Thanksgiving, Kenyan Style

So I didn’t even realize when thanksgiving was until friends were talking about leaving for sizzler this past weekend. It kind of hit me by surprise, I had no plans, not many close friends here in Naivasha, heck I don’t even have a kitchen. So a couple days before thanksgiving I made some plans with friends in Nairobi for me to travel into the big city on Thursday afternoon get there around 2pm and start cooking and we were going to have some of our closest friends over for a good ol’ Thanksgiving meal cooked by yours truley.

I still had a lot of work to do here in Naivasha before I could take off for the city. We were scheduled to do some surveys in a village I had yet to explore and then we were to have a meeting with representatives from the village. My co-worker and I started real early so we could get our survey work done before the meeting lead by our boss that was to start at 10 am. So by 7am I am in the village walking between plots, meeting people, asking about their latrines, taking pictures, trying to move as fast as possible because I had thanksgiving to get to once I was done with this. My head wasn’t really present, I was thinking about all the shopping for groceries I had to do, how I was going to find all the right ingredients, I kept texting everyone who was coming for dinner later that night to give them details as to what to bring, when to be there, and where to go. As we headed to the village meeting our boss informs us that she is running very late and the meeting will have to be pushed back in hour. This starts to worry me, as this would push back my arrival to Nairobi an hour, then how would the turkey (which had yet to be bought) have time to thaw. But Sylvia (my co-worker) and I just kept going with our surveys.

As most things in Africa, an hour delay became 2 hour delay, which became a 4 hour delay. If any of you know me, you know how much I was freaking out at this point. At 1:30pm (when I was supposed to be close to arriving in Nairobi)  I was still in the village doing surveys waiting for my boss so we could START the meeting, I just kept thinking how thanksgiving was going to be ruined. At this schedule I was not going to be able to get into Nairobi till we were supposed to start dinner (at 8pm), I had no idea how the turkey was going to be cooked, how I was supposed to get the rest of dinner cooked for everyone, and well yes- everything was ruined. I kept looking at my watch every few minutes as if that would speed things up.

Then, something happened that changed everything.

I was at a very, very poor plot. The buildings were made only from mud and sticks and were falling apart. There was a lot of space on the plot were apparently years ago the buildings had fallen down but there was never any money to build them again. There “toilet” was a hole in the ground with some sticks stuck in the ground for “privacy.” There were about 6 kids around (the family couldn’t pay for school for them), all barefoot, staring at me like most children do here (white people are really rare out in the villages).

 And this precious little girl came and grabbed my hand as we walked around her plot and talked to her grandmother who ran it. At one point she looked at me with huge beautiful eyes and in the most serious voice you can imagine said “Mazungo” and then something in Swahili that I didn’t understand. Mazungo means white person, so I know she was addressing me. It was translated it for me, the little girl had asked “Mazungo, buy me shoes?” Apparently she hadn’t had any kind of shoe for years.

Thanksgiving, a day to say thanks for what you have. A day about contentment, peace and gratitude. And I was freaking out about “ruining it” because I couldn’t cook dinner on time, and this little girl just wanted some shoes.

So I stopped. I stopped worrying. Stopped checking my phone or my watch, stopped worrying. I went and bought this girl and the other 5 children some shoes. (It cost me all of about $11 US dollars). We had the meeting. I didn’t get into Nairobi until about 7pm. My Kenyan friends ended up buying the turkey for me earlier and cooking it themselves. I went shopping for ingredients for a few sides. I got to start cooking at 8pm as everyone was arriving. And we just drank wine, and everyone helped me cook, and we had to wait for the turkey to be done anyway. So we didn’t get to eat thanksgiving dinner until about 11:30pm BUT the meal was amazing, the turkey that my Kenyan friend cooked ended up being one of the best turkeys I have EVER had (and she had just goggled “how to cook a thanksgiving turkey”) AND for some reason ESPN here was showing American Football so because it was so late here I got to watch the Texans V. Lions game live!!!

Lessons learned this thanksgiving:

·         Once again God gave me a tall cool glass of perspective

·         Everything ended up working out anyway (as it always does)

·         Worrying never does anything productive

·         Keep your head & heart where your body is

First 2 weeks in Kenya

So, as I sit outside of my new “house” watching the sun set over the lake and the mountains reflect that amazing orangey/pinkish color while typing up the information we gathered today in the near by village the song “dreams” by Yonder Mountain Band comes on. The song, in a fantastic chill, folk twangy sound that fits the mood perfectly, states in its chorus over and over again “all your dreams come true” and I can not agree more.

WOW. Can life get any more perfect?

I tell you the past couple weeks here in Kenya have been a roller coaster of emotions. I first was in the big capital city of Nairobi for about a week and that was super high. Nairobi is really comfortable, reminded me a lot of Houston. Always things to do, good food, even got to watch some rugby last Saturday. There are plenty of white people around (mazungos they call them here) so while I still stand out, it’s not that big of deal. I met my work team, got to know the WSUP office, stayed with a co-worker from the states (strangely also from Houston) at his house in Nairobi which is a Start- Up house. Meaning a couple of American guys about my age are running a start-up company out of the house and they rented a couple of the rooms to other ex-pats all about my age. It felt just like Chile. People from all over the world, working on various projects, always cooking together, always things going on, always invites to go and do something. There is also a HUGE couch surfing group in Nairobi that took me on some great tours, even took me to this huge concert call “blankets and wine” where just that, everyone brings their blankets and drinks of choice and sit out on a huge hill and listens to live music. There is also a huge Hashing group that I went running with, and a huge ex-pat community that were so very welcoming to any new people. Nairobi was fun, comfortable, and I felt right at home. 

 New Friends at the Blankets and wine concert in Nairobi

This was walking back to our car after Blankets and Wine, this guy 

litterally just came right over the fence at me. 

Then I came to Naivasha. Naivasha is a town about 1.5 hours north of Nairobi. It is based near to Lake Naivasha where the biggest industry are the huge flower farms surrounding the lake. Naivasha is so different than Nairobi. Small, not very developed, still crowded and dirty, it has grown to fast to really accommodate, so power goes out all the time, most places do not have running water but it is still apartment complexes and huge compound/slum areas. I was shocked by the poverty, I forgot what it was to see people starving on the street, I forgot what it was to be stared at where ever I go because they rarely ever see Mazungos (white people). I don’t think I have ever spent time in places that were unsafe for me to go out by myself at night. So with work during the day, and it gets dark shortly after 6pm here, I really couldn’t meet anyone or explore where I was. And I was just stuck in the hotel until I found a place to live. It was a hard week. Then I got really sick, I am sure it is the food and my stomach adjusting. And I was alone, and nothing I could do and just in a really hard adjustment period.

But our God is good. And with prayer, and a positive spirit I firmly believe we can see the beauty in any situation. So Saturday I got out and really got to see the south part of Lake Naivasha. And WOW- it’s beautiful. Mountains, which are really old volcanoes, the lake, zebras, giraffes and even hippos out on the lake. I saw 3 types of monkeys the coolest are Columbus Monkeys . I went Kayaking out on the lake by myself and decided that I am going to embrace a bit of solitude for the next few months. I will still have great adventures on the weekends with great friends, and still love my job working in the villages but most my evenings should be spent out here, in nature, just enjoying some alone time. 

 

 

 (right)  Colombus Monkey one of the types of monkeys around here. crazy, i know.

(left) is me on my kayak trip around the lake

So I found a place to live, and PRAISE GOD for that, because it is out here in nature. And I couldn’t be happier with my “house.” It’s not really a house, more of a 1 room cottage in the mountains with a bathroom about 20 ft walk. But the view can not be beat. And I have a lovely front “porch” with tables and a fire pit and I am going to hang my hammock. And my backyard is Hell’s Gate National Park. Complete with all your standard African Animals, mountain biking paths, rock climbing, roaming groups of the Massi Tribe, it is also THE place that Lion King was inspired from! In fact Pride Rock the formation is mirrored after a natural rock tower in the park that you can rock climb up- how cool is that?!?! I went running this morning along the lake it was so perfect, I think I will go kayak out with the hippos tomorrow morning…

My front "porch" - what a view!

 Inside my 1 bed room cottage

 I call my place "cozy", and I LOVE IT!

Next update I will tell you a bit about my job and working in the villages.

And what you have all been waiting for: the winner of the free Fecal Sludge Management  t-shirt goes to…. Drum roll please….

PATRICK LINTON

While it wasn’t really a poo pun, and wasn’t really your story, and actually wasn’t about shit but about pee… it still made me laugh really hard. So congrats buddy. Send me your address and I will pop ya a present in the mail.

South Africa

Well it took a while, but I am here. I made it, and the ups and downs of being back in Africa are hitting already.

I left last Wednesday morning from my parent’s home in Houston, TX. Then a quick flight to Atlanta, Georgia where I had a few hour layover. I went to campus and had a lovely afternoon swimming in the campus fountain, laying in the sun and having an incredible dinner all in company of some of the most amazing people I know in the world. I was supposed to fly out at 7:45pm, but new lesson learned: don’t leave midtown at 6:30pm to try and catch an international flight at 7:45pm especially when the Vice President is in town and roads are closed and traffic is awful. Needless to say, I missed my flight and got an extra 24 hours in Atlanta. God works in mysterious ways right? Because I was sure glad to have an extra day visiting good friends and preparing for Africa.

I was in the last row of a huge 747 delta plane for my flight over but had the privilege of sitting next to one of the most interesting man I have ever met. Good ol’ Oklahoma boy, no college education, entrepreneur, family man, firm believer in Jesus Christ, newly elected representative for OK,  also created his own NGO working with agriculture and veterinary practices around the world. He told me stories of helicoptering in Ethiopia to find nomadic tribes and teach them new practices to help their survival, of years of extended work in Nicaragua, to working in the villages of Tanzania drilling water wells. As one can assume, we had a great flight sitting next to each other for those 18 hours of air time. And wouldn’t ya know it, God showed me yet again not to worry because while I  have been worrying about making my money stretch for a while this random stranger decided to give me a small money donation because he believed in my cause and in me. Awesome huh?

Don’t worry it get better.

I landed Thursday evening in Johannesburg, South Africa to the sounds of “I’m too sexy” playing on the airport laud speaker and the smells of KFC overpowering the terminal and my only thought about South Africa was that it sure felt a lot like the US. I needed to get to Durban and found that an overnight bus would be the cheapest way. So I made my way to the bus terminal, bought a ticket and sat down to wait the 3 hours till the bus came. And guess what? It took me less than an hour after landing in South Africa before I met a professional rugby player. This beautiful man was heading back to Durban on my same bus and he began to tell me all about life in South Africa. We bonded over talks of rugby and world travels and that 9 hour bus ride went by just as fast as the plane trip had. And even if I did happen to leave my blow up travel pillow at Lara’s apt in Atlanta, this rugby player was a pretty good replacement.

We arrived in Durban at 4:30am Saturday morning, and I had the address of the couch surfer’s house who I would be staying with for the week. The rugby friend helped me get in the right taxi and get the right price figured out and promised me a motorbike tour of the city for the next day. I woke my Couch Surfer up at a horribly early hour for him to let me in and we stayed up for the next hour just chatting. He invited me to join him and a bunch of friends as they were headed up to the midlands, to a farm in the middle of the hills for a friend’s birthday party later that day. So that afternoon I packed up in a car full of locals and drove through some of the most gorgeous South African country side to the middle of no-where for a birthday party. This “farm” was more like a plantation with a huge farm-house-mansion where about 30 people around my age were gathering for a night just away from the city. I met a lot of interesting people, had a great time, and yet again was blown away with how much it reminded me of home and exactly what me and my friends love to do.

Note: the entire time I had been in south Africa it had been raining, and quite cold. This sad pattern would continue my entire time while here. So sad to say the motorbike tour of Durban on Sunday was cut short and we instead ended at a pub with a group of people watching a football match (football being soccer).

Monday morning began the World Fecal Sludge Conference #2 (FSM2) at the International Convention Center in Durban South Africa. It lasted for 3 days and was extremely interesting and jam packed. I got to meet so many of the sanitation greats from around the world, finally got to put faces to so many people of whom I have been in email contact with for 2 years now. I learned a ton, have a bunch more articles to be read in the next few weeks. I got to present to a group of about 100 people about what Sanivation did down in Chile. I had many people interested in our work. And I made a whole bunch of connections and possible projects all over the world. 

Most people are extremely curious about how we did our pathogen testing- apparently everyone knows that it should be done, but very few people in the world know how, and I am somehow one of those few people. Ergo many, many Africans are interested in us teaching how we did our testing and it looks like we are going to need to set up a pathogen testing lab in Naivasha where I can do testing and train others. The entire lab set up would cost us about $3,500 usd and donators will have the privilege of naming the lab and the various components of it. More to come on that later.

I forgot how inefficient so many things are in developing areas, so many processes are completely unnecessary. As I was trying to make the connection to my flight to Kenya tonight, that took 2 ½ hours just to get checked in, a fellow traveler reminded me you can either get frustrated and upset or relax and remember where you are. I am in Africa. And I am so happy to be here.

Many people expressed interest in receiving some shwag from the World Fecal Sludge Conference and have I got a deal for you. As reward for you reading my blog (and making it this far into my ramblings) you have a chance to win a FREE fecal sludge T-shirt or hat! All you have to do is give me your best poo joke/ pun/ or a creative new name for shit – right here below in the comments section and the best will receive their choice of a fecal sludge hat or t-shirt!

I’m not joking, this is serious shit guys. Write your best poo pun right now!