Year 1

May 13th marked my first year anniversary in Kenya! 

It's been so busy around here the day kind of slipped by unnoticed. Things continue on... and this post gets even more outdated! I arrived in Kenya on May 13 last year. Even though there have been times throughout this past year where I was crossing days off the calendar (maybe not literally-but in my mind) because each day was 1 day closer to going home; last week I really had to dig out my flight itinerary to verify that May 13 was indeed the day I got here. What a great feeling to be living life so normally here that the year anniversary actually seems like something to celebrate. 

 

My little friend Eleanor is visiting right now. (Her dad is leading a short-term project with students out in the bush, but Eleanor, her little brother and mom are staying with me. Her mom and dad are good friends of mine from FL). Eleanor is 2, "but I turn 3 on my birthday" as she likes to say (she leaves out that her birthday is in July =) Eleanor celebrates the little things in life--putting her shoes on herself, finishing her green beans, going potty in the choo (outdoor toilet)--by throwing her hands in the air and saying, "Yay, I did it!" I was telling Danielle, Eleanor's mom, that during my first year in Kenya I've had to learn to celebrate the little things in life because even the little things at first, seemed impossible.

A few of my little accomplishments for my first year in Kenya--

-I can speak some Swahili! I'm not fluent but I'm learning. I know way more now than when I arrived and can have a decent conversation in Swahili. When I got here knowing another language seemed impossible. I think I made up a few words of my own at first... I've heard over and over that you just have to try to speak, even when you know you will mess up. My Kenyan friend said the other day, "Oh, Ashleigh isn't afraid to try to speak and make mistakes! She makes them all the time!" But this is good news! I took it as a compliment. Being willing to mess up is huge and the only way to learn. (I guess you can't "run" a meeting in Swahili. My literal translation was funny to everyone last week!). 

-I can drive! (a manual; on the other side of the car; on the other side of the road.) Today we drove to see the team in Elongata Enterit--a 2.5 hour drive on mostly dirt/rocky/muddy roads... unmarked dirt roads... sometimes we just call them paths... with pot holes... I've driven in the Masai Mara--approaching lions, buffaloes and elephants! Even driving in town is an accomplishment--avoiding cows, donkeys, potholes, pedestrians, navigating over speed bumps, around other drivers, and motorcycles. It's normal to drive on whatever side of the road has less potholes, so I'm even less anxious now when it seems the driver coming towards me on my side of the road wants to play chicken... things seem to work out! 

-I know my way around my town, I've driven to Nairobi on my own, found my way around downtown (and even parallel parked my big car downtown!), and I've driven to other parts of the country. Finding my way around has been really freeing and exciting to see that not all of Kenya is as devastatingly dry as our area has been. I was also impressed to find that there are nice roads in areas and that all blacktop roads aren't as terrible as the road to Narok! (you actually choose to drive on the road rather than in the dirt next to the road). When I first got here everything was so different; I wondered if I would ever be able to get around on my own. There aren't many road signs (except some in Nairobi) but I guess you just learn the lay of the land (like--turn at the bush past the dry river bed!) and over time things just get more familiar.

-I'm settled here, I have a routine and a home. I have friends.

So, God has been so good. He's gotten me through the tough times and been with me through the joyful times, too. These obviously aren't all of the good things that have come over the past year... but a few that I'm really thankful for. 

Swahili time!

Here's my language class--we're the intermediate class =) Above the beginners but still learning grammar and lots of new words. It's an adventure! My classmates are from The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany--and the other students in our program are from various other countries, many European. I'm the only one in my class learning Swahili in my "mother tongue" the rest have to do a double translation from Dutch or German to English and then to Swahili... yikes. It's hard enough to translate it from English! 

We're having a good time learning. We're laughing a lot, which is so important so that we're not afraid to open our mouths and give this new way of speaking a shot. We have 2 more days of class before the program comes to a close... I think we'll all be sad to go... but excited to get some real practice using what we've been cramming our "vichwa" (heads) full of!

The "noun class" chart... yay for noun classes!

Elephants everywhere

At the sight of the first elephant we stopped and turned off the car. We watched for awhile. How amazing! Such a giant, powerful creature. 

We did the same with the first giraffe--we stopped and just watched for awhile.

But by the end of the day, after seeing herd after herd after herd of elephants and giraffe after giraffe, we wanted to see the cats! Where were they?! Though we heard the lions, leopards and cheetahs were somewhere, we couldn't find them. So from our experience, Tarangire is the place to see elephants and giraffe... but the Maasai Mara is still the place to see lions! (I saw 11 in one day!)

On to the Swahili lesson....

Habari zenu! Ninajifunza Kiswahili sasa, kwahiyo, nitajaribu kuandika Kiswahili. Je, mnaelewa?

(Hello everyone! I am learning Kiswahili right now, so, I will try to write in Kiswahili. Do you understand?)

Wikendi hii, mimi na rafiki zangu tulienda mbugu ya Tarangire kuona wanyama porini. Mbugu huu kuko Tanzania.

(This weekend, my friends and I went to Tarangire National Park to see wild animals. This park is in Tanzania).

Tuliona twiga nyingi...

(We saw many giraffe...)

...na swara...

(and gazelle)

na mjuzi mkubwa!

(and a giant lizard!)

...tembo NYINGI!

(MANY elephants!)

...na mbuni...

(and ostrich)

Tukaliona nyani.

(And we saw baboons)

Rafiki Zangu, Daniel na Maike. 

(My friends)

Je, unafikiri mahali paona kama Florida? Nilifikiri!

(Do you think this place looks like Florida? I thought so!)

(I'll just use English now... you might be tired of using Swahili, or maybe that's just me! I still have to do homework tonight, so I need to save my brain power).

The park is known for it's giant Boabab trees... notice the work of the elephants on the tree trunk.

Here is another little monkey that got in the car, my friend Mo-Mo! He and his family are from Germany and are classmates of mine. We enjoyed our long day in the car together.

It's my last week here in TZ studying and then I head back to Kenya on Saturday. Our summer (it's actually winter here, but it's the American "summer" season) begins as we welcome a team from Truman State University next Wednesday, then the day they head back to the US we welcome our NMSI summer intern team. I'm excited to have several visitors over the next few months. Karibu Kenya!

A view of Mt. Meru on our drive home. Our school is just at the base of the mountain, outside of Arusha.

YouTube!

Here in TZ my internet is a little faster... so I finally was able to see this YouTube video that one of our visitors put together after their visit (not just a visitor, it was actually one of NMSI's executives--but he's also like family to me!) It features the opening of a borehole and the first time this community, Olosirua, has had a fresh water source... ever. Before this the women had to walk half a day to get to a water source and then back--can you imagine?  The video begins with pictures of where I work everyday (AfricaHope) as well as some pictures of what AH is doing in other communities, you'll see tomato fields that are part of a farming project. (Maasai don't farm, so this is new for them!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Bhk-VhUuc

**or if the link doesn't work, go to youtube.com and search for "Narok Kenya Africa Hope village project 2009"

This was one of my favorite days in Kenya--watching as the water was pumped from the ground and people had fresh water. The timing of the well opening was even more amazing because of the draught we are experiencing. The water is so needed.

I hope you enjoy!