No Hurry in Africa: Life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya

List of Abbreviations

COS          Close of Service

HRC         Holy Rosary College (Kenya)

ICT           Information Communications Technology (Kenya)

IST            In-Service Training

IT              Information Technology

JICA          Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Japan)

NGO         Non-Governmental Organization

NYS           National Youth Service (Kenya)

PC              Peace Corps

PCV           Peace Corps Volunteer

PCVL         Peace Corps Volunteer Leader

PEPFAR     President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

RPCV        Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

SED           Small Enterprise Development (Kenya)

USAID       United States Agency for International Development

VSO           Volunteers Serving Overseas (United Kingdom)

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: Training in Kenya

Chapter 2: Enthusiastic…and Scared

Chapter 3: Amazing Kenyans

Chapter 4: Using Fudge in Gender Development

Chapter 5: Patricia, Reuben,

and Mafia

Chapter 6: Moving to Yatta

Chapter 7: Government Raids

and Baboons

Chapter 8: Six Months

Left…Or More?

Chapter 9: Ukambani

Chapter 10: Violence and Endings

Chapter 11: Back Home in the United States

About the Author

Preface

I joined the Peace Corps after being laid off from a computer-programming job in 2002 and not being able to find another position in the information technology (IT) field. I’ve always been a strong believer that volunteer experience can be just as valuable as paid work experience, and I’ve always wanted to be a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). I thought it would be very rewarding to work in a developing country. Not only could I continue to earn IT experience, I could also learn a foreign language and gain skills in community development and humanitarian aid.

In October 2003, I began the Peace Corps application process. You can learn about the steps to joining Peace Corps on their website (www.peacecorps.gov), but basically there are nine stages. It begins with the application itself, and then you have a personal interview with a Peace Corps recruiter. If the recruiter feels you are qualified, he or she will nominate you for an available program and you move on to the medical and legal qualification steps. Then you wait for an invitation to serve. Once you receive the invitation to serve and accept it, you’re sent information on when to appear for Staging before you leave the country. You then begin training, which focuses on the country-specific language, cross-cultural awareness, technical skills, health, and safety. Finally, upon successful completion of training, you attend a swearing-in ceremony and officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer.

At the time I was going through the application process, a recruit only had a forty percent chance of actually getting the job for which he or she was nominated. Adding to the anticipation of wondering what type of work you would be doing in the foreign country was the fact that you wouldn’t receive your invitation until six to eight weeks before you left. The waiting was the hardest part!

My background was a little different from most Peace Corps Volunteers, who are usually graduates from four-year colleges. I had been taking college classes on and off for years, but only had an Associate in Occupational Studies degree (in Computer Programming and Network Management). However, I did have computer experience and had been volunteering since the age of fourteen. I was also able to show my ability to adapt to new cultures. My HIV/AIDS training and volunteer experience were also assets.

Before I left home and all throughout my two years and eight months of service, I kept a journal and sent monthly newsletters via email to my friends and family. The third goal of Peace Corps is to teach Americans about the countries in which we served and these newsletters fulfilled that goal at the same time I was serving in Kenya.

This book is a chronological accounting of my experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2004-2007, based on my journal entries and the newsletters I emailed every month.

Please note that the experiences and opinions expressed in these journal entries and newsletters were my own, at that time. I’ve edited some spelling and grammar errors and for clarity in some places, but for the most part these journal entries and emailed newsletters are little changed from when I first wrote them.

Theresa at Home on Kauai in 2003

Introduction

In October 2003, I submitted my application to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I started both a private journal and an email mailing list consisting of my family and friends, and began recording my experiences.

During the application process, my emotions swung from excitement and anticipation to fear and indecision about joining. Here are a few of my journal entries and emails during that time:

February 10, 2004 – Sometimes I question whether or not I really want to go, but I think these thoughts are normal and healthy. It certainly is a good time in my life to go - I don’t have a computer-related job right now and the prospects for one in the near future are slim; I don’t have a car; and although my bills are paid up, I don’t have any extra money for traveling on my own. I’m also turning forty-one this year and my health, while good now, will potentially only deteriorate as I get older. The Peace Corps will give me an adventure, help me to travel and experience new cultures, teach me a new language, give me more computer-related experience, give me a chance to learn better people skills and more patience, and offer me chances for a better future afterward. Whether I’m worried or afraid (or not), I think I need to do this.

March 12, 2004 - Yesterday afternoon I flew to Honolulu to attend a Peace Corps gathering. At the party I met my Peace Corps recruiter (whose office is in San Francisco) and spoke with both returned volunteers and the parents of currently serving volunteers. I loved hearing their stories! I also received a lot of encouragement from the returned volunteers to hang in there during the final medical processing time and the period of waiting for the actual invitation to serve.

March 30, 2004 - This morning I talked to my Peace Corps placement officer on the phone and was told that the job for which I was nominated, to teach computer literacy to secondary school students and teachers in Asia, has been cancelled. In fact, all of the IT positions in Asia have apparently been cancelled (at least until next winter). I can’t lie and say I’m not disappointed. I am. But I will be flexible and see if there is some other way I can serve in the Peace Corps.

April 1, 2004 - Yay! I cleared Peace Corps Medical today! Hurray! That’s the final step before being sent an invitation to serve. I also found out that there’s an IT-related assignment in Africa leaving August 22nd and that I’m on the list. I would rather have gone to Asia than Africa, but I’ll take whatever assignment I’m given, and be happy that I got it.

April 2, 2004 - I learned a little more about my new assignment today: It will involve teaching IT to small business employees and people in general in rural communities in Africa, leaving August 22nd. It’s an assignment that sounds good to me – it’s in the IT field and about teaching adults. I can’t believe I’m actually going!

May 20, 2004 - I received my invitation to serve today! In three months and five days, I’ll be leaving for eight to ten weeks of training in Naivasha, Kenya. That’s after spending three days somewhere in the United States for staging, where I’ll also receive the immunizations I need. Once in Kenya, I’ll be staying with a host (Kenyan) family and learning to speak Kiswahili (which apparently means language of the Swahili people). I’m so excited! In addition to learning a new language, I’ll also be learning all about Kenyan culture, customs and traditions. The more I fit into my new community (I won’t know which community until after training), the safer I will be in Kenya. I’ll also be learning effective ways to teach IT skills to people who need the skills so that they can earn more money, but whose lives may already be so full with work that they have other priorities. Whatever I teach needs to be sustainable, so that they can continue with my projects long after I leave. That’s a daunting task. But since there have been thousands of Peace Corps volunteers before me, I’m sure they’ll train me in that area, too.

According to the materials included with the invitation to serve, I’ll be wearing mostly long skirts because that’s what women apparently wear. Temperatures in Kenya apparently range from fifty-five to ninety degrees, depending on the region.

Right now, less than two hours after I first read my invitation materials, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and astonished that I’m finally at this point. I have to get passport pictures, fill out visa and passport applications, update my résumé and write a statement of goals and expectations for my country of service, etc. I’m so excited!

August 17, 2004 - Well, it’s time for me to wrap things up here. I leave Friday, August 20th for Washington, DC. I’m all packed for my trip and I only have one more box to send to my parents for storage. I do have a lot of housecleaning to finish up with, though, plus just a few little odds and ends to tie up tomorrow, Thursday and Friday before I leave. I’m excited to be going and a little nervous (which I’m sure will increase soon), but right now I’m sad – sad to be leaving this beautiful island and all of my friends and Kauai ohana.

Peace Corps Kenya Sign at Naivasha Training Center

Chapter 1: Training in Kenya

August 27, 2004 – We’re in Kenya! We have shillings now, but can’t spend them until we know where to go. I mainly just want to buy postcards and clothes right now.

Just before we received our immunizations in Nairobi, our group was robbed. We had all been in a room together and went outside for a break, with a few people remaining in the room to finish their tasks. A well-dressed Kenyan woman went through our bags and purses and stole money and credit cards. Luckily, my bags were still in the truck and I had taken my purse with me on break. One of the Peace Corps nurses ran after the woman and shouted to the guard at the gate that she was a thief and not to let her out, but he just opened the gate for the woman and let her out! We’re now wondering if the guard was in on it.

We learned today that we can’t take pictures of people in uniform or of government buildings. Also, if we’re nearby when the Kenyan flag is being raised or lowered, we have to stand still. Apparently, if we disobey these two rules, we can be arrested.

I found out that Kenyans pronounce Peace Corps as "Peace Corpse." I want to laugh every time I hear it! It’s just that Kenyans pronounce every letter in a word.

August 28, 2004 – We’re starting to learn Kiswahili, although pole pole sana (very slowly). We can now say basic greetings (which are very important here in Kenya), give our names/ask other people their names, and say where we’re from/ask others where they’re from. Practice is what helps us the most, but I need to be able to see the words written in my mind in order to remember them – which, apparently, makes me a visual learner.

Tomorrow we have a language class, a class on safety topics, and then information (and a trip) on our supposed area of expertise (which, for me, is small enterprise development/information communications technology).

AUGUST 2004 NEWSLETTER:

Hamjambo, everyone! I made it to Kenya and found a few minutes and a free seat at an Internet café in Naivasha, so I thought I’d drop everyone a line. Sundays are our only days off.

I have a cold (which started the day I left Kauai), but am otherwise well. I am eating well and drinking safe, treated water. We’re learning a lot, especially the language and culture. Tuesday we leave to stay at our individual home stays – one trainee per family. Our training group has been broken down into small classes (four students per class and teacher) to learn the language and our classes will be clustered together in separate villages. My teacher’s name is Mugo. We will spend seven weeks with our host families and our teachers will take a matatu (a taxi bus) out to us to teach us more Kiswahili and to help us do some kind of community training, like a project of some kind. I’m both nervous and excited. After Tuesday, I’ll see just my fellow SED/ICT (Small Enterprise Development/Information Communications Technology) trainees until we’re sworn in as volunteers in October. That’s because the other trainees are being housed with families in other communities.

I tried not to have any expectations of what Kenya would be like before I came, but it is certainly different than America. My biggest surprise was seeing all of the trash on the ground everywhere. There’s no trash pickup, so I suppose the trash has to go somewhere.

The Kenyan Peace Corps staff makes us practice our Kiswahili with them every time we pass one of them (like in the dining room, while out walking, etc.). They really know what they’re doing, having had Peace Corps Volunteers in Kenya for forty years now.

Even though it is strange and hard, I think this is probably one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.

Mugo Shows the Githunguri Trainees How to Light a Taa

In Kenya, at least during the time I served, home stay families were chosen from rural communities. The Peace Corps staff member who placed our training group, Ezekiel, told me he looked for middle-class families in clusters of four to five, within about an hour’s