Is it a celebrity? No, just a muzungu

Life in Kenya is very different than in the U.S., starting with the fact that people (especially school children) love to greet us and welcome us every day. There are always so many people just walking or selling things on the street.  We walk down the street to the Kipepeo office where we are volunteering, and we hear many times “muzugu” (“white person,” but it’s not a negative or derogatory), and also “How are you?” and then immediately “I’m fine!” because I think this is the first thing that the school children learn in English.  We’ve had some of the older people in the community just wanting to shake our hands, or take pictures with us. The school girls want to feel my hair, and they sometimes call out to us in unison when we walk by or they will hover right around us when we go to town in Luanda.   

The main junction in Kima, where the piki-piki drivers wait, the Kipepeo office is just past this

Another view of the junction

Life is also much simpler here.  We have been hosted by Julius, one of the heads of Kipepeo. Clinton, who often cooks for us, also lives there in just a small 2 bedroom apartment-like building.  All of our laundrey is done by hand.  Almost all our meals are cooked (unlike the U.S. where Sam and I often eat cereal for dinner).  There is no running water or even really a kitchen in the apartment, and a small charcoal grill-like device is how all of the meals are cooked---called a “jiko.” (gee-koh). They don't have any refrigerators, so we eat mostly non-perishable food.  We always sit around the small coffee table in the gathering room to eat our meals together.

Our bedroom in the apartment

After eating breakfast, we usually head out on the 10 minute walk to the Kipepeo office to get ready for the first computer class.  Like Sam said before, the power goes out almost every day (we learned this happens even when it doesn’t rain).  So you just do your best to work around it.  Our motto here is “Be flexible!” because your activities can change from day to day and nothing ever starts on time (even the primary school graduation we were invited to started 2 hours late). 

Clinton (left), Julius (middle), and Sam in our main room (you see the candles because the power is out)

Usually the day is over somewhere around 5pm, but sometimes we end up hanging out at the office until almost dark, then head home to eat dinner.  Overall, we’ve already met some great people and made some great friends. Although most of our time is spent on computer class, Kipepeo has so many projects and goals for the future.  I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next two weeks!

(Written November 14th)