My first month in Kenya!

 

Unsurprisingly, I already feel like calling this place home. My arrival has been a bit different from that of Ebba, Emma, and Mohammed. 

I was lucky to find them waiting for me with a very warm welcome after my 24 hours trip before arriving to Shianda. 

In these past weeks I have felt a lot of emotions, most of them very pleasant, sometimes a bit of frustration but I can surely say that the current balance of the experience is so far more than positive!

 

From my second week in Shianda, together with Ebba, I got the chance to visit several of the group of farmers that WEFOCO works with. Apart from the differences in organization and schedule, it has been  enriching to talk to the different women that are part of these groups. 

Understanding their challenges is not always straightforward, one of the issues being going past the problems that they are well aware of, and for which they directly ask help for. But sometimes it is also necessary to go a bit further and more in depth apart from their explicit requests.

However, we are fully dedicated to supporting them, and we are trying to maximize our efforts and be as efficient as possible to help them with the more and less obvious issues.

Being on the receiving side of their requests is a very humbling experience. For them to ask for things in such a direct way is a sign that they really need it, and although we cannot give them everything they ask for, I personally feel very happy to be here and to play my role in helping them achieving their goals, and improve their quality of life.

The first picture is from one of the visits, here, they were showing us their sweet potatoes that will soon be ready to be harvested!

 

Changing topic, we also had to chance to go around the area for some visits!

Together with Mohammed, Emma and Ebba, we went to Kakamega to visit the so-called crying stone. It was a curios location to visit, and our local guide was happy to share all her knowledge with us. However, right after that we became famous for about half an hour: there were some locals (some students, some other were also tourists visiting the stone) which all had one thing in common: they all wanted to take pictures with us! We stayed there with them for quite some time as they wanted to take group pictures, individual ones with each one of us and also wanted all of our contacts: email, phone numbers and whatnot.

It was quite a funny experience, although it made me realize that I am happy to be a not-famous person!! 

The picture is with all the people that were also visiting, and they just wanted to have a picture with us :)

 

 

Here in Shianda, for now we mainly had good weather and the amount of rain has started to increase lately. However, last week we had a crazy rainstorm while Ebba and I were at Evelyn’s house (one of the chairladies) as we were visiting her group.

We thought we were going to get stuck there as it was already late afternoon and it was heavily raining and also hailing! We managed to get back home, but only to find that the power had gone out. Nothing too strange, as we often have some power cuts. That usually entails that we stay without electricity for some time, usually some minutes or one-two hours.

Well, not this time! The extreme rain from that afternoon had burned some of the electric wires on the main road, meaning that from Thursday, we only got the electricity in our house on Tuesday evening. It might not seem that long, but considering that at 7pm it is already night, and that the fridge and everything else in the house was not working, the four of us had some funny days and some candle-light dinners. We somewhat enjoyed it although eventually we were missing the comforts of electricity!

 

It has only been some weeks since I arrived here, but thanks to my housemates and colleagues, Esther (WEFOCO’s superhero-director) and the locals which are very friendly, I really feel comfortable and already at home. Especially the first two weeks were of adjustment, but once that period has passed, I got to start fully enjoying this experience.

 

I also have the luck to be able to go running early in the morning during the week (we all became morning people due to our routine) and I am really enjoying running in the unpaved roads, seeing all the people starting their days as we share some quick greetings as I run by.

 

The next month will be very interesting, as I will become even more involved with the local groups during the trainings that we are preparing for them, I am enthusiastic about working side by side with these people. They are very resilient and hard-working women, role models from which I have a lot to learn from. 

Below, you can see another picture from one of the groups that we visited: they were all wearing matching dresses during our visit :) 

 

I will be back with some updates in some time!

Mattia

A new beginning

 

Living in this lush environment, the daily orchestra consists of birds singing, insects buzzing, and the light-dappled white curtain gently blowing in the wind. Once the sun sets, there is complete silence beside the crickets chirping. Occasionally, the neighbour's or our guard's music finds its way through my poorly closed window when I lay in bed, trying to read a book while my eyes are giving up for the day. The next morning, the sun finds its way through the split of the curtains, shining on my face to greet me. It's another day in Shianda. There is much to be done; everything goes at its own pace. Flexibility here is key; don't plan too much, but have faith that everything will fall in place.

Snapshot from a matatu

My interest in gender-based violence and psychosocial support has led me here as I am a gender advocate and PSS volunteer, working mainly with GBV with the community focus groups. In all honesty, it has taken me a while to understand how everything is organised, leading to an optimal use of my observation time. Only now, 3 weeks later, am I looking into how I can best develop and organise my activities.

Mohammad, here for ICT, and I arrived around the same time, allowing us to explore the life of Shianda, West Kenya, at the same pace. I feel quickly at peace, having been warmly welcomed by everyone around me. I am well-acquainted with living in countries outside of Europe, being used to frequent power outages, being careful with water use, and the overall chaos of boda bodas (moto-taxis) and matatus (local busses). The market is vibrant, with enough options for a rich diet, although we don't shy away from going to the city for some extra choices. I am enjoying the diversity of food ranging from the local restaurant, where we eat ugali or chapati with beans, spinach, eggs, cabbage and more at lunch, to the homemade cooked dinners at home, mainly by Mo himself in the fashion of the Syrian and Middle Eastern kitchen. 

The love for food!

Mohammad making chickpeas fatteh

Last week, Ebba, the volunteer for small-holder farming, arrived, leading us to move to a larger house with a bigger garden that will fit all of us, including another volunteer yet to come. The house is slowly coming together as many renovations had to be done before we could move in, and now the plumber, electrician, and another person for the ants are still working on the last issues we are experiencing. Ebba has started planting some seeds for a vegetable garden, Mohammad is working on creating a little stone walkway from the gate to our door, and I have been separating the organics from plastics and other waste to create a little waste management system. The latter is ground for a new side project, as I can't accept burning my waste like everyone else for lack of a better alternative.

Storm clouds over the old house

I'm still navigating my sports between home workouts and visits to the local gym, but I'm happy I can choose and combine. Learning Swahili is high on my list, as my Duolingo streak is improving day by day. However, I still forget the words when I want to apply them in conversations - hoping I will improve soon. 

Overall, life goes slow, but the days fly by. As mentioned by previous volunteers, the hakuna matata mentality is very much present, which is something I highly value. The unnecessary stress of the future, or the past for that matter, has dropped away. As my dear colleagues from MONDO and WEFOCO mentioned in the interview, life in Shianda is something to be experienced, as words will fall short.

Kids smiling as we greet each other in Swahili

My First Weeks in Kenya: Path to a new Life

  Going to Kenya was a big adventure for me. Before I left, I tried to learn as much as I could about it online. But, no matter how much I read, nothing could really prepare me for what it was actually like to be there. It's a bit funny - I thought I knew what to expect, but when I got there, I realized it was both exactly and nothing like I imagined. I think That mix of feelings is what people call culture shock.

In just three weeks, a lot of things changed for me. One of the biggest surprises was how my sleeping habits changed. Back home, I used to stay up late. But in Kenya, I started going to bed early and waking up with the sun. The nights there feel different. It gets really dark by 7 PM, and by 9 PM, it feels like midnight. Every morning, birds chirping outside my window woke me up, like nature's own alarm clock.

I was really lucky to stay in a big house with a beautiful garden. It felt peaceful and made me happy.

people in Shianda, the place I stayed, were super friendly. Even if they didn't know me, they would say hi and make me feel like a celebrity. They often called me “Mzungu,” which is a word used for foreigners. I also had to get used to doing things like washing my clothes by hand.

I tried to mix a bit of my life back home with my new life in Kenya. For example, I wanted to make pizza one day, but there was no oven. So, I tried to make one using pots. It didn't go as planned - I ended up melting the bottom of one pot! It was a funny mess, and I learned I should add water to the pot next time.

sure it didn't look good😂😂!!!!!

The first two weeks were all about getting used to everything. By the third week, I started teaching computer lessons to students. It was great to see that they liked me and trusted me right from the start. I really hope I can do something good that lasts even after I leave.

I wanted to share my story so far, to show what it's been like for me here. It's been a mix of learning, making mistakes, and meeting amazing people. And it's all part of this big adventure in Kenya.