I went on a day trip to Kajiado to do an assessment of the drought situation in that area for the Emergency Response program (ERP) at CWS and the organization called ACT with which ERP works. While some areas in Kenya are flooding - people have been displaced and some even killed because of all the water- other areas still haven’t gotten any rain. Kajiado is one of the areas that has not gotten any rain. People are still struggling to get by, their cattle are all dying, and there have even been quite a few suicides in the past couple weeks because people don’t know what to do any more; this has also left a number of orphaned children. Very sad. We also stopped at a school in the area that is held at a Lutheran Church. There are about 60 kids that go to school there. For the past three years, the two teachers who work at the school have not gotten paid – not once. They have been able to continue to work without pay for the good of the children because their husbands have been able to support their families, but pretty soon, they will not be able to afford to work for free any more.  Who knows what the children will do, then?
      It was nice, though, to see another area that I haven’t been to yet, and to get to meet some of the people in the area. Mostly Maasai people live around there, and it is very much a pastoral community, which is why they are suffering so much.  Unfortunately, we came across lots of dead cattle - although we were planning on that when we headed out there . One cow even collapsed in the ten minutes between when we drove up a road and came back. The people were all very nice, though. When we were getting ready to meet with some of the folks from the community, a few of the elders were there, and we, of course needed to greet them and everyone else. It wasn’t proper for me to shake everyone’s hand (something to do with me not being circumcised, and the status of the different individuals in the community I think). So, with some of them, I would shake their hand, and others I would just stand in front of them, bow very slightly, and they would put their hand on top of my head. Well, I had no idea beforehand, what I was supposed to do. When we got there, I noticed someone else in front of me that was not shaking everyone’s hand. Luckily, there was a woman from the community who noticed me observing what was going on, and she immediately helped me (thank goodness because I was about to walk up to shake these people’s hands). So, when I got to each individual, she would say “hand”, “head”, “hand”, etc. so that I would know what to do. I am so glad she was there and that she helped me, because otherwise, I may have really offended someone without even knowing it.

So, for those of you who are hoping to find a meaningful story about Kenya in this blog post, I apologize, for you will be disappointed. I felt the need, however, to share this story in order to provide some amusement and comic relief. So here you go...   Yesterday, Lauren and I decided we were going to make our first attempt at making beef samosas, so after work, I walked down to Uchumi (a store near our apartment) to meet Lauren and pick up some groceries. We picked up all the ingredients we needed to make the dough, as well as some ground beef and veggies, and walked back to the apartment. When we walked in, and tried to turn on the lights, however, nothing came on. "Looks like the electricity is still out," she said, and told me that it had been out when she had stopped at home earlier as well. She noticed, though, that there was a light on in the hall outside, and lights on across the way. I then remembered Rachel at work asking if we'd received a bill from the power company a couple weeks ago (which we hadn't ever received) and figured they must have shut off the electricity to our apartment. Luckily, we have one gas burner, so we decided that, even though it would be tricky to make samosas with just the light from a torch (flashlight), we would go ahead with our plan, as we really had nothing else to do anyways, and we didn't want to have to throw away the beef. So, I started making the dough and Lauren started getting some veggies ready and cooking the beef. Once we were both finished with those tasks, Lauren got a small pot ready with some oil to fry the Samosas. We got one all ready, went to put it in the pot, and the gas was off - yes, our gas ran out as well.  What are the odds that our cooking gas runs out at the same time as our electricity gets turned off.  Now we had a bunch of dough and a lot of ground beef to eat. So, there we stood, in our dark kitchen, by the light of our torch, laughing, because what else can you do in that situation. At about 8:40, we sat down and ate our ground beef, some chopped up tomato, and a slice of bread. And let me tell you, we ate WAY more ground beef in one sitting than we needed to; we probably don't need to eat meat for two weeks, but we couldn't save it, so we thought we ought to finish it. We finished our dinner, played a few rounds of 'pass the pigs', and went to sleep pretty early (especially for me since I rarely go to sleep early at all). So there is my story; I hope it put a smile on your face :)  

I just got back from a trip around Kenya for work. I went to Nakuru, Eldoret, Kitale, and West Pokot, among some other smaller places.  All in all, it went very well. I had it built up in my mind as this really rough trip, based on what I'd heard from a few folks, but it went well. The only problems involved some miscommunications with one of the partner organizations, so we weren't able to talk with many people in a couple of the communities, which was unfortunate, but other than that it went well. It was also nice for me to be able to see some new places, communities, and people in Kenya. Also, I am so thankful for the wonderful people that I get to work with. They are all so nice, such great people, and a lot of fun to hang out with. So, it was a great trip. It is sad to see the situations people are dealing wth in the really dry areas in Kenya. Please pray for them to get rain soon, they really need it! Otherwise, I'm not sure what they are going to do.  It's also interesting to learn about some of the different cultures I come across on my travels. Some of the things that children, especially girls, and women in many of the communities have to deal with are very difficult. It was encouraging, though, to learn about some of the progress that has been made in some of the communities since the sand dams and other programs have been started there. Many of the folks have been able to start growing vegetables for themselves and to sell at markets. Some are interested in starting small businesses as well, and there were a few women that have started making baskets. I must say, however, that though I am certainly not one that likes to impose my beliefs on others, nor am I a person who thinks that all cultures should adopt the ways of the West, but I do hope that in some ways, things can change at least a little bit, at least to the point where people are informed of their options, and then they can make the choices for themselves. Improving the situations in communities like these, is a tricky thing to deal with, there is a very fine line there that you have to be careful not to cross. And, I am glad that these communities are getting access to water, which is a basic necessity, and  also allows them to grow some crops, because no one deserves to struggle like so many people here currently are. Ok, that is probably enough of my rambling about that. Things are going well here. I will try to write more frequently. Thank you all for keeping up with my adventures!

     As of today we have been in Kenya for three weeks, and orientation is coming to a close. We have done some laundry - handwashing our clothing for the first time was interesting - and we have some shopping to do, as well as packing. Over the next couple of days we will be parting ways, some of us going to different placements here in Nairobi and others will be moving out of Nairobi.  Orientation has been a good adjusting period. We've met a lot of wonderful people and have been able to learn a bit about the culture here.
    It became obvious right away how many things we take for granted. I know that sounds really cliche, but it's true. Something as simple as having electricity all the time or having a hot shower (or water for your shower at all for that matter). They are doing some rationing of electricity and water here. There are supposed to be set days and times for the electricity, but you never know for sure. At the house we've been staying at, for example, the electricity usually goes out on Tuesdays, Thursday, and Saturday from 6 am to 6 pm. which affects so many things, including how much food you can buy cause the refrigerator won't stay as cold on those days and the hot water for things like showers. Nairobi is very large, and in many ways looks like any other city. There are many differences though, as well. There are walls and security guards at most places, traffic is crazy, and matatus drive all over the place - I've seen them drive on the sidewalk. People walk a lot more here, too. Even though they are in the middle of a drought, there is a lot of vegetation. There are so many cool trees and plants and beautiful flowers everywhere.  And, you don't have to go far out of Nairobi to see wildlife. We went to the Rift Valley with an archaeologist a few days ago as a part of orientation, and on the way we saw warthogs, zebras, baboons, and gazelles. Also, everyone we have met during orientation is sooo nice; I haven't met anyone so far in Kenya that has not been friendly! Even though I've had fun during orientation and it will be sad not seeing all of the other YAVs all the time, I'm looking forward to starting my work with Church World Service now. Time for the next chapter to begin!

     I have now been in Kenya for just over a week and have been enjoying orientation in Nairobi so far. There has been a lot going on, so I'll try to recap as best I can. First of all, I must say that I think I've had more tea since I arrived in Kenya than I had previously had in my entire life! In some ways, Nairobi is a lot like a city one would find in the U.S., but there are many differences as well. Each day I'm getting a little more familiar with the areas, but I think it will be awhile before I feel like I really know where I am and what's going on.
      We've been staying together as a group at a house in Nairobi for the most part, except for our individual home stays with our Kenyan families that took place this past weekend. I have met a lot of interesting people so far, and learned a lot about Kenya through the people we've met, places we've visited, and talks we've been to. We also started our Kiswahili lessons. I think I am definitely the worst in the group at learning the language, but the group is being nice and trying to help me learn haha. We've been eating some great meals too, mostly prepared by our site coordinator, Phyllis; we also went to a cool Ethiopian restaurant last night, which was pretty interesting. Oh, and I can't forget about our nights at the house, where we've played some fun games, including some entertaining rounds of Pass the Pigs! This weekend we will be traviling to Meru which is near Mount Kenya for a youth challenge with the PCEA. I'm sure after this weekend I'll have more to update everyone on; hopefully I'll see a few animals...perhaps giraffes (I hope!)

Hello everyone! I arrived in New York on Monday afternoon after traveling from Albuquerque to Chicago, and then from Chicago to NYC. I was really tired the first couple days after not getting much sleep at all my last two nights in Albuquerque, but now I've gotten some rest and am back on a normal schedule, and I am enjoying orientation so far. It's good to see all the YAV's as we're about to head off on our adventures, and it's nice to be able to prepare a bit for the coming year.  It is incredibly humid here, it's been very strange not having a phone, and it's been rather entertaining trying to find all of the things I need that are stuffed in random places in my bags; I'm sure that I will find everything I need eventually! We've been going to workshops for most of the past couple of days on various topics such as vocational discernment and race and gender. We took Myers-Briggs personality tests and apparently I am an INFJ. I'm sure that there will be a lot more information thrown at us throughout the week, and hopefully I will learn a bit more about my site before we head over there. I guess it it doesn't make too big of a difference though, as I will be in Kenya less than a week from now after all! Sorry this first post isn't very exciting, but I thought I'd at least update everyone on how things are going!