The last couple of days have been interesting to say the least. The volunteers and I have been laboriously planning our volunteer trip to Uganda which ultimately fell through late last night (our time, we are +8 hours ahead of you United Statesmen and women haha). We have now decided to undergo a cross-Kenya Refugee camp and IDP camp volunteer trip to distribute food. We plan on buying mass quantities of food and distributing those foodstuffs at Sudanese and Somalian refugee camps which are located on the border of the two respective countries. This operation will be much like the one carried out last weekend except that we are going to multiple camps and are spending much more money, which brings me to my next point.
I mentioned via e-mail and facebook that the trip had been altered and that anyone who has already donated can get a refund if they think for some reason that Kenyan camp residents are richer and less deserving than Ugandan refugees. I have seen the poverty at an IDP camp, these people truly need our help. I want to thank all of those who have donated thus far and those who have told me that they plan to donate; we have raised $184, which doesn't sound like a lot, but down here it goes a long way. I am so appreciative of all of the donations and extremely humbled. I will thank each donor individually later, thank you again.
So, yesterday was comprised of all of the frustrations and delights that form the foundation of the LDC known as the Republic of Kenya. I taught 4 classes in the morning then spent the whole day with Ameer trying to finalize our Ugandan trip. Firstly, it was down pouring outside(it is the rainy season), we caught a matatu- vans driven by crazy people, and were stuck in horrific traffic for a great deal of time. The driver misunderstood where we wanted to go, so we ended up a great distance from the office that we needed to get to. We began running through the rain until we found a place called Woolmart, yes Woolmart-coincidence? probably not. We bought umbrellas and walked the many miles to our destination- English is widely spoken here, but many people do not understand simple phrases and give horrible directions. By this time I was already sick with a cold of some sort- I can't stay healthy here, so I was somewhat miserable. Some Kenyans went out of there way to help us. Nairobi is delicately mixed with a great deal of swindlers and people who would lay down there life for you. We finally made it to our destination and spent hours trying to figure out details with a contact in Uganda- the phone service here is unreliable and the phone cut out every minute or so. At about 9 we decided to give up for the day.
We walked to the main part of town and were told by the bus operators that the 660 bus would take us back to our guest vacancy. Instead, we were swindled and the bus went the completely opposite direction. Two frustrating and fever stricken hours later we caught two more rides and found our way back home. We were very anxious about being out by ourselves so late- muggings, beatings, and kidnappings are very common at night, especially if you're white. In fact, a prior volunteer told me that he was mugged two times at night, once by all the passengers in a matatu, and another time by a cop, who placed an AK-47 to his head and demanded money- this was 3 weeks ago haha
Nairobi is a very busy city and it is astonishing to see how many people there are- it would be easy to get overwhelmed if you were lost. Drivers here are borderline insane, it is absolutely unfathomable to understand how there is not 5,000+ accidents a day. I'm getting somewhat sick of the pollution here, there are so many diesel vehicles on the road that the streets are filled with smog. Luckily, it rains al of the time, so that helps.
Well, wish me luck. We will be travelling to Northern Kenya tomorrow morning- a place which is by no means safe. I'll update you whenever I get back.
I hope all is well. Also, please e-mail/write/call your representatives in the House to tell them to support HR2478. A comment about the bill by Vincent Longa follows:
HR2478 basically is about routing the LRA from
Uganda, and committing money and a plan to rebuild Northern Uganda.
It's been assigned to the intl. affairs committee of the House. was introduced about 2 weeks ago.
From Kenya with frustration and love,
Cameron Morgan
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