My Daily life

My Daily life - a brief snapshot

The lines which always inspired and motivated me to work with the disadvantage youths is that of a famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel peace prize winner . I quote few lines here from his collection of poems and I would like to dedicate it to the V.S.O JITOLEE Family

"Where the mind is without fear and head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not broken up into fragments by
Narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arm towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
Dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever widening
Thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake "


Starting my day early.......

Ø Waking up with the roosters at 7:00 – 7:30 am

Ø My domestic help arrives by the time and I discuss about his previous day happening or his latest gossips

Ø He prepares morning breakfast while I do some morning Yoga which gives me inner peace and strength for whole day .Sometime I read daily nation newspaper if I am lucky to get one from polytechnic campus where I stay

Ø I feel blessed when I see water running down my tap which means I can take a hot shower in the morning. To have a hot shower in kitui is luxury since place is very dry and water is scarce

Looking forward to another day's work.........

Ø I then check my VSO piki piki before going for work since all the three polytechnics are located in remote areas, away from the town and the journey is adventurous and one need tough training to ride in the bush

Ø I have distributed my working days in the three polytechnics and I usually give my advance monthly plan to the polytechnics to utilize our times efficiently to derive maximum benefit from our interactive sessions.

Ø My work starts with staff and managers, assessing the achievement of previous week, identifying issues and challenges, planning for the week ahead, and resolving any burning issue in the organization which needs my urgent attention or require further escalation

Ø Most often I get caught in a hectic schedule especially when there is lot of parallel activities taking place within the polytechnics as I have to spread my wings within the three youth polytechnics on the same day, each located in different area and a bit far from each other. My only lifeline is my beloved piki piki without which life would be difficult to imagine.

Ø On a busy day I have to attend one executive committee meeting in kathivo during the morning followed by small group activity session in another polytechnic, Matinyani, and then rushing to third YP-Ithiiyani to provide some motivational talk. If lady luck is not at your side and your miss piki piki decides to throw some tantrums during the course of day you definitely need a six pack Abs if not a big heart mate!

Ø To make sure that our polytechnics have clean and good ambience within the campus I have made four houses compromising of students each represented by a Instructor. As part of group initiative we assign activities to each house such as cleaning of the campus, painting, clearing the fences, tree planting etc. After couple of hours of hard labour we sit down for small break to catch our breath and relax. The photo journalist inside me comes to the fore during such sessions and I keep my digital camera vigilant to capture snaps of interesting activities being done by the groups. After a short break we all go back to respective teams to finish our unaccomplished jobs. It gives all our staff and trainee a sense of responsibility and ownership toward the polytechnic and we also learn the importance of team building- an important building block for success in life that lies ahead.

Ø I have made some self help groups within the community and I have learnt to cherish their small success. The group has started a nursery in the campus of the polytechnic where by helping the polytechnic in maintaining the samba and at the same time earning some money for their family. My personal view about development is that it is a slow process and there is no rocket science to bring change. It evolves slowly and gradually and has its life cycle.

Ø The main aim of various activities that we plan is for the benefit of youths and their capacity and capability development. During my motivational talks to the youth I usually try to give them necessary guidance and direction to move forward. I usually remind the group the wisdom given by some unknown folk –“Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution with a cool thinking. Don’t just say its “IMPOSSIBLE” without putting a sincere effort... Observe the word “IMPOSSIBLE” carefully... You can see “I’M POSSIBLE... ”

Ø I usually take my lunch in the polytechnic .Now I am used to eating githiri, ugali with cabbage, skumaviki and some times afacados with lunch. Being a vegetarian is a big problem for me but people here are very understanding and nice and that keeps me going.

Returning back from work.....

Ø After all day planning and deadlines I finally prepare to go back to sweet home. On the way back home I usually visit posta to check my mail and to access internet since its is the cheapest in town 1 shs per min .There are other cyber cafes in town but they charge two shs per min.

Ø Sometimes I go to local shopkeepers who are my friends now to chat with them to know the pulse of the town. I discuss/gossip with them on various issues personal, cultural and their daily problems. Somtimes even end up giving them genuine solutions where I feel comfortable. This way I have developed a social bond with them and created a space in the local community.

Utlising my idiot box...........

Ø Back home I switch on my cable T.V though I have access to only limited channels to catch the latest happenings in real time I guess, whilst keeping an eye on the setting sun. I usually watch Alzazira news and one Hindi channel B4U for latest bollywood songs while at the same time start preparation for dinner. Whilst chopping the vegetable, enjoying the aroma of freshly cooking rice on slow steam, making a slow but steady progress, listening to songs and enjoying loneliness is another great way of making one’s day unaware of your surroundings and from things one will consider mundane in life. Most often I sit in my small samba with drink and enjoy nature reflecting on things gone by.

Weekend entertainment unlimited..........

Ø On Saturday night I go to the “Club” for change from monotonous and someimes happening week. It is not a great place where one always wants to go but the people are nice and the “club” is made up of local people.Kitui is one of the poorest regions in Kenya and there are hardly any good clubs. Some of the clubs which exist are very noisy and you may feel that your eardrums cannot take it for long if you stay put there!. But the best thing about Mukamba tribe or Mukambani is that they are peace loving people and one hardly hears about any violence or fight. Even night is quite safe if one likes to venture out but being expatriates one should take precaution and it is advisable to take taxi. During holidays, spending your time is difficult especially when you are living alone and there is no recreation club around.

Bed time wish............

Ø I usually go to bed by 11-11.30 pm. hoping for a sound sleep. I try to sleep but the only obstacle between me and my sleep is my neighbour hood. Some days in week I really struggle to go to bed and get caught between two enthuastic groups -a group of people behind my backyard who are used to singing throughout the night and the other group is local Mullahs in the mosque near my home chasing my morning slumber. The only workaround is plugging my ears with buds so I feel a bit unlucky in terms of location but then this is life…no cribbing please!

Experience in a nutshell........

If I have to summarize in nutshell about my experience then I will say that I am glad that I am in the right country and in the right place. It took me long time and most of the world to learn that we know so little about other civilizations yet we always have a perception and opinion on them. I say opinion because when we have less knowledge then we have more opinion.

I started my journey from Delhi,India which has massive population and directly landed at Nairobi airport. The first thing I noticed about Kenya was the smell of a different air. I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of Kenya as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to airport. I was excited and delighted by it, in that first Nairobi minute, escaping from crowded traffic back home and to the new unkown world that I didn’t and couldn’t recognise. The next thing I noticed was the pleasant weather limbering in airport queues, not five minutes from the conditioned air of the plane. Then there were people from fair skin and dark green eyes and golden brown and black, every different face and form of that extravagant variety that is incomparable African beauty .

The various Kenyan officials assumed me a Muhandi and I was received harshly by the authority at the immigration but nevertheless it is the perception which always works against or in favour of a particular ethnic or expatriates which I learned during my stay as a volunteer whilst trying to contribute my skills to bring some change for Kenyans in Kitui. I am sure my contribution no matter however small, will certainly bring positive change in the life of ordinary Kenyan youth. As I mentioned earlier that I learnt a lot of things while staying away from home and living in a very different environment where even items of necessity which we take it for granted back home, some times seems luxury here but it all depends on individual level as how one takes or feel about his/her experience as a volunteer.

SUREEL SINGH
V.SO Volunteer