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.