Football Kenyan Style

Hi everyone--Things at Grassroots are going well* The girls are still on break from school so we are doing activities during the afternoon* After trying to teach the girls how to play frisbee, I decided to buy a football (soccer ball) so that we could have more options* The girls really enjoy playing football and even though they have never had any formal training they are amazing players, one girl especially seems like if she lived in America she could get a football scholarship if she keeps playing (right now the girls are freshmen in high school)* For the past couple of days we have been playing frisbee, then having a lesson or discussion followed by football* Our football games are much different from the ones I used to play in back when I was on a team* We have no uniforms, no shin guards, no proper field, no goals* We play in a grassy bit of the compound and use our flip flops to mark the goals which means we're all playing barefoot and in skirts* It's a lot of fun and a great way to bond with the girls who are starting to become a bit more vocal and gaining confidence* I hope that their confidence continues to grow and can be seen in their school work this coming term* The girls are starting to develop ambitions, something they never had before and so now we are helping them to plan short and log term goals so that they can become the doctors, lawyers, community activists, nurses, directors, teachers etc that they want to be*

Looks like I'll be here for two more years

Hi everyone, things are looking pretty good today in Kakamega* I passed my last language exam in Luhya yesterday which means I will be able to stay here for the next two years, I am very excited because I love the work that I am doing, I need to start learning Swahili though because that is what people speak where I am living and working* I was planning on impoving my Swahili regardless because it will be useful when I am in other parts of Kenya, but now I have some real motivation and the support of my coworkers which is encouraging* I have been busy over the past week, partly from cramming for my exam* I puchased a bike so that I can go and visit other volunteers and get a bit of exercise* On Friday I rode my bike to my friend Rebecca's house which is about 10 miles away on a bumpy dirt road* I enjoyed the ride, it was difficult and I was drenched in sweat but it was nice to get out of town and see a bit more of Western Province* I went to Rebecca's to study because no one in my community speaks the dialect we were taught, but a woman she works with does* It was incredibly helpful to be able to practice* The volunteers who were testing spent the night before our test in town* It was great seeing all of them again and hearing what their sites were like* I also had the chance to see some volunteers who have already been serving for awhile, some of them live nearby so hopefully we'll be seeing more of each other* I have discovered that the pictures that I take with my phone are decent, so I'm going to post some of my cat Skittles today (we had to get a cat because there were mice running all around the office when I moved in) and I will try to post some more of the town etc so that you can get a feel for where I live* The girls in our program are currently out of school so the girl I work with and I have been conducting various activities for them* We have had workshops about goals, relationships etc and several sports days (they were a little confused by my frisbee but ended up enjoying a rather dysfunctional game of ultimate) and a song and poem day* I was playing my guitar during the song day, which went pretty well, but I need to learn songs that the girls know, the requests I received were for church songs and Michael Jackson* I'll try to update with some more photos soon, khulolane (we will see each other--Tsotso, a dialect of Luhya)

Welcome to Kakamega

Hi everyone, first off I'd like to apologize for taking so long between posts, hopefully this won't become a pattern, I also think it's impotant to let you know that if I use any punctuation that would end a sentence the program thinks that I've finished qwriting and ends my posts which means this will probably end up looking a bit odd, I'll be using * for periods* The end of training was a lot of fun, difficult, and it's a bit lonely now not seeing all of the friends I made and my host family, but I really like the people I am working with now* One of the last things I did in Nairobi, the day of our swearing in actually, was to buy a guitar* We had to wait an hour for a taxi and then go on a bit o a wild goose chase looking for a shop with decent guitars but we finally found one* Bargaining for it was pretty funny, I ended up getting a pretty good discount because a friend of mine broke a string when trying to tune it and the sales lady was convinced that this meant that the entire guitar was now broken* What she didn't know was that my wonderful family had already sent me three sets of guitar strings and that my plan was to restring the entire guitar* I wasn't able to get a case or the guitar, so I was walking around Nairobi carrying a guitar that was down a string until one of my friends started carrying it and tried to serenade people (I say tried because without one of the strings the guitar was horibly out of tune)* We then crammed the four of us and two guitars into a cab to head back to our hotel, which took awhile due to traffic and getting lost but we called ahead and they made sure there was food left for us when we arrived* I love my guitar, I have a fair amount of free time during which my primary activities are studying Luhya and practicing the guitar so I'm making progress* Kakamega is a big town by Kenyan standards* It has three main roads, several large supermarkets, a large market and many government buildings because it is the regional capital* There is also a hotel with a swimming pool, I hope I get a chance to swim soon (maybe I can even teach water aerobics)* I enjoy the walk to town, it's around 2km and it has helped me get a sense of the community I will be a part of for the next two years* Today I was proud of myself for going to a shop an buying milk and eggs entirely in Luhya* I have another Luhya test in about 10 days so I'm trying to practice whenever possible* I enjoy working with my organization, I also like that I have already been able to become involved* I literally live at my job which has its pros and cons, but on the whole I'd say I like it* I'm going to have to go because my phone battery is about to die, but I will try and write more soon