Kibera

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

We spent our morning yesterday in Kibera. As I've mentioned before, Kibera is the biggest slum in Africa. It is about the size of Central Park, which is about one square mile. It holds anywhere between 700 000 and 1 000 000 people. It is hard to get an exact count, so the numbers are really only an estimate.

I go into Kibera every day on the way to work to pick up a few coworkers. We only drive about 45 seconds in, and it's on the main road, so it's basically the nicest part of the slum. I didn't really realize this though, so I naively thought that Kibera wasn't really so bad.

Graham is working for a group called Carolina for Kibera, which is based out of the University of North Carolina. They were involved in a clean up project yesterday, so we all went along for a chance to see Kibera. I was so glad we got the chance to visit while making a positive difference instead of just wandering around as tourists. There was Graham, Natalie, Heather, Hallie and I, as well as Hans and Amanda (our new friends/roomies, more on them later).

We had to walk basically from one end of Kibera where we got dropped off, to the complete other end, so we saw so many things. It is nearly impossible to describe, but I'll do my best. The first thing you notice is the smell. Urine and human waste flow freely down the drain channels along the sides of the roads. In some places, the smell is so bad. There are very few public services, and the few that there are are just centralized. There are central water taps on the main roads, so households have to carry jerry cans to their houses for water. There are very public washrooms,so people either squat into the drainage trenches, or else go in plastic bags, which they then chuck onto the streets, earning them the nickname "flying toilets". The main roads are filled with storefronts, selling anything you could think of: cell phone credit, shoes, electronics, food, clothes, and more.


I was very apprehensive about going to Kibera for the day. While I had seen the "glamorous" side of Kiberba from the work van, walking down the side streets in an entirely different experience. We were walked in by Ebra, a local man that Hallie works for. While we are totally safe when accompanied by a well-known local, you could never walk around alone. Pickpockets, thieves and rapists are a real threat.

It took close to an hour to walk to the location where the clean-up began. There was a large group of residents as well as a few other NGO workers who showed up to do the clean up. Unfortunately, there weren't enough rakes and shovels to go around, so we all took turns. The trenches along the sides of the roads are filled with sewage, dirty water and tons of trash. We basically took turns shoveling all sorts of garbage from the ditches, while others came along with shovels and scooped the piles of stuff into garbage bags. We veered off the main roads and headed into the side roads, which were more like alleys. Barely wide enough for us to fit through, there were sections where the roofs were so low, you had be walk totally crouched over, all the while trying to sidestep the sludgy human waste rivers running down the sides of the "roads". It was so narrow and the stench was so bad. It would have been so easy to have a complete panic meltdown. Once we got back to the main road, we all felt alot better I think.

Out on the main roads, there were piles of garbage at least a story high. There is virtually no way for these people to get rid of their trash. You see women just throwing things out their front doors into the rivers and ditches. The sheer volume of garbage EVERYWHERE was overwhelming.

One thing that surprised me was the amount of wild farm animals wandering Kibera. Tons of goats, chickens, roosters, pigs, and dogs just wander the streets. Graham jokes around that the goats must live off plastic bags, its all you see them eating.

We all were a little apprehensive about our day in the slums, especially me. I have been known to be a little over-cautious when it comes to food and germs and travelling (what can I say, I don't wan't to spend my summer stuck in bed with a gross parasite or something!) When the day started, we were all super cautious, trying to sidestep gross things on the roads and snivelling when our feet slipped into the sludge (aka human waste) on the roads. However, it didn't take long before we were completely over it. I was literally scooping the piles of garbage into the bags with my bare hands by then end of the day (although a massive Purell sesh. definitely followed!!!) The real impressive moment came when I ate mundazi (yummy deep fried bread balls) and chips from the road side vendors. Once you've eaten street food from the slums of Africa, what can't you handle?! I have to say, it was some of the yummiest food I've ever eaten (and earned me definite street cred. points with the roomies!)


While the Kibera I've described sounds like a horrible, disgusting place, it's also hard to describe the feeling of community that exists there. While it is just a place that I had the chance to visit, to so many people, it is there home. Many people have families who have lived there for many genereations. To them, it is all they know, and they live happy prosperous lives there. There are happy kids playing in the streets, women chatting on their front steps, men working hard to provide for their families. So many of the people that live there are just happy, normal people who happen to call Kibera their home. The sense of community is inspiring. Back at home, we may have money and shelter and food, but our sense of community doesn't even seem close.

We headed back home midafternoon and spend the afternoon together at the pool in the hotel. Hans and Amanda were with us as well. She is a student from UBC that Cherie introduced us too, and Hans, who is from Wisconsin, is travelling around Africa with Amanada. They met in Capetown, South Africa while doing a semster abroad. They met up with us yeterday morning and then spend the entire day with us. After the fun in the pool, we headed upstairs and all made a nice family diner: home made guacamole and tortilla chips, spaghetti bolognese, garlic toast, and wine/beer. For the first time, we acutally ate together around the table like a family, with the flowers that Graham brought home as a center piece. It was really really nice. We have all become so close so quickly, not just the four UFV students, but Hallie, Amanda and Hans as well. This kind of experience is made so much more special because of the friendships we are making, which are sure to last much longer than 90 days.

After dinner, we headed out to another ex-pat hangout, this time a place called Gipsys. We had a great time drinking and dancing with our newest friends, a group of guys from Australia who had just landed yesterday afternoon. Great fun was had by everyone!

Today was our very first day with no obligations since we got here! We slept in (it still seems funny that 930am now counts as a sleep in!) and then had a big scrambled egg breakfast together before starting a big day of: laying around doing nothing!! It has been totally amazing! I spent a few hours by the pool, and after this blog entry, I may just curl up for a little nap! :)

We leave tomorrow morning for the Maasai Mara, the game reserve where we are going on our safari. It's about a 5.5 hour drive, then we are spending two days there! It is supposed to be an amazing resort, we stay in "tents", which are canvas rooms with acutal floors and a bathroom. I am SO excited, I can't believe that this time tomorrow, I'll be on a real, live, African safari!!!!!!!! I will be out of internet range until Wednesday night, but I'll certainly have some entertaining tales to tell after the most amazing trip ever!

-Delaney xo

Becoming Educated about Issues in Africa

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.
Christopher Reeve

So I took a sick day yesterday. I had't been feeling great the last few days. Usually I have a stomach of steel when I travel; even in Mexico, I never had even once ounce of trouble. However, the last few days have been pretty rough. I don't know whether it was something I ate, or maybe I ingested some tap water accidentally, but I've not been impressed with this! I suffered through feeling lousy Monday at work, but when I still wasn't feeling better yesterday, I decided to stay home.

It ended up being a really great call. I got alot of work done from home, as well as some little errands and stuff that really needed to be done during the week. I finally got to buy wool and knitting needles so that I could make some dishcloths for the orphanage.

As well, I finally got to the bookstore, which has been on the top of my priority list for some time! I am currently registered in an Independant Studies Poverty and Development class, so I have to write a 15 page research paper on the topic of my choice. I got a ton of books about financial aid in Africa, and how it can do more harm than good. The basic premise of my paper will be that international aid is not effective in helping African countries achieve sustainable long-term growth. In simple terms, you can compare it to a parent and a child. As long as the parent is giving the child an allowance, the child will not learn to be self-sufficient. Once the parent takes that allowance away, if the child has not learned any skills that would help him earn an income, he will basically be screwed when his handout is stopped. The more efficient aid occurs at the grassroots level, where help is directed at the acutal citizens of these impoverished nations, instead of the money trickling slowly down through corrupt beaurocratic organizations, so that by the time it reaches the people, there is almost nothing left.

I feel like for every bit I learn about what is going on in Africa, I just realize how much more I don't (and may never) understand. There are so many issues that all deserve attention, and they are all SO important. At times, its incredibly overwelming... HIV/AIDS....starvation...malaria....government corruption...random hijackings/kidnappings...widespread poverty...child labour...cholera and tuberculosis outbreaks....children without access to education...war and armed civil conflicts...no access to clean drinking water... With so many problems in this nation, where do you even begin?? Every issue is so vital, and I just want to learn as much as I can. I feel like 3 months is just enough to open my eyes a tiny bit, and then I'll be wrenched back home, and I don't want the distance from Africa to make me forget the urgency of these issues.

We've met so many interesting people since we've been here, and everyone has so many passions and interesting points of view; everyone seems so knowlegdable about so many things! Whether it's dinner with teachers and faculty from UFV who are here doing research, or the man who owns the book store, or random taxi driver, everyone has an opinion about the best ways to solve the problems in Kenya and Africa, and I am just trying to soak up every world they say like a sponge, so the I'll be able to best form educated, well rounded opionions about the things I am seeing around me every day.

Almost daily, it will hit me out of the blue that I am acutally living for the summer in Kenya. I still can't really believe it. I really hadn't expected anything exciting to come out of this summer; I was just planning on working alot, assuming that the occasional trip to the beach would be the highlight. Now I am on the other side of the planet, learning and living in such an amazing part of the world. Sometimes its acutally hard to believe we are all on the same planet. On the way home from work sometimes, I look around and can't get over how diffent it feels here. Yes, the sky is still blue, and the grass is still green, but it just feels different.

When I think about my day-to-day life at home, it seems so foreign from the way people live here that it may as well be a different planet, really. For instance, I grew up thinking in the back of my head that I really would like to travel to Africa some day. To me, this was not a goal that was out of reach. We've been raised to believe that anything that we put our minds to, we can achieve. Brian, who sits right across the room from me, just got hired at the Scout headquarter in Geneva. He is moving there for a year and half within the next few weeks. While I am SO excited for him, he is very apprehensive about his trip. He keeps saying "I've just never left Kenya... I never thought I'd ever leave Kenya..."

It never struck me that people might not be raised believing they could go anywhere or achieve anything. To grow up and never expect to leave your country, or even your town, must be so common here, but it was a concept that had never even crossed my mind. When we are told that we can do anything we put our minds on, we believe it because in a sense, it is true. As unfortunate as it is, the same just is not true here. There just are not the same opportunities for people living in abject poverty as there are for people living in a developed country like Canada. It doesn't seem fair at all. It isn't fair. It just makes me want to take every since little chance and opportunity I have. We are just so amazingly lucky.

-Delaney xo

The best day yet....

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
Jean Houston

So this past Saturday was definately the funnest day we've had yet. We started off the morning with a few hours at the orphanage. Fridays can be so long and draining there, so leaving at noon on Saturday was so nice. We headed back to the hotel and danced around the living room to some rap until it was time to go.

We met Elly and Brian from my work outside the hotel, and the six of us headed to the Kenya National Soccer team's 2010 World Cup qualifiying game against Mozambique! It took about an hour to drive there, traffic was SO bad! It was pretty squishy in the back seat with the 4 roommates crammed in like sardines, but the second we were on the highway with the windows rolled down, we were fantastic. The drive was such a blast, the most fun was when we bought sports memorabilia out of the car window as we were driving down the highway. We got a few white team bandana things, and a Kenyan flag! The roads here are so funny. Not only are you harassed by people selling things on street corners while you are stopped at red light, but you also have people leaning out the windows of their cars while driving full speed down the road.

The arena was so neat. I'd never been to a big open staduim, it was HUGE! It holds over 36 000 people, but there was only about 8 000 people at the game on Saturday. We sat near the front of the balcony where it was safest. We were totally prepared for a full Kenya experience. We hadn't brought out cameras/cell phones/purses/ANYTHING of value. The game was AWESOME! I'm definately not a soccer fan, but you can't beat the excitement of being in a staduim full of screaming fans; its impossible not to get caught up in the excitement! Kenya scored mere minutes into the game, the crowd went aboslutely crazy! We jumped up and down and waved our flags around like crazy people, we fit right in!

The funniest part of the game was the stretcher! Every single time a player fell down, he would lay pathetically on the field, and his team mates would call over the paramedics, the guy would get ran off to the sidelines on the strecher, and would basically prance fine as day back onto the field within 20 seconds. The first time a guy got carried of on the strecher, I was in quite a panic. I mean, in hockey games, if the guy gets carted off on a stretcher, he's in BAD shape. However, the opposite seems true in Kenya, where SEVEN times in the span of one game, player got carried off the field, each of them returning to the field withing seconds of reaching the sidelines! It was so funny!

There was the cutest little guy sitting in front of us. He kept smiling at us, and cute Mama Natalie bought him a little pack of peanuts, he was SO happy! Whenever we scored, he'd jump up and down and run and hug us! He was precious!

The game seemed to go by so quickly! Mozambique tied up the game, and then Kenya scored again! The crowd was going crazy, and we were all carrying on like the first time, when the crowd went from happy cheers to angry screams. Next thing I knew I saw something out of the corner of my eye and then heard a huge crash. Turns out, the ref had dis-allowed the goal, and someone behind us threw a glass bottle, it landed and shattered less than 15 feet from where we were standing! That was the only scary part of the whole game, luckily. I was so glad the staduim wasn't full! Soccer fans are notoriously rowdy, and I certainly didn't want to be in the middle of 36 000 angry Kenyans if their team lost!! Happily, Kenya won the game!!!

We ended up buying some disposable cameras to the game so that it wouldn't matter if they were stolen. We took two cameras, and used the whole rolls of film on both of them. However, I haven't been able to find anywhere to get them developed, so who knows when we'll be able to see the pictures from the game.

We got home about 7, had some dinner, and all headed back out for a bit of a night on the town. We went to a lounge just a few blocks from the hotel that is known as one of the "ex-pat" places in town. We were joined by Hallie, our new friend we met at the hotel. She is a grad student at Harvard who is doing an internship until the middle of July. Her friend Christina, who is fabulous as well, was here for the first few weeks too, but she has gone on to Asia, so Hallie is basically the 5th, unoffical room mate. So yes, the 7 of us went to Casa Blanca, a Morocaan themed lounge with western music, hooka pipes everywhere, extremely low doorways, and a strange mix of NGO workers, creepy old ex-pats, and local call girls. As it turns out, the guys said that probably 80% of girls in the clubs are hookers, and the other 20% are mistresses (LOL!). They couldn't believe that in Canada, the bars aren't filled with hookers like here. We all had a great time drinking Tusker (the local beer) and dancing up a storm.

I am happy to report we were all on our best behavior, no major mishaps to report other than when I managed to spill a beer all over Elly's ex girl friend, who just happened to be at the table right behind us. Naturally since we were all with him, and she's his ex, she thought it was intentional, and was pretty much so scary and mad, but it was kind of hilarious. That is totally my luck. What makes it even better was that I was totally sober, and just clutzy. We were home by 130, and had some fun roommate moments (eating cookies/all jumping on graham and knocking him clear onto the floor) for about 10 minutes before we all passed out! It was such a fun day just hanging out and having fun!!

-Delaney xo

The New Roommate: Graham "JAMBO" Sherk

"A civilized society is one which struggles to make the world better for its children."
Stephen Kline

So the most interesting news recently is that we have a new addition to the house! Graham Sherk is the fourth UFV intern that got to come to Kenya this summer. He has a wedding to attend at the end of the summer, so in order to be here as long as possible, he left 9 days before we did, which means he found out he was going and was on a plane a week later! We thought 16 days was quick! He was placed in Kisumu, which is in western Kenya, with an organization called Village of Hope. While we girls were stuck here in Nairobi with nothing to do after dark, Graham was in Kisumu with nothing to do EVER. While the Village of Hope is an amazing organization, the work Graham was given to do was not what he was expecting for his summer internship. After a few weeks in Kisumu, he decided to try and come down to Nairobi and find a more hands-on work placement.

This led him to the Kenya Comfort Suites, where we had an extra bed and a desperate need for some testosterone. So for the time being, we have become a household of four, which is just that much more fun than three. He took the other single bed in my room, which works out pretty perfectly: he and I get up early, the girls like to sleep in. We had thought it might be weird living with a boy, but other than keeping fully dressed when lounging around the house now, it’s really pretty normal. So far he’s been the ideal house guest: he helps with the dishes, and he made us breakfast yesterday morning. We have decided that if he wants to, he can stay with us for July as well. It cuts down on how much we all pay for rent, and it’s even more fun around the house now. The more the merrier! We tease him that he’ll appreciate his girlfriend even more when he gets home after living with us three crazy girls all summer!


The addition of a new roommate leads to many new, fun roommate activities. For instance, taxi rides are much more fun now. Imagine Graham cranking the radio in a taxi and dancing and singing out the window: “Celebrate good times...Come on!!” to the shock and amusement of locals on the street. He has also developed some Swahili catchphrases that he uses on an average of every 8 minutes all day long: “Jambo, my friend. How are you? Jambo sana!” The strangest roommate moment yet happened when he begged me to shave the hair on the back of his neck because it was getting to long and driving him crazy. Yep, there are certainly no boundaries in our house!

He came with us to the orphanage Friday and Saturday, the boys LOVED him. He played football (soccer) with them nonstop for hours, they couldn’t have been happier. Things at the orphanage are actually going really well. I was feeling a little unhappy with our placement there after the first week. While we wanted to work there once a week when it was convenient, we sort of got roped into a two-day a week ironclad commitment that I absolutely cannot do. There is work that I have to do for Cherie, a huge paper that I need to research and write, and internship course work that I have to do aside from all of my projects at the Scout office. As well, we have meetings and commitments while Cherie is here for the next month, all of which fall on our days at the orphanage. I was really resenting the fact that they were telling me that I had to be at the orphanage, since I am volunteering my time there. I feel like when you are giving freely of yourself, you should be welcomed graciously, instead of being pressured.

However, I thought a lot about the situation before we went this past weekend, and realized that it really isn’t about Pastor Simon and his wife and how they are acting about the situation (and to be totally fair, 99% of the time, they are completely amazing, but this situation really did make me very irritated). What it comes down to is the kids, and how much I want to be there for them. While working with kids is not my ideal work placement, I can do it because of how happy it makes them. When we see their faces light up when we arrive, I know it’s totally worth any stress I feel about my other obligations.

We are actually teaching classes there, which I was not expecting. I have Class 2, which are 9 kids aged 9-11. Most of them speak English relatively well. We do English and Math and Science. I never understood how difficult it is to teach! I have such a newfound respect for teachers (ESPECIALLY elementary school teachers). When you understand a simple concept like addition, it is hard to explain it so that they can understand as well. I am really struggling with how difficult it is, anyways. It is even worse when their English isn’t perfect. On top of that, it’s hard to determine what they have and haven’t learned thus far. As far as actually standing there teaching them, it is very frustrating. They each have a little notebook and one “pencil”, which basically means a tiny little chewed stub that has been sharpened at each end until you can barely even get a grip on it because it is too small. We brought little pencil sharpeners, and every time I try to say anything to the class, someone else is hollering for me to sharpen their pencil, so class moves very slowly. The write so slowly and carefully, making their printing as small as possible in order to save paper. Things were even worse in Natalie’s classroom. Her students are the oldest class, and some of the students were actually doing their math calculations up and down their arms with pen just to save the paper in their notebooks. Her classroom is really just a closet, and with no electricity and only one window facing towards an outside hallway, so whenever the sun goes behind a cloud, her classroom goes too dark to even see.

While the students are pretty decent at paying attention during lessons, they love colouring and games the most. I brought a big pad of blank paper and crayons; they think its great fun. Instead of doing a proper lesson on Friday for Science class, I gave them each a paper and told them to draw pictures of things that made them think of Science. Then we taped all of the colourful pictures to the walls, and discussed each item they drew. It’s so nice to get a little colour onto the walls. I also played Hangman on the board with them the other day, they loved it! It’s really fun for them, but it also helps them practice their English.

The outdoor time is definitely the most fun though. We’ve taught them games like Red Rover and Duck Duck Goose, and they’ve taught us a lot of their games. We also play with skipping ropes and Frisbees. When we went on Saturday, we only had a few hours in the morning. Graham played soccer the entire time with the boys, and Natalie, Heather and I sat and sewed a whole pile of ripped clothes. The children kept coming up and taking off their torn sweaters, and we’d sew them up quickly, and they’d happily go back and play again. I enjoyed doing that so much. While the kids love when we sing and play games, you can’t actually measure the difference you are making. When you can actually see kids in proper clothing and know that you caused that, it feels so amazing. While the emotional nourishment that comes from interacting is certainly more important for the children, I feel so much better when I can see something tangible that we had done for the kids.

When they wash their dishes after lunch, they don’t even have proper dishcloths, they just use old pieces of burlap and plastic sacs. I am going to go to the shopping center and pick up needles and wool one day this week, and spend some time in the evenings knitting some proper dishcloths for them to use.

Going to the orphanage is so much more physically and emotionally draining that I had imagined it would be. I had envisioned it as being so much fun, like my favourite day of the week. I didn’t expect how difficult it would be to be around rambunctious kids all day, and how tough it would be to see the poverty and need that is so prevalent there. However, I never expected this experience to be a breeze, and I think the difficulty I am facing when I head to the orphanage will get easier as I become more accustomed to the lifestyle. More than anything, the things I am seeing make me so much more grateful for the life I have, and I have so much more appreciation for all of the luxuries that we have at home.

-Delaney xo

The Kenyan Newspapers

Every morning when I get picked up for work, I jump in the van and Elly hands me the newspaper. I love reading the newspaper, so this is pretty much the ideal way to pass the hour and a half long drive to the office. Over the past two weeks I've gotten quite caught up on Kenyan current events. I will share with you the most interesting, disheartening, and hilarious things I've come across so far.

1) There is both a President and a Prime minister in Kenya. It took me about a week and a half to clue into this. About a year ago, there was some big election scandal, where major rioting and violence insued, where 1800+ people were killed and over At this point there was only a President, Mwai Kibaki. Raila Odinga was the opposition leader, and somehow, as some attempt to limit the corruption in the government, Kofi Annan, (the former UN Secretary General) now the mediator of Kenya's post-election crisis, set up a coalition government where the two rivals (Odinga and Kibaki) share the power. So far as I can tell, this basically means that virutally nothing gets accomplished since these two are too busy bickering like children, while over 10 million Kenyans face starvation every day.

2) People in Kisumu are angry. Due to a national change shortage, the Nakumatt (main grocery store) has began handing out candies instead of change at the till. People have said that they will angry until Nakumatt begins accepting candy as a form of payment!

3) Today's headline was "Burning Question: Will Kenyans Ever Learn From Fires". Back in February, an oil tanker overturned, and 48 people who were looting the spilled oil died and countless more where injured when the whole thing exploded. This in itself is a tradgedy, but what is even sadder was that the other day, the exact same thing happened. Luckily, this time only one person died, but there are many more in hospitals, 9 in critical condition, so the death toll may still rise. In this incidence, while many were trying to get a share of the silled gasoline, a man went to steal the battery of the truck, letting out a spark that ignited the blaze. Apparently it is very common that oil and gas transport trucks are crashing on highways, leading to a debate over whether the drivers are siphoning gas themselves, and overturning the trucks as a cover up, or if driver inexperience is simply to blame.

4) This may be the most suprising and disgusting thing I've read yet: worldwide, obesity is more prevalent than starvation. When you see kids here who are literally scarfing down their lunch at school because it is the one meal they that day, it really makes you think twice about the way people live and eat at home, and about how much we waste. It's like the world could be divided right in half: the haves, and the have nots. That $5 you spend on a supersize hamburger meal at McDonalds could provide clean water for 5 people for a year across the globe. It just doesn't seem fair.

5) There was a story this morning about a couple, both police officers, who had been married less than a month. The man was, erm, unable to perform his marital obligations, and so he went to a special clinic to see if they could solve the problem. When it wasn't fixable, he told his wife. As it turns out, she had been married before, and her last husband had the same problem. When his family found this out, they called her a witch, and said it was her fault, and she drank a glass of poison, and when that didn't work, she threw her body into a river, prefering death to divorce.

The newspapers are indeed a huge part of life here in Nairobi. There are men selling them on every street corner and meridian during the morning commute, everyone at bus stops are reading away, and people spend half the morning reading them at their desks. Some of the stories are quite informative, but over-all, it reads more like a tabloid than informative news. The english is often slightly incorrect, and the stories can be very biased, but it provides a great glimpse into the Kenyan culture.

An Office Update...

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
-Helen Keller

I just got out of a meeting with Jacques, the Acting Regional Director here at the Arifca Regional Office the the World Scout Bureau. I set up the meeting since I had more or less finished off my first project, and was eager to see if I was on the right track. My assignment was to compile a document containing a list of the current partnerships the WSB has, complete with background information on each organization, and how they are affiliated with us. This ended up being a 29 page document, but was mostly just gathering the information, not a lot of writing required. As well, I had to make a list of potential donors and partners. I spent the last week looking up hundreds of foundations and donors, and seeing if the WSB would qualify for their funding. As well, I researched many other non-profit non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to see if a partnership with them would be beneficial. This document, which I had to write from scratch, was about 9 pages long.

So I had a meeting with Jacques, and I was incredibly nervous, since it was basically my first opportunity to show the work I am capable of, and I was just hoping that he would be pleased with what I had accomplished. I sat down with him, and he was really impressed. He said it was a very thourough list, and that I had done a really good job. He is going to review it over the weekend and give me some feedback, as well as suggest some other things that could be included in the report. But he was really happy with what I had done so far; yay!! I feel so relieved. It's so much different to be in a work environment instead of a school environment but I'm really enjoying it. I like putting on nice clothes and getting to the office and settling into my desk for the day. My first few days I felt kind of like a kid just playing grown-up, but I'm starting to feel like I really do belong here. I can see myself being really happy doing this sort of work as a career.

The next project I'll be working on is so neat, I am almost giddy about it. I have the draft of a proposal from 2004 about getting computers into regions with extreme poverty. While countries in the Global North have experienced all the advantages of a digital revolution, the same cannot be said for the Global South. Africa is falling further and further behind in terms of technology. This project aims to bridge that gap by getting computer centers set up in rural areas. This will enable people to have access to the information found online that we all take for granted. With access to the internet, people in these regions will be able to use these resources for all sorts of purposes: seeking higher education, becoming more employable through gaining computer skills, etc. I have read over the whole proposal, and it sounds like such a great project. My job is to basically revamp the proposal (its 5 years old now)and try and get the ball rolling on this project. I can't even handle how excited I am about it! If this project takes off, I could be a part of providing this huge opportunity to thousands of people! I just can't even believe it!

I've spend alot of time and money at school trying to find something, anything, to be passionate about enough to major in, and I think I've finally found it. I could see myself working for this kind of organization forever. Through Heather, I found out about this great thing called an "Associate of the Arts" degree, which is basically a two-year degree that you can use towards a bachelors degree. It's a great way to use up so many of the credits I've spent so long accumulating. I think this semester is the last one I need to finish as well, which is a total bonus. Then I think I'll take some time off to work like a maniac and pay off the semester, and then travel (Europe? South America?) before I crack down on finshing up my bachelors degree, which I am thinking may be a Bachelor of the Arts degree with a minor in business and an extended minor in criminal justice. I am feeling so empowered and motivated right now, I can't wait to crack down and get things done. I'm taking the following courses this semester, all of which I am really, really looking forward to!

1) Crim 240 - Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
2) Crim 230 - Criminal Law
3) Geog 241 - Social Geography
4) Anth 220 - Culture Change - 3rd World
5) Bus 204 - Non-Profit Management ****** Should be AWESOME!
6) Soc 250 - Sociology of Development - 3rd World

It will be a ridiulously heavy course load, but one I can totally handle if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I took a 5 course semester last year and pulled off A's, so I'm sure one more course will be a piece of cake :)

So that's the latest from Africa, I'm feeling really inspired and positive and happy. This internship just kind of fell into my lap, but it totally feels like this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Life is good :)

-Delaney xo

Delaney's Laundry Adventures

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.
Miriam Beard

It's been getting harder to update, just because I feel like I've fallen into a routine now. After two weeks, as much as I hate to say it, the novelty is beginning to fade. Not that I don't completely love every second of being here, because I do, but it's starting to feel like, at least for the time being, I live here. Which I guess I do. I mean, it's not really vacation. When you set an alarm, get up for work, sit at a desk for 8 hours, then come home and make dinner, it certainly can't qualify as vacation any longer. And so it seems funny to blog about my day to day events, because they just seem sort of normal now. Lucky for you, I'll just have to dig deeper and find more random things to entertain you with!

For instance: laundry. I guarantee, you take your washer and drier for granted!!! Now, its not like I spend alot of time on laundry, even at home. I'll admit, back home, I turn the washer on cold/cold, throw in everything dirty that I own, and then chuck aboslutely everything in the drier, and from the drier to a laundry basket, where, more often than not, it sits until I decide to wear it next. I realize this is shameful, but hey, I'm just trying to be honest here! However, laundry here is an entirely different story. The hotel will do your laundry for you, but will charge you ridiculous prices, like $2 per shirt, which, as a poor little intern, I can't justify paying. Not when I am the new handwashing queen of the world.

Now, handwashing clothes is quite the ordeal. It begins by taking a garbage can, washing it out, and then filling it with a handful of detergent and room temperature water (hot water sets stains, cold water gives you frostbite). Then you put the makeshift washing machine in the shower stall and sit on the toilet. Then you shwoosh the water around to mix in the soap, throw your clothes in, and start scrubbin'. And scrubbin'. And scrubbin'. When your hands are bright red and literally itching to death from the friction and detergent, its rinsing time. At this point, I chose to change venues. I hauled all the soapy clothes to the sink, and ran water through them until there were no more bubbles. At this point, when my hands were so sore and cramped I couldn't stand it, I had to squeeze every drop of water out of every piece of clothing, and then hang them all along the window sill in the living room, so that now, as I write this, I am FREEZING because the windows are all WIDE OPEN. The best part is, the clothes will take at least 48 hours to be completely bone dry, so you have to be clever and decide if if you can live without an article of clothing for 2 days, or if it's gonne be worth it to "re-wear it".

I realize that this makes it sound like I washed every article of clothing I own, but it isn't even so. It took me over 45 minutes to wash one pair of pants, one shirt, and 10 pairs of underwear. It is such a time consuming, hand-ache-inducing process that I couldn't bear the thought of any more. I've decided after this experience that perhaps $2 a shirt might just be worth it... Luckily, while this was a physically grueling experience, it was acutally quite fun inside my head. I plugged my headphones into my ears and just started humming up a storm. Only my humming turned into singing, and that turned into me belting out the tunes so loud that Natalie and Heather literally snuck into the bathroom to make a video of me. I'd like to think it'll never be seen by anyone, but I doubt I'll be that lucky. Oh well, what can I say, it was making the whole process alot more entertaining!

Anyway, thats the latest. I told you, random, but still a good insight into life in Kenya! I apologise if "Delaney's Laundry Adventures" aren't up to the usual standards, hopefully I'll have something more riveting for you next time! :) You can definately look forward to updates about:

1) Why Elly's new nickname is "the arsonist" (pretty much the funniest story ever)
2) The super awesome project I'm working on at work
3) Our safari, which is less than 2 weeks away!!!


-Delaney xo

Just a quick note

"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved"
-Victor Hugo

I just wanted to jot down a quick note thanking everyone for the great feedback. I have received many inspiring emails, not only from my family members and close friends at home, but also from friends overseas, friend's parents, and coworkers of my mom! I appreciate your messages so much, and knowing that you all are reading keeps me writing! Peeople keep telling me how brave I am for doing what I am doing, and I really don't feel that brave. I am just so lucky to have such an amazing support network that it makes doing anything seem possible. I love you all, and think of you always.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to check them out, my photos are posted on Facebook, here are the links for all of my albums!

En Route to Africa:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010914&id=97900145&l=766180f703

Life in Nairobi:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010949&id=97900145&l=9c4e89fefb

The Orphanage:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010977&id=97900145&l=cb48febe16

An Afternoon in Amsterdam:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010927&l=cffb72c524&id=97900145

-Delaney xo

Church: The Ultimate Cultural Experience

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
-Bill Gates

On my very first day at the Scout Bureau, Pauline invited me to come to church with her that Sunday. I put it off saying that we were still majorly jet lagged (which was the truth) but that we would this weekend instead. While Heather, Natalie and I don’t go to church, we were all interested in going here for the cultural experience, so we figured since we had the chance to go so early in our trip, we might as well.

Pauline told me to ask the infamous Elly if he would mind picking us girls up for church since he went there as well. He played it down like it would be no big deal, but he was clearly thrilled at the prospect. He told me he’d arrive to pick us up at 7. My one sleep-in day a week, and I had to be out of bed at 6! I managed to get out of bed relatively painlessly at 6, but the girls, who had gone out last night, had a considerable amount more trouble.

Natalie was tired and “hung to high heavens”, and while she denies it, Heather was almost certainly still drunk. At least, if she wasn’t drunk when she woke up, the Bailey’s she poured into her morning coffee certainly helped (“We had no milk!” is her defence.)

So we managed to be outside on the curb dressed in our Sunday best by 7am, Heather with portable travel mug in hand, but no Elly in sight. Within minutes, he screeched up, he had slept in. The girls were teasing him about having a late night, he claimed he’d had a “meeting” (though it was apparent as the day wore on that he was just a hung over as the girls).

We pulled up to church about 725, and got seats quite near to the front. This church was in an odd building with really low ceilings, and a big white tent sent up with more seats outside for overflow. All in all, it held 4500 people!!!!! Truly, it didn’t seem like that much, but I highly doubt they lied to me about the capacity so there have you.

The first half hour was “Prayer Time”, and consisted of a lady SCREAMING a prayer into the microphone, while everyone around us started praying loudly to themselves; some in tears, some joyous, many praying in tongues. It was so loud, and a little frightening. We were all quite overwhelmed.

At 8, the service started. A choir sang great gospel songs, and we had a great time clapping and dancing along. For about 2 songs. Then Natalie, who had used every dance move in the book, started looking a little, and then a lot, green. Luckily, my supply of emergency fruit bars quickly warded off an unfortunate “sick in the middle of church” scenario. Definite Grandma points were earned by me. While Natalie was having her little hangover tummy crisis, she glanced at the program where we saw that the service was scheduled from 8-11. It was 815.

The singing went on for a long time, it was a lot of fun and the people really got into it. Then came a sermon, and then some more songs. Then the main Reverend took the pulpit. The man was crazy intense. Like, I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. How he still had a voice after SCREAMING at us for an hour and a half, I’ll never know.

While I’ve never really gone to church in Canada, I can’t imagine that it is anything like this. It was so loud, and intimidating, and, just, loud. After checking with Elly to make sure it was ok to do, Natalie took a few videos, they will be able to give a more clear picture of how wild this service was. And I mean, the people were acutally going wild!! I have seen people get less worked up over the Stanely Cup winning goal than those people did about God. Seriously, the Reverand would say "Let's here you cheer for Jesus", and people were leaping up and down like they were at a hockey game!

The most horrifying moment of the entire service was when the Reverend asked anyone who was joining the congregation for the first time to stand up. Naturally, EVERYONE in a 5 row radius turned to look at us, we were the only 3 white people in a crowd of 4500, it was obvious that we were new. All of us looked at each other umcomfortably, and Elly finally stood up so that we could stand with him. With 9000 eyeballs focused on us, the Reverend welcomed us, and an usher came and handed out a welcome envelope of treats to us while everyone prayed for us. I was glad we were dressed so nicely!! I had no idea we'd be put on public display.

The funniest moment of the morning was when parents all brought their newborn babies to the front to be welcomed into the church. Once they were all gathered at the front, the Reverend announced each one of their names. About halfway through, he read out "Barack Obama" and he, along with everyone else in the church BURST out laughing! Apparently it's become a huge new popular name for Kenyan children (Obama's father was Kenyan). Again, half of the eyes in the place, assuming we were American, turned to see our reactions. We, of course, were in absolute stiches,mostly because we had so much nervous energy built up, it was great to have an excuse to let it out.

The Reverends final sermon was very long and very, very intense. I didn't really agree with alot of what he was saying, but it was incredibly eye opening. Christianity is HUGE in Kenya, and the people here literally LIVE for God. When Elly found out that we don't go to church on Sundays, he was horrified. When he asked if we believed in God at least, the only acceptable answer is a resounding "Of COURSE!!!". Nothing else would be socially acceptable here.

Once the sermon was finally over, we had to go for tea and cookies since we were visitors, so we ended up leaving around 1130 or so. We took a matatu and then a bus back to the hotel(which we were recommended not to do for safety, but we were with Elly, so we all felt totally safe; it's a whole different ballgame when you are with locals). The only scary moment was when the bus slowed (not stopped, just slowed) to let people off. I was at the back of the row of people getting off, so the bus was practically racing by the time I got to the door, and I had to do a flying leap of the speeding bus in my Sunday church clothes while Heather, Natalie and Elly were screaming "JUMP" at me from the safety of the sidewalk. It was intense, but clearly, I've lived to tell about it!

All in all, it was really a great cultural experience. Not something I could do on a regular basis, but a great way to gain some insight about the culture and appreciate the differences between here and back at home. As for me, I think I'll stick to my once a year spiritual cleanse at the Gospel Service of the Jazz Festival with Papa :)

The room mates...

So today I thought I'd fill you in a bit on the living situation. I came here with two fellow UFV students: Heather Sye and Natalie Laforest. Heather and I used to work together briefly at Greek Islands years ago. She's from Chilliwack, and we have a few mutual friends, how could we not in Chilliwack?? Natalie is from Mission, we met when we signed the forms to apply for the trip. So basically we were three strangers thrust into living and travelling together. It could have been a recipe for disaster, but we all agree that it's going amazingly well.

The fact that we made it to Nairobi without killing each other was a very good sign that we would be able to live in harmony for 90 whole days. Almost 30 hours of travel time would make even the nicest people irritable to say the least, but we stayed upbeat.

We share a 2 bedroom suite in a residential hotel. Natalie and Heather each have their own double bed in one room, I have a single in the other room. The very first night we got here, we all slept in the one room, giggling and carrying on like little girls for about 3 whole minutes before the jet lag set in and knocked us all out.

It could have been really awkward rooming with two strangers, but we've become so close so quickly. There are certainly no boundaries here. Bathroom doors stay open almost all the time. We all buy our own food, but share it freely. We have so many inside jokes already that its scary.

We've each settled into our roles very quickly. We call Natalie the "mama bear", mostly because she is the oldest, but also because she is the one willing to wash the dishes when we are all feeling lazy. Natalie earns the prize for being the most open about her bodily functions, she has a weak digestive system, and we all hear about it on a regular basis, but we love her anyways. Besides, she's the only one who has got the hang of figuring out the exchange rate between dollars and kenyan shillings in her head, so we have to keep her around! Haha!

Heather is voted the "creep", because she is able to make ANYTHING inappropriate. As well, her facial expressions are hilarious, one look from her and we are all in stitches. Heather gets exasperated when Natalie and I spend too much time uploading pictures, she'd much rather be playing cards. While Natalie and I are both overly worried about parasites, and use purell on a 5 minute basis, Heather is a seasoned and brave traveller, who scoffs at our paranoia.

I am both the "baby and the grandma" (as Heather says, "Either way we have to change her diapers" haha!) I require frequent input on EVERYTHING from which shoes to wear to whether the milk is drinkable or expired, making me the baby. However, I also like to knit and go to bed before 10am, so I get grandma points as well!

From Thursday evenings to Monday mornings, we are basically together every waking second. Having "room mate time" is a big joke, we are together every second, but we still designate time to hang out. From 7pm every night when the sun sets, we have to stay inside, so we tend to get cabin fever. We (ok, me especially) get a little giddy around 8pm. We've tried to curb that by scheduling some fun "room mate time" activities. For instance, this afternoon we went down to one of the tables along side the pool to play cards. It's this really impressive game that Heather taught us. Strangely, the rules change every time we play, always in her favour! Haha, I said next time that I'm going to write the rules down as we go!

Other classic "room mate time" activities include:

-Rocking out to Kanye and AC/DC at 830am to pump ourselves up for getting out of the house so early.

-eating meals together, including pizza and beer, weiners and beans, yogurt and granola... we also like to make fun of each other's weird food habits...

-Me helping Natalie pop the blackheads on her nose...yes, I told you we have no boundaries... I wish this story was made up, but its very true...

-going NGO hunting (aka looking for cute North American guys)

-doing water aerobics in the pool downstairs courtesy of moi and my excellent coaching skills

-running up and down the 6 flights of stairs in the hotel, trying to get/stay in shape while we are here (We can only make it up and down 2 or 3 times, we like to blame it on the altitude)

All in all, we are so lucky! Not only do we all tolerate each other, but we have really great times together, and its only been a week and a half. I'm sure there will be plenty more fun stories to come!

Adventures on the Nairobi Streets

"We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic health care." Kofi Annan

So it’s about time I explain the adventures of getting around Nairobi. Case in point: my trip to and from work every day, featuring: Elly, the awesome driver (for those keen blog readers, you may remember Elly from the Kenyan birthday party fiasco).

Elly shows up in the work van every day at 710 to pick me up for work. Granted, 710 is when he should arrive, but due to Nairobi rush hour traffic, this can be as late as 725. I am the first stop on the route, so I hop in the front seat and off we roar down the road.

Now, a few words about the roads in Nairobi. First of all, cars drive on the other side of the road, like in the UK. It has been over a week, and I still feel like I’m on some horrifying amusement park ride, with cars flying at you every direction. I’ve literally braced myself for a crash dozens of times, I just can’t adjust.

Second of all, even if I wasn’t all backwards about what side of the road people should be on, I’d still be bracing every second of the road, because people drive like maniacs here. I’m serious, I’ve never seen anything like it. I remember being shocked at the driving in Mexico, it truly reminds me now of a Sunday drive in the country compared to the way people drive here. In Nairobi, there are basically no traffic signs at all. Except for right in the downtown core, there are no traffic lights, and even then, people don’t follow them. Many intersections are basically 4 way stops, only NO ONE stops! It’s basically a giant free-for-all, the most aggressive driver wins. Every intersection is basically like a game of chicken: winner gets through the intersection, loser doesn’t, and quite possibly gets a ding in his bumper in the meantime.

The third interesting point about the Nairobi roads is that intersections that don't have lights have roundabouts. The roundabouts in town have traffic cops directing people in the mornings during rush hour, so they are realatively hassle-free, but the ones outside of the downtown core are unlike anything you could even imagine. Cars have to but in and out, and they all have at least 2 lanes going around them, so if you are trying to make a right turn, you have to get into the outer lane, weave into the inside lane, and then weave back out in time to get out of the circle. It's intense and dizzying, to say the least!

So fourth, if you can deal with the backwards lanes, the lack of signage and the roundabouts, you have to deal with the most intense potholes and speed bumps known to man. There are acutally craters in the streets. Right downtown, its not too bad, but the second you are out of downtown, the roads become the most harrowing things you have ever seen. The trip to the scout office takes us down a long dirt country road, we literally zig zag down the road and half into ditches trying to avoid the potholes, all the while at breakneck speeds.

Yep, thats the clincher: despite all of the drawbacks of the Nairobi streets, the drivers all go faster than you could imagine. If we went slower than 80km/h traveling through town, I'd be amazed. The most shocking part is that there are people EVERYWHERE. As many bicycles as there were on the Amsterdam streets, thats how many pedestrians there are in Nairobi. And they own the roads. They run out in front of cars without batting an eye, there are no such things as crosswalks here.

So, that summarizes the situation on the Nairobi streets. Now back to my ride to work...

I jump in the car with my travel mug of tea every morning, and Eli hands me the newspaper of the dash (oh right, I forgot to mention all the "hawkers", men and women who walk the streets in rush hour traffic selling everything from newspapers to fruit to shoes). So yes, Elly hands me the newspaper, and off we roar into the downtown core to pick up the next few coworkers. Then back out of town and down the LONG main road. We stop to pick up others at bus stops along the way. Whenever we stop, Elly asks me about whats happening in the world, and I fill him in about the most intersting tidbits of news for that particular day. For the record, the news is ALWAYS THE SAME: people are poor, people are angry, the police and government are corrupt, someone got kidnapped, someone got found...

Finally, we head down the long dirt road that takes us towards the office, which is basically in the middle of the jungle ( I'm tempted to call it a forest, it looks just like a forest, but instead of squirrels, its filled with monkeys, and I don't think monkeys live in forests??). We pass the turnoff for work, and head into Kibera, the slums, where we pick up a few more coworkers. They always jump into the van in suits and ties, carrying their briefcases...You definately can't make assumptions about people's situations here, the best dressed, kindest people at the office apparently live in the biggest slum in Africa... it's hard to believe...

Then we get to work, and all pile out of the van and head into work for the day. The real fun is on the ride home. Just as I am the first picked up in the morning, I am the last one picked up at night (gotta love those 11 hour days). I had the most fun yet in Kenya yesterday on the drive home. Elly and Amos were in the front seat, I was in the row behind them. After we dropped off the last girl, they took the back roads back to the hotel. This means no traffic, but colossal speed bumps. I had my headphones in my ears, and we started bumping so hard down this road, that I started laughing out loud. It truly put me into hysterics. It was so bumpy, and we were driving so fast that I could not stop laughing for the life of me. They got a huge kick out of this, and purposely took the pot-holiest drive home just because I was getting such a kick out of it!

On this long winded detour, we ended up driving past this regal-looking estate. Turns out, the President of Kenya is my neighbour. Yep, less than a km away from our hotel is the White House of Kenya. I was thrilled by this, and proclaimed that I could basically "run over for a cup of sugar", which gave the guys a good laugh.

While I realize this post probably fills you all with dread for my physcial well-being, I assure you, all things considered, I feel very safe on the roads. You definately need to be an agressive driver to be succuessful on these roads, and I must give Elly credit, I've never seen driving like that in my life. Truth be told, I'd feel less safe with someone who drove less like a maniac!

Anyway, to make a long story short(haha!), I get pretty lonely and cooped up in my cubicle at work all day, but theres nothing like a crazy, fun work van ride home to end the day on a happy note.

A Canadian trailer trash dinner and a Kenyan coffee break birthday party

"This is the generation that could save a
generation."

I'm in a bit of a giddy mood tonight...I've been like that every day after work...I sit in a cubicle for over 8 hours by myself, by the time I get home, I'm so tired and starved for human interaction! We've had some pretty special room mate bonding time because of it...for example, tonight we had a trailer trash party. This basically means that we cooked up weiners and beans for dinner, and ate them with white bread and beer... Pictures will be uploaded as soon as Kenya wireless permits!!



Work is going well. Well, to be honest, it's a bit overwhelming, and I really do feel quite lost, but I'll get the hang of it. The people are so amazing, I really can't get over it. Yesterday we got called to the board room at 11, I assumed it was for a meeting so I showed up with my notepad and pen, ready to do something terribly important. As it turned out, Elly (one of the guys from work, he's acutally the one who drives the work van in the morning) had his birthday last weekend, so we had a bit of a birthday party for him. I was one of the first ones to the board room, and Jonathan told me I could MC the party... I thought he was kidding, but no, he was dead serious. So they walked me through how to MC a coffee-break birthday party. I'll explain the process:

1) When everyone is in the room, the MC must make a little speech welcoming everyone, and saying a few words to the birthday person. This basically consisted of me saying "So.... welcome everyone....*awkward pause* .... So.... Elly.... happy birthday.... I .... um....hope this year brings you alot of happiness....??"

2) Then the MC must invite everyone else to make a comment. We actually went around the room saying nice things to Elly. Jacques (the supervisor) came in late, and he acutally launched into this really serious speech about getting older, and God's plan and stuff, it was pretty intense!

3) The MC gives the birthday person the birthday card. So I was like "Well, here...?" and handed it across the table. But no. This was not appropriate. They made the two of us stand up in the center of the room, and I had to hand him the card while shaking his hand, as if I was the Publisher's Clearing House handing out a check for a small fortune. I'm dead serious. There are pictures to prove it (again, when Kenyan wireless permits)

4) Then the MC must invite the birthday person to cut the cake. So like the birthday card, I basically handed it to him and was like "Well...here you go?". Wrong again. Why cut the cake normally when you can make a huge production out of it?? Euloge, who was sitting on the other side of Elly from me said "No, you need to invite someone to cut the cake with him". I was like "Ok then, would you like to cut the cake with him??" Everyone at the table burst out laughing; as it turns out, a girl must help the boy cut the cake, or vice versa. And by help, I mean pose for the camera while cutting the cake together. ?Yep, I could'nt make this up if I tried.

5) The MC lets everyone chit chat and eat their cake in peace. Lively conversations about HIV and then God insued.

6) When everyone falls into an awkward silence, the MC must dismiss everyone from the table. "Alright then... thank you for coming? You can go....?"

All in all, quite the experience. I was on the verge of the giggles the entire time, I didn't realize until the end that they were acutally totally serious. I thought it was kind of a lighthearted party, but no, they were all very genuine and serious about the whole thing! It was pretty funny, but truly, it was actually really nice.

I would love to continue and tell you about the adventures of travelling to and from work, but I'll save it for tomorrow, I should get to bed, its 9pm, which, sadly, is my bedtime these days!

-Delaney xo

My "Grown-Up" Job

"No one can claim to be educated who does not have the willingness and the desire, as well as the intellectual ability, to contribute towards making the world a better place" -Lord Baden-Powell

So today was my first real day at work... what a day!

I'm trying to get in the habit of being up before I need to in the mornings so that I'm not stressed and rushed. So I got out of bed at 530, and picked up at 710. We didn't get to work until 830. I went and sat at my desk, unpacked my computer, and had no idea what to do... Friday all I did was get a tour of the office, so I had absolutely no work I should be doing this morning, or even could be doing...

I spent a few hours emailing and trying to upload some pictures (no success, due to the slowest wireless in the world here!). Finally at 10, they let me know I'd be having a meeting at 11. So I killed another hour playing solitare and then showed up in the boardroom at exactly 11. Sure enough, no one else showed up until about 1115.. a definate culture difference...they are way more laid back here. Everyone is on Kenyan time but me! haha!

The meeting was so neat...It was Jacques (the acting regional director/my supervisor), Euloge (communications manager), Jonathan (youth program director), Pauline (???) and Anne (administrative assistant) and I. We sat down and developed my work plan for the semester. They each spent some time telling me about the projects they are working on, and then we worked out what projects I would be working on... The meeting took about 2 hours...

Then it was time for lunch. Since the office is basically isolated in the middle of the jungle, they provide lunch every day. They told me at the meeting that if I really couldn't eat what they provided, I was welcome to bring my own food, but it was seriously so delicious!! We had like a beef/carrot stew and mashed potatoes, it was amazing!!! This may be in large part due to the fact that I ate breakfast at 630, and lunch was at 1, so I was SO hungry, I polished off my plate in minutes.

After lunch, I headed to my desk and spent the next 4 hours pouring over hundreds and hundreds of pages of really boring, complicated documents. We left work at 515, I wasn't home until 6... So basically I'll be doing 11 hour work day from Monday - Thursday, then working all day at the orphanage Fridays and Saturdays, then spending Sundays doing all the course work thats required for the internship! Haha, so much for summer vacation!

Here's a bit of info about the organization, and then the lowdown on what I'll be doing:

60% of Africa's population is below the age of 25 years. This very large group of young people is daily confronted by almost insurmountable challenges of poverty, unemployment, hunger and malnutrition, diseases - especially HIV/AIDS, as well as crime and civil strife. Scouting is the largest youth organization in Africa, and in many places it is the only youth organization. Scouting does not promise a quick cure to these problems, but it is making a significant contribution to the development of society through the education of young people. In many countries, 5 to 20% of youth are Scouts. In most countries of Africa fewer than 1% are Scouts. The opportunity is simply not available. Experience shows that Scouting is attractive to young people when it is offered to them, yet Scouting remains largely inaccessible to many due to constraints of terrain, distance, weak infrastructure within a country, and general inadequacy of resources, both human and financial. We believe that this potential can only be unlocked by developing the human resources of the continent, particularly its youth. Scouting uses its particular educational method which makes each individual the principal agent in his or her own personal development in order to produce individuals who become autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed, and are prepared to play an active and constructive role in society. (http://scout.org/en/around_the_world/africa/about_scouting/africa_10_year_plan)

In 2001, the Africa Regional Office created a 10 Year Plan of goals that they wanted to accomplish. They has a meeting this April to discuss how far they had come, and what they could still realistically accomplish in the next 2 1/2 years. One of my jobs will be to help decide what can still be implemented, namely special projects regarding awareness of environmental issues and the HIV/AIDS crisis...

I will also be creating a database that contains all of the current partners/sponsors, and well as trying to identify new sponsors. Apparently there are groups with money to give away, its just a matter of finding them and jumping through the hoops of showing that your NGO (non-governmental organization) meets the criteria in order to get the funding.

Thirdly, I will reviewing a proposal on "Connecting Africa's Youth for Change" that never got finished back in 2004. I need to decide if it is still a viable project, and if it is, making the changes to the proposal to make it current and relevant, and then making it marketable to sponsors.

Lastly, the office is supposed to create a triennial report (one every three years) about the progress they are making. There was one made for 2001-2004, but the report was never written for 2005-2008. They want me to create a basic layout and format for that report, and then be in charge of talking to each department and getting the information required to at least have a solid draft done by the time I leave.

So yeah. That's how I'll be spending my summer. I have a stack of documents and books about a mile high that I have to get through to give me the background information required to be able to start all of these projects. I'm really excited about it though!

This is like a "grown-up job". I have desk with my own phone and extention number, and I have an official email address ( dbullied@scout.org if you feel like emailing me at my official email address just to brighten my workday! haha). Everyone is dressed in suits, and we get coffee breaks and lunch breaks...it so different from waitressing, thats for sure!!!

They also told me that they feel bad that all I'm doing is office work, so at least once a month, they'll try and get me out of the office doing something fun in the field, which is awesome! Honestly, they are the nicest people. They went on and on in the meeting about how they know I am a far way away from home, but that they want the office to feel like my home away from home. Everyone I've met here is so kind, and genuinely gracious and welcoming, I can't believe it! I've received emails from all of the really important heads of the offices around Africa, all welcoming me to the organization and letting me know they'd be happy to help if I need anything. The amount of support is astounding!

I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of work I'm up against, but I work best under pressure, and I am seriously so excited to sink my teeth into this material and do some awesome work!

-Delaney xo

The orphanage

Yesterday was such an eye opening, soul changing day... I wanted to write about it last night, but I needed some time to absorb what I had seen and how to best describe it...

A bit of background:
The teacher who facilitated this whole internship through her varied contacts is Cherie Enns, a geography teacher and the head of the Global Development Institute at UFV. Cherie's mom, Marg Foreman has spend much of her life living here in Kenya, and she has currently been here for 7 years working for the Pentecostal Assembly of Canada. Cherie told us before we arrived that through her mom, we may be able to spend some time here working at an orphanage. We were all incredibly excited about this idea. The other afternoon we went and met with Janice (a lady in Marg's office) and she introduced us to Pastor Simon.

Pastor Simon has a church in Kibera, the major slum. He also runs an school/orphanage on the outskirts of town with his wife Eunice. The school has 78 students, 22 of whom live right at the school. When we arrived yesterday, I was expecting a large area with lots of buildings and open space. We pulled up to a tin fence and honked (the Kenyan way to say "Open the gate and let us in!!"). The gate pulled open and I couldn't believe my eyes. The dirt area where we parked the car was so small, it could fit maybe 5 or 6 cars, and this was the whole play area for the kids.

Eunice gave us a tour, and it was seriously worse and worse. She showed us where the children slept first. The 20 boys who stayed there all slept on 5 bunkbeds. If it got too crowded, they had extra "mattresses" (thin foams) that the spread out at the foot of the line of beds. The two girls stayed on mattresses in an adjacent room with the "mama" (a woman who did all the cooking and upkeep). There were three classrooms, each couldn't have been bigger than 10 ft sq. They were EXACTLY the way you would picture a small african classroom. They had a few rows of benches each, and each room had 1 or 2 OLD chalkboards that you could barely see the writing on.

The "kitchen" where the mama cooked the food was no bigger than a large closet. It had one table and a huge wooden stove, that made it so smoky I could hardly breathe.

After Eunice gave us the tour, she brought us into the room where the children were (since it was a Saturday, there were only about 25 children there). The Pastor asked the children to sing for us, it gave us all goosebumps. A few of the boys went running out of the room when we arrived, we asked where they were going, and Eunice told us they were going to bring us chairs. They were so polite and welcoming. They sang us a welcome song, and the three of us were all holding back tears, it would have been so easy to fall apart and just weep: Here were these kids with basically nothing in the world, and they were so happy and joyous, and they welcomed us so warmly.

After we spent some time getting introduced to the children, it was time for them to eat. We stood to the side as the mama and Eunice gave each child a plate of ugali and skuma (sp??), which is basically a cornmealy starchy pile of carbs, and a spinachy pile of greens. All of the kids took their plates and ran and ate, piling the food into their mouths with their hands. Janice had brought a box of bananas out to the orphanage when she drove us, so we gave each child a banana after they ate. They were so excited, you'd think it was Christmas day. When the first few kids got bananas, the other ones started scarfing their food back SO fast, and came running with their cheeks still full of food. They must have been scared there wouldn't be enough to go around.

After they finished their bananas, we handed out 2 candies to each child (again, that Janice brought). They were so cute, again everyone scared that they wouldn't get their fair share.

After lunch it was time for us to go back to the hotel. We were all just silent in the car as Janice told us more about the orphanage. The orphange recieves a little bit of funding from a church in Canada. This money pays for teachers for the children, and for food as well. The biggest problem at the moment is water... they have a huge water tank, but it basically breaks down to $100 a month to fill, and they can't afford it.

We are so torn about how we can help. We plan on bringing something each week, whether its a box of bananas or a notebook for each child... basically anything that could help. At the school, there is literally nothing. No books, no pencils, not games, no toys, no puzzles, NOTHING. There were two old soccor balls that the boys were kicking around outside, that's it.

Natalie called her mom in tears when we got home, her mom is a teacher and spent all day yesterday going to thrift stores, who acutally just GAVE her tons of clothes that she is going to send to us, as well as books and puzzles and games for the kids. I am hoping to spend as little of my funding on myself as possible so I can spend it all on these kids before I come home.

I just can't believe how little they have. That's what they say about Nairobi...the poor and the rich live side by side, the contrast is right in your face. It was hard to go out for dinner last night knowing that the amout of money that my dinner cost would have bought a whole box of bananas to feed those kids.

I can't believe I'm lucky enough to get the opportunity to spend 2 days every week there. We are there to teach the kids, but I'm sure we will learn more from them than they could every learn from us.

Another day at the office...

So I wasn’t planning on updating every day, but
a) things keep happening that are amazing, and deserve to be documented and
b) we aren’t allowed to go out at night, so updating is a good way to pass time

Anyway, today was my first day of work at the Africa Regional Office of the World Scout Bureau. I went to bed really early last night so I could be nice and rested for my first day. I had to be up at 630am, which to me is a horrible, inhumane hour of the day. If only I could have been so lucky... as it turns out, right outside my bedroom window is the neighbourhood rooster. That’s right, starting at 4am, my new pal was cock-a-doodle-dooing NON-STOP. So needless to say, I was a very sleepy girl all day.

The work van picked me up at 7:10, I’m the very first stop, we don’t get to the office until about 8:30. A very long, bumpy ride later, we got to the office, where they showed me to my desk and gave me a few minutes to get settled. Then I sat down with Jacques, the acting regional director, to go over some of my options for what work I can do for them. We are going to have a more formal meeting Monday, so until then I guess it’s still pretty up in the air. Suffice to say I will spend Mondays-Thursdays at a desk on a computer doing research and writing. Something along the lines of helping write policy recommendations, or facilitating partnerships with different branches, especially throughout Europe.

After our chat, Jacques gave me a tour of the office and introduced me to everyone. There are only about 10 people in the office, they all seem so kind and welcoming. After tea, we all sat down in the boardroom, basically so I could be introduced to everyone as a group instead of one-by-one.

As it turns out, today is World Environment Day, a UNEP initiative started back in 1972. To commemorate, the Scout Bureau (who’ve committed to planting 10 million trees in Kenya this year) headed to a nearby elementary school to plant 100 trees. (Check out http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/content/about.asp !)

It was the most amazing experience, one I can’t believe I’ve had this early in my trip. We pulled up to the school and the kids came running over. They were timid at first, but soon all of us from the office were elbows deep in mud alongside the kids.

This school had almost 2000 students, many of whom were HIV positive. I spent about 20 minutes talking with one of the teachers from the school, a middle aged woman named Lea. She herself was HIV positive, and she was talking about the importance of reducing the stigma of being infected. She said they encourage openness at the school, and that the children are so kind and understanding to each other when the truth is right out there in the open. She says it goes so far as a healthy kid reminding his pal to take his HIV medication, the way a mom might remind her kid to take her vitamins back in Canada. The thing the woman talked about most though was hope. It’s easy to hear about the HIV/AIDS epidemic at home, but to talk to this kind, soulful, strong woman and imagine the struggles she faces every day, I’m still reeling.

The school was located in the middle of Kibera, a huge slum home to over a million people, with a population density of 300 000 people per square kilometre. It is regarded as the worst slum in Africa, one of the worst in the world. Driving through it, I was in total disbelief. Loose garbage literally lined the sides of the roads. The stench was so bad I could barely stand it. I couldn’t even imagine spending one day of my life living the way literally MILLIONS are living.

The whole day basically summarized what I always imagined a trip to Africa being like: seeing horrible poverty, feeling incredibly blessed for the things I have in my life, doing something as simple as planting a tree in the hopes of making even a miniscule difference in the world.

Something Pauline from the office said to me today really struck me. We were watching all of the children running along with trees and manure and water planting, and she said “I know climate change is a global problem, but if it were a local problem, we would have it solved by now”. From what I’ve seen, I would have to agree. People are so passive at home. We hear about global issues, and intend to do something about it, but few take it past that step. Good intentions are just not enough.

I can only hope that my whole time here continues to be as rewarding and eye-opening as today has been. The one thing I can say already for sure...Africa is able to both mend and shatter a heart, all at the same time.