Kenya

This will be short, but I'll try to get something more up in a few weeks.

I'm in western Kenya near a town called Maseno.  Have been mostly working on a project at a local primary school helping build classrooms, a library, and set up a computer lab.  It's been sort of a combination of making sure the money (that the organization I'm with brings) is spent in the right way and hanging out with Kenyan schoolkids (playing baseball, tutoring, etc.).  I've also been learning more about global health and how healthcare is set up in places like this, and have been getting interested in solar energy.

East Africa is beautiful.  Less jungly and more open and hilly.  Although there are definitely still trees.  Kenya is also decades ahead of Sierra Leone as far as infrastructure and development.  There's a legitimate middle class here and you can get fast food and pizza in Nairobi, as well as electricity and running water and highways.  Very different feel to it that West Africa, and it's taken some getting used to.  But I like it a lot.

Jackson, one of the guys who lives in a village on top of this hill. 

Somehow they farm on it and get their cows up and down it.

Blog's Big Comeback

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog after its months of dormancy, but in case I have any die-hard fans out there (and Sarah says I might), here's something:

I'm in Dakar at the moment, spending a week here en route to Kenya for phase 2 of this African extravaganza. I'm not really sure how to recap Sierra Leone. I love the country and miss it now that I'm gone. The country has some serious challenges to face, and during my time there I started questioning if what we (outsiders) are doing there to try to help is actually having a positive effect. In the case of Sierra Leone, I'm leaning heavily towards "no".

After being in Sierra Leone, which is an extreme case of underdevelopment, poverty, and foreign aid and development assistance, I think I've seen one side of the spectrum. Senegal is comepletely different - there is running water and electricity and highways - it feels like a weird European city. There is much less international aid presence here, and, at least in the capital of Dakar, people look at me like a tourist rather than an alien. I'm not sure which is better (or worse).

I've attached some pictures below. I unfortunately don't have so many pictures because a lot of the time it's very awkward to break out a $100 piece of equipment around people who live on less than a dollar per day. But here's a couple (click to make them bigger I think):

Soccer Game in Freetown


Eating "Pap" (grits) with Some Dudes at King Harmon Rd

The Guys who I Lived with in Freetown

Picture, from a hill, of the town of Kabala, in the North of SL near Guinea

Picture of the Backyard of the House I stayed at in the town of Bo (SL)

Freetown

Leaving Sierra Leone, from the Plane Window

Evening over a Soccer Field in Dakar, Senegal

Mosque on the Beach in Dakar

First Real Highway I'd seen in a while (in Dakar)

Beach in Dakar

As you can see, Dakar is much more sandy, and much less green, than Sierra Leone. Everyone speaks French, it's much more Arab-ish, and as I mentioned it's much more developed. Taking a shower with running water was a little bit of a shock.

I don't know what to expect in Kenya, but you can all rest assured that I'll be continuing my frequent and illuminating blog updates to keep everyone posted...

Till next time
Sam

Images from the Pujehun District

I apologize for the lack of updates to this blog over the past few weeks. We have been in the Malen Chiefdom in the Pujehun District for the past 3 weeks or so (in the South of the country). We were based out of Sahn and distributing mosquito nets and educating people about malaria in 30 or so villages surrounding that village. The villages ranged in size from 15 to 900 people, and are generally made up of mud and stick built huts tucked away in the jungle.

Below are couple images I was able to upload from my camera from the UNICEF office in Freetown (where I am right now). We have to go back to Pujehun on Sunday to organize the follow-up for the project, and then a couple of us are planning on doing some traveling around the country for a week or so.

I'll try to keep this blog more up-to-date going forward... but internet availability is pretty sparse around here.

(click on the pictures for bigger versions)

Our Reception in Bamba

Soccer Tournament in Sahn

Walking to Nyanyahun on the Bush Path


Sunrise in Sahn

Week in Freetown

I don't have much time to write, and I really don't like reading long things on the internet, so here is a pretty unbelievable and novel experience in a foreign country condensed to a few bullets:

- Sweating constantly

- Little to no lights/power or running water (showers are out of a bucket)

- pretty much every price here is negotiable

- a de learn krio small small

- Went through some of the city slums, which are the worst living conditions I have ever seen (have pictures that I might try to put up, but connection is very bad)

- We leave for the provinces (rural villages) on Monday or Tuesday, and we'll be bringing 100 XO laptops (www.laptop.org) + solar panels, 4,000 long lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets, 1,000 paracheck blood tests (malaria tests we will administer)

- We've met with a lot of high level public health officials here, which has been interesting

Those are just some things that come to mind. I can be reached by phone at +232 078 401509 (only call through skype or else it would be too expensive)