So Different

I began the morning with Tino and Sarah going through some more approaches we can use to survey and gather data from the village we are going to next week. In the middle of our lecture, there was a bunch of banging on the roof. Sarah and Tino explained to me it was just a monkey. I had to laugh because the only time I’ve dealt with monkeys was in zoos. Here though, monkeys are the equivalent to deer I spot frequently in my yard, just a little sneakier.

For lunch today, Sarah and Karen (another person working on the CHIESA project) took me outside of the compound, down the street for lunch. Getting out was really enjoyable. The small place we went to was like a corner fast food joint. I got some fries. They were really good. I’m not sure if that is because I have had rice and beans for every other meal here, but that could play a large role in it. Sarah and Karen also worked with me on my Swahili. Sasa means how are you? Poa means good. They continued to test me on this throughout the day.

Upon returning from lunch, Sarah and I continued on our questions. For our village visit we will be conducting a focus group discussion. In this style of testing, a group of about 20 farmers will come in for three hours and we will ask them questions about climate change and how it has affected their crops and economic activities. I have one huge disadvantage in this project, however. I don’t speak Swahili or Taita. Therefore, according to Tino, my job will be to observe the people and how they respond to each other’s comments. Sarah will lead the discussion and Tino will introduce everything in English. Designing questions is a tedious task. Not only do the questions need to be specific enough to get the information we plan to gather, but they also have to flow and be put in a way the farmers can understand. Sarah and I worked on this for a long while. We are hoping to finalize the questions tomorrow.

After work, Karen offered to take me out to go grocery shopping with her. Of course I accepted the offer. We drove just down the street to a local grocery store. The grocery store was so different than what I had expected of envisioned. The store was about a fourth of any decently sized grocery store in the United States. Except at this store, there was about five times the amount of people. In every single aisle, someone would run into me. Unlike Americans, the people did not apologize or even turn to look. This is definitely a cultural difference. The items sold in the store were similar to anything anyone could get in an American store. They sold milk in bags; I found this kind of strange. They also had security guards at the door scanning bags before people walked in. I’m guessing this was for weapons and the overall safety of the people inside. The area surrounding the store was bustling with people. The roads near where I am staying are barely paved with large pot holes everywhere. Due to the consistent rain, the large pot holes have turned into muddy swamps. No wonder malaria is a large problem here. The traffic was crazy! There are no markings in the road to divide lanes of traffic so cars pretty much go every which way. In order to get anywhere a driver literally needs to be bumper to bumper with another car. And these cars don’t stop for pedestrians, so if you are one, watch out. Pedestrians need to look for a break in the traffic in order to proceed. Also, people constantly stared at me in the store and streets. I was probably the only Caucasian person within a five mile radius. This made me feel a little uncomfortable, but it is good to be placed in those shoes. I now know what being a minority feels like. The whole experience was really interesting and very different from anything in the United States.