Hooves, Horns, Tusks, and Buckets of Water

Eleven days. That's all the time I have left in Kenya! My summer has been flying by, and that's the reason I haven't wanted to update my blog too often. Either that, or I love keeping all my Grandma's friends in bitter suspense of my next update! (Kidding.) With that in mind, this will be my next-to-last blog while actually in Kenya. The next week and a half are full of trips, time with the kids, and a ton of other stuff, and I want to enjoy my time here while I can! Without further ado, though, here is what I've been up to over the past two weeks.

Birthdays in Kenya

While I was preparing for my trip this spring, my mom had a bit of sad moment when she realized that "this will be your first of what's likely many birthdays overseas." I didn't have the same negative emotions about it as she did, but I did wonder what kind of celebration I could have in the middle of Kenya. This past Thursday, on July 19th, I turned 19 years old in a land most people haven't seen by 90. And Mom shouldn't have worried, because I can say that it was one of the best birthdays that I have had in my life.

Yes, it was delicious.

The major events of my birthday started when my team and I went to Nyeri town to eat lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Raybells. Raybells has some of the best pizza I've ever had (in Kenya), and they are famous for their chocolate balls. Chocolate balls are a chocolate-covered, frosted, chocolate cake ball, with something else thrown in that makes them irresistible to regular humans! Luckily, I could order one for some dessert after lunch. Then, out of nowhere, my team pulls out a candle and some matches, and before I knew it, my chocolate ball had been transformed into a miniature birthday cake, just for me! It was a small gesture, but it speaks of what kind of people I have been fortunate enough to make this trip with. I can truly say that I'm surrounded by exceptional people.

Facing the music!

At the CYEC, there is a bit of a tradition called "washing." You see, when people have birthdays at the Center, they tend to keep it quiet. This is because at the CYEC, on your birthday, you're viewed as a bit "unclean." To remedy this situation, all the kids at the Center will grab their buckets, bottles, and anything else that'll hold a drop of H2O. Then, they'll proceed to douse you with all the water they can find! Just to help you out, of course. So, when we returned from town to the Center that night, it wasn't long before I had a crew of little devils outside my door. By the end of the night, I didn't have an inch of me that wasn't soaking wet! While that may sound like a blessing in Kansas right now, in Kenya, it hasn't been over 60 degrees for two weeks. In other words, perfect weather to get a rousing bout of hypothermia! I turned out to be okay, but not for lack of shivering.

They won, but we all had fun.

Sweetwaters Safari

When most people think of Africa, they think of animals. When we were reflecting our rapidly dwindling time in Kenya, my team realized we hadn't gone on safari yet! So, this past Saturday, we set out to remedy that situation. We woke up early in the morning, and with three of our Kenyan friends, Issa, Sam, and Bernard, we set out for Olpejeta Nature Conservatory, better known as Sweetwaters National Park.

Bit of an action shot, there

We began our safari with a trip to the chimpanzee sanctuary inside the park. I knew that I'd meet people that would share the same personality as myself over the course of my summer. I never imagined that they would be so hairy! After spending some time with our closest living relatives, we hopped in our safari van, and set out for the day. Almost immediately, we made some new friends, in the form of three towering African bull elephants! It's one thing to see them at the circus, and it's quite another to see them six feet away from you, and getting closer!

They were THAT CLOSE.

After our close encounter of the gray and wrinkly kind, we saw many more animals throughout the course of our day, from rhinos and water buffalo to giraffes and antelope. I took tons of great pictures, and I can say that I'll never forget this experience for the rest of my life. There's something about looking out on a vast African savannah, dotted with herds of zebras and impalas, all framed by Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Mountains, that seems to stick in the mind. Overall, I was reminded of how fortunate I really am to be here, and how much I should value the short amount of time that I have left. I'll be seeing you all soon!

Chance

He seems friendly...right?

Big Yellow Matatu

Hell's Gate 

Three weeks.

That’s all I have left of this wild and wonderful trip to Kenya. Three weeks to see the sights, three weeks to adventure off into unknown places, three weeks to make a lasting change at the CYEC, and in these kids’ lives.

Something that I can count on, no matter where I am, is music. Both my laptop and my iPod made the trip overseas with me, and music is my go-to solution for everything, whether I’m happy, sad, angry, or even homesick. One song that plays quite often is “Big Yellow Taxi,” by the Counting Crows. It used to be a very popular song, and it still gets pretty significant play on the easy-listening style radio stations back home.

The chorus of the song says, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone.” Over the course of my service trip, this line has taken on quite a few different meanings for me. At times, I think it’s referencing how much I miss meat at every meal, WiFi internet, my friends back home, or even just a gym with free weights! At other times, though, the song takes on a different aspect.

It reminds me how I could spend an entire year at Kansas State, without talking to my parents for weeks at the time. It brings to mind that I may love things like steaming hot water, and fast food, but when I think of home, I’m missing the special people in my life, not the special sauce at McDonalds. I’ll miss eating the birthday cake my Grandma never fails to make me, and wishing my parents well on their 25^th anniversary trip.

No matter how much I’m being wistful about my own life, though, the song makes me consider the lives of people in Kenya. I didn’t realize how much I would miss my dog. These kids probably didn’t realize how much they would miss their parents, when they were abandoned. They have learned to miss food, water, a warm shower, a home. These children learn more hard lessons about life in a year than I have in eighteen.

So, while I’ve learned much about serving on foreign soil, drawing up operations manuals, and playing soccer, I’ve learned much more about life, and how to live it. I’ve learned that I can live on rice and beans, every day, and be thankful that I actually have something to eat. I’ve learned that I can have just as much fun dancing with a bunch of 10-year-olds as I do at a party in Manhattan. I’ve learned that I can neglect someone during my days at K-State, and spend an hour and a half a day writing messages to them from across the ocean.

And, if all of this has taught me anything, it’s this: when I’m back home, I’m going to miss Kenya dearly. After all..

“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone."

Lake Naivasha

The Ups and Downs of Kenya

Welcome back!

I've had it with the regular updates on what I've been doing, where I've been going, yadda yadda, etc... So this time, I wanted to shake things up a bit. Rather than writing a journal-like account of how my days are going, I thought I'd do a little "ups and downs" post. Follow along!

Up - The American dollar is pretty strong here. By pretty strong, I mean that I can buy a full meal for two dollars, five bananas for a quarter, and a Polo shirt for three bucks. Gotta love exchange rates!

Down - My gym here doesn't have quite the same equipment as the one back home.

She's a bit lacking!

Up - I've discovered the culinary wonders of Middle Eastern food, including Kenyan, Somalian, Indian, and the granddaddy of them all, ETHIOPIAN FOOD. If you know of an Ethiopian restaurant near you, order the Mixed Wot and Shekla Tips. You can thank me later.

Down - On the culinary side of things, the food at the Center is fairly...regular. By regular, I mean that if you don't like rice and beans, well, that's too bad. Chili sauce, cheap vegetables, and peanut butter work wonders.

Mmm....rice.

Up - In the Kenyan way of life, it isn't strange to get up and dance to any song that you like while eating dinner. No, they don't mind if you join them, either!

Down - Matatu rides. A matatu is a taxi-like van, which is made to seat 14, and actually seats 25. Any long trek in one of these can be pretty taxing. You have some great conversations when people have to sit on your lap, though!

Up - I can cross waterfall hiking, giraffe kissing, touching an elephant, climbing a rock tower, dancing in an international nightclub, haggling at an tribal arts market and bungee jumping off my Bucket List!

Sorry, Alison..

Down - I can also cross off living with cold showers, food poisoning, persistent beggars, a missing toilet seat, intermittent electricity, and quite the assortment of bugs that make their way into our apartment!

Up - The kids, the kids, the kids... I can't say enough about how amazing these kids are. Walking into the gate at the Center and hearing "Gitu! Gitu!" can put a smile on my face anytime. They're also pretty good teachers of Swahili, acrobatics, and soccer!

Down - Being a muzungu has become a way of life. If I don't get an inflated price on something, or stared at when I walk down the street, it's a lucky day!

Up - There's a kitten named Simba that likes to hang around where we live. She meows for milk, will follow me when I walk somewhere, and yes, is cute as all get out.

See, I've made one friend!

Down - Toilets are kind of optional here. If you're lucky, you'll get one with an actual seat!

Up - Maybe I'm just used to living in Kansas, but when I can walk down the road and look out over a lush, green valley and huge mountain range, with Mount Kenya barely visible in the distance, well, that's pretty special. Beauty is present everywhere you look. Wildflowers adorn the roadsides and fields, the shops are all painted whatever color seems fun, and it's not uncommon to suddenly see a monkey, warthog, or tropical bird.

Down - My camera can't do this country justice. Neither can my words.

Kenya is more than a country. It's a way of life, a deep and ancient culture, and a proud people. It's the young man in a sharp suit, waving at you from the street corner, and the old woman, forced to work for a living carrying sticks at eighty years of age. It's the churches that provide people with a sense of hope and family, and the poverty that deprives them of it. It's the matatus, the goats everywhere, the street children, the market stalls. It has so many problems, yet so many solutions. For every part of Kenya I'd like to change, there's another than I wouldn't touch for anything in the world. I've been both a student and teacher here, a talker and a listener, the giver and the receiver. The biggest lesson I've learned in my time here? Kenyans aren't strange, or different. They aren't to be pitied, or feared. They're you and me, if we were born into a different country, with different culture, beliefs, and values.

What's striking to me isn't how different I am from the people I meet. It's how much we're the same.

Until next time,

Chance