Dear all
Well, tomorrow the program ends and year 3 of university is finished!
We are in the final stages of completing a 3 credit research project on Wildlife Conservation Tactics in East Africa and tomorrow morning we present, sign our exit waiver forms and fly free free free. I have written 2 final exams for my last class, and handed in a tourism report... these past 2 weeks have been hellish busy and I can;t wait for the work to be over and the play to begin.
On the morning of the 30th, I leave the hotel at 4am in a cab to the Zanzibar Airport and take a flight to Nairobi at 6:10am. From Nairobi i fly to Johannesburg, then to Windhoek in Namibia. I touch down in my target town at 4:30pm local time.
I'll be there until April 16 and then i head home.
I actually have to rush off now because break time is over! The final count down has begun. Tonight we have a dinner out on the program, and tomorrow we have our last supper, so to speak, and a goodbye ceremony of sorts. Its going to be sad to say goodbye but I'm so excited to get out there on my own.
Lots of love to those at home and all those who have helped me along the way. Perhaps I will find internet in Windhoek but again I'm assuming no internet or phone access until I touch down in Vancouver.
xoxoxo
Marion
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Last stop: Zanzibar!
Dear all
So I lied; I didnt write again in Nairobi... what with finals and trips to Mathare and trying to sort out a volunteer opportunity for after the program, things got busy.
From Nairobi, we drove to Tsavo National Park East. We camped there for 5 nights and never have I ever been so hot in my life. There are sooooo many elephants in that part of the park, bouncing back from being nearly wiped out during the peak of ivory poaching. The plains are packed with wildlife, and we saw more lions as well. As part of my biodiversity course for the last leg of the trip we did a census of wildlife sightings from our safari trucks. Our prof, David Green, is a herpatologist and has a crazy obsession with frogs, or reptiles and amphibians in general (but really, just frogs), and a serious lack in interest in any other sort of animal. Despite this, we wrestled to see the elephant rehabilitation program they have running Tsavo.
From Tsavo we trucked over to the coast to camp in Malindi at the KWS Marine Reserve. Oh my gosh, you should have seen us having a party when we saw the ocean. Monica and Alec had been insisting since Day 1 that due to liability issues, we had to wear life jackets in the ocean. It had been a constant battle of disbelief and arguing, but when we saw the Indian Ocean, after days of camping in intense dry heat, half of us just said to hell with it and grabbed lifejackets during the sprint to the ocean. I was on Alec's bus, and when he saw everyone bolt with lifejackets he just burst out laughing. We let them go swimming and took pictures before he finally told them it had been the longest and worst joke ever, and there was the punishment for running into the water before a safety briefing. Golden.
We camped about 50 m from the sand, under some trees in the shade (not that that helped much with the heat) and swam up to 3 times a day between trips to town, snake hunts and lectures. The temperature was hotter than Tsavo, and humid to add, making afternoon lectures a write off, so the hours around lunch were off so we could stay cool in the shade and water. One morning our bio class went off on a snake hunt with some rangers and we caught 5 or 6 snakes, ranging from non-dangerous bush snakes, to sand snakes and then we caught a spitting cobra! Yes, he spat, but his captor had wood working goggles on so he was fine.
Malindi was wonderful, but the sand was EVERYWHERE and camping in the sand for extended periods gets tedious. So, despite the love we have for the ocean, we were ready to leave the beach and its beach boys behind to trek to Mombasa.
Our hotel in Mombasa was sooo amazing. We were put into houses, 6 per house, and there was a blue blue pool and ice cream. To sleep on beds and have showers AND swim in a pool was just absolute heaven. We had only one night there, and my house (the party plane house) left the hotel the next morning at 4am. The 6 of us hadnt managed to get seats on the plane the rest of the groups was on. So instead of going direct from Mombasa to Zanzibar, we flew to Nairobi first, and then to Zanzibar. Quite the trek.
We arrived in TANZANIA!!! We stood in a huge inefficient line to get our visa. All countries must pay US$50, except the USA, who pays US$100 and Pakistan, who must pay US$200. Interesting. So now I have 3 visas in my brand new passport, and the first 10 pages are all stamped up.
It was in Mombasa that I finally got some good news about possible post-program plans. I'd been dreaming about heading over to Namibia to work on a farm, and Mum has been so amazing helping me find someone to take me. She called in Mombasa to say she found a rescued animal sanctuary near Windhoek where they needed volunteers, and after my first night in Zanzibar, I decided to do it. Its no small thing. It requires a flight from Zanzibar to nairobi, Nairobi to Joberg, Joberg to Windhoek. Return flights are the same all the way back to Nairobi, and then to Amsterdam and then Vancouver.
So I'm just waiting right now to finalise those plans and I'm really looking forward to travelling on my own.
Since our arrival in Zanzibar on the 17th we have had lots of lectures at the nearby Dar es Salaam Univesrity campus about biodiversity in Zanzibar. yesterday we went to the Zanzibar Butterfly Farm, and then to the Jozani National Park, which is one of the worlds top 20 hot spots for biodiveristy, with hundreds of endemic species, including the rare red colobus zanzibar monkey and elephant shrew. After dark we went searching for frogs but with little success.
This afternoon the bio class got onto some sketchy looking motor boats and cruised out to Prison Island and jumped off the back to go snorkelling. The coral reef here is amazing, and i really enjoyed paddling around, hoping I wasnt getting hepatitis or something from the grungy rented mask and snorkel. The water is crystal clear and bright blue, and corals come in every shape and size, bright blues and greens. I found myself a little black and white striped eel, diving down to look at it close up.
So Zanzibar is wonderful. As students we are expected to be more respectful of the culture than the tourists who come here in their short shorts and tank tops. I'm wearing ankle-length dresses and skirts and covering my head and shoulders with long scarves. The Muslim community is very obvious and there are 50 mosques in Stone Town alone (where we are staying). There is also a strong hint of Hindu, and British Colonial influences here, and the history is fascinating. I'm so glad we will be staying here for 2 weeks, until our program ends on the 29th of March.
To those at McGill: course registration is looming up and I cant udnerstand why the CRNs are not up yet. Does anyone know the date they will be posted? I have limited internet access and with time ticking, and the possibility of me being on a plane on the 31st, i'm concerned about classes. Please reply if you have heard anything about when the courses will be posted for fall 2009, winter 2010. Marissa and/or Donna: My loves, I may ask you to help me out by registering me for my classes... the time change would make it really hard, and you know Minerva better than my family would. If thats OK, let me know and when I have got the CRNs I'll send you my info.
So to all those at home: it looks like I'll be heading for Vancouver some time mid April. Dates are not confirmed yet, and I'm not rushing home at any crazy pace, but thats the update!
I hope you are all doing well.
xoxoxoxo
Marion
So I lied; I didnt write again in Nairobi... what with finals and trips to Mathare and trying to sort out a volunteer opportunity for after the program, things got busy.
From Nairobi, we drove to Tsavo National Park East. We camped there for 5 nights and never have I ever been so hot in my life. There are sooooo many elephants in that part of the park, bouncing back from being nearly wiped out during the peak of ivory poaching. The plains are packed with wildlife, and we saw more lions as well. As part of my biodiversity course for the last leg of the trip we did a census of wildlife sightings from our safari trucks. Our prof, David Green, is a herpatologist and has a crazy obsession with frogs, or reptiles and amphibians in general (but really, just frogs), and a serious lack in interest in any other sort of animal. Despite this, we wrestled to see the elephant rehabilitation program they have running Tsavo.
From Tsavo we trucked over to the coast to camp in Malindi at the KWS Marine Reserve. Oh my gosh, you should have seen us having a party when we saw the ocean. Monica and Alec had been insisting since Day 1 that due to liability issues, we had to wear life jackets in the ocean. It had been a constant battle of disbelief and arguing, but when we saw the Indian Ocean, after days of camping in intense dry heat, half of us just said to hell with it and grabbed lifejackets during the sprint to the ocean. I was on Alec's bus, and when he saw everyone bolt with lifejackets he just burst out laughing. We let them go swimming and took pictures before he finally told them it had been the longest and worst joke ever, and there was the punishment for running into the water before a safety briefing. Golden.
We camped about 50 m from the sand, under some trees in the shade (not that that helped much with the heat) and swam up to 3 times a day between trips to town, snake hunts and lectures. The temperature was hotter than Tsavo, and humid to add, making afternoon lectures a write off, so the hours around lunch were off so we could stay cool in the shade and water. One morning our bio class went off on a snake hunt with some rangers and we caught 5 or 6 snakes, ranging from non-dangerous bush snakes, to sand snakes and then we caught a spitting cobra! Yes, he spat, but his captor had wood working goggles on so he was fine.
Malindi was wonderful, but the sand was EVERYWHERE and camping in the sand for extended periods gets tedious. So, despite the love we have for the ocean, we were ready to leave the beach and its beach boys behind to trek to Mombasa.
Our hotel in Mombasa was sooo amazing. We were put into houses, 6 per house, and there was a blue blue pool and ice cream. To sleep on beds and have showers AND swim in a pool was just absolute heaven. We had only one night there, and my house (the party plane house) left the hotel the next morning at 4am. The 6 of us hadnt managed to get seats on the plane the rest of the groups was on. So instead of going direct from Mombasa to Zanzibar, we flew to Nairobi first, and then to Zanzibar. Quite the trek.
We arrived in TANZANIA!!! We stood in a huge inefficient line to get our visa. All countries must pay US$50, except the USA, who pays US$100 and Pakistan, who must pay US$200. Interesting. So now I have 3 visas in my brand new passport, and the first 10 pages are all stamped up.
It was in Mombasa that I finally got some good news about possible post-program plans. I'd been dreaming about heading over to Namibia to work on a farm, and Mum has been so amazing helping me find someone to take me. She called in Mombasa to say she found a rescued animal sanctuary near Windhoek where they needed volunteers, and after my first night in Zanzibar, I decided to do it. Its no small thing. It requires a flight from Zanzibar to nairobi, Nairobi to Joberg, Joberg to Windhoek. Return flights are the same all the way back to Nairobi, and then to Amsterdam and then Vancouver.
So I'm just waiting right now to finalise those plans and I'm really looking forward to travelling on my own.
Since our arrival in Zanzibar on the 17th we have had lots of lectures at the nearby Dar es Salaam Univesrity campus about biodiversity in Zanzibar. yesterday we went to the Zanzibar Butterfly Farm, and then to the Jozani National Park, which is one of the worlds top 20 hot spots for biodiveristy, with hundreds of endemic species, including the rare red colobus zanzibar monkey and elephant shrew. After dark we went searching for frogs but with little success.
This afternoon the bio class got onto some sketchy looking motor boats and cruised out to Prison Island and jumped off the back to go snorkelling. The coral reef here is amazing, and i really enjoyed paddling around, hoping I wasnt getting hepatitis or something from the grungy rented mask and snorkel. The water is crystal clear and bright blue, and corals come in every shape and size, bright blues and greens. I found myself a little black and white striped eel, diving down to look at it close up.
So Zanzibar is wonderful. As students we are expected to be more respectful of the culture than the tourists who come here in their short shorts and tank tops. I'm wearing ankle-length dresses and skirts and covering my head and shoulders with long scarves. The Muslim community is very obvious and there are 50 mosques in Stone Town alone (where we are staying). There is also a strong hint of Hindu, and British Colonial influences here, and the history is fascinating. I'm so glad we will be staying here for 2 weeks, until our program ends on the 29th of March.
To those at McGill: course registration is looming up and I cant udnerstand why the CRNs are not up yet. Does anyone know the date they will be posted? I have limited internet access and with time ticking, and the possibility of me being on a plane on the 31st, i'm concerned about classes. Please reply if you have heard anything about when the courses will be posted for fall 2009, winter 2010. Marissa and/or Donna: My loves, I may ask you to help me out by registering me for my classes... the time change would make it really hard, and you know Minerva better than my family would. If thats OK, let me know and when I have got the CRNs I'll send you my info.
So to all those at home: it looks like I'll be heading for Vancouver some time mid April. Dates are not confirmed yet, and I'm not rushing home at any crazy pace, but thats the update!
I hope you are all doing well.
xoxoxoxo
Marion
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Back in Nairobi
Hey all
So we got into Nairobi on the 2nd (HAPPY MARCH B.T.W!!) and we have been pretty much studying our butts off, in between lectures and days at the National Museum... I just got out of my final exam for Orno and gosh does it feel good to be done with another class. These 2.5 week full-course stints are super hard core and often really tough, especially when you are doing 2-3 lectures a day, squeezed in between activities and meals... they are jam-packed days and we are really exhausted after this module. Yesterday was a much- needed change of pace: Dr Bird took us t the National Museum to explore the ornithology department (so the change of pace was really just a change in location). WE were actually taken behind the scenes to the research department... its essentially a huge bird morgue. Vegetarians beware! Drawers and drawers of stuffed birds, every species of birds in Kenya and many from other parts of East Africa. WE were shown everything from baby ostriches, tiny tiny kingfishers to mamooth monkey-eating eagles with terrfiying talons. It was really cool. Gaming for birds was made illegal in the 70s, so now only about 10-20 birds are added to the collection at the museum each year, and most of these are due to road kills or migratory collisions.
To emphasis our crazy days, today we had our finals at 9-11, and after lunch we are going to Mathare slums, the largest slum in East Africa, larger than the Kibera slums we visited when we were last in Nairobi. Just to exhaust us physically, mentally AND emotionally, tonight we have the chance to go out on the town-- to a pricey dinner at SafariPark (which I'm opting out of for economic and slightly ethical reasons after seeing poverty) and then to the discotheque there.
Tomorrow, oh my I can't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow is our first day off since the start of this trip. We have a whole day to sleep, do laundry, catch up on journals and hang out! After the last 2 weeks especially, we all really really need some R&R.
In the mean time, however, I have two assignments to finish up and a site presentation to prepare for, so I should rush off and finish those before lunch!!
I hope all is well at home! I'll write again before we leave Nairobi on Sat morning
xoxoxoxo
So we got into Nairobi on the 2nd (HAPPY MARCH B.T.W!!) and we have been pretty much studying our butts off, in between lectures and days at the National Museum... I just got out of my final exam for Orno and gosh does it feel good to be done with another class. These 2.5 week full-course stints are super hard core and often really tough, especially when you are doing 2-3 lectures a day, squeezed in between activities and meals... they are jam-packed days and we are really exhausted after this module. Yesterday was a much- needed change of pace: Dr Bird took us t the National Museum to explore the ornithology department (so the change of pace was really just a change in location). WE were actually taken behind the scenes to the research department... its essentially a huge bird morgue. Vegetarians beware! Drawers and drawers of stuffed birds, every species of birds in Kenya and many from other parts of East Africa. WE were shown everything from baby ostriches, tiny tiny kingfishers to mamooth monkey-eating eagles with terrfiying talons. It was really cool. Gaming for birds was made illegal in the 70s, so now only about 10-20 birds are added to the collection at the museum each year, and most of these are due to road kills or migratory collisions.
To emphasis our crazy days, today we had our finals at 9-11, and after lunch we are going to Mathare slums, the largest slum in East Africa, larger than the Kibera slums we visited when we were last in Nairobi. Just to exhaust us physically, mentally AND emotionally, tonight we have the chance to go out on the town-- to a pricey dinner at SafariPark (which I'm opting out of for economic and slightly ethical reasons after seeing poverty) and then to the discotheque there.
Tomorrow, oh my I can't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow is our first day off since the start of this trip. We have a whole day to sleep, do laundry, catch up on journals and hang out! After the last 2 weeks especially, we all really really need some R&R.
In the mean time, however, I have two assignments to finish up and a site presentation to prepare for, so I should rush off and finish those before lunch!!
I hope all is well at home! I'll write again before we leave Nairobi on Sat morning
xoxoxoxo
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Quick/ really long note from Laikipia
Hello all!
This trip keeps getting more and more amazing and less and less able to be described in words.
The Maasai Mara was absolutely breath taking. It is definately the africa that people fall in love with. We were camped inside the Game Reserve, near an old research centre- no one else was permitted to stay inside the reserve, and we really were living with the Hyenas and Lions. Lions roared 2 or 3 times a night, and we would wake up and listen to them, safe inside our tents. We didnt actually end up having Maasai warriors per say, as our guards, but most of the people who live around there are Maasai and the rangers who patrolled our campsite at night were locals. So, almost the same Suen.
The sun sets were absolutely stunning. We birded every morning, and went on at least 1 game drive a day. We saw lions, lionesses, lion cubs, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, giraffes, gazelle (grants and thompsons), impala, baboons, warthogs, buffalo, ostrich, wildebeest, hartebeest, saddle billed storks, secretary birds, grey-crowned cranes... the animals were great. Probably the freakiest thing that happened to us was one afternoon our Ornithology class went on a bird walk with an armed guard. While looking at a bird in the 60x scope, Dr Bird and John yelped as two lions ran across the clearing in front of us. After that, we made a bee-line back to camp, and frightened a herd of gazelle, which looked just like a running group of lions and scared us more than anything else. We had to cross an elephant wallowing pool to get back to camp, and while some of us jumped across the puddles, others looked back to see a fast-approaching group of elephants. Meanwhile, those back at camp had spotted us below them and were sort of freaking out about the fact that there were elephants a few meters behind us.
Needless to say we got away just fine. The scariest thing though is the fact that we weren't as frightened as we should have been, and we were all much more niavely excited at our close encounter with dangerous wildlife on foot. That was the first and last bird walk in the Mara.
After 5 nights in the Mara, we packed up camp and set off on a ridiculously long drive to Elangata Wass. I think the drive took us well over 10 hours, which was really rough by the end, with the open sided trucks battering us with wind and dust the whole way. But we have become seasoned travellers over road and these drives are becoming longer but passing faster as the trip progresses.
Elangata Wass is at 1200-1400 m, very high altitude, and is suffering greatly in Kenya's time of drought. When we arrived, they had no had rain since August. We pitched our tents at Kudu Camp, a half hour drive out of Mile 46. Everything was dry and crispy, and extremely intolerably hot.
This was the place we did our Maasai home stay. We were paired off and dropped at Mile 46 with local kenyan youth guides to walk to our bomas, which ranged from 30 mins to 2 hours walk away from the town. Maya and I walked for 1.5hrs (and it was very very hot) to our boma in the middle of absolutely nowhere. There were 8 children where we stayed, and we slept on a cattle hide platform inside the tiny, low, hot, dark and smokey cow-dung home. We learned alot. The grandmother whose boma we stayed in was named Rebecca (they often have Christian names) and we were told to call her Ngoko (I think thats how Maa for grandmother is spelt). She was really very nice and talked alot to us through our youth guide, Daniel. She lives in the same acacia-bush encircled complex as her 3 sons and their families. The cattle and goats were brought in from the fields after dark. There is no water in those parts right now and many family's fathers have left with cattle for months, many all the way to Tanzania, looking for pastures for their herd. The drought's consequences stuck out when I went into the cattle yard. In one corner, with her calf standing near by, was a cow who was so hungry and dehydrated that she could not stand nor eat. The family force fed her some cabbage, then stuck a stick under her boney ribe cage, one man grabbing eat end, her tail and her horns, and the 4 men pulled her to her feet. The only way to get her to walk was by teasing her with a bucket of water held just out of reach as she stumbled towards it. The calf was in very poor shape as well, and the children kept sticking their fingers under its pelvic bone and between its ribs.
Some Maa words, for you at home:
"supa" - hello/ greetings
"ipa"- response greeting
"Ashayoling"- thank you
Also, when an elder approaches, you must bow your head and let them touch your head as they say Supa, and then you are allowed to reply Ipa and look at them.
It was a pretty intense experience. We were with the family for 24hrs, which allowed us to experience a miniscual part of their lives, but the men talked fairly good english and the children take english at school so we did manage to have some great interactions without needing a translation. The next morning we woke at dawn and helped around the boma before leaving at 8, dressed in our sunday clothes, to walk the 2hrs back to Mile 46 to meet the rest of our group at a Pentacostal church at 10.
Everyone was pretty worn out, and the rest of that day and the day after were easily the lowest point in the trip. Orno had a midterm the next morning, and everyone was tired and emotional.
On the 24th we loaded up the busses and drove for another 7 hrs to Laikipia, stopping by in Nairobi to stock up on basic supplies and snacks. We arrived at MPALA research centre at around 5:30.
This is a wonderful wonderful place. If you are not a researcher, you pay up to US$1700 per night to stay in the Dutch tents that line the river. But as we are both researchers and students, we pay nowhere near that price and still enjoy the amazing luuries of hot water in basins outside our tent in the morning and the opportunity to shower in the canvas shower stalls. Toilets with seats are also something we havent seen for a few weeks. We have real beds, on which we are absolutely passed out every night, and the mood has lifted significantly since we left E. Wass.
Orno is working on our case studies while we are here, and Jordi and I are studying the Common Drongo, a fork tailed black bird seen almost every where in Kenya. It has this cute way to hunting insects, called hawking.
We will leave here on the 3rd, and trek back to Nairobi to stay in ICIPE for 4 days.
I hope this finds everyone well at home. If anyone at McGill knows the date we are permitted to register for courses, would you please post it so I can see? MyMcGill absolutely will not load on these computers (who is surpised?!), and our profs are unaware of the deadline.
I hope midterms have passed, or nearly have, and that everyone is enjoying Reading Week!
Lots of love to all
Marion xoxoxoxo
This trip keeps getting more and more amazing and less and less able to be described in words.
The Maasai Mara was absolutely breath taking. It is definately the africa that people fall in love with. We were camped inside the Game Reserve, near an old research centre- no one else was permitted to stay inside the reserve, and we really were living with the Hyenas and Lions. Lions roared 2 or 3 times a night, and we would wake up and listen to them, safe inside our tents. We didnt actually end up having Maasai warriors per say, as our guards, but most of the people who live around there are Maasai and the rangers who patrolled our campsite at night were locals. So, almost the same Suen.
The sun sets were absolutely stunning. We birded every morning, and went on at least 1 game drive a day. We saw lions, lionesses, lion cubs, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, giraffes, gazelle (grants and thompsons), impala, baboons, warthogs, buffalo, ostrich, wildebeest, hartebeest, saddle billed storks, secretary birds, grey-crowned cranes... the animals were great. Probably the freakiest thing that happened to us was one afternoon our Ornithology class went on a bird walk with an armed guard. While looking at a bird in the 60x scope, Dr Bird and John yelped as two lions ran across the clearing in front of us. After that, we made a bee-line back to camp, and frightened a herd of gazelle, which looked just like a running group of lions and scared us more than anything else. We had to cross an elephant wallowing pool to get back to camp, and while some of us jumped across the puddles, others looked back to see a fast-approaching group of elephants. Meanwhile, those back at camp had spotted us below them and were sort of freaking out about the fact that there were elephants a few meters behind us.
Needless to say we got away just fine. The scariest thing though is the fact that we weren't as frightened as we should have been, and we were all much more niavely excited at our close encounter with dangerous wildlife on foot. That was the first and last bird walk in the Mara.
After 5 nights in the Mara, we packed up camp and set off on a ridiculously long drive to Elangata Wass. I think the drive took us well over 10 hours, which was really rough by the end, with the open sided trucks battering us with wind and dust the whole way. But we have become seasoned travellers over road and these drives are becoming longer but passing faster as the trip progresses.
Elangata Wass is at 1200-1400 m, very high altitude, and is suffering greatly in Kenya's time of drought. When we arrived, they had no had rain since August. We pitched our tents at Kudu Camp, a half hour drive out of Mile 46. Everything was dry and crispy, and extremely intolerably hot.
This was the place we did our Maasai home stay. We were paired off and dropped at Mile 46 with local kenyan youth guides to walk to our bomas, which ranged from 30 mins to 2 hours walk away from the town. Maya and I walked for 1.5hrs (and it was very very hot) to our boma in the middle of absolutely nowhere. There were 8 children where we stayed, and we slept on a cattle hide platform inside the tiny, low, hot, dark and smokey cow-dung home. We learned alot. The grandmother whose boma we stayed in was named Rebecca (they often have Christian names) and we were told to call her Ngoko (I think thats how Maa for grandmother is spelt). She was really very nice and talked alot to us through our youth guide, Daniel. She lives in the same acacia-bush encircled complex as her 3 sons and their families. The cattle and goats were brought in from the fields after dark. There is no water in those parts right now and many family's fathers have left with cattle for months, many all the way to Tanzania, looking for pastures for their herd. The drought's consequences stuck out when I went into the cattle yard. In one corner, with her calf standing near by, was a cow who was so hungry and dehydrated that she could not stand nor eat. The family force fed her some cabbage, then stuck a stick under her boney ribe cage, one man grabbing eat end, her tail and her horns, and the 4 men pulled her to her feet. The only way to get her to walk was by teasing her with a bucket of water held just out of reach as she stumbled towards it. The calf was in very poor shape as well, and the children kept sticking their fingers under its pelvic bone and between its ribs.
Some Maa words, for you at home:
"supa" - hello/ greetings
"ipa"- response greeting
"Ashayoling"- thank you
Also, when an elder approaches, you must bow your head and let them touch your head as they say Supa, and then you are allowed to reply Ipa and look at them.
It was a pretty intense experience. We were with the family for 24hrs, which allowed us to experience a miniscual part of their lives, but the men talked fairly good english and the children take english at school so we did manage to have some great interactions without needing a translation. The next morning we woke at dawn and helped around the boma before leaving at 8, dressed in our sunday clothes, to walk the 2hrs back to Mile 46 to meet the rest of our group at a Pentacostal church at 10.
Everyone was pretty worn out, and the rest of that day and the day after were easily the lowest point in the trip. Orno had a midterm the next morning, and everyone was tired and emotional.
On the 24th we loaded up the busses and drove for another 7 hrs to Laikipia, stopping by in Nairobi to stock up on basic supplies and snacks. We arrived at MPALA research centre at around 5:30.
This is a wonderful wonderful place. If you are not a researcher, you pay up to US$1700 per night to stay in the Dutch tents that line the river. But as we are both researchers and students, we pay nowhere near that price and still enjoy the amazing luuries of hot water in basins outside our tent in the morning and the opportunity to shower in the canvas shower stalls. Toilets with seats are also something we havent seen for a few weeks. We have real beds, on which we are absolutely passed out every night, and the mood has lifted significantly since we left E. Wass.
Orno is working on our case studies while we are here, and Jordi and I are studying the Common Drongo, a fork tailed black bird seen almost every where in Kenya. It has this cute way to hunting insects, called hawking.
We will leave here on the 3rd, and trek back to Nairobi to stay in ICIPE for 4 days.
I hope this finds everyone well at home. If anyone at McGill knows the date we are permitted to register for courses, would you please post it so I can see? MyMcGill absolutely will not load on these computers (who is surpised?!), and our profs are unaware of the deadline.
I hope midterms have passed, or nearly have, and that everyone is enjoying Reading Week!
Lots of love to all
Marion xoxoxoxo
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Travel day
Dear all
Its 630 in the morning and the sun is juuuust brightening the sky a little. the busses are packed, breakfast is wrapping up and we are all sleepily getting onto our trucks. we have a 7-8 hr bus ride ahead of us to the Mara. Valentine's day party went late into the night and I didnt see the end of it, heading for bed instead at around 1130, getting up with the alarm at 545. Its been a tiring couple days with bird walks and the boat trip to bird island. we are going to be camping for the next week in Mara and Langadawas. Masaii warriors will serve as our guards against the prevelant lions and hyenas at night.
Not sure when I'll next have access to internet, some say a week, some say more. But I'll write with an update at least by March17th, which is when we will be back in Nairobi's ICIPE site.
Lots of love to all at home
xoxox
Marion
Its 630 in the morning and the sun is juuuust brightening the sky a little. the busses are packed, breakfast is wrapping up and we are all sleepily getting onto our trucks. we have a 7-8 hr bus ride ahead of us to the Mara. Valentine's day party went late into the night and I didnt see the end of it, heading for bed instead at around 1130, getting up with the alarm at 545. Its been a tiring couple days with bird walks and the boat trip to bird island. we are going to be camping for the next week in Mara and Langadawas. Masaii warriors will serve as our guards against the prevelant lions and hyenas at night.
Not sure when I'll next have access to internet, some say a week, some say more. But I'll write with an update at least by March17th, which is when we will be back in Nairobi's ICIPE site.
Lots of love to all at home
xoxox
Marion
Friday, February 13, 2009
Off into the bush again!
Dear all
So the last 4 days have been spent in beautiful Mbita. We have spent most of our time here at the Suba district hospital that is a 10 minute walk from ICIPE. Our Health and Nutrition Module has been all about HIV/AIDS and malaria, and also some about tsetse fly and sleeping sickness. Kenya's HIV prevalence of HIV/AIDS is 7.4%, which is an assumed underestimation due to the stigma attached to the disease and also due to the lack of access to testing.
The kenyan government now provides ARVs (Antiretrovirals) free of charge, as well as treatment and prevention of malaria. Vaccinations and deworming of children are also done for free. Mosquito nets and condoms are also handed out for free. Consultations with a doctor at any level of medical institutues are free, but most medications (apart from those already mentioned) are to be bought from the clinic/hospital at which they are prescribed. Thus, barring the success of such a program is accessibility: for the people, reaching the clinics/hospitals is either impossible due to poor roads, or due to distance; and the trucks that bring the drugs and supplies for these places often cannot reach them. Supplies are brought once a month, but may only last 2 weeks.
While this has painted a dire picture for Kenya, the places themselves are inspiring and really remarkable. There are outreach groups for PLWH (People Living With HIV/AIDS) and volunteers are trained by the government to work within communities at the household level-- they are required to visit 20 households a month to been track of the needs of the community and gather information on the numbers of children who are immunized etc etc. This system is effective and is working. The doctors and nurses we spoke to are very educated, at least 3 or 4 years of post secondary education, and are very open to our questions.
The town of Suba is small and crowded. We were given full reign of the area, walking in group of 3 or 4 from ICIPE into town at least once a day during our free time. for 350 USh (around 4 US dollars) I had a skirt made that is longer than those that I brought, in anticipation of the Muslim community in Zanzibar. The people of the local town are very friendly and many speak exceptional english and love talking to us.
There are 3 courses in the 2nd module of this program (we wrote our final exams on Sunday for the previous module) and I'm taking Ornithology with Dr Dave Bird-- this is not a joke. None of the other 2 classes are started yet, as the Archaeology prof from UBC has yet to arrive. But my class started yesterday morning with a 7am bird walk, followed by a lecture. There is lots of work for this class, but the projects are going to be interesting and I'm definately going to know my birds by the end of it! Mum, let Grandpa know he has competition coming up! This morning we had another morning bird walk (will probably have one every day until the course ends on March4th) and tomorrow we leave at 6am for Bird Island for 3 hours, followed by another few lectures. This is proof that we are by no means on vacation!
On sunday, we leave very early on our 8-10 hours bus ride through Kenya towards the Mara. We hope to see Lions and cheetahs there. Not sure when I will have internet next, but probably in Laikipe sometime at the end of February.
I wrote to Riders for Health, looking for a volunteer position. But they employ locals which, having learned much about community sustainability, I understand completely, and they also could not recommend many people I could contact as an alternative. So I still have no set plans for my time here after the program, although I have a friend who wants to travel with me to Rwanda to stay with some friends and to see gorillas, and another wants to go to Malawi with me. So there are lots of options, depending on the amount of money I would like to spend. There is time yet
HOWEVER!! I cannot believe that today was day 27. This trip is racing by.
I hope my posts have been rewarding to my followers. Riss and Donna and Dad, thanks for your emails regarding my posts! Its really nice to get emails, but to those who havent written do not worry because the internet here is so deadly slow that I rarely check my email... the best place to write back is as a comment on my blog.
Lots of love to home, not sure if I'll get another chance to write again before we leave Mbita. Tonight is movie night, and tomorrow is our PA, Monica,'s birthday/ pre-trip party night so we are sure to be sleeping a little on the busses on Sunday.
xoxoxox
Marion
PS: false alarm on Malaria-student. We all knew that wasnt what it was, he just really liked the drama created by saying it. He has had tests, and does not have malaria or typhoid. We are all well and healthy and happy.
PPS: Dad, the story I was given for the meaning behind "Abwooli" is that it is a nickname for a young person, or young looking person, or young boy. Though, your definition as a young person being seperated from his/her money is also very accurate in my case!
So the last 4 days have been spent in beautiful Mbita. We have spent most of our time here at the Suba district hospital that is a 10 minute walk from ICIPE. Our Health and Nutrition Module has been all about HIV/AIDS and malaria, and also some about tsetse fly and sleeping sickness. Kenya's HIV prevalence of HIV/AIDS is 7.4%, which is an assumed underestimation due to the stigma attached to the disease and also due to the lack of access to testing.
The kenyan government now provides ARVs (Antiretrovirals) free of charge, as well as treatment and prevention of malaria. Vaccinations and deworming of children are also done for free. Mosquito nets and condoms are also handed out for free. Consultations with a doctor at any level of medical institutues are free, but most medications (apart from those already mentioned) are to be bought from the clinic/hospital at which they are prescribed. Thus, barring the success of such a program is accessibility: for the people, reaching the clinics/hospitals is either impossible due to poor roads, or due to distance; and the trucks that bring the drugs and supplies for these places often cannot reach them. Supplies are brought once a month, but may only last 2 weeks.
While this has painted a dire picture for Kenya, the places themselves are inspiring and really remarkable. There are outreach groups for PLWH (People Living With HIV/AIDS) and volunteers are trained by the government to work within communities at the household level-- they are required to visit 20 households a month to been track of the needs of the community and gather information on the numbers of children who are immunized etc etc. This system is effective and is working. The doctors and nurses we spoke to are very educated, at least 3 or 4 years of post secondary education, and are very open to our questions.
The town of Suba is small and crowded. We were given full reign of the area, walking in group of 3 or 4 from ICIPE into town at least once a day during our free time. for 350 USh (around 4 US dollars) I had a skirt made that is longer than those that I brought, in anticipation of the Muslim community in Zanzibar. The people of the local town are very friendly and many speak exceptional english and love talking to us.
There are 3 courses in the 2nd module of this program (we wrote our final exams on Sunday for the previous module) and I'm taking Ornithology with Dr Dave Bird-- this is not a joke. None of the other 2 classes are started yet, as the Archaeology prof from UBC has yet to arrive. But my class started yesterday morning with a 7am bird walk, followed by a lecture. There is lots of work for this class, but the projects are going to be interesting and I'm definately going to know my birds by the end of it! Mum, let Grandpa know he has competition coming up! This morning we had another morning bird walk (will probably have one every day until the course ends on March4th) and tomorrow we leave at 6am for Bird Island for 3 hours, followed by another few lectures. This is proof that we are by no means on vacation!
On sunday, we leave very early on our 8-10 hours bus ride through Kenya towards the Mara. We hope to see Lions and cheetahs there. Not sure when I will have internet next, but probably in Laikipe sometime at the end of February.
I wrote to Riders for Health, looking for a volunteer position. But they employ locals which, having learned much about community sustainability, I understand completely, and they also could not recommend many people I could contact as an alternative. So I still have no set plans for my time here after the program, although I have a friend who wants to travel with me to Rwanda to stay with some friends and to see gorillas, and another wants to go to Malawi with me. So there are lots of options, depending on the amount of money I would like to spend. There is time yet
HOWEVER!! I cannot believe that today was day 27. This trip is racing by.
I hope my posts have been rewarding to my followers. Riss and Donna and Dad, thanks for your emails regarding my posts! Its really nice to get emails, but to those who havent written do not worry because the internet here is so deadly slow that I rarely check my email... the best place to write back is as a comment on my blog.
Lots of love to home, not sure if I'll get another chance to write again before we leave Mbita. Tonight is movie night, and tomorrow is our PA, Monica,'s birthday/ pre-trip party night so we are sure to be sleeping a little on the busses on Sunday.
xoxoxox
Marion
PS: false alarm on Malaria-student. We all knew that wasnt what it was, he just really liked the drama created by saying it. He has had tests, and does not have malaria or typhoid. We are all well and healthy and happy.
PPS: Dad, the story I was given for the meaning behind "Abwooli" is that it is a nickname for a young person, or young looking person, or young boy. Though, your definition as a young person being seperated from his/her money is also very accurate in my case!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Back in Kenya!!
Dear all!
Two days of travelling later and we have finally made it back to an ICIPE site in Mbita, Kenya. We drove for two days in intense heat. We spent some time visiting first a Millenium Village and the next day a Millenium City in Kisumu district. These projects are involved in the implication of the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals). These places stirred up alot of mixed feelings and quite the contraversy between those who support bringing developing countries up to par, and those who resent the "westernized swoop" and experiments with groups of people. I have written extensively about these visitations and my feelings about what we saw and learned and I'll talk more about them when I get home.
Having driven for hours across fairly arid and very very windy and questionable roads, we came suddenly to a port on the edge of Lake Victoria. The shore was littered with beautifully painted fishing boats, daws, with a single sail. Absolutely stunning, a photographers dream.
We somehow got onto this sketchy looking ferry. What an exercise that was! The program produced BRIGHT ORANGE lifejackets and insisted we wear them. As if we werent already getting enough attention. So onto this flatbed ferry we loaded two HUGE trucks (one of ours, another a frieght truck) and several cars, when it had looked like the ferry was only big enough for one truck only. Oh Africa! We crammed onto the boat in between all the cars.
What a beautiful ferry ride, from one peninsula to another, it took around an hour, maybe more. The wind and the view was stunning.
Mbita is right on the shore of Lake Victoria, and the ICIPE site we are staying in is right on the water. We have started our Health Module with our docotor, Dr John Geddes. Its been a very interesting morning discussing HIV/AIDS prevelence in Africa and specifically Kenya.
There is a long line up for this very very slow internet access so I will leave this short and try to write again later. We leave for Masaii Mara on Sunday morning, another long drive, and then we gradually make our way back to Nairobi for the beginning of March. Our trip may have its first case of malaria, but we are hoping its just a fever. I'm healthy and well and happy.
I hope this finds everyone well.
Lots of love
Marion xoxoxox
Two days of travelling later and we have finally made it back to an ICIPE site in Mbita, Kenya. We drove for two days in intense heat. We spent some time visiting first a Millenium Village and the next day a Millenium City in Kisumu district. These projects are involved in the implication of the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals). These places stirred up alot of mixed feelings and quite the contraversy between those who support bringing developing countries up to par, and those who resent the "westernized swoop" and experiments with groups of people. I have written extensively about these visitations and my feelings about what we saw and learned and I'll talk more about them when I get home.
Having driven for hours across fairly arid and very very windy and questionable roads, we came suddenly to a port on the edge of Lake Victoria. The shore was littered with beautifully painted fishing boats, daws, with a single sail. Absolutely stunning, a photographers dream.
We somehow got onto this sketchy looking ferry. What an exercise that was! The program produced BRIGHT ORANGE lifejackets and insisted we wear them. As if we werent already getting enough attention. So onto this flatbed ferry we loaded two HUGE trucks (one of ours, another a frieght truck) and several cars, when it had looked like the ferry was only big enough for one truck only. Oh Africa! We crammed onto the boat in between all the cars.
What a beautiful ferry ride, from one peninsula to another, it took around an hour, maybe more. The wind and the view was stunning.
Mbita is right on the shore of Lake Victoria, and the ICIPE site we are staying in is right on the water. We have started our Health Module with our docotor, Dr John Geddes. Its been a very interesting morning discussing HIV/AIDS prevelence in Africa and specifically Kenya.
There is a long line up for this very very slow internet access so I will leave this short and try to write again later. We leave for Masaii Mara on Sunday morning, another long drive, and then we gradually make our way back to Nairobi for the beginning of March. Our trip may have its first case of malaria, but we are hoping its just a fever. I'm healthy and well and happy.
I hope this finds everyone well.
Lots of love
Marion xoxoxox
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