So I just finished packing for my trip to see Louis Vayo II, who, as described by Farhan, is an uber volunteer and I am lucky to get to see his work and learn from him.
It's about 5-7 hours to Marungu from Loitokitok if I'm lucky, I'll take a matatu (like a microbus in Bangladesh, which is just a glorified white van) for about 300 KSH and then hopefully take a bus headed towards Mombasa that will stop to our destination on the way for about 700 KSH max. If not, it'll just a bus to Voi for about 400 KSH and then local transportation to Marungo. It'll be a fun trip if anything just for being the first time I can independently plan and execute a trip in a foreign land.
I'll be going with Iwona, Tamita, and Marielle, and it should be a fun time!
Like today...when we attended a presentation by Boston University Students on their analysis of Kenya's new health system. They used a translator to interpret their data and most of their slides consisted of pictures, which was perfect considering that most of their audience was Masai, whose outfits shone a brilliant red within the crowds.
The place we went to was in Kimana, and looked like a village designed by a modern Mary Antoinette. It looked like what I'd imagine farmers would live in, overly big thatch hut looking buildings, but had electricity, flush toilets, and clean water. It was like a small oasis for us volunteers who have been used to squatting (by being used to, I mean by having no other choice, gross).
On the way though, our matatu got stopped by the checkpoint and an official went to my side of the window and started interrogating me. And by me, I mean only me. She wanted to know who I was, where I was living, where I was from (she didn't seem satisfied with the fact that I was American). Finally, she asked to see my passport, which I didn't have, but seeing that the effort was just more work, she let me go.
This is the third time I've been racially profiled in Kenya, not for my citizenship to a different country, but for my skin color. The first time being the first day I arrived in Loitokitok when a drunken aid worker told me he hated me because I was Asian (and took it back when I told him I was from America). The second time being last week when someone called me the N word (though apparently here in Kenya the word is used only in the way they hear it from rap videos). My skin color gives people here the disposition that as an Asian, I'm here to steal their jobs, or...I'm dark enough that a lot of people mistake me for Ethiopean and Somalian. I'm guessing the latter assessment was why I was stopped today. I guess I just need to have patience and make sure I never say the wrong thing for whatever reasons.
God bless you all.
Tanim
It's about 5-7 hours to Marungu from Loitokitok if I'm lucky, I'll take a matatu (like a microbus in Bangladesh, which is just a glorified white van) for about 300 KSH and then hopefully take a bus headed towards Mombasa that will stop to our destination on the way for about 700 KSH max. If not, it'll just a bus to Voi for about 400 KSH and then local transportation to Marungo. It'll be a fun trip if anything just for being the first time I can independently plan and execute a trip in a foreign land.
I'll be going with Iwona, Tamita, and Marielle, and it should be a fun time!
Like today...when we attended a presentation by Boston University Students on their analysis of Kenya's new health system. They used a translator to interpret their data and most of their slides consisted of pictures, which was perfect considering that most of their audience was Masai, whose outfits shone a brilliant red within the crowds.
The place we went to was in Kimana, and looked like a village designed by a modern Mary Antoinette. It looked like what I'd imagine farmers would live in, overly big thatch hut looking buildings, but had electricity, flush toilets, and clean water. It was like a small oasis for us volunteers who have been used to squatting (by being used to, I mean by having no other choice, gross).
On the way though, our matatu got stopped by the checkpoint and an official went to my side of the window and started interrogating me. And by me, I mean only me. She wanted to know who I was, where I was living, where I was from (she didn't seem satisfied with the fact that I was American). Finally, she asked to see my passport, which I didn't have, but seeing that the effort was just more work, she let me go.
This is the third time I've been racially profiled in Kenya, not for my citizenship to a different country, but for my skin color. The first time being the first day I arrived in Loitokitok when a drunken aid worker told me he hated me because I was Asian (and took it back when I told him I was from America). The second time being last week when someone called me the N word (though apparently here in Kenya the word is used only in the way they hear it from rap videos). My skin color gives people here the disposition that as an Asian, I'm here to steal their jobs, or...I'm dark enough that a lot of people mistake me for Ethiopean and Somalian. I'm guessing the latter assessment was why I was stopped today. I guess I just need to have patience and make sure I never say the wrong thing for whatever reasons.
God bless you all.
Tanim
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