In the words of Alex " and uhm ... I don't mean to freak you out or anything but 10 DAYS!"
It's coming! It's coming! I'll be returning to Kenya! This is so unbelievably close I can almost touch it! Holy cow, I'm getting excited!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Vaccinated and Medicated
I got all my shots this morning and my prescription for my malaria medication! All in all, it was a lot cheaper than I thought it would all come out to be for 46 tablets of Malarone. I'm never going to be able to donate blood again if I keep travelling like this! I can no longer lift anything with my right arm, it's completely out of commission. The medical stuff for both trips are all over with now and the nurses who administered the shots were hilarious.
Two weeks ago I was emailed my itinerary for my Kenya. As I will be updating while I'm there, I don't want to give too much away (and as always with travelling, things can come up and change so it's tentative):
For our first night in Nairobi, Alex and I will be staying at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden which was built in 1908 for Karen Blixen, the former manager for the Blixen Coffee Plantation which has been restored to all its historical glory and now serves as a resort for guests. ~watching of the film Out of Africa will be happening again before I leave; I had forgotten how beautiful Africa is.
We will then fly out from there to the Mara, unlike last year where we drove seven hours in our lorry to reach our community.
Also, we found out that we will be working at Enelerai Primary School. This is the school where the group and I from last year gathered for the track meet and was host to one of the best days of my life! I'm very, very excited to return.
I cannot wait to do the water walk, hike up one of the surrounding mountains to watch the sun rise over the savannah, sip on the chai tea, and hold hands with the most beautiful little children I have ever been fortunate enough to meet.
19 days to go! *insert flailing, happy tears, smiles* and I get to see Alex again!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but, for some real journalism:
Volunteer-experience-a-life-changing-one - from the Ottawa Metro, April 20, 2010.
Also, pick up a copy of the Chatelaine Magazine in June!
Two weeks ago I was emailed my itinerary for my Kenya. As I will be updating while I'm there, I don't want to give too much away (and as always with travelling, things can come up and change so it's tentative):
For our first night in Nairobi, Alex and I will be staying at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden which was built in 1908 for Karen Blixen, the former manager for the Blixen Coffee Plantation which has been restored to all its historical glory and now serves as a resort for guests. ~watching of the film Out of Africa will be happening again before I leave; I had forgotten how beautiful Africa is.
We will then fly out from there to the Mara, unlike last year where we drove seven hours in our lorry to reach our community.
Also, we found out that we will be working at Enelerai Primary School. This is the school where the group and I from last year gathered for the track meet and was host to one of the best days of my life! I'm very, very excited to return.
I cannot wait to do the water walk, hike up one of the surrounding mountains to watch the sun rise over the savannah, sip on the chai tea, and hold hands with the most beautiful little children I have ever been fortunate enough to meet.
19 days to go! *insert flailing, happy tears, smiles* and I get to see Alex again!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but, for some real journalism:
Volunteer-experience-a-life-changing-one - from the Ottawa Metro, April 20, 2010.
Also, pick up a copy of the Chatelaine Magazine in June!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
World Whirl-Wind
I was reading snip-its of my journal that I kept last year; I was reading about our goodbye ceremony with Salabwek, the headmaster gave us a great speech about how wonderful Canada is to let us come to a place where our parents and friends don't know where we are, and it's very true. We live in a country of freedom, where we can walk around freely, and I've been lucky enough to have parents who trust me and let me travel to rural places in developing countries with next to no communication for weeks at a time. This summer, I will be embarking on two Free the Children volunteer trips and to have my families support for both of them lets me take on these issues: they put up with my idealism, my enthusiasm, my hope for helping to make the world a better place. My mom in particular has stood by and supported me, she persuaded/cheered me on to go to Mexico on my first overseas volunteer trip when I was only 14. That trip started my activist career that is still going strong. Going to Mexico to build that house was when I started to really see the world in a different light; I had read about the struggles, but to see homes without doors or windows boggled my young-mind. This experience is when I would say I started to live my life. While there, I was faced with the poverty, disease and corruption. I was taken aback of what I saw. The injustice was just incredible. I had read up and researched it, but until you see it, touch it, live near it no one really understands. From this, I caught the travel bug.
So, there I was, May 2009, on my way to Pearson International Airport in Toronto departing for Kenya when the magnitude of the trip hit me. From my first step off the plane in Nairobi, I knew my life would never be the same. My group consisted of 23 passionate, young leaders from other Canadian post- secondary institutions. We travelled from Nairobi for 9 hours to Salabwek, our community where we would spend the next 3 weeks. We worked almost every day- breaking ground, digging trenches, making cement by hand and moving rocks for the foundation. We fought through the pain, heat, and sweat. It was worth every bit of energy we had. Most days, we did have free time to hang out with the kids; this to me was the most educational to me. I connected with two young girls - they changed my world without a doubt and not a day goes by that I don’t think of them. They taught me how to live. My life, my perspective, my future all changed with this trip, from kicking it on the soccer field with the students to sleeping in a manyatta (a home make of sticks, mud and animal dung). The passion and strength I was shown from everyone I met was the best lesson I have ever learned; "That opportunity isn’t a chance, it is choice."
Thank you Mom, for making me who I am today; for challenging and inspiring me, creating a household that valued helping others and for setting an example of working your hardest for your beliefs and taking chances. Happy mothers day!
So, there I was, May 2009, on my way to Pearson International Airport in Toronto departing for Kenya when the magnitude of the trip hit me. From my first step off the plane in Nairobi, I knew my life would never be the same. My group consisted of 23 passionate, young leaders from other Canadian post- secondary institutions. We travelled from Nairobi for 9 hours to Salabwek, our community where we would spend the next 3 weeks. We worked almost every day- breaking ground, digging trenches, making cement by hand and moving rocks for the foundation. We fought through the pain, heat, and sweat. It was worth every bit of energy we had. Most days, we did have free time to hang out with the kids; this to me was the most educational to me. I connected with two young girls - they changed my world without a doubt and not a day goes by that I don’t think of them. They taught me how to live. My life, my perspective, my future all changed with this trip, from kicking it on the soccer field with the students to sleeping in a manyatta (a home make of sticks, mud and animal dung). The passion and strength I was shown from everyone I met was the best lesson I have ever learned; "That opportunity isn’t a chance, it is choice."
Thank you Mom, for making me who I am today; for challenging and inspiring me, creating a household that valued helping others and for setting an example of working your hardest for your beliefs and taking chances. Happy mothers day!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Sense of This
Swahili: 48, Alannah: 3.
I've been trying to learn Swahili, hoping to grow my knowledge of the language further than "My name is Alannah. I am twenty years old." Alex has also been trying to learn the new language (she's so much better than me!). Last year, we had crash courses in Swahili, and as described in my last post, conversation isn't needed to feel such a real, emotional connection to others. I am hoping to learn a lot more from this very fascinating language and be able to talk to the mamas of the communities who may not have had the chance to go to school, to learn English. Part of the intrigue of travelling is to immerse yourself into a culture that you know next to nothing about, to not be able to lean on cultural norms, technology, or even the language. You come out on the other side with new knowledge, less ignorance, more worldly perspectives. Slowly, this very confusing language is becoming less complicated, the sounds are easier to make, the sentences are easier to structure. Learning, travelling, seeing, being. 'Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.'
I've been trying to learn Swahili, hoping to grow my knowledge of the language further than "My name is Alannah. I am twenty years old." Alex has also been trying to learn the new language (she's so much better than me!). Last year, we had crash courses in Swahili, and as described in my last post, conversation isn't needed to feel such a real, emotional connection to others. I am hoping to learn a lot more from this very fascinating language and be able to talk to the mamas of the communities who may not have had the chance to go to school, to learn English. Part of the intrigue of travelling is to immerse yourself into a culture that you know next to nothing about, to not be able to lean on cultural norms, technology, or even the language. You come out on the other side with new knowledge, less ignorance, more worldly perspectives. Slowly, this very confusing language is becoming less complicated, the sounds are easier to make, the sentences are easier to structure. Learning, travelling, seeing, being. 'Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.'
Monday, May 3, 2010
Happiness
A lot of people upon hearing that I'm going back to Kenya react with, "Are you going to see a lion? Don't get AIDS." And if they continue to talk, they'll ask what I'm doing there.
On my first trip to Kenya, I, of course, tried not to expect certain things before I went, of either myself or of the country and the people. What I did see and learn and experience wasn't what I was expecting, or would have expected.
Most people associate Africa with the faces they see on TV - of the children that are in so desperate need of our help, with yellow eyes, and distended-bellies due to malnutrition. Sure, yes, this is a reality - but the feeling you get when you meet these individuals is something so unlike that! There isn't desperation or despair, they have so much passion and zest for life. Although they are poor in material possessions, they are very rich in love and understanding for their neighbours.
Wherever we drove in the lorry, kids would always see us and come running and screaming up to the lorry, rocking the double wave and shouting "Jambo! Jambo!"
The kids were just so wonderful, and so happy, I mean SO happy. I have never met kids like this. When something was funny, it wasn't just funny - it was THE FUNNIEST THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. They would scream with laughter. Even though our Swahili was not that great and their English was mostly limited to two sentences ("Whatisyourname?" and "Howoldareyou?" with the occasional "Whatisthenameofyourmother?" thrown in), there was no problem communicating. We would just grin at each other, or resort to tickling, or trying on sunglasses, or playing Stella-ella-oh-la.
As my friend Clare pointed out:
we laugh at home, obviously. But in Canada, we laugh when things are funny: when someone tells a joke, when someone falls out of a chair, when I watch Friends. But I don't think I ever smiled or laughed more out of pure joy than when I was in Kenya. And I know how that sounds, but it's true: sitting in the middle of a big pile of laughing kids, you can't do anything else but grin at them.
As someone said, seeing so many happy people is inspiring, but it also makes you think "How can I possibly, possibly ever be unhappy?" These kids were just so ecstatic for any one thing: a footrace; being tickled; seeing new people; getting kicked out of stella-ella-oh-la; showing us their school, or getting a piggy-back ride. Not only does it give you a slap in the face every time you think of when you've been unhappy or because you missed a mark on a test.
Not only does it add THAT perspective, but it also really makes you think about what makes up happiness. I've lost sight of some of that perspective since being back in North America.
On my first trip to Kenya, I, of course, tried not to expect certain things before I went, of either myself or of the country and the people. What I did see and learn and experience wasn't what I was expecting, or would have expected.
Most people associate Africa with the faces they see on TV - of the children that are in so desperate need of our help, with yellow eyes, and distended-bellies due to malnutrition. Sure, yes, this is a reality - but the feeling you get when you meet these individuals is something so unlike that! There isn't desperation or despair, they have so much passion and zest for life. Although they are poor in material possessions, they are very rich in love and understanding for their neighbours.
Wherever we drove in the lorry, kids would always see us and come running and screaming up to the lorry, rocking the double wave and shouting "Jambo! Jambo!"
The kids were just so wonderful, and so happy, I mean SO happy. I have never met kids like this. When something was funny, it wasn't just funny - it was THE FUNNIEST THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. They would scream with laughter. Even though our Swahili was not that great and their English was mostly limited to two sentences ("Whatisyourname?" and "Howoldareyou?" with the occasional "Whatisthenameofyourmother?" thrown in), there was no problem communicating. We would just grin at each other, or resort to tickling, or trying on sunglasses, or playing Stella-ella-oh-la.
As my friend Clare pointed out:
we laugh at home, obviously. But in Canada, we laugh when things are funny: when someone tells a joke, when someone falls out of a chair, when I watch Friends. But I don't think I ever smiled or laughed more out of pure joy than when I was in Kenya. And I know how that sounds, but it's true: sitting in the middle of a big pile of laughing kids, you can't do anything else but grin at them.
As someone said, seeing so many happy people is inspiring, but it also makes you think "How can I possibly, possibly ever be unhappy?" These kids were just so ecstatic for any one thing: a footrace; being tickled; seeing new people; getting kicked out of stella-ella-oh-la; showing us their school, or getting a piggy-back ride. Not only does it give you a slap in the face every time you think of when you've been unhappy or because you missed a mark on a test.
Not only does it add THAT perspective, but it also really makes you think about what makes up happiness. I've lost sight of some of that perspective since being back in North America.
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