Ages
By Harmony | Sunday, September 27, 2009 | 3:21 am
There is so much to tell and I’ve been gone for ages…but it will all have to wait for another day. Sorry, guys.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
South Africa
By Harmony | Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | 6:35 pm
Luckily, I found one good thing about this place!
Topics: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
South Africa
By Harmony | Friday, September 4, 2009 | 10:21 am
I’ve been in Nairobi for a while now, and after several weeks of physiotherapy, there doesn’t seem to be a vast improvement in my shoulder. And so, after seeking advice from the Peace Corps office in Washington, D.C., it looks like I am going to South Africa for a second opinion.
Many medical cases are referred to South Africa, I’m told. They are known for superior medical care. I know that I am in good hands.
In my time in Nairobi, I’ve done a few cool things. I visited the Giraffe Center and kissed a twiga (the Kiswahili word for giraffe), spent a weekend at Lake Naivasha/Hell’s Gate and bicycled 30 kilometers to the Gorge, saw the movie District 9 (my first theater movie since arriving in Kenya!), ate lots of pizza and burgers and Indian food and sushi, and otherwise just relaxed and caught up with other PCVs who have traveled through Nairobi for different reasons. I took only a few pictures before my camera ran out of battery; I hope that I can upload a few of them soon.
In other news, we have reinstated the Gender And Development (GAD) Committee in Kenya, with the purpose of empowering girls. The committee was disolved after the election violence in 2007, so we are pretty much starting from scratch. Hopefully, if all goes well, we will hold an event called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) in April. And guess what? I was elected as the Chairman of the GAD Committee! It’s a lot of work, but I am very excited to be involved and I can’t wait to see this all come together.
Topics: Culture | No Comments »
Words of Wisdom
By Harmony | Friday, August 21, 2009 | 8:11 pm
Here are a couple of amusing sayings about PCVs:
A pessimist sees a glass of water and says, “that glass is half empty.”
An optimist sees a glass of water and says, “that glass is half full.”
A Peace Corps Volunteer sees a glass of water and says, “I could take a bath in that!”
A Peace Corps Volunteer in South America returns politically charged.
A Peace Corps Volunteer in Southeast Asia returns spiritually enlightened.
A Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa returns drunk and laughing!
It’s better to send in the Peace Corps than the Marine Corps. - Ted Kennedy
In other news, it looks like I am heading off to Hell’s Gate National Park tomorrow with a couple of newly-friended PCVs from Uganda. Should be fun!
Topics: The Work, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Nairobi - Mombasa - Nairobi
By Harmony | Monday, August 17, 2009 | 12:08 pm
Well, I’ve officially been out of site for three weeks now. When I left, I thought I’d be gone only four days. Funny how things rarely go as planned here. I went to Nairobi to witness swearing in of the new volunteers and to help with an auction, and ended up staying an additional week for medical reasons. Then I took a bus to Mombasa and spent another week there for a Peace Corps conference. Then I traveled back to Nairobi for more medical. And this is apparently where I’ll be for another two weeks.
I’m okay, there is nothing to worry about. I think I strained my shoulder a few months ago, and the pain just never went away. The orthopedic surgeon didn’t seem to concerned with the films, and simply prescribed me some meds and two weeks of physical therapy.
In other news, the conference was great. I really enjoyed the venue (Severin Sea Lodge in Mombasa) and the food was awesome. I filled up on all the vegetables and protein I’ve been lacking all these months. The sessions were also interesting, and I especially liked our day of Open Space Technology sessions, which allowed for open dialogue between Kenyans and Americans without the usual formality or rigidity of a meeting agenda or faclilitation. All in all, it was a pleasant week, with lots of relaxing and catching up with friends.
Now, I’m battling moments of frantic work with extreme boredom. I’m trying to coordinate the next GAD meeting (in less than two weeks!!!) and work out the final kinks on a poster that my counterpart will be presenting during a conference she’s attending on the island of Réunion next week. All from my hotel room. In my downtime, I hope to do something productive. Perhaps I’ll have a chance to see a movie at the cineplex or go to a museum. That would be fun!
Topics: Culture, The Work | No Comments »
Monkey Play
By Harmony | Monday, August 17, 2009 | 11:35 am
Last week, I enjoyed the good life at a beach resort while attending a conference. Monkeys roamed the grounds. This one was curious (and perhaps looking for food) and came right up to us by the pool. Too cool.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
I Went To Nairobi Hospital
By Harmony | Monday, August 3, 2009 | 9:46 pm
…and all I got was this stupid second-degree burn.
Apparently, I have a higher threshold for pain than I thought.
I had quite the adventure today. In my first experience in the Kenyan healthcare system, I learned that:
- Paperwork can vanish into thin air. And no matter what you say, it will always be your fault.
- When your paperwork disappears, it will be up to you to magically reproduce it before any services can be rendered.
- To reproduce paperwork, you will need to go to at least three departments and talk to at least ten people, speaking two languages. And still, the only thing that will be produced is a blank stare.
- Lab technicians are overworked and cranky.
- It’s embarrassing trying to explain to a male tech that you need a more modest robe because you aren’t wearing any underwear.
- Sometimes, flattery will get you candy.
- Your appointment will always start at least two hours later than the scheduled time.
- Your nose will always itch the moment you are in the MRI machine and the technician says “Now don’t move, whatever you do.”
- A little kindness goes a long way to getting what you want.
- Physical therapy feels like a 5-star spa service when you haven’t been touched in 8 months.
- When the therapist instructs you to take as much heat as you can bear, perhaps you should take it down a notch or two from there.
- Cake is always a good end to a long day of appointments.
Tomorrow, I do it all again. Looks like I’ll be going back all week for PT!
Topics: The Work | 2 Comments »
My Village
By Harmony | Sunday, August 2, 2009 | 10:07 pm
Here is the view of the main road from my office.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Nairobi
By Harmony | Saturday, August 1, 2009 | 7:51 pm
I’m in Nairobi right now.
The new Peace Corps Trainees swore-in on Thursday, so now they are officially PCVs! It was really great to see them all. This group consists of Public Health volunteers, and will be working primarily on HIV/AIDS projects. There aren’t any new volunteers on the south coast where I live (bummer!) but there are a couple on the north coast, so hopefully we will have a chance to meet up in Mombasa sometime!
The ceremony was very similar to ours, but there were a few key differences. First, there were far fewer people in the audience this time around. Also, there are only 24 new PCVs, whereas our group had 35. This is the second group to arrive since the program re-opened in Kenya (following the post-election violence in 2007-2008). I noticed that there were no RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) present at the ceremony; we had quite a number of them attending ours! I also noticed that the new volunteers seemed a little less enthusiastic about the event than we were. I don’t know why…perhaps they were just tired. My group had some major surprises in the last days of training - several people were sent home and 19 others were sworn-in provisionally for not meeting the language requirement - so maybe we were just more wound-up than usual. Either way, I hope that this new group is as happy to be PCVs as we are to accept them into our family!
After the swearing-in ceremony, a few of us assisted with a yard sale and silent auction to raise money for GAD, a committee of current volunteers that raises money for an annual camp for the empowerment of young women. Here’s a bit about GAD and the camp, called Camp GLOW:
The main event GAD organizes every year is a leadership camp for young girls called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) which is a seven-day experiential learning camp dedicated to the empowerment of young girls, ages 14-19. It is an opportunity for young women and Peace Corps Volunteers to enhance personal growth and development through interactive activities. Girls participating in Camp GLOW are from rural communities in Kenya and are nominated by Peace Corps volunteers from among girls they know and work with in their communities. Camp GLOW participants typically demonstrate leadership abilities, a willingness and capability to benefit from the camp and share experiences in their community, and a sincere interest in improving her life and the lives of those around them.
Along with Camp GLOW, GAD is also interested in starting a similar camp for young boys which would address issues relevant to boys ages 14-19 and enable them to become positive agents of change in their communities. The GAD team is also hoping to hold seminars and activities focused on providing career development and networking opportunities for youth, a key ingredient for them to realize their full potential.
To help raise money for GAD projects and activities, an auction is held every year. In keeping with the true Kenyan spirit of resourcefulness, we auction used items in great condition which have been donated by people who are also keen to support us in addressing gender and youth development. Many of the auction items are sold to new Peace Corps Volunteers who have just moved to Kenya and are in need of things for their new homes and community projects.
The GAD committee is facing a critical time. Many of its current members are completing their service in the next few months, and because of the suspension of the Peace Corps program in Kenya, there are no other volunteers who are adequately prepared to carry on the legacy. I spent many hours over the past few days talking with current GAD members, wading through documents in the Peace Corps Resource Room, and trying to put all the pieces together to see how things were done in the past. I hope that in the next month we can have a formal meeting to elect new committee officers and to create a timeline for the next camp. I am very excited to be on the committee, because it has a great purpose, and I hope that I can stay actively involved.
Once things settled down after the swearing-in ceremony and GAD auction, I decided to see Medical for a persistent shoulder pain that I’ve been nursing for two months. I figure that while I was here, I might as well get it checked out! Medical sent me to the hospital, where I saw an orthopedic surgeon, and now I have to go back in on Monday for additional tests and some physical therapy. Therefore, I am staying in Nairobi a few days longer than planned. It’s not a big deal, really, so don’t worry about me. I just want to nip it in the bud before it becomes a more chronic problem.
That’s all I have to report from this end of the world! More later, perhaps when I get back to site.
Topics: The Work | No Comments »
Preparations
By Harmony | Friday, July 24, 2009 | 11:01 pm
Every year, my village entertains a group of volunteers from Earthwatch. These volunteers pay very good money to work on environmental projects, have a cultural experience, meet some cool people, and hopefully get a chance to travel on their days off to see the countryside. There are Earthwatch projects all year and in far-away places all over the world; in Gazi, the volunteers come each August, in groups of about ten, for ten days at a time, in three different shifts. I’m told that it is a very exciting time in the village, at least for the researchers, and I can feel the anticipation in the air as they prepare for the visitors’ arrival tomorrow.
I’ve noticed some big changes in Gazi over the past few days. The huge pits in the road have been filled with dirt. The narrow pathways that the villagers use, once grown over with vegetation, have been plowed, flattened, and widened. An area of about five meters has been cleared around the bathrooms down by the beach. Part of the hilly landscape has been razed to make way for more convenient pathways. It’s quite amazing.
I don’t know if these aesthetic changes are pure coincidence, part of an annual effort to keep Gazi nice, or if it’s done specifically with the arrival of these special guests in mind. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it is nice to see some effort being put into the beautification of the village. On the other hand, it’s sad to see these quaint little paths be bulldozed to create the equivalent of a walking freeway.
I am looking forward to meeting the Earthwatch volunteers. I wonder what kind of a person would spend $1800 plus airfare to do back-breaking work for 10 days. Are they old, young, middle-aged? What are their professions? Are they students, working professionals, retirees? What are their goals and their motives? I think that I would like to do an Earthwatch project someday, maybe under scholarship, during a summer while I am working on my graduate degree. I wonder if people even offer scholarships for things like that.
Here’s a link to the Earthwatch project in Gazi: Earthwatch: Tidal Forests of Kenya. Under the “Photos & Blogs” tab you’ll find some pictures of my village, the research lab in the office where I work, and the surrounding mangrove forest. One of the pictures shows sample accommodations for the volunteers…as it turns out, I inherited a couple of the exact pieces you see in that room! It’s cool viewing the village through the eyes of someone else’s camera. I feel a little bit of pride for this place that I now call home.
From the little bit information that I’ve gathered, the volunteers will be working to measure the biomass of several mangrove plantations in the area. This activity has been repeated every year since 2004. The researchers are trying to discover the ideal environment for mangrove growth. This is important because it can teach us the most efficient way to reforest the degraded areas of the mangrove forest. As part of the research, they have established several plots in various parts of the terrain, each plot with a different combination of species. They are measuring the growth of these plots over time, to see which flourish best, and to deduce why some perform better than others. There have been some interesting discoveries so far. But I shouldn’t try to explain the technical details here. I’m just a business advisor. What do I know about these things?
In other news, it looks like I will be heading to Nairobi next week. The new trainees will swear in as full-fledged volunteers on Thursday! I thought I’d be crashing the party on my own dime, but I just learned today that I will be helping with an auction. As a result, the Peace Corps will reimburse me for my travel expenses. Poa sana! I’ll be in town for about five days I think. It will be a nice retreat from site. I’ll write more about my trip when I return!
Topics: The Work | No Comments »
Older Posts »