Arriving at the Atlanta airport on Saturday, Feb 3rd, I joined some of my fellow STOPers; a number of us assigned to African countries would share the first leg of our journey to Amsterdam, where we would then split up. It was a nice way to start our assignments. I’m sure we seemed a bit of a curiosity to most other travelers: a group of African men, an Indian woman, a Pakistani women, and one Asian American…with the occasional visit from our German colleague, Konrad, whose flight to Germany (his duty required him to fly to his assignment, i.e., Pakistan, via his home country) was leaving around the same time a couple of gates down from us. ( By the way, apparently not only do internationals entering the US have to register at a “Visit Kiosk” where they get their passport and fingerprints scanned and receive a”very important” receipt, but now they have to also do this prior to their departure. On one level, I recognize that this is the unfortunate consequence of the now not-so-safe world in which we live, but on another, it just seems unfair and paranoid.)
Anyway, as it turned out, one of my new friends, Ali, had to travel back to Kenya to secure a VISA through the WHO-Sudan/Somali office in Nairobi on his way to assignment in Sudan. So, I had some good company…sort of (our seats weren’t near each other)…during the journey to Kenya. Seeing a friendly face and having someone with whom to endure and commiserate over the long travel and the anxious wait at the end for luggage was great. Ironically, I got my bags, no problem, while one of his bags was one of the last to offload. He almost missed it too b/c the gorilla handlers had put it face down, and as it was a new bag, he didn’t recognize it until I pointed it out to him based on the description he’d given me.
As I walked out of the terminal with Ali, his friend found him, and I found my hotel driver bearing a placard with my name. Perfect. So now I’m finally here in Kenya. The streets were pretty quiet and empty, but as my driver pointed out, it was Sunday night – rest day. He assured me there would be plenty of traffic during the week. He wasn’t kidding, as I saw the next morning.
Also, I didn’t realize, but apparently Kenya follows the British driving system – i.e., steering wheel on the right hand side and driving on the left side. Disconcerting, especially since, despite the heavy traffic, there are no traffic lights at intersections! Good thing I don’t have to drive in this constant complicated weave of hurrying people and motoring vehicles venting heavy exhaust.
Feeling a bit jetlagged (Diane, my Canadian colleague also assigned to Kenya, especially so, since she arrived that Monday morning after about 36 hours of grueling travel from Canada via London and very little sleep), we and two other WHO short term consultants (STCs; Carry, from Holland, an older woman with a nursing background who seems to have been everywhere through cycling and through the short term assignments she does for WHO and MSF and Chidi, originally from southeastern Nigeria, a medical doctor, and also a serial STC with WHO) were picked up by a WHO driver at our very secure hotel (there are security guards everywhere and the driveway is gated – apparently this is a very popular UN and ex-pat hotel) to meet our WHO field supervisor and find out what was expected of us in the coming months.
As we begin the briefings, orientations, and other necessary preparations for field work, we also find some time to enjoy a little down time to recover from the jetlag, get to know Nairobi a little, and even begin sampling the local food
(lots of chicken and starch – especially Ugali, a cross between corn meal, polenta, and corn bread, very plain, and requiring a stew or sauce with which to eat it). In general, people seem very friendly and helful here. Of course, one has to watch out for those folks trying to hit up foreigners for cash “for a good cause” or guys trying to get you to go on a safari tour with their company. (Diane, unfortunately, seems particularly prone to these; of course, being quite obviously blonde and fair-skinned makes her a lovely beacon.) This city is very crowded! It really seems to be a maze of people and cars during the day. Although Kiswahili is the primary language, one can hear sprinklings of English words or conversations in accented English, and many products (some American brands) sold in the supermarket bear labels in English. There are also plenty of cell phone stores and internet cafés. Diane and I decided to try one of the latter. Unfortunately, it seems that while cafés for internet access abound here, it’s also incredibly slow (you could watch the grass grow faster than the internet works here – maybe it was the particular time of day) and when we tried to use it, it seemed to also have gone down – and not just at one place but also another one a couple blocks away.
Oh well. We are in Africa. And soon enough trying to find internet access won’t matter as we go out to the field…at least not till we return near the end of the month. We start the adventure tomorrow, as our team scatters throughout Kenya by 4-wheel drive vehicles to support the polio immunization campaign scheduled for the middle of February.
Anyway, as it turned out, one of my new friends, Ali, had to travel back to Kenya to secure a VISA through the WHO-Sudan/Somali office in Nairobi on his way to assignment in Sudan. So, I had some good company…sort of (our seats weren’t near each other)…during the journey to Kenya. Seeing a friendly face and having someone with whom to endure and commiserate over the long travel and the anxious wait at the end for luggage was great. Ironically, I got my bags, no problem, while one of his bags was one of the last to offload. He almost missed it too b/c the gorilla handlers had put it face down, and as it was a new bag, he didn’t recognize it until I pointed it out to him based on the description he’d given me.
As I walked out of the terminal with Ali, his friend found him, and I found my hotel driver bearing a placard with my name. Perfect. So now I’m finally here in Kenya. The streets were pretty quiet and empty, but as my driver pointed out, it was Sunday night – rest day. He assured me there would be plenty of traffic during the week. He wasn’t kidding, as I saw the next morning.
Also, I didn’t realize, but apparently Kenya follows the British driving system – i.e., steering wheel on the right hand side and driving on the left side. Disconcerting, especially since, despite the heavy traffic, there are no traffic lights at intersections! Good thing I don’t have to drive in this constant complicated weave of hurrying people and motoring vehicles venting heavy exhaust.Feeling a bit jetlagged (Diane, my Canadian colleague also assigned to Kenya, especially so, since she arrived that Monday morning after about 36 hours of grueling travel from Canada via London and very little sleep), we and two other WHO short term consultants (STCs; Carry, from Holland, an older woman with a nursing background who seems to have been everywhere through cycling and through the short term assignments she does for WHO and MSF and Chidi, originally from southeastern Nigeria, a medical doctor, and also a serial STC with WHO) were picked up by a WHO driver at our very secure hotel (there are security guards everywhere and the driveway is gated – apparently this is a very popular UN and ex-pat hotel) to meet our WHO field supervisor and find out what was expected of us in the coming months.
As we begin the briefings, orientations, and other necessary preparations for field work, we also find some time to enjoy a little down time to recover from the jetlag, get to know Nairobi a little, and even begin sampling the local food
(lots of chicken and starch – especially Ugali, a cross between corn meal, polenta, and corn bread, very plain, and requiring a stew or sauce with which to eat it). In general, people seem very friendly and helful here. Of course, one has to watch out for those folks trying to hit up foreigners for cash “for a good cause” or guys trying to get you to go on a safari tour with their company. (Diane, unfortunately, seems particularly prone to these; of course, being quite obviously blonde and fair-skinned makes her a lovely beacon.) This city is very crowded! It really seems to be a maze of people and cars during the day. Although Kiswahili is the primary language, one can hear sprinklings of English words or conversations in accented English, and many products (some American brands) sold in the supermarket bear labels in English. There are also plenty of cell phone stores and internet cafés. Diane and I decided to try one of the latter. Unfortunately, it seems that while cafés for internet access abound here, it’s also incredibly slow (you could watch the grass grow faster than the internet works here – maybe it was the particular time of day) and when we tried to use it, it seemed to also have gone down – and not just at one place but also another one a couple blocks away.Oh well. We are in Africa. And soon enough trying to find internet access won’t matter as we go out to the field…at least not till we return near the end of the month. We start the adventure tomorrow, as our team scatters throughout Kenya by 4-wheel drive vehicles to support the polio immunization campaign scheduled for the middle of February.
1 comment:
Glad you didn't have to stay at the New Kenya Lodge Annex! So in which region of Kenya will you be based? Watch out for Rift Valley fever.
Post a Comment