January 20, 2007

Date

January has been a busy month with some sad news as well. Of the 53 volunteers in my group, we have lost 5 to date, and one more is thinking seriously about going home. Most of them left because their housing situation was not what the organizations committed to the Peace Corps. PCs call it the bait and switch. They show you something during site visit and when you show up it is a totally different housing arrangement. The volunteer closest to me, about a 30 minute walk if I dilly dally around, has been battling rats and bats since she came on site. They have been so invasive; she had to take up residence at my hotel for a few days. The fundi (handyman) for the school and the school where she is working, has been very slow to respond and take the necessary steps to get the place cleaned of the vermin permanently. She finally had to threaten them if they did not get it done this week, she will not be teaching. It is sad to lose good volunteers over housing issues. It makes my not having a house for a while seem like a much easier burden, particularly when my new house is wonderful!.

It is back to school time in Kenya! The children here in all grades get a very long break. It starts in the middle of November and goes until the first full week in January. At my hotel, where I have been staying, there are a total of 13 children between the owners, the hired help and a couple of grandchildren. Two of the children have left for a Christian boarding school, two go to a private Muslim day school and the rest are in public schools. The first day of school, the children were up early after having spent a restless night in anticipation of the first day of school; another evidence that life is very much the same here as in the U.S. There was lots of scurrying around getting the girls’ hair braided (it is either that or they have to shave it off – it keeps the head lice population down in our town!). The owner of the hotel pays their tuition and shopped for the school supplies. I chipped in the pencils, erasers, and some pencil sharpeners and got uniforms for two of the smallest girls whose parents cannot afford it. Interestingly, the kids like the point on the pencil they get from using a razor blade rather than a sharpener…….. it is all in what you get used to! Everyone wears uniforms. Each school has its own colors and the children usually have only one, two if they are lucky. So, they get washed multiple times a week and get a little raggedy, but they wear them proudly! With all the dust and dirt around here, the walk to and from school means they need washed everyday and that does not account for any dilly dallying they might do on the way home!

When I arrived in Kenya, I came with a bad knee and an ankle that hurt if I walked on rough terrain or in unsupported shoes. I walked like a very fragile, old lady on the paths and in the mud as I roamed the villages. My steps were tentative and guarded. The ever present fear was that I would fall and break something or my knee would go out. The more ditches I have jumped and the more mud I have slid my way through, has actually improved my balance, my strength and my agility. Be proud Mel, all the good advice you gave me at the HCR Manor Care gym was right on target! More bad news, I have stopped losing weight. The really bad news, people tell me I am getting “stronger” and “am well fed.” That is Kenyan talk for getting fatter! That may change when I am consistently responsible for my own cooking or I might have to pick up my pace when I travel around town! The sun is jua kali (fiercely hot) so fast walking is almost counterproductive because you dehydrate and tire out so much faster.

I introduced my extended host family at the hotel to wonders of cooking with olive oil. It is cheap here by U.S standards, about $2.50 for a bottle, but still too expensive for them since they use cooking fat in everything. I made pasta primavera using local vegetables, lots of garlic and basil and, of course, the olive oil. It took the 20 of us about 30 minutes to eat 5 lbs of spaghetti topped with the veggies and the pesto sauce. I added some avocado which really made a lovely presentation. But, as fast as it disappeared, I do not think they had any interest in the presentation……

I have finally moved into my apartment this last week. God has totally blessed me. I have electricity and running water in a town where water is a scarce commodity. Almost everyone has to buy it for 6 shillings a 20 liter container and then lug it home. Some carry it for great distances, easily a 30 or 30 minute walk. I live near the only well in the community. My house has pipe water from the government. Maybe 15% of the homes on this side of the road have piped water, but not any on the other side of the road. My apartment is three rooms plus a bath, very big by Kenyan standards. I spent my entire move in allowance from PC on living room furniture. The local vocational education school built me two futons, a coffee table and two end tables. My community of new friends donated a bed, a gas container for my two burner table top gas stove, a kitchen table and three plastic chairs. When you come to visit me in Kenya, you can sleep on my futons! Someone even donated a small washer and dryer they got from somewhere. I cannot figure out how to hook up the washer since I do not have electricity and water in a single location……the dryer is very small and they tell me it works, although I have just been hanging my clothes on the line after hand washing them. I bought a water purifier so I do not have to boil all my drinking water. It is a great time saver.

Take care and thanks to all who keep sending me reading material, Crystal Light and other items that make me smile!

Patty G.

Postscript: I spoke to soon about being agile and peppy! During the move-in to my new apartment, I sprained my ankle and had to visit a great doctor in Mombasa. I am now on the mend and should be totally back to normal (whatever that is) in about six weeks!