So much to say.
I believe in this last week and a half I have brought new meaning to the phrase "Work hard play hard". My life has been crazy and exciting.
I have to go all the way back to last monday. On monday I left the farm by 8:30am. We drove an hour and thirty minutes up north towards Kitale. After our car almost falling into a river I got to a house with chairs set up under a tree. Then for the next 4 hours I taught 20 people the basics about HIV. I managed to get the whole group talking and at one point chanting "NO CURE" over and over with me. I had a blast. We then had to drive all the way back to the farm. The next day they moved me to a church where we were all more comfortable. At one point on that first day I looked out and saw all the women balancing their books on their heads to keep the sun out of there eyes. The best part about the church was standing at the front of the class with a duffle bag filled with wooden penises. There was also a rambunctious chorus of penis and vagina from my shy kenyan women and men respectively. Again, I am having fun.
My first group was suppose to be from Mon to Fri but I asked them if we could take friday off as I am a very busy person with things to do and people to see. They agreed. On thursday night we went for yamajoma and a ton of Simba cane spirit. During the night we had a very peculiar run in with a jungle prostitute as we have named her. What a night. Friday morning we relaxed and then took off for Uganda at around 12. As soon as we crossed the border people got more serious and all the lovely kenyan smiles went away. There was also much more military presence. By 5:30 I found my self with a cold beer over looking the Nile. I couldn't have been happier. The night was filled with good beer and great conversation. The six of us shared on beautiful room. Too bad we gave the couple the loft. We all had our Ipods on the next night.
The Saturday was so much fun. We were rafting on the Nile by 10am. I was in the front of the raft for the first part of the day. I loved it. I think in total we flipped about three or four times. We also had to lovely doctors in ours raft from the UK. We hung out with them for the rest of the weekend. We also had a great lunch which was snadwiches and potato salade. The best part about lunch was, wait for it, wait for it, CHEESE! Yes, I went to Uganda and found cheese. Kenyans just don't understand. This was my first taste of cheese since entering Africa. After a full day of rafting we had a full night out. We met up with american soldiers that I have to admit fit all of my stereotypes. One of the highlights for me was telling one of the UK doctors to propose on a speed bump instead of a mountain.
The next morning we were a pretty sorry bunch of sunburnt, hungover bruised people. I myself have never felt some of those muscles before. In this sorry state we wondered back to the Nile and I dragged Eilene bunge jumping with me. I was so scared. We did a tandem jump so we were tied together. Alistair has an amazing video of it. I can't wait to show anyone that is interested.
Our Matatu ride back to Kenya was pretty horrendous and involved a live chicken. It is now Wednesday and I have just gotten over that trip. I was exhausted. On Monday I gave my first session their test. They all passed except for the pastor. They mostly got As. I felt awesome.
I started a new group on Tuseday. This groups is going to be very different. When I asked them to introduce themselves and say why they had come it was intense. At least three people were taking this program in order to have the courage to go and get tested. Many other stood up and said that they hads lost children to the disease. That was only the first session. I feel like the pressure is on.
I am haunted by the fact that my ICODEI time is running out. This weekend we are hanging out around the farm and bungoma town in order to say goodbye. I leave next Saturday. WOW.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Work is cracking my heart wide open.
It has been quite the week.
The week was pretty intense work wise. The week was also intense because we all took turns getting a little bit sick. For Monday and Wednesday I went and helped out in the outpatient HIV clinic in Bungoma town. It was absolutely fascinating and heart breaking. I saw things and facial expressions that will stick with me for a long time. The Monday alone almost brought me to tears a couple times. The thing that affects me the most is the children. The picture of a three month old in the hands of a twenty two year old mother was almost to much for me. Again I seem to be unable to quite put the experience into words.
For all of Thursday and Friday I launched myself into studying and preparing the Empower Program which I start teaching on Monday. There is a lot of information that I need to be really comfortable with before I start teaching HIV/AIDS awareness. I am so excited to start. The training lasts for six sessions. I will get the opportunity to teach two groups before I leave ICODEI.
Right now I am in Kitale which is 2.5 hours away from Bungoma. We head to Mt Elgon tomorrow for cave exploration. We bought a bottle of wine for tonight so that we can celebrate Valentines Day polygami style which is Alistair and four girls.
We said goodbye to Dave last night. We went out for a great meal that we finally sat down to eat at about 10pm. The highlite of the night was the trip home. The Resort promised to drive us back, but we had no idea what we were in for. It ended up being a pick up truck with metal bars around it. With us standing in the back the trip quickly became more exhilerating then the motorcycle rides.
Fun is being had by me.
The week was pretty intense work wise. The week was also intense because we all took turns getting a little bit sick. For Monday and Wednesday I went and helped out in the outpatient HIV clinic in Bungoma town. It was absolutely fascinating and heart breaking. I saw things and facial expressions that will stick with me for a long time. The Monday alone almost brought me to tears a couple times. The thing that affects me the most is the children. The picture of a three month old in the hands of a twenty two year old mother was almost to much for me. Again I seem to be unable to quite put the experience into words.
For all of Thursday and Friday I launched myself into studying and preparing the Empower Program which I start teaching on Monday. There is a lot of information that I need to be really comfortable with before I start teaching HIV/AIDS awareness. I am so excited to start. The training lasts for six sessions. I will get the opportunity to teach two groups before I leave ICODEI.
Right now I am in Kitale which is 2.5 hours away from Bungoma. We head to Mt Elgon tomorrow for cave exploration. We bought a bottle of wine for tonight so that we can celebrate Valentines Day polygami style which is Alistair and four girls.
We said goodbye to Dave last night. We went out for a great meal that we finally sat down to eat at about 10pm. The highlite of the night was the trip home. The Resort promised to drive us back, but we had no idea what we were in for. It ended up being a pick up truck with metal bars around it. With us standing in the back the trip quickly became more exhilerating then the motorcycle rides.
Fun is being had by me.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Hippos and nightlife
Hi
Just in case you didn't know, I am loving it here.
Last weekend we went and lived the highlife in Kisumu. We left early on the saturday after a really nice night of goat,beer and dancing. The place we stayed at was called "Sooper Guest House". We definitely took a picture of the sign because we liked the spelling so much. The place was really clean but most importantly it had hot showers (when the electricity was working). We pretty much thought we were in heaven. It was my first none bucket shower since I have been here. We dumped our stuff and then went for delicious fresh fried Talapia. Angela and I also tried to ride a camel but the camel ran away before we had a chance.
After lunch we were on route to hippos. We took a little three wheeled Tuk Tuk which was new to me. Alastair almost fell out but we tried to hold on to him. I forgot to mention that all five of use took our personal bike taxis (boda boda) to the guest house. We were all about new forms of transportation. We finally got to Hippo point. I must say that we did some fantastic barganing and then hop into the boat. For a while we were a little confused and thought that hippo was some sort of code word for naked people because all we saw were people bathing. Apparently there use to having tourists watching them bath, or so said our captain. All five of us just really enjoyed being on a boat. So relaxing. On the way back, that was when we saw the hippos. They are so weird looking. The have amazingly little ears. We actually got to see one stand up and yawn. How annoying would I be if I said "You haven't lived until you see a hippo yawn"? Annoying, eh.
After all the fun with the hippos it was time for group napping. That night we were pretty determined to find live music. Boy did we ever succeed. We ended up at this place called Bomas. Not only was the music good but we were shocked at how these kenyan men can girate. We were the only white people there. Right before we left they dedicated a song to us. Surprise surprise it was an Obama song. I have now heard three different songs about Obama. It is also a common greeting. People will come up to us and just say Obama. We have started replying with "He's my brother".
The next day we went to the huge Kisumu open air market. We stuck very closely together because there were so many people. We didn't buy anything, but it was a complete cultural experience. I saw a woman holding her child in one hand and a live chicken in the other.
Next weekend we are going to the extinct volcano Mt Elgon. We are going to go clambouring around in caves with a small chance of seeing elephants. We are also celebrating Dave's last night on Friday.
As an end note I am also running away from Valentines day. My life as managed to get dramatic even over here.
Just in case you didn't know, I am loving it here.
Last weekend we went and lived the highlife in Kisumu. We left early on the saturday after a really nice night of goat,beer and dancing. The place we stayed at was called "Sooper Guest House". We definitely took a picture of the sign because we liked the spelling so much. The place was really clean but most importantly it had hot showers (when the electricity was working). We pretty much thought we were in heaven. It was my first none bucket shower since I have been here. We dumped our stuff and then went for delicious fresh fried Talapia. Angela and I also tried to ride a camel but the camel ran away before we had a chance.
After lunch we were on route to hippos. We took a little three wheeled Tuk Tuk which was new to me. Alastair almost fell out but we tried to hold on to him. I forgot to mention that all five of use took our personal bike taxis (boda boda) to the guest house. We were all about new forms of transportation. We finally got to Hippo point. I must say that we did some fantastic barganing and then hop into the boat. For a while we were a little confused and thought that hippo was some sort of code word for naked people because all we saw were people bathing. Apparently there use to having tourists watching them bath, or so said our captain. All five of us just really enjoyed being on a boat. So relaxing. On the way back, that was when we saw the hippos. They are so weird looking. The have amazingly little ears. We actually got to see one stand up and yawn. How annoying would I be if I said "You haven't lived until you see a hippo yawn"? Annoying, eh.
After all the fun with the hippos it was time for group napping. That night we were pretty determined to find live music. Boy did we ever succeed. We ended up at this place called Bomas. Not only was the music good but we were shocked at how these kenyan men can girate. We were the only white people there. Right before we left they dedicated a song to us. Surprise surprise it was an Obama song. I have now heard three different songs about Obama. It is also a common greeting. People will come up to us and just say Obama. We have started replying with "He's my brother".
The next day we went to the huge Kisumu open air market. We stuck very closely together because there were so many people. We didn't buy anything, but it was a complete cultural experience. I saw a woman holding her child in one hand and a live chicken in the other.
Next weekend we are going to the extinct volcano Mt Elgon. We are going to go clambouring around in caves with a small chance of seeing elephants. We are also celebrating Dave's last night on Friday.
As an end note I am also running away from Valentines day. My life as managed to get dramatic even over here.
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Rainforest and Beyond
Hello everyone
I am feeling some what overwhelmed with the amount of things I want to say. Everytime I thought this week couldn't get any better, it did.
I think that it makes sense to start with the rainforest weekend. Dave and I took a matatu (code word for stinky taxi with 14 seat and twenty people) for an hour and a half to Kakamega. When we got there we found a motorcyle (piki piki) who took us to the wrong forest. We then found another driver to take us to the real forest. We got there at 12 and after lunch we went on a six hour hike. The most amazing thing was how everything in the forest was so alive. We saw three different kinds of monkeys and tons of beautiful butterflies. Our guide was very friendly and knew so much.
The next day we got up at 3:30 in the morning and started hiking at 4:00 am We hiked for an hour and then climbed 1700 meters up a hill for the sun rise. We got there and watched the stars for a while and then the sun came up. I do believe that I have just about enough photo evidence in case you don't believe me.
After the great weekend it just got better. The day I asked Mama Joyce about when she was expecting other volunteers Allastair showed up. The next day two other canadians showed up. We are now five canadians in Kenya. There are two business guys and now three nurses. We also met a couple guys that work in Bungoma Town. We are meeting up with them for roasted goat and beer tonight.
Tomorrow we are getting up early to go to Kisumu. I am going to go see some hippos. I am hopefully also going to find hiking boots. I have quite spontaneously as per my nature decided to climb Mt Kenya while I am here. I am now running every second day and doing yoga every day.
I almost forgot to write the most exciting news. I have money now. I got my visa card and bank card yesterday. Yay. Now I think I might get us robbed since I keep on shouting that I have money and waving it about taking pictures.
Hope everyone is doing as well as I am. There is so much more to say, but it will just have to wait.
I am feeling some what overwhelmed with the amount of things I want to say. Everytime I thought this week couldn't get any better, it did.
I think that it makes sense to start with the rainforest weekend. Dave and I took a matatu (code word for stinky taxi with 14 seat and twenty people) for an hour and a half to Kakamega. When we got there we found a motorcyle (piki piki) who took us to the wrong forest. We then found another driver to take us to the real forest. We got there at 12 and after lunch we went on a six hour hike. The most amazing thing was how everything in the forest was so alive. We saw three different kinds of monkeys and tons of beautiful butterflies. Our guide was very friendly and knew so much.
The next day we got up at 3:30 in the morning and started hiking at 4:00 am We hiked for an hour and then climbed 1700 meters up a hill for the sun rise. We got there and watched the stars for a while and then the sun came up. I do believe that I have just about enough photo evidence in case you don't believe me.
After the great weekend it just got better. The day I asked Mama Joyce about when she was expecting other volunteers Allastair showed up. The next day two other canadians showed up. We are now five canadians in Kenya. There are two business guys and now three nurses. We also met a couple guys that work in Bungoma Town. We are meeting up with them for roasted goat and beer tonight.
Tomorrow we are getting up early to go to Kisumu. I am going to go see some hippos. I am hopefully also going to find hiking boots. I have quite spontaneously as per my nature decided to climb Mt Kenya while I am here. I am now running every second day and doing yoga every day.
I almost forgot to write the most exciting news. I have money now. I got my visa card and bank card yesterday. Yay. Now I think I might get us robbed since I keep on shouting that I have money and waving it about taking pictures.
Hope everyone is doing as well as I am. There is so much more to say, but it will just have to wait.
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