Quick Update

This will be a quick entry. A short update. So as not to lose the habit.  

It's been two months since my arrival in Kenya. I am starting to feel at home. I have gotten used to the people, the new house, and the new environment. Even my body stopped suffering with the food (or was it the water?).

Work-wise, this month things have flowed much better. I have achieved several goals I had set for myself. Everything feels more organized and I work better with my colleagues. I'm still trying to figure out the locals, tho. It's quite challenging to apprehend their motivations and mentality. Sometimes I am very pleasantly surprised and sometimes the opposite. 

However, I think those pleasant surprises make up for absolutely everything else. Those wonderful people I have met, with a lot of desire to change things. With a lot of strength in their eyes and with wonderful smiles. People who believe in doing things well and making things better. I call them huggable people.

House-wise, there have been changes. Ebba is no longer with us and we miss her. The dynamics in the house have also changed due to her departure. It was to be expected. Anyway, I still enjoy living with my housemates. Our dinners together and movie nights are sometimes the best part of the day. They make me laugh tons.

We also went to the cinema a week ago. It took us four hours to get there and back for only two hours of movie time. But it was worth it. We also had a failed visit to the sauna. Wonderful. Oh, and I visited Mount Longonot and Hell's Gate with Emma and Ebba. Still trying to recover from the hike. 

PS. I celebrated my birthday here, with three cakes and three happy birthday songs. It was very beautiful.

-VJSU 

Glimmers of Shianda

Emma and I were discussing the term ‘glimmers’ at the beginning of our deployment. Glimmers are described as small, spontaneus, moments where you feel calm, peaceful, present, joyful, or all of the above. During the time we were having this conversation, everything was still new for us. We still took notice when somebody was carrying half of a tree on their head, or a family of four generations fitting on one boda boda with two chickens, a goat, a cow, and some furniture. I decided to start documenting these beautiful every day moments.

Glimmers in Shianda:

• Riding a bodaboda in the pouring rain after dawn, only getting visibility when a lightning bolt hits the sky.  

• Working from home accompanied by 3 cows and 2 goats cutting the grass. 

• Playing football with kids at the neighboring school. 

• Having a movie night at our home cinema when a neighbor comes over & surprises us with food.

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  Reading on our terrace.

• Eating what taste like the best fruit you have ever had!

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  Maintaining our litlle kitchen garden.

  
  
  

• Walking on one small, side street in the middle of what feels like nowhere and bumping into someone you know.

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  Go to your safe spot to think & breathe but accidentally catch a beautiful sunset & a naked man washing himself in the river & start laughing instead.

  
  
  

• Sitting in a full matatu trying to embrace the little breeze coming in from the half-open window while being squeezed between curious locals. 

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  Waking upp to the sunlight hitting your face.

• Getting electricity back after an 11 days powercut. 

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  Jogging home from the gym in the morning accompanied by a school class.

• Watching people dance at the bar while the sky is falling outside. 

• Going on safari in Nairobi National Park.

• Waking up for suhoor and finding Mohammad cooking pasta on the floor of his room. 

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  Finishing & celebrating Ramadan with friends & an abundance of food cooked by everyone.

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  Having plants growing taller than you in the garden.

• Children getting excited & cheering when seeing us mzungus pass by the street.

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  Learning afrobeat dances with friends.

• Buying fruit from our regular fruit lady at the market. 

• Walking up and being served breakfast by your amazing housemate. 

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  Getting stronger at the gym without knowing how much you are lifting since weights are not marked.

• Admiring how a mother with a child in her lap can sleep peacefully on the bus, while you, alone in your seat, struggle to find a comfortable position.

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  Emma & Mattia enjoying breakfast at a hostel.

• Replanting an avocado seedling that was randomly found growing in our compost. 

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  Finding humongous veggies & fruits (it is not a small pineapple but an avocado on steroids).

  
  
  

• Overhearing a conversation in Kiswahili & understanding the context and a few words. 

  

  Emma, Valery, & me having Ndere island for ourselves, only surrounded by dragonflies & peaceful nature.

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  Leaving the house to a beautiful sunset.

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  Traveling to the coast was too good & beautiful to be true.

  
  
  

• Sitting in a mud house with chickens, kittens, and kids running around your feet.

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  Learning how to cook ugali & leafy greens over an open fire.

  
  
  

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  Saying farewell to your wonderful fellow volunteers.

Documenting these moments made me realize that there are so many beautiful things happening right before our eyes every day, without us paying too much attention to it. By appreciating the small things in life, the rest gets easier. Don’t miss the forest for the trees. 

My time in Kenya has come to an end and though it is sad to leave the wonderful people and nature, I am also looking forward to what is to come. I leave this experience with happy memories, a wiser mind and a desire to discover more of our beautiful world!

Cherishing Memories and Accomplishments

 Over the past few months, life in Shianda has been a whirlwind of changes and memorable experiences. One of the most delightful changes has been welcoming a new family member into our home: Valery. Valery is incredibly nice, funny, and has a knack for making everyone laugh. Her constant joking brings smiles to our faces and brightens our days.

she is trying to go out in the rain 

whenever she find a chance to sleep she take it 😴🛌

On a professional front, I am thrilled to share that I have completed my first ICT classes. This accomplishment is particularly rewarding because out of the eight students who participated, four have already secured new jobs thanks to the skills they acquired. To celebrate this achievement, we organized a joyous ceremony where we awarded certificates to the students. The day was filled with dancing, playing games, and sharing emotional moments.

Our celebration was bittersweet, as we also had to say goodbye to one of our cherished family members, Ebba, who is leaving Kenya. Her departure leaves a void in our hearts and our home, and we know that life will be different without her presence. However, we take comfort in knowing that she is moving on to something better. Though Ebba may not be with us physically, she will always live on in our hearts.

I can tell you she cried :)

In Shianda, we continue to embrace the changes and look forward to the new experiences and memories that lie ahead. Through every arrival and departure, we grow stronger as a community, always finding ways to support and uplift each other.

Our sweet Family Photo (some of us might have stroke 😝)

Embracing the Pace: Reflections on Life in Shianda

 After spending two months in Shianda, I’ve come to a profound realization: we often don’t have time to appreciate the little things in life. Back home, we’re constantly racing against the clock, rarely pausing to notice the beauty of the sky or listen to the calming sounds of birds in the morning. Instead, our days are filled with the noise of cars and the hustle of daily life, leaving little room for reflection.

In Shianda, the pace is entirely different. There’s no rush to get things done, which has its benefits and drawbacks. On the positive side, this slower pace allows for a more relaxed and mindful way of living. However, it can sometimes be frustrating when things take much longer than expected. For instance, if you schedule a meeting with locals at 9 am, it might not actually start until noon. In Europe, we often go to the other extreme by rushing everything, whereas here, the opposite is true. I can’t help but wish for a balance somewhere in between.

Living in Shianda has also been a cultural eye-opener, thanks to my housemates: Emma, Ebba, and Mattia. We come from four different nationalities, which means I’m not only immersed in Kenyan culture but also learning about various other cultures from around the world. Each of my housemates has a unique personality, yet they all share common traits: they’re smart, loving, kind, and genuinely passionate about making a positive impact in the community here.

This shared purpose and sense of community have turned my housemates into a second family. Although I’m far from my own family, I’ve found a new one here. We cook together, and our dinner times have become a cherished part of my day. We use this time to share stories about what made us happy or annoyed throughout the day, creating a space where we support and uplift each other.

This experience has shown me the beauty of slowing down and appreciating the simple moments in life. It’s a reminder that while our surroundings may change, the core values of love, community, and connection remain universal.

The half-way blog

 My mid-stay here has just passed, and many feelings storm through my body. I can’t say it’s solely related to time. I am one to stay busy, and I am already anticipating the next steps (yes, yes, it is too early for that). Having studied international development and disaster management, there are different pathways I am looking forward to further developing myself. But my mind is racing now that I am exposed to this development experience, continuous reading into the aid industry, and discussions with peers. 

Anyway, let’s get into life in Shianda, so for those of you who are interested or preparing to come to Shianda can know what is ahead of you. At the beginning of May, we finally organised the 3-day training, an objective I’d had since my arrival, but one that had many roadblocks. Little things that could have easily been avoided continued to add up, making the process of designing and organising the training difficult, to say the least. I honestly wouldn’t know where to start explaining it all, and for future volunteers ready to embark on this wonderful adventure, I have a lessons learned file stored in the WEFOCO and MONDO drive. Now, finally deciding I was ready and it would be a now or never was a personal turning point to go through with it - and what was that worth it! For three intense days, we talked about gender, gender-based violence and violence against women, including different forms, types and consequences, land-human-child-disability rights, psychosocial support, and reproductive health. We re-established a president, deputy, secretary, and treasurer with the group, allowing for a more structured pathway forward. Sixteen people successfully completed the training, meaning we now have 17 wonderful GBVA in and around Shianda.

The participants' eagerness to learn more about these topics, to learn from each other, and to start with advocacy work has left me speechless. Although three full training days, from 09:00 AM (!!) to 16:00 PM (sometimes even longer), were exhausting, it was not enough. I will focus on facilitating more information and training the GBVA ambassadors to do continuous advocacy work within the wider communities. 

Another side project is the GBV library, which is improving slowly but surely. To make the trainings more accessible, we have added extra Kiswahili versions, instruction cards in English and Kiswahili for each training, and replaced the paper covers that are constantly ripping apart with more durable plastic ones.

With the first bigger GBVA meeting, we discussed numerous points; we continued the plan of doing smaller workshops to continue learning, introduced an M&E form to better understand how many cases we are handling, and started discussing how we can make the GBVA work more financially sustainable.

With these work-related updates, it’s time to understand that life is definitely not only work! Some of the most wonderful things about being here are integrating into the community and exploring the country. As my Kiswahili is getting better pole pole, I see some connections with the people here are improving warmly and comfortingly. One of the most important things I am learning is just to show up, and you’ll notice that you are welcome! So now I am becoming better at cooking ugali and am learning how to make a delicious and slimy dish called mro - which I am not sure my western friends would be too happy about if I make it for them, but I gotta say, I enjoy that slippery green meal! 

We’ve also been lucky to travel to some new places. Being accompanied by hundreds of dragonflies while exploring Ndere island, hearing nothing but nature as we are the only ones on this little piece of land, together with some zebras and baboons (I’m sure there are other animals; we just didn’t see them). We also had a weekend trip to the coast, which, despite Mo’s malaria and Ebba’s bacterial infection (making both of them sleep at every opportunity), was an amazing trip to discover a whole different side of Kenya. The white beach with coconut trees, the relaxed atmosphere, and the ocean inviting us to learn some kitesurfing was a true bliss.

Being here is equal to being constantly in awe, finding beauty in the small and unusual things around you. We find ourselves in situations such as learning how to cook mro and ugali on a jiko in a small kitchen hut, learn shortcuts between peoples houses, become fashionably on time to our own meetings, and start conversations in Kiswahili. You realise that the morning sun shines just a bit differently than you are used to at home and it makes your whole body warm up. The billion of fireflies lighting up the dark road on the way home from a rough gym session in the rustic gym. Spotting wild animals on little weekend trips while being accompanied by a hundred dragonflies along the way. The rough bodaboda rides that leave you with mad respect for the driver and the overful matatu rides that have you counting 24 heads in one small transport van.

So yes, many feelings storm through my body as I think of the fact that I’ve passed half of my stay. But right now, I feel mainly excited for all that is yet to come, which is still a staggering four months filled with opportunities!

Our 2024 family Christmas card is ready!!