Mental Health Is Good, Really
December 10, 2005, Saturday, 8:13pm.
Just finished a week of in-service training in Kitui. On the first day our facilitator asked us to name a few things we liked about Kenya, after we had just spent an hour complaining about all the "challenges" we've faced.
I said, "Um...gee, that's a hard question. I guess I like the simplicity of the lifestyle here." Which sounded really dumb because it's not simplicity, it's poverty.
Anyway, afterwards I decided I needed to make a list of things I like about Kenya, because lately I've been too focused on everything that drives me insane about this place.
In no particular order, things I like about Kenya:
1. chickens
2. sunsets over tea fields
3. Kitui in December (green!)
4. kids swimming in the river like they have no cares in the world
5. curious kids
6. smiles
7. Peace Corps medical staff - Dr. Patti, Sylvia and Ruth
8. sms
9. Nairobi youth (not street kids)
10. mango trees
11. bouganvillas in scores of fiery colors - red, purple, fuschia, orange...
12. Nandi Rock and the fact that I didn't plummet to my death climbing it
13. colobus monkeys outside my window
14. the girls at my school, especially the Form 3 troublemakers
15. the neighbors' kids, especially Joy, the precocious 3-year-old who speaks Kiswahili better than I do
16. donkeys!
17. hot Kalenjin runners
18. landscape of Nandi Hills
19. fried tilapia and ugali
20. Upper Hills Campsite in Nairobi
21. Mamba's fried chicken and chips in Kisumu
22. mornings
23. singing, even church songs
24. the hundred of ways women can braid their hair
25. the amount of weight women can carry on their heads without using their hands
26. landscape in my village, especially the walk to Kirondio and the view overlooking Chemase
27. smell of tea ready to be picked in the fields
28. chameleons!
29. fruits and vegetables fresh from the shamba
30. sounds of the forest, especially bird calls
31. handicrafts (that I can't afford)
32. beautiful women in Nairobi
33. flamingos on Lake Nakuru
34. Mt. Elgon
35. starlings - birds that shimmer like blue-green satin
36. hanging birds nest in Central Kenya, and the yellow birds that build them
37. acacia trees on the savannah
38. receiving letters and packages from home
39. staff of Abacus Computers in Kisumu
40. Kibet and Stacey (the APCDs)
41. getting milk from a cow every morning
42. the school compound I live on - 100 acres of forest, tea, pineapples, tree nurseries, rivers, and of course, a girls' high school
43. baby sheep - their fleece really is white as snow
44. giant avocados for 5 shillings each
45. chai masala
46. hailstorms
Just finished a week of in-service training in Kitui. On the first day our facilitator asked us to name a few things we liked about Kenya, after we had just spent an hour complaining about all the "challenges" we've faced.
I said, "Um...gee, that's a hard question. I guess I like the simplicity of the lifestyle here." Which sounded really dumb because it's not simplicity, it's poverty.
Anyway, afterwards I decided I needed to make a list of things I like about Kenya, because lately I've been too focused on everything that drives me insane about this place.
In no particular order, things I like about Kenya:
1. chickens
2. sunsets over tea fields
3. Kitui in December (green!)
4. kids swimming in the river like they have no cares in the world
5. curious kids
6. smiles
7. Peace Corps medical staff - Dr. Patti, Sylvia and Ruth
8. sms
9. Nairobi youth (not street kids)
10. mango trees
11. bouganvillas in scores of fiery colors - red, purple, fuschia, orange...
12. Nandi Rock and the fact that I didn't plummet to my death climbing it
13. colobus monkeys outside my window
14. the girls at my school, especially the Form 3 troublemakers
15. the neighbors' kids, especially Joy, the precocious 3-year-old who speaks Kiswahili better than I do
16. donkeys!
17. hot Kalenjin runners
18. landscape of Nandi Hills
19. fried tilapia and ugali
20. Upper Hills Campsite in Nairobi
21. Mamba's fried chicken and chips in Kisumu
22. mornings
23. singing, even church songs
24. the hundred of ways women can braid their hair
25. the amount of weight women can carry on their heads without using their hands
26. landscape in my village, especially the walk to Kirondio and the view overlooking Chemase
27. smell of tea ready to be picked in the fields
28. chameleons!
29. fruits and vegetables fresh from the shamba
30. sounds of the forest, especially bird calls
31. handicrafts (that I can't afford)
32. beautiful women in Nairobi
33. flamingos on Lake Nakuru
34. Mt. Elgon
35. starlings - birds that shimmer like blue-green satin
36. hanging birds nest in Central Kenya, and the yellow birds that build them
37. acacia trees on the savannah
38. receiving letters and packages from home
39. staff of Abacus Computers in Kisumu
40. Kibet and Stacey (the APCDs)
41. getting milk from a cow every morning
42. the school compound I live on - 100 acres of forest, tea, pineapples, tree nurseries, rivers, and of course, a girls' high school
43. baby sheep - their fleece really is white as snow
44. giant avocados for 5 shillings each
45. chai masala
46. hailstorms
posted by Justina at 11:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home