Kibera Slums

Walking through the Kibera slums is like maneuvering through a minefield. Each footstep must be calculated according to mud consistency, ground elevation, weather, and human traffic congestion.

One wrong step, and you’re in deep, well, sludge.

Home to thousands in Nairobi, it holds the unfortunate medal for being the second largest slum in Africa — one title I’m sure the city would gladly relinquish. Each day thousands of people live, work, raise their children and attend school in horrendous conditions.

The ground is layered with uneven rocks, daily trash, sharp objects, human waste, mud and other unidentified liquids. Some people walk through in tennis shoes or high rubber boots, others in sandals, heels or barefooted.

The slums is a maze of tin-roofed houses, alley-sized pathways, and mud-stained wooden shelves displaying food and merchandise. Draping their stands with old potato sacks in an attempt to keep their display clean, merchants stand guard over their wares, calling out hopefully to potential customers.

Those who do not have wooden shelves use rusty wheelbarrows as a mobile way to advertise their products.

The merchants sell everything under the sun — mattresses, clothes, shoes, sunglasses, toothbrushes, flashlights, shovels, jewelry, pots, pans, boots, furniture and phones. As unsanitary as it sounds, toothbrushes and food are sold as well.

Little wooden shops the size of stalls are lined side-by-side and house barbershops, beauty salons, phone stores and eateries.

Women sit in plastic lawn chairs breast-feeding their babies; children play in the mud and emaciated dogs hungrily search for scrapes of discarded food.

Running through the center of one of the pathways is a dirty, garbage-laden train track. A safety guard railing is not present nor is there a flashing red light. The only warning is the sound of the approaching train. People evacuate the tracks as the train flies by as others dangerously attempt to jump aboard to get to factory jobs on the outskirts of the city.

There are 45 schools in the Kibera slums. Groups of uniformed students walk to school in the morning. Smaller children are often carried on their mothers’ backs to avoid getting too dirty.

These children are more familiar with people who have white skin because Nairobi and the slums are common “volunteer traps” for visiting service workers. Because of this they are not shy and my hands were always being held by at least four or five little ones. They wanted to touch my hair, my face, and lick my hands to try to capture my skin color.

I worked with students in the Laini Saba Primary School, which accepts preschool and elementary-aged children. I visited the “babies” class, as they are called, and helped them with their numbers and letter sounds.

The classrooms are very drafty so the students wore warm sweaters and the little children had wool hoods pulled over their heads, too.

This has been the most difficult blog post for me to write because it is almost impossible to describe such an extraordinary scene. Walking along the pathways I felt disgust, sadness and appreciation. Spending time in the slums is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

It was a breathtaking and incredible way to end my journey.

A view from the top of the slums. The tin roofs go on for miles in all directions.

The front of Liana Saba Primary School.

The students at assembly.

“Babies” class

Leading the class in letter sounds

Enjoying warm porridge

Chekalini/Uganda photos

I have uploaded photos from my trip to Uganda and more from Chekalini as well. They can be found under the photo tabs listed on the right.

Please check back because I have more posts and pictures coming soon.

Enjoy!

 

Final farewell

I leave Kenya tonight.

My plane is scheduled to take off at 10:30 p.m., which is 1:30 p.m. in St. Louis.

I have spent the last three days in Nairobi working at a school in the slums, which has been an incredible last experience. Known as the Kibera slums, it is the second-largest slum in Africa and home to thousands of people. I have never seen conditions so horrendous or devastating. My heart goes out to the adults, children and babies who live and work each day in such surroundings.

I will upload a post about my experiences in the slums when I return to the U.S.

Today, though, I remained in the community to repack my luggage and gather my thoughts.

The three and a half months I have spent in Kenya and Uganda have been inspirational to me in so many ways. I cannot believe how lucky I have been to spend time in a different country and dive into a new culture without looking back.

I have always been a person that adjusts to change slowly. I have never lived too far from home, and, while I have traveled abroad, I have certainly never done it alone. But I also have tried to never let that hold me back. I am so proud of myself for not being afraid to venture into the unknown, embracing the good days when I didn’t want the day to end and the bad ones when I just sat down on my bed and cried.

I’m so excited to head home and share my experiences with friends and family, but a little piece of me will always remain in Kenya.

Goodbye, Chekalini

My suitcase is all packed, leaving my room looking sad and bare. After three and half months in Africa, it is almost time for me to say goodbye.

Today was my last day in Chekalini. Tomorrow, I will take a shuttle to Nairobi where I will stay until I leave for St. Louis on Thursday night.

It has been a day full of emotions. Excitement to see my family, sadness to say goodbye to the people I’ve grown to love and a little denial thrown in as well.

Yesterday, the students and staff at the Polytechnic and the St. Madeleine Sophie Home gave me a heart-warming farewell that was extremely moving. The sisters cooked a big community dinner leaving me with words of wisdom and love throughout the night. I am so grateful to have met so many wonderful people during my journey.

The one question I am constantly asked is, “When are you coming back?” This both makes me happy that I made a good impression, but also sad because it is not a trip that is made on a regular basis. It takes planning, money and, most importantly, it takes time.

It makes me sad to think that I have met these wonderful people who I may never see again — this is an unfortunate reality. While I don’t know when I will return, I do know that I want to continue working with and for the Chekalini community.

Thank you to the sisters, the village and the people for giving me this amazing opportunity and for making such a difference in my life.

Third month’s reflection

It’s hard to believe that three months have passed since I waved good-bye to my parents at airport security. As my journey draws to a close, I find myself struggling with feelings of sadness and excitement as well as admiration and gratitude.

I’m not looking forward to the long trip back to St. Louis, but I am motivated by thoughts of the familiar faces that will be waiting for me at the airport.

I don’t know when I’ll return to Kenya, but I hope it will happen again at some point in the future.

Here are some highlights from April and May:

Favorite experiences:

• Helping to set up the student library at the Sacred Heart School in Kyamusansala, Uganda.
• The semi-crazy adventure of traveling back from Uganda with Sr. Becky.
• Spending a lot of quality time with Sr. Becky and Sr. Rose during the past few weeks. I’m so thankful for this time, which was filled with many laughs, in-depth discussions and stories.
• Walking into the kitchen one morning to find roasted bugs on the stove, and figuring out the story behind them.
• Visiting the Father’s pigs and piglets.
• Eating gigantic avocados with Sr. Becky.
• My last day-trip to Eldoret with Sr. Rose.

Biggest surprises:

• The extent of the rains that pour down every afternoon and night.
• How fast time flew by during April and May.

Favorite foods, African-style:

• Fresh fish cooked on the skeleton. Simply delicious.

Challenges:

• Stressing about making my flight out of Nairobi especially with the rain.
• Adjusting to the changing weather.
• Continuing to ignore the stares and whispers.

What I have learned:

• One person can make a huge difference in a child’s life by sponsoring or donating even the smallest amount of money. Buying a new computer game or purse could send a student to school for a year.
• If I can successfully travel around Africa, I feel confident that I could travel anywhere.
• I can now produce some words and phrases in sign language.
• After three months, I am so much better and faster at hand-washing my clothes.
• I thoroughly enjoy boiling water, which is a constant task.

Future hopes:

• I have a safe journey from Nairobi to St. Louis.
• My trip draws to a successful and safe conclusion.
• I take the lessons I’ve learned and continue to apply them to my life as I begin the next chapter.

It’s raining, it’s pouring

The rainy season that has been spoken of in hushed, expectant tones has finally ceased to be a myth. It has arrived — in full force.

I have never experienced so many different kinds of rain and to such an extreme. It drizzles and sprinkles. Comes down in tear-sized droplets. Pelts the ground and windows with a hurricane-like force.

It appears every afternoon as early as 2 p.m. or as late as 5 p.m. and can carry on through the night. It can be spotted by the still air and looming gray clouds. It’s a beautiful sight.

The beauty ends, though, when you look at the dirt (now muddy) roads. The craters already embedded into the roads are widened and deepened by a few feet on all sides and filled with mud and rainwater. The ankle-high mud mounds are so thick you slip through them and practically lose your half-caked shoes in the process.

When the sun comes out in the afternoon the mud does begin to dry, but the rain soon returns it to its former state.

But a little mud is a small price to pay for how green the village has become over the past few weeks. The damp soil is perfect for the farmlands, and farmers and gardeners are planting, hoeing, weeding and harvesting their crop.

It is a time of hard labor and long days in the fields. Extra workers are hired and earn money for their livelihoods.

The once empty tanks and wells are filled to the brim by now to provide water for irrigation, individual homes, schools, the health centre and the rest of the community.

This is an important season for everyone in the village. The rain has been worth the wait.

Going Public

I safely arrived back in Chekalini late last night with the help of my knowledgeable companion, Sr. Becky. While I took a direct bus on my way into Uganda, we traveled in taxis on the return trip, which is the usual mode of transport for most native travelers. In Africa, this is known as “going public.”

These taxis, also called a matatu, are not like those you find in the U.S. They are rickety vans that look like they came out of the ’60s or ’70s made with sliding plexi glass windows and ripped, plastic seats.

Each taxi has a driver and a conductor. It is the conductor’s responsibility to fill the taxi, collect money and tell the driver when to stop to let passengers off.

Taxis can be picked up in a taxi park or on the side of the road. Until I went to Kampala, I’ve only seen small taxi parks with anywhere from 100 to 150 taxis. Kampala’s taxi park, though, had probably close to one thousand taxis. There is no order in the parks whatsoever and taxis are parked in every direction with hundreds of people meandering through, looking for the right one to drive them to their destination.

In a smaller taxi park, you look at the wooden signs painted with names of towns on the top of the taxis to tell you the direction in which it is traveling. In a larger taxi park, like in Kampala, the taxis going in the same direction are congregated in areas around one big painted sign.

As you are sitting in a taxi waiting for it to fill, vendors continuously stick their hands through the taxi windows attempting to grab your attention to buy their items. They carry anything from big boards of sunglasses, jewelry and handkerchiefs to handfuls of books, bottles of water or soda, and individually wrapped food items.

I am in awe as to how the taxi drivers even manage to maneuver their way out of the taxi park without hitting other cars or people.

The other way to pick up a taxi is on the road. After leaving the park, the taxi continuously veers off to allow people to exit at their destination making room for new passengers waiting on the side of the road.

There are, however, some taxis you can take that will drive you straight to your destination because every person in the car is going to the same place.

Passengers pay for the length of time they spend in the taxi. In order to make as much money as possible, conductors will pack the vans full of people. In a taxi where 15 people could sit comfortably, they will seat 20 by crowding five people in a row for three or by seating passengers on wooden planks between aisle seats. Last night, we drove in a taxi meant for 14 and 22 people were riding in it — three of them were hanging out the door.

Unfortunately, packing people into taxis this way means that when passengers want to exit everyone in their way must get off, too. When someone exits, you shift over to let more people on. If you’re lucky, you will get a window seat so you can stay put until your stop. It’s like a game of musical chairs.

We took four taxis back to Kenya yesterday. It was quite the adventure, and a very interesting experience.

(Note: I was carrying two small but heavy duffel bags with clothes and my computer. Sr. Becky, who was in Uganda for a meeting, had a backpack stuffed with her things and a tote bag with her computer. We were also carrying a bag full of bananas and another with two watermelons — the rule: go to Uganda, come back with fruit.)

Our first taxi trip from Kampala to the boarder took about 5 hours.

Now let me explain what I will loosely call “stopping for lunch.” When a taxi makes a long drive, especially through an eating hour, there are designated places where it stops. As our taxi exited the road at one such place, hoards of vendors engulfed the car, yelling, opening windows, and sticking food and drinks inside. They had items like roasted bananas and corn, chicken and pork on skewers, chapatis, bottles of water and soda.

After everyone in the taxi had made his or her purchase, the driver started up and continued the journey. It was one of the most unbelievable scenes to witness. It was like the African version of a fast food drive-in.

When we finally reached the boarder, the taxi dropped us and we took boda bodas from the Ugandan side, a fast stop at immigration and then over to the Kenyan side.

There, we entered another taxi that took us to Webuye, a small town about an hour from Chekalini. In Webuye, we lugged our things into another taxi headed toward Eldoret, which would have allowed us to get off at Chekalini.

Or so we thought.

Conductors have a tendency to lie in order to fill the taxi as fast as possible to make money.

We were well on our way when the taxi stopped in a small town only about 20 minutes from Chekalini. The conductor had lied about our end point and was now “selling” us.

It is not uncommon for taxi conductors to stop somewhere and “sell” passengers to another taxi for a higher price than they charged the passengers. It’s a business like any other, after all.

The length of time it takes to get from point A to point B is never certain in Africa. Two trips in the same direction could take 5 hours for one and 9 hours for the other depending on myriad of things including road conditions, weather, number of stops made and “selling” passengers.

We began our journey around noon in Kampala and made it to the boarder at about 5:30 p.m., which was good. But because we were sold and had to wait for the taxi to fill, we didn’t make it home until close to 9 p.m. when we should have theoretically returned around 7 p.m.

So while taxis are the most common mode of transportation because of the low cost, passengers are subject to situations such as these.

But as chaotic as it might seem, it is a very well-honed system that everyone seems to understand. The unofficial rules of the taxi are widely accepted making it a steady form of transport.

This trip was a great adventure, but I was thoroughly exhausted when we finally reached the house. I asked Sr. Becky whether the trip is something she has gotten used to over time because she travels to Uganda semi-frequently. She looked at me and said not in the slightest. It still takes her a day to recover.

Other modes of transportation:
Walking
Personal vehicles
Boda bodas — motorbikes driven by locals
Bicycles

(Note: Until about three years ago, Chekalini did not have boda bodas so people would get on the back of bicycles with their things and be peddled by a cyclist — not the most secure or sturdy form of transportation in my opinion. There is still bicycle transportation in Chekalini, but it is not used as frequently because it is slower than a boda boda. There are other villages, however, where boda bodas have yet to appear.)

Foods of Kenya/Uganda

There are a whole host of differences in the popular foods of Kenya and Uganda particularly because of the climate. The similarities, though, lie in the low cost of the food, the large quantity of starches consumed and the use of cooking oil.

I have been asked numerous times to describe the main foods eaten in the United States, but, if you think about it, we don’t actually have just one dish that most people eat every day. Because the U.S. has such a cultural diversity, there have been many types of food introduced by various ethnicities and religions.

Here is a rundown of some of staples in the diets of Kenyans and Ugandans.

Kenya

Maize and Beans: Maize is a type of corn grown throughout Kenya. When cooked, it looks very similar to and has the consistency of a garbanzo bean, but the comparison stops there. It is one of those foods that taste “good,” even though it is basically tasteless on its own.

It is cooked in boiling water along with beans until the water has been absorbed. It is prepared on the stove in a sufuria, which is a popular type of tin pot with flat edges. Sufurias come in many different shapes and sizes, with flat, tin tops for covers.

A majority of farms grow maize and beans, and they sell it in large sacks at a cheap price. It is served for family meals and in schools almost every day for lunch.

It is very easy to see why the draught Kenya is experiencing is extremely worrisome. Without the rain, farmers cannot grow the food for the people and in turn put the money they earn back into next season’s crop.

Ugali: This is white flour cooked in boiling water. The flour absorbs the water and forms a white mound of pure starch. The constancy is crumbly but moist. Most people eat it with their hands and use it as a scoop to pick up the rest of their food. It is generally eaten with beans.

This is another staple each day for families and school children. It is inexpensive and easy to make.

Chapati: This is a tortilla-like food that is delicious. It is a more labor-intense process to make them, though. First, the dough is prepared with flour and water. Then, the dough is made into little balls before rolled flat like a pancake. They are then browned in a frying pan with a little bit of oil.

Other popular foods:

Rice

Potatoes — sweet and Irish

Sucumo — spinach-like leaf cooked down on the stove

Millet — similar to ugali except that wheat flour is used

Meat is not eaten too often, but I’ve had chicken (butchered in the backyard), beef and fish.

In terms of fruits, we usually always have fresh mangoes and baby bananas. We have also had oranges, baby plums, and pears, which are the same texture as apples. We do get popo (papaya) and jackfruit when someone travels from Uganda, home of the mouth-watering fruit.

Uganda

Matoke: This is a very popular type of starch, easy to make and usually served every day in schools and at home.

Initially, it comes in a bunch that looks remarkably like unripe bananas. The skin of each “banana” is peeled off, wrapped in massive banana leaves and steamed over the fire in a sufuria until soft. Then they are mashed and served in the banana leaves to keep the steam inside.

Fruit: Uganda is known for its incredible fruit, which is evident from the fruit trees at every turn. The bananas of all sizes are unbelievably sweet that it’s more like eating dessert.

Popo, pineapple, mangoes and watermelon are also very common. The strangest fruit I’ve run into is jackfruit. When cut in half, the shell is the size of a whole watermelon. The fruit inside looks like individual banana peppers. The smell is very strong and gummy, but the taste is sweet and remarkably similar to juicy fruit gum.

Other popular foods:

Rice

Poshe — another name for ugali

Potatoes — sweet and Irish

Chapati

I have found that no matter what they eat in Uganda, they like to have some sort of sauce on their food. I have often seen them make a peanut sauce to go with the dishes.

While many starches are eaten in Kenya, I have never seen such large amounts consumed as they do in Uganda. I mean mounds of rice, potatoes, matoke. I remember the first time I saw this, my jaw dropped. It was hard not to look. There is usually only one meal a day that looks like this (at least in the communities I’ve visited), but the other meals still always consist of some other starch.

As I’ve spent more time in Africa, though, I fully understand these eating habits. They work non-stop and need the energy and starch in order to make it through the day. Plus, the climate is very hot so calories are burned much faster. It’s not like in America where people eat five Big Macs and sit behind their desks for nine hours. Here, people are constantly moving.

The biggest challenge I’ve faced in Uganda is trying to assure the sisters that I’m eating enough. I always eat my fill, but I don’t take nearly the same portion sizes. There is a huge cultural difference in this aspect, which is difficult to turn off and on. I find myself feeling a little self-conscious at meals.

Surprising foods Africa does have (to the shock of some and to me when I first arrived):

Peanut butter

Jelly

Whole wheat bread

Ice cream

Ingredients for cake

Chocolate

Overall

While these dishes make up the majority of foods consumed in Kenya and Uganda, there are always a variety of other dishes depending on where you are in either part of the country.

I’ve been lucky to be in some nice communities where they have served different foods, which has helped keep my taste buds from becoming bored.

Despite all these foods, I am looking forward to my mom’s famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. They are the best, and I cannot wait for the first bite!

Uganda

As we drove further away from the crowded, uphill city streets of Kampala, I could hardly believe the sheer beauty and unbelievably green landscapes of the Uganda countryside.

The two-lane gray road was the only other color than green that spanned for miles in every direction. There are rolling hills, marshes, swamps, banana trees, low-lying bushes, roadside brush and trees of all sizes with overflowing tops.

Then it began to rain.

Having just come from the hot, dry atmosphere of Kenya where rain had only hit the ground once in the past month, the comparison was night and day.

The cool wind flowed across my face, producing an indescribable feeling of peace.

Unlike Kenya, Uganda is actually experiencing its wet season. It rains nearly every night, which brings cool weather in the mornings and the evenings. Midday, of course, is hot, but there is always a breeze in the shade.

Expressing the visual magnificence of this country is an extremely difficult task. It rivals the beauty of Ireland, in my opinion.

I have been living in Kalungu, less than three hours from Kampala, for nearly two weeks in a community with six wonderful Sacred Heart Sisters.

Our orange-bricked house is connected to the St. Charles Lwanga Kalungu Girls’ Training Centre, which is a secondary school where more than three hundred girls board and study.

The school compound is surrounded on four sides by dormitories, classrooms, administrative offices, a library and a dining hall built of white stucco with slanted orange roofs. In the middle is a green courtyard with round tables where the girls can study under large straw umbrellas. The school chapel stands nearby with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Between the clear blue sky and the tops of school buildings, green rolling hills can be seen in the distance, dotted with endless trees, gardens and plantations.

Kalungu as a village is more spread out than Chekalini. It is nearly impossible to see anything in the distance when walking along the dirt road because the vegetation is so widespread and full. But when there is a break in the trees, the view is breathtaking — there is a wide marshland, which is only broken by the road that dips and climbs into hills filled with farmlands and banana trees.

The people of Uganda pride themselves on the country’s delicious fruits. There are fresh bananas, popo (papaya), jackfruit and pineapple growing everywhere.

The houses along the road are surprising. They are creative and painted in colors like blue, green and red, making each very unique. They struck me as rather peculiar at first in comparison to those in Kenya, but each place is so different that judgments of this sort are not exactly fair.

The main road is bustling with little shops when first turning into the village, but the road is relatively quiet except for the little children playing on fallen tree branches or on the side of the road.

Uganda has its own official language called Luganda. There are also various “branch-off” languages, a mix between Luganda and tribal lingo, created independently in various tribes throughout Uganda. Swahili is not common, and some take offense to it.

April seems to be flying by at an alarming rate. I cannot fully express how much I am enjoying my time in Uganda. I will got to the Sacred Heart School in Kyamusansala on Sunday and stay there for a week before traveling back to the beautiful Ggaba community near Kampala.

Second month’s reflection

Although I feel like this second month has dragged by at times, I still can’t believe that eight weeks have already passed. As the initial buzz of settling into a new culture began to wear off, these past four weeks still brought their own new set of emotions, excitements and fears.

There was travel, exams, beadwork and a few intense bouts of homesickness. After five weeks of not hearing their voices, I was finally able to talk to my family via skype, which was an immense blessing. I am also so thankful to be able to spend time in the beautiful country of Uganda despite a few transportation and customs issues.

As before, here are some of the highlights from this month:

Favorite experiences:

• Sitting in the gardens of the Ggaba Community outside Kampala with a view of Lake Victoria in the background
• Celebrating the Passover Seder and Easter festivities with the sisters in Kalungu and the secondary school students
• Dancing with the sisters at the Nakuru conference in celebration of and farewell to Sr. Helen who is moving back to the U.S. in May
• Straddling the equator

Worst experience:

The stress of traveling from Kenya to Uganda was unreal, particularly because I was doing it alone. Travel in Africa is much different than what I have experienced in many other countries. A trip that would take three hours in the U.S. or Europe could take five or six in Africa because of the unreliability of the transportation system and the poor road conditions.

As I was waiting for the Kampala Coach to arrive to take me to Kampala, I was surrounded by a large group of men who were just starring at me, catcalling and making “kissing” noises. I can usually ignore them, but this coupled with my travel stress and the fact that the bus was 2 hours late was difficult.

Then I hear something break on the ground, and I see glass flying everywhere as a big fight breaks out between two of the men about ten feet from where I’m sitting. That was the last straw for me; I was so close to calling it quits.

There have been very few times during this trip where I truly questioned whether I have what it takes to do this work and travel this way. This was one of those times, though. All I wanted at that moment was to be back in St. Louis in the house I know so well and where, most importantly, my safety is not in question.

Luckily, I have come across some of the strongest sisters I have ever met who would never let me give up that way in a moment of weakness. So I boarded the bus and made it to Uganda, and for that I am truly thankful.

Biggest surprise:

• Being able to celebrate Passover while in Africa

Favorite foods, African-style:

• All fruit from Uganda — sweet baby bananas, pineapple, popo (papaya), jack fruit
• Sr. Rose’s bean and carrot dish

Challenges:

• Traveling alone
• Dealing with overwhelming stress and anxiety at times
• Creating and grading exams, knowing that my decisions impact the students’ futures
• Still trying to overcome the paranoia of constantly being watched by adults and children

What I have learned:

• Everyone gets homesick even those who travel often.
• It’s okay to cry in a moment of weakness, it doesn’t mean you’re not enjoying yourself and aren’t a strong person.
• I now have an unbelievable amount of patience.
• The Sacred Heart Sisters are a wonderful, selfless group of women. I love them with all my heart, and I am a better person for having met them.
• I could ride on boda bodas all day long. They are the most thrilling and dangerous mode of transportation I’ve ever taken.
• Rain is so important and can be the difference between life and death for some people and in some communities.
• I am so appreciative that my family is safe, alive and has not suffered an immense tragedy. This is not the case for many African families. I have often been asked whether my parents and siblings are still alive, which is not generally a question that begins a conversation in the U.S.

Future hopes:

• I do not have to travel back to Kenya by myself.
• I can see as much of Uganda as I can during the rest of this month.
• There will be rain in Kenya.

Quirky lessons:

• Bathing out of a bucket is a much more resourceful way to clean yourself than taking a shower, which wastes a ridiculous amount of water.
• Neither make-up nor television is necessary (Although, I’m dying to know what is happening in my favorite T.V. shows.)