I'm so glad Eric has kept our group in touch, and the idea of a reunion is very appealing. Anyone for California?

My big adventure was seven months of PC in Kenya, from which I returned a month ago. While I was there I wanted to submit something for the OCW, but was too busy adjusting, I guess! I didn't expect PC Kenya to be much like PC Fiji, and it wasn't. One big difference was that our home-stays were for the whole ten weeks of training, which was really good, I thought. It was a long time to use a squat toilet, and to be on a Kenyan diet (maize, boiled to play-dough consistency), kale, rice, and beans, and chipati (basically the same as roti), but great to really get to know our host families and to practice Kiswahili.

So we lived with our home-stay hosts and commuted to Naivasha, where PC Kenya has a training center (in addition to headquarters in Nairobi and Centers in Mombasa and Kisumu). The public transportation - the matatu - is a vehicle we would never have been allowed to ride in, in Fiji. Matatus are mini-buses, in questionable condition, with a driver and a taut (conductor) who packed people in so tight that you couldn't get your hand in your pocket to get to your carfare. They drove like maniacs. The Ministry of Transportation cracked down on them in February, requiring them to install speed governors and seat belts, and this helped some, but the seatbelts were broken and the crowding started up again by the time I left.

We had 50 in our group, divided between HIV-AIDS educators, Small Business and Information Technology (me) advisors, and Deaf Ed educators. Kenya is the only country that has Deaf Ed volunteers, and it was interesting to be around them. Some of them are actually deaf and the others have deaf friends or relatives for whom they had learned to sign. At our group meetings during PST, there was always someone signing for them, and we all had opportunities to learn it.

Also we had Community-based training, where we went to local businesses that had requested help with some aspect of their endeavors. We practiced some of the problem-solving and awareness skills we were learning in training. This was helpful for us, but probably not very helpful for them, due to the short time we were there. Our staff was a wonderful group of people. One of the trainers died of AIDS back in March.
Except for a few zebras, we didn't see any wildlife (although we did see plenty of goats and donkeys) until we were allowed to get away for an occasional weekend. Then we were able to get to Hells Gate National Park and some other places where we could camp out. Eventually we started seeing monkeys and giraffes here and there, and we could see hippos in Lake Naivasha. It wasn't until almost six months that I could go on safari, and then-there they all were! Elephants, lions, leopards, crocodiles, gazelles - I saw over 40 species! I loved it!

I had asked for a site where it was warm, and I got it-Mombasa, hot, steamy Mombasa! A lot of Kenya is high and relatively cool, but not on the coast (on the equator). My assignment was at a computer lab at Port Reitz College of Clinical Medicine. The lab had recently been started by a PCV, and I was there to try to help develop it. My house was pretty nice, as PC housing goes. No water in the pipes, but I had a real toilet.

I'm glad I went there, but I decided I couldn't give them the help they needed. I'm back home, homeless! I've decided to try to start a group housing situation here, for singles who want to share expenses.