(Written 26/2/13)
It’s been a wild few weeks.
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, my computer was stolen,
which leads me to my first story. Two
weekends ago Emily and I went to Mombasa, a really old port city on the coast. It’s
a wonderful blend of cultures being a Muslim, African city on the Indian
Ocean. Our “9 hour” bus ride turned into
something like 13 hours total. Having had
someone throw up behind me I was reluctant to set my stuff at my feet. Somewhere around the 12th hour
Emily and I both fell asleep with the laptop over our heads and woke up to find
people exiting the bus and the laptop gone.
Despite this foolish and unfortunate start, I really enjoyed the
weekend.
The next day we spent exploring the old town, going to the
spice market, shops, a miraculously peaceful Hindu temple in the center of
town, and an old fort built by the Portuguese, called Fort Jesus. Late in the afternoon we made our way to Diani
beach. Although we asked about 15 people, no one seemed to understand the concept
of “camping in a tent on the beach” or “campsite”. On our mission to find the place
which was aptly named “Diani campsite”, we stopped for some incredible Indian food. Diani beach is the most famous in Kenya, and with
reason, it was lovely. The next day we
went on a full day excursion, where we “sailed” (using a motor on a cool old
wooden African boat) to the southernmost island in Kenya where I snorkeled and
Emily scuba dived. It was a really cool
experience. The trip back was thankfully
uneventful.
Getting back to work, I can’t say enough how much I enjoy
working with Francis and Nancy. Last
week we got to try some or our side projects like the solar shower. They were
so thrilled and thankful.
There have been some downs. The place where we were staying
had some break-ins reported so we decided to play it safe and move in with our
friend Andrew temporarily. Though it
wasn’t such a blast being uprooted, we are not exactly roughing it, and in fact
we upgraded substantially from the shack.
So the past couple of weeks I have just been thinking about
the extremes that exist here. The amazing hospitality and the theft. The beautiful and the disgusting. You can’t say “oh the poor Africans are just
victims” but it’s also equally wrong to say they are all lazy thieves. I see many expats here who have grown cynical
working and living with Kenyans. While I’m
not there (yet), I am starting to understand more of where they are coming
from. Last week we heard back that
Sanivation is a finalist for getting a grant to work in a refugee camp in
Northern Kenya, called Kakuma, which would be amazing! [Sidenote: Read “What is
the What”, it’s one of my favorite books and it’s about a Sudanese refugee who
ends up at this camp in Kenya and is eventually resettled in Atlanta.] I keep
thinking about what I’m doing here in Kenya.
Is this where I should be, where I’m can actually be useful? I still don’t see myself in sanitation for
the long haul, but I’m enjoying it right now.
These opportunities are too good to pass up. I’m just trusting that God will make it clear
if he has something else for me.
This past weekend was extremely lazy- just getting Emily
addicted to Smash and hanging around Naivasha.
Emily left yesterday and flies back to the US today. I really do miss
her already. It’s quite remarkable how
we didn’t want to kill each other, and even wanted to spend more time
together. Hopefully we will get our project
approved and she will be back soon! Friday I leave for Uganda. I’m thrilled
that I get to see [people from such different parts of my life and get to take
a little break from poop.
Cheers,
Hana
