Hamjambo family, friends, and random peeps! I am alive and doing well, learning more and more about the local culture with each passing day. As promised, this blog will be dedicated to informing y’all on what exactly it is I am doing here in Kenya. If you follow me on LinkedIn (which you should by the way), you’ll have noted that I recently updated my profile to my current work. I am currently interning for an organization called the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD), which has its headquarters located in San Francisco. They also have various local offices (called Site Teams) in India, Latin America, and Kenya. These local site teams have partner organizations which FSD interns could work with, find families who are willing to host, and work directly with the interns in coming up with sustainable “projects” to help their respective organization. FSD really stresses on empowering the people within each intern’s organization to take ownership of the project so that the project can be sustained when the intern leaves. When I applied for this program through the University of Portland’s Moreau Center, I got accepted to work with Friends Secondary School at Lusui, which is, as I mentioned in previous blog posts, a rural high school near Kakamega, Kenya. I am in the process of putting together a proposed project so once that goes through, I will update you all. In the meantime, I am helping out in the classroom by teaching a little bit of math and business education. Hopefully I will also be teaching the boys some rugby (hands down the greatest sport in the world) along with once a week Q&A sessions about anything and everything the students want to know!
As you all probably know by now, I am thoroughly enjoying myself so far. My host family continues to be very welcoming, always inviting me to come along with them whenever they go somewhere. I’ve developed a very elaborate handshake with my 12 year old host brother, but I discovered the other night that he is an Arsenal fan. I am currently in the works of guiding his poor soul away from living such an unfortunate life, telling him more about the greatness that is Chelsea! Even worse is that my host dad loves Manchester United, so I always make sure to avoid discussing football/soccer with him. Other than that I absolutely love them! I’ve been able to take the matatus (vans) and bodabodas (motorbikes) more to familiarize myself with riding them and bargaining for my fare. Riding a 12-seater matatu is always an adventure, as the conductor (designated person to board passengers and collect fares) always seem to find spaces to fit more passengers. At one point, I counted a whopping 21 passengers, and of course I was the big, awkward mzingu right smack in the middle of the group. The seats and ceiling of these matatus were obviously not made for big boys like me, but I do my best to fit in. Other than this, everything else is going smoothly. I am looking forward to the coming week and all that it has to offer!
Thanks again for keeping up with my blog and til my next one, stay #blessed!
– Tembo Mrembo
