Well I made it! After 2 months of intense training, I finally reached my site. When I first started, I never thought this day would come. But I did it and I still can’t believe Im here. I now live in a beautiful village called litein, with lush green forests all around and a very friendly and welcoming community. But let me backup and tell you how I got to this point. After training was finished, the 25 trainees including myself went to Nairobi where we were to meet our headmasters and get sworn in as true volunteers. However after living two months on ugali, we were desperate to find American food. So we all headed to the mall. There we found heaven. Even the littlest thing that reminded us of America brought us joy. Twix, Pringles, snickers, cheese, Kit Kats, American Brand shampoo and real peanut butter that wouldn’t break the bread when you smeared it. We went crazy. We also found books, not textbooks but real chapter books. The ones people read for pleasure. I know something like a book isn’t worth this much excitement, but since bookstores are few and far between, it had been 2 months since we had seen a real chapter book and we were desperate for the entertainment and the chance to use our minds. However, most of the books were around 500-1000 Kenyan shillings, in Kenya, 500 shillings could feed a family for a week, and for us volunteers who only make 16,000 shillings a month, buying a book for 1000 shillings is a little extravagant. But we had gone a little nuts with all the American stimulation that we bought them anyway. Then at the center of heaven, we found burgers. Real American hamburgers. There were so many to choose from ,we had to try them all and so we spent the next two days at the mall. Some of the burgers would be considered the lowest of the low in America, but we didn’t care, to us it was orgasmic, like an explosion of America in our mouths. Some places even had real Heinz ketchup, not the pink rubbery tomatoes sauce that we had been using for the last 2 months. It was heaven and we were heartbroken when we had to leave but little did we know the best was yet to come. On top of celebrating our swearing in, Peace Corps was also celebrating their 45th year in Kenya. So to mark the occasion, the swearing in was held at the ambassadors residence. The house was beautiful and even had a pool. Although we weren’t able to control ourselves at the mall, we did stop ourselves from jumping into the pool. News stations were there filming and a band was there playing tribal music complete with dancers. Although it was a nice ending to the rigorous training we had gone through, the new volunteers had other ideas. We had heard through one of our trainers that there was a true Mexican restaurant in the city. However, the matatu strike was still going on so the only form of transportation was a taxi and they were expensive. Well, since it was our final night together and the Pringles still were causing havoc with our intelligence, we went for it. Where else would we get really good Mexican food? Oh and it was good. The enchiladas, nachos and fajitas were amazing, We probably spent more than we should have but in the end it was well worth it. The next morning, it was time to say goodbye and head off to our sites. Since there were 6 of us heading to the same area, we decided to share a matatu and travel together. So miraculously, we were able to fit, 13 people and 30+ pieces of luggage in one matatu. Good thing no one was claustrophobic. It was about a 4 hour drive to Bomet and then another hour to Litein. Even with the little leg room we had, it was a beautiful drive. In the southern part of the Rift Valley, it rains a lot so the forests are lush and green. When we reached Bomet, we dropped off the other 5 volunteers and their counterparts and continued on. When we finally reached the school, my headmaster showed me my house and introduced me to some of the teachers. The school itself is pretty big, there are about 210 students with 18 teachers. Primary school starts from Nursery and goes up to class 8. In regular primary schools, the students would graduate around 14. But with schools for the deaf, children tend to start late and so can be 25 in a primary school. After the tour, I went back to my house to unpack. My house includes a kitchen with a sink, a room with shelves to store food, and a cement oven where I can put my stove, a living room with shelves and some furniture left by the last volunteer, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom with a western toilet and a shower( no I don’t have hot water, thats what the stove is for). By the time I was finished unpacking, I was to tired to eat so I went to bed. The next morning, the teachers had their staff meeting. There, I met all 18 of the teachers and found out which classes I was to teach. We decided I would teach English to class 4, KSL to class 8, Creative Arts to class 8 and P.E.to class 6 and 7. That ended up being a total of 23 lessons per week, which actually is fairly reasonable. After the meeting, my neighbor’s daughter took me on a tour of the town. There I bought some of the essentials for setting up my house. Like a new mattress, a stove, jerry cans for holding my water as well as food. She also introduced me to the chief, Father John, the police and some of the women at the market, as well as some of the crazies. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and I cant wait get to know my town. Some of the things I couldn’t get in litein and will have to get in Kericho which is about another 45 min to an hour drive northeast of Litein. It sounds like a common practice people do all the time. But the most exciting news is I will get a puppy!!! One of the dogs is pregnant and the school said I could train one and then after my 2 years, I would give it back to the school. So all in all, everything is going great so far. Granted this is only my 3rd day at my site but its off to a good start. So I’ll close for now. Until next post. I miss you all.
P.S.
Like I said before, I love letters. My new address is
Danielle Harvey
St. Kizito, school for the deaf
P.O.Box 79-20210
Litein, Kenya
I look forward to hearing from you.
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