Yep...I'm still alive

Ok so since it's been more than six months since I posted. I have no excuse. This last half a year has been some o the most fulfilling and also disheartening months in my service. I'll be sure to go back in time and fill you all in but for the short version since June I have: secured and managed an $8,000 order for beaded bracelets for Lord& Taylor to be made by various artisans in town, participated in Camp GLOW (Girls Leading our World), started an arts resource center/ food nutrition project with kids in my area, planted a garden, practiced baking bagels and pie from scratch and making donuts, kept up with my VSLA groups (one of which graduated and finished a cycle), fundraised for our Books for Africa project (we still need more money!),read a bunch of books, watched way too much TV, washed enough clothes by hand to know that I never want to wash clothes by hand again, applied for a greenhouse, and made a lot more friends. Sounds busy right? Well the main reason I stopped blogging was during the L&T order I was too busy and afterwards my work kind of went from 60 to 0 in 5 seconds. For instance, if I were going to write about what I did today it would go like this: Wake up, eat breakfast, lay on couch and watch TV, go to post office and get amazing Xmas package from my dad and stepmom (thanks guys!), lay back on couch and eat all the candy in the package, sweep my house and haul about 50L of water into my reserve bucket, admire my blooming garden and water it, chat with Brian when he arrives from Kisumu, go to the main house and say hi to the girls and my supervisor, watch a bit of a Nigerian movie, send off a project proposal, try to find graduate school scholarships, sit on the couch with Brian watching TV and eating ramen. Granted, this is a "slow" week because the country kind of shuts down between mid-December until school starts back up in January. But you get the idea. Many of the things that were novel to me in the first year have just become mundane. And the things that used to irritate me now just really really annoy me to high heaven. On the whole, life has been pretty good though. I feel I have at least two projects that will last beyond my service and even just one would make me happy. I've certainly had a lot of time for introspection and I feel really good about the way things are heading. Now starts the real downward slope. 7 months left in country, 4 of them a final push to solidify projects and 3 of them for transitions so that hopefully something I did here will stick after I'm gone. So, as I always say, I'll try to be better about the posting and if you have anything specific you want to know, let me know in the comments!

Domestic Disturbance

Fiiiirst, I know it's been awhile and that's pretty much how every blog post on here starts. But, I was studying for the LSAT very diligently (mmmhmmm) and took it last Tuesday :-) Scores won't be back until the end of the month but for now I'm so happy to have it over and done with and not have to plan my day around studying. And I'm going home in a week so super excited for that too.

But, what has been going on in the life of Megan lately? Pretty much the same old. After a full year in Kenya, I feel like I have some sort of a schedule. Tuesday and Thursdays I teach at the secondary and also hang out with the kids in my neighborhood and draw. Class is going much better. I feel like the kids understand me more and feel more comfortable telling me when they don't understand something. Their scores are improving, thank goodness. The kids in the neighborhood are having a dandy time coloring two days a week. I just finished a grant trying to make an arts center at the school across from me. They said I could use a room for the neighborhood kids and they would get to do arts and crafts with their students. Hopefully we get the grant, I really want to do a public health project with the kids incorporating public health messages.

Mondays and Wednesdays I have VSLA meetings, we are up to 4 groups now! Fridays I try to keep open to do paperwork, office work and all that. And no day is complete without the requisite hanging out. Meaning I go sit with people and just...sit. It's a very important part of the PC experience. I've also been helping PC to get ready for the new batch of Public Health/SED volunteers, who came on Wednesday. So we have newbies! I hosted a trainer this week and I will be going to their training when I get back from the states. Hopefully I have some sort of wisdom to impart...

Sounds more or less pretty busy right? I feel like I'm doing a good amount of work each day but the days definitely seem longer here and there's a lot of free time. A lot. I have to be home by dark and most days I leave my house around 9ish so that's about 14 hours of alone time. My only neighbor in the compound isn't always home so it's just me. For a long time. What's a girl to do? I had the LSAT to take up study time but you can't just study for hours and hours on end. And, when studying becomes stressful, whaddya do? I started to think about the things I used to do in the states to reduce stress and fill bored days...

1. Talk on the phone
2. Go clubbin
3. Go shopping
4. Walk the streets of New York
5. Go to a friends house
6. Read
7. Go to the park, ballet, etc

Ok so not many on this list transfer to peri-urban Kenya. As such I had to get creative so I didn't lose my mind. There's only so much reading and tv watching a girl can do. Out of my boredom has come a love of baking. Well I always really liked to bake but in the past there were so many other things to do that didn't require that much effort. Alas, that is no longer the case and I have become a baking machine in the last couple of months. On my repertoire to date we have: bread, bagels, carrot cake, chocolate cake (with homemade frosting!), mac& cheese and banana bread. Remember that post way back when I first came to Kenya and I talked about how cooking was so much harder here? Well baking is like that squared. First problem: No oven. Solution: Make a jiko oven! What the hell is that??? Basically you take a big pot and fill it with sand or dirt. Place the pot on the gas cooker and put what you want to bake in a dish inside. It does work in the sense that it bakes but there's no temperature control and it can take awhile. Still, I can bake! Problem 2: No measuring utensils of any kind. Solution: guess. Problem 3: Recipes who don't understand the plight of the volunteer. I don't have a mixer. I don't have a candy thermometer or any of these other fancy tools recipes want me to use to bake. Solution: Just whip it all together and hope for the best. So far things have turned out pretty well, I put some pictures of the process below, enjoy! Today I had a potluck with some friends and brought the macaroni and cheese, they really liked it. I also made pickles!

My other stress relief has been "shopping" which here means tearing out designs out of magazine, finding fabric and giving it to my tailor. So far she's been doing a great job, 2 skirts and one dress. Pictures to come! A skirt costs me the equivalent of about $4 and the dress about $6 for her to make. Love it!

Finished Mac& Cheese!

I dance when I cook, no judgement!

The cake is ready to bake!

The pot with dirt

My own oven

Potluck!

Finished cake with frosting!

The boys and their birthday cake. They were beading so we were all having a domestic day. Brian is licking the frosting from the bowl. Stomachache!

Kenya read me a story?

What was your favorite book as a child? When I was young, I remember James and the Giant Peach, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Are you there God, it's me Margaret. I also remember going to the library weekly with my mom and checking out as many books as she would let me. Ok, yes, I know I am making myself sound very much like a nerd here but the point is those books were available to me. I could lose myself in them, travel to a distant place or just read with the satisfaction that the my fears, joys, and anxieties about the world were not singular just to me.

Sadly, most children in Kenya don't have that luxury. Outside of the capital, libraries are virtually nonexistent. Schools have enough trouble getting (or allocating) funds to buy regular text books, let alone pleasure reading. The Form 3 (high school junior) business class I teach has a total of 4 textbooks for 27 students. That's including the book I use to make notes and share with students. 4. So what is the likelihood that such schools have a Judy Blume or Roald Dahl to avail to their students? Nil.

Butttttt...you can change that! How? Donate to my Books for Africa project!
https://www.booksforafrica.org/donate/to-project.html?projectId=77
Your donation will help provide books to various schools throughout Kenya. This is a collaborative project that I am working on with two volunteers from Eastern. Some of the schools will even get computers! Books for Africa sends free books to developing countries, asking only that host countries pay shipping. Shipping is a pretty penny though so please donate today!

Major kudos to Aunt Barbara, a personal champion of literacy, who was the first to donate. Thanks!!!

And, just in case I have not pulled at your heart strings enough, here are some photos of the children you would be helping!

Pictures!

We went to Hell's Gate and saw a hyena print...and then quickly went in the opposite direction!









Rusing Island in Lake Victoria, where PCV Adam lives. Some people have all the luck!













My Peace Corps Fam at Rusinga Island















Clare, me and Jenn having fun













When we get together, it's a guaranteed party! Porter, me, Clare, Adam, Jenn, Z

Pictures!

Some pictures of this week... more to come later...



Thank you cards for Kids to kids made during the drawing session









Moringa tree planting













Joyce showing off some earrings made during the beading session







The girls' idea of the "perfect man" during our love and relationships talk. Guess we women want the same things the world over!




Hellen, Masioi and Sekiyan enjoying computer class at the camp

I love my site

Those are four words I really never thought I would say. It took me a long time to get used to living here in Narok- it's dry, dusty, and not really the village life I thought I was signing up for. But the more I stay here and the more people I meet and become friends with, the better it all gets. Here are a couple of reasons from the past couple of months of why life is so good:

Free Stuff
I have been the beneficiary of a bunch of free stuff lately. I think some people just take pity on the poor volunteer and others really just think of me as a neighbor they are helping out. For example, when I was moving, the director at the school close to me was instrumental in helping me get the apartment and made sure everything was comfortable. He and his wife weren't using a propane tank so they gave it to me, I just had to fill it up with gas, saving me about $50. Win. Then, last week, I was walking home because they raised the matatu ride from town to my house by 10 shillings (I know it doesn't sound like much but hey, I'm a volunteer!) and one of my usual matatu drivers saw me halfway and picked me up for free. I also got a free cab ride when I was coming home at dusk a couple of weeks ago. A teacher at the university recognized me and had the cab driver drop me for free. Top it off with this week I am coordinating another girls' camp for (more on that later) and I needed to get some supplies but had no idea where to get them from. Sueela, my favorite Narok businesswoman, just gave me what I needed for free. She rocks. The guy at the grocery store gave me some free Juicy Fruit because he knows I chew like 20 pieces a day and people always offer me food and chai whenever I go somewhere. All in all, it feels good to be part of the clan and it's really what “community integration”, that great PC buzz word, is all about. And, it's not just about the things that I get from people but also how willing they are to help me get things done. Even when I get upset because the people who are supposed to be helping me are no where to be found, someone else from the community comes through . So many people have volunteered their time and efforts to speak to the girls and teach them different things, it actually makes me feel like I'm doing something out here. Word.

Making a difference
They say Peace Corps is “The toughest job you'll ever love” and I used to think that was a load of crap. First, how is this job tough? I just have to sit in a developing country and hang out, right? And, what's to love about pit latrine toilets, weird illnesses, and being the odd black girl who doesn't speak our language for two years. But then, during the last couple of months, I've really been in a groove and feel like I'm starting to see what the real issues are and which ones I can actually address. It's also obvious now why the commitment is two years, it really does take almost a full year to get to know what the deal is. For example, today during the camp we spoke about nutrition and we made a food pyramid of healthy eating choices. When I asked the girls how many fruits and veggies total we should eat in one day, half of them told me 2! 2! When I said 5-9 they looked at me flabbergasted and then the question is, well how are we supposed to do that??? They are just given food to eat and don't have any say over how nutritious or good for them it is. And when they are at home, their parents may not have the money to buy fruit every day or to eat veggies in all colors. As a PCV, you see this as a problem you can actually try to make a solution for. If I can get some schools or even the plots by me to make kitchen gardens to better ensure that kids are getting more nutrients, I call that a wildly successful project and I call it a day and go home to read on my Kindle. That's the part I love. What's tough about it is getting people to see that it's important, feasible and a good idea. With all of that in mind, I'm supposedly starting my own kitchen garden next week. Lead by example.

Ending on a good note, the project site for our Books for Africa project is up, donate today!
https://www.booksforafrica.org/donate/to-project.html?projectId=77
Full post coming on this soon and I'll continue to hound you all for donations!!! Help bring much needed books to primary and secondary students in Kenya :-)


The website for my upcoming business fair is up and running, narokbusinessfair.weebly.com. No donations for that one are necessary but just wanted to promote myself haha.

Happy Day

So, I actually did write this on Wednesday but when I went to post it, I had run out of internet credit.

Today was a happy day. Today was a good day. Well mostly. I woke up around 7, made some breakfast, got dressed, cleaned up and headed into town to class. I had tuition today from 9-10 and it was the most frustrating hour of my life. I was trying to review a girl's exam with her and she just wasn't getting it. Thank goodness for that bell, I think we both felt like we were in some sort of torture. After that, I graded the other students exercises and headed off to my 11AM meeting.

I meet with a woman's group in town for Village Savings every Tuesday or Wednesday. The meetings are nice because the group is small (about 6), they are usually on time, and they understand the VSLA model pretty well now so I just kind of sit there and answer any questions they have. Today was also a special day because it was the end of our "prayer month". Last month, they wanted everyone in the group (me included) to pick someone else's name randomly and you pray for that person every day for a month and then at the end of the month you give them a present. I gave my partner a pair of earrings and I got a nice beaded headband. Smiles.

After that I had to go pick up the money for my next VSLA meeting, find some food, and then meet the other planning committee members of the business fair. We are trying to hold a business fair for May 13 for people all over the county and Nairobi. If it works out, it will be a big deal and make me very happy. If. Today we needed to register the group so that we can open a bank account and start accepting registration money. I was supposed to meet them at 1 so I had about an hour to run errands. I went to pick up the VSLA money that Josephine left for me at a photocopy place and I got scolded for having not come to say hi to them for a few weeks. I promised to do better, went and had some fries at a hoteli and then went to meet Sachiko and Moses. We walk all the way through dusty town up to the government offices area and of course we just missed the registration officer. She's off to lunch. I can't wait around for her because I'm supposed to be at my next meeting at 2. So we take the dusty road back to town and have some good conversation. Sachiko wanted to see the VSLA model so she tagged along at the next meeting, 20km away in a village Rotian. They only squished us 4 in the back of the car so I was thankful for that and the women were almost on time for the meeting. The meeting was supposed to start at 2 and most were there by 3, this is a success these days in my book. The savings and loaning process also went much more smoothly than last time and everybody left happy. Sach and I squeezed into a matatu on the way back where I sat on a sack of vegetables and she sat on a shopping bag filled with who knows what. I got back into town with Sachiko around 5, we went to Naivas (supermarket) and I splurged on some oranges and broccoli. The little things. Back in the tuk tuk on the way home, buy some eggs and kale, drop everything at home and head to my supervisors house to scan some things for the donor. On the way out I run into the kids I was supposed to meet yesterday and tried to explain to them in really bad Swahili that I didn't see them yesterday but we can draw tomorrow. Walking to the house I see some kids playing their own version of "games": rifling through burned garbage, sliding a smaller child on a sheet or coat, or just sitting throwing rocks. Resolve to play with the kids tomorrow.

I get to the house, greet everyone, scan all the documents and try to send them to the donor but of course the internet doesn't feel like working at that particular moment. Decide to wait until the night and go hang out in the living room. Watch a badly dubbed Filipino telenovela that I think I'm beginning to get hooked on. Play with my buddy Sian and head home about 7. In the two minutes it takes me to get from his house to my apartment, the electricity has gone out. Of course. And I used all of my computer battery scanning documents. Of course. Can't take a shower without the electricity so I just lay on the bed and read by booklight. After it's almost 8 and it doesn't seem like the stima is coming back anytime soon, I go make dinner in the dark (brown rice, steamed carrots, broccoli, kale and tomatoes to make up for the fries earlier), eat in the dark, still reading with the booklight. I decide to give the electricity till 10 to come back on before I give up hope of bathing today. At 9:49, I finish my book and the lights come back on. Smiles. Shower, gchat, emails, blog post. 11:49, day is done! Nite nite!

Yes, I know

I haven't blogged in awhile. Partly because I feel like I only have the same things to say and partly because some of the new things I have to say aren't so nice... Like my momma told me, if you don't have something nice to say...

So, this week I am bringing you Days of My Life. Certainly not as drama filled as a soap opera but it will give you all a better idea of what happens on the day to day. Many of you have asked what I do on a daily basis and we have some new volunteers coming in a couple of months who, if they are anything like me, are scouring the internet looking for some glimpse into what the hell they are getting themselves into for the next 26 months. Of course this comes with the caveat that all volunteers are different, so what is my experience is not necessarily that of others and even my own experience changes. I'm starting from yesterday because that's when I meant to write the first post...Enjoy!!!

Tuesday April 12th,

I woke up around 6:30 so that I could wash clothes (of course by hand) before I had to leave. My new place (I moved! No more mice!) has piping inside the house but they left the pipes without water too long and now there's rust. This rust turns to orange spots on your clothes as I found out the hard way last week. So I draw water from the tank directly and get to work. Because it's still a little chilly in the morning, I choose to wash clothes from my couch while watching Chuck. Good times. I finished about 7:30, made breakfast (3 scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions, banana, apple, peanut butter- having control over my own food is a luxury I will never again take for granted), got dressed and then headed off to school. On the way out, the kids on my street were waiting for me with an onslaught of, Sasa Megan! Habari Megan! Give me chocolate! To the last one I give the stank face but to the other two greetings I happily respond. This is a great change from just a few weeks ago when I still got Mzungu! Mzungu! I think the tipping point was I gave some girls a jump rope and some popsicle stick animals my brother made, they loved it and made everyone start calling me my name. Today they want me to play with them, which I promised them yesterday if they left me alone. Time to pay up.

School is officially out but these kids really don't get much of a holiday because 2 weeks of their 3 1/2 week break are spent in "tuition". Tuition is basically an hour of each class Mon-Fri where the teacher can choose to review topics from the term or keep teaching new stuff. After some of the abysmal scores my students got on my exam, I decided reviewing was the best course. Anyway we learned 6 chapters this term and there's only 3 more to go for the next two terms. So, I have been taking each student one by one and reviewing the exam with them, asking them what they find difficult and what they find easy in the class, and giving tons of assignments. I'm trying to get them out of simply memorizing (how most students learn here) into actually thinking about the problems and solutions. I want them to think intuitively and arrive at the answer on their own. Work in progress.

Before my class I had a Swahili lesson from one of the teachers. I hope it helps, I really would like to be able to hold a semi-decent conversation at some point. I can introduce myself and follow along with the formalities pretty well and I can even understand a fair amount of what people say to me if they speak slowly and use easy words, But talking to kids is hard and I would like to infuse more Swahili in my teaching because I think part of what is tripping a lot of the students up is they just have no idea what the heck I am talking about. If I give a definition of supply using the word commodity but you don't know what a commodity is, how can I expect you to understand the definition? Anywho, I had my Swahili lesson before class and then after class I headed to see on of my beader friends. He works at a hoteli all the way on the other side of town. Bored, I decided to try a new way over there and passed by a Youth Rec Center/ Gym. It was closed (obvi) but I made a mental note to go back and check it out again at some point. My friend is working at a curio shop at a nice hotel in town and he's teaching me how to make some beaded things. Those of you whose birthday has recently passed were supposed to receive one of my creations but let's just say they aren't yet ready for the general public. I sat and beaded with him and chatted for about an hour, talking about Kenya, America, development, corruption, and all those fun topics. He used to live in Nairobi and Mombasa so his English is great and his mom lives in Germany so he has an interesting worldview.

After that, I was supposed to meet Josephine in town to shop for skirts but the dust defeated me. It's supposed to be rainy season and it even flooded here a couple of weeks ago but it hasn't rained since. Now all the mud from the flood has turned to a fine dust particle that gets kicked up as motorcycles, bicycles, people, cars, and trucks go along the road. Add a strong wind to it and you are literally eating dust. Not fun. At this point it's about 3PM so I figure it's as good a time as any to call it a day. I get home, take a shower since I'm all dusty, look for the kids who wanted to play and, when I don't see them, settle on the couch with my Kindle. I can't tell you how much I love my Kindle and how much it saves my sanity at certain points. The rest of the day fades away as I read, fall asleep, read some more. Porter was in town taking care of some business with Operation Smile and he came over with a friend around 7:30. After that, we drank some wine, watched some Law&Order on my computer, and it was bedtime!

OK, I'm off to a meeting, I know you all are waiting with bated breath for the next installment so check back tonight!

Little Victories

So, I talked to my mom last night and she said she had read yesterday's post and boy I must be p-oed! Looking back over the post, I can see how it could read like that but really the past month and half has been the most fulfilling since I have come to Kenya. Even though the process has been difficult and at times very frustrating, many of the groups I am working with now are motivated. Also, when they see you get tough and they know you are serious, I have found groups tend to be more serious as well.

Case in point, today I had a meeting with a VSLA group and we did our first share purchase. Now, this may not seem like much but it means the group has actually saved something and it has gone from me just explaining an idea to countless groups to an actual project. I could tell they were a bit frustrated because their group is small and they only save 400KSH (about $5) but I'm very excited to see how much they have saved at the end of the year. And, even though the chairlady was 40 minutes late, the group was sure to tell her that she needed to pay her fine as soon as she got there!

Also, I'm adding a picture of one of the businesswomen I have been in good contact with in town. She started out making beaded jewelry in her home and now she has been able to purchase another home and use that one as her office! She also does tailoring and even has made something for a royal member in Libya. I like hanging out in her shop because she gets business and she really wants to improve her life and the lives of her people. She has taught over 500 women in Kenya and Tanzania to do beading as a business. Spotlight!

Tough Love

Many apologies for my long absence in blogging. This time, thankfully, I have not blogged as much out of sheer busy-ness and not frustration. The past couple of months I have been trying to get a few projects started and, even though it's Valentine's Day, I've had to dish a little tough love...

Teaching

I started teaching at Masikonde Secondary School at the beginning of January. I'm teaching Form 3 (Junior in high school) business studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids were a little hard to crack at first but now I think we are getting used to each other. At first I was afraid they wouldn't understand my English but they seem to be getting what I say between speaking, writing on the board, passing out notes, and group assignments. But, I had to get on them a bit because many times they just stare at me. I ask a question and they just look blankly. We're getting there though. Teaching at the school brings a whole new dynamic to the picture. The school I teach at is mostly students who are very poor, most can't afford books or school fees and they get chased away by the school until they can pay. (Side note: this actually happened last week and I came to class only to find 7 of my 22 students.) Being at the school also allows me to be in contact with different kinds of people. There are 5 male teachers and one female teacher at the school, excluding me. The other week I was hanging out in the staff room after class and the only female teacher was in Nairobi that day. This turned into (of course) the discussion about marrying an American or white (they seem to be the same) woman and me trying to explain that there is a very slim chance your American woman is going to wait on you hand and foot. To this point, one teacher told me that it was "in the African blood" to treat women that way, that the Bible says women are to be submissive...yea you see where this conversation is going. I just responded that if you were to try that on the American women I know, it might not go so well. Then I asked, so you probably don't want to marry an American any more huh? Oh, yes of course we do! I give up...

NEST

Since late last year, I have been working with an organization in America, NEST , which seeks to buy handicrafts from women artisans in developing countries and sell them. It also has a micro-bartering component with it. Part of the program is that the women are taught on how to make things on time and to quality control standards. We have been trying to get an order together and I was very close with one group but... My contact at NEST told me she needed a sample by Friday for a beading applique a client had asked about. I gave the order to a group of disabled women in town. They had come to me before and told me that they would like to work to pay for school fees for their children and put food on the table but finding work as a disabled person is hard and beading is something they can do at home. From that, I thought they would have been overjoyed to have the order. I had given them a copy of the picture the contact from NEST sent to me a while back but they told me the design was too difficult for them to figure out. After speaking with NEST again, I met with them on Tuesday, gave them a picture of what the client wanted and explained that they are free to use their artistic license to create whatever design and pattern with whatever colors they would like. The only stipulations are that it must conform to the size and shape of the spec paper I had given them. We agreed I would come and take a photo of the sample on Friday at 10. Friday at 10 comes and I am waiting at the group leader's house. She is not there. Two other women are there but they tell me that they have not completed the sample. When I ask why, they say the design was too hard. I told them (again) that I told them on Tuesday they were free to do whatever design they wanted, it just needed to be that size and shape. Also, I am not happy because I told them that the client needed the sample today and if they had a problem with it they should have called me on Tuesday or Wednesday instead of waiting until today and having me come all the way to their house for no reason. Now's the time for tough love. I told them there wouldn't be an order if they did not produce a sample by today. They told me they would bring me a sample at 2PM. 2PM came and went and no phone call. So , I decided they are out. No more orders for them until they can show that they are really serious. Some people may say that is being too harsh. However, I want these women to know that this is a job, not a handout. There are literally hundreds of women who bead in my area and for them not to call and ask about a misunderstanding or even to produce the sample after I gave them extra time was just not acceptable to me. Also, as the representative to NEST on behalf of these women, I owe it to the organization to find the most reliable and best quality work that is available.

VSLA

I don't know if I talked about Village Savings and Loan Associations in posts before but I have been working on trying to get them up and running in my area for the better part of 4 months now. Basically, they are self-selected groups where each member contributes or "saves" at each meeting and the savings are used to make loans to the group. Then, at the end of one year, each member receives their savings plus a proportional amount of the interest earned back. I really like the program because 1) groups can start one without any outside funds, 2)it promotes savings and helps women understand loans through small borrowing and repayment, and 3) it is sustainable (the magic PC buzz word). After one year the Field Officer (me) leaves the group to run on its own. They make their own constitution and major things like the interest rate charged, etc are determined by the group, not outsiders. I think this idea is wonderful. Some of the groups I present it too however, just wonder why I can't just give or find them a loan. I have been working with a couple groups though and it would have been two more but tough love had to come out. Both groups had two chances at meeting times and either no one showed up or only a few people showed up. Thus, I had to institute a new rule: If after three times your group does not show up for a meeting, you're out. Granted, I'm not the busiest bee in the world right now but my time is still valuable to me and waiting around for two hours with no reason from a group tells me they are not interested. After the second missed meeting with the two groups, I told them to gather their serious members and give me a call when they want me to come back and teach the VSLA system. That was over a month ago and I'm still waiting...

Books for Africa

I have been trying to do a Books for Africa (booksforafica.org) project with three other volunteers in Eastern. Basically, books are donated and then BFA sends them to Kenya and we just have to pay shipping. It ends up being about $4000 for 5000 books- not a bad deal. I never believe in giving something away for nothing so I am asking the schools who would like to receive books to pay 25% of the cost. This amounts to 15 shillings a book, or less than 20cents. That's about 10% of the cost of the cheapest novel these schools could purchase here in Kenya. Sounds great right? Well, some schools thought that was just too much money for them to spare, hoping I would just give them the books. Sorry, doesn't work like that! Again, it may sound harsh, but just giving them books only increases dependency syndrome and reduces the chance that they will actually appreciate and take care of the books. Also, as with the beads, there are plenty of schools that are very excited about the opportunity to purchase books for their students at such a reduced rate (schools are alloted government money to purchase books) and so those are the schools I am working with first. If there are extra books, I will donate them to a school that I know is very needy but as economists say, there's no free lunch!


So, those are most of the projects I am working on currently. Oh, expect for me to hit you guys up to help cover the other 75% for BFA :-) It might seem like I'm being unduly harsh but I would rather spend my two years here working with people that actually appreciate what I'm trying to do and actually want to be a partner in the process, not just a receiver. And, it's is INCREDIBLY frustrating to feel like you are giving something your all and those that you are doing it for don't seem to care. Also, by pulling out my Wall Street side and being tough, I have found some good partners to work with and I would rather work with 2 or 3 dedicated organizations and groups than 15 flaky ones. For me, it's not so much about the number of people I work with as the depth that I'm able to reach with those that I do.

SHOUT OUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dad&Tracy: Even though it took months and Tracy almost rained fire on the post office, I got both of my Xmas packages. Thanks so much!!! I have to learn or relearn many of the games in the 11 in 1 box set but once I teach the girls, I know they will love it. I'm also glad from some new shirts and JUNK FOOD!!!

Trenita: Yours also took forever but I'm so glad I got it. I am the ultimate fatty licking the wrapper of the zebra cakes and as I told you on FB, in the first week I wore one of the new shirts 3x and one of them 2x. Thanks :-)

Talibah: My Valentine, thank you for your package. I'm going home to watch for colored girls and your film submission. You and Trenita rock on with the Essence, you guys covered me on January and February.

Michanne: Happy Birthday yesterday :-) Hope you are catching the ballet!

Mom: Thanks for taking care of all the mundane stuff and sending me all I ask for, love ya!

I leave you with two pictures. These are pictures after walking around town all day. One foot has been washed and one hasn't. So tired of the dust!!!!!!!!!






To all those who write, email, gchat, and facebook it really helps me get through the good days and the bad. LOVE Y'ALL!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

And I got it! I just didn't know it would be white sand, instead of white snow! I know I pretty much a month late but here's how the holidays went, Kenya style...

I met up with a few volunteers about a week before Christmas. Some people had boyfriends/girlfriends come in from America so we had a grand old time in Nairobi. We went to a place, Village Market, which may very well be the most western place in East Africa. Shisha, pool, bowling, waterpark, food, fountains, yep it's all there. After some bowling and clubbing, some of us set off the next day for Loitoktok. Loitoktok is the closest thing to "home" I'll ever get in Kenya. Of course it doesn't compare to my real home and real family but, hey, work with whacha got right? My brother met me at the stage and Baba met me at the road to the house. Everyone was excited to see me and I was excited to see everyone. Mama made my favorites (green grams and chapati) and I basically sat in the house for two days watching music videos with my brother and sister. It was a completely different place since it had rained substantially in the four months I had been gone. The Loitoktok I remember was a dusty nemesis that threatened to leave me dirty each time I tried to walk out of the door. This Loitoktok was green and bright and I even got to see our full shamba (farm), which was much bigger than I originally thought.

Even though the fam tried to guilt trip me into staying through Christmas, I was too excited to get to the coast for it to work. I left with another volunteer, Lee Ann, on Wednesday and headed to Mombasa where we met up with some other volunteers at a "hostel". I put it in quotes because it's really just a house with a bunch of beds in it. The owners were really nice and cool though and I would remember that bunk bed fondly in the days to come...

After a quick stop in Mombasa for a couple of nights, we headed to One Love Island. There was a volunteer who just COS'd (finished his service) from there so we had a few connections and were able to rent the island for 2,000 shillings per night per person including food. That's about $22 per person for a private island, not too shabby :-) Now we were sleeping in tents and the shower/bathroom situation was a bit precarious but it was beautiful and I woke up Christmas morning and had a sunrise swim in the Indian Ocean. We had such a great time that most of us stayed a second night on the island and I'm so glad I did, the food was AMAZING! All the food is cooked by this guy's mom on the mainland and then brought over by boat. I think I had 5 pieces of fish that day. YUM. Christmas day was more fun and games and water play.

After Christmas, we headed to Diani Beach, where we stayed until New Years. We stayed in our tents again at a place called Stilts, which, incidentally, is across the street from the main bar in the area. Pretty much the days went like this:
7AM: Wake up in tent because it's blazing hot on the coast and the tent is like an oven
7:05: Find a cool place to sleep
9: Wake up, eat breakfast go to beach
12:Wake up from nap on beach, go to lunch, go back to beach
5: Shower from day at beach, go to dinner
9: Go to club, dance in ocean, go to bed

Life can be hard sometimes, ya know?

Two volunteers had rented a little apartment not too far from where we were staying and were gracious enough to host us and cook some really good meals. After about day 2 of the tent, I realized that I am not, nor will ever be, a tent girl no matter how much I would like to be. I like beds. And pillows. And structures that keep monkeys and ants away. All in all, the week was great and New Years was definitely one I will always remember. This is, of course, the cliff's notes version and those of you who were lucky enough to receive phone calls from me while at the club (sorry about that!) probably can fill in where I've left things out. It certainly wasn't as great as a holiday season in the States with family but it definitely wasn't too bad either.

Moment of silence...

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! I'll get to all the holiday festivities another day but just wanted to post an email I sent to a fellow PCV last night...

Sigh...lets see just how *** the night got in the last hr.. waited
till 9 for dinner and its rice and potatoes. i almost cried. luckily
my sis called so i excused myself and warmed up bath water. go in my
room to talk to sis and see a mouse run under my wall because nowhere
in my room does the wall actually touch the ground. run back in the
main house. pull water for bath from tank, bucket has a major hole,
water all over my feet. use another bucket finish warming water.
trying to get off phone with sis to bathe and stima* goes out. go out
in pitch black to get head lamp to bathe but scared of mice because
light is what scares them away. retrieve head lamp, tell supers wife
about mouse problem while swinging head lamp. hit head lamp on wall
and break it. bathe in dark. return to room in dark, hear mice. forgo
brushing teeth. put on ipod, climb under net.
ahhh peace corps...

If this night would have happened a year ago, I probably would have dissolved into tears but I was actually laughing to myself as I wrote the email because, what else can you do? A broken headlamp is no laughing matter however. RIP...Moment of silence please...

*stima= electricity