Saturday, 20 October 2007

• Orion, Turacos and Goat meat

  October 17, 2007

   

  I saw Orion’s belt yesterday morning at 4:30 a.m.  It made me excited to see something somewhat familiar in the sky, and an altogether different sky than I have been used to at night here.  Why was I up at 4:30, you ask?  I had to make 3 thermoses of chai (African tea) for our group of bird-ringers before we set off for the forest to ring birds all morning.  We had to be at the forest by 5:30 to open the nets.  The morning was lovely—cool and breezy until about 7:30 when the sun started to bake everything as it tends to do during the day now.  But it was also an exciting morning, because apart from the usual weavers, greenbuls, and the occasional olive or collared sunbird, we caught a Fischer's Turaco—a big, beautiful, brightly colored bird that is only found in Africa.  Colin was ecstatic; it was the first turaco he’s ever caught after many years of bird-ringing in Kenya.  Definitely a highlight!

   

  The bird ringing was part of a ringing course that Colin has been giving for the past 2 weeks, and I’ve been sitting in on it every now and then, when I have free mornings.  It’s been great to learn more about the birds here and about ringing in general, which is really fascinating to be part of.  Other than the ringing, I’ve still been doing a mishmash of random things over the past few weeks.  I’m still trying to finish up writing a report of the research I’ve been doing here, which for some reason has been agonizingly slow.  Motivation comes in spurts, and I’ll spend an entire day at the computer slogging away and feeling good about it, and then another day will come when I can’t stand the sight of a computer screen.  At least there’s a lot else to keep me busy!  Like more interviews, for instance.  I’ve been going around to communities again, doing shortened versions of my original interviews, this time with ASSETS graduates’ families.  And instead of camping in the schools, I’ve been riding around on the back of the pikipiki/motor bike, which is great fun!  Tony drives us around to the homes, and I’ve found that with motorbiking, we get way more done than Mishi and I would in a day walking.  It’s so great to be back in the communities after nearly a month and a half solely at Mwamba.  We’re just doing a few days of this, trying to follow up on all the graduates (about 70 total, which we probably won’t get to all of), to see what they’re doing now and what kind of an impact ASSETS has made in their lives. 

   

  Mwamba is in transition now with the center managers, Dave and Liz, leaving to go back to England after two years here.  They’ve hired new managers, a Kenyan couple from Nairobi, who will arrive soon.  There will be many changes in the way things run, I’m sure.  It’s been pretty chaotic recently, partially because Dave and Liz went away for 3 weeks and left me in charge of all the bookings and center e-mails!  What with powercuts nearly every other day, me being slightly organizationally-challenged, and trying to balance everything else I’ve been doing, let’s just say the guests have probably had a slightly different experience (and a more authentic taste of what a crazy field study center can be like) than they normally would staying here. 

   

  My stolen passport has actually been found—hallelujah!  Well, not good that it was stolen, but good that at least I can say I’m not crazy and haven’t just misplaced it.  It was in fact taken by the volunteer we suspected from Nairobi, who had apparently taken a few other things as well that warranted someone going through his bags.  We got a call from the Nairobi office asking if anyone knew an American named Michelle Gooch, because they had her passport, drivers license, credit card and other documents.  Funny how these things happen, right after I got my brand new passport in the mail after many hours of travel (to/from Nairobi) and worry.  Oh well; all’s well that ends well. J

   

  Now I’m getting excited for Christina (my sis) to come and visit, as we have many travel plans in the works!  I think quite a few us here, myself definitely included, are getting restless for a break from the coast and the heat/humidity.  We’re hoping to climb Mt. Kenya and do a bit of traveling, possibly to the Amboseli area and/or Nakuru (where I will pay Mishi a visit!).  I’m sure it will be exciting, as most things in Africa tend to be!

   

   

  October 20, 2007

   

  Right now I feel as though I just ate a huge Christmas dinner…

   

  We had a goat-roast at Mwamba today with the youth from Colin’s church in Malindi.  What a process it was!  I watched as they paraded the goat off the truck and proceeded to kill and slaughter it.  It was so interesting to see how they use all the different parts of the goat.  And I’m not kidding when I say they use every part.  I’ll try not to be too detailed and gross people out, but it was really fascinating.  And now I have a better idea of where sausage comes from.  The Kikuyu (a tribe in Kenya) have a traditional way of eating the intestines, which basically ends up being the same as haggis, the Scottish version of the same thing.  All of it gets roasted over an open fire, and they leftovers they wrap up in the goat skin to keep warm for later.  And the whole thing takes so much teamwork and ends up being an entire-day ordeal.  We must have had at least 30 people working on doing the cooking at one time.  I was struck by how community-building cooking can be, how it brings people together.  Across so many cultures, too!  We had Kenyans from all over the country, Ethiopians, South Africans, Brits, Germans, Canadians, and Americans (the presence of Brits and South Africans in our midst will make the World Cup rugby final tonight very interesting and exciting!!).  It was great fun, though I don’t think I’ll want to eat again for a very long time… :P

   

  Christina comes on Monday!  I’m getting so excited about traveling, I need to focus and stay living in the present.  I still have much to do here before we head off.  It’s going to be a crazy next few weeks, and the time I have left here is going to fly I'm sure.

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