"Home Before Dark, Folks ...

You do not want to encounter an elephant in the dark,” said one of the Peace Corps Staff about Loitokitok.

Loitokitok, the mud capital of the world (and destination of arguably some of the worst roads ever to exist), the teensy weensy town at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, on the border of Kenya and Tanzania is where some forty-odd of us call home until early January.

I am now sitting at my desk in my room, drinking the umpteenth cup of tea (seriously, Kenyans love their tea, preferably a little of tea with their sugar), trying to write about the past couple of weeks, and the only way to start is with the welcome to Africa that we got when we were on the bus from Nairobi going to Mombasa. We were going down the main highway (and basically the only road going from Nairobi to Mombasa) when we were blocked by a herd of giraffes crossing the highway. We were all, dude, we are definitely in Africa.

Training officially began in Mombasa with the 9 of us Deaf Education Trainees completely jet lagged and showing evidence of 24 hours of travel within a space of 72 hours, as well as an eight-hour time difference. I was surprised that the current Volunteers and staff that we met that night actually recognized us as fellow human beings.

Mombasa is a city on the shore of the Indian Ocean, buzzing with energy, which we sorely needed, as we were not able to stop and rest. We jumped right into the immersion week with KSL classes, a series of workshops on a variety of topics, from home stay families to malaria care, a few visits to Deaf schools in the area, and meeting the Deaf Community at several Deaf events. Throughout the week, we had a great group of current Volunteers bombarding us with much appreciated and needed tips, advice, information, what to expect over the next few weeks, and guiding us in our clumsy attempts of bridging the cultural gap.

In a flash, the immersion week was over, and we packed up and traveled to Emali where we were picked up by Land Cruisers. After a two-hour stomach curdling rollercoaster-like drive, we arrived in Loitokitok, which was a perfect contrast to Mombasa. While Mombasa was hot and humid, densely populated, and a tourist destination, Loitokitok was cool and dry, very rural, sparsely populated, and has gorgeous views of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Each of us got picked up by a Mama and joined a family for the rest of training (to learn about Kenyan culture, food, and just to pick up whatever we can), as well as continuing KSL classes for most of the mornings, and adding technical education classes in the afternoons, our brains are sure to be kept busy (when we are not looking out for elephants…).

On that note, before ending this entry, I want to wish my American readers a fantastic and a very happy Thanksgiving!