Normal?

Desensitized

So me and my friend Brian are walking through this good sized town called Eldoret the other day and there was this street kid, who was either high on glue or drunk on sugar cane alcohol or both, and he said in a really goofy way “hey how are you?” and he tried to touch me and we just kind of sidestepped him and laughed because it was funny the way he said how are you. And it took me a second to realize that me and my friend (I consider Brian to be one of the nicest guys in the world) just laughed at a little kid in tattered clothing, dirty and high or drunk in the middle of the day living on the streets. Not only have things like street kids become normal to me, but I had laughed at it. I had to seriously think about that for awhile because that sight should be horrifying, like truly shocking, and I see things like that or worse all the time and brush them off. But I think you have to. You have to put yourself in a place where that stuff doesn't get to you. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to hack it. You would breakdown emotionally. You can't work here in development and not desensitize yourself to the shocking things you see. I can't help that one kid, but I can hopefully help make his community be able to help him. But what of myself do I have to give up to do that?

Matatus

I'm not sure if I've fully explained what a matatu is. You can google it real quick if you want to see a picture of one. Essentially a matatu is a old beat up Toyota van. It is the primary form of long distance transportation for the average Kenyan and PCVs. The legal limit of passengers is 14. The actual limit is however many the “tout” can fit. Which can be like 25 at times. So there is a driver and a tout. The tout collects the money and crams people in, and the driver drives, usually terribly. Sometimes as we approach police checkpoints they kick people out, not enough to get to 14, but to about 20 or so. 20 seems to be the level cops are ok with, or at least can be bribed at. Something that happens often. Although I have been in a matatu when a cop kicked everyone out and arrested the driver and tout. So to get back to my theme, I'll explain. Getting on a van that is falling apart (quite literally sometime, as I've seen the door fall off of several), with 5 people in three seats and the tout more or less in my lap, for 3-5 hours, used to be enough nearly give me a panic attack. Now, I've literally fallen asleep on them, something I wasn't able to do on the giant comfy bus I was on for 7 hours the other day. Its very odd that again, that's normal for me. And now when I'm on the side of the road trying to catch a matatu and it drives by without stopping because its full, I'm like “come on, I can squeeze.”

Nairobi

I'm in Nairobi right now for another short training session. So after seeing more of the country and stuff, and actually getting out into Nairobi a little bit I've come to the conclusion Nairobi sucks. Sure you can get all the comforts of home, good food, and have a good night out, overall I would rather be somewhere else. People here try and rip you off even more so than normal, you have to watch your back all the time, and the inequality is smashed into your face. We walk towards the Peace Corps office and go by giant houses in gated communities while the servants and locals are cooking next to the street over a fire. Or across from the giant luxury mall, you see a small shanty town where the beggars and hawkers who work the area around the mall live. I would much rather go to Kisumu the biggest city on the west side of the country. Its on Lake Victoria and has a nice beach town feel to it. Much more relaxed, and even haggling is easier there.

So quick update on life at site:

-will be really getting to work next week, revamping projects, starting new ones, etc.

-still no house, but supposedly they are working on it

-loving living with another host family so its not a big deal

Any Requests?

I had a request to talk about the education levels of the people I'm working with. So I thought next time around I'll do a requests post. Tell me what you want to know about, or my thoughts on whatever and I'll blog about it.