It has been almost a week since I last blogged, yet not all that much has changed. I have not had a very productive week which has been frustrating. There’s always tomorrow I guess for after all, this is Africa. I never fare very well with my American mindset for long. The highlights of the week include:
Family visits: This week Katherine, another host sister, and Aunt Lucy came to visit. Katherine came in overnight from Nairobi to spend Sunday and Monday here. She is in her third year at Catholic University in Nairobi studying development. I met her when she came in a turned on the light at about 6 am. She slept while we went to mass and was wasted no time at all in getting settled in as she was doing the dishes when we got back. It was great to get to talk to her. She is very funny! Tuesday night, Sarah left when I got back to go pick up her aunt who’d be staying with us that night (I never seem to know very far in advance about guests, although it really doesn’t bother me). Aunt Lucy came and, I was proud to know enough how things work to play hostess all by myself. Lucy was pick-pocketed on the way to visit us from the conference she was helping run, but didn’t seem overly upset. She was quite the character and told me what it was like being a twin and having two sets of twins herself. Quite chaotic. I’m really glad that I have been able to meet more family members. I’m hoping to have a free weekend to go up to Teso where Immaculate has lived almost all of her life to meet more people and see her in her social prime.
A Music Festival: On Tuesday, the students were competing in the poetry portion of a music festival at a local secondary school. I decided to tag along, after waiting almost two hours later than the departure time I was told. The festival was awesome! The kids performed right away and did very well. From there I wandered watching groups practice and went to see some of the traditional dance performances. It was probably the most stereotypical African experience I have had since being here. I loved getting to listen to choirs, watch performances, and soak in the culture. The students from countless schools had a lot of free reign, so just people watching was entertaining as well. The kids all wanted me to buy them sweets from the venders who were littered around the site, which I consistently refused. I also had a very good conversation with Kevin their teacher and coach. He’s only 22, so it was really cool to be able to get perspective of a young working adult. He teaches from 6-6 and then takes night classes so he can get a management degree. I was very impressed. A sack lunch in Kenya consists of sending loaves of bread and soda, which was surprisingly good. I walked back to Divine Providence with the kids. I quickly gave up on keeping tabs on all of them and just walked back near the slowest walkers. I ran into fellow intern Sarah on the way which was exciting. I was very glad to get to see so many performances, even though I didn’t really get any work done.
Friends at the Gate: Every day I walk past the gate of Kakamega High School, a national school that boards about 1200 students. I have slowly started getting to know the security guys who work at the gate. Yesterday, I sat and talked with them and some of the piki piki drivers hanging around for about half an hour. People always love talking to the muzungu! As usual, me helping them financially in some way was brought up at some time, but we joked a lot and overall had a good time!
Bike Brawls: Lastly, comes my weekly, “Did that actually just happen moment?”. I was riding on a piki piki (motorcycle) into town on Saturday morning to go to my FSD meeting. There was a man in a long black coat and sunglasses standing in the middle of the road and so we slowed to go around him. My driver didn’t even say anything, but the man (who was clearly drunk) just punched him out of nowhere. I was hit with the follow through, although not painfully. I was in shock. I momentarily thought he was going to try to rob me, but we were long gone about 5 seconds later. We just kept going on our way and made it safely to my destination. It was just a bizarre experience. Bernard, that very piki piki driver, was hanging out at the gate yesterday and had no idea where that had come from either. It had to be the least safe I have felt in Kenya, although it was for about ten seconds. I would feel less safe just riding on a motorcycle at home. Don’t worry.
Hope you’ve had a great week!
Kelly
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