food for thought

Ive been here in Kenya for almost a year! It will be exactly a year on June 8th. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. But as my friend Breezie puts it, "the months go by fast, but the days pass soooooooo slow" 

Being here in Kenya I have definitely learned to appreciate a lot, so I have created a list of things I will never take for granted again! 

Here it is: (in no particular order, just off the top of my head)

high speed internet

personal transportation

washing machine and dryer

coffee maker

oven

vacuum cleaner

hot shower

beer on tap

frozen chicken

deli meat

any restaurant that has everything on their menu

salad

drinkable tap water (mine water comes from the tap, but has worms)

the gym

sidewalks

new clothes

I just thought of all these things. Now I'm not saying that I miss all of this stuff all of the time, but there are times when I miss what I had back home. 

We adapt to survive, so I have certainly "learned" to live without these luxuries. But would you, as someone living in America, call them all luxuries? How many times do you use one of these items during the day. When you use them, do you realize there are billions of people who don't even have the option of using these? 

Just some food for thought while you go about your day. :) 

First thing I want to talk about. I just got home from a pretty extended weekend. I stopped in Kakamega to visit my friend Lindsay on the way home. She made me a fresh salad for dinner. Yep a SALAD! That's something we don't get very often around here. She also sent me home with a whole bag of fresh picked salad greens! Since I do not have a refrigerator I had to eat all the lettuces tonight for dinner. I mixed it with some fresh tomatoes, onions, and green peppers. I made a homemade fruit vinaigrette (fruit jam mixed with a red wine vinegar), and topped it off with raisins and soy pieces. Can you say A- MAZING! I actually ate the entire thing, and can't even feel guilty because its a salad. Yum!

So on Friday I traveled to Russinga Island, to meet up with a few other volunteers. We were there to help our friend Izzy with a Girls Health Day. Of course did not go quite as planned, but it was still a success. We taught 100 girls how to make re useable sanitary pads!

It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it. A few other teachings on other health issues, then we ended the day with a dance party. This may or may not have included teaching all the girls the macaraina! 

Going to the island also gave us the excuse to get all together and spend an extra day here:

Yep our little private island. We lucked out with only a 30 minute rain storm, then sunny the rest of the day. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Nothing else is going on this week, just talking to more people about coming to talk at my family health day. Im hoping to get some HIV testing and counseling available as well. 

My family comes in 34 days! whoooooooo! I can not freakin wait!

boring week

Not a lot went on this week. I spent an afternoon on Thursday teaching a mama how to make jewelry, well mostly how to design better looking jewelry. But it was a really great craft day. Other than that I mostly spent time in Turbo.  Im getting pretty known in Turbo. Which is good, so hopefully when my family comes to visit, it won't freak everyone out (as much) that there are "mzungu"in town.  On Saturday I went with Anastasia to her church for some Baptisms. They were done in the river right there in Turbo!
Then today (Sunday) I went to visit Suzi's sister.  I went alone since Suzi had to work. I thought I was going because her sister was sick, but really I think they tricked me into coming just to visit. I ended up sitting in church for over 3 hours, and I arrived late!

Religion is a huge part of peoples lives here. Almost everyone is in church on Sunday or Saturday, depending on their religion. I have still have not been to a catholic church here ( I know mom! dont be mad) But me going to church here is a little different than going back home. First off they always make me introduce myself to the entire congregation. Also since i'm usually the only white person, everyone comes up to me and asks me a billion of the exact same questions. And it's not just the first time I go, but EVERY time.  Also the services are mostly in Kiswahili, and although I do understand Kiswahili, it's hard to catch the entire thing. I know these are just excuses, but thats what I am going with.
 The church I went to today, was a pentecostal church. There was alot of yelling and screaming and it ended with them removing satan or demons from a girls body. It was actually kinda of horrific, but an experience nevertheless.

At the office tomorrow, then thinking about going to Kakamega for the day to go to the pool with Linds, sometime this week. Then Friday I am heading to Rusinga Island with the girls to help Izzy put on a girls empowerment camp! It will be a really good weekend.

Well my week "off" flew by, like I knew it would. I was busy visiting and catching up with my friends and "family" in my village. I had a meeting on Tuesday with the committee about the family health day.  Its pretty much all planned, along with a menu. Here's the funny thing, its a day about how to live a healthy lifestyle, yet when it came to planning the menu, everyone but the community health workers and myself, didn't understand why we can't cook the traditional food in the traditional way. Well it's because the traditional way of cooking is cooking with a ton of salt and animal fat! How can we have a health day and then at the end serve foods fried in fat! After much arguing and reasoning, we came to an agreement. We will be doing beans and rice, and chai to top it off. The Chairman also thought since there will be visitors (my family) we should slaughter a goat for them.Well the chairman seems to think we have unlimited funds for this event, when in reality we're paying for this out of our own pockets, as well as a large "donation" from a unknown sponsor (myself).  I know my family will be happy with rice and beans! haha.

I also went to visit my friend in Kakamega for the day. We went to the pool and laid out and ate yummy food that we don't get very often. It was a good way to end the week.
Now I am back to work, the next month and a half are going to fly by and my family will be here before I know it! I hope they know how excited I am to get to share this huge part of my life with them! 

Now I am up to date

Whoa! I am so sorry it has been almost a month since my last blog entry! Time has literally been flying by! So here is a little recap of what has been happening here. (I also just posted 2 entries I had saved on my computer)

As mentioned in the blog below I have been working with community members on building a resource center. Of course it is not going as smoothly as I had hoped. I have been shooting down their ideas (in the nicest way possible of course.) But because we are applying for this grant, based on donations from donors in america, they think we can build this her (church size) resource center, that only costs about a million shillings! Thats around a hundred thousand american dollars! Now you see why I have been shooting down their ideas. There is also the problem of them asking me for things, such as a refrigerator for their health center, and pens and paper and notebooks for the meetings, as well as personal loans and what not. It is starting to get old, when people look at me and all they see is a white girl with a lot of money! What money?! Hello...... I am a volunteer! I usually just brush it off, but when it happens several times a day, it becomes hard to just brush off. 

With JOYWO like mentioned below, I have been working everyday, going out to new areas and training new women's groups. It is actually exhausting to travel so far. The roads here are not like roads in America, so if you tend to get car sick (like me) the trip seems very long.

 I actually have this whole week off!  Of course I have everyday booked with other things to do. No sitting around doing nothing for this girl anymore, for now anyway. Today I am at the fancy hotel using their super highspeed internet, then I am meeting with district health officers about my family health day.  Tomorrow doing a ton (literally) of laundry and cleaning my house (which always seems to be dirty........kibaibai).  Wednesday I am going over to my favorite families house to teach them how to bake a cake in a jiko oven. Then this weekend going to visit my friend Lindsay for a relaxing pool and market shopping day. 

Now about my Easter vacation! It was AMAZING, to say the least. A whole group of us volunteers went to Uganda (our neighboring country) and stayed in Jinga. What is in Jinga you might ask? Oh.... only the NILE RIVER! Which we went white water rafting down! 

I went ahead and added all the pictures so you could get the whole effect!

It was actually a lot scarier than I thought, the falling out of the raft part. But it was a lot of fun.  Our first rapid was a class 5 with a 15 foot waterfall at the end, we went down backwards. 

Then at the place we stayed ( the cutest little campsite and hostel) they had a bungee jumping platform. So yes I did jump 145 feet into the Nile River as well! That was probably my one and only time I will ever bungee jump in my life, it was actually terrifying! My friend took a video of me so when I get it I will try to post it! 

Then a few of us took some 4 wheelers out into the bush. We had a guide so we wouldn't get lost, but he was a local, so pretty much let us do whatever we wanted. We were out there for 2 hours. It started out sunny and dry, then started to rain and get muddy, we came back looking like this.....

From left to right: Henry, John, Matt, Aaron
Andrea, me and Izzy. This was also the same crew for our white water rafting! Team war birds !

So as I said the trip was freaking AMAZING to say the least!

Now to the most current updates. Yesterday I got up and went straight to the chamba (farm) A few of the farm boys helped me re cultivate my little garden, then proceeded to help me make 3 seed beds and plant all my seeds. Im going to tell you the truth, if they hadn't gone out there with me, I would not have re cultivated or made seed beds, probably resulting in nothing growing. So needless to say I was so grateful for their help, and baked them banana bread to show my appreciation. 

my new seed beds! Farming is alot of work, no wonder I didn't do it in america!

Afterwards I had to go buy bananas to make the bread, when someone stopped me and told me that they saw Kibaibai tied up at someones house! I was furious! They took me to the house, whoever tied him up wasn't there, lucky for him! So now I guess I have to keep kibaibai tied up at all times. Which makes me sad because I know how much he likes to run around and explore. He is getting so big now I thought he would be okay, I guess I can't trust anyone around here. 

My little stinker butt. I can never stay mad at this cute little face!

Kibaibai and I went to our favorite families for some R &R. I love going there, the babies don't fear me or kibaibai, and they treat us like family. So it was a good way to end the day. 

So that is all for now, sorry it is so long. I'll try to update next week! 

2 weeks ago

26-3-12

This morning I had a meeting with my village chief (again) but this time the assistant chief and over 30 community members, youth and village elders were there as well. We were all together so I could talk about my idea for the community resource center and library, as well as the my family health day. The meeting went great!!!! I was so impressed by the input and suggestions.  There is already a plot of land (actually given to us by the government in 1972) specifically for a social center! Which is perfect, so now we don't have to pay for land. During the meeting we put together a committee board for the project. I had to stress many times that this is not MY project but the communities, if I do this all by myself how will it be sustainable after I leave? They all agreed, so the board is meeting on Monday to discuss where to begin, as well as to start getting details on my family health day. They also agreed that we will hold the family health day in June when my family is here, so they can attend as well! Im really really excited. So I will let everyone know how it goes on Monday. 

 Yesterday I met up with a couple of my friends (other volunteers) in Webuye for the day. It was a much needed break and getaway for all of us. There is a hotel with a pool there so we just lounged by the pool all day. It was wonderful, needless to say we got burnt, again,... we even put on sunscreen this time! Jua kali sana hapa! ( the sun is hot here.) But no complaints, it was a great day. 

28-3-12

This week and all of next week I am busy with JOYWO stuff. Everyday me, Juilet( my supervisor), and mama Lydia are going out to new places and they talk about the importance of table banking while I talk about the importance of family planning, condom use, and general health practices. We have a really good time together, so it is work, but fun too.  On Sunday Breezie and Lindsay are coming over for the night. We plan to relax and lay out on my patio (lesso's up for sure, so the farm boys don't see us in our bikini's :) Then after my meeting monday, Lindsay and I are going to Eldoret to do a little shopping. I also am meeting with the Board Secretary of JOYWO on Monday. I met with her yesterday and she proposed an idea. She wants me to go along with her to Nairobi for a conference type thing. She wants to start a small shop here in Eldoret to sell goods made by our women. The conference is about making quality goods then how to market them. She wants me to go as the designer, since she like the jewelry I have made. Im hoping Peace Corps lets me go!! fingers crossed. It will be nice to do something other than health stuff for a change. 

way way overdue

22-3-12

I am sooooooo sorry for not updating in a LONG time! internet has been pretty sketchy, as well as the electricity ALWAYS going out in the middle of something important! Right now im at a nice hotel in Eldoret paying 2 shillings a miunte for the wi fi. but it's way faster than the internet cafe and i can use my own computer, so I guess I have to suck it up. 

Right now, there is not a lot going on. Same ol same ol with JOYWO. Planning my families visit for June and trying to keep up kibaibai, whom Im pretty sure has sundowners syndrome! hahahah im serious he literally goes crazy after dinner, bitting and barking! Anyway here are some posts from the last couple weeks as well as some pictures. 

14/3/10

Well.. the chief approved it! So now I am planning a family health day! it will be in May hopefully I can make it the 15th, which is international day of families.  I'm planning for it to be pretty big. I want to have different tables for different topics. Some of my volunteer friends will come and help, as well as district health officials. Im going to be announcing the building of my community resource center and library! The chief approved that too! Im super excited! These 2 projects will definitely keep me busy for the next year!. 

My mom says I should start putting some of my recipes up. So here is the recipe for my favorite breakfast: Banana Bread Oatmeal!

1cup milk

1 banana

cinnamon

nutmeg

vanilla

quick cooking oats

mash banana in a small sufria (pot) add cinnamon, nutmeg, and dash of vanilla. Bring to a boil, then add oats. Cook for a few minutes. When finished transfer to bowl and I add brown sugar and raisins. It is TAMU SANA! (delicious!)

I eat this almost every day!

13/3/12

Today I didn't have work, other than meeting with the chief, so I told my friend Suzi I would come see here and bring her lunch. She works at the chemist (pharmacy) in Turbo. I thought I had a boring job when I was working at the bookstore, back in college, well her job is like 10 time more boring, and she had to go to college to work there! Anyway I made Gnocchi with a vegetable marinara sauce, and green beans with carrots. I should first mention, that most people (everyone) in Kenya eat mainly 3 things, ugali, sukuma wiki, and githeri. So when she opened the container she looked at the food then looked at me and gave me the "what the heck is this" look.  I laughed and told her to just try it. She said she liked it, then yelled for her friends who were outside to come try it. They all assumed it was chapati. After about the 10th time of explaining what it was, I gave up and just said it's NOT chapati. Then they didn't understand why I didn't bring enough for them. 

That is another thing I've noticed here. No one brings there lunch (most don't even eat lunch). So when I bring my lunch I have to be sneaky when I eat it. 

Anyway it was a good cross cultural exchange, next time I bring something for Suzi, I will be sure to bring extras! 2 weeks ago

On Wednesday I traveled to Bomet to stay with Andrea and help her with her international women's day event. A few other volunteers joined us. The event included a booth about business and tips to success, a booth on family planning, a booth on malaria prevention, water treatment and my booth on how to make re useable sanitary pads.  If you don't know what a reusable sanitary pad is, they are really a great idea! They are easy to make out of cotton fabrics such as old sheets, then you cut towels and put inside depending on how absorbent you need it to be. It is best to make a few of them that way you don't have to worry about running out during that time of the month.  Then you just wash and reuse! What is really great about these is that once you spend the money (maybe 40 shillings per pad) you never have to buy them from the store. There are still a lot of girls who miss school here in Kenya, because they cannot afford pads, so this is a great alternative! 

      We were all a little skeptical at first, because the event was supposed to start at 10 and no one had showed up by then. But by around 12 the women started trickling in. It ended up being a success! Over 200 women showed up plus local community and government officials! At the end of the program (which lasted over 4 hours) the mayor asked for donations for Andrea, because she is building a maternity ward onto her dispensary.  Andrea raised over 10,000 shillings and the mayor had a birthing bed donated! The success of this event definitely inspired me to go through with an event for my community! 

Other than starting to make plans for my family health day event, everything is pretty same ol same ol.  Hopefully I can get a meeting set up with the chief and community officials so we can all be on the same page. 

this is me "smearing" my neighboors house, i talked about it a few blogs ago but wasn't able to upload the pic. better late than never! 

Kibaibai! Hes getting sooooo huge, this is him looking all innocent but really is covered in mud and just tracked it through my house! 

bad picture, but this is me and my supervisor juliette teaching at a womens group training. I even made posters! ha