Haberi!

The new deaf education trainees have settled into a nice routine here in Kenya.  We’re staying in a nice hotel so everyday we wake up and have a great breakfast.  So far, breakfast is not too different from the US.  The fruit is delicious especially the papayas.  I’ve taken a liking to Kenyan coffee.  Hot milk replaces the colder cream used back home.  But overall, its not too bad.  After breakfast we typically have a two hour Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) lesson.

KSL is very similar to American Sign Language (ASL).  However, as in any language there a handful of signs that have very different meanings.  For example, ‘T’ in ASL corresponds to a female body part in KSL.  Speaking of female body parts, today we had the “sex talk” or as our doctor likes to call it “The Quick and Dirty” presentation.  They warned us of the numerous STDs that are prevalent throughout most Kenya.  We were also terrorized with graphic pictures of severely infected genitalia.    We’ve been receiving numerous medical presentations the last couple of days and our final one is tomorrow.   These sessions usually follows KSL training.

Earlier in the week we were told what to expect from our host families.  A volunteer told a story about how her host family made a dinner with chicken.  Well, most families do not have a freezer so they have to go buy a live chicken.  So yeah, I think you know where this is going… The family brought a live chicken home from the market and killed it.  And by killed it, I mean they had to cut off its head and hold it down to keep it from running around after its been decapitated.  When it finally stopped moving, the children of the family started plucking it and then they did a dance with it, flapping its now featherless wings.  At the conclusion of this story, I asked, “Is this rare? Because I almost passed out when you were telling that story.”  Everyone laughed because they thought “Matt was just making another joke” but I made it clear that I wasn’t trying to be funny and that I seriously almost fainted as she was telling that story and there is no freaking way I could watch that happen in person.  Well, she want on to say that not only is it common but there is a reasonable chance that as a male, I would be ask to kill the chicken.  In many families and tribes it can be a symbolic gesture and to turn down the once in a life time offer to decapitate a chicken could very well be interpreted as an insult to the family or tribe.  I may quit before I have to hold a chicken down while I cut its head off but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.  But anyways, the mornings are usually busy and go by quickly.

We will go out for lunch and then get on a Matutu and head to the local deaf school.  I should explain in more detail what exactly a Matutu is.  It is basically a very cheap version of a taxi like caravan with about 10 to 12 seats.  Passengers are crammed into them and  the trip to the deaf school usually costs anywhere from 10 to 20 schillings per person.  They are basically taxis and can be hailed down from anywhere.  There does not seem to be any rules on the road here.  All the matutus fly around at dangerous speeds going over curbs and onto the sidewalks if necessary to pass the vehicle in front of them.  I used to think that NYC cab drivers were the craziest drivers, but they are not even in the same class as the matutu drivers.  Its quite a thrill.

Being at the deaf school has its ups and downs.  Usually we have to sit through some pretty boring sessions on how to put together a lesson plan.  I’m sure this is very important but around this time of day I start to lose my patience and I’d rather just get up and work on improving my KSL by interacting with the students or just go home and read.  We all love working with the kids.  There are only nine of us in the deaf education program and I would say only four have prior experience with ASL.  We have one completely deaf trainee, another who is formerly an interpreter, the other just knows a few signs and then me.  I’ve found that since we started training, many signs I learned a long time ago are coming back to me.  Having conversations through KSL can be very rewarding.  The other five trainees are in a different training class, but I’ve been very impressed by the progressed they’ve made in the last five days.  The first day they could barely sign their names but now they are having whole conversations with the students.  It is amazing to see.

The current volunteers are also staying at the hotel assisting with our training.  They have been a tremendous help.  Without them, we would all be truly lost.  Anxious about our futures here, we bombard the current volunteers with question after question.  I can’t believe its only been a week because I feel like I’ve known everyone for years.  We are already a tight group and it is just the beginning.  They all do an excellent job and have set the bar high for me and the other trainees.  I’m glad we get along because it will be important to have each other to lean on when times get tough and they will.

By the end of the day my brain is fried.  I usually pass out after struggling to keep my eyes open through a few pages of reading.