What a week and a half it has been. I went to Karen on Friday, September 20^th, with Deborah and Anthony to visit Stephanie. Kathie chose to work at a school for two months in Eldoret so Steph is in Karen by herself. We left on Friday afternoon after work to take a matatu into downtown Nairobi so that we can take a bus to Karen. The matatu stopped before we reached the bus station and we wandered Nairobi for about 30-40 minutes until we found the buses, which apparently change routes after 4 pm. Who knew? We finally got on the correct bus which, to our surprise, did not stop to let passengers on. That is right – all three of us Americans had to hop onto a moving bus with our backpacks. We were subsequently shoved to the back of the bus. Then it started pouring rain and in case you were unaware, most of the roads in Kenya are not paved. It was more of a roller coaster than a bus as we kept driving over large bumps. There was one point where Deb was practically standing up. By the time we got to Karen, it was late and we were hungry but were unable to find the restaurant we saw last time we were visiting. We all, not so secretly, searched for the KFC as there are signs all over Karen of Colonel Sanders. Unable to find KFC, we wandered until I found this place called Big Square. What a find. It was such a tourist trap but it enticed me more than anything. It was the first time we had a hamburger or a chicken sandwich since we have been in Kenya. And it was worth it! We ended up going there two more times that weekend. If anything is going to keep me from losing weight in Kenya, it will be Big Square. Told you – it was one of the best discoveries of the trip.

            I have had plenty of other misadventures but if I tried explaining them, I would have half a book. I will instead update everyone on my work. I continued my work at the Street Children Project in Mathare. We have been teaching the boys math, science, social studies, and geography. The boys made their own passports and is writing each of the countries that they “visited” in class. The first country they studied was Germany, as the teacher was our co-worker named Eva, who (you guessed it) is German. Last week, we taught the class on the United States and we got sooo many random questions. My favorite question asked was “why is a hot dog called a hot dog? It isn’t really made of dog is it?” Silly kids. We also had a catechism class where the catechist asked the boys when the Catholic Church began. The most common answer was 1990. So the Catholic Church, according to them, began a year before I was born. Seems legit. Other than lessons, we have been working in the garden. We had previously planted kale, baby spinach, red onion, and tomatoes. They are growing well and I cannot wait to harvest them in the upcoming months. We are about to plant maize and swiss chard. This should be a pretty nice garden if all goes well. Today, I played some music from a boombox (which definitely belongs to the late 90’s) for the kids to dance. It ended up being a dance competition and I was the judge. It was so much fun and some of these kids can really dance. I have also organized a football/soccer game for the boys every Thursday. Normally, they play soccer on Street Children grounds, which is about a 12 foot by 12 foot box. Now, they have open space to play on a field, with actual goals. I  could tell that they had a blast and would love to play all day, every day.

            Last Wednesday, I was invited to attend a conference on behalf of the Street Children Project on GBV, which is Gender Based Violence. It was an all day conference that touched upon different cases that some social workers are having trouble finding solutions for. I did not have a great sense of the way Kenyan women are treated until I heard some cases. Mothers and wives are beaten if they act out of place, which is determined by the husband and sometimes the male children. It is dreadful and is going to take a lot of work to change the gender views. Even if I spent all my time on this, I would most likely be unable to make a dent. But the knowledge I gained from this conference is invaluable and will be put to good use.

            On a lighter note, I want to talk about something that has been constantly on my mind: FOOD. Kenyan cuisine is not good. Everything is bland and made only as a source of food, not pleasure. A typical Kenyan dinner consists of ugali, kale, and some sort of mystery meat which is mostly bone. Ugali is hard to describe. It looks like hardened grits that have  congealed to an extremely dense cake. I am not picky about food but ugali is not good. It has absolutely no flavor. I love kale and have no issues with it. It would be better if spices were added. And meat is meat. I will eat it for the protein and that is about it. I do not want to paint a bad picture that I am not getting good food. The bar/butchery I mentioned before serves samosas. They are traingle pieces of deep fried dough with sausage and peppers and spices stuffed inside. My saving grace. And they cost 40 Kenyan shillings, which is 45 American cents. Extremely cheap and wonderfully delicious. I have also been exploring downtown Nairobi for restaurants. I went to an Ethiopian restaurant with Kathie and Stephanie, which was strange but delightful. You have to eat with your hands and the food is served on a plate of injare, which is kind of like fermented rice. You use the injare as your spoon to eat the cabbage, kale, potatoes, and four different meats. Everything was spicy and delicious. My plate cost less than $3 and I was stuffed. I highly recommend Ethiopian food. I also went with Deb to a place called Java House, which is essentially and upscale Panera. The food is exactly what you would find in a Panera but tasted better. I got a sweet tea! It was made using black currant.  I have no clue what black currant is other than splendid. And the tea was served with ice, which I have not had since I have been in Kenya. Crazy. Enough food stories for now though.

            My future looks bright. I am planning to start work in a dispensary very soon, taking care of sick people from Mathare. And hopefully, I can stay at Karen every now and then to work at an AIDS center for children. I am expanding my horizons but will definitely continue work at Street Children. The boys there are too much fun. In regards to trips, I am going to Naivasha on a weekend-long safari this weekend. And I am planning a trip to Zanzibar and Dar es Sallam in Tanzania  as well as a trip to the Rift Valley (which is rumored to be the Cradle of Life) and a trip just outside of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. I hope to ride camels there. I still cannot believe that I have been in Kenya for almost 6 weeks. It is surreal and I cannot be more thankful for the trip and the work that I am able to do.

                                                                                                                                              

P.S. If you would like a baby monkey or other exotic animal, I will try to smuggle one back home. The animals are too cool to not have one as your pet. Again, if you have any questions or comments, send me an email at zacharybtaylor@abbey.bac.edu. I love hearing from y’all