Kenya celebrates Obama

Here is a message from Jacob who is now in Kisumu where Barack's family is from and where one of his grandmothers lives now. They set off fireworks in Mombasa, gave everyone the next day off work.

"To our brother Obama, its a congratulation!!! to him and all Americans whom voted him as the right man to bring change to your country, He serves as a inspirational to the whole world thus gives hope to many. i had once lost hope and faith with myself and country when i saw our leaders turning astray, when i had the US elect president tears couldn't stop flowing and the words 'yes we can' are amazing!...

Already some schools here are named after Obama, the children who were born on that day most parents named them after him and also on the very day business people were giving out free food stuffs such as sodas and bread to celebrate his victory. In football o tournament was held called Obama's Cup further than this some music concert are scheduled this weekend still for his performance. On to his speech that was filled with inspirational, He was not only talking to Americans but also to the rest of the world making it a better place to be."

Time to rally!

Hey friends and family! I have been back in New York for a little over a month now. It has been a challenging readjustment, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I am working as an intern at African Refuge, an organization that works with Liberian refugees who were displaced to Staten Island and I have remained connected to the EAC to help with that readjustment. In fact, I might become a member of the EAC board of directors pretty soon here!

Over the past few weeks, I have created another blog for the school while they are building a new Drupal platform website. The goal of the blog is to help get each of the almost 200 students there sponsored in the next month. Today is the day that we are going live with blog, sending it to friends and family and asking them to pass it along to get the word out. Today feels monumental to me. I have been thinking about making a difference for so long, then learning about making a difference and today I finally feel like I am doing that!

The organization is going through some great changes and is headed down a path that I am excited to be a part of! We really hope to get the secondary school up and running so that we can offer elementary, junior and high school education for these kids, providing them with more opportunities and an education and experiences that they will pass down to their children. The more children who have opportunities like this, who grow up in such a healthy and challenging environment, the more individuals who will change the course of their lives, their families' lives and ultimately shape the future of the country. I know that creating educational opportunities like this is addressing the root of the challenges people there face.

Please check out the blog, become a follower of it and sponsor a student if you can! I know your money will change the life of the student you sponsor and that these kids need and deserve this opportunity. Takaungu is a special place and Vutakaka is an amazing school! I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend that time there, to have learned and experienced everything I did and to be able to continue my work for them here.

The Anita Dance

The Anita Dance from Jen Hill on Vimeo.

Performed for the students at the close of day ceremony by the interns and volunteers.

Tutuonana Baadaye

See you later!

That is what I am going to be saying to Takaungu and Kenya soon – in one week actually. I can’t believe it even though it feels like I have been here for a lifetime. I can not wait to see Bryan and all my friends and family and get so excited when I imagine making the rounds in Ohio and North Carolina, but I am going to be so heartbroken to leave this place. Leaving is going to be further frustrated by the fact that it is going to be extraordinarily difficult to get in touch with the people who I have gotten close to after I leave.

So in attempting to tie loose ends, I spent the entire day at the beach with some of the kids I have gotten close to. I got some great pics because I trained two of them to use and respect the camera and then just let them have it the whole day. I should have been doing that all along. That was my goodbye to the beach and some extra bonding time with the little ones. I am taking Saleem to Vutakaka tomorrow for what should be his last cleaning of that wound and checking on the items I have had made at the sewing cooperative. Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday I will be finishing my projects and leaving behind my work and having dinner with various families to say farewell. Sunday some friends are playing in a big football (soccer to you) tournament and so I will check that out throughout the day. Monday I am spending the day at Mohamed Ngazi’s letting the students from the after school tuition program use the Polaroid camera I brought and getting a little more of his perspective on things. I plan on heading out of the village Tuesday morning and going on a safari for three days before I fly out on Friday. We will see if that works out.

I have certainly learned a great deal and am continuing to process it as much as I can. The divides here between Kiswahali and Girama are larger than I first thought and more detrimental to many in the area. What woman and children not having a voice or options does to a community. The types of programs that can make a difference in lives may be pretty simple and almost universal and I should have started one; gathering girls to visit people at hospitals, organizing a writing, debate or acting club with the public school kids who would really benefit from something like that, organizing more volleyball with the girls. Dang. Guess I’ll just going to have to come back….








Here are those things that I am going to miss:

Walking back from after-school tuition with the crew, laughing and playing the whole way.

The music blasting from the video theatre right next to my room, waking me with Shakira or Sean Paul and sending me to sleep with some KiSwahali or R&B tunes that I have come to love!










The waves of realization about why I am here – the constant and ever changing thought process I have gone through about development and the roles people play in programs like this.

The bucket showers! Yes, I love them and find that they center me very much somehow. They keep me present.

The silhouettes of the coconut and mango trees against the sky at night.

The piki-piki rides! And the rockin matatus!

The smells and sounds of this village even though goats are a main source of both those.

The laughter that I have come to understand as the perfect balance of laughing with me (50%) and at me (10%) and at something lame because Kenyans think things that aren’t funny at all are hilarious (40%).

The food – chapatti, cabbage and mangoes especially.

Playing volleyball after school gets out for the day amidst coconut trees, in the rain with rainbows and everything.

The kids and how they have changed me (I know, I know, I am getting a little too Whitney Houston on you here but its true).










Takaungu and the entire coast of Kenya, is going to be an important place to me for the rest of my life. Hopie – no worries, I am not going to be one of those Africa people, well maybe not. I hope to leave some impressions that aren’t bad with a few of the people here. I am setting my goals low because I realize how impossible it is to make any major impact in the span of only 10 weeks. I think I have succeeded in that and maybe will be able to work to do a little more than that. Love and miss you all! Will be home soon!!

Kwa Heri!
Jen

Peg, Anne and Floof – get that porch ready for this lady right here.

Leora – I desperately need you.

Kim – Hiya! How is the little one? She is probably dating by now. Get ready for some Jen time when I get back. I hope you are still loving life the way you do so well!

Owen – How’s the desert? Awesome. NYE is just around the corner you know…

Emerson and Dina – I am so excited to see you in NYC in a couple of weeks!!

Suz – I miss you little lamb. Told a story from Baltimore the other day, it made it to Kenya!

Brittny and Gabriel – Ahh! I hope you guys had such an amazing time in Thailand! I can’t wait to hear all about it and see all the photos!! Haha.

Hopie – puppies and rainbows, puppies and rainbows, puppies and rainbows, whew, thanks.

Bryan – no words.

Lynn – If you are reading this, fire up that grill cause I am taking the train out to see ya asap!

Elizabeth and Adam – Saleem is doing great! Took him again to Vutakaka today and he is much, much better. Spent the entire day with him and a couple of his friends and am with him now as I type this. I also got some amazing pictures of him and us at the beach. And I got the video of our dance routine – it’s amazing! I really just want to hide under a rock until I leave so I don’t have to say goodbye to anyone. I miss you guys – see you soon! Saleen says “Sema De Lonjo” and “Shak it Uh” to you guys. He still talks about you guys and calls this house yours. I hear your name in conversations with his boys. I am having dinner at his place tomorrow night I think… bringing cooking oil as a gift. I went to a movie with him and his friends last night (Species 4 – I can’t believe they made 4 of them, just grateful they did) and it was awesome!

Mambo

What's up?

Hey all! I hope the pictures below are worth a thousand words, cause I have to jet. Just in Kilifi to grab some malaria medication for my friend and former student who has malaria and then back home to the village. Also taking Saleem - photographed below - to the clinic today and tomorrow to treat a pretty bad wound he got while fishing on the coral reefs.

School is closed, so I am going to be spending more days with the kids before I leave. It's going to be sad to say goodbye to these people and this place.

Love you all very much!!
HTJ

Poa

Cool

At home

Testing Vutakaka school children's vision for physical









Kitsao's photos at the photo exhibit for the after-school tuition kids.

With one of my after-school students at photo viewing

Game day race at Vutakaka - awesome!

The drama about cheating that Liz, Adam and I wrote being performed at close of school day

Intern dance routine - performed at Vutakaka close of school day. Just call me Paula Abdoul.

Rukia shaking it at the dance competition for close of school - umm yeah - they have a dance competition!!!

Piki-piki stand across the river

Walking through the village

Liz with Saleem

Pole raficki yango

Sorry my friends!

I am sorry it has taken so long to write - have been away from computers for a while. I am as happy as ever and still truly enjoying every moment. Work is progressing nicely and I am feeling like a part of this small village. (right - downtown Tak when school lets out)

The sponsor communication packet for the students of Vutakaka is coming along and will be a great thing that I can leave behind. I am working with two girls from Holland who are studying medicine to evaluate all of the students' health. This basic evaluation will be included in their file and they will leave behind a system for regular check ups and records to be kept. (below - Vutakaka* students)

Liz, Adam, and I have been meeting with our favorite person here - Mohammed Ngazi. He is the teacher of the after-school program that we have been working with. He is an amazing man who has devoted the later half of his life to helping to educate students in Takaungu and the surrounding area that are too poor to afford school. He built his own school near his home where he teaches students for free and then he runs the after school program. He watches out for the children as if they were his own and has been a major influence in so many of their lives here. We meet with him and talk about his life, poverty, politics, religion, the horrible state of education in Takaungu and what can be done. He is a true inspiration.

We are going to leave him with an English and Math curriculum that will enable others to help him teach the after school program when people are willing to volunteer. We are also creating a system of evaluating the progress of the students who attend the classes after school so that the EAC can prove that it is a valuable program and get more funding for it. Upon returning to New York, I am going to apply for grants for the program and possibly sponsor one of his students so that they can attend Vutakaka.
(right - some of the after-school kids)

Since I have been here, I have realized the importance of games for youth. Not only does it keep them from being idle and build confidence, etc., it also gives them a space to be young. Here they have many adult responsibilities. Fathers are often gone working in Mombasa or another city, if at all. Kids pick up the slack and have much work to do. They face sickness and death in their family and have experienced a harshness in life that children should be protected from. I try to play with them as much as possible and have been enjoying playing volleyball so much!! We are also getting together a team of adult players made up of volunteers, teachers, motorcycle drivers and older students from the public school.

Finally, the drama club will be performing the two 'skits' that Liz, Adam, and I wrote for them next Wednesday at the close of school day. I am also choreographing a dance routine for the volunteers to perform for the students on this day. The kids will really love seeing us all make fools out of ourselves for them.

It has been hard for me to process the issues here with poverty and development. Each day I learn more and see more and realize I know so little. It is like I am taking it all in and just holding it, waiting for the right time to really work through it and situate myself within these issues; what can I do? What kind of influence do I want to be and what is possible? One of the most major problems is with education. The public schools are horrible and students aren't even given the opportunity to get an education that would allow them to attend college. They see that they are stuck in a cycle and have no way to pull themselves out. With the help of some of the Vutakaka teachers and Mr. Ngazi, I am hoping to understand the depth of these problems better, maybe find a way to help out even just a little. We will see.

This weekend I walked out to Vuma, another village nearby and sat at the rocky coast line there - it is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and I can't believe it is right here! It is going to be my new spot and I will get some pictures up here asap. I also took my groups of kids to the Takaungu beach and treasure my time with them. Saturday night we laid out a sleeping bag and watched the stars fall.

* I don't know if I have explained this yet or not but the East African Center (EAC) has two major programs in Takaungu. One is a health clinic and another a school - Vutakaka. About 185 students go to school at Vutakaka. The school is a private one and $300 covers their fees for the year including their uniform and lunchs. The students who go there are sponsored by donors, usually from the States and wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise. Right now, the classes are only Kindergarden through Primary levels and then they have to go to public secondary school, but the EAC is planning on offering another level of school each year until they can take students through all of their schooling. Vutakaka is the best chance kids in Takaungu have at ever attending college.

showing a little knee. Sarah left and Elizabeth on the right.

At the Tak beach with Wyclif (a kid who had to quit school and move back to the Rift Valley because his drunken brother who is a teacher at the public school was showing up drunk to school and might have been involved in an attempt to set fire to the building was transferred. Not fired mind you, just transferred.) Jacob(a teacher at Vutakaka) and Adam (Elizabeth's really funny boyfriend)

Me stuffing my face at a volunteer party the other weekend









Me at South Coast Beach Diani in Mombasa a couple of weeks ago








There is a new post below - check it out

A little something from the diary

19 July 2008

I learned how to get my feet clean! Sounds like something simple right? - Nope, it's huge! Since I have been here the bottoms of my feet have been black, covered in a crust that proved to be impenetrable, that is, until the other night. At the same time, two seemingly unrelated occurances have confounded me. 1. That every man, woman and child here has amazingly clean soles. Even those, and there are many of all ages, who go without shoes all day. 2. The huge damp areas outside my bathroom and shower each evening.

The other night, I was talking and laughing with Aisha (my Kenyan mom) right inside the door after returning home. Do (my niece) was in the choo (bathroom) and when she came out she had the cup in her hand. She smiled that brilliant smile up at me, got to a spot in front of the shower and started pouring the water over one of her feet, stopping after it was well soaked and then proceeded to drag her foot across the uneven part in the concrete there. Eureka! I stopped mid-sentence and started pointing and clapping. This even more so than most anything I do, was very entertaining to the two of them. I explained why I was so happy, lifting up my foot for them to see the dirt caked soles that I am sure they were well aware of. When Do was done furiously scraping the soles of her feet at every angle against the rough slab, she stood in front of the bathroom door, put both sandals on and gave her feet a rinse, stomping in the sandals. It was my turn and Do ran in to grab Maryam (my sister) and Dea (my niece) out of bed to watch. My feet are clean!

I can't stop talking about it either! I've been here 5 weeks and have been wondering. Why didn't I ask? I was embarrassed to have such dirty feet and thought I should know the answer. What else do you discover/learn the longer you stay here? What else do I think I should know, but don't and need to ask about? How many other phases of feelings and perception about the hustle would I go through if I lived here a year, two years? How is it possible to make decisions about a community or a country from a distance, or ever as an outsider?

I feel grateful to have caught a glimpse of this place and uncovered a first level of meaning behind things, but regret that what I know about this place will be so limited. Maybe after another 5 weeks I will know more, but I don't have much hope beyond being able to tell the difference when people are laughing at me or with me.

Photos!

Vutakaka Secondary School building

Math class


The scene at Vutakaka for World Population Day


Me dancing at the World Pop Day - awesome!

Acrobats at World Pop Day


Found this on the path to school

My bedroom

My kitchen

Shower left - bathroom right



Me at home


Fatma and Uschi - my friends and team mates


P.S. I know I need more pictures of me so you all know that I am alive and well. I will get some from Liz and Adam and post asap. Mom - can you find a way to post those photos I emailed you that I wasn't able to post here in a comment? Not sure it that is possible, but would be cool. Thanks ma!

Lala vizuri!

Sleep well!

Hello to all! I am here in Kilifi again, trying to email, mail some letters, post some photos and pick up a few things from the store. I think I am going to get some bananas today for the family.

Friday of last week was World Population Day and the Vutakaka site was chosen as one to have a celebration and to offer free medical services to the community. We set up early in the morning for the festivities, assigning rooms for general care, family planning, HIV testing and counseling and a pharmacy. The local chiefs came and made a big fuss over themselves, rearranging the chairs in their area in order of color, requesting flowers and a rake to move the grass around that they were sitting on in their special area. A number of people showed up from the central Takaungu area and the surrounding villages for medical care. I learned a lot about the way things work in Kenya on this day - worse than a trip to the DMV in the States. Numbers were passed out with no clear meaning and were sometimes recognized and at other times ignored. Lines were crowds instead and only the 'important' people got water and food. All and all, a large number of people received care and medicine and were tested for HIV while the EAC and another organization performed skits, read poems, danced and sang. It was a fun day! There was even a dance competition! I spent the day helping to set up, running around taking photos, trying to create lines, talking my local friends into getting tested and watching the events. I was tested and am happy to say I am HIV negative!

The past week has been another great one! Last weekend I went to another disco on Friday night in Takaungu. They have a 'disco' the night before and of a wedding. It is super tame, but fun, especially since we have a solid core of friends now. Saturday I took about 10 kids that I hang with to the beach after they got out of Madrhasa school. My sister Maryam and nieces Do and Dea and their friends Uschi, Fatma, Habib, Ali, Mani, Alisha and another whose name I forget. It was awesome! We played tag and other games in the water and then explored the reef exposed by the receding tide. We searched for fish and crabs.

Sunday Liz, Adam, Sarah, Jakob, Wyclif and I went to the beach early in the morning and stayed until lunch. We played in the water and frisbee on the beach. That afternoon I played an awesome rugby match with the girls near downtown. They were fierce and I fell twice diving for the ball! My team won, but Fatma was kind of injured so it didn't really count.

During spare time on the weekend Liz, Adam and I wrote a skit for the Vutakaka drama club to perform at their close of school celebration on August 6th. We met with the drama club teacher on Monday to pitch it and then presented it to the drama club yesterday. Tomorrow, we will perform it for them so they can see how it will work and then we start practicing.

At the after school program on Monday, the regular teacher wasn't there and so I taught the older group of students by myself! It was great! I really enjoyed doing it and think I am getting better at it every time. I tried to teach when to use 'since' or 'for' and 'remember when/who or where'. It is particularly tough because the students range in age from 9-16 and their English comprehension level from non-existent to where it should be for the grade they are in. Also, as you can tell by the many mistakes in this blog, most of which I will blame on the keyboards here that are so tough they cripple my fingers and from being in a hurry because the power can does go out at any minute, I don't have the best spelling or grammar skills. These combine to make teaching a challenge, but we work through it somehow.

Another issue that has come up lately has been the realization of some of the ways people here perceive me (any whitie). In particular as an opportunity for personal gain. I am not able to go into the depth about the ways in which this realization has unfolded over the past couple of weeks and know that it will continue to be an issue here. I am learning a lot about myself and what the great divide between the haves and haves not looks like when you are here and what I must look like from the other side. I have come here wanting to make a difference and when I was faced with the great need, I wanted to make a difference quickly, something I could see. Now I realize that in trying to do that, many of 'us' get hustled. I'm taking a step back and reevaluating what making a difference means, my motives in this endeavor and the best possible actions I can take while I am here. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I am still working through it all, but thought I would share.

Oh and I spent two mornings taking individual photographs of the students for their files. That was awesome! I am still working on the system for communication between donors and the children they sponsor.

Hopie - I can not believe I don't have an email from you in my inbox. Precedent is being set as I type from this slow internet room that is very hot and stinky where I have to sit and watch this sand glass slowly move while I read a book just to get a simple message to you.

Siku Njema

Good day!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I had a wonderful weekend in Mombasa. Liz, Adam, Sarah and I met Nat and Sonjya there. Nat and Sonjya are working for the IRC in Nairobi. We ate Italian and Chinese, walked to Old Town stopping at Fort Jesus on the way, and had great coffee! I of course fit in 5 hours or so of dancing at a great outdoor club and then we hit the beach on Sunday. It was a great escape and I happy to be back in Takaungu where everyone knows your name.

Yesterday morning I walked with a community health worker to conduct some surveys. As always, it was an interesting experience. At the first house we found, back through a sugar cane and banana farm, I sat on a piece of wood that worked well as a chair across from the woman we were interviewing. She did not have any idea how old she was (which is relatively common) and sat breastfeeding one of her 8 children. Baby chickens ran under my legs while we spoke. We ask questions about malaria, HIV, family planning, diabetes and the types of medical care they seek. When the health worker asked if they used mosquito nets in the house, the woman laughed and pointed behind her as she answered the question. I put together some of what she was saying and seeing the mosquito nets there pulled tights between panels of wire used to keep the chickens in, I figured that she had used them for a short time, but then decided to use them for a livestock fence instead. The community health worker stopped laughing along with her and explained that the nets were talking to her and she was afriad, so she couldn't sleep under them anymore. I couldn't believe that what was she was saying, but she repeated it, and it was. We all shared in the laugh.

Later, I was talking to a teacher here at the school who speaks very good English. When I explained the story, he said it was true, that 3 years back the news reported that some people who lived out in the country in Kenya thought the treated nets were haunted and were speaking to them. Many people became afraid of them and wouldn't sleep under them. At the next place, a baby goat was headbutting my leg.

The program manager here who I was working on marketing things with was arrested and fired for stealing from the organization. That was a pretty big bummer since he had been working for them for over a year and was essentially stealing from these kids.

I am still teaching at the after school program most Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This Thursday and Friday is World Population Day and the EAC center has been choosen as a celebration site. I am going to be helping out and taking pictures though I am not sure what all we are doing. I think there will be health plays, sports and live music.

The young girls that play volleyball and sometimes rugby or basketball, have another match I think this Friday so I will be cheering for them. This weekend I will be here in Takaungu at the beach, relaxing. Jealous huh? :)

I am the only one who hasn't gotten sick (Hopie I know you are knocking like crazy on something for me right now) and I have read several books. "What is What" has been my favorite and I seriously recommend that everyone who reads this blog reads that - it is amazing!!! Last week I went to the movie theatre next to my house downtown. This is a room the size of my bedroom (or smaller) in Brooklyn. There is a TV in the front and bleachers made out of 2X4s on the side. It is blasting videos and movies all day and night. Sometimes they play Bob Marley music videos and other times Tupac. Most of the movies are from Africa, but this night was Resident Evil Extinction - I loved it! Oh and they are playing an Arnold Swarcheneger (sp?) movie next week - of course right?

I hope all is well with everyone at home! Thank you all for staying in touch!

Habari zenu!

What's the new with you all?

It is a beautiful day here along the Kenyan coast! This week has been a great one so far. I have begun working on a couple of the projects I will be doing while I am here. One is coming up with informational and marketing materials for the EAC. They want to get the word out about what they do to the surrounding communities and to potential donors in Kenya and around the world. I am working on a brochure, a newsletter, a standard power point presentation, t-shirts and stuff like that. Thanks to Broadreach - I am totally prepared to do that.

I am also helping out with the after school program for students from 6-15 years old. I will be helping them with their English and Math homework. The students are divided into two classrooms and I will be leading one a couple of days a week.

The third project I have started this week is the health surveying. On Monday I walked around with the students from the University of West Washington with GPS units marking huts and wells that hadn't already been mapped. The surrounding area is so beautiful! Anyways, starting tomorrow, I will take one of those GPS's and go along with a community health worker to a randomly choosen sample of houses. There we will survey women about the health needs and they ways they access health and water so that the EAC can provide better services for them. We (the four or five of us women) are conducting 260 surveys in about a 10 squared mile area. I will do those 2 days a week until we have them all done.

My home life is great! My Kenyan mom - Aisha - and sister - Maryam - are awesome and we hang out every night at the house, talking, laughing (mostly at me) and watching South American soap operas dubbed over in English. Aisha's nieces, Do and Dea stay over every night and their other relatives come a lot to sit and talk. I am surrounded by children and loving it! But these kids are more like adults cause they have so many responsibilities at such a young age. Plus, they have had to face so many adult situations, mainly death, already. I am learning a lot from these little ones.

Elizabeth (from the New School) and her boyfriend Adam are here now. Their flight was all messed up coming in so they were late. They are awesome and are going to be my BFFs here. We are planning a safari for the end of July.

This Saturday my mom is taking me to a wedding in town that she was invited to! I am so grateful that I get to go. It is going to be a big Muslim wedding of some of the riches people in town! I will let you know how that ones goes.

I am having troubles uploading picture. That might have to wait until I am in Mombasa in a couple of weekends. Also, I will try to make this blog a little more interesting and share some funny stories. Thanks for your comments and emails!

Kwa Herini!
Jen

Emerson - I am still Jen here, no Swahali name but it would be Rickia if I could choose.
Owen - yes they have days of the week in Kenya.
Kim - you say friend "Raficki" like the Lion King or the trap Raficki's village at the Animal
Kingdom in Disney World - remember that?! too funny.
Bryan - you will be getting that drawing in the mail soon, please put it on the fridge.
Hopie - don't get lame while I am gone ok? I had another dream about that the other night.

Hamjambo!

Hello everyone!

Takaungu is amazing! Each day I am taking 5 hours of Swahali in Bwana Asis's living room with three other girls from the New School. In the afternoons, we have a lesson about culture or visit a neighboring village or practice the language lessons. In the evenings, I am at home with my mom, Aisha, and her 12 year old daughter Maryam. They are fantastic! The food is wonderful - rice, beans, fish, eggs, flatbread and fresh mangoes from neighboring trees. Each night, a couple adults and numerous children come by to sit and talk at different times. Aisha is pretty popular. I have conversations with them, especially the kids and love getting to know them. Most everyone speaks some English as many people have been taught it in school since colonialism.

My house is 'downtown' and is very homey. Right when you walk through the door, you are in an outdoor hallway that leads to the kitchen at the end and the living room and bedrooms to the left. If you take an immediate left you stand in front of two doors. One is the shower (a room with a faucet and a bucket) and the bathroom (a ditch with a hole at the deepest point). I take cold 'showers' out of the bucket in the afternoons and am enjoying it now. That is how Bryan used to shower when he worked up on Beech Mountain in Boone!

The village and entire surrounding area is beautiful! There are palm, mango and coconut trees everywhere. And goats and roosters. The river and the ocean are gorgeous and great places to chill and read or study language. Seriously, this place is paradise! As I walk through the streets, everyone says hello and how are you. I feel very welcome here as people are as interested in learning about me (and if I voted for Obama) as I am about them.

After the end of next week, I will begin working on the development project, health surveys, administrative stuff and even teaching in their grade school! I visited the school the other day and fell in love with the kids there. Crazy huh? To get online, I come up to Kilfi by riding on the back of a motorcycle (more like a scooter) and then a bus (more like a van) for a half an hour each. Don't worry -it's totally safe, they are licensed and have to go super slow on the bumpy, dirt roads.

That's all for now! I have been taking as many pictures as I can and will post them asap. It is tough to get pictures of people here because they typically get 3 pictures of themselves during their lifetime - 1 at birth, 1 at graduation and 1 at marriage. Thus, they feel it unfair for someone else to have pictures of them. Thus, I am not running around, camera out offending everyone around.

Love and miss you all!
Jen

P.S. This blog has places where you can comment ya know? It's a two way street people.

In Mombasa

No more flying for me! I am in Mombasa with the three other girls Mahmud and the driver. We are at the internet cafe and then going to the grocery store and then a 1 hr drive to Takaungu. It doesn't look like I will have internet access there at the village, so it may be just once a week that I can get in touch. Everything here looks awesome! I saw Mt. Kilamanjaro out the airplane window today and am feeling great about being here.

In London

Virgin Atlantic is a great way to get to London! I had a bunch of movies to choose from, great food and free drinks! I choose to watch 10,000 BC, the epic prehistoric adventure complete with mammoth hunts and big dinosaur bird type things. It was great! I slept pretty well and hope to do the same on the 9 hour flight to Nairobi tonight.

I've found a cozy leather couch at Caffe Nero with a great view of the runway. The weather is beautiful out and I am watching planes take off and land while sipping some strong Cafe Americano. Saying goodbye to Bryan was torture yesterday. I am going to miss him more than words can describe.

Thanks everyone for wishing me well! I promise to have an amazing time and not bore you with the details and photos when I get back (except Brittny cause she does that to me and Hopie cause I love to torture her). Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Kenya!

Currently reading - Jitterbug Perfume (thanks Eve) - my first Tom Robbins book!

P.S. I am currently siting in a massage chair after just having taken the most amazing shower ever! I feel great and refreshed and relaxed! I will be sure to hit this spot up on the way back from Kenya so I don't arrive to JFK a hot mess.

Today is the big day!

My flight takes off at 9:35 tonight and I am just finishing packing now. Everything fits though I am not sure how I am going to carry it all on account of my not having any strength. If there's a will doesn't seem to work when it comes to muscles. Anywho, I have decided to tough it out in the London airport for the 12 hour layover and found some fun things I can do! I will read and sip coffee at Caffe Nero in Terminal 1 which great views overlooking the runway, at the Urban Retreat center I plan on taking a shower and attempting to sneak into their sauna, and finally I will be drawing a picture of myself riding an elephant with a cheetah, zebra and giraffe running along side me at Bryan's request. There is internet access, but it isn't free, so I will be online emailing for a little at some point. I am excited and ready to throw myself into this internship! Wish me luck!

The final week

In one week from today, I will be on my way to Kenya! I am getting things done each day and am not stressed as I thought I might be by now. We will see how I feel next week though. I hope to have consistent internet connection while I am there, but if i do not, I will be typing up updates and posting them here all at once when I get to the internet cafe in Kilifi. In case you want to know what I might be working on while I am there, I thought I would tell you. These are the projects I will probably be working on.

1. Creation of a 10 week (10 module) development curriculum, covering development work, community participatory methods, Swahili culture and language, etc., for use in bringing new people into development work and through "reflective service," as well as the study of development theory, learn from, evaluate, and problem solve for our organization. Possible aspects of the curriculum can include:

• Swahili language and culture
• Leadership and management in a Majority World context
• The political environment and working with the government
• The steps to program design and implementation
• Program evaluation
• Introduction to Participatory Rural Appraisal
• Introduction to primary research in the Majority World
• Service and journaling / reflection
• Stress management for development professionals
  

2. Collection of 200 more demographic and health surveys in the community, going house to house, partnered with CHW (Community Health care Workers).

3. Collect/take updated photos of EAC (East Africa Center) programs and volunteer activities. Write and collect stories and pictures for EAC online newsletter.

4. Photograph sewing items and reformat photos.

It's really happening..seriously

After a week of hanging with Kim and Owen who were up here visiting, I am ready to prepare for Kenya. I said a tearful goodbye to Owen this morning (something was stuck in both of my eyes) but have since cheered up because I finally got my flight to Mombasa!! Bryan and I are headed to the Poconos for canoing and camping this weekend and then I will be full time getting ready for the summer. Here are my flights - should I try to see some of London during my 13 hour layover?

Fri 13 Jun - JFK to LHR 9:35pm - 9:30am Sat 14 Jun CO 8230
Sat 14 Jun - LHR to Nairobi 7:15pm - 6:05am Sun 15 Jun VS 0671
Sun 15 Jun - Nairobi to Mombasa 8:30am - 9:30am KQ 0602

Fri 22 Aug - Mombasa to Nairobi 6:00am - 7:00am KQ 0617
Fri 22 Aug - Nairobi to LHR 9:25am - 4:15pm VS 0672
Fri 22 Aug - LHR to JFK 6:00pm - 9:00pm CO 8219

A visual

Good morning!

I am planing on getting my airline ticket to Mombasa tomorrow if all goes well. In the meantime, I got this map from Mark Johnson who is a faculty member at the New School and also a board member for the organization I will be working for. It gives you a good idea of where I will be - there to the left of the boat that is bigger than the river and above and to the left of the castle.

Or Kenya!!

It is finals time for me, so that means I am spending my days in a vicious cycle of reading, doing random things to avoid writing my papers (like posting this), drinking coffee, stressing, giving up, having intellectual break-throughs, drinking coffee and then writing ten pages in half an hour. Somewhere in there I am participating in an internal debate, weighing the pros and cons of going to Hong Kong or Kenya.

Here is the update. I am doing an interview over Skype on Tuesday night with the people at the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Center. They have some funding now and are interested in taking one or maybe even two of us. However, I am kind of disenchanted with the whole situation in Hong Kong because of how it has been handled and am really digging on this other opportunity in Kenya. The organization there let me know that they have a great project for me and I believe the school is going to pay the difference for having to change the flights, etc.

I might have to change the name of this blog...

to Brazil!! I just got done working for the UNICEF conference and met Marcio with UNICEF Brazil. They are doing amazing work there and I offered to be an intern, he said they needed tons of help. So I am sending him my resume and he is going to find out if they can offer me any money, etc. Here is an article about the program I would be working on - hopefully!

This is pretty exciting since I was pretty scared this week about the options. More later!

Maybe not....

So I found out today that the Human Rights Center that I was going to work for has lost funding and is only taking one student from the New School since their workload will be cut. I am sure that Mansura, a friend of mine in the program, will get it because she has had experience doing this exact sort of thing. I am pretty disappointed but am going to try and turn this into an even better opportunity!

So I am left wondering what to do... I can let the New School try to place me with another organization that they don't have any experience with and see how that goes, or I can find an internship myself (anywhere in the world) and receive credit for working with them OR I can stay in New York doing some sort of combination of working, interning and class taking.

What to do, what to do.... any suggestions?

the journey begins!

I finally bought my flight from Emily, my old friend at STA Travel! So it is official. I am really going to Hong Kong in less than two months. Here's my schedule for those of you who are going to be watching the plane on your computer (mom).

leave 09 Jun - Cathay Pacific CX831 JFK 2:55pm
arrive 10 Jun - HKG 6:50pm

leave 03 Aug - Cathay Pacific CX840 HKG 6:40pm
arrive 03 Aug - JFK 10:00pm