Alright, so its been a while. I realize this and I'd like to extend my most sincere apologies for keeping all of you wondering what I'm doing. Let me start by saying, not much has changed. Although, ...the new supermarket in Machakos claims to have gotten Wi-Fi so that's now on my list of things to check out in the near future. I had big plans to go terrorize the new group of trainees when they came to Machakos for their HIV/AIDS workshop but alas, Peace Corps has ruined my plans and moved the workshop to somewhere near Voi (which is in Coast Province).
I'm willing to risk my street cred and officially announce I have discovered I do in fact have a small amount of maternal instinct somewhere in my body. Maybe its the fact I have become entirely too attached to the cat I got back at the start of the year or maybe its because I live with seven children but either way I found myself incredibly depressed when I thought Gus Gus, my cat, was dying about a month ago and also began crying when I saw that Lucky, my little buddy, had the mumps. Both instances turned out to be quite minor and unnecessary of my erratic emotions but my mom was exceptionally happy to discover I may give her grandchildren sometime in the distant, very distant, future. In my defense to Lucky getting the mumps though, I had no idea what was wrong with her. All I knew was her cheeks were HUGE and that was definitely not normal. And due to the fact we are vaccinated for it, I was under the impression it was actually serious and not just a viral infection of the salivary glands that will eventually go away on its own. America confuses me more than Kenya sometimes. Why are we vaccinated for something as minor as the chicken pox? You get it, you suffer through a couple days, and then you have immunity from getting it again for the rest of your life.
On a completely unrelated note, we had some other Americans (and two New Zealanders) in the area about two weeks ago now. They were all missionaries from an organization called World Servants. My supervisor had been arranging for them to come here and do some work since before I ever arrived last year. There was 18 of them and only 2 of them were male. Which was incredibly shocking to the people in my village when they saw not only Americans but American women doing manual labor. I'll admit I was terrified for them to come here. My social skills and ability to speak proper English are far below normal after living in a Kenyan village for almost a year. Not that they were that impressive to begin with but if you can believe it, they've gotten worse. Luckily, they were all incredibly friendly and very surprised to see another American that didn't belong to their group. Although, I did kind of latch on to the women and tended to avoid the younger girls because I have no idea what we would talk about. I mean, I look like a frumpy hillbilly who watches movies and listens to music from about 2 years ago. Honestly, I had no idea what I would talk about with the younger crowd. I kind of regret that though because about 4 of them were from IL which is more than I can say for Peace Corps volunteers.
The 21st of this month will mark my completion of one year of service. Although I don't have much to show for it, I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm working on getting some stuff done though. I'm finally not so concerned about stepping on peoples toes and willing to be a bit more forward with a few people in the community who have become a kind of road block. In celebration of competing a year of service, I think I'll finally work on getting some furniture in my house. I know that when my dad and aunt come to visit in October they would probably appreciate having somewhere to sleep besides a couch or sharing a bed with me. Andrea tells me I live like a bachelor. I agree with this but also blame it on the fact that I lived in three furnished apartments before Peace Corps service so not only do I have no knowledge of buying furniture in America, doing that in Kenya is quite intimidating. So I'll work on that next month.
Recently I've been contemplating the different varieties of weaves I can get next. There's a lady in my village that runs a salon and every time I walk by she asks when I'm going to let her braid my hair. Give me another week and I'll probably just go in and let her do what she wants. I'm itching for some cornrows “just like Sean Paul” which is what Andrea said when I told her. And speaking of salons, Andrea and I have considered opening our own Muzungu (Westerner) salon. Perhaps a traveling one. But this is just a far-fetched dream created by two girls who have entirely too much time on there hands. Which is also how we discovered you can see the ridiculously bright flashlight at her house from my house all the way across the river. Now this proves two things: 1.) Andrea's “mama” is right as she continually proclaims “it's like stima (electricity)” and shines this 50-some LED flashlight the size of brick in your face and 2.) The lack of light pollution in the village allows for endless hours of entertainment.
Oh, finally, it's winter time here now. And I think I've officially adjusted to the climate because I'm freezing cold for the first hour or so after I wake up in the morning. And winter means its around 70 something everyday and a couple days of the week its pretty overcast but remember, I live in a desert and I have a 12-inch gap between my wall and roof so when it's 50 some degrees at night...it's 50 some degrees in my house and that's cold for me now. Unfortunately, the last rainy season came and went without hardly a drop of rain so almost everyones maize crops failed and the price to buy maize from the shop is steadily climbing. Even worse, I know that people are struggling to feed their families and there's nothing I can do. I keep hearing about relief food going to the Coast, where they're still getting rain, or going other places but I have yet to hear of any coming to my area of lower Eastern. While its incredibly sad and difficult to know this is going on all around me I will say its amazing how it really doesn't change the day-to-day life of the people I see every day. Their strength and ability to persevere during difficult times is amazing.
One last thing, if you didn't see my last blog post, facebook statues, or article in the Ogle County Life, you should check out this awesome library project I'm working on with two other volunteers, Clare and Megan. Once all the money is raised we'll be getting an enormous shipment of textbooks, novels, and even some desktop computers that will end up benefiting around 5,000+ students and community members, not to mention the countless numbers of people it will benefit in the future. It's through a US-based organization called Books for Africa and our project is title Kenya Read Me A Story? Even if you yourself can't donate anything, you can still help by passing the word along to someone that you know who might be able to. Whether it be your friend, parent, employer, it doesn't matter. Any donation, large or small, will ultimately help to get the container here. And it's tax deductible!
Alright, I'm off like a prom dress. Gonna go get some cuddle time in with my feline companion before the children get home from school and start circling my house demanding for a variety of items. Thanks for reading.
