February 28th,
2014
On Friday, February 21st we got to go on a nature
walk with Kiringe, our Wildlife ecology teacher. We learned how to distinguish
between different animal tracks and dung, which was a little difficult when you
think of how many hoofed animals there are in East Africa. During the walk we had two rangers with us
because we were walking around in the Kenya Wildlife Sanctuary. They had to
carry weapons just in case!! Daniel said that us students were too concerned
with where our feet were hitting the ground, that we needed to look up because
even a wildebeest could charge us and we wouldn’t know! It still amazes me the
differences between these classes and my classes back at Penn State; we sure
didn’t have to worry about random wild animals charging us during field
lectures! One of the groups even saw an elephant!! The students were joking
around saying the teachers were playing the game “take the wazungu into the
bush and see if they can find their way out.” We would definitely get lost
without our guides! When we got back to camp we had a little bit more class and
then we all settled into the Chumba to watch the Lion King! Pretty much
everyone in camp knows me as the hyena girl now so every time the hyenas came
on screen, our S.A.M. Mike looked at me to see if I laughed….I always did. It’s
amazing how a simple movie can transport you back to being a little kid, where
nothing matters but that moment right there.
On Saturday I got to experience the Kimana medical clinic
for the first time… It was better than I expected, even though I hate going to
the doctor regardless. There was this bathroom where they told us to produce a “sample”
if you catch my drift. Everything is about poop in Africa, not even joking. Anyway,
it was basically a stall with a hole in the ground… Mike told me to get
creative. It was one of the weirdest moments of my life. Then, when I went to
leave the bathroom, I realized the door was locked from the outside!! I was
stranded in this bathroom for a full 10 minutes before the lab technician came
looking for me! It’s become the running joke the past few days. Immediately
after I got back to camp, we loaded up the cars and headed over to the local
primary school where I got to help teach 12-13 year olds about plants. It was a
little difficult to teach with the language barrier but our group was really
creative and acted out a lot of stuff. After the lesson was over we got to go
play with the kids outside and take a lot of pictures. One of the kids, John,
was in love with my camera so I let him take some pictures of him and his
friends. Those pictures mean more than any I would have taken that day and he
was pretty good at it! We were about to leave when six little girls descended
on me and started taking the bandana out of my hair. Six sets of hands started
pulling at my hair, moving it around and braiding sections. I’m told at one
point I had a nice Donald Trump comb-over. After a few minutes they decided on
putting my bandana back on a different way and told me that I looked “very
smart.” Once we got back to KBC a few of us decided to head into Kimana for a
few hours. We walked around, ate some Chapatti from a local restaurant, and
relaxed at a bar with a few beers. It was a very nice addition to a packed day.
That night I got to lead RAP, which stands for Reflection, Announcements, and
Presentation. After I gave a recap on our day and opened the floor for
announcements, I had everyone play this game where you place a piece of paper
on your back and everyone in the room writes something they like about you. It
was a really good chance for everyone to bond a little more and everyone loved
reading their papers afterwards. I have never had a better night sleep than
that night, if only because I have never been more exhausted before! (In the
most amazing way of course)
On Monday we had another field exercise with Kiringe, where
we got to walk around in the bush and identify plants. We measured the distance
of trees from a way-point and identified key species. Of course, the part most
of us remember is when we got within 15 meters of a zebra herd!! They weren’t
too happy to see us but we were so excited to see them! On Tuesday we got to
have 4 full hours of Swahili, which I loved. I immediately emailed my advisor
about continuing Swahili once I’m back in the happiest of valleys. I was also
blessed to receive a once in a lifetime hug from Okello. As he would say, my
cup of joy was overflowing that day! That night also, Shem (our wildlife
management teacher) sat down with us at dinner and told us he wanted to sit at
the table with all of his children. He asked us about our days and told us
stories from his youth, leaving out the juicy parts because “fathers don’t tell
their children those stories.” Everyone here is absolutely phenomenal!
Asante Sana for reading!
Dani
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