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Hello again, all. Back in Kisumu getting some teaching materials for my wanafunzi (students). I’m excited cuz I’ve gotten my hot little hands on some elusive chart paper, so now I can make lots of visual aids for biology (the best science, of course). Hallelujah!
Hmm, so what has been going on in my exciting (ha!) life thus far? Went to the Kakamega Forest National Reserve last week with a German dude and two awesome teenagers, one of whom is my Form 2 student. The forest is gorgeous, the trees are awesome, but we really didn’t see very much wildlife. Some cool birds, a few monkeys, some bugs, and a “waterfall” (a very small one). But overall, glad I went. First rainforest I’ve ever been in.
I’m hoping to get a little more involved with maybe helping coordinate some HIV/AIDS outreach with my community someday, but for now it’s a struggle just trying to get a life skills curriculum implemented in my school. We’re supposed to be teaching it, but there’s no time (aka, they won’t make time). We’ll see; I was hoping to get a health club going, but for now I’ll just be happy if I can start up the life skills.
Been working on Saturdays with some AIDS orphans/ HIV-positive children at the local church. Mostly I try to teach them some English and arithmetic, but most just come to be fed and play with other kids. They’re really awesome kids, some of them are so clever. It’s something I hope I will be able to continue doing here; I’ve met a very cool lady here, Mama Trufena, who is a social worker and may help me a LOT with any secondary project I might do. I’ve been very lucky for that; she’s adopted me as her “Kenyan daughter,” and has me over for dinner a lot, as long as I help her cook it. 
Otherwise, life goes on; I’m getting an accent, I can tell. I met some of my colleagues here a couple of weeks ago, and caught myself carefully enunciating all my words and reducing my slang usage before realizing I was surrounded by other Americans. It happens to us all eventually, oh yes.
I’ve been noticing also that the mephaquin (anti-malarial prophylaxis) I’m taking has been definitely disturbing my sleep and giving me vivid dreams. Stupid mephaquin. Imagine waking up 5-8 times a night completely disoriented and thinking you’re somewhere else; imagine that you wake up occasionally and can “feel” tiny ants crawling all over you. Ergh. If it gets bad enough, I’ll have to switch to an antibiotic; still waiting for the daytime hallucinations to start. That’s where I’ll draw the line, I think.
Quick word to all my wonderful well-wishers: If you wish to send me a package:
The Maseno address listed under my contact info here is okay to send to. PLEASE DO NOT write “lotion,” “food,” “candy,” or “money” (don’t send me money!!!), on the claims form when mailing the package from the post office. Customs will tear the box apart and rip apart all the items in the box if you indicate that there is any type of food or medicinal item in there (lotion counts as medicinal). Perhaps write “feminine hygeine products” or “school supplies” or something dull on the box so as to not attract attention. Just lie, it won’t count against you in the afterlife, I promise.
Thanks for reading, until next time, safiri salaama (safe journeys)!
March 12th, 2010 at 2:52 am
I have some time to kill so I thought I’d comment!
It sounds like you’re doing awesome and really integrating into your community. Don’t stress too much about getting projects started and BELIEVE ME I know how frustrating it can be. Life skills is pretty awesome, but sometimes community members want to do their own thing. And that’s cool too.
With five months left my PC boss just conducted a meeting with my village, Pama, and asked them what they enjoyed about having me there and if they want a new volunteer. You know what they said? Because she greets us and stops and spends time with us.
The little things mean so much. It means you SEE them. They MATTER. You CARE.
I’m excited to send you packages when I get back home! Hurray!