Day 3 Training
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
We woke up early, so proud of ourselves and realized, while we were assembling our equipment, that the door to the office where the videotapes and all of our other equipment were kept had been locked and none of the keys we had would open it. We called Victor, who told us to call Steve. Steve told us to look in the desk drawers for the key. One of the drawers was locked and the other was so full of papers that it wouldn’t open. We gave up and left, now late again. We walked to Tuungane to meet with the Smart Ladies. We had been informed that Tuungane is actually funded by Bush’s PEPFAR (Presidential Education Program For AIDS Relief).
We were right on time, but Victor did not arrive until 45 minutes later, at which point the girls had come and left and needed to be fetched. When we finally began, we were told that we had a limited amount of time because the girls were scheduled to be leave for a mobilization project at 1:00.
We found that most of the girls did not speak at all. There were a couple of girls who spoke a great deal. One of the girls discussed the group. She told us that most of what the girls discuss when they are together revolves around relationships. She mentioned the difficulties of communicating with the opposite sex, especially around VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing). Alexis shared about her own experiences with similar communication difficulties.
Since we were so pressed for time, after the lecture on photography we had the girls break up into small groups. We suggested that they talk a little bit about their interests to one another, just enough information to introduce their partner to the group. Then they took pictures of their partners that were to show some of their partner’s personality. Unfortunately, some of the Smart Ladies would come and go as they pleased, which complicated the exercise. During the hurried introductions, we found that Alexis’ camera had malfunctioned and all the pictures on her camera came out blurry. The Smart Ladies left to mobilize as we packed up our stuff.
About a half hour later, we ran into their pick up truck at the Kibuye outdoor market where we were buying groceries. We found that the produce at Kibuye is so much cheaper than in the supermarkets, but the experience is so much more interactive. Four avocados, four tomatoes, 3 bell peppers, or two eggs at the market cost 10 shillings or $0.14, but you also have to endure the yells of “wazungu, welcome” and the overcharging because of our skin color and subsequent negotiations to bring the price down.
We returned home by matatu and ate lunch. Victor had told us that we had to leave for Okok Secondary School at around 3pm to get there at 4pm. He actually arrived at the center by bike before 3pm, but then busied himself with things around the center until 3:45.
Okok is the only group we are working with who is in the opposite direction from town. We walked down the road and caught a matatu. We alighted from the matatu at a dirt road. At the mouth of the road were about 10 guys on boda bodas, which are bicycle taxis with a padded seat over the back tire and sometimes a handle under the driver’s seat. We had seen them around town and had been scared of them.
Suddenly Victor was negotiating with one of the guys and was then motioning us to get on. We hesitantly sat on the padded seats, grabbed the handles, and put our feet on the small footrests protruding from the center of the rear wheels. Off we went down that dirt road. It was not a very smooth ride. Alexis found that her hands were awkwardly tucked under her guy’s butt. Sara was having flashbacks of her bike accident as she listened to her guy cough and wheeze as he pedaled along sweating profusely. She tried a couple of times to ask in Kiswahili if he was sick, but he didn’t seem to be understanding. We both held on tightly as we rode along with our heavy backpacks bouncing up and down on our backs. There were two points where we stopped and had to get off and walk up small hills and then get back on to continue the ride. As we walked up the second hill, Alexis’ boda boda guy suggested that she give him money then since she probably wouldn’t be able to later. She politely declined, assuring him that she would make sure that there was time to pay him.
After what seemed like forever, we stopped and were instructed to get off. We didn’t see Victor anywhere, but his boda boda driver was standing in front of us. We stood between the three boda boda guys as they told us to give them 90 shillings. That sounded like a high price, so Sara said that she would call Victor and see what price he had negotiated. Just then Victor came strolling down the road. He told us to give them 60 shillings. We did and started up the road.
Okok Mixed Secondary School is built on a small hill. On the small grassy hillside sit four classrooms (Forms 1 to 4). Okok has no electricity.
We walked up the hillside and into the narrow office of the principal, where we signed the visitors’ book. We were then shown outside to the top of the small hillside to a group of about 25 students. We looked at them and they looked back at us. Given that we were so late, we now had very little time to work with these students. We did another presentation much like the one for Liberty. This time we had an additional audience as the primary school up the road let out and the students, all dressed in red uniforms, lined the fence separating Okok from the road.
When asked about the issues and challenges facing their communities, we got many answers similar to those we had gotten before. One young man brought up the issue of youths’ desire to emulate American fashion, which can sometimes drive them to steal money from their parents to afford the expensive Western items. Victor leaned over to Sara and said, “rather frank, is it not?” Sara replied, “it’s good.” Victor responded, “is it?”
We asked for some personal stories to illustrate the ways in which these issues and challenges affect these young people. One girl told a story about a friend of hers who began to participate in high-risk behaviors and eventually contracted HIV. She said that her friend told her that she does not want to die alone and so she is going to knowingly spread the disease and is currently doing so. We were surprised by the lack of response from the other students to the horrifying story.
When we were finished, the Deputy Principal brought us bottled soda. We politely drank the sodas before heading off down the road back to Mamboleo. We decided to walk to the main road, rather than endure the terror of another boda boda ride. Alexis took many pictures as Victor and Sara walked on ahead. We met many characters along the way, some of whom asked for money and gifts. 
Alexis befriended this crazy (possibly drunk) man who ran and got his bicycle and rode up to us to request that Alexis take a picture of him and that Sara give him a gift. 
We were impressed by the beauty of the landscape and the sky during sunset. Victor talked about his appreciation of the simple farming life as the cows were coming home and fires were being lit to cook dinner.
We reached the main road just as it got dark and were bombarded by boda boda guys and others. We boarded a matatu equipped with interior neon lights and marveled at its club-like atmosphere. We left Victor at Posho Mil and headed home.
We woke up early, so proud of ourselves and realized, while we were assembling our equipment, that the door to the office where the videotapes and all of our other equipment were kept had been locked and none of the keys we had would open it. We called Victor, who told us to call Steve. Steve told us to look in the desk drawers for the key. One of the drawers was locked and the other was so full of papers that it wouldn’t open. We gave up and left, now late again. We walked to Tuungane to meet with the Smart Ladies. We had been informed that Tuungane is actually funded by Bush’s PEPFAR (Presidential Education Program For AIDS Relief).
We were right on time, but Victor did not arrive until 45 minutes later, at which point the girls had come and left and needed to be fetched. When we finally began, we were told that we had a limited amount of time because the girls were scheduled to be leave for a mobilization project at 1:00.
We found that most of the girls did not speak at all. There were a couple of girls who spoke a great deal. One of the girls discussed the group. She told us that most of what the girls discuss when they are together revolves around relationships. She mentioned the difficulties of communicating with the opposite sex, especially around VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing). Alexis shared about her own experiences with similar communication difficulties. Since we were so pressed for time, after the lecture on photography we had the girls break up into small groups. We suggested that they talk a little bit about their interests to one another, just enough information to introduce their partner to the group. Then they took pictures of their partners that were to show some of their partner’s personality. Unfortunately, some of the Smart Ladies would come and go as they pleased, which complicated the exercise. During the hurried introductions, we found that Alexis’ camera had malfunctioned and all the pictures on her camera came out blurry. The Smart Ladies left to mobilize as we packed up our stuff.
About a half hour later, we ran into their pick up truck at the Kibuye outdoor market where we were buying groceries. We found that the produce at Kibuye is so much cheaper than in the supermarkets, but the experience is so much more interactive. Four avocados, four tomatoes, 3 bell peppers, or two eggs at the market cost 10 shillings or $0.14, but you also have to endure the yells of “wazungu, welcome” and the overcharging because of our skin color and subsequent negotiations to bring the price down.
We returned home by matatu and ate lunch. Victor had told us that we had to leave for Okok Secondary School at around 3pm to get there at 4pm. He actually arrived at the center by bike before 3pm, but then busied himself with things around the center until 3:45. Okok is the only group we are working with who is in the opposite direction from town. We walked down the road and caught a matatu. We alighted from the matatu at a dirt road. At the mouth of the road were about 10 guys on boda bodas, which are bicycle taxis with a padded seat over the back tire and sometimes a handle under the driver’s seat. We had seen them around town and had been scared of them.
Suddenly Victor was negotiating with one of the guys and was then motioning us to get on. We hesitantly sat on the padded seats, grabbed the handles, and put our feet on the small footrests protruding from the center of the rear wheels. Off we went down that dirt road. It was not a very smooth ride. Alexis found that her hands were awkwardly tucked under her guy’s butt. Sara was having flashbacks of her bike accident as she listened to her guy cough and wheeze as he pedaled along sweating profusely. She tried a couple of times to ask in Kiswahili if he was sick, but he didn’t seem to be understanding. We both held on tightly as we rode along with our heavy backpacks bouncing up and down on our backs. There were two points where we stopped and had to get off and walk up small hills and then get back on to continue the ride. As we walked up the second hill, Alexis’ boda boda guy suggested that she give him money then since she probably wouldn’t be able to later. She politely declined, assuring him that she would make sure that there was time to pay him.
After what seemed like forever, we stopped and were instructed to get off. We didn’t see Victor anywhere, but his boda boda driver was standing in front of us. We stood between the three boda boda guys as they told us to give them 90 shillings. That sounded like a high price, so Sara said that she would call Victor and see what price he had negotiated. Just then Victor came strolling down the road. He told us to give them 60 shillings. We did and started up the road.
Okok Mixed Secondary School is built on a small hill. On the small grassy hillside sit four classrooms (Forms 1 to 4). Okok has no electricity.
We walked up the hillside and into the narrow office of the principal, where we signed the visitors’ book. We were then shown outside to the top of the small hillside to a group of about 25 students. We looked at them and they looked back at us. Given that we were so late, we now had very little time to work with these students. We did another presentation much like the one for Liberty. This time we had an additional audience as the primary school up the road let out and the students, all dressed in red uniforms, lined the fence separating Okok from the road.When asked about the issues and challenges facing their communities, we got many answers similar to those we had gotten before. One young man brought up the issue of youths’ desire to emulate American fashion, which can sometimes drive them to steal money from their parents to afford the expensive Western items. Victor leaned over to Sara and said, “rather frank, is it not?” Sara replied, “it’s good.” Victor responded, “is it?”We asked for some personal stories to illustrate the ways in which these issues and challenges affect these young people. One girl told a story about a friend of hers who began to participate in high-risk behaviors and eventually contracted HIV. She said that her friend told her that she does not want to die alone and so she is going to knowingly spread the disease and is currently doing so. We were surprised by the lack of response from the other students to the horrifying story.
When we were finished, the Deputy Principal brought us bottled soda. We politely drank the sodas before heading off down the road back to Mamboleo. We decided to walk to the main road, rather than endure the terror of another boda boda ride. Alexis took many pictures as Victor and Sara walked on ahead. We met many characters along the way, some of whom asked for money and gifts. Alexis befriended this crazy (possibly drunk) man who ran and got his bicycle and rode up to us to request that Alexis take a picture of him and that Sara give him a gift. We were impressed by the beauty of the landscape and the sky during sunset. Victor talked about his appreciation of the simple farming life as the cows were coming home and fires were being lit to cook dinner. We reached the main road just as it got dark and were bombarded by boda boda guys and others. We boarded a matatu equipped with interior neon lights and marveled at its club-like atmosphere. We left Victor at Posho Mil and headed home.
posted by Sara Feldman at 6:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home