Fast as you can

"Always remember that the future comes one day at a time. "
Dean Achenson

My school is out for the month of April, and I have to say I miss my children dearly! I did travel with a few of them for the Deaf Games in Machakos-- where I am proud to say both my girls and boys won..... the power walking competition. We never practiced this and I thought it was a joke when I first heard of the race, but its actually difficult to not just run!Either way I was very proud of my students and I know just the experience of being outside our school was great for them! On the way there we passed an airport and they all questioned me again about the hippo status and if I knew the people on the planes.

After the games I had a few old friends join me at my site you can check out http://superkeen.com/peacecorpsweblog/?p=317 his thoughts on my site. Then I was off for more training in Nairobi.Being in Nairobi-- is something you must truly experience and is hard to explain. I feel as if I spend a lot of time in the states dispelling rumors about Africa, but Nairobi has them all. For example driving down one road where I was in a cab surrounded by BMWs and fast food restaurants, I saw a family of baboons jumping over a fence, and then literally minutes later Kibera ( the largest slum in the world). Africa and it juxtapositions...I could go on for days.


Training is an interesting experience, a mixture of Peace Corps policy, medical training, and sector specific training. I have to say what I am most excited about is starting my behavior change communication work. I was told I was selected mostly on the basis of making Deaf friendly materials to stop the prevention of HIV/AIDS. This involves making movies or posters to distribute through out Kenya hospitals and testing centers. With my past experience in the broadcast field, I am very excited to start working. While I was at the Peace Corps office I picked up a few posters with a few signs, the alphabet, and numbers. These were created by former volunteers. I took a lot because I want to make sure places in my town have them for example the hospital, the police station and the HIV/AIDS testing center ( VCT). I was able to talk to a hostel owner in Nairobi who I normally stay with when she told me she just hired a Deaf man, the brother of an employee. I offered her a poster and she showed all the workers. She later expressed to me how happy the brother was to actually communicate with his brother for the first time in 20 years. Moments like that give me the chills! I am beyond excited to start working on my own ideas.

Right now I am enjoying a much needed vacation. I am in Mombasa a sand swept island city- where I spent my first week in Kenya! Coming back nearly six months later really makes everything surreal. Six months ago, everything felt so far, now everything feels my own. Although more familiar I can still gawk at the beauty this country has, and feel so small within its ancient landscape, or humbled by small acts of kindness. The changes do not stop at the way I feel about the country but also myself. I hope to always be able to feel so large and small all at the same time.

Hearing with my Eyes

“Words convey the mental treasures of one period to the generations that follow; and laden with this, their precious freight, they sail safely across gulfs of time in which empires have suffered shipwreck and the languages of common life have sunk into oblivion.”
Tryon Edwards

An old friend once told me that when you learn a new language you gain another soul. I live this expression everyday. Growing up in bilingual house took away the “foreign” notion of flowing in and out in different languages. I’ve always loved learning languages and how words carry different meaning, and if you learn a different language you are able to express yourself in a whole new sense. More then just translating back into English—thinking in a different language. Understanding there are words that only exist in their own context. Learning Sign Language has opened up a whole different world of thoughts, expression, and feelings. I can hear with my eyes.

Finally grasping KSL was equivalent to turning on a different part of my brain. I see hands moving—but in my head I hear their meaning. Signed Language is such a beautiful way to express yourself. It also carries with it the little details that all languages have making each one peculiar little masterpiece. Facial expressions are periods, question marks, exclamation points. Signing has demanded an honesty that is sometimes refreshing and frightening—it equivalent to something being written on your face. Interacting with my students has allowed me to realize how perceptive they are. They know when I am tired, happy, and some can tell when I am feeling downright confused—even when I don’t know what I am feeling.

When they are signing they make each story come alive. They describe details using their hands, their face, and their whole heart. I love to watch them sign stories and hear them flowing with my eyes. I know when I am signing I am able to animate my thoughts and feelings in a way I could never imagine before—and perhaps gained a whole new soul.

On my own

Card for Mrs. Reep's class

I had an opportunity to attend a re-opening ceremony of a nearby Deaf school on Friday and had an amazing time. The school has a foreign sponsor and received all new buildings and funds for activities. Many people attended the event including my Deaf friend who is alum of the school. I had the opportunity to meet other alum from the school and was amazed by their stories. Many of the former students are professionals working for various organization in Nairobi, they even told me of a former student who is in the process of obtaining their P.H.D.! Seeing all these students really reaffirms the confidence I have in my students. I know how capable they are, and I hope some day they will return to St. Luke's with fond memories. With that said I know my school has a long way to go, looking at the staff and the whole atmosphere at this school. I feel a sense of optimism, there are a lot of difficulties, but I can see the opportunity for change in each of them. I also met with the school’s sponsor and tossed out some ideas for Deaf Leadership Camp, to instill pride in Deaf culture and inspire students. He seemed very interested and I will begin to get the ball rolling on that—now!

Most of these pictures are of my students except for the ones dancing (performance at the school reopening) they are Deaf dancers! The very first picture is the view from my house and the second is my neighbor Mt. Kenya. This is the last week of school and then I will be off for the month of April. I will be so sad to leave my students for a whole month I miss them if I leave for one weekend! Although I hope to come back with new and creative ideas for teach the next term.

The best light in the world

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”

Rachel Carson

It’s hard to image a place more beautiful then Africa. Routine settles in and my senses numb, but on occasion I am engulfed with the sheer splendor of the land. I fell asleep on a matatu (mini bus of death) once, and awoke to the most vibrant blues, greens, and purples all in one sky; it’s infectious and overcomes you like a teargas.

On the surface Embu can appear as a mixture of noise, people and cars but after time you begin to notice the brilliant blue of the sky- a pastel blue of an Easter egg. Huge white clouds hang over the town, and as time drags on they alter into lavender then eventually to a deep royal purple. Mount Kenya can sometimes look forbidding with its black jagged edges, but the light here in Embu transforms its rigid appearance to an unfathomable shade of purple, you appreciate the power and beauty it demands.

On my bicycle I take to the road, and trace the green hills with my wheels. The golden grass sways to the humming wind, I can feel its authority; helping or hindering my safari. I often feel like I am the only person in the whole world—all this land is my own. There is also a beauty in the rhythm of life here; life is a series of routines to survive. It can, at times seem painstakingly monotonous, until you stop trying to fight it and just realize the happiness you can find in the motions. Day to day life has become simple, and I welcome the questions, the challenge, and the unknown.

Adapting

"We adapt our voice and phrase to the distance and character of the ear we speak to"
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Signed conversation with my students:

Student: So you flew in a plane from America?
Me: yes
Multiple Students: Were you scared?
Me: No, it’s safe.
Student: But the hippos!
Me: Sign again, did you just sign hippo?
Multiple Students: Yes, yes, hippo!
Me: Why would I be scared of a hippo on a plane?
Student : Because when your sitting on the plane, you look out the window and you fall out and a hippo eats you.
Me: Maybe I should be scared of flying!

This conversation is ten times better in sign form, because Deaf students use so much imagination, and facial expressions, their stories are just better signed!

I was once told that as a volunteer I would experience the highest highs, and the lowest lows. I couldn’t really understand what this meant until now. Some days I feel so engulfed with happiness, I think I even sleep with a smile, other days the challenges here can be overwhelming. There is the constant loneliness, the need for acceptance, and the extreme amount of patience with people. My school is quite isolated, so I do not have a “village” to integrate into. All the teacher speak English but prefer to use “mother tongue”, which is not a written language, leaving me in silence most of the time.

It is not the easiest when people are constantly seeing you as an outsider; although this concept is not a foreign one to me it was never as outwardly spoken. Even my town visits are not without screams of “mzungu” “sister, marry me” “give me money” “buy me sweets” and my favorite “ hey white”. I can feel this constant gnaw of irritation, and when I feel it begin to bubble up, I just can’t help but laugh. I’m sorry, “hey white” that is funny to me, and ultimately I know (most) of these people do not know they are annoying me, in fact they are just amused by my presence. Who knows if my I was born in Embu, Kenya and rarely saw a person with a different skin color, I too may want to yell and try to get their attention--then again maybe not, but I can see where they come from.

I think what I am realizing about my experience is not what I experience here, but rather how I choose to experience it. I could turn inward, and think every Kenyan who talks to me wants something, or I can go out there every time having hope that people are mostly good. I have to say for every time I’ve had someone ask for money, I’ve had someone show me great kindness. I try to hold onto those moments in my head when I feel so much like an outsider that I would like to run and hide! Ultimately I have to choose the person I want to be, and I want to be a person who thinks the best of people and who can laugh (instead of hiding).

This week a girl came to school, she is around 9 –years-old, she recently contracted meningitis and became Deaf. She is far from her family and friends, adapting to a whole new and scary world. She must adjust and find her “new normal”. I know eventually she will make great friends here, they will become like family, and she will be happy. I think somewhere deep inside she knows it too. At sports time, she sat alone against a tree--I walked up slowly and tried to sign how are you, but stopped when I realized she wouldn’t understand me. She looked up at me her eyes deep pools of black, tears welled in her eyes, and for some reason mine did the same, I smiled—she reached up and held my hand. I know we will be ok.

Carry this for luck

During our life skills class, I made my ( now famous) mango salsa, I think it is an important life skill!

These two are my precious little sisters, doing there favorite Masai jump dance!

One of my class 7 students making our snare!

One of the teachers setting the bait( corn and flour) for our trap.



Closing the sides for our trap!

My home, it extends to the white line, next door is another teachers house. The big tank is for collecting rain so I can have water!

The pigs that live outside my house and the boys dorm in the background!

These are my little sisters running toward me as I return from school!

My first full week of teaching has finished, and I cannot stop smiling, I truly love my job! Nairobi is wonderful, and packages from home are even better. I have started planning a project that I am very excited about, I don't want to speak to soon in case it doesn't work out, but I am obscenely excited.

Everything is Everything

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."
Helen Keller

The strike has been called off, and classes resumed this week. It has come as a huge relief to myself and all the children—being cooped up with plenty of ideas can sometimes be frustrating, so this week I am putting them into practice. I’ve been trying to use locally available resources to teach such as balloons to represent a globe, drawing maps, and creating journals. Some of these have worked other have not.

I am teaching a stand alone class on HIV/AIDS to class 8(one of my favorite things to teach), the ideas I had was to have a journal where students could express their thoughts, and feelings regarding the topic. I told them they could write questions they had, write poems, or draw—by the end of the class I received all drawings of myself --teaching. So I missed the mark on that one, but I still feel like I want to stick with the idea, because the within 2 years the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among Kenyan has rises nearly 2 percentage points. I strongly believe in open communication regarding the subject, and I know the future of HIV/AIDS in Africa really lies in the hands of the youth. A journal also provides an avenue to improve upon writing skill (which is desperately needed, some students struggle just to write a complete sentence in class 8) and the journal is for my eyes only reinforcing open communication.

My other idea was to use balloons as globes to explain the revolution of the earth around the sun! I drew the different continents on the balloon and had one student hold a yellow balloon and act as if they were the sun. I explained what an axis is and demonstrated a revolution. My students eagerly looked at the world as a balloon, but one signed "so in your home( America) it is night, now?" I wanted to hug her, it worked-- they filled out all my questions on the board correctly. I smile every time I think about it!

This week I was also informed that I was to help with the running activities, equivalent to track team. Imagine the irony: myself teaching Kenyans to run—I know! Truth be told, I am excited because I can put those three years on my high school the track team to use, and at least out dole out some challenging drills. For right now “track practice” consists of running in circles around a field, but maybe I can work in some hills or relay races, and then who knows maybe I have New York marathon runner on my hands?

I am trying to explore the idea of using video as a tool for learning. The students love anything visual and video just seems like an invaluable learning tool. I only wish I had the foresight to bring a projector or printer, but I guess I’ll have to make due with what I have. I have been learning from my fellow teachers as well. Today I had the opportunity to make my first snare or animal trap. One teacher intended to make one, to trap a bird to dissect for his science class. I decided to join because I teach the same class social studies; we walked around the school ground with machetes chopping small tree branches. We bent each stick and weaved other sticks through it, then we collected a leaf from a plant scratched it until I became a rope like fiber. We finished weaving tied the structure together and put the bait inside our trap—flour and corn. We will see tomorrow what we catch; I just hope it is not a snake! I promise to try to add pictures (maybe even videos) this weekend when I go to Nairobi; my connection is too slow and inconsistent to try to support that type of upload.

I’m really starting to feel at home here at Saint Luke’s, hard to believe that it has been almost one month since I’ve arrived! Although the strike threw a wrench into many things, but it feels good to interact with the students and staff again. My counterpart helped me choose a bicycle, and another helped me get it “serviced”, so I finally took to the road this evening. Many people know I am very scared of getting hit by a car which kept me from using a bike in college, but who has time to be afraid? The feeling of riding on the dirt paths and exploring new places; that has to be bigger then any fear. I live about 10 kilometers from town and I would like to start riding to town to avoid expensive and cramped matatus (mini buses used as transport here).

Everything feels as if it is falling into place. I have made quite a few Deaf friends in town ( who insist on giving me a mango every time I see them), I enjoy signing and getting to know them better. I want so badly to succeed in teaching these children, and helping my community. With every greeting, game and signed I love you, I am overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility to my students. I believe so much in the potential they possess. My only hope is that my imagination and ambition could create something useful and sustainable here.