December 11, 2014

December 11, 2014

This weekend I traveled to Nairobi to order the brand new basketball systems that I successfully fundraised over $1000 to order. Thanks to all those who donated to this amazing project! Luckily the Village had a car in Nairobi early in the week so we were able to pick up the hoops just a few days after the order went in. In addition, we raised enough money to buy new Spalding basketballs that should last a long time. Today was installation day! I gathered together the basketball coach as well as members of the high school basketball team to help with assembly. It only took us a couple of hours to get everything together. First we had to get some tools from the Polytechnic and read the extensive manual but after some trial and error we got the first system together. After that putting together the second system was easy. It was great that the boys helped out and got it done so quickly. Now the court is ready to be played on!

Assembly

Old vs. new

Some team members

Our court

On another note, on Monday I am flying back to Boston for Christmas! I’m very excited to get back to some cold weather; it has been super hot in the Village the last couple weeks. It will be great to see family and friends as well!

December 4th

Ticksy, "my" dog in the Village, gave birth to her puppies!

December 4, 2014

Happy December! I can’t believe that it is already December. Its really hard to imagine that it is winter back in the States, when it is still boiling hot here in the Village. I also can’t believe that I have been here for 5 months! Time really has flown by.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with toothbrush distribution and my basketball fundraiser. As the children are on school vacation, it has been difficult to gather then all together in one place for the brush distribution. However, there are been weekly life-skills training sessions undertaken by the Home Care Department. These meetings have given us a perfect opportunity to reach the kids and distribute the brushes. In addition, we also had enough brushes for the grandparents. Toothpaste was distributed to each family during weekly food pick-up, which occurs every Tuesday. Hopefully the paste will last for a few months. After that, we will be buying and distributing supplies for the making of homemade toothpaste.

The Polytechnic students during the oral hygiene/hand washing presentation

Also, in less than one week I was able to raise $1000 for the purchase of new basketball hoops to replace the current ones, which are worn down and broken. I am extremely thankful to all those at home who supported this project. Basketball is one of the children’s favorite sports and it is heartbreaking when the equipment is in such bad condition that they game cannot be played. Now because of the generous donations from friends and family, we have been able to purchase top-quality durable basketball hoops, as well as a supply of high quality basketballs. Hopefully our new equipment will be available for pick-up next week! I hope to get everything installed before I head home for the holidays on December 15^th. I will post some pictures of the new systems as soon as they are up!

The current basketball hoops (but as of now, the hoop has follow off, this photo was taken previous to this)

I have a lot to get done before my holiday begins, but I’m looking forward to going home and seeing all my friends and family! (and it won’t hurt to get some good food, sleep in my own bed, and have a real shower and toilet)

           

Enjoy!

Maggie

November 24th, 2014

November 24, 2014

            Sorry to be lacking on the posts in the last month, but I have been very busy working and traveling. It has just become very quiet in the Village, as only 1 volunteer remains and he will be leaving this week. We will have some groups visiting for a day or so in December, but other than that, it will remain quiet. In addition, our schools closed last week after final exams. The Kenyan school calendar is different to that in the USA because the school year ends in November and restarts in January as opposed to ending in June and beginning in September. Many of the Village children will go visit relatives during the break or spend their break in the Village, farming, playing, and doing various chores/organized activities. Right before the schools closed, I carried out hand washing/oral hygiene presentations in all three schools. Some of our Spanish volunteers from this summer launched a fundraising campaign in Spain to collect toothbrushes and toothpaste for everyone in the Village. One condition of the donation however, was that educational presentations are given to all the children about oral hygiene before the distribution of the brushes. I took this opportunity to also continue last year’s PiAf fellow’s project on hand sanitation, thus combining both sanitation concerns (oral and hand) to create one presentation. For the younger children we used their teachers for help with translating and did in depth demonstrations where the children were involved. It went much smoother than I thought it would, and I really hope everyone understood the lesson and use what they learned in everyday life. Below are some pictures of our lessons with the primary school students.

On another note, the rainy season is in full force in the Village. Every couple days, the rains will come and downpour all day long. The roads become flooded (making travel outside the Village difficult) and the bugs come out in masses. Massive amounts of beetles, mosquitoes, crickets etc have hatched in the last couple weeks. The children run around during the day collecting the bugs in bottles and if you are near any light source at night, you will be surrounded and dive-bombed by all sorts of creatures. I love the greenness that the rain has brought to vegetation, however I could deal without the bugs and flooding.

Bugs on the movie projector screen we set up at the high school

            The highlight of the last couple weeks was the Fall East African PiAf Fellow’s Retreat to Zanzibar, Tanzania. Twice throughout the fellowship year, there are regional meet-ups for the fellows. I have already been to Zanzibar, but I was thrilled to be going back to meet up with 15 of my fellow fellows! I flew directly from Nairobi to Zanzibar with my friend Sally on the night of the 13^th. I was afraid I was going to miss my flight because heavy rains in the Village had delayed my morning departure and forced me to take a longer route to Nairobi. Luckily though everything worked out and we made it to Stone Town (the biggest town in Zanzibar) in time for dinner. After checking into our hostel we ventured to the town square where there is a nightly food market called Foradhani. At this market they sell all sorts of fish, fruits, meat, local starches, juice etc. You pick and sample small bits from each stand. We enjoyed fresh fish, sweet potatoes, falafel, sweet rice cakes, salted mango and fresh sugarcane ginger juice.

Foradhani Market

            The next morning we explored the narrow allies of the city before we had to meet our friends at the airport. We had breakfast at the famous Zanzibar Coffee House (Zanzibar is famous for the coffee) and explored the waterfront. Next, we picked up three other fellows, who had flown in that morning from Nairobi, and headed up to our resort on the Northwest coast. It took us about an hour to reach Kendwa Rocks, our home for the next 3 days.

View from table at Zanzibar Coffee House

            The word paradise doesn’t even do the place justice. We stayed in bandas (small cottages) situated just above the white sand beach. Friday was filled with swimming, lounging, good food and happy hour. After a group dinner that night, there was dancing and entertainment at our resort. Saturday was our stereotypical day at the beach. We lounged, swam some more and relaxed. That night we had arranged a sunset cruise from our hotel up the coast and back. It was amazing and the sunsets there are some of the best I have ever seen. That night at the hotel there was more entertainment in the form of traditional dancers, acrobats, and huge snakes. It was a very interesting night.

View from our sunset cruise

            Sunday, Sally and myself both woke up feeling sick (we later decided it was from tap water we had drank in Stone Town). We were scheduled however to do an all day snorkeling/diving trip beginning right after breakfast. We sucked it up and got on the boat anyway (despite having just thrown up the contents of my breakfast). We traveled about 2 hours up the coast to Pemba Island, one the best places to snorkel/dive in the world. After feeling seasick for two hours, it felt refreshing to jump into the water for an hour or two. The snorkeling was amazing and we were surrounded by tropical fish. We broke for lunch then went snorkeling one more time in a different location before heading back to the hotel. It was a long day (8:30am-4pm), especially as I was feeling sick, but was an amazing experience. I took my GoPro in the water with me and got some amazing footage.

            That night, everyone was pretty tired and after a group dinner at a neighboring hotel, I went to bed early. Monday morning after diving in the ocean one more time, we headed back to Stone Town for lunch before we had to catch our flights home. It was raining by the time we reached Stone Town so we bunkered down in Coffee Shop and took turns going out exploring/shopping.  Finally, it was time to head back and with sadness we boarded out plane back to Nairobi. It was an amazing weekend in paradise though and it was so great to catch up with many fellows that I had not seen since orientation in June.

I have included many pictures so you hopefully get an idea of what a beautiful place it is!

Enjoy!

A huge centipede outside my room!

November Update

           

November 10, 2014

            Its crazy to think it is already November! I have been in Kenya and Nyumbani Village now over 4 months. Time is flying by and I can’t believe it will soon be December. The first couple weeks have flown by.

            We have only two volunteers now in the Village, so it is pretty quiet in the guesthouse, but all the kids will be done with exams/school at the end of this week, so the Village won’t remain quiet for long.

            These past couple weeks have also brought the arrival of the rainy season. As I am typing this, I am sitting trapped in my office listening to the raucous downpour outside. It has been raining hard all day, creating lots of mud and flooding.  I am currently crossing my fingers that the water does not enter by room (which opens directly outside). Below is a picture of the rain from the main office building. I know rain doesn’t seem like that exciting a thing, but when you have been in a scorching dry season for almost 4 months, rain is a big deal! Along with the rain come the bugs. The cicadas are out in full force as well as mosquitoes and other crawlers.

            Last week I spent the weekend in Nairobi celebrating Halloween with fellow PiAf fellows and friends. It was really nice to get into the city and indulge in some good food and activities. I went to the movie theater twice that weekend (I enjoyed and recommend both Gone Girl and The Judge) and ate too many meals out haha. After celebrating Halloween on Friday and Saturday nights, I capped the weekend with a relaxing Dia de los Muertos lunch/tea party hosted by another PiAf fellow. It was a good mini-vacation and great opportunity to catch up with friends.

            Work-wise, I have been trucking away on a few projects. This week I am beginning to give hand washing/oral hygiene presentations to the schools. Recently, some Spanish volunteers collected over 1,000 toothbrushes to send to the Village. Before we distribute them to the children we must do a presentation on the basics of oral hygiene. In conjunction with this presentation (to be given to each class at all 3 schools) will be a hand washing review. Hand washing and sanitation was a large project undertaken by the PiAf fellow before me, and now I am continuing her project by doing educational presentations and subsequent knowledge surveys. In addition to the presentations, I have designed multiple posters to be distributed across the Village and schools to improve health and sanitation knowledge.

            On another note, this Thursday I head to Zanzibar for our East Africa PiAf retreat. I am super excited to spend the weekend relaxing on the beach, swimming in the Indian Ocean and laughing with my fellow fellows. I will make sure to include some pictures in my next post!

I have also included some random pictures from weekly food distribution, where each grandmother receives her houses food for the week.

            Happy November!

                        Maggie

           

Nyumbani's First Ecobench

Oct 30, 2014

Hello All!

Check out this video I made documenting our ecobench project! Feel free to share with friends!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-RvhxOL8DE&feature=youtu.be


Xx Maggie

Its all about the water

            In the past few weeks, the Village has faced some water shortages. Don’t worry, I am never short on drinking water or anything, just that sometimes it is harder to find water for bathing. This usually means convincing myself that I don’t need a shower… (I keep telling myself that washing my hair once a week is actually good for it…) or going on what I like to call a “water walk”. I take my 10L water can and set out looking for water. I check our guesthouse tap, then the police post, then start with clusters closest to me. It usually ends up being fun, as I get o visit the kids and take a stroll around the Village. If after my cluster walk, I still find no water, I go to what the municipal tap, which is only used as a last option. It’s a couple hundred meters from my house and it requires a key to be opened. After filling my jug, that is if the municipal tap is working, I carry it back to my house where now I can finally “shower” (aka pour water over my head with a pitcher). Somehow, having to search and labor for the water makes it all that more satisfying when I am finally clean and “rid” of the dirt and sweat of the day (I say “rid” in quotes because I am probably never actually clean). 

            My water walks though are just a tiny picture of what many Kenyans and people all over the African continent have to do just to secure water that may or may not even be safe to drink. For a privileged person like myself who grew up with complete water security, to the point where you don’t even think about not having water, this water search is a very foreign concept, but unfortunately to many, my mere few hundred meter walk to find water sometimes, would be a blessing.

           On another note, this weekend was a very quiet one, with just myself and one other volunteer in the Village.  The others had gone traveling to Mombasa for the weekend. It was also a long weekend because of a holiday on Monday. I spent my time reading, catching up on sleep, and getting ahead on some work. I did have chance to escape the heat for an afternoon however, when I went into Kitui and found the only swimming pool in town! For about $4 you can have full access to the pool. It was amazing to be submerged in water and actually not be frying in the sun. I can’t believe it took me this long to discover this hidden pool. The food at the hotel was definitely not the best but it was worth it just to cool off in the water!

            Also as the impending rainy season approaches, plants and flowers are beginning to bloom. The Village is slowly transforming from a brown dusty landscape to a dull green. I have been told that when the rains finally arrive everything will be transformed. So far, my favorite is the flowers that drape the entrance of our clinic. They make me smile each time I see them.

Till next week!

Xx Maggie

October Update!

Two weeks ago I successfully extended my Kenyan visa for another 3 months. To do this I had to travel to Nairobi and visit Nyayo House, the immigration center. I had some trouble finding the right office but after a couple mistakes I found the right place. The one mistake I made however was not bringing a pen. There were many forms to fill out and sign and every time I had to ask to borrow a pen from another person waiting in line. What a rookie mistake. Next time I will definitely bring a pen! After a couple of hours waiting in line I finally got my approved extension and successfully registered as an alien. Apparently I will get my residency card in a couple of weeks. It was nice though to get out of the Village for a few days and spend some time in Nairobi and now I am all set visa wise for another couple months.

            We also had a new volunteer arrive a couple weeks ago from Spain. His name is Pablo and he will be working with the Polytechnic students, helping them develop business plans and skills. It will be a very rewarding class for the students, many of whom want to start their own businesses after they graduate.

            Last Saturday we had a large group of volunteers come from Nairobi. They were American students from American University in Washington D.C. who are studying abroad in Nairobi for the semester. There teachers had come to visit the village back in July to tour and see if it would be a good place to bring the students for a weekend to get away from the city. It was cool to have been the one to give them the tour in July and to now see the students actually here in Nyumbani. They just stayed from Saturday to Sunday but they really enjoyed their time. Upon their arrival I gave them a long tour around the entire village and then they got to meet and play with some of the children. I think they really enjoyed getting out of the city and seeing more of rural Kenya. After dinner they had a bonfire and in the morning they attended church and were introduced to the congregation. Before they left on Sunday they also purchased many of the baskets made by the grandmothers and honey harvested here in the Village. It was a very fun weekend and I was very excited to be the one to educate them about the Village and show them all the amazing things we have here. Some were even interested in coming back and volunteering next summer! Also, later in their semester they will be visiting Mpala Research Centre outside Nanyuki where coincidentally another Princeton in Africa fellow, my friend Sally, works. It is a small world that they have visited two organizations with PiaF fellows, especially those that are good friends.

            On Wednesday, we (the volunteers and I) were personally invited to an event at the high school. Here in Kenya, the school year runs from January to November instead of September-May. The highest class in the high school is Form 4, equivalent to grade 12 at home. In Kenya, at the end of Form 4 every student takes a national exam that they have prepped for for months. This exam determines what universities they can attend/will be accepted to. It is very important here and there is much pressure for the students to perform well. The event was a prayer ceremony to bless the students for success on their tests. All the students from the high school attended, not just the Form 4s. In addition, all the teachers, social workers, sustainability staff, and program managers attended. Even some teachers and students from the polytechnic school showed up. The program began with a short mass by one of our village priests. There was much singing and dancing and at the end of the mass, the Form 4s were blessed with water and everyone prayed for them. The new student council was also blessed and the new building we were in as well.

            Following the mass, students, teachers and staff made speeches exalting the achievements of the Form 4s and offering advice for the pending exams. It was a great ceremony and I was happy to be a part of it. Afterword everyone got tea and maandazi (donuts) and I was asked to give a small speech to the staff and teachers gathered in the staff room. I expressed my gratitude of being included in the day and my awe at the achievements of the students and staff. It was a great afternoon!

            Later the week I also decorated some new trash cans with the kids. I have been trying to use activities like painting trash bins as a way to teach the children about recycling and proper garbage disposal. Trash is a big problem in the village so the more we can teach about picking up and reusing, the better.

            Friday was a fun day because we went out to dinner in Kitui. The 3 other volunteers and I went out to Bavaria, the nice restaurant we went to last month. It was nice to get some nice food that wasn’t beans and rice. I got a nice salad (I hadn’t gotten lettuce in ages) and spare ribs with French fries. It was delicious and definitely worth the trip. Ryan, the little boy who we met last time, was also there again and happy to see us. It was a very satisfying night.

            This past weekend was nice and slow. I spent a lot of time reading and relaxing. On Saturday I ran all the way into Kwa Vonza (the nearest village) for the first time. It is a 6-mile run, and although I waited until evening it was still very very hot. There is little shade on the dusty road so it was pretty brutal. Upon arriving in Kwa Vonza I quickly got water then purchased some produce and French fries to bring back to the other volunteers for dinner. It was getting dark and I had no energy left to run home, so I took a motorbike taxi. That night after dinner we watched The Book Thief, which was a very good film about Germany in World War II. One of the volunteers has many movies on his computer so we have been spending nights watching films.

             I am currently reading a very good book called A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali about Rwanda. I am not very far in but so far it is very good and engaging. If you have any book suggestions please share! I have much time on my hands to read.

            Until next week. Xx Maggie

Goats inside the guesthouse

One of the girls, Zaza, trying on my sunglasses

Rainwater Tank construction

Children painting new garbage bins

Some of the workers rolling the new rainwater tank to the new site

the Form 4's sharing a song at the prayer ceremony last week

           

ALMOST OCTOBER!

Sunday September 28th, 2014

Greetings from scorching hot Nyumbani! The heat today is almost unbearable haha. We are right on the equator so when the sun is out in full force, all I want to do is stay inside. Therefore today (Sunday) was my lazing day. I caught up on reading, took a siesta, and watched a movie. Its nice every now and then to have just a lazy down day. Yesterday was a tiring day, so I felt justified lounging today in the heat. The three volunteers and I walked into Kwa Vonza yesterday morning and then climbed the “mountain” there. It was the first time walking in and climbing for the volunteers. We beat the heat cause we left in the morning, which was great because as soon as we descended the mountain it got very hot. We stopped for some water in town before taking a matatu (public transport) into Kitui for lunch and shopping. After our morning activities it was nice to eat a big meal out in town and get some much needed produce and groceries at the supermarket. While the boys got on the internet at a web café, I walked around town and picked up a few movies and tv shows. We have been watching an episode a night of this new FX series, Tyrant, but it will be over soon so we needed to stock up on some more shows. Our next series will be The Strain, which is about a deadly virus. It may leave us with nightmares but its fun watching something every night before going to bed (at approx. 9:30pm…. woot woot). We also got a copy of 22 Jump Street, the sequel to 21 Jump Street. We watched it last night and it was pretty hilarious, just like the first.

            Other than that, this week has been pretty low key. We had a visitor who works from AMREF come to stay for a night in order to check at the agricultural projects going on in the village. He works in the Northwest area of Kenya, Turkana, trying to implement agricultural and health practices that will help deter the effects of famine. It was very interesting to hear about his projects. Even more to hear that he studied for 5 years in Boston! It was fun to talk about home with him.

             Our eco bench project is almost done, we should get to painting the bench this week. And I will compile a video/photo album explaining the process and what we have done. Many of the staff still don’t understand what we are doing and we repeatedly have to explain/act out to the grandmothers that it is a bench for sitting. We plan on making a plaque or sign that explains that the bench is actually made from recycling garbage.

            Construction on the new rainwater tanks is coming along as well. The foundations have been dug and all the supplies ordered so hopefully this week the tanks will be placed in the sites.

            I am also currently working on writing up a report from the data I have collected over the past couple weeks on water use. Now that I have all the numbers I can write a report summarizing the average water uses/main users of water and what I propose we do in the future concerning lowering water use and promoting water conservation.

            Until next week! Xx Maggie

I have included below pictures that were meant to be in other posts but the photo upload was working before:

Nyumbani's craft showroom in Kwa Vonza

The canter being loaded with my rainwater tank materials in Nairobi

The helicopter that Jeremy Hunt and the Lawson family arrived in, landing on the soccer field

The kids running to and then away from the landing site as the dust flies up

Children watching the landing

Welcome signs in the high school

The honored guests at the high school assembly

Lawson High School students pose with Carol Lawson and family, Sister Mary and Jeremy Hunt

The girls of Cluster 19 prepping chapati for the party they had a couple of weeks ago. 

Cooking the chapati in Cluster 19

Volunteers at the party

The cutest little boy, Ryan, we met at a restaurant in Kitui

Albright (right) helping Jim (left) did the foundation for our ecobench

SEPTEMBERRR

September 22, 2014

This past week has been crazy busy, thus I have not been able to blog until today! Last Thursday, two new volunteers arrived. Lucia is from Spain and will be staying with us for a month and Jim is from the United States. He has been volunteering with Nyumbani for at least 5 years. He usually spends his visit in the Karen home, but now he has decided to spend some time in the village and split the rest of his time in Nairobi. Luke, the voluteer who arrived a week and a half ago, is his pseudo grandson/family friend from home. On Saturday arrived our final volunteer for the month, Tommy, who will be here until November. Lucia is going to run a video workship with the grandmothers and susus, while the boys will be helping with PE classes and renovating the playground at the primary school.

Last Thursday was Amelia’s (a volunteer from Britain) birthday so that night we hosted a bonfire at our house with chapati, smores, hotdogs and drinks. Some of the children that live near by our house even made her a “cake”. They cooked together sugar, flour, water and fat, to make a sort of breadcrumb substance that they called “pepe”. It was such a sweet gesture and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

THE BOYS WITH AMELIA ON HER BIRTHDAY

In the evenings I have also been helping teach/tutor English with Amelia and some of the other volunteers. We have been working with the Form 1s and 2s at the high school from 5pm-7pm. Each class is with us for 1 hour. We have played various English games and even practiced reciting poetry/public speaking. It has been great fun meeting some of the older kids and helping them gain confidence in their English skills.

Last Friday, I traveled to Nairobi to pick up all the materials for the new rainwater tanks I am installing in the village. Myself and the procurement officer stopped in the Karen home for lunch then traveled to the industrial area of they city where our supplier, Metroplastics, is located. Below is a picture of our truck being loaded with all our supplies.

It was excited to see my tank proposal finally coming together! It was a long day, as we left at 9:30am and did not get back until 9:30pm, but definitely worth it to get all our supplies. Hopefully this week, construction will begin on foundations for the tanks. Yesterday the contractor Peter, and I went around to finalize the sites for the tanks. Also, the foundation materials like sand, ballast, marrum and gravel were all delivered yesterday. It seems to be coming together!

Saturday was also a huge day for the village because of the much anticipated arrival/visit of the British Minister of Health, Jeremy Hunt and the Lawson family, the British founders of the high school. Mr. Hunt has been involved in the village for years and was a crucial backer for both schools here. The Lawsons had never visited the village before, so everyone wanted to make sure they enjoyed their visit. All last week the high school children cleaned and prepared the school for the visit. By Saturday it looked spotless and had been decorated with welcome signs, balloons etc. The Lawson family and Sister Mary arrived by helicopter mid morning. The kids had been so excited to see a helicopter land on their football field and had been busy al morning wetting the field as to minimize dust. I have included a picture of the children running from the dust storm that was created by the landing. As soon as the dust settled however, all the children from all schools ran to get a glimpse. The guests were welcomed and brought to the high school for tea and mandazi (donuts). Somehow the volunteers and I finagled our way into the tea and were able to brush elbows and chat with the guests. Jeremy Hunt arrived shortly after by car and showed the tea. He was very nice and had even brought a birthday card from one of Amelia’s friends who works for him. Next followed a quick tour of the school and then an assembly/presentation for the guests. All the Lawson students (high school) were in attendance and they performed dances and poems for the guests. Next Mr. Hunt, Carol Lawson, and Sister Mary gave brief speeches about education and the school. It was a great event for the school and it was amazing to see the hard work of the students and teachers recognized by our donors. I think our guests were very impressed by the students and facilities and overall it was a great event. After a short tour of the village by car, the visitors headed back to Nairobi via helicopter again. It was a short visit but definitely exciting. The entire time they were here, kids and grandmothers alike surrounded the helicopter taking pictures and staring in awe. I have included some pictures below.

Saturday night all the volunteers, myself, and my coworker Angie, headed into Kitui for a nice birthday dinner. Amelia had celebrated her birthday Thursday, Tommy’s was that day, and Jim’s is in a week, so we figured we would celebrate all at once. We went to a fancy restaurant outside of town called Bavaria that is owned by a German ex-pat. The cocktails were cold and delicious and the food was great. I got steak and chips accompanied by a few strawberry coladas. For dessert we had ordered a huge cake. It was so big we had to bring home over half of it for leftovers. Another highlight of the night was the grandson of the manager of the restaurant. His name was Ryan and he was an adorable toddler who sat on my lap for the majority of the meal!

Sunday was also a jampacked day. After mass in the morning we had the environmental club and polytechnic kids help us with the foundation of our ecobottle bench we are working on. It took all afternoon but we finally figured out how to lay the foundation with sand, stones, gravel and cement. Then we had basketball/soccer club at 4pm followed by a cluster party. Back in August, cluster 19 had come second place in our talent show so they won 3 chickens. The party on Sunday was their celebration of their win and a change to have a big dinner. Staff and volunteers were asked to contribute something towards the effort. We bought cooking oil for them. They worked all day cooking and prepping. We ate some dinner at our house a bit before going to the party because we didn’t want to take food from them if they didn’t have enough, little did we know this was a mistake haha. When we got there we received a warm welcome and were promptly served heaps of food. It felt almost like torture haha because we needed to eat the food they gave us out of politeness but we were already full. The food was delicious though. There was chapatti, chicken stew, cabbage, rice and soda. After our feasy, they danced and sang for us. It was so cool and awesome to have been included. I have included some pictures!

It was a very exciting but draining weekend! This week we are continuing work on our eco-bench, collecting water data and teaching. I will catch up with y’all next week! Xx Maggie

* i wanted to have way more pics in this post but the site wouldn’t upload them properly… so hopefully next week!

Back to work!

September 8, 2014

This week has been super busy! As soon I as got back from my mini-vacation, I was right back to work. There was much to prepare because we had many guests coming for the weekend. On Friday, a new volunteer from the USA arrived. He will be spending 6 weeks here doing research and volunteering. He is very nice and has taken to the village quickly. In addition, we had a local college come on Friday for a tour. They were all college students studying agriculture and organic farming so they wanted to come here to learn about our sustainable farming practices. They joined us for lunch as well. It is exciting to see that people want to come learn about our village especially because of our environmental practices. We really are a unique and futuristic example of sustainability in this country, and it is amazing to see that people want to come learn here.

Friday night also brought the arrival of 28 Kenyan Rotaract members. Nyumbani is very connected to Rotary International and many staff members are also Rotary members. We also have Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact groups come from Scotland, Ireland and the US. Rotaract is the college age/youth bracket of Rotary. The group that came are all presidents of their Rotaract groups and were coming for a weekend retreat. They arrived late on Friday after a long drive from Nairobi. It was a little overwhelming to have so many guests at one time. It is the first time I have had such a big group! Saturday, they had meetings and then in the afternoon they got to meet our villages Interact club (the high school version of Rotary). I think it was very valuable for the kids here to meet older mentors and learn more about the organization from them. They got a tour from the older kids then had mentoring sessions. At night they had a large bonfire after dinner and one of the Nyumbani Kenya Board members, Paula, arrived to greet them. She is one the board for Nyumbani but is also a very active Kenya rotary member and has done much community service. It was very great to meet her.

On Sunday, the group left and we are back to a quiet guesthouse. Now there are just 3 of us in total. We have more volunteers coming at the end of the week, but it will still be quieter for a couple of months. The high season for guests and volunteers was definitely the summer months, so now it will be interesting to adjust to a smaller volunteer contingent. This week we are starting a new water metering project this week as well as starting some English lessons in the evenings with the Lawson High School students. In addition, we are continuing our ecobrick project with the environmental club at the high school. If you don’t know what an ecobrick is, google it! They are super cool and very eco-friendly. Our goal is to build a ecobench by the end of the month with the bottles and also educated the kids on the importance of recycling and re-use.

Other than that, not much is going on, just working away. We cleaned our office out this week. It was very satisfying to purge many of the trash and old supplies that are just taking up way too much room. We also made a new schedule and hung up photos from our photo exhibition around our office. During the summer camp the volunteers worked with a group of students to create a photo class. The kids each got a camera for a day to take photos of anything then they could choose one picture they liked to display at the exhibition. They had to also write a paragraph on why they chose that photo. Then the whole village voted on the favorite photo and prizes went to 1st, 2nd, 3rd. The photos were amazing and now they are in our office so we get to look at them everyday!

This is the winning photo, taken by a boy named Joseph. It is his susu (grandmother) making a                                                                                     basket.

Will update again next week! Xx Maggie

Nyumbani –> Nairobi –> Nanyuki –> Naivasha –>Nairobi–> Nyumbani

September 3, 2014

Sorry this post is a little late, but I just got back from my minivacation yesterday! I took the week off to do some traveling around Kenya with friends. Last Tuesday I caught a ride into Nairobi with one of the Nyumbani cars (which was very convenient because then I didn’t have to catch a matatu ride the next day on my own) and a volunteer who was flying out the next day. We spent the afternoon eating some great burgers, fries and milkshakes at the Karen mall before going to visit the Giraffe Center. The Giraffe center is a facility in the Karen area of the city, where you can go and feed/pet/hang out with giraffes. I got some great pics and it was awesome to get so close! The girl I was with got mildly headbutted by the female giraffe (apparently females are more aggressive than males, go figure) but she ended up being fine and just made friends with a friendly male giraffe named Ed instead. After the giraffes, we ventured back to the Nyumbani home where we relaxed and I packed for my departure the next day. On Wednesday morning I caught I taxi into city center where I caught a matatu (public vans) to Nanyuki. The drive was only a couple areas and I had the front seat to myself, which was much better than being squished in the back of the van. The scenery along the way was very beautiful and green. Nanyuki is due north from Nairobi and when I arrived I called a taxi to take me to Mpala Research Center. Mpala is where my good friend from school and fellow Princeton in Africa fellow, Sally works and lives. It is home to many Princeton researchers and students doing summer work or study abroad programs. The drive to Mpala was on a dirt road surrounded by savannah and on my ride I spotted giraffes, zebras and camels. The facilities at Mpala were very impressive and it was great to see Sally! That night there was a “sundowner” where about 30 people from the center (there was an ecohydrology conference also going on with many foreign researchers) drove out to a scenic cliff area about 20 minutes into the Mpala reserve, where dinner and drinks had been set up. We ate, drank and talked while the sun set over the mountains. I even saw two of my former Princeton professors from the ENV department. It was a weird déjà vu seeing them in that setting, but also cool to catch up.

Ed the Giraffe and I at the Giraffe Center in Karen

The next day I got to go out with the elephant researcher for an elephant drive. We drove basically the entirety of the ranch for hours searching for the elephants. The land was beautiful and although I only saw 1 elephant up close, we also came across giraffes, gazelles, zebras, monkeys, dikdiks, and warthogs. It was like my own private free safari. It was awesome! The rest of the day was spent relaxing and later we exercised in the center’s gym, which looks out at Mt. Kenya. It was my first viewing of the mountain, and I hope this spring I have a chance to climb it.

Giraffes in Mpala

On Friday, after packing up, myself, Sally and four other Mpala researchers rode back to Nanyuki where we stocked up on supplies and picked up 3 other friends before beginning our journey to Lake Naivasha for the Rift Valley Music Festival. Naivasha is about an hour outside Nairobi, but from Nanyuki we had to drive through Nyahururu  and then down to Lake Naivasha. We arrived just after dark, after 6 hours in the van, after finally finding our camp along the shore of the lake. We stayed at Camp Carnellys, a campsite/hotel right next to the Fisherman’s Camp, the site of the festival. We set up our tents in the dark near two other Princeton in Africa fellows. That night we grabbed some dinner and headed to the festival where there was lots of live music, foods and promotional tents. The majority of the people seemed to be ex-pats from all over the globe. It was definitely the largest group of wazungu (foreigners) I had seen since my arrival haha. Later that night, four other fellows arrived from Nairobi. It was awesome to catch up with them, seeing as we hadn’t seen each other since orientation in Princeton back in June. I didn’t get much sleep that night or the next as the music from the concerts went on until 6am each morning. It definitely wasn’t a restful weekend but it was great fun! When I got out of the tent on Saturday morning, I was shocked by the landscape. We had arrived too late the night before to see our surroundings but now I saw we were literally camped yards from the gigantic lake. It was beautiful. Saturday daytime was spent eat breakfast and lounging in the cushy restaurant at our campground. There was a lounge area with pillows and low benches, which we referred to as the VIP lounge and where we spent much of the day and night. We also explored near the lake and hung around will the other Princeton in Africa fellows who were camped right next to us. Two more arrived that afternoon as well. It was a great place and event for a reunion. We ventured over to the festival in the afternoon to see some shows and check out the vendors. We ate dinner at the camp restaurant again where I got a great plate of nachos, something I haven’t had in a long time haha. The rest of the night was spent dancing and socializing in the late hours before attempting to sleep through the loud music next door. After a lazy morning on Sunday, I headed back to Nairobi with the Nairobi fellows. I stayed the night with two of the girls in their apartment in Kilimani. It was interesting to see how different their home is from mine haha. Their apartment was super nice with hot showers, kitchen appliances, a pool, laundry, tv etc. We went to the movie theater at the nearby mall with some other friends and saw Guardians of the Galaxy. I was hesitant that it would be a stupid superhero movie but it ended up being a hilarious comedy that is definitely worth watching. We then got frozen yogurt. It was like we were right back at home. The movies and yogurt place looked exactly like those in the USA. It was nice to spoil myself a little bit and splurge on some home comforts. I realized how completely different my year would be if I lived in a city. It was very interesting to hear about other people’s jobs and daily lives. Many are much different from my village life. On Monday though I found myself very excited to return to the village and get back to work and my normal routine. I caught a ride back with Sister Mary and today, Tuesday, is my first full day back. I have much to catch up on and many projects to continue with. It is much quieter now though because the kids have started back up school today and over this past week, all but two volunteers have departed. We have two more coming at the end of this week though, but now it seems as though the number of guests will stay low as the fall continues. Summer is a high time for volunteers. I am busy this week preparing for many day guests/groups interested in touring the village. Anyway, I will update you all next week! Xx Maggie

   PiaF Fellows at the campsite

View of Lake Naivasha from our tent

Group of August Volunteers (all but two have now departed)

(from L to R: Omar-Spain, Amelia-UK, Isabel-Spain, Me, Fafi-Spain, Ana-Spain, Sandra-Spain, and Alba-Spain)