Castle in the Clouds
Talai...is Swahili for home
16.07.2007
I have gone and seen and returned to report.
My site and my home are beautiful.
Talai sits outside the city of Kabarnet at around 8000 feet.
The day I visited, the clouds were in, so there was not much to be seen.
What is descriptive about this is the fact that
a) CLOUDS were in. Indicating in very concrete terms just how high up my new home is
b) without clouds I could have seen Patricks Kneeley's site, two hours down the mountain.
But what is there to say?
I visited for long enough to vaguely meet and greet a kind and energetic group of older men. To see the dispensary where I will be attached and to see my house. Or at least the outside.
In short, I know almost nothing. Most of my time was spent in Kabarnet with Ministry of Health supervisors whose actual part in my daily life will be minimal.
What is nice, is finding that this vacuum of specifics into which I am travelling has kind of calmed me down.
It is allowing me to approach these last few weeks of training without expectations or pronouncments.
I feel generally peaceful. I am interested in, but not stressed about the things we are learning.
I guess I just feel like there is time for everything.
I feel very pleased with the idea of spending the first few weeks doing nothing more than setting up my house and meeting the neighbors.
With finding the schools and churches and talking to people about life in their village.
Learning how to live there.
And, better than that, that is what Peace Corps is telling me I should be doing. The overwhelming message, again and again, is that sustainable change, of even the most minor nature, is preferable to a slap dash approach. And so spending the first 6 months just passing the time and integrating is the very best way to do my job.
That is what I am looking forward to doing. In fact, I may have begun doing it already. My sense of letting things move by at a slower pace, of prioritizing without an urgent pile is infective and enjoyable.
I feel as secure and comfortable as I have since I arrived.
Fabulous. Best news yet. Love to you and yours. Always in our thoughts.
KME
16.07.2007 by KME