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| Irene, Me, Noel, Edward, Jackie |
A few weeks ago, I finally visited my host-family in the urban, coastal town of Mombasa. I was really nervous to see them because it had been 5 years! After being evacuated, I knew I had to finish my experience in Kenya somehow. And since I've been in a different region of Kenya this time around, I didn't get the chance to see them until recently. I accepted in my head that it wouldn't be the same- the kids were 5 years older and they had hosted many interns since I was there, so it was probably going to be a bit awkward. To my surprise, I felt like I picked up where I left off! And now I have so many new memories in the short 4 day visit...
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| Camp David |
While I was there, I visited my old organization, Camp David, which provides many services to marginalized youth. There, I also got the chance to see a documentary being made on the affects of parenting and culture on child development! My coworkers were still there and they were so surprised to see me. We reminisced how I was the intern who left for Christmas vacation and didn't come back.
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| Noel and Mama Mary |
With my host-family I was really looking forward to hanging with the best, sweetest little boy ever- Noeli, my host-brother. He had a big impact on me when I was an intern and now I have even more great memories with him- We played soccer in the pouring rain with a ball made out of plastic bags, used passion fruit to play a juggling game, put puzzles together, danced in the living room to 80s hits, made paper boats and sent them floating down the flooded road, laughed in the dark during the power outage. Other family members are: Irene, the cutest girl who has made me a Hannah Montana fan (seriously, that show is pretty funny). Jackie is their cousin whom I hadn't met before but is someone so full of life and free-spirited at her young age of 23. Edward- he is the eldest, and has grown so much since I last saw him, doing an amazing job of being the caretaker of his siblings. He used to be sooo shy and this time we had long conversations about life, politics, etc. And of course, Mama Mary, who was very thoughtful and prepared yummy meals and warm bucket showers like she always did. She is a nurse and most of the time she worked the night shift (8pm-8am) at the hospital delivering babies!
Some other great experiences were- going to church for the first time in
Kenya (which is surprising since everyone goes to church) and went to
the front with the family as we prayed for Mama Mary's knee to heal;
seeing a wedding celebration take place next door; got pampered with a massage when I visited the International Program Coordinator (my counterpart) from FSD Mombasa at her fabulous house; experienced a tiny bit of culture shock when I stepped into an actual mall- such a weird feeling!; rode in a party matatu (public van-style transport with lights and hip hop music and crazy paintings on the wall) in the middle of the day; got lost with Jackie and Edward in a beautiful, historical area called Old Town; stayed in and watched movies while it poured outside; ate amazing food; drank avocado-banana smoothies (sooo freakin good!); taught Edward how to play chess, and more. I feel like my Kenya experience is so much more complete after finally getting to see them all again. It was better than I had imagined it would be and I wouldn't change a thing about it! :D YAY!
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| Nyali Beach in Mombasa |
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| Jackie and Edward when we somehow ended up on a roof |
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| The ol' FSD Mombasa Site Team: Jerusa and Agarn |
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| Wedding next door (broken glass on wall is similar to barbed wire) |
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| David, my old supervisor, is running for political office, so they call him Camp David |
