My first week in Kenya.
The first week of my internship is finished. It’s been more than a week since I left home. When I left, I wasn’t nervous or scared; I just wanted to get everything over with. I hate the travel part of everything. The flights to Kenya were long and so dull. I remember sitting next to two men on my first flight. The guy in the aisle seat was chewing a piece of gum so obnoxiously loud. The man beside me kept elbowing me and dropping crumbs on me. I was so annoyed, but I knew I would be in a strange city with even more strange people in a short while.
Finding my terminal was hard once I made it to New Jersey because the airport was huge. The people I sat next to on my way to Brussels were friendly, but nobody talked with each other. The plane was packed; every seat on the plane had someone in it. People were told that their roll-away bags would have to be checked luggage. The person behind me kept kicking my seat, so I only slept for an hour on the 7-hour flight.
Trying to navigate the Brussels airport was worse than the New Jersey one. It might’ve been a smaller airport, but there were no lines, so it was so chaotic. But it was there I had met up with Pari.
We finally made it to Kenya after a long flight. Then we had to get through customs, which took about an hour and a half to two hours. After customs, we had to find our bags. Our bags were next to this man, so we walked up to him, and he said he’d been waiting for us and helped us put our bags on a trolley. Because of his kind jesters, we thought this was our driver who would take us to the hotel where we would be staying. But then he said, “Tip? 20 dollars.” We got so confused. Was this not our driver? It was not. Pari gave him 10 euros to cover our tips, but he approached me and had his hand out. So, to get him away, I gave him 500 Shillings.
Once we found our correct driver and made it to the hotel, we were finally so relieved. There was a bed we could sleep in. But we did not get much sleep. After showering and calling our parents, it was around 2 a.m., and we had to be up and gone at 6 a.m. That is only about 3.5 hours of sleep, so we took a 30-minute nap and stayed up.
We boarded the Kenyan Airways flight and took off for Kisumu, where the ICIPE driver would be waiting for us. The flight to Kisumu was much shorter than the flights I had been on before — About 50 minutes.
We had to find our luggage once we got to the Kisumu airport. However, we were following some people in front of us, so we didn’t see our bags and walked outside the airport. We had to go back through the front of the airport and back to the baggage. Thankfully, the airport was really small.
We met with the ICIPE driver and Matilda, our supervisor, and went to the market. Then we dropped Matilda off and went to ICIPE. The drive was 2.5 hours long.
At ICIPE, we got our rooms and met the staff.
Whenever I walk past a kid at ICIPE or Mbita, they always say, ‘Mzungu.’ This means ‘foreigner’ but is used for white people or someone with a different skin complexion. At first, I thought this was funny, but it became annoying after a while. I understand rural Kenya, or even rural Africa, doesn’t get a lot of white visitors, so it’s a new thing for the children. But it makes me feel like I am an animal in a zoo. Something that is stared at, laughed at and called something that is not my name. I know this all comes from good intentions; they are not being mean, but this experience is new for me. When strangers are in the US, people treat them like anybody else.
On Monday, I started my work. I came up with my objectives and built and revised them. I have spent countless hours a day doing this, staring at my iPad screen, wondering what I can change.
On Tuesday, I learned about Push-Pull Technology, PPT for short. PPT is used in many farms around the area. Desmodium is planted right next to the desired crop, mainly corn. Desmodium is used as a pesticide. It produces a smell that most pests don’t like. Then, a specific type of grass is planted around the crops, becoming a barrier. The pest likes this grass but kills about 80% of them. There are a few versions of PPT. There is a climate-smart that uses a Desmodium that is drought resistant. And there are Vegetable PPT. This is where you plant vegetables along with the corn and desmodium. I learned that most youth like this version because vegetables grow fast, and the income comes sooner than if they just plant corn. After work, I saw monkeys! I have never seen these monkeys before. I don’t know what type they are, but they are adorable. Seeing animals in the wild was so cool. This is their home; zoos are not their homes.
I don’t have work on weekends, as most people at ICIPE only work on weekdays. I spent this weekend going on walks, playing pool, and attending church. I find everything so beautiful here, so when I go on walks, I like to take everything in. I went on a few walks outside of ICIPE, and it was so much fun! I loved being able to see the culture of the Kenyan people.
The hardest part of this trip is that I miss my family. I miss my mom, Carter, and my pets. I think about them every day and wish to hug them again. I know I’ll see them soon, and they are proud of me, but I can’t help but wish I was with them right now.
Overall, this first week has been so fun! There have been a few downs, but every day has something displeasing about it. Nothing is inherently perfect. It matters what you want to remember and think back on. Only thinking about the negatives will sour everything. And only thinking about the positives will make you blind to the wrongs. You have to remember everything and understand the bigger picture of it all.
