Jambo! From Kenya

Jambo rafikis! (Hello friends!)

I’m in Kenya, and my time here has been incredible!

After a sleepless 14 hour bus ride, Jessamy and I made it to Limuru on Monday morning at 8 am. We were lucky that Easy Coach allowed us to be dropped off before Nairobe, where a friend of hers picked us up. Last summer, Jessamy worked with a program called Uhuru Child, which helped to build greenhouses in an IDP camp called Jikazi. Her friends, Lydiah and Frances, invited us to stay with them for a few nights in Limuru so we could explore the area.  We went to Lydiah’s house to drop off our luggage and eat a nice omelette breakfast. Lydiah works for Uhuru Child and so she took us to work with her in Jikazi on Monday and Tuesday. The IDP camp is in the Great Rift Valley, and about a 15 minute drive from the house. The road that winds down from Limuru to the valley is called the Escarpment. It’s super narrow and as it is the main highway between pretty much all the East African countries, it’s overcrowded with huge cargo trucks, which play the game of who can pass each other before the oncoming car gets there. Not safe. It’s been raining a lot in that area of Kenya (North of Nairobe), so the roads are flooded and crumbling. Despite all of this, the view from the car as we drove down the Escarpment was breathtaking, and the rain has made all the vegetation so lush and green. Additionally, it was fun to see families of baboons running alongside our car as it crawled down the edge of the mountain.

In Jikazi, we spent some time with Jessamy’s host family from last summer, and her namesake, baby Jessamy. Her host mom took us under her wing for the day and gave us chores to do. We helped her dig and weed in her Shamba (garden). Then we picked skuma wiki, which is a spinach-like vegetable, and she helped us cook it and oogali (corn flour added to water and boiled, same as Ugandan posho) for lunch. Her kids, Joseph, John and Hannah all came home from school for lunch, so it was fun to see them! Then we got to clean all the family’s dishes from the past few days. It was a lot of work, but I didn’t mind since I was spared most house chores all semester from my Kampala homestay family. It was really amazing to see how hospitable and giving she and the other residents of the IDP camp were to us, when they have so little. I could literally feel it in my heart how loving and selfless they were.

On Tuesday, after visiting with the families again, Jessamy and I decided to explore the valley around the camp. We went for a long walk across the fields. Just a few days before our arrival, the plates under the GRV shifted and a huge crack appeared. It’s right near the camp, so we got to go explore the crack and climb down into it. We walked through herds of goats, sheep, donkeys and cows, being herded by the nomadic Masai warriors. There are a few Masai villages in the area, and it was neat to be able to see them strolling nobly across the open plain. They’re all tall and dress in red cloth and beaded jewelry and carry big walking sticks. I think they’re the most beautiful people I have ever seen. After our walk, we helped out with some of the Uhuru Child staff in the greenhouses by planting iceberg lettuce. I am glad that my time after my program ended hasn’t been a complete tourist experience. Afterwards, Jess and I sat in on a meeting with the head of the program and the community leaders of Jikazi discussing future plans of involvement. It felt good to be contributing to the settlement as opposed to just observing it and I really enjoyed learning about the behind-the-scenes work of this NGO. At the end of the day, Lydiah drove us to where she grew up and where her mom still lives. Limuru is known for its tea fields, and boy oh boy is there a lot of tea there! Unilever actually owns a large portion of the tea fields, including the plantation where Lydiah’s mom lives. We got to take a nice walk through the fields at sunset, which was absolutely beautiful. Then we went to her mom’s house and drank the freshest chai I’ve ever had. It was delicious!

Tuesday night, we made a big dinner for Lydiah and Frances of rice, beef stew and (fresh!) mango salsa. So delicious! Finally, on Wednesday, Lydiah didn’t have to work at Jikazi, so we made a plan to hike Mt. Longanot. If you have never heard of this mountain before, stop reading and google it! It’s a dormant volcano right in the GRV. It’s huge and beautiful! The four of us left early in the morning and started the hike. The three of them had done the hike before and knew it would take about an hour to reach the rim, and then three hours to hike around the rim, and another hour to hike back down. As we were just beginning out ascent, we saw four zebras run out of the trees across a field. The view from the rim was unbelievable! You could see so far, and the inside of the volcano was completely overgrown with vegetation. Halfway through our rim hike, a thunder and lightning storm rolled in and engulfed us. However, we were literally halfway, so there was no turning back, so we finished the hike in the pouring rain. It was a challenging hike, and the rain only made it harder, but it was still a blast. We also got to see buffalo, antelope, and a snake. It was cool to see the rocks, we thought we had been hiking on, turn into volcanic ash MUD. It was nice when the sun came back out on our descent. After pushing our car out of the mud, we left the park feeling accomplished, tired, dripping, and muddy.

The next day, we woke up to Lydiah coming in at 6 am to tell us that the next house over had just been robbed. Apparently three robbers broke into the house next to Lydiahs in an attempt to steal their cow. The neighborhood is actually really safe and well guarded though, so the security guard from across the street heard what was going on and intervened. He ended up shooting and killing one of the robbers, who was lying in the bushes next to Lydiah’s house… The other two robbers got away, but Lydiah said it was good because they’d spread the word that the neighborhood was heavily guarded and they wouldn’t return. Everything was fine, but the sound of the gun shots really shook up Lydiah.

After breakfast, we drove 45 minutes to Nairobe to the Nairobe National Park and went on a safari walk. It was a mix between a safari and a zoo, which was fine because the animals were actually in their natural habitat, just with fences. We saw a hippo, lion, cheetah, leopard, baboons, warthogs, buffalo, antelope and white zebras. Still no giraffe, but “it is okay”. After the safari walk, we went to see a traditional dance performance called Bomas of Kenya. It was a series of different tribal dances, songs and performances by various indigenous groups. My favorite was the Masai warrior dance. The costumes were so colorful! We ended our long day with a homemade dinner, made by Lydiah and Frances’ friend Kelvin. He made the most delicious and colorful fruit salad and a gourmet rice and cabbage dish. Mmmm!

Friday, Jess and I woke up at 6 am and said our goodbyes to Lydiah and Frances. We had arranged for a taxi ride to Nairobe, where we hopped on a quick plane flight to Mombasa! We arrived and got to our hotel in Bamburi before noon and were able to spend the majority of the day by the pool, overlooking the tropical Indian Ocean. It feels strange being here, in this muzungu, touristy paradise after having such a worldly experience in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. It feels like I shouldn’t be here. With our half-board hotel package, we get free breakfast and dinner. That night, when we walked into the hotel restaurant, we were completely overwhelmed with the massive buffet, and again, felt like we were doing something wrong.  I’m having a hard time even describing it because I can’t even explain to myself what the past three months have done to me yet. But, for now we’re trying our best to indulge ourselves in this luxurious treat. We have no schedule (“program”) for the next three days other than lying on the beach, drinking pina coladas and trying to mentally prepare ourselves for our return to AMERICA!! 

Between now and the next time I write, I will have been to Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rome, Washington D.C. and Charlotte, NC (airports :) )

I look forward to seeing you all!

GOBAMA!