Ninataka shani!

This past week was kind of a turning point. On the work front, I've gotten to the point that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing, I'm friends with my colleagues, I've made some great progress on the projects I'm working on, and I've established some much-needed boundaries (mentally and otherwise) on expectations. On the non-work front, I realized that I've reached the point where the strange things feel normal, I am oriented to the city, I know the matatu routes, I've picked up the essentials with the Swahili, and I'm feeling lighthearted and comfortable with my surroundings. I've reached equilibrium and my confidence has been restored to its optimum level.

Basically, I found my groove.

I really am happy with the work I've been able to do so far out here. Earlier this week, I showed Omar the templates I've been working on that he can use to automatically generate reports for all of the different levels of the organization. In the long term, I'm envisioning this to be a tool that benefits everyone because it's just going to mean faster access to data that is easy to read and use. In turn, this means more loans for more people. In the short run, it's all about making Omar's life easier. And if that's the only result I get to see while I'm here, that's enough for me. He's been a definite bright spot in my time here, even though I'm pretty sure he's been more stressed out than I ever have. Anyway, when I showed him the templates, he LOVED them. I think I can confidently use the term "gleeful" to describe his reaction.

The running joke has become that he increases my dowry every time I show him my latest time-saving implementation. So far, I'm up to a cow and two elephants.

I got to visit some villages this week, with Bekah UT and some CHOICE people. We were going to do interviews with people from villages where they were building latrines or digging wells, to put on their website and get the word out about what they're doing. I got a taste of just how difficult it can be to make things happen here. Nobody has a watch, or a calendar, or a phone, and forget about email. So you basically just drive the two or so hours into the bush, and you hope that they're there when you show up. If not, you may have to drive around trying to find them, or you may have to just move on to the next thing. Working at the grassroots level with these rural villages is more work than they get credit for.

Most of the kids were afraid of us, but in one village they were extra-excited to see us when we rolled up. So of course, I rewarded them by taking lots of pictures (and letting them take pictures) to entertain them while the CHOICE people did their thing. They loved it, and I...well, you can see what a blast I was having.  Each time we snapped a photo, everyone would huddle around to look at it, then they would all squeal with delight. Two of the little girls started holding my hands, and one of them kept looking up at me, deep into my eyes, and then she'd begin spouting Swahili. Never have I wanted to be fluent in Swahili more than at that moment.

This weekend was full again. We took a trip to Shimba Hills Nature Reserve, and since we're technically living here, we got to pay the resident rate ( = significant savings) to get in. With our trusty park ranger guide, Frederick, and his trusty shotgun in tow, we explored the reserve in style.

We got to see lots of animals...


...and we got to hike to a waterfall and explore around it.

None of these animals have been artificially placed on the reserve, and I love that about Kenya. What you see is the real deal. We decided that Kenya's new motto should be "Kenya keeps it real!"

We also took a boat ride to Kisite Island (just a few miles off the coast of Kenya/Tanzania) to do some snorkeling. I don't recall ever seeing live coral before, but if I have, it was nothing like what I got to see that day. It was just so vibrant and colorful and alive. After that, we opened the sail of our old-school boat and sailed all the way back to the marina. I didn't bring my camera for this leg of the journey, but others did. I'll add some pictures in once I get them. Instead, I got to fully live in the moment and enjoy the incredible, peaceful wonderfulness that is sailing on a ruddy sailboat with our Kenyan crew. Here’s a snippet of the conversation Bekah DC and I had during our sail:

“Hey, remember that one time we went sailing off the coast of Kenya on an African sailboat?”
“At sunset?”
“Right after we went snorkeling?”
“When the temperature and breeze were perfect?”
“Yeah, that was fun.”

Relief Society this week was all about disease prevention. Nothing too crazy this time, but I was really impressed with the knowledge and understanding all of the women had about how to treat/prevent the diseases in this area. We talked about the major diseases that can be found around Mombasa - and how to stay away from them. 

I don't know how all the local ladies were feeling at the end, but us mzungus had turned into a bunch of hypochondriacs. We all were feeling like we wanted to rush home and disinfect and sanitize every inch of our apartment that surely must have been suffering from major infestations and diseases. We found a cockroach the other night - the first bug to show its face in our flat apart from the usual flies and mosquitos. (No sightings since then, but speaking of cockroaches - have any of you heard about this???) But the disease-ridden flies! And mosquitos! What if we have bedbugs?! Did we leave this fruit out too long?! Can we bathe in our water?! Or wash our clothes?! (Oh wait, our water wasn't running that day. Well, no problems there!  But yes, if you're wondering, we can.)

We've calmed down a little bit since then. Well, most of us have. Basically, I know I'm doing what I can to be cautious, and outside of that, I refuse to live in fear. I can actually feel the security blanket of prayers on my behalf, and there's power in that. My halfway point is tomorrow - I've got one month left here, and it’s going to be a great one.

P.S. I've gotten multiple requests for things to bring back from here...and I've forgotten every last one of them (except a magnet for grandma!).  Could you please refresh my memory?  You know who you are.  :o)