Working

By request, I'll give you some actual details as to what it is I'm doing in Kenya. I'm working with Lewa's community development arm. What follows is my understanding of how things work, but I'm only in week four, so forgive any misconceptions I still have.

Lewa's approach to wildlife conservation includes assisting neighbouring communities to both facilitate change in those communities as well as educating community members about wildlife conservation. Some other conservancies/parks/reserves, such as the nationally-run ones, do not have a strong community program and there is some animosity between communities and the government agency that runs the parks. If land is in short supply, particularly prime grazing land, communities may become understandably upset if it goes to protect animals rather than the people. Protected animals (there are some really big ones here, of course) can also destroy crops in neighbouring communities, thus affecting community food supply. Lewa's approach is to involve communities in wildlife protection by providing expertise and funding in various areas to communities. They work in several areas: 1) Water development (e.g., building gravity-fed water distribution systems for farms and homes); 2) Education; 3) Health care; 4)Agricultural development/education; 5) Infrastrucutre (e.g., roads); 6) Women's development (often through microcredit); and 7) Environmental conservation (e.g., game drives for students and forest development).

My role here is less actively involved in actual community outreach than I'd expected, but still quite interesting. I've been asked to write a newsletter and make a DVD of the community program's work over the last ten years. This requires going into communities and interviewing community members in various positions about their experience of the Lewa program and to inform the program of any issues that have yet to be addressed. Though it's mostly summarizing Lewa's involvement, there's a simple evaluative component as well. While making a video is not something I'm familiar with (beyond childhood videos with vacuum-cleaner robots), the interviewing is in my comfort zone and is proving to be very interesting. I've only done two days of interviewing thus far (just found out exactly what I'll be doing last week), but I've had some great conversations in that time and gotten a much better sense of the needs of surrounding communities, as well as learned much more about the Kenyan people. Everyone I've spoken with has been incredibly welcoming, even if my interviewing has eaten into the time they need to complete their work, which it almost always does.

This post is surprisingly detailed. Maybe other people are on to something with this explanation thing.

Processing

Yesterday was our three weekiversary so it's probably time that I write a real blog. This kind of writing isn't really my thing, hence the lateness in doing it, but neither is being that white guy who gets chuckles rather than responses when he asks questions in Swahili, so I'll think of this as character building.

There are a few things have been very easy to adjust to and others that have been quite a bit harder. First off, we aren't exactly roughing it in terms of our living situation. Yes, we live in tents that we share with a roommate and we can see the stars at night, but that's where the roughing it ends. We have flush toilets and hot showers, cell phone access everywhere and internet access close by. We have two women, Frieda and Carol, who cook, clean and do our laundry. They have an incredible ability to tolerate us and I feel very fortunate to have them around. They tend to make us food we're used to (e.g., pizza, pasta) so the adjustment food-wise hasn't been a big one. I can say, though, that having women who cook and clean for us was a big adjustment. Having someone do my laundry isn't something that happens very often. It felt very colonial at the beginning and I was uncomfortable with it. Now, I think it's (mostly) awesome that someone does my laundry. I don't know what that means yet. I think in some ways I'm now more unsettled by the fact that I like it than anything else.

I thought I'd have a harder time being away from the big city than I have. For many of the weekdays, I go to work, play a bit of soccer or rugby, play some cards, talk and go to bed. It feels very much like my cottage, except with man-eating and man-trampling animals. It's also been much longer than my usual week-at-a-time cottage visits, but I'm still loving being outdoors. The days on which I sit in the office, like today, are the ones where I feel the most restless and unsettled. This is a good experiment for me. Though I love the city, there's something about being in nature (with or without a cook) that I need and that I don't get when I spend almost all my time in the city. I miss the peace of the stars under those artificial lights.

An aspect of this placement that has been really good for me is being around people 24/7. I've never had a roommate before, save for Amanda, my girlfriend, so the idea of not having personal space or time worried me. In Toronto, I spend a lot of time by myself doing school work, by myself procrastinating and not doing school work and reading, and though I've known for quite a while that I need to be around people, I get sucked into the anxiety and pressure I associate with my school. Being around so many good people all the time (all the time!) has been terrific. I'm happy to say I've only read 7 pages of a book while being here and those 7 had to be done on two separate occasions. I know I've swung to the opposite pole and at some point will miss that solitary time, this has punctuated the need for me to find a better balance in spending time with the people I care about back home. I've known that for a while, but this experience has let me see what the other side feels like and I'm thankful for it.

This is what happens when you don't write blogs frequently. I'm also not one to summarize events, so you'll need to send me an email if you want something specific. I'm not particularly good with details, but perhaps that's why I'm in psychology (zing!). I started by writing about events, traffic, etc., but strayed and deleted along the way. I think I found the more important things to say. For me at least.

Navigating

So I've finally made it to Africa. I've been talking about and dreaming of coming here for a long time. It turns out it's actually happened.

I'm not sure how I can sum up the last week and a half that I've spent here at Lewa. I've been on a game drive, run beside giraffes and zebras, visited some of the schools and clinics in the area, encountered monkey invaders, tried not to pee myself when hearing some of the animals at night (look up the sounds impalas and tree hyraxes make for the most incongruous combination of looks and noise), been to town, met some great people, been disconcertingly active, enjoyed a number of Tuskers, learned some Swahili and done many other things, yet none of those things can convey what this experience is like. Doing justice for whatever this is isn't possible yet, so I'll simply say that I feel very comfortable here (enormous animals aside). The people are terrific (the Canadians and the Kenyans), the work is engaging and I'm excited to be here for another two and a half months. Periods of homesickness aside, this is and is going to be one of the best experiences of my life.

None of what's above says what I want it to, but I've still got a bit of time here, so maybe I'll be able to find the words for you some time before I leave.

Random pictures:

This is the camp where the six of us are living. Can you pick which tent is mine?

I'll give you a hint: it's the cool one.

Townspeople in a nearby community

A shot of me at the end of a game drive overlooking Lewa (I'm the one in the hat).

That view just keeps going (thanks to Sean for snapping the picture and sending it along)

Three days...

I've been dreaming of going to Africa for a long time and it's only now hitting me that it's actually happening. We have three days before departure and I'm finally starting to realize it. I'm going to the Lewa Conservancy in Kenya to work with their microfinance team. Though it's not my area of specialty, I can't wait to get there and start the work. There's been a lot to finish for school before I leave and preparations to make for the trip, so I haven't really been accepting that I'm going to Kenya for the summer with those fine people in the picture below. Now it's real.

Left to right: Sean, Sunthar, Kate, me, Sandra

With only three days left and nothing else to say, I'll leave my first post at that. See you in Africa!