Attempting to Blend In: December 2011

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.