Closing

Today, I stood on the west end of the Indian Ocean, looking eastwards.

The orange sun that just rose above the sea would have claimed its position halfway up the sky, at the place I would be, in less than 5 days- Singapore. RIght beyond my line of sight.

It was kinda strange to realize that my loved ones, back home; the ones whom I synced my breakfast/lunch/dinner schedules with are now living a time table so different from mine. I have thought a lot about going back home and seeing my family again.

Everytime I imagine a senario of me being back in Singapore/Burma, I get excited, but a little nervous at the same time. It has been almost a year, and many countless encounters that has changed the way I live.

But I know that the moment I land home, I would be welcomed with open arms and hands. I guess that's the meaning of family... Unconditional love, without the limits of any time or space.

Malindi @ Sunrise.
A bird lands on top of a mounument to mark the first Portugese settlers in the East Coast.

Living in cities have made me accustomed to many things; noise is one of them. At times, silence is more audible than any other sound to me.

I found that out the last Sunday, as I sipped a hot cup of chai. I came close to burning my tongue, from drinking the tea too quickly, a habit I have developed over time. For about 6 years in Singapore, I, like many others, have tight morning schedules. Wake up at 5.50. Toilet, brush teeth, shower. 15 minutes. Get dressed, comb hair. 5minutes. Breakfast. 10 minutes. Socks, shoes and keys. 3 minutes. Out of the house by 6.25am, in time to catch the 6.40 train to school.

But that morning, in Naivasha (a small town just an hour outside Nairobi), I just sat at the cafe, enjoying the feel of the sweet hot liquid down my throat. I was too caught up in blowing, and sipping the tea, I hadn't noticed the loud alarm of the car just outside the cafe, until my friend, Kali, who was sitting across the table pointed out. That was probably another habit acquired over the course of living in busy, noisy places.

You just block out what you don't need to see or hear. Anything that gets in the way of completing your (endless list of) tasks lined up for the day is redundunt. Ignore it, or you will be wasting time and your schedule would be messed up. Life is short, gotta do what you gotta do to live to the fullest. No time to waste. Always on the go.

That lifestyle is satisfying to me. And I think I have become too accustomed to revert it. But the trip to Naivasha has also shown me, how slowing down and enjoying simple things. If you paused and looked carefully enough, nature has many things to offer and teach us.

Kali and I had just woken up, at 5.50 again. But this time, there were no places we had to be in minutes. We strolled to the edge of slope overlooking lake Naivasha and the mountains in the great Rift Valley. We sat there, wating the sunlight slowly filling colours to the gigantic sky and the range of mountains, like an invisible paint brush colouring a canvas. (I could describe what I saw, but it could become a like a paragraph in the novels...)

I felt small and humble amidst those mountains, and thankful, for a chance to breath the air, the sounds and the sights of a beautiful morning unfold. The evening before, we had also been blessed to see the sun set. That, and several other beautiful sights.


Sunset.
Photo by Alex Kamweru





Resilience. A small plant, holding on to the dry, hard rock with its fragile roots and a strong will to survive.
Photo by Alex Kamweru



Alex.
The photographer and a friend, who has taught me resilience and compassion.

Naivasha

Other sights along the journey.

Naivasha Town.






The soil here is rich and fertile. Vegetables abundant.


Mount Longonot. A Dormant Volcano.


Ever seen a tree grow taller than clouds?



Unfortunately, some of these beautiful sights that [detox] your soul is taken away by the building of a dam.

Streets of Old Town Mombasa

The streets of Old Town Mombasa have a colourful diversity of history, people and architecture.
As complex as the demographic and geographic make up is, the streets also hold many puzzles, and I often get lost (literally or in thoughts), as I walk these narrow allies and busy streets.

Tuk-Tuk or a Three wheel vehicle serve as taxis.




Muslim children on their way to Saturday morning school.




Another form of transport, that is a trolley/cart.




Allies.
Roof.

SIghts from Uganda and Rawanda Trip

For the last 8 days, we had an educational tour to Uganda and Rwanda.

1 Van, 8 Students, a teacher and countless number of towns passed. We spent at least 60+ hours in the car last week. I would be putting up more thoughts and commentaries about the trip, but this week, we are struggling to finish a final term paper and prepare for our research, so the posts might take sometime, but here are some pictures.


When we reached the border of Kenya and Uganda, after an 8 hour drive from Nairobi, we loaded up the small van. It started raining soon after. The border busy, messy and crowded.



Congolese Mountains from a distance.


Settlements on the bank of Lake Edward, Uganda


Mist blanketing the Ugandan vallies.


Banana plantations by the mountainside, in Rwanda.


Ugandan countryside



Roadside Fruitstalls


Sunset from the window of the van.

Sunset

A small village in Uganda

Sipi Falls

Mbale

Hakuna Matata

A Kiswahilii word we are all familar with, but rarely know the meaning of. In 2 weeks that I had been in Kenya, I have learnt to to know and live the word, Hakuna Matata-it means no Worries.
A simple routine life that I had been missing in a while, I now have a pretty fixed schedule to my days, and it goes like this:
I wake up at 6.10, go for a jog, a bucket shower, breakfast (milky chai with ginger and break) and walk to school.
At 8.30 Swahili lessons start and there are 5 different teachers that take turns to teach us. Apart from the language, the teachers also tell us where they are from and bits and pieces of the Kenyan culture. And on Friday, they taught us a drinking song!
12-2 is lunch break and the rest of the students would eat out, but because I live so close to school, I would go home to eat. That's also when I practice my Kishwahilii with the house help. She is from Uganda and probably the main reason for me picking up the lanugage quickly.
2-4 is usually lessons on Kenya society or development. Or we would do site visits to different NGOs in Nairobi. Last week, we did a site visit to a local clinic in Africa's biggest slum: Kirbera....the living conditions there are very pitiful! They are living right by traintracks, in shacks (houses made of loose tin sheets). When we got there... the kids were all lined outside, chanting "how are you", perhaps not knowing what they are saying at all... so we restorted to saying HOW ARE YOU. as well...
after school, I would do homework with my host brother... he helps me with Swahili, I help him with Science and English. I would help to cook dinner afterwards... and dinner with family then news... we sleep pretty early, say around 10/11...
What a worry-less life, huh?

Egoli

Before I flew to Kenya, I spent 3 days in Johannesburg, the city that has the highest crime rate. Although JoBurg didn't have much sights to offer, there was some becautiful spots. Unfortunately, I didn't risk carrying my camera around the city, and so, I wasn't able to take much photos, except this one:

NOnetheless, I had a great time there, walking in the CBD and through the trainstation and Taxi rack that is supposedly a no-go area. (I probably won't have done it alone. I was accompanied by 3 others, Angie and 2 guys- one from Ireland and the other from Germany whose company made the trip a lot more enjoyable). There were also the conversations we had with Taxi drivers (They express their political views more openly than those did in Cape Town). And the dinner with mand and a Carleton alum: Kgomotso, who is just full of energy!

Cape Point

Over the last weekend in Cape Town, I vistited Cape Point. Located at the South-Western tip of Africa, it has light houses that used to guide trading ships. Here are some photos:

Housing in South Africa- Gugulethu

For the past 5 weeks that I had been here, I was convinced that South Africa was a nation, well on its path of development. There seems to be countless numbers of NGOs here, doing work related to HIV/AIDS, child abuse, education, women empowerment... etc. And considering that I live in the downtown Cape Town, a place usually occupied by tourists and retirees, I had never really seen how South Africans in Cape Town actually lived.

Of course one cannot collapse the many racial diversities into one group of "South Africans," but I was shocked, when I visited this township, called Gugu Lethu, home for Xhosa people.



The entire residential area was filled with structures like the ones in this photograph. Their houses, or "shacks" as they are called, are built with the bare mininum materials- tin sheets. Each shack is built so close to another, that at some points, I had to walk sideways to get through the path.



Each shack is no bigger than 4 by 2 meters and has a bed which is also used as a sofa for guests, a dressing table, a small television) a stove and a fridge (if the residents could afford).
This is a photo of Lulekwa's mom. (Lulekwa is the lady I met on the way back from eastern cape and she lives in the shack across from her mom with her 17 year old son and a 13 year old daughter).





The people in the Townships basically share almost all ammenities. They use public toilets like the blue ones in this photo. As for electricity, one has to buy the wires to connect the electricity main to their shacks at the risk of being stolen along the way.



Even water is shared through a communal tap. The taps are spread out, one on each road. I was told that there are times when water supply gets cut off, and so the residents are left without any water to cook or clean. However, on rainy days, they get an unwated supply of water rushing into their homes, leaving their belongings flooded.


Needless to say, people in these townships live in dire poverty. And as a result, crimes like robbery, theft and rape are not uncommon.


I thought this was an interesting picture to potray how the family structures in South African black communities are. Children make up about 50% of the population in the township, and they are all living with their mothers, who are living with their ... boyfriends. A stable married family is often the exception, in places like the township. This could point out the link between, income and education on life decisions.


And most of these single moms fell pregnant before they finish their high school education. They often dont have enough money/nutrition information to raise their children on a proper diet.This picture above is one of a convenient store in the township. It has tomatoes and cabbages, and potato chips. These food items make up their diets.





To me, it is a puzzle to how the government of South Africa could pump in millions of dollars into construction of shopping malls, development of 2010 facilities and even the battle against AIDS. Granted that the fight against such infectious disease is not an easy victory, and it has to come with much effort on all fronts, espcieally in a country such as South Africa, where one in 4 adults are infected. But unless housing and sanitation conditions for the people here are improved, it is going to be a futile effort battle AIDS, or TB, or even provide children with the education and a healthy childhood they deserve.

I spoke about this with a friend and she has told me that it has been a difficult effort to relocate the blacks here, because they have had a difficult history of being forcefully relocated in the past. But I don't think that is a good enough reason to stop giving people the most basic ammenities each person deserves, especially in a city like cape town that has much disposable wealth!