Sorry, once again, for the lapse in updates. The problem is that while I stay busy with stuff, I don't really think to report daily activities because I'm just not sure how interesting they are. I still occasionally see some horrifying snakes and spiders and stuff, but I feel like I've covered that subject comprehensively, and I'm certain you all think i'm a huge wuss.

One crazy/noteworthy thing is that in exactly one week from today (on May 26), i'll be celebrating the one year mark in my service. Time has been flying by over here, and I cannot believe a year has already passed. Craziness.

I'm going to be heading back to the States for about 3 weeks in August, and i'm really excited about it. I'll be in the DC area from August 5-14, and then in Memphis from the 15-25. If any of you are around let me know.

Other than that things are just kind of moving along. The malaria education project I've been working on has been going really well. The group members from my CBO have done an excellent job facilitating the sessions, and they've been getting more confident and efficient every week. We're putting up good numbers in terms of people reached, and apparently Western Province (which is the province I operate in) has the best reporting numbers evaluations in the whole country, which is awesome.

Anyways, that's all I got. I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope to talk to y'all soon.

Take it easy.

Hey Everyone,

Thought I'd give y'all a quick update on things over here in Kenya. I've been keeping busy with this malaria project that i've mentioned a lot lately, and now it's about time for things to get rolling. All the training sessions are done, and our work plans have been made and turned in. The staff at PSI and I agreed that my group should bump up the number of sessions it holds, so now my group will conduct 50 sessions per month instead of 10. While that's a big increase, it's the most efficient way to accomplish the goals we've set out. This way, instead of one team running one session per day, we're going to have multiple teams running sessions in different communities/villages simultaneously. The sessions will start April 1 and run through April 20, with me sitting in on as many sessions as I can over the course of the month. The last 10 days or so of the month will be reserved for writing reports and planning May's sessions.

Also worth mentioning was a trip I took with some friends to Lake Naivasha and Hells Gate National Park in the beginning of the month. The lake and the park are about 1-2 hours outside Nairobi, and we had a great time. The lake is gorgeous, and the cabin we stayed in was right on the water, so we could hear hippos throughout the night. Hells Gate is a unique park because you are allowed to hike through it without a guide or vehicle. It was pretty hot, and we ended up hiking about 15 miles or so over the course of the whole day, but it was a really cool experience. We'd be walking along and there would be zebra, gazelle, warthogs and ostrich hanging out like 10 feet away. The reason you can do this is because there are supposedly no elephants or predators in the park. The funny thing about that is that we came across what seemed like fresh footprints of some sort of predator. We didn't immediately know what the footprint was from, but it was clearly not any type of hoof. It was definitely a paw. There were some big prints, and some smaller ones, and they just happened to show up when we were in a slightly more secluded, less open area of the park. We promptly left that area and found more open areas. We found out later that the tracks were from a hyena. Hyenas are mean, and enormous, so i'm happy it wasn't hunting us and that we didn't come across it.

Anyways, that's all for now. I'll be staying pretty busy from here on, but i'll be sure and update again if anything cool happens. Hope everyone is doing well. Take it easy.

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while (again), so I figured i'd give y'all an update.

A few weekends ago a big group of us congregated to Kisumu to watch the Super Bowl, which was a great time. I can't explain how great it was to get to watch live football, or how difficult it was to stay awake until 6am to watch the end. I'm happy the Steelers lost (sorry, Cahills), and it was a good end to an incredibly depressing football season for me.

A lot has been going on as far as work goes, too. For starters, I mentioned previously (I think) about a male circumcision project me and Jenn are trying to start up in our area. Well, thats's finally gotten rolling, and is going to be a lot bigger than we originally intended. In conjunction with the NGO we are working with, we have setup 6 sites throughout the district that will collectively offer free services for up to 140 people per day, three days a week. This includes HIV/STI testing, post-op care, etc. As I mentioned in another post, the CDC released a study indicating a reduction of HIV transmission by up to 60% in males 15 and older who undergo the procedure, so this could be a good, sustainable project.

The other big project i'll be working on is via the President's Malaria Initiative. Through this program, different US agencies work with ngos to implement malaria prevention techniques and education to affected communities (read more at www.fightingmalaria.gov). Peace Corps is starting up their involvement with an ngo called Population Services Int'l, me, Jenn and our friend Liz are the three PCVs that were chosen to help implement PMI. In March we'll go to a three day training session, and then we'll train members of our respective community based organizations, who will in turn go into the field and educate the community (while we supervise). Malaria is a big problem in Western Kenya, so this could be an effective project.

Anyways, that's pretty much it over here. If you get a chance, google "king baboon spider". I came across one in my house a week or two ago. I came across it because I HEARD it running across the concrete. That is not ok. Any insect/arachnid named after a primate is cause for alarm.

Ok, that's all for now. I'll try and be better about updating. Take it easy.

I have absolutely neglected this blog as of late, and for that, I apologize. I'm back in Kenya now, heading back to the bush tomorrow, but a lot has happened between the last post and now, so i'll try to catch everyone up to speed as concisely as possible.

So as far as my knee goes, i'm well on the road to full-recovery. I have fortunately continued healing up quickly, and my biggest obstacle right now is trying not to do too much too quickly. I just need to keep up with the PT and let it heal up.

The biggest/best stuff to happen was Amie's trip down to South Africa. It was absolutely great to see her after 7 long months, and we had a blast while she was visiting. We headed up to Kruger National Park for 3 days over Christmas Eve/Christmas, and had a great time. We saw all the big animals, including lions, leopard, cheetah, elephant, hyena and tons of gazelle-type animals. On the way back from the park we stopped at the Blyde River Canyon, which is apparently the third largest canyon in the world. It was absolutely amazing. We also took a day trip to a park not far from Pretoria, where among other things we got to see a lion hunt and kill a warthog, which was incredible. I took Amie back out the lion park so she could pet some lion cubs and feed the giraffe, and we got a bonus because there was a jaguar cub there for some reason (jaguars don't live naturally in Africa) and we also got to feed an ostrich (which actually pretty unsettling because ostriches are terrifying). On the way to Kruger we spent the night in Johannesburg and went to the Apartheid Museum which was very well put together and well-worth the visit.

Anyways, all in all it was tremendous trip, and it was great to see her. Of course, saying good bye was no fun, but i'm looking forward to getting back to the States to see her and my friends/family this summer, hopefully July-ish. I'm including a link to some of the pictures from Amie's trip, so enjoy those. I hope everyone had a great holiday-time and a fun New Years. I'll update again after I get to site, hopefully nothing venomous has moved into my house. Talk to y'all soon.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051501&id=33900475&l=57e421e7ad

Hey Everyone,

Here's a quick update on things down here in Pretoria. My recovery is going really well, and i'm about 3 weeks ahead of schedule on the rehab. I go in twice a week, and then I have exercises to do on my own every day, and while I have a long ways to go, it's coming along much better than expected. Being down here in Pretoria is completely different than Kenya. Pretoria is like any US/European city, so it certainly has it's perks. Despite all the delicious food and whatnot, i'm ready to get back up to Kenya and to my site. I've been cleared to head back up there on January 2, so between now and then I just need to keep knocking out my rehab so that I can get back to my site sooner rather than later once I get back in-country.

While knowing I have a date to head back to Kenya is exciting, what's much more exciting is that Amie will be getting down here in a couple of weeks. She gets here on the 21st, and we're heading up to Kruger National Park from Dec. 24-26. That's the big trip we're taking, but outside of that we'll go to the Apartheid Museum, and i'll take her to a lion park just outside Pretoria. I went there last weekend, and you get to play with lion cubs, which is amazing. They are like big puppies.

Anyways, that's really all that's going on down here. I'm just rehabbing and hanging out with other medevacs, which has been really cool, and then i'm just waiting on Amie to get here. I'll update again in a bit, probably with stories of the safari. Take it easy.

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while, and actually a fair amount has happened since the last post, so I figured I'd give y'all an update. I went to Nairobi a little over a week ago to get my knee checked on again, since it had been hurting me for the past 5 months. After talking to the Doctor, and to the PC med staff, it was decided that I should come down here to South Africa to get a arthroscopic surgery to fix my meniscus. So I get down here to Pretoria and see the ortho as I'm describing the injury from last June he tells me my ACL is torn. I let him know that I had an MRI, and the doc in Kenya didn't mention anything. I then undergo the physical exam, and he tells me again my ACL torn, and then we look at the MRI from June and he confirms that my ACL is, in fact, torn. He showed me what a healthy ligament is supposed to look like (he showed me my MCL), and compared to that my ACL looked like it had exploded. Anyways, I had the ACL reconstruction this past Wednesday, so everything is fixed and i'm well on my way to recovery. I actually opted for the regional anesthetic so that I could watch the surgery on a monitor, which was pretty cool. I haven't had to take any pain meds yet, which I'm happy about, and i've been able to put some weight on my leg, so hopefully I can keep progressing quickly and head back up to Kenya sooner rather than later. Anyways, i'll keep updating and let you know if anything interesting happens while i'm down here in South Africa. Talk to y'all soon.

Hey Everyone,

Well, Halloween in Kenya was a success. A bunch of the PCVs in the Western/Nyanza area converged on Kisumu for the weekend, and needless to say we had a good time. Friday it was just a lot of hanging out at the hotel, but Saturday there was a party at a house owned by an American NGO. It was good to meet other Americans, to not have to worry about getting things stolen from you at a bar. I stayed up way too late, though, and was once again reminded that I am no longer 22.

I am heading back to Nairobi on Nov. 10 to get some more tests run on my knee, which has been giving me some trouble as of late. Hopefully it's nothing too serious, but i'll keep you posted.

Other than that i'm just working on planning some projects/events for the relatively near future. Me and Jenn (my PCV friend who is also in Funyula)are going to start a summer camp so that the kids (many/most of whom are orphans/vulnerable children) have something to do when they are not in school. Also, hopefully sooner rather than later, we are going to try and have a male circumcision event in the area, in conjunction with the Nyanza Reproductive Health Center and the CDC. Aside from general hygiene issues, there is some evidence to suggest that circumcised men are less likely to transmit HIV. Finally, Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, so i'll be heading down to another volunteer's site to help out with an event being put on down there. Even though there isn't a ton of day-to-day work to do, I have enough to keep me busy.

The other benefit of all these longer-term things is that they give me landmarks to pass the time. Amie is coming down here December 19, and i'm really excited about it. By the time I get back from Nairobi and settled back to life at my site, it'll only be about a month away, which is awesome. Anyways, that's all for now, i'll keep everyone posted on developments with the projects/my knee. Take it easy.

So today was an interesting day. I headed into town to get some lunch and on my way there was a huge gathering of people in front of some shops on the main road. I asked someone what was going on and they informed me that some people had stolen from a shop, and that the shop owner had enlisted a medicine man to help deal with the situation. The medicine man was going to essentially put a spell on the thief (who admitted to stealing) forcing him to eat grass like a cow. Like the crowd, I was intrigued to see this play out, so after I ate my lunch I returned to the scene. In the 30 minutes since I had been gone the crowd had doubled and things had a much more hostile feel. By the time I got up to where I could see anything the medicine man, the shop owner and some others were in the process of deciding whether or not the man should be publicly killed, in what would amount to a lynching. The accused was sitting on the ground with his hands tied, and the men were discussing his fate openly and publicly, taking suggestions from the crowd. By this time the crowd was getting antsy and agitated, and so I figured that would be a good time to leave. About two seconds later a man in the crowd walked up holding an enormous rock on his shoulder with the clear intention of dropping it on the head of the accused. At the last possible second someone else grabbed the stone from behind and knocked it to the floor, prompting the medicine man and others to grab the accused and safely stash him in the shop. The entire situation was really eye opening, especially because it happened in my town, where I would never have guessed something like this could happen. More alarming was the manner in which people in the crowd were talking, often cracking jokes about killing the thief, who was no more than 20-21 years old. The most surreal part about this entire fiasco was that it took place directly across the street from a secondary school, resulting in at least half the crowd being children aged 10-16. This story had a seemingly happy (relatively) ending, but throughout the developing world, Kenya included, these stories more often than not end badly. Anyways, I realize this is a bit of a downer, but I felt it was worth sharing.

Ok, I need to preface this story with another story to provide a little context/maintain some degree of masculine integrity. After I graduated college I went to Tanzania for about 3.5 months to teach/work at an NGO, and travel around some before law school. At the end of my trip I was lucky enough to be able to camp out at three national parks, one of which was the Serengeti. Any time you walked out of your tent at night and flashed your headlamp around you would see the eerie reflection of eyes glaring back at you. Despite being in the middle of the park, we were at a campsite, and as such there was a steady stream of campers coming through there. Hyenas had picked up on the fact that they could get easy meals from left overs and trash, so at night they were pretty much everywhere. The reflective eye thing is very unsettling on its own, but knowing those eyes belong to a hyena is pee-inducing.

Ok, fast forward 4 years to about 2 hours ago. Keep in mind the above story, and stories from previous posts about man-eating hyenas in my area, and go ahead and google "hyena" and check out the pictures for reference. I walked out of my house tonight to fill up my drinking water jug (it rained all day today so the tank next to my house was full) and I had my headlamp on as usual since it is pitch black on my compound after 8pm. I set the 20 liter jug under the tap and got it started, and as I turn around I catch a glimmer out of the corner of my eye. I moved forward a couple of steps and then I saw a pair of red eyes reflecting back at me. I couldn't see the body at all, just the eyes, and they were about 15-20 feet away from me. I was now in between my front door and the water tank that was pouring rain water at an impossibly slow rate. Part of me just wanted to go inside and not mess with any of it, but then I figured I would end up wasting water that other people on my compound need. So I went inside and got my knife and decided not to make any sudden movements, all the while yelling under my breath at the water tank for being absurdly slow at the one time I needed it to be fast. The jug finally filled up, and as I walk back towards my door I notice the eyes aren't there anymore. As I looked around in a panicked state I saw them again, this time about 5 feet away. I was able to see what the eyes belonged to, and let me tell you, it was the fiercest 5 pound newborn puppy I have ever seen. Needless to say I felt/feel just a bit emasculated at the moment, but the 20 minute standoff and 5 minutes of me laughing at myself brought some excitement to an otherwise slow night. Again, if any of you retell this story, I really need you to emphasize how scary hyenas are, and how they may or may not have eaten a bunch of people in my community in the not-so-distant past, and that I could not see the body of the monster, just the eyes. Much appreciated. Talk to y'all soon.

So my bush adventures with Porter in the Mara had to be delayed, so Bear's job is safe for now. Porter got hit by a truck. He's ok, so I feel that telling the story in a light-hearted manner is ok, although at the time it was absolutely terrifying. In order to get to Porter's site we had to go through Narok, where Megan lives. We got off the bus, collected our bags, and walked about 20 yards when a massive truck sped past us. Porter has a big army-style ruck sack that he had hooked through one of his arms, and the truck slammed into it and tossed him into a parked car. As I mentioned, being 5 feet away from this and seeing him get hit was scary, and the fact that the truck didn't even slow down was infuriating. On the plus side, Porter has a promising future in figure skating, because when that truck hit him he did a pretty solid triple lutz (I googled figure skating moves, and this was the most appropriate), followed by a ninja roll of sorts. Porter's ego is also fine, as he feels like a stud for being hit by a truck and being more or less ok. I make sure and remind him that his bag is what is awesome, as it is perfectly fine while i've had to listen to him whine about soreness for the past two days. In all seriousness, he's really lucky to walk away with just some cuts and whiplash. He's also aware of how bad that could have been, as evidenced by his quote 10 minutes after the incident: "Getting hit by a truck wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be."

So, now we're in Nairobi because Porter is here for medical and since I have to be here for my VAC meeting on Wednesday it doesn't make sense for me to go all the way back to my site, so i'll be hanging out here til then. I'll actually be able to get some work done while i'm here because I can go to the PC Office and start knocking out some grant proposals for my projects (i'll post about details of my projects and stuff in the next couple of weeks once I get it all worked out). Anyways, that's all for now. Stay out of trouble and watch out for rogue trucks that want to assassinate aid workers.

Hey guys,

IST officially ended yesterday, and we capped off the two weeks of training with an amazing cookout at our Country Director's house. We ate grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, chili, played basketball, and ate oreos. I think just about everyone ate until they were uncomfortably full, but it was well worth it. On Wednesday we spent the entire day in a nearby town called Thika, in which we learned about various food security techniques. Peace Corps is going to incorporate food security programs in the near future, and so this was an intro of sorts. The highlights were rabbit, goat and chicken rearing, various crop planting techniques, and some irrigation/water storage and catchment ideas. It was actually the most informative part of IST, as most of us need good ideas for income generating activities at our sites.

There is a group of us staying on in Nairobi for one more night, and then i'll be heading down my buddy Porter's site in the Masai Mara park. It'll be a pretty significant change of pace from Nairobi, as his place is pretty isolated, but it's in the middle of a national wildlife park so the potential for Bear Grylls-type activities is high. After that i'm actually coming back to Nairobi for a couple of days because I was voted on to the Volunteer Action Committee (Peace Corps' version of a student government) and we have a meeting on the 30th. I'll be heading back to Agenga after the VAC meeting, where i'm going to start working out the logistics of building this playground and start cranking out some grant proposals. I'll definitely keep everyone posted on progress for that (if anyone has any suggestions for companies or organizations that build playgrounds in developing countries/areas let me know).

Alright, that's pretty much it for now. Here is a link to a bunch of pictures i've taken since being here, and i'll try and get some more up from my trip down to the Mara. Take it easy and i'll talk to everyone soon.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042654&id=33900475&l=c652b15a79

Hey Everyone,

We're here in Nairobi for IST and today was mostly an intro day with some medical videos about HIV which were pretty depressing. Tomorrow we start the real stuff with various workshops and seminar-type things offered by various organizations to help educate us on different topics we told the staff we wanted to know about. In the morning i'll be sitting in on a session regarding income generating activities (IGAs), because in my area there is a serious need for alternatives to the fishing culture. The fishing culture around Lake Victoria is a major contributing factor the ridiculously high HIV prevalence rate in the District (13% - among the highest in the country). I wrote a Community Needs Assessment detailing various aspects of my community, specifically the various health issues and HIV/AIDS related problems in the area. I'll double check with my bosses and try and put it on here if anyone is interested. Other than that our week is booked pretty solid from 8-4. We try and get out and eat the tasty food here as much as our wallets allow, but it's mainly just been good to see all of my friends who have been scattered throughout the country. Anyways, that's all for now, but I think we're going to an animal orphanage/sanctuary this weekend, so i'll post some pictures ASAP. Talk to you soon.

I figured I would drop a line updating things over here since I haven't in a little while. Honestly, there isn't a whole lot happening over here in Western Kenya. We are all heading to Nairobi on September 12 for 2 weeks of In-Service Training, and really until we get back from that there isn't a whole lot we can do. Right now we're all still meeting people and getting comfortable with our areas, and there is a lot of information gathering for the Community Needs Assessment we all have to write and turn in at the end of IST. The new Constitution was signed and implemented this past weekend, marking a significant moment in Kenyan history. A bit of controversy arose with President Bashir of Sudan came to the ceremony (among other world leaders). The ICC and UN have chastised the Kenyan government for hosting an individual wanted by the Hague. There haven't been any violent outbreaks as a result of any of this, and hopefully things stay calm. Other than, as I already mentioned, there isn't a whole lot going on. I've read the few books I have here (i'm eagerly awaiting the Kindle that Amie will bring with her) and I watched the entire first season of Friday Night Lights in 1.25 days, which was alarming (but awesome, what a great show). I have little doubt that two weeks in Nairobi with friends after a month of relative isolation will produce some good stories, so I'll update the blog more frequently in the future. Take it easy.

My bathroom is an outhouse, which really isn't bad at all (especially compared to pretty much every other outhouse i've seen in Kenya). The glaring exception to the "not bad at all" comment is the arachnid population. Now I understand that by definition an outhouse is outdoors, and spiders live outdoors, so I shouldn't really complain about it. I really only worry about killing spiders that I find in my house, and i've actually had a part time roommate in a small frog that helps me out with insects and whatnot(I was put on the spot to name him and for some reason Lancelot popped into my head). My issue isn't so much the fact that there are spiders, but more that I'm pretty sure some of them are big enough for me to put a leash on and walk around town with. I've attached a few pictures of one from the outhouse (I think I saw it wink at me) and then one that was just hanging out creepily right in front of my door. It wouldn't move or anything. It was just sitting there on my door step staring at me. I think it was waiting for me to go to sleep or something. It was very eerie.

So the Constitutional Referendum passed by a large margin on Wednesday, and while that is very exciting news what is even more exciting is that there was not even a hint of violence or unrest anywhere in the country. This is a huge step forward for Kenya, and the peaceful passing of this referendum is a big step forward for the East African Community. Anyways, because of the resounding success and safety of the whole deal, our Country Director lifted the travel ban that was in effect for all PCVs. Rich, Jenn and myself took advantage of this gesture and headed out to Kisumu (the biggest city in the Western part of the country) for the weekend to get some stuff for our relative places. Today we visited some of the touristy places in town, namely the Kisumu Museum and the Impala Sanctuary. The Museum was ok, with its biggest attractions being the giant tortoises, the two massive crocodiles, and the snake pit. The snake pit was a little disappointing because we only saw one snake due to the fact that it was absurdly hot and they were all hiding. The impala sanctuary, however, was awesome. It is a small little park right on Lake Victoria in which herds of impala walk freely among people. There is also a collection of orphaned animals that have been raised by the Kenyan Wildlife Service, among which are buffalo, cheetah, lions, and a hyena. Keeping with my newly created tradition of petting jungle cats, I was able to pet one of the cheetah's. It was unreal. She would come right up to the fence, purring, and essential ask us to pet her behind the ears. Right after we started petting her a group of impala walked into the area about 50 yards away and both of the cheetahs immediately shifted focus and started getting a little jumpy, causing me to come close once again to soiling myself in public. She would be pressed up to the fence acting all sweet and then all of sudden snap up and stare with incredibly wild eyes at the impala. It was simultaneously awesome and terrifying. The hyena was also horrifying, namely because I was now seeing how big they are so soon after hearing about their murderous ways close to my new home. We also took a boat ride on Lake Victoria to see some hippos. We saw a few, which was very cool as well. The views on the Lake were gorgeous, and if I wasn't so afraid of getting attacked by hippos, crocodiles, or schistosomeisis (some type of worm/fungus/parasite thing found in the lake), I would definitely have liked to go swimming. Anyways, i've attached some pictures here, so enjoy. I can only put up 5 at a time, so i'm going to try and find some other way to make this work. Take it easy.

So the big vote is today, and everyone here is keeping their fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. People around here seem confident that things will carry out without a hitch, but just to be safe i'm staying put on my compound all day today. My bed finally got delivered to my place, and I spent my first night on it last night. Despite the fact that it takes up half of the space in my room, being able to roll over without fear of falling off the bed onto my face was amazing. I moved the cot I had been sleeping on out onto the porch yesterday and spent the whole day lounging in the shade listening to music, it was really nice. As nice as it is to be able to relax, i'm ready to start doing some work. On Monday i'm going to finish making house visits to the members of my group in the different communities around here, and then throughout the rest of the month I have different meetings, clinics and workshops scheduled. I've attached some pictures of me lounging on the porch, enjoying a reprieve from the heat in the rain, my supervisor's grandkids, and couple of older pictures of kids from a nutrition center around Loitoktok. Anyways, i'll update again soon with news about the referendum. Hope everyone is doing well.

Hello People,

So the Constitutional Referendum is this coming week (August 4), and Peace Corps is on top of its game making sure everyone knows who they need to talk to and where they need to be should something go down. Hopefully, however, this will go smoothly and there will be no violence or uproar with the announcement of the result. That being said, it is definitely better to be safe than sorry. There is a travel ban for all PCV's from August 2 - 9, so during that time I will be reading/watching movies on my laptop. Anyways, here's a rundown of what's been going on over here in Agenga.

A few days ago me, Jenn and Brian (my supervisor's son) climbed up this huge hill/small mountain behind my house. Even though left in the early evening, the sun was cooking us. Apparently it gets hot around the equator. The only trails on the mountain (i'm just going to call it a mountain because it makes me feel tougher, it's really just a massive hill)are cattle trails, and they stop about half way up so we just had to go straight up the side. It was a steep climb, but well worth it because the views of the landscape below and of Lake Victoria were amazing. I've attached a couple of pictures of Lake Victoria in the background and then of us getting a Fanta after the trek. During the trip we were getting torn apart by thorns from acacia bushes and other murderous shrubbery, and as annoying as that was it provided me with an opportunity to channel my inner Bear Grylls and use aloe from a wild aloe plant to treat the cuts on my arms and hands (despite the fact that we had neosporin available in our backpacks). Also along the way Brian spotted a green mamba in some shrubs, which was both awesome and horrifying. What's even more horrifying is that today Jenn was told by a local that not too long ago (8 months - 1 year) there was a problem with hyena's killing people in this area. Apparently there is a cave on the mountain/hill that we just went up in which a pack of hyenas had made their den. It got bad enough to where they had to seal the cave with cement. For whatever reason the hyenas have supposedly been coming back around this area, and specifically that mountain/hill recently. This was disturbing for a number of reasons, namely because I was under the impression that I only needed to worry about snakes, spiders and other things I could easily outrun and/or step on, and more obviously because I was just on that mountain/hill as it was getting dark. So, I'm telling myself that I will be limiting my bush excursions to trails and hyena-free areas, but we'll see.

As far as work goes, there was an HIV/AIDS workshop today on my compound. The workshop was for HIV positive people and it covered everything from methods of contracting the virus, to treatment, to the importance of nutrition for the infected person. A majority of the group were women, but there were also a few men. HIV is a major problem in my area, with the prevalence rate in my district reaching 9.4%. In communities closer to Lake Victoria, where there is more money flowing due to fishing (and therefore more prostitution) the prevalence rate is as high as 20%. Tomorrow i'm meeting with my supervisor's group to figure out a work schedule for me, and to detail exactly what it is i'll be doing. I'll keep y'all posted. The other pictures I attached are of a monkey sitting on the Ambassador's roof while he is giving his speech at our swearing in, the sun setting over my compound, and me Jenn and Brian at an HIV/AIDS event in Funyula. Until next time, stay away from hyenas and mambas.

Hey Everyone,

Here's a video of my house. I've been running around all over Western Kenya trying to get things to settle in, and minus a bigger bed and some type of contraption to hang my clothes, I think I'm just about done. While this may not be a super classy place by American standards, compared to some of the setups my friends here have it's a palace. Don't be deceived by the toilet, sink, and shower, though. I don't have running water so I use a choo (outhouse) where I have to dodge hornets and baby-eating spiders. I also take bucket baths, which are actually not that bad at all since I can heat my water. Anyways, i'll try and get some pictures up soon as well. Enjoy.

Hey everyone,

After a long and exhausting 8 hour bus ride from Nairobi, I got to my site in one piece last night. Western Kenya is beautiful, with tons of green "hills" that are really small mountains. My area is called Agenga, and is a little over an hour walk from the small town of Funyula. Funyula is about 10-15 minutes by car to the big town of Bumala, which is then about 1.5-2 hrs from the city of Kisumu. My house is located on a community assistance center compound. The compound houses staff from the nursery school and nutrition center here, and my supervisor (who is very nice and helpful)lives just a few yards from my house. I have a nice place, complete with a bedroom, sitting room and kitchen, as well as electricity (which is amazing). I'm also about a 45 minute walk from a good friend of mine, Jenn. She is the tiny Asian girl in the pictures from the previous post. Today I went into town and bought a couple of things, and on Tuesday we're going to Kisumu to do the hardcore moving in shopping. There is a store there called Nakumatt which is essentially the love-child of Walmart and Target. It's glorious. So far that's about all there is to report. It is pretty freaking hot here, and the humidity is just absurd. The combo of Lake Victoria being just a few kilometers away and being on the equator is brutal. On sunday I may climb this hill/mountain right next to my place that is supposed to offer an awesome view of the lake and Uganda. I'll try and get some pictures up after. Thats all for now, i'll talk to y'all soon.

Hey everyone. I just got back from our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Ambassador's house. First of all, his house is ridiculous. It has a massive backyard that looks more like a botanical garden than a residential property. Secondly, they had Doritos. I don't know who called them and told them about my addiction, but eating Doritos in Kenya made me very happy. The ceremony was really nice, not too big but big enough to encompass the significance of the event. We got to meet the Ambassador, who is a really nice guy. While he was speaking to us, a monkey of some sort climbed onto the roof of the house and stole the show for a short time. The Ambassador's speech was really well put together, and did a good job of reminding us of the responsibility we are facing. Today we are going to pack up our stuff and get last minute things, and then we're heading out for a night on the town to celebrate. Everyone is going their separate ways tomorrow, so that is sad but we're all ready to get started at our sites. Here are some pictures from the ceremony, and i'll put some other pictures up on facebook if I can. I'll update again when I get to my site and get settled in. Also, I didn't wear that crazy vest to the Ambassador's house, it'll be worn tonight when we are out, however. The man I'm posing with in one of the pictures is our Country Director Steve Wisecarver, and I should get a copy of the official pictures we took with the Ambassador.

Yea, that's right. Yesterday a group of us went to the Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary, which is located a little ways outside of Loitoktok. The Sanctuary is run by the Masai community, and is in the middle of the route animals take when traveling from Amboseli National Park to Tsavo National Park. Throughout our visit we saw a number of animals, namely zebra, giraffe, elephants, gazelle, hippos, etc., but the highlight was the lions. There is a lion project at the Sanctuary in which the rangers raise orphaned lions and then re-release them into the wild. There was one 7 year old male, one 7 year old female, and then two younger females. They are kept in an enclosure and literally the only thing separating you from a wild lion is a chain link fence. It was awe-inspiring. The lions would walk up to the fence and rub against just like a house cat, and then lie down pressed against it, and you could stick you hand through the holes in the fence and pet them. Obviously, we all did. It was amazing. There would be moments where I would forget I was petting a lion, and then it would stand up or just twitch or something, and then my heart would stop and I would quickly jerk my hand away. I'm pretty sure they were just letting me know that they could devour me if they really wanted. Petting the lions was unbelievable, but just being that close to them was unreal. We head to Nairobi on Sunday and there is free wifi there, so i'll upload a bunch of pictures then. That's all for now, i'll talk to you guys soon.

So there are now officially fewer than 2 weeks left of training, which is awesome. As i've stated before, everyone (myself included) is ready to be done here in Loitoktok and to move on to our sites and get settled. This past weekend we all went up to our training hub and celebrated July 4th. The 30+ of us are all located in several villages around the town, and each village was responsible for preparing a meal of some kind to contribute to the feast. A group of us decided that ribs were a necessity, so we went to the butcher and got goat ribs to be roasted over the bonfire. This was definitely a phenomenal idea because the roasted goat was amazing, especially when taken along with the spaghetti, bean burritos, guacamole, spanish rice, and assorted other foods. The only downside was that I underestimated what it would be like to carry the goat meat, along with a charcoal stove and my hiking pack, up the enormous hill to the training hub. I'm pretty sure I suffered several small heart attacks along the way, but it was definitely worth it in the end. The night was a great success, with the bonfire, great food, and everyone being able to separate from training for a while. Oh yea, and I got a mowhawk. I was going to cut my hair anyway and figured I might as well celebrate America's birthday in style. I had to cut it off the following day because mowhawks are frowned upon both by Peace Corps and just generally in Kenya. I'll try and get some pictures up. That's all for now, i'll be in touch.

Tonight is our last night in Machakos, and we're all sad to be leaving the big city life. Over the past 48 hours we have all gorged ourselves with forgotten delicacies like cheese, edible meat, and cheese. Even though we're sad to be leaving here we have a short week in Loitoktok and then our July 4th party on Saturday night. After that I think it's 2.5 weeks or something crazy like that until we swear in and head to our sites. Speaking of which, there has been a new development in my site. I had spoken to the director of the Public Health program a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned that there was some housing issues at my previous site, so he went on a mission to fix the problem. As a result, I have a new site which i'm really excited about. I'll be right at the border with Uganda, in a town called Bumala (it's on google maps). I'm really excited about the organization i'll be working with because it focuses primarily on children under 5 years old who are either AIDS orphans, infected with AIDS, or high-risk kids. It's a nutrition center that offers testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other opportunistic infections. Another plus is that i'll be just a few miles away from a one of my friends, which will also be nice. My new housing has electricity and water tank, which will also be nice, and it's located on grounds of the nutrition center, so safety shouldn't be an issue. Anyways, that's all for now, i'll talk everyone soon.

I can only assume that you all got as rowdy during the USA-Algeria game as all 30+ of us (packed in an upstairs room of a bar in front of 19 inch tv) did. Our training director is a stud and allowed us to stay out past our curfew to watch the game, and the atmosphere was great. If we didn't already stick out, which we definitely do, raucously screaming "USA-USA-USA" for extended periods of time after dark definitely solidified our roles as crazy Americans. Anyways, it was a great win and not having to be home while the sun is still up does wonders for your psyche. Time is flying by over here. We have about a month until we finish training, which is crazy to me because it seems like we just got here. On Sunday we are all going to a town called Machakos for a few days of more intensive HIV/AIDS training, and then that next weekend we are having a 4th of July party. Before we all know it we'll be heading to Nairobi for swearing in (assuming we all pass our language tests). Everyone is anxious to get settled into their sites and get rolling with some real work. We all enjoy the time we get to spend with each other, but there is definitely a sense of wanting to get out to our communities. While it will be sad to have everyone go in different directions, there are already some potentially awesome trips in the making between safaris, climbing Mt. Kenya, and white water rafting on the Nile River in Uganda (which i'm really excited about, if we can make it happen). Well that's pretty much it for now, i'll talk to you guys soon.

So there hasn't been a whole lot of noteworthy stuff going on in Loitoktok lately, but that's mainly because we are all just chugging away at training. Language classes are pretty tough now that we are learning our regional dialects, but other than that everything is coming along fine. There are some interesting things happening on the national level though, so I figured i'd give everyone a heads up. The last Presidential election here in Kenya was in 2007, and it was hotly contested. So much so that following the results being announced there was an outbreak of national violence that resulted in about 1300 people being killed. PC Kenya temporary closed down and a lot of work had to be done internally to remedy the situation. Since then, a lot of progress has been made in mending the wounds of that election. Obviously the Peace Corps reopened its post here, and everything is ok now, but is still closely monitored. One of the side effects of the violence was an agreement that a new constitution would be proposed changing, among other things, the election process and the possible seats available for election. The proposed constitution has since been finished and on August 4 of this year there will be a national vote to determine whether or not it will be adopted. In addition to the electoral issues, the new constitution legalizes medical abortions under certain circumstances. As we all know, abortion can be a very polarizing topic. The churches here in Kenya are strongly opposed to the new constitution largely because of this issue, and last week a church-sponsored rally took place in Nairobi to garner opposition to the proposed constitution. As the rally was ending two idiots set off a couple of grenades killing 5 and wounding 85 people. While this is not overly encouraging given the vote is a couple of months away, all signs indicate that this was an isolated incident. What is encouraging is that there was no fallout anywhere else in the country, and pretty much everyone condemned the violence. Also, all of us in training were not effected at all by this, as we are several hours away and not in a politically charged area. Anyways, barring the isolated violence, this is a really interesting time to be here in Kenya. There could potentially be a new constitution in place following the August 4th referendum, and then the next presidential election will be held in 2012. That's all I got right now, but i'll try and do something cool in the next few days so I can update again. Also, I was able to make a facebook album, so you should check it out. If we're not friends on facebook yet, then just ask. Take it easy. Otio muno (that's thank you in Luhya. That will be your lesson for today).

Hey People,

I know it's been while, but they've been keeping us really busy here and internet cafe's are slow. Anyways, everything is going great so far. The town we are in is called Loitoktok, and it is on the Kenya-Tanzania border. The area is gorgeous enough as it is, but to make things even better it sits on the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Needless to say there are some ridiculous pictures being taken. Hopefully I can get some of them put on here in the next few days, but no promises. During the week I spend most of my days in language classes, and then split the rest of my time between cross-cultural training, technical training, and medical briefings. They are doing things a little differently with my group in that we studied Kiswahili for the first two weeks (the national language), and then starting today we switched to the local language that we will need to know based on our regional placement. I'll be in the Western Province close to Lake Victoria in a village near a town called Kakamega (which is on a map, although my village is not). I'll be working directly for the government in the Ministry of Health, and which puts my in the village hospital. I'm not 100% sure what i'll be doing, but from the brief description I got my job involves mobilizing the community for HIV/AIDS testing, counseling sessions, home care for people living with HIV/AIDS, and then some supervisory work. It's pretty broad, as most Peace Corps jobs are. On the plus side, I get on office, which makes me feel important. I also have a pretty sweet housing arrangement, which includes a two bedroom place with running water and electricity. Compared to how some of my buddies here are going to be living, I have a palace. And I make sure and remind them of that. So things are going really well here, we have a great group of people who are all focused and motivated, which makes it easier to deal with being so far away from home. That's all for now, i'll talk everyone soon, and as I mentioned i'll try and get some pictures up soon. Take it easy.

Stay classy.

Hey all,

I got in to Nairobi safely a few hours ago. The city is big, and as busy and crowded as ever. We're staying about 30 minutes from the airport, and are starting up with meetings and stuff tomorrow, and then we'll head South to our training village on Saturday. FYI, i'm 7 hours ahead of the East coast over here. I'll update with cell phone info when I get it, and hopefully I can get some pictures up soon.

Hey all,

I just wrapped up an exhausting day today here in Philly. We had our "staging" event, which was a mix of meet and greets and policy/expectation lessons. It was informative, but draining. Everyone in this group of 33 is awesome, and we are all ready to get rolling with this thing. We leave for JFK tomorrow at 9, and will head out to Kenya at 6pm. I'm guessing it'll be at least a week before I can get word out to anyone, but i'll update as soon as I can. Take it easy, and i'll talk to y'all soon.

So the address I originally had on here, the one that is in our Welcome Book, is apparently wrong. I corrected it, but just in case, here it is:

Aizaz Tareen, Peace Corps Trainee

P.O. Box 698-00621

Village Market

Nairobi, Kenya

Alright everyone, this is my blog. I have zero experience with blogging, so if anyone has any suggestions let me know. Anyways, if you haven't put it together thus far, i'm heading to Kenya with the Peace Corps in a couple of weeks. I'll be going to Philly on May 24th for some orientation stuff, and then leaving for Nairobi on the 25th. After spending about 4 days outside of Nairobi, we'll be heading south to a town close to the Tanzanian border, where i'll be living with a host family and getting a crash course in Swahili. After about 2 months as a Peace Corps Trainee at this location, i'll get sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and head to site somewhere else in the country that will be my home for the next two years. I'm going to do my best to stay in touch with everyone through this blog, but feel free to send letters and packages and whatnot. My phone will stop working on May 24, but i'll be getting a Kenyan cell phone at some point soon after getting in-country, so i'll get that number out to people as soon as I get it. As far as letters/packages go, here is some useful info:

- Number any/all letters, as things sometimes get "lost" in transit.

- Write "Airmail" and "Par Avion" on all envelopes.

- Letters can take anywhere from 6-9 weeks to get to me, but having something to look forward to and the excitement that comes with getting letters from home goes a long way when isolated.

- Regarding packages, don't ever declare anything more than $15 dollars on anything you send me. If you do, there is a strong chance it will get stolen (you can also declare that the contents are toilet paper, napkins, etc. Make it seem as unappealing as possible). On that same note, you should write religious things like "Jesus Saves", "God Loves You", and maybe even Father/Brother Aizaz Tareen. Current volunteers recommend this because customs agents are less likely to open things they think are religiously based.

- The address I have listed on here is mine until July 22, 2010. I'll update the address when I get my site assignment.

Phone Calls:

- I'll get my new cell phone number when I get it

- Emergencies: 800-424-8580 x 1470.

Email/Facebook, etc

- I'm not sure what my internet access will be down there. There's a good chance it will be sporadic, but I will take full advantage of it whenever I have it. If nothing else you can leave me a message to read whenever I can.

Well, that's about it. I'm really excited to get rolling with this, and I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone.