Blog 2 Kenya
Blog 2
Kisumu, Kenya
July 6, 2009
Hello everyone!
For those of you who are Americans, we hope you had a good Independence Day Holiday, and for those of you who are not, we hope you had a great 4th of July.
We are now in our “permanent” home here in Kisumu. It is called “Pabari’s Paradise” for good reason: It is like being in a beautiful botanical garden, complete with swimming pool. We have a very nice 2 bedroom cottage including a very comfortable screened in living room, so come on over. Like many places here, and elsewhere in Africa we are in a compound that is fenced and has a security gate with 24 hour guards, but we also have Maasai men who patrol the street at night, so we feel pretty safe. We would feel safe anyway, but why not have a Maasai warrior around.
Work is going very well, and Peter is immersed in a capital fundraising campaign to build a new center for the NGO we are with, and Hinda has taken on, once again, helping to develop HR and other policies, as well as mentoring the staff at the clinic that is a part of this group, and both of us are doing some computer mentoring. Peter has done a sample slide show, and will use it as a teaching tool. Our work colleagues are extremely friendly, and we feel very wanted and a part of the group.
Peter’s Kiswahili is expanding daily and he is impressing lots of people. So you see, a 71 year old dog can still learn new tricks. Right Sserunjogi?
This weekend we visited the Kakamega Forest, the only Kenyan vestige of the unique and once mighty “Guineo-Congolian Forest eco system – virgin tropical rain forest that once stretched from the Congo all the way to Uganda. It is quite beautiful and the trees reach to the sky. It is so wild that trees actually kill each other to survive. There are over 400 species of birds and 400 species of butterflies, and no less than 7 different primate species including the blue monkey and the black and white colobus. We hiked through the forest with a local guide who taught us much, and also brought us back safely. Were we alone, it would be pretty easy to get lost. We stayed in a beautiful retreat that at the turn of the 20th century was the home of the owner of a saw mill. It was pretty posh, but quite simple. When we arrived we were told that at 4 we would have tea or coffee and “delicious” cake, and it really was. Wow!! By the way, there are no malaria mosquitoes in Kakamega and it is only an hour or so out of Kisumu.
So Hinda asked the guide: “Why are they called blue monkeys?” And the guide said, (yes, you guessed it), “Because they look blue”, and Peter said: “Duuh”.
We now walk back and forth to work, but also use “tuk tuk’s” and “matatu’s” to go to the center of town or to the market, etc. What are tuk tuk’s and matatu’s. Those of you who have been to Thailand , India, and perhaps other places will recognize them as 3 wheeled covered motorbikes which sound like tuktuktuktuk………………………………… and have no springs, and here most of the roads aren’t paved. As for matatu’s, they are simply passenger vans that are supposed to hold up to 12 people, but can always squeeze in 20 or 21, or more, but they are cheap – usually 20 “bob” (shillings), about 25 cents. Each morning at about 5:30 the matatu’s on the main road near our home, are blowing their airhorn’s looking for passengers. Sounds like a herd of elephants moving through the jungle.
You know of course that near here is where President Barack Obama’s father’s family comes from, and so we were not surprised to see the “Obama Gate” as one of the entrances to the Provincial Hospital. Speaking of the hospitals, one of the students here who is assigned there part time took a video to show us one of the women’s wards: 2 women to a bed, rats, cockroaches, and then told us that the women’s ward is better than the men’s ward. You may remember our description last year of the big hospital in Kampala where we had to help our friend who without our help, or someone’s would not have had sheets, pillow, blanket, food, bedpan, X-rays, or not much of anything else. It is pretty severe for poor people. Here at the hospital, the doctor only comes once a week and “sees” – literally, 250 patients in a day. The daily care is by interns and nurses. There is a long way to go, and it could be better, but things like corruption and not caring certainly make the going rough and slow.
The modern world is still mind boggling for those of us who grew up before TV, jet planes, and of course, mobile and satellite phones. So there we were in the middle of the Kakamega rain forest Saturday night and we called our son Adam from our mobile to his satellite phone where he was at our summer family cabin in the middle of the Cascade Mountains in the State of Washington in a deep valley surrounded by 9,000’ peaks, and we were able to talk to each other – we felt like the astronauts on the moon. It was great.
Well, after all those movies about Africa when we were kids, Peter is finally being called “bwana” the Kiswahili word for man or sir. For a women it is “bibi” – no relation to Bibi Netanyahu! More often for Peter he is referred to as Mzee, a polite term for an elder, and Hinda once again is Mama or Mommy.
OK for now. Hope you are all well. Stay in touch and we will also. We love to hear from you.
Love and hugs,
Mzee and Mama
Kisumu, Kenya
July 6, 2009
Hello everyone!
For those of you who are Americans, we hope you had a good Independence Day Holiday, and for those of you who are not, we hope you had a great 4th of July.
We are now in our “permanent” home here in Kisumu. It is called “Pabari’s Paradise” for good reason: It is like being in a beautiful botanical garden, complete with swimming pool. We have a very nice 2 bedroom cottage including a very comfortable screened in living room, so come on over. Like many places here, and elsewhere in Africa we are in a compound that is fenced and has a security gate with 24 hour guards, but we also have Maasai men who patrol the street at night, so we feel pretty safe. We would feel safe anyway, but why not have a Maasai warrior around.
Work is going very well, and Peter is immersed in a capital fundraising campaign to build a new center for the NGO we are with, and Hinda has taken on, once again, helping to develop HR and other policies, as well as mentoring the staff at the clinic that is a part of this group, and both of us are doing some computer mentoring. Peter has done a sample slide show, and will use it as a teaching tool. Our work colleagues are extremely friendly, and we feel very wanted and a part of the group.
Peter’s Kiswahili is expanding daily and he is impressing lots of people. So you see, a 71 year old dog can still learn new tricks. Right Sserunjogi?
This weekend we visited the Kakamega Forest, the only Kenyan vestige of the unique and once mighty “Guineo-Congolian Forest eco system – virgin tropical rain forest that once stretched from the Congo all the way to Uganda. It is quite beautiful and the trees reach to the sky. It is so wild that trees actually kill each other to survive. There are over 400 species of birds and 400 species of butterflies, and no less than 7 different primate species including the blue monkey and the black and white colobus. We hiked through the forest with a local guide who taught us much, and also brought us back safely. Were we alone, it would be pretty easy to get lost. We stayed in a beautiful retreat that at the turn of the 20th century was the home of the owner of a saw mill. It was pretty posh, but quite simple. When we arrived we were told that at 4 we would have tea or coffee and “delicious” cake, and it really was. Wow!! By the way, there are no malaria mosquitoes in Kakamega and it is only an hour or so out of Kisumu.
So Hinda asked the guide: “Why are they called blue monkeys?” And the guide said, (yes, you guessed it), “Because they look blue”, and Peter said: “Duuh”.
We now walk back and forth to work, but also use “tuk tuk’s” and “matatu’s” to go to the center of town or to the market, etc. What are tuk tuk’s and matatu’s. Those of you who have been to Thailand , India, and perhaps other places will recognize them as 3 wheeled covered motorbikes which sound like tuktuktuktuk………………………………… and have no springs, and here most of the roads aren’t paved. As for matatu’s, they are simply passenger vans that are supposed to hold up to 12 people, but can always squeeze in 20 or 21, or more, but they are cheap – usually 20 “bob” (shillings), about 25 cents. Each morning at about 5:30 the matatu’s on the main road near our home, are blowing their airhorn’s looking for passengers. Sounds like a herd of elephants moving through the jungle.
You know of course that near here is where President Barack Obama’s father’s family comes from, and so we were not surprised to see the “Obama Gate” as one of the entrances to the Provincial Hospital. Speaking of the hospitals, one of the students here who is assigned there part time took a video to show us one of the women’s wards: 2 women to a bed, rats, cockroaches, and then told us that the women’s ward is better than the men’s ward. You may remember our description last year of the big hospital in Kampala where we had to help our friend who without our help, or someone’s would not have had sheets, pillow, blanket, food, bedpan, X-rays, or not much of anything else. It is pretty severe for poor people. Here at the hospital, the doctor only comes once a week and “sees” – literally, 250 patients in a day. The daily care is by interns and nurses. There is a long way to go, and it could be better, but things like corruption and not caring certainly make the going rough and slow.
The modern world is still mind boggling for those of us who grew up before TV, jet planes, and of course, mobile and satellite phones. So there we were in the middle of the Kakamega rain forest Saturday night and we called our son Adam from our mobile to his satellite phone where he was at our summer family cabin in the middle of the Cascade Mountains in the State of Washington in a deep valley surrounded by 9,000’ peaks, and we were able to talk to each other – we felt like the astronauts on the moon. It was great.
Well, after all those movies about Africa when we were kids, Peter is finally being called “bwana” the Kiswahili word for man or sir. For a women it is “bibi” – no relation to Bibi Netanyahu! More often for Peter he is referred to as Mzee, a polite term for an elder, and Hinda once again is Mama or Mommy.
OK for now. Hope you are all well. Stay in touch and we will also. We love to hear from you.
Love and hugs,
Mzee and Mama
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 8:24 PM
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