I’m currently working on organizing all of my return flights to get back to Vancouver next month. In the process of this, I’ve come across some very funny web content that I’d like to share.

In the process of trying to find out East Africa’s policies on carry on liquids, I found the FAQ section of Kenya Airway’s baggage information page.  FAQ #7 reads as follows…

7. What is Kenya Airways policy on carrying dangerous items?
It is possible to carry musical instruments in the cabin only if it is within the cabin baggage allowance which is 10Kgs.

I didn’t know dangerous items instinctively meant musical instruments, but that’s cool. I never did find any information on carry on liquids allowances.

Next, I needed to find out if there was anywhere in the Nairobi Airport that I could have dinner while I had a long layover in between flights. So after a stellar Google search, I found the Kenya Airport Authority’s website and clicked on the section for Airport Services and Facilities at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. There was a long list, so I’ll share the two golden ones.

The first thing listed was “Duty Free shots.”
Another winner on the list was “airport loungas.”
Restaurants were listed somewhere on there too.

I’ll see you in a few weeks, Canada.

Out of strange coincidence, the NGO I work for here in Kenya receives its funding from a Canadian charity called Chalice. I was matched up with my NGO through an American organization called the Foundation for Sustainable Development, based on my education, resume, and experience in my field of work, and not because of my love for the great white north.

I didn’t know anything about the Canadian connection until I walked into the sponsorship office at Camp David. I saw a mixed Canadian and Kenyan flag on the wall and thought “oh, that’s weird to find here.” Then, I saw that on their walls they have children’s drawings on “happy Mr. Beaver” (who tells children to share as often as they can) and a map of Canada also drawn by a child that completely ignores any cities between Calgary and Winnipeg that might happen to exist (sorry Saskatchewan). I quickly started to look around and thought, “oh my gosh, this entire room is Canada-themed to extensive levels.”

I quickly saw a totem pole on a shelf that my coworkers explained a visiting sponsor from Squamish, BC brought over. Apparently, it was never understood what the object was, a totem pole they asked, what was that? I tried to explain as best as I could what a totem pole represented (holla First Nations Studies major coming into use) and I got a flow of funny statements and questions in return. One person said, “I thought it was scary and didn’t understand why it would be gifted to someone.” Another asked if such creatures existed in Canada that were hybrids of each other and all attached, like what the totem pole looked like. Immediately I knew, this was going to be a good time.

Everyone was stoked I was a Canadian. There are always a lot of Americans that come through the area but rarely a Canadian. I was able to explain hockey, why the Stanley Cup riots happened, why Stephen Harper is still our Prime Minister, Canadian geography, history (and where all of our first people went), and culture. Often I have been asked, “are there tribes in Canada?” In Kenya, there are 42 tribes and associations with certain tribes caused the 2007 post-election violence and still to this day is very visible Kenyan culture.

So basically, picture being on the other side of World Vision operations.. or Plan Canada.. or any of those late night commercials you see about sponsoring a child for less than a dollar a day in Africa. That’s where I am, on the other side of that commercial. I’m on the ground in a grassroots organization that receives that money and does something positive with it. I work in the office that receives the Christmas cards, for example, from the sponsors in Canada that are going to their matched sponsor child.

I can imagine anyone’s first instinct when they want to send a Christmas card from Canada to their sponsor child in Kenya, and that would be to send something Canadian with it.

Here is a good story illustrating that. At first, the social worker for the NGO doesn’t know why the sponsor mailed their sponsor child a napkin all the way to Africa. A napkin? Why a napkin? Luckily, I can explain that the napkin has maple leaves all over it, symbolizing Canada, and why the napkin was probably placed inside the card. To my coworkers, strange, but okay, that’s cool. Conclusion to the story; we now have a napkin hanging on our office wall.

It has been fun being able to see things received here in Kenya from Canada and I’m the only person who feels connected to it. Today we received Papermate pencils, we receive labels for all of our sponsor files on Staples brand adhesive sheets, and one of the sponsors for a child we sponsor is named “A&W.” Which is fun for me, because my little brother has been a cook at our local A&W throughout high school.

Thank you to everyone who sponsors children around the world through Chalice, I’m here as a Canadian by some weird chance, and I can say that the money is being used right and well. It makes a difference and I think all of your cards are wonderful. Especially the ones with photos of the sponsors back in Canada, those are my fav.

Let me describe last night to you. A spin class, with a trainer named Vincent (who looks like an NBA star just chilling in Mombasa), that is about to start in my small gym on the north shore. I’m in a studio that is full of people who all come from very different places in the world as Vincent turns up the jams, turns down the lights, and starts sweating buckets before he even gets on his bike. This guy is intense.

So intense that I can list the number of people who can keep up with him at the same level in the class: 0. So intense that he can yell “beat it! push those glutes back!” to MJ’s Beat It (check out those italics) and still put fear into my heart that I’m not jacked enough to even be in the same room as him. So intense that he probably catches his own dinner.

It wasn’t meeting Vincent that I didn’t expect to get out of living in Kenya, it was the experience of getting to be in the same room as Vincent, in a spin class, and being able to keep up.To all my friends reading this, I totally agree, since when do I work out?

Last year, my small team in Totem Park had me pushing around House Lounge sofa chairs to try to build up my strength to be able to do a push up. That’s the type of physical fitness I had prior to hanging out with the Kenyan NBA star.

My mother never signed me up for sports as a child. When I asked to join the rowing team at the beginning of high school, she said no out of fear that I would get “man arms” and not find a husband. So, I made a personal goal this summer to get fit. I joined a gym, along with my friends Tess and Virginia, out in an area of Mombasa called Nyali where all of the all-inclusive resorts hang out.

Yeah, it’s kind of random. I came to Mombasa to work for a NGO doing development work for the summer and I end up at a gym with an NBA star for most nights of the week. I feel like I’m finally prepared to work in a Lululemon store now that I’ve got a good story (Kenya, man arms,  NBA star, push back those glutes), if I could ever hold the level of self control needed not to spend my entire pay on items in the store.

The best part is that now that I’ve taken the time to get started and really work at becoming physically fit, I feel like it’s going to be so much easier for me once I return to campus to keep it up. I’m already interested in finding a lunchtime spin class at the SRC, trying out one of the Lululemon in-store yoga classes (I’ve never had the time or the guts), and seeing if I can run farther than a few hundred metres at a time (thanks Hannah for putting up with me in your attempts to get me to run back in first year).

So yeah, working out in Mombasa, how proud are you Shelley L, Justin G, and Ryan A?
PS Ryan,  I’m drinking so much water.