ahoy! Warning, this is gonna be a long post! You might wanna grab yourself a beverage and get comfy! So as the pictures i've attached suggest, i've moved!!! So far i'm very happy with the place, its small and cozy and there's big windows so it's sunny and the first thing i did when i got here was go to the store and buy me some instant coffee (O.M.G. I MISS TIMMY'S!). it's soooo nice to not be cooped up in a hotel room and have to pay each time i want a cup of coffee (i'm having one right now and listening to billie holiday, couldn't ask for a better morning!).
But before i get ahead of myself, how's about i just re-cap my week for all you lovely people? Here goes.
So Monday was not at all exciting, i went to the office and that's about it. The work plan for the week was to go out to the three areas where the RAY project has its youth centers and pimp out this project that they have. The youth at RAY do outreach to various primary and secondary schools and go talk to kids about various issues regarding HIV/AIDS and they do all these community outreach activities. So the idea was that the college-age demographic wasn't getting the benefits of these outreaches because they're on their campuses studying. So if they can't come to you, we'll come to them! The idea is that the RAY youth would come to campuses twice a month and hold forums for the students and talk about HIV/AIDS as well as leadership. My part is to make a bit about a good leadership skill set and how that includes conflict resolution, but i have a sneaking suspicion that the main reason i was there was because i'm white and a bit of a novelty, so it peaks people's interest...but nevertheless, everyone responded very positively!
So on Tuesday we had our first day of pimping said project. We went to Rongai (same place as the soccer tournament). This was BY FAR the longest day as we met up at 8am and i didn't get back to Nairobi until 7:30-ish in the evening. So we visited four colleges and universities, and i have to say, some of these schools were niiiice. They were all quite big too, as they had a few thousand students each. They were mostly Catholic schools, so we were told that condom talk would not be welcome (i tried my best to stifle the "are you freaking kidding me?!??!" look on my face, but such things have to be respected). The last campus we went to especially was incredibly nice, i've attached a photo of it. It was called Nazarene College and it was by far the most Catholic, but everyone was very nice and welcoming nevertheless. But dear lord was it an exhausting day. We spent a lot more time at each school than we had anticipated and because there's so few paved roads here, we were all covered in dust again. It was so incredibly hot all day and when we we were being driven by one of the youth but we couldn't keep the windows open because there was so much dust, so we were all pretty much dying. We got back into Nairobi and i came back and had to go to the hotel so that i could move my stuff. Luckily i had some help with my bags and it went very swiftly, but then i ran to the store before it closed so that i could at least buy a little bit of food for the morning. Needless to say, i went to bed at 9:30 and was up again and ready to go for Day 2 by 6 the next day.
So Wednesday was spent in the Mlolongo area, which is where the other RAY center is. i have to say, as much as i was blown away by the pimp-ness of the Rongai area, these schools were the complete opposite. i think this area's a lot poorer and these schools reflected that. The schools were just a few rooms at most and out of the 2 colleges that we visited, none had more than 60 students. But an education is an education, and that's what's most important, right? Seeing those conditions though, i have to say it really makes you appreciate what we've got back home. We always complain about how ugly UW campus is but i'd take it any day over a classroom which has a dirt floor and a toilet which is two bricks and a hole in the ground. That night i was supposed to meet up with a few other AUCC interns from Canada but we decided instead to go out the next night, which i quietly thanked the lord for because i was exhausted and stinky, and at least i had a chance to unpack and make the place my own. So that's what i did!
Thursday was the last of of field work and we went to a town called Thika. The colleges here were somewhere in between the last two places and the day flew by. I was back in Nairobi by 3 and proceeded to shower the dust off of me for the very last time! All the colleges we went to showed great interest in the program for the most part and welcomed us back. For me, it was cool to see what life was like for people doing the same thing as me, only in Kenya.
On Thursday night i went to a little soiree at the Canadian embassy here. i met up with said other AUCC interns, who are both very cool and i also met a few other people doing interesting things here in Nairobi. It was by far the highest concentration of white people in one place that i'd seen the whole time i've been here. Speaking of which, i went down to this shopping mall that's near where i live and there was a whole bunch of white people! i finally found their hiding spot! Go figure, it's a mall, but it was definitely different seeing as there's VERY few whiteys around my area (there's a couple in my apartment building but they're from Finland and they're Catholic missionaries, so...um...yeah). So that was that! By last night (Friday) i was so exhausted that i went to bed at 10.
So! A few random asides! This week all of my bank and credit cards decided to stop working and i shat myself a little bit because i had to pay rent. I spent three consecutive nights calling all three banks and being all "WTF?!? I NEED MONEY FOR RENT!" and managed to get surprisingly few answers. Apparently there's nothing wrong with my debit card, it must just be the ATM i'm going to, which is a lie and a half because i've been going to the same ATMs for three weeks now and haven't had any problems. UGH! it makes me so angry when you just get the standard answers and no one bothers to go the extra mile to help you out in a moment of panic. So needless to say, when i get home they're going to get a very unpleasant visit from yours truly. My Visa was maxed out (oops!), hence why it stopped working and my Mastercard had been blocked due to "suspicious transactions." i told my landlady about these issues, and at first i think she was a little skeptical and i felt stupid, but i think she started to believe me when she saw that i was on the verge of tears trying to figure out where the nearest Western Union is in case momma and poppa gotta send some coin. But by the end of the week, my credit cards started working again (though not debit, ugh) and i managed to scrape enough money together for rent and a little just in case this happened again.
In more positive news, i've started taking the bus all by myself! i know this doesn't sound like much but if you saw the buses here you'd understand. This ain't no GRT folks! The buses are all run by private companies (one of them is called Citti Hoppa, that made me laugh) and there isn't a standard rate which they charge, it all depends on what time you're going at and what they feel like charging you. Not to mention that these buses look like they were made before cars were even invented. There's also these private vans called Matatus, which go the same routes as buses but these drivers are absolutely INSANE so i tend to avoid them if a bus is available cuz, you know, i still like living. UW strongly discouraged me from taking public transport before i left but i think if that's the case they should've given me more money because there's nooo way taking cabs everywhere is anywhere near financially sustainable.
Aaaand lastly (phew!) i have to say i was quite surprised at how many of the same things you can buy in the grocery store here as back home. Oreos, Ritz crackers, bacon, etc. Funnily enough, i spent five and a half years in university and successfully managed to avoid making Kraft Dinner but when i saw it in the store here, i HAD to buy it just because it was so hilarious. So last night i ate mac and cheese in Nairobi. Go figure?
And that's all i got for you kids! Thanks so much for all your comments, it's nice to know someone other than my mom is reading this! Keep it up!
love love love love!
PS. i have no idea how to format this thing so the pictures and the text aren't so cluttered, my apologies!
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