Work has begun

Since my last blog we've been planning our computer classes, the Career Fair in a month's time, as well as getting information on HIV/AIDS stigma, gender stereotypes, and drug use for the matatu drivers, which begins next week. Right now we're working on the computer classes, and as I am typing this Angela is briefing her class on Microsoft Word. The class is catching on to the materiel much faster than the students in Zanzibar did, in fact yesterday we managed to get through all of the lesson plan for that day as well as half of today's. Michael and I are focusing on teaching Microsoft Excel, which is what I have experience in from teaching during the fall.

Here, as well as in Tanzania, the kids never stop yelling "Mzungu!" whenever we walk down the street. It's fun to walk through the areas where white people usually don't visit and see the surprised faces people give us. I had heard stories before coming here that Kenyans were rude, dangerous, and easy to piss off. Now I know from the little time I've spent here that the people are extremely welcoming and happy to have us in the neighbourhood. I too am happy to be here with them, but the mosque only 3 houses away from ours always wakes me up at 5 in the morning. I usually love the Call to Prayer, but you'd think they'd at least find someone who can actually sing well haha.

There are a few interesting things I've discovered since I've been here that I didn't notice as prevalent in Zanzibar. One is the sex tourism. On Saturday all of the volunteers and a few members of Kwacha went to a local club, the place was not packed, but a large portion of the people there were older people looking for sex among the local prostitutes. Mike and I turned down a lot of offers from women who were watching us play pool or dance with the youth from Kwacha Afrika and the other volunteers. I was glad to note the club had free condom dispensers in the washroom for those people, most of the time they're not refilled.

Another thing is the chewing of the local drug miraa, or khat. It's a plant legalized here, the major effects are attentiveness and not feeling the urge to eat or sleep. The effects are only mild, however, and are pretty much the same as drinking coffee. Trying to get people to stop chewing is an impossible task in my opinion. It would be the same as asking North Americans to stop drinking coffee or caffeine products; they are simply part of our culture, much like khat is. When I was at the beach on Sunday I noticed that about 60% of people were chewing it. It's also very cheap, only 600 shillings a kilo (about 7 bucks).

I also found out that the pirated copies of DVD's here can fit about 20 movies on them, and each one is only 100 shillings. Time for a movie marathon to the max!