Week 4: how am i already down to 5 months?

So I really wish I had more to update on this week but it has just sort of been a work and organizational week. No car crashes though J I have started taking Swahili lessons which is proving to be interesting. Many people speak English so I am not learning as fast as I would be if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. We are taking classes twice a week and I am hoping that by the end I will be moderately fluent in Kiswahilli or at least conversational.

I have been trying to do a lot of research of Women’s groups in Kenya as well as get more information about some of the issues here such as domestic violence, gender roles, leadership skills and communication workshops but with the internet being so slow it proves to be more of a pain in the ass than anything. It is also a bit difficult to be productive without an office or somewhere you can go to get work done. So hopefully we will have some office space to work at Kimathi next week. Right now we are just sort of bouncing between places and not being overly productive. I am trying to find the right balance between diving into these projects and learning about what is going on around me with regards to gender issues. I was given a copy of a cd that the previous interns had put together with a bunch of the information that they had done while they were here.

Not knowing exactly what I am going to be doing here + 6 months worth of work that 2 people had done = overwhelming… I had a couple moments of self doubt and crisis and then had to take a step back and remember that this is what they did in 6 month and that I’m only just beginning. I still have a lot of questions that I want to ask some of the coordinator on this end because I have heard from many that they want me to work on their projects as well as sustain my own goals, so it will be really interesting to see what is actually achievable. That is becoming my new issue… I’m trying to set goals for what I want to accomplish here, (in my remaining 5 months :s) and it seems like there is not going to be nearly enough time to get everything I want and they want done. I am trying not to be too ambitious but also I want to make a different and make a lot for progress. Its funny, you can tell I’m feeling like my life is disorganized because I have lists written everywhere on every topic. Trying to sort out your life when you don’t know what you are doing is an interesting process… but not entirely productive…My goals right now are to set up meetings and meet groups of people but I really feel like after 1 month of being here I should be doing more with my time…. Maybe next week? Part of the issues is that the students of the college as well as all the primary schools are out right now on their summer break and some of the programs that I want to do with them are not able to be done.

In my spare time, I have been volunteering at a couple of orphanages in the area. One is called New Life and is actually really fun. It has 14 kids under the age of 2 and you just get to go there and play with the kids and help with feeding them. A couple of them are HIV + or have underdevelopment issues which is always sad to see. For example, they have 5 babies under 9 months… 4 are 3 months old and regularly developed but there is one little boy who is 4 months old and looks like he is maybe 1 month. Its really sad to see... he is so tinny and sick looking… It’s sad to thing that so many kids don’t even get a chance in life. I have also gone to Belhops Orphanage and there are like 25 girls from 3 to 18. The picture above is of some of the girls there. They are really cool and when I was there I was just hanging out with them and getting them to teach me some Swahili. I’m going back tomorrow with a couple of the other interns and we’re going to bring them a soccer ball and some things we can play with them. It’s really rewarding to just so you can see them smile. They get so excited when visitors come and it’s nice to be able to contribute back to the community.

Otherwise the rest of the week I’ve just been trying to establish contacts and find out how things are done. Like how microcredit loans are distributed and stuff. It was informative for sure but now I’m feeling like I need to crunch down and start organizing workshops or something. I think in my spare time right now, I’m just going to try to set as much ground work as I can and put together workshops and presentations on an topics I can think of right now. Technology is still driving me crazy. Safaricom the cell phone company doesn’t seem to have any idea what is going on with my phone because I can’t receive any Canadian text messages… if anyone wants to try please feel free to my # is +254 710332974