MP in Mombasa

Forms of transportation..

2009-10-18T14:38:00.006+03:00

I was organizing some old computer files and I came across this little blurb I wrote about public transportation here in Mombasa. It is a large part of my life, and often one of the most exciting as well. So this was written when I was living in Likoni last year.

Hope everyone is well!

Mary

On any given day here in Kenya, I take at

least three to four forms of transportation. In a place where poverty is so high, few peo

ple own cars, so do most people.

In the mornings I either walk the 3 kilometers to work or if I am running late, which is usually the case, I take a piki piki, a motor bike with room for one on the back or a tuk tuk. They are both flagged down much the same way that a taxi would be. They are always driven by men, usually between int ages of 17 and 40. I generally have a policy of using older piki piki drivers because the young guys go so fast and I assume older equals more responsible drivers. Sometimes they have operating licenses, sometimes not. When I asked a friend about the license issues he said “It's not a must.”

The tuk tuk is by far my favorite, as it is small, slow and generally safer than the motor bikes. Apparently tuk tuks have the same name all over the world, due to the put put (or tuk tuk) noise that they make. Interesting fact, Piaggio is the Italian company that makes tuk tuks. The model that they export to Africa is called the “APE”, which I pray is an acronym and not a racist slur. Anyway, I am in to process of convincing my neighbor who owns and drives a tuk tuk that he should teach me to drive it. (Note: in nearly six months of being here I have seen one ONE female driving a tuk tuk)

On rare occasions there will be a boda boda, a regular bicycle with a padded seat on the back. If these are around I try to use them based on the principle that they use no gas and few people use them. Apparently just two years ago there were almost no motor bikes and everyone used bicycles and boda bodas for transportation. But motorbikes mean getting passengers from place to place faster which means the potential for making more money in a given period.

If I am going into Mombasa, I take the ferry. I know I have mentioned this before, but the ferry is not nearly as cute as I originally pictured in my head. They are large flat bi-level boats which carry everything including large trucks, cars, motorbikes, bicycles, and pedestrians. The bottom level is for vehicles and bikes and the top level is for pedestrians. They are brightly colored green and orange-y red. There are four boats in total, although only two run at one time, three during rush hours. While they say the capacity is 150 people, they admit that at times there are upwards of 300. If there are few cars (cars get the priority over people), they will cram more on. I once did a quick estimation though at there were at least 400 people on there.

Loading onto the Ferry is a a slightly hectic, but at times fun adventure. To load

the ferry you have to get in line (called a queue) which is about 15 feet wide fenced off, tin-roofed hallway next to the road that leads up from the water. It is usually crammed and recently very hot. There are two blind musicians, one who plays gospel music on his accordion and another who plays one song on his harmonica while keeping the beat by shaking his tin bowl of change, so there is always something to listen to. Recently they put up huge movie screens on both the north and south sides of the ferry so sometimes they show sports bloopers or this stupid show where Ashton Kutcher plays tricks on other famous people. I was thinking they could show news or something worthwhile, because this country has enough bad American TV already, but no dice. Anyway the motorbikes, cars and truck load first. Once they are all on, the bicycles and pedestrians are allowed on.

Then the ferry takes off across the channel. The view is wonderful on both sides. To the east is the Indian Ocean and to the west is the port where most of the goods transported to

Eastern Africa are imported with lots of tall ships and docks. It only takes about five minutes to get across and while it is generally pretty crowded, it is fairly calm and quiet. There are women selling drinks if you are thirsty which is nice. I like to stare at the

water and look for fish, although due to the proximity to the city I see more plastic bags than marine life.

Once it reaches the north side, the vehicles are allowed off first and then the people. The people have to climb this fairly large rocky hill \towards the matatu station. On the hill there are a lot of people selling cookies, phone cards (cell phones all operate on prepaid phone cards), handkerchiefs (everyone carries them to deal with the sweat, myself included), watches and greeting cards.

Once you reach the station which is just a large open parking lot, you find your matatu. <

> If you don't know which matatu to take there are boys right there who have the job of telling people where to go. If they bri

ng someone to a matatu they get a little tip. You can also just listen because the captain of each matatu will be outside of it calling out the destination. It is an incredibly hectic place with lots of yelling, honking, but sensory overload is part of the public transportation experience and charm.

The matatus are the most common, cheapest and many times entertaining of all the types of transport. In fact tatu is the word for three and ma- is added when there is an amount of something so matatu means three, which is how much it used to cost in shillings for a ride. At least that is according to the Rough Guide to Kenya. Matatus are 14 passenger vans, but the engine is under the front seats. There are two people who run each matatu: the driver and the captain. The captain is in charge of collecting the fares, telling the driver when to stop to let people off, and recruiting more passengers after people have alighted. There is a lot of yelling involved with his job. Then are the drivers. Some drivers make you feel like you are in a video game because they drive so fast and crazy, but 90% of the time I feel totally safe riding in the matatus.

On a given day, transportation is one of the most interesting parts sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Here are a few pictures! I have always wanted to take pictures of the insides of matatus. They are often themed and, in my opinion, pretty artistic, so maybe that will be in an upcoming post:)

a few thoughts

2009-09-06T11:58:00.002+03:00

So I have found myself having small bits of time where I feel like writing a bit and I think this is probably a better way for me to do my blog. Last time, I felt like I needed to write really important, well-written pieces on here. I may put some of those in, but I'll mostly just use it as a way of updating people about what I am up to.

Saturday, August 22

I am sitting on the steps outside my apartment. Around me I hear the call to prayer being sang at several different mosques simultaneously. Sometimes it sounds like a jumble of noise, but today it is nice. Several beautiful tunes, all of them saying “Allah au Akbar” in different ways. There is one that has emerged as my favorite and I catch myself singing along to the Imamu’s beautiful tenor voice each time I hear it through out the day. I often stop, feeling that singing along is not something that I am supposed to be doing. I asked Abdul if that was ok, to sing along and he shook his head. I guess this makes sense, but it feels like such a contrast from what I am used to in a church. I have met so many Muslim people over the last year, but Islam still remains largely a mystery to me. Now the sun has gone down completely and the neighborhood is closing their fast after the first day of Ramadhan. I am now staying in Old Town, the historic Swahili neighborhood of Mombasa. Nearly everyone living here is Muslim, or so it seems to me anyway. I remember last year when I tried fasting and the excitement I felt that first day when the sun went down and we got to eat. I have the feeling that around me in the stacked apartments and crowded houses, there are a lot of people who have that same feeling of relief right now.

I find that I am still in the honeymoon phase of being back, especially when it comes to Kenyan food. I am back in the land of mangos, avocados, grilled meat, deep fried everything and spiced chai. On top of that Ramadan is the season of good eating. Yesterday I stopped by one of the food stands that pops up only at this time of year and found a whole table of goodies. There was the typical mahamri, which are triangular doughnuts, some doughnut hole type sweets rolled in sugar and simosas with beef and onion filling. But then there were all these other things, like ground cowpeas deep fried, mashed potato balls stuffed with beef and deep fried (sensing a theme yet?) that I had not seen since last year! And dates! Tons and tons of dates. I was making dinner for some friends so it seemed like a good excuse to get a sampling of what this man was selling. It was a great dinner and I want to go back and ask the man selling the food if he will teach me to make the cowpea things. Wow, it wounds really good now. Tonight I had ramen (ew, I know, I was tired). Recipes, if I can get them, will be forthcoming (Not the ramen).

One thing I have gotten really into is using this masala tea mix. It is a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, nutmeg, cloves. This is part of the Indian influence here on the coast. Holy smokes, that stuff is good. It is meant for tea, but you can put it into coffee too which is quite good. I have also started mixing it into my oatmeal, rice pudding, and pretty much anything sweet.

August 24, 2009

Being back feels like coming home in a way that I did not quite expect. I know my way around town, I can hold basic conversations in Swahili, I have a lot of friends and people who have come to feel like family here. I knew I was returning to a place and people I knew, but somehow being here and seeing them is more comforting than I anticipated. I think part of the amount of time to plan for this. And what tends to happen when I have a lot of lead time (and this certainly happened before my original trip here), is that there is an enormous amount of time to project what things are going to be like, what I am going to feel. And somehow, in my mind, who I am at home, and who I “will be” when I get to Mombasa feel like they are going to be two different people. It seems silly, but I find it hugely comforting that I am, in fact, the very same person. I think we expect ourselves to change a bit when we travel away from home.

September 6, 2009

Three and a half weeks in to my stay here and things are still going very well. Since I arrived I was staying at my friend Alia’s place. I have just moved to Nyali, the area north of Mombasa, to live with my friend Kati for the next month. She has a lot of traveling to do and two boys (Malcom, 12 and Caleb, 9 almost 10), so I am going to look after them while she is away. So I have a few weeks to find my own place, hopefully back in Old Town.

Work has gotten off to a good start. I am learning all of the ins and outs of the FSD policy and trying to read all of their extensive material. In the next three weeks or so we are doing a comprehensive impact assessment of all of the FSD projects that have been undertaken in the past three and a half years. It is a good step for us because we often have a good idea about how some projects help the targeted communities in the short term, but we don’t always know if the projects are sustaining themselves and achieving the longer term goals. We are hoping that this gives us better information about our impact, help us better train our interns and figure out better ways of supporting our partner organizations. So far we have met with a few organizations and the feedback has been positive. More information to come once we have actual concrete data.

Let’s see other than that, my birthday this week was just fine. I didn’t do anything super exciting to celebrate 26 years. I had to work all day Friday, my boss brought in a yummy chocolate cake, then we went out to eat for lunch and had some delicious chicken biriani. In the evening I got home and there was a leak in the water heater and the kitchen flooded. After we cleaned that up I made a nice dinner of mshakiki (think the best shish kebobs you have ever eaten) with Abdul and watched Little Miss Sunshine. It was pretty low-key and felt sort of unlike a birthday, but it is hard to have a party during Ramadan, because it is a time of fasting and prayer, so a lot of friends would not be able to make it. Ok I am off to a friend’s going away party. More to follow.

Love from Kenya,

Mary

Update

2008-12-20T16:12:00.000+03:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas! I feel strange saying merry Christmas when it is 90 and and humid. Somehow having to wear SPF 45 sunscreen does not make me think about Santa Claus...
Overall things here have been going well. I moved a few months back, am finishing up my MIMA project, getting started on a new one and traveling a bit. I also just posted some pictures that I have taken. I apologize for the slowness on this, but my camera wasn't working well and now has stopped working altogether. That means I have not taken very many pictures. However the ones I have taken are now on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75253098@N00/

The last few weeks have been spent trying to finish up my project here at MIMA. The business plan is almost done, they have a new board which will be overseeing their work, and a few more internal policies and procedures which will hopefully help them as they grow. I feel a little guilty because in a way, the project created a lot more paperwork for the staff, but in the long run hopefully it will benefit the organization. It has been fun in a lot of ways, but it has also been a huge challenge to adjust to new working styles, and figure out how to best work with people who come from totally different backgrounds. I have learned a lot, but I am ready to move on. I'll still come in a day or two a week for the next two-three months, but for the most part I am finished.

I'll be starting a small research analysis project with a professor come January here in Mombasa. She is a medical anthropologist who focuses on reproductive health issues. The project I will be looking at involves analyzing a lot of data on a project for orphaned girls in Zimbabwe that used micro finance. It will be a lot of time in front of a computer, but I might be able to continue to the work when I return to the States in March.

In other news, I had to take a random trip to Tanzania and then Zambia this past week. I was told by immigration that after six months of being here in Kenya, I had to leave the country. I had heard rumors that I had to leave East Africa, so I went to double check and I was reassured, that no,I just had to leave Kenya. So my friend and I went to Tanzania, just 4 hours south, to see his family whom he had not seen in a long time. When I got to the border I was informed that I did in fact, have to leave East Africa. So, I spent what was my last official week of work traveling to Zambia and back with my friend Abdul. It took us six days and 48 hours on 8 different buses, but we made it ok. Tanzania is a beautiful country with lots of mountains and beautiful scenery. I wished that we had more time to explore and less time sitting on a bus.

So the office has closed for the year, and it looks like I will be staying in Mombasa for the Holidays. My Christmas plans involve eating some fresh fish with friends on Christmas Eve, then probably spending the day of with my good friend and her family while we cook food and watch some movies. I was thinking of going rafting or camping, but I decided to stay put. I mean, my apartment is on the ocean, so I sometimes lack motivation to leave.

Ok that is it for now. just wanted to say hi and I am thinking of and missing you all this holiday season.
Love,
Mary

Obama Fever!

2008-11-08T15:06:00.000+03:00

So this blog post is only about three months overdue. I have been wanting to write on here about the sincere love and pride that folks here in Kenya have for our next president. His father was from Kisumu, which is not near here, but still, the pride is very strong. It is apparent in the music, clothing, rumors, naming of things and the fact that walking down the street you often hear his name come up in conversations. In fact, President Kibaki was so thrilled with Obama's victory, that he declared the day after Obama's victory a national holiday to honor him! You didn't even get that in America did you?

The first thing I encountered that was all about Barack was a song by Coco Tea.

This song is played all over the place. Every club plays it at least once a night. People blast it from their cars. I once met a three year old who was running around the house singing it. I was hoping that it might make it as his campaign theme song, but no luck. There are several other good Obama songs (all available on youtube), but this one is my favorite.

When walking through the streets you see his name and face all over. There are boys who sell posters, usually of Premier League football teams, maps, celebrities and animals, who are now also selling Obama posters. Most of them are photo collages with pictures of him and his family and funny quotes to go along with them. My favorite is one where Obama and McCain's faces have been photoshopped onto the bodies of athletes. I can't explain the hilarity, but once my camera is back up and working I will send along a picture. If you go into stores, many have his picture hanging on the wall, just below the Kenyan president's. Then, if you go to the market, there are people selling kangas, which are brightly colored clothes that are worn around the waist and shoulders. There are several with President Obama on them. The one I just purchased Has his picture in the middle, flanked by two maps of Africa. At the bottom it says "Upendo na amani ametujalia mungu" which means something like "God will grant peace and love" (if someone with better Swahili skills wants to correct me, please do)

I recently met a small baby who was called Obama. Here, when there is something special about the time a person was born, they are sometimes named for that special event, whether it be a time of year, historical event, etc. For example, my friend's aunt was born during the Pepsi launch in Africa and her name was therefore, Pepsi. By the same token, some children who are born now, are being named Obama. I have also seen two of the new shops around Likoni which have his name: "Obama's Wine and Spirits" and "Obama Community Phone Center"

In addition to seeing him all over, you hear about him too. The rumors about Obama started a long time ago. As rumors tend to do, they change, there are dozens of versions and sometimes they are heard by young impressionable children who believe them. "What will Obama do for Kenya" is a popular topic and the possible answers vary a great deal. I have heard some of the following:

There will now be direct flights from Kisumu to the White House

All Luos (his tribe) will receive American Visas

All Kenyans will receive American Visas and Americans will all receive Kenyan Visas

Kenya will now get more foreign aid.

Kenya will be the "51st State" in the US

Again, sometimes these are told to me by small children and the other 95% of the time it is told to me in jest. I hope that Obama will do something for this country, but what many people have said is that the biggest thing he can give Kenya is hope for the future and the motivation to continue to work on the issues that plague this country. I guess we shall see how it all works out, although it sounds like he has his hands full at the moment...

Ok enough of the Obama stuff for now, but I wanted to let you all know that he is everywhere here. They love him a lot and really respect what he has been able to accomplish. Many people feel like if he can become president then surly they too can accomplish great things. I have a disposable camera while I try to get mine fixed and I have a few great Obama pictures on there. Hope all is well over there! Love from Obama's Father land!

PS: It is also interesting to note that in Swahili the words baraka/barack mean blessing/blessings respectively. Swahili has its origins in Arabic and a Bantu language. Barack is one of the words that comes from Arabic. So our new president's name means blessings. Now I missed out on most of the BS about the fact that Hussein is his middle name, but I don't know if anyone ever cared to mention this little fact.

Jambo!

2008-10-18T15:51:00.000+03:00

This week I received an email that said (and I quote) "Blog more dammit!". My apologies for not posting, but my computer access is fairly limited these days.

Here are a few things I have been thinking about, experiencing, etc. Today I am feeling like a list format will be best.

1. Jambo! When I walk down the street I am greeting in one of two ways generally: "How are you?", which is said really fast and sounds like "Hawayuu?" or "Jambo". Some Kenyans say jambo (swahili for hello) to one another, but not many. BUT when I am walking down the street, lots of people say "Jambo" because they know it is typically the only phrase white folks know (that and "Hakuna Matata"). I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I do know it and it is a perfectly fine way of saying hello, but I know all the other greetings. There are a wide range of other salutations like "Mambo" and "Sema" which are typical among younger people and "Habari yako" or "Salama lekum" to adults. And I want to use the Swahili that I know. The other thing that I find slightly irritating about jambo (and "hawayuu") is that people often say it in this sort of high pitched voice. It is hilarious! Just now a man who must have been in his seventies was slowly walking down the road. He saw me coming and in a voice that sounded like the way you might talk to a 4 month old baby said "Jambo Mzungu!". It often feels slightly patronizing, so I generally respond in the same high pitched voice and that seems to crack people up.

2. Last weekend I went to a small island called Wasini with my friend Lily and her friends from her Rotoract (Rotary for 18-30 year olds). We spent the day on a large boat (dhow) and went to the marine park there. First we snorkeled around the coral reefs. It was amazing to see all of the kinds of fish, sponges, coral and urchins hanging out there AND I didn't get attacked by jellyfish, sharks or other marine predator. I was pretty excited about that. It was fun to just sit and watch how the fish interacted with one another too. Lily tried chasing a few, but she didn't get any. Then we got back in the boat and ended up seeing a school of about 12 dolphins. It was so amazing! I was like a kid at the zoo, talking to them like they could actually hear me. "Where did you go, I want you to jump again, please jump!". It took me back to the days when I was about 6 and wanted to be a dolphin trainer. After that, we sailed to a small island where we had lunch. That leg of the journey was really rough and involved several of us getting sea sick at once, which was hilarious in retrospect.After lunch we took a tour of a water project they have there. It is a small island and they have no access to fresh water. So they set up the roofs to collect rain water. There were all of these low long corrugated metal roofs which collect the rain water which then runs into one of several big holding tanks. As we walked around the small island most houses seemed to have the rain collection system set up with the pipes to carry water which reminded me of Marble Works (the toy we played with when I was little).
The rest of the weekend was spent playing jenga (Jenga is Swahili for building, which i thought was interesting), eating freshly caught fish, touring Wasini, dancing and talking.

3. So I continue to be Suleiman's tutor. Ok so I make him do his homework. At first it was kind of cute, because he would get so excited to have me help him. But now that my "new mzungu" appeal is gone and he is used to me, it is not as cute. There have been crying tantrums on a few occasions, he dawdles and finds ways to procrastinate (last night he had to pee three times within the half hour we did his homework). So anyway, sometimes i will give him a little incentive for completing his homework. Last week, he was whining, and not doing his work when I told him I would give him a small present if he finished without complaining and without making too many mistakes. He wanted one of the 10 old water bottles I had in my room which I was more than happy to give him. Then a few days later we were again doing his homework and he was getting cranky the conversation went like this:
Me: please finish your homework
S: You give me sweet and i finish
Me: No. write
S: you give me a cell phone and I finish
He had me laughing for quite some time with that one. He has also just started walking into my room and demanding my possessions. For instance, I have a small statue of the Virgin Mary that I keep on my desk. The other day he walks in, looks at it for a minute and then demands that I give it to him. He has done this with my flashlight, pencil sharpener, shampoo, deodorant and sunscreen. I have yet to give into his demands.

Generally life here is good. I am in the process of trying to figure out what to do after my internship is over in December. There are a few opportunities around Mombasa which would be realy fun. One of the options involves organizing a conference for a friend who is starting up a new NGO. It would enable me to continue working with MIMA which would be good. I am in love with this city so it would be great to stick around for a bit. There is also a technical vocational school in Tanzania where I might be able to do some art classes. Or there is a language school in Tanzania where I could get really good at Swahili. We will see. I have also been getting some inquiries regarding my return date. It will be in March or April, depending on how many people want to come visit and how long I can make my savings last. Miss you all lots!~Mary

Please Help Support MIMA

2008-09-30T10:58:00.000+03:00

I have just two days left to raise $4500 to support the work of MIMA! The money raised will go toward providing loans to our clients, most of whom are women running microenterprises in Likoni. All you have to do is click on the link to the right!

Thank you for your support!!~Mary

Ramadan

2008-09-25T15:15:00.000+03:00

The most interesting change in my life here has been the holy month of Ramadan. It has affected every aspect of life here in Likoni. It started on the 2nd of September and will continue through the end of the month. There was a great deal of talk about Ramadan in the weeks leading up to it. Everyone at work, at home, strangers on the street, asked me if I was going to fast. My response was "I am going to try." But then I found out that it also meant no water. Now maybe this is common knowledge to the rest of the world, but I didn't know you couldn't drink water during Ramadan. I thought it was just no food. Considering it is getting to be the hot time of year and it is nearly 90 out everyday, I said I was going to drink water. Some people thought this made sense for me. After all I didn't grow up fasting for a month each year, I am not Muslim, and everyone wants me to be safe. There were a few people who essentially called me "weak sauce", but I was ok with it.
So Ramadan started and I did fast for a few days. However, several uncomfortable things started happening to me, including almost passing out on the ferry ride home one day. After that, my host mom told me not to fast anymore. So I tell people I am "half fasting", which really just means I skip lunch. I have been torn over it. On one hand I am living here and I want to try the traditions and customs and be a part of the life here. At the same time, I discovered when not eating, I felt sick, tired, and was much more prone to crying. Thus, the half-ass fasting.
At work, things have been pretty relaxed. Ok, the work environment here is always relaxed, but this has been different. There have not been very many meetings, women leave the office early to go home and prepare Iftar, the evening meal. There are frequent breaks during the day where people go to the mosque nearby to pray or out on to the veranda where they have mats set up for praying. In fact as I sit here typing, I can here the call to prayer at the mosque. I think they are teaching a small child how to do the call to prayer, because it is the voice of a small child. It is really beautiful. Oh, the regular guy took over now. Apparently that was all the kid could handle. Anyway, it has been an adjustment for me on a personal level. I have a lot to do in the next 3 months of being here and so my inclination is to push to get things done. But Ramadan is not time for getting a lot of work done, it is time for fasting and prayer.
Home life has been different too this month. First, we have a woman, Mariamu, who come to do the cleaning, laundry and cooking. It is a semi-common occurrence to have "house-help", especially in middle class homes here. It has meant that now I have someone who waits on me in the morning and cleans up after me. It is strange for me, but normal for everyone else. (Side note: when I told people that my parents didn't have house help they were very surprised. "If both parents work, who stays at home to cook and clean?" they asked. Then I told them that my parents also do small scale farming for fun! This was also met with mixed reactions).
I think the have it the toughest during Ramadan. The cooking starts much earlier and the meals are more involved than normal. The other day I came home at 1:30 and dinner preparations were already started. I don't know how they manage to cook for hours and are not able to eat or sample anything. That takes a will power that I just don't have. So because there are 5 women who do the cooking at home (Tuma, and Helima, Mariamu, My host mom and Auntie), they usually finish by about 6:00pm and we have to wait around to hear the call to prayer which is the signal that the sun has set and you can now end the fast. I have heard that you are actually supposed to pray and then eat, but whatever. We start with chai and an appetizer of sorts. Last night we had a little cake, the day before it was fried potatoes, sometimes it is bagia, which is deep fried nuggets of dough with onions and spinach (mmmmmmm). So that is the first course. Then we eat. This week there has been a lot of chipatis with beans made with coconut milk. This is one of my favorite meals. What is not to love about deep fried flat bread and milky beans? One of the other favorites is pilau. The closest equivalent I can come up with is pilaf (notice the name similarity), but pilau would kick pilaf's ass. It is rice with ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes, lots of spices and meat. It is served with salad which has some hot peppers in it.....Ok it is lunch time now and I have to stop talking about food. Oh and we have fresh juice too. Tamarind juice is excellent!

Then once we have finished everybody lays around and talks for a while. Everyone is exhausted from a day of not eating, working and now everyone needs to digest, so we just sit outside on the front porch. Suleiman usually entertains us with reciting the songs he is learning at school. We still do his homework together every night. Sometimes we sit and watch TV (I have to do a post about the TV over here soon). Anyway I have a lot more thoughts on this month, but this post is getting long and I need to get going. Hope all is well. I promise to throw a few more thoughts up here next week.

2008-08-26T17:43:00.000+03:00

So, I have not mentioned much about work. I work with MIMA, the microfinance portion of LICODEP. It was started over a year ago and has been gaining a lot of momentum within the Likoni community. It is structured as many microfinance institutions (MFIs. That is right, I am learning the lingo), with clients joining in groups of five, called solidarity groups. The groups serve to insure each others loans, and maintain member accountability. Each member is required to save 50 shillings (about 75 cents) per week. Then the members take loans when they have saved one third of the amount that they want to borrow. The first loan can be as little as 5,000 Ksh up to 10,000Ksh. The solidarity group members can only apply for loans two at a time.

The MIMA clients are predominantly women, small business owners living in Likoni, although there are plenty of men and non-business owners as well. Most of the businesses are one-person operations and range from day care centers to beauty shops to fish mongering to selling secondhand clothes to small produce stands. For almost all of them, they do not qualify for traditional loans and the chance to get a small loan (10,000Ksh = about $150), is a unique opportunity. Microfinace is a fast growing field, and there are many other MFIs within Mombasa. However, LICODEP is a recognized community leader and several members have expressed that they feel more comfortable dealing with people they know and trust as opposed to some of the large MFIs which serve over 15,000 clients (MIMA serves around 100). The other added benefit of MIMA is that the registration fees and mandatory savings are lower than the bigger MFIs, which puts membership within reach for many of the poorer people within Likoni.

Ok so what am I doing for MIMA? Good question. Right now I am acting almost like a business consultant (I know I am laughing too) for them. The operations are going fairly well, however, after a year of saving and lending to clients, there are some adjustments that need to be made and some more infrastructure put in place. I am almost finished researching and putting together the business plan, complete with reporting mechanisms to help MIMA measure their successes and shortcomings. I am also helping set up a simple database to track clients. In addition we are working to make MIMA self sufficient, and see how we can get the business to generate enough revenue from the interest from loans so that the staff can actually get paid (ok they get paid now, but not much). And if all this gets done and I still have time (or if I decide to stay here past December) we want to put together a few business workshops for the clients, as they have been wanting for nearly a year.

The day to day isn't super thrilling. In the mornings I get as much work done as I can. For the first several weeks I was researching the world of microfinance and the standard MFI business structure. In addition, there was a lot of observation time so I could become familiar with how MIMA runs. These days I have a lot of different stuff to do. Some days I go to the field with Mweupe, the MIMA field officer to meet with the clients and collect their savings and loan repayments. Other days I meet with other local MFIs. Last week I was doing a whole lot of data entry and cash flow projections. It’s a nice mix of stuff and I am really enjoying the relaxed pace of working here.

a few thoughts.....

2008-08-21T16:48:00.000+03:00

“White guilt” is one of those things I started dealing with in college, but sometimes I find myself stuck back at that questioning, wondering, confused place. I thought I had worked through it for the most part, but I suppose race, privilege and how it is that I personally deal with them is an ongoing process, something to big to be figured out all at once when one is still just becoming an adult (which I am still doing I think). I guess I think there is a sort of pressure, primarily from myself to have it figured out, to have come up with more answers. But rather than answering those questions these last two months have brought up more questions. Questions which are good, important, but often hard.

But I don’t have the answers and that is hard. Don’t get me wrong, I am having a fantastic time and in many ways my experiences in the last two months have been wonderful and this feels like the right place for me right now. There have, of course, been moments where I have not felt this way.

This is an excerpt from my journal a few weeks ago:

I am on the Beach in Diani right now. It is like I am sitting in a postcard with white sand lined with tall palm trees, blue green water and hand-carved fishing boats bobbing just off shore. I am with the other FSD interns. Tara is sleeping in the sun, Jeff is building an elaborate sand castle, Ryan is reading The Economist (which he paid nearly $7 for), and Anne is engrossed in her Kenya guide book trying to find something for her and her boyfriend to do when he comes to visit in just a few short weeks. Everything here is so horizontal: the sand, the water, the sky, even the trees feel horizontal because they stretch the entire length of the beach.

A man is approaches us from just south of where we are spread out. He is clearly heading for us, as we are the only people on this particular beach. I can see him coming for several minutes before he actually reaches us. Without thinking I inform Jeff and Ryan that, depending on what this man wants, one of them will be my stand in boyfriend. The thought feels a little wrong coming out. It was a reflex. The man has reached us by now, shakes each of our hands as he greets us. Some of the other interns don’t speak. It gets awkward. So I jump in and we chat for about 30 seconds. But really I am waiting for what we all think is coming, his sales pitch. As wazungu, we have become used to being approached by people selling hand carved wooden key chains, necklaces, polished seashells. It turns out this gentleman had a boat complete with scuba gear and can take us out to the reef located nearby. He says he will come back around 10:30. This guy is good. He doesn’t even ask, he just tells us. I explain to him that we are not planning any boat trips today. He says “Ok, I’ll return at 10:30”. Again, we decline, and he moves on down the beach, trying to find someone who wants to go out to the reef.

This is not an exceptional incident; rather this same scenario happens again about six times over the next hour. A man dressed in a bright red cloth, with yellow bracelets selling beaded belts approached us soon after that. His clothes were so bright, it was apparent he was wearing a costume and not his regular clothes. It turns out these are in fact his work clothes, meant to make him look like an “authentic” African, for the wazungu tourists who frequent this area. We all pass on the beaded belts, the hair braiding, the beach side massages, necklaces and other good that are solicited. I feel like shit telling people no over and over again, but I really don’t want anything.

After one man tries to sell us something and we are each trying to go back to our reading, sand castles, etc he sticks around. It is slightly awkward because I want to read, I want to relax, I don’t want to have a conversation about where I am from what I am doing in Kenya, etc. After he eventually leaves, Ryan asks if Kenyans have the same sense of awkwardness as Americans. I am not sure, but I think it could be true.

I also feel like shit because I am resenting them. Here I am in THEIR country enjoying the wonderful scenery, but their approaching me on the beach is an interruption to my relaxing on the beach as I try to even out my “tan”. I don’t want to have to think about the fact that there are few options for them and that there are probably 120 things they would rather be doing that approaching white people on the beach trying to sell their wares. After thinking about it for a while I realize that the thing I hate the most is the power dynamic. I have the power to promote them and I am being inundated with the opportunity to do so. In everything I have done for the last two months there is a pressure to buy stuff, which I am a pro at ignoring. But I am expected to be able to pay. In this instance on the beach I feel about to boil over. I hate having this power dynamic. I don’t like the fact that my white privilege is being thrown back in my face with every “No thank you” I say. Right now I just want to BE.

But In spite of this kneejerk reactions I was having while I was at Diani, I knew the woman offering massages, the brightly colored boy with the belts are just trying to make a living. There are so few jobs and tourism is down by over half from last year, as a result of the post election mayhem. They know that mzungu come to Kenya on vacation and therefore have more purchasing power than most Kenyans. The individuals selling on the beach are doing their jobs and trying to make their way, so it is incredibly unfair of me to resent them for it.

Overall I think this questioning and searching for what is right when dealing with the constant inequalities I see everyday is healthy. I would be worried if this wasn’t a struggle for me. Sometimes it is really hard to balance my selfishness with my conscience. It is hard to see people who have so few options struggle to make a living for themselves. But I am realizing more and more that it is ok not to have all of the answers right now. That I can take each day as it comes and make sure to let the good things here (of which there are so many) affect me just as much as the hard things.

A few pictures

2008-08-16T13:10:00.000+03:00

First, let me tell you a thing or two about taking pictures in Kenya, and the various things that have led to me not posting any until now. I have received a bit of flack from a number of people for not posting pictures and I want to clear up that it is not just because of my laziness.

So, I stick out quite a bit around here. Shocking, I know, but there are not that many other foreigners living in Likoni these days. The coast is a touristy area, so there are a lot of non-Africans passing through, but not a lot of them stay to meet the people and get to know the place. While people realize that tourism is a huge benefit to the Kenyan economy, there is a general disdain for tourists. They are known for flying in, going to see the lions and elephants (which I did two weeks ago by the way), heading to the beach (which I have also done), taking a few pictures of adorable Kenyan kids and getting back on the plane to enjoy their lives. One of the struggles that I have is communicating that I am here as a volunteer, here to help the community, and that I am not just another foreigner who is here to take pictures. So taking out my over sized digital camera and taking pictures of people isn't really the best idea, because it attracts even more attention to the fact that I am not from here, and have money.

The coast is a very Muslim area, and while some people love having their picture taken, there are some who adhere to the rule that one's picture should not be taken. However, if I ask, people generally will feel obligated to say yes.

In addition to this, people in the west love pictures of African kids and have used them for years in various ways to get funding. However, there are some who feel that after years of having their pictures taken, and sometimes not the most flattering pictures (think, starving children seen on TV with a bowl of gruel and flies around them), that the people taking the pictures might only use them for personal gain. As a visual person I will be the first to admit that I love pictures of African kids, but again, I have to walk the line and respect people's wishes.

So all in all, there are no real rules about pictures, but I have not taken all that many. Here are a few:

This one is my host auntie, Mama Helima. She has a small business selling the awesome fried potatoes and porridge.

Water tank in our front yard.

The front yard with laundry
A few weeks back almost everyone at home was sick. I thought this was sort of cute.

I learned to make chipatis.
Ok more to come. If and when I decide to take them!

Typical Morning

2008-08-05T17:25:00.000+03:00

At 6:15am the alarm on my cell phone goes off. It isn't too hard to get up, because the rest of the family has been up for at least the last half hour. Once in a while I try and roll over to get a few more precious minutes of sleep, but between the noise from the family getting ready for the day, the chickens outside and the hustle and bustle on the busy road outside, I usually fail and get up. I put on my kanga (sarong/wrap) and sleepily go to the kitchen, where I light the parafin stove, and heat up the water for my bath. It is usually pretty quick and I only almost started a fire once. Actually for the first several weeks I just used the shower (a real luxury in Likoni), but stopped because the water was so cold and I discovered, that while bucket baths are more work, it is worth it to have a warm water.
I have also noticed that I use way too much stuff in the shower. When I am walking to the bathroom in the morning, I have an armful of stuff: shampoo, conditioner, face soap, razor, body wash and a washcloth. Upon seeing all of my bath stuff, my friend Mammie said "Wow, I just have soap".

After I am done with my bath, I make my breakfast which consists of eggs from our chickens, chai (it isn't like the chai we drink in the states but it is very delicious), and either white bread or mandazi (donuts). I am trying to switch to porridge, because I am seriously missing whole grains and eating donuts everyday is potentially not the healthiest option for me. Sometimes I even get freshly squeezed orange juice OR mango/passion fruit juice. While I eat, the news is usually on so I can hear about the latest on Kenyan politics, people who are still displaced from the post election violence, just how hot it is going to get that day (not as hot as I thought it was going to be), Kenya's Olympic team, the terrible traffic in Nairobi, etc. Anyway then Swale my host brother and I head off to Licodep by about 8:30. He just returned home from finishing his degree in Kampala, Uganda and has been volunteering at Licodep while he finds a job.

The walk to work takes about 25 minutes. The first part of the walk is down a dusty (or if it has just rained, muddy) main street, where I focus on dodging the matatus, motor bikes and other pedestrians. There is a shortcut so as to avoid this chaos, but it is such an elaborate maze of cutting between houses, that even after having taken this way several times, I can't do it by myself. Then we pass by the ferry which is totally chaotic and busy. I get asked where I am going by the men in matatus who assume that I am going to Diani, the tourist area about an hour south. I tell them I live here ("Ninaishi hapa!) or pretend like I don't hear them. Then we cut through the small market to reach Shelly Beach Road, which leads to Licodep. Now this road, while within mere feet of the chaos of the ferry, seems miles away. It is quiet, beautifuly lined with tropical trees and flowers, with several huge villas, most of which are uninhabited. These houses are five times the size of most of the homes in Likoni. Apparently most of them are owned by rich people in Nairobi or elsewhere, who come down on some weekends. The houses are each guarded by tall concrete walls and gates to the driveways that have security guards there almost 24/7. There is some pedestrain traffic, lots of men selling jugs of water out of carts, a few motor bikes and matatus, but overall this is one of the quietest parts of my day.

Then we arrive at Licodep, which is actually one of the large villas I mentioned. It was bought for the organization by a donor a few years back. The first floor is mostly a social space, with a stereo, TV, a few games and lots of chairs, where you can almost always find people hanging out. There is also a small room for the youth counseling program and a small office for the microloan program. Then upstairs is where most of the offices are. I share an office with the program staff and volunteers so it is a busy place. There is a great view os some of the smaller houses nearby and just beyond them, the Indian Ocean. I have to admit that being able to see the ocean from your desk, sure beats being seated outside the women's bathroom at the WBDC for two years. Speaking of being at the office, it is tea time and I should be getting a bit of work done. This is a picture of me working.

Love from Kenya!

2008-07-18T13:23:00.000+03:00

First, I need to mention that I am using a keyboard that is a bit broken, so there may be a typo or two.

The last few weeks have been good. We figured out what direction my internship will be taking which is exciting. LICODEP had identified that they needed help with the micro enterprise and small business trainings a few months ago. They actually have a small micro loan program, MIMA, which was started with the help of another intern from the Foundation for Sustainable Development just over a year ago. It looks like my job will be to help grow the number of clients, assist with infrastructure and help set up some basic small business trainings for their clients. Right now there are other places that are doing trainings, but they are mostly in the city of Mombasa so they want something more local. Details are not yet worked out right now, but I am very excited about the potential of the project and the women I get to work with.
Part of the reason for the internship details not being worked out yet, is because i have been in conflict management and leadership development training with LICODEP for the past two weeks. At the beginning of each fiscal year they have a wide range of trainings to help build the capacity of the youth from all over the area. Then, based on the skills and knowledge presented during the trainings, they put together local action plans on how to educate and organize their communities. The first week was especially challenging because the instruction was all in Swahili. I had a few people to help translate and I followed along in the teachers manual, but i missed 60% of what they were talking about. The second week however, was primarily in English and was held at a beautiful beach resort in Mtwapa, just north of Mombasa.
It was a great program with a lot of helpful information, but the best part was actually having the time to make friends. I was nominated by the other people in the training to be the chair of the week, which pretty much just meant i got to open and close each day of training and make sure people knew where they were supposed to be next. I wasn't a big deal, but it was nice of them and made me feel less like an outsider. We even had some free time in the evenings, and I ended up busting out my old swimming teacher skills, and helping a few fellow trainees learn how to swim a little bit. There were a few tough moments too, when i didn't understand why people were laughing at me (i don't mind if people laugh at me, i just want to know why they are laughing so i can laugh too). Up until about a week ago my closest friend was Suleman, my five-year-old host brother. Now i feel like i have a small network of other 20 somethings to hang out with on the weekends.

I have so many other things that i want to write, but i have not made enough time to really put it into words and get it online. I am thinking of you all often and miss you. More soon, I promise. love, Mary

Settling in

2008-06-30T08:27:00.000+03:00

Hello there! I know I promised a blog before now, but life in Kenya has been busy, fun and at times overwhelming. Generally by the time I have processed (or at least attempted to do so) what is going on, writing it down seems like a daunting task, so I usually do a sudoku instead.

First things first: contact info for Mary
Cell phone (011-254-0713-959418)
Mailing address: Mary Paul
C/O Foundation for Sustainable Development
P.O. Box 43015-80100
Mombasa, Kenya
Skype name: Maryallegrapaul
(What is that? you don't know what Skype is? go to www.skype.com, download it, add me as a contact and we can talk on the Internet phone for free if we are both online. Or you can call me for cheap-ish rates through them as well)
Email is still Maryallegrapaul@gmail.com and I still want to hear from you.

So overall things here in Kenya have been going well. I flew into Mombasa on the 14th, with the five other interns. We spent the week in the city at a hotel learning Swahili, sitting through workshops on sustainable international development, Kenyan coastal culture, health and safety and learning our way around Mombasa. On the 20th, we were picked up by our host families and taken to our new homes. We were given the weekend to settle in a bit before starting with our host organizations the following Monday.

I am staying just south of Mombasa, in a town called Likoni. Mombasa is actually an island, so you have to take a ferry to get here. Originally, I knew I was going to be working here and I was thrilled at the idea of taking a boat to work everyday. As it turns out, the ferry ride is only 5 minutes long, is extremely packed, especially during rush hour and one of the pick-pocket hot spots. Luckily, my host family is in Likoni, so I don't have to deal with the rough commute and can just walk to work. Likoni is home to about 150,000 people according to what I have read. The area isn't overly developed and most of the people living here actually commute to work in the city or run small enterprises out of their homes or in the market. The ferry serves as the main artery to the rest of southern Kenya so there are a lot of trucks, cars and matatus (14 passenger buses, which I promise to write about later) crowding the streets. Islam is the main religion in the area so no matter where you are in the city five times a day you hear the call to prayer from one of the many mosques (including 5am every morning just across the street from my house). It also means that the women wear long dresses, cover their heads, and many of them also cover their faces, something I am still getting used to. Pictures will be posted sometime soon.

My host family is excellent. The Mwalizuma family has been incredibly warm and after a week I am feeling fairly at home. There are two parents. My host mom, Mama Mwalizuma, is an adult education teacher in Mombasa and Baba Mwalizuma runs a poultry farm at the house with about 350 chickens. There are five "kids" living at the house as well: Jack (27), Baimba (15), Helima (13), Fatumah (10) and Suleman (5). They have all been wonderful in helping me learn the language, instructing me on what is culturally appropriate ("Mary, don't eat with your left hand"), making me laugh, escorting me around town so I don't get lost, teaching me how to cook and generally just looking out for my well being. They also like to make fun of me in Swahili so half the time i am not sure what is funny about what I am doing, but I laugh along with them anyway. We have a new ritual (can you call it a ritual if it has only happened three times? I think so) where we all sit at the table after dinner and work on homework. My job is to help Suleman, which usually involves simple math and writing out the ABC's. In addition there is an aunt and uncle who hang out at the house during the day. The aunt, Mama Helima, runs a small business selling porridge and deep fried breaded potatoes just outside the family compound every evening. So far I think this has been my favorite ritual at the house. First, because the food is so good (there will be a future post on food as well), but secondly because it means that all of the neighbors and family come over to sit, eat and talk for a few hours. It has been a great way to meet people and learn more about Kenyan coastal culture. They have even started cluing me in on some of the neighborhood gossip, which in an odd way, makes me feel at home. My Swahili is very rough at this point, but people are generally willing to work with me and speak a bit in English when I get really stuck.

When I was trying to think of what to write I started thinking about a few of the best moments I have experienced since I have been here. Many of them have been language related things that have just made me laugh.

1. I met a man named My Love. Apparently his dad had a dream the night before he was born in which he was told to name his child My Love. So when greeting him one says "How are you My Love?" At first I thought he was playing a little joke on me. He wasn't. There are just so many jokes you can do with this so I'll let you imagine.

2. People say "I'm coming" when they are going. I think it means they are coming back after they go, but there have been several times where someone says I am coming as they turn and walk away from me. I vaguely remember this happening in Ghana as well so I am going to blame this on a glitch in the British colonial government when they set-up the education system here. I have no real basis for this assumption other than the fact that both countries were colonized by Britain.

3. Sitting with Suleman, practicing Swahili. We were practicing some basics when I realized just how silly I must look to this little boy. I was saying something along the lines of "I am called Mary. I come from America where I go to school and am artist. I worked in Chicago three years. I like to drink Chai. I eat bananas and bread" and "One, two five, four, three, six, seven" (I was having issues mixing up 3 and 5). Now I am proud that I have been able to pick some things up, and anticipate getting much better with the language. But I am 24 years old and must look like a total idiot to this kid, which might be why he laughs at me a lot.

3. Cooking. Helima was boiling some unrecognizable meat so I asked her what it was. She said "Meat of dog". I was mildly shocked. I had been appalled when someone had asked me if they ate dog meat in Kenya, and now it looked like I was going to be proven wrong! Seeing the confused look on my face she further explained "For Whiskey, it's his supper". She mean "Meat for the dog". DUH Mary!

That is it for now. Love and miss you all.

Mary Allegra