My daily life

*Disclaimer, this entry is by special request by those who love me enough to want to read this much detail. If that’s you, read on.

I wake up at about 6:15 am hop outta bed before I have the chance to internally debate the delicious thought of laying in bed awake and dreaming an extra 30 minutes-throw on some clothes and my running shoes. I leave my house, greet my guard who is watering what exists of a garden and I head out into the sunrise. Its gorgeous, the red dirt roads and the red rising African sun. The only people who seem to be awake are calm and greet me respectfully. By now they have gotten used to the crazy white woman who runs uphill and turns around and runs down at an hour when she should be fetching water or cooking or sleeping for that matter. I return home to shower. Now as a peace corps volunteer, I am blessed to actually have a ‘shower’ but it isn’t what you might imagine-or maybe it is. It’s a head that dribbles out cool water. Damn cold water actually at 7am. Every time I step under it my breathing becomes rapid and shallow and I am reminded of running into Lake Tahoe and coming out panting but refreshed. The shower situation is probably largely responsible for me cutting my hair off(don’t worry, its not boy short, its chin length and a rather nice cut for having done it myself.). ahhh as always, I digress. I pick out the least wrinkly clothing that doesn’t smell, throw it on and head to my kitchen to make breakfast. Most days its oatmeal made with powdered milk, cinnamon and about a half cup of sugar with a banana sliced on top. Its rather tasty actually, I find myself looking forward to breakfast. Also I wouldn’t be in Kenya(or a former British colony) if my meal didn’t include a large cup of chai. This is really just milky sugary tea. But I drink a lot of it, like about a half litre each morning. During my meals I read whatever book I'm on at the time. Right now it’s The End of Poverty (not sure how I feel about it yet, but its still early). I brush up, grab my CAPSES bag and head out to the office.

Its about 830am. It usually takes me about 15 minutes to walk to the office. Along the way I listen to the goats bleating, the wind in the trees an greet the few school kids who are running late to school and then I'm hit with the main street crowded with people, cars, tuktuks, hawkers-most mornings it seems like everyone and everything is yelling. I arrive to the office to check in and usually there are only a few people around. Kodi is sure to be there. He has grown to be one of my favorites. He is just genuinely friendly, loves to talk but keeps you entertained while doing so, and usually he is educating me on things like trapping animals or the uses for different types of trees. He has also taken great care of me while I have been sick these past many days. From here the day can take on any turn of events. Usually I hang around till at least 930 reading the daily paper and chatting with all the people who work at VYF and who are gradually becoming my friends. I could really spend all day doing this, sitting in the office talking-this seems to be what most of our members do anyhow…that’s for another rant. At 9:30 I will either be heading out to do an outreach with Allen in any one of the 5 main communities we work in. Outreaches usually consist of a lot of dancing and singing, a couple skits about specific health issues and then a question and answer session. A lot of what I did in Malawi, but here all I get to do is dance and I don't control the message that is being given(good and bad in different ways). OR it could be a day where I will work on my community assessment. These are the days I like most right now because they require me to think and I get to interact with a variety of people. To keep it short, these days I am mainly walking around observing the conditions, the available resources and interviewing people (in a way such that they don’t know I'm interviewing them) about their household roles and practices, about their problems in Voi, what they have and what they need. I learn a lot on days like this and my brain starts working overtime thinking of the reasons for these things, the implications and what I can work on for the next few years.

At about 1230 I will break for lunch. If in town, ill head to one of 3 restaurants I frequent and usually ill have beans in coconut milk, chapatti and a coke. Sometimes I eat alone sometimes I run into someone I know. After lunch I usually go say hello to Vincent and Mama Rachel and Jayesh. If it’s a market day ill head into the market. Then ill eagerly check my mailbox to see if anyone decided to make my day. Usually it’s a sad day at the Posta. Maybe ill head back to the office, maybe back out walking, maybe ill sit in on a session a co-worker is holding, maybe ill head home to do some writing/brainstorming. I usually cut out at about 500pm to go buy whatever I need for dinner and head home. I arrive home, have the same conversation with my guard I have every evening- maybe shower again depending on the sweat level of the day-change into my comfy cloths and throw some chai on the stove. This is probably my favorite part of the day. I take my delicious half liter of chai, my journal, book and phone out to my patio and spend the next hour or 2 just sitting and decompressing – digesting the events of the day, writing, reading, talking on the phone to volunteer friends or family and watching the sun set casting beautiful shadows over Sagalla mountain. Usually one of the neighbour women will stop by and say hello. When the light starts to fade and the swarms of mosquitoes come out ill head inside to cook dinner. Maybe ill put on my ipod for some jazz while cooking. Maybe its not as classy as jazz all the time…maybe its RENT. By now its probably near 7pm. What’s for dinner… Its totally dependant on what I have but usually it is a bunch of vegetables put together in some way accompanied by rice, mashed potatoes or if I am feeling super fancy sweet potatoes and coconut milk(SOO GOOD!) I’ll have desert of an orange or banana. A nice thing about Kenya is we’ve got a BUTT load of spices and a great variety of fruits and veg. I have yet to get too fancy or too Kenyan with my cooking, but in time. At 8pm ill sit down again with my book and eat dinner. Then ill do dishes wash up and get in bed and write letters or in my journal. I wont go to sleep for a few hours still, but I enjoy reading/writing in the comfort of my mosquito net.

So that’s an average day, however, it will all be changing soon (hopefully) as I get under way with some of my own projects and as other things arrive like my computer…and a yoga matt. Weekends hold any number of visitors, maybe a trip to Mombasa, cleaning house and doing wash, or events in town-futbol matches, maybe an event at the stadium celebrating literacy, family health, anything really, every week there seems to be some national day of sorts.

Days seem to be pretty full and I have the benefits of electricity and running water. In households without these things it is truly a full time job to keep the house clean, do laundry, got to market, fetch water and firewood and cook meals. Just to repeat the same tasks the following day. I realize how important electricity and running water are/have been in relation to women’s rights. Another something to chew on.