Greetings from Kenya!




This has taken awhile, as internet can be a bit on the slow side, if existent at all. Internet here basically runs on dial up as far as I can understand, hence most of this was written last week but here it is thus far!





Day 2 May 12th, 2012

Today was probably the first real time we began to get a sense of the Kenyan lifestyle. The day began with a delicious breakfast downstairs in our guesthouse. Of course I had to try anything that looked weird or different so I ended up with some form of porridge which we later found out was made of a type of ground millet, which explains a bit about the red to purple colour of the thick liquidy substance but doesn't entirely explain the taste, which to me seemed a bit like rice pudding. The jam was also totally unrecognizable to me and was surprisingly bitter, still unsure of the origin of that, but we learn a bit more with every meal. I have since learned it was Fig Jam….who knew!


Most foods here seem to focus around a stewed meat (beef, chicken or fish) and a type of shredded cabbage with rice, which makes sense as the stewing process helps ensure the safety of the food. Meat can really vary in this country, as it can in most, from pure grizzle and fat which you must find a way of politely either swallowing or disposing of, to as tender and fresh as you could ask for (plucked fresh from the front yard that morning). The fruit of course is of a richness we don't often experience in North America, especially the pineapple, which is quite pale but much more juicy and flavourful than the Dole variety we are accustomed to. I am pretty sure Morgan and I are both in agreement that we could just eat that all day and be content. After our meal, we went back to our room to await a man from the veterinary and agricultural centre at Nairobi University who was to take us to the university to meet with Sylvia, a graduate student who will join us in early June, and Pauline, a undergraduate student in her 3rd year of their 5 year program. This was when that term "Kenyan time" began to take some meaning. After a few hours of waiting and a few mildly confusing phone calls we finally were able to get ahold of our drive and headed out of the city centre towards the university, situated roughly 20-30 minutes from downtown. Being the only veterinary college in the country, the campus was quite extensive and we enjoyed meeting with the Dean of the university, although everywhere we went we ran into a similar question, "where's John!". John Vanleeuwen, our advisor for the project, is essentially a local celebrity around the university from what we could see (and later I have come to find is considered family to most of the Wakulima Dairy staff and surrounding town) and everyone was very curious to know where he was or when he was coming back. Something tells me this will be a familiar trend throughout our time here in Kenya, as John has done so much excellent work here and continues to.


The dean spoke with us about the many new projects their university is working on, including a bachelor degree in fish health, and fish farming in small man made ponds holding about 700 or so fish, primarily Tilapia. Kenya seems to be much in tune with the rest in the world in their search for high protein, low cost food sources and aquaculture does seem to represent a means of meeting both of these demands. Fishing is a big industry in Kenya much as it is in Canada, especially around Lake Victoria, although there doesn't seem to be so much of a focus on any specific species. We were told that an invasive species, the Nile perch, has been introduced to Lake Victoria, decimating local fish populations. We also spoke with the dean about the nature of their veterinary program and graduate programs, which were quite akin to our own programs in many ways, although we did have a laugh at one of the courses being offered on the main bulletin board, "Crocodile Medicine". At first I assumed this was to accommodate the widely distributed crocodile populations of Kenya, which from what I understand can be found in basically any body of water, but apparently there are quite a few crocodile farms throughout the country! I can't say I had ever really heard of this kind of a production system, so I hope we will be able to see at least once over the course of our stay.


We then met with Sylvia, who was busy when we first arrived with a spay surgery. By this point it was well past lunchtime, so she took us to the school cafeteria where I told her to order whatever she thought we should try and big surprise, more stewed beef! She was curious to note that neither Morgan nor I were able to finish the giant mound of rice on our plates, as this seemed to be the first thing she finished on hers. Clearly we will need to become accustomed to eating more plain rice, a thing we don't often do at home. After lunch we made our way over to her office to discuss the project, as our supervisors (Jeff and Maureen Wichtel) who will help us get our feet on the ground for the first few weeks we will be in the field, have to depart at the end of May before Sylvia and Pauline will arrive. After we managed to find enough chairs for us all to sit down, which was quite a feat as many had missing parts or required a balancing act in order to not fall off of, the stream of other students also using this office began to flood in. Every time a new student came in we went through the rounds of introductions and by the end I think we managed to meet half of the graduate students of the entire program. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming and Sylvia and Pauline were no exception to this, I anticipate they will make our work environment both more productive and enjoyable with their advanced skill set (in comparison to Morgan and I who have just begun our degrees) and knowledge of the country, language and people. Once we had a good chat about the project we set off back to the city, winding our way through the lush countryside which seemed to be a never ending venue for markets and food stalls of all varieties.


There is a lot of construction going on in Nairobi itself and Sylvia said that regardless of the struggles Kenya has had over the last few years with corruption in the election system and the resulting riots which caused them to miss around two months of school in 2008, one thing the government has since made a lot of progress on are their roads. "Now we get to brag about them" Sylvia chuckled. Good thing we got here when we did, for as often as we complain about the state of our roads in Canada, we are lacking some of the unique challenges driving in Kenya presents, such as giant open potholes with electrical wires popping out, very oddly placed "speed bumps" which I suspect may actually just be cracks in the road, and none of these factor in the other major road problem, the drivers. I was reminded a bit of India in the sense that the road seems to be open to whatever each particular driver decides is the best way to drive, meaning at some points we were driving in the middle of the road and others on the side, weaving past cars coming at us head on, our trying to pass us from all sides. Not quite as hectic as India though I must say, seeing as the road was lacking hoards of animals and people for the most part, but I suspect this many change when we get out of the city.


The rain has been coming and going in minor flash floods since last night, which makes sense given that we have arrived during the end of their rainy season, but people keep telling us that this year has brought a lot more rain than others and seems to be dragging out well past the time it usually begins to give way to the dry season. Luckily the rain doesn't persist throughout the day, but has been fairly consistent so far in the night and late afternoon. All of the sudden there will be a distinct change in pressure, a strong cool breeze and suddenly the skies open up and a tremendous amount of rain comes down so quickly that we can watch our backyard at the guesthouse go from dirt to streams to rivers in a matter of minutes. Just as fast as it came on the rain then dramatically stops, the clouds recede and the sun comes back accompanied by choirs of birds. It certainly gives you the sense of being in the jungle, a feeling I hope to experience more of once we head out tomorrow morning towards central Kenya, where we will set up our home base. As I write this I am again shocked at the dramatic nature of the sunsets here in Kenya. At 6pm the sun just seems to disappear and immediately become pitch black, leaving only a little bit of a flash of redness as it goes. There it goes now, so I guess that means it's time to sign off for now. Rest assured there will be many more updates to come as it begins to sink in that we are finally here to stay!