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.