Swimming in Kenya

I never thought I would be swimming during my time in Kenya, but I ended up getting the chance over the last few weeks.  Here in Kenya, the academic year ends at the end of November, so schools are closed for the whole month of December.  So, to keep me occupied during the beginning of this month, I went to Eldoret to teach some runners how to swim.  This whole thing came about because there is a three-year term MCC peace service worker based in Eldoret, and she has some athlete friends who are trying to use sports to promote peace.  They help host different sporting events to bring people together and have also done bike rides and runs to promote peace.  Recently, they wanted to start doing triathlons, but did not really know how to swim.  They have been trying to teach themselves for a couple of months, but some were still a little scared of the water.  So, when the MCC worker (Katie) heard that I swam in college, we started trying to find a way for me to come to Eldoret and teach them a bit.

So, after the term ended, we had an MCC team meeting in Nairobi, and right after that I went to Eldoret for close to three weeks.  When I first arrived we had a small meeting to plan a bit for the next three weeks (This whole thing was pretty informal, but in Kenya, we seem to have meetings for everything).  During this meeting, they told me how excited they were to have a "professional swimmer" coming to coach them.  Now, this made me a little embarrassed, since I am by no means a "professional swimmer".  Luckily, I did not know quite how fast some of the guys I would be coaching were, otherwise I would have been even more embarrassed.  There were four guys that came very regularly, and a couple others that showed up once or twice.  Of the four guys that came regularly, I later found out that one (Zion) is a marathon runner, and he runs a 2:17 marathon, which he called a girl's time, since it is only about 4 minutes faster than the women's world record (when he said this, in my head, I was thinking "If I had ever gone faster than a women's world record, I would have been ecstatic!").  Another guy is a sprinter (Nyongesa), who said he runs a 10 flat 100m and a 22 200m.  After the meeting, Katie explained that here most people who run, describe themselves as runners even if they have a different job to make money, and that is why they called me a "professional".  That made me feel a little bit better, since I no longer felt like there were huge expectations for me, but the term still sounds weird, haha.

We swam about 2 or 3 times a week, for about 2 hours total each time.  We were normally at the pool for much more than 2 hours, because we would routinely take brakes.  The water was a bit cold, most of these guys have almost no body fat, and are used to the warm Kenyan climate, so after about 30 or 40 minutes they would start shivering.  Then we would get out an lie on the cement in the sun to warm up.  Hopefully, once they are able to swim longer distances, they will generate enough heat to stay in the water longer, but we'll see.  The guys were really easy to teach, and a lot of fun to hang out with.  They were always joking around and laughing at/helping me improve my Kiswahili.  By the end, we were working on the breathing for freestyle, and I think they were starting to get it and just need some more practice.  I think the most important thing we accomplished though is that they are now pretty comfortable in the water.  At first, most would tense up a lot when they were floating or swimming, which would cause them to sink.  They were also scared of the deep end, but on the last day, we all jumped off the 3 meter dive and they are able to stay much more relaxed in the water.  Hopefully, I will be able to stay in touch with these guys and see how swimming and life in Eldoret is going.

One other thing I should mention about my time in Eldoret, is that one day we went and saw some elephants.  About 2 hours to the North of Eldoret is the Kareo valley.    In the valley, we met up with some workers for the Kenyan Wildlife Service and an elephant tracker, and after about an hour of looking, we found some Elephants.  I don't know if I have forgotten from seeing them in zoos or what, but they are huge.  Before we found them, somebody mentioned that you never want to go looking for elephants without a vehicle, which makes sense, but the reason really hit home when saw them.

Alex and Ben

Zion and Nyongesa

The water was cold (and a little cloudy)

Everybody diving in on the second to last day

Zion, Nyongesa, Me, Ben, and Richard

Taking tea before going to see the Elephants

Personal Space

Before I came to Kenya, I had been warned about the difference in the idea of personal space here compared to the U.S., but I don't think you can truly be prepared for the difference.  I think being on a swim team has made me more comfortable with an infringement of my personal space than your average American, but I have still been caught off guard here on multiple occasions.  The most common display in this difference in personal space is in public transportation.  The Matatu's (vans) that are used like privately owned city buses are packed as full as possible, to the point where you can't move in your seat until the Matatu stops and people get off.  Station wagons are also sometimes used in a similar way to the Matatu's.  This last weekend, a fellow teacher and I went to Visit Lake Victoria and took one of these Station wagons.  The front seat had four occupants including the driver and the back seat also had four or five.  Then, the last mode of transportation are the Motorcycle taxis.  These always have at least two riders (the driver and the passenger), but often have three riders squeezed one after the other.  This tight packing definitely has its advantages though.  Since they pack vehicles so full, it reduces the price for transportation.  For example, the trip to and from Lake Victoria only costed $5 even though it was a good hours drive each direction at a pretty fast speed.

Another common occurrence that I am not quite used to yet is holding hands.  Not guys and girls holding hands, that is a definite no-no.  There is actually a lot more space kept between guys and girls here than in the U.S., because if they come too close to one another, it is considered scandalous.  But two guys that are good friends often hold hands.  It is a sign of friendship.  So, sometimes when dadi or a fellow teacher wants to take me somewhere, they just grab my hand and start leading me.

Then, you also have very close contact on occasion, which completely takes me off guard.  This usually comes about because someone needs something, and it is simpler to "invade" your personal space than to ask you for it.  Although, to Kenyans, they are not invading your personal space, because they don't have as much personal space as Americans.  For example, one evening, as we were finishing eating, one of my host brothers, Brian, asked to borrow my phone to use the flashlight.  Now, we eat with our hands here in Kenya, so since I was not quite done eating yet, my hands were still dirty.  So, I told him, "sorry, it's buried in my pocket".  Without batting an eye, Brian came over and reached into my front pocket and got my phone.  I was able to keep quiet, but I'm sure if anyone was watching my eyes they probably doubled in size because I was so surprised.  Afterwards, I just laughed to myself, "I'm definitely living in a different culture".

One other difference that I can only laugh about is the fact that children here will bath just about anywhere.  So, in the evening, when they normally take baths, you need to be careful waking around the compound, because if you aren't, you may walk around a corner and have a naked child standing right there.  I made this mistake a couple times when I first got here, and I think I was more embarrassed than the kids, because after I realized my mistake and started hurrying away, they would just start laughing.  I asked my host sisters at what age kids start bathing in the actual shower, and they said around 13 years old.  I am still a little confused by this, because Kenyans are usually very careful about being fully dressed.  For example, it's not good to show too much leg.  However, apparently it's different when it comes to children bathing.  But it's not just Kenyan society, we saw a similar thing in Cambodia.  There also, it is very important for adults to be fully dressed, but you would often see little children just standing naked on the street.  So, I really don't know what the reason for this contradiction (as it seems to me) is.  We'll see if I am ever able to figure it out as I continue to learn more about Kenyan culture.

Travel

First of all, sorry Hal, but I am by no means blending in, haha.  When every I walk down the street, all the children shout "Mzungu" meaning "white person" or "how are you".  The problem is that a lot of them do not understand the response to "how are you".

Now, to discuss travel here in Kenya.  If I were asked to describe it in one word, I would say, "unpredictable".  To illustrate, I will tell you about my trip back to Nairobi early this month.  My host family needed to go to Nairobi for my host mother's graduation.  (From now on, I am going to refer to my host parents as Momi and Dadi, and my actual parents as Mom and Dad)  I also needed to get my Worker's Permit, so I left a day earlier.  Dadi brought me to the bus station in the morning and helped me get my ticket.  The bus was about 15minutes late, but that is pretty punctual here.  Throughout the journey, we would stop randomly, sometimes for a bathroom break, sometimes just to let people on or off.  At around 1pm, we stopped for lunch.  As far as I heard, they never told us how long we were stopping for, so I ate as quickly as I could and always kept one eye on the bus  I then arrived in Nairobi around 4pm.  Also, I should mention that during the journey, I saw two different packs of Baboons on the side of the road.  The rest of the day and next morning was pretty uneventful.

In the afternoon of the next day, I was waiting for Dadi and the little girls to arrive after I had received my word permit (Momi was already in Nairobi, staying with a relative).  Up until this point, the only plan I had heard was that Dadi and I would get a hotel room, while Momi and the girls would stay with a relative.  So, I was a bit surprised when Dadi called me and asked if I could stay with the Country Representatives for another night.  Since I did not want to inconvenience the Reps by asking them the day of if I could stay another night, I asked why we weren't getting a hotel.  Dadi immediately said that would be ok, but I learned that when you think you know what the plan is, it is quite possible it has changed.

The next morning, Dadi and I waited in Downtown for the rest of the family to join us before we left for the graduation.  The rest of the family was a little late in arriving, which caused Dadi, and then Momi once she arrived, to say that we were going to be very late.  However, I have come to learn that that is not as big of a deal here as in the U.S.  (Every Sunday we go through pretty much the same routine, which results in Momi and Dadi repeatedly saying, "we are extremely late," because we are leaving for church about 30 minutes late.)  When the rest of the family arrived, we boarded a Matatu (a large van that has a general route like a bus, but does not have specific stops) to go to the graduation.  On the way, we encountered a traffic jam.  Other matatus were driving off onto the shoulder of the road to bypass the jam, so our matatu tried to do the same.  Unfortunately, the drop from the pavement to the shoulder was a bit larger in our section of the highway, so the axle got stuck on the drop off.  We then spent about 10 minutes trying to get the Matatu moving again.  During this time, some Massai that were walking by stopped and tried to help a bit.  Eventually, we got the Matatu free, with the use of a jack borrowed from a different matatu.  When we arrived at the graduation, it turned out that we weren't late, because the ceremony was also running late.  The whole ceremony was supposed to take about 3 hours, but we were able to leave after Momi's name was called half way through.  It seemed that was what most people were doing.  The only people that stayed for the whole ceremony were the ones with their names near the end.

That night, Momi, the girls, and I were going to take a night bus back to Migori (Dadi had some work left to do the next day.)  Our bus was supposed to leave around 9:30, but we did not leave until 11.  At around 1am, we stopped for a bathroom break.  They announced that we would be there for 15 minutes, so I got off to go.  It took me a few minutes to find the bathrooms, because people kept misdirecting me.  I think they were trying to direct me into the bar, thinking it would cause me to buy something.  After a couple minutes, I found the bathroom, but as I came out, I was a little confused.  Where the bus had been when I entered the bathroom, was now just a large empty parking spot.  I began walking towards the highway, wondering where it could have gone.  As I walked, I found other passengers similarly confused.  I called Momi, and she told me that the Bus had gotten onto the highway, and was parked just on the other side of the highway.  When I got on the bus, I learned that they had switched drivers, and the new driver had tried to take off immediately, but the passengers quickly protested that there were some people still in the bathroom.  After that, the rest of the trip was uneventful, and we arrived in Migori around 7 in the morning.

In the end, I learned that no plans here are set in stone, which can be very relaxing, because it means you do not need to worry much about the future.  However, for this same reason, you need to always be sure that you know what is happening currently, because plans may have changed in the last 5 minutes.  And, if you don't stay informed on what is happening, you may find yourself standing outside a bathroom on the highway, looking at an empty parking space, wondering where in Kenya your bus has gone.

First Rule of Kenya

I have decided that the first rule of Kenya is "Don't eat roasted meat".  I made that mistake my first week in Migori, when I went out to eat with some fellow teachers.  This resulted in a couple enjoyable days of food poisoning, but it gave me a chance to experience the medical system here in Kenya.  After I had been sick for about half a day, my host family took me to the hospital, where they ran some blood tests, and filled me full of drugs, all for a total of about $22.  After another day, I felt fine, but since then, my host family has been very diligent in reminding me not to eat roasted meat and only drink water that has been treated and boiled.

Although that is probably the most memorable experience so far, there have been many more enjoyable experiences since I got to Migori.  My host family is great and very easy to get a long with.  There are six children, but the oldest four stay at boarding schools.  When I first arrived, they were all home before school started, but after a couple days, they all left.  After they had left, my host dad claimed we were now a very small family, with only 3 children, including me, at home.  I told him three children was an average size in America, which he found a bit shocking.  I have now been in Migori for about 2 and a half weeks.  I arrived on Monday, the 5th of September, and was supposed to start teaching on Tuesday.  However, while we were driving to Migori, I was informed by my Principal that the was a teachers strike and school would not be starting yet.  This was good news for me, because at that point, I did not know what the syllabus was or even exactly what classes I would be teaching.  I had tried asking my Principal the week before, but he said we would figure it out when I got to Migori.  Before this, I had often heard about how life was more laid-back in Kenya, but I had not fully comprehended what that meant yet (I still don't think I fully comprehend it).  Yet, while I was using the extra week to get acquainted with life in Migori, I felt bad for the students, especially the Form 4 students (equivalent to 12th Graders in the U.S.).  This is because this is the last of three terms for the year, and at the end of this term, the Form 4 students take the exams that decide whether or not they get into College.  Here in Kenya, Form 4 students take exams in 8 subjects, and their 7 best are used to determine if they are accepted into College.  These exams are the only criteria for deciding who gets into College, so they are very important, and missing a week of class just a month and a half before the exams start does not help.

We finally started class last Thursday, and I am teaching two physics classes (one Form 1 or 9th grade and one Form 2 or 10th grade) and one Form 1 math class.  But each of these classes has around 60 students, and one of the biggest problems I am having is trying to learn names.  However, although I don't know the names of many people at school they have all been very friendly, and even the students that I don't have in class are eager to talk to me.  They all want to ask me questions about America and enjoy listening to my accent.  I never really thought of myself as having an accent before, except maybe a slight Northern accent, but here, all Americans have an accent.  Since I arrived, I have learned that we speak very fast, and slur our words together, so I have started consciously slowing down my speech and try to pronounce every syllable.  I have also had to get used to the Kenyan accent, but I had a two week head start with my time in Nairobi.  I think my students understand me most of the time now, but if they don't they usually laugh a bit and I know that means I need to repeat what I said.

The students at school are not the only ones who enjoy being around a mzungu (European in Kiswahili).  On my walk to and from school, there are about 3 different groups of kids that always greet me when I walk by.  They always ask, "How are you?" but many are too young to have learned the response yet.  So, when I respond, "Good, how are you?" they just look confused and laugh.  Sometimes, they even follow me a bit on the road.  For example, today, as I was walking home, after greeting a group of kids, one child, who looked to be around 6 or 7, walked over and took my hand to walk with me down the road.  Here in Kenya, it is very common for two guys or two girls who are friends to hold hands as they walk (but never a guy and a girl).  The kid walked with me for about 200 yards, and some of his friends walked along beside and behind us.

A couple last experiences to mention, are that my first Saturday here, I helped work the Shamba (farm).  I mostly just planted the seeds where they told me, but they also had me try directing the plow a bit.  Also, on Tuesday night, my host family introduced me to chewing Sugar Cane.  You take a piece of Sugar Cane, rip off a piece with your teeth, chew the sugary juice out, and then spit out the dry stalk.  Kenyans must have some of the strongest teeth around, because the members of my host family would rip off pieces about 10 the size of the small chunks I could handle.

One of our views as we walked to Kiswahili classes in Nairobi.

The view from Ben Stucky's host family's house.  He is in Tea growing country

Me trying to guide the plow.  One of the cows is named Obama.

My house

Orientation and Arriving in Kenya

From August 11th until the 18th, I was at orientation in Akron Pennsylvania with about 60 other SALTers.  The week was filled with sessions on how to live in a foreign country and on what MCC's greater mission is beyond just the SALT program.  Outside of the sessions, it was a lot of fun hearing about where everyone else was going and what they would be doing.  However, the best part was probably getting to meet all the IVEPers at the same orientation.  IVEP is like the opposite of the SALT program.  Instead of sending young adults from the U.S. and Canada to the rest of the world, it brings young adults from around the world to the U.S. or Canada for a year.  I think the defining moment of the week was the night we had a birthday party for one of the other SALTer's.  It eventually turned into a dance party where everyone taught everyone else a dance from their home country.  It was surprising how close we all became after just one week, and when it was time to leave it was both exciting and sad.

On the morning of the 18th, Ben Stucky and I left for Kenya.  We had a very interesting trip.  Our planned trip was to fly from Harrisburg Pennsylvania to Washington D.C. to Zurich, and then to Nairobi.  However, United Airlines initially wouldn't let us check-in in Harrisburg.  They wouldn't let us check in, because our return tickets were not for within three months. (return tickets are fake tickets that say we will be coming back on a certain date, so that United Airlines is not liable for us arriving in Kenya without a long-term VISA.  We needed these, since we weren't getting our work VISA's until we were  in Kenya.)  We called MCC, and in about 20min, they had gotten us set up with a new "return flight" for early September.  United Airlines accepted that, and luckily our first flight had been delayed about an hour, so we were able to make the flight.  Then, in D.C., it started storming right after we boarded for the flight to Zurich, so we sat in the Airplane for 4 hours.  This meant we missed our flight in Zurich.  When we got to Zurich, we went to the transfer desk, and they were able to book us on a flight leaving for Istanbul in 40min, followed by a flight to Nairobi.  We made the flight, and in Istanbul bought a phone card for the pay phone to call MCC headquarters and have them tell the MCC Representative in Kenya we would be arriving at 1am.  We had trouble with the phone since it was all in Turkish, and then just as they began boarding, we got help from a man who didn't speak english, and were able to talk with MCC.  Then we landed in Nairobi around 1am, and got our temporary VISA's around 2am.  In the end, I think it was all worth it, because flying Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Nairobi, meant we got grippy socks to wear on the plane and keep, haha.

We have now been in Nairobi, Kenya for almost a week.  We started Swahili language classes on Monday and have them for five hours a day for two weeks.  It is a lot of information to absorb, but I think Ben and I are doing ok.  We are now able to translate some signs on stores, and hopefully we will be able to have some very, very basic conversations in Swahili in not too long.  Also, I think living with a host family should really help us each improve our Swahili throughout the year.  After studying Swahili, we have spent most of our time trying to figure out the bus system here.  The buses have specific stops, but sometimes take different routes to get there, so Ben and I often wonder if we are going in the right direction.  The buses can also be a lot of fun though.  They are usually blasting the radio, and are always a little hectic.  We have definitely had some failures as we try to learn the system (for example: getting off the bus at the wrong time or just getting on the wrong bus) but most people have been really friendly and helpful.

That's all for now.  I might post again next week, otherwise my next post will be from Migori after I have started teaching.

Getting Ready to Leave

I have been informed that my blog looks pathetic without any posts, so I decided I would write a bit explaining exactly what I will be doing this next year.  To put it simply, I will be volunteering as a high school math and science teacher in Kenya for a year.  The organization I will be working through is the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).  In two weeks, I will be going to Pennsylvania for a one week orientation at the MCC headquarters.  During this orientation, I and about 100 other one year volunteers will learn about how to live in another country and in a different culture.  After this orientation, all of us will fly out to different parts of the world.  There will be only one other one year volunteer going to Kenya with me.

Once we get to Kenya, we will meet all the long term (normally 3 years) volunteers in Kenya and have a two week in country orientation at the MCC Kenya headquarters in Nairobi.  During these two weeks, we will have a crash course in Swahili.  After these two weeks, I will go to Migori to begin teaching.  Migori is a city of about 30,000 in Southwestern Kenya.  It is very close to the Tanzanian border and also close to Lake Victoria.  As far as teaching goes, almost all the classes in high school are taught in English, so I should not have too much trouble communicating at work.  However, I will try to continue to learn Sawhili in order to make communication in daily life easier.  Especially since while I am living in Migori, I will be staying with a host family.  (My host family will know English, but it would be nice if I can talk to them in their language at times.)

For those of you who are wondering, my next post will probably come in about 3 or 4 weeks, when I am in Nairobi.