So it's been a while since I wrote but there is so much to say. It's half term break, and I can't believe time has flown so quickly! I have already been in Kenya 4 months. The first 8 weeks of school have been a whirlwind to say the least. On my first day I was asked on the spot to help teach evolutionary biology in my ESS class which was quite a shock. Somehow I made it work though and from there it has really been simply amazing. I won't bore you with my day to day account of every detail that has happened. But put simply- I love it here. Here are 5 things I feel have been the most life changing:
- The staff: I think it is so rare to find a place where the staff are so kind, supportive, and genuinely happy. They are truly a pleasure to work with and maintain such a high level of happiness even in the most frustrating situations.
- The students: They are fantastic. Despite their evident struggles academically they are just so inquisitive and appreciative for any help you give them that it's impossible not to miss them while you're away.
- Making a difference: I have found that any kind of effort I put towards these kids takes them a long way and helps develop what the school envisions for the future.
- Teaching: I think I have found my passion. While I will readily admit that I am not good at it. I enjoy the challenge every day of engaging the students and coming up with innovative ways to present material. It seems to give me energy and really rewarding.
- Learning and growing: I feel that I am learning so much from this experience about myself and others.
I wake up every day with an overabundant feeling of appreciation for being selected to be a fellow at the academy. While there are setbacks and hurdles all the time, the first 8 weeks have been fantastic and I can't wait for the next! They have somehow blocked shutterfly, but I will be uploading new pics soon!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
The Academy
Hello all! My apologies for the lack of posts. There is no internet in our apartment so it has proven a bit more difficult than expected to post regularly. I am finally at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa and after only a week, I can tell it is going to be amazing. There is so much to learn here as far as the campus culture goes, but it is all very exciting. The new students arrived yesterday, and I have four students who are my "dorm daughters" Faith, Elsie, Karishma, and Sukaina. Suakaina and Karishma are from the Congo and Faith and Elsie are from Kenya. Two are year 9, and two are year 10 so I am sure they will get along great. Training here was a bit overwhelming because there was simply so much to do and so much to learn in a very short period of time. However the staff here are incredible and really dedicated to the mission of this school and the development of these students. Americans are in the minority, as many of my colleagues are either from the UK or Kenyan. The campus is breathtaking although there are the occasional blips of power outages and a definite need for more supplies, but it is definitely a place where students can excel and grow. I will post pictures of the campus and my apt soon!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
A wedding, new friends, and sea turtles
Hi Everyone! I am so glad to finally have the internet access now be able to blog regularly. So here goes my second attempt at blogging. Let me begin by telling you a bit about my travel plan. So I arrived here in Kenya on June 26th for my friend Sabilah's wedding. After the wedding, I travelled to Watamu, Kenya to volunteer at Local Ocean Trust: Watamu Turtle Watch, a sea turtle conservation center. I was there for about 2.5 weeks and then flew to Nairobi, Kenya to stay with my cousin Aliya and volunteer at the clinic she help manages, Jacaranda Health, which is a mobile clinic that caters to pregnant mothers. After volunteering here for 2 weeks, I will then head back to Mombasa to start training for my teaching fellowship at the Aga Khan Academy.
So I guess I will have to start with the wedding. In short- it was AMAZING. We arrived the Monday the week of the wedding, but the wedding activities didn't actually start until Friday. I flew in the my friend, Sophia, and since we had some free time we organized a couple of excursions before the wedding activities began. Monday we had a relaxing day by the pool and met a lot of other people attending the wedding. Tuesday we went on a one day safari to Tsavo East National Park. We had to leave pretty early in the morning, and then our guide whisked us off to a beautiful park where we saw tons of animals. We saw elephants, giraffes, warthogs, dik diks, and even some female lions who were still recovering after taking an elephant down. We had lunch at this wonderful restaurant that was at the top of a mountain (the drive was very scary up there)and overlooked all of Tsavo. From there we went on another game drive and saw more animals before leaving the park at sunset. We got back to the hotel just in time to sit down and have dinner with everyone though which was a lot of fun. Wednesday, we left early again and this time went to Whasini Island for snorkeling. We drove quite a ways to a marine reserve where they loaded us on a fuel powered dhow. We sailed (over extremely rough water) out to the reef where we jumped right in the ocean and snorkeled around with a guide. The reef was gorgeous and the fish were HUGE! They were so brightly colored and graceful. We also got to see an octopus as well. After snorkeling we got back on the boat and headed to the actual island for lunch. The restaurant where we had lunch was part of a hotel and was situated on a cliff that overlooked the water. We all ate at one long table and then went on a tour of Whasini village. We walked through the dirt roads and looked at the mud huts that the people live in and ended up at a boardwalk that is a project sponsored by the community. We paid a small entrance fee and walked among the mangroves with our guide who taught us about the 3 different types of mangroves and how they are beneficial to the ecosystem. After that we hopped back on our boats and sailed back to the marine reserve where our drive picked us up and dropped us back to the hotel. Thursday and Friday were spent at the hotel of course, and the best thing about it was that were were able to meet the bride and grooms' friends from New York, London, and elsewhere and become really close with them. Thursday night we all went clubbing together at a place called Il Covo, we basically filled the place up which made it tons of fun. Friday was the mehndi/pithi ceremony which was so much fun. All the girls walked Sabilah in under a brightly colored cloth and the boys walked the groom in as well. They were seated in special chairs and went through some of the traditional Indian ceremonies and games. We all went through the line to throw rice over the two and give them our best wishes. After that, there was delicious food served, great music, and dancing of course. The next morning was the Nikkah ceremony (religious commitment) which was overlooking the ocean. The chairs were draped in beautiful white cloth with green bows and the platform where the bride and groom sat was also draped in white. The ceremony was very nice and peaceful and there were pictures and sherbet afterwards. That evening was the reception, so we all got dressed up in our saris and went down to a pavilion/tent which was beautifully decorated. The food and dancing were a lot of fun and it was quite a nice party. Sunday morning there was one last brunch and then we all relaxed by the pool before everyone left. I departed on Monday via taxi for Watamu, and it was hard to say goodbye to all the new friends I made and especially to Sabilah and Moyez, of course. Check out a slideshow of the wedding pictures
We arrived in Watamu in the afternoon and I was greeted right away by Ruth, the volunteer coordinator.She showed me to my room and gave me a tour of the project and explained some of the basics about staying there. I settled in and then travelled via tuk tuk to the Watamu supermarket. I was surprised to find pasta, soy sauce, and even frosted mini wheats! I came back with quite a haul in the tuk tuk. I also met the other volunteer staying at Lallie's House (on the Turtle Watch property)- Sophie from Newcastle, England. She gave me some great tips about living at the project and really showed me the ropes. I went through some training with Fikiri, the release coordinator; Kahindi, the rehab facility manager; and Ruth, the volunteer coordinator to gain a better sense of all that goes on at the project and how I would be helping. I was so excited to be involved right away! Our typical schedule consisted of cleaning the tanks in the morning, going on release with Fikiri (either morning or afternoon), and going for sea baths, mangrove walks, or beach surveys as needed. The project is fantastic and the people are great to work with- it's a very laid back environment, and really rewarding work as well. Within my first week I went on a turtle release, felt turtle eggs, and saw hatchlings which were all incredible! The second week was pretty exciting as well as we got a HUGE turtle in Uyombo that weighed about 200kgs and also released another HUGE turtle from the rehab center. The project really does a great job of involving the community through education and awareness and supporting the community by compensating he fishermen when they accidentally catch a turtle in their fishing nets. It was a great experience working with everyone at the project, and I didn't really want to leave but was also excited to see Nairobi. Check out some pictures of me in Watamu
I arrived in Nairobi 2 days ago and am staying with my cousin Aliya. She works with a mobile health clinic called Jacaranda that serves women in Nairobi with pre and postnatal care at a reasonable cost. I'm just helping them with some projects here and there and will also be helping them develop a protocol reference system for the nurses. Sorry for the long post, but thanks for reading!
-Safiya
So I guess I will have to start with the wedding. In short- it was AMAZING. We arrived the Monday the week of the wedding, but the wedding activities didn't actually start until Friday. I flew in the my friend, Sophia, and since we had some free time we organized a couple of excursions before the wedding activities began. Monday we had a relaxing day by the pool and met a lot of other people attending the wedding. Tuesday we went on a one day safari to Tsavo East National Park. We had to leave pretty early in the morning, and then our guide whisked us off to a beautiful park where we saw tons of animals. We saw elephants, giraffes, warthogs, dik diks, and even some female lions who were still recovering after taking an elephant down. We had lunch at this wonderful restaurant that was at the top of a mountain (the drive was very scary up there)and overlooked all of Tsavo. From there we went on another game drive and saw more animals before leaving the park at sunset. We got back to the hotel just in time to sit down and have dinner with everyone though which was a lot of fun. Wednesday, we left early again and this time went to Whasini Island for snorkeling. We drove quite a ways to a marine reserve where they loaded us on a fuel powered dhow. We sailed (over extremely rough water) out to the reef where we jumped right in the ocean and snorkeled around with a guide. The reef was gorgeous and the fish were HUGE! They were so brightly colored and graceful. We also got to see an octopus as well. After snorkeling we got back on the boat and headed to the actual island for lunch. The restaurant where we had lunch was part of a hotel and was situated on a cliff that overlooked the water. We all ate at one long table and then went on a tour of Whasini village. We walked through the dirt roads and looked at the mud huts that the people live in and ended up at a boardwalk that is a project sponsored by the community. We paid a small entrance fee and walked among the mangroves with our guide who taught us about the 3 different types of mangroves and how they are beneficial to the ecosystem. After that we hopped back on our boats and sailed back to the marine reserve where our drive picked us up and dropped us back to the hotel. Thursday and Friday were spent at the hotel of course, and the best thing about it was that were were able to meet the bride and grooms' friends from New York, London, and elsewhere and become really close with them. Thursday night we all went clubbing together at a place called Il Covo, we basically filled the place up which made it tons of fun. Friday was the mehndi/pithi ceremony which was so much fun. All the girls walked Sabilah in under a brightly colored cloth and the boys walked the groom in as well. They were seated in special chairs and went through some of the traditional Indian ceremonies and games. We all went through the line to throw rice over the two and give them our best wishes. After that, there was delicious food served, great music, and dancing of course. The next morning was the Nikkah ceremony (religious commitment) which was overlooking the ocean. The chairs were draped in beautiful white cloth with green bows and the platform where the bride and groom sat was also draped in white. The ceremony was very nice and peaceful and there were pictures and sherbet afterwards. That evening was the reception, so we all got dressed up in our saris and went down to a pavilion/tent which was beautifully decorated. The food and dancing were a lot of fun and it was quite a nice party. Sunday morning there was one last brunch and then we all relaxed by the pool before everyone left. I departed on Monday via taxi for Watamu, and it was hard to say goodbye to all the new friends I made and especially to Sabilah and Moyez, of course. Check out a slideshow of the wedding pictures
We arrived in Watamu in the afternoon and I was greeted right away by Ruth, the volunteer coordinator.She showed me to my room and gave me a tour of the project and explained some of the basics about staying there. I settled in and then travelled via tuk tuk to the Watamu supermarket. I was surprised to find pasta, soy sauce, and even frosted mini wheats! I came back with quite a haul in the tuk tuk. I also met the other volunteer staying at Lallie's House (on the Turtle Watch property)- Sophie from Newcastle, England. She gave me some great tips about living at the project and really showed me the ropes. I went through some training with Fikiri, the release coordinator; Kahindi, the rehab facility manager; and Ruth, the volunteer coordinator to gain a better sense of all that goes on at the project and how I would be helping. I was so excited to be involved right away! Our typical schedule consisted of cleaning the tanks in the morning, going on release with Fikiri (either morning or afternoon), and going for sea baths, mangrove walks, or beach surveys as needed. The project is fantastic and the people are great to work with- it's a very laid back environment, and really rewarding work as well. Within my first week I went on a turtle release, felt turtle eggs, and saw hatchlings which were all incredible! The second week was pretty exciting as well as we got a HUGE turtle in Uyombo that weighed about 200kgs and also released another HUGE turtle from the rehab center. The project really does a great job of involving the community through education and awareness and supporting the community by compensating he fishermen when they accidentally catch a turtle in their fishing nets. It was a great experience working with everyone at the project, and I didn't really want to leave but was also excited to see Nairobi. Check out some pictures of me in Watamu
I arrived in Nairobi 2 days ago and am staying with my cousin Aliya. She works with a mobile health clinic called Jacaranda that serves women in Nairobi with pre and postnatal care at a reasonable cost. I'm just helping them with some projects here and there and will also be helping them develop a protocol reference system for the nurses. Sorry for the long post, but thanks for reading!
-Safiya
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