My House On Pooh Corner

At the end of December I moved to a new site in a new village. The move was something that I had been debating for a long time and was not an easy decision but a necessary one for reasons that I won't get into now. The decision to move has been the best one I have made since arriving in Kenya as I love my new village, neighbors, work and home.
My new village is not too far from where I used to live but the differences are huge. My village is small, the village center is a fairly large size for a village in Kenya. There are mamas who sell produce everyday, at hours that are unpredictable and entirely dependent on the tasks they have to accomplish each day. There are a few small hotelis (restaurants) where I sometimes buy beans for 10ksh (12 cents). There are fundis (people who make things) who work with wood and metal. Fundis are amazing, they can make pretty much anything with almost no tools for almost no money. A fundi in Kakamega made me an amazing guitar case, it looks shady which is part of the reason that I love it, but it gets the job done and cost around $12. A fundi in my village made a briquetter and lid so that I can make charcoal. He even added a handle to the lid making it more aesthetically pleasing and improved its safety immensely. There are several dukas (shops kind of like the smallest corner store you can imagine) where you can buy anything you need just not necessarily everything you might want. You can buy biscuits, bread, flour, soap but no chocolate (my theory is that it would melt in the duka and be a disaster). One mama has a duka with a fridge for soda which is incredibly fancy and her patrons can always be seen savoring their cool, refreshing treats. There is an agrovet where you can satisfy your shamba (farm) and animal needs. There are a number of different kinds of seeds and pills for preventing chicken typhoid, the usual.

My new job consists of teaching health to mamas who bring their young children to the clinic. Currently I work with a translator but it is my hope that I will soon be able to give the talks independently. I also work with a mamas group that supports orphans and we are working on raising chickens. I am also trying to teach them how to make charcoal out of corn cobs and twigs.

I live in a family compound reminiscent of a cul de sac. It is a friendly place where everyone knows each other. My Swahili has improved because only a few people in my compound speak English well, the small children and grandmother don't speak English at all. My home is a nice, comfortable mud and dung hut. It has two prison cell sized rooms that are really all I need. The house has electricity (bare bulbs and one outlet) which is nice to have, but no running water. The lack of water is fine because I honestly don't know where a sink would even fit and the well is all of 15 feet from my door so I barely have to haul water.

I love my new home and while it is a far cry from where I used to live in America it continues to make me happy.