Well, as of August 17th I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! I’ve been in my site in Kakamega for almost 2 weeks now and I’m starting to settle in and find my way around. I sent my first memory card home earlier this week so hopefully (if my lovely little sister will oblige…) there will be some pictures and videos of my time in training posted soon, maybe 3 weeks.
My housing situation is as follows: I’m living in 2 rooms of a family’s house. You walk in the front door, turn left, walk 15 or so feet down a concrete hallway that looks like a nuclear shelter bunker and my door is on the left. That main door opens to my living room, which also doubles as my kitchen. My bedroom connects to the living room through a wooden door that lost it’s door knob at some unknown point prior to my arrival. My bedroom has a bed… haha, I need to get some drawers made soon; as of now I’m still living out of my suitcases. The walls are plain, eggshell painted concrete so I’ve been trying to decorate by placing maps and pictures on my walls. The windows are not screened here and the bugs are bothersome to say the least, not to mention that although I’m on malaria prophylaxis, there’s still a chance I can get malaria if enough mosquitoes bite me. Accordingly, I spent a solid hour and a half using masking tape and my cut up Peace Corps provided net (there was already one over the bed I’m using) to screen my bedroom window. I’ll send pictures in my next package home and I know my father, the master McGyver, will be proud.
The living situation is still evolving daily. The concept of family here is very different (they all live with extended families) and the idea of ‘alone time’ doesn’t really exist. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the evenings reading by myself in my living room and the host family has a hard time understanding that I’m not bored or lonely because I’m by myself. I’m doing my best to explain that as an American I value my own personal space and personal time and that me sitting by myself for a few hours in the evening doesn’t mean that I don’t like them or don’t want to spend time with them, it just means I need some time and space to myself to stay sane! Haha, some days I need it more than others. Like yesterday for example… there are some very annoying children that live by me and they think its extremely entertaining to harass me by banging on my windows, sticking their arms through and yelling ‘how are you mazungu’ through the glass at me. It sounds cute, and it is, until they do it every day or for an hour straight… then its not so cute any more. I try to remind myself that 10 year old boys in America are little ass-holes sometimes too, that usually keeps me from running outside with my mweko (a giant wooden spoon) and beating them.
The health clinic that I’m working out of is only a hundred or so yards down the street from my house, which makes commuting to work a breeze J The staff at the clinic has been AMAZING so far. They’ve welcomed me with open arms into their family and they do their best to teach me something new everyday. The finishing touches are being made on a new addition to the clinic and I’m hoping that it will open soon. They have plans to have a maternity ward and a youth resource center in the new space and the prospect of those projects ahead has me very excited. As for now I’m learning about childhood immunizations in Kenya and the most common health problems facing the community here. I’m also learning more Swahili daily and doing my best to use what I do know when I have conversations with people. We talk about America a lot, what the differences are, what things are the same. They’re shocked to hear that we don’t have malaria in The States and that we don’t vaccinate children against TB. Even if I don’t do anything for the next 2 years but have conversations with people about American life and Kenyan life I am going to learn and teach so much here.
Right now I’m mostly just concentrating on learning about my community, about the people, how they live theirs lives and what problems they see in their community. After 3 months (in November) I’ll go back to Nairobi for some more training and to report to Peace Corps and the rest of my fellow volunteers about my site and what I plan to do there for the remaining portion of my service. I met a Kenyan/American this morning who worked at a primary school near my house and I think I may actually get the chance to do some science teaching while I’m here a few times a week. I had an awesome conversation with Gerry (the 19 year old nephew of my host family who is also living there while he attends college in Kakamega) last night where we talked about biology for an hour or so. I forgot how much I LOVE science. I got so excited talking about cells, evolution, reproduction, it was pretty funny. I am definitely a science nerd at heart!
Anyway, I’ve been at the internet café for just about as long as I can stand. I’ll try to do more regular posts now that I’m at site.As always, love you and miss you all.
btw, my new address is: Elwesero Community Health Center
Attn: Lindsay Bergman, PCV
PO BOX 176
Kakamega, Kenya
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