First Month in Shianda

My first month in Shianda, and it feels like time is passing quickly and slowly at the same time. I feel like I can say I have adapted quite easily, I came here prepared and trying to control my expectations, but experiencing things is always different. Between bucket showers, the rain, electricity cuts, eating and cooking together, and fending off mosquitoes, which are less than I expected, time has passed.

Three weeks in a blink of an eye…

 

Karibu dear reader! My name is Hanna Helena and I arrived in Western Kenya to a village called Shianda a little more than three weeks ago. I am a nurse by profession and my role is to work on community health awareness as well as support local health centres and dispensaries for the next three months I am spending here.

 

You hear a lot that time flies here. And that is does (partly probably because it gets dark as early as 7 PM 😆)... Part of me can’t even process that I have been here for that amount of time already. I have only received the warmest of welcomes and since day one I have felt comfortable- like home.

 

During the weeks here I have had the opportunity to meet many great people from the communities, work at Shianda health centre and learn more about this place and the people. Approximately the first month here I have spent and continue to spend on what we call the needs assessment. This is a way for me to learn and find out how my expertise can be most valuable here. Thus far I have already found important causes and topics that I want to work on.  More on that in the next posts! Though not all the work might go the way I am used to or the way I would like- but there is always a learning curve in all we do in life. And my lesson here is to let it flow- all good things take time and come in their due course. 

 

 

 

Though I put great emphasis on my work here, it is still very important to take time for myself and offload some of the stress that for sure has and will accumulate. For example, this weekend I had the chance to visit Kakamega rainforest. An amazing place near to us that offered so many amazing experiences from grandiose views onto the rift wally to many monkey sightings and amazing flora. 

 

 

 

 

5th month: elections time

Since I arrived in Kenya in March, I have been witnessing campaigning activities all around Shianda and other towns. This commitment to elections reached the apex during the last month of August. The elections took place on Tuesday the 9th, and it was impossible to carry out any kind of activity during the days before and the days after. Everybody was just concerned about the elections and their results, nothing more. This was a big moment for Kenya. Because here elections take place every 5 years, and in one single day Kenyans vote for President, Members of Parliament, Senators, Woman Representatives, County Governor, and Members of the County Assembly.

A campaign sign in Nairobi

Now that the President has been declared, even if with some delay, we are back in the field! Unfortunately, Kakamega County, the County where Shianda is found, had some problems with its ballot papers for the Governor's election. This means that there is still one election to do, but no day has been announced yet. Until that time, I have the opportunity to go visit all the community groups and see how they are doing. The sukuma (African kale) in their vertical bags is growing strong, and some of them have already started collecting it. In one case, that of the initial demonstration bag, the seedlings have even been changed now to leave room for new crops: beans and spinach, reusing the same sack. I also had the opportunity to share some ideas for the new training I am organizing, and all members seemed to be excited, as they always are when talking about agriculture. It is always interesting to talk with them about the differences in crops and diet between Kenya and Italy. We do not have mangoes or avocadoes, but I tell them about oranges and grapes. The funniest thing is the surprise on their face every time I tell them that I also eat ugali in Italy, but it is yellow and it is called polenta! 

Making vertical bags with Wichelu (3rd August)

Break with bread and margarine after work in the field with Olungabes (4th August) 

Checking on Khunyiri Orphans' sukuma (19th August)

 I can say that things are going well, but I am almost at the end of this experience, and I am having mixed feelings. On one hand, I realize that very soon I will abandon this environment that I came to love. The vegetation of Shianda and the landscapes of Kenya are amazing, same for the food. On the other hand, now that my flight back to Italy is approaching, I miss home even more, and I just want to complete all my tasks here as soon as possible to go back.

Counselling training for the gender-based violence ambassadors

Meanwhile 2,5 months have passed since my arrival in Shianda. As I mentioned in my first post, I feel at home here… and it becomes even more my home as time passes.

My work was also progressing during the last months…

I was able to conduct the first counselling training. WEFOCO’s gender-based violence ambassadors (gbva) and other group members participated in the training.

The gbva were trained as such as part of the project of previous EUAVs. Since their training on gbv last year they have been doing valuable work in Shianda to raise awareness on this topic and support community members affected by gbv. They also expressed interest in a counselling training as it is important for their gbv-related work. However, they voiced demand to learn more about counselling in general and counselling of youth as well. Together we decided on the topics that should be covered in their training.

The 3-day counselling training was conducted in the first week of August. Of course, a 3-day training can only give limited insights to the world of counselling, but it is a beginning. In the coming months there will be follow-up meetings in order to exchange on experiences and to give the opportunity to ask questions.

The counselling training covered basic knowledge on the following topics:

·         mental health awareness

·         aims and process of counselling,

·         role of a counsellor,

·        basic counselling skills (active listening, holding out silence, asking open questions,   paraphrasing, summarizing, etc.),

·         peer support,

·         talking about emotions,

·         creative methods (e. g. working with pictures and drawing),

·         counselling of couples/ families,

·         conflict management,

·         talking with teenagers/ children,

·         empowering

As pracitice is important for counselling, the training included a lot of space for exchange, questions and opportunities to exercise in groups.

Besides that, we had a lot of fun with our morning workouts while waiting for all participants to arrive. To stay energized and concentrated during the training, we enjoyed singing and dancing activities. The group grew together day by day, what was also a useful side-effect of the training as it is important that the gbva work together and support each other. 

Even though the feedback from the participants on the counselling training was very positive, I’m very aware of the fact, that the 3 days were not sufficient to change the attitute of the participants towards communication.

As a person who believes in the importance of exchanging with other people and who is interested in getting to know other people, I have been talking to a lot of locals during my stay so far. During those talks and also the counselling sessions that I had with some individuals and families from the communities I observed that communication in Kenya is different from what I’m used to. People are  not likely to share, not likely to ask questions and if asked just to answer what they were asked, but not to tell more. I was told by locals that people in Kenya often don’t like to share with others because they fear that they might be judged and that people might disclose what they shared.

Also information is not always passed to others, e. g. regarding available services. Other examples, when a person is late and you ask him/ her on the phone when she/ he is coming, the person is likely to say „I’m coming“, which can mean everything from 5 minutes to 3 hours. Or when leaving, people don’t say anything or just, that they’re going without giving information on how long they will be gone or if they come back or not. 

However, every time individuals open up and share with me, I enjoy the talks because that way I learn a lot about the Kenyan culture and about the people. And I feel they enjoy those talks, too.

If it comes to counselling, the challenges regarding communication are also challenges for the counselling process, as talking, explaining, sharing, understanding, not judging and being confidential are all important aspects of the counselling process. However, as some people opened up to me and it felt as if they were enjoying the sharing, hopefully the trained counsellors will give some more people the opportunity to exchange and share if they like to.

Enjoy Kenya!

I decided to publish a post different from the others. 

I thought so and then I thought how hard it was to write..to describe!

So, I decided to leave it to the photographs 

May this post make you fall in love with Kenya! Or at least, entice you to visit it!

Me, I feel so lucky to have seen all this with my own eyes: 

Kakamega Rain Forest

Baobab

Diani - Kongo River

Lamu - tuna market

Karen Blixen Museum

Mombasa - market

Street market

   

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria

    

    

Lake Victoria

Hell's Kitchen

Coast

Maasai Mara

Maasai Mara

Maasai Mara