First week in Nairobi

The time difference between The Netherlands and Kenya is only two hours. Still I was exhausted from the journey and the stress of leaving everything that is normal for five months. This made me sleep well into the next day in which I was planning to go to the WWF East Africa Regional Program Office (EARPO). The last week I had not received a confirmation from the EARPO office that they were expecting me so I was a little nervous to just walk in there. I was warmly welcomed, however, and introduced to some of the key staff in the office that were involved in the new five year WWF program that had just started for coastal forests of the Kwale District. Before I knew it I was having an Kenyan lunch at the hot balcony of the WWF in Nairobi while 24 hours ago I was still in the cold Europe. Against my expectations the office was large and with good facilities. I was assigned a working place with Internet and phone access.

At the Nairobi Youth Hostel I met two English girls that were doing a project in the second larges slum in Africa just outside of Nairobi. They were trying to create awareness and knowledge on how to change their miserable situation through drama, acting and singing among a group of young residents. With them and another group of young Kenyan dancers I spend most of my free time. I was introduced to an traditional African receipt called ‘kungali’ which was basically maize flower cooked in water to a large lump together with some kind of meat stew. Everybody sits around two large plates. With your hands you take a bit of the white large maize lump which you than dip into to the meat stew. This receipt is very social, tasteful and makes you feel very full.

The first Saturday I went out to a club called Ibiza with two boys and a girl from the dancing group. Lots of popular African music types were played in this place where I was the only tourist or ‘Mzungo’. In the crowded club it was impossible to stop your hips from shaking and in contrary with Europe the boys often did this even more lively than the girls. On Sunday we went to swim with the whole group which was very relaxing. It was very funny to see that some Africans in our group were not very good swimmers. On land they could make almost every move you can image with their body but in the water they were helpless.