Goal Five

December 5, 2011

Today, I was reminded of the five goals of Newton Country Day that I learned by heart 10 years ago.

Did you ever have one of those moments where you lie awake in the dark in a strange place, listening to the sounds, taking in unfamiliar smells and thinking to yourself: wow, I can’t believe this is where I am at this exact moment in time. It may be a good feeling, a bad feeling or just…a feeling.

Isiolo is quite a noisy town at night. I woke up a few times, most significantly around 5am as someone was running down the street yelling. He was greeted(or something, hard to tell when they yell in Swahili) by other people yelling and yes, I did get a little worried there for a second. But when I had assessed the situation and concluded that I was not in any immediate danger, I went back to sleep.

The first clear blue sky we've seen in two weeks - morning in Isiolo

At 9(ex. African Time) the meeting began in the conference room of the hotel. Isiolo houses the regional headquarters for the northern Kenya Action Aid. In addition to the regional office, there are bunch of smaller local offices, or DIs, that report to the Isiolo branch. As mentioned, we are currently attached to the DI in Kieni/Naro Moru. This meeting was an end-of-year status for all the managers of the DIs. We spent most of the day listening to the reports from the managers on their projects, challenges and future plans.

I must admit that I no longer remember the Newton Country Day goals by heart, but the essential of them has somehow stayed with me, and especially goal five. Goal Five talks about personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom and I felt just like that several times throughout the day. Listening to the managers talk about their projects and their challenges I could almost reach out and touch the wisdom.

During lunch and after the official part of the meeting was over, we made attempts at networking, Charlotte more successfully than me but that can’t be a surprise to anyone. One of the other managers brought us on a tour of the AA office across the road from the hotel and we spent more than an hour talking to him about the system of food distribution, about how Denmark and Kenya differs significantly on aspects of welfare and about how good an organization Action Aid is.

I just want to share one project with you that AA has established. They have given representatives of various communities a cell phone, so that they can send a text to AA about things going on in community that AA should be aware of. It could be a security issue, but also about changes in the weather, problems with the food distribution or flooding. In addition, they can use the phones to get the current market prices on things like maize or milk. AA can also send them messages if they need to. For Katastrofe-folket: this is a kick-ass acceptance strategy.

A few random tidbits from a day of learning:

-          Fish farming(dambrug) is an up-and-coming industry in central and northern Kenya

-          Challenges to a certain project can include both the lack of rainfall and flooding

-          Abbreviations  of the day: DEC, LRP, SMC, FGM, CBO, GBRC, KPLC, PRO, CNL, 
       VAW/VAGS, PRRO, FDP, CBTD, BSFP, FFA, SFP, DNO, GFD, CP, KFSSG, DPSC

-          ActionAid has won the bid to do food distribution for WFP for the past 18 years

-          Elephants are afraid of fire

The future of our internship still has no concrete description, but I think we are both at a point right now where we just want to see as many projects as possible to get a deeper understanding of the way ActionAid does things and to see how it affects the communities. We prefer emergency operations, obviously, but the picture we are beginning to see is the one that shows the links between development and aid and how really, really important it is for every part of the emergency management cycle from mitigation to recovery. Hopefully, we can go on a food distribution later this week or maybe next week, but we will also go with Francis to see some of the projects the Kieni office has helped facilitate.

After a full day of learning, we walked to the restaurant.

A very random collection of a few essentials to internship and life in Kenya

Reaching for the clouds

December 4, 2011

With no offense to anyone – especially you, Charlotte - it is kind of nice to have a night to myself.

As Francis was out of the office on Friday, we opted to stay home and try to get some work done on that paper we’re due to hand in come late January. Enthusiasm did not exactly reign, so we did not get that much done. Friday night we introduced the family to kalenderlys(calendar candles) and making paper stars and the boys played along with the making of the stars for surprisingly long despite multiple distractions.

Colin and Ivan make attempts at star-making

Ivan pays close attention to Charlottes directions

Star-making is a family effort - from left to right is Colin, Charlotte, Ivan, Margaret and Elve

Saturday sort of disappeared for me. We went to town to get my internet fixed – again. Hopefully we’ve now learned how to do it so we don’t have to stand in 20 minute lines anymore – ‘cause that’s getting kinda old. We work with “mobilt bredbånd”(internet on a stick), which has a multitude of solutions for paying, all of which are prepaid and means that you have to go to a store to buy a card with a code when you need to top-off. We’ve now opted for what seems like the cheapest solution which is prepaid for a month. Unfortunately the speed is not as fast as with the ones based on how much you use, but we soon learned that we both use quite a lot, so it would end up being ridiculously expensive if we were to top-off every three days.
Anyway. Saturday dwindled by. We had learned that Francis would be going to Isiolo for a meeting on Monday(leaving Sunday) and we asked if it would be at all possible for us to tag along. He promised to get back to us on Saturday(and seemed quite positive about the possibility), but when we didn’t hear from him there seemed to be two reasons: 1. We couldn’t go. 2. African time.

He had said that if we were to go, we would leave Nanyuki around 2pm, so when we hadn’t heard from him at 1, we tried to get in touch – unsuccessfully. Around 2.30 he called and said that he was still trying to get in touch with his own boss as well as Teresia was trying to get in touch with Denmark(I’m sure he meant MS, not the country in general) to see if it would be ok for us to go. I’m not sure whether or not she actually did, it is Sunday after all. But Francis called us back half an hour later and said to be ready at 5, we had been permitted to go.

So he picked us up promptly at 5.45(just on time according to African time) and we headed for Isiolo. Nanyuki is situated at the foot of Mount Kenya and as we drove north, we constantly had the cloud-shrouded mountain to the right of us(we have yet to actually see the top of it). The popping in my ears told me that the elevation changed a couple of times. If it hadn’t been for the hills, we almost could have been in Denmark as wheat and maize fields and green houses surrounded us. Majs(sweet corn) as we know it in Denmark is unusual here and when they crow it, they use it more for export than for eating. Instead they use the maize for practically everything from porridge to bread to ugali, the national dish. I suspect that maize is what we know as fodermajs.

The low-hanging clouds seemed close enough to touch as darkness fell upon us. Francis is, thankfully, a very careful driver as there are no street lamps and it can be hard to see what is tarmac and what is not. When Isiolo appeared in the darkness it was around 7:30pm and we checked in to the very nice hotel. As I opened the door to my room I thought they had forgotten to put in a bed.

Until I turned the corner and the actual room was there. Weird setup, but one of the biggest hotel rooms I’ve ever stayed in.

We drove across the road for dinner and had to ask why we took the car the 100 m to the restaurant. Just a precaution was the answer. Had he been himself, Francis would have walked.
We had a really good talk over dinner and my apprehensions about making conversation are already fading.

The bed is really comfortable, does not feel like it is going to break every time I turn(if I didn’t feel heavy before, I sure as heck do when sleeping in the Kenyan beds) and the pillows are REAL pillows! 

Yes, that is a toilet on a piedestal

When you don’t know what hit you

December 2, 2011

I don’t think of myself as somewhere who gets hit by culture shock.

Maybe I have been though and just wasn’t aware that it was culture that hit me.

Maybe my time has come now.

Or maybe it’s just a general annoyance/adjustment challenge and not really culture shock at all.

What is both fascinating and frustrating is sticking out everywhere we go. Being someone who doesn’t really like attention and prefers the anonymity of blending in on the street, being a white girl in a black population is a bit of a challenge. There’s nowhere to hide. People stare at you everywhere you go. It’s not like I didn’t expect to stick out(I have always been white after all, and I’m not a complete idiot), but I think I’m a little surprised that one is given that much attention – especially in Nanyuki where there are a lot of white people.

I’ve always been really good at English and harbor a rather thick American accent, and I never thought I’d find it a disadvantage to the degree I’m feeling it now. Most people we meet here speak a little bit of English, but I find that I tend to be better understood if I tone down the American and add on the Danish. With the Danish accent, I guess the words are pronounced a little clearer where they are more rounded in the American and thereby drown the words. In addition, I find it a little frustrating that it’s so hard to have a conversation with people and I feel like it may limit my interactions because it is so hard to get a point or a question across. When even the simplest question is misunderstood, it does not exactly encourage you to keep asking.

Of course I’ll manage. It takes some getting used to, but I’m sure the frustration will wear off and acceptance will follow.

I could also just learn Swahili in record time and thereby solve the problem. Samahani, I have to go study.

The world is changing

December 1, 2011

It’s amazing how easily a couple of paper planes can win the hearts of five year old boys.

But let us begin elsewhere.

After being picked up at the Y(more like 8:20 than 8, but who’s counting?), we were driven to the epicenter of matatu chaos. Fortunately Teresia’s assistant Elizabeth was there to greet us and go with us to Nanyuki, otherwise I’m sure we would have been lost. There were hundreds of matatus going everywhere in the country and probably 20 just going to Nanyuki. Elizabeth had found a really nice one though and soon after we were off. I wish I had the guts to pull out my camera and document the fascinating “terminal”, but I was too afraid of it being pulled off of me in all the commotion.

Going back to Nanyuki was eventless and we arrived at around noon, found Teresia and had lunch while we waited for our “mum” to get her lunch break. When we were done eating, she was locking up the book store next door where she works. Our huge bags went with Teresia and we with Margaret to her home in one of the nicer neighborhoods on the outskirts of the town.

A large and beautiful garden surrounds the house and three dogs roam the grounds(and they will bark at anything, apparently, at night). The house is lovely - fairly minimalistic decorated furniture-wise but with a lot of little things, pieces of nic-nac, placed everywhere. It could really use a little care though. Ceiling plates are dangling and there are severe cracks in the walls. But it still stands and it feels like a home. (Pictures are yet to be taken, so they will be introduced in a later entry)

After dropping us off, Margaret left with Teresia and Elizabeth, and left us to ourselves. Well, not completely though. The gardener, laundry-lady and a woman who seems to be a nearly fulltime housekeeper were around for the rest of the afternoon. We opted to sit on the porch and read and nap. I’ll spare you the book reviews, but will however recommend To kill a mockingbird to anyone who hasn’t read it.

Around 8pm, Margaret came home after getting her kids from her sister’s. She has three kids: George, age 16, Ivan, age 5 and Elve, age 2. Ivan’s friend Colin was along for the ride, so the house was quite lively. Everyone was of course a little apprehensive at the first meeting, but the kids are adorable and curious, so we’ll get along just fine.

George - picture by Colin

Ivan - paying attention to Charlotte teaching him how to make a paper star

Elve - sorry for the blurry, I will take a better picture later

Thursday morning we waded through the mud into town where Teresia picked us up and took us to Naro Maru where the Action Aid office is. We had a good talk with Francis, who heads that division, were taken on a tour of the grounds and then given things to read while he went out for a bit.

As first days go, this one started out pretty much as first days do. We look like idiots while trying to fit into their routines, ask a lot of questions and sit around awkwardly. Francis is the only one who works there full time as the office is to be closed down next year. There’s a secretary, Cecilia, who comes in a couple of times a week and other people who come around. The office manages a variety of projects from irrigation, HIV/AIDS awareness and acceptance, building schools and empowering women. Having heard about the work that ActionAid does, we both agreed that we’ve become true believers in their philosophy. They believe in non-emergency humanitarian aid as being assistance to a community that needs help. The community must identify what its challenges are and maybe even come up with a solution itself and then AA will help with management and funding – but the project has to be the project of the community otherwise it will never work. If the community does not participate, it’s a waste of funds. And it seems that ActionAid has really found the balance between aid and development and the organization understands that relief distribution can easily create dependence and hamper a community’s ability to develop itself.

There’s a very long discussion about the effects of humanitarian aid that I will not get into right now, but one of the interesting points that I will let you think about, is the fact that the drought didn’t start yesterday. People have fought drought for centuries and managed, so what has changed?

Speaking of drought – I’m starting to think it’s all a big scam. Like the conspiracy theory saying no one has ever actually been to the moon, or like the war they stage in “Wag the Dog”, it seems that drought must be a cover-up of something or just a way to channel funds into the very deep pockets of corrupt politicians.

I’m kidding of course(I’m not that cynical), but I kid you, however, not when I say that it has rained quite a lot on the two weeks that we’ve been here. Just now while I’m writing this, it has rained heavily for more than two hours(man, the roads are going to be muddy rivers tomorrow. We’re definitely buying boots). Nairobi was cloudy every day as well. The days start out fairly nice, but then clouds gather and rain comes in the afternoon. Lonely Planet warned of rainy season in November and December, but all locals say that this is unusual and that they don’t really have rainy season anyway. So, it really has rained quite a lot and the earth has a hard time absorbing it, so the surfaces become slippery and muddy like you wouldn’t believe. There’s talk of climate change and abnormalities and I’m starting to believe it.

Rain moving across the plains in the late afternoon

So anyway, our first day ended with a trip to almost-nearby Nyeri where Francis had to drop off some papers. We saw a couple of AA projects on the way and mostly just took in the beautiful landscape as we drove to and from Nyeri which is situated on top of a mountain. The slopes are green and fertile and vegetables are grown everywhere. Also, we passed quite a few coffee plantations on the way and will soon start enquiring to the prices of coffee plantations around here.

Francis was kind enough to drive us all the way home through the mud and the darkness. Most of the night was spent playing around with the kids. The boys speak a little English and Elvie will understand most, but will typically respond to you in Kiswahili.
They were entertained for hours with a couple of paper planes, two headlights and a balloon.  

Lights out

November 28 and 29, 2011

In the last 48 hours, I’m sure I’ve inhaled more exhaust pollution than after five years in Copenhagen.

Finally we are alone. Don’t get me wrong, spending a week with the nursing students has been nice enough, but I think we both really needed to scale back the social demands. We even got a two-bed-room complete with ensuite bathroom and lots of noise in the hallway.

We had a quiet Monday morning(we were not due at the office before noon-ish) and decided that walking to the ActionAid office would be the wiser choice so we could get some “fresh” air and exercise. It has been my experience that making the choice to walk somewhere you’re not completely sure where is in a city you don’t know, is never a dull experience. It does take some guts though because the likelihood that you will get lost is constantly present.

Outside the Kenyatta Conference Center

The hike there was not uneventful – as predicted. We scaled a fence, tried to blend in with the students when crossing the campus of the biology department at the university(unsuccessfully), took a wrong turn when trying to do a detour, came upon a Road Closed sign on the road we then were supposed to take, didn’t let a Road Closed sign stop us and walked through the construction site like the rest of the pedestrians, passed a fire truck and seized the opportunity to surprise a couple of very relaxed firefighters with random questions about the Nairobi fire department and last, but not least, managed to survive crossing multiple roads without getting hit or honked at more than maybe once(for the record, they might as well be honking at something else, it seems to be a favorite pass-time when in traffic).

At the office we thankfully had to wait for a bit for our meeting which gave us a chance to cool down – it’s hard work hiking like that. We then met with the Emergency Response coordinator. Neither he nor we were really sure who each other was, but after we understood that it was emergency not security that was his area of expertise, we had a good talk. He was very friendly and seemed somewhat eager to help despite the fact that he didn’t really have time to talk to us(and as he said, us being girls wasn’t exactly a disadvantage either).

An hour later we were on the road again, this time having learned from our detours; so after a visit to a nearby mall to get Charlotte online and the both of us fed, we made it back in what felt like half the time it had taken us to get there.

Like most other nights the last couple of days, the power went out at the Y Monday night. It seems rather frequent and not limited to the Y. At Westgate on Sunday, all the power went off for about 3 minutes in the middle of the afternoon. Monday night at the Y, it was gone for almost two hours though, so we both sat in the dark with our computers.

Tuesday was a reverse repeat. This time we started at the mall to get Charlotte online again after she was prematurely disconnected on her modem Monday night. We took a taxi though and had an amusing conversation with the driver. We had to ask about why the traffic lights are always off and he said that besides the fact they didn’t work, people really didn’t respect them anyway. “Green means go, red means go” – that pretty much says it all about the Nairobi traffic scene.

I have no pictures from these days, so instead you get pretty flowers

From the mall, we walked to the office to meet Christian Sloth. Exactly what his position at ActionAid Denmark is, is still a bit uncertain to me, but it is my understanding that he is in charge of program development in some way.

He had no idea why we wanted to talk to him - he had just been told that there were two people who wanted a meeting with him – which in itself was more than what we had assumed he had been told. After a bit of explaining and clarifying we ended up just talking about humanitarian aid in general. Well, mostly he talked and we interjected comments, questions and observations on occasion and after an hour and a half, we had talked for enough of the time he didn’t really have for us and we left. It wasn’t a meeting with an exact measurable outcome, but he was clearly very knowledgeable and opinionated and had perspectives on conflict resolution I hadn’t really thought about before – so I think we both left feeling wiser and maybe even a bit inspired.

We walked downtown where I wanted to get a certain book Christian had recommended and that I knew I had seen in a bookstore downtown. After adding more weight to my luggage, we asked a security guard where to find pizza and made it there just in time before it started raining.

Back at the Y, we once again have to pack our things for yet another trip north. After almost two weeks of knowing more or less what the next day would bring, we are now getting very close to clueless. We’ll be picked up Wednesday morning at 8 and then…

Touristing it in Nairobi (includes dos and don’ts)

November 27, 2011

Being a tourist in Nairobi is not uncomplicated and you have to be prepared to make mistakes.

After a lengthy and informative Friday, Saturday was the day off before everyone, but us, headed off to their placements on Sunday. And what better way to spend a day in Nairobi, than to live up to the stereotype and be touristy.

We opted for the Karen Blixen Museum outside the city centre and after a lot of bargaining and money counting, we left with a small group of the others who wanted to see other things in the vicinity of the museum. They were to drop us off at the museum and go on from there leaving us to our own wits in terms of getting back to the city after that. I’ll spare you all the boring details of the prize, but let’s just say that we ended up paying several times the amount we could have, if everyone involved had done their proper homework. But oh well, I guess you’re not a real mzungu until you have paid a ridiculous overprize for something.

The Karen Blixen house - front

Prepartions to hold a wedding on the grounds

The Karen Blixen house - back

The museum is in the house that Karen Blixen lived in and that was bought by the Danish government and given to Kenya as a Happy Independence present back in 1963. It’s really a gorgeous house and we were both ready to move in and start our own coffee plantation(I’ve seen the movie and heard the guided tour, so I know a coffee plantation right there would be ill-advised, but houses can be moved, right? Or replicated…)The house was full of replicas of things used at the time, actual things she used and things donated by the creators of the film. It made for a nice mix. The tour was short and obviously the one the guides give 20 times a day every day, but it was nice nonetheless. We went for a walk around the grounds afterwards and after trekking through what I’m sure was really closely related to jungle, we came upon an old machine used for drying and preparing the coffee. It was part of the museum, just hard to come by and we definitely took the long way round.

The machine used for processing the coffee beans

We were both a bit uncertain as to why Karen Blixen was so incredibly popular here, but as it turned out she had actually managed to step out of the stereotype of the typical mzungu at that time. She employed the locals for decent wages and really cared for her servants, staff and community. Although she was popular at the time, the movie really did the trick. When that came out, the Kenyans realized that it was a money machine waiting to be powered on, and also in the wake of the movie, the tourists wanted the Blixen experience. The part of the city where the museum is located is called Karen, so she’s everywhere now and I choose, completely uncritically, to believe that she really did make a difference.

Coffee

Enough about Blixen. As you might remember from a couple of paragraphs ago, we had been left at the museum to get back on our own. Lonely Planet advises that a matatu runs right outside the museum grounds, but a word to the wise is to never trust a guide book blindly. The best way is to read about it and then ask a local. On that note, another tip for the Kenyan traveler: when in doubt, always ask the security guards! They know everything. The sweet guard at the museum assured us that a bus would come by eventually and to just relax while we waited. He was right and with a “God bless you” and a smile, we were on our way.
Matatus might be an experience, but the buses – that’s in a whole category of its own. You want to get on a bus? Better get ready, because they’ll hardly stop for you to get on. You want to get off a bus? Better get ready, because they’ll hardly stop for you to get off. And you gotta know where you want to get off, because actual bus stops are rare. Oh, and it’s a bumpy, cramped and noisy ride where there might be occasions where you fear it’ll tip over. On the plus side, it’s a study in culture like no other, you can get real close to people(actually, you don’t really have a choice) and it’s cheap. We were on it for about an hour for 50 KSh and it got us downtown as was our intention.

We headed down the busy Kenyatta Avenue, stopped at a Safaricom store to buy internet, detained our desire to raid a book store and eventually got a late lunch at the cosy and recommendable Thorn Tree Café. Afterwards we continued the hunt for the cinema, which we found only to be informed(by a security guard) that it was closed due to renovation. On our way back we stopped at an enormous Nakumatt, the Kenyan version of Bilka I guess, where they’ll sell just about everything your heart desires, granted that you manage to locate it. We did need a few supplies, but mostly we just wanted to get away from the people constantly trying to sell us safaris or other random touristy things. They won’t take no for an answer and will follow you for several blocks if you don’t manage to get rid of them. Really annoying. Glad I’m only in the city for a few days, I would go crazy being a mzungu in Nairobi. It’ll be interesting to see if the story repeats itself when we go north.

The Kenyatta Conference Center

Sunday morning was spent saying goodbye to the others as they left the YMCA at different intervals. Cecilie, who did an internship in Isiolo and was to return to Denmark on Sunday night, and I decided to continue the line of tourism and went to the Kenyatta Conference Center for a view of the city from the top. Unfortunately it was a bit foggy, so we couldn’t quite see the edge of the city, but the view was nice nonetheless and it only added to the experience that we could hear the songs from several congregations around the tower as we were there in the middle of church time. Word to the wise: do go on a clear day if you can and preferably on a Sunday morning as you will have the place almost to yourself. Don’t be too afraid of heights as the fence on the helipad at the top is not particularly high.

View from the top

Cecilie needed to spend her last KSh, so we went to Westgate, the most Western mall in Nairobi. In a brief and fleeting moment, I had a flashback to my American life and a dash of something reminiscent of homesickness. It really was as close to an American mall as they come. Complete with Christmas decorations and a variety in the skin color and nationalities of shoppers. Fascinating indeed.
 A Safaricom man helped me get online(finally!), I had a milkshake(ok fine, two) and made the foolish decision to buy a multitude of books I now have to carry around for the next couple of months. But all-in-all, I had a great American day.

To conclude, here are a few tips for the tourist in Nairobi:

 - Do get a map, it really is easier finding your way around with it.

 - The city is not that big, so walk if you can(although not at night).

 - When going on a “field-trip” out of the city centre, ask the receptionist at your hotel what   the cheapest and easiest mode of transportation is. Alternatively ask the prize for different modes. We went through a company that organizes trips and it was way more expensive than taking a taxi would have been.

- Be ready to be harsh towards people on the street trying to sell you something. It seems the only way to get rid of them.

 - Ask security guards for direction, tips on where to eat pizza, what bus to take or anything else you need to know.

 - Westgate is a good option for a rainy day if museums are not your cup of tea. Should cost no more than 600 KSh in a taxi from a downtown location.

 - Avoid at all costs being in traffic after 4pm, it will take you hours to get to your destination.

 - The Central YMCA is a decent budget hotel. A bit run-down but the staff is friendly and it really is centrally placed. Also, it has a pool.

Plus 1 minus 1

Daraja and the platform has been left behind, and we are now in the buzzing capitol of Nairobi.

The last couple of days at Daraja consisted of a visit to a women’s group, a heartbreaking documentary about female circumcision and finally an introduction to Masai dancing and singing.

We left Thursday morning after a night of pouring rain that only stopped for a moment as we filed into the matatus with all our bags. How they ever managed to fit all of us and our enormous amounts of luggage into three matatus will forever remain a mystery to me.

The trip back to Nairobi felt just as long as coming up a week earlier. This time it rained all the way though, so the temperature was bearable. As we got closer to the center of the city traffic worsened and got really insane at some point in a very random intersection that was completely jammed from all directions as hundreds of cars attempted to cut across non-existing lanes. An inexplicable sight.

Eventually we made it to the YMCA around late-lunch time and were installed in dorms. Lunch was a welcome change from the beans of Daraja and felt almost European, a relief to many.

Most of the group went to Kibera, the slums of Nairobi, but Charlotte and I decided to wait and go next time we are in Nairobi instead as we have been given a number of a guide some of the other girls recommended. So we stayed back and spent some time reading in the sun. Later on we wanted to find a cinema close by so we headed towards downtown – or so we thought. I’m sure it is the Lonely Planet map and not my sense of direction that’s off, but we did manage to walk the wrong way. We had gone out late afternoon and weren’t sure about the time of dark, so we didn’t make it to the cinema but just wandered around in a nearby park instead.

We’re staying at dorms again, this time with six girls to a room smaller than the ones at Daraja and it feels a little cramped. Everyone seems to silently be looking forward to getting properly settled with one other person and not having to live out of a backpack(which, by the way, is significantly harder than living out of a suitcase).

Friday morning we were all picked up by a proper-sized bus for a rendezvous with Teresia at Action Aid Kenya’s office. The nurses were to register with the Kenyan Nurses Council and we were given other pieces of information as well as contact information for our host families.

The girls fill out forms for the Kenyan Nurses Council



Charlotte and I had a plus 1 minus 1 day. When we first arrived at the office, we were told that it seemed the situation in Isiolo had died down and we could probably go on Wednesday(happiness ensured and we started planning for the two extra days in Nairobi). A few hours later however, a counter-message came in and told us to hold off on Isiolo for a while yet. The highest powers of AAK had to approve on the security assessment before we could go.

All right, it’s a darn shame, but what can you do, right? We then started preparing for the change of plans. Instead of going to Isiolo, we will go back to Nanyuki to live with a family while working in a nearby town with the local AA office there.

Else-Marie

But we live for fast-paced, so within another hour, we had learned that the Danish director of ActionAid would be coming to Nairobi on Tuesday and we quickly made arrangements with Teresia to stay put when the rest of the group went off on Sunday to their placements. She set up a meeting for us with the Emergency response coordinator for Monday and the message to show up at the office on Tuesday for a chance to meet the great Dane. Plan is to then head for Nanyuki on Wednesday.

The rest of the group had left the office to go back to the Y while Charlotte and I as well as a couple of other girls with unresolved placement-issues had stayed behind. As we finished around 5pm and got in the car that would take us back, we hit traffic. Friday afternoon traffic in Copenhagen is nothing compared to the ridiculousness of Friday afternoon traffic in Nairobi. It’s really interesting to go through traffic when traffic laws seem non-existent. A 15 min drive in normal traffic took us close to two hours and we were back at the Y around 7pm.

Plus 1 minus 1 equals square one.