Workshops and Barbeques

I reached Nairobi, disheveled from my 20-something hour travel from Grand Rapids. I was shocked not at how unusual this new place was but at how familiar it felt to me. Nairobi is very much like Delhi and I strangely felt at home as I drove around this new city that night. 

My first week was spent at a beautiful place called Lake Elementaita, a two hours drive from Nairobi. At a lakeside lodge surrounded by nature, I joined around 25 community development workers for a Behavior Change and Gender Analysis Workshop.

View from my room

The five-day workshop opened my eyes to the challenges that development workers face and the skills required for doing development work. We went through the process of designing a behavior change framework, where we chose a target group and the behavior change that we wanted to bring about within that group. 

I joined the maternal, neonatal, and child health group and we focused on analyzing how we could get more pregnant women to eat a balanced and nutritious diet during and after pregnancy (In week two, I visit the target district and see this project be actively implemented – so exciting!). 

My group during the workshop

The last two days were spent discussing gender inequality in Africa and analyzing case studies. It was heartbreaking to read stories of preventable deaths and suffering caused solely because of a person's gender. Women in many communities are being disempowered and abused and the communities as a whole suffer consequences. 

With all the wonderful development workers

Although I could go on for a long time about all the things that I learnt I will stop here...I guess those of you who are interested will just have to grab coffee with me some time :)

I had to pinch myself several times during my time in Lake Elementaita. I was a sponge that had been thrown into a deep pool of precious knowledge and wisdom and I wanted to absorb every drop of it. What a blessing it was that this workshop just happened to be held the first week I started my internship. God knew that I needed this firm foundation before I started my journey...and again I was hit by how intimately He knew me and my needs. 

The workshop ended with a celebratory “Nyama choma” (goat meat barbeque), East African music and dancing.

Classic Nyama Choma

I returned to Nairobi for the weekend, and spent it with a dear Calvin friend and sister who lives in the city. On Sunday we walked 15km through an breathtaking forest. As we walked through the muddy road and shared life stories, our shoes caked with red Kenyan earth, I couldn't help feeling the immense love of my Creator - warm and comforting. 

Karura Forest 

"I'm afraid to speak or move for fear that all this wonderful beauty will just vanish... like a broken silence." -L.M. Montgomery