Maji safi

Photos: 1-3: fantastic community service event, 4: my DR group with our local Maasai field guides, 5: my guide Mwato goofing around in elephant footprints

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We finished DR fieldwork last Saturday, so no more exciting new adventures in the bush. In the last days of fieldwork, we did vegetation assessments in an unsettled site (before it was a settled site, so there were people and bomas throughout), so there was more wildlife. We saw elephants while driving around, never on foot, although all of our transects were cluttered with elephant prints. Scary! We also did some more household interviews. My local Maasai guide Jackson and I one day had an interesting conversation about Jews and Maasai. After he divulged that he was a pastor and asked me if I went to church, I told him that I was actually Jewish. He said, I quote, “Oh! I have heard of the Jews! From the Old Testament, right?” Laughing in amusement, I told him he was correct. He thought about it for a few seconds, then told me that the Maasai like the Jews because they can relate to them in many ways: rituals (naming ceremonies, circumcision), family values, and…pastoral lifestyle. Fighting tears from laughter, I explained to him that most Jews are no longer pastoralists – after all, how old is the Old Testament? Anyway, one of the more interesting conversations. Oh, and I found it really appropriate that I spent almost all of Passover wandering around the semi-arid lands of Africa.

After we finished fieldwork, we had a non-program day on Monday. I say this a lot, but I truly think that day had best-day-in-Kenya material…dare I say it may have even made the-best-day-ever list? Back in Lake Nakuru, we had a “debriefing” session with the staff. We said things that we like and don’t like about the program, something that I really respect SFS for doing. Of course it was mostly things that we like, but we did have a few gripes. My issue was the community service activities that SFS had planned. Most of them were really great – the nutrition clinic, building desks at a school. But there weren’t many activities. I thought we would be doing tons of service events and was very disappointed when I got here and saw on the calendar that there were only three or four. A few other people also saw this as an area that needed improving. So we planned a really big event! We held an auction amongst our group to raise money to buy a 5,000 liter water tank and install gutters to collect rainwater for a church down the street from us. We wound up raising over 50,000 ksh. I was really happy that people were willing to spend their money on this. I sold an extra box of matzah and the wooden “authentic Kenyan” Passover set that mom sent, and I bought a lot of baked goodies, candy, piggy back rides (which I redeemed a few days ago, it was glorious), and a bar of soap.

So the actual service day! We built a wooden stand to elevate the tank so that people could drain water out of it. To make the stand stable, we dug holes to cement the legs in. We dug the holes with various tools – a railroad spike, pick axe, bare hands. In the cement we wrote “maji safi” (clean water). Installing the gutters was more of a one-man job. The mamas from the church cooked a large feast, and we helped them prepare it. Nyama choma (roast meat aka goat), rice, and veggies in a broth. We cooked it all in big cauldrons on top of little fires. Some of the young kids sang Swahili/Maasai songs and did really awesome dances. Everyone here has perfect rhythm. To end the event, the pastor gave a short service because they felt so blessed by the occasion, and a few of us prepared a brief lesson on water sanitation and problems in the region. It was such a great event – we raised the money and saw it to completion. It was also really nice because it was at the end of DR fieldwork. During fieldwork we didn’t get to see the other DR groups much, but we got to spend the whole non-program day together as one big unit again.

Since then, we have been doing data analysis and now writing up our final DR papers. Not too exciting. It’s been stressful at times, but it’s already pretty rewarding. I’ve basically planned out what I’ll be doing when the program ends on May 6. I’m staying in Oloitokitok for about 10 days to volunteer at the hospital with my friend Anne. On May 16 our Swahili teacher Daniel is getting married, so we will go there and meet up with some other students who will be traveling after the program. From there, Anne, some of the guys, and I will go to the Indian Ocean coast – Mombasa, Sokoke Forest Reserve, Malindi, and LAMU! Then we’ll head back to Nairobi to fly home on May 30 and arrive on the 31^st. Sounds like a solid plan! The semester ends in a week and a half. It’s amazing how fast the semester has gone by!

hakuna nyazi...

Photos: 1) interviewing Maasai elders in Kimana Group Ranch. 2) leading a Passover seder and enthusiastically explaining the seder plate.

I wrote this yesterday but the internet wasn't working...

The madness called directed research (DR) has begun!

I am in the wildlife ecology DR with Kiringe. Our study is on rangeland conditions and trends in Kuku Group Ranch (the group ranch next to ours, Kimana) and how they affect the local communities, especially the Maasai in the group ranch. Every day we wake up really early to leave by 7:00 – it gets really hot out in the field so the earlier we leave, the earlier we get back and avoid the hotter parts of the day! Half of our fieldwork is monitoring vegetation. There are 12 of us in the DR group, but for fieldwork we divide into smaller groups, either singles or doubles, with local guides. For vegetation monitoring, each group samples 21 points along a 2km transect. The first day it took us all day, but now we are in a better rhythm and can finish before lunch. The other half of our fieldwork is interviewing the people in the community. Most of the interviews are with members of the group ranch to see how they perceive range condition changes. The other interviews are with our key informants, Maasai elders. I had the great pleasure of doing this yesterday. I’d say it definitely made the top 5 days in Kenya list. Another student and I spent the whole day with Kiringe and a guide to translate. We had three discussion groups, each with three elders, in Mbirikani, Kuku, and Kimana group ranches. The elders are traditionally seen as the most knowledgeable people in the community and have clearly lived the longest, so we sought their opinions on changes in the group ranches. Each discussion group was very different. The first was in a church where a dust devil surrounded the building and rattled the roof. The second was in a school where a chicken, and later a goat, casually walked in and out with little reaction from us. The third was under the shade of an Acacia tree next to a cultural manyatta, and halfway through our discussion a tourist group arrived at the cultural manyatta so we heard the Maasai put on their “show” for the visitors. I won’t go into details on the information we collected because then this will turn in to a full on paper, but we learned some really interesting things and noted a lot of differences across the three group ranches.

All of our fieldwork has been exciting because it is so different from anything else I have done in my life. When I’m sitting on a small stool in a boma while interviewing a mama, I always think how even just a year ago I would have never imagined I’d be doing these things. I don’t even think I could have fully fathomed or understood life in Kenya and all of its complexities (and, truthfully, I guess I still don’t really!)

Yesterday on our way back from our interviews with the elders, it began to pour! The rainy season should have started by March, but the area is in a severe drought. During our interviews with the elders, they all agreed that this has been one of the worst droughts they have lived through. In general, wherever you go you see lots of livestock – cows, goats, sheep (collectively “shoats”), donkeys. The drought is so bad you can see how unhealthy these animals looks, especially the cows. They are so small and thin you can see their bones. During our fieldwork for DR we have come across wildlife that have died from the drought. Unlike back in the states (something we explain when we are interviewing people in the community when they want to know if problems here exist in the US), everyone’s primary source of livelihood depends on the land. So when it rains here, it is instant relief and happiness. And it poured like we have never seen here. Our so-called soccer field flooded with mud. A bunch of us romped around in the rain, making mud angels, shoving mud in each other’s faces. It rained so much that our driveway flooded with gooey mud. My DR group’s car got stuck in the mud this morning, so we had, in essence, a “mud day” (like a snow day!) Rather than taking a non-program day tomorrow as planned, my DR group had one today while the other groups went into the field. What a wonderful day of relaxation!

To back track quite a bit, on the 8^th, the night before DR began, I held a Passover seder, thanks to mom who sent a wonderful package with matzah, charoset ingredients, and a complete wooden Passover set. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, both students and staff. I think I’ve developed a reputation here for being overly silly a lot, and that definitely applied during the seder. There are now a bunch of funny pictures and videos of me being incredibly Jewish, for example of me getting everyone to sing “dayenu” or waving around the wooden seder plate.

As Kiringe says, “Oh, it’s a marathon now! You’ll go crazy!” DR has taken over our lives. We unfortunately don’t see the other DR groups much because we are in the field all day and everyone has a lot of work to do at night or are in desperate need of sleep. There are only three weeks left of the semester, and it will definitely go fast with DR.

My matatu fleet would be chemistry themed - periodic table and organic mechanisms...

Photos: 1. at the Great Rift Valley with a Christian-theme painted blockade; 2. Lions at Lake Nakuru National Park; 3. Lake Nakuru - pelicans in the front and lesser flamingos further into the lake

The past two weeks without internet has been very busy, so this will be an unprecedentedly insanely long entry. Pole! (sorry in Kiswahili)

I thought KBC was amazing, but then we went to NPS. The bandas at NPS also sleep four people, but there is a thin wall in the middle so you really only sleep with one other person but can hear two others. The chumba has an upstairis tv room with a COUCH (well, a makeshift one…it was still awesome given that the most comfortable things we sit on are the car seats). NPS is smaller than KBC, but because there are no elephants there, we are allowed to walk outside the fence without supervision! I actually don’t think it makes sense…elephants are really only a danger here at night whereas you could get attacked by a lion or a hyena or charged by a buffalo any time of the day at NPS. Regardless, there is a long loop outside the fence that you can walk/run on and a soccer field at the top of a hill nearby. There’s real grass on the field and goals! No thorns! Although there sadly is no beautiful view of Kili at NPS, from the soccer field you can watch the sun set behind the Ngong Hills, a beauty which I think compensates very well. It is such an open area (as is much of Kenya) that from the top of the soccer field you can also see Nairobi and other urban centers like Karen and Kitangela in the distance. Whenever we played, some of our Kenyan neighbors would join us, adding new excitement to our games. NPS also borders Nairobi National Park, so there is a lot of wildlife at the site. There are pesky vervet monkeys that try to steal your food and bushbabies that appear just after the dinner bell and jump from tree to tree above the outdoor shower (peeping Toms…) Oh yea, a completely outdoor shower. And a pit latrine choo (toilet) which was surprisingly pleasant. Clearly, I was a big fan of NPS.

During the first week in the region we had two non-program days, mostly because several guest lecturers cancelled on us. The first one I had very mixed feelings about. We went to an elephant orphanage at Nairobi National Park. A woman from the orphanage spoke to us about the successes of the institution and what they do while adorable infant elephants were paraded in front of us. But most of what she said about their successes were lies – none of the reintroductions are successful as the elephants cannot fend for themselves and die. I was also annoyed because a lot of the students in the group chose to spend $50 to “adopt” an orphan. People can spend their money however they want, something I’m still trying to become accepting of in the group, but why not use your $50 to help one of the orphans in Oloitokitok or even just sponsor a student in our group ranch to attend secondary school? But I do have to admit, the elephants were cute. Especially a baby black rhino that literally romped around like a puppy. Then we went to a giraffe center where they display the endangered Rothschild giraffe for “educational” purposes. This really made me upset and uncomfortable. The educational part was essentially non-existent – a woman who knew nothing about the giraffes briefly spoke to us. The main attraction of the center is that you get to feed the giraffes. If you put the food (little pellet shapes) on your lips, the giraffe will lick it off, making for a fantastic facebook picture. But it’s a terrible conservation program, if you could call it that. They’re causing an already endangered species to lose their natural ability to forage. I was surprised with how few people in our group were bothered by this, given all the classes we have taken and that everyone would consider themselves a conservationist. To finish the day, we went to the Kazuri Bead and Ceramics factory. This was a good way to end the day as it was an excellent program. They employ 340 mostly single mothers and provide health care and such for all of them. And their products are beautiful, unfortunately they were a bit out of my price range (but still cheap because it is Kenya after all). To end the day, my car convinced our driver Daniel to stop at a fast food pizza joint we found. So yummy, but it was strange just how Western it was, especially since we had just come from living in rural Kenya for two months.

One day we went to Nairobi National Park. It was very small and it is almost completely surrounded by human settlements. It literally borders Nairobi itself. You can imagine the negative impacts this all has (I’ve just written two essays on it…oy!) But it was a really fun park, although we didn’t see rhinos or big cats as we had hoped.

For the next non-program day, we went to Kitangela Glass. What a surprise! We were all really just expecting glass-blowing, which is cool, but it was much more. It was like a fantasy land – kind of how I always envisioned the secret garden would look like. There were glass sculptures everywhere. They use old glass bottles to make gorgeous crafts. I didn’t get anything because I only envisioned catastrophe trying to travel with it after the program, but I still enjoyed myself watching the glass blowing and looking at everything. Randomly, there was also a suspension bridge (like the kind in those outdoorsy movies when there’s a bear at one side and the scared campers have to run across it and they say things like “don’t look down!” but the always do…) It was nuts!!! Sarah the student affairs manager (SAM) was freaking out as she is our risk management person, but she told us that if our hearts told us we had to, we could. Well my heart could not resist. What a rush! And I did look down and it was terrifying. The best part was when we got to the other side, the employee from Kitangela Glass gave us waiver forms to sign (which Sarah shouted to us “don’t sign anything!!!) Needless to say I didn’t, and I kept it as a funny memento of one of the gutsiest things I have done in my life.

The remainder of our time away from KBC was mostly spent on expedition to Lake Nakuru National Park. On the drive there and back we drove along the Great Rift Valley. It was beautiful and it felt really cool being there – the cradle of humanity! We took some fun pictures as our professors showed us the places we’d be visiting in the basin and as we battled off persistent curio shop owners. At LNNP, we stayed at the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya youth hostel. It was really cool – right in the middle of the park. We had dorms, a kitchen, a chumba…it was a lot like our sites except, well, in a national park. And squat choo’s and minimal running water, which I find fun. From the hostel you could see both the lake and Nakuru town, making for interesting campfires. It was a fun and different place to stay.

Lake Nakuru is fantastic, a “bird-watcher’s paradises”! As a new and novice bird-watcher, I was in love. It is filled with flamingos, pelicans, plovers, storks…We could have spent hours in one spot scrambling through our bird books to identify and observe them all. The park as a whole is pretty cool as well. We saw both black and white rhinos in the wild for the first time, and Guereza black-and-white colobus monkeys, which I now think are my favorite monkeys. But the park is completely fenced and also borders urban centers, making it kind of like a really large zoo. It also faces a lot of problems, as does every other conservation initiative or land use practice in Kenya, as I have now written at least ten papers on.

One day during expedition we went to Lake Naivasha and Hellsgate National Park to learn about more of these issues. The Lake Nakuru expedition as a whole is a new addition to the SFS Kenya program, so it still has a few kinks, such as time. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to really explore these two places. Lake Naivasha we just briefly learned about. At Hellsgate we went to a geothermal power plant, which was actually pretty cool. We didn’t get to game drive because it started to rain (yay!!!), but it cleared in time for us to hike through a gorge. It was technical at points, especially because it had just rained. But every inch of it was beautiful, from the towering layers of rock to the steaming hot springs. Some movies have been filmed there, and people have carved their names into the walls of the gorge, sadly enough, but I still really enjoyed it. The hike took longer than expected, so we had to drive back to LNNP at night. We NEVER drive around at night. It was very disorienting being on a highway at night rather than a bumpy dirt road in the day – a lot of us felt like we were sent back to the states, except that we were on the wrong side of the road. It was an odd experience, and I hope I don’t have to drive on those roads at night again.

The last full day at Lake Nakuru was April Fools. So when Daniel and Sarah in the morning told us that our center director Seno had called them to say there were lions right outside our camp feasting on a kill, we thought they were yanking our chain. Some people (the “gullible” ones) immediately jumped into the land cruisers to get a look. Us “smart” ones decided it was a great joke, but got in cars anyway hoping to get an early morning game drive out of it. But it was true!! Two lions devouring a waterbuck! Way cool. We had to return for class but then we came back to watch them chill out under the shade of a fever tree. We were hoping to see leopards because every other SFS group had seen them at LNNP, but we didn’t. A lot of people were bummed out, but I think that we still have seen plenty of other cool things.

We ended our time in central Kenya with another day at NPS. It was a non-program day. Most people went to an ostrich farm, but after my distaste for the elephant orphanage and giraffe center, I decided with a few other people to skip out. Because of previous unrest in the country, SFS headquarters won’t allow us to go into Nairobi or any of the other urban centers, which severely limits the possibilities for non-program days. So instead, one of the NPS askaris, Abraham, took us on a long hike around the area. We walked along a river that borders Nairobi National Park. It was a really cool opportunity.

Now we are back at KBC and are finishing up our last papers for classes and starting up directed research. I’ll write about that later…I still need to reread two papers before turning them in tonight. It’s funny how this entry turned out to be the same length my papers need to be, but I wrote this in an hour and the papers took several hours each…

Off to Nairobi!

Nothing too exciting has happened in the past week. We had final exams the past few days for all our classes, so most of our time was spent studying...or procrastinating by watching videos on our laptops and playing soccer. We'll have a few more assignments in the next two weeks, but mostly we will be preparing to start directed research (DR). Exciting! We're already halfway through the semester...

We did get out of the fence a few times. First we had a field exercise for Environmental Policy. We interviewed farmers in the group ranch about their conflicts and views on wildlife. People told us that they don't sleep except for two months (the wet season, which is supposed to be now although it hasn't started and might not). They are always awake at night, getting maybe a few hours in, to make sure that zebras, gazelle, and especially elephants do not ruin their crop. Most of the farmers believe that the government doesn't do much to help them, which is unfortunately true. They believe that wildlife is inherently good, but they have a hard time seeing this in their daily lives. The other time we got out of KBC was to go to K-town again for market day. My cook crew (Luo) got aprons made from Obama fabrics. Then today after our last final we went to the bar in Oloitokitok to unwind. I didn't get to kill any elephants (they ran out of Tuskers) so I tried some Kili. All the beers here just taste like Coors light, but it's still nice to have a cool-ish beverage.

One of the staff, Marias, got a new job and left SFS last week. He has worked here for a long time, so many people were sad to see him go. We roasted a goat for him, a much tastier one than the first one we slaughtered. After the first time we killed the goat, I decided I wasn't going to participate in it again (a lot of the guys have discussed doing it again...for example today they bought some chickens from the market to kill and eat...) But this would have been like turning down birthday cake. It was nice to share in eating the goat with our friend before he left.

Tomorrow we are going to Nairobi for the next two weeks. SFS has two sites in Kenya - Kilimanjaro Bush Camp (where I am now) and Nairobi Park Site (NPS). They used to have students at both sites simultaneously throughout the semester, but now they only have one group at KBC for the most the time, and NPS is a trip of sorts. Apparently it's the same as KBC in terms of set up and management, but there is no internet or hot water showers. So this is the last time I'll be on the internet until April 4! Kwa heri!

Nyama choma. Tuska. Hakuna matata!

Finally the internet is letting me post photos! They are all from Tsavo. The second one is Mzima springs, the rest are just from around the park.

Since Tsavo we have mostly be doing school work. Not so much fun, unfortunately. We don't have a spring break here, but I guess the whole semester is a big trip so it balances out. A few of us have been joking about going to Cancun for "spring break." As I have mentioned before, we come up with some pretty ridiculous things here to entertain ourselves...

Today we actually didn't have class. Instead, we built desks at a pre-school in the area. Since there are so many of us, most of the time we weren't needed to physically build the desks. So instead, we played with the kids. So much fun. We played Maasai-type "ring around the rosy" games, ran around, gave piggy back rides, and served as dolls to play with (Maasai shave their heads, so the kids obsess over our hair. And our body hair - they don't really have much so they like to stroke our arms...) It's very rewarding whenever we get to interact with these kids. They are shy but quick to latch on and take you by the hand. You become instant rafiki (friends) with them. It's great.

On the way back to KBC, a few of us stopped in K-town to watch the Manchester vs. Liverpool match. So intense! We went to an establishment that was basically one small room with lots of rows of pew-style benches and a tv. We paid 20 shillings to get in. It wasn't a bar or anything, literally just a tv-viewing place. It was packed out the door with men. We were the only girls, let alone mzungu. The game itself was pretty insane, but watching it in such an energetic and unusual situation made it even better. We rarely do things like that - stopping off in K-town randomly and doing really local things (we kinda broke cultural taboos as women in the area...) but it was so worth it, just this once.

Nakupenda kama nyama choma!

I actually wrote this yesterday but the internet has been really bad. Since I wrote this I haven't really done much...we'll mostly be doing schoolwork the next week and a half, unfortunately. But I did go into Kimana town (K-town as one of our Maasai staff, Sipaya, said today) for market day. We ran into some staff who had the day off, including Daniel who bought us all Cokes and Fantas. We got some chapati and chatted with mamas and other locals. A fun escape from the boring drudgery of writing essays and being back from Tsavo in general...

Tsavo was fantastic. In a good way it was different from what I expected. I just laughed when I reread my last entry. We saw no rhinos or big cats, although we visited a black rhino sanctuary and heard lions roaring outside our camp every night. And in terms of the maneaters, yea they are still at it, though not to the same terrifying extent as they were about 100 years ago when the Uganda-Mombasa railway was being built around where we were just camping (google it!). Scary? Yes.

The days started off cloudy and cool, often with patchy rainfall. By the middle of the day the sun was so strong that even the wind was often hot, like walking into the city streets from an air conditioned building. Each day was different. Tuesday was mostly traveling to Tsavo and game driving to the camp site. Compared to Tsavo, Amboseli was simply a zoo. Amboseli was so open and more populated with tourists that the animals practically pose for the flocks of vehicles. Tsavo, on the other hand, is so dense with vegetation and huge (it’s the size of Massachusetts) that you really have to be vigilant to spot wildlife. Plus there is so much more vegetation that it supports a higher diversity in animals, so although there aren’t animals every where you go, you see more species.

Wednesday we went to Chyulu Hills. Beautiful. With its high elevation, it is an important dry season pasture for the Maasai’s livestock and wildlife as a whole. We had a field lecture at the top of one hill and then hiked up a larger one. Maasai perform burning in the hills to benefit their livestock, so we got covered in charcoal from the ground and shrubs. Every view was breathtaking. With herds of livestock scattered throughout the hills, it looked liked a painting of the Alps.

Thursday we stayed at the campsite for most of the day. We had a guest lecture which was overall uninteresting, but then we had a big discussion with the whole group and our three professors. We discussed problems facing the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem and possible solutions. Although it was frustrating to have such a large group, I definitely enjoyed hearing what our peers had to say and seeing how genuinely interested our professors were in our opinions and ideas. I need to mention how incredibly cool it is to go camping with your professors.

Friday we did another field exercise of counting large mammals. This time our data was just for lab purposes. Again, we had to look really hard just to see wildlife. The best that we saw were two warthogs fighting and a hippo on the verge of death. Then we climbed a hill of volcanic rock for lunch, followed by a trip to Mzima springs. Mzima means “life” as it supplies water and, well, life to the region. There were hippos and monkeys, including Sykes which we hadn’t yet seen, fish, hyraxes, mongooses, and a crocodile that waited at the rapids with its mouth open for fish to land in. It was a bit like a zoo – there was a path to follow and an underwater viewing tank, but it was still fantastic.

Friday we had a guest lecture at the Ngulia black rhino sanctuary. Again the lecture wasn’t too interesting (KWS guards do not lecture as well as they serve) but, like many other lectures here, it was amazing to see everything that was being discussed. For example, the lecturer mentioned how the current drought will affect the already vulnerable rhino population. Sure enough, by the end of our Tsavo expedition, we saw three hippos either dead or dying because of lack of water. Although we didn’t see any rhinos, I still enjoyed hearing about what the sanctuary does. After, we went to another lodge for a less spectacular, but still fulfilling, buffet and swimming (and showering!!)

Game driving in Tsavo has easily been a highlight of this program for me. Just standing through the hatches of our Land Cruisers, feeling the wind and smelling the air, watching the sunset, scouring the landscape for wildlife…the feelings I get on these drives are unexplainable.

The best game of soccer. Ever.

1) Watch out! A sneaky hyena checking out a fleshy zebra in Amboseli. 2) A very pushy mama in the Oloitokitok market. Excellent saleswoman...

For yesterday's non-program day we went to an orphanage in Oloitokitok. There are about 20 kids there, most of which are in 5th or 6th grade. Most of their parents have passed away because of HIV/AIDS, the main reason why there are currently so many African orphans. One boy was found in the clutches of a python, bloated from dehydration and starvation. Despite these obvious hardships they faced, these kids are amazing. They love to play and have visitors to spend time with. The orphanage was founded by a man who lost his parents as a kid. He is currently ill, so we met his wife who now runs the orphanage.

As soon as we arrived at the orphanage, we paired off with a kid and became his or her buddy for the day. Mine was Singore, but I was more of a floater as he already had two other buddies and I was one of the last to arrive. The children introduced themselves and proudly said their class standings. They work very hard in school. They said a prayer, and the woman in charge explained how they are so grateful that God loves the children so much that he sends visitors. I'm not really religious, obviously not Christian, but it was very touching to hear that. It's hard for me to explain the feeling I had during all this. Then the children sang some songs for us and showed us around. Tin played and made everyone laugh. We also did the hokey-pokey.

After all this, we went into town for a quick lunch. This time we were more aware of what we were ordering. No ugali this time! I then made my first market purchase. I got a head scarf in exchange for two bandanas and a few shillings. It was definitely needed as my hair is sooo thick here and I fear that I'm on the verge of getting dreads.

Then we rejoined our friends from the orphanage and played some soccer! It was so much fun. The field had no thorns, but instead there were paths that ran through it that got plenty of traffic by people on foot and motorbikes. These kids are really good at soccer. They are not afraid of the ball at all. It was fun to let them run circles around us and steal the ball from us. Okay, they did that no matter how hard I tried to keep up. Some other local kids also joined our game, including an adorable 3 year old who literally ran around the field shouting "YES YES YES YES YES" until one of the bigger guys would pick him up and take him to the ball. Then the little boy would pick up the ball and start running. The older orphans were not amused, but we found the whole ordeal hysterical. I enjoyed goofing around with the kids and chasing them around, even though the ball was on the other side of the field. The whole day was so rewarding.

The orphanage is funded by private donations, so they need all the help they can get. I think they told us that each kid just needs a dollar a day. In the future when I post I'll put up the web address and contact info. I urge you all to consider making a donation. It's amazing how far such a little bit goes.

Today we went to Amboseli for the last time. If we want we can go again at the end of the semester, but Amboseli isn't as special at the end of the rainy season. Animals flock there during the dry season because of the swamps, so in the rainy season they disperse throughout the region (right now it is the very end of the dry season). We had a traveling field lecture throughout the park. Our wildlife management professor Okello would stop and point out the management issues that Amboseli faces. There are a lot!

On Tuesday we leave for a week expedition in Tsavo National Park. Home of the notorious maneating lions, but they don't eat people anymore, plus we'll have KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) guards and the askari with us. We'll also see lots of wildlife that we haven't seen so far like rhinos and big cats. And the beautiful Chyulu Hills. Can't wait! So no more updates for about a week...

I present to you...TIN!

Photos: 1&2. Maasai spear throwing/Kenya's Next Top Model-esque photo shoot. 3. On top of Observation Hill in Amboseli National Park.

I don't think I have ever woken up so freaked out before. At 2:00 am I awoke to an elephant trumpeting. At first I couldn't tell if it was my malaria pills messing with me, but then I continued to hear shouting (from our askaris and probably neighbors) and dogs barking. Lights from presumably flashlights kept shining into my banda, like how floodlights from cars flash across your window at night. Except at night here, the only sounds are usually night bugs and animals and the only lights are from the moon and stars. Apparently, an elephant was right outside our fence. Animals try to come into our camp frequently because, since it is fenced off, there are no effects of grazing and thus lots of forage. Maybe a week or two ago a few elands managed to break down our fence at night. Previously I had heard a few times people banging pots and such in the distance to scare away elephants. But this time it was really close. I really thought the elephant was inside our camp and I was just waiting for it to bust down my banda walls. Luckily, we have askari (guards) who do an EXCELLENT job at keeping us safe, and the elephant(s?) never made it past our gate. I was still scared though, very spooked out. It's interesting how in the states we view elephants as these majestic animals, but here they are a threat. I have spoken to farmers who said that because elephants destroyed their crops, they cannot afford to send their children to school, let alone live comfortably. Although they are endangered throughout Africa, they have become over protected. With changes in land-use practices by the local people, conflicts with the wildlife worsen. This is something we have been studying a lot in our classes, it is an extremely complex issue.

On a lighter note, we went to Amboseli again on Wednesday to have a "tourist" day. We went to a cultural boma, which is a Maasai homestead that gives tours. Having seen our neighbor's boma and learned more about Maasai culture, we had a long-winded discussion on authenticity and culture. Again, another very complicated issue. Afterwards, to be like true tourists, we went to another lodge in Amboseli and ate at the buffet. All you can eat for 1200 ksh (about $16). It was more than you expect to pay for things here, but it was soo worth it. I ate four plates of food. There was a variety of cheese and deserts and Indian dishes. I even got a glass of water with ICE. It was so decadent but mmmmm worth it! Then we went swimming at the lodge, followed by a short game drive out of the park. It was a strange day because we don't really do the tourist things here, but it was nice to do it just once...

We also recently got Maasai spears. They actually came in about a week ago, but our Swahili teacher just taught us how to throw them. Perhaps you are unaware, but I'm pretty spastic and, in general, I throw "like a girl." So give me a spear that is taller than me and is insanely sharp and I freak out. After a few throws, however, I shed my fears and would throw my spear bravely and proudly. Fyi, a Maasai can kill an elephant, lion, you name it, with one throw of their spears. Hardcore. We also got Maasai swords. I'm so dangerous!

Today I was MOD, mwanafunzi (student) of the day. It's not as cool as it sounds. It's not an award rather an assignment. By alphabetical order, we all have to do it. MOD duties are turning the solar panels throughout the day (which the staff tends to do), ringing the bell before class/meals/meetings/anything, and giving RAP after dinner. RAP stands for reflections, announcements, and presentation. After announcements are made, the MOD either gives a reflection (poem, game, discussion, etc.) or some kind of presentation that pertains to Africa, the environment, or whatever. I gave my presentation on couchsurfing.com today. It's usually fun and interesting, but the whole RAP business isn't really my kind of thing...

Now that we have been here for a few weeks, we have reach a level of being very comfortable with each other and needing to find our own entertainment. The greatest example of this is "Tin." Tin is a band consisting of two guys who play their tin plates by the washbasins after dinner. I'm the founder and manager. We just held auditions for back-up dancers. The competition was tough as there is apparently a lot of talent in the greater Kimana region. There were a lot of dreams fulfilled and crushed when we posted the results. Tin is a really big deal here at KBC.

Photos: 1. the chumba - our everything building; 2. lion in Amboseli, details below...

I finally got to go to Amboseli National Park last Wednesday! Best day ever. In the morning we counted mammals for our wildlife management class. It was pretty tedious, especially when we got to swamps where there were hundreds of animals in a very small space. In one small area I counted about 160 wildebeest! But in all, it was a pretty cool job. The park will use our data for future management and conservation purposes. For lunch we went to a tourist lodge in the middle of the park. Although I really think that tourist lodges are horrible to the local culture and environment, I could see the appeal in staying there. It’s literally in the middle of the park, so on the other side of the fence there are zebra, gazelles, and ostriches. But it was weird because it was so fancy, especially in comparison to every other part of Kenya. We brought our own packed lunches, but I still got a Coke from the bar, the coldest drink I’ve had here, and it wasn’t that cold. After we ate we had a short lecture on island biogeography. Our professor kindly bashed tourist lodges while the employees walked by us. It was very interesting. The rest of the afternoon we game drove throughout the park. In all I saw: zebra, wildebeest, Tommy’s and Grant’s gazelles, impala, oryx, hippos, ELEPHANTS (finally!), warthogs (surprisingly my favorite, they were incredibly adorable, especially the babies), buffalo, giraffe, lesser kudu, spotted hyena (they are insanely creepy!)…We saw sooo many bird species that were so beautiful. Highlights: a huge black mamba slithered by our car, and we watched a lioness come so close to DESTROYING a domestic bull. She put her paw on its back as it struggled to get away (we think it had a broken leg). Then she just got up and walked away. It was crazy!! Yea Amboseli was great…

A few days ago we slaughtered a goat. Some of our Maasai staff killed it in a traditional way, and then some students took turns skinning it. I originally wanted to, but it was pretty brutal so I chose to just observe. Our professor showed us the different organs and chambers of the stomach, which was really cool. Then we smoked the meat and ate it. Yes, I ate it. It’s tradition for the youngest male to eat the testicles, so a bunch of the guys did that. I still can’t believe they actually ate it! I tried some liver, which traditionally only older men are allowed to eat. In the end, it was an excellent experience. I think everyone should watch or even slaughter their own meat. Although I thought it was cool and I’m glad I watched it, I think I might now be a vegetarian for ethical reasons in addition to sustainability ones.

Sunday was another non-program day. We decided to keep it chill because we haven’t had a day off since we got here (would you believe that I haven’t slept past 7:15 here??) We went for a long nature walk further away from KBC. We saw giraffe and zebra – the first time we saw large mammals on foot. It was invigoratingly scary. I also correctly identified my first bird, which made me incredibly proud. The rest of the day we spent in Oloitokitok. As my body has finally acclimated to Kenya, I tried some local food at a restaurant. We ate waaay to much ugali. Then we went to a bar and poached some elephants, aka drank (the biggest brand of beer here is “Tusker,” named after the elephant that allegedly decapitated the owner with its trunk – hence “poaching”). I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed such a warm beer before!

We learned how to tell time in Kiswahili. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but I was taken aback when we learned that it doesn’t follow the Western schedule. There are 12 hours of day that start at 7:00 am, and 12 hours of night at 7:00 pm. It makes a lot more sense than our system, I think. So “saa moja asubuhi” is “hour one of the morning” or 7:00 am. Cool right?

Safi.

I posted pictures, but I'm not sure how the format will work once I press "pubblica post" (the browser is still in Italian...) One is of my banda. It is called "popomingi" which means bat. Ironically, a bat lives in the wall next to my bed and scares the crap out of me when it flaps while I try to sleep. The other picture is the view of Kilimanjaro from our camp. Amazing, right?

This past weekend we did a lot with the community. Saturday we had our first community service event. We went to a traveling clinic of sorts that was set up at a one-classroom school about two hours from KBC. We gave out prescriptions for various problems (mostly antibiotics), gave children vitamin A and de-wormers, distributed mosquito nets, provided measles vaccines, and weighed children under 5 years old to see if they were underweight or not. A lot of people showed up. One of the nurses told me that people had walked many kilometers to get there. There were so many people that, unfortunately, we did not have enough vaccines and netting. It was hard to turn people away, especially with the language barrier because it was hard to explain why they weren’t getting what they traveled so far for. Overall, though, it was a great experience. We played with the kids and tried to have conversations with our minimal Kiswahili. I spent some time in the diagnosis room watching the nurse write down the diagnoses and prescriptions that she was giving people because I couldn’t understand what they were saying. It seemed like about 1/3 of the people had malaria and something else, and almost everyone had some type of parasite or virus.

The next day was another non-program day. In the morning, a lot of the group decided to go to church. Maybe some other time I’ll see what it’s like, but I don’t think I really care to see what church is like here. It’s like wanting to see what the malls are like here. I’m not too interested in seeing Western culture in a traditional setting. Anyway, in the afternoon we went to Oloitokitok to visit the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing), an HIV/AIDS support and information center. They do free testing, provide people with treatment and information, have a support group, and help the members make crafts to sell to visitors. It is difficult for people here with HIV/AIDS to find work because most work involves manual labor through agriculture and pastoralism, so VCT helps them make some money to pay for the food they need to stay healthy (medicine is provided by the government). Several of the members told us their stories of how they came to find out that they were positive, how it affected their lives, and how they got involved in VCT. It’s really amazing what VCT has done for these people. The support group has helped work to eliminate the stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS here and helped afflicted people learn how to live positively. There are several other VCT centers in the region, but as roads are really bad and most people don’t have cars, several kilometers can prevent people from going to VCT or even hospitals and clinics to get help.

Today I was cook crew, which means I woke up an hour early to make breakfast and cleaned dishes after dinner. Once a week we get to do this. I enjoy cook crew. The cook crews are named after Kenyan tribes. Mine is Luo, the tribe that Obama’s family is from. Thus we refer to ourselves as “Team Obama.” Last week we were cook crew on a morning that we had a field lecture, so breakfast and thus cook crew were both pushed an hour earlier. Cook crew at 5:45 instead of 6:30 is no fun…it’s still dark out so you need to wear your headlamp just to find the chumba. But a few chants of “yes we can!” got us through the morning. Today cook crew was at the normal time, and we were given the option of cooking whatever we wanted for breakfast. I took charge and made cheesy eggs (we almost never have cheese here and we always want it). Delicious!

Since then we have had a lot of class. We do not have a real schedule here, it varies day to day. The past two days we have had three classes each day. The classes typically run from 1.5 to 2 hours. All the classes are in the chumba as well as our meals, so a day full of class gets very boring. It’s kind of like elementary school – we are always in the same room with the same people. Unless you check the schedule beforehand (which I stopped doing after a few days of being here), you don’t know what classes you have until the day of. Keeps us on our feet! Tomorrow we are spending the entire day at Amboseli National Park, which I’m uber excited about because I missed the first trip. So although we put in some long days full of boring class, there are plenty of excursions and variation in the schedule to keep us interested.

My GI tract questions why I came to Kenya

Yea, my digestive system has a hard time adjusting. Luckily, I never got the 24 hour bug that went around, but I still have had some issues. The worst though was today. We had our first trip to Amboseli National Park where we were sure to see lots of the large mammals. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning feeling not so hot. All night long I had weird burps that would wake me up and make me think I had vomited, plus a delightfully endless flow of poop. That I would have dealt with so I could have gone to Amboseli, but by lunch, my gut hurt so much that I could barely move. I had no appetite all day and just felt horrible. So I stayed back while everyone left. It was weird being at camp by myself (besides some staff). I stayed in my banda and napped for awhile and watched Freaks and Geeks on my laptop. I felt like I was back at college, lying in bed all day like that. But now I feel much better! I'm a little bummed out that I missed our first trip to Amboseli, but we'll be going three other times this month alone so it's not that big of a deal. Plus I got the camp to myself and I caught up on much needed sleep.

Since my past entry, we have had several field lectures. These lectures are easily the best lectures I have ever had. Two were at the top of small hills where we learned more about the geography and ecology of the area. Another one was held just outside KBC's gate so that we could learn how to make strong field observations. The lectures themselves weren't necessarily too interesting, but it was so nice to get out. The first two lectures on top of hills were especially great because of the fantastic views.

On Tuesday we had our first non-program day. We went to Oloitokitok (pronounced usually as Lay-tok-tok, but people spell and pronounce it in several different ways). It is the largest town in the area, about an hour drive from KBC (distance-wise it isn't that far, the roads are just that bad). Oloitokitok is on the slopes of Kilimanjaro so it is right next to the Tanzanian border. We did a short hike into a gorge that was full of vegetation but dried out (it's currently the end of the long dry season) and then browsed around the town for a bit. I wanted to try some of the local beer there, but unfortunately this was when I started to have digestive issues. I think I'll give myself another week or two to adjust to the diet here.

Some other things that I'll just list:
- For whatever reason my internet browser is in Italian (Sarah, you should have figured that out). I think I made the blog correctly regardless?
- Some critter lives in the roof of my banda and makes a lot of noise at night. It scares the hell out of me! At first I thought it was a bat, but I saw a small rodent running around the banda today...
- My malaria pills give me weird dreams. I kind of like it. It mostly affects me when I doze for a few seconds, like in class. I'll think someone was talking to me and wake up two seconds later to realize that they obviously weren't.
- I really enjoy being dirty and lowering my hygenic standards. I successfully handwashed my laundry the other day, but I think I'm going to wear my clothes an extra day or two from now on because it was a pain to do.

I tried to upload one photo but the Internet is that bad. Maybe next time.

No black mambas yet!

Jambo! Good news! I have not gotten bit by a black mamba, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to post this! But really, Kenya has been pretty awesome. I decided it would be easiest to make a blog. The internet is pretty slow here and we alternate nights to use it. Plus, although I'd love to keep in touch with everyone as best as I can, at night I do have to do homework, unfortunately, or if there is something fun going on like cards or a fire, I'd rather join in than deal with the bad internet connection. This entry will be really long, so read however much you'd like!

I guess I'll describe our site, Kilimanjaro Bush Camp (KBC). It is a 6 hour drive from Nairobi, MUCH further than I had originally expected. We are in the Kimana Group Ranch (a subdivided plot owned privately by Maasai communities rather than the government) which is situated between Amboseli and Tsavo West National Parks. We have a clear view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from our camp, especially in the morning when it is less cloudy around the mountain. It is such a clear view that we can see the snow on top, which if you compare the view to photos of Kili from even just five years ago, let alone twenty, you can see that there is not much left. In a few years, the glaciers will be completely gone. The whole area, people and wildlife, relies on the glacier water, so it is very unfortunate and scary to think of what will happen to the area.

Anyway, our camp is fenced in and guarded by Maasai askaris (guards) to make sure that dangerous animals (i.e. elephants) do not come in. A mile path surrounds our camp which is really nice to walk on to see the flora and fauna in the area. The main features of our camp are the main building, or chumba, and the cabins, or bandas. We do everything in the chumba: classes, meals, meetings. We even hang out on the chumba porch in between activities. Looking out from the porch, there is a large field with five bandas on each side. Each banda sleeps four people, although I only have two bandamates. The rest of KBC is staff bandas and offices. There are also some nice nooks like little gazebo-like structures and a volleyball court.

We have been very busy with classes. We only get about one day off a week, and those aren’t really days off but more like non-program days. They try to keep us busy because we are not allowed to leave KBC without staff supervision because the wildlife is too dangerous (again, elephants). We have gone into the nearest town, Kimana, for market day. It was very chaotic - Maasai mamas flooding to us, the mzungu (white person). It was a lot of fun though, I pretended to do kung fu with some little boys, I don't know where they learned that. We also visited our Maasai neighbors' boma, or homestead. I'm pretty sure it’s only a few families that live in one homestead with several houses, but their kinship networks are very different and I haven't quite gotten it yet. Their homes are made of all organic materials like plant parts and cow dung. They each have a corridor and typically two rooms, one specifically for the mama. They live very simply and traditionally.

To pass the rest of our free time, we tend to go on walks around camp or play soccer in the field. In general, there is a lot of dust here. But when we play soccer, it gets so bad you literally can't see the ball at times. Needless to say, it's a lot of fun and we get very dirty. All of the flora here is covered in thorns, including most of the grass and weeds, so falling during soccer is very painful. After a soccer match, we are caked in dirt (including on our teeth and in our lungs) and usually bloody. Still, playing soccer has been one of the highlights for me. We can’t wait to take on one of the local high school teams, and, most likely, get our butts handed to us.

We have seen a lot of wildlife. On the drive from the airport we saw zebras, giraffe, wildebeests, hartebeests, and impala. On our camp there are vervet monkeys and yellow baboons, although we usually only see the same baboon all alone (our field guide tells us that he is most likely alone because he is an adolescent and finding a new troop). There are a lot of birds including ibis, African doves, and kingfishers which are the most beautiful bright blue color I've ever seen. You can see them from across the camp even though they are small. Sometimes in the morning, our Kiswahili teacher and overall Maasai liaison takes us for nature walks outside the camp. There we have seen dik-dik and lots of tracks (poop and footprints) of elephants, zebra, and aardvarks.

So I am doing very well so far! There was a terrible 24ish hour bug that hit most of the group over the past few days. Knock on wood, I haven't been affected yet. It's very reminiscent of the plague from the camp this summer. Otherwise, we take a lot of precautions to avoid danger. We keep mosquito nets tucked in our bed during the day, mostly to prevent scorpions and snakes (like black mambas, by far my biggest and probably only fear here) from hiding in our beds. I’ve gotten used to shaking out clothing and shoes before putting them on, just to be safe. The drinking water is fine, but we have filtered water just in case the glacier water somehow gets contaminated. Apparently the most dangerous thing in Kenya is the roads, or lack there of. You are 40% more likely to die in motor vehicle here. So warning me to not get AIDS or eaten by a lion was actually very silly. But don’t worry, we have two full time mechanics to make sure our jeeps are in top shape to avoid problems.

Sorry that was really long, but I warned you! There’s still tons more that I could say but I’m feeling really antisocial right now by writing this haha. I get to use the internet some nights between 7 and 11 pm, so if you go on the internet at around noon your time, chances are you can chat with me on AIM. Miss you all!