A Hard Day's Night...

So, I was going to write all about my stay in Kisii, but it was actually not very exciting and the past few days have allowed me to become much more introspective and I hope, more interesting for you to read about.

In short, here is a synopsis of Kisii. Hopefully the pictures will suffice :)

Last Monday morning, my host father and I went to the city center so I could get a matatu to Kisii. I am a really big fan of my host father and wish he was around more often. He sat with me and even bought me a Fanta while we waited. Kisii is located in Nyanza province in the western area of the country. At first, I was pretty nervous about traveling to an unfamiliar place alone; however, after ten minutes into the journey, I became really happy and almost giddy-like. To reach Kisii, we passed through the Rift Valley, which was a really breathtaking experience. Since Nairobi is situated on the top of a mountain, to enter the Rift Valley, one must descend. At the crescent, I felt as if I were looking down on Illinois from above. Traveling through the Rift Valley is an experience within itself because the road is so poorly maintained. On the way there, I did not know if my organs would make it through the four hours of continuous jolting I was subjecting it to in the backseat of the matatu. The ride often resembled a really old, rickety rollercoaster. When I returned from Kisii three days later, I sat in the very front of the matatu and felt like I was in Mario-Kart: Real Life. I think it was one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever been through. However, I made it through the Rift Valley twice with little trouble.

Kisii is the most green and beautiful place I’ve ever been to (I know, this is a reccouring theme). The hills are rolling and covered with farms. My family lives on a hilltop farm and owns over one hundred acres of land. At first, I was really taken aback by the enormous wealth of my rural family. Their house is cement, has five bedrooms, indoor plumbing, electricity, two kitchens and a live-in house-help. Naturally, this wealth caught me off guard at first because I was expecting the rural area to be much more desolate. The experience actually turned out to be really good, though, because I am going to look at the rural rich and the remittance economy now for my ISP and I am pretty excited!

Now, on to the past week…

We visited numerous organizations throughout Nairobi. Below, I have included descriptions of each as well as thoughts and emotions that I had afterwards. I am sorry that my entries are kindof basic and not as timely as they could be, but it takes me a pretty long time to process everything that is happening.

Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK):

WOFAK is an NGO that began as a support group for women affected by HIV. Now, it provides numerous services to both men and women, including counseling, an orphan feeding program, home visit care, outreach, and advocacy. We visited one of the three Nairobi extensions and a small group of us went to a school to participate in an outreach session. At the school, we spoke to a group of teachers abut WOFAK and HIV/AIDS. Outreach in Kenya is very different than the idea of outreach in the United States in that the outreach here is much more subtle and does not solicit anything from those being presented to. The outreach coordinator narrated her life and how she found out she was HIV positive. Then she spoke about the positive role WOFAK played in providing her with a positive outlook on life. Not once in the presentation did she mention anything about why she was presenting to these teachers, what role they might have in WOFAK or vice versa, or the different services WOFAK offers. In the eyes of an American, this would have been a failed outreach attempt that accomplished little because no facts about the organization were learned. However, I realized that this is the outreach style in Kenya, and I am sure the teachers we presented to gained something. Personally, I feel as if they could have gained more if a more direct and efficient presentation was made. It dawned on me throughout the program that things are so slow to move here, particularly in the form of activism, because the culture is so non-confrontational. They are a lot more subtle in getting their point across, but it honestly did not seem very effective in trying to prevent HIV/AIDS. Though these are my personal sentiments, I do not think a more direct approach would actually work here because it would be a totally foreign concept and they would probably not understand what was going on. In terms of this, I can understand more clearly how NGOs that come in excited, ready, and full of enthusiasm can fail because they do not take into account the slow-ness of the culture and people they are trying to communicate with.

Just as a side note: Something that often catches me off guard is the lack of separation of religion and state. Here, people thank God in public places and openly preach, and no one bats an eye. Throughout the session, the outreach coordinator spoke about how she was Born Again and took Jesus into her life as a best friend after her husband succumbed to AIDS. I just think it is interesting.

A second side note: At the school, they employ forty teachers for over two thousand students. That is a ratio of at least 50 students: 1 teacher. The headmaster spoke to us for a long time and wanted to know all about how the American school system worked. He was particularly interested in punishment. After attempting to explain social workers and behavior management, we realized that the schools here have little to no support systems and that the burden of everything pertaining to the students falls on the teachers. The caning of children still does not make complete sense to me, but time is something teachers here do not have, and therefore, they cannot sit down and try to figure out the root of each child’s problems: they just need the kids to pass the exams.

UNHABITAT

Kenya is host to the only UN duty station in all G77 countries, making it unique and extremely important (ooh la la). The Nairobi-based compound holds duty stations for over sixty-five organizations as well as world headquarters for UNEP and UNHABITAT (therefore it is gigantic). Before attending the session, I had absolutely no idea what UNHABITAT did. The lecturer was a former SIT: Kenya student and served as an Academic Director for the program before our current ADs. I was really impressed with his presentation and feel as if my critical view of the UN has been somewhat altered. The presenter was so knowledgeable and well spoken, not just in diplomatic jargon, but he also spoke to us philosophically about his views. He prefaced at one point that he cannot talk to politicians this way and how refreshing it is to talk with students. In some ways, I was saddened by that comment because a lot of what he had to say philosophically, in terms of ideas for change and poverty alleviation through urban planning and housing, were things I think politicians and policy makers need to hear the most. Despite this, I still think there is something about the UN that is so attractive and cool. I don’t necessarily think it is a power thing, but perhaps it is the business suits :) Since he was a former SIT student, he provided some of us with the hope that we too could speak so eloquently and be so knowledgeable about something some day.

Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA):

This is the absolute most awesome organization I’ve ever seen in my entire life! Everyone should check it out at www.mysakenya.org . Basically, this NGO uses soccer as a way to empower and lift kids who live in the Mathare slum. Over 17,000 kids participate in the program and it has been nominated for a Nobel peace prize twice. As part of the program, kids have to participate in clean-ups and community service within the slum and they also have acrobatics, drama, and dancing. As we learned about the programs, I was frantically writing down everything and brainstorming ways to implement a similar program in Rochester (or other poor cities). They also have a library for anyone in the community to use. None of the books in the library are related to school because they want to create a reading culture for the kids in the slum. Four hundred scholarships are given out to pay for school fees and kids get points for reading, participating in clean-ups, as well as playing soccer games. After the presentation, we walked through the slum. Over 800,000 people live in Mathare and at least half are infected with HIV. Public toilets cost money to use, so most people either go right in the passages or use “flying toilets”—where people go to the bathroom on a piece of paper or plastic bag and then throw it from their house. The stench is overwhelming, such that a few people in our group threw up. Rivers of sewage flowed through the places we walked and there were massive amounts of trash. Most of the homes were no bigger than a dorm room and housed anywhere from four to eight people. Children ran rampantly around us and screamed the only English they knew: how are you?

We participated in one of the clean-ups MYSA sponsored and it was a very weird experience. I definitely saw the value in having the kids attempt to clean up the areas where they live because it promotes citizenship and teaches them about taking care of their environment. At the same time, though, it was a public health disaster. Rakes and shovels were provided for a few children, but gloves were MIA. The trash they were attempting to clean up consisted mostly of plastic bags covered in fecal material. No concern for the health of the kids was given, and when we asked, we received the response that most of the kids have the parasites and/or worms already. The kids ran through the rivers of sewage with no shoes on, touched everything, then touched their eyes and mouths. In some ways, I feel like more could have been accomplished if they kids performed one task in one particular area instead of just running around with the wheel barrows. Or, since public bathrooms are such a scarcity, if they could use the kids to build more of them so people don’t have to pay to use them, it could be another way to improve the quality of living. In the two hours we worked, we made no visible difference in the community, and those in charge acknowledged that tomorrow, the trash would all be back.

Before the clean-up, we watched a performance of the drummers and dancers, as well as the acrobats, and it was incredible. The talent of the kids was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The MYSA Staff that led us around were awesome people and we could definitely see the leadership skills and empowerment MYSA provided for them.

All in all, the past few days have been trying on my thoughts and emotions. At times, I think a bus full of white people entering such crazy places seems voyeuristic, and I think for some people on my trip it is. Yet, if your mind is in the right place and you internalize what you see and really learn something from it, then maybe it is the best thing one can do. People are everywhere and most are trying to improve their lives. On Friday, I am traveling to Tanzania for ten days, so I may have limited internet access. I hope you are all doing well and thanks for reading!

Thoughts and Stuff:

- Last night I made a summer barbeque for my family, complete with cheese burgers, potato salad, sweet corn, jello, and coke floats. My siblings were hilarious because they had never had pickles, jello, or mayonnaise. They ate the mayo right out of the jar and thought it was the best thing ever. After dinner, I caught my siblings in the fridge touching the jello, in disbelief that it could jiggle.

- In Maasai land, everyone used cell phones. Naturally, I was baffled at how people could charge their phones because there was no electricity. I found out that many houses are equipped with solar power for the sole reason of cell phone charging. How cool is that? Even the Maasai use solar power. :)

- We went to the first home soccer game for the Kenya Harambee Stars since the FIFA ban was lifted. It was fantastic and so exciting. Tickets cost 100/-- (about $1.50) and the fans were insane. I think it is neat that the big team here is a national team. In the US, we have allegiances to city teams. It must be really good for nationalism to have everyone in the entire country rooting for the same team.

- During the visit to MYSA, I realized how high my expectations for government are and how low most people’s are here. There are practically zero public services, such as waste disposal, water, child services, welfare, social security, or the like. Despite some American’s dislike of many social programs in the US, there is an expectation that the government has a duty to its people or the people will reject the government (or perhaps that is just the Kennedy phenomenon). Here, people expect corruption and it shows. Sure, America has corruption, but the access to information is so great that it makes people greatly transparent. I was thinking about the services provided and how although we have a lot, we have also had much more time to get our act together. Kenya has been independent for less than fifty years, and there has yet to be one generation of fully educated people. So, although things are bad they have awesome potential to improve. At one point, the government attempted social programs such as FDR’s CCC to stimulate the job market, but the programs failed. Changes need to happen from the inside and critical thinking cannot happen until the majority of the population is literate and educated. I apologize for this little rant. It is just something I’ve been thinking about.

- There is no plastic recycling program in Kenya. I feel like if people could make money by collecting and recycling plastic bags, the amount of trash in the streets would halve, at least.

- On my ride home from Kisii, we went through eleven police check-points. Eleven. Also, as I mentioned before, the roads to and from Kisii are extremely bumpy. Yet, those that built the roads felt it necessary to place speed bumps all over as well. The small towns we passed in the Rift Valley reminded me of what I imagine the Old West to look like—general stores, one strip of stores, people selling things on the road.

- Signs I’ve seen around Nairobi: “Welcome to Nairobi, Home of the Hotdog,” “Ford: 100 years in Kenya,” and “Sprite: It’s not because of your personality.”

- Traffic circles are the road type of choice and they are a death sentence.

- Songs I heard on the matatu ride: faith hill- from this moment; Beyonce- to the left; celine dion- it’s all coming back to me