Save the Cheetahs

Cosmas, one of the workers with Action for Cheetahs in Kenya, gave me directions to their house/office. I spent the day packing everything up and heading on my way. Though it isn’t far out of the city, I had to take two different matatus and, since the traffic is awful, it took 2.5 hours! I told the guy on the bus that I needed to go to the Mountain View stop and he said he would show me where to get off. However, at the end of the line, he asked, AGAIN and realized he forgot about me, hah. Oh, well. Cosmas picked me up at the gas station and we walked to their office/house, which is in a gated community. They have two dogs. Ginger and Bahate (in Kiswahili, his name means “good luck”) and they were so excited to see us! It’s nice to be around dogs that actually have a home and are trained! Cosmas shoed me around and told me a bit about the project. Basically, Mary (originally from Michigan, yeah Midwest!) started a branch of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Kenya in 2002. They mapped all of the roads in the country and surveyed them all, meanwhile conducting interviews concerning livestock lost by predators. They Cheetahs are endangered due to poachers; people are poor and they want the meat. Plus, the cheetahs are losing their habitat due to human settlers. Mary, Maike, and Floris were all out in the bush cheetah trapping for the past ten days and showed up at around six in the evening. They freshened up and we all went out to a nice Indian restaurant to eat. The food was amazing! Quite a nice change from the steady diet of instant noodles and drinking yogurt I’ve been consuming.

The next day, I went for a brisk walk/run around the area and then Maike (a German woman volunteering who is on sabbatical from her event planning career—formerly an environmental scientist) and I went to the Sarit center, which is a nice mall in the Westlands area. We went to the cyber café and then chatted for a while over coffee. She went to look for a computer while I sat reading her Lonely Planet. I read a little about my upcoming marathon and got a bit nervous. A man near me said I looked deep in though and I showed him what I was thinking about. He and his friend are from Canada and are Hashers ( an international drinking group with a running problem); they invited me to join them the following Monday and then I could hopefully meet other people who would be running the marathon and even possibly catch a ride—horray! Maike and I wondered around another mall, with yet another cup of coffee before heading back. We had a little family dinner that night of stir fry and champagne☺

I went back to Nairobi for a couple days because I couldn’t afford $15 a day. The money clearly goes to keeping the Cheetah fund up and running, but I am just not in a monetary place, at the moment, to do that for too many days. I went back on Monday so that I could go with everyone into the Camp in Salama. On the way, I got in the matatu that was supposed to go to Mt. View. I asked the driver and he said that was where they were going; they proceeded to charge me an extra ten shillings and then the van did NOT got all the way. The guy who took my money and lied to me bolted at the stop as a bunch of cab drivers tried to harass me to get into their cab. I made the rare mistake of getting all huffy and cussing (which I’ve gotten a lot better at NOT doing) which, of course, only made them laugh at me. Finally, however, the guy stopped trying to get me to blow a bunch of money on his cab and brought me to another matatu that would bring me to the right spot.

After arriving at the house, Maike and I had a meeting with Wallace about the puppedt presentation we’d be doing at a local school about the Cheetahs. Basically, the presentation was going to start with a questionnaire to see what the kids already knew and then we’d do a skit with a story incorporating puppets, have a lecture/discussion, and then give them the quiz again. After, this I really had the day to do what I wanted and went back to the Sarit Center to use the net; I also bought Barrack Obama’s book “Dreams from my Father.” I veg’d out that night watching the worst movie, possibly ever, “Nacho Libre.” We were supposed to go up to the camp the next day, but due to some car troubles, it was postponed, so Maike and I went to the Kenya National Museum. It displays the history of the nation, including the animals (large mammal exhibit), and impressive collection of stuffed local birds, an exhibit on rock art and the top floor is all about the people and its culture. It had displays on the clothing, weapons, coming of age rituals, and body decorations (beaded jewelry, ear plugs) etc. It was all very interesting to see how cultures have evolved, where they have incorporated Western influences (such as using glass/plastic beads instead of shells and seeds) as well as what they have retained. When we arrived, I tried to get a student discount, but they don’t offer one. Insetad, the guy said he would charge us as citizens; I joked about passing as a Kenyan, though he clearly didn’t pick up on my sarcasm he somberly informed me that he was giving us a break…oh, um…sorry, thanks.

The next day Maike, Cosmas and I headed up to the Salama camp. The roads are awful; I think I should start wearing a sports bar whenever we get into a car. Alsong the way, we got some supplies at the Nakumatt,. As we got out of the car, I pointed out to Cosmas that his fly was down. “Don’t worry,” he said, “it’s only the envelope.” HAH. The funnier part was when we got inside and we passed the stationary section maike said, “Oh, here are the envelopes!” Cosmas and I burst out laughing; Maike clearly hadn’t heard the conversation clearly. I went on a search for some new hair ties but the workers kept pointing me to the weaves. I’m sorry, none of these will blend in! Finally I found a couple by the cash register and we were off again.

The camp is on a divided farm plot where they have a fenced area with a small brick building as a kitchen. There’s an open area with a fire pit and three large tents with actual beds inside, tin roofs over the top, as well as two drop toilets and open air “showers” (or rather, a space to bring a bucket to rinse yourself). We sat around, chatting and reading over dinner and headed off to bed. It’s pitch black out on the countryside; the stars here are absolutely insane, I don’t think I’ve seen a sky like this since I was in New Zealand.

I went for a run/brisk walk along the orange dirt rods in the morning; then, Maike , Wallace and I headed to the Kiima Kiu primary school for our presentation. They had a total of about ninety kids in grades five through seven in one room, all in maroon sweaters over green shirts and green shorts—maybe half of the kids wore shoes. Their teaching style is very interesting in that the kids repeat an important (usually last) word of the sentence. Ex. Prof: “ I’m here to teach you about cheetahs. About?” Class: “Cheetahs!” This makes sure they’re all playing attention and I’m sure it helps them with learning English, as well. Anyway, after they filled out the questionnaire, we brought out the puppets and the kids went NUTS. They all started screaming and jumping around in excitement like when someone wins a car on the Price is Right. Though they probably didn’t absorb much of the story because they were too fascinated and interested in our little show. Plus, I think the kids were more interested in staring at the Muzungus; a couple of the girls in the front kept giving us the thumbs up, trying to get our attention. At the end, they all started whistling and clapping in unison; then, we were surrounded by kids touching us. They were all fascinated by my hair,, stroking and lifting it; it was fine at first, but as they got more excited there was a bit more pulling and I had to tie it up—you can touch it, just as long as I can still take it home with me! They surrounded us as we left and chased after our car, waving the whole way.

When we got back to the camp, we hung out with some of the scouts, Jimmy, Lamumba and Sam. Sam is HILLARIOUS. They were all telling us the differences between some of the local tribes. Sam’s tribe, the Luos, LOVE chicken. He was saying that, as kids, they were so excited when visitors came, not because someone new was around, but because they then could slaughter and eat a check. They would get upset when no one would come because they couldn’t eat the meat. He’s so expressive; he has a mouth full of big white teeth and when he laughs it’s so contagious that even if you don’t know what he said, you have to laugh along. Cosmas also told us about a darker side of Kenya, the Mungeeki (sp?). This is like the Kenyan Mafia; it originally started because they wanted to separate from Westernization and go back to tradition. They’d beat women for wearing trousers, for example. Now, they basically control every home and business, forcing people to pay exra to them for their homes and matatus, their produce sales and roadside services. If they don’t pay, there will be disastrous consequences. A woman’s matatu was burned, people die, they’re run off the road, decapitated and dismembered—it’s not pretty and quite dangerous for the locals in the areas where this group rules.

The net morning they had a scout meeting to discuss their progress with accumulating data on local conflicts, interviews, areas they still needed to cover, questions that needed to be more thorough, etc. It was quite interesting, but I clearly had nothing to contribute because I didn’t know the area or much bout what they’ve already accomplished.

Maike, Wallace and I then went to another school for a presentation. These kids were much more well-behaved. Maike and I had to shake practically all 80 little hands, Again, a mass of uniformed children (blue and yellow uniforms this time) followed us out to the car and waved goodbye.