Charlotte's Web: Metropolitan Mzungu

I have just finished my first week with my urban homestay family in Nairobi. It has been exciting to experience the life of a Nairobian and I'm looking forward to 2 more weeks with my family. I'm living in a 3-bedroom apartment in South B, a suburb of Nairobi.

Here is my daily routine: Wake up at 6:30am and eat breakfast by myself, usually Weetabix cereal with warm milk (similar to shredded wheat), bread with peanut butter and honey, and chai, of course. At 7:15 my host mom and I leave for our daily commute. It takes us about 1.25 hours to travel about 10 miles to where my classes are held. We usually have 2 classes in the morning before breaking for lunch, when we often walk to the nearby YMCA where you can get a hearty Kenyan buffet lunch for about $3. We then return for more classes or study time in the afternoon until 4 when my host mother picks me up. We then begin our drive home, which takes anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours. The commute home is much worse than the morning drive, since it's much hotter and the traffic is often at a stand still. However, I'm usually entertained by the roadside vendors that walk in between cars in traffic, selling a ridiculous range of random items. I've started to make a list of the things sold: newspapers, gum, fruit, kitchen knives, tupperware, hand towels, garden shears, phone chargers, Maasai paintings, jump ropes, beach balls, stickers, purses, hats, sweaters, slippers, ties, exercise equipment, and grilled corn. Upon arriving home, I'm greeted by my 3 year old host brother, Ethan, who excitedly yells "Darlee!" or "Darlo!" (how he pronounces my name) when I walk through the door. For the next few hours I play with the kids, usually crashing toy cars into each other with Ethan or making bracelets with Annabell (7). Before dinner my mom and I go outside and exercise for a while, doing laps in the parking lot while I dodge the kids racing around on their bicycles. One evening I was running by myself and 3 Muslim women ran up to me and said "Let us help!" as they jogged beside me, laughing the whole time. I usually eat dinner around 8, sometimes joined by my host parents if they are both wanting to eat at the same time as me. Our helper, Phyllis, who cooks, cleans, and helps care for the kids, makes delicious Kenyan dinner every night. The kids go to bed around 8, and at that time my host mother and I watch Corazon Indomable, a Mexican soap opera dubbed in English, the same that I watched with my host family on my rural homestay. After the show I usually get home homework done in my room before heading to bed.

On Fridays we have Swahili class in the morning, and in the afternoon we go on group excursions to various spots around Nairobi. This week, we visited Kibera, which is a slum of Nairobi and is one of the largest slums in Africa. Families living in Kibera work to overcome challenges such as poverty, unemployment, poor sanitation, and unsafe water among many other issues. We broke into small groups and visited different projects in Kibera to learn about how individuals are dealing with the challenges in Kibera. My group visited the Sunshine Designers Tie-Dye project, which was started by Mama Sarah, a Rwandan refugee who came to Kenya in 1980. Mama Sarah founded her project in 1988, and through a loan was able to start a fabric design business where she tie-dyes beautiful fabrics and makes clothing which is sold in Kibera as well as other places in Nairobi. She employs two other women and her profits have allowed all of her 5 children to receive a formal education. We walked through the "business district" of Kibera, where her shop is located, and on to find her workshop where all of the fabrics are made. The business district was divided into several different sections: food, clothing, hardware, etc. At her workshop we were able to see how the fabrics are dyed and learn about Mama Sarah's story.

While I was writing this post our helper, Phyllis, came into my room to chat. She had told me before that she had never used a computer and wanted to learn. I opened up a new Word document and showed her how to type. I asked her to write something in Swahili, but instead she wrote, "When you go back to America plz don't forget me." After I showed her some photos of Lake George and my family.