Kenyatta Birthday

Mambo! As most of you know, my birthday was on Tuesday, October 20th. Lucky for me, the 20th also happens to be a national holiday, Kenyatta Day (essentially Kenya's independence day), so my friends and I had the day off from work! We all went to Mombasa beach and spent the day laying in the sun and frolicking in the Indian Ocean. I LOVE the beaches here! The sand is SO white and so soft and the water is actually the temperature of a luke-warm bath. Mombasa beach is located on the northern coast, and is surrounded by some very nice beach resorts. My friend Amanda and I took a walk to a nearby resort called Voyager to use the restroom and have a little look around. The 20 minutes or so that we were on those grounds was the first time in 3 weeks that I didn't stick out. There we SO many mzungus!! It was definitely an interesting experience. My host sister told me that I shouldn't even try to go use the restroom in the resorts because they wouldn't even let me on the grounds (she even laughed at me like I was crazy when I asked). But Amanda and I just walked right into the resort, no questions asked. It was so strange. I felt like we were back in the 1950's or something, where the color of your skin determined your access into certain areas. It was definitely shocking to me.
Amanda and I also noticed what a distorted view of Africa the tourists that stay in these swanky resorts must get. Most tourists don't even venture into the city of Mombasa. They just stay within the walls of the resort. It was so surreal and kind of infuriating how drastically different the resort was from the actual way of life in this area. But I'm not going to lie, it was nice to get a peak into the luxury of it all...and it was VERY luxurious.
After hanging out on the beach for the afternoon, the other interns and I headed into town for some dinner. We all indulged in some "American cuisine." I never thought I would order a hamburger in a foreign country, but that was the only non-Kenyan food option the restaurant offered. And boy, it was GOOD! I have to say, one of the things that I miss most from home is the cuisine. I miss simple meals, BREAD, salads and cheese. Ugali is definitely NOT growing on me. It is just pretty gross. But I do like pilau (which I actually had tonight)..which is essentially like the Kenyan version of Paella, minus the fish (and substituted with beef). I was telling my co-workers that the day I get home I'm going to have some baguette (mmm!), some cheese (mmmm!!) and a yummy yummy salad (mmmmmmmm!!) and maybe some wine. hahaha!
So my birthday was good. I missed everyone from home though...probably the most I have during my entire stay here. But not to worry, I was fine by the afternoon when I went to the beach :)

As for the internship, things have been moving VERY slowly up until now. Today was very exciting though! In the morning I went with some community mobilizers to speak with community members in a nearby village. It was SO interesting..especially because (unlike other meetings I've had) the mobilizer I was with, Jonathan, translated for me once in a while. He asked me if I had any questions and if I had anything to say to them....so I was able to indirectly communicate with the community. I actually felt like I was doing something to help which was a really rewarding feeling.
In the afternoon I finally met with my supervisor to discuss the project that I will be working on during my time here. I'm very excited to start working on it. Last week we had a sensitization session for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) in Likoni. We met today and talked about our findings...what gaps there were in ARV adherence and what solutions the community suggested. Some of the major gaps we found were that many of the community members do not have enough money to sustain a nutritious diet (which is crucial to the effectiveness of ARVs) and they are lacking information about how HIV/AIDS works on the biological level and the role ARVs play. During our meeting we came up with some income generating ideas (such as holding training sessions to teach PLWHAs skills that they can use to earn some money) and ways to disseminate information about ARV maintenance.
I'm excited to start work on that project tomorrow!!
As for now, I must go to bed...I have an early rise tomorrow morning.
Kwaheri!