Karibu Kenya!

Karibu Kenya!!

I arrived last night in Kenya. It was a long 28 hour journey starting with my 6:20 AM flight from Tucson. I was worried that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Amsterdam since my flight
from Atlanta was delayed by 2 hours. We had to change plane as the hydraulic control of the earlier plane wasn't working. Whew! Glad they found out about it before we flew out! Cheryl, our ever-supportive facilitator, was there (via e-mail and text) to ensure I don't panic if in case I miss my connecting flight. I had about 45 minutes to spare to get to my connecting when I arrived in Amsterdam.

After the 28 hour journey, I was so eager to get out of the plane. The rest of the visa process was fairly easy despite the long queue. I was so happy to see my name on the white sign when I got out of the airport. Kevin,  our contact from the NGO we are working with (which is DOT - Digital Opportunity Trust) and the one who will be guiding us in Kenya, and Rafael, our driver, came to pick me up. The very first thing that I noticed is how friendly they are. I am hoping that most of the people that we will encounter in this trip/assignment would be as friendly as Kevin and Rafael. They were impressed that I learned some Swahili words. English and Swahili are the main languages in Kenya. You can get by with English, but it's always good and useful to learn some new words.

Asante - Thank you!
Hujambo - Hello!
Mzuri - Fine/Good
Pole - Sorry!
Samahani - Excuse me
Tafadhali - Please
Lala Salama - Good night
Choo - Toilet =)  

I was the first to arrive among our group, so I had the time to go sight seeing before others arrived.
Kevin, Rafael and Steve (another DOT contact) came with me. Steve stayed with me the whole day as Kevin and Rafael had to pick up the others who were arriving in the airport. The weather is nice. It was a little warm and humid in the mid-morning, and it went cooler the rest of the day. The goal in the day was to go to as many places as much as I can. However, Nairobi traffic wasn't as welcoming as my friendly Kenyan friends. Traffic was terrible. It was worse than usual since it was graduation day for University of Nairobi, and most people from different provinces in Kenya go to Nairobi to watch their beloved sons and daughters graduate from the University.

The long drive was useful for me as I learned more Swahili words and some of Kenyan culture. I learned about the Matatus which are the public transportation in Nairobi. They are mini-buses, and some are as small as family vans in the US. Their drivers were very aggressive in the road. Flying by and inching on small spaces in the road to get ahead in the traffic jam. They are also a place for socializing for the young and hip while using the public transportation.  Some of them are blasting loud music as they go by.

I also learned about some of the tribes in Kenya - Kamba, Kikuyu, Luo. Kenyans associate themselves first with their tribes before anything else. I learned specifically about these tribes since my friends from DOT are from these tribes. Kevin and Rafael both belong to the Kamba tribe who are from the East part of Kenya. Kambas are extremely loyal and, according to Kevin, sometimes very loyal to a fault. Steve who belong to Luo are from the West part of Kenya near Lake Victoria.
Luo are perceived to very smart and strategic. They are also very into what's in and new, and they can be perceived to be very showy as well. President Obama's family belong to the Luo tribe. Muriuki, our DOT lead, belong to the Kikuyu tribe, so Kevin and Steve gave me some key phrases to tell Muriuki next time we meet (How are you? and What's up?). Kikuyu are from the Central part of Kenya (Nairobi is part of it). They are very business minded, and most of them are entrepreneurs.

Despite the traffic, I was able to visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Nairobi National Park (where I did a quick safari walk)  and Nairobi National Museum/Snake Park. The highlight of the day was the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

This establishment was created in the 1950s to help orphaned elephants and rhinos survive.
They show the feeding of the baby elephants for an hour (between 11 AM - noon) everyday. There were two groups during the feeding. The feeding start with the group of smaller elephants. The handlers feed the elephants human formula, and they even put sunblock in the elephant's ears to prevent them from sun burn. The littlest elephant is only 2 weeks old. It is as small as a dog, and it was like a dog since it was following its handler everywhere he goes. It was so little, shy and vulnerable. The other elephants were very playful with each other - wrestling in the mud and pulling olive branches from each other. There's only a rope separating you from the elephants. When they play in the mud and they spray themselves with mud, they are so close that you can get some mud as well. Some of the little elephants come in very close and you can pet them.
The second set was with the bigger baby elephants - some are almost 2 years old and weigh so much. The same playfulness that were perceived cute from the smaller group can be scary with the bigger group. As one was getting out of the mud, it playfully come charging to the crowd. It was exciting but scary to watch this big strong mammal come running towards you.

Some of the elephants were abandoned by their families for some reason. One was abandoned because it fell in a water hole and its family cannot get it out of hole after several tries. A local farmer got it out and waited for the family to come back, but they didn't =( . One fell in the water hole, got attacked by a hyena and loss its tail. However, most of the elephants become orphaned because their mother died due to poaching. Unfortunately, humans are the biggest reason why we have orphaned elephants and need establishments like David Sheldrick's. These elephants are released into the wild as a group, so they end up forming their own family when they are ready to be released in the wild together. They are released when they are ready (which in most cases when they hit 2 years old). The family is matriarchal - the oldest female take charge of the family. For more info you can check out www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org - you can get more info on how to donate and adopt an elephant.

I'm posting some pictures from my outing today. We'll have some more time tomorrow morning before we meet with the IBM Security team in the afternoon, so hopefully, we can go to the Giraffe park. Then, we'll be busy with client meetings and presentation starting on Sunday. I am hoping to see more of Nairobi before we move to Nyeri (which will be our base city) next week.

Baby elephants need to be fed every 3 hours with this formula

Little elephants needing some shade from the scorching sun

This littlest elephant was so attached to its handler. It was following him around. His ears were covered with sunblock.

Petting the littlest elephant

Mud wrestling Elephant style!!

The set of bigger baby elephants

Baby Rhino in their enclosure. This is Maxwell, and he is six years old.

#ibmcsc kenya 6