I arrived in Nairobi with one of my teammates Aerie to a welcoming party formed by our other teammate Meghan and Mama Chacha, one of Nuru's many friends. Mama Chacha is the wife of Philip, the head Kurian representative for our work in the Kuria district of Kenya. She greeted us at just after 10pm local time, drove us to her home, gave us ugali and chai, and sent us to bed for our 5am bus trip from Nairobi to Isibania. She was incredibly helpful in transiting through Nairobi since our team of three was pretty clueless about the city. It was also great to see a kind face when we arrived in our state of sleep deprived shock.
The bus ride was pretty uneventful besides the massive amounts of dust showering us as we drove. The bus was very much like a normal tour bus in the US but with five seats across instead of four. We arrived in Isibania six hours later greeted by Nicole, Doug, and Issac. Issac is the local taxi driver we hire when we need a car to shop for something far away or as in our case, need to bring a lot of stuff from downtown Isibania to our compound, just outside of town. We met the rest of the Nuru crew, Jake and Janine at our new home for the next six months.
Our houses are amazing! Jake had instilled in us the impression we were going to be living in pretty rough conditions but we're actually living in quite the opposite. We have two houses in our compound which are nearly identical. Everyone but Nicole and Doug (the married couple) have their own room. We having running water from a huge water tank we have in the back yard, we have fairly reliable electricity, hot showers thanks to a heated shower head, internet (duh) and a kitchen that is just about as equiped as any kitchen I've ever had. Relative to our community, we're in a mansion.
I had a chance to tag along with Nicole, the water and santation (w+s) program manager from the first team, and Lucas, the Kurian representative for w+s. Last week was my observation week where I just watched Nicole and Lucas do their thing, giving me time to adjust and get up to speed before contributing myself. The first day we went around to five of the six members of a pilot we are doing for rainwater catchment (more on this in a later post) and measured their roofs and noted things about their compounds like general ground slope and courtyard cleanliness. The second day we visited many of the schools in the Nygiti and Nymetaburo subdistricts of Kuria, the two areas we're working in right now. Nicole, Lucas, and I weren't so interested in the schools but more checking out the well locations we are considering, all four of which are within different school compounds. I've been aware of our work for rain catchment and wells since I joined Nuru in January but it was nice to finally see the reality of our work.
On Thursday Jake, our super cheif aka CEO, took Meghan and I out with him to a meeting in Nymetaburo, about an hour and a fifteen minutes away from home. We spent our hiking time discussing Nuru in broader terms and pounding Jake with questions. It was nice being able to spend so much time with the leader of our organization, racking his brain, something I couldn't imagine in any workplace.
Friday and Saturday were big team shopping days for Aerie, Meghan, and I. We called up Issac to drive us up to Kisii, a decent sized town two hours to our north. It had a Nakumatt which is basically a Kenyan Wal-Mart. We were shopping to outfit our new home with pretty much everything but beds. Friday night we ventured in to downtown Isibania to a favorite eatery of the first team called Bukuria Hotel which isn't a hotel at all. Hotels in general in Kenya are just restaurants. There are "real" hotels as well but the vast majority of hotels in Kenya are bedless. Saturday chef Aerie prepared us an amazing meal of food I can only describe as better than any restaurant you can imagine. It might not top my mom's cooking but it's pretty good. I'm glad I'll be living with him for the next six months.
I got a chance to finally do some real work on Saturday as well. Jake forbade us from working the first week but Nicole and I convinced him to let me break the rule so I could get some much needed design work done on our rainwater catchment system. Today has been a day of relaxation starting with a 9am waking time versus the 6am I have been waking up at.
So far it has been a pretty smooth start to my time here in Kenya, and I'm looking forward to getting up to full speed next week!
twelve new pictures
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