There
is so much to catch up on I hardly know where to begin. Last friday we spent in
Nairobi, we toured the Nairobi National Museum first. It was neat. It had rooms
of artwork, photographs and one of the largest
evolution exhibits around! We saw 'Lucy' which is apparently very
famous as being the link between primates and humans. There were lots of
fossils and bones. As well as pictures that were historical in Nairobi and old
toys and ear plugs that they used to stretch their ears with. The snake park was
right outside the National Museum so we walked around and saw all sorts of
snakes, a Nile Crocodile and an American Alligator. We even got to
hold a snake at the end which was awesome! I think it was the Royal Ball
Python.
From
there we went to City Park, aka the Monkey Park. It was here that I got mugged.
It is known as the monkey park because there are tons of monkeys. Before going
into the park we bought two small bags of peanuts each. I was walking with one
bag trying to get it open and realized that I was being followed. I was a
little bit nervous, so when he circled around to my front and came at me I
threw my entire bag of peanuts away and screamed. That lucky monkey grabbed the
entire bag and went to feast. One bag down. A lady standing nearby said that
the monkeys would never do that if there was a man around, but they sense fear
in groups of women. Too bad for me. We went into the park and Candice, the
other girl we were with who had been there once before started feeding them. I
tried to sneakily take my second bag of peanuts out of my bag and was again
trying to get the plastic open when a monkey ran up my back, reached over and
grabbed the bag out of my hands. I am not sure if it was the same monkey or
not, but I was now down two bags of peanuts, and convinced I would never work
with monkeys for a living. We spent a fun hour feeding monkeys as they sat on
our shoulders. There were some kids who came to watch and tried feeding them
also. It was pretty fun!
On
saturday we traveled to Kisii where we met Pastor Robert, Teri and their
family. They have nine kids, three of their own and six orphans. They are
extremely friendly and Teri is a fantastic cook! She has been spoiling us with
lots of chapati. yum! On sunday we went to church with the family. They are
normally there for five hours so one of their son's, Esbon, took us up a bit
after the family. We arrived and they didn't let us sneak in the back, they had
reserved front row seats for us. It was fun to be there as they sang and
danced. When Pastor started the sermon he spoke in english, while another man
spoke in Kisii. They were so animated and dynamic! There were a couple babies
in the service who started crying when they got to close to Rilla or I. I don’t
think they have seen a white person before. After the service they all wanted
to shake our hand.
The
house we are staying at is just down from the town of Keumbu. They do not have
many Mzungu visitors who actually stay in the town, so their experience of us
is mostly just driving by on the matatu’s and buses. This makes it quite the
experience as Rilla and I walk by on the dirt roads in the countryside. There
is a constant chorus of ‘How are you?’ sounding through the hills. This being
one of the only phrases a lot of them know in English. Sometimes we will hear
‘How are you?’ and look up to see kids hiding behind trees. A lot of them shout
‘Mzungu!!’ One time Rilla and I were both taking motorbikes, which is the
easiest and cheapest form of transport from Pastor Roberts house to Keumbu and
one kid let out a huge gasp as Rilla drove by, and then pointed at me and said
‘Mzuuuunnnnngguuu!’as I passed on my bike. It was pretty hilarious.
My
placement is working at the Keumbu Hospital in HIV/AIDs. The first two days
were full of tours and observing. I also went to the Ibenu hospital, saw what
they do there and learned a lot about HIV/AIDs, the stigma that there is and
how it is being treated. It was really interesting. Everyone I have met has
been really friendly and welcoming. On the third day I got to do a lot of the
testing for HIV. We only had one lady who turned out to be positive and I
believe she already knew she was. Sometimes observing is hard because a lot of
it is done in Kisii so I do not understand. They fill me in when they can, but I
am trying to learn some of the language. I am looking forward to more time here
because I am getting more comfortable and more ideas about how I can help. One
thing that struck me while talking with one of the HIV counselors was that they
are not actually paid very well. In fact, he does not eat lunch because he
cannot afford it. Before I leave Nairobi today I am going to buy some snacks so
that they can have at least a little something to eat during the day.
This
weekend has been an extremely incredible experience. We came back to Nairobi on
Thursday, and on Friday morning we left to Naivasha. We got to stop and take
pictures overlooking the Rift Valley, which was a spectacular sight. We then
went to the KCC Slum project, just outside of Naivasha. The KCC slum has 6000
people living in what is not a very big area. A volunteer in 2009 noticed a lot
of the need these people had and started a feeding program and a school for the
kids. We helped to feed them rice, carrots and beans. For some of them this is
the only food they get in a day. The kids were so fun. We played soccer,
t-ball, read to them and jumped rope. We also walked through the slum and met a
group of women who meet as a support group, but also make jewelry out of paper.
The way they roll it up is amazing, the paper ends up looking like beautiful
stone beads.
That
afternoon we went to Hells Gate National Park. It was amazing!! We road bikes
along dirt roads past zebras, gazelle, warthogs, giraffes, ostrich and
buffalo!! We passed a place that was the inspiration for pride rock from the
Lion King, and at the end we went on a hike through a canyon that had a small
stream running through. Part of the movie Tomb Raider was filmed in this
canyon. There was also a place where the water ran down super hot because it
was warmed by geothermal vents.
On
Saturday we began by packing flour and cooking fat into plastic bags. We then
went to the Vumilia IDP Camp. IDP stands for internally displaced persons.
These are people who used to have work and good homes, but after the violence
in Kenya in 2007 were placed here by the government. It was only supposed to be
for a short time but they have been there for four years now. They live in
small tents which are extremely hot inside. There are about 100 people living
at this IDP camp. We played with the kids and visited a couple of the families.
There was one lady who was 100 years old and blind. It was nice to be able to
hand out the food which will hopefully feed them for a week.
That
afternoon was the hardest of the weekend. We went and visited the Gioto Grabage
Slum. This is a dumping site for the waste of Nakuru. There are people who have
been living here for years. They were forced out of their homes and had nowhere
else to go. It is a huge pile of waste and it was so hard to see people, as the
dump trucks unloaded waste, searching through it for food and anything else
they could use. Words cannot describe how terrible it was there. It stunk,
there were flies, pigs and birds everywhere, and it was so dirty. We visited
one lady in her shelter. She had been living there for 30 years and was
supporting 10 grandchildren, her four daughters had left and she didn’t know
where they were. They lived in the smallest shelter and we were told that when
it rains the water just runs right through their home. We heard some very sad
stories about some of the people living there. The men are usually gone and
drunk. The women work hard to try to provide for their children. Many of them
make bags and jewelry with things that they find to try to make a living. It
was very beautiful and impressive what they were able to create! We gave them
food and then they sang a song and did a dance for us. When I get home I want
to save to send one of the children to boarding school so they can get an
education and away from that place. No one should live in those kinds of
conditions, and no child should have to grow up there! This place is not
recognized by the government so three years ago government officials came and
kicked them out, destroying their homes and sending them to the streets. When
they left, the people went back to the slum because it is stability for them.
They have learned how to survive and do not know anything else. There are over
600 people living here. It was very sad.
That
evening, in extreme contrast to what we had seen earlier that day, we went for
dinner at a place called Carnivore in Nairobi. It is a place known for exotic
meats. It was extremely nice and we got to try turkey, chicken, pork, beef,
ostrich meatballs, ox balls, crocidle, lamb, local goat sausage and camel. It
was a lot of meat!! My favourite was the ostrich meatball and the pork I think.
Yesterday
we were lucky enough to join Christabel and her youth group on a trip to the
fourteen falls, just outside of Thika. It was beautiful!! We had a guide lead
us across the top of the falls in a chain so we knew where to step and didn’t
fall in. The rocks were really slippery. They then took us to a place where
Rilla, Justin and I cliff jumped. It was about 12-15 meters high! They took us
under a waterfall and then one guy took me up to another ledge which he said
was 20 meters up! It was scary. But awesome!! None of the Kenyans did it
because they do not know how to swim. Some of them came in the water but you could
tell they had not spent much time at all swimming. We took a little boat across
at the bottom and then joined the group for a talk and a game of soccer. It was
a really fun day! It was funny though because they all wanted a picture with
us. When we were getting ready to leave they took us for one last photo session
in front of the falls. They took pictures of all the boys with us standing,
then knealing, one of the girls with us, one of everyone with us, one with a
couple of them and us, etc. Wow…I felt famous. But eventually was able to sneak
away to the van! On the way home as I tried to sleep one guy apparently fell in
love with me. He convinced Christabel, who I was sitting beside, to change
seats with him and the stinker actually moved. So the last hour and a half was
spent talking with him. After he said he was so happy to get to know me and
that he will be missing me terribly. Oh boy I was happy to get off the van.
Today
we leave for Nairobi. I will try to update more often so that you do not have
to read a novel of a post. But this week has just been so exciting I didn’t
want to miss anything!!
Kiersti
out.
