1st day in Kenya!

Nov 4th
1st Day in Kenya


Hello everybody!!! Greetings from Kenya!!!! I know it’s been awhile. I apologize for the delay. It’s difficult getting everything in order.

Well, where to begin? I guess WOW! It took me 16 hours to get here but I have finally made it and what a journey. I have been here not even 5hours and already I can’t wait to see where the next 2 yrs takes me…

My adventure started when I got off the plane in Nairobi. We were greeted by some of the seasoned volunteers. It was a sight to see all of us heading to the vans with all of our luggage. Imagine a herd of elephants or better yet, a herd of mzungus( what the locals call the white people.) Finally we got settled in the vans and headed to the compound where we will stay for a few days before going to loitokitok for training. We were immediately given water bottles with strict instructions to not drink any tap water until we are trained on how to purify our water. All was quite in the vans. I think everyone is just taking it all in. Later on we learnd this is the “honeymoon” period. A time when everything we see is exotic and amazing. It’s fun and adventuress. It’s later on when the honeymoon is over when we finally see what we have gotten ourselves into.

We finally got to the compound and got settled in. I think they figured we would have to deal with the choos eventually, (a toilet typical in the small villages. It’s a hole in the ground. you’ll hear more later) but they took pity on us and gave us western toilets for our first few days. The room almost seemed like a typical US hotel room. It had a bed, TV, chairs, closet. Etc. The only thing different was the mosquito net. We were warned not to sleep without it since we haven’t started taking our maleria medicine yet.

It was during dinner that we got our first taste of Africa cuisine. We were told the meat is typically goat…I thought it tasted just like beef personally. We had one of the seasoned volunteers sit with us. Between taking bites of food, she was asked question after question. We piled her with our fears and worries, hoping for some clarity of what we should expect. We talked about what the schools were like and what’s it like living in Kenya. As people slowly made their ways to their beds, I was left with the seasoned volunteer and another trainee still at the table. I asked her some questions regarding people with special needs. I learned that night some of the challenges teachers have teaching in another culture. In the more remote villages, children with disabilities are looked at as a curse. They think the family must have done something to anger god. These children are usually left in the woods to die. If their families take pity on them, they are kept inside the house for the rest of their lives, never getting to see the outside world. As she is telling me stories, it finally hits me that I am in another country, dealing with another culture. I realize how lucky I am living in the US. If I lived in Kenya with epilepsy, my life would be a totally different story. Although it was sad to hear the stories, I am happy I heard them. It reaffirmed why I am here and what I need to do. Peace Corps Kenya is one of many organizations trying to educate the population about people with special needs but its very slow moving. People have been believing these things for years and to come in and say it’s not right, they resist. I know my being here is not going to cause a huge, immediate change. And when I leave, nothing may have changed. But If I can prove to 1 person that people with special needs can be a valuable, productive member in the community, then I will leave happy.