First Week at Site

My first week at site has been interesting to say the least. Leaving my Peace Corps friends behind in Nairobi was really hard. We bonded over our 10 weeks together in training. No one else will understand what it is like to go through hours of language classes, cultural lessons, technical training and little to no alone time like my Peace Corps friends. I feel lucky to have met such strong, smart and inspiring people. It is wonderful to be surrounded by people who share my same interest in humanitarianism and want to make a difference in this world. Anyway, our last few days in Nairobi were some of the most fun I’ve had here. Swearing in as an official volunteer was so special. We went to the American Ambassador’s residence which was amazing! It was huge and I was defiantly in reverse culture shock. He gave us a tour of the grounds and offered us some great advice for going to site. My fellow Peace Corps colleagues gave speeches along with some of the staff. We had incredible food! I’ve never ate so much! I had 2 hamburgers and a hotdog, potato salad, cupcakes, fruit and cake! I missed American food soooo much! There was even a coffee bar and I had an actual latte! Afterwards we went back to the hotel and popped some champagne to celebrate. We had dinner at the best Italian place and once again I stuffed my face. I guess my mindset was that I wouldn’t be having food like that for a long time haha. After gorging myself, we went out and danced off the pounds at a club. I had my first tequila shot in Kenya…to say the least, it settled just as bad as tequila in the States does for me…yuck! Ha!

The next morning, bright and early, we were off to our sites. Luckily I had a group of 4 other volunteers going my direction so we were able to take the same ride together. However, it was quite the adventure. First, our bus was almost 3 hours late, which sucked considering we had to wake up at 6am. Then, our bus almost tipped over and rolled down a hill. The bus driver parked on the side of a hill so everyone could use the “bathroom”/just a bush on the side of the road haha. When we got back on and were ready to go, the bus started tipping down the hill. It was so scary. All the Africans were just acting as if this was another normal day, but us 4 wazungu tailgated out of that bus as fast as we could! Soon everyone evacuated and then began our 3 hour wait on the side of the road well they tried to pull the bus up. This whole time we were taking bets on 1. when the bus would roll down the hill and 2. how it would flip. It took 3 different trucks to pull the bus out, but surprisingly they actually did (a little disappointing, we all kinda wanted to see it flip). So it was on with the journey. In total it took me almost 13 hours to get to site from Nairobi because of the little mishap of the bus tipping over. I arrived right when the sun was going down, had dinner at my supervisor’s house and then went to my house…

This is where God’s real test started. My house was/is infected with cockroaches. And I don’t mean like one or two, I mean like an unimaginable number of them everywhere! All over the walls, floor, they even some how got into my bed. It was terrifying because if you know me, the one thing I’m most afraid of besides blood, bats, snakes, and the dark, is bugs! I really think I was put here for a reason by God: to face my fears and grow the F up! I’ve been facing these bugs head on (not really by choice), but I’m quite proud of myself on being able to even function with them. I never would have even killed a cockroach in America (that was my dad’s job), but now I’m going Laura Croft on them!

Other than the cockroaches though, my house is huge! It has a kitchen with a sink and a fireplace, a huge living room, a western toilet (although it doesn’t flush), a western shower (although it doesn’t work as well), a pantry, and two bedrooms with built in closets! They provided a queen bed for me and I bought a mattress. This is my safe haven with my mosquito net up and me curled up inside keeping safe from the roaches, it’s actually quite peaceful. It’s hard to get any alone time though. Kenyans don’t understand the concept of space I’ve realized. Every two seconds there are kids knocking on my door wanting to play or just loiter. It’s kinda bothersome, but I’m trying to be polite about it. I’ve been playing soccer with the neighbor kids a lot too so that’s fun.

I went to church last Sunday which was a fun experience. Afterwards I went around and introduced myself to people. Later, in town, I saw someone who works with my organization (Mbu nje! Sisi Ndani!...translates into Mosquito Out, We in) and I told her I went to church and she was like “oh I already know”. “You know?” I asked. “Yes, it is going around that a mazungu was in church”. Great. So I think it will be hard to stay low profile here at all ha! But at the same time, my job isn’t about being low profile at all. I want to set a good example and show people that as an American I want to be apart of everything they do too. I make sure to actually have myself BE seen doing things the Kenyan way. I wash my clothes in the yard where everyone can see me, light and fan my jiko outside (what I use to cook on) and eat the same food they do. I also am trying to use my Kiswahili as much as I can, which always surprises them so much. Most people don’t know that I had 10 weeks of training before coming to site so they are shocked when I speak the language. Even when I tell them I’ve only been here for almost 3 months, they are surprised at how much I know. They think I’m fluent, but I know the truth, because as soon as they start speaking to me in Kiswahili, I freeze up and just give a blank “what the hell are you saying” stare! Haha! But I’m trying and I think they appreciate that. Most people here actually speak KiLuhya so I’m going to try to learn some of that language too if I can. My counterpart is a teacher so hopefully she’ll be able to do some tutoring for me.

Anyway, my life is slowly coming together. Now that I’m at site, I’ve had a lot more time to think about home and all the things I left behind. I’m starting to realize how much I sacrificed to be here and actually I still have no regrets whatsoever. I think I can really make a difference here and have already had some great cross-cultural conversations with the locals. I’m looking forward to getting closer with my community and actually getting some work done. But one thing at a time. Life is much slower here and I think if I just take the time to get to know people and the culture first, I will get a lot more done in the end.

I miss and love you all. You are in my prayers.