Last week I celebrated my 23rd birthday! Being in Kenya made my celebration very different from what I am used to, but I was able to celebrate with some fellow Peace Corps Volunteers in Kisumu the weekend before, and on my actual birthday the teachers and students at my site were great and I had an amazing day.
First I will start with a recap of my trip to Kisumu. The trip from my site to Kisumu took about 7 hours each way. Luckily I was able to travel with Chris, the PCV who is in Muhuru Bay, not far from Bande. We met in Migori and then traveled from there together. Most of the 7 hours is spent waiting. Waiting for a car to drive through my village that I can take to Migori, waiting in Migori for the matatu to fill with passengers so we can leave, waiting while passengers get off and board the matatu at various intervals along the route. But, all in all, the trip to Kisumu was fairly painless. When Chris and I arrived in Kisumu we met some PCVs from the public health sector as well as 5 other PCVs from our training class. It was great to see the people from our group and also great to meet some new faces. It has been hard going from seeing the other people in my training class everyday to being so far apart (so I must note that when Margaret, Jenny, Whitney and I all saw each other for the first time we ran to each other and hugged and laughed.. all very strange things for any Kenyans witnessing this happen, but we were just soooo excited!)
This was my first time in Kisumu and I have to say I absolutely love it! It offers a lot of amenities but is a little smaller and therefore a little safer than Nairobi. Kisumu was majorly affected by the post election violence though, and there are still many burned out buildings and piles of rubble. It was such a contrast to see tall, new, shiny buildings next to burned out shells of what used to be super-markets, banks, hotels etc. Most of the city is being rebuilt or cleaned up, but you can still see signs of the violence on almost every street. There are also a lot more tourists in Kisumu, which was kind of bizarre, I am used to being the only mzungu (white person) within many kilometers. And it is rare to see even another mzungu in my main banking town of Migori, and most of them are here working with NGOs, missions, and orphanages, not tourists…
While in Kisumu I was able to eat pizza, hamburgers, ice cream, Chinese food, and had the most amazing brownie for dessert one night. These are all foods, with the exception of ice cream which I can buy in Migori, which I cannot get anywhere near my site, and haven’t had since last time we were in Nairobi. We also went and saw two movies while we were in town, went swimming at one of the nice hotels in Kisumu and watched the Superbowl!!! We also went out to a few bars which was fun, but the guest house where we were staying also had a roof-top balcony where we spent a lot of the evening, drinking wine, talking and catching-up on each other’s lives.
Watching a movie was an interesting experience. I walked into the theatre and felt like I had been transported back to America! The theatre was empty expect for me and the other PCVs and it was air conditioned!!!! We all got popcorn and soda, and both of the movies we saw were excellent! We watched Sherlock Holmes and Avatar! I had heard so much about Avatar from people back home that I felt somewhat connected to American pop-culture by seeing it! The movie was breath-takingly gorgeous, and all of the PCVs had to laugh at the similarities between the movie and our lives. If you’ve seen the movie, think about when the main character is trying to learn to live in Pandora, and that was and sometimes still is our lives here. Learning a whole new language, eating different foods, new customs etc etc. Swimming was another excellent amenity that I was able to enjoy. Since Lake Victoria and other fresh water here in Kenya can give you Schistosomiasis (a lovely disease that affects your liver, and can have complications for the rest of your life if not treated) we are told to stay far away from swimming in these places, so even with the temperature soaring, we get to enjoy only the view. So, being able to actually swim was amazing, in fact, I think it was my favorite part of the whole weekend! I had planned to only be in Kisumu for the weekend, and to return to my school to teach on Monday morning, but Peace Corps had informed us that we needed to be in Kisumu on Wednesday morning in order to receive that H1N1 vaccine, so I stayed in town for a long weekend instead of traveling all the way back to site just to turn around. This is what made is possible for me to get to watch the Superbowl! Since we are so far ahead of US time we had to stay up until 3 in the morning just to watch kick-off, but it was fun to watch some American football (actually TV at all) for a change. Unfortunately, we did not get the commercials, which are almost the best part, but we made some delicious nachos, pizza and drank some beers and really enjoyed.
Then on Monday, since I needed to stay around Kisumu anyway, I travelled with Jenny to her site. It was really fun to get to see someone else’s site. Her house is really nice and she has electricity, unlike me, but she also has a 45 minute walk from her house to her school. It was great to meet her students and we spent a lot of time answering questions about the US. The students seemed shocked that Jenny and I didn’t look anything alike… Then in the evening we ate dinner with her neighbors, an elderly couple, and they were great to talk to, and the woman is an amazing cook! The next day Jenny taught her lessons and then we once again headed to Kisumu for one more night before I headed back to Bande.
Since our medical officers were traveling from Nairobi they were able to (finally) bring me the package that my parents had sent me for Christmas! I’m excited to have some movies to watch, a book to read, and more pictures to put up in my house, among other things that I got from my amazing family for Christmas! Traveling from Kisumu to Bande once again took 7 hours, so by the time I arrived I was exhausted.
The day after I returned to site was my birthday! My day started with a phone call from home (where it wasn’t my birthday yet) and it was great as usual to get to talk to my family. I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to be able to communicate relatively easily with my family and friends back home. The rest of the day was spent teaching my classes, including the form 1 students who had reported to school the week before, so it was my first time teaching them. The teachers in the staff room also sang me the happy birthday song, which I didn’t think they would know, so that was a fun surprise. After school I took a nap and tried to recover from all of the traveling and then cooked myself my birthday dinner. I decided to make the most American food I could with what I had in my house, so I ended up eating tunafish and guacamole sandwiches for my birthday dinner.
This post has become very very long, so I think I will stop there, and I’ll write more the next time I head into Migori, and I will also upload more pictures then. Thank you to everyone who sent me a happy birthday message!
Cheers!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
To Be A Kenyan Student
I have been at site for three weeks now, I have started teaching, coaching and doing guidance and counseling at my school. I am still adjusting to some things, like the language barrier, but I am really enjoying getting to know the students and the other teachers! I also have a new address where I can get mail and packages! It is:
Christine Boyer PCV
C/o Bande Girls Secondary School
PO Box 55 – 40409
Muhuru Bay
Kenya
I wanted to give you some insight into what it’s like to be a secondary school student in Kenya, in many ways it is very different from being a high school student in the US, at least from my experience. First of all, secondary school is not free. Right now it is subsidized by the Kenyan government, but many families either cannot afford to send their kids to school, or really struggle to pay for school fees. Many secondary schools in Kenya are boarding schools, Bande Girls is almost totally boarding. Also, many schools are single-sex. The education system is 8-4-4 like in the US, 8 years of primary, 4 of secondary and 4 of university. (In Kenya grades 1-8 are called standard 1-8, while grades 9-12 are called Forms 1-4). But, unlike in the US, Kenyan students take national exams at the end of primary and secondary school. The KCPE is taken after finishing primary school and tests students over 8 years of information, and the KCSE is taken after finishing secondary school, and tests students over 4 years of information. Secondary school students take the KSCE in 8 subjects and are then given the option to drop one of the scores. The scores are then averaged and an overall grade is given. This grade more or less determines the rest of your life. Universities look solely at the KSCE score for admission, and employers ask for your KCSE score before offering employment. So, not only is there a lot of information covered on the exam, there is also an immense amount of pressure to do well. Students take 11 subjects in Forms 1 & 2 and 7-9 subjects in Forms 3 & 4. Students must take English, Kiswahili and math for all four years. In forms 1 and 2 all students must take chemistry, biology and physics, but can choose to drop one in forms 3 and 4. At my school students take Christian Religious Education (some schools also offer other religious studies), geography, agriculture, business studies and government in addition to the required language, math and science classes.
At Bande Girls School the students wear uniforms, which consist of a dark blue skirt, white button down shirt, a blue tie and optional red sweaters (right now most of the girls are wearing their sweaters to class since they think it is cold… I on the other hand think it is very very hot.) Secondary school students in Kenya are also required to shave their heads, so all of the girls at my school have shaved heads. I’m sure there is more than one reason for this, one, it prevents things like lice in schools, and it also creates equality among the students. The schedule of each day is probably the biggest difference. The following is the students daily schedule:
4am-4:30 – Waking up/personal cleaning/Dressing
4:30-6:30 – Dawn Preps
6:30-7:00 – Breakfast
7:00-8:00 – Remedial work
8:00 – 10:00 – Morning Classes
10:00-10:30 – Break
10:30-1:20 - Midday Classes
1:20-2:00 – Lunch
2:00-4:00 - Afternoon Classes
4:00-5:00 - Games/Guidance and Counseling/Clubs
5:00-6:00 – Personal cleaning
6:00-7:00 – Supper
7:00-10:00 - Evening Preps
10:00-10:15 – Lights out
Some variations are that on Mondays and Fridays the school has an assembly from 7:30-8 and the girls do manual labor around the school from 7-7:30 on those days. There are games (sports practice) after classes on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Sun. Guidance and Counseling is on Wednesdays and clubs/debate are on Fridays. On the weekends the schedule is the same from 4-7am, but on Saturday the students clean their dorms for inspection between 7-10, and on Sundays the students go to church at this time. The students are in class for preps and lessons from 10-2 with lunch in the middle, then the schedule is the same again from 4-10, with the only exception on Saturdays when the students have entertainment from 4-6. For the few day scholars at my school they are expected to be at school at 6:30am and leave school at 5pm, and they must come to preps and classes on the weekends between 10-4.
Preps are basically times when the students sit in their desks and are expected to be quietly studying, reading or completing homework. Some teachers make-up lessons during this time as well. The remedial hour is for teachers to teach lessons if they are behind in the syllabus, or if the last year’s syllabus was not completed. The Kenyan syllabus is HUGE and covers many many topics, and teachers often do not finish in the time allotted.
As you can see a huge difference is the amount of time that students spend in class. (Class times plus preps) They spend a lot more time “studying” then I probably did in high school, but with limited resources (5 text books for a class of 40, no outside reference material etc.) the time can sometimes be less productive. It can also be challenging as a teacher to assign different types of homework to encourage learning. There are not materials or resources for research projects or group projects, so we have to be creative! My school is very lucky to have a lab, many schools do not have a separate lab classroom, but many of the materials are lacking. The sinks in the lab don’t currently work, and neither do the gas lines and there are only 2 microscopes. But, we are lucky to have even that, and we do have many chemicals, so I count myself and my school as lucky!
I wrote last time that I would be teaching chemistry form 1, biology forms 1 and 2, plus life skills. I am still teaching those things, but since there is a shortage of chemistry teachers I will be teaching both form 1 streams. I am also teaching life skills to all of the forms, so now I have a total of 22 lessons a week (not counting lessons on the weekend or during the morning remedial work). More than the 16 we had agreed upon, but I think it will be ok. My days are very full, especially since my school is boarding! I wake up at 6 and am at school by 7. I teach throughout the day until 4, and then head to the volleyball “court” at 4 (The volleyball court is a patch of field that we slashed and then dug lines to mark the court, we then filled the lines with ash to make them stand out, and the poles for the net are big logs, not what I am used to playing on. Plus there is sometimes the added chore of chasing chickens, dogs, donkeys and cows off the court!). I am usually out there with the students until 6 when I head to my house to bathe, clean up and relax. I either make myself dinner or I eat with my principal who lives next door.
This week was fairly uneventful, but I did have a surprise visit from my bat friend, and found a scorpion on my front step one morning. The sunrises and sunsets are absolutely amazing here, and they help to start and end my day right! I’m going to try to post some pictures of the school, my house, the surrounding scenery and the sunset and sunrise on facebook! The address to get there is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045872&id=27501679&l=02d9df7ee7
I hope everyone is doing well back home! Love you all! Cheers!
Christine Boyer PCV
C/o Bande Girls Secondary School
PO Box 55 – 40409
Muhuru Bay
Kenya
I wanted to give you some insight into what it’s like to be a secondary school student in Kenya, in many ways it is very different from being a high school student in the US, at least from my experience. First of all, secondary school is not free. Right now it is subsidized by the Kenyan government, but many families either cannot afford to send their kids to school, or really struggle to pay for school fees. Many secondary schools in Kenya are boarding schools, Bande Girls is almost totally boarding. Also, many schools are single-sex. The education system is 8-4-4 like in the US, 8 years of primary, 4 of secondary and 4 of university. (In Kenya grades 1-8 are called standard 1-8, while grades 9-12 are called Forms 1-4). But, unlike in the US, Kenyan students take national exams at the end of primary and secondary school. The KCPE is taken after finishing primary school and tests students over 8 years of information, and the KCSE is taken after finishing secondary school, and tests students over 4 years of information. Secondary school students take the KSCE in 8 subjects and are then given the option to drop one of the scores. The scores are then averaged and an overall grade is given. This grade more or less determines the rest of your life. Universities look solely at the KSCE score for admission, and employers ask for your KCSE score before offering employment. So, not only is there a lot of information covered on the exam, there is also an immense amount of pressure to do well. Students take 11 subjects in Forms 1 & 2 and 7-9 subjects in Forms 3 & 4. Students must take English, Kiswahili and math for all four years. In forms 1 and 2 all students must take chemistry, biology and physics, but can choose to drop one in forms 3 and 4. At my school students take Christian Religious Education (some schools also offer other religious studies), geography, agriculture, business studies and government in addition to the required language, math and science classes.
At Bande Girls School the students wear uniforms, which consist of a dark blue skirt, white button down shirt, a blue tie and optional red sweaters (right now most of the girls are wearing their sweaters to class since they think it is cold… I on the other hand think it is very very hot.) Secondary school students in Kenya are also required to shave their heads, so all of the girls at my school have shaved heads. I’m sure there is more than one reason for this, one, it prevents things like lice in schools, and it also creates equality among the students. The schedule of each day is probably the biggest difference. The following is the students daily schedule:
4am-4:30 – Waking up/personal cleaning/Dressing
4:30-6:30 – Dawn Preps
6:30-7:00 – Breakfast
7:00-8:00 – Remedial work
8:00 – 10:00 – Morning Classes
10:00-10:30 – Break
10:30-1:20 - Midday Classes
1:20-2:00 – Lunch
2:00-4:00 - Afternoon Classes
4:00-5:00 - Games/Guidance and Counseling/Clubs
5:00-6:00 – Personal cleaning
6:00-7:00 – Supper
7:00-10:00 - Evening Preps
10:00-10:15 – Lights out
Some variations are that on Mondays and Fridays the school has an assembly from 7:30-8 and the girls do manual labor around the school from 7-7:30 on those days. There are games (sports practice) after classes on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Sun. Guidance and Counseling is on Wednesdays and clubs/debate are on Fridays. On the weekends the schedule is the same from 4-7am, but on Saturday the students clean their dorms for inspection between 7-10, and on Sundays the students go to church at this time. The students are in class for preps and lessons from 10-2 with lunch in the middle, then the schedule is the same again from 4-10, with the only exception on Saturdays when the students have entertainment from 4-6. For the few day scholars at my school they are expected to be at school at 6:30am and leave school at 5pm, and they must come to preps and classes on the weekends between 10-4.
Preps are basically times when the students sit in their desks and are expected to be quietly studying, reading or completing homework. Some teachers make-up lessons during this time as well. The remedial hour is for teachers to teach lessons if they are behind in the syllabus, or if the last year’s syllabus was not completed. The Kenyan syllabus is HUGE and covers many many topics, and teachers often do not finish in the time allotted.
As you can see a huge difference is the amount of time that students spend in class. (Class times plus preps) They spend a lot more time “studying” then I probably did in high school, but with limited resources (5 text books for a class of 40, no outside reference material etc.) the time can sometimes be less productive. It can also be challenging as a teacher to assign different types of homework to encourage learning. There are not materials or resources for research projects or group projects, so we have to be creative! My school is very lucky to have a lab, many schools do not have a separate lab classroom, but many of the materials are lacking. The sinks in the lab don’t currently work, and neither do the gas lines and there are only 2 microscopes. But, we are lucky to have even that, and we do have many chemicals, so I count myself and my school as lucky!
I wrote last time that I would be teaching chemistry form 1, biology forms 1 and 2, plus life skills. I am still teaching those things, but since there is a shortage of chemistry teachers I will be teaching both form 1 streams. I am also teaching life skills to all of the forms, so now I have a total of 22 lessons a week (not counting lessons on the weekend or during the morning remedial work). More than the 16 we had agreed upon, but I think it will be ok. My days are very full, especially since my school is boarding! I wake up at 6 and am at school by 7. I teach throughout the day until 4, and then head to the volleyball “court” at 4 (The volleyball court is a patch of field that we slashed and then dug lines to mark the court, we then filled the lines with ash to make them stand out, and the poles for the net are big logs, not what I am used to playing on. Plus there is sometimes the added chore of chasing chickens, dogs, donkeys and cows off the court!). I am usually out there with the students until 6 when I head to my house to bathe, clean up and relax. I either make myself dinner or I eat with my principal who lives next door.
This week was fairly uneventful, but I did have a surprise visit from my bat friend, and found a scorpion on my front step one morning. The sunrises and sunsets are absolutely amazing here, and they help to start and end my day right! I’m going to try to post some pictures of the school, my house, the surrounding scenery and the sunset and sunrise on facebook! The address to get there is: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045872&id=27501679&l=02d9df7ee7
I hope everyone is doing well back home! Love you all! Cheers!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Bande - First Week at Site
I have made it safely to my site and have survived my first week at my new school. The trip was long from Nairobi, but my principal and I were able to buy a few things in Migori before we headed to Bande. I am living on the school compound, and my house is really really nice! I have four rooms (which means a guest bedroom for visitors!!!!) and have my own latrine and wash room behind my house. There is no electricity or running water, but that's fine with me. My school uses solar panels and a generator to run lights in the classrooms at night, so I am able to charge my electronics from that, which is really I all need to stay happy. Bande is much much smaller than Loitokitok, and that has taken some getting used to. There is no hoteli (restaurant) where I can grab some food if I dont want to cook, there is no supermarket, and there is only open air market on Wednesdays. The things I was accustomed to being able to buy on a daily basis during PST are now much harder to get here. The hardest part is the new language barrier. While all the teachers at my school and all the students there speak english and kiswahili, there are very few people in the town who speak either of these languages. The more common language in town in Luo, and I only know a few greetings in Luo. I need to ask a teacher, or find someone in the community who can teach me Luo, because I know that will go a long way to my intergration into the community. For now, I am focusing on my school and teaching the students.
This week I spent a lot of time in the staff room preparing lessons, as all the students are taking opening exams this week. Unfortunately for me, that meant that I was mostly bored, and wasn't really able to get to know any of the students. The other teachers are all very nice though, and I had some interesting conversations. I am looking forward to next week when I will actually be teaching, and hopefully coaching volleyball after school. But, the week was now totally boring, I did have some exciting things happen to me.... Last Saturday I went to Kisii with Chris so we could buy things for our houses like jikos (stoves) and water filters, and when we were driving back to our sites between Migori and Bande, our car hit a COW, yes a cow! The cow had been on the side of the road until just before we reached it, when it decided it wanted to be on the road.... There was no time to break and swerving would have put us in a ditch.. so we hit the cow. The cow suffered a broken leg, and probably had to be slaughtered that night, and the car lost a headlight and broke its bumper, but all of the passengers were fine, thank god. The other exciting thing happened when I returned to my house on Tuesday after a staff meeting. I opened my door and was going to open all the windows in my house to let in the breeze when something dive bombed my head. I can out of the house in a panic, and from outside I could see a bat swooping over and over again in my house. I have no idea how it got in, since I keep the windows closed when I'm not around, but there it was. With the help of one of the prefects I was able to chase the bat out of my house, and hopefully it will not return for a visit anytime soon.
I think that is about all for me now, next time I head into Migori I will bring pictures to upload. The landscape around my village is gorgeous, and the sunrises and sunsets are always amazing! Everything is green right now because it is the rainy season, but I am told soon enough everything will be brown and dead... That is also about the time I think I will die from the heat as well... Cheers!
This week I spent a lot of time in the staff room preparing lessons, as all the students are taking opening exams this week. Unfortunately for me, that meant that I was mostly bored, and wasn't really able to get to know any of the students. The other teachers are all very nice though, and I had some interesting conversations. I am looking forward to next week when I will actually be teaching, and hopefully coaching volleyball after school. But, the week was now totally boring, I did have some exciting things happen to me.... Last Saturday I went to Kisii with Chris so we could buy things for our houses like jikos (stoves) and water filters, and when we were driving back to our sites between Migori and Bande, our car hit a COW, yes a cow! The cow had been on the side of the road until just before we reached it, when it decided it wanted to be on the road.... There was no time to break and swerving would have put us in a ditch.. so we hit the cow. The cow suffered a broken leg, and probably had to be slaughtered that night, and the car lost a headlight and broke its bumper, but all of the passengers were fine, thank god. The other exciting thing happened when I returned to my house on Tuesday after a staff meeting. I opened my door and was going to open all the windows in my house to let in the breeze when something dive bombed my head. I can out of the house in a panic, and from outside I could see a bat swooping over and over again in my house. I have no idea how it got in, since I keep the windows closed when I'm not around, but there it was. With the help of one of the prefects I was able to chase the bat out of my house, and hopefully it will not return for a visit anytime soon.
I think that is about all for me now, next time I head into Migori I will bring pictures to upload. The landscape around my village is gorgeous, and the sunrises and sunsets are always amazing! Everything is green right now because it is the rainy season, but I am told soon enough everything will be brown and dead... That is also about the time I think I will die from the heat as well... Cheers!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Swearing In
First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe that it is 2010! In case you are wondering, my New Years resolution is to live in Kenya...
Secondly, it's finally official! I am a United States Peace Corps Volunteer! After the intense application process, 9 weeks of training, passing my Kiswahili language proficiency exam and more or less acclimating to life in Kenya, I was finally officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer today, along with the other 24 men and women from my training class. Our training class is a first for Peace Corps Kenya, with all 25 of us passing our language exam and all of us being sworn in as volunteers! We feel very lucky that none of us have needed to go home due to medical complications, nor were any of us sent home for administrative problems, or for not meeting the training requirements! We are awesome!
Our swearing in ceremony also marked the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps working here in Kenya, so the ceremony was held at the US Ambassador's residence and was more elaborate than usual. We listened to speeches from the PC country director, our training manager, the ambassador and the associate PC director of education. Three members of our training class also gave a speech in English, Kiswahili and Kenyan Sign Language. We took our oath of service and were presented with certificates of completion of training... and NOW WE ARE VOLUNTEERS! We are no longer to be referred to as trainees!
After the ceremony we ate cake and other treats, mingled on the gorgeous grounds, and were entertained by Kenyan traditional songs and dancing. Many of the counterparts and newest volunteers joined in dancing, and it was a really fun day! It is kind if surreal to be done with training and officially be a volunteer! I am so excited to start doing the work that I came here to do!
For the last 4 days we have been in Nairobi attending a number of workshops with our counterparts from our respective schools. (On a side note, there was a matatu strike in Nairobi, so we have been forced to use taxis exclusively to get around... which makes this more expensive, but has also allowed us to sing "Hakuna Matatu!"...) At our workshops we have talked about Peace Corps expectations, our expectations and our counterparts expectations, and from those, came up with our job descriptions for when we get to site. With my counterpart, Hellen, we decided that I will be teaching a form 1 biology class, a form 2 biology class, a form 1 chemistry class as well as life skills to both the form 1 and 2 classes. This will make for a total of 16 lessons per week, which I think will be a good load to begin with. I will also be helping coach volleyball at my school, and will possibly start a health club at my school. The main focus for the first term though, is definitely integrating into the community. I want to improve my Dholuo skills, and get a feel for what my schools and communities needs are, before I decide what other projects I may be interested in many a secondary project. I really like my counterpart and am looking forward to working with her and the other teachers at the school for the next two years!
Tomorrow morning we all head out to our respective sites. The girls at my school arrived today, and they will be taking opening exams next week, so I will have a little bit of time to acclimate and purchase the essentials for my house. I will be living on the school compound, and just found out that my school is a almost totally boarding school, and there are also other teachers that live on the compound, so that made me excited!
So, tonight is our last night together as a training class until April when we will get back together for In-Service Training (IST). We have gotten really close as a group, and though it will be hard to leave, we are all excited to get to our sites and get to work! So, tonight we are going out, to celebrate being sworn in, and also to celebrate Jenny's 23rd birthday! And, possibly take advantage of some non-Kenyan food while we are here in Nairobi (I had sushi two nights ago, and it was AMAZING!). I will try and write an update on my school, house and community as soon as I get the chance, and hopefully can include some pictures! I did post a number of pictures on facebook, because I have been able to get free internet here in Nairobi (the following link should allow you to see the pictures, even if you don't have facebook, I hope it works: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045872&id=27501679&l=02d9df7ee7 I included the picture of Charlie and his host mom that I had promised earlier...). Thanks again for all the love and support from home!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
I have had my first Kenyan Christmas. The days leading up to Christmas here in Loitokitok, it was hard to tell it was the holiday season at all, but I woke up on Christmas morning to Christmas carols being sang on TV. My host Mama and I spent the morning cooking, and then took all of the food to my host Baba’s parent’s house. As my Christmas present my host Mama gave me a new outfit to wear, and it is really pretty, a bit too big for me, but it was really really nice of her to get me something. The celebrations included eating a lot of food, most importantly goat; I was given the honor of eating some of the goat pancreas… I also got to talk to my family back at home. It was really great to hear their voices. I miss them a lot, especially during the holiday season!
Since Kenya celebrates Boxing Day, we exchanged presents on Saturday. I use the word exchange loosely because exchanging presents is not normally a part of how most Kenyans celebrate Christmas. But, in a cultural exchange, I did give gifts to my host family. They were partly Christmas and partly thank you so much for letting me stay with you gifts. I gave my host Mama a Peace Corps lesso (a kind of shawl/wrap thing, that all of the women here wear) and I gave my host Baba a calendar of Oregon. The calendar is already on the wall, and it is a nice reminder of home! The kids in my family got pens, stickers, a Frisbee, a deck of cards, and earrings (for my 16 year old sister), and I think all the presents were a big hit! And, my special Boxing Day treat was phone calls from my two best friends from home! I was so surprised when my phone rang and it was an international number, I was expecting my parents again, but was shocked when it was Cydney’s voice, and then Courtney’s voice! It was really great to hear from them, and it was so nice of my mom to arrange for them to call me! I can’t believe how lucky I am that it is so easy for me to communicate with the people I love back home!
Then, on Sunday, our training class got together to have a little Christmas celebration of our own. We did a Secret Santa gift exchange and also everyone brought little snacks. It was a fun day. It felt a lot more like Christmas than Christmas day did here.
In other news, training is almost coming to an end. We will be leaving Loitokitok next Sunday and heading to Nairobi for a while for training sessions with our future supervisors. It is hard to believe that we have really been here that long, and soon we will be officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers and we will be sent out to our respective schools. I am excited to start doing the work which I came here to do, but there is also an expected level of nervousness that comes along with leaving PST. Our swearing in date is January 6th. And, since 2010 marks the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps here in Kenya, our swearing in ceremony is going to be a bigger event than usual. The ceremony itself is taking place at the ambassador’s house, and a number of high ranking government officials have been invited. I’m sure it will be a day I will not soon forget, and I promise to take lots of pictures.
In the last few weeks we have been wrapping up PST and there has been a new focus of learning skills which will help us to integrate into our community. Those trainees who passed their LPI last time have started to study their local language, to assist with integration. I am studying Dhuluo (which literally means, mouth of the Luo), which is challenging, to say the least. Kiswahili and Dhuluo are in different language families, so while they share some words, knowing Kiswahili has not aided us much in learning the language. But, the kicker is that Dhuluo is tonal. Words that are spelled the same, when pronounced differently, mean two different things. And, since I have never encountered a tonal language before it can be incredibly difficult to decipher between the two, let alone try to recreate the sound you are supposed to be making when you say certain words! I must say, though, that the language is fun! Some of the sounds incite fits of laughter in all of the trainees learning Luo! And, I am very happy to have the advantage of knowing some Luo before I head to site!
Last week our entire training class traveled to Makindu for some FBT (Field Based Training… remember Peace Corps is a government organization, so they love their acronyms). We traveled to Makindu on Sunday. Peace Corps staff had decided that in an effort for us trainees to become more comfortable with public transportation, they would not be driving us in Peace Corps vehicles, but instead we were on our own to find our way there. Jenny, Whitney, Margaret and I arranged for a matatu to take us to Emali where we would need to switch matatus for the short remainder of the trip to Makindu. Since I am almost positive most of you don’t have firsthand experience with matatus, I will try my best to explain the experience. Matatus are mini buses that serve as the main mode of transportation between towns, and also around major cities like Nairobi. They usually have 14 seats. And by seats, I mean legal, has a seat belt, comfortable seats. BUT, most matatus cram as many people as possible into them in an effort to make more money. At one point between Emali and Makindu we counted 21 people in our Matatu. Some Matatus are falling apart, and their top speed is about 20MPH, while others are very nice and even have video screens that project music videos during the ride. Since the road linking Loitokitok to Emali is only partially paved the trip takes about 2 hours but can take up to 3 hours, despite it being only about 115 Km away. The ride from Emali to Makindu was less than an hour, and we all arrived safely, and with more matatu experience under our belts!
In Makindu we visited the current project of a currently serving Peace Corps volunteer in the business sector. She is working with the Makindu Children’s Center. This center provides services and support to OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) and to their caretakers. The children at the center performed songs for us, and we heard from a student who graduated the program and is now studying law. The current PCV gave us excellent insight into how to integrate into the community and also ideas on what kind of secondary projects we can be involved in. We also visited a VCT center and the local hospital’s AIDS/HIV center. But, at least for me, the highlight of the trip was watching various groups perform songs and dances in their traditional style which portrayed educational messages regarding AIDS/HIV. One of the groups was made up of young men and women, while another was comprised of women who were all above the age of 60. It was one of the most powerful experiences I have had since arriving in Kenya. I was struck by these women who were doing all they could to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV and their use of traditional styles of song and dance were very powerful. It was inspiring and humbling all at the same time. AIDS/HIV is a huge issue in all of Africa, and the numbers can be daunting and overwhelming to say the least, but there are things that can be done to make a difference, and these women are definitely going their part to make that difference.
Well, that’s all from me. I’m really sorry the pictures didn’t upload last time, but I will try again today and hope that I have better luck! Thanks for all the Christmas wishes, emails, and facebook messages! Love you and miss you all! And I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!
I have had my first Kenyan Christmas. The days leading up to Christmas here in Loitokitok, it was hard to tell it was the holiday season at all, but I woke up on Christmas morning to Christmas carols being sang on TV. My host Mama and I spent the morning cooking, and then took all of the food to my host Baba’s parent’s house. As my Christmas present my host Mama gave me a new outfit to wear, and it is really pretty, a bit too big for me, but it was really really nice of her to get me something. The celebrations included eating a lot of food, most importantly goat; I was given the honor of eating some of the goat pancreas… I also got to talk to my family back at home. It was really great to hear their voices. I miss them a lot, especially during the holiday season!
Since Kenya celebrates Boxing Day, we exchanged presents on Saturday. I use the word exchange loosely because exchanging presents is not normally a part of how most Kenyans celebrate Christmas. But, in a cultural exchange, I did give gifts to my host family. They were partly Christmas and partly thank you so much for letting me stay with you gifts. I gave my host Mama a Peace Corps lesso (a kind of shawl/wrap thing, that all of the women here wear) and I gave my host Baba a calendar of Oregon. The calendar is already on the wall, and it is a nice reminder of home! The kids in my family got pens, stickers, a Frisbee, a deck of cards, and earrings (for my 16 year old sister), and I think all the presents were a big hit! And, my special Boxing Day treat was phone calls from my two best friends from home! I was so surprised when my phone rang and it was an international number, I was expecting my parents again, but was shocked when it was Cydney’s voice, and then Courtney’s voice! It was really great to hear from them, and it was so nice of my mom to arrange for them to call me! I can’t believe how lucky I am that it is so easy for me to communicate with the people I love back home!
Then, on Sunday, our training class got together to have a little Christmas celebration of our own. We did a Secret Santa gift exchange and also everyone brought little snacks. It was a fun day. It felt a lot more like Christmas than Christmas day did here.
In other news, training is almost coming to an end. We will be leaving Loitokitok next Sunday and heading to Nairobi for a while for training sessions with our future supervisors. It is hard to believe that we have really been here that long, and soon we will be officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers and we will be sent out to our respective schools. I am excited to start doing the work which I came here to do, but there is also an expected level of nervousness that comes along with leaving PST. Our swearing in date is January 6th. And, since 2010 marks the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps here in Kenya, our swearing in ceremony is going to be a bigger event than usual. The ceremony itself is taking place at the ambassador’s house, and a number of high ranking government officials have been invited. I’m sure it will be a day I will not soon forget, and I promise to take lots of pictures.
In the last few weeks we have been wrapping up PST and there has been a new focus of learning skills which will help us to integrate into our community. Those trainees who passed their LPI last time have started to study their local language, to assist with integration. I am studying Dhuluo (which literally means, mouth of the Luo), which is challenging, to say the least. Kiswahili and Dhuluo are in different language families, so while they share some words, knowing Kiswahili has not aided us much in learning the language. But, the kicker is that Dhuluo is tonal. Words that are spelled the same, when pronounced differently, mean two different things. And, since I have never encountered a tonal language before it can be incredibly difficult to decipher between the two, let alone try to recreate the sound you are supposed to be making when you say certain words! I must say, though, that the language is fun! Some of the sounds incite fits of laughter in all of the trainees learning Luo! And, I am very happy to have the advantage of knowing some Luo before I head to site!
Last week our entire training class traveled to Makindu for some FBT (Field Based Training… remember Peace Corps is a government organization, so they love their acronyms). We traveled to Makindu on Sunday. Peace Corps staff had decided that in an effort for us trainees to become more comfortable with public transportation, they would not be driving us in Peace Corps vehicles, but instead we were on our own to find our way there. Jenny, Whitney, Margaret and I arranged for a matatu to take us to Emali where we would need to switch matatus for the short remainder of the trip to Makindu. Since I am almost positive most of you don’t have firsthand experience with matatus, I will try my best to explain the experience. Matatus are mini buses that serve as the main mode of transportation between towns, and also around major cities like Nairobi. They usually have 14 seats. And by seats, I mean legal, has a seat belt, comfortable seats. BUT, most matatus cram as many people as possible into them in an effort to make more money. At one point between Emali and Makindu we counted 21 people in our Matatu. Some Matatus are falling apart, and their top speed is about 20MPH, while others are very nice and even have video screens that project music videos during the ride. Since the road linking Loitokitok to Emali is only partially paved the trip takes about 2 hours but can take up to 3 hours, despite it being only about 115 Km away. The ride from Emali to Makindu was less than an hour, and we all arrived safely, and with more matatu experience under our belts!
In Makindu we visited the current project of a currently serving Peace Corps volunteer in the business sector. She is working with the Makindu Children’s Center. This center provides services and support to OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) and to their caretakers. The children at the center performed songs for us, and we heard from a student who graduated the program and is now studying law. The current PCV gave us excellent insight into how to integrate into the community and also ideas on what kind of secondary projects we can be involved in. We also visited a VCT center and the local hospital’s AIDS/HIV center. But, at least for me, the highlight of the trip was watching various groups perform songs and dances in their traditional style which portrayed educational messages regarding AIDS/HIV. One of the groups was made up of young men and women, while another was comprised of women who were all above the age of 60. It was one of the most powerful experiences I have had since arriving in Kenya. I was struck by these women who were doing all they could to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV and their use of traditional styles of song and dance were very powerful. It was inspiring and humbling all at the same time. AIDS/HIV is a huge issue in all of Africa, and the numbers can be daunting and overwhelming to say the least, but there are things that can be done to make a difference, and these women are definitely going their part to make that difference.
Well, that’s all from me. I’m really sorry the pictures didn’t upload last time, but I will try again today and hope that I have better luck! Thanks for all the Christmas wishes, emails, and facebook messages! Love you and miss you all! And I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Happy (belated) One Month Anniversary!
December 4th marked our one month mark in country! To celebrate, a large group of the trainees along with two of the current volunteers, who are here in town helping with training, went on a hike! The hike was absolutely beautiful and I am going to try to upload picture from the hike when I am done with the blog.
Saturday was our first official LPI test… An LPI is a Language Proficiency Interview. It is the test that all Peace Corps trainees around the world have to take in order to be sworn in at the end of training. For trainees in Kenya, we learn Kiswahili, the countries national language (English is also a national language…) and we have to pass our LPI with a minimum score of Intermediate Low in order to be sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers. In case you are wondering what intermediate-low means, I’ll tell you! Our trainee handbook has the definition as: “Able to handle a limited number of interactive, task-oriented and social situations. Can ask and answer questions, create new phrases, initiate and respond to simple statements with complete sentences and maintain face-to-face conversations, although in a restricted manner and with linguistic inaccuracy. Within these limitations, can manage simple situations such as asking directions, making purchases, giving personal information. Vocabulary is adequate to express the most elementary needs. Strong interference from native language may occur. Misunderstandings frequently arise but with repetition the Intermediate-Low speaker can generally be understood by sympathetic listeners.” (The trick with Int-Low, which isn’t talked about here, though, is that you have to know a certain number of verb tenses, and have a sufficient vocabulary as well). Also, during the LPI there are usually a few role play scenarios, where you have to role play ordering in a restaurant, bargaining in the market, explain how to cook a Kenyan dish, or reserve a room in a hotel.
When we take the LPIs that can count it is with outside testers, not the language trainers whom have been teaching us for the last 5 weeks. If we passed yesterday we can request to switch to the local tribal language of the region in which we will be serving. If we do not pass there is a final LPI at the end of week 8. For practice, the trainers have put on two “mini” LPI’s, one at the end of week 2, and one at the end of 4 weeks. On the first LPI, I scored novice mid, which is two levels away from Int-Low. And then last week, I scored novice-high, which is only one level away from Int-Low!!! I was very exciting to be improving and am truly amazed at the amount of language that you can learn when you are immersed in it, and when you are in language class for about 4 hours a day! I just found out that I passed at intermediate-low! YAYYYYYYY! It is really nice to pass now because now I can start learning Kiluo. I will be serving my two years in Nyanza Province, which is where the Luo tribe is concentrated. It would be a huge advantage to my integration if I was able to learn Kiluo before going there! I have heard that Kiswahili is not spoken much in my area, and if you do not speak Kiluo, they would prefer to speak with you in English, not Kiswahili... So, there is extra motivation.
About my future site! I will be teaching in an all girls secondary school in the subjects of biology and chemistry. The school has also requested that I implement and teach the life skills course, which is a kind of general class which covers topics such as HIV/AIDS, non violent conflict resolution, relationships and hygiene. I am very excited! Like I said, I will be in Nyanza Province, my site in close to Lake Victoria and also fairly close to the Tanzanian border. If you are looking on a map, my village is not far from Migorii. Apparently there was a Peace Corps volunteer placed at my site a few years ago, but she had only been there a month before the evacuation and suspension of the Peace Corps / Kenya program. My mom was able to track down her blog for me, so I have read a little bit about my future site and the school. From her blog and from what our program director has told me, my site is gorgeous! The principal of my school is an amazing woman who has really grown the size of my school. My house is on the school compound, it has 4 rooms (so an extra bedroom for guests!), no electricity or running water, but my school has electricity and has a water tank from which I can get water. I am really excited, and I am looking forward to my site! It will be very bitter sweet to leave training though, I have become very close with my host family, especially my host mama, and I know it will be hard to leave. Also, during the day all of us trainees spend so much time together, that it will be a huge change to not see the other trainees every day. But, since most of us are concentrated in Nyanza province, we should be able to get together every once in awhile. I am also pretty lucky, in that I am not far from two other trainees. So, if I need a quick trip away I can visit one of them.
I have been hearing that it is freezing cold back home, and while most people are complaining, I have to say that I miss cold weather! It has been warm the whole time we have been here, at least to me… The locals are all telling me how cold it is and they are wearing jackets and sweaters while I am sweating in my short sleeve shirt…. I guess I have yet to adjust to the heat… But, Nyanza province is even warmer than here, so I better get on that. I also hope everyone is enjoying all the Christmas music (I miss it!) if you tried here it would not be hard to be completely oblivious to the fact that it is the holiday season. Not only does the weather not fit with my holiday season paradigm, but I have yet to see a Christmas themed commercial or hear any Christmas music, let alone any decorations! The rare time that I remember it is almost Christmas, I am caught totally off guard, and it just doesn’t seem to fit. I am going to try to listen to some of the Christmas music that I brought, and maybe see if I can watch Love Actually on one of the other trainees computers, I think that will get me in the holiday spirit!
Well, that’s all from me… I am going to try to upload some more photos for your enjoyment! Look for the captions in the comments section of the post! And, since Charlie (one of the other trainees) was nice enough to let me have some of the pictures off of his camera last time, and I know his mom has seen my blog, I am going to include a picture of him and his host stay Mama! Enjoy!
Saturday was our first official LPI test… An LPI is a Language Proficiency Interview. It is the test that all Peace Corps trainees around the world have to take in order to be sworn in at the end of training. For trainees in Kenya, we learn Kiswahili, the countries national language (English is also a national language…) and we have to pass our LPI with a minimum score of Intermediate Low in order to be sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers. In case you are wondering what intermediate-low means, I’ll tell you! Our trainee handbook has the definition as: “Able to handle a limited number of interactive, task-oriented and social situations. Can ask and answer questions, create new phrases, initiate and respond to simple statements with complete sentences and maintain face-to-face conversations, although in a restricted manner and with linguistic inaccuracy. Within these limitations, can manage simple situations such as asking directions, making purchases, giving personal information. Vocabulary is adequate to express the most elementary needs. Strong interference from native language may occur. Misunderstandings frequently arise but with repetition the Intermediate-Low speaker can generally be understood by sympathetic listeners.” (The trick with Int-Low, which isn’t talked about here, though, is that you have to know a certain number of verb tenses, and have a sufficient vocabulary as well). Also, during the LPI there are usually a few role play scenarios, where you have to role play ordering in a restaurant, bargaining in the market, explain how to cook a Kenyan dish, or reserve a room in a hotel.
When we take the LPIs that can count it is with outside testers, not the language trainers whom have been teaching us for the last 5 weeks. If we passed yesterday we can request to switch to the local tribal language of the region in which we will be serving. If we do not pass there is a final LPI at the end of week 8. For practice, the trainers have put on two “mini” LPI’s, one at the end of week 2, and one at the end of 4 weeks. On the first LPI, I scored novice mid, which is two levels away from Int-Low. And then last week, I scored novice-high, which is only one level away from Int-Low!!! I was very exciting to be improving and am truly amazed at the amount of language that you can learn when you are immersed in it, and when you are in language class for about 4 hours a day! I just found out that I passed at intermediate-low! YAYYYYYYY! It is really nice to pass now because now I can start learning Kiluo. I will be serving my two years in Nyanza Province, which is where the Luo tribe is concentrated. It would be a huge advantage to my integration if I was able to learn Kiluo before going there! I have heard that Kiswahili is not spoken much in my area, and if you do not speak Kiluo, they would prefer to speak with you in English, not Kiswahili... So, there is extra motivation.
About my future site! I will be teaching in an all girls secondary school in the subjects of biology and chemistry. The school has also requested that I implement and teach the life skills course, which is a kind of general class which covers topics such as HIV/AIDS, non violent conflict resolution, relationships and hygiene. I am very excited! Like I said, I will be in Nyanza Province, my site in close to Lake Victoria and also fairly close to the Tanzanian border. If you are looking on a map, my village is not far from Migorii. Apparently there was a Peace Corps volunteer placed at my site a few years ago, but she had only been there a month before the evacuation and suspension of the Peace Corps / Kenya program. My mom was able to track down her blog for me, so I have read a little bit about my future site and the school. From her blog and from what our program director has told me, my site is gorgeous! The principal of my school is an amazing woman who has really grown the size of my school. My house is on the school compound, it has 4 rooms (so an extra bedroom for guests!), no electricity or running water, but my school has electricity and has a water tank from which I can get water. I am really excited, and I am looking forward to my site! It will be very bitter sweet to leave training though, I have become very close with my host family, especially my host mama, and I know it will be hard to leave. Also, during the day all of us trainees spend so much time together, that it will be a huge change to not see the other trainees every day. But, since most of us are concentrated in Nyanza province, we should be able to get together every once in awhile. I am also pretty lucky, in that I am not far from two other trainees. So, if I need a quick trip away I can visit one of them.
I have been hearing that it is freezing cold back home, and while most people are complaining, I have to say that I miss cold weather! It has been warm the whole time we have been here, at least to me… The locals are all telling me how cold it is and they are wearing jackets and sweaters while I am sweating in my short sleeve shirt…. I guess I have yet to adjust to the heat… But, Nyanza province is even warmer than here, so I better get on that. I also hope everyone is enjoying all the Christmas music (I miss it!) if you tried here it would not be hard to be completely oblivious to the fact that it is the holiday season. Not only does the weather not fit with my holiday season paradigm, but I have yet to see a Christmas themed commercial or hear any Christmas music, let alone any decorations! The rare time that I remember it is almost Christmas, I am caught totally off guard, and it just doesn’t seem to fit. I am going to try to listen to some of the Christmas music that I brought, and maybe see if I can watch Love Actually on one of the other trainees computers, I think that will get me in the holiday spirit!
Well, that’s all from me… I am going to try to upload some more photos for your enjoyment! Look for the captions in the comments section of the post! And, since Charlie (one of the other trainees) was nice enough to let me have some of the pictures off of his camera last time, and I know his mom has seen my blog, I am going to include a picture of him and his host stay Mama! Enjoy!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
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