December flew by with lots of new experiences.
On Dec. 3 I was invited to the wedding of my good friend Khalfan, who had immigrated to the Dayton as a kid and recently returned to Kenya. It was really great to be part of the festivities, and I stayed with his aunts for a few days while we prepared and celebrated. Along with the women I got henna on my arms- below is a photo of me at the wedding with Rukia, Khalfan's little sister.
For the ceremony, the men involved performed the rituals under a tent, and the guests (separated by sex) looked on. Afterwards we all followed Khalfan to his bride's home, where he had to retrieve her from the house by repeatedly giving money to her parents until they opened the door.
The happy couple:
A few days later was the AU Abroad's Going-Away Party. Our co-workers were invited, and I also invited Khalfan and his new wife Aisha. We ate really great Ethiopian food, danced to traditional Luo music, and made speeches all evening. Both Khalfan and my friend James (from World Hope) made speeches about me, which was funny because I'm not going anywhere. But it was nice to look around and realize that I was one of the few Americans socializing with Kenyans. I'm glad I took advantage of the semester and was able to make really good friendships.
with Aisha, Khalfan, and James- notice the animal skins on the wall as decoration :)
The next day we headed to the coast of Kenya to spend our (well, their) last week relaxing on the Indian Ocean. The 16 students and 3 chaperones were divided among two beach houses- this is the gorgeous view from mine:
Throughout the week we visited different community organizations, including one where we planted mangroves. At this place we talked about the importance of marine conservation, since Kenya has so much tourism along the coast that it needs to improve its preservation tactics. While we were there the whole village of children appeared and sat to listen to us. The kids were so sweet, with little girls taking care of their baby siblings:
Later on we went to an Italian-Swahili restaurant (Apparently there are a lot of Italians on the coast?). It was right on the shore so we watched the sun set over the water. I decided to be adventurous and ordered the octopus (it had the same texture as cold popcorn shrimp.. yum)
Our last day was a free day in Mombasa. We toured Ft. Jesus and I met up with one of my good friends from the university, Becky. She's from Mombasa so she took me and David around to see the sites I knew Dad had visited in the 70s. Here's Becky and me in front of the famous tusks on Moi Ave.:
It's so hot that locals carry an umbrella to shelter from the sun!
I really enjoyed Mombasa because everyone speaks Swahili to visitors (in Nairobi they automatically switch into English). David and I ended up relaxing at a park for a few hours, talking in Swahili with old men and sharing spicy ginger coffee with them. It was such a great way to end my week there before heading back to Nairobi on the night train!
We returned home on Dec. 17, and the students began flying out, although lots got stuck for days in the European airports because of the snowstorm. By Dec. 22 they'd all left, so I was able to spend more time with my friends here and even met my next door neighbor for the first time. So I stayed pretty social over Christmas, going to holiday parties and events around town.
On Dec. 26 I left with Victor (the security liaison and program assistant for AU Abroad Kenya) to his rural village at the Ugandan border in W. Kenya. I stayed with one f his moms in their compound. Inside the compound were two houses (for each of his father's wives), two small outdoor kitchens, and three or four more houses for the grown children's families. All the houses except Victor's and his mom's were made of mud and dung walls and thatched roofs. Theirs had sheet iron roofs instead, which made such cool sounds in the rain.
This is one of the homes and kitchens in the compound, with one of Victor's nephews running around:
The town center:
The reason we'd gone back to his village was because there was to be a celebration on Dec. 29 in which Victor was the guest of honor. I'm still confused, but supposedly according to their tradition, since his father-in-law passed away he had to give the inlaws a cow. When they receive the cow, the family then puts on a party for his family. This means there were hundreds of family members running around dancing, eating, and drinking from 11am until 4am the next morning. Since I came with Victor's family, I was part of the VIP group that got unlimited food (like 10-12 full course meals throughout the day).
Victor's family parading to the inlaws (with music, dancing, and shrilling involved):
The inlaws preparing to meet Victor's family and receive the gifts of candy and cigarettes he throws at them:
The homemade beer they made in a huge pot (you just add water throughout the day and it maintains its potency, allowing tons of people to drink alll daaaay). The ten-foot-long reeds were used as drinking straws.
On Dec. 31 I returned to Nairobi on the 11-hr busride from the bordertown of Busia. I visited friends but was too tired to really celebrate New Years. Paul called me at 7pm my time to celebrate his New Years, which was cool to hear about. I was in bed by 12:30am- lame, but I needed to recover from the exhausting week with Victor's family.
On Jan. 3 the new students arrived, and we got back into our apartments. It's strange to have new roommates, but I'm glad David decided to come back, too, because I won't be the only returner. Seeing them all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed made me realize how far I've come since I first arrived.
My New Years Resolution is to get way better at communication, so hopefully I'll be sending more updates this semester. My class schedule is as follows:
MWF: Swahili from 8-9am
TTH: one class at the university from 9-11am
Then I'm doing an independent study (on the cooperative movement in Kenya), doing an online Economics course through AU, and interning again at World Hope. I'm still raising money for the library and bridge projects in the Kawangware slum, so holler if you know of anyone interested in partnering up!
HAPPY 2011!!
the view from our beach house on the coast.. IN DECEMBER! ;)
