First humbling impressions of my stay in Kisayani

The past few days have been quite eventful.

Last Friday, while still in Nairobi at 3am in the morning I awoke to screams and commotion. It turns out a woman 2 rooms down from me got robbed at gunpoint. She was OK, but had a few things stolen from her. The next night I was heading out with a few friends to go to an Ethiopian food restaurant and the guard dog of their house randomly bit me. It wasn’t a bad bite but it broke the skin. Thinking it was OK, I went on with my night. The next day I spoke to someone who mentioned how if left untreated, rabies is 100% fatal. The chances of me getting rabies is very slim, although there is no way to be fully aware that the dog is clean, so I went to see a doctor the next day. The doctor also mentioned that I should not risk it and get the vaccines, 5 different shots over a month. The only problem there was that I was to head to Kisayani that day to start my fieldwork, and Kisayani won’t have a fridge to keep the vaccine—the nearest clinic is about 10km down the road. I ended up finding cooler as well as a small guesthouse in the nearby town which had a fridge and could keep the vaccines cold for the next few days. I got my second shot today in town. For the 4^th and 5^th shot I will need to head to Nairobi.

Despite these few setbacks and scares, I have made it to Kisayani, where I will be spending the next few months conducting my interviews, focus groups and holding various meetings asking questions surrounding the water project, climate variances, and other sustainability questions.

I have moved into a single room ‘apartment’ with 1 bed and 2 lawn-chairs and a shared bathroom with others in the complex. When moving in I realized no cooking arrangements had been made. Because the food that is cooked in Kisayani will at times likely get me sick due to its preparation; those deciding my accommodations decided I should cook for myself. Also, the shared water tap outside the rooms doesn’t seem to work (an interested observation for my research), and the nearest water kiosk is about 500m away (sometimes works). To drink this water I need to also boil it for 8 minutes. The tin room over my head heats the room temperature to about 35 degrees midday.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and frustrated at first on how I’m supposed to survive out here and do my research, I realized that the other rooms surrounding mine are shared by families, some of which have 3 or 4 children. They do not have a gas stove like me, but a charcoal stove that requires firewood (which fills their rooms with smoke and more heat). They don’t have the privilege of having money for transport to the larger town nearby to buy supplies or get vaccines. Moreover, my room, despite being simple, is one of the nicest in the area and located right in town, many others live in mud huts 6km from town and 2km from any water kiosk and without electricity. And here I am writing this message on a laptop with a wireless internet connection via G3 network.

This has indeed become quite a humbling experience these first few days. I have felt almost unable to take care of myself at times, when those around me are living like this each and everyday while supporting families. My neighbours have been kind enough to also fetch water for me, give me some supplies and have offered to teach me to cook. The children have also promised to help me with my Swahili homework, if I practice English with them.

So these first few days I have spent getting to know the area, the people, their living conditions, and also taken time to figure out how to sustain myself. The people have been more than kind, showing me to their homes, introducing me to their families, offering me meals, and inviting me to their kid's birthday parties (I'll share about this later).

I may need your help with recipes. Here are the readily available ingredients in the nearby market:

• ·      eggs,
• ·      tomato,
• ·      onion,
• ·      potatoes,
• ·      maize meal,
• ·      kale,
• ·      rice,
• ·      oil,
• ·      bread,
• ·      banana,
• ·      papaya
• ·      and limes.

I also have the ability to buy chickens—a whole chicken. So any experience slaughtering and cleaning a chicken, please share. Any recipe suggestions with the above ingredients are also welcomed and appreciated!