Unfortunate Circumstances

So...I have some news. Unfortunately, due to political instability in Kenya, attacks occurring around the coast of Kenya, and the persistence of the UAS Embassy in Kenya, I am now officially back in the USA.

While I loved my time in Takaungu, there is a time to be aware of certain threats and know when it is time to go back to safer ground in Tampa, Florida. And for me, that time was now. I was (and still am) extremely sad to have left my amazing family and internship in Takaungu, but everyone understood my family's and my decision for me to return home.

I am now safe and sound in Florida, but I will be continuing my internship from abroad. I will complete the health education syllabus, and I will be working on a grant for the EAC. I'm still in constant communication with the EAC's executive director, and she said that she will be sure to keep me busy with tasks for my internship even though I will no longer be working from Kenya. I am excited to continue and complete my duties from afar! I am superrrr thrilled that the EAC is so flexible and understanding of the current political and social climate of the coastal region of Kenya.

I know many of my friends and family have been keeping up with the current situation in Kenya because I've received numerous emails and texts on this subject. I am SO fortunate to have so many concerned and involved family and friends...THANK YOU for your continued thoughts and prayers!

I look forward to chatting with everyone and sharing my awesome stories with anyone who will listen haha! Hugs to all :)

Va Va VUMA!!!

Piggybacking off of my previous MacGyver story, I recently went to Vuma the other day. Vuma is the ‘Vu’ in the word ‘Vutakaka’. I don’t know if I ever explained that, but the EAC started the school of Vutakaka, and this is how it got its name:

Vu= Vuma

Ta= Takaungu (where I am living)

Ka= Kayanda

Ka= Kanumbunie (I made this spelling up)

These are the 4 villages that comprise of where the majority of the children live. It is also the 4 main villages that the EAC conducts community outreach programs. I’ll give a pencil to the first person that can find out how to correctly spell the 4^th village haha! Seriously, pencils are like candy here! The students are always in need of pencils, but the majority of the pencils here are sold without erasers, or rubbers as they call them here. I brought pencils (with erasers on them) from America and I’ll conduct little quiz sessions in class about geography or how to spell a certain word or if they remember how to spell my name…and they win pencils! All of the students LOVE it! Major props to all of my friends who are teachers because I don’t think I’ve ever been more exhausted than the days when a large chunk of the day is spent at the school! Phew!

Okay—so back to VUMA!

Mohamed and I bikes to Vuma, which is about a 45 minute bike ride and the furthest away village from Takaungu. We first went to the quarry where we spoke with the miners about HIV/AIDS and the importance of using condoms and to get tested regularly. Next month, the EAC is partnering with the clinic to provide HIV/AIDS testing and counseling to the people of Vuma. This activity has not been conducted since last July…and only 30 testing kits were available at the time so the majority of people, unfortunately, were not even tested. After passing out over 400 condoms, setting up camp in random locations to lecture about HIV/AIDS, and learning how to use a huge spike to cut the rocks into brick-shaped objects to be sold, Mohamed and I continued biking to the Vuma Cliffs.

The Vuma Cliffs were beautiful. I probably took 100 pictures here haha! These cliffs are located on the Indian Ocean. Many fisherman fish here by looking for fish from on top of the cliff and then they throw their handmade nets over the hill to catch them. They retrieve their nets by using a fishing pole! Super interesting to watch! And they catch everything from small fish to big fish! Also, when the wind is showing off, then the waves can splash ALL of the way up and over the cliffs. When this happens, the next day, the locals of Vuma come out and collect the salt off of the rocks that cumulates from the waves.

Oh, we didn’t go to the cliffs just to hang out haha! We went to speak to the fisherman about a project the EAC started and funded which was called the Seaweed Project. I bet you can guess what it was focused on, but for those that skip through my blog and only read the capitalized words, the project was all about the harvesting of SEAWEED! Collecting the seaweed is beneficial to the fishermen because it makes it easier for the fishermen to see the fish without SO much seaweed. Also, the seaweed can be sold to make food (yummy seaweed salad) or also to make jewelry, apparently. Very cool! So, we went to get an update on that project and also to discuss with the fisherman about STIs/STDs/HIV/AIDS. They also got oodles of condoms.

Everyone in Vuma was super nice and welcoming. I’m really looking forward to my next excursion there next month when we will be conducting the HIV/AIDS testing and counseling. What was great was that almost everyone we started talking to about the condoms we were handing out also asked us when we would be doing HIV/AIDS testing again. Both males and females were wanting to be tested and everyone said that they would tell others in their village once a specific date was picked for this event. Great to see the citizens of Vuma so wanting and willing to be tested!

Pictures explained:

1. Here is the quarry! It was one of the hottest days since I'd been here, but luckily the quarry is located SUPER close to the coast/Vuma cliffs/beach, so the wind was definitely welcomed!

2. Here is Mohamed and one of the quarry workers showing us how to work! You can see in this picture all of the brick-like things all stacked up behind them. These individuals do not work for a company, so their profit is dependent only on how many brick-like things they get out and then how many they sell. 

3. Here are the Vuma cliffs. This pictures doesn't do it justice. These cliffs were breathtaking! And these are where the fishermen dump their nets over to catch the fish.

4. Here is meeeee with the Vuma Cliffs! Yes, my hair is braided in the front...the girls in my house had a LOT of fun doing my hair haha! When they get their hair done, it stays for 2 weeks...mine lasted for 2 days. Also--I'm wearing PANTS!!! Whenever I go biking, I'm allowed to wear pants, and then when walking around the villages I put a skirt on over them. But, because we were kinda exploring on the coast, I was told that I didn't have to put the skirt on. Yay--I have LEGS lol! Oh, and shout out to my parents and sisters: look at the locket I'm wearing!

5. More of the Vuma Cliffs because...well, because I just wanted to. Isn't it SOO pretty?? Correct answer: yes!

I am MacGyver, hear me ROAR!

So, I’ve been biking. A lot. For proof, I have taken a picture of the bikes AND a picture of Mohamed biking. Sorry, I don’t do selfies when bike riding because I fear for running into snakes, rocks, and little kids. 3 out of those 3 things have occurred. But, FYI: no one was injured. Also, for those of you laughing because I'm soooo far behind Mohamed as he bikes, that was on purpose (sometimes) haha! The bike I was given to use has no breaks, so I get to stop Fred Flintstone-style every time! This kinda explains why running into snakes, rocks, and children occurred haha!

On one of these biking excursions from the EAC headquarters to the village of Vuma (more on this later), Mohamed’s bike wheel shield thing became unscrewed and kept hitting the wheel. At first we tried to look in the nearby area’s floor for some sort of string or something to hold it up, but we couldn’t find anything of use. We almost resorted to using my hair tie (after this event, I now carry 2 hair ties just in case I need to use one of them for a different reason) haha!

BUT—I had a brilliant idea!

One of the outreach programs we were doing in Vuma was passing out condoms to the quarry mine workers while also debriefing them on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and how HIV/AIDS testing and counseling will be conducted by us with the help of others next month. Sooo…back to my super stellar idea…we used a condom to tie up the wheel shield thing on the bike! And the shield thing has not fallen down since…lol haha YAY!

You’re all welcome for this extraordinary story.

WORLD CUP WITH A SIDE OF SHAKIRA SHAKIRA

Shakira is loved here in Takaungu. I own only 2 songs of Shakira’s and I think I’m singing these songs in my sleep due to how often the people in my family ask to hear these songs! One of the songs is the theme song of the 2010 World Cup (Waka Waka). It’s a goodie!

Well, the World Cup is underway! Go Team USA and Team Netherlands! Due to the time difference, the games do not begin here until 7pm. So, I usually only make it through 1.5 of the games every night haha. Gone are the days of me being able to stay up superrrr late lol!

My mom found this sticker book at Target about the World Cup and gave it to me. Then, you’d buy packs of stickers that contained each country’s team and individual pictures! Pretty awesome! Well, I hauled this book to Takaungu and everyone in my family LOVES it! They loved putting the stickers into the book and looking at each of the team’s players. Some mornings, the little kids would wake me up by knocking on my door and asking for “stickers” haha! I kept saying that we could leave it on the counter at night so they could get it themselves in the morning, but their mom said that they needed to return it to me after every time they look at it haha! And I mean EVERY TIME! One of the kids will ask for it and return it 10 minutes later…and then 2 minutes after that someone else will ask for it! They crack me up! Even the uncle has enjoyed looking at the sticker book haha!

Why oh why does the USA insist on calling this sport ‘soccer’? I mean, we already don’t use the metric system and now this TOO?! Way to make me look foolish all the time. I keep forgetting to call the World Cup football instead of soccer. Maybe I’ll finally remember this difference by the end of the World Cup. Once I master that, then I’ll move on to mastering the subject of the metric system. Wish me luck!

Pictures:

1. My crazy family having a dance party during halftime of the World Cup games. This is typical haha!

2. Making food in the rom where the TV is now located. When this picture was taken, they did not have a TV yet, but now it is located in that corner. I don't have a picture (yet) of all of us corded around the TV watching the games, but here are some of us together making food and chatting. Now we make food and watch the games haha!

GO TEAM USA!!!

PICTURES I WOULD HAVE INSTAGRAMED...

1.     So, I’ve mentioned many times before about the creek that divides Takaungu and Kilifi. Well, I love this creek. It is a beautiful blue color…the pictures don’t do it justice! In this picture you can see the stairs that lead straight to the water. I take the stairs down to the water, and this is where I like to sit and take in the sun and watch the boats go by filled with people making their way to and from Kilifi or the fisherman looking for fish to catch and then sell. Isn’t it BEAUTIFUL?! This is a short 5-minute walk from my house and has become my go-to place for a quick getaway!

 2.     Here is one of the EAC workers, named Joy, who is leading the Stay Alive Program at Takaungu Primary School on the topic of early marriages and early pregnancies. The kids are adorable and really look forward to this program that occurs once a week! Joy actually has 3 children already and is pregnant and due in September with her 4^th! CRAZY lady! She is super nice and helpful and would translate everything the children said in Swahili back into English for me…therefore, my laughs were always delayed. I really need to pick up Swahili faster!

3.     On my walk to the shop with Do (well, Do is her nickname and I don’t know yet how to spell her full name) it started to rain! So, we hid. While hiding, we ran into her cousin haha! When the rain finally let up, then we went to buy our flour and onions and tomatoes. We typically go to the shop several times a day based on what is needed. They do not stock up on goods and food, instead they go and buy what they need for each meal and each day. Good way not to waste food, right??

4.     Here is a local bar! The guy out front is writing the times on the chalkboard of the Fifa World Cup games that will be televised there. As a girl, I will not be going into this establishment because it is not seen as a proper place for a lady. Psh! Also—the alcohol they serve there is called Palm Wine and is collected from the palm trees/coconut trees. I do want to try this Palm Wine at some point, but I will have to venture to a larger town to try it so that I’m not seen trying it in the small village of Takaungu where I am told I should not drink alcohol.

5.     These are taken on my walk from the shop back to the house I am living at! Stray cats and goats and cows and chickens are very normal sightings. There is Fautma (the oldest daughter of the house I’m staying at) as we walk back from the shop! As you can see, some of the houses in Takaungu are made of stone, while others (as seen in my previous post) are made of clay and stones. The materials your house is made of depend on a family’s wealth and culture.

RaNdOm EnCoUnTeRs

Sooo…I have a lot of thoughts. Here are some of them:

1. So, in the community outreach that I’ve been a part of the past two weeks, I have has a lot of interaction with very young mothers…some as young as in the 6^th grade. What is interesting about this is that children have such different roles here. Even in the family I am living with, each child has certain chores to do. Now, to many of us, chores include unloading the dishwasher and folding laundry (which, P.S.—the ladies in my house asked if I have those things that clean dishes and clothes or if it is just in the TV haha!). But here, they wash all their clothes by hand and hang them to dry. Even the little 4-year-old girl knows how to scrub her clothes and then passes the clothespins to her older sister while she hangs up the clothes. My family is VERY fortunate and has one working sink in their house, which is located in the kitchen. But, the water does not always work…this happens sometimes several times a day. So, all of the children have these huge water jugs and they must walk to the nearby waterhole where there are 2 water faucets there to fill up their water and carry them back home. And they are HEAVY!!! No pictures have been taken yet because I am seriously sweating (you’re welcome for the visual) before, during, and after all of these water-retrieval occurrences haha. When one of the children in my family was ill, the older daughter was told to stay home from school to help with the sick child while the mother continued with the typical chores of the day. These are only SOME examples of the various roles that children have here. Even the little 3-year-old knows his role and knows when he is in the way and knows when he has to stay out of the kitchen and such. Okay, so because of these responsibilities placed on the children, especially the female children, it almost encourages them to think that they can handle having a family and a baby on their own.

I was speaking to Mohammed, an EAC worker and my mentor on the health team, about the roles of women and he also thinks that the roles the young women have in their     household make them think that they can be successful in caring for a child and cooking     and cleaning a house when they get married because they are already doing those things at their own house. Interesting, right?

2. Rain does not hinder any activities here. You just keep walking or keep up with your conversation. It is like no one is even phased by the rain haha! I’ve only seen the Boda Boda drivers wearing raincoats (I’ve been wearing my ADPi raincoat mucho), and someeeee people have umbrellas.

3. So, dogs are NOT liked amongst the locals here. The stray cats are nicely fed scraps from a meal, but stray dogs are shooed and yelled at. I asked why people don’t like dogs, and I told about the two dogs that my parents have, and two young girls in my house said that they are a form of the devil. If you touch a dog or a pig that you must wash your hands 6 times and the 7^th time you must use sand to scrub your hands. I told them that I still like dogs better than cats…lol haha!

4.  Out of respect, I am called “Madam” or “Mother” at the school. I hate it. I keep asking to just be called by my name, but it isn’t sticking lol! Darn kids making me feel SUPER old! In one of the classes, I told them that I’m not married and don’t have kids so I’m not a madam nor a mother. I’d even settle for being called a “Miss Noelle” (hahaha shout out to Paisley and the Voelker family!)!

5. So, as part of my community outreach, I help to fill up condom dispensers around town. Well, today I went to one of the locations and one of the guys at this location was telling me about a burial that was occurring today. Apparently, a local young man was on the Acrobat team and traveled to Russia to compete and he fell from a building or tower or something and died. It was very sad to hear and the whole Acrobat team and community was saddened by this news. Well, after hearing that sad story he asked if he could bring one of the boxes of condoms (has 244 condoms in it) to the burial. I kinda laughed and then asked why and he said that burials are not only sad, that they celebrate life and those still living. Soooo, this celebration requires condoms haha! Hope all of those people at the burial have a great and safe time today lol! Oh, how I love Takaungu.   

Pictures:

1. Past volunteers at the school painted this picture of Africa! Pretty impressive!

1. Even when in Africa, I still will randomly glance at my phone and it will show 813 (Tampa's area code)! I alwayssss happen to look at my watch or phone or clock when I'm living in Philly and it is 813! Shout out to the 813!!!