Leaving Again

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The last couple of days in Mbita have consisted of daily trips into the town and bird-watching with my Ornithology class.

Our group has been split into a bunch of research groups with topics related to the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Our projects last the entire 10 weeks with final presentations happening in Nairobi at the end of March. My group is investigating obstacles to achieving universal primary education in Africa. We've been conducting interviews with individuals - kids, teachers, principals, adults and field guides - to try and get a sense of the past and future of education here.

Balancing these projects with our other classes is a pretty big feat. In recognition of this, the staff gives up a day every couple of weeks for interactive research. Given that the community is so close-hand to where we're staying, Mbita was a perfect spot for this. I attended some classes and interviewed the Headmaster of Usuare Public Primary School. This school is very lucky as they were selected as one of five in the Suba district to participate in an NGO funded lunch and snack program. They give orphaned children food every day for free and others pay 20 shillings per meal. We tried the millet porridge that they feed the kids every morning, let's just say it would take some getting used to.

We hung out with the kids during recess, playing on the jungle gyms and kicking around a soccer ball. I hung out with a group of girls who had a ton of questions about Canada, what our capital is, how cold it gets, how many people live there. I showed them pictures from my iPod of my family and snow, they all thought it was "beautiful".

After finishing with Ecological Conservation I decided to take Ornithology. Under Dr. David Bird (yes, that's his real name!) we've been going on morning birdwalks and learning about all sorts of different species. I watched an Egyptian Goose and a Hammercop battle over a nest today, it was epic. We also took a boat trip out to Bird Islands - two reserved islands for nesting and breeding. There were thousands of Egrets, Coromands, Sacred Ibis' and African Fish Eagles. Maybe I'll take up bird watching when I get home, I'm surprisingly good at dove calls (do we have doves in Dryden?).

Today we learned how to weave baskets! I worked on mine for over 3 hours and got the base done, it should be a nice coaster or pot holder. If I feel ambitious I'll finish it up, it was just a fun experience. What a way to end our stay at Mbita, everybody's sad to leave the food here but PUMPED to get to the Maasai Mara!

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Comments

[buck]

I think you should take Lara bird watching.