What a change over the last 3 days. After an incredible safari in the Mara and getting stuck in a mud hole (very stimulating to be walking around in the open where there are lions, leopards, etc), a ride through downtown Nairobi as the president was about to arrive (these drivers make those in Quebec look like beginners:) we had chosen to stay at the International Airport over night for safety reasons and wanting to see the Sniders off to Cape Town at 3 am. We finally went into fits of sleep around midnight by sleeping right on the floor - I guess when you are that tired you do what you need to - we felt safe but not clean:)
It was very emotional leaving. While for most of you living at home, 3 weeks passes by in a wink of an eye. For us - having new challenges every day it feels more like being gone for several months. Not a day would go by where our actions or choices did not significantly impact a group, family or individual's life. The need is endless and you just cannot assist in the way you would like with every situation - choices need to be made and you hope that you make the right ones. In addition to any monetary or expertise contributions our team could make, what seemed very much appreciated were the moments of personal contact, hugs, high fives and smiles.
The ongoing message from our experience was to make sure we let the outside world know these people exist and they are every bit as bright and in most cases, harder working than they folks in our society. An example was a volunteer at one of the organizations who had been there 3 years and had selflessly donated every bit of his time and money to help his community. He is also the bread winner for his family and manages to collect and split wood for fires in addition to working 40 yrs per week as a volunteer, We decided as a team to give him a small amount of money to support his efforts that benefited so many. This amount would barely be enough for a modest dinner for 2 at home and yet it was more money than he had ever had to put into his bank account. He had never asked for himself and he was overwhelmed at having these funds at his disposal.
I guess as I take off from Nairobi I am once again struck by the selflessness of so many with so little. We will go back. Many folks wanted to join us this time but we wanted to see how things went with 8. We have now figured out how to take more folks back without compromising the small group experience. Bring it on for 2012.
Have had a great couple of days at Moniques family thank you so much) and are having a great transition time about 1 hr outside of Amsterdam.
Cheers,
Scott
Monday, 21 November 2011
Sunday, 20 November 2011
We are out! Out of Kenya, out of Africa, I am now wishing that I had packed some winter clothes. I managed to sleep for a few hours on the hard marble floor of the Nairobi airport before we said good-bye to the Sniders - who have gone to South Africa for a week - and boarded our own flight to Amsterdam.
Coming out of the airport in Amsterdam felt like I was already back in Canada, it is winter here and there is lots of fog and trees and other things that remind me of home. Everything's clean and the bathrooms work!
Monique's family met us at the airport which was a very nice surprise! We weren't quite asleep yet so we went to visit Monique's oma before checking in to our hotel in Arnhem, a small town about an hour away from Amsterdam. On our way to the hotel we went through a Burger King drive-through (which tasted very processed and wasn't quite as satisfying as we had hoped) and crashed in the hotel. We were all so excited that the showers had hot water! The hotel beds were the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in - and not just because I've been sleeping on floors lately.
Today we went to Monique's parents' house for breakfast with her family. We all had to scrounge around to find clothes that were warm enough and not completely covered in mud. It was very neat seeing the house where Monique grew up and her family is very welcoming, though I wish I spoke Dutch. Today is a day of visiting and touring around Monique's hometown, then tomorrow I think we are off to Amsterdam for some general tourist-y stuff.
Only three days until our flight back home!
Holly
Coming out of the airport in Amsterdam felt like I was already back in Canada, it is winter here and there is lots of fog and trees and other things that remind me of home. Everything's clean and the bathrooms work!
Monique's family met us at the airport which was a very nice surprise! We weren't quite asleep yet so we went to visit Monique's oma before checking in to our hotel in Arnhem, a small town about an hour away from Amsterdam. On our way to the hotel we went through a Burger King drive-through (which tasted very processed and wasn't quite as satisfying as we had hoped) and crashed in the hotel. We were all so excited that the showers had hot water! The hotel beds were the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in - and not just because I've been sleeping on floors lately.
Today we went to Monique's parents' house for breakfast with her family. We all had to scrounge around to find clothes that were warm enough and not completely covered in mud. It was very neat seeing the house where Monique grew up and her family is very welcoming, though I wish I spoke Dutch. Today is a day of visiting and touring around Monique's hometown, then tomorrow I think we are off to Amsterdam for some general tourist-y stuff.
Only three days until our flight back home!
Holly
Friday, 18 November 2011
Finally internet and some pics
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| Holly and I after a long but great day |
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| Walking door to door in mtn side doing polio vaccinations |
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| Holly entertaining school kids in country school |
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| Laurissa handing out more smiles |
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| Laurissa holding 3 week old after giving vaccine |
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| Holly - a natural at holding little ones |
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| Me giving the oral vaccine to a willing patient:) |
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| Holly's turn |
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| Mass motorcycle taxi ride to town - 9 of us - and I got to drive - Wild Hogs Baby! |
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| Arrived ride alive and pumped for class |
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| Volunteer recognition ceremony - I think I weighed more than they expected |
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| Masa Mara first safari |
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| Beautiful Mara landscape |
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| Leopard chillin' - this was a special find |
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| Our kenya8 team and Michael our guide |
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| Better views from top |
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| Cheetah smelling food |
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| Cheetah stalking food |
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| Cheetah after ostrich kill - was an incredible moment and have it on video |
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| when you can't stratch your own belly:) |
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| 3 at a time - special moment again |
Monday, 14 November 2011
A visit to the town council
Last night we slept at a host family up the hill, on the floor listening
to the farm animals. Despite five of us being crowded into one tiny
room, it wasn't too uncomfortable, just hot. The evening was spent
chatting and eating and listening to Jethron sing with surprising
enthusiasm. You just don't expect it from a guy who's strong enough to
lift your dad... I learned quite a bit more about the situation here in
Kima and in most of Kenya. When working with the street kids the other
day I noticed that there was not a single girl to be found. When I asked
Jethron about it he told us that it's because almost all of the street
girls work as prostitutes (some as young as 12), so they hide during the
day and come out at night to do their work. This doesn't come as a
great surprise, it's a worldwide industry that we have back home, but
the tender age of these girls (many of whom also have babies already) is
quite depressing. Not to mention the handicapped women, who have no one
to take care of them at all. They live in small rooms alone, with a
guardian who comes in three times a month to make sure they're alive,
but at any other time anyone can come in and abuse her as much as they
want. It's sick.
We also visited another school yesterday where they are currently cementing the floor because the kids were suffering from jiggers. Jiggers are the larvae of fleas who penetrate the skin of your feet and start to eat at the flesh there...nice, right?
We had the pleasure of meeting a man called Dan this morning, who Dad and Uncle Paul met last time they came. He has been HIV positive for almost 15 years and when he first discovered he had the virus he went into the woods and dug a mass grave for himself, his wife, and their five children. His plan was to poison his family and then himself, to spare his family a slow death by starvation after he had died. When he returned from the bush almost two years later, he learned that a new drug had come out to combat the virus a bit and his hope was restored. He is now the region's leading advocate for education about HIV/AIDS and living with the virus.
Our less inspiring meeting today was with a few members of the town council. We had gone to visit one of the women, a social worker, who runs an orphanage with the hopes of visiting the children. However, we ended up spending our entire time being ushered into various offices talking with members of the town council. Self-important, overweight men who were far more interested in the fact that my dad is a business professor at a Canadian university than in the work that Kipepeo is doing for the community. It was quite disgusting, and we ended up having no time to visit the kids. We're now off to the market to do some shopping and have a look around.
Holly
We also visited another school yesterday where they are currently cementing the floor because the kids were suffering from jiggers. Jiggers are the larvae of fleas who penetrate the skin of your feet and start to eat at the flesh there...nice, right?
We had the pleasure of meeting a man called Dan this morning, who Dad and Uncle Paul met last time they came. He has been HIV positive for almost 15 years and when he first discovered he had the virus he went into the woods and dug a mass grave for himself, his wife, and their five children. His plan was to poison his family and then himself, to spare his family a slow death by starvation after he had died. When he returned from the bush almost two years later, he learned that a new drug had come out to combat the virus a bit and his hope was restored. He is now the region's leading advocate for education about HIV/AIDS and living with the virus.
Our less inspiring meeting today was with a few members of the town council. We had gone to visit one of the women, a social worker, who runs an orphanage with the hopes of visiting the children. However, we ended up spending our entire time being ushered into various offices talking with members of the town council. Self-important, overweight men who were far more interested in the fact that my dad is a business professor at a Canadian university than in the work that Kipepeo is doing for the community. It was quite disgusting, and we ended up having no time to visit the kids. We're now off to the market to do some shopping and have a look around.
Holly
We had a 15 person strategy meeting with the Kipepeo executive on Sunday night - items recommended for them include an ecotourism program as this area has many attractions and is easily accessible from the well known Masai Mara. We also recommended an internet cafe as interest is growing and individuals have to take public transport form 20 minutes to get to the nearest one. We showed them how to set our a project timeline and map, making sure accountability was focussed on individuals. This apparently was well received however we all understand we will be taking smaller steps than we talked about and that they will take longer. We also gave a lecture on growing business opportunities and tied it into exporting items from the region to bring in increased dollars to the local economy - ie ecotourism, etc. We also focussed on the lack of innovation demonstrated here as most products have a commoditized feel to them - thus we had discussions on product differentiation. In between all this we had our authentic African sleepover with all of us sleeping in mud huts on the floor with all kinds of bugs crawling around - surprisingly a good sleep but do have some new bite marks but have not yet started foaming at the mouth:) Cheers, Scott
Some more pics
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| Tug of ware across the equator after 3 hour mtn hike |
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| Luanda street market |
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| Holly and I in tea plantation outside Vihiga Children's Home |
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| Victor feeling better after his medication and hospital visit |
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| Laurissa playing soccer with orphans |
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| Sprint race with Monique - thk god it was only 40 metres |
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| Laurissa hanging around |
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| Our chicken dance grad class |
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| Chicken dance lessons |
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| Holly with Phyllis - she just graduated but was headed to an abusive prearranged marriage - we helped find a better situation for her - living with the Director of the school |
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| Laurissa with Judy and Tatiana |
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| Stone mountain sunset - sort of Lion Kingish isn't it |
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| Dan's banner he made after our last meeting - dedications to Paul and I at the bottom - he is an amazing spirit |
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| Opening ceremonies at Kipepeo for small business education |
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| Dan - 14 years HIV positive and still going strong - a living legend in these parts - read my earlier blog post for more info on him |
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| young reader |
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| Laurissa with Jethron, our team leader |
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| Holly w Elizabeth at school where they are cementing floors to prevent jiggers from eating the students feet - nasty little worms |
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| amazing boulders and rock formations in Kima |
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| Fish pond that holds 1000 catfish and talipia |
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Butterflies and kamikaze motorcycles
We had a great last couple of days with the kids, they braided my hair
and taught me some of their songs and dances. For anyone who remembers,
Victor, the little boy with the bee sting, has been taking his
medication and has both eyes open again.On Friday we said good-bye to
Priscilla, Alfred, Judy and the students, which was very hard.
Priscilla wanted to keep Nikki and I to raise us to be "fine
Kenyan women" and learn to balance things on our head and stuff. We took
a Matatu from Vihiga to Kima, which is our next stop. What is a matatu
you ask? A matatu is a 15-person van (though the Kenyans usually manage
to fit about 25 people in) that acts as the main form of public transit
in Kenya. When looking for a way to describe the driving style of matatu
drivers, I could come up with only one comparison, the Knight Bus from
Harry Potter. Thank goodness I don't have a weak stomach! Though we
shall see how I feel on Wednesday, after our six hour matatu ride... The
drive to Kima would be about a 15 minute drive on a well-maintained
road....however, these are NOT well-maintained roads. There are so many
potholes that the drivers often go off-road because it's smoother.
Kima is a one-road town which is the home of the next organization we're volunteering with, called Kipepeo (meaning "butterfly" in Swahili). When we arrived we had drinks and introductions and I was surprised by the number of international volunteers they have! There are people here from Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic. To get to our hotel, we had the option of taking motorcycles, another form of public transit. Of course I said yes. The plan was for my dad to go first, me second, then Laurissa third. However, my driver obviously did not hear this plan as the moment I was on he took off, leaving my dad far behind. The ride itself was very fun, with no helmet or anything, but I became nervous when I lost sight of everyone. There I was on the back of a motorcycle driven by a strange man into the dark countryside with no sight of anyone I knew. I was just planning how I was going to jump off when he pulled into the hotel...and I am still alive.
Yesterday was a day of volunteering with the street kids and today Jethron (one of the unnaturally energetic leaders of Kipepeo) took us on a hike up one of the boulder-covered hills. The scenery was incredibly beautiful! I now sit here covered in a layer of sweat wishing for a bottle of water. It was worth it though! I don't know when I'll have internet again, but I hope it won't be too long!
Holly
Kima is a one-road town which is the home of the next organization we're volunteering with, called Kipepeo (meaning "butterfly" in Swahili). When we arrived we had drinks and introductions and I was surprised by the number of international volunteers they have! There are people here from Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic. To get to our hotel, we had the option of taking motorcycles, another form of public transit. Of course I said yes. The plan was for my dad to go first, me second, then Laurissa third. However, my driver obviously did not hear this plan as the moment I was on he took off, leaving my dad far behind. The ride itself was very fun, with no helmet or anything, but I became nervous when I lost sight of everyone. There I was on the back of a motorcycle driven by a strange man into the dark countryside with no sight of anyone I knew. I was just planning how I was going to jump off when he pulled into the hotel...and I am still alive.
Yesterday was a day of volunteering with the street kids and today Jethron (one of the unnaturally energetic leaders of Kipepeo) took us on a hike up one of the boulder-covered hills. The scenery was incredibly beautiful! I now sit here covered in a layer of sweat wishing for a bottle of water. It was worth it though! I don't know when I'll have internet again, but I hope it won't be too long!
Holly