After one week of living in a hotel in Kakamega, I have finally moved into my homestay house! I am living with the Ambia family, in the city of Shivagala in South Kakamega district, which is about a 30-minute matutu ride to downtown Kakamega. The houses are arranged in “compounds” – areas of land where the extended family lives together. In my compound, there are about four houses and about 50 meters of crops. The houses are set up very close to each other, so the family always spends time with each other. The village is definitely much smaller than downtown Kakamega. There is one main dirt road that intersects the highway to Kakamega. On the road, there are a few shops that sell the basic necessities, such as vegetables and water. Every 50 km or so, there is a church. It is incredible how many churches there are! My homestay mom kept pointing them out to me today, and I eventually started laughing each time she would point one out because there are so many. They are much smaller than the ones in America, some were the size of a small shop and others were the size of a house. There are also TONS of schools. About every 100 km, there is either a primary school (grades 1-8) or a secondary school. Here, it is just as common to go to a private, boarding school as it is to go to a public, mixed school. If the family can afford a private school, most of the children will go there. My house has a main living room, with chairs all facing a television (I was not expecting that!), a kitchen, a washroom for the bucket shower, and three bedrooms.
My homestay family is very friendly and welcoming to me. My homestay mom, Hellen, is a small farmer and has asked me to call her mom. She grows corn, beans, and other vegetables that I’m not sure of. There are also three cows in the front of the house, one pig, two dogs, and one cat. She has eight children (amazing!): one of them lives in our house with her four-year-old son; one other lives in another house in the compound; one lives further away in Kakamega; and one lives in Texas. The rest are either in school or living somewhere else in Kenya. The family is in the Luyha tribe, so they either speak Kiswahili to each other or Kiluhya. Tribes are much different than how they are stereotyped to be (no bonfires and African dancing…). It mainly signifies where a person comes from. In Kakamega, the main tribe is Luyha, but there are some people in the family that come from other places in Kenya that are from different tribes. You are not supposed to inter-marry within two different tribes, but it is becoming more accepted now.
Yesterday when I first got to my homestay I was overwhelmed, to say the least. I was introduced to the family, and then played with the children (the 4-year-old, Daryl, and an 8-year-old, Alvin) for the next few hours. They were very fun to play with, but after awhile it got to be very exhausting. Daryl is a trouble-maker and likes to come into my room and steal my things. He also scratches and kicks. But apparently he really likes me, and started to cry when I told him I wanted to rest and stop playing. I may turn into the family babysitter by the end of the two months!
Afterwards, I watched the family make dinner. It was very interesting because they do not have running water or stoves. There is a well in the front of the house that they take water from, and then they treat the water, and store it in huge pots for the day. They also use charcoal, gas, or firewood to cook the food. Firewood is the cheapest, but when they are in a hurry they will use the other two. They also have a bucket for us to wash our hands in before and after dinner. And I have finally used the pit latrines and bucket shower that I have been anticipating. The pit latrine is about 30 meters away, so I need to take a flashlight at night. Hellen prepared my bucket shower for me this morning; she used one bucket of cold water and one of boiling water and then mixed the two to make a nice warm bucket for me. It will take a little while getting used to showering this way.
Today, I have gone to church for the first time! (Sidenote: Daryl has just come into my room and started spraying bug spray all over his clothes. Oh jeez.) It was only a two-minute walk to get there. My homestay mom had me walk in the front of the church during the service and introduce myself. Afterward, they said a prayer for me. I wish I knew what they had said. Hellen knows everyone in the village – it is truly amazing. After church, she introduced me to all the people and walked me around the village. We spent two hours this morning walking in one direction and two hours this afternoon walking in another. It seemed like she knew everyone in the city. For dinner tonight, I helped make chipati and ndengu (my favorite meal). It is not as difficult as I had expected so I am excited to make it when I get back to America.
It is getting late and I need to wake up early tomorrow morning for work. To be continued!
Sunday 29 May 2011
Saturday 28 May 2011
Hippo Watching and Disco Dancing
Yesterday, the group of interns and the FSD team went on a day trip to Kisumu – the largest city near Kakamega and the third largest in Kenya – that was about an hour matatu drive (the public bus system). The matutu comfortably fits 12 people, but somehow the driver crammed in 17 of us. It was not the most comfortable ride I have taken. Kisumu looked like a much larger version of Kakamega – there were small vendors everywhere selling mainly second-hand clothing, shoes, and books. We walked around for a couple hours and then took a tukuk (essentially a covered, motored tricycle) to Kiboko Bay Resort, which was right on the waterfront of Lake Victoria, where we ate lunch and took a motorboat tour. Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake and the world’s second largest freshwater lake. I wish we could have swum in the water, but we were forewarned that the lake is notorious for schistosomiasis so during the motorboat tour we were very careful not to touch the water. But we did see hippos! What I did not realize is that hippos live mainly in the water because their skin is sensitive to the sun. So we actually only saw their heads during the tour whenever they would lift them up from underwater to breathe.
After coming back from Kisumu, we ate a quick dinner, and then the FSD team took us for our last night together to the disco! We went to Club Westlife where a band was playing at the front, but only about three people were dancing. Most were sitting around tables, talking and drinking. We sat down and ordered drinks, but within a half an hour, Peter (the Kakamega director) convinced us to start dancing. At first, we mainly just got looks from people, but slowly people started joining in and soon the entire dancefloor was packed (with about 30-40 people)! They were dancing with us, showing us some moves, and singing to the African music. It was the most fun I have had in Kenya so far.
I am now off to meet my homestay family! Wish me luck with the pit latrines!
**note : I did not explain the whole malaria situation very well in my last post (sorry!). I will most likely contract malaria during my time here, but it is VERY treatable. As soon as I start noticing the symptoms, I will be able to go to the doctor and receive medicine to cure it. It goes away within the first hour of taking the medicine. The reason it kills so many people each year is because many are unable to afford the treatment and do not have access to health care. It is also infamous in the US because the symptoms are similar to the flu so many doctors mistreat it. So do not worry about my getting it – I am in very good hands!
After coming back from Kisumu, we ate a quick dinner, and then the FSD team took us for our last night together to the disco! We went to Club Westlife where a band was playing at the front, but only about three people were dancing. Most were sitting around tables, talking and drinking. We sat down and ordered drinks, but within a half an hour, Peter (the Kakamega director) convinced us to start dancing. At first, we mainly just got looks from people, but slowly people started joining in and soon the entire dancefloor was packed (with about 30-40 people)! They were dancing with us, showing us some moves, and singing to the African music. It was the most fun I have had in Kenya so far.
I am now off to meet my homestay family! Wish me luck with the pit latrines!
**note : I did not explain the whole malaria situation very well in my last post (sorry!). I will most likely contract malaria during my time here, but it is VERY treatable. As soon as I start noticing the symptoms, I will be able to go to the doctor and receive medicine to cure it. It goes away within the first hour of taking the medicine. The reason it kills so many people each year is because many are unable to afford the treatment and do not have access to health care. It is also infamous in the US because the symptoms are similar to the flu so many doctors mistreat it. So do not worry about my getting it – I am in very good hands!
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Habari Yako!
Habari!
I have just finished day five of the orientation. It has picked up quite a lot since I last posted!
On Monday, a bunch of interns and I went running in the morning. As soon as we got to the main road, a group of school children (ranging from 10-15 years old) asked us where we were going and started to follow us running. It was such a funny sight to see – 6 mazungus with 5 Kenyan children running behind us. One of them ran in front and started to guide us. He took us to their school and had us run three laps around their soccer field. One of the other interns started to do yoga on the field, so we all gathered around him (with about 10 school children) and did yoga together. I wish I could have taken a picture! After that, we had our first Kiswahili lesson (Swahili in English). Within just two hours, we had already learned how to conjugate in the present tense. It is crazy that they are hoping for us to learn an entire language in just one week! I think they are overestimating my language abilities…. I do think I will become much more comfortable speaking Kiswahili by the end of the two months, though.
Afterward, we had a bunch of meetings about the expectations and objectives of FSD in a conference room in the hotel, including a needs assessment, an asset mapping, and a work plan workshop. During the majority of the internship, FSD wants us to engage ourselves in day-to-day activities at our organizations (so in my case, working in the clinic with whatever job they want me to do). However, they also want us to come up with a project by the end of the two months that will have a long-term impact on our organizations. Therefore, after working at my clinic for several weeks, hopefully I will be able to do a proper needs assessment, or what they prefer to call “capacity enhancement,” and be able to come up with an idea that can benefit the clinic in the long run. During the meetings, they focused a lot on how we need to make our projects sustainable and create a partnership with our organization rather than have them see us as a “donor.” In this way, the community can gain ownership of the project to ensure its durability.
Yesterday, we had two Kiswahili languange trainings and a personal health talk with Dr. Bakunda. He is a local doctor in town and warned us about the most common diseases here: malaria, typhoid, and other food-born illnesses. I am currently taking doxycycline everyday to combat malaria, but apparently almost every single intern FSD has had has gotten malaria at least once during their time here. Malaria is VERY common here – so common that to them it is similar to having the flu. He told us that we would almost definitely get it during our time here, and advised us not to be scared when we do because it is treatable. He is a very friendly doctor, and his office is right in the center of town, so I feel very reassured with him here.
After that, I met with my host organization supervisor. He came to the hotel to meet me for an hour and discuss what I will be doing for the next few weeks. He informed me that the hospital has about five rooms and five medical technicians with no actual doctor. After I told him that I was in college and hope to become a doctor, he became very excited and told me that I can examine patients and treat them on my own. I told him I felt uncomfortable examining patients on my own, but he informed me that it would not be difficult because almost everyone comes with malaria anyways. It seems as though he has very high expectations for me. I am also afraid that he thinks of me too much as a “donor” because he was listing many of the things the hospital needs, so I tried to convey to him that I am just there to work and help wherever I can because I have no money myself. It was also interesting to hear him talk about America as a “developed” nation – I have never heard anyone say it from the other point of view. It really threw me off for some reason. I truly hope I do not let them down.
Today, we have had two more Kiswahili language training sessions and went to lunch at Caro’s house (the FSD local program coordinator from Kakamega who is amazingly nice and only 25 years old). She made us an entire buffet of the traditional food served in the homestays, and I am very pleased to say that I like most of it! The most common food here is ugali, which is made from corn and flour and tastes very much like dry grits. They LOVE ugali. It is both filling and cheap to make so they told us to expect it at every one of our meals at our homestay. Rice is very common, as well as chipati (which is like naan or tortilla). My favorite food is ndengu, which is made of lentil beans. When you put it on rice, it is amazing. That is all I have been eating. Chicken and meat is more expensive here so it is considered more of a luxury to eat, as well as with fruit. The fruit here is so delicious though! They eat bananas (ndazi) all the time (apparently there are five different types here), but pineapple, mango, and watermelon have also been served occasionally. At lunch today, they served kumbikumbi. I am very reluctant to say what it is: fried termites! Sadly, I could not even try it – I was afraid I would throw up if I did because I am a very picky eater. But the rest of the interns did and thought it tasted like burnt sunflower seeds. They also serve sukuma wiki – the most common vegetable that looks similar to spinach but tastes a lot worse to me. It translates to “push the week,” meaning that it is served a lot towards the end of the month until people get their paychecks. Apparently I will be served a lot of it at my homestay. At each meal, we have been served almost the exact same thing - it’s so different from America because there you can choose Chinese food, Italian food, Mexican food, etc. for lunch or dinner each day. I’m not used to being served the same thing for each meal. Kenyans also don’t like to use utensils much, so they eat all of these foods with their hands. I have not yet fully become accustomed to it yet, but luckily they do wash their hands before every meal.
Beyond the orientation, the interns have spent a lot of time hanging out together. We’ve gone out for drinks at a nearby restaurant at the end of each day, have been hanging out at night after dinner, and doing our homework together (yes we have been getting homework!). It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve also started reading a book about HIV/AIDS on my free time to be a little prepared before I start work.
It’s time for dinner now - I hope they are serving more ndengu tonight!
Also, here are a few pictures from Kakamega! The first is a picture of the downtown business district in Kakamega. The second is a picture from behind the hotel. The third is a picture of Chris, John, Dylan, and me in front of my favorite tree (and view) in Kakamega. And the last is a picture of the typical Kenyan plate!
I have just finished day five of the orientation. It has picked up quite a lot since I last posted!
On Monday, a bunch of interns and I went running in the morning. As soon as we got to the main road, a group of school children (ranging from 10-15 years old) asked us where we were going and started to follow us running. It was such a funny sight to see – 6 mazungus with 5 Kenyan children running behind us. One of them ran in front and started to guide us. He took us to their school and had us run three laps around their soccer field. One of the other interns started to do yoga on the field, so we all gathered around him (with about 10 school children) and did yoga together. I wish I could have taken a picture! After that, we had our first Kiswahili lesson (Swahili in English). Within just two hours, we had already learned how to conjugate in the present tense. It is crazy that they are hoping for us to learn an entire language in just one week! I think they are overestimating my language abilities…. I do think I will become much more comfortable speaking Kiswahili by the end of the two months, though.
Afterward, we had a bunch of meetings about the expectations and objectives of FSD in a conference room in the hotel, including a needs assessment, an asset mapping, and a work plan workshop. During the majority of the internship, FSD wants us to engage ourselves in day-to-day activities at our organizations (so in my case, working in the clinic with whatever job they want me to do). However, they also want us to come up with a project by the end of the two months that will have a long-term impact on our organizations. Therefore, after working at my clinic for several weeks, hopefully I will be able to do a proper needs assessment, or what they prefer to call “capacity enhancement,” and be able to come up with an idea that can benefit the clinic in the long run. During the meetings, they focused a lot on how we need to make our projects sustainable and create a partnership with our organization rather than have them see us as a “donor.” In this way, the community can gain ownership of the project to ensure its durability.
Yesterday, we had two Kiswahili languange trainings and a personal health talk with Dr. Bakunda. He is a local doctor in town and warned us about the most common diseases here: malaria, typhoid, and other food-born illnesses. I am currently taking doxycycline everyday to combat malaria, but apparently almost every single intern FSD has had has gotten malaria at least once during their time here. Malaria is VERY common here – so common that to them it is similar to having the flu. He told us that we would almost definitely get it during our time here, and advised us not to be scared when we do because it is treatable. He is a very friendly doctor, and his office is right in the center of town, so I feel very reassured with him here.
After that, I met with my host organization supervisor. He came to the hotel to meet me for an hour and discuss what I will be doing for the next few weeks. He informed me that the hospital has about five rooms and five medical technicians with no actual doctor. After I told him that I was in college and hope to become a doctor, he became very excited and told me that I can examine patients and treat them on my own. I told him I felt uncomfortable examining patients on my own, but he informed me that it would not be difficult because almost everyone comes with malaria anyways. It seems as though he has very high expectations for me. I am also afraid that he thinks of me too much as a “donor” because he was listing many of the things the hospital needs, so I tried to convey to him that I am just there to work and help wherever I can because I have no money myself. It was also interesting to hear him talk about America as a “developed” nation – I have never heard anyone say it from the other point of view. It really threw me off for some reason. I truly hope I do not let them down.
Today, we have had two more Kiswahili language training sessions and went to lunch at Caro’s house (the FSD local program coordinator from Kakamega who is amazingly nice and only 25 years old). She made us an entire buffet of the traditional food served in the homestays, and I am very pleased to say that I like most of it! The most common food here is ugali, which is made from corn and flour and tastes very much like dry grits. They LOVE ugali. It is both filling and cheap to make so they told us to expect it at every one of our meals at our homestay. Rice is very common, as well as chipati (which is like naan or tortilla). My favorite food is ndengu, which is made of lentil beans. When you put it on rice, it is amazing. That is all I have been eating. Chicken and meat is more expensive here so it is considered more of a luxury to eat, as well as with fruit. The fruit here is so delicious though! They eat bananas (ndazi) all the time (apparently there are five different types here), but pineapple, mango, and watermelon have also been served occasionally. At lunch today, they served kumbikumbi. I am very reluctant to say what it is: fried termites! Sadly, I could not even try it – I was afraid I would throw up if I did because I am a very picky eater. But the rest of the interns did and thought it tasted like burnt sunflower seeds. They also serve sukuma wiki – the most common vegetable that looks similar to spinach but tastes a lot worse to me. It translates to “push the week,” meaning that it is served a lot towards the end of the month until people get their paychecks. Apparently I will be served a lot of it at my homestay. At each meal, we have been served almost the exact same thing - it’s so different from America because there you can choose Chinese food, Italian food, Mexican food, etc. for lunch or dinner each day. I’m not used to being served the same thing for each meal. Kenyans also don’t like to use utensils much, so they eat all of these foods with their hands. I have not yet fully become accustomed to it yet, but luckily they do wash their hands before every meal.
Beyond the orientation, the interns have spent a lot of time hanging out together. We’ve gone out for drinks at a nearby restaurant at the end of each day, have been hanging out at night after dinner, and doing our homework together (yes we have been getting homework!). It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve also started reading a book about HIV/AIDS on my free time to be a little prepared before I start work.
It’s time for dinner now - I hope they are serving more ndengu tonight!
Also, here are a few pictures from Kakamega! The first is a picture of the downtown business district in Kakamega. The second is a picture from behind the hotel. The third is a picture of Chris, John, Dylan, and me in front of my favorite tree (and view) in Kakamega. And the last is a picture of the typical Kenyan plate!
Sunday 22 May 2011
Orientation Day 2
Greetings from Kakamega!
I have just finished Day 2 of the Orientation. And by orientation, I mean one hour of a meeting and five hours of free time. The orientation has been on “African time” – people here are VERY relaxed with time. They apparently say that “they have watches, but they don’t have time” and that we should always “pole pole” (slow down). So people often come to meetings three hours late or don’t show up at all. The FSD Site Team keeps advising us that we need to be extremely patient with people. I find it very interesting that Kenyans have such a relaxed view of time since it is so different from the US in which it would be unheard of to arrive to a meeting three hours late and not be looked down upon. It shows how the US is too focused on work being the capitalist society it is. Work, work, work, work.
Anyways… On day 1 of the orientation, we had a “Professional Standards” session for an hour then were given a tour of the town. We walked around for about two hours and grabbed lunch in the city. While walking around the city, all the locals call us “mazungu,” meaning white person. I would think that it would be a derogatory term, but surprisingly it is not. They literally are using that term only as a means to address us. All of the locals are so nice and love to say “hi mazungu” and want to shake our hands. I’m so glad that they have this attitude and are not upset that we are here. Some have never seen a white person before so several times people have taken pictures of us by secretly holding up their camera phones when we walk by. During lunch it started pouring – apparently it rains almost every day in the afternoon despite the fact that it is about 80 degrees out. And then after lunch, we had a couple hours free (African time) then had another hour session about Culture Shock. That was about it of day 1 orientation.
Today, I woke up early this morning to go on a run with two other interns. Of course, we somehow got lost during our run and kept trying to ask people how to get back to our hotel but apparently the street name that we were using for our hotel was not the correct name of the street. So it took a bit of time to realize where we finally were... It was so fun. It turns out our run went only about five blocks away from the hotel, but that we kept going in a loop. We then had a “Safety and Security” session for an hour then went back out on the town. We learned how to ride on the “boda bodas” (bicycle taxis) today. They are exciting! There is a seat on the back of the bicycle that I had to sit on. I kept feeling like we were going to fall, but they are supposed to be very safe. They are extremely common for getting around the city and very cheap. We then had another session on “Kenyan Culture.” The things I found most interesting were that Kenyans don’t look people in the eye very often during conversation, so don’t think it is rude when they are looking away while you are talking to them. Also, there are a ton of gender norms. There is the most obvious one: the women cook and the men do the handiwork. But the Site Team warned us that we must only get close to the people of the same sex in our host families and that we must not hug the opposite sex. Gender inequality is very much set within their culture. I find it hard to believe that it will be changed any time soon, despite the fact that there are tons of NGOs here that are trying to empower women. Especially in the rural areas, the gender norms are concrete. After the culture session, we were given a few hours on our own, so for the first time, the interns went out on the town by themselves. I bought my first pair of Kenyan shoes today, and was told to cut the price by 1/3 when bargaining with the vendors. I got them for 400 shillings (Kenya has HUGE inflation), so they were about $4. We then went to the American hotel, which not-surprisingly, is the only place that has free wifi. I’m going to enjoy the American hotel. On the way walking back from the American hotel, a 14-year-old boy walked up to me and asked me for food. I talked to him for a few minutes but have been told not to give anyone food or money. It was very sad. The boy was actually starved and living on the street. I asked if he goes to school and he replied that he is a “street boy.” Many of the children on the street apparently run away from their homes voluntarily and then live by eating trash, although some of the others on the street are orphans. It is very common for people to ask us for money because being white means to them that we are rich, so I have been asked a few times for money today. But this boy looked especially sad and had no shoes. I am going to have to get used to seeing that.
On a lighter note, hakuna matata! It means no worries (for the rest of your days….) But actually. It means “no worries” in Swahili. Learn something new everyday.
I just got my address here in case you want to send me something . It is:
Peter Ingosi (Alexis LeVee)
PO Box 1124
50100 Kakamega, Kenya
The electricity just went out on us right now, so I no longer have any lights to read. I guess this is bedtime. Kwaheri (Goodbye)!
I have just finished Day 2 of the Orientation. And by orientation, I mean one hour of a meeting and five hours of free time. The orientation has been on “African time” – people here are VERY relaxed with time. They apparently say that “they have watches, but they don’t have time” and that we should always “pole pole” (slow down). So people often come to meetings three hours late or don’t show up at all. The FSD Site Team keeps advising us that we need to be extremely patient with people. I find it very interesting that Kenyans have such a relaxed view of time since it is so different from the US in which it would be unheard of to arrive to a meeting three hours late and not be looked down upon. It shows how the US is too focused on work being the capitalist society it is. Work, work, work, work.
Anyways… On day 1 of the orientation, we had a “Professional Standards” session for an hour then were given a tour of the town. We walked around for about two hours and grabbed lunch in the city. While walking around the city, all the locals call us “mazungu,” meaning white person. I would think that it would be a derogatory term, but surprisingly it is not. They literally are using that term only as a means to address us. All of the locals are so nice and love to say “hi mazungu” and want to shake our hands. I’m so glad that they have this attitude and are not upset that we are here. Some have never seen a white person before so several times people have taken pictures of us by secretly holding up their camera phones when we walk by. During lunch it started pouring – apparently it rains almost every day in the afternoon despite the fact that it is about 80 degrees out. And then after lunch, we had a couple hours free (African time) then had another hour session about Culture Shock. That was about it of day 1 orientation.
Today, I woke up early this morning to go on a run with two other interns. Of course, we somehow got lost during our run and kept trying to ask people how to get back to our hotel but apparently the street name that we were using for our hotel was not the correct name of the street. So it took a bit of time to realize where we finally were... It was so fun. It turns out our run went only about five blocks away from the hotel, but that we kept going in a loop. We then had a “Safety and Security” session for an hour then went back out on the town. We learned how to ride on the “boda bodas” (bicycle taxis) today. They are exciting! There is a seat on the back of the bicycle that I had to sit on. I kept feeling like we were going to fall, but they are supposed to be very safe. They are extremely common for getting around the city and very cheap. We then had another session on “Kenyan Culture.” The things I found most interesting were that Kenyans don’t look people in the eye very often during conversation, so don’t think it is rude when they are looking away while you are talking to them. Also, there are a ton of gender norms. There is the most obvious one: the women cook and the men do the handiwork. But the Site Team warned us that we must only get close to the people of the same sex in our host families and that we must not hug the opposite sex. Gender inequality is very much set within their culture. I find it hard to believe that it will be changed any time soon, despite the fact that there are tons of NGOs here that are trying to empower women. Especially in the rural areas, the gender norms are concrete. After the culture session, we were given a few hours on our own, so for the first time, the interns went out on the town by themselves. I bought my first pair of Kenyan shoes today, and was told to cut the price by 1/3 when bargaining with the vendors. I got them for 400 shillings (Kenya has HUGE inflation), so they were about $4. We then went to the American hotel, which not-surprisingly, is the only place that has free wifi. I’m going to enjoy the American hotel. On the way walking back from the American hotel, a 14-year-old boy walked up to me and asked me for food. I talked to him for a few minutes but have been told not to give anyone food or money. It was very sad. The boy was actually starved and living on the street. I asked if he goes to school and he replied that he is a “street boy.” Many of the children on the street apparently run away from their homes voluntarily and then live by eating trash, although some of the others on the street are orphans. It is very common for people to ask us for money because being white means to them that we are rich, so I have been asked a few times for money today. But this boy looked especially sad and had no shoes. I am going to have to get used to seeing that.
On a lighter note, hakuna matata! It means no worries (for the rest of your days….) But actually. It means “no worries” in Swahili. Learn something new everyday.
I just got my address here in case you want to send me something . It is:
Peter Ingosi (Alexis LeVee)
PO Box 1124
50100 Kakamega, Kenya
The electricity just went out on us right now, so I no longer have any lights to read. I guess this is bedtime. Kwaheri (Goodbye)!
Friday 20 May 2011
The Beginning
Hello friends and family!
I have decided to write a blog about my trip to Africa this summer. I am not the best of writers so this is a loftier goal for me than it would seem. I am going to try to update it as best as possible, so please feel free to follow the blog because hopefully I will have some fun and interesting stories over the course of the next two months!
I applied to DukeEngage back in November and found out that I had been accepted a month later. DukeEngage is a program of Duke’s that funds its students to do service work in a developing country over the summer. It is a fantastic program because it supports me by paying for my room and board while abroad and encourages students to do community service and to become more worldly. The program, however, is a bit odd to me because it puts a new light onto service work. Because the program is competitive among Duke students, those who are accepted are honored, causing service work to gain somewhat of a prestigious connotation. But service work is supposed to be selfless so the fact that students are competing for it seems counterintuitive to me. Duke should not be rejecting students to do service work and glorifying others who do. But luckily I came out on the winning side and am very grateful that I can take advantage of Duke’s resources.
The DukeEngage program that I am doing is partnered with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD), an umbrella organization with its roots in about 10 different developing countries around the world that connects people with different NGOs with whom to work and homestays with whom to live with. The program I applied to of FSD’s is in Kakamega, Kenya. It is in the western region of Kenya and one of the more rural areas of the country. When applying to the program, I indicated that I wanted to work in a hospital that dealt with malaria and HIV/AIDS so I have been assigned to work in Shibwe Sub-District Hospital. I am uncertain what I will actually be doing on a day-to-day basis just yet, but FSD stipulated that interns involve themselves with the daily activities of patient reception, administering of vaccines, the recording of vital signs, and develop community outreach and educational health campaigns.
I also indicated (after having been accepted, however) that I would prefer to live within the downtown area of Kakamega (because I had heard it was more of a town than would be expected and had even google-mapped it), but was opportunely assigned to the exact opposite of that – I will be living in the outskirts of Kakamega, in a much more rural area than the other Duke students, about forty minutes away from the Kakamega town but only a fifteen minute walk to the hospital. I just asked today why they assigned me there having seen my housing request form, and apparently it is because the “hospitals” most in need are the ones in the rural outskirts of the city so they wanted me to live closer to there. Not surprising. I will be living without running water for the next two months with a family of five (including a herdsman). We shall see how that goes. Personally, I think they are punishing me because I forgot to turn in one of my forms.
The week leading up to my departure was extremely hectic. DukeEngage Academy lasted two days from 8 AM to 7 PM. Then I went home for a week and tried my best to unpack everything, then pack everything again as fast as possible. My flight was on Wednesday at 2 PM and I finally made it to Kakamega today (Friday) at 11 AM – a total of a 45-hour travel time. We did have a bit of fun on the way… Duke conveniently set up our transfer in Amsterdam with a fifteen-hour layover. I landed in Amsterdam at 9 AM, met up with four other Duke students who had the same layover as I did, and went out on the town. We took a train to the city, and once there, took a boat tour around the canals and then walked around for the remainder of the time. The red-light district was not at all what I had expected. It was much smaller than I had imagined – being only a few blocks total. And I had expected the prostitutes to be standing around outside, clothed, but fully evident that they were prostitutes. This was not the case. They were almost naked and standing behind windows. It was window-shopping at its finest. We then took another ten-hour flight to Nairobi, then a third flight to Kasumu (somehow traveled business class on this one because of a last-minute error on Duke’s part with our flight), and finally an hour drive to Kakamega.
To be honest, I was EXTREMELY nervous to go on this trip. I was very tempted to back out last minute. I was nervous to be so far from home, to be in a completely different culture, and to be working in a hospital dealing with such dangerous and infectious diseases. But just being here for twelve hours today, I know I made the right decision. I am in Africa! It is absolutely gorgeous here. When flying above the city all you see is trees. The trees are even more beautiful than they are in the States. They are the typical African trees - the ones that are in the Lion King that are thin and have leaves branching only from the top. I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing them. I am not in the forest, though, so picture more like a savannah with a bunch of trees (if that makes sense…). Compared to here, the United States is like a steel, cement nightmare.
Driving up to Kakamega, it is very rural with huts everywhere. The “downtown business district” of Kakamega, though, is amazingly city-like. There are flea markets everywhere (I’m going to like this a lot), stores, and we even went to a grocery store that was about the size of a Ralphs back home. The fact that such a grocery store exists only about five minutes away from such a rural surrounding is so strange!
The first week we are here we are in an orientation and actually living in a hotel. The hotel is much nicer than I would have imagined also (for an African hotel – although I do feel now as though my perception of Africa was all wrong), so we are not living with our homestays until the 28th. There are three FSD workers here that are training us, two from Kakamega and one from San Francisco who just graduated college. What a small world (although FSD is San Francisco-based so it does make sense). They are extremely nice people so I think this week is going to go very well.
I’ve had two meals here so far and the food, too, surprised me. It is much better than I had imagined! Things are starting on a good foot. The hotel is preparing the food for us, though, so I think it’ll be higher quality than I’ll be having in the future, but I am glad that I like what I am eating now. They served us chicken (kuku), fish, rice, samosa, carrots, and a few other things I’m not even sure what it is called in English. The food is very similar to Indian food so I think that I’m going to like it more than I had expected which is such a relief. I also wasn’t sure if I’ll be eating a lot of food depending on how poor the family is (so I brought extra food with me), but apparently Kenyans pride themselves on their food and our homestay families will be upset if we have not gained weight by the end of this trip. I need to keep reminding myself to be careful with the water, though. I have already brushed my teeth with the water by accident. I think I’ll be okay just as long as I didn’t swallow much. I also need to be careful with mosquito bites and putting on bug spray. We are sleeping with malaria nets already in the hotel. They kind of look like princess canopies so I just need to keep imagining that so I’m not grossed out and scared of getting malaria.
It’s getting late and I am the only one still up so I think it is time for me to wrap this up. I will try to keep this updated as best as possible. Be on the lookout!
I have decided to write a blog about my trip to Africa this summer. I am not the best of writers so this is a loftier goal for me than it would seem. I am going to try to update it as best as possible, so please feel free to follow the blog because hopefully I will have some fun and interesting stories over the course of the next two months!
I applied to DukeEngage back in November and found out that I had been accepted a month later. DukeEngage is a program of Duke’s that funds its students to do service work in a developing country over the summer. It is a fantastic program because it supports me by paying for my room and board while abroad and encourages students to do community service and to become more worldly. The program, however, is a bit odd to me because it puts a new light onto service work. Because the program is competitive among Duke students, those who are accepted are honored, causing service work to gain somewhat of a prestigious connotation. But service work is supposed to be selfless so the fact that students are competing for it seems counterintuitive to me. Duke should not be rejecting students to do service work and glorifying others who do. But luckily I came out on the winning side and am very grateful that I can take advantage of Duke’s resources.
The DukeEngage program that I am doing is partnered with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD), an umbrella organization with its roots in about 10 different developing countries around the world that connects people with different NGOs with whom to work and homestays with whom to live with. The program I applied to of FSD’s is in Kakamega, Kenya. It is in the western region of Kenya and one of the more rural areas of the country. When applying to the program, I indicated that I wanted to work in a hospital that dealt with malaria and HIV/AIDS so I have been assigned to work in Shibwe Sub-District Hospital. I am uncertain what I will actually be doing on a day-to-day basis just yet, but FSD stipulated that interns involve themselves with the daily activities of patient reception, administering of vaccines, the recording of vital signs, and develop community outreach and educational health campaigns.
I also indicated (after having been accepted, however) that I would prefer to live within the downtown area of Kakamega (because I had heard it was more of a town than would be expected and had even google-mapped it), but was opportunely assigned to the exact opposite of that – I will be living in the outskirts of Kakamega, in a much more rural area than the other Duke students, about forty minutes away from the Kakamega town but only a fifteen minute walk to the hospital. I just asked today why they assigned me there having seen my housing request form, and apparently it is because the “hospitals” most in need are the ones in the rural outskirts of the city so they wanted me to live closer to there. Not surprising. I will be living without running water for the next two months with a family of five (including a herdsman). We shall see how that goes. Personally, I think they are punishing me because I forgot to turn in one of my forms.
The week leading up to my departure was extremely hectic. DukeEngage Academy lasted two days from 8 AM to 7 PM. Then I went home for a week and tried my best to unpack everything, then pack everything again as fast as possible. My flight was on Wednesday at 2 PM and I finally made it to Kakamega today (Friday) at 11 AM – a total of a 45-hour travel time. We did have a bit of fun on the way… Duke conveniently set up our transfer in Amsterdam with a fifteen-hour layover. I landed in Amsterdam at 9 AM, met up with four other Duke students who had the same layover as I did, and went out on the town. We took a train to the city, and once there, took a boat tour around the canals and then walked around for the remainder of the time. The red-light district was not at all what I had expected. It was much smaller than I had imagined – being only a few blocks total. And I had expected the prostitutes to be standing around outside, clothed, but fully evident that they were prostitutes. This was not the case. They were almost naked and standing behind windows. It was window-shopping at its finest. We then took another ten-hour flight to Nairobi, then a third flight to Kasumu (somehow traveled business class on this one because of a last-minute error on Duke’s part with our flight), and finally an hour drive to Kakamega.
To be honest, I was EXTREMELY nervous to go on this trip. I was very tempted to back out last minute. I was nervous to be so far from home, to be in a completely different culture, and to be working in a hospital dealing with such dangerous and infectious diseases. But just being here for twelve hours today, I know I made the right decision. I am in Africa! It is absolutely gorgeous here. When flying above the city all you see is trees. The trees are even more beautiful than they are in the States. They are the typical African trees - the ones that are in the Lion King that are thin and have leaves branching only from the top. I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing them. I am not in the forest, though, so picture more like a savannah with a bunch of trees (if that makes sense…). Compared to here, the United States is like a steel, cement nightmare.
Driving up to Kakamega, it is very rural with huts everywhere. The “downtown business district” of Kakamega, though, is amazingly city-like. There are flea markets everywhere (I’m going to like this a lot), stores, and we even went to a grocery store that was about the size of a Ralphs back home. The fact that such a grocery store exists only about five minutes away from such a rural surrounding is so strange!
The first week we are here we are in an orientation and actually living in a hotel. The hotel is much nicer than I would have imagined also (for an African hotel – although I do feel now as though my perception of Africa was all wrong), so we are not living with our homestays until the 28th. There are three FSD workers here that are training us, two from Kakamega and one from San Francisco who just graduated college. What a small world (although FSD is San Francisco-based so it does make sense). They are extremely nice people so I think this week is going to go very well.
I’ve had two meals here so far and the food, too, surprised me. It is much better than I had imagined! Things are starting on a good foot. The hotel is preparing the food for us, though, so I think it’ll be higher quality than I’ll be having in the future, but I am glad that I like what I am eating now. They served us chicken (kuku), fish, rice, samosa, carrots, and a few other things I’m not even sure what it is called in English. The food is very similar to Indian food so I think that I’m going to like it more than I had expected which is such a relief. I also wasn’t sure if I’ll be eating a lot of food depending on how poor the family is (so I brought extra food with me), but apparently Kenyans pride themselves on their food and our homestay families will be upset if we have not gained weight by the end of this trip. I need to keep reminding myself to be careful with the water, though. I have already brushed my teeth with the water by accident. I think I’ll be okay just as long as I didn’t swallow much. I also need to be careful with mosquito bites and putting on bug spray. We are sleeping with malaria nets already in the hotel. They kind of look like princess canopies so I just need to keep imagining that so I’m not grossed out and scared of getting malaria.
It’s getting late and I am the only one still up so I think it is time for me to wrap this up. I will try to keep this updated as best as possible. Be on the lookout!
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