TravelStream™ news feed for member imakespots on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/imakespots en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:57:48 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/15/1223703540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/15/1223703540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/15/1223703540/tpod.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:57:48 -0500 Flamingoes and Rhino!

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Nakuru, Kenya

Spent a magical day with friends driving North to Nakuru Lake National Park. The weather was perfect and we were so lucky to see thousands of flamingoes, hippo, and finally rhino! So many rhino that it seemed like we were part of a set-up... Enjoy the photos...
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Nairobi, Kenya

First there was Wangari (not pictured) who introduced me to Wanuri the filmmaker (seen with her American friend Agatha who is visiting for a few weeks) and then I met Chris the feature film editor (who's from Australia) and his girlfriend Maya (the singer) who has formed a group with Raz (from south central Los Angeles) who is a great musician...

We gather at a nice outdoor cafe every Sunday where Maya and Raz perform and the rest of us eat and drink and chit chat. It's a really nice way to end the weekend.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/13/1218748800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/13/1218748800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/13/1218748800/tpod.html Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:22:30 -0400 Samira - My new Somali Friend

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Nairobi, Kenya

Jambo--

Sunday afternoon and I'm exhausted. I've made some great friends recently and we all went and watched a fantastic play last night at the French Cultural Center. Kenya has a "blossoming" theatre company and it was great to see some theatre at last. After the show, my friends Marcy, Joseph and one of the actors, Godfrey, decided to go out "for a quick drink". Well...that was at 10PM. At 5AM, Marcy, Joseph and Godfrey (the actor) had finally had enough karaoke and we were on our way home - that's 5AM! For those that know me well...staying out until 5AM is nothing short of a miracle...BUT IT WAS A BLAST! I did not partake of the karaoke but managed to drink my fair share of Guinness and had a great night out which was much needed!

Still cold here and it has been WET so that beautiful, rich red Kenyan soil that's more clay than dirt has become red, slick, thick Kenyan mud that sticks to everything and goes everywhere. I'm looking forward to winter on the equator ending...it's basically the equivalent of "june gloom" in California...not so much fun. And the laundry doesn't dry which means every Friday I get a wet load of clean laundry back and my flat ends up looking like a 2nd hand clothing store for a few days...a clothes dryer would be one of those extra special luxuries that I might be willing to sacrifice quite a bit for!

Samira:
I went to an internet café yesterday (Saturday) as our internet connection is, well, often miserable. I was sitting next to a young woman who asked me if I could help her on the internet. We started talking and she told me that she's a Somali refugee whose family fled into Ethiopia years ago only to face additional persecution so they ended up in Kenya as political refugees. Her name is Samira and she's 20 years old. Her father has since passed and her mother was kidnapped by the men in her extended family and dragged back to Somalia to hold up the tradition of being taken by her dead husband's brother. (Quite common in Africa...and a huge factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.) We kept talking and she has been going through the UN process of being declared an official Refugee, given Refugee status and protection, and is close to finally being given a Canadian Visa where she will settle permanently. She can never return to Ethiopia or Somalia because she refused to marry at age 12 - although she did end up being circumcised before she could run away.

For those that are not familiar with female genital mutilation (or female circumcision or FGM) or "cutting" as it's called by locals - there are four levels. It's is a cultural practice and has no written law in the Bible or Quran and is practiced by BOTH Christian and Muslim groups.

Type 1 is the excision of the prepuce with or without excision (cutting) of part or all of the clitoris.
Type 2 is the excision of the prepuce and clitoris entirely together with partial or total excision of the labia minora.
Type 3 is the excision or part of all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening.
Type 4 is the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia and or injury to the female genital organs and additional includes pricking, piercing, stretching, or burning of the clitoris and/or surrounding tissues.

Samira has experienced Type 3 which is practiced on 98% of the women living in or who are from Somalia. It's entirely barbaric because over 90% of the women who are cut actually experience the ritual between the ages of 3 and 12 years old. The procedure is conducted by a local village woman or medicine doctor and the blade (or rusty scissors) is usually used on multiple girls as part of an "age" ceremony so disease is transferred from one sick girl to another. The complications of this heinous procedure are horrific. Most girls experience multiple urinary tract and bladder infections as they cannot properly discharge all fluids. Additionally they experience abdominal pains along with other pain resulting from the nerve damage. A woman's wedding night is a nightmare as part of the ritual expected by her new husband is to "break through" the scar tissue during sex.

When the girl does in fact get pregnant, she has to be cut open so the baby can pass and is then stitched back to her former self where a hole the size of a pencil eraser is left for fluid to somehow pass. (There's a huge dilemma facing Western doctors (yes even in America) because OB/GYN's are seeing cut girls who, after delivering their baby, must be sewn back or they will face persecution within their families and community.) I'm mentioning FGM directly here because it's one of the public health practices that I would like to see eliminated forever and I'm trying to get work to do my part to educate people about the procedure so that it stops. There are growing numbers of legal immigrants in the United States and Europe who are seeking FGM in their communities (a Chicago man was sentenced to 10 years in jail about a year ago for using scissors to circumcise his 10 month old daughter). So if you think this is a "third world" problem - it's not. It's happening in every major community in the USA - including yours. The US has passed some very tough legislation about FGM and about half of the states, California being one, have passed specific language to persecute those responsible for arranging and/or performing the task. "Circumcision vacations" are a booming business in America where companies arrange for a girl and her family to travel to their home country for the procedure - it's illegal and the USA is working to persecute the travel agents who handle the business.

(If you're wondering about male circumcision - that's done frequently as well as part of a boy's "coming of age". There's a big debate here right now because a recent study shows that male circumcision helps to prevent the spread of HIV because it removes a warm, perfect breeding area for the virus. Unfortunately, when men hear that they can avoid HIV by getting circumcised they tend to feel that they are immune to HIV because of it. Not true. Getting a message out that can encourage male circumcision while not making men feel as though they are no longer vulnerable to the virus is a huge challenge. The Luo tribal elders, one of the few tribes who do not circumcise their boys, have decided that they will not support the current circumcision promotion running throughout the county as a result of the study. They feel as though they will be misleading men about their vulnerability to the virus. Public health workers are definitely facing an enormous challenge. The Kenyan government, and others, have pushed for legislation requiring that all circumcisers are licensed and are trying to convince parents to take their boys to local clinics or hospitals for the surgery to prevent mistakes - like the one that just occurred last week. A 14 year old boy was part of a circumcision group. The cutter "slipped" with the blade and the top section of the boy's penis was removed and could not be reattached. Reports state that he will be able to pass urine but will have no sexual function - which basically means he will have no life - because men who can't get married and have children in these villages are not easily accepted.)

Samira wants to get out of Kenya before her family discovers her (she's in hiding) and kidnap her, like her mother, and force her into a marriage back in Somalia or Ethiopia. So I'm going to do what I can to make calls, get names, and make some headway into her application. She's gone through all of the steps, including her mandatory health exam which was beyond humiliating for this young, shy Muslim, and she's just now waiting for that precious visa to come through from the Canadian Embassy. Once she has her Visa, the UNHCR (for refugees) will give her the airfare, some pocket money, and a place to stay in Canada and help her get settled. She just needs the Visa to get finalized. So if you're the praying type, please pray that I can get the final details sorted for her and I can see her safely off into Canada where she says she just wants to "study, study, study - I want to learn so I can take care of myself and I want to live where I am not in fear of being taken or killed every day". She will never see her homeland again. I continue to be amazed by the resilience of people here. Samira came here quite young, her father died, her mother was taken, and she's managed to learn English (good English) and the internet to get things going. She's woven her way through the UN and Embassy systems and is close to leaving. She's done this with some help from various refugee groups along the way to be sure but she has managed to keep herself together despite all of her difficulties and is close to tasting security and freedom for the first time in her life. She doesn't remember a time when she wasn't a refugee - never belonging to a country--rejected and harassed by the residents of every country she's ever been in. When I meet women like Samira, I reminded to be stronger and braver...to try to make a difference, even if it's a phone call, in a woman's life because gender violence, like FGM or rape, are running rampant all over the world and it's destroying millions of lives.

That's all from Kenya today. Please keep Samira in your thoughts and prayers so that she can take off for a new country and a new life.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215894840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215894840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215894840/tpod.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:27:27 -0400 Life in the Middle - Living on the Equator in Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya

Nakuru, famous for its lake where thousands of pink flamingoes gather year-round (along with millions of other bird species) is a 2 hour drive north from the Nairobi city center. Preparing for the trip requires that you find the Prestige Shuttle tucked away in one of downtown's many side-streets because, for a few more shillings, it's a much more comfortable ride than any other transport. After you wait for 30 minutes or two hours...and all of the seats have finally been sold (we waited for two hours) the shuttle takes off and makes a quick stop at the police headquarters for a thorough search of all bags and passengers for weapons. The idea behind this process, which is voluntary, is that everyone on board is a lot safer as car-jacking is a favorite past-time for some people along the route. Once we all got back on board (all seats are assigned) we headed out through really rich, green country (we've had rain) and eventually drop down into the amazing Rift Valley. The Rift Valley is Kenya's bread-basket and when you drop down you see a "patchwork" of different agricultural areas including the massive flower farms (mostly roses). Kenya provides Europe with most of its roses.

We kept "dropping down" into the valley into a very dry, arid country where zebra and baboons hang out by the road side...a great sight for me but a very ordinary sight for everyone else of course. We arrived in Nakuru city central and were met by the Bishop who is a really wonderful, kind gentle man who zipped us out of downtown and into his neighborhood just outside the main town. After getting sorted and being greeted by many people (lots of people hang out at the Bishop's house to seek advice, help with the home, or cook for guests) we took a short walk. During our walk...some of our hosts told me about the post-election violence that was rampant in Nakuru (the worst in the country in fact). Various areas were pointed out to me as locations where people were killed by machete or gunfire. It was really kind of shocking. The bishop's home and his church are located in the middle of "ground zero" for the violence and the area remains sharply divided amongst tribal lines. The violence has subsided and the town is healing but the two primary tribes live in very distinct areas...so the divisions remain. Bea and I joined the Bishop and his family for a Thursday night sermon and we were also lucky enough to meet up with a group of kids who all sorts of questions about living in America. Some of them asked, "Do kids in America learn Swahili?" "Do they eat ugali?" "What time is it in America?" They were amazed to know that kids in America basically learn English and maybe another language in high school. Most African kids learn at least three languages - English, Swahili, and then their tribal language so they thought that American kids had it easy...!

We got back to the house and had a great meal and talked and talked. I could talk to the Bishop forever. He's just a tremendous person and wonderful presence...very humble. We went to bed pretty late but I didn't sleep (common for me right now) and was wide awake when their rooster crowed at 5AM. We were supposed to go on a short safari but we hung out at the house instead which was great because I wandered outside the gate to take some photos from the street. I was quickly joined by some cows and some small kids. Once I started to take pictures of them...the rest of the kids in the neighborhood came out in full force! Two hours later...I had three cameras going (Sam and Carol from the Bishop's house were with me) and tons of photos. It was a great time and the kids were, of course, wonderful.

Our trip back involved driving through rain, a dust storm, a long chug up the valley, some police check-points, and Friday traffic. We finally arrived in Nairobi three hours later--totally exhausted. It was a great trip and I was very glad to have gone and made new friends but I was just as glad to get home and take a nice, hot shower to get the dust out of my hair (Nakuru is famous for the dust as it's blowing constantly) and crawl into bed for a much-needed sound sleep. I'll definitely go back to the Bishop's house and visit again...they were all really lovely.

RC
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/12/1215335700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/12/1215335700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/12/1215335700/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:27:35 -0400 Beatrice's Kids - Kawangware Slum - Outer Nairobi

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Nairobi, Kenya

As a reminder, if you would like to donate to the weekend meal program for Beatrice's kids you can send a check made payable to Rebecca Chandler to my friend Margaret Kohlbeck at 3210 Costa Alta Drive, Unit 78, Carlsbad, CA 92009. Any amount is greatly appreciated! *Note: This is a grass roots effort and the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt application process is taking some time. In the interests of transparency and full disclosure we would like to draw your attention to the fact that although we are taking donations, they are not tax deductible yet. Hold on to your receipts however, they will retroactively apply once we become a 501(c)(3) Those licenses and sanctions will be posted on the web site at that time.

Thank you to those of you who have decided to donate towards the food program! We have raised enough funds for 9 weekends worth of nutritious meals for the kids - including meat! We're on our way!

Today was an absolutely extraordinary day. I met Pastor Bea as I call her pretty early for a nice cup of tea (why can't we make tea like they make on this continent?) and chipati and we focused on getting her budgets tightened up. I'm going to pursue USAID and UNAIDS grants and we need figures to get that done. It's going pretty well and we'll finish this week. After meeting in a little cool little café in the slum, we went to the church and the kids were there. Beatrice took over from the volunteers and for about 40 minutes everyone danced to some pretty groovy Jesus music. I've decided that we need a lot more dancing to Jesus in our churches in America. Once the dancing was over, everyone had their first course for the day which was a cup of hot porridge. Many times this is all that they get to eat on the weekends but not today!

Once breakfast was done, the news that futbals and jump ropes had arrived brought screams from the group and we all made our way to an available "pitch" which is basically where animals graze. After clearing some of the bigger hazards, two "teams" of about 20 kids per team were created and the soccer balls started flying. Jump rope groups were also buzzing and soon a bunch of kids from the surrounding homes joined the crew. You can imagine that when kids hear about a futbal being available they come running. After an hour on the pitch, it was time to walk back as lunch was ready. After going outside to wash hands, the food was brought into the church in huge cooking pots and kids were paired and given one plate to share. Today was a great lunch. Everyone had a piece of banana (you can imagine that fruit is a treat), rice, lentils, vegetables, and some meat! Meat! There were just over 60 kids today...one of the biggest groups Bea has seen in a very long time. Certainly...news spread about lunch and the group increased a bit from the original but it was so great to see these kids get their bellies filled with warm, cooked, nutritious food. The money that I was able to set aside, and the bit that has been deposited for this group by generous friends, will mean that they get to eat this well for the next 4 weekends which is really exciting. We're really stretching every single shilling.

There was a girl today - about 13 - I saw as I was pointing my lens out of the window to take some discreet photos. I noticed that she was having a really hard time walking. I asked Bea about her and she didn't know her. This happens all of the time. Kids hear about the meals and come for the first time...or parents hear about it and send their kids. Once things settled down I talked to her she told me that she has juvenile arthritis and showed me the huge knots that cover the joints on her hands and knees. I've never heard of it. This girl overwhelmed me. I can't do anything for her. She's in so much pain (she says she's taking medicine) that she has a tough time eating (I remember feeling like that when I had my back problems--the pain blinded everything.) We made sure that she had a very good portion and an extra whole banana (all the kids were given slices to make the bananas go further). I want to do something for this girl. She can't go to school - there are no facilities for special needs of course. So I'm thinking that maybe I can send a tutor to her a few times a week so she can at least read and write. I can't imagine being trapped in my own body and not being able to at least read books to get through the day. I've seen hungry kids with no shoes and clothes and runny noses and they affected me but this girl just pierced me. I wish I could take her, get her proper medical care, and get her into a school where she could thrive. She's beautiful. Bea is going to follow-up about this girl and get some more information to see if we can do anything for her and her family.

After what seemed to be a very long day of taking photos, playing with kids, chasing a soccer ball, jumping rope, and answering scores of endless questions (these kids are SO curious about America), lunch was over and the kids were dismissed only to return Sunday.

I am exhausted but had a tremendous day and can't wait for Saturday to come again.

RC
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215086820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215086820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215086820/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:09:52 -0400 Life in the Middle - Living on the Equator in Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya

Some odds and ends photos from the "penthouse" balcony...



Driver's Ed - I love these cars! There's no guessing when you're near
one that the person behind the wheel is learning how to break all of
the traffic laws just like all other licensed drivers.



Snack stand - One of countless roadside shacks where you can get a
piece of fruit, soft drink, or buy a scratch-card for your mobile
phone. It's fun to buy a soda at one of these and sit and chat with the
other locals.



Tuxedo-bird - My favorite bird so far...they're a type of crow and always look so together with their "tuxedo" vests.



Cooking gas - when the cylinder in my flat finally empties - which will
take forever as I'm not such a cook - the local delivery man shows up
with a replacement. I'm not sure if I'd like riding around Nairobi's
less than perfect roads with a cylinder full of combustible gas riding
shotgun.



Coca-Cola Delivery - donkeys and horses don't exist within the city as
work animals...unlike Cairo where there's a half-starved, beaten horse
and donkey pulling overwhelming loads on every corner. In Kenya, it's
human-power that brings all sorts of goods to various shops throughout
the city.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215084600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215084600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215084600/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:32:55 -0400 Life in the Middle - Living on the Equator in Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya

Filamena:

My housekeeper Filamena is wonderful. She's a 26 year-old beautiful mother of two. She comes every Tuesday and Friday to tidy up my flat, get laundry done, and cook chipati (the local bread). After spending some time with her we've gotten to the point where we can talk about everything...just like girls...

This past week we were talking about her recent pregnancy and the delivery as I am always curious as to how childbirth happens within the various classes. Filamena lives in the Kawangwera slum where I'm volunteering and we talked about the process she went through to have her child. Unable to access the nicer women's hospitals that dot the city because of a lack of money, she went to the local health clinic where they told her that she needed to be patient - mind you, she was into her 10th month! Filamena told me that she was convinced that "the baby and I were going to die" so she went to a different clinic three weeks into her tenth month and they opted to induce labor immediately. The baby had stopped moving/kicking for the most part (the first clinic told her the baby was "lazy") and they were obviously concerned for both mother and child. Petocin is the drug of choice in the West and in expensive hospitals used to induce labor as well as placenta delivery. Unfortunately, the local clinic didn't have any Petocin and so their method was to force 4 bags of fluid into Filamena's body via IV that did indeed push the labor.

After two days of arduous labor (clearly no epidural here), Filamena gave birth naturally to a 4.5Kilo (that's 10 pounds) baby boy - both healthy and strong despite their ordeal. The experience, which was clearly dangerous for both Filamena and her baby, convinced her that two was more than enough. She told her husband that she was finished...he was not so pleased but for now she's winning the argument. We'll have to see in time if she can stand up to her husband and her parents and in-laws who all have an opinion about her reproductive rights.

Filamena asked me about birth control in America and so we talked about all of the options available that are all available here. Tubal ligation, which she was well aware of ("tying up the uterus), is a serious procedure here requiring the signature/authorization of her parents, her in-laws and her husband. Between the expense and the paperwork, it's rarely exercised. The "coil" or IUD is widely available but women are taught by local practitioners (not medically trained) that a "strong man" can actually force the tiny device into the uterus where it will be absorbed under the skin of the fetus. I mentioned to her that the physical distance involved to force anything anywhere was far greater than most men's "reach" and we laughed and laughed about that. She asked me about c-sections and how common they were in America and mentioned to me that she'd heard the story of how women in America are cut (episiotomy) during childbirth. Episiotomies do not happen here (which has been determined to be the best possible scenario by the WHO and other groups) and she was absolutely horrified at the thought of anyone cutting her and then sewing her up... In her words, "having the baby is difficult enough without being cut and sewn".

I asked her if she minded if I share our conversation and her story with others and she said no. She thought it was a good idea to exchange information. She also let me take her photo.

Filamena's childbirth story and the misinformation that she shared with me only serve to highlight the fact that in the past twenty years foreign aid to Africa has tripled - as has the poverty level. Clinics, where most Africans get their medical care, are as medieval as they were 100 years ago despite billions and billions of foreign aid flowing in every month. One has to wonder...where is it all going?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/12/1215024840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/12/1215024840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/12/1215024840/tpod.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:57:39 -0400 Beatrice's Kids - Kawangware Slum - Outer Nairobi

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Nairobi, Kenya

If you would like to make a donation to help feed the children in the Kwanagare Slum, please make your check payable to Rebecca Chandler and mail it to Margaret Kohlbeck at 3210 Costa Alta Drive, Unit 78, Carlsbad, CA 92009. We're working on getting 501c3 status in America so this becomes a write-off and I'll keep you updated as things progress. THANK YOU!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215024720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215024720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1215024720/tpod.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:53:29 -0400 Life in the Middle - Living on the Equator in Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya

2 July 08

LITM - Part 2

Visit my blog for more stories and photos at http://www.travelpod.com/members/imakespots


Beatrice's Kids - RHEMA Hope Children - Kwanagare Slum - As a reminder, if you would like to donate to the weekend meal program for Beatrice's kids (more information on my blog), you can send a check made payable to Rebecca Chandler to my friend Margaret Kohlbeck at 3210 Costa Alta Drive, Unit 78, Carlsbad, CA 92009. Any amount is greatly appreciated! I'm working on getting 501c3 status...stay tuned for updates.

I'll be joining the kids this Saturday, and every Saturday, and will be introducing footballs (soccer balls to you Americans) and jump ropes to the kids! Photos will be posted Sunday...once I manage to crawl out of bed after a very active day!

Thank you to those of you who have decided to donate towards the food program! We have raised enough funds for three weekends worth of nutritious meals for the kids - including meat! We're on our way!


It's been about five weeks now since I arrived - believe it or not - and the flurry of the initial move-in has started to settle down. That doesn't mean that things are making sense every day...but...that's to be expected.

Mzungu - that's the first word I really heard a lot when I came here. Mzungu means "white". I kept hearing, "you'll pay more because you're white", "that happened because you're white". Its strange to be in a place where being white is clearly being in the minority and people will plainly admit that you're being discriminated against because you're white. Definitely a reverse experience coming out of America. Can you imagine telling someone in America "you're going to pay twice as much for bananas because you're black"...yeah...it's weird.

After living here for just a few days, I was struck by how different Kenya is from Egypt. For lack of a better word...Nairobi is much more civilized (I told you it was a weird word). There's no tension in the air. I don't get harassed on the street. I get stares...but not those burning stares that I got every day in Cairo. People are BUSY here...coming and going. The suburbs and downtown are as crowded as any big city and everyone seems to move to with purpose. I still find myself holding my breath as I pass any group of men on the street expecting one of them to reach out and grab at me or say something to me like in Cairo...never happens. If anything, I get a "hello", "bonjour", or "jambo". I'll have to work on relaxing while I pass people on the sidewalk.

"Nairobbery" - that's what most tour books and websites call downtown Nairobi so you can imagine I had a fair share of nervousness during the first few trips I made to city - about a 30 minute walk away. Downtown Nairobi is a well laid-out maze of thoroughly crowded streets lined with every possible type of shop you can imagine. During the week downtown is flooded with people as any other large city would be so walking around feels entirely normal just like walking around New York City, Washington, DC or L.A. (although L.A. feels creepy compared to the others). My bag is draped across my front, zippered shut, and I just walk. I'm not saying that you can't get mugged downtown...but quite honestly I think that calling the city "nairobbey" goes a bit far...particularly when that description usually tells tourists to NEVER visit downtown. Having said that, being downtown after 6PM is a bad idea so...how about Nairob?

Asking for directions - I do this a lot as I walk a lot (I just walked 7 miles Tuesday so I could drop off my CV and reel at a local ad agency). I ask whoever is walking along the road or downtown and they're always very helpful. Monday as I wandered around downtown looking for the digital camera repair guy (one of my lenses is broken) I asked a lotto ticket seller where the Hilton was (which is near the bus station) and he walked with me...just like that. Nice, friendly guy. One thing that I have noticed is that Kenyans don't know street names so much - they know landmarks so asking for an address from a Kenyan is pretty tricky because they can't tell you the name of the road but they can tell you the name of the building, park, or other structure that is near to where you want to go. That also means that I pay more attention to landmarks and buildings so I can get around.

Hurlingham - the neighborhood I'm living in is VERY safe. I'm encouraged by several that it's okay to walk around until about 8PM at night which is a little nicer than having to be in by 6PM which is what I was initially told. I haven't tried out my new-found 2 hours of additional freedom yet but I might go have a beer at the local pub and go crazy! The walk from the pub to my flat is along the main road which is absolutely mad with traffic until about 9PM so that adds another layer of safety. One of the best parts of my neighborhood is the Hurlingham Shopping Center where I can visit the butcher (a nice couple from India), the hardware store (two really fun Indian guys), a small grocery (two more nice Indian guys) or a stationery store (yep...more Indians). Indians own the majority of businesses in Nairobi I'm told and most are third or fourth generation having either come over voluntarily or were brought over as migrant workers - particularly during the time that the railway ("Lunatic Express") was being built.

When I'm not wandering around the shops to say hello to everyone - sometimes we just chat (especially the hardware store guys - they're hilarious) I also stop by the local chicken place for a lunch (maybe once a week), visit with my fruit and veg folks on the corner (I visit a tiny stand owned by a woman for tomatoes and bananas as they are the best) and then cross the street to visit Tom the guy that has the best pineapples, cucumbers, hot peppers (for homemade salsa), and carrots. I'm not quite ready to try some of the strange looking fruits but I'll get there. I hate the idea of buying a piece and not being able to choke it down so I'm going slowly with that. And finally, I stop at the local Safeway supermarket (about the size of an AM/PM Minimarket and pick up dairy, pita bread, and other basic groceries. But wait! There's more! I can get about 70% of my groceries from the butcher, the fruit/veg stands, and Safeway but I still have to go to the grocery store in YaYa Center for a few things and Nakumatt for a few more things. One-stop-shopping doesn't begin to exist here. The real trick is that you can't even expect consistency from one location to the next within the same chain so Nakumatt Prestige and Nakumatt Junction won't have the same items all of the time...it's definitely a challenge. Paula has introduced me to a new store deeper into my neighborhood that's even cheaper than Safeway and I'll start visiting that store soon. The price difference for various items can be as much as .50KSH (which is about $0.90) and that really adds up...

House goods are even more complicated as you must price everything is several stores...shopping on impulse here is a bad idea. I was in YaYa center today indulging in a fresh raspberry tart and I wandered into a house goods store and was shocked to see a veggie steamer. (You know the kind that opens and closes and fits into a pan -full of holes.) I was excited! I've been searching for the things forever - including downtown. Well my excitement quickly faded when I noticed that the price was $12.00US! I'll stick to "stir fried" veggies for now and keep searching. The mzungu in this country are usually comfortable paying three times more than they should - but not this mzungu!

Speaking of shopping, I have to mention a few products that are new to me:

Gripe water (pronounced "grip-uh") this tonic apparently takes care of colic in babies. I've never heard of such a thing existing in America...I've always heard that if your baby has colic you just get to suffer through it until it stops. I'm not really sure what Gripe water does but if you have a baby with colic and want to give it a shot, mothers here swear by the stuff.)

Herbal toothpaste - Colgate Herbal - actually contains various natural herbs - I imagine it tastes a lot like dirt with a healthy mint tinge...I'm pretty sure I'd vomit while brushing my teeth with the stuff. The commercial is the best. Out of South Africa, there are a bunch of kids walking through some sort of beautiful park near a stream when they come across an animated Beaver with huge teeth. The fair-haired Mzungu tells the Beaver that their teacher told them to go and find some herbs (with the "h" pronounced). "Well Colgate Herbal" has plenty of herbs the happy beaver exclaims and the kids are of course thrilled.

Skin fading creams - a major beauty effort throughout Africa is the use of skin fading creams to look lighter. Mind you, you'll never fade your skin color so much as to look mzungu, but I guess fading your skin with toxic chemicals to look say less West African (very dark) and more East African (a bit lighter) is attractive. The stuff is highly toxic and it amazes me that people use it at all.

Television- so entertaining. I am officially hooked on the local, Nigerian soap operas. When I say hooked, if I'm home and fidgeting on the Internet, I watch for a bit...I'm not running home to flip them on. Anyway I want to give you a little sample as this is just too good to keep to myself...
One of the soaps is called "African Love" - Basically...there's a village Chief (about 35 years old) who walks around with a white cane (apparently they had no paint) and wears gold/blue/purple lame' clothes and crowns that are basically like the Burger King paper crown covered with various shades of Reynolds wrap and some "bedazzler" jewels. That alone has me glued. Well this King lives in a large home where they can't afford paint any color other than white or some plants and rides around in a Mercedes Benz sedan, of course. His bodyguards wear dark blue tablecloth capes and shorts - no shirts of course. Anyway...the King wants to marry a poor local girl - of course - don't they all? She has to be one of the most unattractive women in all of African television - but he wants her. But alas this 20-something woman is entirely in love with the pauper down the road who lives with his chickens and goats in a shack. Thus...the triangle... When the king isn't busy forcing laborers to work his farm for free, he's flying around the dirt roads carrying his white cane, wearing his Reynolds wrap crown (he has several) wrapped in lame' and being very King-like. The pauper by the way...he wears a nice polo shirt most of the time and shorts and sandals...so the guy's not that poor - he has no redeeming qualities in that he is unattractive and can act even less effectively than the others which is scary to think about. So far, the King and the poor girl whose name is something like "Watatu" have gotten married...the King's first wife isn't happy about that and neither is his mother who thinks the poor girl is trash and should leave the house. Watatu has so far rejected the king's advances at night because she's not feeling well...but we all know that she's really avoid him because she really still loves the pauper. One of my favorite scenes thus far is of the King and Watatu lying in bed - with pajamas on of course (Africa is VERY conservative) - and she's trying to explain to the King why she won't shag him. She has a headache - the same headache she's had since they got married. The first wife and mom walk in...just wander in...and the King ends up leaving as the two women gang up on poor, ugly, Watatu. I was hoping he'd wear some tin foil head garment to bed but that didn't happen. And the expressions! The king has that forced, bug your eyes out and look like a wild hyena stare for every sentence delivered...Saturday Night Live should hire this guy.

I'm telling you - this stuff is priceless! What happens to Watatu? What happens to her pauper ex-boyfriend who the plastic sheet wearing guards beat with a huge stick? And will the first wife and mother in law ever give Watatu a chance? I can't wait to find out!
Oh, the quote of the week last week from one of the shows was:
"Are you serious?"
"As serious as death."

You can' beat that. Days of our Lives has nothing on this stuff. When I told my friend Robert about this (Robert lived in India and lives in Cabo so he is an aficionado of crap TV and a big fan like me) he told me a story out of India:
"...when you wrote about the plot line, it reminded me of a show I saw in India, where the baby son of a young village couple was ill with diarrhea, and the mother-in-law recommended they give him glucose-saline to make sure he remained hydrated. This prompted an ethereal, spontaneous and heart-sung ode to glucose-saline and its restorative properties, while the three danced along the elevated parts of a rice field..."
You guys just don't know what you're missing if you don't have access to developing world television shows!

Television has entered a whole new era in Kenya recently as the daily parliament meetings are now televised so the ministers (all 42 of them - which is nuts because they make $15,000US a month!) have to answer questions from regional representatives - Kenyan parliament is exactly like the UK parliament which, if you've ever seen it, is fun to watch. The latest scandal in Nairobi (and scandals are constant here as the new coalition government attempts to be as transparent as possible) is the recent sale of the Grand Regency Hotel to a Libyan group without having gone through the proper channels. It seems that the Finance Minster approved the sale and rushed documents through without allowing the Attorney General, amongst other departments, to review the contract. Outrage! No one would be upset about this except that it would seem the hotel was sold for about 4 Billion KSH less than it should have been which is a little chunk of change. Apparently some low-grade assistant in the Finance Minister's office ratted the guy out and the debate in parliament today was very lively as there was a vote of no-confidence followed by the President basically announcing that the Finance Minster was sacked. This guy is fried. There's no way he'll keep his job but what do you want to bed that he runs for President in a few years and wins? That's Africa. The Libyan's are attempting to keep a low profile and the Libyan government is staying far and away from this mess as Kenya and Libya signed a very broad-ranging trade deal last year that no one wants to see disrupted.

International politics are very popular here as well particularly given that Barak Obama is technically Kenyan (his biological father was Kenyan but he was raised by a step-father when his parents divorced very early in his life). Kenyans are Obama-crazy and follow his Presidential bid very closely as he has said some very favorable things about funding for Africa as part of his overall foreign policy - with particular emphasis on funding additional HIV/AIDS drug therapies and prevention programs. If Obama wins...Kenyans will consider it a huge win for Kenyans and for Africa. Kenyans, I'm discovering, have a very strange view of American life as most are shocked to hear that there is violence, teen pregnancy, crime, and poverty. Its as if Kenyans think of America as a perfect utopia. Granted, paved roads, consistent electricity, proper hospitals and schools and other services are obvious attractions to life in America but a little balance would be good I think. Stories out of America are usually positive in the newspapers here so it's no wonder that Kenyans don't have a better version. Apparently they're not quite as naïve as Egyptians who after viewing American television programs have decided that all women are whores, all men are gigolos, and everyone rides around in brand new SUV's making millions.

Well, that will do for now...

Love to all-
RC



Thank you to those of you who have decided to help with the food program! We have raised enough funds for three weekends worth of nutritious meals for the kids - including meat! We're on our way!


It's been about five weeks now since I arrived - believe it or not - and the flurry of the initial move-in has started to settle down. That doesn't mean that things are making sense every day...but...that's to be expected.

Mzungu - that's the first word I really heard a lot when I came here. Mzungu means "white". I kept hearing, "you'll pay more because you're white", "that happened because you're white". Its strange to be in a place where being white is clearly being in the minority and people will plainly admit that you're being discriminated against because you're white. Definitely a reverse experience coming out of America. Can you imagine telling someone in America "you're going to pay twice as much for bananas because you're black"...yeah...it's weird.

After living here for just a few days, I was struck by how different Kenya is from Egypt. For lack of a better word...Nairobi is much more civilized (I told you it was a weird word). There's no tension in the air. I don't get harassed on the street. I get stares...but not those burning stares that I got every day in Cairo. People are BUSY here...coming and going. The suburbs and downtown are as crowded as any big city and everyone seems to move to with purpose. I still find myself holding my breath as I pass any group of men on the street expecting one of them to reach out and grab at me or say something to me like in Cairo...never happens. If anything, I get a "hello", "bonjour", or "jambo". I'll have to work on relaxing while I pass people on the sidewalk.

"Nairobbery" - that's what most tour books and websites call downtown Nairobi so you can imagine I had a fair share of nervousness during the first few trips I made to city - about a 30 minute walk away. Downtown Nairobi is a well laid-out maze of thoroughly crowded streets lined with every possible type of shop you can imagine. During the week downtown is flooded with people as any other large city would be so walking around feels entirely normal just like walking around New York City, Washington, DC or L.A. (although L.A. feels creepy compared to the others). My bag is draped across my front, zippered shut, and I just walk. I'm not saying that you can't get mugged downtown...but quite honestly I think that calling the city "nairobbey" goes a bit far...particularly when that description usually tells tourists to NEVER visit downtown. Having said that, being downtown after 6PM is a bad idea so...how about Nairob?

Asking for directions - I do this a lot as I walk a lot (I just walked 7 miles Tuesday so I could drop off my CV and reel at a local ad agency). I ask whoever is walking along the road or downtown and they're always very helpful. Monday as I wandered around downtown looking for the digital camera repair guy (one of my lenses is broken) I asked a lotto ticket seller where the Hilton was (which is near the bus station) and he walked with me...just like that. Nice, friendly guy. One thing that I have noticed is that Kenyans don't know street names so much - they know landmarks so asking for an address from a Kenyan is pretty tricky because they can't tell you the name of the road but they can tell you the name of the building, park, or other structure that is near to where you want to go. That also means that I pay more attention to landmarks and buildings so I can get around.

Hurlingham - the neighborhood I'm living in is VERY safe. I'm encouraged by several that it's okay to walk around until about 8PM at night which is a little nicer than having to be in by 6PM which is what I was initially told. I haven't tried out my new-found 2 hours of additional freedom yet but I might go have a beer at the local pub and go crazy! The walk from the pub to my flat is along the main road which is absolutely mad with traffic until about 9PM so that adds another layer of safety. One of the best parts of my neighborhood is the Hurlingham Shopping Center where I can visit the butcher (a nice couple from India), the hardware store (two really fun Indian guys), a small grocery (two more nice Indian guys) or a stationery store (yep...more Indians). Indians own the majority of businesses in Nairobi I'm told and most are third or fourth generation having either come over voluntarily or were brought over as migrant workers - particularly during the time that the railway ("Lunatic Express") was being built.

When I'm not wandering around the shops to say hello to everyone - sometimes we just chat (especially the hardware store guys - they're hilarious) I also stop by the local chicken place for a lunch (maybe once a week), visit with my fruit and veg folks on the corner (I visit a tiny stand owned by a woman for tomatoes and bananas as they are the best) and then cross the street to visit Tom the guy that has the best pineapples, cucumbers, hot peppers (for homemade salsa), and carrots. I'm not quite ready to try some of the strange looking fruits but I'll get there. I hate the idea of buying a piece and not being able to choke it down so I'm going slowly with that. And finally, I stop at the local Safeway supermarket (about the size of an AM/PM Minimarket and pick up dairy, pita bread, and other basic groceries. But wait! There's more! I can get about 70% of my groceries from the butcher, the fruit/veg stands, and Safeway but I still have to go to the grocery store in YaYa Center for a few things and Nakumatt for a few more things. One-stop-shopping doesn't begin to exist here. The real trick is that you can't even expect consistency from one location to the next within the same chain so Nakumatt Prestige and Nakumatt Junction won't have the same items all of the time...it's definitely a challenge. Paula has introduced me to a new store deeper into my neighborhood that's even cheaper than Safeway and I'll start visiting that store soon. The price difference for various items can be as much as .50KSH (which is about $0.90) and that really adds up...

House goods are even more complicated as you must price everything is several stores...shopping on impulse here is a bad idea. I was in YaYa center today indulging in a fresh raspberry tart and I wandered into a house goods store and was shocked to see a veggie steamer. (You know the kind that opens and closes and fits into a pan -full of holes.) I was excited! I've been searching for the things forever - including downtown. Well my excitement quickly faded when I noticed that the price was $12.00US! I'll stick to "stir fried" veggies for now and keep searching. The mzungu in this country are usually comfortable paying three times more than they should - but not this mzungu!

Speaking of shopping, I have to mention a few products that are new to me:

Gripe water (pronounced "grip-uh") this tonic apparently takes care of colic in babies. I've never heard of such a thing existing in America...I've always heard that if your baby has colic you just get to suffer through it until it stops. I'm not really sure what Gripe water does but if you have a baby with colic and want to give it a shot, mothers here swear by the stuff.)

Herbal toothpaste - Colgate Herbal - actually contains various natural herbs - I imagine it tastes a lot like dirt with a healthy mint tinge...I'm pretty sure I'd vomit while brushing my teeth with the stuff. The commercial is the best. Out of South Africa, there are a bunch of kids walking through some sort of beautiful park near a stream when they come across an animated Beaver with huge teeth. The fair-haired Mzungu tells the Beaver that their teacher told them to go and find some herbs (with the "h" pronounced). "Well Colgate Herbal" has plenty of herbs the happy beaver exclaims and the kids are of course thrilled.

Skin fading creams - a major beauty effort throughout Africa is the use of skin fading creams to look lighter. Mind you, you'll never fade your skin color so much as to look mzungu, but I guess fading your skin with toxic chemicals to look say less West African (very dark) and more East African (a bit lighter) is attractive. The stuff is highly toxic and it amazes me that people use it at all.

Television- so entertaining. I am officially hooked on the local, Nigerian soap operas. When I say hooked, if I'm home and fidgeting on the Internet, I watch for a bit...I'm not running home to flip them on. Anyway I want to give you a little sample as this is just too good to keep to myself...
One of the soaps is called "African Love" - Basically...there's a village Chief (about 35 years old) who walks around with a white cane (apparently they had no paint) and wears gold/blue/purple lame' clothes and crowns that are basically like the Burger King paper crown covered with various shades of Reynolds wrap and some "bedazzler" jewels. That alone has me glued. Well this King lives in a large home where they can't afford paint any color other than white or some plants and rides around in a Mercedes Benz sedan, of course. His bodyguards wear dark blue tablecloth capes and shorts - no shirts of course. Anyway...the King wants to marry a poor local girl - of course - don't they all? She has to be one of the most unattractive women in all of African television - but he wants her. But alas this 20-something woman is entirely in love with the pauper down the road who lives with his chickens and goats in a shack. Thus...the triangle... When the king isn't busy forcing laborers to work his farm for free, he's flying around the dirt roads carrying his white cane, wearing his Reynolds wrap crown (he has several) wrapped in lame' and being very King-like. The pauper by the way...he wears a nice polo shirt most of the time and shorts and sandals...so the guy's not that poor - he has no redeeming qualities in that he is unattractive and can act even less effectively than the others which is scary to think about. So far, the King and the poor girl whose name is something like "Watatu" have gotten married...the King's first wife isn't happy about that and neither is his mother who thinks the poor girl is trash and should leave the house. Watatu has so far rejected the king's advances at night because she's not feeling well...but we all know that she's really avoid him because she really still loves the pauper. One of my favorite scenes thus far is of the King and Watatu lying in bed - with pajamas on of course (Africa is VERY conservative) - and she's trying to explain to the King why she won't shag him. She has a headache - the same headache she's had since they got married. The first wife and mom walk in...just wander in...and the King ends up leaving as the two women gang up on poor, ugly, Watatu. I was hoping he'd wear some tin foil head garment to bed but that didn't happen. And the expressions! The king has that forced, bug your eyes out and look like a wild hyena stare for every sentence delivered...Saturday Night Live should hire this guy.

I'm telling you - this stuff is priceless! What happens to Watatu? What happens to her pauper ex-boyfriend who the plastic sheet wearing guards beat with a huge stick? And will the first wife and mother in law ever give Watatu a chance? I can't wait to find out!
Oh, the quote of the week last week from one of the shows was:
"Are you serious?"
"As serious as death."

You can' beat that. Days of our Lives has nothing on this stuff. When I told my friend Robert about this (Robert lived in India and lives in Cabo so he is an aficionado of crap TV and a big fan like me) he told me a story out of India:
"...when you wrote about the plot line, it reminded me of a show I saw in India, where the baby son of a young village couple was ill with diarrhea, and the mother-in-law recommended they give him glucose-saline to make sure he remained hydrated. This prompted an ethereal, spontaneous and heart-sung ode to glucose-saline and its restorative properties, while the three danced along the elevated parts of a rice field..."
You guys just don't know what you're missing if you don't have access to developing world television shows!

Television has entered a whole new era in Kenya recently as the daily parliament meetings are now televised so the ministers (all 42 of them - which is nuts because they make $15,000US a month!) have to answer questions from regional representatives - Kenyan parliament is exactly like the UK parliament which, if you've ever seen it, is fun to watch. The latest scandal in Nairobi (and scandals are constant here as the new coalition government attempts to be as transparent as possible) is the recent sale of the Grand Regency Hotel to a Libyan group without having gone through the proper channels. It seems that the Finance Minster approved the sale and rushed documents through without allowing the Attorney General, amongst other departments, to review the contract. Outrage! No one would be upset about this except that it would seem the hotel was sold for about 4 Billion KSH less than it should have been which is a little chunk of change. Apparently some low-grade assistant in the Finance Minister's office ratted the guy out and the debate in parliament today was very lively as there was a vote of no-confidence followed by the President basically announcing that the Finance Minster was sacked. This guy is fried. There's no way he'll keep his job but what do you want to bed that he runs for President in a few years and wins? That's Africa. The Libyan's are attempting to keep a low profile and the Libyan government is staying far and away from this mess as Kenya and Libya signed a very broad-ranging trade deal last year that no one wants to see disrupted.

International politics are very popular here as well particularly given that Barak Obama is technically Kenyan (his biological father was Kenyan but he was raised by a step-father when his parents divorced very early in his life). Kenyans are Obama-crazy and follow his Presidential bid very closely as he has said some very favorable things about funding for Africa as part of his overall foreign policy - with particular emphasis on funding additional HIV/AIDS drug therapies and prevention programs. If Obama wins...Kenyans will consider it a huge win for Kenyans and for Africa. Kenyans, I'm discovering, have a very strange view of American life as most are shocked to hear that there is violence, teen pregnancy, crime, and poverty. Its as if Kenyans think of America as a perfect utopia. Granted, paved roads, consistent electricity, proper hospitals and schools and other services are obvious attractions to life in America but a little balance would be good I think. Stories out of America are usually positive in the newspapers here so it's no wonder that Kenyans don't have a better version. Apparently they're not quite as naïve as Egyptians who after viewing American television programs have decided that all women are whores, all men are gigolos, and everyone rides around in brand new SUV's making millions.

Well, that will do for now...

Love to all-
RC

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1214933820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1214933820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/imakespots/1/1214933820/tpod.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:46:34 -0400 Life in the Middle - Living on the Equator in Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya

As most of you know...I walk a lot around here. Taxis are way too expensive, the busses aren't always great, and the matatus (minibus) are dangerous...so...walking is how I get around. It's also been a great way to shed some unwanted pounds...so it's all good. Unfortunately, it also means that my feet come into contact with the dark red African dirt that is scattered all over the roads, sidewalks, and walking paths. I thought that the sand in Egypt was a menace! No matter how careful I might try to be while walking...choosing grass and sidewalks vs. the dirt, I always come back to my flat covered in red... People tend to be a bit shocked by the state of my feet and ankles when I get to wherever I'm going...I get a few stares as I wear my REI Keen sandals which are like TEVA's...but better. I have a suspicion that some of the locals who see me quite often have yet to figure out why my clothes can look pretty nifty but the feet...well...you can see for yourself. The sandals, by the way, are supposed to be black...
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