Conference is over, internet access resumes

Oh man, what a week. Our office helped to organize an international workshop in Nairobi this week called "Protecting Girls from FGM and Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs): Challenges and Opportunities for Legal Intervention in Africa." The workshop was technically hosted by the Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development (FORWARD), but since they're based in the UK, our office handled most of the logistical preparation. When I asked about the conference a few weeks ago I was given an answer that greatly underestimated our involvement in the process. Friday night we stayed in the office until 8pm getting stuff ready so we wouldn't have to come in on Saturday--we already knew we had to work on Sunday.

On Sunday we hosted a reception for the participants who had arrived from other countries. There were representatives from the medical, legal, and social service professions who arrived from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania, Congo, Mauritania, Tunisia, and Harvard Law School. Originally my role in the conference was to be a participant and take notes to write an article for our "Awaken" publication. At about 10am on Monday this switched to running around making copies and taking care of everyone's problems. That was fine, it just turned into an exhausting week. I would show up at the office at 7:30am and not leave the Hilton until 8pm.

On Wednesday we took a trip to Narok to visit one of the FGM projects Equality Now funds. Basically it's a place where girls can go to escape FGM--there's a school and dorm facilities. We learned a lot about how the police/child service/legal systems interact in Narok to implement and enforce the Kenyan law against FGM.


In Narok, with most of the group and two Maasai women


Classroom facilities at the project in Narok


So I think the week was a success, the final product will be a technical document providing a legal framework for protecting girls from FGM/HTPs. Thursday night we had a reception to mark the end of the workshop.


GROUP PHOTO!! YEAH! EVERYBODY SMILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Last night most of us went to Carole's house for a big dinner and nyama choma. I learned how to barbeque a goat leg. Mike, Carole's husband, told me that sometimes people will just spend an entire afternoon and evening nyama choma-ing, and they bring a live goat to their house and slaughter it and just grill the pieces all day. I thought that was a little out of control.


Me posing with Mike, goat legs, and basting sauce


Conversation between me and Mike later that night:

Mike: So, do you think you could do this by yourself now?

Me: Possibly, but I don't think I could bring a goat home with me and slaughter it to start the process.

Mike: Oh, don't worry, you'll get there.....

A few more weeks in Kenya and I might...who knows.


West Africans enjoying nyama choma



Mary's daughter Kabura and I standing too close to the grill


So one week left in Nairobi to finish like 5 projects. I was so tired I slept through "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo" this morning. Dangit.

Dinner chez Mary

Last week our office manager, Mary, invited Mary Beth and I over to her house for a Kenyan feast. Carole, a program officer, also came and brought her family. Here are a few pictures and the menu:

Mary, her daughter, and Carole's son


Mary Beth, Carole's daughter, and Carole (and my plate of food on the table)

Here's what we had--I still can't believe we ate this much:

1. Ugali
2. Arrow roots
3. Sweet potatoes
4. Boiled green bananas
5. Uji
6. Kale and spinach with beef
7. Beef stew
8. Irid (boiled maize, peas, and mashed potatoes)
9. Black beans with grated carrots
10. Fruit Salad
11. Ice cream

I could barely walk from the taxi to my door after that, then we had leftovers for lunch the next day. I asked Mary to teach me how to make some of this stuff, so hopefully we'll do that next week. The only thing that wasn't so great was the uji--it's like this really thin fermented porridge that you drink out of a mug--I took one taste and then let Mary finish my mug.

Happy Birthday to me

Google image search is my favorite internet tool. I found this gem a while ago when i merely typed "kenya birthday":

Thank goodness I don't know any children

So, yeah, big 23 today. When I walked in the office this morning my colleague greeted me with the following song:

(to the tune of "happy birthday")

Happy birthday to you
I went to the zoo
I saw a big black monkey
And I thought it was you

How sweet.

We did have a chocolate cake at work to celebrate. Only, in an office of 5 people, we've had 3 birthdays in the past month--and one was last week. That's a lot of celebration and a lot of cake. Thanks for the cards and emails everybody!

Safari recap

Ok here's the story on the trip to Amboseli and Tsavo West a few weeks ago. It wasn't a terrible trip, the last day and a half were just a logistical nightmare, so I'll try not to be too negative about the overall experience. It was a last minute trip. I've never been good at planning ahead, and I tend to be pretty impulsive. Sometimes this works to my advantage--for example, Hell's Gate was planned about 30 hours before I left, and that trip was fantastic. I guess it's a little different when you show up at a travel agency on Monday and tell them you want to take a trip on Friday. After making about 100 phone calls they found a group I could join taking a four day trip to Amboseli and Tsavo West (In retrospect I probably should've recognized this as a bad sign--I got STA's, like, 96th choice of safari company).

Originally it was just supposed to be me joining a group of people, but Mary Beth decided to go also at the last minute (thank goodness). The good thing about independent travel is you only have to rely on yourself for food, lodging, and transport. This can be hectic, but it allows for flexibility, and if something doesn't turn out right, well, it's your own fault and you have to deal with it. Travelling with a safari company is the exact opposite. You rely on them for every detail, you're on a set schedule, and, at least in Nairobi, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it if something goes wrong or the company doesn't follow through with any part of its obligations. So Mary Beth and I were told we would be joining a "group" for the trip--we expected a group of people close to our age, whether or not they all knew each other previously. When they picked us up they told us we would be joining a family with kids. We expected little kids, and we were ok with that. So as we're riding to pick them up the coordinator gets the following call (this is her end):

"Yes, we're coming to pick you up now."
"'We'--the two girls joining you."
"Yes, I did tell you that you'd be joining a group."
"Yes I DID"
"Stop yelling, you knew you would be in a group for this half, I told you."
"DON'T YELL AT ME"
[click]

Considering we had only finalized the trip and paid the day before, it was pretty clear the family had not been told we would be joining them. It was also clear they definitely did not want us joining them. When we picked them up, this was the story: The "kids" were two guys aged 25 and 20. The family had already had 4 days in Masai Mara and were spending the night in Nairobi before heading to Amboseli. So we barged in on their family vacation half way through. There was so much stuff in the car that three of them had to squeeze in the very back, and no one talked the entire way to Amboseli. I'm bad at awkward situations anyway--but 4 days??? Nightmare.

Once we got to Amboseli and started to see some animals everyone started to talk a little bit. Our two nights there were great--we saw a ton of animals, ate good food, and camped in a really nice area. The family was really into games: Uno, Skip Bo, Boggle, you name it, we played it. After our first night we woke up and took another drive through the park at around 6:30am. We came back at around 11, because the best times to see animals are early in the morning and late in the afternoon. We went for another drive that afternoon and then came back for dinner, more card games, and bed.

To make a really long story short--basically they took us to Tsavo West, and the campsite was infested with ticks. We got out of the car for 15 minutes and everyone was covered in ticks. They told us our options were:
1) Sleep in tick-infested campground and do a second drive in Tsavo West the next morning
2) Sleep in scrub (my word) hotel and miss the second drive because we would have to leave the park.

They didn't want to pay for an extra day of park fees (which were technically included in our price) and none of us wanted either option. After a lot of yelling and phone calls, it was agreed that they would take us to Nairobi National Park the following day and not reimburse us for our lodging that night (we had opted for a less sketchy hotel). I guess if I don't think about it too hard, I can say it worked out ok, but the process was a nightmare, and we still lost $$ in the end. I'll just try not to think about it too hard. In the meantime, here are some pictures:



Elephants at Amboseli



Beginning of the walk up to the lookout point



View of Amboseli



This one's for the album cover



Hippos at Tsavo West

Public transportation is always an adventure

Have you ever taken a matatu?

Last weekend I took my first matatu rides. I had been trying to avoid it, and since Nairobi has a decent public bus system, it hadn't been necessary until I arrived in Mombasa. Basically matatus are minibuses, designed to hold about 14 people, that work like a normal bus and follow a certain route picking people up and dropping them off along the way. Only they're absolutely insane. Normally in Kenya they're airbrushed with, say, a giant image of Jay-Z or Ronaldinho's face on the side with some "gangsta" message printed in huge letters across it (usually just "Gangsta"). They blast deafening music, and generally people jump out and in while they're still moving. The front seat next to the driver is the "death seat"--the worst place to be in case of a crash.


Can you spot me in this picture? (psych i found this picture online)


So, for me at least, they're kind of scary, and I had to take them all over Mombasa and to Diani Beach. And everyone looks at you like you're crazy because mzungus are supposed to take taxis everywhere, of course. I saw a couple of really intense fights between drivers over customers. At some stops a lot of matatus gather and don't leave until they're full, so people get pushed and shoved and dragged among vehicles, and some drivers get people to pull passengers out of other matatus by telling them it's not going to the right destination. I'm not sure 2 extra minutes of waiting for another passenger to arrive, or 20KSh is worth beating someone up over, but what do I know.

Matatu and conductor--yikes!

The public buses in Nairobi are a lot safer, but no less chaotic. The other day I went into town during the work day and tried to take the bus back. After 30 minutes of being pushed and shoved, watching one woman punch another to get on the bus, and watching people chase down the bus to jump on a full two blocks before the official stop, I decided to walk back. Maybe I'm too risk-averse for Kenya.

Weekend in Mombasa and Diani Beach

This weekend I went to Mombasa, which is on the Kenyan coast. Not gonna lie, Mombasa is a pretty sketchy city. Noisy, dirty, and impossible to walk down the street without someone grabbing your arm offering to take you on a tour or sell you some junky trinkets.

The famous Mombasa tusks--every source gave me a different explanation of their significance.


I took the overnight train there, which arrived in Mombasa at 9:30am (it was supposed to get there an hour earlier, but that's Kenya for you, I guess). I stayed in a cheap hostel in the center of the city, and slept under mosquito netting--malaria is apparently a big problem on the coast. Saturday morning I walked around Old Town and Fort Jesus--the big sites in the city. The constant hassling got really annoying though, so after a while I checked my guidebook for another way to spend the afternoon.

View of the ocean from Old Town--I made the man trying to sell me fake ebony Maasai warrior figurines stand behind me to take this picture


I decided to visit Bombolulu Workshop, which is a type of village that provides vocational training for the physically disabled, who learn how to create and market different handicrafts. I toured the workshops and learned how the village operates--it was really amazing. They have a shop onsite where 80% of what they sell they make in the various workshops, the other 20% come from other cooperatives with fair-trade policies. I was happy they took Visa.

Wood carving workshop at Bombolulu--the workers are behind me but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to take their picture...


Later that night I went out to watch England v. Portugal and then went to bed really early--my plan was to wake up at 5:30am and head to Diani Beach (about 45min away) for the day. Well, the 5:30am plan didn't work out, but I eventually got to Diani at about 9:30, where I learned that all of the full day boat tours had left at 7:30am (when I originally wanted to get there). I was a little disappointed, but found one of the big resort hotels, pretended like I was a guest, and they let me in no problem. I set up a 2 hour boat tour of the area for 1pm, then read for a while until lunchtime.


View from the hotel


I had read about a restaurant nearby that sounded good--"African Pot Restaurant." I showed up at noon and was the only person there, so I got great service. I ordered chicken karanga, which is cooked with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and other stuff I'm sure. They cook it all in this earthenware pot and bring it out to you in the pot to serve yourself from. It was delicious but way too much food.

Imagine how awkward I looked taking this picture in the restaurant by myself surrounded by employees standing around doing nothing


After lunch I headed back to the hotel and then down to the beach for the tour.

Tour guide named Kongo (sp?) and the boat. He wanted me to meet his family and stay in his village. I politely refused.


The guide was a little sketchy but friendly enough and kept pulling all sorts of creatures out of the water to show me.
Check out this neat sea spider!!!



I forgot my swimming costume


After the tour I had to sit out in the sun for while and dry off--I didn't want to board the plane soaking wet and covered in sand. Then I headed back to Mombasa, had a cup of tea at the hostel and watched "Ed" for about 45 minutes until this Kenyan man changed the channel and told me "this show isn't funny." I made him turn it back. Next I headed to the airport and flew back to Nairobi--not the cheapest option but I didn't want to miss anymore work.

Ok, posting those pictures took forever, and I've got to hit up Nakumatt before I head home, so I'll post about my first matatu experience(s) tomorrow.