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My first visit to Kibera (it's the slums area that appears in The Constant Gardener if anyone is interested) last night went off with a bang - literally. It was dark when we got there and we were swarmed by hundereds of people eager to catch a glimpse of a Misungi (white person). The smaller fireworks went off fine - the kids were completely amazed. But as soon as the bigger ones went off, people scrambled and ran away asuming it was the all too familiar sound of gunshots. Eventually we had to stop letting them off because there was a hunt on for thieves in the area, who were eventually tracked down and stoned and beaten to death right in front of us. We left for our safety as things started getting out of hand. What had been a nice idea was brought back down to earth by the reality of the poverty and crime that dominates the lives of the community in Kibera. It is a hellish place that makes your heart heavy.
Today has been a frustrating day. It was the first day of orientation and I have never in met such an incompetent group of people running one of the biggest volunteer NGO's in Kenya. Their screw up's are unbelievable. Forgetting to pick up volunteers from the airport, giving us no information about our placements, being completely unaware of who is in which part of Kenya and the co-ordinator even tried to tell me I had spent the last two nights living somewhere different from where I had, with a completey different family. The woman is really an idiot! There was no welcome, she went straight in to the code of conduct and our language training consisted of giving us four pages of swahili words and their meanings and reading them one by one to us, followed by asking, "any questions?". It is a far cry from the caring, supportive staff at VSN in Nepal. Worst of all is that I sent them an email in May asking if it would be ok to carry out my research project on HIV while I am here and they said it would be fine. So I spent two weeks preparing it and when I spoke to Irene today she said I need a letter of permission from the Kenyan Ministry of Health. OK, fine but if they had told me that I could have got one and now I may not be able to do it. I will have to spend next weekend trying to get permission. They don't realise how a mistake like that can affect a person.
Another problem is that they expect you abide strictly by the project guidelines, there is not the same freedom and responsibility we were given in Kathmandu. I am going to find this difficult because there are SO many holes in their programme. I will be sitting on my hands for 8 weeks. I am going to try some gentle persuasion and if that doesn't work I will do things behind their back to an extent because there is no way that I am going to pay to be here for so long and be frustrated by the work I am doing.
Anyway.... now that I have got my frustrations out about VICDA...I am loving Kenya. The Kenyans are wonderful, so friendly with a great sense of humour. Next weekend I am going on a 3 day camping safari and I am considering a week camping and river refting in Uganda. It is migration time in the Masaii Mara so the animals are out in abundance and some of the volunteers who have been have said it is pretty spectacular.
I met the other volunteers in my group today and they are mostly great. We have over 14 countries between us and many different accents. Of course I got the usual slatings from the Canadamericans for 'jumpers' and "just a wee one". One of the guys has a guitar so I'm hoping by the end of the week we can do some (simple) duets.
For now I am going to be placed in the Dougareti clinic but in two weeks there is an Aids clinic opening in Kibera which I will go to. It was supposed to open last month but the man who founded it died from Aids before he got the chance. Sad. I want to also do some sex education in schools but this too has so many boundaries. Parents don't want their children to learn about consom use and HIV saying it is inappropriate, yet over 60% of people infected with HIV in Kenya are 15-24 year olds. It seems the parents are in denial.
So...I have to go and catch a Matatu before they stop running for the night.
Take care and lots of love xxx
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