2006.10.14: October 14, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Training: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer Joanne Sprague writes: Being an American in a Kenyan village is like being a celebrity
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2006.10.14: October 14, 2006: Headlines: COS - Kenya: Training: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer Joanne Sprague writes: Being an American in a Kenyan village is like being a celebrity
Peace Corps Volunteer Joanne Sprague writes: Being an American in a Kenyan village is like being a celebrity
"Being an American in a Kenyan village is like being a celebrity. The gossip columns are fierce - volunteers often have their days retold to them by their host mothers upon their arrival home, as any good publicist would do. Walking to class in the morning, I am greeted by endless stares and yells of "mzungu!" (white person!) This is the title accorded to all foreigners, regardless of race. The children at the school I walk by all come running to the gate to get their daily high five, and attracting a parade of kids following behind you is not uncommon. My favorite thing to do when the little kids point at me and whisper to each other is to point back in equal astonishment at their existence."
Peace Corps Volunteer Joanne Sprague writes: Being an American in a Kenyan village is like being a celebrity
Habari!
Ahoy! I've been at my training site in a rural village a few hours from Nairobi for about three weeks now. I'm living with a homestay family (and as is typical in Kenya, about 35 of their relatives, children, cousins and the like) and learning Swahili, Kenyan culture and business development advising skills. Some notes:
- First sign of being in a developing country: the main source of internet access, the post office, has been "temporarily" shut off while they are switching service providers. (Rumor has it this is actually because the post office didn't pay their service bill.) Access should be back up "soon". In Africa time, that means about 6 months. I had to travel an hour and a half to get to the internet cafe I'm sitting in right now because there is no access in my training town, so it is safe to assume that regular updates are "unlikely". (PS Pheebes, thanks for letting people know about the internet situation!)
- Class is usually held outside, in the backyard of one of our host families' homesteads. Presentations are made on butcher paper taped to the wall of the house. Accordingly, class is regularly interrupted by goat stampedes and turkeys strutting through the classroom. You know, just like Dartmouth.
- Being an American in a Kenyan village is like being a celebrity. The gossip columns are fierce - volunteers often have their days retold to them by their host mothers upon their arrival home, as any good publicist would do. Walking to class in the morning, I am greeted by endless stares and yells of "mzungu!" (white person!) This is the title accorded to all foreigners, regardless of race. The children at the school I walk by all come running to the gate to get their daily high five, and attracting a parade of kids following behind you is not uncommon. My favorite thing to do when the little kids point at me and whisper to each other is to point back in equal astonishment at their existence.
- The living standards are primitive, but this was no surprise. The only issue I've had so far is that I was credited with the first pit latrine casualty of the group: my watch clasp came loose and fell down the pit during the first week. This is my new excuse for being late to class.
On the other hand, some of the host families actually have solar-powered electricity and satellite TV! Tuesday night WWF matches are a local favorite - or so I hear from the volunteers living in the more affluent homes. Tuesday nights in my house feature dinner, homework, a few minutes of Swahili radio if you're lucky, and bedtime by 8:30.
- Atkins would roll over in his grave to see the diet here. Most meals consist of approximately 18 types of carbohydrates, garnished with some overcooked vegetables. Meat is served on special occasions in my household, and is made up of about 80% bones, 15% gristle and 5% edible meat. Mmmm.
In all seriousness though, I'm loving life here. The people are so friendly and hospitable, unafraid and open to new ideas and suggestions. They have far more confidence in us Americans than we do in ourselves, and want to know everything there is to know about our culture. Even a little bit of time here makes you realize how few of the things we own, the issues we concern ourselves with, the need for everything faster, bigger, better, is really necessary for everyday life. It's nice to get back to the simplicity of it all, take care of what is needed to get by and be happy without concerns over all of the extra fluff.
Great attitude for someone who's here to develop businesses to improve the economy and raise the standard of living, huh?;)
The need for business development is definitely present though - the business problems faced by the organizations and cooperatives we've interviewed during our training could fill up my whole blog. Fortunately, the opportunities for improvement are everywhere, and because I'm not at the point where I've tried to implement any solutions yet, I can afford to be optimistic about their potential. Those of you at Digitas will also be proud to know that I'm actually putting my marketing skills to use - my group is developing a training on brand marketing for a local farmers' cooperative. (Being able to spit out the term "brand marketing" has made me an alleged "expert" in the field.)
Seven more weeks of training before I become a bonified volunteer, and I probably won't have much access to the internet during that time - so write me letters! They only take about a week to get here, and it makes me the cool kid on mail day, which is an important status symbol.
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Headlines: October, 2006; COS - Kenya; Training; Humor
When this story was posted in November 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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