Welcome to Kenya

Sorry its taken me so long to post again, its extremely hard to get internet access out here.
This first week in Kenya has been interesting to say the least. When I was headed to the airport, the idea of living in a 3rd world country suddenly became surreal, and I became very anxious and nervous headed to my terminal. Each step became more lethargic and tepid, but as I passed through security my fears began to subside and I became more comfortable.

I spent over 30 hours between layovers and flights before finally arriving in Kenya. Two other volunteers and I were picked up from the airport and taken to a volunteer hostel to spend the night. It was New Years Eve, but we got in too late to celebrate. When I walked into the volunteer hostel I was surprised when I was greeted by a very attractive 22 year old Kenyan woman. She was in charge of the hostel, and I spent my New Years Eve just talking to her about what I should expect for this next month.

The next few days consisted of meeting the other volunteers and going through orientation for our programs. Most of the other volunteers are from Australia, which works in my favor since I'm traveling there once my time in Kenya is finished. It is truly amazing what some of these other volunteers have done.  A volunteer from Iran was on his second trip here, to check up on a feeding program he had started in his first volunteer experience. And another volunteer from Australia had fund raised enough money to build a small school in the town where he works.

Once orientation was finished, I was taken to my home-stay which is where I would live for the next month. I didn't know what to expect, but was shocked when we were brought into a rather nice place. When we walked into the house, we were greeted by the live in maid. She explained to me that my host mom was in the US until Sunday, which I couldn't quite comprehend. After scouring the pictures in the house it became apparent to me that our Host Mom was American. The maid whose name is Selema, told us that our Host Mom whose name is Anena, had volunteered through the same program we did. She fell in love with Kenya so much, that she moved out here soon after her volunteer experience and adopted the two orphans she had stayed with who are now 18 and 19 and staying with us as well.

The other volunteer that is staying with me is an American as well. She has been very easy to get along with, as she seems to be one of the few people intent on talking even more than I do. Our first night in Kenya we were quickly reminded that although we were staying in a nice place, we were still in Africa. Throughout the night I had no encounters with mosquitoes or any other insects, but my American friend was not as lucky. She was constantly being bit by mosquitoes throughout the night, and at 4 AM I heard a loud scream to look over and witness the largest cockroach I had ever seen crawling up her face. She flicked it off herself in a panic, and I quickly smashed it with my Steve Jobs book (Thanks Apple!)

The next day we left our surprisingly nice place and stepped into the slum where we would be working. Everyone's eyes were fixated on us as we walked through the town, and I even heard one man shout, "The british are coming!" At our job, which is HIV/AIDS awareness, it was explained to us that the town we worked in was filled with mostly bars and brothels. A big issue within their community is the sex workers are uneducated when it comes to HIV. It would be our responsibility to educate the community about HIV including the sex workers, making house calls to deliver the results of individuals' HIV test results, and doing community outreaches. I am excited with our position, and can't wait to help coordinate some of the educational outreaches we will do.