creative blog

4/25/09

Dear Journal,

I just arrived to Kenya and I am so excited! It has been three months since I heard that I was chosen to travel here and since then I could hardly wait. Three other people were sent from my college along with me, and we will be living here for the next four months doing missionary work in the smaller villages. Our living situations aren’t what you would call the “Four Seasons,” but they are accommodating. I am in a room with one girl from my school, but also with two other girls from other colleges. It is amazing how many kids there are here helping us make a better Kenya. Over all, I think that there are about 30 kids helping out, in this village. There are also other kids helping in different villages in Kenya, and all over Africa. Today there are just letting us settle in and get used to the surroundings, but tomorrow we get to start helping, which is why I am here.

4/28/09/

Dear Journal,

The past few days have been jam packed with work. We get up at the crack of dawn, eat breakfast, then off to work we go. On the first day of the job we went to an orphanage to bring food and toys for the children. We spent almost all of the day playing and bonding with them. It was a lot of fun. I felt so great when we were leaving because I knew that we had just done something really great.

5/7/09

Dear Journal,

I know that it has been a really long time since I last wrote, but we have been so busy! Every day is a new experience and I absolutely love it. A few days ago we drove, well rode in the back of a pickup truck, to a little village that was in need of help. The drive was about an hour long, but it seemed to go by much quicker. As we drove our surroundings quickly changed as we left the outside of the city to the countryside. When we arrived to the tribal village of the Kikuyu we unloaded the trucks and took the food into the huts. The tribal people were so happy that we were there and they gave us presents. The presents were so cool. They weren’t like anything that you could get in some gift store, they were amazing. I know I am only a few weeks into my trip, but I really do feel like I have helped these people. I miss home, but I know that I have many more people to help, and I can’t wait. I love this life and I want to do it forever. It makes me feel so good knowing that people are living better because I helped them. I am so happy that I was chosen for this trip and I can’t wait to help more people.

Breaking News

On Monday, April 27, 2009 two men pleaded guilty for having possession of elephant tusk. The two men, one Kenyan and the other Tanzanian, were found driving a car loaded with 1,129 lbs of tusk on Saturday 30 miles from the Tanzanian border.
The Kenyan wildlife service said,
"The actual value of the ivory is incalculable bearing in mind that it was extracted from 35 to 40 massacred elephants. The haul represents unspeakable cost to our tourism industry as well as the ecosystems... This is a major setback to efforts by Kenya to recover its elephant
population after it dropped from
167,000 in 1963 to the current 33,000." The two men will face their punishment on May 4.

I personally think that this is horrible. The two men must have snuck into a game reserve and killed those poor elephants. I can't believe that anyone could do that. What i do wonder though, is when they actually got the ivory, where the elephants are, and what they had planned to do, if they hadn't been caught. I am glad that the government caught them and i hope they face punishment.

Food

Most food in Kenya is very simple and easy to make. There are different types of foods depending on your culture and the resources that you are close to. Most farmers in Kenya that live more inland mainly rely on cows and goats to get the nourishment they need. People who live closer to Lake Victoria rely more on fish and the animals they have. Wherever you live in Kenya another part of your diet would be rice, and vegetables.
A very popular dish in Kenya is irio. It is made of corn, beans, potatoes, and greens that are all mashed together. They roll it into balls and dip it into vegetable or meat stew.

Fun Festivals!

On the island of Lamu you can escape to an old town made of stone and feel at peace. The town has traditional architecture with narrow streets, curved doors, and many mosques. You can escape to this paradise at feel totally at peace, that is if you go when there isnt a donkey racing festival going on. It is a time when all of the people join together and race their donkeys. Every May the old town hold the Dugong Lamu Festival and it is very popular. It lasts about a week and during that time everything is fun. Donkeys are a main type of transportation on the island so there are a lot of them. People come from all over to witness this crazy yet fun festival.

Kikuyu People

The Kikuyu people are one of the many tribes of Kenya. They are the largest though containing about 41% of the countries population. The Kikuyu came to Kenya during the Bantu Migration. It is said that a man named Gikuyu is the founder of the Kikuyu tribe. The story is that the god, Ngai, took Gikuyu to the top of Kirinyaga and told him to build a house and live there. He also brought Gikuyu a wife named Mumbi. They had ten kids, but they said that they only had nine. This is because it is bad luck to say ten in their culture. From the nine daughters came the clans; Achera, Agachiku, Airimu, Ambui, Angare, Anjinu, Angui, Aithaga, Aitherandu. Kikuyu people are traditionally farmers and their homeland at the foothills of Mt. Kenya is highly agricultured. They are also famous for making pots, woven baskets, flat trays, arrowheads, spears, and swords. Over all the Kikuyu people are famous for keeping their culture alive by passing on their ways.

Plants and Animals

Kenya has over 80 species of animals and more than 1000 types of birds. A few examples are Lions, Cheetahs, Zebras, Giraffes, and Elephants. Many of these animals are in trouble because of poaching. Kenya also has a large array of plant life. During the dry season the grass looks dry and are a dull yellow color. But after the rains the landscape becomes very colorful. Flowers appear everywhere, and grass is now a luscious green. There is vegetation along rivers and the mountains are covered by dense forests.

Climate

The climate of Kenya ranges from tropical along the coast, arid and dry inland, and very cold down towards Tanzania. Western Kenya has two rain season, the long rains which occur between April and June and the short rains during October to November. The most popular time to go would be between September and March when it is the drier season.