Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Research

Haven't been blogging lately because nothing has been happening that is blog-worthy. I can talk a little bit about my research though! **Disclaimer: Not much detail here because the paranoid academic in me says not to since I may make this topic my dissertation.**

Yesterday Leslie and I had a meeting with Nicholas, the Lea Toto Program Manager. He wanted an update on our research and how we were finding our time at Lea Toto. This meeting actually got me very excited for the work that I want to do. Up to this point I have felt like I was just floating around Kangemi aimlessly. I was told to shadow the social workers but they are usually in their office, which has no room for me. Actually, there was no place for me to sit so many times I would just awkwardly stand in doorways. If you know me at all, then you know that I need direction in my life. I always have a plan and when I don't have a plan I do not function very well. Even if the plan is minute or careless, a plan is still a plan. Staying for the past 3.5 weeks at Kangemi have been great and priceless. I have learned so much about the people and the program by being there. I would not replace this for anything. That being said, I do have to admit that I do not enjoy aimless wandering. I want/need/have to have a purpose.

I have found that purpose. It takes the form of a research question and may possibly morph into my dissertation one day. But that day is a very long way off. First I have to write my thesis, survive prelims, get into Rollins MPH program, complete MPH, and then I'll finally devote 2-3 years to my dissertation. The trick is to decide on a dissertation topic early enough that you can begin writing sections of it for other classes. I also need to decide if I love this topic enough to spend the next 5 years of my life on it. I think I might.

My time at Kangemi is counting down. Only 3 more weeks and 2 of those I will be traveling around to the other Lea Toto centers. In our meeting we decided that it would benefit Leslie and I the most to get the opinions of other centers and not just our own. We will be traveling to Kawangware, Kibera, Dagoretti, Kangemi, Mukuru, Zimmerman, Dandora, and Kariobangi. We will spend a day at each center interviewing staff and learning about the work routine there. I'm excited to see the other informal settlements around Nairobi.

Forgot to mention this! Several of us went to church on Sunday in Kibera. It was very exciting to visit Kibera. I did not realize how close we live to the entrance- only a 15 minute walk. I was deeply impressed that Kibera had several paved roads. I've been told that since Kibera is known around the world that they get a lot of foreign aid, more than others in Nairobi. Also, there are many, many, many foreign aid workers there that conditions have risen a bit. We were invited to church by one of our St. Paul's colleagues. She is a minister in a couple churches around the area and grew up in Kibera. The service was all in Swahili but you don't really need words to hum along to a hymn. During the service I just looked around and observed the other people. There were only about 10 other people at the service and several children. One child kept trying to sit in our laps and screaming, "Hi, how are you?" It was great fun.

Until next time!

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