I am currently on a plane from Nairobi en route to Amsterdam where I will be spending a couple of days with family. It is too soon to reflect on my experience in Kenya as a whole; in some ways the experience feels like a dream that didn’t really happen and in other ways I can’t even believe that it is over.  It is not too soon, however, to reflect on what I will miss from Kenya.  So here goes…

1. Kind Kenyans

The mentality in Nairobi is one of self-preservation.  It is an environment that accepts lying, encourages an every-man-for-himself mentality, and one that encourages taking advantage of any and every opportunity that comes your way, even if it is at the expense of someone else.  A lot of the reason for this is the environment and circumstance, but it is a self-perpetuating cycle.  The thievery, the danger, the rudeness and the pick pocketing are things that I will absolutely not miss whatsoever from Nairobi.  This is not a reflection on Kenya as a whole, or even on everyone in Nairobi.  Therefore, what I will miss, are those Kenyans that surprise you and make your day by being polite, doing something nice, or not taking advantage of you.  The taxi driver who always gave me a fair price and never took advantage of me.  The stranger who helped me when I was in a matatu and the seat just collapsed and I had no idea what the matatu driver was yelling at me.  The waitress who did not put up a fight when she realized that the restaurant had made a mistake in pricing and had in fact overcharged us.  More than just the random acts of kindness, however, I will miss my host family.  They truly became my second family, provided a home away from home, were there to help me, and I’m sure without realizing it taught be an immeasurable amount about Kenyan life, culture, and family.

2. Matatus

Though riding a matatu probably has a higher risk of danger than any other activity in Nairobi, and though they are prime territory for getting pick-pocketed (as I, and many others, experienced) they are a fun, fast, and easy way to get around.  They are cheap (10 to 20 cents a ride), they are efficient (most matatu drivers have a death wish evident by how crazy and fast they drive), and they are always running.  It is nice to be able to hop on and off, alternating between a nice walk and a ride wherever you may want to go.

3. Prices in Markets

It is no lie that the prices of everything in Nairobi as compared with the US are much cheaper. This is even more drastically true, however, in the various markets in Nairobi.  One favorite was Massai Market, a traveling market selling mostly gift items.  The items are reasonably priced, and as we learned quickly after moving to Kenya, everything is Kenya is negotiable.  Coming from this mentality, it was difficult to swallow having to buy another gift for a friend in the airport, because the gift that I bought was over five times the price of the same gift that I had bought in the market .  The same goes for Toi Market, a second hand market located on the way to Kibera.  Essentially all of the second hand clothes that you and I wear in America, or in Europe, somehow all end up in enormous piles in the market.  I found the greatest success by rummaging through huge piles of endless clothes already marked with a price per piece, usually 20shillings, or 50 shillings.  On my most successful shopping day I purchased seven shirts for $1.50 total.  Makes goodwill’s prices look outrageous!

4. The lifestyle

During the months that I was living with my host family, I walked 45 minutes to and from school every day.  While I spent the majority of my days at the SIT office listening to lectures and doing work, my time at home with my host family was free of any computers, any internet, any TV and I loved it.  The problem is, as we found out living in the apartment in Nairobi during ISP, if the internet is there and if the computer is there, we are naturally habituated to go on the computer and surf the web even if we don’t actually need to be on the internet.  And on the flip side, if we do have work to do, usually we don’t get it done because we have the internet and facebook distracting us.  Some of the most fun times my apartment mates and I had, the times that we played cards or silly games, the times when we sat and chatted for hours in our apartment, were the times when we had no power.  When we had no power we regularly all sat by candlelight or headlamp light in our dining room, and enjoyed one anothers company without any internet of computers.  That is what I will miss.

5. The learning

Every single day in Kenya was a learning experience.  My passions are in reproductive health education and financial empowerment for girls, and while I did not learn explicitly about those topics every day, my learning by life living in Kenya taught me more about those subjects than I ever could have learned in a classroom.  Every day, no matter whether a good day or a bad day, I learned something new about myself, about Kenya, about development work, and about life.  I will miss that constant passionate learning.

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It’s the classic “guerilla marketing” technique to create buzz ahead of any launch. Or…..simply create demand, or test demand before the actual products is even ready for launch.

According to various news channels, like “zap2it.com” they tell us that The Washington Post is writing about the Ipad3, an upgrade from the Ipad2, supposedly with a HD screen, a 9.7″ screen supposedly coming out or being announced in January.

We shall see what happens next. Maybe we read about someone who stole the “supposedly IPad2 successor IPad 3 somewhere in a cafe in the middle of Nebraska?!

We’ll see whether the IPad3 is for real, and if it is when it will truly be launched. Not insignificant detail is the fact that Steve Jobs birthday is February 24 so some pundits speculate that the IPad3 will most likely be launched, if at all between February and April.

Price will most likely not be cut because the demand is still there to support the higher price then its competitors. No major redesign is anticipated according to the sources but one does think the capacity may be increased to 128GB. Not too shabby, particularly if it is going to be for the same price. But be warned, this is all speculations.

In the meantime ParkLaners, are you stuck with an “old” HP Touchpad, an “old” IPad2 or and “old” Motorola Xoom.

Let us know what you think. Will the new IPad3 be rolled out in the next few months?

 

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December 8, 2011

After much stress, and much anxiety, my 56-page research paper has been printed three times, bound, and officially submitted to my academic directors.  To celebrate this completion and to present our research to the rest of the students in our group, we all congregated back in Nairobi and traveled to Malindi on Friday December 2^nd.  We took the night bus from Nairobi to Mombassa, which was a fantastic trip as it had been before.  It is only an eight hour bus ride, and because it is overnight most of us managed to sleep the whole way.  The bus looks like an extremely nice coach bus, and is even equipped with a steward that is dressed similarly to a flight steward or stewardess who serves drinks and a small, but delicious, snack pack to every passenger.  Upon arriving in Mombassa early in the morning we grabbed breakfast before embarking on a two and a half hour matatu ride to our resort.

And what did we find when we arrived at our hotel in malindi….?

 

Heaven.  Absolute, heaven.  It was the picture of an African resort, and we could not believe our eyes.  A welcome drink placed in our hands upon arrival, rooms with beds bigger than king-sized, air conditioning, endless winding paths with small cottages hidden among the many flowers, palm trees, and greenery.  A total of four pools tucked away creating their own little oases, and of course, the beautiful beach on the Indian Ocean, fully-equipped with cushioned lounge chairs and towels.  We could. Not. Believe it.  We were even more in awe when an hour later we set our eyes on the sprawling buffet that was out for lunch.  Numerous options, incredible desserts, and most of all every fruit you could imagine.

The resort is called Scorpio Villas in Malindi Kenya.  If you are looking for a relaxing getaway at a quiet, quaint, yet luxurious and private resort then I highly recommend it.  The resort is not extremely kid-friendly from what I could see, as most of the other guests I saw were couples.  The food is served in the same place on a set schedule, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  There is a buffet for every meal, though there is a menu from which you can choose from one or two pastas, and taste an assortment of appetizers.  There are bars scattered around the resort and nightly singing both in the bar area and in the dining area. I cannot comment on whether there are things to do in the area because we didn’t have the time to do much exploring outside of the resort.

We therefore luxuriously spent four beautiful days in Malindi soaking up the sun.  Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, our whole group spent a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening presenting our research in 30-minute powerpoint presentations.  Wednesday we had the whole day free to enjoy the beach and the pools.   Definitely a slice of heaven, which SIT ironically calls “re-entry” orientation.

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November 30, 2011 

ISP is a term common to all SIT (School of International Training) study abroad programs.  It stands for “independent study project” and is essentially an independent research project that spans, in my case, one month at the end of the program.  Students are encouraged to do any project that they are passionate about, anywhere in the country.  My research project centered on economic empowerment, particularly as it pertains to HIV prevention.  I spent the month living in an apartment with five other SIT students, while conducting researching.  Here are some of the highlights of the month:

Reverse culture shock – already?!  The first week in the apartment was difficult.  Aside from having a broken toe as well as severe strep throat and tonsillitis, the apartment was much nicer than anything I had experienced so far in Kenya.  It was a typical apartment complex, set within a gated perimeter.  The apartment was beautiful, with a full kitchen, reclining chairs, flushing toilets, wireless internet and warm showers.  To my great surprise, however, I was extremely anxious the first week we were in the apartment.  It felt like sensory overload all of a sudden having so much technology around, internet constantly, television etc… I went from living in a homestay where I almost never brought my computer (and when I did there was no internet so I was actually able to get work done), where an average evening included speaking with my host family, helping to cook dinner, and then going to bed at 9 — to living in an apartment where the amount of technology and electricity was overwhelming.  Could this be the reverse culture shock that everyone talks about but which, up until that first week in our apartment, I did not really believe existed?

Research – for my research I did a case study of two financial literacy and economic empowerment programs for girls, at the non-profit organization Carolina for Kibera (CFK).  Overall I have to say I had a pretty easy research experience compared to my roommates – the organization was fantastic and so supportive of my work.  I had a wonderful translator, and the CFK office was located only one minute from my homestay, which meant that I knew the area very well and felt comfortable there before even beginning my research.  To get there I only had to walk ten minutes down the road from my apartment and then take the #8 matatu directly from the Yaya Center (a mall) to the top of the road my site was located on.  This commute was nothing compared to one of my roommates for whom a three-hour piki piki (motorcycle taxi) ride on the edge of a cliff, was a normal day of research.

We are definitely still in Kenya – though at times it was easy to forget that we were in fact living in Kenya because our apartment was a bubble in itself, we had constant reminders that we were most definitely still in Kenya.  The most common of these was the constant and continuous power outages.  When the power went out there was an incessant beeping outside in the hallway that signified no power.  Waking up to this sound was the worst possible way to wake up – I still have nightmares about it.  The power went out anytime, unannounced; while a load of washing was in the washing machine, while we were in the middle of cooking dinner, or while in the middle of taking a shower (meaning our shower turned from warm to freezing instantly.)  The power could be out for only an hour, for a whole day, or sometimes even for three days.  I learned living in my rural village home stay that living without electricity is not necessarily difficult.  It is only when your whole life has been set up to revolve around the use of electricity that it becomes a problem.  And when you are in the middle of writing a 56-page research paper which requires internet and a charged computer, it becomes a big problem.  You may be wondering why we had no power.  My roommates and I often wondered the same thing and are still not quite sure. I know my host family living right on the edge of the Kibera slum rarely had power the month of November, the worst stint being one entire week without electricity.  They seemed to think that no power had to do with employees within the power company making extra money by selling electricity illegally to serve the vast slum population, thereby overloading the transformations.  But the truth will forever remain a mystery.

The other reminder was the incredible number of car crashes that occurred in the roads we frequented around our apartments.  The thing is that there are almost no traffic signals of any sort in Nairobi. From what I can recall I only saw one traffic light during my entire stay in Kenya.  This means that driving is essentially a free-for-all: whoever can drive the fastest, be the most daring, and be the most risky is likely to make it to their destination faster.  This lead not only to many accidents but also to insane traffic jams that could leave you enduring a three-hour car ride that should have taken only 25 minutes.  The worst of these was at a four-way intersection near our apartment.  In the US there would have been stop signs at each road.  In this case, however, there was nothing.  This meant that each car assumed it had the right to pass and went through the intersection as fast as possible.  A recipe for disaster.

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December 1, 2011

In one of my first blog posts of the semester I recounted the definition of “mob justice” a term that had been explained to us during our program orientation, by my academic directors.  Well I saw this very concept in action the other day.  A few friends and I decided to visit Nairobi National Park, which as the the name suggests is a national park located within Nairobi.  On our way to the national park we were driving on the highway and noticed a small mob of people, maybe 25 to 30 people, all standing along the side of the road looking to the other side of the road.  Naturally we turned our heads to follow their gazes only to see two young Kenyan men, one of whom was holding a machete.  It was then that we also noticed a young Kenyan man running after the car in front of us, literally banging on the back of the car running in the middle of the highway.  It took us a moment to absorb this scene and realize that the man running in the road was in fact completely bloody.  When we asked our taxi driver what on earth was going on, he said “Oh, that is the mob justice.” He explained that the man running in the middle of the road was likely a thief who had stolen something.  The mob on the side of the road was angry at the thief so they were after him to kill him.  This thief was running after a military car (we realized this as we passed the car) in hopes of getting help from the soldiers, with no luck: the last thing that they wanted to do was stop and help this thief in the middle of such a scene.  Just another day living in Nairobi.

 

 

 

 

 

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Friends of ours discovered this crazy Christmas outside decoration in the Baltimore, MD USA area. Apparently the owner of the property got the Fighter jet sent to him in pieces and somehow got everything assembled in his back-yard.

Look at Santa‘s Sleigh pierced by the fighter jet, one of the reindeer sucked into one of the jet engines, the pilot waiting with a little cart and Santa standing on the fence looking at his crashed sleigh thinking “oops”.

One of the most original and funny outside Christmas decorations I have seen.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

 

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Saturday October 29, 2011

Today, on our last day in Tanzania, we climbed to the first base of Mount Kilimanjaro.  The view as we drove up was incredible: the same breathtaking view of a snowy mountain top.  To our surprise, however, the climb to the first base reminded me a lot of a New England forest: very green and lush, with moss and trees everywhere.  In itself it was not a difficult climb; it was very gradual the whole way up.

 

 

 

The real difficulty was the high altitude which was very noticeable as we all felt out of breath after only a few minutes of climbing.  We were with five guides–the leader of the guides holds the record for the fastest climb up to the summit of Kilimanjaro, which took him about 14 hours.  It takes most groups anywhere from 5 to 8 days, so his record is extremely impressive.  When we asked him what pace he maintained to reach the summit that fast he said, “like this!” and began literally sprinting ahead.  Incredible! It took us about three hours to get to the first base, which contains a series of small wooden lodges that reminded me a lot of a ski lodge that you would find at the summit of a mountain.  It was beautiful up there – lots of greenery, and a lot of trees, most of which were home to monkeys who were climbing everywhere! The sky wasn’t clear that day so unfortunately we didn’t get a good view of the summit from where we were, at the Maundi Crater which is located just a ten minute hike from the first base.

 

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