Over the river and through the Kenyan bush...

This week turned out to be relatively uneventful when comparing it to the two previous weeks but nonetheless, it was an adventure. I began my week by visiting the eighth and final group that is affiliated with my CBO. Not all of them were able to attend but those that did were, as usual, incredibly welcoming. They gave me multiple cups of tea and a delicious lunch as well. Everyone is still trying with all their might to make me increase (gain weight) but I keep telling them I physically cannot eat the amount of food they put in front of me. They always laugh at my inability to eat monstrous servings and then hand me another plate to dish up the amount I want. Tuesday I attended a meeting at my CBO with all of the members of the project implementation committee (PIC). At this meeting I sat and listened while everyone else discussed the progress we have made as an organization, how much money we have left from our donor, and what we plan to do with this money over the next couple months. They ever-so-kindly held the meeting in English, even though it was difficult for some of them, solely so I would know what was going on.

Wednesday turned out a little differently than I expected but karibu (welcome to) Kenya. There wasn't anything in the work plan for me that day, so I headed to the office with my laptop and a stack of Peace Corps manuals to try and lay out an outline of my Community Needs Assessment (CNA) that is due during IST (disclaimer: in case you haven't noticed, Peace Corps loves acronyms). My supervisor and the project manager were in the office so I chatted with them for a bit,shortly thereafter my supervisor left, and then I got to work. Around noon, my supervisor returned and the first thing she said to me was, "Mutheu, can we go?" So, without any knowledge of where we were going, I said sure and we went. I found out we were going to attend a women's baraza about 10km (about 6 miles) down the road that was being thrown by the Africa Brotherhood Church (ABC). A baraza is basically just a term for a gathering where a specific topic is often discussed or brought to attention. For example, some of the other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) attended a baraza when they got to their sites in order to help them meet the people of the community (i.e. chief, district officer, etc.). This women's baraza was being held to not only raise money for the different ABC churches located in the surrounding communities but also to provide HIV/AIDS awareness. Now, I was expecting a large turnout because I know that there are many ABC churches in the area but I wasn't quite prepared for the 300+ women and girls of all ages that were in attendance. It's quite surprising how quickly word travels that there was a white person there because within twenty or so minutes of my arrival, every other person was turning around to look at me. We stayed until about 4pm and then got back on the matatu to head home.



Thursday was a perfect example of how most meetings go in Kenya. I don't believe I've explained the concept of "Kenyan time" but it's definitely something that's going to take some getting used to. Americans function on monochronic time. For example, if a meeting starts at 8am, you better get there by 8am because it's going to start then. Kenyans function on polychronic time. Here, if a meeting starts at 8am, that gives you about a two to three hour window to finish your household chores and then begin your often hour-long walk to the site of the meeting so you arrive somewhere around 11am. So Thursday, the meeting was scheduled to begin at 9am at my counterparts house. Two members from each of the eight groups (so sixteen people), my supervisor, my CBO's project manager, and the officer for the Ministry of Agriculture were supposed to attend so everyone could learn how to set up and care for the greenhouse that is being built as one of my CBO's projects. My counterpart and I waited until 10am til the first person showed up, then at 11am two more people, 11:30 one more, then my supervisor and the Agriculture officer, then the project manager and around 12:30, we began the meeting. I learned all about how deep to dig the beds, how many liters of water the plants will take at different stages of growth, etc. and then I headed home around 4. The greenhouse is going to be growing tomatoes as it's first crop (they learned about the importance of crop rotation too so in a couple years they will grow something different). By building the greenhouse, not only will the groups be able to grow tomatoes year around and in abundance but it will also allow for a large amount of income to be generated for the group members. This coming Tuesday the frame is scheduled to be covered in a UV-treated, plastic "tarp" and soon after the tomato seedlings will be transplanted into the greenhouse and growing will commence. I am very excited to see the turn-out and to have so many fresh tomatoes at my fingertips!

Finally, the weekend arrived. Friday I hopped on the matatu around 9am and went to a town called Masii (Ma-see) to meet with Andrea (one of the other PCVs near me) so we could pick up our bicycles. The man from an organization called World Bicycle Relief was supposed to meet us there around 12:30pm to deliver the bikes we had ordered and then Andrea and I were planning on putting them on a matatu and then heading home. Once the "bike guy" got to Masii he overheard Andrea and I discussing our plans to put them on matatus and he informed us he thought this was a home delivery and he didn't realize we were going to have to put them on the bus to get them home. We explained our logic in having him meet us in Masii (i.e. it's along a paved road, Andrea and I live on opposite sides of a river, etc.) but he still kept saying he was under the impression he was doing a "home delivery." So, picking up on his concern for our well-being, we proceeded to ask him if he could give us and our bikes a ride to Tawa and then we would just ride the 7km (4.3 miles) back to my site from there. He kindly agreed to do this for us and gave us a ride in his nice, new, Ford truck (yes, it was a Ford and I was just as shocked as all of you are and quickly complimented him on it) to Tawa. On the ride back to my site, Andrea and I served as top-notch entertainment for every Kenyan along the way. In Kenya, people don't learn how to ride bikes at a young age because the bikes that are available here are more often than not too tall of a frame for most adults to ride, especially women. And as if two white, American girls don't attract enough attention in Kenya, throw them on bicycles and you should've see how many children and adults flocked to the side of the road and/or out of their shops to watch us ride by.

Unfortunately, Andrea and I didn't exactly think through how she was going to get home once we got to my site. By the time we got back it was close to 3:30pm so we just accepted that we were going to have a sleepover that night. What we weren't expecting was my "family" to practically kidnap her until Sunday after church. Since neither of us knew how to get her home by foot or bicycle, we were kind of trapped in my village for all of Saturday. Luckily, we were able to make the most of our time and I took her on a tour of my village, we bought some fresh vegetables and made a delicious feast when we returned home, and then relaxed and watched a movie on my computer. Today after church (and lunch) my counterpart finally decided to show us the way to Andrea's house and we all three set off on our bikes. Now, I haven't rode a bike in quite some time but let me just say, riding one on the dirt/sand roads here in Kenya isn't exactly the best way to get your sea legs back. On top of that, we had to cross the Thwake "river" which right now is practically dry so we can just walk across it but there is water within digging distance below the sand so it's a bit of a struggle to walk and push a bike through. On the bright side, Andrea and I discovered we are actually quite close to each other. We are about 3km, or a 30-minute bike ride, away from each other and now that we know the way we will be able to visit one another much more often. But as this blog post's title states, it is over a river and through the bush but again, karibu Kenya.
 
Side note, I tried to upload pictures but it didn't work out very well (as you can see) but in next post I will try harder.