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!
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
January 2007
Greetings from Mariakani, Kenya!
January, 2007
I have finally started work in Mariakani. I arrived right before Christmas and have been diligently working on modifications to the business plan. I have managed to get in some shopping in Mombasa for a few things for my new home. Unfortunately, I am still not in my home. I was hoping to be in it by New Year’s ay and now I am hoping for this weekend………I have seen the apartment a couple of times and have a short list of things I need to do once I get into it. I want to paint the concrete floors and fix the screens on the windows to keep out bugs and stuff! My neighbors all seem friendly and there is a convenient area to buy food. I ordered a table to be built to put my two burner gas stove and water purifier on. It cost about 20 USDs and if it turns out okay I will ask the woodworker to make me another one. Two of the new families have offered to loan me a bed frame and a kitchen table. One is insisting on buying me a small set of dishes. People are very kind here.
Wildlife in Mariakani is somewhat different from Kitui and the area has many more bugs and flying insects. The mosquitoes come in all sizes, from as big as small flies to almost microscopic. Thank God for repellent and mosquito nets. Even with these luxuries, I am still managing to get a couple of new bites a day. The cockroaches also come in the small and giant size and with continual diligence; I am able to keep them at bay. We do have bats, but most of the night songs here are by the toads and frogs and crickets. Of course, the local dance hall/saloon, not far from my hotel, adds to the musical overtures of the night and into the morning hours.
I have introduced the home cooking of popcorn on jikos and everyone has been amazed at how inexpensive it is to cook your own. Unfortunately, Mariakani has no market other than the small dukas or outdoor stands selling fresh vegetables. Popcorn kernels must be bought at the Nakumatt in Mombasa, the Kenya version of Wal-Mart or Kmart.
I have begun searching for my tutor for Kiswahili so can pass the language proficiency exam in April. The PC will pay for a tutor 4 hours per week, whether you pass or not. I plan to take full advantage of this opportunity since Kiswahili is a requirement for being effective in my job.
The really good news is that my NGO is willing to pay half the cost to have me hooked up to the internet. Since they are in Nairobi and I am in Mariakani, email is the most efficient way for us to pass documents and information back and forth. I will be hooked up to wireless through one of the phone companies here. My half will stretch my budget a little, but it will be so worth it to sit in my home and be able to stay in touch with family and friends and to surf the web for news of home.
I have visited 3 churches so far and will try the Catholic Church this Sunday. I am praying I find a church home where I can be comfortable in worship and get involved in the work of the church. I met an elder at the Miracle Church this last Sunday and he is working with a group of people in the area by the weigh station to start a daycare so that when the sewing factory is hiring, the women will have a safe place for their small children. He stopped by today to ask for 2.5 KSH, which is about 36K in USDs. I think he thought I had it in my pocket to give him………
I helped him understand the group needs to establish some costs to erect the building and develop a budget for its on-going maintenance. These figures are needed before they submit their proposal for funding. He had not thought about how they would pay other expenses like teachers, utilities or what the real cost of construction would be. The group had not even considered how many children are in the weigh station area that could benefit from the daycare. He was very open and excited about planning and promised to come e me next week to review what his group has put together. I think I will have to help them research where they can get funding as well. I am sure there is no room in my budget, but if the women do not have child care, it is not likely they will be able to show up to work consistently.
The generosity of local families towards the needy is inspiring. At the hotel where I am staying, the owner has given shelter to a woman and her 3 children while she convalesced from an illness. She is a single Mom that was stranded in Mariakani by a husband who ran off with a European. She got very ill, almost died, and had no means of paying for health care or feeding her children. She has been on the mend and has started working at the hotel. For Christmas, the owner’s daughter, who runs a successful hair salon, bought each of the children a new outfit to wear. They were squealing with excitement.
I will close by telling you how much I enjoy your emails, letters and packages. The snail mail and packages take forever to get here, but that does not limit my excitement (yes, practically squeal like the children) when I receive them. Your kind words and support motivates me to keep hanging in there despite my homesickness and the “expansion of my personal comfort zone.”
At the Posta in Mombasa, I learned I can be fined 5,000KSH if the customs label is not accurate. So much for the advice from the PC about labeling everything books! The good news is that you can just put books and miscellaneous items. As long as the contents do not have re-sale value, I do not have to pay custom fees. All I have been sent so far has been determined to have no monetary value!
My love and prayers go out to each of you in this New Year.
Patty
January, 2007
I have finally started work in Mariakani. I arrived right before Christmas and have been diligently working on modifications to the business plan. I have managed to get in some shopping in Mombasa for a few things for my new home. Unfortunately, I am still not in my home. I was hoping to be in it by New Year’s ay and now I am hoping for this weekend………I have seen the apartment a couple of times and have a short list of things I need to do once I get into it. I want to paint the concrete floors and fix the screens on the windows to keep out bugs and stuff! My neighbors all seem friendly and there is a convenient area to buy food. I ordered a table to be built to put my two burner gas stove and water purifier on. It cost about 20 USDs and if it turns out okay I will ask the woodworker to make me another one. Two of the new families have offered to loan me a bed frame and a kitchen table. One is insisting on buying me a small set of dishes. People are very kind here.
Wildlife in Mariakani is somewhat different from Kitui and the area has many more bugs and flying insects. The mosquitoes come in all sizes, from as big as small flies to almost microscopic. Thank God for repellent and mosquito nets. Even with these luxuries, I am still managing to get a couple of new bites a day. The cockroaches also come in the small and giant size and with continual diligence; I am able to keep them at bay. We do have bats, but most of the night songs here are by the toads and frogs and crickets. Of course, the local dance hall/saloon, not far from my hotel, adds to the musical overtures of the night and into the morning hours.
I have introduced the home cooking of popcorn on jikos and everyone has been amazed at how inexpensive it is to cook your own. Unfortunately, Mariakani has no market other than the small dukas or outdoor stands selling fresh vegetables. Popcorn kernels must be bought at the Nakumatt in Mombasa, the Kenya version of Wal-Mart or Kmart.
I have begun searching for my tutor for Kiswahili so can pass the language proficiency exam in April. The PC will pay for a tutor 4 hours per week, whether you pass or not. I plan to take full advantage of this opportunity since Kiswahili is a requirement for being effective in my job.
The really good news is that my NGO is willing to pay half the cost to have me hooked up to the internet. Since they are in Nairobi and I am in Mariakani, email is the most efficient way for us to pass documents and information back and forth. I will be hooked up to wireless through one of the phone companies here. My half will stretch my budget a little, but it will be so worth it to sit in my home and be able to stay in touch with family and friends and to surf the web for news of home.
I have visited 3 churches so far and will try the Catholic Church this Sunday. I am praying I find a church home where I can be comfortable in worship and get involved in the work of the church. I met an elder at the Miracle Church this last Sunday and he is working with a group of people in the area by the weigh station to start a daycare so that when the sewing factory is hiring, the women will have a safe place for their small children. He stopped by today to ask for 2.5 KSH, which is about 36K in USDs. I think he thought I had it in my pocket to give him………
I helped him understand the group needs to establish some costs to erect the building and develop a budget for its on-going maintenance. These figures are needed before they submit their proposal for funding. He had not thought about how they would pay other expenses like teachers, utilities or what the real cost of construction would be. The group had not even considered how many children are in the weigh station area that could benefit from the daycare. He was very open and excited about planning and promised to come e me next week to review what his group has put together. I think I will have to help them research where they can get funding as well. I am sure there is no room in my budget, but if the women do not have child care, it is not likely they will be able to show up to work consistently.
The generosity of local families towards the needy is inspiring. At the hotel where I am staying, the owner has given shelter to a woman and her 3 children while she convalesced from an illness. She is a single Mom that was stranded in Mariakani by a husband who ran off with a European. She got very ill, almost died, and had no means of paying for health care or feeding her children. She has been on the mend and has started working at the hotel. For Christmas, the owner’s daughter, who runs a successful hair salon, bought each of the children a new outfit to wear. They were squealing with excitement.
I will close by telling you how much I enjoy your emails, letters and packages. The snail mail and packages take forever to get here, but that does not limit my excitement (yes, practically squeal like the children) when I receive them. Your kind words and support motivates me to keep hanging in there despite my homesickness and the “expansion of my personal comfort zone.”
At the Posta in Mombasa, I learned I can be fined 5,000KSH if the customs label is not accurate. So much for the advice from the PC about labeling everything books! The good news is that you can just put books and miscellaneous items. As long as the contents do not have re-sale value, I do not have to pay custom fees. All I have been sent so far has been determined to have no monetary value!
My love and prayers go out to each of you in this New Year.
Patty
Thursday, December 07, 2006
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.
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.
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