Teveta to Mombasa and back!

I'm back in Loitokitok after 2 weeks away and although I had a great time, I really missed my family and waking up to Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was an awesome trip though and I learned a lot!

First we went to Teveta, about 2 hours towards the coast from Loitokitok. We stayed in a super nice hotel and everyone got fat all over again off of the amazing food they fed us. There was even a bar/dance club attached to the hotel, so every night I danced my booty off! It was the first time Peace Corps actually somewhat spoiled us and it felt great! The workshop was suppose to be about HIV/AIDs although we didn't really learn much at all about that. We did learn other important lessons however.

A guy came and talked to us about his life struggle with drugs. He said that sometimes up to 12 people will share a drug needle in the slums and many addicts die of HIV because of this. It was such an intense and emotional story. He went from stealing from his own mother, to being clean and sober for 10 years now and having 4 beautiful healthy children. One story he told us that I found particularly touching was about an addict he knew named Susie. Susie was addicted to heroine and she smoked while she was pregnant. So when Susie has her child, the baby was born addicted as well. Susie would hold the baby in her arms and smoke heroine at the same time and then fall asleep and burn the baby's face. The baby only lived a year. When they raised the money for the funeral, Susie took off with it. A few years later she also died of HIV. Shows you what drugs can do, all motherly instincts out the door. So sad.

We also went to a domestic violence clinic. It was started by some women who found that there were no resources for women suffering from violence in the home. In Kenyan culture, it is still somewhat acceptable to beat your wife. A wife/woman is a commodity here and is the property of their husbands/fathers so gender roles are still very much in tact. This clinic offered post violence treatment as well as counseling for these women.

Next, we went to an HIV/AIDS garden run by people living with the virus. A healthy diet is very important for people living with HIV because their immune systems are so weak. They showed us how to plant various herbs in sacks and also how to plant banana trees. We also saw a fish farm where they raise fish to sell in the local markets. They showed us how they were fed and fished and even gave us some! Fish is a luxury food here.

My favorite thing we did was watch cultural dancing, singing and acting. I sat in the front row so they pulled me up to dance at least 5 times which was really fun! I don't think any of them were wearing deodorant, but none the less I had a great time. The singing was so beautiful too and they sang about issues such as HIV and Malaria. The acting group did a play about early marriages and although it was entirely in Kiswahili, I understood most of it I think.

Well Teveta finally came to an end and we split up into groups of 5 to go visit a current PCV at their site and see what life will be like after training. I went to visit "super volunteer" Louis Vayo in Maungu, a small truck stop town about 3 hours west of Mombasa. I say "super volunteer" because he has done so much in his community and is so integrated! He's like fluent in Kiswahili! He taught a woman's group a beading class entirely in the local language! He's started a ping pong club at the local high school and we went to visit and played the kids. Well...they kicked out butts big time! ha! We visited the NGO in his town that is one of the first organizations to sell carbon credits internationally. They are called Wildlife Works if you want to look them up and are doing some amazing things. They showed us how they are producing more sustainable coal for cooking and have a tree farm too! They also have a garment factory that employs a large percentage of the area. Michelle Obama was recently seen in one of their shirts. I believe they are called lalaso if you want to look them up too. Our last day there, Louis showed us how to make reusable sanitary pads. This is very important because most girls don't have the money to buy sanitary products so they will miss school when they are on their periods. But these reuseable pads make it possible for them to make the napkins themselves and still remain in school. It's defiantly something I'd like to take up in my site.

Finally, we went to Mombasa for one night. I got to swim in the Indian Ocean for the first time since South Africa and it was amazing! We shopped around and I ate pizza!!! But here comes the bad part...I got sick. Like bad sick. I couldn't fully enjoy Mombasa because I was throwing up all night in my hotel. The next day we made the 7 hour bus ride back to Loitokitok and I was still sick. I missed school the next day to recover, but it was nice to be home at least. My mama was so worried about me she made another volunteer come check on me. It's nice to know I'm cared about so much when I'm so far from home. Today I'm all better though and finally got to the internet cafe to update you all. My mama is taking me to the tailor today to get a dress made because I bought some really beautiful fabric in Taveta.

That's all for now! Keep emailing me! I will get back to you as soon as I can, but I love reading them. Thank you for all the support and I miss you all more than you can imagine!