valentines

i love with my short life i have met

so many people i deeply care for

i've been jammin' yeasayer these days, i like them.

so, in kenya there a LOT of speed bumps. i suppose this makes sense 'cause there's no guarantee people would drive the speed limit (if there was to be such a thing) but they will slow down for bumps (most of the time, anyway). i know this because we drove out to mt. elgon national park this weekend and went through a handful of towns in the 2.5 hr drive which means we went over a lot of speed bumps = hard to nap.

the park was beautiful. after a (somewhat serious) translation mishap at the entrance gate over camping "fees" ($15 a person? really?) we set up shop with the baboons in a pretty field and went for a hike. there are 300 elephants in the park, but the chances of spotting them are slim. so we checked out a cave with bats and a little waterfall on the outside. it was dark and cool inside and quite awesome. then we piled back in the car (meghan and i comfortably in the trunk, err--i mean, boot) and hiked up to a ridge that had a spectacular view of the peak of mt. elgon and the farmlands below. our guide was very nice and even brought his own warm box of milk (with a straw!) for when we reached the top. the rest of the evening was nearly perfect. we ate delicious pasta, sat by the fire, drank (cheap as dirt) rum, and listened to tunes. it was a few of the girls' first time camping, but we all fit in the tent and everyone slept like logs. this morning, we woke up and....went horseback riding! yee haw! i was in my element. and horseback riding for the tourists in kenya is a bit more extreme than back home. helmet-less. law-less. brake-less. it was a bit of a ride through the forests of mt. elgon. i was happy.

mark, julie and i outside of the banda

meghan and i hiking up to the cave

meghan and i IN the cave

small people in the cave

the view from the top

mark and our guide in the clouds

fireside hang sessions

picture taken from flamingo--my horse for the day

mark and megan with the pony

when we got back to the site we had to wait for the rest of the group, who had done a separate hike. it seemed like a reasonable idea to nap with the banda door open, when low and behold! a sneaky little baboon snuck into our kitchen. i was mildly surprised to wake up to a large, hairy monkey with a bare, pink bum. on the way home we stopped in kitale for a "valentines" lunch. all the ladies got roses and there was a large buffet for $3. my kind of valentine's. the little kenyan girl in an 80s-style-red-puffy-sparkle-dress-with-shoulder-pads really tied the day together.

friday night we also had out first Moi-GW Partnership dinner. We sat around a fire with our Kenyan colleagues and had roasted meat. and there was a swing set at the restaurant. and i met my "namesake," Lauraine, who is a secretary at the School of Public Health.

kayla and i with our classmate, lydia

also! large health insurance companies made record profits last year, increasing by 56%. they did this by dropping 2.7 million customers. how nice. and there's corruption in kenya?! who knew? and apparently you can detect homosexuality in kenya by medical examination.

otherwise, all is well, i'm excited to have some of the russell stovers chocolates mom sent me--that made it all the way to kenya in time. Happy Valentine's Day, ya'll.

missionaries in haiti

it's early here. i'm working on my cup of coffee. we were out late last night. but, i find the comments of this article interesting.

and maybe, this is hopeful.

and this is very sad (and scary):

Army Sergeant Accused of Waterboarding Four-Year-Old Daughter

Here in this country, an Army sergeant who served in Iraq has been accused of waterboarding his four-year-old daughter because she refused to recite her ABCs. Twenty-seven-year-old Joshua Tabor was arrested last week and charged with assaulting a child. Police in Washington state said the Iraq war veteran would sit his daughter on the edge of the bathroom sink and hold her head down until it was nearly submerged in water, dunking her if she refused to recite the alphabet. Police said they began an investigation of Tabor after receiving reports that he was walking around his neighborhood holding a Kevlar helmet and threatening to bust out windows. [democracynow.org]

just another day in the life

thursday night, after the rain, we called a taxi to head to the gym. "Taxi Max" showed up, but in a car that wasn't his:

us: "Max, this isn't your car."

Max: "Haha, oh i know. I traded with my friend."

us: "you just traded cars?"

Max: "well, yes. the traffic in town is horrible, people forget how to drive in the rain, and i knew it would take me an hour to get here. so he was on the side of the road i wanted to be on and i didn't want to wait to turn around, so we just switched cars!"

us: "huh. so where is your car now?"

Max: "my friend has it. in town. i will get it back from him later."

then we talked about how he didn't know if he had enough gas to get us the 5 minutes across town, so we turned off the car and coasted down the hill ("the E, means enough, right?! ha. so i think i have just enough gas"); he told us how he hit a zebra ("in america you hit deer, ya? in kenya we hit zebra"); and we got rear ended in traffic (in his friend's car) but no big deal, no one was hurt and he wasn't concerned with the fender bender. just another day in the life.

friday we got up early and went to "international cultural day" at Moi University. It was a long day. We were told to be there by 7am (nothing started until 10am); we had to display our culture (we wore jeans and sang 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'); we came back to town for class (the professor didn't show up). just another day in the life. There WAS beautiful singing and lots of African dancing and Dinka men (from S. Sudan) that were very energetic and proud and entertaining. It was nice to be able to go to the main campus and be a part of the student body for a day.

the dancing dinka

Moi University student choir (video!)

kayla, meghan, megan and i before we "displayed our culture"

friday night we went out dancing (again?! yes. again) it's too much fun dancing and sipping big beers here.

saturday i sat around and studied and went to play with babies. saturday night more sitting around and a horrible movie with katherine heigel that i regret watching the first twenty minutes of.

sunday morning, meghan and i got up and went to a car rally (?!) it was pretty cool and fun and would potentially qualify as 'white trash' back home. my nose (not my neck) got sunburned. but it's an actual sport that people do here. you get a fancy car, put in a roll cage, find a navigator and go drive really fast through local dirt roads and get timed. best time wins a gold (plastic?) trophy. but it was fun to sit around and drink some beers and (dance with the "clowns" that come in for entertainment in front of thousands of spectators and) watch cars go by. then we went back to the farm and sat with andrew and his family for tea. we filled a cooler with wine and beer and drove out to a little picture-perfect pond and had "sundowners" and took in the big, dark clouds until it started to rain. just another day in the life.

the rally cars

little clementine surrounded by curious kenyan children

photo op with the dancing clown

andrew's uncle came in 2nd place, and this is the ceremony to receive your trophy

andrew and i during the festivities

this is what a rally car race looks like (another video!?)

then we went out dancing until 2:30am and went to a hotel with a projector screen for the Super Bowl which lasted until 6am. I found a big ole comfy chair and slept through, more or less, the whole game. But Go, Saints! and it was nice to be doing something at the exact time ya'll were doing it, just on the other side of the world. And i missed the snacks. In particular, the buffalo chicken dip.

this kristof piece is sad, but you should read it.

word.

i am envious of the epic snowstorm in the mid-atlantic states and hope everyone is warm and happy and sledding.

i WOULD bless the rains down in africa

today it rained. hard, africa rain and our taxi driver said "this means God is good! he has not forgotten us!" life stops in town when it rains this hard. people stand under the edges of buildings and in the outdoor hallways at the hospital. the roads flood with brown water and the sound of the rain on the cement and tin roof is loud and rhythmic. i really do love it.

kenyan rain out the window of Sally Test

if at any time you can't find me, i'm probably at the Sally Test Center. i have come to find real happiness sitting on the mat with 4 little babies around me. they are just so beautiful and curious and kind. the one girl, abigail, who is stunted and 11 months old just calmly stares at you. she shares her toys and smiles all the time. and every time i sit with her i feel better. crazy that it takes helpless little children to put everything in perspective.

abigail

and so many of ya'll have said "bring home that little baby jolene" but the catch is the little baby does not have HIV, she is less than a month old, and is already moving to the orphanage tomorrow to begin the adoption process. she will be okay and have no memory of the two weeks she spent in the hospital. but it's the older babies and the ones with HIV that will be left behind.

as an American, adoption in Kenya is extremely difficult. I looked into it. (more so out of curiosity and future plans, i have no real plans to bring home a mini-human in my suitcase. this time, at least.) Kenyan courts are "not institutionally biased" against foreigners seeking adoption, but Kenyan law specifically states that an adoption order shouldn't be made for a sole male applicant or an applicant of a different race (!) because they view the welfare of the child as paramount. in addition, only residents of Kenya can place an adoption order and one must live in country for a minimum of six months to be considered a resident. then assuming the adoption order clears with the courts (which could take a long while) the adoptive parents must live with the child in Kenya for a minimum of three months so a representative from the adoption agency can visit and check-in about the well-being of the child. Assuming the adoptive parents are suitable, a U.S. visa can then be issued.

also, it is illegal to publish or advertise that a parent wants to give a child up for adoption, that a person wants to adopt a child or that a person (that is not an adoption society) is willing to make arrangements for the adoption of a child.

it is so difficult here because Kenya is one of 75 countries signed on to the Hague Adoption Convention of 2008. The convention ultimately aims to "provide a framework for member countries to work together to ensure that children are provided with permanent, loving homes, that take place in the best interests of a child, and that the abduction, sale or traffic of children is prevented." in theory, that sounds good.

i don't have a witty title for this post

it's wednesday. blah. the middle of the week. tonight though is "ladies night" at our little new neighborhood lounge for "decent" people. they have zebra printed seats. we're going to check it out. and in other academic news, i also have to interview a man from heifer international for our qualitative data collection class and we are playing phone tag. yesterday kayla and i wandered the streets aimlessly, looking for it in a nearby neighborhood. the big, wooden, painted signs that said "heifer international" were beautifully stacked inside the gate, which we saw once we had gotten inside. helpful.

but we did get to practice our swahili.

i learned some things so far today:

1. about muslim veils

2. that south sudan is very hungry

3. a "yori yori" is a casual lover. a "friendly match" also means the same thing, according to our kenyan friend anyhow

4. i updated my ipod weather thingy and it's 79 degrees in eldoret right now. and 27 degrees in boston. sorry.

5. botswana has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with an average growth rate of 7.7%

6. the inga dam in congo will be the largest in the world. good for africa? or its white elephant?

MORE blahgs

(procrastinating in class)

i'm confident enough to promote other blogs, and this one is quite good: iconic photos (<-- dad, i think you would like this)

AND how did i not see Mr. Liss' photographic journey of the best summer in the world?! alaska 2k9

i'm working out!!

tonight i went to the gym. it's called Billy's here in town, and oddly enough, a friendly guy named (wait for it...) Billy, owns it! We went to the aerobics class. It's a small room with HUGE posters of this guy on the walls. The (very) fit, bald kenyan guy leads it, yelling out commands i couldn't understand, and ultimately i learned i have the coordination of an 88-year old woman with a peg leg. the music was a techno-remix-of-jesus-related-songs.

this video about sums it up.

i bought a month-long membership after Billy himself stretches you following your workout. the awkward single white guy with a bowl cut "teaching" pilates from a dvd also sealed the deal.

in other news, i've gotten in the habit of putting my juice boxes in the freezer, so it's just like a smoothie!

and i like this guy's ideas for haiti. i really do hope obama keeps this promise.

and it's okay if you're jealous that this song plays ALL THE TIME HERE.