Safari kwa Kisumu!! - Journey to Kisumu!!

OCTOBER 11 - 15

Kisumu was a great mix of both incredibly boring and extremely exciting and life-changing. I'll try to do a day-by-day update, although I'm not guaranteeing that I won't leave things out.

MONDAY, September 11

The drive to Kisumu was just about as long as it was to get to Mombasa – we left Nairobi at around 8:30am, made a couple of stops and got there around 5:00pm. We also stopped at a beautiful viewpoint just an hour or so out of Nairobi to take some pictures.

Isn't that a beautiful view?

TUESDAY, September 12

Today we went to visit TEMAK (Teenage Mothers of Kenya - don't ask me how the abbreviation works). It's this center that was started by a woman in ______. It provides training for teenage women who have children in different fields such as textiles, beauty and hair, and computer training. It has a cafeteria and a place where their children can go to school while they're at work. This facility also has a medical center, where treatment is free to women in the program, and a "cafeteria," where the food is prepared by different women each day - kind of like living in a little co-op. It's a really great NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) in Kenya, which helps a lot of women. Here are some pictures from that morning:

Mims (Mimansa), Amelia and some little kid at TEMAK

Bleak look at the medical center at TEMAK

Megan, Amelia and Mimansa

The center itself

In the afternoon we went to a FISH MARKET on Lake Victoria. It was very smelly but I kind of loved it. There we learned all about the process fishermen go through to get the fish, and then what the women do to cook them. Honestly I didn't really pay that much attention; I was too occupied by all the awesome things going on around me! I've always been a visual person - so listening to some guy talk about fishing wasn't a top priority. First we went to a table with a bunch of dead fish on it.

Smelly fish

THEN he pulled out this monstrous fish that was STILL ALIVE and can live outside of water for two weeks. It was absolutely huge. And it has these huge nasty looking teeth inside its mouth. He would poke at its face until it opened its mouth and snapped it shut, trying to grab a piece of man-meat. It was pretty freaky. I wish I had've thout to get a video of this fish - it was unbelievable.

Then we walked around and were told how the women gutted the fish and got them prepared for eating.

Stray dog that was hanging around - stray animals are all over the place! There's a street in Nairobi where they sell PUPPIES and BABY BUNNIES. (Mom and Dad - if I buy one for myself for my birthday, will you let me keep it?)

Woman gutting a fish

People mining coal, which is imported from Uganda.

Emily and Amelia

Really friendly guy who wanted his picture taken...and then wanted us to pay him for it. He may or may not have been a little intoxicated. (He was.)

FINALLY we got to take a boat ride! The boat was super janky and we actually crashed into another boat and Emily and Mimansa almost got impaled by a giant metal rod. But we all survived. And after that little mishap we sailed along Lake Victoria. It was really awesome. I'm glad we didn't get eaten by crocodiles.

Megan and I - Ready for the boat adventure!

Saskia and Zach make funny faces while we're on Lake Victoria

Then we went home and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY, September 13

Wednesday morning we went to the YWCA of Kisumu. It wasn’t really interesting, but we learned a lot.

Lillian and I wore our pretty dresses today! I bought mine from a store TEMAK owns and runs, which means all the profit goes directly to their cause, which I thought was cool. And it's TYE DYE

In the afternoon we went and met the YWCA Theatre Group of Kisumu. They performed a little for us and then made us do a short made-up skit which was simultaneously humiliating and super fun. We met this group at a church, which was absolutely beautiful.

After that we went to visit Mama Sarah!!! Obama’s paternal grandmother!! She lives about an hour and a half outside of Kisumu in this tiny little village. We talked with her for a while, and then pet her cow who was very friendly, unlike most cows I’ve met in the city.

"Obama's Cow"

Then we went home and went to bed.

THURSDAY, September 14

Today was a “work-day” for us. We went to the Agwara School and helped them build a foundation for a new classroom. As soon as we got out of the van we were pummeled by a large group of school-children! They were so excited to see us and we felt the same. First we watched a couple different groups of kids do dances/songs for us. It was super awesome!

Secondary School Kids dance and sing for us

Primary aged girls do a dance while wearing beautiful kangas

Then we moved a bunch of rocks and dirt into this little squared off area. It was very tiring, but very fun as well. And it was awesome and amazing to get to hang out with all these kids for so long! One of then, named Maro, only spoke Luo. She looked about five or six and so hadn’t started learning Kiswahili yet. But she told Lillian that she wanted to come to America with Mimansa…tonight. Lillian asked how her mom felt about it, and Maro lied and said that her mom was fine with it. She was the absolute cutest! We all wanted to take her home. It was a great day and it was hard to leave!!

They loved us!!

Zach and I were playing "Mom and Dad." We've decided to live in Kenya, and adopt these children as our own. Sorry, Mom.

Dorkus and I! She was so sweet. (And is Maro's sister!)

Me and Maro!! I love her so much.

The cutest child in all of Kenya.

Goodbye hug...

And a goodbye swing!!

FRIDAY, September 15

Today we got up at 7:30, ate breakfast and went home. It was a very long week, but very fun and enriching in every way!

Love you all!!

Naivasha - ho!

October 1-3

We all met at the school at 10am on Friday morning to go to Naivasha. Francis, our Swahili professor, had set us up with a matatu (bus-type system, I'll discuss this some other time) and a driver and all we had to do was meet with him.

Zach and Emily in our matatu

Saskia and Mimansa

Megan and I

Naivasha is about an hour and a half away from Nairobi, but we stopped at a viewpoint - 8000km above the ground, looking over the country-side. It was beautiful! You could see for miles. We stayed there and took a bunch of pictures for a while and then got back on the matatu.

When we arrived, we met up with Francis who took us to where we would be staying and helped us get situated. We stayed in tiny little rooms, with two single beds and possibly a little bedside table/lamp. All of the beds had mosquito netting over them, to protect from malaria. (I've been taking my meds too, so no worries!) Zach and I had long ago decided we would be roomies!! That left Mimansa and Amelia together, Saskia and Megan together, and Emily by herself. We then found out that if Emily were to get a room by herself she would have to pay double, for the extra bed. So we decided her and I could share a bed and her, Zach and I stayed in one room.

The first night we walked around our site and walked a bit into town to check out a little market area. We got back and started to make dinner. (We had all gone to a grocery store together and bought a bunch of food to cook for meals.) As we walked around the place we were staying, we happened upon some really cool trees that looked good for climbing. I was the first one to mention it, and all in all encouraged the group to climb - haha. I started off, but as I was climbing up, I pulled on a branch and it immediately broke, having been eaten through by termites. I wasn't too high on the air, and I managed to grab the trunk and sort of slide down - I've got some nasty scrapes on my arm, but that's it. Zach and Mimansa found a tree with a little wooden seat in it, and both of them scrambled up.

Mimansa in the tree

Zach climbing on Emily's back to ascend

We started a fire, with the help of our friendly neighbor Todd - who had kerosene - and put potatoes, green beans, carrots and onions in a big stew bowl and cooked that. We also roasted squash in a pan of butter. It was so good! I was actually surprised how well we got things going.

Megan and I: Ferocious Firebuilders

Amelia and Emily (So Cute!!!)

That night we all stayed out by the campfire for a long time, talking and listening to music and telling stories. We drank from a communal bottle of white wine met a couple of our neighbors, who joined us and got to know us a bit. It was great. We finally went to bed because we knew the next morning was going to be an early one.

The next day our alarms rang at 6am. We got up, ate a tiny bit of breakfast and went to meet with a guide who we had arranged to take us to Hell's Gate National Park. We had all rented a bicycle to bike to the park, through the park and then to the gorge.

Emily, Zach and I take the lead

Mimansa

Suddenly, we crossed a corner and there were A BUNCH OF WILD ZEBRA!!!

Our guide spotted some giraffe in the distance, so we parked our bikes in the dirt and walked through the field. We were so close to the animals – it was absolutely amazing.

Peter, our fantastic guide

Amelia and Mimansa

Look how close I was! Totally amazed.

Finally, after biking 13km (8 miles) we made it to the gorge, a descent of steep and narrow cliffs.

The sign that greeted us at the top of the gorge - ha ha

It was difficult to climb down, because there are streams flowing through and it is often very slippery, but Peter, our guide, knew exactly where we should step to avoid slipping. He was very helpful. It was BEAUTIFUL – by far the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in real life. All of us felt completely mind-blown by the sights seen in this wondrous place.

Zach and I were worried about the descent

Proof that I walked for a long while in the gorge without my shoes - So good.

Green algae = hot springs. They were actually hot to the touch! Like scalding bath water.

Dancing in the stream :)

We walked 4km (2.5 miles) through the gorge, part of which I walked without shoes because they kept slipping off. It was actually great to feel the earth beneath my feet! We then landed at the view-point for a quick lunch, and headed back to the bikes, where we biked another 13km (8 miles) back home. We were absolutely exhausted by the end of the day, and most of us took long naps that evening before going to the restaurant for dinner and heading to bed.

What an exciting and life-changing weekend it was! All of us had many “awe-inspiring” moments, and agree that it was one of the best trips thus far. Mom and Dad – you DEFINITELY have to go here. You can take a car instead of biking or skip the gorge, but it’s definitely worth the exhaustion and pain in the butt and legs and arms to see this stuff.

Hope all is well in the States. Miss and love you all!