a reflection piece - two months later

It has been two months since I've returned from Kenya and I find myself thinking about my experience often and how I should relate it to my life here at Binghamton and for my future.

First, let me tell you about my contact with PWG since I left Kenya.

1. Since being back in America, it has been much easier to communicate with other volunteers that are, too, passionate about helping the Power Women Group. Heather, the volunteer from Boston, has been in constant contact with the women and other volunteers from the past and currently in Kenya. I've been cc-ed in emails and gave my input here and there, but I've had very little time this semester to give this project 100%. While I was home for a weekend, Heather and I met up. We talked for two hours about our experiences in Kenya, the next steps for these women, and what we need to do on our end. The new website needs to be written including biographies of the women, product details and how to sell online — do we sell wholesale in America or individual products in Kenya? It is much easier to sit down and discuss all these steps instead of communicating through email while three people are in America (one Boston, one NYC, and me in Binghamton - good thing its all the same time zone!), a Swedish woman in Australia traveling with little internet access, the current volunteer and Power women in Kenya also with little internet access. Whew! It is a lot, but everyone is so passionate about helping, it's incredible! I wish I could dedicate more time, maybe even go back to Kenya?


2. Because I am so busy here at Binghamton, other volunteers took over my PayPal project. The Kenyan Bank the women used was not accepted by PayPal. AH! Honestly, I'm not sure how, but they somehow fixed the problem. I'm not sure if they made another bank account for the women, but it is working!


3. One day in the middle of the largest dining hall on campus, in the middle of campus, I set up a table and sold about 65% of the products I brought home!! I teamed up with the Hillel Social Justice Team and they helped me get volunteers to sit at the table with me while I expected many customers at one time. I also posted information about the sale on Binghamton's daily event/announcements email that goes out to the entire campus. I made over $300 for these women. It was very exciting!! I wish the women were with me to celebrate how much money we made!

Now, to address the future, or the next two months before I graduate. By the end of the semester, I will have finished my senior reflection research paper about women's empowerment in Africa. Using my experience as a basis for women's empowerment in Africa, statistics in HIV/AIDS within African women, and gender inequalities through various African cultures, I will assess and analyze different women empowerment programs, their strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that come in contact with these women searching to get out of poverty.

Looking back, women's empowerment, I've learned, is incredibly necessary in African societies (and anywhere where women are suppressed or stigmatized) and it can help bring these people out of extreme poverty.

I'm excited to see where this senior project will bring me!

the end

Last weekend- January 18 and 19

On Saturday, lots of volunteers and I met at the Junction at 10:30 for a fun filled day in Massai land. We would be playing soccer against the night school students and a few other Massai people in their village.

This time we took a car rather than a mutatu and piki-piki, but the ride was quiet, not as fun and adventurous as the motorcycle ride.

It took some time but we finally got the game started. I was a bit intimidated to play soccer with a bunch of Kenyans so I signed up as a defense sub. I played for about 15 minutes and I kicked the ball three times...I actually helped keep the ball away!! I was very proud of myself. The first game we tied, but that's because they were being nice to us - haha. The Kenyans were laughing at us as we played because we were terrified of them. Haha. It was lots of fun.

I could only eat the chopati for lunch, everything else has meat in it. I figured I wouldn't be able to eat much so I brought some snacks. There were a lot of volunteers I hadn't met before and when we were figuring out that almost all the food was meat, I was telling people I was a vegetarian and one woman turns to me with a plate of all the food served (including meat) says, "I'm vegetarian, too, but like..." She got me so mad! I responded by saying that I'm vegetarian for a reason and I'm not going to eat the food. I brought food for myself. It's not a big deal if I can't eat their food. She ended up apologizing, but I found it so rude that she was judging me for keeping to my vegetarianism. There was another woman that was rude to us and yelling at us to turn music off instead of asking nicely. Her tone of voice was so unnecessary. Their rudeness definitely had an effect on the day.

After lunch was a welcoming ceremony and a time for the two night school graduates to have a few words. They are the first graduates of night school finishing primary school in their late 20s.

We played another game and obviously the Massai won (I didn't play this time). The rain was coming so we headed back to Nairobi.

We ate pasta AND SALAD for dinner. Haven't had salad in so long, it was wonderful. I did inventory of all the products I'm taking home to sell and right in the middle of it all, the power went out. Flashlights came out, I started to pack a little then the power came back on! It probably went out because of the thunderstorm. Finally the lights came back on. We said goodbye to a fellow volunteer going home to the states and watched some movies. A relaxing last night.


Sunday Jan 19- the last day

Woke up, showered, relaxing and packed for the rest of the day. Heading to junction to do some final work for PWG while I'm still in Kenya.

My flight is at 12:40 am. Nairobi, Brussels, DC and spending time with Bev, then dad is picking me up at the Binghamton airport at 11:30 pm.

What a ride and an amazing and enlightening 3 weeks. 

last day volunteering

The last volunteering day - Friday January 17

Walked to volunteering and got some mangos for our goodbye party. Kelse, my fellow volunteer from Spain brought chocolate cake. We would celebrate at lunchtime.

When we got to the store only two women were there and right away we started making chopati, as we had asked.

Finally, Everlyne arrived with Helen, a hilarious power woman, and they gave me a huge bear hug. It was very nice and I know ill be missed.

I then discussed some business with Everlyne that needed to be taken care of. We got a box ready that I would be taking home full of products for me to sell and to given to a past volunteer from Boston to sell. I opened the laptop she received 4 days ago, along with a camera a past volunteer left for the group. I deleted unnecessary photos then uploaded the ones of the PWG women to send to the past volunteer to upload on the Facebook page.

For lunch we ate the chopati and had a cho-party! We brought out the cake and mangos, the ladies sang and we all danced. The two fellow volunteers stopped by again for a little but as they do every day now. The women have come to love these two guys and they are practically part of the family. While we sang and danced, they brought out their guitar and violin.

In the afternoon, I went to an internet cafe with Everlyne to look at the PayPal account. I thought one must have an ATM card to have PayPal account, but turns out you don't need to have one! The power women group has their own bank account but they are not allowed to have an ATM card because of their group business status. Everlyne was going to have to open a personal account and only use it for the PWG. I'm very glad she doesn't have to do that anymore.

While helping Kelse, my fellow PWG volunteer, the ladies began to sing again and presented us with our very own power women group t-shirts! I already bought one for about $8, but I'm glad I have two in case something happens to one of the shirts.

Outside for some group photos then I said my goodbyes and left. It didn't really feel like a goodbye, hopefully one day Everlyne will be so technically advanced that we can Skype!

We took a cab home because I had the big box and the laptop with me. Ill be working on the laptop over the weekend and will give it to a friend to take back to the PWG shop on Monday.

We ate dinner at home and decided to of out on the town because it was one of the customer's last night in Kenya. We went to a bar/club called Simmers. It was a little creepy, but we had fun on the dance floor and getting some food. 

last thursday

Thursday, January 16th

In the morning I quickly dropped my things off at PWG and headed to the Weep women's empowerment organization to help out my friend, Kate. The Weep group trains a few women a few skills so they can find a job or start a business. The women have to be widows and must have been once bed ridden from HIV. Kate had a meeting with a tour company to create a partnership for tourists come visit the center, buy the women's products, and gain publicity. The tour company was supposed to come at 10am to take some photos for the website (and next week they are coming to film). They wanted Kate to bring a few friends to come and show that the center is active, but the tour company came at 11 am so I had to get back to my ladies.

I spoke with Everlyne about my conversation Heather and I got a few things cleared up. Everlyne told me she had a laptop with a modem! Sometimes there isn't any communication and it makes my time here a bit difficult. She will bring the laptop and camera she has tomorrow, my last day, and hopefully we'll get some good work done while I'm still here.

After that conversation, Teresa did my hair! I got a few braids on the sides of my head and the back of the head. I love it! I went back in the store, ate lunch, and hung out with volunteers that joined us for the day.

After volunteering, I was supposed to meet a friend and other volunteers at junction but no one ended up coming. I walked through Kibera all the way to junction alone in just 30 minutes. I used the internet and got one more souvenir that I wanted from the Massai market.

When I got home, NVS staff members were at our house to be mediators of the conflicts between the host "mothers" and the volunteers. Long story short, we put the past behind us and we are all trying to be more respectful to one another. I think it will work even if people have to be fake after how rude some people have been.

We went to bed with a clarification of the house rules and a new atmosphere in the house. 

first and last wednesday working

Wednesday Jan 15

I walked with Everlyne to the store and were greeted by an American and Australian woman with a Christian volunteer group coming to learn and help out a little with the group. We soon left for a tour of a residential part of Kibera. We walked to one of the women's home to see how she lives and learn a little bit about her life. Her daughter, age 13, was laying in bed, she has cerebral palsy, and HIV. No special school will take her because no one wants a special needs girl that can't talk to say when she wet herself, or feed herself. There is one school that would take her but it's too expensive for the mother, Teresa. In the small room that she owns, about 3/4 of the size of my bedroom at home, lives her and 5 children, 2 not her own. When it's time to sleep, three people sleep on the bed and three on a mattress on the floor that gets put away during the day. The room also holds a kitchen and living room with couches. Everlyne ways jokes that you can always tell when you're neighbor is listening to you when she has stopped cooking so you can no longer hear the splashing of water.

Teresa was telling us how grateful she is to have Everlyne because, out of her own pocket, Everlyne buys Teresa pampers for Teresa's daughter.

1 million people live in the Kibera slum.

We slowly headed back to the power women group store and made a bracelet or two. After lunch, the women made a circle with the chairs and said it was time for prayer. Standing, the women began singing and clapping, it was beautiful. They sang a few songs and danced a bit. I loved it!! When the singing was done, Everlyne gave a long prayer and it was time for the bible study.

We read a section from the book of Ruth (very glad it wasn't something about Jesus). We talked about women having strength and power. It then got on the subject of how Ruth married Boaz and how customs are different now. The Kenyans shared how they get married and we discussed how we get married. It was a shock for us to hear their stories. Here are some:
- none of them married for love
- a man can just take a woman if she is not married and marry her, she cannot say no
- it's easier to say no if the man cannot financially support them
- There is no contract or ceremony so if one of them decides to leave then they just leave
- they say times are changing, which is very good
- they want all their daughters to marry for love and no amount of money will change that

We all stood again for the final prayer and that was that. We got back to work. I finished collecting extra items to bring home to sell. It was certainly a day of learning.

I went to junction again in the afternoon to talk with Heather, a Bostonian volunteer that worked at the power women group before I got here to Kenya. She gave me good information about the group and Everlyne. I wish I had gotten in contact with her earlier so we could get more work done with someone in America and someone on the ground here in Kibera, especially because there are no new volunteers coming (there was an orientation on the 15th so we know what new people we have here). It's also hard because I only have two more days of work here and can't get much done in that period of time.

I got back from the junction to eat dinner and there was serious tension in the house. The house "mothers" and some volunteers are having serious issues and it's created a very uncomfortable setting. We drank that night because one volunteer is leaving but more drama came when people had some alcohol in them. Unnecessary drama in my opinion.

the beginning of the end...already:(

My last week...eek
Monday January 13

A slow and kinda boring day. I made a bracelet, I added up prices for all the products ill be bringing home to sell. I went over to the day care for 5 minutes to see what it was like with the kiddies - cute stuff.

I gave Everlyne the pay pal information, hopefully it will work.

Not an exciting day.

I got locked out of the house when I came home so I went to junction to use the internet and get tree a decaf coffee.

Relaxed the rest of the day. Tuesday is a new day.


Tuesday January 14:
Got to placement and finished collecting all I was planning on buying the to sell in America. I am also collecting products to bring home to a past volunteer of the power women group that left just before I did and she is also from Boston! Too funny.

Two volunteers teach music at a school very close to us and when they have nothing to do, they come hang out with us and bead a little. That was fun to hang out with them because it's one American, one Australian, one Mexican, and one Spaniard.

We finally ate ugali, the same food the women eat everyday. It's made of special flour and water that make it big and quite tasteless so you're supposed to eat it with other food. For example, the ladies eat it with a green veggie, a leafy thing, something that I didn't quite recognize. It was good, nice change of pace from the bananas and potatoes I've been eating.

I've had two debates going through my head.
1. The table
I asked Everlyne substitute needed most and she told me a table for the day care so I thought, great,  table is probably easy to make. I could get a few volunteers and we could all pitch in a few bucks and make it! Then I realized that would be more difficult than I thought. So I asked Everlyne how much the table would cost and she said 6000 shillings, about $60+. I have one person that would split the money with me to buy it or have it made, but I don't want to just give them more things. I want them to earn it, but I also want to give them a thank you gift. What to do? What to do?

2. Goodbye party
My last volunteering day is friday and we were thinking of having little party for the women. I'm debating whether I should bring yummy mango and pineapple, as a healthy snack, or bring cake. People are telling me cake, or something different that they don't normally have, but they might not have mango and pineapple normally. What to do? What to do?

weekend 2

Weekend two: January 11 and 12

Due to the fact that I missed 2 days at volunteering because of the outreach program, I decided to attend volunteering on the weekend to make up for lost days. Saturday is a normal day for the power women group store and today was especially busy.

In the morning, the women were gossiping a lot, but obviously couldn't understand why. Everlyne told me that while kids are going back to school, everyone applies for scholarships, and despite these women's children's good grades, none of them received scholarships. They spoke about this issue for a while. Everlyne kept saying, "unfair, just unfair, so unfair." She slightly alluded to the stigma of HIS/AIDS still affecting these women.

The next dramatic part of the day dealt with the sewing machines in the store. Two had broken and were sent with power group women downtown in a cab. The driver parked illegally and was arrested. That was problem one. They eventually got him out by paying bail - money wasted. They finally got back and they were still a little broken, or kept breaking. The women spent the afternoon trying to fix it, each woman having her turn. Finally, they got them to work. With the money I raised in America we bought fabric last week and they were starting to make the bags out of that fabric! It was very cool to see my help working, and of course, the help of those that donated money.

A big swiss family walked into the store. Everlyne sat them all down and told them of the power women's group history and I finally got that on film for the video. They asked a few questions then shopped around and they bought a lot - probably about $100s worth!

The busy day continued, with extra money left over after buying the fabric Everlyne and I decided to buy paint for the wall that separated the day care and hair salon. The kids were coming on Monday! We also bought baby toilets for the kids. When we got back, I started painting the wall. The paint was bad quality and the brush didn't fit in the paint container. Everlyne has more faith it will look good after the second coat. I don't have enough faith. I guess we will see.

After a long day, I walked home with Everlyne, other volunteer friends and I watched movies and I headed to bed.

Sunday was a relaxing day. Did laundry, wrote in the blog, went to junction for internet and hung out with other volunteers. More movies then bed.