Dear Mosquito

Don't think I didn't see you there. I know your tricks now. Just hiding out until I put my net down. Casually buzzing in before I tuck the last end under the bed. And maunching on me...all night. I won't fall for it this time. This is war!

Did you know?
Only female mosquitos bite. They need our blood to make mosquito babies. That's cute.

A non-exhaustive list of the things I've done today instead of writing my papers

Yes, I realize I have been a very bad blogger lately. It's gotten to the point where a blog can't portray my African life. And I'm not that interesting. I'll try harder.

(jealous of my mosquito net fort?)

Anyways, as I've previously mentioned. I have about 60 pages of writing due at the end of the semester and I've written a whapping 0. Now, I'm trying to get really serious because I've finally admitted to myself that there's no way I can write 60 pages in the the last week of the semester in Nairobi. You also have to realize that I haven't done  homework in 6 months. Today, I woke up early to get my International Development paper started, but here's what I've ended up doing instead...

• wandered around the house looking for Lucky, realized she climbed up a tree and thought maybe that was a sign I should be writing my paper
• went back to my room, opened my computer, and caught up on American fashion...really?
•  thought about how much I am hardcore craving oatmeal right now
• drank 3 cups of chai with my mama...very very slowly
• volunteered to do the dishes, wash the floor, and sweep outside...all which only took me 30 minutes...darn
• ironed my clothes...everyone else seems to do it here, I thought I'd give it a try
• watched my sister braid her hair and pretended to be super intrigued
• lathered on aloe vera for about the 5th time today
• checked my bank account...then quickly closed the browser :S
• started writing postcards but realized I kept misspelling words...maybe I'll just stick to emails

It's only 1:00 pm here. As you can see, I have much more of my day to waste...I'm going to go warm up some leftover pilau...that stuff is tasty!

I hear the Luo really know how to party...

Going out to Kisumu Town with my big sister. Should lead to an interesting night.

Oh and Lucky was born without a tail...silly kitty!

Wearing a sweater on an 80 degree day

Read up!

Crowded world awaits 7 billionth person to be born on Monday

By EDITH FORTUNATE efortunate@ke.nationmedia.com AND GATONYE GATHURA gathura@ke.nationmedia.com   Posted  Tuesday, October 25  2011 at  20:34

On Monday night, a woman will give birth to a most significant child to the country and maybe even to the whole world. Where the child is born — whether Kibera, Dadaab or Runda — will greatly determine its future and whether it survives, thrives or dies in misery. This significant child could also be born in a rich town in Denmark but most likely it will be in a poor village in populous India. All these children are remarkable, because any of them could be the seventh billion human being on earth. If the baby will be Kenyan, it will also double up as the 41.6th million citizen.

By the time the national census was conducted in 2009, there were about 39 million people in Kenya.

The 41.6 million, according to Mr George Kichamu, the communication manager at the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development (NCAPD), is the number of people Kenya will be adding to the world population as it hits the 7 billion mark on Monday, October 31.

As it prepares for this day, the UN Population Fund will on Wednesday release the State of World Population Report 2011: People and Possibilities in a World of 7 billion. The fund notes that this milestone “will be marked by achievements, setbacks and paradoxes”. Setbacks because the children in Kibera or Dadaab will most likely be born in the absence of qualified medical practitioner, are not assured of shelter, security, food or a future education. To the ‘Rundan’ and the Dane all these can be taken for granted but they are also at a greater danger of early obesity, diabetes and strokes. “Welcome,” the fund tells the seven billionth global citizen, “to a dangerously warming world facing huge food deficits, unfolding economic crises and increasing chronic diseases.”

Ageing community

Every year, Kenya is bringing about one million more mouths to the dining table but at the same time the food deficit is increasing annually. For example, for the last five years, this country has not been producing enough maize, the main staple food, to feed itself. Unfortunately, this will continue into the future with serious consequences.

The Danish child will be born in an ageing community that will highly welcome some young hands to help in the job market, while the Kenyan will come into a much more complex population mix.

As the new baby bids goodbye to its mother’s womb, if most unlucky, it may have to contend with a birth canal mined with the Aids causing virus and land into a backyard where medical services and care are extremely scarce. A dark world may welcome the baby, according to the African Economic Outlook 2011, which estimates that 50 per cent of health facilities in Kenya lack electrical power, water and sanitation. There is a high chance that the infant and even the mother could die in childbirth, says the current Global Health Initiative Kenya Strategy. “One in every 19 babies born in Kenya this year will die before their first birthday,” it says. “These appalling mortality statistics implicate dysfunctional health systems as being the principal obstacle for addressing these challenges and preventing pre-mature mortality,” says the government report. A solution is not easy, say medical experts but propose an aggressive family planning programme, better health infrastructure and above all a robust economy. “We are working on a massive campaign that will encourage a lot of women to seek family planning measures. “This is one of the ways to save the situation we are in until the economy stabilises,” said the NCAPD director-general, Dr Boniface K’Oyugi.

Such campaigns seem to be reaching some families. One such family is that of Ms Hilda Ndung’u, 31. Ms Ndung’u and her husband meticulously planned for their second child expected within a few months, but she now feels this no longer looks like a good idea.

Their monthly income

Around May, her husband and herself calculated their monthly income, which amounted to Sh35,000.

They were optimistic that this would comfortably accommodate the expected child and leave about Sh8,000 for a rainy day. But now the mother says after reviewing their plans they feel that a smaller family is the better option. “Today, we can rarely manage to stick to a planned budget with food prices rising by the day,” she said.

The State of World Population Report makes the case for sound planning and investment in people.

My life for the past two weeks...

Okay, I've been slacking on my blogposts! So here's a quick update on all the not that exciting things that have been happening in my life. First, I got my hair cut off, the shortest ever, but I love it. It's so nice and breezy! Second, I had my first (and better be only) African emergency room experience. I got a bacterial infection and ended up staying all night. This was the lowest I've felt since I've been here and was putting off blogging because I was fairly homesick. Other than that, I've been working on papers due at the end of the semester. I also want to remind you that I'm living in a city of three million people...so my life is nothing like the Lion King. People everywhere...tons of polution...and lots of tea!

Downtown Nairobi

Uhuru Park

I finished classes on Wednesday! For our last class, two people came to teach us some traditional song and dance. Those of us who joined in had a great time!

So that's my life in a nutshell. I moved to Kisumu today and am currently sweating profusely under a mosquito net. There's a gecko in my room eating all the spideys :) I start my internship at Family Health Options Kenya tomorrow and my new family is amazing! More to come...I promise...

Paradise lies under the feat of the mother...

Happy Birthday Mom! Since I cannot be home for your birthday, here are some pretty African flowers for a beautiful American lady. Thank you for the sweet life you have given me and for supporting my decisions even when I frighten you (like making the choice to come to Kenya). Sending all my love from Nairobi to New Ulm!

Hell's Gate

I had the best weekend! Grace and I met up with friends at Fisherman's Camp in Naivasha. Rachelle cooked a lovely dinner of goat and potatoes, and we had a great time laughing around the fire that Grace (not the boys) started. We rented bikes Saturday morning and biked to Hell's Gate. We spent the whole day biking through the park, hiking, and feeling the hot springs. This was definitely my favorite weekend since I've been here! Hell's Gate has the most beautiful landscape and we got super close to the animals (zebras, warthogs, dik diks, twiggas). I have lots of pictures to show off:

I fell in love with this tree

the main tower...those are geysers on the left

hot springs

 

view from the top...I made it all the way with these terrible shoes...
I'm never showing up unprepared again :)

 

Check out more pictures here: http://morningiswheniamawake.blogspot.com/p/hells-gate.html

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too! But now I'm back to real life again and putting off my homework. I've decided to cut my hair off this week! It's too much work...time to do it like the Africans and get rid of it.

If you hadn't noticed, I put up more of my pictures and friends' pictures. Check out the links at the top of the page!

Home Is Whenever I'm With You

I realized I haven't shared much about my homestay family. It's hard to describe what it's like to stay with a different family in a different culture. Here are a few pictures I've taken of my house...

My mum likes to decorate (just like my mom!) so I feel fairly at home in our brightly colored house (orange, red, lime green...)

 

I helped my mum pick out a new vase at a hand-made glass blowing shop. They had glass mugs with glass-blown elephant heads as handles. I was really tempted to buy them but realized they probably wouldn't make it home in one piece. 

 

I share a bedroom with my 9 year old sister Tamara. She makes me laugh every morning as she rolls out of bed. I'm not used to little siblings so I'm thankful that my family is hosting me and allowing me to gain some much needed patience.

My family just moved into our house in July. Every weekend I'm away, I come home to something different, the walls painted a different color or a new tree planted in the yard.

 

I hope to share more about my family, but as I said before, it's hard to describe. I also don't want to violate their privacy and share too much. I'll be moving to a new homestay family when I move to Kisumu in two weeks. I think I've already said this, but time is going by so fast! 

Children constantly watch TV here. I've been trying to get creative to get Tamara away from the trashy Mexican soap operas that are always on.  I promised I'd get paper from the store so we could water-color paint today. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll paint a picture for you :)

Three more weeks!

Jambo! Jama (our head professor) took us on a field trip this week to see the differences between the formal and informal economy in Kenya. Because the formal economy cannot handle the flood of people into the city centers, many Kenyans have resorted to the informal economy for money. We traveled through areas surrounding Nairobi. The most interesting stop was a small town where men used recycled materials to make pots, kettles, and other household goods. Jama took us into the center to see men hammering away at metal scraps. It was so impressive and something I wish I could show all of you, but I felt rude taking a picture of intensive labor. Jama encouraged us not to feel guilty because we were not there to watch but to learn. We then drove by a market full of beaded jewelry, so of course, all us girls returned the next day!

check out these earrings....

I returned home from the market to discover a goat head roasting over an open flame on my front porch...teeth, eyes, the whole thing (two days earlier, Maxi, our house help, was butchering the body on our kitchen floor). I only ate vegetables for dinner...

This weekend is chill. I decided I needed to get a start on the 50 plus pages of essays I have due at the end of the semester. Tugi and Tamara looked sad when I left this morning for Java House. They told me it was boring when I'm not there and that I looked pretty today. I love them.

I think I'm starting to get used to this place. The trip through Nairobi with Jama certainly helped. It is hard for me to think just as I'm getting the hang of it, I'll leave. Only three more weeks left in Nairobi before I head to Kisumu for my internship. I guess that's the way things work.

Mombasa Mamas

I'm still recuperating from my weekend trip to Mombasa. Again, it was filled with highs and lows. Highs of laying on the beach with friends and lows of being constantly hustled for money. I hope to visit the coast again before I leave. I think pictures describe it better than words.

Winnie and I on the Nyali beach

Camel...

Fort Jesus in Mombasa

Goodbye Indian Ocean :(

I have my first Kiswahili test tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Ngong Hills

On Saturday, many of us took a bus to Ngong Hills to visit Simon's (an MSID coordinator) resort. We arrived in Ngong and rode on the back of pikipikis (motorcycles) to Savannah Sunset Resort, which was nestled into the hillside. The area was very dry but absolutely beautiful. We went hiking through the hills on Saturday and had drinks around the bonfire over night.

Carly and me

 

Winnie...

 

back down

On Sunday, we visited Simon's family in the valley where he grew up. Simon is from the Maasai tribe. We bought beautiful beaded jewelry from his moms, and they showed us around their compound.

Maasai are known for their beautiful beadwork

 

the gate to the compound

 

the watering hole

 

Before colonizers arrived in Kenya, the Maasai occupied the Rift Valley, Kenya's bread-basket. British settlers wanted the Maasai off the land, but the Maasai fought back. In 1904 and 1911, they were forced to sign a 100 year treaty giving the the land to the British settlers. The Maasai were displaced to the dry area of Ngong Hills, and lost many of their agricultural traditions. Kenya gained indepence in 1963 and now much of the land previously held by British settlers is owned by Kenya's political elite. In 2004, the Maasai peacefully marched into Nairobi to claim their land back. Police men were sent to "maintain the peace" but ended up killing and beating many of the Maasai. Kenya's political elite do not want to give up their fertile land. Many hope the Maasai will pursue their land again in 2011 to make a statement. (Prof. Muhamud Jama 9/19/11)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'm spending mine in Mombasa on Africa's east coast!

A breath of fresh air

After our second week of school, many of us decided we needed a break from the city. We got out of school early on Friday, and a couple friends and I decided to head to the Giraffe Center in Karen. Karen is named after Karen Blixen who wrote Out of Africa. The houses were palaces in the area, and it was so different from the life in the city. I couldn't help but think how ridiculous these houses looked next to tiny tin-front shops (an obvious sign of the gap between the rich and the poor). We had planned to go to the Karen Blixen museum but decided against it after seeing how rich the area was. Best part of the day = getting licked on the face by a beautful twiga (giraffe).

Maasai statues

bluebirds

The power has gone out numerous times already this week and the internet has been slow. More to come about last weekend...

Hupendi kula sukuma wiki kwa nini?...kibaya!

My kiswahili homework set-up...2 dictionaries, 2 notebooks, a textbook, and a workbook.

Necessary? Absolutely!

Colonialism

School started last week Tuesday. I am taking International Development: Critical Perspectives on Theory and Practice, Country Analysis Kenya, and Kiswahili. We are currently discussing how colonialism created African countries dependent on foreign aid and over-stretched urban centers. I live about a twenty minute walk away from Nazarene University, where we take classes, and I meet up with Grace to walk to class in the morning.

Nazarene University

Sara, me, Richelle

I am starting to get used to Kenyan time! At school, we take two breaks for tea and lunch and often start late and get out early. This was frustrating for me at first, but I'm starting to learn the ways. For example, my host family asked me out for lunch because electricty is turned off in our neighborhood on Sundays. I agreed to come, thinking it would be an hour long affair. We were there for seven hours...

I have discovered passion fruit juice...mmm!