An African Thanksgiving.. and some other things

Well it certainly wasn't like any Thanksgiving I've had before, but it definitely was fantastic. Here's a recap: We stayed at Outward Bound, a camp/resort-type place where we spend many a medical session learning about STDs and getting shots. Thankfully neither of those were included in Thanksgiving. We rolled in around 10am Friday morning and promptly broke into our first stock of beer. We helped the staff guys set up our tents for the night, and then decided to do some hanging around. Hanging around turned into a few games of American football followed by ultimate frisbee. This turned into us taking over the Outward Bound kitchen to start making our desserts. This was around noon. Dinner was at 6. Desserts turned into appetizers which was soon followed up by more hanging around. This persisted for a while until we decided to start cooking dinner around 5. The Outward Bound kitchen staff cooked some, but we spent a lot of time telling them not to put too much grease in things, and to put certain spices in other things. We wanted things to taste as American as possible. One of the girls in the group even volunteered to slaughter our chickens! I tried telling the cooks that in America our food isn't running around the field with us a few hours before it's in our bellies. They weren't quite sure what to think. So dinner ended up happening around 7. We had our own room, we had a giant table, and we had enough space to sit just about all 26 of us, plus a few PC staff. Before eating we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. This included everything from friends and family back home, to the American taxpayer, to large African beers, to the best Thanksgiving some people had ever had. It was the happiest I have been in PST so far. One trainee stood up and said "I'm thankful that you guys are a lot weirder than I thought you would be." This got a giant round of applause. Training has been the most frustrating thing, and being with everyone for this holiday made it all worth it.

Dinner was chicken, mashed potatoes, spaghetti and homemade sauce, I made an avocado pineapple salad, a few Kenyan foods that I refused to touch for one night, and a million delicious desserts. It was the best meal in Kenya yet and and I could not be more thankful for it. After dinner we had our own private bonfire until it started raining. A couple flooded tents later I was sharing a two-person tent with 3 other people and loving every minute of it. I didn't sleep much through the night but that gave me more time to think about the amazing food I had just consumed.

We all woke up at the crack of dawn, waited for breakfast at 8:30, settled the beer money, and walked back to town. All in all it was definitely one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had. Nothing really beats Thanksgiving with my family, but this certainly ran a close second. One might even say it was actually quite similar since these people are my family here :)

On a more serious note, I had the scariest night so far in Africa last week. It was the first time I was truly afraid. Here's what happened: My little sister Margaret (who is 5) and little cousin Mary (who is 3) did not come home from school when they were supposed to. My other sister Ann (13) went back to look for them 4 times but they were no where to be found. I had just gotten home from class when I found all this out, and as soon as I got home, everyone left to go look for them and told me to stay home. I was alone in the house thinking about my missing siblings when all I wanted to do was help look for them. Soon the whole town was out looking as well. About an hour later I heard hysterical crying down the road. It was Mama. She couldn't even walk back to the house by herself she was crying so hard. I thought the worst had happened. Apparently they still could not be found, and Mama was so upset because people from Tanzania come to Loitokitok to kidnap children, rape them, and then take their skin. The thought of something so horrific happening to my little Margaret made me want to explode. Soon there were 8 or 10 neighbors in the house with Mama and I, trying to calm her down. They yelled for a good 45 minutes in Kiswahili while I sat holding Mama's hand, helpless and totally clueless as to what was going on. FINALLY an English phrase popped in: "They are coming." I wasn't going to believe it until I saw it. The other bad thing was it was almost dark. Night comes in the blink of an eye on the equator, and I imagine Africa at night as it is in I Am Legend; everyone turns into Zombies and no one is safe. Margaret and Mary eventually showed up just as the sun was going down. I have never felt more relieved in my entire life. It's surprising how much I love my family here, even though I've lived with them for only 5 weeks. Turns out the girls had gone to someone else's house after school, where they had never been before, and without telling anyone. Mama held Maggie so tight I think she learned her lesson. All in all it was super stressful, freaked me out, and made me miss my real family even more. Whew.

Moving on. This week is Model School. Current PCVs have brought their students from all over Kenya to Loitokitok so that we can practice teaching them. It's free education for them, it's extra help that they might need in math and science, and it's wonderful practice for us. While everyone else in the group is teaching 3 lessons throughout the week, Amanda and I are teaching 8 a piece. Story of our lives in PST. Also, everyone else gets to teach in English, while Amanda and I actually have to teach in the language we're learning. *Sigh.* So we team-taught two Biology Form 1 lessons this morning, and although it was pretty horrible for both our first times teaching, it wasn't a complete disaster. We certainly have a lot to learn, but we also have all week to practice. More updates on Model School later.

Just about everyone in the group has been sick so far, and I was kind of just waiting my turn, which unfortunately hit me last night. Apparently we're the sickest group PCKenya has seen in a long time. So I'm eating plain rice, bananas, and attempting to down some oral rehydration salts, which taste like I'm drinking the Pacific. Hopefully I'll get better for the rest of Model School. Great timing!

Anywho, I basically cannot WAIT to get to site. As much as I love my host family, PST cannot end soon enough. Last night I was trying to talk to my Mama and sisters about when I leave in 2 weeks, and every time I opened my mouth they started screaming really loud and talking over me. They refuse to admit that I'm leaving and probably have plans to lock me in the house so I never leave. It's definitely a good feeling :)

OH! And I forgot to say that I passed my LPI (Language Exam) for KSL and have started Kiswahili lessons. We'll see how that goes.

So even though I'm not there yet, I have changed the address to my new one in Kilifi. Beau will pick up anything that gets there before I do. But I doubt in two weeks anything will. I have received letters and packages so far (hint hint) if you want to send anything :) Getting mail is just about my favorite thing in the Peace Corps.

I think that's about it for now. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was just as good as mine and I hope you all enjoy the holiday consumerism back home! We don't have anything like that here. Sing some carols for me and get an extra pretty Christmas tree too.

Love love love from Africa. Miss you all.

~ Shub :)

Niko Sawa

So I haven't been able to post for a bit because my computer was out of juice and and we haven't had electricity for a few days. Luckily, the Catholic church we have been having classes at does have electricity. It's all good now.

Training has been coming along, though is slowly getting more and more frustrating. For one thing, Amanda and I have not had one full week in the same city yet. This is good because we have experience with traveling around the country (which is pretty much a contact sport here), but we are sick and tired of living out of our backpacks. Since we are the outliers in the group (the only ones teaching at deaf secondary schools) we've had to go all kinds of places to get our training requirements in. I'll survive, I just would like at least one weekend at home. *Sigh*.

So next week we have to travel back to Machakos (the first city we were in after Nairobi) for our first language exam. This is where the rest of the deaf ed. group is, so the people testing us are there too. Thankfully right when we come back it's Thanksgiving. For those of you that don't know, this is my all-time favorite holiday. For me, there is absolutely nothing better than my family mixed with a day full of football and fantastic food. It won't be the easiest thing being in Africa for it, but at least I have a family here. The other volunteers (there are 26 of us total in Loitokitok) have rented some tents next Friday at a place called Outward Bound, which is a base camp resort thing for climbing Kilimanjaro. The Peace Corps has decided to pay for our dinner and breakfast the next morning. It won't be like any Thanksgiving I've had before, but it will at least be interesting, and I definitely won't be alone.

I also already have Christmas plans. Which is good because Christmas happens right after we all swear in and get to site and realize how alone we truly are. Thankfully there is another volunteer at my site, some more on the coast, others a little bit inland, and tons of other mzungus in Kilifi. We will be roasting a pig at a friend's beach house and hopefully drinking the night away. Christmas in Africa!

Before Peace Corps my blog posts relied solely on the photos I had to back them up. I think now it will be opposite. I will post photos when I can, but there is so much to say that posting without photos may be a common occurrence.

We have been spending the last few weeks learning about the education system in Kenya. From my perspective now, Americans do 2 things really well: equality and education. I feel SO lucky to have gotten the education I did, and most of the time have it handed to me on a silver platter. Sure, I worked for my diploma and degree and stuff, but I just took for granted that I even had the opportunity. Education in Kenya, like most other things run by the government, is relatively corrupt. In order to move from primary to secondary school (our equivalent of grade school then high school, respectively) students must pass these national exams. They also have other national exams after form 4 (12th grade) which are comprehensive from the last 4 years and are super hard. Normally a 25% is passing, and last year, only 30% did pass. And even if you do pass, universities here are set up just to make money, so they won't necessarily have enough room to house all the students that deserve to be there. The students that don't pass their exams are sent to... get this... teacher's college! They are trained to be teachers, which is most of the time the last thing they want to be doing. It's a giant vicious cycle.

So many of the teachers in the classrooms don't want to be there, don't care about the students, and lots of the time don't even show up. Students are taught nothing but the value of rote memorization, and that teachers should be feared and respected. We spent yesterday afternoon learning about corporal punishment. For Americans it's just inherently wrong. For many Kenyans, it's the only way that works. We had current volunteers come talk to us about alternative forms of punishment in the classroom, and that was really helpful. The new Kenyan constitution, which is still being put into effect in many aspects, has outlawed corporal punishment. But this basically means that it's something for the government to say that they don't do, and still do. Beating children still happens all the time, just about everywhere.

And there's this whole issue with the deaf students! Kenya is definitely a more forward-thinking country when it comes to the deaf community, but there's still a lot that needs to be done. Many deaf children are still thought to be cursed, and kept inside most of their lives because they shame their family. The students that do make it to the deaf schools (which there aren't a ton of) don't usually have the greatest teachers. Mix the last few paragraphs with not being able to sign, and just yelling at the students for not understanding. They're deaf for Pete's sake! I'm really excited to start teaching, so I can let them know that they're not disabled and deserve just as much as the hearing kids. So basically it's tough for them, but thankfully I have two years to help them out, even if it might only be a handful of kids.

On the bright side, my family here in Loitokitok is awesome. Mama laughs at everything and never leaves me hungry. She always packs me snacks during the day, and always heats my bath water in the morning. My would-be Baba (father) died just two months ago in a really tragic car accident so it is Mama and my 6 siblings. Try to keep track. Paul is 20, he's sharp as a tack and very worldly. He and I have all kinds of discussions about the differences in our cultures, and he always has some funny insight. He took over Baba's furniture business after he died, so he's pretty much the man of the house now. Trizzah is 18, she just finished secondary school, and is waiting to hear back her results from the KCSE (the secondary national exam). She wants to go to university in Nairobi next year, but for now is just loving the fact that she has a mzungu sister. Ann is 13 and does everything around the house when Mama is not around and when Trizzah is at school. You'd think she was my age. Henry is 10 and absolutely LOVES my electronics. He also loves to try and scare me when I get home from school everyday. Most of the time he succeeds. He's the only other boy in the family so Paul is a great role model for him. His other favorite thing is reading with me, which is funny because it usually puts us both to sleep before dinner. Monicah is 7 and Margaret is 5, but she thinks she's 6. The two of them love walking me to class in the morning and love joining me for nap time. Basically it's non-stop play time and I don't get much privacy. It's ok though because I know I have a limited time here before I leave for good.

I laughed with Ann, Paul, Trizzah and Mama for over 2 hours last night about the differences in the way we speak. Kenyans for the life of them cannot pronounce "r" the way Americans do. It's super funny. Here's some other funny things: Henry was looking at my pictures from home and was totally astounded that I have black friends in America. "Black Amerikan!" he kept saying. It's crazy to them. When I opened up my computer the other day Heidi Klum popped up in some ad online. Margaret pointed to it and said "That is you?" I almost fell over laughing. They think all mzungus look alike. It's hilarious. They also think that people in airplanes can see them when they wave. I think that's my favorite one so far :)

I haven't gotten really sick yet, and am dreading the day I actually do. Lots of other people have, so I'm kind of just waiting my turn. Have I mentioned the other volunteers in my group are fantastic? Last weekend we got together for a hiking trip, then spent the evening drinking beer and playing charades. This weekend we're attempting to cook an American lunch, then meeting again for more games and possibly some more beer. When I have the energy I go running in the mornings with some of the other girls, which is actually quite easy when Mt. Kilimanjaro pokes it's head through the clouds as the sun comes up.

So save for a few times falling in the ever-present mud, the incessant "How a' yuuuu"s from the little kids who don't know what else to yell to the mzungus, and a looming bout of homesickness on Thanksgiving, niko sawa; I'm OK. I'm ok and I know this is the right thing for me right now. I can't wait to become a real Peace Corps Volunteer, I can't wait to get to my site, and I can't wait to start teaching. Hope home is doing well, home on the East coast and home on the West coast. I miss you all like never before.

Love you bunches, will post again soon.

~ Shub :)

Still Traveling!

So it’s almost week 4 of PST and I’m STILL traveling. After our beginning stay in Nairobi I was in Machakos for a week, then moved to my new training site in Loitokitok for a week. Just spent a week in Kilifi (coincidentally my site) shadowing a current volunteer, and I’m currently sitting in some Sikh Temple in a town called Makindu that is putting us up for the night. Peace Corps has this rule that we are not allowed to travel after dark. And it gets dark REALLY quick on the equator. So we had to hop off the bus we were on and find a place to stay. Luckily these people are very hassle-free and the room and food is all free as well. Who knows, maybe I’ll come back!

On the up-side, I really love Kilifi. There are palm trees and coconuts, and lots of good pineapple. The house I will be living in is rather decent as well. It’s got 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, walk-in pantry, and even a flush toilet. The running water and electricity are not the most reliable things, but at least they’re there :). I will be cleaning the crap out of the house when I move in, and decorating like crazy. If this is home for the next two years, I want it to look as home-y as possible. The house is on the compound for the deaf primary school, so it’s very safe and there are always children to play with. It’s a boarding school so the kids all live on the same compound.

The school I will be teaching in is a one building, 4 room school-house about a 3 minute walk from the primary compound. There is nothing except their classrooms, so the secondary students live on the primary compound. I lucked out in having my shadow week be at my actual site. Now I’ve met the staff at my school, met the staff at the primary school, and even met some of the students I will have. They are awesome. They are all so thirsty for information and so eager to have things properly explained to them. They have so many questions about America, and love to hear about what it’s like there, and about Obama. They already know my sign name and know that I will be back at the end of the season. I am probably going to be teaching some sort of Biology and Math, but maybe English as well. It all depends on how meetings go when I move in in December.

The week in Kilifi was spent at school watching Beau teach, but we also got to do a little sight-seeing. Unfortunately the internet connection I have now is slower than dirt so I can't upload the great pictures of the Indian Ocean I took :( My house in Kilifi is about a 30 minute walk from the beach, but it's easily accessible and absolutely beautiful once you get there. The sand is white, the water is blue, and the beer is cold. I suppose things could be going a lot worse right now.

I will be back in Loitokitok tomorrow, only to leave again in another week for our HIV/AIDS week. Officially I have made it through three weeks of training, I have 6 more left, and I swear in as a real Peace Corps Volunteer on December 15th. As fun as it is, all of us are itching to be done with training so we can actually start doin stuff! Swear-in day is going to be one big party.

Hope everyone at home is doing well, and hope America hasn't changed too much. I've been reading in the Kenyan newspapers about the Obama polls, but it has little effect on how much the Kenyans still love him. Oh well.

I miss everyone SO much. I miss being able to text and chat with people at a moment's notice. I miss being able to get in the car when I needed something and go get it. I miss bagels and cream cheese, and really cold cereal. I miss fish tacos and spinach dip, and my Terrapin on sesame with muenster. But in two years I'm probably only going to be thinking about how much I'll miss Kenya.

Ok. Love you all!

~ Shub :)