A very belated update - Pole Sana

June 7, 2009

It has been over a month since I have updated this blog – pole sana. It just seems like the days fly past and I have nothing accomplished! Much like life in the US. Today is Lucy’s first birthday, so I thought it fitting and appropriate to write an update. I cannot believe I am missing her first birthday, but know all the other grandparents will take good care of her. When I was in Nairobi I found 2 story books which have great drawings and are written in both English and Kiswahili – Know they are a bit old for her now, but will enjoy reading them to her when I return. I baked a chocolate cake today and will celebrate Lucy’s birthday from Kenya with my neighbors. I had the compound kids draw birthday cards for her which I hope she enjoys. I know the kids had fun drawing them. They kept singing “Happy Birthday to Lucy” as they worked. So darn cute.

Life just continues on – we have not had city water since mid-April and the wells are running low. I had 100 L delivered last Sunday and will need another 100 today. Good thing I don’t mind wearing my clothes several times before washing. As always, drinking water is first! The bad thing is the crops are failing and food prices are rising. I marvel at how people feed their families on so little. I am grateful to be able to buy whatever I need, and often times just what I want.

I am settling into my work schedule and finding outside opportunities. Right now I am teaching an Introduction to Business class once a week and will start quilting classes soon. I will eventually take over the “Reproductive Health” class – whatever that means. Sure hope they provide me with a curriculum! You are not even allowed to mention the word condoms in classes unless students bring them up. A large focus is on making good choices, HIV/Aids prevention and just growing up. Not too different from the classes in America.

I have started to attend some HCLC (Health Center and Community Link Committee) meetings which consists of 12 groups and/or representatives concerned with HIV/Aids. We traveled to Athi River last week to have a joint meeting with their HCLC and went door to door asking if individuals had been tested or knew their status. The stigma of being HIV+ is HUGE and is a real deterrent to being tested for many. I learned how much I have to learn about Aids in Africa. I am hoping to do some home visits with Marita, a friend from Nguluni and learn more about what is happening around my community. There are so many stories – some disheartening and others incredibly uplifting. There are many individuals living with being HIV+ and leading normal/healthy lives. There is hope. I will be attending a support group meeting for guardians of children orphaned by Aids. I am hoping that in some small way I will be able to provide help to them. Many need to develop “IGAs” – income generating activities – and maybe this is where I can help them find a way. Peace Corps did a great job educating us in this area – now it is just being clever enough to implement what I have learned.

World Aids Day is December 1 and it would be a great opportunity to organize a community awareness day and educate the community about the importance of being tested. We shall see.

I need and want to thank all of you who contributed to my “clean out your sewing basket” campaign. I have received the first box and was amazed and delighted at what I found inside. (Not to mention the M&Ms which I did NOT share). Kenbric VTC trains tailors and dressmakers, but the students have few supplies so when I asked Karyl Newman to organize a collection she did and you all came through with flying colors. I am trying to decide how to best disburse the items, so that the students will be the main beneficiaries of your generosity. I am also thinking of ways to utilize some of them for IGAs with the HIV/Aids support groups. I will keep you posted on how they are used.

The M&Ms by the way – were consumed in a couple days of “stress” eating – Not a good thing. I continue to cook relatively healthy foods, but there are days a greasy hamburger sure sounds good. Next trip to Nairobi and Java House – Burger, fries and milk shake! I make chapatti when I crave bread, but only make 2 or 3 at a time. So good with peanut butter and jam! I actually found popcorn at the supermarket and popped some today for an extra special treat!

I have been trying to keep up with Kiswahili lessons, but my tutor and I are both getting busy and finding it hard to find time to meet. She loaned me several storybooks to read and one of the teachers at school is good enough to listen to me read out loud (without laughing too much) and correct my pronunciation. I read one to my 7 year old neighbor, she will be a good mentor (not too judgmental about my pronunciation) and the plus side is she enjoys being read to. I have yet to figure out how they string 4 or 5 words together into one 15 letter word! And then remembering e’s sound like a’s, and i’s are e’s. And nya---, mbo--- and ng’---- don’t make any recogonizable sound to me at all!

I spent a weekend in Machakos for a Kenyan Sign Language workshop. A PCV is at the school for the deaf there and we worked with her students and PC KSL educators. It was a great deal of fun, and then she reminded us of the importance of knowing some basics in case we encounter a deaf individual who is in need of help. It really put things in perspective for me – and the importance of being able to communicate wherever you are, being deaf, or American in Kenya, or Kenyan in America and how frightening it must be to not be able to communicate. It seems like opportunities for learning and growing are everywhere – it’s just taking the time to recognize them.

There is not much exciting news from here so will close for the time being. It may be several days before I can get to the Cyber Café to post this. Just know I think of you often and wonder how you all are doing. Just take care of yourselves! I do not miss not knowing the news or listening to the political commentary – I catch snippets on the BBC and am pleased that Obama continues to have integrity, character and is working hard to improve America’s image. You all take care, continue to stay in touch and keep me posted on what is happening in your daily lives. Nashukuru.

Siku njema na kwa hereini. Ninakosa yote sana. Mutanu

April 27, - the first rains of the season

April 27, 2009 WE HAVE HAD RAIN ALL DAY - WHAT A TREAT!

Greetings from Nguluni – Another long period of no rain, even though it is the start of the rainy season. I returned after two weeks of Peace Corps training in Nairobi to find out there has been no water anywhere in the town for over two weeks. Seems like the pump to the town is “broken”. I have had to have water delivered twice in two days as I had 2 weeks of laundry, a dirty house and drinking water to think about. The well water looks rather sketchy – sure hope PUR holds up to its reputation of being able to purify any water! Even the well is low and the fetchers are raising their rates for collecting water and delivering it to homes. Why not – a great opportunity to earn a few extra shilingi and fetching water from a 20 foot well is not my idea of fun. I’ve tried it and it is darn hard work.

Two weeks in Nairobi is LONG. We had meetings everyday from 8 – 5. It was great to see all my fellow PCVs and find out what they are up to at their sites. It is amazing how we are all on the same roller coaster of emotions and experiences even though we are miles apart. It seems like all are enjoying the Peace Corps experience and the opportunities to travel around Kenya.

Now that I am “official” I plan on doing a bit of traveling with a few other PCVs. I am not one to travel here by my self, so am trying to organize a couple of adventures. There is the wildebeest migration in the Maasi Mara in July and August, and a trip to Hell’s Gate, a hike/bike around a crater are in the plans. While in Nairobi I met another non-traditional volunteer and I plan to travel to her site for a weekend visit.
If I can get in shape I am going to hike Mt. Kenya – definitely taking whatever anti-altitude sickness meds are available. I understand there are various trails of varying difficulty, but the altitude will get you regardless of the route you take. I had very little exercise in Nairobi, and zero yoga/mediation. Now I am trying to get back into that routine. I actually bought a 4 x 6 rug so now I have something to do yoga on that will last. I gave my foam pad, as ripped as it was, to my neighbor for her son to sleep on.

I have had more fun playing with the kids in my compound – today we started to learn to play jacks. Quite the challenge using a pop bead as the ball and small stones as the jacks. I do have a small ball, but it is more fun to see what they can come up with to play with. We have been tracing body outlines with chalk with the children proudly writing their names on the chests. I love to see the smiles that these simple things bring to the kids. This is the reason I am here.

I missed my community when I was gone for the 2 weeks, and was greeted with smiles and yells of “Mutanu” when I returned to town. Even the mamas in my community came running to greet me. I think I am the entertainment in this community and when I am gone there is no one to laugh at/with. I think this is the Peace Corps experience I want to be having.

I have one more week off before classes start and I need to return to work. I have met a wonderful woman in the community, a retired nurse who has a health clinic, and she is taking me to meet the hoop-de-doos at the district level. From there, I hope that I can determine a HIV/Aids project to work on in my community. I will start attending first Thursday meetings of a group of 10-12 organizations that deal with HIV/Aids in town to see what I can help with. This is an area that scares me a lot – not that I might catch it, but my total ignorance as to the depth and despair that it has on Africa. Even though Peace Corps provided us with a font of information during training, it is still overwhelming.

One of the sites we visited in Nairobi is a recycling center. Plastic bags are everywhere – litter is a part of every landscape, but there are some folks trying to correct this. My community has had clean-ups in the past, but no one has organized one in a long time. Another project to look into to. Anyway, the point is, this recycling center in Nairobi collects clean plastic bags, gives them to weavers who make them into great baskets. So if my community can collect and clean bags, they should be able to make a few shilingi by selling them – or even better have some mamas learn how to weave and make the baskets to sell.

Some of the projects others are working with are beekeeping, harvesting butterflies, tree planting, irrigation, farming practices and on and on. If someone could figure out how to turn dust into water – they would make a fortune and save a nation.

As a reminder, my mailing address is:

Pat Novak, PCV
c/o Kenbric Vocational Training Centre
PO Box 539
Tala 90131
Kenya

The Peace Corps address in Nairobi has changed, so mailing to Tala is the best way to go. I appreciate all the cards and letters you have sent – it makes my day when I walk to the posta and there is something waiting for me! I finally received Katie’s Christmas package (mailed Dec. 8) last week. The biscotti was still edible and the M&Ms tasty!

My best to all of you in the US – from my little township in Kenya. Life continues to be good. Kwa hereni.

An early morning ps – we had rain last night! Basins and buckets were put out again to catch the water falling from the roof. It has now stopped, but hopefully will start up again today. I will gratefully don my clean tennis shoes and walk to Tala in the rain! Take care my friends.

At last!

Today is the first day of my stay in Nguluni. Amazing that I can say that after having been in this community for almost 4 months. BUT, I managed to pass the language proficiency test today – over the phone no less! I know I know more Kiswahili than I showed on the exam, but now I can continue to learn and use the language and have it be FUN rather than an obstacle to overcome. I cannot express the relief I am feeling. I now feel like I can start projects and become more involved in the community I live. Up until now I have been reluctant to do much of anything except go to work, study KSW and walk! Never did want to start something I could not finish!

Over all, not much has happened in here since I last reported. Over the weekend, my school was robbed – for the third time in 6 months. Only one sewing machine was taken, but that machine was used in the workshop to sew school uniforms and generate income for the school. Now the challenge is to find a location to build their own facility. Always financing comes into play as well. The students will be on break for the next month, so hopefully Mr. Mutua and Mr. Keli and I can brainstorm and come up with some ideas.

I have several ideas popping up – quilting classes for HIV/Aids people, cooking classes for the community (we have a great PC cookbook using a jiko la makaa (charcoal)). I have tried some of the cakes and breads and they are great! Just need someone to lite the ^&*()_ jiko for me. Never did master that skill, but what the hey – I got through KSW, the jiko will not beat me. My neighbors all like my baking, and I think there might be a small market for classes. Just charge enough per person to cover buying the ingredients. Who knows, I may be the next Julia Childs of Kenya.

The weather here is HOT during the days – so enjoy your cool days. This is just like
August in NE with less humidity. We have had no rain for many weeks, electricity is sketchy on many days. Gets dark about 7, you will find me in bed about 7:15! Am getting some good sleep here – and it will only be better since I hope NOT to wake up in the middle of the night thinking of KSW verb tenses and noun classes.

Our PCV group will be meeting in Nairobi for 2 weeks in April. Days filled with training, but it will be nice to see everyone and find out what they are doing. I was in Muikirini (by Mt. Kenya) a couple of weeks ago for a language workshop with 3 other PCV. Watched the Bourne trilogy every night-but can honestly say I do not miss TV as much as thought I would. The area we were at is so different from here – hilly, green, and cool and you can see the mountain. Just whet my whistle for traveling the future.

That is about all the news from Kenya – hopefully I will have more to report, on a more regular basis now that I am not totally obsessed by the language challenge.
Continue to stay in touch – I check e-mails once a week and would love to hear from you. Snail mail is always a treat.

Hope you a all surviving the stock market roller coaster, politics in USA and just life in general. Take care

Kwa Heri kutoka Kenya - Mutanu (kikamba for “happy person)

more news from Nguluni

February 25‐ Much has happened in the past 3 weeks, although it seems like nothing has happened. Two weeks ago, the younger brother of Mr. Mwema (carpentry teacher at Kenbric) was killed riding his bicycle along with another young man. The driver (possibly a DUI) lost control of his vehicle and hit the 2 boys. It has been very sad around the school. Saturday we traveled as a “family of Kenbric” to visit the family. There were many people there, and I understand in this culture, those who visit bring maize, beans, flour as well as some funds. This helps the family pay for the funeral and provide food for the many visitors. This will go on until the actual funeral. The funeral is this Thursday, and we will attend as a group. I think the students will also be attending and so it should be a very interesting experience. We did not have school on Thursday or Friday because it was mid‐term break. I ended up walking to Mr. Kelly’s shamba (farm/garden) with him and his wife Veroncia and baby Felix. It was about a 45 minute walk. We harvested the little maize that was there. We were picking the smallest cobs – those that we in America would not bother with, because as Mr. Kelly said: “there might be one kernel” there and that is food. There is a definite food shortage in Kenya, and his expression really hit home. Several weeks ago, the government was offering relief maize. Their office is right by mine, so I could see many people lining up a 7 am, waiting patiently until 11 to receive a small bag of maize. It progressed in an orderly fashion and the patience of the people really impressed me. I feel somewhat guilty being able to splurge on peanut butter, fruits, vegetables and what ever I want. PCV are on a very tight budget so I really do watch my shilingi! I have not had to purchase anything of great cost yet, so I am trying to save for that day. Once I start to travel to different spots, it will be even tighter. The city of Nguluni neglected to pay its water bill, so the entire town has had no water for almost a week. People have being going to a nearby well to fetch water. I have about 20 L left, but my landlord is going to have his wife bring me some from the well today. I will pay her 20 bob (10 cents) for her efforts and it will be worth every penny! There has been a procession of people going to the well with every imaginable container every day. I was told the well would not go dry – I only hope that is true. Just another touch of reality of life in Kenya. We are all hoping water returns soon! Sunday, I traveled to 14 Falls near Thika with my new friend Alan. I walked to the college where he works and we went on to Tala for Chai before catching a matatu to Thika. We were early and got to ride in the front seat. It was a 90 minute, not too bumpy ride. More chai, but now with chapiti as we waited for Alan’s friend Steve, a local, to meet us. We then walked to 14 falls (about 20 minutes) and had to pay 300/= ($4) to get in. This was a lot more than either Alan or I expected to pay. The falls were nice, the water really dirty, so any thought of jumping in was quickly dismissed. It was just pleasant to sit outside and listen to the water falling. I had fun listening to Alan ad Steve talk in KSW and was pleased that I could pick up more

Novak in Nguluni - Day by Day

JANUARY 31 – Just a quick update on life in Nguluni. I am finally settling into my work, although at times there isn’t any! You know me, I don’t sit well doing nothing. I am trying to take advantage of that time to learn a new word or two. I have put the schools accounting records on Excel spreadsheets and am trying to keep them updated on a regular basis. I just helped develop a budget for the school for 2009 – should be interesting to see if they can reach their enrollment goals with the Kenyan economy in such dire straights. I am in the process of writing an Introduction to Business class for the students, paring down those debits and credits to money in and money out! Forget the concept of time value of money, depreciation or even bank statements. I will teach this class to all students and help them with a business plan for their specific vocation.

The teachers in Kenya are on strike, the government is not paying them, and in some areas it is becoming violent. I need to listen to BBC more and find out what is going on. My Ksw tutor is a primary school teacher so I am sure she is happy to have the extra income working with me. We have about 20 PCV teachers across Kenya, and they are NOT allowed to work because of the potential violence. I will try and communicate with them to find out what their take is on the strike. I am taking advantage of Mama Sharon and having my KSW lessons in the morning. At least my brain sorta functions then! Yesterday she went to Tala with me to help make some big purchases for my home. White skin = $$$$$, so it helped to have her with me to barter down the prices.

I met Allen, a VSO who is actually teaching computer classes at Holy Rosary College and met one of the accounting instructors as well. He lives on campus with the nuns and seems to have it fairly cushy. I am really settling in to my 2 little rooms, crying babies and fun neighbors. I am woken every morning about 5 by the Muslim call to prayer. Interesting way to start my day. This is when I am trying to “calm” my active mind and meditate. Not very successful so far, but am NOT giving up.

I stocked up on fruits and vegetables, peanut butter and jelly and even oatmeal! Fifty cents for a FRESH pineapple, 25 for a large mango and carrots and onions are literally a dime a dozen. I think cheap, Kenyans think expensive. The other day I brought 3 oranges to my compound to share with my neighbors – they never eat fruit, mostly beans & maize or ugali (basically water and flour). I am going to have them re-enforce my charcoal jiko cookig skills so I can make chiapti. Chipati is like a fat pancake, but if you are clever, you can use it as a wrap for stir fry veggies, put veggies in the dough, or just PBJ. For breakfast, fry an egg (very expensive) and have a breakfast burrito.

I am eating Githeri (beans & maize) for lunch daily at the school. Imagine what that is doing to my system! And Kenyans don’t fart! It is very filing and actually quite nutritious. After school I head for home and my bag of Kenyan made potato chips. You can also buy some pretty good boxed cookies. Bread is AWFUL, which is one reason to make chipati.

Last Saturday I went to a small village where Mr. Kelly (one of my bosses) was doing a small ceremony in paying for the dowry for his wife. Most people there spoke Kikamba so even if I tried KSW it was challenging. Once I was introduced (3 hours into the ceremony) people actually smiled at me! It was a long, hot, interesting day.

I had a great discussion on why there are no longer dowries in the US, basically because women no longer feel the need to be bought! A good chance to exchange cultural values while respecting each other’s culture.

Quick update – had trouble putting this online Saturday. Made two trips to the Cyber Café and both times had difficulties. Will try again on Tuesday. Picked up a lot mail and one package today in Tala. So at least here it is coming to me. Will savor those letters tonight with my chai. Think of you all often - miss you

Nguluni and Novak

Dear Friends in the USA – Monday and change is fast approaching. Kenyans are very excited, an almost everyone claims to have some relationship with Barack!

I am going to summarize my past week in Nguluni. I only wish I could include some pictures to make this more real for you. This may be long, but bear with my day by day life. It has been most interesting and challenging to say the least. If you go to wikpedia and look up my town (village) it will be described as poor African town. Those are kind words. My emotional roller coaster has been from the very highest peak to the lowest valley and I am taking life one day at a time.

I was very disappointed to have my assignment site changed at the last minute, but as many of you wrote – there is always a reason. I think I am beginning to see why. My services (what ever they may be) are really needed here.

My counterpart/supervisor and I left Nairobi on Friday for a 90 minute matatu ride to Nguluni with my 4 bags + the additional bags of books and buckets Peace Corps requires. Quite the site – we took up at least 3 seats, of course I had to pay extra for the bags. I will say, 90 min. is a short ride, some of the group going to the coast were on matatus for 2 days and taking who knows what to get to their sites.

Arriving in Nguluni, I am thinking what am I doing?? It is a very poor community of about 2,000 people, most of whom are children or unemployed adults. There are 2 pool tables at the matatu station which attract all the “undersirables” every day. Many of the people here work in Tala, about a 60 minute walk from here.

We left my bags at the Kenbrick Vocational Training Centre where I will be doing a variety of tasks, from computerizing their records to teaching business and HIV/AIDS classes and possibly a computer class or 2. Who knows? (si jui?) The 2 gentlemen I am working with, Mr. Mutua and Mr. Kelly, are the founders of the school. It was started a couple of years ago to provide opportunity and to train the youth of the community in motor vehicle maintenance, tailoring and dressmaking, cabinetry and joinery, and hopefully, with my help Accounting/Business. Their goal is to provide these youths with the opportunity to find employment and break the poverty cycle. They have about 30 students right now who are second year students. They are busy trying to recruit new students now. Tuition is about 1500/term + 450 in catering fees. Keep in mind, 79 KSH = $1. This is a LOT for these students.

The school is located in rental space, and is rather falling down, but they seem to do the job of holding classes and providing an education for their students. They have electricity, but not running water. The dream is to purchase a plot of land near the existing school and build one class room at a time. There is actually a plan in place to achieve this goal. I give them credit! Students are asked to provide beans and maize for lunches. That is ALL they eat, every day. I had some today, and it was pretty good, but every day? The school is about a 10 minute from where I live. I should mention, the sewing machines were stolen a couple of months ago, and they have just managed to replace one machine and one finishing machine. They make the blouses/shirts for their students’ uniforms.

My housing. My 2 rooms are in a compound of 8 units. My rooms are about 9 X 9 if you stretch it. Cement walls, floor and tin roof. Mr. Mutua has loaned me a bed, coffee table and sitting chair. The school is building me a work table (cooking + studying) and it will be nice to not cook on the floor. There are a lot of children and babies who live in this compound and people seem to like to play their radios rather loud. You know how I like my quiet – so this is my biggest challenge. I have met most of my neighbors and they are very nice. Some speak limited Kswahili and mostly kikamba and little English. A bit interesting asking questions and getting to know them. We have 2 outside choos and 1 shower which are shared by all. The caretaker and his wife keep this areas very clean which is reassuring. I am in awe of how a family of 5 can live in this tiny space, cook inside with charcoal and keep it clean. The women are washing clothes daily and I see them washing their floors. I plan on getting some type of floor covering so I can do a little yoga without being on the cement. I am trying to practice 2 times a day, focusing of breathing and standing postures. Thank you Rita Coolidge for your music to practice by! It is so dry and dusty here, I wear a blouse once and the wash water turns to mud! How Kenyans stay clean is beyond me. I only hope my clothes withstand the hand washing for next 2 years! Mr. Mutua wants to build me a clothes dresser, but I am waiting to see how the 3 months trial period goes. Then I can actually settle in and spend some more money on staying organized. Right now my food and kitchen supplies are in plastic baskets and my clothes are folded next to my bed. Papers and books are everywhere, so my next purchase will be a book case.

Water is scarce – We have a tap on the compound and I filled my 100L jerry can on Saturday. We did not have water again until Thursday. I had about 40-50L left, but was starting to get concerned. Refilled yesterday. It rained today so I had every tub and bucket out catching rain water for washing clothes, dishes and my floor. Never had been in this situation before, so it will take some getting used to and using water wisely. One PCV in her second year, was telling us that she used her dish water to wash her floors and anything left from washing clothes was used to clean the choo. I feel like I am camping with limited supplies! I am hoping to purchase a smaller, 20L jerry can for additional storage.

I walk 60 minutes to Tala to a grocery store. There are a few market stalls in Nguluni and a few dukas (shops) with limited supplies. Basically I have lived on PB&J, rice, mangoes and pineapple for the past week. I have no desire to eat any meat, but need more veggies in my life. Once my table comes and I can get somewhat organized I will try and do better. The less food in the house, the fewer the gnats. I have coffee every morning and have made chai only once. I am anxious to actually start cooking, but know I will have limited foods to chose from so I will have to shop wisely in Tala.

I finally found a Kswahili tutor – Mama Sharon. She is a primary school teacher in town and we met today for the first time. I was impressed with her style and patience and think that she will help me a lot. Pronunciation is my nemesis and she was very patient with me. We laughed a lot, English does NOT have ny, mb, nz combinations and they twist my tongue! I think I will enjoy knowing her as a tutor and friend. We will meet as often as possible, and learning new vocabulary will give me something constructive to do at night.

My short wave radio and the BBC are great friends. I am so glad to have my Ipod and all those books on it! Yes, Galitz, tell Ian it was well worth all my time and effort to put them there. Only wish I had done more! I am hoping to watch Barak on TV Monday. Mr. Mutua has a TV but we cannot figure out when it might be on. Sounds like it will Tuesday here because of the 8 hour time difference.

I have found a sanctuary in the Holy Rosary College where the cyber café is. It is a quiet campus and if they had housing I might just move there! It is a 30 minute walk, on the way to Tala. It actually has some trees and is a very quiet setting.

Basically, today, I am okay. We shall see how the weekend goes. Nights and non-work days are very challenging. There is really no place to escape to that I have found yet. I am looking though. I think this is part of the PC experience. Before I came I wanted to have my time – to focus on yoga, meditation, and spiritual growth. Now I just need to actually take advantage of the opportunity to do so! The outcome of this journey is up to me, and no one else.

For those of you who did not get an update from Katie, Mr. Mutua has allowed me to use the school PO Box in Tala to receive mail. Snail mail will always be appreciated. My new address will be:

Pat Novak,
c/o Kenbrick Vocational Training Centre
PO Box 539
Tala (90131)
Kenya

Hopefully, this will expedite the receipt of any mail.

I hope this has updated you on my Kenyan adventure. Stay in touch.

Kwahereni to all
Love, Pat

Saturday – just a quick update. Another rainy night – most welcome by the maize and the people.

Have a conversation with a fellow PCV last night, and several SMS messages from others comparing sites. Some have great locations and poor assignments. This morning I am grateful for an assignment that will make a difference, even though I don’t have a coastal, resort area site location. I keep reminding myself of what my mission to PC is, and it is NOT to be on holiday but to make a difference in the lives of those I work with. Keep reminding me of this!

Another positive – since I have no one to ask Word/Excel questions, I am forced to deal with them on my own. I am actually being relative successful in that endeavor and the best thing is, I am not getting upset if I can find a solution immediately. This is so NOT me. Yikes, who is this person writing this blog?? Love

Site assignment at last

Habari ya Mwaka Mpya – Happy New Year and may 2009 be a year of change and betterment world wide.   January 20 will probably become a new Kenyan national holiday.  I am going to enjoy viewing the world from this side of the Ocean.  I am hoping to finally be able to buy a newspaper and catch up on the news.

 

The holidays have passed.   I will be the first to admit Christmas was a bit rough emotionally.   Fortunately I heard from all of my children which was wonderful.  Packages had not arrived yet and I am hoping they will in Nairobi when we arrive.  Snail mail takes 3 weeks and packages may take up to 4.  I am hoping to have a PO box on site to eliminate some of that time.   I am trying to write “group” letters from Kenya to keep you updated since internet access is not the easiest.   It may or may not change when I get to site.

 

We had our language (LPI) exam last week – I actually improved my score from Novice medium to Novice HIGH which is encouraging.   The next level, intermediate low is the passing level.   Maybe 8-10 out of our group did that – and they are the ones who studied all the time.   Me – I liked hanging out with my host family.   Hopefully PC will provide a tutor on site (it’s in the manual!)   I felt pretty good about my score, since I felt rather low after actually taking the exam.  There must be a better way, but in the short time we have (which was cut shorter with the holidays) I don’t know what it would be.

 

Sunday is a family/partner appreciation dinner and then PC stays at Outward Bound where we stayed the first night in Loitokitok.   We leave early Monday morning for the 8 hour bus ride to Nairobi.   It looks like a packed schedule there and we will finally meet our counterparts and find out our site locations.  I haven’t  even looked at the location list and will be more than happy to go where I am assigned.   I  truly want electricity at home and at last easy access to running water.  AND, I want a work assignment that I will be comfortable with.  By the time I post this, I will know and let you all know.  The unknown isn’t bad if you don’t think about it!

 

I have had some great 4 hour hikes around the area over the past couple of days.  It has been a great stress reducer.  Yoga has been minimal, but am hoping to find PAT TIME on site and build it into my schedule.

 

I have not been successful in attaching pictures to this blog, but will work on it again today.  I would love to have you see the countryside which is absolutely georgous.  Mt. K looms everywhere.   I hope to be in the Rift Valley or in Central (Mt Kenya) areas.  There are quite a few assignments in the Coast area, which will have a totally different landscape.   Each will have its challenges and benefits.

 

Will finalize this in Nairobi and get it posted.   Thanks to all who have written – it is so much fine to get news from home.   Group letters are great – keep them coming.  Love to all – enjoy the cool weather – about 90 here today and the sun is HOT. 

We had a long, hot and dusty (8 hr) bus ride from Loitokitok to Nairobi on Monday - sitting several hours in stand still traffic.   Not much fun breathing that diesel fuel.  It was great to get to a fairly new hotel with private rooms, western toilets and hot water.  After a decent night's sleep it was back into peace corps pace, a lot of information and forms to fill out.  Today, Wednesday, we met our counterparts and finally found out where our site locations are.   I will be in Muranga, central province.   So from looking at Mt. K on a regular basis, I will be able to see Mt. Kenya.  A good location weather wise and it appears to be a good work position.   I will be assisting the Kanyenyaini Tea Factory which deals with fair trade products.  The person I met with is the accountant and I am not sure what all my work will entail, but at least Accounting is part of the equation.   My home, from what I can tell is 2 rooms and has electricity and running water.  It is 2 hours from Nairobi which is great.  The 8-10 bus rides do not thrill me a lot.  I will travel there with my partner on Friday and see my home then.   I think I will be able to buy everything I need locally which will be great.   I will furnish it pole pole (slowly) and buy only what I need.   

Kswahili continues to be a nemesis - the 16 who scored Novice High will be tested again in 3 months - we need to elevate to the next level so I will be hiring a tutor on site and working hard.  I think I will be okay, if I can just get over the fear of speaking!!!!!    I am quite good on paper, but that doesn't count.

Just finished eating a burger, fries and chocolate malt with friends.   Came back and consumed 6 of Betsy's chocolate chip/raisin/nut cookies I received today.   Too bad they were sent December 1, but they still tasted great.   Life goes on in Kenya - all is well.   Keep writing and staying in touch.   Thanks for all the Christmas notes, you might want to send Halloween cards soon so they get to me in time!    Love to all.   As for pictures, I will continue to work on that, but check out some of the other Kenya websites, we are all here together and they may be able to give you some indication of what I am doing.