Well here in good old Africa it's hot like 89 percent of the time. Oh myLANTA! You must be thinking! It's like a vacation all year round! Except that it's not, because you wear floor length skirts and conservative tops every day. Shorts are a no go. And it does get pretty chilly sometimes, but it is never enough for snow! :( Snow is my favorite, and there is nothing like a snowy holiday season! We aren't really celebrating the holidays here anyway (not in the American sense anyway, they don't have money to spend on decorations or presents for eachother), except for maybe a nice dinner with my family before I leave for the beach....!!! A big group of us have planned out a trip to Diani Beach over Christmas and New Years, and it should be a really fun time! I would definitely rather be around my fiance and family but... if I have to spend the best holiday of the year in Kenya I think on the beach is my best option. Anyway, I don't know if there are any kind souls who are desperately looking to spend more money this holiday season and send me a package, here are some options!
Powdered Popcorn Cheese
Kellog's Fruit Snacks
Dierbergs Watermelon Licorice
Twizzlers
Small packets of Ranch
Thai Kitchen Lemongrass & Chili Soup Bowls
Laffy Taffy
Chili Man
Cheeze Its
Cadbury Christmas Chocolates
PS The next blog will be about Jarred's time here, I promise!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
The most important (and confusing) lesson
So other than teaching at the secondary school, I've completed my door-to-door interviews. Walking around a village for 3 months (trying to interview some 30,000+ people) waaaass... super fun. According to my statistics, I'm living in a village with about a 20% employment rate. EMPLOYMENT. Not unemployment. So if anyone is looking to, I don't know, build a huge factory that will create thousands of jobs in the middle of BFK, please call me.
The lack of jobs in my area is a huge problem. The biggest, I think. How can a Public Health Volunteer help that? My job is supposedly to provide support for health issues, and unfortunately I don't see health as the underlying issue here. That's not to say that health isn't an issue, or that it doesn't affect people's work ethic/ability. But this idea of learned helplessness... is the bane of my existence. There is SO much potential in Kenya (and Africa), so many people, so much money to be made... but no one has the hope to dream. It is extremely discouraging to be around so much hopelessness, when people believe they have no future beyond struggling for a living. Westerners, or white people in general, are seen as dollar signs; a way out- the only way out. Kenyans don't believe they can do it themselves without a sponsor or donor money. If you don't have that, or if you can't connect them with someone who does, your face value to the community was just cut in half. And for good reason, no one has money, and everyone needs it.
I stumbled upon a mama in a health clinic I was visiting on the outskirts of my village. She was with her 2 children; a 6mo. boy and a 2 yr. girl. The 2 year old was in and out of consciousness, unable to keep her eyes open, her limbs like jelly from lack of strength and sustenance. She has to be carried everywhere because she is so malnourished she cannot walk or even speak. She hasn't eaten in days. I recommend the clinic refer her to the district hospital, about 15 k away, or a 100 ksh piki ride (just over $1USD). Obviously, they say, they have seen this mama before and referred her, but she doesn't have the money to get there or pay for the hospital fees. I could stress the importance of seeking medical attention to this mama, and hope that somehow she finds the money to go even though there's probably a 90% chance that she will be unable and this child's health with continue to decline. Or I could take her myself, pay for the fees, and fuel the common belief that white people just have money to give away. What is the right answer? Might it be secret option C, take the child but under the premise that it is not I (the white person) who is funding the medical support but my organization, a CBO (with no funding) in Namanjalala?! In the end, it doesn't matter. We all know I wasn't going to leave that little girl to die in the clinic, and no matter where I say the money is coming from, the mama still continues to call me twice a day asking for more money.
At the end of the day (or rather 23 days, the amount of time she spent admitted in the hospital), when I saw that 2 year old girl transform from a lifeless, lethargic, bag of tiny little bones to a smiling, giggling, healthier child that seemed to know she was there and able to eat because of this disheveled muzungu, I was okay with my decision. I can ignore the phone calls and messages, and passerby asking me for thousands of shillings for whatever reason, but I would never have been able to ignore that girl's face plastered in my mind after walking out of that clinic knowing that just because of her bad luck of being born in Kenya she would die before reaching her 5th birthday.
The lack of jobs in my area is a huge problem. The biggest, I think. How can a Public Health Volunteer help that? My job is supposedly to provide support for health issues, and unfortunately I don't see health as the underlying issue here. That's not to say that health isn't an issue, or that it doesn't affect people's work ethic/ability. But this idea of learned helplessness... is the bane of my existence. There is SO much potential in Kenya (and Africa), so many people, so much money to be made... but no one has the hope to dream. It is extremely discouraging to be around so much hopelessness, when people believe they have no future beyond struggling for a living. Westerners, or white people in general, are seen as dollar signs; a way out- the only way out. Kenyans don't believe they can do it themselves without a sponsor or donor money. If you don't have that, or if you can't connect them with someone who does, your face value to the community was just cut in half. And for good reason, no one has money, and everyone needs it.
I stumbled upon a mama in a health clinic I was visiting on the outskirts of my village. She was with her 2 children; a 6mo. boy and a 2 yr. girl. The 2 year old was in and out of consciousness, unable to keep her eyes open, her limbs like jelly from lack of strength and sustenance. She has to be carried everywhere because she is so malnourished she cannot walk or even speak. She hasn't eaten in days. I recommend the clinic refer her to the district hospital, about 15 k away, or a 100 ksh piki ride (just over $1USD). Obviously, they say, they have seen this mama before and referred her, but she doesn't have the money to get there or pay for the hospital fees. I could stress the importance of seeking medical attention to this mama, and hope that somehow she finds the money to go even though there's probably a 90% chance that she will be unable and this child's health with continue to decline. Or I could take her myself, pay for the fees, and fuel the common belief that white people just have money to give away. What is the right answer? Might it be secret option C, take the child but under the premise that it is not I (the white person) who is funding the medical support but my organization, a CBO (with no funding) in Namanjalala?! In the end, it doesn't matter. We all know I wasn't going to leave that little girl to die in the clinic, and no matter where I say the money is coming from, the mama still continues to call me twice a day asking for more money.
At the end of the day (or rather 23 days, the amount of time she spent admitted in the hospital), when I saw that 2 year old girl transform from a lifeless, lethargic, bag of tiny little bones to a smiling, giggling, healthier child that seemed to know she was there and able to eat because of this disheveled muzungu, I was okay with my decision. I can ignore the phone calls and messages, and passerby asking me for thousands of shillings for whatever reason, but I would never have been able to ignore that girl's face plastered in my mind after walking out of that clinic knowing that just because of her bad luck of being born in Kenya she would die before reaching her 5th birthday.
Friday, December 7, 2012
The day I was a Peace Corps Volunteer
I'm sorry it has been over 2 months since my last blog post! My laptop charger broke and my wonderful fiance (Ah! Don't worry, we'll get to that!) sent me a new one, but it took me awhile to figure out that it was my charger that was the problem. Now the problem is that so much has happened since then I've been procrastinating on writing it in one cohesive blog post!
I'll begin with what I'e been doing in my village since September. The first 3 months at site are supposed to focus on your Community Needs Assessment (CNA) for Peace Corps; a 5-10 pg report on your observations related to the potential needs of your village. In mid-October I had a visit from PC to check-in and see how everything was going. Despite feeling like I hadn't accomplished much in my first 2 months my Public Health supervisor assured me that I was on track and well integrated. I hadn't heard much from my organization until my meeting, and even after the PC meeting the trend continued so I started filling in my own schedule.
I began teaching weekly lessons at a Secondary School in my village, the first set being on HIV. We split up the grades (they go Form 1, 2, 3, 4, which is equivalent to Freshman, Soph, Junior, Senior) with Form 1 and 2 girls only first, then Form 3 and 4 girls, then the boys split by age as well. I wanted to do them in smaller groups because I know that they typically have a lot of questions, and keeping students with their agemates might make them more comfortable to ask questions they would otherwise be too embarrassed to ask. So the first one went well but I wasn't sure if the students really learned that much- they were really smart and seemed to know the basics already. However, when I arrived at the school the next day to teach another lesson, the principal informed me that the girls I just taught had been discussing my lesson and what all they learned with their male classmates and he (the principal) had received several requests from Form 1 and 2 boys to be taught before the Form 3 and 4 girls. I was pretty excited! I liked teaching the girls, but I've noticed that girls around that age here get really weird and embarrassed around me and it's hard for me to not get a little self-conscious when they laugh continuously at me throughout the lesson... Plus I have a few male cousins in the US and they are at the high school age and I just love them, they're not embarrassed around me and they're mostly past that really immature phase so they are fun to interact with.
Ha. ha. ha.
Yeah, let's go talk to my pubescent (sorry, no offense guys) male cousins about why having a small penis would not reduce your chances of spreading HIV... (that was a legitimate question they asked me). Or what the benefits of having sex are besides having children... So I didn't really think that part through, so I did blush pretty hard when trying to answer those kind of questions to 14-17 yr. old boys, but it was probably the most fulfilling thing I've done here so far. The fact that they were comfortable enough with me to ask those questions is super cool. We did almost an hour of questions and I feel like I really left a positive impression on them. The only thing I regret is writing down my real phone number when they asked for my contact information.
I have a bit more to go buuuuuut I tend to ramble so I'm gonna end this here so as to keep your attention ;)
I'll begin with what I'e been doing in my village since September. The first 3 months at site are supposed to focus on your Community Needs Assessment (CNA) for Peace Corps; a 5-10 pg report on your observations related to the potential needs of your village. In mid-October I had a visit from PC to check-in and see how everything was going. Despite feeling like I hadn't accomplished much in my first 2 months my Public Health supervisor assured me that I was on track and well integrated. I hadn't heard much from my organization until my meeting, and even after the PC meeting the trend continued so I started filling in my own schedule.
I began teaching weekly lessons at a Secondary School in my village, the first set being on HIV. We split up the grades (they go Form 1, 2, 3, 4, which is equivalent to Freshman, Soph, Junior, Senior) with Form 1 and 2 girls only first, then Form 3 and 4 girls, then the boys split by age as well. I wanted to do them in smaller groups because I know that they typically have a lot of questions, and keeping students with their agemates might make them more comfortable to ask questions they would otherwise be too embarrassed to ask. So the first one went well but I wasn't sure if the students really learned that much- they were really smart and seemed to know the basics already. However, when I arrived at the school the next day to teach another lesson, the principal informed me that the girls I just taught had been discussing my lesson and what all they learned with their male classmates and he (the principal) had received several requests from Form 1 and 2 boys to be taught before the Form 3 and 4 girls. I was pretty excited! I liked teaching the girls, but I've noticed that girls around that age here get really weird and embarrassed around me and it's hard for me to not get a little self-conscious when they laugh continuously at me throughout the lesson... Plus I have a few male cousins in the US and they are at the high school age and I just love them, they're not embarrassed around me and they're mostly past that really immature phase so they are fun to interact with.
Ha. ha. ha.
Yeah, let's go talk to my pubescent (sorry, no offense guys) male cousins about why having a small penis would not reduce your chances of spreading HIV... (that was a legitimate question they asked me). Or what the benefits of having sex are besides having children... So I didn't really think that part through, so I did blush pretty hard when trying to answer those kind of questions to 14-17 yr. old boys, but it was probably the most fulfilling thing I've done here so far. The fact that they were comfortable enough with me to ask those questions is super cool. We did almost an hour of questions and I feel like I really left a positive impression on them. The only thing I regret is writing down my real phone number when they asked for my contact information.
I have a bit more to go buuuuuut I tend to ramble so I'm gonna end this here so as to keep your attention ;)
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