Boredom

It can get to be quite boring around here believe it or not. Mary Deborah, remember we were going to make sure I had sudoku books and Diversity Committee I should have brought that work to do. Because things are kinda in shut down mode until the election results happen there is not much to do in Nakuru. The Children's Center that I came to help has been closed since Monday and will stay that way until after new years. I have done a day trip up to Lake Navaisha which was an adventure and quite enjoyable, but financially, I can't really afford $50 trips everyday. So we sit around the house and listen to my ipod. Yesterday we bought some video cassettes (my house has no DVD player) from the Supermarket. My roommate Luke had the brilliant idea of ordering Pizza and drinking beer while watching our movies. Well, every Kenyan in our house is glued to the TV screen watching election results (it feels like the Gore/Bush campaign of 2000) the way the results are trickling in. I totally understand why they want to be watching that, but I have to say that we were disappointed that we weren't going to watch our movie, but hey, we still had Pizza coming, right. . .nope. Wrong again. The Pizza place closed at 8pm and we didn't call until 8:30. So no Pizza. And since I hate beer. . .I didn't have that. I thought at least I could be happy for my roommate who would get to enjoy his beer. Well, he had put the beer in a plastic flask and stuck it in the refrigerator to get cold. By the time he drank it he said that it tasted like throw up. We ended up going to sleep around 9:30 after listening to Dixie Chicks, Traveling Soldier about 200 times and oh yeah we threw in the Nickelbeck song, Are We Having Fun Yet?

I always brag that I don't really know what boredom is because I can always find something to do. . .well, after being here this week, I will never say that again.

Election Day

So today is election day in Kenya. I have found out that this means everything is shut down. The grocery stores, the shops on the street. Everything except the hotel that we spend our free time in and the internet cafe. Even my trip to the Masai Mara has been postponed until next week due to the elections. I was quite upset about it. But apparently, since they haven't had many elections here (They had the same president before this one for 24 years!) It is a HUGE ordeal. People need the time to wait in long lines. However, before I leave here in a couple of weeks (as a matter of fact in the next couple of days) they might have a new president. There has been some fighting and rioting in Nairobi, the capital city. I am about 3 hours from that. They are hopeful that the election results will be peaceful and if not, I am hoping that things will have calmed down by the time I leave in 2 weeks since I have to fly out of Nairobi. Those of you who pray, pray for a peaceful government in Kenya. It has been quite interesting to hear about Kenyan politics while I have been here. There has been campaigning in the streets. Even up where I live, which is mostly farming and slums. There are posters and hats and signs everywhere.

Kenya has many political parities, but some of them get together so that they end up having 2 major candidates much like we do in the states. The race is between the incumbent president Kibaki and another guy whose name is escaping me right now, but his party is the ODM party and it uses an Orange as its symbol. Being one who loves politics. . . it is quite neat to see how it operates in a different country. Everyone on the street has their view as to who they think the president should be. Personally, I am hoping that Kibaki is reinstated. He has been president for 5 years, and under his leadership he has made primary education free (if you can afford the school uniform). He wants to work on secondary education (high school) in his next term. Of course the other candidate is saying the same thing, but Kibaki has proved that he can do it. I think most of the problems in Kenya will be made better with a better education system.

Election day. . .Yet another side to Kenya. I am so lucky to be experiencing this trip even if I am dying to have a cookout burger and milkshake :)

Raise the Roof

This entry will be about my first Safari which I went on this past weekend. I wanted to wait until after my second safari which I will go on this weekend because it's supposed to be even better. However, I can't wait. So I'll write about the first one and then after this weekend I'll write about the next one.

On Saturday a little van picked me an my roommates up at 7AM. We headed to Lake Nakuru National Park which is only about 5 minutes from my homestay. As a matter of fact, since we are on a hill at my homestay, we can see the lake from the house. We paid $40 US dollars which I thought was a bit high for the park admission, but had been told it would be worth my money. And boy, was it. When we got into the park, the van driver told us that he was going to "Raise the Roof." You probably have seen pictures of little vans with raised roofs taking safaris. What an experience! First we saw baboons, then White Rhinos, and then thousands upon thousands of flamingos. They were beautiful! I wish that this computer cafe would let me download pictures, maybe one day I will find the one downtown that will, otherwise you will have to wait until January to see the gorgeous pictures. Unfortunately, I don't think that pictures will do this park or our adventures of that day any justice. There were zebras grazing within feet of our car. And buffalo. My new favorite animal is the giraffe. We only saw one of them, but boy was he beautiful. I also liked the Black Rhino. Black Rhinos like to hide in the bush. We were lucky to see one. I spotted it before anyone else. When he noticed our van he took off proving that just because you are big doesn't mean you can't be fast. Some people in the van didn't even get to see it he was so fast. Later we saw a dead buffalo. Our driver told us to pay close attention, because the lioness who had killed him was bound to be around. And what did we see underneath a tree waiting for the lion to come. . . you guessed it. . . a lioness!!! Our driver said that we were quite lucky because most of the time tourists don't get to see the lions at Nakuru. The tour lasted for about 3 hours. We parked and got out on top of a cliff with breathtaking views. We took pictures of rare birds, an eagle, a baby white rhino. . .It was amazing and well worth the time and the 40 bucks. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any Hippos. Even after going to the hippo pond and singing, "I want a Hippopatamus for Christmas." The hippos wouldn't emerge from the water. . .too hot for them.

Later that day the fun didn't stop. We drove up to the Menengai Crater. BREATHTAKING!! and then we went to Thomson Water falls where there was a wedding taking place near the falls. Lastly we stopped by this place called the Equator. Yeah, you guessed it, the real thing. There was a guy there who did a water demonstration which showed how water flows in opposite directions if you are above the equator or below the equator. It was quite fascinating.

So this weekend I am doing the ultimate Kenyan Safari. Me and one of the people on the project are going to the Masai Mara! We are so excited. It is a 3 day safari. We are supposed to be able to see ALL of the Big 5 on this trip! (I wonder if my Swahili class can remember what they are!). I will take lots of photos and video!!!!! And of course I'll write here about it.

Teeth and Boogers

So it's Christmas day, and I am very sad I have to be honest. I don't want to cry, so I will make this blog entry VERY light. . .and talk about teeth and boogers.

So, I try to take Kenya in with an open mind like I have written about in previous entries. I am adjusting to life in a lot of different ways. But there are a few things that I miss terribly and I can't let go of, nor do I think I will EVER be able to accept or let go of. So pardon me if this entry sounds like a spoiled American. Because, well, I am.

1-Teeth. Many people here in Kenya have bad teeth. They chew on stuff all the time. Usually stalks of sugar cane. Most of them have access to toothbrushes if not dental care. Hey, I chew gum and I don't go to the dentist, but my teeth aren't brown! I really try to talk to people with dark teeth without paying attention to their teeth, but I can't help it.

2-Cold or Hot Showers. There is no such thing (at least at the house where I'm staying) as a luke warm shower. It is usually too hot or too cold so you have to adjust the temperature back and forth. And water pressure. . .well. . .there is none.

3-Matatus. This is the public form of transportation. You have to squeeze into the seats (even skinny people) and after you are on for about 10 minutes the Matatu driver's assistant will tap you on the shoulder. This means he wants you to pay him. He gets really mad sometimes if you don't have correct change. Then they proceed to drive down dirt and dusty roads at the fullest speed even if it means you feel like you are falling over or dying of dust inhalation. To get the Matatu to stop, you get the attention of the Driver's assistant and he beats the top of the van. That means stop. After you are out and before the Driver's assistant can get back in, the matatu is kicking up dust and on its way. I prefer taking taxis, but I don't do it unless it is dark outside because matatus are SO cheap. To go into town on a taxi is 200 Kenyan Shillings. . . and by Matatu just 20! A taxi is 10 times as much. BTW, 20 shillings is about 30 cents in US. Last night there were lots of people trying to get on the Matatu. We waited at the station for an hour. Finally a woman who works at the Walk Children's Center showed up. Her husband is a taxi driver so we called him to "rescue" us. Even though it was only 200 Shillings for him to take us home, I gave him 500 because I was so grateful for him rescuing me and my friend.

4-Dirty Feet. My feet can't stay clean. No matter if I am in flip flops, sneakers, or crocs. Everything below my knee stays covered in a layer of dust.

5-Smelly armpits. Enough said.

6-And since I'm here. . .slow internet. It's worse than dial up.

7- and finally. Boogers. I can't get used to black boogers. I know this sounds really gross, but I bet kids here think that boogers are black. When you blow your nose here, because of all the dust, guess what color things are. . .black. Yuk. I know now that I've grossed you out.

But usually I am crying by the end of my blog messages. . .today, I'm smiling :) Hope you are too.

Merry Christmas, Everybody.

~t

ok so, yeah, I'm fat

After a few days of working and going into town each day I finally hit my breaking point with being called "fat." I know that it isn't an insult, but when you hear it everyday. . .well, most of you reading this know how sensitive I am. So after feeling bad about it for a while, I decided, that I was going to create a new possibility (Renee, you know what I mean when I say that). Now instead of getting upset I have gotten some of the older kids at the school to help me say in Swahili. . .Yes, I'm big, Leave me alone. So today when I was walking to the matatu and one of the kids said, "Giant" I got the biggest voice I could (kinda like Bigfoot or Jabba the Hut) and said in Swahili (Ndiyo, Mimi ni mkubwa!!!, niache!). They thought it was so funny so we all walked away laughing. Now that feels much better to me.

The job at the Walk Children's Center is a lot harder than I thought. The kids are SO poor. Some of them wear nightgowns or pajamas everyday. Some of them have no shoes. What I really wasn't prepared for, though, is that they hardly speak English at all. So the "lesson plans" that I had formulated went bye bye. My first day in the class with the kids by myself...well, that was let's just say chaos would be putting it mildly. They were hitting each other. Yelling. Throwing chairs. One girl put another one in a headlock because there weren't enough dolls to go around. When I say, "Stop" or "Don't Hit" the kids don't really get that. So after the first day I went home and learned how to say. Nyamaza (Keep Quiet) and Ketini (Sit down) and Msipige (Don't Hit). I came back on the second day with a plan. Well, it wasn't the best laid plan because I had the 20 kids or so working in groups. When it was time to switch groups and I said "Bandalesha meza" or Switch tables. Chaos broke out again. Today, I asked for a helper from one of the older classes. The older kids are in school so they are learning English. My personal translator saved my life. By the end of class we had a little rest time and one of the kids went to sleep it was so quiet and peaceful as they drew pictures for me.

I have no idea what I will be doing with the kids tomorrow. We only have the kids for about 1 hour and that may seem like not much to plan, but we have hardly any resources! I have always considered myself quite resourceful, but well, there is so little. Broken crayons, a few pieces of paper, some used dolls, and some greenish brown modeling clay. My friend, Yvonne, from Australia and I are going to sit down after work tomorrow and try to come up with a game plan. To all my teacher friends reading this. . .ideas are certainly welcomed!

This weekend I am going to visit Lake Nakuru, the Equator, and the Menengai Crater. All those places for less than $100 US! I am very excited. One of the other volunteers from Sweeden is going to accompany me. One of the things that I have learned here is not only am I finding out about African/Kenyan culture, but having two roommates from the UK and working with a girl from Sweeden and one from Australia I am finding out about other cultures too! Even my own. I didn't know that other countries don't say "bucks" when talking about money and me and my friend Yvonne had a good laugh today about how each of us say the word "Aluminum" and "Adidas."

So, almost one week over already. I miss everyone terribly, but I am really enjoying my time here. This is the most amazing thing that I have ever done in my life in so many ways. I do keep having dreams about home. I worry that somebody will forget to call if something happens. Apparently I'm also worried that I will be disconnected when I get back. Last night I went to sleep thinking about the Middle School Staff at CFS having their Christmas Party. I dreamed I was back at school and there was a "formal day" going on and I had on shorts. Leon was dressed in a party dress and Mary Deborah told me that I was too underdressed for the day. It was crazy. Everynight I dream about home in some sort of way. So that song is true: "I'll be home for Christmas. . .if only in my dreams."

I don't know when I'll be back to town to get on the Internet, maybe not until after Christmas. . . .know that I am thinking and dreaming about you all.

My phone number

Almost forgot...
If you want to call me, I have an international cell phone, thanks to the Stanbacks. It costs me nothing to receive a call, but call your phone company or buy an international calling card before you call me.

The number is: 254 0723 447 813

If you dial from a cell phone you have to put a + in front of the number which is found on the star key. If you dial from a landline you may have to put a zero in front of it.

My sister has been able to call me successfully, so it does work. Just remember that we are 8 hours ahead and I would talk to you if you called me in the middle of the night, but I have 2 roommates. :)

If you don't want to call, or can't, leave me comments here or send email to toniw@alumni.duke.edu. I am not checking my firstclass mail CFS friends, it takes to long to pull first class up on these comptuers.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Happy Holidays.

finally, here.

Disclaimer: Please ignore spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. I am paying by the minute to be on this computer and don't really have time to proofread my work :) I know this entry is long. And it's only the TIP of the iceberg.

Well, after imagining Africa for all of my life and now finally being here. . .let's just say for those of you who have never been here, it's not like anything you've imagined and it's like everything you've imagined, all at once. There are rich people here, there are poor people here, there are flies here, there are zebras here, there are computers with really slow Internet here, there are cell phones, and flat screen tv's and flamingos and goats and cows and pigs and schools that are very nice and schools that look like, how can learning take place there and there are nice people and there are pushy people. It's all of that. And I've only been here for a little over a day.

I arrived on Saturday, December 15 at about 9pm Kenyan time. After breezing through immigration and waiting for my bags for about half an hour I was greeted by one of the sponsors of i-to-i. She helped me with my luggage and took me to the inner city of Nairobi. There were tall buildings, and car horns blowing, and people, lots and lots of people. We got to the hotel where my roommate, Yvonne from Australia was already sleeping. I settled in after figuring out how to call my family to say I was safe. The thoughts that ran through my mind on that first night were ones of pure. . .anticipation. What would this place be like? Would I feel at home here? As an African-American how would people treat me? Sleep finally took over my eyes.

On Sunday morning, we met other i-to-i volunteers and did our orientation together. 4 of us were going to Nakuru. I was glad that there would be a "base" group starting this project out together. 2 of us are working at the children's center and 2 others are working on a building project. This month's building project: digging a long drop which is a BIG HUGE DEEP hole. It is where the people who have made their houses around the dump can go to the bathroom. They have built 1 already. About 10-15 families use that one "toilet." I had extreme guilt when they told me this for the 2 toilets that are at my house for only 1 me. Orientation was informative. We were told not to walk anywhere alone at night, reminded to take our malaria meds (the new prescription that I got has not caused me any stomach pain or nausea, thank God!), and to be patient, open-minded, and respectful of the i-to-i rules. After lunch they put us on a "matatu" which is a little van. We had to wait about 1/2 hour until the matatu was filled before we headed off to Nakuru. I have told many of you that Nakuru is about 1 1/2 hours from Nairobi. Well, it is actually 3 hours away. And many of the roads are nothing but dirt. It gets so dusty you have to close the windows, then it gets so hot that you are sweating in places you didn't even know you could sweat. And it gets so stinky. . .well that's the hard part about the ride to Nakuru, remember though, I said that so far Kenya is everything thing that I imagined and everything that I didn't. So the other part about he ride is that it is amazingly beautiful! We saw zebras grazing in the wild. We went by the great rift valley. I kept putting my camera away, then taking it right back out. Although, unfortunately the footage is hard to see because we were moving so fast.

Finally, we got to my homestay. Where I thought I would be staying apart from my host family, that isn't the case. Their room is right next door. They have three kids, but all the kids in the neighborhood (including the ones from up the hill who live in the slums) greeted our taxi. And well, lemme just say. I never imagined what would happen when I stepped out of the car. The kids were mesmerized by me. Not because I was black (many Kenyans are trying to speak Swahili to me thinking that I am Kenyan, too), but because I was SO fat. Now, this in no way is to be looked at as a negative self-reflection of myself, nor did the kids mean for it to be disrespectful. But just imagine, if you and your family live off of the dump. And you depend on the center where I will be working for your one meal a day. You don't see too many people of my size. They were smiling and wanting to touch me. It was quite overwhelming. I spent the rest of the evening getting to know my two male roommates who are from England and settling in. I spent a lot of time with my host families son and his friend. They are determined to teach me every Swahili word that they can translate from English. They were impressed with how much I already knew. I really enjoy the family's kids. At breakfast this morning, the little girl who is 2 and is named Peace, only wanted me to put on her shoes and socks for her and then she took the rest of my breakfast from my plate. There is also a brand new 10 day old baby at my house. I have not met him yet. He sleeps a lot.

Today, we spent more time orienting ourselves. We went for a tour of Nakuru and then to the slums. We also went to the school where I will be showing up for work at 9AM tomorrow. My first duty will be to cut cabbage for their lunch. I met the cook and the school teachers and administrators. . .and the kids. . . who followed us around and wanted to hold our hands and kept saying, "How are you?" As a matter of fact, the road that I have to walk down to get to work is called "How are you?" boulevard because that is mostly what the kids know how to say and you hear it 1000 times before you get down the street or through the school. The kids are gorgeous and happy and playing and I'm so excited to be with them. Our tour of the slums was, I don't think I can put it into words. There were people scavenging for plastic which they take to recycle in order to earn money. The most disheartening time was when the dump truck arrived with "new valuables" on the back. People were running to meet it almost climbing on the back of it awaiting the tip off. mmmmm....and all along in the distance from the slums. . . .you see Lake Nakuru and beautiful big birds and mountains and all of Africa in all of its beauty as you stand beside torn plastic and pieces of old shoes. All of the "good stuff" has been taken from the trash pile.

We met a lady named Nancy. She made baskets with the plastic that she collected, beautiful baskets. We all ordered 2 of them for 300 shillings a piece. I am not very good at converting money yet, but as best as I can convert that is less than a few dollars a piece. She said she will make them extra special. I will give her a tip for the extra care and the warm smile.

See that's the other thing. Amongst this heap of trash and poorness there are smiles. And more smiles. And genuine niceness. And we complain when the heat shuts off in the middle of the night or one of our toilets is clogged. Imagine. . . that's less than 2 days. I am not going to be the same person after 28, huh? I already am not.

a little bit of a setback. . .or maybe a blessing. . .

so today I was reminded of how wonderful my friends and family are. I got sick. There are a lot of theories as to why I got sick. Anxiety, Malaria meds, pumping myself with all kinds of vaccinations. . .well, I thought. . .Oh my goodness, how am I going to get everything that I need to do when I'm feeling this bad and what if I'm allergic to the malaria meds and can't take them. and what if I have a virus, how am I going to do a 17 hour plane trip feeling like I have to throw up? Well, needless to say an already anxious Toni turned into a superly anxious Toni. But you never know where you can find a blessing. People came out of the woodworks to help me out. From holding warm towels to my head, to making me rice, to allowing me to change plans at the last minute. I am so blessed and lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. In my sickness, I started worrying about other things. . .and the little stuff that I had been worried about sort of disappeared. So. . .I'm getting on that plane in a little over 12 hours and I'm going to Kenya. And I know that I have a wonderful support network to come back to. Let the journey begin. Unless something major happens, the next time I log on. . .I'll be in Africa! Whoa! When I get my cell phone number there in Africa I will leave the digits here.

~t

Leaving in less than two days!

I'm leaving in less than two days for Kenya... OMG. This is my first post on my brand new blog. Hope this will be a productive way to keep in touch with all my peeps during all my travels.

Stay tuned! :)