July 13, 2014
I have arrived safely in the village and settled in well! I have seen so much and met so many people in the last couple of days. I arrived in Nairobi on Sunday after a night stay in Dubai in the Emirates hotel airport where my friend Sally and I were put up for free! We arrived in the late evening at our hotel and were able to enjoy a free dinner buffet and explore a bit before passing out early in our room. Our flight was mid morning on Sunday so after a quick breakfast we caught a shuttle back to the airport. It was so nice to get in a hot shower and full nights sleep before the last leg of our journey.
We landed in Nairobi after an uneventful flight and slowly made our way through customs and visa application. Luckily we had no problems and were relieved to find that all our bags had made it safely from Boston. I was met at the airport by Sister Julie, who works at Nyumbani’s Nairobi orphanage. She graciously welcomed me and drove me to the Karen home, which is what the organization refers to the city orphanage as because it resides in a residential part of the city named Karen. I was able to meet Sister Mary, the leader of Nyumbani and learn more about the organization and my job. After doing some shopping with Sister Julie and eating some dinner, it was off to bed for me as I was scheduled to leave in the morning for the village. I relished my last hot shower however, before heading out the next morning.
After a two and a half hour drive, I arrived in Nyumbani Village and was driven to the guesthouse where I will be living. Currently, there are 7 volunteers here living in the house, 4 from a university in Spain, 2 grad students from Emory University, 1 grad student from Washington D.C. and 1 nursing student from James Madison. They are all doing various projects during the summer like building mud walled stoves, running a summer camp for the kids, or working in the clinic. We also had 8 guests this week from the Scotland Rotary club. They were recent high school grads that are part of the junior rotary program. They enjoyed a week ofvolunteering here and have now gone back to Nairobi to work for a week in the Karen home.
This first week was all about orienting myself. After a massive tour of the village, by foot and car, I think I have a grasp on where most things are. It helps that I have a map as well. The center of the village is made of up the administrative office (where I work), the social hall (where meetings and Sunday Mass is held), the guesthouse where I live, the police station, primary school, secondary school, polytechnic school and mini general store. Then there are 26 “clusters”, which each hold 4 houses. Each household has a shushu (grandmother) and around 10 children all ranging in age. To have been taken in at the village, a shushu must have lost her children/breadwinners to HIV and must have a biological grandchild that has lost their parents. Children in the village have all lost their parents to HIV. Right now in the village there are approx. 1000 and approx. 100 shushus. Also there are approx 125 staff members, who mostly all speak English, as well as Kikamba and Kiswahili.
Along the perimeter of the village is the livestock center, agroprocessing center, tree farms, vegetable and fruit farms, dammed river, solar panels fields, new guest house, staff housing, green houses and plant nursery. I was glad the Scottish were here this week because I got to go to their activities and try them myself. I got to work in the plant nursery, planting and watering and also process sunflowers to extract the seeds to make oil. I even attempted and failed at milking the cows. Everything in the village is used and almost everything is made here from all the furniture to all the produce, cleaning products, organic pesticides etc. It is almost 100% sustainable and it is striving to be completely plastic and waste free. I also got to observe the stove project that the Spanish volunteers are working on. Presently, the each household has an outdoor stove that is surrounding by plastic tarping to keep the wind out, but this is also very unhealthy to be cooked inside because of plastic fumes and unsustainability. So now, the volunteers are beginning to construct walls around the stoves/kitchens of mud/hay, with sticks as support. It is a long-term project but has seen good progress and the children of each cluster must participate and attempt to create their own. Hopefully we will see progress over the next month or so.
This weekend I got to go shopping for the first time in the nearest town to us. To get there you must take a 20 minute motarbike ride into the nearest village, Kwa Vonza, then take a 30 min matatu (taxi van) to Kitui, the nearest big town, where you can buy anything you need. I got an internet modem and stocked up on some groceries to have in the house. It was nice to see outside the village. That night we made a bonfire and roasted the hotdogs and apples we had bought in town.
I have also been settling into my room, trying to add some personal touches. Its going to take some adjustment to get used to the cold bucket showers and squat toilets, but I’m sure I will get used to it. Hopefully I will also learn to drown out the loud roosters that start crowing at 6am and the begging meowing cats all through the night. Other than those few disturbances it is actually very peaceful and I’m sure I will fall into a routine soon. Hopefully this gives you some insight into my new job and home here in Nyumbani Village! I’ve attached some pictures of my room! Look for another post next week! Xx Maggie
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