Crazy Times

I'm having a few crazy weeks.

I have confirmed that I will be attending the WJI journalism course in NYC starting on May 11^th. But I don't have my ticket yet due to a really poor interest connection the last couple of days (pray that I can actually get on today and purchase the ticket).

I'm planning to leave Kenya on the night of May 5^th which means I'll arrive in Atlanta the night of May 6^th. My four days in Highlands will basically be consumed with a massive amount of reading since I was only able to get 3 of the 5 required reading books and none of the 7 recommended. So yes, I'll be READING…the crazy.

This past week has been crazy. Monday was my boring day J. Tuesday I visited a primary school about 40 minutes from Nairobi. This private school was closed down due to lack of students after the government introduced free primary education in 2002. After the post-election violence (if you had any idea how often I've written those two words….) Nairobi Chapel (that would be my church) did a great deal of work with IDPs (internally displaced persons…another three words I write way too often). One of their biggest projects was putting students back in school, especially 8^th graders who needed to be registered for their end of primary school exams (exams which determine if and where they will go to secondary school and thus determining their future because which secondary school you go to determines if you will go to university and be able to get a job). So they found out about this closed down school and essentially reopened it for 74 8^th grade students. Now the reason I went to visit the school is that I'm going to be working with these 74 students to help them write down their stories. These are kids who saw their homes burned, friends killed, lived in IDP camps with little food. Actually for most of these kids, their parents and other siblings are still in the camps. The initial reason for getting their stories is for Nairobi Chapel to have a record of their journey with the IDPs, for me its much bigger than that. I want to help these kids learn to love writing, to have a chance to use writing as a means to finding healing from their wounds, and to help them improve in English. So I went to learn where the school is and to introduce myself to the kids and the teachers. They were very excited, which of course makes me very excited.

Wednesday, my sis Mercy came home (she's here for a week). For those of you who don't know her, she's Kenyan, she's a nurse and she works at a hospital about 4 hours drive from Nairobi. Her job requires her to one week of night duty each month, but the advantage comes that after one week of nights she gets one week off. So Wednesday I accomplished little but that was ok.

Thursday, I thought would be a productive day but everything I tried that day failed. First I was supposed to go to Nakuru to do interviews at the IDP camps for an article I'm writing for the Nation newspaper. But my travel partner back out and then there was the possibility of unrest and tension due to some political silliness. So I didn't go (and still haven't). Instead I took Mercy to explore Nairobi a bit…now that I'm an expert I can show other people around…right I don't know when I'll ever figure Nairobi out but I'm trying. We tried to go to the British Airways offices but they have moved…to the airport which is 20 km from the city. We tried to apply for my alien ID but I didn't have all the stuff I needed. I tried to go to the Associated Press offices to see if they have a book I need but I forgot how you get there. So I bought new shoes instead and called it a day.

Jana (that means yesterday), I went out to lunch with a friend who will be leaving to return to Switzerland a couple weeks after I get back. Then I hung out with another friend of mine and he took me to a Hip Hope (as in Hip Hop with the message of Hope) concert at a school about 15 minutes from home. That was fun.

This morning I'm feeling groggy…its raining out and low pressure always makes me feel like this, then I overslept. Today I think I'm staying at home (unless it stops raining then I'll take Mercy to the Hip Hope concert today.

What's ahead of me: (please realize I'm making my to do list here J)

• buy my tickets
  
• buy my books
  
• transcribing interviews
  
• making phone calls and doing phone interviews
  
• putting together as much of my article as I can without the missing interviews
  
• putting together all that I already have for Nairobi Chapel IDP journal
  
• attend church tomorrow
  
• attend a reggae concert tomorrow afternoon (a good friend is singing and I want to support him)
  
• have a bash (party) for my friends on Monday
  
• maybe, possibly attend a forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association discussing foreign and local media coverage of the elections and post-election violence on Monday evening.
  
• go to Nakuru and get my interviews on Tuesday
  
• finish my article
  
• Attend a forum on education for slum children on Wednesday morning
  
• READ
  
• Finish my correspondence course (that's 4 lessons!) will that really happen
  
• go shopping for new clothes
  
• turn in pictures for a Red Cross fundraiser
  
• visit Kamori primary school and get the students started on the writing project
  
• go back to Immigration and apply for my id card
  

Well that's all I can think of right now

Oh I forgot PACKING J silly me

Yeah and more will get added to that list before the one week in which its all supposed to get done is finished.

Oh yes, don't expect to hear much from me the next few days J