IST in Nairobi

Entering the hostel that a good number of Peace Corps Volunteers have been using for the past few years (if not longer), I checked in, went out back to the tent that I was sharing with a few other PCVs, and dumped my stuff with a huge sigh of relief. I had been traveling for eight hours from Mumias, and I was ready for a beer and a chat with a few of my fellow PCVs.

I was going through a whirlwind of emotions – excitement about seeing the other PCVs, wondering about the classes and what we would learn in IST, worrying about not receiving word about the new niece that was overdue, trying to process the experiences I had throughout the Games, and just basically trying to stop my head from spinning.

After celebrating with the eleven / twelve odd PCVs, we all headed to Kopling Center the next day, excited to see everyone else, to settle in our rooms, hoping that we would get hot showers. I was especially excited to be able to unpack my bag and stay in one bed for ten days, rather than living out of my backpack and take a few hot showers.

Standing under the showerhead for my first hot shower in five months, I thought about how being Deaf has brought me to that point – being in the Deaf Ed program in Peace Corps, having the friends I have, the smallness of the Deaf community – I stayed with a Deaf teacher at Mumias because she was a friend of a friend of mine, and staying over was only awkward at the first introduction, and after that it was smooth sailing. We had that common bond.

I was reminded by an experience I had when I visited a dear friend in Bristol in the UK when he was studying there – we were out at a pub with a couple of his friends having some beer and chips, and then because I was jet lagged (I had landed that very day), we decided to turn in early. As we walked to the house that we were visiting in London, we realized that we didn’t know anyone living there – the friend who we came with was still at the pub – the man who opened the door was not someone we recognized, but as we started signing and explaining why we were at his doorstep, he simply said, “Deaf? Come on in.” We grinned at each other and went in.

As I became extremely philosophical in the shower, I was very inconsiderate of my roommate, because the hot water ran out and brought me back to reality, and therefore, IST.

IST was great – I had a great time listening to Matt’s stories about rabid dogs and his students (but not together, thank goodness), talking about our frustrations, the cultural adjustment, the amazement that we all had with the fact that we were not the same people that we met or were when we were in Philadelphia.

The older PCVs who came out to help with IST was probably the best part of the IST – their wealth of experience, the sessions that they led were very helpful, and helped us get a grip on what we were going to do, and think about what we could do, what projects we were going to do.

At IST, we also found inspiration. We talked about how to make training better for next year’s group of Deaf Ed Volunteers, projects that we would be working on this year – a couple of summer camps for some of our students, revising the Deaf Education manual, reorganizing the Deaf Ed resources, creating new resources for HIV / AIDS education for the Deaf, and rebuilding relationships with a variety of community organizations that works with the Deaf in Kenya.

When the election violence occurred in 2008, Peace Corps evacuated all of their volunteers from the country, and a lot of resources were lost, relationships severed, and this year the task of rebuilding the relationships with the country is on us – it is one that we eagerly look forward to, as it provided us an opportunity to update those relationships, talk about new projects, and basically shake up the Deaf Education project.

We were sad to leave each other at IST, but we were excited about eventually going back to our sites (as many of us had a few vacation plans), and implementing some of the ideas we came up with at IST.