go to Kenya

I went five years ago just for six months and have been trying to return since to stay longer. I think I might actually have the money and the time by this fall, but I’m beginning to doubt if it’s a good use of my resources at this point in my life.

One of the most amazing experiances of my life! I lived on the island of Wasini near the village of Mkwiro for 10 weeks. No electricity or running water but the people were wonderful and the simple life away from the things we take for granted were eye opening. I got to know the people there and see a side of Kenya that the tourists don’t see. It is interesting the “two kenyas” that exist one for the citizens and one for the tourists. But whichever one you see, Kenya really is an amazing place; the colours, the space, the landscapes and people, the animals, the culture! Amazing…

Alot of time has passed since I last visited this site. I’ve been to Kenya! I lived on the island of Wasini for 10 weeks…amazing. It is as awsome as I ever imagined!Its changed the way I see my world.

When I was little, my Mom worked at a small liberal arts college in New England. A young man from Nairobi,Kenya was a student there and befriended me. He taught me about apartheid, drought, famine.. and also about the beauty of his country, the blessings of devoting your life to the betterment of others,and the importance of being a true and authentic person. I have wanted to go there ever since, it is almost a primal yearning, as if I have been there before and need to return home.

Kenya was life-changing, it put my whole life in perspective and completely changed my outlook. So worth doing. I went in 2001, and taught in a school, helped out at a health centre, and went to the Masai Mara to do the whole safari thing. I came back a different person – to have witnessed such poverty and lack of resources and opportunity for the kids I met, and yet I haven’t seen such joy and love of life here in the UK. The singing – always singing – and laughing, at themselves, and at us. They took the piss cos we were all so unfit compared to them, and they thought my blonde hair was crazy so they tried to pull it out. (Not really, just in a jokey way.)

And as well as the people, the country itself is so beautiful. Plains of emptiness, the best sunsets I ever saw, such silence – so so peaceful. I was a different person when I was there – all my anxieties and negativity and depression seemed to just go. It did my soul so much good. everyone should go.

I’m going! I have decided that its a chance in a lifetime to see kenya (even if i’m totally broke afterward) and to work on a dolphin conservation programme (hopefully getting the contacts and experiance needed to go into this dolphin research/conservation for a longer time). I got myself a short term conservation research job as teeamleader of a vegetation survey in a newly designated ESA (environmentally sensitive area – kind of like a national park). Its interesting, a great learning experiance and most importantly, will get me most of the money i need to get to kenya!!

but it will be a long time from now. I have it listed on my 43Places, so it’s not really gone. I need some space for more short term goals!

I’m hoping to go to Kenya in April 2006. At present I’m running around looking for random, short term jobs that will give me plane ticket money.

I am anxious to be immersed in my husband’s culture and get to know his family. When we have children together, I want to be able to give them a well-rounded view of their roots.

I didn’t know that people actually have goals to visit my country, all I can say is that its sooooooooo worth it. Drop by our place if you ever visit :)