Had a good day walking around downtown Nairobi. Bought 2 dictionaries and 12 more kid books for donation. These kid books are great because they are by Kenyan authors, and about village life. Future volunteers could do a better mix of donated Western books with in-country books.

We went to an Indian restaurant instead of Carnivore tonight. Great truly authentic Indian food. Rode in matatus all day, and that is such an experience -- the seats aren't always bolted completely to the van floor, some have flat-screen tvs playing music videos to attract customers, and they all have ticket takers who run on and off the van while it's still in moving traffic. Anyway, more on that another time.

A mosquito net has been draped over my bed; I took my second dose of mefloquine at dinner, and tonight I will resort my belongings to prepare for the bus ride to Dago in the morning. Breakfast at 8am, and out the door in 20 minutes. Here's where the real adventure begins!

Nairobi: Saturday, June 21

I've brought Seattle weather all the way here! It is completely overcast and mid-60's degrees, except the Kenyans aren't out celebrating the heat wave - they are bundled up in their winter gear and complaining about the cold!

The exciting surprise was an impressive gentleman named Junior Gaya being here in town to pick me up! He is a native Kenyan who hosts Village Volunteers volunteers in his Nairobi apartment with his sister, but moved to America and married last Fall, so I didn't expect to see him this time. I should explain about the news crew guess; NPR had interviewed Village Volunteer villages in the recent past, but I didn't know if it had been postponed since the unrest. So it was a wild guess. And the plane ticket upgrade was completely in jest, of course. :-) I spent the 17 hours on two planes in economy class splendor.

A few snafus in transit, though. London security confiscated 5 scissors from my carry-on, and would have also taken away my bag of compasses if I didn't react completely crushed the way I did. How could I have forgotten about sharp object restrictions?? Ironically, they ended up taking my carry-on away at the gate anyway because it was overweight. Fortunately, I have all day today in town, so I will replace those scissors myself, and purchase other items if I can.

Well, I just took my last running-water, temperature-controlled shower for a while. Today I will exchange for Kenyan shillings (KSH), get a cell phone set up for in-country emergency calls, attempt supply shopping, and maybe try a restaurant called Carnivore, recommended by a Seattle friend.

Talk to you another time when I have a chance :-)

$0.35 per minute at SeaTac

Flight to London departs at 10:20pm, but I am here and ready to go.

Shana Greene, the executive director of Village Volunteers, and I added several more items into my grey luggage, such as 5 deflated soccer balls, trial antimalarial medication, and ... well, my socks. At curbside check-in, we discovered it is 75 lbs! The gentleman suggested moving some items over to my green bag, which was exactly 50 lbs (thank you very much). He saw that they were all donations and said because of that, he would like to "help [me] out as much as possible." He would accept up to 57 lbs in the green bag for free! We shifted some things out, and in the end I ended up walking away and we both forgot to pay for the extra weight in the original! God bless that man :-) And to all the people who donated to me to help pay the would-be charge! You can consider that money having gone to my vaccinations, airplane tickets, and visa application.

Shana kept hinting that there will be a surprise "that will be obvious". I took a shot and guessed she upgraded my plane tickets some how, but that wasn't it. She is excited that I am the first volunteer back after the election riots, but she took the precaution to ensure I will be escorted at all times, especially between villages. I wonder if the surprise is some kind of news crew :-)

What do you think?

I flipped through this donated book the other day called "My Very Own Octopus". In it, a boy imagines all the advantages of having a pet octopus, which includes protecting him from bullies and hugging him 8 times with his 8 arms. Those are all cute and appropriate.

But this book includes full color pages of situations such as "My room would always look neat because my octopus would help me put away all my clothes" and "And when my friend David came to visit, my octopus would help us put away all my toys"... and then "of course we would share our allowance with my octopus for helping us"... Anyone else notice something about these lines?

The boy goes on to daydream that "We would always take my octopus to the store when we went shopping. Our cart would be filled in no time at all. And anything our cart couldn't hold, my octopus would." and "On Halloween, my octopus could go around with me, and we would collect more treats than Glenn and all the other kids."...

This is the definition of American greed and materialistic competition! Consumerism starts with our children! This little boy is 'living the good life' of the Western culture of overindulgence. I'm concerned about the orphans getting the impression that all white kids have large rooms to themselves full of clothes and toys (true as it may be for most), and getting hung up on that... I mean, I'm not sure I'm comfortable explaining to poverty-stricken orphans that American kids regularly get money from their parents to buy whatever they want at the toy stores!

On the other hand, I don't want to shelter them from what it is like for a middle class American family, because that's the purpose of books - to educate and expand the minds, help them explore their world in ways they can't otherwise... I remember last year even secondary students at Pirrar were marveling at what dollar bills look like, and kept asking about what animals we raised in America, and what kinds of foods we ate, what our homes looked like... Who am I to judge how to filter their education? Perhaps this book can be presented to the students as it is -- a book written for upper to middle class U.S. citizens. -- and hope they understand.

Blog readers, what is your opinion? This is a genuine question about cultural sensitivity that I have been wrestling with over the past several weeks. Please feel free to comment on my blogs; I appreciate any feedback and value open discussion. Thanks!

I love my mom and her Engrish

(we are chatting on instant messenger)

Mom: Did you get some shock's yet?
Mom: You know what I mean? To pretend.
Me: Yes, Mom, I got my shots
Me: To protect
Me: :-)

See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Packing Queen

WoW!!! 140 pounds of school supplies & books (including weight of suitcases) were donated in a month! I never get tired of saying it: THANK YOU!

Kamiak High School staff and Mukilteo School District SLPs have been so extremely generous with their donations of mostly brand new items!! I didn't expect that!

For the sake of packing space and the environment (because they burn their garbage in rural Kenya), I had to open all packaging that can't be reused for storage. It was like Christmas in June! ;-)

All told, there are over 130 books (Pic is of my sorting them by size into hard/soft covers), 1312 crayons, 584 pencils, 173 markers & color pencils (not counting an entire plastic box containing probably a hundred!), 22 rulers, 8 calculators (5 brand new! 1 TI brand!), 4 sturdy clip boards, and my favorite (b/c I didn't even think of it!): 11 protractors and 16 compasses with pencils! Not pictured are various educational toys, art/craft supplies, and my sanity.


How does one fit them all into 2 checked luggages and 1 carry-on?

Fragile items have to go into my carry-on for sure. Here's a glimpse of how tightly this is packed. (All those youthful years of competing with my brother in Tetris had to count for something!)

Layer 1


















Layer 2


















Layer 3


















Final layer! This little buddy is 40 lbs.













By the time I finished that one, I was too tired to tightly pack the remaining check-in cases. I put the hardcover books in my soft-cased green suitcase along with some durable toys.

Layer 1














Layer 2. This one is just about 50 lbs (thank goodness -- Anything over that there is a $50 charge)












And finally, the paperbacks are in the more structured case with fabrics, tote bags, and maybe some of my clothes when I get around to going to Goodwill for skirts and such (which I will wear and leave in Kenya as further donations).


This suitcase was generously donated from a colleague SLP! She said I can donate it along with my other suitcases later as I leave. Perfect! The tough part is, it is 15 lbs empty, and now it is just about 50 lbs without my clothes in it... Well, I have 3 days to sort it out!

I'll have to make room for 2 deflated soccer balls (and pumps?) because both Emmanuel and Patrick have requested it last minute. Hmm...





I will be updating about my personal backpack when I get around to packing it... It is also interesting to read about, I'm sure, because it includes such things as 5 rolls of handrolled toilet paper in a ziplock bag, and my all-in-one liquid shampoo/soap/laundry detergent.

Stay tuned!