Leah’s Travel Page

Yesterday afternoon at the University of Nairobi was actually pretty interesting…not tedious as I had thought. The drive there was a bit harrowing, though. I have never seen so many cars going in so many directions at once at a single intersection…and apparently rush hour in downtown Nairobi is at 12:30 in the afternoon (at least, I HOPE that was rush hour). I mean, I think the streets are two lane, but there are usually at least four different cars side-by-side at any one time, and much of the time they’re at bizarre diagonal angles. And of course, there are almost no traffic lights in the city (in the whole country, for that matter). There are only these massive roundabouts (many of which are triangular), which have no concept of right of way, so it’s pretty much vehicular darwinism…whoever is biggest can push their way though and the rest all have to fend for themselves in a cacophany of horns and shouting drivers. It’s amusing for us because we can just sit in our massive truck and plough through, but actually having to drive here would be absolutely terrifying. And then of course, when there are traffic lights, they are essentially just suggestions. Actually, no…not so much suggestions as distractions. Now imagine all this, plus the added novelty of people running up to your windows trying to sell you things whenever traffic slows…newspapers, fruit, hats, sunglasses. It’s quite the spectacle. So when one of our profs pointed out that the University of Nairobi campus was coming up right here on the left, we actually arrived on the university grounds more than 15 minutes later.

When we all finally touched terra firma with our lives intact, we were escorted by a bunch of Geography students and faculty into a hall where we were lectured on the Rift Valley Lake system…me being a big geography nerd, I was frantically taking notes and thought it was so cool, even though I think most of the rest of the group was falling asleep in the hot room. I mean, they were talking about irrigation!!! and salt production from the lakes!!!…Yes, yes, I could learn about that stuff aaaaalllll day. The biology students among us though, mmm not so much. Afterwards we got tours around the campus by the Kenyan students, and it was cool to be able to talk to them about being students in Kenya versus Canada and that sort of thing. One guy told me that the biggest rumour about Canada is that, by the age of 21, everyone has moved out of their home and is financially independent…What???!!! Random. Also, he said, “I heard that in Canada, it’s so cold that you have to adjust the temperature inside your houses”. Uhh, yeah…that’s the least of it! I was pretty amused by it, but I’m sure I must have asked him some equally stupid questions without knowing it. Actually, all of the students came across as really intelligent. Apparently the University of Nairobi is the elite university in the country. In general, it was just a good experience to talk to other students from Kenya who were our age.

The only weird thing about the university was that, despite the fact that it was this gorgeous, modern campus, the bathrooms had no toilet paper or paper towel…This is an interesting phenomenon that had not occurred to me before I arrived. Essentially you will not find a single public toilet that has any paper, just because of the cost to supply it. I don’t really get how it works, though…Does every single Kenyan carry around a stash of TP on their person at all times in case the need strikes? I guess that’s what I’m going to have to start doing. I’ll go out to the store later and stock up for the rainforest.

Then anyways, last night we had a bit of a party back at ICIPE. We’ve actually been kept really busy so we haven’t gotten a whole lot of time to hang out at night. At about 11pm it came to our attention that one of the girls on the trip is essentially the reigning Canadian champion of skipping. Not skipping as in sailing, but skipping as in jump rope. She started showing us her routine that she has to practice for the world championships in June. I’m telling you, it was extraordinary! You would never have though that skipping could be so intense. It was like extreme-skipping. They should seriously put it in the X-Games. If anyone ever has the chance to watch pro-skippers, DO IT. You will NOT be disappointed.

Today has been low-key. We’re basically just packing up everything we need to bring to Uganda and getting ahead on some of our schoolwork (yes, we actually have to do work). Most people also did laundry today, but of course just as it was hanging out to dry, the sky burst open the most torrential downfall. What are the odds, Kenya is in the middle of a massive drought, and yet 15 minutes of intense rain – the first in weeks – comes on laundry day. Aargh. Just as long as it’s dry by tonight, we’ll be okay.

So tomorrow morning we have to get up at 4:30 am for our 7 am flight to Entebbe, followed by a 5 1/2 hour truck ride to the Kibale Rainforest. We’re staying at the Makerere University Biological research station. Apparently that means I’ll be AWOL for the next little while. I’ll update you all as soon as I can with stories about my encounters with primates, but it could hypothetically be as much as three weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that somehow I’ll magically manage to avoid all spiders for that entire period of time~

I only have a few minutes to write before the battery dies on this laptop, but I’ll try.

I just got back from a mall that some of us went to to change money, buy medicine, etc. It was quite the experience, especially when contrasted with our trip to Kibera two days ago. It is located in the part of town with all the embassies (we passed the Canadian one…huge swimming pool and tennis courts and Canadian flags…I’m definitely going to go there later!), and all the huge residences where, we were told, “the Americans live”. The mall itself was absolutely palacial. The layout was like a spanish villa, and there were boutique stores (Bata shoes, anyone?) and mini-golf courses and even a water park. Everything was clean and shiny and clearly catering to wealthy tourists. Nearby there were a bunch of massive homes, with signs up saying no photos allowed. I felt kind of disgusted with myself that I was there, but hey, I really needed to change my money to Kenyan schillings! Up until this morning, I had only seen two white people who weren’t with either our group or the UN. But this was like a Mzungu mall…Most of the patrons were German or Japanese (and yes, Asian people are considered mzungu as well…it’s kind of an all-encompassing term). There weren’t too many from our group who went out this morning, but those of us who did got out of there as fast as we could…I think it was a little too soon since visiting Kibera to marvel at all the luxuries available to us.

Then we got the chance to go to the Maasai market. We didn’t stay long there either because we had to get back for lunch, but it was great to see the way a market works, even if this one was pretty touristy. The vendors would come up to you and introduce themselves and be all friendly and then ask you to come over to look at their items. It was hard to figure out what to do…If someone is being nice and saying hi, I don’t want to be a jerk and ignore them and be the snooty white person, but I obviously know that they’re not there to be my friend. Also, I learned pretty quickly not to point at anything as you’re walking by, because the person will REALLY try to sell it to you, if they know you’re interested in the least. I feel as though I need to master a bit more swahili before I feel totally comfortable in markets. I didn’t buy anything, because I know I’ll be able to get better prices outside the tourist areas, but some other people did. One guy with us was walking out of the market just as we were walking in…it was really funny, because it was like he was a broken man. “They kept hassling me, I couldn’t get away!” The pressure to buy from them is intense, they really know what they’re doing! Most people with me felt as though they had been more or less ripped off, but I guess just chalked it up to experience…I personally feel as though I’m getting the exact same experience while watching them waste their money! Some people feel guilty starting the bargaining really low, since it’s not actually that much from our Western standard, but I believe that it’s inappropriate to overinflate the price of these things. It’s hard to know where to draw the line.

While I was at the mall, I was also scouting the prices on cell phones. The deals you can get are really good compared to what we’re used to. For about $60 CAD you can get a phone that can accept free incoming calls and text messages. I didn’t get one there because it was the first place I looked, but I might the next time I’m in a big city, probably Kampala in a few weeks. That way I’d actually be able to talk to people from home…emails are only so exciting.

We’re off to the University of Nairobi this afternoon. Not sure what we’ll be doing there…probably sit there listening to people talk to us, which seems like a popular theme of this week. Not that I’m complaining (well, maybe it can be a bit tedious…), but it’ll be nice to get to the rainforest and get to do jungle walks ever day! (Or at least that’s what I imagine it will be like in my mind!)

Yikes! Just got a low battery warning!

Yesterday we stayed on the ICIPE site all day, which I predicted might be outrageously dull, but actually turned out to be a really interesting demonstration of all the ways people are using insect research. In one centre their studying malaria and mosquitos. In another, they’re doing research on locust pheromones, because locusts are generally solitary but then something triggers pheromones which causes them to communicate and then swarm…if scientists can understand how to release similar pheromones, then they can control the swarming and subsequent crop devastation. On site, there is also bee keeping for honey and bee venom, silkworm production to make silk to sell to the global market, etc. And a lot of this knowledge can be transmitted to small communities so that they can create sustainable income-generation projects.

After that, we got into groups for our major research project for the semester. We’ve gotten into groups of about 7 and will work in conjunction with scientists/social scientists throughout the next few months and present our findings at the end. For example, my group will focus on rural urban migration. From the rural side, we will interview people in the communities we travel to about their livelihoods, what drives them to migrate to the cities, the kinds of infrastructure in the rural areas, what makes it possible for them to stay in rural areas and the challenges that poses, etc. From the urban side, we can look at the informal sector and how that absorbs the inflow of migrants, or even look at places like Kibera, where most of the people living there have come to the city from their rural homes for better economic opportunities. For that, we’ll be in touch with some of the people from UN-HABITAT again. It should be a great incentive to really communicate with some of the people we meet over the next few months. Some of the other groups will cover subjects like malaria diagnosis and treatment, vector control used by farmers, and some other public health issues.

Other than that, the day was pretty relaxing. I’ve been kind of sick since I got here, Wednesday I had a fever of 101…only I would be sick the first week in Kenya! But yesterday and today I’ve felt better and my fever is gone, so all that remains is congestion and a really gross cough that I’m sure means no one will want to be my friend. Just kidding, who wouldn’t want to be MY friend?

We’re going into Nairobi today, so it’ll be nice to get off the compound. We’re going to the big Maasai market that’s here every Friday. I’m sure it’ll be ridiculously touristy, a bit unnecessary since we’ll actually be LIVING in a Maasai village in a few weeks, but I’m looking forward to it as it will be my first exposure to African market haggling.

We’re leaving ICIPE Sunday morning for Uganda, and then I’ll be completely out of touch for about 2 weeks. We’re staying at a really remote field research station in Kibale Rainforest National Park…apparently they don’t even have a phone, only a satellite one for emergency purposes. So if there’s anything any of you need to tell me, let me know in the next two days! i’m also going to try to upload some of my pictures tonight, so you can all get some giraffe inspiration.

Yesterday morning, we got up early and headed over to the UN compound. Security was pretty tight (especially because it’s right across from the US Embassy where security is REALLY tight)…we had to go through the same sort of security as you do at the airport, and then you’re not allowed to take pictures on the whole site. Once we got through the many layers of gates, though, the UN in Nairobi is soooo much nicer than the one in New York. It’s basically like a big park, with tons of grass and trees…you’re hardly even aware that there are buildings around.

We walked up a pathway lined by all of the UN country flags to the main UNEP (UN Environment Program) building. The reason we were there was to talk to people from UN-HABITAT about slums and informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa, and more specifically in Kenya. We got to sit in one of the conference rooms that comes to mind immediately when you think of the UN – all the desks facing each other in a square, with little microphones and ear-pieces (which we got to wear!) at each spot. It was all very cool.

In trtue UN fashion, it was a bunch of Swedes who were in charge, and they spent the whole morning telling us about informal housing settlements around the world. 1 billion people in the world live in slums with inadequate water, sanitation, health care access, representation, etc etc. Later on, they switched the focus to Nairobi, where the 2nd largest slum in Africa is located, called Kibera (there are other informal housing settlements in Nairobi too, but none as big as this one). Kibera is located in the south of the city next to the trtarin tracks, and in an area probably no bigger than Stanley Park, there are about 1-1.25 million people living.

In the afternoon, we got the chance to visit Kibera with UN-HABITAT, to just a small corner of the slum known as Soweto East (there are 12 ‘villages’ in Kibera). A lot of us were a little apprehensive, not that we’d be in danger, but more that the people living there would be offended by a big group of rich mzungu (“white people”) were coming to gawk at the slum-dwellers. It was, in fact, quite the contrary. Everyone in Soweto East was incredibly welcoming and friendly and really excited to have us there. After a brief introduction at the HABITAT office (basically just a small, one-room house with a table and chairs), we divided up into small groups of 5 and were toured around Soweto East by members of their elected council. It’s hard to describe, really, because in a lot of ways, the slum was exactly what I expected to see… There were rivers of garbage everywhere with flies all over it, tiny one-storey shacks made of mud and tin and sticks, pigs and dogs running in amongst the trash, no roads, just narrow paths that you could sometimes barely fit two people through, no open spaces to play or socialize or have a market so people were just standing around the entrance to their houses. But all that not withstanding, there was an incredible sense of community and openness. Everyone seemed to know each other, the people came up to us and asked us questions about where we were from…we all felt perfectly safe the entire time. Some of the women were more reserved, but the children in particular seemed so excited that we had come. We went into one of the primary schools and all the kids came running out of their classrooms in their uniforms, shouting “Mzungu!!!” and “How are you? How are you? How are you?” (I think that’s the first phrase most of them learn how to say. All the kids clambored to get their photos taken (“Picha? Picha?”)… I didn’t bring my camera because I felt it a bit inappropriate, and some of the adult did seem apprehensive when others took their cameras out, but the kids loved it, especially when people with digital cameras could show them the pictures on the screen. Also, everyone wanted to shake our hands…the children would run up to us and just hold them out, saying “How are you” over and over again.

Another surprise was the number of small businesses people had set up in Kibera. There were pharmacies, shops selling shoes and scrap metal and Fanta and vegatables. We went into the local bar where they were distilling their local alcohol (which I did NOT try). Many people also invited us into their homes, often a family of four would be sleeping in a tiny bed made of sticks in a room no bigger than a closet. But they were happy to show us what their situation was like, in the hopes that we wouldn’t forget them.

I think a lot of that paints a bit of a rosy picture, and we all had a great experience. At times, it was hard to remember that one out of every four children we met was an orphan, and that diseases such as typhoid, cholera and AIDS are rampant there. There was a hospital not far away, but many could not afford to go, and those that saved would often not be able to afford medication. A lot of the time, the condition were disgusting… streams where people got there water from were full of trash and human waste. It’s not an easy existence. HABITAT is working on upgrading housing, but sometimes this is hard because then rents go up and the poorest people are forced out of their homes. In the next year, they hope to set up a recycling program, because most of the garbage was plastic.

I could write about it forever, but it could never fully describe the visit itself. It was definitely eye-opening. It was definitely tragic. But at the same time, it was definitely hopeful.

Hi everyone!

I arrived in Nairobi last night, from Montreal via Amsterdam. The trip was pretty uneventful, but I was fortunate to trade with someone for a window seat for the Amsterdam-Nairobi leg, so the views over the Swiss Alps and then the Sahara were pretty extraordinary….we flew directly over Khartoum, which was really cool to see, because it’s in Sudan, so it’s just totally remote.

I almost never made it to the airport in Montreal, though…funny story. So about 45 minutes before I was going to leave for the airport, I stopped by the bank to deposit a cheque. You know those little garbage slots they have beside the ATMs to put discarded receipts in? Well, I was stuffing my receipt into it a little too vigorously and my hand got fully stuck in it just below my knuckles…I was totally panicking and had this vision of me missing my whole trip to Africa because I was trapped in the TD bank ATM on a Sunday and no one would find me! Basically I was yanking on my arm as hard as I could for about 45 seconds (which seemed like forever, of course), and finally my hand came free. But those things are made of marble, so now my knuckles on my right hand are all busted up…Haha, you know they caught all that on surveillance camera, too.

But anyways, I DID make it to Kenya. When we arrived at the airport it wasn’t that late but it was dark because the sun sets at about 6:30 everynight since we’re on the equator. One girl in the group’s luggage never made it out of Montreal, but the rest of us were all good. We had a bit of a hassle going through customs because they wanted us to declare the boxes of books and medical supplies we’re bringing for some of the communities we’ll be visiting. After about 45 minutes of negotiations, though, they finally let us through. Nairobi is at a fairly high altitude, so the temperature is a nice 23 degrees. We’re staying at ICIPE, which is the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology, which is interesting because even though their focus is on insects, that also covers other issues from malaria to horticulture. Also, the security is really tight because we’re on the same compound as USAID, so we all had our pictures taken for our own security-clearance badges…I feel so official.

This morning we woke up and headed off for the day to Nairobi National Park, which is just on the outskirts of town. It was a pretty great way to start off the trip…it’s basically open savannah with giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, ostrich…. We kept an eye out for rhino, but no luck. And all this with the Nairobi skyline on the horizon. We were there almost all day, so it was pretty easy-going.

Tomorrow we start real course-work. We’re going to the United Nations compound in the morning, which I’m really excited about, obviously, because that’s where I want to work. Then, in the afternoon, we’ll have the most extraordinary chance to visit Kibera, which is one of the most well-known slums in the world (maybe after Soweto), and I’ve learned about it a hundred times in classes. It’s the largest slum in Africa, with over a million people living in a valley on the edge of the city…we passed it today on the way to the National Park. I’m really looking forward to going there, because that’s an experience most people to Nairobi would never get.

It’s really, really dusty in Nairobi because Kenya is in the middle of a severe drought (the November rainy season never came, and the next one isn’t until March). I think I’m having allergy attacks to all the dust, so hopefully that won’t last, or I’ll be looking like I’m about to cry for the next 6 months! I’m currently drugged up on Reactine, so hopefully that will do the trick.

Anyways, there are 38 people competing for two slow dial-up computers, so if I don’t get off soon, it might start a lynch mob.