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!

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

Days 3&4: Life Skills& Environment

By Day 3, I was exhausted and so thankful that the other PCVs were there to help me de-stress! I was actually giving the lecture on Day 3. Life Skills is supposed to be taught in secondary schools in Kenya, but many schools don't offer it because they lack a teacher. It is supposed to cover things like dealing with peer pressure, gender roles, self-esteem, etc. Since many of the girls are headed into secondary and the others are headed into the real world, I wanted to start them off with a little help. I gave a discussion on stress, what causes stress, and the best ways to deal with it. Next, Andrea gave a session on yoga and meditation which was VERY well received. On Friday, a mom told me that her daughter came home that day and gave her some meditation tips. Although it was hard to do a lot of the poses, like warrior pose, in skirts, the girls had a lot of fun and I especially liked the 10 minute quiet reflection :-) In the afternoon, I did a second session on self-esteem. Many of the girls lack confidence, they don't speak up and speak very low when they are asked something. We talked about surrounding ourselves with positive people and then we had a mini photo shoot in the courtyard, where I had to resist saying several times, "THE CAMERA LOVES YOU!" After the photo shoot, they all made and decorated their own "stress diaries".

Thursday was Environment Day and the JICA volunteer, Sachiko, came over to give a talk on environmental education. There's a big disconnect though because they all know the things they need to do to save the environment, the namely saving and replanting trees. Yet, most families still use charcoal or firewood to cook meals and heat water. I tried to garner some interest in biomass briquettes when I first got here but it's a bit like hybrid cars- the price point isn't quite there for the low/middle income consumer. In any case, after the lecture, we went back to the house to try and cook a cake with a solar cooker (Thanks Giles and Nia!). Unfortunately, the day became overcast so the cake was half cooked in the solar and half in the jiko oven. The last activity of the day was supposed to be making a sack garden, something I was really excited about, but rain was looming so we just enjoyed the afternoon off.

Enjoy the pictures!



Hellen posing for the camera



Andrea leading yoga and meditation




I really need to stretch more!




Siato smiling!

Day 2: Health

The theme for Tuesday was all health related, which was great because I got to utilize some fellow public health volunteers. Clare came from Eastern province and helped with field day games but first we had a discussion with a female doctor from the hospital. The girls got to ask her all kinds of questions about their bodies, female circumcision, sex, illness, disease, etc and they were much more active than I had thought they would be. But of course, as always, I tried to do way too many things at one time. Those of you who watched my Cribs video know that my house is, ahem, small to say the least. Knowing I would have 2-3 people staying with me this week, I had to do something to create a bit more space. I never bought a bed frame when I got to site, I just used the one that was already waiting in my bedroom. However, it was a bit too small for my mattress meaning I could never quite tuck my mosquito net in. Last week, I decided to get a new bed made, one with drawers underneath so that I would finally have a place to put my clothes. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong. First, the fundi (carpenter) changed the price on me. He told me he would have it ready by Sunday and when I went to pick it up, not only was it not ready but he was trying to charge me an extra 1500 shillings! We got all that taken care of and I told him I would be by to pick up the bed on Tuesday morning. I get there Tuesday and the drawers are on the wrong side of the bed! The way my room is situation, I really need to have the bed where it is so now my bed is sitting backwards in my room. Which, I guess I should feel lucky because it almost didn't fit in the room at all.

After this little fiasco, it was time to start the camp for the day. After the doctor's session, Clare began Field Day. The girls LOVED it! We played dizzy bat, jump rope, had a sack race, a balloon race, did limbo and musical chairs. Many of the girls had never played any of the games, save maybe jump rope, and they are all teenagers! Since it was all fairly new to them they really enjoyed playing and just being outside.

After lunch we had a session on basic first aid. Many of them do not know what to do when someone is choking or how to care for a basic burn or sprain. We stressed the importance of keeping your wounds clean since the doctor told me that morning a little girl will have to have her foot amputated because she burned it three weeks ago and her father had just been trying to treat it with herbal remedies so it turned gangerous. Not fun. After first aid training, we talked about peer pressure and I gave them scenarios with different situations. They then made a drama, song, or story about how the person in the scenario should handle the problem. I was really impressed with their creativity!

In the middle of all this, another PCV Andrea came from Eastern to help out on Wednesday. It hasn't rained in about a month here but of course the day I need to schlep to town to get visitors, it's pouring! We decided to beat the rain and stop off for a drink at one of the restaurants I like.

Pictures!!!!!!!!!!



Limbo!





Anita and the sack race



Hellen going for the gold in the balloon race!




Masioi and Jecinta touching the ground with the jump rope



Jecinta won the limbo!

Pictures from Leadership Day!

More posts to come tonight... I have never been so excited for a Friday!




Enjoying the discussion












Trying to untangle the knot














Success!















Women leaders they admire

Ostrich egg party and some random pics

Sachiko and Moses with the ostrich egg



Kids cutting the grass at a school- Dad if you had to mow the lawn this way, would you still enjoy yard work so much?




Sianne, my best friend in Kenya and my Swahili teacher, imitating me reading on my couch



Giles, Moses and I drilling into the egg

Scenery

Click here to view these pictures larger

Safari pics

Wildebeest



Black Rhino



Wildebeest migration with savannah backdrop






That's a leopard in the tree

Full album coming when I'm in Nairobi next week!

Sekenani & Narok Pics

This is actually in the park, a bunch of wildebeest



One of the "main roads" in Sekenani




The view of Brian's community from his compound



Narok town view, across the street from the stage



Cows taking over the road in Narok, a daily occurrence