Turkeys don’t like Motorcycles and other Lessons of Life in Kenya by Emma Nierman

Editor’s note: These are excerpts from an email written by Emma shortly before Thanksgiving. The sentiments she expresses about the difference between understanding what ties us all together and really UNDERSTANDING it are what keep us motivated to work with all the great IE3 interns. As regional directors, we are grateful for the glimpses into a more hopeful future that come from reading the many updates from our interns abroad.

In a P.S., for those of you concerned about the welfare of Gladys, Emma notes in an update: “The Turkey didn’t work out. We had chicken.”

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Another volunteer and I are planning a big dinner here and have been spending the last week tracking down a turkey… really long story short I am now the proud owner of a very large- very alive Turkey named Gladys who is wreaking havoc on my host- mother’s farm. How I got the live bird from Mombasa to the village is another story for another time, but suffice to say Turkey’s DO NOT like motorcycles.

My malaria is officially history and I finally feel back to normal. Being sick put me really behind at work and I have been putting in tons of over time to catch myself back up. Even when I go away for the weekend I have had to bring work with me, which has been less than exciting… but I only have 3 weeks left here and I want to make sure all my projects are finished before I go.

On January 1^st the Women’s Sewing Co-operative, to which I have devoted much of my time, will officially become an independent group and I have been really stressed about getting their finances, constitution, post office box, etc. ready for the transition. I can’t wait to get home and show you all some of their awesome products! Check out the catalog on the East African Center’s website if you are interested in supporting a great cause while buying some really original and amazing Holiday gifts! [http://www.eastafricancenter.org/]

Kenya’s presidential primaries take place today and the country is totally buzzing. The last week there have been political rallies in the village almost every night… one of which took place at my house. My host brother works in Nairobi for a candidate named Uhuru (who is Jomo Kenyatta’s son) and my host mother is the leader of the village’s Political Women’s Association. As you could guess, being in such a political family during election season has been really intense and I have learned a lot about Kenyan politics as a result. The political apathy often attributed to those living in the “developing world” is totally absent here and the fervor surrounding this election has been 10 times what we see in America. It really shakes the image sent to us via the media that Africa is a hopeless place whose people aren’t capable of helping themselves and improving their own lives.

As my time wraps up here it is hard to fully measure all that I have gained in the last six months. But I know for sure I will never look at a picture of an orphanage in Malawi, a bombed out village in Darfur, a slum in South Africa, or an over served Aids ward in Nairobi the same light again. If I learned one thing during my short time here it is that people are people… no matter where they live, what language they speak, or how educated they may or may not be. When a child dies here it hurts as much as if a blonde American girl with braces dies at home. And when a parent can’t send their kids to a good school it frustrates them as much as it would any of us. There are no people on this planet that deserve to or can live with dignity amongst substandard sanitation and filth. And there are no people who don’t aspire to improve the lives of their families. Of course before coming here I understood this, but I am not sure I really UNDERSTOOD it. As Americans, we are so used to seeing Africa and Africans in pain and suffering- I think a part of us starts to believe it is somehow natural for them to live in a way that we would never consider acceptable for ourselves.