Follow the Eucalyptus trees...

This is a story from when we first arrived a month ago, but amusing nonetheless. Those of you who know me are well aware that I have zero sense of direction. People always find that difficult to believe because I lived in NYC for seven years. However, New York is on a grid with numbers that tell you if you are going north or south, east or west. It is also true that I have managed to find my way around other cities in this world, a couple of them with different character alphabets (Japanese and Arabic). At least these places had streets! Not so much in Loitoktok. There is a "main street" that passes through town but there aren't any signs to let you know you are on it. So, imagine my fear: me, the girl who still gets lost in my hometown of Cincinnati, when the first day of class we had to find our way home. My mama had walked me to class in the morning and it was our second day in town so I didn't know which other trainees lived on my same "road". Coming home, we left from a different place than we started so I set off just waiting ot get lost. I started walking along the road I thought went to my house and ran into another PCTs (Peace Corps Trainee's) baba.

Me: Do you know where the K... house is?
Him: Oh yes. Don't take this road. Take that one. And then follow the road to the eucalyptus trees.
Me: Ummm... which ones are the eucalyptus trees?
Him: Those-there!
Me: Oooh ok. And then what?
Him: Cross the river and keep straight.

Now at this point I feel I may never get home because I know for certain that I didn't pass any water this morning.
Me: Is there water in the river?
Him: No, no. It is dry. Just cross it and walk to the eucalyptus trees and you will be there!

Funny thing is, I followed his directions and pretty much made it home :-) And, that is largely how directions are given here. We had to draw a map for PC of how one would get from town to our homestays (in case of medical emergency) and I just drew a big tree next to my house because that is the only way to identify it. If you ask someone in town how to get to the hospital, they might tell you to walk to the petrol station, climb the cliff, turn left at the yellow house, etc etc. We only have a couple more weeks in Loitoktok so don't worry, I'm sure there will be plenty more tales of me getting lost when I go to site!

This is Africa!

World Cup fever has taken over the continent and an hour doesn't go by that I don't hear the Shakira theme song. The funny thing is, sometimes I feel further from it than if I were in the States. For instance, last Saturday we were all excited to watch the afternoon games, unfortunately the whole town of Loitoktok had no stima (electricity) from 10am until about 5:30PM. We have a 6:30PM curfew, so that kind of cut that party short. Our curfew is every day so after training we usually go to a bar to watch the 5PM game but I only get to see it until halftime. A lot of people finish the game at home but since we have no electricity in my house, hence no television, I'm usually out of the loop until the next day. We have fun cheering on the African teams (as long as our families cheer for USA!) and listening to Shakira. All in all, life in Kenya is going pretty well. Here are a few things from the week:

Pending Issues
There are only three people (myself included) in my language class and the other two are boys. It is technically supposed to be language and cross-cultural training so the boys have compiled a list of things they want to experience relating to the Maasai tribe during training. My teacher named these "pending issues":
1) Making fire with just sticks (no matches)
2)Take part in a cow blood-drinking ceremony
3)Learn Maasai jewelry beading
4) Build a hut out of cow dung (this is the woman's (i.e. My) job)
5)Survival skills in the bush
I'll be sure to update you all on how each of these turns out.

Language
In order to swear in as volunteers, we have to achieve a mininum of intermediate low proficiency in our language. This basically means you can introduce yourself, greet people, say where you are from, what you do, order at a restaurant, get around on public transportation, and have a basic conversation with someone. On Friday we had our first test and I placed Novice High, which means I just need one more level and we have three more weeks so I was excited about that.

Every day things get a little easier and a little more comfortable. The things you thought you wouldn't be able to get used to, the choo, bucket baths, no lights, really aren't that big of a deal at all. Actually, that's a lie. I don't think I will ever get used to the choo, what is essentially a pit latrine. Usually enclosed in a wood shed, it is simply a hole you squat over (Ayah- I don't know what you would do here!). Not fun. But the other stuff isn't too bad. We are almost halfway though training and though sometimes the days feel like they drag on endlessly, the weeks are flying by. I know I will miss my host family but I am also really ready to integrate into my permanent community.

Last but certainly not least:

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all who prayed for my niece. Her surgery went well and I hope she will be out of the hospital Monday or Tuesday. God is good!
I am still working on emails. I try to conserve my battery on the computer so I can only do a couple per time I sign online. I'm getting there though. Expect some aerograms :-)
OK, my mama's calling me, WRITE ME!

Safe and sound

So, I am here in Kenya, safe and sound. Sorry for the delay in posting but it has been a crazy few weeks. This post might be a bit disjointed and random but I will try to make some sort of order. We arrived in Nairobi airport Wednesday May 26 and all managed to get all of our bags onto two matatus (van that acts as a passenger bus) and headed to a compound about 30 minutes outside of the city. We stayed there for two days and then headed to our training city, Loitoktok. Loitoktok is a border city to Tanzania and boasts awesome views of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Homestay

My homestay family is great. They have made me feel so welcome and we all get along great. In the family is my mama, baba (dad), and kaka (brother). I also have another kaka and dada (sister) but they are away at school. Man, my mama works HARD. I hear her outside my bedroom window about 6am every morning milking the cow (we have a shamba [farm] with beans and maize, chickens, and a cow) and getting firewood together. The house is small but cozy. We don't have electricity so mama cooks by either jiko stove (charcoal) or, most often, over fire. The food is... food. It not great but it's not bad and it's nutritious (sort-of). The main staple food in Kenya is ugali. Now I had had ugali before and it tastes alright to me but it wasn't until last weekend when I saw my brother made it that I had to pause. This is how my kaka made ugali: Boil water in a pot. Pour in two big bowls of flour. Stir vigorously. Watching this I thought, isn't this what we call PAPER MACHET in the States and use for children's arts and crafts??? This is now my dinner a couple times a week. Along with cabbage or kale and beans or potatoes in stew. All in all, things on the homefront are pretty good. The lack of electricity is only a bother when I need to charge my own things, part of the reason it has taken me so long to post and email. I get home from training about 6:30 (our curfew), have chai (milky tea), help mama in the kitchen a bit, take a bath (more on that later), eat dinner (by kerosene lamp), talk with the family and by 9PM I am snuggled in my bed reading or, most likely, falling asleep. Quite a change from my summer last year! After the day of training and all the walking, though, I'm tired anyhow so I don't mind going to bed early.

Training

Most days of training start out with a morning full of language (anywhere from 3-5 hours), then lunch, then either technical training, culture lessons, or medical. The first two weeks we were all learning KiSwahili but now that we have our site assignments, we are learning the local language spoken where we will be placed. English and Ki-Swahili are the official languages of Kenya but the country is made up of around 42 tribes, each with their own language. Some are close to one another and some are just as foreign as Japanese to English. I will be learning Ki-Maasai (or Maa) and feel very lucky because my host family is also Maasai so I am able to practice with them every day. For technical training, since I am a SED (small enterprise development= business) volunteer, we are partnered with local groups and will be helping them start and run a business that will hopefully turn a profit before we leave in 5 weeks. My group wants to raise chickens to sell eggs and I think we will be able to get started selling by the end of next week (inshallah). So far we have been meeting with the groups, small business people in the area, and conducting market research. Culture lessons deal a lot with gender roles (I'll have to do a separate post on this one!), Kenyan history, and some details about the different tribes and politics. Medical sessions are usually the worst. Basically, they detail all of the 1986398710984 things that can kill us while we are here, how to spot them, when to call medical, and how/if they are treated. There's also the rounds of shots, but we get snickers after them so I say it's a fair trade :-)

My Job
Our group was quite lucky in that we found out our site assignments 2 weeks into training. The first group back after PC evacuated Kenya in 2008 (due to post-election violence) found out their site assignments literally two days before they were set to go. We now have the advantage of knowing where we will go and what we will do so that we can tailor our training to be the most effective. I will be going to the lower rift valley and working with the Masai tribe. My internet isn't as great as before so I can't put in all the hyperlinks but search for Masai/ Maasai and you will see the population I will be working with. My closest town is Narok, which is about 2 hours from Nairobi. However, since it has been affectionately nicknamed “Nai-robbery” I don't plan on visiting much. My assignment is to work with an NGO, Mission with a Vision, that provides a safe house for girls who have been victims of FGM (female genital mutilation/ female circumcision) and/or early marriage. The Maasai is one of the tribes that still practices FGM and some girls are married as young as 12 or 13. The safe house is a place they can run away to and be enrolled in secondary school. The organization tries to reconcile the girls with their parents after some time elapses, and they say there are many times successful in doing so. I will also be starting a micro-finance institution there and helping the women and girls start small businesses. I'm really excited about the project, the SED advisers really did a great job in placing people according to skill sets and interests.

OK, this post is really long at this point so I'll just end with this: It is 10:05 on Saturday morning and I have already made and eaten breakfast, washed this week's clothes (by hand of course), “washed the house”, and finished a book. My kaka also tried to get me to wash his clothes but I am trying (slowly) to undo his learning about static gender roles. Now it's time to start lunch and go to the market! Electricity provided, I will post more later this week. Any questions or comments feel free to tell me below or send me an email (megan.d.browder@gmail.com). Sera!