Psst....

...you will remember to vote on the poll-about visits to Africa and Kenya, won't you?

Scroll down and look on your right hand-side of the screen to find it. ->

//Hanna

Kenyans. And I.

 As Nora wrote, we watched (or tried to) the movie "Out of Africa" yesterday. The movie is based on Karen Blixen's books about her life on her farm in Kenya. (am reading some of her books as well) In the end of the movie, Kenya becomes a British colony.

When I came home from Nora's, I watched another movie about a British colony in Africa, Swaziland. The movie was called "Wah wah" and this one was about how the land become independent, and the Brits moved out.

Both movies were from a white-man's point of view, which got me thinking.. what do I really know about Africa of today? Or more like, the people of Africa?
 Yes, I've read about the explorers, the slavery, the colonization... in history class. But always through a white-man's perspective. Always.

Then of course I've also read about ancient tribes, and the Masai and bushmen in National Geographic. But come on, they've been written about in NG because they're near instinct, different from the majority. How the majority of South Africans live, I can imagine. Seen a couple modern day movies and used to talk frequently to some girls living there.
 Egypt's the same, I can picture it somehow (realistically or not) since I've had a couple friends visit the country in question.
But the rest of Africa? Kenya? You don't really hear much else of Africa, 'cept when there's war, famine, drought or misery of some other sort, going on.

But I want to know what an average Kenyan is like!  Because I honestly have no idea. Some old film about the 60's or 1914's really ain't gonna help me with that. Especially since you don't really see "the locals" in either of the movies, except when serving dinner to the mzungu. (white people, European)

So honestly... I don't know what to expect. I don't mean "what are the people going to be like?", since I expect them to be... well, people, like us. (obviously. no racist shit going on here, if that's what you figured, you don't follow at all, or I really can't explain my thinking whatsoever. ) But it annoys me that I can't grasp they're history... that I haven't read about they're point of view of colonization and so on. Yes, of course I know some stuff... like Nairobi is supposedly one of the most dangerous cities, also known as Nairobbery. And it has a really modern city center, with skyscrapers etc. and next to that the old city center, which is said to be dangerous. Nariobi's much larger than Helsinki and the forests are being cut down ... well facts like that. But what about the people who live in the city? What is they're point of view  on stuff that's going down in the world... and what about the people in the country side... what do they think about their land, history, rest of the world?  I want to know about the people of Kenya!
(For me, it's much easier to picture Asians from different countries, and to think about their culture, than any African country, really. I think it's part of the colonization... even what we think of as "African" is often just something the Europeans left behind. For example; the colorfully patterned dresses we often picture(or, well, I picture) African women wearing... well guess what? The patterns and colours where originally brought from Belgium, not very "African" at all that is... Just little side-note.)

I don't also have a clue on how normal tourists are we're we are going, if our albino-white-skin* will be common or not, and how the farmers we're gonna meet will feel about us.

Fortunately, I wont live in ignorance much longer, as I've(well we have, all of us) been blessed** with the amazing opportunity to soon talk to, and work on a project with, local students in Taita Hills. This is ... well, definitely the part of our journey I'm looking forward to all the most
.
But I need you to make it perfect!
What would you ask them? What do you want to know about they're lives, the nature surrounding them, about Kenya? 
We're also supposed to talk about global warming, any questions about that? 
Anything!

And, the rest of you Team Kenya-members, what are you looking forward to the most?

= ?

*it's winter. We are forgiven.

** Wow. sounding rather American there, 

"we've been blessed and all", 

I apologize, must be the malaria medicine.

Your mzungu, Hanna

Great catching-up-sharing-thoughts-watching-movie-eating-snacks-night with the girls!

Hi!
Almost all the girls(except for Crista) came over to watch the movie "Out of Africa" today. The movie was extremely boring. The reason might have been that no one really managed to keep their thoughts on the movie, although some made great efforts. Everyone had so much to ask about and point out, both necessary ("passi ja hammasharja") and unnecessary(such as whether you should color your eye-lashes or not...) things. I was personally really stressed before but this meeting really got things cleared up, Kenya therapy-session! Looking forward to seeing you Sunday noon. 
Love, Nora

Resfeber, anyone?

Hi there! I just checked www.wunderground.com for the weather in Voi, the nearest "big" city to Taita Hills, and on Friday it's going to be 35 degrees celsius! Can you guys believe it?! For us it means a difference of nearly 40 degrees, if it is for example a couple of degrees on the minus side on Sunday. Any ideas how to dress for the flight? :)

Last night I was supposed to take my second dose of the Cholera vaccine. I returned home from work at 10.30 pm, and as I was really hungry, I decided to eat some salad and a piece of a Christmas cake I made two days ago. I also started to watch a movie, and a couple of minutes after midnight I realised I should take my vaccine. The thing is, you're not supposed to eat or drink anything for a whole hour before taking the vaccine, and there I was, at midnight, in the middle of my salad. I had no other option than to leave my salad and to stay awake for another hour and take my vaccine when everyone else was fast asleep :D


Hey, only a few days left girls!

// Crista

ps. "resfeber" means to be nervous before a journey :) ds.

Hello! I was just visiting www.foreca.com to see what the weather would be like when we are in Kenya. They did however only have a 10 day forecast, but at least we got to see what the weather will be like on the first days when we are in Nairobi when we are supposted to purchase all the equipments for the trip. (inc. water for about 21 persons (2l per person x 10 days!) that's a lot of water :) Unfortunately it looks like it's going to rain the firts day we're there :/ Lets just hope we'll have sun the rest of the days!

// Sofia

ONE WEEK LEFT

Well, because I'm sorta the administrator for this blog (and the bossy one, as my introduction says if you check the bar on the right hand side of your screen) I'm gonna go ahead and write the first blog post!

In exactly a week, we'll be on our way to Kenya, flying with Turkish Airlines from Helsinki to Istanbul, and from there to Nairobi(!!) so it's about time this blog gets activated. The plan is to update this blog daily from Kenya, so that all of you can follow us on our adventure! One of us 8 girls (read the introductions!) is gonna write something about what we've done or learned, add pictures, videos and... well, whatever we think is worth blogging about!

Why are 8 finnish girls going on this trip, you might ask?
Well, it's actually a school project, and it's not just the 8 of us. We come from the Swedish speaking "lukio" (senior high) in Kauniainen, and we're going on this trip with 8 students from the Finnish lukio in Kauniainen.
With us we'll have 2 teachers from the Finnish school, and the principal from our school.
To drive us around in jeepes in Kenya, we're also going to bring along 3 professors from the University of Helsinki, to act as our chauffeurs in Nairobi and Taita Hills.

So, there's some short background info for ya ;)
I'm gonna let someone else fill you all in on what we're gonna do in Kenya, for the 10 days we're gonna be there. (And you with us of course, dear blog)

Personally, I've never been to Kenya, nor Africa before, so I'm really looking forward to learning about a completely different culture, talking with locals (that's what I'm probably most excited about) enjoying the warmth and of course the beautiful, or at least different, landscape, fauna and flora.

I'm sure we'll have a wonderful journey together, and I honestly can't wait to get going!
//Hanna


ps. I'm not sure... are we gonna write this blog in english or swedish? Thought I'd start out safe with English, and let the next blogger decide what to do language-wise.ds.