A new obsession: textiles

When I arrived in Kenya, I knew that tailoring was common, and I had the plan to get an outfit made for me.  I had no idea that within days I would become totally obsessed with textiles and start a collection that will definitely make packing to return home difficult. 

The first thing I found were khangas, or lesos (machekas in South Africa).  These are cheap cotton pieces of fabric that are used for literally everything.  You can carry a baby, carry your groceries, wear it as a wrap, have a picnic on it, get clothing made… anything.  There is a growing market of people making craft and high fashion items like shoes and purses covered in patterned khangas, which are really cool.  They are usually printed in two bright, contrasting colors and have a saying on them in Kiswahili.   When you buy them, you get two pieces that are a few yards long each, for about three dollars. 

from left: Mumias town, Lodwar, Lodwar, Johannesburg, Mombasa

During my first field trip to Kakamega, I had one goal, and that was to buy a khanga to remember my time there.  While you don’t see them as much in Nairobi, every woman in Mumias town was wearing or carrying a khanga of some sort.  I bought my first one, a blue and orange piece that said “UKIPATA SHUKURA HATA MIMI” which means something like “when you receive, also give me thanks.”  I wrote the place and date I purchased it on the edge and decided I would have to collect one every time I traveled.

number one

By now I have collected quite a few and gotten one in Kakamega, Turkana, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.  Sonia also brought me one from Mombasa, and I have been collecting some to give as gifts.

DRC skirt

My next obsession came in the form of kitenge.  Vitenge are printed with a batik technique and come in a ton of colors and patterns, like khangas.  Unlike khangas, the pattern doesn’t end or have a border, but is repeated on the bolt.  It is used to make outfits and purses and all kinds of good stuff.  Sonia took me to a store called Amani ya Juu in Riverside and I got a skirt made of a kitenge from DRC. 

kitenge from Joburg

a "few" examples

In South Africa, I discovered shweshwe.  Shweshwe is a thick, printed cotton fabric.  It was originally dyed with indigo, and much of the fabric available is still primarily blue and brown.  Each piece is made up of a single color, with a dark shade, a lighter one, and white, forming an often circular-based pattern.  The acid discharge roller printing technique used to create the patterns leave the fabrics with a distinctive smell and stiffness.  The fabric is used for many things, but is frequently made into short-sleeved, full skirted dresses.  I got a few examples, in traditional blue, brown, and one in special green.  UPDATE: I WENT BACK AND GOT MORE

easily my favorite

details

the famous Da Gama seal

African waxprints are very common is West Africa, but as Joburg is a hub, everything is available there.  I stocked up on a couple while I had the chance.

wax print

My plan when I return to Kenya is to get a few yards of kitenge and have an outfit made.  Any comments or suggestions?  Let me know!

Poor but happy?

Even though I’m in a very good mood today, I have decided my new blog will be a rant.  A rant about “poor but happy,”  the phrase I have heard many, many times.  No, I am not working on poverty alleviation as such, but when people talk to me about traveling and working with underprivileged communities, I hear this phrase a lot.  Usually it is a nice, upbeat commentary about traveling in the “third world.” 

“It is so eye-opening!  You see these people that have so little, but they are still so happy!  Their lives are so simple.  It makes me reconsider my busy life with email, iphones, dinner dates and deadlines.  Maybe they have figured out something that we don’t know.”

And I’m here to say:  I have no idea what it is like to be poor, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it does not, in fact, make you happy.  Nor is life simpler.  At all. 

Take, for example, drinking water.  I would say those of us in the developed world have things a bit simpler when it comes to opening the tap, filling a glass, and drinking some water.  If you live in many parts of the world with running water, you still have to boil it to render it potable, which takes a lot of time and energy (yours and the stuff you pay a lot for).  Maybe you don’t have running water or a borehole, and you have to go collect water, which can take a huge chunk out of your productive workday and take a whole lot of effort.  If you have to carry your water, you are probably going to use a lot less of it, meaning you spend a good portion of your life pretty dehydrated.  This would not make me happy. 

Besides the extra difficulties in conducting and everyday life that most poor people deal with, they still have the stressors that we do.  They still worry about work, school, boyfriends, etc.  Maybe their life seems more “pure” to us because they aren’t worried about selecting the wine with the correct terroir, or waiting in line for the new iphone, but they probably spend just as much time and more energy waiting in line at the borehole. 

The 9 to 5 Life and Me

For one month, I will be living the 9 to 5 office life of a real, grown-up adult-style person.  Let’s see how this goes. 

I have gotten pretty used to setting my own schedule so far in Kenya, so leaving for work at 7 was a bit of a struggle for me the first few days, but I am getting used to it.  At 7:30 every morning I check in at the Rennie House in Braamfontein and head up to the 14^th floor to the HO offices.  This is one of the taller buildings in Braamfontein and the view is amazing.  From my desk I can see the entire Wits University campus and the posh suburbs of Joburg.  It all feels so grown-up and I felt out of place and awkward until the rest of the staff rolled in on my first day.  The staff is largely female, and either young and devastatingly hip or super-hippie.  Lots of drop-crotch pants and flowy colours and shweshwe in the office.  Not to say that everyone isn't super-professional—these people get a LOT accomplished—but the atmosphere is really chill and cool.  Also, there is a fancy cappuccino making machine that I have become quite fond of.

view from my desk

My job during the first week was taking stories from the beginning to the end of the publishing cycle, which has many, many steps and requires a lot of attention to detail.  I love it.  It goes something like thing: collect the final versions of a story in the L1 (first language, mother tongue, home tongue), get the translation into English, Zulu, Afrikaans, or Kiswahili (L2, lingua franca), and create a metadata form with all translations of the story, author/illustrator names, host organization and copyright information, dates, etc.  This is the master page for the story so there is no room for error!  Then I collect all the illustrations, make sure they are high-res, and create a powerpoint layout of the text and images in each language that looks nice.  All this hardcopy information then needs to be loaded onto the organization’s sharepoint so it can be accessed by everyone.  Now the real fun begins!  Publishing!  Did I say fun?  I meant excruciatingly tedious.  I need to upload each image onto our website’s image database and fill in a ton of information for each image—colors used, keywords, type, category, size, book reference, shape, file type, name… it takes a few minutes to do each image, and we are talking hundreds of images for the stories on my roster.  Once all the images are up, I use our story builder app, referencing the layouts on the powerpoint I made, and publish a finalized story!  I have published six so far (38 to go!) and you can check them out if you a tiny bit of investigation online.

I am also checking the 120+ stories in our database to make sure all images are available on the HO sharepoint and online, all metadata are correct, and the story “family trees” of the various language translations are linking properly online.  This is a big task!  I am also presenting on my work at the pilot sites during out year-end wrap up and doing several other tasks, so I am very occupied. 

To cap it all off, when I get home at night I am working on my master’s paper for Heller… I am a busy lady for these few weeks, but it feels pretty good to be truly tired when I lay down at night.

Jozi

view from my new living room!

Pump the brakes… we aren’t in Kenya anymore! 

Last Thursday I boarded a brand-spanking-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and had a very comfortable 4.5 hour flight all the way down to South Africa.  The head offices for my HO are here, and I will be spending a month working here and learning the ins and outs of the organization from a different perspective.  Since schools are on holiday until January, it is the perfect time for me to be here. 

I am living in Kensington, which is pretty close to the heart of the city, on Benbow street.  Nearby streets in the neighborhood include Spanker, Ferret, and Hero Streets.  This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Joburg, and there are a lot of really old houses and narrow streets.  It is also a big immigrant neighborhood, so the area is really diverse.  It is a really cute neighborhood that is very accessible and adjacent to a main road.  Unlike Nairobi, neighborhoods here are like at home—normal houses or apartments that sometimes have fences or walls instead of walled-off compounds that are separated from the rest of the city.  There are also sidewalks, curbs, boulevards, and gutters.  It sort of reminds me of a much prettier Waltham, MA. 

view from the living room

My bedroom is massively huge with tall ceilings and giant windows.  I have a nice view of Kensington, and the living room has a million-dollar view of the downtown skyline.  The house conveniently has 24-hr hot water, high-speed wifi, a washing machine, a stove, and drinking water from the tap.  My roommates are two German artists on a fellowship.  They are preparing for a huge show this week and literally leave for work before I wake up and come home when I am getting ready for bed.  They keep to themselves mostly, but the relationship is cordial.  I find myself getting scared about little things because I had such a passively aggressive and evil roommate in Boston, but it turns out they are actually normal, not evil people.  My dish isn’t left in the sink to send a message about doing dishes, it was left because K thought it needed a good soak, and they moved the toilet paper in the bathroom so I would know where replacements were, not to assert their dominance over the toilet paper.  Having normal roommates has been quite therapeutic for me, actually.  We are going to an art fair next weekend, so that should be fun!

my bedroom

and my view!

UPDATE The weekend came before I posted this!  L and I went to the Neighbourgoods Market in Braamfontein yesterday, which was really cool!  Lots of amazing food, thrift markets, and handmade jewelry.  I got a Christmas present for my sister and an 80s jumpsuit for me.  I get home and where was the jumpsuit made?  Palm Springs, where my grandma lives!  Very strange.  The market was also a crazy example of gentrification.  The hipsterism was strong there and people were obviously well off.  Afterwords we crossed the Mandela bridge and traveled exactly 1 kilometer to Newtown, which is a completely different place.   We bought cheap dresses and blankets on Diagonal Street, which was really cool.  I got a few dresses and we had a ton of fun. 

80 rand dress!

http://www.neighbourgoodsmarket.co.za/johannesburg/snapshots

My house is really close to a bus line that goes to a huge major mall and grocery store on one side, and the city center on the other.  This weekend I went to the Eastgate Mall, which provided me with the most starkly obvious distinction between Jozi and Nairobi.  The mall was massive and full with really high-end shops and department stores and tons of people.  There was a huge food court and restaurants and lots of specialty goods that are simply not available in Nairobi.  I checked out Inglot and GOSH cosmetics, wandered aimlessly, got my phone fixed, then got that frozen yoghurt where you get to pick all your toppings and then they weigh it.  I was a happy camper.  By the time I found my way out of the (underground) mall, I was very tired and ready to go home.

i dont have a picture of the mall, so here is my backyard

On Sunday I had a more cultural experience, I guess.  I saw the hipster, upper-middle class side of Joburg at the Arts on Main market near my house.  This place is really cool, and packed with incredible items.  Most of it is way too expensive for me to afford, but it is all great to look at and there are a few art galleries to meander, and tons of fantastic food to try.  I looked at the Black Coffee line of clothes (really beautiful gowns and lacy tops), then went upstairs and saw tons of handmade jewelry, vintage clothes, and cheeky items.  I picked out a journal to come back and buy when I inevitably fill my current one up.  Afterwords I got a rose and raspberry lemonade and high-tailed it out of there as the craft beer selection started to take its effect on the packed-in crowd.  I will definitely return here for some unique items.

no mall pic.  here is a bird outside of my window.

More to come soon on My Life in an Office Environment and How I’m Handling That next week!

Life in Rongai

I just hit the ten-week mark in Kenya, and I finally feel a little stable and settled.  I know where I live and how to get the things I need, which feels like an accomplishment.   For the past month I have been living in my room in the dorm-apartment building-hostel in Rongai, which is about 13 km from Nairobi, but feels more like 100 miles due to the difficulty of getting into the city.  For the most part I hang out in Rongai and nearby Karen, which offer everything I need.  When I feel up for an adventure or a trip to visit Sonia, I head into Nairobi, which can take 45 minutes or 3 hours.

morahill.com

Rongai itself can be kind of depressing to look at, but I like it here.  One blog I found called it a “slum,” (not remotely true) and my roommates said it is the dirtiest suburb of Nairobi.  Maybe this is true.  There are a lot of smells and dust.  Technically, I live in a place called Olekasasi, but most people just call it Rongai.  I am down the street from a private University, and they call it the “Rongai campus,”  so I feel comfortable going with that.   Down the street the other direction are some little shops where you can get basic things and snacks, but I mostly head into the heart of Rongai for groceries, etc.

mapcarta.com

To get into the middle of Rongai, you can get in a tuk-tuk or a shared car and rode for about ten minutes down into town.  This costs about 40 shillings, or 50 cents.  Once you get to the matatu stage, you are a ten minute walk from Uchumi, which is sort of like a Walgreens with more groceries, or a Tumaini, which is sort of like a Walgreens with more groceries.  You can also take a 10 shilling bus ride to Tusky’s, which is like a Walgreens with more groceries.  My current favorite is Tusky’s because it is the biggest and has a variety of strange things.  I recently got a rabbit-shaped soap dish for 100 shillings and ginger beer.   Rongai also has places to buy clothes, shoes, and other important items, as well as a variety of food options.  A recent find was this tiny place that sells super fresh and delicious yoghurt for 60 shillings per half liter in many tasty flavors.  Smoothies! Sort of.

ke.geoview.info

If I want to venture a bit further I can go to Galleria mall, which is about ½ hour away  To get there (or here, I am currently using some free wifi), you get on a matatu (bus) in Rongai and ride towards the suburb of Karen for about 40 shillings.  At first I found the busses very intimidating, but they are actually really nice.  They are nothing like Guatemala’s chicken busses, Mexico City’s crazy public transit, or even Chile’s sometimes crammed busses.  They never overfill them, so everyone gets a seat.  You tell the conductor where you are going and they charge you based on the distance and peak hours, then they stop the bus where you asked.  The will even remind you if you ask.  You might have to hop off while the bus is moving slowly, but luckily it isn’t isn’t a busy area if you are going to Galleria.  From there you walk a little bit and then enter the mall, where you are greeted with all the wonders of Southdale or Rosedale (except for MAC or an equivalent).  There are nice cafes, a brewpub, Nakumatt (Target essentially), clothing stores, a place to get eyebrows threaded, etc etc.  I mean, it’s a mall and all, but it is a nice respite and place to get work done when my hostel is too loud. 

nairobiwire.com

I don’t spend all of my time at malls.  Sometimes I venture further into Karen, where there are nice places to eat, or all the way into Nairobi.   I guess this is a post about how I learned to take the bus.  Anyway, that’s a big accomplishment!  I can get myself to where I need to go when I need to, and I’m no longer rationing tea water in my room while I sleep on a bare mattress, like night 1.  Things have changed in ten weeks!

matatus are fun!

Oloosirkon

Working at Oloosirkon Primary School

For the past few weeks here in Rongai (Back in Nairobi area-ish), I have been working at our third and final pilot site at Oloosirkon Primary School, which is in Kaijado County in the township of Tuala.  Luckily, this site is really close to where I live, so I can get to the school really easily and come and go whenever works best for the busy teachers. 

            There are a lot of teachers in this school, as it is more popular to teach in these slightly easier circumstances closer to the city, but they still struggle with a lack of resources and high dropout rates.  This is the only school so far where they haven’t asked me to teach an actual class while I am there (I always decline—I don’t considered myself qualified to teach in this country).  Most of the teachers are women, save for the head teacher and the science teacher for the higher levels.

            Like Munanga, this school does not have electricity, and they are relying on the solar charger, which does not charge very quickly here because the days tend to be less sunny during this time of the year.  The  teachers have a much higher level of computer literacy here, which makes my job easier, but they also only have one computer to work with, which makes my job harder.  SO one last time I'll ask.... anyone want to donate a used laptop or two to this tiny pilot project?  My mama is coming to visit next month so she can bring it!  

            However, the teachers are pushing forward really hard.  They have produced more stories for me to type up than any of the other schools, and are really willing to spend a lot of time with me working on learning the website.  I have one more week there and I hope it goes well.  It is the last week of the school year, so I am trying hard to stay out of their hair while getting my work done!

Le Park

Nairobi National Park

Me % K

Two weekends ago I got to do one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life—I went on safari in Nairobi National Park!   It was so much fun and made so much better and easier by the presence of Sonia (are we noticing a theme yet?) and her boyfriend, K.  I have heard a lot about Sonia’s partner over the past two years, so it was great to finally meet such him.  He is such a great person and I can tell they make an amazing team after spending our long day together.  Sonia and K picked me up at 5:45 (!) in the morning and we began our long and arduous journey to the park.  Just kidding!  The park is 15 minutes from my apartment (very unique to have a national park right in the middle of the city), which makes everything we saw and did all the more amazing.  We paid our fees and were in the park by 6:15. 

Mr. Bushback

            We started down a path and Sonia warned me not to expect to see anything too spectacular because things like lion sightings are rare (there are about five in the massive park), but I was really excited anyway just to see Bushbacks right away.  I snapped a million pictures, unaware that I would see roughly 500 of these guys over the course of the day. 

Mr. & Mrs. Rhino

We came around another path and saw a lot of vehicles stopped, so we followed one of the main rule of safari—always go to where the cars are stopped.  To our amazement, we saw two HUGE rhinos hanging out in the grasses.  We stopped and watched them for a while then passed all of the other cars to reach the front of the pack. 

            I was just gazing out of the window when something caught my eye.  A really big animal was relaxing in the grass right by the road.  Were my eyes lying to me?  I felt like I had made a mistake.  This did not stop me from demanding that K stop the car and reverse to the animal.  My eyes were not lying—it was a *&%^$$ LION!!!!  He was just sunning his belly like it was no big deal.  Since we were the first car in the pack at this point, we were the first people to see Mr. Lion.  He was about ten feet from us, which was terrifying and amazing.

Mr. Antelope

After that we came upon the antelopes, then the zebras, which are so funny and stripy and stinky and fat.  We were so close that I could have pet this grumpy, undomesticable creature, but I am slightly smarter than that. 

I think these are the main ingredient in Zebra Stripe gum.

A giraffe for the uninitiated

 The next hill crested and we saw something amazing on the horizon—a little giraffe family!  We had to drive defensively to catch them because they were on the move, but it was worth it.  They were much bigger than I had anticipated.

family version.

            After this we stopped for a bathroom break at a spot where you can get out of the car and walk down a path with a guide.  We were told this was where you could see hippos, which doesn’t make sense.  Why can you get out of the car by the most dangerous animals?  We had a nice walk and saw dik diks and baboons, but no hippos.  Some antelope ran by us and Sonia and I both grabbed K and screamed.  We decided it was time to return to the car.  One the way back we saw all the animals besides the lion and rhinos again, but we were too tired to take anymore pictures.  We weren’t jaded, though!  I still sounded like a babbling child in the backseat.

Yahtzee's Triumphant Return to Nairobi

Yahtzee’s Triumphant Return to Nairobi

Or; The B is Back

my lil plane

After three tough weeks, I was so excited to return to my comfortable bed and the various and delicious foods of Nairobi.   The morning of my flight I packed up and waited in particularly brutal sun for my drive to the airport, which I could see from the guesthouse.  It was frustrating to see the airport waiting for me while I waited for my delayed driver, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was “home!” 

some leftover bits

The airport in Lodwar is interesting.  You approach a padlocked gate and sort of wait until an attendant notices you and comes to let you in.  Then they sort of motion towards a small container that people are gathered around and you think “I guess I should go in that container.”  This is not a thought I  have had before but I wandered into the open back end.  Inside is a short conveyer belt and x-ray to walk through.  Next time I’m going to heavily overpack my luggage with treasures of the desert because they have no mechanism to weigh your bags.  After you get checked you are sent to a lady with a computer who looks up your name and hand-writes a ticket.  Some guy will put your suitcase in a hand cart and you try to find shade to wait in.  It is all very bizarre and surreal.

security!

I was so happy when I watched my little plane roll down the runway and kick out some bewildered and bedraggled passengers so that we could line up and find a seat.  I settled in and started sweating and never stopped.  The air conditioning was broken on the little plane!  No AC!  And you cannot exactly crack a window on an airplane.  Two sweaty hours later we landed and I collected my bag (tiny plane= quick luggage return) and hopped in a cab to go home.  By now my excitement was reaching its nexus because I had big, big plans for the night.  Surprise!  My buddy Sonia was in Nairobi and we had a date night planned!  At home I destructively unpacked, wrapped up a package of Desert Treasures for Sonia and took a brief and brisk shower.  For my first time in Kenya I got to go full diva princess with my makeup and clothes and it felt FANTASTIC.  I packed an overnight bag and hopped in a cab, feeling like Rihanna/Beyonce/Erin all in one.

I enjoy getting out of cabs at restaurants.  It feels like something special is about to happen and I am a VIP.  I was led into a cozy and really lovely restaurant so that I could meet Sonia and we could make a lot of noise and generally bother the old-school 3^rd generation British Kenyans enjoying cocktails in the little half-inside/half-outside seating area.  It was so good to see a familiar face after almost two months here!

Dinner was all I could have dreamed of and more.  We had samosas, wings, bleu cheese gnocchi (CHEESE!), pork belly, sushi—the works.  After three weeks of lentils I was pleased as punch and ignored my rebelling stomach as I stuffed it all in.  We even had crème brulee and volcano cake and ice cream.  I was a happy camper. 

Another good adventure of the day was the drive home.  I say drive because Sonia is house sitting right now, and a car was a part of the deal.   It feels like a game watching someone drive on the “wrong” side, which is probably an indication that I should not attempt to drive here.  She did a really good job avoiding the frequent potholes on poorly lit roads, and soon we were “home.”

The house Sonia is staying at is sort of like a little USA.  It is a guarded compound for US citizen AID employees, and it is just like a little Edina suburb.  Little yards and gardens and a playground and a pool—its very serene and sweet.  The house itself is really nice and homey too.  We sat around awhile then decided to try out the Westlands bars, which was funny.  We went to a place that the cab driver called “Black D.”  Can we talk about this name, guys?  Let’s not.  The music was good old-school hip hop and the crowd was good, too.  We even identified a man dancing alone with knee-length dreads that we decided to call 2 Chainz.  We were home and exhausted by two, while the parties continued well into the night.

The next day we drove around the city, which was busy on a Monday because it was a national holiday, Mashujaa Day, or Heroes Day.  We went to the hotel Sonia stayed at for a few months and check out the pool, then shopped at Village Market, where I discovered a new and pricey lipstick brand to obsess over.  It was really fun and relaxing to check out the expat-y, upper and middle class scene of Nairobi, but I know I would feel dirty if I spent that much money and lived like that every day.  (For the record, neither I nor Sonia usually operate

like this)