Reflections

As my trip is coming to an end I just wanted to post some final thoughts on Africa. In the short time I’ve been here I have seen and experienced more than I ever thought possible. From the breathtaking beach in Diani to waterfall hikes to the Ngong Hills to the plains of the Massai Mara. I’ve seen dusty volcanos to lakes to the endless Great Rift Valley. I’ve witnessed animals in their beautiful wild habitat and people living in conditions too horrible to think about. I’ve met some unforgettable Kenyans and volunteers that have become close friends. I’ve eaten, lived, and used transportation like a local while still being a tourist and it’s been the best of both worlds. Africa has been a place I have wanted to visit for so many years and even in all it’s craziness it exceeded my expectations. There is truly nowhere like it. In the time I was lucky to have with the kids here I have learned new levels of patience, gratitude, and that smiling is a universal language. Asante Sana Africa!

Equator and Waterfall

You can’t come to Kenya without visiting the equator! So me and 2 other volunteers set off to find it! We finally got there and although it is really just a sign in the middle of nowhere, we had fun taking pictures with our feet on 2 different hemispheres. Then this guy came over and filled up a bucket of water and dropped a stick into it. He showed us how in one hemisphere the stick swirls clockwise and in the other it swirls counter clockwise. And if you drop the stick in the water directly under the equator sign, it stays still. I don’t understand how all this works but it was cool to see!

The guy demonstrating

After the equator we went to Thompson Falls which is a nearby waterfall that you can hike down to. It was beautiful! It reminded me of the falls I have hiked in Oregon. At the start of the hike there was a big sign saying DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT SECURITY PERSONNEL. We were very confused and this lady with a huge gun comes up to us and says mugging is very prevalent on this trail so we would need to pay 1,000 shillings (10$) to hike with a guide. None of us wanted to pay it but we also didn’t want to get mugged! Just then a huge group of school boys came walking past and we decided just to stay with them so we wouldn't have to hire anyone. The problem was, they were literally running down the trail! We were going so fast laughing and tripping and almost spraining our ankles over wet rocks just to keep up with them! At the bottom of the falls they all asked to take pictures with us. We were like “okay why not.” Then it suddenly became a mob of like 20 people wanting to take pictures with us just because we were white. It was funny at first but after awhile of all the boys and even some girls pushing each other out of the way to pose with us it got a little annoying. I will never get used to the fact that just because you are white you suddenly become a spectacle here! All in all it was a great day. It still amazes me how one day I can hike a dusty volcano and the next I can hike down to a luscious green waterfall! Only in Africa!

Nairobi Animal Tour

This post is from a week or 2 ago but I’m just getting around to posting it!

If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with animals. Of course I came to Africa to work with the kids but a big part of Africa to me is the wildlife. So me and my roommate decided to go check out all of the animal parks/sanctuaries around Nairobi. Our first stop was the giraffe center where we got to pet, feed, and KISS a giraffe. You are supposed to put a piece of food between your lips and the giraffe will eat it. It was so funny watching all the tourists attempt this. 

Our next stop was the alligator/turtle park. As we were walking into the park there were hundreds of kids walking through the gate leaving on field trips. The second they saw us they all screamed and chanted MZUNGU! MZUNGU! (white person) They all fought to give us high fives and were freaking out. We felt like celebrities! When I was offered to hold an alligator I chose to have the guide hold half of it, because there was no rope around the mouth or anything to stop it from snapping your hand off and I’m not about that life. 

The best part was the turtles. They had HUGE turtles that we got to hold but of course my favorite was the baby.

Our last stop of the day was the monkey park which is basically just a big park in the middle of the city with monkeys running around everywhere! When we got there they told us to buy peanuts to feed the monkeys so my roommate bought a little bag. The second she put it in her hand a monkey came sprinting out of nowhere, jumped on her, grabbed the entire bag and ran away! African monkeys are crazy! After that we were more careful hiding the food and thanks to some local kids who came over to help we finally got the hang of it. I never knew having monkeys climbing all over you could be so much fun. Africa is the best place for animal lovers!

Mount Longonot

Today my roommate and I met up with 5 other volunteers to conquer the Mount Longonot volcano. We began the hike thinking oh it’s only a few miles, how hard can it be? Boy were we wrong! It turned out to be one of the hardest hikes I’ve done. It was a straight up vertical walk and even climb at some points! Not to mention the trail was all sand so we were breathing in constant dust and at the finish we were COVERED in layers of dirt and dust. The views overlooking the entire Great Rift Valley and volcano crater were worth the effort though! Plus, not everyone can say they’ve summited a volcano in Africa! 

Still smiling through the pain

Looking into the crater

Africa problems

Kibera Slum

Today we visited the Kibera Slum which is the largest slum in Africa and the second largest in the world. There are an estimated 1.2 million people that live there. We had a man named James give us a tour of part of the slum. James is 25 years old and has spent his whole life living in Kibera. Around 10 years ago James noticed that a lot of the kids in the slum were becoming street kids- going down the wrong path towards drugs and crime. He decided to create a soccer team for these boys. What started out as just 2 boys soon grew and grew and now he has around 60 kids from the slum that he trains. Some of his players have gotten sponsored so they can go to college, some have been recruited to play at the national level and even travel to other countries. He has watched so many of his players grow and change to a better path. James is currently being sponsored by a volunteer who is paying for him to attend college for social work. His dream is to open up his own orphanage someday. James is one of the nicest and most genuine people I have met in Kenya. He took us into his home in the slum and pulled out a photo album. He went over every picture in the album telling us about his family and the kids he coaches in the pictures. Each photo he showed us he beamed with pride and happiness. It’s amazing that something as simple as a photograph can bring such joy to the people here who have nothing. It makes me sad to think that James has never experienced much life outside of this massive, unsafe, and dirty slum but just like most Kenyans, he seems completely content and happy with his life just the way it is!

Trash piles like this are a normal sight in Kibera

2 kids died in this spot last week. They got electrocuted playing in the water.

Slum river filled with trash, feces, mud, etc.

Not even half of the slum

James

Safari!

It was finally the day I have been waiting for since I saw the Lion King as a kid- an African safari! We woke up at 6:00am to catch the first mutatu (bus/van type thing) so we could meet the group at 7:30 to leave for safari! But of course, this is Africa, so the adventure always begins with the public transportation. First let me explain what transportation is like here. To get around we have to ride in mutatus which are like a van that they pile tons of people into and drive them really fast around town. Usually these have strobe lights and blasting music and very interesting people on them. Also, the door always stays open. There is someone who drives and then someone who hangs out of the door yelling at people trying to get them to come on. When he wants the driver to stop he just bangs on the side of the car and we come to a screeching stop. It’s very loud, bumpy, and chaotic. You don’t even pay when you get on or off, a guy comes and gets money from you mid-ride and decides what he's going to charge you so we really never know if we are getting ripped off or not. I’ve had funny, scary, and weird experiences on mutatus but one thing is for sure- there is no way you can understand the craziness of public transportation in Kenya until you witness it yourself. So we walked in the dark before the sun came up to the bus stop and like 20 drivers came running at us trying to get us on. We told them we needed to go to junction (the place where volunteers meet) and this lady assures us her mutatu will stop there. So we get on and we are riding along and then we blow right by junction. We are like omg they missed our stop! So we stand up and try to make our way to the front which is like surfing in the aisle of the bus because its so bumpy and fast so by the time we shove past everyone to the front and yell at them for not stopping the guy goes “we don't stop at junction just get off here” and opens the door and shoves us off. We were like wait what? Where are we?? And they just sped away. We looked at each other like GREAT. So we start walking in the direction we think junction is in and end up walking with all of our stuff for 45 minutes and finally get there. But the funny thing is- we weren't even surprised. As mzungus (white people) living in Africa we are pretty much always expecting something to go wrong! Once you can accept this, the easier life here becomes.

Finally we were off to safari! We arrived after a very long and bumpy (as usual) ride to the amazing campsite we were staying at. It was right inside the Massai Mara Reserve, the best place to go on safari in the world. These weren't regular tents though, they were luxury tents! No freezing cold bucket showers for us! Outside our tent was an amazing view of hills and savannah. At night we couldn't believe our eyes at how many stars you could see. It was incredibly beautiful. The next day we were up bright and early for a full day game drive. We saw too many cool things to name so I’ll just post a few of the hundred pics I took: 

 

Herd of giraffes in the distance

Cheetah

My favorite animal- the amazing elephants!

Simba and Nala watching the sunrise

Lions hanging out next to a dead zebra

We were lucky enough to witness the Great Migration, thousands of wildebeest stampeding right in front of us!

What I thought was amazing was when one lion got up from his nap and started walking across the feild, all the animals in the surrounding area stood completely still and silent watching him. It was like time stood still until he layed down again. Wild lions truly act like they are royalty! We had an awesome tour guide who would do whatever it took to see an animal. He got word that there was an extremely rare black rhino nearby so we went offroading across a field speeding straight at it so fast and bumpy we were flying up and down and a back piece of his car fell off. We saw that some lions were sleeping under a tree and our driver drove past all of the other cars straight towards the lions so close we were freaking out yelling at him to back up! We were so close to one lion eating that you could hear the bones of the animal crunching in his mouth. We almost tipped at several points and held on for our lives at others but that’s what made it so fun! Going on an African safari has always been a dream of mine and it did not disappoint! We also got to spend the evening with a Massai Tribe nearby. We got to see their dances and the inside of their homes and ask them questions. These people live with no technology or anything, killing all their own food and building fires and houses by hand. It was really cool to see their way of life for a night.

After spending a day and a half on the Massai Mara we spent some time at Lake Nakuru which is a beautiful lake where we saw more rhinos and LOTS of monkeys

Monkeys lining the roads

The endangered white rhino

African landscapes never cease to amaze me

Massai Mara crew

Lake Nakuru crew

I have seen so many amazing things and made so many memories on safari. I can officially cross this off my bucket list!

Outreach Weekend

We just got back from a 2 day outreach program. So many highs and lows happened within just 2 days but I’m just going to briefly sum it up because it’s been a exhausting few days and I’m about to pass out!

Day 1- First we went to KCC slum. We got to see a classroom built by volunteers and walk the narrow and dirty streets that are a reality everyday for these families. What stood out to me was the bathroom situation. One metal bathroom (hole in the ground) serves 100 people. And sometimes they go to the bathroom in bags and just throw it anywhere they want. 

slum bathrooms

the streets between houses

After the slum we went to an IDP camp which stands for Internally Displaced People. During the election in 2007 they thought someone new was going to come into power and there was a lot of dispute over it and chaos and riots and their houses were all burned so they were forced to leave and make a new home from scratch. All of the people live in little huts, some made of tarps, and the lucky ones have metal for a roof. We sat in the school that volunteers built for the kids there and the teacher named Joyce came in to talk to us. She was talking about how much she loves teaching and has 6 kids of her own and they all live in the little tent with her. I honestly felt such a connection to her since I am a teacher too. It made me really think about how she teaches all day in a tiny hot classroom with nothing in it, for free, and then goes home to her tent. I suddenly felt like I could never complain about any of my teaching problems ever again. Then the saddest part- she took us in a few tents and introduced us to the families that live there. The floors of these tents is pure rock and some of them only have rocks to sit on. At night the kids lay out socks on the rocks for pillows and sleep on the hard ground. When it rains the families all have to sleep standing up. We were all choking back tears listening to Joyce talk about how lucky they are to at least have the little shelter they do. After all she has been through she still remains positive. She started to get tears in her eyes telling us how people think they are wild animals living in these horrible conditions but they are human beings. They have been living this way for 7 years with hope that the government will someday relocate them. We all immediately got together and pitched in 6 dollars each which all together would buy a metal roof for Joyces tent. As we presented her the money and she cried tears of joy I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. Then Joyce led the kids and volunteers in different dances. It was so much fun laughing and dancing with these kids who have literally NOTHING but still smile. What was hard thought was driving away and seeing Joyce and the kids all waving bye to us and reality hit me- we get to leave. We get to go home to our shower and bed but these people here just go back to their tents living in unthinkable conditions. This was an experience I will NEVER forget. Joyce stories and tears haunt me days later and I will never be able to un-see the things I saw at that IDP camp. 

their homes

Joyce and the kids

Day 2- After a very emotional first day we were all happy to have a day of fun biking at Hell’s Gate National Park. This is a park where you can bike next to wild animals and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. At the zoo or on safari you are protected by a cage or a car, but being on a bike and so exposed to the animals was exhilarating! Biking through the cliffs next to giraffes and having to break for zebras crossing was such an awesome experience! 

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Pictures

Due to popular demand, here are some pictures of the kids I work with. I wish I could post so many more but the internet is too slow!

They all are constantly touching my hair and after this picture was taken I had braids all over my head!

Tonight my friend Portia who lives in Kenya took my roommate and I to one of her favorite spots in Ngong, its a little campsite that overlooks a beautiful savannah. We had to get to it via motorcycle! I’ve never ridden a motorcycle in my life, so what better time than in Kenya right? When we were driving down the bumpy roads of Ngong on motorbike with the orange and pink sunset over the rolling hills I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face as I marveled at Africa surrounding me.