Boondocks

So I just got back from a week in rural, western Kenya (Bunyore/Luanda area and specifically the Esibakala village).

From Kenya

I've been postponing this blog post for a few days, because I'm not really sure how to put my experience into words. It was, hands down, one of the best weeks of my life. When I was struggling a few weeks ago with homesickness and everything, my program director told me rural week was a huge turning point for people on the program in the past. That was such an understatement for me. The experience made me remember why I was here and even went so far as to refocus my understanding of development and create this enormous interest in rural development. Who knew that the city girl who couldn't even be in New Hampshire for more than 2 hours because of the trees and lack of cell phone signal would fall in love with the beauty and the people of Western Kenya. I mean, I had to pee in a hole and had no electricity. We are talking SERIOUS roughing-it. And I loved every moment of it. I had a really embarrassingly hard time leaving and cried a lot and was super stressed about coming back to Nairobi.

From Kenya

My favorite thing was the quiet. Just the silence I could have, from outside stressors and even from inside myself. I quieted all of my worries and concerns while there and it was beautiful, and poetic, and cliche and all of that jazz. I wrote so much in my journal and detailed everything I was thinking, feeling, and doing. I can't wait to go back in March or something and read it all.
I guess it didn't help that there were also hordes of wonderful, adorable children that loved me and played with me all of the time. I definitely picked favorites, and this one was mine (also PLEASE check out my picasa for more pictures):

From Kenya

And here is my mama, and two of my little sisters:

From Kenya

I know that I only have less than 2 months here to get everything done that I want and I just need to stay positive and use this week to "enrich my experience" or whatever- use it to refocus myself and make friends here and enjoy myself and just fall in love with a place that I just wanted to leave 2 weeks ago.
And now I'm sitting in the westernized coffee place we frequent, drinking an iced tea and eating a chicken pesto panini while they play David Bowie through the speakers. And it occurs to me that, though I found my happiness in Esibakala, it's still with me and I just need to focus on it all of the time, even when Nairobi can be a rough place to be.