My family in Nairobi

Greetings! Below is a new blog, but here is just a quick update about what I'll be doing next with my program here in Kenya. Class ended for me this week, although most of our assignments are not due until the end of April. I am headed to Mombasa tomorrow (Sunday, the 14th) where I will settle with a new family there and start an internship. I will be interning with a group called Women's Network Centre. This group works with women, but I am not sure exactly what I'll be doing yet as the group is very grassroots- they don't actually have a website yet - so it is hard to get information about them other than what my program tells me! I may also be working a few days a week with FIDA Kenya (Federation of Women Lawyers- Kenya), although I have to meet with someone in their office to finalize this- if you remember a previous post, this is the group I was going to work with at the start of the program, but because they have another international intern, I am going to work mainly with Women's Network Centre and work with FIDA if there is work for me. Okay, here is the blog!

For the next few blogs, I am going to talk about everyday life things instead of basically what I've been doing, although that will be included also. This blog features pictures of my family in Nairobi, the Omondi family.

Pic: This is a picture of my host mom and I! Her name is Joann, but I usually call her Mom. My brother Sean is taking this picture- it was the first one in which he managed to include our heads in the picture :).



Pics: Here are another few pictures of my host mom with her new weave! Most Kenyan women alternate their hair between a weave (hair extensions that are weaved into their hair) and hair relaxer on their regular hair, which makes it straight and manageable to style. In the previous picture, my mom had no weave, but the above pictures are from the day she came home with her new weave and I thought it was absolutely beautiful! It takes anywhere from 5 to 10 hours to get a weave (my mom left in the morning and didn't get back until 6 or 7 at night). There are many people working on your hair at once and my mom actually had to take some ibuprophen when she got home because her head hurt so much. Most weaves are braids or twists. My host mom got twists. I told my mom (US) that I would post pictures of this, so here it is, Mom!

I think I've said before that my mom is a nurse here in Kenya. She works in a children's ward which helps with child delivery as well as care for sick children. She is an administrator there, which takes her away from clinical care some of the time, but she likes her job currently as well. Recently, she told me that her ward was going to experiment with water delivery of babies. This is where the mother delivers a child in a tub of water- this is supposed to be easier for the mother, I believe. Nurses who are following- do we do this in the US?



Pic: This is myself and my dad here in Kenya, Ken(nedy). He is a medical student as well as a teacher- he trains medical technicians at Kenya Medical Training College. He is very kind and makes me feel at home in the Omondi's house- he commonly refers to me as his daughter. On a similar note, everyone in the family has accepted me as a part of the family. Now that I am leaving soon for Mombasa, they all say how much they will miss me when I'm gone: my question to them is 'don't you have students every semester that come and go?' They say yes, but that each one actually becomes a part of their family similar to other family members, not like a foreign student that will leave every semester. I think part of this might come from the fact that many African families treat extended family members as if they were a part of their immediate family. Family members can show up at any time, have dinner, stay a few days, or even live together and they are welcomed and asked to stay longer. It is remarkable to me that they include me in this group!

Pic: This is myself and my cousin Jeff. Sometimes I refer to him as a brother, since he lives with our family in the house. He is an engineering student who wants to join the Kenyan military after he graduates in June. He says that these jobs are hard to get, but that he is a good student, so he has hope. Jeff is 22, so we are close in age- he helps me with Kiswahili and we talk about our day together when we are both home.

Pic: This is a picture of Métrine, the domestic worker who works and lives at the Omondi's house. I sometimes refer to her as my sister as she also lives in the house; the family and I also call her Met. I have talked to Met a lot about Kenyan life, politics, and her life. Met (although she doesn't look it!) is 28 and has two children who live with her mother in Western Kenya. Met has a very strong faith, which she talks to me about frequently, and which never ceases to impress me! She is one of the strongest people I know. She is also very good at posing for pictures (as you can see from above) and we have taken many pictures for her facebook account while I have been here! Met and I have become good friends and I will probably stay in touch with her, as well as the family, after the program.

Pic: I think you have seen a picture of Sean in a previous blog, but here he is again! Sean recently got a Kenya Scout's uniform, which is featured here. He was very excited about this. Similar to the US, Kenya has a Boy Scouts Program and a Girl Guides program at many schools. As a scout, Sean will help with safety at his school and will help with school ceremonies when the flag is raised. Sean has to wear his uniform on Mondays and Fridays to school. The day I took this picture was a Saturday, the day he got the uniform. Sean has lots of energy and there is never a dull moment with him!

Pic: Here is Sean and me together- we need more pictures together, but he is just so photogenic on his own that I take too many pictures of him by himself! I have recently shared my computer with him- he likes to research Michael Jackson and the WWF (wrestling!).

Pic: This is a picture of myself and my cousin Oliver. Oliver does not live with us, but lives in Mombasa, so I might see him during my internship in the next 6 weeks. Oliver and I started him a facebook account, so we took pictures for that and here is one of them! Many Kenyans here have facebook, but don't use facebook on computer- they use it on their phones. This is the case with Jeff and Met.

This past week, my mom, dad and Sean all got malaria and were home from school and work for a few days. This is common when city people visit the rural areas where malaria is more prevalent (they came back from Kisumu in Western Kenya recently after the death of my dad's mother there). It was sad to see them sick, but one of the days they all got to stay home together- it was nice to see them spending a day all together as this rarely happens because of school and work!

Okay, that is it for news about my family, I think. To my US family (all of you), I think of you often and I will look forward to hearing all of your stories about the past four months when I get back in May!