Saying goodbye...again

Training if officially done and I am headed to Nairobi for swearing in. I’m looking forward to starting the 2nd part of my adventure but sad that I have to say good bye to the 1st one. When I first came here, I was scared as hell. I had spent some time in the hotel due to illness and had to wait a few days to meet my family. I felt uncomfortable and nervous. I had no idea what these people were like. The day I got there I had to call them mama and baba. I cant tell you how awkward that was. These were complete strangers and I had to refer to them as family members. If you told me then that I would eventually care for them as a family, I would not have believed you. They have become my second family in every aspect of the word. Even now, I try to hold back tears as I try to think of words to say to them to express how much they mean to me. I am going to miss my sister, Ruth who has become my mentor, friend and sister. I am going to miss mama with her broken English and appetite for life Even with the language barrier, I learned so much from her. How to light a jeko, a lantern, how to cook on my own and what a strong women looks like. Im going to miss dennis, the neighborhood boy who loved pussy and learning sign language and I think I might even miss the damn cow and the many challenges it made for me. I had to tell my American family goodbye when I got on the plane. But that was a goodbye I’ll see you in 2 years. What about a goodbye, I don’t know if I will ever see you again? What do you say then?

Happy Holidays!!

Hello everybody
Just thought I would say hello and wish everyone happy holidays. Everything is going well here. It’s a week till I can swear in as a full peace corps volunteer and I am excited and nervous to start. It’s starting to feel good being here in Kenya. When I first arrived, I was on my guard, always cautious of people, assuming the worst. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions and sometimes exhausting, but now I am starting to get to know people by name and starting to feel like a part of the community. Although I am an outsider, everyone is very friendly and welcoming. I have people who I don’t even know their names but for some reason they know mine, come up to me and invite me to Christmas dinner. It makes the pain of not being home for Christmas a little easier to handle. It’s Christmas eve and snow is not on the ground, and music is not playing. The only sign that Christmas eve is here are the chickens inside the barn( I begged my family not to eat goat and they wouldn’t kill the damn cow). No presents are exchanged here so my sister, brother and I are making my mama breakfast. My baba said when Im gone, he would make sure they would continue the tradition. If you haven’t noticed, my communication is a bit off, but Im hopeful that it will get better at my site. I’ve been told I have electricity and running water so we’ll see. For those who haven’t read my blog, in one week, my new home will be a small community called litein. It’s in the rift valley province, 107km from Kisumu. Well, it’s time to say goodbye. My sister needs my help cleaning the chickens. So Merry Christmas, Happy New Years and I miss you all… Love, Danielle

children peeing, cows eating soap and other lessons from Kenya

Never leave you laundry alone with a mad cow. It will eat your soap, drink all the water and slobber all over your clothes .
Don't worry if small children come up to you and start sniffing you, because no matter how dirty, sweaty or stinky you are, to a small Kenyan child, you will smell like perfume.
If your matatu breaks down….tuff shit! U walk!
Never challenge an 80 yr old to a dance off, they will win!
The 1st time you see a western toilet in over 2 months, its ok to cry with joy
The next time you feel your leg get warm, dont just sit there and assume it's your imagination. It is probably a small child peeing on you.
Be careful who you say hi to, the next day they could be your best friend.
Kenya does not have a weather man. So no matter how sunny and hot it is, bring an umbrella!

More to come....

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

My first thanksgiving in Kenya was truly an amazing experience and one I will never forget. One day where two cultures come together, people from two different countries, sitting at the same table, sharing one meal. I was in Machakos for the model school and we had just finished our two weeks of teaching and were heading home the day after thanksgiving. We decided to celebrate thanksgiving with the children, share with them a part of our history. We started cooking early, everyone helping. Some arranged the dinning hall while others helped slaughter the turkey and chickens for our feast. Yes, there were no safways or prepackaged turkeys so we had to slaughter our own. I actually stayed to watch since I had never seen it before. As they brought the birds out, I was the one to name them. They were brave birds as they faced their fate. We thanked them for their sacrifice and proceeded to chop their heads off. Back inside, the children were busy getting the dinning hall ready. They picked flowers, made vases, and decorated the table. It was fun to watch them take great care in what they were doing. Although they knew nothing about the holiday, they knew it was special. A volunteer made some apple pies with the children. They ended up putting too much salt and too little sugar. We were hopeful , however, that with a little ice cream, we might be able to fix it. During the day, cooking was spilt up with games of captures the flag( Well, we did tell them we would share everything about this holiday even if it meant football). Mary, one of the trainees, taught some belly dancing and the children and trainees practiced their dance routine and skits for the show that would accompany dinner. I decided for my first thanksgiving in Kenya I would braid my hair Kenyan style and asked one of the girls to do it for me. It started out as 2 girls braiding my hair but soon, one after another started showing up. Another trainee joined the braiding party and even more girls showed up. I felt like I was in a family of monkeys, picking bugs out of each others hair. By the end of the day, the turkey was to tough, the apple pies to salty and we ended up running out of stuffing but we had fun. It was an amazing day filled with sharing of cultures, traditions and laughs. And in the end, isn’t that what counts? Happy thanksgiving!

A choo, a cow and a traine

I hope it is understood that none of these views are those of the Peace Corps. I write on this blog to vent and share my experiences Some are going to be hard to swallow while others just make you want to laugh. Whether good or bad this is your look inside another country. I, like many, pretend to know America is different, but knowing and actually seeing how different can be a shock. With that being said, I thought I might share a funny story about Kenya Just to show it’s not all bad here.
This story is about an evil cow, a choo and a trainee named… I think we shall name her danie. Well at Danie’s home stay lived a cow. Now she was told this cow hated all people and it was best to not get to close to it. Well being the stubborn American, Danie didn’t believe her family but she kept her distance anyway. Up till now, this cow and danie had never crossed paths. Even though this cow had a large plot of land to wander, she decided to plop herself right in front of the choo. Supposedly the grass was greener there. Who knows what goes on inside of a cows mind. Well, danie, needing to use the choo thought she could just sneak past the cow and handle her business. I mean the cow had been fine so far so it had to be use to her. So up walks danie, stealth like, to the door of the choo. At the same time she reached the door, that damn cow had to turn around . And for some strange reason that cow decided she was going to release that anger she had towards all people on poor innocent danie and proceeded to chase danie around the choo. When Danie found her escape, she ran into the house for safety. Then out walks the valiant knight, ruth, who single handedly defeated that evil cow. And Danie was able to use the choo and they all lived happily ever after… Oh what happened to the cow? Why are you guys all interested in that stupid cow? Well to make you all happy, The valiant knight took pity on that evil cow and let her live. But now anytime danie and the cow see each other… a stare down occurs. Neither one wanting to look away first. However, knowing the evil cow was out to get her, danie, being the smart American, that she was, prepared herself for the next time. She now has a bottle in her room…just in case. The end

P.S.
This just in, the evil cow has now chased danie around the choo and locked her in the bathing room. Now whose side are you on? The cow is going down!

1st Panic Attack

So I had my first panic attack this morning. The day before I had sat in on a lecture about the plight of people with disabilities.. How they have been fighting for their rights as human beings in the community as well in their own homes. I guess to make what he was saying real, the lecturer pulled out an article that was dated a week ago. 10,000 Albinos have gone into hiding the article stated. I read further. People, specifically in Tanzania believe that the body parts of Albinos brings wealth and good luck. So they are being hunted and killed for their body parts which can fetch about 5 million shillings. I immediately thought of the Holocaust and the killing of thousand of Jews. I was shocked.. This country isn’t 40 years behind America, its all the way back in the dark ages, I thought. I didn’t know how I could continue sitting there listening to this. Then the lecturer focused on Kenya and how people treat their own disabled population. Before coming to Kenya, I was told about some ways Kenyans deal with their handicapped children. Some ways include tying them up in their rooms, keeping them in the house or letting them wander the village getting beat up by others. I was appalled when I heard this. I didn’t know how a human being could do this to another, let alone their own child. However, I never heard the reasoning’s behind it. The lecturer told us about a friend who had a child with a disability. There are no services here for families with children with disabilities. There is no day care, no special therapy or schools and no respite for these families. When parents have a special needs child and they have to work to put food on the table, who takes care of them? If they leave them to run around the house, they would come home to a house totally destroyed. I could almost see the reasoning’s behind it but still didn’t want to believe it. During the rest of the day, I was in a trance. I didn’t know how to deal with the information I was given. I went to bed still thinking about everything. At 5:30 the next morning I woke up and cried and I couldn’t stop crying. I felt so overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into.
During our session, I asked a seasoned volunteer, what do I do? How can I survive my 2 yrs here without feeling defeated? How do I handle the times when my students are caned, abused or even taken advantage of? When other teachers don’t even respect the children they teach? She said, you are going to have days when you just want to run into your room, crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head. You will cry and wont be able to stop. But you will have days when you look at your students and know you are making a difference. Just focus on your students she said. There is a lot that needs to be worked on in Kenya, and its not going to change overnight but you can be a part of that change. When I got home I got an email from my mom who reminded me that even though America thinks it’s better than the rest of the world, we are the exact same, we just hide it better.

quick update

hey guys,

I know the posts are few and far between. Things are hectic here and the internet does not work very well. But just a quick update. Thngs are going good still. I have some down days but the good outnumber the bad. I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. I have some GREAT stories about my thanksgiving that I will try and post soon. I am still adjusting to the culture and the food here in kenya but trying to keep an open mind. Its a lot of new things at once and a little overwhelming at times. But overall I am having a blast. We found out our location the other day. I will be stationed in Letien in the Rift Valley province. Its about 107km from Kisumu which is the 3rd largest city in Kenya. Pics will hopefully come soon. I am still tryng to figure out how to. I pay for my internet by mega bite so it gets a little expensive but Im working on it. Well, my computer is almost dead so I'll end it here. I miss everyone and hope all is well.

P.S.
I LOVE getting letters. It helps lift my mood when I hear from people back home. My address is
Danielle Harvey
Peace Corps Trainee
P.O.Box 698
Niarobi Kenya 00621