Started Swahili class

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Hatujambo,
The last two days have been very interesting and busy. Yesterday we had a lot of orientation stuff. We had to fill out lots and lots of paper work. Not so much fun, but has to be done. Still havent' gotten used to this heat... I think everyday is hotter than the last. You're constantly dripping sweat, but so is everyone else.

In the morning we visited a school for children with Cerebral Palsey. That was sad. It's a private school (meaning funded by sponsors). It's just one building and they have 56 students with varying disabilities. They've divided the building into three parts with wooden particians. The levels are by the capabilities of the student and by the last level they work on integrating the students into regular schools. They don't have much to work with, but all the teachers seemed to love what they do. =)

During the orientation we talked about security and such. One thing that came up... Athman (the academic director) asked us what we would do if someone say stole our watch and then started to run away. We responded that we would yell out and draw attention. Bad idea... He said people would go after the thief and probably catch em and if they were lucky they'd get away with a few blows before being dragged to the police. However, what's fairly normal is that they would be doused in gasoline and burned to death. Definately not worth anything I own. So he cautioned us to quickly weigh the value of what was stolen to their life. If anything is ever stolen I will not cry out for help.

Today was an awesome day!!! We started Swahili class... it's going to be a fun language to learn. We also had another wonderful lunch at Fort Jesus. Most of us met with Athman today to talk about our research projects.... gonna be extremely busy this semester with all the work, but it'll be good. Also looking forward to my project.

This evening we met our host families =) We won't be staying with them till the 5th of May, but it was still nice to meet them. My host mom is Mukoo Mohamoud. I have 4 host siblings, the daughter turned 14 today, 2 9 year old boys, a 4 year old boy and there's another one on the way in June. My host dad is in Saudi Arabia working and won't be back for another year n' a half. Possibly a bit sooner but not much sooner. Only the mother was there today, but it's gonna be so much fun. She was really really nice. I can't wait til the home stay. My family is muslim, so it will be neat to learn more about the religion.

There's so much I would love to write and can't possibly get it all down. It's sooo different here. Especially as a woman. It's weird not being able to walk around at night without a guy (you can, but it's safer with a guy). It's also wierd that there are really only guys hanging around the streets. Women that are out always have a destination. Also walking around Old Town, everyone knows us as "Wanafunzi" (students). It gives us a different status than tourists and everyone says "Jambo" (hello). They ask us how our studies are going and so forth. Some just want to sell us things, but being they know we're not tourists they're not as pushy and then just talk with us. =) It's fun. No matter where we go, we are greeted. The people here are soooooo incredibly nice. =) This is definetely a place I'm going to love. There are hard things about it and I'm sure there are more to come, but it's going to be a great semester.

A really hard thing is seeing the poverty and yet not being able to do anything about it. Or walking past begging children without giving them anything. Here, if we show we have money by giving it to beggars, we'll never be left alone. As students we're not thought of as having mountains and mountains of money like tourist so, beggars and street pedlars don't push us as much for money. I'm getting used to it, but it's still hard.

I want to put up pictures, but I haven't found an internet cafe yet where the computers are fast enough. I'll try to do that soon, but I can't make any promises. I'm gonna get going now. Hope you all are enjoying my blogs. Miss you very much..... Write when you get the chance. I'd love to get an e-mail from you and i'll do my best to write back... even per snail mail. Kwaherini! (bye)

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Photos

Kids at the Cerebral Palsey School
There are about 70 students with 4 teachers divided into 3 stages. This picture is of some of the students in stage 1

Wheelchairs

Elementary School
School next to the school for kids with cerebral palsey. The goal of the cerebral palsey school is to get students to a level in which they can be integrated into regular elementary schools