And the HEAT goes on and on and on -----

Dear friends;

As I sit here sweating profusely, I fully realize that many of you are shivering. Well, that is life, right? I did want to come to a place where I would no longer be cold and believe me, I have not been cold since last winter in Mammoth. But , I must report that it does feel ever so slightly cooler these past few days. The Kenyans say that very soon the rainy season will begin and it will be cooler but then I will have tons of mud to complain about!!

As for my work here, I continue to feel wonderful about the progress with the community library. I located a teacher who had previous library experience and she has helped totally organize the books. Last Friday, I had my first "student day" and over 100 students from a neighboring village came all at once. The library room is so tiny; we had to limit their entry to 10 students at one time. It was so fun to watch them pour over the shelves and make their selection. Luckily two teachers accompanied them and helped to insure that they picked books on their own reading level. Bye the way, all the books are in English. I was able to purchase some books by African authors but they , too, are in English. While the Kenyan government maintains that all students be taught all subjects in English, I know that is not the case, at least not at Kadzinuni Primary. But I am surprised to realize just how well some of the students can read English. I wish my kiswahili was moving along as well!

The running club I started is also going well and the boys are improving. The girls dropped out but I am hopeful they will return soon. In May, there are school competitions for track and field and that should raise every one's interest and willingness to run with the club.

Here are more photos: some Kenyans primary school students in "Sunday attire", a group of Kadzinuni students in their uniforms on the school grounds; myself and three other PCV's at a bird sanctuary outside of Kilifi, and lastly a shot of where I am sitting now while composing this blog entry.

Hope this finds everyone doing well in the States. The Atlantic Monthly assures me that I will return to a much different America than what I left. Do you agree????

kwaheri,

Mary (in Kenya)

Dear Friends;

I haven't made a blog entry for some time as I am having trouble keeping my laptop battery charged. I still do not have electricity and the solar charger at the health clinic no longer is able to recharge my laptop (phone it will do, laptops, no). But right now I am at a hotel in Mombasa where I have electricity, running hot and cold water, and AIR CONDITIONING!! It has been so hot and it really saps my energy. I am able to stay perky in this air conditioned room and will get caught up on a lot of computer work.

As far as my projects go, the library continues to have many children visit and check out books. I received one box of books that were donated by people in Mammoth and they are a welcome addition to the library. I have also started a running club. Now, understand, I have never been a runner - I mean NEVER! But hey, I figured, yes I can run and I can pretend that I am a coach! It has gone well and it is such a joy to run thorough the sisal plantation - so incredibly beautiful.

I am going to include a bunch of photos here for you to view. The two above photos were taken Christmas Day. It is a tradition for children to get new clothes on Xmas Day and then get dressed up and go to the beach! OK - hope you can pick out which pictures go with the above narrative! I just can't figure out how to re-arrange the photos!! Now, above is also a photo of my Kenyan library committe, and two shots of the Kadzinuni running club. Lastly, there is a shot of what I call a "Kenyan Cuisinart" - woman manually pounding corn which is then used to be mechanically ground into flour. The flour is used to make the national dish of Kenya ---ugali.

That is all there is fit to report on for now. I hope I am able to add an entry within the next month. Stay tuned!!

Mary

Kadzinuni Library Opens

My goal was to open the library, with a marginal amount of books, by the first of December. The Kenyan school are closed for the entire month and I decided it was appropriate to open by the first no matter what. I am including photos here - as you can see, we have plenty of shelves to fill. I am still working on finding a reasonable way to have books sent here. The children helped me clean the room and I have been pleased with the number who have returned to read anc check out a book.

It has been impossibly hot here and I really don't get much done during the day. I am glad to just hang out in the library!

More Peace Corps Training

Dear Friends;

This blog entry finds me in Nairobi for more Peace Corps training. So for the past week I have been living with running water, sometimes hot water, electricity and free wireless internet. I also have a TV and feel a bit more current on what is going on outside my world. Some of the news I would rather not be aware of! PLEASE, no one send a copy of Sarah Palin's book for the Kadzinuni library!

Before my arrival here in Nairobi, it was extremely hot on the coast. I don't think I have ever lived in heat and humidity like we were having. Nairobi is much cooler and it is nice to have a break from that heat. I will be returning to Kadzinuni this coming Sunday (Nov. 22nd) and sure hope that the heat wave has passed.

Our training here has focused on how to effectively convey public health messages in our sites. There are numerous obstacles: traditions and religious beliefs, witch healers, poverty and lack of education, suspicion of outsiders----the list goes on. We are constantly encouraged to interact with community members. I think I get a star in that area; I think most people in Kadzinuni know who I am and most greet me by my name. They have quit just calling me "mzungu" (white person). Before I left for Nairobi, I was pleased by the number of adults coming up to me and expressing excitement over the library opening. I have no idea of what the average reading level among adults is but I will probably soon find out.

I am including a random selection of photos of some of my Kenyan friends. I am so proud of many of the young people I meet. Despite grim family and financial situations, they seem so focused on getting an education. Also, it is common to have a wide age range in any given class. Children are often held back from going to school; they are needed to work in family farms or care for younger children. At the primary school by my home, I see teens that appear to easily be 16 -18 and they are in the 7th grade. Here is a slice of Kenyan life for elementary aged children: they are required to help gather fire wood that is used to cook a very simple lunch for them each school day. One morning I looked out and there were several children, high up in a tree, wildly swinging their pangas (very long, thick knives that are used in farming, etc.) to chop off large branches of the tree. My mind went back to all the safety regulations for American schools; I wish I had a picture to show you.

This entry looks weird I know; just haven't mastered blogging yet. But I wanted to add a lot of pictures since I have free wireless internet. So the following is a list of picture titles, starting at the top and going left to right:

1. view from my front door
2. my good friend Victor who is hoping to get into a good high school next year. he is an orphan who lives in his own house but within a very loving village
3. part of the path I walk down to get to the paved highway
4. the primary school RIGHT behind my house
5. the dispensary RIGHT next to my house (I live in a fish bowl)
6. a view of a nearby resort where I can go to relax
7. my friend Nimrod who is about to finish high school (he attends a private boarding school, common for those who can afford it) he hopes to go onto college to study agriculture
8. baobob trees
9. my home!
10. a family of friends
11. my best friend Ibrahim with his two nephews - their mother died last year so they are cared for by Ibrahim's mother and whoever else is available
    

That is it for now. I hope I am able to artistically place photos and wrap the text around them all fancy like for my next entry!!

Settling in to Kadzinuni

I have been here over 2 months and feel like I have settled in. I have my house completely furnished now and feel quite comfortable. I finally decided I just had to purchase a comfortable chair as I have so much time in the evening to read. Now getting furniture up to my home is no small endeavor. I bought the chair along side the road near Mombasa. I got the seller to carry the chair across a very busy and dangerous highway where I stood in the dirt for sometime before finding a matatu that would transport myself and the chair. Ofcourse the tout tried to over charge me but they get all flustered when you can argue with them in kiswahili. OK, the chair is tied onto the back of the matatu and off we go. When I arrive at my stop, the chair is untied and loaded onto a motorcycle and driven up a steep and bumpy dirt road. It did arrive in good shape and I am very pleased. Am currently reading The Bone Setters Daughter and Abraham Lincoln (by Carl Sandburg). Also have numerous New Yorkers by my bed.

I am slowly developing a social life! I have several Kenyan friends; tonight I went to a soccer game in a nearby village. Very competitive these Kenyans! I also joined a bunch of other Peace Corps volunteers for a weekend party. Despite the fact that I was the only person over the age of 30, I had lots of fun.

I am learning to dispense medications at the health center. I am discovering that although I do not find the mosquites a problem, many people are coming down with malaria. The incidence of HIV is low but there is no way of knowing for sure since most people haven't been tested. The stigma attached to being HIV positive is huge and many ignorant people choose not to be tested.

We had some incredible rains this past week but now the weather has turned back to dryness. Most people at Kadzinuni have their own shamba (small farm) and totally depend on it to provide their own family with food. If the rains don't come, this area will be in a dire situation.
The public water faucets I have mentioned before are managed by the government and they often choose to turn the water off!! Also, have a habit of turning it on only during the very early morning hours. So, I often wake up to the sound of women carrying 20 liter water cans on their heads at 1am and this done without any light!

The pictures I am including here have titles (sorry, I haven't figured out how to put the title right with the photo): children with their babies: man fetching palm juice for this disgusting palm wine they make and drink constantly: book club time at Kadzinuni.

I have had numerous responses to the article in the Mammoth Times about my need for book donations for the Kadzinuni library. I have even received a very generous donation from a Mammoth resident to help cover shipping costs of the books. Besides all the local donations, I currently have a box being sent from a non-profit group in Darien, Co. Am hoping the Kenyan customs fees aren't too outrageous.

More to follow - and in less than a full month this time!

Beginning Projects at Kadzinuni

Dear Friends;

I am slowly beginning to do some work! I held my first community meeting this past Thursday. Hum ----it didn't turn out as planned but this is Kenya. I prepared for the meeting by making some posters and taking them around to several of the villages. I nailed them up to the sides of several mud dukas (very small shops) and hoped it wouldn't rain. Well, ofcourse it rained and blew and two days later, not a one was still in place. On Monday while walking thru a village, a small child proudly ran up to me with a poster that she had rescued from the rain. No way was she giving it back to me ----well, despite all, 92 people showed up for the meeting which was truly an amazing turn out. I expect they mostly just wanted to see what the white woman was up to. The agenda was to allow me to listen to residents talk about their community needs. Well, the sub-district chief didn't tell me that he was expecting to come and hold a 2 hour meeting before letting me take center stage. Also, we waited an hour and a half for people to arrive. The few folks who arrived on time certainly didn't seem bothered by the wait! Get this - the outdoor meeting area (see picture attached here) was RIGHT next to the primary school. So, after waiting a half hour, the chief had the head master of the school send all the kids home to get their parents to attend the meeting -----the school has 1000 students!! So now, children are running everywhere; I'm not sure just how many of them made it home. Some of the students live a 45 minute walk from the school! But, I must admit,more people did show up.

So what community needs did they mention? Most of them centered around the lack of water and the unreliability of the system. There are community "faucets" that give out treated water but the people have to pay for the water. There are very few free locations for water. One woman wanted a community bank and the local drama enthusiast wanted a stage for productions.

I would like to mention the fact that I am going to be reopenning the Kadzinuni library and will be asking for book donations. I am especially wanting stuff appropriate for early teen girls. Remember, these children are taught all subjects in English. All the books currently here were donated by a British family who funded the construction of the health clinic; actually, it is a dispensary. Nothing too racy for any age group; there are many muslims here and other religions are well represented also; very conservative.

Comments on the photos attached here: the chameleon was right outside my door! They have eyes that rotate 360 degrees. The small boy beside the small house ---why that is nine year old Davis who told his Dad he wanted to build his own house! The Muslim girls are right outside the door of the library ---they are excited about the prospect of it reopenning! And then a shot of my first community meeting.

Bye for now ---Mary

Trip to Mombasa and More

Hello Friends! I have become friends with the nurse here at the health clinic and she and her boyfriend and daughter took me into Mombasa for the day this past Saturday. Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya and has gotten a lot of press in the past year. Mombasa has a big port and it is where a couple of the pirated ships have finally come to shore. Mombasa is a big, noisey, dirty, congested city but is in a beautiful location. For our day in the city, we visited an historic site; a fort built by the Portuguese in 1537. Very well preserved - see photos below and yes, the black people are my Kenyan friends! Also, here is a photo of a mud house in it's early construction stage. I will follow this house along and post a series of photos when it is completed. This will help you really visualize what a mud house is. You know we are predicted to begin an El Nino cycle starting at the end of this month. I have heard that during the rainy season some of these mud houses colapse!

I am currently organizing a community meeting; I have the task of writing a community needs accessment report so will have this meeting to solicite comments from the public. And, wow, what a public I may have in attendance. It will no doubt range from the illiterate to the college educated. Also, the meeting will be held outside in their usual meeting place ("under the big mango tree") and flip charts are unknown here and it likely will be windy. I will give you an update on this event after it takes place. I ofcourse will have an interpreter ---my kiswalhili has sort of stalled in its progress. I can speak, really I can, but I have a very hard time understanding people and have just become aware of the local dialet which is different from what I studied in Loittokitok. Oh ---would someone send me Karen Ingram's e-mail ----Steve actually lived in Loittokitok when he was a teenager.

Here are photos: Fort Jesus & Friends; random shots around where I live featuring shots of the sisal plantation that surrounds this area; and the first in the series on mud house construction.

Until next time -----