Finally a short driving day! After our morning trek through Kakamega Forest we had a quick hour or so drive to the Nandi Hills. Our stop for the night was a homey place called Kips Eco Resort, we stayed in a basic lodge right in the middle of the tea plantations.
The next morning was spent a couple hours exploring the countryside and meeting some tea pickers.
On our walk we stopped by a school and had an amazing time meeting the kids and staff.
Matthew and Ruby were actually quite overwhelmed by all the attention they got. For many of the younger kids it must have the been the first time they saw white kids their age. Some of them were staring at Ruby's eyes, rubbing her skin and seemingly mesmerized by her hair.
can you find Matthew in this picture??!?
Check out the video of Way and Richie leading them in song and games.
After a pleasant overnight outside of Eldoret we braced ourselves for another long day of driving through western Kenya to Marich Field Studies Centre. The drive through the Cherangani Hills was gorgeous - dark green hillsides until we passed over the peaks and then becoming drier as we dropped down to the valley floor.
village in the Cherangani's
camel herd on the drive
The road also became more and more broken up until finally it was more dirt than pavement.
huts during our stay at Marich
kitchen where they cooked our meals
mealtime at Marich
We stayed at Marich for two nights - it was very basic. Just some beds in a round hut and very simple meals.
The original idea was to hike in the hills from one village to another - but after two days in the van none of us could bare to go back in it again, we needed a break. As it turns out we didn't have a choice since the engine fan broke and Sammy had to take drive back to civilization to get it fixed and then turn around again and come back. I couldn't imagine traveling that road in my life again let alone twice in two days!
For our full day there we hired a guide and took a couple hours hike from the centre through the surrounding countryside to meet some locals, see their village, and enjoy the scenery.
how they make charcoal
school kids followed us up a hill
Rhonda - literally the 'center' of attention
this whole scene would happen
again later in the trip
Luckily, Sammy made it back and we left early Tuesday morning July 30th for the Kakamega Forest. Here we stayed in more very basic accomodations. It was very homey though as the caretaker made us a nice dinner and we went to sleep early as we had hired a guide for an early hike through the rain forest.
high above rain forest
sounds of Kakamega:
the Eastern African blue-striped long-beaked bee eater .... umm not really, I really don't know it's name - just thought it was striking
the first time we crossed the equator -
the 2nd time we yawned and didn't even stop
Still a couple days left of our grand adventure but I figured I needed to start posting some updates or I'd get too far behind - we've had such varied experiences that its easy for them to get muddled together - writing and posting about them helps me to keep the memories vivid. Currently I am back in Nairobi taking a break from the travels by working for a couple days. Ahhh too bad life really can't be like this - travel for a long time, work for a short time, then back on the road again... Well some people do it though - for instance my friend Paul has been traveling the world since Thanksgiving 2010 - right now he is somewhere in Laos I think riding a motorbike. Wow.
supposedly the Grand
Canyon of Kenya -
not so Grand but good
for a 15 minute road break
We started off Saturday morning July 27 heading for Marich and the Cherengani Hills. It's quite a trek from Nairobi so we stopped overnight at a sweet place outside of Eldoret. It was a long, long day of driving and we made plenty of stops - at our driver Sammy's house outside Nakuru, at the Equator, an overlook of the Kerio Valley, some deep gorge, and Eldoret town.
Sammy's place
It was nice to stop at Sammy's house. Come to think of it, it's only the second time in the 11 months I've been here that I have visited a Kenyan's house, the other time was my manager's. Guess that shows how separate our lives are from Kenyans, kind of a shame really (mental note to work on that in year #2). Most of his extended family was there, it was great to hear about the small shop his wife owns in the front of their house, their garden plot, and livestock.
By the time we got to Eldoret we were fried after spending 11 hours in the van. Luckily Richie found this place which he fondly nicknamed the Nevele - since it was a whole resort experience. Too bad we were only staying for a quick overnight stop-over. Turns out it was the nicest, most comfortable place we were to stay at till we would get to the Mara.
random roadside
Ruby and Kerio Valley
our little oasis of serenity in Eldoret
Sammy was driving a little too fast to avoid these
guys - but the turtle soup was delicious
Ruby had a grand day on her birthday! The day before we hosted a party for her and some friends at a local place with a gorgeous garden/yard. It's usually a pretty mellow place with people birdwatching and reading - until Ruby's party that is! We got hushed once or twice - but that wasn't going to deter the celebration. Uncle Way sang some songs with Richie on the drum, the kids did a little limbo...
Rhonda led the kids in the popcorn game, the kids loved a mix and match safari card Richie had put together
Way showed he's a wizard with balloon-making:
Then it was time for a fab cake:
After cake we weren't done - Rhonda and kids had fun on the swing:
and then there was even an impromptu concert and dance performance:
The next day (Ruby's real birthday), Way and Richie took the kids for frozen yogurt.
A couple weekends ago, after Rhonda finished up with her work in Rwanda, I was able to meet up with her for a quick vacation. I was pretty excited to visit the country, not only for the gorillas but also to see first hand its recovery from the genocide events of 20 years ago.
The country is very well organized, with clean cities, organized transport, and a general sense of safety. It is pretty amazing to think how far it has come in such a relatively short amount of time.
Kigali, the capital, has an gorgeous setting among small hills with lots of greenery. To get to the gorillas we took a bus from there to a small town near the national forest where the gorillas are. Despite all the organization we still knew we were not quite in the West when the bus made an unscheduled stop along the side of the road at what we guessed was a well known place to get fresh eggs -- and then someone decided the eggs were not enough they also wanted to bring along the chickens too!
Bright and early the next morning was our gorilla trek. To go on the trek involves a lot of planning since you have to buy permits in advance and they only sell a limited number for each day - thus they are super expensive - over $400 each and that was significantly reduced for us since we are East Africa residents. We chalked it up to a once in a lifetime experience and that the money goes directly to help maintain the environmental conditions for the gorillas.
Before the trek we were treated to a great drum and dance performance:
On the way to the trail head we came across these guys building a house by hand.
They were still sawing away after our trek!
The countryside was gorgeous - green everywhere, flowers along the road, crops growing in the fields, tall volcanoes close as can be.
and friendly, waving people all over:
We had heard from friends that the hike to the gorillas could be pretty intense - straight up steep hillsides, through thick jungle overgrowth, with driving rain. As it turns out, within 10 minutes of exiting our vehicles - there they were - right on the edge of the forest and farmland. It was surreal. But it turned out these were not 'our' gorillas. We were assigned to visit another family/group and the group we had come across were for another group of trekkers - so up the mountain we went. The hike was not so bad though, it was all on an established trail and after about 40 minutes we came to our group - named the Ugenda group.
What an amazing sight and experience to see these wild animals in their environment.
look at those feet!
Here's a video of us hanging with them, I got kind of charged at once or twice - the guide said they just wanted to play, but I got out of there darn quick. Stay tuned for the end of the video for a random shot of Rhonda on a motorcycle taxi...
On our way back to Kigali, we came across this guy and this crazy home-made bike/scooter thing.
The initial 10 days I spent in Gihembe Refugee Camp were long. Our schedule was laid out well in advance with information sessions and assessments for refugees being considered for the ESL Pilot, and training for the two refugee English instructors.
The schedule was already packed without accounting for the
countless logistical hurdles that came up. It was unbelievable. For instance,
we hadn’t anticipated how involved it would be to sort out which pit latrine we
could use so that we wouldn’t have to use the main refugee latrine in the camp,
which was, well.. repulsive.I’ve never
been so happy to be able to use a pit latrine in my life when we charmed the
medical staff into letting us use theirs.We were almost displaced twice – it just went on and on. But, we
persevered, and the project start-up proceeded on schedule.
Byumba isn’t exactly a cosmopolitan center. So, the food
options were limited. Even eating at the nicest hotel in town leaves my stomach
unsettled. Working in the camp means you have to think ahead and have food with
you for lunch. Luckily, I had brought some peanut butter and jelly from Kigali,
which was good for a couple of days. Still, it gets old, and the wax paper bags
just don’t do the job of keeping bread from getting stale (despite the noble
environmental efforts that prompted the banning of plastic bags).
So, I was just a little hungry most days – probably nothing
compared to the people living in Gihembe. And, no matter how much I tried to
keep clean, the camp is unbelievably dusty. There’s no running water for
washing hands. Even if people want to be hygienic, there’s no means to do so. Children were fascinated by us, and it was a joy to
reciprocate their greetings, shake their hands, help them with their basic English
(they do learn English in primary school – a recent development in Rwanda).
Nevertheless, “Mazungu – Mazungu!” got old quickly.
There was one particularly distressful moment when we drove
out of the camp at lunchtime, which happened to coincide with when school was
getting out.As we drove through the
only narrow road that left the camp, a sea of young children in their blue
school uniforms were in front of us and around us – so much so that we could
barely drive. Of course, as soon as the children realized there were white
people in the car, they began the familiar shouting “Mazungu!Mazungu!”, trying to get our attention.But, many also ran as fast as they could to
keep up with our car. We were terrified they were going to slip and fall and
get run over by one of our wheels. One child even opened the door (lesson
learned on locking doors), and it swung open and almost hit people as the car
rolled forward.
Another interesting part of camp life was the water spickets.
Only twice a day are they turned on, so people line up with their empty yellow
plastic containers at these critical times. The lines were long, and it was
mostly women and children waiting there and carrying those heavy containers back
home. Children as young as five or six would haul 5 gallon water jugs on their
backs with a long piece of fabric secured around the forehead and underneath
the bottom of the container to keep it secured.
Our classroom was right next to the water spickets just up a
hill, and I found it fascinating to watch the rhythm of everyday life played
out at the spickets. There was a Mama nursing a baby on line. She then passed
the baby into the fabric sling of another woman’s back so she could return to
the task at hand of waiting for water. The woman now with the baby on her back
walked off.I wondered if the woman with
the sling was an Aunt or a friend or what the relationship was. The two women
worked together so seamlessly, it was almost hard to tell which woman was the
mother.
For the ESL Pilot, we selected those refugees approved to
resettle in the U.S. with the lowest levels of English. Out of 45 students, 7
were completely pre-literate (never had any education and couldn’t read or
write even in their native language of Kinyarwanda). Interestingly, it was no
coincidence that many of our lowest level students were older women – a good
litmus test to show who gets left out of educational opportunities in so many
parts of the world.
We had invited the “primary applicant” of any case to
participate. Sometimes this was a man and sometimes a woman. It was especially
enlightening to have an 83 year old woman (the oldest of our group), raise her
hand during the Q and A part of our information session. She said, “I have an
old man at home (meaning her husband) – shouldn’t he be here rather than me?” I
responded, “But you will need to know English, too, once you get to the United
States.” Amazed by the prospect that she should matter, she just laughed and
laughed as if the idea was preposterous. I guess she accepted it since she had
perfect attendance for all 4 weeks of class.
The class got off to a good start. There was such joy in
that classroom. Students knew that this opportunity was rare and that English
would be vital to their success.They so
want a good life – a new beginning. They took class seriously and found an
oasis of mental stimulation, comraderie and enrichment – apart from the
monotony of camp life. My background is not
in education – it’s never been my issue, but I came away with a newfound
appreciation for how transformative education can be.
I was able to return to Nairobi knowing that all was in
place.Of course, I also had a revived
appreciation for the variety of foods I can eat in Nairobi and the pleasure of
a hot shower whenever you want it. Even in Nairobi, we’re spoiled.
Just two days ago, I returned to Byumba in time to attend
the last day of class. Everyone could say “Good Morning.How are you?” – “My name is Immaculate. Nice
to meet you.” Most could tell the 9-1-1 operator what their emergency was and
give him an address and phone number in English. We’ll do post-class assessments over the next couple of days
to really evaluate the Pilot’s impact, and then we’ll have a graduation to
celebrate. Even the 83 year old woman who’s had a much harder time progressing
with literacy and numeracy – she’s got a lot to celebrate. Maybe she finally
sees that the world hasn’t forgotten her - that we believe in her.
The strangest part of seeing the community in Gihembe is
imagining these same people in New York. It’s a different universe all
together. I just hope people can see her for who she is and all she’s overcome
– beyond her race or her accent. I see now how hard it would be for most people
to have any clue of all that she’s experienced. Maybe that little bit of English will be a
small beginning to bridge the divide.
Finally a short driving day! After our morning trek through Kakamega Forest we had a quick hour or so drive to the Nandi Hills. Our stop for the night was a homey place called Kips Eco Resort, we stayed in a basic lodge right in the middle of the tea plantations. 
The next morning was spent a couple hours exploring the countryside and meeting some tea pickers.
