Walking in Others Shoes and in Mine Too

Sorry to all of you who have checked in here the last couple weekends and left completely empty handed. Not that you don't leave empty-handed anyway, but most of the time you at least have something or someone (i.e., me) to laugh at... or wince at while reading about the kinds of uncomfortable situations I find/put myself in. But I digress already...

I've been really busy, and kind of uninspired on the electronic end of things the last couple of weeks. Every time I sit down to write a blog, nothing interesting seems to come out and after reading through, they sounded way too "complainy", so I deleted my failures instead of posting them. In retrospect, I probably just should have posted and let you guys be the judge.

So, what has happened... I will start off with today since that is very fresh in my mind. I was up shortly after 5 am (that would be "saa kumi na moja" Kiswahili time, which by the way, is offset by six hours because Kenya is on the equator and the sun never rises or sets more than 30 minutes earlier/later in the morning/evening - hence "hour 1" is the first hour after sunrise as opposed to the random way we think about it (i.e., as one hour after some random point in the middle of the night) - sorry, I still think that is really cool that there is a completely different system of time.) Ok, navigating back on course... Up at five and I took my phone and camera outside to charge on the socket at the back of the house across the way because my socket is broken inside and the sockets are a little different here and I haven't figured out a way to turn off the power. I'm kinda afraid I'm going to electrocute myself if I go cutting wires and then making connections while the power is still on - and I'm too cheap to hire an electrician, so outside I go. Back inside to eat breakfast, which consists of an avocado sandwich - just like it sounds, two pieces of bread, and I spooned some avocado out and added a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor - and a few bisquits (i.e., shortbread cookies), and a couple cups of hot Kenyan tea that I brewed fresh. Even though it's summer here, I am at over 6500 ft elevation near the mtn, so the nights and early mornings are quite chilly. I never really liked consuming hot fluids before, but the hot tea has really grown on me since I arrived here.

I putzed around a bit, then washed up my dishes, packed my bag, and headed out the door just after 6 am for my 40-minute walk to the far end of town. I was meeting a few people at the Water Resources Management Office where we were to travel to the start of a community walk to raise money for a local forest association that is trying to protect the nearby Mt. Kenya forest. Of course, I get there around 6:45 and the only one there is the guard, so I chatted with him a bit in Kiswahili, and eventually others arrived shortly after 7 am. I was actually supposed to be there at 6:30, but I was pretty sure 6:30 was "Africa" time (they use the sun to judge time in many cases), so there is quite a bit of slop in such numbers. Anyway, shortly after a few others arrived, we hopped in a vehicle, drove around to pick a few others up and then headed at least 10 km south of town to the start point of the walk. I quickly noticed that I was the only white guy there - not uncommon at all whenever I go somewhere - and that tons of people were staring at me, so I just starting talking to some of them in Kiswahili. I've realized that most people are very friendly and they are just shocked to see a white person at a community event and they don't quite know how to react, and they don't speak much English and think that I don't know any Kiswahili, so there's usually an uncomfortable silence until someone breaks the ice. I hate uncomfortable silences, so I usually say something, even if it doesn't make any sense or results in me getting laughed at. Oh well.

After a little fanfare, a few speeches, and a traditional dance (that I dare not partake in... yet), the walk was off. Much to my chagrin, I was not part of it. I was with the organizers and so I hopped in a vehicle to follow along. Luckily we stopped at the first checkpoint just up the road and I got out and immediately asked if I could walk with the rest of the community. Turns out that's all I had to do. So, even though I knew no one at all, I just started walking along with them. It really helps if your current president has roots in the country you are in, as is my situation, so there's always an ice-breaker, and usually the Kenyans bring it up when I tell them where I'm from... "Ohhhhhh! Obama! You know Obama?!?" Me: "Yes, Obama is a close friend - hold on, I'm texting him to let him know I'm with you." Seriously though, I had no problem making some new friends, and one dude, Michael, walked with me the entire way. I've finally managed how to put in pics, so just below is a pic near the end of the walk of the walk.




The walk was 26-km through the beautiful Mt. Kenya forest and I have to admit, I was quite pooped when I finished. Not so tired that I'm not still going to try to squeeze in a run when I get home though. I met my friends with the Water Association I was working with near the end at their station where they had set up info displays about trees and water conservation. We took some pics, which I would post here, but the usb is not working. Maybe tomorrow... It is now tomorrow, and the pics load slooooowwwwwly, so I'm just putting up the one. At the end of the walk, I got to the big field where everyone was hanging out waiting for the speeches from the local officials, so I decided to hang out with the crowd. And I soon found myself in a very uncomfortable situation. Most people in Kenya are very poor - and when I say poor, I mean that they eat maybe one meal a day, have no job (unemployment here is something like 40%!), and just scrape by. Many people showed up for the walk hoping there would be food and drink at the end. And after they had walked 26 km (about 15 or 16 miles) and there was nothing, they weren't happy. And there frustrations and anger were taken out on me. But I also very much sympethize with them, and as uncomfortable as it was, I have a much better understanding for what the average person faces and what their motivations are for attending these events (sometimes). Granted, this was not everyone, and it may have been only a small subset of people, but it definitely was not an insignificant number as I looked around. So, I talked about it with my friends at my organization and I'm going to talk with some of the organizers. I'm not sure that anything will come out of it - especially because the association itself is run on a shoestring, but I think it's good for all involved to know the reality of the situation.

Afterwards, there were speeches by all of the government and local officials and organizers, and they introduced me to the community (well, those that had not met me during the walk or just after), and then I was asked to say a little bit, in Kiswahili (Swahili) in front of several hundred people. I totally botched one part of my little talk - somehow I lost all thought for a few seconds, and it got very quiet. I didn't know what to do, so I just starting laughing, and everyone else just laughed with/at me. I recovered and finished up and got a nice round of applause, which felt good. I file that in my memory bank that if things go south, just start laughing. I think because a lot of people knew me by that point, I was given the benefit of the doubt, too. Several years ago I probably would have been terrified to speak in front of a crowd of 400 people, in another language, and being the only white-guy there. But for some reason, it didn't phase me in the slightest - except for that couple seconds. Not that I'm a "new person" (whatever that means), but I'm definitely growing a tiny bit. It's nice to have those small victories.

Afterwards, I congratulated and thanked the organizers for letting me partake, then smushed into a friends vehicle for the ride back to town. And now I'm here typing about it. Alright, that was a long desrcription of just today, so I'll summarize the last few weeks in one really, really long-ass sentence. Here goes:

A few weeks ago, I was attacked by the four geese that live at the place where I also reside (ooooowwww, I hate those geese!!! and I hope the people I live with that own those lovely geese aren't reading this), then I ran out of water... for six days and had to journey a mile to the river and haul a huge jerry can full of water back, uphill, which was quite rough but again good for me because that's how most people here get their water, and then I didn't do laundry for two weeks because the water was out and I wore and rewore and rewore really dirty, disgusting clothes (including boxers and socks!) and didn't flush the toilet (yes, I even have a flush toilet!) for several days, which was a horrible, horrible idea (don't ever, ever do that), and then I was supposed to travel to Mukureweini to do a language intensive training and take a test for the last four days (no the test is not four days, just the training), but there were demonstrations throughout the country which made travel unsafe, so that got bagged, allowing me to do the walk today. There you go, all caught up. :) I'll try to write more and load some pictures tomorrow. Off to see all my lady-friends (i.e., my "stalkers" - again, hope they aren't reading this) on my long walk home. Goodnight!