I flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, and then Amsterdam to Nairobi. In Nairobi our entire group of twelve met up with the program director at the airport. Unfortunately, but not too surprisingly, my baggage never made it past Amsterdam. As of now, I should get my bag tomorrow afternoon, but that's debatable. We spent the night in Nairobi and grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant around 11pm. I ordered a vegetable sandwich, which turned out to be tomatoes and bread, but what do you expect.
We all went to sleep after dinner for about 4 hours, as we left the hotel at 5am for our flight to Kakamega. When the airline indicated that the Kakamega airport is called "Kakamega Strip," they were not lying. We boarded a plane of only 8 rows and landed on a non-paved strip of dirt, adjacent to a shanty shack that I guess serves as the "airport." From there we walked off of the plane (onto the "runway") and walked to our van (also parked on the "runway"). We drove past my first sight of Africa- luscious farmland filled with women carrying an impressive amount of fruit on their heads, children running to the fence to watch us, and plenty of farm animals.
Once we arrived in the town, we got to our hotel, ate some breakfast and started orientation. We then rode on "boda-bodas" through town to see the entirety of the town. I don't think I have ever been stared at the way I was when I was on the boda-boda. Every other second I heard someone shout "mzungu," which means foreigner or white person. It was strange to get so much attention and know that I stuck out like... like a blonde white girl in the middle of Kenya.
During the boda boda ride, I realized that any preconceived notion I had of Africa was wrong. I often hear people speaking of "saving" the people of Africa. It seems that people think of Africans as people in need of help and people asking for help. Although there are obvious needs for improvement around town and in the lives of these people, they are not shouting for help. To try and best describe the town, I would say it's colorful, lively, and busy. Everything is so much more colorful here, especially much more green. It's intimidating walking through the busy streets, trying to avoid cars, boda bodas, and motorcycles, but I'm sure I'll become more comfortable as I become less of a mzungu. Nearly everything these past two days has been new and unimaginable. I can't imagine what the rest of my time here will be like, but I am excited to find out. As I lay under my mosquito net, listening to the crickets chirp and the voices of local Kenyans speaking Swahili late into the night, it's still strange to imagine that this new home is half a world away from home.
