For these three months, I will stay at one indian lady's house, which is in indian community. So I always feel that I am in India and Kenya at the same moment. I call this lady "mama" because she really takes care of me very much. We talked a lot. Her son in law is Chinese, who teaches at Harvard. She has a fantastic housekeeper, who can cook indian food very well. I can always have indian food. It's pretty cool, isn't it.
Today we had one very special experience. We went out to hunt chinese food. Actually, there are many shopping malls in Kenya, most of which sell Thai noodles, rice noodles, soy sauce, etc. But they are all imported from China and Thailand. (hope someday i can find something imported from TW)
One funny thing is that today we stopped by one chinese restaurant but the name of it is "Bangkok" haha.... we met two chinese people there. and they can tell that i am not from mainland china, from my accent and face, even though I tried to pretend that I was. :P
There are some koreans and chinese and japanese in that community. I've heard that Koreans are notorious for addicting to gambling. Anyway, today is my first time to speak chinese in Kenya!! A lot of asians make much money in Kenya by running restaurants and business. But among the asians, Indians take the biggest account of it, which could be traced back to the spice trade. Asians are superior than Africans here.
There's one thing important is that we have to know how to identify ourseleves no matter where we are and help ourselves benefit the most from it.
2007年7月7日 星期六
Asians in Kenya
I will upload fotos in these days
sorry for making the blog boring without fotos.
but i will upload them next week.
I just wrote down things what I heard and learned here. Any response will be more than welcome. I will put more later on. There are too many stimulation and my brain is full, can't turn around. I need sometime to digest!!
Take care
May
Mathare Slum
Matahre Slum:
Mathare valley is one of the biggest slums in Africa, located in Nirobi, about twenty minutes from downtown by car. There are about 180,000 people in the slum. U can smell the leftover and waste in the slum everywhere. There’s no field for people to bury their garbage in the slum. Residents in the slum suffer from poverty. The clothes are mostly from the donation of other countries. Therefore, you can always see people wear “Gap” or other fancy clothes in the slum, which makes a big contrast in my eyes.
In the slum, there are a lot of illiterate children, who have nothing to do but just hang around with their friends all day long. A lot of children can’t go to school because they can’t afford tuition ($700 NTD every semester) and uniform. For the children who can go to school, they don’t have good learning environment. The education in the slum can’t make most of the students competitive enough to get job in downtown. Eventually, most of them have to go back to the slum. The education is not very developed and organized in the slum. The soil in the slum is very poor so residents can’t grow anything themselves. They have to go to downtown to buy fruit and sell it in the slum. They don’t have any basic knowledge of money. They spend all the money they make, not to mention saving and managing money.
School:
Henry, the director of Community care development organization, showed me around in the slum these days. Most schools there don’t have lights for kids to study. Therefore, the classrooms are always dim. Sometimes two or three classes have to stay at the same classroom because there’s not enough space for more classrooms. Every single chock can’t be wasted. So, it’s not allowed to throw it away till it’s too short to use. Besides primary and secondary school, there are also skill training schools. I visited a tailor school where students learn how to make and fix clothes. Because of the lack of cloth, they have to practice with papers. There are not enough sewing machines in the classroom so three or two students have to share one machine. Even though students have some qualified skills, they can’t get a good job because they don’t know how to promote themselves, how to make money, and deal with people. There are student clubs in the slum for school students and it can provide students extracurricular trainings, discussions and other activities in order to prevent them from fooling around and learning bad things. There are also HIV/AIDS schools in the slum.
Residents usually pee and poo or they would just dump the waste on the road. In order to keep the environment clean, there are a couple of toilets set in the slum. People who want to use the toilet have to pay 0.15 NTD per month. By doing these, they can solve the some problems of public hygiene and decrease the spread of diseases.
There are also couples of clinics in the slum. The medical equipments in the clinic are old. If some people in the village get HIV/AIDS, they can only provide temporary accommodation and simple treatment because they are unable to take care of the patients. What they need the most is the training sessions for residents there. They have to educate people the knowledge of sanitation and HIV/AIDS. But there are not enough staffs or volunteers in the clinic to do that. The clinic doesn’t charge for giving consultant, but they will charge little for medicine. Clinics are not registered so they can’t get any support from government. The reason why the clinics can’t register because equipments are too old and staffs are not officially qualified.
Another clinic is for epilepsy. Kenyan government excludes students who have epilepsy at school and in society. So, they have to be sent to another special school. However, epilepsy is not mental disease and it won’t affect other people. According to the interview I have with the patients, they are always unemployed because of it. One of the volunteer in the clinic is also the patient of epilepsy. Once while she was cooking, she had seizure, which made her burned by boiling water. Her boyfriend left her with her child. Now she has to wear mask and long-sleeved shorts to cover her scars. It’s not just the scar of the skin but also the scar of her heart. This incident stimulates her to work as a volunteer here. She also wrote the play about the epilepsy, inviting Youth Group to play it. She hopes that people could know more about the epilepsy so that patients can be treated equally and receive good care in the society.
Mathare valley is one of the biggest slums in Africa, located in Nirobi, about twenty minutes from downtown by car. There are about 180,000 people in the slum. U can smell the leftover and waste in the slum everywhere. There’s no field for people to bury their garbage in the slum. Residents in the slum suffer from poverty. The clothes are mostly from the donation of other countries. Therefore, you can always see people wear “Gap” or other fancy clothes in the slum, which makes a big contrast in my eyes.
In the slum, there are a lot of illiterate children, who have nothing to do but just hang around with their friends all day long. A lot of children can’t go to school because they can’t afford tuition ($700 NTD every semester) and uniform. For the children who can go to school, they don’t have good learning environment. The education in the slum can’t make most of the students competitive enough to get job in downtown. Eventually, most of them have to go back to the slum. The education is not very developed and organized in the slum. The soil in the slum is very poor so residents can’t grow anything themselves. They have to go to downtown to buy fruit and sell it in the slum. They don’t have any basic knowledge of money. They spend all the money they make, not to mention saving and managing money.
School:
Henry, the director of Community care development organization, showed me around in the slum these days. Most schools there don’t have lights for kids to study. Therefore, the classrooms are always dim. Sometimes two or three classes have to stay at the same classroom because there’s not enough space for more classrooms. Every single chock can’t be wasted. So, it’s not allowed to throw it away till it’s too short to use. Besides primary and secondary school, there are also skill training schools. I visited a tailor school where students learn how to make and fix clothes. Because of the lack of cloth, they have to practice with papers. There are not enough sewing machines in the classroom so three or two students have to share one machine. Even though students have some qualified skills, they can’t get a good job because they don’t know how to promote themselves, how to make money, and deal with people. There are student clubs in the slum for school students and it can provide students extracurricular trainings, discussions and other activities in order to prevent them from fooling around and learning bad things. There are also HIV/AIDS schools in the slum.
Residents usually pee and poo or they would just dump the waste on the road. In order to keep the environment clean, there are a couple of toilets set in the slum. People who want to use the toilet have to pay 0.15 NTD per month. By doing these, they can solve the some problems of public hygiene and decrease the spread of diseases.
There are also couples of clinics in the slum. The medical equipments in the clinic are old. If some people in the village get HIV/AIDS, they can only provide temporary accommodation and simple treatment because they are unable to take care of the patients. What they need the most is the training sessions for residents there. They have to educate people the knowledge of sanitation and HIV/AIDS. But there are not enough staffs or volunteers in the clinic to do that. The clinic doesn’t charge for giving consultant, but they will charge little for medicine. Clinics are not registered so they can’t get any support from government. The reason why the clinics can’t register because equipments are too old and staffs are not officially qualified.
Another clinic is for epilepsy. Kenyan government excludes students who have epilepsy at school and in society. So, they have to be sent to another special school. However, epilepsy is not mental disease and it won’t affect other people. According to the interview I have with the patients, they are always unemployed because of it. One of the volunteer in the clinic is also the patient of epilepsy. Once while she was cooking, she had seizure, which made her burned by boiling water. Her boyfriend left her with her child. Now she has to wear mask and long-sleeved shorts to cover her scars. It’s not just the scar of the skin but also the scar of her heart. This incident stimulates her to work as a volunteer here. She also wrote the play about the epilepsy, inviting Youth Group to play it. She hopes that people could know more about the epilepsy so that patients can be treated equally and receive good care in the society.
May I love Kenya?
肯亞小檔案：
首都：Nairobi
Kenyata International Airport
飛了將近25小時，從台灣到曼谷再到卡達，終於到達了目的地肯亞。
這次我自己出國，隨身行李很多，加上等候轉機的時間不少，所以我根本無法在機場逛逛。不過曼谷國際機場真的很漂亮，而且也很大。至於卡達國際機場，小而美嚕，我很喜歡他們的落地窗，大片落地窗面對飛機起降的跑道。這次我的行李重達32Kg，所以為了不加錢，我只好把隨身行李拼命加，快重死了。(機票上掛的重量是20Kg)=.=..
長途的飛行，讓我有很多時間可以發呆、想事情、思緒自由飄蕩，其實，感覺滿好的。在台灣，根本就不允許自己這樣做。
旅行,是將心中的空白找出來將它填滿。
旅行,是尋找也是塑造另一個自己。
旅行,是另一種生活方式。
如果要到肯亞，臺灣人入境必須要填寫兩張單子，一藍一白，機場都有準備，其他還必須要有護照(離有效期限至少六個月以上)、黃皮書(國際接種疫苗:黃熱病必打)以及美金50元(注意他們不收綠色的美金，因為發行銀行不同)，他們不會在護照蓋戳章(嘆~)，但是他們會給一張單據，要憑這張單子入境台灣。
Kenyata是肯亞獨立後第一任總統，所以國際機場被命名為Kenyata，肯亞有很多地方也以Kenyata命名，如Mt. Kenyata, Kenyata Ave.等。
肯亞的治安不是很好，尤其是剛到的旅客，身上有一堆行李，很容易成為待宰羔羊，所以最好是搭計程車到旅館先check-in，千萬別搭其他交通工具。
肯亞人：
我必須要承認我剛開始真的很膽小，看到街上到處都是黑人，其實都快把我嚇的半死了，我有偏執狂地認為自己隨時會成為被攻擊的對象。這應該是因為電影看太多的關係吧。其實人都很好，非常好客，雖然治安不好，但也只是少數，重要的是要看好自己的錢包，放聰明一點，不要把重要東西如護照或是大筆鈔票帶出門，掏錢時不要大剌剌的秀出來，不要背肩包，如果覺得自己被盯上，就走進商店求救，這條規則是國際通用的。肯亞人不太守時，當他們說五分鐘後到，那可能是二十分鐘。
My first cultural shock!!!
奈洛比（首都）的交通只能用一個字來形容，「亂｣，幾乎是沒有秩序可言。路上行走的不就是人就是汽車，機車很少見。但是每輛汽車排放的黑煙讓我一剛開始真的很不適應，晚上我回家擤鼻涕時，鼻涕是黑的…=.=。肯亞的行人通常都忽略號誌燈的存在，而事實上也沒有多少行人號誌燈，所以要憑感覺過馬路，馬路隨你穿，而好死不死，因為肯亞是英式殖民，所以汽車行走方向還有駕駛座全都和台灣相反，剛開始會導致我誤判，其實真的很危險。希望我回台北時，不會把隨便亂過馬路的習慣帶回去，但是這種習慣在肯亞卻是非常重要的。
路上最多的交通工具是Matatu，那就像是台灣的小型六七人箱型車，可是肯亞人很厲害，可以塞個16人沒問題，下班時很嚇人，因為肯亞有缺水的問題，衛生也不好而又沒有冷氣，所以車上總飄著異味。一台車有兩個工作人員，一個負責開車，一個負責招攬客人還有收錢，收錢的人有很好的技術攬客，也要有很好的技術跳上車，交通費非常便宜，大約一次10塊台幣。每台車可以自行裝璜，所以有些豪華的可以看MV，車窗前都會貼著一些有名的饒舌歌手或是足球明星或是性感女星照片，多半因為日照而發黃，頂有趣的。我是怎麼坐上Matatu回家？我必須在一個廣場，廣場停了很多路的車，我得自己去找去問哪輛車，除了都市中心外，根本很少公車站，所以其實可以隨時上車。
Ｄo I travel light? No I don’t, because I have too much discrimination and prejudice….
May I love Kenya? Maybe yes, but only after discrimination is erased by the understanding of Kenya.
首都：Nairobi
Kenyata International Airport
飛了將近25小時，從台灣到曼谷再到卡達，終於到達了目的地肯亞。
這次我自己出國，隨身行李很多，加上等候轉機的時間不少，所以我根本無法在機場逛逛。不過曼谷國際機場真的很漂亮，而且也很大。至於卡達國際機場，小而美嚕，我很喜歡他們的落地窗，大片落地窗面對飛機起降的跑道。這次我的行李重達32Kg，所以為了不加錢，我只好把隨身行李拼命加，快重死了。(機票上掛的重量是20Kg)=.=..
長途的飛行，讓我有很多時間可以發呆、想事情、思緒自由飄蕩，其實，感覺滿好的。在台灣，根本就不允許自己這樣做。
旅行,是將心中的空白找出來將它填滿。
旅行,是尋找也是塑造另一個自己。
旅行,是另一種生活方式。
如果要到肯亞，臺灣人入境必須要填寫兩張單子，一藍一白，機場都有準備，其他還必須要有護照(離有效期限至少六個月以上)、黃皮書(國際接種疫苗:黃熱病必打)以及美金50元(注意他們不收綠色的美金，因為發行銀行不同)，他們不會在護照蓋戳章(嘆~)，但是他們會給一張單據，要憑這張單子入境台灣。
Kenyata是肯亞獨立後第一任總統，所以國際機場被命名為Kenyata，肯亞有很多地方也以Kenyata命名，如Mt. Kenyata, Kenyata Ave.等。
肯亞的治安不是很好，尤其是剛到的旅客，身上有一堆行李，很容易成為待宰羔羊，所以最好是搭計程車到旅館先check-in，千萬別搭其他交通工具。
肯亞人：
我必須要承認我剛開始真的很膽小，看到街上到處都是黑人，其實都快把我嚇的半死了，我有偏執狂地認為自己隨時會成為被攻擊的對象。這應該是因為電影看太多的關係吧。其實人都很好，非常好客，雖然治安不好，但也只是少數，重要的是要看好自己的錢包，放聰明一點，不要把重要東西如護照或是大筆鈔票帶出門，掏錢時不要大剌剌的秀出來，不要背肩包，如果覺得自己被盯上，就走進商店求救，這條規則是國際通用的。肯亞人不太守時，當他們說五分鐘後到，那可能是二十分鐘。
My first cultural shock!!!
奈洛比（首都）的交通只能用一個字來形容，「亂｣，幾乎是沒有秩序可言。路上行走的不就是人就是汽車，機車很少見。但是每輛汽車排放的黑煙讓我一剛開始真的很不適應，晚上我回家擤鼻涕時，鼻涕是黑的…=.=。肯亞的行人通常都忽略號誌燈的存在，而事實上也沒有多少行人號誌燈，所以要憑感覺過馬路，馬路隨你穿，而好死不死，因為肯亞是英式殖民，所以汽車行走方向還有駕駛座全都和台灣相反，剛開始會導致我誤判，其實真的很危險。希望我回台北時，不會把隨便亂過馬路的習慣帶回去，但是這種習慣在肯亞卻是非常重要的。
路上最多的交通工具是Matatu，那就像是台灣的小型六七人箱型車，可是肯亞人很厲害，可以塞個16人沒問題，下班時很嚇人，因為肯亞有缺水的問題，衛生也不好而又沒有冷氣，所以車上總飄著異味。一台車有兩個工作人員，一個負責開車，一個負責招攬客人還有收錢，收錢的人有很好的技術攬客，也要有很好的技術跳上車，交通費非常便宜，大約一次10塊台幣。每台車可以自行裝璜，所以有些豪華的可以看MV，車窗前都會貼著一些有名的饒舌歌手或是足球明星或是性感女星照片，多半因為日照而發黃，頂有趣的。我是怎麼坐上Matatu回家？我必須在一個廣場，廣場停了很多路的車，我得自己去找去問哪輛車，除了都市中心外，根本很少公車站，所以其實可以隨時上車。
Ｄo I travel light? No I don’t, because I have too much discrimination and prejudice….
May I love Kenya? Maybe yes, but only after discrimination is erased by the understanding of Kenya.
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