Just quickly.. the workshop is really going tremendously. We did a Bev Bos style activities session yesterday and people seemed to like it. They were creating some fairly ornate collages, although Silas came up to me and said "now Bea, this isn't really a collage you know, it's a mosiac." Oh. Alright then.

Leading workshops is exhausting. There are 3 - 2 hour sessions, and 1 - 1 hour session per day. I typically lead 2 of the 2 hour ones and the one hour one and someone else does one of the longer sessions. The feedback leads me to believe people are actually getting it. We'll see when we do district follow up. I am so excited for the work to come.

Last night the hotel put on a barbeque and dance show, followed up by myself, the other facilitators and the participants busting out some moves on the floor. I have never danced so much in my life. But last night's activities were much better than what had previously been offered up!

Wednesday night the hotel gave us this mingle guy named David to do team building.. it was all fairly ridiculous. Tanya and I were laughing very hard and just how silly the activities were. Good old fashioned fun. It ended in tug of war and I have to say Kenyan women are just so cool. Cool without even trying. The ones on this workshop are fairly fabulous, beautiful and dynamic individuals. I have had the pleasure of some really interesting conversation with them about male/female relationships, marriage, the lot. What a different set of expectations we have. More on this later.

We are doing case study presentations today and then I am headed into Nairobi with Claire, Mike, Tanya and Sarah to listen to music at Alliance Francaise. Oh and probably.. you guessed it.. DANCING! Hooray. I leave for Kisumu with all the western district participants at 9am so it won't be such a big night. I think when I get to London next week I am going to need to sleep for days!

i have been so remiss with blogging.. i know. I haven't had two brain cells to rub together. this week is the national speech and language training and it's going exceptionally well if I may say so myself. It's a great and dedicated group from 20 districts far and wide. so much to say.. and i will.. soon.

last week i was in nairobi, ostensibly at in country training but really on the photocopier at VSO making a plethora of handouts by day, dancing my arse off with all and sundry by night. more about that too. i love that you can leave a bar at 5:30 am and the place is still pumping.

the next entry may be as long as my arm. b

Hello. I have been ridiculously busy and distracted by work and house guests so haven't had the opportunity to do much of anything. Also for a good hour or so Monday I was completely convinced I had malaria.. which was a terrible thought, not least of all because i have much to much to do to be ill.

I don't know if I was in recovery from the weekend (but honestly with all my dancing I really didn't drink that much!) but Monday I was all over body aches and fatigue, culminating in me hopping off my boda-boda enroute to puke in the gutter. Nice. Nothing like public vomiting to draw a crowd.

Anyway, I am in Nairobi and attending in-country training with half a brain. The other half is doing preparation for next week's national training. I have so many things to do, that my wants and needs are in conflict damn it. Must fly. But I have been racking up some good stories for when I have half a minute to put them all down. Ha. love. b

p.s. I swear I lost a post. I really, really believed that I wrote all about my MARVELLOUS weekend of dancing with Argentinian men, but apparently not. So, suffice it to say I spent literally hours on the dance floor Friday and Saturday night. Hours. Kenyans (and Argentinians apparently) have a penchant for dancing and so I am developing my dancing skills (whilest sober!)as a new personal concept. It was so damn hot Saturday night and there was so much dancing that people were literally glistening. I might never have been so hot in my life, but it was immense fun. I am hoping for a repeat.. though Nairobi night life doesn't have the same laid back element as Kisumu.

Hello.. I have been receiving ALL SORTS of mail lately and I just want to say a big big thank you. It is so wonderful to get letters and packages. The kids are loving the stickers, cars and finger puppets. And books -especially novels!- by the way rock! If you have any trashy Anita Shreve, Jodie Pichoult or other ridiculous chick lit. sitting read on your shelf please consider sending them to me (surface mail's fine.. I have time!!) This is my genre of choice currently (after slogging through two education/disability reads). I am presently devouring "The Cotton Queen" by Pamela Morsi. Reminds me of "Ya-Ya Sisterhood", but not as many interesting characters. I am such a girl these days. I think my brain can only take so many serious thoughts.

So. This morning I was amazingly productive. Wrote a massive section of my training on speech disorders and was very self congradualatory about how much stuff i could remember from grad school days! Ha. And then started thinking about John Lybolt falling asleep during his stuttering client and was laughing out loud.

Alright. Back to my computer. We are spending a lot of time together. I think I have carpal tunnel in my shoulder. Is it possible? But I've also started doing push up so I might be doing them wrong? Must fly like a bird. b

March 14, 2007

Today was one of those great days when I was so happy just to be. I was in Mumias. I went to a community based rehab group. And I had skumawiki (shredded greens sautéed with a little onion and tomato) and chapattis for lunch.

Mumias looks exactly the way I anticipated my life in Africa to look. Mumias is Kenya’s sugar growing capital and home to a large rather nice hospital that I have previously mentioned. The Dutch girls live in a house on a hospital compound which could have featured in my memory. Soetinah is a last year medical student, her two room mates nurses. It’s lovely to be up there. The tropical foliage clusters around the buildings and the gardens and fields intermingle. The main street is more or less two parallel rows of businesses dominated by the bustling matatu stage. Last night I joined the girls for a delicious dinner and a discussion of books and a possible trip to Lamu before retiring to St Mary’s guesthouse.

I met Martin (Mumias’ occupational therapist/OT) at the EARC at 9 this morning and he had scheduled a couple of patients for me. One who may be a late talker but more likely has some significant oral motor issues according to his mother’s accounts of meal times. The other.. I think he has cranial nerve damage. I don’t know what else to think. I have to do some research. His tongue is as good as dysfunctional. Absolutely no range of motion, barely any protrusion. It is, as the saying goes in my family, as limp as “a wet slug.” He swallows by tilting his head all the way back. People are amazing.

Anyway, after consultations, Martin and I took the motor bike and headed out to the community. Francis (Vihiga’s OT) also joined us, as we are hoping to roll out this model of service provision in their district too. Once again it was a beautiful day and a cluster of mothers attended with their little ones. Both the OT’s got to work on sensory integration activities, muscle work (range of motion I’d guess) and teaching parents how to interact with their children. I tried for joint attention, back and forth vocalizing and general language stimulation. You show up to things once around here and your presence is appreciated. You show up twice and people treat you like you mean business. It’s only a slight shift in attitude but it’s noticeable. It made me think that these groups get a lot of one time visitors. Mumias is running a very successful program so I imagine VSO sends people out to look all the time.

Anyway, there was a new baby (Jamila) since last time. She was 5 though!! I kid you not she was tiny. I was thinking months old. Her motor skills, head control, balance, that kind of thing was more advanced than an infant but the child was as small as a doll. Both OT’s to their credit were spending a lot of time talking about nutrition today.

After the therapy when all the babes promptly fell asleep we spent some time under the trees talking about speech and communication. They asked questions and I tried to give clear simple answers. The grand finale .. “so in your country (what is my country I wonder?).. so in your country, do eggs stop children talking?”

I am back in Kisumu and the rest of my week is in upheaval. Vihiga didn’t schedule the teacher meeting tomorrow from the sounds of things. “Which teachers?” Super. But it gives me much needed time to continue prepping for this five day circus.

I’m making Claire and I spicy eggplant stir fry tonight. Lovely jubbely. b

I am not blogging becuase I have been working on my speech and language training which is driving me CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!! Really. The more I work on it the more work it needs. That was my weekend. And some dancing. The dancing was a release for all the typing. It turns out if I buy my tuk tuk driver beer he will stay out later and drive me home. Now I know it is questionable to buy your designated driver booze but he only had two and he actually called to check I made it into my house safely which was a very respectable thing to do.

But.. the whole poverty question. When I get five minutes.. expect an eloquent response. I have done a little research actually after a discussion with Robin Friday night.. but i need time.

I am waiting for Claire to arrive. She is staying wqith me this week. Tomorrow I go to Mumias until Thursday and Friday.. I am thinking to throw a little dinner party. I just might have 5 willing attendees. Don't actually have six forks, plates, or glasses but that can be remedied.

So.. Today a wonderful thing happened. I was at the market looking for mint (making Moroccan Vegetables and Cous Cous for dinner) and this boy says "I know what you want". And he brings me rosemary. Now it wasn't mint but I was suddenly and unexpectedly filed with joy at the fragrance of this fresh bunch of herbs. Really. I just stood there smelling it and it was wonderful.

Must fly. Soon. b xx

March 8, 2007

Community outreach day. I am mentally drained. I can be so impatient at times and today.. yep.. it was in short supply.

Held a baby which was lovely. Sadly she had leprosy and it had caused the loss of a foot and toes and fingers (not thumbs though- hurrah! they are just so useful). She also had this pink bubbly scar (?) on her face.. a growth? birth marks? i don't know but it also appeared to be blocking her ear canals. I hope something can be done about that so that she has a chance of hearing. She was so smiley and gurgley and happy just like a 5 month old should be. Why aren't i something useful like a physio or a doctor?

oh and something I think I was wrong about. when i talk of poverty in Kenya.. to clarify.. rural poverty appears much better than in other countries I have visited. Urban poverty. Same stinking hovel.

March 7, 2007

I haven’t written lately. It was intentional. I was questioning the whole blog thing. I was considering what my detractors have said in the past and wondering if it wasn’t perhaps true. And more broadly wondering does anyone really need to hear another affluent white chicks perspective on anything let alone Kenya? But then.. I recalled why I started doing this in the first place.. so mum knew what I was doing and that I was still alive and I realized it was all silliness and I would just shut the hell up, stop thinking so much and write about what I am doing when I feel like it and not when I don’t. End of story.

But in tandem with the above concerns was an issue related to my written ‘voice.’ It actually occurred to me that I never write about serious issues or things too very close to my heart and so that perhaps it was all a pile of nonsense. But Elizabeth Evans (thank you honey) set me straight with a very sensible email. I have really been getting some sound advice from people here, there and everywhere lately. Lovely. What great friends I have. I am such a lucky girl.

Having said all that about the actual process of writing something, anything.. apart from literally driving myself crazy I haven’t done much this week. Met with some VSO person who was in town for a horse and pony show (is that the expression?), stopped by the hospital for the cranio-facial clinic and scheduled some days to see patients there, and today was a typically busy assessment day at the EARC. Other than that I have been working on my 5 day workshop which is progressing very slowly indeed. I have scrapped most of Katherine Storey’s (Past speechie) material and am writing it afresh. The best thing about the participatory approach to presenting is.. the audience provides most of the content. You set the stage for them to process and expand upon their current knowledge and practice new information that comes from inside their lovely souls. It’s fantastic. The handout is a bunch of space for them to write their ideas, and they spend their time getting into groups and generating definitions and role playing. Ha. I’m also getting them to create activities so that we can think beyond this rote learning call and response business.

So what else.. Sunday night I read a book cover to cover. It might have been a crappy novel I stole from the guest house in Ireland last year, but nonetheless it was a treat. I camped out on my sofa and read til I will done.

Yesterday Brian came over for Scrabble and I made a red lentil curry. We discussed issues in education and whose problem is it anyway? So.. that’s it. Nothing exciting on the horizon either. I had anticipated a spectacular dinner and shopped at the market so that I would have vegetables for a really really good fried rice. By the time I got home I had decided I was content with buttered noodles, then the electricity went out (after I had spent an hour boiling water for the filter and making mint tea mind you) right when the pasta was meant to go in, so muesli it is.

Alright back to my training.. Soon. Maybe. B xx

Oh.. and because everyone keeps asking.. on boys..

Brian is my neighbor. We have a standing Scrabble date. No romantic inclinations but a very good person to have as a buddy. All the Kenyans think he’s Somalian.. No Sudanese.. and they stare at him (I suspect the experience of black American volunteer is its own unique experience). We share transportation to and from the city at night.. which is good because apparently Kondele is not immune to the odd car jackings after midnight and neither of us can avoid the area to get home. This is also why I am never out late. So never meet any other boys.

Kenyans.. now.. I bitched an awful lot about the lack of domestic abilities in many American boys. I’d consider a local relationship if I could find one who would even conceptualize a romantic arrangement that included cooking and cleaning. As an aside my coworkers brokering for me inform people that my bride price is a rhinoceros (rather than a cow J). “Because it’s impossible” they say. Right. At a bar one night, a man was trying to pick up my German companion and told us this story (I like a good story) which I’ll abbreviate: “In Kenya when a father doesn’t like her daughter’s suitor he tells them the bride price is a live crocodile. Can you guess why? Because they are worth a lot of money and the man will either succeed and the father will be rich or the man will get eaten and the marital problem will be taken care of. Win-win for the father”. The guys’s line was..obviously.. I would capture a live crocodile for you... The girl was unimpressed. But then she didn’t prefer testosterone. I gave him points for the set up and amusement value.

Jason (of Swaziland fame) is around and is threatening to visit Kisumu. He is in Nairobi these days working at some organization and embroiled in a Kenyan romance of tumultuous proportions. We are intermittently in touch.. though I should pay attention.. if I ever write a book perhaps I would use his current relationship as the event.. the thing all things build to.

So that’s it. Of course if there was anything good and juicy I wouldn’t say.. but I would avoid the topic of men altogether. I leave lying in public forums for politicians. Evasiveness however is fair game.

Sunday March 4, 2007

I have been the queen of the computer this weekend and there is an arse shaped dent in the sofa to prove it. But I have gotten so much done it is worth celebrating. Today I will go to the pool just for a change of scenery. Also the Dutch girls are staying at Nyanza club where I swim. But that’s it with me.. nothing exciting.. I go to bed early and get up early.

Actually Jamie, I went to bed last night and in the net with me was a meditation book, my current read, two travel guides, head lamp, phone and a bottle of water. It reminded me of Veronica and how children always have beds full of toys. I now sleep amidst my reading. Lovely.

I do want to say. The roaches are gone. I embarked on chemical warfare last Sunday. They were living in my water filter box behind the shopping bags in the bottom of my cabinet. I stomped, Doomed, crushed, obliterated. It was gruesome. The cabinet is cleared and this morning there were no tell tale holes in the bread bag. Hurrah. I am the victor. Until my month away I suspect. I’ve never had such a living breathing scuttling residence.

Friday March 2, 2007

Well it’s been a tumultuous week, but I love love Fridays in this life of mine. Typically they are unscheduled or we have a staff meeting so I have taken to putting any speech therapy clients into the morning and then I take the afternoon at a leisurely pace. I woke at 6:30 and lay in bed dreaming hazily until a more respectable hour. I cannot get up in the mornings. It is so very hard to get out of bed. Anyway, I actually did a few creaky salutes to the sun and headed to work in my red dress. “You look like a Valentine” says Silas and cracks up.

So I thought to write about yesterday because it was such a wonderful day. I would have done it earlier but I have a grand distraction: an instant messenger pal who being in the same time zone is always on gmail when I am. I have been considerably less productive this week. As a direct consequence I also spend a good deal of time looking up words on dictionary.com (e.g. sinecure) but I digress..

Yesterday we headed out to do a “disability sensitization” in Maseno-Karateng. It had been raining so it was a completely muddy trek to the homestead where we met. Apparently we were early (the program didn’t in fact start until 3 hours after we arrived). Silas says he didn’t want to tell me to meet at 10am because I would have thought he was lazy. I pointed out I would have celebrated a lie in. There was an excuse for the delay - people have to come from their shambas. Apparently they start planting next week and it’s getting into busy season. But finally we kicked off, some prayers, very formal introductions, some words of appreciation. It was all lovely. They sung my praises.. about how good I am for moral and motivation and all the rest of it. Beauty that lights up the night, wouldn’t you know. Oh and I have a nice structure??????? Anyway, it was a fairly successful workshop. I did nothing useful but Silas had it covered. He could have been spouting nonsense but he quit translating so I wouldn’t know. We tried to sneak away by 2 but were captured, tied up and huge quantities of food were funneled into us. Actually though I was actively trying to avoid lunch, I was starving and as luck would have it, it was delicious. Piles of chapattis.. my very favorite, rice, and a shredded cabbage vegetable dish. Carb overload. I was then given a massive bag of avocados. Did I mention how little I actually did? If you look at the photos you will actually see me in the back reading my book. Anyway, everyone was so nice and I really was very nearly overwhelmed with the kindness and hospitality. Lillian the hostess is one of those truly beautiful people who looks like someone who has been caring all her life. Looks like someone you would want to know. Her home is also lovely (it’s all relative) and apparently it is all of her own doing. She is a single mother with four boys and a girl. The house is filled with drawings done by one of her children, and pictures of weight lifters. I loved the gym. I wonder how he makes sure his weights are balanced?? Did I upload that picture? If not I will.

Today I saw my stroke lady who is so sweet, a young man who stutters who is also a pleasure to work with and a small cutie boy who is low tone, and wasn’t playing with me if he could help it. I’ll see him next week in his community. I can’t believe they all showed up. Fabulous.

So I am here in my pj’s but Brian should be swinging by with his tuk-tuk guy to pick me up at 7:45. We are meeting some Dutch girls at Kengeles and then going for an amazing Indian feast at Simba club. I am not going to eat so much so we can go dancing at Mon Ami because I have been here 7 weeks and not made it there once. It’s nice that Brian lives nearby, it makes me feel much better about commuting too and from town.

So my weekend unfolds. I bought a new frying pan to make better pancakes tomorrow. I also have a banana so I am thinking I’ll have pikelets mid morning. I have so much work to do on my computer I should be on house arrest.