Kenyan Life

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Another continent, another culture. Its amazing how differently people in all countries develop. In Kenyan culture, I see little aspects of Asian influence and lots from the time the British were here (my least favourite being that I come close to getting hit by cars every time I cross the street cuz I'm still not used to looking right first!!) As well as a whole new culture I’ve never experienced before. As a result, I was prepared for some and shocked by the rest of what I live here everyday. And on top of it, living here, rather than just traveling through gives me a whole different perspective on the people and the way of life than I usually get.

The more I see of this world, the more I realize that we in western countries are a minority…in terms of the luxuries we are accustomed to. The way we live is incomprehensible to the people in Kenya and vice versa. Although I see it constantly, I still have trouble understanding how some people live in a place where they have their own personal space, a constant flow of power and water and food rotting in the refrigerator, while others share one bedroom per family, struggle to find clean drinking water and have never eaten at a restaurant. The word menu came up the other day and it confused the kids because they had never seen or heard of one. How crazy is that??!!!

Ok, I should backtrack a bit…5 weeks ago, I came to Nairobi and began volunteering for an American based NGO called Hamomi (www.hamomi.org). Actually, it started 2 years ago when I first met Jessie in Korea...she had volunteered in Kenya. Remembering that, I emailed her a few months ago and asked for the contact info of the org she volunteered with. Numerous emails and weeks later, I was set up to volunteer at Hamomi. They support an elementary school in the Kangemi slum of Nairobi. It was started by a Kenyan man who saw a need for education in his neighborhood so he quit his job and started tutoring his son and a few other local kids. It grew rapidly until 4 years ago when 2 American students met them and saw how much the school needed funding, since the 2 teachers were volunteers and had trouble supporting their own families and the school was in need of classrooms! So, the 2 girls went home and started fund raising and from there grew Hamomi. Now, there are 140 kids, aged 3-15 (nursery to grade 8, which is the last year of elementary here) and 6 teachers in addition to the 2 original guys who are now the principles. They can't afford a building just yet, so for now they rent some rooms on a lady's land. Which means that right next to the school are people's houses. Sometimes you can hear them playing music in their homes when we are having meetings in the teachers lounge! Up until this month, all the teachers were volunteers. Only starting in April was there enough money from the US to pay them a small salary. None of the teachers are qualified and some haven't even been to University. they simply read out of the textbook and copy important parts onto the board for the kids to copy into their scraps of a notebook. There are no extra textbooks for the kids to take home and study on their own. Its not the best system but it provides free education to kids that might otherwise end up having to work or being married off at young ages. Plus, the NGO runs a feeding program that feeds the kids breakfast and lunch and is hoping to soon extend to dinner as well. Many of the kids aren't fed at home so lunch is their last meal until the next day's breakfast. Despite their poverty and all it entails (untreated illnesses and deaths in their families, cramped living conditions with multiple family members, limited access to clean water to drink and clean with.....etc) the kids are delighted to be at school, play with their friends and get an education that might allow them to make enough money as adults to eat daily. They run and play at school like they have no worries.

The role of volunteers at this school is somewhat vague. Primarily, my position is gym teacher. But basically, it's open to whatever the volunteer can bring. In the past, people have brought laptops and created computer classes. Others have introduced the kids to art during their lunch break. An American girl organized an HIV/AIDS awareness clinic...a task that was later passed on to me and will hopefully be continued by future volunteers, to educate the students and their families and get all of them tested. And then there's just the basic need for native English speakers to be around and help the principles understand all the emails sent by the US fund raising team. It's shocking how many cultural differences get in the way of the Americans and Kenyans working together. Little things like the wrong word used in an email can cause huge misunderstandings since Kenyans interpret certain words very differently than Americans. I often had to explain to the school principles what they might have meant, since in Kenyan culture what they said was insulting! Like the word "must". When they said "you must not enroll more than 140 students" the Kenyans took it as a sign that the Americans did not trust them when all they meant was that at the moment they didn't have the money to take on any more kids.

My idea, was to bring yoga mats and introduce the kids to a little yoga. Surprisingly, they loved it. Even though I could only manage to bring 3 mats and they had to squish 18 kids onto them! Its really cute to watch them, especially now as they have become more familiar with the poses and call out requests to me.
When volunteers come, they always bring donations, which is how most of the kids get their clothes and school supplies. But the one thing they neglect is shoes. I noticed a lot of kids had holes in theirs, some to the point that you cold count multiple toes. After shopping around and lots of bargaining, I realized I had enough money left over from the fundraising I did for the kids in India to buy new shoes for all the kids in grades 1-8. It wasn't easy picking out their sizes and carrying 100 pairs of shoes from the shop, but with some help (and a few trips) every kid got a pair. So I'm happy to say it was quite successful and all the kids look smart....as they say here in Kenya. People look at me funny when I say they look cute....like I insulted them...smart seems to be the only appropriate term! So all in all, the work at the school has been amazing. I love being around the kids everyday.

As for the rest of Nairobi....I cant say I love it as much as I loved the last few countries I've been to! I'm happy to be here and learning about another culture and way of life, but this is one place I wouldn't rush to come back to. For one thing....I am basically a prisoner after dark!!!! It's not safe to wander the streets alone once the sun goes down which immediately excludes taking buses. Besides the fact that they in themselves are unsafe....even in the daylight! They are notorious for pick-pockets and occasionally get hijacked. Taxis are safer (and necessary at nighttime) however, its only safe to call a taxi driver you know. Someone who has been passed onto you by someone else who trusts them. Which means waiting around for them to pick you up. And even they get hijacked at late hours. And the robbers are smart...if you have an ATM card, they'll take you to get out your money and then keep you until the next day so that you can then withdraw your limit from that day as well. The jokes on them if they get me.....they won't get enough money for gas to drive home!! hahaha but seriously, it really puts a damper on my social life! I usually end up going out straight from work and then getting home by 7 (when the sun goes down) and stay in for the night. Not the most exciting nightlife, but I make up for it on weekends...my main purpose in coming here was to volunteer, not party, so I'm ok with it! Besides, my first weekend here was the last for another volunteer so she took me out with her to her goodbye parties Friday and Saturday. Unbeknownst to me, people don't go home in Nairobi before 6 am, so I spent my first weekend here out all night and sleeping all day. That was enough!!!! The poor host family I'm living with didn't know what to do with me...I came home when they woke up and then disappeared all day! From that weekend though, I did meet some cool kenyans that I've been hanging out with ever since. Aside from them, I've also met some foreign students and volunteers from the US and Europe that have shown me around and kept me busy. I have yet to be bored here!
There aren't too many places to hang out in Nairobi.....and its often too hot to just go to a park, so we mostly (unfortunately) hang out in malls! They're all located in the richer areas of town which means they are surrounded by ex-pat communities. Where else would all the white foreigners want to live but close to a mall?!!! There's one in particular that makes me forget I'm in Africa and not middle America. There aren't just white people, but families with blond haired kids sipping milkshakes at cafes that sell only salad, pizza and burgers. No kenyan food in sight! There's the occasional white couple with a black baby but they always have a stroller, which was probably imported since kenyans carry their kids on their backs, strapped on with a cloth wrapped around their bodies. I spend most of my time in the slum where I'm the only light skinned person so its shocking to see so many foreigners. It's actually a nice escape from all the attention I get as the "mzungu." This is the word for white person in swahili. Kids, grown men, basically whoever sees me call it. Usually it's just to say hi, sometimes simply at the shock of seeing a white person. And sometimes I hear them talking to each other, pointing me out. Or a child taps his mom to say look at the mzungu over there. It's not meant in an insulting way, more in a matter of fact way. It is true, I am a white person after all! And it doesn't have the same connotation as yelling out "hey black guy" would in north America. Whats funny is that after more than a month of walking the same path everyday, they still get excited to see me. One student in my school warned her friends not to call me that....saying, she's not a mzungu she's just like you and me! But no one else seems to agree!

MY school had a break for Easter weekend so I took the opportunity to go on a safari to Maasai Mara. Luckily, I found a cheap trip where we camped out in basic tents and did conservation work in the villages surrounding the park....we also were 30 people and rode a huge bus through the national park, instead of those jeeps with the detachable roofs!!! But at least I didn't totally empty my bank account to see some animals! It was great...we saw lions, zebras (my favourite), giraffes, elephants, hippos, gazelles, buffalos, cheetahs, ostriches, wildebeest, hyenas, and many more all in the wild in a huge park where for the most part they are free to roam. They can migrate as far as Tanzania! Unforunately, we didn't see any animals hunting for dinner, which would have been cool. Supposedly they did just name this park the 7th wonder of the world...although I thought there already were 7 so that confused me a bit, but hey, I was at one of the wonders of the world....i think that makes it 3 now!!

I did however still struggle with spending the money. I find myself struggling constantly here with what is worthy of spending my money on. When people come to Africa the first tourist thing they do is go on a safari. I’ve always loved the idea of camping out in a national park surrounded by animals living in their natural habitat. And I planned on doing just that when I got a chance to travel to Africa. Now that I’m here volunteering and not just traveling, I feel selfish indulging in my own interests when the money will mean so much more spent on school supplies for the kids at my school. The part I struggle with is how far I can take this. Is it really selfish to live the life I was fortunate enough to be born into (within reason of course). Or is it noble to give everything I can to people who will appreciate it so much more? There has to be some sort of middle ground but I am struggling to find the balance.

So, that's it for now. Hopefully the pictures should give you a good visual of the schools structure and the conditions of some of the kids. Oh and if you're wondering why some of the kids with no hair look feminine, it's because they are girls! Many just have shaved heads either because they can't afford braids or they're afraid of lice.

Hope everyone is doing well and had a happy Passover or Easter =)

Namaste (I know I'm not in India anymore but I still love that word!!)

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Photos

Hamomi Class 3
18 students crammed into their classroom

Gym class
playing frisbee in the field on a steep hill

matching shoes
fitting a boy for the right size shoes

lunch time
eating the standard rice and beans for lunch

the cook's son
an adorable 2 year old that hangs out all day with us

Yoga
They're so close together, you can't even see the mats!!

Oooommmmmm!!!
We ended every class with 3 om's

2 adorable kids
the cook's kids eating lunch on the floor

Roaming elephants
look at the little baby!!