Back to Loitokitok

On Wednesday, I got into the Peace Corps Land Cruiser, with a major flashback to doing that exact same thing returning from Mombasa.  As we drove down the road, I exclaimed on how nice part of the road has become, only to start going off-road on some of the nastiest roads, with me laughing, and telling the PC driver that this was more what I remembered.  We slipped and swerved through the rain soaked and mud covered road and then finally reached Loitokitok. 

Today is the one-year anniversary of my group’s arrival in Nairobi.  It is amazing to actually say that I have been in Kenya for one whole year already.  Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of our arrival, dazed and confused, in Mombasa.  The reason why I am talking about this is because meeting the new trainees has sent me numerous flashbacks to my PST, here in Loitokitok. 

The new trainees had the same questions I had, the same feelings, and the same complaints.  Regardless of all that, I am very excited about the future of PC-Kenya, as I met eleven intelligent, energetic, motivated, and excited individuals planning on working at Deaf schools across Kenya.  I am also especially excited about this year’s PST, and from the observation of two days thus far, it looks like it’s going pretty well, most definitely having a much more positive vibe than the one we had during our PST. 

So, to the PCTs set for 2010-2012, best of luck, and here’s to you and the future of PC-Kenya!

And, of course, I can’t and won’t end this entry without a shout out to my group, the 2009-2011 peeps, here’s to another fantastic year of teaching, gorgeous travels, and unforgettable friendships!

Nairobi, Meru, Maua, Limuru, Nairobi again, and then finally home.

In mid-October, I traveled to Nairobi for the Training Design and Evaluation sessions for the Educational volunteers.  I was excited about having some sort of input in the whole PST experience, but also curious about how much impact that the volunteers would actually have.  Throughout the week, I was pleasantly surprised how involved we were in the nitty gritty details of the PST.  This time around, it will be just the Math/Science and Deaf Education trainees, and the three Math/Science and two Deaf Ed volunteers who were there for the TDE spent nearly the entire day discussing learning objectives, how to set up sessions, how to schedule the sessions, what should happen first, and what went wrong with our PST.  After the end of the four-day session, we tentatively came up with a PST that hopefully would be so much better than the PST in 2008 was.   Even if only half of the things we have scheduled actually went through it would still be five times better than my PST.

An added bonus of going to Nairobi (a city that I continue to not like very much), I got to stay at the Kenya Continental Hotel (the hotel that Peace Corps uses for PC-K related business and the hotel where they keep all the sick people [Nairobi is one of the hubs for Peace Corps Volunteers across Africa to fly to for medical related reasons]), and I got to see several volunteers that I have not seen in a while, and because the hotel is in Westlands, a neighborhood of Nairobi that has a lot of restaurants and options, I blew quite a bit of my moolah (Nairobi is really, really, really expensive on a Peace Corps budget) for some fantastic sushi, pizza, Indian, and of course, a good ole bacon cheeseburger (although, Nate and Mel, the bacon in no shape or form as good as yours, so you better save up some for me!).

At the conclusion of the TDE, I was ready to head out of Nairobi, and because I was due back in Limuru, a short distance from Nairobi the following week, I decided to add onto my trip by visiting Alyssa and Matt in Meru and Maua.  I got in the matatu from Westlands and weaved the traffic, hoping that I would make it to city center in time to catch the matatu so it would arrive in Meru before dark.  Lady Luck was on my side, as the matatu left just before the deadline I set for myself.  I found myself speeding off up north.  I have heard crazy stories of matatu drivers driving very fast, swerving all over the place, on a variety of drugs, most likely mirra, a plant that releases a some sort of stimulant if you chew it – Meru and Maua has mirra trees galore, so it’s a big thing up north.  Anyway, the matatu I got on wasn’t as bad as I expected, and without incident, I got into Meru. 

Meru is a nice sized town, and after eating out with Alyssa, we went to her school and the next day, she showed me around a bit.  The layout of Alyssa’s house is a carbon copy of my house, so it was really weird to see how she has it all set up compared to the way I set up mine.  Her school is gorgeous, has a gorgeous library, and I enjoyed myself spending time with her and some of her students.  Alyssa and I decided to look through the Karibu Jikoni cookbook (the book that saved lives of numerous PCVs and RPCVs – I have talked with several RPCVs that continues to use this book, and I know for a fact that I would probably use that cookbook for the rest of my life), and look up for some recipes we wanted to try, and we ended up making amazing chili and chocolate chip cheesecake along with some wine.  Needless to say, I enjoyed Meru. 

After two relaxing days with Alyssa, I went up to Maua, and met Matt on the side of the road and then went into his school.  Matt’s school is on a crest of a hill, on a nice day, giving you gorgeous views of the hillsides of Kenya.  Matt and I walked around the school, meeting some of his students, and talked about his library project (which by the way if you want to donate to, go here to check out the Harambee Project, and donate!).  I met his adorable students, talked with every class about life beyond class 8, and then Matt and I walked around the school through the village, and it was a gorgeous walk, with a couple of rainbows, and beautiful vistas.  We also went to Maua for dinner and a couple of other errands.  Regardless of the rain and cold, I loved every minute I was at Maua as well. 

On Kenyatta Day, another PCV from the Maua area and I went back to Nairobi to catch a matatu to Limuru for the VAC meeting with the new Country Director.  While Meru was pretty cold, Maua even colder, Limuru was insanely cold.  Okay it’s probably not as cold as the northern part of the States during winter, but it was insanely cold to my body, used to the hot and humid Coast.  Limuru, where they provide hot water bottles for bedtime, where I sat in my room, taking complete advantage of the wifi provided at the hotel wrapped in several blankets, reminding myself of my first winter break during college back at home, parking my butt in the front of the computer and chatting away with friends on IM wrapped in blankets until the wee hours of the night. The new Country Director was different from the old one, and I look forward to working with him – he (along with the old CD) clearly loved Peace Corps, what it represents and seems to be a good person to help rebuild PC-Kenya as it continues to need some rebuilding after the evacuation. 

After Limuru, I headed back to Nairobi for one night because of the night travel restrictions of Peace Corps, and by that point, I was exhausted and completely ready to be home.  I traveled on the night train, which was really charming, sweet, and 21 hours instead of 12.  Words of advice, if you all want to travel to Mombasa from Nairobi on a vacation, fly.

It’s grand to travel, but it’s also good to be home.  

Random Loitokitok Photo

This was taken on a walk from one of the trainee's homestay family's house - the maize fields were everywhere (as it was the rainy season there - it has just started up again a couple of weeks ago), and in some parts of Loitokitok you had gorgeous views of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

I posted this photo because in only a few weeks, the Peace Corps group of 2009-2011 would have been here for a year, and before our anniversary, on 4 November, Loitokitok will welcome yet another group of volunteers (the Public Health folks were there in June).  

As I mentioned in a blog entry, I went to Nairobi for the TDE (Training Design and Evaluation), and we created a PST that seems to reflect the needs of the education volunteers in so many more ways, and as a result, making the PST have the potential of being many times better than the 2008 PST.  Excitement and shining eyes were the response of the volunteers when they looked over the tentative schedule for the PST - and everyone hoped that it would be as good as we think it can be. 

Loitokitok - I'll see you soon. 

Random Mt. Longonot Photos

Just a few photos of a beautiful hike Allen and I did in May.

Not quite Charlotte's Web, but ...

A few weeks ago, our cowherder, Samini came to me in my classroom during the naptime period for the nursery class students, bearing a grin similar to one found on a proud baba. He told me that one of the cows just gave birth to a healthy female calf. After I congratulated him, he said that because the school has something akin to a tradition of naming their cattle after the teachers at the school, Samini has decided to name the newborn calf after me. After gaping speechlessly (and waving my hands meaninglessly), I finally recovered and said that it would be an honor.

Without further ado, introducing the newest member of the Kibarani family, Charlotte!



And, Charlotte with Charlotte – hopefully you’ll be able to tell which is the calf, and which is the teacher! Pole sana for the crappy quality of photos from my camera phone!

Projects Galore

As I enjoy my lazy Sunday and the calm before the storm, sipping coffee and preparing for the start of Week 5, I am amazed by how fast time has been flying this term. A big part of that is because I’m involved with several projects outside of the actual teaching process, and those projects are right up my alley, which makes me very excited about working on them.

The first project is a result of a long running conversation I have been having with several teachers over the past couple of terms about how to provide support for parents / families of Deaf children as some of these teachers were interested in starting something that would address that issue. I spoke about the parents outreach program that my mom (along with a couple of other parents) worked for back in upstate New York when we lived there, and a couple of the motivated teachers had many ideas on how to apply some of those principles and ideas into a Kenyan society. The basic goal is to establish a Community Based Organization (CBO – the local counterpart to your NGO [non-government organization]) to serve that population. The organization has an uphill battle as the attitude about disability and Deafness is that it is still very much a shameful part of society. The teachers I am working with are hoping that with exposure to other Deaf Kenyan adults, awareness of various organizations of and for the Deaf in Kenya, that attitude will slowly change. We just had our first meeting yesterday to approve the constitution, elect the officers, and figure out who would talk with the banks about opening accounts, and renting a mailbox. The start up of this organization is definitely difficult and complicated, but I am feeling positive about the process thus far. My role in this project is something similar to a support staff – I help the teachers find various resources, drafts of guidelines, bounce off ideas, and perform other basic functions for the initial boost – the idea is to promote sustainability, as I do definitely want this organization to continue to do good work long after I COS.

Another iron in the fire is the Training Design and Evaluation session for the Peace Corps in Nairobi in mid-October. It is exactly what it appears to be – it is a four-day brainstorm session with the training staff at Peace Corps and a couple other volunteers to help Peace Corps develop a better Pre-Service Training (PST) for the upcoming group of Deaf Education volunteers. I am excited about this project, as I, along with the rest of the current Deaf Eds, have many ideas on how to improve the training process (while the training process will never be perfect, I hope the work that we will do will help the process). Part of this session, I hope, will also help the current volunteers figure out what our roles and responsibilities are for the new folks. Next month, our beloved Kenya will be invaded by yet another group of trainees set for 2010-2012, making my group, the 2009-2011 folks the old fogeys of Deaf Eds, which is unbelievably crazy. I don’t think I will even believe it until I actually meet them!

Not only that, Pwani Secondary School for the Deaf (the new secondary school that I’m teaching a couple of subjects for) just got a new Headteacher assigned to the school. While the Headteacher has some experience in special education, she has almost no exposure or experience with Deaf education. While that is a challenge on the parts of the teachers and the students, she has appeared to be very open to learning about Deaf education, learning KSL, and a various other things, so the Headteacher of Kibarani has assigned me the duty to help her with this learning process. I started by printing out many Deaf [insert subject here] 101 documents / websites for her – for example Deaf Culture, Deaf Education, Bilingualism, and a variety of other things. If there are any websites or resources that you think I should pass on, please feel free to post in comments or email me. Additionally we will be starting one-on-one tutoring sessions in KSL and she will be observing classes and seeing how people teach by using KSL. It is my hope that she will evolve in a person that has positive views and attitudes toward the Deaf community at large, especially of the students of Pwani, which will help the school be everything that it can be.

In the midst of all that, there is a huge weekend just before I am scheduled to head off to Nairobi for the TDE workshop, filled with events and competitions between schools of the Coast Province that we are all preparing for. The first couple of days consist of dramas, dancing, poetry, and various other activities relating to HIV/AIDS, organized by the KSLRP (Kenya Sign Language Research Project) – all this will happen at Kibarani. Schools from faraway towns and villages of the Coast will be coming to Kibarani for a few days, and we will be expecting upwards of 300 children and however how many teachers for the weekend. After the day of cultural activities, most, if not all, the kids will be headed to Mombasa for the Lions World Day, which is mainly a track and field event.

So yea, a lot of things happening these days.

Things I Have Always Wondered About …

… but that I never had guts to try, or only heard stories from friends of friends about it happening to include blowing up hearing aid batteries.

You read that right – blowing up hearing aid batteries.

I think every hearing aid wearer (albeit in my case, a very brief career) at one point in our lives heard the story of the blowing up of the batteries and in my case, and I’m sure many others, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see one of them blow up.

I got the opportunity to do so last night. I was on night duty, walking around campus, and shooing all the younger kids back to the dorms when one boy hid his dead hearing aid battery, and then tossed it in a fire. Needless to say, that drew quite a crowd of kids toward the fire, and sprayed some dazzling sparks.

Secretly delighted by the show, I gave the kids a lecture about safety (but seriously – I’m not even going into the whole safety thing here – its just too big), and then again this morning during morning assembly, I stressed the importance of appropriately disposing of the batteries.

Last night, after the whole shebang (pun totally intended), I was talking with a hearing aids wearer online, and this is our conversation, slightly paraphrasing (as this is from memory).

“This kid threw his dead hearing aid battery into the fire.”
“Did it blow up?”
“Yep.”
“Cool! I need to try that!”

Beware anyone who decide to try and cross the Deaf community – we’re armed with hearing aids batteries!