The Midway Point

Today was my first day back to work after a month-long trip around Kenya for various Peace Corps activities and thankfully some vacation. (I’ll write more about the trip soon). On my way home I stopped at a nearby duka to pick up some veggies to make pasta sauce tonight for dinner (a newly acquired talent – I never knew it was so easy). In front of me in line was a 5-year old-ish kid who is pickier about produce and knows more about haggling than I do… Kenya will never cease to amaze me. He was hassling the owner about the quality and size of some passion fruits he was buying in an effort to get a few more for his 50 ksh. My experience? I asked for some veggies, he gave them to me, and I paid the price he asked… maybe someday I will be better at bargaining; really I’d even settle for not hating it. Give me a flat rate and I’m a happy girl.

 

Being back home after living out of a bag and in resting my head in 7 different places is a welcome feeling. My own bed. My old roommates and a new one. My kitten (although the saga continues as he can now not walk with his back legs and just drags them around behind him – we’re going to the vet tomorrow morning). Its interesting being back now and thinking about my first ever arrival in this town. My initial impressions are funny to think about now that I know the place better and feel so comfortable here. Walking home after work I have a sense of heading to my home, in my neighborhood with my neighbors. In the beginning I was doubtful I could ever feel this way about Garissa. It’s not overly charming upon first sight. This place grows on you though, and more so the people grow on you. You get adjusted to the heat (thanks to this past year I’m now cold anytime the temperature goes below 75-80° and I even broke down and bought gloves to wear in Nairobi).

 

Over the past year, I’ve discovered many things about myself. I have identified strengths I never knew I had and have figured out how to just go with the flow. I feel more independent and more connected to the world at the same time. I have a new-found appreciation for friendships, new and old. I’ve also discovered weaknesses; my impatience, for example. Not really a new discovery, however I find it more of an obstacle here in a world of fluid deadlines and flexible time. I’m trying to work on that in the next year, for the sake of my sanity and the people who I work with. I’m proud of the person I’m becoming through this experience and I find myself getting better at standing up for myself (I guess you need to know who you are and be confident about it before you can really stick up for yourself). Many more discoveries and revelations lay in the year ahead and I’m excited to see what it will bring. Ups and downs certainly, but also so many more wonderful experiences and memories and lessons.

 

HIGHLIGHTS and ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• ·         Obviously, my Dad and brother’s visit during the holidays was amazing! We had so much fun and got to see so much of Kenya.
• ·         Visiting home for Theresa and Mark’s wedding and seeing everyone during that trip was definitely another high point for the year. I couldn’t imagine missing that for the world. Being home made me feel like the most spoiled person on earth, so many people love me!
• ·         Returning to Loitokitok a year after my own training to help train the next group of Public Health Volunteers; I got to see my family again and also meet a bunch of really great trainees. It’s funny how much that place feels like coming home to me, even after living in Garissa for a whole year.
• ·         Spending New Years on the coast with a great group of PCVs and having people make the long trek out to Garissa for the Super Bowl party.
• ·         Having a great discussion with a large crowd about all things related to HIV at World AIDS Day.
• ·         Being asked to join the group planning the Regional Girls Health Camps; this project has put me back on track so many times and helped to keep everything else in perspective.
• ·         Starting the SIMAHO Community Health Education Program and seeing how it has been received by the community and embraced by SIMAHO staff has been a really rewarding, and time consuming, experience. It’s definitely something I’ll be able to look back on and say, “I did that”.

 

BIGGEST CHALLENGES

• ·         Seeing poverty and starving people on a daily basis and knowing I cant help everyone (or really do very much for any one person) – its especially hard seeing the kids begging in Nairobi or the children sniffing glue out of a bottle tucked under their noses.
• ·         Figuring out my place in Garissa and at SIMAHO.
• ·         Catching my stride with the school program. Especially, juggling all the schools and trying to meet with my Women’s Groups.

 

RANDOM FACTS

• ·         I’ve read around 31 books.
• ·         I am NOT tan. Seriously, how is this possible? (I was described as the tall pale girl by the new group, awesome…)
• ·         The cat around my work has had kittens 3 (possibly 4) times.
• ·         I’ve seen a cat walking around near my work which was inexplicably dyed red.
• ·         Leaves came out of the tap in my yard as I was filling my water jugs, although the water itself was actually clear for once.
• ·         Mosquitoes and safari ants love me! They will bite me preferentially over just about anyone else around me… unlucky. (side not: safari ants got into my underpants on a hike in Kakamega forest; no one else really had a problem).

 

GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR

• ·         Bring more color and fun into the World AIDS Day celebration in Garissa and encourage participation by more community groups and individuals.
• ·         Go to a Somali wedding.
• ·         Learn more of the Somali language and practice my Swahili more often.
• ·         Start the Community Empowerment Fund and encourage the Women’s Groups to start IGAs.
• ·         Share more responsibility with my coworkers for the projects and programs I am working on to ensure their continuation and build the skills of SIMAHO staff.
• ·         Finally get a good rhythm with the school program (where every week is not a mad dash to find help or do copies) and make a manual for future use about how to run and/or build on the program.
• ·         Successfully implement the Regional Girls Health Camps and the follow-up community education.