How many Mombasans does it take to get Lacey Home…

What a day! I have to travel about 30 minutes in a matatu (14 passenger vans that Mombasa uses for transportation) across the Indian Ocean to the Mombasa Island to get to my work every day. The past 2 days my host sister, Norah, has assisted me. Today I did it alone – with the help of 9 kind Kenyans. In the mornings, the matatus don’t come as close to my house as they normally do. So I had to walk a bit further than I did the past 2 days. I got a little lost. So I asked 2 women and they directed me. Then my host brother, Isaac, found me wandering around the village and helped me get on the matatu. 

At work traveled to a small village and visited with some women who are working on receiving a loan from the place where I intern, NCCK (National Council of Churches of Kenya). It was a beautiful place with mud huts, cute kids, and wonderful women. They were very patient with me since I had to communicate mostly through my supervisor since they speak Kiswahili. I interviewed most of them and found out what their business is like and what challenges they face. Within the next few weeks my boss wants me to get to know them better and then give them advice as they prepare for the loan. Pretty neat!

By the time we got back downtown, it was close to 5 which is rush hour here. My boss dropped me off at a different matatu station than I had used before because she thought it’d be easier to catch a matatu there. I couldn’t find the matatu going to my village, Mikindani, so I asked a woman waiting next to me for help. She said I wouldn’t find a Mikindani matatu at that station, and then she walked me to a different station and helped me get on one. At the next stop, I heard the driver yell out something other than Mikindani, so I asked the woman sitting next to me, and found out that I was on the wrong matatu! Helper #6 of the day told me where to get off the wrong matatu and to catch the right one. So I did, but this matatu stage was super busy and people were shoving each other to get a spot on the matatu. So a Kenyan man asked me if I wanted help, and he shoved me through the crowd to get a seat. I made it home 2 hours after I had left downtown! Wow. 

Mombasa people are said to be extremely lazy, but I have found them very helpful. Most will drop everything to help me, and they are extremely friendly towards each other as well. Mombasa is also extremely hot. I don’t think I have stopped sweating since I arrived, even when I sleep. No wonder they are stereotyped for being  lazy. It’s tooooo hot to move fast. 

My host family is incredible. My host mom is a wonderful loving mother who has 6 of her own children, at least 1 orphan that she’s adopted. Also, I believe she has taken in children on and off throughout the years. She has hosted 9 other MSID students and is very good at it! My host dad is great too. They have 2 grandchildren ages 1 and 5 running around the house and he is always playing with them and he makes me fresh mango/papaya juice every night!!!! YUMMY! All of the host siblings are great as well. 

So far so good. I turn 21 in 8 days in Kenya! There is a restaurant which floats on the ocean, and I’m hoping to go there with some friends on my birthday!

Miss you all! Love you!

The Human Furnace: Day 1

(I typed this at the end of my first day in Mombasa, Oct 25th, but am just getting internet connection to post it) 

First full day in Mombasa: complete. I haven’t stopped sweating since I arrived in Mombasa – I guess Janet my Nairobi house help was right when she said it’s a human furnace. As I write this I’m sitting on my bed that has beetles crawling over it every couple of minutes and listening to a woman sing some gospel sounding songs outside of my window. I could see the stars tonight! In Nairobi I couldn’t see them – I think it was from all of the pollution. Today was a success. I woke up to the rooster right outside of my room at 4:30. We have about 30 chickens that the family collects the eggs from and sells. And this time I’ll definitely know where my chicken comes from! The cows that are on the other side of my room started mooing at about 5 am. Early morning.

At my internship, I basically only did introductions and met some of the women who are in the small loan groups. The next challenge: most of them only speak Kiswahili. I gave my introduction in Kiswahili, and am grateful for those 7 weeks of Kiswahili classes that we had, but this will be a challenge. I’m not positive about what my responsibilities will be at the internship, but I will hopefully figure that out soon.

My internship is on the Mombasa island and I live on the mainland about a 30 minute car ride away. Once I arrived home, it was time to milk the cows for the 2^nd time. I milked a cow!!!!! My host mom and I milked Natosha the cow! Never thought I would do that in my life! She said I was better at it than the men she’s seen milk cows, and she said if a man wants to marry me I can now insist that he gives me cows like the Maasai women do since I can now make use of them. My host mom is awesome. Super welcoming and very motherly. She and I made French fries later that night and it was fun! However, she is the biggest food pusher I’ve ever met. During our orientation we were warned that when not taking 2nds/3rds, the Kenyan moms will think that we don’t like their food. I didn’t find this to be true in Nairobi, but wow is that true here. Also, we drink piping hot tea A LOT. I’m already sweating constantly, and adding hot tea make it just keep coming. My host mom told me that I should drink more hot tea because it will make my body perspire and lower my body temperature. So I drink more cups of tea… 

I have 6 weeks in Mombasa, 1 week of testing in Nairobi and then I’m home! Time’s going to fly!

Also – tidbit of the day: I went to the Uganda/Kenya soccer match 2 weekends ago in Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi. We had a terrible time trying to get inside of the stadium because they only opened a few of the many gates. We had bought our tickets in advance and we didn’t even get in until 30 minutes after it had started. My friends and I noted that logistics are definitely a problem in this stadium. Well this past weekend 8 people were trampled to death in that stadium. The stadium managers only had 2 of the 15 gates open, and it started to rain, so the crowd rushed in…crazy.

Miss you all, love you all. Good Night!

The end of Nairobi but it's just a beginning

This is my last day in Nairobi! Then I'm off to a rural village to live with a family of 12 and a couple of cats! It feels weird to be done with this portion and to not be going home, and to be starting all over meeting a new host family. I know it will be incredible once I get into my routine there, but I'm getting anxious to discover it all.

This past weekend, Haley, Ami and I went to "Bomas of Kenya," with Haley's host mom. In Kiswahili "Boma" means "Homestead." It was an educational place that had sample villages representing the different tribes in Kenya, art places, and an auditorium where we saw a traditional dancing and music show! Awesome! They used traditional drums, shakers, and a weird accordion sounding, piano looking instrument. The dancers were incredible, and at the end of the show, there was a little acrobatic portion - cheerleaders of Kenya! It must have been school kids' day because there were at least 1000 kids in school uniforms  crowding the place - I even had a couple of small kids leaning on my back to see.

As I come to the end of this portion of my journey, I thought I'd share some things many things I've learned so far: People need other people; Slums are hell on earth to me; There is a whole lot of work that needs to be done in the world - slightly overwhelming; I'm only 1 person; listening to my body is important; I'm extremely grateful for my education; North Dakotans are lucky to have clean air and open spaces; I love the stars and miss them here; I have taken for granted how much freedom and potential I have as a woman in the US compared to being a woman in a different country; poverty sucks; My relationship with God is way different than a lot of peoples' - especially in Kenya - and that's okay; A person's attitude can make or break their experience; I like learning about other people, but the Midwest is home to me.

I miss you all dearly! Can't wait to be in the chilly, snowy weather in December, and hope all is well back home!

Taking a boat ride on Lake Victoria!

Taking a boat ride on Lake Victoria!

Kisumu!

I traveled to Kisumu this weekend with some friends and Wendy’s host mom who has family in the area. 

Kisumu is in the western part of Kenya right next to Lake Victoria – the 2^nd biggest lake in the world, and is the home area of Obama’s ancestors. Kisumu is a beautiful area – much less congested and cleaner than Nairobi – so it was a much appreciated change of scenery. Since Kisumu is on Lake Victoria, tilapia is a staple food for the people, and it is thought that it makes them smart. The Luo ethnic group dominates the area, and they are stereotyped as being smart because they eat so much fish. Stereotypes of the different ethnic groups are very present in Kenya, but most people hope that it will change so that they all view themselves as Kenyans.

On Saturday afternoon we went for a boat ride on the lake and ate a lot of fish at a restaurant on the lake. Then we visited Wendy’s mom’s mom who was recently hospitalized. The hospital was a single room that had about 15 beds, no white walls, and no privacy between among the patients – a different atmosphere than hospitals which I am used to.  That night we went to a rural area with Wendy’s mom to listen to traditional music. We arrived at about 7 pm and met Jack La General – a traditional African musician who is quite well-known in Kenya. After waiting 3 hours because of a power outage, the music began, and we were definitely the main attraction for the night. People from the village swarmed the place, and in between songs, many people gave donations to the band and would dedicate a song to us. One of the donors asked me to marry him. I said no. 

An elder from the village even came and welcomed us. Jack La General insisted that the 6 of us students dance with him – so we did – the whole night. Afterwards we ate freshly killed chicken and ugali at his home and he took tons of pictures with us.

I have 1 week left in Nairobi and then I’m heading to Mombasa for the internship portion of the semester. I can’t believe how fast it has already gone and I know it’ll just keep flying. I’m looking forward to Christmastime when I can see everyone, but I hope that I can make the most out of these last 8 weeks. Miss you all! Hope you are enjoying the fall smells and colors for me!

Wow the world it crazy!

I have exactly 2 weeks left in Nairobi, and then I'm off to Mombasa! The locals here keep telling me how hot Mombasa is, so I'll have to make sure I have plenty of sunscreen when I leave! I felt much better this week than last week, and had a great week!

Yesterday on my way to school I had my first mob justice incident - I was walking with Wendy and Ellen on a main road and a man came right up to us and started walking very closely next to us. He seemed to be slightly intoxicated and kept trying to hold our hands. Finally Ellen pushed his arm away and said, "Go away," but he kept walking next to us. A truck was on the other side of the street and must have been watching this happen because the guy in the truck started yelling at the man to leave us alone, and then he held a club out of his window and told me to take it and hit the man with it! I didn't do that, so the guy got out of his car and started walking towards us holding the club in the air and telling the man to leave. The guy left!

Our teacher explained mob justice to us as Kenyans who are tired of police not doing anything about the petty crimes and they're tired of pick pocketers and other things like that, so they take matters into their own hands. There's no 911 to dial...the cops are usually too corrupt to trust...and so it's comforting to know that Kenyans are looking out for each other.

We went on a field trip yesterday with our professor, Jama, who I believe should run for president! We started by going to the only park in the city where we could see the main government buildings. It was a beautiful, small area, and Jama said that only 20 years ago were black people allowed to be in the park after 5 pm. Then it turned into a "European only" zone. There are many places like this in Kenya, and especially Nairobi, because of colonization. I really wanted to get out of the bus and go for a run in that park since there were sidewalks and green grass - something I haven't seen in a while - but I knew that there's no way I would do that. It's too dangerous. I once again realized how much I take for granted such as security and safety and being able to just go for a run back home.

We then went to the formal industrial sector that included General Motors and Firestone. It felt a little like Minnesota. Then we went to the informal industrial sector. We visited a huge metal making place where there were at least 50 men hammering away at recycled metal to make pots, spoons, decorations, trunks, and much more. It was super loud, hot and dusty - hard work. Our professor asked one of the workers to let us try doing the hammering - it was hard!

Afterwards, we ate lunch at a beautiful area in the neighborhood where the president lives - it was a huge contrast from where we had just been. The extremes of poverty and wealth in Kenya are hard to comprehend.

Later that day, I went to Kibera, one of the biggest slums in East Africa, with some friends who volunteer at an after school program there. I had no idea how big Kibera was - estimate population is between 700,000 and 2 million people, and it is quite the experience. When we were walking to the school, many many kids would giggle and say "How are you!" I don't think they really knew what this meant because when we'd say "Good, how are you," they'd laugh and run away. One even ran up to my friend and just touched her skin and ran away haha. The school was a small building no bigger than my living room/kitchen area in Grand Forks and it had a small office on the second floor. It is all run by volunteers who went to the school when they were children and are not "paying it back" to the kids. I could see through the walls, and when we went upstairs to the office...slightly feared for my life because it seemed to be just a bunch of 2 by 4s nailed together. The kids put on 3 small skits for us that they've worked on to learn about AIDS/HIV prevention and the political violence of 2007. It was incredible!

Later that night, our group of MSID students went to a small Korean restaurant for our friend, Katie's, birthday. There is free internet at this restaurant, so we have become regulars, and we know the staff/owner pretty well. The owner even made Katie a birthday cake with her name on it!

Kenya is huge with lots of problems and lots of good things; many happy people and many greedy people....and this is just one country! Wow the world it crazy!

It's been a month since I left home! Time has flown - most of the time. These past few days were quite miserable since I got my first dose of stomach problems. I'm not sure what I ate/drank that made me sick, but it was pretty nasty from Thursday to Saturday night. Feeling Much better now!

We only have 3 weeks left of classes and then are off to our internships. I will be working with a small organization that travels to different groups of people - mostly women - who have received small loans for business purposes. I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing, but it sounds like I will be teaching basic business skills to these women, which should be awesome! I'll be living in a rural area west of Mombasa with a family of 12 and a cat! It's hard to imagine what to expect in this rural setting after adjusting to the polluted and busy city of Nairobi, but I'm looking forward to it.

This morning I went to an Eritrean Orthodox church with a Greek Orthodox friend and an Ethiopian Orthodox friend. We got there late so were unable to get a seat inside of the church. After listening from the outside for a while, we decided to go the "church school" tent where kids singing loudly! It was great! There were about 25 Eritrean kids clapping and singing and staring at us! Kids here are not shy at all about staring when they see a white person. There have been many incidents when my friends and I are just walking on the street and kids will walk by, point, and say "Mizzungu!" (this means a white person with money - not a negative term to Africans, just a term) and sometimes add an "I love you!" At first it was a little strange to get used to, but now we have learned to simply embrace it.

I may be heading to Milindi beach next weekend! I've been told it's a beautiful white sand beach, so I'm looking forward to that! Hope there's no snow in North Dakota yet!?