africa; the arrival.
I don’t even know where to start! so much has happened already and it feels like I’ve been here 6 weeks, not just 6 days. during the lead up to me leaving germany and coming to kenya, I was a nervous wreck. even though it was mostly ‘excited nerves’, there was definitely a small percentage of me that was shit scared. I’m pretty sure it was because I spent a bit of time with someone who reminded me of home, which then reminded me of how long I’ll be gone for, which made me question myself more than a million times about what the bloody hell I was doing. but regardless, I got on the plane to doha and then I got on my plane to nairobi. and here I am!
when my plane landed at nairobi jomo kenyatta airport, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I had finally made it, so much planning and money spent, and I was finally in the land where david attenborough makes documentaries about lions and about the harsh deserts, the land where the lion king was based on, the land where poverty is so prevalent, the land that no one seems to travel to. and here I am.
considering my flight arrived at 7:30am and I hadn’t slept on either of the flights, I was basically a walking zombie. I also didn’t pay attention to the instructions about how to get the kenyan visa.. it costs $50us, but no one specified cash (or if they did, I missed that part) so I had my card all ready to go when the woman tells me she only accepts cash. so I go off in search of an atm back near the gate I came from, get out 10,000 kenyan shillings (approx. $130au) and go back to pay her the equivalent. but of course, she doesn’t have change, so I fork out 5000ksh for my three month visa, and I’ll have to reapply for another one for the next 3 months. classic case of not reading the fine print.
someone from the volunteer organisation (I booked through IVHQ but networks for volunteer services (NVS) is who I work for once in kenya) came to pick me up. I met three other volunteers in the van, one from sydney and two from america, and we were taken to the place where we’d spend the night before orientation the following day, in the same building. gradually as the day unfolded, more volunteers showed up, with the majority being americans & canadians. I was pretty surprised but once I realised this was their summer break, it made sense. in the group of volunteers on that first day, there were americans, canadians, one japanese guy, one from new zealand, one other aussie and me.
mikki (usa), tegan (aus ) and me with my awkward grimace smile
I was rather overwhelmed by the sheer number of american accents in one room, if there’s ever been an accent which annoys me more (usually only when I’m travelling) it’s that one! but after spending a week with my “new family” of canadian & american volunteers, I hardly notice it now.. except when we talk about ‘tomaytoes’
orientation was my first experience of ‘africa time’. if you’ve never heard of it, basically africans (in my experience, kenyans) don’t wear watches so you might be told orientation starts at 9am however it’s nearly 10am and it still hasn’t properly started. I’m positive this won’t be the only time I mention african time, I’m slowly starting to wrap my head around it, but it still gives me the shits!
I found out at orientation that contrary to what I thought I’d booked, I wasn’t going to maasai land for my first 2 months, but I was going to a family planning centre in thika, (in good traffic its about 45mins north west of nairobi, in bad traffic it might take 90mins). definitely have to be open to change when you’re a volunteer, considering they send you where they think you’re needed most. I also found out I am one of only two medical volunteers, and I’m the only qualified one – the other is a 2nd year med student from the uk. of the 99 volunteers who started on july 1, I’d say the majority are doing the orphanage program or teaching program.
the 99 volunteers, the biggest intake ever
later on in orientation, I was approached by a guy called marcus gregar-rive who, four years ago, came to kenya to volunteer and then set up a program for kids in a slum (called kitendo children’s charity (kcc) slum project) to be able to go to school. he asked me if I would like to be a part of a huge medical camp that kcc slum are running on august 17 in conjunction with kijabe hospital, to which I replied a probably far too ecstatic ‘yes, I’d love to’! after hearing about how another volunteer has managed to set up her own medical camps, I’m feeling pretty inspired on how to use the money that was so generously donated to me before I left. but that’s a long way down the track, with a lot of planning! past medical camps have run for either 1-2 days and service anywhere up to 1500 people with health services they otherwise can’t afford or get to.
so after orienting, you’re supposed to head to your host family before starting work the next day. however my group were still waiting on two more volunteers to arrive, so instead we stayed in nairobi on monday night at pastor regina’s house. it was jam packed full of volunteers, including an incredible mum, molly, from america with her 12 and 13 year old daughters. if that’s not a family holiday that actually means something, I don’t know what is. anyway, as we’re pulling our van into the gated area, about 20 kids are playing with ropes for skipping and rocks.
you often find small clusters of houses who share one common gate then have separate gates to their houses… makes you feel very secure. I’m climbing out of the car and the kids see my ukulele, start making strumming noises and ask me to play. quickly drop my bags inside and go back out with my newly tuned uke, and it was so much fun. initially I was playing and singing a few songs, namely somewhere over the rainbow, and then gradually as it got more exciting, they started taking over the playing and the singing (and the tuning!). it was absolute proof that something as simple as a musical instrument can bring such joy into people’s lives; the latest electronic play things are so unnecessary. it was pretty special to be part of the reason why the kids were smiling so much.
beautiful, happy, dancing kids loving my ukulele
this huge post is literally my first 2 days in kenya, and it’s not even scratching the surface!
travelling alone 