Sunday 25 July 2010

The Training Week

I really don’t know how detailed to make this blog…hmm I’m very far behind! But fortunately I’m actually quite up to date with my actual diary so I can use that to write this.

First I’ll introduce all the people in one go.
• Tenteleni Volunteers:
Hannah, Cathryn, Becca, Lucy, Mia, Glori, Rachel, David, Will, Ben and Johnson
• Shiriki (Kenyan) Volunteers:
Christine, Maxi, Sammy and Victor
• Project Coordinators:
Sam and Emma (and Peter who is the Kenyan PC but doesn’t seem to do that much!)

We all met up in Sooper Guest House (the cheapest place to stay) and went out for dinner (which is the only option as there’s no kitchen) I had a whole fish with coconut sauce which was AWESOME!!!

11/07 We met up with the Kenyan volunteers and they were really shy and awkward. We went altogether for tea. I chatted to Christine and she is really nice and just laughs a lot  We got a minibus to the Univeristy (2 hours away in Kakamega) – the journey was sooooo bumpy!! We sang lots of morbid children’s songs (led mainly by Cathryn) and stopped to be tourists at the EQUATOR ( !!! ) We had our own rooms in the student halls which was nice but sadly there were only squatting toilets which was quite a challenge to get used to and we all bonded over techniques e.g. get down low! Or try standing backwards… clearly every squatter is different and we all have to find our own style! (We discovered mid week that there were western toilets in the library so we made regular trips there when necessary) lol…

I don’t want to talk to much about the training itself cos it would be a bit dull..we had talks on the education system, safety, group bonding things, HIV/AIDs, volunteer role and KiSwahili and Luo lessons (the tribal language of the area). Each evening we had a different activity run by ourselves. The first night was ‘trust games’ so like walking along in the dark holding a string which bizarrely culminated in a odd ‘passing the ball’ dance off and it turned out that Sammy is an AMAZING dancer! The second night was my group and we made a murder mystery!! It turned out brilliantly!! It was set on the pirate ship ‘SHSINKI’ and I was the cabin boy who was deranged and a mute. Other characters included the bitchy cook, crazy old drunk, psychologically disturbed old pirate, new captain, dead captain ghost and posh captive. It went on for so long and I got so into my character and I was really enjoying it! When they were guessing the murderer (which was me) they got so into it (especially Mia) and it was soo funny and no one guessed me! The last night it was Sammy’s 19th birthday so we got him a cake and balloons and played party games. He really enjoyed it and said it was his best birthday ever and he had never had a party before!

We left the Uni on Thursday 15/07 and on the way stopped at Kakamega rainforest and saw MONKEYS!!! Also I should mention that the group is really good! There are no cliques and I really get on well with the Kenyan volunteers (especially the girls) and generally there is a really good dynamic and lots of different personalities :)

2 comments:

  1. I'm still over a week behind but it's too late now and I have school in the morning!! (up at 7) xx

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  2. Thanks for the update! Your first week seemed to go well - weirdly, I had whole fish in coconut sauce on my first night as well! Was that in the swan centre??

    I hope your first week of placement went well, I look forward to hearing about it :)

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