addicted to kenya

and like that I'm off again...its funny how fast time without me being able to manage my time. If only there were more hours in the day-ha i'm just making up excuses for why i haven't written but it really is just me managing my time poorly.

so i've left Kenya...but not for good-i will be returning in late January for an undetermined amount of time...6 months? maybe more? who knows the possibilities are endless

since the last time i wrote SO much has happened-clearly. First thing-Paige returned to Nairobi and created such amazing energy that I hadn't yet experienced since being in Kenya. There's something about having someone to share feelings/emotions with especially someone who has gone through a very similar experience just a few years before me. Needless to say it was really nice to finally sit down and really get to know Paige and have someone who can relate to such a drastic eye-opening experience.

As soon as Paige got home, everything seemed to get really hectic...and then it was over-so from the beginning...


Emmanuel Jal arrived in Kenya and came to AYP-for all of you who do not know him he is a former child soldier from southern sudan-he grew up in a country faced with war and was forced into a lifestyle of fighting-google him...he's kind of a HUGE deal. But his visit to AYP was pretty amazing and indescribable. Upon arriving he told us he had never done yoga/thought of doing yoga...his exact words something like this: "I had heard that this yoga thing was like a devils worship so i woke up this morning and prayed that i'd be protected from any devilish things today and came here to see you all" haha-sense of humor.


We were so lucky to have him speak to the group (close to 100)-he spoke of his campaign "Lose to Win" where he gave up 2 meals a day for over 600 days in order to raise money to build a school in his village in Sudan...basically he wants people to really think about what they can give up in order to gain something...so he gave up food to build a school...it's interesting to see the impact one person can have on a crowd, but it really spoke to the AYP crew. It is easy for everyone to sit and dwell on things they feel deprived of, but Jal's message was something along the lines of-someone somewhere else has it worse and there's always something you can give...the biggest crime you can commit is sit back and do nothing. He has also formed Gua Africa (http://www.gua-africa.org/) which is geared towards helping people overcome issues that arise from warfare...


He spoke for close to 20 minutes, performed 2 spoken words about his past experiences and then proceeded to invite us to be in his music video...AMAZING. His posse consisted of people from around the world speaking out for peace. His song "we want peace" was written in order to raise awareness for the upcoming referendum in Sudan-it's a very political issue and way too much for me to write and get into, but basically the Sudanese people are going to be voting on whether or not to remain a united country...if the elections do not end in a separated manor, it is very likely that the country will break out in war-again. Jal is speaking out for peace and therefore hoping the country votes for separation...


The music video was amazing...all of AYP was included; people were dancing, performing acrobatics, singing, etc. The smiles and energy that was generated during this session is impossible to relive-it was such an experience and even Jal was blown away by the AYP crew. At one point he pulled me aside and asked how many people were there because he wanted to buy everyone a drink-or anything to show them his appreciation.

The next few days consisted of working on AYP stuff-getting sick-and prepping for the Gatwitch Festival that Jal was hosting. After the shooting of the music video, we conveniently set up a nice network with Jal and his group-Paige hooked them up with a meeting with some big PR people and in turn we got invited to a press conference and go to join the Gatwitch crew...pretty awesome.


So as we walked into the Tribe hotel-probably one of the ritziest hotels in Nairobi I hugged Jal, his manager, his publicist, etc ya know normal things. I walked up to one of the guys from the video shoot and he was like "hey, you're Krissy right" and i was like "umm yea-you areeeee? i'm sorry i forgot your name..." he then replied "its ishmael"--so back story on this...Jal brings with him quite a crew...and one of the people is Ishmael Beah-a child soldier from Sierra Leone who wrote "A Long Way Gone" a NYT best seller and actually a book I have read. But yea...so Ishmael Beah remembered my name and I had NO idea who he was-score Krissy...basically I felt like a HUGE idiot after realizing who he was...


The festival turned out to be kind of a flop on their PR part but was awesome for AYP and I because we got to know Jal and his group on a very personal level. The entire festival was about peace and overcoming various hardships in life. Inspiring is an understatement-speakers ranging from well renown authors (Ishmael Beah and Valentino Achak-author of What is the What), musicians (DJ Silva Stone, Arama Mara, and other various African superstars), news casters (Jeff Koinange), politicians (Joseph Nyagah), our own Moses Mbajah, business owners (uniqEco and a few fashion companies), and many more...the message was contagious and each day I left the venue feeling as if I had to do something more.


The festival was such a rewarding experience and left me feeling so educated about various conflicts in the world. I learned about things that could never be taught in a classroom setting-personal stories have a way of being way more effective when it comes to awareness. I read a stat one time talking about how people are more inclined to donate money to a charitable fund after hearing a personal story rather than hearing about a huge mass of people...there's something about the human race that can feel more on a personal level. I have formed a new respect for people who speak out for something they really believe in. I've always been weirdly obsessed with tragic stories/memoirs and up until recently they had remained stories in my head. After meeting these people and authors of bestselling books like "A Long Way Gone" and "What is the What" it has become so real to me. The lives and hardships they have gone through are no longer on paper-I heard them speak and tell their experiences...and it's not just in a book anymore-it really happened. I'm still processing all of this but it has made me realize that it is so important to stand up for what you believe in no matter what the cause is...and the biggest crime to commit is to sit back and expect other people to do it for you-there is no better time than now and you cannot underestimate yourself.

The last day of the festival consisted of a music segment where there were a bunch of performances and such-it was nice to spend a day hanging out with AYP and listen to good ol' live music. We danced, sat in the sun, and enjoyed ourselves-i must say it was a nice way to celebrate my birthday (even though it was the day before). The evening ended with Paige, Billy, Emily, Jacob, Julius and I going to dinner with Jal and his crew at an Ethiopian restaurant...concluding our amazing/unique time with all of them. 


My birthday came and went faster than I could have expected. 23!! It was a birthday I'll definitely never forget...i mean how many people can say they have celebrated a birthday in Africa?!? I slept in late after a semi-late night out-went to lunch then to the Christmas fair (a huge craft fair in Nairobi) then to Paige's friend Aya's house for a bbq then home where I passed out for 4 hours. I proceeded to wake up around 9pm and coudln't fall asleep until 4am. conveniently I needed to take out my braids (in case you didn't notice in the pics i got my hair braided-4 hours of sitting and then I was blonde!!) but yea, i stayed up and took out my braids so at least I was productive!


The last few days in Kenya consisted of wrapping up my work for AYP...the profiles I had completed needed to be sent out so I spent hours at the coffee shops in westlands and finished these with Paige...by Tuesday we felt pretty accomplished-not only had we finished editing the profiles, but I felt like we set up a really good foundation for the project for when I return!


My last night in Kenya went something like this: yoga class, dinner at an amazing restaurant with my Kenyan family (Paige and Billy), chill out time at home, airport (my flight was at 4:30 am so i had to be at the airport at 2:30 am which was very inconvenient). 


To sum it all up in words would be impossible, but my month in Kenya was amazing. The people I met and experiences I had are irreplaceable and its pretty clear I loved it because I'm moving back there for a while!


And now I'm in France...I was greeted with mass amounts of snow and cold weather-this is not a complaint though. It feels like forever since I've felt anything remotely close to home, and snow and cold obviously remind me of good old syracuse so it's been nice. Gina is arriving tomorrow morning and Mark will meet up with us in the afternoon-I've stumbled on one of the cutest boutique hotels in Paris...I arrived, took the RER to the latin quarters and walked into any hotel that looked cute and it turns out I've found one of the oldest and best deals in the area-it really is funny how things work out. So i've spent the past day cafe hopping, eating wonderful bread and drinking wine.


Oh one quick thing: i walked into a used bookstore and browsed for a while and came across "A long way gone" copy and had to buy it-i've kind of become obsessed with the fact that I met Ishmael Beah and now i'm re-reading the book...yes I'm a loser.


So there was my brief conclusion to Kenya...clearly there's more to come since i'll be back but I apologize for compromising the quality of my writing-i'm slightly restless and didn't feel like going into too much detail about everything-i hope you at least can get some understanding of how amazing my whole experience has been!

AH i'm so close to being home!!!!! i cannot believe how long it has been since I've seen my parents-needless to say i'm really looking forward to our reunion tomorrow and words cannot describe how much i'm looking forward to being back in the states for a bit! OK i'm done! but in case anyone wants to check out more pics from kenya, here's the fb link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2496890&id=14229274&l=033b4d8e5a

 and thats for everyone to see how ridiculous my hair looked! xx