Disclaimer

The contents of this Web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Note: I have returned to the U.S. due to family issues. My last day in Kenya was Aug. 7th, 2009. I still have pictures and stories to share, so additional posts will appear as time permits.
I had a wonderful experience in Kenya and would like to share with anyone that is interested. Paul

Thursday, August 13, 2009

From my Journal

Here is an excerpt from my journal while I was in training:

Today is Saturday June 27th. and it is 1000 pm. I have been in country for 3 weeks. It is hard to believe how many changes I have encountered. First there is the bathroom equipment. A pit latrine without a seat. Known as a choo, in Kiswahili, or more polite circles, an msilani.

The training is rather rigorous. The Peace Corps-Kenya trainers have been keeping us on the go for 5 days out of the week. We do have weekends to ourselves, except this one. Today, we took a tortuous bus ride from Loitokitok to Kimena, a town that is only 20 km away. In the U.S. this would be a 10 minute ride on the freeway. There are no freeways here. So the ride was 40 minutes on a tortuously rutted dirt road. Just to add to the excitement our bus was built to hold 25 passengers, just the number in our training group. However, some of the seats were about to collapse. If you had the back seat, and are more than 6 ft tall, then your knees were banging against the back of the seat ahead of you. It was not a pleasant experience.

What has the training been like? We have been studying Kiswahili for at least 4 hours per day, sometimes 6 hours. We also manage to pack in some training on the Kenyan culture, politics, history, and public services. Since we, Peace Corps Trainees, are to be trained in Public Health, we have been visiting the local hospitals and receiving speeches from the Kenyan Public Health officials, including those that work in the Nairobi and those that work at the community level. The people at the community level seem to be the ones that know what’s going on.

What is a training day like? Normally, I wake up around 6 am, wash up outside with cold water and soap. After dressing, I have breakfast with my host family. Breakfast can be anything from a pb and j sandwich to fried eggs with 2 cups of coffee. Although, Kenya grows coffee beans, none of the good stuff is available at the market. Most people drink tea, called chai, thanks to the British influence. The only coffee I have seen so far is an instant brand called Africafe. It is not Starbucks!

Then it is time to get ready for our 8 am language class. Fortunately for me, the classes are held at my host family’s home. So I wait for them to arrive. This allows me extra time to study and prepare the lessons for the day. Others are not so fortunate. One person, who is in his mid 60s, has a 40 minute walk to class. The reasoning of the Peace Corps can certainly be questioned at times.

The class I’m in consists of another student and the teacher. This is very nice for plenty of one-on-one time with the teacher. Our Kiswahili exercises will generally last until 12:30 pm. Then it is time to adjourn for lunch. The home stay families are not suppose to feed us lunch. Their agreement with the Peace Corps is to only provide breakfast and dinner, Monday through Friday. So, we generally walk to town for lunch. I’ve sampled about 4 different restaurants so far. The food is pretty much the same. None of it bad. Most of it bland, unless you ask for some chili sauce to add to the meal. Most of the food consists of beans, cabbage, small pieces of mystery meat, and flat pancakes similar to tortillas. They are thoroughly fried, and are called chapati.
The afternoon session generally starts at 2 pm, and ends somewhere between 4 and 5 pm. The class could be another Kiswahili session, or class activities concerning HIV/AIDs, community surveying, or learning how to integrate into the community. Lately we have discussed surveying and interviewing techniques. In the recent past we talked about the political parties of Kenya and the political concerns of the Kenyan people.

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