It is a sunny breezy Friday morning in Nairobi. My roommates and I have spent our morning resting and watching Aljezeera. At 1 pm we walk 15 min to Westlands to grab some milk from Uchumi our neighborhood grocery store to have we our tea during class. It is customary in Kenya to take chai (tea) at noon and 4 pm. It is a treat we are quickly becoming accustomed too! We have our class on the Development Culture of Kenya at 2 pm and tonight we are hosting some friends from Kibera for dinner. We are going shopping after our 3 hour class for ingredients for Mexican dishes to serve our guests. Betty, Sylvia, Irosh and Daniel live in the informal settlement and they are very excited to eat international food. All four of them are well known performers/dancers in Kibera and they are really excited to take us out tonight to a neighborhood club to show us how to really get down!
This weekend we are going to go shopping at a Masai market, maybe play soccer with some kids at my roommate Cait's internship site Shangilia and start....homework!
The picture today was taken yesterday, my second day in Kibera, at my externship site ISSA. OJ, my director, and I are standing in the entry of our cement/tin building in the village of Mashimoni, Kibera. I spent my morning there with another director Tony reviewing some of ISSA's literature. We decided I am going to write a grant proposal for their Eagle Project. The Eagle Project is a broad plan to start a ICT Center at ISSA for the Kiberan community. It will be fun to watch this project take shape because an ICT center could truly revoluntionize the economy of Kibera. Later on in the afternoon Tony and I met with an Ph.D candidate anthropologist from Oxford who has agreed to help Tony analyze a survey he completed about the slum upgrading project near the Soweto village. It was fun to watch her manipulate the data to see all the angles of the reactions the villagers have towards the intiative. Back in Kibera I watched another cat walk training and attended our Thursday evening meetings at ISSA. ISSA so far has been a great way to experience many levels of development at the grassroots level.
Tatuonana! (I will be seeing you!)
3 comments:
WoW! Thats about all I can say. The pictures are awesome!
yep I think they are awesome too keep it up. aunti chris p.s. stay safe keep your wits about you don't get too comfortable. Love you.
So excited to hear about your adventures. Pictures were beautiful.. Keep sharing and keep smiling. Miss you and Love You Aunti Sherri
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