Our second day in Kenya was spent visiting several potential internship sites. We began our day visiting Big Ideas Entertainment – a local movie production company started by two guys, Willie and Angelo. It was very interesting talking to them about how they started the company and the influence on society they wish to have though their movies. They work primarily with documentaries and are looking at branching out into creating a movie powerhouse in Kenya. We then stopped at a street vendor to grab lunch/snack – maze and fruit. The maze was very unwilling and chewy. After, we took the matatus to the recording studios and office of Eric Wainaina – a famous Kenyan musician who is very active in creating awareness of social problems in Kenya through his music. He has continued to expand his industry to bringing music education to the slums, raising money for the slums to have the food and infrastructure they need. We then traveled to Kawangware, one of Kenyans larger slums. It was so interesting that the people there were so vibrant and all the kids were waving and saying in thick accents, “Hello! How are you!”. There, we visited Ray of Hope – a very well known non-profit that provides medical services such as baby-delivery and education/services to HIV positive children. I was surprised that they got no government funding, but did get free vaccinations and cooperation with local hospitals and doctors. There were posters everywhere from the NBA and some of the players that had visited. Apparently, though, there is a huge animosity because one of the players had said he would donate a year’s worth of food for people who paid 100 shillings ($1.25) which is huge, but the food is currently caught up in customs and now the people of Kawangware that had paid for the food feel as if Ray of Hope and the white people were stealing their money and food. More interestingly, other NGO’s are now fighting over the food claiming it for themselves and saying they will only give Ray of Hope a certain allowance. Now, Ray of Hope is very low on the food it can give out to it’s HIV positive students. It was very neat seeing the other end of all the donations Americans make through private donations, churches, etc. But at the same time there is so much that makes you question how much good some of the organizations do. One of the worst examples was a church group of missionaries that went through the refugee slums collecting money from the refugees and then left. Other organizations simply do not know what is really needed to help increase living standards properly. For example some come in and say “Oh, you guys need computers and you can run so much more efficiently.” But they do not acknowledge that the computers don’t do much good if there is not training, or if there is not steady power, or if somebody takes the computer home and doesn’t bring it back. There is so much to development that we are seeing and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the semester.

One of the things that came up in our discussions was the impression of Americans in Kenya, and it is very different than what we initially felt. Kenyans loooove Americans. I’ll talk a little more about this relationship as the semester continues.

Our third day we started off in the arts district visiting Saracosi where these 2 people from New Zealand started and organization that took in artistically talented kids from the slums and provided them with the training and opportunity to develop their artistic abilities. There were acrobats, jugglers, and musicians. We leaned a little bit about what the internship there would entail and then had lunch in a little shack across the street where the bugs were everywhere and the food was very Kenyan and we ate with our hands. We then took the matatu to a park downtown where they were performing a show and it was probably the coolest thing I’ve seen. I was in the first group that got there and they grabbed all the “mzungus” and made us dance with them to the drums in front of hundreds of people.

We then went to Eastleigh, a slum where all of the Somali refugees are. It was definitely the more threatening area of town given America’s recent military actions against Somalia and East Africa. From the matatu we drove by a street of flooded mud and saw these women in the full head to foot vail walking through the muddy street. We got out at Mama Fatuma’s – a children’s home that is very well known in the area. It was truly amazing to see and talk to these kids that coexist in this home without any problems. I spent most the time talking to an older kid, Ibu, who was so in touch with everything about Kenya and America and really brought to light some things about how Kenyans revere Americans and American life. But also he talked so highly of the home he was in and all of his brothers and sisters. I asked if there was any rivalry or tensions between people in the home, because to me it seemed almost inevitable with so many housemates. He told me they all got along very well and that the home really resembled democracy in that if there was a problem in the house the kids would call a meeting by themselves and talk out their problems before ever even approaching Mohammad, the director of the house, or any of the other adults. I thought this was very admirable. Afterwards we left, in groups of 4 so as to me inconspicuous, and went to an Ethiopian restaurant across town with several of the kids. After dinner I felt like things were starting to wind down and the kids were starting to get bored so I challenged the two kids across from me to an arm wrestling competition. I won both and they both looked down to Ibu at the end of the table and called on him to come challenge me for the title. Everybody in the restaurant stopped and directed their attention toward us. It was like the Olympics! USA versus Kenya. We stayed at a stalemate for a while until I finally got overpowered and the whole restaurant erupted in cheers for Ibu. It was really fun to see how excited they got about the competition and that their housemate represented their house well.

After dinner we were supposed to stay in a hotel across the street so that we, as white people, wouldn’t have to experience traveling (particularly in the slum) at night. But the hotel messed up our reservation and we had to call Taxis to pick us up outside. Stepping out of the restaurant it was like a whole new place – a scary place. We got into our Taxis and locked the doors waiting for the drivers to finish talking and get in. Our driver got in and introduced himself as Steve and he started the car then stopped it and got out to ask another driver a question. But he left the keys in the ignition and the door propped wide open. There were people walking by our car peering in and we were really worried somebody would get into our car and introduce himself as some other name than “Steve” and that he wouldn’t exactly be a Taxi driver. But fortunately Steve came back and we talked to him in Kiswahili, of which he was very impressed that we had learned so much and it was only our third day. We spent the whole ride back shouting Swahili phrases that he would repeat and laugh. It was a fun ride. When we got back and reconvened with the group we found out that one of the other Taxis had been stopped and interrogated by two guys claiming (and in the end I guess they were) police. They asked the driver what he was doing with these Mzungus and tried to open the other doors, which they had already locked. They told us the police were asking the Taxi driver for “Chai”, or a bribe, to let them get through. It was a startling experience for those in the car and they definitely looked shaken up, but it’s just part of Kenyan life.

After we got back to our apartments a couple of us went out and reflected on some of thoughts about what we’ve seen. I’m glad we have a very close and open group that can talk about these things and it was great to kind of get it out in the open. There is so much to talk about and I think I’ll expand on particular ideas in other posts talking about development issues specifically. But for now, it’s hard to believe we’ve only been here three days and we’re starting to get a little more integrated and sent off to do things in smaller groups and become more independent. Everybody is at different levels in how they are coping with everything, I think. I feel I’m doing pretty well in that some of this I’m used to from my trips to Sicily – such as the polluted busy streets in a country whose culture, more street culture, you do not really know. And in the back of my mind it’s been imprinted to be open minded, relaxed (but aware), and flexible. Now I have to face the challenge to learning my way around and dealing with the Kenyans, particularly the Touts* at the matatu stands who may attempt to take advantage of my by giving me a “mzungu” price rather than the going rate.

*Touts ride the matatu and get out to pick up more customers and collect money. There are official touts that are approved by the government, but there are also touts that are illegal and could lie to you to get you on the matatu so they can get a cut of the money (usually 20 shillings) or they are up to something like they want to get you on a matatu where they have friends aboard to pickpocket you or worse. We did notice some people on the matatu today with large envelopes which we had heard about in a story KJ told us that are frequently used to cover your bag or purse or lap during a time of commotion, such as a police seatbelt check, while they proceed to pickpocket you. We noticed it, though, and I think they noticed we noticed so nothing happened. And usually if you notice you’ve been pickpocketed before that person is off the bus you can have somebody call your cell phone that is now in the guys pocket next to you, or you’ll see it next to them under something and they will just looked surprised like “How did that get there?”. Depending on the situation and climate at the time, we’ve been instructed on how to handle certain situations and non-threatening embarrassment is the best way.