Saturday, July 23, 2011

Update On Food Crisis

Although it has not been long since my last entry, I didn’t want to keep anyone waiting to hear about the food situation.  I am blown away by how many people were willing to immediately respond to our urgent need.  Between myself, the Dutch girls, and the American team we were able to raise a little over $6,000 dollars in the less than a week!  So thanks to all of you who were willing to throw us a few bucks there are people who won’t go to bed hungry this week.  The food supply is not supposed to get any better in the near future, so we have started a food program for our community at Tumaini.  Our community is a little bit like Mayberry in the sense that everybody knows everything about everyone so we (aka Rose) know which families are living with the most severe conditions right now.  Most of these are widows with many children, or the elderly that is providing for lots of orphans.  Every Wednesday these people are going to be able to come to Tumaini and receive their bag of maize and try to make it last until the next Wednesday.  It is estimated that the famine will be at its worst towards the end of September so we are really hoping to be able to feed these families at least until then.  Our plan is to keep the food program going until the funds run out.  Cheryl (the CEO of ISF), is leaving the spot on their website so if people want to continue to donate for our food program they may do that through their PayPal.  Again, huge thanks to those of you have helped or plan to do so in the future.
Aside from the food situation some others changes have occurred here at Tumaini in the past week.  I have been surrounded by Americans!  Rather than sleeping alone I now have six roommates (and absolutely no quiet time), who are spoiling me rotten with American things I had forgotten about.  Items such as oatmeal, starbursts, and goldfish have a lot more significance when the highlight of my day typically consists of being served cabbage or beans for lunch.  The American team also decided that because I have been here for a while it would be most beneficial for me to act as their camp leader for the Vacation Bible School they are providing for the children.  Femke and Eline found my new role hilarious and have been calling me “Captain Alex” the entire week.  I’m not sure how well I did at leading the team but I do know that the children had a wonderful time and were given lots of love, and that’s all that matters.  Although it will be nice to get back to my calm African lifestyle, I have enjoyed getting to know all the visitors and know they love Tumaini just as much as I do now!
On a sad note, Femke and Eline left to travel yesterday and I already miss them.  But we will be meeting up in four days in Mombasa, which is a city on the east coast of Kenya and will be staying in a tree house close to the beach!  I hope it is as nice as it sounds!  Well, that is all I have for now, the Americans are exhausting me J

Monday, July 18, 2011

Drought and Famine in Kenya

Well, it has been a long day here at Tumaini.  I feel a little bit stupid because until last night I was unaware of the problems that Eastern Africa is experiencing and it is where I have been living for the past two months.  In case the rest of you are following the news in the U.S. which has not chosen not to inform people of the drought and famine being experienced by some of the world (from what I have seen), I will debrief you.  In Northern Kenya there is always some problems of drought and food scaricity, but eventually the problem works itself out the best it can.  So although it is rainy season, the weather here in Africa has been very unpredictable this year and therefore the crops are not harvesting when they are supposed to and some people are losing lots of maize and beans because of either experiencing too much or too little rain.  I am not really good with how the whole farming situation works in Kenya, so bare with me.  With the combination of the change in weather everywhere in Kenya and the worst drought that has been experienced in 60 years in the Northern region the food supply is scarce and the price of maize has sky rocketed.  Long story short the famine being experienced up north is making the price of maize in places like where I live unaffordable and people are having to go without.  I am lucky enough to live in a home where we are still able to have food for ourselves and the children at our orphanage but I can't say the same for all my neighbors.  As soon as the Dutch girls and I realized what was going on right under our nose we immediately wanted to find out what we could do to help.  We have been told by experienced workers in 3rd world countries that the best way to end a famine is to start with your immediate areas and those needing food most severely.  So that is what we have done.  Eline found enough funds to buy 6 big bags of maize today and we began by giving to the elderly who are unable to work but still have many orphans they care for.  I cannot describe to you the overwhelming emotions you feel watching people line up in front of you holding out a single grocery bag to be filled with maize and they plan to feed a family of five or more off of that amount for weeks. While we were handing out the bags to the people of our area a community leader was reading names of people off who were allowed to get the maize first, so that the people with the most need were taken care of first.  When a name was called a boy from our 5th grade class walked up to receive the bag for his grandmother.  Talk about hitting home. When you realize that a boy you have been trying to educate by day is going hungry by night.  We also took bags to those people in the community who are too old or health conditions made them unable to come to us.  The first place we walked was immediately across our street to an elderly lady that I wave at everyday.  Her three sons and their wives have all died of AIDS and she now is the sole caretaker of ten grandchildren.  When we handed her the bag of maize she thanked us and said she couldn't count how many days it had been since she had eaten food.  This woman had been surviving off of tea.  We walked around distributing the bags to people of similar situations, and when we returned home the word had spread that Tumaini was giving food out so there was a line of people waiting.  We gave all that we had and then had to shut the gate to the orphanage so that more could not come.  Rose said there will be another line of people waiting in the morning hoping we will be able to give them some.  I came to Africa because I wanted to help people in need, but until this day I don't think I comprehended what it is REALLY like to be in need. 

There is a team from International Sports Federation here right now and we are all wanting to spread the word of what is going on here. We see an urgent need to help with this crisis developing right before our eyes.  If anyone is interested in helping/donating for food for the community you can go to the ISF website[2:43:05 PM] ashley cosby: http://www.sportsmissions.com/take-action/support-isf  and use their paypal so that we can use the money immediately for food.  On the website you click that you want to make a general donation and there either my name or Kenyan Drought in the subject line and we will get the money.  If you have any questions please contact my amazing sister, who already had donations coming in within the hour of me calling her devastated.  Thank you so much to those of you who have already donated (especially my nephew Cory that happily forked over his birthday money), and those praying for the Kenyans going to bed with empty stomachs.  The Dutch girls are going to town in the morning to get pictures online so you can see firsthand what is going on.  I know I have said it before, but I promise I will get these pictures up! 

Also, for my wonderful Sal's family that I know misses me so much :)  If maybe someone could spread the word and everyone give a dollar or two at the end of each shift it could really add up!  Whoever wants to be in charge of that just contact me.  Love you guys!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Maasai Mara Safari

Well, I officially had one of the most amazing, memorable weekends of my life.  Sara Beth had told me that I couldn’t skip doing a safari at Maasai Mara, and now I understand why.  It is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Africa where you can see the big 5 and many other animals living in their natural habitat.  The Dutch girls and I joined 11 other volunteers who are living in the Kakamega area to spend the weekend in this beautiful place.  And as much as I hate to admit it the volunteers from Duke were a blast and I loved getting to hang out with them (sorry Mugge!).  The road driving to the park and our lodging was by far the worst road I have been on since I have been in Africa, which makes absolutely no since because it brings in so much money from the tourists.  I have constructed a detailed plan in my head of how all of Africa will benefit when the money is raised to improve already existing roads everywhere.  The cars will last longer, there will be less travel time, less gas bought, and less accidents…but I won’t get started on this right now!  Another problem I discovered while I was away this weekend is that I am a little bit scared that I am going to be racist against white people when I get home!  It was so weird to see them everywhere!  There were some who had on cargo khaki shorts, spaghetti strapped tanked top, and the most typical safari hat you can find; despite the fact it was cold enough to wear long sleeves and pants. Yes, I am being far too judgmental, but our entire group had a hard time seeing these monzugus who were picked up from the Nairobi Airport and taken immediately to their safari, and when they were finished, were probably going to go right back to the airport or the next biggest tourist destination.  But next week when they are back in the states, they will be telling their friends over dinner how they saw the poverty in Africa, leaving out that it was through the window of a vehicle while going 60 mph. 
At Maasai Mara you really will see every type of person imaginable.  Almost every van of Caucasians is speaking a different language, but there are also people from all over the Middle East, Asia, and North/South America.  However, the most peculiar of all these was the Asians.  I’m not sure if it is all of them in general or a specific country that does it (if I was guessing I would say China), but most of them we saw were wearing long sleeves, long pants, gloves, large brimmed hats, glasses, a mask covering everything but their eyes and foreheads; and if they were outside of the vehicle they also carried umbrellas.  Of course I wear sunscreen and take my malaria medication, but I think this might have been taking it a little too far.  Every time I saw a group who looked like this I wondered if their tour guide was a little offended that his passengers found it necessary to take that many precautions in order to be in his country!  Again, I am being too judgmental so I will get to the actual animal seeing part of the safari.  But in all reality it was really neat to see so many nationalities gathered somewhere because no one can deny the magnitude of seeing such beautiful animals in their natural habitat. 
So the first day we arrived it was raining and we were all a little bummed thinking that would put a damper on our afternoon safari ride.  Wrong!  Because it was rainy it was cool enough for the animals to want to come out in the open in the middle of the day, so within five minutes of being in the park we encountered our first lions!  Originally it was just a gang of teenage lions hanging out around a tree playing with each other, and then from across the fields the lion king (literally the head of the pack who looked exactly like Mufasa) comes strutting up, walks between the safari vans and joins his group!  It was surreal to see him strut up in the same manner of a house cat and not even acknowledge the twenty plus vehicles surrounding his family.  Although I have seen lions and all these other animals at the zoo, it was like I was taping my own experience that was going on the Discovery Channel.  It is one of those experiences that I could describe to you 1,000 times, but you will never truly understand how amazing it is until you see it.  During this two hour ride through the park we were able to see 3 of the big 5 animals!
On day two we were out exploring by 7:30ish and stayed in the park for nine hours, soaking it all in.  We again got to see lions, but this time they were all lounging on huge rocks waking up to yawn and lick themselves and then go back to sleep.  Although they are one of the toughest animals, they never seemed to be in any hurry to do anything.  We were also able to see 14 elephants (they were my favorite), several being young ones that were intertwining their trunks playfully.  Eventually we had to leave the area because the elephants were in “charge mode” and walking on the trail we were using, as our tour guide put it, “the elephants want to use the rode, and they have the right away!”  Next, we were able to see cheetahs, giraffes (a mom pooped on her baby), gazelles, buffalos (which I never realized looked like fake cartoon animals), and thousands of zebras and wildebeests.  The wildebeest are in the season of their migration, known as the Great Migration, when they come across the Serengeti through Kenya into Tanzania.   I realized two important things about zebras; one, I never get tired of looking at them; and two they have the nicest butts out of any animal or human I have ever seen!  Really, next time you see a zebra pay close attention to how attractive their rear is!  I think Sir-Mix-Alot would even approve.  While we were driving back towards the exit of the park we were all still standing with the roof of the van lifted to take in the beautiful view.  The best way to describe the feeling is to compare the way you feel on the lake when the wind is blowing as the boat speeds over the calm water and no one is paying attention to each other, just how amazing all the surroundings are.  When we were all feeling this was when we had our near death experience.  Most people would think that a near death experience on a safari would mean you were attacked by a vicious lion, or maybe stepped on by an elephant; not necessarily.  We were traveling on a trail at a normal speed and had not seen another car/van/truck in at least 15 minutes when out of nowhere a van comes flying across the path hits a bump, almost flips (making like a 30 degree angle towards the road), over corrects itself almost going off the road in the opposite direction, somehow corrects that and is flying directly at us (and we are all still standing with our heads outside the roof!).  So aside from seeing this all happen in slow motion I am somewhere between realizing that I should probably dunk down and preparing myself that we are going to have to jump out to save the people in the other van.  I don’t know if I realized until the van actually stopped less than five feet in front of us that we were going to be hurt badly if the vehicle wasn’t able to stop.  Rather than saying sorry or looking concerned they immediately hit the gas again, the two people inside the van just casually waved and went on their way!  I think the shock of the entire situation and that we almost had a car wreck on a deserted rode caused our entire group to do nothing but hysterically laugh the rest of the ride.  After this we were able to visit a Maasai village and learn about their culture and they performed some of their traditional songs and dances for us.  The Maasai tribe in Kenya is one of the most famous tribes and they live in the region where the park is.  They are famous for still keeping many of their traditions and still dressing in the tribal fashion (extremely bright red), and they have the huge holes in their ears that you see in pictures from National Geographic!
Day three was just a morning ride through a small part of the park, but was probably my favorite day.  We were able to watch the sunrise over a group of five beautiful giraffes.  And then after we saw it rise once our driver wanted us to experience it twice, so he moved the van in front of a mountain, and we saw it again, lol.  After this we found more lions who had killed something (most likely a wildebeest) shortly before and were now enjoying their breakfast.  But for the first time we got to see lion cubs!  They were probably the most adorable creatures I have ever seen!  Some were about three weeks old, and some were over 6 months, but they all loved playing with each other and stealing each other’s food.  Remember the scene in The Lion King where Simba and Nala are playing and they say, “Pinned ya!”  “Pinned ya again!”  I got to see that scene happen in real life with two cubs!  It was unreal.  Then we drove through a wildebeest stampede in order to watch another lion that looked like it was about to pounce on a wildebeest that was left alone, but it never did.  Although after this we endured a 14 hour matatu ride back to Kakamega, it was an amazing weekend!  I probably have over 1,000 pictures and about twenty videos (literally), so I promised I will try to get them posted sometime!   
Things are going great back at Tumaini!  An amazing American named Rosalie was here for a week and took the children on a trip to Kitale, which is something they have never done!  We also were able to fix the projector at the orphanage so we got popcorn and drinks and watched a movie!  I have also learned the history of how Tumaini began, but that is worthy of an entire blog.  Also an American team will be here in a few days to do great things with the children, so I am looking forward to working with/meeting them!  Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Also just a side note, I won't be starting my master's program until Fall 2012, so if anyone has any job opportunities or ideas for when I get home please let me know!