A short visit to Kisumu

A belated Happy birthday to my Dad! Happy birthday Daddy, I hope you had a great day!

Tuk tuk!

So, Jean and I went to Kisumu this weekend to see a city for a little while and just generally relax. Friday afternoon all four of us (Michael, Tom, Jean and myself) all got in a Matatu and headed to Kakamega for our Friday afternoon chicken and chips lunch. Jean and I hopped on another Matatu and spent the next two very bumpy hours checking out the new scenery, chatting with the driver on the history of the area and listening to 98 degrees on Kenyan radio. Seriously, they though one of their songs was so good, they played it twice in a row. We finally got there and I was def a little shell shocked. We’ve been out in the country for a while now, and Kisumu is the third largest city in Kenya, certainly bigger than Kakamega. So, since we hadn’t made reservations anywhere, we wandered around town looking for a clean and cheap place to stay. We had to look at 6 hotels, but we finally found one right as the sun was about to set. Hotel Palmers was a little more than we wanted to spend (a whopping 2500 KSH for a double…about $35 for you yanks) but it was gloriously luxurious with big beds, mosquito beds, fluffy white towels, hot water, views of Lake Victoria and (TA DA) a TV. So we caved and spent a little extra money to stay there. After long hot showers and making ourselves pretty we headed down the street to the much nicer Imperial hotel for dinner. We had a nice dinner pools side with beers at the hotel, then went to a local bar called Mon Ami for drinks. It’s really the strangest bar I’ve been to. It’s really a sports bar. There are soccer jerseys all over the walls and huge TVs with soccer games. But apparently at night time it turns into part club, complete with a disco ball and wonderfully bad American music. I think that night is the most fun I’ve had in Kenya so far. We danced the night away with new Kenyan friends.

Boats in the fishing village of Dunga

We finally headed back to the hotel, covered in sweat around and extremely happy. The best thing about being in a city was being about to take a new and better form of public transportation. The bigger cities in Kenya have Tuk tuks, three wheel vehicles- imagine a golf cart with a plastic top and three wheels. They’re much better than the bike taxis and way less sketchy than the actual taxis that are unmarked and have very tinted windows. So anyways, we took a tuk tuk back to our hotel, and made the driver pose for pictures with us and then wait while we took pictures with the vehicle itself. We watched some bad American show and fell aslep.

View of Lake Victoria from Hippos Point

A little boy fishing in Lake Victoria

Saturday, after breakfast, we checked out of the Palmers and headed for the New Victoria Hotel. We had tried the day before, but they were all full. They had a double open on Saturday and it was lovely. It was little small, but with hot water, a TV and best of all- a balcony. After we checked in, we went to go find a man to take us out on a boat in Lake Victoria. We took a tuk tuk out to this place called hippo point, but since we couldn’t see any hippos, we walk a further 3 km (in the blistering sun and heat) to a small fishing village called Dunga. We met two young Kenyan men along the way, Daniel and Martin, and they promised to help get us a good deal for a boat. They ended up staying with us all day. I expected them to ask us for money for guiding us around, but they didn’t. It was nice to have them. We also met some other Americans volunteering in Dunga at a clinic. Its really neat to run into other young Americans who are volunteering here. So we get to the place where the boats are and after some negotiating, we took off out on the lake to find some hippos. We finally did, after about an hour of looking and BOY are those things big. We didn’t get very close, but I really didn’t want to get any closer than we did. Hippos kill more people in African every year than any other animal combined. But the whole trip was really nice, seeing people fishing in the Lake and being out on a boat. After the boat ride, we walked almost all the way back into town (by this time it must have been almost 100 degrees in the sun and we had already walked about 6 km that day) and virtually collapsed poolside at a place called the Nyanza club (kind of like a Kenyan country club/ hotel) until it was time for dinner. We found a place in town that was advertising itself as a pizzeria and pub, but I ended up having some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had and watch the Arsenal soccer match. Kenyans love their football, but I just can’t seem to get into it. We were both so tired after a big day that we went back to our hotel, bought some yummy cake from the bakery downstairs, showered and watched poorly dubbed Spanish and Kenyan soap opera until we both fell asleep.

Hippos!

Sunday Jean got up bright and early to go to church, but I had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then wandered around the city until I found a nice park to read in. When Jean was done with church, we went to the Kisumu hotel (very nice) for lunch and a little time by the pool. It’s so nice that all these nice hotels let people who aren’t guests use their facilities for a low fee. We would have never been able to afford the hotels whose pools we used. We met two other American girls there, one who was a teacher there for a year living with a host family and another girl working for a non profit in Kenya organizing sports leagues and living with her Kenyan boyfriend. They were both friendly and chatty. It’s amazing how nice it is to talk to Americans. It’s so easy, compared with Kenyan’s English, which can be really formal.
After several very bumpy hours squeezed into the back of a matatu, we made it home in one peice. We took a boda boda back to the house when we finally got off in Malava, but my guy was so old, he didn’t make it all the way to the house. He stopped before we’d even gotten half way, breathing hard. Rather than make him suffer any more, I paid him the full fare, thanked him and walked the rest of the way home since it wasn’t all the way dark yet.
Not everything is Kisumu was all that nice. You could still tell that the town had taken a lot of damage from the violence last year. The matatu, boda boda and tuk tuk men are much more pushy, actually coming up and grabbing our arms to see if we needed a ride, and the street kids there made me really sad. Often they just sit in the shade of a tree with an empty pint bottle of liquor that they’ve filled with glue. They sit and sniff it until they’re high, then track down tourists to ask them for money. Some are sad and plead with you, some are mean and try to intimidate you. Either way, you really have to resist giving them money. It most cases, they’re just going to use it to buy more glue. It was the hardest part about this weekend. The poverty in Kenya continues to astound me. I can not wrap my head around how this country can have starving children and kids living in parks, but doesn’t tax their Ministers of Parliament. That’s right, the ministers don’t pay taxes…can you believe that. Its hard to know there’s really nothing I can do as a foreigner…that reform really needs to come from the inside.

swimming and mzungus in Kakameaga

Life continues here in Malava, but we’ve had a few exciting events this week. Work continues to be pretty much the same. Tom and I have taken over all of the admin work that we can, mostly so Neto can spend more time with the kids in play therapy. We still have a little time to do play therapy when a lot of kids come in. I’m hopefully going to start driving lessons soon so I can take over some of the driving to clinics and taking kids to the hospital. We also had our first epilepsy clinic this week. Basically all the adults and kids who get their epilepsy meds through us come in to the center. They got a number and weighed by me. Then they went in to talk to Angela and then to be registered by Tom and Joy. It was out longest day yet at the center and they told us that when the doctor comes in, they’re usually there until after 5. But all in all we had about 25 people come in and it was a pretty satisfying day.

Jean and I got cooking lessons in traditional Kenyan cooking this week. The bananas here were ready to come off the tree, but they’re still really green. Rather than letting them ripen into what we think of as sweet bananas, they cook with the green ones and Sr. Beatrice showed us how to prepare them. We boiled some and then mashed them with green onions so make a dish that is really just like mashed potatoes. We also stewed some with tomatoes and onions- that was my favorite way to eat them. The cooking lessons continue today. We’re going to the boy’s house for brunch and chapatti (a kind of flat bread) lessons with William. So for anyone you coming to visit, we should be able to be able to prepare a good Kenyan feast for you.

Jean and I also discovered one of the best things about being here on an adventure to Kakamega yesterday. We heard there was a nicer hotel that had a pool that you could use for a fee if you were not a guest, so we went to check it out. Sure enough, there was a nice pool (the water was pretty green) with a poolside bar and restaurant. There were a ton of Kenyans around and a ton of kids playing in the pool. Jean and I spent the day swimming and working on erasing out t shirt tan lines. We even met some other Americans there who were working with a charity that was bringing supplies to schools. They were there with some kids at the playground and we got to talk to one of them for a little while. All in all, it was one of the best weekends that I’ve had so far. We’re headed to Kisumu next weekend for the whole weekend. We’re hoping to do a little more vegging out by the pool and looking for hippos in Lake Victoria. Hopefully we’ll have some fun wild animal stories for next weekend, but hopefully they won’t involve charging hippos.

A BIG hello to the OWU girls who came all the way to Cincy this weekend. I’m sorry I’m not there to hang out with you guys, but I hope you’re having fun! Thanks to everyone who continues to read!

Michael's birthday and other exciting events

Another week in Malava…

Last Sunday we continued our tradition of Sunday Brunch. We went to the boys’ house for brunch on Sunday afternoon with Laurie (the American at Jean and Michael’s school) and Hezbon (a Kenyan who also works at the school. They made us this Zambian dish with rice and BACON. Laurie told us her story about being here when the violence broke out after the election and their evacuation. After Laurie and Hezbon left, the group of school age girls who likes to hang around Tom and Michaels house came by and started yelling at all of us to give them food and water. This, in turn, started a water fight…which was kind of one sided. Mostly the boys threw water and the girls ran away. They’re nice girls, but very noisy, we were happy when they finally went home.

Work this week had its ups and downs. Some days I was very busy and some days not so much.

Tuesday I went into the field with Sr. Joy, Mama Grace (the coordinator of the Community Based Rehabilitation Workers-CBRWs) and Margret, a CBRW for the region where we were going. First of all, I thought we lived in a little village. In the field, I got to see what rural Kenya really looks like. Of course I forgot to bring my camera, but I’ll remember it next time I go with Sr. Joy. Anyways, the point of these visits is to validate that the needs of the parents aren’t being exaggerated. Often, they’re cases where I family needs assistance with transportation or medicine, so they go out to assess the home situation. The first family we visited with a young mother who has a son named Vincent who’s leg needs plaster casting to straighten out some bones that did not grow correctly. We went to where they live, which seemed very far from the center, especially since they said that walked there. She also had another child with disabilities and wanted money for transport, since she could not walk all the way with the both of them. So we went, and there were a ton of little, half naked kids running around. We sat in the families thatch roof house for about an hour while the St. Julie employees asked the family questions. Since the whole thing was conducted in Swahili, I didn’t really understand the conversation. Sr. Joy said it took so long b/c people kept coming in b/c there was a vehicle there. They wanted to know what was going on. I guess vehicles don’t often make it back as far as we were. I can understand why. It wasn’t so much driving on roads as it was driving from dust roads to stone and grass, up and down the hillsides. At one point, we even had to cross two small rivers. Thank god for 4wheel drive.

Anyways, we moved on from there to visit a woman with 4 children, three of whom are in school and the littlest one who has epilepsy. She needed help with transportation, since she too lived far from the center, and help with the medicine needed to treat the epilepsy. Joy told me that this woman lost her husband last year, so you can imagine my surprise when we got there and the woman turned out to be around my age, maybe a few years older. I can’t imagine being my age and already having four children and having lost a husband. She was very friendly, and the visit was shorter. Joy said she would be able to help the family, but only maybe for a year or so while the woman was still grieving for her husband. She explained that since this woman had land with sugar cane, maize and beans that could be sold and the ability to work in nearby fields while her children were in school, she should not need our help once she is settled.

Finally, we had one more family to visit. It must have taken us an hour to go maybe 10 or 15km. We stopped for sodas and to buy some bananas (so much cheaper than in town). Finally, after driving up a very steep hill that didn’t really have a road, we arrived at the homestead of a little boy named Kevin who is living with his grandmother since his father is still in secondary school. That’s right, the dad is only 17. But that’s not even the part I found shocking. The mom, who was there with Kevin the baby, was 15 yrs old. I couldn’t believe it. Married with a child at 15. But Sr. Joy explained to me that it really is quite normal for that to happen, especially in families where the children do not go to secondary schools. In the Kakamega district alone, last year more that 80% of the children went to primary school (b/c its mandated and “free”) but only 10% of those children continued on to secondary school. And a man here becomes an adult at 12, when they’re circumcised. After that, they build their own house on their parents homestead and can take a wife as soon as they can afford the bride price. So here was this little mother, holding her nine month old son, almost 10 years younger than myself. I know I’m here to learn and observe and not judge, but it makes me happy to have grown up in the kind of American life that I did.

The families we visited today were very poor, many of them with a lot of children. There was a little boy at the first house, Fred, who was the other child in the family who had disabilities. Similar deformities to his brother with the twisted legs, but there were also indications that he has mental retardation issues. While his baby brother had been into St. Julie’s, he never had. The grandmother promised, while we were there, to watch the other little one so the mom could take both of her children with disabilities to the center.

So…the visits were exciting, enlightening, and sad…all at the same time. But at least I felt like I was really learning more about what real life here is like.

Wed and Thursday were uneventful. I’ve started reading the Harry Potter series again, from the beginning, just for fun. We started planning for our trip to the coast that we’re taking in April. I think I may have found a little cottage for all of us that will only cost us around $24 USD/ day and includes a full time cook. We also got a box full of stuff for our kitchen from Nairobi; including exciting things like a colander and a cheese grater…it’s really the little things in life. I’ve been trying to watch “It Happened One Night”…on loan from Tom of course…but I keep falling asleep.

Friday I went with Sr. Catherine and 6 of our clients and their parents to the Sabatia eye clinic, which does cost free vision screening and is run by Quakers. Sr. Catherine was telling me that the Friends Meeting has become a very strong African religion and they run schools and hospitals all over the place. The eye clinic was extremely well and had doctors from all around the world. While Sister Catherine took 2 of the older children to be seen by the doctor, I took the others to the low vision clinic, where a lovely young woman by the name of Regina took them through a series of eye tests and made further recommendations about their therapy at the center or what specialists might be helpful. All the children were wonderful, but a sweet little girl named Valerie soon became my favorite. She came right up and wanted to hold my hand while we walked. She admired my bracelet and wanted to try on my glasses. Sr. Katherine told me later in the car on the way home that when she was only 2 (she’s almost 7 now) she was in a horrible accident. She was in a coma for a full month. Now, several years later, she’s a bit delayed, but she’s a happy, healthy little girl. She really is a miracle. She needed to go to the eye clinic b/c the last thing to return was her sight.

Saturday was a very very long day. It was Michael’s birthday and the Sisters had a little celebration for him on Friday night. We were invited for dinner with cake and ice cream at the community house and they gave him a box of new toys for the orphanage. So since Saturday was his actual birthday, we decided to switch days and have volunteer brunch this morning. I made my famous “Suey pancakes” (as Crissy dubbed them in college) and had them with honey since syrup is hard to find and very expensive. Jean and I decided that we wanted to explore the Kakamega Rainforest , so we set off after breakfast. The Kakamega rainforest used to be part of an equatorial rainforest that stretched across the middle of Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. This little piece is the only piece that now exists in Kenya. It was not the Fern Gully rainforest of my imagination, but it was spectacular. We saw some more colobus monkeys and walked a very far 3 km in the blazing sun to find waterfalls on the Isiukhu River. The falls were amazing, and had the water not been so murky, I think I would have dived in with all my clothing on. We also had the chance to meet some entomologists (bug scientists) who were both Kenyan and I believe German. They’re traveling all over the country to collect different kinds of dragon flies to put in Kenyan museums.

Then it was off to Kakamega to use the ATM, but of course, on the way out, I managed to trip over some roots and fall, landing hard on my knee. I limped my way through the rest of the day, including two pretty terrible, pretty crowded and dirty matatu rides. I was happy to finally be home and get off my feet.

PS another story to add to the wild kingdom file- I was getting in the shower the other night and a gecko fell off the ceiling, hit me on the head and got tangled in my hair. Despite the fact that he was completely harmless, I screamed like the scardy cat I am.