Moving…

So for a variety of reasons I’m moving from Blogger to Wordpress. The decision is partially aesthetics, partially functionality. I also wanted to combine my previous China blog, and make it a more general travel blog for wherever life takes me. In keeping with the theme of the previous names, its called “lost in terra incognita.” Terra incognita is what old school cartographers used to label the areas of the map that people hadn’t been to and they didn’t know about.

Where it is… well the new URL is:
http://lostinterraincognita.wordpress.com/

However, to keep things simple, always have bookmarks or type the following, and you will get to my blog, wherever it is:
http://blog.jasonclopper.com/

You will also find on the new blog, every blog post, comment or whatever I’ve ever posted on either “lost in Kenya” or “lost in China” up there.

I hope the new blog is easier to navigate and better organized. Thanks for reading.

What’s in a name?

Would a Clopper by any other name be just as much of a sarcastic smartass? Well the answer to that question is of course yes. But I wanted to run through for you the various names or monikers I have in my village and in the rest of Kenya. I’ll try and give the origins and meanings to them and who uses what.

Jason
Interestingly enough very few people call me this besides PCVs and PC staff. Mostly just my family in Sipala and Loitokitok. Although sometimes teachers at my school call me it. Obviously this one was given to me by dear old mom and dad in the states.

Clopper
The post office staff call me that. I can’t tell if its because its easier to say or something, or its because a lot of Kenyans sometimes put their “first name” second or what. That one is a family one obviously.

Jackson/Jefferson/some other J name
People who have met me once or twice, or I’ve worked with once before who either misheard it or something, I don’t know. Names and messing them up are less important to Kenyans, so I don’t take it personally. Plus those forms are more familiar to them so they naturally hear that when someone says Jason, especially with my weird American accent.

Teacher
Students at my school call me that. Its usually not my students, or ones I deal with all that frequently. The ones that know me better or take my ICT class call me…

Mwalimu
Which is kiswahili for teacher. I get this from most of my students and some members of the community as I’m walking around. I like it because it kind of makes me feel like just another teacher at the school, and feeling normal around here is difficult when you’re whiter than paper with a big bushy red beard.

Wafula
This is my Tachoni name originally given to me by my Tachoni language instructor in pre service training. Still one of my favorites, its used a lot by people in my village, and guys who hang out in the towns I frequent and work in the “transportation industry” aka matatu touts, piki piki drivers, etc. I’m particularly attached to it as it means born during the rainy season, which makes me think of home and family as rain always does.

Omutachoni
This is the word for someone of the sub-tribe Tachoni I live with. Some of the guys that hang in my village around the shops in my village call me omutachoni. I was once talking to them in Tachoni which is near identical to Bukusu, and one of them called me omubukusu and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no sir, I am Tachoni, “Nivere omutachoni.” They thought it was funny, and now they call me Omutachoni when I roll through.

Rooney
For those of you who don’t follow the most popular sport in the world Rooney is an English footballer (aka soccer player). Both he and I are white and have a slightly similar hairline, so in Kenyan terms we’re pretty much identical. I get a lot in my neighboring town which is my matatu stop, although I have literally gotten it all across the country. Of course whoever says it thinks they are the cleverest person and noticed it for the first time. I would get annoyed more but he’s one of my favorite players, so I’ll take it. Although when I shave my head and have the goatee I sometimes get called Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Mzungu
Still get this one, although much less in my area. Means white person. Super annoying, especially because its usually coupled with annoying, ignorant and immature behavior I’ve detailed before. For a refresher check out Urban Dictionary’s entry for mzungu.

Brian or Wekesa
Brian is the name of the closes PCV to me. His Bukusu name is Wekesa. Despite the fact that we look nothing alike and have lived here for a year and a half, we still get mixed up sometimes. I particularly get annoyed in his town, a place I frequent often enough to think I have my own identity, but I still get called “mzungu Brian.” Brian has a lot more patience than me, and a kinder soul, so we have different ways on how we deal with this in our respective sites. We’re pretty sure its what’s led to the difference in attitude in our villages, but who knows.

Random “White Names”
Some people shout out random “white names” like John or Peter, honestly as annoying as mzungu or just straight up calling me white man is, I prefer it to the random name thing.

Random Western Nationalities
I’ve heard things like “Hey German” or “Englishman” or “Spanish” or “Italian” on multiple occasions in different places. The best I can surmise on this one is they once met someone from one of those countries or something, so now they assume that every white person is that nationality. Being confused for being English at least makes a little sense as I speak English and it was their former colonizer, but the other ones, who knows.

The N Word
I’ve been called the N word on more than one occasion. I can’t tell if they think they’re being ironic, cool, or just think it’s a thing westerners say because its in rap. I consider trying to explain to them the hateful origins of that word and everything it symbolizes, and how ignorant and dumb they sound using it, but I know they just wouldn’t get it and don’t bother wasting my time. Sad, but if I let stuff like this get to me I would go nuts. Not that I ever think its appropriate or acceptable to use, someone really needs to teach them to drop the hard R on the end at the very least.

Jaw-woo
Lastly, and possibly my new favorite, the smallest resident of our house (not counting the countless critters and pests), little Stacy, I’m pretty sure has begun trying to say my name. On more than a few occasions she started saying jaw-woo when I’m around interacting with her. This has been tricky to confirm, but it seems she only does it around me. Its been awesome getting to hang out with her and it makes me sad that she will probably not remember her white uncle she played with while younger.

 

And lastly, completely unrelated to the rest of this post, if any of you ever wondered what I would look like with the facial hair of an old timey cowboy, its your lucky day…

General Update

So there is no clever theme or well thought out thesis in this post, just a quick here’s what I’ve been up to. I’ve been getting a bit of flack from people (also read my mom and sister) about the lack of any activity here. That’s in large part because I don’t really think of anything here is that exciting or new anymore, but maybe it will be to you. And the things I get excited about are not very exciting to you, I’m guessing. So here goes…

Work

I’ve been keeping pretty busy, mostly still in my teaching business studies at the high school. I’ve managed to fall into a pretty good rhythm with it, think I have a good handle on the teaching thing, and have made some good relationships with my students. What’s new with that is I’m now also teaching ICT (computers skills) classes at night for a few of my students in our school’s new computer room. The idea behind it is to kind of teach them through ICT other concepts as well like communication, presenting, leadership, etc. A big part of that is the kids in this class will be responsible for planning, preparing and teaching the next class. Also in this class I really stress finding things out themselves or helping each other which is having great results. I’ll find that I’ll let them loose on a project and before I know it an entire hour will have gone by with out me saying anything much because the more advanced kids will be helping the slower learners.

Although, that’s a challenge, albeit one I think I’m handling, keeping the advanced ones who may have used computers before challenged while still supporting and going slow enough for those who are still struggling with the double click and whose English is not very strong at all. But all in all I’m really enjoying it and the kids seem to be to.

On top of that I’m using the computer lab and projector to help better teach business studies. Since few of these kids have books, and fewer have been to any sizeable towns, conveying certain ideas has been difficult. Imagine class with no pictures or visual aids besides a blackboard. Now imagine teaching the various means of shipping goods and the business ramifications it can have to kids who have never seen, nor have a good idea of exactly what a plane or ship is. So I show pictures and videos of new concepts. I also download current clips from Kenyan news broadcasts on contemporary topics like free trade, inflation, etc. One indication its working: one of my students approached me after class wanting to discuss inflation (something particularly bad in Kenya right now) more, he said “Teacher, this thing of inflation, its really keeping me up at night.”

I’m also working with another group in a town a little ways away. It’s a very big organization with lots of smaller groups within it. So far I haven’t done much but I did conduct a training with them on project management. Time permitting, I’ll be able to conduct future trainings on projects of their choosing later.

I have a few other things I’m kind of exploring, but I’ll wait to see if anything comes of them before putting them up.

Grad School

So I just finished another two grad school classes last week. I know I got an A in one (97% in large part to the perfect score on my final paper, which I was pleasantly surprised with) and still waiting for a grade on my paper in the other one. Two more classes to go, wrapping up in mid-December. All that will be left will be my practicum, something I’ve decided to put off until I finish Peace Corps. There is a lot of factors that went into that, but bottom line it will be easier and of more valuable to me to wait until I finish Peace Corps and put my full effort into it. So not able to cap off that Master’s degree until probably next winter.

Other News

So I took the Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT) about a month ago and just found out I passed. So, what does that mean. Well there is more or less 4 stages in the application process for becoming a Foreign Service Officer at the US State Department: FSOT > Personal Narratives > QEP > Oral Exam. For more info on the process check out www.State.gov, under Careers I believe. This is pretty exciting because its really what I want to do and if all works out the timing will come down that I won’t have a hug lag time between finishing Peace Corps and (hopefully) the Foreign Service. If it doesn’t work out, no big deal, I’m young, no rush to hop into my career, I go do something for a few years I find interesting and advances my professional aspirations.

And lastly… Security Concerns

Since I’ve had a few inquiries or people wondering about this I thought I would nip it in the bud right now. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about check BBC, CNN or Al Jazeera for the news on the couple of kidnappings that happened in Kenya and the subsequent advance of Kenyan forces into Southern Somalia, and the occurrence of some “incidents.” I have plenty of opinions and thoughts on this stuff, but frankly I’m sick of talking about it. So here is what matters:

I’m safe.

My village is far from all that trouble and I’m being smart about what I do. Peace Corps is keeping an eye on the whole thing and taking appropriate precautions and steps to ensuring my, and other volunteer’s safety. So no need to worry.

If you want to stay alerted to more immediate and breaking news with regard to Kenya (the international news sites are usually a day behind on most things unless its real big), you can check the Daily Nation at www.nation.co.ke or follow them on Twitter. They seem to be the most immediate and thorough on reporting security incidents.

Next time on Lost in Kenya….

I have some more ideas ready to go for blog posts, so sit tight and they should be out in the next few weeks once I get some free time.

Disaster

Alright I’ve been holding off on this for long enough (Warning: not very well thought out rant ahead)…

It’s great everyone has been hearing about the drought and subsequent famine in parts of East Africa and is feeling really bad about it. But where was that compassion and caring as refugee camps all over Africa were filling up the last few decades? Or where was the outrage as aid has been stalled, delayed, skimmed off, or misused due to poor governance and corruption for years? Where was the desire to help as lack of infrastructure, training, and high costs crippled agricultural output for as long as one can remember? These and many other factors have been building and contributed to the current situation. This wasn’t just a disaster out of nowhere, it was a tragedy building for years.

To take the moral and empathy card out of it, lets look at costs. When these things come to a head, often with the help of a natural disaster, the costs of rebuilding and aiding others is extremely large. These costs I imagine (my educated guess) would be far less than slow and steady capacity building over time. But its far more satisfying to send a big check to Red Cross or whatever cause of the month when we see the horrific images bombarding us on cable news. So to put the moral and empathy card back in there, we would do far more to help those in need with small donations or other means of support to good grassroots organizations who are truly building people’s capacity on the ground.

Let me end this little rant with a picture. Not too long back, Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and accompanying tsunami, sprinkled with potentially the worst nuclear disaster, ever. You may have heard about it. The following picture is inspiring. Shortly after this tragedy, the highly educated and historically disciplined and motivated Japanese workforce, got back to it. Empowering people to support themselves, in good times and bad. To me that’s how you battle poverty and underdevelopment.

Some things never change…

I once mentioned to a very lovely friend of mine I wanted to read a very obscure book called “High Risk/High Gain” by Alann Weiss. Now when I saw her next low and behold she somehow managed to get a hold of it. How? I’m not sure. Now it has “Lakeside Community Library” stamped on it so I’m assuming she stole it from that particular book depository. More likely she found it second hand on the interwebz, but I enjoy the vision of her in some crazy comical chase scene through the halls of an old dusty library being chased by a librarian that could be described with the same adjectives, too much to cede it to reality.

Now High Risk/High Gain is actually about Peace Corps training in the ‘60s in the early, early years of Peace Corps. Back then training was done in Manhattan. So Allen Weiss is preparing for teaching in Nigeria, and having fun coming to terms with the massive and sometimes seemingly bass ackward bureaucracy that is Peace Corps (I say that with all due love). So often I’ve wanted to share quotes from the book, like from almost every other page. For example, “I mean here’s this organization famed for self-reliance but they don’t seem to trust us to find our way into Manhattan without getting lost.” Now I could modify the last part of this statement in so many ways and it would still be true. It’s amazing how so many things are still the same or relatable now. Here is a particular passage I couldn’t help but share. Someone on Peace Corps staff is giving Alan the straight talk about what’s to come, I’ve pared it down a bit:

“Guys like you get all fired up and join and nine times out of ten it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would. The Peace Corps is occasionally as exciting as its press releases, in the rainy season we may have to ferry you over the roads in canoes, sure there’s romance, but mostly its simply day-to-day hard grueling work, just putting one foot in front of the other. Oh, we’ve had our smashing successes, a kid in the Philippines saved an entire rice crop, a gang of kids in Pakistan started producing chicks by the thousands in modern hatcheries, these are things you can count, rice saved, chicks hatched, but most of our people just shuffle along, serve our their two years in an unspectacular way, and return to America changed how? in a way we can’t yet say. Nothing much seems to have been done, nothing you can put your finger on, it’s a hell of a thing, and let me tell you, teaching is probably the most unrewarding of the lot.”

He then goes on to describe how Peace Corps is proof the US is finally “growing up.” And wraps up with, “This is America living up to its promise. So goddamn you, don’t talk to me about mud huts, your job goes beyond mud huts, beyond mere teaching, your job is to help carry America into the twentieth century. We’re already too far behind… Now what do you say? Are you for us, or agin us?”

Hard and unrewarding work that is part of something bigger (we hope)? Same ol’ Peace Corps. Some things never change…

Interesting Article

Nice very concise article in the economist about food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular the following passage I found pretty interesting:

“Moreover, shortages in Africa are partly caused by inefficient farming, an estimated loss of 40% of produce on the way to market, and the high cost of fuel. And while Africa has more virgin farmland than anywhere else, in some areas good land is scarce. Many families, for instance in western Kenya or northern Ethiopia, have less than the 0.3 hectares (0.74 acres) deemed the minimum for supporting a family. Land title is still often held communally, making it nigh-impossible for farmers to get credits. Women especially find it hard to get property rights, though they often do most of the farm work.”

http://www.economist.com/node/18745313

All of these are interesting and apparent where I’m at. To think 40% of produce is lost in transit, its crazy. And then if we could calculate the opportunity cost of farming done inefficiently, it would be staggering. For example, the group I work with had a very bad time with the maize crops it grew last season for a variety of reasons. They ended up harvesting only two standard bags of maize from two acres. One well run acre in this part of Kenya can produce over 50 if done correctly. So 98 bags of hypothetical maize not produced, plus the loss from the renting of the land, the labor, the seeds, the fertilizer, etc.

Abdolkarim Soroush, an Iranian scholar, once said, “the greatest dictatorship is that of poverty and ignorance.” I couldn’t agree more.

Day in the life…

Here is a rundown of a fairly light day. I just picked a random day last week and recorded how it went. Just a little bit of teaching and hanging out.

12:36 AM – Awake to hear my sister screaming, I think there was a bat in the hallway

8:10 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

8:20 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

8:30 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

8:40 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

8:50 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

9:00 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

9:10 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

9:20 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Hit snooze button.

9:30 AM – Awake to the sound of my alarm. Bucket bath. Get dressed and ready.

10:00 AM – Check emails, Facebook, and discussion boards for grad school.

10:10 AM – Look over what I’m teaching today. Grade some papers.

11:00 AM – Stop by faculty lounge. Say hi to a few teachers. Grab chai and a Blue Band sandwich.

11:10 AM – First lesson of the day. Form 2. Its a double, meaning two 40 minute blocks. Discussing different means of transportation and how they relate to business and shipping of goods. Get in to a discussion later in the class about travelling to and from America, and then travelling in America. The kids are more responsive and active today than normal.

12:30 PM – Second lesson. Form 4. Go over various documents used in international trade. Extremely boring topic. The kids (and I am) pretty bored. At least one was dazing off. Got better as we started to move into international financial institutions. Introduced the IMF to them. Realized I’m probably the first person to talk to them about it. I remember the various classes I learned about it in and how each one introduced it in a different light, some good, some bad, some objective. Made me think about how I talk about it.

1:10 PM – Talked with the other Business Studies teacher about classes and told her I would bring her some material on fish ponds to help with her fish pond.

1:15 PM – Got back home, made myself pasta with some marinara sauce I picked up in Kisumu the weekend before.

2:00 PM – Walked a few kilometers to the main road to get a matatu to town (Webuye). Waited for a bit before one with room came by. Trip cost 30 Kenyan shillings or ksh (under 50 cents).

2:45 PM – Got to town. Checked PO box for mail. One letter from a high school friend,  an invite to her marriage (congrats Erin and Skip). Got a 5 pack of Indomie instant noodles (Indian top ramen, 90 ksh), some Cadbury chocolate with caramel (125 ksh), and credit for my phone (500 ksh). Got in a matatu to go back, it took 45 minutes to get loaded up before leaving.

4:30 - PM Got off in the small market center of Lugulu. Ride cost 40 ksh. Walked a few kilometers home.

5:00 PM - Graded more papers. While watching the Office on my computer.

6:00 PM – Did some reading on online dispute resolution and culture for grad school.

7:00 PM – Dinner prepared by my sisters. Pasta and some beef stew. Ate it while watching translated Mexican soap opera with the family. Was also reading my Economist.

8:00 PM – Alternated between solitaire on the computer, watching the office, grad school work, and grading papers for a bit.

12:00 PM Finally went to sleep.