Karibu Kenya

The views from the airplane while flying over Africa reminded me of the scenery in Lawrence of Arabia. The land was orange and dusty and continued uninhabited by humans for miles. Once we neared Kenya, the landscape changed to more vibrant and lush greens (thank goodness). As our pilot announced our descent to Nairobi,  electricity sizzled throughout my body; it was possible my smile would become a positive fixture on my face. This was Africa. This was Kenya. I was here.

Within the first fifteen minutes in Kenya, I caused a scene, naturally. I had anticipated getting the lock on my suitcase cut upon arriving to Kenyatta International Airport. I had not anticipated the lack of lock cutters, however. The one airport staff member I asked to aid me in my predicament turned into tweleve men taking turns attempting to smash my lock in a true show of male rivalry. My amusement (embarrassment) was apparent. Finally, they succeeded and I quickly went on my way.

Michelle had been on both my flights but I had been too tired (antisocial) to approach her during our 18+ hours of traveling to see if she happened to be an IVHQer also. It turned out she was. We were picked up together by George and brought to the volunteer house where we would spend our first night. The traffic was insane and definitely beat New York. On our drive, we got pulled over by a fellow who looked like he was a Hotel Rwanda militant (what is it with Kenya and all these movie references?). It was definitely one of the most frightening moments of my young life when he flashed his light in my face and gave me the look of death as he asked the driver to step out and present his license. I was trying to hide the fact that my seatbelt didn't have a clip and therefore was being held in place by my hand, which proved to be very difficult when being stared down by a very, very large military man with a very, very large gun. After this little run-in, George informed us that this was common and performed as a way to find any reason to fine a vehicle. "I guess New York isn't so different from Nairobi, after all," I said.  George laughed.

At the volunteer house, we were able to take hot showers with running water; little did I know this would be the last of its kind. Five more volunteers arrived (3 Canadians, a chick from Cali, and one from Georgia) whom Michelle and I chatted with for a while before we all passed out from exhaustion. Too bad a rooster woke us up at 3:30am; little did I know this would NOT be the last time this would happen.

Breakfast was chai (hot milk with steeped Kenyan tea and sugar, based on preference), toast, and hard boiled eggs. Our driver picked us up in a matatu at 7:30am, meaning 9am Kenyan time, to bring us to orientation. Here is where we were all provided the luxury of WiFi for the first time; you could say we became a tiny bit aggressive about it. The staff of NVS (Network for Voluntary Services), a partner of IVHQ, spoke to us about safaris, rules, Kenya, and placement, as well as sang us a killer welcome song in kiswahili. My placement was at the Elshadai Orphanage and my host mom was Amina; I was placed with Franceska, from Quebec, who is also staying two months.

We arrived at our host mom's home, which is in the Githurai slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. It was like watching those commercials on TV asking for sponsorship of children living in the poorest of conditions, except now I was part of the commercial. Franceska and I ate chipati for dinner at Amina's, which was delicious and very similar to a tortilla or arepa. After we spent half an hour trying to figure out how to install our mosquito nets, we realized we did not have running water and would have to bathe with buckets. At least I had expected this. Karibu Kenya!