Kenya Diary - Part One
I’ve made it to Kenya! All in all, the travel itself was not that eventful, in spite of some stress caused by erroneous flight listings. It seems that there were two Kenya Airways Flight 103 listings from London to Nairobi, one departing at 8:50 a.m., and the other at 10:20 a.m. This latter time is what my ticket showed, and that was a reasonable connection from the Virgin Atlantic flight from Boston to London, which arrived at 7:30 a.m. However, the 8:50 a.m. flight would have been impossible. The stress came from the fact that until I actually got to London, nobody could tell me with certainty that the flight was, in fact, at 10:20. It was.
15 hours in airplanes is a LONG trip. Add to that time at airports, and I’ve been traveling for a good 20 hours. I was able to wash my face and brush my teeth at London Heathrow, so that helped a bit. The flight from London to Nairobi might have been fairly pleasant except that a Somali woman with bad knees sat behind me, and asked the flight attendant to request that I not recline my seat. I’m not sure who I’d complain to, but 8.5 hours sitting bolt upright is not particularly good on one’s back, especially when all you really want to do is sleep. I managed to sleep for a couple hours anyway, but my neck paid the price.
Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is about what I expected – shabby and not especially clean or efficient. However, all of the people I encountered were helpful and genuinely welcoming. This makes it very different from airports in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War. I remember being in Moscow in 1991 and feeling the loathing of the customs agents and security people. There is no trace of that here. I just wish they had picked a different color paint than the sickly greenish-yellow that covers virtually every surface of the arrivals and baggage hall.
I have been successful in activating my cell phone and getting the Ksh250 calling credit added to my account. I have not, however, been successful in calling anybody. Apparently, I am missing something about how to dial both in-country and international numbers. The Customer Care number appears to be perpetually busy.
Greg Gaut, my Saint Mary’s colleague, told me that there is a cybercafe in the neighborhood of Flora Hostel, where I’m staying. I hope to post these as blog entries and keep in touch with folks by e-mail from there or from on the Tangaza College campus.
Flora Hostel is a gated compound with security guards (pretty much everything is in Nairobi it seems, or at least as far as I could see during the nighttime drive from the airport). New Jambo Taxi service was waiting for me at the airport and brought me to Flora with no delay or incident. The driver was very friendly and talkative. Flora Hostel itself is, in a word, Spartan. It reminds me of some places I’ve stayed in the former East Germany just after reunification – run-down but clean. The accommodations, run by the Consolata Sisters, will be fine, but I think I’ll be pretty happy to return to my house after a month here. The bath towel is like sandpaper (no fabric softener here), and there is a very small, rudimentary bar of soap. The room has tile floors in the main room and bath, a desk built into the wall where the window is, and a wall closet. The bathroom itself has a shower that is configured rather oddly. It has a spigot that sticks pretty far out and looks like something a bathtub would have, with hot/cold water faucets and a shower/spigot selector knob. The only problem with the spigot is that it is positioned directly under the shower head at a height that, shall we say, requires a certain degree of caution. Even so, a HOT SHOWER was heavenly, and I brought bath/shower gel from home which should last me the month.
The room has adequate light and one outlet, which ought to be fine for charging my various electronic devices. I’m not sure how much time I’ll be spending here. I suspect that it will be minimal, for sleeping only, or writing and reading.
So much for first impressions in the dark! I look forward to tomorrow, when I can get outside and walk around a bit to check out the neighborhood. Breakfast is at 7am, and apparently the nuns do not like people to be late, so I should get to sleep. I’m definitely tired enough to sleep, so that is a good thing.
Monday, May 29, 2006
This morning I was met by Maurice, who is to be my assistant for the Maryknoll course. He introduced me to the chaos that is the public transport system in Nairobi – fortunately, Maryknoll students are brought to Tangaza College by a privately-arranged bus during the program. I’m not sure I could stand three weeks of public transportation Nairobi-style. It does have the advantage of being cheap, but I’m not even sure if “you get what you pay for” even applies in this case. It is pretty extreme.
The best (but not as regular as one might like) public bus in and around Nairobi is called the “Citi Hoppa.” These are green busses that seat maybe 16 people. Depending upon the time of day, they can cost from 30 KSh to 50 KSh (roughly $0.38 or $0.63). The fares are obviously not enough to support repairing (or installing) shock absorbers. Also, unless you understand rapid-fire Kiswahili (or have a guide), it is difficult to get on the right one. This morning, even a local young woman who got on the Citi Hoppa Maurice and I rode was told that it was going to one place, and instead it stopped short. She was therefore forced to take a Matatu (minibus) the rest of the way to the Catholic University of East Africa, where she is a student. We took the same Matatu a short distance the rest of the way to Tangaza College.
The Matatu is an experience. Swarms of these minibuses ply the streets of Nairobi and its environs. Normally, there is a driver, who doesn’t interact with the riders, and at least one ‘hawker’ (there may be a specific term, but this will do) who jumps out at stops and drums up business. The Matatus are fairly reckless (Maurice’s word, not mine), and they certainly don’t have any smoother ride than the Citi Hoppa. However, as an added torture, there is usually very loud music blasting in these minivans, presumably to attract youthful clientele. Much of the time, this is imported American rap music (no, you can’t get away from that even here). I supposed I should have expected this to be a rough ride. The guidebook (Lonely Planet) I bought for Kenya begins its paragraph about Matatus with “If you don’t mind taking your life in your hands…”
At any rate, I have just returned half-deaf to Flora Hostel, following the above-mentioned trip to Tangaza College, and a brief walking tour of central Nairobi. The College is nicely kept, particularly if one compares it to many other buildings and facilities here. I ment Denis Odinga Okiya, the Registrar and Administrative Assistant for MIAS, and Fr. Michael Kirwen, the Director, and had a brief walk-through of the building and grounds. Saint Mary’s should be proud of its presence here. It is so desperately needed, and it is clear that the CTIE graduates this year will go forth to do important work in Kenya and the other countries from which they come.
I also met Br. Geru, an Eritrean with whom I’d had some correspondence facilitated by Br. Bob Smith. I hope to visit with him more and learn more about the CD project he is attempting to get off the ground.
Now, central Nairobi…
Chaos is really the only word that comes to mind. Clearly, there are islands in the midst of this chaos, but these are principally the expensive hotels that cater to European and North American visitors. There is no effective control of pedestrian or automotive traffic, and people simply cross the street where they can get away with it, and vehicles approach the city with a similar disregard for the few traffic signals and signs that actually exist.
The streets, especially smaller ones, are choked with pedestrians, and the sidewalks are crumbled or simply dirt in many places, with bits of trash and plastic bags trampled into them. Some streets have an endless array of merchant stalls and storefronts selling electronics, gifts, phone cards, and all manner of other things. Prices are quite low for most goods, excluding electronics. For example, I saw dress shirts for KSh 399 (about $5). I might have to brave the chaos and buy a few of these before I head home. Fumes from the myriad vehicles that clearly do not have pollution controls in place can be overwhelming at times.
One does see white people, but not on the public transportation system. Clearly, people were surprised by my presence, based on some of the looks I received. It is an odd feeling to be a minority for the first time, and it causes some interesting internal reactions. In downtown Nairobi today, Maurice and I turned a corner on a main street, and I saw a white man with gray hair in a sharp business suit standing off to the side reading a newspaper. For a moment, I was very tempted to greet him, merely because he was also white, and I had not seen any white people for some time during that walk.
Mostly, though, it was the noise, dirt, and general disarray of the downtown that made me nervous. I’ve read a number of warnings about pickpockets and muggers, and I can see how this could be the case at night in such an environment. Seldom have I been somewhere that has caused me concern for my personal safety. I admit that I was nervous on several occasions today – and this was in daylight.
Most of the white people here live in secure compounds in the suburbs of Karen and Langata (the latter is also where Tangaza College is located). One sees them driving Land Rovers or Mercedes sedans in these more affluent sections of Nairobi. The contrast between their houses and gardens and the living arrangements of average Kenyans is stark. Of course, I’m writing this before having really seen Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world (though I was able to see just the edge of it during the drive this morning).
At least my cell phone works! I have not called anybody in the US yet, but knowing that this is possible does help me to feel less isolated. My next task this afternoon is to find an internet café that is supposed to be just at the end of the road where I’m staying. I am looking forward to sending e-mails to friends and family back home to let them know that I’m well.
8:15 p.m.
Damn. No internet access today. Apparently, the Cybercafe that was closest to the hostel has permanently closed. The next nearest, in the Nairobi Youth Hostel, had lost its internet connection about noon today. They expected to possibly have it back tonight, but I am concerned about walking alone at night, even a short distance, so I’m not going to go back and try again. Perhaps I will end up only using the internet at Tangaza College. There are several computer labs, and I might also be able to plug in my laptop to an Ethernet port directly also. That would be very nice. The question will be whether or not there is sufficient time in the daily schedule to do much online. It may be that I have to compose messages ahead of time and send them when I am able to connect. We shall see…
I decided to call Dad to tell him that I had arrived safely. I need to have somebody attempt a return call, as I am still unsure if my Safaricom telephone works properly when dialed from the US. I dialed the number from a payphone in the compoud here, and it did ring, so it seems to be working properly. I guess I won’t really know until I get a call from outside the country.
Having skipped lunch, I was eager for dinner at the hostel. It was basic but good: some sort of meat (goat?), steamed potatoes and steamed broccoli, a tasty soup, salad, rice, and fresh pineapple for dessert. I also had tea afterward with the pineapple. The food is quite bland – virtually no spices at all except for some salt, and salt is the only thing provided on the table. The sugar for tea and coffee is very good – raw sugar (not bleached) from sugar cane. Tea and coffee here are excellent thus far.
Tomorrow I need to be ready to be picked up at 8:00 a.m. Orientation begins officially at 9:00 a.m. at Tangaza College. Meanwhile, I am reading The Garland Handbook of African Music edited by Ruth M. Stone. It is a survey textbook of African musical history and styles, but it so far leans toward West Africa. While some of the basic concepts will certainly be relevant, I don’t think there will be any specific examples of East African music in the book. Oh well – I’ll be trying to hear those on my own very soon.
After seeing downtown Nairobi today, I am especially grateful for the haven provided by Flora Hostel. While it is plain and certainly not luxurious by Western standards, it is relatively quiet, comfortable, and, most of all, safe. Going between here and Tangaza should be manageable. However, I do think I am learning where my limits are as a Westerner accustomed to certain creature comforts. Were I to return to Kenya in the future, I suspect that I would be willing to pay premium prices for the hotels and services that cater to Westerners. It is interesting to learn about the scope of one’s comfort zone…
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Hooray! I was able to access e-mail today! The connection at Tangaza College is rather stable and fairly fast, so at least three days a week, I’ll be able to correspond by e-mail there. Also, a fellow MIAS student, Charles Brock, is staying at the nearby Anglican Guest House, which has a cybercafe. He seemed to think that it would be fine if I used it as well. Charles is a student at the Virginia Theological Seminary, finishing his M.Div. degree in preparation for ordination as an Anglican priest. We are both navigating our first trip to Kenya, so we have much in common.
Today was a better day in many respects. Although I woke up last night at 1am, 3am, and 5am, I was able to get back to sleep each time, so I felt fairly well rested today. Also, getting the program started was a relief. The haven provided by Tangaza College is wonderful, and it was good to meet my fellow students in the immersion course. We had two sessions of general overview of African culture and an introduction to fieldwork. Then we toured Nairobi on a private bus for about 2.5 hours, including a stop at a very large open-air market (noisy, crowded, chaotic and a bit scary, but much better in a group with guides). At the market I bought a small Maasai painted leather shield and a small carved wooden hippo as souvenirs (grand total, KSh 900, or about $11). The hippo has taken up residence on my desk. I believe it will eventually need a name. We also toured around Lang’ata and Westlands, which are affluent parts of Nairobi, the city center (drove through without stopping, so not quite the baptism by fire I had yesterday), and then we drove through Kibera, one of the world’s largest slums. It was really beyond description – no sanitation, rusting corrugated tin roofs on mud huts or buildings cobbled together from whatever materials could be found, mounds of garbage and open sewers intermittently here and there. I took a few photos surreptitiously from the bus, because although I didn’t want to obviously gawk at the people there, the scene was really quite unbelievable. Also, just as we left the edge of the slum, we stopped and got off the bus for an overview, and I took several photos of that perspective.
After the tour, we returned to Tangaza College about 4pm and had soft drinks. There is already a good sense of camaraderie developing between students and field assistants, and in retrospect, I am glad that I had a one-day head start in meeting Maurice yesterday. I also met a student, Francis, a Christian Brother (not LaSalle) from England, who is in his third year of the MIAS program leading to the M.A. in African Studies who had Maurice as a field assistant during last year’s courses. It is clear that they developed a very good rapport during that time together.
Also, following the tour, I was able to buy the book we are using as a fieldwork guide, Participant Observation by James Spradley. I have read the first 11 of the assigned 25 pages, and will be getting back to that shortly. I’m also still working on The Garland Handbook of African Music, and hope to have digested much of that before I begin fieldwork on Saturday.
My first fieldwork experience will be to attend a somewhat ‘westernized’ traditional music performance on Saturday. Sister Loretta Brennan was kind enough to alert me to this opportunity. Apparently, the director studied in Florida on a Fullbright Scholarship, and when he came back, he formed an ensemble to do traditional music of Kenyan ethnic groups (Luo, Kikuyu, etc.), but in a form more readily adapted to concert performance. It will be interesting to discover what has been modified from purely traditional presentation. Maurice, who is Luo, will be a tremendous help in determining authentic use of instruments, and, of course, with the language of those pieces in Luo. Afterward, I hope to interview the director.
On Sunday, I will attend Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family (Holy Family Cathedral), the seat of the Archdiocese of Nairobi. I was able to go inside this church yesterday. It is an odd mix of unattractive, industrial concrete, large multi-pane stained glass windows (only an abstract spectrum of colors – no design as such), and a fine marble dais beneath the altar. The music should be interesting – Maurice said that it is more westernized than what one finds in smaller churches.
Tomorrow we begin our distinct courses, in my case “African Traditional Religion Interprets the Bible.” I’m looking forward to meeting my instructor for this course and focusing in on potential topics for my research integration paper.
Back to reading, which I’m pleased to have, since there is no television, and I don’t have a radio either. I wish I had brought more music loaded into iTunes. Oh well, I’ll add that to the long list of things I wish I had brought. On the other hand, in a triumph of preparedness, I did have a flashlight tonight when the power went out for about 20 minutes (and even extra batteries if the outage had been longer!).
(9:24 p.m.)
15 hours in airplanes is a LONG trip. Add to that time at airports, and I’ve been traveling for a good 20 hours. I was able to wash my face and brush my teeth at London Heathrow, so that helped a bit. The flight from London to Nairobi might have been fairly pleasant except that a Somali woman with bad knees sat behind me, and asked the flight attendant to request that I not recline my seat. I’m not sure who I’d complain to, but 8.5 hours sitting bolt upright is not particularly good on one’s back, especially when all you really want to do is sleep. I managed to sleep for a couple hours anyway, but my neck paid the price.
Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is about what I expected – shabby and not especially clean or efficient. However, all of the people I encountered were helpful and genuinely welcoming. This makes it very different from airports in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War. I remember being in Moscow in 1991 and feeling the loathing of the customs agents and security people. There is no trace of that here. I just wish they had picked a different color paint than the sickly greenish-yellow that covers virtually every surface of the arrivals and baggage hall.
I have been successful in activating my cell phone and getting the Ksh250 calling credit added to my account. I have not, however, been successful in calling anybody. Apparently, I am missing something about how to dial both in-country and international numbers. The Customer Care number appears to be perpetually busy.
Greg Gaut, my Saint Mary’s colleague, told me that there is a cybercafe in the neighborhood of Flora Hostel, where I’m staying. I hope to post these as blog entries and keep in touch with folks by e-mail from there or from on the Tangaza College campus.
Flora Hostel is a gated compound with security guards (pretty much everything is in Nairobi it seems, or at least as far as I could see during the nighttime drive from the airport). New Jambo Taxi service was waiting for me at the airport and brought me to Flora with no delay or incident. The driver was very friendly and talkative. Flora Hostel itself is, in a word, Spartan. It reminds me of some places I’ve stayed in the former East Germany just after reunification – run-down but clean. The accommodations, run by the Consolata Sisters, will be fine, but I think I’ll be pretty happy to return to my house after a month here. The bath towel is like sandpaper (no fabric softener here), and there is a very small, rudimentary bar of soap. The room has tile floors in the main room and bath, a desk built into the wall where the window is, and a wall closet. The bathroom itself has a shower that is configured rather oddly. It has a spigot that sticks pretty far out and looks like something a bathtub would have, with hot/cold water faucets and a shower/spigot selector knob. The only problem with the spigot is that it is positioned directly under the shower head at a height that, shall we say, requires a certain degree of caution. Even so, a HOT SHOWER was heavenly, and I brought bath/shower gel from home which should last me the month.
The room has adequate light and one outlet, which ought to be fine for charging my various electronic devices. I’m not sure how much time I’ll be spending here. I suspect that it will be minimal, for sleeping only, or writing and reading.
So much for first impressions in the dark! I look forward to tomorrow, when I can get outside and walk around a bit to check out the neighborhood. Breakfast is at 7am, and apparently the nuns do not like people to be late, so I should get to sleep. I’m definitely tired enough to sleep, so that is a good thing.
Monday, May 29, 2006
This morning I was met by Maurice, who is to be my assistant for the Maryknoll course. He introduced me to the chaos that is the public transport system in Nairobi – fortunately, Maryknoll students are brought to Tangaza College by a privately-arranged bus during the program. I’m not sure I could stand three weeks of public transportation Nairobi-style. It does have the advantage of being cheap, but I’m not even sure if “you get what you pay for” even applies in this case. It is pretty extreme.
The best (but not as regular as one might like) public bus in and around Nairobi is called the “Citi Hoppa.” These are green busses that seat maybe 16 people. Depending upon the time of day, they can cost from 30 KSh to 50 KSh (roughly $0.38 or $0.63). The fares are obviously not enough to support repairing (or installing) shock absorbers. Also, unless you understand rapid-fire Kiswahili (or have a guide), it is difficult to get on the right one. This morning, even a local young woman who got on the Citi Hoppa Maurice and I rode was told that it was going to one place, and instead it stopped short. She was therefore forced to take a Matatu (minibus) the rest of the way to the Catholic University of East Africa, where she is a student. We took the same Matatu a short distance the rest of the way to Tangaza College.
The Matatu is an experience. Swarms of these minibuses ply the streets of Nairobi and its environs. Normally, there is a driver, who doesn’t interact with the riders, and at least one ‘hawker’ (there may be a specific term, but this will do) who jumps out at stops and drums up business. The Matatus are fairly reckless (Maurice’s word, not mine), and they certainly don’t have any smoother ride than the Citi Hoppa. However, as an added torture, there is usually very loud music blasting in these minivans, presumably to attract youthful clientele. Much of the time, this is imported American rap music (no, you can’t get away from that even here). I supposed I should have expected this to be a rough ride. The guidebook (Lonely Planet) I bought for Kenya begins its paragraph about Matatus with “If you don’t mind taking your life in your hands…”
At any rate, I have just returned half-deaf to Flora Hostel, following the above-mentioned trip to Tangaza College, and a brief walking tour of central Nairobi. The College is nicely kept, particularly if one compares it to many other buildings and facilities here. I ment Denis Odinga Okiya, the Registrar and Administrative Assistant for MIAS, and Fr. Michael Kirwen, the Director, and had a brief walk-through of the building and grounds. Saint Mary’s should be proud of its presence here. It is so desperately needed, and it is clear that the CTIE graduates this year will go forth to do important work in Kenya and the other countries from which they come.
I also met Br. Geru, an Eritrean with whom I’d had some correspondence facilitated by Br. Bob Smith. I hope to visit with him more and learn more about the CD project he is attempting to get off the ground.
Now, central Nairobi…
Chaos is really the only word that comes to mind. Clearly, there are islands in the midst of this chaos, but these are principally the expensive hotels that cater to European and North American visitors. There is no effective control of pedestrian or automotive traffic, and people simply cross the street where they can get away with it, and vehicles approach the city with a similar disregard for the few traffic signals and signs that actually exist.
The streets, especially smaller ones, are choked with pedestrians, and the sidewalks are crumbled or simply dirt in many places, with bits of trash and plastic bags trampled into them. Some streets have an endless array of merchant stalls and storefronts selling electronics, gifts, phone cards, and all manner of other things. Prices are quite low for most goods, excluding electronics. For example, I saw dress shirts for KSh 399 (about $5). I might have to brave the chaos and buy a few of these before I head home. Fumes from the myriad vehicles that clearly do not have pollution controls in place can be overwhelming at times.
One does see white people, but not on the public transportation system. Clearly, people were surprised by my presence, based on some of the looks I received. It is an odd feeling to be a minority for the first time, and it causes some interesting internal reactions. In downtown Nairobi today, Maurice and I turned a corner on a main street, and I saw a white man with gray hair in a sharp business suit standing off to the side reading a newspaper. For a moment, I was very tempted to greet him, merely because he was also white, and I had not seen any white people for some time during that walk.
Mostly, though, it was the noise, dirt, and general disarray of the downtown that made me nervous. I’ve read a number of warnings about pickpockets and muggers, and I can see how this could be the case at night in such an environment. Seldom have I been somewhere that has caused me concern for my personal safety. I admit that I was nervous on several occasions today – and this was in daylight.
Most of the white people here live in secure compounds in the suburbs of Karen and Langata (the latter is also where Tangaza College is located). One sees them driving Land Rovers or Mercedes sedans in these more affluent sections of Nairobi. The contrast between their houses and gardens and the living arrangements of average Kenyans is stark. Of course, I’m writing this before having really seen Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world (though I was able to see just the edge of it during the drive this morning).
At least my cell phone works! I have not called anybody in the US yet, but knowing that this is possible does help me to feel less isolated. My next task this afternoon is to find an internet café that is supposed to be just at the end of the road where I’m staying. I am looking forward to sending e-mails to friends and family back home to let them know that I’m well.
8:15 p.m.
Damn. No internet access today. Apparently, the Cybercafe that was closest to the hostel has permanently closed. The next nearest, in the Nairobi Youth Hostel, had lost its internet connection about noon today. They expected to possibly have it back tonight, but I am concerned about walking alone at night, even a short distance, so I’m not going to go back and try again. Perhaps I will end up only using the internet at Tangaza College. There are several computer labs, and I might also be able to plug in my laptop to an Ethernet port directly also. That would be very nice. The question will be whether or not there is sufficient time in the daily schedule to do much online. It may be that I have to compose messages ahead of time and send them when I am able to connect. We shall see…
I decided to call Dad to tell him that I had arrived safely. I need to have somebody attempt a return call, as I am still unsure if my Safaricom telephone works properly when dialed from the US. I dialed the number from a payphone in the compoud here, and it did ring, so it seems to be working properly. I guess I won’t really know until I get a call from outside the country.
Having skipped lunch, I was eager for dinner at the hostel. It was basic but good: some sort of meat (goat?), steamed potatoes and steamed broccoli, a tasty soup, salad, rice, and fresh pineapple for dessert. I also had tea afterward with the pineapple. The food is quite bland – virtually no spices at all except for some salt, and salt is the only thing provided on the table. The sugar for tea and coffee is very good – raw sugar (not bleached) from sugar cane. Tea and coffee here are excellent thus far.
Tomorrow I need to be ready to be picked up at 8:00 a.m. Orientation begins officially at 9:00 a.m. at Tangaza College. Meanwhile, I am reading The Garland Handbook of African Music edited by Ruth M. Stone. It is a survey textbook of African musical history and styles, but it so far leans toward West Africa. While some of the basic concepts will certainly be relevant, I don’t think there will be any specific examples of East African music in the book. Oh well – I’ll be trying to hear those on my own very soon.
After seeing downtown Nairobi today, I am especially grateful for the haven provided by Flora Hostel. While it is plain and certainly not luxurious by Western standards, it is relatively quiet, comfortable, and, most of all, safe. Going between here and Tangaza should be manageable. However, I do think I am learning where my limits are as a Westerner accustomed to certain creature comforts. Were I to return to Kenya in the future, I suspect that I would be willing to pay premium prices for the hotels and services that cater to Westerners. It is interesting to learn about the scope of one’s comfort zone…
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Hooray! I was able to access e-mail today! The connection at Tangaza College is rather stable and fairly fast, so at least three days a week, I’ll be able to correspond by e-mail there. Also, a fellow MIAS student, Charles Brock, is staying at the nearby Anglican Guest House, which has a cybercafe. He seemed to think that it would be fine if I used it as well. Charles is a student at the Virginia Theological Seminary, finishing his M.Div. degree in preparation for ordination as an Anglican priest. We are both navigating our first trip to Kenya, so we have much in common.
Today was a better day in many respects. Although I woke up last night at 1am, 3am, and 5am, I was able to get back to sleep each time, so I felt fairly well rested today. Also, getting the program started was a relief. The haven provided by Tangaza College is wonderful, and it was good to meet my fellow students in the immersion course. We had two sessions of general overview of African culture and an introduction to fieldwork. Then we toured Nairobi on a private bus for about 2.5 hours, including a stop at a very large open-air market (noisy, crowded, chaotic and a bit scary, but much better in a group with guides). At the market I bought a small Maasai painted leather shield and a small carved wooden hippo as souvenirs (grand total, KSh 900, or about $11). The hippo has taken up residence on my desk. I believe it will eventually need a name. We also toured around Lang’ata and Westlands, which are affluent parts of Nairobi, the city center (drove through without stopping, so not quite the baptism by fire I had yesterday), and then we drove through Kibera, one of the world’s largest slums. It was really beyond description – no sanitation, rusting corrugated tin roofs on mud huts or buildings cobbled together from whatever materials could be found, mounds of garbage and open sewers intermittently here and there. I took a few photos surreptitiously from the bus, because although I didn’t want to obviously gawk at the people there, the scene was really quite unbelievable. Also, just as we left the edge of the slum, we stopped and got off the bus for an overview, and I took several photos of that perspective.
After the tour, we returned to Tangaza College about 4pm and had soft drinks. There is already a good sense of camaraderie developing between students and field assistants, and in retrospect, I am glad that I had a one-day head start in meeting Maurice yesterday. I also met a student, Francis, a Christian Brother (not LaSalle) from England, who is in his third year of the MIAS program leading to the M.A. in African Studies who had Maurice as a field assistant during last year’s courses. It is clear that they developed a very good rapport during that time together.
Also, following the tour, I was able to buy the book we are using as a fieldwork guide, Participant Observation by James Spradley. I have read the first 11 of the assigned 25 pages, and will be getting back to that shortly. I’m also still working on The Garland Handbook of African Music, and hope to have digested much of that before I begin fieldwork on Saturday.
My first fieldwork experience will be to attend a somewhat ‘westernized’ traditional music performance on Saturday. Sister Loretta Brennan was kind enough to alert me to this opportunity. Apparently, the director studied in Florida on a Fullbright Scholarship, and when he came back, he formed an ensemble to do traditional music of Kenyan ethnic groups (Luo, Kikuyu, etc.), but in a form more readily adapted to concert performance. It will be interesting to discover what has been modified from purely traditional presentation. Maurice, who is Luo, will be a tremendous help in determining authentic use of instruments, and, of course, with the language of those pieces in Luo. Afterward, I hope to interview the director.
On Sunday, I will attend Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family (Holy Family Cathedral), the seat of the Archdiocese of Nairobi. I was able to go inside this church yesterday. It is an odd mix of unattractive, industrial concrete, large multi-pane stained glass windows (only an abstract spectrum of colors – no design as such), and a fine marble dais beneath the altar. The music should be interesting – Maurice said that it is more westernized than what one finds in smaller churches.
Tomorrow we begin our distinct courses, in my case “African Traditional Religion Interprets the Bible.” I’m looking forward to meeting my instructor for this course and focusing in on potential topics for my research integration paper.
Back to reading, which I’m pleased to have, since there is no television, and I don’t have a radio either. I wish I had brought more music loaded into iTunes. Oh well, I’ll add that to the long list of things I wish I had brought. On the other hand, in a triumph of preparedness, I did have a flashlight tonight when the power went out for about 20 minutes (and even extra batteries if the outage had been longer!).
(9:24 p.m.)
posted by Patrick O'Shea | 8:06 AM
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