Merry Christmas!

Christmas isn't as big of a deal in Kenya as it is in North America. Many people keep their shops open and there are very, very few decorations. I've seen a tree and a santa in a mall in Nairobi but that is it. In my town there is absolutely no sign that it is Christmas.

But not being people to give up easily, several of the volunteers have gotten together to celebrate at one of the volunteer's apartments in Nairobi. We decorated our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree with bracelets, key chains, and earrings and it actually looks quite festive :) We went to the big Nakumat and got all kinds of special foods (cheese, wine, asparagus, salad lettuce, etc) and made a delicious dinner. Our host even has a toaster oven so she made us brownies! This is a real treat as none of us have ovens.

We did a white elephant give exchange and I went first, got a great present...and got to keep it! I don't know if the volunteers are too nice or didn't really understand the cutthroat concept of a Koening white elephant exchange. Oh well :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Nyambuni

Karibu nyambuni! Welcome to my home! I live in this small apartment complex. It is very posh by Gatura standards and my exact apartment houses a family of 5 next door so I feel a bit excessive but I didn't pick it so I'll just be happy I have such a nice place. Most of the homes I've been to in town are simply one room with no kitchen or bathroom and they can house a family of 6-8 so as you look at the photos you'll realize how snazzy mine is.



We start with my very secure metal front door with padlock. Everyone has this type of door and I must admit that it feels very secure. You enter directly into the living room where I have a full set of hand-made furniture. The chairs look comfy but when you sit you can definitely tell you are sitting on a wood chair. Apparently padding is not a big priority here because all the furniture I've sat on here is the same.

I spend a lot of time in here using the computer, reading, doing ultimate abs, listening to my neighbor's music/conversations, etc.




Next door is the kitchen where I prepare all my food from scratch. The water doesn't work in the kitchen sink that is why there is a camping water container on the counter. You'll also notice my lovely water filter that I use to filter all my water (after boiling it, of course). And then my little baby stove in the corner. This is another luxury as it is gas and most people here use a stove about this size that burns wood. Actually, they first burn the wood to make charcoals and then burn those in the stove. A lot of work...and a lot of trees.


And then the bathroom. The water works in here from time to time. There is no apparent schedule and I've been up to 2 weeks with no water so I always keep 2 jerry cans full of water just in case. If I need to do laundry or just go through them before the water comes back on a boy on a bicycle rides my empty cans down to the river and brings them back full. I'm still amazed he can do this as his bicycle looks like it's from the 20's and the river is at the bottom of a huge hill.


The water may not work all the time, it may be ice cold when it does work, and my aim may need a bit of work, but I'm thrilled to even have a bathroom as so many people here just have a hole outside. I'm still not totally clear on how they bathe but I'm envisioning some sort of sponge bath since there is no drain even to let the water run into.




And finally the bedroom! I made the mistake of buying a cheap mattress so the bed is like sleeping on a wood board but that was my bad. I'm considering buying a new mattress (they are actually just foam rolls like what you might use for camping) and doubling up to save my tailbone :)

Well, this is my home for 6 months and I love it!

Shaft

Everything is so interesting around here I don't even know where to start. I'm taking requests on blog topics so just let me know what you want to hear about and I'll write about it. For today I think I'll write about work since several people have asked questions.

I have been very busy sifting through all the handwritten documents that have been kept since the organization began in 2003. Our chairperson didn't throw anything away so there was a lot to go through but I think we finally finished today. I'm so happy my employer is wiling to throw things away because now we have a manageable amount of documentation and are no longer drowning in paperwork! We were able to establish exactly what the organization does, who it serves, and what we need to do.

Of course we don't just sit around doing paperwork all the time... last week we conducted a workshop for our members as part of our project with the National Aids Control Council and we got excellent feedback from the participants. I usually attend only part of our workshops because when I am there they speak in English. I've found that they revert to Kikuyu as soon as I leave and participation is much better because everyone can speak Kikuyu and not everyone is comfortable speaking English so I try to limit my attendance when possible. Since the workshops are typcially 2-3 days long I sit in for an hour each day and it is always interesting :)

We had a fantastic facilitator for the last workshop but Francis also did a session on STDs. Kenyans have 2 official languages: Kiswahili and English. They are also fluent in their tribal language so most know a minimum of 3 languages quite well. This is great except that they tend to mix languages and change from one to another several times in one sentence. Since I understand English, a little Swahili, and no Kikuyu I'll hear: "Unafunya blah blah shaft of the penis blah blah kidogo kidogo." It's quite amusing. During that talk a lizard also fell from the ceiling and almost landed on Francis's head while he was speaking. I spent the rest of the session monitoring the lizard's movements to make sure it didn't try to crawl into my lap. On the last day I gave a presentation on volunteerism which went over very well.

Twiga na Tembo

Water, Toilets, Refrigerators

Thanks to all who answered my survey! I was wondering if anyone was really checking the blog so now I know at least 17 of you are :) Our clear winner was running water and on that note, my water randomly started working on Monday! I had gotten pretty used to not having it so now I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury. Although the water in the kitchen only lasted for 2 days and is now mysteriously not working, I still have water in the bathroom! This is very convenient for washing hands, flushing the toilet, and you might think bathing but the water is straight from a mountain river and is ice cold so I'm still on the 2-3 times/week shower schedule.

As much as I appreciate having water I've decided what I miss the most is a refrigerator. Just imagine life with no cheese, no ice cream, and no leftovers. Since I have to make every meal from scratch it is a big pain that I can't make a large dish and eat it for 2 or 3 meals. I guess this choice should come as no surprise as I think most of you know food is more important to me than hygiene :)

*If you have written a comment I have responded so be sure to check the comments section.

Giraffe Sanctuary

I had to go to Nairobi last weekend for a Saturday meeting with other volunteers. The meeting itself was a bit dull but seeing the other volunteers was fabulous! We went out to dinner and I ate cheese and ice cream...other things too but those were the highlights for me as they comprise 2 of my major food groups back home and are both unavailable in Gatura.

Since you are not supposed to travel after dark we all stayed over Saturday night and had all Sunday to entertain ourselves. Having been in Kenya 3 weeks at that point I was itching to see some animals so we went to the Giraffe Sanctuary and the Elephant Orphanage. Both are just outside of town and the Giraffe Sanctuary is at the base of the Ngong Hills (Out of Africa).

The giraffes were beautiful and we were allowed to feed them which was interesting. I think Mark and Andrea will remember from their trip to Phoenix that they are quite slimy :) They had 7 giraffes in the sanctuary and they are all Rothschild giraffes (there are 3 types in Kenya: Rothschild, Reticulated, and Masai). This type of giraffe is endangered so they breed them here and then release them into the wild. The park is big but we got lucky and were able to see 6 of the 7 and 3 of them of close.

An added bonus were all the random animals actually living wild in the area. We saw baboons and a whole family of warthogs. Warthogs are ugly but so much fun to watch because of the way they shuffle around with their front legs bent so their mouths can reach the ground.


Elephant Orphanage

From there we went to the Elephant Orphanage where they rescue and rehabilitate baby elephants before reintroducing them into the wild. Most of these elephants are orphans whose mothers were killed by poachers. Visitors are only allowed in the park during one hour of the day and it is feeding time so we got to see quite a few and even touch one. Even the babies are hairy and look like dinosaurs...but so cute in their own way!

Fun Facts:

• A giraffe can kill a lion by kicking it. We got to hold a femur bone and it is HEAVY!
• Giraffes only sleep a total of 30 minutes a day.
• Giraffes are most liking to be killed by a predator while drinking because they have to stand with their legs spread to get their faces to the water.
• Giraffes are pregnant for 15 months and can hold the baby up to 3 additional months if the environment isn't hospitable to babies.
• Elephants are continually losing and replacing teeth. When they get very old their teeth don't grow back in anymore and they die of starvation.
• Elephants can "hear" with there trunks and feet by detecting very small vibrations when placed on the ground. Their sight is terrible.
• An elephant's temporal lobes (which are associated with memory) are more developed and have more foldage than humans' lobes so their memories are much better than ours.

White Girls in the Sun

Rebecca-London, Me, Frances-Ireland, Lizzie-London