Coming Home

Hi All,
I'm getting ready to come home. I began packing this morning although I don't leave until Monday. Tomorrow is a busy day, we are having a kids fun day for the children of the WEEP ladies. We are taking 150 people to the Giraffe Center. It will be a zoo! And after church on Sunday we are going to a mall, we will have a display to raise awareness for HEART's Freedom for Girls program.
Packing is going well, I have considerably more room in my suitcase. I'm leaving a lot of my skirts here in Kenya and I ate most of my protein bars (I don't want to eat another Cliff bar for a really, really long time).
I will miss many of the HEART staff members and I've also become close with my fellow interns. We have lived and worked together for the last two months, it will be strange to not see them everyday.
I will also miss Kenya. Random things like the smell of burning trash, or oddly named businesses. (Butcheries have the strangest names, some of my favorites include: "Fresh and Fleshly Butchery", "Welcome Hotel, Butchery, and Cafe", and "Answered Prayer Butchery"). I will also miss the rhythm of being on the Equator. The sun rises and sets at roughly the same time everyday, there is a calm in that. I imagine I will also have difficulty in adjusting to American time. Kenyan time runs about an hour behind schedule. For example we told the WEEP women to get to the Giraffe Center at 8:30 so we can count on most of them being there by 10:30.
I might make a post about the kids fun day at the giraffe center or tabling at Westgate Mall depending on whether I have time. Otherwise I wish you all the best.
Love,
Margaret

Safari

I just got back from safari, it was beautiful! The landscape itself was breathtaking. A vast expanse of land untouched by man. Mountains in the distance, and miles and miles of scrub brush alternating with stretches of brown grass. We saw the sunrise and the sunsets every day on our game drives.
We saw a fair number of animals: a leopard, two lions, tons of zebras, elephants, dik diks, baboons, giraffes, impalas, birds, warthogs, water bucks, and spring bucks. Eventually we saw so many zebras, giraffes, elephants, and baboons that we didn't even pause to take pictures when we came across them.
On our second drive we encountered somewhere around 100 elephants. William, our driver, joked that we arrived at the elephant conference. The road ran right through their 'gathering'. Ultimately we turned around, we didn't want to risk driving through their herd. Elephants can be dangerous, especially when they have their young with them. Our giant green vehicle would be no match for an angry elephant.
Our best sighting was a leopard though. Not only did we see a leopard but he was less than three feet away! He was just hanging out by the side of the road, and he hung around long enough for us to get some pictures. On our last drive we saw two lions, although they were fairly far away. Luckily they stood up, because it would have been impossible to spot them if they had been lying in the grass.
On one of the game drives we hired a guide. He was a wealth of information, we learned what the various groups of animals are all called. A coalition of baboons, a pride of lions, a sounder of warthogs, a raft of rhinos, a journey of giraffes, a clan of hyenas, a school of hippos, a harem of impalas, and a herd of zebras. My personal favorite is the coalition of baboons, they aren't strong enough to form a single party government; they require a coalition! (parliamentary politics joke). We also learned about various animals.
The dik diks might be my favorite (the picture of the dik dik is the little rabbit like thing in the road). They are tiny little creatures, about twice the size of squirrels. They bound along, nibbling on grass and seeds. The dik diks are endearing, aside from the fact that they are incredibly cute, they mate for life. If its mate dies a dik dik becomes despondent and dies shortly thereafter. This is in sharp contrast to the impala. Impalas travel in one of two groups, either harems or bachelor herds; and that is exactly what they are. Either groups of single males or one buck surrounded by a harem of females. Young males from the bachelor herds occasionally challenge the buck from the harem to unseat him as the head of the herd. Once a buck is unseated as the head of the harem he does not go back to the bachelor herd, he is forced to live a solitary life (and once he doesn't have a herd it is a short life, he is easy prey).
Seeing impalas, of course, reminded us of the song "Wanna be a Balla". We rapped "Wanna be a balla, shot calla/ 20 inch rims on the impala" as we bounced along the dusty roads. It was fantastic, and let me tell you, we can rap!
Today I am going to Kibera for the last time, I am sad to say goodbye but I am looking forward to coming home. I'll post any interesting tidbits from my time in Kibera.
Best,
Margaret

Graduation

On the twenty first twelve of the WEEP women graduated. WEEP (Women's Equality Empowerment Project) is designed to empower HIV positive women to support themselves and their families. It is an orphan prevention program.
HEART has several WEEP centers throughout Kenya, most of them are in and around Nairobi and there is one in Mombasa. The women come to work at the centers during the day, they do not live there. When they first come to the center HEART helps them get on their feet, they pay their back rent, feed them, and pay their children's school fees. Soon after wards the women learn to sew. Some centers specialize in sewing mosquito nets, others in school uniforms. Eventually the women support themselves through the income they earn from the pieces they sew. HEART buys the uniforms for its Kids for School Program and a donor from Massachusetts buys the nets to donate throughout Africa (to help prevent malaria).
The graduation was a major event for the women. They were so proud. Most of them have never had a graduation or a ceremony of any kind in their honor. And it was a proper graduation ceremony. We put up big white tents on the lawn, the women received diplomas with seals, and the head of USAID in Kenya gave a speech. (US AID, through PETFAR funds a large chunk of the WEEP program).
I missed most of the speeches, I looked after the children. It was really important for the children to be there, to see their moms as successful, important, and healthy women. Although the children did not sit through all of the speeches, they saw their mother's process in and receive their diplomas. We had a bouncy castle, games, and snacks for the children. The local rotor actors came to help with the children. I love the rotor actors! It was wonderful to hang out with a group of Kenyans who are my age and in my stage of life. And we could not have managed the children without them. They knew all the best Kenyan games, we played tribal chanting games, football (soccer), jump rope, and of course, we bounced.
The graduation is a significant transition for the women. They have to either find jobs or start their own businesses to support themselves, they can no longer count on income from the center.
Every woman intends to start her own business, jobs are very difficult to find. In order to help them start their new lives HEART is providing each women with capital to start a business. I helped some of the women put together business plans for their new ventures, I hope they work out. There is always a danger that the woman will just spend the money, especially since HEART is giving the money in the form of a gift rather than a loan. It is always difficult to instill a measure of financial savvy especially if someone has lived hand to mouth their whole lives. When they have money they spend it, when they don't, they don't. It is difficult to impress upon them the idea of investing. (Although a handful of the women are natural businesswomen and have already started investing the income they earned through the WEEP program). We take for granted the basic life skills that we learn from our parents, if you don't observe certain practices as a child it is hard to learn them as an adult.
Overall the graduation was a success. The ceremony went well and the women are well launched into their new lives. Of course there is risk that their new ventures won't work out, but they are healthy and inspiring women. They are survivors.
I just got back from safari, I'll post pictures tomorrow.
Best,
Margaret

This is another video from Oldonyonyokie. It is a traditional dance, typically performed by youths. I love the sound of their voices, it reminds me a little of a sea shanty. It certainly isn't melodic.

Oldoyonyokie Dance

This is from my trip to Oldonyonyokie. The dance is mostly a traditional Massai dance although they added a few contemporary aspects. I loved the singing and dancing! The video captured some of their spirit, I hope you enjoy it. Unfortunately they did not wear their traditional clothing, or jump (the Massai are famous for jumping).
Today is the WEEP graduation, I'll post photos.
Best,
Margaret

Expanded Vocbulary

Even my vocabulary has expanded over the course of this trip. Aside from the limited Swahili I have learned, my English vocabulary has changed. I find myself talking about stati. As in, "when did you learn your status" or "what is your status?". Status refers to HIV, whether someone is negative or positive. I have also talked more about 'sanitary towels' and 'monthly cycles' than I ever care to again. It is strange to casually remark over dinner that we just got another donation of 230 packets of sanitary towels. We discuss feminine hygiene products like you would the weather! I have also never talked so much about abandonment, rape, and hunger as I have on this trip. It is amazing how commonplace these phenomena are. Everywhere you turn there is another orphanage, overflowing with children who barely have enough to eat and who might or might not have the opportunity to go to school. I also think about water differently. Many places we have gone deal with constant water shortages, most parts of Kenya face perpetual droughts. In Oldonyonyokie we didn't even carry our water bottles around with us, we had to go to the car to drink, to carry around that much water would be garish.
Tomorrow is another office day, we are finalizing plans for the WEEP graduation and I will finish the business plans (huzzah!). I will keep you posted,
Margaret

Photos and Random Thoughts

Here are some random photos from my trip. All of these photos are actually all from my trip to Taita. The first picture is me with "the jean man" (his actual name is Issiah) . He wore jean from head to toe! I really enjoyed hanging out with him, he was so calm and sweet. At one point he walked up to me and gestured for me to pick him up. This is fairly rare; most of the time young children are afraid of muzungus (white people). This is especially true of children from rural areas, they rarely, if ever, interact with white people. Children will dash up to you and touch you but they usually don't want prolonged physical contact. The last picture shows children from an orphanage dancing to the bananas song. At the time I didn't think they liked the Bananas song too much, but looking at the photos I can tell they really enjoyed it. Apparently I was too into the song to really pay attention to their expressions! When you really 'go bananas' it is difficult to notice what is going on around you. The middle picture is mist surrounding the hills of Taita, it reminded me of the mist that comes out of the canyon at home.
Best,
Margaret