First 2 Weeks

A herd of cattle on the road to Meru.

Life has been crazy, yet thrilling since I arrived here in Kenya two weeks ago. I finally have some time to sit down, write, and connect with all of you again from across the African continent.

My group of six volunteers arrived in Nairobi on September 2nd, and immediately began our month long orientation to Kenya. We’ve been staying at a guest house and doing a number of activities and programs with our site coordinator, Rev. Phyllis Byrd. Phyllis is well connected in Kenya to many intellectuals. As a result, our days have been filled with lectures from her various colleagues and friends about Kenyan politics, economics, religion, and the role of ethnicity in Africa, to name just a few. On top of that we began our Kiswahili lessons at a language center last week. So far, it’s been really enjoyable. Our teacher, Vincent, is a character who’s always laughing and cracking jokes. He’s great, even though we do tend to get off topic a bit… but hey, we’re just learning creatively. I think I’ll pick up the language quickly.

The first weekend we were here, we stayed with our individual host families in the attempt to just relax, get over jetlag, and become immersed in Kenyan culture. My family is great. Both parents are lawyers in their late thirties with three young boys aged 15, 11, and 1 years old. The baby, Mangari, is beyond cute and the older boys are very friendly and engaging. My mom, Muthoni, was wonderful and took me around Nairobi, pointing out good places to shop for groceries, clothes etc. during my year here. Although I will be living on my own in an apartment, I definitely foresee my relationship with the family continuing and deepening even more.

Last weekend we traveled as a group to Meru, a district in Kenya about four hours north-east of Nairobi. Meru is near Mt. Kenya, so needless to say the rocky, rugged terrain around that area is stunning. Banana trees and other crops dot the rolling hills and mountains in terraced agriculture as far as the eye can see. I was surprised by how dry the earth seemed, but remembered the drought that the country is experiencing right now, something I could not visualize having been in the insular city setting since my arrival.

Yesterday we took a day trip to the Rift Valley, looking at some of the early human archaelogical excavation sites near the town of Nakuru. I have to say that the Rift Valley is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. The ground feels (and truly is) ancient. The very stones underfoot have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, and it's hard to keep from wondering how many people and animals have occupied the mountainous landscape throughout history. The excavation sites we visited answered some of these questions for me, giving us an idea of the past residents of the Rift Valley. We saw stone tools used by early humans as well as ancient games carved into the rock surface, seen in the picture at the left.


At the end of the day, we traveled up to a huge (active!) volcano crater by Lake Nakuru. From our high perch at the top of a cliff overlooking the volcano, we could see little spots inside the crater's rim where smoke was spurting up from underneath. The scrubby earth there looked unsettled, like it could burst apart unexpectedly any day in a massive lava bath. I could even see the pathways where lava had been flowing during the last eruption. After seeing that, I really admire the residents of Nakuru for their courage to live almost side by side with a massive, active volcano!

The huge (active!) volcano crater we visited in the Rift Valley.

We got back to Nairobi last night exhausted after hours in the van, hitting rush hour as we reentered the city. Traffic in Nairobi is really something else… it took us 45 minutes the other morning just to travel 2 km. Hmmmm.