Starting with Joyce’s return and a long conversation on how people here will take hippos in as pets and use them to hunt people they don’t like, HAHAH, this week has been the best yet. Another hippo fun fact: to assert their dominance over each other, they spray their turd as far as they can. That is fascinating…thank you, Hope. Hope has been on a hunt to find the hippo that lives on the shore of ICIPE. Apparently, it has been spotted before. We have spent hours parkouring on the trees to get a glimpse. Hope fell into the water HAHAHA. worth it? yes. I started drinking coffee this week. On Tuesday, Hope and I ended up drinking two shots of espresso with Joyce. We played SPIT (if you don’t know this game, you do not know me), and it was definitely the most mind-boggling game I’ve ever played. Since I’m lactose intolerant, I’ve just been adding water, sugar, and cocoa powder. We’ve also been trying foam art! Later on Tuesday, we were chefs in the kitchen. We made spinach, ugali, and fish. It was very good, but the spinach was so bitter - I realized I had forgotten to add any type of sweetener/spice. Then, the next morning, we got up bright and early for our road trip to Mgori County. at 6 AM. Little did we know, the car would be coming at 10 AM. Cruel. We ventured in the ICIPE car to farmers' houses. I loved our interviewees today. First, we entered this lavish home decorated with children’s accomplishments and posters of Jesus. She was the type of person that, when she smiled, you would want to smile. She understood most of our questions, and soon enough, she served us tea and bananas. The tea had goat milk, spices, and tea leaves. It was so tasty. She milks her goats in the morning and plucks the veggies she wants to use during the day to start her day. It’s awesome. We toured her farm. We started with the HE-GOAT (apparently, that’s the real name- I was cackling when I heard it). He was beautiful. Then, we saw an electric fodder/desmodium cutting machine! First electric fodder cutter I’ve seen! She toured us around the cow pen, where a loud grunting sound met us. Apparently, the bull sensed us and was very unpleased. I MET A BULL! It was humungous. Her neighbors pay her to mate their cows with the bull to produce more cattle. Smart move. We saw little puppies and huge banana trees. We walked away with a bundle, and we had to finish it before we returned to the car. I ate two bananas. From the age of four, I decided I would never eat a banana. The smell is nauseating, and the mushiness is too much for me. The number of times when Matilda opened a banana in the car, and I’d pass out. Turns out these bananas were good..I’m still debating where I am on that. It changed me. Hope ate 5 and a half! Then, we drove a few minutes away to meet this kind couple with whom we ate lunch. I love having the time to bond with the farmers. It gives you perspective you will never get from a 10-minute interview. THEN, we went to my favorite interview of all time. While driving up, we were greeted with screams. Hundreds of kids from the school right beside the house we were driving to were waving. “Muzungu” times 100. Through the windows, we shook their hands and introduced ourselves. They were my siblings’ age. They toppled over each other to get a glimpse of Hope. I will never forget that moment. Matilda steered us back to the house we intended to go to, and there we met Mama Molly, a 69-year-old widow who opened the school next door for orphans. She adopted 9 children in the last 20 years and felt they weren’t receiving all the resources they needed at the local school. She opened the school to make them feel more comfortable. It’s truly amazing. It’s hard to recognize the good in the world sometimes. She is truly a good person. I can’t even imagine how many children she’s helped through her school. After the interview, we got to introduce ourselves to the entire school. We hugged and laughed with the children as we shook their hands. There were over 200 kids. When I told the principal or head teacher that I was from New York, he announced to all the kids that if they worked incredibly hard, they could someday be in New York with me. The kids went crazy. At that moment, I truly realized how fortunate I am. I want to take this moment to formally thank my grandparents and parents for working as hard as they did to get me where I am. My grandparents, growing up in small-town regions like Amreli and Saurashtra, gave and sacrificed their everything to raise their kids in America. And then we have my parents, who have proven the American Dream to me by working their butts off. I’m so grateful to them for making this life of endless opportunity possible for me. The admiration on each child’s face reminded me of that. Thanks to mentors and changemakers like Mama Molly, orphans in Mgori have the opportunity to use their education to shape their future and lead better lifestyles for their kids. I could see the love she carried in her eyes and through her hugs. It’s strange here how fast people will treat you like family. There is no tension or social awkwardness. The moment one of you smiles, it’s like you’ve become their daughter. Mama Molly even offered me a job next summer to come stay at her home and work at the school. I really, really, really hope I can do it. To have another summer like this would be amazing. I really don’t want to leave now. I also realized that when another American came to the Guest House. Our friend, the manager of the local church, came to greet us and excitedly told us that he had invited Americans (missionaries). We ran to greet them. I’m sure they are extremely nice people, but the silence and awkwardness reminded me of America. Every time I meet a Kenyan here, it’s like a homey, warm feeling. When meeting all of Mama Molly’s kids, whose ages ranged from one to 31, I got that feeling. They instantly introduced themselves and started touching my hair ahahaha. That visit to Mama Molly’s has become a core memory. We drove to a local hotel and got rooms. The rooms seemed completely fine at first. The first night, I was even comfortable. I dropped my stuff on the floor, desperate for sleep. I fell asleep at 12:30 and was AWOKEN at 4 am by A ROOSTER. In movies, when people wake up to roosters, they always portray it as they are one with nature. At that moment, I was definitely NOT one with nature. I was against it. For two hours, I just talked to friends because it was still 9 pm their time. Literally dead, I put on some clothes and walked to breakfast. I did not speak for about three hours. The combination of the goat milk in my lactose-intolerant stomach, bananas that my stomach had never been introduced to, the rooster waking me up, and fire ants biting my legs left me completely silent. But today, we would be asking questions to a group of 9 farmers to triangulate our research. I would normally feel so excited about this, but again, I felt no emotion. The farmers sat in a circle, and Hope and I stood by a large pad of paper attached to an upright table. We would ask questions and write their responses on the pad. It was difficult to simplify our questions. If my question was, “Do farmers need to be financially stable to help solve climate change?” I would have to ask them about the causes and solutions of climate change, the methods they use, and the methods that require finances. They were really cooperative and listened to us for about 2.5 hours. We brought drinks and food to express our gratitude. Most of them told us they came for the food, hahahahah. But, by this time, Hope’s head was pounding (she didn't feel so well), and I was slowly becoming more delusional. After a few hours of calling my mom and aunt and eating the candy bar we picked up from the grocery store, we headed back to the hotel. Quick side note: Most of the grocery stores are run by Indians. I had not seen Indians in quite a while. Matilda told me to introduce myself, which I should have. Ugh, I was just too tired. Back at the hotel, I was having somewhat of a rough time. I took a shower and found that the towel the hotel gave me was a brownish color. I want you to imagine with me. After a long day of only having three hours of sleep, showering with a brownish-stained towel and freezing water, and speaking to farmers who semi-understand you, you are ready for bed. You walk out of the bathroom soaked and you find a CENTIPEDE crawling at you 100mph from a shady corner of the room. It zoomed. It was 5 inches long. I was ready for Candid Camera to come out and interview me. But, it was just nature :/ AND THEN, once I searched my bed thoroughly for bugs and closed the lights, I SAW SOMETHING MOVING NEXT TO MY PHONE. A COCKROACH ZOOMED AT ME. I had no energy left to scream. I sat up in awe. At that moment, I called my mom and just cried. I was so sleep-deprived. I watched until 2 am that night as the cockroaches invaded my bed. I sat on the very edge of the bed, in between the cockroaches and centipedic floor. The whole time, the club music from the hotel was blasting. THERE was so no one else at the hotel. WHY DID THEY HAVE THE MUSIC ON???? Finally, I fell asleep and awoke TO THE COCKROACH RUNNING AT MY FOREHEAD. I spent 4 am to 7 am blasting Shawn Mendes in the bathroom, trying to forget about the creatures around me. It was hard to do that with the dogs outside my door howling and the rooster at it again. Somehow, I left the hotel room in a good, humorous mood and met Hope for breakfast. We both seemed to have a rough night and spent breakfast cackling and playing spit. Then, our waiter from the last few days at the hotel came up to us and asked if we could take a picture we left. Okay, this is the one thing I will never adjust to. People want to take pictures with us and post them on their social media. It makes me feel sooo uncomfortable, especially when it’s a middle-aged man. Trying to seem preoccupied with cards, Hope and I avoided all eye contact. When Matilda came, we sighed with relief. We were safe. But Matilda, instead of saying no to him taking a picture with us, suggested that she should also be part of the photo HAHAHAH. That photo shoot was the most UNCOMFORTABLE thing ever. He wanted solo, duo, and group shots with us holding hands. Sleep deprived me just went along with it. I’m sure if I was in any other state, I would’ve run. Then, on day three of the road trip. We traveled five hours to the Kisumu climate agro technologies fair! It was a HOT ride with me in the middle of sleeping Matilda and Hope. It was rough. We spent 30 minutes at the fair exploring, and it was really cool. Again, my sleep depravity kind of steered me away from fully exploring, but I took pictures of all the research projects to fully appreciate them later. On the way back, we stopped at a huge grocery store. Hope and I shared a slice of red velvet cake, two cans of original and sour cream and onion pringles, salted peanuts, Oreos, and packs of french fries. Holy moly. It was delicious, and I instantly felt nauseous. We’ve only really had healthy food for the last month, so this was the best cheat day one has ever seen. Hope spent the rest of the ride high on sugar cackling. We came back and hugged Joyce, and instantly slept. I had missed sleep so much. We woke up on Sunday and did absolutely nothing, which I loved. Today, I have to grind to finish everything. Especially the report!!! And my placement tests. And my data! AHHH. This week was so much fun. Also, what do you mean we only have two weeks left?? I don’t wanna leave. Thank you for reading, and see you next week :).
