I'm Back!

It has been almost a year since I updated my blog. Was I THAT busy? Ha prob not. Or did I run out of things to say about my adventures? Nope, not really the case either.  I can honestly say that I have more stories than I remember and I know I will be kicking myself in years to come for not blogging/journaling as much as I should have during my time here.

With that being said my time is quickly coming to an end. With my COS (close of service) conference just around the corner I think it’s about time to reflect on what I have done or have failed to do during my time here…

One thing I can proudly say I have done is integrated myself in my community. I know most of the people in my tiny little village and they know me by name (not just ‘mzungu’). Although it is not really necessary (b/c most people refuse to speak anything but English to me) I can greet them in their mother tongue and I can communicate my basic needs/wants in KiSwahili. I often tell people I can understand much more than I speak, but either is quite an accomplishment when I spend most of my time using Kenyan Sign Language. I’ve come to the conclusion that I could stay here another 20 years and get the same ol’ stares but I def feel as if I’m more a member of my community than I was Dec 2011.

I am NOT the best at cooking African dishes. While I can light a jiko as quickly as some of the Kenyan mamas here, I have never cooked Ugali in my house and  my chapati isn’t the tastiest on the block. I’ve spent most of my two years eating rice/pasta dishes and if I’m feeling extremely lazy I make veggie soup J.  This is most I’ve cooked in my life.

I am a much better teacher than when I started. I know I know this is a given, people usually improve at any job with time and experience. I mean I did a little teaching before I left so I don’t think I needed much more experience with that. However, I do think I needed to learn more KSL as well as more about the culture of education here before I was able to become an effective teacher. I sometimes look back on my first few months of teaching (where I had the enthusiasm but lacked many of the skills) and I laugh because I know it was such a shock to the kids.  I’m silly…I enjoy laughing and dancing and talking to the students. I don’t want to just teach but also discuss. This is not a very common thing here and it took me a while to understand that. The students must have thought I was crazy with my very different teaching styles, but they learned to accept it and enjoy it and I can say I have seen some much needed improvements in some of their learning.

As much as I would like to consider myself integrated, I have failed at not looking like an American. When I go to the supermarket in town and people come up to me and say ‘Are you American? You look American.’ Hmm…Is it my trousers that I refuse to give up although most women wear skirts. I mean there’s just a get it done mentality that trousers give you that you can never have walking around with a skirt. Or is it my dreads that would never be seen on a woman in the village. While in the smaller towns If I’m not being called mzungu it’s ‘Rasta’ ha can’t just be Kia and I guess it’s safe to safe that I will never be truly Kenyan at least not in the village/smaller towns.

I have developed a voice I didn’t know I had before. There are many times in the staffroom that I find myself debating with the male teachers about human rights, women rights and children rights. I don’t really like labels. I never considered myself a feminist/ an activist/ or any other ‘ist’  but when people speak so negatively about a certain group or they are overtly oppressive because they feel they are superior…well it’s hard to keep quiet. I say my piece. I hear time and time again about how Kenya wants to be like America and I let them know that this may not be possible at least not at the pace that they would like if they don’t begin to acknowledge women as equal and capable individuals or if they don’t start putting actual effort in educating their future. I find that I don’t get as angry about these debates anymore, it’s their culture that they are deeply rooted in and unwilling to change at least in this area so what can I do? This voice also carries over to the market or matatus when people try to cheat me because of my accent. I am quick to stand up for myself and argue over a few shillings. When I first arrived I was like oh maybe they really need the money or it’s ok I have the money to give. Well guess what? I don’t think this anymore. After living as a volunteer for 2 years every shilling/penny/cent counts and I will not give anyone more just b/c I am from a country where everyone is supposedly rich. With all this said I do know when to shut up haha. I mean there are sometimes where things may be so far out of my control or it’s prob just safer to keep quiet.

I think that’s enough reflection for now. My goal is to blog every couple of weeks  until I go home, on things past and present but really  with my  blogging history who knows how that will go? Oh wait there is one last thing. I fail at keeping time haha.  I’m sure I’ve said it before but time is not very important here. A meeting that is scheduled to start at 8 may start at 11 or later and it’s no big deal. This is something that would urk me like no other but nowadays I take these extra few hours to workout, read, or play with the kids. I’ve realized that time is not as important as we think it is in the states. There is much more to life/living than rushing to a meeting  or event. It’s a lot less stressful to just go with the flow and know that the flow may take you on  some interesting adventures.

Time flies pt 2

I don't think I have as much to say(at least not about September) so hopefully I won't poop out halfway through like I did before.

August
Our second break as PC/Ed vols. Not as jammed pack with PC related activities like the first break(April), allowing us more time to relax/travel/simply have fun-I would like to think I did a little of all 3:)
The 1st week of the month was spent with my students(4) in class 8. The 3 girls of class 8 were selected to attend Camp GLOW the following week so we decided to hold them at school rather than allowing them to go home and risking the chance of them not coming back for the camp. The lone boy of class 8 was forced to stay with the girls for a majority of the week to complete more practice exams, as you can imagine he was NOT happy about that. It was fun to be with them for the week. We laughed a lot, shared many stories, watched Harry Potter, and really just tried our best to make the most out of an otherwise boring week.

I enjoyed being in a much more relaxed setting with my kids-only a few teachers remained which meant I could teach when I wanted and as much as I wanted with very little distractions and I could just soak up the time with my kids. I get all sentimental when I start thinking that in just over a month they will be taking their exams and packing up for secondary school. We will not have anymore 'prep time' laughs or funny story times when we should be studying. They will not be around next year to give me a hard time about wearing a little ribbon I got from camp around my ankle or other silly American things that make me stand out. I always thought I would make relationships with people in my community and school but I never knew just how much the thought of saying goodbye would pull on my heart. And the Crazy thing is this isn't even the end of my service, I mean at least I will still be in the same country and possibly able to see them before I leave. Next year when it's truly time to say goodbye I will be a wreck, no doubt about it. Ok enough of that talk.
After saying goodbye to our boy, the girls and I had a few more days before we were off to Kisumu for camp. During these days we watched more movies, did hair(yup I played salon with my kids and put a perm in one of my fellow teacher's hair) which if you know me you know that I know NOTHING about hair,makeup, beauty or fashion so for anyone to trust me to put chemicals in their hair has lost their mind. We also cooked together which was super fun. The girls were pretty bummed about not going home when everyone else went because staying at school meant continuing to eat the same darn thing(maize and beans "githeri" for lunch  and grind maize "ugali" with kale "sukuma wiki" for dinner) for another week while going home meant delicious food such as Chapati. So how can I make the girls happy? Make chapati at school-I know, I know I'm a genius.

 We bought the flour for the chapati along with rice to go with the makeshift stew that we made from the canned meat donated from some relief food org and left over cabbage that is usually used for teacher's lunches. It was a pretty delicious feast if I say so myself. It was just nice to give the cooking staff(one man-Steven and one woman-Dinna) a break. They work so hard, coming in at 4am to prepare porridge and staying until 6:45pm(when they are done serving supper) everyday. The hours obviously suck but the conditions makes me feel bad for them, smoky kitchen along with a crazy workload of chopping wood(I tried this for 30mins- OMG its hard!) to keep the fire going all day, washing dishes(at least 100+ plates and cups every meal), serving the food they cook and serving the teachers lunch as well as tea for chai break at 11 and 4. Truly overworked and underpaid but always a smile on their face which makes me realize I have NOTHING to complain about. I love them, honestly there are  somedays it's their friendly nature or willingness to teach the silly mzungu a lilttle kiswahili in the midst of all their work that keeps me going. Ok back to Aug...

We went to Camp GLOW(Girls Leading Our World). This camp is put together by one of the 3 groups of PC/Kenya-GAD(Gender and Development). Camp GLOW  host about 60 girls, 2 hearing groups of 20 and one Deaf group of a little less than 20 because a few didn't make it. There are 2 GLOW camps one for the eastern(in April) and one for western Kenya. Girls come from my province(Rift Valley) along with Western, Nganza(pretty sure that's spelled wrong) for the August camp. The camp runs from Sun-Sat. The days are spent in lesson about HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, rape, communication, hygiene  esteem, body,careers, etc. Most of the Deaf Ed PCVs are in primary schools so our girls were being exposed to so many new things. These topics were also pretty new to my teaching. I've have been signing for less than a year so trying to think of the best way to talk about rape or hiv transmission or preparing a timeline for your life in sign language in a rather simple way that even the younger girls can understand was not an easy task to say the least.

 It was so interesting to see their faces and listen to their questions and comments during certain topics. I took 3 girls 2 of them physically disabled to go along with their deafness. I felt like these girls were much more vulnerable than the others so Camp GLOW was a must. It was amazing to watch them grow over the week. They became more comfortable with speaking out in touchy topics, you could tell they were really learning a thing or 2.

Camp GLOW was more than just classes. For many of the girls this was their first time outside of their school/village and in Kisumu. They were meeting all new girls and for many of the hearing girls it was their 1st time being exposed to the deaf community which was a very good experience for them. During the afternoons the students had fun activities like sports day, career fairs, reusable sanitary pad making,  IGA(income generating activities) of which they learned how to make bracelets, popcorn and fruit bowls that can be sold in the village.  During the evenings we had a bonfire(I chose to do that one because it reminds me of real camp:), movie night, craft night(I learned to knit haha you would think that I was a camper at this camp), and my favorite talent show night.  The last day they got to go on a field trip. Our girls went to the deaf VCT(Voulntary Counseling and Testing) to learn about the process of HIV/AIDS testing(positive is not good and all that jazz) and then we went to the Impala Sanctuary(there were other animals there too) as a large group. As you can tell this week was jammed pack with events so it was exhausting but def fun.The best part of all of it was when we came back to school this term. I watched my girls talk to the others about Kisumu, all the things they learned, people they saw in different careers, delicious food they ate(haha I was pretty happy about this part too) and animals they saw. The smiles on their faces as they told the stories along with the big eyes of the other girls as they watched/listened-priceless.

Immediately following GLOW I went to Tanzania for a few days to see PCV and good friend Tanique Carter. It was fun to see another part of Africa. Kenya and Tanzania are bordering countries but vastly different. For starters Kenya's official language is English which means most people know it whereas Tanzania speaks very little English even in bigger cities. Let's just say I was very thankful and impressed with Tanique's language skills that got me through the week. It was also interesting to see the different landscape. In the rift valley I would say it's green 75% of the year(dry season can be a little rough) which means tons of fruits and veggies but this wasn't really the case in the area of Tanzania I was in. All in all Tanzania was great. It was great to see Tanique, sleep and eat in a fancy hotel and just be on vacation after what seemed like forever.

Following Tanazania I went to visit PCV Jenny Black for a bit at her place. I decided I didn't want to be lonely/bored so we spent the week cooking and watching movies. I was a bum. It was great. That about sums up August. School was scheduled to start on Sept 3rd but little did we know this would NOT be the case but I'll save that for the next blog because once again this is much longer than I expected. So yeah pt 3-September and October coming soon. Man I have much more to say than I thought...go figure!

Time flies when you're having fun, right?

          I can truly say that I have had some of my best times of PC life so far during August, September and October. Of course a 3 month summary will be super long so if you're short on time(silly Americans and their lack of time:) her are a few of the highlights/special events-

• I sat through a demonstration of NGOs/donations gone bad.
• I successfully ended my second term. 
• I attended camp GLOW(GIRLS LEADING OUR WORLD). So great!!!
• Managed to step out my safe little bubble and travel around Kenya to see wonderful people and amazing places, even spent a few days out the country. 
• Officially Started a secondary project
• Celebrated my one year in Kenya with my close PC buddies
• Found a family that has a 6 year old girl with autism to play/work with. So excited to be spending time with my first 'special needs' love again.
• Oh yeah and watched Kenyan teachers have a 17 day strike.Fun:/

July

     The last month of the second term (the longest term of the year) and I can honestly say part of me was crawling to the finish line. I love my kids but it was obvious that we all needed a break or at least a change of pace for a bit.We all spent of week of being sick-coughs, sniffles, diarrhea, you name it- the school had it. With at least 20 little ones, who don't usually wash their hands, running around germs spread like wildfire. Mmmm Fun.

     In other news, I spent quite a bit of the month in meetings. Meeting with the BOG chairman of the school, the livestock and agricultural officer in our area and our principal to get everyone's ideas on the secondary project. I truly believe for a project to be even slightly successful there has to be a lot of local support. I reiterated the fact that this is not my project, my intention is to begin it and it to carry on for the benefit of the school as well as the women in the community. Everyone seemed to be very excited/supportive and full of ideas so it was good to hear. We developed blueprints, budgets, list of names of widows in the area and possible donors of chickens and some of the smaller materials. The most difficult part was finding a grant donor but this soon fell into place.

      I was selected to be a counselor of Camp GLOW(details to follow) so I  went to a meeting for preparation of that as well. It was good to get out of the village(to Nairobi) and see friends that I have not seen in a while. It was also nice to meet people in the other sectors(Public health and Business) including one PCV who is only 20 mins away from me. It's so crazy one moment you think you're so isolated and then BAM there's a person who shares your culture(very comforting fact at tmes) right up the road. Being an Ed vol and only having specific times allotted for vacation/traveling means that meeting others can be a difficult task.

       Another fun event of July was the distribution of hearing aids to all my kids! About 4 months prior, a group of guys came to my school and made hearing aid impressions(molds) for all my students. They even offered me one, and as cool as it may sound I had to decline. So we waited and waited for our chance to be shipped to the big city of Nakuru to get our brand new hearing aids. The date was moved a few times but it finally came right before the end of school in July. My kids were stoked! Day out of school, bread and soda for lunch and of course everyone just knew that they  getting a shiny new toy-what more can we ask for? We arrive at Ngala School for the Deaf(a very nice Deaf school in Nakuru) where we found many other students and community members. This organization was giving aids to all deaf schools as well as deaf individuals in the community. Sounds great right? If you would have mentioned to this me a few years ago(before reading numerous articles/having discussions in grad school and of course coming to Kenya and seeing aid gone wrong time and time again) I would have thought it was the best idea ever.Times have changed.

 But I can't do this story as much justice as a fellow PCV Jenny Black so here was her spill on it...

"How to assemble a hearing child in six easy steps"
Step 1: Take a deaf child (poor african preferred) and make molds of his/her ears.
Step 2: clean the child's ears in an assembly line fashion
Step 3: Insert ear molds into ears. If done correctly, the children will now resemble a line of robots.
Step 4: Attach a suitable hearing aid onto the child. Check effectiveness by making the silliest noises possible. Provide limited supply of batteries.
Step 5: Using the most condescending manner possible, teach the children how to insert a battery. (Note. There is no need to teach any further maintenance  These hearing aids will not get dirty, or nor are they to be repaired. The whole thing will probably just get replaced next year anyway. Nor is it at all reasonable to provide training for the children's teachers. Ignore all requests in as rude a manner as possible) Provide a quick hearing test to check if the child is understanding and/ or hearing human speech. Be sure this is done in a large tent with lots of distracting sights and sounds. Any possible reaction to sound means unqualified success.
Step 6: time to triple check the hearing aid. Be sure and talk to the child, expecting them to understand you. It does not matter if they have never been exposed to sound before or your dialect of English. Now that you have Given Them The Gift Of Hearing, it is only a matter of time before they start speaking.

Congratulations! You have just Made A Difference in the life of a child."

A little(ok ok a lot) of sarcasm-you would not believe how cynical most of us have become over the last 12 months, but that's pretty how it went. Giving the gift of hearing(as this org put it) is amazing if there is a way to do it well, but you must go deeper than the surface. Swooping in with your more than 300$ (30 thousand kenyan shillings) per hearing aid solution without proper training, care, or even evaluation is just not the way to go about it. I think so many times donors/westerners have their idea of what will help people but they do not do enough research. Too many solutions, not enough questions....How will these hearing aids perform in this climate? What will happen during rainy season? How many four year olds can keep up with a year supply of batteries when they can't even keep up with their own shoes? Who is going to help this kid learn to distinguish these very new and different sounds?...The hearing/speech therapist?

I think it's fair to say that at 700$ per child this money can obviously be put to better use. My kids eat all their meals outside on the ground and they sleep in dorms made with logs and iron sheets, so yeah if you really want to change a life start somewhere that matters. About 75 of my kids got hearing aids that day(a few were rejected because they were profoundly deaf-but the ones that are completely hearing got one:). Of those 75 I would say 50 had them in the next day of class, all day long  there was constant 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' sound  (think fingernails scratching chalk board)in every classroom because the aid wasn't in their ear properly and of course the only ones suffering were the teachers. By the time they packed up and headed home, about 2 weeks later, there was not one child with a hearing aid in their ear and not one came back this term with a hearing aid. $700 x 70=$49,000 completely wasted. Def enough for a spiffy new dorm.

Jenny said it best...'This is not the way to make a difference.'

I will say that I am very thankful for my prior knowledge and the chance to experience situations such as this one to put the world in better perspective for me. I have done so many things, truly meaning well but in retrospect it prob hurt more than it helped. Life is def a learning process.


And that my friends was the month of June in a nutshell.Well I've decided not to torture you guys much more. I'm tired of typing so I know you're tired of reading, so I will post this as is. But I must say I have tons of happier things to write so stay tuned.

A Simple Walk

*Warning this blog is lonnnggg so only read if you are super bored or  just that interested in what I have to say*

It’s been a long time…too long. I can’t say that everyday has been so busy that I couldn’t sit down and write but honestly during my free time I didn’t really have the energy. Here’s a quick summary on the past few months.

April-Ed volunteers live for the days of Aug, April and Dec. April was my 1^st break and most of it didn’t feel much like a break but it was good time nonetheless. Immediately after school closed, we had sports and games- Special Olympics. This was an awesome event! I was able to see deaf, blind, physically and mentally impaired people compete in many different sports just like everyone else. My kids did pretty well- the boys placed in 1^st in athletics(running) and girls 3^rd. They placed 1^st overall and many got to go to nationals in Nairobi for a week so that was pretty awesome. 2 of my boys placed 1^st individually in Nationals, next year is for the girlsJ. I was unable to attend nationals because of IST(In Service Training) a time for all the volunteers to get together discuss the 1^st time out the nest and possible secondary projects. For most of us this was our 1^st time in the big city for months so there was lots of going out and eating good foods, partying, chatting and just having a good time. It was quite refreshing. Afterwards I went to visit my home stay family(miss those guys) then back home  to relax for a week before school started. Solid.

May-I was honestly shocked at how much it took to readjust to village life after only 2 weeks away. The fishbowl effect (people watching and staring at your every move) was really bothering me at 1^st, I forgot how conservative village life was after ‘letting loose’ and being myself for a bit. But during that adjustment time I was also waiting on my students to arrive. After the 1^st week of waiting and not teaching we had about 25 students. The start of the following week we had about 40 so we began teaching, well some of us. I didn’t do much signing in April so the 1^st bit of teaching was sort of like riding a bike for the 1^st time in a while(you know you never completely forget but at 1^st it’s a little shaky.) For whatever reason I was a bit nervous, and not so motivated but after teaching my 1^st lesson to class 8 all of that changed. I was so happy to be back with them and they were super eager to learn so all was well. The rest of May went by quickly and was quite a blur. Oh I did visit my colleague’s home in the village which included her mother’s hut, beautiful hills and valleys and wayyyyy too much chai(real I was going to the bathroom like every 30mins.)

June-also known as ‘The month from Hell’. Because I would rather focus on the positive events of my experience this summary will be pretty short but I think it’s necessary to include because I think many times people do not mention the not so good parts of their PC experience giving others(especially those prospective PCVs) a false perception. There was no one thing that made the month awful but there were family issues of which I felt like I had no control over or ability to change obviously because of the difference, school issues of which I felt unappreciated, confused and often times questioning my value here, and just personal issues of isolation and maybe a bit of homesickness setting in. It was rough but I made it. Thanks to the help of a few of my good friends, my darling family and a short but sweet weekend training for Camp GLOW- a week long  girl’s camp on sex/HIV and AIDS/Life Skills of which I will be a counselor mid Aug.

July- Only 8 days in, but things are def looking up. The 1^st week of July was simply a week of exams during school-we all know how much I love exams. But today, reminded me why I am here…today made June seem like just a little nightmare. I didn’t mention it earlier but June was also the week of my Duty week. Not sure if I mentioned it before but Duty week consist of working from 645am-9 everyday. Basically watching the kids every move and being there if/when they need something. Duty week is tough for me because as much as the students love me they don’t necessarily respect me or should I say fear? Yes, fear me as much as they do the other teachers. I am the fun teacher to the little ones I’m the one who cuddles them, the one they randomly hug as I walk by, the one that jumps rope with them in the dirt, never the one to cain(beat) or discipline them. To the older ones I’m the teacher they always come to with homework problems, I’m the one the girls talk to about personal issues, I wouldn’t even know how to beat them many of them are bigger than me.  I love my kids. In class I don’t have to beat them to get their attention I just do something remotely interesting and they are there. But out in the compound is a bit different. They know they can run wild and they do. So day two I was exhausted and knew something had to change-HELLO REWARD SYSTEM! Thanks to my lovely friends(shout out to Crystal and Sill) I have a ton of erasers(here they call them rubbersJ of which I reward for good behavior. Man let me tell you erasers can motivate children age 4-16…it’s great. So yeah they were a bit better(at least I could manage it a little easier) but by Sunday I was EXHAUSTED! I didn’t want to hear how someone kicked another someone,  or fight with those who didn’t want to patiently wait in line for a meal, I just wanted to relax. Not to mention we had the largest event probably of my 2 years here on that Friday-the inauguration of the school gate and classroom(yeah it’s as fab as it sounds).

I needed to get out, WE needed to release some energy. So I decided to take the older kids on a nature walk(wear them out a bit), and boy were they excited. My kids often spend the entire term(12-14 weeks) in the compound: walking from dorm to class and back again and maybe spending time on the field, and if they are really fortunate they have a few shillings to go to the shop across the street and buy a sweet or 2. So we go on a walk to a neighboring school about 3.5 KM away, mainly because this is the only route I know. The walk was crazy fast (remember the kids were super excited so we basically ran the whole way), and once we arrived the teachers (me and 2 of the guy teachers who came along) were super pooped and took a rest. We sat down beside the gate of a random home and soon a few kids came out, many of which I recognized from the hearing school next door. We said our Hello’s and that was that. Then the mother came out and asked a few questions and then told us about the secondary school nearby that had pigs. That’s right…REAL LIVE PIGS! My kids had never seen pigs before so this was quickly becoming an educational experience. We hike another 2km to the school and see the 2 giant pigs and 12 piglets(that’s what they’re called right?)  After the pigs we went around the school it was both their 1^st time and ours visiting a secondary school. They saw very nice classrooms, a computer lab, very neat looking older students, and one of my boys even  saw his sister who attends the school. After the little tour we spoke with the secondary students and they were a little timid at 1^st. Many of them had never seen deaf people, didn’t know how to interact with them, and honestly a few were afraid of them. We(the other teachers and I) told them a few things about the deaf population, taught a few signs and let our kids sign a few things as we interpreted. It was a learning experience for all and just a good day. I invited them to our school but little did I know they would be taking me up on that offer in just a few weeks. 

So today after lunch I decided it would be great to watch a movie with the little ones, 1^st Lion King then Cars. 2 great movies, kids loved them… and honestly I think I probably love them a bit moreJ so it was turning out to be a grand ol day. Then I notice a bunch of my kids running across the compound- they taught us during PST that Kenyans love to run to the action/disaster and it’s probably not a good idea to follow so I kept watching the movie like I didn’t see them haha. A little later the kids are banging at the door to tell me we have visitors. Kenyans love visitors, but more importantly my kids have NEVER(not one single time) had visitors from the local hearing schools(and there are many around us) so this was def something unusual and exciting. We went through the typical celebration motions-welcoming the visitors, giving them a tour and then introducing each of our classes-student by student. The secondary students were very interested in sign language-they were amazed at how quickly the older students signed and I even saw one boy drawing all the signed alphabets that we had on the wall…it really touched my heart. After the tour the students tell us they have a few gifts for the kids. We all go into the classrooms, they say a few encouraging words and then they give the kids sweets and cookies. OMG! BEST DAY EVER for my kids! They were grinning from ear to ear and so was I. I gave the hearing kids a few words of advice: good luck to those taking exams, consider being a special education teacher after high school, and work hardJ haha that’s all I got. But what they most enjoyed was the sign language posters I gave them,I really hope that this inspires at least one or 2 of them to join this field.

After all the fun was over I talk to the lady who came with them, the same lady who led me to the school the 1^st time. She mentions that she is from the Red Cross. I ask her a few things and we get on the topic of food and development. She tells me that she wants to donate a greenhouse to the school by the end of the year(hopefully not Kenyan time) and man I can’t stop smiling. This means fresh food for the kids and saving money for the school. So yeah…the kids are happy because it was quite an eventful day, I’m happy because we may be seeing new and useful things in the future, and the teachers are happy because the school is getting some exposure and change is coming. And all of this came from a simple Walk. I needed this reminder of how great life can be from the small things, how people sometimes fall into other people's lives or events without even looking, life is so unexpected but can often be pretty great and just how great my kids are. I am very thankful.

In other news: Projects I am working on right now include a chicken coop (to provide students with eggs and eventually chicken-ya know spice up their diet) which will hopefully lead to us expanding to a IGA(Income Generating Activity) among the widows in the area, maize/millet farming to provide to limit the amount of money spent on maize(of which we consume everyday) and make the school more self sufficient, and now the GREEN HOUSE! I think one can accurately say that I love food, but hey I just want my kids to eat well and the school to be able to provide more for them Annnddd that’s all I have for now.

Things you may(or may not) want to know about Kenya...

So this is in no way meant to be stereotypes or concrete information about Kenya or Africa in general simply my observations over the past few months.

1)It is absolutely beautiful here ALL THE TIME! It is currently the dry season(No rain at all) which means that most things are brown but this doesn't take away from the scenery at all. I live in the Rift Valley which is basically mountains and rolling hills everywhere. I always wanted to live in the mountains but I hate cold weather so this is perfect for me, usually temp has been around 25 Celsius which is pretty darn war,. There isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't just sit and stare into the distance and think wow I want this view forever(if my friends and family were here with me of course).

2)Kenyans do not recognize privacy and personal space as Americans do. This took a longgggg time to get used to. I would say my 1st month I was actually afraid someone would rob me and I wouldn't even know it because everyone stands so close you don't know what's going on. They overpack vehicles(up to 7 in cars and 20 in a 11 passenger matatu) and don't seem to mind people sitting on top of one another or care to open windows no matter how stuffy it is. I usually get grunts/rude looks when I open a window ha. I've gotten a little better with my kids standing over me as I read the paper because they want to look at the pictures, or holding my hands/cuddling me. Let's say if there is one thing that will change about me over these 2 years it will be that. I will come back a much more "touchy feely" person haha hide your kids hide your wife...well maybe not your kids that's a little sick.

3)Coats/hats/sweaters are worn even when its 90 degrees out. I live about 20 km from the equator so the sun is always blazing and I'm usually the only one sweating. My students never hesitate to point out my sweat stains on my shirt :/. Mothers here bundle their children in layers upon layers, students wear full uniforms which include an button up undershirt and a sweater, and grown men just simply wear a full 3 piece suit to go to the post office. Its pretty funny to see.

4)Kenyans aren't as poor as the world thinks. I feel like when the western world hears the word Africa they immediately think of little dirty children with their ribs showing. While this is obviously the case in some areas of Africa and Kenya its not the case for all. Many people now have electricity and maybe even water here. I also know quite a few people with personal vehicles. And EVERYONE has a cellphone. Most people in my area own land of some sort and usually livestock(Mostly cows/goats/chicken) so food is around. I can walk 10 mins and get the basic fruits and veggies or ride for 25 and get basically anything I need from a small town(only 2 streets haha). So I have no complaints at all. Honestly I hate the idea of poverty especially in a country like this one. This idea did not come about until the British made their way into this area. Before then who cared about having a nice car or big things.The basics of surviving was the only thing that was important and passing on your culture.

5)Kenyans believe that America is the land of milk and honey. I hate this one...so much-___-. I am not rich, no where close to it. Actually spent all 18 years of my childhood under the poverty line but we made it work some how. When Kenyans constantly imply that I am rich because I have some basic things I feel so many things:anger, guilt, sadness, confused, I could go on and on, actually I think I will post a separate blog about this later.

6)As beautiful as Kenya is the trash really kills the mood at times. This is typically in larger cities, for example when I travel to Nakuru there is a giant landfill of what seems to be just plastics bags and a HORRIBLE smell for a good 5 mins. Kenya has not gotten the whole waste management thing together yet. Most people simply burn their trash-it makes me cringe every Wednesday when my kids make me throw my trash in the school fire. They even insist that I throw left over food in there...uh no there are many cows/chickens/dogs/goats that will eat my left over fruits and veggies I'll just throw it in my yard.

7)Cleanliness is next to Godliness. I will kill two birds with one stone in this one. Kenyans love their Christian God and being clean and looking smart means everything to Kenyans. Even though  their 'smart'  usually consist of possibly wearing a second hand shirt with some ridiculous saying that they don't understand(I've seen old men with sorority caps on). As far as religion is concerned, I totally believe to each its own but this is not necessarily the case here. You MUST have a religion of some sort(typically Muslim or christian) and you are expected to be open and very expressive when it comes to this religion. Religion is taught in school(in my school its only Christian Religion Education(CRE) despite the fact that we have some muslims)and students are required to attend a church service on Friday as well as Sundays. I have many feelings about this but I think it's best not to go too deep into this. I'll just leave it at this...In my mind religion is meant to be good for the society but when people use it to justify killing people for doing some petty crime or marrying many women well that's when it makes me cringe.

8)If you read my random facebook updates then you have already heard this one...It's ok to pick your nose! I LOVE IT! Like most of us, I started picking my nose as a child. My dad did it and of course I wanted to be just like him I would pick my nose and pluck the boogers all over the room/car/floor/you get the idea. Well soon enough I learned this was not ok by American standards and boy was I sad. But now its fine so Im happy again:)

9)People here are very hospitable.I don't know if its because I'm American(I tell myself this is not the case) or it's just the way of life around here but people are always helping me out/giving me things/just trying to talk to me. I appreciate it and think its so wonderful but I often feel bad because I don't know what to say to some questions like "Do you all pay dowry for your wives in America"(haha you should have seen my face the 1st time I heard that one). Or I feel bad because I don't have much to give,once again going back to the I'm not rich thing and I dont want to start passing out freebies to give off the wrong idea(I did that with my Class 8 a few times-I gave them fruit that I got from the market because the kids rarely have fruit during school term. Soon afterwards they were calling me rich so I had to stop.) Its a thin line between generous and rich when you're a mzungu...I'm still trying to figure out that line.

10)Animals are just that in Kenya, animals. They wouldn't dare name their dogs/cats. They would NEVER be in the house maybe even not close to the door. What is dog/cat food...all animals eat ugali or at least that's what my class 4 science kids told me haha. Animals are here to serve a purpose.Donkeys are basically slaves. It honestly makes me sad/uncomfortable every time I see a donkey pulling a heavy load and its behind is pink/raw because it has been whipped so much. All other animals are meant to be eaten(I know its the same in America but when you don't have to see the animals slaughtered it just makes life a little easier.) So yeah I know the meat is much better for me here I am still unable to make my way into a butcher and watch him saw off some beef for me to take home or slit a chicken's throat(even though I REALLY want to when I walk in my room and one is chilling on y bed because I left my door open for 2 minutes.) Oh Kenya...Chickens in my bed, cows and goats in my yard and a puppy sleeping in my doorway. Gotta love it.

That's about all I'm willing to type right now. I know I'm lazy, thousands of miles won't change that about me. If you want to know more feel free to hop on a plane and explore this lovely country with me...no really that would be great:)

Also only 2 weeks until the end of my 1st term and a much deserved break YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Februrary

6 weeks into my service. Some days it feels like 6 years while others feels like 6days. I've been teaching 4 weeks and all I can say WOW! There have been so many ups and downs. Some days I leave the lesson smiling from ear to ear because I know the students have picked up a thing or two. But many times I leave the classroom feeling so defeated, especially during the 1st week when I didn't really know what to expect. I teach about 28 Lessons a week:KSL Class/Grade 4(5 lessons a week), Science Class 4(5), English Class 5(7), PE Class 5(aka the whole school because the kids just walk out of class and many times the teachers don't notice because they are doing other things) and Math Class 8(7). This  class will be taking an exam in November so I work with them night and day in hopes that they will get scores good enough to get them accepted in a secondary school.
As with most deaf students here in Kenya, my students are far behind their hearing peers. Out of my 9 students in English 5 I would say 2 can write properly and that's with guidance. So needless to say teaching them what's on the syllabus I was given went out the door the second week. My goal is to teach them what they should have learned so one day they will understand the things we are trying to force upon them now. I mean really what's the need of knowing that words like stop and cut have double letters when adding -ing if you don't know how to use them in a sentence.
Each month our students have testing for 3 days to show the progress of students throughout the year. They are practice test that we order from some bookstore, many of the questions are not well written/simply don't make sense. The scores do not determine if you move on to the next class, everyone moves on, and  the only test that truly matter is the KCPE that is only taken by Class 8 to get into secondary schools as mentioned before. Anyways, all of this to say that typically scores are pretty low. They have 5 subjects:Math, English and English Composition, KSL and KSL Composition, Science, and Social Studies/Religious Studies. So out of the 500 possible points we had one student in the entire school get above 300 and this was a student who just recently lost her hearing(and is now losing her vision-its really sad actually) to a tumor. She's extremely bright, but since being here her scores have dropped which I can totally understand.
Each teacher grades their class work and reports it to the headteacher for that particular class. You wouldn't believe how many times I heard 'See this one can't write a thing' or 'This is just how I pupils are, we have to accept that.' I'm sorry I just have a hard time accepting that. Deaf does not equal dumb by any means and if you see that they can't write then help them with the basics instead of continually pushing them through. Now I know you can't take much time out of class everyday to try to help one student write but we have nightly Preps(study hall) of which myself and just one other teacher shows up to regularly and helps out. Or you could simply try to teach them instead of assigning them pages to copy out of a book(of which they don't understand) or missing class altogether. On Friday there were a total of 5 out of 12 teachers here. No we do not have Subs. If you do not show the students simply sit in class and story(it's what we call talking in the deaf world), or flip through pages in a book. These children are pretty well disciplined, I mean we all know the days of which our teachers didn't come to class and how we went crazy-giving the Subs a hard time, copying each other's work or not doing it at all(ha maybe that was just me). But these students just sit in class patiently waiting for something to happen, I guess they are just used to it by now. Its crazy because in training the PCVs who were already working in schools warned us about all of this but I wanted to believe that my school would be different...ha so much for that.
Sorry I know you all were expecting another rainbow and butterfly blog but this one just won't be that. Ha you all know I'm a pretty cynical personal anyways so sometimes these things just have to come out. On a positive note I truly love my students. Although they ask about 100 questions a day(if you know me you know I hate when ppl question me/where I'm going/what im doing haha
Every 1st Saturday of the month we have parents day. Yesterday we had our largest turnout since the school has been open in 2009(says the Principal) which is awesome. It was so great to see so many parents and siblings miss and love these kids. Of course not all came, so there were a few sad faces but I tried to play with them to keep their mind off it for a second or two. Most of the parents do not know sign language so they simply talk to their kids but we are working on mini sign language classes and they all seemed very interested to learn the alphabet and numbers so that was promising. Seeing all the parents and love ones did make me a little sad as well. As of today 2/5/2012 I've been in Kenya 4 months exactly(any other time 4 months would be nothing). This is the longest I've gone without seeing my family, of which you all know I am very close to, and most of my friends. I am very thankful for technology(honestly I'm not sure how people 15-40years ago made it in the PC-I guess if you don't know about it you can't miss it/expect it, but honestly I'm not sure what I would have done) Skype, facebook, and email  usually makes my weekends worthwhile. But honestly nothing beats/brightens my day like a good ol piece of snail mail. So thank you all who have sent me something-although I prob told you thank you on facebook the same day I really do appreciate the time and effort put into sitting down and writing a letter then going to the post office and mailing it. I know life in America is often busy and usually don't have time to do little things like that so I feel pretty darn special when I get something. Well that's all the updates I have right now. Until next time....

Not in Kansas anymore

     This week has been a whilrwind of emotions!(I feel like I say that in every post lol) But really I wish I was a robot sometimes so I could stop feeling for a while or at least stop thinking about how I should be feeling because sometimes I simply don't know. Ill begin with last Friday, the 12th. My last night with my Kenyan Family.Never in a million years would I have believed that I would be so attached to people after 9 short weeks.
     That night my mom came home with a chicken(a dead one she said she wanted a live one to kill at home in front of me but there were none at the market-thank goodness!) which is a big deal because we only had chicken one other time since Ive been there(chicken is a little more expensive so usually its beef or goat 2x a week). She butchered the chicken in front of me, laughing as I flinched and let out little moans of pain for the dead chicken as she ripped it apart. She proceeded to make all my favorites here-rice, cabbage, avocado, and passionfruit. So good...I ate wayyy to much but by Kenyan standards it still wasnt enough- I hear at least once a day about how I don't eat enough or drink enough tea blah blah blah. Kenyans insist on making me gain 5000lbs while here and then marrying one of their sons.Ha! So that night my baba(dad) stopped by-I'm not sure if I said this before but I rarely see him because he works in Nairobi which is about an hour away then comes to Machakos to be an herbal doctor during the night so usually by the time he arrives home Im in bed which is sad because he is a great man and I enjoy the time weve spent together. He says Kenyans work a lot, make a little and save nothing-def true and so sad. Anyways he stops by and says that he has to go back out but he wanted to see me just in case he wasnt able to see me before I left the next morning and that was that.
The next morning I get up around 730 to pack the remainder of my things and put my bags outside for the PC vehicle to pick them up. My mama comes in and tells me that they are going to slaughter a goat for me this morning, I lose it! haha I'm like no mama that's ok I dont really like goat, I don't want to see anything killed esp not for me and all that jazzed. She's like no no its part of our tradition and Im like crap what do I do? Shortly after my baba comes out the room talking about how he woke up late and has to go very soon:( So I start to take my tea and breakfast and in walks a photogapher. I was so confused. And my mama tells me they had a man come over to take photos of me killing the goat. I tell her ill be right back and I go into my room to collect myself and I hear "Wikia we are just joking come out of there." Out I come with everyone laughing at me and my mama and baba tell me that they hired a photogapher to take pics of us taking tea and out in front of the house. I was relieved and really shocked that they would do such a thing for me. They had us take pics in the house, outside the house, with the dog(which is really funny because I loved the dog but Kenyans don't see pets as we do so I know they love me to put him in a pic with us lol- they were rubbing his belly and petting him the dog was confused Im sure he was thinking 'this never happens'). Then they took photos of them giving me gifts which I totally didn't expect- we are told to give our host family gifts of appreciation but they are not expected to give us anything and my family gave me so many useful and thoughtful things it was amazing. After all the photo excitement was over we finished our breakfast and my baba told me how much I meant to the family as well as if I ever have any problems to give him a call-which meant so much to me because Kenyan men don't say much about their feelings. I gave them the gifts I purchased for them including a tie for my dad which he said he would wear on Monday to work...so cute! Shortly afterwards I was off to school to practice our skit for the family appreciation and then to my hotel to rest for the remainder of the day which means I had tons of time to reflect and just think about how much those people meant to me. Such an amazing family. I am truly blessed.
       On Sunday we had a family appreciation ceremony and then we are off to Nairobi to for our last few training sessions and to meet our supervisors. We joined our other half(the science and math group) at the place where we all started-cute how things come full circle many times. The short time in Nairobi was filled with many hot showers, a mall that was very similar to an American mall(talk about culture shock if this is a taste of what I will feel like after 2 years I dont want it lol) and some yummy food including pizza with REAL CHEESE and smoothies yum yum! On Tues I met my counterpart(my supervisor is working towards his masters so he was unable to come). My counterpart was very down to earth and she wore pants(they call them trousers here) which I know doesnt mean much to you but in Kenya if a woman is wearing trousers its a big deal(esp from a village) it let me know that my village is at least a little progressive in women's rights. She was very chill and we hit it off well. On weds the 14th we swore in but honestly its nothing to talk about because unlike all the other PC swear ins it was not at the ambassadors house because he had a Christmas Party and instead of the ambassador speaking we had his 2nd man and instead of having catered american food(aka a bbq) we got cheetos and doritios which was nice but just doesn't compare. Oh we did get pretty nice hats and shirts with the 50th anniversary symbol on it since we are the last to swear-in during PC 50th anniversary. But after swear in we treated ourselves to sushi and drinks which made everything 100x better.This was our last night together so many of us went out dancing well until our 10pm curfew(another bummer on swear in right now thanks al shabaab!). This was our final night together.
      The next day we were off to our new sites and new lives. I was one of the last to leave so I got to say goodbye to many of my buddies. Traveling to Mogotio was my 1st time traveling without PC taking care of everything but my counterpart took great care of me and all of my luggage so things were pretty smooth. Mogotio is about 4hrs away from Nairobi so its not that bad. Its in the rift valley so my scenery is absloutley amazing and luckly im in the lower rift so the weather isnt cold-everyday is about 75 or 80...can you say perfect?!?! Since Ive arrived Ive been living with my counterparts family because my home is not quite ready yet(so basically Im still staying with a homestay). I desperatley wanting my privacy/quiet time but they have been very welcoming to me and I have my own room and Ive even watched the top 20 american videos of 2011 and cartoons from nick because they have cable crazy right. Middle of nowhere watching Bruno Mars sing Lazy song.
        I did get a chance to visit my school and meet the local education officials. They were very welcoming even had a little ceremony for me. The school is new, as I mentioned in a previous post, which means it is extremely small and the money flow is low. Each class has 2 grades per room but the max in a grade is 12. There is also a preschool, so the youngest child here is 2-they all board at the school...could you imagine being 2 years old livng at a school?!? My house was everything they said it would be-2 rooms.Yup 2 seperate rooms because they were expecting 2 volunteers so now I have to exit my bedroom to enter my kitchen/living room. The rooms are extremely small but it is all mine and honestly much better than what the supporting staff is living in so I feel very fortunate. I do have a cold shower and electricity so I can't complain. They are working on building a little fence to give me some privacy bc the girls dorm is on one side and the girls on the other....So yeah thats how Im living for the next 2 years of my life. Oh there is a hearing school next door with 700 yes 700 students...up to 100 kids in some classes..crazy right? We have a lot of land so my goal is to run in the mornings around the schools, thats until the other kids see me do it then want to join-Kenyans are born runners so these kids will put me to shame. Anywho thats been my last few days of life. Peace Corps just got real.

Once again I tried to post photos but my computer hates me so thats that