gtl.

first there was the jersey shore.  

then there was the geordie shore. 

now you can follow 5 housemates in their summer share in rural kenya.

we may be on a different continent and mtv may not have been documenting, but the same basic principles held true: GTL.

gym:

kick ass kenyan kardio anyone?

it was as if they knew I was coming when they built the house... the septic tank in the front yard doubled perfectly as a platform for yours truly to lead early morning aerobics classes!  the perfect pump-up playlist? the lion king soundtrack coupled with "it's raining men", of course!

tan:

trying to catch some rays on the coast to even things out? fail.

laundry:

ruth anne assumes the perfect power stance for scrubbing socks in the bathroom sink. 

the cow assumes perfect power stance for protecting our drying laundry from african critters in the front yard.

mrs. kenya.

mom and dad, I have something to tell you...

surpriiiiise!

the apollo family: july 2011.

a day at the office.

so know that you know I've been flying with suspicious pilots, riding rickety bikes, playing with farm animals and laughing at corruption in africa, it's time for me to finally give you some insight on my project. the project that most of you have funded through your generous donations and attendance at my relentless fundraisers.  the project that spurred me to leave behind a summer of bartending in kits to work in kenya. the project that I couldn't adequately describe until I had arrived in africa, was in the schools and working with the community.   

let me give you an overview:

 {#1: girl power.}

our main focus while in kanyawegi is to initiate "girls club".  we intend for girls club to be a district wide after school program for girls in standards [grades] 6-8 where they can talk about issues directly affecting females students, and ultimately reduce the rates of drop out, early pregnancy and hiv infection. a staggering percentage of female students are forced to miss school each month because they cannot afford to buy sanitary napkins.  to compensate for this problem they find themselves staying at home until menstruation is finished, or finding alternate ways to acquire funds to pay for these products.  unfortunately, these girls often see prostitution as the easiest way.  our project is aiming to provide a comfortable environment for girls to openly discuss issues that are relevant to them . our ultimate goal is be to provide a sustainable source of sanitary napkins to these girls.  most of our time has been spent collaborating with locals to build the curriculum, research existing clubs within the area and finding reliable ways to measure the success of our project in the long term.  this is a lengthy process and at times it can be frustrating not to see the fruits of our labor, but I trust that the work we put in now will align with GIVE's goal: to initiate village empowerment so that the girls will continue getting the support and supplies they need even when the muzungos are gone. 

 

{#2: hiv/aids education.} 

hosting a weekly soccer tournament: different schools from across the 17 school district meet once a week to play soccer.  during breaks they are supplied with lunch (which is another controversy in and of itself), and hiv education.  this includes question and answer periods, an hiv+ guest speaker and a condom demonstration (as you can imagine, another controversy).  posters, prizes, playing… it’s a fun way to spend a saturday.  

education is also provided in the schools throughout the week.  hiv/aids is actually part of the school curriculum in kenya, and when time allows, we travel to schools and teach refresher workshops on the subjects taught in each grade. 

{#3: education day.}

education day: GIVE funds a series of exams to students in the ojola school district between grades 6-8 .  we have worked on writing, editing and printing the questions to the hiv/aids portion of the exam (if only the kids knew this when they were dozing off during our workshops!).  each exam costs 100 KSH/student.  GIVE requires each student be responsible for 10 ksh and then funds the remaining 90.  unfortunately, corruption runs rampant and we’ve had to take on the responsibility of counting each student in each grade, and ensuring that we receive the adequate amount of money from each school.  this requires numerous visits and is the reason why I have so many stories to tell about bike rides.  fyi: $1.00 cdn = ~80 ksh.  this means kenyan student = $0.13, GIVE = $1.13.k.  education day will be held when the results from the compiled and the schools and students have been ranked.  more prezzies + prizes.  yipeee!

so there we have it.  I have traded 7 weeks of muddling mojitos and perfect pint pours for being a hiv educating/tax collecting/soccer star/girl power enthusiast.  as anticipated, time has absolutely flown by.  the next members of our team arrive soon, and we will spend our final week tying up loose ends and handing over the GIVE education team baton so that they can continue working on the projects for the rest of the summer.  it will be hard to say goodbye, and leave without seeing concrete results, but I know that I am part of a much bigger story and am thankful that I could play my part.


it has been the perfect combination of 
exhausting + exhilarating and humbling + hilarious.

next stop...?  unganda.  stay tuned if you want to hear about rafting down the nile!

amusing africans.

some things in africa are funny: 

- matatu names like usain bolt

- kids running around in t-shirts saying 

"bob's 50th birthday bash!"

- being offered bride prices including each of the big 5

somethings in africa are really funny:  

{please look carefully.  enough said.}

give me a... K!

{home sweet home.}

as my infrequent blogging, email responses and facebook postings may indicate, my access to internet has been far more limited than anticipated.  with this being said, it has come to my attention that for those of you following my blog, my updates might suggest that my time spent in kenya so far has been, ahem… trivial.

as fun as bowling nights, bake sales, james bond themed parties and amazing race scavenger hunts were, I promise I didn’t pester all of you for money for the last six months so that I could come to africa to fly planes, ride bikes, and come home at the end with a few candid shots of me hugging adorable african children.

let me start by introducing you to where I live.  
I will make it easy for you to remember.   
just remember the letter K.

kenya: the country I am in.

kisumu: the 3^rd largest city in kenya. a 30 minute matatu [bus] ride away from our home. the epicenter of all things luxurious: internet cafes and grocery stores.

kanyawegi: the community of villages outside of kisumu that I am living and working in. the home of the ojola school district. situated on the shores of lake victoria [which any local will proudly declare as the 'SECOND LARGEST fresh water lake in the WORLD.']

kaguya: the name of the compound our house [palace] is in.  also home to: several dozen cows, one rooster with a 7 am wake up call, two gobbling turkeys, some crazy goats and a pack of howling dogs.  also found here: houses much more modest than our own, yet are home to lovely locals who will proudly explain the biblical history of their names with any introduction.  

{tl: neighbor's pets. tr: maize + neighbor's home. bl: kaguya's gates. br: morning carpool.}

oh, and introducing you to my new home wouldn't be complete without introducing you to bridget.  bridget also lives at kaguya and likes to: patiently wait behind rock walls so she can jump out and scare mzungus, sing songs with actions, read books by saying each individual letter of each word and posing for photographs.

 {say cheese!}

gran fondo: kenya.

 please meet: sam.

with our project well under way, we have become busy girls with places to be and people to see.  

what's the best way get yourself around a rural kenya village?

on bikes of course!

not just any bikes. 

what do you get when you take a 1 gear cruiser, made of 50 kg of solid steel?  add to that description a loose chain, faulty breaks and permanently flat tires.  

and there you have him, samuel, the son of hannah.

I am certain a day of riding sam in kanyawegi will more than adequately prepare me for riding in the gran fondo at the end of the summer.

samuel doesn't fly solo however.  he comes in a fleet of equally unsturdy bikes.  amongst them is his closest rival: boaz, the husband of ruth.

the two of them take turns being the centre of attention at the bike repair shops (a daily occurrence), making deafening screeching noises while you fly downhill desperately trying to brake, and losing nuts and bolts as they clunk their way across mountainous terrain.

in all honesty however, these bikes have been present for some of the most notable african adventures experienced so far.

they have helped us commute between schools in the kanyawegi school district to collect exam fees for our education day.  they have gotten us to and from meetings where we have shared and collaborated ideas for the after school girls club we hope to launch by the end of the summer.  they have gotten us to church so we can hear amazing gospel music, and were there waiting for us so we quickly escape after our embarrassing impromptu presentation in front of the congregation.  they have taken us to markets for fruit and to lake victoria for fish.  they have waited patiently in fields while we watch sunsets and while we chased monkeys out of maize crops.  they have heard me scream prayers as the top of my lungs when I was certain I was going to ride straight down hills into lake victoria.  they have witnessed me carry african men and women on the back as they nonchalantly chat on their cell phones.  they have been cut off my herds of cows and swarmed and chased by equally large herds of african children screaming, "mzungu, how are you?!" at the top of their lungs.

they are huge, they are clunky, they are exasperating and they making my legs as strong as a kenyan athlete’s.  yet somehow, they are still incredibly endearing.

samuel, the son of hannah, boaz the husband of ruth.. I wouldn't even trade them for this:

{and it was really, really fun.}

picnics and pantries: international.

today I have managed to: sneak in an early morning workout in kitsilano, watch the canucks win while sitting in yvr, enjoy lunch in london and rode in a van with 20 africans into the town of kisumu, kenya. 

several flights and timezones later we arrived in the small, beautiful town that we'll be calling home for the next 7 weeks.

our seamless day of travel continued all the way to buying tickets on the last flight from nairboi to kisumu this morning.

too good to be true you might ask? yes. 

oops, our tiny little airline had given us not only the last spot on the plane, but had sold us a ticket without a seat.  

this girl + 3 bags + jetlag + 0 seat = no longer as cute as a button in her rumpled canucks t-shirt.

there are no problems, only solutions, right? jumper seat it is!

the next thing I knew, I was getting ready for take-off, in the cockpit of a tiny african airplane. after telling me not to touch any of the buttons or switches in front of me, the pilot took an incoming call on his blackberry, checked his mobile facebook one last time, and the next thing I knew we were cruising over kenya.  oh, and did I mention that at this point we are still trying to get in touch with the airport we'll be arriving at to see if they're still open?  it's okay though if they aren't, he assured me.. I can always come to his bbq tonight if we have to reroute back to nairobi.

all is well that ends well, and the charming pilot (just think, the bachelor: kenyan style), has me in one piece at my final destination.

and I am here to tell you that I haven't been here for 12 hours and I am already smitten.  my body is melting from the heat and my heart is melting from people.

the perfect combination.

if I don't want to leave I can always call my new friend with the phone number he gave me and take him up on his offer to marry into a kenyan family.  don't worry though, friends.. he's a pilot.  I'm sure he'll fly me home for visits on the weekends.