Update from Loitokitok

Today marks one week that I have been in Loitokitok, Kenya. Loitokitok is on the border of Tanzania and Kenya. It is right on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Today was the first day that we could actually see the top of the mountain. Every day looked as though it were bringing rain but failed to see it through. But today. . . a clear sky. The mountain seems so close you can reach out your hand and touch the snow on top. It's hard not to be awed here. You look to the south and you see not just Mount Kilimanjaro, but three mountains. You look to the north and, because we are up on the foothills, you see vast amounts of Kenyan landscape.

My training class consists of 27 trainees. What a wonderful group of people of work with. Ever since we arrived in Africa, every trainee has had a positive attitude. I was a little surprised by this. Being from the US, every time you are in a large group, there always seems to be a "Debi Downer." When we arrived at AFRITALI (a hostel in Nairobi), everyone felt so blessed to be there. It wasn't the least bit fancy by American standards. . . but we finally had a bed after 20+ hours of traveling and sitting in airports. We spend three days at the hostel and had interviews with Medical. We had a lot of culture training from current volunteers and Kenyans. We were even introduced to the choo (CH-OH). The choo is the common toilette in Kenya. It is an outhouse with a hole in the ground. The floor of the choo is usually made of cement. The hole of about 5 m deep. There are some choos with dirt floors, but it is not uncommon for them to cave in after several years.

Each day we have language training for about 4 hours, then a variety of other trainings (ie health, safety, job assignment). The language training for me is not Kiswahili, but rather Kenyan Sign Language (KSL). After I demonstrate proficiency in KSL, I will be allowed to move on to Kiswahili. I believe this will benefit me greatly when I go to my site in January. I will be teaching at a deaf secondary school in Kilifi. Kilifi is right on the coast, about 1 hour north Mombasa. Kristiann and myself are the first volunteers in Kenya to be sent to deaf secondary schools. This will bring many new challenges to the Peace Corps, simply because it has never been done before (with PCV's).

Today is my last day in Loitokitok for two weeks. Tomorrow the deaf education volunteers will aboard a bus bound for Machakos. This is a bigger town with a large deaf community. The first week we will stay at a hotel, and the second we will stay at the school's dorms. We will see the school in action, how current volunteers are teaching, and meet the children and locals. We will continue to have language training throughout the week with our trainer Carol.

The people of Loitokitok seem to be confused regarding our presence here. The children shout, "Mzungu, mzungu!" which literally means "British, British!" Then they say "howww aaaaare you, howww aaaaare you," not knowing they are asking a question. This continues until we are out of sight. But I have learned that when this happens, I just ask them "habari za asubuhi" (how is your morning). The answered "mzuri sana" and are confused that we seem to know their language. The adults offer less interaction. What they do offer is stares. . . and a lot of them. In this region, the population is about 20,000. Before we came here, there was only one "mzungu." Because the region is large, we are the first Americans that some of these people have ever seen.

That is all for now. I will update again when I have access to the internet.

One more week

Next Monday ( November 2nd) at 6:15 am CST, my plane leaves for Philadelphia for "staging". Staging, beginning at 12:15 pm EST on November 2nd, is an orientation for the Peace Corps and will include talks regarding the history of the Peace Corps, risk management, and policies. The talks will come to a close around 7:00 pm EST. On November 3rd, we will be given our State Department passports and, I think, our Kenyan work visas. We will then hop in a bus (or buses) and make our way to JFK International Airport. We depart JFK for Kenya that evening, connecting in Zurich around 7:00 am Zurich time.

I'm excited about starting my adventure, but I'm more excited about meeting the people who will be started a similar adventure. There will be around 40 to 45 other trainees in Philadelphia who will be with me until January 6, 2010. I'm so eager to learn more about this select group of individuals. Everyone in my training class will be working in education; some will be chemistry teachers, some math teachers, some biology, some physics, and some will be deaf educators. I'm still unsure on exactly what I will be doing. My invitation said I would be in "Secondary Math Education," but the day before my assignment was made, my placement officer asked if I would be comfortable with using sign language as part of my job. I'm not sure why they would ask me that and then not put me in deaf education.

Maybe I'm a special case. I have three years of teaching mathematics and have a conversational ability in American Sign Language. Deaf students will still be required to learn math, so maybe I will be helping out in this way. Only time will tell what I will actually be doing; fortunately it is just around the corner.

I will definitely have reliable internet access from now until I leave from JFK on November 3rd, so I will definitely make sure to update the blog until then.

Until next time. . ..

No sign of letter

It has almost been three weeks since I received an update from the Peace Corps. The update was letting me know that my medical evaluation was complete and that I was to expect a letter with the results. I spoke with several peace corps applicants that received the same message. All of the them said they received their letter within a matter of days.

If I can remember to do so, I will call the Medical Office tomorrow.

If anything come out of it, I will post it.

First Post

My name is Beau. I'm a 24 year old PhD student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I have studied math all through my college career (BS and MS in Applied Mathematics), so I'm kind of a big nerd. I am currently in the process of joining the Peace Corps. My Peace Corps Timeline is to the right. I would love to teach high school math somewhere in Africa. Hopefully I will be in Africa in six or seven short months.

This is my first blog. I'm not usually a blogger, but I think I need to start getting use to it if I'm going to be in Africa for a while. I have a big test tomorrow, so I will end this now.

As Peace Corps updates come up, I will post them.

Good night

Oh, and by the way: I have a strange infatuation with Africa. I have been in love with Africa for as long as I can remember.