Molly to Kenya: Camp Kenya

1/20/11

I can’t believe how much I love it here and how comfortable I feel already. In Ghana, I was so young and it was all so new. Especially with the malaria and necrotic spider bite and witnessing the depths of 3^rd world poverty for the first time, much of my first trip to Africa was uncomfortable. I knew it was worth it—I grew so much from the experience—but it wasn’t easy.

Kenya is easy. Granted, we’re at Lake Nakuru National Park on our orientation and have affectionately dubbed the week “Camp Kenya” (we even break out in song frequently, it is SO camp), but there’s just something beautiful about the way one can live life here. I was expecting to feel homesick, but instead I just feel right. I know when I move to my homestay things might be bumpier for a while, but for now I feel like there’s no need to miss home because Kenya is meant to be my home for the next four and a half months. In Vietnam, I was often struck by how lucky I felt to be there. In Kenya, so far the feeling that comes to mind is peaceful—I don’t feel lucky as much as I just feel like this is where my life has been leading me; there is a deep comfort that comes with knowing you are at the place in life the universe has been directing you towards.

Last night I had a nightmare about a safari lion punching me in the knee and woke up to everyone in the room asking me if I was having a bad dream… apparently I had yelled “F--- KENYA!” in a fit of terror. I feel the need to share this story after just gushing about how much I love Kenya because when I made a comment at breakfast about being happy my friend Tom, who had heard the story of the night before, quickly interjected, “Ohhh no you don’t, you HATE Kenya!”

Some of my adventures today have included: doing sunrise yoga while watching a herd of water buffalo come for water, seeing THREE LIONS on our game ride through the park, and eating the most delicious mandazi (chapatti with baking soda so it rises) dipped in chai.

This is so where I’m meant to be.