Visiting Family & Looking for Gigs (Nov 11/03)

It's been a great month filled with trips to Kitale, welcoming Anthony back to Nairobi, and various events... of course this update will be long as usual, so bookmark home.ca.inter.net/~johanna if you don't want to read all of it now!

As I mentioned., Anthony went back to Loki on Sept 22 and then to Sudan on the 30th... meanwhile, I had to make myself busy looking for work and of course entertaining myself! Entertainment first...

My Norwegian friend and business partner, Howard, is one of those guys who knows everyone. So we ended up at a nyama choma dive with Wahu, the singer of one of the songs I brought to Canada with me called "He is a Liar" (it's a bit bitter but fun to dance to!). A typical nyama choma joint is anything but pristine... cracked plastic patio chairs, old wooden tables, gravel underfoot, and butchers that come to carve the goat ribs at your table in bloody aprons... egad! I was horrified when I started eating this stuff, but have gotten very used to it since! For me, goat must be accompanied by kachumbari, which is a yummy tomato and onion salad spiced with coriander. Nyama choma also usually comes with ugali and a little pile of salt for you to dip your fatty piece of goat meat into. After stuffing ourselves, we went to dance at Pizza Garden in Westlands, where Wahu brought the house down when she got up to sing her very popular song.

The next day Howard and I went to see a play directed by a friend of ours, Kamau - but it was all in Kiswahili! Proper Kiswahili from the coast at that - Nairobians speak a rather bastardized version, which we are used to, so we didn't get much out of the play. Managed to meet a film director though, who's currently working on a few commercials - and wants a couple of wazungu (white people) to keep on hand for upcoming projects. Could be lucrative - the going rate is around CAD$800 per! So he took us to a horrible little Ethiopian place that served great food. Ethiopian food always comes with injara, which is a soft, sour, flat bread that you use as cutlery to pick up the various spicy meats and veggies with. Rather addictive actually! And the nicer Ethiopian places roast coffee beans, play weird instruments, sing arabically, and shoulder dance for you... quite an experience!

Worked a bit at VSF-Belgium - mainly to get access to the evening radio check to talk to Anthony in the field! Very funny telling someone 'I love you' over the radio for all to hear - worse when it has to be relayed! Everyone's teasing us mercilessly, since we hadn't told anyone that we were even seeing each other, let alone getting married! But we have full approval nonetheless :) One major piece of good news that I certainly hope will pan out - the Regional Services Manager, Mwende, informed me that she was arranging to get my man working full time in the Nairobi office, and what would I think about that? What would I think??? I tried not to be too excited, because plans can always change, but YAAAYYYY!!!!! :) As you may have heard, Sudan is on the way to peace (fingers crossed), and one of the effects is that they want to get their people working - instead of having Kenyans or other ex-pats taking the jobs. Therefore, since we have a Sudanese guy, Caesar, working in the Nairobi office, he is destined to go to the field in January - and his replacement in Nairobi could very well be Anthony!!

Almost forgot about Thanksgiving - it's solely a North American holiday, did you know that? But a Member of Parliament who frequents the Ratna restaurant, KK, happens to own a turkey farm. So Ashwin (the restaurant owner) and I arranged to make a full turkey dinner on Oct 15! I made the stuffing in heart-warming Mum style, and also an Indian rice pudding (well, as close to Jim's Pizza House rice pudding as I could get, but the basmati rice made it seem Indian!). Brought a can of cranberry sauce and convinced Ash to make mashed potatoes, and we were all set - a fantastically familiar taste right in the middle of Kenya! The accolades were almost embarrassing - people are very shocked when they find out a mzungu can actually cook... and they nearly fall over when I tell them I can cook ugali (c'mon, all you have to do is boil some water, throw in maize flour, stir, and it's finished! They think this is a delicacy??)

In between lots of business meetings (where our consulting offers are very well received, thank heavens!), I decided to go to Kitale with Jeniffer, who meets her boyfriend from Lodwar there every so often (Kitale's about halfway between Lodwar and Nairobi). Luckily we managed to get a lift to the bus station, which is in a very shady section of Nairobi, and we set off at 9pm on the overnight run. We dozed in between the constant bumps, stopped for tea a couple of times, and arrived in Kitale at 6am. I slept for a few hours in a hotel room, invited Jeniffer and Mike out for lunch, shopped for groceries, and made it to Anthony's parents' around 3pm... at which time I found out they had been waiting for me since 9am! Oh well, I had to sleep! The kids were ever so excited to see me - I hadn't been there since before Canada, though Anthony had been. Everyone looked at the wedding photos over and over and over... asking questions about the smallest details, the landscape, the people.. (BTW, every woman I've showed the photos to thinks my Dad is so handsome... watch out when he gets here Mum!! hehe!) I also had a fantastic book about Canada that I think Tracey and Angela must have supplied - tonnes of photos and explanations on every province and region - I had quite the collection of neighbourhood kids demanding to know what polar bears and maple trees are, how wonderful are the RCMP, what types of trees we have, how much wheat does Saskatchewan grow, what a lighthouse is... everything! And then they'd go back to the wedding photos and insist sonJa was my sister and that Jake should be married... They also marveled over Oma and Grandaddy - they both look so good! - didn't believe that tall Vanessa could be my *younger* sister, loved Mike's hair, thought Shannon looked very stylish, and couldn't stop looking at Mum & Dad. And of course I had a tonne of photos of everyone else who was there - they just loved seeing ALL of you!

The next morning, instead of going to church, I had a meeting with the mzee (old man) - Anthony's Dad - regarding the settlement of the land, dates for the Kenyan wedding ceremony, what on earth they were going to do with a bunch of visitors, etc. He then informed me that the procedure for determining the date and other details about the event would be settled in a meeting involving the elders from both sides of the family - Anthony's Mum's & Dad's brothers and sisters, etc. I put in a suggestion for Dec 28, thinking that surely everyone would manage to get here by then! So far it's been accepted, but they decided a second wedding wasn't necessary - instead we'll have a marriage blessing and welcome to the family ceremony, plus a reception (involving lots of goat meat I'm sure!)

I met Jeniffer & Mike back in Kitale on Sunday night as we planned to leave the following morning, and it turned out that an African Culture Night was being celebrated at our hotel that very night - displays including food, clothing, carvings, dancing, singing, skits, etc - we were so in! We spotted some very funky African clothes in the lobby - designer kitangas - a kitanga is a formal African dress, typically in bright colours and puffy sleeves. So Jeniffer and I just HAD to try some on. Usually I look quite ridiculous in neon greens, oranges, and other colours that look fantastic on black skin, but I found this navy blue funky thing that screamed Johanna (or rather "Joan Khisa!"). Granted, it does have some weird little orange shapes on it, but the overall design is just stunning. I knew if Anthony had been there he would have bought it for me.... so I did him a favour and used his ATM card!

It was now time for the buffet - we tried rabbit, sorghum ugali, millet, and all kinds of fairly disgusting veggies... but overall it was ok. Then on to the dancing - troupes from local high school, including tiny little kids, gave it their all with sweet voices, incredible moves, and matching outfits. I noted the name of the school - for they said they focus on culture, computers, and fostering women's independence - sounds good for my kids (and in-laws)! Tons of speeches, dances, and accordion music from a funny mzee in a grand-poobah hat, and then I won a prize for Best African Outfit! Oh my.

I was all set to leave the next morning when I was overcome with incredible cramps... must have been the water at the shamba! (that's where Anthony's house is) There was no way I could get on a bus, so I sent Jeniffer off alone, received medication from my in-law Simon, ordered tea from room service, and later managed to find a "small vehicle" (Peugot station wagon with extra seats in the trunk) back to Nairobi. Fairly risky at night, and we did end up having a flat tire, but I kept in contact with my peoples and made it home safely. The driver made sure I got right into a taxi, and that driver remembered me from the time that I was robbed at that station before! He was one of the rescuers who ended up putting my attacker in hospital - I gave him a big lecture on punishment being worse than the crime, but I don't think he really believed me... I recovered well enough from my bout, had meetings all week, and scrubbed the house in preparation for my husband coming home... He arrived on Friday, Oct 24 (my parents' 33rd anniversary - congrats!). We talked and got caught up over a bottle of red wine while dinner bubbled on the stove... then watched the amazing video footage he filmed in Sudan. Just wait until I can figure out how to connect the camera to the computer so I can make CDs to send around! (does anyone know - do I need a firewire card?? it's got USB but it seems to only want to do web camera that way. It's a Panasonic PVGS50D-K)

On the weekend, we met with friends, went out for Chinese, Anthony got to see his first movie at a theater, and then we headed back to Kitale... except Anthony thought it would be a good idea to walk to the bus station at night! Luckily we were rescued by a couple of armed policemen who escorted us to the bus... otherwise it could have been nasty! We had a fairly comfortable ride courtesy of the travel pillows supplied by sonJa, and arrived around 6am. We shopped for new bathroom supplies (Anthony is building a new pit latrine and shower for our Canadian visitors), got a tour of the school I mentioned (in fact it's the same one Anthony wanted to send the kids to!), test drove an Isuzu pickup (still dreaming), and visited our lawyer regarding the land Anthony purchased. My stomach was upset all week... I am certainly looking forward to the new and close bathroom! I took the kids to have them interviewed and placed at the school - was a great adventure walking through town - how people stared at this mzungu with a Kenyan kid on each hand! After soda and mandazi, the kids wrote their tests - turns out that Kevin has learned enough to progress to Standard 2, but Leah needs a bit more English in Senior Nursery before she can move to Standard 1. The school looks great - and we're thinking of sending Nafula (Anthony's 20-year-old sister) there as well if she passes grade 8. Will likely cost about CAD$2000/year for the 3 of them... I think it'll be worth it. Did I mention it's boarding school? Too far from home to travel there daily, but close enough for frequent visits. They say they even have 3-years-olds boarding there! With the deplorable state of government-run schools, a private boarding school is often the best solution. I spent Hallowe'en in the mudhut, working with Nafula on her studies, under the light of a kerosene lamp... I sent Jake a text message just to make the comparison! I'm sure everyone had a grand time... I know sonJa did anyways!

We got back to Nairobi on the morning of Sunday, Nov 1, and then Anthony immediately took off for Loki. For whatever reason I was sick yet again, and this time ended up with a cold as well. Maybe my typhoid shot has worn off! But I had this grand idea that I should get Nafula to come to Nairobi so I could help her to study - I'm really worried that after 5 years out of school and a couple of babies, that she won't make this grade 8 exam - and I'm her sponsor! Anthony's cousin Simon put her on the bus and I picked her up on Monday evening. I left her at home during the day while I went to meetings, and we studied every evening. Mostly her problem is English - and all of the exams are written in English. Pretty hard to get the answer when you don't understand the question! Eventually I brought her out - since it was her first time in Nairobi, I thought I should show her at least some of the town! She hated Ethiopian food but loved going for nyama choma. Not to mention it was her first time seeing a bathroom, having a bath, watching TV, talking on a phone, seeing a computer...! I can't imagine what she thought of my decadent lifestyle - with my combination gas/electric stove, microwave, fridge, full size mattress, rack for drying clothes, electric lights.... But Nairobi city council decided to make it a bit more real for her and we didn't have water all week... at home all she has to do is go to the stream and carry a 20L bucket back on her head, but in Nairobi it's much more difficult! We managed though. After she left I snuck into the gym at Ratna (where I used to live) and had a long hot shower - I hate sponge bathing for a week! (Got the water back yesterday)

So that brings me up to right about now, where I'm still working on getting business for ICTech - the IT company Howard and I started. We approached network providers and systems integrators, and though we don't have a confirmed gig yet, it's imminent! Submitted a proposal to do a network security audit at a prestigious financial institution the other day which is very likely, plus an ISP wants me to train their own consultants in project management and also fix up their helpdesk. I'm hoping we'll be so busy that we'll have to hire someone - maybe even before Christmas! Only problem is the invoice doesn't get sent till after the job is done... but technically my husband's supposed to support me anyways, isn't he??

Also waiting for the confirmed travel dates of my visitors - I have Tracey booked in at my spacious apartment from Dec 25-Jan 21, though I hear my parents may not even make it in time for the elder-approved marriage blessing ceremony! Anthony says it's no problem to change it, but I would still like to know asap... Got all kinds of safaris and events lined up if anyone else wants to join!

Speaking of which, I posted some info on traveling to Kenya on my site - and even a few wedding photos! Check out home.ca.inter.net/~johanna for the goods. And if you have digital photos that you took at the wedding, please upload them to my Epson account (directions below) - I'll put a link to those photos as soon as there's some in the account!

BTW, a hearty congrats to my sister Vanessa who scored an awesome job at Dal - she's now Curriculum Assistant for the medical centre! And of course a warm thanks to Jean Collier who set the wheels in motion - what would we do without her!

Another milestone in my family - Jake moved out! I wonder how my parents are faring with their empty nest. I bet they're the type to take off to Africa or something! :)

OK, I'm just about finished... no complaining - this was only 4 pages long!! See what happens when I don't have regular internet access!

Love you all,
Johanna

 

 

 

Uploading Photos to my Epson Account
Make sure you create your own album in my Epson account - name it something like Seb's Photos, or CJP, or Prettyboy, or something similarly identifiable. Login at www.photo.epson.com using my full ca.inter.net email address (johanna at) as the username and **** for the password (email me if you need it!). Once you create your album (it's something obvious like Make New Album), I believe you can ftp the photos to ftp.photo.epson.com instead of using their web interface - choose your album as the directory to upload to, otherwise they'll go into the Incomin Album by default where they have to be manually moved. Email me if you have any problems, but if this is too complicated than why do you have a digital camera!!! hehe! THANKS! I would be lost without the photos Gene & Dayna and my Unca Den gave me - I'm printing 'em like mad to give to Anthony's family. And they would love to see more!!

 

 

Copyright Johanna Voerman Khisa, 2002-03. Reprinting or reposting without permission is prohibited.