Kibera to Serena

i wanted to write this last night (sunday night) but fell asleep at 9:30pm...yes..thats right 9:30 thats definetely a first for me...

its been a whirlwind of a past few days bouncing around kenya from nairobi to mariakani to mombasa in between nyali and so on. the sights are already engrained in my head. one of the most stark sights was our trip to Kiberia (outside of Nairobi) which is one of Africa's biggest (if not the biggest) slums. It was an eye opening tour and millions of questions were running through my head, first and foremost being - why does this exist? what conditions are making this occur? I was also trying to imagne what was happening here during the election violence back in December as i read that Kiberia was one of the hardest hit places. All over the place you could see pleas for peace spray painted on walls. In a perfect world....

We went from one polar opposite to the next, as when we arrived in Mombasa, we were treated with a stay at the Serena Beach Hotel which is just metres from a white sandy beach and the indian ocean. If you'd like, google it, and see what its like. The first night there, there was a full moon shining over the ocean that just illuminated the whole thing. definetely a postcard, hopefully my camera captured it. Funny to think though, that such beauty could hide such danger as i was very careful not to wander off the hotel property (at night) and onto the actual white sandy beach due to the presence of "Beach Boys" who - if you're lucky, will only try to aggresively sell you stuff.

Friday was spent visiting local schools run by the madrasa (where one of our interns will be) as well as my own home Community Health with the Aga Khan Health Services. It was great to see such dedicated people working at the grass roots level, and hopefully i will also be able to make a contribution.

saturday we decided to just lounge around the hotel and try and get our body clocks back on schedule. I wanted to go to the beach but as soon as i took 3 steps onto the beach, i saw about 10-12 beach boys walking towards me...i turned back. Also, I was a bit under the weather on Friday and Saturday with an upset stomach and some sweats - probably just the african bug working its way through. Times like that i am (and i know i will be in the future) very grateful to be with such a great group of people who were full of laughs and enthusiasm. I probably couldn't keep up with it, but it definetely helped me recover quickly so if any of you are reading this...thanks!

Sunday, we sadly said goodbye to both the Nairobi crew, and the Serena Beach and moved to our homestay or as we call it "the zoo". Basically, there's a family who takes in expats and they live in a posh area in nyali, north of mombasa. not a bad setup, just like living in the burbs so far from the actual city, we are currently looking for a place closer to mombasa. Can't complain though, i think i got the long straw here as i got the guest house to myself (or as my friend called it "the penthouse), so its like my own little (emphasize little) bach pad.

sunday afternoon we went with the kids of the family (one of who is a university student) to a local beach bar again right on the coast of the ocean (becoming attached to the indian ocean) where i tried my first tusker beer and learned some of local views on women, drinking, and other social issues.....this is definetely not Canada.

on the way home...we weren't more than a 10 min. drive from home and started to make our way home. i asked one of the them "how long will it take to get home?" his response "man..this is africa...probably about 90 min" - wish i went to the bathroom at the bar...

Next Post: My first day of work (which is where i currently am)