In case you were wondering

Two posts in two days. Might as well post enough to make it look like I’m dedicated to this while I’m still in the “shiny-new-thing” phase of this blog.

So, people keep asking me why the hell I want to go to Kenya. Psych majors usually go to Denmark, and Denmark is [clean/ cool/ established/ a place people actually go/ the place where your great aunt lives/ really good about health care/ in Europe/ free of refugee camps/ not in the middle of a famine]. Not like Kenya. What my family doesn’t realize is that they programmed me to want to go to Kenya. That’s right, I blame all of you. Here’s why:

1.      1. The first film I ever saw in theaters at the age of 3: The Lion King. Asante sana (squash banana) Mom and Dad!  

2.       2. My Uncle went to Somalia as a Marine. Clearly the total opposite reason of why I want to go to the Horn of Africa. However, at the naïve age of 2, he didn’t tell me his real reasons for going over.  Instead I heard about all the cool things he saw, the animals, the landscape, the people, ect. He even got me a necklace with little wooden animals on it. I remember playing with it all the time.

3.       3.  Another reason why it’s my uncle’s fault: Now he’s working with Peace Keeping Missions in that general area.

4.       4.  My Nana lived across the street from the family of a Kenyan diplomat ceria age 6-8 . The family had a boy my age and a son two years younger than me, and my Nana had a pool. They came over to swim all the time. The oldest one was the first person to show me where Kenya was on a map and said I need to visit some day and see his goat farm. The dad said they didn’t own goats, but I wanted to go anyway. I remember playing “Africa” on their front lawn when their grass got really long. Then one day they moved. (Since then, their house was bought by a family from the area, bulldozed, and replaced by a stucco McMansion. Their grass is always perfectly trimmed and sprayed by migrant gardeners.)

5.     5.   Fast forward about 14 years- when looking for places to study abroad, mom and dad said I could go anywhere but South Africa. My dad’s co-worker told him it was too dangerous. After more research I discovered the SIT Program, which offered WAAAAYYYY more countries in Africa than just South Africa. So “anywhere but” became Kenya, the place my 6 year old self really wanted to visit. The parents are not too thrilled about this choice either, but they should understand that they are part of the reason I’m going (see #1).

Of course I have more practical reasons for going. I can do my Peace and Justice Studies minor capstone over there and knock off a requirement for my IA major. If my ISP goes the way I planned, I’ll get a look into mental health in a non-Western country (take that Denmark).  I’ll also get to see various outreach and development organizations, something I will probably end up working with in the future.

Though I still think imaginary goat farms are a good reason to go.