Homestay and training

October 25, 2001

I'm now officially in Week 2 of training. On Mondays and Tuesdays I'm at the training center, named Malaika (the angel). Classes begin at 8am and usually run until 4:30pm. It's a mix between a Language session, Cultural session, SED/IT sector session, and Medical. We get breaks throughout the day for tea, or chai as they call it here. As I don't drink tea, or coffee, I have hot chocolate. The lunches here at Malaika are pretty good and usually are full of variety. The other day we were all so elated to discover we were having pizza. It was Kenyan style, made with a local dough called chapati but had recognizable cheese and everything! It wasn't quite the same as a Pizza Hut pizza but damn good all the same.

At my homestay I usually have fried cabbage, some form of potatoes, lentils and chapati. Every so often we have beans and maybe carrots and peas. Had spaghetti once. There was no sauce with it, just boiled and then quickly fried in lard. Just about everything is fried in lard here. For breakfast I usually have an egg, fried or boiled and a banana. Or, toasti mayai, which is french toast! It's great. Again, I drink hot chocolate with milk fresh from a neighbor's cow. Our cow is pregnant so we're not milking it. The calf should be born at the end of October. I'm to let Elizabeth and Brian, my closest neighbors, know so they can come and watch.

On Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays we have a Language lesson in Karati (where 5 of us live). It's at Elizabeth's homestay house so I don't have far to walk - maybe 10 minutes. In the afternoons we are free to do whatever but are supposed to be doing our Community-based training. In my case that means that I come into Naivasha and work with a technical training institute. Me and another IT trainee are doing this project together. We're trying to do a needs assessment now. Not sure what we'll be able to do for them but we'll see if they need help with Marketing or expanding their computer curriculum. In addition to this we're given tasks such as to go into town and speak with 5 local small business owners and learn about their business and see what suggestions you can give them. The biggest problem here is that no one keeps records. No receipts are given, no inventory control is done, no accounting, etc. Even basic things like keeping their home and work accounts separate isn't done. Therefore, no one has any idea if they're even making or losing money. Costing and pricing is another issue. If some shop runs out of an item, they'll just go down the street and buy one from another identical shop and sell it at theirs for the same price or sometimes less - no markup, no accounting for the time it takes to do this, transportation, etc. You can see how bad it can be if they transport their stock from Nairobi or further.

One of my self-posted care packages arrived on Wednesday so I was thrilled to see it. It was the less interesting of the two I sent myself before leaving Seattle but still had one packet of pre-sweetened Kool-Aid in it so I'm very happy. Not sure how much it is for customs duties. We all paid 1000 shillings or about $12.50 as a down-payment for duties. I've already put an order in to my mom for some things I want sent but I think I'll ask that everyone else hold off on care packages until I find out how much receiving them here will cost me. I get paid 2000 Kenyan shillings per week which is about $25. It pays for my lunches every day except for Monday and Tuesday, my transportation to and from town every day, stamps, local needs like laundry soap and toilet paper, etc. Stamps are the biggest expense. It's about a dollar to send a letter to the U.S. Today I ate lunch for the same cost as a stamp. I'll have to pace myself on letters as I don't want to tap into my U.S. savings while here to get me through every week.

I'm writing this right now, by the way, on two new iMacs here at Malaika (I say new, but they're actually several years outdated). The server is down area-wide and has been for the past couple of days, but I'm typing it out on Word and pasting it in. We have a sign-up sheet and everyone gets 2, 15-minutes time slots per week for email. Can't do too much in 15 minutes especially when the connection is so slow so I'm trying to be clever and typing it out beforehand and just pasting it into my web page. It's a Wednesday today and I'm supposed to be at A.I.C. Technical Institute right now but we're having a rainstorm and I don't feel like getting soaked. Hey, it's Kenya - you don't have to be on time.

Let me tell you more about my family in Karati. We live on a small shamba (farm) and have one cow, one cat, one rooster, several chickens and one dog who recently had puppies (3). I play with them every day. They're getting to the playful biting stage so I may have to cool it for awhile. I've been given 2 out of 3 rabies immunizations but it's endemic here so if you don't know the animal is safe, you stay away. Our cat is pregnant so I'm excited to see the kitties soon.

Our rain reservoir is just outside the house and the spigot and trench is where I brush my teeth every morning and evening. I like brushing my teeth at night as I can take my time and stare up at the stars. One of the first nights I was doing just that when something huge hit me smack on the bridge of the nose. I of course yelped and shook my head violently - not a good thing when you wear glasses. They flew off my face and landed who knows where. It took me a few seconds to figure it out. As it was dark I had to feel around on the ground for them but at this point I wasn't caring about what it was that had attacked me or whether it was still nearby - I just wanted to find the glasses. My flashlight was no help as without my glasses I'm blind. I carefully backed away up to the house and asked for help. My host brother and sister laughed and came out to find them. Brian, my 19-year old brother, found them right away. Luckily they were just fine. Whew, shows you just how vulnerable you are sometimes.

Ok, now I'm just rambling. Hopefully the connection will be re-established in the next day or two so I can post this soon. Keep writing me snail mail! Take care.

November 5, 2001

First of all, let me say Happy Birthday to Lisa, Roger and Karin. I received permission to use the internet for updating this site as it will be used for a "business" purpose. My cousin Melanie is a teacher and I will be communicating with her students in the World Wise School program. Hopefully, they can log onto my site and get updates on me in addition to communicating via snail mail.

Had a rough weekend. I spent the night at Malaika Friday as we had a Halloween party. I guess Friday afternoon our cat, Puss, came home, had a seizure and died. She was inadvertently poisoned by a neighbor. The really sad thing is that she just had kittens (3) and now they're orphans. Their eyes aren't even open yet. Today is Monday and they've now survived for three nights without their mom so I'm hoping they will continue to fight for life. Me and mama spoon feed them milk but it's a difficult process and they end up not getting much milk. I'm going to try using a straw today or maybe empty my Visine bottle and use that.

Last night we heated up a large stone and wrapped it in an old shirt and put that in the box they sleep in. It keep them warm for a while but they were freezing by morning. They are so adorable - it's heartbreaking to see them go through this. Keep 'em in your prayers! Other than that, things are still going well. We're all excited to find out where our sites will be. We find out this Friday. On Saturday and Sunday we'll be leaving to go visit these sites. We'll stay for about 5 days getting to know our Kenyan counterparts and will meet any current volunteers that may be posted nearby. I can't wait.

Time to go back to class. Oh, I received 2 letters from my mom, 1 from Lisa, and one from Roxane last Friday so it was a grand day. Thanks!

November 17, 2001

In Nairobi right now, en route back to Naivasha from my future site visit. Anyone curious about where I'll be living for the next 2 years??? Drumroll please........

I'll be living near a town called Nunguni. It's in Makueni District, SE of Nairobi. My closest big town is Machakos which you should find on a map. I'm about 2 1/2 hours from Nairobi. My living situation is interesting. I'm not actually in the town of Nunguni, which isn't very big to begin with (doesn't have a bank but does have a post office and 3 phone booths!). I'm going to be living at a woman's house in the hillsides surrounding the town. It's very beautiful, reminds me a lot of Kauai actually. Lots of red earth and terraced green fields.

The housing story is actually very long and I won't go into it in detail right now. My options were limited on housing and I'll be working with a women's group that meets in Nunguni and many of the members live near where I'll be living. The other house option I had was in the opposite direction and I would have been very isolated. I'm assigned to work with a company called Jisaidie Cottage Industries (JCI). It's a private and Gov. of Kenya supported organization (12 employees, all based in Nairobi). They work with local producers of crafts (pottery, ceramics, wood carvings, sisal baskets, etc.) and help them to market their goods in Kenya and abroad. That's what they want me to do - to help this women's group in Nunguni that produces sisal baskets and handbags. I'll be helping with quality control, developing new product designs for overseas markets and with marketing.

I'll be incorporating IT in the sense that I'll help JCI establish a web site and will then try and sell the products online. I've met some of the people at JCI and will really enjoy working with them. Not sure how often I'll be coming to Nairobi to do work at their offices as I think most of my time will be spent with the women in Nunguni. Oh, forgot to mention that my house has solar power and a full water tank outside. I have an outdoor choo but I'm already used to that. I'll have my own bedroom and she's giving me the sitting room too. I'll share the kitchen and bathing room with her when she comes home. She has a house in Nairobi but this place in Nunguni is her family home. She said she's there about every weekend and brings her two small kids. She's the secretary of the women's group. Her neighbor is the chair lady.

It's about a 2 hour walk from the house to Nunguni and I'm in a very hilly area. I can take a short-cut down and up one of the mountains and shave off about 45 minutes. It's tricky in the rain though, even with hiking boots. Mrs. Meka, the chair lady really took care of me on my visit. I stayed in her home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. They fed me and walked me all around and introduced me to many people. I feel very fortunate to be in good hands. It takes some volunteers a full year to get familiar in their sites and communities but I feel like I've already accomplished a majority of it with the help of Mrs. Meka and others in the group.

I'm spending the night tonight, Saturday, in Nairobi. Lots of us trainees are meeting up today and heading back to Naivasha tomorrow. Just ate a Greek salad that wasn't too bad. It was nice to have lettuce. Might do Chinese food tonight....I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Hey mom, I received your L3, P1 and P2 on Nov. 9th. All arrived just fine - I was a hit with the Peanut Butter Cups :o) Next time I'm in Nairobi I'll bring some pictures with me to scan in. I'm also going to mail some home to my mom to put into an album for me so you know where to go to see them. If you want to see what some of us trainees look like, check out my links page for a website that one gal has done. It will have basic bio info on us and a picture.

Hope everyone is doing well. Keep in touch! By the way, I found out I get a duty free allowance on my packages until mid-January. I'll probably change my mailing address to my town but that will come later. I'm excited to finish training soon and get settled in at my site. It's really very peaceful there and I'll really enjoy the area and people. I'm the first white person many have ever seen so you can imagine the stares I get. Only a few little kids have gotten scared and run away from me. I find it all very funny and surreal. Bye for now.

December 6, 2001

Look at me, I'm a Volunteer!!! We were all sworn in yesterday in Nairobi by the Deputy Ambassador. I leave tomorrow for my site but won't be arriving in Nunguni until Saturday. Four of us are renting a matatu (van) to take us to our sites as we're in the same general direction. Two of us, me and Brian T, are further away than the other two so we're spending the night in Machakos at Elizabeth's apartment. We're dropping her off first and then Rich R in Kitui. Elizabeth doesn't have any furniture in her place but we'll have our sleeping bags and will crash on the floor. Brian and I will then go with the matatu Saturday morning to our sites.

We were just informed that we can take unofficial leave from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3. We are allowed to visit other volunteers in our regions so we're not spending the holidays alone. I decided that I'm not going to climb Mt. Kenya during New Years - that kind of leave hasn't been approved. I'll probably go to Machakos with some others in our area. Can't make too long of an update today as I'm in a time crunch. Had so much to say and now that I'm at a computer I can't think of what to write! I'll jot some notes down for next time. Just know that I'm doing great and can't wait to get settled in at my place in Nunguni.