Blog by Mary (student participant)
There is a lot to process as the first full day in Samuru is
underway, I think the experience is just settling in for most of us; it is
surreal at times realizing we are starting a two week adventure in the bush of
Kenya. The three-plane traveling caused no problems and was uneventful, other
than our very own bluegrass band of Bo and Mark playing Wagon Wheel down the
rows of the plane at the request of an overly-friendly flight attendent. For
most, it was a hit. We are still naming the group.
As we are currently on break between our morning and
afternoon’s activities, the process of getting to the village was an adventure
of unknown experiences. From the airport, the drive to the hostel in Niarobi was
our first taste of the chaotic roads, a juxtaposition to the US calm highways. After four days of heavy rain in Niarobi, the
city was just coming back to life. We were all glad we were in safari jeeps are
equipped with snorkels, for easy water driving. The hostel was a series of tents, huts and
rooms, serving an array of uses. Despite flooding and a little bit of stress felt
from the owners, the Wildebeest hostel was a good night’s rest and a good
breakfast after about 27 hours of traveling. Leaving Nairobi on Sunday to head into Archers
post is a relaxed traveling day, as we took two jeeps full of us, with a whole
van with our massive gear bags. We stopped at a fruit market, and had fresh
mango and bananas and had our first interaction with Kenyans.
The recently paved roads
were fast and efficient, until turning off onto the dirt roads that lead into
Samuru. Kenya is a very relationship based culture, full of greetings, songs,
dancing and handshaking. We were greeted in the villages Umoja and Unity with
an upbeat group song by the women paired with dancing in which we all joined in
on. The voices of the women are beautiful, and completely in harmony with one
another despite different tones and words. The beading that women wear around
their necks is called Masa. It is a series of bright, intricately patterned
necklaces made of wire so it is firm and can be used in dancing and greetings,
by dancing forward so that it is bounced up and down to the beat. They were all
definitely more graceful than all of us.
Our campsite is about 10 kilometers away from the villages.
I think we all had this mental picture of a bare bush setting, yet our campsite
is lush with trees and dense bushes. In the background, there is a mountain
area, mirroring the Fort Collins foothills (which Brett says we get to climb
later this week). There is a group of about 4 Samburu friends managing our
campsite, three of which are recipients of scholarships from Samburu Youth
Education Fund, (SYEF) in which Brett facilitates. They cook for us, walk with
us to the latrine (the nice word for a whole with some bush around it) so we
don’t get taken by the beasts of the area (not really… we haven’t seen any
yet), and guard around the clock, along with hang out with us and answer
questions we have about everything Kenya related. We heard some hyenas last
night and apparently the baboons are loud, but the noises are not a problem as
it seems passing out is not an option after the days here.
We went on a three hour walk along a river today, to Unity
village where we took a break and beaded and hung out with the women and
children. They are far better at not only beading, but playing hand games, as
we found out. The time so far has been full of new experiences to take in for
all of us, and the people we have met have shown us truly how much motivation
for education and a quality life there is. Although it can be easy to see the
villages as less than what our US life is by only seeing the surface level, the
happiness, hard work, and kindness is overpowering and shows how much there is
to learn here.
PS: Happy birthday Kelso!
