The Coast and Papa Shillingi
A few weeks ago I went to the coast for FEAST II (Frisbee East African Sand Tournament). There were 8 teams there: two from Uganda, two from Tanzania, three expat teams from Nairobi and one Peace Corps team. It was my second time at Feast, but the first time we sent a Peace Corps team. We had a great time, but those Ugandans were so athletic! We really had a hard time keeping up! We ended up playing both Ugandan teams, twice, and I must say we did pretty well for a team that has never practiced with each other. Also it should be noted that most people on our team had never played a real game of ultimate before. We still had a lot of fun, got to drink some american beers (thanks to my friends at the Embassy) and relax on the beach.
While I was on the coast, I visited another PC volunteer, Mike, who is posted south of mombasa, near probably the most fun party town on the coast (lucky duck). One of his projects is to help tag Whale Sharks (again, pretty jealous of that spot). So even though I didn’t get to go out swimming with the whale sharks, like he frequently does, I did get to help a local primary school clean up the beach. Then we taught them about the tidal pools, the little sea creatures that can be found there, and of course about Papa Shillingi (Swahili for shilling shark). The name comes from the story that angels, after seeing the whale shark made, were so happy with it that they threw shillings (coins) down on it that stuck to it’s back, explaining the shiny spots that be-speckle the largest yet docile fish. Mike’s friend had made a documentary about the killing of whale sharks for Chinese medicine, and the students gave a short presentation about it too, at a high class resort on the beach. It was a great experience for the kids. It was interesting to see the buffet lunch. At this amazing resort, these kids were skipping past the prawn kebabs, and shrimp cocktails, and piling their plates high with the foods they knew: fries, chicken, and cookies. They were still enthralled by the “go back for as much as you want” rule.
After the south coast, another volunteer from my group Greg and I went up to the northern part of the coast, to a town called Lamu. It is a really old town built with twisty alley ways, and roads only wide enough to let a donkey pass. In fact donkeys are the main means of transport there. Only a few government cars, but otherwise donkeys rule. They really try to take good care of the donkeys there, since they rely on them. There’s even a donkey sanctuary!
But now it’s back in Matuu for three last months. I went to CITDO, my favorite group to work with, and taught them how to make a slow-sand water filter out of locally available materials: two 5 liter Jerry cans, a wooden frame, and a few empty film canisters (which are available since most of kenya still uses regular film, thank goodness). I’ll go back to this group and teach the AIDS orphans on some health topics and hopefully get them some Moringa trees to plant.
Next week I head to Naivasha for our COS conference (close of service). We started out with 25 people and are now only 14, but it will still be nice to see everyone who is still around!
