A bunch of random pictures! Yay!

A traditional Maasai hut, made from manure, by the mother of the household

My friends Becca and Maggie all decked out in their Maasai wear

Helping my Maasai host mom collect grass for the calves and baby goats

cutting cabbage! Lucy looks so happy because it was probably hilarious watching me struggle to do that in my hand.

Becca, cooking ugali- a water and cornmeal mixture which tastes like a very satisfying nothing

adding salt to the cabbage!

a very cute little girl whose name I can't remember

Lucy and Abraham, my Maasai mom and brother for a day!

Abraham with Joshua, his big brother

using a machete to clean firewood!

Lucy being a beast and ripping off thorny tree branches with her bare hands!

I love these next two pictures! this one is Becca dancing with some of the mamas at the tourist manyatta we went to

an awesome picture of Julia and Anna dancing with the mamas

The Morans (maasai warriors) did a dance for us as well...they jump so high that I couldn't even get the whole thing in the shot!

Maggie, Ally, Ian, and Emily inside one of the huts

Oops...back to the homestay pictures I guess...making chai!

the whole family!

I figured it was time for you to see where I live! My row of bandas

My banda! Panya means rat...which is appropriate considering the other roommates we seem to have

Kilimanjaro! It's beautiful with all that snow...

Some of us in front of Kili...staring off into the distance...haha

2/16/12

Hamjambo blog readers! Sorry for the long delay. The past week has been spent mostly in class and doing assignments. 

So, I have been here now for over two weeks. They have been the weirdest, dirtiest, sweatiest, most difficult and terrifying two weeks of my life! Yet at the same time, they have been the most fun, exciting, and happy. I have learned SO much about Africa, the Maasai, wildlife, and myself. 

Anyways, like I said, much of this last week has been spent in class. Even so…we weren’t always indoors. For instance, we had three different lectures last week which involved hiking up hills. That was the scary part! Scary for me, anyway. The first one was pretty easy. It wasn’t too steep or anything but the ground around here is so rocky that going down was pretty hard. The second one was a bit steeper. I was completely wiped by the time we reached the top. Once I saw the view from the top, though, I realized it was worth the effort! Unfortunately, my camera didn’t come with me to that field lecture. The way down that hill was very slow for me. My classmates were good sports for waiting for me out in the hot sun! My good friends Anna and Becca helped me down and even Dr. Kiringe made the descent with me. As for the third lecture, Dr. Shem actually approached me and said he didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to go…as in it was too steep, tall, wouldn’t have been safe for me, etc. I really love my professors here!

On Monday we had a non-program day, so we got to do whatever we wanted. One of my classmates here got pretty sick last week and had to go to the local clinic (she’s actually in Nairobi as I’m writing this and will most likely be going back home to the States L) and she suggested that we donate blood there as a way to give back to a community which has been so kind and welcoming to us. So…that’s what we did. I was nervous at first about how clean and safe everything would be, but everything checked out. Before we donated, the manager of the clinic (Mbirikani Group Ranch Clinic…which is funded by some rich lady from Chicago) gave us a tour of the whole facility. One of the things he showed us was the special refrigerator where they keep the blood that’s donated there. Inside this fridge there was one half-pint bag of blood. There were easily a hundred people waiting outside the clinic and many in the clinic as well who could use blood transfusions. Especially since sickle cell anemia is so common in Africa, their demand for blood is high. My heart sank when I saw that one tiny bag of blood. Even though I always feel a little crappy afterwards, I love to donate blood. Especially since I’m O+ and anyone can use my blood. The doctor who took care of me thanked god when she saw what my blood type was and told me they would be using it that night. Let me tell you, never in my life have I been treated so well by doctors and nurses. I despise hospitals in the US. Somehow this place was different. I could tell everyone working there really loved it because they are making a real difference in their community. Even though I felt awful for the rest of the day and slept for 12+ hours to recover, I’m so glad I gave blood there. I saved someone’s life!

Tuesday was a community service day. We went to a local primary school to play with and teach the kids. I got to hang out with class 5, with students ranging from 10 to 15 years old. We taught them about animals in North America and brought them some pictures of wolves, bears, deer, etc. to color. They loved it! After that we played some games and they recited a poem called “What a Sight to Behold” all about wildlife and how it should be “guarded more than gold.” It was a beautiful poem…I really wish I had written it down. Unfortunately, my camera missed this trip as well. After that all the classes came together outside and played a game of soccer against us students (I watched). I’m pretty sure the kids won. I’m still not really sure how I felt about going there. Don’t get me wrong…it was fun. And I’m pretty sure we made their week…but it just seemed like they were a bunch of kids getting to be kids for the first time in a really long time. 

Yesterday, for our Environmental Policy class, we did a transect walk of the landscape of the Amboseli Ecosystem (which includes Amboseli NP and the surrounding area). Basically, we were split up into groups with a local guide who took us along a 4km path through farms and forests and grasslands, etc. We had to take notes about the landscape, how the land was being used by the locals, and interview any locals we ran into along the way. As is the way around here, everyone was incredibly welcoming and willing to help us out (I learned yesterday that the Maasai believe that turning away any visitor, whether friend or stranger, will bring a curse upon them. So that explains a lot). I got to talk to some really cool people. At one of the farms we passed through, we met an elderly couple who we talked to for a long time. After they answered all of our questions, they told us about their youngest son who had recently been bitten by a snake. The Kenya Wildlife Service (which is in charge of all wildlife in Kenya on behalf of the government) wouldn’t help them. The flesh on this boys leg was rotting away and they couldn’t afford to take him to Nairobi for proper care (they offered to show us pictures but we politely declined). I had 1000 shillings in my pocket (about $12) so I gave it to them. I figured it would be of more use to them whether they were telling the truth or not. The boy’s mother said a prayer for me and blessed me with good health and good fortune. Even though it was a terribly long walk, the gods blessed us with cloud cover so it wasn’t too hot, and we stopped pretty often to talk to people so I didn’t get too tired. 

Later today we are going to another Maasai Boma (this one staged for tourists, they want us to compare it to the real one we went to before). Tomorrow we have our Maasai Homestay. I’m super nervous about this…we’ll be staying with a Maasai family for the day to help them with their daily chores and tasks. Tomorrow night the staff is having a goat roast for us! A goat roast is the traditional Maasai celebration/welcome/special occasion ceremony. They’re gonna throw some animal physiology in there by showing us the organs and teaching us about ruminants. Saturday (my birthday!!!!!) we are going back to Amboseli NP to work with the Kenya Wildlife Service to do a census! We get to drive off-road wherever we want in our designated sections of the park in order to count, age, and gender every animal we see. I am beyond excited for this!!!!!! Not even Kenyan students ever get to work with the KWS…this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The data we collect is going to KWS’ database to help them monitor their populations within the park. BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

I am going to try to write these blog things more often! I’m already starting to forget details of the things we’ve done or how they made me feel and it’s frustrating trying to write a weeks-worth of events into one entry. So I’m gonna try.

Swahili phrase: ninakupenda – I love you

IT RAINED!!!!!!!

Pure Joy

Amboseli National Park Day 7 2/6/12

Common Zebra

 A Southern Oryx! really rare.

 Wildebeest

 My favorite! At one point we were surrounded by a family of over 50 African Elephants. I was so overjoyed that I actually cried.

 some of the other Land Cruisers from SFS

 definitely my favorite picture of the day.

 some of the other ladies in my land cruiser. (L-R: Anna, Ally, Chelsea, Rachel)

 A hippo!

 A black-backed jackal

A hyena. They are actually really cute up-close!

Two of my closest friends here, Julia and Becca, went on a walk this afternoon! They are awesome.

2/4/2012 Day 5

Hello again! A lot has happened since my last post! We started classes on Thursday. It feels so weird to be taking classes here…I think I forgot I was here for school. The building where we have our lectures is the same building were we eat so it has a kitchen attached. This means that it’s usually pretty noisy during class time as the kitchen staff cleans up or prepares for another meal. Also, the building is kind of open-concept so it gets pretty hot during the afternoon lectures. Anyways my point is that this is a totally new learning environment for me and it’s gonna take some getting used to! The occasional bird or giant bug flying into the room doesn’t help either. Luckily we start outdoor lectures and field exercises soon, which will be way more fun.

My favorite class so far has been Swahili (it’s actually Kiswahili, but I guess we shortened it for convenience or whatever. Who knew?) I haven’t taken a language since highschool Spanish and I’d forgotten how much I loved learning a new language. The teacher’s name is Daniel and he’s really cool! He speaks like 6 different languages.

We’ve also taken Wildlife Management Techniques, Environmental Policy and Wildlife Ecology. Our Environmental Policy teacher looks JUST like Cee-lo Green (google him and laugh with me). His name is Ekisa. Shem teaches Wildlife Management Techniques, and Kiringe teaches Wildlife Ecology. They are all really nice and also very enthusiastic about their field. I feel so honored to have them as teachers…they are all experts in Human-wildlife conflict in East Africa and I’m really excited to learn about the science-y aspect of wildlife management as well as the social aspect. (the social aspect of wildlife management is HUGE here because the Maasai are such an ancient culture rooted in this place and the national parks and tourism and wildlife conservation in general affect them so heavily)

Yesterday (Friday) I was mwanafunzi (student) of the day! I had some responsibilities like writing our schedule up on the board, ringing the bell at mealtime (the bell can be heard from all over the compound so all the students and staff know it’s chow time), and checking that all the students were back inside the fence of our compound before dark. My biggest responsibility, though, was RAP (reflection, announcements, presentations). After dinner the mwanafunzi of the day reflects on something that happened that day, then there’s time for students or staff to make announcements, and then the mwanafunzi gives a presentation on any subject they want. It can be about themselves, their family, something they’re interested in...etc. Since it was my turn so early-on in the program, I decided to tell everyone about Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. It was pretty scary! It was the most people I’d ever told at one time before. I knew I was going to cry at some point so my strategy was to pretend like I was talking about somebody else while I told them all about CMT, and then afterwards tell them I have it. And it worked! I mean, I did cry, but not until the part where I told them how I was diagnosed. Like I said before…everyone here is so cool and after I was done some of them came up to me and said they really appreciated me telling them and they thought I was brave. I didn’t feel brave! But I did feel way better letting everyone know. They even asked me a bunch of questions afterwards and seemed genuinely interested. That speech was really difficult but I am so incredibly happy I did it.

Last night after RAP we had a bonfire. It was fun until we saw a baby black mamba (the most poisonous snake in the world in its most dangerous stage of life) slither out of the foundation of the firepit. Needless to say we decided to move our fire to the other firepit. Some of the staff members came to join us and since they are Maasai we asked them all sorts of questions about Maasai traditions and misconceptions people have about them.

Speaking of the staff, I am making friends with them! They all know my name and love talking to me because I try to teach them new words in English (which is hard because they’re already so good at speaking English)and they teach me words in Swahili. 

This afternoon we went to a Maasai Boma right next to our camp. A Boma is a word which refers to the circular “fence” that goes around the outside of their homes. Each family has a home made entirely of tree branches and manure. The houses are arranged in a circle which is surrounded by a makeshift fence made from acacia branches, the boma. Within the circle of houses there is another circular acacia fence where they keep their livestock during the night for protection. The Massai mamas did an AMAZING traditional song and dance to welcome us. Sooo cool! Then they were kind enough to let us muzugus into their homes so we could see what they looked like. It’s amazing how little they live on. The mother of the family builds the house completely by herself, a process which takes about 2 months. After that they laid out all their beautiful beadwork for us to buy. Everyone bought something because they were so kind to us. I got some amazing jewelry for myself as well as gifts for other people :).

 

Okay this has gotten kinda long…but I just wanted to tell you that today I was on cook crew! That means we get to help make breakfast and then we clean up after RAP at night. I made scrambled eggs with cheese and they were delishhhhh but I had to crack like 50 eggs.

Alright I’m gonna go! Love you all. Sorry for the lack of pictures…I’ll try again another time.

love,
Asha

Swahili phrase of the day: Jina lanko ni nani? (what is your name?)

2/1/2012- Day 2

Hi everybody! I’ve been here on my compound (the Center for Wildlife Studies) for a couple days now and I’m adjusting to the time zone and everything so I figured I would fill you in! 

The flights here were pretty uneventful…we flew from JFK to Heathrow to Nairobi with a 10 hour layover in Heathrow. There were about 25 of us and some went out into the city and explored but I decided to stay in the airport. It was a long ten hours but I am grateful for them because we got to know each other pretty well before we even started the program! Everyone is super nice and really diverse.

Soooo my brain is totally overwhelmed right now and there is so much to take in here! Also, I’m finding it hard to find words for everything that’s happening and I can’t really form coherent sentences. Therefore, I’m just gonna start listing stuff.

• ·         Our compound, which is fenced-in, is a thirty minute drive from Amboseli National Park and about 3 miles from a town called Kimana
• ·         The compound consists of a main study/class/dining-hall building (Chumba) and little huts where we live (Banda) I live with three other girls and they’re all really cool!
• ·         All the faculty and staff greeted us when we arrived yesterday. They are all Kenyans…some from local tribes, and they also live in bigger Bandas in the compound. Every single one of them is SO nice and genuine and they want to have conversations and ask us about where we’re from and what we like to do and they always answer our questions no matter how weird. I love them all!
• ·         There is a family of Baboons that hangs out on our compound…how cool is that??? I mean, they could totally rip our faces off if they wanted to so we keep our distance but they don’t seem to mind us at all. They babies are so cute! Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person at all and when leaving my bed I do so begrudgingly. However, this morning, my first here in Kenya, I woke to the sounds of our Baboon family playing and talking to eachother and I felt completely elated. They even woke me up in time to see the sun rise over Mt. Kilimanjaro! It was spectacular.
• ·         There are bugs everywhere. Weird, creepy, huge bugs. I will say again, anyone who knows me knows that I HATE bugs. However, I have decided not to care. This is because, what with the prevalence of bugs, if I let it get to me…it would REALLY get to me. I mean, it’s all I would ever think about. So for now, bugs and I are okay. Except mosquitoes. (I may be speaking too soon on this one. As of yet, I have not had an actual bug on my actual body. If and when this happens, I will let you know how it goes)
• ·         This is an incredibly dusty country. With each step that anyone takes, huge clouds of reddish dust particles are kicked up and attach themselves to our feet, legs, clothes, faces, hair…everything. So, basically, I am filthy. I have dirt in every crevice. My feet especially are going to be perpetually dirty because as soon as you step out of the shower onto the dirt path, they get dirty again. I have decided not to care about this either, not that I ever minded being dirty much before.  
• ·         There is a little store (dukka) in our chumba where we can buy snacks and things. Highlight…they have mango juice (!!!!!!!!)
• ·         This morning we took a walk around the outside of the compound. It was about a mile. We saw a lot of local people tending to their farmland and livestock but there wasn’t any wildlife around. (Amboseli, which is very close to us, is not a fenced park so the animals wander freely and students in past semesters have seen buffalo, elephants, and antelope right against our fence.)
• ·         Later in the day (after our lecture about diseases like dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, sleeping sickness, etc.) We drove to the local town, Kimana. It reminded me SO much of India. Everyone is SO SO SO friendly. Just like our staff here, they come up to shake our hands and say hi and they are so fascinated by us muzungus (white people). The difference between these people and Indians: Indians usually would just gape at us. These people genuinely want to know all about us. There is even a bar there called Club Kimana. We met a woman there named Joyce who is one of the Maasai “mamas” they make beautiful beaded jewelry and are extremely pushy when they try to sell it to you. She followed us around town and even found us in our cars as we were leaving! I will never forget her. I wish I could post pictures but it would really tie up the internet when everyone is using it.
• ·         The food here is amazing. Everything is fresh and local and the cooks are great and I'm eating very well. I've found my relationship with food is way better here because of how busy we are I get to work up an appetite. We had crepes this morning with fresh mango and we even had cinnamon bread with dinner!

Okay, I think that’s enough for now! The mosquitos are coming out so I think I should get to bed where I’m safe under my net. In conclusion: I am in paradise. I am in my element. I am happy. I love it here. This place and these people are already changing me and I know I will never be the same. I am having the time of my life!

I love every single one of you who is reading this. Don’t worry about me…I am in good hands! I’ll try to update again soon.

LOVE,

Asha

Word of the day: kuku (chicken)