Jen Heads East

Yoghurt Yoghurt Yoghurt

2009-08-01T02:35:00.000-04:00

WE STARTED PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION!!!!
Such a great week; so satisfying to be able to give all of these people what they’ve been looking forward to for so long. I love interacting with the clients. Some complain about having to come in every day or that the serving size is too small or that they would rather consume the yoghurt at home. But then we have the ones who tell us every day how much they appreciate having us here giving them the yoghurt. On the second day of distribution, one such man said to me, “The yoghurt works! Yesterday morning I had a cough, then I took the yoghurt and I was fine!”. So sweet.

The first few days were really crazy- we would be at the kitchen from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., just trying to get the day’s yoghurt packed and ready for distribution in the morning. Then we would go home, throw down a quick dinner of pineapples, mangoes, and- you guessed it- yoghurt. The tracking sheets for the study subjects needed to be updated on a daily basis at the beginning since everything was changing so frequently, so we would then spend until 1 a.m. preparing them for the next day. Everything has gone relatively smoothly, especially considering all the roadblocks we kept running into before. Our schedule is easing up a bit now as we’re trying to have the Yoghurt Mamas doing all of the production and distribution on their own, as they will have to know how to do it all when we leave (in a week for our safari, and in four for home!)

At one of the distribution centres, which is located in an HIV/AIDS Counselling Centre, one of the volunteers called me out from the room we had the yoghurt in. She asked me to explain to her 40-50 patients why they weren’t being included in the study. Ouch. I tried explaining that we didn’t have enough funding to sponsor everyone who was infected in Oyugis. Pretty brutal, but we managed to sell the yoghurt to a few people, which was great for the Mamas (who are volunteers except for what excess yoghurt they are able to sell). Learned a lot about the virus that I didn’t know before, such as the criteria to be eligible to receive free ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs) from the government, and the steps that HIV positive women take when they become pregnant in order to minimize the risk that their child will become infected.

One batch of yoghurt didn’t meet the quality standards we have established at the kitchen. Disposing of over 200 packs of yoghurt was incredibly sad. I kept thinking about all the time the Mamas had spent preparing the yoghurt, the money that had been paid for the milk, and the wasted packets. We sat on the kitchen floor for two hours squeezing yoghurt out of their packages into big buckets. We had to do this so that people wouldn’t take the sealed packets out of the trash. Kids have a habit of hanging out around the front of the kitchen and squeezing out any traces of leftover yoghurt from the patients’ used packets, which as you can imagine is incredibly unsanitary. I squirted yoghurt all over my pants, and was literally covered in yoghurt by the time we left. Thankfully it was 5:00 when we discovered the problem, so most patients had already come to collect their yoghurt. However, two of the good ones had been set aside because they were frozen, which we were so grateful for when the seven year old girl who treks an hour to pick up yoghurt for her siblings every day came by.

One of the Yoghurt Mamas gave birth to a baby girl last week. Her name is Rani Jennifer Amanda. Seriously.

I realized something about Kenyan society this week that made me really sad. International aid and the dependence on sponsors has developed a preference by many people to have things handed to them rather than work to earn it. This leads to people wanting/expecting handouts, which in turn breeds the corruption that they all complain about. This by no means applies to everyone I’ve met, but I’ve definitely seen too many examples of this to not have noticed. It’s too bad, because habits of thinking like this take a long time to change, and must do so before the country can make any real progress.

Went out for a friend’s birthday and the electricity was out, so we sat by candlelight for a while, which made for a really cool atmosphere. They all went nuts when it came back on, because it meant music and dancing. And boy can Kenyans dance. We attempted to keep up, and I learned “The Lion Kill” and “Milking the Cow”. Should make for an interesting presentation back in North America.

Took a trip to Kisumu with our friend Nick, which was phenomenally fun and yet quite the culture shock (I`m scared to see what Nairobi/England/Canada/USA is going to do to me). Seeing huge, Wal-Mart-esque mega-stores, paved roads everywhere, expensive restaurants, and white people EVERYWHERE is just such a sharp contrast to what we live every day here in Oyugis. Here we have fruit stalls and one supermarket half the size of my local bakery, one paved highway, hotels whose most expensive meal is 200 ksh (less than $3 Cdn), and less than a 1% white/Indian population.

Had pretty much a private matatu, since it was a Saturday and everyone was at church (most people are Seventh Day Adventists) or at home with their families. Was really, really fun, and we ate pineapple on a stick for the first time! Wanted to see the new Harry Potter movie, but although it came out in Nairobi and Mombasa two weeks ago, it still hasn’t arrived in Kisumu. The bowling alley we were going to head to has apparently been closed for seven months, so that plan was squashed. But I did get to eat pizza and salad, which was heavenly. Haven’t eaten any form of cheese in two months, so this was quite the treat.

Was also nice to not have people staring at us or yelling ‘Mzungu!’ as often, as whites are so common around here. Although apparently people were in fact staring at us, especially when we went out at night, because mzungus usually keep to themselves and don’t hang out with locals. There’s no way you can truly experience Kenyan culture in a group of mzungus, so we were grateful to have close local friends to show us the ropes. I have found people here to be very respectful, even more so than at home a lot of the time. Definitely feel that people were overly cautious and fearful in their warnings to me about traveling and living in Africa. As long as you keep your guard up and use common sense, you really don’t have a lot to worry about, especially in the smaller towns.

OBSERVATIONS
• Many people have twisted and mangled feet- I’ve seen a number of different people on crutches because one leg is significantly shorther than the other. One woman’s foot was so twisted that it was the top of her foot that touched the ground as she walked. While carrying a heavy load on her head and a child on her back.
• This crazy cow came running towards us, and we had to run out of the way so that we wouldn’t get run over
• On questionnaires that people fill out, the marital status options include ‘Married, Polygamous’ and ‘Married, Monogamous’
• Annual income ranges that can be selected started at <10,000 ksh ($130 Cdn) and went up to >70,000 ksh ($1,000 Cdn)
• Looked over a Form Four (Grade 12) Business Exam (they have national exams, as all 8 courses are mandatory for everyone) and the questions were SO cool and relevant- e.g. ‘List 5 ways unemployment can be reduced in Kenya’. When we asked the student what his answers were, he listed reducing the birth rate and increasing private sector activity as two important steps.

QUOTES
• “You should stay in Kenya and get married. Unfortunately I am no longer of marrying age. But you should get married before you’re too old and no men want you. Can I have your phone number? Can I buy you a soda?”
• “We should socialize outside of work. Can I have your phone number? How old are you? Let me guess, sixteen? Oh, twenty-one! I’m thirty-one.”

Bikes, Bruises & Camels

2009-07-17T11:43:00.003-04:00

WORK
Almost scared to say it, but we’re getting very close to starting production. Which means we’ve been very, very busy lately. Finalized the distribution centres, assignments, Client ID #s, printed their ID cards, and completed the distribution tracking sheets. Most of which will have to be changed after all the additions that have been made this week, but as long as we’re moving forward, I don’t mind. We hung posters at the distribution centres, notifying people that production is about to start and they need to come by to pick up their ID cards & give their missing information. Even though not all the subjects have come in yet, news travels fast in Oyugis, so we figure that within a week of starting production, all the participants will be coming on a daily basis.

The women have been working this week on learning how to ride the bikes we need for the distribution centres. Some of them are really good, and the way they can ride those tall bikes (Amanda & I can barely touch our toes to the pedals) in those long skirts is very, very impressive. We’ve also been prepping the kitchen for production, making signs for everywhere and purchasing what seems like a never ending list of supplies. Hoping to make the probiotic culture on Friday, meet with women one last time on Saturday to discuss the schedule, production & income distribution, start production on Sunday, and start distribution on Monday. Should be a crazy next few weeks!

Whoa. Today was a very emotional day at work. When working at the hospital, we have an office in the VCT clinic- Voluntary Counselling & Testing, which is where people get tested for HIV and learn about how to live with it. Always a big crowd; some look healthy, some look frail, but not too different from a random population sample. However, before today, it never really hit me what really goes on here. While collecting data from the study subjects, two of the healthiest looking, most active Yoghurt Mamas came in as participants in the study. As crazy as it seems, with an infection rate of 25% in Oyugis, they are the first people whose positive status I’ve been aware of. Also saw a girl who I had met recently in the waiting area, waved hello, but didn’t want to be too intrusive in case she was embarrassed about being there. She came to the office and asked if she could join me, so of course I let her. She told me she was waiting to hear the results of her test. We chatted for a minute, and then she went back out. A few minutes later, I heard sobbing coming from the room next door, which continued for a good ten minutes. A minute later, she came out, smiled, waved goodbye to me, and left. Whoa.

FOOTBALL
We’ve been hanging out with the Agoro Sare Secondary School football team. It’s an all boys school, which makes us as white females an entirely different species. Amanda was practicing football- sorry, soccer- with them, while Rani & I would run around another empty field (and by empty, I mean it was until the rugby team showed up. I’m getting used to people staring at me, but doing it while I was running took it to a whole new level). Anyways, we went to the football tournament with them, which was a full day event. Of the literally thousands of people who came out to watch the game, Amanda & I were the only white people. And they definitely noticed. The guys kept dancing to the music, and trying to get us to join them. But doing anything attention grabbing when you already have minimum 200 sets of eyes on you would just be foolish. The guys were so into it though- never seen so much school spirit. When they lost the final game, they cried their eyes out. A bunch of them went home for the weekend to recover.

They invited us to watch Saturday entertainment with them, which consisted of at least 300 boys watching Enemy at the Gates on a 40 inch TV. We were given the seats of honour right in front, and had a good time. However, about an hour into it, the heat was too much for me so we headed outside for some fresh air. I then proceeded to throw up in front of probably 30 guys. Awesome. They were ridiculously nice about it, threw sawdust over it right away, and couldn’t understand why I was so embarrassed. Amanda comforted me during, but afterwards was laughing her face off. Had a nice little photo shoot afterwards; sure I’ll look great in those. Hung out with them for a while afterwards, but after I threw up again decided it was best to head home.

OUT AT NIGHT
Something else almost equally as exciting- we finally went out at night! Until this week, we were in our hotel at or just after 7:00 (when it gets dark) every single night. Which meant we were eating the same food at the most expensive, slowest place in town every single night. So we went out for dinner elsewhere, and the food was incredible! We even laid out in the backyard and stargazed a few times. So cool to know that I’m looking at the same stars as people at home 

We also went to a pub one night, which was an interesting experience. Tried to hide our whiteness the best we could, with big jackets, hoods, baseball hats & jeans, so as to avoid being targets for thieves, and were successful enough to get there and back safe  Went with a few friends we hang out with regularly and trust, drank 2 glasses of beer, and were home by 10:30. Unfortunately, in a small town like Oyugis, word about things like this spreads really quickly, so now everyone knows we went to the pub. Have to be very careful of what we do, as our reputation can impact that of the kitchen and the project. So we don’t know if we’ll be able to do it again. Definitely feels like we’re walking on eggshells so as to not do anything that someone could interpret negatively. So different from Mwanza, where mazungus are everywhere, so going to the bar is a normal occurrence that no one would think twice about.

BEING WHITE
Getting a little tired of being treated like a fragile little white girl. No one thinks we can sit on the ground, or eat a small meal, or try things on our own, or ride our own bikes. However, with the way we bruise & get sick so often (we literally take turns- virtually every day at least one of us is sick in some way or has to hang back at the hotel), I’m starting to feel like maybe we are a little fragile. We also get asked on a daily basis if we can help people visit us/get to Canada. Wish I knew more about immigration laws. The only ways I know you can get to Canada are if you a) have family there, b) have a job or school there (which would require you to either be highly qualified or exceptionally intelligent/talented), or c) marry someone from there. Not about to share that information.

TIDBITS

• Been riding Roy's bike around Oyugis lately, which people apparently find very entertaining. But let me tell you, mounting and dismounting a bike while wearing a skirt is very, very difficult.

• I was on a boda boda (bike with a seat on the back for a passenger) and Amanda was riding Roy’s bike. I saw the first camel we’ve seen, so signalled for Amanda to look at it. She thought I meant to pull over, so she pulled over so hard she nearly fell off her bike. Really embarrassing for her, hilarious for me, as I whizzed past her.
• I was riding the bike to the high school, and Amanda decided to try jumping on the back of my bike. Needless to say, we were not successful.
• Warmed up with the rugby guys after our jog- started with us carrying each other on our shoulders and doing squats, and then the guys carried us. Although they are tall, muscular Kenyans, they had no problem telling us how heavy we were. Thank goodness I’m accustomed enough to the culture to understand that this is not meant offensively.
• You know when you’re a kid, sitting around the dinner table, and you don’t wanna finish your dinner, your mom says, “kids in Africa could be eating that”? Ya, well now they can.
• Fell walking up the stairs yesterday. Actually surprised that’s the first major injury I’ve sustained while here; normally I’m much more accident prone than that. Shattered a bowl, cut my finger a bit and got a nice bruise on my knee.
• Most recent new name I've been called: Janet

I'm on a boat and I'm in Kenya and I'm celebrating my 21st birthday

2009-07-07T06:34:00.000-04:00

We’ve been getting really attached to people here- especially Roy, our friends Nick, Frank, Christopher & Byron, and the kids. It’s pretty cool that kids know our names now- yesterday a boy walked up to me in the supermarket and said, “Hello Jennifer”. I recognized him but didn’t remember his name. Then later it happened on the street when a man our age hollered, “Hello Jenny!” at me. Oh ya, and besides JLo, I’ve also earned the nicknames, “Jennie”, and “Jen girl”. It’s really cool to be getting close to people here, but already bittersweet as we know we’re going to have to leave these people, quite possibly forever, in seven weeks. A common question now is, “You’re leaving in August? And when are you coming back?”. Brutal.

Surprise, surprise- Jen’s camera is broken! A friend (who will remain unnamed) dropped it, and the screen no longer works. Still functions as an old-fashioned camera though, so I’ve decided to try to stick it out.

We celebrated Canada Day here, which was really fun. We got all dressed up in our red & white, with temporary tattoos and stickers. The kids went nuts for the tattoos, so we gave a bunch of kids Canada tattoos. They looked so cute on them, but giving them out was no fun because we didn’t have enough for like half the kids, and the ones who didn’t get them kept following me around. The hotel staff all asked for stickers, and a bunch of them still have them on their shirts. We partied at night with the hotel staff, which consisted of Amanda and I putting goofy pigtails in our hair, wearing our birthday hats & sunglasses, dancing and singing, and the hotel staff asking us to buy them beer (a regular occurrence), which this time we actually did.

WORK

Work was incredible this week- we are so much closer to our goal of starting production! We got electricity in the kitchen (so we can have lights, operate the freezer, use the packaging sealer, and soon use the incubator to develop the probiotic culture and the heater to incubate the yoghurt). The painter came by and branded the kitchen, which has generated a lot of buzz & excitement in the community. We had a little girl come in with money to purchase the yoghurt once during training, but since it’s not probiotic or high quality yet, we gave her a packet free of charge. Exciting to have our first customer!

The Tanzanian mamas and a WHE intern Ashley came to train our Yoghurt Mamas. The training was incredible- the women had a lot of fun getting to know each other, and our Mamas were able to make the yoghurt themselves by the end of the week. They coordinated the schedule amongst themselves, and the Tanzanians even administered a test for the Kenyans. The women have even started showing up on time!!! (Before, training that would be scheduled to start at 9 couldn’t begin until noon, now by the time we get there there’s usually a few women there!) On the last day of training, everyone gave really emotional speeches that put the overarching goals of the project into perspective again. Tears were shed, and then the women broke out into song. It started slow, with people still sitting, but as the excitement built, people started standing up, dancing, and eventually forming a procession outside. We got a lot of weird looks from the neighbours, but it was so, so incredible.

BIRTHDAY

Celebrated my 21st birthday this week!!! And boy did we celebrate. July 2, my actual birthday, Amanda & Rani ditched me at work to secretly decorate our room with balloons and signs. For dinner, we actually got dressed up, which was really fun, and something I had missed. By dressed up, I mean we wore jeans and put on eyeliner & lip gloss- this is a big deal for us. We had three of our friends over in our hotel restaurant, and taught them how to play King’s with our Tusker. When two of our friends showed up at 8:30, the guards yelled at them, made them wait across the street, and one held up his bow & arrow. Guess it’s good that we’re so well protected here, but kinda put a damper on our evening when our friends felt too uncomfortable to join us.

Back in the restaurant, our new friend Chris from the UK led the entire room in singing Happy Birthday, which was so cute. This reminded Amanda & Rani of their plans, so they ran to get the little heart-shaped cakes and candles they had purchased, and sang again. Then came the gifts. Amanda & Rani had printed off pictures of all of us here and had all our friends write birthday messages on it. They also got me tons of chocolate and are getting a purse made. Our other friends had made cards, with the sweetest messages written on them, “Sometimes we may want to be home to celebrate our birthdays; what if it finds us miles and miles away from home? It is great because people who now celebrate with us become friends whom we would not otherwise have known forever”. They also purchased me little gifts, which was so sweet. I couldn’t believe the thought & effort they had gone into, with the wrapping paper and the printed pictures & cards.

Then on Saturday we went to Lake Victoria at Kendu Bay with a group of friends. We had a blast, climbing out over the water on this grid-like dock and taking in the beautiful scenery. A fisherman offered to take us out in his boat, so we all piled into this old, but very cool, wooden fishing boat. Some people were concerned about the low level of the boat and thus our proximity to the hippos and crocodiles, but I figured life is too short to be worried about being eaten. So we went out, which was so, so fun. It was some of our friends first time ever being in a boat! Later we discovered it was their first time out of Oyugis at all-had never even been to Kisii or Kisumu, places we’ve visited multiple times since our arrival a month ago. The weather was perfect (about 25 degrees C/80 F), the company was incredible, and then to add on top of that the incredible feeling you get standing near a body of water that our ancestors have swam in/drank from/hunted in for thousands of years. Perfect, perfect day.

Was loaded down with more gifts from our new friends, including bracelets, necklaces, a purse, and Titanic playing cards! One of my friends drew me an African scene with my name written in graffiti style, and another wrote out a list of 115 Luo phrases. I was sad that both felt the need to apologize for not buying me gifts, but I tried my hardest to explain to them how these thoughtful gifts were invaluable to me. Oh ya, and then again that night, Amanda & Rani brought me a cake they had made for me in town. Who knew someone in Oyugis had an oven? It was actually the best cake I’ve ever had, vanilla with pink & green icing. Definitely already finished it 

Was truly blown away by this outpouring of love I received from my new friends.

ONGIYA DISI PREPARATORY SCHOOL

There is quite a lot of networking that goes on in our hotel between different people’s projects. So when Chris the carpenter told us about his school that he started & sponsored, we agreed to go visit it. We were blown away by this school. It’s nestled in the mountains of the small village Ringa, and was stunning in its isolation and simplicity. Each class sang us a welcome song and then recited another poem/song/dance routine. Many had religious themes, and one was about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it, “Say no to sex. Abstinence is the only way”- from the mouths of four year olds. Crazy. Then we were led outside where two of the school’s dance troupes performed traditional dances for us. It was probably the most incredible experience I’ve had since coming here. Took lots of videos and pictures, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about this school soon 

FUNNY/INTERESTING THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED

• Rabies shots that only Amanda would pay for: $800 Amanda getting bit by a dog: Priceless
• T.H.U.G.- True Homies Under God (everyone’s super religious here. Even the gangsters)
• Amanda & Rani have started a mosquito kill count competition- my suggestion for the loser was to eat a mosquito, but I’m not sure what would happen if you ate malaria
• We were all trying to lift/drag this package, couldn’t because it was too heavy, when one of the Yoghurt Mamas picked it up, put it on her head, and carried it all the way home- puts us to shame
• Ate street food for the first time- mandazi AND peanuts. I survived, so my menu has just expanded greatly
• Jen: “How do they hold the pot when it is so hot? ” Roy: “They are women. They just do it. You are not women.”

Nango! (Luo for hello/how are you)

2009-06-28T06:52:00.001-04:00

Well, got me a nice case of food poisoning over here. Going out became a real treat for me, as I can’t really venture far from the hotel. Roy brought some doctors from the hospital over after he saw I was sick, so that I could explain all of my symptoms to them. That was fun. Lol feeling much better now, but it was a rough few days.

Things about me that have changed since coming to Kenya:
• I drink Coke! (when Coca Cola has a complete monopoly and no one believes in “diet” anything, you adjust pretty fast)
• I no longer depend on the Weather Network to determine my outfit- every day is the same
• I wear my hair in a ponytail every day (can’t believe that this entire year I never once did this besides going to the gym- sickening how image obsessed I/we are in North America)
• I wear hats! (Again, NEVER do this at home)
• I eat chicken with my hands- pretty much a must to tear it off the bone

Things about me that have not changed since coming to Kenya:
• My infatuation with sweets (since arriving three weeks ago, I’ve eaten ice cream twice, a bag of chocolate almonds, a bag of Hershey kisses, and two Cadbury chocolate bars- another monopoly)
• My obsession with drinking water (kinda tough to get over my aversion to plastic bottles, but now I go through two 1.5 Litres a day)

Interesting Things That Have Happened/I’ve Discovered:
• When sending mail, I have to indicate either “USA” or “North America”, because not everyone knows where Canada is
• There is the most obnoxious rooster outside our hotel. It crows all morning and all day long. I am going to cut its head off as soon as I get the chance.
• “It will not escape” –Fred, after discovering a bug underneath a chair in the office. He then sprayed it with bug spray and air freshener.
• Sometimes the water doesn’t work in our hotel, so to wash our hands we have to pour bottled water on each other’s hands
• This guy asked me to get him a soccer scholarship (sure, let me just go pick that up for you) and then wasn’t even remotely good- couldn’t hold his own against 12 year olds or Amanda
• People have no sense of personal space here- one boy shook my hand and then rubbed my arm, this girl was reading over my shoulder out back one night, with her chin literally resting on my shoulder for like 20 minutes, some of the staff touch my knees & sit so close to me our legs are touching

We went to watch a soccer tournament on Saturday, which was really fun. Unfortunately, some of our newfound “friends” like to parade us around to show their people that they know us. To one team, we were asked to give “words of advice” before the game (what, you think just because I’m white I can advise you how to play soccer!?). We also sat through their pep talk, which was more of a sermon- literally, bible quotes, “If God decides to let you win”, “Be Christlike on the field”- hardly any mention of soccer. To another team, we were asked to greet all the players. I swear this was the biggest team I’ve ever seen, must have shaken at least 40 hands. And the guy even told me everyone’s names- as if I would remember that.

We have done a lot of modifications to the room to make it our own. We unhooked the TV and put it on the floor so we could use the stand for our stuff. We stole another table to use for our giraffe puzzle (thanks Kristen!), but unfortunately the puzzle was too big. We’re working on stealing a dining room table. Our wall is covered with pictures we’ve coloured. Mostly beautiful, but one really creepy one (it’s like a jack in the box with a real head- so of course I had to colour it in creepy limes and reds).

The other night we climbed a tree at the school. It was really fun, made me feel like Tarzan. All these kids started following us, and then I didn’t feel so Tarzan like- they’re so quick & agile! Trying to climb down was a little more challenging, so Rani had to help my foot down while I scraped my stomach across the tree. After helping Amanda down, Rani fell on her knees. Sorry Ran, but it was really funny.

Then we went over to the soccer field, where Rani was going to play her first soccer game ever. Unfortunately, before she could get too into it (literally like 10 seconds), Christopher did one of his crazy, sky-high, 30 metre kicks. Right into her stomach. Again, sorry, but it was freakin’ hilarious.

During the game the ball went over into the muddy section of the field. Everyone was hesitating to go get it, and I figured that since I was wearing shoes (everyone from Oyugis plays in bare feet- so impressive how tough their feet are. I once asked Christopher if I could play in bare feet and he told me I would break my foot. Thanks for the fragile upbringing Mom & Dad), I would volunteer to fetch the ball. Turns out I severely underestimated the depth and squishiness of the mud. It was ridiculous, my shoes are literally coated in mud (but you should see the way our cleaning lady scrubs our shoes/clothes! Seriously, my stuff has never been cleaner!). At least I was wearing my new waterproof shoes- for one of the first times since arriving- coincidence? I think not.

Statistical Differences between Canada & Kenya:
• Age structure: population under 14 years- 17.6% in Canada, 42.6% in Kenya
• Infant Mortality: 4.69/1000 in Canada, 59.26/1000 in Kenya
• Life Expectancy: 80 years in Canada, 49 in Kenya
• Fertility Rate: 1.6 children/woman in Canada, 4.9 in Kenya
• Unemployment Rate: 7% in Canada, 40% in Kenya

Life Lesson of the Week: Living in a wealthy country has so many benefits beyond personal wealth- it’s the whole infrastructure that collective wealth allows to be built. Paved roads, sewage systems, electricity, public transit, roadside lighting- all things that everyone can enjoy in North America, regardless of their financial situation. Someone once asked us if everyone in Canada has electricity, and despite a guess that maybe up north in the territories some may not, we had to tell them that everyone does.

Love from Jane/Jessica/JLo

2009-06-19T07:16:00.001-04:00

Work this week consisted of a lot of time spent at the hospital, updating the data from the original surveys on the study participants. After hours and hours of data entry, we then pretty much re-did a lot of the work we had done before. We also completed the templates for the record keeping sheets that will be used by the Mamas to record when participants pick up their yogurt and sales of extra packets.

We got to go to Roy’s house to meet his family! His brother Frank, sister Emma, cousin Eunita, and godson Ryan were there. Emma cooked the most delicious chicken we’ve had yet, and they were so kind and welcoming. We went for a walk up the hill in his village (called Wire, pronounced wee-ray), and discovered that the people here are much more reserved than the people in town. No ‘Mazungu’s here! The view from the top was stunning; no way do my photos do it justice. A man invited us to tour his land, and we saw the coolest things! A pineapple field, charcoal being made, a huge fig tree, and mud huts (which are surprisingly sturdy, and when solidified with cow poo mixed with charcoal, look like cement!). We then literally outran the rain and chilled in Roy’s house for a while until it died down, drinking Roy’s favourite “Coco-Pine” juice (coconut-pineapple- tastes like a pina colada!).

Our phone has caused us quite a bit of trouble- we’re now on our third sim card. I do admit that a lot of it is my fault, for not remembering where the PIN numbers were listed and guessing at them until it locked us out. Then we bought a Zain card, which we discovered cost us 100 shillings per minute to call home (rather than the 25 we were accustomed to with Safaricom), so ditched that one pretty fast. Our (hopefully permanent) number is 254-072-703-6238. My parents found a calling card for 11 cents a minute, and texting costs 25 cents, so feel free to call or text us whenever!!! Hours we’re awake in Toronto time are 2:00 am-4:00 pm.

We made friends! Most of the younger kids probably only like us for our soccer ball and entertainment value, but the older ones are really cool. The staff in our hotel (the ones whose English is advanced, which unfortunately pretty much dictated who we can be friends with) are very friendly; we hang out with them a lot. And despite looking older than us, all but one is actually our age or younger! Fred, the receptionist, is hilarious (referred to the kids we play soccer with at the Primary School as ‘Primarians’). Angela, the waitress, is so sweet and caring. She lives right next door with her daughter Mercy, who we’ve been able to meet and make a birthday card for. Beatrice, Lencer (pronounced Lenza), and Anok (ay-nok) are also very fun. We also met two guys who live behind the field we discovered behind our hotel. Christopher is our age, and so sweet (made us a list of common phrases in Luo). Byron is at boarding school so we only see him on the weekend. Claudia (a boy) and Boston (who knew that was a name?) are about 11, but also very sweet. One time when we went to visit them, Claudia came bounding out of the house and threw his arms around Amanda in a huge hug. It was so cute.

I discovered that when I tell people that my name is Jen, they think I’m saying ‘Jane’ (Amanda often gets ‘Ameda’, and Rani gets ‘Randi’). So I’ve switched to ‘Jennifer’, which is a common name here. Since doing so, I’ve been compared to Jennifer Lopez twice. Christopher asked if he could enter my name in his phone as JLo, and sometimes calls me this. I also sometimes get ‘Jessica’. Strange. (haha I just wrote Jessica Strange, which is my cousin’s wife’s maiden name. Ooh, speaking of my cousins, KEMRI, the Kenyan Medical Research Institute, has a partnership program with the University of Minnesota, where they are studying malaria I think- anyone know anything about this?).

Yesterday we went to teach at Oyugis Primary, down the street from us, which was SO FUN! I was concerned that we would just be a big distraction in the classroom, but we actually got to run both of the sessions and it went very well. We were working with Class 8 students (just like our grade eight, where kids ranged from 13-17) on English. There must be 40-50 kids in each class, and they sit 4 students to a desk (the whole school has 28 teachers, and close to 1,500 students). We started with Irregular verbs (verbs that don’t end in –ed when in the past tense, like ran and threw), and were impressed with how much the kids knew. Then we moved into a session about Canada. We started by drawing a map of North America and pointed out areas they would know (Mexico, USA, Canada, Washington where Obama lives, New York, California, the Great Lakes, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver). Then we told them to ask us questions, and were very impressed with how high level they were! Not one about sports or entertainment, as we would have expected from a Grade 8 class. Some of the most interesting questions they asked were:
• What is your flag and what do the colours represent? (One boy could actually draw our flag, but we had no idea what the colours meant)
• How often do you have elections? What political parties are there in Canada?
• What responsibilities do children have? (This one was awkward- I stopped myself before saying “children are usually responsible for cleaning their own rooms”, changed it to “cleaning rooms”- most homes here don’t allow each kid to have their own room)
• What money did you use to come here?
• What is your staple food? (Felt really guilty with this one, but tied it back to the multicultural thing- people from every culture bring their own foods, so we have a wide variety available)
• I heard that construction workers make more money than office workers in Canada. Is this true?
• What crops/minerals/industries do you have? (Struggled with this one...don’t really know lol)
• Do people pay taxes? What is your healthcare/school system like?
• What is your national anthem? (This resulted in us singing it three times. Haven’t sang that song in years! Amanda told them that I was a good singer. So THERE family and friends who made fun of my bad singing all the time.)
Kids were also writing an exam, which was strange because they were outside, sitting 3 to a desk, relatively unsupervised & not silent (no idea how they prevent/monitor cheating). Flipping through their exercise book, I was surprised to discover the number of passages that mentioned AIDS. “List 5 truths about preventing HIV/AIDS”, “The kids were making fun of Petu after discovering he had HIV/AIDS...finish the sentence”. I think it’s awesome that they’re so open about it!

Memorable Quotes/Signs of the Week:
• “I wish you could get married in Kenya so we could have another Obama” (a man at the hospital)
• “Give me some money” (has been hollered at us from two young boys)
• “Oyugis Happy Church” (a church on our street)
• *Laughter* “Where did you learn that?” (every time we say something to anyone in Luo) (Also, our vocabulary has expanded significantly- well on my way to achieving my goal of forgetting English)
• “Are you married in your country?” (Headmaster at the school) “No, we’re only 20, people in North America don’t usually get married until their mid-late twenties now” (me) “This is Daniel. He’s 24” *teachers all laugh* ....awkward
• “This teacher is so tall, he is good at American basketball” *teachers all laugh* *man stands up to demonstrate how tall he is*

Soccer, Freedom & Obama

2009-06-12T15:41:00.000-04:00

Hey gang!

We just got back from an amazing game of soccer (football). We were playing with a bunch of local kids- younger ones at first (8-12 yr olds), but then later older ones showed up (12-16). I had way more fun with the younger ones, mostly because my skill level is much closer to theirs. I even scored two goals! It also rained, thundered, and lightened throughout the game, which made it way more fun, exciting, and slippery. Also, African temperatures + rain = cool & refreshing, not cold & miserable like at home.

Interesting things I’ve seen/noticed/learned recently:

Kids as young as 5 or 6 are responsible for their toddler siblings (note that North Americans won’t let a child under 10 even hold a toddler)
Today we saw two girls, one close to 10, the other about 2 up in a tree (probably six or seven feet off the ground), with the young one crying. We went over and helped her down, but Roy told us that it’s normal for kids that young to be up in trees
Cow poo is often mixed with mud to make houses- apparently it’s great for weather proofing and doesn’t smell after a while
My baseball hat flew off while riding on a motor bike the other day- retrieving it was quite the adventure
Tonight it was cool enough to warrant wearing a sweater! And my Roots Capri sweatpants!
A man in our hotel slicing off a live chicken’s head
A drunk man telling us we reminded him of Jesus because he is always portrayed as white, while black people play Satan
After attempting to learn Swahili for a while, we discovered that the local language is Luo, so we’re working on getting that one down ( so far we know thank you, hello, 1,2,3 & 5 (4 is really hard), charcoal stove, small (good for ordering food-portions are so big), good morning, good afternoon, and good evening)
“Jen- that chicken’s outfit matches yours” – Roy (I was wearing tan Capris with a white t-shirt)
“Jen, you look like a little girl” – Roy (when I showed up for work wearing a black jumper and t-shirt)
“Jen, I didn’t know you wore specs. You look like a nerd.” – Roy
Jen: “How old do you think we look?”, Roy:“Sixteen”, Jen: “How old do you think we are?” , Roy: “22 or 23” – Guess that means we act mature...

We’ve accomplished a lot work-wise this week. We worked with the data from the study subjects to map out the distribution centres, and figure out who would collect their yogurt where. We then assigned them to intervention and control groups (Intervention will receive the yogurt for months 0-6, and Control from months 6-12). This part was really difficult, because sorting them is mostly based on location, and unfortunately a lot of the kids with the lowest BMIs are in the later group. Amanda worked on all of the marketing materials, and they look really great. We have figured out that the Yogurt Mamas from Tanzania are coming next weekend to train, so it’s looking pretty likely that we will be able to meet our goal of producing by July 1. Also, Rani, the third intern, is arriving next Wednesday, and we’re very much looking forward to having another set of hands on the ground over here.

On a very exciting note, we have finally convinced Roy to let us do some things by ourselves! We’ve walked up our street by ourselves, gone running at the school, walked through the marketplace, and even went to the bank! Regaining our independence is quite exhilarating! Going to the school was so much fun- a group of about 10 young kids were there, and a bunch of them even ran the full 10 laps with us! Afterwards we did stretching and yoga, which the kids joined us for. That was so much fun, and eventually turned into us & the kids doing goofy things and trying to get the other to copy. The only thing they couldn’t quite catch on to was leapfrog, and after getting my head banged a significant number of times, we gave up on that.

We went on a journey to Kisumu in a matatu the other day, which was really fun. A matatu is like a taxi van, but we thought of it as more of a party bus. They had loud music videos playing the whole time, men hanging out the door, and 18-19 people on board at times (it seats 14). The most entertaining video was for a song called ‘Obama’ (yes, the Obama saga continues- he is literally EVERYWHERE- t-shirts, music, posters-sometimes I read my Obama book just to try and fit in). Ok, so in this video, their clothes had pieces of the American flag all over them, and apparently the lyrics were talking about how much everybody loves him. The only ones I understood were “Yes We Can”, which they kept chanting (like Bob the Builder, but with more melody and an African accent). The girls can dance really well, so of course Roy had to tell us that we could never dance like that. So we have a dance competition coming up. Must prepare.

Lesson of the Week: North Americans are spoiled, which we all know, but I think it is mostly by the sheer number of choices we have available to us. Food, clothing, careers, schools, banks, supermarkets- all available whenever and wherever we need it, from whichever outlet we choose. People here usually just accept what they can find or what’s offered.

A Day In the Life & Oyugis Happenings

2009-06-09T07:34:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Miss you lots! Life is so fun and exciting here though, so not too much J. I can’t believe how short of a time it’s taken for everything to seem so normal. Seeing animals & kids running free all over the place doesn’t catch me off guard anymore. But the stunning views still make me catch my breath, which I’m glad for.

A Day in The Life of Jen & Amanda (ya, we literally spend every second together):

7:30 am Wake up, brush teeth with bottled water, consume malaria pill, Vitamin B, multivitamin, Pepto Bismol

8:00 am Breakfast- cereal with hot milk and real sugar, banana, pineapple/banana/avocado juice, fried eggs, two pieces of bread, a sausage, and tea (huuuge meal)

8:30 am Head upstairs, journal/blog/colour (colouring books are my new favourite hobby!)

9:00 am Roy picks us up (today he was late, so for the first time ever we ventured out of the hotel gates on our own- we sat across the street on a hill! It was exhilarating!)

9:10 am Board Boda Bodas (bikes with seats on the back) and ride to Yoghurt Kitchen (LOVE this part of my day- costs 10 shillings (about 14 cents), and is great, wind blowing in your face, much sturdier than you would think on such a rocky road)

9:15 am “Mazungu! Mazungu! How are you! How are you!” (continuous until about 6:00 pm)

9:30 am Start work (so far usually this consists of us asking Roy questions, and him giving us long answers explaining all the complications behind the way things are (or more commonly, aren’t) done around here) Today we also made a work plan and wrote out instruction charts for kitchen procedures (hygiene, milk acceptance tests, manufacturing the yogurt)

12:00 am Usually someone from the Ministry of Health comes by to visit

3:00 pm Lunch at a hotel near the kitchen (almost always chicken in a bowl of broth, with a side of kale, tomatoes, and chipate- delicious, tortilla-like pastry). We also always use the washroom here (rather than squatting over the hole at the kitchen), which is in a hotel room that has a poster in it that reads, “Think Twice. Think Aids.”

4:00 pm Walk through sketchy alley way to marketplace, purchase whatever we need for the day (usually water, often bananas, avocadoes, and more phone cards)

4:30 pm Drop bags at the hotel, head out for a walk up the nearby hills (stunning)

6:00 pm Return to hotel, sometimes submit order for dinner (depending on time of lunch), otherwise eat half an avocado, maybe some cookies, a banana or chocolate (Steph, definitely already finished the chocolate almonds you gave me. Lol obvi)

6:15 pm Colour/check e-mail/do logic puzzles (today we bought tape so we could hang up all the beautiful pictures we’ve coloured so far. Also, I coloured a cow blue and gave it to Roy as a gift, and he adopted it as the kitchen’s logo!)

7:00 pm Shower- sometimes hot, sometimes not- great water pressure though

7:30 pm Work on what was discussed today, prepare for tomorrow (excel is my best friend)

10:00 pm Journal/blog (we have excessive records of what we’ve been doing here- I’m currently writing a journal, a blog, a work notebook, Project Notes, a case for Ivey, a Debrief Report, a Start-up Manual, a To Do List (can’t live without at least one), a Work Plan, and an essay for a scholarship)

10:30 pm Watch Heroes with Amanda

11:30 pm Bedtime! Put our mosquito nets down, sometimes pose for funny pictures in them

Things you probably didn’t know about Kenya:

There is only ‘black’ and ‘white’- Asians, Indians, and Caucasians are all classified as white
Despite only showing photos of starving children, there are actually quite a few heavy set people & fat babies
No one here has allergies. Their immune systems are strong enough to not get scared off by peanuts (ground nuts here) or cats
Most of their entertainment is Western. I’ve seen posters of Alicia Keys, heard Roy’s Shania Twain ringtone, seen Family Guy, Jay Z & Lil’ Wayne on his computer, Beyonce t-shirts, and Obama EVERYWHERE (including in an AIDS clinic- “Michelle & Barack know their status- do you know yours?”)
Polygamy is becoming less popular due to the flailing economy- supporting four wives and their children is just too expensive nowadays

Funeral

On Sunday we went to the funeral of one of the women in the women’s group who will be producing the yogurt in the kitchen. It was a very, very interesting experience. First of all, it went on for hours, with groups of people walking in singing every so often. Everyone was taken to be fed throughout the service, including us, who were guests of honour, and were fed a HUGE meal despite having just eaten. We had to eat a decent amount to be polite, and then they insisted we drink a soda, so we both felt like barfing because we were so full after. They served us chicken- literally, the entire chicken- head, gizzard, talons, everything. Lovely. In addition to this, so many other kind things were done for us. One of the women held our hands to lead us around the funeral area, and we were thanked and asked to stand twice during the ceremony- for a woman we’d never even met! One man who we sat with for a long time offered to take us to the lake one weekend with Roy, and when he was taking down our number, typed our names, ‘jane @ ameda’ (translates to jen & Amanda). We found this quite humourous. I was surprised at how unfocused people were (although at a seven hour event, I guess you can’t expect much better. People would answer their phones, and a man was taking pictures of the crowd (including one right in our face when we went to sit down- that will be one awkward smile on my face). Politicians showed up and were preaching politics & promoting their leader to the crowd- how terribly disrespectful. A lot of people were upset about this. Also, people are not afraid to hide their emotions. Multiple women stood/walked around the casket wailing and chanting for upwards of ten minutes.

Work

Work is frustrating because the most important things to do are things we have to wait for other people to do. So we’re doing what we can to prepare for production to begin, but we’re forced to be idle a lot of the time.

Roy

Our Project Coordinator and new bff Roy is amazing, we have so much fun with him. At first he’s pretty reserved and professional (wears a suit to work every day), but sometimes we can get him to loosen up. For example, today after work we were messing around with the Web Cam on his computer taking goofy pictures of ourselves. After about an hour, all three of us were crying because we were laughing so hard. The funniest thing he does is say ‘sorry’ after anything at all bad happens to anyone. We explained to him that you’re only supposed to say it if he personally does something bad, but he has yet to catch on. Here is a list of some of the things he’s apologized for so far:

Me tripping (this happens a LOT- rocky roads + interesting sites = not good for a clumsy woman)
Me dropping our phone
A piece of paper falling on the floor
A curtain blowing in the wind
My shoe coming untied
Amanda wearing sandals when it was raining
Amanda sneezing
Him dropping a bottle cap on the floor
A movie that we brought in, and told him would cut out early, cutting out early
A little boy slipping up a hill as he ran toward us yelling ‘Mazungu!”

Nothing makes me laugh harder than this.

Sorry for the disjointed nature of this blog- just wrote what came to me. Please feel free to ask any questions you would like answered, about Kenya or Oyugis or the project or the people!

London, Nairobi and finally Oyugis!

2009-06-04T14:28:00.001-04:00

I can’t believe it’s only been 2 ½ days since I left home- seems like forever ago! Our flights have all run smoothly so far, and Sarah’s Trip Kit made for a highly entertaining game along the way.

London was beautiful- warm and sunny! We found this very cool park with striped beach chairs set up in it and a live jazz band serenading everyone. Took a lovely nap there. Then walked around downtown London for a while, and had dinner in a traditional pub.

Nairobi was quite the experience- more similar to Toronto than I was expecting, but with some funny things going on too. People walking to work all along the highway, others selling pillows and etch-a-sketches among traffic (which apparently is legit- you have to have a license to do so!). We also saw a cow walking down the middle of a busy road. After taking a much-needed shower, we headed to the Elephant and Rhino orphanage. When people find abandoned baby elephants and rhinos, they’re supposed to report it to the authorities & the animal is brought here for care until they can be released into the wild at age 2-4. The baby elephants were so cute, frolicking together, tripping over their own feet, stretching & rolling on the ground, and of course, LOVING the mud. Then a baby black rhino came out, and we got to touch it!

Afterwards, we went to the restaurant Carnivore, which was quite an interesting experience. Basically you sit there while they bring you all these different types of meat. Mom and Dad, you would be so proud of me, I tried EVERYTHING! Chicken liver (which literally looked like a pile of poop), lamb (which I’ve never tried before), crocodile, and ostrich meatballs. It all tasked similar to chicken, but the idea still kinda bothered me. I’m not supposed to eat any raw food, and what do I do in my first real meal in Africa? Ate the lettuce and cucumbers that were served with the meal. Whoops! Well I haven’t gotten sick yet, and I think because I was in a relatively upscale, touristy restaurant, I should be safe.

Next we visited the Giraffe Centre, which was AMAZING! The giraffes are free to roam around this huge park with the other animals, and just come in for food when they feel like it. You get to stand up on this platform and be at eye-level with 16 feet tall giraffes! The pellets we fed them are apparently like candy for them (seems more like a drug to me- they constantly have to be eating if they’re standing there, or else they head butt you apparently). Then the staff asked us if we’d like to try a giraffe kiss. At first I was like “ew, no, I don’t want some wild animal who probably licks its own or others butts sticking its tongue on my face”, but then I watched her place a pellet in her lips and let the giraffe lick it out and thought, “hey, why not”. So I have officially made out with a giraffe at least four different times.

It’s true what they say about people here driving crazy, and the roads being super bumpy. However, after five hours of sleep over two days, any kind of rocking motion will put you right to sleep, as I discovered every single time we stepped in a car yesterday. Soraiya’s family took us out to a beautiful Japanese restaurant (where I even tried the spicy tuna sushi! After crocodile, how can even a fish-hater refuse tuna? It was delicious!). They were so generous to us, putting us up for the night, loaning us their driver for the day, and even offering for us to come back later in the summer!

Oyugis is INCREDIBLE! We got to meet so many fascinating people today, including at least 3 Jen’s and Amanda’s. We went to the KEMRI (Kenyan Medical Research Institute, Western Heads East partner in the field) facilities in Kisumu, which looked like a resort, and the Rachuonyo District Hospital (which is just down the street from us). At the hospital we met the Superintendent and the Head Technician , who was a woman named Amanda. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of women I’ve met/heard about who are in positions of power here.

After the hospital, we went to see the yogurt kitchen! They just renovated it and painted it really cute colours. Now we just have to wait for electricity and hopefully we’ll be up and running in about two weeks- if everything goes according to plan, which apparently is quite rare around here.

One thing that is taking some getting used to is being the only white people around. Not at all that I’m uncomfortable, just that people point and stare a lot. Tonight, the Project Manger and guide extraordinaire Roy took us on a walk up the nearby hill, which offered us stunning views as well as the opportunity to interact with all the kids (who were just getting out of school- 7 am-5 pm! Can you imagine how North Americans would react?). They got huge smiles on their faces when they saw us, and most offered what I guess is the standard greeting they are taught in school, “How are you”. Some of the older ones responded, “I’m fine”, but most of the young ones just chanted “How are you! How are you!”. We had a few groups follow us for a while, one that kept wanting high fives, and one little boy that asked to have his picture taken. One mother was sitting with a baby in her lap, and when we walked past, pointed at us and told her young one, “Mazungu! Mazungu!” (white person).

I was surprised at how lush the scenery is. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe something a little more barren, but it’s very Mighty Joe Young if you know what I mean. The mountains make a stunning backdrop, and apparently when the mist clears you can see Lake Victoria.

Everyone is so kind, our hotel room is nice, the food has been good so far (currently digging through what is possibly the largest avocado I’ve ever had, which cost us 10 shillings, or about 14 cents Canadian). Also, everything is ridiculously cheap- my hotel is costing me $5 a night, dinner at the hotel (which is apparently one of the most expensive places in town) cost about $2. The only thing I could complain about would be the fact that jet lag is making me quite the sleepy little one. Cars are the worst, but even when it gets to dinner time, I can feel my eyes closing for way longer than they should be, and rockin the head bob. Lol it’s embarrassing, hope I’m back to my normal energetic self after this 11 hour sleep tonight.

Guess who's heading to Kenya?!?!

2009-05-08T15:37:00.009-04:00

As of Monday, May 4th, I have decided to spend my summer in Kenya with an organization called Western Heads East. I've provided a summary of what the organization is about and the project I will be working on!

Western Heads East helps community women's groups establish probiotic yogurt kitchens. The yogurt is given to people living with AIDS free of charge, and the rest is sold to neighbours, orphanages, schools, restaurants, etc. The yogurt has been shown to improve immune system functioning in those who consume it regularly.

The goal of Western Heads East is to establish a sustainable, grass-roots food based development project. This initiative is designed to improve health, nutrition and alleviate suffering from malnutrition in vulnerable social groups in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The first kitchen was established four years ago in Mwanza, Tanzania. The Oyugis, Kenya location will commence operations this summer. The Oyugis-Rachuonyo district has a 72% poverty level which contributes to the spread of HIV – currently at a prevalence rate of 25%.

Research indicates that the probiotics found in the yogurt may reduce HIV infection in women and lower mortality and morbidity due to diarrhea in children and patients with AIDS. The healthy bacteria found in yogurt and other fermented foods are known to kill pathogenic bacteria and viruses.

The Kenya project is currently in start up mode. The community kitchen was recently renovated and most equipment and supplies have been purchased. The milk supply is established and the Kenyan Yogurt Mamas are ready to begin yogurt production.

The tangible benefits for the community of Oyugis:

- improving the health of all community members, especially those with HIV/AIDS and children

- improving the economic status of the Yogurt Mamas

- empowerment for the Yogurt Mamas

My specific tasks relate to writing a start-up manual so that more women's groups throughout Eastern Africa can begin their own yogurt kitchens, and helping to establish good record keeping practices in the kitchen.

A friend of mine from Ivey will be joining me in Kenya. As long as our CIDA grants are approved (we'll find out on May 21), we should be able to fly out at the end of May/beginning of June! I can't wait to get over there and find out what Africa is really like!