Black Boogers and Wimpy’s Burgers

*I’m sorry if none of this makes sense, it’s so hard to put down everything that’s happened into writing. Also, I realize it’s ridiculously long, but there’s so much to say... *

So it’s been a week an a half since we arrived in Nairobi, and I’m amazed at how much we’ve done, and how much Nairobi is beginning to feel like home. Orientation week has gone by so quickly, and it’s been non stop since we got here. It’s been a week of firsts: first ride in a matatu, first ride alone in a matatu (very very different), first time hearing reggae versions of Celine Dion, Usher, Cher, Bryan McKnight, the Titanic theme song, first time eating Ugali (which is corn meal porridge, like thick grits) and sukomo wiki (boiled kale), first time on a six hour bus ride on a super bumpy road, first sub-saharan squatty potty, first time on a safari seeing live animals.

A lot of our time was spent going around different parts of Nairobi and visiting the internships that we will be divided among. We take matatus as we travel between the internships, and they’re always fun. Mataus (along with the less exciting City Hoppas) are Nairobi’s public transportation. They’re kind of like VW vans that have 5 rows of seats that hold between 14 and 25 people (depending on which type of van). From Westlands, where we live, to the city center it costs 20 shillings (which is about 40 cents). Traffic is crazy in Nairobi. Lanes are largely ignored, as are traffic laws. I’ve been in two or three fender-benders so far, but everyone’s cars are so banged up that it doesn’t really matter. The first time we went on a matatu there was a screen that showed American hip-hop videos. Most of them play crazy music, usually American hip-hop. I’ve never listened to so much hip-hop. And all of the mataus are decorated, usually with American slogans and logos, such as Check Mate, Philadelphia Eagles (yay philly pride!!!), pictures of Alyiah, 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, 80’s themed, etc. My favorite so far has been one that said “Head Butt” on the back, with a picture of Zidane head-butting the Italian guy from the last World Cup. The inside was decorated with other pictures of soccer players.

In Kawangware, a near by slum, we visited Ray of Hope, a clinic that specialize in HIV/AIDS patients that live in the slum and has a new maternity ward. In addition, there’s a school for 50 children infected with HIV. Walking through that slum was such an interesting experience, we felt like such parade. All of the children would point at us and yell “MUNZUNGU!!” (which means traveler, but it’s used to describe any white people). Then they would ask us “Hello, how are you?” which is the only English that they know. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Ray of hope is actually where I will be interning, working both with the school and in the clinic. As much as I want to be a midwife I’m not sure how I’ll react to seeing an actual birth. It should be an adventure!!

We also went to Eastleigh, which is largely comprised of Somali and Ethiopian refugees that have lived here for a few generations, but are still not accepted by the Kenyan population. There we visited Mama Fatuma’s, an orphanage with mainly Muslim children. You could tell just from spending time there that those children were loved beyond belief. It is held in stark contrast in our minds to Mama Ngina’s, an orphanage in South C that we visited the next day. The children were severely neglected, and they had such poor social skills, particularly the infants. It was so hard to be in there with children sleeping in their own spit-up, with full diapers and under-developed bones and muscles. Even those that couldn’t interact with us when we were holding them knew enough to cry as soon as we put them down. When we left it was as if someone has ripped my heart out, by far the saddest part of our trip.

This weekend we went to Voi, which is a village that KJ our program director worked in. It was two-thirds of the way to Mombasa along Mombasa road, about a 6 hour ride. And when I say road I mean more pot holes than actual road. There would be long stretches where they were working on fixing the roads so instead we would have to use the “deviation” which was bump after bump after bump. It was insane. The bus (matatu) that we were in felt like a tin can on wheels, and after each bump we were sure that something was going fall off and we were going to be stranded like all of the other broken down matatus that we saw along the road. It felt almost like a roller coaster, especially when the bumps were so big that we were launched off our seats (with seatbelts that don’t really hold you in it’s hard to stay seated). The sights were magnificent though. Everything was dusty and dirty (we were covered in a layer of filth by the end), but there were so many interesting things to see. One of my favorite things was just to look at the landscape. It’s largely dry and dusty with a few trees. At one point I saw a large tree that provided some of the only shade in the surrounding area, and underneath it there was a bench with five young girls sitting in height order chatting the day away.

We passed many small towns along the way, that reminded me of old time-y towns that you see in Westerns. One room buildings and stores, people selling things along the side of the road.

There were also so many people walking from town to town along the side of the road. It made an extremely picturesque setting, young children walking with their school bags towards boarding school, young boys herding their family goats, cows and sheep, men and women enduring the heat to get home..

We visited an area near Voi called Taita where we visited the Cave of Skulls. In the crevice of a rock, near a tree that only grows around water are the skulls of the ancestors of the town. People would go to this area to seek advice or to gain understanding. It was also up in the mountains, so it was extremely lush and tropical.

There’s so much to say and not nearly enough time to tell you all everything that has happened. If there are any things that you want to know if particular just e-mail me and I’ll try to fill you in! Also, just let me know what’s been happening in your life!!! I can’t wait to hear from you!

Also, in case anyone wants to know, my address here is

Miriam Wood

Njema Court

Apt R4

Box 66251

Nairobi Kenya 00800

Or something like that. With all of that info I’m sure I’ll get to me somehow.

Love to you all!

Miriam