Mambo!
Not much has happened in the last few days – with classes starting and all of us attempting to adapt to life as a student with a 2+ hour commute too and from school, we have had little to no energy to do much more than eat and sleep when we finally get home from school.
However, on Friday we were placed with our internships! I will be interning with
Amani Ya Juu. Amani Ya Juu means “higher or heavenly peace” in Swahili. It is a sewing-marketing-training project for women who have been marginalized because of war or internal conflict in their native countries. The organization gives women a chance to improve their skill training to make a living. It also serves a dual purpose in helping woman “sow seeds of peace in the hearts of the women as they grow in the community and their faith together.” There are Christain themes to the organization.
I am incredibly excited – and did I mention that it is only a 25 min walk from my apartment? And a 5 min walk from the AU office where we take classes? Most of the other students will travel on 2 matatus and for possibly more than 2 hours. I am quite luckily and also very excited! I start in a 2 weeks.
Yesterday (Friday) after Swahili we all went on a Scavenger Hunt around Nairobi. I was in a group with Crista and Ashley. However, it ended up being Katie, Quinn, Quinn, Kara, Margaret and the three of us. It felt like we walked 15 miles. We got slightly lost while leaving Westlands (where we live) and when we finally found where we were, we discovered we had walked to town! Normally, we take a 15 min bus ride to get there. It was quite the adventure. We had to take pictures of the places we went – some of which we could not actually take pictures of bc it was against the law – so we were sneaky.
The weather has been kind of chilly, but the sun peeks out every so often.
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| girls hanging out outside the National Theater |
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| Just another day, walking on the highway |
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| bus we took during orientation (sorry about the delay in posting it) |
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| murals by a view of the great rift valley, also during orientation |
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| 2 of my roommates, ashley (left) and Jess |
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| our kitchen! |
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| just hanging out |
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| My bed! |
yay! so glad you got good news regarding your internship--it sounds like a great program and you'll undoubtedly enjoy it more/have more energy to give to all those ladies since your commute won't completely exhausted you.
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing pictures of your apt---i figured it'd be nice, but this is REALLY lovely. do you have your own bedroom? always good to have a nice place to come "home" to after a stressful day running around nairobi...
sorry to here you got lost, but at least you have an excuse, being in a different culture/city and all. i get lost all the time in boston, to the point that i might as well be in nairobi. embarassing, to say the least---the other day it took me an hour to find a grocery store that was literally only a fifteen minute walk away. c'est la vie.
yay amani!!!
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