Annemieke & Julia first week at Mariakani, Kilifi District.

                     The adventure begins -Mariakani  

                              (Julia & Annemieke.)

             There is a world of difference between Mariakani and Nairobi. At first, going from the busy city to this small town was a bit of a surprise. After a few days, however, it became clear that Muthaa can do very valuable work here, which cannot be carried out in Nairobi. Due to the location of Mariakani on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, there is a high incidence of commercial sex, which is why the FC2 and sexual reproductive health programs are so important here to minimize the spread of HIV and unplanned pregnancy. Playing into that, Julia and I started our research project for university. We want to investigate whether nudging (Julia’s favorite topic) can influence Mariakani residents to use more condoms. So we made and installed condom dispensers, and will record how many condoms are picked up per day. First, the dispensers will be by themselves, but later, a poster will be put up alongside them to function as a nudge.

            Julia and I also participated in the sexual reproductive health training which took place at a local college. Interestingly, the students to whom we were presenting were around 18-25 years old, yet we were talking about things which I learned in sexual education classes in middle school. There is clearly a difference in the way Kenyans and Dutch people talk about sex, which was made obvious in the presentations, but also in the way we talk in the office and with community members. Besides that, the manner of presenting of Charles, and Julia and I are completely different. Julia and I are used to concise presentation where facts are the most important, so that is also how we present. Charles took his time, chatted with the audience, and told several stories. While this was less direct, it did keep the audience engaged. The second time around, both of us tried to involve the students more, so maybe they remember more.

                Besides work, living in Mariakani has been an adventure. Life is a lot slower than in Nairobi, so Julia and I are starting to entertain ourselves with craft projects. Also, there is no supermarket, only one or two paved roads, and seemingly no systematized way to dump trash. Instead, we buy our food at the local market (where they try to ridiculously overcharge us every time), constantly have dirty feet from the muddy roads, and throw our trash on a large pile just down the road. Especially the trash situation feels strange, as I have been conditioned to carefully separate trash from recyclables and to neatly put it in the municipal dumpster.

            So far, the Mariakani residents have been very friendly, and willing to show us around. However, they are also irrationally excited about us being white. Everywhere we go, we hear “wazungu, wazungu” and people waving or staring at us. This will definitely take some getting used to, but hopefully, with time, we will also become less exciting to see. Living in Mariakani for four weeks will be unlike anywhere else I have lived, and I am looking forward to see how it goes. There will definitely be challenges, such as how slowly everything happens here, but overall, I think it will be a nice experience. 

First Impression of Muthaa Community Development Foundation by Julia.

My first impressions of MCDF

By Julia

 

In Kenya, in my experience so far, people are friendly and open. They are very curious about us, wazungu - greetings us constantly on the streets, asking information about where we come from, what we do, and, funnily, about our hair. They smile and laugh a lot and it seems like everyone is an excellent dancer - at least compared to European standards.

My first impression of MCDF is very positive. When we entered the office in Nairobi we were warmly welcomed from Esther, Lucy and Martha. They were very friendly and excited about our arrival. After a first introduction round and getting to know them, we received an orientation about our stay in Nairobi. They were so kind to answer all our questions concerning security, accommodation, transportation. This was followed by an interesting discussion about gender roles and the changing power relations in Kenya. The staff here is very open, friendly and always up for a laugh. The atmosphere is very relaxed here.

 

Concerning our internship, we will be staying in the office in Nairobi for one week, where we will accompany Esther and Lucy to some corporate responsibility meetings, take part in a condom training to be prepared for our fieldwork in Mariakani. We will be staying in Mariakani for 5 weeks, where we will probably mostly work on two projects. One will be a research project about female condom use.

The other one will be about social entrepreneurship. I am already very curious about projects, how they will work out and how it will be like. In general, I am very excited to work with this great team on the different projects.  

First Impression of Muthaa Community Development Foundation.

First Impressions of Muthaa Community Development Foundation

By Annemieke

 

            Of course, before arriving, Julia and I had researched MCDF and Nairobi. However, the difference between internet research and arriving and actually seeing the city and the offices in person is striking. Getting to the office was an adventure in itself. Taking a matatu from Umoja to the city center was a haranguing ride where our bags took up as much space as two people, we almost got in an accident and we were (for the first, but presumably not the last time). After taking a taxi for the last bit of the trip and being dropped off on a corner near the offices, we wandered around for a few minutes before finding the office. We must have been quite a sight with our gigantic backpacks while wearing office clothes.With the help of some people who pointed us in the right direction; we entered the offices for the first time.

            My first impression of the offices and the staff is great. Everyone is extremely friendly, and we were encouraged to feel at home. It definitely isn’t an oppressively large corporate office in which we feel lost and unwanted. Instead, we were welcomed in, allowed to drop our bags in a corner, made coffee, and given our own desk to work at. With a small office of 3 rooms with all doors open, it’s easy to see how the office operates openly and as a family unit. Lucy (Communication manager), Esther (program manager), Julia (intern) and I sit together, while Martha (administrator) has a separate office. The remaining office belongs to Emily (founder and president), but she is working outside the office today. We will meet her later in the week. My main surprise was that there is no window. To a Dutch person, this is unimaginable, as by law, all rooms are required to have a window. The lack of one doesn’t affect anything except my ability to judge the passage of time, and I’m sure we will adjust quickly. Also, I love the purple and pink walls. It’s so bright and friendly, instead of the usual white or grey speckled walls I associate with office work. In general, the use of color here in Kenya is much freer than back home, and I think the Dutch can learn a lot from Kenyan color use.

           

We started with a quick round of introductions, so now Julia and I are up to speed about who is who and who is married. As was to be expected, my name was a minor hurdle, but everything sorted itself out. Just a tip to parents: if you are going to let your children live and travel abroad, don’t give them the most Dutch names ever. Julia and I were updated on how the office works, which taxis to take, where the markets are, and some basic safety information about walking through the cities and taking matatu. It was nice to feel so well taken care of and that everyone cares about our well-being. They even got me a special Wi-Fi internet connection because my laptop doesn’t have an Ethernet port (materialistic side note: it is amazing to have a stable internet connection for the first time in a month)! The introductions were followed by an orientation to the different programs operated by Muthaa. We got a quick overview about FC2, Nufaisha, corporate social responsibility, Biztech, WASH, and our program, Kaleidoscope. The proposed itinerary for the coming week looks very interesting and varied. We have two days of corporate social responsibility field work, and I look forward to seeing how the interactions with the corporations go. Especially because Lucy said that the reactions might be different if they show up to the meetings with amzungu partner instead of their normal meetings. We also have one day related to sexual reproductive health training, which should tie in nicely to the work we will be doing when we go to Mariakani. Considering our research paper in Utrecht focused on condom use in Kenya, I am very excited to learn more about and interact in the Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) programs.

           

All in all, I think we are off to a good start. Julia and I feel happy in the office, and we are looking forward to the weeks to come.

 With time, I am sure we will integrate into the office and learn how everything works.