Hamjambo tena, watu wote!



I would like to start off by saying that the prose piece was not intended to worry anyone- I am very safe here, just often annoyed. Such is the price for being so beautiful (and by beautiful I mean white.)



Other than that, I've been spending a lot of time at Wema Centre and with my Mombasa family lately. Wema Centre is great, although I think I'd be able to do a lot more if I spoke more Kiswahili. The remedial class I work with is mostly first-graders, so they speak only in Kiswahili and I'm not much use to them in teaching. We have fun playing, though, and I grade their assignments, so I'm doing something at least.



The computer class I assist in is where I think I'm of much more use. I help adult students in MS Word and Powerpoint, and I feel like I'm doing more there than in the remedial class. I'm enjoying myself at Wema Centre, which is great because I know other program participants are having difficultues with their internships.

As for the home life, I love my family here, which is why it's so difficult when they put me in awkward money-related situations. Let's just say we have electricity now and guess who paid for it... I've haven't been paid back like promised, and I'm unsure of how to tell them that, although I'm a white American, I'm not at the point in my life where I can support a 6-person household. They're all great people though, and I can't blame anyone here for seeking money when they need it. There aren't employment opportunities around without connections, making finding money very difficult.

Living by modest means hasn't been as hard as I thought it would. I've really been surprised at myself. Yesterday, I opened my suitcase to take out a fresh pair of underwear and found a dead cockroach inside them. I just brushed it off and put them on, then realized what had just happened. I had to laugh about it. I did jump when a big one ran right over me on my bed, which is why I always use my mosquito net now, but overall, I think I'm a lot less of a pansy than before.

My semester is quickly coming to an end, and I'm realizing that I have three 15-page papers due in just 3 weeks which I haven't made much headway on. I really need to get my act in gear and crank these papers out. Coming home will be bittersweet; there are many people and comforts I miss a lot, but I wonder if I'll ever come back to Kenya. People here keep asking me to stay, or to return after my studies, and when they ask me if I will, I need to say honestly that I don't know. This trip has shown me that I'm a lot more adaptable than I thought I was, but I'm still not sure if I could ever really live in Africa. I'll need to reflect on it awhile in the U.S. and see.