Azma Group

I am writing today because I wish to publicly express my disappointment and concern with Azma group and the representation Anne Kithyo during my stay in Kenya. First and foremost, the communication between Anne Kithyo and myself and other volunteers about our work with Azma was severely lacking. We were told initially that we would be staying in Nairobi and were not informed otherwise until we were dropped off in Maai Mahiu to live during our stay. We were not informed that we would be working with a separate and unrelated organization called Marafiki. We were not informed that upon landing in Kenya, Anne would not be picking us up (as we had been told previously) but two other non-Azma males would be picking us up. Anne only came to check in on us once during our stay, and as a result a volunteer was taken advantage of by his host person. Several thousand shillings were borrowed from him and taken from him. He was with out a phone to contact anyone. If Anne had actually checked in on us as expected, this could have been avoided.

We had a very short and informal 'orientation' with her the sunday after arrival, May 15th, were she simply handed us a packing to read but again, said nothing about where we would actually be working or living during our trip. The packet also did not include this information.

She did not give us receipts or formal information about our Safari through Safe Ride camp. She did not name the camp we would be staying at. She only hand wrote the prices per night. We trusted her, and assumed she gave us the correct prices. We found out later however, that the camp we stayed at was only 80 USD per night, not 125 USD per night as she quoted us. Due to this blatant discrepancy, I am now requiring Azma Group to provide me with a complete and detailed and official report and breakdown of where the 435 USD i payed to Azma has gone to. I need to know where every dollar is. If they cannot provide me with this, further action will be taken. I am already in contact with the US Embassy in Nairobi about the unprofessional behavior of Azma and Anne.

During out last few days in Kenya, Anne disappeared. She was out of cell phone reach, and no one knew where she was. Even the volunteers she escorted to Mombasa, Kenya, did not know where she was. They called members of Marafiki and GVVN back in America expressing concern, fear, and frustration about Anne's disappearance. Later we found out she had gone to a remote village out of cell phone range, but she did not inform anyone of her leaving and to me, that is horribly unprofessional and unforgivable.

My money and time is very important to me. I am very serious about this matter. The first step to rectifying the difficulties I and my fellow volunteers have had with Azma and Anne is to provide me with a spreadsheet, invoice, or report of exactly what my money was used for. Again, I am already talking to the embassy about this issue so hopefully this can be dealt with quickly and professionally.

Let this be a warning for all who wish to travel somewhere to volunteer. This behavior seems to happen more often than not. Please do your research and try to find direct connections between people you know personally and organizations in the country you wish to visit and assist. But do not let this discourage you from traveling, just know there are good people and bad people, and sometimes its hard to tell the difference.

Beginning of the End

It's our last weekend here. Working at Naomi's Village has been amazing. the kids who live there are all Kenyan orphans under the age of 8. So far, they only have 14 but are working on getting up to 100 children. The kids' stories are heartbreaking. However, they are all so loving and eager to meet new people and play. Today, a 3 year old boy who came to the orphanage only a week ago made my trip. He had been completely neglected his whole life, left out in the yard day in and day out. He and his siblings were all badly abused. During his time at the orphanage, he refused to let anyone touch him and wouldnt interact with anyone, including the kenyan house mothers who work there. Slowly he did warm up to some house mothers but was combatant towards any white people there. However today, for whatever reason, he came up to me and gave me a big high five, took my hand, and walked me outside. I tentatively picked up a ball and rolled it to him. He looked it, wound up, and kicked it back to me, laughing. We played the rest of the day, and he even climbed into my lap during tea and cake time. We cracked up taking turns shoving cake into our mouths. Even the owners of the orphanage couldn't believe it. So little Kibet,so full of fear and anger, made this whole trip worthwhile by sharing some happiness and smiles with me this afternoon. I wish I could take him home with me.

We are spending our last day, Sunday, in Kijabe with some other volunteers. We get a hot shower, free internet, a good meal, and a Kenyan church service. I know this doesn't sound like much to all the Americans back home, but to us, this is heaven. A hot shower?? Amazing.

We have had our share of issues and headaches while we have been down here, but all in all, this trip has been truly amazing and I know I will be sad to leave our Kenyan home.

What a great weekend! we went to nairobi to visit the monkey park. Honestly, one of the most beautiful place ive ever seen. It was straight out of the jungle book. Anyways, you grab some peanuts and the monkey just come running from the trees and bushes and immediately jump on your shoulder, head, waist, anything, trying to grab the peanuts. Poor Courtney did not know that the monkeys were free to jump on you, so she got a little freaked out when one surprised her from behind. The experience was amazing, and just walking around the park and the city was great. We visited the huge market as well, which was so much fun. I had no idea how exciting bargaining is!

the weekend was finished with a trip to Hells Gate. We have never done anything so thrilling. It was a 5 mile bike ride to the hiking gorge. We hiked for 2 and a half hours, which included hot springs, waterfalls, and free climbing a 20 foot sheer rock wall (no ropes included). We ended up going all the way to the top of one of the rock formations and the view was breathtaking.

A great weekend began our last week here. Today we said goodbye to our classrooms, and tow of my students wrote back to Dom and Vinny. I can't wait to give them the letters! We are off to the IDP camps to give away the rest of our donations. In the words of Dom, "It feels kinda good to give away this stuff."

I'm Too American For This...

So, we got sick. We are on the recovery now, but food poisoning here is certainly much worse than anything found in america. We were informed we probably got ecoli or salmonella and to just take ciprofloxin. Funny how an outbreak of either of those causes food production to shut down. Anyways, a quick trip to the chemist gave us the pills we needed. We found out that here, you can just walk into a pharmacy/chemist, ask for any pills known to man, and walk out with them. All for 100 or so Shillings, which is about 1 american dollar. Convenient/shady.

Anyways, this weekend we are headed to Nairobi to go to the a monkey park to feed various monkeys who apparently jump all over you and sit on your head. Not sure how i feel about that, but i'll go with it. Then we will go to the giant market to finish the last our souvenir shopping. Sunday we are hoping to attend a Kenyan church service full of singing and dancing, then off to Hells Gate National Park to bike and hike through beautiful rock formations and landscape.

Really looking forward to this weekend, and hoping we both feel better soon!

Safari

Just returned from safari! We saw everything we could dream of. Seeing a cheetah going on a hunt was the highlight. You can't understand how fast they are until you see them in person.

Anyways, the homesickness is starting to kick in. We still have two more weeks left and teaching at the school is getting a little stressful. My teacher has stopped coming so its just me alone. Allisons teacher does little but hit the kids when they misbehave so she is on her own too now. The days are long, and hard.

I have noticed that Africa is full of extremes. There is extreme poverty next to wearth, greed next to generosity, amazing beauty next to garbage and human waste. We are certainly learning a lot about people here. Our experience has been a great one so far though.

Today, a 14 year old girl named Emily, who goes to the school we work at, came up to me with a beautiful handmade necklace. She presented it to me and asked if I could be her big sister, because she has no siblings and is alone a lot. Of course I accepted and we launched into a big discussion about America and how she hopes to one day come to America and live. It is so heartbreaking so hear these stories. But, hopefully we are helping a little.

Next week we are going to the IDP camps to give out our donations. I can't wait!

Teaching

Today was my third day teaching in the school and apparently, that is long enough to go solo. My teacher that I work with decided to leave after an hour today to go to the lake and relax, leaving me with 38 crazy swahili children. Thankfully, I had a ball (something they have never played with) and crayons (equally rare) to bribe them into behaving well.

The day ended up great at school, and then we took a trip over to the orphanage where other kids from the program work. The place is amazing. It was started by a doctor and his wife from Texas and they are great people. We then took a matatu (small bus) that is meant to hold 11 people but usually holds around 20 to Masai land. We experienced the craziness of the markets. I even bargained successfully!

Anyways, early night tonight. We get up for Safari tomorrow for the next three days.

Update soon!

IN AFRICA

Hello! I just got internet here in Kenya. I'm currently in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. You should Google some pictures, its the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I have shuttled between three homestays but have finally found our final one. We are with the most generous and nicest people I have met. There are three other girls with me at this homestay. I work in a school that is a short Mutatu (sort of like a taxi/bus) ride away. Our second homestay involved cows being on our bedroom and no electricity and no english. Allison fell in cow poop.

Anyways, there is no running water here and a house with electricity is hard to find. Thankfull, our homestay has it.

We are happy and full of delicious food. The food here is great. The kids are a bit overwhelming as they tend to see white visitors as simply providing free money and other things. The word for white person is Mazungu (mah-zoon-goo) and that gets shouted at us anywhere we go.

I don't mean to make Kenya sound bad. It is the best place I've ever been. The students, who have nothing at all, love to learn. Their enthusiasm and eagerness is humbling. I wish USA students could be like that.

I'm already have a great time and it's just getting better. We go on Safari this Friday morning for three days and two nights. I'll update more soon!