Homestay Excitement and Kibera Slums

Hello all,

I’ve had no internet for quite some time, so there is a lot to tell. The most important part is that we moved into our homestays on Saturday, and my family is wonderful! I was a little wrong about the information before. I do have three little siblings, but I have two sisters and one brother. Vanessa, 15, is really sweet and outspoken, but unfortunately she had to go to boarding school yesterday. Most of the schools in the area are boarding schools, and even though her school is less than half a mile from our apartment we still wont see her at all. She has a weekend home in October and a visiting day at some point, but she is so close and so far. She was so sweet to have taken me in as a sister immediately. She gave me a little stuffed animal of Winnie the Pooh in a Tigger outfit which her mom gave to her. I tried to say no, she should take it, but she said it went from mother to daughter to sister. Chris, 13, is a cards whiz. I brought them a deck of cards from Washington DC and we’ve been playing nonstop. He said I’m the first person to have ever beat him at split. I’ve also taught them how to shuffle Conset style, which they’ve gotten really excited about. Finally I have Isabella, 10, who is so sweet and observant! They’re undoubtedly fascinated by me because of my white skin and American background, and she noticed immediately that I was left handed. She’s quiet but them more I’m around she comes out of her shell.

In addition to the kids, there is also Mama Carole, who is so sweet and has taken me in so soon! She does work for the UN as an Administrative Assistant in the Environment Department, helping to organize the big conference in Copenhagen. There is also a house keeper, who so far I have a confusing and undetermined relationship with.

There are intense water shortages here, and the water runs the electricity so there have been intense rationings. The water is turned on from Wednesday to Saturday and the power is turned off Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6 AM to 6 PM. They leave the tap on all day when they’re there and run when the water turns on to collect the water into big dubs. They then boil the water for “showers” in the mornings. I kind of enjoy it, actually. Other than that, we’ve been playing a lot of cards and watching bad TV. I watched “So You Think You Can Dance” for the first time here, as well as a ridiculous English dubbed Spanish soap opera. I was also lucky enough to watch Cinderella 2 and the Little Mermaid 2, which the kids love.

Today we had our first full day of classes, with three intense hours of Kiswahili in the morning and then in the afternoon we had a Society lecture by way of Carolina for Kibera. Kibera is the big slum in Kenya, the biggest in Africa and the second largest in the world. We had a discussion and then asked a lot of questions, and then we walked through the slums to get to the clinic. It was one of the most intense experiences I’ve had, though I haven’t yet had the chance to fully process it. We walked through the slum, as no car could get through, and walked past shacks with tin roofs and children repeating in a chorus “How are you! How are you”” as that’s the only English they know. The paths were covered in trash and what smelled like human waste. They’re known to have “flying toilets” there, where you go to the bathroom in a bag and let it fly. The kids were sweet and very excited to see Wazungu (basically Gringos), but most of them were filthy. Running in the middle of the streets we mini water paths, I suppose for some kind of irrigation, that looked like they may have been covered in human waste. It was hard to walk through there, but when we got to Carolina for Kibera, we were happy to see such a diamond in the rough. They offer completely free healthcare for local residents. It was an area that most Westerners got to see, and I was glad to have experienced it. I’m not sure I could have handled it for more than that hour, though.

Overall, I’m having a wonderful time. My family is incredibly sweet and loving, the other students are great, and I’m learning Swahili quickly. By the end of the next class, I’ll probably know more Swahili than I’d learned in the six years of French I took. My internet time is sparse, hence the rarity in posts and emails, but I think it will pick up as things get a little more regular.

Miss you all! Lalaa Salama (good night!)

Alix