Saturday, 22 September 2007

• September heat

  Wow, life in community can certainly be a bit crazy at times!  One needs to actively seek out time alone (especially us introverts) in order to stay sane sometimes.  Luckily having a deserted beach right here makes it not too difficult, though more difficult than you might think.  After a brief hiatus from having lots of people around, we got an influx of new volunteers, most of whom are long-term (3 months or more).  Two volunteers arrived from A Rocha Canada who will be here for 6 months, one volunteer from the UK who is just here for a month, and one American who is here for 3.  And of the four, three are male, breaking up the purely female volunteer/researcher structure for awhile and creating a somewhat different atmosphere!  It’s been fun, though, having new people around—we have all bonded quite quickly and spend most evening playing some version of rugby, American football, soccer, or Frisbee on the beach before swimming in the ocean.  I’ve taken a strong liking to body surfing lately, since high tide has been coming around the evening hours and the waves have been pretty huge!  Speaking of big waves, there was a tsunami warning for the Kenyan coast a few weeks ago because of an earthquake in Indonesia!  It was “supposed” to hit around 11 p.m….we all sat up waiting for any news, and finally at 11 decided, ‘what the heck, let’s go down to the beach and see what’s happening.’ Probably not the smartest thing to do in the event of a tsunami!  But in any case, nothing happened, which is definitely a good thing.  Sorry, that was a tangent.  So yes, I’ve been going to bed at night feeling as if I’m still being tossed around in the ocean, slightly sunburned, and usually exhausted.  It’s been nice to take advantage of the beach more than I have been.  Having lots of young volunteers around (most recent college grads) has had the advantage of shifting me somewhat out of school/research mode a bit, resulting in more fun/relaxation being had (perhaps to the detriment of the research, or not….).  Oh, and I’ve also been doing quite a bit of star-gazing, and learning the southern constellations, which is quite the challenge!  We have a star-chart here that I’ve been attempting to use, the result being many hours spent lying on the beach, getting lots of sand in my eyes and hair, trying to balance a star-chart over my head and headlamp in my hand, while simultaneously trying to avoid losing my night vision by using the light too much.  Anyway, that’s been a fun new pursuit. J So body surfing, star-gazing, guitar playing (we now have a permanent guitar at Mwamba), and a few more volunteer/research tasks thrown into the mix, and I’ve been staying quite busy.  I might be starting an insect monitoring program here at Mwamba using pitfall traps (a good way to learn how to ID the crazy bugs we have around here), as well as helping out with Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (an NGO here), and doing a few more interviews in the communities in order to follow up on some of the ASSETS graduates.  This was actually the idea of some of the ASSETS staff, and I’m really excited about the idea of going back into the communities to do more interviews there.  This time I’ll be going with Tony, one of the ASSETS staff members.  We spent all day yesterday going around Kilifi and Malindi by pikipiki (motorbike), visiting the District Education offices to find out some stats concerning education in the district.  Riding on the motorbike was definitely an African experience to be remembered!  Zooming along the pot-holed roads between matatus and tuk-tuks on the back of a motorbike was definitely a more fun and interesting way to get around than being in a stuffy vehicle.  Quite exciting, and probably dangerous as well, though I was wearing what felt and looked like the equivalent of a space-helmet! 

   

  Summer is rapidly approaching here, and the heat and humidity are high.  The dampness and stickiness never really go away, which is why frequent dips in the ocean are nearly a necessity.  My body is definitely going to go into shock when I leave Kenya in the height of mid-summer and arrive back in the frozen Midwest in January!  I did finally go snorkeling for the first time in the marine park here last weekend.  We took a boat out since we had a group of people, but it is really only a 10 minute swim out from the beach to get to some amazing coral reefs.  The fish were so amazing—the brightness and diversity of colors were beautiful.  It’s like being in a completely different world.  Some other highlights from the past 2 weeks have been bird ringing (Colin Jackson, the director here, is a bird guru and has done quite a bit of research on birds in this area) and a trip to Whale Island—a tiny rock island just a quick boat ride from the coast where we did some more bird ringing as well as nest counts of terns that breed there.  So I’ve been getting a dose of naturalizing and scientific monitoring in the midst of the social research, which has been nice! 

   

  I do feel as if I’m settling in more here at Mwamba and growing to love the somewhat slow pace of life and the randomness of each day; when I wake up the morning I never quite know what the day will bring.  It’s nearly impossible to make a plan, since Colin is always throwing something new at us, and now that people see me as more of a volunteer, I’ve been steadily accumulating little tasks on my list of things to do.  Especially since Dave and Liz, the center managers here, are on leave for the next month and it’s up to the volunteers to take over the hospitality aspect of Mwamba (which functions as a guest house along with a field research center).  At a field study center like this, with such a strong emphasis on community, it’s to be expected that the staff and volunteers help out with all aspects of life, not just our own individual projects.  Which is good, but definitely has its challenges.  And is the reason why in the past week I’ve done such a random array of activities, only some of which are directly relevant to my research.  It’s all part of the way of life here, and I’m soaking in every moment and trying to live as fully in the present as possible. 

   

  I think I’ll sign off here—bible study is beginning and then a run on the beach is definitely calling!  Till next time…

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