wow..... i have been a failure at blogging

haha well its been pretty much forever... actually over a month if im not mistaken.

well in that time... i have finished travelling returned to mombasa and had a few very busy weeks back on project. Im overseeing a few different things from a youth to hire program to a new group called sounds of change. Its been a blast so far and im glad to be back at it.

I have to say (this is for amanda if you read this) when we did our orientation in toronto and they talk about the stages you go through when u travel and volunteer... i honestly thought to myself ... oh im beyond that haha...... well the honeymoon phase has ended and with serious consequence haha. No just joking but I definitely notice that my temper is somewhat short and things like bad internet connections make me loose my mind. However, im sure it will pass and I actually think it already is, last week was rough but I realized its just not worth going to places with slow internet cause my day will be ruined after that haha

on another note... its officially really rainy and muddy here now (who would have thought with it being rainy season and all). Today I thought it was going to get sunny... boy was I wrong. Wore my sandals out... bad call ended up taking them off to walk home in bare feet through the thick mud to avoid slipping with them on.... it was lovely!

ok hope all is well at home
Jessie

Kigali Memorial Center

Well today me and Michelle spent the greater part of the day at the kigali memorial center. It is an entire museum devoted to information on the Rwandan Genocide. It was definitely the most powerful museum I have ever visited. The war museum in Ottawa is an amazing building but I think simply the topic of the genocide is just so powerful. The exhibits have many movies and interviews and stories. Both me and Michelle found ourselves in tears at quite a few times throughout the day. The stories of the people who let people seek refuge in their houses was most powerful for me.

anyways an interesting day.... learned alot!

jessie

Its been a while!

hmm where to begin.

Well I will tell you all about my last few days in Uganda. Me and michelle left on thursday from kampala Uganda and headed towards Buhoma on the western border of uganda. It was a 12 hour bus ride.... ugh but quite cool. The last three hours were along this tiny dirt road snaking its way up these steep mountains. Aunty tammy it reminded me of you.... michelle was freaking out because it was like just wide enough for the bus and if you drove off it was a long way down..... shannon lake road:). anyways after a very long bus ride we arived ina small town thewn loaded into the back of a pick up truck with about 12 others... and enough supplies for a week (needles to say it was full) and headed to bhuoma. After 9km of hair raising driving and a numb but we arrived. We stayed the night in a lodge in buhoma inside Bwindi Impenetrable forest national park. In the morning we woke early and started our hike.
The first day of the hike was mostly within the park. We had two porters to carry our big back packs, a giude, and two rangers with rifles in case anything got to close. We walked 15 km the first day up and down two passes and then ended with a long ascent up to our camp.... and when I say long I mean we climbed straight up a mountain for about 3 hrs. We were tired!

The camp at the top is called Nkuringo campsite..... amazing. U sit on top of the mountain with 360 degree views over the bwindi forest, the democratic republic of congo (just a few kms away) and south to a series of 7 volcanoes. Soo amazing
The next day we took off at 8 again and had a very long day. U walk 10km along a road snaking its way along the tops of the mountains through little villages then turn off and start moving a few valleys over. The next 7 km was all up and down but scenic. After completing the 17km before lunch we stopped and ate and watched the local villages at work in the field. The children were terrified of us and literally ran away. Its pretty remote! After lunch we continued down to the lake just a km or two and loaded into hollowed out tree canoes and paddled across lake mutanda for 3.5 hrs. After that it was 5km more to kisoro and our place for the night....

it was alot of fun but alot of walking and we wereexhausted. One of the funniest highlights was having to tuck our pants into our socks and run as fast as we could along one section of trail to avoid being bitten by the millions of red ants swarming the trail.... that and the huge black momba snakes we saw!!

anyways today we have arrived in kigali Rwanda. The drive here through the mountains was excellent and i think we will enjoy our time here.

Ok thats all for now. Hope all is well at home!
Jessie

PS- YCI is letting me head back to mombasa to do the second project. This is amazing as I will be able to take off running as soon as I get there and continue along the great projects we got started!!

Uganda

well we made it across the border yesterday to uganda. The customs people were very friendly and it went smoothly. However we made the mistke of forgetting to figure out the currency conversion and then arriving after the banks had closed before the long weekend for easter... woops.. anyways we eventually figured it out.
Uganda is amazing, lush green, rolling hills... lake victoria... we love it. However we walked across the start of the nile today here in Jinja and were taking picture of the dam and the river when we were stopped by a uganda army officer... apparently taking pictures of the dam is against the law and they assume u are a terrorist for doing so..... woops! so after he took our cameras and wanted to take us away... we managed to have another army lady come over who spoke better english and talk our way out of it and even get our cameras back... minus a few pictures... woops! But no worries we will make sure to read signs from now on...... even though there we none warning us against this haha

Hope all is well at home

Jessie

Navaisha

Well we left mombasa on saturday night. It was very sad to say goodbye to everyone. Have made alot of good friends there. We left at 10:30 pm and took a bus to nairobi. We arrived at 6;30am and transfered to a matatu and headed to Navaisha. When we arrived we literally got dropped on the side of the highway with all our stuff.... so we had not alot of choice and got onto two motor bikes with all of our gear and headed for the lake... it was like a 40 min motor bike ride and ended up costing much more than we wanted but oh well.

Anyways we are staying at this place called top camp which sit way up above the lake and is amazing. We went the first afternoon for a bike ride with a local we met down to one of the soda lakes and watched the hippos and flammingos and then headed home and saw some girraffes on the way.

The yesterday we got up early and did a bike safari through hells gate national park. It was amazing, we saw zebras, girraffes, water buffalo all sorts of antelope, gazelles etc and babboons and warthogs. We explored a huge set of ravines at the end which tomb raider and rqaider of the lost ark were filmed in. Then we headed back out of the park. We had to get off the rtoad a ferw times to avoid being charged by water buffallo.... which was very cool. I then got a flat tire and had to walk like 6km out... oh well. It also started to rain but it was a nice day all around. Today we are heading to nakuru to see some sights.

anyways hope all is well at home

Jessie

Lamu

Well we arrived back to Mombasa last night after a wonderful time in Lamu. We were there for just under a week and enjoyed every minute of it. It is a small town on an island off the coast of kenya near the boarder with somalia. We spent the time relaxing and boating around the islands. The beaches were amazing as was the water. We did an overnight Dhow trip out into the indian ocean which was also amazing. Anyways I will post more later I have a busy day ahead.

Jessie

travel time

well I have delayed... still working here even though I finished quite a few days ago... but I am off to lamu tomorrow. We are going to go beach it and island hop for a while in the indian ocean.

I probably wont have email for a while but hopefull my cell still works!

I will be back in mombasa on wednesday to finish up some kwacha, and scholarship work (of course) and then maybe head out friday to continue travelling.

Hope all is well at home!
Jessie

Karli.......... dont do anything I wouldnt do on my 19th birthday!!

its been a while

well I know it has been a long time since I wrote. Its funny the internet is lossing its appeal.... i know ur jaws are all open.... jessie who couldnt live without his blackberry and computer... haha anyways its funny though I honestly have lost the ambition to come to the computer and plug away on here.

So aside from that the project is over here... i however am still here haha still doing work... figures... I have started / almost completed setting up a scholarship fund here to send kids to high school and university. Its greatly needed and for 2500 I can send 9 people to school for a year.... so I figure it is a very worth while investment... something i will share the full details of when I have it completely set up.

anyhow, went to wasini island yesterday... swam with dolphins, snorkled and cruised on the dhow... like a sail boat... it was amazingly relaxing and im going to head north up the coast on friday and do a 6 day sailing trip.... it was that nice!
on the trip we met a pod of dolphins out in the open ocean... i asked our tour guy if it was safe to swim with them and he was like.. well ya they wont hurt u.... and i asked if other tourists do this and he was like umm not really... then i asked if there was sharks in the water (he had told us there werent in the shallows earlier) and he was like... well not usually.... haha so i jumped in anyways! hahah emmy our field worker was like... i feel like you should sign some sort of waiver before u do this... haha but it was fine and I got to see them underwater which was pretty cool!

anyways not alot else new... well thats not entirely true but I have now been on the computer far too long so I need to run.

I miss u all very much!
Jessie

PS- happy early birthday to Karli..... i might not be able to email you on ur bday so u get special mention here
PSS- grampa I hope you are home soon and feeling better!!!

Accepted!!!

Well I got my acceptance letter from the University of Toronto yesterday!!! I was very excited to find out that I will in fact be starting the masters in landscape architecture program in september!
Anyways busy final week here with alot of wrap up of all the clubs we have going and figuring out how to make sure they continue along without us... which I am sure they will!!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss everyone lots

Jessie

Orphanage Visit - Thanks Connor and Evan!!

well I have to say today was a hard day. Its funny because I set up the orphanage visit for friday thinking it would be a good end to the work week and a happy start to my weekend. You picture that your going to feel really good knowing you helped the kids out in some way but when it comes down to the fact its hard not to feel somewhat discouraged / crushed.

We arrived at the beach and found out that actually half the school had come.. so not just the 54 orphans but 126 students... so there were alot of kids there and they were all over. So it was hard at first to get them organized to play some games etc. We walked way out on the beach... like over a km cause the tide was out and played in the water... unfortunatly one of the girls stepped on an urchin and had to be packed back to the shores to have all the spines pulled out.... not nice at all!

anyways we got everyone back and played some games and then gave them a snack. However they had come to the beach for the day but couldnt afford to pack a lunch because of space and money.. so the kids were starving and as much as the snack was good it was not enough to fill them up. Anyways I sat with a group of 4-8 year old boys while we ate and the one had sand in his eye so I used the remaining water I had brought with me (the rest I gave to the kids) and flushed out his eye. It helped a bit and he ate his buscuits, but it was pretty obvious that he was still starving.

Once we had finished we loaded the kids into their matatus... 3 for 126 kids and 5 adults (literally the size of like the 12 passenger vans we used with school....) and then got a matatu for us and drove back to kwacha. There we had all the groceries which I had been able to buy thanks to Connor and Evan and Tammy and Devin!! We loaded them / squished them into the matatus and tied some to the roofs and they head master came over and shook my hand. Its funny, when you give gifts here its very uncommon to get a thank you... its just not how hings work, not because they arent polite, but simply it isnt part of their traditions. So anyways he shook my hand and kind of gave me a half smile and put his other hand over our shaking hands... it was pretty obvious he appreciated all the help.

Anyways it was a good day, but at the same time hard to know that those kids really have nothing. They all have pretty obvious signs of malnurishment. Their hair is often falling out, they have bruises all over their legs and they have a kind of white film that covers their heads. Its amazing to hang out with them but it makes you feel pretty helpless.

Regardless it was a great day and its funny cause tons of them recognized me from the last time especially the one boy who clung to me all last visit... he happened to be the one with the sand in his eyes this time. So it was a good day, it just seems to leave me with a bit of a lump in my stumach thinking of the hard road ahead of all of them.

Talent show

well the big day was yesterday. And it went amazingly well. It started off an hour late... which by kenyan time might as well be early. I was in charge of equipment and then managing the volunteers to do security etc.. so we met early and got the huge tent (like a wedding tent but 100 times heavier and older) and the chairs set up. The show was an absolute blast it went from 2-7 and we had a ton of singers, 2 dance sets and some celebrity guests from mombasa. All in all it was awsome. We estimate we had around 800-1000 people present and we are still waiting to hear back on how many people got tested for HIV at the event... hopefully over 100.

Anyways today is my first day off in forever so I went to the beach and laid and relaxed. I think I might go to watamu tomorrow but we will see. Hope all is well at home

Jessie

Great time!

Well the radio morning show was an absolute blast yesterday. Ester the radio host was so much fun and so high energy. We spent two hours on the morning show with her and about 30 minutes of that was us talking which really made us feel like we were doing alot to promote our event and just healthy living, HIV awareness etc all around. She had alot of tough questions that she asked us live on air but it made it even more fun.
I am so happy I was able to get the chance to be on the radio (twice). Anyways I have to run because we have alot of work to do for the event today but I will check in soon

Jessie

working hard

well I have been working hard over the past bit and I cannot wait for my well deserved days off on sunday and monday. I had a busy day today of gender training and then a visit to the radio downtown for a meeting. I have to be up at 4:30 am to eat and take a matatu downtown in time for breakfast and then to co-host the morning radio show from 7-9. Should be fun but I think it might be hard to be energetic that early in the day.
Anyways Saturday is our talent show.. so after all this work it better go well! Tomorrow and saturday will be jam packed with meetings and the talent show itself.
However come sunday I think I might head north or south and hit the beach. James.. one of my friends from here is going to come with me and show me some sights so it should be fun.

Other than that not much else to report. Its still hot as usual... i swear the rainy season is never coming... we have no running water as usual and the power continues to be eratic... haha oh life in mombasa!

Another day

Well I had a little trip to Aga Khan Hospital yesterday. I had been feeling like crap for a week and decided it was time to see a doctor. Anyways the hospital was much nicer than the one I visited the first week I was here. It was pretty much like being in Canada except the minute you step in the door they take your credit card from you... haha!
Anyways I am alright... i have a bit of a stumach infection but Im on antibiotics and its feeling better already.
Anyways today was my day off.... which I spent doing research and prep for tomorrow and the next day... so really it wasnt a day off at all which sucks cause it was the only one I am scheduled to have for the last 2 weeks straight... ugh. Aside from that I had kind of an up and down day of feeling good and bad. Was sightly home sick.... for random things like normal summer things... like the sound of a lawn mower, birds, or just quiet like back in rossland... the sounds here are so different its odd how, as much as I am used to it now its still not what I grew up with.

Anyways tomorrow I am doing gender training for the boys club. I think I have put together a good schdule.. I am doing a review of basic human rights, then womens rights and then will continue into what masculinity is and how it comes about and differences in cultures. Then I am going to go on to talk about how the ideas of masculinity put men in unsafe situations and risk taking situations regarding general day to day things as well as sex related risk taking. I am then going to go on to talk about drugs and how drugs especially heroin (injecting) drastically increases the risk of HIV.... anyways I even dropped by a local rehab center to ask what services are provided in mombasa... which was depressing in itself. So thats the first half of the training and then I will cover some other topics the next day.... I think I spent about triple the amount of prep time I needed but as usual I like to be prepared.

Ok well I am going to go drink my wonder water.... they love things that disolve down here... I think people have a phobia of pills... so all the meds have to be disolved into my water and it tastes like crap but at least I feel better.. haha

Ok miss u all

Jessie

Live from Baraka Radio!

haha so I am going to be co-hosting the saturday afternoon show on the biggest radio station in Mombasa tomorrow.... haha soo random! I went and met with the radio station today and managed to arrange two shows to promote the talent show we are throwing next weekend. So I will be on air hosting a live phone in show where we will promote the event, recruite artists and have them phone in and give a preview of their talents... anyways hopefully it is a big success, and then next friday we will be on the morning show talking the event up. Seems random how easy it was to get them to support us. Its not like its a small radio station I mean mombasa is almost 1 million people... but ya they were super supportive of our idea and how I pitched it so thats exciting.

Anyways that also means that my only free day of the week is also a write off... again.. so that sucks but oh well. This coming week is going to be insanely busy. I am doing alot with the boys for change group this week and the following so tons of planning to do.

Ok well just throught id give a quick post. Hope everyone is doing well!!

a little of this and a little of that

well I thought it was time for another blog entry so here goes. I have spent the last 40 or so hours in bed.... not sure what I ate but wow it did not go well. I honestly dont think that food poisoning or whatever this is is as bad in canada.... I have been sick twice now since arriving and it is terrible. Anyways I am starting to feel better so thats at least good.

So I thought I should say a thank you to Tessa and everyone who wrote messages and put pictures into my photo album. I was in need of a laugh / smile and it helped today.

So as of tomorrow I will have been here for one month... weird it has gone very fast now only 4 and a bit months left. Anyways I am sure it wll fly by!

Maybe I will just make a list of all the things that I have forgot to mention in the last while....

1) little children here... most of them dont know very much english but if they know some they usually know how to say "how are you" which they all yell as you walk along the street... continuously... if they know any other phrases it is often... "give me your money" or just "money" with their hands out reached..... enough said.

2) Michelle and Julie... the other two volunteers I am working with have been great so far. We have a blast and it is usually constant sarcasm. The two of them have not quite acclimatized to the heat as I have and I enjoy reminding them as the sweat runs down their faces haha.

3) Driving... I know I mentioned it before but wow I do not know how there are not soo many more accidents. The other day i was walking along the side of the road and a matatu swerved off the road to come around the far side of the telephone pole... where the sidewalk would be... it didnt even pause for me to literally dive out of the way. On top of that... they often have far more people than can actually fit inside so people just hang out the door or onto the side... safety is clearly not paramount here.

4) Getting ripped off. Oh the joys of being a muzungo (european or white person). Prices pretty much just double or triple for you and even if you know the correct price half the time it doesnt matter. Taking a matatu to town should cost 25 shillings the guy the other day wanted something absurd like 70... I laughed.. handed him the 25 and got out.. which was lucky tho because half the time they wont let you out till they have had the chance to overcharge u.

5) Dancing and singing. I sat in amazement on an outreach the other day. We brought along a PA system and were blasting music to attract people to come watch... within minutes there was around 200 children age 3-10 all dancing. I suppose this isnt anything amazing but almost every kid out there was dancing as if they were in a club and with more skill than any adult white person. So different how dancing and singing are encouraged at all points down here. Totally different than in our culture.

ok I am feeling like I may die again.. so I am going to go home. Hope everyone is doing well! miss you all lots

Jessie

mixed reviews

well the last few days have been filled with some ups and downs. I am not even sure what I want to write on here.
First off some things are going well! Emmy our field officer is turning out better than we could have hoped. We have a ton of freedom to be able to develop things as we like and really take control of our projects. So that is good... on that note we are organizing a talent show... hopeful attendance of around 600-1000 i would think... so a pretty large event! I am also spending alot of time working with the group called boys for change! we are doing lots of outreaches and some great learning activities with locals.

anyways we have had some issues with volunteers and being taken advantage of which have been discouraging, but whatever we move on...

also we visited an orphanage in the outskirts of mombasa and it was the first time I have felt very overwhelmed down here. The actual orphange is undetoging some upgrades... which is good but at the time the kids are sleeping in one room of a school... about 115 kids in like one class room... very sad. Anyways it was overwhelming because as much as we cheared up their day and brought them some food and drinks... the problems they face are soo big it felt impossible to do anything.
But happily I have been able to schedule an entire day for the boys club to go to the orphanage and we are gunna use the time to do lots of teaching and entertaining and try and make some difference in their day.

Ok well I am going to go I am metling this cafe is so hot

Jessie

Obama!

So I see Obama was in ottawa the other day... or maybe as I am speaking cause I am ahead by a bit.. anyways its funny to think how things have changed. One of the first things people say when you tell them your from canada is something in regards to Obama. People love him down here most matatus have obama quotes or pictures or flags posted in them! Funny to think that just a short time ago people hated the states here... as they did in alot of countries!

anyways thats my two cents of the day... off to work!

The meaning of Time!!

Well not much to report lately. Have not been too overly busy in the past week. We have a busy week coming up tho so I suppose it all balances out.

Anyways I was trying to think of what I could write on here that wouldnt be completely boring... soo I thought I would write about the one thing that is driving me mental dispite it being my number one goal while being down here. When I set out from Canada I determined that possibly my biggest challenge would be learning to not have such rigid time lines for everything as I do in Canada... well needless to say I am being forced to accept that but it is driving me insane at points. ( dad and nana... you could never survive down here haha)

A prime example of how time means nothing was this sunday. We attended a play put on by Kwach Afrika. It was scheduled to start at 4:00 which was widley advertised on all posters and on the tickets themselves. So I as usual arrived at 3:30 to be early and to help if they needed anyone. Well 4:00 rolls around and there werent even any cast members present. It was not until 5:30 that the hole cast arrived and then not until around 6:15 that the show started at which poiunt I had been there for almost three hours!!!! haha anyways it just amazes me how anything gets done, but dispite my confusion and frustration things do happen so I guess I will just continue to keep quiet and maybe start arriving 30 mins late instad of early!!

Hope all is well at home! Love you all!

Jessie

P.S. - Evan andConnor- Yesterday I was sitting in the park reading my book and a lizard about 1 foot long ran up the tree beside me.... I almost fell out of me seat.. but it was quite cool!! They seem to be everywhere down here and the bright green ones jump crazy distances.... so when you try and catch them you have to position yourself so they dont jump at you!! haha

Im still alive!!

well I thought it was time to blog again, but its going to be a short one! So yesterday me and michelle had a day off so we decided to go on a little adventure. We went to a place called Watamu up north of mombasa. We went via matatu... which was umm exciting.. picture flying along a 1.5 lane road at around 100km an hr with 14 people wedged into a van the size of a mini van... haha anyways it was pretty fun / funny and then after and hr and a half we arived in the town. It was amazing. Its a small town very quite and amazing beaches. we wandered around the beach and were soon followed by two locals showing us everything from urchins, star fish, jumping fish, moray eals and all sorts of crabs. They left us alone eventually but cam back later and insisted we either buy something or pay for the tour .... kind of a pain but whatever it was worth the like dollar we payed them.

anyways the sights were amazing, the reef comes right in to shore there so you can see eveything and there are a number of island u can walk to when the tide is down. We had some funny moments when the tide was coming in and submerged some of our stuff at one point.. woops but all was fine.

We then wandered around and discovered the power was out so we couldnt get dinner and instead went to the grocery store and bought yogurt and sat and ate it... dairy products are a novelty down here so it was actually quite good!

ok well got to run but just wanted to say hello! hope all is going well!

Jessie

PS- happy birthday uncle devin.... how old are u now?? ancient im sure!! haha

mcheesy (crazy)

So I am sitting here sweeting as usual... its a constant thing down here which is just accepted by the locals... but for us we still cant get over the fact that it looks like we are running a marathon while we eat breakfast.. ugh

anyways last night we went out clubbing... it was a blast. We cought the matatu around 9:30 to the club. its all open air so like roof but no real walls... and u arrive and the place that you think is the whole club is actually just the small like entry area.. then you pass through like 3 security points- metal detectors and all and proceed down this huge ramp into a valley... literally! So the bar is actually down in the bottom of this valley which on one side is jungle and the other is a rock face. So cool anyways we had a blast but we also learned alot.

We arrived early because its not safe to take the matatu later than 9:30ish and there were very few people in the club. As the night went on the crowds filled... with what we realized were mostly escorts. We talked with mike about it alot. Mombasa has a large influx of basically older men and women from Europe who come down and get long or short term escorts. So by 11:00 the bar was packed with 60-75 year old white men and 18-25 year old african women. There was also some older white women and younger african men. It was quite the eye opener and we have decided that we are actually going to do one of our club nights (where we give out info, condoms counselling services etc at a night club) at the club we attended.

Anyways kind of an odd blog I know but it was a very eye opening experience to see it that obviously. Ok well hope everyone at home is doing well... and enjoying the snow / cold... haha you will all be happy to know my skin is in a constant state of peeling.. its impossible to stop it from getting exposed to the sun but its so hot it just cooks it haha, im not burning but I sure am peeling haha

Talk soon

Oddities of Kenya

so I thought I would put together a list of some odd things down here in Kenya... not sure if I have time to hit them all but Ill start cause I need to get to work soon

1) Garbage- there is literally garbage everywhere... on the roads in the yards on the lawn even at the beach and in the water.... make shift dumps happen all over the place and then dump truck come and get the garbage loaded until its spilling over and then drive away and the stuff on top blows back onto the street... efficient!
at home there isnt really a garbage inside so you just take whatever you have and throw it out the window......

2) Time of day- the time of day can basically be measured by the sun or the constant sound of call to prayer.... the sun rises and sets at the same time every day of the year give or tak like 2 minutes... and every day at 5am 4pm 6pm 8pm and 10pm call to prayer takes place.... which sounds like chanting over a loud speaker often coming from mutiple directions becaue there are so many mosques... michelle was unsure of the time of day the other afternoon and asked if that was call to prayer we were hearing or a cow hahahaha terrible!!

3) Cat Fights- it is a common occurance to wake up at night to the sound of cats fighting... there are cats everywhere mostly malnourished and very skinny (its sad and we dont really pet them cause they are very dirty)

4) Electric shock- everything here has a charge... we are sure why... like the faucets in the shower if you hold on to them for more than a breif second you get electrocuted haha same with the computer screens... its alittle odd

5) Goats- goats roam freely here... we asked mike the other day how people keep track of them, whether they brand them or tag them or what... he explained that people put magical protection on them so they are free to wander where they want without being taken... me and michelle exchanged confused looks over this!

6) Bugs- there are bugs everywhere literally... there is a little trail of bugs continually moving through our room... not sure where they are going but they seem pretty content to stick to themselves so we dont bother them... its also common t be eating dinner and have a lizard run up the wall bhind you!

7) fire fighters- so the big news story right now is that one of the nakumats in nairobi burned down (its like a superstore) and killed 30 some people.... ben was explaining to us that people dont like fire fighters because often they will get called and then arrive on the scene and realize that they have forgotten the water... we clarifiec whether they had forgotten it or they didnt have any water... ben reassured us they usually just forget.... hmm comforting!

8) matatus- matatus are like taxis but take the form of the public transit here so they are cheap and everyone rides them, they stuff them soo full its insane you often wonder whos sweat is running down ur arm.. yum... they also continuously fight over customers... two matatu drivers actually scrapped the other day as they tried to persuad us into either of their vehicles!

9) Water and electricty- our house is equiped with both but often the power goes out.. as does the water... atthe moment we have no water... ugh

10) cell phones- everyone has a cell phone here and there is little to no ettiquet involved... in the middle of buisness meetings peoples phones ring and they just answer them as if its no big deal... our presenter the other day answered her phone mid presentation... haha oh my!

ok well that is all the time I have for today... it was raining when we arrived its back to sun now... joy another hot one im sure...!!

ok miss you all talk soon!

sooo hot

thanks for all the comments on my blog guys, love getting them. You can also email as much as you want cause I have easy access to my email here in mombasa.

I cant write much but will try and give an update tomorrow when I have more time. Miss everyone at home, and talk soon!

Jessie

I made it!

Well I am here in Mombasa Kenya and loving it! The flights all went very well and seemed to fly by. I got lots of sleep and we arrived in Nairodi last night at about 8:30 and got our visas sorted out.... which we think was a rip off cause we had to pay again haha but oh well... and then made our way to the luggage and then across to the domestic terminal. After a short 45 min flight we arrived in Mombasa and were picked up by Emmy our YCI field worker and a few Kwacha Staff. We took a matatu (taxi van) back to our home stay family. It was quite the drive but we arrived safe.

Our home stay Family is awsome... it will primarily be the mother Hilda and son Ben (15 or 16) and then there are 4 other children who have moved away from home and the father christopher who will all visit on weekends. Mike the one son lives evry close by and I will spend lots of time with him, hes my age and will be alot of fun and also works for Kwacha Afrika!

The house is very nice... big beds and everything we need! sleeping under the net sucks alittle but we will adjust..... There are bugs and creatures everywhere. There is a constant march of what we think are small spiders??? along the wall in our room, they are always coming and going but never seem to bother us. I went to go use the washroom last night and there was a lizard of some sort about 4 inches long running up the wall..... made me laugh after I got over the initial shock!

This morning we took a matatu to downtown where we are now... I am not sure how traffic works here there are bikes, matatus, cars, people and buses everywhere going every wghich direction... at many times we swerved wildly across the road to avoid hitting people or vehicles! All tons of fun!

It is funny it is so very different but there is something very comforting and at home about it all. I feel very good being here and cant wait to see more!

I hope everyone is doing well! And we will all be chatting soon!

Jessie

Well the day is finally here.... I fly out today at 6:05... yikes! However I am feeling more sure than ever that this really is what I want to do! I have had so much support, good training the last week here in Toronto and so many people encouraging me along the way that there is no way I could have any doubt in my mind!

I will miss you all very much, and I hope that as much as possible you will all try to keep me up to date on the new things in your lives, the funny moments and the things that I am missing while I am away! I know that it is a long ways away but I realized last night that last year at this time I was away for almost the exact same length of time at school (January 23- mid June)!

I love you all and thanks again for all the support and encouragement!

Jessie

How to comment

So as with all blogs (as i forgot) you have to have some kind of a blogger ID to comment on my posts. For all of you who have macs.... you can use your aim account and for the rest of you I really hope you will sign up for one and post comments whenever you have time!!

Fundraising and Home!

Well It is 2:10am and I am sitting here in bed, slightly stressed out! It has been an amazing Christmas break, lots of family, friends, huge amounts of snow and some great days of skiing! This Friday I am going to be having my final fundraiser for my trip which is very exciting! I am holding a high school dance here in Rossland, lets hope it goes well and remains under control!

It seems odd that I have just one week left here in Rossland and then I will be heading off to Toronto for 10 days and then off to Africa! I wanted to thank everyone once again for all the amazing support I have received over the past months as I prepare for my trip! The donations have been amazing (beyond anything I had hoped) and the excited encouraging words I have received from everyone make me sure that this is exactly what I should be doing for the next 7 months!

Because everything seems to be crashing down at the moment as preperations come in to full swing I will post again when I arrive in Kenya!
Hope everyone is well, and thanks again to everyone!!!!!!!