Home sweet home

Bonjour à tous et à toutes!

Juste un petit mot pour vous dire que je suis revenue, saine et sauve et très heureuse, à la maison hier. Ce fut un retour sans problèmes, mis a part la fatigue intense causée par les nombreuses heures de vol. :) 

Je veux aussi vous remercier de m'avoir lue, d'avoir suivi mes folles aventures et de m'avoir supporté. Dès que possible, je pourrai envoyer à tous les intéressé(e)s un court rapport de mon voyage et un CD de mes meilleures photos.

Merci beaucoup et bonne fin d'été!!!

Julia xxxxx

Le voyage tire a sa fin...

Bonjour a tous et a toutes!
J'aurais du ecrire il y a un petit moment, mais les dernieres deux semaines furent tres occupees, donc je me reprends maintenant!
Le 7 aout, j'ai quitte Ewuas. Ma mere etait deja avec moi depuis une semaine, une tres belle derniere semaine durant laquelle elle a pu rencontrer tous mes amis, toutes les personnes de la communaute qui ont rendu mon ete inoubliable. Encore une fois, tout le monde a fait preuve d'une incroyable generosite envers elle, et j'etais tres heureuse de pouvoir leur presenter ma chere mere. Durant cette derniere semaine, nous avons recu (enfin!) un cheque du gouvernement pour la bibliotheque construite par Africa SOMA. Depuis deja plusieurs mois le projet avait cesse d'avancer par manque d'argent, donc ce cheque etait tres attendu, par nous et par tous les membres de la communaute qui revent de voir ce projet finalement se concretiser.
Nous avons aussi eu notre derniere journee a l'ecole, et j'ai eu beaucoup de difficulte a dire aurevoir a tous les professeurs et les eleves qui nous ont si bien accueilli a Elangata Wuas Primary. Ma mere avait apporte une canne de sirop d'erable, que les profs se sont fait un plaisir immense a deguster. Beau melange culturel: tremper des morceaux de mandazi (un petit beignet fait de pate frite) dans un bol de sirop d'erable! J'ai essaye de profiter au maximum de ma derniere journee a l'ecole, de me faire des photos mentales de tous ces beaux visages d'eleves, de garder avec moi la sensations de dizaines de petites mains qui touchent mes bras, ma peau et mes cheveux, epates par la blancheur de ma peau. Ca m'a rendue tres triste de quitter cette belle ecole...
Les derniers quelques jours furent plutot tranquilles, nos eleves sont passes au camp pour nous dire aurevoir, et on s'est aussi fait un beau souper avec nos amis les plus proches. Et finalement, le vendredi matin, nous avons quitte Ewuas pour se diriger vers Nairobi. Ca a ete tres difficile de dire aurevoir a Sane et Kanzo, et c'etait un moment d'emotions un peu etranges, a la fois triste de partir mais prete a voir et vivre autre chose...
Cet autre chose fut en premier un safari! Avec Alana, Hugues et ma mere, ainsi que nos guides Ali et Stanley, je suis partie vers le Maasai Mara, un immense parc national au sud du Kenya. Pendant trois jours, nous avons parcouru la splendide savanne, admirant avec excitation les tonnes de gazelles, zebres, gnous et giraffes. Nous avons vite realise a quel point c'etait touristique, et apres quelques courses folles contre les autres minivans pour se rendre aux "spots" de lions et de cheetahs, on a plutot opte pour des trajets qui nous menaient loin de tout ca. Se sentir seul au milieu de la savanne, c'est assez incroyable! Le paysage etait absolument epoustouflant, des vallees qui s'etendent a perte de vue, entourees de superbes montagnes, et des animaux eparpilles dans cet immense terrain de jeu. Pour ceux et celles qui ont vu le Roi Lion, j'etais la! J'ai aussi vu Pumba, il fait dire bonjour.
On a donc profite de ces belles excursions pendant trois jours, puis on est revenus a Nairobi pour la derniere partie de notre voyage, une escapade a Lamu! Cette petite ile sur la cote Est du pays est un petit paradis sur terre, une longue etendue de petites ruelles a saveur swahili et arabe. Tout est charmant, l'air est chaud, les gens sont ultra sympathiques, bref, je m'y plais beaucoup! Le plan pour les trois prochains jours: profiter de la plage au maximum, puis... home sweet home! Ca va faire du bien! :)
Je vous embrasse tres fort, on se voit tres bientot!
Julia xxxxxxx

How to be a good tourist in three easy steps

1- Go on a safari; it's a must. Take 16 pictures of an antelope from all the possible angles. Race against the 35 other minivans to get to the lions first. Take a picture of every zebra; they might look the same, but believe me, they're different.
2- Go to the Maasai Market in Nairobi. Find a "Maasai" woman selling "Maasai" jewelry, and even though she's giving it to you for the mzungu price, you manage to bargain hard enough to bring the price down 20 shillings. Truly authentic experience.
3- Go to the beach and get a major sunburn on the first day. Looking like a lobster is absolutely essential to truly enjoy the whole experience.

Naserian

Hi everyone!
I have a little more than a week left to my internship. Unbelievable... I feel like the month of July flew by super quickly, and soooo many things have happened since. I am starting to realize that I will have to leave all the wonderful people that have made my summer unforgettable, and that makes me very sad; at the same time, I definitely miss home, and I feel that I am ready to go back... I feel like the days to come will be very emotional. In the words I used when talking with Alana about my feelings, "je n'ai pas hate de partir mais j'ai hate d'arriver."
I think that the event that has made me realize how amazing my experience has been was our naming ceremony last Friday. Our friends here decided it was absolutely necessary for us to get Maasai names and to be blessed (and we were very happy about it) so we organized a big party, inviting everyone from the community that we have become close to in the past three months. We spent a whole day in Kajiado running around to buy food, ridiculous amounts of rice and flour to make chapati, and of course we also bought a lamb to roast for supper.
So on Friday morning, Sane arrived with his lamb (we bought it from him) and we witnessed the whole slaughtering process, which was both very interesting and incredibly disgusting. We tasted some boiled organs, such as the heart, the lungs and even the diaphragm (I have to say there's not a lot meat on that); some were delicious and some were very rubber-like. We felt terribly cool, tasting everything and even helping to remove the skin!
Around noon that day, a few mamas arrived (our first guests!) and we all started cutting up potatoes, onions and cabbage, chatting around a cup of delicious chai, while the men hung around the carcass, drinking soup made from the boiled organs (absolutely horrible). It was great to just sit around with these ladies that have always been so nice and generous, and to finally be able to invite them over and thank them. As time went by, more and more people arrived, including Danai, Jacob and Hugues from Kianyaga, and finally it was time to sit down all together and enjoy the delicious meal. Our main preoccupation was that there wouldn't be enough food for everyone, since we knew a lot of uninvited people would show up (a free meal always attracts a lot of people), but everything turned out fine. Alana and I changed into the traditional attire, desperately trying to look like real mamas, without the tan. :) Looking around, I could see all my friends and neighbours, and it felt great to spend this special evening with them. Finally, after supper, came the time for the blessing ceremony; I was incredibly excited! Sane spoke to everyone to welcome them, and to explain which names we were given and why.
I was named Naserian. It means peace, or peaceful, and Sane explained that everywhere I go, I bring smiles and happiness to people because I bring peace. Wherever I go in the world, even in times of conflict, war or unhappiness, I carry peace with me. I was very touched by this, not only because it is a beautiful name, but also for what it represents. Sane truly thought about me and understood what I aspire to be and the person I want to become, and that is how he chose that name. You can imagine how happy that made me! Alana was called Nasha, which means rain. This might seem like a strange name for some, but here in Maasailand, rain represents the ultimate sign of prosperity and wealth, because it is the one thing they need to survive. Being called Nasha means that not only will you be prosper and successful, but so will be your family and everyone around you.
After they named us, three old wazees (men) dressed in traditional shukas proceeded to the actual blessing. The whole ritual is usually done when women get married, for that is when they get a new name - don't worry, we didn't get married (or circumsized, for that matter). They pronounced the blessings in Maa, and then everyone joined in, repeating naaye, which meant "we are putting that name onto you", in order to make it official. They ended the blessing by singing a song, and we tried to dance as best as we could (which means not very well!), and the party continued for everyone.
The whole ceremony was incredible, it was a beautiful moment. I was so happy to be there, at that moment, with all these people that have come to mean so much to me. I felt very lucky and blessed. Literally. :)

So that was my ultimate Maasai moment of the week! I hope everyone is doing well, enjoying the summer and avoiding the swine flu (I have no idea what's happening in the news right now, let me know if it's coming to Maasailand.)
I will be coming back to Canada on August 20th, ready to start a new school year! In the meantime, I will enjoy the last few weeks of my time in Kenya with a short safari (I just have to do it) and a few days on the beach in Lamu. Pretty nice, heh?

Take care!
Julia xxxxxx

"Women are weak"

Bonjour a tous et a toutes!
Pour commencer, le but de mon titre n'est pas de choquer qui que ce soit, bien au contraire. Mon message aujourd'hui va expliquer l'origine de ce commentaire qui a souleve tant de rage en moi cette semaine.
Alana et moi sommes revenues jeudi de Kianyaga, apres notre belle aventure au Mont Kenya, et ca a fait du bien d'etre de retour a Ewuas! Le lendemain a l'ecole on celebrait "Educational Day", une journee ou toutes les ecoles des alentours se rassemblent pour feliciter les meilleures performances, tant du cote des eleves que des ecoles en general. Une grosse celebration qui nous a permit de participer en tant que professeures, et qui nous a vraiment donne un beau sentiment d'appartenance a notre ecole. Nos eleves nous avaient meme apporte des shukas traditionelles, ainsi que tous les bijoux qui vont avec, donc on s'est habillees en vraies Maasai pour l'occasion. Ce fut une tres tres belle journee!
On a aussi realise a quel point il reste peu de temps avant la fin de notre stage (deux semaines et demi seulement! Aaarrrggh!) et tellement de choses a faire, donc on a vraiment travaille fort pour essayer de faire le plus grand nombre d'interviews possible. Un de ces interviews fut avec un homme nomme Joseph, qui est le chef d'Oltepesi (le village voisin d'Elangata Wuas). On avait deja croise Joseph auparavant, et lors de cette breve rencontre il nous avait pose beaucoup de questions assez intenses sur la culture et le developpement economiques des communautes Maasai. C'etait la premiere personne a nous dire directement qu'il croyait que la culture Maasai etait tout simplement mauvaise et qu'elle empechait le developpement economique de la region. Son point de vue nous semblait assez radical, mais quand meme tres interessant, et c'etait evident que cet homme avait beaucoup pense a cela et avait une vision assez avant-guardiste. C'est pourquoi on avait tres hate de l'interviewer pour discuter plus longuement de cela avec lui, et bien sur pour avoir son opinion sur l'impact d'Africa SOMA dans la communaute.
L'entrevue s'est tres bien deroulee, on a discute des possibilites de projets de developpement a Oltepesi, et Joseph avec beaucoup de bonnes idees. Par contre, une fois nos questions terminees, il nous a pose des questions a son tour, et eventuellement le sujet a tourne vers le role des femmes dan la communaute Maasai. Il a commence a dire que l'homme etait naturellement superieur a la femme, que le mari devait etre a la tete de la famille et que ce serait mauvais pour une femme de gagner plus que son mari parce que supposement les femmes sont trop egoistes pour utiliser cet argent pour leur famille. Il a sortit toutes sortes d'arguments de ce genre, et plus il parlait, plus Alana et moi on s'enflammait et on essayait de lui faire comprendre a quel point il avait tort. Il se contredisait beaucoup, donc on a souvent pu refuter ses arguments, mais il ne faisait que sourire ou meme rire et continuer de dire que c'etait dans la nature de la femme d'etre subordonnee a l'homme. Je n'en croyais pas mes oreilles, ca me fachait tellement. Eventuellement, il a tout simplement dit "Women are weak" et que ce serait mal d'avoir une femme a la tete du gouvernment, et c'est a ce point la qu'Alana et moi on s'est senties tellement insultees qu'on a decide d'arreter la conversation. Quand il a realise qu'il nous avait insultees directement, Joseph s'est excuse en disant que ce n'etait pas son intention. Malgre cela, on est parties de la avec un sentiment amer par rapport a notre discussion, et c'est dommage parce que l'entrevue avait ete tres interessante. Mais c'etait la premiere fois qu'on parlait avec une personne d'ici qui avait un discours aussi oppressif envers les femmes et qui le partageait aussi ouvertement. La societe ici est tres patriarcahle, je m'en suis rendue compte tres rapidement en arrivant ici, mais jamais quelqu'un nous avait dit en pleine face "Women are weak", et ca a ete tres choquant, surtout venant du chef d'une communaute.
Bref, ce fut une journee assez emotive pour nous, mais le reste de la semaine fut plus "smooth", et tres efficace, car nous avons reussi a faire plusieurs autres entrevues (qui furent bien plus plaisantes). J'essaie de profiter de mes dernieres semaines au maximum, tant du cote recherche que du cote "social". Ce vendredi, nous organisons une fete au camp pour recevoir nos noms Maasai! Ce sera une assez grosse celebration avec tous nos amis d'ici, et ca risque d'etre une soiree tres plaisante. :)
Donc voila, la semaine prochaine je vous raconterai le deroulement de la soiree!
Je vous embrasse fort!
Julia xxxxx

Blame it on the altitude

Hello everyone!!!
Finally here are some news from my wonderful, crazy and fun adventure up Mount Kenya!
As I mentioned in my previous post, Alana and I came to spend a weekend in a small town named Kianyaga, where her boyfriend (Hugues) and two other McGill students (Jacob and Danai) are interning with an organization called Green Power. During our weekend, the three of them convinced us that it would be great for us to join them in their 5-day hike up Mount Kenya, the following week. So of course we said yes! However, having not planned this before leaving Canada, we had very little equipment for this excursion, which they predicted would be quite cold at night, with any possible kind of weather. Furthermore, we needed to buy altitude medication so that we wouldn't end up vomiting or fainting on the second day. So we did a little shopping spree in Nairobi, and although it was quite difficult to find warm, good quality clothing, we were able to find a few items that would allow us to survive. I knew this hike would be quite a challenge, but I realized it's something that I definitely wanted to accomplish, especially since it wouldn't be so easy.
So the following week, we left for Kianyaga again, and from there we went up to Castle Forest, a lovely lodge situated at the base of Mount Kenya, where we camped for the night before the beginning of our hike. On Sunday the 11th, we woke up quite early to start hiking, accompanied by Maina, our guide, and 13 porters (!) who carried all our luggage, the food and the tents. It felt very strange to have someone carry my own stuff, but I quickly realized it would have been impossible for me to do it on my own.
The hike lasted 5 days. The first three days were good, relatively long (between 6 and 8 hours) and made us go through all kinds of different environments. The first day was bamboo forest day, with our feet deep in the mud, trying to avoid getting a bamboo branch in the eye. Maina told us all about the elephants that roamed this forest, and their huge tracks in the mud gave us an idea of how impressive they are (although we didn't see one on the hike). The second and third days were very beautiful and interesting, because the higher we went, the more the environment around us changed, going from funny-looking trees that resembled pines, to valleys of long, yellow grass. I dealt pretty well with the altitude, mostly thanks to the altitude medication, I'm pretty sure. Walking made us all pretty out of breath, but Maina gave us a very good (very slow) pace, which was perfect. At the end of every day, we arrived at our campsites where the porters had arrived about an hour earlier (they were amazingly fast, considering they were carrying everything). Our tents were set up, our meal was ready and hot tea was waiting for us. How lovely! The nights weren't so pleasant however. The 5 of us were separated into two tents, but my lack of good equipment made me very poorly prepared for the temperature at night. When I prepared my luggage to leave for Kenya, I chose not to bring my good, warm sleeping bag, but rather a small, light one, thinking it would be perfect for the hot, dry nights in Maasailand. Fool. My sleeping bag definitely wasn't warm enough for Mt. Kenya, and even the extra wool blanket that I had brought along (and the several layers of clothes that I was wearing) weren't enough. Furthermore, all I had were my running shoes for the day and my crocs for the evening. However, during the day we would sometimes step in mud or water, and at night, instead of drying, my running shoes would simply freeze because of the cold. So my first two nights were quite unpleasant, but the days made up for it, for it felt really great to be hiking, to be in nature, and to see that we were gradually rising above the level of the clouds!
By the end of the third day we reached the base camp of Naro Moru, our campsite for the night before the actual ascension of Lenana Peak, the only peak that can be done without technical gear and experience. From the base camp, we not only had a lovely view on the mountain and valley surrounding us, but we could also have a clear view of Lenana and of the trail we would hike up. I really wish I could put pictures up to show you how amazing it all was, but unfortunately internet here is quite uncooperative. That night we went to bed quite early, excited about what was coming the next day, and a little nervous also, for we knew it would be a difficult and intense day. I made sure I was wearing every single piece of clothing I had for the night (including my raincoat) and slipped two bottles of hot water in my sleeping bag to keep my feet warm, and I slept like a baby!
We got up at two a.m. on the morning of the 4th day, packed all our stuff, had some tea and a small breakfast, so that by three we were ready to go. We basically had to do a three-hour hike up a very steep slope until we reached the ridge of the first mountain, followed by a 45-minute hike/climb/scramble up to Lenana Peak. The first part started off well, but it didn't take very long before my feet started getting incredibly cold (the frozen shoes didn't help). The rest of my body was fine, and my heart was dealing quite well with the altitude, but my feet simply could not get warm. Whenever we'd stop for a break, I would sit on a rock and point my feet downwards, so that the gravity would help send the blood to my toes, but of course that was incredibly painful. As we slowly walked up the mountain in the darkness, my feet simply got worse, and I had to muster up all the determination and willpower that I had to not burst into tears or get very irritated. I knew I wanted to reach the top; stopping or going back down wasn't even an option for me, because this was a challenge I had decided to overcome, and I was determined to do it. I also knew that I would feel much better once the sun would rise, because it would warm me up, so all I needed was to keep on going. Other people in the group were struggling also, but mostly because of the altitude, which made Alana feel very weak and out of breath. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached the ridge, where there was a small cabin that I ran to in order to sit down, take off my shoes and try to warm up. In the meantime, the sun was slowly starting to rise, and after a 20-minute break, Alana and I both felt slightly better, and we continued towards Lenana. From that point on my feet were doing better, and climbing the rocks added a little more fun to the hike. Finally, we reached the peak of Lenana, and it was an amazing, wonderful, overwhelming moment, that I took in by simply sitting, looking at the view, and eating a cold chocolate bar that I had kept for my victory. Absolutely terrific. After many pictures, on which we all have smiles of incredible satisfaction, we started our hike down, on the other side of the mountain, which brought us once more to a completely different environment (it looked like Arizona!). The walk down was pretty rough on the knees, but what was most difficult was that we still had to walk for about 5 more hours, after this intense experience. But we did, and we reached the final campsite, completely exhausted but happy. I once again slept like a baby, and the following (and last) day, we only had 2 hours to walk before reaching the exit to the national park, where a Land Rover was waiting to take us back down to Chogoria, a town where we could grab a matatu back home.
This experience was truly amazing. Not only was I incredibly happy to have chosen to do it, but I was very proud of myself for having reached Lenana. Furthermore, I had a really lovely time with Alana, Hugues, Jacob and Danai, who were all great hiking and camping partners.
I realize I've almost written a novel about this, sorry if this was long, but I hadn't written in a long time. And I'm now getting ready for the final stretch of my internship (only three weeks left!!!). I'm looking forward to the weeks after when I'll travel a bit (with my mom!!!), but I know it will be very difficult to leave Elangata Wuas and everyone there. But I'll deal with that when the time comes!
I'm sending my love to everyone!!! Take care!
Julia xxxxxxxxxxxx

Short message

Hi everyone!!
Sorry I haven't written in a while, I realize you're probably all desperate for some news, haha! :)
I have been quite busy lately, because Alana and I went to spend a weekend in Kianyaga, at the base of Mount Kenya, and we're leaving today to actually go climb it! Sooo I don't have much time right now, but I promise I will write a looong message when I get back to tell you all about the past few weeks.
Hope everyone had a lovely St-Jean-Baptiste and Canada Day! :)
Love,
Julia xxxxx