Fame!

I have finally arrived in Gatura! After a slight delay due to lack of housing I moved into my new home on Monday. I have been given the Kikuyu name of Wanjiko so I hear this everywhere I go. EVERYONE wants to say hi. I feel like a bit of a movie star and I don't think there is any chance of me ever doing anything unnoticed around here.

Because I'm the first white person to ever live in the village, and probably one of the only to visit as well, my presence has caused quite a stir. The day I first arrived 2 co-workers took me to lunch at the local restaurant. Before we walked in they said that we would give this man a lot of business. At first I didn't understand what they meant. When we walked in the place was completely empty. Within 5 minutes it was a full house of people just casually wandering in for a cup of tea or a little snack, and maybe to sneak a quick peek at the white lady.

The little kids really get a kick out of me and they all react one of two ways when they see me. They either stare like their eyes will pop out of their heads or they get all excited and yell to their friends, "Come see the mzungu!" Several of the pre-schoolers hung around outside my window singing a welcome song the other day. They are so cute but I'm hoping the novelty wears off at some point.

Shop Till You Drop

On Monday the driver from our sponsoring NGO gave me a ride from Nairobi to Thika where we met up with my employer. Thika is the last real town before Gatura so we had to go shopping for household items there. A more inappropriate group of people for this type of excursion there couldn't be. I had no idea what I would need, Francis didn't seem well versed on the particulars of household affairs and was convinced everything was way too expensive, and the driver was convinced I could get everything cheaper in Nairobi and was determined to find a good deal for me in some seedy back alley shop. Needless to say I am still without several key items but the driver did manage to score me a good deal on some curtains from a very shady second hand alley shack and I got most of the essentials like a mattress (really just a big foamy wrapped in material) and some dishes.

Home Sweet Home

Gatura looks to me like the beginning of an old west town with one main street full of rather ramshackle looking shops surrounded by a few homes and a lot of countryside. It is the last town on the tarmac before the road turns to dirt. This is the low rainy season so it is very green and the hills make for a beautiful landscape. The main crops in the area are tea and coffee but many people also have vegetable gardens. My house is on the outskirts of the main drag only a block from the office. My new home is very nice and even has an indoor bathroom...but I don't have any water yet so that has been a bit of a challenge. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is but there has been talk of it being fixed by the weekend. I am still getting settled in but will post photos once I get everything set up.

I have been very busy all week with a community building workshop, a regional AIDS conference, and a few meetings so I haven't actually spent much time in my new job itself yet but I have been getting to know the people I will work with and they are all extremely nice and have been so welcoming. They are all volunteers and one is my next door neighbor. They take turns helping me with whatever I need and they even walk me to the bus stop. I'm assuming this royal treatment will stop after a week or so but it has been a wonderful way to get settled in.

Status Check

My bee sting has started shrinking back to a 3 inch diameter after spreading to my elbow. Past the elbow was my cutoff point for seeking medical advice so I'm glad it decided to retreat. On the downside Francis (my boss) has typhoid fever but it doesn't seem to be slowing him down at all. He just takes his 8 tablets a day, sweats it out, and keeps on truckin!