msambweni: week one

i have made it to my new home in msambweni, complete with a beautiful beach view. it's been a rough week, filled with disappointments in my internship and homesickness (i've officially reached the two month mark), but i'm taking this new environment in strides, and things will get better with time.

on sunday, october 23, i left nairobi. i was surprised that i was somewhat sad to leave my host family, but i was probably just sad to leave a "comfortable" place for the unknown. the msid group split in half-- half going to the coast, and half going to the kisumu area (western kenya near lake victoria). our bus left at 9:30, and headed on its way for the 8 hour journey to mombasa. we were quite impressed with the bus service-- pillows, curtains, and even drinks and snacks! things like this really impress all of us, as it's not common in kenya to receive much more than the basics. along the way, we heard from the kisumu group-- crazy drivers, large chunks of the bus floor falling out creating a huge hole in the floor, and blown out tires. needless to say, i was glad i was going to the coast.

we arrived in mombasa around 6:00. not much for first impressions-- the city is obviously much smaller (but still the 2nd largest city in kenya), not as much pollution, very hot, and humid. the host parents arrived at the bus station to pick up their students. since msambweni is an hour and a half south of mombasa, i would be staying in mombasa with one other student for the night before heading to our homestays the next day.

we checked in to coast safari hotel, ate supper, and went to bed early. we had to get up at 5:00 to leave for our internships. the other student lived about 45 minutes south of mombasa, so he was dropped off, and then we headed to msambweni. for all of the drive there, the road was too far away from the shore to see the ocean. once we arrived near msambweni, we turned on to a road that headed towards the ocean. we turned into my driveway, and there was the indian ocean! so gorgeous, and i get to see it from my bedroom window.

the view of the indian ocean from my home.

i met my host family, was shown my room, and then we conversed a little. then my host dad, who works at the msambweni district hospital, where i am interning, took me to the hospital. he works as the "customer care" person/greeter. he introduced me to all the important clinical officers that i'd probably be working with throughout the 6 weeks, and then i went home. the house help showed me the beach, i unpacked my stuff, and relaxed the rest of the day.

host cousins and i at the beach. the first day, my host mom made me wear what all the women here wear. no, i did not wear that outfit by choice. ;)

life here is much more rural and rustic than in nairobi. my host dad's father is our neighbor, along with many of his children, so there kids running around everywhere. i have a three year old host brother, sulemon, and two older host siblings that aren't around much. there are five or six kids that are under five years old around here, so it's always a good time. i have running water and electricity, but there is just a "squatter" for the toilet, and there's no hot water (although it's so hot here, i never want to take anything but cold showers). my family does not have a kitchen table, we just sit on the floor and eat our meals. usually the food is just served on one large platter, and you just eat what you want (this is without silverware, of course). i can tell that my family is not as accommodating to my food preferences, so i'm sucking it up and eating ugali (which we have at least once a day, if not more). we have fish almost every single day, but i guess that's too be expected considering where i live. there are bugs everywhere-- the flies are especially bad, and ants are crawling around everywhere.

the hospital is about what i expected, given the fact that kenya is a developing country. it was probably a beautiful facility when it was build 40+ years ago (just my guess) but there have obviously been no improvements since then, and the medical facilities are not up to date. some things i've noticed are how limited many of the supplies are, and how old everything looks, as nothing has been changed since it was built.

there are no scheduled doctors appointments; patients just show up if they need treatment. they all must buy a small notebook, where the doctors write all their notes. this, of course, would be done on a computer in the united states. all the services must be paid up-front, and prices vary by what service is being done.


this past week, i was just in outpatient services at the hospital, which was extremely boring. not many patients that come in have that severe of illnesses, and just need to be prescribed drugs or have a small test done (malaria testing, for example, is about half of the cases). the language barrier has been especially hard to deal with, as the doctor/patient conversation is spoken in swahili, and if the doctor is feeling nice, he might explain it to me in englishmsid staff reassured me that the past six students that have came here have absolutely loved the hospital and have been able to do so much, as i am going to stick with it. next week i'm moving to the pediatric ward, so hopefully i'll be able to see more and participate more.

so far, the internship phase of the program has been disappointing, but i hope it will get better. i'm realizing how quickly the semester is going to fly by, as i only have five weeks left here, and one week in nairobi before i go home. life here can be difficult at times, but that will make coming home that much more enjoyable, and i know i'm going to look back on this experience and have lifelong memories.

the beach that is a two minute walk from my house. it doesn't look that great, but it was at low tide, so that's why it's so weedy, and not as sandy.

saying goodbye to nairobi

hello friends!

well today marks the halfway point of my program, but more exciting than that, the last day of classes for the rest of the semester! i just had to take my final exam for swahili, which i studied about two hours for. i'm not sure how i'm ever going to go back to "real" college and actual studying next semester...

anyway, this past week and a half has been pretty low-key and uneventful, so i'll just fill you in on some of the highlights.

-- since my phone got stolen the weekend i went to uganda, i had to buy a new one.. (there's 20 dollars down the drain..) i went to nakumatt (kenyan equivalent to super walmart). i bought a phone, then had to go to a different shop to buy a new SIM card (all phones are pre-paid and you can put in different SIM cards for different cellular providers). after standing in line for 15 minutes, they said i had to go back to where i bought my phone from to buy the SIM card. what a hassle. so i went back and buy the SIM card and airtime. i got home, loaded airtime on my phone, and shut my phone off, only to realize i didn't have the PIN number to unlock my phone. so the next day i had to go back to nakumatt. luckily they remembered me, and gave me the PIN number. they made it very clear to me that it was MY FAULT for forgetting the PIN number, not theirs, even though that is THEIR job. oh kenyans....

-- field trip! last wednesday (october 12) my public health track class took a field trip to KEMRI-- kenya medical research institute. it was pretty boring, as i didn't really understand what kind of research they were doing-- something with malaria. the institute seemed to be largely funded by a university in japan, which i found interesting. we also went into another research institute where they do testing on the nutritional value of foods from across kenya. we all received three or four job offers in a period of 3 hours, so if i'm ever in need of a job, i guess i know where i can look...

--chinese! although this is not exciting at all, last thursday a few of us went to a chinese restaurant for lunch. sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, and a chocolate milkshake. one thing i've notice in kenya is that there isn't a ton of restaurants serving specific ethnic dishes (italian, mexican, etc.) but chinese food is quite prevalent. i'm not exactly sure what the reasoning behind this is, but the chinese are starting to become a much larger presence in kenya. unlike the united states and many other european countries, the chinese are practically handing over money and working on large infrastructure projects, no strings attached, and they are not asking to be repaid. according to my country analysis teacher, "kenyans love the chinese."

--blackouts. the rainy season is now upon us, and this means more power outages. i've become accustomed to not having power, although i never like having to break out my flashlight at 7:00 at night to see. my host dad told me that there is only one power company in nairobi, so there is no competition. the power company stopped paying overtime to its employees, so if the power goes off after working hours, it just stays off until the next morning, because none of the workers are willing to work at night without additional pay.

--kuona trust. on tuesday a few of us went to kuona trust, which is an art center where artists can rent out studios, and the public can go in, see the work in their studio, interact with the artists, etc. i'm not much of an art person and don't have a ton of appreciation for any of it, but it was still neat to see a lot of the work.

--after seeing kuona trust, we went to toi market, which is a market located on the edge of kibera (one of the largest slums in the world). i think this has become my favorite place in nairobi. they have so much stuff-- everything you can think of-- shirts, pants, skirts, backpacks, socks, scarves, dresses, pirated movies-- all at ridiculous prices. i ended up buying 3 skirts, each for 100 shillings (less than $1) and a shirt for 30 shillings (30 cents). most of the clothing is in huge mounds and you really have to dig to find good stuff, which makes it a fun experience. i also bought 5 books to take with me to read in msambweni-- i know i'll have a lot of extra free time since i'm done with all my term papers.

-- on sunday, the kenyan government officially declared war on al shabaab, the militant group that controls somalia, as they are blamed for the many kidnappings in lamu, and the government feels they are threatening kenya's tourism industry. i don't really know much about this, but the msid coordinators have assured us the coast is still safe. more information at this link:
 http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenyan+troops+off+to+war/-/1056/1256044/-/jxj2dg/-/index.html


i leave on sunday at 9:00 in the morning to head to mombasa, an eight hour bus ride from nairobi. monday morning i will head to msambweni, another 1 1/2 hours south of mombasa, where i will be staying the next 6 weeks. more about this once i move..

it has been an amazing 7 weeks in nairobi, but i'm ready to leave. i've had enough of the smog, the black exhaust coming out of all the vehicles, and all the garbage. it was interesting to be in a large city to see the contrast between the modern areas and the slums, but i'm looking forward to being in a more rural setting, away from all the other msid students, as i think my understanding and appreciation for kenya will grow immensely.

my next post will be from msambweni. see picture below. it's okay to be jealous. ;)

uganda

this past weekend (october 6-9) a group of six msid students traveled to uganda. it was by far the best weekend i have had while in africa, full of new experiences and exciting adventures.

 

thursday after school, i packed my bags and prepared to leave. we decided to take the overnight bus from nairobi to kampala, uganda, the capital of that country. it is about a 13 hour bus ride. at 5:30, 4 of us met at school to take a bus to downtown nairobi. when we got downtown, we had to wait for the other 2 students to arrive. while waiting, we walked around the block, as businesses do not appreciate loitering. i had my cell phone in the outside zipped, mesh pocket of my suitcase. bad idea.

 

once all of us were together, we headed to the bus station, about a ten minute walk. one of the guys said something about the pocket being open. i checked the pocket, and my cell phone was gone. somebody had stolen it while we were walking around the block. in hindsight, i realize is should have been more careful about not having it so visible, but i thought it'd be safe since the pocket was zipped and we were always walking around. i guess that's why they call it nairobbery...

 

once we got to the bus station, we had to buy tickets, $23. it was around 6:30, and the bus wasn't scheduled to board until 8:00 and leave at 8:30. we decided to try to find a place to eat, as we knew we wouldn't have a chance to eat for awhile. we found a restaurant about a block away, and judging by the menu, it looked like a good place to eat. well when we started ordering, the waiter would often reply "sorry, we don't have that."

 

"do you have fruit salad?"
"no."
"how about pancakes?"
"pancakes? no."
"WHAT DO YOU HAVE?!?"

 

after this went on for awhile, we finally all ended up ordering something (an omelette for me-- it's always a safe bet to assume they have eggs here). we got our food, ate, and headed back to the bus station around 8:00. we waited outside... 8:15, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00... still no bus. this is what you call "kenyan time". the bus FINALLY arrived at 10:30, and by the time the pushing and shoving ceased, we got on the bus and it left right around 11:00.

 

we drove through the night. it was a bumpy, noisy ride, filled with limited amounts of sleep. the roads are very bad. around 7:00 friday morning, we made it to the kenya-uganda border, an interesting experience on its own.

 

everyone is required to get of the bus and walk across. we had to have our passports stamped to exit kenya, then walk about a half mile to get to uganda's immigration office to have our bags checked and buy our visas. we never had any idea where we were going, and there were no signs at all. we finally made it across and we were back on the road after 9:00.

 

we made it to kampala around 1:00, three hours past schedule. we met a pair of british men that were going to kampala for a business meeting. they had thought that the bus was going to arrive at 7:00 in the morning, and their flight back home left the following day, so they were going to have to make the 14 hour bus ride back to nairobi again that night. rough.

 

we found boda-bodas (what the piki-piki motorbikes are called in uganda) and they took us to red chillies, the hostel we stayed at for the night. we took amazing hot showers-- the first time i've actually been able to adjust the temperature of the shower since i've been in africa. afterwards, we took a matatu to downtown kampala, just to see what it was like. kampala has a population of about one million people, compared to nairobi's four million, so it's a much smaller city. there are not as many high rise buildings, and it seemed to cleaner and much less of an informal sector than in nairobi. we ate supper at a chinese restaurant, and walked around a bit more.

kampala, uganda

 

 

one of the girls has a friend in uganda, and she suggested we go to a cultural sing/dance performance at the ndere center, which was on the outskirts of town. traffic was awful and we knew the fastest way to get there would be by boda-bodas. it was CRAZY. we were weaving through traffic, getting way to close to other cars, driving down the middle of the road, and driving on sidewalks.

 

  boda bodas everywhere!

the performance was actually really cool, except for the fact that we felt like it was a VIP performance and we were uninvited guests. the show was supposed to start at 7:00, and there was no one else there until about 8:30, when 20-30 military colonels from all around africa showed up in their fancy suits, and the show finally began. we stayed until around 9:30, when we caught a cab back to red chillies.

 

 

the next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and then adrift, the rafting company, picked us up from the hostel. we had to take their bus to jinja, about 1 1/2 hours away. jinja is the source of the nile, where lake victoria flows out. (remember geography?... the nile river is the only river to flow north). we got to the rafting site, had more breakfast, put on our lifejackets and helmets, and headed out to the river. our guide showed us a few different important tips for going through the rapids, what to do if we flip, etc.

 

it was then time for our first rapids. we ended up flipping our raft, and all i remember is trying to get to the surface of the water. i ended up coming up underneath the raft, where there is a small pocket of air. we made it throught the rapids, got back on the raft, and headed down-river. there were three more rapids before our lunch stop,  and most of us fell out again on the last rapids.

 

after lunch there were four more rapids. we didn't flip, and didn't fall out, except for the last rapids, when our guide told us to jump out, so we just swam through the last rapids. how many people can say they've whitewater rafted and swam in the nile river? such an awesome experience.

 

we got to adrift camp, where we'd stay the night. the big soccer match-- kenya vs uganda was on. people are so crazy about soccer here, even more than for the super bowl. the final score of the game was 0-0, which meant that neither team would move on in the tournament. you could feel the disappoinment in the restaurant at the camp. the rest of the night we played cards and socialized, and went to bed after an exhausting day out in the sun (all of us had pretty good sunburns).

 

sunday, it was time to bungee jump. i woke up dreading the whole experience, but i knew this would be the only time i'd ever do it, so i might as well. we were weighed, signed waivers, and then it was time to jump. i was so nervous, but free-falling is one of the coolest feelings ever. the four of us all made it out alive, with plenty of pictures to prove our jumps.

 

nile high bungee

 

after everyone was done jumping, we rode boda-bodas to the city of jinja. we were dropped off at the tourist center, but of course, since it was sunday, it was closed. a man came up to us and we asked him where to get tickets, and at first he said it was "impossible and that we had to wait until monday" but he was just confused, and we had to walk across town (2-3 miles with my heavy suitcase-- i should have packed lighter) to get to the bus station. once there, we found out we had to pay in ugandan shillings, even though everyone only had kenyan shillings. two members of the group went back into town to exchange money, and then we bought our tickets.

 

 we still had about 4 hours before the bus would come, so we decided we wanted to go down by the lake. some of us hadn't eaten breakfast and it was almost 2:00, so we were starving and just wanted to find somewhere to eat. the boda-boda drivers took us to a private golf course with a restaurant, where we ate. the food took almost an hour to make, and some people ordered chips marsala, which was apparently a bad life choice, as they described it as "eating fire". good thing i stuck with an omelette again..

 

the bus was supposed to arrive in jinja at 4:30, but it didn't come until 5:45, but we expected this after the bus ride to uganda anyway. we loaded up, and it was a good ride back to nairobi. the border crossing went much smoother, and we made it back in nairobi around 6:00, then got a taxi home, and then had to go to class at 8:00. needless to say, it was a long day at school. i told my swahili teacher i was in class physically, but not mentally. good thing we ended class early.

 

the nile sunset

 

field trips, birthday, and term papers

another week has passed, and i have officially been here for over a month. i've been here for five weeks, which means i'm 1/3 of the way through the semester. it's crazy how fast time is flying by.

on monday, we went on a field trip for my country analysis. i can honestly say that it was the most pointless field trip i have ever been on. we went to ngong, where i went a couple of weekends ago. we stopped at an agricultural teaching center, where farmers from the nairobi area come to learn how to better manage their crops and animals. pretty much all we did was see cows, rabbits, chickens, and a goat. then we went to the top of one of the hills (we rode the bus this time instead of hiking) and saw some wind turbines. wooo. then we came back to nairobi and the field trip was over.

wednesday was my 20th birthday. i'm not much of a birthday celebrator, and wasn't expecting this one to be any different. a few girls on the program got me flowers, and the msid staff got me a cake, which i shared during tea break. after class, i went to creamy inn for ice cream. the night before, i reminded my host parents that it was my birthday, and they kind of forgot, but said they'd plan something and i was not to worry. so that night i was expecting to go out to eat, being prepared a special meal, or doing something to celebrate. well, my host father and brother came into my room, sang happy birthday to me, gave me a chocolate bar, and walked out. that was the extent of my birthday celebration.

thursday we had another field trip, this time for my development class. we boarded the bus and got a tour of nairobi-- seeing the industrial portion of nairobi, a major informal sector where they make many things out of recycled materials, and then an upper-class area, where many of the country ambassadors live. it was nice to see a different part of nairobi, as i usually stay in about a 2 mile radius of school.

tin shack

garbage disposal is a huge problem in nairobi

nairobi skyline

tin shacks many people in nairobi have to call "home"

friday night, i celebrated my birthday "msid style" at smart village, an ethiopian restaurant. i was nervous that no one would show up, but people did, and it was a lot of fun.