志愿和生活在肯尼亚

阿纳纳·汉森的文章和照片

Ahdiambo gets a bed! She and her baby had been sleeping on the bare dirt and when this bed was donated, she could not stop smiling.

文化冲击

我在肯尼亚的第一天就像走进探索频道纪录片一样 - 我无法停止惊叹着穿着穿着的鲜艳的女人，优雅的男人，紫色的jacaranda树和公共汽车，散发着黑烟。这是压倒性的。作为一个白人女士，从来没有那么明显，艰难而概括的一眼就会让我走动，命令“给我买香蕉”的男人！当我从卖方的摊位上购买了第一个三美分的水果时。拥挤的扒手的故事matatus（公共汽车）让我到处走了几天。我被购买了，我的胃反抗过多的山羊肉，我不能说当地的语言。从我的寄宿家庭走到镇上的互联网咖啡馆感觉就像是在跑步，当每个人都在街上上下走动时，我的通道无声地凝视着我的通道。多年来，我一直想在非洲志愿服务，但是那几天，我讨厌它。我迫不及待地等待两个星期结束。

适应和决定的决定

但是到那两个星期结束时，我知道如何骑matatuand recognize the telltale signs of a pickpocket on the prowl. I knew which remarks from passersby to respond to ("habari，“你好吗），要忽略哪个（“买我的香蕉！”）。我知道要为哭泣的街头儿童携带大量的硬糖。甜！需要觉得他们可以为我提供一些东西，以换取我带来的米饭和豆类。我知道为饥饿的女人买食物可能会挽救她的生命，但从长远来看，这并不能解决她的问题 - 而且我知道，知道，尽管疾病，盗窃和不确定性，尽管我在美国舒适的生活却荒谬，但我的位置就在这里。我知道我将帮助实施一项计划，以为艾滋病毒/艾滋病的妇女创造可持续的收入，促进他们的长期自给自足，而不是依赖日常讲义。我知道我要留下来。

艾滋病毒阳性的女人和她的孩子；拍摄这张照片时几乎无法走路，她现在准备开设自己的商店。

调整是巨大的，但并非以我预期的方式。蹲在地面上的一个臭孔上，做我的生意？小菜一碟。在蚊帐下睡觉，净化我的水，从不在天黑后走 - 这些是轻松的住宿，日常生活的新事实代替了“不要喝以前的到期日”或“不要忘记牙线。”情感上的一部分很难。我从来没有想过有必要走过一个独轮车睡着的小女孩，而无所事事。这只是她的生活。不好的是她不是贫穷。正是她缺乏适当的营养和清洁的水以及头顶的屋顶。这些是我的非营利组织正在努力解决的问题。 Which is why I have to walk past her; picking her up out of her wheelbarrow won't give her a better future, but providing women with sustainable incomes will. It still breaks my heart. Life in a developing country requires a thick skin if you are going to be useful, but it is hard to grow it nonetheless.

Snapshots of Life in Kenya

几天一周，我在基廷格拉镇的内罗毕郊外约一个小时，我在家里拜访了艾滋病毒阳性妇女。我沿着8英尺安全墙包围的现代房屋，沿着一条尘土飞扬的小径进入村庄，这是一个又一居室的一间旧公寓的长长的金属结构，每个房间都在整个家庭中。驴在路中间打ze。孩子们玩垃圾。无论我走多少次，我的过世都会产生当地的感觉：”mzungu!" they cry. White person! My route passes the government clinic where anti-retroviral drugs are dispensed for free in a condemned wing, past the long fence covered with dusty bougainvillea where fat white goats are tied to graze, to the little grocery stand where I buy soap powder or sugar or fresh greens for women who cannot afford their own, across a ditch of standing sewage that I once miscalculated, my foot sliding in as I hopped across, releasing a pungent stink that followed me till one of the neighborhood mamas walked out, took my flip-flop from my foot, and washed it without a word. Chickens and a few ugly turkeys run free, pecking the dirt. Sometimes I stop to watch, admiring, as a mama bends over a laundry basin, her stature displaying a strength and flexibility any yoga teacher would envy, her hands moving with the marvelous efficiency all the African women seem to share, as if handed down in the genes, mother to daughter. They have tried to teach me, laughing helplessly at my efforts to scrub my dusty clothes clean, but in the end one of them always removes the garment from my clumsy hands, unable to bear my mediocre results. They are right: I am terrible at laundry. I cannot throw a few eggs and tomatoes in a pot on a charcoal stove and produce a delectable lunch. I cannot stretch one pot of water to clean my dishes, my guests' hands, and a baby. Their practical life skills put mine to shame. This is the synchronicity of life here: I need the help and education they offer, too; I care for them because I want to make the world a better place, but they care for me because I am part of their community. This is a good fortune I never take for granted, because in Africa, community is everything.

在肯尼亚戴两个帽子

我在这里戴两个帽子；一个是家中动手的人道主义艾滋病受害者，另一个是笔记本电脑和公文包参加商务午餐的商人。我喜欢两个非洲的混合物，即我坐在泥土中的乡村kitengelaugaliwith my fingers while chatting with the mamas, and downtown Nairobi where I wear heels and attend meetings on microfinance—a fascinating juxtaposition of volunteer and professional life. Though the worlds of the haves and the have-nots are painfully separated, I find my own balance lies in my ability to move respectfully in both—to share 3-cent bananas arm-in-arm with a woman dying of AIDS and then to share $20 whiskey shots with a microfinance professional who drives a Mercedes, without ever becoming anything other than myself, a 32-year-old woman whose marriage suddenly fell apart, who came to Kenya on a 2-week volunteer stint and ended up moving here, just a girl creating a new life for myself while helping my sisters take back control of theirs. We all want the same things in the end: health, comfort, a home where we can raise our babies in safety. We want a better world for us all.

Home-based care is fun! Here I'm putting nail polish on Violet, a woman "living positively," her positive daughter, and her AIDS-orphaned niece. Girl time is girl time, no matter what country you are in.

肯尼亚正在尽可能快地进行现代化，即使对于许多无法支付租金的人来说，最笨拙的贫民窟和手机上的互联网咖啡馆也是主食。政府，绝望的腐败，为艾滋病意识提供了资金，并以另一种方式看上去，因为数以百万计的粮食短缺，以及去年大选后暴力的紧张局势仍然持续存在，而我遇到的个别政客则决心迎来他们国家繁荣的国家是其数百万个认真的穷人愿意努力赚钱。肯尼亚的缠结一天无法解决。但是，每一层我都会删除，我越来越欣赏乞g和外籍人士的混合物，进取的贫民窟居民对更好的生活的兴高采烈，像我这样的西方进口量成为可能，他们仍在学习哪种方式在我们过马路之前。每天过去，我都会更好地了解这片土地，并欣赏到这里的礼物，在紫色的jacaranda树下，生活比我以前更大。虽然我爱肯尼亚，但我对肯尼亚充满了希望 - 小女孩可以在床上睡觉而不是独轮车，每个人都可以购买自己的香蕉，所有的香蕉他们的心可能渴望。

安娜·汉森supports her writing habit with a sales and advertising job in Nairobi, which gives her plenty to write about.