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
