How in the world did I get here?!?!

Hello and I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! We had a nice dinner here at the IU House with about 50-60 people, both Kenyans and Americans. The menu included such classics as turkey (special ordered from Nairobi!), mashed potatoes and stuffing… and then of course goat and ugali! Yummy!

So this past week, I have had a few moments where I had to stand back and say “How did I get here?” Monday I left (sans Naomi for the first time here in Kenya!) for a two night out of town trip. I went with a group of Kenyan medical personnel to work in these HIV clinics out in a few smaller towns. The trip got off to kind of a rough start for me as about 2 hours into the trip I started feeling quite queasy. As much as I would like to blame it all on car sickness, which was part of the problem, I think my nerves were also getting the best of me. I realized I had never really been out of the safe confines of the IU House, never not been with at least one other American, and especially never seen this side of Africa at night. As we bumped (and I mean BUMPED) along back roads, I realized that there were no street lights, the occasional mud huts along the road didn’t have electricity, and that everyone in the car with me was speaking Kswahili… and I started to feel really alone and small. I realized that there really was not much of a safety net for me at that point… and it was actually very unnerving! Now I don’t normally consider myself the worrying type so this was somewhat of a new feeling for me. It may have also had something to do with the fact that the town we were going to, Busia, sits right on the Uganda border. Nothing gets me excited like having “Welcome to Uganda” pop up on my cell phone… Lovely. So, we finally get to Busia and it is H-O-T HOT. The city that I live in here (Eldoret) is at quite a high elevation so it keeps it pretty mild. But even as the sun was going down, the temperature was going up as we drove into the Lake Victoria lowlands. We (at this point it is me and three Kenyan men) stopped for some dinner and order chicken and ugali, which is this congealed corn meal stuff that Kenyans practically live on. Very filling and cheap, but not tasty (at least not to me). Still feeling quite green, the sight of basically an entire cooked chicken hacked into pieces didn’t really help. Not wanting to be rude I tried to eat it… Really I did. I got a few bites down but did end up spitting quite a few bites into a napkin. Anyways, then to top off the night, the rest of the crew dropped me off at the hotel but explained that none of them would be staying there as it was too expensive for them (about $15/night). I don’t think I have ever felt that alone and far away from everything I know, ever, and I started to question what path had led me here…

The next day brought even more challenges. Working in the HIV clinic was emotionally draining and deserves its own blog which I will write some day soon… But yet again, my stomach was put to the test. I’m not really used to seeing my lunch alive, squawking out in the yard, just a mere hour before eating it. And once again, ugali was the main course. Perfect. I tried to block the memory of the poor chicken, now cooked in front of me, from my mind as I forced a few bites down. As a side not, it was amazing to me how many people were fed by the two chickens who gave their lives and the large lump of ugali that was served—I’d say about 20 people for what cost about $12! (I’ll have to keep this in mind for the next party I throw…You know you want to come!) While at the clinic, we also bought what would be our dinner that evening. We were in Port Victoria, right on Lake Victoria so fish are abundant. Along with our fish for dinner, the intern I was with was also given a duck (alive!) and a chicken (alive!) to take home to his family. So I think the animals in the car may have actually outnumbered the people… Anyways, of course for dinner, the fish was served whole (scales, gills, eyes, tail… the whole bit) with what else but ugali! Needless to say I am pretty sure I lost about 5 lbs over the past 2 days, thanks to the excessive sweating and lack of eating I did…

One last situation that I found myself in that was somewhat amusing… After eating the fish (which we took to a restaurant for them to prepare for us) we stayed around the restaurant which was also somewhat of a bar/pool hall. I ended up being the only woman among about 12 Kenyan men drinking beer, playing pool and speaking Kswahili… Everyone was perfectly nice and respectful (well as far as I could tell as my Kswahili vocabulary is extremely limited!) but this was the point when I truly began to wonder “How on God’s green earth, of all places, did I end up here?”

Anyways, obviously I made it home safe and sound so no worries! Less than three weeks and I’ll be back in the states, which I am both excited and sad about. I do love so much about this place… but it is hard being away from all of you back at home! Please continue to keep in touch! Love to you all!