A “normal” day in Kayafungo
Letter from Lily Muldoon, Managing Director in Kenya:
We are three weeks into the village homestay component of the program and the interns are becoming accustomed to the nightly and morning rituals with their families. Each evening the interns arrive home tired from a full day of work, walking in the sun from project site to committee meeting to homestay and back again. A refreshing bucket shower, conversation with the parents and games with the kids are typical before dinner. Dinners vary between ugali (corn pounded into a flour and boiled) or chapati (greasy flatbread) with a chicken stew, greens, eggs or beans. Portions are generous and some interns are actually complaining of being overfed!
The after dinner routine is relaxed. Anna and Steph are pictured with Mama Theresia (now called “Mama T”) as she sings her nightly song to Steph’s stuffed bear name Zingo. Most interns are in bed by 9pm, at the latest, to read a book and fall asleep, only to be awoken by a honking goat or rooster.
In the morning the interns usually eat bread, tea and perhaps another fried goody. The teams meet to plan for the day before they separate to their different projects. Some teams will walk up to two hours with their translator to the project site they are evaluating. Typically the van picks them up in the afternoon so they can attend another team meeting and then retreat home for the remainder of the night. Anna, Nick, Steph, Marty, Paddy, and Leslie S. are pictured after a meeting.
For a break from the homestay experience, the second half of the group visited Ngomeni One Love Island for two nights. The group is pictured enjoying the sun on the beach.
On Tuesday, we attended round table meetings with representatives from World Vision and African Medical Research and Foundation (AMREF). Both organizations are carrying out projects in our target area. Casey, Nick, Jessie and Paul are pictured listening intently. The meetings were fruitful and some interns plan to reconnect with these organizations for future partnerships.
Xin is excited about the next phase of project development. She is utilizing her medical and law backgrounds to analyze the new constitution proposed in Kenya. She is specifically researching the health components regarding HIV/AIDS and abortion.
Despite both groups being in places without electricity (Kayafungo and Ngomeni), anyone interested was able to watch the World Cup final game. The Ngomeni folks took a 20-minute boat ride to a fishing village, which showed the game in a small crammed room on a solar-powered television. Those in Kayafungo convinced the ThinkImpact van driver to take them to Mariakani so they could watch the game and cheer with the rest of the world.
Overall, everyone is healthy with the exception of a few upset stomachs here and there. We did take Nick and Paddy to visit a doctor in Mombasa last Thursday. Nick received antibiotics for a mildly infected tick bite and confirmed no transmitted disease. Paddy got ointment for his itching legs and treatment for possible ringworm. Both issues are now resolved.
Everyone is excited to meet again in Mariakani on Sunday to reconnect and celebrate the birthdays of Jessie and Casey.
Every family has its own traditions and the interns like to compare and contrast their experiences. But from distant villages stretching across Kayafungo the interns shares a common event. Pictured is the sunset seen vividly from each homestay.
Hope you are having a good week!
Leslie Seslie, I recognize those white Target sunglasses! Hope you are enjoying your trip and learning lots.
It’s funny that you talked to people about eggs, because when I was home, Carol described you as “saving the world, one chicken at a time!”