Visiting Peace Corps Volunteers

It's been a little while since I've updated you with things, so I figured I'd send an email out to let you know how things are progressing. 

My work at the Centre has been very interchangeable between very slow, and very fast! There was a period of time where I wasn't doing much during a given day, mostly just sitting around and reading. During this time, I kind of felt that I was in a slump, a little bit home sick, a bit depressed about people leaving in the future, and a bit frustrated with the work I've been doing. A lot of the frustration in general has come from the lack of ownership amongst the youth with their CBO projects. They all know that they are in charge of their specific project, but don't seem to own up to the various responsibilities associated with them. It can be very challenging to have to explain simple responsibilities that we often take for granted in America.

Within the past week and a half, my work has gotten very busy, and I'm now at the point where I am backlogged with work, which actually feels refreshing for a change! This past week, the Department of Probation brought five new doe rabbits to the Centre, all of which have been bred and are due in the near future. There are two does who are due in the next day or so, so last week, one of the CBO youth and I went to the lumber yard to purchase some timbers to build nesting boxes. He doesn't have a lot of carpentry skills, so I offered to build the boxes for him, so that they would be sturdy, durable, and in the shape of a box. We purchased 75 board feet of 6x1 timbers. When we got back to the Centre, I quickly got to work, but was set back in my project for a few reasons: many of the timbers were 6" wide on one side, and 7" wide on the other, so I had to rip the boards in order to measure properly (The joys of working in a developing country.) I went to the teacher of the carpentry workshop to ask to use power tools to cut and rip the boards, but he told me that the power saws were all in disrepair, meaning I would have to create the boxes with manual labor (the joys of working in a developing country!) It took me about 1.5 hours to make each box, a total of three boxes, but I really felt accomplished once I had finished making them. It certainly is the small accomplishments that you celebrate here!

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit some Peace Corps Volunteers about an hour north of where I am staying, which is located right along the equator. Visiting them was a real opportunity for me, as I have been seriously contemplating applying to the Peace Corps when I return to America. Overall in the visit, I felt that it was more of a reinforcement that I actually want to join, rather than it being a make-or-break decision. There are three volunteers in that area, and spoke quite extensively about what it's like to be a volunteer, and the successes and challenges of working on their projects. Throughout the conversation, I realized that we shared many of the same beliefs and points about the work we are doing in Kenya. The volunteers told me that with my Spanish-speaking background, I should really focus on applying to Latin America, because I will be more competitive in applying for that area. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet and stay with the volunteers for a weekend. 

Overall, I think everything is going well here, and it has already been a wonderful learning experience. There are so many invaluable lessons I've learned that are just indescribable unless you come to experience it yourself. I look forward to the rest of my time here, especially at the end of July, when I'll be heading out west to the Masai Mara to go on safari! I met a gentleman in Amsterdam who does balloon safaris, and told me to contact him when I'm out there; hopefully I can get in touch and have the opportunity to see the Great Migration from the air.

I want you all to know that we are very safe here in the Central province of Kenya. There have been recent embassy warnings from Nairobi about "imminent" attacks in the Eastern coast town of Mombasa. We are 10 hours away from there, and I get many updates via the State Department about the situation going on. Safe and sound here!