Goodbye Kenya

Well, it seems that things have changed quite a lot since the last time I wrote. No political agreements have been formed, and the violence has continued. More volunteers had to be evacuated and violence erupted in Naivasha, a town where Peace Corps used to train volunteers. Amid the turmoil, Peace Corps Kenya, the embassy, and Peace Corps Washintington decided to temporarily suspend the program. Was it a good decision? Maybe. Things are pretty tense here and a common belief is that things will either break out into a civil war or just fizzle out. I am still of the belief that I would have been safe in Ulilinzi, but as it turns out Peace Corps has other volunteers to worry about other than me.

So, the last few days have been demon hell ride. Officially I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. I had a ton of paper work to fill out, and info. sessions to sit through. They mostly just talked about readjusting and all the benefits that I will not qualify for because I have not been here long enough. I also took my final language proficiency test...you know a month after the initial. But that's okay, because now( due to a clerical error) I now speak at an "intermediate high" level in Kiswahili.

As you might imagine if my time here was up this email would not be quite so upbeat. In fact, I probably wouldn't be writing... Fortunately, though, due to some quick work by the Peace Corps I have managed to qualify for joining another Peace Corps program. I even have choices. I can go to either Lesotho or Ghana.

I am having some trouble deciding. Ghana is in West Africa and I am sure the culture is very cool and different then Kenya. However, the climate is similar as are the attractions . Also, Ghana is relatively westernized in much the same way as Kenya. I'm afraid I would be in Kenya without Kiswahili, which by the way, is an excellent language. Lesotho, on the other hand is inside of South Africa. South Africa! (I would love to go there.) It is high up in the mountains and less westernized because of their isolation. It sounds beautiful... My job though would not be teaching. I would be a "teacher training resource teacher." Great job title huh? I'd be teaching teachers how to teach and sounds pretty demanding for a person who's never taught more then 2 weeks.

Now I am in Nairobi. My friends all left yesterday. Monday morning I will go to South Africa for administrative stuff and medical clearance. We will will be staying in Pretoria. Yesu Tamu...Pretoria! Cannot wait. When the Afrikaaners were pushing north through South Africa to escape English Control, they met resistance from the Zulus in what became Pretoria. And by resistance, I mean I handful of Afrikaaners (470) were met by 10,000 Zulus. The Afrikaaners surrounded themselves in their caravans and "because of god's help" were able to the defeat the zulus. Of course, the shotguns helped too. It is known as the Battle of blood river.

Well...I have to get going. I'll try to write again in Pretoria.