A Cultural Learning Update ☺ (Part 1)

Happpppy St. Patricks Day to all! J Whew, it has been a while since I’ve written to you all and it’s high time for an update.

Well the biggest news, as most of you might know, is that Kenya had their elections on 4^th March. They voted for president, Member of Parliament (MP), governor, senator, women’s representative and county rep. It was their 4^th election for president and everyone was wary of how the results would be accepted. There was a fantastic voter turn-out and I believe there are comments on it being a world record now but I’m not positive about that. It does say a lot about the people here because they were willing to stand in the hot sun for hours and hours to vote. I don’t know how many Americans would be willing to stand for 6-8-10 hours in the sun just to vote. I believe there were around 14 million registered voters and around 12 million of them voted!!! There is one big difference in that in America once you register you’re good to go unless you move or leave the country but here they register a few months before the election to specifically vote this year. This promotes more voting because if you’re willing to spend the time to register then you’re much more likely to take the time to actually vote later on. Ok, I don’t want to comment too much on anything more election-related since this is an open blog but I will say the NY Times and some other newspapers are covering the election and results if you’re interested.

I can say that while the elections were happening I was bonding a lot with all the other Peace Corps Kenya volunteers! They had us all in the same place just as a precautionary measure and it was great to be able to meet the other volunteers and hear about their experiences while getting to know them. I also was able to meet some business and public health volunteers who are only 3-4 hours from me so now I have new people I can visit!

I am now back in the land of Sipili and it’s so good to be back here. I had missed my kids and it was extra hard because I knew they were all still at school without any activities to do or class to attend. Nation-wide, there was a week off of school so everyone could go to their homes to vote where they were registered. Most students I found out from other volunteers went home but mine did not for some reason. They just hung out and basically had recess 24/7. But now school has resumed and the learning is back in motion though we only have a month or so left before the first term ends.

This weekend was a very culture-filled weekend for me! I successfully mopped my cement-floor house Kenyan-style (with a bucket and a rag on my hands and knees) though I don’t know if I was actually successful because it looks very similar to how it did before I started….hmm.

I also went to explore the market for the first time on my own. There is a food market every day but on Saturdays in Sipili it is market day. This means you can buy clothing-1^st and 2^nd hand, pots & pans, shoes, a wider variety of food and other good stuff. I had been shown the 2^ndhand section back in January but had yet to venture there again until Saturday. I now have one section that is officially my favorite…the secondhand clothing section. Back in America I loved going to thrift stores and digging through bins or moving hanger after hanger to try and find that one ridiculous but awesome article of clothing and now, it’s like Goodwill moved next door to me and is open every single Saturday! Jackpot!!! But seriously, a lot of the clothing actually did come from Goodwill and similar stores and the market is a mere 5 minute walk from my house, how awesome is that?! I was mostly browsed (though I did snatch one cute dress-shoulder pads still intact) and I think in the future when I know how much I should pay for everything, I can find some first-rate classy stuff. I plan on leaving the majority of my clothes behind that I brought with me but if I can find some keepers and help the Kenyan economy a bit then by all means, bring on the Bill Cosby sweaters, the shoulder pads and the outrageously colored outfits!

In addition to that on Sunday I used my jiko stove for the first time. It is a small maybe 10-15 inches in diameter stove that sits a few inches off the ground and it lit with charcoal. I still have some things to learn with it because it took me 45 min or an hour to just light. I baked a loaf of banana bread-the first bread I’ve ever made myself-with green bananas in honor of St. Pattys Day. Sadly, the bottom half inch was burnt to a crisp. I followed that up with 4 small muffin type tins filled with homemade brownie mix…these also burned a lot on the bottom. They ended up tasting similar to a hard chocolate candy. But it was chocolatey so I was happy J All in all, I was sitting next to my jiko for about 3 hours just to cook bread and brownies! Thankfully I had a good book and the kids would come over and chat too. It ended up being a relaxing Sunday activity since I wasn’t in any rush and knew the outcome would be tasty!