[No News is] Good News

I’ve been horrible about updating. On two separate occasions when I had no reception, J left me messages expressing her suspicion that I might be dead. I was sad that her calls and my travels-out-of-site coincided, but I was more moved by how sincerely worried she was. That’s love! The kind of love that parents show when they ground you for staying out too late. Deep-seated panicking love. Rest assured, dear readers! When I don’t update, it’s because I’m busy working or traveling or hosting incredible intestinal invaders.

Note that my new, simpler mailing address is:
Box 287
Bomet
Kenya

Please don’t forget! The old one won’t be valid much longer!

So, since my last post I’ve kept myself busy teaching English descriptive writing and HIV/AIDS at a nearby secondary school. At first I felt like a freak show, standing in front of two hundred kids, facing silence when I made a joke or asked for feedback. After a month they got used to me and I got better at teaching, and on my last day the class was a lot more involved in my lesson. I was even cornered by two girls after class and bombarded with questions. I left campus that day feeling high as a kite.

While they take exams and go on break, I’m working on an Earth Day celebration that we’re planning for Silibwet town. At first I merely suggested it to my supervisor Davila in light of the approaching American holiday, but because of his support and brilliant managerial skills, it has grown into a spectacular project with long-term education and changes in mind.

We’re working on eliminating the use of cheap plastic as schoolbags in two elementary schools. Business owners, churches, and schools are figuring out ways to plant and maintain trees on their property. The municipal council is planning to enforce a regularly scheduled trash pickup from Silibwet town. People are enthusiastic about my idea of using bottle caps on signs, and they’ve just tried using torn plastic bags to braid ropes that are usually made from sisal. Almost everyone uses those ropes at home to tie up large livestock, and plastic ones should theoretically work better than sisal ones, though we’ve yet to test them out. Ultimately, we want to establish a permanent environment committee to continually address the town’s environmental needs.

All this is in addition to the one-day event we’re planning for the end of the month (which we want to make annual) to pick up trash and plant trees. In addition to the orgs I already mentioned, Tenwek Mission Hospital, the National Environmental Management Authority, and several government ministries are involved. Potentially, KASS FM (Kalenjin radio station), a singer, and other PCVs in Kenya will also participate. Last week, the Divisional Officer joined us in a “rehearsal” trash-collecting around town. The fact that she was out there picking up trash with the rest of us was great publicity and an awesome show of government support.

When that’s over, I’ll go back to teaching about health. I’m setting myself up to teach at three schools this time and not just one. I’ll also be busy with a lot of out-of-site activities going on up through July. In order: DPS training in peer support, cross-sector regional training, and Camp GLOW for the empowerment of young women. Camp GLOW is sponsored by the Gender and Development (GAD) committee, which I’ve joined in addition to DPS. In June I hope to attend the training of the new group of public health volunteers. Then there’s a GAD meeting, a July Fourth celebration thrown by the embassy, and maybe a vacation out of Kenya.

I’ve had a lot of doubts about being a PCV. “One outsider can’t change anything. I’m wasting everyone’s time.”

Now that I’ve been here a while I can say pretty confidently that my town does not need me. A Kenyan can do what I do, and a Kenyan can usually do it better. In fact, lots of Kenyans living in and around Silibwet are making bigger and better change than me all the time.

At the end of the day, however, I’m standing in front of the class teaching those kids that they have options when it comes to sex, drugs, STDs, and HIV. I’m preaching against stigma and I’m free (and supported by you US taxpayers, thanks) to do it without worrying about sounding crazy or feeding a family. I’ve celebrated Earth Day since I was a kid and I suggested that we try it here. I’m collecting bottle caps and decorating with them. People in this town were doing great things before I got here and they’d keep doing great things without me, but I happen to be here anyway, and I know I make a difference.

There is one thing I can do that a Kenyan can’t do. A Kenyan can’t be the American living next door. By chatting and being myself and blogging and baking a wide assortment of cakes, I’m living-giving-getting cultural exchanges that could’ve as easily never happened. That doesn’t raise anyone’s standard of living, but it makes a difference to a few hundred people (especially me) here and abroad. Multiply that by thousands of PCVs in almost seventy countries.

As Davila likes to say when we have particularly grand mutual brainstorms, “Are you seeing it now!”

Dang this job is cool.