nairobi. I took a matatu back down Ngong (my street) to discover that my host family was out. So I started walking around just to kill time and met up with a girl from class 4 and some of her friends. They invited me to walk with them and asked me lots of questions. I asked to take their picture and they agreed eagerly, and then wanted to take pictures themselves. I don’t think any of them had used a camera before, because I ended up with some very funny photos of hands and feet and halves of heads. The girls then invited me back to their homes, which I hesitantly accepted. I didn’t want to be rude and reject their invitation, but I also know that their families are very poor and I didn’t want to be a burden. So I went to their home – a very small building made of corrugated metal – in a compound of the slums. I was welcomed by the parents, who, as expected, offered me tea and biscuits, which I accepted minimally. The father was a preacher and tailor, and he told me of coming to Nairobi recently to start a church but that it was very hard. I think he was hoping I might donate some money, and asked for my contact.

One that subject, I had an interesting chat with Ben last night about Hope Streams, my school. He said that back when the project was just an idea, community members were saying “we get a lot of white visitors here. Maybe they can help us build the school” and Ben told them that if they wanted to build a school, they had to do it themselves and work together. They had to make their own plan and raise their own money and not wait for other people to give it to them. I really support this view. Though sometimes I still feel a little pressured to help out financially, I am already donating my time and my knowledge to the project, and I think that is already a lot.

Back to the other story… the girls were really excited to have me visit their house, even if I felt a little uncomfortable. After the first stop I made a short visit to one of the teachers who lives in the same compound. She, too, offered me tea and snacks. The entire house was full of children who had followed us to see what was happening with this Mzungo. The young children continued to ask “Howa Yu” and wanted to hold my hand. The very small children were scared of me, haha. After the visit it was dark, so two of the women and a small army of Children walked me home. It must have been quite the sight!

Since then the girls have come to the school to say hi in the afternoons (they are a little older, so they go to other schools). So apparently I have some new friends! I don’t mind spending some time with them, because I can ask them questions about school and their lives, which is really interesting, but I hope they do not come every day!

My apologies for the lengthy post (though anyone who has read my other blogs should know I tend to do that a lot). I thought I should write things down before I end up having to write a book. I’m still learning a lot every day and feeling more comfortable, though I still feel like my hosts and the other teachers treat me differently.

This weekend I am going to the elections of AIESEC Daystar, so it will be nice to spend some time with the AIESECers again.

OK, I’ll shut up now.