Act Your Age.: i'm not lost

I had a conversation with Paige the other day about how somedays at the end of the day I feel like within one 24 hour time span, I have lived multiple days. The days in Kenya are jammed packed with different experiences and at the end of each day I really need to start letting it all settle in rather than rushing into another day. As the days bleed together I’m noticing how my life these days is all bundled up into a jumble of experiences rather than a specific time frame.

I had the pleasure of going to Zanzibar to attend a music festival while accompanying Paige and a few of her mom’s friends from the states. On the surface and from my photos, the trip looks perfect…what you wouldn’t know is that there was a wind storm a few days before we arrived and all of the power on the island was out. There were generators at various hotels, but never a full escape from the 100 degree weather. I honestly felt like I was in a time warp; it was a dream that never ended. The views, quaint streets, beautiful people, indian ocean, live music, and constant exploring were unlike nowhere else I’ve ever been on this Earth. The cultures that collide in Stonetown (the main city on the island) create a mishmash of people from all walks of life-including us. We wandered the streets, got lost, searched for internet, and finally had to just sit down and take Zanzibar in for what it is: a beautiful place off the coast of Africa-a place where you can’t expect to always have consistent power, internet, or a plan. The trip made me realize that sometimes in life you just cannot control anything and you have to let go of trying. Zanzibar tested my patience, pushed me to my edge of frustration, gave me a parasite (oh yea I ate some street food and ended up with a parasite in my stomach-I’m ok now though no worries) and left me so exhausted afterwards, but I would never take back the time I spent there. I am not going to write too much detail of the trip in fear of writing negative things that just happened to occur while we were there-I want you as readers to understand that the place was unreal and if you happen to have a chance to visit there you must take it for what it is: an island off the coast of Africa. Period.

Nairobi has been filled with yoga, AYP work, helping host a few volunteers, while re-adjusting to the fact that I am now living here. Last time I was here I knew I was leaving within 4 weeks but now that I am staying until July, I am really starting to settle and form a community of my own here. The culture in Kenya is so accepting and the foreigners who live here are a very unique crowd to be able to surround myself with if I want to. Ex-pats, UN, Embassy, various NGOs, people who have started schools, orphanages, other volunteers…this is just a small fraction of the people I meet from day to day. I feel lucky to have Paige who has already formed quite a network of her own that I have been tapping into.

One of my first Sunday’s back in Nairobi I went to an event called ‘Blankets and Wine.’ It is a monthly affair hosted by the wealthy Kenyans where people go lounge in a park, pack wine and a picnic and listen to live music. It is quite the social scene and provided good people watching; the crowd varied from middle to upper class Kenyans, plenty of mzungus (white people), expats, aid workers, etc. It was fun and a great way to meet other people, unfortunately I missed it this month though and I think the rainy season is upon us so I’m not sure I’ll make April’s either.

In the past month and a half AYP has hosted quite a few different volunteers starting off with Deb-a great power yoga teacher from Rhode Island. She hosted a 2 week workshop based on the 12 laws of transformation and the 12 steps for AA. She incorporated her personal experiences into her teaching in a way that I’ve never been exposed to-she did a great job working with the AYP instructors on alignment, adjustments, and basic teaching skills. Next we had Sherry who did a 1 week workshop on Yin yoga and a 1 week workshop on thai massage. Yin yoga was fantastic and a great balance to the power yoga that I usually do. The practice left me feeling much more grounded and relaxed compared to my other practices. The thai massage was great and really provided a new skillset for the AYP instructors. Not only can they provide massages to their private clients, they also learned a lot more about the anatomy of the body, strengthening their teaching and knowledge about yoga. For a few days we had Jennifer, a doctor from Texas, here to do a women’s sexual health workshop. She basically opened the floor to questions-any questions. We talked about various STDs, contraceptives, relationship issues, and anything that the girls attending wanted to talk about. The turnout was fantastic and I feel like the attendees, including me, got a lot out of the informational workshop! Jules, Jess and Lisa were our most recent visitors and passed through for a few days teaching some Jivamukti yoga but also Hip-hop yoga. The hip-hop yoga was such a success and so much fun. Everybody loved the idea of combining dancing, music, and yoga and Jules and Jess created quite the atmosphere. With close to 80 people in the class, it really got heated up and the energy and joy in the room made for such a fun environment. Things have started to settle down a bit and we have been volunteer free for about 2 weeks now which is allowing me to really sit down and get a bit more work done…

The work that I am doing with AYP consists of many different things. Some days I am working with Paige on various documentation getting more exposure to the NGO world, other days I am out in the slums attending a class, and most days I’m monitoring the mentorship program that just started this year. At the beginning of January about 40 westerners committed to a whole year of mentoring one of the Kenyan instructors. The topics of conversation vary from month to month and are based on Baron Baptiste’s ’12 laws of Transformation.’ The really amazing thing that I’ve been observing is the development of friendships and the bonding that occurs across the globe. At the beginning of January the mentorship program model was guaranteeing an email a month, but it has been modified into a skype call a month which has allowed for a much different dynamic within the mentor/instructor relationship. The interaction between human beings never ceases to amaze me; sharing of life experiences combined with insight on how to handle various challenges seems to be a consistent theme on most calls and it is great to see people relating to one another around the world.

March’s topic is ‘Step out of your comfort zone’ and is paired with 5 questions asking for specific examples of where you (as the reader) can step out of your comfort zone in life. A topic like this resonates in everybody’s life and with listening to a lot of the conversations this month, I’m noticing that both parties have a lot to share.

Since I have been explaining this topic to a lot of the teachers, I have started to think about it myself. Comfort zones are all relative. I am currently living in Nairobi, and to many of you that sounds like WAY out of your comfort zones, but its strange because I now have a comfort zone here that I have to make sure I step out of…comfort zones are very personal and nobody can push you to leave them, but strong encouragement never hurt anybody. I have found that some of my most memorable moments in life have been when I’ve tried something that made me uncomfortable…the past few days for instance…

I just returned from a very intense trip to the southern part of Kenya. AYP has built 2 schools near Ambosli National Park (on the border to Tanzania) and has also started a program called ‘Bead the Change’ which empowers women in the Maasai tribe. AYP employs these women to bead patches for shirts to be sold as a fundraising tool. The shirts are awesome and extremely unique-but basically AYP uses this program as a way to help the women in the villages gain some independence and leadership within their communities. They are paid for their work and in turn can come to a decision on a community based project they want the money to go towards. In the past, the shirt profits have gone to building the schools, but the focus is on having the women play a crucial part in deciding where the money should be invested.

Ok-so our main motive for going to Ambosli was to deliver the patches unbeaded and have them beaded in the next 2 weeks before Paige goes to the states…easier said than done. Our trip started off leaving Nairobi in the morning hours and we drove to Namanga (a town on the border of Tanzania and Kenya) where we met Jacob (a very good friend of AYPs). From there I hopped in the flat bed of his retro safari vehicle and we drove through the Kenyan bush to the first school AYP has built. The latest addition to this area is 2 toilets in close proximity to the school which just opened that day. The ride was great, the fresh air felt so nice and the landscape was so beautiful; I was surrounded by breathtaking views-my pictures don’t do the place justice. After looking around a bit we went to Jacob’s village, dropped off a few things, met some of his children and his wives, sat in his cow dung house and absorbed as much about their culture as possible.

When we got moving again, Jacob was driving Paige’s car and we were cruising. It is hard to explain exactly the terrain, but it is not a smooth ride-the roads are gravel and extremely bumpy. Jacob’s solution to driving on the roads is to fly-so we were moving pretty fast when all of a sudden there was a huge clanging noise and the car started to vibrate uncontrollably. To be honest, I cannot remember my initial reaction-I remember laughing for a second then after reality kicked in, I was like ‘what the hell are we going to do.’ We were in the most remote place I have ever been in my life and our car was not running and the cell phone service was on roaming because we were so close to the Tanzanian border. Basically we were shit out of luck-thankfully Jacob got ahold of some people in Namanga and knew where we were because if not, we would have been screwed. Literally in the middle of the bush, the car was not running properly, and it was already afternoon…needless to say we were all a bit nervous as to how the rest of the day was going to pan out and quite frankly there were times when I wasn’t sure if we were going to be found…if Jacob was not with us, I am not sure what we would have done, how we would have explained to people where we were, or who we would have called. Of all things that could go wrong on a safari, you NEVER want your car to break down…

2-3 hours passed by and finally 2 men in a Land Rover pulled up, tried to charge us 10,000 KSH (about $120) to drive us 30 minutes. We argued, got dirty looks, but finally bargained it down and hopped in the car. Avoiding outrageous park fees (~$75/day) led us to do some hardcore off roading but finally after a long awaited ride, we arrived at the Serena hotel. This hotel is like nowhere I’ve ever stayed before-literally in the middle of nowhere with breathtaking views of the bush, Mt Kilimanjaro, zebras, gazelles, elephants, wildebeests, lizards, monkeys, etc. The lush landscape provided a great setting and that paired with the fantastic buffet spread really impressed me. We all ate more than we wanted, headed to our rooms and passed out after an exhausting trip.

The next day I woke up early-went for a walk and saw Mt Kilimanjaro amidst all the clouds then met with Paige for breakfast. After we ate we headed to a village close to the hotel where the other school was built. This Maasai village was much different than the ones we had seen the day before. Some people refer to their village as a ‘tourist’ village because of its close proximity to the park grounds and nice lodges, but in reality-it is just a larger village that still operates with their traditional beliefs but happens to benefit from marketing and allowing tourists to visit. As we drove up to the village, we were greeted by Jackson-the chief or chairman of the village-Paige is a celebrity within their village and from what I observed, I could tell Jackson respects and appreciates her because of her community building tactics. A procession of women and men filed out of the village and performed a small ceremony. They sang and did a traditional welcoming dance for Paige and I, pulling us forward to dance with them at certain times as well. A man said a quick prayer, and then I was walking into a whole new world. A world filled with women having no say in how many children they want, how many wives their husband can have, living in cow dung huts, no electricity, no Western style of anything…it was such a great feeling to be there and see a place so unique and untouched by the world. We walked around the various houses, were greeted by the women, children, and men-we sat in Jackson’s house and were served tea (I didn’t get sick thankfully)-discussed ‘Bead the Change’ and the women’s meeting and then returned to the Serena for lunch and some pool time. The contrast between the Serena and the village are insane and interesting to see because somehow within 5km night and day lifestyles exist…one place is lush, filled with food, technology, luxury, white people, the English language, and every possible touristy thing you can imagine at your finger tips…and 5 minutes down the path a place where drought, sickness, overpopulation, lack of education, dung huts, gender inequalities, and close to no technology is the way of life.

In the afternoon we returned to the village for a women’s meeting. We were greeted again by Jackson, but this time he was very intoxicated and very persistent on showing me various things around the village. Starting with the water pump, then to the pens where they keep the goats, he really wanted me to get a feel for his community. He would shush Paige and wave her off whenever she tried to push for the meeting to start…it was pretty funny but quite odd at the same time. The meeting finally started and the discussion circled around the patches, beading, payment, distribution, etc. It is hard to really know whether or not something will work out with this kind of circumstances…the women don’t speak English, the man translating everything was drunk, the woman are asking him things but he isn’t asking us anything…I think (emphasis on think) the message was conveyed but it is hard to tell-I will be sure to update you if and when the patches are through!

The meeting concluded with my naming ceremony! My Maasai name is ‘Nashepai’ and means something like ‘person who is always smiling’ haha how fitting…they gave me a necklace-it felt similar to a knighting? and that was that. The community was so warm and welcoming and I feel so blessed to have been able to have such a great experience there. Not only did they make me feel comfortable and open up their homes to me, but they gave me jewelry (their main money maker) and named me! The time there was humbling and eye opening…definitely nothing I have ever had the chance to see before.

That evening I went on my first game drive everrrrrr!!!! 3 of us decided to go on the night game drive and hope for the best-it was AWESOME! We got to see hippos, hyenas, African kangaroos, elephants, gazelles, 2 male lions!! Foxes, and much more-the driver we had was fantastic and extended the safari about an hour and the whole thing was just really amazing and definitely something I will never ever forget for the rest of my life.

So our last day began quite relaxing but only snowballed into endless hours on the road. So, still with no car, we had to somehow make it back to Namanga which is where we would pick up the car from the mechanic…easier said than done. We were picked up by 2 Maasai (friends of Jacob’s) with this old school pick up truck…we loaded in our luggage and all climbed in the bed of truck. Like I mentioned before, none of the roads are smooth and in a car with 40 year old shocks, you can only imagine how bumpy it got. 5 hours. Not 1 not 2 or even 3…5 in the back of the truck with 3 other girls, a Maasai, and some passengers that we picked up and dropped along the way. At the beginning it was completely fine and actually tolerable. We basically were on an open safari…we saw elephants, zebras, gazelles, a lion (which is very rare during the day), and plenty of breath taking views. As time went on, the sun got hotter, the car started to sound sketchier, the roads got more rural, and we were all exhausted. After asking the Maasai countless times how far it was, and being told ’30 minutes’ about 5 different times, we finally saw the town coming into view. I would not take the trip back for one second, not even the 5 hours in the truck, but wow I was really really happy to see civilization when we did.

We exited the truck, got right into the CRV and booked it to Nairobi. My forehead was leather, my lips sunburnt, and my body hating me, but still alive-arrived in Nairobi at like 9pm, showered, and crashed like I hadn’t slept in years.

And now…I woke up this morning (Sunday) with a congested head and sunburn…but I have amazing photographs and stories that will last me a lifetime!