Najile Starter Notes

I was cleaning up a few days ago and discovered the following notes/tips in a half-filled notebook from May or June 2012. It was written after a couple months in Nairobi at language school and then a couple months into our assignment in Najile. Incidentally, I don't think there will be people to whom we will be able to pass our work, who would take our place when we head home next March, which is a bit sad. So, I figured I'd share it with you, my readers, whoever you are (By the way, you are always free to leave a comment to identify yourself or you could I.D. yourself by becoming a follower of my blog. Its always nice to know to whom I'm writing, right?).

This is a notation of tips, information, reminders, etc. for people who are coming to Kenya and particularly to the position with MCC in Najile. It is not comprehensive.

1. There is chocolate here, but not chocolate chips.
2. Sunscreen is really expensive and not very high protection if you are fair skinned.
3. People typically really dress up in Nairobi. Bring clothes you'll feel comfortable wearing in the city culture and also in the country culture, ie. hats. Country culture may fit more with a wide brim safari type hat, but it looks a bit odd in the city. This is a tip for helping one to "fit in" or at least to perhaps feel less odd.
4. Everybody walks a lot here (city of Nairobi). Be prepared for blisters if you haven't walked much in your shoes.
5. The electrical plugs are 220 or 240 volts so bring adapters or ask at mcc office for them.
6. Bringing your own sturdy water bottle is helpful since you never should drink from the tap. (update: you can buy water everywhere so that is also an option. And when you move into your place of living, you'll have a filter)
7. Hand sanitizer is a nice thing to bring (update: can be bought here). After a bus ride to language school, my hands are very dirty- the water can run brown in the sink.
8. Foot scrubber or pumice stone is nice to help keep heels from getting bad and cracking. Since its so dry and you are in open shoes more than in the U.S./Canada where winter exists.
9. Carry toilet paper. It's not usually provided in public toilets. Flushing the paper is o.k. unlike Latin American countries.
10. Bring a day pack or large shoulder bag for going shopping or carrying things to and from language school.  
11. All the milk and milk products are full fat so be warned if you have trouble with rich foods.
12. Most things are sweetened with cane sugar here and not corn syrup or fructose.
13. Walking in Nairobi requires sturdy shoes due to lots of contruction and random sidewalks. Its more like hiking on varied terrain.  Also, they burn their trash in the city, often near the roads so if you are asthmatic be warned of high smoke content of the air and lots of diesel fumes, too.
14. We were given 5 wks and 2 days of language school.  We were housed at [a guesthouse] in a 2 room suite room next to the laundry. Our meals were provided 3x a day in the dining room with all the travelers.  In reflection:  language school was a bit short and the teacher was completely inexperienced- essentially only a native speaker, not a teacher. He was a 22 yr old college student. He had never studied his own mother tongue so he knew next to nothing about its grammar. He did fairly well, considering. Having meals provided was nice for a time, but it was hard (very!) with my dietary restrictions and also having to eat in public 3x a day with travelers who ask the same questions over and over. This was tough on my introverted self.
15. Contact lens solution is expensive and not your basic item at the grocery store shelf.  Deoderant is all roll-on. Contact solution can be found at some chemists (small pharmacies), but not the MCC chemist where MCC has an account and also at optician stores in malls.
16. If you want to get mail you have to ask the reps about the post office box because sending mail to the street address that you are given in your information is not correct. We finally learned this by accident well into our time because we weren't seeing any mail.
17. Do you feel comfortable driving long hours on bad roads, barely passable by 4x4 vehicles? It also gets really crazy in rainy season.  The conditions get impassable quickly and even dangerous.  Good decision making skills are required.  No daredevil decisions or you put yourself and your passengers at terrible risk with medical help hours or even days away because of impassable rivers. Despite being not so distant in km from Nairobi, in Najile we are centuries away as far as infrastructure and economy goes.
18. Schedule- during rainy season, the flexibility of schedule is augmented. Due to rain, threat of flood, high rivers, in one week alone, every day we planned to travel to do something (3 of 5), our plans changed or didn't happen or we were out till after dark, caught in dangerous conditions. Great discretion is required.
19. Be aware that the frist month when you overlap/transition with the folks ahead of you, you may be using a combined budget. Make sure the folks you are replacing don't go to town and spend like crazy before they leave the country setting you behind on food budget for the next months.