A little update!

by Through Inspiration

Gosh, long time no blog! After many weeks of working on my ISP I have arrived in Mombasa to explore, have fun and write my final paper. The last few weeks of ISP were full of challenges and wonderful women. I finished my time at the WOFAK Kayole center and moved to work in the Kibera slum. I continued to conduct interviews about the lives of women living with HIV/AIDS. I heard many inspirational stories and gained a lot of perspective. In addition to the interviews I got to visit the Nairobi West Prison and sit in on an HIV support group with the prisoners. This was a highlight for me. It was fascinating to witness the prisoner’s willingness to talk openly about their statuses. They were very engaged and had some great questions. They were more attentive and respectful than any college students I’ve ever been in class with (that might not be saying much since I go to UMass). J But really, I was in awe.

 

After arriving in Mombasa I decided to go back and visit the Shirazi village where I stayed back in February. It was like I never left. I missed village life so much. My family is wonderful and after being in the city for so long I hadn’t realized how much I craved sitting on the dirt floor and listening to the palms! My mom slaughtered a chicken in my honor and we ate it for lunch with rice and potatoes. Unfortunately, I only got to stay for 5 hours. I wanted to stay for days! I missed the kids, the slow pace and surprisingly, the Kiswahili. It was really hard to accept that this was the last time I would be visiting. I really can’t say for sure that I will every see them again. That is hard to wrap my head around. Shirazi is such a special place. I feel blessed to have spent time there!

 

So, now I am in Mombasa! I am staying in a hostel on the ocean with some friends. It is like 95 and humid everyday-sometimes it makes me grumpy. But, I swam today and it was wonderful. Anna, Lana and I climbed down the rocks and very ungracefully threw our bodies into the splashing waves. We really attracted a crowd. There may have been 50 + Kenyans observing us from the cliffs. Many were taking pictures! I think they were questioning our ability to swim. We definitely surprised them. We’ve been eating fabulous food. Mombasa has an amazing Indian influence. We eat curry a lot, street food and these amazing avocado smoothies for like 30 cents. Yum. Man, I love food. Considering Mombasa is a little safer than Nairobi I get to exercise! This has felt fantastic. I finally have control over my diet and workout routine- two things that remain very important to me. I’ve spent a lot of time walking around exploring shops, wandering through spice markets, fending off aggressive men and soaking up my last weeks in Kenya. Did I mention the 30-page paper that I’m slowly working on? It’s due Wednesday. I am 16 pages in, so things are looking up! Well, I am off to watch Monsters Inc. with the girls. I will try to update again before I’m off to Zanzibar on the 9th! Yahooo.

Oh, I put new photos on facebook. Will try to post them here soon, too!

Xo