A Great Way to Spend a Saturday Morning

Time is going by so quickly here. It's been another 5 or 6 weeks since I last posted anything on my blog. I can't even remember what all has happened since the beginning/middle of May, so I'll just selectively skip A LOT of things. In fact, I'm just going to skip everything except the marathon which I ran yesterday...

The last time I wrote, I was in the middle (closer to the end, actually) of training for the Safaricom Marathon. It's a very unique race, run on dirt paths through a wildlife conservancy at an elevation of over 5,000 ft, where there is less air to breathe. My friend Erin had mentioned it to me way back at the beginning of the year, and I immediately said yes. I procrastinated in registering, much as I procrastinate in a lot of things (ahem, letter-writing), but Erin kept on me and I managed to get in before the race closed at 1,000 people. I've been running all over Nanyuki since I got here, but especially the last several months as I've been upping my mileage to make sure I could complete 26.2 miles (42 kms). It was Erin's first marathon, and I promised her that I would run it with her. Unfortunately, she got injured about a month beforehand, sadly just after she had completed a long, long run that would have allowed her to make the full distance on race day. So plans changed a bit and Erin decided to run the half-marathon, without having run for a full month (amazing!), and made me promise that I'd still run the second half - the way this race is set up, it's two loops around for the full, which makes it easy to host a half and a full.

Yesterday (Saturday the 28th) was the race. We spent the last few days before that race chowing down on nyama choma, ugali, pasta, and the incredible array of treats sent in various care packages (thanks again, family & friends!), and working very, very hard on all of our Peace Corps projects, of course. We headed up to LEWA on Friday for the pre-race meeting and to pick up our numbers so we wouldn't have to worry about that on race morning. We got up around 4 am, and my usual pre-marathon routine is to take a long, hot shower which is an easy way to warm up your muscles. Unfortunately, we had no running water and no electricity, so that was out. The backup was hot bucket baths - not quite the same, but worked ok I guess. It's always difficult for me to eat the morning of a race because I'm so excited; I just want to get going. Nonetheless both of us managed to cram down something small before we took off. We stumbled outside in the darkness (literally, we couldn't see a damn thing except whatever was illuminated by my cell phone light) to the gate of the compound, and caught our ride to LEWA just as the sun was coming up.







It was pretty frigid out when we arrived, but by the time the race started at 7:15, it was already warming up. Erin and I met up with two other Peace Corps Volunteers, Matt and Alyssa, who had gotten up even earlier than we did to make the trek all the way from Meru. They are also runners and had come with a group of professional runners that they run with on the eastern side of Mt. Kenya to cheer all of us on. As we were coming in, hundreds of Kenyans that live in the area were walking in (and walking 7 km after they arrive at the gate!) just to get a glimpse of the race. The scenery is absolutely spectacular, just like the wildlife scenes you see in Africa back in the US. It's almost surreal to be standing in the middle of it. The photos here give you some idea, but they really don't do the place justice. In fact, the scenery almost makes you forget how hot and hilly it is... almost!

Besides Pikes Peak, this is definitely the hilliest marathon course I've ever run. And I think it was even a little warmer than the unusually hot day in Boston when I ran that oh so many years ago now - damn, I'm getting old! I'll let the pictures do all of the talking. You can see from the smiles on Erin's and my faces, that we were having a GREAT time during the race. It was tough, but if you are pushing yourself, all races are that way. The fact that Erin RAN almost the entire half marathon without having run for the previous month inspired me to give the second half of the race as much effort as I could. I'll re-edit this post hopefully during the week to give more details of the race itself, but I am running out of time...

This was marathon #9 for me, and I'll always remember it for running the first half with a good friend, running in a beautiful location, and as my first (but certainly not last!) marathon in Africa. Next up is the Nairobi Marathon at the end of October, and my goal is to finally go under 2:40, which means a lot of miles, hills, and speedwork before then. I'm going to try recruit a bunch of other Peace Corps Volunteers and Kenyan friends to join me and make a little party of it. So if you are reading this and interested, drop me a line... or I will soon be dropping you one! And THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who sent well-wishes this past week, much appreciated.

Otherwise doing fine, work is busy, and I'm managing to keep myself out of trouble... for the most part, kind of. As I told a friend recently, my problems are good problems to have - if that makes any sense. Outta time for today, so more next week (hopefully).

More About Why I Am Here

A picture is worth a thousand words. By conventional wisdom then, these two pictures are worth double that. What if I told you that over 100,000 people depend on these two rivers (the Nanyuki River on the top/left and the Likii River on the bottom/right) to providing water for domestic use (e.g., drinking, cooking, bathing), irrigation (i.e., farming), and livestock watering? What would you say? I would ask, "HOW?!?" In a nutshell, that is the main issue I'm helping my organizations to deal with here in Kenya. This is not a localized problem either. Most of the country is classified as "arid" or "semi-arid", basically meaning there is very little rainfall. Exacerbating this problem is that there exists very little in terms of water infrastructure both locally and throughout the country. When it does rain, there are generally not systems in place to catch that water for later use, whether it is dams/reservoirs or gutters on individual roofs that drain into a tank. In addition, there's not a lot of storage capacity - by individuals/families, communities/municipalities, or larger entities. As of right now, water, especially that coming from rivers, is not shared equitably among all users (i.e., among users at the source to those all the way downstream). Those upstream take what they need and those downstream in the very dry areas get whatever is left, which may not be anything for months at a time. This invariably leads to conflict between groups of users in different geographical locations, and I've seen demonstrations in my own town and heard stories of water intakes being smashed so that water will be allowed to flow downstream.

In addition to basic human needs (drinking, cooking, sanitation), water is also the lifeblood of the local economy. I am not certain of the exact number, but I would guess that well over half of the people in my area are dependent upon horticulture (e.g., growing corn, beans, veges, flowers) for their economic livelihoods either by working at a large operation or maintaining their own shamba (farm) from which they also feed their own family. When there isn't a semi-reliable source of water, either through rainfall or irrigation water from the rivers), a very large number of people endure incredible economic hardship. I'm not talking about having to put off that vacation to Europe or not going out to eat but once a month - I am talking about the difference between eating and not eating on a given day or for several days at a time.

I took the two pictures above about a month and a half ago at the end of March, which was supposed to be the end of our dry season here on the Western slopes of Mt. Kenya. Since that time, we've had very little rainfall, with most of it falling on the mountain proper. Some of that rainfall has made it into the rivers. At one point the rivers "filled" enough that one could barely make out the maze of rocks in the riverbed, but over the last week, the rivers have been looking like the pictures above. Last night, the water in my tap at home ran dry. I should have seen it coming because I walk across both rivers on a daily basis and I saw them dwindling down to nothingness. But I still had water in my tap, so I didn't really think about it. Then all of a sudden I didn't and all of the problems from February and March came right back. During parts of those months, I was ill-prepared for water shortages and sometimes didn't know if I was going to have enough water to last me the day or where I was going to get my water once it ran out. Check that, I did know where I would get my water - a two-mile round trip to the river to scoop it out into a large jug and then haul the full, heavy jug uphill home. Each trip took well over an hour and it was exhausting. And that is coming from someone who runs marathons up mountains. Luckily this time I have about 100 liters of water stored as backup and a full 10 liters of treated drinking water. But I don't know when the water is going to come back, so I'm being very cautious. I flushed the toilet one last time, and it won't get used again until the water comes back (at four liters/flush, that is very wasteful). I skipped laundry day today and since most everything passed the sniff test, I'm probably good until the end of this week. I swept out my rooms, but didn't mop or wipe down walls, windows, or furniture. I went for a run this morning, but did not shower afterwards (eeewwwww!). Instead I poured a cup of water over my head and did a quick wipe/rinse of the worst areas. I will take a bucket bath this evening, but it will be a half-bucket max.

The water won't come back for good until the river level comes up a bit. I heard a crackle of thunder earlier, but I look outside now and it is a not-so-beautiful clear blue sky. But I am one of the lucky ones. Most of my friends don't have water storage at their houses. I know because when I was hauling all of my mtungis (20-liter plastic jugs) home from town, they asked what I needed all of those jugs for. I explained and urged them to get backup as well, but most of my friends can't even afford a single mtungi. Most of them are forced to choose between that or giving up dinner for a week (or two). It's really not a choice.

Water pollution is also a HUGE issue. There are several informal settlements (pc term for "slum") neighboring the main part of town, and I've had a chance to walk through all of these now. In most of the informal settlements, you can see people washing their clothes directly in the river, leaving lots of soap water to continue downstream. In one particular informal settlement, there is also a lot of illegal brewing of alcohol that goes on and the waste sludge is dumped directly into the river, just upstream from where women and children are fetching water for drinking and cooking. The black sludge in the following picture is one location where we noted the "chang'a" waste being dumped into the Likii River.


So, what am I/we (that is, my community with any assistance I may be able to offer) DOING about this?!? Well, first of all, there are a lot of people that genuinely want to do something to improve the situation (including me), and that in and of itself is a huge step. I am beginning to understand what all of the issues are, who the key players are, what the possibilities are, and where some of the roadblocks may lie. As GI Joe says, "and knowing is half the battle!". That's only half right, although not bad for an 80's cartoon character. In developing countries, you can know what to do, have a group of people committed, and even have a great plan and be fully funded, and then things will fall apart. I guess that happens in America too, so I shouldn't be so critical. Implementation is a huge issue, nonetheless. Obviously dams and reservoirs to catch and store the water that falls during the rainy seasons would be ideal. But those take a long time to build, are expensive, and a lot of hurdles have to be cleared before construction can even begin. There are plans in the works for dams, but they will not help in the short term. The main things that I am working on with my organizations are education and awareness raising (showing why it is important to conserve water and how to do it!), developing small scale storage such as community water tanks, pans, and outfitting homes and institutions with rainwater collection systems, and trying to increase efficient water use for farming (e.g., drip irrigation and conservation agriculture, where applicable), and helping to develop water rationing programs. In the African context, water ration Water rationing means specific groups (e.g., community intakes) get NO WATER, sometimes for very extended periods of time, not that there are restrictions on when can wash your car or water your lawn. As a small business volunteer, I'm also trying to help ensure that the community-based organization that I'm working with are operating efficiently and going to be financially self-sustaining long after I leave. I'm running out of time to go into details, but that's at least a general overview.

Whew! That was a lot of serious stuff! But it gives you a little more insight into some of the challenges that people face here on pretty much a daily basis, and why I'm so happy to be here doing what I'm doing. Because water is such a large issue here, and there is so much work to be done at each of my three primary organizations where I work, I haven't had much of a chance to get involved in "secondary projects". Through secondary projects, Peace Corps volunteers help address other needs/issues in the community based on the community's needs/wants (as opposed to forcing on the community what a volunteer THINKs they need or want), the volunteers skills, and available time. I've been involved in a handful of community events (the Community Forest Association Walk, for example), but otherwise, I've been integrating into the community and discovering what issues are important to people here and learning what is being done already, who is doing it, and where I might be able to fit in. Hopefully I'll find some time soon to post again and float some of these issues and ideas I have to assist.

It is nearly impossible for me to write a blog post without a little bit of humor in it, and if you've read everything up to this point, you're pretty deserving of a "treat." So hear goes. Last night I was doing some cleaning/redding up in advance of my usual Sunday morning chores, and I decided I would throw out my trash and food scraps from the week. Of course it's not quite like the US where you throw your stuff in a dumpster or take it out to the street and it magically disappears. Most people here have their own trash pit (i.e., a mini-landfill) somewhere on their property if they are fairly well-off, otherwise it just gets thrown out the window/door (literally). An out-of-sight (for now), out-of-mind approach. Most people with a dump pit burn everything in the pit once every couple weeks, and even after that, it is still a disgusting mess. It makes you think twice about buying packaged stuff. I generate just a little bag of trash (the size of a small US-size grocery bag) every two or three weeks, and I still feel bad about that. I may have mentioned before that the white geese that live on the property go absolutely nuts when they see me emerge from my rooms with a little container of food scraps and/or a bag of trash. They squack and come running like the wind - they would give Usain Bolt a run for his money over 20 meters. But there is a fence between them and the dump pit that they usually can't quite manage to get over. Last night, for some reason, the fence was being worked on and some of the horizontal slats were missing. Only one of the geese spotted me, but he came flying over in a hurry when he saw me dump a bunch of crap in the pit. It was quite a sight - he hopped over the one remaining fence slat while waddling at full speed (wings are clipped so he can't fly) and then threw himself head first into the trash pit to get at the banana peels, avocado rind, stale bread, and whatever other goodies were in there. I'm sure the banana peels were not good for him as he was swallowing them WHOLE, but when I tried to pick them up, he pecked me repeatedly, so I just let him be. Here is a picture of my friend looking up at me and warning me not to come any closer:

I have not seen this guy today anywhere, so I'm hoping he didn't gorge himself to death on banana peels. Hopefully I'll be a little more regular about posting, but for now, that's about it. Happy Mother's Day Mom and to all the other Mom's out there who may happen to read this!!!

A Completely Random Collection of Stories, With Pictures!

Wow, so it's been well over a month since I've posted anything here. To sum it up briefly, I've been slightly "distracted" and then was off in Nairobi for two weeks in mid-April for Peace Corps In-Service-Training. You would think I would have a lot to write about, but now that I'm sitting here, I can't think of a single thing.

I am attempting to get into marathon-running shape to run a nearby marathon at the end of June, but work is kinda killing me on that front. It's not smart to try to run in the dark (from 7 pm to 6 am) because it is absolutely pitch black outside (great for stargazing!) and I'm not the most coordinated person in the world and would probably trip and kill myself. Plus, there are others out who would probably like to relieve me of anything I might be carrying, including shoes, glasses, clothes - anything that is not physically attached to my body. So I try to run in the daylight, and with a long walk to and from work some days, it's not always easy/possible to squeeze that in. But I've started doing what I used to do in California and run home from work some days. Since I lived pretty far away from home previously (Emeryville to Lafayette was 15 miles taking back roads over the Berkeley hills), I usually didn't have the time to run the whole way home, and did about 11-12 miles and hopped on BART either in Rockridge or Orinda, for those of you who know where those stations are. Yes, I probably grossed a lot of people out by getting on the train smelling like a bed of roses (freshly fertilized with a bag of poop, that is), but the train was usually pretty empty by 7 or 8 pm and most people just wondered what the heck I was doing, but never asked.

Anyway, that was a long side-bar. What I meant to say was that I'm running home from my faraway work location higher up in the hills toward Mt. Kenya, and that it is a pretty spectacular run home. I'm going to try to post a picture here of what it looks like at the one place I work where I start this run:

This view is from my desk in one of the "offices" at which I work. I use the quotes because it's really just a room with a desk and a shelf in it, which is really all that I need. Yes, sometimes it is hard to work because all I want to do is go climb the mountain - volcano, actually. But I'll get to the top soon enough, and then probably about 4 or 5 more times before I eventually return to the US. Out of all of the beautiful locations I could have been placed in Kenya, I think I'm in the most beautiful of all. I still have some coast-envy, but looking up at the mountain every day is a pretty spectacular treat. I am smart enough to know to not to take this for granted.

Let's see, what else... I got together with the other 34 volunteers in my group (really incredible people, all of them) in Nairobi a couple weeks ago, and while I was there, I stuffed my face like I've never stuffed my face before. I think I had lost some serious weight since arriving in Kenya, and I did my best to put all of it back on over those two weeks with the free food. And I wasn't alone. One night I had just sat down to eat with my buddy Chris and we both looked over to the table next to us and saw this massive plate of food. Seriously, it was one of the biggest plates of food I have ever seen in my life. We both kinda looked at each other and mumbled "Holy Shit!", and then impatiently waited to see who was going to sit down in front of it. It was a solid three or four minutes of suspense and it turned out to be one of the thinner guys in the group. Needless to say we were both very shocked and then completely impressed when he finished every niblet of food on the plate.

This blog post has absolutely no theme or direction to it whatsoever, so I'm going to throw this bad-boy from 3rd gear into reverse and see what happens. My town... I realized I haven't posted too many pictures at all here, and most of you have no conception of what my town looks like, so I'm going to post a few pics. It's very difficult to take pictures in town, because I don't want to be seen with a camera and treated as a tourist. So I try to be very discrete. These are all from the same vantage point on the third floor (strangely called the 2nd floor by everyone, which always messes me up, the ground floor is "zero", not "one") at another one of the offices where I work, in town proper.

This is kind of a panoramic set of shots, the first is almost looking eastward toward Mt. Kenya from town, the second is looking directly into the heart of town in a southerly direction, and the third is looking mostly westward toward the US, which is waaaaaaaaaaaaay off in the distance, although the curvature of the Earth and the downtown buildings are blocking the view... but I know it's there.
Also, I think I took these very, very early in the morning one day, so there aren't very many people or vehicles on the streets. Usually the streets are a mass of humanity - people moving every which way and vehicles weaving all over beeping for the pedestrians to get out of their way. It is quite a site.
It's like being in a very busy part of a major downtown area in the US - always something going on and you could spend hours just hanging out people-watching. In the middle picture, off to the right side is the matatu stand, which is basically the public transport hub for the town. I am probably not being culturally sensitive here, but it is more-or-less an insane bus station. I only say that because, as a muzungu (foreigner), the minute you go in, you get mobbed by people asking where you are going and trying to convince you to go in their matutu (van) wherever they happen to be going. But like any other situation , you just gotta be firm (and polite when possible), keep an eye on your stuff, and it's pretty easy to navigate around. Most people are very helpful and will walk you to the place you need to be to catch a shuttle where you're going. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the kindness that most total strangers show here. Yes, some are just after money or other material goods, but most just want to say "hello" and I really try to not have my guard up so much that I am going to offend the majority of people who have good intentions. It's a constant balancing act.

Ok, time to wrap this up for now. If I get to town tomorrow, I'll try to post again.

Education Project Kickoff!

Hello, hello! I haven't been able to get to a computer for close to two weeks now, but I'm happy to finally be updating again here. A month or two ago, I posted a blog update about a education project that my good friend Chris and I were in the process of setting up. With the help of our good friends Bradley and Dominic at the Kenya Education Fund, we are now at the point of making this project a reality. Chris did an awesome job writing up a letter giving a little more background, explaining how the donation process will work, and most importantly, expressing our thanks and appreciation. So I am just going to paste it verbatim below. I'll also be sending out an email later (probably this weekend) to those of you who expressed interest in helping out with this very worthwhile cause.

In the meantime, I thought I would post a few pictures of the Kamau's that Chris and I took just before we left our training site in January:


The first picture is Chris with the entire Kamau Family just outside their house. Joyce is on the far left, followed by Mama, Baba, and Chris, and James and John are both kneeling attempting to get two of the family's newborn puppies to stay still for the photo - didn't quite work out, but it was a solid effort nonetheless.



In this next picture, I am chillin' on the couch with the Kamau's. As you can probably tell from the smiles in the picture, we *always* had a good when we were over there. Definitely a home away from home.






In the picture to the right, I have convinced Chris that he should give Joyce a set of bunny ears - hence the devious look on Chris' face. Sorry, buddy, I had to post this one! Unfortunately, John snapped the picture a split second early or we would have added our distinctly American touch to this photo.



Ok, enough goofing around for now, here is our letter:

Dear Family and Friends,

We are pleased and excited to inform everyone that we are now going to officially establish a fund in the name of the Kamau family children. As most of you know, this family has taken a special place in our hearts. They welcomed us into their home and treated us like their sons and their brothers. Their help in our transition to Kenya can never be repaid, but this is one way for us to show our gratitude. The opportunity for a College or University education will provide the Kamau children a chance at a better life and a chance to escape poverty. This is a chance that they deserve.

Our goal for the Kamau family is to raise enough money to cover tuition, books, and accommodations for each John, James, and Joyce. Although no final decisions have been made with regards to who will attend which schools, acceptance letters from schools are being sent out or have already been sent out. As the siblings begin to make final decision about enrollment, some of the funding must have already been collected and then used during the enrollment process. At the advice of the Kenya Education Fund, we are looking to begin this process immediately. As you may have seen in a previous email, two acceptance letters have already been received from Interglobal College. The cost breakdown for attending this institution would be as follows:

Tuition, library and Admission Fees: Ksh 57,000
2 years accommodation: Ksh 120,000
Books and other materials: Ksh ????
Total: in neighborhood of Ksh 185,000 (depending on books)

At an average exchange rate of ksh 75 to the $, we're looking at each student's education costing a total of $2,467 over two years.

Using this cost breakdown as a rough guideline, we are looking at a total fundraising goal of around $7,500 (assuming all three attended a similar institution). This is a large sum of money, but a total that we believe is attainable. This money does not have to be raised at one time, but we just want to get the process started.

As has been mentioned, we have partnered with the Kenya Education Fund (KEF) to achieve this goal. The KEF was founded by a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer named Brad Broder. We had the pleasure of meeting Brad on one of his frequent return trips to Kenya. The KEF normally funds the education of high school students, but are making a special exception to help us out. We have attached a PDF file containing the KEF brochure for more information about the organization. As Brad has become a friend of ours, we would greatly appreciate you passing along that PDF to anyone whom you believe may be interested in the KEF cause. You can also visit their website at www.kenyaeducationfund.org or email them at info.kenyaeducationfund.org.

The donation process is very simple, but there are a few details that you need to be aware of. The donations can be made in one of two ways. Option one involves simply sending a check to:

Kenya Education Fund, Ltd.
360 East 72nd Street, Suite 3405
New York, NY 10021

Option two is to simply visit the KEF website and donate online. For either option, please note the following:

"For Tax deduction purposes: If you are writing a check you must write "referred by PCV Chris McKeown or Gavin Hoch" on the check. If you donate online you can indicate this in the designation portion. You must NOT write the name of a particular student on your check or in the designation section. If you decide to choose which student you want, you forego your tax deduction as per IRS guidelines (it is like not being able to claim a tax deduction on paying your own child's university tuition in the US. Universities are nonprofits, but parents can't claim a deduction because they are "choosing" the child they are paying for)."

We cannot express in words how grateful we are for your donations. Based on all of the enthusiasm we have received over the last two months, our fundraising goal seems well within reach. In such difficult economic times, we have been floored by all of your continued questioning and inquiries into the donation process. It has been very encouraging. Finally, we want this to be a very personal process for everyone involved. Aside from the email updates, we are planning on using Gavin’s blog to post pictures and updates about John, James, and Joyce. Some of these updates will be from us, but we are also going to post updates given directly from the siblings themselves. Gavin’s blog can be accessed at www.gavinhoch.blogspot.com.

Once more, thank you. We miss you all, love you all, and know that you are changing the lives of three very deserving individuals.

Sincerely,
Chris and Gavin

The Purchase Power of Sweaty Five Dollar Bills

Sometime early this week or last week, I can’t remember, I sent a really good friend a facebook message that I had recently seen full-size cans of Pringles in the supermarket that I visit most every day to buy food. This is a pretty major find here in Nanyuki. I would compare the emotion I felt to finding a crumpled up five dollar bill on the street. Even though I am a 31-year old adult with (previously) a very-well paying job, I would still be geeked if I found a 5-spot on the street. Two years ago after a 10K race in Lafayette, CA, I found the nastiest, sweat-soaked five dollar bill that had clearly fallen out of someones sock, and after I was unable to locate the owner, I proudly carried that guy home. That got turned into a book and frozen yogurt with cookie chunks consumed on a warm fall afternoon while people-watching by the big fountain in Walnut Creek - a damn fine way to spend five bucks. When I was little, my younger brother Kurt and I would go *everywhere* with my Mom and Dad when they ran errands just so we could "scrounge" for money. And we were pretty good at it too. Between that and the "junk sales" we conducted where we completely ripped off my younger sister Emily (and then repossessed the goods indian-giving-style), we had fairly substantial incomes for an 8-yr old and 6-yr old.

Ok, back to the Pringles in the supermarket... sometimes just seeing something simple (and delicious!) and familiar in an unfamiliar place is comforting. But the wind went out of my sails when I saw they were 285 shillings a can. That is about $3.50 US. And I have not found a sweaty five-dollar bill here... yet. I stood in the same spot for about 20 minutes pondering the worth of the Pringles and looking at the can from all angles trying to decide whether it was worth it. During that time, I learned that they were manufactured in Belgium, which means the cost breakdown is something like 205 shillings for the jet fuel and diesel to transport it from Europe to Africa, and about 80 shillings for the chips. The more relevant fact here is that 285 shillings is nearly 75% of my daily earnings nowadays. It would be like me buying a food item worth several hundred dollars back in the US. I told my friend in that fb message that, at that price, the can was going to stay on the shelf.

But I am a weak human being. It took less than three days for me to cave to their salty, processed goodness. I inhaled the whole thing in one sitting. The last several days, I’ve been opening up the can at night and taking a big sniff, but the smell is starting to fade as well. Soon the only thing left to do will be do tear the can open and lick the insides to get all of the last remaining bits of chips that are stuck in the seams. I have no shame – that is long gone. I try to keep less than 285 shillings with me when I visit the grocery store so that I’m not even tempted to buy them. Unfortunately, my grocery store has started stocking all sorts of goodies such as Kit Kat bars, Twix, chocolate bars, and even peanut M&Ms. I pretend they are not there. Not sure how long that strategy is going to work...

While I'm on the subject of supermarkets, I will also mention the foreigner-with-the-supermarket-black-plastic-bag phenomenon that I’ve recently noticed recently. It goes something like this: If you are a mzungu (foreigner) and are carrying a black plastic bag, kids are going to assume that plastic bag is filled with bisquits (cookies) and crisps (potato chips), and you will be politely encouraged to hand over your goodies (i.e., "Give me bisquits!!!"). There is no way to convince them that you are not hiding delectable treats somewhere, even if you show them the contents of the bag. In my highly scientific study, I have found that if I stick that plastic bag inside my green fabric Whole Foods Market bag, I am politely encouraged almost 90% less than if I just go on my way toting the black bag in my hand for all to see. It's actually fairly ironic that I’m even carrying around this green fabric Whole Foods bag in the middle of Africa given the type of store it is. For those of you who don’t know what Whole Foods is, it’s an upscale (i.e., hoity-toity) grocery store coop/chain in the Western US, mostly located in well-to-do areas that sell “all-natural” and "fair-trade" products for mostly outrageous prices. Whenever I go in there I always think of the South Park episode where Kyle’s family moves to San Francisco and everyone there is bending over to smell their own farts. It just has this smug sort of feeling when you stand in line to buy your granola, chicken breasts from freerange hand-fed birds, and yogurt from cows that only eat grass that was grown by poor farmers in Chile. I'm just joking - please don't send me nasty emails - I like their granola and yogurt too. Anyway, it’s funny that I’m carrying this bag around because if people here knew what kind of store Whole Foods was, I would be completely mobbed and they would be absolutely certain I was carrying bisquits and crisps and all sorts of other yummy things.

Ok, I don't think I've really said anything of substance today, but what else is new. I'll try a little harder next time.

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!

A Really Important Project - Please Help If You Can!

One of my biggest weaknesses is that I'm extremely hesitant to ask for help. I like to think that I can handle any situation that I'm confronted with. But during my last several years at my former place of employment and my first couple months in Peace Corps, I've grown up a little and am not quite as shy about asking for help or support when I need it. This is one of those times when I really need help. And I'm not asking just on my behalf, but also on behalf of my good friend Chris (a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer), and an awesome Kenyan family (the Kamau family) that Chris and I befriended during our training in the town of Loitokitok. I'll explain a little more below, but the short version is that Chris and I are in the process of starting an education fund to help send three of our close Kenyan friends (John, Joyce, and James Kamau) to university here in Kenya. They are extremely bright and have high aspirations, but without more education, their futures are very uncertain (at best) and honestly, they are likely to be caught in the poverty cycle that traps so many young adults here.

As most of you know, I've been in Kenya for over three months now, and it has been a wild ride. The first seven weeks I spent training (ie, learning Kiswahili, about the Kenyan culture, how to assimilate into a community, and how small business works in Kenya) in a small town just over the border from Mt. Kilimanjaro. During those seven weeks, each of us trainees lived with a Kenyan host family, kinda like a foreign exchange student program. The families were responsible for feeding us, sheltering us, and helping us to gain our footing in a very new and different place. But what I wasn't really expecting is the way they took us in as part of their families. Even now that I've been away for a month, they still call regularly to check up on me and make sure everything is ok. Most Kenyan families do not enjoy the same comforts we take for granted (e.g., electricity, running water, flush toilets, a shower) and most have a very hard time making ends meet, but they always insist on sharing what they have and they are the most welcoming people I've ever met.

During our training in Loitokitok, I became really close friends with all of my fellow volunteers, but especially a guy named Chris McKeown, who also happens to be from Pennsylvania. I can't say enough great things about Chris as a person and as a friend. I spent a lot of time at Chris' house studying Kiswahili and just hanging out, and I got to know his host family as well as I knew my own. Chris' has two Kenyan brothers, John and James, and a sister, Joyce, that lived with him at home, as well as his Kenyan mama (mother) and baba (father). It was pretty much a celebration every time a visitor arrived, and I loved hanging out with all of them. As Chris and I got to know his host family better, they opened up to us and shared with us just how difficult life is for them (and most families here in Kenya). Just before we left for Nairobi for the volunteer swearing-in ceremony a month ago, Chris' family told him how much of a struggle it is for them to make ends meet and he learned that there is no way they will be able to send John, Joyce, and James to university. All three have graduated from secondary school (i.e., high school) and are very bright, hard-working, and have aspirations for higher education and professional jobs, but they do not have the means to save for university tuition and fees. John is currently operating a taxi service using his motorcycle to try to help support the family. Joyce spends her entire day, from 5:30 am to 9:30 pm, taking care of all of the household duties including, cooking meals, cleaning the house and dishes, washing clothes, and taking care of the goats and chickens, so she has no time or means available to save money. James also does whatever work he can find in the neighborhood to help support the family. Without a university education, it will be almost impossible for them to break out of their current routines and find professional jobs that will allow them to support themselves and their future families.

Chris and I talked a lot about this, and we decided that we weren't just going to sit around when there was something we could do to help them out. So we began making arrangements to begin a fund with our own money to help send John, Joyce, and James to university in Kenya. As luck would have it, a former Peace Corps volunteer that served in the same town we were training in (Loitokitok) came to talk to all of us one afternoon during our training. His name is Bradley Broder, and he was so deeply affected by his time in Kenya that he started his own non-profit organization called the Kenya Education Fund (KEF) - http://www.kenyaeducationfund.org - in 2005 after his Peace Corps service to help pay secondary school fees to enable bright Kenyan students from disadvantaged families to continue their secondary education. Bradley is one of those guys you meet who is completely genuine, easy to talk to, and bends over backwards to help you out. Although the primary mission of Bradley's non-profit organization is to help pay fees for secondary school (i.e., high school) students in Kenya, Bradley was more than happy to allow us to use his organization to set up a fund to securely and efficiently raise and distribute money to allow John, Joyce, and James to attend university. Another benefit of using the KEF is that it is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, meaning that all donations are tax-deductible. The other really cool thing about it that the dollar-to-shilling exchange rate is very favorable now, so raising enough money is something that is truly attainable.

As it stands right now, we are in the process of finalizing arrangements for the establishment of the university fund for John, James, and Joyce through Bradley's non-profit organization, the KEF. Chris has already contacted his family & friends, and I'm just starting to do that on my end. If you would be interested in donating to this project or helping us to raise money to enable John, Joyce, and James to attend university, please drop me and Chris a line (gavhoch@gmail.com and chris.mckeown28@gmail.com) and Chris and I will send additional details once we've finalized the arrangements with Bradley's non-profit organization. We are hoping that everyone involved in this project will get to know the Kamau children (John, Joyce, and James) as well as Chris and I do and see for yourselves what we see in them.

Chris and I are extremely excited that the project will officially get off the ground in the very near future and we are determined and committed to making this project a reality. Of course, we would be very grateful for any support you (or anyone you know!) may be able to provide to make this happen and help John, Joyce, and James attend university here in Kenya. If you have any questions, or want to know more about this project, feel free to drop me a line anytime. Thanks.