Lake Nakuru National Park and the Menengai Crater

After a busy month or so of work, Joy Kay and I decided to take a mini break and check out a couple of the cool places that are here in Kenya. We are lucky enough to have so many amazing things to see, and as a Kenyan resident we also get to see it for a really good price! Haha! We decided to visit Lake Nakuru National Park, which is one of Kenya’s most popular parks. It is well known for its bird viewing, and is the home of a very large population of flamingos, which migrate between the lakes in the area. This was my first time going on a game drive of any sort, so it was really fun to get to see the animals up close! (Sometimes you’ll see zebra or baboons on the side of the road during travel, not the same but still pretty cool!) The game drive was so relaxing, but it was a bit weird to be wearing the tourist hat. Anywho, here’s a few photos of sites at the lake! 

In front of the gate at the park!

Baboons just hanging out at the side of the road!

 Impala just relaxing. There is only one male for a whole pack of females.

Zebras play fighting, very entertaining to watch haha!

View of Lake Nakuru =)

 Myself at the lake overlook (rocking my SPH t shirt, thanks Laura!)

Rothschild Giraffe, you can't tell but there are no spots below the knees.

Awesome waterfall that sits at the edge of the park.

Lioness relaxing at the top of a tree. 

Water Buffalo staying cool in the mud.

Family of White Rhinos.

Mama and baby rhino! 

Flamingos!

In addition to the lake, we also visited and hiked a bit of the Menengai Crater, which is located in Nakuru as well.  It is an extinct shield volcano that is 2490 meters high and covers 90 square kilometers.  The crater is a place of pilgrimage for the religious, as well as a place where mystery and folklore are plentiful. The local Maasai tribe claims it is haunted by the 60,000 warriors who where killed there during a bloody civil war in the 1800s.

“Menengai" is a Maasai word that means "corpse", the crater cliff is said to be the site of an ancient Maasai battle during the 19th century, where people were thrown off the hill to their death. It is believed by the locals to be home to many demons and ghosts and is referred to by the Kikuyu of central Kenya as Kirima Kia Ngoma, "the mountain of devils". There are many unexplained mysteries associated in the crater, people have been found to be strayed and lost their ways, and some disappeared mysteriously. The crater has been active up till 1991, and in its last eruption also killed many people.

The views of the crater are beautiful, and it was a great experience! 

Sign at the top of the viewpoint! 

View of the Crater!

Just scaling a crater, no biggie haha!

 Hope all is well back home! Life here is great, love and miss you all! 

With Sunshine,

Lindsey Rae

Open Health Day at Chebukaka Dispensary

Last week, I was discussing upcoming events with my supervisor and she told me of the districts plan to hold an open health day at our dispensary on May 2nd. We are a private faith based facility and often times this causes it to go over looked and be under utilized. There is a stigma that the a person can only go if you are catholic, or that it will be far more expensive than the government facilities. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The dispensary is available to everyone in the community, and costs no more than the government clinics. Our dispensary actually is more convenient because it treats you and then you have a bill to pay. In the other facilities, when you are diagnosed if the doctor requires gloves, or syringes, or a medication, you are required to go out to the chemist (pharmacy that is not located in the hospital) and get it for them before they treat you. This can cause a lot of time wasted when people are extremely ill. So the district decided to hold a promotional day for our facility to mobilize people and inform them on the resources they have in their community.

            They day consisted of entertainment from a local drama troupe as well as the community health workers who both put on plays. There were also several speeches from local officials and my supervisor and myself. Doctors and nurses from other areas were brought in so that we could treat many different ailments, as well as screen for cervical cancer, prostate cancer, test for HIV, administer immunizations, and treat jiggers. It was a huge success with over 700 people in attendance, and gave me an opportunity to talk to the district level workers as well as the large NGO Afia plus. I was able to discuss the process of getting a community unit in my area. This would give my community health workers proper training. They are wonderful and do as much as they can, but with training I know that they could be even better, and the knowledge they would gain would be a sustainable way to continue good health education and practices.

 My CHW's putting on a drama that shows the importance of going a dispensary and being properly treated when you are pregnant.

 One of my community health workers treating a young girl for jiggers. I'm so proud of them and their motivation to help the community! 

 Just hanging out with the local kids, playing games and taking photos! They provide hours of entertainment =)

In Entertainment news, I finished up reading They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky, a book about the Lost Boys during the war in Sudan, and am now reading The Book Thief. I am obsessively watching Downton Abbey and have already made it to season three. I just can’t stop its so good! I hope everyone is well, and I miss you all! Send me updates when you can, I love to hear from you!  xoxo

With Love and Sunshine,

Lindsey Rae

World Malaria Day

Malaria is a disease that we in the United States are lucky enough not to have to worry about fighting off. However, across the globe it is one of the most deadly diseases. It is the leading cause of disease and death in Kenyan communities, especially in the under 5 population. In this cohort in Kenya about 34,000 deaths are recorded each year. During pregnancy if a woman contracts the parasite it can cause her baby to have low birth weight or even be still born. She is especially vulnerable because the parasite thrives in the placenta. It is a disease that is made worse by poverty, and unfortunately that is a main reason for its huge presence in the area of Kenya that I live in. 77% of Kenyans, about 28 million people, live in an area where the plasmodium flaciparum parasite is present. Throughout the country the disease accounts for 35% of outpatient visits to hospitals and clinics.

           

            This is why organizations such as Peace Corps, USAID, and PSI are putting huge efforts to effectively treat and prevent the disease and hopefully eradicate it. As a part of this effort, the organizations teamed up and Peace Corps Volunteers were provided with free t-shirts, messenger bags, and footballs (soccer balls) with malaria messages on them. We were able to hold events that promoted malaria prevention and awareness in honor of World Malaria Day, which is April 25.  

 Myself, Breezie and Joy held a day event on April 27^th to promote this education. We had a girl’s football match as well as a boy’s football match along with a small lunch and malaria awareness education. The event was held at a local secondary school in my area. We discussed malaria itself and what it is and how you get it, as well as the cost of malaria, whether prevention or treatment was cheaper, and how to properly use a bed net and how to repair it. The education was successful and the crowd was over 200 people, which was a great number! 

 The girls team I brought to participate in the event from Chebukaka Secondary School!

 The boys team I brought to the event from Teremi High School!

 Working with my CHW Fred to discuss the cost of malaria. Both preventative costs and treatment costs, and how prevention and proper bed net usage can save families thousands of shillings each year!

 Finishing off the event with a raffle of the items that were left over from USAID/PSI, as well as a couple of bed nets provided by the district!

            However, with ups come downs, and there were several frustrations that cropped up. Most of them revolved around the issue of free items. The t-shirts and bags we received from the organizations were a wonderful way to bring people into the event, however we were not provided a limitless amount. Instead we had enough to provide one for the students who participated in the event, as well a few for our health workers and some to raffle off at the end of the event. This was difficult because people often just came up to me saying, “Where is my shirt?”  or, “Why is there not one for me?” This was frustrating for me because it was often adults who I had previously discussed the event with. The shirts were for the students and that was not the main point of the day. This showed another instance of the donor syndrome that is so apparent in my area. I was disappointed because the people who were continuously asking were adults who knew better, not children. Having an event with “swag” like this was definitely a learning experience, and I believe that if I have the opportunity to do something similar I will organize it differently. The focus of these types of events is to have fun while learning about health topics that affect the people in the community, not about what can be given out for free.  I am glad to have done the day and educated the people in my area, and even though it was not my favorite day in Kenya, I can’t say I regret doing the event. With each new experience you learn about the people and the culture, as well as yourself and what you will deal with and what your values are. You have got to just keep moving forward, and that’s exactly what I did! =)

More next time- love and sunshine,

Lindsey Rae

Elewana Education Project

            I know it has been a bit since my last post, but a lot has been happening over here! April was busy with work. In the beginning of the month we had a small celebration for a friend’s birthday but then it was down to business. I spent the larger portion of the month of April working with an NGO called the Elewana Education Project. The project has scholarships for intelligent needy children, but also puts on camps for different cohorts during each of the breaks from school. This breaks camp was specifically for Form 3 and Form 4 (11^th and 12^th grade) boys. It was a leadership camp that focused on teaching the boys leadership, goal setting, like skills and health, math, English and computers. There were also sessions on careers and prep for the KCSE, which is the huge exam every Kenyan student must take before graduation. Myself, Joy, Breezie, Lori and another American (who is not in PC) named Natalie all helped to plan and coordinate the camp, as well as participated both as facilitators of several sessions and counselors to the boys. The camp was a great opportunity for all of us to be able to really take charge and be in control of what happened and what was taught. We planned a bunch of activities and tried to keep things as interactive as possible, because a lot of the teaching here is straight lecture and memorization during school. We had team building exercises in the beginning of the camp, one where we had them build a tower out of straws without speaking. This was a lesson in leadership and working together to a common goal while overcoming an obstacle. We also had them be blindfolded and have to lead one another across a field with “land mines” (aka flip flops and soccer balls) teaching them communication and trust.  We planned a scavenger hunt for the boys as well, which brought them to larger establishments in the area, and they collected clues as well as got information about the town and the needs and goals of the places they visited. They then brought back the clues and put together a “puzzle”. 

 

One of the Teams putting together their tower! 

Working together to get across the land mine areas while blindfolded! 

 The finished product of the scavenger hunt! Go team! 

 

Myself, Joy, Breezie, Lori and Natalie

Just us facilitators being silly!

             Throughout that week we also discussed goal setting and decision-making, and helped the boys learn to use the computers and type. Computers are not something a villager has access to regularly, so their skills are not as advanced. They wrote life stories, which gave them an opportunity to talk about their past and goals for the future as well as have something to type up for practice.

            We also brought the boys to a local monument, called the Kakapel Monument. There we took a short hike up to the top, as well as explored the caves and learned about the history. The monument has several cave drawings, which are about 2,500 years old. The site is located in Teso land (a small tribe), which is very near to the Ugandan border. The hike wasn’t too long, but the view from the top was beautiful and you could see the Ugandan hills in the distance, and far off into Kenya in the other direction.

  Made it to the top! hahaha

A view from the top of the monument! 

 Some of the boys and myself!

 The whole crew at the top!

            We also had a session on sexual assault because April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  There was a discussion on sexual assault and what it was, as well as discussed how they could prevent it. They created what are called flags of hope and on them each boy started with the phrase “I am creating an ideal world by…” after which they would list the ways they would do so. 

 Us and the boys with their Flags of Hope!

            And last but not least towards the end of the camp we discussed HIV/AIDS and STI’s. This was a very eye opening discussion because although we knew the boys were well educated, they still had some very false ideas about prevention and ways that HIV was transmitted. Many of them still believed that saliva and pus were fluids that contained the virus, which we were able to talk about and clear up, along with several other questions they had. The good thing about this session was that it was later in the week, after the boys had warmed to us as facilitators and they were not afraid to ask whatever questions they had. This is really important because the subject can be taboo in many areas, but because they trusted us and knew we were not judgmental they felt comfortable asking almost anything. After the discussion we had a little race game, where the boys broke up into teams and had a race to see what team could put a condom on a banana as quickly as possible while still doing it correctly. This includes everything from checking the expiration date and that there is an air bubble in the condom, down to remembering to tie it off before throwing it away in the latrine or dustbin. If they forgot a step it was back to the end of the line. This was really fun, except towards the end when the bananas started to get a bit squished haha! 

 Condom Races!

            I really enjoyed working at the camp, and it gave me great experience working with the youth population in Kenya. While I was there I also got some good news about one of my students at the primary school on my compound!  A while back there was a poster contest issued through PEPFAR that had students creating a poster using the theme “Working Together for an AIDS Free Generation”, specifically targeting the relationship between the United States and America. Well, out of the 75 entries in the country, my student was one of the finalists! Her name is Phidencia, and she is in standard 4 (4^th grade), and drew a poster of two eagles each colored in with a Kenyan or American flag, holding a ribbon between them. I am so proud of her, and whether or not she wins it was a great thing to be able to congratulate her for getting that far! 

Congrats Phidencia! Such a cutie!

            Although that’s not all that happened in April, I am going to start a new post because this one is a bit lengthy. I hope everyone is well, missing you as always!

Love and Sunshine xoxo

Lindsey Rae

Darien Book Aid Project!

Wow, first of all I can’t believe that it is already April. There are times I can’t believe how long I’ve been here, and other times when it seems like I just showed up yesterday. But anyways, I wanted to share a little bit about a project I did with the school on my compound.

When I first came to site, there were no children, no buildings, and no inkling of a school. However, due to one of the sister’s tireless work, a donation came in to begin the building of a brand new school on the compound, which will eventually encompass a full primary, have a library, resource center and administrative block. (Currently two of the classroom buildings are up, which is what there was money for.) Over the first few months of being here, a crew of men came in, took down trees, cleared land, and worked every day to have these two concrete structures built within a couple of months. The school, Our Lady of Chebukaka Primary School, was able to open for first term this past January. This was right after our in service training, where we had been given a manual full of places where we may be able to find small grants. I was perusing it one fine day in January and came across the Darien Book Aid Plan, Inc Grant. It was a simple process, and they have an easy application specifically for Peace Corps Volunteers. My fellow volunteer, Breezie, had done the same grant last year and encouraged me to do it. So I filled out the grant, emailed it in, and didn’t expect to hear much for several months. However, come mid-February I received an email that my storybooks had been shipped and to email when I received them! And luckily for me, and the kids at the school, it only took one month for the books to make it to me in rural Kenya! 

 A sampling of some of the books that I got in the mail for the school!!

I brought the books back to my compound from the post office, and couldn’t wait to present them to the kids! I decided to talk to the sister who is the head teacher of the school, and we set up a simple library system with the books, so that the children could sign them out for a week if they would like to take them home. Once all the books were recorded and stamped I gave them out to the kids! They were so excited to have all the new reading materials and the teachers were really grateful. The school is so new that there is little money to afford books, school supplies, desks, or even shutters on the windows. But now thanks to Darien Book Aid, my kiddos have a little something! So a big big thank you to them and all their hard work, Chebukaka really appreciates it! Small things like this bring joy and hope to the community, and I was happy to be a part of it! And it was so fun to give the children something that would help their education, and get to read and play with them. =) 

 This little one was so cute! I wasn't even trying to pose her, and she was just holding it up like this! And I remember reading this book as a kid! Might be a little bit too advanced English for her right now, but now there will be something for her to read in the future!

Trying to read with some of the kids after I gave out the books!

A picture of the whole school! Kids from nursery to class 4 and all the teachers! Big thank you to Darien Book Aid Plan!

Entertainment wise, I’ve been watching some Modern Family, and I finished reading Zeitoun. I haven’t started a new book, but I think I’ll be starting Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern soon.

Stay well, and I hope for all of you that celebrate Easter, that you had a wonderful and Happy Easter yesterday!

Love and Sunshine,

Lindsey Rae

Valuable Information

Just another day in the life of a health volunteer. I went to a Lori’s site last week to assist her with a small HIV workshop she set up at the technical institute next to her compound.  It went off really well, with over a third of the school in attendance! We had videos (in Kiswahili) about HIV and its pathology, slide shows and posters on STI’s and we were able to give out free condoms and family planning (birth control pills) to the students who were interested. We were also able to test almost thirty people, which was awesome! I was really glad to help out at the day and it made me realize a lot of the innate or easily accessible knowledge we as Americans have. I had brought over a huge amount of birth control pills that I had received from the district for my HIV day to give out to the college students. These students who were my age, or more often older than me, had no knowledge of what birth control was or how to use it. I gladly taught them individually or in small groups so that I was sure they had received the message, but it made me think about how common this knowledge is in America, and how easily you can access the information you need if you wanted it. Knowing to take one each day at the same time was a concept I had to repeat several times to the same group, and for most people at home this is something they hear about all the time. Here, the students have never had this type of information taught to them, or had media to get the information, such as television ads, or easy access to Internet. This was the case for the other topics as well that were taught that day, but because I was specially dealing with family planning, it became more apparent. This was something I’ve known since being here, but once you are really sitting down and teaching it, and knowing the information you are providing is really valuable, that’s when it starts to sink in. I guess it’s just something I wanted to put out there, be grateful for the knowledge and opportunities we are given, whether you utilize them all or not, the access to such information is not available everywhere.

And it is not just the information revolving around family planning and HIV, but so many other topics can fall under this unfortunate umbrella, in many areas besides Kenya. Being the teacher, and not the coordinator of the event really put me at the level to appreciate what was being done, and seeing the students understand what I was telling them was really a rewarding experience. I’m excited to help out again with Lori at this school because she has planned a school-wide event there in May that will hopefully capture all the students. 

This is a picture of Lori and the students, as well as Mama Margaret in the front in her scrubs. I'm taking the picture, because all the other ones were coming out blurry haha =P

As for me for now I am still working with my health clubs, doing lessons most recently on STI’s and this week on drug abuse. I am also still working on my event for World Malaria Day.

I still miss you all and hope everyone is well!

I am currently reading Zeitoun by Dave Eggers and have not really delved into any particular show right now!

With love and African sunshine,

Lindsey Rae

Consolidation and More

March 17, 2013

It’s the middle of March and I finally find myself back at site after a long but very fun consolidation period. As you may or may not have known the Kenyan presidential elections were held on March 4^th. Due to the post election violence that occurred during the last election period in 2007-08, Peace Corps brought all the volunteers together in a safe location in case anything were to happen this time around. Fortunately the elections were a peaceful process, and although there were some delays in counting, violence was minimal and not significant enough to send us home. For the volunteers this consolidation period, although racked with uncertainty till the end, was also a great time for us to get to know everyone from all sectors and training classes. We were able to all come together in a way that is not common for most Peace Corps volunteers. We had sessions with Peace Corps, but also were able to plan activities for ourselves, such as an Olympics, trivia night, talent show, and Peace Corps Kenya prom! In fact during the talent show my friend and lovely roommate Cassidy took second place for our rendition of the Cups song from the movie Pitch Perfect, which I hear is a big hit in the states right now haha! All in all it was an awesome couple of weeks, where we got to know the other volunteers better, the staff better (and let me plug here we have an AMAZING country director), as well as remained safe from an uncertain issues during the election process.

Now I am back at site, and although it has taken a couple days to get back into the swing of things I have started a list of what I want to do next and am planning activities both for work and play. I am looking into writing a grant to get funds to do an outreach for jiggers as well as having another HIV/AIDS day. World Malaria Day is also coming up at the end of April and myself along with Breezie, Joy and Lori are looking into doing an activity for that.  I am excited for things to come and hope that everything goes smoothly work wise, but I am keeping my expectations low, as you should when you live in rural Africa!

Unfortunately the elections are technically not over, because of a judicial process going on regarding a petition that on of the candidates has put in place, asking for a review of the process and a potential recount or revote. The courts will be hearing the case in about 9 days and then we will see where the process will go from there. I hope and believe that whatever the outcome the Kenyan people will remain peaceful. Afterwards, hopefully this issue can be put to rest for the remainder of my service. I have really come to love my home here in the village, and will no doubt be saddened if I am unable to remain here.

On a happier note, Happy St. Patty’s day to all back at home! I wish I were there to share a green beer or two with you =). Also, some shoutouts are in order. To my littlest sister who’s birthday is in three days, Happy 18^th!  Don’t go too crazy, which goes for Rach too, who will finally be 21 on April 6^th! And of course Happiest of birthdays to my amazing grandmother on the 21^st of March, and cousin Brooke who happens to share the same awesome birthday date with my sister Rach! And last but not least sending a big “Break a leg!” to those in the production of Hello Dolly! who I know (which is really just my sister and her friends haha.) I know it’ll be amazing, and I can not tell you how sad I am that I can’t see it in person! Honestly, ask my mother, I was renting the film version (with the amazing Barbara in it) since I was about seven years old from the library.

TV fix: Consolidation gave me new episodes of Glee, Homeland, and New Girl. No worries, they’re all completed now, but I wish I had more!

Reading: Just finished reading The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason. And by just finished I mean actually two hours ago. Thinking of reading Night Circus next, but the choices of a nook can be overwhelming!

For now all is good in Chebukaka, Kenya. I hope the same for you all wherever you are. As always, missing you all, and sending you sunshine and love from Africa.

Xoxo

Lindsey Rae

P.S. Snail mail is always welcome! And I’m sorry if you’ve sent something and I haven’t responded yet, with the whole consolidation thing it was a bit hectic here. I promise to get back on track! <3