Author Archives: Gillian

Kenya Week 2: I think I’ve been everywhere

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We drove over 1600 km this week and visited 6 out of 8 provinces in Kenya. It was a crazy busy week, but pretty amazing. 
Once again, there were two food distributions. This time, they were in two completely different areas of the country. In the first village we visited, the beneficiaries were quite adament that they would not accept food as a hand out. It was very important for them to be doing some sort of work to receive the food. In this area, all they needed was rain. It has been over four years since some parts of Kenya received the rain that they need to grow crops. As a result, crops have failed repeatedly and livestock are all dying. These villagers have all they need to survive, but if there is no rain, they have no food.
The next day was Canada Day. Dad had brought a few Canadian souviners with him which he gave out to some of the villagers. The main tribe we met here was the Turkana people, known forever because of National Geographic pictures of the woman with stacks upon stacks of beaded necklaces.  One of the ladies, Elizabeth, sort of adopted me even though neither of us could really speak to the other. I did find out that she is a 41 year-old widow who has 8 or 9 children. She was quite excited when she found out that I work for an optometrist and wanted me to come back to fix her eyes (she looked to have some cataracts developing). It was hard to explain through an interpreter (a villager who spoke some English) that I am not the doctor, I just help the doctor…!
The villagers were very excited when we explained that it was Canada Day and proceeded to dance around and sing with the small flags we had. They even pulled Jen and I into the dancing for awhile! I felt like I was back in Polynesia or something with all the dancing going on. Except there was much less hip-swaying!
Somewhere along the way, we drove across the equator. Actually, we crossed it at least 6 times driving as the road winds a lot. I lost count.  Either way, it was an exciting moment for me as I have now driven/walked, flown, and sailed across the equator.  Crouching beside me in the picture is Chris. He is the National Relief Manager for the CRWRC here, so is technically Dad and Colleen’s boss I think. He knows everything about everything and has lots of great stories to tell.
The Great Rift Valley…
Chris took us to visit his village in Western Province. We met his mother and two of his brothers and many, many extended family members. I had fun with some of the kids and we were able to get an incredible picture of what life is like for a lot of Kenyans outside of the big cities. There is no electricity or running water in the village and life proceeds in a simple and traditional way, interrupted only by the ringing of a cell phone (not sure yet how those get charged when there is no electricity).
On our way back to Nairobi from Chris’ village, we drove through (and stayed the night in) Kisumu and took a peek at Lake Victoria. It looked… like a lake…! But there were some hippos off in the distance just barely sticking their snouts out of the water.
Now we are back to Nairobi for the weekend. Distributions are done for the month (that is, June) and don’t start up again until mid-July. Next week will be a brief holiday to the coast before Jen and I are left to our own devices in Nairobi!

Kenya: Week 1

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The past week in Kenya has been a whirlwind!

The morning after we arrived, we were off driving down to the Rift Valley to take part in two food distributions in two different Maasai villages. We were warmly welcomed into both villages and greeted with Maasai blankets and jewelry. I think we’ve been adopted into their villages now! At each place, the neediest of the people were given 3L of oil, 50kg of maize and 10kg of beans. This will feed a family of around 8 for approximately 2 weeks. We witnessed some singing and dancing and took part in a discussion Dad and Colleen led with a small group of villagers discussing the need in the village and how they will cope when the distribution comes to an end in 2 months. It was moving to hear of how lives have been impacted by this seemingly small amount of food.

We also spent time walking around saying hi (“sopa”) to everyone and trying to communicate as best as we could. It is frustrating to have a language barrier with such warm people.

Here is Dad making friends with some of the men of the village. I took a picture of the one on the far left and then showed it to him. He adjusted his blanket and sat a little straighter and then motioned for me to take another!
Here, some of the women are singing just before the food distribution began. They wear the brightest colours and have beads all over.
All of the food received has to be carried home somehow. Most often on the back of the beneficiaries.
We’ve seen lots of crazy cool wildlife, including this giraffe which was ambling along the side of the road as we drove home last night.
Today we visited a women’s centre here in Nairobi. My friend Nancy spent some time here a few years ago and she made this mosaic! Everyone I met who knows her still speaks of her time there very highly.

En Route

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I am on my way to Kenya! It only really sank in when I finished up most of my packing last night. After an obscenely early start this morning and two airplane flights later, I am currently in Montreal. Here I will rest and recover before leaving in less than 24 hours to Nairobi via Amsterdam.  This will be the first big trip Jen and I have done together (others being an overnight bus trip to Quebec city and weekend road trip to London, ON) and I’m looking forward to travelling with her.

I’ll try and update as often as I can, although I don’t think that will be as often as you or I would like! To satiate your curiosity, and to find out just where I am going and what we will be participating in, you can check out my Dad’s blog. He posts once a week (on Saturday) but there are about 15 entries from their time there thus far. That will help give some sort of idea of where I’ll be in, oh, a day and a half!

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I’ve been noticeably absent over the last week. I leave for Kenya on Monday and have been busy packing and getting in last minute appointments. Oh, and doing the regular day-to-day stuff like work and church stuff.

Don’t know how much I’ll be able to get online while I’m in Kenya, but I do intend to say hi at least once while I’m there!

Back into Joy

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Sunday evening was clear and luminous so we went to the star-watching rock and welcomed the arrival of each star with a blast of trumpet. We lay there, in an odd assortment of coats; I had on an embroidered coat a friend had bought in Dubrovnik; the two girls had on ancient fur coats; and we were covered with blankets. We needed them, even though the rock itself still held the warmth of the sun, our own star, and radiated a gentle heat to us as we lay there and watched the sky, blowing the trumpets and sharing a can of insect repellent and listening to the crickets and the katydids and trying to identify the other night singers, and then outsinging them with all the nursery rhymes and songs and hymns we could think of which had stars and alleluias in them.

And I was totally back in joy. I didn’t realize I had been out of it, caught in small problems and disappointments and frustrations, until it came surging back. It was as radiant as the rock, and I lay there, listening to the girls trumpeting, and occasionally being handed one of the trumpets so that I could make a loud blast myself, and I half expected to hear a herd of elephants come thundering across the far pastures in answer to our call.

And joy is always a promise.

– Madeleine L’Engle, A Circle of Quiet

The Week of My Discontent?

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I walked home from work today. I walk home nearly every day; it is only a 15min walk, so I don’t know why today seemed different.

Maybe because it was such a “normal” day. I got up, I went to work, I spent time with a friend on lunch break, I did groceries on the way home and then walked home humming to myself while swinging my green reusable shopping bag. It struck me, as I turned off of a busy street to walk some back streets for a more peaceful walk, that this could be it. I could make a career out of this, as many of my coworkers have, and have this constant life of M-F/8-5 with half of my evenings free and the other half doing church things or spending time with friends. This could be it.

Suddenly I was filled with a sense of what I can only call a combination of discontent, dissatisfaction, and pity; I do not want this to be my normal. I cannot live with that feeling and part of me feels sorry for those who do. I do not really know why, because I know that some people are incredibly happy in my line of work and do not want to sound condescending towards them. I just do not think that I am able to live my life like this for an extended period of time. The last week has shown me that much.

I have spent much of the last week with an extreme fatigue: I have been going to bed by 8:30/9pm, been so tired that I am nauseous (I even went home sick after 20min at work on Monday because I was so green and gross feeling), and had headaches for the better part of every day. I have been trying to fit too much into my life. There is the part of life I am responsible to and have made a commitment too, namely work. (I also need the income.) Then there is the part of life that makes me happy and feeds me emotionally and spiritually for the week, the part I spend the whole week looking forward too – choir practice, young adults gathering at church, Sunday morning church service, and spending time with friends. Apparently I am not WonderWoman and cannot do it all.

Part of my discontent likely stems from the fact that I am not using my gifts to the fullest of my abilities. I am beginning a Masters in Counselling Psychology in September and until that degree is finished, I will not be able to work in the field I am most excited to work in. I have also been doing a lot of thinking over the last few months on the idea of intentional community and the position of young adults in the Anglican church today (and have been very excited to find other like minds within the diocese who have independantly been thinking along the same lines!) and this has caused a growing discomfort with the way I live my life and a desire for change.

All of that being said, I am not unhappy with my life. I think that is a key distinction. Really, I have no cause for complaint. In the grand scheme of things it is probably a good thing to have some dissatisfaction because it means I am constantly striving for something more. In fact, I am not sure I ever want to be completely satisfied with where I am at. So here is to looking forward to the future and committing to live in the moment I am in and enjoy each moment of every day to the fullest. Even the parts that annoy me and seem to have no purpose.