pen and paper

One cool thing about being Deaf is that many, if not all interactions with the outside community, by that, I mean people who don’t use sign languages, and those who do not regularly interact with the Deaf community is almost always done by paper and pen.  Because of that, I have filled out approximately five or six notebooks with notes, conversation, shopping lists, bargaining, and various other interactions with people from all over the country.  I thought it would be fun to put down some samples of the variety of the conversations I have had.

I have had some crazy and fantastic conversations with fellow PCVs and ex-pats, ranging from discussions of poker rules, introductions of ourselves, arguing American versus European sports, to random thoughts and questions, to raunchy descriptions of the Hoover maneuver.

A volunteer in Uganda showing up in Nairobi for medical reasons, meeting up with a few other Kenyans PCVs in Nairobi for the same reason, and a couple of us who were there for some meeting or another writes, “I’m in econ development.  I’ve been changed around a lot!  I ended up doing HIV/AIDS work, tho.  She continues, “It’s in Eastern Uganda – Actually I’m close to another volunteer that does work in deaf ed, and we met a few PCVs from Kenya who came out to Uganda a few months ago – and it’s hot and flat, and there’s lots of ugali.  But … it’s close to my heart.”

 In the middle of a conversation with a couple of PCVs, one randomly writes, “Have you heard of the man who is able to hear, but didn’t talk for like fifteen years?” I still can’t remember why he brought it up …

Sitting in a restaurant / hotel in Mnarani, just south of Kilifi, I had a friendly discussion with an Irish lad (pitting three Americans, including another PCV and The American Ex-pat against this poor Irish). 

The American Ex-pat writes, “The Irish Lad says that America only likes sports where they can be called World Champions; baseball, basketball, American football, lacrosse, hockey, so on.”

TIL then grabbed the pen and notebook and writes, “TAE says – look at how many STUPID sports we’re good at!”  At the same time TAE tries to strike out the STUPID with her pen.

I then wrote, “Variety is the spice of life – how many sports do you have?!”

TIL writes, “Hurling!  We’re world champs!  No pads or helmets!”

I replied, “Not only are you folks one track minded, you’re not safety conscious!”

Another PCV writes, “Seinfeld talks about how the invention of helmets is a sign of how stupid we are.  We are talking part in activities that require protective gear.  When you jump out of a plane, that helmet is now wearing you for protection.” I wasn’t sure which side this PCV was on …

I also had numerous conversations with Kenyans – both at my home stay family (we filled a couple of notebooks with our conversations over the two months), and the local people out here in Kilifi. 

My conversation with my home stay brother, who was seven at that time and wrote with a cute and unsteady hand but using very proper English went as follows:

I started, “How was your trip?”

“Fine.  We have gone to Nairobi.”

I added, “I will be going to Nairobi in January.  What did you do there?”

He replied, “We have gone to my grandmother.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes, I did.”

I met the local chairman of the disability organization in Kilifi, an interesting man who grew up with my headmaster playing football until he developed muscular dystrophy, and now is wheelchair-bound but very active in the local Kilifi and Muslim community.  He tells me a story of an incredibly unfortunate Christmas he had in 2004 –

“My house caught fire on Christmas night on 25/12/2004, at midnight.  I was lucky to have survived the huge inferno.  My friends saved me, took me off the bed and put me on my wheelchair.  Not even a scratch on my body.  My wife was away in Dar-es-Salaam.  I lost everything I owned that night, even my childhood memoirs.  To date I am still rebuilding.”

This man, successfully rebuilt his business, and on the Saturday I spent with him visiting, the place looked great, with a couple of storefronts, house rentals in the back, and a few projects in development.

These are only samples of interactions I’ve had over the past 19 months living out here, some are incredibly boring such as discussions of PC-K administration that wouldn’t make sense to the non-volunteer, discussions with the shop owner in Mombasa about buying outfits for Olivia, Cora, and Spencer, and on the other side, some conversations were a little too raunchy to write about on this family friendly blog.  I could see the evolution of my awareness and feelings during my service learning more and more about Kenya, my reactions become less and less afraid of the cultural interactions, and I could see how I finally began to balance my American need to stand up for myself and my kids and respect for the school administration and hierarchy. 

If these conversations were not written in those five plus notebooks, I would probably have forgotten most of these conversations and it’s always really cool to revisit yourself in the past every now and then and become amazed of the person you were, are now, and will become.