What is Poverty?

Just before I left for Kenya there was an article in the Star Tribune about the poverty line in Italy being around 10,000 Euros/year. While living is more expensive there than in Africa, having the equivalent here you would be considered quite fortunate.
Children in the primary school are given time at teh end of the day to do their homework, because their families are so poor that they do not have a single light/lantern at home so once it becomes dark the children could not see to study. It costs 300 shillings a year to go to the primary school (direct exchange $4.00), and this includes lunch of githere (for some that is the only meal they get a day), uniforms and books. Many cannot afford this fee, so the parents have the option of coming on a couple Saturdays to work in the school to pay the tuition. Some of the 7th and 8th grade students do the work instead of their parents since their parents cannot or will not come. The Sisters provide milk also to the children who are HIV positive because at home they get very little food.
Absolute poverty is considered to be living on less then $1 per day, adjusted for purchasing power parity (i.e. what you could buy is equivalent). Angeline, a teacher in the technical school who is 22 (my age) is currently the sole provider for her entire family. Her parents live some hours away, and sold all their cattle in order for her to be able to go to school. She has younger siblings, and she is the one who pays for them to go to school. Her brother has just finished and she is extremely happy that he has found a job. In her hometown the drought is extremely bad and the parents are unable to grow any food and are unemployed because there is no work. Without their garden growing the parents and younger siblings have nothing to eat. She sends them the money she can to help them to be able to have food. What really surprised me though is how fortunate Angeline feels. She says and truly means she is incredibly blessed to have a job and be able to help her family -- many people in her home are dying because there is no water and some families have no one with a job. At the end of the month Angeline makes very little and spends hardly any of that little bit on her needs.
I know in the U.S. many families struggle, but here being poor is the norm. The government provides little help to the people. While primary school education has been free in government schools since 2003, it still costs becasue of the uniforms and books. Some people here literally have nothing. I saw a little boy yesterday who was playing with a car made of an old milk carton and pop bottle caps.
It is difficult to see that there are a few people here who are very rich, and have no interest in helping those around them.

Random Funny Things

Being in a new place naturally brings some awkward, yet funny experiences. Here are a few things that have made me laugh!
Kenyans are very picky about having everything meticulously ironed (hence my complaints about having to press nunderwear), so when one night at dinner one of the aspirants was saying something about "crease brown" I was thinking I accidentally had wrinkled something I was wearing (they mention sometimes how the last volunteer occasionally had wrinkled clothes -- eek). Finally I figured out she was asking if I know Chris Brown, the musician... This particular aspirant, Linda, has had a lot more exposure to pop culture than the others, but I was still particularly confused another time at dinner when she was asking if we had "summer party." After getting a brief description, I realized she meant Spring Break!!!
It was time to clean my room, and I needed a RAG for cleaning. Here they have certain rags to clean certain places, so I asked the sisters in charge of cleaning if she had an extra rag. She asked another sister who gave me a large, new, somewhat plush rag. I put it in my bag, but because it was so nice I asked someone else if this is really what they use for cleaning. Turns out I had gotten a RUG. (They call rags wipers).
Kenyans call white people "Muzungus," and so if I hear the word muzungu I automatically know they are talking about me. One day I was walking in town, and some children were yelling "muzungu muzungu" so I turned and waved to them. Every few seconds they would yell "muzungu" again and I would have to turn and wave again. I think I waved to them about five times before they were satisfied. When I first started going to the primary school, some of them children would sneak up behind me and touch my hair and run away again. They also are fascinated with my skin, and immediately notice any tiny mosquito bite or scratch and inquire "what is that, what is that?" I usually tell them "It is the same as yours, just a different color." Explaining sunburn can also be a funny experience! They ask when I get too much sun if I "have a sickness on my skin."
We sit with the students for lunch so the teachers can have a break, and I was talking to the seniors in high school one day. They have many questions and really want to come to America. One of the boys, George (who is actually older than me), was saying "I want to marry the youngest in your family and move to US." I said okay, but that the youngest is a boy. He responded with "okay, then the youngest girl." I said that was me, and they insisted the next day I bring my phone number for them. They were somewhat joking, fortunately. On a side note I think some of the elementary school students might actually believe that I'm related to President Obama...
Incidentally, I only use my phone here for calling home (I don't really have a lot of people to call) and so when people ask me for my phone number I legitimately tell them I don't know what it is. I should probably learn. On one of my first days here someone called my number by mistake, and was talking hastily in Kiswahili. I was worried that it was one of the sisters at first, but after I realized it was wrong number had an incredibly difficult time explaining that to the caller.
It is also difficult for me to explain which tribe I come from! (As we don't have tribes at home so much...or at all). The teachers have are surprised to learn that English is my "mother-tongue" and that is why I am able to speak/read it so well.
As you may know, one of my top 3 fears in life is insects. Well, one night I ran back to my room to get something and there was a huge (in non-Lauren terms, a fairly big) spider on the wall. I tried to whack it with my shoe but missed and it ran directly to where my bed is. I went back to the main house and casually asked if the spiders here are poisonous... turns out some of them are. It ended up that two of the aspirants came with me to my room, took about my entire bed (even some of the slats) and looked in my suitcases which were kept under my bed trying to find the spider. They were able to see it next to the leg of the bed and tried to spray it with insect killer, but they didn't really know how to use it so the spider ended up running, when he stopped they squashed him. I stood frightened in the corner for this episode. I feel bad for the spider, but it might have been out to get me! The aspirants even helped me make my bed. In North Horr I had a scorpion in my room! (It is not "scorpion season"). Since it was night I couldn't call for assistance, so I took my biggest shoe and tried to squash him. I missed once, but thought I had got him on the second try. I wasn't sure how well scorpions squash and didn't want to lift up my shoe to see if I had got him (if I hadn't and he had run away I think I would have stayed up all night on scorpion watch!). I left my shoe there until the next morning when I was finally brave enough to lift it up. The scorpion was under there.
People have many misconceptions about Americans, just as Americans do about Africans. For example, I have been told (not asked, told) that all American boys wear shorts all the time and all American girls wear trousers all the time. People look quite surprised when I wear a skirt, and I am almost hesitant to because of all the commentary! Here almost all the women wear skirts all the time. Also, some people seem to think that with all the negative influences in our media it must be nearly impossible to remain a Christian.
That's all I can think of for now, but I hope this had made you smile.

Food

Before I came I thought that we would eat beans and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was quite mistaken! Beans are actually rather expensive, although rice is quite prevalent.

“Ugali” is one of the other main foods. It is made from maize flour is a thick, gooey dough. Usually you put some kind of sauce on top, like tomatoes and “sakumawiki” -- a spinach-like plant.

The Sisters have a beautiful “shamba” (garden) where they grow bananas and tons of vegetables. They harvest various things year round, although things come in seasons.

Right now it is avocado season. Big avocados cost the equivalent of 13 cents! Trying to use up all the avocado is what is difficult. People try to “trick you” into eating avocados, not unlike wrapping zucchini in a baby blanket and leaving it on someone’s doorstep. I am holding out for when the mangoes become ripe.

The volunteer who was here before me, Kate, used to make banana cake, and assuming (they think all Americans are the same) I also knew how they asked if I would make some also. Of course I said I would. I took the old bananas from the dining area, enough for at triple batch of banana bread and was halfway through making the cake when one of the aspirants brought me about 25 more bananas! One can only have so much banana cake, so I made a version of banana pudding and a recipe for baked banana “pudding.” The next time I made the banana cake there were enough bananas for a quintuple batch… Here there are big bananas, small bananas, bananas for roasting, bananas for cooking (there is a dish called “methoke“ that is bananas and potatoes cooked together), bananas for eating etc.

The children at school are provided lunch, and they are given “githere,” a mixture of beans and maize.

In general Kenyans have a fairly healthy diet. Few things are processed, and I was more shocked than I expected to see the roosters being slaughtered (I just prefer not to have seen my food alive). Milk is delivered every morning, and then poured through a strainer and boiled. I asked one of the aspirants why they strain and boil the milk, and she said “it has only been milk since today.” One of the sisters in the northern part of Kenya had bought an ostrich egg to cook the next morning for breakfast. When she got up the next day, she heard a strange sound coming from the kitchen. The egg had hatched overnight and she had a baby ostrich!!!

Also in the north they eat lot of goat. For our lunch one day there we had a “suferia” of rice and goat -- a big plate that everyone shares from. There was no silverware, however, and I sincerely enjoyed being able to eat with my hands (although my parents may have thought differently).

For breakfast, one of the aspirants makes me toast (yum!) and there is peanut butter, jelly, blueband (like ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ and used with everything) and a sesame seed paste, all of which are very good. I look forward to breakfast every night at bedtime J Also taken three times a day is tea. The tea is mixed with milk and sugar and is actually quite good. I have to be careful about having too much caffeine, however.

Lunch and dinner consist of some of the dishes mentioned above. They drink hot or room temperature water with meals and find it very funny that I like to put mine in the fridge.

Almost everything I like, and it did not seem too different from home until one night I made macaroni and cheese. I could not believe how happy it made me! I also prepared some “pasta in a bag” (the kind that all you do is boil milk and water and mix it in and it has all the spices etc.) and everyone was saying “oh this is so nice, it must have been very hard to make, etc. Again, food does not usually come packaged.

I will come back with many recipes, but here is an easy one for a type of jelly. Puree one part pears and one part green tomato, and ½ part sugar and boil. It is surprisingly good.

On a side note, the drought is affecting many people. Where there are no sources of water it has to be hauled in, and this water is generally not sanitary leading to outbreaks of cholera. Children are especially at risk, and thousands of herd animals such as cattle have died. Rain is hopefully expected in October, but there are a lot of people struggling right now. In Makuyu there is enough water for drinking, bathing etc., but because the hydroelectric plant does not have enough water flow electricity is rationed. For people who work in factories they are only able to work three days a week since they need light etc. for their jobs, and are only getting paid for three days a week. Please pray for them!

Learn Kiswahili with Lauren

Kiswahili is just the Swahili word for "Swahili." Most Kenyans speak a dialect of Kiswahili, while "pure Kiswahili" is found in Tanzania and on the coast. The language sounds a bit like Spanish to me: the 'r' is pronounced like a flipped 'd' and the inflections are similar. The words in reality, however, are quite different. I've been learning just by asking people and during dishes we pick a letter each day and learn words that start with that letter. There is no 'x' or 'q.'
Here is a brief sampling of some of the words/phrases I have picked up so far -- just to get an idea of what the language is. I was very pleased after I greeted someone they mentioned that my accent was so good they almost spoke to me in Kiswahili!!! (At the time that was the only word I had learned!) Words are pronounced the way they are spelled.

Habari yako/zenu: How are you? ---This is the standard greeting, singular/plural
Mzuri: Fine --- This is the reply
Lala Salama: Goodnight

Nataka: I would like ---"Please" is only used in formal situations, so this is how you ask for things

Tu: Let's --- Like tuombee (let's pray), tucheze (let's play), tuende (let's go)
Kuja: Come --- You hear this a lot
Wewe: You
Mimi: Me
Naitwa nani?: What is your name?
Karibu/Karibuni: Welcome ---Heard often when you arive from either a short or long trip, singular/plural
Asante: Thank you

Ndize: Banana
Ncarte: Bread
Chai: Tea with sugar and milk
Jiko: Stove or grill
Kisu: Knife
Mesa: Table

Sawa sawa: okay okay

The numbers 1 - 10: moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi

I have yet to figure out how the grammar works, as sentences do not translate well grammar-wise -- i.e. "me is tired" would be a literal translation. The sentence structure varies depending on what you are saying.
The mother-tongue in Makuyu is Kikuyu. The small children learn Kikuyu first, Kiswahili second and eventually English. Kikuyu is a Bantu language. I'm afraid I do not know much more than that...yet.
It is fun here because the aspirants and postulants are from different places so I hear some Arabic and a couple other languages as well.

Politics

Kenyan politics fascinate me! I haven’t really figured out how exactly they work, and I think in order to truly understand you must be Kenyan.

Prior to 2007, their system was basically the same as the British. They had a president, Ministers of Parliament (MPs) etc. However, the 2007 elections caused huge amounts of gory post-election violence. It has just been decided that the trials will involve the Hague. This is very good news otherwise the outcomes would go in favor of the highest bidder. As far as I can tell, the elections were rigged to begin with, but in order to quell the violence now there is a president, vice-president, prime minister, and deputy. The prime minister and the president have similar amounts of power.

Everything, however, is corrupt. Everyone knows this, and it is okay to say. The newspaper contains fierce editorials and is definitely biased not in favor of the government. Currently there is a big uproar over the reappointment of the chair of the anti-corruption board. Many believe his reappointment by the President was illegal and are fighting the decision. Even the anti-corruption board has corruption issues! Positions tend to be bought, even those such as census enumerators. The taxes on the poorest of citizens are outrageous, and governmental officers do not pay any taxes.

People, especially men, like to sit around and discuss politics, not unlike U.S. citizens chatter about football. Many people have asked flat out if I voted for Barrack Obama. Usually they first ask me my name, and then if I like Obama. Lots also find it hysterical to ask if I am related to him. Some walls have “Obama” written on them and there is lots of apparel with “Yes we can” on it. The people also have no shame in saying that Obama will not visit Kenya until the corruption lessens. They aren’t happy about it, but they seem to understand. They are extremely proud that the U.S. has a president of Kenyan descent.

Despite the many problems with the political system, people still love their politicians. A visit is a big deal and people still cheer even though they know many of the promises are false. I think that is human nature, however, to be excited about anyone famous.

On a side note, Kenya is divided into 7 provinces. Within these provinces there are “district headquarters” which can best be described as the capital of a county. Government offices in a town are very good because they provide job opportunities and ensure that there will be a dispensary (clinic) and school.

Transportation... AIEEEE!

Pictures: Changing a "puncture" (flat tire), riding in the back of a desert car, herd of goats crossing the road, and locals hitching a ride on a "lorry" (semi)

Kenyan transportation can only be described in one way: terrifying.
On being picked up from the airport my first night, I was sincerely concerned when the "driver" kept turning around and talking to me. I later realized that not only do they drive on the opposite side of the road, the driver is also on the opposite side of the car (in my defense I had been traveling for 20 hours).
Driving in Nairobi is much like driving in any other big city -- many cars, people, honking etc. In larger towns, some of the roads have two lanes, but that is it; there is no shoulder or painted lines. In general, roads are not maintained. Paved roads have HUGE potholes and people drive on whichever side of the road is in better shape. It is not uncommon to see a car barreling down directly at you only for the other car to pull back into its lane at the last second. Oh, and seatbelts are only required for the front seat. People drive fast! In some places there are speedbumps, but if the nearby citizens feel traffic is still moving too fast they will dig trenches across the road. Some roads are also lined with rocks to keep people from driving on the places where people walk. Donkeys, goats, sheep and cows are ubiquitous and have no fear of vehicles. What amazes me most is the people who pack so many things on their bicycles you can barely see them. I have no idea how they balance.
In the country, the road is a bit like a cross between Peter and Rose's driveway and Pat and Jeanne's road. For those of you who do not know the reference, it is basically very bumpy. After it rains in the desert, the roads are completely gone. There are no fixed routes, and whoever drives a path first makes the road.
Matatus are the method of public transportation. They are basically twelve passenger vans, but often have up to 25 people inside. They have a sliding door and the person who collects the money hangs out the door even after the vehicle has started moving. There has been a major issue lately with drunk matatu drivers.
Police set up spikes in the road for random stops. They don't usually stop you, but if they do (especially towards the end of the month) they try to find a violation. Then, instead of taking the ticket you are expected to bribe them. The more pocket money they need the more violations you probably have. The bribe is usually the same amount as the ticket would be, but you avoid hours in court. Fortunately, with the Sisters there is usually no problem.
Kenya is also known for the "Lunatic Express" the railway from Nairobi to Mombassa. I hope to ride it someday.
Driving is scary, but it is also an exhilarating experience!