Finally!

I finally got my blog rolling after being in Kenya for several weeks!  I think for this blog, I am going to focus on posting mostly pictures of my experiences as I am not into writing large blog posts like so many people.  Here is a picture summary of my first 3 weeks here in Kenya:

This is a picture of the gas station right by my house in Chicago on the day I left for Kenya.  It was after one of the worst winter storms in the past 50 years of the city's history and it happened 2 days before my trip!  It completely shut down the city and I didn't think I was going to be able to go.

First picture of Africa after landing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It was very different than any airport I have been to in the US or all over the world for that matter.  Although it is one of the largest airports in Africa (5th largest in Africa according to Wikipedia), it was very bare and did not have much going on.  It was also the first time I was in the large minority since I was one of the very few light colored people in the airport (despite the several light colored people in the picture).

A Safaricom (Kenyan cell phone company) advertisement greeting me upon my arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.  Cell phones are so prevalent here in Kenya everyone from the beggar on the street to Masai Warriors in the middle of the Serengeti pictured here have cell phones.

The view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from my airplane from Nairobi to Mombasa. 

The bathroom at the Jawambe Hotel. This was the place my organization put me up in before all the interns were placed with their host families.  On the way to the hotel, the taxi driver taught me many useful terms in Swahili that makes me think I may leave here with at least one wife (it's legal to have more than one wife, my taxi driver said he only had two wives because he wasn't rich enough to have more).  Some examples of what he taught me include "mischana mrembo" ("I love you beautiful lady") and "waschana warembo" ("I love you beautiful ladies").  The shower, sink and toilet were all in a tiny room and the toilet did not have a toilet seat (which made pooping pretty uncomfortable, I don't squat very well).  On the first night, I didn't realize how small the bathroom was and when I tried to shower I got the roll of toilet paper soaking wet.  When I tried to remove it, I ended up dropping it in to the toilet.  Reaching in to the toilet to retrieve a soaked roll of toilet paper in a 3rd world country was not a highlight of my life.  :-(

My room was pretty small.  Even though Mombasa is like 90 degrees with 95% humidity, the room had no air conditioning (to give the hotel a little credit, it did have a fan).  The windows had no screens despite the mosquitoes in Mombasa supposedly carrying one of the worst strains of malaria in the world so the beds all had mosquito nets. The mosquito net had holes all over it which probably made it worse for me because the mosquitoes would come in through the holes and get trapped with me in the net.  I think they figured they might as well have a rare feast of white person blood because every time I killed a mosquito it was pumped full of blood and too fat and slow to dodge my hand.  I later learned that this hotel was a luxury hotel by local standards.

Me in front of the Jawambe Hotel.  Although Kenyan society oppresses women, many local business owners were women.  Jawambe was owned by a woman named Mama Jawambe ("Mama" is a term used to show respect to older women).  She is in the Kikuyu tribe.  The Kikuyus are known to be good at business in Kenya (I hope to talk a little about the severe tribal segregation and the many problems it has caused in another post).  Mama Jawambe started out from absolutely nothing.  She first started peddling shoes in a small shop on the street before she moved into a much nicer shoe store.  After she her shoe store became successful, she sold it to purchase this hotel and restaurant.  It is extremely crowded every night as the locals like to come and have a beer or some food while watching their football (soccer).

I am in a tuk-tuk with several of the interns on my way to my first day of work.  The tuk-tuk is a 3 wheel motorcycle taxi used to get around town.  I think the driver's have to pass a psychological test.  If you are "sane" I don't think they allow you to drive one of these bad boys.  I did not feel safe for one second in one of these vehicles. I think this driver was pretty safe though, we only almost got into an accident 3 times on the way to the office.

Swahili class.  This is our Swahili teacher Anna teaching us about nouns.  Anna is also a tour guide and runs her own travel agency.  We planned a safari with her.  She can speak 16 different languages including English, Swahili, German, French and Japanese.  She has some incredible stories also.  In Kenya, where it is very conservative and women are often treated as second class citizens, she is one of the very few divorced women here.

The Likoni Ferry.  I think this is the worst part of Mombasa.  I HATE riding on this ferry.  It connects the southern part of Mombasa (the Likoni district) to the main downtown (island) part of Mombasa.  This ferry is notorious for pickpockets.  Not only will the pickpockets take your wallet, they will cut the bottom of your bag while you are not looking and take whatever that fell out that has any value.  On this particular ferry ride, I almost had a wagon full of vegetables fall on me and I almost was decapitated by a large pointy wooden post while trying to get on the ferry.

The school children at Maji Safi ("Safe Water" in Swahili) Public Elementary School that followed me everywhere I went when I visited the school.  They called after me, "Mzungu!" (white person!) everywhere I went and would not leave my side even after the principal yelled at them repeatedly for not leaving me alone.  I visited this school on the 2nd day of work. This was the first time I encountered true poverty.  These kids were playing during their lunch period instead of eating.  The principal that took us around jokingly stated that their lunch was "air burgers".  The schools lunch programs were canceled after UNICEF moved their lunch program to Northern Kenya where there is a significant famine.  The school could not provide lunch on the government funding they received.

The 4th grade classroom at Maji Safi Elementary School.  I walked around the school to each classroom with the principal as my guide.  In each room I was forced to introduce myself in Swahili.  I said "Naitwa Eugene.  Natoka Chicago, America." (Which basically translates to "My name is Eugene.  I am from Chicago, USA".  Whenever I say I am from Chicago, EVERYBODY in Kenya always asks if I know Obama and Oprah.  Even these young kids asked if I knew them.) 

The outside walls of Kwacha Afrika Youth Group, the organization I am volunteering at.  I hope to elaborate on them later.

Several members of Kwacha Afrika Youth Group at a local HIV/AIDS information session.  One of Kwacha's main activities is to go to villages all throughout Kenya and put on dance contests, skits, plays, and informational sessions on various topics effecting Kenya's youth.  On this day we went to a village in Mtwapa right outside of Mombasa to promote HIV/AIDS testing going on in this village through the mentioned activities.  I was in the dance contest.  All the villagers voted me last place.  They told me white people don't have rhythm so I shouldn't be dancing because I am only embarrassing myself.

The villagers watching the dance contest during Kwacha Afrika's HIV/AIDs outreach.  By doing all the dance contests and funny skits they get the villagers attention and out of their huts before they start talking about more serious topics.  It seems to be an effective strategy.

One of the children at the village I visited with Kwacha Afrika.  This particular child got my attention as he seemed to be wearing an extremely dirty diaper and very tattered clothing.  I also noticed that none of the other villagers were really concerned about this child.  While most of the city of Mombasa may not be developed or well-off or developed compared to most Western cities, the poverty level is astonishing in the outlaying villages compared to the city.  Seeing children likes this really made me sad.  This should not be the norm anywhere in the world.