Hell's Gate National Park

ell'sYesterday we went to Hell’s Gate national park. We were so excited about it, especially because all the Canadians and most of the Kenyans had never been before. The 2 hour drive to Naivasha was breathtaking. We had our first glimpse of the Rift Valley! We drove through prosperous country side, where apparently most of our food comes from. We saw avocado trees for the first time, lots of donkeys on the road, and cows enjoying the green, lush fields. We passed through Kijabe, the town where one of the YESS members (Gaddiel) comes from, so it was neat to see where he lives. Driving in, we saw zebras, a couple giraffes in the distance, lots of antelope, and lots of warthogs. We drove Kenyan-style, that is in a matatu, which is like a squished 14 seater van, which blasts hip hop music while playing music videos on a TV screen. We parked and had a picnic lunch, that Sammy had made us (he came with us too). By the picnic tables were signs that said “beware of the baboons.” Then we had a guide take us down into the gorge (that is mostly dried up). It was a couple hours of hiking and climbing through the gorge. It was so incredibly beautiful. And the hiking was so much fun. This was definitely a good team-bonding time. The bit of water that was flowing through some parts of the gorge was fed from underwater springs, so there was some cold water, other parts that were warm, and some was so hot you could barely touch it. There were mini waterfalls down into the gorge. One area was called the Devil’s Shower, because as you climbed down the rocks, you couldn’t avoid being “showered” by the water spraying down. The rock on either side of the gorge was carved from years of water running through it, before it dried up. The views from the top were spectacular. There was a geyser in the distance too. It was a great adventure all around. We are excited to get back to work, and prepare for teaching at St. Jean Paul II Secondary School this week.

Orientation Activity: 14 Falls

On Saturday afternoon, we had our final official orientation activity: a trip to the 14 Falls. Located just outside of Thika, we arrived at around 2:30 after a typically bumpy matatu ride.

We started on the park side of the falls, and immediately noticed that there weren’t 14 separate waterfalls; due to the rainy season being in full swing, the 14 had combined into one massive horseshoe-shaped mini-Niagra! Although the water was a little muddy, the mist formed a rainbow right through the middle. We also met some local young men, who jumped off of the falls into the rapids and luckily sustained no injuries. Quite a sight to see, as the mist from the falls rose behind them, although a little bit nerve-wracking to observe from safety.

After a late lunch on-the-go of Sammy’s delicious samosas and mendazi, we crossed a bridge to the other side of the falls. We brought the 4 cliff jumpers with us, as they told us that they could take us on a boat ride to the island right in the middle of the falls. We parked our matatus and walked down to the shore to begin the second part of the adventure. Most of us piled into a rickety wooden row boat with no oars, that was pulled along the shoreline before being launched into the river. There were times that we weren’t sure we were actually going to make it to the island (it can be rather tricky to navigate a boat with no oars) but our trusty guides managed to get us there in one piece. Turns out our time on dry land was only going to be temporary. We walked across the island to a spectacular view of the falls from close up. Rather than our adventure being over, our guides asked us to take off our shoes, and proceeded to jump into the rapids, heading towards another island even nearer to the action.

This new step in the voyage was not for everyone, but an intrepid few removed their footwear and followed our new friends into the river. Team building took upon a new meaning, as we held each others’ hands for balance while jumping across the slippery river rocks. After a few minutes of careful foot placement and maybe a tense wobble or two, we made it safely to an island right in the centre of the crescent-shaped falls. What a spectacular sight! We had arrived at a perfect time of day, so that sunlight was streaming over the falls as we stood in the mist. I don’t think any of us had ever experienced such an amazing natural sight first-hand, with the view ingrained into our minds forever.

All good things must come to an end, unfortunately, and for us that ending was a solid 3 hour matatu ride in the middle of “the JAM” as our Kenyan partners show it. The 401 at its worst rush hour hold-up cannot hold a candle to Thika Road at 7pm on a Saturday evening, let me tell you! It was still a thoroughly Kenyan experience, and I know that we are all going to reflect positively on our many adventures throughout the day.

-Matt

Logistics Update

I can’t believe that we’ve already been here in Kenya for over a week! Time has been flying by faster than I could have imagined. We are now well into the swing of things with project, and start teaching in earnest at our first school tomorrow. I personally can’t wait to get going, as our first visits to the schools were really inspiring.

The logistics team this year consists of me, Lorna, and Gaddiel. Our major goals this year include making a system to accurately record the facilities and treatment available at the VCTs (Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres) near our schools, and trying to hold mobile VCT’s at as many schools as possible, assuming student interest.

We had a very exciting meeting on Friday morning with the Liverpool VCT. Based in Nairobi, Liverpool was the first VCT to open in Kenya. They receive a lot of funding and have done an excellent job providing a multitude of resources to people throughout Kenya. Two programs in particular were of interest to us at QHO/YESS. First, they offer mobile VCT services at an extremely low cost. We met with the woman who coordinates the program, and it seemed like a definite possibility for many of our schools. The second thing that Liverpool offers is an excellent youth outreach program. They have a toll-free phone number that young people can use to contact a counselor 24 hours a day, as well as services via SMS and Skype. In addition, their message is extremely positive and progressive, and they deal with a lot of topics that are historically considered taboo in Kenya, including outreach to the gay community and post-rape victims. Pretty incredible stuff. We are really looking forward to moving ahead with a lot of what we discussed at Liverpool, and hopefully increasing partnership between YESS and Liverpool in the future.

For more information on Liverpool, check out www.liverpoolvct.org and for their youth programs specifically, www.one2onekenya.org.

practice teaching

Mambo!

So it has been a week since my last post and so much has happened since then. The first few days were fairly laid-back as we battled the jet-lag and became accustomed to our new surroundings. On Monday we started our department work. The training department organized our teaching kits for the schools and created a new workbook for the students. Hopefully this will enhance the sustainability of our project by giving the students something concrete to take notes in and follow along as we go through our curriculum.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we were divided into training teams with at least one Canadian and one Kenyan in each group. We divided up each curriculum (Life Skills, Gender and Relationships, HIV/AIDS, Responsible Sexuality and Abuse/Self-esteem) into different sections and then broke off into our groups to practice. Presenting in front of the entire Kenyadian team was a fun experience. I had the chance to teach with Mercy and Gaddiel, who were both so energetic and inspiring. It was very interesting to see the rest of the group present as well, as everyone has such a unique teaching style. Lorna says things in a way such that absolutely anyone could understand, she is so approachable and I know she will be amazing in the classroom. Mercy is so creative and demonstrates this in her innovative skits. Daniel was hilarious when he presented female anatomy; he held his composure so well through most of it and was so professional, but he finally broke down in a fit of laughter towards the end. Vivian has a great presence and is such a kind person, I think her students will really relate to her. Gaddiel amused us with his sense of humor and confidence speaking in front of a group. Angie has a "no-nonsense" style of delivering the material and really demonstrates her passion for the curriculum. Finally, Tony knows how to deliver a wonderful empowerment message that made us all want to go out and effect positive change.

I am so excited to see everyone really shine in the classrooms next week, we are all going to learn so much from each other and our students. I can't wait to start!

chakula

Hi Everyone!

We have split up who talks about what so that you don't have to read about the same thing 8 times. I am going to talk about the food - it is delicious. Sammy is our cook, who makes all of our meals, he is very funny and has the best laugh ever. I am going to have to take many lessons from him so that I can cook this food when I am back in Canada.

My favourite so far is definitely the Mandazi. Mandazi is something we have at breakfast time, it is like a doughnut that you get to dip in sugar or jam or just eat plain depending on how you are feeling. As well, at breakfast we get hard-boiled eggs, and bread with peanut butter and jam which is SO delicious.
Chipate. This is like a crepe almost, but it is not a dessert food, we eat it with dinner or lunch, most of the time with a lentil stew. This is a very common food here, we have had it I think four times. So far this is Matt's favourite food.
Another common food that we eat is ugali. It is made of maize and you get to eat it with your hands. You kind of mold it into a spoon shape and then you can dip it in a stew or use it to eat your sukuma wiki which is some sort of green vegetable.
The fruit here is amazing. We were having a conversation about this a few meals ago and have decided that the fruit has so much more flavor. The most common fruits we have been eating are bananas, pineapple, mango and passionfruit. I had never had passion fruit before, so if you don't know what it is I will describe it. It is a small spherical fruit that you eat by cutting it in half and then sucking out the seeds. It has a very different taste, but that is what makes it so great! The seeds are are very crunchy although I learned two nights ago that you are actually not supposed to chew the seeds.
I am quite a fan of the food here and am so excited I still have two months to eat it and learn how to make it!

Our first schools!

On Thursday afternoon, we loaded into our vans and drove to our first school, St. Justino. We drove through the Central Business District of Nairobi (near where we are staying) to the downtown and then towards Kayole estate, where the school was located. I was amazed at how drastically the scenery changed from large business buildings and banks to the market or "shamba", as Sammy (our cook) calls the tin roofed section of crowded stalls where he buys the groceries. As we drove to Kayole, the population of vendors along the roads increased. When we reached the community around the school, it appeared as if we were about to drive into the market, but as the van continued on, people parted and a mud road emerged. As we drove through, you could almost touch the vendor stalls on either side of the road. There were many apartments in the background. There were goats wandering the side of the road, and even a pig scrounging for a snack. We were introduced to novelties unheard of at home, such as tiny dried fish in baskets at the stalls, and eggs that were not refrigerated! When we arrived at the school, the students were just finishing lunch. They were washing their dishes at the water pump and hurrying into class. Craig, Lorna, and I visited the form one (grade 9) class to administer the pre-training questionnaire (which we give to all students, to gage their base knowledge of the topics we will teach about, so we are better prepared to train them). The students were quite shy, and found mine and Craig's accents very funny. Luckily Lorna, one of the YESS members, was able to make sure they understood the Muzungu (white person)'s instructions!
The second school we visited was called Blessed Hands. It was a larger school, with 8 classes. It had great murals painted on the inside of the school lobby, of the anatomy of the brain, a tooth, the parts of a computer and the components of a electrical circuit. Again we were successful with meeting the students and administering our pre-training questionnaire. The QHO/YESS members are so excited to return to these schools in the following weeks to begin teaching and learning from our students!

Saturday in Downtown Nairobi!

Hey Everyone,
This is our first full day in Nairobi. It was exciting to get a feel for the city as we walked downtown. The weather is perfectly warm and I love the variety of vegetation and flowers everywhere. We've already experienced 3 wonderful Kenyan meals (fried rice and steamed cabbage). It's such a treat to have fruit at every meal. I am excited to continue to get to know our Kenyan partners better -- we are doing team building activities tonight. We are also learning to count to 10 in Swahili tonight! The YESS members wasted no time in beginning our Swahili lessons, instructing us to say Asante Sana last night in response to their warm welcome of "Karibu." We are so excited to start project work and we will keep you posted!