Kenya: Week 7 Pre-Service Training

I started this week still at my host family at my 2-year Peace Corps site. On Monday, we started with family breakfast and then Charles and I walked to the local primary school (grades kindergarten – 8) which neighbors the secondary school. We were here to attend a board member meeting with the secondary school board members along with other influential community members. Our meeting lasted a few hours and I think it was an overall successful meeting. Everyone was so well-spoken. There were many realistic goals and dreams that were shared for the school and it was clear how I could play a role in these goals and dreams. On my walk back home, two of the board members walked with me which was very nice of them because they could’ve easily boarded a pikipiki to go home but they wanted to make sure I didn’t get lost. At home, I picked up Beatrice and Reagan and we walked to the local market for market day.

Even though I’d seen the market a few days earlier, I wanted to see it on an official market day to see what I could find locally without having to go to a larger market for certain things. I also wanted to be prepared for when I return in December and need to furnish my home and buy my own produce. Once we had made our rounds through the market, we settled at Charles’ paint shop porch to have sodas and bread for our snack. Charles then took me to the market cattle association meeting so that he could introduce me to the members and then I could introduce myself. These introductions are important so that the community can start to get to know me and recognize me in the community. Shortly after this, Caroline (another PCT) and her host mom came to visit me and the market. We walked around the market again and I found a dress and a shopping bag with Kendal Jenner’s face on it, so it was a very successful market day. Reagan and I walked home and then made mashed potatoes for everyone to go along with the rest of dinner. My host family had never had mashed potatoes, so I think they were a bit hesitant to try them, but I thought they were delicious.        

On Tuesday, I woke up early so that Reagan and I could make pancakes. We made quite a mess (there was pancake batter on the walls), but we had so many giggles to share. Because of the cooking chaos, it took us a much longer time than anticipated to finish the pancakes and then clean up our mess, so we got a late start to the day. Reagan and Nora went with me to complete all my tasks today. We first walked to the medical center across the street from the primary school so that I could introduce myself to the staff and exchange numbers. We then stopped at a local duka (small shop with sodas and some food) to buy sodas that we could drink later.

From here, we walked about 20 minutes to my future home so I could check out a few more things. On my front porch we drank our sodas, so Reagan and Nora were my first house guests 😊 We walked home, picking up our cows from their grazing area on the way. After eating lunch, I worked on Peace Corps papers and then we ate dinner. After dinner, everyone on the family compound went around the room sharing what this week meant to them and it was really touching to hear and to share. To end my last night at this homestay, we all watched “Black Panther” on my phone, so there were a lot of kids crowded around one couch and my phone. It was a perfect end to my stay with this family.

Wednesday was my last morning with my homestay at my 2-year Peace Corps site. I had to pack up my things and say goodbye to everyone to get on a matatu to go back to Kisumu for another month and a half of training with Peace Corps. After a couple hours in the matatu, I arrived at Kisumu main stage and walked about 5 minutes to United Mall so I could go to Java House for lunch. I purchased a spicy chicken sandwich, fries, and an iced coffee. I then walked to Naivis and Carrefour (supermarkets) to buy some specific things before returning back to Java House for a brownie sundae (which was over the top but so delicious). Rikki and I then rode back to the training center on the same matatu.

We hadn’t rode this matatu route before so we weren’t aware that we had passed our stop without the driver stopping the car. This resulted in us getting dropped off on a random spot on the road. We quickly made friends with the policewoman who was at this stop and she was about to help us get a matatu back to our correct stop when a car pulled over. Out of the car came Babu (my language teacher) and our Peace Corps driver. They were very surprised and concerned to see us on the side of the road but we quickly explained we had it under control. They still helped us out and we were able to get in their car. After dropping Babu off at his home, the driver took us straight to the hub which was awesome because if we had been dropped off by the matatu, we would’ve had to walk 20 minutes. It was a social night at the hub with all of us catching up with each other about our sites and homestays.

Thursday was a chill hub day. We had a nutrition talk followed by a food eating competition. The competition was to eat 3 Weetabix as quickly as possible. The winner, who ended up being Seamus, received a funny t-shirt found in one of the local markets. After chai, we had On the Job Training (OJT) meetings for the rest of the day.

Friday was another hub day and I was back to my original homestay with Mama Margaret by dinnertime. Everyone was excited for me to be back (including me) and Mama Margaret made me pancakes for dinner which was awesome 😊 We watched the reality show “Becky” and then Dan and I finished watching “Luca”. I unpacked all my things which required me to put up my mosquito net again. It didn’t go up the same way I originally put it up, so I’m not sure how I put it up the first way. It’s still effective though.

On Saturday, we returned to the training center for culture day. We were able to sleep in because the car didn’t come to pick us up until 10 (sleeping in never happens, so this was awesome). Culture day was so much fun. It is a day to exchange Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) culture with host country staff and their culture. The staff taught us about the history of Kenya as a country, tribes of Kenya, traditional outfits, language, and they even brought a dance group from the Kisumu Museum to show us a variety of dances and skits. The PCTs shared movies, music, reality TV shows, and common party dances (“Cotton-Eyed Joe” was a crowd favorite). Back at my homestay, Dan and I started watching “Black Panther” after he heard my other host siblings watched it 😊

On Sunday morning, I did all of my laundry from about the past 2 weeks. There was so much more stuff than usual that it took me 3 hours to complete this activity. I then painted my nails and then Dan took me, Sophie, Cooper, Lucas, Savannah, all of our siblings, and my neighbors to see the monkeys that are in the forest behind my house. This forest was much cooler than the other monkey forest we saw about a month ago. We didn’t see any monkeys today. As we were walking back, the locals told us we didn’t see any monkeys because they only come out in the morning because at night they get chased away so that they don’t eat the farmers’ crops during the night. So, we will need to try to see the monkeys again in the morning. We walked back into town and the PCTs grabbed sodas and some groceries for the week. On my walk home, the sky opened up and the rain was coming at me sideways. When I got home, there were puddles in my shoes. Tonight, I was able to talk to Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Dan which was great. My host family also made ramen for dinner which was a great way to end the week 😊

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