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| Just a sunset |
Remember when I told you in the last post that we were going
to Nairobi for the weekend? I lied. Or not really, but we didn’t end up going.
It was a culmination of many things. I have already lived in Nairobi (that
shouldn’t be surprising) and the main reason other people wanted to go was to
find a descent bookstore. Either way, I was going to go for something to do and
so that the other people could experience Nairobi in all its smelly scary
glory. (ok, its not that bad. But it is pretty smelly) So the other interns and
I got to the bus stage at 5:00 with hope of catching a bus in order to get to
Nairobi around 11:00 pm. We found a bus for 7:00, decided it would be fine
since we could still get some sleep that night, and booked a ticket. We grabbed
good seats on the bus around six and waited to leave. Four hours later we still
had not left and seriously evaluated our options. At this point we’d get to
Nairobi around 5 AM because driving at night takes longer, meaning sleeping
would hardly be worth it, meaning we’d be cranky for our one day in Nairobi.
So we got off the bus. And it was awesome.
The rest of the weekend was just fun. On Saturday we went to
Kit Makayi, which is a bunch of really neat rock formations outside of Kisumu.
As interesting as rocks sound (they don’t), it was surprisingly cool.
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| Cody |
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| Kit Makyai |
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| Kat, Ludi, and Shane |
On the way back we could not get a matatu to stop for us,
but we did get a pick up truck. Also a way cooler way to travel than a matatu.
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| View from the back of the pickup truck |
The following week was finalizing things with my grant
proposal. I am working with the
LIvliyhoods team at KMET and a local community called Kanyumba to build a rain
collecting tank. Now, I know what you are thinking: “Wait, I thought you went
there as a nutrition intern?! Rain isn’t nutrition related!” And you are
completely correct. But lets be serious- I really haven’t been working with the
nutrition department while I’ve been here. Most of the outreaches and work I’ve
done has been with Livlihoods. Plus, the rainwater collecting tank is more
sustainable than anything I could do with nutrition, as well as a means to
reduce the prevalence of water-borne illness in the area, prevent attacks on
women collecting water from the far away river, and provide a cheap source of
water during the dry season. The tank is community built and mostly community
funded. Currently they are going for a final push in their part of the
fundraising, so hopefully by next week we can start building. The actual tank
only takes 3-5 days to build so it might be done by the time I leave. Which
would be pretty neat.
This past weekend we were the ultimate tourists and went to
Maasai Mara for a safari. In the middle of the first day, our tire popped as we
tried to cross a puddle. Then the jack broke. Once the men (I don’t know how to
change a tire…) got a doughnut on, we drove for a few minutes. Then the fuel
tank fell out of the bottom. So the men (I didn’t even know a fuel tank could
do that, let alone how to fix one) fixed the tank by securing it with rope and
electric tape, it was time to leave the mara. But don’t fret, we made up for it
the next day. As with the last time, pictures will describe it better. Side
note: My camera sucks at zoom, so the pictures where the animals look really
close? They were actually closer.
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| Monkey in a tree at a rest stop. And then his friend bit my shoe |
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| rawr |
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| baby elephant!! |
We are winding down our time here. It’s weird. Leaving it at
that.
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