First Day

1/18/11

Lake Nakuru National Park

I can’t believe I’ve only been in Kenya for one full day so far, I’ve seen so much and I feel so at home here already. This morning we were awoken to the hooting of monkeys outside of our hostel, so we went out to have a look around. Such the ‘Welcome to Africa!’ moment—we got to watch the monkeys play and climb trees before we had a leisurely breakfast of chai and bananas. After breakfast we drove into the city so we could apply for residency. We passed Kibera, and it took my breath away. One end of the slum has some niceish looking apartment complexes built, and our teacher Abdul explained the situation to us. The development team had promised the residents of Kibera that the new housing would be available for the same prices they are paying for their slum houses. Once it was built, they raised the rent so high that there are usually 3 separate families sharing each 3 bedroom apartment to split the cost. For a reference point, rent in the Kibera slums is usually around 500ksh/month. There are 79 ksh in each US dollar.

I was so surprised to see downtown Nairobi after the drive past Kibera. To be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Nairobi a whole lot—my main interest in coming to Kenya was spending the second half of the semester in a rural area. I expected the city to be smoggy, loud, crowded, and dirty. This was based somewhat on my experience in Accra, Ghana, and somewhat on a fear of getting my hopes up. I’m shocked to find Nairobi the opposite on all accounts—it’s clean and clear, the people are bright and friendly, and I felt so safe. Granted this was just the downtown area that we got to explore today, but it filled me with such hope that Nairobi is a city I can fall in love with. I have such ties pulling me back to Saigon, and I was reminded of that feeling of simultaneous wonderment and contentment that fills me in Vietnam as we were walking around Nairobi today.

Simon, Jane, Abdul, and Jalifa have been taking such good care of us so far and teaching us so much about Kenyan culture. Abdul told me he’s Luo, and followed that up by bragging to be a ‘distant cousin’ of President Obama. Jane started giggling as she explained, “EVERY Luo in Kenya is a distant cousin of Obama!”

On the drive to Nakuru we got to stop off at some lookout points over the Great Rift Valley. I don’t know how to describe the breathtaking views at all, so a picture will have to suffice. I felt so lucky.

When we got into the National Park, we were greeted by about a dozen baboons who hang out just outside the park. While Simon and Jalifa negotiated our entrance fees, we got to play with the monkeys! We could get so close to them, and they were putting on such a show for us. One even stole one of the girl’s nalgenes and took it back up to the tree to try to figure out!

What a day. And PS—We got our resident visas today; I officially live in Nairobi now!