What exactly does working mean? Let me tell you

So you might be wondering what exactly it is that I am doing here, other than seeing giraffes that is. My “job” is somewhat hard to nail down as I don’t really do the same thing everyday. The most simple way to put it is that I do the things that no one else has time for. The first two weeks I mostly sorted through the boxes of things they moved over from their old office, books and files and such. The thing is that a soon as our new, bigger office is finished we’re moving again but at least then we won’t be all crammed into a small space. I should explain what exactly the “office” is because I’m sure what I’ll explain is not what most people would expect. Because a lot of our major partners are Quaker churches the office is on the same lot as two churches and a couple projects. There’s a nursery school and a refugee tailoring project as well as a fine arts college that rents a building on the lot. Our office is off to one side of the property. It’s a bright blue shipping container that’s been converted into an office with some shelving and a couple desks. It works except that at any given time there could be four of us there, even five, and then if people come for meetings things get a little interesting. They also want to hire another person just before I leave to pick up where I will leave off. Our new office will also be a container, but much bigger with two rooms and a patio/sitting area out front. We may also keep the one we’re in now for meetings but we’re not sure yet.

But back to my “job”, Change Agents for Peace International (CAPI) works a little bit in Kenya but mostly in Rwanda, Burundi, and Eastern Congo so I don’t directly in one of their projects. At this point I’m working on collecting resources and looking into microcredit programs because we’re being offered a grant to develop some programs in Rwanda and Burundi. So this week I’m going to be going around to different projects in the city to find out how they are set up and then put together a bit of a proposal. In February I’m only going to be in Nairobi from the 1st – 5th and then from the 10th – 16th because Bridget and I are going to go and visit and work with the projects in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo and then attend a Strategic Peacebuilding Seminar in Gitega, Burundi before coming back on March 2nd. Hopefully that gives you somewhat of a picture, not the most exciting to read about I’m sure, but now you know.

Is that a social life I see?

So for the past few weeks, since I got here I guess the only people I've been meeting have been through work stuff which is fine but doesn't make for exciting weekends. Thursday was the closing ceremony for the World Social Forum, I went on my own and ended up running into Allison and the group later on but near the beginning I had gotten up from my spot on the grass to get closer for a picture. Another girl nearby had done the same thing and in the process of taking pictures let me take her spot to get a better shot and then she left and I thought nothing of it. About an hour later all of a sudden I saw her again and she came up and we started talking, turns out she's living in nairobi as well, pretty close to where I work so we traded cell numbers and on saturday I went out to a movie with her and some of her friends. We saw Blood Diamond...I'd definitely recommend it, its slightly disturbing at times but so powerful. We were all kind of speechless walking out of the theatre. It was a lot of fun and we went to the market together on Sunday after church as well.

On a different note, I was out for dinner last night at the home of an Ethiopian couple Bridget (who I work with) is friends with. I've met the husband a few times in my adventures trying to locate my bags because he's a taxi driver but hadn't met his wife. They've got a little girl who is 9 months old an so adorable. So I got an authentic Ethiopian meal for dinner. We didn't have dessert but we did have coffee. She roasted the coffee beans right there in the living room over a burner, then ground and brewed the coffee, it smelled amazing and tasted even better.

Apologies to the vegetarians

With the world social forum now officially over I can go back to normal life. For the past five days I’ve been leaving the house before the sun comes up and getting back after dark. Most of the events were being held on the other side of Nairobi so I’d get on a bus to downtown at 6:30, meet up with Allison and the four people she was with at their hotel and then get a ride to the Moi International Sports Center to get there around 8:30 when the first sessions were scheduled to start. We’d attend sessions and events until around 5 and then catch a ride to downtown where I’d get in line to take a bus home usually arriving around 7 totally exhausted. In the evening I'd basically crash on the couch and watch the news until we eat around 8 and then around 9 head to bed to do it all over again.

The World Social Forum was quite an experience. Uhuru Park where the opening and closing ceremonies took place is just downtown and is used for things like graduations, and presidential inaugurations. Desmond Tutu helped open the forum along with some speeches by other “important” people with lots of musical and cultural performances in between. The closing ceremonies were similar with lots of music and speeches by Danny Glover and Wangari Maathai, a famous environmentalist.

My dad would describe the people attending the forum as a bunch of anti-capitalist hippies and there probably were a group of those but people were there from all over, discussing a huge range of issues. Being on the more revolutionary side of things meant that there was no shortage of controversy and there were a few protests that caused some excitement. First were the protests over charging 50 shillings at the gate to Kenyan’s to attend for the day which resulted in them allowing them in for free. The protesters would tell you that they had to charge the gate en masse to force their way in. There were also protests over the price of food within the sports center. Wilson Hotel was given to prime spots within the gates while a “food court” was set up under tents just outside but there were no signs and few people really knew it was there. Not only was the food at Wilson’s beyond the reach of most Kenyans (about 400 shillings or $6.50) it is owned by the minister of internal security, a person associated with the repressive colonial government. On the last day of workshops a protest was staged by a bunch of kids and youth as well as some adults demanding free food. The people working there started giving free food to the kids, but the adults started helping themselves, even to the food of other customers until the place was cleaned out. As for the sessions and workshops, I went to three two and a half hour sessions today and I’m still processing the tone of information. In general a lot of great ideas were put forward but as usual unless they are put to some use all the talk is useless. This year’s forum did add a fourth day of sessions that brought together groups working on similar issues to create actions plans in an effort to ensure that the forum isn’t just about theorizing but time will tell whether it was successful.

Now for where my earlier apology comes in. Allison and the rest of the delegation she was with from the American Friends Service Committee ended up kind of adopting me into their group so on Wednesday night when they planned a group dinner they invited me along. Carnivore is a must go restaurant for many people coming to Nairobi and as you’ve probably guessed from the name they specialize in meat. You pay something between 25-30 dollars which includes soup, salad, dinner, and dessert and coffee ortea. First we had cream of spinach soup, then salad and then they bring out hot cast iron plates and the feasting begins. Everyone gets a baked potato and then servers come around with skewers of every kind of meat you could want and keep coming until you surrender by lowering the white flag in the middle of the table. Beef, lamb, lamb chops, pork roast, pork ribs, turkey, chicken, chicken wings, chicken liver, crocodile, and ostrich meatballs to name a few. We barely had room for dessert and coffee and I needed very little to eat for breakfast the next morning. Not that that ended up being a bad thing, I’m not really into spam and bread.

Laundry day!

About once a week the taps at my house actually work which means everyone gets busy filling all the containers of water we have and then try to get all the washing done because you never know when it will get turned off. Not that we can't do laundry without the water running but washing uses a lot so what ever can hold off till the water comes back on does. Its all hand washing though and I guess I don't have the right callouses on my hands yet because they're feeling a little raw from all the washing, kind of pruny too. Oh well, hurray for clean clothes!

steph

Somethings are easier to avoid than others...but not standing in long lines

Now that i've been here for more than a few days I've discovered a couple new places. Starting with one I will certainly avoid is WIMPY! It seems to be Africa's McDonalds and I've never heard a negative word about it from an African but I can tell you that I'm not sure their burgers are anything close to beef. South Africa had them everywhere and today I discovered one in downtown Nairobi. The other which will take a little more self control is a place called java, only a 10 minute walk from the office but on the way from my house. Anyway, I was taking an American who had just arrived for the World Social Forum around and Bridget suggested the place for a caffeine fix as Allison had only arrived the night before and was feeling jet lagged. Allison had an iced mochacino and I had an iced hazelnut latte and both were amazing...better and bigger than any starbucks drink and cheaper. I will definitely be going back.

On a completely different note, everyone seems to want to know about the weather so here you have it. During the day the temperature is between +25 and +30. In the mornings and evenings it does cool off because of the altitude but I still don't think its actually cold. Closer to the end of my trip the rainy season starts and the nights do get cold they tell me and by then I'll probably have aclimatized enough that I'll feel its cold as well.

My other adventure for the week has been registering for the world social forum. Allison and I went in to town yesterday so that she could confirm her registration and so that I could register. After being sent to a few wrong lines I got to where I had to pay. The way you paid was by buying celtel minutes (my phone provider is safaricom) which meant I to switch my phone, buy 7300 shillings worth of credits and then send that by text message so that I could get my pin number which they use to register you into the program. After waiting almost an hour I left to keep trying to send the message on my own because their line was busy, but it never went to I went back today, waited another hour and then finally was registered...nothing is as easy as it should be here. Yesterday after I had hoped to register Allison and I were going to go up to the top of the registration building, the second highest in East Africa to see the city but just wanted to get out of there after waiting so long so instead we went to a giraffe park which was much more fun. We got to feed them and walk around a bit. I'll try to post some pictures once I get them off my camera.

That's all the excitement I have to report for now. I'm feeling more adjusted now which is nice, I'm feeling a little tired of being somewhat dependent on others for basic things. The only thing is that routine is constantly changing here but somethings I'm hoping will stay the same.

stephanie

Settling in...only slightly wet

So my luggage saga continues. I got one bag on Saturday and so I moved my things into my new home. Here they call them servant’s quarters or an SQ which is probably a more accurate description. Then Bridget got a text message in the middle of the night on Sunday saying my other bag had arrived so I tried calling on Monday but no one would pick up until about 4 in the afternoon. I told them to drop it at Bridget’s house which is much easier to give directions to, but no one came until yesterday morning. After finally getting all my things in to the SQ I thought…great now I can get myself organized…so I opened the bag to unpack it and what did I find? Well all my things which is good since sometimes things go missing, but everything except for my slippers and one sweater were all wet…if only bags could talk.

Getting back to the weekend, on Sunday I went to church with Elizabeth (the lady I’m staying with) since I haven’t quite gotten the transportation thing figured out. The service started at 10:30 and ended three hours later…by the time we got home it was after 2pm. Those of you who have gone to an African church service you’ll understand this next bit, the rest of you just keep reading. We’re in a small room with concrete walls so everything echos, African’s, especially women feel the need to sing at the top of their lungs almost all the time no matter how off key they might be, and the sound system is kind of old and turned up way to high which amplifies the sound and the echoing. Kind of like being in a tin can. Once you get past all that, and standing for at least half of the 3 hours it was pretty good.

For the record, and to the disappointment of my dad I have not eaten or seen anything like monkey meat. Lunch at the office is whatever we find, pizza from the place around the corner once a week or someone walks next door to the grocery store to buy sandwich stuff. There is also a really good smoothie place just down the road that makes you feel like you’ve eaten a whole meal. At home however it’s a different story. The family I’m staying with is Congolese. Their food is similar to traditional Kenyan food but a little different. Omletes…really just eggs and onions…and bread has been breakfast since Sunday until today when no one had eggs to buy. Instead there was bread, peanut butter, and some canned, super oily fish which I passed on. Tea is also usually made but it’s a malted drink that tastes more like drinking hot chocolate. Not that I don’t like hot chocolate, but not at 7:30 in the morning, so yesterday I went and bought something that is more like what the rest of the world calls tea. Yesterday I also got a gas burner thing, not really a hot plate, more like a small propane tank with a burner that screws into the top and then a round metal piece on top that serves an the element I guess. Having it means I can heat my own water in the morning for my “shower”. Shower in quotation marks because I fill a tub, not a bath tub but a round plastic one that takes up most of the room in a normal sized shower, and then use a bucket to wash. It was a little awkward to start but I’m getting the hang of it. Using my own shower this morning was nice because I don’t have to leave the SQ until I feel like communicating with the rest of the world.

Anyway I should get back to real work now…which I’ll try to write about next time.

My own clothes...if only

Its now day number 5 since I left home and I still have 9 pairs of clean underwear but only because my bags are still in London, England...British Airways is hopeful that it will come tonight but that's been the line since I got here.

So from the beginning, I got on my plane at 8:45 am, exhausted and ready to sleep all the way to Montreal only to discover and 85 year old Irish lady sitting in my window seat so I did my good deed for the day, mostly because I was too tired to argue, and took the aisle and got no sleep. Getting to Montreal at 12:30 I discovered a second wind in anticipation of settling in at some sports bar to watch the Patriots demolish the Jets (which the did) but found nothing. Only 7 hours later I was once again on a plane trying to get some sleep. British Airways my favorite airline after spending a flight on Jazz had these great headrests with sides that come down so your head doesn't flop around when you fall asleep. After switching flights, I got on my flight to Nairobi at the furthest possible gate for my 8 hour flight to Nairobi where British Airways became my least favourite airline when my bags never appeared. But my ride was there waiting, with a sign with my name on it that they'd been holding for almost an hour while I waited for my bags and then filed my missing baggage papers. We went back to Bridget's appartment where I went to bed after she found me some pj's and then slept until noon.

The next day we went to the office...a small remodeled shipping container...where I met Elizabeth and Jacinta, both are really nice. Later on we went to Elizabeth's where I'll be living. My space is a U-shaped building. One one side is a bed and coffee table, on the other side is a couch and a closet space for my clothes, and of course the bathroom which is like a tiny closet where the shower drain doubles as a toilet. Thankfully I think I'll be using the shower in the main house...sorry to disappoint you. I haven't moved in yet because it needs a couple things which should be there now and of course my things so I can't really say how things will be yet.

There was a luggage false alarm when I called the airport and they said they had one bag, but when I got there this morning it wasn't...due to a small error both bags were still in London.

Well after that small essay you can now decide to put up with potentially long winded posts or talk to me when I get home but I can't tell you I'll remember them all.