It's been quite some time since I've had the internet to post, and unfortunately this will be my last for quite some time again. On Wednesday we leave for a few days in Mombasa, on the coast, and then ten days in Shirazi, a tiny village nearby. Shirazi is a pretty isolated Muslim village where they don't speak any English and have never seen Wazungu before. I'm really excited for that experience, as I know that my Swahili will get so much better when I'm forced to speak it that consistently. We’re going to continue having intensive Swahili every morning and then our afternoons will be basically free to go to the beach and swim in the ocean, but also to do a group assignment. I’m in a group that is supposed to study traditional medicine there, which will be very difficult to do only in Swahili but I’m pumped about it. It will be really good training for our Independent Student Project (ISP), which is the last month that I’m in the country and off studying something on my own.
Since I last posted, I’ve had quite a few interesting experiences here in Kenya. Last night, I went out to a Kenyan night club which was really fun. We went to one and there were way too many Wazungus there so we left for another one to find some Africans. This morning I went to church with my host family. They’re Pentecostalists, and it was one of the most engaging and enjoyable services I’ve been to. There was so much joy and singing and praying despite the fact that so many of them are so destitute. I’ve had some pretty ridiculous attempts at bargaining in the local markets. Unfortunately, that is something I still really need to work on, though I’ll probably always get Mzungu prices which are far higher than they should be.
Swahili in the morning has been fantastic, and we’ve been spending our afternoons either prepping for our village homestay or having lectures or going on trips. This week we’ve visited a bunch of really amazing NGOs that are doing really incredible things for the country. It’s been strange to realize that there doesn’t seem to be too much I can do here in a service sense. It is so important that the aid comes from within, from other Kenyans or at least other Africans, that I’ve really been struggling to find a positive way that I can help other than just sending money from the States. On Thursday we went to see WOFAK, Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya, which really enlightened me to this fact. The organization was started actually started in Kenya (a rarity amongst this kind of organization) and it provides support to women and children affected by AIDS. We actually got to go with a few of the social workers into a slum to see the work that we do. We split into small groups to visit families, and we went to this tiny little household in Koyole, a one room concrete house crammed with two beds and a tiny stove. There were four children and the mother was nowhere to be found, the eight-year-old daughter raising the twin two-year-old girls. When WOFAK arrived the twins weren’t even walking yet. The WOFAK women, all Kenyan, come in every day to bring food and care for the children, who are under consideration for being taken away from the mother for a while. When the WOFAK women arrived, the children were so happy, but reacted so differently towards us Wazungu. All of the children look at us differently. They all stare at us when we walk by and just see us as good luck cash machines, so it provides a very strange role. It’s something I’m struggling with, trying to see myself from their eyes.
But things are generally so wonderful here! I basically only have to worry about Swahili, although I do have a paper due tomorrow that I’m currently avoiding by blogging to you fine people, and get excited for the next few weeks on the coast. I hope everything is wonderful back in the states, because I miss you all! And I'll unfortunately be missing the High Holy Days, though there is a synagogue here in a Nairobi, so Shana Tovah and and an easy fast. I'll be celebrating in my own way in the village, Rosh Hashanah is the same day as Eid though, very exciting! And I'll be fasting for Yom Kippur.
Back around the 3rd of October,
Alix
PS - some pictures for your enjoyment that I stole from other people:
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