I am a full-fledged Peace CorpsVolunteer

Well, lots has happened since I last updated you. I completed my orientation and training in Kitui and got sworn in as a full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteer last week at the U.S. Embassy. I was really sad to leave my host family, but not sorry to leave Kitui (and the endless miles of walking everyday) and start the new adventure. I shall miss the singing of the bats at night as they flew in and out of the rafters over my head, but I shall not miss the bat dung on my suitcases and mosquito net each morning!

The sounds of rural Kenya include much more than just bats singing. It is chatting of neighbors living in the same or nearby homestead areas as they walk to and from their own homes on the way to the little neighborhood store called a duka or into their garden, called a shamba. It is the sound of women and young girls singing as they go about their daily chores of cooking, cleaning and washing clothes. It is even the sound of the water swooshing with the clothes in basins on the ground as they are scrubbed and rinsed by hand. It is the sound of a matatu, a small van, roaring down the clay and dirt roads in and out of town kicking up dust. It is the steady increase in the sound of a once dry river bed now alive with the torrential rains of the season. It is the huffing breathes and excited screams of young boys playing soccor in the dirt with a homemade soccor ball from scraps of paper, string and whatever else they can find. It is the sound of babies, laughing and crying and their unique musical noises cutting through all other sounds to light a smile of life on faces.

Sounds are not all that appeals to the senses in Kenya. The smells are ever present. They range from every person's own individual smell of sweat,(which can be pretty powerful) to the smell of food cooking in the outdoor kitchens on the jikos, little outdoor stoves. Cooking cabbage, goat, tomatoes, onions and garlic all waft through the neighborhood as the evening meals are prepared. The only food that has no smell, is ugali. Ugali is ground corn that is cooked very much like oatmeal but much more stirring is involved until it cooks up and holds its shape.

It was the smell of popcorn cooking on a jiko after I taught my host family to cook it. It was a smell that pervaded the neighborhood as each person shared the cooking secret with the next neighbor in some sort of chain reaction. Prepared popcorn is very expensive to buy so many people in rural Kenya have never tasted it. They were amazed at the relative low cost to buy the kernals and cook them up at home.

It is the stinky, overpowering smell of diesel fuel from lorries, matatus and other transport vehicles. It looks black and billowy and clogs your nose and lungs! But, it is also the scent of fresh fruits that are in such abundance and the sweet smell of pulmaria and jacaranda flowers in bloom. And, I would be remiss, if I did not mention the ever present smell of the outdoor choo! A latrine is a latrine is a latrine, no matter what native language is used for it!

I am currently in Nairobi, still living out of my suitcases as I work on the business plan for my project. I will actually leave for my new community the 17th and hopefully be settled in before Christmas. And, yes, for those who want to know, Christmas is celebrated in many of the same ways here as it is in the U.S.. Church cantatas, children's school programs, decorations at the stores in the big cities with Santa and Christmas music playing. I even saw face painting last weekend at the Nakumatt. It is Kenya's version of WalMart. In the rural areas, not so much decorating of stores and homes, but still the music of the season is heard and sung, plans for family dinners and get togethers abound and people look forward to a few days off from their normal routines. I will meet up with my host family in Mombasa over the holdiays as well as spend a couple of days with 2 volunteers north of Mombasa.

Keep me in your prayers. I get many reuqests for what kinds of things to include in care packages to me. Now that I have discovered Nakumatt, my list is much shorter. Books are very expensive here so if you read one you like, send it to me. Any kind of nutrition bars are good things to send. The selection here is limited and in small villages and comunities like Mariakani, they are nonexistent. My favorite are Cliff bars and Luna. Individual packs of Crystal Light - all flavors would be nice as well. Remember I have a new mailing address:

Patriica Gillette
Peace Corps Volunteer
c/o Family Health International
Sheetal Plaza, First Floor
Mohdmohdir Road, off Moi Avenue
P.O. Box 16961
Mombasa, Kenya

Any letters or packages should be in padded envelops with some kind of prayer or Bible verse on the outside (a simple God bless you in your work and travels is sufficient) and the customs label can just say books. The scripture and prayers keep others from deciding they want to own what is in the package.

Just as a note, Nairobi is like any other city of 3 million people. Big and noisy day and night with lots of traffic jams and interesting people trying to sell things to car occupants as you wait for traffic to move. Each day brings a new product group. Somedays it is sunglasses, others it is candy or nuts and some days like today it is small metal Christmas trees! Newspapers, magazine and DVD sales are very profitable with stopped traffic.

My prayer for all of you is that God blesses you richly this holiday season and that you pause to remember in your prayers those who struggle for their daily bread in these developing African countries. Each day in Kenya is a new day for me. I am always learning something new about life here; the struggles, the joys and the enormous barriers that people have to overcome to not just survive but push forward into the 21st century. I love you and miss you and wish you all a very joyous Christmas season and a wonderful New Year.